notable Discovery of House-breakers, Pick-pockets, &c. Together with
the Life of a penitent High-way-man, discovering the Mystery of that
Infernal Society. To which is added, the Manner of Hectoring and
trapanning, as it is acted in and about the City of London. London,
Printed for M. H. at the Princes Armes, in Chancery-lane._ 1659.
Ken = miller, house-breaker.
Iowre, or mint = wealth or money.
Gigers jacked = locked doors.
Tilers, or Cloyers, equivalent to shoplifters.
Joseph, a cloak.
Bung-nibber, or Cutpurse = a pickpocket.
* * * * *
2. _A Warning for Housekeepers; or, A discovery of all sorts of
thieves and Robbers which go under theee titles, viz.--The Gilter,
the Mill, the Glasier, Budg and Snudg, File-lifter, Tongue-padder,
The private Theif. With Directions how to prevent them, Also an
exact description of every one of their Practices. Written by one
who was a Prisoner in Newgate. Printed for T. Newton_, 1676.
Glasiers, thieves who enter houses, thro' windows, first remouing a
pane of glass (p. 4).
[Header: _WARNING FOR HOUSEKEEPERS. STREET ROBBERIES._]
The following is a Budg and Snudg song:--
"The Budge it is a delicate trade,
And a delicate trade of fame;
For when that we have bit the bloe,
We carry away the game:
But if the cully nap us,
And the lurres from us take,
O then they rub us to the whitt,
And it is hardly worth a make.
But when that we come to the whitt
Our Darbies to behold,
And for to take our penitency,
And boose the water cold.
But when that we come out agen,
As we walk along the street,
We bite the Culley of his cole,
But we are rubbed unto the whitt.
And when that we come to the whitt,
For garnish they do cry,
Mary, faugh, you son of a wh----
Ye shall have it by and by.
But when that we come to Tyburn,
For going upon the budge,
There stands Jack Catch, that son of a w----
That owes us all a grudge
And when that he hath noosed us
And our friends tips him no cole
O then he throws us in the cart
And tumbles us into the hole."--(pp. 5, 6.)
On the last page of this short tract (which consists of eight pages) we
are promised:
"In the next Part you shall have a fuller description."
* * * * *
[Header: _STREET ROBBERIES CONSIDER'D._]
3. _Street Robberies consider'd; The reason of their being so
frequent, with probable means to prevent 'em: To which is added
three short Treatises--1. A Warning for Travellers; 2. Observations
on House-breakers; 3. A Caveat for Shopkeepers. London, J. Roberts._
[no date] _Written by a converted Thief._
_Shepherd_ is mentioned in this book as being a clever prison breaker
(p. 6). There is a long list of slang words in this tract. The following
are only a few of them:
Abram, Naked
Betty, a Picklock
Bubble-Buff, Bailiff
Bube, Pox
Chive, a Knife
Clapper dudgeon, a beggar born
Collar the Cole, Lay hold on the money
Cull, a silly fellow
Dads, an old man
Darbies, Iron
Diddle, Geneva
Earnest, share
Elf, little
Fencer, receiver of stolen goods
Fib, to beat
Fog, smoke
Gage, Exciseman
Gilt, a Picklock
Grub, Provender
Hic, booby
Hog, a shilling
Hum, strong
Jem, Ring
Jet, Lawyer
Kick, Sixpence
Kin, a thief
Kit, Dancing-master
Lap, Spoon-meat
Latch, let in
Leake, Welshman
Leap, all safe
Mauks, a whore
Mill, to beat
Mish, a smock
Mundungus, sad stuff
Nan, a maid of the house
Nap, an arrest
Nimming, stealing
Oss Chives, Bone-handled knives
Otter, a sailor
Peter, Portmantua
Plant the Whids, take care what you say
Popps, Pistols
Rubbs, hard shifts
Rumbo Ken, Pawn-brokers
Rum Mort, fine Woman
Smable, taken
Smeer, a painter
Snafflers, Highwaymen
Snic, to cut
Tattle, watch
Tic, trust
Tip, give
Tit, a horse
Tom Pat, a parson
Tout, take heed
Tripe, the belly
Web, cloth
Wobble, 'o boil
Yam, to eat
Yelp, a crier
Yest, a day ago
Zad, crooked
Znees, Frost
Zouch, an ungenteel man
&c., a Bookseller
"The King of the Night, as the Constables please to term themselves,
should be a little more active in their employment; but all their
business is to get to a watch house and guzzle, till their time of
going home comes." (p. 60.)
