A 
 
 Morning in Cork-Street.
 
 HS H
 
 MORNING 
 IN COREL-STREET: 
 
 OR, 
 
 RAISING THIS WIND! 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A PICTURE OF OUR HOPEFUL YOUNG SPRIGS 
 OF NOBILITY AND MEN OF FASHION : 
 
 (Drtgmai Urtters uft 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 Th CUiraeter and Qualification* of the major part of Money 
 Lenders ; 
 
 To which is added, 
 
 A PORTRAIT OF OUR MODERN MONEY- 
 BORROWERS, 
 
 Who have passed through tlie ordeal of the Fiery Furnace 
 in Cork Street. 
 
 Adoionere volumnus, pluiquam mordere ; prodesee, nou Ixdere ; 
 corrigere mores hominum. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSTON, 98, CHEAPSIDE. 
 
 18(22. 

 
 C. F. SEYFANG, Printer, 67, Fket Market.
 
 READER, 
 
 UNFORESEEN obstacles have been 
 thrown in the way during my 
 perambulations and calls in and 
 about Cork-street, which ren- 
 der it necessary I should say 
 something by way of apology, 
 for the frequent disappointments 
 I have caused you. 
 
 Scarcely was The Morning 
 in Cork - street announced for
 
 11 PREFACE. 
 
 publication, before the poor pub- 
 lisher was assailed from all quar- 
 ters with anonymous letters, 
 threatening him with the ven- 
 geance of the Law, if he dared 
 publish the work ; happening to 
 know one of the parties, I just 
 take the liberty of laying the 
 Epistle before you, together with 
 the result of an interview I had 
 with this stylish Lord: 
 
 " By the daily prints, 
 
 " Lord perceives Mr. 
 
 " Johnson is about publishing a 
 " rascally Work, something re- 
 " specting Cork-Street, contain-
 
 PREFACE. ii 
 
 " ing, as he understands, a pac- 
 " ket of lies of him and his 
 
 " family, Lord thus early 
 
 (c ivarns Mr. Johnson against 
 
 c5 
 
 " naming him or his family in 
 " any way whatever in the forth- 
 " coming" Work." 
 
 Hotel, Bond Street. 
 
 To ease the mind of the pub- 
 lisher, I waited upon his Lord- 
 ship, as I could not well dispense 
 with him, as he forms one 
 of the most conspicuous cha- 
 racters, to know what he 
 wished ; but instead of being 
 received and treated like a gen-
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 lleman, which I, of course, ex- 
 pected from a nobleman, his 
 Lordship's behaviour was more 
 like that of a blackleg. Re- 
 turning therefore with my mind 
 made up, I resolved not to spare 
 his Lordship, or his noble as- 
 sociates ; who, I conceive, are 
 justly entitled to the castiga- 
 ;tion they receive ; and as to the 
 other gentlemen, who have taken 
 the same trouble, all I can say 
 is, if the cap fits them they are 
 welcome to wear it.
 
 Jttorning in Cork-Street. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 .History of the rise, progressive improvement, 
 highest fiight, decline and fall, of the Paper- 
 kite system A curious Epitaph on Rag 
 Flimsy, Esq. The Bill-bubble burst And 
 the Author's motive for spending a Morning- 
 en Cork Street. 
 
 THE history of all the nations in 
 the world does not present a paral- 
 lel instance to that which will be
 
 A MORNING IN CORK STREET ; 
 
 found in the annals of Great Britain 
 during the late long* and dreadful 
 war ; when a nation, remarkable for 
 economy and sobriety, quitting all its 
 former habits, suddenly plunged into 
 the vortex of unbridled profusion and 
 luxury ; not only squandering its capi- 
 tal, the hard-earned savings of their 
 forefathers, but mortgaging their off- 
 spring over head and ears in debt for 
 generations to come ; nay, for aught 
 they could tell to the contrary, ad in- 
 finitum. And of the same nation all 
 at once recoverins; from its maniacal 
 
 O 
 
 phrenzy, and returning again to its 
 old cast-off habits of thrift and tem- 
 perance, with as much ardour as ever 
 it had shown in quitting them; and 
 all this without losing one iota of its 
 national character for good faith and 
 probity ; but, on the contrary, rising 
 higher than ever in the esteem and
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 
 
 confidence of an observing, admiring, 
 and astonished world. 
 
 The Government set the example 
 of this bound less profusion and extra- 
 vagance, by plunging the nation into 
 (what many of the most intelligent 
 people deemed to be) an unnecessary 
 crusade against the liberties of a iVte 
 and independent nation, striving- to 
 shake off the trammels of despotism, 
 and to assume the rank of man indi- 
 vidually,, as they formed, collectively, 
 one of the most enlightened nations 
 upon the face of the earth. Millions 
 upon millions were lavished upon in- 
 sidious and treacherous allies, who be- 
 trayed, instead of serving our cause, 
 until we became the butt and laugh- 
 ing-stock of the world ; and the nation 
 was upon the verge of bankruptcy, 
 when Napoleon Buonaparte (Don 
 Quixotte-like) fortunately for us ! went
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STRI ET ; 
 
 to attack the wind-mills at Moscow, 
 and got flung, horse and rider, into 
 the gulph of despair. 
 
 Great Britain had now agiin a 
 glimpse of hope through her long 
 gloom of deep despondency 
 
 " There is a tide in the affairs of man, 
 
 ' Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune r 
 
 " Omitted all the voyage of his life 
 
 " Is bound in shallows and in miseries." 
 
 Omitted it was not : Great Britain 
 followed up the blow with unceasing 
 energy and perseverance, until the 
 battle of Waterloo ended the hopes 
 and the dynasty of Napoleon, and the 
 Island of St. Helena shrouded the 
 mortal remains of the dying hero. 
 
 The Bank of England soon gofc 
 linked in with the Government ; and
 
 OB, RAISING THE WIND. 9 
 
 all the specie being sent out of the 
 kingdom for subsidies, issued a paper 
 currency of nearly thirty millions! 
 The Country Banks, which sprang up 
 like mushrooms in a hot-l;ed, soon 
 added their streamlets, and increased 
 the river to a torrent ; and all ranks 
 from the prince to the chandler's- 
 shop keeper and green-grocer down- 
 wards, issuing their bills and accomo- 
 dation notes, a general Paper Deluge 
 covered all the land. The immediate 
 consequence of such an amazing in- 
 crease of circulating medium was, that 
 by depreciating the representatives of 
 money, all articles either of luxury or 
 necessity, rose to nearly double their 
 real value, and the substitute for money 
 sank in the same ratio. The nation was 
 divided into two parties; bill-drawers 
 and bill-discounters; the man who had 
 but one shilling in the world, by lay- 
 
 A2
 
 10 A MORNING IN CORK-STRI.ET ; 
 
 ing it out on a piece of stamped pa- 
 per, and writing a few magic or ta- 
 lisraanic words upon it, might con- 
 vert it into twenty or thirty pounds. 
 Hence a fictitious property was created, 
 and credit obtained ; and, as all the. 
 business of the country was transacted 
 in paper, every individual in it became 
 more or less a dabbler in paper. 
 
 The scenes which now broke out, 
 would not be believed, even by the 
 rising generation, if they were not 
 too well authenticated to admit a 
 shadow of doubt. Every man's pro- 
 perty being nearly doubled ; and he, 
 who had none, finding it so very easy 
 to assume the appearance of having 
 some, all ranks began to live and 
 act accordingly. The Aristocracy 
 lived away with nearly royal splen- 
 dour; the great commoners vied 
 with the Aristocracy; the little ones
 
 OP, RAISING Till \VIND. 11 
 
 trod in the steps of the great ones ; 
 the middling classes became all es- 
 
 o 
 
 quires, and every journeyman and me- 
 chanic (like the natives of West Bri- 
 ton, commonly called Ireland) was a 
 aemman. Such a gallimaufrey was 
 never seen ! Like the creation of 
 the world, hundreds of thousands of 
 mushroom gentry suddenly sprang up. 
 out of nothing. 
 
 The Greeks, or gamblers, were not 
 among the last to profit by this new 
 circulating medium ; it was more port- 
 able than specie, as it took up less 
 room, and was of much less weight. 
 A gentleman, who carried five or six 
 hundred guineas about him, was not 
 only incommoded by its weight and bulk 
 but was also staggered at the idea of 
 being relieved of such a precious golden 
 freight ; but as many thousands, in.
 
 12 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 paper money, might be carried with 
 more ease, and the loss of the whole 
 would scarcely create so keen a sen- 
 sation. 
 
 King Jamie the Sixth of Scotland 
 and the First of England (surnamed 
 the Scottish Solomon, whether the 
 son of David* or no, we know not) 
 having once ordered his treasurer to 
 bestow five thousand crowns on a cer- 
 tain author, the treasurer, deeming 
 his master's liberality as bordering on 
 profusion, brought the sura to the pa- 
 lace in five bags of the smallest spe- 
 cies of coin then in circulation, and 
 placed them so that the King, in pass- 
 ing to and from his cabinet, could 
 not fail to see them. " Eh, mon !'' 
 
 * Not the Jewish David ; but the Italian David 
 Rizzio the fiddler.
 
 OB, IIAISING THE WlNt>. 13 
 
 cried Solomon, " what mean those 
 bags ?" " They contain the five thou- 
 sand crowns which your Majesty or- 
 dered me to give to v " What, 
 
 the rauckle De'il ! mon, din ye think 
 me mad to gi' awa' so much money 
 to a ballad maker 1 There, there !" 
 added he, taking out five or six hands- 
 full from the bags, " gi' un that 
 mon, gi' un that ; that's fu' enou' for a 
 paltry sing-sang." 
 
 The whole secret of the sudden 
 prosperity of the country was neither 
 more or less than that the Govern- 
 ment and the Bank of England cre- 
 tt!ed an artificial capital by an immo- 
 derate issue of paper, and by com- 
 pclling the people to take it at its 
 .nominal value. This capital was spe- 
 dily forced up into a still more un- 
 luitural growth by those hot bed^, the
 
 14 A MORNING IN COllK-STREET ', 
 
 Country Banks, which swarmed 
 throughout the country, in every lit- 
 tle town or even village, and by the 
 manufacture and issue of fag-money 
 by speculators of all descriptions, many 
 of them downright swindlers, colleagu- 
 ing and associating to give themselves 
 the appearance of respectable firms. 
 
 This paper traffic naturally gave 
 birth to a species of vermin, deno- 
 minated bill-discounters and bill-bro- 
 kers, compared with whom, all the 
 usurers in the Golden Age were btjt 
 pedlars. Having mentioned the Gol- 
 den Age, it may be observed, that the 
 Ancients were not quite such Fabulists 
 as they are supposed to have been. 
 They gave out that there were three 
 ages of the world of gold of silver 
 - of brass or iron. The Moderns 
 have added a fourth the age of
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 15 
 
 paper ; which we may fairly presume 
 to finish the round robin, as we have 
 now returned to whence we set out 
 the age of gold. The age of paper 
 has ceased ; and if ever the Bank of 
 England should, out of gratitude, 
 erect a monument to its memory in 
 front of their shop in Threadneedle- 
 street, the following may not be an 
 unappropriate 
 
 EPITAPH. 
 
 R. I. P. 
 
 HERE LIE THE ASHES 
 OF 
 
 RAG FLIMSY, ESQ. 
 
 The Natural Son of the late 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM PITT, 
 
 by the 
 
 OLD LADY 
 
 of 
 
 THREADNEEDLE STREET.
 
 M> A MOliNING IN COHK-STUtET; 
 
 For years past 
 
 he was the delight of 
 
 all ranks of People 
 
 in 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN, 
 From the King to the Groom -Porter; 
 
 and, 
 on his Travels Abroad, he was equally caressed 
 
 by 
 Foreigner of all Nations, 
 
 in 
 
 EUROPE, ASIA, AND AMERICA. 
 He caught his Death in the 
 
 House of Commons, 
 through a Vote of Censure 
 of that House against him; 
 
 in which 
 
 many of the Members 
 
 ungratefully concurred, 
 
 although he had formerly been 
 
 Their Darling; 
 
 BO much so, 
 as to occasion their changing skies,
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND ; 17 
 
 from 
 THE OPPOSITION 
 
 to the 
 
 MINISTERIAL BENCHES -, 
 and their saying 
 
 AYE ! 
 
 when in duty and conscience they 
 
 should have said 
 
 NO! 
 
 OBIIT. jETAT. XXXV, 
 A. D. 1821. 
 
 While Great Britain was at war 
 with almost all the maritime powers 
 in the world, and her ships of war 
 were blockading their ports, she was 
 able to controul the commerce of the 
 whole, and could force a contraband 
 trade wherever she pleased. This 
 alone supported her unnatural paper
 
 18 A MbRNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 system, and her consequent lavish 
 expenditure. We were the carriers 
 for the whole world, and, sailor-like, 
 having earned our money like horses, 
 we spent it like asses. But no sooner 
 had a general peace stripped us of 
 these advantages, and the commer- 
 cial equality, which had before exist- 
 ed, been fully restored, than it va- 
 nished of course. In spite of all the 
 efforts] of Government to keep alive 
 the milch cow which yielded them 
 sixty millions annually, to bribe the 
 representatives of the people, or awe 
 them by a large standing army in time 
 of profound peace ; in spite of the 
 longing desire of the aristocracy and 
 great landholders to hold up the rents 
 of their estates at the war estimate, 
 long after the produce of those estates 
 has, by a natural consequence, fallen 
 back to a peace establishment ; not-
 
 OR, UAISINrt T11E WIND. 19 
 
 withstanding the unnatural system 
 was buoyed up by every species of 
 political force, artifice, and quackery, 
 the diseased monster could live only 
 in a foul atmosphere, and laying down 
 its bloated carcase, it sank (we pray 
 to Heaven !) to rise no more. 
 
 Government has at last been com- 
 pelled, by the luminous statements of 
 Mr. Hume, the most useful member 
 that ever adorned the House of Com- 
 mons, to listen to the voice of the peo- 
 ple and of reason, and to commence 
 the use of the pruning knife ; and the 
 aristocracy and great landholders are 
 forced daily to give way, though with 
 the utmost reluctance ; and those, who 
 obstinately stand out, will soon be re- 
 duced to the alternative of submitting 
 to existing circumstances, or of turn- 
 ing farmers themselves, and cultivat-
 
 20 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET, 
 
 ing their own estates ; for no tenant 
 will be mad enough or able, if he 
 were mad enough to continue at the 
 present rent. 
 
 Whilst paper was all the go, the 
 Bill Discounters and Brokers had a 
 glorious pull upon the public ; they 
 cut both ways, like a two-edged 
 sword, and at every thrust their vic- 
 tims bled freely. But when the good 
 sense of the Imperial Parliament de- 
 creed the resumption of cash pay- 
 ments, the Bank of England decreas- 
 ed its paper issues, and nearly discon- 
 tinued bill discounting; the other Lon- 
 don Banks were compelled to follow the 
 example ; the Country Banks dropped 
 off like rotten sheep ; and the Bill- 
 bubble burst ! ! A late failure has 
 excited considerable attention, and, 
 among the multitude of persons con-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 21 
 
 cerned, indescribable anxiety. But 
 the public are still much in the dark ; 
 and it is with a view of developing 
 the whole of that horrid mystery, that 
 we have been inclined to spend 
 
 A Morning in Cork-street, 
 to unravel the secret art of 
 RAISING THE WIND! 
 
 c 2
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 A midnight scene at a Gambling or Greeking 
 House, emphatically styled a Hell. 
 
 JT was past the hour of midnight, 
 when at one of the Gaming Houses, 
 emphatically termed Hells, in Saint 
 James's Street, the conclave of Greeks 
 was assembled in close Divan ; the 
 doctors (i. e. loaded dice) were ready, 
 and the longs and broads (the manu- 
 factured cards) were packed by the 
 sharps, who were only waiting for the 
 flats, to commence operations. There 
 were only seven or eight persons pre-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 23 
 
 sent, who, as might be expected, all 
 belonged to the concern, and as Dog 
 eat Dog was not their maxim, some 
 were parading the room, others stand- 
 ing leaning over the backs of the 
 chairs, others seated at the table with 
 their elbows resting; on it, and all 
 
 O ' 
 
 planning schemes for carrying on the 
 war during the ensuing night's cam- 
 paign, with skill and success. The 
 porter was lounging in his arm-chair 
 near the door, half asleep, when the 
 usual signal was made for admittance. 
 Having reconnoitred through theglazed 
 aperture, to guard against doubtful cha- 
 racters and traps, and recognized the 
 well known visage of an elect, he half 
 opened the door, closed it again in- 
 stantly, and threw himself into his 
 arm-chair. On hearing the approach 
 of a pigeon, the rooks immediately 
 pretended to be playing, and began
 
 2ji A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 dealing out cards, (not those prepar- 
 ed for operations, but an indifferent 
 pack, which purposely lay at hand,) 
 and the unsuspecting visitant had 
 something like a chance for his mo- 
 ney, till new faces began to assemble, 
 and play commenced in earnest. 
 Then the manufactured cards and 
 the master strokes came into requisi- 
 tion. 
 
 Among other well-known charac- 
 ters a couple of well-known Dukes y 
 
 two Marquises, my Lord Y , 
 
 Lord A , about a dozen officers 
 
 of the Army and Navy, an Artist, a 
 Doctor, a double-japanned seven mi- 
 nutes and a half Preacher, and some 
 non-descript insolvent tradesmen, were 
 soon collected. After some piddling 
 work, a necessary preliminary to heat 
 the warm and stir up the phlegma-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 25 
 
 tic, play commenced in good earnest, 
 the dealer seized the propitious pack, 
 the bets were all made, and a mo- 
 ment's pauseof anxious hope and doubt- 
 ful suspence ensued. Ah! les pauvres 
 Pigeons ! Most wonderful chance ! 
 Chance, no doubt ! the dealer; with 
 unblushing face, turned out a dozen 
 
 O ' 
 
 trente et un et apres in immediate suc- 
 cession ! Every pocket was cleaned 
 out, and every face was covered with 
 dismay. Never was a conveyance 
 more expeditiously made but once 
 before, and that at this very same 
 house, when, one evening, to the 
 astonishment and dismay of all, save 
 the initiated, there were fifteen trente 
 et un et apres in one deal ! The well- 
 known Major A y who entered at that 
 moment, and hud his well-filled pocket 
 book ready in his hand, to put down 
 his deposit, instantly thrust it back
 
 26 A MORNING IN COUK-6TUEET; 
 
 into his pocket, and left the house, 
 saying, that he vvoukl never enter 
 that house again, where such a chance 
 had happened ! The company stared 
 at each other for some moments in a 
 state of stupefaction, and at last a buz 
 of dissatisfaction began to be heard, 
 which the firm endeavoured to as- 
 suage by declaring upon their honor 
 that it was the mere effect of chance, 
 and thai it would be as mad in them, 
 as in the boy who killed the goose 
 that laid golden eggs, to practise an 
 imposition upon so numerous an as- 
 semblage of their very best cus- 
 tomers. 
 
 Whether the argument was con- 
 vincing or not, as it was all they were 
 likely to get for their money, all left 
 the house, apparently very ill satis- 
 fied, except a few of the elect, who
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIKD. 27 
 
 were accustomed to play upon pro- 
 missory notes, when all the ready was 
 gone, and who were permitted to 
 win back a trifling part of their losses, 
 to put a gloss upon the matter make 
 things appear as the mere effect of 
 chance, and save the credit of the firm 
 from being blown upon. 
 
 " Would you, when thieves are known abroad, 
 
 ." Bring forth your treasures in the road > 
 
 "Would not the fool abet the stealth, 
 
 " Who rashly thus exposed his wealth ? 
 
 " Yet this you do whene'er you play 
 
 ' Among the gentlemen of prey. 
 
 " Could fools to keep their own contrive, 
 
 " On what, on whom, could gamester's thrive ? 
 
 " Is it in charity you game 
 
 " To save yon worthy gang from shame ? 
 
 " Unless you furnish 'd daily bread, 
 
 " Which way could idleness be fed ? 
 
 " Could these professors of deceit 
 
 " Within the law no longer cheat, 
 
 " They must run bolder risks for prey, 
 
 " And strip the tray'Her on the way :
 
 28 A MORNING IN to UK-STREET , 
 
 " Thus i your annual rents they share, 
 " And 'scape the noose from year to year. 
 
 " You'll find at last this maxim true, 
 
 the game which knaves pursue," 
 
 GAY,
 
 O*, RAISING THE WIND. 29 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 scene at a fashionable hotel, and a morning 
 visit planned to Cork Street, to raist the 
 wind* 
 
 AFTER leaving this lucky Hell, my 
 
 Lords W and A chanced 
 
 to meet at Long's hotel in Bond Street. 
 As it was the purpose of both of them 
 to sup, they agreed to take their re- 
 .past together; and sat down to broiled 
 bones and stewed pigeons, which wre 
 followed by anchovy sandwiches, a 
 provocative of thirst, and a stimulus 
 to deep potations, to drive intruding 
 D
 
 30 A MORNING IN CORK STREET ; 
 
 care away. After supper, the con- 
 versation naturally fell upon the mys- 
 terious chance which had turned up 
 at the Two Sevens in St. James's 
 Street. 
 
 Marquis. Curse the unconscionable 
 scoundrels ! to have something like 
 reasonable odds against one is what 
 may be naturally expected at these in- 
 fernal receptacles ; but ten chances 
 running in favour of the Hell, is more 
 than Christian patience can endure! 
 Well may the rascals offer their scur- 
 vy refreshments upon a superb ser- 
 vice of plate. 
 
 Lord A. Well indeed ! We have 
 been all melted down pretty cleverly 
 to pay for it. For my part, I very 
 freely confess that I have lost to- 
 night all that money, which will be
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 31 
 
 wanted for the most urgent occasions 
 to-morrow morning. And the whole 
 of it would not have been sufficient 
 to stop the gap that must be filled 
 up some how or other. I must raise 
 the wind some way, and the curst 
 unconscionable rogues in the City, 
 when one's necessities are the most 
 urgent, delay satisfying them, by 
 humming and ha !-ing over the se- 
 curity, only purposely to increase the 
 exorbitancy of their demands. 
 
 Marquis. Oh ! if that's your prin- 
 cipal difficulty, my Lord, I can put 
 you in the way, if you have not al- 
 ready found it out, of being accommo- 
 dated without going into the City, 
 " among the fat and greasy herd," 
 here in the neighbourhood, close by, 
 but you must make up your mind
 
 32 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET^ 
 
 to pay devilish dear for the accom- 
 modation. 
 
