“’Ere’s yer toys for girls an’ boys!”
The bellows-mender, who sometimes also followed the trade of a tinker, carried his tools and apparatus buckled in a leathern bag at his back, and practised his profession in any convenient corner of the street.
Door-mats of all shapes were made of rushes or rope, and were sold at from sixpence to several shillings each.
The earliest green pea brought to the London market—a dwarf variety—was distinguished by the name of Hasteds, Hastens, Hastins, or Hastings, and was succeeded by the Hotspur. The name of Hastings was, however, indiscriminately given to all peas sold in the streets, and the cry of “green Hastings” was heard in every street and alley until peas went out of season.
The crier of hair brooms, who usually travelled with a cart, carried a supply of brushes, sieves, clothes-horses, lines, and general turnery.
All cleanly folk must like my ware,
For wood is sweet and clean;
Time was when platters served Lord Mayor
And, as I’ve heard, a Queen.
His cry took the form of the traditional tune “Buy a broom,” which may even now be occasionally heard—perhaps the last survival of a street trade tune—taken
