Cfte m&rarg of m ©ntoersltg of iQortb Carolina @ (Entiotoeti by W$t SDialectic ano fffiilantStopfc feocfetfrg THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES HVU5U6 .R6 00007051726 This book is due at the LOUIS R. WILSON LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE DUE RET. DATE DUE RET. ■ jaw DEC FFR1Q — m Iff] APR 11 DBF «R17» MAR £ jlJN o ' r JUL2 4BiP TUP — PR 3 0 - n : >— Mi i /Vo. 5/3 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/historyofvagrantOOribt A HISTORY OF VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING A HISTOEY OF VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING BY C. J. EIBTON-TUENEE ILLUSTRATED LONDON CHAPMAN LIMITED 1887 AND HALL LONDON I PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD. 2)e&icate6 TO THE EAEL OF LICHFIELD UNDEE WHOSE KIND AUSPICES THE STUDIES WHICH HAVE EESULTED IN THE PEESENT WOEK WEEE FIEST UNDEETAKEN. r -7 PBEFACE. " De mendico male meretur qui ei dat quod edit aut quod bibat, Nam et illud quod dat perdit et illi producit vitam ad miseriam." Plauttis (Trinummus, Act II. Sc. 2). " He deserves ill of a beggar who gives him to eat or to drink, For he both loses that which he gives and prolongs for the other a life of misery." In the course of collecting materials for a history of vagrancy and begging I have become conscious of the magnitude of the subject I have undertaken, and that to describe fully from the earliest period the condition of the outcasts of society involves an account of the social and political struggles of the lower classes to emancipate themselves. To trace out, in fact, the vicissitudes of the servile classes from the time they are servile by inheritance or by destiny, until they become free members of society, and leave only a remnant who are servile or abject from choice, and whose history becomes a record of hypocrisy, humbug, and habitual idleness. , I have endeavoured, during a long period of research, to gather together all the most noteworthy particulars regarding the home- less wanderer, and the beggar and vagabond, derivable from the laws, from historical records, and from the most trustworthy con- temporaries or commentators of the periods I have attempted to illustrate. To bring the work within as moderate a compass as possible, consistently with the requirements of the subject, has necessitated the omission of much that would otherwise have extended it con- siderably, on numerous interesting and relevant collateral issues, both social and political, many of which, happily, have already been treated by abler pens than mine, and those that remain are vi ii PKEFACE. not likely to slumber long in the face of the vivid interest now manifested in all questions affecting the poorer classes. Such as it is, the work is now brought to a conclusion. The pleasantest part of my task, however, yet remains, and that is to endeavour to express my gratitude to the numerous friends and correspondents who have given me valuable aid towards the accomplishment of my work. Those only who have engaged in similar pursuits can estimate the time and research often requisite to verify a few facts or dates which occupy a space wholly incommensurate with the amount of labour they have entailed. Hence it arises that my obligations are frequently very great for what appears upon the surface to be a very small amount of assistance. To the courteous kindness of Yiscount Lyons, H.M.'s Am- bassador at Paris, I am indebted for much valuable information regarding France. To that of Earl Granville and of Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice for the graphic reports on vagrancy and mendicity in Germany and Austria-Hungary, of Mr. C. S. Scott and Mr. Victor Drummond. To that of Mr. C. I. Elton, Q.C., M.P., for the revision of the translation of the ancient laws of England ; and here I may observe parenthetically that an English rendering of the perplexing jargon in which our oldest statutes are couched, and which by courtesy is termed Latin, is much to be desired, as well as a revision of the already existing translation of our Norman- French laws. To Sir Edgar Mac- Culloch, Bailiff of Guernsey, and my friend Dr. Edwin Pears, of Constantinople, I am wholly indebted for the accounts of vagrancy and mendicity in Guernsey and Turkey respectively. To Mr. Hugh Owen, of the English Local Government Board, and to Mr. W. D. Wodsworth, of the Irish Local Government Board, I owe much valuable official matter. To Sir W. L. Drinkwater, first Deemster of the Isle of Man, I am under obligations for information regarding the laws of the island. Sir George Ber- tram, Bailiff of Jersey, has been kind enough to revise the trans- lation of the laws of that island. Captain Monro, Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, Lieut. -Colonel Paul, Chief Constable of the Isle of Man, and General Wray, Lieut.- Governor of Jersey, have each furnished me with valuable information regard- ing the existing condition of vagrancy and mendicity in their respective localities. PEEFACE. ix Mr. Cullinan, of the Irish Secretary's Office, has been good enough to supply the repeals of numerous Irish statutes. Mr. Scargill-Bird and Mr. Overend have each helped me * with information from the Record Office. To Mr. Douglas, the Master of the Marylebone Workhouse, I owe many interesting details. Mr. Bedford, of the Marylebone Union, and Mr. Val- lance, of the Whitechapel Union, have each aided me with serviceable information. Mr. Egerton Phillimore has been kind enough to revise the translation of the Welsh laws. Mr. Sheriff Spens, of Glasgow, has kindly answered queries regarding the Scotch laws. To my friend the Rev. M. S. A. Walrond I owe many useful pieces of information, and my friend Mr. Osborn Walford has assisted me with suggestions which have lightened many of my researches. In more general terms I have to express my obligations to Colonel Sir E. Y. Henderson, late Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police ; to Mr. C. S. Loch, of the Charity Organisa- tion Society; Mr. W. H. Forbes, of Balliol College, Oxford ; Mr. Costeker, of the Reformatory and Industrial Schools Depart- ment; Mr. W. M. Hennessy, of the Irish Record Office; Mr. Gomm, of the Mendicity Society ; and to the following Chief Constables of counties who have also kindly assisted me : — Mr. A. Porter, of Roxburghshire ; Captain Russell, of the West Riding of Yorkshire ; Admiral Christian, of Gloucester- shire ; Captain Amyatt, of Dorsetshire ; Colonel Blandy, of Berkshire. The following officers of Trades Unions have also favoured me with information: — Mr. Joseph Arch, Mr. John Burnett, Mr. William Hancock, Mr. Peter Shorrocks, and Mr. Edward Woods. Mr. John Murray has kindly given me permission to make extracts from Borrow's valuable work on the Gypsies. To those correspondents, several hundreds in number, who have favoured me with answers to isolated inquiries, I would offer publicly, as I have already done privately, my hearty acknow- ledgments for their kindness. C. J. R.-T. BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. 368—1066. PAGE The early denizens of England — The Attacotti — Condition of bond slaves under the Anglo-Saxons — The laws of Hlothsere and Eadric regarding the entertainment of strangers — The chapman — Laws of King Ine — Fugitive ceorls — Laws of King Wihtraed- — Wandering monks — Orel inances of Archbishop Ecgbert — Ecclesiastical alms and relief to travellers — Hospitality of the Anglo-Saxons — Laws of Edward the Elder and iEthelstan — Lorclless men — Penalties on those who har- boured other people's dependents — Laws of Edmund — Cnut and the poor — Laws against foreign slave-dealing — The harbourage of strangers — Laws of Edward the Confessor — Causes of vagrancy during the period — Fall of the Anglo-Saxon rule 1 CHAPTER II. 1066—1272. Results of the Norman Conquest — Condition of bond slaves — Laws of William the Conqueror — Incentives to nomadic life under William II. — Laws of Henry I. — The 'Wargus' or Social Outcast — Foreign vaga- bonds in England — Condition of the lower classes — The troubles of the reign of King Stephen and their consequences — Action of the clergy — Accession of Henry II. — Incursions of the Welsh arrd Scotch — The assizes of Clarendon and Northampton — Law of 1180 — The foreign slave-trade — Condition of vagabondage under Richard I. — The forest laws and their effects — Social effects of the reign of Henry III. — Causes of vagrancy during the period 18 CHAPTER III. 1272—1509. Accession of Edward I. — Ordinance against bards and vagabonds in Wales — Condition of the Welsh border — Laws against robbers and strangers in towns — Regulations respecting highways — Vagabondism in the City of London — Social state of the country under Edward II. — Sir Gosseline Denville and his band — Laws of Edward III. against xii CONTENTS. pardon for felony— The Welsh westour or unbidden guest— The black death and the statute of labourers — Prohibition on almsgiving to beggars— Prevalence of beggars on the highways — Lepers and their clack dish— Results of the attempt to regulate wages— Proclamations against vagrants in London— Staf-strikers and sturdy rogues— William Langland's description of the peasant and the beggar— Richard II. and refractory villeins— The rebellion of Wat Tiler— Measures against vagabondism — Attempts to regulate wages and their result — Provi- sion for the impotent poor— Begging scholars of the Universities- Social state of the country — Laws of Henry IV. against Welsh vagabonds — Laws of Henry V. against Irishmen in England— Laws of Henry VI. against Irish robbers and murderers in England — The rebellion of Jack Cade — Laws of Henry VII. against beggars and vagabonds . . . " 34 CHAPTER IY. 1509—1558. Accession of Henry VIII. — Mummers and disguised persons to be treated as vagabonds— Begging in 1521 — The Court infested with beggars— The supplication for beggars — Laws against the gypsies and vaga- bonds and beggars — Professors of physiognomy and palmistry, and other " crafty " sciences — Forms of licence for begging — Proclama- tions against beggars — Excessive pasture a cause of poverty — Law against Welsh commorthas — Further legislation against vagabonds and beggars — Whipping vagrants — " The hye way to the Spyttel house" — The effects of the suppression of monasteries — Strolling players and ballad singers — Manumission of bondmen — Condition of vagabondage at the commencement of the reign of Edward VI. — Legislation under Edward VI. — Sir John Cheke on vagabondage — Proclamation against players — Further legislation — The relief of the poor — Law against tinkers and pedlars — Proclamations against vagabonds and players — Regulation of the Borders — The reign of Mary — Legislation against gypsies — Proclamation against vagabonds — Laws for the relief of the poor .70 CHAPTER Y. 1558—1603. Accession of Elizabeth — Legislation against vagabonds — Attempts to settle the rate of wages — General night search for vagabonds, beggars, and gypsies — Action of the City of London — Orders by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen — Returns of vagrants apprehended — Renewed legislation — Licences to beg — Sir Thomas More on Irish and Welsh vagabondage — The privileges of John Dutton and his heirs — Causes of the legislation against stage-players and bearwards— Beggars at Bath and Buxton — Renewed search for vagabonds — Final manumission of bond-slaves — Repression of vagrancy in the City — Internal management of Houses of Correction — Number of rogues and vagabonds — Repressive measures in the City — Treatment of vagrants at the house of a great nobleman — Proclamations against vagrants — Further legislation — Small tene- ments and beggars — Observance of fish days enjoined as a means of preventing idleness — State of vagabondism in 1596 — Further legis- lation for the relief of the poor and repression of vagrancy — The Border laws — Begging soldiers and mariners 100 CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER VI. 1603—1660. PAGE Accession of James I. — Proclamation against vagabonds and order for their deportation — Legislation against vagrants — Plague infected persons treated as vagabonds — Stanleye's remedy for beggars and robbers — Estimated number of idle vagrants — The whipping of vagrants — ■ Proclamation against overcrowding — Legislation of 1609-10 — Depor- tation of vagrants to Virginia — Action of the City of London — Issue of copper farthings or tokens — Levy of vagrants as soldiers for the war in the Palatinate — Reign of Charles I. — Irish vagabonds — Commission of 1630 for putting in execution the laws for the relief of the poor and the suppression of vagrancy — Beggars in the City — Legislation by the Long Parliament — Acts against Players — Prynne's Histrio- Mastix — Proclamations in the City — Law of 1656 .... 132 CHAPTER VII. 1660—1713. Accession of Charles II. — Disbandment of the army — The law of settle- ment — Speech of the King regarding beggars — Results of the new law — Captain Graunt on beggars — Sir Matthew Hale on workhouses — Proclamations against vagrants and beggars and persons carrying combustible matters — Pretended lunatics — Alterations of the law of settlement under James II. and William III. — Highwaymen — The poor receiving relief to wear badges — Bandying about of the poor — Mr. J ohn Cary on the wholesome effect of workhouses — Demoralising results of passing beggars home — Estimate of the dependent classes — Depravity of beggar children — Legislation under Anne — Consolidation of the laws against vagrants and beggars in 1713 . . . .162 CHAPTER VIII. 1713—1760. Accession of George I. —Inquiry by the House of Commons into the expenditure on the poor in London in 1715 — Metropolitan mendicity in 1716— Legislation against idlers under 21, and persons deserting their wives or families — End-gatherers treated as vagabonds — Mr. Joshua Gee on the employment of the poor — Condition of workhouses — State of mendicity and crime, 1719 — 1734 — Enactments against players and their origin — Special legislation against beggars in the city of Bath — Committee of 1735 on the poor — Legislation of 1739-40, 1743-4, and 1751-2 against vagabonds — Expulsion of vagrants from towns — Mendicity in London in 1753 .183 CHAPTER IX. 1760—1820. Accession of George III. — Persons damaging underwood, destroying quick- sets, or taking bark treated as vagabonds — Report of the Committee of 1775 on vagrancy — Condition of workhouses and legislation L i xiv CONTENTS. regarding them — Persons having a criminal intent, poachers, and unlicensed dealers in lottery tickets deemed vagabonds — Abuses of the system of passing vagrants — Permission to soldiers, sailors, &c.,to beg — Mendicity in London in 1796 — Legislation regarding the removal of the poor — Alarming increase of vagrancy in 1814 — Report of a Committee of the House of Commons — Estimate of beggars in the metropolis and their average receipts — Encouragement of idleness and vice — Common lodging-houses — Twopenny post beggars — Knocker beggars — Movable beggars — Public-houses depending for support on beggars — Impostures practised — Depravity of beggars — Irish vagrants in London — Their idleness and gains as beggars .... 204 CHAPTER X. 1820—1837. Accession of George IV. — Report of the Select Committee of 1821 on vagrancy — Review of previous legislation — Abuses tolerated and frauds practised — Cozenage and fraud connected with the system of conveyance by pass — Number of vagrants passed from 1807 to 1820 — Vagrant Act of 1822 — The existing Vagrant Act and the additions made to it — Irish and Scotch vagrants in England, and the cost of their removal. — The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 — Abuses con- nected with the removal of vagrants .... ... 228 CHAPTER XL 1837—1848. A ccession of Victoria — Circulars of the Poor Law Commissioners — Report of 1839 by the Constabulary Commissioners relative to vagrancy — Number of vagrants, begging-letter writers, and bearers of begging letters — Habits of vagrants — The three sorts of cant — Style of living amongst tramps — Vagrancy and juvenile delinquency — Naked beggars — Ring droppers — Pretended rag sellers — Quack doctors — Umbrella menders — Turnpike sailors — Act to provide asylums for the homeless poor — Report of the Committee of 1846 on the non-establishment of these asylums— Increase of vagrancy owing to the inducements held out to agricultural labourers to migrate to large and populous towns — Irish vagrants — Increase of vagrancy brought about by night refuges — Profitable character of these asylums — Revelations of "A. B." — General conduct of vagrants— Their lawless character — The Irish famine and consequent influx of poor Irish into England . . . 24£ CHAPTER XII. 1848—1854. Reports of the Poor Law Inspectors in 1848 on the existing condition of vagrancy — Character and conduct of vagrants — Immense increase of vagrancy and its causes — Description of the Irish poor in England — Effect of sending Irish vagrants home — Intercommunication amongst vagrants — Gaol a favourite resort of the vagrant — Concealment of CONTENTS. xv property by tramps — Social demoralisation produced by vagrancy — Poor Law accommodation for vagrants — Report of the Committee of 1854 on the removal of the Irish and Scotch poor from England — Decrease of vagrancy in Ireland and its causes — Irish paupers sent home from Liverpool— Results of the influx of Irish poor into Liver- pool 261 CHAPTER XIII. 1854—1882. Arguments in favour of establishing industrial schools for vagrant children — Legislation of 1857 — Subsequent amendments of the Industrial Schools Acts — Evasion of the maintenance of vagrants by Metropolitan Boards of Guardians — Attempted remedy by the House- less Poor Act of 1864 — Accommodation provided for vagrants — Reports on vagrancy by the Poor Law Inspectors in 1866 — Character of tramps and their conduct in the vagrant ward — Estimated propor- tion of vagrants who devote themselves to idleness, crime, &c. — Average ages of vagrants — Arson by tramps — Systematic communi- cation amongst them — Increase of vagrancy — Legislation of 1871 — Vagrant Italian children in England — Committee of 1879 on settle- ment — Decrease of Irish vagrancy in England and its causes — Further increase of vagrancy and its causes — The Casual Poor Act, 1882 . 284 CHAPTER XIY. 1882—1886. Modern begging — Its various divisions — Average earnings of beggars — The effect of free night refuges and soup kitchens — The rules of trades unions regarding travelling members — Average improvement of the working classes during the last fifty years — Various systems for the repression of vagrancy in Cumberland, Berks, Dorset, Kent, Hants, &c. — The cause of failure of the Poor Law system — Contempt of the vagrant for the inmate of the workhouse — Increased nomadic habits of the agricultural labourers. — The teachings of history regarding the vagrant — Suggested remedy for vagrancy 311 CHAPTER XY. SCOTLAND. 968—1885. The condition of bondmen — Vagrancy in the reigns of DufFe, Kenneth III., and David II.— Legislation under Robert II. against caterans and vagrants — Laws of James I. against sorners and beggars — Laws of James II. against masterful beggars with horses and hounds and feigned fools — Further acts of James III., IV., and V. — Laws of James VI. — The punishment of vagabonds shooting at game — Legis- lation against vagabondism in the Borders and Highlands — Further laws against vagabonds and beggars and gypsies — Students with weapons to have them confiscated — Masters of Coalheughs empowered to apprehend and employ vagabonds — Innkeepers not to receive masterless men, rebels at the horn, &c. — Charles I. — Complaints of the non-enforcement of the acts against beggars — Correction houses to be established — Enforcement of the laws under the Commonwealth — ( xvi CONTENTS. Charles II. — Re-enactment of measures against vagabonds — James VII. — Magistrates of Edinburgh to purge the streets of beggars — William III. — Re-enactment of measures against vagrants — Attempts to regulate the rate of wages.— Legislation of 1845, 1862, and 1865— Account of vagrancy from 1815 to 1878. — Condition of vagrancy in 1885 . ' . . . ... 334 CHAPTER XVI. IRELAND. 450—1701. The Brehon laws — Legislation in favour of almsgiving and against fugi- tives—Regulations relating to compulsory hospitality — Social condi- tion of Ireland at the English Conquest — Laws of Edward II. against maintaining idle men and cearns — Laws of Henry VI . against coigny and livery — Laws of Henry VI. and Edward IV. allowing liege men to kill or take notorious thieves — Extortionate practices of the soldiery — Law of Elizabeth against idlers — Laws of Charles I. against rogues, vagabonds, and cosherers — Condition of the country in the reign of William III 373 CHAPTER XVII. IRELAND. 1701—1885. ■ Reign of Anne — Provision for erecting a workhouse in Dublin — Treatment of vagabonds — Act for suppressing tories, robbers, and rapparees — George I. — Act authorising vagrant children to be apprenticed to Protestant housekeepers, &c. — Evil results of the lax punishment of offenders — Acts against idle and disorderly persons in the city of Dublin — Condition of mendicity in 1729 — George II. — Act to authorise the transportation of vagabonds, or their compulsory service in the fleet — Act to restrain vagrants labouring under bodily disorders — George III. — Vagrants to be kept apart from children — Condition of vagrancy in 1752 — The helpless poor receiving relief to wear badges ■ — News cryers, shoe cleaners, basket carriers from market, &c, without licence deemed vagabonds — Punishment of persons harbouring rogues — Act to authorise the detention of suspicious strangers as vagabonds — Act against unlawful oaths — Reports of the Committees of 1803 and 1828 as to existing provisions for the support of the aged and infirm poor and punishment of vagrants — Act of 1836 against persons deserting their wives or children — Meeting in 1842 on the increase of vagrancy — Act of 1847 for the repression of vagrancy —Reports of the Poor Law Inspectors on the condition of vagrancy in 1856 — Number of vagrants relieved in 1870 and 1885 397 CHAPTER XVIII. WALES. 943—1284. The Venedotian, Dimetian, and Gwentian Codes and the Anomalous Laws relating to Gwestva dues, harbouring of guests, and descrip- tion and treatment of bondmen— The fine for an offence against a homeless beggar — Welsh hospitality in the 12th century . . . 429 CONTENTS. xvii CHAPTER XIX. THE ISLE OF MAN AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. PAGK The Isle op Man, 1422 — 1885. — Reign of Henry V — No one to leave the island without a licence — All Scots to avoid the land — No man to bring in beggars or vagabonds — Reign of Elizabeth — No alien to pass without a licence — Loitering Irishwomen to be banished — Reign of Charles II. — Poor not to beg out of their parishes —Apprentices - to serve for five years — Reign of Victoria — Masters of vessels bringing over paupers to be punished — Condition of mendicity 1879-85 . Jersey, 1669 — 1885. — Letters patent of Charles II. providing for the cor- rection and restraint of vagabonds and beggars — Code of 1771 — Pro- vision for the maintenance of the poor — Infirm people to be licensed to beg — Pauper children not to be taken out of the island — Inhabi- tants not to receive strangers more than one night — Tavern keepers not to tolerate vagabonds — Condition of mendicity in 1885 Guernsey, 1534 — 1885. — 1534, penalty for harbouring strangers— 1537, poor strangers to be banished — 1542, young men and young women to take service — 1566, orphans, &c, to be apprenticed — 1566, strange servants not to be received — 1583, banished criminals to quit the island — 1588-9, vagabonds to quit the island — 1597, infirm poor to be relieved — 1611, begging without a licence forbidden — 1684-5, ordinances relating to the poor and mendicants — Condition of men- dicity in 1885 440 CHAPTER XX. THE SECRET JARGON OF THE VAGRANT AND MENDICANT. First accounts of the cant language in England — Harman's vocabulary, 1567 — Constituent elements of the vocabulary — Derivation of the words beggar and rogue — Derivation of cant words from the Welsh, Gaelic, Erse, Manx, Lowland Scotch, Latin, Provincial English, Gypsy, and from foreign languages — Metaphorical terms — Modern cant 466 CHAPTER XXI. THE MENDICANT OR BEGGING FRIARS. Vagrant monks in the year 390 — Institution of mendicant friars in 1209 — John WiclifFe's opinion of them 480 CHAPTER XXII. THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. Various names by which they are known — Their origin — Arrival in England— Act of 1530-1 against them— Letter from Lord Cromwell to the President of the Marches in 1537— Letter to the Earl of Essex — Act of 1554— Arrest of Gypsies in the reign of Elizabeth — Act of 1562-3 against them — Execution of Gypsies under this Act — Letter of Mr. Hext regarding them in 1596— Subsequent history according to Borrow— Description of the Gypsies in the years 1858-9 . . . 483 h xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. SWEDEN, DENMARK, BELGIUM, AND HOLLAND. Sweden.— New Poor Law of 1871 as to beggars and mendicant children — Definition of vagabonds and vagrants — Nature of their punishment — Number of vagabonds in gaols and Houses of Correction and employed on public works in 1876 Denmark. — Punishment of vagrants— Numbers imprisoned for vagrancy from 1871 to 1880 Belgium, 1808—1870. — Law as to vagrants and beggars — Suppression of free admission to the depot de mendicite in 1848 — New law of 1866 — Population of the depots de mendicite 1840 to 1870 Holland. — Present penal laws as to beggars and vagrants — Beggars' institutions . . 507 CHAPTER XXIY. FRANCE. 570—1885. Ordinance of the 2nd Council of Tours— Ordinances of St. Louis — Edict of John in 1350 — Rodeurs de filles under Charles VIII. — Measures of repression under Francois I. — Edict of Henri II. — Description of the various orders of mendicants — Ordinances of Louis XIII. — Sup- pression of the Cours des Miracles by Louis XIV. — Action of the National Assembly — Decree of 1809 — Depots de Mendicite — Circulars issued by the Ministry of the Interior to the Prefets in 1864, 1872, 1874, and 1881 — Results of the inquiries instituted in consequence of the circular of 1881 — The four classes of vagabonds — Steps recom- mended by the Prefets for the repression of vagabondage — Report of a Special Committee to the National Assembly in 1873 — Census of vagabondage — Table of vagabondage 517 CHAPTER XXY. THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 1497_1885. Historical introduction — Imperial penal code— Societies for the suppression of mendicity — Absence of official statistics — Increase of vagrancy 1874 — 1884 — Its probable causes — Abnormal demand for labour 1871 — 1874 — Large number of labourers eventually thrown out of work — Abolition of passes for the interior — Reform of poor laws — Present state of vagrancy not sensibly affected by the state of the labour market — Change for the worse in the present type of vagrants — Reports from country districts — Encouragements to vagabondage — Indiscriminate almsgiving — Alleged negligence of local police — Wayside inns— Statistics from Bavaria, Saxony, and Prussia — Large proportion of juvenile vagrants— Estimate of average number of vagrants in Germany — Proportion of irreclaimable and reclaimable vagabonds— Remedial measures — Vagabondage in Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Leipzig, Bavaria, and Baden — The description of beggars in the Liber Vagatorum edited by Martin Luther in 1528 . . . 535 CONTENTS. xix CHAPTER XXYI. AUSTRIA. PAGE Vagabonds and beggars in Vienna — Municipal and charitable institutions — Municipal workhouse — Police shelter refuge for the homeless — Mendicity Society — Results obtained — Vagrants sent home from Vienna — Vagrants returned to Vienna — Vagrancy in the country — Proposed remedial measures 547 CHAPTER XXVII. ITALY. 1586—1872. Law of 1586 regarding vagrants and beggars — Former attempt at repres- sion— The Company of St. Elizabeth, or Beggars' Guild — The " forty hours " — Description of the orders of beggars by Giacinto Nobili in 1627 — The tricks of the Bianti in Sicily — Their punishment by the Duke of Sessa 553 CHAPTER XXVIII. RUSSIA, PORTUGAL, AND TURKEY. Russia. — Low standard of comfort of the Russian peasantry — Mendicity among the urban population and its causes — Committee for the relief of beggars in St. Petersburg — Treatment of beggars in Moscow, Odessa, Finland, Revel and Poland Portugal. — General condition of mendicity Turkey. — Organisation for the relief of the poor — Professional beggars — Begging dervishes — Incentives to almsgiving — Feigned madmen — Beggars at mosques — Administration of the Imarets and Evcaf — Christian charity in Turkey — Precepts of the Koran regarding charity— Sayings of the prophet regarding almsgiving and charity . 566 CHAPTER XXIX. EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS WRITERS ILLUSTRATING THE HABITS AND IMPOSTURES OF THE VAGRANT AND BEGGAR. 1383—1567. Chaucer, The Begging Friar and the Pardoner (1383)— Foxe, The Blind Impostor (circa 1430 — 35) — Lydgate, The Foolish Penniless Beggar (circa 1430) — Skelton and the beggar (circa 1490) — Samuel Row- lands, The Runnagate Race, a History of Rogues from 1450 to 1534 — Alexander Barclay, Of Foolish Beggars and their Vanities (1508) — Dunbar, The Excess of Beggars (1509) — Henry Watson, Of Beggars and their Vanities (1517) — James V. of Scotland, The Gaberlunyie Man (circa 1530— 40)— Sir David Lyndsay, The Pardoner (circa 1539) — A Begging Letter in 1542 — Hugh Latymer, On Valiant Beggars (1552) — The Fraternity of Vagabonds (1561) — Thomas Harman, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursetors (1567) .... 576 J XX CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXX. EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS WRITERS ILLUSTRATING THE HABITS AND IMPOSTURES OF THE VAGRANT AND BEGGAR. 1610—1700. PAGE Samuel Rowlands, Slang Beggars' Songs (1610) — Sir Thomas Over- bury, A Tinker and a Canting Rogue (1616) — Ben Jonson, The Masque of the Gypsies metamorphosed (1621) — John Fletcher, The Beggars' Bush (1622)— The Song of the Beggar (1629)— The Cunning Northern Beggar (1635) — Richard Brome, A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars (1641) — The Beggars' Chorus in the Jovial Crew (1641) — The Tinker and the Beggar (1661) — Richard Head, Meriton Latroon, a Complete History of the most Eminent Cheats of both Sexes (1665) — The Jovial Crew or Beggars' Bush (1671) — Supplementary verses to the Jovial Crew, styled the Beggar's Song (1700) — Daniel Defoe, The Complete Mendicant (1699) 601 CHAPTER XXXI. EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS WRITERS ILLUSTRATING THE HABITS AND IMPOSTURES OF THE VAGRANT AND BEGGAR. 1708—1875. Memoirs of the right villainous John Hall (1708) — The Lazy Beggar (1731) — G. Parker, Illustrations of Low Life (1781)— Francis Grose, Beggars and Vagrant Impostors (1796) — J. T. Smith, Vagabondiana (1817) — William Hone, Anty Brignal and the Begging Quaker (1827) — John Badcock, Beggars and Tinkers (1828) — W. A. Miles, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime (1839) — Letters from George Atkins Brine (1848, 1871, 1875) — Charles Dickens, The Begging Letter Writer and Tramps (1850) — Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor — The Patterer — The Screever — Beggar Street- sellers (1851) — A Blind Impostor (1865) — J. Hornsby Wright, Confessions of an Old Almsgiver (1871) — A. H. Toulmin, Rogues and Vagabonds of the Racecourse (1872) — Pseudo Missionaries (1872) — Rich Beggars — Frozen-out Beggars — Beggars' Barns — Gypsy anec- dote — Begging Letter Impostures (1874) 625 CHAPTER XXXII. L'Envoye . . . # . . . • • 666 Statistics ...... 673 Synoptical Table of Laws quoted, English, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, Manx, Jerseyian and Guernseyian 675 Index 703 LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. Sir Gosseline Denville and his Band listening to the Domi- nican Monk to face page 40 Stocks at the West Eiding Court-house at Bradford . .48 Metoposcopy 76 Physiognomy . . .180 Whipping Stocks at Waltham Abbey 205 Palmistry, or Chiromancy 236 William Bead 257 A Spurious Document 312 Stocking and Whipping 488 Beggars 520 Foolish Beggars and their Vanities 586 The Cunning Northern Beggar 610 The Soldier and his Doxy; and the Poet between his two Deborahs 632 A Cadgers' Eesort 636 George Atkins Brine; and Walter Scott 640 Potato Hook ; Instrument for removing Clothes-pins ; the Bully Tramp and Jolly Tramp 654 The Lubberly Tramp; the Unwholesome Tramp; the Abject Tramp; and Mrs. Tramp 658 A Spurious Document 664 Nicolas Genings, the Begging Impostor 666 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. CHAPTER I. a.d. 368 — 1066. The early denizens of England — The Attacotti — Condition of bond slaves under the Anglo-Saxons — The laws of Hlothaere and Eadric regarding the entertainment of strangers — The chapman — Laws of King Ine — Fugitive ceorls — Laws of King Wihtrsed — Wandering monks — Ordinances of Arch- bishop Ecgbert — Ecclesiastical alms and relief to travellers — Hospitality of the Anglo-Saxons — Laws of Edward the Elder and iEthelstan — Lordless men — Penalties on those who harboured other people's dependents — Laws of Edmund — Cnut and the poor — Laws against foreign slave-dealing — The harbourage of strangers — Laws of Edward the Confessor — Cause of vagrancy during the period — Fall of the Anglo-Saxon rule. As a necessary prelude to the subject before us, we must in the first instance take a cursory glance at the constituent elements of the population of England during its early history. Geological investigation has established that in the dim past these islands were inhabited by a race who, so far as research has yet gone, appears to have left no traces either in our language or in our local nomenclature. This race, which was of Iberic or Basque type, was small in stature and dark in complexion. It was conquered and with occasional exceptions, such as the tribe of the Silures, brought into subjection by an invading immigration of Gaels, the earliest race of whom there are any linguistic traces in the country, and whose course from the plains of India to Britonia* * It would be out of place here to enter into a disquisition on the origin of the name of Britain, but a careful study of all the known forms of the word and its permutations induces a very strong belief that it springs from the Gael. Breas tan, the " great land." This would be quite in harmony with the state- ment of Dion Gassius, " that it had been a disputed point whether the land was a continent or an island." Independently even of this it was the largest island known to the ancients, and compared with the Scillies or with Ireland it would emphatically be the " Great land." B 2 VAGRANTS AND VAGBANCY, may be traced in various countries by means of the suffix tan,* the equivalent of the Sanskrit sthana, a country. These invaders were followed at an interval of time by a race whom we may term South British, represented by the extinct Cornish language. At a later period still, probably after the Roman occupation, came the Cymry or Welsh, a third Celtic race, from Denmark (the Chersonesus Cimbrica) and the south of Sweden, about Cimbris- hamn, who, landing in Scotland about the parts adjacent to Aber- deen, forced their way southward through Cumberland until, being encountered by the opposing tide of Anglo-Saxons in the midland counties of England, they were deflected into Wales and there dominated or drove out the existing Gaelic and Iberic popula- tion, f " In the age of Alfred we all know that those regions now dis- tributed under the county names of Dorset, Wilts, Somerset, Devon, were denominated in the Anglo-Saxon language Weal- cynne, the territory or dominion of the " strangers/' or Britons, a designation which clearly shows that though the supreme autho- rity might by arrangement under stress of conquest be in the hands of the Wessex king, " rex totius Britannise," the Britons occupied the soil and maintained virtual rule. Even so late as the reign of Athelstan, who died a.d. 940, or within a hundred and twenty-six years of the Norman Conquest, Exeter, the ancient capital of the Damnonii (the people of Dymi- naint), was governed by a compromise between the two races. The city was divided into two parts, the British part and English part, and each had equal power in the government of the place."* To this may be added the fact that the South British element probably extended northwards as far as Herefordshire, as in the twelfth century the Liber Llandavensis makes mention of Llan Cemiw, or the Cornish place situated on the river Dour, a tributary * Gael, tan, tain, a country, region, territory, land. t That there must have been a large Gaelic element in Wales at a compara- tively recent period is conclusively proved by the discovery of stones bearing Ogham inscriptions apparently as J ate as the seventh century in South Wales, as well as the statement in the Brut y Tywysogion that the men of the south in the year 1020 accepted Rein a Scot as their king ; and when the King of Gwynedd made war against him, Rein boldly led on his host after the man- ner of the Scots. Moreover, most of the classical names of the tribes in Britain are undoubtedly of Gaelic origin, e.g. Atrebatii from Aitreabhach, an inhabit- ant ; Cornabii from Cornaveagh, the raven's hill ; Mona from Muine, a brake or shrubbery. % Nicholas. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 3 of the Wye, which seems to indicate an outlying Cornish settle- ment there. The subject people in Anglo-Saxon times were therefore com- posed of at least three races. The Iberians, who had been sub- jected by the Gaels, the Gaels themselves, and the South British race. The earliest reference to vagabondage in the British Isles is to be met with in the Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus under the year 368, when he states, " That at that time the Picts, who were divided into two nations, the Dicalydonas * and the Yer- turiones,t and likewise the Attacotti, a very warlike people, and the Scots, were all roving over different parts of the country and committing great ravages." These Attacotti are identified by the Irish annalists with the Aitheach-Tuatha, which signifies, accord- ing to O'Curry, the rent-paying tribes or people, and they are said to have risen against their lords on account of the exorbitant exactions levied upon them to support their prodigal entertain- ments, exactions which in later times were known under the name of coshering. Perhaps also their treatment as slaves may, as in later times, have had something to say to the uprising, since Strabo informs us that the Britons were in the habit of exporting slaves to Gaul, and Cicero says that Caesar could not find an ounce of silver or other spoil except slaves in Britain. Beyond this, prior to the arrival of the Saxons, we have, gene- rally speaking, few authentic records of the social history of Britain, and the history of England during the period of the Saxon domination is itself a mere meagre record of events. Our knowledge of vagrancy in those times can therefore as a rule only be deduced inferentially from an examination of such laws as have been handed down to us, for since it may ordinarily be accepted as an axiom that laws are not made in anticipation of evils which may occur, but to remedy such as are proved to exist, we may safely assume that vagrancy did exist on an extensive scale in Saxon times, and that otherwise we should not find laws deal- ing with it in the Statute Book. The lowest olasses of the popu- lation were at that time sunk in bondage, in slavery as absolute as it is possible to conceive, and under which they were liable to * Calldainn is a hazel copse. This tree was formerly held in great estima- tion in Ireland. Mac Cuill (" son of the hazel "), one of the three last kings of the Tuatha De Danann, was so called because he worshipped the hazel. (Joyce.) t Fir-tire (men of the territory) ; a tribe of this name existed in Wicklow. B2 4 Y AGE ANTS AND YAGEANCY, the uncontrolled tyranny of master or mistress without power of appeal. This population was, as we have already seen, com- posed of several nationalities and tongues — the Anglo-Saxons proper, themselves divided into numerous dialects and tribes ; the races subject to them ; and later on, towards the close of the eighth century, the Danes and Norsemen. Slaves or theoics were of two classes, those who were so by birth and those who became so as captives in war, or were reduced to slavery through crime, insolvency, gambling, superior legal power, voluntary surrender, or illegal violence. In addition therefore to the causes of discontent naturally arising from the lot which reduced many people to the rank of slaves, there must have been fruitful sources of discord in the enforcement of the differing customs of the half-savage tribes who then inhabited the country. But the next in rank above the slave, the freedman or ceorl, suffered also from disabilities which he must often have desired to shake off. " At the earliest period of Anglo-Saxon history & freed- man became the " man " of the master who had emancipated him, and had no right of choosing another lord, a disability which, in the opinion of the age, derogated from perfect freedom. Many powerful men therefore, when they freed their slaves, expressly gave them this right. But even in these cases the poor man was constantly robbed of his privilege on the pretence that there were debts due, or fees payable, to the lord's heir or ministers. To such an extent was this carried that, in the tenth century, the freedman had practically lost one of the most important rights that the laws professed to secure to him. Alfred the Great was probably well aware of this fact ; for by his will, in which he enfranchised all his dependents, and gave them express liberty to select their future lord, he says, " I, in the name of the living God, bid that no man hinder them, either by demands of fee or any other thing, from choosing as lord whomsoever they will." Notwithstanding, however, the efforts of Alfred, the poor free- man's right was soon completely lost. In Domesday Book the privilege of leaving his land and changing his lord is spoken of as one of the distinguishing marks of the gesithcundman, or demi- noble ; and in Saloman and Saturn we read, " Lo ! a wealthy noble may easily choose for himself, according to his mind, a mild lord, a prince of noble birth ; but a poor man cannot do so." * * Tbrupp. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 5 Vagrancy must consequently Lave been a natural result of such a state of things. The fugitive, with the brand of Cain on him, was a vagrant of necessity, hunted to death like a wolf. The same may almost be said of the slave who served under a hard or cruel taskmaster or taskmistress, for even mistresses in those days sometimes whipped their female slaves to death. Add to this the restless desires of many to change their lot or to see something of the outer world, and we can form some idea of the leading causes of vagrancy. But the position of the vagrant then was very different to what it is now. There were neither inns nor workhouses to shelter him. Monasteries there were, which could give him casual shelter, but they were far apart, too far in most instances to enable him to cover the distance in a day's journey ; there were therefore only two sources of subsistence open to him, private hospitality or plunder. The primary laws against vagrancy which we should therefore naturally expect to find on the Statute Book would be, if one may so term it, laws of single-barrelled severity against fugitive depen- dents, and of double-barrelled severity against fugitive dependents who had committed other infractions of the tribal code. The first of these laws of which we have any record is that of Kings Hlothcere and Eadric, who respectively reigned in Kent from 673 to 685, and from 685 to 686. This law enacts that — " If a man entertain a stranger for three nights at his own home, a chapman, or any other that has come over the march,* and then feed him with his own food, and he then do harm to any man, let the man bring the other to justice, or do justice for him." f The host therefore who entertained a stranger did so at the risk of incurring responsibility for any offence he might subse- quently commit, but the law is silent both as to the duration of this responsibility and the mode of its enforcement. The chapman was in Anglo-Saxon times an important person- age. He was the general dealer or itinerant shopkeeper ; and both for the security of his goods and for the purpose of conveying them must as a rule have had numerous attendants. He could * Employed to denote not only the whole district occupied by one small I community, "but more especially those forests and wastes by which the arable \ was enclosed, and which separated the possessions of one tribe from those of another. t C. 15. < 6 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, be an encourager of vagrancy in two ways — by receiving and dis- posing of the goods of the vagrant plunderer, and by taking the fugitive, whether theow or ceorl, into his train. One of the laws of Ine, King of Wessex from 688 to 725, is directed against the first of these forms of delinquency. " If a chapman traffic up among the people, let him do it before witnesses. If stolen property be attached with a chapman, and he have not bought it before good witnesses, let him prove, ac- cording to the ' wite,' * that he was neither privy (to the theft) nor thief ; or pay as ' wite ' xxxvi shillings/' t This was supplemented in the reign of King Alfred (871 — 901) by a restrictive measure upon those whom the chapman took in his train. " It is also directed to chapmen, that they bring the men whom they take up with them before the King's reeve at the folk-mote, J and let it be stated how many of them there are ; and let them take such men with them as they may be able afterwards to pre- sent for justice at the folk-mote ; and when they have need of more men up with them on their journey, let them always declare it, as often as their need may be, to the king's reeve, in presence of the < gemot.' "§ At the same time it is quite possible that this law may also have been partially framed with a view to restrict the traffic in slaves, because in the famous story of St. Gregory and the English slaves who were brought to Eome for sale in the sixth century, Bede, who relates it, says that the slaves were brought by the chapmen among many other saleable things. In all ages it has been found that those whose circumstances border on poverty have most sympathy with the poor ; and the following law of King Ine appears to recognise the fact, as it for- bids the ceorl who stood lowest in the ranks of freemen to harbour fugitives, and it shows inferentialiy that the practice prevailed extensively. This sympathy in many instances probably arose from two causes, sympathy with the oppressed and sympathy of race, as a good many ceorls and a large number of theows were without doubt of Celtic race, and would therefore have a common * Mulct, fine. This was the penalty falling to the king (except in cases of alienation to others) or to the state, for violation of the law. t G. 25. Of the journeying of chapmen up the country. X A general assembly of the people, whether it was held in a city or town (burg), or consisted of the whole shire. § C. 34. Of Chapmen. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. bond of antipathy to the Saxon lord. The law also forbids the " gesithman " to take recruits from the vagrant class. " If a man accuse a ' ceorlish ' man of harbouring a fugitive, let him clear himself according to his own * wer.' * If he cannot, let him pay for him according to his own ' wer ' ; and the ' gesithman ' f in like manner according to his ' wer.' " J The fugitive ceorl next appears as the subject of legislation in the reign of King Ine. The punishment which the law inflicted on him was nominally a pecuniae one ; and considering that a cow or a sheep was in those days valued at a shilling, the penalty was a severe one, and could only have been paid with the assist- ance of his friends and kinsfolk. "If any one go from his lord without leave, or steal himself away into another shire, and he be discovered, let him go where he was before, and pay to his lord lx shillings/ ' § If the ceorl failed to pay this amercement he became a wlte-thcow or penal slave, a class condemned to slavery for crime, or from inability to pay the fines incurred for violation of the law. Should he have committed theft before he was degraded to the condition of a vMe-theow he was liable to a cruel whipping at the hands of his accuser, and if he fled from his master the penalty was ignominious death. "If any man be a * wite-theow' newly made a 'theow,' and he be accused that he had before thieved ere he was made a ' theow/ then may the accuser have one scourging at him : let him follow him to the scourging according to his value." [| " If a ' wlte- theow/ an Englishman,H steal himself away, let him be hanged, and nothing paid to his lord. Tf any one slay him let nothing be paid to his kindred, if they have not redeemed him within twelve months." ** The next law, that of Wihtrced,°ti king of Kent from 690 to 725, is directed against wandering monks who appear even at that * The amount payable to the relations of a murdered man as compensation for killing him, or payable by him to redeem his life -when forfeited. t A military companion or follower of an Anglo-Saxon chief or king. Some of these "gesiths" had land, others had not. X C. 30. In case a " Ceorlish " man harbour a fugitive. § C. 39. Of going from his lord "without leave. || C. 48. Of wite-theowmen. ii I.e. an Anglo-Saxon ; a Celt was denominated a TVealh, or foreigner. ** C. 24. Of slaying a " wite-theow." tt King Wildrced, though a legislator, was not a scholar, as we find him about the year 700 affixing his cross to a charter which he granted, to which was added " pro ignorantia literarum." 8 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, early period to have gone about in such numbers as to need repres- sive legislation. " If a shorn man go wandering about for hospitality, let it be given him once ; and, unless he have leave, let it not be that any one entertain him longer/' * The ecclesiastical authorities seem also to have felt called upon to deal with the evil, as Ecgbert, who was Archbishop of York from 732 to 767, made the following ordinance : — " Let not monks remove from place to place, but let them remain in the same obedience which they undertook at the time of their conversion." These erratic habits on the part of the monks were probably engendered by the fact that for want of churches the priests had in the earliest times been accustomed in the discharge of their office to wander from place to place. Poor laws there were none at this period ; in fact, in point of theory there ought not to have been any in need of public charity, as every person of the lowest rank was by custom supposed to be the dependent of a superior rank. But there must have been ceorls who sank into poverty owing to misfortune, such as acci- dent, famine, cattle murrain, and other causes, and who being unable to find any one in their neighbourhood able to take them into service became in danger of starvation ; and again there were probably harsh and cruel masters who discarded their infirm, impotent, or superfluous servants or their children, and left them without subsistence. Being forbidden to wander, these poor people would therefore starve if no source of relief were open to them, and the only source from which they could derive it was the Church. From the time of Archbishop Theodore downwards, there seems to have been great need for this provision, judging from the ecclesiastical ordinances which have been handed down to us. Archbishop Ecgbert says : " The priests are to take tithes of the people, and to make a written list of the names of the givers, and according to the authority of the canons they are to divide them in the presence of the men that fear God. The first part they are to take for the adornment of the church ; but the second they are in all humility mercifully to distribute with their own hands for the use of the poor and strangers ; the third part, however, the priests may reserve for themselves." f "Be thou gentle ^and * § 7. t Excerptiones Ecgberti, Arch. Ebor. V. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 9 charitable to the poor, zealous in almsgiving, in attendance at church, and in the giving of tithe to God's church and the poor." * " The monasteries were open at all times and all seasons for the relief of travellers ; extra buildings were provided for their recep- tion, and officers appointed whose duty it was to see that they were liberally entertained, and that they conducted themselves discreetly." f The duty of hospitality was also strongly inculcated by the Church, as is evident fyom the following ordinance of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. " Whosoever doth not receive a sojourner into his house, as his Lord ordaineth and promiseth of the Kingdom of Heaven there- for, where He saith, ' Come ye blessed of my Father, receive the Kingdom/ for such time as he receiveth not sojourners and hath not fulfilled the commands of the gospel, and hath not washed the feet of the poor, nor done alms, so long let him do penance on bread and water, if he amend not." + " The Anglo-Saxon monarchs were famous for their hospitality, particularly at festive seasons. At Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun- tide they kept open house for several days, entertaining all comers, high, low, rich, and poor, and the nobles imitated their example. "§ King Alfred, we are told by Asser, "bestowed alms and largesses on both natives and foreigners of all countries." In the reign of King Edward the Elder (901 — 924) the fugitive bondsman again forms the subject of legislation. "Let no man receive another man's man without his leave whom he before followed, and until he be blameless towards every hand. If any one so do, let him make 'hot' II my 'oferhyrnesll." ** The reign of JEthelstan (924- — 940), whose life was, according to William of Ifalmesburp, "in time little — in deeds great," was especially fruitful in legislation. The first enactment of this reign deals with the lordless man, or * Confessionale Ecgberti, Arch. Ebor. t Thrupp. + Liber Penitentialis Theodori Arch. Cantuar. Eccl. XXV. Of rapine and usury, and him who doth not receive sojourners and doth not fulfil the com- mands of the gospel. § Thrupp. || Compensation. II Contempt in the present legal sense of the term ; also the penalty attached to such contempt, the various rates of which were fixed according to the party offended. ** C. 10. Of him who receives another man's man without leave. 10 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, man without a master, for whom a master must be found and for whose appearance to answer any accusation his kindred must be responsible, otherwise he may be slain wherever he is met with.* " And we have ordained : respecting those lordless men of whom no law can be got, that the kindred be commanded that they domicile him to folk-right, f and find him a lord in the folk-mote ; and if they then will not or cannot produce him at the term, then be he thenceforth a 'flyma/J and let him slay him for a thief who can come at him : and whoever after that shall harbour him, let him pay for him according to his ' wer,' or by it clear him- self." § The next law deals with the freeman who, having deserted his original settlement, desired to return to it. " And we have ordained : if any landless man should become a follower in another shire, and again seek his kinsfolk; that he may harbour him on this condition, that he present him to folk- right if he there do any wrong, or make ' bot ' for him. || The next four deal with the penalties incurred by those who * The Commonwealth was knit together by the law of the "free borgh." This was a system of mutual surety, and also of mutual espial, for it rendered every man answerable for his neighbour ; and consequently compelled him to watch his neighbour's acts with suspicion and jealousy. When blood was shed, the nearest townsmen were attached, and an account was required from them. The township and the hundred might be amerced for the transgressions of those who were within their Pledge. He who refused to appear in court, after law- ful summons, broke the compact which bound him to the Commonwealth ; he became an outlaw ; he had spurned the protection of the social community, and he obtained none ; his property was forfeited, he bore a " wolfs head," and he might be slain with impunity. But outlawry could not be pronounced unless by the solemn judgment of the Shire or the Burghmoot, nor until the offender had been oftentimes required to come in, and abide the sentence of the law. The punishments of the law were rigorous. Occasionally they were miti- gated by that yearning to do justice in mercy so often occasioning a painful struggle in the legislator who has subjected himself to duties which he regrets to perform. If the Criminal had taken sanctuary, he might save his life by abjuring the realm ; and the white wand, which he bore in his hand whilst he was journeying to the sea-shore, protected him against all further harm. Some lives were saved by the " benefit of clergy," which substituted a severe and painful imprisonment for capital punishment. An appeal, whether of theft or murder, could not be released or pardoned by the king. But the king's justices, even in early times, greatly discouraged this vindictive remedy. They required the utmost nicety in the pleadings : and by allowing the defendant to avail himself of every technical objection which he could raise, the appellor was easily sent out of court. — Palgbave. t The original, unwritten, understood compact, by which every freeman enjoyed his rights as a freeman. The common or customary law of the land. % A runaway, vagabond. § I. c. 2. Of lordless men. || I. c. 8. Of landless men. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 11 harbour other people's dependents without the leave of their master : — " And let no man receive another man's man, without his leave whom he before followed. If any one so do : let him give up the man, and make ' bot ' the king's ' oferhyrnes.' And let no one dismiss his accused man from him before he has done what is right." * "Let npt any one harbour the man of another without the leave of him to whom he owed suit before, neither within nor without the mark. Moreover, let not a lord refuse soke- right f to a free man if he has him rightfully in his keeping." $ " And whosoever shall harbour, whether within or without the mark, the man of another who, on his ill-doing, has let him depart and is unable to punish him, let him pay to the king a hundred and twenty shillings, and let the man return to the place whence he came forth and do right to the lord whom he served before." § " And he who receives another man's man, whom he for his evil conduct turns away from him, and whom he cannot clear of his evil, let him pay for him to him whom he before followed, and give to the king cxx shillings. But if the lord will foredo the man wrongfully ; then let him clear himself, if he can, at the folk- mote : and if he be innocent, let him seek whatever lord he will, in virtue of that testimony ; because I grant that each of them who is innocent may follow such lord as he will. And such reeve as shall neglect this, and will not care about it, let him to pay to the king his ' oferhyrnes/ if any one truly charge it to him, and he cannot exculpate himself. And such reeve as shall take meed- money,|| and thereby suppress another's right; let him pay the king's ' oferhyrnes,' and also bear the disgrace, so as we have ordained. And if it be a thane who shall so do, be it the like." IT This law pretty plainly indicates that the sheriffs frequently accepted bribes for countenancing false accusations against the dependents of the lords. Next comes a law of King Edmund (940 — 946), which requires the host who knowingly entertains a fugitive offender to bring him to justice or to pay compensation for his misdeeds : — * I. c. 22. Of him who receives another man's man. t Privileges or franchises. % II. c. 4. § III. c. 4. Of him who harbours the man of another. || A "bribe, hush money. IT IV. c. 1 . Of him who receives another man's man. 12 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, " And I will not that any one harbour the man of another before he be quit in respect of every authority that may claim right from him ; and if any maintain or sustain a man to the doing of damage, let him keep him in charge to produce him to make amends, otherwise let him make good what the other ought to make good." * We now come to the canons enacted under King Edgar (958 — 975), which probably owe their origin to the energy of 0 St. Dun- slan, and which again inculcate the duty of almsgiving. " And we enjoin, that the priests so distribute the people's alms, that they do both give pleasure to God, and accustom the people to alms." " When a man fasts, then let the dishes that would have been eaten be all distributed to God's poor." The Ecclesiastical Institutes urge the duty of almsgiving more forcibly still. "It is daily needful for every man, that he give his alms to poor men ; but yet when we fast, then ought we to give greater alms than on other days, because the meat and the drink we should then use if we did not fast, we ought to distribute to the poor. | " A' multitude of persons partook of the hospitality of the rich man's mansion who were not worthy to be admitted to his tables. These assembled at meal-times outside the gate of his house, and it was a custom to lay aside a portion of the provisions to be dis- tributed among them, with the fragments from the table. In Alfric's homily for the second Sunday after Pentecost, the preacher, after dwelling on the story of Lazarus, who was spurned from the rich man's table, appeals to his Anglo-Saxon audience : " Many Lazaruses ye have now lying at your gates, begging for your superfluity." Bede tells us of the good King Oswald, that when he was once sitting at dinner, on Easter-day, with his bishop, having a silver dish full of dainties before him, as they were just ready to bless the bread, the servant whose duty it was to relieve the poor, came in on a sudden, and told the king that a great mul- titude of needy persons from all parts were sitting in the streets begging some alms of the king. The latter immediately ordered the provisions set before him to be carried to the poor, and the * Concilium Culintonense, c 3. Of him who shall harbour the man of another or shall maintain any to another's damage. t XXXVIII. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 13 dish to be cut in pieces and divided among them. In the picture of a Saxon house given in an old manuscript, we find the lord of the household on a sort of throne at the entrance to his hall, pre- siding over the distribution of his charity. This seat, generally under an arch or canopy, is often represented in the Saxon manuscripts, and the chief or lord seated under it, distributing justice or charity."* Begging was termed wcedl, and to beg wcedlian, from which we get the English word wheedle, which is an eloquent witness of the coaxing character of the beggar's appeal. King Cnut (1017 — 1035), whose laws exhibit a higher degree of social development than those which preceded them, repeated the law against harbouring another man's man in the following terms: — "And that no one receive any man longer than three nights, unless he shall recommend him whom he before followed ; and let no one dismiss his man before he be clear of every suit to which he had been previously cited." t At the same time an attempt seems to have been made to pro- tect the friendless man from lynch law by the following enactment. " And if a friendless man J or a comer from afar be so dis- tressed, through want of friends, that he has no * borh ' § at the 4 f rum-tihtle ; ' || let him then submit to prison, and there abide, until he go to God's ordeal, and there let him fare as he may. Verily he who dooms a worse doom to the friendless and the comer from afar than to his fellow, injures himself." If It is quite possible that this law may have been intended to serve as a species of conciliation to the fugitive, in order to pre- vent him from resorting to extreme measures against his pursuers, as he was able to retaliate on them in a formidable manner by setting fire to their homesteads and woods. That the crime of arson had very much increased may be inferred from the fact that whereas in the reign of iEthelstan (I. c. 6), the penalty for this offence was the same as for avenging a thief, viz. cxx shillings, in the reign of Cnut it was made "botless"** (c. 65), that is, punishable by death only. Judged by his decrees, Cnut seems to have been solicitous for the "welfare of the poor and oppressed. In his epistle to the * Wright. t C. 28. Quod nemo plus triduo accipiatur hospitio. X A murderer, an outlaw, a thief, and a runaway convict slave were con- sidered friendless men and might not be avenged. § Surety. || First accusation, first charge. % C. 35. Of friendless men. ** Not pecuniarily recompensable. 14 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, English on his departure from Rome, lie says, " I now therefore adjure all my bishops and governors throughout my kingdom, by the fidelity they owe to God and to me, to take care that, before I come to England, all dues owing by ancient custom be dis- charged, that is to say, plough-alms.* ... If these and such like things are not paid before I come to England, all who shall have offended will incur the penalty of a royal mulct." Robbery with violence was common enough in Anglo-Saxon times, the prevailing law being the law of the strongest. Three classes of offenders are mentioned in the laws, the first consisting of those who robbed in parties of less than seven, the second of those who numbered more than seven and not more than thirty- five in a " hloth " or troop, and the third those who pillaged in larger numbers, and who formed a "here" or host.f In order to limit the evil, Cnut hit upon the device of making every male take a pledge against thieving. " And we will, that every man above twelve years make oath that he will neither be a thief nor cognisant of theft." J Like his predecessors Ine and Ethelred, he legislated against selling slaves out of the country, especially into heathendom ; but the law cannot have been much respected if a passage in William of Malmesbury is to be trusted. Speaking of Cnut's sister, the wife of Godwin, Earl of Kent, he says, " It is reported that she was in the habit of purchasing companies of slaves in England, and sending them into Denmark, more especially girls, whose beauty and age rendered them more valuable, that she might accumulate money by this horrid traffic." We now arrive at the reign oiEdivard the Confessor (1042 — 1066), when the law regarding the harbourage of strangers becomes much more elaborate, the reason being that many influential land- owners frequently fostered wandering criminals to further their own nefarious purposes, and then denied responsibility for their acts on the ground that the offenders were guests and not servants. " If any entertain a man known or unknown for two nights, he may keep him as a sojourner ; and if the man do wrong the host shall suffer no loss for him. But if he to whom the man has done wrong makes complaint to justice in that it was done by the * A penny for every plough, that is, for as much land as a plough could till, to be distributed to the poor : it was pavable in fifteen days from Easter, f Laws of King Ine, c. 13. J C. 21. Of Thieves. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 15 counsel of the host, then the host shall purge himself by oath with two law-worthy neighbours if he can, both of his counsel and of the deed. Otherwise he shall make good the loss and the wrong. But if he shall entertain the man a third night and that man shall do wrong to any, the host shall bring him to justice as though he were one of the household ; as the English say, Tuuo nicte geste the thirdde nicte agen hine* And if he is unable to bring him to justice he shall have the term of a month and a day. And if he is able to find the man, the wrongdoer shall make good the damage done and the amends, if he can, and (the wite) for the body, if the w r rong was done thereto. And if the wrong- doer cannot make good the damage done, the host who entertained him shall make good the loss and the forfeit, and if he himself be suspect of justice he shall purge himself by the judgment of the hundred or shire/' f Next comes a law which marks an important era in the repres- sion of extorted maintenance. The virtues of hospitality were sedulously cultivated by the Anglo-Saxons, and strangers were everywhere welcomed and entertained. But this very virtue became in course of time a source of abuse. Kings and nobles strove to convert voluntary hospitality into an obligatory right to entertain themselves and their followers, and in course of time this system of free billeting became a burdensome and intolerable nuisance. Many monasteries in the ninth century claimed and obtained grants from the king freeing them from this liability or expressly limiting it in extent, but the first legal recognition of its illegality occurs in the Libertas Civitatum, c. 2, De Libertate C;v. Lundon. " It is also to be known that a man who is of the Court of the King or of his Barons has no right either by grant or custom to be entertained in the house of any citizen of London in (days) except by the favour of his host. But if he make a forcible sojourn on the host in his house and there be killed by the host, let the host choose six of his relations and swear with them himself as the seventh, that he slew the man for the cause aforesaid, and so he shall remain quit of the slaying of the dead man towards the king, and the relations and lords of the dead man." The necessity for this measure was amply proved by the conduct of Eustace, * " Two nights a guest, the third night one's own servant." t C. 23. Of Strangers. 16 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, Count of Boulogne, who had married Goda, the sister of King Edward. On his way home from visiting the King in the year 1051, he and his companions proceeded to Dover. " When they came thither, they resolved to quarter themselves wherever they liked. Then came one of his men, and would lodge at the house of a master of a family against his will ; but having wounded the master of the house, he was slain by the other. Then was Eustace quickly upon his horse, and his companions upon theirs ; and having gone to the master of the family, they slew him on his own hearth ; then going up to the boroughward, they slew both within and without more than twenty men. The townsmen slew nineteen men on the other side, and wounded more, but they knew not how many." * " In towns the hospitality of the burghers was not always given gratis, for it was a common custom, even among the richer mer- chants, to make a profit by receiving guests. These letters of lodgings were distinguished from the innkeepers, or hostelers, by the title of herbergeors, or people who gave harbour to strangers, and in the larger towns they were subjected to municipal regula- tions. The great barons and knights were in the custom of taking up their lodgings with these herbergeors rather than going to the public hostels ; and thus a sort of relationship was formed between particular nobles or kings and particular burghers, on the strength of which the latter adopted the arms of their habitual lodgers as their signs. These herbergeors practised great extortions upon their accidental guests, and they appear to have adopted various artifices to allure them to their houses." f In "Wales this system of enforced hospitality was known by the name of gwestva, in Scotland of soniing, and in Ireland of coshering. In the first case it was not attempted to be put down by legal enactment until the year 1284, in the second until 1385, and in the last until 1310, so that England was in this matter long in advance of its sister territories. The causes of vagrancy during this period may be thus briefly summed up — want of the means of existence owing to the destruc- tion of property by hostile tribes, impotence from age or infirmity, failure of crops and cattle murrain, slavery and harsh treatment, natural inclination for a nomadic or plundering life, and criminal conduct necessitating flight. * A. S. Chronicle. t Wright. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 17 That during the Anglo-Saxon period there was no uprising on the part of the lower orders against the system of bondage in which they were held was no doubt due to four principal causes : 1st, to the differences of race and language which existed among them; 2nd, to the internecine warfare which was perpetually being waged ; 3rd, to the manumission of large numbers by several kings in order to enable them to carry on their wars, for while a slave was not allowed to carry arms a freeman was bound to do so and to fight for his country ; and 4th, to a gradual manu- mission by purchase. On the whole, there can be little doubt that the abolition of the Anglo-Saxon rule marked a progressive stage towards a higher and better order of things, and that "William of Malmesbury's summary of the social evils which were rife at the time was generally speaking correct. " The monks mocked the rule of their order by fine vestments, and the use of every kind of food. The nobility, given up to luxury and wantonness, went not to church in the morning after the man- ner of Christians, but merely, in a careless manner, heard matins and masses from a hurrying priest in their chambers, amid the blandishments of their wives. The commonalty, left unprotected, became a prey to the most powerful, who amassed fortunes, by either seizing on their property, or by selling their persons into foreign countries ; although it be an innate quality of this people to be more inclined to revelling than to the accumulation of wealth. There was one custom, repugnant to nature, which they adopted ; namely, to sell their female servants, when pregnant by them and after they had satisfied their lust, either to public prostitution, or foreign slavery. Drinking in parties was a uni- versal practice, in which occupation they passed entire nights as well as days. They consumed their whole substance in mean and despicable houses ; unlike the Normans and French, who, in noble and splendid mansions, lived with frugality. The vices attendant on drunkenness which enervate the human mind followed ; hence it arose that engaging William, more with rashness and precipi- tate fury than military skill, they doomed themselves and their country to slavery, by one, and that an easy, victory. " * * Book III. c CHAPTER II. a.d. 1066 — 1272. Results of the Norman Conquest — Condition of bond slaves — Laws of William the Conqueror — Incentives to nomadic life under William II. — Laws of Henry I. — The "Wargus" or social outcast — Foreign vagabonds in England — Condition of the lower classes — The troubles of the reign of King Stephen and their consequences — Action of the clergy — Accession of Henry II. — Incursions of the Welsh and Scotch — The assizes of Clarendon and Northampton — Law of 1180 — The foreign slave trade — Condition of vagabondage under Richard I. — The forest laws and their effects — Social effects of the reign of Henry III. — Causes of vagrancy during the period. The social outcome of the Norman Conquest was undoubtedly the temporary though well-merited degradation of the upper and middle classes of England. Though, as we have already seen, the ceorl had been gradually sinking in the social scale owing to the progressive efforts of his superiors to confiscate his rights, so that subsequent to the reign of Alfred he had practically lost the greater part of them, on the other hand, the position of the theow had improved to a very great degree, partly owing to the social progress of the nation and partly to the exhortations of the leading clergy, the consequence being that wherever he could he was generally allowed to purchase his freedom. This would not generally be difficult of accomplishment for prcedial slaves of a frugal disposition, as they were usually designated to a stated amount of task work, all results of their labour in excess of their tasks being consequently their own property ; the condition of serfdom at this period was therefore gradually merging into that of servile tenure. The net conclusion was to bring the status of the ceorl and the theow to the same level by depressing the one and raising the other, both enjoying a qualified form of freedom, a freedom which was subject to the services and dues which the lord was entitled to exact. Though absolute slavery, that is the VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. 19 power of disposing of the body of the bondman in the open market apart from the property to which his services attached him, appears to have been forbidden by the law, it nevertheless con- tinued to exist as an article of traffic with foreign countries, prin- cipally owing to the connivance of the officers who ought to have put a stop to it, and partly possibly owing to the willingness of many to exchange their lot in the hope of bettering it.* From the period of the Conquest the ceorl and the theow become the villanus or nativus, and the first law we meet with under William the Conqueror (1066 — 1087) deals with both classes under one title, that of the nativus or born servant or bondman. " Bondmen shall not go away from their lands, nor make device how they may defraud their lord of the service due to him ; and if any bondman shall so depart, a man shall not harbour him or bis goods, but shall cause him to return to his lord with all that is his." f The next, with regard to the harbouring of guests, is little more than a repetition of the law of King Cnut. " No man shall harbour a guest beyond the third night unless that man with whom he was before bid the host so to do. Nor shall any one allow his man to depart from him after he has been arraigned/' + The Welsh at this period appear to have held great numbers of the English in slavery, as in the year 1081 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that " the King led an army into Wales and there freed many hundreds of men." The social condition of the people and the consequent incentives to many to lead a nomadic and plundering life may be judged from the following extract from the same Chronicle. " a.d. 1087. The King let his land at as high a rate as he pos- sibly could ; then came some other person, and bade more than the former one gave, and the king let it to the men that bade him more. Then came the third, and bade yet more, and the king let it to hand to the men that bade him most of all : and he recked * And we forbid that any sell a man out of his country. But if any man wish to make his slave free, let him deliver the slave by his right hand to the sheriff in full County Court : [and] the sheriff ought to quit-claim and release him from the yoke of his slavery and show him roads and gates free, and hand him free weapons, that is, the lance and sword, and thereupon he is made a free man. — III. 15. t C. 30. Of Bondmen. X C. 48. That none" shall harbour a guest beyond three nights. c2 20 YAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, not how very sinfully the stewards got it of wretched men, nor how many unlawful deeds they did ; hut the more men spake about right law, the more unlawfully they acted. They erected unjust tolls, and many other unjust things they did, that are diffi- cult to reckon." " a.d. 1088. In this year was this land much stirred, and filled with great treachery ; so that the richest Frenchmen that were in this land would betray their lord the king, and would have his brother Robert king, who was earl in Normandy This con- spiracy was formed in Lent. As soon as Easter came then went they forth, and harrowed, and burned, and wasted the king's farms ; and they despoiled the lands of all the men that were in the king's service/' We now come to the laws of Henry I., supposed to have been promulgated about the year 1101, and which the king put forth in the following terms : " The law of Edward, I restore to ye, with the emendations whereby my father amended it, by the council of his barons." The first of these laws establishes new and more elaborate regulations with regard to the discharge of bondmen or wandering men, who have outstayed the allotted term of irresponsible entertainment. " No one shall, beyond the space of three days, detain an un- known or wandering man without giving security, nor harbour the man of another without recommendation or a pledge, nor shall any one dismiss his own man without the licence of the Provost * (of his hundred) and the testimony of the neighbours that he is quit in all things wherein he has been accused." f The next law practically repeats the law of King Lie against going from a lord without leave, without, however, defining the amount of the penalty, and must consequently have thrown con- siderable discretionary power into the hands of the officers of the law, who were almost always flagrantly open to bribery. " If any man leaves his lord without licence, he shall be fined for the escape, and he shall be compelled to return and to do right in all respects." + The next deals with masterless men, and orders them to be tried where they are known to have offended. * Sine prelati sni licencia. t C. 8 § 5. Of the limits of hundreds. X C. 43 § 2. That no one impleaded by the king shall answer in another's suit. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 21 " It is one wise with a vagabond if he have a lord and otherwise if he have not ; but if there shall be such and he do wrong any- where, let him be brought before the judge of that place and dealt with according to his counsel. ,, * The next practically repeats the law of King Cnut regarding friendless men, and in addition imposes upon their accusers the duty of supporting them while in prison. " If any friendless man or foreigner come to such distress that he has none to befriend him, on the first accusation let him be laid to prison, and there let (his accuser) sustain him till he shall come to the ordeal./' f The next appears to be an attempt to make the man on whose land the wandering man is found responsible for the administra- tion of justice. " If any vagabond does wrong let justice be sought wherever he is found to be; and by the counsel and licence of him in whose land and jurisdiction he is found, let him be rightly brought to give satisfaction by pledge or oath or sureties. But if he thwarts this altogether, and this by reason of time, place, or other accident, let something of his be retained for in-borg J and let this be done reasonably and with lawful witnesses, lest worse befall ; which things'must be attended to the more carefully according as the m accused appears trustworthy, and has submitted quietly to being charged or detained, and as it is known whether the thing retained is his or not. And all this is renewed with more abundant solemnity when [the question is] as to the slaying of relatives or friends, or corporal or pecuniary damage. And if even he in whose land he shall be found shall deny justice altogether, nevertheless let nothing be done with regard to them unadvisedly, but let it be craved in his jurisdiction, and let the matter be brought before the king or his minister." § The spoliation of graves was amongst the Anglo-Saxons accounted a very serious offence. Archbishop Theodore, in the latter half of the seventh century, ordered that any person who violated a sepulchre should do seven years' penitence, three of them on bread and water ; and the same injunction is repeated by Archbishop Ecgbert. What purpose the ancient resurrectionists could have * C. 58. Of vagabonds. t C. 65 § 5. Of the discharge of a thief. J Bail, pledge ; consisting in the chattels of a party unable to obtain a personal " borg " or surety. § G. 82 § 2. Of men at enmity with each other. 22 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, had in view must be a matter of conjecture, but the probability is that it had some connection with charms and incantations. The practice, too, of burying objects of value with the dead must have offered a considerable temptation to sacrilegious thieves. To judge by the severity of the following law * the crime must have become very rife by the commencement of the twelfth century. " And if any wicked person shall presume contumeliously to dig up or despoil any body placed in the earth, or in a wooden coffin, or in a rock, or under any obelisk f or other structure, let him be accounted a wargus.% " The terrific ' war- wolf,' or ' loup-garou/ seems to have been originally only the ' wargus,' a wretch banished from his fellow - creatures by the judicial sentence which forbade his nearest kindred, his wife or his child, from affording him the smallest aid. And it is not altogether difficult to understand how the depreda- tions to which such a wretched outcast was incited by his need, or prompted by his ferocity, may have contributed to form the popular notion of this direful visitant. Nor is it less singular that the crime which, amongst the Franks, more particularly drew down this punishment was the spoliation of the corpse. The vengeance of the disembodied spirit may have been considered as concurring in the punishment of the unhappy offender ; aided by the imprecations which in the days of Paganism accompanied the sentence thundered forth from the rocky temple — the scene of government, of judgment, and of unholy sacrifice." § According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle foreign vagabonds appear to have been both numerous and audacious at the com- mencement of this reign. " a.d. 1102. And in this same year, in the week of the feast of Pentecost, there came thieves, some from Auvergne, some from France, and some from Flanders, and brake into the minster of Peterborough, and therein seized much property in gold and silver, namely, roods, and chalices, and candlesticks." * C. 83 § 5. " That it is lawful for everyone to defend himself in any matter whatsoever except against his lord." t The original reads " sub pyramided In Normandy an obelisk is styled a pyramid. The term would also apply to a dolmen or menhir. % Wargus, an outcast, exile, one driven for his crimes from the society of man ; from A.S. wearg, a wretch, a villain ; ivearh, wicked. O.N. wargr, wolf, outlaw ; M.G. wargs, an accursed man, an evildoer. Hence a man who ,was declared " wargus " was said " lupinum caput (wluesheued) gerere." § Palgrave. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 23 The condition of the lower classes in this reign may be judged from the following extracts. "a.d. 1117. But Normandy was very much afflicted both by the exactions and by the armies which the King Henry collected against them. This nation also was severely oppressed through the same means, namely, through manifold exactions." " a.d. 1124. This same year, after St. Andrew's mass, and before Christmas, held Ralph Basset and the king's thanes a wittenmoot in Leicestershire, at Huncothoe, and there hanged more thieves than ever were known before ; that is, in a little while, four and forty men altogether ; and despoiled six men of their eyes and of their testicles. Many true men said that there were several who suffered very unjustly ; but our Lord Grod Almighty, who seeth and knoweth every secret, seeth also that the wretched people are oppressed with all unrighteousness. First they are bereaved of their property, and then they are slain. Full heavy year was this. The man that had any property was bereaved of it by violent guilds and violent moots. The man that had not was starved with hunger." During the disturbed reign of King Stephen the troubles of the poor seem to have reached their climax ; between the contending parties they were completely crushed, both by being set on by their lords to kill one another and by the exactions not only of their superiors but of marauders of all kinds. The Chronicle gives an eloquently simple and pathetic account of this terrible period. . . " a.d. 1137. When the traitors understood that he (King Stephen) was a mild man, and soft and good, and no justice exe- cuted, then did they all wonder. They had done him homage, and sworn oaths, but they no truth maintained. They were all forsworn, and forgetful of their troth ; for every rich man built his castles, which they held against him : and they filled the land full of castles. They cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castle- works ; and when the castles were made, they filled them with devils and evil men. Then took they those whom they supposed to have any goods, both by night and by day, labouring men and women, and threw them into prison for their gold and silver, and inflicted on them unutterable tortures ; for never were any martyrs so tortured as they were, Some they hanged up by the feet, and smoked them with foul smoke ; and some by the 24 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, thumbs, or by the head, and bung coats of mail on tbeir feet. They tied knotted strings about their heads, and twisted them till the pain went to the brains. They put them into dungeons wherein were adders, and snakes, and toads ; and so destroyed them. Some they placed in a crucet -house ; that is, in a chest that was short and narrow, and not deep ; wherein they put sharp stones, and so thrust the man therein, that they broke all the limbs. In many of the castles were things loathsome and grim, called ' Sachenteges,'* of which two or three men had enough to bear one. It was thus made : that is, fastened to a beam ; and they placed a sharp iron (collar) about the man's throat and neck, so that he could in no direction either sit, or lie, or sleep, but bear all that iron. Many thousands they wore out with hunger. I neither can, nor may I tell all the wounds and all the pains which they inflicted on wretched men in this land. This lasted the 19 winters while Stephen was king ; and it grew continually worse and worse. They constantly laid guilds on the towns, and called it ' tenserie ; ' f and when the wretched men had no more to give, then they plundered and burned all the towns ; that well thou mightest go a whole day's journey and never shouldest thou find a man sitting in a town, nor the land tilled. Then was corn dear, and flesh, and cheese, and butter, for none was there in the land. Wretched men starved of hunger. Some had recourse to alms, who were for a while rich men, and some fled out of the land. Never yet was there more wretchedness in the land ; nor ever did heathen men worse than they did : for, after a time they spared neither church nor churchyard, but took all the goods that were therein, and then burned the church and all together. Neither did they spare a bishop's land, or an abbot's or a priest's, but plundered both monks and clerks ; and every man robbed another who could. If two men, or three, came riding to a town, all the township fled for them ; concluding them to be robbers. The bishops and learned men cursed them continually, but the effect thereof was nothing to them ; for they were all accursed, and for- sworn, and abandoned. To till the ground was to plough the sea : the earth bare no corn, for the land was all laid waste by such deeds ; and they said openly, that Christ slept, and his saints. * Sacu, an accusation; tege, a drawing out; or tege, teag, a band, snare, t Cens and Genserie, in Norman French, signify taxation and tribute, from census, Lat. C and t are often confounded. — Ingram. