Part 77
This appears to be made up (so far as I am able to ascertain) of the following items:--120 sellers of stationery; 20 sellers of pocket-books and diaries; 50 sellers of almanacks and memorandum-books; 12 sellers of account-books; 31 card-sellers; 6 secret papers-sellers; 250 sellers of songs and ballads; 90 running patterers; 20 standing patterers; 8 sellers of “cocks” (principally elopements); 15 selling conundrums, “comic exhibitions,” &c.; 200 selling play-bills and books for the play; 40 back-number-sellers; 4 waste paper-sellers at Billingsgate; 40 sellers of tracts and pamphlets; 12 newsvenders, &c., at steam-boat piers; 2 book auctioneers; 70 book-stall keepers and book barrow-men; 16 sellers of guide-books; 30 sellers of song-books and children’s books; 40 dealers in pictures in frames; 30 vendors of engravings in umbrellas, and 4 sellers of manuscript music--making altogether a total of 1,110. Many of the above street-trades are, however, only temporary. As, for instance, the street-sale of playing-cards, continues only fourteen days in the year; pocket-books and diaries, four weeks; others, again, are not regularly pursued from day to day, as the sale of prints and engravings in umbrellas, which affords employment for but twelve weeks out of the fifty-two, and conundrums for two months. One trade, however, (namely, that of “Comic Exhibition Papers,” gelatine and engraved cards of the Exhibition) is entirely now in the streets. In the broad-sheet trade, again, the “running patterers” work what are called “cocks,” when there are no incidents happening to incite the public mind. Hence, making due allowances for such variations, we may fairly assume that the street-sellers belonging to this class number at least 1,000. The following statistics will show the whole amount of capital, and the gross income of this branch of street traffic.
CAPITAL OR VALUE OF THE STOCK-IN-TRADE OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS.
_Street-sellers of Stationery._
£ _s._ _d._
40 stalls, 4_s._ each; 80 boxes, 3_s._ 6_d._ each; and stock-money for 120 sellers, 10_s._ each 82 0 0
_Street-sellers of Pocket-books and Diaries._
Stock-money for 20 vendors, 10_s._ each 10 0 0
_Street-sellers of Almanacks and Memorandum-books._
Stock-money for 50 vendors, 1_s._ per head 2 10 0
_Street-sellers of Account-books._
12 baskets, 3_s._ each; 12 waterproof bags, 2_s._ 6_d._ each; stock-money for 12 sellers, 15_s._ each 12 6 0
_Street-sellers of Cards._
Stock-money for 20 sellers, 1_s._ 6_d._ each 2 5 0
_Street-seller of Stenographic-cards._
Stock-money for 1 seller 0 1 6
_Street-sellers of Long-songs._
20 poles to which songs are attached, 2_d._ each; stock-money for 20 sellers, 1_s._ each 1 3 4
_Street-sellers of Wall-songs (“Pinners-up.”)_
30 canvass frames, to which songs are hung, 2_s._ each; stock-money for 30 sellers, 1_s._ each 4 10 0
_Street-sellers of Ballads (“Chaunters.”)_
2 fiddles, 7_s._ each; stock-money for 200 chaunters, 1_s._ each 10 14 0
_Street-sellers of “Dialogues,” “Litanies,” &c. (“Standing Patterers.”)_
20 boards with appendages “for pictures,” 5_s._ 6_d._ each; 20 paintings for boards, 3_s._ 6_d._ each; stock-money for 20 vendors, 1_s._ each 10 0 0
_Street-sellers of Executions, &c. (“Running Patterers.”)_
Stock-money for 90 sellers, 1_s._ each 4 10 0
_Street-sellers of “Cocks.”_
Stock-money for 8 sellers, 1_s._ each 0 8 0
_Street-sellers of Conundrums and Nuts to Crack._
Stock-money for 15 sellers, 1_s._ each 0 15 0
_Street-sellers of Exhibition Papers, Magical Delusions, &c._
Stock-money for 15 sellers, 1_s._ each 0 15 0
_Street-sellers of Secret Papers._
Stock-money for 6 vendors, 1_s._ each 0 6 0
_Street-sellers of Play-bills and Books of the Play._
Stock-money for 200 vendors, 2_s._ each 20 0 0
_Street-sellers of Back Numbers._
Stock-money for 40 sellers, 5_s._ each 10 0 0
_Street-sellers of Waste-paper at Billingsgate._
Stock-money for 4 sellers, 5_s._ each 1 0 0
