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of such traders; not to cheat, but to outwit or over-reach. Mixed with such traders, however, are found a few quiet, plodding, fair-dealing men, whom it is difficult to classify, otherwise than that they are "in the line, just because they likes it." The idling of these street-sellers is a part of their business. To walk by the hour up and down a street, and with no manual labour except to clean their dogs' kennels, and to carry them in their arms, is but an idleness, although, as some of these men will tell you, "they work hard at it."

Under the respective heads of dog and birdsellers, I shall give more detailed characteristics of the class, as well as of the varying qualities and inducements of the buyers.

The street-sellers of foreign birds, such as parrots, parroquets, and cockatoos; of gold and silver fish; of goats, tortoises, rabbits, leverets, hedgehogs; and the collectors of snails, worms, frogs, and toads, are also a mixed body. Foreigners, Jews, seamen, countrymen, costermongers, and boys form a part, and of them I shall give a description under the several heads. The prominently-characterized street-sellers are the traders in dogs and birds.

OF THE FORMER STREET SELLERS, "FINDERS," STEALERS, AND RESTORERS OF DOGS. BEFORE I describe the present condition of the street-trade in dogs, which is principally in spaniels, or in the description well known as lapdogs, I will give an account of the former condition of the trade, if trade it can properly be called, for the "finders" and "stealers" of dogs were the more especial subjects of a parliamentary inquiry, from which I derive the official information on the matter. The Report of the Committee was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, July 26, 1844.

In their Report the Committee observe, concerning the value of pet dogs:-"From the evidence of various witnesses it appears, that in one case a spaniel was sold for 1057., and in another, under a sheriff's execution, for 951. at the hammer; and 50%. or 60l. are not unfrequently given for fancy dogs of first-rate breed and beauty." The hundred guineas' dog above alluded to was a "black and tan King Charles's spaniel ;"-indeed, Mr. Dowling, the editor of Bell's Life in London, said, in his evidence before the Committee, "I have known as much as 150l. given for a dog." | He said afterwards: "There are certain marks about the eyes and otherwise, which are considered properties;' and it depends entirely upon the property which a dog possesses as to its value."

I need not dwell on the general fondness of the English for dogs, otherwise than as regards what were the grand objects of the dog-finders' search -ladies' small spaniels and lap-dogs, or, as they are sometimes called, "carriage-dogs," by their being the companions of ladies inside their carriages. These animals first became fashionable by the fondness of Charles II. for them. That monarch allowed them undisturbed possession of the gilded chairs in his palace of Whitehall, and

seldom took his accustomed walk in the park without a tribe of them at his heels. So "fashionable' were spaniels at that time and afterwards, that in 1712 Pope made the chief of all his sylphs and sylphides the guard of a lady's lapdog. The fashion has long continued, and still continues; and it was on this fashionable fondness for a toy, and on the regard of many others for the noble and affectionate qualities of the dog, that a traffic was established in London, which became so extensive and so lucrative, that the legislature interfered, in 1844, for the purpose of checking it.

I cannot better show the extent and lucrativeness of this trade, than by citing a list which one of the witnesses before Parliament, Mr. W. Bishop, a gunmaker, delivered in to the Committee, of "cases in which money had recently been extorted from the owners of dogs by dogstealers and their confederates." There is no explanation of the space of time included under the vague term "recently;" but the return shows that 151 ladies and gentlemen had been the victims of the dog-stealers or dog-finders, for in this business the words were, and still are to a degree, synonymes, and of these 62 had been so victimized in 1843 and in the six months of 1844, from January to July. The total amount shown by Mr. Bishop to have been paid for the restoration of stolen dogs was 9771. 4s. 6d., or an average of 67. 108. per individual practised upon. This large sum, it is stated on the authority of the Committee, was only that which came within Mr. Bishop's knowledge, and formed, perhaps, "but a tenth part in amount" of the whole extortion. Mr. Bishop was himself in the habit of doing business "in obtaining the restitution of dogs," and had once known 187.-the dog-stealers asked 251.-given for the restitution of a spaniel. The full amount realized by this dog-stealing was, according to the above proportion, 97721. 5s. In 1843, 2271. 3s. 6d. was so realized, and 97. 14s. 6d. in the six months of 1844, within Mr. Bishop's personal knowledge; and if this be likewise a tenth of the whole of the commerce in this line, a year's business, it appears, averaged 21661. to the stealers or finders of dogs. I select a few names from the list of those robbed of dogs, either from the amount paid, or because the names are well known. The first payment cited is from a public board, who owned a dog in their corporate capacity:

