MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 22 September 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

» The Romans largely advertised private as well as public matters, and by writing as well as by word of mouth. They had •heir prtecone*. or criers, who not only had their public duties, but announced , the time, place, and condit-ons of s^le, and cried things lost. Hawkers cried" their o*vn goods. Thns, Cicero speak« of one who cried fi?s : Cauneas calamiießctt ( he oried out figs !'}. But the Rotmn3 01-io advertised, in a stricter sense of the term, by writing. The bills were ca'ted libelli, nnd were used for ndvertisising sales of estate?, for abscocoed debtors, nn I for things lost or found. The ads vertisements were often written on tab* lets, which were affixed to pillars. On the walls of Pompeii have been discovered various advertisements : ' There will be a dedication or formal opening of certain baths. The company attending are promised slaughter of wild beasts, athletic games, perfumed sprinkling, and awnings to keep off the sun.' One other mode of public announcement employed liy the l{omans should be mentioned, and that was by signs suspended or painted on the wall. Thus, a suspended shield served as the sign of a tavern ; and 1 nuisance* were prohibited by a painting of two sacred serpents. Advertisements in newspapers, as now published, were not general in England until the com* mencement of the eighteenth century,