The present work is very far from being offered as a general view of
that peculiar branch of pauperism, which includes the many wandering
classes of mankind that are supported by the casual and irregular bounty
of others, or by means that have at least the appearance of industry or
honourable ingenuity; for that would be a task requiring the united
efforts of the historian, the legislator, and the antiquary. It may be
deemed sufficient to submit to the reader's notice, such accounts and
gleanings as immediately relate to the particular characters which are
here once more embodied and presented to him by the aid of the graphic
art. In the mean time, a slight sketch of the state and progress of
mendicity in former ages may be neither unacceptable nor without its use.
The Beggar's calling, if not one of the most respectable, may doubtless
be regarded as one of the most ancient. In every part of the globe where
man is congregated, the inequality of his condition, the too frequent
indolence of his habits, or the shifts to which human misery is
occasionally reduced, will compel him to depend for his support on the
generosity of his fellow-creatures, and even sometimes lead him to
prefer this disgraceful state of existence. The sacred volume has
supplied us with evidence of the mendicant profession at an early
period. King David, when imprecating curses on the head of his enemy,
prays that "his children be continually vagabonds, and _beg_;"[1] and
the story of Ulysses and the beggar Irus, as related in one of the
oldest works extant, is known almost to every one.
The state of mendicity among the Greeks and Romans is but obscurely
recorded, nor have any specific laws or regulations that they might have
framed relating to that subject been transmitted to us. The beggars in
Horace, who lamented the death of the musician Tigellinus, were probably
of the common kind, though some have supposed them to have been
fortune-tellers or prophets. Their dress would be of the ragged sort,
the _mendicula impluviata_ of Plautus. We learn from Seneca, that the
beggars of his time practised every species of imposture, and even
amputated their limbs for the purpose of exciting compassion.
During the middle ages, we meet with a few legislative acts relating to
the vagrant classes. In a capitulary of the Emperor Charlemagne, beggars
were prohibited from wandering about the country; and another ancient
law of the Franks is cited by Beatus Rhenanus in his German chronicle,
by which every city is ordered to maintain its own poor, who are
nevertheless to be compelled to manual labour, or otherwise not to be
entitled to relief; a vagrant life is also strictly prohibited. For a
considerable time the kingdom of France was much infested with a set of
itinerant beggars, usually known by the appellation of _Truands_, and
their occupation by that of _Truandise_; from which terms our own
language has adopted an obvious word of much significance. These people
likewise gave name to one of the streets of Paris, called _La
Truanderie_; and, under pretence of begging alms, committed the most
atrocious crimes and excesses practising every kind of fraud and
imposture; so that the name gradually became the representative of every
thing that was bad and infamous. In later times they were called
_Argotiers_. They assumed the form of a regular government, elected a
king, and established a fixed code of laws, and a language peculiar to
themselves, constructed probably by some of the debauched and licentious
youths who, abandoning their scholastic studies, associated with these
vagabonds. The facetious author of a poetical life of the famous French
robber Cartouche, has given a very humorous account of the origin of the
word _Argot_, which, at the expense of graver etymologists, he derives
from the ship Argos; contending that this _jargon_, a term that would
perhaps have supplied the real and perverted meaning of the other, was
either invented by the navigators of that celebrated vessel, for the
purpose of deceiving his majesty of Colchos, or constructed by Agamemnon
at Argos, and transported afterwards to Troy, where the Greek generals
used it to harangue their soldiers. The same writer has likewise
compiled a dictionary of the language in question, which is given at the
end of Cartouche's history. Their king assumed the title of the _Great
Chosroes_, in imitation of the Persian monarch of that name, and
his officers had their several cant denominations contrived with
considerable ingenuity. One of these sovereigns thought fit to prefer
his own name, and was called _Roi de Thunes_. This fellow used to be
drawn triumphantly through the streets in a little cart by two stout
dogs, and at length finished his career on a gibbet at Bourdeaux. The
new members of this honourable fraternity were graciously received by
the monarch, and consigned to his officers for instruction. These taught
them to counterfeit wounds, sores, and ulcers, by means of the juice of
celandine and other herbs; to make preparations of grease, &c., for the
purpose of hindering dogs from barking, and many other tricks and
contrivances essential to the profession of a beggar. The necessary
qualifications for an officer at court, was the possession of masks,
rags, plaisters, bandages, crutches, and other matters calculated to
excite charity and compassion; a candidate for the monarchy, which was
elective, must have passed through one or more offices, and have sported
a limb in all appearance shockingly diseased, but curable in a day's
time. The royal habits were composed of a thousand bits of rag, of
various colours. Every year the king held a council of his officers and
subjects, who reported their proceedings, and paid him the legal and
accustomed tribute money; offences were inquired into, and summary
punishment inflicted. Many of the above officers were runaway scholars
and debauched priests, who taught the novices the _Argot_ language, and
performed other duties which exempted them from the usual tribute to the
sovereign. These impostors were divided into numerous classes, assuming
various appellations. Those who counterfeited maimed soldiers were
called _Narquois_, corresponding with our Rufflers. The little urchins,
who before the establishment of regular hospitals were permitted to beg
in groups, and appeared as half-starved, were denominated _Orphelins_,