Board of Green Cloth Hon. W. Ashley (v. t.*) Sir F. Burdett

£ s. d.

8 0 0 15 0 0

Colonel Udney (v. t.)
Duke of Cambridge
Count Kielmansegge
Mr. Orby Hunter (v. t.)
Mrs. Holmes (v. t.).
Sir Richard Phillips (v. t.)
The French Amdassador
Sir R. Peel
Edw. Morris, Esq.
"v. t." signifies "various times," of theft and of

"restoration.'

20 0 0

1 11

2 0 0

17 0 0

Thus these 36 ladies and gentlemen paid 4381. 5s. 6d. to rescue their dogs from professional dog-stealers, or an average, per individual, of upwards of 121.

These dog appropriators, as they found that they could levy contributions not only on royalty, foreign ambassadors, peers, courtiers, and ladies of rank, but on public bodies, and on the dignitaries of the state, the law, the army, and the church, became bolder and more expert in their avocations -a boldness which was encouraged by the existing law. Prior to the parliamentary inquiry, dogstealing was not an indictable offence. To show this, Mr. Commissioner Mayne quoted Blackstone to the Committee: "As to those animals which do not serve for food, and which therefore the law holds to have no intrinsic value, as dogs of all sorts, and other creatures kept for whim and pleasure-though a man may have a base property therein, and maintain a civil action for the loss of them, yet they are not of such estimation as that the crime of stealing them amounts to larceny." The only mode of punishment for dog-stealing was by summary conviction, the penalty being fine or imprisonment; but Mr. Commissioner Mayne did not know of any instance of a dog-stealer being sent to prison in default of payment. Although the law recognised no property in a dog, the animal was taxed; and it was complained at the time that an unhappy lady might have to pay tax for the full term upon her dog, perhaps a year and a half after he had been stolen from her. One old offender, who stole the Duke of Beaufort's dog, was transported, not for stealing the dog, but his collar. The difficulty of proving the positive theft of a dog was extreme. In most cases, where the man was not seen actually to seize a dog which could be identified, he escaped when carried before a magistrate. "The dog-stealers," said Inspector

Shackell, "generally go two together; they have a piece of liver; they say it is merely bullock's liver, which will entice or tame the wildest or savagest dog which there can be in any yard; they give it him, and take him from his chain. At other times," continues Mr. Shackell," they will go in the street with a little dog, rubbed over with some sort of stuff, and will entice valuable dogs away. If there is a dog lost or stolen, it is generally known within five or six hours where that dog is, and they know almost exactly what they can get for it, so that it is a regular system of plunder." Mr. G. White, "dealer in live stock, dogs, and other animals,' and at one time "dealer in lions, and tigers, and all sorts of things," said of the dog-stealers: "In turning the corners of streets there are two or three of them together; one will snatch up a dog and put into his apron, and the others will stop the lady and say, 'What is the matter?' and direct the party who has lost the dog in a contrary direction to that taken."

