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Vagabondiana;
OR,
ANECDOTES OF
ITINERANT TRADERS
THROUGH THE STREETS OF
LONDON,
IN ANTIENT AND MODERN TIMES.
VOLUME II.
BY
JOHN THOMAS SMITH.
London:
J. B. NICHOLS AND SON.
1839.
Printed by J. B. Nichols and Son, 25, Parliament-street.
THE CRIES OF LONDON:
EXHIBITING SEVERAL OF THE
ITINERANT TRADERS OF ANTIENT AND MODERN TIMES.
COPIED FROM RARE ENGRAVINGS, OR DRAWN FROM THE LIFE,
BY JOHN THOMAS SMITH,
LATE KEEPER OF THE PRINTS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
WITH A MEMOIR AND PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR.
LONDON:
JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET.
1839.
Printed by J. B. Nichols and Son, 25, Parliament-street.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The present work was some years since prepared for the press by its late
ingenious author, who engraved all the plates for it himself, thirteen of
which are copied from early prints, and the rest sketched from the life.
It will easily be perceived how much superior the latter are to the
former.
The descriptions of the plates were also prepared by Mr. Smith, and had
the benefit of revision by the late Francis Douce, Esq. F.S.A.
These spirited etchings having become the property of the present Editor,
they are now for the first time submitted to the public; who will, it is
hoped, consider this volume an appropriate companion to Mr. Smith's
"Vagabondiana; or, Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers through the Streets of
London," which work was honoured by a masterly Introduction from the pen
of Mr. Douce.
The Editor has taken the liberty, occasionally, to adapt the letter-press
to the present day; but the reader will kindly bear in mind that the work
was written several years since; and that in the interval many changes
have taken place, which it was not thought necessary to point out.
J. B. NICHOLS.
_May_, 1839.
CONTENTS, AND LIST OF PLATES.
Page
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, with a Portrait ix
INTRODUCTION 1
Plates. ANTIENT TRADES.
I. WATCHMAN, from a rare woodcut temp. James I. 13
II. BELLMAN, from a work entitled "Villanies discovered by
Lanthorne and Candle Light" 14
III. BILL-MAN, from a print published by Overton, temp.
Charles II. 16
IV. WATER-CARRIER, from a print published by Overton 17
V. CORPSE-BEARER, in the time of a plague at London 20
VI. HACKNEY-COACHMAN, from a print published by Overton 25
VII. JAILOR, from a tract, entitled "Essayes and Characters
of a Prison and Prisoners, by Geffray Mynshul, 1638" 27
VIII. PRISON BASKET-MAN, from a print published by Overton,
temp. Charles II. 30
IX. RAT-CATCHER 33
X. MARKING-STONES, from a rare woodcut, temp. James I. 37
XI. BUY A BRUSH, OR A TABLE BOOK, from a print published
by Overton 39
XII. FIRE-SCREENS, from a print published by Overton 42
XIII. SAUSAGES, from a print temp. Charles II. 44
MODERN TRADERS.
XIV. NEW ELEGY 47
XV. ALL IN FULL BLOOM 50
XVI. OLD CHAIRS TO MEND--Portrait of Israel Potter 53
XVII. THE BASKET OR PRICKLE MAKER 55
XVIII. THE POTTER 58
XIX. STAFFORDSHIRE WARE 61
XX. HARD METAL SPOONS--Portrait of William Conway 63
XXI. DANCING DOLLS 65
XXII. SPRIG OF SHILLELAH AND SHAMROCK SO GREEN--Portrait
of Thomas McConwick, the dancing ballad singer 67
XXIII. GINGERBREAD NUTS, OR JACK'S LAST SHIFT--Portrait of
Daniel Clarey 69
XXIV. CHICKWEED--Portrait of George Smith 73
XXV. BILBERRIES 75
XXVI. Three female SIMPLERS 77
XXVII. WASHERWOMAN, CHAR-WOMAN, and STREET NURSES 81
XXVIII. SMITHFIELD BARGAINS--Saloop 85
XXIX. SMITHFIELD-PUDDING 88
XXX. THE BLADDER-MAN--Portrait of Bernardo Millano 92
POSTSCRIPT, by the Editor 96
[Illustration: JOHN THOMAS SMITH,
Late Keeper of the Prints in the British Museum.
Author of Nollekens and his Times, Antient Topography, &c. &c.
Engraved by W. Skelton, from an Original Drawing by J. Jackson, Esqr.
R.A.
Published by J. B. Nichols & Son, May 1st, 1839.]
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
John Thomas Smith was the son of Nathaniel Smith, sculptor, and afterwards
a well-known printseller, living at Rembrandt's Head, 18 Great
May's-buildings, St. Martin's-lane; and we have his own authority, written
in the album of Mr. Upcott of Upper Street, Islington, for stating, he was
literally "born in a hackney coach, June 23, 1766, on its way from his
uncle's old Ned Tarr, a wealthy glass-grinder, of Great Earl Street, Seven
Dials, to his father's house in Great Portland-street, Oxford Street;
whilst Maddox was balancing a straw at the Little Theatre in the Hay
Market, and Marylebone Gardens re-echoed the melodious notes of the famed
Tommy Lowe."
