University of Virginia Library

OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF CORN-SALVE.

The street purveyors of corn-salve, or corn-plaster,
for I heard both words used, are not more than
a dozen in number; but, perhaps, none depend
entirely upon the sale of corn-salve for a living.
As is the wont of the pattering class to which
they belong, these men make rounds into the
country and into the suburbs, but there are some-
times, on one day, a dozen "working the main
drags" (chief thoroughfares) of London: there
are no women in the trade. The salve is most
frequently carried on a small tray, slung in front
of the street professional; but sometimes it is sold
at a small stall or stand. Oxford-street, Holborn,
Tottenham-court-road, and Whitechapel, are fa-
vourite localities for these traders; as are Black-
friars-road and Newington-causeway on the Surrey
side of the Thames. On the Saturday evening
the corn-salve sellers resort to the street markets.

The patter of these traders is always to the
same purport (however differently expressed) — the
long-tested efficacy and the unquestionable cheap-
ness of their remedies. The vendors are glib and
unhesitating; but some, owing, I imagine, to a
repetition of the same words, as they move from
one part of a thoroughfare to another, or occupy a
pitch, have acquired a monotonous tone, little cal-
culated to impress a street audience — to effect
which a man must be, or appear to be, in earnest.
The patter of one of these dealers, who sells corn-
salve on fine evenings, and works the public-
houses, "with anything likely." on wet evenings,
is, from his own account, in the following words: —

"Here you have a speedy remedy for every
sort of corn! Your hard corn, soft corn, blood
corn, black corn, old corn, new corn, wart, or
bunion, can be safely cured in three days! Nothing
further to do but spread this salve on a piece of
glove-leather, or wash-leather, and apply it to the
place. Art and nature does the rest. Either
corns, warts, or bunions, cured for one penny."

This, however, is but as the announcement of
the article on sale, and is followed by a recapitu-
lation of the many virtues of that peculiar recipe;
but, as regards the major part of these street-
traders, the recapitulation is little more than a
change of words, if that. There are, however,
one and sometimes two patterers, of acknowledged
powers, who every now and then sell corn-salve —
for the restlessness of this class of people drives
them to incessant changes in their pursuits — and
their oratory is of a higher order. One of the
men in question speaks to the following purport: —

"Here you are! here you are! all that has to
complain of corns. As fast as the shoemaker
lames you, I'll cure you. If it wasn't for me he
dursn't sing at his work; bless you, but he knows
I'll make his pinching easy to you. Hard corn,
soft corn, any corn — sold again! Thank you, sir,
you'll not have to take a 'bus home when you've
used my corn-salve, and you can wear your boots
out then; you can't when you've corns. Now,
in this little box you see a large corn which was
drawn by this very salve from the honourable
foot of the late lamented Sir Robert Peel. It's
been in my possession three years and four months,
and though I'm a poor man — hard corn, soft corn, or
any corn — though I'm a poor man, the more's the
pity, I wouldn't sell that corn for the newest
sovereign coined. I call it the free-trade corn,
gen'l'men and leddis. No cutting and paring,
and sharpening penknives, and venturing on ra-
zors to level your corns; this salve draws them
out — only one penny — and without pain. But
wonders can't be done in a moment. To draw
out such a corn as I've shown you, the foot, the
whole foot, must be soaked five minutes in warm
soap and water. That makes the salve penetrate,
and draw the corn, which then falls out, in three
days, like a seed from a flower. Hard corn, soft
corn, &c., &c."

The corn from "the honourable foot" of Sir
Robert Peel, or from the foot of any one likely to
interest the audience, has been scraped and
trimmed from a cow's heel, and may safely be sub-
mitted to the inspection and handling of the in-
credulous. "There it is," the corn-seller will
reiterate — "it speaks for itself."