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 25 Such things and more than we can say, suffered we nineteen winters for our sins." The clergy managed at length with some measure of success to mitigate this dreadful condition of things, as we are informed by Roger of Wendover that in the year 1142 " William, Bishop of Win- chester, legate of the apostolic see, in the middle of Lent held a council at London, in presence of the king and the other bishops ; for no respect or reverence was at this time shown to the Church of God or its ordained ministers by the profligate wretches who plundered the country, but everybody was laid violent hands on, and ransomed or kept in prison, just as they pleased, whether he was clerk or layman. It was therefore decreed that any one who violated a church or churchyard, or laid violent hands on a clerk or other religious person, should be incapable of receiving absolution except from the Pope himself. It was also decreed that ploughs in the fields, and the rustics who worked at them, should be sacred, just as much as if they were in a churchyard. They also excommunicated with lighted candles all who should contra- vene this decree, and so the rapacity of these human kites was a little checked." The reign of Henry II. opened (a.d. 1138) with a cruel inroad of the Scots into England, intensifying the miseries of the lower orders, as Ordericus Vita Us tells us that they " exercised on the people the barbarity natural to their race in the most brutal manner. They spared no one, butchering young and old, all alike." This was followed in a.d. 1139-1140 by an incursion of the Welsh, by whom, according to Ordericus, " atrocious villainies were perpetrated in all parts. They say that more than ten thousand of these barbarians spread themselves over England, and that having no reverence for religion, they did not even spare the consecrated places, but gave themselves up to pillage, and burning and bloodshed." The firm will of the King, however, soon brought about an abatement in the evils from which the kingdom suffered during the reign of his predecessors, the bands of robbers were broken up, judges were appointed to go their circuits to try offenders, and the castles of the lesser barons were demolished. Early in 1166 the King held a great assembly or assize, con- sisting of the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons, at Clarendon, near Salisbury, when a number of most important provisions for the repression of crime were drawn up and after- 26 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, wards furnished to the judges. The Saxon system of frank pledge or mutual security was revived, large powers of search were given to the sheriffs, and strangers were only allowed to be entertained in towns, and only there for a single night, unless sureties for their good behaviour were forthcoming. The following are the leading clauses relating to the vagabond classes :• — " And in cities or boroughs, let no man have or take men into his house, or land, or soke, whom he will not undertake for, that he will bring them before the judges if they be summoned or be within frankpledge." " And let there be none within city, borough or castle or with- out, (nor moreover within the Honour of Wallingford),* who shall forbid the sheriffs to enter their land or soke, to take those who shall have been accused, or notoriously reputed to be robbers, or (secret) murderers, or thieves, or receivers of such, or outlawed or accused with regard to the Forest : but (the King) bids them to aid the sheriffs in capturing such men." " And the Lord King forbids that any waif (i.e. vagabond) or unknown (' uncuth ') man, be entertained anywhere except in a borough, and there only for one night, unless he or his horse be detained there by sickness so that an essoign f can be shown." " And if he shall have been there more than one night, let him be taken and held, until his lord come to give surety for him, or until he himself find safe pledges, and in like manner let him be taken who shall have entertained (the waif)." In the year 1176 another great council or assize was held at Northampton, when the assize of Clarendon was re-enacted and expanded in the shape of instructions to the justices, of whom eighteen were appointed to travel the kingdom, which was divided into six circuits. The provision relating to the entertainment of strangers was in the following terms : — " It shall be lawful for no one, either in a borough or vill, to entertain in his house for more than one night any stranger for whose forthcoming he shall be unwilling to give security, unless he who is so entertained shall have some reasonable essoign, which the landlord of the house is to shew to his neighbours, and when he departs he is to depart before the neighbours, and in the daytime." It would seem, however, that this provision was found too * The king was lord paramount of this seignory. t A valid excuse by reason of sickness or infirmity. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 27 stringent for practical application, as according to Roger de Hoveden the following law, which is a re-enactment of the law of Edward the Confessor regarding strangers, was promulgated in a code of laws issued in 1180. " If any person shall entertain a friend or a stranger, which in English is called ' cuth other uncuth,' * he shall be at liberty to keep him for two nights as a guest ; and if he shall be guilty of an offence, the host shall not incur a penalty for the guest. But if any injury shall be committed on any person, and such person shall make a charge before a court of justice against him that by his counsel the offence was committed, then, together with two of his neighbours, lawful men, he shall clear himself by oath of either counselling or abetting the same. And if he shall not do so, he shall make good the loss and pay a penalty. But if he shall be entertained a third night, and shall commit an offence against any person, then the host is to produce him to justice, as though one of his own household, which in English is expressed by Tuain nichte gest, thridde nicht ha wen man.f And if in such case he shall not be able to produce him to justice, then he shall have the space granted him of a month and a day. And if the offender shall be found, he shall make amends for the injury he has done, and shall make good the same, even with his body, if that shall be adjudged against him. But if the offender shall not be able to make good the injury he has done, then his host shall make it good, and shall pay a fine. And if the justice shall hold him suspected, then he shall clear himself according to the court of the hundred or the shire. "+ In the year 1169, according to Gervase of Canterbury, Henry pro- mulgated an edict to the effect that " if any Welshman, cleric or laic, shall come into England, unless he have passports from our lord the King, let him be apprehended and put in prison, and let all Welshmen who are in the schools in England be turned out." This edict, while no doubt primarily directed against the Welsh sympathisers with the rebellious actions of Thomas a Becket, must also have been intended to include those Welsh vagabonds in England who a little more than a century later were made the subject of a special proclamation. " It will be easily understood that when travelling was beset * " Kith or unkith " ; " acquainted or unacquainted." t Meaning two nights your guest, the third night one of your household, + C. 23. Of entertaining guests. 28 YAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, with so many inconveniences, private hospitality would be looked upon as one of the first of virtues, for people were often obliged to have recourse to it, and it was seldom refused. In the country every man's door was open to the stranger who came from a dis- tance, unless his appearance were suspicious or threatening. In this there was a mutual advantage ; for the guest generally brought with him news and information which was highly valued at a time when communication between one place and another was so slow and uncertain. Hence the first questions put to a stranger were, whence he had come, and what news he had brought with him." * In this reign the foreign slave trade received a thorough check. Upon the invasion of Ireland by the English in the year 1170, a synod of the clergy was convoked at Armagh to consider the matter. " At length it was unanimously resolved, that it appeared to the synod that the Divine vengeance had brought upon them this severe judgment for the sins of the people, and especially for this, that they had long been wont to purchase natives of England as well from traders as from robbers and pirates, and reduce them to slavery ; and that now they also, by reciprocal justice, were reduced to servitude by that very nation. It was therefore decreed by the synod, and proclaimed publicly by universal accord, that all Englishmen throughout the island who were in a state of bondage should be restored to freedom." f Previously to this Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, at the time of the Conquest repeatedly preached at Bristol against the prac- tice, and induced the traders there who had distinguished them- selves by this abominable traffic to abandon it, and in the year 1092 Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln, distinguished himself by a crusade against the practice in that town. English slaves must, however, have been plentiful in Scotland, as Roger de Soveden, writing about the commencement of the thirteenth century, says under the year 1070 : " At this period, a countless multitude of Scots, under the command of King Malcolm, passing through Cumberland, and making their way towards the east, fiercely laid waste the whole of Teesdale and its neighbourhood, far and wide. . . . But the young men and young women, and whoever besides seemed adapted for toil and labour, were driven away in fetters in * Wright. t Giraldus Cambrensis. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 29 front of the enemy, to endure a perpetual exile in captivit}' as servants and handmaids. ... In consequence of this, Scotland became filled with men servants and maid servants of English parentage ; so much so, that even at the present day not only not even the smallest village, but not even the humblest house, is to be found without them."^ We now come to the reign of Richard I., when it appears that notwithstanding the efforts made in the previous reign for their suppression, robbery, outrage, and vagabondage in every form again prevailed, for in the year 1195 Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, as justiciary of the whole of England, found it necessary to send throughout England a form of oath to be taken as follows : — " That all subjects of the kingdom of England, shall, to the best of their power, keep the peace of their lord the king ; that they shall not be thieves or robbers, nor yet harbourers of them, nor shall in any way abet them ; and that whenever they shall be able to know of any malefactors of that character, they shall, to the best of their ability, endeavour to take them, and deliver them up to the sheriffs, and they shall on no account be liberated but by our lord the king, or his chief justice ; and if they shall not be able to arrest them, they shall give notice of them, whoever they may be, to the bailiffs of our lord the king. "When a hue and cry is raised for the pursuit of outlaws, robbers, thieves, or the har- bourers of such, all shall join in the pursuit of them to the best of their ability ; and if they shall see any one, and it shall be clear that he has not joined in the said pursuit, or that he has, without permission, withdrawn himself therefrom, they shall take such same persons as though they were the offenders, and deliver them to the sheriffs, not to be set at liberty, but by the king, or by his chief justice. " Also, the knights who are appointed for that purpose, shall make all persons of their respective districts, of the age of fifteen years and upwards, appear before them, and shall make them swear that they will keep the peace of our lord the king, in manner above mentioned, and that they will not be outlaws, robbers, or thieves, nor yet harbourers of them, nor will in any way abet them ; and that they will, in manner above stated, make full pursuit of them, and, if they shall take any one in the commission of an offence, will deliver them to the knights placed over them 30 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, in their respective districts and for that purpose appointed, who shall deliver him into the custody of the sheriff ; and in like manner, on a hue and cry being raised for the purpose of pursuing the said offenders, if they shall see any person, or it shall be known to them that any person does not join in the pursuit, or if he shall, without leave, withdraw himself from the pursuit, they shall take him as the offender, and deliver him to the aforesaid knights, for the purpose of being delivered into the custody of the sheriff, as though he were the offender himself ; and he shall not be liberated, except by the command of our lord the king, or his chief jus- tice." " Accordingly, for the purpose of carrying out these orders, select and trustworthy men were sent throughout all the counties of England, who, upon the oaths of trusty men, arrested many in their respective neighbourhoods, and put them in the king's prisons. Many, however, being forewarned thereof, and having bad con- sciences, left their homes and possessions, and took to flight."* " The severity of the old forest laws of England has become a byword, and no wonder when we know that with the Conqueror a sovereign's paternal care for his subjects was understood to apply to red deer, not to Saxon men ; and that accordingly of the two, the lives of the former alone were esteemed of any particular value. But it was not the severity merely that was, after the Conquest, introduced (whether into the spirit or into the letter of the forest laws is immaterial), but also to the vast extent of fresh land then afforested, and to which such laws were for the first time applied, that gave rise to so much opposition and hatred between the Norman conquerors and the Saxon forest inhabitants ; and that in particular parts of England infused such continuous vigour into the struggle commenced at the invasion, long after that struggle had ceased elsewhere. The Conqueror is said to have possessed in this country no less than sixty-eight forests, and these even were not enough ; so the afforesting process went on, reign after reign, till the awful shadow of Magna Charta began to pass more and more frequently before royal eyes, producing first a check, and then a retreat ; disafforesting then began, and the forest laws gradually underwent a mitigating process. But * Roger de Hoveden. This edict is an amplification of the 21st law of Cnut against thieves (see p. 14.) Since the enforcement was committed to knights assigned for the purpose, it may be said to be the incipient develop- ment of the omce of justice of the peace. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 31 this was the work of the nobility of England, and occupied the said nobility a long time first to determine upon, and then to carry out ; the people in the interim could not afford to wait, but took the matter to a certain extent into their own hands ; free bands roved the woods, laughing at the King's laws, and killing and eating his deer, and living a life of perfect immunity from punish- ment, partly through bravery and address, and still more through the impenetrable character of the woods, that covered a large portion of the whole country from Trent to the Tyne. Among the more famous of the early leaders of such men were Robin Hood, Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudes- ley, the heroes of many a northern ballad."* Part of the immunity which the outlaws enjoyed was no doubt owing to the connivance of the officers of the forest, who levied forced contributions from them, and compelled all who feared their displeasure to drink at ale-houses which they kept, this extortionate practice being known as Scothala or Scotteshale. These exactions were curbed by the Statute of fines levied (27 Ed. I., a.d. 1299), which enacted that, " No Forester or Bedel from henceforth shall make Scotal, or gather garb, or oats, or any corn, lamb, or pig, nor shall make any (gathering but) by the sight and upon the (view) of the twelve Rangers, when they shall make their (range)." This was re-affirmed by the 25 Edw. III., Stat. 5, cap. vii. "Moreover it is accorded and stablished, that no Forester, nor Keeper of Forest or chase, nor any other minister, shall make or gather sustenance, nor other gathering, of victuals, nor other thing, by colour of their office, against any man's will, within their Bailiwick nor without, but that which is due of old right." During the tyrannical and disturbed reign of John vagabond- age flourished, and the only concession which Magna Charta made to the villein was to protect his " wain age " or implements of husbandry from seizure for fines to the King. At the same time the provisions of the Charter for the administration of justice would, when properly carried out, no doubt prevent many from being driven to adopt a roving and plundering life. The reign of Henry III. was even worse than that of John in its immediate social effects, vagabondage and robbery being rife owing to the disturbed state of the country, arising from the broils * C. Knight. 32 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, and battles which occurred. The lower orders were not the only offenders, as the Act of Concord, known as the "Award made between the King and his Commons at Kenilworth," in the year 1266 specifies that " Knights and esquires, which were robbers, and among the principal robbers in wars and roads, if they have no lands, but have goods, shall pay for their ransom (the half) of their goods, and shall find sufficient sureties to keep the peace of the King and of the realm from thenceforth." The same instru- ment enjoins, " Let all men from henceforth keep the peace firmly, and let none commit burning of houses, robberies, nor other out- rages against the peace." There must have been plenty of need of it, as Matthew Paris tells us that " this year throughout was fruitful, but notorious for the rapacious acts of robbers." About three months before the death of Alexander II. of Scot- land (1249), a meeting was held on the marches of England and Scotland, for ascertaining the laws of those marches, and enforcing their observation. This work was committed to twelve knights of each kingdom. Among other laws the following was unanimously agreed to : — ■ " That if any vassal or bondsman in Scotland should, with or without his goods, fiy into England with the intention of escaping from his lord ; and if within forty- two days after he should be pursued by his lord or his lord's bailiff, the fugitive should be brought back to Scotland, on the oath of the pursuer, without any opposition from the English ; the same being understood to hold with regard to fugitives from England. But if the fugitive was not pursued before forty-two days were elapsed, his lord could not recover him, without a brief from the sovereign of the kingdom where he remained : and on his being discovered there, after the expiration of forty -two days, his lord might seize him, upon giving his own oath, accompanied by the oath of six others." We have now arrived at the dawn of a period when the repre- sentative power of the people upon the despotic will of the sove- reign, began to make itself felt, and when law and order were beginning to emerge from oppression and corruption, and we may here therefore appropriately review the condition of vagabondage as it existed from the date of the Conquest. The evidence shows that the causes of vagrancy were numerous and varied. Some adopted it to escape slavery, some to save them- selves from starvation or torture, some were compelled to adopt it AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 33 through being deprived of the means of existence by the incur- sions of the Scotch and "Welsh, or by those of armed bands of their own countrymen ; some were driven to it by the royal and baro- nial exactions ; some by the afforestation of their lands and the harsh forest laws ; some were compelled or incited by their supe- riors to embark with them in a course of robbery and plunder ; and some no doubt adopted a nomadic life from the force of evil example or innate love of wandering or plundering. To set against all these incitements to vagrancy were two social gains, the cessation of the foreign slave trade and the acquisition of freedom from servitude to which villeins became entitled if they had lived unclaimed a year and a day in a town.* Almsgiving was prevalent, owing to its inculcation by the Church. William of Malmesbury says that Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling and wife of Malcolm Canmore, king of Scotland, was distinguished for almsgiving. "During her whole life, wher- ever she might be, she had twenty-four persons whom she supplied with meat and clothing. Departing from the Church, she used to feed the poor ; first three, then nine, then twenty-four, at last three hundred; herself standing by with the King, and pourirg water on their hands." An Anglo-Norman tract states that on the anniversary of Sir Hugh de Mortimer, who died at Cleobury in the reign of King Stephen, " a hundred poor persons were plenti- fully fed, each having a loaf and two herrings, because the anni- versary happened in Lent. The other charities which he estab- lished for himself, each day to beggars and strangers in the hostelry, no man could number them." Fitzstephen in his description of London in the reign of Henry II. , says : — " I cannot imagine there is any city in which more laudable customs are observed : such as frequenting churches for attendance on divine service, reverencing God's ordinances, keeping festivals, giving alms, maintaining hospitality." Begging was termed beogaunt, and beggars were styled mendi- nantz, mendians, and weux. Vagrants were termed wakerantz and wandering, vagarant. * "Also if slaves shall have remained unclaimed for a year and a day in our cities, boroughs, walled towns or castles, from that day let them be made free and remain free from the yoke of their slavery for ever." — Laws of William the Conqueror, xvi. (De Servis). D CHAPTER III. 1272—1509. Accession of Edward I. — Ordinance against bards and vagabonds in Wales — Condition of the Welsh border — Laws against robbers and strangers in towns — Regulations respecting highways — Vagabondism in the City of London — Social state of the country under Edward II. — Sir Gosseline Denville and his band — Laws of Edward III. against pardon for felony — The Welsh westour or unbidden guest — The black death and the statute of labourers — Prohibition on almsgiving to beggars — Prevalence of beggars on the highways — Lepers and their clack dish — Results of the attempt to regulate wages — Proclamations against vagrants in London — Staf-strikers and sturdy rogues — Robert Lan gland's description of the peasant and the beggar — Richard II. and refractory villeins — The rebellion of Wat Tiler — Measures against vagabondism — Attempts to regulate wages and their results — Provision for the impotent poor — Begging scholars of the Universities — Social state of the country — Laws of Henry IV. against Welsh vagabonds — Laws of Henry V. against Irishmen in England — Laws of Henry VI. against Irish robbers and murderers in England — The rebellion of Jack Cade — Laws of Henry VII. against beggars and vagabonds. The reign of Edward I. is memorable for the benefits it conferred on the nation. Corrupt judges were displaced and justices were compelled to swear that they would never accept bribes. The turbulent barons were forced to conform to the law, many new and excellent laws were enacted, and others were improved, which has earned for the King the title of the English Justinian. In this reign, too, free labourers began to exist, as is proved by the fact that in certain cases servile tenants were allowed to provide labourers for their lords instead of working themselves. The first military expedition of this reign was against the Welsh, which was followed by the subjugation of the principality. After its annexation, the King, in the year 1284, held a parlia- ment at Rhuddlan, where a set of statutes were enacted for the government of the country, one of the articles being an order for inquiry " of them that give lodging to persons unknown more than two nights."* The old Welsh law did not impose any limi- * 12 Edward I., c. 1. VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. 35 tat ion on the time a guest might be entertained, being content with stipulating for guarantees for his good behaviour. It was found necessary to follow up the statutes of Wales with an ordi- ance " that the Westours,* Bards, Rhymers, and other idlers and vagabonds, who live upon the gifts called Cymmortha;f be not sanctioned or supported in the country, lest by their invectives and lies they lead the people to mischief and burden the common people with their impositions." J " It is to be observed that this really salutary prohibition is directed against the irregular and wandering bards, and not against those who were more orderly ; and in the assertion made by Sir John Wynn in the History of the Gwedir Family, and repeated by Carte in his History of England, that many bards were put to death by this monarch, there does not seem to be a word of truth ; for we find many bards of note living at the date of the alleged massacre, a.d. 1294 — 1300. Similar proclamations were issued by Henry IV., Henry VIII., and Elizabeth ; but all concur in making a distinction between the orderly and disorderly bards, censuring the oppressive exactions of the latter, and prov- ing the lower grade of bards to have been a numerous and not very conscientious class of persons." § * Welsh, Gwestwr, an unbidden guest, one who goes about ; from gwest, a going out, a visit ; and givr, a man. t Welsh, Cymhorth, assistance, help, aid, or succour. It is customary for poor people in Wales to brew ale, or to provide any other entertainment, and invite the neighbourhood to partake, when a collection is made on the occasion. J No. V. Ex. Record Carnarv., fol. 81. § Stephens. " The language of the proclamations is strong, explicit, and condemnatory of the lower grade of bards and minstrels ; but coming from strangers they may be looked upon as prejudgments. We will borrow a description, from the satire of Taliesin on the bards of Maelgwn Gwynedd : — ' Minstrels perverse in their false custom, Immoral ditties are their delight, Vain and tasteless praise they recite, Falsehood at all times do they utter, Innocent persons do they ridicule ; Married women by their flattery, Thiough mischievous intent, they deceive ; The pure white virgins of Mary they corrupt ; Those who believe them they bring to shame ; . They cause uneasiness to moral men, As they pass their lives away in vanity ; At night they get drunk, they sleep the day, In idleness without work they feed themselves.' The petty bards were called 'Beirdd Yspyddaid,' smell- feast or small-beer poets."— Myv. Arch. i. 377. D 2 36 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, The condition of the border at the beginning of the reign is thus described. " At the close of the great baronial contest, the open country on the border of Wales must have presented a fearful picture of deso- lation, such as we can now with difficulty conceive. Even much of the forests had been destroyed by the effects of war, either cleared away that they might no longer serve as a retreat or place of ambush for crafty enemies, or cut down to furnish wood for the continual repairs of the fortification of castles and towns, destroyed by designing or accidental incendiaries. The woods which remained were long afterwards the haunt of thieves and outlaws, who not only robbed and murdered the passengers on the high roads when they travelled singly or weakly armed, but even at times associated together to attack and plunder the fairs and markets."* The next act of this reign (the Statute of Winchester, a.d. 1285) shows to what an extent marauders possessed the sympathies of the lower classes as it commences with this recital — "Forasmuch as from Day to Day, Robberies, Murthers, and Burnings of Houses be more often used than they have been hereto- fore, and Felons cannot be attainted by the Oath of Jurors, which had rather suffer felonies done to Strangers to pass without pain, than to indite the Offenders, of whom great part be People of the same Country, or at least if the Offenders be of another Country, the Receivers be of places near." It then proceeds in the spirit of the Anglo-Saxon law of the Frith-borg to make the hundred responsible for all robberies committed within its limits, and further declares that " for the more Surety of the Country, the King hath commanded that in great Towns, being walled, the gates shall be closed from the Sun- setting until the Sun- rising ; and that no man do lodge in Suburbs, nor in any foreign part of the Town, but in the Day-time, nor yet in the Day-time without his Host will answer for him." " And the Bailiffs of Towns every week, or at the least every Fifteenth Day, shall make Inquiry of all Persons being lodged in the suburbs, or in foreign parts of the Towns ; and if they do find any that do lodge or receive in any manner men of whom there is suspicion that they be People against the Peace, the Bailiffs shall do right therein. And the King commandeth, that from henceforth watches be made as it hath been used in times passed, that is to * Wright. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 3*7 wit, from the Day of the Ascension unto the Day of St. Michael, in every City by six men at every gate, in every Borough by Twelve Men, in every Town by Six or Four, according to the num- ber of the Inhabitants of the Town, and they shall watch the Town continually all Night, from the Sun -setting unto the Sun- rising. And if any Stranger do pass by them, he shall be arrested until morning ; and if no Suspicion be found, he shall go quit ; and if they find cause of Suspicion, they shall forthwith deliver him to the Sheriff, and the Sheriff may receive him without Damage, and shall keep him safely, until he be delivered in due manner." "And Further, It is commanded, That Highways leading from one Market Town to another shall be enlarged, whereas Bushes, Woods, Hedges, or Dykes be, so that there be neither Dyke, Underwood, nor Bush, whereby a man may lurk to do hurt, within two hundred foot of the one side, and two hundred foot on the other side of the way, so that this Statute shall not extend unto Oaks,* nor unto great Trees, so as it be clear underneath. And if by Default of the Lord that will not abate the Dyke, Underwood or Bushes, in the manner aforesaid, any Robberies be done therein, the Lord shall be answerable for the Felony ; and if Murther be done the Lord shall make a Fine at the King's Pleasure. And if the Lord be not able to fell the Underwoods, the Country shall aid him therein. And if percase a Park be near to the Highway, it is requisite that the Lord shall minish his Park so that there be a border of two hundred foot near the Highway as before is said, or that he make such a Wall, Dyke, or Hedge, that Offenders may not pass, ne return to do evil." "And Further, It is commanded, that every Man have in his house Harness for to keep the Peace after the antient assize." " Execution of the Act is respited until Easter next following, to see whether such Felonies and Robberies do cease." f A careful study of the Act makes it yery evident that armed bands of robbers commanded by people of position must still have been roaming about much as in the previous reigns. The order for cutting the underwood for two hundred feet on each side of the highway shows the favourite method of lurking adopted by the robbers, and the stringent penalties imposed on lords who neglected to cut away the underwood on their property makes it * Keynes (chenes). This is translated " Ashes " in the authorised version of the Statutes. t Stat. Wynton (The Statute of Winchester), 13 Edwardi I., c. 4, a.d. 1285. 38 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, appear that many of them must have sheltered or connived at the presence of robbers, taking doubtless for the protection afforded a percentage of the plunder. Even the City of London was not exempt from vagabondism and ruffianism of the worst type, judged by the following enactment : — " Whereas many Evils, as Murders, Robberies, and Man- slaughters, have been committed heretofore in the City by Night and Day, and People have been beaten and evil entreated, and divers other mischances have befallen against his peace ; It is en- joined that none be so hardy to be found going or wandering about the Streets of the City, after Curfew tolled at St. Martin' s-le- Grand, with Sword or Buckler, or other Arms for doing Mischief, or whereof evil suspicion might arise ; nor in any other manner unless he be a great Man or other lawful person of good repute, or their certain Messenger, having their warrants to go from one to another, with Lanthern in hand. And if any be found gding about contrary to the Form aforesaid, unless he have cause to come late into the City, he shall be taken by the keeper of the Peace and be put into the place of confinement appointed for such Offenders ; and on the morrow he shall be brought and presented before the Warden, or the Mayor of the City for the Time being, and before the aldermen ; and according as they shall find that he offended, and as the custom is, he shall be punished. " " And Whereas such Offenders as aforesaid going about by Night, do commonly resort and have their Meetings and hold their evil talk in Taverns more than elsewhere, and there do seek for shelter, lying in wait, and watching their time to do mischief ; it is en- joined that none do keep a Tavern open for wine or ale, after tolling of the aforesaid Curfew ; but they shall keep their tavern shut after that hour, and none therein drinking or resorting ; neither shall any Man admit others in his House, except in common Taverns, for whom he will not be answerable unto the King's Peace. And if any Taverner be found doing the contrary, the first time he shall be put in pledge by his Tavern drinking cup, or by other good pledge there found, and be amerced forty pence ; and if he be found a second time offending, he shall be amerced half a mark ; and the third time Ten Shillings ; and the fourth time he shall pay the whole penalty double, that is to say Twenty shillings ; and the fifth time he shall be forejudged of his Trade for ever." * * Statuta Civitatis London (Statutes for the City of London), 13 Edwardi I. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 39 These enactments seem to have been put in force by the City authorities, as in the year 1311 we find " John Blome indicted as a common wagabund by night for committing batteries and other mischiefs in the ward of Aldersgate and divers other wards. Therefore he was committed to prison. On the Thursday next before the Feast of Easter he was delivered on the surety of Wil- liam de Suningham and others, who undertook that he should behave himself properly." Professional fencers, who in 1597-8 were classed as vagabonds, appear long before to have been regarded as disreputable persons, as in the same year, 1311, " Master Roger le Skirmisour* was indicted for keeping a fencing school for divers men, and for enticing thither the sons of respectable persons so as to waste and spend the property of their fathers and mothers upon bad prac- tices, the result being that they themselves became bad men. Therefore he was committed to prison/' The strong measures for the repression of crime and the enforce- ment of good order enacted in the reign of Edward I. were in a few years unfortunately wholly nullified by the imprudent and weak- minded conduct of Edward II, whose foolish predilection for favourites caused him to sanction unpopular exactions. His barons rose against him, and the country was plunged into civil war with all its train of turbulence and criminal license. Favoured by the lawlessness which prevailed during this reign, robbers riding about in troops were numerous. One of the most noted was- Sir Gosseline Denville, of Northallerton in Yorkshire, a knight of old lineage and of considerable property inherited from his father. Having run through his patrimony by riotous living, he and his brother Robert took to public robbery, sparing neither rich nor poor, so that in a little time they became the dread and terror of all travellers in the north of England. Their boldness was such that other robbers when they were in any danger flew to them for succour and protection. The band there- fore soon became almost formidable enough to bid defiance to the posse comitatm of any sheriff. Near Darlington they robbed two cardinals who came to England for the purpose of arranging a peace between the kingdoms of Scotland and England. They broke open houses in the daytime, taking what money and plate they found, and killing any who opposed them. Monasteries and * Fencer or fencing master. 40 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, nunneries did not escape their outrages, and they stripped the altars in several churches of their plate. On one occasion Sir Gosseline and his gang robbed a Dominican monk named Bernard Sympson, and then for pastime forced him to climb a tree and preach a sermon, in which he succeeded so well that they gave him his liberty and returned him the property of which he had been robbed. The roads being at length guarded by large parties of horse and foot, Sir Gosseline and his gang, to the number of two hundred, disguised themselves as friars and continued their course of rob- bery. They did not even spare the King himself, whom they met in a progress to Korwich. The King, taking them to be religious men come to meet him on some petition, stopped with his retinue to hear what they had to say, whereupon Sir Grosseline, approach- ing his Majesty with a low obeisance, told him that he had not in the least come to talk with his liege about religion, because that was a thing he never thought of any more than himself, but he had come to discourse with him about secular affairs, and re- quired him to lend him and his needy brethren what money he had about him, otherwise tHey would put him to very hard penance in spite of all the indulgences and absolution he could procure of the Pope. The King finding it vain to resist so large a force with his small following, which did not exceed forty persons, gave what money he had to Sir Gosseline, who then searched the pockets of the noblemen in attendance before he allowed them to proceed. Enraged at this insult, the King issued a proclamation offering a reward of 1,000 merks for the capture of Sir Gosseline dead or alive, 500 merks for his brother Robert dead or alive, and 100 merks for every one of his accomplices taken alive. The next great exploit of the band was to rob the Bishop of Durham's palace, which they rifled from top to bottom ; they then stripped the prelate and his servants stark naked, and bound them hand and foot. Soon after this Sir Gosseline, with his brother and several members of his band, were surrounded at a lone inn in Yorkshire by the sheriff of the county at the head of five or six hundred men. The robbers made a desperate resistance, and killed two hundred men before they were overpowered. They were then conveyed to York, where they were hanged without trial. Edward II. was succeeded by Edward III., who gave early proof of his energy and strength of will, first by destroying the Queen's SIR GOSSELINE DENVILLE AND HIS BAND LISTENING TO THE DOMINICAN MONK (Temp, Edw. II.) AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 41 favourite, Mortimer, who had in reality constituted himself Regent of the kingdom, and next by the whole course of his legislation. One of the first acts of this reign, 2 Edw. III., 1328 (the statute of Northampton), was an effort to control the pardons for felony which were procured by great men, and to prevent the people from riding or going armed to the disturbance of the peace. The recital runs thus : — " Whereas offenders have been greatly encouraged, because (the) Charters of Pardon have been so easily granted in times past of Manslaughters, Robberies, Felonies, and other Trespasses against the Peace ; It is ordained and enacted, that such Charter shall not be granted, but only where the King may do it by his Oath, that is to say, where a Man slayeth another in his own defence, or by misfortune. . . . That no man great or small, of what condition soever he be, except the King's Servants in his presence, and his Ministers in executing of the King's Precepts, or of their office, and such as be in their Company assisting them, and also (upon a Cry for Arms to keep the Peace, and in the same in such places where such Acts happen,) be so hardy to come before the King's Justices, or other of the King's Ministers doing their office, with force and arms, nor bring no force in affray of the peace, nor to go nor ride armed by night nor by day, in Fairs, Markets, nor in the presence of the Justices or other Ministers, nor in no part elsewhere, upon pain to forfeit their Armour to the King, and their Bodies to prison at the King's pleasure." In spite of this Act, it seems that pardons for crimes were so freely granted by those in authority — principally without doubt in return for bribes — that it became necessary to legislate afresh on the subject in the following still more stringent terms. " Because divers Charters of Pardon have been granted of Felonies, Robberies, and Manslaughter, against the Form of the Statute lately made at Northampton, containing that no man should have such Charters out of the Parliament, whereby such misdoers have been the more bold to offend ; (2) it is enacted That from henceforth the same Statute shall be kept and main- tained in all points."* Robbery and disorder appear, however, to have been still sufficiently rampant to necessitate further legislation, and accord- ingly in the succeeding year the following enactment was passed, * 4 Edw. III., c. 13 (1330). 42 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, " Whereas in the Statute made at Winchester in the time of King Edward, Grandfather to the King that now is, it is contained, That if any stranger pass by the Country in the Mght, of whom any have suspicion, he shall presently be arrested and delivered to the Sheriff, and remain in ward till he be duly delivered : And because there have been divers Manslaughters, Felonies, and Rob- beries done in Times past, by People that be called Koberdesmen, Wastours, and Draghlacche ;* It is accorded that if any may have any evil suspicion of such, be it by day or by night, they shall be incontinently arrested by the Constables of the Towns." f Two things deserve notice in this statute — the first is that the Welsh westour, or unbidden guest, had evidently made his way into England and given his name to this form of wandering ras- cality ; and second, that the provisions of the statute of Edward I., by which suspicious persons might be arrested in the night time, were now extended to the day time. At this time "the English counties beyond the Severn were over- run by bands of outlaws. In Gloucestershire they had joined together and elected themselves a chieftain, to whom they gave sovereign power, and in whose name they issued proclamations ; and, setting in defiance the King and his laws, they infested equally the sea and the land, capturing and plundering the king's ships on the one element, and murdering and robbing his subjects on the other. In 1347 the King sent a commission to Gloucester to concert means of seeking out the offenders and bringing them to justice." + The year 1348 brought a terrible visitation to the shores of England in the shape of a plague called the BJack Death, which originated in the East and ravaged the whole of Europe. This fearful disease broke out violently in the towns where the complete neglect of sanitary precautions common in those days afforded it a firm foothold ; from thence it spread to the villages, and ultimately depopulated the country of from one-third to one-half of its inhabitants, according to various estimates. The result was a scarcity of labour, and a danger that a great part of the land would remain untilled. Wages rose as the labourers found that they were prac- tically masters of the situation, in being able to make whatever demands they liked for their services. The number of labourers wandering about to sell their labour in the best market swelled * Draw-latches. t 5 Edw. III., c. 14 (1331). J Wright. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 43 the ranks of vagrancy, and their idle habits naturally gave birth to other disorders. The number of free labourers had by this time greatly increased, as in the year 1339 the King, as a means of raising money, of which he was very much in want, allowed a number of his bondmen to purchase their manumission, and this example was no doubt followed by members of the nobility who found themselves in similar straits. To check both the increase of vagrancy and the inordinate augmentation of wages, an instrument was prepared in the year 1349 (23 Edw. Ill), which is known under the title of " Statutum de Servientibus," or Statute of Labourers; but the Parliament, though called, did not meet in that year on account of the plague. This instrument is recited in the Statute of Labourers (25 Edw. III., stat. 1) as an ordinance of the King and his council, and by 2 Rich. II., stat. 1, c. 8 (1378) it is expressly enacted that this ordinance should be affirmed and held as a statute. The preamble states — " Because a great part of the people, and especially of workmen and servants, late died of the pestilence, many seeing the necessity of masters and great scarcity of servants, will not serve unless they may receive excessive wages, and some rather willing to beg in idleness than by labour to get their living ; We, considering the grievous incommodities which of the lack especially of ploughmen and such labourers may hereafter come, have upon deliberation and treaty with the prelates and nobles, and learned men assisting us, of their mutual consent ordained : " It then proceeds — " That every man and woman of our realm of England, of what condition he be, free or bond, able in body, and within the age of threescore years, not living in merchandise, nor exercising any craft, nor having of his own whereof he may live, nor proper land, about whose tillage he may himself occupy, and not serving any other, if he in convenient service (his estate considered) be required to serve, he shall be bounden to serve him which so shall him require ; And take only the wages, livery, meed, or salary which were accustomed to be given in the places where he oweth to serve, the xx year of our reign of England, or five or six other common years next before. Provided always, that the lords be preferred before other in their bondmen or their land tenants, so in their service to be retained : so that nevertheless the said lords 44 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, shall retain no more than be necessary for them ; And if any such man or woman, being so required to serve, will not the same do, that proved by two true men before the sheriff or the bailiff, lord, or constable of the town where the same shall happen to be done, he shall anon be taken by them, or any of them, and committed to the next gaol, there to remain under strait keeping, till he find surety to serve in the form aforesaid. " That if a workman or servant depart from service before the time agreed upon, he shall be imprisoned. " That the old wages and no more shall be given to servants. " That if the lord of a town or manor do offend against this statute in any point, he shall forfeit the treble value. " That if any artificer or workman take more wages than were wont to be paid, he shall be committed to the gaol. " That victuals shall be sold at reasonable prices. " Item, because that many valiant * beggars, as long as they may live of begging, do refuse to labour, giving themselves to idleness and vice, and sometime to theft and other abominations ; none upon the said pain of imprisonment shall, under the colour of pity or alms, give anything to such, which may labour, or presume to favour them towards their desires, so that thereby they may be compelled to labour for their necessary living. " That he that taketh more wages than is accustomably given, shall pay the surplusage to the town where he dwelleth, towards a payment to the King of a tenth and fifteenth granted to him." The necessity for the prohibition regarding almsgiving to valiant beggars was doubtless intended as a corrective to the sedulous inculcation by the Church of the duty of bestowing charity on all poor persons. Richard Rolle, of Hampole, near Don- caster, a hermit of the order of St. Augustine and a doctor of divinity, who died in this very year, gives us an idea of the ecclesiastical view of the matter in the Stimulatus Conscientia or Pricke of Conscience. " When thou mayst help through wisdom and skill, And will not help, but hold est thee still ; When thou spestkest sharply to the poor, That some good ask at thy door, Be it without, be it within, Yet it is a venial sin." * The word " valiant " is here used in the sense of strong in body. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 4-3 " Loaves at this period were made of a secondary quality of flour, and these were first pared and then cut into thick slices, which were called in French tranchoirs, and in English trenchers, because they were to be carved upon. The portions of meat were served to the guests on these tranchoirs, and they cut it upon them as they eat it. The gravy, of course, went into the bread, which the guest sometimes, perhaps always at an earlier period, eat after the meat ; but in later times, and at the tables of the great, it appears to have been more frequently sent away to the alms-basket, from which the leavings of the table were distributed to the poor at the gate. All the bread used at table seems to have been pared before it was cut, and the parings were thrown into the alms- dish. Walter de Bibblesworth, in the latter part of the thirteenth century, among other directions for the laying out of the table, says, ' Cut the bread which is pared, and let the parings be given to the alms.' "* " The roads appear to have been infested with beggars of all descriptions, many of whom were cripples, and persons mutilated in the most revolting manner, the result of feudal wantonness and of feudal vengeance. A manuscript of the fourteenth century gives a curious representation of a very deformed cripple, whose means of locomotion is furnished by wooden clogs attached to his hands and knees by straps. The beggar and the cripple, too, were often only robbers in disguise, who waited their opportunity to attack single passengers, or who watched to give notice to comrades of the approach of richer convoys. The mediaeval popular stories give abundant instances of robbers and others disguising themselves as beggars and cripples. Blindness also was common among these objects of commiseration in the Middle Ages, often, as in the case of mutilation of other kinds, the result of deliberate violence."f Every town had its cross, at which engagements, whether of a religious or worldly interest, were entered into. Every church- yard had one whereon to rest the bodies of the deceased, from which the preacher gave his lessons on the mutability of life. At the turning of every public road was placed a cross, for the two- fold purposes of rest for the bearers of the pious defunct, and for reminding travellers of the Saviour who died for their salva- tion. The boundaries of every parish were distinguished by crosses, at which, during the ancient perambulations, the people alter- * Wright. t Ik 4 6 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, nately prayed and regaled themselves. Crosses in short were multi- plied by every means which the ingenuity of man could invent ; and the people were thus kept in constant remembrance, both at home and on their journeys, as well as in every transaction of their lives, of the foundation of the Christian faith. The afflicted poor solicited alms at these crosses by importunate entreaties for Christ's sake ; and hence arose the old saying when a person was urgent or vehement in preferring any petition, that ' " he begged like a cripple at a cross." But the favourite mode of attracting attention was by means of the clack dish, an alms-basket with a clapper, which lepers were obliged to employ in soliciting charity, standing " afar off," lest their touch should pollute the benevolent. They were a race entirely apart, and in order to participate in divine service they were compelled to gather in the churchyard and hear it through a window called the leper's window, usually found on the north side of the chancel. The dreadful disease from which they suf- fered was introduced into Europe by the Crusaders, and raged with such virulence during the Middle Ages as to necessitate the establishment of lazar-houses for the reception and isolation of those afflicted with it. One was founded at Southampton in 1173-4. By the commencement of the eighteenth century leprosy was almost extinct in England, though a case was known and reported so late as the year 1809. The leper's clack dish was so produc- tive that other mendicants adopted it, and hence the saying, " I know you as well as the beggar knows his dish." In the " Family of Love," in the year 1608, we find " ' Can you think I get my living by a bell and clack dish ? ' ' How's that ? ' Why, begging, sir.'" And in the "Blind Beggar of Bednall Green" (1659), " ' Tush, man, 'tis he. I know him as well as the Beggar knows his dish.' " The futility of endeavouring to regulate the rate of wages by ordinance was speedily demonstrated, though not acknowledged, as in the year 1350 it was found necessary to pass an Act (25 Edw. III., stat. 1) dealing further with the same subject, the preamble of which tells its own tale : — " Whereas late against the malice of servants, which were idle, and not willing to serve after the pestilence, without taking exces- sive wages, it was ordained by our lord the King, and by assent of the prelates, earls, barons, and others of his council, That AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. ■17 such manner of servants, as well men as women, should be bound to serve, receiving salary and wages, accustomed in places where they ought to serve, in the twentieth year of the reign of the King that now is, or five or six years before ; and that the same servants refusing to serve in such manner should be punished by imprisonment of their bodies, as in the said statute is more plainly contained ; (2) whereupon commissions were made to divers people in every county to enquire and punish all them which offend against the same. (3) And now forasmuch as it is given the King to understand in this present parliament, by the petition of the commonalty, that the said servants having no regard to the said ordinance, but to their ease and singular covetise, do withdraw themselves to serve great men and others, unless they have livery and wages to the double or treble of that they were wont to take the said twentieth year, and before, to the great damage of the great men, and impoverishing of all the said commonalty, whereof the said commonalty prayeth remedy : wherefore in the same parliament, by the assent of the said prelates, earls, barons, and other great men of the same commonalty there assembled, to refrain the malice of the said servants, be ordained and estab- lished the things underwritten : — " That Carters, Ploughmen, Drivers of the plough, Shepherds, Swineherds, Deies,* and all other servants, shall take liveries and wages, accustomed the said Twentieth year, or Four years before, and that they be (allowed) to serve by a whole year, or by other usual terms and not by the Day. " That the same* servants be sworn two times in the year before lords, stewards, bailiffs, and constables of every town, to hold and do these ordinances, and that none of them go out of the town, where he dwelleth in the winter, to serve the summer, if he may serve in the same town, taking as before is said. Saving that the people of the counties of Stafford, Lancaster, and Derby, and people of Craven, and of the marches of Wales and Scotland, and of other places, may come in time of August, and labour in other counties, and safely return, as they were wont to do before this time. And that those which refuse to make such oath, or to perform that they be sworn to, or have taken upon them, shall be put in the stocks by the said lords, stewards, bailiffs, and constables of the towns by three days or more, or sent to the next gaol, there * Drivers of geese. 48 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, to remain till they will justify themselves. And that stocks* be made in every town by such occasion betwixt this and the feast of Pentecost. " That Carpenters, Masons, and Tilers, and other Workmen of Houses, shall not take by the Day for their Work, but in manner as they were wont, that is to say ; a Master Carpenter iii d., and another ii d., a Master free-stone Mason iiii d., and other Masons iii d., and their Servants i d. ob. Tylers iii d., and their Knaves i d? ob., and other Coverers of Fern and Straw iii d., and their Knaves i d. ob. Plasterers and other workers of Mudwalls, and their Knaves, by the same manner, without Meat or Drink, from Easter to Saint Michael ; and from that time less, according to the Rate and Discretion of the Justices. " That Cordwainers and Shoemakers shall not sell Boots nor Shoes, nor none other thing touching their Mystery, in any other manner than they were wont the said xx. year. Artificers shall be sworn to use their crafts as they did in the said Twen- tieth year. "Stewards, bailiffs, and constables of the towns are to be sworn before the justices to certify offenders to the justices, and the justices shall enquire and punish them by fine and ransom to the King and also command them to prison, there to remain till they have found surety, to serve, and take, and do their work, and to sell things vendible as the Act directs, and if any of them come against his oath and be attainted, he is to be imprisoned for forty days, and on a succeeding conviction a quarter of a year, and so on doubling the penalty for each conviction. Those who will sue against servants, workmen, labourers, and artificers for excess of wages received shall have the excess refunded to them, and if none will sue, then it should be levied and delivered to the col- lectors of the Quinzime, in alleviation of the towns where such excesses were taken. * The stocks were a very ancient form of correction. They figure in pictures of Anglo-Saxon punishments. The latest instance of their use appears to have "been on the 5th of May, 1862, at Keighley in Yorkshire, when one Joseph Spence, alias " Boxer," was placed in the stocks, Church Green, for gambling, at the beginning of March, in a lane near Exleyhead. A crowd of persons witnessed his punishment, which seems to have been intended as a caution to the numerous persons who then congregated on bypaths and highways for gambling purposes. Three days previously another offender, named Isaac Pickering, was similarly punished for three hours for the same offence. The stocks at Bradford were last used on the 26th July 1860, when John Dodgson a labourer of Idle, was placed in them for six hours for drunkenness. J AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 49 " Sheriffs, constables, bailiffs, gaolers, nor other officers, shall exact anything of the same servants. The forfeitures of servants shall be employed to the aid of dismes and quinzimes granted to the King by the Commons. " The justices shall hold their sessions four times a year, and at all times needful. Servants which flee from one country to another shall be committed to prison." The exemption in favour of natives of Stafford, Lancaster, Derby, and Craven, and the Marches of Wales and Scotland, was of course to enable them to assist in getting in the harvest wherever labour was deficient for that purpose. The effect of this statute was, as might have been expected, the very opposite of that intended by its framers. Labourers took to flight from their native counties in order to evade its provisions, and many took refuge in corporate towns in order to obtain their enfranchisement. Strikes and com- binations became frequent amongst the artisan class. ' The en- forcement of the law was in fact an impossibility ; prices were necessarily enhanced by the dearth of labour, and the imprisonment of large numbers of labourers could only have the effect of increasing the scarcity of labourers. On the one hand, therefore, labourers could not live on the wages formerly paid, and on the other it was futile to attempt to imprison them. The only result of this legislation, consequently, was to embitter the relations between the upper and the lower classes, and to institute a common bond of union amongst the latter. In 1360-1, by the 34 Edw. III., c. 1, magistrates were ap- pointed for the purpose of exercising jurisdiction over offenders, rioters, and barrators* in the following terms. " In every county of England shall be assigned, for the keeping of the peace, one lord, and with him three or four of the most worthy in the county, with some learned in the law, and they shall have power to restrain the offenders, rioters, and all other barrators, and to pursue, arrest, take, and chastise them according to their trespass or offence ; and to cause them to be imprisoned and duly punished according to the law and customs of the realm, and according to that which to them shall seem best to do by their discretions and good advisement ; and also to inform them and to inquire of all those that have been pillors and robbers in the parts beyond the sea, and be now come again, and go wandering, and * Barrator, a promoter of quarrels, originally a cheat, a deceiver. 50 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, will not labour as they were wont in times past ; and to take and arrest all those that they may find by indictment, or by suspicion, and to put them in prison ; and to take of all them that be [not] of good fame, where they shall be found, sufficient surety and main- prise of their good behaviour towards the King and his people, and the other duly to punish ; to the intent that the people be not by such rioters or rebels troubled nor endamaged, nor the peace blemished, nor merchants nor others passing by the highways of the realm disturbed, nor put in fear by peril which might happen of such offenders. " With regard to this Act Dr. Stubbs says : — "After the passing of the Statute of Winchester, the office of conservator of the peace, whose work was to carry out the provisions of that enactment, was filled by election in the Shiremoot. The Act of the 1st Edward III., c. 16, which orders the appointment, in each county, of good men and loyal to guard the peace, connects itself more naturally with the Statute of Winchester, and through it with the milites assignati of Henry III. and Richard I., than with the chosen custodes of Edward I. These nominated conser- vators, two or three in number, were commissioned by the 18th Edward III., stat. 2, c. 2, to hear and determine felonies, and by 34 Edward III., c. 1, were regularly empowered to do so. The office thus became a permanent part of the county machinery in the hands of the Justices of the Peace. ,, In order to meet the continued petitions for the enforcement of the statutes against labourers on the part of the employers, a further statute was passed in this year (34 Edw. III., cc. 10, 11), imposing harsher penalties on the labourers who fled from their employers. " Of Labourers and Artificers that absent them out of their services in another Town, or another County, the Party shall have the Suit before the Justices, and that the Sheriff take him at the first Day, as is contained in the Statute, if he be found, and do of him Execution as afore is said; and if he return, that he is not found, he shall have an Exigend at the first Day, and the same pursue till he be outlawed, and after the Outlawry a writ of the same Justices shall be sent to every Sheriff of England, that the Party will sue, to take him, and to send him to the Sheriff of the County where he is outlawed ; and when he shall be there brought, he shall have there Imprisonment, till he will justify himself, and AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 51 have made gree to the Party ; and nevertheless for the Falsity he shall be burnt in the Forehead, with an Iron made and formed to this Letter F, in token of Falsity,* if the Party grieved the same will sue ; but this Pain of Burning shall be put in respite till Saint Michael next ensuing, and then not executed, unless it be by the Advice of the Justices ; and the Iron shall abide in the Custody of the Sheriff. And that the Sheriff and every Bailiff of Franchise be attending to the Plaintiff, to put this Ordinance in Execution, upon the Pain aforesaid ; And that no Labourer nor Artificer shall take no manner of Wages the festival Days." " If any Labourer, Servant, or Artificer, absent himself in any City or Borough, and the Party Plaintiff come to the Mayor and Bailiffs, and require Delivery of his Servant, they shall make him Delivery without Delay ; and if they refuse to do the same, the Party shall have his Suit against the Mayor and Bailiffs before the Justices of Labourers ; and if they be thereof attainted, they shall pay to the King Ten Pounds, and to the Party One hundred Shillings." In the year 1359 the authorities of the City of London issued the following proclamation against the country labourers who nocked into the city. " Forasmuch as many men and women, and others, of divers Counties, who might work, to the help of the common people, have betaken themselves from out of their own country to the City of London, and do go about begging there, so as to have their own ease and repose, not wishing to labour or work for their sustenance, to the great damage of such the common people ; and also, do waste divers alms, which would otherwise be given to many poor folks, such as lepers, blind, halt, and persons oppressed with old age and divers other maladies, to the destruction of the support of the same : We do therefore command on behalf of our Lord the King, whom may God preserve and bless, that all those who go about begging in the said city, and who are able to labour and work, for the profit of the common people, shall quit the said city between now and Monday next ensuing, and if any such shall be found begging after the day aforesaid, the same shall be taken and put in the stocks on Cornhulle,f for half a day the first time ; and the * En signe cle Fauxine. t These stocks originally stood on the site of the present Mansion House. They were removed in 1282 to make way for a fish and flesh market, which took the name of Stocks Market. E 2 52 YAGKANTS AND YAGBANCY, second time he shall be taken, he shall remain in the stocks one whole day ; and the third time, he shall be taken, and shall remain in prison for 40 days, and then forswear the said city for ever. And every constable, and the bedel of every ward of the said city, shall be empowered to arrest such manner of folks, and to put them in the stocks in manner aforesaid."* This was succeeded in the year 1375 by an ordinance against common beggars. " That no one who by handicraft, or by the labour of his body, can gain his living, shall counterfeit the begging poor, or shall set any one to beg for his living in the said city ; on pain of imprison- ment, and of being punished according to the ordinance of the Mayor and Aldermen thereon ; and that no lazar shall go about in the said city, on the same pain : and that every constable and bedel shall have power to take such persons, and bring them to Cornhulle, and put them in the stocks, there to remain according to the ordinance made thereupon. "f In the year 1363 the King introduced into this country the practice of feeding, clothing, and distributing money to indigent persons on Maundy Thursday ; and this practice has since been followed by successive sovereigns, many of whom also, in order to show their humility, washed the feet of those selected as the proper objects of their beneficence. In the last year of this reign (1376) we find the Commons petitioning the King " that Ribalds:}: and Sturdy Beggars may be banished out of every town," to which the King made answer : " Touching Ribalds, the Statute of Winchester § and the Declara- tion of the same, with other Statutes, of Roberdsmen shall be executed : and for such as make themselves Gentlemen and Men of Arms, or archers, if they cannot so prove themselves, let them be driven to their occupation or service, or to the Place, from whence they came." The Commons further " made great complaints in this year, that masters were obliged to give their servants and labourers great wages, to prevent their running away ; and that the encouragement which they received in these evil practices often induced them, * Proclamation made against Yagrants within the City. 33 Edw. III. (a.d. 1359). t Ordinance as to Poulterers ; the Thames, and the Fosses ; and Common Beggars. 49 Edw. III. (a.d. 1375). X One of the rabble, a scoundrel, a rascal, ruffian. § 13 Edw. L, c. 4. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 53 upon the slightest cause of disgust, to quit their masters : that they wandered thus from country to country ; and that many of the runaways turned beggars, and led idle lives in cities and boroughs ; although they had sufficient bodily strength to gain a livelihood, if they pleased to work. Many became st of- strikers, (cudgel-players, or quarter-staffmen), and wandered in parties of two, three, and four from village to village ; but that the greater number turned out sturdy rogues, and TnTested the kingdom with frequent robberies. To remedy those evils, the Commons proposed that no relief should be given to those who were able to work, within boroughs or in the country ; that vagrant beggars and staf -strikers should be imprisoned till they consented to return home to work ; and that whosoever harboured any runaway servant in his service should be liable to a penalty of £10. It does not appear from the rolls that the King assented to this Bill, but it shows us the early opinions of Parliament on the subject of mendicity. "* Some idea of the height to which the audacity of robbers attained in the later years of this reign may be formed from the fact that in the year 1363 " the King of Cyprus whilst travelling through England was greatly robbed. For this reason King Edward conceded to the London citizens more extensive powers of trial of evildoers and of acquittal of prisoners within the city, the King's justiciaries not being, as they used to be, called in regard to these matters."t There were many causes for these excesses of vagabondism. The freebooting lives which the soldiery led while fighting in France during the numerous wars must have tended materially to unfit them for resuming peaceful pursuits when they returned home. Labour, too, being scarce, owing to the devastation caused by plagues, and the drain upon the popu- lation caused by the foreign wars, many labourers naturally took advantage of the condition of things to roam where they pleased and work when they pleased. The King himself, too, set a bad example. He had impoverished his exchequer by his wars and other expenses, and as a result paid no one, and lived at the ex- pense of his subjects during his progresses through the kingdom. Archbishop Islip writes to him, " When men hear of your coming, everybody at once for sheer fear sets about hiding, or eating, or getting rid of their geese and chickens or other possessions, that * Eden. t Walsingham. 54 VAGKANTS AND VAGEANCY, they may not utterly lose them through your arrival." The King left the administration of the kingdom very much in the hands of an unpopular ministry, and after the death of Queen Philippa in 1369 was completely dominated by his mistress, the natural result being popular discontent and disorder. Robert Lan gland, who wrote the " Vision of Peers Ploughman " in or about the year 1362, gives some graphic pictures of the peasant and the beggar at this period. " Confusion to the poor man though he plead for ever. The law is so lordly and dilatory, that without bribes few can gain their ends. Faithful burghers and bondmen she often bringeth to ruin, and reduceth all the commons to care and covetousness." The condition of the peasant is thus described. " No man knows, I think, who is worthy to receive : but if we take good heed, the most needy is our neighbour, as prisoners in dungeons, and poor people in cabins, burdened with children, and chief rent to be paid to their lords. What they may save by spinning, they (spenen) spend in house-rent, in milk and in meal to make their cakes, to satisfy their children who cry for food. Themselves also suffer greatly from hunger, and much dis- tress in winter from watching at night, that they may rise to the reel, to rock the cradle, to card, and to comb wool, to mend and wash clothes, to rub and reel yarn, to peel rushes for lights, so that it is pity to read or declare in rhyme the misery that these women who live in poor cottages, and many men besides, endure, both galled in their fingers with frost, and forced to turn the best side outward. Such are ashamed to beg, and would not have it known at their neighbours' houses, what their wants are at noon and evening. But I certainly know, as experience in the world teaches me, what are the wants of others, who have many children and no cattle, and nothing but their own craft to feed and cloath them, with many to depend upon it, and small wages to receive, for, there is bread and penny ale taken as a treat, and cold meat and cold fish, instead of baked venison. For such a family on Fridays and fast-days, a farthing's worth of mussels and as many cockles were a feast. True alms it were to help those who have such charges, and to comfort such cottagers, together with the blind and decrepit." The peasant is recommended to give to the needy wayfarer in preference to the beggar. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 00 " And Peers, if thou be of ability, whoever cries for food at thy gate, divide with him thy bread, thy pottage, and drink, for the love of God. Lend him some of thy loaf, though thou eat the less : and though liars, and drawlatches, and idle loiterers knock, let them wait till the table is cleared, but carry them not a crumb, until all thy poor neighbours have made their (mone) complaint to thee." Beo"fars are described as " having no other church than the DO CJ brewhouse unless they be blind, or ruptured, or sick, begging about the country at other men's buttery hatches or loitering on Fridays and festivals in churches, which is the loller's way of life, filling their bags and stomachs by lies, sitting at night over a hot fire, where they untie their legs, which have been bound up in the daytime, and lying at ease, roasting themselves over the coals, and turning their back to the heat, drinking gallant!} 7 and deep, after which they then draw to bed, and rise when they are in the humour. Then they roam abroad and keep a sharp look- out where they may soonest get a breakfast, or a rasher of bacon, money, or victuals,. and sometimes both, a loaf, or half a loaf, or a thick piece of cheese, which they carry to their own cabin, and contrive to live in idleness and ease, by the labours of other men. They observe no law, nor marry any woman with whom they have been connected. They beget bastards, who are beggars by nature, and either break the back, or some other bone of their little ones, and go begging with them on false pretences ever after. There are more mis-shapen children among such beggars than among an} r other men that walk on this earth." The begging hermits were it appears no better. " But as to hermits who take up their abode by the highway sides, and in boroughs, among brewers, and beg in churches, whatever holy hermits hate and despise, as wealth, respect of men, and the alms of the rich, these vagabonds and drawlatches, ignorant hermits as they are, covet on the contrary. For they, such loiterers over their ale, are but boys in reading and languages, neither are they holy of life as the old hermits, who formerly dwelt with wild beasts in the woods.' ' It seems, too, that they expected a reward for their prayers. The pitiful feelings of Peers appear, however, to have been evoked, not without reason, for two classes of beggars — lunatics and pauper residents. 56 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, " Yet there are other beggars, who seem to be in health, both men and women, yet want their understanding. Such are lunatic vagrants, and wanderers about, who are more or less mad according to the phases of the moon. These care for no cold, nor reckon aught of heat, and move after the moon, wandering with- out money, over many wide countries, without understanding, but with no evil intent/ 5 " There is great joy in May among the beasts of the field, and so long as summer lasteth their comfort endureth ; and thus there is great merriment among the rich, who have health and plenty, whereas beggars, at Midsummer (when corn begins to grow scarce), sup without bread ; yet is winter far worse for them, for they go wet-shod, frost-bitten, and with blains on their fingers, besides being foully rebuked of the rich, so that it is pitiful to hear. 0 Lord ! send a summer of comfort and joy at length to them who have spent all their lives here in want and misery." Peers is also of opinion that " if Holy Church would also lend its aid, there would be no beggars/ 5 that is, no doubt, in inculcat- ing the practice of carefully discriminated charity in* lieu of indiscriminate charity, which many regarded as an atonement for sin. By the commencement of the reign of Richard II. the antago- nism between employers and employed had become very much embittered, as may be gathered from the 1 Rich. II., c= 6 (1377). It recites " that the villeins had assembled riotously in consider- able bodies, and had, by the advice of certain evil counsellors and abettors, endeavoured to withdraw their services from their lord, not only those which they owed to him by tenure of their lands, but likewise the services of their body. That they chiefly attempted to evade these services under colour of certain exempli- fications from Domesday Book, with relation to the manors or villages in which they lived, and that, by false interpretation of these transcripts, they claimed to be entirely free." The statute therefore enacts "that commissions shall issue under the great seal, upon application of any lord {seigneur) to inquire into the offences of these refractory villeins ; and that they shall be immediately committed to prison without bail or mainprise, if their lords shall so insist.' 5 With regard to the exemplifications from Domesday, it is likewise declared " that the offering them in evidence shall not be of any advantage to him who shall so produce them. 55 AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. Nothing could be more severe than this law, either in its pro- visions or in its subsequent execution. The young King had been advised by one part of his council to increase the power of the lower people and to lessen that of the barons, and the King endeavoured to do so by proclamation, but John of Gfaunt put himself at the head of the barons, and soon compelled the withdrawal of the proclamation. This merely added fuel to the popular flame. Coupled with the repressive measures adopted to stop the growing freedom of the labourer and to force him back into that serfdom from which he was escaping, as well as to deprive him of the better wages which were legitimately his right, his exasperation reached a point which rendered him ripe to join in a popular outbreak, and that out- break naturally came on the first opportunity. In the year 1380 a poll-tax was granted to be levied on all persons of adult age except beggars for the purpose of supporting a senseless war in France, and the labourers were thus directly called upon to pay for an expenditure which they had no voice in limiting. To make the matter worse, the necessities of the King forced him to antici- pate the proceeds of the tax and to place the collection in the hands of farmers, who naturally exacted it with the greatest rigour. As is well known, a brutal insult offered by one of the collectors to the daughter of a Tiler at Dartford served to give the signal for revolt. The insurrection spread with inconceivable rapidity throughout the kingdom, and its popularity has been attested by the contemporary Latin verses of Gower, which have been thus rendered by Fuller : — " Tom comes, thereat, when call'd by Wat, and Simm as forward we finde, Bet calls as quick to Gibb and to Hykk, that neither would tarry behinde. Gibb, a good whelp of that litter, doth help mad Coll more mischief to do, And Will he doth vow, the time is come now, he'l joyn with their company too. Davie complains, whiles Grigg gets the gaines, and Hobb with them doth partake, Lorkin aloud, in the midst of the croud, conceiveth as deep is his stake. Hudde doth spoil, whom Judde doth foile, and Tebb lends his helping hand, But Jack, the mad patch, men and houses doth snatch, and kills all at his command." The rebels demanded : — 1st. The total abolition of slavery for themselves and their chil- dren for ever. 2nd. The reduction of the rent of good land to 4d. per acre. 53 VAGKANTS AND VAGEANCY, 3rd. The full liberty of buying and selling like other men, in all markets and fairs. 4th. A general pardon for all past offences. The second of these demands shows that the villeins aspired to become leaseholders. Overawed by the imposing array of the rebels, the King consented to all their demands, and granted them charters of emancipation. But immediately on the dispersion of the peasants after the death of their leader, Wat Tiler, the King and the nobles attacked them at the head of armed bands, and spread death and destruction amongst them, both by the sword and by the pitiless execution of large numbers of them. But although the villeins had failed in their immediate object, they had demonstrated their power in combination, and the landlords, recognising that this power must increase as time rolled on, gradually let their lands on lease, and accepted money pay- ments as a substitute for labour. Moreover, by this means they obtained an income which enabled them to provide for their ex- penses in attending the Court and for other purposes of luxury or recreation. The labourer may therefore now be considered to be passing from the condition of swelling the outcast rank of vagrancy to the settled rank of resident independence. Vagabondism was not, however, in any way repressed, as in the year 1383 it was found necessary to pass the following Act (7 Bich. II., c. 5) for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of the 13th Edward I. and the 5th Edward III., cap. 14, and also for supplementing them by conferring unlimited power on the judges for dealing with offenders. " It is ordained and asserted, That the Statutes made in the Time of King Edward, Grandfather to our Sovereign Lord the King that now is, of Boberdsmen and Drawlatches be firmly holden and kept ; moreover it is ordained and asserted, to refrain the malice of divers Beople, Feitors,* and wandering from Place to Place, running in the Country more abundantly than they were wont in times past, that from henceforth the Justices of Assises in their Sessions, the Justices of Peace, and the Sheriffs in every County shall have power to enquire of all such Vagabonds and Feitors, and of their offences, and upon them to do that the law demand eth ; and that as well the Justices and Sheriffs, as the Mayors, Bailiffs, Constables, and other Governors of * A Norman French word, signifying slothful people ; from the French fait tard. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 59 Towns and places where such Feitors and Vagabonds shall come, shall from henceforth have power to examine them diligently, and to compel them to find surety of their good bearing, by sufficient mainpernors, of such as be distrainable, if any default be found in such Feitors and Vagabonds ; and if they cannot find such surety, they shall be sent to the next gaol, there to abide till the coming of the Justices assigned for the Deliverance of the Gaols, who in such case shall have power to do upon such Feitors and Vagabonds so imprisoned that which to them best shall seem by the law." This law, however, speedily proved as inefficacious for the pur- poses for which it was intended as those that preceded it. We now come to a law which is generally regarded as the com- mencement of our English poor law, the 12 Rich. II. (1388). It enacts, " That all the Statutes of Artificers, Labourers, Servants, and Victuallers, made as well in the time of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is, as in the Time of his noble Grandfather,* whom God assoil, not repealed, shall be firmly holden and kept." It then ordains, " That Servants going from their service are to carry Letters testimonial from the duly appointed authority of their district. If found wandering without such letters they are ordered to be put in the stocks and kept till they find surety to return to the service or place from whence they came. The penalty for forging such letters is forty days' imprisonment, and any one receiving a servant without them is liable to a penalty to be limited by the Justices of the Peace." Complaint is then made that " servants and labourers will not serve and labour without outrageous and excessive hire." A rate of wages of servants in husbandry is then decreed, and givers and takers of more than is specified are each to pay a penalty amount- ing to the value of the excess for a first offence, and double and treble for a second and third offence. Those who " laboured at the plough and cart, or other labour of husbandry," up to the age of twelve years, were not to be put to any mystery or handicraft, and any covenant or bond of apprentice to the contrary was declared to be null. This shows that the agricultural labourers were being drawn to the towns, not only by the attractions of superior wages and better style of living, but also by the freedom they acquired by a residence there of a year and a day. The Act then goes on to recite : " That of every person that goeth begging, and is able * The 23 and 25 Edw. III. 60 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, to serve or labour, it shall be done of him as of him that departeth out of the Hundred and other Places aforesaid without Letter Tes- timonial, as afore is said, except People of Religion and Hermits having Letters testimonial of their Ordinaries. And that the Beggars impotent to serve shall abide in the Cities and Towns where they be dwelling at the Time of the Proclamation of this Statute ; and if the People of Cities or other Towns will not or may not suffice to find them, that then the said beggars shall draw them to other Towns within the Hundreds, Rape or Wapentake, or to the towns where they were born, within Forty Days after the Proclamation made, and there shall continually abide during their lives. And that of all them that go in Pilgrimage as Beggars, and be able to travail, it shall be done as of the said Servants and Labourers, if they have no Letters testimonial of their Pilgrimage under the said seals. And that the Scholars of the Universities that go so begging, have Letters testimonial of their Chancellor upon the same pain." " They that feign themselves men travelled out of the realm, and there to be imprisoned, shall bring Letters testimonial of the Captains where they were abiding, or of the Mayors or Bailiffs where they arrived, under the same penalties." " Sheriffs, mayors, bailiffs, and keepers of gaols are ordered to put these enactments in execution under a penalty of 100s." Here for the first time we have a distinction made between the beggars able to labour and beggars impotent to serve, and it is this distinction which has caused many to regard this Act as the beginning of our poor laws. "No express statutory provision is, however, made for the beggars impotent to serve who are now forbidden to wander over the country, but it is evidently hoped that they will be provided for either by the inhabitants of the towns or by the Church. Poor scholars proceeding to the universities unprovided with the means of subsistence on the way must have been common at this period, as in the Nigelli Speculum Stultorum, an Anglo-Latin satirical poem of the twelfth century, we are told that Burnellus, who is supposed to be proceeding to study in the celebrated schools in Paris — " Hastens with quick body, mind, and foot to his native land, But because he was poor and his purse low, He often stops his journey to beg." AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. ci Regarding the University of Oxford, Mr. Anstey says : — " As to journeys and vacation expenses, the two being closely con- nected, we would observe that no scholar left Oxford at all, or in rare cases, between October 9th and July 7th at the least ; a very large number did not leave the university at all even during the long vacation. Those who did leave probably often walked home, and even begged their way about the country, being, as we find from other sources, quite a nuisance sometimes to the farmer and others at whose doors they sought alms." Mr. Muffin ger thus describes the condition of poor scholars at Cambridge in early times : — "No scholar was to be rudely repulsed on the score of poverty ; if unable to pay for both lodging and tuition he often rendered an equivalent in the shape of very humble services ; he waited at table, went on errands, and, if we may trust the authority of the Pseudo-Boethius, was often rewarded by his master's left- off garments. The aids held out by the university were then but few. There were some nine or ten poorly endowed foundations, one or two university exhibitions, and finally the university chest, from which, as a last resource, the hard-pinched student •might borrow if he had aught to pledge. The hostel where he resided protected him from positive extortion, but he was still under the necessity of making certain payments towards the expenses. The wealthier class appear to have been under no pecuniary obligations whatever. When therefore a scholar's funds entirely failed him, and his Sentences or his Summnlce, his Venetian cutlery, and his winter cloak had all found their way into the proctor's hands as security for moneys advanced, he was compelled to have recourse to other means. His academic life was far from beinsr considered to preclude the idea of manual labour. It has been conjectured, by a high authority, that the long vacation was origi- nally designed to allow of members of the universities assisting in the then all- important operation of the ingathering of the harvest. But however this may have been, there was a far more popular method of replenishing an empty purse, a method which the example of the Mendicants had rendered all but universal, and this was no other than begging on the public highways. Among the vices of that rude age parsimony was rarely one, the exercise of charity being in fact regarded as a religious duty. Universal begging implies universal giving. And so it not unfrequently 62 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, happened that the wealthy merchant, journeying between Lon- don and Norwich, or the well-beneficed ecclesiastic or prior of a great house on his way to some monastery in the fen country, would be accosted by some solitary youth with a more intelligent countenance and more educated accent than ordinary, and be plaintively solicited either in English or in Latin, as might best suit the case, for the love of our Lady to assist a distressed votary of learning. In the course of time this easy method of replenishing an empty purse was found to have become far too popular among university students, and it was considered neces- sary to enact that no scholar should beg in the highways until the Chancellor had satisfied himself of the merits of each indi- vidual case and granted a certificate for the purpose." Scotch scholars were, according to Dr. Lindsay, also to be found amongst the mendicant class. "The University of Oxford itself was accustomed to issue official letters to poor students, allowing them to beg from the townspeople — literas testi?noniales sub sigillo officii ad petendam eleemosynam. It was almost the only bursary they had to give them, and answered the purpose very well. Begging was a recognised way by which ' clerks ' got their living in these days. They repaid their benefactors in prayers. Chaucer's poor clerk ' Busily 5 gan for the souls pray Of them that gave him wherewith to scolay.' " Besides the young noble and the young Churchman, there must have been many a poor scholar who hurried over the border to swell the ragged hungry crowd, which was one of the most peculiar accompaniments of mediaeval university life. How the " poor clerks " could travel as they did from university to university, and how they could live while studying, no one can well tell. Perhaps the Oxford Chancellor's book, with its records of poaching and plundering, highway robbery, and masterful begging, may help to explain the mystery of their lives. Among the crowd there must have been many a Scotchman. They might cross the border as servants to some of those companies of Scottish mer- chants who were always getting license to trade in England* They might beg or thieve their way alone. They might go in bands, living very much as gipsies do now. At all events, they were to be found in Oxford in the fourteenth century ready to AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 63 claim their share of the poor's pence on St. Scholastica's Day, and of any other money which the charitable had left for the poor clerks." The uselessness of trying to fix the rate of wages by Act of Parliament was recognised in the next year (1389-90) by the 13 Rich. II., c. 8, which enacted that justices shall, at cartain times, make proclamation according to the dearth of victuals how much labourers and handicraftsmen are to take by the day. In 1392 a more specific provision was made for the impotent poor, as by the 15 Rich. II., c. 6, it was ordained that in every licence of the appropriation of any parish church, "the diocesan shall ordain a convenient sum of money to be distributed yearly of the fruits and profits of the same to the poor parishioners in aid of their living and sustenance for ever." Froissart says of this reign, " The state generally of all men in England began to murmur and to rise one against another, and ministering of justice was clear stopped up in all courts of England, whereof the valiant men and prelates, who loved rest and peace, and were glad to pay their duties, were greatly abashed ; for there rose in the realm companies in divers routs, keeping the fields and highways, so that merchants durst not ride abroad to exercise their merchandise for doubt of robbing ; and no man knew to whom to complain to do them right, reason, and justice, which things were right prejudicial and displeasant to the good people of England, for it was contrary to their accustomable usage." Richard at length wore out the patience of his subjects by his forced loans, oppressive exactions, and other forms of misgovern - ment, and he was accordingly deposed in favour of his cousin Henry, Duke of Lancaster, who came to the throne as Henry IV. in September, 1399. The first acts of this reign were- directed against the turbulence of the Welsh. In March, 1401, an ordinance was published which forbid any collection or " Comortha " to be made in North Wales without the permission of the authorities. It also set forth f that the Minstrels, Bards, Rhymers, and Westours, and other Welsh vagabonds in North Wales, should not henceforth be allowed to overburden the country as hitherto, but that they should be strictly forbidden under penalty of a year's imprisonment." This was further emphasised in the following 64 VAGBANTS AND VAGRANCY, year by the passing of the 4 Hen. IV., c. 27 (1402), which enacted that — " To eschew many Diseases and mischiefs, which have happened before this time in the Land of Wales, by many Wasters,* Rhymers, Minstrels and other Vagabonds : It is ordained and stablished, that no Westour,* Rhymer, Minstrel, nor Vagabond, be in any wise sustained in the land of Wales, to make Commorthies or gathering upon the common people there. " Other Acts were also passed to repress the forays of the Welsh, and by the 7 Henry IV., c. 17, the 25 Edward III. and the 12 Richard II. are confirmed, and on account of the scarcity of labourers the apprenticing of their children is forbidden under penalties unless the parents have land or rent of the value of twenty shillings a year. It further directs that " once in the year all the labourers and artificers dwelling in the same leet, shall be sworn to serve and take for their service after the form of the said statutes ; and if they refuse that to do, they shall be put in the stocks in the town where they be taken, for three days, without bail or mainprise, till they will make gree, and from thence they shall be sent to gaol." Up to this time the Welsh appear to have been the only trouble- some vagabonds not of English birth against whom it was found necessary to legislate, but in the commencement of the reign of Henry Y. those of Irish birth seem to have been suf- ficiently numerous in England to require special repression, as the 1 Henry Y., c. 8 (1413), is directed against Irishmen and Irish clerks mendicant, and orders them to depart the realm. " For the Quietness and Peace within the Realm of England, and for the increase and enstoring of the Land of Ireland, It is ordained and stablished in this present Parliament, That all Irish- men and begging Irish Clerks, called Chamberdeaconsf, be voided out of the Realm, betwixt the Feast of St. Michael next coming, and the Feasts of All Saints next following, upon Pain to lose their Goods, and to be imprisoned at the King's Pleasure ; except such as be Graduates in the Schools, and Serjeants and Apprentices of the Law, and such which be Inheritors in England, and religious Persons professed ; and except also the Merchants born in Ireland * In the Norman French they are styled W estours, which the English version renders " Wasters." Kelham gives the meaning- of " Westours " as " Wassailers." The true derivation is Gwestwr, see p. 35. t Toutz Irrdis & Clercs Irrois mendinauntz appellez Chaumberdeakyns. