Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-11-03
LONDON MARKE rs.
Where John Bull Gets Beef The
History Of those Celebrated Marts
of Trade-Capactty Of The
Morket-Americdn Pro
ducts on Sale there.

The following is a condensation of
a London letter in the New York
Times:
The bells of the Royal Exchange, in
London, at noon, ring out merrily The
Roast Beef of Old England The bro
kers, shipowners and underwriters
within the sound Of their Ginning cease
work and hasten to take little snack
of something, possibly glass of port
and beefsteak at the Bodega, near at
hand. The wine is imported, but is it
the roast beef of Old England or the
meat of America which nourishes and
sustains them? Let US see how the
great English metropolis is fed, and
what part Columbia plays in the feed
ing of 100000 of British freemen.
The principal markets of London are
the Central (Smithfeld) and Leaden-
hall for meat and poultry Billingsgate
for fish Harrington for vegetables, and
Covent Garden for fruit. The Metro
politan Cattle Market is in Copenhagen
Fields, and the Foreign Cattle Market
is at Deptford.
Leadenhall Market is situated in a
crowded part of the city, and with its
row of coffee houses and outlying
stands suggests Fulton Market in New
| York. 1t was the largest market up
to the time of the building Of the Cen
tral Markets, at Smithfeld, and its glo-
ry paled when that grand depot opened
its doors. For twelve years past Lead
enhall has been content to lead in the
retail of the city. There is a very large
wholesale business in poultry carried
on within it's precincts, Norfolk, Sur
rey, Sussex, Lincoln and Cambridge
contributing to the stock. Ireland sends
large proportion, and about Christ
mas time Canada and the
Western States of America fur
nish large quantity of turkeys. The
meat sold at Leadenhali is bought at
the Central Markets, Smithfeld, and
retailed to the families and small deal
ers about the city. Leadenhall Market
is more than 500 years old.
The London Central Market, or as
it is better known, Smithfeld Market,
is the principal market of London, and
its glass domes, red brick walls and
towers, and white trimmings, reminds
the visitor of that costly experiment,
the late Manhattan Market, at New
York. The business at the. Central
Market is simply enormous 1t is esti-
mated that "a, 600 quarters of beef are
sold here every week day between 3
and 6 O'Clock in the morning. In this
market and about it are to be found the
principal dealers in American beef, and
it is here that they have their Offices
and stalls There are a dozen firms
now actively engaged in this business
where heretofore there was but one.
The demand for meat from the United
States is largely on the increase. The
cattle districts upon which the English
butcher relied in times past are falling
far short Of an adequate supply now.
Surrey, Lincoln, Cambridge, Suffolk
and Norfolk, and the grazing districts
about Aberdeen, in Scotland, however,
still send many thousand beeves to
London. The Scotch season" for beet
is confined to the months Of January
February, March and December. Smith
field is the only wholesale dead meat
market in London.
Like every prison, palace, church or
court in London, Smithlield has its his
tory and traditions. Oliver Twist
came to grief at Smithfield. Wat Tyler
was killed on its site by the then Lord
Mayor. 1t was formerly the place o
public executions. William Wallace
and Sir Simon Frazer were brGtally
executed there by Edward /. Many
persons were burned there for witch
craft. Two men were boiled alive fol
poisoning. Latimer was burned at the
stake there in 1856 and John Rodgers
the wear before. The slaughter is more
innocent now. st. Bartholomew Hos
pital, of which Miss Betsey Prig was
an attache, is but stones throw from
Smithfc d Market, and Charter House
Square runs along by the eastern side
Of the market, and is the locality where
Steele, Addison and John Wesley
Leech and Thackeray (to say nothing
Of Olive Newcome) were educated.
Covent Garden was one Of the gar
dens of the Convent Of Westmlnstel
before the year 1850 and during al
the changes it has undergone has never
lost its reputation for flowers and fruits
On market mornings-Tuesday Thurs
day and Saturday-it is brilliant in
color and glorious in perfume. Among
the wits and players Of century age
Covent Garden was famous. The Beef
steak Club sprang into juicy existence
there Lely and Kneller lived anc
painted there, and Lely is buried there
In the adjoining streets were 'WilPs
Coffee House, Toms and Buttons
the favorite haunts of such men as Ad
Olson, Johnson, Garrick, Pope, Dryden
and Sir Joshua Reynolds. The Churcl
of st. Paul, in Convent Garden, ugly
enough in architecture, is famous, nev
ertheless, as being the first importan
Protestant church in England, and fo
the remarkable persons whose bodies
are buried in its yard and vaults
Wycherly, Mrs. Centlivre, Kynaston
the player Of female parts in the TIM
of Charles / %, who kept the stage wait
ing while the King was getting shaw
ed > Robert Wilkes, Macklin, Samue
, Butler. DR.. John Walcott and Pete
Pindar.
The term Billingsgate has been pro
verbal for years, and Billingsgate to
4 day, morally, oratorically, and LITERAL.
does credit to its ancient name. On
= Belin, King Of the Britons, is said t
have built water-gate here 400 year
before Christ. 1t has been a marke