Part 2

The cries of London have ever been very popular, whether as broadsides, books, ballads, or engravings. Artists of all countries and times have delighted to represent those peculiarities of costume and character which belong to the history of street-cries, and the criers thereof. Annibale Carracci--1560-1609--has immortalized the cries of Bologna; and from the time of Elizabeth to that of Queen Victoria, authors, artists and printers combined, have presented the Cries and Itinerant Trades of London, in almost numberless forms, and in various degrees of quality, from the roughest and rudest wood-cut-blocks to the finest of copper and steel plate engravings, or skilfully wrought etchings. While many of the early English dramatists often introduced the subject, eminent composers were wont to "set to music" as catch, glee, or roundelaye, all the London Cries then most in vogue,--"They were, I ween, ryght merrye songs, and the musick well engraved."

The earliest mention of London trade-cries is by Dan John Lydgate (1370-1450), a Monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Bury St. Edmund's, the friend and immediate follower of Geoffrey Chaucer, and one of the most prolific writers of his age this country has produced. To enumerate Lydgate's pieces would be to write out the catalogue of a small library. No poet seems to have possessed a greater versatility of talents. He moves with equal ease in every mode of composition; and among his minor pieces he has left us a very curious poem entitled "London Lyckpeny," _i.e._, _London Lackpenny_: this has been frequently printed; by Strutt, Pugh, Nicolas, and partly by John Stow in "A Survey of London," 1598. There are two copies in the British Museum, Harl. MSS., 367 and 542. We somewhat modernize the text of the former and best of these copies, which differ considerably from each other.

"O Mayster Lydgate! the most dulcet sprynge Of famous rethoryke, with balade ryall The chefe orygynal." _"The Pastyme of Plasure," by Stephen Hawes, 1509._

In "London Lackpenny" we have a most interesting and graphic picture of the hero coming to Westminster, in term time, to obtain legal redress for the wrong he had sustained, and explain to a man of law his case--"_How my goods were defrauded me by falsehood_," but being without the means to pay even the preliminary fee, he was sent--"from pillar to post," that is from one Law-court to another, but although he "_crouched, kneeled, prayed for God's sake, and Mary's love_, he could not get from one the--_mum of his mouth_." So leaving the City of Westminster--minus his hood, he walked on to the City of London, which he tells us was crowded with peripatetic traders, but tempting as all their goods and offers were, his _lack-of-money_ prevented him from indulging in any of them--But, however, let _Lackpenny_, through the ballad, speak for himself:--

To London once my steps I bent, Where truth in no wise should be faint, To Westminster-ward I forthwith went, To a man of law to make complaint, I said, "for Mary's love, that Holy saint! Pity the poor that would proceed," But, for lack of money, I could not speed.

And as I thrust the _prese_ among, [crowd] By froward chance my hood was gone, Yet for all that I stayed not long, Till to the King's Bench I was come, Before the Judge I kneeled anon, And prayed him for God's sake to take heed; But, for lack of money, I might not speed.

Beneath them sat Clerks a great rout, Which fast did write by one assent, There stood up one and cryed about, Richard, Robert, and John of Kent. I wist not well what this man meant, He cried so thick there indeed, But he that lacked money, might not speed.

Unto the Common-place _I yode thoo_, [I went then] Where sat one with a silken hood; I did him reverence, for I ought to do so, And told him my case as well as I could, How my goods were defrauded me by falsehood. I gat not a mum of his mouth for my meed, And, for lack of money, I might not speed.

Unto the Rolls I gat me from thence, Before the clerks of the Chancery, Where many I found earning of pence, But none at all once regarded me, I gave them my plaint upon my knee; They liked it well, when they had it read: But, lacking money, I could not speed.

In Westminster Hall I found out one, Which went in a long gown of _ray_; [velvet] I crouched and kneeled before him anon, For Mary's love, of help I him pray. "I wot not what thou meanest" gan he say: To get me thence he did me bede, For lack of money, I could not speed.

