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 Technology and Sustainable
Development
Technological change is at the core of all major disruptions in human history, and
revolutions, wars, and general development are regularly connected to some sort of
technological change. However, not all development is beneficial. While technology has
fueled great innovations and rapid development, the notion of sustainable development
has gained prominence as we now experience serious social, economic, and environmental
challenges.
This book examines whether technology can be used to fix the very problems caused by
technology, as the various chapters examine different aspects related to how technology
has brought us where we are today (which some will say is the best place humanity’s been at
according to a range of metrics), and whether technology helps or hinders us in our efforts
to solve the challenges we currently face. The issues discussed cover the three sustainability
dimensions and include topics such as the materiality of AI, technology in education, AI
for gender equality, innovation and the digital divide, and how technology relates to power,
the political system, and capitalism. The chapters all build on the theoretical backdrop of
technological change, sustainable development, and the UN’s Sustainable Development
Goals are actively used throughout this book, both to examine how these goals capture or
overlook central elements of sustainable development, and also to facilitate and create a
common framework of engagement between the chapters.
This book provides a novel combination of traditional theories that are explored
through different case studies, providing the ground for a better understanding of how
and when technology can – and cannot – be the enabler of sustainable development.
It is thus an important resource for students of all disciplines, technologists, and those
developing and applying new technologies. It is also a valuable resource for politicians
and regulators attempting to harness the power of technology for good, while limiting its
negative potential.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been
made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives
(CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license. Funded by Østfold University College.

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Henrik Skaug Sætra is a political scientist with a broad and interdisciplinary background
and approach, mainly focusing on the political, ethical, and social implications of
technology. He focuses specifically on the sustainability-related impacts of AI and
has previously published a book and several articles on AI and the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals.
 Technology and Sustainable
Development
The Promise and Pitfalls of Techno-Solutionism

Edited by
Henrik Skaug Sætra
Designed cover image: Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Henrik Skaug Sætra; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Henrik Skaug Sætra to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the
authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-1-032-35059-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-35056-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-32508-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003325086
Typeset in Minion Pro
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents

List of Contributors, vii

Chapter 1   ◾   Introduction: The Promise and Pitfalls of

Techno-solutionism1
Henrik Skaug Sætra

Chapter 2   ◾   Key Concepts: Technology and Sustainable Development 11

Henrik Skaug Sætra

Chapter 3   ◾   Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Solutions: Placing the

Climate Emergency at the Center of AI Developments 23
Benedetta Brevini

Chapter 4   ◾   Sustainable Climate Engineering Innovation and the

Need for Accountability 35
Marianna Capasso and Steven Umbrello

Chapter 5   ◾   Shinigami Eyes and Social Media Labeling as a

Technology for Self-care 53
Henrik Skaug Sætra and Jo Ese

Chapter 6   ◾   Lessons to Be Learnt? Education, Techno-solutionism,

and Sustainable Development 71
Neil Selwyn

Chapter 7   ◾   Virtual Reality and Autism 85

Anders Dechsling and Anders Nordahl-Hansen

Chapter 8   ◾   The Technologically Sustained Digital Divide 97

Erlend Ingridsønn Nordrum

v
vi   ◾    Contents

Chapter 9   ◾   Spot on SDG 5: Addressing Gender (In-)equality Within

and With AI 109
Marisa Tschopp and Hanan Salam

Chapter 10   ◾   A Legal Sustainability Approach to Align the Order of

Rules and Actions in the Context of Digital Innovation 127
Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Hadassah Drukarch, and Marco Giraudo

Chapter 11   ◾   Governing Toward Sustainable Development: From a

Path-Dependent Transition to a Disruptive One 145
Lilja Mósesdóttir and Ivar Jonsson

Chapter 12   ◾   Capitalism, Sustainability, and Democracy 163

Harald Borgebund

Chapter 13   ◾   Nudging Policy or Crowding It Out? Green Nudges as

Ideational Technologies 175
Stuart Mills and Richard Whittle

Chapter 14   ◾   The Fallacy of Disruptive Technologies and the Primacy of

Politics: Sustainable Development Goals as an Example 189
Imad Antoine Ibrahim

Chapter 15   ◾   Technology and the Distribution of Power 203

Faridun Sattarov

Chapter 16   ◾   What Does Data Valuation Literature Tell Us About

Methods and Dimensions? Implications for City Data
Marketplaces215
Petter Kvalvik, Mary Sánchez-Gordón, and Ricardo Colomo-Palacios

Chapter 17   ◾   Techno-solutionism Facing Post-liberal Oligarchy 229

Ivar Jonsson and Lilja Mósesdóttir

Chapter 18   ◾   The Role of Technology in Alternatives to Growth-Based

Sustainable Development 249
Henrik Skaug Sætra

Chapter 19   ◾   Conclusion: The Promise and Pitfalls of Techno-solutionism

for Sustainable Development 265
Henrik Skaug Sætra

INDEX271
Contributors

Harald Borgebund, Østfold University College, Norway. Harald Borgebund holds a

PhD in political philosophy from the University of York (UK). His research and teaching
interests are liberal democracy, democratic theory, political communication, and the role
of capitalism and technology in contemporary society.

Benedetta Brevini, University of Sydney, Australia. Benedetta Brevini is Associate Professor

of Communication at the University of Sydney and Senior Visiting Fellow at the London
School of Economics. Her latest volumes are Carbon Capitalism and Communication:
Confronting Climate Crisis (2017) and Climate Change and the Media (2018). Is AI good for
the Planet (2021) is her newest work.

Marianna Capasso, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy. Marianna Capasso is

Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. Her
main research interests are philosophy of technology, applied ethics, and political theory. In
particular, her research focuses on Neorepublicanism, Meaningful Human Control, Social
Dimensions of Responsibility with AI-driven systems, and Value Sensitive Design.

Ricardo Colomo-Palacios, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. Ricardo Colomo-

Palacios is Full Professor at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. Formerly, he worked
at Østfold University College, Norway, and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain.
His research interests include software governance, management information systems,
software project management, people in software projects, software and services process
improvement, and management information systems.

Anders Dechsling, Østfold University College, Norway. Anders Dechsling is researcher

working within special education and with a focus on projects related to neurodevelopmental
conditions and virtual reality. Additional research interests are in the domains of social
media, substance use disorders, dementia, stimulus control, and behavior analysis.

Hadassah Drukarch, Leiden University, the Netherlands. Hadassah Drukarch is currently

a student at the Advanced LL.M. in Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University
(NL). She also works as a paralegal at Considerati and is the founder and host of The Law of
Tech Podcast which revolves around the interaction between law and digital technologies.

vii
viii   ◾    Contributors

Jo Ese, Østfold University College, Norway. Jo Ese was a sociologist with a particular
interest in the cooperation between academia and society. He was interested in public
health partnerships between universities and local/regional governmental bodies on social
stratification and social sustainability. He also worked on the digitalization of working life,
organizations, and the public sphere.

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga, Leiden University, the Netherlands. Dr. Fosch-Villaronga,

PhD, LLM, MA, is Assistant Professor and the Director of Research at the eLaw Center for
Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University (NL), where he investigates legal and
regulatory aspects of robot and AI technologies.

Marco Giraudo, University of Turin, Italy. Marco Giraudo is currently a postdoc researcher
at the University of Turin. He holds a master’s degree in Comparative Law and a PhD in
Law and Economics from the same university. His research focuses on the economics of
the legal foundations of markets. Law, uncertainty, and legal instability are the issues at the
core of his research agenda.

