Volume 3: Our Street Folk Summary and Analysis

Mayhew's "street folk" were mostly entertainers who worked in the streets or at fairs. They would now be called buskers. These entertainers would have been similar to the man who plays the saxophone or the boys who drum on empty five-gallon buckets for tips on the sidewalks or subway of a major city today. Street folk were separate from patterers. While patterers used an entertaining sales pitch or spiel to sell a product, street folk were pure entertainers who performed for tips or wages.

Most of the street entertainers were better educated than street vendors, and the majority could read. Many came from families that were comfortable financially, or even wealthy. Many performers started out as singers, and branched into other types of entertainment later. Most worked as an assistant or apprentice to another entertainer...