Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 431

It is with a feeling doubtless somewhat analogous to that of the angler, that the London shopkeeper from time to time regards the

moneyless crowds who throng in gaping admiration around the tempting display he makes in his window. His admirers and the fish, however,

are in different circumstances: the one won't bite if they have no mind; the others can't bite if they should have all the mind in the

world. Yet the shopkeeper manages better than the angler; for while the fish are deaf to the charming of the latter, charm he never so

wisely, the former is able, at a certain season of the year, to convert the moneyless gazers into ready-money customers. This he does

by the force of logic. 'You are thinking of Christmas, ' says he--'yes, you are; and you long to have a plum-pudding for that day--don't deny

it. Well, but you can't have it, think as much as you will; it is impossible as you manage at present. But I'll tell you how to get the

better of the impossibility.