Imad Antoine Ibrahim, University of Twente, the Netherlands. Imad Antoine Ibrahim is
Assistant Research Professor at the College of Law, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. He has been
working on global issues for the last decade. He is currently involved in several projects in
places such as Europe, MENA region, Central Asia, and China.

Ivar Jonsson, Østfold University College, Norway. Ivar Jonsson, D.Phil., is Professor of
Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Østfold University College, Norway. Previous affiliations
include the universities of Sussex, Iceland, Greenland, Akureyri, Bifröst, Gothenburg, and
Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. He has participated in international research
projects on Arctic societies, political economy, digitalization, and sustainable development.

Petter Kvalvik, Institute for Energy Technology, Norway. Petter Kvalvik is Head of
business development digitalization at Institute for Energy Technology and program
manager for My Digital City. He has a background in safety and security-critical systems,
strategic program and portfolio management, and applied computer science within data
ecosystems, and is passionate about the human-centered digitalization of society.

Stuart Mills, University of Leeds, Great Britain. Dr Stuart Mills is Lecturer (Assistant
Professor) in Department of Economics at the University of Leeds. His research focuses on
behavioral economics, digital economy, and political economy.

Lilja Mósesdóttir, Østfold University College, Norway. Lilja Mósesdóttir is Professor of

Business Administration at Østfold University College, Norway. Her previous affiliations
include University of Manchester, University of Iceland, and Luleå University of Technology,
Sweden. She has participated in European and Nordic research projects on gender and
employment, innovation in the digital age, and sustainable development.
 Contributors   ◾   ix

Anders Nordahl-Hansen, Østfold University College, Norway. Anders Nordahl-Hansen

is Professor of Special Education at Østfold University College, Institute of Education, ICT
and Learning, Norway. His research interests involve autism and neurodevelopmental
conditions. He is head of the research group DeveLeP and associate editor of the journals
Research in Developmental Disabilities and Frontiers in Digital health.

Erlend Ingridsønn Nordrum, Østfold University College, Norway. As a part of the

research initiative The Digital Society at Østfold University College, Erlend investigates
how digital technology affects the life chances of various groups. He is Doctoral Research
Fellow at Østfold University College and holds a master’s degree in Sociology from the
University of Oslo.

Hanan Salam, New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE. Hanan Salam is Assistant
Professor in Computer Science at New York University Abu Dhabi, where she is
directing the Social Machines & Robotics Lab. She is also the co-founder of Women in
AI, an international nonprofit whose mission is to close the gender gap in the field of AI.

Mary Sánchez-Gordón, Østfold University College, Norway. Mary Sánchez-Gordón

is Associate Professor at the Computer Science and Communication Department of the
Østfold University College, Norway. She holds a PhD degree in Computer Science from
the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. She has been working as Software Engineer, Project
Manager, and Software Engineering Consultant in several companies.

Faridun Sattarov, University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Uzbekistan. Faridun

Sattarov holds a PhD degree in Philosophy from the University of Twente and is Chair
of the Political Science Department of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy,
Uzbekistan. Previously, he worked as a researcher at the University of Twente, the University
of Liverpool, the Technological University of Eindhoven, and the UNESCO.

Neil Selwyn, Monash University, Australia. Neil Selwyn has been researching and writing
about digital education for the past 25 years. He is currently Distinguished Professor at
Monash University, Melbourne. Recent books include Should Robots Replace Teachers?
AI and the Future of Education (Polity, 2019) and the third edition of Education and
Technology: Key Issues & Debates (Bloomsbury, 2021).

Henrik Skaug Sætra, Østfold University College, Norway. Henrik Skaug Sætra is a political
scientist with a broad and interdisciplinary background and approach, mainly focusing on
the political, ethical, and social implications of technology. He focuses specifically on the
sustainability-related impacts of AI, and he has published AI for the Sustainable Development
Goals (CRC Press, 2022) and several articles on AI and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Marisa Tschopp, scip AG, Women in AI, Switzerland. Marisa Tschopp is a corporate
researcher at scip AG and associated researcher at IWM, where she conducts research about
x   ◾    Contributors

Artificial Intelligence from a psychological perspective, with a focus on ethical implications.

She is a frequent speaker at international events, including TEDx, and board member of
the nonprofit Women in AI.

Steven Umbrello, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. Steven Umbrello is a

postdoctoral research fellow at the Delft University of Technology. He is also Managing
Director at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. His research is on how to
design emerging and transformative technologies for human values.

Richard Whittle, University College London, United Kingdom. Dr Whittle is a CAPE-

funded fellow in economic policy, hosted at the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose
at UCL. He has a background in “critical behavioral public policy” and is Co-Investigator
and Co-director of the £7 million Yorkshire Policy Engagement and Research Network.
 Chapter 1

Introduction
The Promise and Pitfalls of
Techno-solutionism

Henrik Skaug Sætra

CONTENTS
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Techno-solutionism and Humanity’s Symbiotic Relationship With Technology 2
1.3 Sustainability and Technology 4
1.4 Who Is This Book for? 6
1.5 Structure of This Book 7
1.6 References 8

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Rarely does a day pass without us being reminded of the social, economic, and environmen-
tal challenges we now face. During 2 years of living with a pandemic that seemed to never
pass, a series of social and economic issues emerged. Businesses struggled with restrictions
and citizens’ cautiousness, while regulators struggled to balance economic and business
needs against uncertain – but serious – public health considerations. People also experi-
enced pandemic fatigue generated through the numerous minor respites followed by the
next and potentially more threatening Greek letter variety of the coronavirus. During this
period, the social ramifications of lockdown and restrictions became abundantly clear, and
so did the recognition that people were unevenly affected by the pandemic. In addition to
the effects on our local communities and states, the pandemic highlighted challenges related
to radical inequalities with regard to, for example, capacities for producing and procuring
vaccines, but also to use national resources to support and maintain citizens and businesses.
Simultaneously, we can no longer avoid being exposed to the reality of various environ-
mental challenges threatening to drastically alter the trajectory of our future as a species.
Climate change and the loss of biological diversity are two key issues, and while some are
concerned for the natural world because they consider it to be valuable in itself, others are
mainly concerned because these environmental changes are having major social and eco-
nomic repercussions – for humans.

DOI: 10.1201/9781003325086-1 1
2   ◾    Technology and Sustainable Development

Meanwhile, all these challenges are continually being assessed and attempted tackled by
researchers, developers, and businesses. More often than not, technology is heralded as the
cure for our ills. In the face of COVID-19, for example, vast amounts of research were con-
ducted, and companies launched new AI- and Big Data-based solutions aimed at getting us
out of the predicament. Apps for tracking infections, Big Data analysis for pandemic con-
trol, and not least AI-based solutions aimed at diagnosing and understanding COVID-19
in a variety of ways. As the tidal wave of research and solutions waned, we found ourselves
with meager successes stemming from AI and Big Data (Chakravorti, 2022). The technol-
ogy that enables vaccines, however, stood out as a very effective technological remedy for
the most severe effects of the virus. But vaccines also amply demonstrate how technology
relates to inequality. While developed nations with high coverage contemplated a third
and fourth booster dose for their population, developing and least developed nations had
hardly gotten started. Inequity aside, the unrestricted spread of the virus in some regions
can also be a cause of ever-new strands of the virus which threaten to undermine the
efforts of the developed and developing nations alike. These are issues where technology
and sustainability interlink, and where we see that enabling universal, equitable, and fair
access to technology on a global scale is often the only way toward effectively facing chal-
lenges (United Nations, 2015).
Climate change is a particularly interesting example of how technology relates to efforts
to develop new modes of operation and new solutions which might allow us to escape the
direst consequences of humanity’s industrial activity. Some argue that the only true solu-
tion is to radically change our ways – consume less, produce less, and let go of the notion
of growth as we take the notion of limits seriously (Farley & Smith, 2020; Latouche, 2009).
Others, however, place their faith in green growth and human ingenuity (Jacobs, 2013). For
the latter group, technology is essential, as it allows for the development of new products
with reduced environmental impact, for finding substitutes for resources exploited beyond
repair, and not least for manipulating – and even fixing and restoring – our environment
(Cao, 2011). Geoengineering and technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS)
are illustrative examples of the search for technological solutions for mitigating and adapt-
ing to climate change (Stuart et al., 2020). By developing new technologies and solutions,
we can – or might – add to existing technologies to solve the challenges created by more
primitive technologies. The result being a socio-technical system in which the technical
elements are ever more complicated (Winner, 1977), and its effective operation is increas-
ingly important for the future prospects of humankind, our environment, and all other
species that happen to coinhabit this world of ours. This gives rise to questions regarding
humanity’s fundamental relationship with technology. Is it a curse, a cure, or even both
(Müller, 2016)?