Within this Hall, neither rich nor yet poor Would do for me ought, although I should die: Which seeing, I gat me out of the door, Where Flemings began on me for to cry: "Master, what will you _copen or buy_? [chap or exchange] Fine felt hats, or spectacles to read? Lay down your silver, and here you may speed."

Spectacles to read before printing was invented must have had a rather limited market; but we must bear in mind where they were sold. In Westminster Hall there were lawyers and rich suitors congregated,--worshipful men, who had a written law to study and expound, and learned treatises diligently to peruse, and titles to hunt after through the labyrinths of fine and recovery. The dealer in spectacles was a dealer in hats, as we see; and the articles were no doubt both of foreign manufacture. But lawyers and suitors had also to feed, as well as to read with spectacles; and on the Thames side, instead of the coffee-houses of modern date, were tables in the open air, where men every day ate of "_bread, ribs of beef, both fat and full fine_," and drank jollily of "_ale and wine_," as they do now at a horse-race:--

Then to Westminster Gate I presently went, When the sun was at high prime: Cooks to me, they took good intent, And proffered me bread, with ale and wine, Ribs of beef, both fat and full fine; A fair cloth they gan for to spread, But, wanting money, I might not there speed.

Passing from the City of Westminster, through the village of Charing and along Strand-side, to the City of London, the cries of food and feeding were first especially addressed to those who preferred a vegetable diet, with dessert and "_spice, pepper, and saffron_" to follow. "_Hot peascod one began to cry_," Peascod being the shell of peas; the _cod_ what we now call the _pod_:--

"Were women as little as they are good, A peascod would make them a gown and hood."

"_Strawberry ripe, and cherries in the rise._" Rise--branch, twig, either a natural branch, or tied on sticks as we still see them.

Then unto London I did me hie, Of all the land it beareth the prize; Hot peascods! one began to cry; Strawberry ripe, and Cherries in the rise! One bade me come near and buy some spice; Pepper and saffron they gan me _bede_; [offer to me] But, for lack of money, I might not speed.

In Chepe (Cheapside) he saw "_much people_" standing, who proclaimed the merits of their "_velvets, silk, lawn, and Paris thread_." These, however, were shopkeepers; but their shops were not after the modern fashion of plate-glass windows, and carpeted floors, and lustres blazing at night with a splendour that would put to shame the glories of an eastern palace. They were rude booths, the owners of which bawled as loudly as the itinerants; and they went on bawling for several centuries, like butchers in a market, so that, in 1628, Alexander Gell, a bachelor of divinity, was sentenced to lose his ears and to be degraded from the ministry, for giving his opinion of Charles I., that he was fitter to stand in a Cheapside shop with an apron before him, and say "What do ye lack, what do ye lack? What lack ye?" than to govern a kingdom.

Then to the Chepe I began me drawn, Where much people I saw for to stand; One offered me velvet, silk, and lawn; Another he taketh me by the hand, "Here is Paris thread, the finest in the land." I never was used to such things indeed; And, wanting money, I might not speed.

Then went I forth by London Stone, Throughout all Canwyke Street: Drapers much cloth me offered anon; Then comes in one crying "Hot sheep's feet;" One cried mackerel, rushes green, another gan greet; One bade me buy a hood to cover my head; But, for want of money, I might not speed.

The London Stone, the _lapis milliaris_ (mile stone) of the Romans, has never failed to arrest the attention of the "Countryman in Lunnun." The Canwyke Street of the days of John Lydgate, is the Cannon Street of the present. "_Hot sheep's feet_," which were cried in the streets in the time of Henry V., are now sold _cold_ as "sheep's trotters," and vended at the doors of the lower-priced theatres, music-halls, and public-houses. Henry Mayhew in his "London Labour and the London Poor," estimates that there are sold weekly 20,000 sets, or 80,000 feet. The wholesale price at the "trotter yard" is five a penny, which gives an outlay by the street sellers of L3,033 6s. 8d. yearly. The cry which is still heard and tolerated by law, that of _Mackerel_ rang through every street. The cry of _Rushes-green_ tells us of by-gone customs. In ages long before the luxury of carpets was known in England, the floors of houses were covered with rushes. The strewing of rushes in the way where processions were to pass is attributed by our poets to all times and countries. Thus at the coronation of Henry V., when the procession is coming, the grooms cry--

"More rushes, more rushes."