 Lord A. Oh ! as for that, ray Lord, 
 it is pretty much the same case every 
 where, I fancy, among those gentry,, 
 the money lenders ; therefore you will 
 oblige me by giving me the neces- 
 sary information. I will resort thi- 
 ther in the morning. Incidit in Scyl- 
 tam, cupiens vitare Charybdim : out of 
 the frying-pan into the fire. 
 
 Marquis. That is, out of the Hell 
 of the Greeks into the noted bottling 
 shop in Cork Street. Have you never 
 been there, my Lord? 
 
 Lord A. No, indeed ; though I 
 have been in many queer places in 
 the City, What do you mean by hot- 
 tling-shop ?
 
 OB, RAISING THE WIND. 33 
 
 Marquis. Why, Messrs. Hold- 
 fast and Gripall's accomodation ware- 
 house close by, a wholesale and re- 
 tail firm, where you may be served 
 some how or other, or any how, racked, 
 fined, drawn off, bottled, and corked up, 
 in prime style, and in double quick time, 
 I must, however, pay another visit 
 there to-morrow morning. 
 
 Lord A. Then I phall be happy to 
 accompany you, and you may do me 
 the favour of an introduction. 
 
 Marquis. Oh, as to that my Lord, in- 
 troduction or ceremony is quite unne- 
 cessary ; merely give a thundering rap 
 on the knocker, by way of announcing 
 a visitor of importance, and your busi- 
 ness is half done before you have got 
 over the threshold of the door. Open 
 to all parties, and influenced by none, 
 D 2
 
 34 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 should be the motto of the firm ; you 
 will find no triple-headed Cerberus 
 there to bark at and fright you from 
 the gate of this up-stairs Pandcemo- 
 mum, 
 
 Lord A. That's what I should dread 
 most, and what one is sure to encoun- 
 ter in the city. To be quizzed by a 
 queer put of an old greasy cit ; to sub- 
 mit to be asked a hundred impertinent 
 questions , to have the mortification of 
 being told- 1 ( your lordship's paper has 
 been frequently offered in the money- 
 market lately ;' and still worse, to have 
 the mortification of knowing it to be 
 true, are a sort of plebeian insults 
 which patrician blood can scarcely 
 bear without boiling over, if prudence 
 and a want of the ready did not pull 
 the cheek string.
 
 OR, ll.USING THE WIND. 35 
 
 Marquis. Oh! you need fear nothing 
 of that kind. These gentleman do the 
 thing in prime style, live up to the ton, 
 sport an elegant equipage, and know 
 what is what. Your name, and the 
 sort of accomodation you wish for, will 
 procure you an immediate and satis- 
 factory answer, and the fatigue of 
 writing your name, and putting their 
 bills into your pocket-book, will be all 
 the inconvenience you will have to 
 undergo. 
 
 Lord A. Bravo ! I like things done 
 genteely, although there should be a 
 little extra smart money paid for it. 
 It is better than being quizzed and 
 bored to death by a fellow whom you 
 would caueinto good manners, but for 
 the necessity you are under of accept- 
 ing his services. Well, my Lord, our 
 champaigne is out, and I think we had
 
 36 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 best take an hour's repose before we 
 enter upon business. 
 
 Marquis. I was thinking the same 
 thing, my Lord, so bon repos! We 
 breakfast and start together, I pre- 
 sume? 
 
 Lord A. Just so. 
 
 (A loud knocking at the street-door.) 
 
 Marquis. Here are some fresh arri- 
 vals let's have another bottle, and see 
 who they are ; we may hear of some 
 adventures which may console us for 
 our own mischance. Eh ! my Lord 
 F. and the Hon. Mr. T.- My Lord F. 
 your humble servant you are an ear- 
 ly visitor. 
 
 Lord F. My only regret is, Marquis,
 
 OU, RAISING THE WIND. 37 
 
 that I had not been some hours earlier, 
 and I should have saved my money. 
 
 Marquis. What, have you been 
 robbed 1 
 
 Lord. F. Yes, and most villainously 
 too, but not perhaps in the manner you 
 suppose ; no street robbery. We 
 have just effected our escape from 
 
 Paddy B 's Devils Exchequer, 
 
 whence you get neither principal nor 
 interest; the Hell in Pall Mall. 
 
 Marquis. I hope they treated you 
 better than we were treated in St. 
 James's street. A dozen trente et un 
 et apres in one deal ! 
 
 Lord F. Faith, \ve had not even so 
 much as that for our money. We
 
 38 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 came in rather late : some of the com- 
 pany had been plucked most unmerci- 
 fully, as we understood, and to prevent 
 a chance of retrieving their losses, a 
 false alarm was given that some suspi- 
 cious characters were besieging the 
 door, by the porter's ringing the alarm- 
 bell. In an instant, all was confusion ; 
 every one made a snatch at the money 
 on the table ; the firm was the first to 
 serve themselves, and the most dexter- 
 ous, they being prepared for the scram- 
 ble, and the others remaining for a few 
 instants motionless through surprize. 
 Even the assistants of the house lent 
 their helping hands to clear away : 
 the money vanished in the twinkling 
 of an eye. Unluckily, my pocket-book 
 was in my hand, and whether it was 
 knocked out of it by accident or de- 
 sign, that vanished too. There was no
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIKD. 39 
 
 time to be lost in looking for it, or mak- 
 ing inquiries.; we were hurried down 
 the ba-jk stairs, let out into the square, 
 and Hell Gale clpsed upon us, whilst 
 the T'iscals within were, no doubt, 
 laughing heartily at our terrors, and 
 chuckli-ig over the booty they had so 
 adroitly plundered us of. 
 
 Marquis. sJa' ha! ha! a merry ad- 
 yenture indeed, and upon a par with 
 our mysterious chance. We are bro- 
 ther sufierers ! orae, here is just a 
 partt quarre ; if we go to bed we shall 
 not sleep ; let us have a sober hand at 
 whist, or something or other. 
 
 Lord F. Lord A. fy Mr. T. Agreed ! 
 
 Marquis. Waiter ! bring fresh wax- 
 lights, cards, and a batch of claret to 
 cool us.
 
 ) A MOR*;MG fw CORS-STUUET ; 
 
 " Time was 
 
 " Ere each weak mind was with externals caught, 
 *' And dissipation held the place of thought ; 
 *' Ere gambling lords in vice so far were gone, 
 
 " To cog the die, and bid the sun look on." 
 
 Vou.
 
 RAIS1N-G THE WIND. 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Scene at a Titled Lady's Faro-Bank, and the 
 usual chit-chat of Fashionable Female Game- 
 ster*. 
 
 \ V E must revert back to the midnight 
 hour, to see what was going on at my 
 
 Lady A 's hospitable receptacle for 
 
 lunatics, play-mad people of both sexes, 
 or what, in fashionable terms, is deno- 
 minated a Cock and Hen club. This 
 lady is an adept in all the fashionable 
 arts, but what she most excels in is 
 (he secret seiencejof prudent, frugal hos- 
 pitality a sort of savoir vivre at the ex-
 
 42 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 pense of her guests ; it being well kn own, 
 that the larger the parties she enter- 
 tains, and the oftener they enter her hos- 
 pitable mansion, the richer she grows; 
 contrary to the generally received idea, 
 that open house soon proves a prison 
 to its master. Her ladyship occupies a 
 spacious house in the vicinity of St 
 James's-square, rent-free on her part, 
 but under a condition that the pro- 
 prietor is to go snacks with her in 
 the profits of her card-tables. Her 
 servants are all on board-wages, that 
 is, they are to find themselves, and 
 get what wages they can from the 
 visitors ; the refreshments, if the 
 guests require any, are obtained from 
 the Queen's Larder, in St. James's 
 street, and charged for at four times 
 their original cost, and the fragments 
 maintain lier ladyship, and some- 
 times afford an extra meal to the
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND ; 43 
 
 famished domestics. It is, there- 
 fore, almost impossible to go nearer 
 to the wind, than her ladyship sails. 
 Being left at the decease of her lord 
 
 o 
 
 with a very scanty jointure, and 
 anxious to keep up her former splendid 
 appearance, she determined to set the 
 gossip of scandal at defiance, and to 
 supply all deficiencies by the fecundity 
 of her brain, or rather, by the dexte- 
 rity of her hand at packing and shuf- 
 fling the cards. Obliged to quit her 
 lord's residence, she engaged with the 
 
 * O O 
 
 proprietor of her present mansion on 
 the terms above-mentioned, and it 
 soon became the resort of the fashion- 
 able world. 
 
 " What swarms of am'rous grandmothers we see, 
 " And misses ancient in iniquity ! 
 " What blasting whispers and what Joud declaiming ! 
 " What lying, drinking, wenching, swearing, 
 gaming !
 
 44 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 " Friendship so cold, such warm incontinence, 
 " Such griping av'rice, such profuse expense, 
 " Such feign'd devotion, such a zeal for crimes, 
 " Such licens'd ill, such prostituted times, 
 " Such vejial faith, such misapplied applause, 
 " Such flatter'd guilt, and such inverted laws,. 
 " Such dissolution thro' this world I find, 
 " 'Tis not a world, but chaos of mankind !" 
 
 YOUNG* 
 
 In this temple of virtue, a happy 
 freedom reigns, and it is only to be 
 lamented, as a partial drawback on 
 the pleasures derived from the profits 
 of her bank, that so perfect is the li- 
 berty that exists in it, that she is 
 treated with as little respect, and with 
 as sovereign contempt by her noble 
 and honourable guests, as if she were 
 what we do not wish to style her 
 the prostituted mistress of the vilest 
 gaminy brothel ! So true it is, that 
 there scarcely exist any blessings in 
 this life without some few trifling
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 45 
 
 drawbacks. But when any great be- 
 nefits accrue from any particular sys- 
 tem, the little pelty evils that may at- 
 tend them, are scarcely felt ; and, if 
 the grand object be attained, a few 
 slights, contemptuous glances and 
 sneers, or even a few harsh epithets, 
 bestowed in the heat of fancy, may be 
 easily overlooked as the ebullitions of 
 a disappointed gamester's mind. Be- 
 sides, sensibility is not very quick or 
 irritable at a gaming-table, except on 
 that point, on which the mind is most 
 immediately iixed ; and provided the 
 Bank goes on thrivingly, my Lord's 
 abuse makes very little impression on 
 my Lady's sensibility. We have in- 
 deed beheld her Ladyship ready to 
 burst with rage, when the conse- 
 quences have been much against her 
 at Macao; and betray symptoms of the 
 
 E 2
 
 46 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 most violent agitation, when her Faro 
 Bank was on the point of being plun- 
 dered by its merciless besiegers ; but 
 on all other points, her Ladyship's for- 
 tress is impregnable, and she with- 
 stands all assaults upon it with the 
 most absolute sangfroid. 
 
 " Oh, fo a Stentor's voice to sound her praise, 
 " In rich variety of matchless worth; 
 " Whether she quaff the cordial, or turn up 
 " The fateful card at Faro !" 
 
 At the midnight hour then, the com- 
 pany began to assemble at my Lady 
 
 A 's. The play commenced. Her 
 
 Ladyship presided at the Faro Bank* 
 the company surrounding which, was 
 so numerous, that other parties were 
 formed at different tables, at whist, 
 quadrille, or whatever other games 
 suited their fancies. The disk-clack^
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 47 
 
 or war of female tongues, became uni- 
 versal. One table particularly at- 
 tracted attention. It was a quadrille 
 party ; and the following conversation 
 ensued : 
 
 Mrs. D. Bless mv soul ! what a 
 
 ft/ 
 
 dearth of news there has been of late! 
 Scarcely a breath of scandal stirring 
 to amuse our tea-parties. Does the 
 Marchioness of C. still maintain her, 
 superiority in a certain quarter? ' 
 
 Countess. D> I have not heard a 
 whisper to the contrary. I wonder 
 how the rival Marchioness bears her 
 disappointment. 
 
 Lady B. Oh! she has had her day, 
 and that is now past. Her Ladyship 
 \vas no chicken when she first made : 
 her conquest.
 
 -18. A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 Duchess of D. You are right, my 
 Lady. Beast! 
 
 Lady B. Sans prendre. 
 
 Mrs. D. What is become of Mrs. 
 Fitzwhimper I wonder ? I never hear 
 any thing about her now. 
 
 Duchess. Oh ! she is in obscurity, and 
 deservedly so. To presume to attempt 
 to step over the heads of us nobility ! 
 
 Mrs. D. Black ace 9 my Lady. 
 
 Ladg B. Aye, by a sham marriage, 
 if any really took place. I should not 
 think of such plebeian insolence. 
 
 Mrs. D. I do not see much to blame 
 in her for that, my Lady. I think we, 
 commoners have as great a right to
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 49 
 
 make the most of our charms, as any 
 Peeress in the land. Ponto. 
 
 Countess. I differ from you there, 
 Mrs. D. I am entirely of Lady B.'s 
 opinion : A peeress should undoubt- 
 edly take the precedence of a com- 
 moner in every thing. 
 
 Duchess. Oh, undoubtedly. I never 
 knew Mrs. D. so much out in my life. 
 A flush, madam. 
 
 Countess. Matador es ! Mrs. D. you 
 have no chance whatever. 
 
 Mrs. D. I never had such a run of 
 ill luck in my life ; never held worse 
 cards. 111 play no more than this pool 
 I protest. Clean cards ! 
 
 Countess. These cards are very
 
 50 A MORNING IN COBK-STREET ; 
 
 well, Mrs. D.; but you seem to be 
 ruffled. 
 
 Mrs. D. Ruffled indeed ! who was 
 ruffled the night before last, when the 
 Colonel beat you at picquet? 
 
 Countess. You need not have men- 
 tioned that, Madam ; the Colonel 
 knows I am always punctual in paying 
 my debts of honour. 
 
 Mrs. D. There are many ways of 
 paying debts of honour. _ 
 
 Countess. You are quite scurrilous, 
 Madam ; quite rude and ill-bred in your 
 observation. 
 
 Duchess. Do pray, ladies, keep your 
 tempers.
 
 OK, RAISING THE WIND. 51 
 
 Lady B. Pray, ladies, do not let 
 your warmth carry you beyond the 
 bounds of prudence. Consider that 
 all eyes are upon you, and all ears 
 open : besides, there are several visi- 
 tors quite strangers. 
 
 Mrs, D. I shall not say another syl- 
 lable, if her Ladyship will drop the 
 matter. 
 
 Countess. Some people give them- 
 selves airs, that little become them ; 
 but I shall not disturb the com- 
 pany. 
 
 Mrs. D. Some lemonade ! it grows 
 very warm, 
 
 Duchess. Well, ladies, I suppose you 
 all mean to go to the coronation.
 
 b2 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 Countess. No. I shall be otherwise 
 engaged. Mrs. D. you may perhaps be 
 desirous of the recommendation of a 
 peeress; if so, my ticket shall be at 
 your service. 
 
 Mrs. D. You are very obliging, 
 my lady ; I may, perhaps, accept your 
 offer; and if your ladyship should 
 at any time chance to have a run of 
 ill luck, my purse will be at your 
 service, and save you the trouble of 
 a jaunt to the large house in Cork- 
 street. 
 
 Duchess. Oh, monstrous! Ladies 
 I thought you had done. This shall 
 be positively the last hand 111 play. 
 Thank fortune ! the pool is out ; just 
 four-and-twenty fish ; all right, my 
 lady.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 53 
 
 Lady B. Your Grace plays with 
 your accustomed good luck. 
 
 Duchess. I win generally at qua- 
 drille, but lose at every other game. 
 
 Countess. What ! do you break up 
 so soon? it is but three o'clock; I 
 can never go to rest till five. 
 
 Duchess. Five is an excellent hour, 
 but I was up very late last night; I 
 was not in bed till seven this morn- 
 ing. Besides you see the Faro Bank 
 is breaking up. 
 
 Countess. Either the Bank or the 
 players are breaking down I perceive, 
 for all the money has vanished. 
 
 Such indeed was the case ; but 
 from the placidity of the looks, the 
 
 F
 
 54 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 graceful smiles and smooth conde- 
 scending politeness of the amiable 
 hostess, a person well acquainted with 
 her temper, might have easily guessed 
 that matters stood well with the Bank. 
 On the contrary; the contortions, 
 grimaces, sullen frowns and * gloomy 
 despair, which clouded the faces of 
 the players, even of the fairest faces 
 of the fair sex, denoted that my lady 
 
 A 's heart was no less at ease, 
 
 than their's were tortured with disap- 
 pointment and anguish : 
 
 * See yonder set of thieves that live on spoil, 
 
 " The scandal and the ruin of our isle ! 
 
 " And see (strange sight !) amid that ruffian band, 
 
 " A form divine high wave her snowy hand, 
 
 " That rattles loud a small enchanted box, 
 
 " \Vhich, loud as thunder, on the board she knocks: 
 
 " And a fierce storms, which earth's foundations 
 
 shook, 
 
 " From CEolus's cave impetuous broke, 
 *' From this small carern a mix'd tempest flies, 
 " Ftar, rage, convulsion, tears, oaths, blasphemies i
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 55 
 
 '" From men, I mean ; the fair discharges none ; 
 
 " She (guiltless creature!) swears to Heav'n alone. 
 
 " See her eyes start ! cheeks glow ! and muscles swell! 
 
 " Like the mad maid in the Cumaean cell. 
 
 " Thus that divine one her soft nights employs ! 
 
 " Thus tunes her soul to tender nuptial joys I 
 
 " And when the cruel morning calls to bed, 
 
 " And on her pillow lays her aching head, 
 
 " With her dear images her dreams are crown'd, 
 
 " The die spins lovely, or the cards go round j, 
 
 "Imaginary ruins charm her still, 
 
 " Her happy Lord's cornuted by Spadill ; 
 
 " And, if she's brought to bed, 'tis ten to one, 
 
 " He marks the forehead of her darling son." 
 
 YOUNG.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The secrets of the Faro Bank revealed, or a- 
 parallel to Peachum and JLockit's quarrel in 
 the Beggar's Optra. 
 
 THE company was no sooner with- 
 drawn, and Lady A and her 
 
 Landlord and partner, Mr. Deepdie 
 left alone, than they burst out into a 
 violent ha! ha! ha I at the expence of 
 the profligate and dissolute tribe, 
 whom they had just dismissed to the 
 pains of their pillows of thorns.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 57 
 
 " Well, Mr. Deepdie," said her 
 Ladyship, " I fancy our concern must 
 have proved a little lucrative to-night. 
 Our Pigeons were pretty fairly pluck- 
 ed ; not a feather left them to fly away 
 with ! Some of them must raise the 
 wind in Cork-street to-morrow, to get 
 fresh plumes, or I am vastly mistaken. 
 I think Messrs. Holdfast and Oripall 
 should allow us a sort of fellow-feel- 
 ing a per centage on all the grist 
 we cause to be brought to their mill ; 
 for I have seen the Duchess D 's 
 
 and the Countess D 's equipages 
 
 several times lounging about Cork- 
 street, and one may easily guess that 
 raising the wind is the principal at- 
 traction in that quarter. 
 
 Mr. Deepdie. Does your Ladyship 
 go there too? 
 
 a
 
 58 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 Lady. I ! I want no such re- 
 source. 
 
 Mr. Deepdie.NQ : but as a lender, 
 I mean. 
 
 Lady. -You ought to know me bet- 
 ter, Mr. Deepdie, than to think that 
 I pass my nights here in catching 
 gudgeons, to be so easily hooked my- 
 self. I don't carry my fish to any 
 such market, I assure you ; my At- 
 torney, Mr. Gripfast, tells me, that that 
 concern is too good a thing to last long ; 
 and that, in the end the bubble will 
 burst, when both principal and interest 
 will vanish. He looks well after his 
 own money, and he is the man for me to 
 take care of mine. The principal and 
 fifteen per cent, secured satisfy me bet- 
 ter than thirty or forty per cent, for 
 a few years, and neither one or the 
 other afterwards..
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 59 
 
 Deepdie. I am of Mr. Gripfast's 
 opinion, my lady, and think matters 
 must soon come to a wind-up in that 
 quarter. 
 
 Lady, No doubt of it. But now 
 let's to our own business, and wind 
 
 up our night's concern. 
 
 . 
 
 This precious pair of edge-tools now 
 began (like the Peachutn and Lockit 
 in the Beggar's Opera) to come to 
 book. On looking over the cash, the 
 night's account turned out as follows : 
 
 Winnings at the Faro-Bank .597 
 
 Card Money, deposited at the different,tables 18 o a 
 
 .0 O 
 
 T 
 
 K.. :. . 
 ' 
 
 Lady. There, Mr. Deepdie, there 
 areone hundred and ninety-five pounds, 
 your third share of the profits. 

 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 Deepdie. You know, my Lady, that 
 I told you at our last settlement, I 
 should thenceforward expect an equal 
 share of the profits, as I run an equal 
 risk of all losses at play. 
 
 Lady. Risk of losses at play ! Mr. 
 Deepdie ; I wonder you can talk so ri- 
 diculously. Have you not had suffi- 
 cient proof that though there may be a 
 trifling run against the Bank now and 
 then, (which, by the bye, is more 
 through policy than chance, to prevent 
 any suspicion of unfair play) yet, under 
 my management, there can be no riskf 
 Why then will you continue to talk of 
 a thing that never can happen ? 
 
 Deepdie. Well then, setting that 
 aside, my Lady, you don't seem to con- 
 sider that the house is mine.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 61' 
 
 Lady. Nor do you seem to consider, 
 Mr. Deepdie, that the establishment is 
 mine. 
 
 Deepdie. Oh ! that to be sure is very 
 expensive to your Ladyship. 
 
 Lady. That is no concern of yours, 
 nor any other person's, how I manage 
 my establishment. I keep it and 
 that's enough.. 
 
 Deepdie. I pay the taxes. 
 
 Lady. And I pay personally all the 
 slights and affronts that are thrown 
 upon the keeping a concern, like this, 
 which, for one of my rank in life, you 
 must be aware is by no means reput- 
 able. 
 
 Deepdie. What signifies rank, ray
 
 62 A MORNING IH CORK-STREET J 
 
 Lady, without riches ? It is only like 
 a pudding without suet, or a duck 
 without sage and onions, to give it a 
 relish. *ln one respect, indeed, our 
 employment may be reckoned disho- 
 nest, because, like great statesmen, we 
 ancourage those who betray their 
 friends.. 
 