or _Orphans_. Fellows assuming the character of broken merchants and
tradesmen, called themselves _Marcandiers_ and _Rifodés_; these,
pretending to have been ruined by war, by fire, and other calamities,
made use of false certificates of their loss, and were frequently
accompanied by their wives and children. The _Malingreux_ were the
dropsical and otherwise diseased impostors, who frequented the churches,
and demanded alms to enable them to make pilgrimages and perform masses
to particular saints. The _Hubins_ shewed certificates of having been
bitten by wolves or dogs, and placed themselves under St Hubert's
protection. The _Coquillarts_ pretended to have made a pilgrimage to St
James or St Michael, and sold their cockle-shells even to those fools
who had done so. The _Sabouleux_ counterfeited demoniacs, by means of
soap held in the mouth, with which they produced their foam, and
exhibited false wounds on their heads and bodies, which they pretended
to have inflicted on themselves during their fits. These last were the
most faithful subjects of the _Great Chosroes_, and paid him a much
higher tribute than any of the rest. Besides the above, there were the
_Pietres_, the _Courtaux_, the _Polissons_, the _Capons_, the
_Francmitoux_, and a variety of others, all assuming different
characters, to defraud the unwary in every possible manner. These
particulars have been collected together as exhibiting a general view of
the manners and practices of the begging tribe in the kingdom of France,
where the regulations concerning them appear to have been very frequent
and severe. In the reign of Francis I. many edicts of the court issued
against them, by some of which all the beggars in Paris were compelled
to clear the city sewers and ditches, and to assist in repairing the
fortifications; and for this purpose the police officers seized upon all
that were able-bodied and competent to work. Many were banished to the
provinces, and if they continued to beg, and refused to assist in the
vintage, they were ordered to be hanged. Whipping was the more general
punishment; and where licensed, they were not suffered to go about in
troops, but confined to travel in Paris only, to prevent robberies and
other mischief. Those who could not labour, on account of infirmity,
were maintained in hospitals, or by contributions at the churches, where
they were not permitted, as at present, to beg, under pain of whipping.
In the admirable Pictures of Paris by Mercier, there is an interesting
article on the sturdy beggars of that city, where their noisy orgies at
their places of rendezvous, when they have stripped themselves of their
false limbs and hideous plasters, are eloquently described. He mentions
one cruel and wicked practice among these impostors, namely, that when
they steal other people's children for want of their own, they distort
and even dislocate the members of the unfortunate victims, to give them
what they impiously term the arms and legs of God Almighty.
With respect to the vagabonds of Spain, who will be found to resemble,
with small difference, many of the classes above described, it will be
sufficient to refer the reader to those excellent novels, Lazarillo de
Tormes, and Guzman de Alfarache. The manners of the Italian mendicants
and impostors are admirably depicted, with many entertaining stories, in
the very curious work of Rafael Frianoro, entitled, "Il vagabondo, overo
sferzo de bianti e vagabondi," _Viterbo_, 1620, 12mo, in which the
catalogue of names of the parties, and of the impostures practised, far
exceeded those of any other country.
Della Valle, in his travels to the East Indies, informs us, that the
beggars there make use of a trumpet to express their wants, frequently
terrifying the people into charity by their loud clamours. Of the
Chinese mendicants, some particulars will be found in explaining one of
the plates of this work.
It would amount to positive negligence, if, in the present sketch, those
wanderers that are usually known among ourselves by the appellation of
Gypsies, and on the continent by that of Bohemians, on account of their
first appearance in that country, were passed over without some notice;
but their history has been so learnedly and copiously detailed by M.
Grellmann, that it may be thought sufficient on this occasion to advert
to the English translation of that excellent work by Mr Raper, published
1787, in quarto.
Nor should the mention of the orders of mendicant friars be omitted,
who, no doubt, had their prototypes in the knavish priests of Cybele. Of
these persons there were four orders,--viz., the Augustinians, the
Carmelites, the Dominicans, and the Minorites. They wandered from place
to place, professing poverty, and exciting the charity of others. They
had assumed and acquired an unlimited control over the consciences of
the deluded victims of their artifice, and at length became particularly
odious to the monks and the clergy in general, continuing nevertheless
to maintain their power and influence, from the marked favour and
protection of the Roman Pontiffs, who regarded them as some of their
best friends and supporters. In our own country these people encountered
a most bitter and inveterate enemy in the celebrated Wickliffe, who, in
his sermons and other works, declaimed against them with much vehement
eloquence as thieves, hypocrites, and children of Judas Iscariot;
telling them that Christ never commissioned any one to appear in the
character of a beggar; and that, although he preferred a state of
poverty, he never demanded alms himself, nor allowed of others doing it,
but in cases of extreme necessity.
Another set of ecclesiastical mendicants were those pseudo-monks, who,
among many other irregularities, scrupled not to take to themselves
wives, whilst their brethren contented themselves with concubines. These
were branded by the regular monks with the appellation of _Beghards_,
and are specially termed _sturdy beggars_, in a very bitter invective
against them by Felix Hammerlein, a civilian and canon of Zurich, in the
fifteenth century, who emphatically calls them the legitimate sons of
Belial. Many other writers declaimed against them with great acrimony,
and some of the more rigid Papists seem to have classed them among the
_Lollards_, an appellation that has very much arrested the attention of
the learned in etymology, though without any certainty as to its origin.
