856 Tne Art of getting into Debt. [March, 



well-timed fire paid all his debts, and put more money in his pocket 

 than he could ever have dreamed of realizing, even in his honest calling ; 

 and of a gentleman, who (although he had no other property in the 

 world than the clothes he wore, a shaving-caSe, and a brace, of pistols) 

 came into a good suppl}' of ready cash, by way of indemnity, for his loss 

 at the same fire. We should then wish to give him a glimpse of the 

 rules of the King's Bench ; let him see a little how prisoners live there ; 

 shew him " captain, and colonel, and knight in arms," dining with as 

 much splendour as tl^e richest noblemen in the land, and often with 

 much more — the expenses being all paid by the laborious tradesmen, 

 who, as these gentlemen wisely think, cannot be better employed than 

 in supporting persons who reflect so much honour on their country. 



When he had recovered a little from the astounding effect of these 

 spectacles, we would give him a notion of the effect of our Insolvency 

 Acts, and of Commissions of Bankruptcy. He, fancying (as the French 

 litterateurs, big and little, do fancy themselves very knowing on the 

 subject of English institutions) that he knew the meaning of these two 

 powerful contrivances, would tell us so ; he would tell us that they 

 were wise measures, in a great commercial country like ours ; that as 

 men can neither foresee nor avoid the vicissitudes of fortune, it is just 

 and wise that they should be released from debts which misfortune may 

 have heaped upon them, on condition of their dividing, to the utter- 

 most farthing, all that they possess among their creditors. And then 

 we shoidd triumph over him, as civilly as we could, by telling him that 

 he knew nothing about the matter. We would give him the name of 

 an Englishman living in France, with one splendid establishment in the 

 Rue Pigale and another at Versailles, who, having been engaged in bill 

 transactions to an immense amomit, obtained his discharge under the 

 Insolvency Act ; and j-et, although he Avas supposed to have given up 

 every farthing he possessed, now lives upon the interest of a hundred 

 thousand pounds sterling, which he lodged in the French funds. 



With respect to bankruptcies, we could tell him of the tight-rope 

 dancer who appeared in the gazette as a dealer in chalk ; of the thea- 

 trical manager, who, whimsically enough, called himself a music-seller ; 

 of the captain, who was a coach-maker ; and of the attorney, who figured 

 as an ironmonger ; all of whom obtained their certificates, and went on 

 a thousand times more prosperously than before. Tlie last instance was, 

 for the impudence and success of it, the most curious. The principal 

 actor was an attorney, who had more creditors than clients ; and, pos- 

 sessing the personal qualifications enumerated by our French friend, had 

 succeeded in gulling the easy tradesmen at the west end of the town 

 for some time. Foreseeing, like a prudent man as he was, that this 

 must come to an end, he took a small shop in a remote village, near a 

 shooting box which he rented (and for which, of course, he never paid), 

 had his name written in small letters over the door, and made his game- 

 keeper's wife live in it — he, in the meantime, leading a roaring life in 

 London, spending as much money as a duke, and all without even pos- 

 sessing a hundred pounds. When things were ripe, he appeared in the 

 gazette as an ironmonger, and was declared bankrupt. The affair was 

 managed so snugly and rapidly, that he had his certificate before his 

 creditors knew any thing at all about it ; and when they complained to 

 the Lord Chancellor, the attorney beat them all, by proving that he 

 had once personally sold a frying-pan to an old woman. 





