A man who commences a sorcery business for the benefit of the public deserves to succeed, especially when he can break any charm caused by enchantment, conjure back stolen goods, and so play the avenger's part as to bewitch any person or animal who has done any one an injury. It is a pity J. A. did not get some of his mysterious agents to put his lines a little in order. The other is a Tyneside advertisement, and shows also a partiality for verse-indeed consists of nothing else, if we except the name and address; but its theme is far more material than that of its companion. Unlike in the case of the publican of Wych Street, we will not assume that Mr Catcheside employed any one over the following effusion, of which he is welcome to all the credit:

JOHN CATCHESIDE,

GROCER & TEA-DEALER,

BIGG-MARKET,
NEWCASTLE.

YE gentlemen of town and country,
A shop, next door to Whitfield's entry,
Is just fit up for your inspection,
By Mr Catcheside's direction;
Good ladies, too, I crave your favours,
To please you shall be my endeavours.
Without the fairer sex are pleas'd,
The mind of man is never eas'd.
But ladies, pray, and gentlemen,
Call, and I'll please you if I can.
I've Teas of all sorts you can mention-
To keep them good is my intention:
All from the India-house direct,
Warranted genuine you may expect ;
Which I do sell on lowest terms,
And not as gentlemen let farms;
I've Sugars too, the same to sweeten,
As good as ever yet were eaten ;
Loaves, well refin'd as 'ere you saw,
Which boiling water scarce will thaw.
I've Treacle, Juice, and Sugar-Candy,
And Turkey Coffee strong as brandy;
The very best Plantation ditto,

With Fry's and White's best Patent
Cocoa,

And Churchman's Patent Chocolate,-
All which I sell at a low rate.
I've fine Tobacco, Patent Shag,
Twist, Saffron Cut, and Common Rag;
And Snuff, whatever kind you choose,
To clear your brain, and warm your nose;
Zant Currants, commonly call'd Spice,
Orange and Lemon Peel, and Rice;
Malaga Raisins, too, I sell,

With Bloom, and Sun, and Muscatell,
With which you well may stuff your wigs;
Or here's French Plumbs, or Turkey

Anchovies, Cassia, and Cassia-buds,
And many other sorts of goods,
Prepar'd for puddings, pies, and sauces :-
Come, buy them cheap, ye bonny lasses!
And if your birds for seeds do gape,
I have Canary, Hemp, and Rape;
And further down you need not wander
For Annis, Carraway, and Coriander ;
Of Ginger, too, I'm never scant,
For any purpose you may want.
I've Sago fine, and Capers both,
And famous Barley for your broth!
Salt Petre, Bay and Basket Salt,
To make your hams without a fault;
With Picked Isinglass and Staple,
To make your ale fit for the table :-
Then what can man desire more,
Than beef, and broth, and ale in store?
But dinner's done; come, draw the table,
Here's Soap to wash while you are able;
But if you think that will not do,
Here's Poland Starch and Powder Blue;

And if you'd have some coarser washes,
I have good Pearl and Comby Ashes;
Should you incline to wash by night,
I've Candles, too, will shew you light.
To spin dry wool you need not toil,
I've plenty Whale and Florence Oil.
Set by your wheels, your tongs, and poker
And paint your nooks with Yellow Ochre.
Put all your dye-pots to one side,
When with fresh Indigo supplied;
Then paint above your lintel-head
And chimney-pieces with Black-Lead.
If still materials you do lack,

I've Fuller's Earth and Ivory Black,
Logwood, Copperas, and Whiting,
Yea many more things not worth writing.
Once more your favours I solicit,
I'm ready waiting for a visit ;
Most due attendance will be given
From seven at morn till eight at even;
Or later, if it seems expedient,
By your most humble and obedient,
JOHN CATCHESIDE.

Getting back to London, we come upon a bill of the kind now and then adopted with regard to posters, the idea in which is to convey a different notion at sight from that which is given by close inspection. In the following the plan has been carried out with great nicety, the author's endeavour being to make the notice look like a Government proclamation, and as one of the best specimens of the kind we have ever seen it is presented to the reader :—

V.

R.

PROCLAMATION!

Whereas,

It being Our Royal Will and Pleasure that our well-beloved, trusty and loyal subject HARRY JOHNSON, should for the Amusement of our well-beloved, trusty and loyal subjects of Hoxton and its Vicinity, give a grand entertainment on Así WEDNESDAY, the 9th of February, 1842, for the BENEFIT of Himself, when he trusts from the Talent he has selected on this occasion, and the well-known respectability and celebrity of all parties, he cannot fail of securing a TREAT

TO THE

British Public.