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. Co of good name, and their Apprentices now dwelling in England, and them with whom the King will dispense. And that all the Irishmen which have Benefices or offices in the Land of Ireland, shall dwell upon their offices or Benefices for the defence of the Land of Ireland aforesaid." The disturbed state of Ireland and Wales, the superior wealth of England and the comforts to be obtained in it, were without doubt the causes which brought Irishmen and Welshmen into the country. By the 2 Henry V., c. 4 (1414), the Statute of 12 Richard II. and all other good Statutes of labourers made and not repealed were ordered to be firmly holden and kept and put in due execu- tion, and large and irresponsible powers were conferred on the justices for purposes of examination and punishment. It appears too by this Act that certain hospitals which had been founded for the reception of impotent men and women, lazars, men out of their wits, and poor women with child, and to nourish, refresh, and relieve other poor people in the same, were for the most part decayed owing to the malversation of their endowments. Inquiry was therefore ordered into these misuses. In the Liber Albus or White Book of the City of London about this period we find " Judgment of Pillory upon one who feigned himself a beggar (i.e. a proctor or collector of alms by proxy) for the Hospital of Bethlehem." Henry VI. was only nine months old when he succeeded his father in 1422, and the kingdom during his minority was governed by a Council. One of the first enactments of this reign (1 Hen. VI., c. 3) was an Act against Irishmen in consequence of complaints of the Commons. It runs thus — "Forasmuch as divers Manslaughters, Murders, Rapes, Rob- beries, and other Felonies, Riots, Conventicles, and divers other offences now late have been done in divers Counties of England, by People born in Ireland, repairing to the town of Oxenford, and there dwelling under the Jurisdiction of the University of Oxenford, to the great fear of all manner of People dwelling thereabout, as by all the Commons of the same Realm assembled in Parliament it was grievously complained ; the King by the Assent aforesaid, and at the Request of the same Commons hath ordained That all people born in Ireland shall depart out of the Realm within a month after Proclamation made of this ordinance, upon pain to lose their F 66 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, goods, and to be imprisoned at the King's will, excepting Graduates, Beneficed Clergy, &c, who shall find surety." The 6 Henry VI., cap. 3 (1427), recites the statutes 12 and 13 Richard II., and then declares that these statutes are not observed — " that is to say, the first statute, because that the punishment in the same is too hard upon the masters of such servants, forasmuch as they shall be destitute of servants if they should not pass (i.e. disregard) the ordinance of the statute ; and the second statute, because that no pain is limited against him that doeth contrary thereto. It is therefore ordained that justices of the peace and the mayors and bailiffs of cities and towns shall, once in the year in full session, make proclamation how much every servant of husbandry shall take for his service by the year then next following ; and further, that they shall make like proclamation at Easter and Michaelmas how much every artificer and workman shall take by the day, and by the week. Every servant, artificer, or workman •acting contrary to the proclamation is to forfeit every time the value of his wages, and in default to go to prison for forty days, and is also liable to yield to the party grieved his double damages." So that the employer might first make a contract, and having obtained its fulfilment might sue for damages under it. In the year 1444 a new scale of wages was established by the 23 Henry VI., c. 12, and servants in husbandry are required to give their masters warning, and to engage with some other master before quitting their present service, otherwise they are to con- tinue to serve their first master for the next year. The wages prescribed for agricultural labourers in this Act are more than double those allowed by the Act of 1388. In the year 1442 bitter complaints were made by the Commons of the counties of Hereford, Gloucester, and Salop, of " the great oppressions and extortions which the people of "Wales and the Marches committed daily on the inhabitants of the said counties, by taking and carrying away their horses, cattle, and other goods and chattels into the Marches,'' and there retaining them till the persons to whom they belonged ransomed them or compounded for them, and as a consequence in the year 1446-7 all statutes against Welshmen were confirmed by the 25 Henry VI. In the year 1450 occurred a rebellion similar in many respects to that of the year 1381. An Irishman named John Cade, taking advantage of the discontent of the lower orders, and assuming the AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 67 name of Mortimer in order to give himself importance, proclaimed that he would procure a remission of taxation and greater liberties for the people. He assembled a large army of the people in Kent, and for nearly six weeks was able to overawe the forces of the Crown. Insurrections also took place in other parts of the coun- try, and thus again demonstrated the power of the lower orders, and the necessity for conciliating them by timely concessions. In 1461 the turbulent reign of Henry VI. came to an end. Of that of his successor, Edward IV., there is little to be said beyond that the disturbed state of the country favoured vagabondism and robbery. After the peace of Picquigny in 1475, the English soldiers on their return from France plundered their own country- men to compensate themselves for the loss of booty which they were led to expect they would obtain in France. The short reign of Richard III. was also a disturbed one, and did not produce any legislation bearing on vagraDcy. In the next reign the first Act against vagabondism is the, 11 Henry VII., c. 2 (1495), which commences by reciting, " For asmoche as the Kyngis grace moost entierly desireth amonges all erthly thingis the prosperite and restfulnes of this his land and his subgettis of the same to leve quietly and surefully to the plesure of God and according to his lawes, willing and alweiss of his pitie intending to reduce theym therunto by softer meanes then by such extreme rigour therfor purveied in a Statute made in the tyme of King Richard the second, considering also the great charges that shuld growe to his subgettis for bringing of vagabondes to the Gaoles according to the same Statute and the long abiding of theym therin, wherby by likelehede many of theym shuld lose their lives/ ' It then proceeds to enact that the authorities shall make due search and take all idle vagabonds and suspected persons living suspiciously and set them in the stocks for three days and three nights without other sustenance than bread and water, and then to be commanded to avoid the town, and if they are taken again in the same town they are to be set in the stocks for six days, with the same diet, any person giving them meat or drink while in the stocks or favouring them in their mis- doing is to forfeit twelvepence for each offence. All^beggars not able to work are to go to their several places of abode or birth, or to be punished as aforesaid. Clerks of the universities, soldiers, shipmen, or travelling men, are not to be f 2 68 VAGRANTS AND YAGKANCY, exempt from punishment unless they carry proper certificates. Officers not executing the Act are liable to a fine of twenty pence for each omission. Diminution of punishment is to be made in the case of women great with child, and men and women in extreme sickness. This statute appears to reflect the character of the King, who always professed to love and seek peace. It differs from the 7 Eichard II. in substituting the penalty of the stocks for com- mittal to gaol, and also in imposing a penalty of twenty pence on any officer who neglects to carry out its provisions, and a penalty of twelvepence on the misguided almsgivers who aided and abetted the captured vagrant. The lawlessness and turbulence which prevailed during the wars of the Roses must have swelled the ranks of vagrancy to a very great extent, and the gaols would therefore have been inade- quate for the reception of captured vagrants. Moreover, their • conveyance to gaol must have been troublesome and expensive ; the rough-and-ready punishment of the stocks was consequently more convenient and more likely to be put in practice. An Act for regulating the rate of servants' wages (11 Hen. VII., c. 22) was also passed in this year, but was repealed in the fol- lowing year, possibly on account of wheat having risen to a famine price. The next Act against vagabonds and beggars is the 19 Hen. VII. , c. 12 (1503-4), which commences with a similar recital to the 11 Hen. VII., c. 2, and then proceeds to enact that vagabonds are only to be set in the stocks for one day and one night, with no other sustenance than bread and water, and they are then to go to the place of their birth or where they last lived for three years. If they are again taken in the same town they are to be put in the stocks for three days and three nights with a like diet. Any person giving them meat or drink while in the stocks, or favouring them in their misdoing, or receiving or harbouring them over one night, is to forfeit twelvepence for each offence. Beggars not able to work are to go to the place of their birth or where they last resided for three years, upon pain of being punished as aforesaid ; and any harbouring them for more than one night is liable to the same penalties. Clerks of the univer- sities, soldiers, shipmen, and travelling men are not to be exempt unless they carry proper certificates. The penalties on officers AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 69 neglecting to execute the Act are raised to 3s. 4d. for each offence. Diminution of punishment is to be made in the case of women great with child, men and women in great sickness, and persons being impotent and above seventy years of age. Justices are empowered to make privy searches for offenders four times a year. The punishments under this Act are, it will be perceived, very much milder than those of the preceding Act, the reason being, no doubt, that its provisions were found too severe to be popular, and therefore the penalties under it were either per- functorily enforced or not enforced at all. Almsgiving, even of an indiscriminate character, it must be remembered was encouraged by the precepts of the Church, and it must therefore have been difficult at first to convince people that what they had been taught to believe was a religious duty was as regards the law a criminal offence. For a first offence the penalty is reduced to one day and one night in the stocks, instead of three, and for a second offence three instead of six. Impotent beggars are now directed to go to the place of their birth or where they last resided for three years. A penalty of 12d. is imposed on any one succouring them while in the stocks, and, in addition, any one harbouring them more than one night is liable to a similar penalty. So far as length of sojourn goes, this prohibition resembles that in the Assize of Clarendon. The provisions for the diminution of punishment are decidedly humane, and particularly so for such an age. Justice was well administered during this reign, and vagabondage must have been reduced, both from this cause and from the cur- tailment of the power of the nobles which Henry systematically carried out. Notwithstanding his love of money, he built and en- dowed several religious foundations, and was a great almsgiver. CHAPTEK IV. 1509—1558. Accession of Henry VIIL — Mnmmers and disguised persons to be treated as vagabonds— Begging in 1519 — The court infested with beggars — The supplication for beggars — Laws against the gypsies and yagabonds anct beggars — Professors of physiognomy, palmistry, and other " crafty sciences " — Forms of license for begging — Proclamations against beggars — Excessive pasture a cause of poverty — Law against Welsh commorthas — Further legislation against vagabonds and beggars — "Whipping of vagrants — " The hye way to the spyttel house " — The effects of the suppression of monasteries — Strolling players and ballad singers — Social condition of the Scottish border — Manumission of bondmen — Condition of vagabond- age at the commencement of the reign of Edward VI. — Legislation under Edward VL — Sir John Cheke on vagabondage — Proclamation against players — Further legislation — The relief of the poor — Law against tinkers and pedlars — Proclamation against vagabonds and players. — Regulation of the Borders — The reign of Mary — Legislation against gypsies — Proclamation against vagabonds — Laws for the relief of the poor. We now come to the reign of Henry VIIL, a period memorable for its social and political changes. The first Act of this reign dealing with vagabonds is the 3 Hen. VIIL, c. 9 (1511-12), which is ostensibly directed against mummers or performers in dumb show, whose performances had been popular for a period of nearly three centuries. It is styled * k An Act against disguised persons and wearing of visours," and recites that " lately within this realm divers persons have disguised and apparelled them, and covered their faces with visours and other things in such manner that they should not be known, and divers of them in a company together naming themselves mum- mers have come to the dwelling place of divers men of honour and other substantial persons ; and so departed unknown ; where- upon murders, felony, rape, and other great hurts and inconve- niences have aforetime grown and hereafter be like to come by the colour thereof, if the said disorder should continue not reformed. " It then enacts that " the seid mommers or disgysed persones and VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. 71 every of theym shalbe arreasted by eny of the Kings liege people as Suspectes or Vacabundes and be committed to the Kings gaole, Ther to be imprisoned by the space of thre months wythowte bayle or maymprys, and then to make fyne to the Kyng by the discrescion of the Justices by whome they shalbe delyvered owte of prisone." In the year 1514-15 a renewed attempt was made by the 6 Hen. VIII., c. 3, to regulate the wages of artificers and labourers, which appears to show that the labouring classes were again strug- gling for an increase, which the masters on the other hand were determined to prevent. The Act, as might be expected, was futile for the purposes for which it was intended, and in the following year it was repealed so far as it affected masons, carpenters, and other artificers in the City of London, probably in consequence of the immense amount of building which was then going on. Owing to the impetus given to commerce in the reign of Henry VII. and its continuance in the present reign, the wealth of the nation had greatly increased, and was followed by a luxu- rious style of living, of which the King himself set an example. Careless profusion is a certain progenitor of idleness, and idleness of begging, so that we can easily perceive one great cause of the increase of vagrancy at an early period of this reign. Harman gives us the following picture of the condition of beg- ging in the year 1521. " I thought it meete to confer with a very old man that I was well acquaynted with, whose wyt and memory is mervelous for his yeares, beinge about the age of fourescore, what he knewe when he was yonge of these lousey leuterars.* And he shewed me, that when he was yonge he wayted upon a man of much wor- shyp in Kent, who died immediatly after the last Duke, of Buck- ingham was beheaded :f at his bury all there was such a number of beggers, besides poore housholders dwelling there abouts, that unneth } they mighte lye or stande aboute the House : then was there prepared for them a great and large barne, and a great fat ox sod § out in Furmenty for them, with bread and drinke aboun- dantly to furnesh out the premisses ; and every person had two pence, for such was the dole. When night approched, the pore hous- holders repaired home to their houses : the other wayfaring bold beggers remained alnight in the barne ; and the same barne being serched with light in the night by this old man (and then yonge), * Idle vagabonds. t May 17, 1521. % Scarcely (A.S.) § Boiled. 72 VAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, with others, they tolde seven score persons of men, every of them having his Woman, except it were two women that lay alone to gether for some especyall cause. Thus having their makes to make merry withall, the buriall was turned to bousing.* and belly chere,f morning to myrth, fasting to feasting, prayer to pastyme and pressing of papes, and lamenting to Lechery ! " Beggars even infested the Court itself, as in 1526 a new order was made for the Knight Marshal to see to the exclusion from the Court of " boys and vile persons and punishment of vagabonds and mighty beggars, also of unthrifts and common women. The Lord Steward was at the same time commanded to keep the Court." In 1529 the famous " Supplicacyon for the Beggers " by Simon Fish was published. It professes to be a complaint on behalf of the impotent poor against the Church of Rome, and opens thus : — " To The King oure sovereygne lorde, — "Most lamentably compleyneth theyre wofull mysery unto youre highnes youre poore daily bedemen, the wretched hidous monstres (on whome scarcely for horror any yie dare loke,) the foule, unhappy sorte of lepres, and other sore people, nedy, impo- tent, blinde, lame, and sike, that live onely by almesse, howe that theyre nombre is daily so sore encreased, that all the almesse of all the weldisposed people of this youre realme is not halfe ynough for to susteine theim, but that for verey constreint they die for hunger. And this most pestilent mischief is comen uppon youre said poore beedmen by the reason that there is, yn the tymes of youre noble predecesaours passed, craftily crept ynto this youre realme an other sort (not of impotent, but) of strong, puissaunt, and counterfeit holy, and ydell, beggers and vacabundes whiche syns the tyme of theyre first entre by all the craft and wilinesse of Satan are nowe encreased under your sight, not onely into a great nombre, but also ynto a kingdome. These are (not the herdes, but the ravinous wolves going in herdes clothing, devouring the flocke,) the Bisshoppes, Abbottes, Priours, Deacons, Archedeacons, Suffraganes, Prestes, Monkes, Chanons, Freres, Pardoners, and Somners." In the succeeding year an Act was passed against the gypsies (22 Hen. YIIL, c. 10). This was followed by a most elaborate statute against vagrancy, the 22 Hen. YIIL, c 12 (1530-1), which * Drinking. t Eating. i AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 73 recites " where in all places throughe out this Eealme of Englande, Yacabundes and Beggers have of longe tyme increased & dayly do increase in great & excessy ve nombres by the occasyon of ydelnes, mother & rote of all vyces, wherby hath insurged & spronge & dayly insurgethe & spryngeth contynuall theftes murders & other hay- nous offences & great enormytes to the high displeasure of God the inquyetacon & damage of the Kyngis People & to the marvaylous disturbance of the Comon Weale of this Eealme. And whereas many & sondry goode lawes, streyte statutes & ordenances have ben before this time devysed & made as well by the Kyng our Sovreign Lorde as also by divers his most noble progenytours Kyngis of Englande for the most necessary & due reformacion of the pre- mysses, yet that notwythstonding the sayde nombers of vaca- bundes & beggers be not sene in any partie to be mynysshed, but rather dayly augmentyd & encreased into greate routes and com- panyes as evydently it dothe & maye appere." It then proceeds to enact that justices of peace in every county shall make diligent search of all aged, poor, and impotent persons which live by alms of charity, and may license them to beg within certain limits ; beg- gars begging outside these limits are to be set in the stocks for two days and nights with a diet of bread and water only, and sworn without delay to return to their own limits. Beggars without licenses are to be stripped from the middle upwards and whipped, or else at the discretion of the justice or high constable set in the stocks for three days and nights with a diet of bread and water, and they are then to be furnished with a license assigning them a limit within which to beg. All able-bodied persons found begging are to be taken to the nearest market town, or other place most convenient, and there to be tied to the end of a cart naked and be beaten with whips throughout the town till their bodies are bloody, after which they are to return to the place where they were born, or where they last dwelt by the space of three years, being furnished with a pass for the purpose certifying their punish- ment and limiting the time within which they have to return, and every time they make default in the order they are to be whipped. If the constables of any town or parish neglect to arrest and punish a beggar, the township or parish is to forfeit for every impotent beggar 3s. 4d., and for every strong beggar 6s. 8d. All scholars of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge that go about begging not being authorised under the seal of the said 74 VA'GRANTS AND VAGRANCY, universities, all shipraen pretending losses of their ships and goods, are to be punished as able-bodied beggars. All proctors and pardoners, and all other idle persons going about, some of them using divers and subtle crafty and unlawful games and plays, and some of them feigning themselves to have knowledge in physic, physiognomy, palmistry, or other crafty sciences, whereby they bear the people in hand, that they can tell their destinies, diseases, and fortunes, and such other like fantastical imaginations, to the great deceit of the King's subjects, are punishable by whipping for two days together. For a second offence they are to be scourged two days and the third day to be put in the pillory from 9 to 11 o'clock in the forenoon and to have one of their ears cut off ; and for a third offence they are to be whipped, put in the pillory, and have their other ear cut off. Persons giving harbourage, money, or lodging to able-bodied beggars are liable to fines at the discretion of the justices. Any person hindering the execution of the Act or making rescue against any mayor or other person endeavouring to execute it, is liable to forfeit one hundred shillings in addition to imprisonment at the King's will. Prisoners on their release from prison begging without a license from the gaoler are liable to the same punishment as able- bodied beggars. The following forms were authorised under the Act : — License to an Impotent Beggar to beg. " Kane ss. Memorand that A. B. of Dale for reasonable con- siderations ys lycensed to begge wythin the Hundred of P.K. and L. in the sayde Countie, yoven under the Seale of that lymytte, Tali die & anno." Letter to be delivered to a Beggar or Vagabond after he had been whipped. " Kent ss. J. S. whypped for a vagarant stronge begger at Dale in the sayde Countie, accordyng to the lawe in the xij th daye of July in the xxiij u yere of Kyng Henry the viij was assigned to passe forth wyth & directly from thens to Sale in the County e of Midct ; where he sayth he was borne, or where he last dwelled by the tyme of iij yeres ; and he ys lymytted to be there wythin xiiij dayes next ensuyng at his parell, or wythin such nomber of dayes as to hym shalbe lymytted by the dyscretion of the maker AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. To of the sayde letter : In wytnes wherof the seale of the lymytte of the sayde place of his punysshement herunto is sette." The prohibition regarding the practice of "physiognomy, palmistry, or other crafty sciences/* on the part of itinerant pro- fessors, affords curious evidence of the ignorance and superstition which prevailed then and for long afterwards ; in fact, it can hardly be said to be extinct now. Physiognomy was a method of prediction founded on an exami- nation of the lineaments, and the colour and appearance of the veins, and was, like palmistry, treated as an abstruse science only to be indulged in by qualified professors. The jealousy with which the common herd of empirics were regarded by the self- elected professors is thus set forth by Richard Saunders in " Pal- mistry, the Secrets thereof disclosed/' published in 1664. " Having thus far asserted the laudable utillity of Christian Prudent Science, let me warn my Reader of those Sycophants, and Delusive Ignorants, through whose Sides this pretious Science is dayly wounded, such spawn of shame, that impudently make Pro- fession of Art, not onely in several Country e$, but lurk in Obscure corners, in and about this Famous City, many Illiterate peices of Non-scence and Impudence, of the Female kind, whose Ignorance transcends the Vulgar Gypsies, and Impudence sufficient to out face a Whipping post, Ptolomy in his time complain'd of such, and Cardan found a Generation Quicum saith he non sint, videri volunt, lucrique cupiditate artem profitentur, quam mx a limine salutarunt, such though they were not, yet would seem to be Artists, and for Lucres sake professe it, though they had not saluted the thresholds thereof; Haly mentions one before Mis time, that Affirmed when Cor. Leonis in such a Year, came to the fifteenth Degree of Leo, it would set the world on Flame through excesse of Seat, the conse- quence of which was, it was the most cruel cold and Sharpest "Winter known before ; and Petrus Aretinus mentions such an Ignoramus in His time, that Predicted a great Flood, or rather a Deluge in the month of February, 1524; which so frighted the People (notwithstanding the evil Season of the Year) that they Left their Dwellings, and fled with their Goods to the Mountains, which when the Time came, there was not any Month in the Year so Fair nor more Serene weather, no Rain, nor Clouds threatning the least of Rain, which in many ages was not known before. There hath not wanted such Ideots in our times, frighting the People, 76 YAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, and Prognosticating in their Illiterate Hare-brain' d Predictions, the End of the World, which I have not omitted to take notice of, in my Apollo Anglicanus, especially for the Year", 1656, 8fc. But for the time to come, that our Country may be undeceived, I will premise such Quallifications as every able Artist ought to be indued with, according to the approbation of the best Learned and Judicious, which will serve as a Touch stone to examine every Professor, and to discern the Prudent from the Impudent. " h The first Qualification requisite to constitute an Artist is, that he be highly Ingenious. "2. Is required, a good and strong memory. " 3. That he be Prudent, Discreet, Honest, and of a Good and sound judgment. ' c 4. That he chiefly value and esteem the Truth in and above all things. " 5. That he be a good Linguist and Scholler. (i 6. That he be a good Philosopher, skil'd in all parts of Phy- losophy, viz. Logick, Physicks, Ethicks, and Metaphisiques. ee 7. That he be well verst in the Stars ; their Natures, Motions, and Accidents, viz. be a good Astronomer. 4< 8o That he be a Good and able Arithmetition. " 9. That he be a Diligent Hearer and Observer of the most Eminent Persons in his time, which hold forth the most Excel- lent and Admirable Conclusions, drawn down to us by their own Experience, and that he give much Diligence to Reading those Books which have been written by the most worthy, judicious, and Famous authors upon that Subject. " 10. That he be assiduously Diligent in Studies and Labours wholfy intent upon the art. "11. That he be sedulously diligent in Collecting, Recording, and Observing all practical experiments. (l 12. It's very requisite that he be furnished with a meet know- ledge of agriculture, with knowledge Nautical, Millitary, and Phy- sical, as also the Geometrical and GeographicalFosition, and descrip- tion of places, the Habitual Disp>ositions and Manners of men, of Regions, of their Laws, Religioits Customs, and generally of all things. "Ihese Quallifications premised, will sufficiently inform such of the forfeit of their Judgments, Reason, and Discretions, that heed Bablwg Women and Obscure Persons, Seducers, the very shame and banc of Science." 1 htvtJktrt stUtd,ftr thtUntfetf tht ftmJUui, J, vert Effigies of M«opo!copy tuttimemrjutg H mtft tctttt andtxmS •iiftrv*ti»n, Whiehhe,ng *s nn Epitemy ef this vMeDeHriic,**.*} Might tht Rttitr : In *hich lot Jh*U tit *> t /l tt cemftder the lir.es re- Uting U thiflmtts, «t tin) mrtttftrt in the mtti, -tht wfft? lim next tht h*trte Saturn j thtfeetnJ tt Jupiter, *ni /• rf tht reft. ' Such a Line of frnfittr, fi|nlfks riches, I A circle in the Line of fxfiter, pre* ptudence and t good natore. i di&s k>ft of richa, A line inficx, and fo bowing towards the nofe, denotes the wosft of condi- tions. The linet in this manner firaight,decote a good wit, mod honeft, apptored, and commendable moralftie s and conditions, nothing of fraod,or d fumulirion ; he is too plain and honcft to thrive, without a miracle. Soch lines Ggnifie riches and £Oo4 Fortsoe* METOPOSCOPY AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 77 The arrogant and charlatanic assumption of pretentious scholar- ship of this description is contemptuously exposed by Erasmus in his "Praise of Folly," written in 1511.* " But those of them who feel most conscious of their own supe- rior erudition, and regard with peculiar contempt the ignorance of others, are the mathematicians. These men when engaged in scrawling their mysterious geometrical hieroglyphics, their tri- angles, squares, circles, and so forth, adding to one another in the queerest manner possible, and concocting at last a sort of eccentric looking picture, having the appearance of a kind of labyrinth, with letters of the alphabet dotted about it here and there like soldiers in sentry boxes, first placed in one order and then anon in another, make unsophisticated lookers-on wonder immensely what inscrutable conjurations they are up to. They effectually accomplish one object, at any rate, which they have ever much at heart, that of throwing a plentiful amount of dust into inexpe- rienced people's eyes, and gaining to themselves credit for an intelligence they don't possess ! " To this philosophical brotherhood belong all those who give out that they can foretell future events by observing the positions of the stars. And they predict occurrences of the most prodigious proportions. Talk of the marvels of magic ! "Why they dwindle to insignificance when compared with the astounding wonders which astrologers declare to us are about to be. Yet — fortunate men — they find gullible people enough in the world to swallow their wildest announcements ! " The principal other " crafty " sciences practised at this time were — Metoposcopy, or judging of things to come by the aspect of the forehead ; JEromancy, or divination by figures in the air ; Alectromancy, or divination by a cock ; Aruspicy, by signs appear- ing in the bowels of sacrificed animals ; Augury, by the flight or chattering of birds or the voices of animals ; Christallomancy, by the lots of numbers ; Clidomancy, by a key ; Corilomancy, by a forked rod ; Coscinomancy by turning a sieve ; Dactilomancy, by a ring ; Geomancy, by figures or lines drawn on the earth, or by certain signs appearing in the earthly bodies, as in wood, iron, or polished stones, beryls, or glass ; Hydromancy, by appearances in the water ; Necromancy \ by using blood and writing or speaking certain verses for the purpose of raising the dead to speak and * Translated by James Copner, 1878. 73 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, teach future things ; Onychomancy, or Onymancy, by the finger- nails of an unpolluted boy ; Pyromancy, by forms appearing in the fire ; Spatulamancy (called in Scotland Slinneanach), by reading the speal bone or the blade bone of a shoulder of mutton well scraped. The signification of omens, dreams (or Oneirocracy) and of moles on the body also formed part of this scientific curriculum. Immediately upon the passing of the Act a proclamation was issued commanding that- — ■ " If within two days after the publication of the proclamation any are found out of the hundred where they were born, or have resided for three years before and have not demanded a billet to convey them thither, they are to be stripped naked from the privy parts upwards and sharply scourged, old and sick persons, and women with child, alone excepted ; after which a billet is to be delivered to them certifying the infliction of the punishment, according to a form annexed, signed by the justices. The vagrant must then lose no time on his way homeward, on pain of a repeti- tion of the punishment/' This was followed by another proclamation specially applying to the Court. " All vagabonds, mighty beggars, and other idle persons are to leave the court in twenty- four hours. No person is to keep more than his proper number of servants, or have vagabonds resorting to his chamber. No person is to keep hounds or greyhounds, or hunt, without licence ; and no one is allowed to keep ferrets." In 1533-4, the 25 Henry VIII., c. 13, was passed for the purpose of preventing the union of farms and the conversion of arable land into pasture on the ground of encouraging vagabond habits. The Act recites that " dyvers and sundry of the Kynge's subjectes, to whome God of hys goodnes hath disposed greate plentie and abundaunce of moveable substance, nowe of late within fewe yeres have dayly studyed and invented ways and meanes how they myght accumulate and gather together into few handes, as well great multitude of fermes as greate plentie of catall, and in especiall shepe, puttyng suche londes as they can gett to pasture, and not to tyllage, wherby they have not only pulled downe churches and townes, and inhanced the old ratis of the rentis, or els brought it to suche excessyve fines that no poure man is able to meddel with it, but also have raysed and enhaunsed the prises of all manner of corne, cattal, woll, pygges, geese, AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 79 hennes, chekyns, egges, and suche other, almoste doble above the prices which hath byn accustomed, by reason wherof a mervaylous multitude and nombre of the people of this Realme be not able to provyde meate, drynke, and clothes necessary for theym selfes, theire wyfes, and childern, but be so discoraged with myserye and povertie that they fall dayly to thefte, robbery, and other incon- venience, or pitifully dye for hunger and colde." It then pro- ceeds to assert that the chief reason is "the greate profette that corny th of shepe," and orders as ajremedy that no man shall keep above two thousand sheep, under the penalty of 3s. 4d. for every one kept above that number. This Act denotes that the woollen manufacture was largely increasing, and it seems curious that the surplus agricultural population should not have been absorbed by the manufacturing towns, and rather points to their inadaptability to new conditions of life. The next Act we have to notice (26 Henry VIII., c. 6, s. 4) passed in the year 1534, is another direction against " Commor- thas " and collections in Wales. " That no person nor persons from henseforth, without licence of the said comyssioners in writinge, shall within Wales or marches of the same, or in any shires adjoyninge to the same, requiyre procure, gather, or levye any commorthe, bidalle, tenantale, or other colleccon or exaccon of goodes, cattulles, money or any other thinge, under colour of marienge or suffringe of their children, sayenge or synginge their fyrste masses or gospelles of any prestes or clarkes, or for redempcion of any murder or any other felonye, or for any other maner of cause by whatt name or names soever they shalbe callyd." A printer named Robert Copland, in a tract entitled, " The Hye Way to the Spyttelhouse," gives a picture of the state of the poor at this period, in the form of a conversation between himself and the porter of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which was founded by Rahere in 1102, and re-endowed by Henry VIII. after the dissolution. Speaking of those gathered at the gate of the "spital" seeking admission, Copland says, they were people with bag and staff, crooked, lame, and blind, scabby and scurvy, pock eaten both in flesh and skin, lousy and scald, and bald as apes, with scarcely a rag to cover them, breechless, barefooted, all stinking with dirt, with a thousand tatters drabbling to the skirt. Boys, girls, and lazy strong knaves, shivering and dis- 80 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, tracted, leaning on their staves and crying, " Good master, for your mother's blessing, give us a halfpenny towards our lodging. " The porter expostulates with them for begging, pointing out that they will be lodged in the hospital. In answer to Copland, the porter says they take in all such folk who ask lodging for our Lord's sake, though they refuse certain classes. Copland asks if they take in losels,*" mighty beggars, and vagabonds, truands,f michers,+ hedge creepers, § fylloks,|| and lusks,H who during the summer live in ditches and under bushes, loitering and wandering by by-ways from place to place without working, living upon haws and black- berries, and indulging in hedge-breaking, who in winter resort to the town and do nothing but wander up and down. He adds that he marvels since they offer lodging to the poor so many of them are to be found sleeping out under stalls, in porches, and in doorways. The porter says that all such folks as Copland describes are " michers " that live in " truandise," ** whom they will not admit. The people whom they relieve are those who are unable to labour and have no friends to help them, such as old people, the sick and impotent, poor women in childbed, men suffering from bodily injury, people afflicted with smallpox or pestilence, honest folk fallen into poverty, wayfarers, maimed soldiers, and bedridden people. Copland proceeds to say that common beggars are to be met with in all the streets, and that as he walked to St. Paul's Church beggars sat on each side the way. There was " one mighty stubborn slave," who begged for others for the sake of the five joys of the Virgin," vowing to recite Our Lady's psalter three times in return. An honest serving-man after per- forming his devotions had compassion on the beggar, and when he was gone the beggar pulled out eleven pence, ft and called to his companions to go to dinner, saying it was an unprofitable day. The porter says they do not admit such people, but that they resort to the Barbican, to Turnmill Street, in Houndsditch and behind the Fleet, and twenty places more, where they revel and indulge in drunken debauchery. Some "beggarly churls" to whom they resort are, he says, the maintainers of a great set of " mighty lubbers," and have them in their service some as jour- * Bad worthless fellows. t Miserable beggars. X Petty thieves. § Those who lurked about hedges for the pur- || Wanton girls. pose of stealing and spoiling. Wretchedness. H Lusty beggars and thieves, tt Equivalent to about the same number of shillings in the present day. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 81 neymen and some as apprentices, they go on crutches * to each market and fair, and to all places to which people repair, and so dissimulate as false thieving flowches,f with bloody clouts about their legs, and plaisters on their skin ; some counterfeit leprosy, and others put soap in their mouths to make foam, and fall down as if they had St. Cornelius's evil." Copland asks if any master- less men come to the " spital," such as have served the King beyond the sea, and who being without means must either beg or steal. Some of them, he says, are proper men and tall. The porter answers that such men do one bad thing, which is to wear soldier's clothes and so deceive the people. He says they are in general vagabonds who will not submit to discipline nor stay long in any employment, and who will rob their masters. Many of them live by open begging, going with bag, dish, and staff, ragged and lousy, and mixing with the " riff raff." These go from spital to spital prowling, and poaching at every door for lumps of bread and meat. Others whom the porter terms " Night- ingales of Newgate," walk and strut about pretending that they have suffered shipwreck, or have been in captivity in France and are penniless. They rob solitary passengers, and do not desire food or drink, but " very white thread to sew good ale." Other " rogers " J pretend to be poor scholars of Oxford and Cambridge. After five years' experience of the Vagrant Act passed in 1530-1, another Act was passed for the purpose of supplying a deficiency in the previous Act, namely the relief of the poor. This Act (27 Hen. VIII., c. 25, 1535-6), commences by reciting that all beggars are required to repair to the place of their birth, or where they had last dwelt for three years, and that no provision is made in the Act 22 Hen. VIII., c. 12, for their employment or relief, and then enacts that officers of cities, &c, shall receive and relieve such, beggars, and set all sturdy and valiant beggars to work for their maintenance, parishes are bound to carry out this provision under a penalty of twenty shillings a month. Beggars travelling homewards with a pass are at the end of every ten miles ordered to repair to the constable of the parish, who is to furnish them with meat and drink for one meal and lodging for one night only. * Even before the Conquest cripples used to assemble to solicit charity at Cripplegate in London, pleading the example of the lame man who begged alms of St. Peter and St. John at the gate of the temple. t Big, fat, dirty persons. X A cant name for a rogue. G $2 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, The Act then recites that all and every idle person, ruffelers calling themselves serving-men, having no masters, are liable to punishment under 2x Hen. VIII., c. 12. Officers of cities are authorised to direct searches by night for ruffelers, sturdy vaga- bonds, and valiant beggars, and all persons required are to assist in such searches. Ruffelers, sturdy vagabonds, and valiant beggars offending a second time are not only to be whipped again, but to have the upper part of the gristle of the right ear clean cut off, and then sent back to their place of settlement. Such persons found wanderirjg in idleness after this punishment are adjudged to suffer pains and execution of death as felons. " Leprous and bedridden creatures " are at liberty to remain in the place where they are, and are not compelled to go to their place of settlement. Children above five and under fourteen found begging or idle may be apprehended and placed in charge of masters of husbandry or other crafts or labours to be taught by the which they may get their livings when they come of age. Clothes being given them to enable them to enter the service. ! Any above the age of twelve and under sixteen who refuse such service or leave it without reasonable cause, are to be openly whipped with rods at the discretion of the authorities, and sent back to service. Any person refusing to execute the punishment is to be set in the stocks two days with a diet of bread and water. Officers and churchwardens are ordered to gather alms for the maintenance of impotent and the employment of sturdy beggars, and the Clergy are commanded to exhort people to alms for the purposes of this Act. No persons are permitted to make any common or open doles, or give any ready money in alms except to be applied to the purposes of this Act under a penalty of 10s. The authorities are commanded to appoint certain of the poor people to collect broken meats and fragments two or three times a week, to be distributed evenly amongst the poor. The Act is restricted from applying to persons giving personal alms to parishioners or prisoners. It also provides that " in as moche as Friers Mendiantes have litle or nothing to lyve uppon but onely by the charitie and almes of Christien people," they and those who relieve them are exempted from the provisions of the Act, as also are Alms from Monasteries, Almshouses, Hospitals, or other foundations or brotherhoods, and also alms given to ship- AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 83 wrecked mariners, and casually by the wayside to lame, blind, sick, aged, or impotent people. This Act it will be observed introduces for the first time some important provisions regarding the poor. It orders that able-bodied vagrants shall be set to work ; that all poor except the really help- less, such as lepers and bedridden creatures, shall be sent to their place of settlement, and be maintained on their road there ; that the children of beggars are to be taken from them and placed in suitable employment ; and that the authorities are to make collections for the purpose of relieving the impotent poor. The previous Act had evidently broken down on the crucial question of relief, as the beggars accustomed to alms and doles must naturally have asked how they were to live, and charitably minded persons would as naturally continue to relieve and foster them. The following is an example of the punishment of a vagrant under this Act taken from the Harleian MSS. " How valyant beggers ough to be punyshed accordinge to Kinge's statute." « Wm. Payne whipped for a vagraunt strong begger at Chester in the county of the citty of Chester according to the law the xiii day of February in the xxix yere of the reigne of o r moast dred soveigne Lord H. th'eight was assigned to passe forth w h and dyrectly from thens to Chippen Warren in the countie of Northampton where he saith he was borne and he is lymittyd to be there w^n xvi dayez then next ensuying at his pell. I witnez wherof the seale of the offyc of the mairaltie of the citie aforseid and place where he was ponysshed herunto is sett." We now come to a momentous change in the social condition of the country, and which has an important bearing on vagrancy and mendicity. By 27 Hen. VIII., c. 28 (1536), all monasteries and religious houses not possessing more than £200 per annum were suppressed ; and by 31 Hen. VIII., c. 13 (1539), ail insti- tutions of that nature were dissolved. They amounted to 186 greater and 374 lesser monasteries, in addition to 48 houses of the Knights Templars ; making a total of 608. Their income was estimated at £137,000 a year. If we adopt Mr. Froude's estimate that for a penny at this time, " the labourer could buy as much bread, beef, beer, and wine, he could do as much towards finding g 2 84 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, lodging for himself and his family, as the labourer of the nine- teenth century can for a shilling," this sum would be equal to an annual revenue of £1,644,000 in the present day. The population then was probably about four millions as com- pared with twenty-six millions in the present day ; and as the amount expended on the relief of the poor is now about £9,000,000, if we estimate that one-third of the income of the abbeys ought to have been devoted to the uses of the poor, their pro rata contribution should have amounted to 2s. 9d. per head of the population, as against 6s. 4d. per head, the amount raised by taxation in the present day. This computation altogether leaves out of account the charity bestowed in connection with churches and special foundations for the relief of the poor. The monastic establishments had reached the summit of their wealth and luxury, and were in most cases abodes of notorious profligacy. Their suppression cannot therefore have excited much commiseration on the part of the main body of the nation, particularly as the abbeys were generally in the habit of exacting their dues rigorously both from their villeins and the townsmen who held under them. It may not be here amiss to observe the mode in which the V alms of the abbeys were collected and distributed, taking the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds as an example. There the eleemo- synarius, or almoner, distributed the alms and charitable donations of the convent to pilgrims, travellers, and the poor who assembled at the gate ; for which purpose he had an office called the almonry. He also made the distributions on the founder's day, and other obits and anniversaries. He and his servants were to attend at the dinner of the abbot and monks to receive the alms. He was not to collect through the tables ; but if anything was handed to him he might take it and devote it to alms. When the convent left the refectorj 7 , he could go round the tables, and destine to alms the drink which remained of the charity. But that this charity was always benevolently bestowed is very questionable, as in a " Poem on the Evil Times of Edward II." we are told — " For if there come to an abbey two poor men or three, And ask of them help for holy charity, Scarcely will any do his errand, either young or old, But let him cower there all day in hunger and in cold, and starve. Look what love there is to God, whom they say that they serve." AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 85 While the religious houses did good by the relief of the im- potent poor, they did an immense amount of harm in encouraging able-bodied beggars to lead a life of idleness and profligacy. The opinion of Fuller, the Church historian, on this point a little more than a century later, is pregnant with common sense. ' ' Some will object, that this their hospitality was but charity mis- taken, promiscuously entertaining some, who did not need, and moe, who did not deserve it. Yea, these abbeys did but maintain the poor which they made. For, some Vagrants, accounting the Abbey - almes their own inheritance, served an apprentiship, and after- wards wrought journey-work to no other trade than begging ; all whose children were, by their father's copie, made free of the same company. Yea, we may observe, that generally such places wherein the great Abbeys were seated (some few excepted, where cloathing began, when their Covent did end) swarm most with poor people at this day, as if beggary were entailed on them, and that lazinesse not as yet got out of their flesh, which so long since was bred in their bones" * The immediate result of the dissolution must, however, have been a large increase in the number of vagrants, for it has been calculated that these institutions contained about fifty thousand inmates who led an idle life. Many of these were no doubt soon absorbed in the civil population, but a very great number must have been so much inoculated with indolence and ignorance from the life they had been accustomed to lead, that they would naturally resort to whining mendicity as a means of livelihood. The districts adjacent to the Scottish border at this period were also fostering and propagating vagabondage on an extensive scale. " The survey of 1542 describes the Redesdale men as living in sheels f during the summer months, and pasturing their cattle in * " There can be no doubt that many of the impotent poor derived support from their charity. But the blind eleemosynary spirit inculcated by the Komish Church is notoriously the cause, not the cure, of beggary and wretched- ness. The monastic foundations, scattered in different counties, but by no means at regular distances, and often in sequestered places, could never answer the end of local and limited succour, meted out in just proportion to the demands of poverty. Their gates might indeed be open to those who knocked at them for alms, and came in search of streams that must always be too scanty for a thirsty multitude. Nothing could have a stronger tendency to promote that vagabond mendicity, which unceasing and very severe statutes were enacted to repress." — Hallam. t A hut or residence for those who have the care of sheep. 86 YAGEANTS AND VAGKANCY, the grains * and hopes f of the country on the south side of the Coquet, about Wilkwood and Bidlees ; or in the waste grounds which sweep along the eastern marshes of North Tynedale. At this time they not only joined the men of Tynedale in acts of rapine and spoil, but often went as guides to the thieves of Scot- land, in expeditions to ravage the towns and villages between the Coquet and Wansbeck. To counteract these outrages Sir Cuth- bert Patcliff, with divers of the most wise borderers, devised a watch to be set from sunset to sunrise at all passages and fords ' endalong ' all the middle marches over against North Tynedale and Pedesdale, that when the thieves from the north were seen descending, hue and cry should be made for assistance to drive them back. Those amongst the dalesmen were most praised and cherished who soonest in youth began to practise themselves in thefts and robberies, for in these they delighted, boasted, and exercised themselves. They were divided into clans, each of which had rank and precedence according to its numerical strength. That of Hall was the greatest and of most reputation ; and next to it the Reeds, Potts, Hedleys, Spoors, Daugs, Fletchers. All these were ' lairds/ owners of their own small ' in- field ' and Peel-tower, with the right of commonage over the vast unenclosed wilderness around them. A few of these families still exist as lairds on their ancient estates, more still as tenant-farmers on their former properties. They lost their estates through getting into debt by gambling, drinking, and betting on horses and cocks, but the old names, and much of the old pride, haughtiness, and exclusiveness remain. In moss-trooping times, * If a thief of any great surname or kindred was lawfully executed by order of justice, for stealing beyond the limits of his own province, the rest of his clan would visit his prosecutor with all the retributive vengeance of deadly feud as bitterly and severely as if he had killed him unlawfully with a sword.' This frequently led to a sort of civil war in the county ; whole townships were burnt ; those of whom revenge was sought were murdered ; great garrisons were established to check the outrages of the clans, and raids and incursions were made against them and by them, " even as it were between England and Scotland in time of war." Hence persons who were plundered generally chose, when they discovered the thieves who had carried off their goods, to receive a part of * The branches of a valley. t A sloping hollow between two hills. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 87 them back by way of composition, rather than go against them to the extremity of justice. There is reason to believe that black- mail was paid by many of the Northumbrians even in Queen Elizabeth's reign to these systematic robbers. In 1498 Bishop Fox issued his mandate to the clergy of Tynedale and Redesdale, charging them to excommunicate all those inhabitants of their cures who should, excepting against the Scots, presume to go from home armed 'in a, jack* and salet,f or knapescul,% or other defensive armour, or should ride on a horse worth more than six shillings and eightpence, or wear in any church or churchyard, during the time of divine service, any offensive weapon more than a cubit in length/ The same prelate elsewhere describes the chaplains here as publicly and openly living with concubines, irregular, suspended, excommunicated, and interdicted, wholly ignorant of letters, so much so that priests of ten years' standing did not know how to read the ritual. Some of them were nothing more than sham priests, never having been ordained. When such were the morals of the teachers, what produce of virtue was to be expected from the disciples ? " § A beggar in an old play describes himself as " born in Redes- dale in Northumberland, and come of a wight-riding surname called the Eobsons, good x honest men and true, saving a little shifting for their living, God help them ! " |j The last Act in this reign which calls for any notice is the 34 and 35 Hen. VIII. (1543), entitled "An Acte for thadvaunce- ment of true Religion, and for thabollisshment of the Contraries which in some of its sections applies to players, who in the reign of Elizabeth and subsequently were punishable under the Acts against vagrancy. This act imposes a fine of £10 and imprison- ment for three months for a first offence upon any person who shall play in interludes, sing or rhyme any matter contrary to the doctrine of the Six Articles, or, as it is commonly called, the Bloody Statute ; for a second offence the offender is to forfeit all his goods and be committed to perpetual prison. " Provided allwayes and be it enacted by thauctory tie af oresaide, that it shalbe lawf ull to all and everye persone and persones to set foorthe songes plaies and enterludes, to be used and exercysed * A defensive upper garment quilted with stout leather. + A light helmet. % A headpiece, a sort of helmet. § Hodgson's Northumberland (1827). || Scott. 88 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, within this Realme and other the Kings Domynions, for the rebuking and reproching of vices, and the setting foorthe of vertue ; so allwaies the saide songes plaies or enterludes meddle not with interpretations of Scripture, contrarye to the doctryne set foorthe by the Kings Majestie our saide Soveraigne Lord that now is King Henry theight in forme aforesaide." The wandering ballad- singer, or the strolling player who ven- tured to take part in a miracle or mystery play must have done so in fear and trembling of this redoubtable enactment, for no one, high or low, was safe from the regal vengeance in this reign. On one occasion, we are told, an actual beggar was thrown into prison, and formal depositions relating to him were sent to the King's minister, because in drinking at a village inn he had said " he wished King Henry's head were boiled in a pot, and he would be the first to drink of the broth." Villeinage was in this reign fast dying out. In the year 1514 the King manumitted two of his villeins in the following form : " Whereas God created all men free, but afterwards the laws and customs of nations subjected some under the yoke of servitude, we think it pious and meritorious with God to manumit Henry Knight, a taylor, and John Herle, a husbandman, our natives, as being born within the manor of Stoke Clymmysland, in our county of Cornwal, together with all their issue born, or to be born, and all their goods, lands, and chattels acquired, or to be acquired, so as the said persons, and their issue, shall from henceforth be free, and of free condition." And it appears from the calendar of the Journals of the House of Lords that in the year 1536, and 28 Hen. VIII., a Bill concerning bondmen was rejected by the House of Lords on the third reading, which according to this idea (of its being meritorious with God) was probably for their general manumission. The condition of vagabondage in England at the termination of this reign and the commencement of that of Edward VI. may best be judged from the following extract from Harrison's descrip- tion of England. " Our third annoiers of the common -wealth are roges, which doo verie great mischeefe in all places where they become. For wheras the rich onelie suffer injurie by the first two, these spare neither rich nor poore ; but whether it be great gaine or smalle, all is fish that commeth to net with them, and yet I saie both AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 89 they and the rest are trussed up apace. For there is not one yeare commonlie, wherein three or four hundred of them are not devoured and eaten up by the gallowes in one place and other. It appeareth by Cardane (who writeth it upon the report of the bishop of Lexovia) in the geniture of King Edward the sixt, how Henrie the eight, executing his laws verie severelie against such idle persons, I meane great theeves, pettie theeves and roges, did hang up threescore and twelve thousand of them in his time. He seemed for a while greatlie to have terrified the rest : but since his death the number of them is so increased, yea although we have had no warres, which are a great occasion of their breed (for it is the custome of the more idle sort, having once served or but seene the other side of the sea under colour of service to shake hand with labour, for ever, thinking it a disgrace for himselfe to returne unto his former trade) that except some better order be taken, or the lawes alreadie made be better executed, such as dwell in uplandish townes and little villages shall live but in small safetie and rest." The opening of the reign of Edward VI. was signalised by a Draconian statute against vagabondism. It will have been observed that from the time of Henry VII. the sentimental sympathies of indiscreet almsgivers were being gradually disregarded and over- borne by legislation of an increasingly severe character against vagrants and beggars. But the greatest severities hitherto enacted were mild in comparison with the severe provisions of the enactment now under consideration. In fact it is almost impossible to think that it could ever have been intended as anything more than an academic lulmination which should act as a deterrent through the appalling character of its punishments. Sir John Cheke, who was the Greek professor at Cambridge, and was one of the preceptors of Edward VI., had signalised himself by intro- ducing the study of the Greek language and literature into England. He entered Parliament as member for Bletchingly in the year 1547, and it is therefore probable that this enactment is in a great measure due to the studies which he rendered fashionable, since the laws of Lycurgus would not tolerate mendicants, and under those of Draco, Solon, and other legislators mendicants were condemned to capital punishment. The Act to which we allude (1 Edw. VI., c. 3, 1547) com- mences by reciting: "Forasmuche as Idlenes and Vagabundrye is 90 VAGEANTS AND VAGKANCY, the mother and roote of all theftes robberyes and all evill actes and other mischiefs and the multitude of people given therto hath allwaies been here within this Realme verie greate and more in nombre as it maye appere then in other Regions, to the greate impouverishment of the Realme and daimger of the Kings Highnes subgects, the whiche Idlenes and Vagabundrj'e all the Kings Highnes noble progenitors Kings of this Realme and this highe Courte of Parlament hath often and with greate travaile goon abowte and assayed with godlie Actes and Statutes to represse, yet untill this our tyme it hath not had that successe which hath byn wisshed, but partelie by folishe pitie and mercie of them which shoulde have seen the saide godlie lawes executed, partelie by the perverse nature and longe accustumed idlenes of the parsons given to loytringe, the saide godlie statutes hitherto hath had small effecte, and Idle and Vagabounde persons being unprofitable membres or rather ennemyes of the Comen wealthe hath byn suffred to remayne and encrease and yet so doo, who yf theie should be punished by deathe whippinge emprysonement or w th other corporall payne it were not withowt their deserts for thexample of others and to the benefitt of the Comen wealth, yet yf thei cowlde be brought to be made profitable and doo service were much to be wisshed and desired." It then proceeds to repeal all former Acts against vagabonds and beggars ; and ordains that every person not impotent, &c, loitering or wandering and not seeking work, or leaving it when engaged, shall be taken up as a vagabond, and every master who has offered such idle person service and labour shall be entitled to bring him before two justices of the peace, who " shall imediatelye cawse the saide loyterer to be marked with an whott Iron in the brest the marke of V. and adjudge the saide parsone living so Idelye to such presentor to be his Slave, to have and to holde the said Slave to him his executors or assignes for the space of twoo yeres then next following." The slave is to be fed on bread and water or small drink and such refuse meats as the master thinks fit. He is to be caused to work by beating, chaining, or otherwise, in whatever work he may be put to, however vile it may be. If such slave runs away his master may pursue him, and punish him with chains and beating ; and if he brings him before two justices of the peace they are empowered to cause him to be marked on the forehead or ball of the cheek with a hot iron with the sign of an S. The AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 91 master can recover £10 and costs from any one knowingly detain- ing his slave- A slave running a way^a-second --time is to suffer pains of death as. a felon. Clerks convict, if entitled to benefit of purgation, are only to serve as slaves one year, and if not entitled to purgation for five years. They are liable to the same penalties as other vagabonds, except that they are exempt from burning in the breast. Infant beggars above five and under fourteen may be forcibly taken as apprentices or servants and kept, males till twenty-four, females till twenty. If they run away they become slaves. Masters are empowered to let, sell, or give the services of such children. Fathers, mothers, nurses, or bearers about of such children, who steal such children from their service are to become slaves for life to the master of the child. All vagabonds who are not taken into any service are to be marked on the breast with a V with a hot iron, and then sent to their birthplace with a pass in the following form : — " A. B., Justice of Peace in the Countie of S, to the Mayor or - cheif officer of the Citie of (Q.) yf it be a citie, or to the hedde Boroughe Bailief or Constable, or hedd officer of the Towne of Q. yf it be a towne, or to the Constable or Tything-man of the Village of C. yf it be a village, greting ; According to a most godlie Statute made in the first yere of the Eeigne of our Soveraigne Lord King Edwarde the Sixte &c. We have taken this bearer I. 3L vagrauntlie and to the evill example of others withowt Master service or labor wherby to get his living going loytering idellie abowt ; and because the same saiethe he was borne in C. in the Countie of S. wherof youe ar the hedde officer or constable we have sent him to youe to be ordered according to the purporte and effecte of the same statute : and with this writing shall deliver the same loyterer to the Constables or other hed officer of the saide Citie Towne or Tillage wherin suche loyterer was taken to be saufelie conveyed by them to the next constable, and so from conestables to constables and other hedd officers til he or she be brought to the place to which he or she hath named themselfe to be borne in, and then to be delivered to the hedd officer or Constable of the same Citie Borough or Towne Tillage hamlett or parish e, there to .be nourished and kepte of_the^ same_Citie Towne or Tillage in chaynes either -at the Comen workes in amending highe waies or other Comen worke, or from man to man in order til theie which may beare be equallie charged, to be slave to the 92 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, \corporacon of the Citie or to the inhabitaunts of the Towne or jvillage that he or she were borne in, after all suche forme con- dicon space of yeres orders punishments for runninge awaie and all others as are expressed of a comon or private parsone to whome any suche loyterer is adjudged a slave ; and the saide Citie Towne or Village shall see the saide Slave being hable to labour sett on worke and not live idelie within the saide precincts, uppon payne that for everie suche defaulte that the said Slave doth live idellye by the defaulte of the Citie B or ouge or Towne or Vyllage by the space of three working daies to gether the Citie to forfaicte five poundes, a Boroughe or Towne Incorporate fourtie shillings and other Towne or Vyllage Twentie Shillings, whereof the one halfe to the King our Souveraigne Lorde, the other to him that will sue for the same in anny of the Kings Courtes of Recorde by bill Informacon, or Action of debte in the which suite no essoyne wager of Lawe or protection shall be allowed." Cities, &c, are empowered to let or sell such slaves. Vagabonds declaring a false place of birth are to be branded on the face with an S and become slaves there. Foreigners being vagrants are to be treated as English idle persons, except that they are not to be marked on the breast or face. They are to be sent to the next port, and there kept at work until they can be conveyed to their own country at the expense of the inhabitants of the port. The impotent poor are to be provided with lodging at the cost of the inhabitants of their birthplace, and no others are to be allowed to beg there under a penalty of 10s. for every three days each person begs there, the penalty being recoverable from the head officer of the place. Officers jm^JjO^gsaJH^ beggars monthly to th^ir_phic£s_Jif4)irth_or residence. All aged poor able _t.oJwork are^_be_emplgjed, and a weekly^ojl ection _of charity is to-b^-made^-clinnih_jQn-Sunday. Persons to whom beggars are to be adjudged as slaves are authorised to put a ring of iron about their, necks, arms, or legs. Any person helping to take this ring off without the permission of the master forfeits £10. Two years afterwards Sir John Cheke himself attests the failure of this Act in a little work styled the " Hurt of Sedicion howe greveous it is to a commune welth," written at the time of Ketfs rebellion in 1549. * He asks, " What say ye to y e numbre of vagabondes and loitring beggers, whiche after y e overthrow of AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 93 your campe and scatering of this seditious numbre, wyl swarme in every corner of the realme and not only lie loytering under hedges, but also stande sturdeli in cities, and begge boldly at every dore, leaving labour which they like not, and folowing idleness which they should not. For every man is easely and naturally brought from labour to ease, from the better to the worse, frome diligence to slouthfulness, and after warres it is com- munelye sene, that a great number of those whiche wente out honest, returne home againe like roisters and as though they were burnt to the warres botome, they have all their lyfe after an unsavery smacke therof, and smel stil towarde daieslepers, purse pikers, highwaie robbers, quarelmakers, ye and bloudsheders to. Do we not se comunely in thende of warres more robbing more begging more murdering then before, and those to stand in the high wai to aske their almes whom ye be afraied to say nai unto honestly, lest they take it awaye frome you violentlye, and have more cause to suspecte their strength, then pitie their nede. Is it not then dailye hearde, how men be not onlye pursued, but utterly spoiled, and fewe may ride safe by the kinge's waie, excepte they ryde stronge, not so muche for feare of their goodes, whiche menne esteme lesse, but also for daunger of their lyfe, which everye man loveth. Worke is undone at home, and loiterers linger in stretes, lurk in ale houses, range in highewaies, valiaunte beggers play in tounes, and yet complaine of neede, whose staffe if it be once hoat in their hande, or sluggishnes bred in their bosome, they wil never be allured to labour againe, contenting themselves better with idle beggary, then with honest and profitable labour. And what more noisom beastes be in a comune wealth ? Dranes in hives sucke oute the honie, a smal matter, but yet to be loked on bi good husbandes, caterpillers destroye the fruite, an hurtefull thinge and well shyfted for, by a diligente overseer. Diverse vermine destroye corne, kyll polleyne, enginnes and snares be made for them. "But what is a loyterer? A sucker of honye, a spoyler of corne, a destroyer of fruite. Kaye a waster of money, a spoyler of vytaile, a sucker of bloud, a breaker of orders, a seker of breakes, a queller of lyfe, a basiliske of the comune wealthe, whiche by companie and syght doeth poyson the whole contreye, and staineth honeste myndes wyth the infection of his venime, and so draweth the commune wealthe to deathe and destruction. 94 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, " Such is the fruites of your laboure and travayle for your pre- tensed commune wealthe, which justice wolde no man should taste of but yourselves, that ye myghte truelye judge of your owne mischiefe, and fraye other by example frome presumynge the lyke. " When wee se a great number of flyes in a yere, we naturally e judge lyke to bee a great plage ; aDd having so great a swarminge of loyteringe vagabondes, readie to begge and braule at every mannes doore, which declare a greater infection, can we not looke for a grevouser and perilouser daunger then the plage is ? " On the 6th of August of this year a proclamation was issued for the inhibition of all common players and plays, on the ground that they " do for the moste part plaie suche Interludes as contain matter tendyng to sedicion and contempnyng of sundery good orders and lawes, where upon are grow en, and are likely to growe and ensue, muche disquiet, division, tumultes, and uproares in this realme." This inhibition is directed against any kind of interlude, play, or dialogue, in any place public or private, and is to last from the 9th of August until the feast of All Saints next coming. This was followed by an order from the King to " certain special men in the Shires where tumults and risings have been/' directing the proclamation against idle vagabonds to be strictly enforced and stirrers up of tumults to be hanged without delay. The next enactment on the subject of vagrancy is the 3 & 4 Edw. VI., c. 16 (1549-50), which commences by reciting : — "Forasmuche as it is notoryouslye seen and knowen, that Yacabonds and Beggars doo daily e encreace within this the King's Highnes Realme in to verye great numbres, chieflye by occation of idlenes, mother and roote of all vyces, wherby doo insue contynuall thefts murthers conspiracies and other sondrye heynous offences, and partelye for that the good and holsome lawes and statutes of this P^ealme, hath not byn putt in dewe execution, and partelye allso by reason of the multitude of the same (thextremitie of some wherof have byn occation that they have not been putt in use)." It then proceeds to repeal the 1 Edw. VL, c. 3, and revives the 22 Hem VUL, c. 12, and enacts in addition that labourers refus- ing to work shall be punished as vagabonds ; that the sick and aged poor shall be relieved by the parishes where they were born and not suffered to beg ; that the aged poor able to work shall be employed ; that the leprous and bedridden poor shall not be forced AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 95 to remove, and that they may be allowed to appoint proctors to beg for them ; that the Lord Chancellor may grant commissions to leprous people and to persons who have had their houses or barns burnt to gather alms. Children between the ages of five and fourteen may be taken from beggars by any one willing to keep them, and if such children run away they are to be punished by being put in the stocks. Justices may discharge such children from service on misconduct of the master, and foreign beggars are ordered to be removed to their own countries. With the apparent object of providing more efficient means for the relief of the poor, another statute (5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 2, 1551-2) was passed in the succeeding year, by which the 22 Hen. VIII., c. 12, and the 3 & 4 Edw. VI., c. 16, are con- firmed, and two or more collectors of alms are ordered to be chosen in each city, town, parish, &c, and the alms are to be distributed weekly to the poor and impotent. The mode of collection prescribed is for the collectors, on the Sunday after "Whitsun Sunday, when the people are at church, " to gently ask of every man and woman what they of their charity will give weekly towards the relief of the poor/ 5 and the same is to be written in a book. If any person being able should obstinately and frowardly refuse to give towards the help of the poor, or wilfully discourage others from doing so, the parson and church- wardens are gently to exhort him, and if he will not be so persuaded, then the bishop is to send for him to induce and persuade him. The collectors are to be chosen by the parishioners, and a penalty of 20s. is imposed on any one who refuses the office. Immediately after this tinkers and pedlars appear to have attracted the notice of the authorities, and fallen under their ban as troublesome vagrants. The 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 21 (1551-2), recites that " Tynkers, Pedlers and such like vagrant persones are more hurtfull then necessarie and enacts that none such shall travel from place to place without license from two justices, under penalty of fourteen days' imprisonment. On the 28th April, 1551, a further proclamation was issued " for the reformacion of Vagabondes, tellers of newes, sowers of sedicious rumours, players, and printers without license & diuers other disordred persons." In this the King " is moste sory, and earnestly from the botom of his harte doth lament, and 96 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, so dooe all his counsailors to heare and se many of his subiectes to abuse dayly by their vicious and corrupt conuersations, that most precious Juell the worde of god, and by their licencious behauiors, leude and sedicious talkes, boldely and presumptuously without feare either of goddes plague or the swearde of their Prince, to breake continually the Lawes and statutes of the realme." It then proceeds to say that " the great fault for the continuaunce of the people in euill hath proceded for want of execution of the good Lawes and statutes of the realme, and especially the statutes made against vagaboundes, vnlaufull games, tellers of newes, Inuentors of tales and rumors, vnlauful assembles, riotes, rowtes, huntinges, fishinges, shoting in handgonnes, and Crossebowes, keping of ale houses, eating of flesh on fish daies, regrators, forstallers, breakers of thorder of religion and sundry other like statutes. . . . And for the better aduoiding of al suche inconueniences, his maiestie straightly chargeth and commaundeth all J ustices, Mayors, Shirifes, / baylifes, Constables, Hedboroughes, Tithing men, and al other Officers and ministers of what estate, degree, or condicion soeuer they be, from hencefurth to loke to their offices, and earnestly, truly, and vprightly, to execute and se executed, al his maiestie's Laws, Statutes, and proclamations . . . And for because that within the citie of London, ther is at this present a great number of idle persons & masteries men, which sek rather by Idlenes & mis- chief to Hue by other mens labours & industries the to trauail by any paynes takyng, to Hue like good and obedient membres of the com on welth : His maiesty straightlye chargeth and com- maundeth all maner of vagaboundes, and masteries men, vpon the paines, not onelie all ready appoynted by the Lawes and Statutes made for suche maner of menne, but also vpon suche paynes as his maiestie may and wil ordaine to be inflicted vpon them, by his prerogatiue ro} r al, to departe al suche out of the citie of London, and the suburbes of the same, within iiii dayes after the making of this proclamation home to the place where they wer borne, or wher they haue dwelt last thre yeres within the realme, goyng at the least vii miles a day (if they haue so farre to go from London) and passing not aboue ii or iii or iiii at the moste in a company, and not to abide aboue one night in a place, till they come home (except cause of sicknes, the same cause to be allowed by a Justice of the peace, dwelling next to the place where he or they shal fortune to be sicke) . And that al vaga- AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 97 bondes, and masteries men in al other places, within this realme, shall also within iiii dayes after the making of this proclamation in the next market towne, where they shal fortune to be, departe likewise to the place where they were borne, or last dwelled thre yeres within the realme, without lenger tarieng by the way, or going mo in company together, or fewer miles in a day, then aforesaid : And vpon like paynes as is aforesayd for them which departe from London.' * The proclamation then prohibits Printers, Booksellers, and Players of Interludes from printing any matter without the permission in writing of the King or his Privy Council upon pain of imprisonment without bail or mainprise. Common players or others are forbidden upon like pains to play any manner of interlude, play, or matter without special license in writing from his Majesty or six of his Privy Council. In the year 1549 the regulation of the Borders again formed the subject of a convention between the Governments of England and Scotland, and it was provided by Article 7 of the Treaty of Perpetual Peace then concluded — ' "That neither of the Princes by any means shall receive, or permit by their subjects to be received, any Murtherers, Thieves, Robbers, Run-a-ways, Rebels, or any other evil Doers whatsoever, which do decline unto any Place from the natural obedience of their Prince ; but within Ten days' next, and immediately follow- ing after, that one of the Princes hath been required by the Letter of the other Prince, of the which such malefactor is subject, or by his Deputy he shall cause to be delivered, to the bringer of such Letter or Request, the said Murtherers, Thieves, Robbers or Evil- doers. The reign of Mary opens with an Act (1 Marise, st. 2, c. 13, 1553) for continuing in force the 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 2. This was shortly followed by an Act for the punishment of gypsies (1 & 2 Phil. & Mar., c. 4). On the 18th of August, 1553, the Queen issued a proclama- tion forbidding the playing of interludes without her special license in writing, " vpon payne to incurre her highnesse indig- nation and displeasure." This was followed on the 17th of September, 1554, by a pro- clamation in the City of London, which ordered " that all vaga- bonds and maisterlesse men, as well strangers as Englishmen, should departe the citie within five daies : and strictlie charging H 98 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, all in holders, vittelers, taverners and ale-housekeepers, with all that sold vittels, that they (after the said five daies) should not sell anie meat, drinke, or anie kind of vittels or releefe to anie servingman whatsoever, unlesse he brought a testimoniale from his maister to declare whose servant he is, and were in continuall household with his said maister, upon paine to runne in danger of the law if they offend herein. " * This was no doubt rendered necessary by the insurrectionary spirit which was then abroad owing to the unpopularity of the Spanish marriage and the rigorous enforcement of the ecclesiastical laws, as well as to sympathy with the sufferers under "Wyat's insurrection. Disease, deformity, and wounds have always proved a most fruitful stock-in-trade for the beggar, so much so indeed that the afflicted rarely care to be cured. William Turner, in his " New booke of Spirituall physick" thus expatiates upon this perverse propensity in the year 1555 :— " When as of late yeares I practised bodely phisick in Eng- lande, in my lorde of Sumersettes house, diuers sick beggers came vnto me, & not knowyng that I was a phisician, asked of me myne almose. To whom I offered to heale their diseases for Goddes sake. But they went by and by awaye from me, and wolde none of that. For they had muche leuer be sick styll with ease and ydlenes, then to be hole & with great payne and labour, to earne honestly theyr lyuing." The 22 Hen. VIII., c. 12, and the 3 & 4 Edw. VI., c. 16, were confirmed in 1555 by 2 & 3 Phil. & Mar., c. 5, with the fol- lowing amendments : — On some day in Christmas collectors of alms are to be appointed yearly in each parish who are to solicit and distribute alms weekly. Collectors refusing to act are subjected to a penalty of 40s. Persons refusing to give are to be gently exhorted to do so by the parson, vicar, or curate and churchwardens ; if this persuasion fails the bishop of the diocese or the ordinary of the place is to send for them, to induce them to extend "their charitee as in this acte is well ment and intended, and so according to discre- tion to take order for the charitable reformacon of every suche obstinate person." * Holinslied. