140 



Smithfield, London. 



Vol. X, 



always banking houses in the vicinity to 

 render the usual facilities for business. 



The customary commission for tiie sale of 

 an ox of any value is four shillings, or about 

 ninety-six cents ; of a sheep eight pence or 

 sixteen cents. The city receives a toll upon 

 every beast exposed to sale in Smithfield, of 

 one penny per head, and upon sheep at the 

 rate of one shilling or twenty-four cents per 

 score. 



The value of the services of an intelli- 

 gent, experienced, and honest salesman, is 

 very great to the farmer, and much beyond j 

 the compensation ordinarily demanded. Hej 

 is familiar with the state of the market, with i 

 the supply to be expected, with the.pricesj 

 generally taken, and with the characters of 

 the persons with whom he has to deal, wlio 

 know him as well. The farmer, going into 

 the market to sell his cattle for himself, is 

 liable to various impositions, of the extraor- 

 dinary ingenuity and coolnessof which, many 

 experiments will not be necessary to convince 

 him. It might happen, that, instead of re- 

 turning home with bank notes and sovereigns 

 in his pocket, he might, like Moses in the 

 Vicar of VV akefield, bring back only a quan- 

 tity of green spectacles. 



The state of the market, the current de- 

 mand, the supply to be expected, together 

 with the state of the dead-meat market, and 

 what supplies of meat already killed are to 

 be expected, are all matters to be taken into 

 calculation. These are all inquired into, and 

 well known to a thoroughly intelligent and 

 experienced salesman, but are very imper- 

 fectly understood by any other persons than 

 those who make it their constant business to 

 become acquainted with them. The division 

 of labour is carried to a great extent in all 

 the business pursuits of this great country, 

 and, while it seems unfriendly to that gene- 

 ral tact with which persons among us apply 

 themselves to a great v^iety and diversity 

 of pursuits, must obviously contribute to a 

 high degree of skill or improvement in the 

 particular art or profession where it is ap- 

 plied. 



Weights and Measures. — Animals in 

 Smithfield are almost always sold on the 

 hoof; yet an estimate is formed of tlieir 

 weight, and the price given is calculated 

 upon the number of pounds the animal is 

 computed to yield alitor being slaughtered. 

 The gross hundred weight of one hundred 

 and twelve pounds is still used in England; 

 but the calculations are generally made in 

 stones of eight pounds. By an act of Par- 

 liament, the stone of fourteen pounds is re- 

 quired to be adopted in the reckoning in the 

 market; but custom in this, as in many 

 other cases, defies the authority of the go- 



vernment, and eight pounds continue to be 

 reckoned as the Smithfield stone. 



The diflerent measures and weights used 

 in dififerent parts of the kingdom are ex- 

 tremely inconvenient, and sadly perplexing 

 to a stranger. The English, the Scotch, and 

 the Irish acre are each diflerent from each 

 other. Grain is, in different places, sold by 

 the bushel, by the quarter, by the comb, by 

 the boll, and by the load ; and a load is in 

 some places four, in others three bushels. A 

 Scotch pint is two English quarts. In Co- 

 vent Garden market, two pottles of straw- 

 berries, containing little more than a pint 

 I each, are called a gallon. Potatoes are 

 j sometimes sold by weight, and sometimes 

 by the barrel; in some places by the stone 

 jof fourteen pounds, in some by the stone of 

 sixteen pounds. A dozen of eggs is in some 

 places fifteen. I may perhaps be asked, if 

 this is not in Ireland ; but I shall not say, 

 excepting to add, as far as my experience 

 goes, fifteen to a dozen would be a very pro- 

 per index of Irish iiospitality and kindness. 

 In one market, in Yorkshire, a pound of but- 

 ter is twenty ounces avoirdupois; in Staf- 

 fordshire, eighteen ounces. In Norwich, 

 butter is sold by the pint; in Cambridge, it 

 is literally sold by the yard, being made into 

 rolls of a certain size, and measured off in 

 feet and inches. In one of our hot days in 

 July, with the glass at 95°, our market-men, 

 at this rate, would have little difficulty in 

 giving full measure. I have already alluded 

 to the force of custom. It has many advan- 

 tages, but why should it stand in the way of 

 improvement? Tiie prevalence of an un- 

 meaning or a useless custom has nothing to 

 recommend it. Yet I believe I shall be 

 doing no injustice to the English — the last 

 thing certainly which I should wish to do to 

 a people whom I so highly respect and love 

 — if I were to say, many of them greatly 

 prefer antiquity to utility, and will hold on 

 to an ancient custom with the pertinacity of 

 a drowning man, though its meaning has 

 entirely ceased, and its observance is on 

 every account inconvenient and burdensome. 

 With such persons, all argument on the sub- 

 jject of improvement is idle; the conception 

 has never yet dawned upon them. 



Such a varying standard of weight, or 

 measure, or value, renders many statements 

 quite unintelligible to a stranger or one ig- 

 norant of local customs, and comparisons and 

 calculations all but impossible. 



Weight of Animals, mode of asccrtain- 

 i»g. — The v.eight of an animal in Smith- 

 field is reckoned by the weight of the four 

 quarters, 'i'he hide, rough tallow, and ofl^al, 

 are not taken irito the account. There are 

 rules given by which to determine the 



