and protested. The second are presented, but the House has
stopped payment, and the Owners are bankrupts. By the time
the third month's bills become due, the docket is struck,
the Assignees chosen, and there is not sixpence in the pound
left for the Creditors. Petitions are ineffectually
presented to the Chancellor, for a number of fictitious
Creditors, of the same profession and persuasion, over-swear
the just ones, and by exceeding them in number and value,
the House obtains its certificate, and has again the power
of committing similar depredations.

Perhaps the most daring and systematic proceeding of this
kind was that lately detected in the conspiracy of Mosely
Wolfe and his confederates, for which he is now suffering
the sentence of the law.

~206~~prides himself on his success, boasts of his being _down as a
nail_, and--"

"_Down as a nail!_" said Bob, "I don't remember hearing that expression
before."

"_Down as a hammer, or Down as a nail_" continued Sparkle, "are cant or
slang terms made use of among gamblers, and are synonimous with being
up; and it must be confessed that there are many ups and downs amongst
them. These flash words are well understood by many a young Greek, who
perhaps knows nothing of the Greek Testament, although the use of them
has proved in some cases beyond the comprehension of a Judge. Hence the
necessity of knowing Life; for if a man gets familiarized with low life,
he will necessarily be up, and consequently stand a great chance of
being a rising genius. How proper it must be to know how to get a rise
upon a fellow, or, in other words, to get him in a line!

"A learned Judge once, examining a queer covy, a flash customer, or a
rum fellow, asked him his reason for suspecting the prisoner at the
bar of stealing a watch, (which among the lads is scientifically
termed nimming a toiler, or ~207~~nabbing a clicker,) replied as
follows:--'Why, your honour, only because you see as how I was up to
him.'--'How do you mean, what is being up to him? '--' Why, bless your
heart, I was down upon him, and had him bang.' But still perceiving the
learned Gentleman's want of nous, he endeavoured to explain by saying,
That he was _up to his gossip_,--that he stagged him, for he was not
to be done--that he knew the trick, and was up the moment the chap
came into the Cock and Hen Club, where he was tucking in his grub and
bub.--Had