The records of our early history supply few, if any, materials that
throw light upon the subject before us; and the laws of the Saxons, as
well as those of our British ancestors, are entirely silent as to any
regulation concerning vagrants or mendicants of any kind. A curious
incident however in the life of Edward the Confessor, as related by his
historian Alured of Rievaulx, is worthy of being mentioned. This
sovereign is said to have been remarkable for his benevolence to the
poor, many of whom he privately supported. Among these was one Ralph, a
Norman, a miserable object, whose limbs were shockingly contracted by
disease. This man, scarcely able to creep along on his knees, as was the
usual practice with such persons, and urged by necessity, the mother of
invention, was the first who is reported as making use of a hollow
vessel of wood, in the form of a bason, in which he placed his hinder
parts, guiding and supporting his crippled limbs by means of his hands,
and thus sailed along, as it were, upon the ground. On the king's death
he made a pilgrimage to his tomb, and addressing himself to the monarch
as if alive, was healed, as says the legend, of his disease.
The next two centuries of English history are equally barren of incident
to our purpose. From that time, however, the statute laws of the kingdom
furnish abundant regulations concerning the vagrant classes, and it has
therefore been thought worth while to submit to the reader's notice the
following extracts and abridgments.
The statute of labourers, made in the 23d year of Edw. III., recites
that there are many sturdy beggars, who prefer a life of indolence to
active labour, and commit theft and other crimes; and therefore, with a
view to discourage such practices, and compel these persons to work for
their living, it enacts that none, on pain of imprisonment, shall, under
colour of pity or of alms, give anything to those who are competent to
labour, or presume by such means to "_favour them towards their
desires_."
By Stat. xii. Rich. II. c. 6, every beggar who is able to work shall be
put in the stocks, and such as are unable to work shall abide in the
cities and towns where they be dwelling at the time of proclaiming this
statute; and if the inhabitants shall not be able to maintain them, then
the said beggars shall withdraw themselves to other places within the
hundred, rape, or wapentake, or to the places of their nativity, within
forty days as above, and there continually abide during their lives; and
all that go in pilgrimage as beggars, but are able to work, shall be
punished with the stocks, unless they have letters testimonial from a
justice of the peace. The sheriffs and gaolers are also charged with the
custody of beggars, though it does not appear for what particular
offence. Religious persons and hermits who beg must have licence from
their ordinaries, and scholars of the universities from their
chancellors, under the like penalties.
The Stat. xix. Hen. VII., adverting to the rigour of the last-mentioned
regulations, and to the great expense of confining vagabonds and beggars
in prison, enacts, that an immediate discharge from the gaols shall take
place, and all beggars be set in the stocks for a day and a night,
without other food than bread and water, and then sent to the place of
their nativity, or where they may have resided for the space of three
years. It also enacts, that such beggars as are not able to work be
passed to their own towns, where only they are to be allowed to beg.
By Stat. xxii. Hen. VIII., persons unable to work are to be licensed by
certificate from mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, or justices, to beg within
certain districts; and if they be found begging without such licence,
they are to be set in the stocks for three days and three nights, and
fed only on bread and water, or else whipped, at the discretion of the
magistrate, who is afterwards to give the party a licence and dismiss
him. Persons being "whole and mighty in body, and able to labour," and
found begging, are to be whipped at the cart's tail till blood come, and
then dismissed to their own district, receiving a licence, stating their
punishment, and authorising them to beg by the way. Scholars at the
universities begging without licence, to be punished as above. Persons
wandering about with unlawful games, and fortune-tellers of all kinds,
to be punished for the first offence by two days whipping; for the
second, by like whipping, with subsequent pillory and loss of one ear;
for the third, the like punishment, with loss of the other ear. The
licence was in these words,--"Memorandum, that A. B. of Dale, for
reasonable considerations, is licensed to beg within the hundred of P.
K. in the county of L.;" and the licence after whipping is as
follows,--"I. S., whipped for a vagrant strong beggar, at Dale, in the
county of L., according to the law, the 22 July, in the 23 year of King
Henry the Eighth, was assigned to pass forthwith and directly from
thence to Sale, in the county of M., where he saith he was born, or
where he last dwelled by the term of three years, and he is limited to
be there within fourteen days next ensuing, at his peril," &c.
By this act, persons delivered from gaol, or acquitted of felonies, who
could not pay the usual fees, were to be licensed by the keeper to raise
such fees by begging for the space of six weeks, on pain of whipping for
default of such licence.
By the 27th Hen. VIII., further provisions were made for the labour and
employment of vagabonds and beggars. Churchwardens to gather alms for
supporting the poor on Sundays and holidays. Begging children, between
the ages of five and fourteen years, to be placed under masters of
husbandry; and those between the ages of twelve and sixteen to be
whipped for running away. Beggars offending again after the first
punishment, to be marked by cutting off the upper gristle of the right
ear; and if found still loitering in idleness, to be indicted as felons
at the quarter sessions, and on conviction to suffer death. The
mendicant friars are specially excepted in this act, which provides many
additional supports for the poor besides the vast donations from the
still existing monasteries, and the almshouses and hospitals.
