WITH THE PROPHETS. i77 



obtained numerous replies on the strength of his 

 previous successes. 



Before the advent of the " retired club 

 steward " there was a person at work whose 

 success as a tipster was the subject of much 

 gossip among needy bettors ; this was the lady- 

 tipster already referred to. Yes, a veritable 

 woman, and clever at the work ! I first heard 

 about her in " Jessop's," a night house in Cathe- 

 rine Street, among the frequenters of which her 

 tips seemed to have made an impression. The 

 little badly-printed circular containing her pro- 

 phecies was signed "A. M. Weather." The 

 name of this female foreteller of turf events was 

 said to be Adelaide Merryweather ; she was, so I 

 was told by some of the " knowing ones " who 

 frequented "Jessop's," the widow of an actor who 

 had been engaged for a time in one of the then 

 transpontine theatres as a delineator of small 

 parts. The woman's own name was Weather, 

 her husband's name being Merry, and the norn de- 

 plume she adopted as a prophetess was a combi- 

 nation of the two ; but she traded in tips under 

 other names as well, one of them being John 

 Screwman. Her house, or at least one of the 

 places to which her letters were sent, was in 

 Chapel Street, Soho Square, and, as the postman 

 of the period would have been able to testify, she 

 carried on a thriving business. 



Another of the names assumed by Mrs. 

 Merryweather when she put on her prophetic 

 mantle was, if my memory is not proving 

 treacherous, "Arthur Lancefield, late of Middle- 

 ham." I am writing only what I know, or what 

 I believe from trustworthy information to be true, 



