London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1

In the first place all the goods they sell are
cried or "hawked," and the cries of the coster-
mongers in the present day are as varied as the
articles they sell. The principal ones, uttered
in a sort of cadence, are now, "Ni-ew mackerel,
6 a shilling." ("I've got a good jacketing many
a Sunday morning," said one dealer, "for waking
people up with crying mackerel, but I've said,
`I must live while you sleep."') "Buy a pair
of live soles, 3 pair for 6d." — or, with a barrow,
"Soles, 1d. a pair, 1d. a pair;" "Plaice alive,
alive, cheap;" "Buy a pound crab, cheap;"
"Pine-apples, ½d. a slice;" "Mussels a penny
a quart;" "Oysters, a penny a lot;" "Salmon
alive, 6d. a pound;" "Cod alive, 2d. a pound;"
"Real Yarmouth bloaters, 2 a penny;" "New
herrings alive, 16 a groat" (this is the loudest
cry of any); "Penny a bunch turnips" (the
same with greens, cabbages, &c.); "All new nuts,
1d. half-pint;" "Oranges, 2 a penny;" "All
large and alive-O, new sprats, O, 1d. a plate;"

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"Wi-ild Hampshire rabbits, 2 a shilling;"
"Cherry ripe, 2d. a pound;" "Fine ripe
plums, 1d. a pint;" "Ing-uns, a penny a quart;"
"Eels, 3lbs. a shilling — large live eels 3lbs. a
shilling."

The continual calling in the streets is very
distressing to the voice. One man told me that
it had broken his, and that very often while out
he lost his voice altogether. "They seem to
have no breath," the men say, "after calling for
a little while." The repeated shouting brings
on a hoarseness, which is one of the peculiar
characteristics of hawkers in general. The
costers mostly go out with a boy to cry their
goods for them. If they have two or three halloo-
ing together, it makes more noise than one, and
the boys can shout better and louder than the
men. The more noise they can make in a place
the better they find their trade. Street-selling
has been so bad lately that many have been
obliged to have a drum for their bloaters, "to
drum the fish off," as they call it.

In the second place, the costermongers, as I
said before, have mostly their little bit of a
"round;" that is, they go only to certain places;
and if they don't sell their goods they "work
back" the same way again. If they visit a
respectable quarter, they confine themselves to
the mews near the gentlemen's houses. They
generally prefer the poorer neighbourhoods.
They go down or through almost all the courts
and alleys — and avoid the better kind of streets,
unless with lobsters, rabbits, or onions. If they
have anything inferior, they visit the low Irish
districts — for the Irish people, they say, want
only quantity, and care nothing about quality —
that they don't study. But if they have any-
thing they wish to make a price of, they seek
out the mews, and try to get it off among the
gentlemen's coachmen, for they will have what
is good; or else they go among the residences
of mechanics, — for their wives, they say, like
good-living as well as the coachmen. Some
costers, on the other hand, go chance rounds.

Concerning the busiest days of the week for
the coster's trade, they say Wednesdays and
Fridays are the best, because they are regular
fish days. These two days are considered to be
those on which the poorer classes generally run
short of money. Wednesday night is called "draw
night" among some mechanics and labourers
— that is, they then get a portion of their
wages in advance, and on Friday they run short
as well as on the Wednesday, and have to make
shift for their dinners. With the few halfpence
they have left, they are glad to pick up anything
cheap, and the street-fishmonger never refuses an
offer. Besides, he can supply them with a cheaper
dinner than any other person. In the season the
poor generally dine upon herrings. The poorer
classes live mostly on fish, and the "dropped"
and "rough" fish is bought chiefly for the poor.
The fish-huckster has no respect for persons,
however; one assured me that if Prince Halbert
was to stop him in the street to buy a pair of soles
of him, he'd as soon sell him a "rough pair as any
other man — indeed, I'd take in my own father,"
he added, "if he wanted to deal with me."
Saturday is the worst day of all for fish, for then
the poor people have scarcely anything at all to
spend; Saturday night, however, the street-
seller takes more money than at any other time
in the week.

University of Virginia Library

OF THE CRIES, ROUNDS, AND DAYS OF COSTERMONGERS.

OF THE CRIES, ROUNDS, AND DAYS OF
COSTERMONGERS.