University of Virginia Library

HABITS AND AMUSEMENTS OF
COSTERMONGERS.

I find it impossible to separate these two head-
ings; for the habits of the costermonger are not
domestic. His busy life is past in the markets
or the streets, and as his leisure is devoted to
the beer-shop, the dancing-room, or the theatre,
we must look for his habits to his demeanour at
those places. Home has few attractions to a
man whose life is a street-life. Even those who
are influenced by family ties and affections,
prefer to "home" — indeed that word is rarely
mentioned among them — the conversation,
warmth, and merriment of the beer-shop, where
they can take their ease among their "mates."
Excitement or amusement are indispensable to
uneducated men. Of beer-shops resorted to
by costermongers, and principally supported by
them, it is computed that there are 400 in
London.

Those who meet first in the beer-shop talk
over the state of trade and of the markets, while
the later comers enter at once into what may
be styled the serious business of the evening —
amusement.

Business topics are discussed in a most
peculiar style. One man takes the pipe from
his mouth and says, "Bill made a doogheno
hit this morning." "Jem," says another, to
a man just entering, "you'll stand a top o'
reeb?" "On," answers Jem, "I've had a
trosseno tol, and have been doing dab." For
an explanation of what may be obscure in
this dialogue, I must refer my readers to my
remarks concerning the language of the class.
If any strangers are present, the conversation
is still further clothed in slang, so as to be
unintelligible even to the partially initiated.
The evident puzzlement of any listener is
of course gratifying to the costermonger's
vanity, for he feels that he possesses a know-
ledge peculiarly his own.

Among the in-door amusements of the coster-
monger is card-playing, at which many of them
are adepts. The usual games are all-fours, all-
fives, cribbage, and put. Whist is known to a
few, but is never played, being considered dull
and slow. Of short whist they have not heard;
"but," said one, whom I questioned on the
subject, "if it's come into fashion, it'll soon be
among us." The play is usually for beer, but
the game is rendered exciting by bets both
among the players and the lookers-on. "I'll back
Jem for a yanepatine," says one. "Jack for a
gen," cries another. A penny is the lowest sum
laid, and five shillings generally the highest, but
a shilling is not often exceeded. "We play fair
among ourselves," said a costermonger to me —
"aye, fairer than the aristocrats — but we'll take
in anybody else." Where it is known that the
landlord will not supply cards, "a sporting
coster" carries a pack or two with him. The
cards played with have rarely been stamped;

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they are generally dirty, and sometimes almost
illegible, from long handling and spilled beer.
Some men will sit patiently for hours at these
games, and they watch the dealing round of the
dingy cards intently, and without the attempt —
common among politer gamesters — to appear
indifferent, though they bear their losses well. In
a full room of card-players, the groups are all
shrouded in tobacco-smoke, and from them are
heard constant sounds — according to the games
they are engaged in — of "I'm low, and Ped's
high." "Tip and me's game." "Fifteen four
and a flush of five." I may remark it is curious
that costermongers, who can neither read nor
write, and who have no knowledge of the multi-
plication table, are skilful in all the intricacies
and calculations of cribbage. There is not much
quarrelling over the cards, unless strangers play
with them, and then the costermongers all take
part one with another, fairly or unfairly.

It has been said that there is a close resem-
blance between many of the characteristics of
a very high class, socially, and a very low class.
Those who remember the disclosures on a trial
a few years back, as to how men of rank and
wealth passed their leisure in card-playing —
many of their lives being one continued leisure
— can judge how far the analogy holds when the
card-passion of the costermongers is described.

"Shove-halfpenny" is another game played
by them; so is "Three up." Three halfpennies
are thrown up, and when they fall all "heads"
or all "tails," it is a mark; and the man who
gets the greatest number of marks out of a
given amount — three, or five, or more — wins.
"Three-up" is played fairly among the coster-
mongers; out is most frequently resorted to
when strangers are present to "make a pitch,"
— which is, in plain words, to cheat any stranger
who is rash enough to bet upon them. "This is
the way, sir," said an adept to me; "bless you, I
can make them fall as I please. If I'm playing
with Jo, and a stranger bets with Jo, why, of
course, I make Jo win." This adept illustrated
his skill to me by throwing up three halfpennies,
and, five times out of six, they fell upon the floor,
whether he threw them nearly to the ceiling or
merely to his shoulder, all heads or all tails.
The halfpence were the proper current coins —
indeed, they were my own; and the result is
gained by a peculiar position of the coins on the
fingers, and a peculiar jerk in the throwing.
There was an amusing manifestation of the
pride of art in the way in which my obliging
informant displayed his skill.

"Skittles" is another favourite amusement,
and the costermongers class themselves among
the best players in London. The game is always
for beer, but betting goes on.

A fondness for "sparring" and "boxing"
lingers among the rude members of some classes
of the working men, such as the tanners. With
the great majority of the costermongers this
fondness is still as dominant as it was among the
"higher classes," when boxers were the pets of
princes and nobles. The sparring among the
costers is not for money, but for beer and "a
lark" — a convenient word covering much mis-
chief. Two out of every ten landlords, whose
houses are patronised by these lovers of "the
art of self-defence," supply gloves. Some charge
2d. a night for their use; others only 1d. The
sparring seldom continues long, sometimes not
above a quarter of an hour; for the costermongers,
though excited for a while, weary of sports in
which they cannot personally participate, and in
the beer-shops only two spar at a time, though
fifty or sixty may be present. The shortness of
the duration of this pastime may be one reason
why it seldom leads to quarrelling. The stake
is usually a "top of reeb," and the winner is the
man who gives the first "noser;" a bloody nose
however is required to show that the blow was
veritably a noser. The costermongers boast of
their skill in pugilism as well as at skittles.
"We are all handy with our fists," said one man,
"and are matches, aye, and more than matches,
for anybody but reg'lar boxers. We've stuck to
the ring, too, and gone reg'lar to the fights, more
than any other men."

"Twopenny-hops" are much resorted to by
the costermongers, men and women, boys and
girls. At these dances decorum is sometimes,
but not often, violated. "The women," I was
told by one man, "doesn't show their necks as
I've seen the ladies do in them there pictures of
high life in the shop-winders, or on the stage.
Their Sunday gowns, which is their dancing
gowns, ain't made that way." At these "hops"
the clog-hornpipe is often danced, and some-
times a collection is made to ensure the per-
formance of a first-rate professor of that dance;
sometimes, and more frequently, it is volunteered
gratuitously. The other dances are jigs, "flash
jigs" — hornpipes in fetters — a dance rendered
popular by the success of the acted "Jack Shep-
pard" — polkas, and country-dances, the last-
mentioned being generally demanded by the
women. Waltzes are as yet unknown to them.
Sometimes they do the "pipe-dance." For this
a number of tobacco-pipes, about a dozen, are
laid close together on the floor, and the dancer
places the toe of his boot between the different
pipes, keeping time with the music. Two of the
pipes are arranged as a cross, and the toe has to
be inserted between each of the angles, without
breaking them. The numbers present at these
"hops" vary from 30 to 100 of both sexes, their
ages being from 14 to 45, and the female sex
being slightly predominant as to the proportion
of those in attendance. At these "hops" there
is nothing of the leisurely style of dancing — half
a glide and half a skip — but vigorous, laborious
capering. The hours are from half-past eight to
twelve, sometimes to one or two in the morning,
and never later than two, as the costermongers
are early risers. There is sometimes a good deal
of drinking; some of the young girls being often
pressed to drink, and frequently yielding to the
temptation. From 1l. to 7l. is spent in drink at
a hop; the youngest men or lads present spend
the most, especially in that act of costermonger

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politeness — "treating the gals." The music is
always a fiddle, sometimes with the addition of
a harp and a cornopean. The band is provided
by the costermongers, to whom the assembly is
confined; but during the present and the last
year, when the costers' earnings have been less
than the average, the landlord has provided the
harp, whenever that instrument has added to
the charms of the fiddle. Of one use to which
these "hops" are put I have given an account,
under the head of "Marriage."

The other amusements of this class of the
community are the theatre and the penny con-
cert, and their visits are almost entirely confined
to the galleries of the theatres on the Surrey-side
— the Surrey, the Victoria, the Bower Saloon,
and (but less frequently) Astley's. Three times
a week is an average attendance at theatres and
dances by the more prosperous costermongers.
The most intelligent man I met with among
them gave me the following account. He classes
himself with the many, but his tastes are really
those of an educated man: — "Love and murder
suits us best, sir; but within these few years I
think there's a great deal more liking for deep
tragedies among us. They set men a thinking;
but then we all consider them too long. Of Ham-
let we can make neither end nor side; and nine
out of ten of us — ay, far more than that — would
like it to be confined to the ghost scenes, and the
funeral, and the killing off at the last. Macbeth would be better liked, if it was only the witches
and the fighting. The high words in a tragedy
we call jaw-breakers, and say we can't tumble
to that barrikin. We always stay to the last,
because we've paid for it all, or very few costers
would see a tragedy out if any money was re-
turned to those leaving after two or three acts.
We are fond of music. Nigger music was very
much liked among us, but it's stale now. Flash
songs are liked, and sailors' songs, and patriotic
songs. Most costers — indeed, I can't call to
mind an exception — listen very quietly to songs
that they don't in the least understand. We
have among us translations of the patriotic French
songs. `Mourir pour la patrie' is very popular,
and so is the `Marseillaise.' A song to take hold
of us must have a good chorus." "They like
something, sir, that is worth hearing," said one of
my informants, "such as the `Soldier's Dream,'
`The Dream of Napoleon,' or `I 'ad a dream —
an 'appy dream.' "

The songs in ridicule of Marshal Haynau, and
in laudation of Barclay and Perkin's draymen,
were and are very popular among the costers;
but none are more popular than Paul Jones —
"A noble commander, Paul Jones was his name."
Among them the chorus of "Britons never shall
be slaves," is often rendered "Britons always
shall be slaves." The most popular of all songs
with the class, however, is "Duck-legged Dick,"
of which I give the first verse.

