The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London (71 page)

‘for the privilege’: protesting undertaker: Walker,
The First of a Series ... Metropolitan Grave-Yards
, p. 19; Enon chapel: Walker,
Gatherings
, pp. 154–5 and
The Second of a Series ... Metropolitan Grave-Yards
, pp. 15–16, and David L. Pike,
Subterranean Cities: The World Beneath Paris and London, 1800–1945
(Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2005), p. 221; advertisement for dancing: ‘Lord’ George Sanger,
Seventy Years a Showman: My Life and Adventures ...
(London, C. Arthur Pearson [1908]), p. 79; viewings:
ILN
, 27 November 1847, p. 343.

‘using the grounds’:
ILN
, 1 March 1845, p. 131.

‘were the dead’: ‘Address’: [Percival Leigh], ‘Address from an Undertaker to the Trade’,
Household Words
, 13, 22 June 1850, pp. 301–4; poem: [John Delaware Lewis], ‘City Graves’,
Household Words
, 38, 14 December 1850, p. 277; Nemo’s burial spot:
Bleak House
, pp. 202, 276. The location is debated. Tambling,
Going Astray
, p. 139, says it is in the churchyard of St Mary-le-Strand, while the editors of Dickens’
Letters
suggest St Martin-in-the-Fields. I am with Tambling in this matter;
Our Mutual Friend
, pp. 386–7.

‘water-borne coffins’: Hugh Meller,
London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer
(2nd edn, Godstone, Surrey, Gregg, 1985) lists all the new cemeteries, and their most famous residents. Mary Hogarth’s burial site and footnote: Tambling,
Going Astray
, p. 292.

‘fine, and river’: [Richard H. Horne], ‘Father Thames’,
Household Words
, 45, 1 February 1851, pp. 446–7;
Little Dorrit
, p. 68.

‘it won’t do’: ‘head-and-stomach’: Dickens to W. W. F. de Cerjat, 7 July 1858,
Letters
, vol. 8, p. 599; ‘smell rushes up’:
ILN
: 19 June 1858, p. 603, and 26 June, p. 631; Dickens: to de Cerjat, 7 July 1858, ibid.

‘of sheer stench’: Disraeli:
The Times
, 3 July 1858, p. 9; ‘compelled to legislate’: ibid., 18 June 1858, p. 9.

‘makes us clean’: Hollingshead,
Underground London
, pp. 58, 68, which is a collection of pieces from
All the Year Round
; Anon.,
The Wild Boys of London, or, Children of the Night. A Story of the Present Day
(London, no publisher, [1866?]), p. 8.

‘doing properly’: Duke of Buccleuch’s house:
ILN
: 6 September 1862, p. 265, 30 May 1868, p. 535, 28 May 1870, p. 554. The embanking of the Thames in this and the next paragraph: Porter,
The Thames Embankment
, passim.

‘stage of transition’: military campaign:
ILN
, 30 July 1864, p. 114; Hudson,
Munby
, pp. 175, 191, 203, 221; Dickens to W. W. F. de Cerjat, 1 February 1861,
Letters
, vol. 9, p. 383.

‘form and colour’: Hudson,
Munby
, p. 265; the historian: Porter,
The Thames Embankment
, p. 34.

1867:
THE REGENT
’
S PARK SKATING DISASTER

‘off a cold’:
Pickwick Papers
, pp. 396ff.

‘end of the water’: numbers and Humane Society:
ILN
: 14 December 1844, pp. 375–6.

‘tunnel as usual’: Express Train:
ILN
, 17 February 1855, p. 151; skating in the tunnel: ibid., 3 March 1855, p. 197.

‘of a serious nature’: the paragraphs that follow have been compiled from newspaper reports. The eyewitness evidence is from the inquest transcripts, reprinted in
The Times
over the next two weeks of January, with further information from the
Daily News
, 16 and 17 January 1867, and the
Morning Post
, 16 January 1867. One of the most complete reports appears in the
Standard
, 22 January 1867. The number of icemen on duty is taken from these reports; however, according to Wendy Neal,
With Disastrous Consequences: London Disasters 1830–1917
(Enfield Lock, Hisarlik Press, 1992), p. 111, there were nineteen.

‘to us, are
dead
’: The diary of Shirley Brooks is in the British Library; I am grateful to Patrick Leary for this transcript, and for pointing me to the skating disaster in the first instance.

9.
STREET PERFORMANCE

‘occupy his day’: Pantheon description: Allen,
History and Antiquities of London,
vol. 5, pp. 281–3; footnote on the Pantheon: Alison Adburgham,
Shops and Shopping, 1800–1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-dressed Englishwoman Bought her Clothes
(London, Allen and Unwin, 1981), p. 22; Thackeray, ‘De Juventute’, ‘Roundabout Papers from the
Cornhill Magazine
’, in
The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray
(London, Smith Elder & Co., 1887), vol. 22, p. 73.