In this business were engaged from 50 to 60 men, half of them actual stealers of the animals. The others were the receivers, and the go-betweens or restorers." The thief kept the dog perhaps for a day or two at some publichouse, and he then took it to a dog-dealer with whom he was connected in the way of business. These dealers carried on a trade in "honest dogs," as one of the witnesses styled them (meaning dogs honestly acquired), but some of them dealt principally with the dog-stealers. Their depots could not be entered by the police, being private premises, without a search-warrant and direct evidence was necessary to obtain a searchwarrant and of course a stranger in quest of a stolen dog would not be admitted. Some of the dog-dealers would not purchase or receive dogs known to have been stolen, but others bought and speculated in them. If an advertisement appeared offering a reward for the dog, a negotiation was entered into. If no reward was offered, the owner of the dog, who was always either known or made out, was waited upon by a restorer, who undertook "to restore the dog if terms could be come to." A dog belonging to Colonel Fox was once kept six weeks before the thieves would consent to the Colonel's terms. One of the most successful restorers was a shoemaker, and mixed little with the actual stealers; the dogdealers, however, acted as restorers frequently enough. If the person robbed paid a good round sum for the restoration of a dog, and paid it speedily, the animal was almost certain to be stolen a second time, and a higher sum was then demanded. Sometimes the thieves threatened that if they were any longer trifled with they would inflict torture on the dog, or cut its throat. One lady, Miss Brown of Bolton-street, was so worried by these threats, and by having twice to redeem her dog, "that she has left England," said Mr. Bishop, "and I really do believe for the sake of keeping the dog." It does not appear, as far as the evidence shows, that these threats of torture or death were ever carried into execution;

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some of the witnesses had merely heard of such things.

The shoemaker alluded to was named Taylor, and Inspector Shackell thus describes this person's way of transacting business in the dog "restoring" line: "There is a man named Taylor, who is one of the greatest restorers in London of stolen dogs, through Mr. Bishop." [Mr. Bishop was a gunmaker in Bond-street.] "It is a disgrace to London that any person should encourage a man like that to go to extort money from ladies and gentlemen, especially a respectable man. A gentleman applied to me to get a valuable dog that was stolen, with a chain on his neck, and the name on the collar; and I heard Mr. Bishop himself say that it cost 6.; that it could not be got for less. Capt. Vansittart (the owner of the dog) came out; I asked him particularly, Will you give me a description of the dog on a piece of paper,' and that is his writing (producing a paper). I went and made inquiry; and the captain himself, who lives in Belgrave-square, said he had no objection to give 41. for the recovery of the dog, but would not give the 6. I went and took a good deal of trouble about it. I found out that Taylor went first to ascertain what the owner of the dog would give for it, and then went and offered 17. for the dog, then 21., and at last purchased it for 3.; and went and told Capt. Vansittart that he had given 47. for the dog; and the dog went back through the hands of Mr. Bishop." The "restorers" had, it appears, the lion's share in the profits of this business. One witness had known of as much as ten guineas being given for the recovery of a favourite spaniel, or, as the witness styled it, for "working a dog back," and only two of these guineas being received by "the party." The wronged individual, thus delicately intimated as the " party," was the thief. same witness, Mr. Hobdell, knew 147. given for the restoration of a little red Scotch terrier, which he, as a dog-dealer, valued at four shillings!

The

One of the coolest instances of the organization and boldness of the dog-stealers was in the case of Mr. Fitzroy Kelly's "favourite Scotch terrier." The "parties," possessing it through theft, asked 127. for it, and urged that it was a reasonable offer, considering the trouble they were obliged to take. "The dog-stealers were obliged to watch every night," they contended, through Mr. Bishop, "and very diligently; Mr. Kelly kept them out very late from their homes, before they could get the dog; he used to go out to dinner or down to the Temple, and take the dog with him; they had a deal of trouble before they could get it." So Mr. Kelly was expected not only to pay more than the value of his dog, but an extra amount on account of the care he had taken of his terrier, and for the trouble his vigilance had given to the thieves! The matter was settled at 61. Mr. Kelly's case was but one instance.

Among the most successful of the practitioners in this street-finding business were Messrs. "Ginger" and "Carrots," but a parliamentary witness was inclined to believe that Ginger and Carrots were nicknames for the same individual,

one Barrett; although he had been in custody several times, he was considered "a very superior dog-stealer."