_Not worth a rush_ became a common comparison for anything worthless; the rush being of so little value as to be trodden under foot. _Rush-lights_, or candles with rush wicks, are of the greatest antiquity.

Then I hied me into East-chepe, One cries ribs of beef, and many a pie; Pewter pots they clattered on a heap; There was harp, pipe, and minstrelsy; "Yea by Cock! Nay by Cock!" some began cry; Some sung of Jenkin and Julian for their meed; But, for lack of money, I might not speed.

Eastcheap, this ancient thoroughfare, originally extended from Tower-street westward to the south end of Clement's-lane, where Cannon-street begins. It was the Eastern Cheap or Market, as distinguished from Westcheap, now Cheapside. The site of the Boar's Head Tavern, first mentioned _temp._ Richard II., the scene of the revels of Falstaff and Henry V., when Prince of Wales, is very nearly that of the statue of King William IV. _Lackpenny_ had presented to him several of the real Signs of the Times and of Life in London with "_ribs of beef_--_many a pie_--_pewter pots_--_music and singing_"--_strange oaths_, "_Yea by Cock_" being a vulgar corruption for a profane oath. Our own taverns still supply us with ballad-singers--"_Buskers_"--who will sing of "_Jenkin and Julian_"--Ben Block; or, She Wore a Wreath of Roses, "_for their meed_."

Then into Cornhill anon I _yode_, [went] Where was much stolen gear among; I saw where hung mine own hood That I had lost among the throng; To buy my own hood I thought it wrong; I knew it well, as I did my creed; But, for lack of money, I could not speed.

The manners and customs of the dwellers in Cornhill in the time of John Lydgate, when a stranger could have his hood stolen at one end of the town and see it exposed for sale at the other, forcibly reminds us of Field-lane and the Jew Fagin, so faithfully sketched in pen and ink by Charles Dickens of our day. Where "a young man from the country" would run the risk of meeting with an Artful Dodger, to pick his pocket of his silk handkerchief at the entrance of the Lane, and it would be offered him for sale by a Jew fence at the end, not only "Once a Week" but "All the Year Round." However, when Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist came in, Field-lane and Fagin went out.

At length the Kentish man being wearied, falls a prey to the invitation of a taverner, who with a cringing bow, and taking him by the sleeve:--"_Sir_," saith he, "_will you our wine assay?_" Whereupon _Lackpenny_, coming to the safe conclusion that "_a penny can do no more than it may_," enters the tempting and hospitable house of entertainment, and there spends his only penny, for which he is supplied with a pint of wine:--

The taverner took me by the sleeve, "Sir," saith he, "will you our wine assay?" I answered "That cannot be much grieve, A penny can do no more than it may;" I drank a pint, and for it did pay; Yet, sore a-hungered from hence I _yode_, [went] And, wanting money, I could not speed.

Worthy old John Stow supposes this interesting incident to have happened at the Pope's Head, in Cornhill, and bids us enjoy the knowledge of the fact, that:--"Wine one pint for a pennie, and bread to drink it was given free in every taverne." Yet Lydgate's hero went away "_Sore a-hungered_," for there was no eating at taverns at this time beyond a crust to relish the wine, and he who wished to dine before he drank had to go to the cook's.

Wanting money, _Lackpenny_ has now no choice but to return to the country, and applies to the watermen at Billingsgate:--

Then hied I me to Billingsgate, And one cried "Hoo! go we hence!" I prayed a bargeman, for God's sake, That he would spare me my expense, "Thou scap'st not here, quod he, under two-pence, I list not yet bestow any almes deed." Thus, lacking money, I could not speed.