_Street-sellers of Tracts and Pamphlets._
Stock-money for 40 sellers, 6_d._ each 1 0 0
_Street-sellers of Newspapers (Second Edition)._
Stock-money for 20 sellers, 2_s._ 6_d._ each 2 10 0
_Street-sellers of Newspapers, &c., on board Steam-boats._
Stock-money for 12 sellers, 5_s._ each 3 0 0
_Street-sellers of Books by Auction._
Stock-money for 2 sellers, 2_l._ each; 2 barrows, 1_l._ each; 2 boards, for barrows, 3_s._ each 6 6 0
_Street-sellers of Books on Stalls and Barrows._
20 stalls, 4_s._ each; 50 barrows, 1_l._ each; 50 boards, for barrows, 3_s._ each; stock-money, for 70 sellers, 2_l._ each 201 10 0
_Street-sellers of Guide-books._
Stock-money, for 16 sellers, 5_s._ each 4 0 0
_Street-sellers of Song Books and Children’s Books._
Stock-money, for 30 vendors, 1_s._ each 1 10 0
_Street-sellers of Pictures in Frames._
40 stalls, 2_s._ 6_d._ each; stock-money, for 40 sellers, 5_s._ each 15 0 0
_Street-sellers of Engravings in Umbrellas._
Umbrellas, 2_s._ 6_d._ each; stock-money for 30 sellers, 2_s._ each 3 0 0
_Street-sellers of Manuscript-music._
Stock-money, for 4 sellers, 1_s._ 6_d._ each 0 6 0 ---------------- TOTAL CAPITAL INVESTED IN THE STREET-SALE OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE, AND THE FINE ARTS 411 5 10 ----------------
INCOME, OR AVERAGE ANNUAL “TAKINGS,” OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE, AND THE FINE ARTS.
_Street-sellers of Stationery._
There are 120 vendors of stationery, who sell altogether during the year, 224,640 quires of writing paper at 3_d._ per quire; 149,760 doz. envelopes, at 1-1/2_d._ per doz.; 37,440 doz. pens, at 3_d._ per doz.; 24,960 bottles of ink, at 1_d._ each; 112,320 black lead pencils, at 1_d._ each; 24,960 pennyworths of wafers, and 49,920 sticks of sealing-wax, at 1/2_d._ per stick; amounting altogether to £4,992
_Street-sellers of Pocket-books and Diaries._
During the year 1,440 pocket-books, at 6_d._ each, and 960 diaries, at 6_d._ each, are sold in the streets by 20 vendors; amounting to £60
_Street-sellers of Almanacks and Memorandum-books._
There are sold during the year, in the streets of London, 280,800 memorandum-books, at 1_d._ each, and 4,800 almanacks at 1_d._ each, among 50 vendors, altogether amounting to £1,190
_Street-sellers of Account-books._
There are now 12 itinerants vending account-books in various parts of the metropolis, each of whom sells daily, upon an average, 4 account-books, at 1_s._ 9_d._ each; the number sold during the year is therefore 14,976, and the sum expended thereon amounts to £1,310
_Street-sellers of “Gelatine,” “Engraved,” and “Playing-cards.”_
There are 20 street-sellers vending gelatine and engraved cards during the day, and 30 selling playing-cards (for 14 days) at night. These vendors get rid of, among them, in the course of the year, 43,200 gelatine, and 14,400 engraved cards, at 1_d._ each, and 3,360 packs of playing-cards, at 3_d._ per pack; so that the money spent in the streets on the sale of engraved, gelatine, and playing-cards, during the year, amounts to £282
_Street-seller of Stenographic Cards._
There is only 1 individual “working” stenographic cards in the streets of London, and the number he sells in the course of the year is 7,448 cards, at 1_d._ each, amounting to £31 4
_Street-sellers of Long Songs._
I am assured, that if 20 persons were selling long songs in the street last summer (during a period of 12 weeks), it was “the outside;” as long songs are now “for fairs and races, and country work.” Calculating that each cleared 9_s._ in a week, and to clear that took 15_s._, we find there is expended in long songs in the streets annually £180
_Street-sellers of Wall Songs (“Pinners-up.”)_
On fine summer days, the wall song-sellers (of whom there are 30) take 2_s._ on an average. On short wintry days they may not take half so much, and on very foggy or rainy days they take nothing at all. Reckoning that each wall song-man now takes 10_s._ 6_d._ weekly (7_s._ being the profit), we find there is expended yearly in London streets, in the ballads of the pinners-up £810
