The vending of tea and coffee, in the streets, was little if at all known years ago, saloop being then the beverage supplied from stalls to the late and early wayfarers. Nor was it until after that the stalls approached to anything like their present number, which is said to be upwards of —the majority of the proprietors being women. Prior to , coffee was in little demand, even among the smaller tradesmen or farmers, but in that year the duty having been reduced from to per lb., the consumption throughout the kingdom in the next years was nearly trebled, the increase being from lbs., in , to lbs., in . In , the duty on coffee, was fixed at , from British possessions, and from foreign countries at

But it was not owing solely to the reduced price of coffee, that the street-vendors of it increased in the year or subsequent to , at least per cent. The great facilities then offered for a cheap adulteration, by mixing ground chicory with the ground coffee, was an enhancement of the profits, and a greater temptation to embark in the business, as a smaller amount of capital would suffice. Within these or years, this cheapness has been still further promoted, by the medium of adulteration, the chicory itself being, in its turn, adulterated by the admixture of baked carrots, and the like saccharine roots, which, of course, are not subjected to any duty, while

The coffee-stall keepers generally stand at the corner of a street. In the fruit and meat markets there are usually or coffeestalls, and or in the streets leading to them; in Covent-garden there are no less than coffee-stalls. Indeed, the stalls abound in all the great thoroughfares, and the most in those not accounted "fashionable" and great "business" routes, but such as are frequented by working people, on their way to their day's labour. The best "pitch" in London is supposed to be at the corner of , Oxfordstreet. The proprietor of that stall is said to take full of a morning, in halfpence. stall-keeper, I was informed, when "upon the drink" thinks nothing of spending his or in a week. A party assured me that once, when the stall-keeper above mentioned was away "on the spree," he took up his stand there, and got from to in the course of minutes, at the busy time of the morning.

The coffee-stall usually consists of a springbarrow, with , and occasionally , wheels. Some are made up of tables, and some have a tressel and board. On the top of this are placed or , and sometimes , large tin cans, holding upon an average gallons each. Beneath each of these cans is a small iron fire-pot, perforated like a rushlight shade, and here charcoal is continually burning, so as to keep the coffee or tea, with which the cans are filled, hot throughout the early part of the morning. The board of the stall has mostly a compartment for bread and butter, cake, and ham sandwiches, and another for the coffee mugs. There is generally a small tub under each of the stalls, in which the mugs and saucers are washed. The "grandest" stall in this line is the before-mentioned, as standing at the corner of , (of which an engraving is here given). It is a large truck on wheels, and painted a bright green. The cans are in number, and of bright polished tin, mounted with brass-plates. There are compartments for bread and butter, sandwiches, and cake. It is lighted by large oil lamps, with bright brass mountings, and covered in with an oil-cloth roof. The coffeestalls, generally, are lighted by candle-lamps. Some coffee-stalls are covered over with tarpaulin, like a tent, and others screened from the sharp night or morning air by a clotheshorse covered with blankets, and drawn half round the stall.

Some of the stall-keepers make their appearance at at night, and some not till or in the morning. Those that come out at midnight, are for the accommodation of the "night-walkers"—"fast gentlemen" and loose girls; and those that come out in the morning, are for the accommodation of the working men.

It is, I may add, piteous enough to see a few young and good-looking girls, some without the indelible mark of habitual depravity on their countenances, clustering together for warmth round a coffee-stall, to which a penny expenditure, or the charity of the proprietor, has admitted them. The thieves do not resort to the coffee-stalls, which are so immediately under the eye of the policeman.

The coffee-stall keepers usually sell coffee and tea, and some of them cocoa. They keep hot milk in of the large cans, and coffee, tea, or cocoa in the others. They supply bread and butter, or currant cake, in slices—ham sandwiches, water-cresses, and boiled eggs. The price is per mug, or per half-mug, for coffee, tea, or cocoa; and a slice the bread and butter or cake. The ham sandwiches are (or ) each, the boiled eggs , and the water-cresses a halfpenny a bunch. The coffee, tea, cocoa, and sugar they generally purchase by the single pound, at a grocer's. Those who do an extensive trade purchase in larger quantities. The coffee is usually bought in the berry, and ground by themselves. All purchase chicory to mix with it. For the coffee they pay about ; for the tea about ; for the cocoa per lb.; and for the sugar to For the chicory the price is (which is the amount of the duty alone on foreign chicory), and it is mixed with the coffee at the rate of ozs. to the pound; many use as much as and ozs. The coffee is made of a dark colour by means of what are called "finings," which consist of burnt sugar—such, as is used for browning soups. Coffee is the article mostly sold at the stalls; indeed, there is scarcely stall in a that is supplied with tea, and not more than a dozen in all London that furnish cocoa. The stall-keepers usually make the cake themselves. A lb. cake generally consists of half a pound of currants, half a pound of sugar, ounces of beef dripping, and a quartern of flour. The ham for sandwiches costs or per lb.; and when boiled produces in sandwiches about per lb. It is usually cut up in slices little thicker than paper. The bread is usually " bread;" the butter, salt, at about the pound. Some borrow their barrows, and pay a week for the hire of them. Many borrow the capital upon which they trade, frequently of their landlord. Some get credit for their grocery—some for their bread. If they borrow, they pay about per cent. per week for the loan. I was told of man that makes a practice of lending

