Sketches by Boz Scenes Chapter V - Seven Dials

In which the curious labyrinth of Seven Dials is revealed with all its bewildering alleys, motley inhabitants, and the mingled humours of its street life, where the mingling of English and Irish, the hum of petty disputes, and the harshness of daily survival are laid bare in vivid detail. In this close and disorderly quarter, the observer finds a tumult of characters and scenes—gabbling women, brooding men, and families entwined in endless strife—that paint a sombre yet strangely familiar picture of urban tenement life.