Their sports, are enjoyed the more, if they
are dangerous and require both courage and
dexterity to succeed in them. They prefer, if
crossing a bridge, to climb over the parapet, and
walk along on the stone coping. When a house
is building, rows of coster lads will climb up
the long ladders, leaning against the unslated
roof, and then slide down again, each one rest-
ing on the other's shoulders. A peep show
with a battle scene is sure of its coster audience,
and a favourite pastime is fighting with cheap
theatrical swords. They are, however, true to
each other, and should a coster, who is the hero
of his court, fall ill and go to a hospital, the
whole of the inhabitants of his quarter will visit
him on the Sunday, and take him presents of
various articles so that "he may live well."

Among the men, rat-killing is a favourite
sport. They will enter an old stable, fasten the
door and then turn out the rats. Or they will
find out some unfrequented yard, and at night
time build up a pit with apple-case boards, and
lighting up their lamps, enjoy the sport.
Nearly every coster is fond of dogs. Some
fancy them greatly, and are proud of making
them fight. If when out working, they see
a handsome stray, whether he is a "toy" or
"sporting" dog, they whip him up — many of
the class not being very particular whether the
animals are stray or not.

Their dog fights are both cruel and frequent.
It is not uncommon to see a lad walking with
the trembling legs of a dog shivering under a
bloody handkerchief, that covers the bitten and
wounded body of an animal that has been figur-
ing at some "match." These fights take place
on the sly — the tap-room or back-yard of a beer-
shop, being generally chosen for the purpose.
A few men are let into the secret, and they attend
to bet upon the winner, the police being care-
fully kept from the spot.

Pigeons are "fancied" to a large extent,
and are kept in lath cages on the roofs of the
houses. The lads look upon a visit to the Red-
house, Battersea, where the pigeon-shooting
takes place, as a great treat. They stand with-
out the hoarding that encloses the ground, and
watch for the wounded pigeons to fall, when a
violent scramble takes place among them, each
bird being valued at 3d. or 4d. So popular has
this sport become, that some boys take dogs
with them trained to retrieve the birds, and two
Lambeth costers attend regularly after their
morning's work with their guns, to shoot those
that escape the `shots' within.

A good pugilist is looked up to with great admi-
ration by the costers, and fighting is considered
to be a necessary part of a boy's education.
Among them cowardice in any shape is despised

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as being degrading and loathsome, indeed the
man who would avoid a fight, is scouted by the
whole of the court he lives in. Hence it is
important for a lad and even a girl to know
how to "work their fists well" — as expert
boxing is called among them. If a coster man
or woman is struck they are obliged to fight.
When a quarrel takes place between two boys,
a ring is formed, and the men urge them on to
have it out, for they hold that it is a wrong
thing to stop a battle, as it causes bad blood
for life; whereas, if the lads fight it out they
shake hands and forget all about it. Every-
body practises fighting, and the man who has
the largest and hardest muscle is spoken of
in terms of the highest commendation. It is
often said in admiration of such a man that
"he could muzzle half a dozen bobbies before
breakfast."

To serve out a policeman is the bravest act
by which a costermonger can distinguish him-
self. Some lads have been imprisoned upwards
of a dozen times for this offence; and are con-
sequently looked upon by their companions
as martyrs. When they leave prison for such
an act, a subscription is often got up for their
benefit. In their continual warfare with the
force, they resemble many savage nations, from
the cunning and treachery they use. The lads
endeavour to take the unsuspecting "crusher"
by surprise, and often crouch at the entrance of
a court until a policeman passes, when a stone or
a brick is hurled at him, and the youngster imme-
diately disappears. Their love of revenge too,
is extreme — their hatred being in no way
mitigated by time; they will wait for months,
following a policeman who has offended or
wronged them, anxiously looking out for an
opportunity of paying back the injury. One
boy, I was told, vowed vengeance against a
member of the force, and for six months never
allowed the man to escape his notice. At
length, one night, he saw the policeman in a
row outside a public-house, and running into
the crowd kicked him savagely, shouting at the
same time: "Now, you b — , I've got you
at last." When the boy heard that his per-
secutor was injured for life, his joy was very
great, and he declared the twelvemonth's impri-
sonment he was sentenced to for the offence to
be "dirt cheap." The whole of the court where
the lad resided sympathized with the boy, and
vowed to a man, that had he escaped, they
would have subscribed a pad or two of dry her-
rings, to send him into the country until the
affair had blown over, for he had shown himself
a "plucky one."

It is called "plucky" to bear pain with-
out complaining. To flinch from expected
suffering is scorned, and he who does so is
sneered at and told to wear a gown, as being
more fit to be a woman. To show a disregard
for pain, a lad, when without money, will say to
his pal, "Give us a penny, and you may have
a punch at my nose." They also delight in
tattooing their chests and arms with anchors,
and figures of different kinds. During the
whole of this painful operation, the boy will not
flinch, but laugh and joke with his admiring
companions, as if perfectly at ease.