At the commencement of the reign of Edw. VI., a most severe and
extraordinary statute was made for the punishment of vagabonds and
relief of poor persons. It does not appear who were the contrivers of
this instrument, the preamble and general spirit of which were more in
accordance with the tyrannical and arbitrary measures of the preceding
reign, than with the mild and merciful character of the infant
sovereign, who is well known to have taken a very active part in the
affairs of government. It repeals all the former statutes on this
subject, and enacts, that if any beggar or other person, not being lame
or impotent, and after loitering or idly wandering for the space of
three days or more, shall not offer himself to labour, or being engaged
in any person's service shall run away or leave his work, it shall be
lawful for the master to carry him before a justice of peace, who, on
proof of the offence, shall cause the party to be marked with a hot iron
with the letter V on the breast, and adjudge him to be his master's
slave for the space of two years, who shall feed him "on bread and
water, or, at his discretion, on refuse of meat, and cause the said
slave to work, by beating, chaining, or otherwise, in such work or
labour (how vile soever it be) as he shall put him unto." If the slave
should run away, or absent himself for a fortnight without leave, the
master may pursue and punish him by chaining or beating, and have his
action of damage against any one who shall harbour or detain him. On
proof before the justice of the slave's escape, he is to be sentenced to
be marked on the forehead or ball of the cheek with a hot iron with the
letter S, and adjudged to be his master's slave for ever; and for the
second offence of running away, he is to be regarded as a felon and
suffer death. The children of beggars to be taken from them, and, with
other vagrant children, to be apprenticed by the magistrate to whoever
will take them; and if such children so apprenticed run away, they are
to be retaken, and become slaves till the age of twenty in females, and
twenty-four in males, and punishment by chains, &c., and power to the
master to let, sell, or bequeath them, as goods and chattels, for the
term aforesaid. If any slave should maim or wound the master in
resisting correction, or conspire to wound or murder him, or burn his
house or other property, he is to suffer death as a felon, unless the
master will consent to retain him as a slave for ever; and if any
parent, nurse, or bearer about of children, so become slaves, shall
steal or entice them away from the master, such person shall be liable
to become a slave to the said master for ever, and the party so stolen
or enticed away restored. If any vagrant be brought to a place where he
shall state himself to have been born, and it shall be manifest that he
was not so born there, for such lie he shall be marked in the face with
an S, and become a slave to the inhabitants or corporation of the city
for ever. Any master of a slave may put a ring of iron about his neck,
arm, or leg, for safe custody; and any person taking or helping to take
off such ring, without consent of the master, shall forfeit the sum of
ten pounds.
This diabolical statute, after remaining for two years, was repealed, on
the ground that, from its extreme severity, it had not been enforced,
and instead of it the xxii. Hen. VIII. was revived. The taking
apprentices the children of beggars was, however, continued; but instead
of slavery for the offence of running away, the punishment of the stocks
was substituted. In the last year of King Edward's reign, further
provisions for supporting the poor were made, by gathering alms at
church by the parish officers, who were "gently to ask and demand of
every man and woman what they of their charity will be contented to give
weekly toward the relief of the poor, and the same to be written in a
register or book." The collectors are empowered to make such of the poor
labour as they shall think fit; but none are permitted "to go, or sit
openly, _a begging_."
The last statute that it will be necessary to refer to, is that of the
xxxix. Eliz. c. 4, for the punishment and suppression of rogues,
vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, by which houses of correction are for the
first time established; and all persons calling themselves scholars, and
going about begging, fellows pretending losses by sea, persons using
unlawful games, fortune-tellers, procurers, collectors for gaols and
hospitals, fencers, bearwards, common players of interludes, minstrels
(except such players as are licensed by any baron of the realm),
jugglers, tinkers, pedlars, common labourers able in body but begging
and refusing labour for reasonable wages, persons delivered from gaol
and begging for fees, all persons whatever that beg in any manner as
wanderers, and all gypsies or pretending to be so, shall be adjudged
rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, and be liable to the punishment
of whipping till the blood come, and passed to their respective
parishes, and committed to the house of correction until further
provision by work, or placing in almshouses. If any of the above persons
shall appear to be dangerous to the inferior sort of people, or will not
otherwise be reformed, they shall be committed to the house of
correction or county gaol, and at the quarter-sessions, if necessary,
banished from the kingdom to such places as shall be assigned by the
privy council, or otherwise be sent to the galleys of the kingdom for
life, with pain of death on returning from banishment. No vagabonds or
beggars to be imported from Ireland, Scotland, or the Isle of Man, or,
if already here, to be sent back to their respective countries. No
diseased poor persons to be suffered to repair to the baths of Bath or
Buxton for cure, unless they forbear to beg, and are licensed by two
justices; and that the above cities be not charged with finding relief
for such persons. This statute not to extend to children under seven
years old, nor to _glassmen_ of good behaviour, travelling with licence,
and forbearing to beg.
It is impossible to look upon a more finished picture of the general
manners of the begging classes, a little before the Reformation, than in
the following extract from the once deservedly celebrated satire
entitled the _Ship of Fools_. Although of foreign construction, it is
not the less calculated for the meridian of England; and indeed the
translator has in some degree adapted it to his own country. The author
thus addresses the parties in question:--
"All vacabondes and myghty beggers, the whyche gothe beggynge from dore
to dore, and ayleth lytell or nought, with lame men and crepylles, come
unto me, and I shall gyve you an almesse saluberryme and of grete
vertue. The mendycans be in grete nombre, wherfore I wyll declare unto
you some of theyr foolysshe condycyons. These fooles, the whiche be
founde in theyr corporal bodyes, wyl nourysh and kepe dyvers chyldren.
