THE "swag" (miscellaneous) barrow is of the objects in the streets which attracts, perhaps more readily than any other, the regards of the passer-by. There are so many articles and of such various uses; they are often so closely packed, so new and clean looking, and every here and there so tastefully arranged, that this street-trader's barrow really repays an examination. Here are spread on the flat part of the barrow, peppercruets or boxes, tea-caddies, nutmeg-graters, vinegar-cruets, pen-cases, glass or china-handled pens, pot ornaments, beads, ear-rings, finger-rings (plain or with "stones"), cases of scent-bottles, dolls, needle-cases, pincushions, Exhibition medals and "frames" (framed pictures), watches, shawlpins, extinguishers, trumpets and other toys, kaleidoscopes, seals, combs, lockets, thimbles, bone tooth-picks, small playing-cards, teetotums, shuttle-cocks, key-rings, shirt-studs or buttons, hooks and eyes, coat-studs, money-boxes, spoons, boxes of toys, earthenware-mugs, and glass articles, such as salt-cellars and smelling-bottles. On barrow were articles.

At the back and sides of the swag-barrow are generally articles which are best displayed in an erect position. These are children's wooden swords, whips, climbing monkeys, and tumblers, jointed snakes twisting to the wind from the top of a stick, kites, and such things as tin eggholders.

Perhaps on very few barrows or stalls are to be seen the articles I have enumerated, but they are all "in the trade," and, if not found in this man's stock, may be found in his neighbour's. Things which attain only a temporary sale, such as galvanic rings, the Lord's Prayer in the compass of a sixpence, gutta-percha heads, &c., are also to be found, during the popular demand, in the miscellaneous trader's stock.

Each of the articles enumerated is retailed at "Only a penny!" is the cry, "pick 'em out anywhere; wherever your taste lies; only a penny, a penny, a penny!" But on a few other barrows are goods, mixed with the "penny" wares, of a higher price; such as knives and forks, mustard pots, sham beer glasses (the glasses which appear to hold beer frothing to the brim), higher-priced articles of jewellery, skipping-ropes, drums, china ornaments, &c. At these barrows the prices run from to

The practice of selling by commission, the same as I have shown to prevail among the costers, exists among the miscellaneous dealers of whom I am treating, who are known among streetfolk as "swag-barrowmen," or, in the popular ellipsis, "penny swags;" the word "swag" meaning, as I before showed, a collection—a lot.

The "swag-men" are often confounded with the "lot-sellers"; so that I proceed to show the difference.

The proper, are those who vend a variety of small articles, or "a lot," all for A "lot" frequently consists of a sheet of songs, a Chinese puzzle, a note (Bank of Elegance), an Exhibition snuff-box (containing spoons), a half jack (half sovereign), a gold ring, a silver ring, and a chased keeper with rose, thistle, and shamrock on it. The lots are diversified with packs of a few cards, little pewter ornaments, boxes of small wooden toys, shirt-buttons, baby thimbles, beads, tiny scent bottles, and such like.

The "penny apiece" or "swag" trade, as contradistinguished from the "penny lots" vended by the lot-sellers, was originated by a man who, some years ago, sold a variety of trifles from a teatray in . My informant had heard him say—for the original "penny apiece" died years ago—that he did it to get rid of the odds and ends of his stock. The system, however, at once attracted popularity, and the fortunate streetseller prospered and "died worth money." At that period penny goods (excepting such things as sweet-stuffs, pastry, &c.) were far less numerous in the streets, and yet I have never met with an old street-trader (a statement fully borne out by old and intelligent mechanics) who did not pronounce spare pennies to be far more abundant in those days among the poorer and even middle classes. There were, moreover, far fewer street chapmen, so that this novel mode of business had every chance to thrive.

The origin of "lot-selling," or selling "penny lots" instead of penny articles, was more curious. It was commenced by an ingenious Swiss (?)

