This work contains hitherto unpublished memoirs of the various mushroom and pitchfork peers and their families. Moving incidents of flood and field, Of hair-breadth 'scapes in th' imminent deadly breach. "A Treatise on the Superiority of M'Adam's System of Road Making over the various Methods of laying down Wooden Pavement." By Joseph Lightfoot, Esq. The above work will be found highly useful. It dilates with much judgment on the inconvenience of the wooden pavement in the vicinity of Chancery-lane and the inns of court. It also cites several cases of gentlemen having slipped down, and fallen into the arms of a sheriff's officer. "The Book of Living Curiosities; or Pocket Volume of Portraits of British Law Functionaries, containing correct Likenesses of Messrs. Davis, Levy, Sloman, and other Officers of the Sheriffs of Surrey and Middlesex. By the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Huntemdown. A reference to this safeguard of highways and byeways will be found useful, and should instantly be resorted to on espying any suspiciouslooking individual. The likenesses may be depended upon. "A Treatise on Dissolving Views and Defunct Railway Schemes." This work is recommended to provisional committee-men, railway projectors, getters-up of mock companies, &c. 5. That each candidate must be proposed by one member and seconded by another. REGULATIONS TO BE OBSERVED BY MEMBERS. 1. That the chief qualification to entitle a member to be retained on the effective strength of the Hard-up Club be, impoverished circumstances blended with honourable principles, together with an enterprising ambition to obtain creditable employment. 2. That pecuniary difficulties or liabilities will not militate against the reputation or advancement of any member, provided that such debts or liabilities have been contracted in a straightforward way. 3. That any member who shall possess the greatest number of copies of writs, declarations, threatening letters demanding preliminary deposits upon defunct railroads, quoting the case of "Woolmer versus Toby," or who has against him any legal processes, shall be considered eligible for advancement in the Hard-up Club. 4. That with a view to prevent quarrels, no member shall, on pain of expulsion, indulge in practical jokes. 5. That no member shall introduce to his tailor, bootmaker, or other tradesman, any casual acquaintance or assumed friend, unless he, the said member, possess ample means to discharge any debt which the said individual may contract with any of the specified tradesmen. 6. That no member shall invite any friend to dine-if he be residing at a boarding-house-unless he, the said member, possess sufficient funds to discharge his bill when due. 7. That any member who shall come into any property which the right owner at present keeps him out of-or who shall obtain a lucrative appointment-or who shall better his condition by marriage, shall give notice thereof to the secretary. 8. That in the event of any member being arrested, he shall be visited by not less than two of the craft every Sunday, for the purpose of being supplied with such necessaries, or funds, as the club may be able to afford; as also to learn his intentions as to his future plans. 9. That in order to create a fund for general purposes, it is requested that all members will send by Pickford's vans, or other conveyances, to a depôt appointed for that purpose, all dunning letters, copies of writs, all letters of allotment of railroad shares since the panic, threatening letters for preliminary deposits, useless scrip of defunct railroads and other schemes; that such being sold for waste paper, the proceeds may be appropriated in any way which shall appear the best to the club. 10. That urbanity of manners, and general courtesy towards each other, together with a gentlemanly bearing upon all occasions, be the constitution of the craft. 11. That upon the requisition of two or more members of the craft, any member having infringed any of the foregoing regulations shall be brought before a committee of not less than five members, who will deal with the case as they may think fit; the power of appeal to a general meeting being reserved to the accused. At the conclusion of the reading of the above rules, the promoter said, -"Gentlemen, if you know better rules than these, be free, impart them; but if not, use them with me." He also proposed that the following gentlemen be the officials of the craft. President. Major A. J. Foragewell, C.B., K.H. Trustees. The Commissioners of Bankrupt and Insolvent Debtors' Courts. Auditors of Accounts. The Chief Clerks of the above Courts. Standing Counsel. Messrs. Quill and Brief, King's Bench Walk, Inner Temple. The whole of the resolutions and projected appointments were then put to the vote; upon which the following discussion ensued. Mr. Needall said he begged that some honourable gentleman would be pleased to define the term "hard-up." Mr. O'Brady said that he would not take upon himself to give a correct definition of the term "hard-up;" but in a nautical sense he believed