‘confectioners and milliners’: fashionable hours: Badcock and Rowlandson,
Real Life in London
, vol. 1, p. 104; carriages: Wey,
A Frenchman Sees London
, p. 72; ‘sparkling jewellery’:
Nicholas Nickleby
, pp. 488–9; Sala,
Twice Round the Clock
, pp. 132–3, 157.

‘clients also vanished’: Dickens to Catherine Dickens, 7 September 1853,
Letters
, vol. 7, p. 138; shop assistants and milkmaids: Dickens, ‘Arcadian London’, in
All the Year Round
, 29 September 1860, in
Dickens’ Journalism
, vol. 4, p. 183, 185; prostitutes: Hudson,
Munby
, p. 69.

‘they had been given’: Dickens, ‘Arcadian London’,
Dickens’ Journalism
, vol. 4, p. 189.

‘Rag Fair market’: marine stores and rag-and-bottle shops: Mayhew,
London Labour
, vol. 2, p. 108,
Bleak House
, pp. 98–9,
David Copperfield
, p. 177; Susan Shatto,
The Companion to Bleak House
(London, Unwin Hyman, 1988), pp. 59–64, on reselling.

‘sort: see below’:
Martin Chuzzlewit
, p. 280; West End: Greenwood,
Unsentimental Journeys
, p. 14; St Giles: Sala,
Twice Round the Clock
, pp. 264ff.; carpenter’s tools, and outline of pawning: Dickens with W. H. Willis, ‘My Uncle’, in
Household Words
, 6 December 1851, in Stone (ed.),
Uncollected Writings
, vol. 2, pp. 367–78.

‘for a consideration’: trickery and sympathy: Renton Nicholson,
Autobiography of a Fast Man
(London, published ‘for the Proprietors’, 1863), pp. 11, 97.

‘a broken plate’: dolly shops: Dickens, ‘Brokers’ and ‘Marine-store Shops’, in
Sketches by Boz
, pp. 211–13, A. Mayhew,
Paved with Gold
, p. 10; leaving shops: Greenwood,
Unsentimental Journeys
, p. 15;
Our Mutual Friend
, p. 346; Southwark shop: Anon., ‘Turpin’s Corner’,
Household Words
, 17, 8 May 1858, pp. 493–6.

‘5 shillings’: Cranbourne Alley: Sala,
Gaslight and Daylight
, p. 60, Smith,
An Antiquarian Ramble
, vol. 1, pp. 124–5; Beale,
Recollections
, p. 20.

‘massive pie sign’: shop signs: Badcock and Rowlandson,
Real Life in London
, vol. 1, p. 170;
Little Dorrit
, p. 258;
Dombey and Son
, p. 88;
Martin Chuzzlewit
, p. 377.

‘nibbling the cheese’: pub signs: Bennett,
London and Londoners
, p. 96; all others: Smith,
Little World of London
, pp. 233ff.

‘on the pavements’: Warren’s Blacking: Colton,
Four Years in Great Britain
, p. 63; ‘Try Warren’s’: R. S. Surtees,
Ask Mamma, or, The Richest Commoner in England
(London, Bradbury and Evans, 1858), p. 18; use of pavements: Altick,
Presence of the Present
, p. 232.

‘at any height’: Regency bills: John Thomas Smith,
Ancient Topography of London ...
(London [no publisher], 1815), facing p. 32, Smith,
Vagabondiana
, final plate, Leighton,
London Cries
, facing p. 2, and Thomas H. Shepherd [and James Elmes], London and its Environs in the Nineteenth Century, Illustrated by a Series of Views
from the Original Drawings by Thomas H. Shepherd, with ... Notes
[by James Elmes], (London, Jones & Co., 1829), facing p. 114, are only a few examples; ‘a fresh supply’: Knight (ed.),
London
, vol. 5, pp. 33–4; dress: ibid., p. 36.

‘excursion advertisements’: Dickens, ‘Bill-Sticking’,
Household Words
, 22 March 1851, in
Dickens’ Journalism
, vol. 2, pp. 339–50; Mr Guppy:
Bleak House
, p. 175; Schlesinger,
Saunterings
, p. 24.

‘any other way’: Southey,
Letters from England
, p. 51; Egan,
Life in London
, 158;
Old Curiosity Shop
, p. 282; ‘seedy personages’: Bennett,
London and Londoners
, p. 55.

‘a bigger impression’: Regent Street: MacKenzie,
The American in England
, vol. 1, p. 172; ‘animated sandwich’: ‘The Dancing Academy’,
Sketches by Boz
, p. 299; ‘piece of human flesh’: Knight (ed.),
London
, vol. 5, p. 37;
ILN
:
ILN
, 14 May 1842, p. 16.