He was christened John, after his grandfather (a simple Shropshire
clothier, and whose bust was the first model _publicly_ exhibited at
Spring Gardens), and Thomas, after his great uncle Admiral Smith, better
known under the appellation of "Tom of Ten Thousand" (who died in 1762),
and of whom Mr. Smith had a most excellent portrait painted by the
celebrated Richard Wilson, the landscape painter, before that artist
visited Rome, and of which there is a good engraving by Faber. The
original Painting has lately been purchased by an honourable Admiral, to
be presented by him to the Naval Gallery at Greenwich Hospital.
His father, Nathaniel Smith, was born in Eltham Palace, and was the
playfellow of Joseph Nollekens, R.A. They both learned drawing together at
William Shipley's school, then kept in the Strand, at the eastern corner
of Castle-court, the house where the Society of Arts held its first
meetings.
On the 7th August, 1755, Nathaniel Smith was placed with Roubiliac, and
had the honour of working with him on some of the monuments in
Westminster Abbey; Nollekens was put, in 1750, under the instruction of
Scheemakers. These young sculptors, about 1759 and 1760, carried off some
of the first and best prizes offered by the Society of Arts. Smith settled
himself in Great Portland-street; and his friend Nollekens in
Mortimer-street, Cavendish-square, where he resided till his death.
Three of the heads of River Gods that adorn the arches of Somerset House,
designed by Cipriani, were carved by Mr. N. Smith. Many proofs of his
genius are recorded in the "Transactions of the Society of Arts." In 1758,
for the best model in clay, 5_l._ 5_s._; in 1759, for the best drawing
from a plaster cast, 5_l._ 5_s._; and for the first best drawing of
animals, 3_l._ 3_s._; in 1760, for the first best model of animals, 9_l._
9_s._ (this model is in the possession of Viscount Maynard); in 1761, for
the first best model, in clay, of the Continence of Scipio, 15_l._ 15_s._
(in the possession of the Marquis of Rockingham); in 1762, for the first
best model in clay, 21_l._--the subject, Coriolanus supplicated by his
Mother. Mr. N. Smith died in 1811. There is a portrait of him, etched by
De Wilde; and a small painting on panel by the same artist, is also
preserved. Three portraits of him by Howard are now in the family; as is
also a fine portrait of his sister, by Cotes.
The friendship between Nollekens and Nath. Smith naturally introduced
young Smith, the author of this work, to the notice of that celebrated
sculptor. Whilst a boy, his intercourse with Nollekens was frequent, who
often took him to walk with him in various parts of London, and seemed to
feel a pleasure in pointing out curious remains and alterations of
buildings to his notice, as well as shewing him some remarkable vestiges
of former times. Perhaps these communications gave the first impetus to
that love for metropolitan antiquities which he continued unabated through
life. Upon the death of his mother in 1779, young Smith was invited into
the studio of Mr. Nollekens, who had seen and approved of some of his
attempts in wax-modelling. At that time Nathaniel Smith was Nollekens's
principal assistant; and there his son was employed in making drawings
from his models of monuments, assisting in casting, and finally, though
with little talent, in carving. Whilst with Nollekens, young Smith often
stood to him as a model, but left him after three years. He then became a
student in the Royal Academy, and was celebrated for his pen and ink
imitations of Rembrandt and Ostade's etchings; he copied several of the
small pictures of Gainsborough, by whom he was kindly noticed. He
afterwards was placed by his honoured friend Dr. Hinchliffe, then Bishop
of Peterborough, as a pupil to John Keyse Sherwin, the celebrated
engraver; but appears for a time to have given up the burin for the
pencil, and was for many years a drawing master, and at one time resided
at Edmonton. At the early age of 22 he married "the girl of his heart,"
Miss Anne Maria Pickett (of the respectable family of Keighley, at
Streatham, in Surrey), who, after a union of 45 years, was left his widow.
The name of John Thomas Smith will descend to posterity connected with the
Topographical History of the Metropolis. His first work, published in
numbers, was entitled, "Antiquities of London and its Environs; dedicated
to Sir James Winter Lake, Bart. F.S.A.; containing Views of Houses,
Monuments, Statues, and other curious remains of antiquity, engraved from
the original subjects, and from original drawings communicated by several
members of the Society of Antiquaries." There was no letter-press
description of these plates; but under the subjects were engraved copious
"Remarks, and References to the Historical Works of Pennant, Lysons, Stow,
Weever, Camden, and Maitland." The publication commenced in January 1791.
About this period it became the fashion to illustrate with prints the
pleasant "Account of London," by Mr. Pennant; and Mr. Smith's series of
plates was a great acquisition to the collector. This work was ten years
in progress, and finally consisted of twelve numbers and ninety-six
plates; for a list of them, see Upcott's Bibliographical Account of
English Topography, vol. ii. p. 886.
In June, 1797, Mr. Smith published "Remarks on Rural Scenery; with twenty
Etchings of Cottages, from Nature; and some Observations and Precepts
relative to the Picturesque." The etchings were chiefly of cottages in the
neighbourhood of the metropolis.
In June, 1807, Mr. Smith published "Antiquities of Westminster; the old
Palace; and St. Stephen's Chapel (now the House of Commons); containing
246 Engravings of Topographical Objects, of which 122 no longer remain.
This work contains copies of MSS. which throw new and unexpected light on
the ancient History of the Arts in England." This history appears to have
been determined on in the year 1800: when, on occasion of the Union with
Ireland, it becoming necessary to remove the wainscotting for the
enlargement of the House of Commons, some very curious paintings were
discovered on the 11th of August in that year. The next day Dr. Charles
Gower and Mr. Smith visited the paintings: when the latter immediately
determined to publish engravings from them; and on the 14th, permission
having been obtained, Mr. Smith commenced his drawings. It was his custom
to go there as soon as it was light, and to work till nine o'clock in the
morning, when he was obliged to give way to the workmen, who often
followed him so close in their operations, as to remove, in the course of
the day on which he had made his sketch, the painting which he had been
employed in copying that very morning. Six weeks, day by day, was Mr.
