2-888-485 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Picturesque Sketches of London - Street Sights, 1850. A '...balancer...takes a ladder, high enough to reach a second-floor window, and up it goes on his chin, as if it were no heavier than the straw he has just thrown down...Look at that little girl in the spangled frock...she is brought out, like another Samson to make sport for the Philistines. How prettily she dances...For our part we look on these street performers with a very lenient eye, knowing that they are struggling to live in the best way they can, and that their humble endeavours to please afford amusement to thousands'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.