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 99 Gifts by King Henry VIII. for the relief of the poor are to be duly applied. Where the poor in any parish are too numerous for relief, the justices are empowered upon proper representation to license certain of them to beg outside the parish ; the license to state the exact limits within which the poor person is authorised to resort, and if he transgresses these limits he is to be punished under the statute 22 Hen. VIII. , and his license taken from him. Beggars so licensed are ordered to wear badges* to be provided by the mayor or head officer, both on the breast and back of his upper- most garment. All sums gathered in London are to be paid to and distributed by Christ's Hospital. The duration of the Act is limited to the end of the session of the next Parliament, but it was continued by the 4 & 5 Phil. & Mar., c. 9 (1557), because it had been found " good and beneficiall for the Common wealthe of this Realme." At Cambridge, in this year, " the vaga- bonds, naughtie an jolly persons," are stated to be "farrmore in numbre then hath been in tymes past." * The almesse men, instituted by Henry VII. to pray for his " good and prosperous state," wore a gown and hood, on which was embroidered a " scochyn " and a red rose crowned and embroidered thereupon," as appears from an indenture amongst the Harleian MSS. made between the King and J ohn Islipp, Abbot of St. Peter's, Westminster. A similar class of almsmen, called King's Bedesmen or Blue-gowns, were dependent on the Scotch kings, and wore, as distinguishing badges, a cloak of coarse cloth of a light blue colour and a pewter badge. | CHAPTER Y. 1558—1603. A ccession of Elizabeth — Legislation against vagabonds — Attempts to settle the rate of wages — General night search for vagabonds, beggars, and gypsies — Action of the City of London — Orders by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen- Returns of vagrants apprehended — Renewed legislation — Licenses to beg — Sir John More on Irish and Welsh vagabondage — The privileges of John Dutton and his heirs — Causes of the legislation against stage players and bearwards — Beggars at Bath and Buxton— Renewed search for vagabonds — Final manumission of bond slaves — Repression of vagrancy in the city — Internal management of houses of correction — Number of rogues and vagabonds — Repressive measures in the City — Treatment of vagrants at the house of a great nobleman — Proclamations against vagrants — Further legislation — Small tenements and beggars — Observance of fish days enjoined as a means of preventing idleness — State of vagabondism in 1596 — Further legislation for the relief of the poor and repression of vagrancy — The Border laws — Begging soldiers and mariners. We now come to the reign of Elizabeth, a reign distinguished by the wisdom of the Queen's councillors, and by the wisdom of the Queen in accepting such councillors. The first Act of this reign on the subject of vagrancy is the 5 Eliz., c. 3 (1562-3), which confirms the 22 Hen. VIII., c. 12, and 3 and 4 Edw. VI., c. 16, and practically re-enacts the 2 and 3 Phil, and Mar., c. 5, with the following differences. Col- lectors of alms are to be appointed on the Sunday after Mid- summer day : the penalty on collectors refusing to serve is in- creased to £10. Recalcitrant almsgivers who refuse to give on the solicitation of the bishop are bound under a penalty of £10 to appear at the next general session of justices, where they may be assessed to the relief of the poor, and on refusal to pay, may be imprisoned until they do pay. When the poor are too numerous to be relieved by the parish, the justices are empowered to license them to beg outside the VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY. 101 parish. The license is to state the exact limits within which the poor person is authorised to resort, and if he transgresses these limits he is to be punished under the statute 22 Hen. VIII. and his license taken from him. Beggars so licensed are ordered to wear badges to be provided by the mayor or head officer both on the breast and back of their uppermost garment. This was succeeded by another Act (5 Eliz. a, 4, 1562-3) which may be regarded as its corollary, as it aims at compelling every able-bodied person to work. "Wages are to be settled annually by the justices in session, aided by such discreet and grave persons as they shall think meet. It further enacts, — " That none of the said reteyned persons in Husbandry e, or in any the Artes or Sciences above remembred, after the tyme of his Peteyno* expired, shall departe foorthe of one Cytye Towne or Parishe to another, nor out of the Lathe Rape Wapentake or Hun- dred, nor out of the Countie or Shire where hee last served, to serve in any other Citie Towne Corporate Lathe Rape Wapentake Hundred Shiere or Countie onles he have a Testimoniall under the Seale of the said Citie or Towne Corporate, or of the Constable or Constables or other Head officer or Officers and of two other honest Housholders of the Citie Towne or parishe where he last served, declaring his laufull departure, and the name of the Shiere and Place where he dwelled last before his departure, according to the Forme hereafter expressed in this acte. " That no person or persons that shall departe out of Service shalbe reteyned or accepted into any other Service, w th out shewing before his Reteyno r suche Testimoniall as is above remembred, to the Chief Officer of the Towne Corporate, and in every other Towne and place to the Cunstable Curate Churchewarden or other Head officer of the same whej;e he shalbee reteyned to serve ; upon the payne that every suche servante so departing w th out such Certificate or Testimoniall shalbee imprysoned untill he procure a Testimoniall or Certificate, the whiche yf hee cannot doo w th in the space of xxj dayes next after the first daye of his imprysonment, then the sayd person to be whipped and used as a Vagabonde accord- ing to the Lawes in suche Cases provided ; and that every person reteyning any suche servauntew th out shewing suche Testimonyall or certificate as ys aforesaid, shall f orf aite for every suche Offence fy ve poundes : And yf any such person shalbe taken withe any countre- faite or forged Testimoniall, then to be whipped as a Vagabounde. 102 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, " That yf any Servant or Apprentice of Husbandrye or of any Arte Science or occupacon aforesaid, unlawfully departe or flye into anye other Shire, that it shalbe laufull to the said Justices of Peace and to the said Maiors Bailiefes and other Head officers of Cities Townes Corporate for the tyme being Justices of Peace there, to make and grante Writtes of Capias, so many and suche as shalbee nedefull, to be directed to the Shriefes of the Counties or to the others Head officer of the Places whither suche Servantes or Apprentices shall so departe or flye, to take theyr Bodies, returne- able before them at what tyme shall please them, so that yf they come by suche processe, that they bee put in prisone till they shall finde sufficient suretie well and honestlye to serve their M rs * Mais- tresses or Dames from they so departed or fledde according to thorder of the Lawe." * This was shortly followed by another severe enactment against the gypsies (5 Eliz., c. 20). On the 16th May, 1559, the Queen acting in continuance of the policy displayed in the proclamations of Edward YI. and Mary against stageplayers, by proclamation forbid all manner of interludes to be played either openly or privately, " except the same be notified before hande, and licenced within any citie or towne corporate by the Maior or other chiefe officers of the same, and within any shy re, by such as shalbe Lieuetenaunts for the Queenes Maiestie in the same shyre, or by two of the Justices of peax, inhabyting within that part of the shire where any shalbe played." Offenders are to be arrested and imprisoned for fourteen days or more as cause shall need. In the year 1569 the northern counties were in a disturbed state owing to the disaffection of the Catholics, who were in expectation of a papal bull for the deposition of the Queen, and as a consequence vagabondage increased not only there but in other parts of the kingdom. Strype says of this — " Anno 1569. " As the queen and her council had a jealousy of certain that went about in the north, and in other parts of the nation, as vagabonds, beggars, gamesters, and such like, whereof there were now great store, the lords of the council, in the month of March * The 2 and 3 Edw. VI., c. 15 (1548-9), imposes penalties on butchers, bakers, &c, conspiring to sell victuals only at certain prices, and on artificers conspiring as to the prices or times of work. The 3 and 4 Edw. VI. enacts that journeymen clothiers, weavers, tailors, and shoemakers are not to be hired for less than a quarter of a year. AND JBEGGABS AND BEGGING. 103 last past, had sent to the high sheriff of Yorkshire, to inquire after vagabonds and common rogues, and to punish them, and to make certificate of the same. And now the second time, in the month of June, they sent a larger letter to the said sheriff and the justices of the peace, for the redress of, and taking order about, this sort of people : enjoining this course now to be taken. First, that distributing themselves, with the help of other inferior officers, to cause a strict search, and a good strong watch to begin on Sunday at night, about nine of the clock on the 10th of July, in every town, village, and parish ; and to continue the same all the night, until four of the clock in the afternoon of the next day. And in that search, to apprehend all vagabonds, sturdy beggars, commonly called rogues or Egyptians, and also all idle, vagrant persons, having no master, nor no certainty how and whereby to live ; and them to be imprisoned. Directions were also given for passports, to send these idle persons home to their own countries. That the same search should be made monthly until the 1st of November, or longer, as they should see cause. And these orders they were to communicate to the officers of every corporate town. They were also to confer, how the statutes provided for avoiding all unlawful games, and especially of bowling, and maintenance of archery, might be speedily and roundly executed. And that if any of themselves were guilty hereof, to forbear for good example* sake ; and that it would be hard for them who were justices to observe their oaths, if they should commit such open hurtful offences themselves, which ought by them in their sessions to be inquired of and punished. They warned, that by no lewd practices of evil disposed, crafty persons, passing by them in the night, by pretences of watchwords, or the like devices, any raising of the people were made, as in some corners of the realm had been attempted, but stayed by the wiser men. That all tales, news, spreading of unlawful books, should be stayed, and sharply punished. And that if any of the justices should be negligent herein, the rest were required to advertise the queen's council thereof. This letter was signed by the lord keeper and many other great counsellors, containing these and other the like matters at large. " The 21st of June, that is, the day after the date of the former letter, the lords of the council wrote again to the lord lieutenant of the north, signifying that they had sent him the minutes of a letter written from them by the queen's commandment unto 104 VAGKANTS AND VAGKANCY, divers shires within the realm, concerning the searching for, and punishing vagabonds, rogues, and other idle and disorderly persons. And they required his lordship to cause this order to be notified by his letters unto those shires that were within the compass of his commission, with strait charge to return their certificates unto him of their doings, that he might signify the same unto the council. " This was a notable search: for it was so ordered, that it was made throughout the whole realm, or at least the most suspicious parts of it, on one and the same day. And I find it had this issue, (which is almost incredible,) that thirteen thousand master- less men throughout the nation, first and last, were taken up upon this search. Which undoubtedly very much brake the in- tended and attempted insurrections this year." The City of London especially bestirred itself in the work, as appears by the following order : — "Anno 1569. For the preventing of all idle persons and begging people, whether Men, Women, or Children, or other masterless Vagrants, an effectual Order was made in April the said Year, to take them all up, and to dispose of them in some of the four Hospitals of London, by the sixteen Beadles belonging to the same. Who had their several Standings and Walks in every Ward. Those that were Vagabonds and sturdy Beggars, they were to carry to Bridewel. Those that were aged, impotent, sick, sore, lame or blind, to St. Bartholomew's or St. Thomas's Hospital. And all Children under the Age of sixteen to Christ's Hospital. And this order was made at a Meeting of the Governours of all the Hospitals. " Fyrste. That there do attend at all the Gates of this Cittie everie Morninge from three of the Clocke, until seven in the Fore- none, and from seven in the Eveninge, untill eleven at Nyght ; and also at theTyde tymes fallingein the Night, as well at Byllingsgate, as at Lyon's Keye, one of the sayde xvj Beadles thear to watche the coming of all Vagabonnds, Beggers, Children, and Masteries Men and Women : To the intent they may by them be apprehended. Provided allwaies, That the saide Beadles so agree and accord together, that they indifferentlie appoynt themsellves for the accomplishment of their Attendance in this behalf, so that one attend as moch, and as often as another. i( Ltem, That the Beadelle (in whose Circuite standeth anie of the Gates of this Cittie) faile not to see the same Gates continually attended all the Daie long, from vij of the Clock in the Forenone, AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 105 until vij at Night : And soche other of them as be not occupied at the Gates, to continue in walking the Circuite whereunto they are appointed. "Item, In walking their circuites before mencioned, that they fail not to go once every Daie to the Collectours Houses, in every Parish within the Circuit ; to understand of them or some of their Neighbours, if either Yacabonnde, Beggers, Children, or Masteries Men or Women be in the Streates of their Parrishes ; that by them they may be Apprehended. " Item, That one of the said Beadles twyse everie Daie (that is to saie at vij a Cloke in the Morninge, and at one in the Afternone) shall repaire to the Treasurar of the Howse wheare he serveth, to knowe his pleasure. " Item, For London Bridge, the Barges of Gravesende and other Tide Boates coming up in the Daie tyme, the better to apprehend the Vagabonds, Beggers, Children, and Masterlesse men and Women, and the Bringers of them, Whereuppon there is iiij of the same xvj Beadells appoynted to attend every Day ; that is to saie, ij of them from vij of the Clocke in the Morninge, untill one at After- none ; and th'other twaine for to be ij of St. Thomas Eospitall onlie, for that it is in their owne Circuite ; and they to remaine from one of the Clocke until vij at Night ; and one of the twaine (when the Tyde happeneth in Tyme of theire Attendance, either in the Forenone or Afternene), shall repaire \>o Billing eg ate, and to the Lyon Key, to the Purpose before declared : Provided alwayes that one of the same ij Beadles thear appointed, be one of them last admitted : to th' Intent he may growe the more perfect in his Dewtie, by th' Instruction of his Fellowe." * About the year 1570 in order to prevent the spread of infection and to hinder " idle persons " from carrying it about with them, the following orders amongst others were issued by the Lord Mayor and aldermen : — " Vagrant, Maisterles, and Poore People. " 1. That all such as be diseased be sent to S tm Thomas or S 1 ' Bartylmeives Hospital, there to be first cured and made cleane ; and afterwards, those which be not of the Cyttye, to be sent awaie according to the Statute in that case provided ; and the other to be sett to worke in such Trades as are lest used by the Inhabitants of the Cyttye, for the avoyding all such Yagrant Persons, as well Children Male and Female ; Soldiers lame and maymed, as other * Stow enlarged by Strype. 106 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, idle and loytering Persons that swarme in the Streets, and wander upp and downe begging, to the great danger and infecting of the Cyttye, for th' Increase of the Plague, and annoyance to the same. "2. That all Maisterlesse men who live idelie in the Cyttye, without any lawfull Calling, frequenting Places of common Assemblies, as Interludes, gaming Howses, Cockpitts, Bowling- Allies, and such other Places, maie be banished the Cyttye, ac- cording to the Lawes in that case provyded. " All which Orders abovesaid, the Aldermen and their Deputies are every one in their Place to see performed, both in them selves and others, and in cases of doubt, to yield their Opinions, and gyve Direction."* In 1570 the State papers furnish returns of beggars appre- hended in Fawlesley and Cleyley hundreds in Northamptonshire, and in 1571 numerous returns of vagabonds apprehended and punished in various places in the counties of Essex, Notts, Glou- cester, Oxford, Kent, Surrey, Worcester, Northampton, Hereford, Leicester, Stafford, Hunts, Cambridge, and the Isle of Ely. The character of the punishment is set forth in some. In the lathe of Aylesford in Kent "13 men and women were stocked and whipped severely." In Northamptonshire " 5 men and 2 women were stocked and whipped,'' and at Daventry " 1 man and 6 women were taken and whipped." These vigorous measures were succeeded in the year 1572 by a most comprehensive enactment against the evil due probably in a great measure to Cecil, the High Treasurer, as from a memo- randum in the calendar of State papers it appears that so early as the year 1566 he had sketched a definition of the term vaga- bond. This Act, 14 Eliz., c. 5, is styled "An Acte for the Punishe- ment of Vacabondes, and forHelief of the Poore & Impotent." It repeals the 22 Hen. VIII., c. 12, 3 & 4 Edw. VI., c. 16, and 5 Eliz.,c. 3, and enacts that persons above the age of fourteen " being Boges, Vacabonds, or sturdy Beggers," taken begging shall be com- mitted to gaol until the next session, and that parishes shall pay the expenses of conveying offenders. Rogues and vagabonds on con- viction are " to bee grevouslye whipped, and burnte through the gristle of the right Eare with a hot Iron of the compasse of an Inch about," except some honest person will take them into service for * Stow enlarged by Strype. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 107 a year. A beggar quitting such service is to be whipped and burnt as before ordered. Beggars offending a second time are to be deemed felons unless some one will take them into service for two years. For a third offence they are to suffer as felons without benefit of clergy. The following classes are punishable under the Act : — " Proctours or Procuratours goinge in or about any Countrey or Countreys within this Realme, without sufficyent Aucthoritye deryved from or under our Soveraigne Ladye the Queene, and all other ydle persones goinge aboute in any countrey of the said Realme, usyng subtill craftye and unlawfull Games or Playes, and some of them fayninge themselves to have knowledge in Phis- nomye Palmestrye or other abused Scyences, whereby they beare the people in Hand they can tell their Destiny es Deathes and For- tunes and suche other lyke fantasticall Imiginacons ; and all and every persone and persones beynge whole and mightye in Body and able to labour, havinge net Land or Maister, nor using any lawfull Marchaundize Crafte or Mysterye whereby hee or shee might get his or her Lyvinge, and can gyve no reckninge howe hee or shee dothe lawfully get his or her Lyvinge ; & all Fencers Bearewardes Comon Players in Enterludes & Minstrels, not be- longing to any Baron of this Realme or towards any other honor- able personage of greater Degree ; all Juglers Pedlars Tynkers and Petye Chapmen ; whiche said Fencers Bearewardes comon Players in Enterludes Mynstrels Juglers Pedlars Tynkers & Petye Chapmen, shall wander abroade and have not Lycense of two Jus- tices of the Peace at the leaste, whereof one to be of the Quorum, wher and in what Shier they shall happen to wander ; and all Comon Labourers being persons able in Bodye using loytering and refusinge to worke for such reasonable wages as ys taxed and comonly gyven in suche partes where such persones do or shall happen to dwell ; and all Counterfeytures of Lycenses Passeportes and all users of the same, knowing the same to be counterfeyte ; and all Scollers of the Universityes of Oxford or Cambridge y* goe about begginge, not beinge aucthorysed under the Seale of the said Universities, by the Comyssarye Chauncelour, or Yicechauncelour of the same ; and all Shipmen pretendinge Losses by Sea, other then suche as shalbe hereafter provided for ; and all persones delivered out of Gaoles that begge for their Fees or do travayle to their Coun- treys or Freends, not having Lycense from two Justices of the Peace 108 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, of the same County e where he or she was delyvered ; shalbe taken, adjudged, and deemed Roges Vacaboundes, and Sturdy Beggers." Any person giving " harboroughe money or lodgynge " to any such is liable to a penalty of 20s. Shipmen and soldiers licensed* by two justices, cockers or har- vest folk in search of work, persons robbed on the highway, ser- vants of honest behaviour turned away by their masters or whose masters had died, are exempted from the Act. Rogues under fourteen are to be punished with " whippinge or stockinge as heretofore hath been used," and constables neglect- ing to apprehend vagabonds are liable to a penalty of 6s. 8d. Justices of peace are ordered to register all aged and impotent poor born or for three years resident in their several districts, and settle them in convenient habitations, and ascertain the weekly charge, and assess the amount on the inhabitants, and yearly appoint collectors to receive and distribute the assessment. Mayors of cities and constables of hundreds are empowered to receive any poor, not being leprous or bedridden, to their proper districts. The poor leaving their settlements are to be deemed rogues and vagabonds, and if they refuse such work as they are able, are punishable by whipping and stocking for the first refusal, and as rogues and vagabonds for a second. Persons refusing to contri- bute to the relief of the poor may be committed to prison until they comply. Beggar's children between the ages of five and four- teen may be taken by any one willing to take them into service, females until the age of eighteen and males until twenty-four. The penalties prescribed by the Statute , of Labourers being en- * The following is the form of a " License to begge," as used in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. : — " To T. T. C. and J. J. esquires, justices for the conservation of the peace of our Soveraigne Ladie the Queene's Majestie, within the countie of etc. assigned, greeting. Whereas the bearer hereof, M. N. of B in the sayd countie, beeing a very poore man and blinde, by reason whereof hee is not able to labour nor yet to live of himselfe without the chari- table relief of others, and being now resident in the said town, is therefore now to be relieved. And being likewise informed that the said towne is at this present charged with more poore and impotent folks than it is well able to relieve ; know ye, that wee the saide justices have licenced and allowed the said poore man and his leader to goe abroad to beg, gather, and receive the charitable almes of well disposed people, inhabiting within the Hundred of,&c, in the said countie, requiring you not to molest or trouble the said poore man or his leader for so doing, but desiring you rather to relieve them in their necessitie, as to you shall seeme meete. This our licence to remain in force one whole yeare next ensuing the date hereof." AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 109 forceable against any child quitting such service or any one enticing him or her to quit. " Provyded also that no person or persons havinge chardgeof any Viage* inpassinge from the Realme of Ireland or from the Isle of Manne into this Realme of England, do from the laste daye of June next corny nge, wittingly or wyllingly transporte bringe cary or convey gh or suffer to be transported brought caryed or conveyed in any Shippe Picarde f Vessell Boate or Boates, from and out of the said Realme of Ireland, or from or out of the said Isle of Manne, into the Realme of England and Wales or any parte thereof, any Vacabond Roge or Beggar or any suche as shalbe forced or very lyke to lyve by begging ... on payne ... to forfeyte and lose for every suche Vacabond, Roge Beggar or other person Twentye Shillinges of lawfull Englyshe Money. " Yf any suche Maniske or Iry she Roge Yacabounde or Beggar ben alredy or shall at any tyme hereafter be set on Land in any parte of England or of Wales, the same shalbe conveyghed to the next port in or neer whiche they were landed, and from thence be transported, at the com on chardge of the Countye where they were set on Land, into those partes from whence they came or were transported. " Whereas a greate number of pore and dyseased people do resorte to the Cytye of Bath . . . and the Towne of Buckston, for some Ease and Reliefe of their Diseases at the Bathes there, And by meanes thereof the Inhabitauntes of the same Cytye of Bathe and Towne of Buckstone are greatly overchardged with the same poore people, to their intolerable chardge ... no dyseased or ympotent poore person living on Almes . . . shall resorte or repayre from their Dwellinge places to the said Cytie . . . and Towne . . . unlesse . . . not onely lycensed so to do by two Justices . . . but also provided for by the Inhabitauntes of such . . . Places from whence they shall be so lycensed to travayle." If a town has more poor than it can relieve, the justices are empowered to license certain of them to beg beyond its limits. A proviso appears exempting the privileges of John Dutton and his heirs in the county of Chester from the provisions of the Act. J The continuance of the Act is limited to seven years. * Passage boat. . t A sort of boat of about fifteen tons used on the Severn. % The origin of this curious exemption is as follows. Randal surnamed Blandeville, Earl of Chester, was about the year 1210 suddenly besieged by the Welsh, in the castle of Khuddlan in Flintshire ; whereupon he 110 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, It will be observed that Manx beggars are for the first time mentioned in this Act. The Irish and Welsh have several times been mentioned before, and according to Sir Thomas More their dishonesty was only equalled by their gross superstition. " And comenly in y e wild Yrishe and some in Wales to, as men say, whan thei go forth in robbing, thei blisse them & pray God send them good speede y* they may mete with a good purse and doo harme and take none." * The principal reason for the ban upon unlicensed players in interludes was to protect the interests of the better class of players, who were nearly all patronised by some of the great lords and attached to their service. Stow, speaking of actors at this period, says : — " Comedians and stage-players of former times were very poore and ignorant, in respect of these of this time, but being nowe growne very skilfull and exquisite actors for all matters, they were entertained into the service of divers great Lords, out of which companies, there were xii of the best chosen, and at the request of Sir Francis Walsingham, they were sworne the Queens sent to his Constable of Cheshire, one Roger Lacy, to hasten, with what force he could, to his relief. It happened to be on Midsummer-day, when a great fair was then held at Chester. Roger got together a great mob of fiddlers, players, cobblers, &c. and marched immediately to the relief of the earl ; and the Welsh perceiving a great multitude approaching raised the siege and fled. The earl being thus freed came back with his Constable to Chester ; and in memory of this service, by a charter granted to Roger Lacy and his heirs, power over all the fiddlers, letchers, whores, and shoemakers in Chester. About the end of the reign of King John, or beginning of K. Hen. III., Roger Lacy being dead, his son John by deed granted to one Hugh Dutton his steward, and to his heirs, the rule and authority overall the letchers and whores in all Cheshire, in these words : Sciant prcesentes et futuri, quod ego Johannes Constabularius Cestriae, dedi et concessi, et hac prwsenti charta mea confirmavi Hugoni de Dutton et heredibus suis, magistratum omnium leccatorum et meretricum totius Cestriaz, sic ut liberibus illium magistratum teneo de comite, salvo jure meo mihi et hwredi- bus rneis. Under this grant the heirs of Dutton kept a yearly court at Chester on Midsummer-day, being Chester fair, and in a solemn manner rode attended through the city to St. John Baptist's Church, with all the fiddlers of the country playing before the lord of Dutton, and then at the court renewed their licenses yearly ; and none were entitled to act as minstrels or fiddlers, either within the city or country, but by an order and licence of that court." The license in 1642 cost 2s. 2d., and in 1666 2s. 6d. ; after this the privilege, pro- bably from the difficulty of enforcing it, must have gradually dwindled in value until it became worthless, as no licensing court appears to have been held subsequent to the year 1756. The last mention of the privilege is in the 17 Geo.- II., c. 5(1743-4), and it therefore continued in force until this statute was repealed by the 3 Geo. IV., c. 40 (June 24, 1822). * A " Dialogue of Sir Thomas More Knyghte." AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. Ill servants, & were allowed wages, and liveries, as groomes of the chamber : and untill this yeere 1583, the Queene hadde no players. Amongst these xii players, were two rare men, viz. Thomas Wilson, for a quicke delicate refined extemporall witte, and Richard Tarleton for a wondrous plentifull pleasant extemporall wit, hee was the wonder of his time : hee lyeth buryed in Shore- ditch Church." Minstrels were restrained on account of their being frequently the propagators of seditious ditties, and the reason for including bearwards in the Act is given by Harrison in the following terms : — " From among which companie our bearewards are not excepted, and just cause : for I have read that they have either voluntarilie, or for want of power to master their savage beasts, beene occasion of the death and devoration of manie children in sundrie countries by which they have passed, whose parents never knew what was become of them. And for that cause there is and have beene manie sharpe lawes made for bearwards in Germanie, whereof you may read in other." Bear-baiting was under the Tudor sovereigns a very popular amusement, and according to Sir Thomas More was more attrac- tive to many people than church- going. ' ' At Beverley late, much of the people being at a bear baiting, the Church fell sodenly down at evensong time, and overwhelmed some that were in it. A good fellow that after heard the tale told, ' So/ quod he, ' now may you see what it is to be at evensong when you should be at the bear baiting.' " And Robert Laneham, in his famous letter from Kenilworth in 1575, thus describes the bear-baitings which took place there : — " Thursday, the foourteenth of this Iuly, and the syxth day of her Maiestyez cumming, a great sort of bandogs * whear then tyed in the vtter Coourt, and thyrteen bearz in the inner . . . " Well, syr, the Bearz wear brought foorth intoo the Coourt, the Dogs set too them, too argu the points eeuen face too face : they had learned coounsell allso a both parts: what may they be coounted parciall that are retaind but a to syde ?f I ween no. Very feers, both ton and toother, & eager in argument : if the dog in plea- dyng woould pluk the bear by the throte, the bear -with trauers woould claw him again by the skalp, confess & a list, but a-vovd a * A variety of the mastiff. t On one side. 112 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, coold not, that waz bound too the bar : and hiz coounsell tolld him that it coold bee too him no pollecy in pleading. " Thearfore thus, with fending & proouing, with plucking & tugging, skratting,* and byting, by plain tooth & nayll a to side & toother, such exspens of blood & leather f waz thear between them, az a moonths licking (I ween) wyl not recoouer : and yet remain az far oout az euer they wear. " It waz a sport very pleazaunt, of tbeez beastz : to see the bear with his pink nyez + leering after his enmiez approch, the nimblness & wayt § of the dog too take hiz auauntage, and the fors & experiens of the bear agayn to auoyd the assauts : if he wear bitten in one place, hoow he woold pynch in an oother too get free : that if he wear taken onez, then what shyft, with byting, with clawyng, with roring, tossing & tumbling, he woold woork too wynde hym self from them : and when he waz lose, to shake hiz earz twyse or thryse wyth the bind & the slauer aboout his fiznamy, || waz a matter of a goodly releef." Reasons equally as good as those which prompted the inclusion of Players, Minstrels, and Bearwards in the Act no doubt existed for the inclusion of the rest of the classes specified in the category of vagabonds ; in fact we have already seen why in the reign of Edward III. fencers were looked upon as noxious characters. The punishments in this Act, it will be noticed, are increased in severity ; but as a counterbalance increased provision is made for the compulsory relief of the impotent poor. The clauses in the Act referring to the number of poor resorting to Bath and Buxton are no doubt due to two causes — the indiscriminate belief among the ignorant poor in remedies of universal virtue, and the cer- tainty that at those places the richer people afflicted with diseases would sympathise with their poorer brethren similarly situated. During the year 1572 returns continue to be made to the Council of vagabonds apprehended and punished in various coun- ties ; and combined with this, in several instances, is a peculiar notification from the justices that they have appointed searchers to detect all persons eating or dressing flesh on fast days. The curious ordinance to which this is a response, and which will be noticed hereafter, was not, as might at first be supposed, an edict in favour of a religious observance of fast days, but a measure intended to benefit fishermen by increasing the consumption of fish. * Scratching. + A slang term for skin. J Eyes. § Watch. || Face. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 113 The repressive measures against vagrancy were continued during the year 1573, as is apparent from a warrant directed to the sheriff and justices of the peace of the county of Monmouth, which states : — " Wherein it were not amisse that the order heretofore pre- scribed to them (the Sheriff and Justices of the Peace) for appointing overseers of good rule in every parish were eftsoon put in execution with no less perse veraunce to thexecution of the lawes against vagabonds, idle persons, loyterers, and such as cannot yeld accompt of their way of livinge within the compasse of the lawe lately provided^ in that behaulf." The year 1574 is rendered memorable by a Commission issued by the Queen for the purpose of bringing about the enfranchise- ment of her bondmen and bondwomen ; and though it is possible that isolated instances of this form of servitude may still have continued to linger in a few localities, as this appears to be the last occasion in which villenage is mentioned in a collective form, it is worth while to quote this important document text- ually. The Commission is directed " To our right trustie and wel beloved Counsellor, Sir William Cecill of the Garter Knighte LordBurghley and High Treasorer of England, and to our trustie and right well-beloved Counsellor Sir Walter Mildmay Knight Chauneellor and Undertresorer of our Exchequier, Greetinge. " Whereas divers and sundrie of our poore faithf ull and loyall Subjects, beinge borne Bonde in Blode and Regardaunt to divers and sundre our Manners and Possessions within our Realm of England, have made humble Suyte unto Us to be Manumysed Enfraunchi&ed and made Free, with theire Children and Sequells, by reason whereof they theire Children, and Sequells may become more apte and fitte members for the service of Us and of our Common Wealthe, " We therefore, " Having tender consideration of their said Sute, and well con- sideringe the same to be acceptable unto Almightie God who in the begininge made all Mankinde free, for the tender Love and Zeale whiche We beare to our saide Subjects, and for the speciall trust and confidence whiche We have in your approved Wisedomes and Fidelities, " Do name and appoynte you two our Commissioners, and do by these presents, for Us ou' Heires and Successors, give full Power l 114 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, and Auctoritie to you two our said Commissioners, that you, either by your warrant in writing subscribed with your own Hands and Seales, or otherwise by Commission from Us and in our Name, under the Seale of our Courte of Exchequier, shall and may accord- inge to your Discretions nomynate and appoynte any Person or Persons, for Us and in our Name, to enquire of all or any our Bondmen and Bondwomen with their Children and Sequells, and of all theire Goodes Chattells Landes Tenementes and Hereditaments within the severall Counties of Cornwall Devon Somersett and Gloucester and of what Valewe the same be of, and that suche Person and Persons, so by you named and appoynted to enquyre as aforesaide by force or vertue of any suche Warrante or Commis- sion as aforsaid, shall within convenient tyme make or cause to be made Peturne of every suche Warrant and Commission, with true Certificats in Writinge under their Handes and Seales of all their doings concerning the Premisses unto our said Courte of Ex- chequier. " And do commy tt and give unto you full Power and Aucthoritie by these Presentes, to accepte admitte and Receive to be Manu- mysed Enfranchesed and made Free, suche and so many of our Bondmen and Bondwomen in Blood, with all and every their Children and Sequells, theire Goodes Landes Tenements and Hereditaments as are now apperteynynge or regardaunte to all or any of our Mannors Landes Tenements Possessions or Hereditaments within the said several Counties of Cornwall Devon. Somerset and Glouc. as to you by your Discretions shall seme meete and convenient, compoundinge with them for suche resonable Fines or Sommes of Money to be taken and received to our Use for the Manumyssion and Enfranchesment, and for the Possessions, and enjoying all and singuler theire Landes Tenements Hereditaments Goodes and Chattells whatsoever as you and they can aggree for the same after your Wisdomes and Discretions. " From the list of counties given in this document, it would almost seem as if the bondmen and bondwomen mentioned in it must have been the descendants of South British Celts, who had been enslaved by their conquerors, as it will have been noticed, in the early part of this work, that during the Anglo-Saxon period the Celtic population predominated within the area extending from Cornwall upwards along the estuary of the Severn. The physical difference between the ^west classes of the two races must originally have been very marked, as St mho says of AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 115 the British slaves, " The men are taller than the Celti, with hair less yellow ; and slighter in their persons. As an instance of their height, we ourselves saw at Rome some youths who were taller by so much as half a foot than the tallest there ; but they were distorted in their lower limbs, and in other respects not sym- metrical in their conformation. " Giraldus Cambrensis, writing of Ireland in the twelfth century, says he has " never seen in any other nation so many individuals who were born blind, so many lame, maimed, or having some natural defect." While, on the other hand, we know by the story of St Gregory that the Anglo- Saxon slaves exhibited for sale at Rome in the sixth century were remarkable for their comeliness. The more substantial though coarse fare of the Anglo-Saxons and the gradual amalgamation of the two races no doubt in course of time effected a change in the physical appearance of the conquered tribes. This Commission may be taken as a record of the extinction of villenage in England owing to natural causes, due partly to the energetic struggles of the labourer to obtain his freedom and partly to the self-interest of the lord, who, finding it impossible any longer to enforce servile labour to his own profit, was no doubt glad to obtain some pecuniary compensation for surrender- ing rights which must have become of little value to him. The rigorous repression of vagrancy in the City appears to have been attended with good results, as in the year 1575 Stow tells us that " by the care of Fleetwood the Recorder, and the other Magis- trates, there were few or no Rogues and Thieves in Goal. For the Lord Keeper Bacon, in the montt of August, sitting in the Star- Chamber, and according to the Order calling for the Book of Misbehaviours of Masterless Rogues, Fencers, and such like, there was none to present for London. Tho' for Surrey there were five or six Strumpets, that had lately been punished at the Assizes at Croyden. And Westminster, the Dutchy, (that is, the places about St Clements arid the Savoy) St. Giles, High Hol- bourn, St. John's Street and Islington (great Harbours of such mis- demeaned Persons) were never so well and quiet. For Rogue nor masterless Man dared now once to appear in those Parts. Into such good Order had the Care of the Magistrate at this time brought the City and Suburbs." In the year 1575-6 some additions were made to the 14 Eliz., c. 5, by the 18 Eliz., c. 3. Under this Act Rogues are to be conveyed by constables from parish to parish until they reach i 2 116 Y AGE ANTS AND VAGRANCY, the common gaol, and houses of correction are ordered to he provided for punishing and employing rogues, and unsettled poor. Impotent persons being relieved under 14 Eliz., c. 5, and found begging are to be whipped for the first offence, and punished as rogues and vagabonds for subsequent offences. The following document * gives an excellent picture of the power vested in the Chief Officer of a House of Correction at this period, and of the internal management of such a house : — " Orders, Rules, and Directions, concluded, appointed, and agreed uppon by us the Justices of the Peace within the countie of Suffolk, assembled at our Grenerall Sessions of Peace holden at Bury the 22th daie of Aprill, in the 31st yeare of the Raigne of our Sou- raigne Lady the Queen's Majestie, for the punishinge and sup- pressinge of Roags, Vacabonds; idle, loyteringe, and lewde persons; which doe or shall hereafter wander and goe aboute, within the hundreths of Thingo cum Bury, Blackborne, Thedwardstree, Cosford, Babings, Risbridge, Lackford, and the halfe-hundreth of Exninge, in the said countie of Suffolk, contrary to the Lawes in that case made and provided. . . . "Item, It is ordered and agreed uppon, that the Justices dwell- inge in every severall division aforesaid, shall name, appointe, and putt in office, one able and honest man for every of the hundreths and ly mitts aforesaid, (yf they shall think good), whoe shal be named or called the Forren officer of the house of correction ; and those men so agreed uppon and theire lymitts sett downe and appointed, they shall onely employe the most parte of their travells in goinge or rydinge from towne to towne, and to all faiers, marketts, and other places of meetings and assemblies, from tyme to tyme, within theire severall lymitts to which it is likely that any of the persons aforenamed shall resorte ; as also to make dili- gente search within every place of the limitts appointed unto hym, whether any such person be dwellinge, remayninge, or wandering there ; and that all such person or persons which eyther by serch, inquirie, or other intelligence, shal be founde owte, shal be attached, and either by himself or some constable of that place, carried before one of her Majestic' s Justices dwellinge in these limitts, to be by hym committed to the gayle or house of correction, as cause shall require. " Item, We doe order that the said forren officer shall have * Harleian MSS. British Museum, No. 364. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 117 authoritie within his said lvmitts to charge the constable of everie parishe and towne where he shall fynde any of the afore- said wanderinge or loyteringe persons before recited, to helpe to attach them presently, and to convey them to the next J ustice as is aforesaid, whereby he may be committed to the gay oil or house of correction, as the Justice shall thinke good. . . . " The constables of every towne that shal be charged by any Justice of Peace with the carriage of any of those idle persons to the said house of correction, shall have some allowance, so as the same shall not exceade above one halfpenny the myle, to be accompted from the towne where the same~ constable shall dwell the next and nerest waie to the said house of correction. . . . " Item, It is ordered and agreed uppon, that every stronge or sturdie roag, at his or her fyrst enterance into the said house, shall have xij stripes uppon his beare skynne with the said whipp pro- vided for the said house ; and every yong roage, or idle loyterer, vj stripes with the said whipp in forme aforesaid. And that every one of them, withowte fayle, at their first comminge into the said house, shall have putt uppon hym, her, or them, some clogge, cheine, collers of iron, ringle, or manacle, such as the keper of the said house shall thinke meete, so as he maie answere for every one, as well for his forth comminge ; as also that they shall be quiett, and doe noe hurte for the time they shall contynue in the said house. . . . (( Item, It is ordered, that such whippes as shall be made, ordeyned, or appoynted for the punishment of such idle persons, roags, vacabonds, or sturdie beggers, or such like people, as for theire idlenes, wantones, and lewde demenour, shal be sente thether, shal be made with twoe cordes withowte knotts ; and the partie that shall receyve this punishment shall have his or theire clothes turned of theire shoulders to the beare skynne downe to the waste, and then have that correction by the whipp as before sett downe and appointed for them. " Item, It is ordered, that all unrulie and stubborne persons shal be corrected oft'ner, and used both with harder cloggs, shackles, irons or both, and with thinner diett and harder labour, untyll he or she shall be brought to reasonable obedience and sub- mission to the keper of the said house ; and that every person that shall stubbornely refuse to labour and worke, as he or she shal be appointed by the keper of the said house, or shall not be quiett or 118 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, obedient to his commandement to be ordered accordinge to the rules of tbe said bouse, shall, for his or her fyrst refusall, have fower stripes with the said whipp, and shall have a clogge, shackle, or cheine putt uppon him ; and for his or her second refusal, shall have vj stripes with the said whipp ; and the thurde tyme that he or she shall, after these corrections, refuse, and be still obstinate in obeyeinge the said commaundement of the said keper, then every such person shall, by one of the said Justices of the Peace dwellinge within the hundreths and ly mitts, uppon just complainte made unto hym or them thereof, to be committed to the next gayle, there to be punished as a roage accordinge to the statute. . . . " Item, It is ordered, that every person committed to the said house, shall have for their dietts, theis portions of meate and drinke followinge, and not above, (viz.) At every dynner and supper on the fleshe daies, bread made of rye, viij ounces troye waight, with a pynte of porredge, a quarter of a pound of fleshe, and a pinte of beare, of the rate of iijs. a barrell, every barrell to conteyne xxxvj gallands ; and on every fyshe daie at dynner and supper the like quantitie, made eyther of milk or pease or such lyke, and the thurd part of a pound of chese, or one good heringe, or twoe white or redd, accordinge as the keper of the house shall thinke meete. " Item, It is ordered, that such persons as will applie theire worke, shall have allowance of beare and a little bread between meales, as the keper of the house shall fynd that he doth deserve in his said worke. " Item, It is ordered, that they which will not worke shall have noe allowance but bread and beare onley, untill they will conforme themselves to worke. . . . "Item, Yt is ordered, that all such persons as have any noto- rious infective decease uppon him, shall not be sente to the said house of correction to remayne there, but onely at the discretion of such Justices of the Peace before whome any such person shall be brought, shall and m'aie by them be sente to the said house, there to be whipped, as they shall appoynte ; and thereuppon to be conveied from thence to the place of theire byrth, or last abode three years, according to the statute. " Item, It is ordered, that all such persons as shall be sent to the said house of correction, and shall have any yonge children AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 119 that shall wander about with them and not able to worke ; that all such children, duringe the abode of such persons within the said house, shall be found with meate, drinke, and lodginge convenient, at the charge of the keper of the said house." Of the number of rogues and vagabonds wandering about at this period Harrison, writing in the year 1577, thus speaks : — " It is not yet full threescore yeares since this trade began : but how it hath prospered since that time, it is easie to judge ; for they are now supposed, of one sex and another, to amount unto above 10,000 persons ; as I have heard reported." ~ The " trade " to which Harrison alludes is that of professional mendicity carried on in a corporate fashion by organised wander- ing gangs. In the year 1579 the Council write to the Bishop of Norwich and the justices of Norfolk to commend their exertions in the erecting of a " fourme for the punishment of loyterers, stubborne servantes, and the setting of vagabondes, roagues, and other idle people to work, after the manner of Bridewell." The repressive measures against vagrancy in the City of London were at this time continued with good effect, as Stow tells us that — " Recorder Fleetwood had set up Privy Searches in London for the better finding out of loose and dangerous Persons, who about these times exceedingly pestered the City. In these Privy Searches he employed trusty Officers to go about secretly into the obscurer Parts, to seek for Eogues and Thieves. By which course he at last almost cleared the Town of them. In the year 1581, soon after Christmas, were brought into Justice Hall above an hundred Persons taken in one Night's Privy -Search, as we shall hear by and by. " And as they had these ways to find out and bring to light these idle masterless Beggars and Vagabonds ; so they had divers sorts of Punishments for them, namely imprisonment at Bridewell, and whipping there ; and such as were strong, were sent sometimes to the Mimes* and sometimes to the Lighters to work. " Upon occasion of a great Parcel of Eogues encompassing the Queen's Coach near Islington one Evening in the Year aforesaid, when she was riding abroad to take the Air ; (which seemed to put her into some Disturbance) Notice was presently given to the * Mills. 120 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, Maior and Recorder. On that Night and the next Day were taken Seventy Four Rogues, and sent to Bridewell. . . . " Upon Sunday, the day after this Twelfth-Day, out of the Dutchy, Westminster, Sonthicark, Lambeth, and Newington, were gathered up a Shoal of Forty Rogues, Men and Women. All sent to Bridewell. The same Day Afternoon at Pauls, were taken up Twenty cloaked Rogues, that used to keep their Standings there. , . . " The next Day, Six Fellows were brought out of the Savoy Hos- pital, entertained there as Poor. Who were nothing else but Draymen to Brewers. They were soundly paid,* and sent home to their Masters. " All Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday came in Numbers of Rogues that were rewarded according to their Deserts. The Strong put to Labour and the Weaker dismist into their Countries. " Friday at the Justice Hall were brought in above an Hun- dred. . . . " Saturday after Dinner, the Recorder went to Pauls and other Places, as well within the liberties as elsewhere ; and found not one Rogue stirring. x " The Observations the Recorder made to the Lord Treasurer concerning the Transactions of this week, were, That of all these Companies there were not, of London, Westminster, Southwark, Middlesex nor Surrey, above Twelve ; the residue for the most part were of Wales, Salop, Chester, Somerset, Berks, Oxford, Essex : And that few or none of them had been about London above three or four Months. And that they met not again with any in all their Searches that had received Pun ishment . So cautious did good Labour and good whipping make them. And further, he observed, that the chief allurers of these evil people were the Savoy, and the Brick-kilns near Lslington. The laws do not, however, appear to have- been put in force efficaciously throughout the country, as John Northbrooke in the year 1579 thus complains of the want of vigour in executing them : — " If these and such like lawes were executed iustlie, trulie, and seuerelie (as they ought to be) without anie respect of persons, fauour or friendship, this doung and filth of idlenesse would easilie be reiected and cast out of this Commonwealth ; there would not be so manie loytering idle persons, so manie Ruffians, Blasphe- * Beaten. "I will pay you in cudgels." — Henry V. Act V. Sc. I. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 121 mers, & Swinge Buckelers, so manie Drunkards, Tossepottes, Whore- maisters, Dauncers, Fidlers and Minstrels, Diceplaiers, & Maskers, Fencers, Theeues, Enterlude plaiers, Cutpurses, Cousiners, Maister- lesse seruauntes, Juglers, Rogues, sturdie Beggers, counterfait Egyptians, &c, as there are, if these dounghilles and filthe in Common weales were removed, looked vnto, and cleane cast out, by the industrie, paine, and trauell of those, that are set in authoritie, and haue gouernement." In the year 1587 we get a glimpse in the Derby Household Books of the treatment of vagrants at the house of a great noble- man : — " Orders touching the govment of my L. his house sett downe the xii th of Maye, Anno regni rehe Eliz., &c , xxix 0 . 1587. " 14. It'm, that my Lo. his chiefe officers make a weeklie vewe and take ord r that noe vagrant psons or maisterles men be fos- tered and kept aboute the house and that noe household srvante of anye degree bee prhitted to carie forth of the house or gates any mane r of victualls bread or drinke." At the end of 15*9 a commission was issued to the lord lieutenants of the several shires authorising them to appoint provost marshals for the apprehension and punishment of soldiers, mariners, and other vagrant and masterless persons and sturdy vagabonds. This was followed in 1591 by a proclamation "that there is a wandering abroad of a multitude of people, the most part pretending that they have served in the wars, though that many have not served at all, or have run away, and therefore ought to be punished instead of relieved/ ' The severe penalties decreed by the 14 Eliz., c. 5, were modified in the year 1592-3 by the 35 Eliz., c. 7, ss. 6, 7, by which gaoling, boring through the ear, and death in the second degree were abolished, and punishment by whipping under the 22 Hen. VIIL, c. 12, s. 12, revived instead. The effective clear- ances of beggars in the City appear to have caused the authorities to relax the measures taken against them, as Strype tells us that "About the year 1593, and before, the City, as well as other Parts of the kingdom, was grievously pestered with Beggars ; and they many of them poor disbanded soldiers, became poor and maimed by the wars in the Low Countries and with Spain ; and many more that pretended themselves to be so who committed many Rob- beries and Outrages. This caused the Queen to set forth a Procla- mation in the month of February, for the Suppressing of the Multi- 122 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, hides of idle Vagabonds, and avoiding mischievous, dangerous Persons from her Majesty's Court. It sets forth — " It was found in and about the City of London, and in the Parts near about her Majestie's Court, that there did haunt and repair a great multitude of wandering Persons. Whereof some were men of Ireland, that had these late Years unnaturally served as Rebels against her Majesties Forces beyond the Seas." The City then again bestirred itself on the subject, as we find on the 17th November, 1594, a letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lords of Council, forwarding for their approval copies of orders to be enforced against vagrants, and on the 30th November another letter from the Lord Mayor to the justices of the peace for the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, appointing, by request of the Lords of the Council, a conference with them upon the measures to be taken for the suppression of vagrancy. In 1595 we find another letter from the Lord Mayor to the Lords of the Council concerning the number of poor begging within the City, and requesting the assistance of their lordships to prevent the building of small tenements in Southwark and Kentish Street. The manner in which the Council responded to this appeal may be gathered from the following proceedings in the Star Chamber : — " In Camera Stellata coram Concilio ibidem, vicesimo die Octo- bris, Anno Pegui Peginse Elizabethan quadragesimo, &c. Prcesentibus. Thoma Egerton mil. Archiepiscopo Cantu- Dno Custod. Magni. aliens. Sigilli Angliee. Popham milite Capi- Dno North. tali Justic. de Banco Dno Buckhurst. Eegis. Johanne Fortescue mil- Anderson milite Capi- ite Cancellar Scac- tali J ustic. de Com- carii. muni Banco. " This day Rice Griffin and John Scrips were brought to the Barre, against whome Edward Coke Esquire, her Maiestie's Attourney Generall did enforme, That the said Griffin had unlawfully erected and built one Tenement in Hog -lane* in the Countie of Middlesex, which hee divided into two severall roumes, wherein were now iuhabiting two poore Tenants, that onely lived and were main- tained by the reliefe of the parishioners there, and begging abroad in other places : and that the said John Scrips had in like sort * Out of Norton Folgate, now called Worship Street. I AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 123 divided a Tenement in Shordich, into, or about seventeene Tenan- cies or dwellings, and the same inhabited by divers persons of very poore and base condition, contrary to the intent and meaning of her Highnesse Proclamation, published and set out the seventh day of July, 1580, in the two and twentieth yeere of her High- nesse Reigne, whereby the same, and such maner of buildings and divisions, are altogether forbidden and prohibited, as by her Majesties said proclamation more at large appeareth. " Moreover, her highnesse said Attourney further informed this Honourable Court, that sithence the sayd Proclamation, sundrie Decrees have been made and taken by this Court, aswell for the prostrating, pulling downe, and defacing of divers new Buildings: as also for reformation of divisions of Tenements : All which notwithstanding, sundry wilfull and disobedient persons, continue in their contemptuous maner of buildings and divisions : by meanes whereof, the City of London, and suburbs thereof, are over- charged, and burdened with sundry sorts of poore, beggerly, and evill disposed persons, to the great hinderance and oppression of the same ; So as the Magistrates and Officers in and aboute the Citie, to whom the due execution of the aforesayd Decrees and Orders chiefly appertaineth, cannot performe and doe the same, according to the purport and tenor thereof : And in regard thereof, her Highnesse said Attourney humbly prayed, that the sayd Griffin and Scrips might receive, and have inflicted on them, some condigne and fit punishment, and that at the humble petition of the Lord Maior and Aldermen of the Citie of London, and other the Justices of Peace of the Countie of Middlesex and Surrey, the Court would bee pleased to set downe and decree, some last and generall order in this and in all other like cases of new Buildings, and divisions of Tenements. Whereupon the Court gravely con- sidering the great growing evils and inconveniences that con- tinually breed and happen by these new erected buildings and divisions made and divided contrary to her Majesties sayd Procla- mation, and well weighing the reasons of the sayd Lord Maior and Aldermen of the sayd Citie and Justices of the Counties afore- sayd in that behalfe, greatly tendering the overburdened and distressed estate of the inhabitants that dwell in sundry the parishes where the sayd new Buildings and divided Tenements are, being for the most part but of small ability to beare and sustaine the great charge which is to growe there by meanes of the poore placed in sundry of the new erected and divided Tenements, Have 124 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, therefore by the whole and general consent of all the honourable presence here sitting, hearing the accusations aforesaid, and the answeres, defences, and allegations of the said Griffin and Scrips, ordered and decreed, that the sayd Griffin and Scrips shal be com- mitted to the prison of the Fleete, and pay twentie pounds a piece for a Fine to her Majestic' It may here not be amiss to notice another cause of vagabondism at this time which is set forth in a very curious document issued by the Privy Council in 1595, entitled — "A briefenote of the benefits that growe to this Realmefo/ the observation of Fish-daies : with a reason and cause icherefore the lawe in that behalfe made, is ordained. Very necessary to be placed in the houses of all men, specially common Victualers." It then goes on to say : — " In the first yeere of her Maiesties most gracious raigne, it was ordained that it should not be lawfull for any person within this Realme, to eat any flesh upon any daies then usually observed as fish-daies,* upon paine to forfeit three pounds for euery time he offended, or suffer three months imprisonment without baile or mainprize .... " The Cavse and Reason. " First for as much as our Countrey is (for the most part) com- passed with the Seas, and the greatest force for defence thereof, under God, is the Queenes Maiesties ^"auie of ships : for mainte- nance and increase of the said Nauie, this lawe for abstinence hath beene most carefully ordained, that by the certaine expence of Fish, fishing and fishermen might be the more increased and the better maintained, for that the said trade is the cheefest Nource, not only for the bringing up of youth meete for shipping, but great numbers of ships therein are vsed, furnished with sufficient Marriners, men at all times in a readines for hir Maiesties service in those affaires. " The second cause, for that many Townes and Villages upon the Sea coasts, are of late yeeres wonderfully decayed, and some won- derfully depopulated, which in times past were replenished, not onely with Fishermen, and great store of shipping, but sundry other Artificers : as Shipwrightes, Smithes, Ropemakers, Netmakers, Saile- makers, Weauers, Dressers, Carriers and Utterers of fish, maintained chiefly by fishing. That they hereby againe might be renewed, the * Friday and Saturday were originally appointed as " fish days," to which Wednesday was added in 1562 by by 5 Eliz., c. 5. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 125 want whereof is, and hath becne cause of great numbers of idle per 'sons, with whom the Realme is greatly damaged : and this happeneth by reason of the uncertainty of the sale of Fish, and the contempt which in eating of fish is concerned. " In 1596 a proclamation was issued against pretended soldiers annoying people by begging. The Queen, it is stated, will appoint a provost marshal with power to execute them upon the gallows without delay. The City authorities followed this up by appoint- ing two marshals for the apprehending " of vagrant and other disordered persons." In 1598 another similar proclamation was issued. The state of vagabondism in the country at this period may best be gathered from a letter * written to the Lord Treasurer in the year 1596 by Edward Hext, a justice of the peace for Somer- setshire, and which reveals the following among the main causes for the increase of vagrancy — that houses of correction were not kept up, though they had had an excellent repressive effect, that burning in the hand was not permanent, and that the inferior officers of the law did not do their duty. " Your lordship may behold 183 most wicked and desperate persons to be enlarged : and of these very few came to any good ; for none will receive them into service. And, in truth, work they will not ; neither can they, without most extreme pains, by reason their sinews are so benumbed and stiff through idleness, as their limbs being put to any hard labour, will grieve them above measure : so as they will rather hazard their lives than work. And this I know to be true : for at such time as our houses of correction were up, (which are put down in most parts of England, the more pity,) I sent divers wandering suspicious persons to the house of correction ; and all in general would beseech me with bitter tears to send them rather to the gaol. And denying it them, some con- fessed felony unto me, by which they hazarded their lives, to the end they would not be sent to the house of correction, where they should be forced to work " Others, having been burnt in the hand more times than one ; for after a month or two there will be no sign in the world : and they will change both name and habit, and commonly go into other shires, so as no man shall know them " For Grod is my witness, I do with grief protest in the duty * Strype. 126 YAGEAXTS AND YAGEANCY, of a subject, I do not see how it is possible for the poor country- man to bear the burdens duly laid upon him, and the rapines of the infinite numbers of the wicked, wandering, idle people of the land: so as men are driven to watch their sheepfolds, their pas- tures, their woods, their cornfields : all things growing too, too common. " Others there be, and, I fear me, emboldened by the wandering people, that stick not to say boldly, they must not starve, they will not starve. And this year there assembled sixty in a company, and took a whole cart-load of cheese from one driving it to a fair, and dispersed it among them " And I may justly say, that the infinite numbers of the idle wandering people, and robbers of the laud, are the chiefest cause of the dearth : for though they labour not, and yet spend double as much, as the labourer doth. For they live idly in the ale- houses, day and night eating and drinking excessively. " And within this three months I took a thief, that was executed this last assizes, that confessed unto me, that he and two more lay in an alehouse three weeks : in which time they eat twenty fat sheep : whereof they stole every night one. Besides, they brake many a poor man's plough, by stealing an ox or two from him : and not being able to buy more, leaseth a great part of his tillage that year. " Others leese their sheep out of their folds ; by which their grounds are not so fruitful as otherwise they would be. And such numbers being grown to this idle and thievish life, there are scant sufficient to do the ordinary tillage of the land And when these lewd people are committed to the gaol, the poor country that is robbed by them are forced there to feed them, w T hich they grieve at : and this year there hath been disbursed to the relief of the prisoners in the gaol 73/. and yet they allowed but 6r/. a man weekly " The tinker in his budget, the pedlar in his hamper, the glass- man in bis basket, and the lewd proctors, which carry the broad seal and green seal in their bags, cover infinite number of felonies : in such sort that the tenth felony cometh not to light ; for he hath his receiver at hand, in every alehouse, in every bush. And these last rabble are very nurseries of rogues. " And of wandering soldiers, there are more abroad than ever were, notwithstanding her Majesty's most gracious proclamation AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 127 lately set forth for the suppressing of them ; which hath not done that good it would, if it had been used as it ought " Your lordship may perceive by this counterfeit pass * that I send you enclosed, that the lewd young men of England are devoted to this wicked course of life : for the man that travelled by colour of it is inheritor to 40/. land, after his father; and his name is Limerick. His father a gentleman, and dwelleth at Northlache, in the county of Gloucester. I kept him in prison two months, and examined him often, and yet still confirmed the truth of his passport with most execrable oaths. Whereupon I sent in to Cornwall, where he said his mother dwelt : and by that means discovering him, lie confessed all. By which your lordship may see, it is most hard to discover any by examination, all being resolved never to confess any thing, assuring themselves that none will send two or three hundred miles to discover them for a whip- ping matter, which they regard nothing : for all that were whipped here, upon my apprehension, are all abroad. * And otherwise will it never be without a more severe course, that liberty of their wicked life is so sweet unto them I may justly say, that the able men that are abroad, seeking the spoil and confusion of the land, are able, if they were reduced to good sub- jection, to give the greatest enemy her Majesty hath a strong battle, and (as they are now) are so much strength to the enemy. Besides, the generation that daily springe th from them is like to be most wicked * The False Certificate before mentioned. "To all and singular the justices of the peace, mayors, &c, Know, that I Tho. Scroope, knt. lord Scroope of Bolton, lord warden of the middle marshes of England, and captain of her Majesty's city of Carlisle. " That this bearer, John Manering, lately arrived from Scotland, and came before me, bringing just proof, by his conduct, from the lord warden of Scot- land, of the cause of his arrival in England and country : these are therefore to certify of the truth, that the said John, with other of his company, through tempest of foul weather, were driven ashore upon the north parts of Scotland, whereby they were by the northland, called the Scottish Irish, robbed, and spoiled of their bark, and all therein. Wherein the said John lost of his own part the value of threescore pounds and better, and being grievously wounded in the thigh with a dart, and in the arm with an arrow, upon the grappling of the ship : these are therefore, upon consideration of this his loss, his hurt, and great necessity, to request you to permit him to pass unto Wormyl in Cornwall, to his mother and other his friends there ; and in her majesty's name require you to relieve him. — Signed with the name and seal of Lord Scroope ; and in the names of the Earl of Cumberland, Rich. Louther, and divers other justices in Westmerland, York, Stafford, Worcester, Glocester ; and so far as Somerset : when this gentleman and justice, Mr. Hext, found out the cheat, and sent his pass to the lord treasurer, enclosed in his letter to him." 128 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, " But the greatest fault is in the inferior ministers of justice, which should use more earnest endeavour to bring them to the seat of judgment and justice." The evils of indiscriminate charity and the inefficacy of exces- sively severe punishment had at length become so manifest that a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the existing laws relating to the poor, and certain amendments proposed upon them. This Committee, apparently acting on the principle that adequate relief must be provided for cases of desti- tution before mendicity can be suppressed, prepared the 39 Eliz., c. 3 (1597), which for the first time made systematic provision for the relief of the poor by providing for the appointment of over- seers of the poor in every parish, who were empowered with the consent of the justices to raise weekly or otherwise by taxation, from every inhabitant and every occupier in the parish, in such competent sum and sums of money as they thought fit, a convenient stock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, and other necessary ware and stuff to set the poor on work ; and also competent sums of money for the necessary relief of the lame, impotent, old, blind, and other poor not able to work ; and also for the putting out of children to be apprentices. This Act was immediately followed by the 39 Eliz., c. 4 (1597-8), which repeals all former Acts against rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, and gives the following definition of rogues and vaga- bonds : — " All persons calling themselves Schollers going about begging, all Seafaring men pretending losses of their Shippes or goods on the sea going about the Country begging, all idle persons going about in any Cuntry eyther begging or using any subtile Crafte or unlawfull Games and Playes, or fayning themselves to have know- ledge in Phisiognomye Palmestry or other like crafty Scyence, or pretending that they can tell Destenyes Fortunes or such other like fantasticall Imagynacons; all persons that be or utter them- selves to be Proctors Procurors Patent Gatherers or Collectors for Gaoles Prisons or Hospitalls ; all Fencers Bearewards corhon Players of Enterludes and Minstrells wandring abroade (other then Players of Enterludes belonging to any Baron of this Realme, or any other honorable Personage of greater Degree, to be auctoryzed to play, under the Hand and Seale of Armes of such Baron or Per- sonage) ; all Juglers Tynkers Pedlers and Petty Ch ipmen wandring AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 129 abroade ; all wandring persons and com on Labourers being persons able in bodye using loytering and refusing to worcke for such reason- able wages as is taxed orcomonly given in such Parts where such per- sons do or shall happen to dwell or abide, not having lyving other- wyse to maynteyne themselves ; all persons delivered out of Graoles that begg for their Fees, or otherwise do travayle begging ; all such persons as shall wander abroade begging pretending losses by Fyre or otherwise ; and all such persons not being Fellons wandering and pretending themselves to be Egipcyans, or wandering in the Habite Forme or Attyre of counterfayte Egipcians ; shalbe taken adjudged and deemed Rogues Yagabonds and sturdy Beggers. Every such vagabond found begging is to be stripped naked from the middle upwards and openly whipped until his or her body be bloody and then passed to his or her birthplace or last residence, and in case they know neither they are to be sent to the House of Correction for a year, unless some one gives them employment sooner/ ' Rogues who appear to be dangerous to the inferior sort of people, or who will not reform their roguish kind of life, may be banished the realm or sent to the galleys for life ; if they return without license they are to suffer death as felons. The penalty on constables neglecting to apprehend vagabonds is increased to 10s., and the penalties on masters of vessels for bring- ing vagabonds from Ireland and the Isle of Man is again fixed at 20s. ; those from Scotland are also now included in this prohibition, and the vagabonds themselves so brought are to be whipped before they are sent back. The regulations for the diseased poor resorting to Bath and Buxton are repeated, and the exemption of the privileges of John Dutton is continued. Shipwrecked mariners provided with proper testimonials, children under seven, and glassmen of good behaviour travelling with a license from three justices, are exempted from the Act. Though Scottish vagrants are now specifically mentioned for the first time they must have made their appearance in England long previously, as according to Harrison's version of Boece's " History of Scotland," large numbers were expelled from that country as early as the reign of Duffe (a.d. 968), and it was after- wards a favourite remedy with the Scotch for the purpose of dis- embarrassing themselves of their superfluous rascality. These K 130 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, expatriated vagabonds were not suffered to remain in the Border villages, as is evident from the law against Loiterers in the code of Border laws finally agreed upon by commissioners of both king- doms specially appointed. " 15. The Wardens shall take good heed in every Marche, that none of the broken borderers (that is, not of any known clan) be suffered to keep in their Companies any idle persons, not em- ployed in any honest service or trade ; and likewise that no idle persons be suffered to remain in the Border villages or alehouses, certifying such as shall receipt them on their ground, that they shall be billable for their so doing, as if they had actually receipted the goods so stolen." As we shall see hereafter, all these rascals in exile from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man formed a formidable addi- tion to the ranks of their brethren in England, and furnished them with a large number of words which formed their secret jargon. The proclamation of the year 1596 against pretended soldiers was followed up by a severe enactment against them, the 39 Eliz., c. 17 (1597 — 8), which recites "that dyvers lewde and lycencyous persons, contemnyng both Lawes Magistrates and Religion have of late dayes wandered up and downe in all parts of the Kealme under the name of Soldiers and Marryners, abusing the title of that honourable Profession to countenance their wicked Behavioures, and do contynually assemble themselves weaponed in the High wayes and elsewhere in Troupes, to the greate terror and astonyshment of her Majesty es true Subjects, the ympeachment of her Lawes, and the disturbance of the Peace and Tranquility e of this Realme," and then commands such persons to settle themselves in service or to repair to their place of settlement upon pain of being reputed felons, and suffering as such without benefit of clergy. Soldiers and sailors wandering without testimonials, and also those bearing forged testimonials, are also to suffer as felons. Vagabonds falling sick and unable to finish their journey within the time limited by their testimonials are exempted. Justices are by this Act empowered to license soldiers or mari- ners to beg on their way home. The 43 Eliz., c. 3 (1601), styled an " Acte for the necessarie Releife of Souldiers and Mariners," provides that weekly rates shall be raised in every parish for the purpose of relieving dis- abled soldiers and mariners ; it also recites, " that whereas it AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 131 muste needes fall out that many of suche hurte and maymed Souldiers and Marriners doe arive in Portes and Places far remote from the Counties whence they are by Yertue of this Acte to receive their yeerlie Annuities and Pensions ; as also they are prescribed by this Acte to " obtayne the Allowance of their Certificates from the Muster Maister or Keceiver Generall of the Muster Holies, who commonlie is like to abide aboute the Courte or London, so that they shall neede at the firste provision for the bearinge of their Charges to such places." It then enacts, " that it may be lawfull for the Treasurers of the Countie where they shall arrive, in their discrecon upon their Certificate (though not allowed) to give them any convenient releife for their Journey, to carrie them to the nexte Countie, with a Testimoniall of their Allowance, to passe on towardes suche a place, and in like manner shall it be lawfull for the Treasurer of the nexte Countie to doe the like ; and soe from Countie to Countie (in the directe waye) till they come to the place where they are directed to fynde their Maintenance, accord- inge to the tenure of this Statute." It further enacts — " That everie Souldier or Mariner that shalbe taken beginge in any place within this Realme after the Feaste of Easter nexte, or any that shall counterfeite any Certificate in this Acte expressed, shall for ever lose his Annuitie or Pension, and shalbe taken deemed and adjudged as a common Bogue or Yacabond person, and shall have and sustayne the same, and the like Paynes Impri- sonment and Punyshment as is appointed and provided for com- mon rogues and vacabond persons." The last Act of this reign which it is requisite to notice here is 43 Eliz., c. 2 (1601), which still forms the basis of the English Poor Law, and which provides not only for the relief of the poor, but for the proper administration of relief and for the punishment of those who refuse to work by imprisonment in the house of correction. CHAPTER VI. 1603—1660. Accession of James I. — Proclamation against vagabonds and order for their deportation — Legislation against players and vagrants — Acts against con- juration, witchcraft. &c. — Plague-infected persons treated as vagabonds — ■ Stanley's remedy for beggars and robbers — Estimated number of idle vagrants — The whipping of \ agrants — Proclamation against overcrowding — Legislation of 1609-10 — Deportation of vagrants to Virginia — Action of the City of London — Issue of copper farthings or tokens — Levy of vagrants as soldiers for the war in the Palatinate — Reign of Charles I. — Irish vaga- bonds — Commission of 1630 for putting in execution the laws for the relief of the poor and the suppression of vagrancy — Beggars in the City — Legislation by the Long Parliament — Acts against players — Prynne's Histrio-mastix — Proclamations in the City — Law of 1656. Within six months of the accession of James I. vagabondism had reached such a pitch that it was found necessary to issue the fol- lowing proclamation against them : — "Whereas at a Parliament holden at Westminster in the nine and thirtith Yeare of the Raigne of his Majesties late deare Sister deceased, Queen Elizabeth, a profitable and necessarie Lawe was made for the repressing of Rogues, Vagabonds, idle and dissolute persons, wherwith this Realm was then much infested, by the due Execution of which Lawe great Good ensued to the whole Com- mon Weale of this Realme ; but now of late, by the Remissnes Negligence and Connivency of some J ustices of the Peace and other officers in divers parts of the Realm, they have swarmed and abounded everie where more frequentlie than in times past, which will grow to the great and iminent Danger of the whole Realme, yf by the Goodnes of God Almightie, and the due and timely Execution of the said Law the same be not prevented ; " And where, to the end that no Impediment might be to the due and full Execution of the same Law, his Highnes Privie Councell, according to the Power to them in that behalf given by VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. 133 the said Law, have by their order assigned Places and partes beyond the Seas, unto which such incorrigible or dangerous Rogues should according to the same Lawe be banished and conveyed, as by the order in that behalfe made, and under this present Proclamation particulerlie mentioned and set downe, more at large appeareth ; " His Majestie purposing, for the universall Good of the whole Realme, to have the same Lawe dulie and fully executed, doth, by advise of his Privie Councell, require all Justices of Peace, Mayors, JBaylifes, Headboroughes, Constables, and other officers whatsoever to whom it apperteineth, to see the said Lawe be in all the Partes and Branches of the same carefully duely and exactly executed, as they and everie of them will answer the contrarie at their uttermost Perills." This is followed by an Order in Council specifying the following countries as the " Places or Partes to which incorrigible or dan- gerous rogues shall be banished : The New found Lande, the East and West Indies, Fraunce, Grermanie, Spayne, and the Lowe Countries or any of them/' How far this peculiar order was carried out, and how the countries which were made the recipients of these cargoes of English scum treated the matter, does not appear ; probably they sent them back again, as was the case with some English gypsies who in the reign of Elizabeth were deported to Norway. This proclamation was soon after followed by the 1 Jac. L, c. 7 (1603-4), which continues the 39 Eliz., c. 4, but declares that no license by any nobleman shall exempt players from the Act ; it also repeals the exemption to glassmen, and declares them to be rogues. It ordains, that in order that incorrigible or dangerous rogues may be identified, they shall be branded in the left shoulder with a hot burning iron of the breadth of an English shilling, with a great Roman H upon the iron, and the branding upon the shoulder to be so thoroughly burned and set upon the skin and flesh that the letter H be seen and remain for a perpetual mark upon such rogue during his or her life, and then be sent to his or her place of settlement. Any rogue again offending is to suffer death as a felon without benefit of clergy. All persons are com- manded to apprehend rogues under a penalty of 10s. ; the penalty on constables for neglect is 20s. The privileges of J ohn Dutton are exempted from the Act, which is to continue to the end of the next Parliament. 134 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, The increased stringency of the regulations affecting plays and players was no doubt greatly owing to the puritanical opposition to them which had long before this shown itself, as John North- brooke, in a Treatise " wherein dicing, dauncing, vaine plaies or Enterludes, with other idle pastimes &c. commonly vsed on the Sabboth day, are reproved," published in 1579, thus inveighs against them, "For I am persuaded that Satan hath not a more speedie way & fitter schoole to worke and teach his desire to bring men and women into his snare of concupiscence and filthie lustes of wicked whoredome, than those places and plaies, and Theatres are : and therefore necessarie that those places and plaiers shoulde bee forbidden and dissolued and put downe by authorities' This puritanical feeling was further deferred to by the 3 Jac. L, c. 21 (1605-6), entitled, " An Acte to restraine Abuses of Players. For the preventing and avoyding of the greate abuse of the Holy Name of God in Stageplayes Interludes Maygames Shewes and such like." It enacts that "if at any tyme or tymes after the end of this present session of Parliament, any person or per- sons doe or shall in any Stageplay Interlude Shewe Maygame or Pageant gestingly or prophanely speake or use the holy name of God or of Christ Jesus, or of the Holy Ghoste or of the Trinitie, which are not to be spoken but with feare and reverence, shall forfeite for everie such offence by hym or them committed Tenne Pounde." Considering that James himself is reported to have made " a great deal too bold with God in his passion, both with cursing and swearing, and a strain higher, verging on blasphemy," this statute seems to embody the conception of Satan reproving gin. Shakspere, it may be stated, mentions the name of God more than a thousand times in the course of his plays. "We may here appropriately take cognisance of the Acts against prophecies and witchcraft, as they form a series of supplementary measures directed against those whom the Vagrant Act of 1530-1 denounces for telling " destinies, diseases, and fortunes." By the 33 Hen. VIII. , c. 8 (1541-2), persons using invocations, or other practices of sorcery, to discover treasure, &c., or to destroy or injure any one, or to provoke unlawful love, are declared felons without benefit of clergy. By the 5 Eliz., c. 16 (1562-3), per- sons using any invocations of spirits whatever, or practising witchcraft whereby death shall ensue, are declared felons, and the penalty enacted for practising witchcraft to the bodily harm of AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 135 any one is for a first offence one year's imprisonment and pillo^ ; a second offence is declared felony ; and the penalty on practising witchcraft to discover or provoke unlawful love is for a first offence one year's imprisonment and pillory, and for a second offence forfeiture of goods and imprisonment for life. This Act was repealed by the 1 Jac. L, c. 12 (1603-4), which then pro- ceeds to enact " for the better restraining the said offences, and more severe punishing the same," that invoking or consulting evil spirits, taking up dead bodies or parts of dead persons for the purposes of witchcraft, or practising witchcraft to the harm of any person,, shall be deemed felony, and persons declaring by witchcraft where treasure is hidden, or where things lost or stolen should be found, or provoking any person to unlawful love, or attempting to hurt cattle or persons, are for the first offence to be imprisoned for one year and stand once a quarter in the pillory for six hours, and for a second offence are to suffer death as felons. By the 33 Hen. VIII., c. 14 (1541-2), persons pretending to make prophecies founded on arms, cognisances, or badges as to the future fate of those who bear them are declared guilty of felony. By 3 & 4 Edw. VI., c. 15 (1549-50), this law is specially directed against those persons who make such prophecies regarding the King for the purpose of raising insurrections. This Act is con- tinued by 7 Edw. VL, c. 11 (1552-3), and by 5 Eliz., c. 15 (1562-3), made especially applicable to the Queen. The terror generally occasioned by the plague was the cause of another addition to the existing Vagrant Act in the year 1603-4, as by the 1 Jac. I., c. 31, entitled, "An Acte for the charitable Eeliefe and orderinge of persons infected with the Plague," it is enacted — " If any infected person commanded to keepe house, shall con- trarie to such Commandment wilfullie and contemptuously goe abroade, and shall converse in companie, havinge any infectious sore upon hym uncured, that then such person and persons shalbe taken deemed and adj udged as a Felon, and to suffer Paines of Death as in case of Felonie ; but if such person shall not have any such sore found about hym, then for his saide offence to be pun- ished as a Vagabond in all respects should or ought to be by the Statute made in the nyne and thirtieth yeere of the Reigne of our late Soveraing La die Queene Elizabeth for the punishment of 136 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, Rogues and Vagabonds, and further to be bounde to his or thiere good behaviour for one whole yeere/' A very curious tract written in this reign, but not published till the year ] 646, enables us to form a conception of the state of vagabondism at this period. It is styled, " Stanleyes Remedy, or The Way how to reform wandring Beggers, Theeves, High way Robbers and Pick Pockets/ 5 and professes to be " The Recan- tation and conversion of Mr. Stanley, sometimes an Inns of Court gentleman, and afterwards by lewd company became a high- way robber in Queen Elizabeth's reign, having his life pardoned, hee loaths his wicked course of life, and writes to King James, shewing a meanes and remedy, how the poore of his Kingdom may be greatly relieved, by the means of workhouses, in all Cities, Market- to wnes, and all able parishes in the Kingdom e, and how by this meanes wandring begging, idlenesse, and an untimely shamefull end will bee much prevented amongst manie. Idlenesse and prodigality being the grand causes/' "The grand wickednesse of this kingdome, which makes the kingdome not onely poore but also verie wicked, he sheweth to be three sorts, viz. : — ".1. All sorts of roaguish wandring Vagrants. " 2. All sorts of theeves, high-way robbers, pick-pockets, and such like. " 3. All such houses as maintaine bawderie, and such like idlenesse, which doth not only wast men's estates, over- throw mens bodies by the French Pox, but also dangers their soules ; now to reforme these three grand sins of this Kingdome, he saith will be very easie if his Majestie will ordaine houses of correction or workhouses in everie County, both in Cities and Market-townes ; ? ' and so in these words following he writes to the King . ..." It is thought by some honourable, grave, and wise Councellours of State, that there are not so few as 80,000 idle Vagrants in this Land, that prey upon the Common-wealth, which losse being estimated and valued, would amount to a very great sum, which reckoned comes to 1,000/. a day, which by the yeare amounts to three hundred threescore and five thousand pounds, and there is left no other way to reforme them, but by setting them, or the greatest number of them to worke, in all Market-townes, in houses of Instruction or Correction, and those that will not worke in neither of these houses but are resolved to live a refractorie life, they may be sent AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 137 either to sea (to rid the land of them) or sold to the English Plantations, to see whether God will turne their hearts and amend their lives, that they may not come to a shamefull end, but rather hope they may return to their Countrey againe with joy « For a good example to all gentlemen in Citie and Countrey, I will embolden my selfe to speake of a godly and charitable Gentle- man one Mr. Harman* a AYar wick-shire Gentleman, dwelling about Sutton- Colsill, who seeing his Parish to be pestred extreamly with sturdy Beggars, & wandring Rogues, did take order, that they should be all sent to his house, and presently he set them to work, to gather stones forth of his grounds, and gave them some small releefein meat and drink, and a penny a day, and held them hard to work, (having lustie stout servants to see to them) and when hee had made an end of gathering his owne grounds, hee set them to work in his neighbours grounds, and paid them their wages ; which thing, when all the rest of the wandring Beggars and Bogues understood, they durst not one of them come a begging in that parish, for feare they should be made to work : And for the younger sort of the idle poore in his own Parish, this was such a discipline for them, that they did betake themselves to honest labour, and so the old, aged, and true poore of his Parish were verie much the better releeved " The generall rule of all England is to whip t and punish the * This Harman was a descendant of the family of J ohn Voysye, Bishop of Exeter, who died in 1555, at Sutton Coleshill, and is not to be confounded with Harman the author of a " Warning for Common Cursetors." t It is evident that the beggar had an exciting time of it in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. When he appeared in a town he certainly received relief, but it was frequently accompanied by a whipping which must have left so strong an impression upon his mind, as well as upon his body, that he probably did not pay the same locality a visit for some time afterwards. In the accounts of the constables of Melton-Mowbray, Leicestershire, we find : — 1602. Geven to Robert Moodee for wippin tow pore folks . . . ij<*. And gave them when the were wipped . . . . . ijd. The infliction of this punishment was sometimes deputed to a boy with what must have been a most tantalising effect : — 1602. Geven to Tomlyn's hoy for whippin a man and a woman . . ijd- And gave them when the went . . . ."' . „ . ij d - 1601. P d - and geven to a poore man and his wiff that was wipped .004 Again : — 1625-6. Payd for whippinge 6 vagabonds . . . . . 