One practice — less common than it was, how-
ever, — of the corn-salve street-seller, is to get a
friend to post a letter — expressive of delighted as-
tonishment at the excellence and rapidity of the
corn-cure — at some post-office not very contiguous.
If the salve-seller be anxious to remove the corns
of the citizens, he displays this letter, with the
genuine post-mark of Piccadilly, St. James's-
street, Pall-mall, or any such quarter, to show
how the fashionable world avails itself of his
wares, cheap as they are, and fastidious as are
the fashionable! If the street-professional be
offering his corn-cures in a fashionable locality, he
produces a letter from Cheapside, or Cornhill —
"there it is, it speaks for itself" — to show how
the shrewd city-people, who were never taken in

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by street-sellers in their lives, and couldn't be,
appreciated that particular corn-salve! Occasion-
ally, as the salve-seller is pattering, a man comes
impetuously forward, and says loudly, "Here,
doctor, let me have a shilling's-worth. I bought
a penn'orth, and it cured one corn by bringing it
right out — here the d — d thing is, it troubled me
seven year — and I've got other corns, and I'm
determined I'll root out the whole family of
them. Come, now, look sharp, and put up a
shilling's-worth." The shilling's-worth is gravely
handed to the applicant as if it were not only a
boná fide, but an ordinary occurrence in the way
of business.

One corn-salve seller — who was not in town at
the time of my inquiry into this curious matter —
had, I was assured, "and others might have" full
faith in the efficacy of the salve he vended. One
of his fellow-traders said to me, "Ay, sir, and he
has good reason for trusting to it for a cure; he
cured me of my corns, that I'm sure of; so there
can be no nonsense about it. He has a secret."
On my asking this informant if he had tried his
own corn-salve, he laughed, and said "No! I'm
like the regular doctors that way, never tries my
own things." The same man, who had no great
faith in what he sold being of any use in the cure
of "corn, wart, or bunion," assured me — and I
have no doubt with truth — that he had sold his
remedy to persons utter strangers to him, who
had told him afterwards that it had cured their
corns. "False relics," says a Spanish proverb,
"have wrought true miracles," and to what cause
these corn-cures were attributable, it is not my
business to inquire.

I had no difficulty in acquiring a knowledge of
the ingredients of a street corn-salve. "Any-
body," said one man, "that understands how to
set about it, can get the recipe for 2d." Resin,
1 lb., (costing 2d.); tallow, ¼ lb. (1½d.); emerald
green (1d.); all boiled together. The emerald
green, I was told, was to "give it a colour." The
colour is varied, but I have cited the most usual
mode of preparation. Attempts have been made
to give an aromatic odour to the salve, but all the
perfumes within the knowledge, or rather the
means, of the street-sellers, were overpowered by
the resin and the tallow, "and it has," remarked
one dealer, "a physicky sort of smell as it is,
which answers." The quantity I have cited would
supply a sufficiency of the composition for the
taking of "a sovereign in penn'orths." In a
week or so the stuff becomes discoloured, often
from dust, and has to be re-boiled. Some of the
traders illustrate the mode of applying the salve
by carrying a lighted candle, and a few pieces of
leather, and showing how to soften the composi-
tion and spread it on the leather. "After all,
sir," said the man, who had faith in the virtues of
his fellow street-trader's salve, "the regular thing,
such as I sell, may do good; I cannot say; but it
is very likely that the resin will draw the corn,
just as people apply cobbler's wax, which has
resin in it. The chemists will sell you something
of the same sort as I do."

The principal purchasers are working men, who
buy in the streets, and occasionally in the public-
houses. The trade, however, becomes less and
less remunerative. To take 15s. in a week is a
good week, and to take 10s. is more usual; the
higher receipt is no doubt attributable to a supe-
rior patter being used, as men will give 1d. to be
amused by this street work, without caring
about the nostrum. Calculating that eight of these
traders take 10s. weekly — so allowing for the fre-
quent resort of the patterers to anything more at-
tractive — we find 208l. expended in the streets on
this salve. The profits of the seller are about
the same as his receipts, for 240 pennyworths can
be made out of materials costing only 4½d. The
further outlay necessary to this street profession is
a tray worth 1s. or 1s. 6d., but a large old back-
gammon board, which may be bought at the
second-hand shops for 1s. and sometimes for 6d., is
more frequently used by the street purveyors of
corn-salve.