Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/99

Rh goods of which some were seized, and the fine, after every plea for moderation, he got over only by paying upwards of a hundred pounds.

Informers, who find no real dealers in contraband, are obliged to evince their activity to their employers by creating them. They wheedle themselves into the good graces of some unsuspecting Noodle at the Alehouse; generally a drunkard who has good connections in life. Him, they stuff up with a great idea of what each other is doing in the trade; for there are always two or even six, seven, or eight frequenting the same house. Having primed him in this way, some goods are produced upon the sly, a lamentation is set up that such great beauties, and so cheap, cannot find a sale; how happy many ladies would be only to look at such a shawl, or gentlemen such fine large Bandanas;—then the Noodle's friends are described, as near as may be, and if he does not open his mouth, a direct offer is made to him, his honesty commended, and if he appear a little seedy they rig him out. For a space of time, be it more or less, he goes on and prospers for a while, thinks it a fine career to move in, and probably, by his example, induces some other