THE

TRICKS

OF THE

TOWN:

OR,

WAYS and MEANS

for getting MONEY.

Wherein

The various Lures, Wiles, and Artifices,
practised by the Designing and Crafty upon
the Weak and Unwary, are fully exposed.

Recommended to the serious Perusal of all
Adventurers and Sharers in Bubble-Undertakings, the
Pursuers of Pennyworths, and Bargain-Buyers.

Chiefly collected from some Papers of the
Ingenious Mr. John Thomson,
scattered between Laurence-Pountney's-Hill and Dover.

LONDON:

Printed for J. Roberts, near the
Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane: And sold by the
Booksellers of London and Westminster. 1732.
(Price One Shilling.)

[1]

THE

TRICKS of the TOWN;

OR

Diamonds cut Diamonds.

y Son get Money, said a wiser Man than you or I, honest Reader: Thatis the Precept; but he went no farther, leaving the Business ofCommittee Men, Ways and Means, &c. to the peculiar Turn ofThought, or Biass of Invention of every individual Money-Getter. Ofall the Methods made use of to attain this great End, I believe itwill be allow'd that he who gains his point the easiest way, is thewisest Person: For instance, I know there are Mines of Gold andSilver in Peru and Mexico; but when one considers at what a veryinconvenient distance these are, and what Toils and Dangers must beundergone before an Ingot of either can be pocketed, what is to bedone in the Case? We cannot go to them, and they will not come to us.In this plunge of Affairs, we resolve to pick it up by Shillings,Crowns, Guineas, Moidores, &c. at home.

That the one half of this great over-grown Metropolis knows but little[2]how the other is truly supported, is a Maxim, I believe, older thanthe Walls themselves; that a considerable number of Persons are dailyemployed and kept in constant pay to go about damaging and destroyingall manner of wearing Apparel, when they can find an Opportunity ofdoing it without any Inconveniences to themselves, is a Fact that willadmit of no manner of Dispute. I have been inform'd, that if aCoachman or Carter can decently dash a Gentleman or a Ladythat are richly dress'd, when they are walking the Streets, over theirHead and Ears, and make due Proof of the Fact, there is not a Draperor Mercer within half a Mile of the Place where the Exploit wasperform'd, but who will readily tip the Man a Shilling for hisTrouble.

Every body knows, that when a Foot-Soldier was taken in the Court ofRequests at Westminster, bedaubing a noble Lord's new Suit ofClothes upon his Back, with a composition of Powders that in a Week'stime would have render'd them not worth the acceptance of his Valetde Chambre; the hones