_Street-sellers of Ballads (“Chaunters.”)_
There are now 200 chaunters, who also sell the ballads they sing; the average takings of each are 3_s._ per day; altogether amounting to £4,680
_Street-sellers of Executions, &c. (“Running Patterers.”)_
Some represent their average weekly earnings at 12_s._ 6_d._ the year through; some at 10_s._ 6_d._; and others at less than half of 12_s._ 6_d._ Reckoning, however, that only 9_s._ weekly is an average profit per individual, and that 14_s._ be taken to realise that profit, we find there is expended yearly, on executions, fires, deaths, &c., in London £3,276
_Street-sellers of Dialogues, Litanies, &c. (Standing Patterers.)_
If 20 standing patterers clear 10_s._ weekly, each, the year through, and take 15_s._ weekly, we find there is yearly expended in the standing patter of London streets £780
_Street-sellers of “Cocks” (Elopements, Love Letters, &c.)_
There are now 8 men who sell nothing but “Cocks,” each of whom dispose daily of 6 dozen copies at 1/2_d._ per copy, or altogether, during the year, 179,712 copies, amounting to £374 8_s._
_Street-sellers of Conundrums--“Nuts to Crack,” &c._
From the best information I could acquire, it appears that fifteen men may be computed as working conundrums for two months throughout the twelve, and clearing 10_s._ 6_d._ weekly, per individual. The cost of the “Nuts to Crack” (when new) is 5_d._ a dozen to the seller; but old “Nuts” often answer the purpose of the street-seller, and may be had for about half the price; the cost of the “Nut-crackers” is 2_s._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ It may be calculated, then, that to realize the 10_s._ 6_d._ above-mentioned 15_s._ must be taken. This shows the street expenditure in “Nuts to Crack” and “Nut-crackers” to be yearly £90
_Street-sellers of Exhibition Papers, Magical Delusions, &c._
This trade is carried on only for a short time in the winter, as regards the magical portion; and I am informed that, including the “Comic Exhibitions,” it extends to about half of the sum taken for conundrums; or to about £45
_Street-sellers of Secret Papers._
Supposing that 6 men last year each cleared 6_s._ weekly, we find expended yearly in the streets on this rubbish £93
_Street-sellers of Play-bills and Books._
Taking the profits at 3_s._ a week, at cent. per cent. on the outlay, and reckoning 200 sellers, including those at the saloons, concert-rooms, &c., there is expended yearly on the sale of play-bills purchased in the streets of London £3,120
_Street-sellers of Back Numbers._
There are now 40 vendors in the streets of London, each selling upon an average 3 dozen copies daily, at 1/2_d._ each, or during the year 336,960 odd numbers. Hence, the sum expended annually in the streets for back numbers of periodicals amounts to upwards of £700
_Street-sellers of Waste-paper at Billingsgate._
There are 4 individuals selling waste-paper at Billingsgate, one of whom informed me that from 70 to 100 pounds weight of “waste”--about three-fourths being newspapers--is supplied to Billingsgate market and its visitants. The average price is not less than 2-1/2_d._ a pound, or from that to 3_d._ A single paper is 1_d._ Reckoning that 85 pounds of waste-paper are sold a day, at 2-1/2_d._ per pound, we find that the annual expenditure in waste-paper at Billingsgate is upwards of £275
_Street-sellers of Tracts and Pamphlets._
From the information I obtained from one of this class of street-sellers, I find there are 40 individuals gaining a livelihood in selling tracts and pamphlets in the streets, full one half are men of colour, the other half consists of old and infirm men, and young boys, the average takings of each is about 1_s._ a day, the year through; the annual street expenditure in the sale of tracts and pamphlets is thus upwards of £620
_Street-sellers of Newspapers (Second Edition.)_
