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THE SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY.
GENERAL EDITOR PROFESSOR I. GOLLANCZ, LITT.D.
[Illustration]
THE ROGUES AND VAGABONDS OF SHAKESPEARE'S YOUTH: AWDELEY'S
'FRATERNITYE OF VACABONDES' AND HARMAN'S 'CAVEAT': EDITED WITH AN
INTRODUCTION BY EDWARD VILES AND F. J. FURNIVALL
[Illustration]
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PUBLISHERS LONDON MCMVII
R. CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.
CONTENTS
PAGE
=Preface= i
AWDELEY'S _Fraternitye_, not plagiarized from, but published 'a fewe
yeares' before, Harman's _Caueat_ i
HARMAN'S _Caueat_: two states of the 2nd edition. The latter, now called
the 3rd edition, is reprinted here v
Piraters from Harman: Bynnyman, and G. Dewes vi
Short account of Thomas Harman vii
HARRISON'S quotation of Harman, and his account of English Vagabonds,
and the punishments for them xi
_The Groundworke of Conny-catching_ is a reprint of Harman's _Caueat_,
with an Introduction xiv
DEKKER'S _Belman of London_: its borrowings from Harman xiv
S. ROWLANDS'S _Martin Mark-all_ shows up Dekker, and has new Cant words
xvi
DEKKER'S _Lanthorn and Candle-light_ borrows from Harman: Canting Song
from it xix
_The Caterpillers of this Nation anatomized_ xxi
_A Warning for Housebreakers_ xxi
_Street Robberies consider'd_ xxii
Parson HABEN'S or HYBERDYNE'S _Sermon in Praise of Thieves and Thievery_
xxiv
Shares in the present work xxiv
1. =Awdeley's fraternitye of Vacabondes=, _with_ the =.xxv. Orders of
Knaues= (p. 12-16) 1-16
2. =Harman's Caueat or Warrening for Commen Cvrsetors vulgarely called
Vagabones= 17-91
3. =Parson Haben's (or Hyberdyne's) Sermon in Praise of Thieves and
Thievery= 92-95
4. =The Groundwork of Conny-catching=: those parts that are not reprinted
from Harman's _Caueat_ 96-103
5. =Notes= 103-107
6. =Index= 108-116
PREFACE.
IF the ways and slang of Vagabonds and Beggars interested Martin Luther
enough to make him write a preface to the _Liber Vagatorum_[1] in 1528,
two of the ungodly may be excused for caring, in 1869, for the old
Rogues of their English land, and for putting together three of the
earliest tracts about them. Moreover, these tracts are part of the
illustrative matter that we want round our great book on Elizabethan
England, Harrison's _Description of Britain_, and the chief of them is
quoted by the excellent parson who wrote that book.
The first of these three tracts, Awdeley's _Fraternitye of Vacabondes_,
has been treated by many hasty bibliographers, who can never have taken
the trouble to read the first three leaves of Harman's book, as later
than, and a mere pilfering from, Harman's _Caueat_. No such accusation,
however, did Harman himself bring against the worthy printer-author
(herein like printer-author Crowley, though he was preacher too,) who
preceded him. In his Epistle dedicatory to the Countes of Shrewsbury, p.
20, below, Harman, after speaking of 'these wyly wanderers,' vagabonds,
says in 1566 or 1567,
There was _a fewe yeares since_ a small breefe setforth of some
zelous man to his countrey,--of whom I knowe not,--that made a lytle
shewe of there names and vsage, and gaue a glymsinge lyghte, not
sufficient to perswade of their peuishe peltinge and pickinge
practyses, but well worthy of prayse.
[Header: AWDELEY'S _FRATERNITYE OF VACABONDES_.]
This description of the 'small breefe,' and the 'lytle shewe' of the
'names and vsage,' exactly suits Awdeley's tract; and the 'fewe yeares
since' also suits the date of what may be safely assumed to be the first
edition of the _Fraternitye_, by John Awdeley or John Sampson, or
Sampson Awdeley,--for by all these names, says Mr Payne Collier, was our
one man known:--
It may be disputed whether this printer's name were really Sampson,
or Awdeley: he was made free of the Stationers' Company as Sampson,
and so he is most frequently termed towards the commencement of the
Register; but he certainly wrote and printed his name Awdeley or
Awdelay; now and then it stands in the Register 'Sampson Awdeley.'
It is the more important to settle the point, because ... he was not
only a printer, but a versifier,[2] and ought to have been included
by Ritson in his _Bibliographica Poetica_. (Registers of the
Stationers' Company, A.D. 1848, vol. i. p. 23.)
These verses of Awdeley's, or Sampson's, no doubt led to his 'small
breefe' being entered in the Stationers' Register as a 'ballett':
"1560-1. Rd. of John Sampson, for his lycense for pryntinge of a
ballett called the description of vakaboundes ... iiij^{d}.
"[This entry seems to refer to an early edition of a very curious
work, printed again by Sampson, alias Awdeley, in 1565, when it bore
the following title, 'The fraternitie of vacabondes, as well of
rufling vacabones as of beggerly, [3]as well of women as of men,
[3]and as well of gyrles as of boyes, with their proper names and
qualityes. Also the xxv. orders of knaves, otherwise called a
quartten of knawes. Confirmed this yere by Cocke Lorel.' The edition
without date mentioned by Dibdin (iv. 564) may have been that of the
entry. Another impression by Awdeley, dated 1575 [which we reprint]
is reviewed in the _British Bibliographer_, ii. 12, where it is
asserted (as is very probable, though we are without distinct
evidence of the fact) that the printer was the compiler of the book,
and he certainly introduces it by three six-line stanzas. If this
work came out originally in 1561, according to the entry, there is
no doubt that it was the precursor of a very singular series of
tracts on the same subject, which will be noticed in their proper
places.]"--J. P. Collier, _Registers_, i. 42.