Smith thus occupied in making drawings and memoranda from the pictures
themselves, scrupulously matching the tint of the different colours on the
spot. On the 26th of September, the permission which had been granted to
him was withdrawn (on Mr. Robert Smirke, the more favoured draughtsman,
undertaking to make drawings for the Society of Antiquaries); but
fortunately by that time Mr. Smith had completed details of every thing he
wished. An opinion having been entertained that Mr. Smith's work was
intended as a rival to the one published by the Society of Antiquaries,
from Mr. Smirke's drawings, the transaction was explained in some letters
to the Gentleman's Magazine from Mr. J. Sidney Hawkins, Mr. Smith, and Mr.
Smirke. See vol. LXXIII. pp. 32, 118, 204, 318, 423.
The description of the Plates was begun by John Sidney Hawkins, Esq.
F.S.A., who wrote the preface and the first 144 pages, besides other
portions, as enumerated in Mr. Smith's advertisement to the volume; but an
unfortunate dispute arising between these gentlemen (a circumstance much
to be regretted) the work was completed by the latter. Mr. Hawkins wrote
and published a pamphlet in answer to Mr. Smith's Preface; this produced a
"Vindication," in reply, which is occasionally to be found bound at the
end of the volume. Before this "Vindication" was published, a fire at Mr.
Bensley's printing office destroyed 400 remaining copies of the work, with
5,600 prints, 2000 of which were coloured and elaborately gilt by Mr.
Smith and his wife. By this fire Mr. Smith sustained a severe loss
(estimated at L3,000) as the work was his entire property, having been
published at his sole expense, aided by an unusually liberal subscription;
Mr. Hawkins having no further interest or concern in it than furnishing
gratuitously the greater portion of the descriptions. Mr. Smith afterwards
published "Sixty-two additional Plates" to his "Antiquities of
Westminster;"[1] but without any description, or even a list of them; for
which however see Upcott's Account of English Topography, vol. ii. p. 839.
The "Antiquities of London, &c." was followed by another work on the same
subject, in a larger and more splendid quarto, entitled, "Ancient
Topography of London, embracing specimens of sacred, public and domestic
Architecture, from the earliest period to the time of the great Fire,
1666. Drawn and etched by John Thomas Smith, intended as an Accompaniment
to the celebrated Histories of Stow, Pennant, and others." This work was
begun in October 1810, and completed in 1815, when the title was altered
as follows: "Ancient Topography of London; containing not only Views of
Buildings which in many instances no longer exist, and for the most part
were never before published, but some Account of Places and Customs either
unknown or overlooked by the London Historians." He was assisted in the
descriptions by Francis Douce, Esq. F.S.A. and other friends. This volume
consists of 32 Plates, boldly and masterly etched by Mr. Smith, much in
the style of Piranesi, and explained in 82 pages of letter-press. To the
subscribers Mr. Smith intimated his intention to extend his work to 100
pages, with several other plates; but this was never executed; he at the
same time solicited communications for his intended "Account of the Parish
of St. Paul, Covent Garden." The Manuscript is still possessed by his
widow.
Mr. Smith happily escaped the necessity and drudgery of continuing his
labours as an artist, being appointed in 1816, Keeper of the Prints and
Drawings in the British Museum.
In 1817 he published "Vagabondiana; or, Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers
through the Streets of London; with Portraits of the most remarkable,
drawn from the life;" preceded by a masterly introduction, from the pen of
Francis Douce, Esq. The present Volume, which was prepared for the press
by Mr. Smith, but never before published, may be considered as a
continuation of the same subject.
In 1828 Mr. Smith published two volumes, entitled, "Nollekens and his
Times; comprehending a Life of that celebrated Sculptor; and Memoirs of
several contemporary Artists, from the time of Roubiliac, Hogarth, and
Reynolds, to that of Fuseli, Flaxman, and Blake," 2 vols. 8vo. These
volumes abound with anecdotes of his venerable master, his wife, and their
connexions, and of many of the artists of the last century. The
publication passed through two editions.[2]
Mr. Smith had been employed on a work, which he intended to call "Walks
through London;" and in which he was to describe the Residences, with
anecdotes of eminent persons. He announced a "History of his own Life and
Times," the materials for which have been purchased by Mr. Bentley. He had
also at one time a very extensive and curious illustrated series of the
Royal Academy Catalogues. The greater part of his collection of Autographs
and Letters was purchased a few years since by Mr. Upcott; and it is
believed others were sold by Mr. Christie. His remaining collection of
pictures, books, models, and casts in terra-cotta and plaster, were sold
at his house, 22, University-street, Tottenham Court Road, on Tuesday the
23d of April, 1833.