There are 20 who are engaged in the street sale of newspapers, second edition, each of whom take weekly (for a period of 6 weeks in the year) 1_l._ 5_s._; so that, adopting the calculation of my informant, and giving a profit of 150 per cent., the yearly expenditure in the streets, in second editions, amounts to £150
_Street-sellers of Newspapers, &c., at Steam-Boat Piers._
I am informed that the average earnings of these traders, altogether, may be taken at 15_s._ weekly; calculating that twelve carry on the trade the year through, we find that (assuming each man to sell at thirty-three per cent. profit--though in the case of old works it will be often cent. per cent.), the sum expended annually in steam-boat papers is upwards of £1,500
_Street-sellers of Books (by Auction)._
There are at present only 2 street-sellers of books by auction in London, whose clear weekly earnings are 10_s._ 6_d._ each. Calculating their profits at 250_l._ per cent., their weekly receipts will amount to 35_s._ each per week; giving a yearly expenditure of £91
_Street-sellers of Books on Stalls and Barrows._
The number of book-stalls and barrows in the streets of the metropolis is 70. The proprietors of these sell weekly upon an average 42 volumes each. The number of volumes annually sold in the streets is thus 1,375,920, and reckoning each volume sold to average 9_d._, we find that the yearly expenditure in the sale of books in the street amounts to £5,733
_Street-sellers of Guide-books._
The street-sellers of guide-books to public places of amusement, are 16 in number, the profit of each is 4_s._ weekly, at 25 per cent., hence the takings must be 20_s._; thus making the annual expenditure in the street-sale of such books amount to £832
_Street-sale of Song-books and Children’s books._
There are 30 street-sellers who vend children’s books and song-books, and dispose of, among them, 2 dozen each daily, or during the year 224,640 books, at 1_d._ each; hence the sum yearly expended in the street-sale of children’s books and song-books is £936
_Street-sellers of Pictures in Frames._
If we calculate 40 persons selling pictures in frames, and each taking 10_s._ weekly; we find the annual amount spent in the streets in the sale of these articles is £1,040
_Street-sellers of Prints and Engravings in Umbrellas._
The street-sale of prints and engravings in umbrellas lasts only 12 weeks. There are 30 individuals who gain a livelihood in the sale of these articles during that period. The average takings of each seller is 12_s._ weekly; so that the annual street-expenditure upon prints and engravings is £216
_Street-sellers of Manuscript Music._
There are only 4 sellers of manuscript music in the streets, who take on an average 4_s._ each weekly; hence we find the annual expenditure in this article amounts in round numbers to £40 ------------------ TOTAL SUM EXPENDED YEARLY IN THE STREETS ON STATIONERY, LITERATURE, AND THE FINE ARTS £33,446 12_s._ ------------------
AN EPITOME OF THE PATTERING CLASS.
I wish, before passing to the next subject--the street-sellers of manufactured articles (of one of whom the engraving here given furnishes a well-known specimen)--I wish, I say, as I find some mistakes have occurred on the subject, to give the public a general view of the patterers, as well as to offer some few observations concerning the means of improving the habits of street-people in general.
The patterers consist of three distinct classes; viz., those who sell something, and patter to help off their goods; those who exhibit something, and patter to help off the show; and those who do nothing but patter, with a view to elicit alms. Under the head of “Patterers who sell” may be classed
Paper Workers, Quack Doctors, Cheap Jacks, Grease Removers, Wager Patterers, Ring Sellers, Dealers in Corn Salve, „ Razor Paste, „ French Polish, „ Plating Balls, „ Candle Shades, „ Rat Poisons, & „ Blacking, Book Auctioneers.
