Mr. Joseph Hanson, The Haberdasher

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Advertising has become a town-wide competition in Belford Regis, where shopkeepers borrow Wellington's name to lend glory to their goods. Joseph Hanson, a shopkeeper from London, runs the showy New Waterloo Establishment and claims to combine the lowest prices with the finest quality. Mary Russell Mitford sets his promises against the failures of earlier traders, turning the market-place into a comic study of salesmanship and public credulity.

The story also follows the household of John Parsons, a prosperous, forceful tradesman whose gentle daughter Harriet dislikes Hanson as a suitor. Local gossip, family pressure and disagreements over a new police force connect the private and public affairs of the town. Readers interested in everyday social life will find sharp observations of retail display, civic loyalties and the uneasy distance between a confident manner and a trustworthy character.