As above said, I take Harman's 'fewe yeares'--in 1566 or 7--to point to
the 1561 edition of Awdeley, and not the 1565 ed. And as to Awdeley's
authorship,--what can be more express than his own words, p. 2, below,
that what the Vagabond caught at a Session confest as to 'both names and
states of most and least of this their Vacabondes brotherhood,'
_that_,--'at the request of a worshipful man, I ['The Printer,' that is,
John Awdeley] have set it forth as well as I can.'
But if a doubt on Awdeley's priority to Harman exists in any reader's
mind, let him consider this second reference by Harman to Awdeley (p.
60, below), not noticed by the bibliographers: "For-as-much as these two
names, a Iarkeman and a Patrico, bee in _the old briefe of vacabonds_,
and set forth as two kyndes of euil doers, you shall vnderstande that a
Iarkeman hath his name of a _Iarke, which is a seale in their Language_,
as one should _make writinges and set seales for lycences_ and
pasporte," and then turn to Awdeley's _Fraternitye of Vacabondes_, and
there see, at page 5, below:
[P] A IACK MAN.
A Iackeman is he that can write and reade, and sometime speake
latin. He vseth _to make counterfaite licences_ which they call
Gybes, _and sets to Seales, in their language called Iarkes_. (See
also 'A Whipiacke,' p. 4.)
Let the reader then compare Harman's own description of a _Patrico_, p.
60, with that in 'the old _Briefe of Vacabonds_,' Awdeley, p. 6:
Awdeley. Harman.
[P] A PATRIARKE CO. there is a PATRICO ...
A Patriarke Co doth _make whiche in their language is a
mariages_, & that is _vntill death priest, that should _make
depart_ the maried folke. mariages tyll death dyd depart_.
And surely no doubt on the point will remain in his mind, though, if
needed, a few more confirmations could be got, as
Awdeley (p. 4). Harman (p. 44).
[P] A PALLIARD. [P] A Pallyard.
A Palliard is he that goeth in These Palliardes ... go with patched
a patched cloke, and hys Doxy clokes, and haue their Morts with
goeth in like apparell. them.
We may conclude, then, certainly, that Awdeley did not plagiarize
Harman; and probably, that he first published his _Fraternitye_ in 1561.
The tract is a mere sketch, as compared with Harman's _Caueat_, though
in its descriptions (p. 6-11) of 'A Curtesy Man,' 'A Cheatour or
Fingerer,' and 'A Ring-Faller' (one of whom tried his tricks on me in
Gower-street about ten days ago), it gives as full a picture as Harman
does of the general run of his characters. The edition of 1575 being the
only one accessible to us, our trusty Oxford copier, Mr George Parker,
has read the proofs with the copy in the Bodleian.
Let no one bring a charge of plagiarizing Awdeley, against Harman, for
the latter, as has been shown, referred fairly to Awdeley's '_small
breefe_' or '_old briefe of vacabonds_,' and wrote his own "bolde
Beggars booke" (p. 91) from his own long experience with them.
* * * * *
[Header: HARMAN'S _CAUEAT_: THE EARLY EDITIONS.]
Harman's _Caueat_ is too well-known and widely valued a book to need
description or eulogy here. It is _the_ standard work on its
subject,--'these rowsey, ragged, rabblement of rakehelles' (p. 19)--and
has been largely plundered by divers literary cadgers. No copy of the
first edition seems to be known to bibliographers. It was published in
1566 or 1567,--probably the latter year,[4]--and must (I conclude) have
contained less than the second, as in that's 'Harman to the Reader,' p.
28, below, he says 'well good reader, I meane not to be tedyous vnto
the, but haue added fyue or sixe more tales, because some of them weare
doune whyle my booke was fyrste in the presse.' He speaks again of his
first edition at p. 44, below, 'I had the best geldinge stolen oute of
my pasture, that I had amongst others, whyle this boke was _first a
printynge_;' and also at p. 51, below, 'Apon Alhollenday in the morning
last anno domini 1566, or my booke was halfe printed, I meane _the first
impression_.' All Hallows' or All Saints' Day is November 1.
[Header: HARMAN'S _CAUEAT_: THE TWO STATES OF THE 2ND EDITION.]
The edition called the second[5], also bearing date in 1567, is known to
us in two states, the latter of which I have called the third edition.
The first state of the second edition is shown by the Bodleian copy,
which is 'Augmented and inlarged by the fyrst author here of,' and has,
besides smaller differences specified in the footnotes in our pages,
this great difference, that the arrangement of 'The Names of the
Vpright Men, Roges, and Pallyards' is not alphabetical, by the first
letter of the Christian names, as in the second state of the second
edition (which I call the third edition), but higgledy-piggledy, or, at
least, without attention to the succession of initials either of
Christian or Sur-names, thus, though in three columns:
[P] VPRIGHT MEN.
Richard Brymmysh.
John Myllar.
Wel arayd Richard.
John Walchman.
Willia_m_ Chamborne.
Bryan Medcalfe.
Robert Gerse.
Gryffen.
Richard Barton.
John Braye.
Thomas Cutter.
Dowzabell skylfull in fence.
[&c.]
[P] ROGES.
Harry Walles with the little mouth.
John Waren.
Richard Brewton.
Thomas Paske.
George Belbarby.
Humfrey Warde.
Lytle Robyn.
Lytle Dycke.
Richard Iones.
Lambart Rose.
Harry Mason.
Thomas Smithe with the skal skyn.
[&c.]
[P] PALLYARDS.
Nycholas Newton carieth a fayned lycence.
Bashforde.
Robart Lackley.
Wylliam Thomas.
Edward Heyward, hath his Morte following hym Whiche fayneth y^{e}
crank.
Preston.
Robart Canloke.
[&c.]
This alone settles the priority of the Bodley edition, as no printer,
having an index alphabetical, would go and muddle it all again, even for
a lark. Moreover, the other collations confirm this priority. The
colophon of the Bodley edition is dated A.D. 1567, 'the eight of
January;' and therefore A.D. 1567-8.