 Lady. Such language, friend 
 Deepdie, any where else might turn 
 to yoar prejudice, Lear;, to bs more 
 guarded, I beg you. 
 
 Deepdie. But, my Lady, there are 
 some other matters carried on here, 
 such as the finding of refreshments, 
 and the private settlements of debts of 
 
 * See the quarrel between Peachum and Lockit 
 (such worthies as my Lady A. and Mr. Deepdie) in 
 the Beggars' Opera.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 63 
 
 honour between the two sexes, which 
 must turn to some profit, and which 
 you have never once brought into the 
 account, although you know very well 
 it was our agreement, that I was to 
 have a third share of all the business 
 transacted in this house. 
 
 Lady. This is the first time my 
 honour was ever called in question. 
 
 Deepdie. Business is at an end if 
 we once act dishonourably. 
 
 Lady. Who accuses me ? 
 Deepdie. You are warm, my Lady. 
 
 Lady. He that attacks my honour 
 attacks my livelihood and this usage, 
 Sir, is not to be borne Since yott so 
 provoke me, I will immediately shut
 
 64 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET;} 
 
 up your house take another in the 
 neighbourhood, and draw all my \m* 
 tors away to it. See how it will fare 
 with you then. 
 
 Deepdie. And I will immediately 
 blow up your character, by informing 
 the world of your management at play, 
 and how convenient some married la- 
 dies find your Ladyship's roof for pay- 
 ing, as well as incurring, debts of ho- 
 nour. Though I may not be able to 
 raise a blush on your Ladyship's face, 
 yet I will ring such a peal about your 
 Ladyship's ears as 'shall make them 
 tingle again, and not only make your 
 Ladyship afraid to show your face in 
 public, but render it infamous for any 
 one to be seen entering the door of 
 your new establishments-See how it 
 will fare with your Ladyship then.
 
 <B, RAISING THE WIND. 65 
 
 Lady. Friend, friend, we are both 
 in the wrong ; we shall be both losers 
 in the dispute ; for you know we have 
 it in our power to to ruin each 
 other. You should not be so pas- 
 sionate. 
 
 Deepdie. Nor your Ladyship so 
 provoking. 'Tis for our mutual interest 
 'tis for the interest of the world we 
 should agree. If I said any thing, my 
 Lady, to the prejudice of your charac- 
 ter, I ask pardon, 
 
 Lady. Friend Deepdie, I can for- 
 give as well as resent. Give me 
 your hand ; suspicion does not become 
 a friend. 
 
 Deepdie. I only meant to give you 
 occasion to justify yourself. 
 G
 
 06 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 Lady. Well, you shall hencefor- 
 ward have half the profits. (Aside) 
 An unconscionable old scrub. 
 
 Deepdie. My dear Lady, I am per- 
 fectly satisfied. I place the firmest 
 reliance on your honour. (Aside) A 
 cheat ! to think to do me, who have 
 done hundreds ! 
 
 Lady. But you shall not stir with- 
 out a supper and a bottle, and we'll 
 drink as a toast " May every tide 
 bring a fresh shoal of flat fish to our 
 net!" 
 
 '** In ev'ry age and clime we see, 
 
 "*' Two of a trade can ne'er agree : 
 " Each hates his neighbour for encroaching, 
 " 'Squire stigmatizes 'squire for poaching; 
 
 " Beauties with beauties are in arms, 
 " And scandal pelts eacli other's charms : 
 " Kings, too, their neighbour kings dethrone, 
 " In hope to make the' world their own :
 
 67 
 
 " But let us limit our desires, 
 ** Nor warlike beauties, kings, and 'squires: 
 " For though we both one prey pursue, 
 " There's game enough for me and you" 
 
 GAY.
 
 C8 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 On the impolicy of gaming in single, and still 
 more so in married ladies Anecdote of a titled 
 Lady, a gay seducer Thoughts on the newly 
 invented Divorce Clause in marriage settle- 
 ments Anecdotes of an extravagant, and an 
 economical female gamester The ancient fa- 
 ble of Orpheus and Eurydice The enigma 
 of Pandora's Box solved. 
 
 AFTER so tremendous a scene, (which 
 is by no means overdrawn) some re- 
 flections will naturally occur on the 
 impolicy of gambling, especially in the 
 fair sex. In vain are all maternal ad- 
 monitions to daughters on the subject 
 of concealing their passions, their ca- 
 prices, their propensities, their flights
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 69 
 
 of anger, and unevennesses of temper 
 from the other sex, previously to their 
 becoming wives, if they suffer the dis- 
 guise to be prematurely removed. The 
 gaming-tables strip off the veil, and 
 their feelings of anguish and disap- 
 pointment are visibly displayed by 
 changes of colour, biting of lips, gnaw- 
 ing the fingers' ends of gloves, twist- 
 ing the cards, convulsions of features, 
 and contortions of limbs, which destroy 
 every charm, develope all latent weak- 
 nesses or defects of the mind; and, by 
 convincing the men that they are not 
 angels within as well as without, end 
 by filling them with distrust and dis- 
 like. A nobleman, . who had been for 
 some time very ardent in his addresses 
 to a beautiful young lady, unhappily 
 too fond of these midnight orgies, a 
 failing which she had not the art or 
 prudence to conceal from hiiu, became 
 G 2
 
 70 A MORNING IS CORK-STREET ; 
 
 all at once very cool and reserved, so 
 much so as to excite suspicions thut he 
 only wanted a fair pretence to be off his 
 bargain. Being reproached with levi- 
 ty and fickleness of temper, he replied, 
 " My dear girl, you are as lovely as an 
 angel, and Kings might well be 
 proud of such a conquest ; but then 
 your whole fortune would not suf- 
 fice you for one night's bad run 
 at play ; nor me fit for a single bet 
 on my favourite race-horse at New- 
 market." Consider, ye fair ones, that 
 by the tiresome and insipid spend- 
 ing of whole days and nights in the 
 trifling and despicable employment of 
 shaking a dice-box, or shuffling, cut- 
 ting, or dealing a parcel of painted pa- 
 per, and still more by the consequent 
 anguish of keen disappointment, 
 
 " Your charms decline: the fair long vigils keep 
 "They sleep no more: Quadrille 'ha-i-tuwdire
 
 OR, RAISIN'G THE WIND. 71 
 
 * The love of gaming is the worst of ills, 
 
 * With ceaseless forms the blackeu'd soul it fills; 
 * Inveighs at Heav'n; neglects the ties of blood, 
 M Destroys thfe pow'r and will of doing good ; 
 
 " Kills health, pawns honour, plunges in disgrace, 
 " And, which Is still more dreadful spoils the face /" 
 
 There was a time, previously to the 
 vaccine inoculation, when the small 
 pox was dreaded by the fair sex*, as the 
 direst scourge that heaven could in- 
 flict upon mortals, because it threaten- 
 ed the loss of their beauty, and conse- 
 quently their power of subduing the 
 hearts of men ; but gaming and late 
 hours bring; about the same sad catas- 
 trophe, though by more slow and im- 
 perceptible degrees ; and is much 
 more fatal as proceeding from a pleas- 
 ing infatuation or intoxication of the 
 mind ; whence it may be fairly inferred 
 that for one face spoiled by the small-
 
 72 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 pox, ten have been immolated before 
 the shrines of Pam and the Goddess of 
 Fortune. 
 
 If gaming then, has such dreadful 
 effects on single ladies, on the married 
 it has still more horrible consequences, 
 as it destroys all matrimonial confi- 
 dence, peace, and happiness ; and 
 what is still more awful, it ruins the 
 innocent offspring, who, in vain look up 
 to their parents for precept, example, 
 and protection ; perhaps, by ending in 
 dishonour, taint, and entails disgrace 
 
 ' O 
 
 on the unfortunate issue. 
 
 " Oh 1 scene of horror and of wild despair ! 
 
 " Why is the rich Atrides' splendid heir 
 
 " Constraiu'd to quit his ancient lordly seat, 
 
 ' And hide his glories in a mean retreat ? 
 
 ' Why that drawn sword ? and whence that dismal 
 
 " cry ? 
 " Why pale distraction through th family ?
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 73 
 
 " See my Lord threaten, and my Lady weep, 
 
 " And trembling servants from the tempest creep. 
 
 ' Why that gay son to distant regions sent ? 
 
 " What fiends that daughter's destin'd match pre- 
 
 " vent ? 
 
 " Why the whole house in sudden ruin laid ?. 
 " O nothing! but last night my Tuadyplayd. 
 
 YOUNG. 
 
 Could virtuous woman but fore- 
 see the meannesses to which they 
 may be reduced ; the insults to which 
 .they may be compelled to submit, by 
 one single night's bad run at play, 
 how would they shrink with horror 
 from the abyss, which yawns beneath 
 their feet, ready to engulph their ho- 
 nour for ever ! 
 
 A young and beautiful woman of 
 quality advanced one night to the very 
 brink of the precipice, by losing a 
 considerable sum of money to Lord 
 I- , who had long been trying
 
 74 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 to reduce her to that extremity, in; 
 hopes of succeeding* in his infamous 
 designs against her honour. " How 
 can I apply to my Lord for so large 
 a sum ?'' exclaimed she, in bitter an- 
 guish, "having lately been so extra- 
 vagant ! he must, he will despise me.'' 
 " We can settle it between ourselves," 
 said the seducer, without his Lordship 
 ever knowing, or even suspecting the 
 matter." " But I shall know it," re- 
 joined her ladyship indignantly, " and 
 my Lord's honour is dearer to me than 
 his whole property. You have now 
 fixed my resolution ; call to-morrow 
 and you shall receive the whole of 
 your money ; but dare ever afterwards 
 to open your lips to me on any sub- 
 ject whatever," Her ladyship was 
 saved from ruin, and refrained from 
 play ever afterwards.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND ; 75 
 
 Was this lady a heroine and a 
 strictly virtuous woman? or did she 
 shrink from the fear of detection and 
 divorce, on account of not having 
 taken certain fashionable nuptial pre- 
 cautions. A clause for marriag9-set- 
 tlements has lately been invented by 
 some prudent females, by which, be- 
 sides the usual one for so many hun- 
 dreds or thousands a year for pin, 
 alias, card-money, it is stipulated that 
 an addition of some hundreds or thou- 
 sands shall be made to the former 
 sum, in case of divorce, whether the 
 gentleman or the lady be the guilty 
 party. Thus fortified against acci- 
 dents, the frequency of mm. con. cases, 
 which so often tickle the barris- 
 ters, serjearits at law, and even the 
 grave judges, in' our courts, can no 
 longer excite our astonishment. Hu-
 
 A WORMNG IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 dibras is lold by his lady, and who 
 can doubt what a lady says ? 
 
 " 'Tis we that can dispose alone, 
 
 " Whether your heirs shall be your ownj 
 
 " To whose integrity you must, 
 
 *' lu spite of all your caution, trust j 
 
 " And, Mess you fly beyond the seas, 
 
 'Can fit you with what heirs we please; 
 
 " And force youto own 'em, though begotteR 
 
 "By French valets, or Irish footmeu." 
 
 In fact, if the pin-money clause was 
 -an incitement to gambling ; the newly 
 invented Divorce clause is a provoca- 
 tive to adultery; and in either case 
 the men who submits to the one or 
 the other of them, deserves their 
 fate. 
 
 The following anecdote comes in 
 so pat here, that the reader will, per- 
 Jiaps, find amusement in the perusal 
 of it. A .certain nobleman having re-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 77 
 
 ceived a notification of an intended 
 change in the ministry, and that 
 himself, and certain of his friends, 
 were to be numbered among the 
 members of the new administration, 
 fell into such ecstacies, that, forget- 
 ting all matrimonial constraint, and 
 not having just at that moment the 
 fear of his lady-wife before his eyes, he 
 without previously consulting her, as 
 he had been commanded to do in all 
 cases whatever, ventured to trespass 
 so far against his duty, as to invite a 
 large party to dine with him, as a 
 sort of prelude to the round of cabi- 
 net dinners, which they hoped soon 
 to give and receive by turns. The 
 invitation was accepted, aud his lord- 
 ship hastened home, hoping that this 
 unusual transgression of his humble 
 IOTC and duty would be pardoned by 
 his haughty and imperious lady para-
 
 78 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 mount, in consideration of the agree- 
 able tidings, with which he intended 
 to preface it. He began, therefore, 
 with the tale of his good tidings, and 
 then, in a tremulous tone of voice 
 related the temerarious act, which he 
 had been unwittingly led to commit. 
 The former part of his narration was 
 received with smiles, and Heaven 
 beamed upon him ; but the latter part 
 overclouded the 'horizon, and such 
 darkness ensued, that the infernal 
 pit seemed to yawn beneath his feet. 
 " What ! my lord, dared you to do 
 such- a thing without consulting me 
 first?" 
 
 Lord. My lady, I could not do 
 otherwise ; being at the head of the 
 party, it was naturally expected that 
 I should be the first to open the 
 ball.
 
 * 
 
 OH, UAISING THE WIND. 79 
 
 Lady. Then, my Lord, dance to 
 what tune you please, it cannot, it 
 shall not take place in this house. 
 
 Lord. My lady you are unrea- 
 sonable. 
 
 Lady. My lord, you are unreason- 
 able to pretend to interfere with my 
 domestic arrangements. 
 
 Lord. But, on such an occasion I 
 
 Lady. The occasion fits me not, 
 and that is enough. 
 
 Lord. For what reason, my lady ? 
 
 Lady. For the very best of reasons, 
 my lord it is impossible. 
 
 Lord. How so?
 
 .. 
 80 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J- 
 
 Lady. To convince you at once ; 
 all the plate is engaged elsewhere. 
 
 Lord. That engagement may be 
 better put off than mine. 
 
 Lady. It is too late ; the plate is 
 gone. 
 
 Lord. Whither ? 
 
 Lady. To a friend's the Three 
 Blue Rails, I think they call them, 
 in Street. I have had despe- 
 rate luck at play lately ; if you had 
 informed me of your intention, I 
 should hate told you so, that you 
 might have delayed your invitation, 
 till a turn of fortune should have ena- 
 bled me to get it back again. 
 
 Lord. My lady, as a gambler, you
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 81 
 
 should have known that the Three 
 Blue Balls mean it is two to one against 
 your ever getting it back again. 
 Back it must come, however, if only 
 for a few days for this particular oc- 
 casion ; and your ladyship's jewels must 
 go to replace them. 
 
 Lady. Ha ! ha ! ha ! my lord, they 
 were gone to the same place, some 
 time before the plate. 
 
 Lord. Plague! pestilence! woman! 
 was ever man so curst ! 
 
 Lady. My clear lord, it is useless, 
 you well know, to give yourself airs, 
 and fly out into extremes with me ; if 
 you will submit to ask my advice 
 
 Lord. It will either be to hang, 
 drown, or shoot myself. 
 H 2
 
 
 
 82 A MORNING IN CORK STREET; 
 
 Lady. And the best advice too, 
 that a sensible woman can give a sense- 
 less husband ; but, if you will be 
 guided by me, you shall soon have 
 the plate again, and I m\ jewels. 
 
 Lord. Well, let's hear. 
 
 Lady. Luckily, my lord, the car- 
 riage and horses are not engaged too, 
 so you have only to set off this in- 
 stant to Messrs. Holdfast arid GripalVs 
 in Cork-street, and tell them your 
 ministerial appointment ! they are fond 
 of great folks, and will jump at the 
 idea of having a friend at Court. 
 They will soon accommodate you, 
 and you may promise them, as you 
 have promised many others, a speedy 
 day of payment, which, I prophecy, 
 will be the same with the day of judg- 
 ment.
 
 * 
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 8 
 
 Lord. You are facetious, rny 
 lady. 
 
 Is.ady.rAt the thought of so bril- 
 liant an idea. A woman's invention, 
 you know, is never at a loss. So, 
 if you try my plan, and do not mar 
 it in the execution, it will be your 
 fault, if you do not return with the 
 the p!ate and jewels in the carriage, 
 and I shall do my best to welcome 
 your cabinet friends in embryo. So 
 obey at once, and do^rt you, men - 
 
 " Like sots, suppose we have no shares , 
 " In ord'riii" you and your affairs ; 
 " When all your empire and command 
 ** You have from us at second hand ; 
 
 " We are your guardians, that increase 
 " Or waste your fortunes, as we please j 
 " And, as you humour us, can deal 
 " ID all your matters, ill pr well,"
 
 f 
 
 84 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 The plan seemed feasible. My 
 Lord drove of to Cork-street, wheedled 
 the firm with his well known oilly 
 tongue ; procured their bills ; and 
 driving off to the sign of the Three 
 Ducks, Quack! Quack! Quack! in 
 St. Paul's Church Yard, got them 
 discounted ; thence driving to the 
 
 Three Blue Balls in Street, 
 
 he returned with the plate and jewels 
 to his anxiously expecting rib. 
 
 To shew that we mean to deal on 
 the upright with the fair sex, we 
 shall pair this anecdote of an extra- 
 vagant gambling wife, with another 
 of an economical one. The lady of 
 a certain prelate (of course, not one 
 of the present day,) who was very 
 fond of card-parties , and receiving no 
 very liberal allowance from her epis- 
 copalian lord and master, entered into
 
 OR, RAISING THE WINIT. 85 
 
 a compact with the steward; who, 
 after delaying the tradespeople as 
 long as possible, paid them in bills at 
 pretty long dates. If the tradesmen 
 grumbled at taking bills, long after the 
 expiration of the usual timeof credit, the < 
 sympathising, humane) and conscienti- 
 ous steward would offer, as a matter 
 of great favour, to discount them fou 
 them, out of his own savings. The 
 offer was gratefully accepted, and af- 
 ter deducting the discount, the trades- 
 
 O * 
 
 man received the balance, and gene- 
 rally complimented the obliging stew- 
 ard with a guinea extra for his kind- 
 ness. Now we add, that the steward 
 was supplied with money by his Lady 
 for the purpose, and that she received 
 the discount as a decent addition to her 
 card-money. 
 
 The ancient poets feigned that CV-
 
 A MORNINti IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 pheus descended into the regions be- 
 low to beg grim Pluto to restore to his 
 longing arms his deceased wife Eury- 
 dice. Had the lady been a gamester, 
 Orpheus, like any modern husband, 
 would have enjoyed himself here, and 
 left his wife to be merry merry 
 there, with the rest of Madam Proser- 
 pine's night-loving coterie ; for she 
 would not have been worth the trouble 
 of going after, much less of bringing 
 back to earth again to finish her round 
 of c&rd-parties : 
 
 Of all the evils that this life e'er curst, 
 A female gamester is the very worst} 
 Her face by fashion spoilt her mind by vice, 
 Pandora's box was but a box of dice. 

 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 87 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Why gaming has worse effects on the middling 
 than on the higher classes of Society Stock- 
 Exchange Gambling A colony of Greeks 
 emigrates from the West to the East end of 
 the Town, but is soon put tojlight Sunday 
 Gaming Houses Their immense profits- 
 Tradesmen of the past and present day con- 
 trastedThe wind-up of the latter. 
 
 IF the nobility and great folks only 
 were preyed upon by Greeks and 
 Usurers, we should content ourselves 
 with saying " Let them reap the 
 fruits of their follies and vices." " Pal-
 
 8 A MORNING IN CORK-STREEt ; 
 
 mam qui meruit, feral," 1 ' which we 
 translate, " Who palms the cards, let 
 him bear the consequences." There are 
 scarcely any of them, who are more 
 than tenants for life of their family es- 
 tates, so that their heirs enter upon the 
 enjoyment of their successions freed 
 from all incumbrances, and are fully 
 protected by entails against the evil 
 propensities of their fathers. It is on 
 the middling and lower classes that 
 these pests of society commit the most 
 dreadful depredations and havoc ; here 
 the follies or vices of the fathers are 
 visited upon the unprotected issue, to 
 the next and succeeding generations, 
 in a long series of miseries indiscrib- 
 able. A country gentleman or trader, 
 who may be a man of considerable 
 property, although a little pushed for 
 cash on a certain emergency, as will 
 happen to,, the most wary of men
 
 Oil, RAISING THE WIND. 89 
 
 'through life, who all have dealings of 
 some kind or other, if he be but once 
 tempted, in order to get rid of a tem- 
 porary embarrassment, to set foot in a 
 Hell or a cut-up (discounting shop), 
 may, and in all human probability will, 
 beggar himself and family before he 
 perceives the gulph which yawns be- 
 neath his feet. Bankers and merchants 
 are scarcely ever seen at any of the 
 Hells at the west end of the town, but 
 then they, too, are engaged in the most 
 extensive and destructive species of 
 gambling, that this, or any other coun- 
 try, ever practised stock-jobbing and 
 time-bargains* A colony of the 
 
 * That the furor -insanus of gambling lias tainted 
 with its diabolical spirit the sober Cits of the Stock 
 Exchange -, that its dulls and bears are nothing 
 more than the legs of elsewhere ; and that they are 
 
 I
 
 00 A MORNING IN COUK-ST11EET ; 
 
 Greeks at the west end of the town, 
 longing to pluck some of the fat pi- 
 geons of the east end breed, lately emi- 
 grated and established a Hell in the 
 very neighbourhood of the Bank of 
 England and the Stock Exchange, (a 
 rare stand for a riffle shot !) where 
 
 equally as ingenious in devising games of chance to 
 make lame ducks waddle, as the others are in pluck- 
 vaf pigeons, the following circumstance will evince : 
 A Committee of the Stock Exchange met on Mon- 
 day (Dec. 10, 1821) for the purpose, it is said, of abo- 
 lishing a system of gambling, known by the name of 
 " Putts and Calls," and they came to a resolution, 
 that any member, in future, guilty of this offence t 
 should be expelled the house. This has excited the 
 disapprobation of a number of the members, and re- 
 port states, that a schism is likely to be the result; 
 and that it is in contemplation to erect a new Stock 
 Exchange; and, further, that a considerable sum is 
 already subscribed for that purpose. 
 
