D-dd.

For reason cogent I will show,

To prove that none this secret know;
Since SALE, IN HAND, upon my life,
I've had the VOLUME fam'd of F-fe.

Optics 'tis plain there's no deceiving

Seeing and feeling is believing.

Who would have thought that e'er a D—dd, Would rank with auction dons—a god,

This auctioneer also disposed of a collection which was falsely said to belong to a foreign Marquis, whereas it was the property of M—j—r Bl-gr-ve, who, possessing no Chalcographic knowledge, was completely imposed upon by a set of fawning scycophantic Italians, amongst whom one bearing the ludicrous. appellation of Tom Punch, was not only the most prominent in adding to the collection, but also in puffing the lots during the period of the sale. It is merely necessary to add by way of proving the rascality of these foreigners, that the collection, consisting of German and Italian prints, which originally cost the

F

D-dd.

Still Catalogus bends the knee,

And hails him-high sublimity.

Yet though on stilts he now appears,
If we retrace a few short years,

We view him serving out to many,

In Lambeth Marsh prints at one penny,
Which strung in rows the hovel grac'd,
With dust and cobwebs thick enchas'd (y).
Not far from thence in Lambeth Road,

Of P―ls—r stands the known abode (z),

Major several thousand pounds, did not after payment of customhouse duties realize as many hundreds.

(y) Facts are rather stubborn things. The events above recorded will stand the test of the most rigid scrutiny, and strongly display the wonderful vicissitudes that frequently attend upon

man.

(2) This supercilious print-vender was originally an errand boy

D-dd.

With whom war Chalcographic rag'd,
As price 'gainst price was eager wag'd:
Thus either sharp print-selling brother,
Strove hard to undersell the other (a);

to R-g-d of the Strand, who in course of time began to think that money might be realized by setting up a small shop on the Surrey side of the water, and in order to ascertain this he took what was then little better than a hut, placing P―ls-r there to sell for him. The latter finding that the scheme answered, persuaded R-g/d that it was a useless speculation, and in consequence of this his master relinquished the shop, which P—ls--r instantly took, where he gradually got forward in the world, and now figures among print-sellers a very noted personage. This man, to increase his profits, has also taken an auction shop under the carpet-warehouse in Leicester-fields, which fairly ranks with others in the metropolis of a similar class.

(a) No sooner had D-dd set up than a violent competition for the acquirement of custom took place between these Surrey heroes, each sneaking by candle-light to the other's window, in order to ascertain the prices marked upon prints, according to

D-dd.

Next mov'd to street call'd Tavistock,

To D-dd in crowds Collectors flock;

Till last in search of fortune's fane,

He shows off in Saint Martin's Lane,

Where I fame's trump now boist'rous blowing,
Thrice hail him knight—of Going—going (b).

which they either encreased or decreased the sums at which they intended to sell their own commodities.

(b) As an Auctioneer D-dd, though extremely ignorant, has had remarkable success, nor was the disposal of G-n-ral D-dsw-ll's collection one of the most insignificant boons of fortune. As to his pronunciation he calls a print admirable fine, and so forth. On the score of consummate effrontery no knight of the hammer can surpass him, as he literally will sit at his own table, while H-1l-nd is vending his own prints, and bid with as much assurance as if he were a total stranger. He does not perhaps bear in recollection that there are such things as acts of parliament, and that a clause in one, relating to auctioneers, prohibits any such vender from bidding more than once, which must either

Ev-ns.

In shoals methinks I now see flock down

Collectors, Ev-ns (c) to thy knock-down ;

When Roxburgh's fam'd gigantic sale,

Made Catalogus' pocket wail,

Nor did a Stanley's choice editions,

Cause less enfuriate competitions

With Bibliomanians, lur'd at finding
To paper large join'd splendid binding.

be at the commencement or termination of the bidding. By such conduct as this however the man has got forward, and being desirous to imitate the Great, has taken his country dwelling near Buckingham House. These grand ideas however sometimes experience a temporary degradation, as proved the case in R-ch―rds-n's sale room, when D-dd having given a person named R-wl-s the lie, the latter reminded him of a former period, saying, that although he then looked so big, time was that he had not wherewith to purchase a pound of potatoes; which so enraged mine Auctioneer, that blows ensued, and a glorious milling match proved the result, to the infinite delight of the Chalcographimanian crew assembled.