00 00 06 After the twopennyworth of whipping and the twopennyworth of alms a pass was given : — 138 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, wandring Beggars, and to brand them according to the form of the new statute, and so mark them with such a note of infamie, as they may be assured no man will set them on work, and so many Justices execute one branch of that good Statute (which is the point of Justice) but as for the point of Charitie they leave undone, which is provide houses and convenient places to set the poore to work, which ought to be done in equitie and justice, as well as the other. " The Poore may be whipped to death, and branded for Rogues, and so become Felons by the Law, and the next time hanged for Yagrancie (by an Act made in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth of famous mejnorie) before any private man will set them to work, or provide houses for labour, and stock and materialls for them. The Publike must joyne their shoulders to the work else it will never be done. " The right and intent of punishing of Rogues is but the destruc- tion of vices, and saving of men ; but here is no care taken to releeve them. The statute commands, that the Yagrants should repaire to the places where they were borne, or last dwelled : There are thousands of these people, that their place of birth is utterly unknowne, and they had never any abiding place in their lives, or ever retained in service; but were and are Yagrants by descent. r~~ "To conclude, it is very lamentable that poore Rogues and Beggars should be whipped, or branded according to Law, or other- wise punished, because they are begging, or idle, or do not work, when no place is provided for them to set them to work. I have heard the Rogues and Beggars curse the Magistrates unto their faces, for providing such a Law to whip and brand them, and not provide houses of labour for them ; for surely many would go voluntarily to the work-houses to work, if such houses were provided for them : so that the penaltie which the Statute appoints were verie fit to be severely put in execution upon such persons that do 1625-6. Payd : for pass and wax to make passes for vagrants web W as punished . . . . . . . 00 00 03 This pass appears to have saved the back of the recipient at the next place he visited : — 1602. Geven to one that was whipped at bux minster . . . . ij d - And from which village he, I presume, brought a pass ; but if he did not pass on he took the consequences : — 1601. P 3 - and geven to bluett that was taken vagrant after his wipping . . . . . . . . . .002 P d - more for wipping . . . . . . . .0 02 Notes and Queries, s. 5, v. i:\. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 139 releeve a Rogue, or other Vagabonds at their doores, that may go unto a work-house and will not, where he may have reasonable and comfortable maintenance for his labour. " I make no doubt (most gracious Soveraigne) but it is evident to all men, that Beggerie and Theeverie did never more abound within this your Realme of England, and the cause of this miserie is Idlenesse, and the only meanes to cure the same must be by his contrarie, which is Labour ; for tell the begging Souldier, and the wandring and sturdy Beggar, that they are able to work for their living, and bid them go to work, they will presently answer you, they would work if they could get it. But if work-houses were set up in all able great parishes, it will take away all such defensorie and usuall answers, and then it will be tryed whether they will work or not." \y In the year 1607, with the object of preventing the over- crowding of pauper residents, a proclamation was issued against new buildings in the City of London in the following terms : — " The King's Maiestie perceiving the great inconveniences, which dayly do arise by the continuall additions of a multitude of new buildings in the Citie of London and the suburbs and confines thereof, and the filling and pestering of houses with Inmates and several dwellers (and those of the worst sort) almost in every several Roume, whereby both the people increasing to so great numbers, are not well to be governed by the wonted officers and ordinary Jurisdiction of the same, and likewise the prices of Victuals are by that meanes excessively inhanced, and the health of his loving Subjects, not onely those which inhabite in and about the sayd Citie, but also all others repairing thither from all parts, (in respect either of the usuall resiance of his Majesties Court thereabouts, or otherwise for ordinary J ustice) indangered (where- of the present Infection in and about this Citie, makes his Majestie the more sensible) " And forasmuch as the Dividing of Houses into several Tene- ments and Habitations, and the letting part of Houses and Chambers to Inmates and Undersitters is no lesse Inconvenient then excessive Building as well in regard of surcharge of people, specially of the worse sort, as for breeding and spreading of Infection, besides other inconveniences proper to this abuse. His Maiestie doeth further charge and straightly commaund, that these Articles following bee also duely observed and obeyed. 140 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, " First. That no person within the Citie or Limits aforesaide, doe divide any dwelling House by Lease, sufferance, or otherwise, into any more Tenements or dwellings then are at this present used within the same. " That no person doe hereafter receive into any House any Inmates or Undersitters, or any more families then one. " That no man that shall erect a new house upon or within the precincts of an olde foundation, shall divide the same into more Tenements or severall dwellings, then were used in the sayd former Houses." In the year 1609-10, the non-execution of the law again forms the reason for fresh legislation on the subject of vagrancy, the 7 Jac. L, c. 4, recites that " Heretofore divers good and necessarie Lawes and Statutes have been made and provided for the ereccion of Howses of Correccion for the suppressing and punishing of Rogues Yacabonds and other idle vagrant and disorderly persons, w ch Lawes have not wrought soe good effect as was expected, as well for that the said Howses of Correccion have not been buylte according as was intended, as alsoe for that the said Statutes have not been duly and severely putt in execucion as by the said Statutes were appointed," it directs that all such laws shall be put in due execution and that houses of correction shall be built in every county, " w th convenient Backside thereunto adjoyninge togither w th Milles Turnes Cards and suchlike necessarie Ymplements to sett the said Rogues or such other idle persons on worke," and if before Michaelmas, 1611, such a house is not built or provided in any county, every justice in that county is to forfeit £5. The justices in quarter sessions are to appoint governors of such houses who " shall have Power and Authoritie to sett such Rogues Vaga- bonds and idle and disorderlie persons as shallbee brought or sent unto the said House to work and labor (being able) and to punishe them by putting Fetters or Gyves upon them, and by moderate whipping of them." Moreover, they " shall in noe sort be charge- able to the Countrie for any allowance either at their bringing in or going forth or during the tyme of their Abode there, but shall have such and so much Allowance as they shall deserve by their owne Labour and Worke." The justices are further directed to assemble " twice in every yeare at the least and oftener if their be occasion, and commaund to be made a generall privy search in one night w th in their said AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 141 Hundreds Townes Villages and Hamletts, for the finding oul and apprehending of the said Rogues Vagabonds wandring and idle persons," who are to be brought before the justices to be examined and there to be punished or otherwise to be sent to the house of cor- rection; and "the Constables and Ty thing men of every Hundred Parish Towne Village and Hamlett shall then appeare " before the justices at their said assemblies, " and there shall give accompt and reckoning uppon Oath in writing, and under the Hand of the Minister of every Parish, what Rogues Vagabonds and wandring and disorderly persons they have apprehended both in the search and alsoe betweene every such Assemblies and Meetings, and howe many have bene by them punished, or otherwise sent unto the Houses of Coreccion." Lewd women having bastards chargeable are to be committed to the house of correction, and there punished and set on work during the term of one whole year. Persons desert- ing their Families are to be deemed incorrigible Rogues, and " endure the Paines of incorrigible rogues." In this year (1609), the Lord Mayor received an intimation from the Council informing him that all the ills and plagues affecting the City were caused through the number of poor swarm- ing about the streets, and recommending the Corporation to sub- scribe with the companies and the several wards, and so to raise a fund to ship out these persons to Virginia ; and he issued his precept to the several companies for the purpose, March 27th, 1609. On April 29th, the Merchant Taylors' Company deter- mined to subscribe £200, and the members of the company advanced £300 more ; the Ironmongers advanced £150. Alto- gether £18,000 was raised in the City for the purpose of founding this plantation. The scheme, however, failed about 1622. The burden of a large family appears to have pressed heavily on the labourer at this period, since Cot grave, commenting in 1611 on the proverb, " Children are poor men's riches," says, "In other countries, whose people are industrious, they may perhaps be so ; but in ours, for the most part, store of children make poore men plaine beggers." The relief of such families is recommended in "An Ease for Overseers of the Poore" (1601) in the following terms : — " When a man is ouercharged with many young children, that though he toile day and night to keepe his family, (as Iacob did for Laban) yet he cannot maintaine his charge with his labour, 142 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, therefore such an one is to be considered : for if a man in pittie will ease his beast which is oppressed with burthen, he must in nature releeue his neighbour which is oppressed with charge." The amiable advocates of this policy do not seem to have realised that they were putting a premium on the evil they were seeking to mitigate. In the year 1613 we find an indenture between Edw. Grent, Robt. More, Martin Smyth, and Fras. Hexham, all of London, patentees of the office of surveyor, for giving in the names of the inmates within three miles of Westminster and London, and for enforcing the laws for maintenance of the poor, and suppressing vagrancy, whereby they agree to divide the said limits into four parts, north, south, east, and west, and each to exercise his office within one of the said divisions ; also to hire a house for the busi- ness of the office, to keep registers, &c. In 1614 a letter was sent from the Lord Mayor to the Lord Chamberlain, detailing the steps taken by him since his appoint- ment for reforming what he found out of order in the City. Firstly. He had freed the streets of a swarm of loose and idle vagrants, providing for the relief of such as were not able to get their living, and keeping them at work in Bridewell, " not punish- ing any for begging, but setting them on work, which was worse than death to them." About 1616 we find a letter from the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, stating that, " forasmuch as there were dispersed in and about the cities of London and "Westminster, the Borough of South wark, and other villages and towns adjoining, an infinite multitude of rogues and vagabonds, with other loose and base people, having no certain places of abode and living by no lawful labour or occupation, His Majesty had thought fit, by his Proclamation now published, to command such good laws as were provided in that behalf to be speedily put in execution ; and that Provost Marshals should be appointed within the liberties of the City and in the counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Essex, Herts, and Bucks. It remained for the Court of Aldermen to see the same carefully performed within the City. The Council, therefore, required the City to contribute in some reasonable measure towards the maintenance of Provost Marshals in Middlesex, the charge being but temporary, and not necessary (as they hoped) to be continued for any long time." AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING-. 143 " Tlie Council were informed there had been great negligence in constables and such like inferior officers, in not apprehending notorious vagabonds and proceeding with them as the law directed, and they required the Court of Aldermen to reprove the constables sharply and admonish them. " They deemed it fit that once a week, or as often as convenient, secret and sudden searches should be made in all victualling houses, inns, and other suspected places within the City and liberties." In 1616 a letter was sent from the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, reciting their former letters for the appointment of Provost Marshals in the City and in the adjacent counties. They had been informed that for the short time such course was tried it did much good, and that it was more necessary than before, seeing that the King was about to make a journey into Scotland with a great part of his Council, and to be absent so long a time. They required the same practice to be adopted till his return. In 1618 the King writes from Newmarket to Sir Thomas Smyth, who in the subsequent year became governor of the Virginia Company, to the following effect : — " James R. — Trustie and well beloved wee greet you well, Whereas our Court hath of late been troubled with divers idle young people whoe although they have been twise punished still continewe to followe the same haveinge noe ymploymte. Wee haveinge noe other course to cleere our court from them have thought fitt to send them unto you, desireing you att the next oportunitie to send them away to Virginia and to take such order that they may bee sett to worke there, wherein you shall not onlie doe us good service, but also doe a deed of charitie by ymploying them whoe otherwise will never be reclaimed from the idle life of vagabonds. " Given att our Court att Newmarket the Thirteenth daie of Januarie, 1618." Upon receipt of this, Sir Thomas Smyth immediately writes the following letter to the Lord Mayor : — " Right Hono ble . — I have this eveninge receaved a Ire from his Mat 16 att Newmarkett requireinge me to send to Virginia divers younge people who wantinge imploym te doe live idle and followe the Court, notw th standinge they have been punished as by his highnes Ires (which I send yo r Lp here w th to pruse) more att 144 VAGBANTS AND VAGRANCY, large appeareth. Now for as much as some of theis persouns by his Ma ts royall comand are brought from Newmarkett to London alreadie and others more are comeinge after, and for that the Companie of Virginia hath not anie shipp att present readie to go thither, neither any meanes to imploy them or secure place to detaine them in untill the next oportunitie to transport them (which I hope wilbie verie shortlie), I have therefore thought fitt, for the better accomplishinge his highnes pleasure therein, to intreat y r Lps favour and assistance, that by yo r Lps order theis persons may be detained in Bridewell & there sett to worke untill our next shipp shall depte for Virginia, wherein yo r Lp shall doe an acceptable service to his Ma* 7 , & myselfe be enabled to pforme that which is required of me, soe I comend you to God & rest. Yo r Lps assured loveinge freind, " Tho : Smyth." " This Mundaie eveninge, 18 Januar, 1618." About 1619-20, the Company for Virginia write to the Lord Mayor, expressing their regret that differences should have arisen between the committees for the City and themselves. Seeing that these differences had no solid foundation, and that the company had now solemnly ratified as much and more than in their former letter was offered, which they understood had been accepted and approved by the Common Council, that on the City's part the money had been collected and the children provided, that the company had supplied a fair ship for transporting them, and the Privy Council had, at the City's desire, granted their warrant for the shipment of such children, the company trusted that the Lord Mayor and Aldermen would proceed to the speedy ending of the differences. In July, 1619, orders were taken in Council against beggars and vagabonds, who were stated to swarm in every town ; they were to be imprisoned for the first offence, branded for the second, and hanged for the third. The reasons for this increase in vagrancy are thus given by Dekker, in Greevous Grones for the Poore," published in 1622. " And thus, though the number of the poore do dailie encrease, all things yet worketh for the worst in their behalfe. For, there hath beene no Collection for them, no not these seven yeares, in many parishes of this Land, especiallie in Countrie townes ; but many of those Parishes turneth forth their poore, yea and their AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 145 lustie Labourers that will not worke, or for any misdemeanor want worke, to begge, nltch, and steale for their maintenance, so that the Countrey is pittifully pestered with them ; yea, and the maimed Soldiours, that have ventured their lives, and lost their limbes in our behalfe, are also thus requited : For when they returne home, to live by some labour in their naturall Countrey, though they can worke well in some kinde of labour, everie man sayeth, Wee will not bee troubled with their Service, but make other shifte for our businesse. So are they turned forth to Travaile, in Idlenesse (the highway to Hell) and seeke their meate uppon Meares (as the Proverbe goeth) with Begging, Filching, and Stealing for their maintenance, untill the Law bring them unto the fearefull end of hanging." " The country suffered for centuries from the want of small money. Towards the close of the reign of Henry VIL, so much was the scarcity felt that counterfeit coins were put in circulation, and private tokens of lead, which had been previously in use to a limited extent, were more generally adopted. Erasmus, who visited London in 1497 and again in 1499, alludes to these plum- hem Anglice, as he terms them, the money he had observed as being in common circulation. In 1561, during Queen Elizabeth's reign, silver coins of the value of three halfpence and of three farthings were issued under her authority ; but the want of half- penny pieces and farthings still compelled the almost general use amongst housekeepers, chandlers, vintners, and other traders, of private tokens of lead, tin, latten, and even of leather. To put a stop to this, various proposals for a copper coinage were made. In 1582 the three-farthing pieces were withdrawn and silver half- pennies substituted ; and when King James ascended the throne in 1603, the small coinage seems to have been limited to penny and halfpenny pieces in silver, which were very inconvenient on account of their minute size. In 1613, however, he authorised the making of copper farthings or tokens, for the quaint reason amongst others that they will be a ' relief to the poor as they will thereby receive small alms ; ' and prohibited by proclamation the use or currency of all private tokens. But he did not oblige his subjects to take these copper farthings or tokens otherwise than ' with their own good liking ; ' and he expressly says in his Proclamation that he did not make them ' monies or coins.' The object was merely to supersede the private by the royal tokens ; but his Majesty's far- L 146 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, things were not looked upon with favour, and the scheme did not meet with acceptance. " * Braithwait, in "Barnabee's Journal," sarcastically alludes to the royal tokens. " Thence to Harrington be it spoken For name sake I gave a token To a Beggar that did crave it And as cheerfully receive it." Harrington was the cant title for a farthing, and derived its name from Lord Harrington, to whom J ames granted the first patent for making them ; they were originally intended to be of brass. In the year 1620 English enthusiasm was aroused on behalf of the Elector Palatine, son-in-law of the King, who had accepted the crown of Bohemia, and who was as a consequence assailed by the Catholic powers. James, much against his will, gave him the scantiest assistance compatible with the popular demands. In 1624 a grant of £300,000 was made by Parliament for the purpose of carrying on the war ; and Count Mansfeldt, an ex- perienced soldier, was sent to England to take command of the troops to be raised for this special service. On the 6th of November, it was reported that — " The King's ship that was to bring over Count Mansfeldt had been cast away on the 1st of that month, and all in her lost except the Count and two pages, and that the letters to the lieutenants to press men for this expedition were signed with difficulty, and were not yet put in practice The press for Count Mansfeldt had begun on the previous night, amongst vagrants about town" On the 18th December it appears that the soldiers, " a rabble of raw poor rascals," were marching to Dover, but so unwillingly, that they were rather driven than led ; some of those pressed having hanged, drowned, or disabled themselves in order to escape the service. It was lamentable to see the heavy countenances, and hear the sad farewells of the pressed men, who were most un- willing to go on account of the bad season, the uncertainty of the employment, and the " ill terms " on which they served, the business in fact appeared to " promise no honour to the nation, and only wretchedness to the poor soldiers." On the principle that the worm will turn, these waifs and strays * David Murray. The issue of tokens was not prohibited by law until 1817 (57 Geo. III., c. 146). AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 147 of society, driven apparently to desperation, in a very few days more assumed the aggressive ; for on the 26th December it is reported that " no provisions can come into Dover because the soldiers take all away, and that the town will be ruined by the outrages of the soldiers without an order for the exercise of mar- tial law." On the 27th the official report says that " the misery and fear they cause is indescribable." The expedition, as might be surmised, ended disastrously, and J ames died in the month of March following. In the reign of Charles I. little was done in the way of law- making owing to the continuous struggle for mastery which went on between the King and the Parliament. The very first Act of this reign, the 1 Car. L, c. 1 (1625), entitled " An Acte for punishing divers abuses committed on the Lord's day called Sunday, " marks a farther concession to the growing puritanical spirit of the age. It recites that — " Forasmuch as there is nothing more acceptable to God then the true and sincere service and worshipp of him according to his holy will, and that the holy keeping of the Lord's day, is a principall part of the service of God, which in very many places of this Realme hath beene and now. is profaned and neglected by a disorderlie sort of people, in exercising and frequenting Bearebaiting, Bull- baiting, Enterludes, Common Playes, and other unlawfull exercises and pastimes uppon the Lord's day ; and for that many quarrells bloodshedds and other great inconveniences have growen by the resort and concourse of people going out of their owne Parishes to such disordered and unlawfull exercises and pastimes neglecting Divine service both in their own Parishes and elsewhere." . . . It then enacts that — " From and after fortie dayes next after the end of this session of Parliament, there shalbe no meetings assemblies or concourse of people out of their own Parishes on the Lord's day within this Realme of England, or any of the Dominions thereof, for any sport or Pastimes whatsoever ; nor any Bearebaiting, Bullbaiting, En- terludes, common Playes or other unlawfull exercises or pastimes used by any person or persons within their owne parishes, and that every person and persons offending in any the premisses, shall forfeit for every offence three shillings foure pence." In 1628 the 3 Car. L, c. 5, was passed for the purpose of con- tinuing the 14 Eliz., c. 5, so far as related to the levying and l 2 148 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, employing of gaol-money ; the 18 Eliz., c. 3, so far as related to bastards ; the 39 Eliz., c. 4, with the proviso regarding the heirs of John Dutton ; the 39 Eliz., c. 17, and the 1 Jac. I., c. 7 ; and this continuing Act was itself again continued indefinitely by the 16 Car. L, c. 4 (1641). In the autumn of the year 1628 the western counties were annoyed by an influx of Irish pauperism. On the 18th of August the justices of peace for the county of Pembroke write to the Council that " Of late great numbers of Irish poor people have been landed in that county with passes. Being much pestered and burdened by them, the writers have made stay of a bark of ten tons, wherein were carried about 70 of these poor people. They are landed suddenly and some of them secretly in the night, tak- ing after the rate of 3s. for every passenger." The justices submit " that caution should be given to the Lord Deputy to restrain this confluence into this kingdom." On the 23rd of October the same justices " reiterate their com- plaints of the great concourse of Irish people transported into this country. The owners of barks make much gain by transporting them at 3s. a piece for young and old. The reasons they allege for their coming are the last year's death of cattle and dearth of corn ; yet they carry cattle into this and other countries, and there is a restraint to send corn from hence into that kingdom. They crave such order that henceforth they be not pestered with these people. " On the 1st of January, 1629, the Mayor and Aldermen of Bristol write to the Council, " The scarcity of corn in Ireland is such that the poor people of that realm are enforced, for avoiding famine, to come over into this kingdom, and are very offensive in all the western parts. They pray permission for merchants of that city to transport corn into Ireland." On the 18th of March following, the justices for Essex write to the Council that " Their county is much troubled with a multi- plicity of Irish men, women, and children, beggars, of whom they cannot learn at what port they were landed, or the cause of their landing. Not being able to dispose of them to their places of last habitation or birth, they crave direction how they may clear the country of so great a grievance." On the 15th of April the justices of the county of Pembroke again write. " On their previous complaints touching the trans- AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. v 149 portation of poor Irish people into these parts in great multitudes, the Council wrote that they would take order for their restraint. Since which they have continually increased, so that within the last month 300 have been landed thereabouts, for whose passage is paid 5s. a piece. Their ingress cannot be prevented by reason that they land them on rocks and in creeks, and presently return to bring as many more. By ingrossing and transportation corn is grown to a great price and scarcity. Wherefore they pray present order for restraint of licences for transportation." On the 16th of April the Lords of the Council write to the Lord Mayor, referring to the satisfactory results which had arisen from the steps taken in accordance with their former directions for the suppression of vagabonds and wandering persons in the City. Of late they had very much increased, and they were com- manded in the King's name to require him to take speedy and effectual order for their suppression. On the 20th of April the Lord Mayor and Aldermen reply, de- tailing the steps taken by them, and stating that they found such persons were mostly foreigners and Irish, very few of whom, when set to work, would undergo the labour with the slender diet in that case allowed. The foreigners, at their own request, had been discharged with correction or relief of money; those who came from the several quarters of the City had been returned to their parishes. They requested the Council to give order to force the Irish vagrants into their own country ; and that those who by the strict search which had been made had been driven into Middlesex, Surrey, and Essex, might be so proceeded with that they should not fill the City again. The evil rose to such a pitch that the judges were consulted as to the mode to be adopted for clearing the kingdom of Irish and other beggars. Their advice was embodied in a proclamation issued on the 17 th of May, expressly commanding that all Irish Beggars then in England "wandring or begging shall forthwith depart this Eealme and return into their own Countrie and there abide. " If at the end of six weeks they are found wandering or begging they are to be apprehended and punished as Rogues and Vaga- bonds and then to be conveyed from constable to constable to one of the following ports, viz. Bristol, Minehead, Barnstaple, Chester, Liverpool, Milford, and Workington. The proclamation also 150 VAGRANTS AND YAGRANCY, commands that all officers " use all care and diligence to execute the Lawes against all Rogues and Vagabonds." On the 11th of June the justices of Pembroke further write that "they have apprehended Edmund Wealsh, master of the Gift, of Dublin, who has transported Irish beggars into those parts, and used unreverent speeches of his Majesty. They have committed him to gaol until they receive further directions. He willingly took the Oath of Allegiance. He has not brought over of Irish beggars above eight." The evil appears to have been abated, as no further correspon- dence seems to have taken place on the subject until the 26th of March, 1633, when the justices for the county of Somerset write to the sheriff, certifying their proceedings for relief of the poor and supply of the markets. They report that there are " very few wandering persons amongst them, more than now and then a troop of Irish, that begin again to swarm out of that country, for re- formation whereof they desire the lords to take order." The condition of the peasant in the year 1630 is thus described by John Taylor the Water Poet, in " Superbiae Flagellum, or, the Whip of Pride:"— " The painful Plowmans paines doe neuer cease, For he must pay his Kent, or lose his lease, And though his Father and himselfe before, Haue oft relieu'd poore beggers at their doore ; Yet now his Fine and Rent so high is rear'd, That his own meat, and cloathes are scarcely clear'd, Let him toyle night and day, in light and darlce, Lye with the Lambe downe, rise up with the Larke, Dig, delue, plow, sow, rake, harrow, mow, lop, fell, Plant, graft, hedge, ditch, thresh, winnow, buy & sell ; Yet all the money that his paines can win, His land-lord hath a purse to put it in. What though his Cattell with the Murraine dye, Or that the Earth her fruitfulnesse deny 1 Let him beg, steale, grieue, labour and lament, The Quarter comes, and he must pay his Rent." Whipping-posts and stocks appear at the same time to have been plentiful : — " In London and within a mile, I weene, There are Iayles or Prisons full eighteene And sixty Whipping posts, and Stocks and Cages, Where sin with shame and sorrow hath due wages." In this year the King issued a Commission under the great seal, directed to thirty-six of the principal officers of state and nobility, AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 151 for the purpose of putting in execution the laws for the relief of the poor, and for setting to work idle persons who wander up and down begging, or maintain themselves by filching and stealing. It sets forth : — " That the defect of the execution of the good and politique Lawes and Constitutions in that behalf e made, proceedeth especially from the neglect of dutie in some of our Justices of the Peace, within the severall Counties, Cities, and townes Corporate of this our Realme of England, and Dominion of Wales, which remisse- nesse & neglect of duty doth grow and arise from this, That by the most of the said Lawes, there are little or no Penalties or For- feitures at all inflicted upon the said J ustices of Peace, Magistrates, Officers, and Ministers for not performing their duties in that behalfe, or if any be, yet partly by reason of the smalnesse thereof, and partly by reason of their power and authoritie in their severall places, whereby they hold others under them in awe, there are few or no Complaints or Informations made of the neglects and want of due execution of the offices of the said Justices and other Ministers .... by reason whereof the said Justices of Peace, Magistrates, Officers, and Ministers, are now of late in most parts of this our Kingdome growne secure in their said negligence .... Whereas at this day in some Counties and parts of this Our Kingdome, where some Justices of Peace and other Magistrates doe duely and diligently execute the same, there evidently ap- peareth great reformation, benefit and safety do redound to the Commonwealth. And likewise when as there was care taken, and diligence used to have the Lawes concerning Charitable uses, wel executed, and all pious gifts to bee imployed according to the good intent of the Donors, these poore people were better relieved then now they are. . . . " After long and mature deliberation, finding that there is no better wayes or meanes to have the said Lawes and Statutes put in full execution, then by committing the trust and oversight thereof to the speciall care and industrie of certaine persons of principall Place, Dignitie and Order neere unto Our Person ; who upon their diligent inquirie how the said Lawes and Statutes are put in execu- tion, may be able upon all occasions to give Us particular information thereof, and by their approoved Wisdomes experience and Judge- ments, give Directions and Instructions from time to time for the better execution of the said Statutes.' ' 152 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, It then proceeds to direct the Commissioners to make inquiry, by oath or otherwise, and to inform themselves " how all and every the Lawes and Statutes now in force, which any way concerne the re- lief e of impotent or poore people, the binding out of apprentices, the setting to worke of poore children, and such other poore people, as being able or willing to worke, have no stocke or meanes to imploy themselves ; the compelling and forcing such lazie & idle persons to worke, as being of bodies able and strong, doe neverthelesse refuse to labour ; the maintenance, governement, and well ordering of houses of correction and other places for reliefe of poore indigent and impotent people, the Rating, Collecting, and imployment of all such Summes, as by the Statute of the three and fourtieth of Elizabeth, are appointed for the reliefe of Souldiers and Mariners, the punishment or setting on worke of Rogues and Vagabonds : And all Lawes and Statutes now in force for the repressing of Drunkennesse and Idlenesse, the reforming of abuses committed in Innes and Alehouses, the abridging of the number of Alehouses, and the well ordering of such as be licensed, the keeping of Watches and Wards duely, and how other publique services for God, the King, and the Common -wealth, are put in practice and executed." This is succeeded by orders to the justices to see to the execu- tion of the laws mentioned, to inflict condign punishment on any officers who neglect their duty, and to reward prosecutors and informers. The justices are to report every three months to the High Sheriff, who is in turn to report to the Justices of Assize, who are to report to the Lords Commissioners. Justices failing to send in an account are to be reported to the Commissioners by the High Sheriff, and the Justices of Assize are to inquire and mark what justices are careful and who are negligent. Attached to these orders are Directions for carrying out the Statutes. Those relating to vagrancy are as follows : — " That the Lords of Manors and Towns take care that their Tenants, and the parishioners of every Towne may bee releeved by worke, or otherwise at home, and not suffered to straggle and beg up and downe in their parishes. " That Stewards to Lords and Gentlemen, in keeping their Leetes twice a yeere, doe specially enquire upon those articles that tend to the reformation or punishment of common offences and abuses : As of Bakers and Brewers, for breaking of Assizes : Of Forestalled AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. , 153 and Regraters : Against Tradesmen of all sorts, for selling with under weights, or at excessive prises, or things unwholesome, or things made in deceipt : Of people, breakers of houses, common theeves, and their receivers ; haunters of Taverns, or Alehouses ; those that goe in good clothes, and fare well, and none knowes whereof they live ; those that bee night-walkers ; builders of Cot- tages, and takers in of Inmates ; offences of Victuallers, Artificers, Workemen, and Labourers. " That the petty Constables in all Parishes, be chosen of the abler sort of Parishioners, and the office not to bee put upon the poorer sort, if it may be. " "Watches in the ' night, and Warding by day, and to bee ap- pointed in every Towne and Village, for apprehension of rogues and vagabonds, and for safety and good order. " And because it is found by dayly experience, that the remisse- nesse and negligence of petty Constables is a great cause of the swarming of Rogues and Beggers : therefore the High Constables in their severall Divisions are specially to be charged to looke unto the petty-Constables, that they use diligence in their offices, and the High Constables to present to the Justices of Peace, the defaults of the petty-Constables, for not punishing the Pogues, or not pre- senting those that are Relievers of the Pogues and Beggers, the Law inflicting a penalty upon the Constable for not punishing them, and upon such party as shall relieve them. "If in any Parish there be found any persons that live out of service, or that live idly and will not worke for reasonable wages, or live to spend all they have at the Alehouse, those persons to bee brought by the High Constables, and petty Constables to the Justices at their meetings, there to bee ordered and punished as shall be found fit. " That the Correction houses in all Counties may be made adjoyn- ing to the common Prisons, and the Groaler to be made Gfovernour of them, that so he may imploy to worke Prisoners committed for smal Causes, df so they may learne honestly by labour, and not live idly and miserably long in Prison, whereby they are made worse when they come out, then they were when they went in, and where many houses of Correction are in one County, one of them at least to bee neere the Goale. " That no man harbour Rogues in their Barnes, or Outhouseings. And the wandring persons with women and children to give 154 VAGRANTS AXD VAGRANCY, account to the Constable or Justice of Peace, where they were marryed, and where their children were Christened ; for these people live like Salvages, neither marry nor bury nor Christen, which licentious libertie make so many delight to be Rogues and "Wanderers." The other articles in the Directions refer to the apprenticing of poor children, the enforcement of fixed rates of wages* for labourers and servants, the raising of rates for the relief of the poor, and the neglect to repair highways, which are stated to be in great decay in all counties. Subsequently to these Directions we find in the State Papers reports of the apprehension and punishment of vagrants from the sheriffs of Herts and Kent. One reason no doubt for the tolera- tion of members of the vagrant tribe in rural districts was that many of them were general news-carriers and gossip-mongers. Cot grave says regarding them — " If one should refuse to talke with every Begger, He should refuse brave company sometimes." On the 17th of September in this year (1630) a renewed pro- clamation was issued " for suppressing rogues and vagabonds, and the relief of the poor according to law." It states that, " harvest being ended, the former similar proclamation of the 23rd April last past is to be put in execution against all persons wandering under the names of soldiers, mariners, glassmen, potmen, pedlars, petty chapmen, conyskinmen, or tinkers." The rogue appears about this period to have devised a legal puzzle for the justices, which they were obliged to submit to the judges for solution, as we find amongst the Resolutions of the Judges of Assize in 1633 the following query, with its answer. "27 Qu. A rogue is taken at C. and will not confesse the place of his birth : neyther doth it appeare otherwise but that he con- fesseth the last place of his habitation to be at S. hereupon he is whipped and sent to S. At his comming to S. the place of his birth is there knowne by some to be at W. and thereupon the rogue confesseth it to be so : whether he might without any new vagrancy be sent to W?" " Resol. In this case it is fit to send such a rogue to the place of his birth : for this is but a mistaking and no legall setling." * The 1 Jac. I., c. 6., s. 2 (1603-4), enacts that Labourers, Weavers, Spinners, and Workmen's wages are to be rated by the Justices. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 155 On January 15, 1633, the Lords of the Council write to the Lord Mayor with respect to their former letters for the execution of his Majesty's Book of Orders concerning charitable uses, and for the punishment of wandering rogues and vagrants, and require him to be more careful and vigilant in the performance of his duty therein. In March, 1638, the Lords of the Council find it necessary to write to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen with respect to the great number of wandering poor in the city, requiring order to be taken for the relief of the poor according to the laws, that they might have no pretence to wander and beg, and for the punishment of rogues and vagabonds. In June of the same year the Lords of the Council again write to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, requiring them to proceed more effectually in the execution of the laws for the sup- pression of vagrants, and to report their proceedings at the end of every term. The troublous times which followed were eminently favourable to vagabondage, and until the two great parties in the State had ceased fighting for the supremacy it was useless to expect that any comprehensive measures could be taken to suppress it. In 1647, however, the King had fallen into the hands of the Parlia- mentary Commissioners, and the civil war was virtually terminated. Towards the end of this year the puritanical sentiment of the Long Parliament caused, on the 22nd October, the passing of an ordinance (c. 97) for the suppressing of Stage plays and inter- ludes. It enacts that Common players shall be committed to the gaol, there to remain until the next general sessions of the peace, or sufficient security entered for their appearance at the sessions, there to be punished as rogues according to law. This was followed, on the 22nd January, 1648, by an order for an ordinance to suppress all Stage Plays, and for taking down all their boxes or seats where they act, and that the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, and Justices of Peace, and Committees of the Militia, &c, take care to suppress all stage plays for the future. These ordinances, however, appear to have been entirely ineffi- cacious, and accordingly, on the 11th February, 1648, a more formidable ordinance (c. 106) for suppression of all stage plays and interludes) was passed. It recites that " The Acts of Stage-Playes, Interludes, and common Playes, condemned 156 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, by ancient heathens, and much less to be tolerated amongst pro- fessors of the Christian Religion, is the occasion of many and sundry great vices and disorders, tending to the high provocation of God's wrath and displeasure, which lies heavy upon this king- dom, and to the disturbance of the peace thereof ; in regard whereof the same hath been prohibited by Ordinance of this present Par- liament, and yet is presumed to be practised by divers in contempt thereof." It then enacts, " For the better suppression of the said Stage-Playes, Interludes, and common playes, it is ordered and ordained by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That all Stage-players, and Players of Interludes, and common Playes, are hereby declared to be, and are, and shall be taken to be Rogues, and punishable, within the statutes of the thirty-ninth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the seventh year of King J ames, and liable unto the pains and penalties therein contained, and proceeded against according to the said Statutes, whether they be wanderers or no, and notwithstanding any license what- soever from the King or any person or persons to that purpose." This Act breathes the spirit exhibited by William Prynne in his " Histrio-Mastix " ("The Player's Scourge "),* published in 1633, in which he lays down — " That all popular and common Stage-Playes, whether Cornwall, Tragically Satyricall, Mimicall, or mixt of either (especially as they are now composed and personated), are such sinfully hurtfull, and per- nicious Recreations, as are altogether unseemely, and unlawfull unto Christians." Quoting from Asterius he says that " Playes are the cause of Debt and Usury ; the occasion of Poverty, the beginning of Beggery." He afterwards proceeds to maintain that " the effect or product of Stage Playes, is cruelty, fiercnesse, brawles, sedition, tumults, murthers and the like ; " and that " the fruits of Stage-playes is this ; that they draw downe God's fearefull judgements both upon their Composers, Actors, Spectators, and those Republikes that tolerate or approve them." He also quotes the following from the sixth Council of Constantinople a.d. 680 : — Can. 51 : " This sacred and universall Synode doth utterly prohibit * For this book Prynne was imprisoned eight years, fined ,£3,000, expelled the university of Oxford and Lincoln's Inn, degraded from his profession, stood twice in the pillory, lost both his ears, and had the book burned by the hang- man. See his petitions to Parliament. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 157 those who are called Stage-player 8 and their interludes ; together with the Spectacles of huntings, and those dances that are made upon the Stage." Can. 61. " Those also ought to be subject to sixey ear es excommuni- cation, who carry about beares or such like creatines for sport, to the hurt of simple people ; or tell fortunes or fates, and genealogies, and utter a multitude of such like words out of the toyes of fallacy and imposture : and those also who are stiled charmers, givers of remedies and amulets, and prophets" The public taste for stage plays at this period', judged by the following extracts, appear to have been of a debased character, and must therefore have strengthened the puritanical opposition to them. " We must have nothing brought now upon Stage But Puppetry, and pyed ridiculous Anticks. Men thither come to laugh, and feed fool fat, Check* at all goodnesse there, as being prophan'd, When, where ere goodnesse comes, it makes the place Holy and sacred, though with other feet, Never so much 'tis scandall'd and polluted. Let me learn anything, that fits a man In any stables sh own, as well as Stages. Players Were never more uncertain in their lives, They know not what to play, for fearfull fools, Where to play, for Puritan fools, nor what To play, for Criticall fools." In spite, too, of all the official prohibitions, Sir William Davenant opened a kind of theatre in Rutland House, Charter- house Yard, in May, 1656, and on the 3rd September, 1656, addressed the following letter to Bulstrode Whitelocke, one of the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal. The opera referred to is the Siege of Rhodes, which was given at Rutland House, " the story sung in recitative verse." On this occasion scenes " in perspective " were first publicly used. " My Lord, " When I consider the nicety of the Times, I fear it may draw a Curtain between your Lordship and our opera ; therefore I have presumed to send your Lordship, hot from the Press, what we mean to represent ; making your Lordship my supreme Judge, though I despair to have the Honour of inviting you to be a spec- * Applied to a hawk when she forsakes her proper game and follows sonie other of inferior kind that crosses her in her flight. 158 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, tator. I do not conceive the perusal of it worthy any part of your Lordship's leisure, unless your antient relation to the Muses make you not unwilling to give a little entertainment to Poetry, though in so mean a dress as this, and coming from, my Lord, " Your Lordship's most obedient servant, " William Davenant." In the year 1647 the condition of pauperism appears to have necessitated the passing of the following Ordinance for the Reliefe and Imployment of the Poore ; and the Punishment of Vagrants, and other disorderly Persons. }> It recites that " the Necessity, Number and Increase of the Poore is very great within the City of London and Liberties thereof, for want of the due execution of such whol- some Lawes and Statutes as have beene formerly made. " For remedy thereof, and for other the purposes herein after specified ; Be it and it is ordained by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, That from henceforth there be, and shall be a Corporation within the said City of London and Liberties thereof, consisting of a President, Deputy to the Presi- dent, a Treasurer, and forty Assistants, whereof the Lord Maior of the said City for the time being to be the President, eight of the said Assistants to be of the Aldermen of the said City for the time being ; and the other thirty and two to be Free-men of, and Inhabitants in the said City, chosen out of the severall Wards of the said City equally. . . . And be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, for the further reliefe and employing of the said poore within the said City and Liberties thereof, that the said Corpora- tion, or any nine of them, whereof the said President, or any of the said Aldermen or the Deputy to the President, or the said Treasurer to be one, shall have power to Erect one or more Worke- houses for receiving, relieving, and setting the poore on work ; and one or more houses of Correction for punishing of Rogues, Vagabonds, and Beggers, as they shall think fit. . . . " And that the said President and Governours, or any nine of them, whereof the said President, or any of the said Aldermen, or the Deputy to the President, or the said Treasurer to be one, shall have power from time to time to make and Constitute Orders and By-Lawes for the better relieving, regulating, and setting the Poore on worke, and the apprehending and punishing of Rogues, Vagabonds, and Beggers within the said City and AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 159 Liberties, that have not wherewith honestly to maintaine them- selves. . . . And it shall and may be lawfull to and for any County, Corporation, or Boroughes in any County of this King- dome, or Dominion of Wales, to make choise of a fit number of able and sufficient Persons for the like effectuall relieving, and regulating of the Poore in their respective places ; and in like manner to draw up and present Orders and By-Laws best suiting to those Counties and places for confirmation as aforesaid, and for the ends and purposes herein above expressed." A little more than two years later, on the 24th of January, 1650-1, the toleration accorded to vagrants by the parochial autho- rities in the City seems to have called forth the following procla- mation from the Lord Mayor : — " Forasmuch as of late the constables of this city have neglected to put in execution the severall wholsome laws for punishing of vagrants, and passing them to the places of their last abode, whereby great scandall and dishonour is brought upon the government of this city ; These are therefore to will and require you, or your deputy, forthwith to call before you the severall constables within your ward, and strictly to charge them to put in execution the said laws, or to expect the penalty of forty shillings to be levyed upon their estates, for every vagrant that shal be found begging in their several precincts. And to the end the said constables may not pretend ignorance, what to do with the several persons they shal find offending the said laws, these are further to require them, that al aged or impotent persons who are not fit to work, be passed from constable to constable to the parish where they dwel ; and that the constable in whose ward they are found begging, shal give a passe under his hand, expressing the place where he or she were taken, and the place whither they are to be passed. And for children under five years of age, who have no dwelling, or cannot give an account of their parents, the parish where they are found are to provide for them ; and for those which shall bee found lying under stalls, having no habitation or parents (from five to nine years old), are to be sent to the Wardrobe House,* to be provided for by the corporation for the poore ; and all above nine years of age are to be sent to Bridewel. And for men or women who are able to work and goe begging with young * An ancient building in Vintry Ward known by the name of The Royal, or the Tower Royal, used for a time as the Queen's wardrobe. 160 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, children, such persons for the first time to be passed to the place of their abode as aforesaid ; and being taken againe, they are to be carryed to Bridewel, to be corrected according to the discretion of the governours. And for those persons that shal be found to hire children, or go begging with children not sucking, those children are to be sent to the several parishes wher they dwel, and the persons so hiring them to Bridewel, to be corrected and passed away, or kept at work there, according to the governour's discretion. And for al other vagrants and beggars under any pretence whatsoever, to be forthwith sent down to Bridewel to be imployed and corrected, according to the statute laws of this commonwealth, except before excepted; and the president and governours of Bridewel are hereby desired to meet twice every week to see to the execution of this Precept. And the steward of the workehouse called the Wardrobe, is authorised to receive into that house such children as are of the age between five and nine, as is before specified and limited ; and the said steward is from time to time to acquaint the corporation for the poor, what persons are brought in, to the end they may bee provided for." Vagrancy, however, continued to increase, and therefore on the 23rd of January, 1655, another proclamation was issued by the Town Clerk of the City to the following effect : — " Whereas by neglect of executing the good Lawes and Statutes against Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggers, That vermine of this Commonwealth doth now swarme in and about this City and Liberties, disturbing and annoying the inhabitants and Passengers, by hanging upon Coaches, and clamorous begging at the doores of Churches and private Houses, and in the Streets and common Wayes, beguiling the modest, laborious and honest poore (the proper objects of charity) of much reliefe and Almes w\hich otherwise might bee disposed to them by bountifull and well minded people : And by this meanes and their corrupt and prophane communication, doe bring dishonor to God, scandall to Religion, and shame to the Government of this City : And for as much as it is intended and resolved that for Reformation of this living Nusance, the said Lawes and Statutes shall bee hence- forth duely and strictly executed within this City and Liberties thereof, and the penaltyes and punishments thereby appointed, imposed and inflicted upon all persons offending against the same : I doe therefore give notice thereof, and in the name of his Highnes AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 161 the Lord Protector, doe hereby require and command all Constables and other officers and persons whatsoever within this City and Liberties, to bee diligent andwatchfull about their' duties herein." The proclamation ends with extracts from 39 Eliz., c. 4, and 1 Jac. L, c. 7, for the information of constables. The means of repression at the disposal of the authorities appears, however, to have been insufficient, for we are told that at "A Common Councell holden . . . the sixth day of March . . . 1656. Upon reading the humble Representation of the President and Governors for the Poore of this City and Liberties thereof, complaining that the number of those Agents (whom their present ability can set forth and maintaine) for clearing the streets of Vagrants cannot effect that work, the Court ordained that the rates for the relief of the poor should be doubled, and payments made to. a sufficient number of able warders for apprehending Vagrants and Beggars." Notwithstanding the good order which generally prevailed under the stern discipline of the Puritan rule, fresh legislation was found necessary, and in the year 1656 a statute (c. 21) * entitled an Act against Vagrants, and wandring, idle, dissolute persons was passed, which recites that, " Whereas the number of wandring, idle, loose, dissolute, and disorderly persons is (of late) much increased, by reason of some Defects in the Laws and Statutes heretofore made and provided for the punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggers (they being seldom taken begging) by means whereof divers Roberies, Burglaries, Thefts, Insurrections and other Misdemeanors have been occasioned ; For the prevention whereof, Be it Enacted by His Highness the Lord Protector and this present Parliament and the Authority thereof, That all and every idle, loose, and dissolute person and persons, which from and after the First day of July one thousand six hundred fifty- seven, shall be found and taken within the commonwealth of England, vagrant and wandring from his or their usual place of living or abode, and shall not have such good and sufficient cause or business for such his or their travelling or wandring, as the Justices or Justice of Peace, Mayors, or other Chief Officers or Officers of the respective Counties or Corporations, before whom such person or persons shall be brought, shall approve of ; That then every such idle, loose and dissolute person and persons, so taken vagrant and wandring as aforesaid, shall be * This statute is given in its entirety on account of its rarity. M 162 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. adjudged, and are hereby adjudged and declared to be Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggers, within the Statute made in the nine and thirtieth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, c. 4, For the Suppressing of Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggers, and shall be proceeded against and punished as Rogues, Vaga- bonds and Sturdy Beggers within the said Statute, although they shall not be taken begging, any Law, Statute, or Usage to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. And be it farther Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons commonly called Fidlers or Minstrels, shall at any time after the said First day of July, be taken playing, fidling and making music in any Inn, Ale-house or Tavern, or shall be taken proferring themselves, or desiring, or intreating any person or persons to hear them to play, or make musick in any the places aforesaid, That every such person and persons so taken, shall be adjudged, and are hereby adjudged and declared to be Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggers, and shall be proceeded against and punished as Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggers within the said Statute, Any Law, Statute or Usage to the con- trary thereof in any wise notwithstanding/ ' CHAPTER VII. 1660—1713. Accession of Charles II. — Disbandment of the army — The law of settlement — Speech of the King regarding beggars — Results of the new law — Captain Graunt on beggars — Sir Matthew Hale on workhouses — Proclamation against vagrants and beggars and persons carrying combustible matters — Pretended lunatics— Alterations of the law of settlement under James II. and William III. — Highwaymen — The poor receiving relief to wear badges — Bandying about of the poor — Mr. John Cary on the wholesome effect of workhouses — Demoralizing results of passing beggars home — Estimate of the dependent classes — Depravity of beggar children — Legisla- tion under Ann — Consolidation of the laws against vagrants and beggars in 1713. Some of the first Acts of the reign of Charles II. had reference to the disbanding of the army, which, owing to its rigid morality and discipline, and its sympathy with puritanical principles, formed a source of danger instead of strength to the restored monarchy. One of these Acts (12 Car. II., c. 16) made it lawful for the disbanded soldiers to exercise trades without having been apprenticed to them, and exempted them from the prohibitory clauses of the 5 Eliz., c. 4, and also from local customs and by- laws to a contrary effect. This enabled them at once to join the industrial ranks, and they availed themselves of it to the fullest extent. Lord Macaulay bears tribute to their good conduct and industry in these apposite terms : — " Fifty thousand men, accustomed to the profession of arms, were at once thrown on the world : and experience seemed to warrant the belief that this change would produce much misery and crime, that the discharged veterans would be seen begging in every street, or would be driven by hunger to pillage. But no such result followed. In a few months there remained not a trace indicating that the most formidable army in the world had just been absorbed into the mass of the community. The Eoyalists m 2 164 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, themselves confessed that, in every department of honest industry, the discarded warriors prospered beyond other men, that none was charged with any theft or robbery, that none was heard to ask an alms, and that if a baker, a mason, or a waggoner attracted notice by his diligence and sobriety, he was in all probability one of Oliver's old soldiers." We now come to an Act entitled " An Act for the better Eeliefe of the Poore of this Kingdom " (14 Car. II., c. 12, 1662), which recites that " the necessity number and continual increase of the Poore not onely within the Cities of London and West- minster with the Liberties of each of them but alsoe through the whole Kingdome of 'England and Dominion of Wales, is very great and exceeding burthensome being occasioned by reason of some defects in the Law concerning the setling of the Poor and for want of a due Provision of the regulations of releife and imploy- ment in such Parishes or Places where they are legally setled which doth enforce many to turn incorrigible Pogues and others to perish for want togeather with the neglect of the faithfull execution of such Lawes & Statutes as have formerly beene made for the apprehending of Pogues and Vagabonds and for the good of the Poore and that "by reason of some defects in the Law poore people are not restrained from going from one Parish to another and therefore doe endeavor to settle themselves in those Parishes where there is the best Stocke the largest Commons or wastes to build Cottages and the most woods for them to burn and destroy and when they have consumed it then to another Parish and att last become Pogues and Vagabonds to the great discouragem*. of Parishes to provide Stocks where it is lyable to be devoured by Strangers." It then enacts that, " upon complaint made by the Churchwardens or Overseers of the Poore of any Parish to any Jus- tice of Peace, " within Forty dayes after any such Person or Per- sons coming so to settle as aforesaid in any Tenement under the yearely value of Ten Pounds," for any two justices of the peace " by theire warrant to remove and convey such person or persons to such Parish where he or they were last legally setled either as a native Householder Sojourner Apprentice or Servant for the space of forty dayes at the least unlesse he or they give sufficient security for the discharge of the said Parish to bee allowed by the said Justices." Persons who think themselves aggrieved by such judgment may appeal to the next court of quarter sessions, AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 165 " whoe are required to doe them justice according to the merits of theire Cause." Next comes a proviso that " it shall be lawfull for any person or persons to go into any County Parish or place to worke in time of Harvest or at any time to worke at any other worke so that he or they carry with him or them a Certificate from the Minister of the Parish and one of the Churchwardens and one of the Overseers for the Poore for the said yeare that hee or they have a dwelling-house or place in which he or they inhabit and hath left wife and children or some of them there." Such work, however, was not to procure such persons a settlement, but they might be removed Ijack again. " And if such person or persons shall refuse to go or shall not remain in such Parish where they ought to be setled as aforesaid but shall return of his own accord to the Parish from whence he was removed," such person so offending may be sent " to the House of Correction there to be punished as a Vagabond, or to a publique Workehouse in this present Act hereafter mentioned there to be imployed in worke or labour." The president and governors of corporate workhouses, or any person authorised or appointed by them, may apprehend any rogues, vagrants, sturdy beggars, or idle or disorderly persons, and cause them to be set to work in the corporations or work- houses ; and the justices of the peace in quarter sessions may signify to the Privy Council the names of such rogues, vagabonds, idle and disorderly persons, and sturdy beggars as they shall think to be transported to the English plantations ; and upon the approbation of the Council, any two or more of the justices may, during the next three years, transport them " to any of the English Plantations beyond the Seas, there to be disposed in the usual way of Servants for a terme not exceeding seaven yeares." It further declares that the laws and statutes for apprehending rogues and vagabonds have not been duly executed for want of officers, because Lords of Manors do not keep court leets every year for making them ; and in the case of the death or departure of any officer it empowers two justices to appoint another. It then recites that the 39 Eliz., c. 4, and 1 Jac. L, c. 7, are not duly executed, and it empowers any justice of the peace to whom any rogue, vagabond, or sturdy beggar is brought by a private person, to grant him a warrant to the constable, headborough, or tithingman of such parish where such offender passed through 166 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, unapprehended, requiring him to pay such person 2s. ; and if the constable, headborough, or tithingman refuses or neglects to pay this sum, the justice shall proceed against him to pay such sum as he forfeits under the 1 Jac. I., c. 7, and to allow out of such forfeiture the said 2s., " and such reasonable meanes and allowance for losse of time " as he thinks fit. And if any person shall apprehend any rogue, &c, " att the confines of any County which had passed through any Parish of another County unappre- hended," such person may go before some justice of the county through which the rogue passed unapprehended, who is re- quired, upon a certificate of the justice of the county where the offender was apprehended, to grant his order requiring the con- stable, headborough or tithingman to pay such person two shil- lings ; and if he refuses or neglects to do so, the justice is required to proceed against him and cause him to pay to the person 10s. or " soe much thereof for his expences and losse of time" as the justice shall think fit." The Act then goes on to state that " Constables Headboroughs, or Tithingmen are or may bee at great charge in releiving con- veying with Passes and in carrying Rogues Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars to Houses of Correction or the Workhouses herein men- tioned and as yet have no power by Law to make rates to reim- burse themselves." It then authorises them, with the Church- wardens, overseers, and inhabitants of the parish, to make a rate which being confirmed by two justices may be levied by distress. The Act further authorises the justices, " in any of the Counties of England and Wales in theire Quarter Sessions assembled or the major part of them to transport or cause to be transported such Eogues vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars as shall be duly con- victed and adjudged to be incorrigible to any of the English Plantacons beyond the Seas." The King, in his speech to both Houses at the prorogation, alluded to this Bill in the following terms : "I hope the laws I have passed this day will produce some reformation with reference to the multitude of beggars and poor people which infest the kingdom. Great severity must be used to those who love idle- ness and refuse to work, and great care and charity to those who are willing to work. I do very heartily recommend the execution of those good laws to your utmost diligence." This Act, popularly known as The Settlement Act, marks the AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 167 introduction of a new departure in our Poor Laws, as, except in cases of persons travelling in search of harvest work, it prohibits the poor from wandering, by ordering them to be sent back to their place of settlement. Its main intention undoubtedly is to prevent the rural population from freely resorting to the towns in search of work, and therefore in that sense reintroduces the feudal principle of villenage. Its framers principally had in view the increasing number of poor who resorted to the metropolis, and who thus swelled the ranks of those who mainly propagated the plague, of which every one stood so much in dread ; but it was futile in its immediate objects. As Edmund Waller the poet remarks regarding it, " The relief of the poor ruins the nation. By the late Act they are hunted like foxes out of parishes, and whither must they go but where there are houses [alluding to London] ? We shall shortly have no lands to live upon, the charge of many parishes in the country is so great." The general effect of the Act was, in fact, to drive the poor to London. There was a twofold reason for this : 1st, mendicity was then as now a profitable trade ; 2nd, the landlords of small tenements where the poor lodged, and who derived a large profit from their lodgers, would be most unlikely to report them to the overseers or church- wardens within the forty days prescribed by the Act ; and the authorities, some from sympathetic tenderness and some to save themselves trouble, would fail as heretofore to put the law in force. The next Act (15 Car. II., c. 2, 1663) is a corollary of the pre- ceding one, being apparently directed against those who, in the language of that Act, settle in parishes " where there are the most woods for them to burn and destroy." It directs that any person convicted of cutting and spoiling woods, under- woods, poles or young trees, or bark or bast of trees, gates, stiles, posts, pales, rails or hedgewood, broom or furze, shall for a first offence pay a penalty not exceeding 10s., for a second be sent to hard labour in the House of Correction for one month, and for a third be adjudged an incorrigible rogue. Of the condition of Metropolitan beggars, Captain John Graunt, writing in the year 1665, gives us the following picture : — " My first Observation is, That few are starved. This appears, for that of the 229,250 which have died, (of all diseases and casualties during twenty years in London), we find not above fifty-one to have been starved, excepting helpless Infants at Nurse, which being 168 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, caused rather by carelessness, ignorance, and infirmity of the Milch- women, is not properly an effect, or sign of want of food in the Country, or of means to get it. " The Observation which I shall add hereto, is, That the vast number of Beggars, swarming up and down this City, do all live, and seem to be most of them healthy, and strong." In the year 1670 Sir Matthew Hale, in a pamphlet entitled, " And England's Weal and prosperity Proposed : Or, B,easons for the erecting Publick "Work Houses in every County, &c," admirably sums up the condition of the poor at this period, and the reason of the failure of the repressive laws against mendicity. He thus expresses himself : — " I shall first assert some particulars, which I think are agreed by common consent, and from thence take occasion to proceed to what is more doubtful. "1. That our poor in England have always been in a most sad and wretched condition, some Famished for want of Bread, others starved with Cold and Nakedness, and many whole Families in all the out parts of Cities and great Towns, commonly remain in a languishing, nasty and useless Condition, Uncomfortable to them- selves, and unprofitable to the Kingdom, this is confessed and lamented by all Men. " 2. That the Children of our Poor, bred up in Beggary and Laziness, do by that means become not only of unhealthy Bodies, and more then ordinary subject to many loathsome Diseases, whereof very many die in their tender Age, and if any of them do arrive to years and strength, they are, by their idle habits con- tracted in their Youth, rendred for ever after indispos'd to Labour, and serve only to stock the Kingdom with Thieves and Beggars. " 3. That if our impotent Poor were provided for, and those of both Sexes, and all Ages that can do Work of any kind, employed, it would redound some Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds per annum to the Publick advantage. . . . " How comes it to pass that in England we do not, nor ever did com- fortably Maintain and Employ our Poor ? " The common Answers to this Question are two : — " 1. That our Laws to this purpose are as good as any in the World, but tve fail in the execution. "2. That formerly in the days of our Pious Ancestors the work was done, but note Charity is deceased, and that is the reason ice see the Poor so neglected as they now are. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 169 " In both which Answers (I humbly conceive) the Effect is mistaken for the Cause : for tho' it cannot be denied, but there hath been, and is a great failure in the Execution of those statutes which relate to the Poor ; yet I say, the Cause of that failure, hath been occasioned by defect of the Laws themselves. " For otherwise, what is the reason that in our late times of the Confusion and Alteration, wherein almost every Party in the Nation, at one time or other, took their turn at the Helm, and all had that Compass (those Laws) to Steer by, and yet none of them could, or ever did, conduct the Poor into a Harbour of security to them, and profit to the Kingdom, i.e. none sufficiently maintained the Impotent and employed the Indigent amongst us. . . . " As to the second Answer to the aforesaid Question, wherein want of Charity is assigned for another cause why the Poor are now so much neglected, I think it is a scandalous ungrounded accusation of our Contemporaries ; for most that I converse with, are not so much troubled to part with their Money, as how to place it, that it may do good, and not hurt to the Kingdom : For, If they give to the Beggars in the Streets, or at their Doors, they fear they may do hurt by encouraging that Lazy unprofitable kind of life ; and if they give more than their Proportions in their respective Parishes, that (they say) is but giving to the Rich, for the Poor are not set on Work thereby, nor have the more given them ; but only their Rich Neigh- bours pay the less. And for what was given in Churches to the Visited Poor, and to such as were impoverished by the Fire; we have heard of so many and great abuses of that kind of Charity, that most men are under sad Discouragements in Relation thereunto. . . . " Ask any Charitable -minded Man, as he goes along the Streets of London viewing the Poor, viz., Boyes, Girles, Hen and Women of all Ages, and many in good Health, etc., why he and others do not take care for the setting those poor creatures to Work ? Will he not readily answer, that he wisheth heartily it could be done, though it cost him some part of his Estate, but he is but one Man, and can do nothing towards it ; giving them Money, as hath been said, being but to bring them into a liking and continuance in that way. " Question 2. Wherein lyes the defect of our present Laws relating to the Poor ? " I answer that there may be many, but I shall here take notice of one only, which I think to be Fundamental, and which until altered, the Poor in England can never be well provided for 0 r 170 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, Employed ; and that when the said Fundamental Error is well amended, it is almost impossible they should lack either Work or Maintenance. " The said radical Error I esteem to be the leaving it to the Care of every Parish to maintain their own Poor only ; upon which follows the shifting off, sending or whipping back the poor Wanderers to the place of their Birth or last Abode ; the Practice whereof I have seen many Years in London, to signify as much as ever it will, which is just nothing of Good to the Kingdom in general, or the Poor thereof, though it be sometimes by accident to some of them a Punishment without effect ; I say without effect, because it reforms not the Party, nor disposeth the minds of others to Obedience, which are the true ends of all Punishment. " As for instance, a poor idle Person, that will not Work, or that no Body will employ in the Country, comes up to London, to set up the Trade of Begging, such a person probably may Begg up and down the Streets seven Years, it may be seven and twenty, before anybody asketh why she doth so, and if at length she hath the ill hap in some Parish, to meet with a more vigilant Beadle then one of twenty of them are, all he does is but to lead her the length of five or six Houses into another Parish, and then con- cludes, as his Masters the Parishioners do, that he hath done the part of a most diligent officer : But suppose he should yet go farther to the end of his Line, which is the end of the Law ; and the perfect Execution of his Office ; that is, suppose he should carry this poor wretch to a Justice of the Peace, and he should order the Delinquent to be Whipt and sent from Parish to Parish, to the place of her Birth or last abode, which not one J ustice of twenty (through Pity or other Cause) will do ; even this is a great charge upon the Country, and yet the business of the nation is it self wholly undone : For no sooner doth the Delinquent arrive at the place assigned, but for Shame or Idleness she presently deserts it, and wanders directly back, or some other way, hoping for better Fortune, while the Parish to which she is sent, knowing her a Lazy, and perhaps a worse qualified person, is as willing to be rid of her, as she is to be gone from thence. " If it be here retorted upon me, that by my own confession, much of this mischief happens by the non, or ill Execution of the Laws, I say, Better Execution then you have seen, you must not expect ; and there was never a good Law made that was not well executed ; the fault of the Laic causing a failure of execution ; it AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 171 being natural to all men to use the remedy next at hand, and rest satisfied with shifting the Evil from their own Doors ; which in regard they can so easily do, by threatning or thrusting a poor Body out of the verge of their own Parish, it is unreasonable and vain to hope that ever it will be otherwise." Partly no doubt to prevent the spread of infection and partly to restrain the disorderly gangs who infested the City for the purpose of plunder during the panic caused by the plague, the Lord Mayor on the 4th of July, 1665, issued the following order to the Aldermen of the wards : — " That a carefull Watch and Ward be constantly kept at the Gates and Landing Places, to restrain and prevent the ingress of all Vagrants, Beggers, Loose and Dangerous people, from the out parts into this City and Liberties ; and to bring to punishment such as shall be apprehended doing the same, according to Law." The next public document we have to notice is an order, dated August 19, 1670, from the Court at Whitehall to the Lord Mayor and others, indicating a disturbed condition of the lower orders resulting in incendiarism. " The said Lord Mayor and Justices of the Peace respectively are required to cause diligent observation to be taken of all Vagrant and Suspicious persons walking at Unseasonable Hours, and to examine and search if they Carry about them any Com- bustible matters : and in case such persons are not able to give a good accompt of themselves, they are forthwith to be conveyed before the next J ustice of the Peace, to be proceeded against and severely punish'd, according to the Law and the quality of the Offences." So far as London was concerned, the dissolute character of the King and his Court caused a large amount of dissatisfaction in the City, and owing to the non-payment of their salaries many of the inferior attendants about the Court were in a condition of extreme want. A stringent Act of Parliament (22 and 23 Car. II., c. 7) was also passed at this time to restrain incendiarism. The City had scarcely been rebuilt after the fire before the beggars again resorted to their favourite haunt, and necessitated the following proclamation by the Lord Mayor on the 7th of November, 1671 : — " And whereas the Streets and Common Passages, and all Places of Publick Meeting and Resort, are exceedingly pestered and 172 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, annoyed by Yagrants and Beggars, and that for suppressing and avoiding of that greatest living Nusance, especial resolution is taken to put in execution against them the good Laws in force with all Strictness and Severity : The said Constables, therefore are charged and required to apprehend all Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars, that shall be found begging, vagrant, wandring, or mis- ordering themselves within their respective parishes and precincts ; and such of them as shall appear to have Dwellings or Abode within the City or Liberties to carry to Bridewel, there to be received and dealt withal according to Law ; " all others are directed to be punished and passed away to their places of settlement. Simulation of lunacy had from a very early period been a favourite form of imposture, owing to the compassion and sym- pathy which wandering lunatics excited. In order to endeavour to put down this practice, the governors of Bethlehem Hospital, in June, 1675, inserted the following announcement in No. 1,000 of the London Gazette : — " Whereas several Vagrant Persons do wander about the City of London, an3 Countries, pretending themselves to be Lunaticks under Cure in the Hospital of Bethlem commonly called Bedlam, with Brass Plates about their Arms, and Inscriptions thereon. These are to give Notice, That there is no such Liberty given to any patients kept in the said Hospital for their Cure, neither is any such Plate as a distinction or mark put upon any lunatick during their being there, or when discharged thence. And that the same is a false pretence, to colour their Wandring and Beg- ging, and to deceive the People, to the dishonour of the Govern- ment of that Hospital." We now come to the reign of James II., in which we only have to notice one Act, the 1 Jac. II., c. 17, passed in 1685, for con- tinuing amongst other Acts the 13 and 14 Car. II., c. 12. It also makes an addendum to this Act, reciting as a cause " that poore persons at their first comeing to a parish doe commonly conceale themselves," and then enacts that the forty days' con- tinuance in a parish intended to make a settlement is to be accounted from the delivery of notice in writing of the house of his or her abode, and the number of his or her family, to one of the churchwardens or overseers of the poor. A formidable check was thus imposed on poor persons really wandering in search of work ; on the vagrant it could have no effect unless he wanted a gratuitous ride to some place at a distance. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 173 In the next reign the law of settlement received another amendment by the 3 Wil. and Mar., c. 11 (1691), which enacted that the forty days' continuance in a parish or town intended to make a settlement, " shall be accounted from the Publication of a Notice in Writing, which he or she shall deliver of the House his or her Abode" to the Churchwarden or Overseer of the poor, which notice the churchwarden or overseer is required to read or cause to be read publicly on the next Lord's day in the church or chapel of the parish. All the parishioners would therefore be made aware of the arrival of a stranger, and be able if they thought fit, to take steps for expelling him. In 1692 we are made aware of the disturbed state of the country by an Act " for encouraging the apprehending of high- waymen " (4 Wil. and Mar., c. 8). It declares the highways and roads to be " of late more infested with Thieves and Robbers then formerly, for want of due and sufficient encouragement given and means used for the discovery and apprehension of such offenders, whereby so many Murders and Robberies have been committed, that it is become dangerous in many parts of the Nation for Travellers to passe on their lawfull occasions." It then enacts that a gratuity of £40 shall be given for the apprehension and conviction of every such offender, and in case any person shall be killed in endeavouring to apprehend a robber, his executors or administrators are to be entitled to the reward ; and as a further inducement to apprehend, prosecute, or convict such robber, his Horse, Furniture, arms, money, or other goods of the said Robber, taken with him, are given to the person who apprehends him ; but this does not take away the right of any person to anything feloniously taken from him by the robber ; and it is further enacted, that any robber being at large who shall discover and convict two other robbers is to be entitled to a pardon for his former offences. In 1696-7 the law of settlement received another amendment by the 8 and 9 Wil. III., c. 30, which recites : " Forasmuch as many poor Persons chargeable to the Parish, Towneshipp, or Place where they live meerly for want of Work, would in any other Place where sufficient imployment is to be had, maintaine themselves and Families without being burthensome to any Parish, Townshipp, or Place ; but not being able to give such Security as will or may be expected and required upon their coming to settle themselves in any other Place, and the Certificates that have been usually 174 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, given in such Cases having been oftentimes construed into a notice in Handwriting, they are for the most parte confined to live in their owne Parishes, Townshipps, or Places, and not per- mitted to inhabitt elsewhere, though their Labour is wanted in many other places where the Increase of Manufactures would imploy more Hands." It then enacts that any poor persons, coming to reside in any parish, shall bring with them and deliver to the parish officer a certificate under the hands and seals of the churchwardens and overseers of the parish to which they belong, owning and acknowledging the persons therein mentioned to be legally settled in that parish ; and such certificate having been allowed and subscribed by two justices of peace, obliges that parish to receive and provide for the persons mentioned therein, whenever they shall become chargeable, or be forced to ask relief in the parish to which they had come ; and then, and not before, such persons may be removed to the parish from whence such certificate was brought, and to the end " that the money raised onely for the Relief of such as are as well impotent as poor, may not be misapplied & consumed by the idle, sturdy and dis- orderly Beggars," every person receiving relief of any parish, their wives, children, &c, are ordered to wear on the shoulder of the right sleeve of the uppermost garment a badge or mark with a large Roman P, and the first letter of the name of the parish whereof such poor person is an inhabitant, "cutt either in red or blew cloth." Those who neglect or refuse to wear it may have their allowance abridged, suspended, or withdrawn, or they may be committed to the House of Correction, there to be whipped and kept to hard labour for not more than twenty- one days. In a work on the history of Burton-on-Trent, Mr. Molyneux gives an extract from the vestry book, furnishing an instance of this custom. " 1702, Sept. 6. — Whereas several persons that receive alms out of the poore's levy of this liberty do often omitt the wearing the public badge of this town or observe the same ; It is therefore ordered that when any such poor person or persons shall, or their, or any of their children bee seen without such badge or to observe the same, that upon the view of either of the overseers or reliable information thereof to them, or either of them, of the neglect of wearing or observing such badge, such poore person or persons shall for a fortnight then after lose his and their allow- ance out of the poore's levy, and the like penalty shall be con- AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 175 tinued so often as any such offence shall be comitted and not to be put in pay again till such badge be worne." Under date June 6, 1703, it is ordered " That Elizabeth Salis- bury, Mary Budworth, Hannah Scott, and Ann Hinckley be taken out of constant pay for their stubborn refusal to wear the badge publickly." The way in which the badged poor were bandied from one parish to another may best be gathered from the following extract from the memoirs of the parish of Myddle (co. Salop). " Seventh case. — Inter Myddle and Wem, ann. 1700 and 1701. " Mr. Wase . . . pleaded . . . that Nicholas Hampton had since then procured a settlement in Wem, by receiving money for his maintenance, and wearing the parish badge in Wem for many years. Mr. Fones did not produce the parish book, which in all likelihood would have proved against him, but pleaded that receiving of money could not create a settlement, but paying of money might. That the money was given of charity, and hoped their charity should not bring a burthen on them ; and the wear- ing the badge was only to save the officers harmless from the penalty of the act. Mr. Wase said, that before the Act was made for wearing badges, the parishioners of Wem parish had caused every one of their poor to wear a P. made of tin. And that they caused this Nicholas Hampton to wear one of them, which was then shewed in court ; and he said there was then at the giving of that P. no penalty to be inflicted on officers in that case. Mr. Newton said, that what money was given by one or two, or a few persons, might be accounted charity, but what was given out of the parish leawn,* that he did not account charity ; for it was what ought by law to be done, and he did not insist so much on the wearing of the badge as the payment of the money out of the poor's leawn.