 Quere. If a similar resolution of expulsion for gam- 
 bling might not purge another house of many gam- 
 bling vote-selling members ?
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND ; 91 
 
 they were carrying a snug run of busi- 
 ness, until a merchant's clerk, a \ouno; 
 
 j * * o 
 
 man of good abilities and expectations, 
 being pi ucked rather too unmercifully, 
 peached the concern. The master in- 
 stituted a legal prosecution, and the 
 cove of the ken was lined in penalties 
 to a large amount ; but he took Might 
 to the continent, with the pigeon's fea- 
 thers he had industriously collected, 
 and eluded the punishment, to which 
 his adventurous spirit would have sub- 
 jected him by the rigor of dull, unfeel- 
 ing law ever an enemy to men of su- 
 blime talents. Being thus baulked in 
 their hopes of forming a trading mono- 
 poly in the heart of the metropolis, 
 they hit upon the admirable scheme of 
 opening the west end Hells on Sun- 
 days,* for the humane and religious 
 
 * Ou the prosecution of the King against Fielder,
 
 S2 A MOUSING IN CORK -STREET J 
 
 purpose of keeping bankers r and mer- 
 chants' clerks out of bad company on- 
 the Sabbath day ! I To prevent their 
 misemploying their own, or their mas- 
 ters' loose cash, in parading the streets 
 in the day, arm in arm, with their 
 cJieres ameres, or being seen stagger- 
 ing through them in the evening in a 
 fuddled condition, the pious Greeks 
 opened their Sunday Schools, which 
 have turned to a good account, and 
 taught many a Johnny Raw wisdom 
 by experience ! 
 
 Yes, it is a fact, a glaring fact, that 
 in spite of the police, and of the So- 
 ciety for the Suppression of Vice and 
 
 the door-keeper, Robert Oldfield swore, that be- 
 tween the 29th of March, and the 14th of April, the 
 play had been carried on even on Sunday nights.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 93 
 
 Immorality, there are Hells, well known 
 as Sunday Houses, both in Jermyn- 
 street and Bury-street, with several 
 others, where the officiating High 
 Priests are more regular in their at- 
 
 o 
 
 tendance on duty, than many Dandy 
 Preachers are on their flocks ; so 
 much more eager are men in the pur- 
 suit of vice, than in the practice of 
 virtue and piety! 
 
 It was the opinion of the late Lord 
 Chief Justice Kenyon, and of Mr. 
 Justice Bayley, that the only certain 
 method of putting down gambling- 
 houses was to publish the names of 
 those persons who frequented them, 
 and an account ^f the shocking oc- 
 currences which hourly take place in 
 them. But how would the mind of 
 a truly consciencious man revolt at 
 finding, among the names of these 
 i2
 
 94 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 frequenters, men of the very highest, 
 as well as the very lowest, rank from 
 the top of NOBILITY, down to the very 
 sink of MOBILITY Dukes, Marquises, 
 Earls, Viscounts, Barons, Baronets, 
 Esquires, Officers in the navy and 
 army, Professional men, Artists, Par- 
 sons, Cproh pudor! ) insolvent Trades- 
 men, Bankers', merchants' and trades- 
 mens' Clerks, Greeks, Trojans, Black- 
 legs, swinders, thieves, &c.* down to 
 the very lowest dregs of mankind, and 
 the outcasts of all other societies ; 
 all commingled and identified in one 
 undistinguished mass, and all follow- 
 ing the same criminal pursuits, in de- 
 fiance of the laws of their country ! 
 How w r ould it shrink back upon itself 
 
 * Hayward, lately executed at Ilie Old Bailey, 
 confessed that he was a frequenter of many of these 
 Hells.
 
 OR, RAIISNG THE WIND. 9-3 
 
 with astonishment and disgust at be- 
 holding the list at this moment lying 
 before us of more than two hundred 
 names of men of rank, (we wish we 
 could add, ' and respectability,') to 
 which is appended, like the trinkets to 
 a watch, a host of Legs of the deep- 
 est jet black Day and Martin's 
 black ! What horror would their re- 
 lations and friends (unable to prevent 
 perhaps unsuspicious of their nefa- 
 rious pursuits) feel at beholding their 
 names thus " damned to everlasting 
 fame" or rather shame ! But, ac- 
 cording to the motto held out in our 
 title-page, " Admonere, vodtmnus^ 
 plusquam mordere ; prodesse, non Ice- 
 dere ; corrigere mores hominum ;" we 
 wish to admonish rather than to bite ;. 
 to do good, not to harm ; to correct 
 the morals of mankind.
 
 f)6 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 As to the police officers, what good 
 can be expected to be derived through 
 their means, if it be true, as has been 
 asserted, that forty or fifty pounds per 
 week have been paid for bunging 
 up their peepers'! And if the noto- 
 rious informer, Bob Holloway, has 
 extracted from them various sums, 
 amounting to from eight to twelve hun- 
 dred pounds, what must be the pro- 
 fits of these Hells to supply such con- 
 tinual drains from their pockets? 
 And yet we have heard from high 
 authority, that four minor concerns 
 branch banks of the old standing firmsj 
 established only within a year past, 
 have netted, during that short space 
 of time, 25,000 each, or 100,000 
 between them ! 
 
 As to Tradesmen ! there was a 
 time, about fifty or sixty years ago, 
 

 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND* 97 
 
 when the following portraiture was a 
 faithful and correct likeness of one. 
 " A thriving tradesman was almost as 
 stationary as his shop; he might at all 
 limes be found there ; 'keep your 
 shop, and your shop will keep you,' 
 was a maxim continually in his mind. 
 Born within the sound of Bow bell, 
 he rarely ventured out of it, except, 
 perhaps, once or twice in a summer, 
 when he indulged his wife and family 
 with an expedition to Edmonton or 
 llornsey. On this occasion, the whole 
 family, dressed in their Sunday's 
 clothes, were crowded together in a 
 landau or coach hired for the day. 
 On Easter or Whitsunday he might 
 likewise treat himself to a ride ou a 
 Moorfields hack, hired at eighteen, 
 pence a side, through what was then 
 called the Cuckold's Round. If in 
 holiday time a friend was invited to
 
 OS A MOUSING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 dinner, which was not often the case, 
 his fare was a large plum pudding, 
 with a loin of veal, the fat spread on 
 a toast, well- sauced with melted but- 
 ter, a buttock of beef, or, if the 
 guest was of the Common Council, 
 possibly a ham and chickens. The 
 drink was elder or raisin wine, made 
 by his wife, and strong ale in a silver 
 tankard. The meat was brought up 
 on new-scoured pewter ; the appren- 
 tice cleaned the best knives, and the 
 maid, with her hands before her, 
 waited at table, serving every guest 
 with a low courtesy. His wife was 
 drest in her best silk damask gown, 
 with flowers as large as a fire-shovel, 
 and so stiff, that it would have stood 
 alone probably left her by her mother 
 or grandmother. 
 
 " These tradesmen paid their bills
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. C9 
 
 when due, and would have consi- 
 dered themselves ruined if a banker's 
 runner called twice for a draft ; and 
 after going through all" parish or 
 ward offices, as well as those of their 
 company, terminated their days in a 
 rural retirement at Turnham Green, 
 Hackney, or Clapham Common; from 
 thence they could now and then take 
 a trip in their one horse chaise to visit 
 the shop, where they had acquired 
 their fortune. The daughters of these 
 men were taught all kinds of needle- 
 work ; and, at a certain age, were 
 initiated into all the culinary secrets 
 of the family, preserved in a manu- 
 script handed down from their great 
 grandmother. The sons, instead of 
 losing their time in an imperfect ac- 
 quisition of a little Latin, were well 
 grounded in Cocker's and Wingate's
 
 100 A MORNING IN COftTK-STRERY ; 
 
 Arithmetic, and perfect adepts in the 
 Rule of Three and Practice." 
 
 Mark the contrast within the last 
 twenty years ! A tradesman seldom 
 sees his shop (which is. entrusted 
 wholly to apprentices, clerks, and 
 journeymen) but once a week on 
 the Saturday morning-'-to look at 
 tlie balance and touch the ready. 
 On the othen days, he drives about 
 the country in. his gig (humourously 
 styled a bankrupt cart) or mounts his 
 bit of blood to follow the hounds some 
 miles from London. On Sunday, he 
 sports his figure in Rotten Roiv, and 
 if his family accompanies him, they 
 occupy a barouche or glass coach. 
 If company falls in, for it is his pride 
 to keep open house, he affects the 
 bon vivant ; a dinner consists of three 
 or four courses on plate, or at least,
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 101 
 
 the most costly china, of fish, fowl, 
 (including game) and flesh ; a remove 
 of pastry, and a desert of the rarest 
 fruits. Sherry is drank at dinner, 
 and Port, Claret, and Madeira after- 
 wards. The female servants approach 
 no farther than the door with each 
 course, which is there received by 
 one, or perhaps a couple of male 
 servants, who lounge about the room 
 laughing, cracking jokes, and making 
 observations on the guests, rather than 
 
 O ' 
 
 waiting upon them. The wife beg 
 pardon the lady of the house, ap- 
 pears in tawdry finery, and affects 
 all the petitesses, without the least 
 spice of the true dignity, of a wo- 
 man of birth and quality. When 
 bills become due, it is " Gone into 
 the country" " Call again to-mor- 
 row.'* u A week hence.'' To be pnnc- 
 tual is beneath the man of fashion. 
 K
 
 102 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 If he serves any office, it is with the 
 view not of performing his trust well, 
 but of fingering the ready, stopping 
 a .gap, and putting off the day of 
 execution and judgment. Besides his 
 town house, he has his country house, 
 or, perhaps, a sporting-box, which oc- 
 casions him to take out a game-license 
 and turn cockney sportsman. If^he 
 has daughters, they are sent to a 
 fashionable seminary, where they are 
 taught nothing but what thay had 
 better been ignorant of at least for 
 some years. The sons are sent to a 
 stylish academy, where they learn 
 every thing but what they should 
 know ; they go out ignorant block- 
 heads and come back conceited fools. 
 The wind-up is, that the father 
 becomes bankrupt; the wife and 
 daughters town - traders ; the sons 
 Greeks, Fancy-sivells, Conveyancers
 
 .. 
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND ; 103 
 
 (pickpockets), or Cracksmen (house 
 breakers), and the New Drop is the 
 last drop they ever take. 
 
 But how is this game kept alive? 
 By paper-trash bills and accomo- 
 dation - bills, drawing, re-drawing, 
 and at times tr^A-drawing. The 
 aliqni appetens does not more natu- 
 rally lead a thief to the gallows, than 
 the sui prqfusus, in every rank of 
 life, urges to the paper-trade) and 
 thence to the bill discounters, perhaps 
 to a Morning's walk to Messrs. Hold- 
 fast and Gripall's in Cork-street.
 
 104 
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET- 
 
 CHAPTER VIIT. 
 
 Anecdote of a, French Physician and a Fa- 
 shionable Female Parallel between them and 
 an English Greek and a Greenhorn On 
 the danger of old or new acquaintances 
 Setters and decoy ducks The history of Mr. 
 Wellby, a King's Bench prisoner Falls in 
 with a Decoy Is let into BILL-DOING A 
 fashionable dinner and amusements - De- 
 scription of a Greek's lodging, library, and 
 wardrobe A morning's whet, and BOOKING 
 at Tattersairs Betting Room. 
 
 IT being fashionable in France, as in 
 many other countries, to be attended 
 by a physician, for form sake, a lady
 
 OR, RAIISNC, THE WIND. 105 
 
 sent for one of the most eminent, 
 not for science, but for ranking a 
 a number of the hatit ton in the list 
 of his daily patients ; and who, after 
 the usual preliminaries and feeling 
 the pulse, &c. put the general ques- 
 tions : 
 
 " How is your appetite, Madam ?*' 
 
 " Never better/' 
 
 " And your spirits ?" 
 
 " Charming." 
 
 " Do you sleep well T' 
 
 " The usual round." 
 
 " Eh, Madam," said the Physician, 
 *' je vous oteraitout cela" 1 will soon 
 cure you of all that. 
 
 K2
 
 100 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 A Greenhorn, who comes to Lon- 
 don raw from the country, and be- 
 cause it is the fashion, or he is so- 
 licited thereto by a fashionable ac- 
 quaintance, enters one of the Hells^- 
 ready primed (Bacchi plenus) and 
 loaded (with Bank notes) is exactly 
 in the same situation as the French, 
 lady ; and the je vous oterai tout cela 
 of the physician would come equally 
 as apropos from the mouth of the 
 Greek to the greenhorn I will soon 
 ease you of all that (his Bank paper 
 repletion). 
 
 Young men of fortune, in posses- 
 sion or expectancy, should be parti- 
 cularly cautious, on their first setting 
 foot on the slippery pave of London, 
 how they renew their old school ac- 
 quaintance, or how they form any new 
 ones. The boy, whose frank and open
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 107 
 
 demeanour was admired, may, in the 
 interval, through unforeseen circum- 
 stances, or by his passions having 
 had free scope to develope themselves, 
 or by falling into bad company, have 
 become first the dupe, and then the 
 sly, wily, insidious tool of Greeks and 
 swindlers; and new acquaintances 
 should, in every event, like new fowl- 
 ing pieces, be tried and proved, be- 
 fore they are ventured upon. 
 
 Young men dressed out in all the 
 acme of fashion of imposing man- 
 ners and fascinating address, act the 
 parts of setters and decoys., and pa- 
 rade the streets of Lpndon, solely 
 with the view of picking up school, 
 college, or country acquaintances of 
 fortune, or of insinuating- themselves 
 into the good graces of strangers of 
 wealthy appearance. A credit is
 
 108 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 blished for them at one of the fashion- 
 able hotels, to which fhey decoy their 
 victims, to be immolated by ihe Sigh 
 Priests, who there superintend the 
 sacrifices. It was by similar arts that 
 
 poor \'!r C , a young man of 
 
 considerable fortune, was decoyed into 
 the snare, and induced to draw bills 
 upon bills, for vast sums of which 
 he had been greeked, upon some of 
 which he was eventually thrown into 
 the King's Bench prison, where he 
 remained destitute of a single shilling, 
 until death kindly relieved him at the 
 premature age of twenty-three. But 
 as the case of this unfortunate young 
 gentleman has been rendered public 
 by an action at law brought against 
 his administratrix upon some of those 
 bills, we shall not repeat it here. 
 A story, however, which we had from 
 the mouth of another young gen-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 100 
 
 tleraan, now in the King's Bench, is 
 so pat lo the purpose, that we shall 
 give it exactly as he told it. 
 
 On my first arrival in London, as 
 I was sauntering through the Albany, 
 I was met by Jack Lovell, an old 
 school acquaintance, who seemed 
 equally glad to see me, as I was to 
 meet him again. To the usual in- 
 terrogatories after my family and my 
 business in town, I answered that 
 my father had been dead nearly three 
 years, that I was just come of age 
 and to the possession of a handsome 
 property, and that my business in 
 Town was merely to see a little of 
 the world ; the King and the Lions 
 in the Tower; the Parliament House, 
 and Cross's menagerie. He proposed 
 spending the day together, to which 
 I readily assented. " A-propos /" he
 
 110 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 cried, " we could not have met more 
 opportunely. I am engaged to dine 
 with a party of high fellows to-day 
 of rank I can assure you, and I can 
 take the liberty of introducing you, as 
 I know you will be heartily welcome. 
 But I have a little business -first to 
 transact here close by in Cork-street 
 no secret you may as well accom- 
 pany me to the Bill-discounters, whi- 
 ther I am going to raise the wind> 
 till I receive my next quarterly al- 
 lowance. Your old father was a rea- 
 sonable man, and died in good time 
 for you ; but mine, an unconscionable 
 old put! lives beyond all moderation, 
 without considering what a devilish 
 expence he puts his heir to in raising 
 money upon post-obits." 
 
 We entered the house together. 
 Jack had some little private conver-
 
 Oil, RAISING THE WIND. Ill 
 
 sation with one of the firm, and then 
 advanced towards me with a smiling 
 
 
 
 air " My dear friend," said he, " my 
 business will be done ; but these d d 
 bill discounters stand so much upon 
 security ; they are satisfied with my 
 own but then they say, in case I 
 should die before my father, they wish 
 to have some friend to join we. - 
 I knew I could make free with you, 
 so I mentioned who you were, and 
 they readily agreed. You will only 
 have to sign your name with mine to 
 a bill for a trifle ; you need take no 
 account of it, as I shall be sure to 
 take it up, and you will hear no more 
 of it." 
 
 Unhackneyed as I was in the shuf- 
 fling tricks of Dandyism, and willing 
 to serve a friend in so mere a trifle as 
 that of writing my name, I swallowed
 
 112 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 the bait hook and all and thus 
 was I first struck, according to the 
 slang of the Greek Lexicon. Jack 
 touched the cash, and walked off high- 
 ly delighted. 
 
 " You see,'' said he, " what a hell- 
 ish expense these old fathers put us 
 young heirs to, by living so long 300 
 for 200 ; but his doctor, with whom 
 I keep up a constant correspondence, 
 writes me that he is upon his last 
 legs -that's my only comfort." 
 
 As I took this sally to proceed from 
 levity rather than any bad ness of heart, 
 I passed it off as a joke, and we 
 lounged about Bond -street, where 
 Jack amused me by his anecdotes of 
 many people of fashionable appear- 
 ance, as they passed by, to several of 
 whom he nodded or spoke so fami-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 113 
 
 liarly, as to give me a high opinion 
 of his consequence. I observed some 
 winks pass between them ; but as I 
 -never imagined they could concern 
 myself, they excited no suspicions 
 whatever. 
 
 .Near the dinner hour, we met the 
 
 party, consisting of Lord L , Sir 
 
 Mark M , a milling and fox-hunt- 
 ing parson, a half-pay Colonel, and 
 Tom Shiftier, alias Brazen Tom. 
 Whilst we were waiting for dinner, 
 the Parson told us how he had broke 
 cover t and stolen away from his pa- 
 rishioners, upon hot scent of a fat 
 living, the incumbent of which was 
 
 C 7 
 
 not expected to live from day to day ; 
 and if he could but get a mew holloa 
 of the Earl of Bumperwell, in whose 
 gift it was, he would open such a sharp 
 burst upon him, he had no doubt, when
 
 114 A MORNING IN CORK STREET; 
 
 the incumbent was earthed, he should 
 be in at the death, as his Lordship 
 and he had been at College, and had 
 run many a bitch-fox to cover toge- 
 ther." 
 
 The Colonel boasted of his many 
 feats in the fields of Mars and Venus 
 ( Tarn Marti quam Mer curio) ; and 
 Brazen Tom related how he had 
 sailed into the very jaws of the bailiffs, 
 and given them the go-by for ten years 
 last past, without being once har- 
 pooned. " My whole fortune," added 
 he, " consisted at first but of a younger 
 brother's portion 5,000, which I 
 spent in the very first year ; and I 
 have since contrived to get 15,000 
 in debt, and now live upon my face, 
 which will still pass current -every 
 where, but with the d d lawyers,
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 115 
 
 who prefer gold to brass, though they 
 owe their living to the latter." 
 
 This conversation lasted till dinner 
 was dished up, which was succeeded 
 by a variety of wines of all vintages, 
 by way of prime and load. A series 
 of amusements were now introduced, 
 pour passer le terns, such as, Even and 
 Odd for twenty A Maggot Race for 
 thirty Pitching in a Tumbler for 
 forty guineas Hiding the horse A 
 match for a dog fight bets on the 
 Derby, Oaks, Riddlesworth, &c. Al- 
 though I was quite a stranger to these 
 polite and maw/t/amusements, 1 thought 
 it would be imputed to a want of 
 money or spirit (both alike galling to 
 an aspiring youth) not to enter into 
 the humour of the thing ; so I bore a 
 part, and was allowed to come off
 
 116 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 twenty guineas winner, by way of a 
 stimulus a provocative. 
 
 Supper was ordered at a late hour, 
 when I desired to withdraw, apolo- 
 gizing that I had not informed the 
 the people of the house, where I 
 lodged that I should stay late out, and 
 that they might sit up waiting for 
 me, and, perhaps, be alarmed lest 
 some accident might have befallen 
 me. This apology created a loud 
 laugh at my simplicity and rustic no- 
 tions, and raised a blush on my face; 
 but Jack sided with me, alleging 
 that it was excusable, as I was raw 
 upon the Town ; but that he would 
 take care in future that I should 
 learn fashionable hours. I was per- 
 mitted to retire, after promising to 
 meet the same party at the Baronet's
 
 OH, RAISING THE WIND. 117 
 
 the next day, for a seven o'clock din- 
 ner. Jack took my address and pro- 
 mised to row me up the next morn- 
 ing, and take breakfast with me. 
 
 Jack was as good as his word, and 
 called the next morning before I was 
 out of my nest. lie appeared drowsy, 
 slovenly, and dirty, as if he had not 
 been in bed for the night. Such he 
 informed me was really the cae; and 
 he lamented that I should have lost 
 the enjoyment of so high a spree as 
 they had been in on the preceding 
 night, or rather morning, as they had 
 got into a prime lark, and all been 
 in the watch-house together. I by no 
 means regretted losing such a plea- 
 sure, and ordered breakfast, which 
 my friend seemed to enjoy heartily 
 lacing his tea with brandy, and 
 devouring eggs, slices of ham mid 
 L 2
 
 118 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 hung beef, as if he had been tuck' 
 ing-in for a wager. I then ac- 
 oompanied him in a jarvey, as he 
 called it, to his apartments, that he 
 might repair the disorder in his dress. 
 It was a front room with a recess for a 
 bed, on a shabby second floor at a 
 green-grocer's, in North Audley-street ; 
 but then it was in the neighbour- 
 hood of Grosvenor-square, which} he 
 observed, sounded big, and was quite 
 sufficient for the purpose he wanted 
 it to hold his togs and traps, as he 
 always lived at an hotel, and scarcely 
 ever roosted there of a night. 
 
 Jack's library, if such it may be 
 termed, contained few, but select books : 
 A Racing Calendar A Sporting 
 Magazine Gard and Demoivre on 
 Odds and Chances Hoyle's Games 
 White's Farriery and Grose's
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND- 11D" 
 
 Slang Dictionary, alias the Greek 
 Lexicon. , His practical study con- 
 sisted of some packs of cards, very 
 dirty a draught and back-gammon 
 board dice-box, &c. The room re- 
 sembled an old cloathes-shop : box 
 and great-coats, hunting and shooting* 
 jackets, coats, waistcoats, under-waist- 
 coats, overalls, leathers, gaiters, boots, 
 shoes, chaise and jockey whips, 
 clothes' and shoe brushes, strewed 
 the floor in such indescribable con-^ 
 fusion, that one could not stir a step 
 without treading upon some or other 
 of those articles. There was stock 
 sufficient, as Jack observed, to rig 
 out half-a-dozen of men of the Ton, 
 or of the to:cn cestegal! 
 