If the stolen dog were of little value, it was safest for the stealers to turn him loose; if he were of value, and unowned and unsought for, there was a ready market abroad. The stewards, stokers, or seamen of the Ostend, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburgh, and all the French steamers, readily bought stolen fancy dogs; sometimes twenty to thirty were taken at a voyage. A steward, indeed, has given 12/. for a stolen spaniel as a private speculation. Dealers, too, came occasionally from Paris, and bought numbers of these animals, and at what the dog foragers considered fair prices. One of the witnesses (Mr. Baker, a game dealer in Leadenhall-market) said :-" I have seen perhaps twenty or thirty dogs tied up in a little room, and I should suppose every one of them was stolen; a reward not sufficiently high being offered for their restoration, the parties get more money by taking them on board the different steam-ships and selling them to persons on board, or to people coming to this country to buy dogs and take them abroad."

The following statement, derived from Mr. Mayne's evidence, shows the extent of the dogstealing business, but only as far as came under the cognizance of the police. It shows the number of dogs "lost" or "stolen," and of persons "charged" with the offence, and "convicted" or "discharged." Nearly all the dogs returned as lost, I may observe, were stolen, but there was no evidence to show the positive theft :—

In what proportion the police-known thefts stood to the whole number, there was no evidence given; nor, I suppose, could it be given.

The dog-stealers were not considered to be connected with housebreakers, though they might frequent the same public-houses. Mr. Mayne pronounced these dog-stealers a genus, a peculiar class, "what they call dog-fanciers and dogstealers; a sort of half-sporting, betting characters."

The law on the subject of dog-stealing (8 and 9 Vict., c. 47) now is, that "If any person shall steal any dog, every such offender shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, being convicted thereof before any two or more justices of the peace, shall, for the first offence, at the discretion of the said justices, either be committed to the common gaol or house of correction, there to be imprisoned only, or be imprisoned and kept to hard labour, for any term not exceeding six calendar months, or shall forfeit and pay over and above the value of the said dog such sum of money, not exceeding 207., as to the said justices shall seem meet. And if any person so convicted shall

afterwards be guilty of the same offence, every such offender shall be guilty of an indictable misdemeanor, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable to suffer such punishment, by fine or imprisonment, with or without hard labour, or by both, as the court in its discretion shall award, provided such imprisonment do not exceed eighteen months."

OF A DOG-" FINDER."-A "LURKER'S"

CAREER.

CONCERNING a dog-finder, I received the following account from one who had received the education of a gentleman, but whom circumstances had driven to an association with the vagrant class, and who has written the dog-finder's biography from personal knowledge-a biography which shows the variety that often characterizes the career of the "lurker," or street-adventurer.

"If your readers," writes my informant, "have passed the Rubicon of forty years in the wilderness,' memory must bring back the time when the feet of their childish pilgrimage have trodden a beautiful grass-plot-now converted into Belgrave-square; when Pimlico was a 'village out of town,' and the 'five fields' of Chelsea were fields indeed. To write the biography of a living character is always delicate, as to embrace all its particulars is difficult; but of the truthfulness of my account there is no question.

"Probably about the year of the great frost (1814), a French Protestant refugee, named La Roche, sought asylum in this country, not from persecution, but from difficulties of a commercial character. He built for himself, in Chelsea, a cottage of wood, nondescript in shape, but pleasant in locality, and with ample accommodations for himself and his son. Wife he had none. This little bazaar of mud and sticks was surrounded with a bench of rude construction, on which the Sunday visitors to Ranelagh used to sit and sip their curds and whey, while from the entrance— far removed in those days from competition

• There stood uprear'd, as ensign of the place, Of blue and red and white, a checquer'd mace, On which the paper lantern hung to tell How cheap its owner shaved you, and how well.' Things went on smoothly for a dozen years, when the old Frenchman departed this life.