Mr. Smith was very generally known, both from the importance of his
publications and the public situation he held at the British Museum, where
he evinced much cordiality of disposition. Many an instance might be
mentioned of his charitable and friendly assistance to young artists who
sought his advice. He had good judgment to discover merit where it
existed, inherent good feeling to encourage it in a deserving object, and
sufficient candour to deter from the pursuit where he found there was no
indication of talent. In short, he was a very warm and sincere friend; and
has been greatly regretted by many who had enjoyed his good-humoured
conversation and ever amusing fund of anecdote; more particularly by the
frequenters of the print-room of the Museum, where his unremitting
attentions ensured for him the regard and respect of some of the first
characters of the country.
In Mr. Upcott's album he wrote a playful account of himself, in which is
the following paragraph. "I can boast of seven _events_, some of which
_great_ men would be proud of. I received a kiss _when a boy_ from the
beautiful Mrs. Robinson,--was patted on the head by Dr. Johnson,--have
frequently held Sir Joshua Reynolds's spectacles,--partook of a pot of
porter with an elephant,--saved Lady Hamilton from falling when the
melancholy news arrived of Lord Nelson's death,--three times conversed
with King George the Third,--and was shut up in a room with Mr. Kean's
lion."[3]
Mr. Smith's last illness, an inflammation of the lungs, was but of one
week's duration. He was fully conscious of his approaching dissolution,
and died in the possession of all his faculties, surrounded by his family,
on the 8th of March 1833, at No. 22, University Street, Tottenham Court
Road. He was privately interred on the 16th in the burial ground of St.
George's Chapel, near Tyburn Turnpike, attended to the grave by a few old
friends and brother artists.
Besides his widow Mr. Smith left one son, who died at the Cape of Good
Hope three months after his father; and two daughters; one of whom is
married to Mr. Smith, the sculptor; the other to Mr. Fischer, the
miniature-painter, a native of Hanover.
Of Mr. Smith there is a three-quarters portrait by J. Jackson, R.A.; and
also a drawing of him by the same artist, from which the engraving given
in this work, by Skelton, is copied.
J. B. NICHOLS.
INTRODUCTION.
There are few subjects, perhaps, so eagerly attended to by the young as
those related by their venerable parents when assembled round the
fire-side, but more particularly descriptions of the customs and habits of
ancient times. Now as the Cries of London are sometimes the topic of
conversation, the author of the present work is not without the hope of
finding, amongst the more aged as well as juvenile readers, many to whom
it may prove acceptable, inasmuch as it not only exhibits several
Itinerant Traders and other persons of various callings of the present
day, but some of those of former times, collected from engravings executed
in the reigns of James I., Charles I. and during the Usurpation of Oliver
Cromwell, and which, on account of their extreme rarity, are seldom to be
seen but in the most curious and expensive Collections.
In the perusal of this volume the collector of English Costume, as well as
the Biographer, may find something to his purpose, particularly in the
old dresses, as it was the custom for our forefathers to wear habits
peculiar to their station, and not, as in the present times, when a
linen-draper's apprentice, or a gentleman's butler, may, in the boxes of
the theatre, by means of his dress, and previously to uttering a word, be
mistaken for the man of fashion.
Of all the itinerant callings the Watchman, the Water Carrier, the Vender
of Milk, the Town Crier, and the Pedlar, are most probably of the highest
antiquity.
When the Suburbs of London were infested with wolves and other
depredators, and the country at large in a perpetual state of warfare, it
was found expedient for the inhabitants to protect themselves, and for
that purpose they surrounded their city by a wall, and according to the
most ancient custom erected barbicans or watch-towers at various
distances, commanding a view of the country, so that those on guard might
see the approach of an enemy. This is an extremely ancient custom, as we
find in the Second Book of Kings, chapter ix. verse 17, "And there stood a
watchman on the Tower in Jezreel."
With respect to water, it is natural to suppose that before conduits were
established in London, the inhabitants procured it from the River Thames,
and that infirm people, and the more opulent citizens, compensated others
for the trouble of bringing it.
This must have also been the practice as to milk, in consequence of the
farm-houses always being situated in the suburbs for the purpose of
grazing the cattle. Stowe, the historian, has informed us that in his
boyish days he had his three quarts of milk hot from the cow for his
halfpenny.
The Water Carrier will be described and delineated in the course of this
work.
As the city increased in population, a Town Crier became expedient, so
that an article to be sold, or any thing lost, might be in the shortest
possible time made known to the inhabitants of the remotest dwelling.
Shakspeare has marked the character of a Crier of his time in Hamlet, Act
iii. scene 2, "But if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as
lieve the Town-crier spoke my lines." Lazarello de Tormes, in the very
entertaining history of his life, describes his having been a Crier at
Madrid, and that by blowing a horn he announced the sale of some wine.
Sometimes the criers of country towns afford instances of the grossest
flattery and ignorance. We have an instance in the Crier of Cowbridge,
Glamorganshire, who, after announcing the loss of an "all black cow, with
a white face and a white tail," concluded with the usual exclamation of
"God save the King and the Lord of the Manor!" adding, "and Master Billy!"
well knowing that the Lord of the Manor or his Lady would remember him for
recollecting their infant son.
It may be inferred from an ancient stained glass picture of a pedlar with
his pack at his back, still to be seen in a South-east window of Lambeth
Church,[4] a representation of which has been given by the author in a
work entitled, "Antiquities of London," that itinerant trades must have
been of long standing.
It appears from the celebrated Comedy of Ignoramus, by George Ruggle,
performed before King James the First on March the 8th, 1614, of which
there is an English translation by Robert Codrington, published 1662, that
books were at that period daily cried in the streets.
