Henry Mayhew and Charles Dickens were aware of and saw London
as so few others did at this time. A few observations follow, from
Dickens' Sketches by Boz", Scenes, Chapter 2, The
Streets — Night, Penguin 1995 reprint, p. 76
"The streets in the vicinity of the Marsh-gate and Victoria
Theatre present an appearance of dirt and discomfort on such
a night, which the groups who lounge about them in no degree
tend to diminish. Even the little block-tin temple sacred to
baked potatoes, surmounted by a splendid design in variegated
lamps, look less gay than usual; and as to the kidney-pie
stand, its glory has quite departed. The candel in the
transparent lamp, manufactured of oil-paper, embellished with
'characters,' has been blown out fifty times, so the kidney-pie
merchant, tired with running backwards and forwards to the next
wine-vaults, to get light, has given up the idea of
illumination in despair, and the only signs of his 'whereabout,'
are the bright sparks, of which a long irregular train is
whirled down the street every time he opens his portable oven
to hand a hot kidney-pie to a customer."
"Flat fish, oyster, and fruit venders linger hopelessly in the
kennel, in vain endeavoring to attract customers; and the
ragged boys who usually disport themselves about the streets,
stand crouched in little knots in some projecting doorway, or
under the canvass blind of the cheesemonger's, where great
flaring gas-lights, unshaded by any glass, display huge piles
of bright red, and pale yellow cheeses, mingled with little
five-penny dabs of dingy bacon, various tubs of weekly Dorset
[butter], and cloudy rolls of the 'best fresh.' "
Portraits of street people and street life were not unique to Mayhew.
In the compilation "Petersburg: The Physiology of a City", Nikolai Nekrasov
includes several stories about the street life and street people
of nineteenth-century St. Petersburg, including "The Petersburg Quarter" and
"The Petersburg Organ-grinders".