"A small bell to Window Shutters would be of admirable use to
prevent Housebreakers." (p. 70.)
* * * * *
4. _A true discovery of the Conduct of Receivers and Thief-Takers,
in and about the City of London, &c., &c. London_, 1718.
This pamphlet is "design'd as preparatory to a larger Treatise, wherein
shall be propos'd Methods to extirpate and suppress for the future such
villanous Practices." It is by "Charles Hitchin, one of the Marshals of
the City of London."
I now take leave of Harman, with a warm commendation of him to the
reader.
[Header: PARSON HABEN'S _SERMON ON THIEVES_.]
The third piece in the present volume is a larky Sermon in praise of
Thieves and Thievery, the title of which (p. 93, below) happened to
catch my eye when I was turning over the Cotton Catalogue, and which was
printed here, as well from its suiting the subject, as from a pleasant
recollection of a gallop some 30 years ago in a four-horse coach across
Harford-Bridge-Flat, where Parson Haben (or Hyberdyne), who is said to
have preached the Sermon, was no doubt robbed. My respected friend
Goody-goody declares the sermon to be 'dreadfully irreverent;' but one
needn't mind him. An earlier copy than the Cotton one turned up among
the Lansdowne MSS, and as it differed a good deal from the Cotton text,
it has been printed opposite to that.
Of the fourth piece in this little volume, _The Groundworke of
Conny-catching_, less its reprint from Harman, I have spoken above, at
p. xiv. There was no good in printing the whole of it, as we should then
have had Harman twice over.
* * * * *
The growth of the present Text was on this wise: Mr Viles suggested a
reprint of Stace's reprint of Harman in 1573, after it had been read
with the original, and collated with the earlier editions. The first
edition I could not find, but ascertained, with some trouble, and
through Mr W. C. Hazlitt, where the second and third editions were, and
borrowed the 3rd of its ever-generous owner, Mr Henry Huth. Then Mr
Hazlitt told me of Awdeley, which he thought was borrowed from Harman.
However, Harman's own words soon settled that point; and Awdeley had to
precede Harman. Then the real bagger from Harman, the _Groundworke_, had
to be added, after the Parson's Sermon. Mr Viles read the proofs and
revises of Harman with the original: Mr Wood and I have made the Index;
and I, because Mr Viles is more desperately busy than myself, have
written the Preface.
[Header: MR PAYNE COLLIER'S WORK AND ALTERATIONS.]
The extracts from Mr J. P. Collier must be taken for what they are
worth. I have not had time to verify them; but assume them to be
correct, and not ingeniously or unreasonably altered from their
originals, like Mr Collier's print of Henslowe's Memorial, of which Dr
Ingleby complains,[38] and like his notorious Alleyn letter. If some one
only would follow Mr Collier through all his work--pending his hoped-for
Retractations,--and assure us that the two pieces above-named, and the
Perkins Folio, are the only things we need reject, such some-one would
render a great service to all literary antiquarians, and enable them to
do justice to the wonderful diligence, knowledge, and acumen, of the
veteran pioneer in their path. Certainly, in most of the small finds
which we workers at this Text thought we had made, we afterwards found
we had been anticipated by Mr Collier's _Registers of the Stationers'
Company_, or _Bibliographical Catalogue_, and that the facts were there
rightly stated. [Header: PRINT THE STATIONERS' REGISTERS.] That there
is pure metal in Mr Collier's work, and a good deal of it, few will
doubt; but the dross needs refining out. I hope that the first step in
the process may be the printing of the whole of the Stationers'
Registers from their start to 1700 at least, by the Camden
Society,--within whose range this work well lies,--or by the new
Harleian or some other Society. It ought not to be left to the 'Early
English Text' to do some 20 years hence.
F. J. FURNIVALL.
_29 Nov., 1869._
P.S. For a curious Ballad describing beggars' tricks in the 17th
century, say about 1650, see the Roxburghe Collection, i. 42-3, and
the Ballad Society's reprint, now in the press for 1869, i. 137-41,
'_The cunning Northerne Beggar_': 1. he shams lame; 2. he pretends
to be a poor soldier; 3. a sailor; 4. cripple; 5. diseased; 6.
festered all over, and face daubed with blood; 7. blind; 8. has had
his house burnt.
