England. 57 



serymen : — During last summer, a man of middle stature, rather stout, and 

 shabbily dressed, called on me, and represented himself as a Mr. Archer of Shef- 

 field, florist, soliciting orders. The man, by his general conversation, his apparent 

 knowledge of floriculture generally, and his detail of several transactions of 

 gentlemen, friends of mine, at Norwich (some of which I knew to be correct, 

 such as certain flower-roots, &c, having been sent from Sheffield to these 

 individuals, whose names he mentioned), succeeded in counteracting, in some 

 degree, the unfavourable impression I had at first formed of him, from his shabby 

 appearance ; for which, by the by, he accounted by the plausible excuse of 

 continued travelling, and having to visit so many customers in ordinary cir- 

 cumstances of life, who, he said, would be afraid of giving him orders were he 

 dressed as a gentleman. I showed him over my nursery ; and he particularly 

 noticed the dwarfness of some of the georginas, of which he expressed great 

 admiration. He examined my pinks and carnations, and continually referred 

 to a catalogue which he had with him, that showed the number of prizes each 

 flower had obtained in the year; and which, he said, he published annually : 

 it appeared to be edited by a Mr. Archer. I gave him an order for some tulips, 

 pinks, and carnations ; upon condition, however, that I was to flower them 

 before I paid for them. He also showed me some tubers of dwarf georginas, 

 of, as he said, very valuable varieties, worth two guineas each, brought for the 

 Duke of Marlborough ; but, the duke not paying his last bill, he refused to 

 leave them : but said, that, as the season for planting them was wearing away, 

 he would not, as he wished to encourage all amateur florists, object to let 

 me have them for a few shillings. So I purchased them, after consulting 

 with a friend, who was present, as to whether the man was or was not an 

 impostor. But the smallness of the sum to be risked induced me not to give 

 a hint of my suspicion ; for, although the man certainly played his game well, 

 and possessed a very smooth tongue, there was, nevertheless, a something 

 about him which created a doubt. The tubers were very neatly packed and 

 labelled, and certainly had the appearance of being something choice. He 

 also had tulip roots, labelled, &c, in the same style; but these, he said, were 

 for a gentleman who had ordered them, and, therefore, not for sale. On 

 going to the nursery the next morning, one of my foremen found eight or ten 

 of the dwarf georginas (which, when growing the day before, the impostor 

 had so much admired) with their tops cut from the roots, stuck into the 

 ground, and the roots gone. Suspicion, of course, immediately attached to 

 this fellow ; and it was strengthened by my calling, a day or two afterwards, 

 on a florist a few miles from Reading; and who questioned me respecting 

 him, as he said that the man had called on him with some tulip bulbs and 

 tubers of georginas, with the same tale respecting the duke as he had told 

 me ; and also stated that I had given him a 100/. order, &c, endeavouring, at 

 the same time, to prevail on this person to purchase. He, not being a grower 

 of tulips, declined doing this ; and thought that there was something wrong 

 with the tubers of georginas, as they appeared to him to have been in a grow- 

 ing state, and fresh taken out of the ground. He, nevertheless, gave him an 

 order for some pinks and heartseases, which were to be sent in my parcel. 

 This person keeps an inn ; and the fellow, not having yet succeeded in his 

 plans, proposed their going in and having dinner, &c, for which he would pay. 

 Dinner was provided and eaten ; and, afterwards, something as a " wetter " 

 was introduced. In the course of the chat which followed, the fellow 

 managed, under some pretence, to leave the room ; and, I need scarcely add, 

 did not return, but left the landlord to settle the reckoning. He entered his 

 orders in a book, in which there appeared many names, familiar to me, of per- 

 sons in this neighbourhood, who had, apparently, given him large orders. He 

 made free use of your name, and of the names of several other gentlemen who 

 had, he pretended, called at his nurserv, &c. —Myles Priest. Reading Nursery, 

 Dec. 12. 1833. 



The Floricultural Impostor at Hereford. — This worthy of the alias family 

 honoured a most respectable inn in this city, a short time ago, with his favours 



