Twice round the clock; or, The hours of the day and night in LondonSala, George Augustus
General
Twice round the clock; or, The hours of the day and night in London
Sala, George Augustus
London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Of mussels there are three kinds: Dutch, Exeters, and Shorehams. They are
brought to market in bags, of the average weight of three hundredweight;
each bag containing about one hundred and sixty quarts, inclusive of dirt
and stones. They are sold at from five shillings to seven shillings a
bag. Of periwinkles—or, as they are more popularly and familiarly termed,
“winkles”—there are four sorts: Scotch, Clays, Isle of Wights, and
Maidens. They are sold by the bushel, or by the “level” or gallon. Crabs
are sold by the “kit” (a long shallow basket) and by the score. Lobsters
by the score and the double.
At the “Cock,” in Love Lane, and at the “White Hart,” in Botolph Lane,
there is a boiling-house in the rear of the premises. Each boiling-house
consists of a spacious kitchen filled with immense cauldrons. Here winkle
and whelk buyers, who have neither utensils nor convenient premises
sufficient to boil at home, can have it done for them for fourpence
a bushel. Each boiling is performed separately in a wicker-basket;
crabs and lobsters may likewise be boiled at these houses. Half-a-dozen
scores of the fish are packed in a large basket, shaped like a
strawberry-pottle, a lid is put between each lot, and the hot-water
torture is inflicted at the rate of sixpence a score.
If your servant, the writer, were not precluded by the terms of his
contract from taking any natural rest, he might, pleading fatigue, retire
to bed; and, tossing on an unquiet couch, as men must do who slip between
the sheets when the blessed sun is shining, have fantastic dreams of Ned
Ward and Sir William Walworth: dream of the market-scene in “Masaniello,”
and hum a dream-reminiscence of “Behold, how brightly beams the morning!”
which, of course, like all things appertaining to dreams, has no more
resemblance to the original air than the tune the cow died of. Then
fancy that he is a supernumerary in a pantomime, and that Mr. Flexmore,
the clown, has jumped upon his shoulders, and is beating him about the
ears with a “property” codfish. Then he might be Jonah, swallowed by the
whale; and then Tobit’s fish. Then he would find himself half awake, and
repeating some lines he remembered reading years ago, scrawled in ink on
a huge placard outside the shop of Mr. Taylor, the famous fishmonger, in
Lombard Street. Yes: they ran thus—
“So the ‘Times’ takes an interest in the case of Geils;
I wish it would take some in my eels!”
What a queer fish Mr. Taylor must have been! Where is he now? Why,
he (your servant) is Taylor—Jeremy Taylor—Tom Taylor—Taylor the
water-poet—Billy Taylor—the Three Tailors of Tooley Street—Mr. Toole, the
toast-master of arts and buttered toast; and—he is asleep!
FIVE O’CLOCK A.M.—THE PUBLICATION OF THE “TIMES” NEWSPAPER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account