I wish, before passing to the next subject—the street-sellers of manufactured articles (of of whom the engraving here given furnishes a well-known specimen)—I wish, I say, as I find some mistakes have occurred on the subject, to give the public a general view of the patterers, as well as to offer some few observations concerning the means of improving the habits of street-people in general.

The patterers consist of distinct classes; viz., those who sell something, and patter to help off their goods; those who exhibit something, and patter to help off the show; and those who do nothing but patter, with a view to elicit alms. Under the head of "Patterers who sell" may be classed

The class of patterers includes jugglers, showmen, clowns, and fortune-tellers; beside several exhibitors who invite public notice to the wonders of the telescope or microscope.

The and last class of patterers are those who neither sell nor amuse, but only victimise those who get into their clutches. These (to use their own words) "do it on the bounce." Their general resort is an inferior public-house, sometimes a brothel, or a coffeeshop. of the tricks of these worthies is to group together at a window, and if a well-dressed person pass by, to salute him with the contents of a flour-bag. of their pals—better dressed than the rest—immediately walks out, declares it was purely accidental, and invites the gentleman in "to be brushed." Probably he consents, and still more probably, if he be "good-natured," he is plied with liquor, drugged with snuff for the occasion, and left in some obscure court, utterly stupified. When he awakes, he finds that his watch, purse, &c., are gone.

A casual observer, or even a stranger, may be induced to contract a wayside acquaintance with the parties to whom I allude," says one of the pattering class, from whom I have received much valuable information; "and if he be a visitor of fairs and races, that acquaintance, though slight, may sometimes prove expensive. But casual observers cannot, from the complexity and varied circumstances of the characters now under notice, form anything like a correct view of them. I am convinced that no one can, but those who have visited their haunts and indeed lived among them for months together. They are not to be known, any more than the great city was to be built, in a day. This advantage—if so it may be called—has fallen to my lot.

The classes of patterers above enumerated must not be confounded. The are essentially distinct from the last—at least they do for their living; and though the pattering street-tradesmen may generally overstep the bounds of truth in their glowing descriptions of the virtues of the goods they sell, still it should be remembered they are no more dishonest in their dealings than the "enterprising" class of shopkeepers, who resort to the mode of puffing off their wares,— indeed the street-sellers are far less reprehensible than their more wealthy brother puffers of the shops, who cannot plead want as an excuse for their dishonesty. The recent revelations made by the , as to the adulteration of the articles of diet sold by the London grocers, show that the patterers who sell, practise far less imposition than some of our "merchant princes."

"A tradesman in Tottenham-court Road, whose address the advertises gratis, thus proclaims the superior qualities of his ' WHITE PEPPER. package of this article, which is the interior part of the kernel of the finest pepper, being equal in strength to nearly times the quantity of black pepper (which is the inferior, small, shrivelled berries, and often little more than husks), it will be not only the best but the cheapest for every purpose.' This super-excellent pepper, 'sold in packages, price ,' was found on analysis to consist of finely-ground "

Indeed the has demonstrated that as regards tea, coffee, arrow-root, sugar, and pepper sold by "pattering" shopkeepers, the rule invariably is that those are articles which are the most puffed, and "warranted free from adulteration," and "to which the attention of families and is particularly directed as being of the finest quality ever imported into this country," are uniformly the most scandalously adulterated of all.

We should, therefore, remember while venting our indignation against pattering streetsellers, that they are not the only puffers in the world, and that they, at least, can plead poverty in extenuation of their offence; whereas, it must be confessed, that shopkeepers can have no other cause for their acts but their own brutalizing greed of gain.

The class of patterers with whom we have here to deal are those who patter to help off their goods—but while describing them it has been deemed advisable to say a few words, also, on the class who , as a means of exciting commiseration to their assumed calamities. These parties, it should be distinctly understood, are in no way connected with the puffing street-sellers, but in the exaggerated character of the orations they deliver, they are mostly professional beggars—or bouncers (that is to say cheats of the lowest ), and not work or do anything for their living. This, at least, cannot be urged against the pattering street-sellers who, as was before stated, do for the bread they eat.

Further to show the extent, and system, of the lodging and routes throughout the country of the class of "lurkers," &c., here described— as all resorting to those places—I got a patterer to write me out a list, from his own knowledge, of divers routes, and the extent of accommodation in the lodging-houses. I give it according to the patterer's own classification.