The second state of the second edition--which state I call the third
edition--is shown by the copy which Mr Henry Huth has, with his
never-failing generosity, lent us to copy and print from. It omits 'the
eight of January,' from the colophon, and has 'Anno Domini 1567' only.
Like the 2nd edition (or 2 A), this 3rd edition (or 2 B) has the
statement on p. 87, below: 'Whyle this second Impression was in
printinge, it fortuned that Nycholas Blunte, who called hym selfe
Nycholan Gennyns, a counterefet Cranke, that is spoken of in this booke,
was fonde begging in the whyte fryers on Newe yeares day last past. Anno
domini .1567, and commytted vnto a offescer, who caried hym vnto the
depetye of the ward, which co_m_mytted hym vnto the counter;' and this
brings both the 2nd and 3rd editions (or 2 A and 2 B) to the year 1568,
modern style. The 4th edition, so far as I know, was published in 1573,
and was reprinted by Machell Stace (says Bohn's Lowndes) in 1814. From
that reprint Mr W. M. Wood has made a collation of words, not letters,
for us with the 3rd edition. The chief difference of the 4th edition is
its extension of the story of the 'dyssembling Cranke,' Nycholas
Genings, and 'the Printar of this booke' Wylliam Gryffith (p. 53-6,
below), which extension is given in the footnotes to pages 56 and 57 of
our edition. We were obliged to reprint this from Stace's reprint of
1814, as our searchers could not find a copy of the 4th edition of 1573
in either the British Museum, the Bodleian, or the Cambridge University
Library.
Thus much about our present edition. I now hark back to the first, and
the piracies of it or the later editions, mentioned in Mr J. P.
Collier's _Registers of the Stationers' Company_, i. 155-6, 166.
"1566-7 Rd. of William Greffeth, for his lycense for printinge of a
boke intituled a Caviat for commen Corsetors, vulgarly called
Vagabons, by Thomas Harman ... iiij^{d}.
"[No edition of Harman's 'Caveat or Warning for common Cursetors,'
of the date of 1566, is known, although it is erroneously mentioned
in the introductory matter to the reprint in 1814, from H.
Middleton's impression of 1573. It was the forerunner of various
later works of the same kind, some of which were plundered from it
without acknowledgment, and attributed to the celebrated Robert
Greene. Copies of two editions in 1567, by Griffith, are extant,
and, in all probability, it was the first time it appeared in print:
Griffith entered it at Stationers' Hall, as above, in 1566, in order
that he might publish it in 1567. Harman's work was preceded by
several ballads relating to vagabonds, the earliest of which is
entered on p. 42 [Awdeley, p. ii. above]. On a subsequent page (166)
is inserted a curious entry regarding 'the boke of Rogges,' or
Rogues.]
"1566-7. For Takynge of Fynes as foloweth. Rd. of Henry Bynnyman,
for his fyne for undermy[n]dinge and procurynge, as moche as in hym
ded lye, a Copye from wylliam greffeth, called the boke of Rogges
... iij^{s}.
[Header: PIRATERS OF HARMAN'S _CAUEAT_.]
"[This was certainly Harman's 'Caveat or Warning for Common
Cursetors'; and here we see Bynneman fined for endeavouring to
_undermine_ Griffith by procuring the copy of the work, in order
that Bynneman might print and publish it instead of Griffith, his
rival in business. The next item may show that Gerard Dewes had also
printed the book, no doubt without license, but the memorandum was
crossed out in the register.]
"Also, there doth remayne in the handes of Mr Tottle and Mr Gonneld,
then wardens, the somme of iij^{li}. vij^{s}. viij^{d}., wherto was
Recevyd of garrad dewes for pryntinge of the boke of Rogges in a^o
1567 ... ij^{li}. vj^{s}. viij^{d}.
"[All tends to prove the desire of stationers to obtain some share
of the profits of a work, which, as we have already shown, was so
well received, that Griffith published two editions of it in 1567.]"
The fact is, the book was so interesting that it made its readers
thieves, as 'Jack Sheppard' has done in later days. The very wood-cutter
cheated Harman of the hind legs of the horse on his title, prigged two
of his prauncer's props (p. 42).
To know the keen inquiring Social Reformer, Thomas Harman, the reader
must go to his book. He lived in the country (p. 34, foot), in
[Crayford] Kent (p. 30, p. 35), near a heath (p. 35), near Lady
Elizabeth Shrewsbury's parish (p. 19), not far from London (p. 30, p.
35); 'he lodged at the White Friars within the cloister' (p. 51),
seemingly while he was having his book printed (p. 53), and had his
servant there with him (_ib._); 'he knew London well' (p. 54, &c.); and
in Kent 'beinge placed as a poore gentleman,' he had in 1567, 'kepte a
house these twenty yeares, where vnto pouerty dayely hath and doth
repayre,' and where, being kept at home 'through sickenes, he talked
dayly with many of these wyly wanderars, as well men and wemmen, as
boyes and gyrles,' whose tricks he has so pleasantly set down for us. He
did not, though, confine his intercourse with vagabonds to talking, for
he says of some, p. 48,
[P] Some tyme they counterfet the seale of the Admiraltie. I haue
diuers tymes taken a waye from them their lycences, of both sortes,
wyth suche money as they haue gathered, and haue confiscated the
same to the pouerty nigh adioyninge to me. p. 51-6.
[Header: STATUS AND CHARACTER OF THOMAS HARMAN.]
Our author also practically exposed these tricks, as witness his hunting
out the Cranke, Nycholas Genings, and his securing the vagabond's 13_s._
and 4_d._ for the poor of Newington parish, p. 51-6, his making the deaf
and dumb beggar hear and speak, p. 58-9 (and securing his money too for
the poor). But he fed deserving beggars, see p. 66, p. 20.
