The Cries of London Part 8

Bryant, in his "Flora Diaetetica," page 103, says, "The young tender leaves are eaten in the spring as lettuce, they being much of the same nature, except that they are rather more detergent and diuretic. Boerhaave greatly recommended the use of dandelion in most chronical distempers, and held it capable of resolving all kinds of coagulations, and most obstinate obstructions of the viscera, if it were duly continued. For these purposes the stalks may be blanched and eaten as celery."

There is a fas.h.i.+on in the Cries of London as there are "tides in the affairs of men," particularly in articles that are used as purifiers of the blood. About fifty years ago, nothing but Scurvy-gra.s.s was thought of, and the best scurvy-gra.s.s ale was sold in Covent Garden, at the public-house at the corner of Henrietta Street.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _"Simplers"_]

SIMPLERS.

PLATE XXVI.

Those persons who live in the country and rise with the sun can bear testimony to the activity of the Simpler, who commences his selections from the ditches and swampy grounds at that early period of the day, and, after he has filled a large pack for his back, trudges for fifteen miles to the London markets, where perhaps he is the first who offers goods for sale; he then returns back and sleeps in some barn until the next succeeding sun. Such an instance of rustic simplicity is William Friday, whose portrait is exhibited in the annexed plate. This man starts from Croydon, with champignons, mushrooms, &c. and is alternately snail-picker, leech-bather, and viper-catcher. Simpling is not confined to men; but women, particularly in some counties, often const.i.tute a greater part of the community, and they appear to be a distinct cla.s.s of beings. The plate which accompanies this description exhibits three women Simplers returning from market to Croydon; they were sketched on the Stockwell Road, and are sufficient to shew their gait.

The Simplers, particularly the women, are much attached to bra.s.s rings, which they display in great profusion upon almost every finger: their faces and arms are sunburnt and freckled, and they live to a great age, notwithstanding their constant wet and heavy burthens, which are always earned on the loins.

To the exertions of these poor people the public are much indebted, as they supply our wants every day; indeed the extensive sale of their commodities, which they dispose of to the herb-shops in Covent Garden, Fleet, and Newgate Markets, must at once declare them to be a most useful set of people. Among the numerous articles culled from the hedges and the springs, the following are a few in constant consumption: water-cresses, dandelions, scurvy-gra.s.s, nettles, bitter-sweet, cough-gra.s.s, feverfew, hedge mustard, Jack by the hedge, or sauce-alone.

Dr. Buchan observes, that "Bitter-sweet is a common wild plant, with weak but woody stalks, that runs among our hedges, and bears bunches of pretty blue flowers in summer, and in autumn red berries; the stalks run to ten feet in length, but they cannot support themselves upright; they are of a bluish colour, and, when broken, have a very disagreeable smell like rotten eggs. The leaves are oval, but sharp-pointed, and have each two little ones near the base; they are of a dusky green and indented, and they grow singly on the stalks. The flowers are small and of a fine purplish blue, with yellow threads in the middle; the berries are oblong."

The same author, speaking of Cough-gra.s.s, says, "However offensive this weed may be in the fields and gardens, it is said to have its uses in medicine, and should teach us that the most common things are not therefore despicable, since it is certain that nothing was made in vain."

The Doctor observes, that "Jack by the hedge, or sauce alone, is an annual plant, which perishes every year, but makes a figure in the spring, and is common in our hedges. The root is small, white, and woody, the stalks rise to the height of three feet, and are slender, channelled, hairy, and very straight. The leaves, which stand on long foot-stalks, are large, broad, short, and roundish; and those which grow on the stalk somewhat pointed at the extremities, and waved at the edges. They are of a pale yellow green colour, thin and slender, and being bruised, smell like onions or garlic.

The flowers, which stand ten or a dozen together at the tops of the branches, are small and white, consisting each of four leaves; these are followed by slender pods, containing small longish seeds. It is found in hedges, and on bank sides, and flowers in May."

Many of the simples of England are peculiar to particular spots, as the following extract from Gerarde's Herbal, fol. 1633, Lond. edited by Thomas Johnson, will demonstrate. "Navelwort, or wall penniwoort. The first kind of penniwoort groweth plentifully in Northampton upon every stone wall about the towne, at Bristow, Bathe, Wells, and most places of the West Countrie, upon stone walls. It groweth upon Westminster Abbey, over the doore that leadeth from Chaucer's tombe to the old palace." From an address to his courteous readers, it appears that Gerarde first established his Herbal in the year 1597, in the month of December, and that he then resided in Holborn. Thomas Johnson, Gerarde's editor, dates his address to his reader from his house on Snow Hill, Oct. 22, 1633.

Hence it will appear that any thing these writers may have said respecting the structure of the buildings or topography of the suburbs in which they herbarized, is to be depended upon.

Snails are brought to market by the Simpler, and continue to be much used by consumptive persons. There are various sorts which are peculiar to particular spots; for instance, at Gayhurst, in Buckinghams.h.i.+re, the Helix Pomoeria were there turned down for the use of Lady Venetia Digby when in a weak state. The house now belongs to Miss Wright, a descendant of Lord Keeper Wright, where these snails continue in great profusion. Near the old green-houses built by Kent in Kensington Gardens, the same snail is frequently found; it has a yellow sh.e.l.l, and was prescribed and placed there for William the Third.

Vipers formerly were sold in quant.i.ties at the Simpling Shops, but of late years they are so little called for that not above one in a month is sold in Covent Garden Market. There were regular viper catchers, who had a method of alluring them with a bit of scarlet cloth tied to the end of a long stick.