 After Jack had selected his turn-out 
 for the day, and decorated himself 
 to his perfect satisfaction, which oc.-
 
 120 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 Cupied nearly three hours (as he 
 brushed his own clothes and japanned 
 his own shoes, to prevent being bored 
 and quizzed by a rascally valet, for 
 whom he had no manner of occasion, 
 as the servants of the hotels did all 
 the menial offices he stood in need of,) 
 we set off, and lounged up and down 
 Bond street, for an hour or two, when 
 we entered Long's Hotel, as Jack com- 
 plained of a nausea at his stomach, pro- 
 ceeding from his last night's debauch 
 and want of sleep. There we met with 
 Lord L. (by chance, no doubt !) and sat 
 down to broiled bones, and devilled 
 kidneys and gizzards, as a sort of in- 
 troduction to Imperial punch. Some 
 other sprigs of Jack's fashionable ac- 
 quaintance dropped in, and the usual 
 routine of tossing up, odd or even, and 
 laying wagers ensued for a time, when 
 we all sat off for Tattersall's Betting-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 121 
 
 room, where I was booked for some 
 bets on the ensuing races with Lord 
 L. although I knew just as much of 
 the matter as the horses themselves 
 did. I wished, however, not to let my 
 ignorance appear, and thought to con- 
 ceal it by affecting the airs of a know- 
 ing one ; but I soon experienced the 
 truth of Butlers maxim, that 
 
 Fools are k nown by looking -wise, 
 
 " As men catch woodcock* by their eyes."
 
 122 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Continuation and conclusion of Mr. Wellby's 
 history Two Titled GreeksTheir scienti- 
 fic manoeuvres A little more Bill-doing 
 The King's Bench Prison, which we must 
 all come to, if times don't mend. 
 
 JUST before the appointed time, we 
 arrived at Sir Mark M.'s. The whole 
 of the dinner-party of the preceding 
 day, and some fresh faces, were assem- 
 bled; but Sir Mark was not come home. 
 The guests, on our arrival, were en- 
 gaged in the usual amusements of 
 games of chance, and I could not help
 
 01, RAISINS THE WIND. 12S 
 
 observing, from their boisterous mirth, 
 that they seemed to consider it rather a 
 house of equivocal fame, or a com- 
 mon gambling house, than the man- 
 sion of a person of ran k. The dinner- 
 hour was long past, and the party was 
 become rather impatient ; when the 
 host arrived, accompanied by a jolly 
 groom-like looking man, whose coarse 
 manners did not belie his appearance, 
 and whom I took for some country te- 
 nant ; little did I then imagine that he 
 was a sheriff's officer, who had the 
 guardianship of the Baronet's person. 
 After making an apology for being 
 detained on business of the utmost im- 
 portance, the Baronet ordered the din- 
 ner to be instantly served up ; and the 
 company being pretty full of the inspi- 
 ration of the god (Bacchus,) the form- 
 er sports were re-commenced with in- 
 creased spirit. I was not so lucky on
 
 124 A MORNINO IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 this as on the preceding evening, beiug 
 struck for a brace of hundreds ; but as 
 I saw others .lose much greater suras 
 with a perfect sang froid, I was the 
 cfirst to make a jest of my losses. It 
 tiever once entered into my imagina- 
 tion, that the greater part of the com- 
 pany were Greeks, acting in colleague, 
 and working together ; and that their 
 winnings and losings were only a feint 
 to blind myself and a few other green- 
 horns. 
 
 I afterwards learned that Lord L. and 
 the Baronet rowed together in the same 
 boat, their circumstances being pretty 
 nearly alike both of them dished, and 
 reduced to live, like birds of prey, upon 
 the occasional pigeons whom Jack Lo- 
 vell, their decoy, brought under their 
 talons. Men of fortune, at their outset 
 in life, generally belong to all the
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 12-") 
 
 clubs the Albion Arthur's Alfred 
 Boodle's Brookes's Cocoa-tree 
 White's the Jockey and the Four-in- 
 Hand ; they are adepts in the ma- 
 nagement of the ribbons, and connois- 
 v seurs in the costume of coachmen, as 
 well in dress as manners ; can make 
 up and palm off a horse for ten times 
 its value ; are deep in all games of 
 chance ; can plant bets and hedge 
 off; up to a throw over or a cross ; 
 tell the odds upon a race, a mill, or 
 a cock-fight ; and would run in debt 
 with every one, (who had faith,) and 
 pay no one ; in short, that though 
 my Lord was protected by his privilege 
 of peerage, yet the Baronet, not being 
 so fortunately born, was at that mo- 
 ment in " durance vile ;" his property 
 all sold off; his horses and carriage 
 hired, as also his ready-furnished house; 
 and that the dinner, of which we had 
 M
 
 126 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 just partook, had been ordered from an 
 hotel, and would, probably, never be 
 paid for, the Baronet being in training 
 for a three months' rustication in Ab- 
 bot's Preserve,* whence he would come 
 out whitewashed as pure as virgin 
 snow, and commence the war de novo 
 in higher style than ever. 
 
 But why enter into a disgusting de- 
 tail, when you may well see that I was 
 in the High-road to Ruin, and hasten- 
 ing to the same bourn as the Baronet, 
 though from very different principles 
 he from knavery, I from folly : suffice 
 it to say that, at the end of two months, 
 after being thoroughly tainted with the 
 profligate morals of my associates, I was 
 about 10,000/. minus. What then ? my 
 Lord and the Baronet lounged through 
 
 * King's Bench.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 127 
 
 Bond-street with me, and I thought it 
 an honour to be seen arm-in-arm with 
 two titled scoundrels. 
 
 About that time, my friend Jack 
 called on me one morning, and, in ra- 
 ther a careless manner, said to me, 
 " What d'ye think ? I have received a 
 letter from a rascally lawyer, to inform 
 me that our bill in Cork-street is due, 
 and that we must either call there and 
 settle it, or a writ will be issued against 
 us. My last quarter's allowance I was 
 obliged to devote to debts of honour, 
 can you assist me with the trifle ?' J As 
 this was the very first insult of the kind 
 ever offered to myself or any of my fami- 
 ly within my knowledge, and feeling ra- 
 ther sore at my late losses, I betrayed 
 some resentment, and peevishly re- 
 minded him of his solemn promise, that 
 I should have no trouble about it.
 
 128 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 " True," rejoined he ; "I did so : ho- 
 nour is my motto, and I will ever stick 
 by it. Only take the trouble to step 
 with me to Cork-street; Messrs. Hold- 
 fast and Gripall are quite gentlemen, 
 and will easily be prevailed upon to renew 
 the bill, till such time as I shall be able 
 to take it up/' Fool as I was, I con- 
 sented, and accompanied him, where the 
 proposal was readily acceded to. Jack 
 touched another hundred, and we signed 
 a joint note for five hundred thus re- 
 ceiving 300 for 500 /. 
 
 " Some with a noise, and greasy light, 
 " Aresnapt, as men catch larks by night; 
 " Ensnar'd and hamper'd by the soul, 
 "As nooses by their legs catch fowl : 
 " Some with a med'cine and receipt, 
 " Are drawn to nibble at the bait ; 
 "And though it be a two- feet trout, 
 " 'Tis with a single hair pull'd out." 
 
 Hudibras.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 129 
 
 I now hinted to Jack an intention of 
 returning to the country, and by eco- 
 nomy making good the breach, which 
 my late losses had made in my fortune ; 
 but he laughed heartily at the idea. 
 " You will surely not be so chicken- 
 hearted/' said he, "as to give in for 
 such a trifle." Play on, my boy, with 
 more spirit, and one bold push may 
 more than retrieve all your ill luck. 
 He who plays continually, losing one 
 night and winning another, will find 
 that he neither loses nor wins at the 
 year's end it will be all the same 
 thing/' He spoke true enough ; it 
 was all the same thing with him ; or, 
 rather all the odds were in his favour ; 
 as without a shilling to lose, (so I after- 
 wards discovered,) he continued to live 
 stylishly upon other people's property. 
 But a much stronger argument than 
 Jack's rhetoric was that, from motive* 
 M 3
 
 130 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 of false delicacy, I could not bear the 
 idea of returning to my native home, 
 and, by retrenchment of the usual fa- 
 mily style of living, confessing to the 
 neighbouring gentry my past folly and 
 embarrassed circumstances. The bare 
 thought of it cut me to the very soul, 
 so I resolved to take Jack's advice, and 
 make a bold push. 
 
 I did so, and I was ruined past all 
 retrieve ! I was conducted by my friend 
 to the Hell in St. James's-square. In 
 proportion as my losses there increased, 
 so did my desperation ; and my visits 
 to Cork-street were repeated, until 1 
 received their dreadful ultimatum 
 they could do no more, and must have 
 an immediate settlement. 
 
 "So comes the reck'ning, when the banquet's o'er,. 
 " The dreadful reck'ning and men smile no 
 more."
 
 OR, RAISING THE TTIN&. 131 
 
 Soon, very soon, the Harpooners be- 
 set my lodgings ; and in that, to me, 
 dreadful predicament, I applied to Jack, 
 by letter, to send me the 6001. which 
 Messrs. Holdfast and Gripall had in- 
 cluded in my account, either as a debt, 
 or a loan ; but my letter was brought 
 back to me unopened^ with a verbal 
 message from the people of the house 
 where he had lodged, that Mr. Lovell 
 was gone to the Continent with Lord 
 L. and Sir Mark M ., and that it was 
 very uncertain when he might return. 
 I was now let into the grand secret of 
 da ndyis m d ra w re-d ra w w i t h-d ra w 
 and let the whole fall upon Johnny 
 Raw. 
 
 I have just now made a proposal to 
 my creditors of making over my whole 
 property to them, on condition of being 
 allowed 200/. a year for my life ; to
 
 132 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 which they have acceded, and I expect 
 to be liberated in a few days; when, 
 ashamed to return to my friends, I shall 
 set off for the Continent, and bury my- 
 self and my follies vices I think they 
 cannot fairly be deemed in the dee-p- 
 est seclusion. My only comfort will 
 be the reflection that, being single, I 
 have involved no one in my ruin in~ 
 jured no one upon earth. 

 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 138 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The worse than inefficacy of the Statute* 
 against Usury explained and exempli- 
 fied. 
 
 HAVING thus given an insight into 
 the different courses which lead to the 
 Bill-doing business, it will not be im- 
 proper, before we reveal the mystery of 
 that illegal and abominable scheme of 
 public robbery, to make a few observa- 
 tions on the worse than inefficacy of
 
 134 A MORNING IN CORK-STREfcT ; 
 
 those laws, intended to prevent, or, at 
 least, to circumscribe its dreadful ca- 
 reer, but which have only tended to 
 increase, in a four-fold degree, the 
 abuses they were meant to remedy. 
 
 The bill brought into the House of 
 Commons, in the last session of Par- 
 liament, by Mr. Onslow, the oracle of 
 the Economists, for repealing all the 
 statutes against usury, and leaving mo- 
 ney to have a current fluctuating value, 
 like every other article, seems to have 
 so equally divided the opinions of the 
 Members of that House, that it seemed 
 a point at issue between the commercial 
 and trading interests on the one side, 
 and the aristocracy and great land-hold- 
 ers on the other. It is well known that 
 all families of consequence entail their 
 estates on the eldest heir male, making 
 them chargeable with portions in money
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 135 
 
 to the younger sons and daughters. 
 These portions are almost in every in- 
 stance raised by mortgage, so that the 
 consequence of repealing the laws 
 against usury would be, that the tenant 
 tor life of these estates would be com- 
 pelled to borrow the sums of money 
 charged upon them, at the rate of in- 
 terest, however exorbitant it might be, 
 established at that time. Of course 
 they did, and will still continue, to op- 
 pose a similar bill to the utmost of their 
 power. Should it ever pass the House 
 of Commons, it will be easy to foresee 
 its failure in the Upper House. Next 
 to the privilege of peerage, these re- 
 strictions form the most powerful pal- 
 ladium against the irruptions of those 
 Goths, the profanum vulgus, into the 
 park palings of aristocratical domains. 
 And yet, as the greatest blessings and 
 the wisest institutions on earth are lia-
 
 136 A MORNING IN COIIK-STREET ; 
 
 ble to abuses, it may be doubted whe- 
 ther privilege of peerage has not done 
 more injury to the cause of those, whom 
 it was intended to do honour to and 
 protect, than ever it received benefit 
 from it. If the great nobs will give 
 bills, which they never mean to ho- 
 nour ; if they will contract debts with 
 tradesmen, which they never mean to 
 pay ; nay, if they will descend, as some 
 of them, male and female, have been 
 known to do, to the swindling act of 
 ordering goods, for which they have no 
 manner of occasion, and, without ever 
 seeing or unpacking them, send off 
 to an auction-room or pawnbrokers' 
 shops to raise the wind upon them, and 
 then plead their privilege in defiance 
 and contempt of honour, justice, and the 
 scorn of the world ; it is no wonder 
 that they are driven to such destructive 
 subterfuges, as to borrow money at 40 

 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 13? 
 
 or 50 per cent., when no tradesman will 
 any longer give them credit ; the rate of 
 discount, as all other commercial con- 
 cerns being made to depend on the risk 
 run^ and what is that risk, which de- 
 pends on the honour and honesty of such 
 privileged worthies^ much less than an 
 absolute loss? 
 
 The experiment of leaving money, like 
 any other article of commerce, to find 
 its level and fair market price, has been 
 tried at Hamburgh and Amsterdam ; 
 but there are no privileged classes in 
 these cities ; every man is a merchant, 
 and every merchant a Jew in his deal- 
 ings. If a man there gives 15 or 20 per 
 cent, for a temporary loan, it is by no 
 means regarded as a sign of insolvency r 
 as in this country ; on the contrary, it 
 is looked upon as a feather in his cap, 
 it being presumed that he has somespe-
 
 138 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 culation in view by which he may clear 
 40 or 50 per cent. But no such pre- 
 sumption can attach to the English no- 
 bility and gentry, who follow no com- 
 mercial pursuits, unless selling or ex- 
 changing their venison or game, their 
 racers, hunters, or dogs, may be termed 
 so : to them it is a dead loss, and be- 
 trays such symptoms of poverty and 
 desperation, as increases the risk to the 
 lender, and makes him, in the eyes of 
 the world, who have not experienced 
 what great folks are, an unconscionable 
 usurer, a very Shylock and his pound 
 of human flesh. 
 
 It was with an eye to this inconveni- 
 ency to aristocracy, that, about twenty 
 years ago, the laws respecting annuities 
 were enacted, which have only given 
 birth to a regular system of subterfuges 
 for evading them, and rendered mat-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 139 
 
 ters infinitely more disadvantageous to 
 the borrower, than if things had been 
 permitted to remain in statu quo ante. 
 The lender instantly found out the 
 scheme of increasing his risk, by which 
 means the price is raised to the bor- 
 rower, by an assurance on his life being 
 rendered necessary. The Life Assur- 
 ance Companies (bodies of men acting 
 as commercial characters, and fixing 
 their rates of assurance algebraically} 
 never charge less than ten per cent., 
 in any instance, upon the best security 
 that can be brought to market, so that 
 many men, (we may say the greatest 
 part of the aristocracy of the country,) 
 who might have taken up loans at 7 or 8 
 per cent., have been compelled to pay 
 15 or 90, or more, besides the enormous 
 charges of solicitors for annuity deeds, 
 bonds, judgments, registering, &c. which
 
 140 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 exceed all belief. I have seen more 
 than two or three bills of costs, where 
 the solicitor has charged \00l. for con- 
 conveyancing, and the loan has not 
 exceeded 6001. Such a system of rais- 
 ing loans, though slower, is eventually 
 as certainly ruinous as gambling specu- 
 lations ; and must involve the borrower 
 and his family in ruin. And yet, 
 notwithstanding the usurious interest, 
 which is thus enacted, these money- 
 lenders must have security aye and 
 excellent security too ; mortgages and 
 powers of sale, if the annuities run in 
 arrear ! And what security have they 
 to offer for the unlimited investments, 
 which they modestly demand from 
 public confidence ? They demand real 
 security when they lend with one hand, 
 and offer personal security, their own 
 bond, note, or acceptance, when they
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 141- 
 
 borrow with the other ! One word for 
 all, about these moneyed gentry, who 
 have sums of money to any amount 
 whatever, ready to be lent at a moment's 
 notice ! We have traced most of them 
 to their dunghill, and a filthy job we 
 have had of it. Not one have we 
 found possessed of property, (probity 
 is totally out of the question,) or even 
 responsible or respectable connections, 
 they begin the war upon nothing ; live 
 as long as they can by quartering upon 
 the enemy ; and end where they began 
 upon nothing. On the whole, 
 Money-lenders and Sill-discounters art 
 a set of blood-suckers ; but, in many 
 cases, they have to deal with leeches, as 
 expert at drawing blood as themselves ; 
 the inexperienced and honest but em- 
 barrassed man, who unwarily throws 
 himself into their clutches to obtain 
 N 3
 
 142 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 temporary relief, and meets with lasting 
 ruin, is the only one who is the least de- 
 serving of commiseration. 
 
 If, then, so enormous be the charge 
 to borrowers of strict honour, moral 
 principles, and who bring real securities 
 to market, what must they not be to a 
 man of gambling and swindling noto- 
 riety those four-in-hand gentry one 
 day, and nothing in hand the next 
 whose green parks, lawns and fields, (if 
 they ever had any,) have shrunk into 
 the small compass of the green cloths 
 in the billiard, hazard, and rouge et noir 
 tables ; and whose paper has been 
 hawked about the Exchange, till the 
 very Jew-boys would turn up their 
 noses at it, and say it is only fit to 
 wrap up their oranges and lemon-cakes 
 in ? Let the great folks reform them-v
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 143 
 
 selves, and the Money-lenders will dis- 
 solve like snow before the sun. They 
 are only the maggots which are engen- 
 dered in a mass of putridity. The no- 
 torious Portland-street Bank and the 
 Adelphi concern are not forgotten, and 
 their strict dealings are yet felt and de- 
 plored by numbers. Yet, so frequent 
 as have been the exposures in Courts of 
 Law, of the mysteries of these sinks of 
 iniquity, no sooner is one firm broken up, 
 than, like the gambling-houses, another 
 breaks out again in a fresh place, and 
 we behold again old friends with neic 
 faces. Whitewash ! Whitewash ! is 
 the word ! As well may one hope to 
 wash the Ethiopian white, as to change 
 the complexion of these black balls of 
 society. The Devil is the first of 
 usurers, he lends devices to the heart of 
 the wavering, as the usurers lend their
 
 144 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 acceptances ; he seconds their schemes ; 
 renders them prosperous for a while; 
 and only exacts their souls in perpetuity 
 as a security. His imps, the Bill-doers, 
 tread in his steps, as nearly as possible : 
 he bespeaks the soul, and they seize the 
 body and goods, Messrs. King and 
 Co. picked as many pigeons' bones 
 clean as any of the Hells in the purlieus 
 of St. James's. A certain Baronet used 
 to give these gentry his acceptances to 
 get discounted ; and, on the first bills 
 being dishonoured, they were renewed, 
 and this being repeated over and over 
 again, on the winding up of accounts, 
 it appeared that the Baronet had 
 paid 6,000/. in hard cash, (in part of 
 acceptances amounting in the whole to 
 13,600/.) for which he had never re- 
 ceived more than 1,200/. ! ! Only 
 twelve hundred per cent. ! ! ! -Philpot,
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 145 
 
 a publican, and self-dubbed navy-agent, 
 but since, or another of the same name 
 and business, become a bankrupt, was 
 another of these accommodating gentry, 
 with whom three guineas for cashing a 
 20/. bill for two months, was no unu- 
 sual douceur! The still more recent 
 case of Mr. Palmer, (with the investi- 
 gation of whose case before the Lord 
 Mayor the newspapers have lately 
 amused the public,) and the pigeon 
 upon whom he would have palmed 
 Buonaparte's dressing-case, valued at 
 470 guineas, for some few hundreds in 
 bills may still divert, if not enlighten 
 the public, unless privately adjusted. 
 But, what ! do we talk about enlighten- 
 ing ? Mad Lee (the Dramatist) was 
 no madman, when he said 
 
 " There is a pleasure in being mad, 
 " Which none but madmen know."
 
 146 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 And Butler, who betrayed no other 
 symptoms of madness than the eacoethex, 
 scribendi, for which may Heaven and 
 the Public forgive Us, (though we doubt 
 the latter will think we ought to have a 
 Commission of Lunacy taken out 
 against Us,J makes somewhat of a 
 similar observation : 
 
 " Doubtless the pleasure is as great 
 
 ' ' Of being cheated as to cheat ; 
 
 " As lookers on feel most delight, 
 
 " That least perceive a juggler's sleight ; 
 
 " And still the less they understand, 
 
 " The more th' admire his sleight of hand." 
 
 Hvdibras. 
 
 All all these horrid exposures will 
 not serve as a beacon; and notwith- 
 standing its morality is unquestionably 
 designed to be of the highest benefit to 
 mankind, by curing it of its gambling-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 147 
 
 l>ill-discounting itch ; We should not 
 he surprised if 
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET 
 
 SHOULD PROVB DULY 
 
 A NINE DAYS' WONDER, 
 
 OR, AT MOST, BUM TO 
 
 A NINTH EDITION.
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Spanish Grandees of Monsieur Le 
 Sage, in his Histoire de Gil Bias de 
 Santillane, are the prototypes of many 
 of the English Nobility of the present 
 day Servants Money - Lenders, and 
 Masters Borrowers Anecdote of an En- 
 glish Nobleman and his Valet Parallel 
 between Midas and certain great Per- 
 sonages now living. 
 