Though Harman tells us 'Eloquence haue I none, I neuer was acquaynted
with the Muses, I neuer tasted of Helycon' (p. 27-8), yet he could write
verses--though awfully bad ones: see them at pages 50 and 89-91, below,
perhaps too at p. 26[6];--he knew Latin--see his comment on Cursetors
and Vagabone, p. 27; his _una voce_, p. 43; perhaps his 'Argus eyes,' p.
54; his _omnia venalia Rome_, p. 60; his _homo_, p. 73; he quotes St
Augustine (and the Bible), p. 24; &c.;--he studied the old Statutes of
the Realm (p. 27); he liked proverbs (see the Index); he was once 'in
commission of the peace,' as he says, and judged malefactors, p. 60,
though he evidently was not a Justice when he wrote his book; he was a
'gentleman,' says Harrison (see p. xii. below); 'a Iustice of Peace in
Kent,[7] in Queene Marie's daies,' says Samuel Rowlands;[8] he bore arms
(of heraldry), and had them duly stamped on his pewter dishes (p. 35);
he had at least one old 'tennant who customably a greate tyme went twise
in the weeke to London, (over Blacke Heathe) eyther wyth fruite or with
pescoddes' (p. 30); he hospitably asked his visitors to dinner (p. 45);
he had horses in his pasture,[9] the best gelding of which the Pryggers
of Prauncers prigged (p. 44); he had an unchaste cow that went to bull
every month (p. 67, if his ownership is not chaff here); he had in his
'well-house on the backe side of his house, a great cawdron of copper'
which the beggars stole (p. 34-5); he couldn't keep his linen on his
hedges or in his rooms, or his pigs and poultry from the thieves (p.
21); he hated the 'rascal rabblement' of them (p. 21), and 'the wicked
parsons that keepe typlinge Houses in all shires, where they haue
succour and reliefe'; and, like a wise and practical man, he set himself
to find out and expose all their 'vndecent, dolefull [guileful] dealing,
and execrable exercyses' (p. 21) to the end that they might be stopt,
and sin and wickedness might not so much abound, and thus 'this Famous
Empyre be in more welth, and better florysh, to the inestymable joye and
comfort' of his great Queen, Elizabeth, and the 'vnspeakable ... reliefe
and quietnes of minde, of all her faythfull Commons and Subiectes.' The
right end, and the right way to it. We've some like you still, Thomas
Harman, in our Victorian time. May their number grow!
[Header: THOMAS HARMAN'S FAMILY AND ESTATES.]
Thus much about Harman we learn from his book and his literary
contemporaries and successors. If we now turn to the historian of his
county, Hasted, we find further interesting details about our author: 1,
that he lived in Crayford parish, next to Erith, the Countess of
Shrewsbury's parish; 2, that he inherited the estates of Ellam, and
Maystreet, and the manor of Mayton or Maxton; 3, that he was the
grandson of Henry Harman, Clerk of the Crown, who had for his arms
'Argent, a chevron between 3 scalps sable,' which were no doubt those
stampt on our Thomas's pewter dishes; 4, that he had a 'descendant,'--a
son, I presume--who inherited his lands, and three daughters, one of
whom, Bridget, married Henry Binneman--? not the printer, about 1565-85
A.D., p. vi-vii, above.
Hasted in his description of the parish of Crayford, speaking of Ellam,
a place in the parish, says:--
"In the 16th year of K. Henry VII. John Ellam alienated it (the seat
of Ellam) to Henry Harman, who was then Clerk of the Crown,[10] and
who likewise purchased an estate called Maystreet here, of Cowley
and Bulbeck, of Bulbeck-street in this parish, in the 20th year of
King Edward IV.[11] On his decease, William Harman, his son,
possessed both these estates.[12] On his decease they descended to
Thomas Harman, esq., his son; who, among others, procured his lands
to be disgavelled, by the act of the 2 & 3 Edw. VI.[13] He married
Millicent, one of the daughters of Nicholas Leigh, of Addington, in
the county of Surry, esq.[14] His descendant, William Harman, sold
both these places in the reign of K. James I. to Robert Draper,
esqr."--_History of Kent_, vol. i. p. 209.
The manor of Maxton, in the parish of Hougham "passed to Hobday, and
thence to Harman, of Crayford; from which name it was sold by Thomas
Harman to Sir James Hales.... William Harman held the manor of
Mayton, alias Maxton, with its appurtenances, of the Lord Cheney, as
of his manor of Chilham, by Knight's service. Thomas Harman was his
son and heir: Rot. Esch. 2 Edw. VI."--Hasted's _History of Kent_,
vi. p. 47.
"It is laid down as a rule, that nothing but an act of parliament
can change the nature of gavelkind lands; and this has occasioned
several [acts], for the purpose of disgavelling the possessions of
divers gentlemen in this county.... One out of several statutes made
for this purpose is the 3rd of Edw. VI."--Hasted's _History of
Kent_, vol. i. p. cxliii.
And in the list of names given,--taken from Robinson's
_Gavelkind_--twelfth from the bottom stands that of THOMAS HARMAN.
Of Thomas Harman's aunt, Mary, Mrs William Lovelace, we find: "John
Lovelace, esq., and William Lovelace, his brother, possessed this
manor and seat (Bayford-Castle) between them; the latter of whom
resided at Bayford, where he died in the 2nd year of K. Edward VI.,
leaving issue by Mary his wife, daughter of William Harman, of
Crayford, seven sons...."--Hasted's _History of Kent_, vol. ii. p.
612.
The rectory of the parish of Deal was bestowed by the Archbishop on
Roger Harman in 1544 (_Hasted_, vol. iv. p. 171).
Harman-street is the name of a farm in the parish of Ash (_Hasted_, vol.
iii. p. 691).
[Header: HARRISON ON ENGLISH VAGABONDS IN 1577-86 A.D.]