The monkes have this myschefe and the clerkes also, the whiche have
theyr coffers ful of grete rychesses and treasoures. Nevertheles yet
they applye themselfe in the offyce of the mendycans, in purchasyng and
beggynge on every syde. They be a grete sorte replenysshed with
unhappynes, saynge that they lede theyr lyves in grete poverte and
calamyte; and therefore, they praye evry man to gyve them theyr good
almesse, in release of theyr payne and myserye. And yet they have golde
and sylver grete plentye, but they will spende nothinge before the comyn
people. Somtyme the cursed taketh the almesse of the poore indygente. I
fynde grete fautes in the abbottes, monkes, pryours, chanons, and
coventes, for all that they have rentes, tenementes, and possessyons
ynough, yet, as folkes devoyde of sense and understondynge, they be
never satysfyed with goodes. They goo from vyllage to vyllage and from
towne to towne, berynge grete bagges upon theyr neckes, assemblynge so
moche goodes that it is grete mervayle, and whan they be in theyr
relygyous cloysters, they make them byleve that they have had lytell
gyven them or nothynge; for God knoweth they make heven chere in the
countre. There is another sort of pardoners, the which bereth relyques
aboute with them, in abusynge the pore folkes; for and yf they have but
one poore peny in theyr purses they must have it. They garde togyder
golde and sylver in every place, lyke as yf it grewe. They make the
poore folkes byleve moche gay gere. They sel the feders of the Holy
Ghoost. They bere the bones of some deed body aboute, the which,
paraventure, is damned. They shewe the heer of some old hors, saynge
that it is of the berde of the Innocentes. There is an innumerable syght
of suche folkes and of vacabondes in this realme of Englonde, the which
be hole of all theyr membres and myghte wynne theyr lyves honestly.
Notwithstondynge they go beggynge from dore to dore, because they wyll
not werke, and patcheth an olde mautell or an olde gowne with an hondred
colours, and byndeth foule cloutes aboute theyr legges, as who say they
be sore. And oftentymes they be more rycher than they that gyveth them
almesse. They breke theyr chyldrens membres in theyr youthe, because
that men sholde have the more pyte of them. They go wepynge and
wryngynge of theyr handes, and counterfettynge the sorrowfull, praynge
for Goddes sake to gyve them an almesse, and maketh so well the
hypocrytes that there is no man the whiche seeth them but that he is
abused, and must gyve them an almesse. There is some stronge and
puysaunt rybaudes, the whiche wyll not laboure, but lyve, as these
beggers, without doynge ony thynge, the whiche be dronke oftentymes.
They be well at ease to have grete legges and bellyes eten to the bonis;
for they wyll not put noo medycynes therto for to hele them, but soner
envenymeth them, and dyvers other begylynges of which I holde my pease.
O poore frantyke fooles, the whiche robbeth them that hathe no brede for
to ete, and by adventure dare not aske none for shame, the auncyent men,
poore wedowes, lazars, and blynde men. Alas! thynke thereon, for truely
ye shall gyve accomptes before Hym that created us."
In the year 1566, Thomas Harman, Esq., probably a justice of peace,
published a very singular and amusing work, entitled, "A Caveat, or
Warning for Common Cursetors (runners) vulgarely called Vagabones;" in
which he has described the several sorts of thieving beggars and other
rogues with considerable humour, and has collected together a great
number of words belonging to what he humorously calls the "leud lousey
language of these lewtering luskes and lazy lorrels, wherewith they bye
and sell the common people as they pas through the countrey." He says
they term this language _Pedlar's French_, or, _Canting_, which had not
then been invented above thirty years. As the book has lately been
reprinted, it will be proper, on this occasion, to use it more
sparingly, and to mention only such of Harman's vagabonds as fall under
the begging class. These are 1. The _Rufflers_; particularly mentioned
in the Stat. xxvii. Henry VIII. against vagabonds, as fellows pretending
to be wounded soldiers. These, says Harman, after a year or two's
practice, unless they be prevented by twined hemp, become,--2. _Upright
Men_; still pretending to have served in the wars, and offering, though
never intending, to work for their living. They decline receiving meat
or drink, and take nothing but money by way of charity, but contrive to
steal pigs and poultry at night, chiefly plundering the farmers. Of
late, says the author, they have been much whipped at fairs. They attack
and rob other beggars that do not belong to their own fraternity,
occasionally admitting or installing them into it by pouring a quart of
liquor on their pates, with these words, "I do stall thee, W. T., to the
rogue, and that from henceforth it shall be lawful for thee to cant for
thy living in all places." All sorts of beggars are obedient to them,
and they surpass all the rest in pilfering and stealing. 3. _Hookers_,
or _Anglers_; these knaves beg by day, and pilfer at night, by means of
a pole with a hook at the end, with which they lay hold of linen, or any
thing hanging from windows or elsewhere. The author relates a curious
feat of dexterity practised by one of them at a farm house, where, in
the dead of the night, he contrived to hook off the bed-clothes from
three men who were lying asleep, leaving them in their shirts, and when
they awoke from cold, supposing, to use the author's words, "that Robin
Goodfellow had bene with them that night." 4. _Rogues_; going about with
a white handkerchief tied round the head, and pretending to be lame.
These people committed various other frauds and impostures, in order to
obtain charity. 5. _Pallyards_; with patched garments, collecting, by
way of alms, provisions, or whatever they could get, which they sold for
ready money; they are chiefly Welshmen, and make artificial sores by
applying spearwort to raise blisters on their bodies, or else arsenic or
ratsbane to create incurable wounds. 6. _Abraham Men_; pretending to be
lunatics, who have been a long time confined in Bedlam or some other
prison, where they have been unmercifully used with blows, &c. They beg
money or provisions at farmers' houses, or bully them by fierce looks or
menaces. 7. _Traters_; or fellows travelling about the country with
black boxes at the girdle, containing forged briefs, or licences to beg
for hospitals. Some have clouts bound round their legs, and walk as if
lame, with staves in their hands. 8. _Freshwater Mariners_, or
_Whipjacks_; whose ships, says the witty author, were drowned in
Salisbury Plain. These counterfeit great losses at sea by shipwreck and
piracy, and are chiefly Irishmen, begging with false licences, under the
supposed seal of the Admiralty, so artfully constructed as to deceive
even the best lawyers. 9. The _Counterfeit Crank_; who is described at
large, with a figure, in another part of this work. 10. _Dommerars_;
chiefly Welshmen, pretending to be dumb, and forcibly keeping down their
tongues doubled, groaning for charity, and keeping up their hands most
piteously, by which means they procure considerable gains. 11.
