IPOUNDS, SHILLINGS, AND PENCE* 100 



'* What's her name ?" inquired the man of malt. 



" She's called Mrs. Catherine Scruff." 



" O, I know," said Jacob; " tell her I'm pretty well.'* 



" Yes sir ; and would you have the kindness to lend her a four- 

 penny bit ?" asked young Scruff in a persuasive tone. 



After such inquiries and civilities, old Jacob could not reasonably 

 object to this modest request, and he threw down four penny pieces, 

 assuring the young gentleman they would do equally as well as a 

 fourpenny bit. 



The little rogue had not been gone more than fifteen minutes, 

 when in came Mrs. Catherine herself — a tall, stout woman, a native 

 of the Emerald Isle — accosting the old fellow with, " Plase, Misther 

 Timpley, I'll throuble you for the loan of a shilling till Sathurday." 



" Then indeed you won't," said the landlord, sharply; " it's only 

 just this moment you sent your son for fourpence, which I gave him.'* 



" Then indeed I never did that same thing. It's a plot — a plot 

 of the child's father. I'm not responsible at all at all ; and I'll go 

 and search for the rogue, and if I find him, 111 either screw the 

 money from him or the nose from his face." 



We need not say what is likely to follow when " Greek meets 

 Greek ;" however, the child's father, as the wife termed him, adopted 

 this plan as his only •' ways and means," or as he termed it himself, 

 the " artful dodge." 



Reader ! — imagine yourself in the midst of a large and populous 

 town, placed as an observer of " men and manners ;" commence 

 with the poorest, and end with the richest ; note minutely the tricks 

 and stratagems of gaining the needful; — the beggar studies his 

 eloquence in order to move the passer by ; the working classes toil 

 like slaves ; the tradesman tries fifty methods, such as " selling off 

 under prime cost," &c.; and the gentleman gains his money by — his 

 money. 



The great difference that exists in society between the grades of 

 pounds, shillings, and pence, is wonderful. The man of pounds 

 comes under the appellation of a great man ; the man of shillings is 

 considered to go through the world with ease ; and the millions who 

 are men of pence and no pence are too often the oppressed of those 

 who are richer than themselves. 



