Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/187

Rh I call that clever; as it is also to live a month genteelly upon an original stock of only four or live prayer-books, with which he rung the changes, at the booksellers: giving those and taking books, and receiving money in return. But he put his foot in it, by overdoing his good luck, as most people do, who know not what it is to rule and govern themselves. He took three volumes of Spectator, to sell by way of sampler the remainder of the set, which he stated to be ten, but the bookseller insisted was complete only in forty-five volumes. He at length agreed for the whole forty-five, which he meant to steal, as he proposed to bring them by piecemeal; but Mr. Gosling of Castle Street, Leicester fields (the right owner) would not let them go in that way, and candidly told him so. The holder of the three volumes, too, supected him; and both these having mentioned their suspicions at a third bookseller's—the tall-one's schemes were blown up, and the books returned to their fellows in the set.

Than the shop-lifter's, there is not a more improvident set of thieves in the whole list. Not content with one or two good things of a day, they will go on from shop to shop, throughout the whole blessed day; so that they get watched by