it implied, that a ship of any description or craft (afloat) was not making way, but was nearly running aground; as a common-place term he considered it as synonymous to the words "distressed for cash.” (Hear, hear.) Some of the greatest men, from the earliest date to the present time, had at some period of their lives felt its baneful influence-(hear, hear)— straitened circumstances have frequently thrown men of talent on their own resources and thus roused their dormant faculties; Want prompts the wit, and first gave birth to Art. The term "hard-up," as applied to the club in course of formation, was not intended to be confined to that class of individuals only who deal in lucifers and sweep the crossings. (Hear, hear.) It is not because a man wears a coat not in shreds, or boots unadorned with patches, that he is not hard-up; neither is it because he may have a few shillings in his pocket that he is not in need of cash; many men, sleek in appearance, with a purse containing a small supply of the circulating medium, may be much distressed-(hear, hear)—it is not the most wretched in appearance who is the worst off; "Small griefs complain aloud, great are dumb;" every man is hard-up, however exalted his rank or great his income, if such income be not equal to the demands made upon it. The sovereign whose treasury is not equal to the demands of the state, is hard-up; the nobleman with a long rent-roll encumbered with mortgages, is hard-up; the general officer or admiral on a home or foreign station, with nothing but his pay and allowances to maintain his rank, and support with suitable dignity a wife and family, is hard-up; the spiritual pastor, with a small living and a large family, is hard-up; the banker's or merchant's clerk, with a large little progeny and limited resources, is hard-up; the master-tradesman, who is obliged to pledge a portion of his stock, or raise money by accommodation bills or from a loan society, to pay his men and carry on his business, is hard-up; but the most hard-up of all is the poor gentleman, who is compelled to subsist from day to day by forestalling his little income-if any-to meet the demands of the morrow- -(hear, hear.) Persons of refined feelings and proper pride endure the greatest privations without a murmur: all they wish is to be unobserved by the purse-proud upstart, who invariably treats birth, talent, and rank, unaccompanied by wealth, with contempt. Want is the scorn of every wealthy fool, Some persons imagine that the term "hard-up" only applies to the destitute vagrant, the incorrigible scamp, or the reckless swindler. In society, to describe a man as hard-up, would be sufficient to render him an object of dread suspicion and contempt. Some labour under the delusion that it is confined to a class of individuals who live by their wits, or subsist on credit or fraud, and never pay their debts. To this definition of "hard-up” he begged to object-(hear, hear)-and to remind honourable gentlemen that it was not every man who possessed wits that would support him, and that it was no easy matter for persons destitute of pecuniary means, and shabby in appearance, to get credit. To be hard-up does not conduce to a man's comfort, or contribute to his reputation or respectability; but although it makes a man an outcast from society, and the terror of his friends, it is no disgrace. Persons of narrow minds and illiberal educations despise a poor gentleman; but be it recollected that some of our most distinguished ornaments of ancient and modern history have been hardup: nations and sovereigns have been hard-up; prelates, poets, philosophers, painters, and actors, have been hard-up. Such a situation is, therefore, no disgrace, although extremely inconvenient: a man possessing 1007. a year stands a chance of getting 10,000l.; but he whose resources are precarious has no chance of advancement in these times, when all bow down at the shrine of Mammon. The various grades of the hardup corps were too numerous for detail on the present occasion; but he (Mr. O'Brady) thought the term most appropriate to the society to which he then belonged. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion, he wished it to be understood that the object of the Hard-up Club was for the establishment of a regular place of assembly, where gentlemen would not be subjected to the sneers of that nondescript class of would-be men, yclept "gents." (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) Mr. Saveall said, that before the adjournment of the meeting he wished to make a few remarks upon the absurdity of the appointment of treasurer; and appealed to the good sense of his worthy brethren, whether it was not only a sinecure but a complete farce. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Penniless said he fully concurred with his honourable friend who had just sat down, and agreed with him that the appointment in question would bring just ridicule upon the craft. