A contemporary of Charles Dickens, Henry Mayhew collected and classified a vast series of detailed interviews with London street traders, beggars, thieves, artisans and performers. Based on their thoughts and their words, on the one side, and on letters and dairies of members of the upper classes on the other side, "The Fool" is the story of a clerk with a double life, crossing between the world of the very poor and the world of the very rich.