1.2 TECHNO-SOLUTIONISM AND HUMANITY’S SYMBIOTIC

RELATIONSHIP WITH TECHNOLOGY
The subtitle of this book refers to techno-solutionism, which is in simple terms the idea that
we can and should use technology to solve the challenges we happen to face. It relates to the
notion that everything is a nail to a person with a hammer, as most problems can be fixed with
 Introduction   ◾   3

a more comprehensive application of technology for the most ardent techno-solutionists.

The notion of technological “fixes” is another way to describe this attitude (Drengson, 1984).
Morozov (2013) describes how solutionism entails a faith in technology, but also a tendency
to fundamentally change how we perceive and analyze social phenomena. The notion of
faith also suggests a tight link to a closely related term, namely, techno-optimism. While
techno-optimism most obviously points toward an openness to the possibility that technol-
ogy can provide a better world (Danaher, 2022), techno-solutionism is more comprehensive.
It also entails the step that we can, but need not, act on such optimism in the active pursuit of
an agenda in which we organize our societies in ways that make them amenable to the tech-
nological solutions we perceive. Exploring how technology changes both our approach to
and understanding of fundamental sustainability-related challenges is the central objective
of this book. Technology is not just a tool to be used instrumentally for human purposes, as
it has profound effects on how we think, the solutions and opportunities we perceive, and
even how we encounter and relate to each other (Müller, 2016).
A different concept related to the techno-solutionist approach, particularly as technol-
ogy relates to our relationship with the environment, is prometheanism (Müller, 2016),
which originates in the ancient Greek myth of the titan Prometheus. For example, Farley
and Smith (2020) argue that the belief that technology can ultimately replace natural eco-
system services suggests a promethean perspective, and the terms prometheanism and
techno-optimism are widely used in environmental ethics and environmentalism. Popular
targets of criticism by the prometheans are the skeptics that have been proven wrong, and
few are mentioned more often than Thomas Malthus. In 1798, he released An Essay on
the Principle of Population (Malthus, 1798), in which he argued that the earth’s limita-
tions would inevitably also limit the human population. Long after Malthus, the Club of
Rome released The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972), in which they similarly argued
that we were running into hard limits that would eventually limit human development.
Malthus was certainly proven wrong by technological developments in, for example, agri-
culture, and most now also seem to argue that technological development has revealed
clear limitations in the modeling which is the basis of The Limits to Growth.
Prometheus was a titan who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to the mortals, much to
Zeus’ and the other God’s frustration. This fire is usually interpreted as techne – rationality,
art, and knowledge – which is the cause of human development in terms of increased
technological power and capabilities for domesticating and harnessing the natural world
(Aeschylus, 2012; Müller, 2016). The price Prometheus paid for this theft was twofold: He
was bound and eternally tormented by an eagle eating his ever-regenerating liver, but he
was also left concerned with whether he improved or worsened the situation of the mortals.
The story is timeless, and the story of the garden of Eden and the tree of knowledge is an
early example, while there are countless more recent stories related to the challenges caused
by taking our technologies too far. One particularly famous example is Mary Shelley’s
(2012) Frankenstein, aptly subtitled “The Modern Prometheus”.
Techno-solutionism is often referred to as prometheanism because it entails a faith in
the notion that we can control and take charge of the world in which we live, and that
we have sufficient knowledge and technology to do this in a way that will improve our
4   ◾    Technology and Sustainable Development

situation. This book examines whether such an approach is well founded, and in particular
whether it can help us face and effectively solve the challenges related to environmental,
social, and economic sustainability.
Technological change is at the core of all major disruptions in human history, and revo-
lutions, wars, and general development are often connected to and explained by some sort
of technological change (Barley, 2020). When I say revolutions, I mainly refer to the indus-
trial kind, which are inextricably linked to the emergence of both new technologies and,
more importantly, socio-technical systems. By emphasizing the latter, I allude to a recur-
ring topic in the following chapters, namely that focusing on technologies in isolation will
rarely allow us to grasp the full potential or all of the pitfalls that accompany them.
Engineers, developers, and analysts of technology arguably tend to focus on how a par-
ticular technology can be used to achieve certain beneficial effects – how it allows us to
solve a specific challenge. However, developing and applying technology entails conse-
quences far beyond those intended by their progenitors, and any approach not factoring in
such consequences is referred to as an isolationist approach to technology and technologi-
cal change (Barley, 2020).
To really understand the implications of new technology, this book advocates for a
broader approach to the analysis of techno-solutionism – one that takes account of the
interdependence of different technologies and processes in what Barley (2020) refers to
as stacks, and also the indirect ripple effects technology has across different social, eco-
nomic, and environmental domains (Farley & Smith, 2020; Sætra, 2022b). The notion of
unintended effects is a well-known term for parts of what must be accounted for in such
an approach, but even more so is the notion that technologies are interlinked in complex
socio-technical systems (Winner, 1977). In such systems, changes in particular technolo-
gies entail changes in the system as a whole. Of crucial importance is the realization that
individuals and our societies are integral parts of these systems and thus are also affected
by and in a position to influence technological change (Morozov, 2013).

