Then of the street-sellers of mineral productions and natural curiosities, there are 216 vendors of coals; 1500 sellers of coke; 14 sellers of tan-turf; 150 vendors of salt; 70 sellers of sand; 26 sellers of shells; or 1969 in all. From this number the sellers of shells must be deducted, as the shell-trade is not a special branch of street-traffic. We may, therefore, assert that the number of people engaged in this latter class of street-business amounts to about 1900.

Now, adding all these sums together, we have the following table as to the numbers of individuals comprised in the first division of the London street-folk, viz. the street-sellers:—

1. Costermongers (including men, women, and children engaged in the sale of fish, fruit, vegetables, game, poultry, flowers, &c.)30,000
2. Street-sellers of “green stuff,” including water-cresses, chickweed and gru’n’sel, turf, &c.2,000
3. Street-sellers of eatables and drinkables4,000
4. Street-sellers of stationery, literature, and fine arts1,000
5. Street-sellers of manufactured articles of metal, crockery, glass, textile, chemical, and miscellaneous substances4,000
6. Street-sellers of second-hand articles, including the sellers of old metal articles, old glass, old linen, old clothes, old shoes, &c.500
7. Street-sellers of live animals, as dogs, birds, gold and silver fish, squirrels, leverets, tortoises, snails, &c.200
8. Street-sellers of mineral productions and natural curiosities, as coals, coke, tan-turf, salt, sand, shells, &c.1,900
Total Number of Street-Sellers43,640

These numbers, it should be remembered, are given rather as an approximation to the truth than as the absolute fact. It would therefore be safer to say, making all due allowance for the temporary and mixed character of many branches of street-commerce, that there are about 40,000 people engaged in selling articles in the streets of London. I am induced to believe that this is very near the real number of street-sellers, from the wholesale returns of the places where the street-sellers purchase their goods, and which I have always made a point of collecting from the best authorities connected with the various branches of street-traffic. The statistics of the fish and green markets, the swag-shops, the old clothes exchange, the bird-dealers, which I have caused to be collected for the first time in this country, all tend to corroborate this estimate.

The next fact to be evolved is the amount of capital invested in the street-sale of Second-hand Articles, of Live Animals, and of Mineral Productions. And, first, as to the money employed in the Second-hand Street-Trade.

The following tables will show the amount of capital invested in this branch of street-business.

