An old man, between sixty and seventy, ignorant, uneducated, and in want; who had been at one time a smuggler, and at another a journeyman shoemaker, thought, in the year 1836, that the best mode of supplying his necessities would be to open an office for the receipt of moneys in exchange for the sale of annuities. The plan was notable, but required assistance, and a coadjutor worthy his friendship was soon found in one William Hole, a tallow-chandler, a smuggler, a footman, and a bankrupt. These friends at once confederated together, and found no great difficulty in their way. The chief capital demanded by such an undertaking on the part of the proprietor, was unbounded impudence; and on that of the public, unbounded credulity. Having joined their purses to produce a prospectus, and having taken an office in what Theodore Hooke called “the respectable neighbourhood” of Baker Street, Portman Square, their next plan was to concoct a directory of gentlemen who, while they attracted public attention and seemed a pledge for the respectability of the company, should yet mislead those who were not familiar with the financial world. This was an easy task, and in due time the most honourable names in London were openly published as managers of the “INDEPENDENT AND WEST MIDDLESEX FIRE AND LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.” Trusting to the faith of people in great mercantile firms, there was scarcely a banker, a brewer, or a merchant whose patronymic, with different initials, was not used by these ex-smugglers to forward their views. Drummonds, Perkins, Smith, Price, and Lloyd were all produced as fancy directors, to adorn one of the most impudent prospectuses which was ever composed. They then turned their attention to the working men of the establishment, and Mr. Hole having a brother-in-law named Taylor[22], sufficiently respectable to be a journeyman bell-hanger, sought him out, saying “he was going to make a gentleman of him,” undertaking to pay him 100 guineas yearly, provided he attended the board when it was required, and did not “get drunk or behave disorderly.” Finding some difficulty in procuring a sufficient number, and being applied to by a William Wilson for a menial situation, they at once advanced him to the post of director, paying the liberal sum of five shillings weekly. A boy of sixteen, who went on errands, who signed annuity deeds for thousands, or who swept the floors, was also appointed to a similar post; while the gentleman who undertook the onerous position of auditor, was also porter in general to this respectable establishment. On board days they were told to dress in their “Sunday’s best,” to place brooches in their dirty shirts, and rings on their clumsy fingers; the huge fine of half-a-crown being inflicted, should they appear in the native simplicity of their work-a-day attire; and it is no unremarkable feature of this establishment, that Taylor duly, on board days, left