We have a corroboration of the accuracy of this picture in Lambarde's "Perambulation of Kent." The old topographer informs us that in the time of Richard II. the inhabitants of Milton and Gravesend agreed to carry in their boats, from London to Gravesend, a passenger with his truss or fardel [burden] for twopence.

Then I conveyed me into Kent; For of the law would I meddle no more; Because no man to me took entent, I _dyght_ [prepared] me to do as I did before. Now Jesus, that in Bethlem was bore, Save London, and send true lawyers their meed! For whoso wants money, with them shall not speed.

The poor Kentish suitor, without two-pence in his pocket to pay the Gravesend bargemen, whispers a mild anathema against London lawyers, then takes his solitary way on foot homeward--a sadder and a wiser man.

* * * * *

With unpaved streets, and no noise of coaches to drown any particular sound, we may readily imagine the din of the great London thoroughfares of four centuries ago, produced by all the vociferous demand for custom. The chief body of London retailers were then itinerant,--literally pedlars; and those who had attained some higher station were simply stall-keepers. The streets of trade must have borne a wonderful resemblance to a modern fair. Competition was then a very rude thing, and the loudest voice did something perhaps to carry the customer.

In the old play entitled:--"A ryght excellent and famous Comedy called the _Three Ladies of London_, wherein is Notable declared and set fourth, how by the meanes of Lucar, Love and Conscience is so corrupted, that the one is married to Dissimulation, the other fraught with all abhomination. A Perfect Patterne of All Estates to looke into, and a worke ryght worthie to be marked. Written by R. W.; as it hath been publiquely played. At London, Printed by Roger Warde, dwelling neere Holburne Conduit at the sign of the Talbot, 1584," is the following poetical description of some London cries:--

_Enter_ CONSCIENCE, with brooms, singing as followeth:--

_New broomes, green broomes, will you buy any? Come maydens, come quickly, let me take a penny. My brooms are not steeped, But very well bound: My broomes be not crooked, But smooth cut and round. I wish it would please you, To buy of my broome: Then would it well ease me, If market were done.

Have you any olde bootes, Or any old shoone: Powch-ringes, or buskins, To cope for new broome? If so you have, maydens, I pray you bring hither; That you and I, friendly, May bargin together. New broomes, green broomes, will you buy any? Come maydens, come quickly, let me take a penny._

CONSCIENCE _speaketh_.

Thus am I driven to make a virtue of necessity; And seeing God Almighty will have it so, I embrace it thankfully, Desiring God to mollify and lesson Usury's hard heart, That the poor people feel not the like penury and smart. But Usury is made tolerable amongst Christians as a necessary thing, So that, going beyond the limits of our law, they extort, and to many misery bring. But if we should follow God's law we should not receive above what we lend; For if we lend for reward, how can we say we are our neighbour's friend? O, how blessed shall that man be, that lends without abuse, But thrice accursed shall he be, that greatly covets use; For he that covets over-much, insatiate is his mind: So that to perjury and cruelty he wholly is inclined: Wherewith they sore oppress the poor by divers sundry ways, Which makes them cry unto the Lord to shorten cut-throats' days. Paul calleth them thieves that doth not give the needy of their store, And thrice accurs'd are they that take one penny from the poor. But while I stand reasoning thus, I forget my market clean; And sith God hath ordained this way, I am to use the mean.

Sings again.

_Have ye any old shoes, or have ye any boots? have ye any buskins, or will ye buy any broome? Who bargins or chops with Conscience? What will no customer come?_

_Enter_ USURY.

USURY.

Who is that cries brooms? What, Conscience, selling brooms about the street?

CONSCIENCE.

What, Usury, it is a great pity thou art unhanged yet.

USURY.

Believe me, Conscience, it grieves me thou art brought so low.

CONSCIENCE.

Believe me, Usury, it grieves me thou wast not hanged long ago, For if thou hadst been hanged, before thou slewest Hospitality, Thou hadst not made me and thousands more to feel like Poverty.