1.3 SUSTAINABILITY AND TECHNOLOGY

Technology is also linked to how humans interact, what sort of traits lead to success for both
individuals and groups, and what sort of political arrangements make sense. Technology
is arguably what has allowed humans to develop into what we are today (Müller, 2016); our
use of various primitive and advanced tools, constructing buildings as shelters, ways of
farming land, and medicines and science are crucial components of what make life as we
know it possible. Saying that all technology is bad is consequently close to absurd. However,
this book is premised on the idea that not all development is beneficial (Næss, 1999). While
technology has fueled great innovations and rapid development, the notion of sustainable
development has now gained prominence because we experience great social, economic,
and environmental challenges due to the very growth technology has enabled.
Sustainability is often equated with the notion of sustainable development, with its
mainstream definition originating with the UN report Our Common Future written by the
Brundtland commission (Brundtland et al., 1987). The commission emphasized how sus-
tainability encompasses more than just the environmental dimension, and that in order to
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character, dance about the streets on the first of May nowadays,
would be a tight fit in a kitchen flue, to say nothing of the parlour.
This is strong presumptive evidence, but we have positive proof-the
evidence of our own senses. And here is our testimony.
Upon the morning of the second of the merry month of May, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, we
went out for a stroll, with a kind of forlorn hope of seeing something
or other which might induce us to believe that it was really spring,
and not Christmas. After wandering as far as Copenhagen House,
without meeting anything calculated to dispel our impression that
there was a mistake in the almanacks, we turned back down
Maidenlane, with the intention of passing through the extensive
colony lying between it and Battle-bridge, which is inhabited by
proprietors of donkey-carts, boilers of horse-flesh, makers of tiles,
and sifters of cinders; through which colony we should have passed,
without stoppage or interruption, if a little crowd gathered round a
shed had not attracted our attention, and induced us to pause.
When we say a 'shed,' we do not mean the conservatory sort of
building, which, according to the old song, Love tenanted when he
was a young man, but a wooden house with windows stuffed with
rags and paper, and a small yard at the side, with one dust-cart, two
baskets, a few shovels, and little heaps of cinders, and fragments of
china and tiles, scattered about it. Before this inviting spot we
paused; and the longer we looked, the more we wondered what
exciting circumstance it could be, that induced the foremost
members of the crowd to flatten their noses against the parlour
window, in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of what was going
on inside. After staring vacantly about us for some minutes, we
appealed, touching the cause of this assemblage, to a gentleman in
a suit of tarpaulin, who was smoking his pipe on our right hand; but
as the only answer we obtained was a playful inquiry whether our
mother had disposed of her mangle, we determined to await the
issue in silence.
Judge of our virtuous indignation, when the street-door of the
shed opened, and a party emerged therefrom, clad in the costume
and emulating the appearance, of May-day sweeps!
The first person who appeared was 'my lord,' habited in a blue
coat and bright buttons, with gilt paper tacked over the seams,
yellow knee- breeches, pink cotton stockings, and shoes; a cocked
hat, ornamented with shreds of various-coloured paper, on his head,
a bouquet the size of a prize cauliflower in his button-hole, a long
Belcher handkerchief in his right hand, and a thin cane in his left. A
murmur of applause ran through the crowd (which was chiefly
composed of his lordship's personal friends), when this graceful
figure made his appearance, which swelled into a burst of applause
as his fair partner in the dance bounded forth to join him. Her
ladyship was attired in pink crape over bed-furniture, with a low
body and short sleeves. The symmetry of her ankles was partially
concealed by a very perceptible pair of frilled trousers; and the
inconvenience which might have resulted from the circumstance of
her white satin shoes being a few sizes too large, was obviated by
their being firmly attached to her legs with strong tape sandals.
Her head was ornamented with a profusion of artificial flowers;
and in her hand she bore a large brass ladle, wherein to receive
what she figuratively denominated 'the tin.' The other characters
were a young gentleman in girl's clothes and a widow's cap; two
clowns who walked upon their hands in the mud, to the
immeasurable delight of all the spectators; a man with a drum;
another man with a flageolet; a dirty woman in a large shawl, with a
box under her arm for the money,-and last, though not least, the
'green,' animated by no less a personage than our identical friend in
the tarpaulin suit.
The man hammered away at the drum, the flageolet squeaked,
the shovels rattled, the 'green' rolled about, pitching first on one side
and then on the other; my lady threw her right foot over her left
ankle, and her left foot over her right ankle, alternately; my lord ran
a few paces forward, and butted at the 'green,' and then a few
paces backward upon the toes of the crowd, and then went to the
right, and then to the left, and then dodged my lady round the
'green;' and finally drew her arm through his, and called upon the
boys to shout, which they did lustily-for this was the dancing.
We passed the same group, accidentally, in the evening. We never
saw a 'green' so drunk, a lord so quarrelsome (no: not even in the
house of peers after dinner), a pair of clowns so melancholy, a lady
so muddy, or a party so miserable.
How has May-day decayed!
 CHAPTER XXI-BROKERS' AND
MARINE-STORE SHOPS
When we affirm that brokers' shops are strange places, and that if
an authentic history of their contents could be procured, it would
furnish many a page of amusement, and many a melancholy tale, it
is necessary to explain the class of shops to which we allude.
Perhaps when we make use of the term 'Brokers' Shop,' the minds of
our readers will at once picture large, handsome warehouses,
exhibiting a long perspective of French-polished dining-tables,
rosewood chiffoniers, and mahogany wash- hand-stands, with an
occasional vista of a four-post bedstead and hangings, and an
appropriate foreground of dining-room chairs. Perhaps they will
imagine that we mean an humble class of second-hand furniture
repositories. Their imagination will then naturally lead them to that
street at the back of Long-acre, which is composed almost entirely of
brokers' shops; where you walk through groves of deceitful, showy-
looking furniture, and where the prospect is occasionally enlivened
by a bright red, blue, and yellow hearth-rug, embellished with the
pleasing device of a mail-coach at full speed, or a strange animal,
supposed to have been originally intended for a dog, with a mass of
worsted-work in his mouth, which conjecture has likened to a basket
of flowers.
This, by-the-bye, is a tempting article to young wives in the
humbler ranks of life, who have a first-floor front to furnish-they are
lost in admiration, and hardly know which to admire most. The dog
is very beautiful, but they have a dog already on the best tea-tray,
and two more on the mantel-piece. Then, there is something so
genteel about that mail-coach; and the passengers outside (who are
all hat) give it such an air of reality!
 The goods here are adapted to the taste, or rather to the means,
of cheap purchasers. There are some of the most beautiful looking
Pembroke tables that were ever beheld: the wood as green as the
trees in the Park, and the leaves almost as certain to fall off in the
course of a year. There is also a most extensive assortment of tent
and turn-up bedsteads, made of stained wood, and innumerable
specimens of that base imposition on society-a sofa bedstead.
A turn-up bedstead is a blunt, honest piece of furniture; it may be
slightly disguised with a sham drawer; and sometimes a mad
attempt is even made to pass it off for a book-case; ornament it as
you will, however, the turn-up bedstead seems to defy disguise, and
to insist on having it distinctly understood that he is a turn-up
bedstead, and nothing else-that he is indispensably necessary, and
that being so useful, he disdains to be ornamental.
How different is the demeanour of a sofa bedstead! Ashamed of
its real use, it strives to appear an article of luxury and gentility-an
attempt in which it miserably fails. It has neither the respectability of
a sofa, nor the virtues of a bed; every man who keeps a sofa
bedstead in his house, becomes a party to a wilful and designing
fraud-we question whether you could insult him more, than by
insinuating that you entertain the least suspicion of its real use.