_Demanders for glymmar_; who are chiefly women that go about with false
licences to beg, as sufferers from fire,--glymmar, in pedlars' language,
signifying that element. Many other classes are enumerated in this
curious volume, as--priggars of prauncers, swadders, jarkman, patricos,
bawdy baskets, autem morts, walking morts, doxies, dells, kynchin morts,
and kynchin coes; but all these are rather pilferers than beggars.
As every trade or profession had its patron saint, so the beggars made
choice of St Martin, who appears to have had a great regard for them.
This person was originally a soldier of rank in the armies of the
Emperors Constantius and Julian, but preferring a religious life, he
applied to Saint Hilary, of Poitou, who appointed him his sub-deacon;
and soon afterwards becoming a saint himself, he of course acquired the
power of working miracles, many of which, with much other legendary
matter, have been related by his credulous but elegant historian,
Sulpitius Severus, and transferred, with due additions and improvements,
into that grand repertory of pious frauds, the Golden Legend, and some
other works of similar authority. It is related of him, that when a
soldier, as he passed by one of the gates of Amiens in winter time, he
met a poor naked man, on whom none would bestow alms. Martin drew out
his sword, and cutting his mantle asunder in the middle, gave one half
to the poor man, having nothing else to bestow on him, contenting
himself with the remainder to keep him from the cold. On the ensuing
night he saw the Saviour of the world in heaven, clothed with that part
which he had given to the poor man, and exclaiming to the angels that
surrounded him, "Martin, yet new in the faith, hath covered me with this
vesture." Ever afterwards he became particularly attached to beggars and
poor people. The cripples and lepers seem, however, to have made
exclusive choice of St Giles for their patron, to whom the hospitals and
other places for their relief were usually dedicated. So the parish
church of Cripplegate was dedicated to him; and the ward itself, named
after a very ancient gate to which the crippled beggars particularly
resorted. There would be some difficulty to account for their preference
of this Saint, as he does not appear to have been either lame or
leprous. He was a noble Christian, born at Athens, a man of singular
charity, giving largely to the poor, and on one occasion doing more than
St Martin, by giving the _whole_ of his coat to a diseased and naked
beggar, who is said to have been immediately healed on putting it on.
As an exemplification of the legend of Saint Martin might be acceptable
to many readers, it has been thought fit to select, as an appropriate
embellishment, one of the oldest figures of the Saint that remain, and
to place it before the title of the work. This print has been copied
with scrupulous fidelity from an ancient engraving in copper, in the
truly valuable collection of Thomas Lloyd, Esq., by a German artist,
whose name unfortunately has not been preserved, and who probably
executed it between the years 1460 and 1470. In this instance the story
has not been correctly adhered to, for the designer of the print has
there introduced a _couple_ of beggars; an error that is sufficiently
compensated by the variety it affords of the mendicant costume, one of
these fellows making use of a creeper and dish, the other of a crutch. A
later print of this subject, and of extreme curiosity on all accounts,
may likewise be consulted. It is from a design by Jerom Bosche, an
artist of grotesque celebrity, and represents Saint Martin in a boat
full of beggars, with crowds of others on shore, in every possible form
and attitude. It is accompanied with the following inscription, in the
Flemish language: "The good Saint Martin is here represented among the
crippled, nasty, wretched tribe, distributing to them his cloak, instead
of money; the miserable crew contending for the spoil."
In the year 1741, a spirited presentment to the Court of King's Bench
was made by the Grand Jury of Middlesex, against the unusual swarms of
sturdy and clamorous beggars, as well as the many frightful objects
exposed in the streets; in which they state, that notwithstanding a very
strong presentment to the same effect had been made by a former jury in
1728, they had found the evil rather increased than remedied. This they
ascribe to negligence in the proper officers, and trust that a proper
remedy will be applied, and themselves not troubled with the poor, at
the same time that they are every day more and more loaded with taxes to
provide for them; and that his Majesty's subjects may have the passage
of the streets, as in former happy times, free and undisturbed, and be
able to transact the little business to which the decay of trade has
reduced them, without molestation.
In the last session of the present Parliament, the matter has been again
taken up with a degree of skill and vigour that reflects great honour on
its conductors; and we may indulge a hope to see the streets of the
Metropolis freed from the many public and disgusting nuisances that have
increased with its population, and the real objects of charity and
compassion humanely and properly cherished and protected, as well as the
vast and oppressive expense of supporting them reduced.
Already we perceive the alarm has been taken by the members of the
mendicant tribes; and it may not be too much to add, that the interest
and curiosity of the present work are likely to augment, in proportion
as the characters that have led to its composition shall decrease in
numbers. That they should entirely disappear, may be more than can be
reasonably expected.
[Illustration]
The figure above represents an English Beggar about the middle of the
fifteenth century, and has been copied from a Pontifical among the
Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum, on one of the margins of which the
illuminator has rather strangely introduced it.
[1] Psal. cix. 10. The passage in 1 Samuel ii. 8, "He lifteth up the
_beggar_ from the dunghill," has not been used, because the original
word does not seem to mean a common beggar. Strictly rendered, it
signifies a _poor person_, or one in want.