H. J. feels proud and happy to announce that many Professional Friends have, in the most handsome manner, proffered their valuable Services: they are enabled to do this with greater facility as no other Place of Amusement in London is open on that Evening. Their Names will transpire in future bills. Miss PHILLIPS will on this night sing, in her usual sweet and inimitable style,

A Gentleman has kindly consented on this occasion to sing an Entire New Comic Song, to be called "Comfort is all my View; or

SALARY

Is no object !!" Mr. H. PARKER will also sing his much admired ballad of Had I £1,000 A-YEAR!!!

A Lady will sing

NO FOLLOWERS ALLOWED.

ALL APPLICATIONS TO BE MADE (FOR TICKETS) on or BEFORE
ASH WEDNESDAY, FEBRU. 9, 1842,
AT THE OFFICE

ROYAL BRITANNIA SALOON, HOXTON OLD TOWN.

The Ceremony of IN-STALL-ING to commence at Half Past SIX o'clock Precisely.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!!!

The attention of readers will probably be attracted by the advertisement so elaborately concocted and carefully worked out. If its promoters received any extra support because of it, they certainly deserved what they got, as the plan is difficult to connect with any but large bills. The next item we have brings us to the year 1853, and is again from the county of Northumberland. It is far more pretentious than the composition of Mr John Catcheside, but by no means so successful. It is from the pen of a

general shopkeeper, who evidently considered he had done something when he had been through his proofs, seen this to press, and forwarded copies to unsuspecting, and, as it turned out, unsympathising, families about G-, a small place not very far from Newcastle :—

To the inhabitants of G and its neighbourhood.

The present age is teeming with advantages which no preceding era in the history of mankind has afforded to the human family. New schemes are projecting to enlighten and extend civilisation, Railways have been projected and carried out by an enterprising and spirited nation, while Science in its gigantic power (simple yet sublime) affords to the human mind so many facilities to explore its rich resources, the Seasons roll on in their usual course producing light and heat, the vivifying rays of the sun and the fructifying influences of nature producing food and happiness to the Sons of Toil, while to the people of Gand its neighbourhood a rich and extensive variety of Fashionable Goods is to be found in my Warehouse, which have just been selected with the greatest care. The earliest visit is requested to convey to the mind an adequate idea of the great extent of his purchases, comprising, as it does, all that is elegant and useful, cheap and substantial to the light-hearted votaries of Matrimony, the Matrons of Reflection, the Man of Industry, and the Disconsolate Victims of Bereavement.

This composition having been printed and distributed, the author waited impatiently for its powerful effect, and when to his great astonishment he discovered that it had produced none, he, with the irritability that nearly always accompanies neglected genius, resolved to get back and destroy every copy of his essay, and thereby deny to posterity what his own generation could not appreciate. Fortunately for ourselves, and for ages yet unborn, a copy was preserved, and printed in Notes and Queries.

Most dwellers for any time in London remember Lord Chief Baron Nicholson and his Judge and Jury Society, which used to be held at the Coal Hole in the Strand. Virtuous readers may shudder at the mention of such a place; but time was when the deliberations and decisions of the jury, as well as the directions of the judge and the peculiarities of the witnesses, were productive of mirth

independent of double entendre among an audience composed of anything but roysterers and howling cads. In such halcyon days, when Nicholson was in the flesh, looking much more like a chief baron than nine-tenths of the possessors of the title ever did, the following handbill was printed :

The Lord Chief Baron

NICHOLSON

Begs to inform his best friends, the Public, that he and the learned
Gentlemen of the JUDGE AND JURY SOCIETY, have left the Garrick's
Head in Bow Street, and now hold their Forensic Sittings at the cele-
brated COAL HOLE TAVERN, Fountain Court, Strand, every Evening.
A JUDGE!-and in a Coal Hole too!

Quoth rustic John, I can't believe thee.
That sounds too funny to be true,

Come NICHOLSON, now don't deceive me.

I wont deceive thee in the path,

So at the ancient Coal Hole meet me,
BLACKSTONE and COKE burn on the hearth,
And LAW flares up, my lad, to greet thee.

DO NOT FORGET TO REMEMBER

THE COAL HOLE

IN THE STRAND.

Law was the proprietor of the establishment, and he "flared up "to some tune, so far as the production of suppers required flaring. And suppers were both numerous and excellent at the Coal Hole; the stewed or scalloped oyster, the devilled kidney, the broiled bone, and the modest "rabbit" receiving considerable attention during the progress of the mock trials. Subsequently the Coal Hole became a resort for journalists and actors, who used to be admitted to a snug old room behind the bar; but all that is changed now, an ambitious landlord having modernised the place and driven forth its old habitués. Not by violence or through incivility, but by means of plate-glass, electro tankards, and other goods, the unwonted and unwelcome aspect of which