To return from this digression, we beg to say, that neither of these
classes of brokers' shops, forms the subject of this sketch. The
shops to which we advert, are immeasurably inferior to those on
whose outward appearance we have slightly touched. Our readers
must often have observed in some by-street, in a poor
neighbourhood, a small dirty shop, exposing for sale the most
extraordinary and confused jumble of old, worn-out, wretched
articles, that can well be imagined. Our wonder at their ever having
been bought, is only to be equalled by our astonishment at the idea
of their ever being sold again. On a board, at the side of the door,
are placed about twenty books-all odd volumes; and as many wine-
glasses-all different patterns; several locks, an old earthenware pan,
full of rusty keys; two or three gaudy chimney- ornaments-cracked,
of course; the remains of a lustre, without any drops; a round frame
like a capital O, which has once held a mirror; a flute, complete with
the exception of the middle joint; a pair of curling-irons; and a
tinder-box. In front of the shop-window, are ranged some half-dozen
high-backed chairs, with spinal complaints and wasted legs; a corner
cupboard; two or three very dark mahogany tables with flaps like
mathematical problems; some pickle-jars, some surgeons' ditto, with
gilt labels and without stoppers; an unframed portrait of some lady
who flourished about the beginning of the thirteenth century, by an
artist who never flourished at all; an incalculable host of miscellanies
of every description, including bottles and cabinets, rags and bones,
fenders and street-door knockers, fire-irons, wearing apparel and
bedding, a hall-lamp, and a room-door. Imagine, in addition to this
incongruous mass, a black doll in a white frock, with two faces-one
looking up the street, and the other looking down, swinging over the
door; a board with the squeezed-up inscription 'Dealer in marine
stores,' in lanky white letters, whose height is strangely out of
proportion to their width; and you have before you precisely the kind
of shop to which we wish to direct your attention.
Although the same heterogeneous mixture of things will be found
at all these places, it is curious to observe how truly and accurately
some of the minor articles which are exposed for sale-articles of
wearing apparel, for instance-mark the character of the
neighbourhood. Take Drury-Lane and Covent-garden for example.
This is essentially a theatrical neighbourhood. There is not a
potboy in the vicinity who is not, to a greater or less extent, a
dramatic character. The errand-boys and chandler's-shop-keepers'
sons, are all stage-struck: they 'gets up' plays in back kitchens hired
for the purpose, and will stand before a shop-window for hours,
contemplating a great staring portrait of Mr. Somebody or other, of
the Royal Coburg Theatre, 'as he appeared in the character of Tongo
the Denounced.' The consequence is, that there is not a marine-
store shop in the neighbourhood, which does not exhibit for sale
some faded articles of dramatic finery, such as three or four pairs of
soiled buff boots with turn-over red tops, heretofore worn by a
'fourth robber,' or 'fifth mob;' a pair of rusty broadswords, a few
gauntlets, and certain resplendent ornaments, which, if they were
yellow instead of white, might be taken for insurance plates of the
Sun Fire-office. There are several of these shops in the narrow
streets and dirty courts, of which there are so many near the
national theatres, and they all have tempting goods of this
description, with the addition, perhaps, of a lady's pink dress
covered with spangles; white wreaths, stage shoes, and a tiara like a
tin lamp reflector. They have been purchased of some wretched
supernumeraries, or sixth-rate actors, and are now offered for the
benefit of the rising generation, who, on condition of making certain
weekly payments, amounting in the whole to about ten times their
value, may avail themselves of such desirable bargains.
Let us take a very different quarter, and apply it to the same test.
Look at a marine-store dealer's, in that reservoir of dirt,
drunkenness, and drabs: thieves, oysters, baked potatoes, and
pickled salmon-Ratcliff-highway. Here, the wearing apparel is all
nautical. Rough blue jackets, with mother-of-pearl buttons, oil-skin
hats, coarse checked shirts, and large canvas trousers that look as if
they were made for a pair of bodies instead of a pair of legs, are the
staple commodities. Then, there are large bunches of cotton pocket-
handkerchiefs, in colour and pattern unlike any one ever saw before,
with the exception of those on the backs of the three young ladies
without bonnets who passed just now. The furniture is much the
same as elsewhere, with the addition of one or two models of ships,
and some old prints of naval engagements in still older frames. In
the window, are a few compasses, a small tray containing silver
watches in clumsy thick cases; and tobacco-boxes, the lid of each
ornamented with a ship, or an anchor, or some such trophy. A sailor
generally pawns or sells all he has before he has been long ashore,
and if he does not, some favoured companion kindly saves him the
trouble. In either case, it is an even chance that he afterwards
unconsciously repurchases the same things at a higher price than he
gave for them at first.
 Again: pay a visit with a similar object, to a part of London, as
unlike both of these as they are to each other. Cross over to the
Surrey side, and look at such shops of this description as are to be
found near the King's Bench prison, and in 'the Rules.' How different,
and how strikingly illustrative of the decay of some of the
unfortunate residents in this part of the metropolis! Imprisonment
and neglect have done their work. There is contamination in the
profligate denizens of a debtor's prison; old friends have fallen off;
the recollection of former prosperity has passed away; and with it all
thoughts for the past, all care for the future. First, watches and
rings, then cloaks, coats, and all the more expensive articles of
dress, have found their way to the pawnbroker's. That miserable
resource has failed at last, and the sale of some trifling article at one
of these shops, has been the only mode left of raising a shilling or
two, to meet the urgent demands of the moment. Dressing-cases
and writing-desks, too old to pawn but too good to keep; guns,
fishing-rods, musical instruments, all in the same condition; have
first been sold, and the sacrifice has been but slightly felt. But
hunger must be allayed, and what has already become a habit, is
easily resorted to, when an emergency arises. Light articles of
clothing, first of the ruined man, then of his wife, at last of their
children, even of the youngest, have been parted with, piecemeal.
There they are, thrown carelessly together until a purchaser
presents himself, old, and patched and repaired, it is true; but the
make and materials tell of better days; and the older they are, the
greater the misery and destitution of those whom they once
adorned.
 CHAPTER XXII-GIN-SHOPS
It is a remarkable circumstance, that different trades appear to
partake of the disease to which elephants and dogs are especially
liable, and to run stark, staring, raving mad, periodically. The great
distinction between the animals and the trades, is, that the former
run mad with a certain degree of propriety-they are very regular in
their irregularities. We know the period at which the emergency will
arise, and provide against it accordingly. If an elephant run mad, we
are all ready for him-kill or cure-pills or bullets, calomel in conserve
of roses, or lead in a musket-barrel. If a dog happen to look
unpleasantly warm in the summer months, and to trot about the
shady side of the streets with a quarter of a yard of tongue hanging
out of his mouth, a thick leather muzzle, which has been previously
prepared in compliance with the thoughtful injunctions of the
Legislature, is instantly clapped over his head, by way of making him
cooler, and he either looks remarkably unhappy for the next six
weeks, or becomes legally insane, and goes mad, as it were, by Act
of Parliament. But these trades are as eccentric as comets; nay,
worse, for no one can calculate on the recurrence of the strange
appearances which betoken the disease. Moreover, the contagion is
general, and the quickness with which it diffuses itself, almost
incredible.
We will cite two or three cases in illustration of our meaning. Six
or eight years ago, the epidemic began to display itself among the
linen- drapers and haberdashers. The primary symptoms were an
inordinate love of plate-glass, and a passion for gas-lights and
gilding. The disease gradually progressed, and at last attained a
fearful height. Quiet, dusty old shops in different parts of town, were
pulled down; spacious premises with stuccoed fronts and gold
letters, were erected instead; floors were covered with Turkey
carpets; roofs supported by massive pillars; doors knocked into
windows; a dozen squares of glass into one; one shopman into a
dozen; and there is no knowing what would have been done, if it