 IT is almost impossible for the classi- 
 cal, or even the mere English reader, 
 not to recollect Mons. Le Sage's very 
 entertaining History of Gil Bias de San- 
 tillane. I allude to that part of it 
 (vol. 2, ch. iii.) where the hero enters
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 149 
 
 into the service of a petit maitre, Don 
 Mathias de Silva, a gay young Spanish 
 Lord. On being introduced to the 
 steward, Gregorio Rodriguez, Gil Bias 
 and his friend find him engaged with 
 one of his Lord's tenants, a country- 
 man, who delivers him a bag, contain- 
 ing 500 pistoles. After this business 
 is settled the steward conducts Gil 
 Bias into the presence of the young 
 Lord, who engages him in his service. 
 Various scenes now ensue between the 
 young Lord, the steward, another young- 
 Lord, and a pretended usurer, which 
 is so exactly illustrative of the manners 
 of some of the young Nobility of this 
 country of the present day, that we 
 should be tempted to give extracts from 
 the work, were it not that to mutilate 
 them would spoil their effect that a 
 translation of the whole would be too 
 long for our purpose, and that the 
 o
 
 150 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 work itself is in the hands of every one 
 who reads at all. The upshot is that 
 the knavish steward, Rodriguez, intro- 
 duces a colleague in the character of a 
 usurer, and lends his master 400 pis- 
 toles of his own money, from the very 
 same bag which Gil Bias had seen him 
 receive from the countryman, taking a 
 receipt for the whole 500 pistoles, and 
 pocketing the remaining 100 as a re- 
 ward for his ingenuity. The resem- 
 blance between this passage and 
 many that we are now going to lay 
 before the reader is so striking, 
 that he will, no doubt, exclaim " Was 
 Mons. Le Sage writing the History of 
 the Spanish Lords of the 17th century, 
 or of some English Lords, at the com- 
 mencement of the lyth? Are the 
 nobility of all countries ever one and 
 the same?" Mons. Le Sage, like 
 Shakspeare, studied nature, and nature
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 151 
 
 is immutable and invariable. We may 
 set it down then as an axiom, that 
 idleness begets profligacy, and that the 
 greatest part of a man's vices springs 
 from a want of proper employment. 
 
 In England, numerous have been the 
 instances, in times past, and we could 
 point out similar ones at the present 
 day, where stewards have grown rich as 
 their masters grew poor ; of their be- 
 coming proprietors of their master's 
 estates, whilst their masters became 
 dependents on them, or others ; of 
 valets, who have changed places with 
 their masters, and stept from behind the 
 chairs to the front of the table, whilst 
 their masters were degraded to the 
 backs of the chairs at the very same 
 table ; of ladies' maids, who have 
 enriched themselves by their being 
 privy to their mistresses' intrigues,
 
 152 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 whilst the mistresses themselves, di- 
 vorced from their husbands and dis- 
 carded by their paramours, have become 
 Ladies Townly; and of under-servants 
 who have secured independencies by 
 winking at the robberies of the upper 
 ones ; and so descending to the very 
 dregs of the pantry, the kitchen, the 
 scullery, and the stables. How morti- 
 fying must it be to a high-spirited 
 nobleman, were he but to know that, 
 whilst he was issuing his imperious 
 mandates at table to the valet behind 
 his chair, and imagines him to receive 
 them full of respect and submission, 
 that very same valet hears them with 
 a smile of self-conceit, saying within 
 himself " For all your airs of conse- 
 quence and imaginary superiority, I 
 have your own hand-writing in my 
 pocket to prove that I am one of 
 your Lordship's Creditors!"
 
 153 
 
 Lord L -, returning one night, or 
 
 rather morning, from the Opera House, 
 at a much earlier hour than was expected, 
 discovered his valet in a state of inebriety, 
 sleeping upon the elegant satin covering 
 of a drawing-room sofa, like a horse in 
 a stable shoes and all on. Disdaining 
 to have any altercation with a fellow in 
 that situation, his Lordship roused and 
 mildly bid him go- to his bed. On 
 his waiting on him, the next morn- 
 ing, instead of betraying any signs of 
 shame or compunction on his counte- 
 nance for such glaring misconduct, the 
 fellow simpered, as though he had only 
 committed some very venial peccadillo ; 
 but his Lordship, indignant at such in- 
 solence, sternly ordered him to go to the 
 steward, receive his wages, and quit the 
 livery and house that instant, adding, " If 
 you should have the impudence to apply 
 here for a character, you know what sort 
 o 3
 
 154 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 oa one you deserve." " I hope not to 
 stand in need of one/ 5 answered the 
 fellow unabashed; " I have a writing 
 in my pocket, with your Lordship's sig- 
 nature to it, which I hope will answer 
 my purpose/' " It must be a villanous 
 forgery then, 5 * said his Lordship. " I 
 should be -very sorry for that," rejoined 
 the valet, " since some very worthy gen- 
 tlemen, money-ler/ders, are concerned, 
 and my whole subsistence will depend up- 
 on it ; however, as your Lordship is pleas- 
 ed to discharge me without a charac- 
 ter" His Lordship was struck up all 
 
 of a heap, and confounded. After a mo- 
 ment's pause, he said, " Well, Sir, 
 go, and be more mindful of your duty, 
 and the respect you owe to my rank ; 
 and, if ever you should be again over- 
 taken in a similar way, to keep out of 
 my sight, and go to your own bed, or 
 the devil's hand-writing shall not screen
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 155 
 
 you from having your neck broke out of 
 the window, as a punishment for your 
 insolence." As the fellow well Joiew 
 that his Lord would be as good as his 
 word, and his Lordship did not wish 
 to irritate the fellow, a sort of armistice 
 was concluded between them. 
 
 We remember to have heard instances 
 of Noblemen in Italy, who, after having 
 paid their servants their wages, have ac- 
 tually sat down with them at cards in 
 their hall, with a view of getting all their 
 money back from them again. The 
 English Nobility, it is certain, do not 
 degrade themselves to quite so low a 
 pitch ; but if they subject themselves to 
 the disgusting necessity of borrowing 
 their wages, though by a circuitous route, 
 and suffer their securities to come into 
 their hands, do they not lessen their own 
 dignity and their authority over their
 
 156 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 servants, and occasion that insolence of 
 which they affect to complain ? If a ser- 
 vant dare make his boast my master 
 would discharge me if he could, but he 
 dare not why then, all we have to say 
 is, that the man is the master, and the 
 master is the man. And yet we could 
 name some great folks, who have 
 reduced themselves to the degrading 
 situation of being afraid of their own 
 servants. 
 
 Nay, Reader, start not at this, when 
 we could relate instances much more 
 humiliating to the pride of the Great. 
 We have heard it remarked that a cer- 
 tain Personage (but this was many years 
 ago) was seen walking arm in arm, on 
 
 the Steine, at Brighton, with T , 
 
 the Trap ; and upon some persons ex- 
 pressing their surprise at such conde- 
 scension^ was answered that T
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 157 
 
 was a moneyed man, and an accommo- 
 dating one : and we have also heard it 
 whispered that a certain sprig of the 
 
 same great stock had found in W , 
 
 the body-snatcher, a very necessary 
 ways and means' friend ; but the notice 
 of the great is a letter of nobility : 
 
 Mid*t, 'tis said, in days of old, 
 All that he touch Vl turn'd into gold ; 
 Some Prince* similar virtue have, 
 Their touch ennobles fool and knave, 
 
 JUMP*
 
 158 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 CHAPTER XII- 
 
 Causes of the Disorders in High Life. 
 
 MUCH of the disorders, which we 
 daily see in High Life, is ^o be traced to 
 the education, or rather want of educa- 
 tion, of the youthful nobility and gentry. 
 The Sprig of Fashion must not go to a 
 school with common boys, where, how- 
 ever, he might stand a chance to be 
 taught something ; he must have a pri- 
 vate tutor, who will teach him nothing 
 and nothing he is desired to teach 
 him, but how to pass muster as not quite 
 a fool. He reads over a few authors to 
 him, just to make him know that there
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 159 
 
 were once such authors, and to give him 
 an idea or outline of their contents, (it 
 would be giving him too much trouble 
 to make him read them himself,) and he 
 accompanies him to Westminster, Har- 
 row or Eton Schools, where he writes 
 his theses, translates the classics, and 
 makes verses for him, as well as he him- 
 self knows how. Here they pick up 
 more of the frailties of the living, than 
 of the instructions of departed charac- 
 ters. The wealth and family connec- 
 tions of a majority of the scholars em- 
 bolden them to assume an uncontrouled 
 license, and to set all rules and regula- 
 tions at defiance. Westminster School 
 is happily situated in the immediate vi- 
 cinity of that other most famous Semi- 
 nary Tothill (vulgo Tattle) Fields, 
 where they see daily exhibited the most 
 refined lewdness and debauchery, and 
 the most depraved manner*. They
 
 ICO A MORNING IN C6RK-STREET J 
 
 therefore enjoy the amazing benefit of 
 hearing the slang spoke, and flash 
 chaunts sung in the purest andprimest 
 style; and imbibe an ineradicable pen- 
 chant for frail fair ones, flashes of light- 
 ning^ milling, bull and badger baiting, 
 dog and cock righting, donkey races, and 
 other refined amusements a taste of 
 which never quits them to the last gasp 
 of life. Harrow School is near enough 
 to London to afford frequent opportu- 
 nities of occasional visits to all the same 
 scenes of contagion and fashionable 
 dissipation, and the scholars do not fail 
 to take lessons in all those delectable 
 sciences. Rton School, though farther 
 off from this hot-bed of improvement, 
 yet is close to Windsor, where their 
 Bacchanalian and Cyprian orgies, and 
 other festivities, are too well known to 
 doubt of their being able to show off to 
 advantage, so soon as ever they are let
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 161 
 
 loose upon the world. For Oxford, 
 we shall content ourselves with referring 
 the Reader to A Companion to the 
 Guide, and a Guide to the Companion, 
 being a complete supplement to all the 
 accounts of Oxford hitherto published, 
 &c. a work attributed to the pen of the 
 late Rev. Thomas Warton, Fellow of 
 Trinity College, and Poet Laureat. 
 This jeu d'esprit contains a lively de- 
 scription of all the schools and places 
 of academical discipline, not generally 
 known as such, with which that famous 
 University abounds. Cambridge is so 
 near to Newmarket, that it is impossi- 
 ble but that a youth of an aspiring mind 
 should imbibe a love of horse-racing, 
 and gambling, which is, of all other 
 human pursuits, the most attractive and 
 destructive. Some of them make it 
 their height of ambition to be distin- 
 guished as a whip, and to be proficients 
 p
 
 162 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 in the science of buckish and sporting 
 slang up to the gab of the cad true 
 descendants of that much-lamented 
 character, Hell-Fire Dick Vaughan! 
 They assume the dress and manners of 
 the Varment Club are noted for the 
 appearance of their bits of blood for 
 their dexterity at handling the ribbons 
 and supplying the place of the driver of 
 the Telegraph, and for their contempt 
 of every kind of learning but what 
 relates to the brothel or the stable. 
 Lectures to the Devil ! He spends 
 his terms at Newmarket ; his vacations 
 at Jackson's Rooms, in London ; and 
 the whole he knows of mathematics is 
 the doctrine of odds and chances. As 
 most of the Students at those two Uni- 
 versities are grown gentlemen, and of 
 great or wealthy families, they are sub- 
 jected to very little restraint. There 
 are excellent statutes, but, like other
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 163 
 
 obnoxious ones, they are seldom put in 
 force ; a nobleman or wealthy com- 
 moner is indulged in proportion to his 
 titles or riches. In short, the palm of 
 excellence is so equally divided be- 
 tween these two celebrated Universities, 
 that it is almost impossible to award it 
 to either. A gentleman being asked 
 by a lady, who wished to send her son 
 to one of them, to which he would 
 advise her to give the preference, an- 
 swered " Why, truly, Madam, I be- 
 lieve that they drink an equal quantity 
 of wine at each /'' 
 
 They are next turned loose upon 
 the world, to receive the finish, 
 where their natural or acquired pro- 
 pensities break forth in full lustre. 
 Some become Exquisites, or Dan- 
 dies a non-descript sort of beings 
 if beings such things can be called ;
 
 164 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 others sport the Bang-up dashing, 
 talking flash, swearing, milling, greek- 
 ing, and mail-coach driving, until they 
 drive into Abbot's Preserve Bang- 
 down. They then endeavour to re- 
 trieve their desperate circumstances by 
 bestowing their hands (hearts they have 
 none) on some wealthy sugar-baker's or 
 tallow-chandler's piece of deformity at 
 the east end of the town, whom they 
 ever after despise, and beget a sort of 
 piebald heirs, half Patrician and half 
 Plebeian -r- a stain which is not effaced 
 till after two or three generations. 
 These commixtures are, by the know- 
 ing ones, termed breeding downwards ; 
 hence we have the Patrician with th<- 
 Plebeian manners. There are, also, 
 various crosses ; such as the Coach- 
 man's-cross, the Stable-cross, the Livery- 
 cross, the Pantry-cross, the Kitchen- 
 cross, &c.c. supposed to proceed from
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 1C5 
 
 bastard slips engrafted on the parent 
 stocks ; which will sufficiently account 
 for many of the propensities of these 
 Birmingham nobles and gentlemen. 
 
 The education (we beg pardon, the 
 bringing up) of the females is still 
 worse, as they are taught no one single 
 thing on earth but dissipation, and the 
 art of entrapping the men ; whence a 
 humourous wag of an acquaintance 
 once, passing by a train of boarding- 
 school young ladies, observed to us 
 " Here is a fine collection of steel-traps 
 and spring-guns for the rising male 
 generation !" When we see and we 
 know of several instances of old demi- 
 reps and cast-off mistresses becoming 
 heads of seminaries for young ladies, 
 what can be expected ? But we shall 
 reserve this point for discussion in an- 
 other work, which we intend to devote 
 p 3
 
 166 A MORNING IK CORK-STREET; 
 
 for the express purpose. Suffics it to 
 say, that both sexes appear to run th 
 same course, and that it is the toss-up 
 of a halfpenny which shall first reach 
 the goal of notoriety. 
 
 During a temporary suspension of 
 our labours, we chanced to take up a 
 Weekly Print, in which we observed 
 the following curious paragraph : 
 
 " MR. EDITOR, Having recently been in- 
 formed that it is the intention of the Legislature 
 (in the ensuing Session of Parliament) to pass 
 a Bill for the Suppression of Rouge et Noir 
 Clubs, at the west end of the town, I beg per- 
 mission to state, through the medium of your 
 impartial Journal, that the measure ap pears- 
 likely (if adopted) to occasion evils, which may 
 never have been contemplated. Do not the 
 large sums of money, which are circulated at 
 these establishments, contribute to the advan- 
 tage of trade and taxation ? And if so con- 
 siderable a body of the community are deprived
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 167 
 
 of this amusement, will they not convey their 
 property to the Continent, where the prohibition 
 does not exist? Will it not, then, be most pro- 
 per to keep our countrymen among us, and 
 let them spend their money at home, rather 
 than compel them to increase the number of 
 those who are daily leaving our shores, to the 
 injury of thousands, who would not otherwise 
 be obliged to support their families, without 
 becoming burthens to the parishes, or incum- 
 branres to their friends ?" 
 
 To this interrogatory we give the 
 most decided No. If there are any 
 Noblemen or Gentlemen so thoroughly 
 depraved, as not to be able to exist 
 without gambling, let them retire to 
 France. It is better to be without the 
 money which they spend, of their own 
 or other peoples', than that the middling 
 classes of society should be contami- 
 nated by their example. But we can 
 inform them, that France will not an- 
 swer their purpose. We know a little
 
 168 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 and not a little of Gold, Heath- 
 cote & Co.'s concern, near the Palais 
 Royal. An English Rook is but a 
 Pigeon in the French school ; we are 
 laughed at as mere bunglers at Greek- 
 ing. Therefore, let all such persons as 
 are infected with the mania, retire and 
 carry the contagion along with them. 
 If our Legislature carry the plan (above- 
 hinted at) into complete execution, it 
 will do more than all the installations, 
 stars, garters, and coronets, that ever 
 were invented, to restore public re- 
 spect to 
 
 THE CORINTHIAN ORDERS.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 160 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A Morning in Cork-Street. 
 
 CORK-STREET was, for a while, 
 thronged with great and little folks, 
 (great little folks as well as little great 
 folks,) in carriages, on horseback, and 
 on foot; it was the gay resort of the 
 giddy, the thoughtless, and the extra- 
 vagant ; as well as of the grave, the 
 plodding, the industrious, and the 
 thrifty. By the greatest chance in 
 the world they all resorted thither, 
 in motley groupes, upon one and the
 
 170 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 same errand money matters, though 
 with quite opposite views : one party 
 as lenders, the other as borrowers ; very 
 often (strange coincidence!) both parties 
 in the very same equipage, the one inside 
 the carriage, the other stationed behind 
 it, or driving on the box. 
 
 The TEMPLE OF ACCOMMODATION* 
 was a spacious house, containing nu- 
 merous apartments or offices, so con- 
 trived as to separate the Corinthian 
 pillars, the chosen nobs from the 
 profanum vulgus, the swinish multi- 
 tude ; and prevent the embarrassment 
 which would naturally be occasioned 
 by the great folks meeting with their 
 tradesmen or servants, in the character 
 of accommodating friends robbing 
 Paul to pay Peter handing them their 
 bills, or wages, with one hand, and 
 borrowing them back again with the
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. ]?1 
 
 other: or being kept waiting in the 
 antichamber of Holdfast and Gripall, 
 cheek by jowl with the very same rabble 
 who are accustomed to wait for hours 
 daily kicking their heels in the servants' 
 hall at their own mansions. Distinc- 
 tion was observed here with as strict a 
 regard to etiquette as in the Drawing- 
 room at St. James's on a levee-day, 
 and decorum observed with all the 
 grimace of gravity : in short, appear- 
 ances were so well kept up, that not a 
 blush could be raised on any patrician 
 face by a commixture with plebeian 
 baseness, except through a conscious- 
 ness of self-debasement ! The street- 
 door knocker scarcely ever ceased 
 from the thundering peal of the saucy 
 liveried valet of aristocracy, to the 
 modest rat-tat of the tradesman, and 
 down to the single tap of the valet, 
 when he came upon his own, and not
 
 172 A MORKING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 his master's business. The High 
 Priests of the Temple, though of 
 obscure origin, yet imagining that they 
 partook, in some measure, of the dig- 
 nity of the Worshippers at the shrine of 
 the Go/den Calf, assumed great port 
 and state, sported their equipages, their 
 country villas, and lived away oh, ye 
 gods and goddesses, how they did live ! 
 like fighting-cocks Cock-a-doodle-doo. ' 
 or, magna componere parvis, to com- 
 pare great with little things, like Jack 
 Randall, the bricklayer's labourer, 
 transplanted from the cellar in St. 
 Giles's, to Jack Randall, the Non- 
 pareil of Pugilists the Cove of the 
 Ken the Hole in the Wall, in 
 Chancery-lane. Quantum mutatus ab 
 illo ! What a devil of a high flight ! We 
 say not this out of envy, or to the dis- 
 paragement either of these Gentlemen, 
 or of the Nonpareil ; for whoever exalts
 
 OR> RAISING THE WIND. 173 
 
 himself by his merit, or his want of it, 
 is worthy of his exaltation, in whatever 
 line it may be. Besides, appearances 
 are every thing now-a-days ; and the 
 Sill -discounter and Money-lender would 
 not be presumed to have half a million 
 of money in his hands, ready to be ad- 
 vanced at a moment's notice on good 
 security, if his outward show did not 
 correspond with the presumed wealth of 
 the interior of this Temple of Accom- 
 modation. 
 
 The clerks had taken their seats in the 
 outer office, and Holdfast and Gripall 
 had just entered the inner one the 
 massive ledgers were displayed piles 
 of old worm-eaten parchments and tape- 
 tied bundles of papers were strewed on 
 the desks and tables and every thing 
 announced men with a multitude of 
 weighty concerns on their hands when 
 Q
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 a thundering peal at the street office- 
 door announced visitors of importance, 
 and the faces of the partners instantly 
 assumed a proportionate degree of im- 
 portance to meet the solemn occa- 
 sion. The Marquis was an- 
 nounced and ushered in. He was an old 
 customer, and therefore his business 
 was dispatched with very few words. 
 He received the Accommodation-bills 
 of Holdfast and Gripall to a pretty 
 round sum, some thousands, and in re- 
 turn gave his own, bearing enormous in- 
 terest. 
 
 Marquis. My friend, Lord A 
 
 came with me, Gentlemen ; he, too, 
 .stands in need of a little of your assist- 
 ance, and I have recommended him to 
 you ; of course, you will do your best 
 for him.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. . 175 
 
 Gripall. We shall always pay par- 
 ticular attention to your Lordship, or 
 any of your Lordship's friends. 
 
 Lord A was then ushered in, and 
 
 shortly made known his business ; he, 
 too, required immediate accommodation 
 to a considerable amount. 
 
 Gripall, after looking over the se- 
 curities, and being pretty well satisfied 
 on that head, told his Lordship that he 
 had just received notes from his friend, 
 
 the Marquis of W , to about the 
 
 sum required, which they would indorse 
 over to his Lordship. 
 
 Lord A . *Tis money I want, 
 
 and not paper ; my friend's name, I fear, 
 will go as short a way to obtain that as 
 my own.
 
 176 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 GripalL You will find thoseBills just 
 as good as money, my Lord ; any banker 
 or tradesmen will take them, and give 
 you the balance immediately on seeing 
 our names on the back of them. Money 
 is out of the question, since the Bank of 
 England has withdrawn its discount; 
 and gold currency is totally out of the 
 question. The National Debt might 
 as well be paid off, as we be able to 
 transact all our vast run of business in 
 money. But your Lordship will find 
 our mode of transacting affairs of this 
 kind will answer every purpose. 
 
 Lord A . Well, if it is so, that 
 
 is all I wish for. What are the terms r 
 
 GripalL Your Lordship has only to 
 put your name to this instrument.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 177 
 
 Lord A . What ! Five thou- 
 sand pounds for , this is accom- 
 modation with a vengeance 
 
 Gripall. It is no higher rate of in- 
 terest than the Marquis, and others 
 of the numerous Nobility whom we 
 serve, are in the habit of giving. Our 
 risk in some instances is great. Our 
 responsibility is great and our ex- 
 penses exceed all belief. 
 
 Lord A . (Aside.) And so 
 
 doesyour extortion. Well, Gentlemen,, 
 1 stand in need of the accommodation, 
 and must put up with the loss, be it 
 what it may. Every thing being con- 
 cluded to the satisfaction of Gripall, 
 his Lordship took his leave. 
 
