The chaos and confusion in open-air markets was described by Henry Mayhew, who visited a market, in Lambeth (a borough of London) late on a Saturday night in 1861.

There are hundreds of stalls and every stall has one or two lights. . . .Then the tumult of the thousand different cries of the eager dealers all shouting at the tops of their voices at one and the same time, are almost bewildering. "So-old again" roars one. "Chestnuts all'ot, a pennya score" bawls another. . . . "Buy, buy; buy, buy, buu-u-y," cries the butcher. . . . "Two pence a pound grapes." . . . "Penny a lot, fine russets" calls the apple woman. And so the babel goes on. . . . This stall is green and white with bunches of turnips, that red with apples, the next yellow with onions, and another purple with pickling cabbages. . . . Each salesman tries his utmost to sell...