another point, and, to my mind, the most important one.
Whatever opinions may be held as to the relative quality of this lock,
whether it is better or worse than an English one, it is at least an
honest article. It makes no pretensions to be any better than it is.
It does not entrap the unwary purchaser by pretending to be a
first-class article, when at the same time it may be a swindle.

I will now show you an ordinary 6 inch rim-lock of English
manufacture. At a short distance it looks like a superior article; the
follower and keyhole appear as if they were bushed with brass. But let
us take it to pieces, and see what we can find. The follower is a
rough casting, not turned at the bearings, and is in no sense a fit.
The screw holes are not countersunk, but merely punched in; the key is
of the roughest and worst fitting description; the inside is as rough
and cheap as possible; the key is cut so as to deceive the purchaser
into the belief that there are twice as many wards in the lock as is
really the case, and the bushes prove to be thin plates of brass
riveted on, and not bushes at all. In short, the whole article is a
vile fraud, and the maker was a swindler. This is strong language, but
I think you will agree with me when I maintain that it is not stronger
than the circumstances warrant.

But there are still its defects of bad design and useless workmanship.
The lock is of the usual form given to the English rim-lock, that is,
it has a flange which requires to be let into the edge of the door. I
have fixed hundreds of them, and have never yet been able to see a use
for this flange. It is one great obstacle to the general introduction
of a reversible lock; it adds to the labor of fixing without adding to
the security of the door, for if the door is to be forced from the
outside, the box staples give way first; if from the inside, the
unscrewing of the box staple is all that is necessary to give egress;
if the door requires easing, it effectually prevents it being done--in
fact, it is a nuisance, and nothing but a nuisance. But our lockmakers
do not appear to give these things a thought; their doctrine seems to
be, "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be."

Again, notice that the edges of the iron which lie against the door
and the sham bushes are ground bright. Here is labor wasted, for as
soon as the lock is fixed these polished portions are hidden for
ever. Next, take the box staple. As is usual,