his master the bell-hanger to go to his master the director, to sign the deeds which duped the public. Their next requirement was a banker; and none other was good enough save the Bank of England, which was added to the list of attractions of this commercial bill of the play. Everything thus prepared, they turned their attention to statistics; and here again there was no great obstacle. In order to procure business, it was necessary to offer tempting terms, so they liberally proposed to serve the public 30 per cent. lower than any other office, although with all the existing competition the greatest difference hitherto had been but from 1 to 1-1/2 per cent.; and in addition to this, these bad men committed the glaring impudence of granting life assurances for much smaller premiums, and selling annuities on much lower terms than any one else; terms so palpably wrong that a man of 30 by paying 1000_l._ could obtain a life annuity of 80_l._, and by paying 17_l._ 10_s._ of this to insure his life, could receive 6-1/4 per cent. for his money and secure his capital to his successors.[23] Having thus arranged preliminaries, they opened their office and commenced business. They had the precaution to select respectable agents, and by giving 25 per cent. where other companies only gave 5 per cent., stimulated them to say all they could in their favour. The terms were very attractive; there is always a large ignorant class ready and willing to be duped; and the business went on swimmingly. If a man wanted to insure his life, there was no great difficulty about his health. If another wished to purchase an annuity, they were quite willing to dispense with baptismal certificates in London, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Glasgow; large and handsome offices were opened, and the public induced to play its part in this most serious drama of real life. The poor and less intelligent portion of the community, lured by terms which had never before tempted them, took their spare cash and invested it in the West Middlesex. Rich men were not less dazzled by the golden promises; and one, disposed to sink a large sum in so profitable a concern, desired his solicitor to inquire about its solidity. The solicitor went to the manager, and questioned him as to the directors and the capital. Knowles at once said the directors were not the men whose names they took, nor was the capital so much as a million. But the former, he vowed, were respectable men, and the latter was quite enough for their purpose. As, however, he declined to give the residences of the directors, or to say where the capital was invested, the solicitor also declined to risk the money of his client. The success, however, which they experienced in other cases, justified their daring. One person who had toiled, and worked, and grown prematurely old in the service of Mammon, invested his all in the purchase of an annuity, and in order to secure the capital, insured his life. In two years he was a beggar.