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Martyrall said, he not only agreed with what had just fallen from his learned brethren, but he went further, and wished to know what benefit the craft could derive from the appointment of a solicitor. Mr. Chaffwell said, he fully concurred with the opinion of the utter uselessness of a treasurer, but he differed with the learned gentleman who had just spoken relative to the utility of a solicitor; the importance of the latter appointment spoke for itself, and he could cite many cases in which that gentleman's professional assistance had been of the greatest service to honourable members of the craft. (Hear, hear.) Counsellor Quill said, he could bear testimony to the truth of the statement made by the honourable member who had just sat down; he was prepared to prove, that were it not for the professional exertions of his learned friend (the solicitor of the craft), not a few of the gentlemen who were assembled would be incarcerated in gaols on suspicion of debt. Before members attempted to curtail any appointment connected with the craft, they should ascertain what emolument might be attached to it: it was well known that no official situation belonging to their body bore any emolument; it was therefore of little consequence how many high-sounding posts of supposed honour the craft might think fit to institute; yet he must admit that the appointment of treasurer was useless, but was prepared to prove the utility derived by the craft from the nomination of a legal adviser; and he begged honourable members to recollect, that through the professional skill of their law-officer their persecutors were solely kept at bay. (Hear, hear.) The Hon. and Rev. W. Bagall said, that he could not remain quiet and hear the services of his friend lightly spoken of. He felt peculiar gratification in publicly stating, that were it not for the professional aid of his learned friend, he should at this moment be in the county prison. He begged honourable members to remember, that he who had taken this office upon himself had done so out of pure good feeling and for the benefit of the craft. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Cognovit Graball begged to assure his worthy brethren "all is not gold that glitters:" the office which he filled sounded well, but, unfortunately for him, there was no profit attached to it; he must remind the craft that whatever he had done for any of its members had been at cost price-the price of the paper, &c. The abolition of arrest upon mesne process afforded no respite for him; for, whether during term or the recess, he was constantly engaged either in defending actions for the recovery of debts, or endeavouring to extract some members of the craft from the fangs of the law. He mentioned these things to point out the application of his professional services for the benefit of the craft. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) After a few words from Mr. Turnall, a show of hands was demanded; and it was unanimously decided that the appointment of treasurer was useless, but that of solicitor indispensably necessary. Mr. Stiff said, that in consequence of the appointment of "treasurer" having been abolished, he should move that the honourable and learned gentleman who has thus been deprived of that honorary distinction be nominated Chief Inspector of Bailiffs. The honourable and learned gentleman was well qualified for that office, from the long experience he had acquired in the debtors' prisons of the metropolis and the provinces. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) The motion that Mr. Bluntless be appointed Chief Inspector of Bailiffs and other minor functionaries of the law, was then put from the chair, and carried nem. con. Mr. Bluntless rose and said, that he could not find words to express his feelings upon this occasion: the present moment he considered the proudest of his life (cheers); the unexpected and uncalled-for honour which had been conferred upon him should not be neglected for a second, much less forgotten. He would endeavour to merit a continuance of the esteem and confidence of the honourable craft. The safety and comfort of his worthy brethren should ever be his chief study (cheers); in fact, he would devote his whole time and attention to the important duties of the post to which he had been elected. It was his anxious hope that no circumstance might occur to test his vigilance. Should the enemy approach, honourable members might depend upon his fidelity; no suspicious-looking person should enter the camp over which it was his province to keep watch. (Cheers.) Mr. Penniless said, that before the meeting broke up he wished to call their attention to the following epistle, which had been handed to him by a learned friend; and with the permission of the meeting he would read it for general information. The honourable gentleman then read the note in question, which ran thus: "Brick-lane, August, 1849. "The gentleman with the carpet-bag presents his compliments to the gentleman with the ample mackintosh, and begs to suggest to his legal friend the propriety of the discontinuance of the garment in question; it |