supply the public with inexpressibles of the best Saxon
cloth at 7s. 6d. a pair; coats, superfine, L1 18s.; and waistcoats at
so much per dozen,--they were all to be worked off by steam. Thus
the rascally tailors were to be put down, humanity clad, and the
philanthropists rewarded (but that was a secondary consideration) with a
clear return of thirty per cent. In spite of the evident charitableness
of this Christian design, and the irrefragable calculations upon
which it was based, this company died a victim to the ignorance and
unthankfulness of our fellow-creatures; and all that remained of Jack's
L6,000, was a fifty-fourth share in a small steam-engine, a large
assortment of ready-made pantaloons, and the liabilities of the
directors.

Uncle Jack disappeared, and went on his travels. The same spirit of
philanthropy which characterized the speculations of his purse attended
the risks of his person. Uncle Jack had a natural leaning towards all
distressed communities: if any tribe, race, or nation was down in the
world, Uncle Jack threw himself plump into the scale to redress
the balance. Poles, Greeks (the last were then fighting the Turks),
Mexicans, Spaniards,--Uncle Jack thrust his nose into all their
squabbles! Heaven forbid I should mock thee, poor Uncle Jack! for those
generous predilections towards the unfortunate; only, whenever a nation
is in a misfortune, there is always a job going on! The Polish
cause, the Greek cause, the Alexican cause, and the Spanish cause are
necessarily mixed up with loans and subscriptions. These Continental
patriots, when they take up the sword with one hand, generally contrive
to thrust their other hand deep into their neighbor's breeches' pockets.
Uncle Jack went to Greece, thence he went to Spain, thence to Mexico.
No doubt he was of great service to those afflicted populations, for
he came back with unanswerable proof of their gratitude in the shape
of L3,000. Shortly after this appeared a prospectus of the "New, Grand,
National, Benevolent Insurance Company, for the Industrial Classes."
This invaluable document, after setting forth the immense benefits
to society arising from habits of providence and the introduction of
insurance companies,--proving the infamous rate of premiums exacted
by the existent offices, and their inapplicability to the wants of the
honest artisan, and declaring that nothing but the purest intentions
of benefiting their fellow-creatures, and raising the