 Gripall. (Writing in his private 
 ledger.) One thousand pounds gained 
 Q 3
 
 178 A MORNING IN CORK-STUEET - 
 
 from each of these Noblemen, and out 
 of each other, in five minutes ! These 
 are the Corinthian Pillars .' The here- 
 ditary Legislators the Ornaments to 
 the Props of the country ! What then 
 are We / The Supporters of the Props, 
 to be sure the top of the tree ! 
 
 Holdfast. Brother this is doing 
 business with a vengeance ! If we can 
 only carry it on long enough. 
 
 Gripall. Aye, there's the rub, 
 brother Holdfast ; all's well that ends 
 well but I have a long head-piece, 
 you know. These Sprigs of Fashion 
 don't care what sums of money they 
 borrow, nor what extravagant prices 
 they pay for it, as they will never 
 trouble their heads to think about the 
 repayment. But I have a Purge in 
 petto for their Privilege/ I have a
 
 OB, RAISING THE WIND. 179 
 
 scheme to bring them all to book that 
 they little dream of. The wind-up is 
 the thing, brother, and they shall find 
 that I will wind them up with a Screw- 
 Jack ! 
 
 This ttte-a-ttte was interrupted by 
 another thundering peal at the street- 
 door ; and the partners instantly 
 ceased their half laughs and purser's 
 grins, and reassumed their pens, ledg- 
 ers, and airs of importance. The 
 Countess of- was announced. 
 
 The Countess was a widow before 
 she attained her title, arid had been left 
 with a large sum in ready money, in 
 addition to a considerable jointure. 
 Although far from handsome, and verg- 
 ing on that once so desirable female aera 
 of fair -fat and forty five, yet, tlu; 
 report of her wealth the almost Asiatic
 
 180 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET, 
 
 pomp and splendor of her entertain- 
 ments, (an account of which, written by 
 her own fair hand, and inserted in the 
 Morning Post, at the expense of her 
 purse, astounded all town, and defied all 
 efforts of contemporary rivals,) drew 
 swarms of flies round the honey-pot ; 
 but nothing under a coronet would suit 
 the palate of the aspiring dame. The 
 grand climacteric was, however, hasten- 
 ing on, and the honey-pot had lost 
 much of its luscious store by these 
 expensive entertainments, so that there 
 was some little danger of her being 
 obliged to surrender on discretion to 
 some un-coronetted swain, when the 
 
 E snapped at the bait, and was 
 
 fairly hooked. Being an intimate friend 
 
 of Lady A , (of whom and of whose 
 
 house we have made honourable men- 
 tion nearly at the beginning of this 
 work,) she had imbibed many of the
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 181 
 
 peculiarities of that lady, particularly 
 her love for the Faro Bank, which she 
 adopted- even in her elevated station 
 because it was so very convenient it 
 answered the double purpose of supply- 
 ing her profusion, and of attracting the 
 youth of both sexes ; which afforded 
 her infinite gratification. To those of 
 the other sex she was said to be ge- 
 nerous, in spite of her avarice ; but to 
 objects of real charity she gave a cir- 
 cular donative 0. An unlucky run 
 at Macao, and against her Ladyship's 
 Faro Bank, had occasioned her paying 
 a Morning's Visit to Cork-street, for a 
 little temporary occasion, which a turn 
 of Fortune might enable her to wipe 
 off, without his lordship knowing any 
 thing of this private resource the age 
 of lovers having long since passed away, 
 and their purses being no longer at
 
 182 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 command on score of favours re- 
 ceived. 
 
 Her Ladyship was ushered in, and 
 soon made known her business 
 to the Pearls of Discounters, who, 
 though loth on any occasion to lend 
 accommodation to any married females, 
 without the counter-security of some 
 male friend, yet, in consideration of 
 the Countess's elevated station, and 
 farther induced by their fondness for 
 great folks, whose visits gave eclat to 
 their concern, they readily accommo- 
 dated her Ladyship with two thousand 
 pounds in paper, taking her acknow- 
 ledgment for two thousand **** ###*. 
 ##** ! Modest and gallant in the 
 extreme ! 
 
 Gripall. We must not be too free.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND, 183 
 
 of our accommodation to these married 
 ladies, without some joint security ; 
 coverture is a good cloak for unprin- 
 cipled females ; but I believe the 
 Countess will pay that is, if the cards 
 are favourable : at the worst, the E 
 is reported to be in a fair way for a 
 
 D m, and as his interest is great, 
 
 and will be still greater in that event, 
 we must think of ourselves in that way, 
 if every other should fail. 
 
 A thundering peal on the knocker 
 announced another quality visitor, and 
 Holdfast, stepping to the window, said, 
 
 " it is the Duchess of , I know 
 
 by her equipage the coronet on the 
 pannels of her carriage, and the liveries 
 of the three strapping footmen behind 
 it, with laced clocks to their stockings." 
 
 Gripall. If it be her Grace, she
 
 184 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 wants money I do not much like the 
 business. She does not stand very high 
 in the opinion of her tradesfolks : we 
 must stand out for security tangible 
 security ! 
 
 Her Grace was introduced, looking as 
 young as " Warren's Bloom of Youth" 
 could make her, and as ruddy as artists, 
 paint Aurora ; and, no doubt, her Grace 
 made use of similar materials ; in short, 
 the portrait was varnished as highly as 
 hands could lay it on. 
 
 Duchess. Gentlemen, 1 have heard 
 of your obliging persons of condition, 
 and I am come to make trial of your 
 politesse. My charitable donations 
 have of late rather exceeded prudence, 
 and I should be loth to let the amount 
 of them reach his grace's ears ; there- 
 fore I stand in need of a little tempo-
 
 OR. RAISING THE WIND. 1> 
 
 rary accommodation for the present 1 
 shall want it for no long time* 
 
 Gripall. We are extremely sorry to 
 acquaint your Grace that we too have 
 lately overstept the bounds of prudence 
 in the way of accommodation ; so 
 much so, that we really do not know 
 which way to turn ourselves at present. 
 We have been obliged this morning to 
 delay the urgent calls of many of our 
 old friends of the very first distinction 
 on that very account ; or we should feel 
 both a pride and a pleasure in comply- 
 ing with your Grace's wishes to any 
 extent. 
 
 Duchess. Oh! mine is but to a very 
 trifling amount indeed ! Only a paltry 
 thousand, or twelve hundred at the 
 utmost ; so that I am sure you will 
 strain a point to serve me. 
 R
 
 186 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 Gripall. To the utmost extent of 
 our power, your Grace may depend 
 upon it. But really we have not the 
 means, even to the trifling amount you 
 require, without borrowing it ourselves. 
 
 Duchess. It matters not from what 
 source it comes, so you can but oblige 
 me. 
 
 Gripall. If we borrow the money, 
 it must be on security that will satisfy 
 the lenders ; and your Grace being 
 married, it will be expected that some 
 male friend should join your Grace, or 
 the security will not pass as good. It 
 will be merely, your Grace understands, 
 for form sake. 
 
 Duchess. I understand : if it be 
 only for form sake, my coachman per- 
 haps will do ; the fellow, I know, can
 
 * 
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 187 
 
 write, as he makes out the accounts for 
 corn, hay, and straw. 
 
 Gripall (smiling}. But your Grace 
 undoubtedly would not like your name 
 to go into the world in conjunction 
 with your coachman 's ? 
 
 Duchess. I thought the matter was 
 to rest entirely with yourselves. I 
 would not have his grace know such a 
 thing for the world. 
 
 Gripall. Your Grace forgets that I 
 mentioned that the money must be bor- 
 rowed. We will take care that the 
 security shall not go into improper 
 hands : but we must have some re- 
 sponsible name of the other sex. 
 
 Duchess. Oh ! there is Colonel
 
 * 
 
 188 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 in my carriage; you certainly cannot 
 object to him for so trifling a sum. 
 
 Gripall. Why, no, your Grace, the 
 Colonel's name will do. 
 
 A message was sent to the Colonel, 
 who entered the office. 
 
 Duchess. Colonel, here is a trifling 
 business, in which your name will be 
 necessary, and as it will be merely to 
 write your name with mine, a trouble 
 you will not object, of course. 
 
 Colonel. Certainly not, your Grace ; 
 I shall be proud to have my name 
 handed down with your's to posterity. 
 
 Gripall.- (Aside.) We don't give 
 so long- credit, Colonel, and should be 
 very sorry to have either your's or her
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 189 
 
 Grace's name stand so long on our 
 books. 
 
 Duchess. Well, Gentlemen, is there 
 anything farther you require ? Bills for 
 one thousand pounds were handed to 
 her Grace, and her own and the Colo- 
 nel's joint note for given in 
 return ; the security being looked upon 
 as rather doubtful, consequently the risk 
 greater, which must be paid for accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 They had scarcely left the office 
 before Lord F was announced. 
 His Lordship had not found the turf 
 lately run so smooth as a bowling-green, 
 or a billiard-table, and so slippery, 
 moreover, as to have occasioned him 
 several severe falls. He was well 
 known at the office, and better known 
 than trusted, as his Lordship's youthful 
 R 3
 
 190 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 frolics had not been forgotten, when 
 he was noted as the terror of the Jews 
 and Money-lenders ; but tempora mu- 
 tantur fy nos mutamur in illis he 
 was now destined to become their prey 
 in turn. Holdfast and Gripall had al- 
 ready made some advances, and were 
 therefore rather shy. The business was 
 no sooner opened namely, the want 
 of another brace of thousands than the 
 partners threw cold water to damp the 
 fire of rising expectation. They were 
 already so much in advance to people of 
 fashion, that without in the least doubt- 
 ing his Lordship's honour, or ability, 
 they could no longer borrow themselves, 
 nor hold their own heads above water, 
 without carrying ample and undeniable 
 securities to market. 
 
 Lord F . Gentlemen, you are 
 
 men of business, I well know, and
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 191 
 
 therefore I come prepared for business. 
 I have brought with me notes from 
 several persons of the very first charac- 
 ter and eminence, to just double the 
 amount of the loan I require of you. 
 Here they are you know how to deal 
 with them much better than I do ; so 
 that you may receive the sums of money 
 due upon them, and carry them to my 
 account current. 
 
 This explanation softened the rigidity 
 of the muscles of the Money-lenders, 
 and relaxed them into a smile of com- 
 placence. 
 
 Gripall. If every Nobleman was 
 like your Lordship, and understood busi- 
 ness so well, we should not so often 
 find ourselves reduced to the per- 
 plexities in which our accommodating 
 dispositions involve us. We are now
 
 192 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 in great difficulties, undoubtedly, but 
 we have always found your Lordship 
 so ready to come forward, so consi- 
 derate, that, however we disoblige our 
 other friends, we must feel a disposi- 
 tion to serve your Lordship. Mr. 
 Holdfast, be so good as to enter an 
 account of these bills, and place them 
 to his Lordship's credit. My Lord, 
 there is her Grace of -*s and 
 
 Colonel 's joint note for 1,500/., 
 
 and here is besides our own acceptance 
 for 500/. to make up the 2,000/. 
 
 It would tire the reader's patience to 
 go through the multifarious business of 
 the morning visitors in succession, who 
 came swarming to Cork-street to raise 
 the wind; suffice it therefore to add, 
 
 that L ds B k, F s, G 11, 
 
 H 1, H e, K n, K ne, 
 
 L d, M h, M y, W r,
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 193 
 
 W y, and Y 1 ; and Messrs. 
 
 B II, C n, C s, S. B. 
 
 D s, L m, M x, B y, 
 
 G lie, and G d, &c. &c. &c., 
 
 all made known their respective wants, 
 and were all attended to in turn, and in 
 a somewhat similar style to those great 
 personages whom we have already enu- 
 merated, and Ex pede Hercutem f 
 
 An other-guess sort of customers next 
 besieged the office, namely, the lending 
 pigeons, full of feather and fat, even to 
 repletion ; well worth the plucking and 
 bone-picking. The first who made his 
 appearance, and the first in conse- 
 quence, was a Mr. G ,* who was 
 
 * This is a gentleman of considerable property, 
 
 in , whose story is at once curious and 
 
 melancholy an instructive yet mournful lesson 
 to gentlemen of great posses.-.ions, who, not con- 
 tent with the interest allowed by the laws of
 
 194 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 no sooner announced than Mr. Gripall 
 said to his parner, Holdfast, " Here is 
 our old staunch friend and principal 
 backer. He is particularly attached to 
 
 the country, seek to make more of it from the ne- 
 cessities of others, yet fall themselves a prey to 
 bill-discounters and money-leuderi, whose very 
 pursuits, acting in defiance of law, should be 
 alone sufficient to make their professions suspi- 
 cious and their honesty doubtful. Mr. G. was 
 introduced by a friend to Messrs. Holdfast and 
 Gripall, with an assurance that he might safely 
 increase his income by investing it in annuities, 
 and that he might safely intrust it in their hands 
 for that purpose. He was unfortunately induced 
 to attend to this recommendation, and accord- 
 ingly employed Holdfast and Gripall to lay out 
 large sums in annuities, having no doubt of their 
 responsibility and honour, in which he placed 
 unlimited confidence, as they were in great repu- 
 tation, and esteemed as men of integrity and opu- 
 lence. He trusted them as agents, delivered 
 them his money to be laid out in annuities, and 
 relied on their taking proper and safe securities. 
 
 According to Mr. G 's account, Holdfast and 
 
 Gripall obtained from him at different times enor-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 195 
 
 you; therefore mind! the harpoon is 
 deep enough in him ; but we must give 
 him plenty of line, and play him for a 
 while. (Enter Mr. G.) Eh ! my very 
 good friend, how do you do how is 
 your good lady and all at home happy 
 to see you ! 
 
 mous sums, to be laid out in annuities ; that he 
 received a pass-book, in which the payments 
 made and received, and annuities granted, ap- 
 peared to be regularly entered ; and that he had 
 such confidence in his agents, that he was induced 
 to put his name to bills of exchange, to assist 
 them, to a great amount ! Shortly after, a com- 
 mission of bankruptcy was awarded and issued 
 against this hopeful firm, when Mr. G. learned 
 that the entries in the pass-book were false, and 
 not one farthing had been expended in the pur- 
 chase of annuities ; that the entries were fabri- 
 cated for the purpose of misleading Mr. G., and 
 the money was retained by Holdfast and Gripall 
 for their own use. That Gripall, at his public 
 examination, acknowledged his misconduct, and 
 that he had only re-inserted a small part, and 
 had applied the remainder to his own use.
 
 X 
 
 IDG A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 Holdfast. My dear Sir, your most 
 obedient. 
 
 Mr. G. Gentlemen, both ; I am 
 extremely happy to see you. Any 
 news stirring ? 
 
 GripalL Nothing but the old story 
 always dinging in our ears money, 
 money ! Indeed, as you may see by 
 the crowd of people waiting in the anti- 
 chamber, we have no time to attend to 
 any thing else. 
 
 Mr. G. Your time is precious, I 
 know ; so I will not keep you a mo- 
 ment longer than necessary. You told 
 me to call for my pass-book, which you 
 -said you had ready for me. 
 
 GripalL (Taking the pass-book out 
 of an iron recess.) Here it is, Sir ; all
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 197 
 
 the entries made up quite regular. 
 Total of sums of money advanced, you 
 will find stated. The annuities pur- 
 chased for you therewith you will find 
 also regularly entered. There are, be- 
 sides, acceptances of your's, on our own 
 account, which we have regularly ac- 
 knowledged, and entered our engage- 
 ment to provide for. You find all right, 
 I dare say. 
 
 Mr. G. Perfectly so, Gentlemen. 
 My compliments to the family. 
 
 Gripall. My good friend, you must 
 not go; you promised us the happiness 
 of your company to dinner the first 
 time you came to town. 
 
 Mr. G. True ; but then I see you 
 are so very much engaged, that it would 
 
 be a pity to interrupt you. 
 
 s
 
 198 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 in the least, my dear 
 Sir; only step into the drawing-room 
 and amuse yourself for a little while, 
 and we will cut short for the day, and 
 devote the remaining part of it to the 
 pleasure of your company. 
 
 Mr. G. Well, if I shall riot materi- 
 ally interrupt business 
 
 Gripatt. Not at all, I assure my 
 dear friend ; [the postman's knock is 
 heard at the street-door ;) here is the post- 
 man with the letters we will dispatch, 
 and wait upon you as soon as possible, 
 The ladies will entertain you in the 
 mean while. (One of the clerks enters 
 with a large bundle of letters.) Excuse 
 us, my dear friend, for the present ; we 
 are now at business, you know.
 
 ^>R, RAISING THE WIND. 199 
 
 Mr. G. Certainly, Gentlemen ; I 
 will step to the ladies. 
 
 Gripall opens the letters: the first 
 that claims his attention is one from 
 Lord W , as follows : 
 
 Lord W. wishes to see Messrs. Hold- 
 fast and Gripall at the earliest possible 
 opportunity. Nothing but losses and 
 crosses at present ; but Messrs. H. and 
 G. know their security and must pro- 
 vide supplies for new risks. Lord W. 
 is not easily done for only stunned by 
 a knock-down blow ; but will up again 
 and at 'em, while he has only such 
 staunch backers. Shall call at the office 
 about one o'clock to-day, and expects 
 Messrs. H. and G. will not fail to have 
 all in readiness to sign, seal and deliver.' 
 Remember ! shall be punctual, little 
 time to spare, and he is determined to
 
 200 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 have a hit to floor or be floored once 
 more/* 
 
 Be so good, Mr. Gripall, as to order 
 one of the clerks to write his lordship 
 that we shall expect and be ready to re- 
 ceive him. 
 
 The next is - from the Marquis 
 W . 
 
 .' GENTLEMEN* 
 
 " Notwithstanding the serious sacri- 
 fices that I have recently made for rais- 
 ing the needful, I am still in a situation 
 which needs your helping hand ; the 
 cursed heavy draughts I have lately had 
 occasion for by a run of ill-luck, together 
 with a little extravagant devil I have in
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 201 
 
 tow, belonging to one of the Thespian 
 corps, have so drained my treasury, that it 
 must be replenished with golden stores ; 
 therefore, a farther supply, obtained up- 
 on any terms, I must have, or the sports 
 of the world will be suspended. Let 
 me hear from you in a proper strain by 
 the bearer, appointing time. To-mor- 
 row morning will suit me very well ; 
 make it suit, if you can, about ten 
 o'clock. 
 
 " Your's, (in a devil of a hurry,) 
 
 Do, Mr. Gripall, answer this odd 
 fish yourself. 
 
 s 3
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 " Mr. presents respects to Messrs. 
 
 H and G ; begs the imme- 
 diate accommodation of 4,OOOL to carry 
 him through a speculation which he has 
 in hand ; should it fail, all will be up 
 with him ; but if it succeeds, it will set 
 
 him afloat. They know too well 
 
 to think he will deceive them. It must 
 be done immediately ." 
 
 Send the needful to Mr. imme- 
 diately ; he has plenty of resources, and 
 only too many irons in the fire ; but he 
 will swim where hundreds would sink. 
 He has been grateful hitherto, and in 
 case of the worst, will see us through 
 the piece, that we may befriend him, 
 when he gets on his legs again. Make 
 him debtor for
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 203 
 
 FROM A COOK AT PALACE. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " Feeling confident that you have 
 many advantages over other persons in 
 your line of business, from your exten^ 
 sive dealings, I apply to you, in prefer- 
 ence to all others ; and, as to putting 
 my money at simple interest, into the 
 old lady's bag in Threadneedle-street, 
 'tis absurd, when I am aware that from 
 30 to 40 per cent, is given by many of 
 the worthies for whom I am in the daily 
 habit of making out my bill of fare. I 
 enjoy a snug office in the P 1 ce, and 
 have many opportunities of getting fat. 
 1 am in the habit of ordering the fattest 
 meat our butcher can supply, and as 
 the glaze which we procure from stew- 
 ing an enormous quantity of the best
 
 204 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 beef sells to the pastry-cooks at seven 
 shillings per pound, I have accumulated 
 800/., and hope, in the course of the 
 next six months, to be able to accom- 
 modate you with a few hundreds more. 
 I shall feel perfectly satisfied with an 
 annuity of 30 per cent., on unquestion- 
 able security ', and not on the promissory 
 notes of those who never make good 
 their engagements. I have already had 
 the honour of lending one of the relatives 
 of the great family I serve, some of the 
 proceeds of their own fat, but promises 
 are the only interest I have, or am ever 
 likely to obtain. My wages are consi- 
 derably in arrear, but the perquisites I 
 enjoy render wages an object of small 
 importance, while.one is so lucratively 
 employed, and so pleasantly situated 
 with respect to the glaze. In short, as 
 these things may not last for ever, I 
 wish to provide against a rainy day,
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 205 
 
 and to sit down comfortably in old age 
 by a snug fire-side, m my old wicker- 
 chair. 
 
 " I shall be glad of your answer, when 
 it will be convenient for me to wait 
 upon you. 
 
 " I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 Here, Mr. Gripall, let the principal 
 cook be answered ; tell him we shall be 
 happy to see him as soon as possible, 
 and that we will do our best with the 
 proceeds of his glaze. A facetious fel- 
 low this ! but he will sing to another 
 tune when he finds we have eased him 
 of his fat. It will make good the old
 
 206 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 proverb, " What is got over the devil's 
 back is spent under his belly." 
 
 FROM THE HOUSEMAID OF L D 
 
 C H. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " Having a friend in the Palace 
 kitchen, he informs me that I cannot 
 do better than intrust my little savings 
 in your hands. Since I have been in 
 this family, I have scraped together 
 about 600/., for which I should like to 
 know what you can allow yearly. He 
 says in some instances you give 2.5 or 
 30 per cent., or more. I should like 
 40 ; but pray do the best you can for 
 me, and I will recommend you to all 
 my fellow servants, who, like myself,
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 207 
 
 are following master's example, and let- 
 ting none of the candles' ends and 
 cheese-parings escape us. Please to 
 direct for me, Housemaid, at L d 
 C h's, North Cray. 
 
 " I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 Let this Mistress Abigail be answer- 
 ed ; the glaze and the candles ends and 
 cheese-parings may as well keep com- 
 pany together.
 