had not been fortunately discovered, just in time, that the
Commissioners of Bankruptcy were as competent to decide such
cases as the Commissioners of Lunacy, and that a little confinement
and gentle examination did wonders. The disease abated. It died
away. A year or two of comparative tranquillity ensued. Suddenly it
burst out again amongst the chemists; the symptoms were the
same, with the addition of a strong desire to stick the royal arms
over the shop-door, and a great rage for mahogany, varnish, and
expensive floor-cloth. Then, the hosiers were infected, and began to
pull down their shop-fronts with frantic recklessness. The mania
again died away, and the public began to congratulate themselves
on its entire disappearance, when it burst forth with tenfold violence
among the publicans, and keepers of 'wine vaults.' From that
moment it has spread among them with unprecedented rapidity,
exhibiting a concatenation of all the previous symptoms; onward it
has rushed to every part of town, knocking down all the old public-
houses, and depositing splendid mansions, stone balustrades,
rosewood fittings, immense lamps, and illuminated clocks, at the
corner of every street.
The extensive scale on which these places are established, and
the ostentatious manner in which the business of even the smallest
among them is divided into branches, is amusing. A handsome plate
of ground glass in one door directs you 'To the Counting-house;'
another to the 'Bottle Department; a third to the 'Wholesale
Department;' a fourth to 'The Wine Promenade;' and so forth, until
we are in daily expectation of meeting with a 'Brandy Bell,' or a
'Whiskey Entrance.' Then, ingenuity is exhausted in devising
attractive titles for the different descriptions of gin; and the dram-
drinking portion of the community as they gaze upon the gigantic
black and white announcements, which are only to be equalled in
size by the figures beneath them, are left in a state of pleasing
hesitation between 'The Cream of the Valley,' 'The Out and Out,'
'The No Mistake,' 'The Good for Mixing,' 'The real Knock-me- down,'
'The celebrated Butter Gin,' 'The regular Flare-up,' and a dozen
other, equally inviting and wholesome liqueurs. Although places of
this description are to be met with in every second street, they are
invariably numerous and splendid in precise proportion to the dirt
and poverty of the surrounding neighbourhood. The gin-shops in
and near Drury-Lane, Holborn, St. Giles's, Covent-garden, and Clare-
market, are the handsomest in London. There is more of filth and
squalid misery near those great thorough-fares than in any part of
this mighty city.
We will endeavour to sketch the bar of a large gin-shop, and its
ordinary customers, for the edification of such of our readers as may
not have had opportunities of observing such scenes; and on the
chance of finding one well suited to our purpose, we will make for
Drury-Lane, through the narrow streets and dirty courts which divide
it from Oxford- street, and that classical spot adjoining the brewery
at the bottom of Tottenham-court-road, best known to the initiated
as the 'Rookery.'
The filthy and miserable appearance of this part of London can
hardly be imagined by those (and there are many such) who have
not witnessed it. Wretched houses with broken windows patched
with rags and paper: every room let out to a different family, and in
many instances to two or even three-fruit and 'sweet-stuff'
manufacturers in the cellars, barbers and red-herring vendors in the
front parlours, cobblers in the back; a bird- fancier in the first floor,
three families on the second, starvation in the attics, Irishmen in the
passage, a 'musician' in the front kitchen, and a charwoman and five
hungry children in the back one-filth everywhere-a gutter before the
houses and a drain behind-clothes drying and slops emptying, from
the windows; girls of fourteen or fifteen, with matted hair, walking
about barefoot, and in white great-coats, almost their only covering;
boys of all ages, in coats of all sizes and no coats at all; men and
women, in every variety of scanty and dirty apparel, lounging,
scolding, drinking, smoking, squabbling, fighting, and swearing.
 You turn the corner. What a change! All is light and brilliancy. The
hum of many voices issues from that splendid gin-shop which forms
the commencement of the two streets opposite; and the gay
building with the fantastically ornamented parapet, the illuminated
clock, the plate-glass windows surrounded by stucco rosettes, and
its profusion of gas-lights in richly-gilt burners, is perfectly dazzling
when contrasted with the darkness and dirt we have just left. The
interior is even gayer than the exterior. A bar of French-polished
mahogany, elegantly carved, extends the whole width of the place;
and there are two side-aisles of great casks, painted green and gold,
enclosed within a light brass rail, and bearing such inscriptions, as
'Old Tom, 549;' 'Young Tom, 360;' 'Samson, 1421'-the figures
agreeing, we presume, with 'gallons,' understood. Beyond the bar is
a lofty and spacious saloon, full of the same enticing vessels, with a
gallery running round it, equally well furnished. On the counter, in
addition to the usual spirit apparatus, are two or three little baskets
of cakes and biscuits, which are carefully secured at top with wicker-
work, to prevent their contents being unlawfully abstracted. Behind
it, are two showily-dressed damsels with large necklaces, dispensing
the spirits and 'compounds.' They are assisted by the ostensible
proprietor of the concern, a stout, coarse fellow in a fur cap, put on
very much on one side to give him a knowing air, and to display his
sandy whiskers to the best advantage.
The two old washerwomen, who are seated on the little bench to
the left of the bar, are rather overcome by the head-dresses and
haughty demeanour of the young ladies who officiate. They receive
their half- quartern of gin and peppermint, with considerable
deference, prefacing a request for 'one of them soft biscuits,' with a
'Jist be good enough, ma'am.' They are quite astonished at the
impudent air of the young fellow in a brown coat and bright buttons,
who, ushering in his two companions, and walking up to the bar in
as careless a manner as if he had been used to green and gold
ornaments all his life, winks at one of the young ladies with singular
coolness, and calls for a 'kervorten and a three-out-glass,' just as if
the place were his own. 'Gin for you, sir?' says the young lady when
she has drawn it: carefully looking every way but the right one, to
show that the wink had no effect upon her. 'For me, Mary, my dear,'
replies the gentleman in brown. 'My name an't Mary as it happens,'
says the young girl, rather relaxing as she delivers the change. 'Well,
if it an't, it ought to be,' responds the irresistible one; 'all the Marys
as ever I see, was handsome gals.' Here the young lady, not
precisely remembering how blushes are managed in such cases,
abruptly ends the flirtation by addressing the female in the faded
feathers who has just entered, and who, after stating explicitly, to
prevent any subsequent misunderstanding, that 'this gentleman
pays,' calls for 'a glass of port wine and a bit of sugar.'
Those two old men who came in 'just to have a drain,' finished
their third quartern a few seconds ago; they have made themselves
crying drunk; and the fat comfortable-looking elderly women, who
had 'a glass of rum-srub' each, having chimed in with their
complaints on the hardness of the times, one of the women has
agreed to stand a glass round, jocularly observing that 'grief never
mended no broken bones, and as good people's wery scarce, what I
says is, make the most on 'em, and that's all about it!' a sentiment
which appears to afford unlimited satisfaction to those who have
nothing to pay.
It is growing late, and the throng of men, women, and children,
who have been constantly going in and out, dwindles down to two
or three occasional stragglers-cold, wretched-looking creatures, in
the last stage of emaciation and disease. The knot of Irish labourers
at the lower end of the place, who have been alternately shaking
hands with, and threatening the life of each other, for the last hour,
become furious in their disputes, and finding it impossible to silence
one man, who is particularly anxious to adjust the difference, they
resort to the expedient of knocking him down and jumping on him
afterwards. The man in the fur cap, and the potboy rush out; a
scene of riot and confusion ensues; half the Irishmen get shut out,
and the other half get shut in; the potboy is knocked among the
tubs in no time; the landlord hits everybody, and everybody hits the
landlord; the barmaids scream; the police come in; the rest is a
confused mixture of arms, legs, staves, torn coats, shouting, and
struggling. Some of the party are borne off to the station-house, and
the remainder slink home to beat their wives for complaining, and
kick the children for daring to be hungry.
We have sketched this subject very slightly, not only because our
limits compel us to do so, but because, if it were pursued farther, it