The second class of patterers includes jugglers, showmen, clowns, and fortune-tellers; beside several exhibitors who invite public notice to the wonders of the telescope or microscope.
The third and last class of patterers are those who neither sell nor amuse, but only victimise those who get into their clutches. These (to use their own words) “do it on the bounce.” Their general resort is an inferior public-house, sometimes a brothel, or a coffee-shop. One of the tricks of these worthies is to group together at a window, and if a well-dressed person pass by, to salute him with the contents of a flour-bag. One of their pals--better dressed than the rest--immediately walks out, declares it was purely accidental, and invites the gentleman in “to be brushed.” Probably he consents, and still more probably, if he be “good-natured,” he is plied with liquor, drugged with snuff for the occasion, and left in some obscure court, utterly stupified. When he awakes, he finds that his watch, purse, &c., are gone.
“A casual observer, or even a stranger, may be induced to contract a wayside acquaintance with the parties to whom I allude,” says one of the pattering class, from whom I have received much valuable information; “and if he be a visitor of fairs and races, that acquaintance, though slight, may sometimes prove expensive. But casual observers cannot, from the complexity and varied circumstances of the characters now under notice, form anything like a correct view of them. I am convinced that no one can, but those who have visited their haunts and indeed lived among them for months together. They are not to be known, any more than the great city was to be built, in a day. This advantage--if so it may be called--has fallen to my lot.”
The three classes of patterers above enumerated must not be confounded. The two first are essentially distinct from the last--at least they do _something_ for their living; and though the pattering street-tradesmen may generally overstep the bounds of truth in their glowing descriptions of the virtues of the goods they sell, still it should be remembered they are no more dishonest in their dealings than the “enterprising” class of shopkeepers, who resort to the _printed_ mode of puffing off their wares,--indeed the street-sellers are far less reprehensible than their more wealthy brother puffers of the shops, who cannot plead want as an excuse for their dishonesty. The recent revelations made by the _Lancet_, as to the adulteration of the articles of diet sold by the London grocers, show that the patterers who sell, practise far less imposition than some of our “merchant princes.”
“A tradesman in Tottenham-court Road, whose address the _Lancet_ advertises gratis, thus proclaims the superior qualities of his ‘_Finest_ WHITE PEPPER. One package of this article, which is the interior part of the kernel of the finest pepper, being equal in strength to nearly three times the quantity of black pepper (which is the inferior, small, shrivelled berries, and often little more than husks), it will be not only the best but the cheapest for every purpose.’ This super-excellent pepper, ‘sold in packages, price 1_d._,’ was found on analysis to consist of finely-ground _black pepper, and a very large quantity of wheat-flour_.”
Indeed the _Lancet_ has demonstrated that as regards tea, coffee, arrow-root, sugar, and pepper sold by “pattering” shopkeepers, the rule invariably is that those are articles which are the most puffed, and “warranted free from adulteration,” and “to which the attention of families and _invalids_ is particularly directed as being of the finest quality ever imported into this country,” are uniformly the most scandalously adulterated of all.
We should, therefore, remember while venting our indignation against pattering street-sellers, that they are not the only puffers in the world, and that they, at least, can plead poverty in extenuation of their offence; whereas, it must be confessed, that shopkeepers can have no other cause for their acts but their own brutalizing greed of gain.
The class of patterers with whom we have here to deal are those who patter to help off their goods--but while describing them it has been deemed advisable to say a few words, also, on the class who _do nothing but patter_, as a means of exciting commiseration to their assumed calamities. These parties, it should be distinctly understood, are in no way connected with the puffing street-sellers, but in the exaggerated character of the orations they deliver, they are mostly professional beggars--or bouncers (that is to say cheats of the lowest _kind_), and _will_ not work or do anything for their living. This, at least, cannot be urged against the pattering street-sellers who, as was before stated, do _something_ for the bread they eat.