By another old comedy by the same author as the preceding one, which he entitles:--"The pleasant and Stately Morall of the _Three Lords and Three Ladies of London_. With the great Joye and Pompe, Solemnized at their Marriages: Commically interlaced with much honest Mirth, for pleasure and recreation, among many Morall observations, and other important matters of due regard. By R. W., London. Printed by R. Ihones, at the Rose and Crowne, neere Holburne Bridge, 1590," it appears that woodmen went about with their beetles and wedges on their backs, crying "_Have you any wood to cleave?_" It must be borne in mind that in consequence of the many complaints against coal as a public nuisance, it was not in common use in London until the reign of Charles I., 1625.

There is a character in the play named _Simplicity_, a poor Freeman of London, who for a purpose turns ballad-monger, and in answer to the question of "What dainty fine ballad have you now to be sold?" replies:--"I have '_Chipping-Norton_,' '_A mile from Chapel o' th' Heath_'--'_A lamentable ballad of burning of the Pope's dog_;' '_The sweet ballad of the Lincolnshire bagpipes_;' and '_Peggy and Willy: But now he is dead and gone; Mine own sweet Willy is laid in his grave_.'"

The London of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Co.,--_Limited_ as it was within its great wall, occupied very much the same space as that now covered by the City proper; its streets were narrow and winding, yet there were still left many open spaces; it was covered with people; its river was full of shipping; it was rich, prosperous, and possessed of a considerable amount of liberty. The great wall of London, broad and strong, with towers at intervals, was more than two miles long, from end to end, beginning at the Tower of London on the east, and ending at the Fleet River and the Thames on the west.

As regards the gates, there were anciently only four--namely, Aldersgate, Aldgate, Ludgate, and Bridgegate--that is to say, one for each of the cardinal points. Then other gates and posterns were added for the convenience of the citizens: Bishopsgate, for those who had business in the direction of Norfolk, Suffolk, or Cambridgeshire; Moorgate, for those who would practice archery, or take their recreation in Moor Fields; Cripplegate, more ancient than the two preceding, had a prison for debtors attached to it; and there was also a postern for the Convent of Grey Friars, now Christ's Hospital. At Newgate was a small, incommodious, and fever-haunted prison for criminals; and at Ludgate was another prison, appropriated to debtors, trespassers, and those who committed contempt of Court. Along the river-side were several water-gates, the chief of which were Blackfriars, Greenhithe, Dowgate and Billingsgate.

Within the narrow space of the City Walls there rose a forest of towers and spires. The piety of Merchants had erected no fewer than a hundred and three churches, which successive citizens were continually rebuilding, beautifying, or enlarging. They were filled with the effigies and splendid tombs, the painted and gilded arms, of their founders and benefactors, for whose souls masses were continually said.

"London was divided into Wards, and was perhaps as catholic in its commercial and industrial pursuits then as now. Every kind of trade was carried on within its walls, just as every kind of merchandise was sold. The combination of fellows of the same craft began in very early times, guilds were formed for the protection of trade and its followers; the guild-brothers met once a month to consider the interests of the craft, regulating prices, recovering debts and so forth. But the London of the period was not so gay as Paris, nor so bustling and prosperous as Antwerp, nor so full of splendour and intellectual life as Venice.[1] Yet to the Englishman of the day it was an ever-lasting wonder. Its towers and palaces, its episcopal residences and gentlemen's inns, the bustle of its commerce, the number of its foreigners, the wealth of its Companies, and the bravery of its pageants, invested it with more poetry than can be claimed for it at the present time, unless Wealth be our deity, Hurry our companion, and Progress our muse. The rich were leaving their pleasant country mansions to plunge into its delights. At the law terms there was a regular influx of visitors, who seemed to think more of taking tobacco than of winning a lawsuit. Ambitious courtiers, hopeful ecclesiastics, pushing merchants, and poetic dreamers, were all caught by the fascinations of London. Site, antiquity, life, and, above all, abundance of the good things that make up half its charm, in the shape of early delicacies, costly meats, and choice wines, combined to make it a miraculous city in the eyes of the Elizabethan."