MENDICANT WANDERERS THROUGH THE
STREETS OF LONDON.
Sailors, according to the old adage, find a port in every storm. The
appeal of "My worthy heart, stow a copper in Jack's locker,--for poor
Jack has not had a quid to-day," is as piercingly felt by the lowly
cottager as the British Admiral.
Who can recollect Bigg's pathetic picture of the "Shipwrecked
Sailor-boy," or Mrs Ludlam's charming poem of "The Lost Child," without
shedding the tear of sympathy?
The public are not, however, to conclude, that because a fellow sports a
jacket and trousers, he must have been a seaman; for there are many
fresh-water sailors, who never saw a ship but from London Bridge. Such
an impostor was Jack Stuart, Flaxman's model, whose effigy is attached
to the capital letter of this page. Jack's latter history is truly
curious. After lingering for nearly three months, he died on the 15th of
August 1815, aged 35. His funeral was attended by his wife and faithful
dog, Tippo, as chief mourners, accompanied by three blind beggars in
black cloaks; namely, John Fountain, George Dyball, and John Jewis. Two
blind fiddlers, William Worthington and Joseph Symmonds, preceded the
coffin, playing the 104th Psalm. The whimsical procession moved on,
amidst crowds of spectators, from Jack's house, in Charlton Gardens,
Somers Town, to the churchyard of St Pancras, Middlesex. The mourners
afterwards returned to the place from whence the funeral had proceeded,
where they remained the whole of the night, dancing, drinking, swearing,
and fighting, and occasionally chaunting Tabernacle hymns; for it must
be understood, that most of the beggars are staunch Methodists. The
person from whom these particulars were obtained, and who was one of the
party, thought himself extremely happy that he came off with a pair of
black eyes _only_. The conduct of this man's associates in vice was
however powerfully contrasted by the extraordinary attachment and
fidelity of Jack's cur, Tippo, his long and stedfast guide, who, after
remaining three days upon his master's grave, refusing every sort of
food, died with intermitting sighs and howling sorrow. The dog of
Woollett, the engraver, died nearly a similar death.
The following plate exhibits Stuart's pupil, George Dyball, a fellow of
considerable notoriety. He sometimes dresses as a sailor, in nankeen
waistcoat and trousers; but George, like his master, never was a seaman.
Stuart taught him to maund, by allowing him to kneel at a respectful
distance, and repeat his supplications.
Dyball was remarkable for his leader, Nelson, whose tricks displayed in
an extraordinary degree the sagacity and docility of the canine race.
This dog would, at a word from his master, lead him to any part of the
town he wished to traverse, and at so quick a pace, that both animals
have been observed to get on much faster than any other streetwalkers.
His business was to make a response to his master's "_Pray pity the
Blind_" by an impressive whine, accompanied with uplifted eyes and an
importunate turn of the head; and when his eyes have not caught those of
the spectators, he has been seen to rub the tin box against their knees,
to enforce his solicitations. When money was thrown into the box, he
immediately put it down, took out the contents with his mouth, and,
joyfully wagging his tail, carried them to his master. After this, for a
moment or two, he would venture to smell about the spot; but as soon as
his master uttered "_Come, Sir_," off he would go, to the extent of his
string, with his tail between his legs, apprehensive of the effects of
his master's corrective switch. This animal was presented to Dyball by
Joseph Symmonds, the blind fiddler, who received him of James Garland,
another blind beggar, who had taught him his tricks. Unfortunately for
Dyball, this treasure has lately been stolen from him, as is supposed by
some itinerant player, and he is now obliged to depend on a dog of
inferior qualifications, though George has declared him to "_Shew very
pretty for tricks_."
This custom of teaching dogs to beg with cans in their mouths is not
new. A few years since, there was such an animal in a booth at
Bartholomew Fair, who made his supplications in favour of an Italian
rope-dancer. The practice is indeed very ancient, as appears in a truly
curious illuminated copy of the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, written in
the early part of the fifteenth century, in the possession of a friend
of the author.
[Illustration: PLATE I.
George Dyball, a blind beggar of considerable notoriety, and his dog
Nelson.]
The next plate is of a beggar well known at fairs near the Metropolis.
He is certainly blind, and perhaps one of the most cunning and witty of
his tribe; for in order that his blindness may be manifest, he literally
throws up his eyeballs, as if desirous of exemplifying the following
lines in Hudibras:--
"As men of inward light are wont
To turn their optics in upon't."
He is a foreigner, and probably a Frenchman; at all events he professed
to be so on the commencement of the war; but having acquired a tolerable
stock of English, and perhaps not choosing to return home, he now
declares himself "_A poor Spaniard Man_."
Sometimes he will, by an artful mode of singing any stuff that comes
into his head, and by merely sounding the last word of a line, so
contrive to impose upon the waggoners and other country people, as to
make them believe that he fought in the field of Waterloo.
"Poor fellow," exclaimed a spectator, "he has been in the battle of
Waterloo." "_Yes, my belove friends_," returned the mendicant, "_De
money de money go very low too_."
However, this fellow is now and then detected, in consequence of a
picture, which is painted on a tin plate and fastened to his breast,
being the portrait of and worn many years ago by a marine, who had lost
his sight at Gibraltar. His hair, which is sometimes bushy, is now and
then closely put under his hat, or tied in a tail; and when he alters
his voice, he becomes a different character--the form of a decrepit
vender of matches. The seated beggar in this plate is frequently to be
seen at the wall of Privy Chambers; he never asks charity, nor goes any
great distance from Westminster, where he resides.