FORETALK TO NEW SHAKSPERE SOCIETY'S REPRINT (1880).
THOMAS HARMAN'S Will (p. xiv, above) I couldn't find at Doctors'
Commons when I searcht for it, though three John-Harman wills of his
time turnd up.
The print of the Stationers' Registers calld for above, has since
been produc't by Mr. Arber, to whose energy we are all so much
indebted for such numbers of capital texts; and the book only needs
an Index to be of real use. The entries on p. ii, vi, vii, above,
are in Arber's _Transcript_, i. 157, 334, 345. (See too i. 348,
369.[39]) The Hunterian Club, Glasgow, reprinted, in 1874, S.
Rowland's _Martin Mark-all_ (p. xvi, above) from the text of 1610,
in its handsome edition of all Rowlands's works.
As connected, more or less, with the Vagabonds of London, I add,
opposite, a copy of the curious cut of the notorious Southwark
brothel, 'Holland's Leaguer' in 1632, on which Mr. Rendle has
commented in his "Bankside, Southwark," _Harrison_, Part II. p.
ix-x, and the site of which is shown on the left of our first plan
from Roque's Map, _ib._ p. 67*.
The Brothel is shown, says Mr. Ebsworth, (_Amanda Ballads_, 1880, p.
507*), fortified and sentried, as kept by a Mrs. Holland, before
1631. "The picture was frontispiece of a quarto pamphlet,
'_Holland's Leaguer; or, an Historical Discourse of the Life and
Actions of Donna Britanica Hollandia, the Arch Mistris of the wicked
women of Eutopia: wherein is detected the notorious sinne of
Pandarisme_,' etc., sm. 4to. printed by A. M. for Richard Barnes,
1632....
"Holland's Leaguer claimed to be an island out of the ordinary
jurisdiction. The portcullis, drawbridge, moat, and wicket for
espial, as well as an armed bully or Pandar to quell disagreeable
intruders, if by chance they got admittance without responsible
introduction, all point to an organized system. There were also the
garden-walks for sauntering and 'doing a spell of embroidery, or
fine work,' _i.e._ flirtation; the summer-house that was
proverbially famous or infamous for intrigues, and the river
conveniently near for disposal of awkward visitors who might have
met with misadventure.
[Header: FORETALK TO REPRINT OF 1880.]
"Shackerly Marmion's 'excellent comedy,' _Holland's Leaguer_, 1632,
was reprinted in 1875, in William Paterson of Edinburgh's choice
series, _Dramatists of the Restoration_. The fourth act gives an
exposure of the Leaguers' garrison, where riot, disease, and robbery
are unchecked. Thus _Trimalchio_ says,
'I threw thy _Cerberus_ a sleepy morsel,
And paid thy _Charon_ for my waftage over,
And I have a golden sprig for my _Proserpina_.
_Bawd:_ Then you are welcome, Sir!'
[Illustration: Southwark brothel]
"Yet before long the visitors are shouting 'Murder! Murder!'
'They have spoiled us
Of our cloaks, our hats, our swords, and our money.
My brother talked of building of a score, [_i.e._ "_Tick it._"]
And straight they seized our cloaks for the reckoning.'"
"The long-credit system did not suit at that establishment, where
the health and lives of visitors were uninsured. The Proprietress
had early declared the free list to be entirely suspended:
'I'll take no tickets nor no future stipends.
'Tis not false titles, or denominations
Of offices can do it. I must have money.
Tell them so. Draw the bridge.'--(Act iv. sc. 2.)"
[Illustration: ROXBURGHE AND BAGFORD BALLAD WOODCUTS OF BEGGARS, &C.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Liber Vagatorum: Der Betler Orden_: First printed about 1514. Its
first section gives a special account of the several orders of the
'Fraternity of Vagabonds;' the 2nd, sundry _notabilia_ relating to them;
the 3rd consists of a 'Rotwelsche Vocabulary,' or 'Canting Dictionary.'
See a long notice in the Wiemarisches Jahrbuch, vol. 10; 1856. Hotten's
_Slang Dictionary_: Bibliography.