Further to show the extent, and system, of the lodging and routes throughout the country of the class of “lurkers,” &c., here described--as all resorting to those places--I got a patterer to write me out a list, from his own knowledge, of divers routes, and the extent of accommodation in the lodging-houses. I give it according to the patterer’s own classification.
“_Brighton_ is a town where there is a great many furnished cribs, let to needys (nightly lodgers) that are molled up,” [that is to say, associated with women in the sleeping-rooms.]
SURREY AND SUSSEX.
Dossing Cribs, Beds. Needys, or Lodging-houses or Nightly Lodgers. Wandsworth 6 9 108 Croydon 9 8 144 Reigate 5 6 60 Cuckfield 2 8 32 Horsham 3 7 52 Lewis 7 6 84 Kingston 12 8 192 Brighton 16 9 228
“_Bristol._--A few years back an old woman kept a padding-ken here. She was a strong Methodist, but had a queer method. There was thirty standing beds, besides make-shifts and furnished rooms, which were called ‘cottages.’ It’s not so bad now. The place was well-known to the monkry, and you was reckoned flat if you hadn’t been there. The old woman, when any female, old or young, who had no tin, came into the kitchen, made up a match for her with some men. Fellows half-drunk had the old women. There was always a broomstick at hand, and they was both made to jump over it, and that was called a broomstick wedding. Without that ceremony a couple weren’t looked on as man and wife. In course the man paid, in such case, for the dos (bed.)
Kensington 6 7 84 Brentford 12 8 192 Hounslow 6 5 60 Colebrook 2 7 20 Windsor 7 10 140 Maidenhead 4 5 40 Reading 12 9 216 Oxford 14 7 196 Banbury 10 12 240 Marlboro’ 8 7 112 Bath 10 8 160 Bristol 20 11 440
“_Counties of Kent and Essex._--Here is the best places in England for ‘skipper-birds;’ (parties that never go to lodging-houses, but to barns or outhouses, sometimes without a blanket.) The Kent farmers permit it to their own travellers, or the travellers they know. In Essex it’s different. There a farmer will give 1_s._ rather than let a traveller sleep on his premises, for fear of robbery. ‘Keyhole whistlers,’ the skipper-birds are sometimes called, but they’re regular travellers. Kent’s the first county in England for them. They start early to good houses for victuals, when gentlefolk are not up. I’ve seen them doze and sleep against the door. They like to be there before any one cuts their cart (exposes their tricks). Travellers are all early risers. It’s good morning in the country when it’s good night in town.
KENT.
Dossing Cribs, Beds. Needys, or Lodging-houses or Nightly Lodgers. Deptford 18 9 324 Greenwich 6 8 26 Woolwich 9 8 144 Gravesend 6 7 84 Chatham 20 10 400 Maidstone 5 7 70 Sittingbourne 3 6 36 Sheerness 4 5 40 Faversham 3 5 30 Canterbury 11 8 176 Dover 12 9 216 Ramsgate 4 5 40 Margate 6 6 72
ESSEX.
Stratford 10 9 180 Ilford 3 7 52 Barking 4 6 48 Billericay 5 7 70 Orsett 2 8 32 Rayleigh 3 9 54 Rochford 3 8 48 Leigh 4 8 64 Prettywell 2 7 28 Southend 3 8 48 Maldon 5 9 90 Witham 4 8 64 Colchester 15 10 300
“_Windsor._--At Ascot race-time I’ve paid many 1_s._ just to sit up all night.
“_Colchester._--Life in London at the Bugle; called ‘Hell upon earth’ sometimes.
Barnet 5 1 80 Watford 6 8 90 Hemel-Hempstead 3 5 30 Uxbridge 6 7 84 Tring 2 6 24 Dunstable 6 5 60 Stony-Stratford 3 6 36 Northampton 13 9 234 Towcester 4 7 56 Daventry 5 9 90 Coventry 16 9 288 Birmingham 50 11 1100
HERTS AND BEDFORDSHIRE.