The excellent parson, William Harrison, in his 'Description of
England,' prefixed to Holinshed's Chronicles (edit. 1586), quotes Harman
fairly enough in his chapter "Of prouision made for the poore," Book II,
chap. 10.[15] And as he gives a statement of the sharp punishment
enacted for idle rogues and vagabonds by the Statutes of Elizabeth, I
take a long extract from his said chapter. After speaking of those who
are made 'beggers through other mens occasion,' and denouncing the
grasping landlords 'who make them so, and wipe manie out of their
occupiengs,' Harrison goes on to those who are beggars 'through their
owne default' (p. 183, last line of col. 1, ed. 1586):
"Such as are idle beggers through their owne default are of two
sorts, and continue their estates either by casuall or meere
voluntarie meanes: those that are such by casuall means [16]are in
the beginning[16] iustlie to be referred either to the first or
second sort of poore [16]afore mentioned[16]; but, degenerating into
the thriftlesse sort, they doo what they can to continue their
miserie; and, with such impediments as they haue, to straie and
wander about, as creatures abhorring all labour and euerie honest
excercise. Certes, I call these casuall meanes, not in respect of
the originall of their pouertie, but of the continuance of the same,
from whence they will not be deliuered, such[17] is their owne
vngratious lewdnesse and froward disposition. The voluntarie meanes
proceed from outward causes, as by making of corosiues, and applieng
the same to the more fleshie parts of their bodies; and also laieng
of ratsbane, sperewort, crowfoot, and such like vnto their whole
members, thereby to raise pitifull[18] and odious sores, and mooue
[16]the harts of[16] the goers by such places where they lie, to
[19]yerne at[19] their miserie, and therevpon[16] bestow large
almesse vpon them.[20] How artificiallie they beg, what forcible
speech, and how they select and choose out words of vehemencie,
whereby they doo in maner coniure or adiure the goer by to pitie
their cases, I passe ouer to remember, as iudging the name of God
and Christ to be more conuersant in the mouths of none, and yet the
presence of the heuenlie maiestie further off from no men than from
this vngratious companie. Which maketh me to thinke, that punishment
is farre meeter for them than liberalitie or almesse, and sith
Christ willeth vs cheeflie to haue a regard to himselfe and his
poore members.
"Vnto this nest is another sort to be referred, more sturdie than
the rest, which, hauing sound and perfect lims, doo yet,
notwithstanding sometime counterfeit the possession of all sorts of
diseases. Diuerse times in their apparell also[21] they will be like
seruing men or laborers: oftentimes they can plaie the mariners, and
seeke for ships which they neuer lost.[22] But, in fine, they are
all theeues and caterpillers in the commonwealth, and, by the word
of God not permitted to eat, sith they doo but licke the sweat from
the true laborers' browes, _and_ beereue the godlie poore of that
which is due vnto them, to mainteine their excesse, consuming the
charitie of well-disposed people bestowed vpon them, after a most
wicked[23] _and_ detestable maner.
"It is not yet full threescore[24] yeares since this trade began: but
how it hath prospered since that time, it is easie to iudge; for they
are now supposed, of one sex and another, to amount vnto aboue 10,000
persons, as I haue heard reported. Moreouer, in counterfeiting the
Egyptian roges, they haue deuised a language among themselues, which
they name _Canting_ (but other pedlers French)--a speach compact
thirtie yeares since of English, and a great number of od words of
their owne deuising, without all order or reason: and yet such is it
as none but themselues are able to vnderstand. The first deuiser
thereof was hanged by the necke,--a iust reward, no doubt, for his
deserts, and a common end to all of that profession. [Sidenote:
Thomas Harman.] A gentleman, also, of late hath taken great paines
to search out the secret practises of this vngratious rabble. And
among other things he setteth downe and describeth [25]three _and_
twentie[25] sorts of them, whose names it shall not be amisse to
remember, wherby ech one may [26]take occasion to read and know as
also by his industrie[26] what wicked people they are, and what
villanie remaineth in them.
"The seuerall disorders and degrees amongst our idle vagabonds:--
1. Rufflers.
2. Vprightmen.
3. Hookers or Anglers.
4. Roges.
5. Wild Roges.
6. Priggers of Prancers.
7. Palliards.
8. Fraters.
9. Abrams.
10. Freshwater mariners, or Whipiacks.
11. Dummerers.
12. Drunken tinkers.
13. Swadders, or Pedlers.
14. Iarkemen, or Patricoes.
Of Women kinde--
1. Demanders for glimmar, or fire.
2. Baudie Baskets
3. Mortes.
4. Autem mortes.
5. Walking mortes.
6. Doxes.
7. Delles.
8. Kinching Mortes.
9. Kinching cooes.[27]
"The punishment that is ordeined for this kind of people is verie
sharpe, and yet it can not restreine them from their gadding:
wherefore the end must needs be martiall law, to be exercised vpon
them as vpon theeues, robbers, despisers of all lawes, and enimies
to the commonwealth _and_ welfare of the land. What notable
roberies, pilferies, murders, rapes, and stealings of yoong[28]
children, [29]burning, breaking and disfiguring their lims to make
them pitifull in the sight of the people,[29] I need not to
rehearse; but for their idle roging about the countrie, the law
ordeineth this maner of correction. The roge being apprehended,
committed to prison, and tried in the next assises (whether they be
of gaole deliuerie or sessions of the peace) if he happen to be
conuicted for a vagabond either by inquest of office, or the
testimonie of two honest and credible witnesses vpon their oths, he
is then immediatlie adiudged to be greeuouslie whipped and burned
through the gristle of the right eare, with an hot iron of the
compasse of an inch about, as a manifestation of his wicked life,
and due punishment receiued for the same. And this iudgement is to
be executed vpon him, except some honest person woorth fiue pounds
in the queene's books in goods, or twentie shillings in lands, or
some rich housholder to be allowed by the iustices, will be bound in
recognisance to reteine him in his seruice for one whole yeare. If
he be taken the second time, and proued to haue forsaken his said
seruice, he shall then be whipped againe, bored likewise through the
other eare and set to seruice: from whence if he depart before a
yeare be expired, and happen afterward to be attached againe, he is
condemned to suffer paines of death as a fellon (except before
excepted) without benefit of clergie or sanctuarie, as by the
statute dooth appeare. Among roges and idle persons finallie, we
find to be comprised all proctors that go vp and downe with
counterfeit licences, coosiners, and such as gad about the countrie,
vsing vnlawfull games, practisers of physiognomie, and palmestrie,
tellers of fortunes, fensers, plaiers,[30] minstrels, iugglers,
pedlers, tinkers, pretensed[31] schollers, shipmen, prisoners
gathering for fees, and others, so oft as they be taken without
sufficient licence. From [32]among which companie our bearewards are
not excepted, and iust cause: for I haue read that they haue either
voluntarilie, or for want of power to master their sauage beasts,
beene occasion of the death and deuoration of manie children in
sundrie countries by which they haue passed, whose parents neuer
knew what was become of them. And for that cause there is _and_ haue
beene manie sharpe lawes made for bearwards in Germanie, wherof you
may read in other. But to our roges.[32] Each one also that
harboreth or aideth them with meat or monie, is taxed and compelled
to fine with the queene's maiestie for euerie time that he dooth so
succour them, as it shall please the iustices of peace to assigne,
so that the taxation exceed not twentie shillings, as I haue beene
informed. And thus much of the poore, _and_ such prouision as is
appointed for them within the realme of England."
