Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/23

Rh small article be left in the coach, it may be known by Jarvy's taking off his hat and placing it in the coach; theu holding the door tight behind him, he deposits the article found in the poll of his hat, which he puts on his head.

N.B. Whatever coachman manœuvres the door of, his coach, he is at no good: the hackney man keeps his open to prevent his number from obtruding itself upon your notice; the stage-coachman keeps his tight against his back, the better to conceal what he is at. The landlord of the tap, or watering house, the next barber's shop, or cobbler's stall, are the places to enquire what is become of the things, generally speaking.

At every inn yard there are a kind of "hangers on," as we mentioned higher up, who are men of the worst character, since they affect an integrity they do not possess, and therefore are sometimes entrusted when they ought not to be. They are vastly familiar with the people really employed; they run of errands, and carry messages; and if there is a thing to be done upon the sly, they get off with impunity, because the person whose immediate business it should be to detect him, is induced to wink at, in hopes of sharing the depredation. Sometimes they hang about the tap-room for entire days, to hand off what