James Greenwood

“ There really does seem to exist a certain sort of honour amongst these creatures which leads them to respect the laws of the chase, and should a pair of huntresses, - they usually go in couples, - succeed in snaring a victim, possession of the prey is never disputed even by the hungriest of the unlucky pack. No; twenty times an the course of as many minutes, the easily swinging doors of the dancing-room may be thrust open showing a head and shoulders, and a pair of eyes keen as those of a fox, but that is only to see how business is going. At these Ratcliff houses its fluctuations are rapid. ”

“ The painted and tricked out women as before mentioned, and the men of almost every country and climate under the sun. Lithe-like Italians, quick as cats and lively as kittens; bronze-complexioned fellows, with dull, jet black lank hair and bright red coral earrings, copper-coloured men, whose complexion was sickly yellow, and full black Africans grinning with delight, and perfect pinks of politeness as regards their behaviour to the ladies, and each one, although the heat of the room was stiflingly oppressive, wearing about his throat a bulky woollen wrapper of a gay colour for warmth sake ”

“ About the still dirty bars flock the splendid creatures I have endeavoured to describe, but bearing no trace of being the same, except for the paint with which their dirty faces are still smeared, and the burnt cork and pencilling which by daylight render more repulsive the expression of their bleary bloodshot eyes. ”

“ A mere hundred or so of tavern-keepers were at loggerheads with the authorities, as to the desirability of keeping open their houses a little later than twelve o'clock for the accommodation of people who chose to patronise places of amusement from which the audiences - were not dismissed until that hour, when the Home Secretary, by a device, as remarkable for its simplicity as for its boldness, solved the mighty difficulty.
The surest way of winning the affections of a people is to show respect for its homely, time-honoured traditions and maxims. ”

“ On the ground-floor there is a spacious and scrupuluously clean bar, and the bar space in front is partly occupied by a bagatelle-table for the innocent amusement of those who have neither taste nor talent for dancing. ”

“ The publican hates a drunkard as he hates the gout or any other inevitable result of excess; the man for him is he who is able and willing to sit or stand, and swig and swig until his last shilling is exhausted, comporting himself, meanwhile, as a jolly fellow should, and so setting a noble example to all who behold him, and finally walking off with his prodigious swallowings, as insensible to their influence as the beer barrel or the gin vat which originally contained them. ”

“ It is marvellous that even spoony "Jack ashore" can discover anything in the least attractive in her. In language and manner she is as coarse as a coal-whipper, and the guiding principle of her shameful existence seems to be to make known her contempt and abhorrence of all that is modest and womanly. ”

“ An hour after ten is worth, to these man-catchers, more than two hours in the early evening, and it may be easily understood how inestimable is the half-hour after midnight, which is now vouchsafed them. And what amount of compensating advantage can be shown to balance the evils for which in Ratcliff Highway and its neighbourhood, "the extra half-hour" is responsible? There are no night factory hands, no railway travellers, no play-going folk in this quarter of the town to whom facilities for obtaining beer or spirits, after twelve o'clock, would be a convenience. ”

“ It is no exaggeration to say that there are many hundreds of women of which she is a type, the daily and nightly business of whose lives it is to prowl about this delectable neighbourhood, seeking whom they may beguile and plunder, and it is equally true that it is chiefly at the public-houses and drinking-shops that they mature their plans for robbery. ”

“ They are not birds of prey, tree to enjoy the spoil, which by hook and crook falls into their possession. They are as a rule no more their own mistresses than the silks and laces with which they are so gaily bedecked, are their own property. ”

“ As the night advanced the dance grew mazier though, to the sober on-looker, possibly less delightful, for then it was that the hard-featured, keen-eyed women, who as before remarked, appear well-nigh invulnerable to the tipsying effect of wine and spirits, plied their victims with heavier and more frequent doses of potent liquor, so that they might render themselves utterly helpless into their Lands to be led captive to the infamous dens which abound in the neighbourhood, there to be plundered at leisure. ”

“ They pursue their investigations, these flashily bedizened and painted prowlers, with as cool an eye for business as do the night patrols in garrison towns, who look in at all the taverns in search of drunken and skulking soldiers. ”

