Comments on: Pierce Egan’s ‘Life In London’ https://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/04/14/pearce-egans-life-in-london/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Thu, 14 Apr 2016 20:02:12 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Peter Holford https://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/04/14/pearce-egans-life-in-london/#comment-1085453 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 20:02:12 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=144875#comment-1085453 The pictures easily stand on their own without the accompanying text which is a tribute to the vibrancy and imagination of the Cruikshanks’ work. It sounds as though Egan’s account might be interesting – time to search it out.

]]> By: pauline taylor https://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/04/14/pearce-egans-life-in-london/#comment-1085444 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 18:08:30 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=144875#comment-1085444 Nobody, but nobody could beat Cruikshank at this sort of illustration, the more you look at them the more you see, brilliant. Thank you GA.

Thanks to Sarah too for the information about the bedstaff and the mattress, fascinating.

]]> By: John B https://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/04/14/pearce-egans-life-in-london/#comment-1085437 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 16:46:41 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=144875#comment-1085437 Superb illustrations the best I have seen, does show the costume of the period. John

]]> By: Sarah Waldock https://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/04/14/pearce-egans-life-in-london/#comment-1085421 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 10:53:01 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=144875#comment-1085421 In the picture of ‘Jerry beat to a standstill’ it looks as though the flirtatious maid on the far right might be wielding a bedstaff, presumably to beat his mattress into a more comfortable state after he’s tossed and turned it into lumps. The bedstaff served two purposes, one as a rail to hold the mattress in, and two, being detachable, to beat a feather or flock filled mattress to get the lumps out of it, leading to the phrase ‘in the twinkling of a bedstaff’ or ‘in the twinking of a bedpost’ meaning ‘momentarily’. Turning and beating a sick man’s mattress in the brief time he is out of bed would have been imperative for his comfort, but I love the way there seems to be an unspoken suggestion from Logic that he could think of a way of beating the bed with the maid.

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