* Mr. Weaver said, this person was born in Wem parish ; he came into Myddle parish, and there lived one year, and then returned to Wem parish, and fell lame ; if this person turned vagrant, he must be sent to Wem, not to Myddle. Then Mr. Wase desired the judgment of the Bench in this matter ; and they all agreed, nemine contra dicente, that the order for removing Nich. Hampton into this parish should be reversed." This ticketing of the poor is, it will be remembered, merely a revival of the provisions in the 2 & 3 Phil. & Mar., c. 5, and the _ * Sometimes written lewn. A word in use in Shropshire and Cheshire, signifying a tax, or rate, or lay for church or parish dues. 176 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, 5 Eliz. c. 3, and doubtless enabled the poor in many cases to beg of private persons more effectively on the plea of the insuffi- ciency of the parish allowances. In the year 1697, through the exertions of Mr. John Cary, a philanthropic merchant, the parishes forming the city of Bristol were constituted into a Union and established a workhouse, where the poor were actively employed in beating hemp, dressing and spinning flax, and in carding and spinning wool and cotton. The wholesome effects of this treatment are thus detailed in a pamphlet on the subject published by Mr. Cary in the year 1700. " We soon found, that the great cause of begging did proceed from the low Wages for Labour. . . . " The Success hath answered our Expectation ; we are freed from Beggars, our old People are comfortably provided for ; our Boys and Girls are educated to Sobriety, and brought up to delight in Labour ; our young Children are well lookt after, and not spoiled by the neglect of ill Nurses ; and the Face of our City is so changed already, that we have great reason to hope these young Plants will produce a vertuous and laborious Generation, with whom Im- morality and Prophaneness may find little Incouragement ; nor do our hopes appear to be groundless, for among Three hun- dred persons now under our Charge within Doors, there is neither Cursing nor Swearing, nor prophane Language to be heard, though many of them were bred up in all manner of Vices, which neither Bridewell nor Whippings could fright them from, because, return- ing to their bad Company for want of Employment, they were rather made worse then bettered by those Corrections ; whereas the Change we have wrought on them is by fair means. We have a Bridewelj Stocks, and Whipping-Post always in their sights, but never had occasion to make use of either." The example of Bristol was followed in the course of a few years by the adoption of a similar system under Acts of Parlia- ment at Worcester, Exeter, Hull, Norwich, and Plymouth. In the year 1698-9 the demoralising results of sending beggars home by furnishing them with passes, which entitled them to be passed from parish to parish without further question, necessitated the passing of the 11 Wil. III., c. 18, which recites that " many parts of this Kingdom are extremely oppressed by the usual method of conveying vagabonds or beggers from parish to parish in a dilatory manner, whereby such vagabonds or beggers in hopes of Releife from every Parish through which they are con- AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 177 ducted are incouraged to spend their lives in wandring from one part of this Kingdom to another and to delude divers charitable and well-disposed persons very frequently forge or counterfeit passes testimonials or characters whereby the charitable inten- tions of such persons are often abused." It then provides for the examination by the justices of all bearers of passes in each parish in which they apply for relief or conveyance ; if they are punish- able they are to be sent to the House of Correction, and if not they are at once to be sent on to their destination. Constables neglect- ing their duty are liable to a penalty of 20s. An interesting view of the relative relations of the independent and dependent classes in this reign is furnished in the year 1699 by Charles D'Avenant, from data collected by Gregory King, Lancaster Herald, in the year 1688 : — * ' The nobility and gentry, with their families and retainers, the persons in offices, merchants, persons in the law, the clergy, freeholders, farmers, persons in sciences and liberal arts, shopkeepers and tradesmen, handi- craftsmen, naval officers, with the families and dependents upon all these altogether, make up the number of . . . . 2,675,520 heads. " The common seamen, common soldiers, labour- ing people, and out-servants, cottagers, pau- pers, and their families, with the vagrants, make up the number of . . . . 2,825,000 heads. 5,500,520 heads. "So that here seems a majority of the people, whose chief depend- ence and subsistence is from the other part, which majority is much greater, in respect of the number of families, because 500,000 families contribute to the support of 850,000 families. . . . The first class of the people, from land, arts, and industry, maintain themselves, and add every year something to the nation's general stock ; and besides this, out of their superfluity, contribute every year so much to the maintenance of others. ... Of the second class, some partly maintain themselves by labour, (as the heads of the cottage families), but that the rest, as most of the wives and children of these, sick and impotent people, idle beggars and N 178 VAGRANTS AND VAGKANCY, vagrants, are nourished at the cost of others ; and are a yearly burthen to the public, consuming annually so much as would be otherwise added to the nation's general stock." Mr, King computes the number of vagrants, as gypsies, thieves, beggars, &c, at 30,000, earning an annual income of £10 10s. each. " The opinion of King William on the state of the poor in his reign may be gathered from his speech to both Houses at the opening of Parliament on the 16th of November, 1699. " The Increase of the Poor is become a Burthen to the Kingdom, and their loose and idle Life, does in some measure contribute to that depravation of Manners, which is complained of (I fear with too much reason). Whether the ground of this Evil be from defects in the Laws already made, or in the Execution of them, deserves your Consideration. As it is an indispensable Duty that the Poor, who are not able to help themselves, should be maintained ; so I cannot but think it extremely desireable that such as are able and willing, should not want Employment ; and such as are obstinate and unwilling, should be compelled to labour."* One of the first enactments of the reign of Anne was an Act for continuing for three years the stat. 11 W. III., c. 18. This Act (1 An., stat. 2, c. 13, 1702) "recites that some Justices of the Peace give greater allowances to Constables for conveying Vagrants than may seem necessary, and that the Owners of Horses, Wagons, Carts, or other necessary Carriages for conveying such Vagrants are often extravagant in their rates and demands" and orders "that the Justices in Quarter Sessions shall yearly settle the rates for maintaining and conveying Vagrants." The precocity and depravity of the children engaged in men- dicity at this period appears from a report of the President and Governors for the Poor of London in 1702 to have been very great. It says — " That people may not be imposed upon by beggars, who pretend to be lame, dumb, &c, which really are not so ; this is to give notice, that the president and governors for the poor of London, pitying the case of one Eichard Alegil, a boy of eleven years of age, who pretended himself lame of both his legs, so that he used to go shoving himself along on his breeches ; they ordered him to be taken into their workhouse, intending to make him a tailor, upon which he confessed that his brother, a boy seven years of * Chandler. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 179 age, about four years ago, by the advice of other beggars, con- tracted his legs and turned, them backwards, so that he never used them from that time to this, but followed the trade of begging ; that he usually got five shillings a day, sometimes ten shillings ; that he hath been all over the West of England, where his brother carried him on a horse, and pretended that he was born so, and cut out of his mother's womb. He hath also given an account that he knows of other beggars that pretend to be dumb and lame, and some that tie their arms in their breeches, and wear a wooden stump in their sleeve. The said president and governors have caused the legs of the said Alegil to be set straight ; he has now the use of them, and walks upright. They have ordered him to be put to spinning, and his brother to be kept to hard labour. Several other beggars are by their order taken up and set to work, and when brought into the Workhouse had from ten shil- lings to five pounds in their pockets. " This condition of things no doubt had a good deal to say to the passing of the Act of 2 & 3 An., c. 6, entitled " An Act for the Increase of Seamen and better Encouragement of Navigation and Security of the Coal Trade," which empowers any two or more Justices of the Peace in their several and respective counties, ridings, or divisions, all Mayors, Aldermen, Bailiffs, and other chief officers of cities and towns corporate, and likewise the church- wardens and overseers of the poor, with the approbation of such justices, mayors, and other chief officers, " to bind and put out any Boy or Boys who is, are, or shall be of the Age of Ten Years or upwards, or who is or are or shall be chargeable, or whose Parents are or shall become chargeable to the respective Parish or Parishes wherein they inhabit, or who shall begg for Alms, to be Apprentice and Apprentices to the Sea service to any of Her Majesty's subjects, being masters or Owners of any Shipp or Yessell used in Sea Ser- vice belonging to any Port or Ports within the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and Towne of Berwick-upon-Tweed, until such boy attains the age of one-and-twenty, and such bind- ing shall be effectual." The Churchwardens are at the same time to pay an apprentice fee of 50s. The Act also recites that " diverse dissolute and idle Persons, Rogues Yagabonds and Sturdy Beggars notwithstanding the many good and wholsome laws to the contrary, do continue to wander up and down, pilfering and begging through all parts of this n 2 180 VAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, Kingdome to the great Disturbance of the Peace and tranquility of the Pealme ; for the more effectually suppressing such disorderly Persons, and to the End that they might be made Serviceable and beneficiall to their country," it then enacts " That all lewd and disorderly Men Servants and every such Person and persons both Men and Boys that are deemed and adjudged Bogues Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars (not being Felons) by the 39 Eliz., c. 4, shall be and are hereby directed to be taken up sent and con- ducted and conveyed unto Her Majestie's Service at Sea, by such Waies, Methods, and Meanes, and in such Manner and Forme as is directed for Vagrants in the 11 & 12 YYil. III., c. 18, for the more effectuall Punishment of Vagrants and sending them whither by Law they ought to be sent." By 6 Anne, c. 32 (1706), the 11 & 12 Wil. Ill, c. 18, is con- tinued for seven years, and courts of quarter session are autho- rised to raise money by assessment to satisfy constables the expenses of passing vagrants. We now come to an important statute, the 13 Anne, c. 26 * (1713), which consolidates and amends the existing laws regard- ing vagrancy. It opens by stating " that many parts of the kingdom are oppressed by the usual method of conveying vagabonds or beggars from county to county, by having such persons conveyed as vagrants who ought not so to be. It then gives the following definitions of persons to be deemed rogues and vagabonds, and who, if found wandering and begging, are to be punished as such. " All persons pretending themselves to be Patent Gatherers or Collectors for Prisons Goals or Hospitals and wandring abroad for that purpose ; all Fencers Bearwards Common Players of Interludes Minstrels J uglers all Persons pretending to be Gipsies or wandring in the Habit or Form of Counterfeit Egyptians or pretending to have skill in Physiognomy Palmestry or like crafty Science or pre- tending to tell Fortunes or like phantastical Imaginations or using any subtile Craft or unlawful Games or Plays all Persons able in Body who run away and leave their Wives or Children to the parish and not having wherewith otherwise to maintain themselves use Loytring and refuse to work for the usual and common Wages and all other idle Persons wandring abroad and begging (except Soldiers, Mariners or Seafaring Men licensed by some Testimo- * This is Chapter XXIIL, 12 Anne, Stat. 2, in the common printed editions, and is cited in Acts of the reign of George II. as 12 Anne. H B Hebrews have extreamly honoured this Science of Thyfi. cgHomie, and the Scripture gives you the Phytiognomie of cob, Mofes> David, tyibfahm^ Jonathan t and many others. The Compilers of the Talmud have made a Treatife of it, both of Xlhiromancie and Phyfiognomie called D3DO Majfechetb fadaim, that is to lay, The Treatife of the Hands ; u he re they diftinguifh 'Phyfiognomie from MetopojcopiefWhkh is"lndeed but a part of Phyfiognomie , which the Greek* underftood well, faying, piTur'rxvrQ- fad « >y hrmmtiiH i.e. a Science whereby things to come are known bv the afpecl of the forehead. Thefe Or^knew alfo Vmblicometry , and divers others • but as fot Phyfiognomie they placed ic according to this Figure ; PHYSIOGNOMY AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING, 181 nial or Writing under the Hand and Seal of some Justice of Peace, setting down the Time and Place of his or their Landing and the place to which they are to pass, and limiting the time for such their Passage while they continue in the Direct Way to the Place to which they are to pass and during the Time so limited)." Any person is at liberty to apprehend any rogue or vagabond found wandering and begging, or misordering him or herself, and is entitled to a reward of 2s. for so doing. Constables or anyone else properly ordered to apprehend a beggar and neglecting to do so are liable to a fine of 10s. Justices before Quarter Sessions, or whenever else needful, are ordered to meet and make order for a general and privy search in one night. Persons are ordered to be sent to their place of settlement or birth, and if that could not be known, then to the place where they were last found begging or misordering themselves and passed unapprehended. Any person found wandering and begging after having obtained a legal settlement, is ordered to be stripped naked from the middle and openly whipped, until his or her body be bloody and then to be sent to the House of Correction to be kept to hard labour, according to the nature and merit of his or her offence and then be passed home. " Any rogue or vagabond apprehended on a privy search and whom the Justices upon examination deem to be dangerous to the People where taken and unlikely to be reformed, may be committed to hard labour at the House of Correction or Gaol until the next Quarter Sessions, and if he is then adjudged dangerous and incorrigible, the Justices may cause him to be pub- licly whipped Three Market Days successively at some Market Town near, and afterwards keep him to hard labour for such time as they think fit. Any Pogue so committed escaping from prison under such circumstances is to suffer as a felon. Bogues who refuse to be examined on oath or who swear falsely are to be deemed incorrigible rogues. " Vagrants sent home by pass are ordered to be stripped naked from the middle and openly whipped, or else sent to hard labour for two or three days in each county through which they pass on their way. Exception is made in favour of women great with child, soldiers wanting subsistence having lawful certificates from their officers or Secretary of War, or such Persons as the Justices judge not able to undergo such Punishment, and no 182 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY. Constable is obliged to receive such persons unless they have been punished. " Persons sent to their place of settlement and refusing to work, may be punished with hard labour, and if found wandering again the parishes permitting them to escape, may be mulcted in the costs of their apprehension, punishment and conveyance. "Vagrants without a legal place of settlement maybe com- mitted to the custody and power of the person apprehending them, or to any other person or body willing to receive them as apprentices, or servants, for a term of seven years, to be employed in Great Britain, or in any of Her Majesty's Plantations, or in any British Factory beyond the Seas. Such persons are bound under a penalty of £40 to supply the vagrant with proper neces- saries and to set him at liberty at the end of 7 years. " Loose, idle, and disorderly Persons, blind, lame, or pretend- ing to be so, with distorted limbs, or pretending some bodily Infirmity placing themselves to beg in Streets, Highways, or Passages, are on complaint of two or more Inhabitants to be removed, and refusing to be removed, or offending again after removal, are ordered to be stripped naked from the shoulders to the waist and whipped till bloody. Any Constable neglecting this duty is liable to a penalty of 10s. " Masters of ships bringing Natives of Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Foreign Plantations, likely to live by begging are liable to a penalty of £5 for each person, in addi- tion to the cost of their apprehension and conveyance. Any Constable finding such persons wandering or begging, is to cause them to be openly whipped and reconveyed to the place from whence they came. " Masters are bound to accept the rates settled by the J ustices for the Conveyance of vagrants by sea. "The statutes 39 Eliz., c. 4, 1 Jac. I., c. 7, and so much of 7 Jac. L, c. 4, as relate to privy searches are repealed. " The privileges of John Button are declared exempt." This Act makes no mention of pedlars, petty chapmen, tinkers, and persons pretending to be soldiers or sailors who were included in the category of rogues and vagabonds in former Acts. Its aim is evidently to repress mendicity by increasing the severity of the penalties against it — a policy which, as we have seen, had proved futile in previous reigns. CHAPTER VIII. 1713—1760. Accession of George I. — Inquiry by the House of Commons into the ex- penditure on the ,poor in London in 1715 — Metropolitan mendicity in 1716 — Legislation against idlers under twenty-one and persons deserting their wives or families — End gatherers treated as vagabonds — Mr. Joshua Gee on the employment of the poor — Condition of workhouses — State of mendicity and crime, 1719 to 1734 — Enactments against players, and their origin — Special legislation against beggars in the city of Bath — Committee of 1735 on the poor— Legislation of 1739-40, 1743-4, and 1751-2 against vagabonds — Expulsion of vagrants from towns — Mendicity in London in 1753. At the commencement of the reign of George I. a committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inspect the Poor's Rates and Scavenger's Rates in the metropolis, it being alleged that they were misspent. By this means some very curious evidence relating to vagabonds and beggars was brought to light, as will be seen by the following extract from the j ournals of the House : — " Jovis, 8° dii Martii Anno 2 e Georgii Regis, 1715. " Mr. Molesworth according to Order reported from the Com- mittee appointed to inspect the Poor's Rates, and Scavenger's Rates, within the cities of London and Westminster, and weekly Bills of Mortality. . . . The Committee finding it a work of insuper- able difficulty to peruse all the Books and Accounts of the various parishes, report that they have selected the Parish of St. Martin's- in-the-Fields, because it has been represented to them as the most free from Frauds and Abuses, and averred to be under the best regulation of any Parish in London. The Committee observe in the course of the report. . . . " 17. The pensioners, or settled Poor, are given in at between £1,200 and £1,300 per annum, for the last three years ; and Mul- titudes of Names are entered in the Books, which the Committee could find no method of comptrolling ; much less that other vast 184 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, article of the Casual Poor, amounting to between £1,800 and £1,900 per annum : Notwithstanding all which real or pretended Distributions, the Begging Poor about the Streets, in this Parish, are observed to be as numerous as ever. . . . " That the Increase of Strange Beggars, Cripples, lusty idle Men and "Women, Vagabonds, blind People, pretended and real Mad- folks and such like, is altogether owing to the Negligence of those that should remedy it, and of the Parish officers who take no due Care to purge their several Parishes of such sort of Vagrants ; but connive at them, on purpose that such appearing objects of Charity may give a fair Pretence to these yearly exorbitant Collections of all Kinds ; this Kind of Beggars receive little or no settled Parish Alms, but live upon what they can extort by their Cries and Im- portunities in the Streets, and at Coach- sides ; and what they thus get, they are generally obliged to spend at some Tipling- house kept by the Beadles, who have good Salaries allowed them, or their Friends and Pelations, who sell unwholesome spirits, which carry off Multitudes of them every year. . . . ' ' Upon the whole matter, the Committee cannot induce them- selves to be of Opinion, that much above One-half of the great sums aforesaid, which are collected by, and paid to, the Church- wardens and Overseers yearly, are really expended on that pious and charitable work of relieving the poor ; but that in consequence of the present Methods taken, the Poor are rather increased in this great City of late, than diminished; and those of them which are relieved, are not done so in the manner they ought to be ; but that many very miserably perish for want." This report bears testimony to a state of things which many previous Acts of Parliament have declared to be a cause of vagrancy and mendicity in former times, viz., the neglect or collusive action of the authorities appointed to carry out the Acts. The tippling-houses kept by the beadles strikingly remind one of the Scothala exacted by officers of the forest who kept ale- houses in feudal times. The poet Gay, writing at this period, gives us the following picture of metropolitan mendicity in Trivia (1716) ; — " If e'er the miser durst his Farthings spare, He thinly spreads them through the publick square, Where, all beside the Eail, rang'd Beggars lie, And from each other catch the doleful Cry ; With Heav'n, for Two-pence, cheaply wipes his score, Lifts up his eyes, and hasts to beggar more. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 185 Where Lincoln's Inn's wide space is rail'd around, Cross not with vent'rous step ; there oft is found The lurking Thief, who, while the Day-light shone, Made the walls eccho with his begging Tone : That Crutch, which late Compassion mov'd, shall wound Thy bleeding Head, and fell thee to the Ground ! " We now come to the 4 Geo. I., c. 11, s. 5, which embodies an extension of the principle contained in the 2 and 3 Anne, c. 6. It recites that — " Whereas there are many Idle Persons, who are under the Age of One-and-twenty Years, lurking about in divers parts of London and elsewhere, who want Employment, and may be tempted to become Thieves, if not provided for : and whereas they may be inclined to be transported, and to enter into services in some of his Majesty's Colonies and plantations in America : but as they have no power to contract for themselves, and therefore that it is not safe for merchants to transport them or take them into such services ; it then enacts that where any person of the age of fifteen years or more, and under the age of twenty-one, shall be willing to be transported, and to enter into any Service in any of his Majesties Colonies or Plantations in America : It shall and may be lawful for any Merchant, or other, to contract with any such person for any such service, not exceeding the term of eight years, on coming before the Lord Mayor or some other justice of the peace of the city or elsewhere before two justices." The next Act we have to notice is — " The 5 Geo. I., c. 8 (1717), which commences by reciting ' that divers Persons run or go away from their Places of Abode into other Counties or Places, and sometimes out of the Kingdom, some Men leaving their Wives, a Child, or Children, and some Mothers run or go away, leaving a Child or Children, upon the charge of the Parish or Place where such Child or Children was or were Born, or last legally Settled, although such Persons have some Estates, which should Ease the Parish of their Charge, in whole, or in part/ It then enacts 'that it shall be Lawful for the Churchwardens or Over- seers of the Poor of such Parish or Place where such Wife, Child, or Children shall be so left, by warrant of two Justices to ' Seize so much of the Goods and Chattels, and receive so much of the Annual Rents and profits of the Lands and Tenements of such hus- band, Father, or Mother,' as such Justices shall order, towards the 186 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, Discharge of the Parish for the bringing up and Providing for such Wife, Child, or Children." It thus appears that there were then a class of persons possessed of means, who finding that the law made provision for their wives and families when destitute, determined to avail themselves of this gratuitous privilege. In the year 1726-7 an Act was passed for the better Regula- tion of the Woollen Manufacture, and for Preventing Disputes among the Persons concerned therein (13 Geo. I., c. 23). It enacts a penalty of £5 for each offence upon any clothier or maker of woollen cloths, druggets, or other woollen goods who shall use any ends of yarn, wefts, or other refuse of cloths, druggets, or other woollen goods, or goods mixed with wool, flocks and pinions only excepted. It also recites that " several Abuses have been committed in the Woollen Manufacture by Persons, commonly called End-gatherers, going about the Kingdom collecting, buying and receiving from the Labourers imployed in such Manufacture, ends of Yarn, Wefts, Thrums, short Yarn, and other refuse of Cloth, Drugget, and other Woollen Goods, and Goods mixt with Wooll, Flocks and Pinions only excepted." It then enacts that if from the 1st of June, 1727, " any such person shall be found collecting, buying, receiving or any ways carrying or con- veying such matters in any Bag or other Convenience," it shall be lawful for any constable or peace officer " to search and examine such Person, his Bag, or other convenience," and if on search he shall find any such matters he shall carry such person before a Jus- tice of the Peace, and upon due conviction every such offender shall be liable to be punished as a dangerous and incorrigible Bcgue, Yagrant, or Person, in the same manner as is directed by the 12 Anne. The purpose of this enactment was, of course, the protection of the public from frauds by those clothiers who it is evident must have resembled the shoddy manufacturers of our own day. The clothiers themselves had previously received protection by the 7 Geo. I., c. 7 (1720) which in their interests prohibited the wearing or use of printed or dyed calico under a penalty of £5 ; the sale of it except for exportation was also prohibited under this Act under a penalty of =£20. An interesting work entitled " The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain Considered," was published in the year 1729 by Mr. Joshua Gee, a merchant of London. Under the head of AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 18" " Propositions for Better regulating and employing the Poor," he gives us an insight into some of the causes of idleness and mendicity and the condition of mendicity, and makes some very instructive remarks on the remedies which had been found most effective for dealing with the matter. " Perseverance in the Rules of Industry will change the very inclinations of those idle Vagrant Persons, who now run about the Kingdom, and spend their Time and what Money they can any Way come at upon their Debauches. . . . " It has been remarked by our Clothiers and other Manufacturers, that when Corn has been cheap they have had great Difficulty to get their Spinning and other Work done ; for the Poor could buy Provision enough with two or three Days Wages to serve them a Week, and would spend the rest in Idleness, Drinking, &c. But when Corn has been dear, they have been forced to stick all the Week at it ; and the Clothiers have had more Work done with all the Ease that could be desired, and the constant Application to Business has fixed their minds so much to it, that they have not only had Money enough to purchase Food, but also to provide themselves with Cloaths and other Necessaries, whereby to live comfortably. . . . "Notwithstanding we have so many excellent Laws, great Num- bers of sturdy Beggars, loose and vagrant persons, infest the Nation, but no place more than the City of London and parts adjacent. If any person is born with any Defect or Deformity, or maimed by Fire or any other Casualty, or by any inveterate Distemper which renders them miserable Objects, their Way is open to London, where they have free Liberty of shewing their nauseous sights to terrify People, and force them to give Money to get rid of them ; and those Vagrants have for many Years past removed out of several Parts of the three Kingdoms, and taken their Stations in this Metropolis, to the Interruption of Conversation and Business. This must proceed from the very great Neglect of the inferior Officers in and about this City, who ought to put the Laws in Execution ; for in those Places where Magistrates take Care to keep Constables and other Officers to their Duty, they have little or no Trouble of this Kind, especially where there are Work-houses. " The Magistrates of Bristol have that City under such excellent Regulation that Foreign Beggars dare not appear ; they are not troubled with obnoxious Sights, so common with us ; their Work- houses are terrible enough to them; for as soon as any of them are 188 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, espied in the City, they are taken up and whipt : and wherever Workhouses have been built (if well directed) the Parish Rates have been much lessened ; and doubtless when the Master of the Workhouse and others under him come to be experienced in the several Employments the Poor are put to, and perform their Duty with Integrity, there will be little Occasion to waste the Parish Money upon persons that are able to work; and even Children would soon come to spin or do something for a Mainte- nance. The Quakers Work-house in the City of London is an Example of this Kind ; the poor Orphans among them/ as well as the Children of such Poor as are not able to subsist them, are put to their Work-house, where they are taught to read and write certain Hours of the Day, and at other Times are put to spin, or other Employments ; and it is found by Experience that the Children who can change their Employments from their Books to their Spinning, &c, are as well satisfied therewith, as if they had so much Time allowed them for play ; and the Emulation who shall do most and best seem, to be as much regarded by them, and they have as great a Desire to excel one another, as other Children have at their most pleasing Diversions. And as the Nation has found great advantage by those Workhouses which have been established by Act of Parliament, it is a great Pity that so profitable an Institution was not made general thro' the Nation, that so there might be no Pretence for any Beggar to appear abroad. Their Example is very pernicious ; for what they get by begging is consumed commonly in Ale-houses, Gin-shops, &c, and one drunken Beggar is an Inducement to a great many to follow the same Trade. " There is no place so immediately stands under a Necessity of being relieved from those Vagrants as the City of London, and adjacent Parts, as is before hinted. The Difficulty will be to find out a Method for better putting the laws in Execution. I must confess I think the Error is in depending upon Constables ; they are Men of Business, and have Families to support ; none of them take the office upon them but with Regret ; and if they can find Money, rather buy off than serve in their own Persons ; if they are forced to serve, when the Laws against Vagrants should be put in Execution, the Constable is about his own Business ; and, if possible, will not be found. " As to those Creatures that go about the Streets to show their maim'd Limbs, nauseous Sores, stump Hands, or Feet, or any other AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 189 Deformity, I am of Opinion, that they are by no Means Objects fit to go abroad ; and considering the Frights and pernicious Im- pressions which such horrid Sights have given to pregnant Women (and sometimes even to the disfiguring of Infants in the Womb), should move all tender Husbands to desire the Eedress of this Enormity, and to look upon this as a Charity fit to be pro- vided for in the first Place, by erecting an Hospital on Purpose for receiving and strictly confining such People from all Parts of the Nation, who wander about to extort Money by exposing those dismal Sights." The pith of Mr. Gee's observations, it will be noticed, is a forcible reiteration of the fact that the increase of mendicity is principally due to the neglect of the constables, and to the ineflicacy of mere punishment as a restraint upon the vagrant. The good effects of well-managed workhouses at this period is clearly set forth in a pamphlet entitled an " Account of several Workhouses for Employing and Maintaining the Poor," published in 1725. " Wherever Houses have been hired or built, for gathering the Poor into one or more Families, and setting them to Work, under the Inspection of honest Managers, the respective Parishes have found most, if not all, the Advantages following ; viz., 200/. per annum of the Poor's Rates, under frugal Management, after a House and necessary Accommodations are provided, shall go further in keeping comfortably one or more large Families of Poor, than 300 or 400/. per annum distributed to the like number of Poor when they live dispers'd. " Soon after the Restoration, in the 13th and 14th years of the Reign of King Charles II, an Act of Parliament past, entituled, An Act for the better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom. "The Calamities of the Plague, and Burning of the City of London, &c, delay'd the good Effects of this Act, till after the peace of Rysivick, when, in the Year 1698, April the 4th, in order to put the said Act in Execution, a Corporation was form'd, con- sisting of the Lord Mayor for the Time being as President, the Aldermen for the Time being, together with fifty-two Citizens, chosen by the Common- Council, to be Assistants, elected a Deputy, President, and Treasurer, as the said Act directs. And for laying a Foundation of so good a Work, a Supply was granted in December following, by an Act of the Common- Council." In August, 1699, the Corporation took a house in Bishopsgate 190 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, Street, and were at great charges in building and fitting the same up for a Work-House, into which they received from the Church- wardens such children as were a charge to the several Parishes, they paying a Weekly allowance towards their Maintenance. " In November, 1700, they began to receive, on the Keeper's Side, Vagabonds and sturdy Beggars ; and thus they proceeded, by degrees ; it being impracticable to execute all Parts of the Act at once. . . . " The House is divided into two Parts, one calPd the Steward's Side, and the other the Keeper's Side : In the Steward's Side poor Children are taken in from Benefactors, giving 50 or 70/. as beforemention'd " In the other Part, called the Keeper's Side, Vagabonds, Beg- gars, Pilferers, lewd, idle, and disorderly Persons, committed by any two of the Governours, have such Relief as is proper for them ; and are imploy'd in beating Hemp for Twine- Spinners, Hemp Dressers, Linnen- Weavers, Shoemakers, and other Trades ; as also in picking Oakum, and washing Linnen for the Children in the Steward's Side. . . . "By the Account of this Work- House, publish'd at Easter, 1725, it appears that there have been, since the Year 1701, educated, dis- discharg'd, and plac'd forth apprentices To Officers of Ships, to Trades, and to Services in several good Families And in the same time there have been receiv'd and discharg'd of sturdy Vagabonds, Beggars, &c. The workhouses then established in the various counties were as follows : in Bedfordshire, 13 ; Berkshire, 1 ; Buckinghamshire 11; Cambridgeshire, 5; Devonshire, 3; Essex, 20; Gloucester- shire^; Hertfordshire, 16; Kent, 7; Lancashire, 1; Leicester- shire, 5 ; Lincolnshire, 1 ; Middlesex, 14, of which 8 were in the City, 4 in Westminster, and the other 2 at Enfield and Harrow ; Norfolk, 1 ; Northamptonshire, 16 ; Oxfordshire, 3 ; Somerset- shire, 1 ; Suffolk, 1 ; Warwick, 1 ; Wills, 1 ; Worcester, 1 ; York, 2. Total, 126. The famous Daniel Defoe, writing under the pseudonym of Andrew Moreton, however, gives us another picture of some of these workhouses. " These Work-houses, tho* in Appearance Benificial, yet have AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 191 in some Hespects an evil Tendency, for they mix the Grood and the Bad ; and too often make Reprobates of all alike. We all, alas, are subject to Misfortune ! And if an honest Gentleman or Trader should leave a Wife or Children unprovided for, what a shocking Thing it is to think they must be mix'd with Vagrants, Beggars, Thieves, and Night- Walkers ! to receive their Insults, to hear their Blasphemous and Obscene Discourse, to be suffocated with their hastiness, and eat up with their Yermin. And if any Parishioners interpose in their Behalf, they are sure to be shut up and worse treated for the Future." * Notwithstanding the efforts made to repress mendicity at this period it still continued to flourish, as Civicus, writing to the London Journal on the 13th February, 1731, speaks of "the multitude of beggers, and the many villainies and robberies committed in this city, the threats of incendiaries, and those threats actually* executed ; boys of 7 or 8 years old, taken in robbing a shop ; and some of 13 or 14, robbing in the streets." He further says, " A few years since London was as remarkable for the safety of its inhabitants, as it is now notorious for the danger persons are exposed to who walk the streets after ten at night," and imputes the cause of these evils to the number of poor, whom he divides into two classes — " first, those who are abso- lutely incapable of working ; secondly, those who are able, but not willing. The first sort," he urges, "are real objects of charity, but ought not to be suffer'd to wander the streets, exposing their distorted limbs, and filthy sores, such sights being frequently attended with the worst consequences to women with child." " The second sort of poor, who are able to work but not willing, are very numerous, and to them, in a great measure, are owing the many villainies daily committed in this City." The audacity and unconcern of beggar boys at this period is illustrated in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1734 by the remark of a boy when he was brought to trial for firing the barn of a farmer who had refused him alms. " ' Jack,' said he to one of his companions, upon seeing the Jury, Judges, Sheriff', and his Officers enter the Court, 'am not la great man, Sirrah, to make such a Bustle as this in the World, and * " Parochial Tyranny : or the House-keeper's Complaint against the insup- portable Exactments and partial Assessments of Select Vestries," by Andrew Moreton Esq. London, 1729. 192 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, be thus attended? When will you come to such Preferment, you little inconsiderable Rascal, you ? ' " Captain Alexander Smith, in his " Compleat History of the Lives and Bobberies of the most Notorious Highwaymen, Foot- Pads, &c," thus speaks of the condition of crime in the country in 1719 :— " I acknowledge, Times past were as bad as the present ; and four or five thousand Years of Antiquity can furnish us with many Examples of wickedness; for there was many a Man that had his Foible, and could commit a Sin apropos ; but yet hath Yice thriv'd more in England since Queen Elizabeth's Days, than ever it did in this Kingdom in all the Reigns before." This state of things is plainly the cause, for the enactment of the 7 Geo. II., c. 21 (1734), which is entitled, " An Act for the more effectual Punishment of Assaults with Intent to commit Robbery." It recites that " many of His Majesty's Subjects have of late frequently been put in great Fear and Hanger of their Lives by wicked and ill-disposed Persons assaulting and attempt- ing to rob them, and that the punishment of such offenders is not adequate to the heinousness of that Crime, nor sufficient to deter wicked Persons from such Attempts." It then enacts " that Persons convicted of assaulting others with offensive Weapons, and a Design to rob, shall be transported for 7 years, and such Convicts break- ing Gaol or unlawfully returning from Transportation shall suffer Death." We now come to two special enactments against Players, the first restraining them from performing at either of the Univer- sities, and the next restraining them from performing in any place in which they have not a legal settlement, and not even there unless they have a license from the Lord Chamberlain. The first of these, the 10 Geo. II., c. 19 (1736-7), is styled, " An Act for the more effectual preventing the unlawful playing of Interludes within the precincts of the Two Universities." It recites, " that doubts have arisen whether the Letters patent granted by Henry VIII. to the University of Oxford, and by Elizabeth to the University of Cambridge, or other charters, liberties, or laws, sufficiently empowered the Chancellors of either University, or their deputies, to correct, restrain, or suppress common players of Interludes, settled, residing, or inhabiting within the precincts of either of the said Universities, and not AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 193 wandering abroad.' ' It then declares, " that the Creation of any Playhouse within the Precincts of the said Universities, or Places adjacent, may be attended with great Inconveniences," and enacts " That all Persons whatsoever, who shall for Gain in any Play- house, Booth, or otherwise, exhibit any Stage Play, Interlude, Shew, Opera, or other Theatrical or Dramatical Performance, or act any Part, or assist therein, within the precincts of either of the said Universities, or within Five Miles of the City of Oxford, or Town of Cambridge, shall be deemed Rogues and Vagabonds, and it shall be lawful for the Chancellor of either of the said Universities or his Deputy respectively, to commit any such Person to any House of Correction within either of the Counties of Cambridge or Oxford respectively, there to be kept to hard Labour for the space of One Month, or to the common Gaol, there to remain without Bail or Mainprise for the like Space of One Month, any Licence of the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of either of the said Universities, or anything in this Act or in any other Statute, Law, Custom, * Charter, or Privilege to the contrary notwith- standing." No amount of condonation on the part of the authorities could therefore save the unlucky player from the penalties of the Act. " The acting of plays was a form of amusement which had long divided opinion in the universities. At Paris we find the austere Gerson interdicting their performance and stigmatising such recreations as ' ludi stultorum ; ' at Cambridge, however, they were at this time a practice recognised by the authorities and encouraged by statutory enactments — penalties even being some- times imposed on those who refused to bear their part. The amusement and interest which they excited was in no way diminished by the fact that they were frequently the medium through which one party asserted its own views and satirised those of its opponents."* " In the second year of King James's reign, a royal letter was issued forbidding ' unprofitable or idle games and plays,' to be carried on ' within five miles compass of and from the university and town,' f ' especially bull-baiting, bear-baiting, common plays, publick shews, interludes, comedies and tragedies in the English tongue, games at loggets, nineholes, and all other sports and * Mullinger. t Of Cambridge, o 194 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, games whereby throngs, concourse, or multitudes, are drawn together." * " The design in prohibiting the performance of English plays will be more apparent, if we here note the singular license for which such compositions sometimes afforded scope. The college play was, in fact, far from being an entirely innocent recreation, and was sometimes made the vehicle for satire and gross person- alities which were productive of no little ill feeling. Against the townsmen, impervious to such satire when it was clothed in a Latin dress, the English play easily afforded the means not only of ridiculing, but also of making that ridicule felt ; and Fuller, in his History of the University, has described with more than his usual humour a notable instance of the kind : — " The young scholars conceiving themselves somewhat wronged by the townsmen (the particulars whereof I know not), betook them for revenge to their wits, as the weapon wherein lay their best ad- vantage. These having gotten a discovery of some town privacies, from Miles Goldsborough (one of their own corporation), composed a merry (but abusive) comedy (which they called Club- Law), in English, as calculated for the capacities of such whom they in- tended spectators thereof. Clare-Hall was the place wherein it was acted, and the mayor with his brethren and their wives were invited to behold it, or rather themselves abused therein. A con- venient place was assigned to the townsfolk (riveted in with scholars on all sides) where they might see and be seen. Here they did behold themselves in their own best clothes (which the scholars had borrowed), so lively personated their habits, gestures, language, lieger-jests, and expressions, that it was hard to decide which was the true townsman, whether he that sat by, or he who acted on the stage. Sit still they could not for chafing, go out they could not for crowding, but impatiently patient were fain to attend till dismissed at the end of the comedy. The mayor and his brethren soon after complain of this libellous play to the lords of the Privy Council, and truly aggravate the scholars' offence — as if the mayor's mace could not be played with, but that the sceptre itself is touched therein ! " f " Notwithstanding the stringent enactment against theatrical entertainments at Cambridge, a company of players from the theatres in London performed in 1748, a pantomime called Harle- * Cooper. t Mullinger. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 195 quin 's Frolics or Jack Spaniard caught in a Trap, in Hussey's Great Theatrical Booth, the upper end of Garlic Row in Stur- bridge Fair." * The second of these statutes is the 10 Geo. II., c. 28, which is entitled "An Act to explain and amend so much of the 13 Anne, cap. 26, as relates to common Players of Inter- ludes." It recites that doubts have arisen concerning so much of the said Act as relates to common Players of Inter- ludes, and then enacts that from and after the 24th of June, 1737, " every Person who shall, for Hire, Gain, or Reward, act, represent, or perform, or cause to be acted, represented, or per- formed, any Interlude, Tragedy, Comedy, Opera, Play, Farce, or other Entertainment of the Stage, or any Part or Parts therein, in case such person shall not have any legal Settlement in the Place, where the same shall be acted, represented, or performed, without Authority, by virtue of Letters Patent from his Majesty, his Heirs, Successors or Predecessors, or without Licence from the Lord Chamberlain, shall be deemed to be a Rogue and a Vagabond, and shall be liable and subject to all such Penalties and punishments as are inflicted on or appointed for the Punishment of Rogues and Vagabonds, who shall be found wandering, begging, and disorder- ing themselves. " And if any Person having, or not having a legal Settlement, shall, without such Authority or Licence, act, represent, or perform, or cause to be acted, represented, or performed, for Hire, Gain, or Reward, any Interlude, Tragedy, Comedy, Opera, Play, Farce, or other Entertainment of the stage, or any Part or Parts therein, every such Person shall for every such offence forfeit the Sum of Fifty pounds, and in case this Sum shall be paid, such offender shall not for the same offence suffer any of the Pains or Penalties in- flicted by the Act." No new plays or additions to old ones are to be acted unless a copy is sent to the Lord Chamberlain, and persons acting against his prohibition are to forfeit 50/. and their licence. No plays are to be acted in any part of Great Britain except the city of West- minster, or places of His Majesty's residence. And it is further enacted that "if any Interlude, Tragedy, Comedy, Opera, Play, Farce, or other Entertainment of the Stage^ or any act, scene, or part thereof, shall be acted, represented, or performed, * Wordsworth, o 2 196 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, in any house or place where Wine, Ale, or Beer, or other Liquors, shall be sold or retailed, the same shall be deemed to be acted, represented, and performed for Gain, Hire, and Keward." The legitimate actor and the public-house " spouter " were thus equally brought within the meshes of the law. The temper and spirit of the times regarding plays and players may be gathered from a debate on the subject in the House of Commons on the 5th of March, 1735. " Alderman Sir John Barnard (one of the Members for the City of London) moved for bringing in a Bill for restraining the number of houses for playing of Interludes, and for the better regulating Common Players of Interludes. In Support of this Motion he re- presented the Mischief done to the City of London by the Play- houses, in corrupting the Youth, encouraging Vice and Debauchery, and being prejudicial to Trade and Industry ; and how much these Evils would be increased if another Play-House should be built in the very Heart * of the City. Sir John Barnard was seconded by Mr. Sandys (member for Worcester), and supported by Mr. Pul- teney (member for Middlesex), Sir Robert Walpole, Sir Joseph Jekyll (Master of the Polls), Sir Thomas Saunderson, and several other Members ; Mr. James Erskine (member for Clackmannan- shire) in particular reckoned up the Number of Play-Houses then in London, viz. the Opera House, the French Play-House in the Haymarket, and the Theatres in Covent Garden, Drury Lane, Lincoln's Inn Fields, t and Goodman's Fields ; } and added, ' That it was no less surprising than shameful, to see so great a Change for the worse in the Temper and Inclinations of the British Nation, who were now so extravagantly addicted to lewd and idle Diver- sions, that the Number of Play-Houses in London was double to that of Paris ; that we now exceeded in Levity even the French themselves, from whom we learned these and many other ridicu- lous customs, as much unsuitable to the Mein and Manners of an Englishman or a Scot, as they were agreeable to the Air and Levity of a Monsieur. That it was astonishing to all Europe, that Italian Eunuchs and Singers should have set Salaries, equal to those of the Lords of the Treasury and Judges of England. After this it was ordered, nem. con., that a Bill be brought in pursuant to Sir John * There was at this time a project on foot for erecting a play-house in St. Martin's-le-Grand. t This theatre stood at the back of what is now the Koyal College of Surgeons. | Leman Street, Whitechapel. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 197 Barnard's motion, which was done accordingly. But it was after- wards dropped, on account of a clause offered to be inserted in the said Bill, for enlarging the power of the Lord Chamberlain with Regard to the Licensing of Plays.' " In the year 1738-9, under an " Act for the more easy assessing, collecting, and levying County Rates" (12 Geo. II., c. 29), an addendum is made to the existing Yagrant Acts by authorising the charges for maintaining and conveying vagrants to be paid out of the general county rate. In the same year we have a further development of the pro- hibition contained in the 14 Eliz., c. 5, and the 39 Eliz., c. 4, against poor persons who resort to the city of Bath to obtain charity in the form of " An Act for establishing and well governing an Hospital or Infirmary in the City of Bath" (12 Geo. II., c. 31). It recites " that the Medicinal and Mineral Waters of the City of Bath have been found by long experience to give great relief to Persons labourin g under, or being afflicted with divers Diseases, Illnesses, or Disorders incident to Human Bodies ; but it very often happens that poor persons so afflicted live at a great Distance from the said City, and cannot bear the expense of going thither and attending to use the said waters, by reason whereof great numbers of such poor persons have been prevented from using and trying such waters to their benefit and relief "... It then goes on to state that £4,000 having been raised, a hospital or infirmary is to be erected . . . " Every person received into the hospital is to de- posit in the hands of the Treasurer a sum of £3 if he comes from any part of England or Wales, and a sum of £5 if he comes from Ireland, in order to cover the expense of conveying him back to his parish, and upon his discharge, after being conveyed by the Beadles, Officers, or other persons employed by the Hospital at least thirty miles, if any person so discharged shall, after being con- veyed as aforesaid, be found loitering, wandering, or begging within the said City of Bath, the Constable, &c, shall seize and apprehend him, and the Justice of the Peace or mayor may commit him to the next House of Correction to be kept to Hard Labour for three months." The Act further recites that " several loose, idle, and disorderly persons daily resort to the said City, and remain wandering and begging about the Streets and other Places of the said City, and the Suburbs thereof, within the Parishes of Walcott and Widcombe 198 YAGBANTS AND VAGRANCY, under pretence of their being resident at the Bath for the benefit of the said Mineral or Medicinal Waters, to the great Disturbances of His Majesty's Subjects resorting to the said City ; " as a remedy it then enacts, " that the Constables, Petty-Constables, Tything-men, and other Peace Officers of the City, and of the Parishes of Walcott and Widcombe, and also the Beadles of the Hospital are to seize, take, and apprehend all such Persons, and to carry them before the Mayor, or some Justice of the Peace, who, upon the oath of one sufficient witness, or upon his own View, or the Confession of the Person found wandering or begging, commit such Person to the House of Correction for any Time not exceeding Twelve Kalendar Months, and to be kept to Hard Labour, and receive Cor- rection as a loose, idle, and disorderly Person." The vestry minute book of Brislington, near Bristol, in this neighbourhood, records the following order in this year : — " That no Parish Officer Doe for the future releive any Vagrant or Vagrants, or other travelling person or persons with Passes or otherwise,' in order to discourage Strolers and other loose, idle, and Disorderly persons from stroling from their own Parishes." On the 27th March, 1735, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the Laws in Being relating to the Maintenance and Settlement of the Poor, and to consider what further Provisions might be necessary for their better Relief and Employment ; this Committee, " having consider'd and ex- amin'd this affair with great Care and Attention," came to several Resolutions : — " 1. That the Laws in being, relating to the Maintenance of the Poor of this Kingdom, are defective ; and notwithstanding they impose heavy Burthens on Parishes, yet the Poor, in most of them, are ill taken Care of. " 2. That the Laws relating to the Settlement of the Poor, and concerning Vagrants, are very difficult to be executed, and charge- able in their Execution ; vexatious to the Poor, and of little Advan- tage to the Public, and ineffectual to promote the good Ends for which they were intended. " 3. That it is necessary, for the better Relief and Employment of the Poor, that a public Workhouse or Workhouses, Hospital or Hospitals, House or Houses of Correction, be established in proper Places, and under proper Regulations, in each County. " 4. That in such Workhouse or Workhouses, all poor Persons, AND BEGGARS AND BEGGIXG. 190 able to labour, be set to work, who shall either be sent thither, or come voluntarily for Employment. *? 5. That in such Hospital or Hospitals, Foundlings and other poor Children, not having Parents able to provide for them, be taken Care of; as also poor Persons that are imjDotent or infirm. t( 6. That in such House or Houses of Correction, all idle and disorderly Persons, Vagrants, and such other Criminals as shall be thought proper, be confined to Hard Labour/' These resolutions were agreed to, and as a 'consequence a new general statute regarding vagrancy was brought forward and passed. This Act, the 13 Geo. II., c. 24 (1739-40), recites that the number of rogues, vagabonds, beggars, and other idle and dis- orderly persons daily increases. It makes a distinction between idle and disorderly persons, rogues and vagabonds, and incor- rigible rogues. In the first category it places all persons who threaten to run away and leave their wives or children to the parish, all persons who unlawfully return to a parish from whence they have been legally removed, all persons who, not having where- with to maintain themselves, live idle without employment and refuse to work for the usual and common wages, all persons going about from door to door, or placing themselves in streets, high- ways, or passages, to beg or gather alms, all of whom may be committed to hard labour for any time not exceeding one month. Any person may apprehend such persons going about begging, and if they resist or escape from the person apprehending them they are to be punished as rogues and vagabonds. A reward of 5s. is to be paid for each person apprehended. In the second category are placed " all persons going about as patent-gatherers, or gatherers of alms, under false pretences of loss by fire, or other casualty, or going about as collectors for prisons, gaols, or hospitals, all fencers and bearwards, all common players of interludes, and all persons who shall for hire, gain, or reward, act, represent, or perform any interlude, tragedy, comedy, opera, play, farce, or other entertainment of the stage without authority, by virtue of letters patent from his Majesty's predecessors, or from his Majesty, or without license from the Lord Chamberlain ; all minstrels, jugglers, all persons pretending to be gypsies, or wandering in the habit or form of Egyptians, or pretending to have skill in physiognomy, palmestry, or like crafty science, or pretending to tell fortunes, or using any subtil craft to deceive or 200 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, impose upon any of his Majesty's subjects, or playing or betting at any unlawful games or plays ; and all persons who run away and leave their wives or children, whereby they become charge- able to any parish or place ; and all petty chapmen and pedlars wandering abroad, not being duly licensed, or otherwise authorised by law, and all persons wandering abroad, and lodging in barns and other outhouses, not giving a good account of themselves, and all persons wandering abroad and begging, pretending to be soldiers, mariners, seafaring men, or pretending to go to work in harvest, and all other persons wandering abroad and begging." Soldiers wanting subsistence and having lawful certificates from their officers or the Secretary of War, mariners, or seafaring men, licensed by some testimonial under the hand and seal of some justice of the peace, setting down the time and place of their landing or discharge and the place to which they are to pass, and limiting the time of their passage, and persons going abroad to work at any lawful work in the time of harvest or at any other time, carrying a certificate in writing from the Minister, one of the Churchwardens or Overseers of the place where they live, declaring they have a dwelling there, are exempted from the Act. All end gatherers, rogues or vagabonds escaping from custody, prison breakers, rogues, and vagabonds committing any offence under this Act after a first conviction, are punishable as id corri- gible rogues. Any person may apprehend a rogue or vagabond under this Act, and a reward of 10s. is to be paid for each apprehension. Any officer refusing to use his best endeavours to take such offenders is liable to a penalty of from 10s. to £5. The Justices are to command a general privy search for vagabonds in the night four times a year. Justices- are ordered to pass vagabonds to their last legal place of settlement. Vagabonds may be kept to hard labour till the next quarter sessions, or such shorter time as the justices think fit, and then sent away by pass. Incorrigible rogues may be sent to hard labour for any term not exceeding six months, and be corrected by whipping in such manner, times, and places as the justices shall think fit. Prison breakers of these classes upon conviction are to be sent to the colonies, and if they return before their time are to suffer death. Incorrigible rogues found begging AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 201 after being passed home may be sent to the house of correction for three months and publicly whipped, and then sent home again. Masters of ships bringing any rogue, vagabond, or beggar, or any person likely to live by begging, from Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, or the foreign plantations, are liable to a fine of £5 besides the charges of reconveying the vagabonds. They are also obliged to take the rates settled by j ustices for returning vagrants. Penalties of from 10s. to 40s. are imposed on persons harbouring vagabonds. The privileges of the heirs of John Button in the county of Chester are declared exempt from the Act. The prohibition against minstrels was no doubt primarily in- tended to protect the privileged members of that class in the same way as the privileged players. At a court of mayoralty held on the 28th November, 1733, we find that the corporation of Nor- wich passed the following resolution on the subject : — " That for the future no person or persons be permitted, or do play in the streets upon any musical instrument, to any person or persons within this city or county (unless it be the company of musicians belonging to the city), without the licence of the mayor of the said city. This order not to extend to any person or persons that shall be sent for to any private or public house, for the diversion of any person or persons of such private family, or at any such public house : so as such person or persons do not pre- sume to play at any irregular hours." Like most of its predecessors, the Act appears, however, to have had little effect in mitigating the evils which it was intended to meet, as in the year 1741 we find a 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." 202 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, This was soon after followed by the 17 Geo. II., c. 5 (1743-4), entitled "An Act to amend and make more effectual the Laws relat- ing to Rogues, Vagabonds, and other idle and disorderly Persons." It repeals the 13 Geo. II., c. 24, and repeats the opening state- ment in that Act. The categories of persons to be deemed vagabonds are the same as in the previous Act, and the same rewards for apprehension are authorised. The Act is not to extend to soldiers, mariners, or to persons going to harvest-work only, provided they carry proper certificates. End gatherers are to be deemed incorrigible rogues. Privy searches for vagabonds are to be made in the night four times a year. Vagabonds committed to the quarter ses- sions may be punished with a further term of six months' im- prisonment and incorrigible rogues with a term of two years and to be whipped at the discretion of the justices. Justices are further empowered to send all above the age of twelve years to be employed in his Majesty's service either by sea or land at any time before their discharge from the house of correction. Rogues and vagabonds breaking gaol are punishable as in the previous Act. Masters of ships are bound, under a penalty of £5, to convey one vagrant for every twenty tons burthen, and justices are to limit the rates per mile for passing vagrants. Wandering lunatics or pretended lunatics are to be kept safely locked up in some secure place, and if necessary to be there chained. No person is to harbour any rogue or vagabond in any house, barn, or outhouse, under a penalty of 10s. to 40s. Justices are empowered to place any child of a beggar over the age of seven years as a servant or apprentice with any local person until such child arrives at the age of twenty-one. The privileges of the heirs of John Dutton are exempted as before, and this is the last occasion on which they are mentioned. Again the Act was inefficacious, as we shall presently see. At Burton-on-Trent the simple plan of driving vagrants elsewhere was apparently put in force : — "1749, Dec. 10. — Whereas great numbers of vagrants and sturdy beggars have for some time past frequented this town, and # for preventing the same for the future, it is ordered that Robert Hinds be allowed 25s. quarterly, for his care and pains in looking AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 203 after and driving out of town all vagrants and beggars both by night and day." This plan was very probably adopted in other localities, as the prevailing sentiment appears to have been for each officer to try to shuffle his responsibilities on to the shoulders of some one else. During this reign the Vagrant Act received two additions, the first of these, the 25 Geo. II., c. 36 (1751-2), entitled "An Act for the better discovery and bringing to Justice Thieves, Robbers, and other persons maintaining themselves by pilfering and de- frauding mankind/ ' authorises justices to examine any rogue, and vagabond on oath as to his last legal settlement and means of livelihood, and empowers them to imprison him for six days if he cannot give a satisfactory account of himself. In the meantime an advertisement is to be published describing his person and the things found upon him ; if at the end of that time no accusation is laid against him he is to be discharged. This Act is to con- tinue in force for three years, but was made perpetual by 28 Geo. II., c. 19. The next addition was by 26 Geo. II., c. 34, s. 2 (1753), which enacts that the treasurer of the County shall on the production of a proper voucher pay the expenses of conveying vagrants through the countj^, " it being found that High Constables who are directed to do so often have not enough money in their hands for the purpose." The condition of mendicity in the metropolis was not in any way improved by all this legislation, as in the year 1753 in " A Proposal for making an Effectual Provision for the Poor," Henry Fielding tells us — " There is not a Parish in the Liberty of Westminster which doth not raise Thousands annually for the Poor, and there is not a Street in that Liberty which doth not swarm all Day with Beggars, and all Mght with Thieves. Stop your Coach at what Shop you will, however expeditious the Tradesman is to attend you, a Beggar is commonly beforehand with him ; and if you should not directly face his Door, the Tradesman must often turn his Head while you are talking to him, or the same Beggar, or some other Thief at hand, will pay a Visit to his Shop ! " CHAPTER IX. 1760—1820. Accession of George III. — Persons damaging underwood, destroying quicksets or taking bark treated as vagabonds. — Report of the Committee of 1775 on vagrancy. — Condition of workhouses and legislation regarding them. — Persons having a criminal intent, poachers, and unlicensed dealers in lottery tickets deemed vagabonds. — Abuses of the system of passing vagrants. — Permission to soldiers, sailors, &c, to beg. — Mendicity in London in 1796. — Legislation regarding the removal of the poor- — Alarm- ing increase of vagrancy in 1814. — Report of a committee of the House of Commons. — Estimate of beggars in the metropolis, and their average receipts. — Encouragement of idleness and vice. — Common lodging houses. — Twopenny post beggars. — Knocker beggars. — Moveable beggars. — ■ Public houses depending for support on beggars. — Impostures practised. — Depravity of beggars. — Irish vagrants in London. — Their idleness and gains as beggars. By the commencement of the reign of George III., the condition of the labouring classes had materially improved, as is evidenced by the state of the exports, which amounted to nearly double the average of the years 1726-7-8, and by the largely increasing use of many of the necessaries of life. The first legislation regarding vagrancy in this reign occurs in the year 1766, when we have another addendum to the then existing Vagrant Act in the form of a statute entitled " An Act for the better Preservation of Timber Trees, and of Woods and Under- woods ; and for the further Preservation of Roots, Shrubs, and Plants " (6 Geo. III., c. 48*). It recites that the preservation of timber trees, or trees likely to become timber, is of great conse- quence to this kingdom, and that many idle and disorderly persons have of late years made a practice of going into woods, under- woods, and wood grounds, and there cut, and carried away, great * This Act is incorrectly referred to in the 45 Geo. III., c. 66, as the 36 Geo. III., c. 36. WHIPPING STOCKS AT WALTHAM ABBEY (1886) VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. 205 quantities of young wood of various kinds, for making of poles and walking sticks, and for various other uses ; and in beach, and other woods and underwoods under pretence of getting firewood, have cut down, bough ed, split off or otherwise damaged or destroyed the growth of the said woods and underwoods to the great injury and damage of the lawful owners, and that the laws in being are not found sufficient to remedy the aforesaid evils." It then enacts that any person who after the 24 June, 1766, shall go into the woods, underwoods, or wood grounds, of any of His Majesty's subjects, not being the lawful owners thereof, and shall there cut, lop, top, or spoil, split down, or damage, or otherwise destroy any kind of wood or underwood, poles, sticks of woods, green stubs, or young trees, or carry away the same, or shall have in his custody any such and shall not give a satisfactory account of how he cftme by the same, shall on conviction for the first offence forfeit any sum not exceeding 40s. together with the costs, for a second offence any sum not exceeding £5 and costs, and for a third offence shall be deemed an incorrigible rogue and punished as such. This was supplemented in the year 1768 by the 9 Geo. III., c. 41, which recites that great destruction has of late been made of hollies, thorns, and quicksets, growing upon his Majesty's forests and chases to the great prejudice of his Majesty's deer, and also of hollies, thorns, and quicksets growing in the woods, and woodgrounds of his subjects, and then enacts that the 6 Geo. III., c. 48, shall extend to such offences. A final addition was made to this Act in the year 1805 by the 45 Geo. III., cap. 66, which recites that great quantities of bark have of late been taken and carried away out of his Majesty's woods, forests, and chases by persons not having any legal right to take or carry them away. It then enacts that the 6 Geo. III., c. 48, and the 9 Geo. III., c. 41, shall extend to this class of offence, and that any person offending more than three times shall be punished for every subsequent offence as an incorrigible rogue. According to the Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley in Glouces- tershire, six women were in the year 1800 stripped to the waist and flogged till the blood ran down their backs for " hedge pulling " under the Acts of 1766 and 1768 ; the whipping post is described as being a post in front of the Town Hall fixed in the ground, with iron rings secured in with hinges, leaving just suffi- 206 YAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, cient room for the arms and legs to pass between the iron and the post ; the offenders were locked in, and then the whipping commenced. In the year 1775 a committee of the House of Commons was appointed to review and consider the several laws which concern the relief and settlement of the poor ; and the laws relating to vagrants. ■ * This committee reported that the poor were let out in several parishes at from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 3d. per head per week, their earnings being taken by their masters. They also furnished statistics of the number of vagrants sent to the House of Correction in the years 1772, 1773, and 1774, of which the following is a summary : — 1772. 1773. 1774. In Counties in England . . 2,420 2,766 * 2,975 „ „ Wales. 14 14 14 In Cities and Towns ... 503 463 504 2,937 3,243 3,493 Medium number of persons detained for a year : — 1772. 1773. 1774. In Counties in England . . 117 133 149 „ „ Wales ... — — — In Cities and Towns ... 7 4 4 124 137 153 In the north and south divisions of Oxfordshire it is reported that the prisoners have been maintained by their earnings, being employed in the former instance in carding, spinning, knitting, sewing, making skewers and shoemaker's pegs, and in the latter in carding and spinning. At Reading it is stated that their earnings were their only support. At Brecon, Abingdon, Cam- bridge, Lincoln, and Preston, the prisoners were allowed their earnings for their maintenance, but it is not stated whether the amount was sufficient for the purpose without external charitable supplementation. From Essex, Norfolk, Chester city, and "Wor- cester, it is reported that the prisoners received the profits of their labour towards their maintenance. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 207 The following is a summary of the attendant expenses : — In Counties i in England J In Counties ) in Wales J In Cities ) and Towns j 1772. 1773. 1774. Expenses in appre- hending vagrants. in passing them. Expenses relative to those persons within the year. Expenses in appre- hending vagrants. £ s. 1337 9 5 0 88 6 in passing them. Expenses relative to those persons within the year. Expenses in appre- hending vagrants. in passing them. Expenses relative to those persons within the year. £ s. 1261 14 6 10 93 11 £ s. 9687 8 41 13 373 4 £ s. 2375 17 14 5 52 17 £ s. 10514 2 30 16 360 4 £ s. 2914 5 14 1 53 0 £ s. 1465 3 5 15 91 15 £ s. 10311 15 58 2 359 3 £ s. 2691 13 16 10 76 19 1361 15 10102 5 2442 19 1430 15 10905 2 2981 6 1562 13 10729 0 2785 2 In Cumberland, Dorset, Essex, Stafford, Wilts, and the town of Derby, the expenses for passing and apprehending are lumped together, but the above return is approximately accurate. In Middlesex the amounts expended for passing vagrants during the above years were £256, £263, and £256 respectively ; in Somerset £344, £274, and £273. In Stafford (the heaviest of all), £617, £694, and £637, the lowest amounts being £43, £71, and £43 in the county of Dorset. From the remarks from Middlesex it appears that the returns included the city of Westminster, and that there was then an annual allowance to a person for passing vagrants, " which had reduced the expense about three-fourths, it having been about £1,000 per annum. The contractor cleared some of the Bride- wells four times, and others twice a week, and amounted to about 1,200 in the year." From Somerset it is stated that the Way Yagrants are generally passed from Cornwall and Devon to London, Bath, Bristol, &e. Merioneth in the year 1774 returns its expenses relative to vagrants at 25s., which sum it is stated was incurred for one old Irish" vagrant, who cost that amount in nursing. From Bury St. Edmunds it is stated that those who could not spin were maintained by charitable contributions and victuals from the workhouse. The report from Newcastle upon Tyne appears to raise a sugges- tive question as to the amount of supervision then exercised over houses of correction, as it states that during the years 1772 and 1773 the keeper was insane, and no books or accounts were to be 208 VAGEANTS AND VAGKANCY, found. In 1774 it states that fourteen men, nine women, thirteen boys, and one girl were sent to the house. This is the only instance in which a detailed return of persons is given, and if it in any way represents the proportions between children and adults in other places, it shows the great care which was necessary in their separation and supervision. The resolution of .the committee upon the information furnished to them is " that the said Abstracts may be a Foundation for this House to make effectual Provision for the better Employment, Relief, and Maintenance of the Poor ; the Apprehending and Passing of Vagrants ; and for regulating Houses of Correction within that part of Great Britain called England." By this time the workhouses appear to have degenerated in their management to a lamentable extent, as Mr. John Scott, the benevolent Quaker poet who took great interest in the condi- tion of the poor, writing in the year 1773 " On the present state of the parochial and vagrant poor " thus speaks of them : — " A thorough acquaintance with the interior economy of these wretched receptacles of misery, or rather 'parish prisons/ called workhouses, is not easily to be acquired : in these, as in other arbitrary governments, complaint is mutiny and treason, to every appearance of which a double portion of punishment is invariably annexed : particular incidents shocking to humanity may have sometimes transpired ; but the whole mystery of iniquity perhaps never has been, nor ever will be developed. One thing is too publicly known to admit of denial, that those workhouses are scenes of filthiness and confusion ; that old and young, sick and healthy, are promiscuously crowded into ill-contrived apartments, not of sufficient capacity to contain with convenience half the number of miserable beings condemned to such deplorable inhabitation." The recital to the next Act, 22 Geo. III., c. 83 (1782),* entitled " An act for the better Relief and Employment of the Poor," gives usacluetothe causeof this shocking state of things, as it states "that notwithstanding the many Laws now in being for the Relief and Employment of the Poor, and the great Sums of Money raised for those Purposes, their Sufferings and Distresses are nevertheless very * This Act is commonly known as Gilbert 's Act, from the name of its framer, who was member for Lichfield from 1768 to 1796, and greatly interested him- self in measures for improving the condition of the poor. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 209 grievous ; and by the Incapacity, Negligence, or Misconduct of overseers, the Money raised for the Relief of the Poor is frequently misapplied, and sometimes expended in defraying the Charges of Litigations about Settlements indiscreetly and inadvisedly carried on." By section 31 it then enacts that " all idle or disorderly persons, who are able but unwilling to work or maintain them- selves and their Families, shall be prosecuted by the Gfuardians of the Poor of the several Parishes, Townships and Places, wherein they reside, and punished in such Manner as idle and disorderly Persons are directed to be by the 17 Geo. II., c. 5. Any Guardian who shall neglect to make complaint against such person to some neighbouring Justice within Ten days after it shall come to his Knowledge shall forfeit a sum not exceeding £5 nor less than 20s. a moiety of which is to go to the Informer." We now come to a series of enactments bringing persons having a criminal intent within the purview of the existing Vagrant Act ; the first of these, the 23 Geo. III., c. 88, (1782-3), recites that " divers ill-disposed Persons are frequently apprehended, having upon them Implements for Housebreaking, or offensive Weapons, or are found in or upon Houses, Warehouses, Coachhouses, Stables or outhouses, areas of Houses, enclosed yards or gardens belonging to Houses, with intent to commit Felonies ; and although their evil Purposes are thereby manifested, the power of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace to demand of them Sureties for their good Behaviour, hath not been of sufficient Effect to prevent them from carrying their evil Purposes into Execution." It then enacts that persons found with implements for housebreaking, or offensive weapons, with felonious intent, or found in any dwelling-house, warehouse, coachhouse, stable or outhouse, or in any enclosed yard or garden or area with an intent to steal are to be deemed rogues and vagabonds under the 17 Geo. II., c. 5. The next is the 39 and 40 Geo. III., c. 50 (20 June, 1800), which recites that " idle and disorderly Persons frequently asso- ciate themselves to support and assist each other in the Destruction of Game in the Night, and are, if interrupted, guilty of great Vio- lence by shooting, maiming, and beating, to the great Terror of His Majesty's Subjects, and to the Encouragement of Idleness and Immorality ; and such Practices are found by Experience to lead to the commission of Crimes and Felonies." It then enacts that persons to the number of two or more found in any forest, chase, p 210 VAGRANTS AND VAGBANCY park, wood, plantation, paddock, field, meadow, or other open or enclosed ground, in the night, having any gun or engine with intent to kill or take game, or persons aiding them with offensive weapons may be apprehended, and on conviction before a justice shall be deemed rogues and vagabonds. This was followed by the 39 and 40 Geo. III., c. 87 (28 July, 1800), which is styled " an act for the more effectual prevention of depredations on the river Thames, and in its vicinity." It recites under s. 12 that " divers ill-disposed and suspected Persons, and reputed Thieves, frequent the said River, and the Quays and Ware- houses adjoining thereunto, and the Avenues to the same Quays and Warehouses, arid the Streets and Houses leading thereto with Intent to Commit Felony." It then enacts that all such persons are to be deemed rogues and vagabonds. The last of this series is the 42 Geo. Ill, c. 76, s. 18 (June 22, 1802), which recites that " divers ill-disposed and suspected Persons and reputed Thieves frequent the Avenues to Places of public Resort, and the Streets and Highways, with Intent to commit Felony on the Persons and Property of His Majesty's Subjects there being : and although their evil Purposes are sufficiently manifest, the Power of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace to demand of them Sureties for their good Behaviour, hath not been of sufficient Effect to prevent them from carrying their evil Purposes into Execution." It then enacts that every such person shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond. This Act was only temporary, to last for five years. It was re-enacted in 1811 by the 51 Geo. III., c. 119, which in its turn was repealed by the 54 Geo. III., c. 37, s. 18 (Dec. 17, 1813), which, however, re-enacted its provisions. Another class of persons who were brought within the purview of the Vagrant Act in this reign were unlicensed dealers in lottery tickets. The 27 Geo. III., c. 1 (1787), styled " An Act to render more effectual the Laws now in being for suppressing unlawful Lotteries," recites that " the good and wholesome Laws from Time to Time made and provided for the Suppression of unlawful Lotteries, and against adventuring in Lotteries established by Acts of Parliament, in Great Britain or Ireland, by unlawful Sales of Chances of Tickets, and by Insuring for or against the Drawing of such Tickets, have not been found effectual for the purposes intended thereby." AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 211 It then enacts that all persons who deal in any lottery tickets, or sell chances without taking out a license from the Commissioners for managing the duties upon stamped vellum, parchment, and paper, are to be deemed rogues and vagabonds, within 17 Geo. II., c. 5, and punished as such. The motives which prompted this enactment were partially moral and partially fiscal, as in the year 1778 an Act was passed by which every person keeping a lottery-office was obliged to take out a yearly license costing £50. This reduced the number of such offices from 400 to 51, and as a natural consequence numerous evasions of the law were from time to time perpetrated. In 1802, minor lotteries held in public houses and similar places were dealt with by the 42 Geo. III., c. 119, styled " An Act to suppress certain Games and Lotteries not authorized by Law." It recites that " evil disposed persons do frequently resort to public houses and other places to set up certain mischievous games or lotteries, called little goes, and to induce Servants, Children, and unwary persons, to play at the said games, and thereby most fraudulently obtain great Sums of money from Servants, Children, and unwary persons, to the great impoverishment and utter ruin of many families.' ' It then proceeds to enact that all games or lotteries called " little goes" shall be deemed public nuisances and against law. Persons keeping any office or place for any game or lottery not authorised by law shall forfeit £500, to be recovered by information, and are to be deemed rogues and vagabonds within the meaning of 17 Geo. II., c. 5. Persons so offending, against whom no such information shall have been made, are to be punished as rogues and vagabonds. Persons assisting offenders and persons employing others, though not discovered in the premises, are also to be deemed rogues and vagabonds. Reverting to general enactments against vagrancy, we come to the 27 Geo. III., c. 11 (1787), which recites that doubts have arisen whether the 6 Geo. I., c. 19, gives a discretionary power to justices to commit vagrants and other criminals either to the Common Gaol or House of Correction, and authorises them to commit to the Common Gaol as well as the House of Correction. This must have had a most pernicious effect in the case of young offenders, as the gaols at this period were perfect sinks of iniquity. We now come to a further evidence of the misconduct of the inferior officers appointed to carry out the Vagrant Acts. p 2 212 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, The 32 Geo. III., c. 45 (1792), recites that "great abuses are committed in conveying from one place to another by passes persons who are not rogues or vagabonds, or in conveying such, persons who are rogues and vagabonds without complying with the directions of 17 Geo. II., c. 5." It then enacts that all rogues and vagabonds ordered to be conveyed by pass are first to be publicly whipped, or confined in the House of Correction : that no reward is to be paid for apprehending rogues or vagabonds until they have been punished : that no female vagabond is to be whipped : that as the present mode of conveying vagrants in the custody of constables is frequently insufficient, from the misconduct and negligence of constables, j ustices may order vagrants to be conveyed by masters of Houses of Correction, or their servants : that justices at Sessions are to regulate the rates for passing vagrants : that the permission formerly accorded to soldiers and mariners is highly improper, and that those of them who beg shall be deemed rogues and vagabonds. It also enacts that any person who spends his money in alehouses, or places of bad repute, or in any other improper manner, and does not apply a proper proportion of the money he earns to the support of his wife and family, by which they become chargeable to the parish, is to be considered an idle and disorderly person. The wholesome provision regarding permitting soldiers and sailors to beg was, however, soon abrogated by the 43 Geo. III., c. 61 (24 June, 1803), styled " An Act for the Relief of Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and of the Wives of Soldiers, in the Cases therein mentioned." It recites that " Soldiers and Marines, and Sailors, or Persons discharged from such, having Occasion to return to their respective Homes or Places of Legal Settlement in England , which are frequently at a considerable Distance, are under the necessity of soliciting alms for their Relief, and that such solicita- tion is forbidden by the 32 Geo. III., c. 45," and then enacts that Every Soldier, Marine, or Sailor on carrying his Discharge out of any Regiment, Ship, or Vessel, within three Days to the nearest Chief Magistrate, shall receive a Certificate of his Place of Settle- ment, fixing the time he is to reach it at the rate of 100 miles in 10 days and so in proportion, on producing of which, being in his Time and Route, he shall not for asking Relief, be deemed a Vagabond. Wives of non- Commissioned Officers or Soldiers on making Proof of not being permitted to embark with their Husbands, AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 213 shall receive from the nearest Chief Magistrate a like Certificate of their Place of Settlement, which will entitle them to ask Relief while in their Time and Route. In case of duly proved accident or sickness, by which the holder of the certificate is prevented from proceeding on his or her journey, the Magistrate of the Place where the person shall be, shall grant a new Certificate." This economical measure, though it relieved the treasury of a charge which it ought to have borne, is by no means creditable to the Government of the day, and is in striking contrast to the spirit of the 43 Eliz., c. 3, which authorises the treasurers of counties to help disabled soldiers and mariners on their way, and forbids the latter to beg under severe penalties. The effect of enforcing the whipping of vagrants before passing them was to increase the crowd of beggars in London. A writer in the " Gentleman's Magazine/' in December, 1796, says : " In my late walks about London and its environs, I have observed with concern the multiplied swarms of beggars of every description. That concern is increased by the menacing approach of this winter. Impressed with the idea that more of these miserable objects are beggars by choice than by necessity, I leave them with the wish that our laws, or the magistrates, whose business it is to put these laws in execution, would at least endeavour to lessen their number, or by some badge or other means of distinction enable kind-hearted Christians to discern their proper objects." In a work by Mr. P. Colquhoun, a magistrate, styled "A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis," and published in the year 1797, the following estimate is given of the number of vagrants in London at this period : — Strangers out of work, who have wandered up to London in search of employment, and without recommendation, generally in con- sequence of some misdemeanor committed in the Country ; at all times above 1,000 StrollingMinstrels,Ballad-Singers,Show-men,Trumpeters, and Gypsies 1,500 Grubbers, Gin-drinking Women, and destitute Boys and Girls wan- dering and prowling about the streets and bye-places after Chips, Nails, Old Metals, broken Glass, Paper, Twine, &c, &c, who are constantly on the watch to pilfer when an opportunity offers 2,000 Common Beggars and Vagrants, asking alms, supposing one to every two streets 3,000 Total 7,500 214 VAGRANTS AND YAGEAXCY, In another work, styled the " State of Indigence, and the Situation of the Casual Poor," Mr. Colquhoun remarks — " The expense of the class of persons denominated Casual Poor, who have no settlement in any parish in the Metropolis amounts to a large sum annually. In the united parishes of St. Giles in the Fields and St. George, Bloomsbury, this expense amounted to £2,000 in the year 1796. It arose from the support of about 1,200 poor natives of Ireland, who but for this aid must have become vagrants. The shocking abuse of the vagrant passes previous to the year 1792, produced the Act of the 32 Geo. III., c. 45, which requires that Vagrants should be first publicly whipt, or confined seven days in the House of Correction (females to be imprisoned only, and in no case whipped) before they are passed, as directed by the Act of the 17 Geo. II., c. 5. Hence it is that so many who are either on the brink of vagrancy or have actually received alms, are permitted to remain a burden on the parishes, the Magis- trates being loth to incur the charge of inhumanity, by strictly fol- lowing the letter of the Act, in whipping or imprisoning poor miser- able wretches, whose indigence has rendered relief necessary." " In all the 146 parishes within and without the walls, including the Bills of Mortality, &c, it is not improbable that the casual charity given in this way may amount to £10,000 a year." The country was as badly infested with beggars as London itself. " Common beggars are greatly multiplied from the same cause of general neglect. The Traveller now passes near no populous village, without being assailed by this new species of parish Mendicants. These are encouraged under that general relief, which officers indiscreetly give to paupers, whose children are suffered to grow up around them without any other employ than begging of the passengers, breaking fences for fuel, or other idle habits, which invariably attach to them through life." * It is also stated " that it is a common practice for children, put out to nurse in the country by London parents, to be compelled to bring home firing for their nurses by such means, and even to take up, in their richer neighbours' names, articles of grocery, &c, at the shop where they dealt." This is followed in the year 1807 by another doleful cry from London : " Surely something will be done to cleanse the streets from that Augean filth, the beggars ; a most indelible disgrace to * Dudley. