230 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Domestic Notices. 



ENGLAND. 



A FEW cautionary Hints to Florists, Nurserymen, and Innlieepers. — I am 

 a well-wisher to all florists, nurserymen, and innkeepers, in general, and, I 

 trust, to every one else. I cannot, perhaps, better show it than by giving 

 them a strict caution not to deal or give the least attention to a fellow 

 calling himself Gern, of the firm of Gern and Co., Nurserymen, Aberdeen ; 

 pretending to carry about with him the Scottish seedhng ranunculuses 

 for sale, raised by the far-famed Mr. Waterstone of Paisley, and a Mr. 

 Thompson, and also showing a general nursery catalogue. Now, there is 

 positive proof that this fellow is a thorough impostor both in word and 

 deed ; and report goes so far as to say that he is not ignorant of seven 

 years' transportation, which I conscientiously believe to be true, from the 

 quarter from which I received my iiiiormation. At whatever inn or 

 public house this Judas may think proper to take up his abode, he regu- 

 larly leaves without paying the landlord. In this manner he has acted to 

 three respectable houses in Cambridge j and at Huntingdon also he has 

 left them sufficient cause not to forget one Gern, the Scotch laddie from 

 Aberdeen, who kindly honoured them with a visit. His appearance is by 

 no means respectable ; but I will give him credit for the possession of 

 abilities far beyond what we meet with every day. In his conversation he 

 is pleasing, and it is mixed up with anecdotes captivating to that class 

 of men he most usually calls upon. He has on a shabby green great-coat, 

 carries a purple bag similar to those used by travellers, and, whilst ad- 

 dressing, you frequently takes snuff. He stands about five feet four inches 

 in height. This is as near as I can describe his appearance. I do most 

 earnestly entreat, for the good of the public at large, that those gentle- 

 men who may be honoured by a call from this vile impostor will do all 

 in their power to entrap him, and inflict upon him such punishment as his 

 conduct so justly merits at the hands of every honest and fair-dealing man. 

 I write this not because 1 have myself been imposed upon, but from the 

 strong disgust that I feel that so infamous a fellow should have cheated 

 friends of mine. Should this reptile who is crawling about this earth of 

 ours in human shape be taken, I shall esteem the publication of the fact 

 in this Magazine a favour, for the satisfaction of those who have unfortu- 

 nately been deceived and imposed upon by him. — F. F. Cambridge, 

 March 6. 1833. 



News of this living libel on our calling has reached us from Oldham, 

 Lancashire. We quote as follows : — "A friend saw him at Stamford. 

 He had travelled all night from Cambridge, and when he had got to Stam- 

 ford, he ran away without paying his fare. Gern's proper name is Green, 



and he has lived in Manchester He came to Oldham and .... he called 



himself a traveller from a Mr. Pope of Birmingham, and had been into Scot- 

 land and all the north of England. In short, he has not left a town where 

 he has been in Lancashire, and few in Yorkshire, but he has cheated all 

 he could out of their money. It would take many sheets of paper to hold 

 a relation of the tricks I have heard of his practising At Burnlej', 



