In a great Metropolis, like London, where trade and commerce have arrived at such an astonishing height, and where from the extensive transactions in the Funds, and the opulence of the People, the interchange of property is so expanded, it ceases to be a matter of wonder that Forgeries and Frauds should prevail, in a certain degree:--the question of difficulty is, _why the Laws and the means of prevention, have not kept pace with the progressive advancement of the Country; so as to check and keep within bounds those nefarious practices_? Forgeries of the higher class, so dangerous in a commercial country, have by the wise policy of the Executive Government, in shutting out all hopes of the extension of the Royal Mercy to the guilty, received a most severe check: beneficial in the highest degree to the country, and clearly manifested by the records of the Old Bailey, where trial for offences of this nature certainly do not increase in number. But it is to be lamented, that, with regard to petty forgeries and frauds, this is by no means the case, for they seem to multiply and advance with the opulence and luxury of the country; and to branch out into innumerable different shades, varying as the fashions of the year, and as the resources for the perpetration of this species of fraud change their aspect. When those depraved people who (to use a vulgar phrase) _live entirely by their wits_--find that any tricks which they have practised for a certain length of time become stale, (such as _pricking the belt for a wager_, or _dropping the ring_) they abandon these; and have recourse to other devices more novel, and more likely to be effectual in cheating and defrauding the unwary. One of the most prevailing and successful of these, is the fraud practised upon shop-keepers, tradesmen, publicans, and others, by the circulation of forged copper-plate notes and bills for small sums, of £5. and £10. the latter purporting to be drawn, by bankers in the manufacturing and sea-port towns, on different banking-houses in London. This species of forgery has been carried to a considerable extent suggested no doubt by the confidence which is established from the extensive circulation of country bankers' notes and bills, now made payable in London; by which the deception is, in some degree, covered, and detection rendered more difficult. The great qualifications, or leading and indispensable attributes of a _Sharper_, a _Cheat_, a _Swindler_, or a _Gambler_, are, to possess a genteel exterior, a demeanor apparently artless, and a good address. Like the more violent depredators upon the public, this class (who are extremely numerous) generally proceed upon a regular system, and study as a _trade_ all those infamous tricks and devices by which the thoughtless, the ignorant, and the honest are defrauded of their property.