“ Almost every day it is repeated in some shape or other in the newspapers; scarcely a morning passes but the "wretched woman" herself appears at the police-court to answer for her misbehaviour. But, after all, she is not by any means the extremest exemplification of the extent to which vice and strong drink may brutalize and change the nature of a human creature. ”

“ I do not mean to say that the publicans who keep these houses knowingly permit felony to take place on their premises; but it is absurd to suppose that they are not perfectly well aware that the women who swarm to their bars, and their concert rooms, and their dancing saloons, have no other object in view besides that of "picking up" and despoiling the weak-minded individuals who are so unfortunate as to fall into their clutches. ”

“ But it must not be forgotten that, though undoubtedly a great deal is due to the excellent discipline and vigilance of the constabulary force, at least so much as regards avoidance of absolute outbreak and rioting, is attributable to the peculiar system of business adopted by the dancing-saloon and concert-room proprietors themselves.
Never were truer words uttered than those constantly in the mouth of the publican, that a drunken man is his greatest detestation, and never did spoken sentiment so nakedly betray the debasing influence of the liquor traffic. ”

“ It is a marvel that, under the circumstances, the neighbourhood in question presents as a rule, and even up to the time when the public-houses and beer-shops close their portals, a comparatively orderly aspect. ”

“ Their gay plumage is only lent to them to go a hunting in. It belongs to the odious male and female wretches who own the dens to which helpless drunken men are beguiled.
Let any one who doubts this pay a visit to Ratcliff or Shadwell any morning, say at noon. That is an "off-time" at the various sailors' drinking places and dancing saloons. The foolish Jacks who are ashore are still abed sleeping off the effects of the over-night's spree, or those that have beer, cleared out have skulked off somewhere penniless and ashamed; but the public-houses are not without customers. ”

“ There may be next to nothing doing in a dancing-room one hour and the next a gang of shipmates perambulating the highway may fall in with another gang, and they all turn in at the first tavern that comes in their way, offering instant employment to a greater number of wreckers that may happen to be on the spot. ”

“ The female of the locality in question is seldom seen dead drunk, as it is termed. Such a condition is almost impossible to her. She is far advanced beyond the weakness of succumbing easily to the influence of intoxicating fluids-if she was ever subject to it, which is doubtful-bred and suckled on gin, as she probably was, and weaned on gin and bitters. It requires a pen far more graphic than mine to adequately depict this modern Black-eyed Susan, whose prey mainly is men whose "follow the sea." ”

“ A lady taking offence at her partner's-a black mm-stinginess, had forcibly expressed her indignation by punching him in the face and cutting his lip, whereon the other black men who witnessed the fracas hurried up to the rescue, and there was all at once a tremendous commotion and flourishing of fists. ”

“ Well, those who think so should go and see for themselves; in no other way can they thoroughly comprehend how grave a mistake was made, when, as a short cut out of the difficulties which beset this particular branch of the Licensing Amendment Act, was resolved on the ingenious device of tarring the whole body of publicans with the same brush by making the extra half-hour universal. ”

“ They go out in search of plunder of nights as systematically as did the foot-pads and the highwaymen of olden times. They do not resort to one tavern or dancing room and there spread their nets for chance corners ”

“ Should this be the case, the head and shoulders above mentioned are promptly followed by the full skirts, if not, if there appears to be no more than a fair proportion of plunderers to the to-be plundered, the head and shoulders vanish as suddenly as they appeared, and betake themselves elsewhere. They have no time to waste; every half-hour is precious, especially when the night grows late, and those to be beguiled become more and more helplessly drunk. ”

“ And when the day declines and the gas is ablaze again there they will be found, Bella and Poll, and their thousand wicked sisters, haunting the dancing saloons or prowling from public house and seeking whom they may devour, with no man seeking to hinder them, nay, cheered by the kindly dispositions of the rulers of the nation who have ordained that their hunting grounds shall remain open to them half an hour beyond the time their absurdly squeamish predecessors thought quite late enough. ”

“ The nature of its business considered, it may claim to be regarded as a thoroughly well-conducted house, and it is evidently understood by those who frequent it that its managers are persons who will stand no nonsense. ”

“ It may be said as regards the question of the extra half hour that in the case of the man who recklessly abandons himself to drinking all the evening and up to twelve o'clock at night, he is not likely to be much the worse for an extended indulgence of thirty minutes ”