In the third scene of the second act, _Cupes_ the itinerant Bibliopole
exclaims,
Libelli, belli, belli; lepidi, novi libelli; belli, belli, libelli!
_Trico._ Heus, libelli belli.
_Cupes._ O Trico, mox tibi operam do. Ita vivam, ut pessimi sunt
libelli.
In the time of Charles II. ballad singers and _sellers of small books_
were required to be licensed. John Clarke, bookseller, rented the
licensing of all ballad-singers of Charles Killigrew, Esq. master of the
revels, for five years, which term expired in 1682. "These, therefore, are
to give notice (saith the latter gentleman in the London Gazette) to all
ballad-singers, that they take out licenses at the office of the Revels at
Whitehall, for singing and selling of ballads and small books, according
to an antient custom. And all persons concerned are hereby desired to take
notice of, and to suppress, all mountebanks, rope-dancers, prize-players,
ballad-singers, and such as make shew of motions and strange sights, that
have not a license in red and black letters, under the hand and seal of
the said Charles Killigrew, Esq. Master of the Revels to his Majesty; and
in particular, to suppress one Mr. Irish, Mr. Thomas Varney, and Thomas
Yeats, mountebank, who have no license, that they may be proceeded against
according to law."
The Gazette of April 14, 1684, contains another order relative to these
licenses: "All persons concerned are hereby desired to take notice of and
suppress all mountebanks, rope-dancers, ballad-singers, &c. that have not
a license from the Master of his Majesty's Revels (which, for this present
year, are all printed with black letters, and the King's Arms in red) and
particularly Samuel Rutherford and ---- Irish, mountebanks, and William
Bevel and Richard Olsworth; and all those that have licenses with red and
black letters, are to come to the office to change them for licenses as
they are now altered."
The origin of our early cries might be ascribed to the parent of
invention. An industrious man finding perhaps his trade running slack,
might have ventured abroad with his whole stock, and by making his case
known, invited his neighbours to purchase; and this mode of vending
commodities being adopted by others, probably established the custom of
itinerant hawkers, to the great and truly serious detriment of those
housekeepers who contributed to support their country by the payment of
their taxes. An Act was passed in the reign of James the First, and is
thus noticed in a work entitled, "Legal Provisions for the Poor, by S. C.
of the Inner Temple, 1713." "All Pedlars, Petty-chapmen, Tinkers, and
Glass-men, _per Statute_ 21 _Jac._ 28, _abroad_, especially if they be
unknown, or have not a sufficient testimonial, and though a man have a
certain habitation, yet if he goes about from place to place selling small
wares, he is punishable by the 39 Eliz."
Hawkers and Pedlars are obliged at this time, in consequence of an Act
passed in the reign of King George the Third, to take out a license.
Originally the common necessaries of life were only sold in the _streets_,
but we find as early as the reign of Elizabeth that cheese-cakes were to
be had at the small _house_ near the Serpentine River in Hyde Park. It is
a moated building, and to this day known under the appellation of the
"Queen's Cheese-cake House."[5] There were also other houses for the sale
of cheese-cakes, and those at Hackney and Holloway were particularly
famous. The landlord of the latter employed people to cry them about the
streets of London; and within the memory of the father of the present
writer an old man delivered his cry of "Holloway Cheese-cakes," in a tone
so whining and slovenly, that most people thought he said "All my teeth
ache." Indeed among persons who have been long accustomed to cry the
articles they have for sale, it is often impossible to guess at what they
say.
An instance occurs in an old woman who has for a length of time sold
mutton dumplings in the neighbourhood of Gravel Lane. She may be followed
for a whole evening, and all that can be conjectured from her utterance is
"Hot mutton trumpery."
In another instance, none but those who have heard the man, would for a
moment believe that his cry of "Do you want a brick or brick dust?" could
have been possibly mistaken for "Do you want a lick on the head?"
An inhabitant of the Adelphi, when an invalid, was much annoyed by the
peevish and lengthened cry of "Venny," proceeding every morning and
evening from a muffin-man whenever he rang his bell.
Many of the old inhabitants of Cavendish Square must recollect the
mournful manner in which a weather-beaten Hungerford fisherman cried his
"Large silver Eels, live Eels." This man's tones were so melancholy to the
ears of a lady in Harley Street that she allowed the fellow five shillings
a week to discontinue his cry in that neighbourhood; and there is at the
present time a slip-shod wretch who annoys Portland Place and its vicinity
generally twice, and sometimes three times a day, with what may be
strictly called the braying of an ass, and all his vociferation is to
inform the public that he sells water-cresses, though he appears to call
"Chick-weed." Another Stentorian bawler, and even a greater nuisance in
the same neighbourhood, seems to his unfortunate hearers to deal in
"Cats'-meat," though his real cry is "Cabbage-plants."
The witty author of a tract entitled, "An Examination of certain Abuses,
Corruptions, and Enormities, in the City of Dublin," written in the year
1732, says, "I would advise all new comers to look out at their garret
windows, and there see whether the thing that is cried be _Tripes_ or
_Flummery_, _Buttermilk_ or _Cowheels_; for, as things are now managed,
how is it possible for an honest countryman just arrived, to find out what
is meant, for instance, by the following words, '_Muggs, Juggs, and
Porringers, up in the Garret, and down in the Cellar?_' I say, how is it
possible for a stranger to understand that this jargon is meant as an
invitation to buy a farthing's worth of milk for his breakfast or supper?"