Brighton is a town where there is a great many furnished cribs, let to needys (nightly lodgers) that are molled up," [that is to say, associated with women in the sleeping-rooms.] SURREY AND SUSSEX. Dossing Cribs, or Lodginghouses Beds. Needys, or Nightly Lodgers. Wandsworth . . . . 6 9 108 Croydon . . . . . . 9 8 144 Reigate . . . . . . 5 6 60 Cuckfield. . . . . . 2 8 32 Horsham . . . . . . 3 7 52 Lewis . . . . . . . 7 6 84 Kingston . . . . . 12 8 192 Brighton . . . . . . 16 9 228

Bristol.—A few years back an old woman kept a padding-ken here. She was a strong Methodist, but had a queer method. There was thirty standing beds, besides make-shifts and furnished rooms, which were called 'cottages.' It's not so bad now. The place was well-known to the monkry, and you was reckoned flat if you hadn't been there. The old woman, when any female, old or young, who had no tin, came into the kitchen, made up a match for her with some men. Fellows half-drunk had the old women. There was always a broomstick at hand, and they was both made to jump over it, and that was called a broomstick wedding. Without that ceremony a couple weren't looked on as man and wife. In course the man paid, in such case, for the dos (bed.) Kensington . . . . . 6 7 84 Brentford . . . . . 12 8 192 Hounslow . . . . . 6 5 60 Colebrook . . . . . 2 7 20 Windsor . . . . . . 7 10 140 Maidenhead . . . . 4 5 40 Reading . . . . . . 12 9 216 Oxford . . . . . . 14 7 196 Banbury . . . . . . 10 12 240 Marlboro' . . . . . 8 7 112 Bath . . . . . . . 10 8 160 Bristol . . . . . . 20 11 440

Counties of Kent and Essex.—Here is the best places in England for 'skipper-birds;' (parties that never go to lodging-houses, but to barns or outhouses, sometimes without a blanket.) The Kent farmers permit it to their own travellers, or the travellers they know. In Essex it's different. There a farmer will give 1s. rather than let a traveller sleep on his premises, for fear of robbery. 'Keyhole whistlers,' the skipperbirds are sometimes called, but they're regular travellers. Kent's the first county in England for them. They start early to good houses for victuals, when gentlefolk are not up. I've seen them doze and sleep against the door. They like to be there before any one cuts their cart (exposes their tricks). Travellers are all early risers. It's good morning in the country when it's good night in town. KENT. Dossing Cribs, or Lodginghouses Beds. Needys, or Nightly Lodgers. Deptford . . . . . . 18 9 324 Greenwich . . . . . 6 8 26 Woolwich . . . . . 9 8 144 Gravesend . . . . . 6 7 84 Chatham . . . . . 20 10 400 Maidstone . . . . . 5 7 70 Sittingbourne . . . . 3 6 36 Sheerness . . . . . 4 5 40 Faversham . . . . . 3 5 30 Canterbury . . . . . 11 8 176 Dover . . . . . . . 12 9 216 Ramsgate . . . . . 4 5 40 Margate . . . . . . 6 6 72 ESSEX. Stratford . . . . . . 10 9 180 Ilford . . . . . . . 3 7 52 Barking . . . . . . 4 6 48 Billericay . . . . . 5 7 70 Orsett . . . . . . . 2 8 32 Rayleigh . . . . . . 3 9 54 Rochford . . . . . 3 8 48 Leigh . . . . . . . 4 8 64 Prettywell . . . . . 2 7 28 Southend . . . . . 3 8 48 Maldon . . . . . . 5 9 90 Witham . . . . . . 4 8 64 Colchester . . . . . 15 10 300

Windsor.—At Ascot race-time I've paid many 1s. just to sit up all night.

Colchester.—Life in London at the Bugle; called 'Hell upon earth' sometimes. Barnet . . . . . . 5 1 80 Watford . . . . . . 6 8 90 Hemel-Hempstead . . 3 5 30 Uxbridge . . . . . 6 7 84 Tring . . . . . . . 2 6 24 Dunstable . . . . . 6 5 60 Stony-Stratford . . . 3 6 36 Northampton . . . . 13 9 234 Towcester . . . . . 4 7 56 Daventry . . . . . 5 9 90 Coventry . . . . . . 16 9 288 Birmingham . . . . 50 11 1100 HERTS AND BEDFORDSHIRE. Edmonton . . . . . 14 7 196 Waltham-Abbey . . . 3 6 36 Cheshunt-Street . . . 2 7 28 Hoddesden . . . . . 3 8 48 Hertford . . . . . . 9 9 162 Ware . . . . . . . 7 10 140 Puckeridge . . . . . 2 5 20 Burtingford . . . . 3 8 48 Royston . . . . . . 4 10 40 Hitchin . . . . . . 7 9 126 Luton . . . . . . . 6 8 96 Bedford . . . . . . 9 7 126 St. Alban's . . . . . 8 6 96 SUFFOLK AND NORFOLK. Ipswich . . . . . . 24 8 384 Hadleigh . . . . . . 8 7 112 Halsted . . . . . . 5 6 60 Stowmarket . . . . . 4 7 56 Woodbridge . . . . . 6 5 60 Sudbury . . . . . . 4 7 56 Dossing Cribs, or Lodginghouses Beds. Needys, or Nightly Lodgers. Bury St. Edmund's . . 8 8 128 Thetford . . . . . . 3 6 36 Attleboro' . . . . . 2 5 20 Wymondham . . . . 1 11 22 Norwich . . . . . . 40 9 720 Yarmouth . . . . . 16 8 256