would be painful and repulsive. Well-disposed gentlemen, and
charitable ladies, would alike turn with coldness and disgust from a
description of the drunken besotted men, and wretched broken-
down miserable women, who form no inconsiderable portion of the
frequenters of these haunts; forgetting, in the pleasant
consciousness of their own rectitude, the poverty of the one, and the
temptation of the other. Gin-drinking is a great vice in England, but
wretchedness and dirt are a greater; and until you improve the
homes of the poor, or persuade a half-famished wretch not to seek
relief in the temporary oblivion of his own misery, with the pittance
which, divided among his family, would furnish a morsel of bread for
each, gin-shops will increase in number and splendour. If
Temperance Societies would suggest an antidote against hunger,
filth, and foul air, or could establish dispensaries for the gratuitous
distribution of bottles of Lethe-water, gin-palaces would be
numbered among the things that were.
 CHAPTER XXIII-THE
PAWNBROKER'S SHOP
Of the numerous receptacles for misery and distress with which
the streets of London unhappily abound, there are, perhaps, none
which present such striking scenes as the pawnbrokers' shops. The
very nature and description of these places occasions their being but
little known, except to the unfortunate beings whose profligacy or
misfortune drives them to seek the temporary relief they offer. The
subject may appear, at first sight, to be anything but an inviting one,
but we venture on it nevertheless, in the hope that, as far as the
limits of our present paper are concerned, it will present nothing to
disgust even the most fastidious reader.
There are some pawnbrokers' shops of a very superior description.
There are grades in pawning as in everything else, and distinctions
must be observed even in poverty. The aristocratic Spanish cloak
and the plebeian calico shirt, the silver fork and the flat iron, the
muslin cravat and the Belcher neckerchief, would but ill assort
together; so, the better sort of pawnbroker calls himself a silver-
smith, and decorates his shop with handsome trinkets and expensive
jewellery, while the more humble money-lender boldly advertises his
calling, and invites observation. It is with pawnbrokers' shops of the
latter class, that we have to do. We have selected one for our
purpose, and will endeavour to describe it.
The pawnbroker's shop is situated near Drury-Lane, at the corner
of a court, which affords a side entrance for the accommodation of
such customers as may be desirous of avoiding the observation of
the passers- by, or the chance of recognition in the public street. It
is a low, dirty-looking, dusty shop, the door of which stands always
doubtfully, a little way open: half inviting, half repelling the
hesitating visitor, who, if he be as yet uninitiated, examines one of
the old garnet brooches in the window for a minute or two with
affected eagerness, as if he contemplated making a purchase; and
then looking cautiously round to ascertain that no one watches him,
hastily slinks in: the door closing of itself after him, to just its former
width. The shop front and the window-frames bear evident marks of
having been once painted; but, what the colour was originally, or at
what date it was probably laid on, are at this remote period
questions which may be asked, but cannot be answered. Tradition
states that the transparency in the front door, which displays at night
three red balls on a blue ground, once bore also, inscribed in
graceful waves, the words 'Money advanced on plate, jewels,
wearing apparel, and every description of property,' but a few
illegible hieroglyphics are all that now remain to attest the fact. The
plate and jewels would seem to have disappeared, together with the
announcement, for the articles of stock, which are displayed in some
profusion in the window, do not include any very valuable luxuries of
either kind. A few old china cups; some modern vases, adorned with
paltry paintings of three Spanish cavaliers playing three Spanish
guitars; or a party of boors carousing: each boor with one leg
painfully elevated in the air, by way of expressing his perfect
freedom and gaiety; several sets of chessmen, two or three flutes, a
few fiddles, a round-eyed portrait staring in astonishment from a
very dark ground; some gaudily-bound prayer-books and
testaments, two rows of silver watches quite as clumsy and almost
as large as Ferguson's first; numerous old-fashioned table and tea
spoons, displayed, fan-like, in half-dozens; strings of coral with great
broad gilt snaps; cards of rings and brooches, fastened and labelled
separately, like the insects in the British Museum; cheap silver
penholders and snuff-boxes, with a masonic star, complete the
jewellery department; while five or six beds in smeary clouded ticks,
strings of blankets and sheets, silk and cotton handkerchiefs, and
wearing apparel of every description, form the more useful, though
even less ornamental, part, of the articles exposed for sale. An
extensive collection of planes, chisels, saws, and other carpenters'
tools, which have been pledged, and never redeemed, form the
foreground of the picture; while the large frames full of ticketed
bundles, which are dimly seen through the dirty casement up-stairs-
the squalid neighbourhood-the adjoining houses, straggling,
shrunken, and rotten, with one or two filthy, unwholesome-looking
heads thrust out of every window, and old red pans and stunted
plants exposed on the tottering parapets, to the manifest hazard of
the heads of the passers- by-the noisy men loitering under the
archway at the corner of the court, or about the gin-shop next door-
and their wives patiently standing on the curb-stone, with large
baskets of cheap vegetables slung round them for sale, are its
immediate auxiliaries.
If the outside of the pawnbroker's shop be calculated to attract
the attention, or excite the interest, of the speculative pedestrian, its
interior cannot fail to produce the same effect in an increased
degree. The front door, which we have before noticed, opens into
the common shop, which is the resort of all those customers whose
habitual acquaintance with such scenes renders them indifferent to
the observation of their companions in poverty. The side door opens
into a small passage from which some half-dozen doors (which may
be secured on the inside by bolts) open into a corresponding
number of little dens, or closets, which face the counter. Here, the
more timid or respectable portion of the crowd shroud themselves
from the notice of the remainder, and patiently wait until the
gentleman behind the counter, with the curly black hair, diamond
ring, and double silver watch-guard, shall feel disposed to favour
them with his notice-a consummation which depends considerably
on the temper of the aforesaid gentleman for the time being.
At the present moment, this elegantly-attired individual is in the
act of entering the duplicate he has just made out, in a thick book: a
process from which he is diverted occasionally, by a conversation he
is carrying on with another young man similarly employed at a little
distance from him, whose allusions to 'that last bottle of soda-water
last night,' and 'how regularly round my hat he felt himself when the
young 'ooman gave 'em in charge,' would appear to refer to the
consequences of some stolen joviality of the preceding evening. The
customers generally, however, seem unable to participate in the
amusement derivable from this source, for an old sallow-looking
woman, who has been leaning with both arms on the counter with a
small bundle before her, for half an hour previously, suddenly
interrupts the conversation by addressing the jewelled shopman-
'Now, Mr. Henry, do make haste, there's a good soul, for my two
grandchildren's locked up at home, and I'm afeer'd of the fire.' The
shopman slightly raises his head, with an air of deep abstraction,
and resumes his entry with as much deliberation as if he were
engraving. 'You're in a hurry, Mrs. Tatham, this ev'nin', an't you?' is
the only notice he deigns to take, after the lapse of five minutes or
so. 'Yes, I am indeed, Mr. Henry; now, do serve me next, there's a
good creetur. I wouldn't worry you, only it's all along o' them
botherin' children.' 'What have you got here?' inquires the shopman,
unpinning the bundle-'old concern, I suppose-pair o' stays and a
petticut. You must look up somethin' else, old 'ooman; I can't lend
you anything more upon them; they're completely worn out by this
time, if it's only by putting in, and taking out again, three times a
week.' 'Oh! you're a rum un, you are,' replies the old woman,
laughing extremely, as in duty bound; 'I wish I'd got the gift of the
gab like you; see if I'd be up the spout so often then! No, no; it an't
the petticut; it's a child's frock and a beautiful silk ankecher, as
belongs to my husband. He gave four shillin' for it, the werry same
blessed day as he broke his arm.'-'What do you want upon these?'
inquires Mr. Henry, slightly glancing at the articles, which in all
probability are old acquaintances. 'What do you want upon these?'-