"His boy carried on the business for a few months, when frequent complaints of Sunday gambling' on the premises, and loud whispers of suspicion relative to the concealment of stolen goods, induced Chelsea George'-the name the youth had acquired-to sell the good-will of the house, fixtures, and all, and at the eastern extremity of London to embark in business as a 'mush or mushroom-faker.' Independently of his appropriation of umbrellas, proper to the mushfaker's calling, Chelsea George was by no means scrupulous concerning other little matters within his reach, and if the proprietors of the 'swell cribs' within his 'beat' had no 'umbrellas to mend,' or old 'uns to sell,' he would ease the pegs in the passage of the incumbrance of a greatcoat, and telegraph the same out of sight (by a colleague),

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while the servant went in to make the desired inquiries. At last he was bowl'd out' in the very act of nailing a yack' (stealing a watch). He expiated,' as it is called, this offence by three months' exercise on the cockchafer' (tread-mill). Unaccustomed as yet to the novelty of the exercise, he fell through the wheel and broke one of his legs. He was, of course, permitted to finish his time in the infirmary of the prison, and on his liberation was presented with five pounds out of 'the Sheriffs' Fund.'

"Although, as I have before stated, he had never been out of England since his childhood, he had some little hereditary knowledge of the French language, and by the kind and voluntary recommendation of one of the police-magistrates of the metropolis, he was engaged by an Irish gentleman proceeding to the Continent as a sort of supernumerary servant, to 'make himself generally useful.' As the gentleman was unmarried, and mostly stayed at hotels, George was to have permanent wages and find himself,' a condition he invariably fulfilled, if anything was left in his way. Frequent intemperance, neglect of duty, and unaccountable departures of property from the portmanteau of his master, led to his dismissal, and Chelsea George was left, without friends or character, to those resources which have supported him for some thirty years.

"During his umbrella' enterprise he had lived in lodging-houses of the lowest kind, and of course mingled with the most depraved society, especially with the vast army of trading sturdy mendicants, male and female, young and old, who assume every guise of poverty, misfortune, and disease, which craft and ingenuity can devise or well-tutored hypocrisy can imitate. Thus initiated, Chelsea George could go upon any lurk,' could be in the last stage of consumption-actually in his dying hour-but now and then convalescent for years and years together. He could take fits and counterfeit blindness, be a respectable brokendown tradesman, or a soldier maimed in the service, and dismissed without a pension.

"Thus qualified, no vicissitudes could be either very new or very perplexing, and he commenced operations without delay, and pursued them long without desertion. The first move' in his mendicant career was taking them on the fly; which means meeting the gentry on their walks, and beseeching or at times menacing them till something is given; something in general was given to get rid of the annoyance, and, till the game got stale,' an hour's work, morning and evening, produced a harvest of success, and ministered to an occasion of debauchery.

"His less popular, but more upright father, had once been a dog-fancier, and George, after many years vicissitude, at length took a fancy' to the same profession, but not on any principles recog nised by commercial laws. With what success he has practised, the ladies and gentlemen about the West-end have known, to their loss and disappointment, for more than fifteen years past.

Although the police have been and still are on the alert, George has, in every instance, hitherto

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escaped punishment, while numerous detections | connected with escape have enabled the offender to hold these officials at defiance. The 'modus operandi' upon which George proceeds is to varnish his hands with a sort of gelatine, composed of the coarsest pieces of liver, fried, pulverised, and mixed up with tincture of myrrh." [This is the composition of which Inspector Shackell spoke before the Select Committee, but he did not seem to know of what the lure was concocted. My correspondent continues]: "Chelsea George caresses every animal who seems a likely spec,' and when his fingers have been rubbed over the dogs' noses they become easy and perhaps willing captives. A bag carried for the purpose, receives the victim, and away goes George, bag and all, to his printer's in Seven Dials. Two bills and no less-two and no more, for such is George's style of work-are issued to describe the animal that has thus been found, and which will be restored to its owner on payment of expenses.' One of these George puts in his pocket, the other he pastes up at a publichouse whose landlord is 'fly' to its meaning, and poor bow-wow' is sold to a 'dealer in dogs,' not very far from Sharp's alley. In course of time the dog is discovered; the possessor refers to the 'establishment' where he bought it; the dealer makes himself square,' by giving the address of 'the chap he bought 'un of,' and Chelsea George shows a copy of the advertisement, calls in the publican as a witness, and leaves the place without the slightest imputation on his character.' Of this man's earnings cannot speak with precision: it is probable that in a 'good year' his clear income is 2007.; in a bad year but 1007., but, as he is very adroit, I am inclined to believe that the 'good' years somewhat predominate, and that the average income may therefore exceed 1507. yearly."

