1. Read the newspaper article in the Resource Material.

Read the extract from a Victorian magazine, ‘London As It Is’.

Petticoat Lane Market is a famous street market in London. This passage is taken from a magazine, ‘London As It Is’, published in 1877.

Petticoat Lane Market

Petticoat Lane is long, narrow and filthy. Along this narrow lane the houses are small, and sanitary conditions are poor. The drainage here seems to be very inadequate and in the summertime the foul waste water remains in stagnant pools, much to the danger of the inhabitants.

But on a Sunday morning, what a din! The narrow lane is seething with life and almost every inch of the road you have to push your way through the crowd. There is good temper and humour here – but what keen bargaining is going on all along the lane.

“Who’ll buy?” is a general cry from shop and stall alike.

“All the new songs. Only a penny!” shouts a lanky youth, holding out a handful of flimsy song-sheets.

“Who’ll buy a hat for two shilling – worth five shilling, so help me!” calls another seller.

We pause for a moment in front of a stall. It is enough. A dozen pair of eyes are upon us, like those of vultures looking for prey; we must want something. One street seller insists on trying to sell us a large sea-chest and folding tent. Another directs our attention to a cold, shiny-looking couch, hard and faded, and three high-backed chairs, with weak legs. Then another man yells into our ears the praises of an eight-day clock. The pressure of the crowd increases. It is no easy matter to squeeze our way through without being crunched like snails. The thronged pavement is narrow, and the few feet of the roadway are occupied by a continuous string of stalls – an array of cheap jewellery, cheap tools, cheap hats, cheap cakes, cheap hot liquor sold in small glasses – cheap everything.

The public houses in Petticoat Lane are generally crammed to excess. Through the open doorways we look into the back rooms, where some dozen men are drinking and smoking, their faces lost in the clouds of smoke coming from their lips. These men are known as ‘Petticoat Lane fencers’, or receivers of stolen goods. Patiently they sit in these filthy rooms, waiting for news of the goods that will come their way.

Across the road are men and women, and beside them are spread out their varied goods, which demand our attention. A hand is laid on my arm, pulling me back and an oily voice persuasively says, “Like a nice coat, sir? I’ve one that’ll fit you nicely. Try it on. Fit you in a minute, sir.” Another man is sitting amid a pile of old iron, boots and shoes, shouting to passers-by of the excellence of a hand-saw and jack-plane. Rusty, dusty, cobwebby old metal lies upon the ground and, indeed, some of the boots and shoes seem about as wearable as lumps of coal.

To answer the following questions you must use both texts.

Both of these texts are about markets and street sellers.

Compare:

• the ways in which Harry West and the Petticoat Lane street sellers try to sell their goods

• how the writers show what these street sellers are like

You must use the text to support your comments and make it clear which text you are referring to.