‘and even weeks’: the itch: MacKenzie,
The American in England
, vol. 1, pp. 172–3; bootmaker: Wey,
A Frenchman Sees London
, p. 207; Mr Falcon: Schlesinger,
Saunterings
, p. 15.

‘gilding and pictures’: Boz ads: Mark Wormald, introduction to
Pickwick Papers
, p. xiii; Bardell bus company: Long, ‘Mr Pickwick Lucky to Find a Cab?’; wellington boot: engraving in the
Weekly Chronicle
, reproduced in Jackson,
George Scharf’s London
, p. 36; models of houses and steamboats: MacKenzie,
The American in England
, pp. 73–4; hat, obelisk and gothic windows: Knight (ed.),
London
, vol. 5, p. 38; Schlesinger,
Saunterings
, pp. 15, 18–19.

‘whiskers with him afterwards’: auctions: Greenwood,
Wilds of London
, pp. 152–3; bear grease: Lockwood,
Passionate Pilgrims
, p. 129, Bennett,
London and Londoners
, pp. 100–101;
Nicholas Nickleby
, p. 131.

‘his wet things’: shop bells: Phillips,
Wild Tribes
, p. 97; tailors: Badcock and Rowlandson,
Real Life in London
, vol. 1, pp. 530–31;
Pickwick Papers
, pp. 431–2; coffee rooms: Hudson,
Munby
, p. 85;
Great Expectations
, p. 446.

‘early dinner-beer’: delivery boy’s dress: Frank Bullen,
Confessions of a Tradesman
(London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1908), p. 22;
Pickwick Papers
, pp. 417–18, 424; Kentish Town newspaper: Yates,
Recollections
, p. 28.

‘in St Martin’s Lane’:
ILN
, 2 June 1854, pp. 562, 564.

‘spoil – spile’:
Pickwick Papers
, pp. 131, 163;
Bleak House
, pp. 278, 422–3.

‘Menshun Ouse’: Badcock and Rowlandson,
Real Life in London
, vol. 1, p. 457; Bennett,
London and Londoners
, pp. 140–41, and Hollingshead,
My Lifetime
, vol. 1, p. 49, agrees with him here; location names: Tuer,
Old London Street Cries
, pp. 70, 73.

‘had all vanished’:
Edwin Drood
, pp. 254–5; ‘Metropolitan Miss’ and upper-class gent: Mayhew and Binny,
The Criminal Prisons
, p. 5; Trollope,
What I Remember
, p. 49.

‘clothes get tight’: the Stilton: Mayhew and Binny,
The Criminal Prisons
, p. 5; costers’ backslang: Mayhew,
London Labour
, vol. 1, p. 23, and Mayhew and Binny, ibid.

‘Oliver Twist (fist)’: rhyming slang: Mayhew and Binny, ibid., Hayward,
Days of Dickens
, pp. 16–17; novel: A. Mayhew,
Paved with Gold
, p. 70.

‘Romany for speak’: Mayhew and foreign languages: Mayhew and Binny,
The Criminal Prisons
, p. 6; Dickens,
Oliver Twist
, pp. 79, 29; Romany: Mayhew and Binny, ibid.

‘your poor feet’: 1830s catchphrases: Hayward,
Days of Dickens
, p. 17 and Vizetelly,
Glances Back
: vol. 1, p. 103; 1860s catchphrases: Bennett,
London and Londoners
, pp. 41–2.

‘Hookey estates from’: ‘Do you see any green’: Hayward,
Days of Dickens
, p. 17;
A Christmas Carol
, p. 129;
David Copperfield
, p. 307.

‘cocking a snook’:
Pickwick Papers
, p. 405;
Old Curiosity Shop
, p. 365.

‘a dancing girl’: bands: Mayhew:
London Labour
, vol. 3, p. 159; types of organists in the following three paragraphs: Smith,
Curiosities
, pp. 2–15.

‘extremely unusual’: Hudson,
Munby
, p. 276; Stabbers’s Band: ‘An Unsettled Neighbourhood’,
Household Words
, 11 November 1854, in
Dickens’ Journalism
, vol. 3, p. 243.

‘in such circumstances’: ‘The Streets – Night’,
Sketches by Boz
, p. 77; Hudson,
Munby
, pp. 157–8; Joseph Johnson: Smith,
Vagabondiana
, facing p. 33; sailor with child: Jackson,
Scharf’s London
, p. 56; sailors: Bennett,
London and Londoners
, p. 53.

‘brazen instruments’: Robert Seymour,
Seymour’s Humorous Sketches...
, with text by Alfred Crowquill (2nd edn, London, Henry G. Bohn, 1866), sketch 22; Leech and Dickens, cited by John M. Picker,
Victorian Soundscapes
(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 42.