[2] See the back of his title-page, p. 2, below.
[3] _as well_ and _and as well_ not in the title of the 1575 edition.
[4] Compare the anecdote, p. 66, 68, 'the _last_ sommer. Anno Domini,
1566.'
[5] 'now at this seconde Impression,' p. 27; 'Whyle this second
Impression was in printinge,' p. 87.
[6] Mr J. P. Collier (_Bibliographical Catalogue_, i. 365) has little
doubt that the verses at the back of the title-page of Harman's _Caveat_
were part of "a ballad intituled a description of the nature of a
birchen broom" entered at Stationers' Hall to William Griffith, the
first printer of the _Caveat_.
[7] Cp. Kente, p. 37, 43, 48, 61, 63, 66, 68, 77, &c. Moreover, the way
in which he, like a Norfolk or Suffolk man, speaks of _shires_, points
to a liver in a non -_shire_.
[8] In _Martin Mark-all, Beadle of Bridewell_, 1610, quoted below, at p.
xvii.
[9] Compare his 'ride to Dartforde to speake with a priest there,' p.
57.
[10] "John Harman, Esquyer, one of the gentilmen hushers of the Chambre
of our soverayn Lady the Quene, and the excellent Lady Dame Dorothye
Gwydott, widow, late of the town of Southampton, married Dec. 21, 1567."
(Extract from the register of the parish of Stratford Bow, given in p.
499, vol. iii. of Lysons's _Environs of London_.)
[11] Philipott, p. 108. Henry Harman bore for his arms--Argent, a
chevron between 3 scalps sable.
[12] Of whose daughters, Mary married John, eldest son of Wm. Lovelace,
of Hever in Kingsdown, in this county; and Elizabeth married John
Lennard, Prothonotary, and afterwards _Custos Brevium_ of the Common
Pleas. See Chevening.
[13] See Robinson's Gavelkind, p. 300.
[14] She was of consanguinity to Abp. Chicheley. _Stemm. Chich._ No.
106. Thomas Harman had three daughters: Anne, who married Wm. Draper, of
Erith, and lies buried there; Mary, who married Thomas Harrys; and
Bridget, who was the wife of Henry Binneman. _Ibid._
[15] In the first edition of Holinshed (1577) this chapter is the 5th in
Book III. of Harrison's _Description_.
[16] Not in ed. 1577.
[17] _thorow_ in ed. 1577.
[18] _piteous_ in ed. 1577.
[19] _lament_ in ed. 1577.
[20] The remainder of this paragraph is not in ed. 1577.
[21] Not in ed. 1577.
[22] Compare _Harman_, p. 48.
[23] The 1577 ed. inserts _horrible_.
[24] The 1577 ed. reads _fifty_.
[25] The 1577 ed. reads 22, which is evidently an error.
[26] For these words the 1577 ed. reads _gather_.
[27] The above list is taken from the titles of the chapters in Harman's
_Caueat_.
[28] Not in the 1577 ed.
[29] These words are substituted for _which they disfigure to begg
withal_ in the 1577 ed.
[30] The 1577 ed. inserts _bearwards_.
[31] Not in 1577 ed.
[32] These three sentences are not in 1577 ed.
[33] Hazlitt's _Hand Book_, p. 241.
[34] Leader of the Choir. Captain of the Company.
[35] Where at this day the Rogues of the North part, once euerie three
yeeres, assemble in the night, because they will not be seene and
espied; being a place, to those that know it, verie fit for that
purpos,--it being hollow, and made spacious vnder ground; at first, by
estimation, halfe a mile in compasse; but it hath such turnings and
roundings in it, that a man may easily be lost if hee enter not with a
guide.
[36] Of the above passages, Dekker speaks in the following
manner:--"There is an Vsurper, that of late hath taken vpon him the name
of the Belman; but being not able to maintaine that title, hee doth now
call himselfe the Bel-mans brother; his ambition is (rather out of
vaine-glory then the true courage of an experienced Souldier) to haue
the leading of the Van; but it shall be honor good enough for him (if
not too good) to come vp with the Rere. You shall know him by his
Habiliments, for (by the furniture he weares) he will be taken for a
_Beadle of Bridewell_. It is thought he is rather a Newter then a friend
to the cause: and therefore the Bel-man doth here openly protest that
hee comes into the field as no fellow in armes with him."--_O per se O_
(1612 edit.), sign. A. 2.
