The Tricks of the Town

In Short

This 1732 guide exposes the myriad lesser-known frauds, petty crimes, and social traps practiced across the bustling metropolis of London. From corrupt tradesmen and fraudulent lottery winners to dangerous hackney coach drivers and professional dog-nappers, the text catalogues how the crafty prey upon the unwary at every turn. It has lasted because its sharp, satirical observations offer a vivid, unvarnished window into the gritty economic realities and ingenious deceptions of early eighteenth-century urban life.

The Story

The work opens with a pragmatic reflection on money-making, arguing that since distant wealth in Peru is out of reach, citizens must pick up shillings and guineas at home through ingenuity. The narrative immediately plunges into the deceptive texture of London streets, where carters deliberately splash finely dressed pedestrians to boost drapery sales, and quack doctors secretly fund street-side vendors selling unwholesome fruit to guarantee a steady stream of sick patients. From physical ailments, the focus shifts to emotional vulnerabilities, detailing how professional thieves target pampered lap-dogs of wealthy ladies simply to collect handsome reward money when the distraught owners panic.

The journey continues into the perils of leisure and travel. Citizens taking Sunday chaises into neighboring villages find themselves targeted by aggressive hackney coach drivers paid by their masters to wreck single and double-horse carriages. On the water, reckless boatmen risk passengers' lives out of sheer laziness or malice, later demanding financial compensation for lost equipment from grieving widows. Back in the city taverns, alliances of idle clerks and broken apothecaries sit drinking white port all morning, playing the part of professional lures who entice passersby into spending money while securing free meals for themselves. Vintners and tradesmen alike are caught in cycles of debt and deceit, exemplified by a young linen-draper who invents a fictitious lost diamond purse to manufacture instant public trust and drive up business.

As the panorama widens, the text examines elaborate cons involving high society and public institutions. Wealthy merchants and gullible citizens fall victim to sophisticated shoppers who feign aristocratic connections, order expensive silks, and orchestrate elaborate diversions before executing their thefts or shifting blame onto others. Lotteries serve as fertile ground for penniless tricksters who fake winning tickets, command celebratory church bells, and trick local landlords into funding lavish feasts. Even the solemnities of death are commercialized, with corpse-stealers grave-robbed and trading bodies by weight based on station, while newspaper writers churn out absurd fabrications, false obituaries, and fabricated military promotions to capture an easily amused readership.

The progression reaches its darker, more systemic depths in the pervasive culture of servant fees and judicial corruption. Visitors to noble houses must pay strict tariffs to porters and footmen merely to deliver a bill or petition a lord. Informers and fake servants operate as double agents, sometimes tipping off debtors for a higher fee or executing elaborate impersonations—such as dressing as cooks to deliver poisoned suppers—to drag insolvent gentlemen straight to county jail. The book concludes with these relentless mechanics of deception laid bare, demonstrating that urban existence is an unending series of calculated traps where diamond cuts diamond at every social level.

How It Unfolds

The urban theater The text opens by mapping out the bustling streets of London, revealing how ordinary urban encounters, from splashed pedestrians to unwholesome fruit barrows backed by apothecaries, are engineered to drive commerce and medical fees.

The premium on pets Attention shifts to the lucrative trade of dog-napping, where professional thieves snatch wealthy ladies' lap-dogs during afternoon lulls, knowing frantic owners will pay heavy ransoms for their safe return.

Perils of the road Travelers venturing out in chaises or river boats face intentional hazards created by aggressive hackney drivers and reckless watermen who risk lives for extra wages or sheer laziness.

Tavern traps and fabricated luck Idle tricksters occupy taverns from morning till night to lure in drinking companions, while clever operators invent lost fortunes or fake lottery wins to command free feasts and public adulation.

Mercantile maneuvers A young linen-draper invents a fictitious lost diamond purse to build an unearned reputation for towering honesty, while fraudulent shoppers execute elaborate scams on unsuspecting tradesmen.

The trade in the dead The narrative exposes the ghoulish commerce of corpse-stealing, where bodies are weighed and traded by social rank, alongside the absurd fabrications published daily in local newspapers.

Servant tolls and final arrests The progression concludes by detailing the rigid tariff system demanded by noble servants for access to great men, culminating in elaborate staged home invasions by fake cooks that land desperate debtors straight in county jail.

The People

Mr. Probity is a young linen-draper who wants to escape impending bankruptcy and financial ruin; his small initial stock and lack of customer trust stand firmly in his way. By inventing a fictitious lost diamond purse published in public newspapers, he completely transforms his standing, ending up overwhelmed with eager customers and unearned public adoration based entirely on an illusion of towering honesty. Another central figure is the anonymous Irish lottery adventurer who desperately desires a square meal; an empty, bankrupt belly stands between him and survival. By shouting out a false lottery win at Guild-hall, he successfully commands celebratory church bells, a team of ringers, and a lavish tavern feast paid for by a proud landlord. A grieving widow at Kingston upon Thames wants closure regarding her drowned husband; the insolent waterman who caused the fatal boat accident stands before her instead, demanding half a crown to drink her health as compensation for a lost oar. She ends up bewildered and outraged by his monstrous audacity. Finally, noble servants and footmen want extra profits, enforcing a rigid fee table that blocks tradesmen and poor poets from seeing great lords. They maintain absolute gatekeeping control until successful domestic complaints trigger sudden kitchen revolutions that dismiss overbearing staff.

In Its Own Voice

Illustrating the hidden economic webs connecting street vendors and medical practitioners, the author observes how illness is artificially sustained:

Thus the patient repeats his poison, the prescriber his fees, and the apothecary his potion.

Describing the calculated hazards created by aggressive transportation workers on public roads, the text notes the explicit instructions driving reckless behavior:

The miserable shrieks of women and children not being sufficient to deter the villains from doing what they call their duty to their masters.

Exposing the absurd commercialization of personal tragedy and mourning among the elite, the author remarks on extravagant grief for animals:

How often have we seen families in deep mourning on these sad occasions?

What It's Really About

The book investigates the hidden parasitic economies that sustain urban London, arguing that civilization is fundamentally built on reciprocal systems of exploitation where everyone preys upon someone else. It questions the true nature of honesty, demonstrating how public virtue is often a manufactured performance designed to extract money from the gullible. Beneath the colorful anecdotes of scams and street life lies a cynical inquiry into social mobility and human credulity. The text exposes how institutions like the press, the legal system, and noble domestic service operate not on justice or public welfare, but on institutionalized extortion, routine deception, and the relentless pursuit of profit at any moral cost.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love sharp historical satire, social history, and the pungent vernacular of the early eighteenth century will find this work endlessly fascinating. Reading it feels like walking the muddy alleys of 1732 London alongside a cynical, observant guide who points out every hidden trap, from crooked hackney drivers to fake charitable merchants and predatory medical rings. What stays with you is the startling modernity of these commercial swindlers; the technological details change, but human gullibility, media sensationalism, and institutional greed remain entirely unchanged. Modern readers should be prepared for dense period-specific prose, original eighteenth-century capitalization quirks, and a relentlessly bleak view of human nature where virtually no one acts out of genuine altruism. Yet, despite these linguistic hurdles and archaic formatting conventions, the sheer theatricality and dark humor of the anecdotes reward patient readers with an unforgettable, unvarnished portrait of urban survival that cuts right through historical distance.