Identifier: oldnewlondonnarr03thor (find matches)
Title: Old and new London : a narrative of its history, its people, and its places
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors: Thornbury, Walter, 1828-1876
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Cassell, Petter, & Galpin
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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ey,\\Tites Charles Dickens, I took a turn in Covent(larden, and stared at the pine-apples in themarket. People who know Covent Garden only in itsquiet afternoon aspect, says a writer in the CityPress, can form no idea of the vile den it is atthe busy hour of daybreak. Then the cabbagesand peas that have been fermenting in the wagonsfor some hours past are tilted out on the flag- the copper used in cooking, and the preliminarycooking vegetables are subjected to on their wayto and from the market. We are fully cognisant,of the fact that Spitalfields and Farringdon absorbsome portion of the trade in vegetables ; but CoventGarden is the market, par excellence, and it is adisgrace to the metropolis to be compelled to relyon the capabilities of a place which, spacious as itmay be, is fitted at the very utmost to serve as amarket for a town of 6o,ooo inhabitants. The flower market of Covent Garden, ob-serves a clever American writer, is carried on in Covent Garden.) SCENES IN THE MARKET. 247
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24S OLD AND NEW LONDON. (Covent Garden. the open area opposite the church, and at theentrance of the grand row of shops which runsdown the centre. The growers chiefly bring theirproductions into the market at or before midnight,and about one oclock is the briskest period of thesale, the road being rendered almost impassablefrom the number of basket-women and otherstaking in their supply for the day of flowers inpots, as well as cut flowers. A more animatedscene of the bustle of business, with the gay andvaried hue of the flowers, and their delightfulfragrance, it is scarcely jjossible to describe, thanthat which continues till about four or five oclock,when the traders, having generally exhausted theirstock, return home, and the dealers are on theirway to supply their different walks and routes forthe day. The peripatetic dealers having obtainedtheir supply, the next who come in for their shareare the various greengrocers of the metropolis,who take but a limited supply; whilst the rem

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