Of the "penny apiece" street-vendors, there are about in London; having barrows, and stalls or pitches on the ground. Some even sell at "a halfpenny apiece," but chiefly to get rid of inferior wares, or when "cracked up," and unable to "spring" a better stock. The barrows are feet by ; are well built in general, and cost each. These barrows, when fully stocked, are very heavy (about cwt.), so that it requires a strong man to propel any distance, and though occasionally the man's wife officiates as the saleswoman, there is always a man connected with the business. In my description of a stock of penny goods, I have mentioned that there were articles; these were counted on a barrow in a street near the Brill—but probably on another occasion (when there appeared a better chance of selling) there might be articles, such things as rings and the like admitting of being stowed by the in very small compass. The great display, however, is only on the occasion of holidays, or "when a man starts and wants to stun you with a show." At Maidstone Fair the other day, a London street-seller, rather well to do, sold his entire stock of penny articles to a shopkeeper of the town, and when counted there were exactly gross, or "pieces" as they are sometimes called. These, vended at each, would realize just , and would cost, wholesale, about , or for ready money, at the swag-shops, where they may be bought, from to less, according to the bargaining powers of the buyer. The man's reason for selling was that the Fair was "no good;" that is to say, the farmers had no money, and their labourers received only a week, so there was no demand; the swag-seller, therefore, rather than incur the trouble and expense of having to carry his wares back to London, sold at a loss to a shopkeeper in Maidstone, who wanted a stock.

The swag-barrowmen selling on commission have in every worth of goods that they sell. The commission may average from to a week in tolerable weather, but as in bad, and especially in foggy weather, the trade cannot be prosecuted at all, may be the highest average, or the year through.

The character of the penny swag-men belongs more to that of the costermongers than to any other class of street-folk. Many of them drink as freely as their means will permit. I was told of a match between a teetotaller and a beer-drinker, about years ago. It was for a side, and the "Championship." Each man started with an equal stock, alike in all respects, but my informant had forgotten the precise number of articles. They pattered, yards apart from another, hours in , Coventgarden; hours in the Blackfriars-road; and hours in Deptford. The teetotaller was "sold out" in -and-a-half hours; while his opponent—and the contest seems to have been carried on very good-humouredly—at the hours' end, had dozen articles left, and was rather exhausted, or, as it was described to me, "told out." The result, albeit, was not looked upon, I was assured, as anything very decisive of the relative merits of beer or water, as the source of strength or inspiration of "patter." The teetotaller was the smarter, though he did not appear the stronger, man; he abandoned the championship, and went into another trade years ago. The patter of the swag-men has nothing of the humour of the paper-workers; it is merely declaratory that the extensive stock offered on such liberal terms to the public would furnish a wholesale shop; that such another opportunity for cheap pennyworths could never by any possibility occur again, and that it was a duty on all who heard the patterer to buy at once.

The men having their own barrows or stalls (but the stall-trade is small) buy their goods as they find their stock needs replenishment at the swag-shops. "It was a good trade at , sir," said man, "and for its not being a good trade now, we may partly blame another. There was a cutting down trade among us. Black earrings were bought at the dozen, and sold at a loss at each. So were children's trap-bats, and monkeys up sticks, but they are now a dozen. Sometimes, sir, as I know, the master of a swag-barrow gets served out. You see, a man may once on a time have a good day, and take as much as Well, next day he'll use part of that money, and go as a penny swag on his own account; or else he'll buy things he is sold out of, and work them on his own account on

The lot-sellers are, when the whole body are in London, about in number; but they are times as itinerant into the country as are the traders in the heavier and little portable swagbarrows. The lot-sellers nearly all vend their goods from trays slung from their shoulders. The best localities for the lot-sellers are Ratcliffehigh- way, Commercial-road, Whitechapel, , , , Newington-causeway, , Blackfriars and Westminster-roads, Long-acre, , and . To this list may be added the Brill, Tottenham-court-road, and the other street-markets, on Saturday evenings, when some of these places are almost impassable. The best places for the swag-barrow trade are also those I have specified. Their customers, alike for the useful and fancy articles, are the working-classes, and the chief sale is on Saturdays and Mondays. swag-man told me that he thought he could sell better if he had a less crowded barrow, but his master was so keen of money that he make him try everything. It made selling more tiresome, too, he said, for a poor couple who had a penny or to lay out would fix on half the things they saw, and change them for others, before they parted with their money.

Of the penny-a-piece sellers trading on their own account, the receipts may be smaller than those of the men who work the huge swag-barrows on commission, but their profits are greater. Calculating that of these traders are, the year round, in London (some are absent all the summer at country fairs, and on any favourable opportunity, while a number of swag-barrowmen leave that employment for costermongering on their own account), and that each takes weekly, we find no less than thus expended in the streets of London in a year.

The lot-sellers also resort largely to the country, and frequently try other callings, such as the sale of fruit, medals, &c. Some also sell lots only on Saturday and Monday nights. Taking these deductions into consideration, it may be estimated that only men (there is but female lotseller on her own account) carry on the trade, presuming it to be spread over the days of the week. Each of them may take weekly (with a profit of ), so showing the street outlay to be The "lots" are bought at the German and English swag-shops; the principal supply, however, is procured from Black Tom in Clerkenwell.