£s.d.
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Metal Wares.
30 stalls, 5s. each; 20 barrows, 1l. each; stock-money for 50 vendors, at 10s. per head52100
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Metal Trays.
Stock-money for 20 sellers, at 5s.500
Street-Sellers of other Second-hand Metal Articles, as Italian and Flat Irons.
Stock-money for 20 vendors, at 5s. each; 20 stalls, at 3s. each800
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Linen, &c.
Stock-money for 30 vendors, at 5s. per head7100
Street-Sellers of Second-hand (burnt) Linen and Calico.
Stock-money for 80 vendors, at 10s. each4000
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Curtains.
Stock-money for 30 sellers, at 5s. each7100
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Carpeting, Flannels, Stocking-legs, &c.
Stock-money for 30 sellers, at 6s. each900
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Bed-ticking, Sacking, Fringe, &c.
Stock-money for 30 sellers, at 4s. each600
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Glass and Crockery.
6 barrows, 15s. each; 6 baskets, 1s. 6d. each; stock-money for 6 vendors, at 5s. each690
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Miscellaneous Articles.
Stock-money for 5 vendors, at 15s. each3150
Street-Sellers and Duffers of Second-hand Music.
Stock-money for 25 sellers, at 1l. each2500
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Weapons.
Stock-money for 6 vendors, at 1l. each600
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Curiosities.
6 barrows, 15s. each; stock-money for 6 vendors, at 15s. per head900
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Telescopes and Pocket-Glasses.
Stock-money for 6 vendors, at 4l. each2400
Street-Sellers of other Miscellaneous Articles.
30 stalls, 5s. each; stock-money for 30 sellers, at 15s. each3000
Street-Sellers of Men’s Second-hand Clothes.
100 linen bags, at 2s. each; stock-money for 100 sellers, at 15s. each8500
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Boots and Shoes.
10 stalls, at 3s. each; 30 baskets, at 2s. 6d. each; stock-money for 30 sellers, at 10s. each2050
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Hats.
30 irons, two to each man, at 2s. each; 60 blocks, at 1s. 6d. per block; stock-money for 15 vendors, at 10s. each1500
Street-Sellers of Women’s Second-hand Apparel.
Stock-money for 50 sellers, at 10s. each; 50 baskets, at 2s. 6d. each3150
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Bonnets.
10 umbrellas, at 3s. each; 30 baskets, at 2s. 6d. each; stock-money for 30 sellers, at 5s. each12150
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Furs.
Stock-money for 10 vendors, at 7s. 6d. each3150
Street-Sellers of Second-hand Articles in Smithfield-market.
30 sellers of harness sets and collars, at an average capital of 15s. each; 6 sellers of saddles and pads, at 15s. each; 10 sellers of bits, at 3s. each; 6 sellers of wheel-springs and trays, at 15s. each; 6 sellers of boards and trestles for stalls, at 10s. each; 20 sellers of barrows, small carts, and trucks, at 5l. each; 6 sellers of goat carriages, at 3l. each; 6 sellers of shooting galleries and guns for ditto, and drums for costers, at 15s. each; 10 sellers of measures, weights, and scales, at 25s. each; 5 sellers of potato cans and roasted-chestnut apparatus, at 5l. each; 3 sellers of ginger-beer trucks, at 5l. each; 6 sellers of pea-soup cans and pickled-eel kettles, 15s. each; 2 sellers of elder-wine vessels, at 15s. each. Thus we find that the average number of street-sellers frequenting Smithfield-market once a week is 116, and the average capital21700
Total amount of Capital belonging to Street-sellers of Second-hand Articles621140
Street-Sellers of Live Animals.
Street-Sellers of Dogs.
Stock-money for 20 sellers (including kennels and keep), at 5l. 15s. each seller11500
Street-Sellers and Duffers of Birds (English).
2400 small cages (reckoning 12 to each seller), at 6d. each; 1200 long cages (allowing 6 cages to each seller), at 2s. each; 1800 large cages (averaging 9 cages to each seller), at 2s. 6d. each. Stock-money for 200 sellers, at 20s. each60500
Street-Sellers of Parrots, &c.
20 cages, at 10s. each; stock-money for 10 sellers, at 30s. each2500
Street-Sellers of Birds’-Nests.
3 hamper baskets, at 6d. each16
Street-Sellers of Squirrels.
Stock-money for 20 vendors, at 10s. each1000
Street-Sellers of Leverets, Wild Rabbits, &c.
6 baskets, at 2s. each; stock-money for 6 vendors, at 5s. each220
Street-Sellers of Gold and Silver Fish.
35 glass globes, at 2s. each; 35 small nets, at 6d. each; stock-money for 35 vendors, at 15s. each30126
Street-Sellers of Tortoises.
Stock-money for 20 vendors, at 10s. each2500
Street-Sellers of Snails, Frogs, Worms, Snakes, Hedgehogs, &c.
14 baskets, at 1s. each140
Total amount of Capital belonging to Street-Sellers of Live Animals798100
Street-Sellers of Mineral Productions and Natural Curiosities.
Street-Sellers of Coals.
30 two-horse vans, at 70l. each; 100 horses, at 20l. each; 100 carts, at 10l. each; 160 horses, at 10l. each; 20 donkey or pony carts, at 1l. each; 20 donkeys or ponies, at 1l. 10s. each; 210 sets of weights and scales, at 1l. 10s. each; stock-money for 210 vendors, at 2l. each7,48500
Street-Sellers of Coke.
100 vans, at 70l. each; 100 horses, at 20l. each; 300 carts, at 10l. each; 300 horses, at 10l. each; 500 donkey-carts, at 1l. each; 500 donkeys, at 1l. each; 200 trucks and barrows, at 10s. each; 4800 sacks for the 100 vans, at 3s. 6d. each; 3600 sacks for the 300 carts; 3000 sacks for the 500 donkey carts; 1652 sacks for the 550 trucks and barrows; 300 sacks for the 50 women; stock-money for 1500 vendors, at 1l. per head19,936120
Street-Sellers of Tan-Turf.
12 donkeys and carts, at 2l. each; 2 trucks, at 15s. each; stock-money for 14 vendors, at 10s. each32100
Street-Sellers of Salt.
75 donkeys and carts, at 2l. 5s. each; 75 barrows, at 10s. each; stock-money for 150 vendors, at 6s. each25150
Street-Sellers of Sand.
20 horses, at 10l. each; 20 carts, at 3l. each; 60 baskets, at 2s. each; wages of 30 men, at 3s. per day for each; expenses for keep of 20 horses, at 10s. per head; estimated stock-money for 30 sellers, at 5s. each; 40 barrows, at 15s. each; stock-money for the barrow-men, at 1s. 6d. each32050
Street-Sellers of Shells.
Stock-money for 70 vendors, at 5s.
each17100
Total Capital belonging to Street-Sellers of Mineral Productions, etc.28,04320
River-Sellers of Purl.
35 boats, at 4l. 10s. each; 35 sets of measures, at 5s. the set; 35 warming pots, at 1s. 6d. each; 35 fire-stoves, at 5s. each; 35 gallon cans, at 2s. 6d. each; 70 “pins” of beer, at 4s. per “pin;” 35 quarts of gin, at 2s. 6d. the quart; 35 licences, at 3s. 6d.; stock-money for spice, &c., at 1s. each20850