The class of persons usually belonging to the business have been either cab-men, policemen, labourers, or artisans. Many have been bred to dealing in the streets, and brought up to no other employment, but many have taken to the business owing to the difficulty of obtaining work at their own trade. The generality of them are opposed to another. I asked in a small way of business what was the average amount of his profits, and his answer was,—

I usually buy 10 ounces of coffee a night. That costs, when good, 1s. 0 1/2d. With this I should make five gallons of coffee, such as I sell in the street, which would require 3 quarts of milk, at 3d. per quart, and 1 1/2 lb. of sugar, at 3 1/2d. per lb., there is some at 3d. This would come to 2s. 2 3/4d.; and, allowing 1 1/4d. for a quarter of a peck of charcoal to keep the coffee hot, it would give 2s. 4d. for the cost of five gallons of coffee. This I should sell out at about 1 1/2d. per pint; so that the five gallons would produce me 5s., or 2s. 8d. clear. I generally get rid of one quartern loaf and 6 oz. of butter with this quantity of coffee, and for this I pay 5d. the loaf and 3d. the butter, making 8d.; and these I make into twenty-eight slices at 1/2d. per slice; so the whole brings me in 1s. 2d., or about 6d. clear. Added to this, I sell a 4 lb. cake, which costs me 3 1/2d. per lb. 1s. 2d. the entire cake; and this in twentyeight slices, at 1d. per slice, would yield 2s. 4d., or 1s. 2d. clear; so that altogether my clear gains would be 4s. 4d. upon an expenditure of 2s. 2d.—say 200 per cent.

This is said to be about the usual profit of the trade. Sometimes they give credit. person assured me he trusted as much as that morning, and out of that he was satisfied there was , at least, he should never see. Most of the stalls are stationary, but some are locomotive. Some cans are carried about with yokes, like milk-cans, the mugs being kept in a basket. The best district for the night-trade is the City, and the approaches to the bridges. There are more men and women, I was told, walking along , , , and . In the latter place a good trade is frequently done between at night and in the morning. For the morning trade the best districts are , , City-road, New-road (from end to the other), the markets, especially Covent Garden, , Newgate, and the Borough. There are no coffee-stalls in . The reason is that the drovers, on arriving at the market, are generally tired and cold, and prefer sitting down to their coffee in a warm shop rather than drink it in the open street. The best days for coffee-stalls are market mornings, viz. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On these days the receipts are generally half as much again as those of the other mornings. The best time of the year for the business is the summer. This is, I am told, because the workpeople and costermongers have more money to spend. Some stall-keepers save sufficient to take a shop, but these are only such as have a "pitch" in the best thoroughfares. who did a little business informed me that he usually cleared, including Sunday, — last week his gains were ; the week before that he could not remember. He is very frequently out all night, and does not earn sixpence. This is on wet and cold nights, when there are few people about. His is generally the night-trade. The average weekly earnings of the trade, throughout the year, are said to be The trade, I am assured by all, is overstocked. They are half too many, they say. " of us," to use their own words, "are eating man's bread." "When coffee in the streets came up, a man could go and earn," I am told, "his a night at the very lowest; but now the same class of men cannot earn more than " Some men may earn comparatively a large sum, as much as or , but the generality of the trade cannot make more than per week, if so much. The following is the statement of of the class:—

I was a mason's labourer, a smith's labourer, a plasterer's labourer, or a bricklayer's labourer. I was, indeed, a labouring man. I could not get employment. I was for six months without any employment. I did not know which way to support my wife and child (I have only one child). Being so long out of employment, I saw no other means of getting a living but out of the streets. I was almost starving before I took to it—that I certainly was. I'm not ashamed of telling anybody that, because it's true, and I sought for a livelihood wherever I could. Many said they wouldn't do such a thing as keep a coffee-stall, but I said I'd do anything to get a bit of bread honestly. Years ago, when I was a boy, I used to go out selling water-cresses, and apples, oranges, and radishes, with a barrow, for my landlord; so I thought, when I was thrown out of employment, I would take to selling coffee in the streets. I went to a tinman, and paid him 10s. 6d. (the last of my savings, after I'd been four or five months out of work) for a can, I didn't care how I got my living so long as I could turn an honest penny. Well; I went on, and knocked about, and couldn't get a pitch anywhere; but at last I heard that an old man, who had been in the habit of standing for many years at the entrance of one of the markets, had fell ill; so, what did I do, but I goes and pops into his pitch, and there I've done better than ever I did afore. I get 20s. now where I got 10s. one time; and if I only had such a thing as 5l. or 10l., I might get a good living for life. I cannot do half as much as the man that was there before me. He used to make his coffee down there, and had a can for hot water as well; but I have but one can to keep coffee and all in; and I have to borrow my barrow, and pay 1s. a week for it. If I sell my can out, I can't do any more. The struggle to get a living is so great, that, what with one and another in the coffee-trade, it's only those as can get good 'pitches' that can get a crust at it.

As it appears that each coffee-stall keeper on an average, clears a week, and his takings may be said to be at least double that sum, the yearly street expenditure for tea, coffee, &c., amounts to The quantity of coffee sold annually in the streets, appears to be about gallons.

To commence as a coffee-stall keeper in a moderate manner requires about capital. The truck costs , and the other utensils and materials The expense of the cans is near upon each. The stock-money is a few shillings.