OF THE PRESENT STREET-SELLERS OF DOGS. Ir will have been noticed that in the accounts I have given of the former street-transactions in dogs, there is no mention of the sellers. The information I have adduced is a condensation of the evidence given before the Select Committee of the House of Commons, and the inquiry related only to the stealing, finding, and restoring of dogs, the selling being but an incidental part of the evidence. Then, however, as now, the street-sellers were not implicated in the thefts or restitution of dogs, "just except," one man told me, "as there was a black sheep or two in every flock." The black sheep, however, of this street-calling more frequently meddled with restoring, than with "finding."

Another street dog-seller, an intelligent man,who, however did not know so much as my first informant of the state of the trade in the olden time, expressed a positive opinion, that no dogstealer was now a street-hawker ("hawker" was the word I found these men use). His reasons for this opinion, in addition to his own judgment from personal knowledge, are cogent enough: "It isn't possible, sir," he said, "and this is the reason why. We are not a large body of men. We

stick pretty closely, when we are out, to the same places. We are as well-known to the police, as any men whom they most know, by sight at any rate, from meeting them every day. Now, if a lady or gentleman has lost a dog, or it's been stolen or strayed-and the most petted will sometimes stray unaccountably and follow some stranger or other-why where does she, and he, and all the family, and all the servants, first look for the lost animal? Why, where, but at the dogs we are hawking? No, sir, it can't be done now, and it isn't done in my knowledge, and it oughtn't to be done. I'd rather make 5s. on an honest dog than 57. on one that wasn't, if there was no risk about it either." Other information convinces me that this statement is correct.

Of these strect-sellers or hawkers there are now about twenty-five. There may be, however, but twenty, if so many, on any given day in the streets, as there are always some detained at home by other avocations connected with their line of life. The places they chiefly frequent are the Quadrant and Regent-street generally, but the Quadrant far the most. Indeed before the removal of the colonnade, one-half at least of all the dog-sellers of London would resort there on a very wet day, as they had the advantage of shelter, and generally of finding a crowd assembled, either lounging to pass the time, or waiting "for a fair fit," and so with leisure to look at dogs. The other places are the West-end squares, the banks of the Serpentine, Charing-cross, the Royal Exchange, and the Bank of England, and the Parks generally. They visit, too, any public place to which there may be a temporary attraction of the classes likely to be purchasers. 3-a mere crowd of people, I was told, was no good to the dog-hawkers, it must be a crowd of people that had money-such as the assemblage of ladies and gentlemen who crowd the windows of Whitehall and Parliament-street, when the Queen opens or prorogues the houses. These spectators fill the street and the Horseguards' portion of the park as soon as the street mass has dispersed, and they often afford the means of a good day's work to the dog people.

Two dogs, carefully cleaned and combed, or brushed, are carried in a man's arms for streetvending. A fine chain is generally attached to a neat collar, so that the dog can be relieved from the cramped feel he will experience if kept off his feet too long. In carrying these little animals for sale for it is the smaller dogs which are carried -the men certainly display them to the best advantage. Their longer silken ears, their prominent dark eyes and black noses, and the delicacy of their fore-paws, are made as prominent as possible, and present what the masses very well call "quite a pictur." I have alluded to the display of the Spaniels, as they constitute considerably more than half of the street trade in dogs, the "King Charleses" and the "Blenheims" being disposed of in nearly equal quantities. They are sold for lapdogs, pets, carriage companions or companions in a walk, and are often intelligent and affectionate. Their colours are black, black and tan, white and liver-colour, chestnut, black and white, and entirely