A considerable quantity of the old clothes disposed of at the Exchange
are bought by merchants from Ireland. They are then packed in bales by
porters, regularly employed for the purpose, and who literally _build_
them up square and compact. These bales are each worth from 50_l._ to
300_l._, though seldom 300_l._, and it is curious to reflect from how
many classes the pile of old garments has been collected--how many
privations have been endured before some of these habiliments found
their way into the possession of the old clothesman--what besotted
debauchery put others in his possession--with what cool calculation
others were disposed of--how many were procured for money, and how
many by the tempting offers of flowers, glass, crockery, spars,
table-covers, lace, or millinery--what was the clothing which could
first be spared when rent was to be defrayed or bread to be bought, and
what was treasured until the last--in what scenes of gaiety or gravity,
in the opera-house or the senate, had the perhaps departed wearers of
some of that heap of old clothes figured--through how many possessors,
and again through what new scenes of middle-class or artizan comfort
had these dresses passed, or through what accidents of “genteel”
privation and destitution--and lastly through what necessities of
squalid wretchedness and low debauchery.
Every kind of old attire, from the highest to the _very lowest_, I was
emphatically told, was sent to Ireland.
Some of the bales are composed of garments originally made for the
labouring classes. These are made up of every description of colour and
material--cloth, corduroy, woollen cords, fustian, moleskin, flannel,
velveteen, plaids, and the several varieties of those substances.
In them are to be seen coats, great-coats, jackets, trousers, and
breeches, but no other habiliments, such as boots, shirts, or
stockings. I was told by a gentleman, who between 40 and 50 years ago
was familiar with the liberty and poorer parts of Dublin, that the most
coveted and the most saleable of all second-hand apparel was that of
leather breeches, worn commonly in some of the country parts of England
half a century back, and sent in considerable quantities at that time
from London to Ireland. These nether habiliments were coveted because,
as the Dublin sellers would say, they “would wear for ever, and look
illigant after that.” Buck-skin breeches are now never worn except
by grooms in their liveries, and gentlemen when hunting, so that the
trade in them in the Old Clothes Exchange, and their exportation to
Ireland, are at an end. The next most saleable thing--I may mention,
incidentally--vended cheap and second-hand in Dublin, to the poor
Irishmen of the period I speak of, was a wig! And happy was the man who
could wear two, one over the other.
Some of the Irish buyers who are regular frequenters of the London Old
Clothes Exchange, take a small apartment, often a garret or a cellar,
in Petticoat-lane or its vicinity, and to this room they convey their
purchases until a sufficient stock has been collected. Among these old
clothes the Irish possessors cook, or at any rate eat, their meals,
and upon them they sleep. I did not hear that such dealers were more
than ordinarily unhealthy; though it may, perhaps, be assumed that such
habits are fatal to health. What may be the average duration of life
among old clothes sellers who live in the midst of their wares, I do
not know, and believe that no facts have been collected on the subject;
but I certainly saw among them some very old men.
Other wholesale buyers from Ireland occupy decent lodgings in the
neighbourhood--decent considering the locality. In Phil’s-buildings, a
kind of wide alley which forms one of the approaches to the Exchange,
are eight respectable apartments, almost always let to the Irish old
clothes merchants.
Tradesmen of the same class come also from the large towns of England
and Scotland to buy for their customers some of the left-off clothes of
London.
Nor is this the extent of the wholesale trade. Bales of old clothes are
exported to Belgium and Holland, but principally to Holland. Of the
quantity of goods thus exported to the Continent not above one-half,
perhaps, can be called old _clothes_, while among these the old livery
suits are in the best demand. The other goods of this foreign trade
are old serges, duffles, carpeting, drugget, and heavy woollen goods
generally, of all the descriptions which I have before enumerated as
parcel of the second-hand trade of the streets. Old merino curtains,
and any second-hand decorations of fringes, woollen lace, &c., are in
demand for Holland.
Twelve bales, averaging somewhere about 100_l._ each in value, but not
fully 100_l._, are sent direct every week of the year from the Old
Clothes Exchange to distant places, and this is not the whole of the
traffic, apart from what is done retail. I am informed on the best
authority, that the average trade may be stated at 1500_l._ a week all
the year round. When I come to the conclusion of the subject, however,
I shall be able to present statistics of the amount turned over in the
respective branches of the old clothes trade, as well as of the number
of the traffickers, only one-fourth of whom are now Jews.
The conversation which goes on in the Old Clothes Exchange during
business hours, apart from the “larking” of the young sweet-stuff and
orange or cake-sellers, is all concerning business, but there is,
even while business is being transacted, a frequent interchange of
jokes, and even of practical jokes. The business talk--I was told by
an old clothes collector, and I heard similar remarks--is often to the
following effect:--
“How much is this here?” says the man who comes to buy. “One pound
five,” replies the Jew seller. “I won’t give you above half the money.”
“Half de money,” cries the salesman, “I can’t take dat. Vat above
the 16_s._ dat you offer now vill you give for it? Vill you give me
eighteen? Vell, come, give ush your money, I’ve got ma rent to pay.”
But the man says, “I only bid you 12_s._ 6_d._, and I shan’t give no
more.” And then, if the seller finds he can get him to “spring” or
advance no further, he says, “I shupposh I musht take your money even
if I loosh by it. You’ll be a better cushtomer anoder time.” [This is
still a common “deal,” I am assured by one who began the business at 13
years old, and is now upwards of 60 years of age. The Petticoat-laner
will always ask at least twice as much as he means to take.]
* * * * *
For a more detailed account of the mode of business as conducted at the
Old Clothes Exchange I refer the reader to p. 368, vol. i. Subsequent
visits have shown me nothing to alter in that description, although
written (in one of my letters in the _Morning Chronicle_), nearly two
years ago. I have merely to add that I have there mentioned the receipt
of a halfpenny toll; but this, I find, is not levied on Saturdays and
Sundays.
* * * * *
I ought not to omit stating that pilfering one from another by the
poor persons who have collected the second-hand garments, and have
carried them to the Old Clothes Exchange to dispose of, is of very
rare occurrence. This is the more commendable, for many of the wares
could not be identified by their owner, as he had procured them only
that morning. If, as happens often enough, a man carried a dozen pairs
of old shoes to the Exchange, and one pair were stolen, he might have
some difficulty in swearing to the identity of the pair purloined.
It is true that the Jews, and crock-men, and others, who collect, by
sale or barter, masses of old clothes, note all their defects very
minutely, and might have no moral doubt as to identity, nevertheless
the magistrate would probably conclude that the legal evidence--were it
only circumstantial--was insufficient. The young thieves, however, who
flock from the low lodging-houses in the neighbourhood, are an especial
trouble in Petticoat-lane, where the people robbed are generally
too busy, and the article stolen of too little value, to induce a
prosecution--a knowledge which the juvenile pilferer is not slow in
acquiring. Sometimes when these boys are caught pilfering, they are
severely beaten, especially by the women, who are aided by the men, if
the thief offers any formidable resistance, or struggles to return the
blows.