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 215 these enlightened times, a dreadful imposition on the public, in which the cause of real charity is not served, and which only tends to the increase of the nuisance — I mean, as to the charity bestowed on these very improper though unfortunate objects." * Legislation now again claims our attention, this time of a humanitarian character. The 35 Geo. III., c. 101 (22 June, 1795) recites the powers of removal given by the 13 and 14 Car. II., c. 12 r and the 8 and 9 Will. III., and " that many industrious Poor Persons chargeable to the Place where they live, merely from Want of Work there, would in any other Place, where sufficient Employment is to be had, maintain themselves and Families without being burthensome to any Parish, and such Poor Persons are for the most part compelled to live in their own Parishes, and are not permitted to inhabit elsewhere, under Pretence that they are likely to become chargeable to the Parish into which they go for the Purpose of getting Employment." It then enacts that thenceforth " no poor person shall be removed until he has become actually chargeable to the parish he then inhabits." It also recites that Poor Persons are often removed or passed to the Place of their Settlement during the Time of their Sickness, to the great Danger of their Lives ; and then enacts as a remedy " that if any poor person shall be brought before a Justice for the Purpose of being removed by virtue of any Order of Removal, or of being passed by virtue of any Vagrant Pass, and it shall ^>pear to the Justice that the Poor Person is unable to Travel, by reason of Sick- ness or other Infirmity, or that it would be dangerous for him or her so to do, the Justice is required and authorised to suspend the execution until he is satisfied that it may be safely executed. The charges incurred by 'such Suspension to be paid by the Officers of the Parish to which the poor Person is ordered to be removed." The Act is not to alter the powers of justices to pass or punish vagrants by 17 Gfeo. II., c. 5. It further enacts, " Every Person who has been convicted of any Felony, or who appears on the oath of a credible witness to be a Person of evil Fame, or a reputed Thief, not being able to give a satisfactory account of himself or his way of living shall be liable to be removed to the Parish of his last legal settlement by order of the Justices. * " Gentleman's Magazine." 216 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, The 49 Geo. III., c. 124 (20 June, 1809), makes a technical alteration in the 35 Geo. III., c. 101, and then enacts " that in order to avoid any Pretence for forcibly separating Husband and Wife, or other Persons nearly connected with or related to each other, and who are living together as one Family at the Time of any Order of Removal made, or Yagrant Pass granted during the dangerous Sickness or other Infirmity of any one or More of such Family, on whose account the Execution of the Order of Removal or Yagrant Pass is suspended ; " such order shall be suspended for the same Period with respect to every other Person named therein, as already described. The next acts regarding the poor are conceived in the same spirit, as the 50 Geo. III., c. 52 (9 June, 1810), repeals the 8 and 9 "Wil. III., c. 11, which requires poor persons receiving alms to wear badges, and the 52 Geo. III., c. 31 (1812), repeals the 39 Eliz., c. 17, against lewd and wandering persons pretending themselves to be soldiers or mariners, and which directed that they should suffer as felons. At the end of the year 1814 a further alarming increase of vagrancy took place, owing to the disembodying of many militia regiments, the reduction of the army in general, and the disman- tling of a large portion of the navy. The practice of begging in London had arrived at such a pitch that on the 8th of June, 1815, the Rt. Hon. George Rose called the attention of the House of Commons to the state of mendicity in and about the metropolis. He said that a recent institution of great utility had been the means of many inquiries into the sub- ject. Mr. Martin, a gentleman connected with it, had calculated, from pretty good sources, that there were more than 15,000 beggars in and about the metropolis. Of these, some had settle- ments ; they amounted to 6,690, of whom 4,150 were children, and 2,540 adults. There were 2,604 who had settlements in the country of England, of whom 1,137 were adults and 1,467 children. Those without settlement were estimated at 5,310, of whom 3,273 were children. There were Scotch and Irish ; the Scotch amounted to 504 ; 177 had no settlement whatever, and were foreigners. On the whole, there were 9,288 children, and 6,000 adults, living by begging, making 15,288. Some of these could occasionally earn as much as forty shillings a week ; but, not belonging to benefit societies, when they were ill their wives AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 217 and children went a-begging. The support of all these people, taking them at 3s. a day, and he knew many received much more, would come to £328,000 a year for the adults. The inconveni- ence in the streets was the least part of the evil. The great mischief was, that the children were brought up in all sorts of idleness and vice. The beggars would seldom send a child to the new schools ; which, in many cases, had been of incalculable benefit: there were even instances of the children educated therein having reformed their parents. The most importunate beggars were seamen who were wounded, and who were, there- fore, entitled to their pension of £18 a year. He then moved for "a committee to inquire into the state of mendicity in the metropolis and its neighbourhood/' which was agreed accord- ingly. The report of the committee was presented to the House on the 11th of July, from which the following particulars are extracted. The number of mendicants in the metropolis was estimated at 30,000, and most of these persons gained more than many indus- trious individuals of the lower classes of the community. One man actually acknowledged that his profits were about thirty shillings a day. This might be a singular case ; but it was proved by the strongest evidence, that the average receipts of mendicants in London were from three to six shillings a day. This money was spent in the most exceptionable manner, in dram shops, at feasts, and even in the purchase of luxuries of all sorts, eatable as well as drinkable. Many parishes farmed their poor ; about one hundred parishes in the City did so. Six or seven shillings a week each were allowed to those by whom they were taken, and who sent them out to beg during the day for the purpose of saving their provision. Mr. Stevenson, who was overseer of St. Giles's parish the preceding year, said : " Most of these beggars have no lodging. There are houses where there are forty or fifty of them, like a gaol. The porter stands at the door and takes the money ; for threepence, they have clean straw, or something like it ; for those who pay fourpence there is something more decent ; for sixpence they have a bed. They are all locked in for the night lest they should take property. In the morning there is a general muster below. The servants go and examine all the places, to see that all is safe ; and then they are let out into the street, (just 218 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, as you would open the door of a gaol,) forty or fifty of them together, and at night they come again : they have no settled habitations, but those places to which they resort, but there are numbers of those houses in St. Giles's." The evidence of the Rev. W. Gurney, rector of St. Clement Danes, a gentleman of well-known humanity and consideration for the poor, is very interesting, " I am rector of St. Clement Danes, and minister of the Free Chapel in West Street, St. Giles's. In the Free Chapel there is accommodation for 600 poor. In the course of my ministry there I have had occasion to visit persons in very great distress, and have seen a great deal of suffering. I have ascertained that there are four different sorts of beggars, or persons not having habitations, or rather four different ways of begging. Some are by letters : these are called ttvopenny-post beggars. Some are what we call knocker-beggars, who go from house to house, knocking at every door. They contrive to get a know- ledge of persons from others residing in the same street ; and, if they can get information of any one residing in a street, they go to that house, and, if they succeed, or even if they do not get anything, they say, ' 1 have been to Mr. Gurney's or some other person's, and I want to make up a sum of money to pay rent ; ' whereas perhaps they pay no rent. A third sort of beggars are stationary the whole day ; they come to their stand at a certain hour, and they stay so many hours, and then are led perhaps to another stand. These persons get a great deal of money, and live very well, especially if they are pretty well maimed, or if they are blind, or if they have children. There is a fourth sort, women and children, who are moveable beggars ; they move about with the people, not particularly by the street, but with the people : for instance, at the time of the play they are always very near the theatres; and, if they see a gentleman and lady walking together in deep conversation, they will pester them, and run before them till they get a penny or twopence to get rid of them. Those people at other times of the day, if it is a Sunday for instance, will be found near chapels where there are large congregations ; they know as well where the large congregations are as possible ; not that they ever go within side the doors, they keep without- side, and there they speak of the benevolence and charity of the people coming out, and pray for them. If they get anything it AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 219 is well, if not, perhaps they will afterwards utter imprecations against them, which I have frequently heard." Mr. Grurney might have added that these beggars are of all persuasions. There was one who regularly stood at the door of the Catholic Chapel of Lincoln's Inn Fields, petitioning "for the love of the Holy Virgin," and other Catholic saints ; in half-an- hour afterwards he was at the door of a dissenting meeting house bawling "for the love of .Christ." The evening placed him at West Street, or at some other chapel belonging to the Estab- lished Church. " There are five large gin-shops, or wine vaults as they are called, close to the Seven Dials, which are constantly frequented. There is one where they go in at one door and out at another, to prevent the inconvenience of returning the same way, where there are so many. A friend of mine, who lived opposite, had the curiosity to count how many went in the course of one Sunday morning, before he went to church, and it was 320." The following information was given by Joseph Butter worth, Esq., M.P., one of the committee of the Strangers' Friend Society. " In the course of my observations I have noticed the condition of many beggars, and in the general way they have been found to be impostors ; and I am persuaded they are the most profligate and idle description of character. I am convinced that very few, if any, honest, industrious, and sober people ever have recourse to begging. In the neighbourhood where I live there is a great resort for beggars ; and I have made some inquiries into their condition. There are two public-houses in Church Lane, St. Giles's, whose chief support depends upon beggars ; one called the Beggar's Opera, which is the Rose and Crown public-house, and the other the Robin Hood. The number of beggars that frequent those houses, at various times, is computed to be about 300. I have been credibly informed they are divided into companies, and each company is subdivided into what are called walks, and each company has its particular walk ; if this walk be considered bene- ficial, the whole company take it by turns, each person keeping it from half "an hour to three or four hours ; their receipts at a moderate calculation cannot be less than three to five shillings a day each person, frequently more. They cannot be supposed to spend less at night than half-a-crown, and they generally pay sixpence for their bed. It is their custom to sally out early in 220 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, the morning, and those who have any money left of the preceding day's earnings treat the rest with spirits before they begin the operations of the day. I have been informed, that they have a kind of committee to organise the walks to be frequented by each person, and they generally appropriate the best walks to the senior beggars in rotation. There is an Irishman who pretends to be a sailor, and frequently cuts his legs to excite compassion ; he begs shoes and then sells them ; he is a most audacious fellow, and has several times been imprisoned. Another man, half naked, and who generally appears in that condition, has, I am credibly informed, a considerable sum of money in the funds ; he is a young man with a long beard ; he frequently has flowers in his hand, and limps, he will not act with the gang, but preserves his own independence, and is one of the greatest boxers in St. Giles's. I understand that, after the business of the day is over, they fre- quent those houses and partake of the best food they can obtain ; they spend their evenings in a very riotous manner ; the food that is given them by benevolent persons they do not eat, but either throw it away or give it to the dogs. Women have been frequently known to assume an appearance of pregnancy, in order to obtain child-bed linen, which, in many cases, they have done eight or ten times over. I know a sober hackney-coachman, upon whose veracity I can depend, who has frequently conveyed beggars to their lodgings ; and formerly, when he plied in St. Giles's, has been called to the houses I before mentioned, to take them from thence, being so intoxicated they could not walk home. A fact lately came under my observation of a person in Charles Street, Drury Lane, who, with his wife, obtained their living by begging ; she lately lay- in ; a benevolent neighbour, perceiving she had no bed or bedstead, furnished her with them, but he soon found they were not used. The bedstead was cut up and made into a rabbit- hutch ; and the reason assigned by the beggar was this : that benevolent persons would occasionally visit them, and finding that they had neither bed nor bedstead, would be more disposed to give them money ; and he wished to appear as mean as pos- sible. " The visitors of the Strangers' Friend Society, on the eastern part of the town, report that they never knew any worthy cha- racters found in the streets begging. I have known several instances of persons obtaining considerable sums, daily, by AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 221 begging. About two months ago some children in Russell Square attracted my attention ; I inquired particularly into their history ; and I found the mother supported by a daughter, a girl about twelve years of age, who also appeared very dirty and offensive. The girl informed me she had been six years engaged in begging for her mother ; that on some days she gets three or four shillings, besides coppers ; that on Christmas Day last she earned four shil- lings and sixpence, that she usually gets about eighteen pence a day. I inquired of the mother whether the child had any instruc- tion ; she said she had not, and she gave as the reason that she had no suitable clothes to go to school in. The mother was fur- nished with money to procure suitable clothing, and the child was sent to the Sunday school in Drury Lane, which she attended two or three Sundays ; but, like many other similar cases, she then absented herself. " A boy, aged fifteen years, was placed by his mother by the wall near Whitechapel workhouse. On application to the mother, entreating her to let him be taken into the workhouse, she would not consent unless they would allow her 36s. or 38s. a week, as, she stated, that upon an average was but a part of his gains. The Society well knew a negro beggar, who, about two years since, used to stand by Messrs. Elliott and Robinson's tea warehouse, near Finsbury Square, who has retired to the West Indies, with a fortune, it was supposed, of about £1,500 obtained by this way of life." Mr. S. Roberts, watch-house-keeper, Bloomsbury, said : " My opinion is, that a great number of the beggars who go about are not in distress, that they are impostors : I have knowledge of one man in particular, that goes about and pretends to be in fits in the street : he chews soap, and has been taken several times in impos- ing upon people ; he was taken in Lincoln's-inn -Fields about a fortnight ago, and committed for a month : his name is John Collins ; he is known by the beadles by the name of the soap- eater. There is another, a woman, a good deal in Lincoln's-inn- Fields, of the name of Anne Phillips ; she has been passed to St. Sepulchre's a number of times, but it is impossible to keep her away from that neighbourhood. There is a little black man who has frequently been brought into the watch-house for begging. I have seen him have a bag with silver, and another bag with copper ; and at other times he has come to fetch me to take up people t 222 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, who have robbed him of a great deal of money, as he stated : and I have been told at the public house he would spend fifty shillings a week for his board, he would spit his own goose or his own ducks, and live very well." Mr. Cooper, connected with the Spitalfields Benevolent Society, stated " that in January, February, and March, 1814, the Spital- fields Society was called upon for very particular exertions. A committee, consisting of about sixteen persons, visited, in the course of those three months, I suppose at least 800 different families. From the observations I made upon the state of poor families, I have no idea at all that, in any individual case, persons that were worthy objects, however, distressed they were, have had recourse to street begging/' Mr. John Daughtry, in the same connection, was asked what his general opinion was as to the character of street-beggars, derived from any information he had acquired. — " That they are idle and worthless ; the visitors of the Spitalfields Benevolent Society, with which I am connected, having been led to adopt as a maxim, ' That street-beggars are, with very few exceptions, so utterly worthless and incorrigible, as to be undeserving the atten- tion of such a Society.' I would beg to state as a general obser- vation, that, when persons are by any means driven to the practice of street begging, their characters become so depraved, that they are seldom of any use to society or their families afterwards ; they generally become openly depraved and immoral to a very great degree. But the instances in which worthy, honest, industrious, persons have recourse to begging, are extremely rare ; they will in general rather starve than beg. A person of veracity, who some time ago visited 1,500 poor families in the neighbourhood of Spitalfields, affirms that out of 300 cases of abject poverty and destitution, and at least 100 of literal starvation, not a dozen had been found to have had recourse to begging : many of the most wretched of the above cases had been not long before able to sup- port themselves in some comfort, but want of employ had. com- pletely ruined them ; they were at that moment pressed by land- lord, baker, and tax-gatherer ; had pawned and sold everything that could be turned into money ; were absolutely without a morsel of food for themselves or family ; but still had not had recourse to begging. As a general fact, the decent poor will struggle to the uttermost, and even perish, rather than turn beggars. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 223 " After some of the preceding observations, it need scarcely be stated, that the class of persons under consideration is believed to consist almost exclusively of the idle and profligate, the greater part depraved and abandoned beyond description, only less vicious and injurious to society than professed thieves and house- breakers. In most cases, idleness and hypocrisy are so wrought into their natures, that they are absolutely incurable. Living by hourly deception, they have less character than even thieves, and are more hopeless as to moral reformation : they are known to be too idle even to beg when they have a shilling left to spend, or can find a public-house or chandler's shop that will trust them." Mr. William Hale, of Spitalfields, said : "I have known instances of my own work people who have left good looms of work to go out begging. Some time back, in Old Broad Street, leading to the Royal Exchange, where there are a number of merchants who walk about four o'clock towards the Exchange, coming towards Spitalfields I met a woman, as I was crossing the street in a hurry ; she had an infant in her arms, and asked charity ; I looked her in the face, and she was very much confused ; she and her husband worked for me at the time ; he had a good loom's work, and she silk-winding, which I was at the time very much in want of. " There was a woman who used to go to a chapel in the City Road, as she said : one of our overseers was coming out in the evening after service, when he heard a voice, 'Pray, remember a poor blind child ; have pity on a poor blind child/ Knowing the voice, he turned round, and recognized her to be one of our paupers, who had borrowed or hired this blind child for the purpose of exciting pity ; for it is a very common thing for them to hire or borrow children to go out begging ; and if you meet with a woman who appears to have twins, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred they are not her own, or not both her own. / have known a woman sit for ten years with ticins ; they never exceeded the same age. Some, who are well practised in the art of begging, will collect three, four, or five children, from different parents of the lower class of people, and will give those parents sixpence or even more per day for those children to go begging with ; they go in those kind of gangs, and make a very great noise, setting the children sometimes crying in order to extort charity from the people. Many children also are sent out by their parents as soon as it is possible for them to extort relief, and distributed about. 224 VAGBANTS AND VAGEANCY, One perhaps takes a broom ; and if they do not bring home more or less, according to their size, they are beaten for it. A family is the greatest resource of such persons. " Some mendicants employ a certain portion of their time in finding out the committee- days of the respective parishes, when they meet and relieve their out-door poor ; and it is very well known they go to one vestry on a Monday, a second on Tuesday, and a third on Wednesday, and so on. They will tell such tales of distress, which appear so interesting to gentlemen not deeply versed in their duplicity, that they are sure to gain upon their feelings, and they get Is. or Is. 6d. or 2s. 6d. from each." Mr. G. H. Malme, of St. John's, Westminster, said: " Going along the High Street, Borough, I saw a number of persons, whom, by their appearance, I knew to be itinerant beggars, travelling by passes. Observing a man and his family divide, close to the church, and the woman take a pass out of her pocket, I guessed the business they were upon ; and, on paying a little attention to their further proceedings, found this family were making use of two passes ; the woman went into the shop where one of the overseers resided, taking with her all the children ; and the man went after- wards with some of them ; by which means they got double allowance. " Mr. Hale was asked, " What is your opinion of the best means to prevent mendicity ?" "To take every possible means of informing the public of what description these individuals are, and their sheer depravity ; that they are not fit objects of their benevolence; that in no instance should an individual give anything to a person that applied to him in the streets. But the advantages arising from begging are such a temptation to the idle poor, not willing to work, that they would sooner be imprisoned three months in the year, than be deterred from the practice of begging the other nine." The following evidence was given with regard to the earnings of beggars : — Mr. Philip Holdsworth the senior City Marshal stated : " One officer, the week before last, in taking up a sailor whose dog carries his hat was seriously hurt by the populace. We proved on the average that that man with his dog got thirty shil- lings a day ; that was proved by his own assertion when in Bridewell." AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 225 Mr. John Cooper, calico printer, 8, Queen St., Cheapside, said : " A female on being remonstrated with for pursuing such a course, stated that it was a bad street that would not produce a penny, and that she could travel sixty of those in a day; that that therefore was a better livelihood than any other she could follow." Samuel Roberts, watch-house keeper of St. Giles's, stated : " He had heard some of them say it was a poor day they could not go through forty streets ; and it was a poor street that would not turn out twopence." John Furzman, round-house keeper in St. Giles's, said " He had many times heard them say, that it is a very bad day if they do not get eight shillings, and more than that." The following estimate of the number of metropolitan beggars and their earnings was presented to the commitee by Mr. Matthew Martin. I. Parochial Individuals. a. of Home Parishes ; inclusive of about 4,152 children, about . 6,693 b. of Distant Parishes ; inclusive of about 1,467 children, about . 2,604 Total Parochial Children, about .... 5,619 Total Parochial Individuals, about 9,297 II. Non-Parochial Individuals. a. Irish ; inclusive of about 3,273 children, about . . . 5,310 b. Scotch ; inclusive of about 309 children, about . . . 504 c. Foreign, inclusive of 87 children, about . . . . .177 Total Non-Parochial Children about . . . 3,669 Total Non-Parochial Individuals, about .... 5,991 Total Children about 9,288 Total Individuals about . 15,288 And the gross amount of the sums annually extorted from the public by their importunities cannot be computed at a lower esti- mate than what is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of such a body of people, although in beggary. For 6,000* grown persons, at 6d. a day each, lodgings and clothes, inclusive £54,750 0 0 „ 9,288 Children, at 3d. a day each, clothes inclusive . 42,376 10 0 About 15,288 Individuals, at a gross annual expense of about . £97,126 10 0 It appears by the evidence of the person who contracts for carrying vagrants in and through the county of Middlesex that Q 226 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, lie has passed as many as 12,000 or 13,000 in a year;* but no estimate can be formed from that, as many of them are passed several times in the course of a year. In 1817 a select committee was appointed to inquire into the working of the Poor Laws ; from the evidence taken before this committee we gather some instructive evidence regarding Irish vagrants in the metropolis. John Smith, one of the beadles of St. Giles's parish, stated that he conceived it would be a great relief if the Irish could be sent to their own country. They go into a cheap lodging-house that lets out lodgings at twopence, threepence, and fourpence a night, where they are accommodated if they have money, the people taking good care not to do it if they have not. Then the next day if they have no more money, " Go down to the workhouse, and you will get relieved/' It is possible the beadle is sent to inquire into the circumstances : if he goes to the landlord, the landlord will coincide with the man if he says he has been in the parish a fortnight or a month, though he has not been there a night. When they have run a week's rent, and are not able to pay their lodgings, they are sent down to the Board; if eighteen- pence or two shillings is given the landlord is ready to take it : the poor people are not the better for it, except by being allowed to stay a week longer. The wife will come on the Board day ; she will get her money regularly at the Board, and the husband will come afterwards and get relieved too. They wander into the parish, and gain no settlement there, but stay as long as they can get a shilling ; some of them will hardly move about to look after work. Among the casual poor there are some who practise these deceptions, who get double and treble what other respect- able people do ; if they go to inquire, they may find a bed of straw, and their clothes all rags — all appearance of distress. Satur- day night comes, and the husband brings home a guinea, and the wife will perhaps get five or six shillings a week more, but it is all gone on the Sunday in making merry ; and then by Monday morn- ing th.ey have nothing left, and they live upon a potatoe and a herring, or anything during the week, and the children are deserted. He had no doubt that if there was a power of removing these people, on their becoming chargeable, it would get rid of a great weight on the parish ; but he has found that a woman has been * At an average cost per head of 6|rl. to 7d. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 227 drawing relief from their parish, who has been living at Bow, and her husband has been receiving money for working at a soap manufactory at Bow, at a guinea a week. Many cases of that kind have occurred. He is of opinion that a large portion of those people could gain a livelihood if they were disposed. They might live very comfortably, and the parish would not be burthened in the manner it is. To meet this state of things a clause was inserted in the 59 Geo. III., c. 12 (March 31, 1819), which recites "that poor persons, born in Scotland and Ireland, and in the isles of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey, frequently become chargeable to parishes in England, and no provision is made for the removal of any such poor person, unless he shall have committed some act of vagrancy, and shall be adjudged a rogue and vagabond, and that no person so adjudged can be lawfully removed without having been first publicly w r hipped or imprisoned in the House of Correction ; " it then authorises justices to pass such persons in the form prescribed by 17 Geo. II., c. 5, without their having been first whipped and imprisoned. Regarding rogues and vagabonds born in Scotland, Ireland, or the isles of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey, it also authorises the justices to exercise their discretion, according to the circum- stances of the case, as to whipping or imprisoning them prior to their removal. CHAPTER X. 1820—1837. Accession of George IV. — Report of the Select Committee of 1821 on Vagrancy . — Review of previous legislation — Abuses tolerated and frauds practised — Cozenage and fraud connected with the system of conveyance by pass — Number of vagrants passed from 1807 to 1820 — Vagrant Act of 1822 — The existing Vagrant Act and the additions made to it — Irish and Scotch vagrants in England, and the cost of their removal — The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 — Abuses connected with the removal of vagrants. The lower orders were in a disturbed condition on the accession of George TV., both from political causes and from the stagnation of trade. The Spafields Riots, occasioned by a meeting of dis- tressed manufacturers and mechanics, had occurred in 1816, and a bread riot had taken place at Bridport in the same year. The windows of the Prince Regent's carriage were broken by missiles on his return from opening Parliament in 1817, and in conse- quence of the alleged disaffection of large bodies of the people repressive measures were passed through Parliament, giving the executive amongst other things the right of imprisonment with- out trial. This was immediately followed by the " Blanketeer " riot at Manchester and another in Derbyshire. In 1819 came the " Peterloo " Riot, and in 1820 the Cato Street Conspiracy. All of these disturbances being naturally favourable to the spread of vagrancy and vagabondism. In 1821 another Select Committee was appointed to consider the existing laws relating to vagrants. The report of this Committee is instructive as to the abuses then prevailing. It says — ■ " An attempt was made in the reign of George II. to sim- plify the then existing laws upon this subject, which produced the General Act of 17 George II., c. 5. But this Act has since been found to be extremely loose in its definitions and enactments, and VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. 229 in several of its provisions of very doubtful intendment ; and the difficulties thence arising have been abundantly increased by the addition of eighteen statutes * since passed, all bearing more or less upon the same subject. " The inadequacy of these Acts to attain their object, nume- rous as they are, is clear from the increasing number of vagrants, and the enormous expense annually incurred by different counties in their apprehension, maintenance, and conveyance by pass. "The abuses tolerated and the frauds practised under these laws have been unquestionably proved by the evidence which has been taken before your Committee, and are in fact but too general and notorious. " The county reward of 10s., at present payable, has in some instances converted the apprehension of vagrants into a regular trade, so disgraceful in all its branches as even to prevent the more respectable constables from interfering with vagrants, from a dread of sharing the obloquy attached to their apprehension. It is in evidence that it has led to a system of collusion between the apprehender and the vagrant, and that the latter has volun- tarily entered, or been invited, into the district of the former, and even been bribed to commit an act of vagrancy with the view of procuring the reward of 10s., which in some cases has actually been divided between the parties. " The threat of commitment has lost its terror. The vagrant himself, so far from shrinking, throws himself in the way of it, is apparently solicitous for it, and in fact steps forward as a volun- teer for prison. "The system of conveyance by pass has been found to be one of inefficiency, cozenage, and fraud ; it is in complete consonance with the wandering habits of vagrants, and is made a matter of trade. Their returns to the same place are frequent, and some of them within periods which evidently show that thev could not have reached their parishes. From the accommodation afforded by the law as it stands, or at least by the administration of it as now enforced, a vagrant is enabled to migrate at the expense of the public, by putting himself in the way of apprehension, and he thus obtains a pleasurable jaunt to any part of the kingdom he The list of statutes handed in by the chairman enumerates sixteen only the real number being twenty-two. The statutes omitted from the list are 28 Geo. II., c. 19 ; 6 Geo. III., c. 48 ; 9 Geo. III., c. 41* 22 Geo. III., c. 83 • 35 Geo. III., c. 101 ; 42 Geo. III., c. 119. 230 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, may choose. If during his progress lie wishes to change com- pany or vary his route, no impediment prevents him, it being understood equally by the offender and the officer who has him in charge, that he is under no control. He has his summer and his winter haunts, to which he repairs at stated periods ; and he has been known to remark, ' Why should I work for Is. or Is. 6d. a day, while I can be thus amused with seeing and laughing at the labours of others?' It would be irrational to expect the active services of a man who, supposing him to have a wife and four children, would be in some counties conveyed free of expense, and in a state of perfect indolence, with an allowance of £1 18s. 6d. per week from the county stock. Under such a course of proceeding the country is plundered, the law is violated, and its object unattained ; for in a majority of cases it is fairly to be presumed that the vagrant seldom reaches the parishes to which he really belongs, and if he does he is rarely, if ever, detained there by the parish officers. " The short periods of confinement for which most vagrants are committed, operate rather as a bounty upon delinquency than an actual chastisement. And what the law intended as a punishment has in many instances been contemplated not merely with indif- ference, but vnith satisfaction. The further punishment authorised by the law upon a repetition of the offence is generally prevented by the non-attendance of either prosecutor or witnesses at the Quarter Sessions. The constables have observed that it would be folly to get a man committed for six months when he is so likely within that time to give them the means of earning another 10s., and very few, if any, instances are to be found (in London) of rogues and vagabonds having been prosecuted at the sessions, until the establishment of that useful institution, ' The Mendicity Society/ " In his evidence before this Committee, Mr. Thomas Davis says that he has happened to be present when many of these vagrants have been searched, and has known instances where they have had £20 or £30 about them at a time. He means the Irish particu- larly, and no others. With respect to the £20 or £30 which he has seen about them, it has been in silver or notes ; in different ways it is all locked up in their boxes and in their little concerns; some of them have a great deal of money. The Scotch vagrants are as bad as the Irish vagrants ; they are very shy about their money ; they will not tell him much about it. Those persons AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 231 who have money go home for good ; they do not return. They ride home free of expense with all their little matters. He handed in the following statement : — Number of vagrants passed from the year 1807 to 1808 amounted only to 540 1808 „ 1809 „ „/...... 592 1809 „ 1810 „ „ . 721 1810 „ 1811 „ „ . 922 1811 „ 1812 „ „ . 1,014 1812 „ 1813 „ „ . 1,532 1813 „ 1814 „ „ . 1,973 1814 „ 1815 „ „ . 2,346 1815 „ 1816 „ „ . . . . 2,894 1816 „ 1817 „ „ . 3,429 1817 „ 1818 „ „ . 5,401 1818 „ 1819 „ „ . 5,852 1819 „ 1820 „ „ . 6,689 Total passed in the above years . . 33,905 Mr. Thomas Davis was a contractor for the removal of vagrants to the borders of Middlesex, and had been so for fourteen years. He received at first £250 a year, which was afterwards advanced to £350 ; in addition, he received 6d. a day for the maintenance of each vagrant for a period not exceeding three days. He kept four receiving-houses, one at Egham, one at Colnbrook, one at Ridge, and one at Cheshunt, for which he paid six guineas a year each. His establishment consisted of seven horses, four men and a boy, three carts and two covered vans. G. B Mainwaring, Esq., acting magistrate of the county of Middlesex, said : — The amount paid as ten-shilling rewards by the County of Mid- dlesex in the year 1820 was £986, which gives a number of vagrants apprehended of 1,972 Take these 1,972, without considering those not apprehended, as exciting a daily contribution of at least 6d. per day, or £9 per annum, each on an average (exclusive of what they may have received from parish oihcers as casual relief) may be estimated at £17,748 Rewards for apprehension 986 Expenses of passing, subsistence, &c, paid 1,429 As each vagrant was confined one week in the House of Correction previously to being passed, 1,972, say, at 2s. 6d. per week . 246 Estimated present annual expense in Middlesex, exclusive of wages of parochial officers £20,409 Mr. Cartwright, a member of the committee, delivered in the following statement. A return of the number of vagrants passed 232 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, through the county of Northampton for the quarter ending at Christmas, 1820 : — Total number of passes 446 Ditto of individuals passed . . 686 Ditto of single men . . . .276 Cost to the county . . . i'352 Is. 8d. Of these passes 149 were to Ireland, containing 241 individuals, of whom 93 were single men. In the returns for the years 1772, 1773, 1774, the expenses incurred in passing vagrants through this county in those years are stated to be £377 10s. 2d., £414 5s. 6d., and £389 lls."l0d. respectively. In a little less than half a century the expense had therefore increased nearly fourfold. The chairman delivered in a return of all vagrants passed from Liverpool to Ireland from the year 1814 to the year 1820, both inclusive : — From Jan., 1814, to June, 1814 .... 1,044 „ June, 1814, to June, 1815 .... 4,294 „ June, 1815, to June, 1816 .... 5,257 „ June, 1816, to Mav, 1817 .... 6,654 „ May, 1817, to June, 1818 .... 6,484 „ June, 1818, to June, 1819 .... 6,637 „ June, 1819, to June, 1820 .... 6,146 „ June, 1820, to Jan., 1821 .... 2,897 Total . . 39,413 (Signed) R. Chambers, Pass -master, Liverpool. The chairman read the following extract from a letter from Mr. Barrow, secretary to the committee for the suppression of vagrancy at Kendal, dated April 22nd, 1821 : — " I think about the time we began the office, the vagrants in England had been reckoned at 60,000 (and the increase in the number relieved by the overseers between 1816 and 1817 was alarming — from 3,234 to 5,050), and that they were supposed on an average to collect in money, exclusive of clothes, £50 a year each, which, from the scenes of drunkenness in the streets and in the neighbourhood of the lodging-houses, does not appear to me to be a high estimate : these sums multiplied give £3,000,000 ! ! " As to the number, I think it under-rated, for no one can suppose one-twelfth of the vagrants in England would pass and re-pass this place in the course of a year. Of this 60,000 I sup- AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 233 pose one-third might be Irish and Scotch, who have no claim for parochial maintenance ; but even supposing the whole 60,000 to belong to England, and that by the general refusal of relief, except at vagrant offices, they could be driven to their settle- ments, and allowing 3s. 4d. a head weekly for parochial main- tenance, or one-sixth of their gains, the amount would be £500,000, leaving a balance of £2,500,000 ! ! even supposing they were kept in a state of idleness ; but if employed in almost any kind of labour, the value of that labour ought to be equal to their maintenance, which would leave a balance of £3,000,000. " The situation of children brought up in vagrancy and men- dicity struck me as being truly deplorable. Perhaps out of 60,000 about 15,000 or 16,000 may be reckoned as under fifteen years of age : from the wandering and dissolute lives of their parents they can have no means of instruction ; bred up in lying, deceit, and every kind of art and trick to excite or extort charity ; exposed to all the horrors of the common lodging-houses ; their parents without the means or inclination to put them out to learn any honest trade, and if they had, who would receive the children fresh from the habits of vagrancy into their employ ? And with little inclination to labour themselves, what chance is left for these unfortunate children (about 1,500 of whom may be thrown on the public annually) but to continue the vagabond life they have been brought up to, and increasing by marriage, or most likely with- out it, the number of vagabonds, or to seek their fortunes in large towns, or in the metropolis (where so many temptations abound), and swell the list of juvenile offenders so loudly complained of? . . . " The unfortunate blind, objects of the greatest compassion, and who ought to have every attention paid to them at their own settlements, and who, I believe, by the care and attention of their neighbours and parish officers, would never be suffered to want anything that could add to their real comfort, are too often dragged about in all weathers (indeed, I believe the worse the weather the better the success), for the sake of gratifying the gin- drinking propensities of their wives and trulls. What used to be got by beggars of this description would scarcely be credited : I have frequently seen them get from 6d. to 8d. or Is. in the street, in the course of five minutes ; and have every reason to believe that no blind beggar ever got less in this town than a guinea a day, and on market days considerably more ; and I was informed 234 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, by a respectable lady, that a few days before we began the office she saw a woman who attendtd a blind beggar take three guineas worth of copper, at one time, to a shop in the town to get changed for more portable cash. I made inquiries through the town and Kirkland, and found that there was not a person almost who ever refused relief to the blind, and that the poorer classes frequently borrowed halfpence to give to them, and that people receiving parochial reliei always gave their mite. I have reason to believe that the women who go about with the blind beggars are seldom their wives, and often treat them improperly ; and know, that in the early part of 1818, a woman who attended one of them was seen beastly drunk three different times in one day. " The blind beggars, those wanting a leg or arm, who have generally pensions of Is. a day, the maimed, and those (and there is no inconsiderable number of them) who by tight bandaging the left arm, wrist and hand, twisting the wrist and fingers, and making artificial sores from the elbow to the fingers, make them- selves appear objects of compassion, extorted great sums of money, especially from the poor, who call them great objects, which was generally spent in dissipation. " In mentioning those impostors, who by twisting the fingers and wrist of the left hand and bending the arm at the elbow joint, so as to appear to be crippled, I must call your particular atten- tion to the subject ; you cannot fail to have of served beggars of this description, and I can almost venture to assert that you never saw one of them exposing the right hand thus. I have for very many years noticed this species of imposition, and can imitate it tolerably well ; and by exposing this trick and explaining it to the lower orders, found it very useful in getting their support to the plan adopted here. Except an officer, and this is the only exception, I never saw a person wounded to produce this particular appearance in the right arm ; and out of the hundreds I have inquired of, I cannot find one who ever saw a beggar expose a right hand and arm in this way." The report of the Committee was immediately followed by a temporary Act (3 Geo. IV., c. 40, 24th June, 182'2). It recites 4 'that it is expedient to amend the laws in force relating to Vagrants, and that it would tend to simplify them if the several provisions relating to such offenders were consolidated into one Act." It then repeals all former provisions relating to Eogues, but excepts the laws for the removal of persons born in Scotland, Ireland, or the AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 235 Isles of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey, who have not committed acts of vagrancy. The following classes of persons who are not included in the present Vagrant Act are deemed idle and disorderly persons under this Act. All persons who threaten to run away and leave their wives or children chargeable, all common prostitutes or night- walkers wandering and not giving a satisfactory account of them- selves. The following classes are treated as rogues and vagabonds. All persons going about as gatherers of alms, under pretence of 1/ loss by fire or other casualty, or as collectors under any false pretence, all bear- wards, all common stage players, and all persons who shall for hire, gain, or reward, act, represent, or perform any interlude or entertainment of the stage, such persons not being authorised by law ; all persons pretending to be gypsies, all persons playing or betting at any unlawful game, or wandering abroad . and lodging in alehouses. Idle and disorderly persons may be committed to the House of Correction for any time not exceeding one calendar month. Any person may apprehend offenders, and the penalty on any officers neglecting or refusing to execute their duty, or on any person obstructing them in the execution of their duty is a sum not exceeding £5 nor less than 20s., or in default hard labour for any time not exceeding three calendar months. Any person charged by a justice to use his best endeavours to apprehend an offender and refusing or neglecting to do so, is liable to a penalty of 20s. The justice may order an overseer of the parish to pay a reward of 5s. to any officer or other person apprehending an offender. Vagrants are to be searched, and their trunks and bundles inspected. Rogues and vagabonds and incorrigible rogues may be committed to the House of Correction until the next General or Quarter Sessions, or for any time not exceeding three months with hard labour ; if committed to the sessions the justices there may order a rogue and vagabond to be detained for any time not exceeding six months, and an incorrigible rogue for any time not exceeding one year or less than six calendar months, and (except in the case of females) " to be corrected by whipping at such times and places within their jurisdictions as according to the nature of such person's offence they in their discretion shall think fit." Lodging-houses may be searched, and suspected persons brought before a justice, justices are not to grant certificates enabling persons to ask relief 236 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, on route except to soldiers and sailors, under 43 Geo. III., c. 61. Persons asking alms under certificates, except soldiers and sailors, are to be deemed vagrants. The Act is not to repeal the 10 Geo. II., c. 28, or any Act relating to players. This Act was abrogated by the present Yagrant Act, the 5 Geo. IV., c. 83 (June 21st, 1824), which " recites that the 3 Geo. IV., c. 40, will expire on the 1st September, 1824/' and that it is ex- pedient to make further provision for the suppression of vagrancy and the punishment of idle and disorderly persons, rogues, vaga- bonds, and incorrigible rogues in England. It then repeals all previous Acts and enacts the following classification : — Idle and Disorderly Persons. — Those able to maintain themselves and wilfully refusing or neglecting to do so, by which they become chargeable to any parish ; those who return to a parish and become chargeable to it after being legally removed ; pedlars and petty chapmen trading without license ; common prostitutes behav- ing publicly in a riotous or indecent manner ; those who beg or encourage any child to do so. Punishment, imprisonment with hard labour for any time not exceeding a month. Rogues and Vagabonds. — Those who repeat any of the above offences ; those who pretend or profess to tell fortunes, or use any subtle craft, means, or device, by palmistry or otherwise, to de- ceive and impose on any one ; those who publicly expose any obscene print, picture, or other indecent exhibition ; those who publicly expose their persons obscenely ; those who endeavour by the exposure of wounds or deformities to gather alms ; those who endeavour to collect charitable contributions under any false or fraudulent pretence ; those who run away and leave their wives or children chargeable to any parish ; those who publicly play or bet at any game or pretended game of chance ; those who have in their possession implements for house-breaking or offensive wea- pons for the purpose of committing a felony ; those who are found in any dwelling-house, warehouse, coach-house, stable, outhouse, inclosed yard, garden, or area, for an unlawful purpose ; suspected persons or reputed thieves frequenting any public place with intent to commit felony ; idle and disorderly persons who resist appre- hension. Punishment, imprisonment with hard labour for any time not exceeding three months. Incorrigible Rogues. — Those who break out of prison before the expiration of their term ; those who have already been convicted PALMISTRY, OR CHIROMANCY AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 237 as rogues and vagabonds ; and rogues and vagabonds who resist apprehension. Punishment, imprisonment with hard labour for any time not exceeding twelve months, with (in the case of males only) whipping at the discretion of the Justices in Quarter Sessions. Any person may apprehend offenders, and constables who neglect their duty are liable to a fine not exceeding £5, or imprison- ment for three months. Vagrants and their trunks, bundles, &c, may be searched, and money and effects found on them applied towards the expense of apprehending and maintaining them. Lodging-houses suspected to conceal vagrants may be searched, and suspected persons brought before a justice. Yisiting justices of gaols may grant certificates to persons discharged to receive alms in their route to their place of settlement, any such persons loitering upon their route or deviating from it are to be deemed rogues and vagabonds and punished accordingly. Magistrates are empowered to grant certificates under the 43 Geo. III., c. 61, to soldiers, sailors, marines, and their wives, to ask alms in their route to any place. Nothing in the Act is to alter any law in force for the removal of poor persons born in Scotland, Ireland, or the Isles of Man, Jersey, or Guernsey, and the Act is not to apply to Scotland or Ireland. The former prohibition against bearwards is omitted in this Act, probably because it had proved futile for the purpose intended, as a writer in " Notes and Queries," speaking of this period, says : — " I was never a witness of a bear-bait, but I well remember a poor brute who was kept alive for this sole purpose, at F , in Lancashire. He was confined, as a general rule, in a small back-yard, where, sightless, dirty, stinking, and perhaps half- starved, his sole and constant exercise appeared to be moving his head and forequarters from side to side. When taken to other villages to be baited, his advent there was announced by a wretched fiddler, who walked before him and the bear-ward. Upon one occasion the story goes that he and a second champion of the like kind arrived at W. on the wakes day, before the evening church- service was completed. This, however, was rapidly brought to a close by the beadle calling to the preacher from the church door : ' Mestur, th' bear's come ; and what's more, there's two of 'em.' This freedom of speech in a holy place is less to be wondered at when it is known that the good rector and a party from the rectory usually witnessed the bear-bait from the churchyard adjoining the village green." 238 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, The 1 and 2 Vict., c. 38 (July 27, 1838), extends the Vagrant Act to those who expose obscene prints in shop windows. The 31 and 32 Vict., c. 52 (1867-8), provides that those who game in public with any coin, card, token, or other means of wagering or gaming, are to be deemed rogues and vagabonds. This was repealed by 36 and 37 Vict., c. 38 (1873), so far as regards punishment, which allows magistrates at their discretion to impose a fine not exceeding 40s. for a first offence, and of £5 for a second in lieu of imprisonment. A further extension was made by the 34 and 35 Vict., c. 112 (1871), which, with regard to every suspected person or reputed thief frequenting any highway or place adjacent, enlarged the construction of these words so as to include any place adjacent to a street or highway '; and with regard to proof of his intent to commit a felon}^, it enacted that it should not be necessary to show that the person suspected was guilty of any particular act tending to show his purpose or intent, and he might be convicted if from the circumstances of the case and from his known character as proved to the court that his intent was to commit felony. Other additions to the Act have also been made for the purpose of punishing idle or fraudulent persons in receipt of poor law relief. By 5 and 6 Vict., c. 57, s. 5 (1842), any person relieved in a workhouse neglecting or refusing to perform a task of work suited to his age, strength, and capacity, or wilfully destroying or in- juring his own clothes or damaging the property of the guardians, is to be deemed an idle and disorderly person. By 7 and 8 Vict., c. 101 (1844), women able to maintain their bastard children, and neglecting to do so, are to be deemed idle and disorderly persons ; and persons received into a houseless poor asylum giving a false name, or making a false statement, or giving different names on different occasions, are to be deemed rogues and vagabonds. By 11 and 12 Vict., c. 110 (1848), persons applying for poor ♦law relief and not making a correct disclosure of their means are to be deemed idle and disorderly persons. By 12 and 13 Vict., c. 103 (1849), persons chargeable to the common fund of a union are to be regarded as persons chargeable to a parish, in regard to proceedings under the Vagrant Act. By 28 and 29 Vict., c. 79, s. 7 (1865), paupers removed under an order of removal who return and become chargeable to the union AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 239 within twelve months, are to be deemed idle and disorderly persons. By the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1866 (29 and 30 Vict., c. 113, s. 15), persons relieved out of the workhouse who refuse or neglect to perform a prescribed and duly authorised task of work suited to their capacity, or wilfully destroy or damage tools, materials, or other property belonging to the guardians, are to be deemed idle and disorderly persons. By 39 and 40 Vict., c. 61, s. 44 (1876), the word " pauper," in the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 is to include any person who obtains relief by wilfully giving a false name or mak- ing a false statement, and such person may be proceeded against as an idle and disorderly -person.* During the reign of George IV., Irish and Scottish vagrants continued to swarm in the kingdom, and a Select Committee of the House of Commons was, in the year 1828, appointed to consider the matter. The report of this Committee states that — "The number of Irish and Scotch .paupers conveyed by the county of Buckingham was, in the last year, 4,904, and in the five years, 14,698. By the county of Lincoln, in the last year, 2,336, and in the five years 4,562. The total cost of the five years has been to Buckingham £1,532 lis., while it has only amounted in the county of Lincoln to £418 6s. lid. " In the counties situated on the western coast of England the burthen falls still heavier, partly owing to their being the general thoroughfare as regards the Irish, and being also charged with the entire expense of the transit of those persons by sea to the sister island. "The numbers passed through the county of Lancaster amounted, in the last five years, to 22,045, of which 20,414 were Irish, and 1,631 Scotch. . . . " It appears to your Committee that the expense of these removals is rendered much larger than necessary by the number of individuals to whose care the paupers are consigned, and of the counties who have to sustain this burthen, which, on reference to the returns transmitted by the different counties, will be found to extend, in the course of the last five years, to the amount of £56,120 4s. 2d. * Proceedings under this Act are also authorised by 34 and 35 Vict, c. 108, and 45 and 46 Vict., c. 36. 240 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, " It might in fact be shown, that upon a calculation of the rates allowed for conveyance alone, by the different counties through which he would have to be passed, the removal of a single adult pauper from the metropolis to Liverpool amounts to £4 lis. 3d., a sum which, from the present facilities of communi- cation is manifestly far beyond what the circumstances of the pauper can require. The present charge for an inside place in the mail being only £4 4s." According to a return ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on the 14th of March, 1833, the number of Irish poor shipped under passes from the Port of Liverpool to Ireland, and the charge for passing them in each year, from 1824 to 1831 inclusive, was as follows : — No. £ s. d. 1824 . . 2,481 . . 802 11 10 1825 . . 3,028 . . 1,078 14 9 1826 . . 6,428 . . 2,695 12 6 1827 . . 6,055 . . 2,196 11 0 1828 . . 4,349 . . 1,644 19 3 1829 . . 5,086 . . 2,224 12 3 1830 . . 5,679 . . 1,809 7 3 1831 . . 5,863 . . 1,800 11 8 38,969 14,253 0 6 According to another return the number of Irish poor passed by sea from Bristol, from the 25th March, 1823, to the 25th March, 1832, was as under : Names of Places and Date. Male and Fe- male of 10 years of age and up- wards. Male and Fe- male under 10 years of age. Male and Fe- male under 2 years of age. Total. Charge for pass- ing them in each year. Commencing 25th March. ( 1823 There has been no distinct ac- ' count kept of the number and charges of those brought from ' ^ places not within the City of ) ' „ Bristol ; but it is believed that ) nearly the whole of the numbers J here enumerated were principally g brought from London. ^ 806 610 650 834 1,161 693 891 1,524 2,628 Ill 170 189 221 338 247 278 388 643 82 83 95 106 144 93 131 193 277 999 863 934 1,161 1.643 1,033 1,300 2,105 3,548 £ s. d. 702 13 3 471 15 8 506 14 2 563 17 9 621 8 2 326 12 0 412 0 0 687 4 0 1,179 16 0 9,797 2,585 1,204 13,586 £5,472 1 0 AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 241 In the year 1834 a sweeping change was made in the Poor Laws by the Poor Law Amendment Act (4 and 5 Wm. IV., c. 76). This change had long been necessary owing to the abuses current under the existing laws for the relief of the poor, which tended to foster idleness and improvidence on the part of the poor, and jobbery and peculation on the part of those placed in authority over them. Vagrancy was generally in a flourishing condition, the Poor Law Inquiry Commissioners being of opinion that it had " actually been converted into a trade, and that not an unprofitable one. ,, The commitments to gaol having been more than doubled in six years, being in 1825 7,092, and in 1832 15,624. The principal increase was in London, where the committals rose from 2,270 in 1829, to 6,650 in 1832. On the other hand, at Norwich the numbers had diminished, owing to the magistrates giving the vagrants asking for relief a small sum instead of committing them. The abuses connected with the removal of vagrants still flourished in full force, as the following reports of the year 1834 amply testify : — From the Overseer for Speenhamland, Newbury. "There are frequent disputes between the carrier and the vagrants. The poor miserable horse which conveys them can scarcely get up the hills ; when the driver requires them to walk to ease him, they refuse to do so. Hence disputes ; they would ill-use and beat the driver did he not carry fire-arms." From the Pass Master for the City of London. " The paupers frequently come to me with boxes containing clothes, &c, but if they are large I refuse to carry them, and make them sell the boxes and put the things in a bag. While this interchange has been making, I have repeatedly seen lace caps and pellerines, and, in fact, whole wardrobes, better than that of my wife, in possession of women passed in this way. This, how- ever, applies to the bona-fide cases : the old hands never have any luggage with them ; they take care to keep it out of sight. From the Pass Master for the Parish of St. Giles's. " The greater part of the persons who are passed are, I believe, very poor ; but there are many who not only have good suits of clothes on, but large bundles, band-boxes, and even trunks and chests, containing property. They always keep these out of sight K 242 VAGKANTS AND VAGBANCY. until they have been sworn before the magistrates, because if they did not it would be at once seen that they had the means of getting on very well without passes. " These people, especially the Scotch, stand up for their rights very much ; they often refuse to get out of the carts to walk up hill, and insist upon carrying all sorts of luggage. A few weeks ago my partner and I, who were on our way to Barnet, had great difficulty in rescuing an old man who passes paupers from one of the neighbouring parishes from the hands of a party of them, who were ' pegging into him ' because he required them to walk up High gate hill owing to his cart being so heavily laden with women, children, and luggage. The lower class of the Scotch are, I think, the most dirty but the best educated. Their chief sub- sistence is salt fish, which they get at Id. per pound, butter-milk at Id. a quart, and potatoes." From the Pass Master for the Parish of St. Luke's, Middlesex. "Some of the vagrants behave very ill. They will come with luggage amounting perhaps to half a hundredweight, and they complain sadly, and often riotously, if I make any difficulty as to removing the whole. I have no power to search their luggage, but if I had, I have no doubt that I should find good clothes, and other useful property there ; indeed, not long since a man whom I was passing as a pauper laughed at me for not dressing better than I did, and told me that he had in a bag which he carried with him a much better suit of clothes than any I had. Women, too, will often make great difficulties, because they think I do not take sufficient care of their bonnet-boxes, large pasteboard boxes, in which they have fine bonnets with plenty of ribbands, and all of which they expect to be conveyed in the cart with them, and with the utmost care. 1 ' CHAPTER XI. 1837—1848. Accession of Victoria — Circulars of the Poor Law Commissioners — Report of 1839 relative to vagrancy by the Constabulary Commissioners — Number of vagrants, begging-letter writers and bearers of begging letters — Habits of vagrants — The three sorts of cant — Style of living amongst tramps — Vagrancy and juvenile delinquency — Naked beggars — Eing droppers — Pretended rag sellers — Quack doctors — Umbrella menders — Turnpike sailors — Act to provide asylums for the homeless poor — Report of the committee of 1846 on the non-establishment of these asylums — Increase of vagrancy owing to the inducements held out to agricultural labourers to migrate to large and populous towns — Irish vagrants — Increase of vagrancy brought about by night refuges — Profitable character of these asylums — Revelations of "A. B." — General conduct of vagrants — Their lawless character — The Irish famine and consequent influx of poor Irish into England. The accession of Queen Victoria marks the commencement of an era of social legislation and of systematic efforts to improve the condition of the poorer classes hitherto unparalleled. Amended regulations were in 1837 framed for regulating emigration under the Poor Law Amendment Act, and providing for the migration of agricultural labourers to the manufacturing districts, so as to diminish the distress in rural districts. In the same year the Poor Law Commissioners issued a circular directing relief to be given to the vagrant poor without attention to settlement ; they likewise advised that every vagrant should as far as possible be required to perform some work in return for the relief he obtained. In 1838 they issued another circular to Boards of Guardians in the metropolis, recommending that the wandering poor should be relieved in workhouses. In 1839 they issued a warning fco the officers, that in case of any neglect on their part to receive desti- tute persons on application at the workhouses, the officers of the workhouse would be dismissed. R 2 244 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, The neglect and dereliction of duty on the part of local con- stables had made it long evident that for the purpose of effec- tively checking crime, a paid and efficient police force was neces- sary throughout the country. Accordingly Commissioners were appointed to inquire as to the best means of establishing an efficient Constabulary Force in the Counties of England and Wales. The report made by these Commissioners in the year 1839 is most instructive on the subject of Yagrancy and Mendicity in the country. It opens with a Table showing the Characters of Persons of the Three following Classes. 1. Persons who have no visible means of subsistence, and who are believed to live wholly by violation of the law. 2. Persons following some ostensible and legal occupation, but who are known to have committed an offence, and are believed to augment their gains by habitual or occasional violation of the law. 3. Persons not known to have committed any offences, but known as associates of the above classes, and otherwise deemed suspicious characters. Metropolitan Police District. City of Bristol. City of Bath. Town of Kingston-on- Hull. Town of Newcastle- on-Tyne. 1st Class. _j 03 'o to 3rd Class. 1st Class. 2nd Class. 3rd Class. 1st , Class. CO ,CJ CO ctS 3rd Class. 1 1st Class. 2nd Class. GO r£ 03 a cj 1st i Class. I 2nd 1 Class. j 3rd 1 Class. Vagrants .... 1089 186 20 263 2 45 42 27 7 261 192 92 Begging-letter Writ- 12 17 21 8 3 1 4 2 Bearers of Begging Letters .... 22 40 24 11 9 22 18 2 1 Table showing the Number of Houses for the Purpose of Delin- quency or Vice kept in the Year 1837 in the following Places: — a ipoliti )lice trict. ugh o f Bat • 3 | Boro Live 1 °PQ City o IP « o Mendicants' Lodging Houses . . . 221 176 69 14 11 78 Average daily number of Lodgers at 11 6 7 9 3 3 The report next states that " The most prominent body of delinquents in the rural districts, are vagrants, and these vagrants AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 245 appear to consist of two classes ; first, the habitual depredators, house-breakers, horse-stealers, and common thieves ; secondly, of vagrants, properly so called, who seek alms as mendicants. In the borough of Chesterfield "There are many vagrants. The number cannot be stated. Their habits are to prowl about the borough and immediate adjacent villages, under pretext of begging or seeking work, but whose real objects are to look at the premises where they call to see what booty can be gained by plunder at night." The evidence regarding the habits of vagrants in other towns, such as Lincoln, Ludlow, Chesterfield, Devizes, and Maidstone, is of a similar character. Extracts are then given from the confessions of four depredators of the migratory class, and one mendicant. A thief aged 21 in Salford Gaol says : — " For the last four years, up to 1839, I have ' travelled ' for a maintenance. I carried a covered hawker's basket, with an oil- case on the top, with cutlery, trinkets, braces, Birmingham fancy goods, buttons, pearl, bone, and wood ; it was the excuse for travel- ling. There are cant words for everything you use or do. I have seen some old cant in print, but it is nothing to the cant now used. There are three sorts of cant, the gypsies, the beggars (such as pre- tended sailors and others), and the thieves'. The cants are distinct in many words, but alike in others. A stranger to the cant words could not understand the gypsies or others, save a few words here and there. The gypsies have a cant word for every word they speak. The vagrant cant is a lower style than the thieves' ; they use it to tell one another what they get at different houses; they are not always thieves, they will not push themselves forward to steal, and one- half of them if they saw another stealing would tell of him, and yet, if they could do it themselves, they would. The Manchester and Liverpool thieves are reckoned the most expert ; they are thought to be of Irish parents, and to have most cunning. In fact, Fll be bound to say, that three parts of those who are travelling now throughout the kingdom have Irish blood in them, either from father, mother, or grandmother. " I stayed till about February, when I started by Stockport, Macclesfield, and begged my way up to London ; about seven days on the road. I went to Covent Garden market ; I lived for six weeks by stealing fruit and selling it." 246 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, Next come the confessions of a young thief : — " At every lodging house on the road H met plenty of trampers, and he did not see one face he had not seen at St. Giles's. They also recognised him and compared notes. Some were hawkers, some were going half naked, some were ballad singers, some were going about with false letters, others as broken-down tradesmen, some as old soldiers, and some as shipwrecked sailors ; and every night they told each other of good houses. They all lived well, never eat any broken victuals, but had meat breakfasts, good dinners, hot suppers, and frequently ended by going to bed very drunk. Not one spent less than 3s. a day, many a great deal more. They sometimes make 5s., and average 3s. 6d. per day ; some often get a sovereign where humane people reside.' ' (All this is confirmed by P .) A boy of fourteen, a prisoner in Knutsford Gaol, then states : — " Sometimes I have been sent begging to different houses ; the people have been watched upstairs to make the beds ; I have then gently opened the door, pulled the key out of the lock, and pressed it against a piece of tempered clay which I had in my hand. We could then cut a key and go in when we liked. ,, The report then goes on to say : — "The next classes of depredators who perambulate the country are the vagrants, properly so called. Upwards of eighteen thou- sand commitments per annum of persons for the offence of va- grancy mark the extent of the body from which they are taken." It will be seen that vagrancy, or the habit of wandering abroad under colour either of distress or of some ostensible though illegal occupation, having claims on the sympathies of the uninformed, constitutes one great source of delinquency, and especially of juvenile delinquency. The returns show that the vagrant classes pervade every part of the country, rendering property insecure, propagating pernicious habits, and afflicting the minds of the sensitive with false pictures of suffering, and levying upon them an offensive impost for the relief of that destitution, for which a heavy tax is legally levied in the shape of poor's rates. The following confession, taken by Mr. Miles from B , an experienced travelling vagrant, furnishes a more particular account of their habits than is contained, or could be expected, in a return to official queries. " Beggars tramp about from town to town : there is a low lodging AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 247 house for travellers in every village : they tell the people that they are travelling to find work, but pray to Gfod they may never get it. They all go about ' to walk ' in the mornings, and return at night to their lodging houses, where they live well, and spend the day's produce in drinking. They are merry fellows, money or no money, and laugh at the people for ' flats/ They tell each other what houses are 1 good/ and arrange their districts so as not to interfere with each other. Every tramper is accompanied by his fancy girl or his wife. A black fellow, who is well-known about Deptford, and goes about the streets singing and dancing, takes his country journeys with two women, and makes plenty of money to pay all their expenses. " The women who travel about with the trampers seldom go out begging ; they sometimes disguise themselves as Gypsies, and go fortune- telling. It is very profitable ; they watch for the master and mistress to leave the house, and then try to get hold of the servants. They beg money, food, clothes, or anything ; and if a silver spoon is in their way they will not ' tumble over it ; ' they will steal it. " The price of their bed is threepence ; always two in a bed ; sometimes ten or fifteen in a room. ' Yokels ' (countrymen) were seldom or never seen in the lodging houses ; but he has seen many during the last two months. Does not know why. They manage very badly, cannot get enough to find themselves in food. The regular trampers give them scraps to eat if they have been unlucky in the day. . . . They all have their appropriate cant names. B describes these classes as follows : — " 1st. Men who go about the country almost naked begging clothes or food. They get about 3s. a day. They have good clothes at their lodging house, and travel in them from town to town, if there are not many houses in the way. Before they enter the town, they take them off, as well as their shoes and stockings, put on their Guernsey jackets, send the bundle and the woman forward to the lodging house, and commence begging at the first house they come to. Knows a man who was recently clad from head to foot in new clothes at a shop in Billericay, by the son of the rector in a neighbouring village, all of which clothes, including hat, shoes, and stockings, he sold about half an hour afterwards, by auction, in the tap-room of a low public-house, to his companions, and they all got drunk together with the pro- ceeds. These fellows always sell a gift of clothes. 248 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, " 2nd. Men who are ring- droppers. Travelling tinkers make sham gold rings out of old brass buttons. H D is a noted fellow at this work ; his wife and mother go with him and drop the rings.* They live in St. Giles's, and travel for a month or two. They sometimes make 20s. or 25s. a day. " 3rd. Fellows who go round to different houses, stating their master's stock of rags has been burnt, or that a sudden supply is wanted, and that they are sent forward to collect them. The rags are called for, and one fellow marches off with the bundle, leaving one or more talking with the housewife, who is gravely cavilling about the price, and as gravely informed that the master is coming round, and they leave some private mark on the door- post which they say is the sign to indicate to him the quantity and quality taken and the amount to pay ; so they walk off and ' never tip her anything.' The rags are carried to the keeper of a rag-shop, who gives quires of paper in exchange, which they carry round to small villages, and sell to small shopkeepers, or at farmhouses. All rag-shops ' stand fence for anything/t and buy any stolen property. . . . " 4th. A set of fellows who go about in decent apparel, leaving small printed handbills at cottages and farmhouses, wherein are set forth the wonderful cures of all sorts of ailments effected by medicine which they sell. The following day these bills are called for, and the credulous people buy small phials of this nostrum, at various prices from 10s. to 6d., according to the tact of the beggar, and the folly of the party. The mixture is only a decoction of any herb or rubbish that may be at hand. He (B ) was told by one of this class that he had just sold a bottle of ' stuff ' to a poor woman who lived in a cottage on Warley Common, Essex, and who had been long ailing. She gave 10s. for it, and it was only salt and water, some tea, and coloured green with nettle-tops. These fellows obtain more money than any other class of impostors, sometimes as much as £2 a week, and they seldom go to London. " 5th. Men who travel about the country in shabby-genteel attire, stating that they have been well off' formerly, but are reduced by recent misfortune. Some are burnt- out farmers or shopkeepers ; some first-class workmen out of work, owing to the bankruptcy of their employers, some captains who have just lost * For an explanation of this practice, see pp. 595 ; 630. f Receive stolen goods of any kind. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 249 their ships upon the coast. This story is always used after a heavy gale of wind. Some carry begging letters which are written for them, price Is. This is very profitable, if well managed. The * Lady Bountifuls ' are great supporters of these fellows. " 6th. Fortune-tellers. Many women, when tramping with the men dress themselves like Gypsies, and contrive to get a tolerable daily booty, at least 3s. or 4s. a day. " 7th. Trampers who have nothing to sell, but manage to live merely by begging. " 8th. Thieves — ' prigs ' — generally go in couples ; walk into a country shop, where there is an old woman and a candle ; buy something, drop a sixpence ; get the old lady to bring the candle round to look for it, while the other 1 fellow is filling his pockets with whatever he can lay his hands on. "9th. Match sellers. u 10th. Ballad singers. " 1 1th. Fellows who boil up fat and a little soap over night, run it out in a cloth, and next morning cut it up like cakes of Windsor soap. It's all bad, but they drive a good trade. " 12th. Fellows who go from house to house stating that they live in some neighbouring town, and ask for ' umbrellas to mend/ An active fellow in this line will make a clean sweep of all the umbrellas in a village before dinner. These umbrellas are produced in the London market on wet days and dusky evenings." The Commissioners then go on to say — " Instances have been stated to us where travelling mechanics have been seduced from their occupations into the career of mendi- cancy from the temptation which it offers. Labourers have gone to the vagrants' lodging houses to purchase, for their own use, the meat and refuse food which they could obtain there at a cheap rate. The contrast of the advantages enjoyed by the dishonest, under compara- tive impunity, against the industrious, is depicted by a witness who relates an instance which came to his knowledge, where an agricul- tural labourer sitting by the roadside eating dry bread with a little cheese, was observed by a vagrant, who asked him if he had no meat to eat with his bread ; being answered in the negative, the beggar pitied him, and offered to him some of the meat which he had obtained by begging at the doors of the surrounding houses of the gentry, from which doors the labourer said that he or his children, who were known to be industrious, would have been spurned if they attempted to beg. " At Llanfyllin there are three lodging houses for tramps, 250 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, the most notorious is kept by a woman known by the name of ' Old Peggy/ One man told Mr. D a druggist in the town, that for twopence ' Old Peggy ' would give him scraps enough to keep his dog for a week or more. The druggist stated that ' Old Peggy ' has often come to him saying, ' God bles>s you, doctor, sell me a hap'orth o' tar/ "When first applied to, he asked, 'What do you want with tar?' The reply was, ' Why, to make a land sailor. I want a hap'orth just to daub a chap's canvas trousers with, and that's how I makes a land sailor, doctor. 5 " In Fifeshire a preventive police has been established, with almost the sole object of looking after vagrants. It appears to have worked well, and to have been productive of great advantages. 11 Having investigated the general causes of depredation of va- grancy and mendicancy, as developed by examinations of the previous lives of criminals or vagrants in the gaols, we fipd that in scarcely any cases is it ascribable to the pressure of un- avoidable want or destitution, and that in the great mass of cases it arises from the temptation of obtaining property with a less degree of labour than by regular industry." In the year 1842, with a view to impose some check on the vagrants who obtained food and shelter at the workhouse with- out compensation of any kind, and who frequently extorted clothes from the parochial authorities by destroying those thev wore, the Guardians of any Parish or Union are, by the 5 & 6 Yict., c. 57, "empowered, subject always to the Poor Law Commissioners, to prescribe a Task of Work to be done by any Person relieved in any Workhouse, in return for the Food and Lodging afforded ; but not to detain any Person against his Will for the Performance of such Task of Work for any Time exceed- ing Four Hours from the Hour of Breakfast in the Morning succeeding his Admission ; and if he refuses or neglects to per- form a Task of Work suited to his Age, Strength, and Capacity, or wilfully destroys or injures his own Clothes, or damages any of the property of the Guardians, he is to be deemed an idle and disorderly person within the meaning of the Act 5 Geo. IV., c. 83, s. 3." This was followed in the year 1844 by the 7 & 8 Yict., c. 101,. which enacts that every woman neglecting to maintain her bastard child shall be punishable as an idle and disorderly person ; and that every woman convicted a second time of such an offence, AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 251 or deserting her bastard child, shall be punishable as a rogue and vagabond under 5 Geo. IY., c. 83. It also provides that asylums may be formed for the temporary relief of poor persons found destitute and without lodging in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, and Birmingham ; and that if they desire it, poor persons admitted to any such asylum shall be relieved with food aDd lodging for the night ; and no such person shall be detained longer than the ordinary hour of breakfast and four hours after- wards, unless he has become punishable for misbehaviour, when he may be confined for twenty- four hours. If any person received into such an asylum gives a false name, or makes a false state- ment, or gives different names on different occasions, he is to be deemed a rogue and vagabond. In 1846 a Select Committee was appointed to inquire into the manner in which the Poor Law Commissioners had exercised the powers for the establishment of District Asylums for the House- less Poor of the Metropolis confided to them by this statute ; and also to inquire into the effects of any Asylums supported by voluntary subscriptions which might have been formed for the same purpose. Mr. Richard Hall, assistant Poor Law Commissioner, stated before this committee that he thought " the tendency of the cir- cular which it had been found necessary to issue to the masters of workhouses in 1837, 1838, and 1839, to relieve destitute appli- cants, had been to increase vagrancy and mendicancy." He was also of opinion " that a great increase of tramps and vagrants took place from transient circumstances, such as the beginning of the hay season in Middlesex, Essex, and Hertfordshire, or of the hop season in Kent and Sussex, or some local fair or horse-race." Mr. Thomas Thome, Secretary to the "Workhouse in Marylebone, attributed the increase of vagrancy to the acts and orders of the Poor Law Commissioners, by inducing hundreds and thousands of persons to migrate from their places of settlement to large and populous towns. The migration was carried out by the direction and encourage- ment of the Poor Law Commissioners, and he thought it was carried out under the influence of threats and delusive promises that were made to the migrants, which failed to be realised. For example, the first communication that was made with reference to migration was to be found in the report of 1835, where a circular letter was addressed to the manufacturers in 252 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, Lancashire and other districts, where the Poor Law Commissioners were informed there was the greatest demand for labour, with a view to labour being supplied from agricultural districts ; and the Commissioners proceeded to state that the first trial of the measure was made in the parish of Bledlow, in Buckingham, where it had been reported to them that numerous families were existing in extreme distress, and where land would be thrown out of cultiva- tion in consequence of the increasing burthen to the rates. It was admitted by Mr. Muggeridge, the agent for migration, that many of these parties returned from the manufacturing districts again, and had become wanderers in the country. Mr. Muggeridge stated, "Extravagant and unfounded pro- mises, and where these failed, threats had been, he was informed, in some cases held out to induce persons to migrate ; and instances had, as must have been expected, already occurred, in which families brought down under such circumstances had been returned to their parishes at an expense far greater than the amount saved by their temporary absence from their settlements." That was confirmed also by the statement of Mr. Baker, another migration agent in Yorkshire, who said, "The objections which have been urged against the system are three : 1st. By the poor, from mis- statements which have been made by idle returners, or persons incapacitated from working by bodily infirmities, and who have been therefore obliged to return, having been sent by their parishes on the fallacious reasoning of ( out of sight out of mind/ " Mr. Thome attributed the increase of vagrancy partly to the unsettling of the residence of these parties at the time. Upwards of ten thousand persons had been removed in the short space of two years. But he principally attributed the increase of vagrancy to the issue of the circular of the Poor Law Commissioners in 1839, which took away all discretion from officers as to the relief of persons, whether deserving, or persons who were known to be professed vagrants. Mr. (afterwards Sir Richard) Mayne, Commissioner of Police, stated that the number of destitute poor persons found in the streets by the Metropolitan Police, from the 1st January to the 31st December, 1845, was 1,111 — -574 males and 537 females. Of these 34 males and 20 females were taken to hospitals, and 540 males and 517 females to Workhouses. Mr. Thomas Brushfield, chairman of the Whitechapel Union, AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 253 stated that the number of casual poor who applied for relief in that union had increased from 3,982 in 1842 to 6,073 in 1845 ; and evidence was given of a great increase in other unions. William Jones, a constable in plain clothes specially detailed to apprehend beggars, stated that the greater part of them were Irish, and this was corroborated by the secretary of the Mendicity Society. Strong evidence was given that the night asylums attracted vagrants to the metropolis and were otherwise demoralising. Lieutenant T. L. Knevitt, secretary and assistant manager to the Mendicity Society, said, " During the time the night refuges were open they had considerably more applicants ; they multi- plied immediately ; and the moment the refuges were closed they decreased/' The way in which he accounted for it was that a great number of persons came to London in November, when the refuges were generally opened, hoping to get lodgings in those refuges at night, and to go about begging during the day. It was not an unfrequent answer, when they were asked, " How is it you have come to London again ; you were here last year ? " " Oh, I thought the i Houseless ' was open." He put in the following statistical return of the number of applicants for two weeks before the ' Houseless ' was opened, and for two weeks afterwards :— Cases two Cases two Cases two Cases two weeks previous weeks after weeks previous weeks after Years. to the House- the Houseless to the House- the Houseless less Institution Institution less Institution Institution opening. opening. closing. closing. 1840 and 1841 ..... 1,031 1,457 846 461 1841 and 1842 1,717 1,847 1,541 1,534 1842 and 1843 1,422 2.970 2,031 1,057 1843 and 1844 731 1,218 1,014 499 1844 and 1845 closing . . 