There is one class of persons in the metropolitan community, which, so far as I am aware, exists nowhere else; certainly not in Great Britain. They are a body of individuals of whom every one has heard, but of whom very few persons know any thing. My reference is to the Newsmen. The Newsmen are a class of persons through whom all the newspapers published in the metropolis are put, in the first instance, into circulation. They are a most industrious body of individuals, and contribute very largely to the enjoyments of the entire population of the empire.

The Newsmen are, as far as can be ascertained, about five hundred in number. Most of them have one or more boys in their employ; and those whose business is not sufficiently extensive to enable them to employ boys, are often obliged to call in the aid of their wives— always, of course, assuming they have wives— in the delivery of the papers. The Newsmen purchase all their papers, either direct at the offices of the different journals, or at one of the three or four wholesale houses which exist in their own trade. The Newsmen get all the papers for which they charge their customers five-pence, for four-pence;—one penny on each paper being thus all that they have to maintain themselves, after paying the expenses consequent on their business, and running the risk of bad debts. It will be seen from this that the proprietors of London newspapers do not, like those of the provinces, get the prices marked on them, and at which they are sold to the readers, but that one penny is deducted from the amount.