[Illustration: PLATE II.
A blind beggar well known at fairs near the metropolis; declares himself
"_a poor Spaniard man_."]
The following plate of a walking beggar, attended by a boy, was taken
from a drawing made in West Smithfield. The object of it is well known
about Finsbury Square and Bunhill Row; sometimes he stands at the gates
of Wesley's meeting-house. His cant is, "Do, my worthy, tender-hearted
Christians, remember the blind; pray pity the stone dark blind." The
tricks of the boy that attended this man when the drawing was made,
brought to mind the sportive Lazarillo De Tormes, when he was the guide
of a beggar; from which entertaining history there are two very spirited
etchings by Thomas Wyck,--the one, where he defrauds his master when
partaking of the bunch of grapes; and the other, where he revenges a
thrashing received from his master by causing him to strike his head
against a pillar, and tumble into a ditch that he was attempting to leap.
[Illustration: PLATE III.
Blind beggar attended by a boy. From a drawing made in West Smithfield.
Well known about Finsbury Square and Bunhill Row. His cant is, "Do, my
worthy tender-hearted Christians, remember the blind; pray, pity the
stone-dark blind."]
The next subject is a tall blind man, with a long staff, with which he
strikes the curbstones. He is seldom to be seen in any particular place,
and was drawn when he stood against the wall of Mr Whitbread's brewhouse.
He is frequently a vender of the penny religious tracts, dispersed by a
society of Methodists, though perhaps with little use, for they are
often purchased by people who are actually going to the gin-shop. It is
here stated, on credible authority, that there are no less than 27,000
of the Methodist and 21,500 of the Evangelical Magazines published every
month; and it is also reported, that not less than 800 Methodistical
meeting-houses have been erected in England within the last year.
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
Tall blind beggar, with a long staff, with which he strikes the
curb-stones. Drawn while standing against the wall of Whitbread's
Brewery.]
The beggar portrayed in the next plate is a blind man, who remains for
many hours successively with his legs in one position. He observes a
profound silence when on his stand, but makes noise enough when he
attends the Tabernacle Walk on the Sabbath; on the week days, however,
he is frequently heard singing obscene songs. He is introduced, with his
wife, in the background of George Dyball's plate.
[Illustration: PLATE V.
Blind beggar, who observes a profound silence when on his stand, but
makes noise enough when he attends the Tabernacle Walk on the Sabbath.]
The next plate affords a remarkable instance of sobriety in a blind man,
who never tasted gin in his life. He was some years since to be found on
the historically and beggarly-famed road of Bethnal Green, and obtained
an honest livelihood by trafficking in halfpenny ballads.
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
Blind man, who never tasted gin in his life. Frequented Bethnal Green
Road, and obtained an honest livelihood by trafficking in halfpenny
ballads.]
The ensuing etching is of Charles Wood, a blind man, with an organ and a
dancing dog, which he declares to be "_The real learned French dog,
Bob_," and extols his tricks by the following never-failing address,
"_Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the real learned French dog; please to
encourage him; throw any thing down to him, and see how nimbly he'll
pick it up, and give it to his poor blind master. Look about, Bob; be
sharp; see what you're about, Bob._" Money being thrown, Bob picks it
up, and puts it into his master's pocket. "_Thank ye, thank ye, my good
masters; should any more Ladies and Gentlemen wish to encourage the poor
dog, he's now quite in the humour; he'll pick it up almost before you
can throw it down._" It is needless to add, that this man, whose station
is against Privy Garden Wall, makes what is called "_a pretty penny_" by
his learned French friend.
[Illustration]
This little animal is of so interesting a nature, that it has been
thought worth while to give a side view of him, in order to exhibit the
true cut of his tail.
[Illustration: PLATE VII.
Charles Wood, a blind man, with an organ and a dancing dog. "The real
learned French dog, Bob." Money being thrown, Bob picks it up, and puts
it into his master's pocket.]
The two succeeding plates are of a class that must ensure attention from
the gaping multitude, and are commonly termed industrious beggars.
The female figure is that of Priscilla, an inhabitant of St James,
Clerkenwell, who is often to be seen in the summer seated against the
wall of the Reservoir of the New River Water-works, Spa-fields, and
employed in the making of patchwork quilts. She threads her own needle,
cuts her own patches, and fits them entirely herself.
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.
Priscilla, an inhabitant of St James, Clerkenwell, seated against the
wall of the New River Water Works, Spa-fields, and employed in the
making of patchwork quilts.]
The other plate exhibits the portrait of Taylor, a blind shoemaker, who
lost his sight eighteen years since by a blight. This harmless man, who
lives at No. 6 Saffron Hill, maintains a family by his attention to his
stands, which are sometimes at Whitehall, and the wall by Whitfield's
Chapel, Tottenham Court Road. This meritorious pair may be justly
regarded as true objects of compassion, as they never associate with the
common street-beggars.
[Illustration: PLATE IX.
Taylor, a blind shoemaker, at the wall by Whitefield's Chapel, Tottenham
Court Road.]
The next plate, which will close the series of blind beggars, exhibits
the portrait of William Kinlock. He was employed many years ago to turn
a wheel for a four-post bedstead turner in Oxford Street, but afterwards
lost his sight at Gibraltar, under the great Lord Heathfield. His stands
are at Furnival's Inn and Portugal Street, near which latter place he
resides.
[Illustration: PLATE X.