'Eighteenpence.'-'Lend you ninepence.'-'Oh, make it a shillin'; there's
a dear-do now?'-'Not another farden.'-'Well, I suppose I must take
it.' The duplicate is made out, one ticket pinned on the parcel, the
other given to the old woman; the parcel is flung carelessly down
into a corner, and some other customer prefers his claim to be
served without further delay.
The choice falls on an unshaven, dirty, sottish-looking fellow,
whose tarnished paper-cap, stuck negligently over one eye,
communicates an additionally repulsive expression to his very
uninviting countenance. He was enjoying a little relaxation from his
sedentary pursuits a quarter of an hour ago, in kicking his wife up
the court. He has come to redeem some tools:-probably to complete
a job with, on account of which he has already received some
money, if his inflamed countenance and drunken staggers may be
taken as evidence of the fact. Having waited some little time, he
makes his presence known by venting his ill- humour on a ragged
urchin, who, being unable to bring his face on a level with the
counter by any other process, has employed himself in climbing up,
and then hooking himself on with his elbows-an uneasy perch, from
which he has fallen at intervals, generally alighting on the toes of
the person in his immediate vicinity. In the present case, the
unfortunate little wretch has received a cuff which sends him reeling
to this door; and the donor of the blow is immediately the object of
general indignation.
'What do you strike the boy for, you brute?' exclaims a slipshod
woman, with two flat irons in a little basket. 'Do you think he's your
wife, you willin?' 'Go and hang yourself!' replies the gentleman
addressed, with a drunken look of savage stupidity, aiming at the
same time a blow at the woman which fortunately misses its object.
'Go and hang yourself; and wait till I come and cut you down.'-'Cut
you down,' rejoins the woman, 'I wish I had the cutting of you up,
you wagabond! (loud.) Oh! you precious wagabond! (rather louder.)
Where's your wife, you willin? (louder still; women of this class are
always sympathetic, and work themselves into a tremendous passion
on the shortest notice.) Your poor dear wife as you uses worser nor
a dog-strike a woman-you a man! (very shrill;) I wish I had you-I'd
murder you, I would, if I died for it!'-'Now be civil,' retorts the man
fiercely. 'Be civil, you wiper!' ejaculates the woman contemptuously.
'An't it shocking?' she continues, turning round, and appealing to an
old woman who is peeping out of one of the little closets we have
before described, and who has not the slightest objection to join in
the attack, possessing, as she does, the comfortable conviction that
she is bolted in. 'Ain't it shocking, ma'am? (Dreadful! says the old
woman in a parenthesis, not exactly knowing what the question
refers to.) He's got a wife, ma'am, as takes in mangling, and is as
'dustrious and hard-working a young 'ooman as can be, (very fast)
as lives in the back parlour of our 'ous, which my husband and me
lives in the front one (with great rapidity)-and we hears him a
beaten' on her sometimes when he comes home drunk, the whole
night through, and not only a beaten' her, but beaten' his own child
too, to make her more miserable-ugh, you beast! and she, poor
creater, won't swear the peace agin him, nor do nothin', because she
likes the wretch arter all-worse luck!' Here, as the woman has
completely run herself out of breath, the pawnbroker himself, who
has just appeared behind the counter in a gray dressing-gown,
embraces the favourable opportunity of putting in a word:-'Now I
won't have none of this sort of thing on my premises!' he interposes
with an air of authority. 'Mrs. Mackin, keep yourself to yourself, or
you don't get fourpence for a flat iron here; and Jinkins, you leave
your ticket here till you're sober, and send your wife for them two
planes, for I won't have you in my shop at no price; so make
yourself scarce, before I make you scarcer.'
This eloquent address produces anything but the effect desired;
the women rail in concert; the man hits about him in all directions,
and is in the act of establishing an indisputable claim to gratuitous
lodgings for the night, when the entrance of his wife, a wretched,
worn-out woman, apparently in the last stage of consumption,
whose face bears evident marks of recent ill-usage, and whose
strength seems hardly equal to the burden-light enough, God
knows!-of the thin, sickly child she carries in her arms, turns his
cowardly rage in a safer direction. 'Come home, dear,' cries the
miserable creature, in an imploring tone; 'do come home, there's a
good fellow, and go to bed.'-'Go home yourself,' rejoins the furious
ruffian. 'Do come home quietly,' repeats the wife, bursting into tears.
'Go home yourself,' retorts the husband again, enforcing his
argument by a blow which sends the poor creature flying out of the
shop. Her 'natural protector' follows her up the court, alternately
venting his rage in accelerating her progress, and in knocking the
little scanty blue bonnet of the unfortunate child over its still more
scanty and faded-looking face.
In the last box, which is situated in the darkest and most obscure
corner of the shop, considerably removed from either of the gas-
lights, are a young delicate girl of about twenty, and an elderly
female, evidently her mother from the resemblance between them,
who stand at some distance back, as if to avoid the observation
even of the shopman. It is not their first visit to a pawnbroker's
shop, for they answer without a moment's hesitation the usual
questions, put in a rather respectful manner, and in a much lower
tone than usual, of 'What name shall I say?-Your own property, of
course?-Where do you live?-Housekeeper or lodger?' They bargain,
too, for a higher loan than the shopman is at first inclined to offer,
which a perfect stranger would be little disposed to do; and the
elder female urges her daughter on, in scarcely audible whispers, to
exert her utmost powers of persuasion to obtain an advance of the
sum, and expatiate on the value of the articles they have brought to
raise a present supply upon. They are a small gold chain and a
'Forget me not' ring: the girl's property, for they are both too small
for the mother; given her in better times; prized, perhaps, once, for
the giver's sake, but parted with now without a struggle; for want
has hardened the mother, and her example has hardened the girl,
and the prospect of receiving money, coupled with a recollection of
the misery they have both endured from the want of it-the coldness
of old friends-the stern refusal of some, and the still more galling
compassion of others-appears to have obliterated the consciousness
of self-humiliation, which the idea of their present situation would
once have aroused.
In the next box, is a young female, whose attire, miserably poor,
but extremely gaudy, wretchedly cold, but extravagantly fine, too
plainly bespeaks her station. The rich satin gown with its faded
trimmings, the worn-out thin shoes, and pink silk stockings, the
summer bonnet in winter, and the sunken face, where a daub of
rouge only serves as an index to the ravages of squandered health
never to be regained, and lost happiness never to be restored, and
where the practised smile is a wretched mockery of the misery of
the heart, cannot be mistaken. There is something in the glimpse
she has just caught of her young neighbour, and in the sight of the
little trinkets she has offered in pawn, that seems to have awakened
in this woman's mind some slumbering recollection, and to have
changed, for an instant, her whole demeanour. Her first hasty
impulse was to bend forward as if to scan more minutely the
appearance of her half-concealed companions; her next, on seeing
them involuntarily shrink from her, to retreat to the back of the box,
cover her face with her hands, and burst into tears.
There are strange chords in the human heart, which will lie
dormant through years of depravity and wickedness, but which will
vibrate at last to some slight circumstance apparently trivial in itself,
but connected by some undefined and indistinct association, with
past days that can never be recalled, and with bitter recollections
from which the most degraded creature in existence cannot escape.
There has been another spectator, in the person of a woman in
the common shop; the lowest of the low; dirty, unbonneted,
flaunting, and slovenly. Her curiosity was at first attracted by the
little she could see of the group; then her attention. The half-
intoxicated leer changed to an expression of something like interest,
and a feeling similar to that we have described, appeared for a
moment, and only a moment, to extend itself even to her bosom.
Who shall say how soon these women may change places? The
last has but two more stages-the hospital and the grave. How many
females situated as her two companions are, and as she may have
been once, have terminated the same wretched course, in the same
wretched manner! One is already tracing her footsteps with frightful
rapidity. How soon may the other follow her example! How many
have done the same!