 208 4 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 FROM THE COACHMAN OF LORD 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " Having been informed that you 
 have befriended numbers of people in 
 service, like myself, by laying out their 
 little savings to the best advantage for 
 them, I make bold to offer you what I 
 have whipped together by my industry, 
 
 as coachman to Lord , who, you 
 
 know, is one of the Lords of the 
 Tr s ry, amounting to 8oO/. It is 
 true, I have made the best market I 
 could of oats, hay, and straw ; but 1 
 can lay my hand upon my heart and 
 conscientiously say, that the horses have 
 never suffered for it ; God bless them, 
 poor dear souls ! I love them too well, 
 as I get my bread by them. But, as
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 209 
 
 for master i why, he lives upon the pub- 
 lic, and I live upon him, that's all that 
 can be said for it; he leads them, and I 
 drive him, and needs must go whom 
 the devil drives, as the saying is. I 
 have made hay while the sun shone, as 
 every honest, industrious, and wise man 
 should do ; and, if ever I should be 
 turned out of place, or, as master says, 
 resign, why, I have as much right to 
 a pension for life as he has, ' Like 
 Master, like Man/ is my maxim. So 
 do, pray, Gentlemen, do the best you 
 can for a poor servant. 
 
 " I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your's to command, 
 
 The same answer as the last, Mr. 
 T
 
 !10 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET ; 
 
 Gripall ; Jehus oats, hay and straw 
 will do for our own stables. 
 
 FROM THE BUTLER OF LORD 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " Your fame and obliging disposition 
 to persons in my line of life (I am head 
 
 butler to L d , one of the 
 
 S sof S e) having reached my 
 
 ears, 1 wish to avail myself of your 
 friendly services, in the disposal of my 
 little private stock, drawn from my 
 master's cellars ; for who would be 
 such a fool as to live in the vineyard, 
 and never taste the juice of the grape? 
 Let the Reformers sneer as much and 
 as long as they please at cabinet-din- 
 ers ; they are good for somewh at, I
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 211 
 
 know by experience. In proportion 
 as my noble master and his guests 
 warmed themselves for the good of 
 the nation, I kept myself cool for 
 the good of myself ; and when they 
 grew cool, I warmed myself by drink- 
 ing success to their schemes pro bono 
 publico, out of the very best vintages in 
 the cellar. This is as it should be. 
 When the master gets drunk, the man 
 should keep himself sober ; as, by that 
 means, business is never at a stand- 
 still. But I grow so loquacious, that 
 you may think I am now in my cups ; 
 but I always keep myself sober when 
 I have any business on hand. The fact 
 is, that I have acquired such a habit of 
 speechifying, from hearing my master 
 compose and repeat his harangues for 
 the good of the state, that I cannot re- 
 frain from following the example, when 
 I am upon any scheme for my own pri-
 
 212 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET,' 
 
 vate interest. In short, Gentlemen, 
 through the medium of a private friend 
 of mine, a wine-merchant, to whom I 
 am in the habit of disposing of the 
 leakage, of my master's cellar, and by 
 some other ways and means, as master 
 has it, 1 have drawn off and bottled up 
 about 1 ,500/., which I wish to stow 
 away safe in Cork-street Saving -Bank, 
 if you give me encouragement so to do. 
 Thirty percent., I am told, is about the 
 average of the market, and that will sa- 
 tisfy me. If you can do the job for 
 me, let me know, and I will be with 
 you at your own time. 
 
 " I am, Gentlemen, 
 " Your's, &c. 
 
 Grosvenor-square.
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 213 
 
 The same answer as the last, Air. 
 
 Gripall; the S y of S e's 
 
 wine can't come to a better mart than 
 the Cork-street one. 
 
 FROM A DISCARDED SERVANT. 
 " GENTLEMEN, 
 
 " I am in luck, and out of luck. 1 
 have lost my place, and have got all my 
 late lady's wardrobe. You must know 
 that my poor dear lady was unfortunate 
 enough to be caught in a fox paw, a 
 crim. con., as they call it ; and, as I 
 had some little knowledge of the matter, 
 (for the failings of mistresses, you 
 should know, are the vails andperqui- 
 T3
 
 I 
 
 214 A MORNING IN CORK-STUEET ; 
 
 sites of survants,) my lord turned me 
 off without a character, because I 
 would not blab, (and what honest ser- 
 vant would tell her mistress's secrets ?) 
 and relate all I knew about certain little 
 private doings, before a parcel of liquor- 
 ish, old, big-wigged lawyers, who would 
 put any modest young woman, like 
 myself, to the blush, with their * Tell 
 all you know !' ' Tell all you saw !' 
 One often sees things done in private, 
 which one would not like to describe in 
 public ; and ' a still tongue makes a 
 wise head/ So, as I was saying, my 
 lord turned me away ; but my lady, 
 like a considerate, good soul, gave me 
 great part of her clothes, which 1 have 
 sold, and, with my other savings, I 
 have made shift to get together 600/., 
 which, I hear, you can dispose of to the 
 best advantage for me. Trade I know
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 215 
 
 nothing about, thank fortune ; and, if 
 I did, it would be too great degradation 
 for one who, like myself, have figured 
 away in a higher spear of life, to be serv- 
 ing out haperthsmid pennorths to every 
 little dirty blackguard, who thought it 
 a favour to bestow his custom on me. 
 I shall therefore retire upon my fortune, 
 and live like a private gentlewoman. 
 Let me hear from you as soon as possi- 
 ble, directed to the care of Mrs. Single- 
 stitch, mantua-maker, Petticoat-lane, 
 Whitechapel, and I will trust my whole 
 fortune in your hands, as I have heard 
 a good character of you. 
 
 " I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your's, at all hours,
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 Ha ! ha ! ha ! here is a droll corre- 
 spondent. " It is an ill wind that blows 
 nobody good," and her ladyship's/o.r 
 paw will be of some little service to us". 
 Well, now we have got through the let- 
 ters, let us attend to personal applica- 
 tions. Are there many waiting, Mr. 
 Gripall ? 
 
 GripalL Yes, the office is thronged. 
 
 Holdfast. We will soon dispatch 
 
 them, then ; for our friend, Mr. G d, 
 
 will be impatient ; and he is a large 
 
 Jish, worth some hundreds of the small 
 
 fry. Are the pass-books all ready ? 
 
 GripalL They are on the desk. 
 
 The mode which Messrs. Holdfast 
 and Gripall took to dispatch their mo-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 217 
 
 ney-lending customers was the most ex- 
 peditious that could be imagined. There 
 were a number of pass-books^ like 
 bankers' cheque-books, ready cut and 
 dried, lying before them. As they re- 
 ceived each person's money, they en- 
 tered the sum, and the amount of the 
 annuity which was to be procured for 
 it. This book was delivered to the 
 lender, and was his sole security for his 
 loan. Matters were dispatched in the 
 twinkling of an eye, as Messrs. H. and 
 G. were men of such character for ho- 
 nesty and integrily, that all inquiries 
 were scouted as doubts of their honour, 
 and the impertinent and inquisitive few 
 at once awed into implicit confidence by 
 a tremendous frown, 
 
 Mrs. L. was first introduced. 
 
 She had brought with her 2,000/., a
 
 218 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 month's savings of her Faro Bank, 
 which she wished to be placed out on 
 an annuity of 40 per cent., or more, if 
 it could be obtained. A pass-book was 
 filled up, handed to her, and the lady 
 withdrew. 
 
 Mrs. Candlewick was the next. She 
 was a tallow-chandler's wife, and had 
 saved up 300/. without the knowledge 
 of her husband. As Mr. Candlewick 
 had had a family by a former wife, she 
 wished to secure it to her own children, 
 in addition to any other provision he 
 might be able or willing to make for 
 them. She received a pass-book, and 
 was dispatched. 

 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 219 
 
 Mrs. Tape brought 500/. Her hus- 
 jand was a stylish linen-draper, and 
 was in rather unpleasant circumstances. 
 In fact, she wished to secure a provision 
 for herself, without its coming to the 
 ears of the creditors, as Mr. Tape had 
 some idea of rusticating for a few 
 months mAbbot's Preserve, till he could 
 get bleached as white as a piece of 
 Irish linen, from the Coleraine bleaching- 
 grounds. 
 
 Mrs. B ra. The secret history of 
 
 this female was curious enough. 
 Though a kept lady, she was not so im- 
 provident as the greater part of that un- 
 happy class of females. Her keeper 
 was not very liberal ; so, taking advan- 
 tage whilst he was on an excursion into 
 the country with a party of friends, she
 
 220 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 called in a Broker, sold off the greatest 
 part of the furniture, which was removed 
 by night, and conveyed the plate to a 
 pawnbroker's. She then wrote to her 
 protector that the house had been strip- 
 ped by thieves, during a temporary ab- 
 sence, and caused an advertisement to 
 be inserted into the newspapers to that 
 effect. She now came to invest the 
 produce of her ingenuity in an annuity, 
 to provide against the caprices of her 
 protector, or, what she dreaded infinitely 
 more, the advances of old age. 
 
 The old Dowager Countess of 
 
 next hobbled in. Possessed of a joint- 
 ure of 2,500/. a year, (of which she did 
 not expend the odd 6001.) she had been 
 in the habit of laying out her savings in
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 221 
 
 the funds ; till, hearing of the enormous 
 interest to be obtained by placing her 
 money in the hands of Messrs. Hold- 
 fast and Gripall, she was, in an evil 
 hour, induced to pay a visit to Cork- 
 street. Her 12,000/. (the savings of 
 six years) were graciously welcomed, 
 and the old dowager received a pass- 
 book, and loads of fair promises of tak- 
 ing special care of her precious de- 
 posit. 
 
 Mrs. Saveall^B. housekeeper in a no- 
 ble family, had kept the house of her 
 noble lord to so good a purpose, that 
 she had scraped together almost enough 
 to keep house for herself. The old lady 
 was very circumspect, and began to 
 be rather minute in her inquiries; but 
 U
 
 222 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 Mr. G. cut the matter short at once, by 
 telling her that their character was too 
 well known to be doubted, and that 
 they would receive no person's money 
 who had not implicit confidence that it 
 would be perfectly safe, and the trans- 
 action to their mutual advantage. The 
 lofty tone in which this speech was 
 uttered, for which he is so well quali- 
 fied, awed the old lady, who, in spite 
 of all her circumspection, was had to 
 to the tune of 1,600/. 
 
 Mistress Slicer, who kept a cook's- 
 shop in the neighbourhood of Carnaby- 
 market, came next. She was a widow, 
 and about to enter into the holy state of
 
 OB, RAISING THE WIND. 223 
 
 matrimony for the fourth time, with the 
 accomplished Mr. O'Shaughnessy, of 
 Dyot-street, St. Giles's. But being 
 aware, from repeated experience, that 
 men have wheedling ways before mar- 
 riage, (and the first in particular, a good 
 deal of the blarney,) she was determined 
 to take care of the main chance, as three 
 weeks after marriage might alter the 
 time. Her business, therefore, was to 
 deposit the contents of her canvass bag, 
 (about SOO/.) in the hands of Messrs. 
 
 H and G , for her own separate 
 
 use and disposal. The gentlemen ac- 
 cepted the trust, and dismissed the lady 
 to her oft-tried, yet never palling, nup- 
 tial joys. 
 
 Miss Flirt, a stylish young lady, and 
 Fancy Dress-maker, came next in
 
 224 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 succession. Her business lay among 
 ladies of the first quality, and she had 
 had the good fortune, or the good taste, 
 to invent a new robe, a la Turque, 
 whose large, loose folds and plaits, be- 
 sides concealing many personal defects, 
 had the additional advantage of con- 
 cealing the state which married ladies 
 sometimes fall into, when their hus- 
 bands have been abroad for more than 
 the usual time of gestation; and in un- 
 married ladies, who, through an unlucky 
 discovery, might never have it in their 
 power to enter into the marriage state. 
 As Miss Flirt, from personal expe- 
 rience, could warrant the efficacy of her 
 invention in eluding impertinent curio- 
 sity, it became so much in request with 
 married and single ladies, whose situa- 
 tion required a temporary concealment, 
 that she soon made a fortune out of 
 what, to some females of less ingenuity,
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 225 
 
 would have proved a misfortune. Her 
 present business was to lay out her 
 savings in trade to the best advantage, 
 and the contents of her black velvet, 
 gold laced and tasselled reticule (about 
 1,2()0/.) were emptied into the Iron 
 
 Chest of Messrs. H and G , 
 
 where it was safe enough at least she 
 believed so. 
 
 It would be tedious to wade through 
 an account of all the female visitors who 
 came to pay a Morning Visit to Cork- 
 street^ some dozens in number ; suffice 
 it therefore to say, that they were all 
 served out in turn, as the elegant phrase 
 is, and that they all retired highly de- 
 u 3
 
 226 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 lighted with the thoughts of having de- 
 posited their moneys to the very best 
 advantage. The times were hard, and 
 40/. per cent, not to be picked up at 
 every turn and corner. A good pair of 
 hands might do much ; but a good 
 head-piece would do infinitely more. 
 If ever a Temple should be erected to 
 the Goddess of Fortune in London, the 
 first stone of it should be laid in Cork- 
 street, and Messrs. H and G 
 
 be the first High Priests. Such were 
 the ideas of these female visitants as 
 they trudged homewards, happily deli- 
 vered of their burthens. 
 
 The male visitors were exactly upon 
 a par with the female ones, so that a 
 description of those of the one sex, will
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 227 
 
 exactly suit those of the other. All 
 ranks and all ages all descriptions of 
 persons borrowers as well as lenders, 
 were the dupes and the victims of their 
 credulity and folly and all were alike 
 doomed to mourn over their mis-spent 
 morning in Cork-street.
 
 228 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Consequences of a Morning in Cork-street. 
 
 MEN, in their sober senses, will natu- 
 rally think it impossible that a scene, 
 so replete with duplicity on the one 
 side, and with infatuation on the other, 
 should exist for any length of time ; 
 but so it was. Messrs. Holdfast and 
 Gripall lived away like people of the
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 229 
 
 first fortune and consequence, whilst 
 they could lay their hands on any of the 
 ready to keep the mill going ; but as 
 soon as that failed them, the Bubble 
 Burst. A concern, standing solely upon 
 credit, is irretrievably lost the very first 
 instant that its credit begins to be 
 doubted, or that a shade is cast upon 
 its stability. Like a woman's honour, 
 if once sullied by suspicion, it is lost for 
 ever. 
 
 This was the case with the ever- 
 memorable Cork-street Firm. Ready 
 money began to grow scarce, and to 
 satisfy their profuse expenditure, some 
 shifting and shuffling became necessary. 
 Their responsibility soon became ques- 
 tionable, and as it was inquired into, it 
 was presently discovered that their 
 Temple of Fortune was only a Building
 
 230 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 of Paper, and the High Priests them- 
 selves, the great Messrs. Holdfast and 
 Gripall, were mere Men of Straw. The 
 creditors now took the alarm, and were 
 urgent for rather better security than 
 the bare words and engagements and 
 pass-books of those worthies, and the 
 latter had nothing better to give them. 
 High-sounding words and big looks no 
 longer availed to awe the creditors ; 
 the tables were turned, and the latter 
 became haughty and imperious in their 
 turn. They clamorously demanded 
 security, and they might as well have 
 asked a Highlander for a knee-buckle. 
 It was not to be had ! The creditors 
 were no longer spell-bound by faith in 
 the honour and integrity of Messrs. 
 
 H and G ; the whole charm 
 
 was dissolved and
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 231 
 
 THE BUBBLE BURST! 
 
 Banquo, The earth has bubbles, as the water has, 
 And these are of them ; whither are they vanish'd ? 
 
 Macbeth. Into the air; and what seem'd corporal, 
 
 melted 
 As breath into the wind." 
 
 Shakspeare, 
 
 Messrs. Holdfast and Gripall, al- 
 though possessed of immense sums of 
 money due on bills and bonds of noble 
 and great folks, could neither enforce 
 p.-iyment of their demands, nor discount 
 on the strength of those securities, as 
 heretofore, on account of the restricted 
 issue of Bank-ot-England paper, the 
 stoppage of discount, and the scarcity 
 of the gold circulating medium. There 
 was but one resource left to them, and
 
 232 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 that was to figure in the Gazette ; by 
 which means their noble arid great 
 Debtors would be compelled to come to 
 book, and their debts would be called in 
 for them, without giving offence to their 
 customers ; and they reckoned (but 
 without their host, it should seem) that 
 a very considerable surplus would re- 
 main after payment of all their debts, 
 and all the expenses incident to the 
 commission. This scheme could not 
 be deemed dishonest, whatever opinion 
 may be entertained as to their conduct 
 in general. It afforded the only means 
 of satisfying their numerous creditors, 
 and rias been often practised by trades- 
 men, who had no other means of railing 
 their debtors to account, without giving 
 them offence, and injuring their future 
 prospects in life. Many instances have 
 been known of men acting so, and set-
 
 f 
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 233 
 
 ling up in business again with consi- 
 derable fortunes. 
 
 Accordingly, the scheme being ma- 
 tured, a stoppage of payment took 
 place : one of the partners disappeared, 
 and a report was circulated, that he 
 was about to transport himself and the 
 whole of the property abroad. But we 
 rather believe that no such fraud was 
 ever intended, as we have said before 
 that they expected a considerable sur- 
 plus to fall into their hands ; and that 
 a temporary retirement was only con- 
 templated, as a keeping out of the way 
 would be a necessary prelude to the 
 issuing of a Commission of Bankrupt. 
 Immense was the alarm which this re- 
 port excited among the numerous cre- 
 ditors many very many of them (as 
 we have seen) in menial situations 
 x
 
 234 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET J 
 
 Stewards, Butlers, Housekeepers,Cooks, 
 Coachmen, Valets, Ladies'-maids, &c. ; 
 the whole of whose savings, during 
 many years of servitude, had been ini 
 trusted to the Cork-street Firm, with 
 the view natural enough, though not 
 legal of receiving exorbitant interest ! 
 
 It was now that the whole mystery 
 and iniquity of the Money-lending and 
 Bill-discounting System was to be held 
 up to the light in all its true and odious 
 colours, and a struggle ensued between 
 the creditors, to exclude each other from 
 proving their debts, in order to increase 
 their own dividends. The first Com- 
 mission was superseded, from the peti- 
 tioning creditors not being such a legal 
 debt as was required by law to ground 
 a Commission upon ; a second was 
 issued ; assignees were chosen and dis-
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 235 
 
 missed, and a struggle ensued for the 
 assigneeship ; the female creditors, to a 
 large number, incommoded by the pres- 
 sure of the crowd assembled round the 
 tables of the Commissioners, and 
 ashamed of having their folly exposed 
 to derision, petitioned for separate hear- 
 ings, which, they were informed, could 
 not be allowed, unless they would 
 defray the expenses out of their own 
 pockets, to which they agreed. The 
 groups of females were so numerous 
 who attended these private hearings, 
 and their arguments so vociferous, that 
 the Commissioners have been heard to 
 declare their doubts, whether the can- 
 nonade, at the battle of Waterloo, could 
 exceed the war of female tongues at 
 Guildhall. The law expenses are al- 
 ready enormous, so that the hopes of 
 Messrs. Holdfast and Gripall, to receive
 
 236 
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 a surplus, will prove as delusive as 
 those they held out to their infatuated 
 creditors, and the upshot will verify an 
 apostolical command (with very little 
 alteration) " Whatsoever ye do, do 
 all for the honour and profit of the 
 LAWYERS !
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 237 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 are not among the set of 
 Grumblers at the vices and follies of 
 the present day, who exclaim in the 
 language of the Latin poet : 
 
 ./Etas parentum pejor avis hilit, 
 Nos nequiores, mox daturos 
 Progeniem vitiosiorem. 
 
 Horace. 
 
 Our fathers have been worse than theirs, 
 And we than ours ; next age will see 
 A race more profligate than we. 
 
 Rot common. 
 
 x 3
 
 238 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 The pursuits of the Nobility and Men 
 of Fashion, of the present century, are 
 not so dangerous to society as they were 
 in the beginning of the last. Then 
 they were so infamous for their noc- 
 turnal orgies and licentious cruelty, 
 that it was dangerous to be out in the 
 streets at night. The Mohawks and 
 Sweaters are handed down to us by the 
 Spectator ', as an abandoned set of young 
 fellows, who patrolled the streets to 
 break lamps, beat the watch, surround 
 an honest citizen with drawn swords, 
 and pink him on whichever side he at- 
 tempted to escape. The Hell-Fire 
 Club the rendezvous of the celebrated 
 Moll King, in Covent Garden Lord 
 Mornington's public gaming-house 
 under the Piazza the murder of -Mr. 
 Mountford, the actor, in defending Mrs. 
 Bracegirdle against the insults of Lord 
 Mohun and his infamous companion
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 239 
 
 and the fact that the actress 'who first 
 personated Polly, in Gray's Beggars' 
 Opera, was obliged to be escorted to 
 her home every night from the Theatre, 
 to protect her against the outrages of 
 some profligate noble suitors are such 
 acts in defiance of all law and decorum, 
 as no man, of whatever rank or wealth, 
 could commit at the present day with 
 impunity. If the present century be 
 supposed to exceed the last in intrigue 
 and adultery, let them peruse Mrs. 
 Behn's Atalantis, and similar works of 
 the day, and they will no longer doubt 
 that the more refined are the manners of 
 a nation, the less atrocious are the 
 crimes, and if the licentiousness of their 
 amours be equally unbridled, they are, 
 at least, concealed with more decency. 
 
 If the Great, wish to draw a line or' 
 distinction in their pleasures, let them
 
 240 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET; 
 
 do so, in God's name ; it will be the 
 best mode of confining contagion within 
 their own sphere, and preventing it 
 from contaminating the middle, and 
 infinitely the most useful, class of 
 society. 
 
 We are now come to the close of our 
 labours, which we have undertaken 
 with the sole view not so much to 
 satirize individuals, (as we fully had 
 it in our power to do,) as of lashing the 
 most destructive vice of the age 
 Gambling and the consequent and no 
 less destructive folly of borrowing from 
 adventurers, speculators, and impostors, 
 who are in the daily habit of holding 
 out golden dreams to the unwary in 
 public advertisements, which invariably 
 end in the ruin of all those unwary 
 persons, who may be so weak and 
 credulous as to suffer themselves to be
 
 OR, RAISING THE WIND. 241 
 
 entrapped by them. If the legislature 
 had done its duty, (as it is now ru- 
 moured that it is about to do,) it had 
 saved us our present labours. If they 
 open but the eyes of one single indi- 
 vidual if they save but one family 
 from perdition we shall not think it 
 in vain that we have spent 
 
 A MORNING IN CORK-STREET. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 I. Reed, Printer, Green Arbour-court, Old Bailey.


 
 
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