by auction to a Mr. Bell, and thenceforth assumed its well
known and now time honoured title of _Bell's Life in London_.

CHARLES MOLLOY WESTMACOTT.

Another friend of the artist was Charles Molloy Westmacott, as he called
himself, but who is supposed to have been--_filius nullius_ or _filius
populi_--the child of Mrs. Molloy, a pretty widow who kept a tavern at
Kensington. Westmacott was one of a class of writers who not only
existed but thrived in the early part of our century by the levying of
literary black-mail. The _modus operandi_ (as given by Mr. William
Bates, from whom we derive our information respecting this man) appears
to have been as follows: "Sometimes a vague rumour or hint of scandal,
accompanied perchance by a suggestive newspaper paragraph, was conveyed
to one or more of the parties implicated, with a threat of further
inquiry into its truth, and a full exposure of the circumstances which
excited the sender's virtuous indignation. This, if the selected victim
was a man of nervous, timid temperament, often produced the desired
effect; and although possibly entirely innocent of the allegation, he
preferred to purchase silence, and escape the suspicion which publicity
does not fail to attach to a name. If, on the other hand, no notice was
taken of the communication, the screw received some further turns. A
narrative was drawn up, and printed off, in the form of a newspaper
paragraph, and was transmitted to the parties concerned, with a letter,
intimating that it had been 'received from a correspondent,' and that
the publisher thought fit, prior to publication, to ascertain whether
those whose names were mentioned desired to correct, modify, or cancel
any part of the statement. There is no doubt that very large sums have
been extorted by these scoundrelly means, and a vast amount of anxiety
and misery occasioned."[62] This was "the sort of man" that Charles
Molloy Westmacott appears to have been; and I learn on the same
authority that by these means he was enabled in one instance alone to
net not much less than a sum of L5,000. "Pulls" of this kind enabled
this fellow to live at his ease in a suburban retreat situated somewhere
between Barnes and Richmond, which he fitted up (for he considered
himself, as some others of his more modern class appear to do, a "man of
letters") with books and pictures.

"THE ENGLISH SPY."

In 1825 this man brought out, under his pseudonym of "Bernard
Blackmantl