Captain Grose, in his very entertaining little work, entitled "An Olio,"
in which there are many interesting anecdotes, notices several perversions
of this kind, particularly one of a woman who sold milk.
Farthing mutton pies were made and continued to be sold within the memory
of persons now living at a house which was then called the "Farthing Pie
House," in Marylebone Fields, before the New Road was made between
Paddington and Islington, and which house remains in its original state at
the end of Norton Street, New Road, bearing the sign of the Green Man.
Hand's Bun House at Chelsea was established about one hundred and twenty
years since, and probably was the first of its kind. There was also a
famous bun-house at the time of George the Second in the Spa Fields, near
the New River Head, on the way to Islington, but this was long since
pulled down to make way for the sheep-pens, the site of which is now
covered with houses.
The first notice which the writer has been able to obtain of the hot
apple-dumpling women is in Ned Ward's very entertaining work, entitled
"The London Spy," first published in 1698. He there states that Pancakes
and "Diddle, diddle dumplings O!" were then cried in Rosemary Lane and its
vicinity, commonly called Rag Fair. The representation of a
dumpling-woman, in the reign of Queen Anne, is given by Laroon in his
Cries of London, published 1711.[6]
With respect to hot potatoes, they must have been considerably more
modern, as there are persons now living who declare them to have been
eaten with great caution, and very rarely admitted to the table. The
potatoe is a native of Peru in South America; it has been introduced into
England about a century and a half; the Irish seem to have been the first
general cultivators of it in the western parts of Europe.
Rice milk, furmety, and barley-broth were in high request at the time of
Hogarth, about 1740. Boitard, a French artist, who was in England at that
time, has left us a most spirited representation of the follies of the day
in his print entitled "Covent Garden Morning Frolic," in which the
barley-broth woman is introduced. Without detracting from the merit of the
immortal Hogarth, this print, which is extremely rare, exhibits as much
humour as any of his wonderful productions. A copy of this engraving with
an explanatory account of the portraits which it exhibits, will be given
by the author in his Topographical History of Covent Garden, a work for
which he has been collecting materials for upwards of thirty years.[7]
The use of saloop is of very recent date. It was brought into notice, and
first sold in Fleet Street one hundred years ago, at the house now No.
102, where lines in its praise were painted upon a board and hung up in
the first room from the street, a copy of which will precede a print
representing a saloop stall, given in this work.
Formerly strong waters were publicly sold in the streets, but since the
duty has been laid on spirits, and an Act passed to oblige persons to take
out a license for dealing in liquors, the custom of hawking such
commodities has been discontinued.
The town, from the vigilance of the Police, has fortunately got rid of a
set of people called Duffers, who stood at the corners of streets,
inviting the unsuspicious countryman to lay out his money in silk
handkerchiefs or waistcoat pieces, which they assured him in a whisper to
have been smuggled. A notorious fellow of this class, who had but one eye,
took his stand regularly near the gin-shop at the corner of Hog Lane,
Oxford Street. The mode adopted by such men to draw the ignorant higgler
into a dark room, where he was generally fleeced, was by assuring him that
no one could see them, and as for a glass of old Tom, he would pay for
that himself, merely for the pleasure of shewing his goods.
Though this custom of accosting passengers at the corners of streets is
very properly done away with, yet the tormenting importunities of the
barking shopkeeper is still permitted, as all can witness as they pass
through Monmouth Street, Rosemary Lane, Houndsditch, and Moorfields. The
public were annoyed in this way so early as 1626, as appears from the
following passage in "Greene's Ghost:" "There are another sort of
Prentices, that when they see a gentlewoman or a countriman minded to buy
any thing, they will fawne upon them, with cap in hand, with 'What lacke
you, gentlewoman? what lacke you, countriman? see what you lacke.'"
[Illustration: _"Watchman"_]
[Illustration: _"Bellman & Billman"_]
[Illustration: _"Watchman"_]
WATCHMAN, BELLMAN, and BILLMAN.
PLATES I. II. III.
It has been observed in the Introduction, that of all the callings, that
of the Watchman is perhaps of the highest antiquity; and as few writers
can treat on any subject without a quotation from honest John Stowe, the
following extract is inserted from that valuable and venerable author:
"Then had yee, besides the standing watches, all in bright harnesse, in
every ward and streete of this citie and suburbs, a marching watch that
passed thro' the principal streets thereof, to wit, from the Little
Conduit by Paule's gate, thro' West Cheape, by the Stocks, thro'
Cornehill, by Leadenhall to Aldgate, then backe downe Fen-church Street,
by Grasse Church, about Grasse-church Conduit, and by Grasse Church
Streete into Cornehill, and through it into Cheape again, and so broke up.
The whole way ordered for this marching watch extended to 3200 taylors
yards of assize. For the furniture thereof with lights there were
appointed 700 cressets, 500 of them being found by the Companies, and the
other 200 by the Chamber of London.[8] Besides the which lights, every
Constable in London, in number more then 240, had his cresset; the charge
of every cresset was in light two shillings and four pence, and every
cresset had two men, one to beare or hold it, another to beare a bagge
with light, and to serve it; so that the poore men pertaining to the
cressets, taking wages, besides that every one had a strawne hat, with a
badge painted, and his breakfast in the morning, amounted in number to
almost 2000. The marching watch contained in number 2000 men, part of them
being old souldiers, of skill to be captaines, lieutenants, serjeants,
corporals, &c. Wiflers, drummers, and fifes, standard and ensigne bearers,
sword-players, trumpeters on horsebacke, demilaunces on great horses,
gunners with hand-guns, or halfe hakes, archers in coates of white
fustian, signed on the breast and backe with the armes of the City, their
bowes bent in their hands, with sheafes of arrowes by their sides, pikemen
in bright corslets, burganets, &c. holbards, the like Billmen in Almaine
rivets, and apernes of mayle, in great number."[9]
Mr. Douce observes, that these watches were "laid down 20 Henry VIII.;"
and that "the Chronicles of Stow and Byddel assign the sweating sickness
as a cause for discontinuing the watch."
"Anno 1416. Sir Henry Barton being maiar, ordained lanthorns and lights to
be hang'd out on the winter evenings, betwixt Alhallows and Candlemas."
Mr. Warton, in his notes to Milton's Poems, observes, that anciently the
Watchmen who cried the hours used the following or the like benedictions,
which are to be found in a little poem called "The Bellman," inserted in
Robert Herrick's Hesperides:
"From noise of scare-fires rest ye free,
From murder, Benedicite.
From all mischances, that may fright
Your pleasing slumbers in the night;
Mercie secure ye all, and keep
The goblin from ye while ye sleep." 1647.
The First Plate of the Watchman, introduced in this work, is copied from
a rare woodcut sheet-print engraved at the time of James the First,
consisting of twelve distinct figures of trades and callings, six men and
six women. Under this Watchman the following verses are introduced, but
they are evidently of a more modern date than that of the woodcut:
"Maids in your smocks, look to your locks,
Your fire and candle light;
For well 'tis known, much mischief's done
By both in dead of night.
Your locks and fire do not neglect,
And so you may good rest expect."
Under another Watchman, in the same set of figures, are the following
lines, of the same type and orthography as the preceding:
"A light here, maids, hang out your light,
And see your horns be clear and bright,
That so your candle clear may shine,
Continuing from six till nine;
That honest men that walk along,
May see to pass safe without wrong."
There were not only Watchmen, but Bellmen and Billmen. These people were
armed with a long bill in case of fire, so that they could, as the houses
were mostly of timber, stop the progress of the flames by cutting away
connections of fuel.
Of this description of men, the Second Plate, copied from a rare print
prefixed to a work, entitled, "Villanies discovered by Lanthorne and
Candle-light,"[10] by T. Deckar, or Dekker, 1616, is given as a specimen.
The Bellman is stiled "The Childe of Darkness, a common Night-walker, a
man that had no man to waite uppon him, but onely a dog, one that was a
disordered person, and at midnight would beate at men's doores, bidding
them (in meere mockerie) to look to their candles when they themselves
were in their dead sleeps, and albeit he was an officer, yet he was but of
light carriage, being knowne by the name of the Bellman of London."
In Strype's edition of Stowe's London, 1756, (vol. ii. 489,) it is
observed, "Add to this government of the nightly watches, there is
belonging to each ward a Bellman, who, especially in the long nights,
goeth thro' the streets and lanes, ringing a bell; and when his bell
ceaseth, he salutes his masters and mistresses with some rhimes, suitable
to the festivals and seasons of the year; and bids them look to their
lights. The beginning of which custom seems to be in the reign of Queen
Mary, in January 1556; and set up first in Cordwainer-street Ward, by
Alderman Draper, Alderman of that ward; then and there, as I find in an
old Journal, one began to go all night with a bell; and at every lane's
end, and at the ward's end, gave warning of fire and candle, and to helpe
the poor, and pray for the dead."
It appears from the Bellman's Epistle, prefixed to the London Bellman,
published in 1640, that he came on at midnight, and remained ringing his
bell till the rising up of the morning. He says, "I will wast out mine
eies with my candles, and watch from midnight till the rising up of the
morning: my bell shall ever be ringing, and that faithfull servant of mine
(the dog that follows me) be ever biting."
Leases of houses, and household furniture stuff, were sold in 1564 by an
out-cryer and bellman for the day, who retained one farthing in the
shilling for his pains.
The friendly Mr. George Dyer, late a printseller of Compton-street,
presented to the writer a curious sheet print containing twelve Trades and
Callings, published by Overton, without date, but evidently of the time of
Charles the Second, from which engraving the Third Plate of a Watchman was
copied.
[Illustration: _"A Tankard Bearer"_]
WATER-CARRIER.
PLATE IV.
The Conduits of London and its environs, which were established at an
early period, supplied the metropolis with water until Sir Hugh Middleton
brought the New River from Amwell to London, and then the Conduits
gradually fell into disuse, as the New River water was by degrees laid on
in pipes to the principal buildings in the City, and, in the course of
time, let into private houses.
When the above Conduits supplied the inhabitants, they either carried
their vessels, or sent their servants for the water as they wanted it; but
we may suppose that at an early period there were a number of men who for
a fixed sum carried the water to the adjoining houses. The first
delineation the writer has been able to discover of a Water-carrier, is in
Hoefnagle's print of Nonsuch, published in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
The next is in the centre of that truly-curious and more rare sheet
wood-cut, entitled, "Tittle-Tattle," which from the dresses of the figures
must have been engraved either in the latter part of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, or the beginning of that of James the First. In this wood-cut
the maid servants are at a Conduit, where they hold their tittle-tattle,
while the Water-carriers are busily engaged in filling their buckets and
conveying them on their shoulders to the places of destination.