[37] We quote from four out of the five tracts contained in the volume.
The title of the tract we do not quote is '_Hanging not Punishment
enough_,' etc., London, 1701.
[38] To obviate the possibility of mistake in the lection of this
curious document, Mr E. W. Ashbee has, at my request, and by permission
of the Governors of Dulwich College (where the paper is preserved),
furnished me with an exact fac-simile of it, worked off on somewhat
similar paper. By means of this fac-simile my readers may readily assure
themselves that in no part of the memorial is Lodge called a "player;"
indeed he is not called "Thos. Lodge," and it is only an inference, an
unavoidable conclusion, that the Lodge here spoken of is Thomas Lodge,
the dramatist. Mr Collier, however, professes to find that he is there
called "Thos. Lodge," and that it [the Memorial] contains this
remarkable grammatical inversion;
"and haveinge some knowledge and acquaintaunce of him as a player,
requested me to be his baile,"
which is evidently intended to mean, _as I had some knowledge and
acquaintance of Lodge as a player, he requested me to be his baile_. But
in this place the original paper reads thus,
"and havinge of me some knowledge and acquaintaunce requested me to
be his bayle,"
meaning, of course, _Lodge, having some knowledge and acquaintance of me
requested me to be his bail_.
The interpolation of the five words needed to corroborate Mr Collier's
explanation of the misquoted passage from Gosson, and the omission of
two other words inconsistent with that interpolation, may be thought to
exhibit some little ingenuity; it was, however, a feat which could have
cost him no great pains. But the labour of recasting the orthography of
the memorial must have been considerable; while it is difficult to
imagine a rational motive to account for such labour being incurred. To
expand the abbreviations and modernize the orthography might have been
expedient, as it would have been easy. But, in the name of reason, what
is the gain of writing _wheare_ and _theare_ for "where" and "there;"
_cleere_, _yeeld_, and _meerly_ for "clere," "yealde," and "merely;"
_verie_, _anie_, _laie_, _waie_, _paie_, _yssue_, and _pryvily_, for
"very," "any," "lay," "way," "pay," "issue," and "privylie;" _sondrie_,
_begon_, and _doen_ for "sundrie," "began," and "don;" and _thintent_,
_thaction_, and _thacceptaunce_ for "the intent," "the action," and "the
acceptaunce"?--p. 14 of Dr C. M. Ingleby's '_Was Thomas Lodge an Actor?
An Exposition touching the Social Status of the Playwright in the time
of Queen Elizabeth._' Printed for the Author by R. Barrett and Sons, 13
Mark Lane, 1868. 2_s._ 6_d._
[39] i. 270: A ballett intituled _Tom Tell Truth_, A.D. 1565; and i.
307, 'an interlude, _the Cruell Detter_ by Wager,' licenst to Colwell in
1565-6.
_THE Fraternitye of Vacabondes._
As wel of ruflyng Vacabondes, as of beggerly, of women as of men, of
Gyrles as of Boyes, with _their proper names and qualities_.
With a description of the crafty company of =Cousoners and
Shifters=.
[P] Wherunto also is adioyned =the .xxv. Orders of Knaues=, otherwyse
called =a Quartern of Knaues=. _Confirmed for euer by Cocke Lorell._
( * )
[P] +The Vprightman speaketh.+
[P] Our Brotherhood[40] of Vacabondes,
If you would know where dwell:
In graues end Barge which syldome standes.
The talke wyll shew ryght well.
[P] +Cocke Lorell aunswereth.+
[P] Some orders of my Knaues also
In that Barge shall ye fynde:
For no where shall ye walke I trow,
But ye shall see their kynde.
* * * * *
[P] Imprinted at London by Iohn Awdeley, dwellyng in little Britayne
streete without Aldersgate.
1575.
*[leaf 1b.]* [P] _The Printer to the Reader._
THis brotherhood of Vacabondes,
To shew that there be such in deede
Both Iustices and men of Landes,
Wyll testifye it if it neede.
For at a Sessions as they sat,
By chaunce a Vacabond was got.
[P] Who promysde if they would him spare,
And keepe his name from knowledge then:
He would as straunge a thing declare,
As euer they knew synce they were men.