[Header: _THE GROUNDWORKE OF CONNY-CATCHING_, 1592.]
Among the users of Harman's book, the chief and coolest was the author
of _The groundworke of Conny-catching_, 1592, who wrote a few
introductory pages, and then quietly reprinted almost all Harman's book
with an 'I leaue you now vnto those which by Maister Harman are
discouered' (p. 103, below). By this time Harman was no doubt dead.--Who
will search for his Will in the Wills Office?--Though Samuel Rowlands
was alive, he did not show up this early appropriator of Harman's work
as he did a later one. As a kind of Supplement to the _Caueat_, I have
added, as the 4th tract in the present volume, such parts of the
_Groundworke of Conny-catching_ as are not reprinted from Harman. The
_Groundworke_ has been attributed to Robert Greene, but on no evidence
(I believe) except Greene's having written a book in three Parts on
Conny-catching, 1591-2, and 'A Disputation betweene a Hee Conny-catcher
and a Shee Conny-catcher, whether a Theafe or a Whore is most hvrtfull
in Cousonage to the Common-wealth,' 1592.[33] Hearne's copy of the
_Groundworke_ is bound up in the 2nd vol. of Greene's Works, among
George III.'s books in the British Museum, as if it really was Greene's.
Another pilferer from Harman was Thomas Dekker, in his _Belman of
London_, 1608, of which three editions were published in the same year
(_Hazlitt_). But Samuel Rowlands found him out and showed him up. From
the fifth edition of the Belman, the earliest that our copier, Mr W. M.
Wood, could find in the British Museum, he has drawn up the following
account of the book:
_The Belman of London. Bringing to Light the most notorious
Villanies that are now practised in the Kingdome. Profitable for
Gentlemen, Lawyers, Merchants, Citizens, Farmers, Masters of
Housholds, and all sorts of Servants to mark, and delightfull
for all Men to Reade._
Lege, Perlege, Relege.
_The fift Impression, with new additions. Printed at London by Miles
Flesher._ 1640.
[Header: THOMAS DEKKER'S _BELMAN OF LONDON_, 1608.]
On the back of the title-page, after the table of contents, the eleven
following 'secret villanies' are described, severally, as
"Cheating Law.
Vincent's Law.
Curbing Law.
Lifting Law.
Sacking Law.
Bernard's Lawe.
The black Art.
Prigging Law.
High Law.
Frigging Law.
Five Iumpes at Leape-frog."
After a short description of the four ages of the world, there is an
account of a feast, at which were present all kinds of vagabonds. Dekker
was conveyed, by 'an old nimble-tong'd beldam, who seemed to haue the
command of the place,' to an upper loft, 'where, vnseene, I might,
through a wooden Latice that had prospect of the dining roome, both see
and heare all that was to be done or spoken.'
'The whole assembly being thus gathered together, one, amongest the
rest, who tooke vpon him a Seniority ouer the rest, charged euery
man to answer to his name, to see if the Iury were full:--the Bill
by which hee meant to call them beeing a double Iug of ale (that had
the spirit of _Aquavitae_ in it, it smelt so strong), and that hee
held in his hand. Another, standing by, with a toast, nutmeg, and
ginger, ready to cry _Vous avez_ as they were cald, and all that
were in the roome hauing single pots by the eares, which, like
Pistols, were charged to goe off so soone as euer they heard their
names. This Ceremony beeing set abroach, an Oyes was made. But he
that was Rector Chory (the Captain of the Tatterdemalions) spying
one to march vnder his Colours, that had neuer before serued in
those lowsie warres, paused awhile (after hee had taken his first
draught, to tast the dexterity of the liquor), and then began,
Iustice-like, to examine this yonger brother vpon interrogatories.'
This yonger brother is afterwards 'stalled to the rogue;' and the
'Rector Chory[34]' instructs him in his duties, and tells him the names
and degrees of the fraternity of vagabonds. Then comes the feast, after
which, 'one who tooke vpon him to be speaker to the whole house,' began,
as was the custom of their meeting, 'to make an oration in praise of
Beggery, and of those that professe the trade,' which done, all the
company departed, leaving the 'old beldam' and Dekker the only occupants
of the room.
'The spirit of her owne mault walkt in her brain-pan, so that, what
with the sweetnes of gaines which shee had gotten by her Marchant
Venturers, and what with the fumes of drinke, which set her tongue
in going, I found her apt for talke; and, taking hold of this
opportunity, after some intreaty to discouer to mee what these
vpright men, rufflers and the rest were, with their seuerall
qualities and manners of life, Thus shee began.'
[Header: SAMUEL ROWLANDS'S _MARTIN MARK-ALL_.]