The following lines are extracted from a curious half-sheet print, ent.i.tled, "The Cries of London," to the tune of "Hark, the merry merry Christ Church bells," printed and sold at the printing office in Bow Church Yard, London. To this plate are prefixed two very curious old wood-blocks, one of a Galantie-show man, of the time of King William the Third, and the other of the time of James the First, representing a Salt-box man, and is perhaps one of the earliest specimens of that character. The lines alluded to are:

"Here's fine rosemary, sage, and thyme!

Come buy my ground ivy.

Here's fetherfew, gilliflowers, and rue, Come buy my knotted marjorum, ho!

Come buy my mint, my fine green mint, Here's fine lavender for your clothes, Here's parsley and winter-savory, And hearts-ease, which all do choose.

Here's balm and hissop, and cinquefoil, All fine herbs, it is well known.

Let none despise the merry merry Cries Of famous London Town!

Here's pennyroyal and marygolds!

Come buy my nettle-tops.

Here's water-cresses and scurvy-gra.s.s!

Come buy my sage of virtue ho!

Come buy my wormwood and mugwort, Here's all fine herbs of every sort.

Here's southernwood that's very good, Dandelion and houseleek.

Here's dragon's tongue and wood sorrel, With bear's foot and h.o.r.ehound.

Let none despise the merry merry Cries Of famous London Town!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: _"Washerwomen"_]

WASHER-WOMEN, CHAR-WOMEN, AND STREET NURSES.

PLATE XXVII.

Perhaps there is not a cla.s.s of people who work harder than those washer-women who go out to a.s.sist servants in what is called a heavy wash; they may be seen in the winter time, s.h.i.+vering at the doors, at three and four o'clock in the morning, and are seldom dismissed before ten at night, this hard treatment being endured for two s.h.i.+llings and sixpence a day.

They may be divided into two cla.s.ses, the industrious, who labour cheerfully to support their little ones, and, too often, an idle and cruel husband; and those that take snuff, drink gin, and propagate the scandal of the neighbourhood, seldom quitting the house of their employer without gaining the secrets of the family, which they acquire by pretending to tell the fortunes of every one in the house to the servants of the family, by the manner in which the grouts of the tea adhere to the sides of the tea-cup. Most of these people, who are generally round-shouldered and lop-sided, are so accustomed to chatter with the servants, that they acquire a habit of keeping their mouths open, either horizontally or perpendicularly; and it is evident from Hollar's etchings of Leonardo da Vinci's caricatures that the latter must have studied the grimaces of this cla.s.s of people. Some of these old washer-women, when they happen to meet with a discreet and silent domestic, will speak to the cat or the dog, and even hold conversation with themselves rather than lose the privilege of utterance.

These wretches are always full of complaints of their coughs, asthmas, or pains in the stomach, but these are mere efforts to procure an extra gla.s.s of cordial.

The Char-women are that description of people who go about to clean houses, either by was.h.i.+ng the wainscot, scrubbing the floors, or brightening the pots and kettles; they are generally worse drabs, if possible, than the lowest order of washer-women; they will either filch the soap, steal the coals, or borrow a plate, which they never return; and yet the women of this calling who conduct themselves with sobriety and honesty, are great acquisitions to single gentlemen, particularly students in the law.

Few families, however watchful they may be over the conduct of their servants, are aware of the extreme idleness and profligacy of some of them.

If the mistress of a house would for once rise at five o'clock, she might behold a set of squalid beings engaged in whitening the steps of the doors; she may even observe some of them, who have procured keys of the area gates, descend the steps to procure from the kitchen pails of hog-wash, with meat and bread wrapped up in tattered ap.r.o.ns; so that their servants, by thus getting rid of the door-cleaning business, remain in bed after the milkwoman, by the help of a string, has lowered her can into the area. This dishonesty of the servants has been extended, from a few broken crusts, to the more generous gift of half a loaf in a morning.

On the contrary, it is a fact too well known, that there are many servants who rise too early, particularly those who attend to the flattery of men who sneak into houses, pretending to be in love with their charming persons, merely for the purpose of obtaining the surest mode of robbing the house, either then or in future.

There are hundreds of old women who take charge of the children of those who go out for daily hire. These Nurses drag the infants in all sorts of ways about the streets for the whole day, and sometimes treat them very ill, and, imitating the mode usually adopted by the vulgar part of nurses in families, to pacify the squalling and too often hungry infants, terrify them with a threat that Tom Poker, David Stumps, or Bonaparte, are coming to take them away. This custom of frightening children, which was practised in very early times, was made use of by the Spanish nurses after the defeat of the Armada. Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," part I, sec. 2: "Education a cause of Melancholy. There is a great moderation to be had in such things as matters of so great moment, to the making or marring of a childe. Some fright their children with beggars, bugbears, and hobgoblins, if they cry or be otherways unruly."

Among the very few single prints published in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there is one engraved on wood, measuring twenty inches by thirteen; it contains mult.i.tudes of figures, and is so great a rarity, that the author has seen only one impression of it, which is in the truly valuable and interesting collection of prints presented in the most liberal manner to the British Museum by Sir Joseph and Lady Banks.

This print, which has escaped the notice of all the writers on the Graphic Art, is ent.i.tled, "t.i.ttle-Tattle, or the several Branches of Gossipping;"

at the foot of the print are the following verses, evidently in a type and orthography of a later time:

1.

At childbed when the gossips meet, Fine stories we are told; And if they get a cup too much, Their tongues they cannot hold.

2.

At market when good housewives meet, Their market being done, Together they will crack a pot Before they can get home.

3.

The bakehouse is a place, you know, Where maids a story hold, And if their mistresses will prate, They must not be controll'd.

4.

At alehouse you see how jovial they be, With every one her noggin; For till the skull and belly be full None of them will be jogging.