and prevented.' Sturdy Britons
had then far too much hatred for 'our natural enemies' to wish to
exchange aught but hostilities with them. About the same time, we
learn that 'clubs of young gentlemen of fortune' had come to the
magnanimous resolve, 'to toast no lady who has so much inconsideration
as to lavish her money away in French fopperies, to the detriment of
her own country.'

The style of advertising then in vogue occasionally gave the paper a
somewhat pictorial appearance. Cockfighting was in great force, and
the public announcements relative to this barbarous sport were
invariably headed by a portraiture of a couple of game-birds facing
each other with a most belligerent aspect; while the numerous
advertisements of horses 'stolen or strayed,' were embellished by a
representation of the supposed thief, mounted on the missing animal,
which was forced into a breakneck pace, while Satan himself, _in
propria persona_, was perched on the crupper, in an excited and
triumphant attitude. In the local paragraphs, we note several
indicating a strong feeling of animosity between the Scotch and
English borderers. We observe also that the Newcastle dogs--to this
day a very numerous fraternity--were at times quite unmanageable, and
caused, either by their ravenous exploits, or their downright madness,
no small uneasiness to the town and neighbourhood. It must be
confessed, that in its marriage-notices, at least, the _Chronicle_ was
far superior to anything that journalism can now exhibit in Newcastle
or in Great Britain. These interesting announcements must have
intensely delighted our grandmothers; and, we fear, have frequently
tempted our grandsires into a somewhat precipitate plunge into the
gulf of matrimony. Instead of barely specifying, as papers now do,
that Mr Smith married Miss Brown, the _Chronicle_ uniformly tantalised
its bachelor readers with an account of the personal, mental, and, if
such there were, metallic charms of the bride; so that how any single
gentleman, in the teeth of such notifications, could retain his
condition for long, is really marvellous. Most of the young ladies who
had thus bestowed themselves on their fortunate admirers, are
described as 'sprightly,' and many as 'genteel and agreeable;' some
have 'a genteel fortune,' other's 'a considerable fortune,' and
others, again, rejoice in the possession of 'a large fortune:' one man
gains 'a well-accomplished young lady, with a fortune of L.1000;'