And what she tells Dekker is taken, all of it, from Harman's book.
Afterwards come accounts of the five 'Laws' and five jumps at leap-frog
mentioned on the back of the title-page, and which is quoted above, p.
xv.
Lastly 'A short Discourse of Canting,' which is, entirely, taken from
Harman, pages 84-87, below.
As I have said before, Dekker was shown up for his pilferings from
Harman by Samuel Rowlands, who must, says Mr Collier in his
Bibliographical Catalogue, have published his _Martin Mark-all, Beadle
of Bridewell_, in or before 1609,--though no edition is known to us
before 1610,--because Dekker in an address 'To my owne Nation' in his
_Lanthorne and Candle-light_, which was published in 1609, refers to
Rowlands as a 'Beadle of Bridewell.' 'You shall know him,' (says Dekker,
speaking of a rival author, [that is, Samuel Rowlands] whom he calls 'a
Usurper') 'by his Habiliments, for (by the furniture he weares) hee will
bee taken for a _Beadle of Bridewell_.' That this 'Usurper' was
Rowlands, we know by the latter's saying in _Martin Mark-all_, leaf E, i
back, 'although he (the Bel-man, that is, Dekker) is bold to call me an
_usurper_; for so he doth in his last round.'
Well, from this treatise of Rowlands', Mr Wood has made the following
extracts relating to Dekker and Harman, together with Rowlands's own
list of slang words not in Dekker or Harman, and 'the errour in his
[Dekker's] words, and true englishing of the same:'
_Martin Mark-all, Beadle of Bridewell; his defence and Answere to
the Belman of London, Discouering the long-concealed Originall
and Regiment of Rogues, when they first began to take head, and
how they haue succeeded one the other successiuely vnto the sixe
and twentieth yeare of King Henry the eight, gathered out of the
Chronicle of Crackeropes, and (as they terme it) the Legend of
Lossels. By S[amuel] R[owlands]._
Orderunt peccare boni virtutis amore,
Orderunt peccare mali formidine poenae.
London
_Printed for Iohn Budge and Richard Bonian._ 1610.
'Martin Mark-all, his Apologie to the Bel-man of London. There hath
been of late dayes great paines taken on the part of the good old
Bel-man of London, in discouering, as hee thinks, a new-found Nation
and People. Let it be so for this time: hereupon much adoe was made
in setting forth their lines, order of lining, method of speech, and
vsuall meetings, with diuers other things thereunto appertaining.
These volumes and papers, now spread euerie where, so that euerie
Iacke-boy now can say as well as the proudest of that fraternitie,
"will you wapp for a wyn, or tranie for a make?" The gentle Company
of Cursitours began now to stirre, and looke about them; and hauing
gathered together a Conuocation of Canting Caterpillars, as wel in
the North parts at the Diuels arse apeake,[35] as in the South, they
diligently enquired, and straight search was made, whether any had
reuolted from that faithles fellowship. Herupon euery one gaue his
verdict: some supposed that it might be some one that, hauing
ventured to farre beyond wit and good taking heede, was fallen into
the hands of the Magistrate, and carried to the trayning Cheates,
where, in shew of a penitent heart, and remoarse of his good time
ill spent, turned the cocke, and let out all: others thought it
might be some spic-knaue that, hauing little to doe, tooke vpon him
the habite and forme of an Hermite; and so, by dayly commercing and
discoursing, learned in time the mysterie and knowlege of this
ignoble profession: and others, because it smelt of a study, deemed
it to be some of their owne companie, that had been at some
free-schoole, and belike, because hee would be handsome against a
good time, tooke pen and inke, and wrote of that subiect; thus, _Tot
homines, tot sententiae_, so many men, so many mindes. And all
because the spightfull Poet would not set too his name. At last vp
starts an old Cacodemicall Academicke with his frize bonnet, and
giues them al to know, that this invectiue was set foorth, made, and
printed Fortie yeeres agoe. And being then called, 'A caueat for
Cursitors,' is now newly printed, and termed, 'The Bel-man of
London,' made at first by one Master Harman, a Iustice of Peace in
Kent, in Queene Marie's daies,--he being then about ten yeeres of
age.' Sign. A. 2.
'They (the vagabonds) haue a language among themselues, composed of
_omnium gatherum_; a glimering whereof, one of late daies hath
endeuoured to manifest, as farre as his Authour is pleased to be an
intelligencer. The substance whereof he leaueth for those that will
dilate thereof; enough for him to haue the praise, other the paines,
notwithstanding _Harman's_ ghost continually clogging his conscience
with _Sic Vos non Vobis_.'--Sign. C. 3 back.[36]
'Because the Bel-man entreateth any that is more rich in canting, to
lend him better or more with variety, he will repay his loue double,
I haue thought good, not only to shew his errour in some places in
setting downe olde wordes vsed fortie yeeres agoe, before he was
borne, for wordes that are vsed in these dayes (although he is bold
to call me an vsurper (for so he doth in his last round), and not
able to maintayne the title, but haue enlarged his Dictionary (or
_Master Harmon's_) with such wordes as I thinke hee neuer heard of
(and yet in vse too); but not out of vaine glorie, as his ambition
is, but, indeede, as an experienced souldier that hath deerely paid
for it: and therefore it shall be honour good enough for him (if not
too good) to come vp with the Reare (I doe but shoote your owne
arrow back againe), and not to haue the leading of the Van as he
meanes to doe, although small credite in the end will redound to
eyther. You shall know the wordes not set in eyther his Dictionaries
by this marke [S]: and for shewing the errour in his words, and true
englishing of the same and other, this marke [P] shall serue
[S] Abram, madde.
[S] He maunds Abram, he begs as a madde man.
[P] Bung, is now vsed for a pocket, heretofore for a purse.
[S] Budge a beake, runne away.
[S] A Bite, secreta mulierum.
[S] Crackmans, the hedge.
[S] To Castell, to see or looke.
