VICTORIAN MORALS
251
geance; a looseness of notions about property; an absence of chastity
among females and a general disregard for feminine virtue; and a
vague sense of religion and a crude notion of the Creator.
Mayhew, of course, considered these as the stigmata of immor–
ality, but, obviously, the costermongers were "immoral" only in a
relative sense; and they had their own moral code, which was based
not upon the sanctity of property and home-the basis for middle–
class
morality-but upon the sanctity of the instincts of the blood.
Like modern psychologists, they were the enemies of "repression," and
like the upper class they believed in the idea of the "duel."
An
article
of their faith was that a fight should never be stopped, and when one
broke out in the streets, a ring was formed in order to insure its
continuance, "for they hold it a wrong thing to stop a battle, as it
causes bad blood for life; whereas,
if
the lads fight it out they shake
hands and forget all about it." Their social code in general was based
upon personal feelings rather than legal or moral sanctions. They
boasted of always sticking together, and a coster could always leave
his
stall, as a shopkeeper never could, unprotected, knowing that his
fellow costers would keep an eye on it and see to it that nothing was
stolen. Their own code was based mainly on the idea of personal
bravery. This code dictated, for example, that pain should be borne
in
silence and with pluck. They were all pugilists, and a good one
was a local hero. All the pubs had gloves at hand, and fifteen-minute
bouts were the order of the day. Their sports were generally danger–
ous, requiring both courage and dexterity. "They prefer," said May–
hew,
"if
crossing a bridge, to climb over the parapet, and walk along
on the stone coping."
Above all there was no place
in
the code for the middle-class
idea of "respectability." Indeed the more intelligent of the patterers
mocked at the whole concept. lAnd the impudence and wit that
Dickens put at the disposal of the "Artful Dodger," especially in the
trial
scene when he directly confronts the forces of law and order,
were evidently commonplace among the costers. Although most of
them
were completely uneducated--only one in ten was able to
read-they were preternaturally acute, for only by their wits could
they
exist. One of the quickest-witted of the patterers was interviewed
by
Mayhew and recounted an experience that paralleled, with a hap–
pier
ending, that of the Artful Dodger:
