in lectures on every conceivable subject. The interests of science cannot be sacrificed to those of a brute creature, say the vivisectionists; political economy wishes to direct the industries of fleas to useful and practical ends; the "facts and figures" of the statisticians an echo of The Chimes, repeated once more later on in Hard Times-are ridiculed in the number of twenty-one millions nine hundred thousand skewers that are wasted annually in the Metropolis, and in the number of legs of the population of Yorkshire towns, compared with the number of chair and stool legs there. The railway mania comes in for its share in the portable railway carried in the waistcoat pocket; joint stock company promoting is ridiculed in the forcing machine "for bringing out joint stock railway shares prematurely at a premium;" the inventive technical genius of the period is made fun of by the wonderful safety fire escape; craniology in the discussion by learned scholars of the 'skull' shown by Professor John Ketch, a discussion which ends by that gentleman declaring that "it ain't no 'e'd at all; it's a coker-nut..."

It is no wonder that, when company promoters cast about for spheres of action for their projected enterprises, they frequently turned to science or rather pseudo-science for help. This is nowhere brought out more clearly than in Ten Thousand a Year. When "Oily Gammon," a prominent lawyer in this novel, saw the profit to be made out of a company, he drew up prospectuses expounding among others a scheme for "carrying into effect a discovery by means of which ships of all kinds and sizes could be furnished with the means, by one and the same process,and that remarkably simple, cheap, cheap, and convenient-of obtaining pure fresh water from the sea, and converting the salt or brine thrown off in the operation, instanter into gunpowder! The reality of this amazing discovery was decisively ascertained by three of the greatest chemists of England..." The old nobleman whom he tries to win for his scheme is enthusiastic about it, and calls out, "... to what a pitch is science advancing! When will human ingenuity end? Sir, I doubt not that one of these days everything will be found out!" This was indeed the general attitude of the time towards science and its discoveries. So many wonderful things had been achieved that everything was considered to have become possible.

On several previous occasions the author of Ten Thousand a Year had already taken his fling at 'science' and 'scientists.' When Tittlebat Titmouse, the hero of the novel, was still in the possession of his large Yorkshire estate, a certain Doctor Gander had dedicated a book to him, entitled

Researches into Physical Science, with a view to the establishment of a New Principle—

LIGHTNESS
by

Diabolus Gander Esquire,

L. L. D.; F. C. S.; Q. U. A. K.; G. O. S.; Secretary of the Empirical Society; Corresponding Member of the Leipzic Longitude Society; Vice-President of the Gastronomic Association; and Member of seventeen Philosophical and Literary Societies in Kamschatka, Madagascar, Tartary, and Little Britain; etc., etc., etc.

This same Gander is described to us as knowing nothing of literature and mathematics, but with a great talent for rendering the most abstruse science "popular, i.e., utterly unintelligible to those who did understand science, and very exciting and entertaining to those who did not."

Though Gammon and Gander are both company promoters misusing science for their objects, there can be no doubt that in Warren's satires we have also to see an attack on liberal and radical efforts for the promotion of education and the spread of knowledge among the lower classes by men like Charles Knight. Samuel Warren, who in his novels and stories showed himself a staunch Tory and Churchman, did not see the use of educating the people and thereby spreading liberal and radical principles among them. He says of it: "Some people talk vehemently about the paramount necessity of educating the lower classes. It is indeed of incalculable importance that they should be educated; but is it not of still greater importance that the upper classes should be instructed ......

Another point that is thrown much light on in Ten Thousand a Year is the constant practice of company promoters of engaging

"Patrons" for their new enterprises, gentlemen whom they prevailed upon to lend their distinguished names and their social influence to the undertaking. Thus the Gunpowder and Fresh Water Company referred to above sent out prospectuses, and placed advertisements "which could boast of such commanding names as cast most of its sister companies into the shade-e.g., The Right Honourable the Earl of Dreddlington, G. C. B., F. C. S., F. P. S., etc., etc.; The Most Noble the Duke of Tantallan, K. T., etc., etc.; The Most Honourable the Marquess of Marmalade, etc., etc., etc.' The object of this practice was to entrap the "monied people among all classes" to come forward with their subscriptions, "all making haste to be rich."

Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the above sort are of quite a different stamp of course from the type depicted in Samuel Titmarsh, and as different from Mr. Tigg Montague, whom we shall soon introduce to our readers. Mr. Brough was the Director pulling all the ropes of his big West Diddlesex Association, whose sole aim was to induce everybody and anybody to join his concern in one way or another. "Mr. Brough, Sir, would canvass and wheedle a chimney-sweep in the way of business." In short, he was a sharp business-man knowing the ins and outs of "the City." The Right Honourable the Earl of Dreddlington, G. C. B., F. C. S., F. P. S., on the other hand, in spite of the imposing length of his title, is a mere man of straw in the hands of his lawyer, Mr. Gammon. He and his other distinguished friends are described to us by Warren as "profoundly ignorant of business, in all its departments."

The motives of these Presidents and others in lending their names to such undertakings were in the first place a desire to figure before the public as the patrons of brilliant enterprises, while there was a further inducement of a more materialistic nature: in a very short time Lord Dreddlington, through the skilful manoeuvres of Gammon, realized a clear profit of 12,000 pounds by the new venture. "This seemed to the Earl rather the effect of magic than of an everyday mercantile adventure," the author adds, thus expressing the mental attitude of those company speculators: riches were to be had for the mere picking up, and the scramble for money became general among all classes of English society that

possessed opportunities for joining in it. Novelists repeatedly denounce this "Mammon worship" as the great cause of all social evils and spiritual destruction.

A third aspect of company swindling that is thrown some light upon by Samuel Warren is the lack of responsibility of those setting such enterprises on foot. This was of course a source of much abuse. Prospectuses and advertisements might contain the grossest misrepresentations, and might be the merest "fantasies," holding out the most dazzling prospects of success and wealth, without the possibility of bringing any one to account for their contents. Not only Warren, but also Dickens lays stress on this source of evil, by giving the most fantastic specimens of such "decoy birds." Warren says of the prospectuses drawn up by the lawyer Gammon that they showed "a style which might have tempted the very devil himself (had he seen them) into venturing half his capital in the undertaking."

CHAPTER XXIX.

Martin Chuzzlewit.

After an abortive attempt at improvement in 1834, the second stage in company legislation was reached by the Act of 1837.1 This Act stated that, though it was thought inexpedient to incorporate divers trading and other associations by Royal Charter, yet it would be expedient to confer on them some of the privileges enjoyed by chartered companies. It was therefore enacted that companies could be granted so-called "letters patent," 2 which, although not giving them the status of bodies corporate, enabled them to do two things hitherto only possible for such bodies, viz.,

1. to sue or be sued in the name of one or two officers of the company (section III);

2. to promise limited liability to their members or not, "as the Crown deem advisable" (section IV).

These "quasi-corporation rights," as Wordsworth denotes them, removed some of the evils of company promoting: the management of the company's internal affairs was regulated and some publicity and control were ensured by registration at the Enrolment Offices. On the whole the success of the new Act was not great, however.

Thus The Times of Wednesday, April 18th 1840, contains an advertisement of the British Loan and Discount Institution by which shares are offered to the public, and in which it is stated that "a deposit of £ 2.10 is payable on each share, but no further call can be made without the consent of the shareholders." It may be doubted whether creditors of the Institution, in casu annuitants,

1) I Vict. c. 73. Section I stated that, as the provisions of the Act of 1834 were not found "effectual for the purposes they intended, they (were) repealed, and new provisions enacted in their stead."

2) Letters Patent are simply another form of Charters.