HENRY MAYHEW (1812-1887) AND

me. but was held back by the youth who had brarght m to tk place." 'I9
RegardiDg 'Me
comings and conditions of the Qck-labourers of tk mtropdis," Mayhew noted: "I
would rather have pursued some mare system~ic plan in my iquiries; but in the present
state of igmxance of the poa, system is impsible. I am unable to generalize, aot being
acquainted with the particulars; fm each day's investigation brings me inciderrtally into
contact with a means of living u-ly
unknown among tk well-fed ponion of soeiety.7*'3
AnoWr of Mayfiew's overt coaceits was the mtion of time travel among LoaQn's
"primitive savages". Titx~ travd e r i thz admpoiogical idea of differe~lt stages of
human developmat ceexkhg sirnultarrcvusly in different cultures. A history of time
travel within a history of travel, like a history of d~ adventure mvd, can be mtkmtrrul
as a history of competitive coexisting styles. These styles samths r6cu~ed cx merged
tog-
like urulcmgrouad streams, drawing oa very dd sauces yet always bringurg a
sense of tlewness. Despite maja shifts in cultures, travel perfamaoces like adventure
noveis showed striking umtinuitia, fa since the days of Herodaus, travel had been
consciously written about axxi practiced as an art fam. Maewer, travel first became the
object of public discussion in many European countries betwen the fifteenth- and
eighteeath-ceaTuries as one peregrinundi and 1 'an & voyager.
True travelling
(peregrinan, that is part of arte peregnitandi, changed one's abode for the sake of
education and the pursuit of usehl knowledge, and was opposed to aimless and useless
rambling (vagan.lP Travellers w m no longer religious pilgrims travelling towards the
New Jerusalem, they were now time-travellers of a different kind Often they were
"' Ibid. 306.
Iz0 Ibid., 301.
"' Alder, 1989, 1367-8.