The figure of a Water-carrier, introduced in the Fourth Plate, is copied
from one of a curious and rare set of cries and callings of London,
published by Overton, at the White Horse without Newgate. The figure
retains the dress of Henry the Eighth's time; his cap is similar to that
usually worn by Sir Thomas More, and also to that given in the portrait of
Albert Durer, engraved by Francis Stock. It appears by this print, that
the tankard was borne upon the shoulder, and, to keep the carrier dry, two
towels were fastened over him, one to fall before him, the other to cover
his back. His pouch, in which we are to conclude he carried his money, has
been thus noticed in a very curious and rare tract, entitled, "_Green's
Ghost_, with the merry Conceits of Doctor Pinch-backe," published 1626:
"To have some store of crownes in his purse, coacht in a faire trunke
flop, like a boulting hutch."
Ben Jonson, in his admirable comedy of "Every Man in his Humour," first
performed in 1598, has made Cob the water-carrier of the Old Jewry, at
whose house Captain Bobadil lodges, a very leading and entertaining
character. Speaking of himself before the Justice, he says, "I dwell, Sir,
at the sign of the Water-tankard, hard by the Green Lattice; I have paid
scot and lot there many time this eighteen years."
The first notice which the writer has been able to obtain of the
introduction of the New River water into public buildings in London, he
found in the Archives of Old Bethlem, in which it appears, that "on the
26th of February, 1626, Mr. Middleton conveyed water into Bethlem." This
must have been, according to its date, the old Bethlem Hospital that stood
in Bishopsgate-street, near St. Botolph's Church, on the site of the
streets which are at this time under the denomination of Old Bethlem; as
the building lately taken down in London Wall, Moorfields, was begun in
April 1675, and finished in July 1676. It should seem therefore that this
magnificent building, which had more the appearance of a palace than a
place of confinement, most substantially built with a centre and two
wings, extending in length to upwards of 700 feet, was only one year in
building; a most extraordinary instance of manual application.
In 1698, when Cheapside Conduit was no longer used for its original
purpose, it became the place of call for chimney-sweepers, who hung up
their brooms and shovels against it, and there waited for hire.
It appears that even in 1711 the New River water was not generally let
into houses; for in Laroon's Cries of London, which were published at that
time, there is a man with two tubs suspended across his shoulders,
according to the present mode of carrying milk, at the foot of which plate
is engraved "Any New River Water, water here."[11]
CORPS-BEARER.
PLATE V.
Of all the calamities with which a great city is infested, there can be
none so truly awful as that of a plague, when the street-doors of the
houses that were visited with the dreadful pest were padlocked up, and
only accessible to the surgeons and medical men, whose melancholy duty
frequently exposed them even to death itself; and when the fronts of the
houses were pasted over with large bills exhibiting red crosses, to denote
that in such houses the pestilence was raging, and requesting the solitary
passenger to pray that the Lord might have mercy upon those who were
confined within. Of these bills there are many extant in the libraries of
the curious, some of which have borders engraved on wood, printed in
black, displaying figures of skeletons, bones, and coffins. They also
contain various recipes for the cure of the distemper. The Lady Arundell,
and other persons of distinction, published their methods for making what
was then called plague-water, and which are to be found in many of the
rare books on cookery of the time; but happily for London, it has not been
visited by this affliction since 1665, a circumstance owing probably to
the Great Fire in the succeeding year, which consumed so many old and
deplorable buildings, then standing in narrow streets and places so
confined that it was hardly possible to know where any pest would stop.
Every one who inspects Aggas's Plan of London, engraved in the reign of
Elizabeth, as well as those published subsequently to the rebuilding of
the City after the fire, must acknowledge the great improvements as to
the houses, the widening of the streets, and the free admission of fresh
air. It is to be hoped, and indeed we may conclude from the very great and
daily improvements on that most excellent plan of widening streets, that
this great City will never again witness such visitations.
[Illustration: _"Corpse Bearer"_]
When the plague was at its height, perhaps nothing could have been more
silently or solemnly conducted than the removal of the dead to the various
pits round London, that were opened for their reception; and it was the
business of Corpse Bearers, such as the one exhibited in the Fifth Plate,
to give directions to the Car-men, who went through the City with bells,
which they rang, at the same time crying "Bring out your Dead." This
melancholy description may be closed, by observing that many parts of
London, particularly those leading to the Courts of Westminster, were so
little trodden down, that the grass grew in the middle of the streets. Few
persons would believe the truth of the following extract:
"A profligate wretch had taken up a new way of thieving (yet 'tis said too
much practised in those times), of robbing the dead, notwithstanding the
horror that is naturally concomitant. This trade he followed so long, till
he furnished a warehouse with the spoils of the dead; and had gotten into
his possession (some say) to the number of a thousand winding-sheets." See
Memoirs of the Life and Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, published 1682.
It is remarkable, and shows the great advantage of our River Thames, that
during the Plague of 1665, according to a remark made by Lord Clarendon,
not one house standing upon London Bridge was visited by the plague.
Although the subject of Funerals has been so often treated of by various
authors, yet the following extracts will not, it is hoped, be deemed
irrelevant by the reader. They may serve too as a contrast to the
confusion and mingling of dust which must have taken place during the
plague, in the burial of so many thousands in so short a space of time,
and they may show likewise the vanity of human nature.