But if my fellowes do know (sayd he)
That thus I dyd, they would kyll me.
[P] They graunting him this his request,
He dyd declare as here is read,
Both names and states of most and least,
Of this their Vacabondes brotherhood.
Which at the request of a worshipful man
I haue set it forth as well as I can.
FINIS.
*[leaf 2]* [P] The =Fraternitye of Vacabondes= both rufling and
beggerly, =Men and women, Boyes and Gyrles=, wyth their proper names
and qualities.
Whereunto are adioyned =the company of Cousoners and Shifters=.
[P] AN ABRAHAM MAN.
AN Abraham man is he that walketh bare armed, and bare legged, and
fayneth hym selfe mad, and caryeth a packe of wool, or a stycke with
baken on it, or such lyke toy, and nameth himselfe poore Tom.
[P] A RUFFELER.
A Ruffeler goeth wyth a weapon to seeke seruice, saying he hath bene a
Seruitor in the wars, and beggeth for his reliefe. But his chiefest
trade is to robbe poore wayfaring men and market women.
[P] A PRYGMAN.
A Prygman goeth with a stycke in hys hand like an idle person. His
propertye is to steale cloathes of the hedge, which they call storing of
the Rogeman: or els filtch Poultry, carying them to the Alehouse, whych
they call the Bowsyng In, & ther syt playing at cardes and dice, tyl
that is spent which they haue so fylched.
[Header: AWDELEY. THE FRATERNITY OF VACABONDES.]
[P] A WHIPIACKE.
A Whypiacke is one, that by coulor of a counterfaite Lisence (which they
call a Gybe, and the seales they cal Iarckes) doth vse to beg lyke a
Maryner, But hys chiefest trade is to rob Bowthes in a Faire, or to
pilfer ware fro_m_ staules, which they cal heauing of the Bowth.
[P] A FRATER.
A Frater goeth wyth a like Lisence to beg for some Spittlehouse or
Hospital. Their pray is co_m_monly vpo_n_ *[leaf 2b.]* poore women as
they go and come to the Markets.
[P] A QUIRE BIRD.
A Quire bird is one that came lately out of prison, & goeth to seeke
seruice. He is co_m_monly a stealer of Horses, which they terme a
Priggar of Paulfreys.
[P] AN VPRIGHT MAN.
An Vpright man is one that goeth wyth the trunchion of a staffe, which
staffe they cal a Filtchma_n_. This man is of so much authority, that
meeting with any of his profession, he may cal them to accompt, &
co_m_maund a share or snap vnto him selfe, of al that they haue gained
by their trade in one moneth. And if he doo them wrong, they haue no
remedy agaynst hym, no though he beate them, as he vseth co_m_monly to
do. He may also co_m_maund any of their women, which they cal Doxies, to
serue his turne. He hath y_e_ chiefe place at any market walke, & other
assembles, & is not of any to be co_n_troled.
[P] A CURTALL.
A Curtall is much like to the Vpright man, but hys authority is not
fully so great. He vseth commonly to go with a short cloke, like to grey
Friers, & his woman with him in like liuery, which he calleth his Altham
if she be hys wyfe, & if she be his harlot, she is called hys Doxy.
[P] A PALLIARD.
A Palliard is he that goeth in a patched cloke, and hys Doxy goeth in
like apparell.
[P] AN IRISHE TOYLE.
An Irishe toyle is he that carieth his ware in hys wallet, as laces,
pins, poyntes, and such like. He vseth to shew no wares vntill he haue
his almes. And if the good man and wyfe be not in the way, he procureth
of the ch[i]lldre_n_ or seruants a fleece of wool, or the worth of
xij.d. of some other thing, for a peniworth of his wares.
*[leaf 3]* [P] A IACK MAN.
A Iackeman is he that can write and reade, and somtime speake latin. He
vseth to make counterfaite licences which they call Gybes, and sets to
Seales, in their language called Iarkes.
[P] A SWYGMAN.
A Swygman goeth with a Pedlers pack.
[P] A WASHMAN.
A Washman is called a Palliard, but not of the right making. He vseth to
lye in the hye way with lame or sore legs or armes to beg. These me_n_
y_e_ right Pilliards wil often times spoile, but they dare not
co_m_playn. They be bitten with Spickworts, & somtime with rats bane.
[P] A TINKARD.