[S] A Roome Cuttle, a sword.
[S] A Cuttle bung, a knife to cut a purse.
[S] Chepemans, Cheape-side market.
[P] Chates, the Gallowes: here he mistakes both the simple word,
because he so found it printed, not knowing the true originall
thereof, and also in the compound; as for _Chates_, it should be
_Cheates_, which word is vsed generally for things, as _Tip me
that Cheate_, Giue me that thing: so that if you will make a
word for the Gallous, you must put thereto this word _treyning_,
which signifies hanging; and so _treyning cheate_ is as much to
say, hanging things, or the Gallous, and not _Chates_.
[Header: _MARTIN MARK-ALL. LANTHORNE AND CANDLE-LIGHT._]
[S] A fflicke, a Theefe.
[S] Famblers, a paire of Gloues.
[S] Greenemans, the fields.
[S] Gilkes for the gigger, false keyes for the doore or picklockes.
[S] Gracemans, Gratious streete market.
[S] Iockam, a man's yard.
[S] Ian, a purse.
[S] Iere, a turd.
[S] Lugges, eares.
[S] Loges, a passe or warrant.
[S] A Feager of Loges, one that beggeth with false passes or
counterfeit writings.
[S] Numans, Newgate Market.
[P] Nigling, company keeping with a woman: this word is not vsed now,
but _wapping_, and thereof comes the name _wapping morts_,
whoores.
[S] To plant, to hide.
[P] Smellar, a garden; not smelling cheate, for that's a Nosegay.
[S] Spreader, butter.
[S] Whittington, Newgate.
"And thus haue I runne ouer the Canter's Dictionary; to speake more
at large would aske more time then I haue allotted me; yet in this
short time that I haue, I meane to sing song for song with the
Belman, ere I wholly leaue him." [Here follow three Canting Songs.]
Sign. E 1, back--E 4.
"And thus hath the Belman, through his pitifull ambition, caused me
to write that I would not: And whereas he disclaims the name of
Brotherhood, I here vtterly renounce him & his fellowship, as not
desirous to be rosolued of anything he professeth on this subiect,
knowing my selfe to be as fully instructed herein as euer he
was."--Sign. F.
In the second Part of his _Belman of London_, namely, his _Lanthorne and
Candle-light_, 1609, Dekker printed a Dictionary of Canting, which is
only a reprint of Harman's (p. 82-4, below). A few extracts from this
_Lanthorne_ are subjoined:
_Canting._
"This word _canting_ seemes to bee deriued from the latine _verbe
canto_, which signifies in English, to sing, or to make a sound with
words,--that is to say, to speake. And very aptly may _canting_ take
his deriuatio_n_, _a cantando_, from singing, because, amongst these
beggerly consorts that can play vpon no better instruments, the
language of _canting_ is a kind of musicke; and he that in such
assemblies can _cant_ best, is counted the best
Musitian."--_Dekker's Lanthorne and Candle-light_, B. 4. back.
[Header: DEKKER'S _LANTHORNE AND CANDLE-LIGHT_.]
_Specimen of "Canting rithmes."_
"Enough--with bowsy Coue maund Nace,
Tour the Patring Coue in the Darkeman Case,
Docked the Dell, for a Coper meke
His wach shall feng a Prounces Nab-chete,
Cyarum, by Salmon, and thou shalt pek my Iere
In thy Gan, for my watch it is nace gere,
For the bene bowse my watch hath a win, &c."
_Dekker's Lanthorne_, &c., C. 1. back.
A specimen of "Canting prose," with translation, is given on the same
page.
Dekker's dictionary of Canting, given in _Lanthorne and Candle-light_,
is the same as that of Harman.
"A Canting Song.
The Ruffin cly the nab of the Harman beck,
If we mawn'd Pannam, lap or Ruff-peck,
Or poplars of yarum: he cuts, bing to the Ruffmans,
Or els he sweares by the light-mans,
To put our stamps in the Harmans,
The ruffian cly the ghost of the Harman beck
If we heaue a booth we cly the Ierke.
If we niggle, or mill a bowsing Ken
Or nip a boung that has but a win
Or dup the giger of a Gentry cofe's ken,
To the quier cuffing we bing,
And then to the quier Ken, to scowre the Cramp ring,
And then to the Trin'de on the chates, in the lightmans
The Bube _and_ Ruffian cly the Harman beck _and_ harmans.
Thus Englished.
The Diuell take the Constable's head,
If we beg Bacon, Butter-milke, or bread,
Or Pottage, to the hedge he bids vs hie
Or sweares (by this light) i' th' stocks we shall lie.
The Deuill haunt the Constable's ghoast
If we rob but a Booth, we are whip'd at a poast.
If an ale-house we rob, or be tane with a whore,
Or cut a purse that has inst a penny, and no more,
Or come but stealing in at a Gentleman's dore
To the Iustice straight we goe,
And then to the Iayle to be shakled: And so
To be hang'd on the gallowes i' th' day time: the pox
And the Deuill take the Constable and his stocks."
_Ibid._ C. 3. back.
[Header: _CATTERPILLERS ANATOMIZED. WARNING FOR HOUSEKEEPERS._]
Richard Head (says Mr Hotten), in his _English Rogue, described in the
Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant_, 4 vols. 12mo., 1671-80,
gave "a glossary of Cant words 'used by the Gipsies'; but it was only a
reprint of what Decker had given sixty years before," and therefore
merely taken from Harman too. 'The Bibliography of Slang, Cant, and
Vulgar Language' has been given so fully at the end of Mr Hotten's Slang
Dictionary, that I excuse myself from pursuing the subject farther. I
only add here Mr Wood's extracts from four of the treatises on this
subject not noticed by Mr Hotten in the 1864 edition of his Dictionary,
but contained (with others) in a most curious volume in the British
Museum, labelled _Practice of Robbers_,--Press Mark 518. h. 2.,--as also
some of the slang words in these little books not given by Harman[37]: