contact, is seen—behold him yonder!—seated
behind his stall enjoying a mild Havannah,
with an appearance of sublime indifference to
all around him. Presently, his porter deposits
a ' lot ' of fish between him, and an eager
group of buyers. He puts down his cigar and
mounts his rostrum.

"What shall we say, gentlemen, for this
score of cod? Shall we say seven shillings a
piece?"

No answer.

"Six?"

Perfect silence. The auctioneer gives pause
for consideration, and takes a whiff at his
Havannah. Time is, however, precious, where
fish is concerned, and he is not long in abating
another shilling.

"A crown?"

"Done!" exclaims Mr. Jollins of Pimlico.

"Five pounds, if you please! " demands the
seller. A note is handed over, and the twenty
cod are hoisted into Mr. Jollins's cart, which
stands in Thames Street, before a second lot
is quite disposed of.

This mild proceeding is going on all over
the market. On looking to see if the remotest
relic of such a being as a fish-fag is to be
seen, we observe a gentleman who, though
girded with the flannel uniform of the craft, has
so fashionable a surtout, so elegant a neckerchief,
and such a luxuriance of moustache
and whiskers, that we mistake him for an
officer in her Majesty's Life Guards, selling
fish by way of—what in Billingsgate used to be
called—a 'jolly lark.' Enquiry proves,
however, that he is the accredited consignee of
one of the largest fishing fleets which sail out
of the Thames.

We are bound to confess that the high tone
of refinement which had hitherto been so well
supported on the occasion of our visit, became
in a little while, slightly depressed. As the
legislature of the British empire consists of
Crown, Lords, and Commons; so also the
executive of Billingsgate is composed of three
estates: first, of the Lord Mayor (Piscine
secretary of state, Mr. Goldham); secondly, of
an aristocracy, and, thirdly, of a commonalty,
of salesmen. The latter—called in ancient
Billingsgate Bummarees, in modern ditto,
' Retailers'—are middlemen between the
smaller fishmonger and the high salesman
aristocracy. They purchase the various sorts
of fish, and arrange them in small assorted
parcels to suit the convenience of suburban
fishmongers, or of those peripatetic tradesmen,
to whom was formerly applied the
obsolete term almost of ' Costermonger.'
The transactions between these parties were
not conducted under the influence of those strict
rules of etiquette which governed the earlier
dealings of the morning. Indeed, we detected
the proprietor of a very respectable looking
donkey answering a civil enquiry from a
retailer as to what he was ' looking for ' with

"Not you!"

It is right, however, to add, in justice to
the reputation of a locality which has been so
long and so undeservedly regarded as the
head quarters of verbal vulgarity, that a
friend of the offender asked him solemnly
if he remembered were he wos; and if he warn't
ashamed of his-self for going and bringing his
Cheek into that 'ere markit?

Connected with the perambulating
purveyors, there is a subject of very great
importance; namely, cheap food for the poor.
Although painful revelations of want of
proper sustenance in every part of this over-
crowded country, are daily breaking forth
to light; although the low dietaries of most
workhouses, and some prisons, are very often
complained of; yet the old Celtic prejudice
against fish still exists in great force among
the humbler orders. Few poor persons will
eat fish when they can get meat; many
prefer gruel, and some slow starvation. Divers
kinds of wholesome and nutritious fish are
now sold at prices not above the means of the
poorest persons; yet, so small is the demand,
that the itinerant vendor—through whom
what little that is sold reaches the humble
consumer—makes it a matter of perfect
indifference when he starts from home whether his
venture for the day shall be fish or vegetables.
His first visit is to Billingsgate; but if he find
things, as regards price or kind, not to his
taste, he adjourns to speculate in Covent
Garden. He has, therefore, no regular market
for what might most beneficially become a
staple article. During the fruit season, little or
no fish reaches the humbler classes; because
then their purveyors find dealings with the
' Garden ' more profitable than dealings at the
' Gate.'

Not long since a large quantity of wholesome
fish of various sorts was left upon the
hands of the market superintendent. By
the advice of the Lord Mayor, it was
forwarded for consumption to Giltspur Street
Compter. The prisoners actually refused to
eat it, and accompanied their refusal with a
jocose allusion to the want of a proper
accompaniment of sauce.

Among the stronger instances of the popular
aversion to this kind of food, we may mention
that in 1812, one of the members of the
Committee for the Relief of the Manufacturing
Poor, agreed with some fishermen
to take from ten to twenty thousand mackerel
a day, at a penny a piece; a price at which
the fishermen said they could afford to
supply the London market, to any extent,
were they sure of a regular sale. On the
15th June, 1812, upwards of seventeen thousand
mackerel, delivered at the stipulated
price, were sent to Spitalfields, and sold to the
working weavers at the original cost of a
penny a piece. Though purchased with great
avidity by the inhabitants of that district, it
soon appeared that Spitalfields alone would
not be equal to the consumption of the vast
quantities of mackerel which daily poured
into the market; they were, therefore, sent