We are sorry to perceive that trade was never in a more alarming state than
at present. A general _strike_ for wages has taken place amongst the
smiths. The carpenters have been dreadfully _cut up_; and the shoemakers
find, at the _last_, that it is impossible to make both _ends_ meet. The
bakers complain that the pressure of the times is so great, that they
cannot get the bread to _rise_. The bricklayers swear that the monopolists
ought to be brought to the _scaffold_. The glaziers, having taken some
_pains_ to discover the cause of the distress, declare that they can _see
through_ the whole affair. The gardeners wish to get at the _root_ of the
evil, and consequently have become _radical_ reformers. The laundresses
have _washed_ their hands clean of the business. The dyers protest that
things never looked so _blue_ in their memory, as there is but a slow
demand for
[Illustration: FAST COLOURS.]
The butchers are reduced to their last _stake_. The weavers say their lives
hang by a single _thread_. The booksellers protest we must _turn over a new
leaf_. The ironmongers declare that the times are very _hard_ indeed. The
cabmen say business is completely at a _stand_. The watermen are all
_aground_. The tailors object to the government _measures_;--and the
undertakers think that affairs are assuming a _grave_ aspect. Public
credit, too, is tottering;--nobody will take doctors' _draughts_, and it is
difficult to obtain cash for the best bills (of the play). An extensive
brandy-ball merchant in the neighbourhood of Oxford-street has called a
meeting of his creditors; and serious apprehensions are entertained that a
large manufacturer of lollypops in the Haymarket will be unable to meet his
heavy liabilities. Two watchmakers in the city have stopped this morning,
and what is more extraordinary, their watches have "_stopped_" too.
* * * * *