Costermonger Costermonger Costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables, in London and other British towns. The term is derived from the words "costard" (a now extinct medieval variety of large, ribbed apple) and "monger" (seller), and later came to be used to describe hawkers in general. Some historians have pointed out that a hierarchy existed within the costermonger class and that while costermongers sold from a handcart or animal-drawn cart, mere hawkers carried their wares in a basket. Costermongers met a need for rapid food distribution from the wholesale markets (e.g., in London; Smithfield for meat,
What Is a Nation? to the reasons based on race, geography, history and so on. They argue that Renan maintains his intellectual background but subtly, i.e. the arguments he explicitly used in "What is a Nation?" are not consistent with his thinking. The concept of "daily plebiscite" would be ambiguous. They argue that the definition is an opportunist idealization and it should be interpreted within the Franco-Prussian War and in the midst of the dispute concerning the Alsace-Lorraine region. What Is a Nation? "What is a Nation?" ("Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?") is an 1882 lecture by French historian Ernest Renan (1823–1892), known for the statements