"The system of paying the mechanic late on the Saturday night — and more particularly of paying a man his wages in a public-house — when he is tired with his day's work lures him to the tavern, and there the hours fly quickly enough beside the warm tap-room fire, so that by the time the wife comes for her husband's wages, she finds a large portion of them gone in drink, and the streets half cleared, so that the Sunday market is the only chance of getting the Sunday's dinner." pg. 15

"Excitement or amusement are indispensible to uneducated men. Of beer-shops resorted to by costermongers, and principally supported by them, it is computed that there are 400 in London." pg. 17

"The men smoked, with their hands in their pockets, listening to the old crones talking, and only now and then grunting out a reply when a question was...