tion, for it is fraught with instruction."

"I think so, indeed," was the reply; "but I really begin to suspect that
I shall scarcely have confidence to venture out alone, for there does
not appear to be any part of your wonderful Metropolis but what is
infested with some kind of shark or other."

"It is but too true, and it is therefore the more necessary to make
yourself acquainted with them; it is rather a long lesson, but really
deserving of being learnt. You

1 The ready--Money.

~166~~perceive what sort of company you are now in, as far as may be
judged from their appearances; but they are not to be trusted, for I
doubt not but you would form erroneous conclusions from such premises.
The company that assembles here is generally composed of a great variety
of characters--the Idler, the Swindler, the Dandy, the Exquisite, the
full-pursed young Peer, the needy Sharper, the gaudy Pauper, and the
aspiring School-boy, anxious to be thought a dealer and a judge of the
article before him--looking at a horse with an air of importance and
assumed intelligence, bidding with a trembling voice and palpitating
heart, lest it should be knock'd down to him. Do you see that dashing
fellow nearly opposite to us, in the green frock-coat, top-boots, and
spurs?--do you mark how he nourishes his whip, and how familiar he seems
to be with the knowing old covey in brown?"

"Yes; I suppose he is a dealer."

"You are right, he is a dealer, but it is in man's flesh, not horse
flesh: he is a _Bum trap_{1} in search of some friend

1 Bum trap--A term pretty generally in use to denominate a
Bailiff or his follower--they are also called Body-
snatchers. The ways and means made use of by these gentry to
make their captions are innumerable: they visit all places,
assume all characters, and try all stratagems, to secure
their friends, in order that they may have an opportunity of
obliging them, which they have a happy facility in doing,
provided the party can _bleed free_.* Among others, the
following are curious facts:

A Gentleman, who laboured under some peculiar difficulties,
found it desirable for the sake of his health to retire into
the country, where he secluded himself pretty closely from
the vigilant anxieties of his friends, who were in search of
him and had made several fruitless attempts to obtain an
interview. The Traps having ascertained the pl