| PAGE | |
| Introduction | [1] |
| Street-Sellers of Second-hand Articles | [5] |
| Street-Sellers of Live Animals | [47] |
| Street-Sellers of Mineral Productions and Natural Curiosities | [81] |
| The Street-Buyers | [103] |
| The Street-Jews | [115] |
| Street-Finders or Collectors | [136] |
| The Streets of London | [181] |
| Chimney-Sweepers | [338] |
| Crossing Sweepers | [465] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| PAGE | |
| A View in Petticoat-Lane | [36] |
| A View in Rosemary-Lane | [39] |
| The Street Dog-seller | [54] |
| The Crippled Street Bird-seller | [66] |
| Street-Seller of Birds’-Nests | [72] |
| The Jew Old-clothes Man | [118] |
| The Bone-Grubber | [138] |
| The Mud-Lark | [155] |
| The London Dustman | [172] |
| View of a Dust-yard | [208] |
| The London Scavenger | [226] |
| Street Orderlies | [253] |
| The Able-Bodied Pauper Street-Sweeper | [262] |
| The Rubbish-Carter | [289] |
| The London Sweep | [346] |
| One of the few remaining Climbing-Sweeps | [354] |
| The Milkmaid’s Garland | [370] |
| The Sweep’s Home | [378] |
| The Sewer-Hunter | [388] |
| Mode of Cleansing Cesspools | [406] |
| Flushing the Sewers | [424] |
| The Rat-Catchers of the Sewers | [431] |
| London Nightmen | [433] |
| The Bearded Crossing-Sweeper at the Exchange | [471] |
| The Crossing-Sweeper that has been a Maid-Servant | [479] |
| The Irish Crossing-Sweeper | [481] |
| The One-legged Crossing-Sweeper at Chancery-Lane | [488] |
| The Boy Crossing-Sweepers | [494] |
LONDON LABOUR
AND
THE LONDON POOR.
VOL. II.
THE STREET-FOLK.
BOOK THE SECOND.
INTRODUCTION.
In commencing a new volume I would devote a few pages to the consideration of the import of the facts already collected concerning the London Street-Folk, not only as regards the street-people themselves, but also in connection with the general society of which they form so large a proportion.
The precise extent of the proportion which the Street-Traders bear to the rest of the Metropolitan Population is the first point to be evolved; for the want, the ignorance, and the vice of a street-life being in a direct ratio to the numbers, it becomes of capital importance that we should know how many are seeking to pick up a livelihood in the public thoroughfares. This is the more essential because the Government returns never have given us, and probably never will give us, any correct information respecting it. The Census of 1841 set down the “Hawkers, Hucksters, and Pedlars” of the Metropolis as numbering 2045; and from the inquiries I have made among the street-sellers as to the means taken to obtain a full account of their numbers for the next population return, the Census of 1851 appears likely to be about as correct in its statements concerning the Street Traders and Performers as the one which preceded it.
According to the accounts which have been collected during the progress of this work, the number of the London Street-People, so far as the inquiry has gone, is upwards of 40,000. This sum is made up of 30,000 Costermongers; 2000 Street-Sellers of “Green-Stuff,” as Watercresses, Chickweed, and Groundsell, Turf, &c.; 4000 Street Sellers of Eatables and Drinkables; 1000 selling Stationery, Books, Papers, and Engravings in the streets; and 4000 other street-sellers vending manufactured articles, either of metal, crockery, textile, chemical, or miscellaneous substances, making altogether 41,000, or in round numbers say 40,000 individuals. The 30,000 costermongers may be said to include 12,000 men, 6000 women, and 12,000 children.