529 699 965 372 1845 ; did not open in 1845 1846 2,203 2,875 When the private asylums were open, the number of applicants to the Mendicity Society undoubtedly increased. These establish- ments were decidedly not useful in lessening vagrancy; they rapidly increased it, and did harm instead of good. He knew that many of the applicants were young prostitutes that followed the railroad and other labourers round the country ; they travelled 254 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, round the country in summer, and came into London in November. If they came before the refuge was open they went to Peckham ; then the} 7 went to St. Olave's ; and then to Greenwich and other unions. That was ascertained by questioning them. The public report of the Mendicity Society for 1829 states : — " The surplus of those who have applied for work arose partly from the severity of the season, partly from the absence of those ordinary resources of employment from which the vagrant poor derive subsistence at other periods of the year, and partly from the tendency of that humane and valuable institution, the Society for the Houseless Poor, to attract persons to the metropolis by the offer of nightly lodging. The office has been thronged by such applicants. The managers cannot advert to the operations of a Society so closely interwoven with those of this institution without expressing, with every friend of humanity, their testimony to its beneficial influence ; at the same time, convinced by their experience of some years of its tendency to increase the number of street mendicants, they feel it their duty to impress upon its directors the expediency of using the utmost circumspection and vigilance in regard to the persons whom they may admit as objects of their benevolent attention/ 5 In the report of 1844 the managers say :— " It would not be difficult, perhaps, to assign some of the causes which have apparently prevented this town from partaking in the benefits which reviving trade seemed calculated to confer on every part of the country ; and the managers are of opinion that the great facility now afforded to the idle and profligate to obtain food and shelter has greatly diminished their anxiety to seek for employment, and that very many have been drawn up to London, who would never have ventured to come there with- out the security now offered to them against the evils to which improvidence would formerly have exposed them. The experience of those managers who have taken their rota of duty in the office where beggars with tickets are referred for examination, has been, that a very large proportion of the applicants are persons who lodge in the unions or refuges for the houseless, where they get their supper, bed, and breakfast, wander about the streets all day, apply with a mendicity ticket at the society's office for a dinner, and in the evening seek their lodging again in one of the unions or refuges, to repeat the same proceeding for days and weeks AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 255 together. A life more suited to the habits of the young and pro- fligate of both sexes can hardly be conceived." The report of 1845 states : — " Early in the month of December there was a very large influx of mendicants of both sexes from the country, most of them young, -who having begged their way to London, sleeping at the union houses by the way, have taken up their abode in or about London, sleeping at the different refuges which have been opened for the des- titute, or at the union houses in or near the metropolis, and apply- in^ in great numbers daily for food and other assistance at the office of this society. Many of these applicants appeared to be of very ques- tionable character, and are known to have remained two or three months in London, making no exertion whatever to obtain work. Those managers on whom the duty has devolved of examining the persons applying with tickets for relief, have been led, by what they have witnessed, to the conclusion that a large floating popu- lation has been created by the facilities now given to vagrancy, who are driven from their homes by the discipline of the work- house, and encouraged to lead a vagrant life by the certainty that they shall find a nightly refuge in the vagrant wards of the dif- ferent union-houses whilst on the tramp, and an asylum in the refuges of London when they arrive there." Mr. James Jopp, City of London Union, said : — " It appeared to him that while the refuges were open the number of applications were decreased, partially so ; but imme- diately they closed he had found the numbers increased more than they were before the refuges were opened. In 1842, before the asylum was opened in Playhouse-yard, the number admitted was 966 in one week. In the week after the asylum was opened there were only 701 cases, showing a decrease of 265 in the week. Again, the week before the refuge closed in March, 1843, the number admitted in their union was 339 ; the week after it closed it was 615." William Jojies, constable 157 D, said that the superintendent had ordered him to look to the night asylums at the time the vagrants came out, when the inhabitants complained of the nuisance they caused. He found that the persons who generally attended at the night refuges were the worst of vagrants, the lowest of beggars, who were begging about all day, principally young persons of both sexes. 256 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, Mr. John Sard, secretary to the committee for affording Shelter to the Houseless, said they had three asylums, one in Playhouse- yard, Whitecross Street, accommodating 550 ; one in Glasshouse Street, East Smithfield, accommodating 340 ; and one in Ogle Street, Marylebone, accommodating 300. The average number they had in the three asylums was 1,000. They were only open during the inclement part of the year. As to the profitable character of these asylums to their managers the following suggestive evidence was elicited : — Mr. George Guyerette, manager of the "West End Nightly Refuge for the Houseless Poor, 60, Market Street, Edgware Road, admitted that he was both collector and manager, and that in the former capacity he received £79 18s. and in the latter £75 out of a total of £893 15s. He also lived in the house attached to the premises rent free, and procured the provisions for the house. The refuge was only open from the 27th December to the 1st April. During the rest of the year he did nothing in par- ticular, but acted as a general dealer, dealing in jewellery and plate. The treasurer and auditor was his brother-in-law, and the committee, consisting of four members, appointed themselves. Mr. Henry Smith, chairman of the St. Olave's Union, gave a curious reason for the attraction of poor persons from the country to that uuion. He said that their situation being so near the Borough hospitals brought an additional burden upon them in the shape of a better description of poor. Persons came up from the country with a view to gain admission to the hospitals, who, if they did not gain their point, immediately applied to the reliev- ing officers, who admitted them into the workhouse ; and when they came out of the hospital, if they were too weak and too poor to find their way home, they were received till they were able to go home. That was a very common occurrence. As to the general conduct of the vagrants who came to them, he said they were very troublesome during all the night ; they came in in gangs ; and if a wayfarer to whom this protection was afforded happened to be introduced in the ward after dark, imme- diately they knew that he was not one of them they set upon him, and stole his neckcloth or his shoes, and behaved to him in such a way that frequently the poor fellow cried to be allowed to come out. It was impossible to identify the wrongdoer, or to separate WILLIAM READ, alias " A. B." A Vagrant, examined before a Committee of the House of Commons in the Year 1846. I AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 257 those cases in such a way that the really destitute should not be subject to that kind of treatment. Some very remarkable evidence was given before the com- mittee by an anonymous vagrant, who was examined as " A. B."* " He stated that he was then an inmate of the Marylebone Work- house, and went into service as a page at the age of seventeen or eighteen, and remained three years. He then ran away to ' see the country,' went round Kent, and returned to London at the end of three months, and took a situation as potboy and waiter, in which he continued for about two years in two places, until at last he got such a character for becoming intoxicated that he could not get a place. He was taken dangerously ill, and was taken to the infirmary at Marylebone. After his discharge he tried to get something to do, but having lost his character he found it very hard, and was therefore obliged to take to a rambling life, and get food where he could. He had been in all the refuges for the destitute in London, and believed that the vagrants liked the gaols better than the workhouses. " The class of persons who usually got admission to the union workhouses and the houses of refuge consisted of all sorts : there were a few countrymen among them, and some were sailors, and some were very bad characters. Not ten out of every hundred of them would be really deserving persons. If a deserving poor man was admitted, if he had anything about him, such a thing as a handkerchief or knife, they would have it in the course of the night. They hustled about him, they would strike him, being so many of them. He had had his food taken away at places he had been at. " He applied at Newington about the beginning of this year, on a Sunday evening. He was given half a pound of bread, and a rug to cover him. He was then put into a very filthy place ; and the moment he got inside the door the bread was snatched out of his hand, and the rug too. He expostulated a little con- cerning it, and they heaved a pail of water over him, and two or three began attacking him because he did not belong to the gang. " There was a gang called Spevin's gang ; there were not so many then as there used to be ; some had been transported for * This man has been identified as a crossing-sweeper named William Read, who is still alive (February, 1887). S 258 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, different things, particularly since the place that they used to cohabit in — Smithfield — had been broken up. They were in the habit of committing petty robberies, and of arranging and con- cocting them in the vagrant ward. " Vagrants did not stand in the least fear of the police, at least the most part of them. Persons who made application at night for admission into the vagrant ward of the workhouses were mostly begging in the daytime. ' 'He considered that houses of refuge tended to increase vagrancy to a frightful extent, considering there were many vagrants who, w T ell knowing they could get a lodging anywhere at night, would spend their money in drinking and all sorts of debauchery. " Most vagrants lived very well ; they had houses where they got food in the daytime. " The best dress for a beggar to wear in the streets of London was a smock-frock ; it excited more compassion ; though they might perhaps have been in London two or three years. "The best and most successful garb for a man to assume was that of a country labourer. Such a man might get five or six shillings a day. If they spent the whole of that money in drink and dissipation, they could easily gain admission into the workhouse at night. He had known many of them come in quite intoxicated. "When he was in the country begging he pretended to be a servant out of place. In going about and getting so very little food at the different unions he got to feel very bad. You have a comfortable bed in prison, and he preferred going there at times to get a little rest. " They are very riotous in the Kensington Union sometimes ; they rob one another very much. A gang went down there once for the express purpose of robbing a bread store in Hammersmith. At the Greenwich Union a clothes place there was broken into, not a great while previously. " A great many persons who live by vagrancy leave the country from doing something wrong; they are afraid to go back again; they, come up to London, and they find there are so many places of refuge that they can get a better living and an easier one in London. " The principal number are English, a considerable number Irish, and a great many Scotch. " The facility of getting a night's lodging is a great inducement AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 209 for strangers to come up to London. Vagrancy had been on the increase during the past four years." In the autumn of 1846 great destitution prevailed in Ireland, owing to the almost universal and entire failure of the potato crop. The consequence of this was an immense influx of Irish pauperism into England. Mr. Edward Rushton, stipendiary magistrate of Liverpool, gave the following evidence on the subject in the year 1847, before the Select Committee on Settlement and Poor Removal : — " The history of the influx of the Irish into Liverpool may be o-iven in a few words. In the month of November, 1846, I was sitting in the police-court every day, and I was much struck with the increase of Irish vagrants, and on inquiry I found that the arrivals were very numerous. The practical operation may be perhaps elucidated by one case. The overseer brought up a woman for begging, for being very importunate in the street. I said, • It is a clear case, a very bad case ; send her to gaol/ The over- seer then said, ' She has six children ; if you send her to gaol I must take the children, and it will be a great loss to me.' I said, ' If this is to be the process, there is an end of the Vagrant Act in Liverpool. ' He would have had to hire a nurse for the young children, if sent into the workhouse without their mother, and the mother had been sent to gaol. I did not send her to gaol, and they were all sent into the workhouse ; and that case illustrates practically the working which has attended the influx, and its effect upon our parochial funds. The influx of Irish into Liver- pool became day by day so much increased that on the 13 th of January, 1847, I ordered the officers to be stationed when the boats arrived from Ireland, to count the number of poor people who came ; and from the 13th of January to the 19th of April inclusive, there had arrived in Liverpool 131,402 poor persons, many of them shockingly debilitated, all of them in a most dis- tressful condition, and some of them diseased. The emigration from the port during this period amounts to 43,146, nearly all Irish ; nineteen- twentieths, certainly ; so there remain in Liver- pool and the adjacent country a balance of about 90,000. " A great many of them have remained in Liverpool, though the town is already overcrowded ; we have an unhappy notoriety about our habitations for the poor, cellars and places of that description, where of course there is great mortality, and they s2 260 VAGBANTS AND VAGRANCY. have been crammed into those places in a way that is perfectly- frightful to think of. " A good many of the 90,000 have passed into other parts of England, but not anything like half. A gentleman called upon me, sent by Lord St. Vincent, the other day, to inquire what we were doing, as the Irish paupers were coming into Staffordshire so fast, and they have gone to Manchester in great numbers, and into Yorkshire. " It would be physically impossible to administer the Vagrant Act ; the gaol in Liverpool is, under ordinary circumstances, quite inadequate ; it ought never to have within it more than 460 people, and there are more than 700 in it, and hardly one from vagrancy, except in peculiar cases which I can state, that is to say, when a man came to solicit charitable aid with money tied up in his trousers, the relieving officer found him out, then I have committed him under the Vagrant Act, but otherwise the Vagrant Act is a dead letter in the whole place ; we are choked out. " There has also been a great increase in the numbers of Irish coming into Liverpool under peculiar circumstances. An American ship called the Rochester* having on board 250 Irish people going to the United States, was wrecked last week on the Arklow Bank on the coast of Wexford. These poor people were taken to the town of Wexford. The captain of the Rochester, who is, I under- stand, part owner of the ship, and who would be looked to for a return of the passage-money, was on the spot, yet notwithstand- ing this, the Mayor of Wexford put all these destitute persons on board a steamer, and sent them consigned to the Mayor of Liver- pool, as he said, to obtain justice and charity in Liverpool. " I am persuaded that the local authorities and landowners have sent over the Irish destitute poor to a large extent." * This vessel was wrecked on the north end of the Blackwater Bank, April 13, 1847. CHAPTER XII. 1848—1854. Reports of the Poor Law Inspectors in 1848 on the existing condition of vagrancy — Character and conduct of vagrants — Immense increase of vagrancy and its causes — Description of the Irish poor in England — Effect of sending Irish vagrants home — Intercommunication amongst vagrants — Gaol a favourite resort of the vagrant — Concealment of property by tramps — Social demoralisation produced by vagrancy — Poor Law accommodation for vagrants — Eeport of the committee of 1854 on the removal of the Irish and Scotch poor from England — Decrease of vagrancy in Ireland and its causes — Irish paupers sent home from Liverpool — Results of the influx of Irish poor into Liverpool. In the year 1848 a series of valuable Reports and Communications on Vagrancy was made to the Poor Law Board by the Inspectors and several Boards of Guardians and individuals. The general character of the vagrants is thus depicted : — " For the most part these vagrants are the refuse of society ; spending the day in idleness, begging, plunder, and prostitution, and repairing at night to the workhouse on their route, or where they expect the best treatment, instead of to the low lodging houses to which they used to resort ; they thus traverse the country in every direction, to the great prejudice of the industrious poor ; this system of relief affording great encouragement to sturdy beggars and vagabonds, who prefer a life of idleness and vice to honest industry/ "/- There can be little doubt, that as the certainty of obtaining a night's lodging and food gratuitously has become more generally known amongst this class, coupled with the entire absence of any effectual inquiry into their habits or course of life, their resort to workhouses has greatly increased, and will no doubt continue to do so." * I " In describing the class of persons commonly called Vagrants, but in the Poor Law vocabulary designated ' Tramp I give pre- * Report of Mr. Grenville Pigott. 2G2 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, cedence to the sturdy English mendicant. He, though not a con- stant occupant of the tramp ward in the workhouse, is frequently there, either having relied on that shelter when he has spent his last penny in dissipation, or haying the calculating selfishness to save the cost of his lodging, that he might have the more to spend in debauchery. The man of this class is easily recognised by his patched but warm and ample coat, with a number of pockets, and many appliances for his personal comfort suggested by his long experience. He never visits a workhouse where labour is exacted (unless it may be on Saturday night, work not being done on Sunday), but leaves early without work or breakfast ; dry bread, or even gruel not being to his taste when he can resort to the wallet, left well stored with broken victuals in the custody of some friend in the village. " The class next, and more important from increasing numbers, is that of the young English vagabond, generally the native of a large town, probably an 'idle apprentice,' who, from crime or abandoned conduct, has made himself an outcast. Having no ties to bind him, he finds it most agreeable to travel about the country, being sure of a meal and a roof to shelter him at night. The men of this class are principally of from 17 to 25 years of age. They often travel in parties of two or three, having frequently a young woman or two, as abandoned as themselves, in company ; begging, or extorting money during the day ; but making no provision for the night or the morrow. "This is a very numerous, and, I fear, rapidly increasing class, and to them principally belong the defiers of authority, who break windows, and abuse the officers, refuse to work, and incite others to rebel. For these the gaol has no terrors ; but it is a desirable retreat from the winter cold, or as affording a sanitary asylum, where the best medical skill and the most proper diet for the cure of disease engendered by filth and immorality may be obtained. " These, as a class, are of the lowest moral character, not pos- sessing the honour generally attributed to thieves, and not only robbing and cheating each other, but shamelessly claiming applause for it. Their habits are noisy, disturbing the fellow-lodgers at night, by singing and shouting in chorus, and corrupting or dis- gusting all within hearing by the tales of crime, and boasts of debauchery in which they emulate each other." * * Report of Mr. W. D. Boase. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 263 Captain Carrol, chief of police at Bath, says : — " The generality of tramps go from Union to Union, calling at Bath on their way, and watching the ladies in their walks ; solicit- ing alms, which are afforded to get rid of the importunity. These characters generally come and go with the fashionable visitors, whose inconsiderate charity affords great encouragement to them." Mr. Boase adds the following observations : — " Approaching these in character are the young countrymen who have absconded, perhaps for some petty poaching offence, and to whom the facility for leading an idle vagabond life has proved too great a temptation. The tale of the profligate and the applause of the young aspirant has frequently been overheard in tramp words. ''There are a few calling themselves agricultural labourers, who are really such ; and who are to be readily distinguished. There are a few mechanics also, chiefly tailors, shoemakers, and masons, who are occasionally destitute ; but as much from impro- vidence and improper reliance upon workhouse relief as from any misfortune or necessity. " Of the female English tramps little can be said, but that they are in great part prostitutes of the lowest class. . . . " At Aylesbury the master of the workhouse told me that he had frequently heard them using the most obscene language, and singing songs of the same character, and that he overhears them relating their stories of depredation and theft, emulating each other as the most abandoned, to earn the applause of the audience. It would be endless to multiply the statements to this effect which have been made by officers at nearly all the workhouses I have visited, and I will only add, that the English are considered as much worse in character than the Irish. The statement of the relieving officer at Neath, Mr. Bentley, will illustrate the general opinion. He says, ' The Irish behave best, and the greatest black- guards come from the large towns in England. If I refuse relief, the Irish will lie at the door for h©urs, and the English will break the windows/ " The Clerk of the Stockport Union is of opinion that — " The majority of the trampers and vagrants are professional mendicants, wandering about the country, without any ordinary and daily trade in life to get their living by. This is openly 264 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, avowed by most of them, who boldly say they have been in every workhouse in the kingdom, and will never work so long as they can get a bed, a pound of bread, and a pint of gruel a day ; and they visit the different workhouses at periodical intervals of from two to six months/' The Clerk of the Chesterfield Union observes that — " Amongst the officers of different Unions the calculation is that three-fourths of those who partake of the relief given (night and morning), the moment they leave the wards begin to beg, and so continue through the country they traverse to the next union, during which journey the moneys, food, &c, they obtain is deposited in the care of the most confidential of each party, who repairs to the lodging house for its safe keeping until the morning. "These remarks apply altogether to the English vagrants, and generally young men and women without families ; in fact, it is rare to find an aged English man or woman amongst the appli- cants, plainly showing that the class of persons most likely to require assistance are rarely found the recipients of this relief." The Clerk of the Shardlow Union, in Derbyshire, says — " It is found that at least nine-tenths of them are wandering about without any settled purpose, and upon being discharged from the workhouse in the morning it frequently takes them some time to decide whether they shall travel towards the north or the south. The evil is not only confined to workhouses, which are now resorted to regularly as common lodging houses, but in a rural district like ours it is seriously felt by the inhabitants: nearly all these trampers beg during the day, and frequently extort alms from the residents at odd houses (particularly if the latter are females) by threats of violence." At Lutterworth the relieving officer states " that many of these vagrants and trampers have applied for assistance in a state of intoxication, and have been very abusive to him." The Master of the Cosford Union, in Suffolk, says — " Above four years ago, I admitted into the house a bold beggar, almost in a state of nudity. On the following morning I endea- voured to elicit from him his mode of life. Among other things he observed, that he found it to his advantage to travel in that state, with a view to excite the compassion of the public. He further added, that the greatest sum he ever realised in one day AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 2G5 by begging was ten shillings ; but wben begging through a large town, he thought it a poor day's work if he did not beg five shil- lings. " A few weeks since, I admitted into the house two of the most impudent vagrants I have ever met with. On questioning them respecting their religion, one of them observed that he was no religion ; the other, that he was a horse's religion. I inquired what he meant by a horse's religion ; his reply was, that he worked from Monday morning till Saturday night like a horse, and on Sunday he rambled about the fields. I merely mention this to show the impudent bearing of this class.' , The Chairman of the Ruthin Union observes — " Too often has it been found that many of the vagrants are portions of regular gangs of housebreakers, who rob the dwellings of cottagers when the family are at work in the fields." Mr. Boase thus sums up the evidence on the subject : — " The belief resulting from all my inquiries and experience on this subject is, that at the least 90 out of every hundred occupants of the tramp wards have no claim upon the honest poor man's fund." The following testimony is furnished of the immense increase of vagrancy at this period : — Number of vagrants admitted into workhouses — - During the six months ending 30th Sept., 1846 18,533 „ ' 1847 44,937 Increase of in 1847 26,404 Watford Unton. Number of vagrants relieved . — 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 (first six months) 422 810 558 627 918 953 2,486 3,487 A return of the tramps relieved in the township of Warring- ton between March 25, 1847, and March 25, 1848 : — . English. Irish. Scotch. Natives of other .places. Total. 4,701 12,038 427 156 17,322. Mr. Hawley furnishes the following observations as to the social character of the individuals who were then augmenting the ranks of vagabondism : — 266 YAGKANTS AND YAGKANCY, " Of the increase of vagrancy since the autumn of 1846, and the alarming height at which it has arrived at the present time, the returns which have lately "been transmitted by the clerks of the Unions to the Poor Law Board will afford sufficient evidence without producing any further statistical proofs of the fact. At the period above alluded to, the evil which had always existed in a mitigated degree was aggravated by the failure of the potato crop in Ireland, and the distress consequent upon that great national calamity, and thousands of the labour- ing natives of that portion of the empire, allured by the pros- pect of employment and that charitable aid which the sympathy and benevolent feelings of the people of this country always prompt them to extend to the needy and helpless, flocked to its shores, pouring a torrent of immigration over it which it has since been found difficult, and even impossible under existing enact- ments, to repress. Notwithstanding the enormous grants from the public funds destined for their support in their own country, the hand of charity was freely, and perhaps with too little con- sideration of the consequences, extended to them in this, and that which was intended only as a temporary alleviation of their suf- ferings has been converted into an incentive to a permanent system of mendicancy, with its usual accompaniments of idleness, vice, and disease. " These observations are intended to apply to the Irish immi- grants, but the partial distress in the manufacturing districts, and the want of funds to carry on the works on railroads now in the course of construction, have lately introduced another class of English mendicants into the northern counties, who, allured by the success which attended the irruption of the Irish, have established a similar system of professional vagrancy, but are found far more difficult to deal with, being for the most part persons of previously worthless character, for whom a prison has no terrors, and who set all law and authority at defiance." Mr. Aneurin Owen supplies the following supplementary infor- mation : — ■ " The irruption of vagrants of every description into the towns and country places has reached to a great and annoying extent. " That class of them composed of Irish, generally squalid, miserable, and frequently fever- stricken, met with the most com- passionate treatment ; and although the burden was heavily felt, AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 2G7 complaints respecting it were not loudly expressed. Their desti- tution was generously relieved, trusting the New Irish Poor Law would in future prevent such an immigration of miserable objects. " Concomitantly with them, another class, that of importunate sturdy tramps, has been perambulating the country, composed generally of young, idle, and insolent able-bodied men, unamenable to discipline, threatening and committing lawless acts of violence in the workhouses where they obtain nightly shelter, frequently refusing to perform any task of work unless, which can seldom be the case, a force be at hand to overpower their resistance. They stroll in bodies through the country places, committing depredations, and terrifying the inmates of lone farmhouses and cottages into giving them money. Since the establishment of a more effective police in the large towns, an additional number of them appears to have been driven into the country, at least it is supposed so." The reasons for the increase of vagrancy, apart from the irrup- tion of Irish pauperism, appear to have been twofold : first, the general facilities for wandering afforded to vagrants by providing them with food and shelter at the workhouse ; and second, the special attractions furnished by the Night Asylums. Mr. Stock- dale, superintendent of Police at Cardiff, supplies the following evidence on the second of these points : — ' i For the first three or four years of my being here vagrancy was unknown ; at least the style of it which exists now. The pre- sent system commenced, (I should think) between eight and nine years ago, in a trifling degree ; perhaps one or two of a night. There had first been a refuge in Swansea, established by private subscription. In the winter following, one was opened here by similar means The majority went from this towards Swan- sea, having come from Newport The majority of these were those who made vagrancy a profession, which profession was entirely induced here by the opening of night asylums in Swansea, Newport, and here. The majority of applicants were single men, generally from 18 to 30 ; the greater part of whom came from England, mostly from Somerset and Wilts. One or two- whom I knew in London (and particularly one who used to sweep a crossing in the Strand), told me that they had heard of the accommodation, and had come down to see the country. The crossing-sweeper told me that he had heard from 268 YAGEANT3 AND VAGEANCY, tramps that lie would be sure of breakfast and supper and a night's lodging. At first, when we began to search them, we generally found small sums of money, but after a week or two they used to know and manage differently." The Guardians of Burton- upon- Trent state that "they have been greatly disappointed in the practical results of the system established in the year 1839, for relieving vagrants by tickets at the Union Workhouse. Instead of operating as a check on vagrancy and mendicity, it holds forth a direct encouragement to the idle and dissolute to wander from place to place throughout the king- dom. The ready means of obtaining lodging and food at each Union Workhouse hath given that facility for wandering, that advantage hath been taken of this system of relief by reputed thieves, attendants at races, fairs, and other public meetings, on their way to these places of resort." Mr. Boase makes the following supplementary remarks : — " The increase of vagrant applications appears to have com- menced by a few applying to the workhouse in 1841 ; since which time it has grown each year in a rapidly progressive ratio. The increase for the two first quarters of the present year over the corresponding ones of the year 1846 is general. The number in the year 1847 is not used for comparison, being considered as greatly affected by the Irish famine. But in many cases the increase has, for the last few months, exceeded the corresponding months of even that year." The Guardians of the Metropolitan Parish of St. Martin state in a memorial to the Poor Law Board that — « Previously to the year 1839, the parish of St. Martin- in-the- Fields experienced but little inconvenience from applications for relief from what are called casual poor. Such applications were of rare occurrence until the year above mentioned ; when persons having no known place of abode applied before this date, their demands were generally met by the affording some relief in food, and occasionally a night's lodging. The numbers of these vagrants applying for relief began gradually to increase during the year 1839, when 767 such persons received admission into the work- house of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. " In 1840 the number of such admissions was nearly doubled, as in that year it amounted to 1,376, The mischief rapidly extended, until, in 1846, as many as 6,308 casuals or vagrants were ad- AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 269 mitted, and in the last year, 1847, no less than 11,574 admissions of tramps, including wives and children, took place. . . . " The vagrancy seems to have become a habit and system with vast numbers of idle mendicants and others, who, while they can procure a night's lodging and a meal, will continue to prowl about the metropolis during the day begging or stealing, and remaining content with this lazy and vicious existence. " The Clerk of the Thirsk Union reports : — " Last year the increase (of vagrants) was principally occasioned by the Irish, this year they are of a different class, mostly English from the southern counties, young, idle, and lawless. This increase may in part be accounted for from the number of men dismissed from public works ; but there can be no doubt that when in full work, the characters relieved in the workhouse have spent their money in dissipation, calculating on the assistance of workhouse accommodation in getting home again, or in rambling about the country ostensibly seeking work. It, however, shows the lamentable condition of this class, that many of them commit offences for the purpose of being sent to prison. During the last quarter, fifteen have been committed to the House of Correction for breaking windows or destroying their clothes. The vagrant ward window-frames have been pulled entirely out and destroyed, as well as the form for sitting on in the room. The yelling, shouting, and disorder in the ward has occasionally been such as to prevent the inmates from getting any rest, and the officers of the workhouse have been wholly unable to quell the disorder. " Mr. Boase furnishes the following description of the Irish poor who came over at this time : — " The Irish, who form by far the majority of the applicants for casual relief, remain now to be described. These can scarcely be classified in any other way than as those who come to England t o labour and those who come to beg. To the former class, as a class, I cannot go so far as to attribute settled habits of industry or pride of self-dependence. I fear they yield too readily to their disposition to idleness ; — the difficulty of providing supper, break- fast, and lodging for themselves being removed by the workhouse. This class are physically superior to the mass of Irish vagrants, wear better clothing (generally the grey frieze), and are, at least, less disgustingly filthy and infested with vermin. It appears that for very many years considerable numbers of these have 270 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, annually come to England in the spring, to work at hay-harvest, remaining for corn-harvest and hop-picking, and then have carried home their earnings in the autumn, seldom resorting to begging. Formerly this course was general, until within the last four or five years, and especially since the failure of the potato crop ; when greater numbers were brought to England, more than there was work for ; consequently the tramp- ward became the refuge of the surplus, and the inducement to many to remain in England. A great many harvest-men land at Newport and the "Welsh ports ; but by far the greater proportion of the Irish I saw in Wales were women with small children, old men apparently feeble, pregnant women, and girls and boys about ten years old. Great numbers of Irish are landed on the Welsh coast ; but the amount cannot be ascertained or even guessed at. They are brought over by coal vessels as a return cargo {living ballast), at very low fares (2s. 6d. is the highest sum I heard of), huddled together like pigs, and communicating disease and vermin on their passage. Thrust on shore clandestinely, perhaps in the night (for there is great odium attached to the traffic), landed in the mud in some obscure part of the river,* exhausted, faint, and feverish from privation of food and air, is it to be wondered at that these become the medium of extending fever and contagion into the heart of the kingdom, into the asylums of the poor, where it finds its most susceptible victims and its greatest stronghold in the overcrowded rooms ? " Those landing in Wales are nearly all helpless and burdensome to the community. The incredible number of widows with three or four small children, who came over to ' get a bit for the chil- dren ; ' others professing to be married women whose husbands are supposed to be in London ; young girls and boys looking for parents, brothers, and uncles, who may or may not be found ; and again, a very numerous class of old women who have tried the basket of tapes in vain for a livelihood, and who now undisguisedly say, when asked where they are going, ' I don't know ; just going up and down everywhere, your honour/ There are a great many, perhaps nearly half of the Irish now in England, who have abided with us all last winter, filling the refuges and absorbing the greater part of the charities distributed at that season. I have * Much of this experience appears to be a repetition of a similar state of things in August, 1628, and April, 1629. See p. 148. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 271 no hesitation in expressing as my opinion that many called Eng- lish vagrants are of Irish origin. " Of the young female Irish tramps many are undoubtedly prostitutes, having been corrupted by vile associations which not even the national character for chastity could shield them against. "My suspicions were much more excited by the appearance of the Irish landing in Wales, that they had been got rid of as burdens, or probable burdens, upon society at home. And some evidence exists to support the supposition. Speaking of the influx in 1847, Superintendent Stockdale, of the Newport police, says, in his examination, ' A great many told me that Mr. *** of ***, near Cork, had paid 2s. 6d. for their passage ; I think in hundreds of instances I was told this/ " A remarkable fact is, that all the Irish whom I met on my route between Wales and London, said they came from Cork county. This is also confirmed by the officers who relieve them at Chepstow, Newport, and Cardiff. Mr. John, the relieving officer at the latter place, told me, in his examination, ' That not one out of every 100 of the Irish came from any other county than Cork. There are a few Tipperary men, but these do not trouble us ; they are more industrious in their habits than Cork people.' And further, — c Not one-half of the Irish are able-bodied ; I believe that they are sent here because they are likely to become charge- able at home.' " Superintendent Stockdale further says — ■ " The Cork vessels used to land the Irish poor at Cardiff ; at first 13 or 14 in a vessel, then increasing to upwards , of 200 in one vessel. I made various reports to the Marquis of Bute, our late Lord Lieutenant, at the time ; a great many told me that Mr. of , near Cork, had paid 2s. 6d. for their passage. I think in hundreds of instances I was told this. They came direct to me or to the relieving officer ; having been told in Ireland that they might depend upon being relieved immediately. They were many of them apparently starving, and many in advanced stage of disease. One was found dead in the bottom of the hold, and an inquest was held on the body ; many died shortly after landing. " Harriet Huxtable, the manager of the tramp-house at Newport, says, ' There is hardly a family that have come over and applied to me but we have found a member or two of it ill. They are chiefly troubled with dysentery now, not fever ; some in a shock- 272 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, ing filthy state ; they don't live long with it, there is a sort of dropsy attends with it. " ' They are very remarkable : they will eat salt by basins' full, and drink a great quantity of water after. I have frequently known them (children and grown-up people), those who have been stopping with us, and who could not have been hungry, eat cabbage-leaves and other refuse from the ash-heaps. I prevent them now. I really believe they would eat almost anything.' " Mr. Joseph Lewis, master of Chepstow Workhouse, says, 'There are more women than men with the Irish. I think the men go on before their wives and families without calling here (perhaps to escape work, which we make them do). Some of the Irish families appear to be making for no place, and we see them often in their rounds/ " The Master of Stafford Union Workhouse remarks, ' The Irish are extremely filthy in their habits, generally swarming with vermin. The Irish women are even more filthy than the men. The younger Irish women appear to be generally prostitutes.' Similar statements to this have been repeated, without exception, at all the work- houses visited." The Oxford Mendicity Society state that — "Questions have been made regularly to the Irish paupers who are now flocking into Oxford to ascertain who has furnished the means for making their passage. There is a general unwillingness to answer the question at all, but it has been admitted in some cases that some persons in authority, who seem from the descrip tion to have been Poor Law Officers, have given money." Mr. Broadhurst, relieving officer of the Congleton Union, thus characterises both the English and Irish vagrants at this period : — "During the quarter ending 25th December, 1847, 1,594 tramps were admitted to the Congleton Union, of which 80 per cent, were Irish. Many of the Irish state they are in search of work ; yet one of them told Pickford, the manager, that the greater part would curse any man who offered them employment. (The man made the same statement to me.) An Irishman, a few weeks back, told Pickford that he had lived by begging for the last fifteen years, and never done a day's work. The English vagrants are cotton-workers, wool-combers, hatters, &c, though at times habitual mendicants are amongst those who are admitted. Pick- ford states he has been told by some of the tramps, that if food AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 273 was given in every case the applicants would be sixfold. No labour is imposed ; each morning they are taken out of the town by the beadles. The effect of sending the Irish vagrants home seems to have stimulated the flow of vagrancy instead of stopping it, as Mr. Boose observes : — " With regard to the riddance of tramps hanging about a town, nothing appears to be effectual. Even those removed under the law for Irish removals will return again after a few days, as has been experienced at Cardiff and at Liverpool ; and, in my opinion (founded on what I have gleaned from tramps), this remedy re-acts upon itself, doubtless inducing many to venture the journey from Ireland, confiding that at the worst, should England turn out not to be the Dorado represented to them, they will be forwarded home again gratuitously, and inducing many Irish tramps to resort to the towns where this practice is adopted, from the most distant parts of the kingdom, with the avowed purpose of obtaining gratuitous passage home/' If any testimony were needed by those who have studied the question of the utter worthlessness of the whole fraternity of tramps, it would be afforded by the intimate fellowship they maintain, a fellowship and interchange of information carried on for every evil purpose and for no good purpose. The following is a typical revelation of the freemasonry which exists amongst them : — " It is remarkable, however, with what telegraphic despatch the whole corps of tramps become acquainted with any altered circum- stances bearing upon their relations with particular unions. In the JSTorth Witchford Union, for example, it happened that two months ago the stock of junk for oakum-picking was exhausted, and the guardians, not then appreciating sufficiently the necessity of enforcing the provisions of 5 and 6 Vict., c. 57, s. 5, delayed to authorise the master of the Doddington Workhouse to procure a fresh supply. In the very next week the number of vagrants, which had for some time previously averaged about 20 per week, increased to 45, in the second week to 57, in the third week to 75, and then, oakum-picking having been resumed, the number as steadily decreased till it reached the usual average." * Hardened in vice and frequently graduated in crime, gaol has no terrors for the vagrant ; Sir John Walsham thus writes upon the subject : — * Report of Sir John Walsham T 274 YAG-RAXTS AXD YAGEAXCY, " It is now, I apprehend, becoming a system with the vagrants to pass away the cold months by fortnightly halts in different gaols. I have no doubt that the men who have just been sent to Ipswich from Stow Union will, as soon as their fourteen days have expired, make their way to Blything or YTangford Union houses, and commit the same depredation there, in order to be sent to Beccles Gaol ; from thence they will proceed to Yarmouth, and so on. " In the summer months vagrancy is a pleasanter occupation, and then they find the workhouses such convenient lodging-houses or hotels, that they behave better ; nevertheless, work is their special aversion, and in most of my workhouses now they are set to work, whilst in Ipswich and other gaols work has been abandoned. They are often found, at all times of the year, destroying what- ever they can in all union houses where work is required. I feel almost convinced that this estimable fraternity have bound them- selves by a vow always to resist, even to being committed to prison, the prescribed task of work." This is also the opinion of Mr. Hairfey, who observes : — " Refusals to work, and destruction of clothing for the purpose of getting a better outfit, have been common practices amongst the vagrants ; and in several instances the workhouse windows have been wantonly broken, and articles of furniture destroyed. Magisterial interference has been generally called in to suppress and punish these outrages, but it has been found that they have fre- quently been committed for the purpose of incurring a punishment which the lenient discipline, liberal dietary, and general comforts of the county gaol render a desirable object with these persons." Before the Government took over the management of gaols, and established uniformity of treatment in them, vagrants natu- rally exhibited a preference for those gaols in which the treat- ment was of a superior character, as the following statement made by Mr. Evans, M.P. for Derbyshire, in the House of Commons in 1876, conclusively shows. "In his own county (Derbyshire) they had done their best to make the gaols efficient ; but as opinions differed it was inevitable that gaols should be managed in different ways throughout the country. He might claim to be pretty well acquainted with the wishes, tastes, and fancies of the prisoners in our gaols, and he could assure the House that the discrimination they showed in their appreciation of different prisons was almost beyond belief. About five or six years ago an old offender, who was intimately acquainted with all AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 275 the prisons in the country, was brought before him for fowl-stealing. He had stolen the fowls in the night, had cooked one for supper at a furnace, and had then lain down to sleep with the other fowls near him. About five in the morning a policeman, who had heard of the robbery, shook him by the collar and said, ' I take you into custody on the charge of stealing these fowls.' He was found just on the borders of the two counties, and the prisoner's first question was, ' What county am I in ? ' The policeman replied, ' Derby- shire/ whereupon the man exclaimed, ' Thank God for that ! ' As one of the magistrates of Derbyshire he confessed he felt humiliated. They had been racking their brains to make their prisons as un- pleasant as possible, yet here was a man who thanked God that he was going to Derby instead of Leicester Gaol." The mode in which tramps conceal their property when apply- ing for relief is thus described by Mr. Boase : — "Searching is not general ; at Brentford and some other places it is entirely abandoned. In some few places it is kept in practice chiefly for the purpose of preventing danger from lucifer matches, pipes, tobacco, and knives. It is still occasionally resorted to where there is a suspicion of concealed property ; but the general practice of it has been defeated by the tramps, who expect and prepare for it, and hide their money, or appoint a banker to lodge out of the Workhouse ; or deposit it at small hucksters' shops and marine-store shops. Some time ago the master at Eton Workhouse found a considerable sum, which several tramps had hidden under a stone before applying. " The Master of Stafford Union Workhouse says : ( The Irish have a practice of leaving their money at some small huckster's shop. They hide it also ; they have almost pulled down a hedge near the workhouse by hiding money in it. I have no doubt that all the Irish we get have (but with few exceptions) money somewhere. Sometimes one of a party will be ' captain,' and stay at a lodging house with the money ; sometimes the mother and children will come alone. The men almost invariably have lucifer matches, a pipe and tobacco, and a knife ; seldom are any tools found, sometimes a few cottons and tapes ; but they now appear to give up these ostensible pretences of living.' " The Master of Kensington has found poaching snares and picklocks, and the night before I was at Cookham, dice and thimble- rig* apparatus were found upon tramps going to Eeading Fair." * A cheating game performed on a small table with a pea and 3 thimbles. The T 2 276 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, The following statement of Mr. Wilkinson, relieving officer of the Congleton Union, shows the mode in which keepers of'tramps' lodging houses actually profit by the establishment of casual wards : — " This at first may appear strange, that the lodging-house keeper is benefited by others going to the Union workhouse for the night ; but when you know that those who apply for a ticket for the night first give up their money, clothes, trinkets, &c, besides a quantity of food they have begged during the day, to those who stay at the lodging house, and he is commissioned to sell for them the food so charitably disposed. Thus the lodging-house keeper often gets more than one-half the provisions for himself and family, and I have frequently heard Irishmen who have lodged in this township say they often get good bargains of this sort ; it is high time that some means should be taken to prevent these people imposing on the public, as you see last year there was a percentage of more than 57 direct from Ireland, and this year not 4 per cent., although the vagrants are 50 per cent, increased/' The social demoralisation produced by vagrancy is thus strikingly set forth by the Master of the Cosford Union : — " From all that I have witnessed in the general behaviour of vagrants, I take for granted that a vast amount of demoralisation is carried into every part of the country by the streams of vagrants and mendicants constantly floating therein. " A large number also of this class is to be found in the gaols of the rural districts, the other portion being chiefly agricultural labourers, who, whilst they may be considered pupils in the school of crime, learning from these vagrants to carry back to their villages the amount of knowledge theoretically acquired in felonious practices, and which, I am sorry to add, is speedily brought to bear in reality after their liberation. " My experience leads me to believe vagrancy to be the first step towards the committal of felony. I have known numerous cases where the career in crime commenced in vagrancy ; and I am further of an opinion, that the suppression of vagrancy would go far in suppressing a great amount of imposition and depredation.' ' The accommodation provided for vagrants in the various work- pea is openly passed from one thimble to another, and then bystanders are tempted to bet that they can indicate the particular thimble under which the pea is. They are sometimes allowed to win at first, in order to inspire them with confidence, but are speedily cheated by the performer, who on each occasion removes the pea under one of his finger nails. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 277 houses at this period seems to have been of an inferior and demo- ralising character. . Mr. Grenville Pigott says — " In some workhouses there are still no distinct vagrant wards, and in none can those appropriated to that purpose be deemed sufficient for the accommodation of the numbers who occasionally demand admission, amounting sometimes to 20, 30, or even 40 a night." Sir John Walsham remarks — " I have now accomplished the establishment of vagrant wards in most of the workhouses of my district. Some of these wards are, I am sorry to say, very bad." Mr. Boase observes — " The buildings appropriated to tramps are generally brick build- ings, of one story ; in the range, and attached to the back part of the yard. In general they have brick floors and guard-room beds, with loose straw and rugs for the males and iron bedsteads with straw ties for the females. They are generally badly ventilated and unprovided with any means of producing warmth. All holes for ventilation in reach of the occupants are sure to be stuffed with rags or straw ; so that the effluvium of these places is at best most disgustingly offensive, and has more than once produced illness to myself when visiting them in the morning, just after their being opened. " In some workhouses but small provision, or none, has been made for the reception of tramps, and a sudden influx has filled the stables and outhouses; the general impression among the Poor Law officers being, that they are bound to provide for all who apply, and considerable sums have been paid for lodging tramps at public-houses and in barns at such crises." Upon receiving this evidence the Poor Law Board issued a Minute, in which it was stated that " a sound and vigilant discri- mination in respect of the objects of relief, and the refusal of it to all who were not ascertained to be destitute, were the only effectual remedies against the continued increase of vagrancy and mendicity." The exercise of this discrimination by the officers of the Poor Law which immediately followed appears at the time to have had a favourable effect in reducing the ranks of vagrancy. In order to remove doubts as to the power of the Poor Law officials to search vagrants, it was enacted by the 11 & 12 Vict., c. 110, passed in this year, that " any destitute wanderer or way- 278 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, farer applying for admission to the workhouse may be searched, and if found in possession of money or other property, the money is forfeited to the guardians : and if he has not disclosed the possession, he is liable to punishment as an idle and disorderly person." In the year following (1849) it was enacted by the 12 & 13 Vict., c. 103, s. 3, that where a poor person is charge- able to the common fund of a union it shall have the same effect as chargeability to a parish in respect of proceedings under 5 Geo. IV., c. 83. In the year 1854 a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the operation of the Act 8 & 9 Vict,, c. 117, relating to removal from England of chargeable poor per- sons born in Scotland, Ireland, the Isles of Man, Scilly, Jersey, or Guernsey, and also into the operation of the Act 8 & 9 Vict., c. 83, relating to the removal from Scotland of chargeable poor persons born in England, Ireland, or the Isle of Man. At the outset of the inquiry it was evidently the desire of the Irish witnesses to prove that mendicity in Ireland and the immi- gration of Irish pauperism into England and Scotland had so far decreased that it was not worth while to maintain the existing regulations for returning Irish paupers to their places of settle- ment. Mr. Alfred Poicer, Chief Commissioner of the Poor Law in Ireland, stated, " It was notorious that a very large number of poor Irish used annually to proceed to England and Scotland in search of work in time of harvest, but the number was diminished now very much. " The actual price paid for a deck passage for an Irish pauper coming from Dublin to Liverpool in the year 1847 was Is., and the price back again, under orders of removal, was 2s. 6d. Public mendicancy had much diminished in Dublin since he came to reside there about ten years ago, and he believed that it had much diminished in other parts of Ireland. He thought there was a strong and growing feeling throughout the country to dis- courage mendicancy." Mr. R. L. Jameson, guardian of the Cork Union, stated, " Men- dicancy had been very much discouraged of late in the south of Ireland. He considered that mendicancy was dying out very much ; they did not see one beggar in the streets of Cork now, he thought, for twenty that were seen a few years ago." The Earl of Donoughmore, guardian of the Clogheen Union, AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 279 said, "He did not think it probable that any large number of persons would leave Ireland to go to England for the purpose of begging there, they having to pay their passage money of 10s. or 12s. to England ; and even supposing they could get to England for little or nothing, he did not think that they would go, because it struck him that a beggar had a much better chance in Ireland than he had in England. It was the habit of the people (it might perhaps partly be the consequence of the religion of the people), even of the very poorest in Ireland to give to beggars. He had observed beggars going through his own estate ; he had seen them go from door to door of the cottages of the farmers, and had scarcely ever seen them go away empty. He thought it was very much to be deplored, for he thought it encouraged that kind of wandering life which beggars lead ; but if he was asked in which country a beggar had the best chance of picking up relief, if he was a beggar himself, he would certainly much rather live in Ireland than in England. " He thought the system of roving mendicancy was becoming gradually diminished, but not to the extent he should wish. It had diminished in Clonmel, and been very much discouraged in Limerick, Waterford, and all great cities and towns." This evidence is generally corroborated by the reports of the Irish Poor Law inspectors in the year 1856, as will be seen on referring to the concluding chapter on the History of Vagrancy in Ireland.* From the following evidence adduced before the Committee it appears, however, pretty certain that this reduction of mendicity in Ireland was brought about by its transference to England and Scotland. Sir John M'Neil, chairman of the Board of Supervision for the Relief of the Poor in Scotland, stated, " He had returns of the number of vagrants and beggars challenged by the police in the counties of Haddington and Edinburgh, exclusive of the city of Edinburgh, during the eight years ending 30th J une, 1853. In these two counties, whieh are on the east coast of Scotland, in the first four of those eight years, that is, in 1846, 1847, 1848, and 1849, there were challenged for vagrancy and begging by the police — Scotch, 4,395 ; English, 1,317 ; making together of Scotch and English 5,712 ; of Irish in those four years, 4,810. He understood that it was stated that vagrants had nearly dis- * Pp. 422—426. 2S0 VAGEAXTS AXD YAGEAXCY, appeared from Ireland. He thought he could account for some of them. In the four years, 1850, 1851, 1852, and 1853, in those two counties the number of vagrants were : Scotch, 7,251 ; English, 839 ; English and Scotch together, 8,090 ; Irish, 11,248. It would be observed that in the first four years, which were the four years of great distress, but were also the four years of lavish relief in Ireland, the whole number of Irish vagrants in those two counties was 4,810 In the last four years, after the cessa- tion of that relief in Ireland, when the vagrants began to dis- appear from Ireland, the number in those two counties was 11,248 — more than double what it was in the first four years. He thought that would therefore probably show what had become of the vagrants who had disappeared from Ireland, or a consider- able number of them. The number of persons apprehended by the police of the City of Edinburgh, and tried for begging in the four years, 1850 to 1853, both inclusive (the records did not furnish the means of giving the returns for the first four years for the City of Edinburgh, they only furnished returns for the last four years), were 2,015 Scotch, 220 English, 1,427 Irish. There- fore, adding the City of Edinburgh to the two counties for those four years, the numbers would stand thus : Scotch, 9,266 ; English, 1,059 ; Scotch and English together, 10,325 ; Irish, 12,675. The number of Irish exceeded, therefore, by 2,300 the aggregate number of English and Scotch together. Those were two counties, it would be observed, not on the west coast of Scotland, but on the east coast of Scotland. " In respect of the western counties, he was desirous to have obtained similar information with regard to the county of Lanark, but unfortunately the county of Lanark had no county police. " He thought that the increase of Irish vagrancy in Scotland at the very time when Irish vagrancy began to decrease in Ireland, and its continued increase during the past four years, while it had been diminishing in Ireland, afforded at least a very strong presumption that they had in Scotland a considerable number of the vagrants who had disappeared from Ireland." Mr. William Smyth e, formerly secretary to the Board of Super- vision of the Poor in Scotland, said, " The chief inducement operating upon the poorer Irish to come to Scotland was, he thought, that they heard from their friends who had come over that there was some employment likely to be got for them. He thought that they came in search of employment, that there were very AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 281 few cases, excepting those who might come to their relations, of parties who did not come seeking employment. They were very likely uneasy at home, and they thought that any change which they might have would be for the better; they fancied that Edinburgh and Glasgow were wealthy places, and that there were many odd jobs there by which they could pick up a livelihood. After having come, he would wish to observe that the vagrancy laws in Scotland were by no means stringent, and that if they found that they could not obtain a livelihood by industrious labour there was very little check upon their going about the country begging. " One of the complaints which were made with respect to the Irish who came over — and a complaint that certainly had some grounds for existence — was that the men found employment ; but that while the men were employed, the women and children went out begging. He had heard that complaint often made in all parts of the country. " They were very anxious to pick up money from any quarter whatever, during the period that they were resident in a district. " He did not think that they entertained the same repugnance to mendicancy — they did not fancy that it was so degrading a profession as the native Scotch did." The Rev. Augustus Campbell, rector and chairman of the Select Vestry of Liverpool, presented the following return : — Number of Paupers passed to Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and Guernsey, from 26th December, 1845, to 25th December, 1853, with the Expense. Total passed. Ireland. Scot- land. Isle of Man. Guern- sey. Total Cost. 26 Dec. 1845 to 25 Dec. 1846 „ 1846 „ 1847 „ 1847 „ 1848 „ 1848 „ 1849 „ 1849 „ 1850 „ 1850 „ 1851 „ 1851 „ 1852 „ 1852 „ 1853 5,649 15,472 8,239 10,071 8,102 8,232 6,004 4,820 5,313 15,008 7,607 9,509 7,627 7,808 5,506 4,503 330 443 612 543 463 406. 483 302 6 21 20 19 12 13 9 13 5 6 2 £ s. d. 1,197 1 6 4,175 11 3 2.459 8 6 2,568 3 10 1,487 15 6 1,968 19 10 1.460 2 6 1,124 13 6 66,589 62,881 3,582 113 13 16,441 16 5 He also read the following letter from the late Mr. Rushton to the Home Secretary, dated April 21, 1849 : — 2S2 YAGEAXTS AND YAGEAXCY, " You already know the results of this accumulation of misery in the crowded town of Liverpool, of the cost of relief at once rendered necessary to prevent the thousands of hungry and naked Irish perishing in our streets, and also of the cost of the pesti- lence which generally follows in the train of famine and misery, such as we then had to encounter. I do not enter into the details of this misery, further than to say that though the pecuniary cost to the town of Liverpool was enormous, the loss of valuable lives was yet much more to be deplored ; hundreds of patients perished, notwithstanding all efforts made to save them, and ten Roman Catholic * and one Protestant clergyman, many parochial officers, and many medical men who devoted themselves to alleviating the sufferings of the wretched, died in the discharge of those high duties. " I believe I have in my former letters to you, stated my con- viction that the presence of this miserable population would mate- rially affect the health and character of our own labouring classes ; my worst anticipations have been realised. I am unfortunately enabled, by the results of my daily experience, to show you how much the health of the people has suffered, and I am enabled by exact details to show you how greatly the Irish misery has in- creased crime in Liverpool. In the year 1846 18,171 prisoners were brought before the police-court ; in 1847 the number increased to 19,719 ; and in 1848 a further increase took place, and the numbers were 22,036. In the year 1845 the number of committed for trial, and summarily convicted for felony, amounted to 3,889 ; in 1846 the number increased to 4,740, in 1847 to 6,510, and in 1848 to 7,714. I do not possess the means of accurately distinguishing the countries to which the criminals belong before the year 1848 ; previous to that time I had, how ever, directed my attention to the subject, and I saw from day to day that the poor Irish population, forced upon us in a state of wretchedness which cannot be described, would within twelve hours after they landed be found among one of three classes, viz. paupers, vagrants, or thieves. Few became claimants for paro- chial relief, for in that case they soon discovered they might be at once sent back to Ireland. Many of these forlorn creatures became beggars, many of them thieves." * Mr. Campbell stated his belief that this was an error, and that the number of Roman Catholic clergymen who died was six, and not one Protestant. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 283 Mr. Campbell then stated that " his belief was that a great proportion of the mendicants in Liverpool were Irish ; and in times of great pressure they had found it absolutely necessary, on the part of the Select Vestry, to put placards upon the walls entreating the inhabitants not to give money to unknown beggars in the street, but to send them when they applied for relief in the street, either to the parish officers or to the District Provident Society. " It was a matter of notoriety that the Irish poor generally very willingly applied for out-door relief; in ten years £74,078 was expended in out-door relief to the Irish ; the workhouse relief to them was £44,505, the industrial school £5,424." Mr. John Evans, assistant overseer of Liverpool, stated that, " The class of Irish who came merely for the purpose of begging did not come now in any number as compared with former years." Mr. James Salter, relieving officer of the Newport Union, Mon- mouthshire, said that, " The class of Irish who applied to him for removal orders were men who had been up to London, or in dif- ferent parts of the country to work during the harvest ; they generally got some little money and went back in the winter. He had had many of them searched, and had scarcely ever found anything upon these individuals ; but he had subsequently found that they had employed a man that they had confidence in, and this man had been their cashier ; he had had the whole of the money ; he himself had preceded them by a vessel, having pur- chased his own passage to Ireland, and left these parties to apply to him (the relieving officer) for orders of removal to send them home, or for assistance : they asked more for assistance to send them home than anything else." CHAPTER XIII. 1854—1882. Arguments in favour of establishing industrial schools for vagrant children — Legislation of 1857 — Subsequent amendments of the Industrial Schools' Act — Evasion of the maintenance of vagrants by Metropolitan Boards of Guardians — Attempted remedy by the Houseless Poor Act of 1864 — Accommodation provided for vagrants — Reports on vagrancy by the Poor Law Inspectors in 1866 — Character of tramps and their conduct in the vagrant wards — Estimated proportion of vagrants who devote themselves to idleness, crime, &c. — Average ages of vagrants — Arson by tramps — Systematic communication amongst them — Increase of vagrancy — Legis- lation of 1871 — Vagrant Italian children in England — Committee of 1879 on settlement — Decrease of Irish vagrancy in England and its causes — Further increase of vagrancy and its causes — The Casual Poor Act, 1882. In the course of the year 1854 Mr. Dunlop, M.P. for Greenock, brought in and carried a Bill for rendering Reformatory and In- dustrial Schools more available for the benefit of juvenile delin- quents and vagrant children in Scotland. In 1857 the subject was taken up on similar lines as regards England by Sir Stafford Northcote, afterwards Earl of Iddesleigh, who moved for leave to bring in a Bill to make better provision for the care and education of vagrant, destitute, and disorderly children and for the extension of industrial schools. He said that, " The large class of children to whom the Bill referred was one peculiarly demanding their care and attention, not simply from motives of humanity, but from reasons of State policy con- nected with our criminal legislation. The difficulty of dealing with our criminals would be materially diminished if we could cut off the supply of those criminals at its source ; and, as the worst of them were those who had been trained to crimes from their earliest years, the best interests of society would be consulted by taking them in hand before they became hardened. <; The reports of our prison inspectors appeared to show that about 7,000 were annually added to the criminal class of this country ; VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY. 285 that might be, and he hoped was, an over-estimate ; but the number, whatever it was, represented a much larger body of children who ran about the streets, getting constantly into trouble, and continually coming into the hands of the police, and on whom our present schools failed to make any impression. In Bristol, last year, there were apprehended of this class 525 children under sixteen years of age, of whom only 126 were committed for trial or summarily convicted, the remainder being left to wander about uncared for. In Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and other populous towns, a similar state of things unhappily prevailed. This class not only constituted a dangerous element in our society, but, from their neglected condition, had a strong claim on our pity. How, he asked, did our existing institutions meet the wants of this class ! The national schools did not meet the de- mand, for they were too high to meet the children in question. The children with whom his Bill proposed to deal would not choose to mix in their rags with the children of a superior class who now attended the national schools, neither was the discipline of those schools such as was necessary for the proper government of children of the lowest class, who required not a high scale of education, but the training of strict discipline and control In support of this Bill he would call the attention of the House to the successful working of the Scotch Act, the operation of which had been attended by a marked decrease in the committals of juvenile offenders. In Aberdeen, before the establishment of the free schools, the average annual number of juvenile vagrants taken into custody by the police was 342, while the average annual number in five years after their establishment was only six. In Edinburgh and Glasgow similar results had been produced/ ' This Bill fell through in consequence of the dissolution of Parliament, but on the assembling of the new Parliament in the same year was reintroduced by Mr. Add erle^_af(^r-wards- -Loxd , Norton, who stated that, ' ' It was calculated that the number of children, in this kingdom alone, who might be dealt with under a measure of this nature, was about 50fiJ)(L At present no means of education whatever were provided for these unfortunate chil- dren. The late Mr. Tufnell said that they were the class of children for whose education it was most important that the State should make provision, and that their redemption from idle and dissolute habits would do more to promote the true interests of 286 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, the country than any number of gaols and gibbets. In fact, these children formed the basis of an hereditary class of criminals, the insuperable difficulty of disposing of whom the House had to- night been discussing for some hours." * The Bill subsequently became law as the Industrial Schools Act, 1857 (20 and 21 Yict., c. 48), entitled an Act to make better Provision for the Care and Education of Vagrant, Destitute, and Disorderly Children. It enacts that any child who, in the opinion of the justices, is above the age of seven and under fourteen taken into custody on a charge of vagrancy may be sent to a Certified Industrial School for any period not exceeding one week while inquiries are made for the parent, guardian, or nearest adult rela- tive of the child. At the end of this period the justice may order the child to be discharged altogether, or may deliver him up to his parent or guardian on his giving an assurance in writing that he will be responsible for the good behaviour of the child for any period not exceeding twelve months. In default of this assurance the child may be sent for such period as the justices may think necessary for his education and training to a Certified Industrial School. If a child again commits an act of vagrancy after an assurance given by the parent or guardian and through his neglect within the period for which he has become responsible, the justices may inflict a fine upon him not exceeding 40s. Children may be discharged on good security being found. Parents may be ordered to pay a sum not exceeding 3s. a week until the child attains fifteen. Children absconding may be sent back to school, and any person who induces them to abscond or knowingly conceals or harbours them is liable to a penalty not exceeding £2. The Com- mittee of Council on Education may certify Industrial Schools. 7 In 1860 a proposal was sent from the Privy Council Office to the Home Office to transfer the schools to the latter department on the ground that they were schools having a penal character, and this was carried into effect by the 23 and 24 Yict., c. 108. In the year 1861 Sir George Lewis, as Home Secretary, intro- duced a new Bill, stating as a reason that some technical objections rendered the existing Act difficult to be carried into execution, and that the present Bill, attempted to put the enactments of the Act into a more working form. This Bill subsequently became law as the Industrial Schools Act, .1861 (24 and 25 Yict., c. 113), and * Alluding to the discussion on the Transportation and Penal Servitude Bill introduced earlier in the evening by Sir George Grey. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 287 entitled an Act for amending and consolidating the Law relating to Industrial Schools. It enacts the following description of chil- dren liable to be sent to school. Any child apparently under the age of fourteen begging or receiving alms or being in any street or public place for that pur- pose. Any child of the same age found wandering and not having any home or settled place of abode, or any visible means of sub- sistence, or who frequents the company of reputed thieves. Any child apparently under the age of twelve who has com- mitted an offence punishable by imprisonment, but who ought in the opinion of the justices to be sent to an Industrial School. Any child under fourteen whose parent represents that he is unable to control him and that he desires him to be sent to an Industrial School and will pay for his maintenance. Any person may bring a child coming within these descrip- tions before a Justice, who may send him to the workhouse for a week pending inquiries, and then commit him to an Industrial School until he attains the age of fifteen. The Justices may order the parent to pay any sum not exceeding 5s. a week to- wards his maintenance. Any child absconding from school may be sent back or committed to a Reformatory School, and any person who directly or indirectly withdraws a child from school, or who induces or aids him to abscond, or knowingly conceals or harbours him, is liable to a penalty not exceeding £5. This Act repeals the 20 and 21 Vict., c. 48, and 23 and 24 Vict., c. 108. The Act is to remain in force until January 1, 1864. The 25 and 26 Vict., c. 10 (1862), continues this Act until January 1, 1867. In the year 1866 it was resolved to consolidate and amend the Acts, and this was effected by the 29 and 30 Vict., c. 118 (10th August, 1866), known as the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, and entitled an Act to consolidate and amend the Acts relating to the \ Industrial Schools in Great Britain. It enacts that any person may bring before two Justices or a Magistrate any child apparently under the age of fourteen that comes within any of the following descriptions : — " That is found begging or receiving alms (whether actually or under the pretext of offering anything for sale), or that is found in any street or public place for a similar purpose. " " That is found wandering and not having any home or settled 288 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, place of abode or proper guardianship or visible means of subsis- tence. " That is found destitute, either being an orphan or having a surviving parent who is undergoing penal servitude or imprison- ment. " That frequents the company of reputed thieves. " Any child apparently under twelve charged with an offence punishable by imprisonment may also be sent to an Industrial School. Refractory children under the age of fourteen in the charge of their parents or in workhouses or pauper schools may also be sent to Industrial Schools. A child may be sent to the workhouse pending inquiries. A child apparently above ten who refuses to conform to the rules of the school may be sent to hard labour for any term not less than fourteen days nor more than three months and at the expiration of the time he may be sent to a reformatory. A child escaping from the school may be sent back, or if apparently above ten may instead be sentenced by the Justices to hard labour for any time not less than fourteen days nor more than three months, and at the expiration of this time he may be sent to a Reformatory. Any person who know- ingly assists a child to escape or induces him to do so, or harbours or conceals him or prevents him from returning to school, is on conviction liable to a penalty not exceeding £20, or imprisonment not exceeding two months with or without hard labour. Parents, step-parents, or other persons legally liable to maintain a child may be ordered to contribute a sum not exceeding 5s. a week towards his maintenance. The detention is to cease on the child attaining sixteen. This Act repeals the 24 and 25 Vict., c. 113, 24 and 25 Yict., c. 132 (Scotland), and 25 and 26 Vict., c. 10." The following additions have since been made to this Act. The 35 and 36 Yict., c. 21 (1872), enacts that " Section 12 of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, shall extend to authorise the prison authority in England themselves to undertake anything towards which they are authorised by that section to contri- bute." The 34 and 35 Yict., c. 112, s. 14 (1871), provides that, " Where any woman is convicted of a crime, and a previous conviction of crime is proved against her, any children of such woman under the age of fourteen years who may be under her care and control at the time of her conviction for the last of such crimes, and who AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 289 have no visible means of subsistence, or are without proper guar- dianship, shall be deemed to be children to whom in Great Bri- tain the provisions of the Industrial Schools Act, 1866, and in Ireland the provisions of the Industrial Schools (Ireland) Act, 1868, apply." Under the Elementary Education Act, 1870 (33 and 34 Yict., c. 75, s. 27), " A School Board shall have the same powers of con- tributing money in the case of an Industrial School as is given to a Prison Authority by Section 12 of ' The Industrial Schools Act, 1866/ A School Board may also establish an Industrial School, and may appoint officers to bring children before two justices or a magistrate in order to their being sent to an Industrial School.' ' Under the Elementary Education Act, 1876 (39 and 40 Yict., c. 76), " If either the parent of any child above the age of five years prohibited from being taken into full time employment, habitually and without reasonable excuse neglects to provide efficient elementary instruction for his child ; or, " Any child is found habitually wandering or not under proper control, or in the company of rogues, vagabonds, disorderly per- sons, or reputed criminals, it shall be the duty of the Local Authority, after due warning to the parent of the child, to com- plain to a court of summary jurisdiction, and the court may order the child to attend some certified efficient school willing to receive him. " Where an attendance Order is not complied with, without any reasonable excuse within the meaning of this Act, a court of summary jurisdiction, on complaint made l?y the Local Autho- rity, may, " In the first case of non-compliance, if the parent of the child does not appear, or appears and fails to satisfy the court that he has used all reasonable efforts to enforce compliance with the order, impose a penalty not exceeding with the costs five shillings ; but if the parent satisfies the court that he has used all reasonable efforts, the court may, without inflicting a penalty, order the child to be sent to a Certified Day Industrial School, or if it appears to the court that there is no such school suitable for the child, then to a Certified Industrial School ; and " In the second or any subsequent case of non-compliance with the order, the court may order the child to be sent to a Certified Day Industrial School, or if it appears to the court that there is • u 290 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, no such school suitable for the child, then to a Certified Industrial School." By Section 16 of the " Elementary Education Act, 1876," authority is given to the Secretary of State to Certify a Day Industrial School if he is satisfied that, "owing to the circum- stances of any class of population in any school district, a school in which industrial training, elementary education, and one or more meals a day, but not lodging, are provided for the children, is necessary or expedient for the proper training and control of the children of such class." The same legal power of detention is given to the managers of Day Industrial Schools, during the hours authorised by the Rules of the School and approved by the Secretary of State, as the Managers of other Certified Industrial Schools have. Magistrates did not in the first instance make use of the Industrial Schools to the extent that had been contemplated by the framers of the Act. In the year 1861 only 358 children were com- mitted in England and 650 in Scotland ; in 1865 the numbers, amounted to 475 and 300 respectively. After the passing of the Act of 1866 the numbers, however, rose rapidly. In 1867 the number committed in England was 1,378 and in Scotland 605. After the passing of the Elementary Education Act they increased in 1871 to 1,957 and 926 respectively, and in 1884 they amounted to 3,059 for England and 936 for Scotland, of whom 3,114 were boys and 881 girls. Concurrently with the establishment of these schools the number of juvenile offenders under sixteen years of age committed to prison for crime decreased from 13,981 in 1856 to 8,977 in 1871. The influence of the Day Industrial Schools is also said to be good, and that the children rapidly improve in decency and good order. In the meantime the adult Vagrant was regarded as a nuisance by most Metropolitan Boards of Guardians, and the policy gene- rally adopted was to endeavour to evade the responsibility of enter- taining him. In one case a board was hung outside a workhouse with " Take Notice — the Casual Wards are Full," when there was not a casual ward in the place. In another parish, cold water was poured on the vagrants when they assembled outside the workhouse for the purpose of obtaining admission. An inquiry undertaken by direction of the President of the Poor Law Board AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 291 in 1863 showed that in the whole metropolis there was accommo- dation for 997 destitute vagrants and wayfarers, and that that accommodation was very unevenly distributed. It was also esti- mated that there were 1,400 persons homeless. and destitute every night. Meantime the number of voluntary night refuges for this class had increased from 3 to 12 in number, accommodating at least 1,000 persons. In the year 1864 the Eight Hon. C. P. Villiers, then President of the Poor Law Board, introduced a Bill for remedying this state of things, observing that the 7 and 8 Vict., c. 101, had never been enforced, because the machinery was found to be cumbrous and costly. Fears were expressed that the proposed Bill would increase vagrancy, and Mr. Briscoe, M.P., stated that "some time ago he had met a party of people going about begging. They told him they were bricklayers from Windsor, and their reason for coming to London was that they understood they should get at any workhouse food and a night's lodging, so that thty could ' chance it ' for the day." The Bill, however, became law under the title of the Metropolitan Houseless Poor Act, 1864 (27 & 28 Vict., c. 116). It recites that it is expedient that provision should be made for distributing the charge of the relief of certain poor persons in the Metropolis during the ensuing winter otherwise than is now lawful. It then enacts that Guardians of Parishes or Unions in the Metropolis may keep account of relief to destitute wayfarers, wanderers or found- lings during the hours from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., and obtain reim- bursement from the Metropolitan Board of Works. This relief is to include food and articles of necessity and the cost of lodging or shelter, but not money given to them. Where no adequate accommodation exists the Gfuardians are required to provide wards or other places of reception for destitute wayfarers and foundlings having regard to the number of such persons likely to require relief ; in default they are not to be entitled to the benefit of this Act. In 1865 this Act was made perpetual by 28 Vict., c. 34. This Act also gave power to the police to conduct destitute wayfarers to the wards which were ordered to be open for their admission from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. from October to March inclusive, and from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. from April to September inclusive. The result of the passing of these Acts was that accommodation was provided for 1,539 males, 974 females, and 32 children, or a total of 2,545, which the returns furnished to the Poor Law Board u 2 292 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, showed was ample, and as a consequence the misery and dis- tress previously observable about the London streets largely decreased. The number of admissions rapidly rose. In Marylebone, for the half-year to Lady Day, 1865, they amounted to 4,749 ; at Michaelmas, 1865, to 10,676 ; at Lady Day, 1866, to 19,322 ; and at Michaelmas, 1866, they fell to 10,012. The increase at the commencement was attributed to the closing of the Night Refuges, and the decrease in 1866 to the fact that the police began to be employed as Assistant Relieving Officers on the 21st February, 1866, and that the vagrants disliked having to go before them in order to obtain admission to the wards. A temporary check occurred in December, 1864, owing to the baths for the use of vagrants being then completed, and their being compelled to use them. For two months preceding the erection of the baths the number of casuals admitted was 2,429, while for four months afterwards, or double the time, the number only amounted to 2,320. In 1865 about 50 per cent, of the casuals at Marylebone stated that they had not been in London three days ; 3,122 were English, 984 Irish, 103 Scotch, and 45 Welsh. Nearly all the male applicants were able- bodied, between the ages of 18 and 35, and a very large number of women were refused admission for being in a state of intoxica- tion. In the Whitechapel Union the numbers relieved gradually rose from 5,411 in 1864 to .20,343 in 1869. Upon observation being made on the 25th October, 1869, it was found that of 71 vagrants relieved, 55 (or 77 per cent.) were personally known to the superintendent as habitual wanderers or professional vagrants. The principal influx in the metropolis it was found occurred on the eve of public executions, important horse-races such as the Derby, and other public spectacles of a popular character. The first of these attractions, however, ceased to exist in 1868, as the last public execution took place on the 26th of May in that year. In the year 1866 a fresh series of valuable Reports on Yagrancy was made to the Poor Law Board by the Poor Law Inspectors. The character of the tramps is thus described : — " Among the tramping community are many wretched beings who could not, if they would, take any effective step to escape from their condition. Outcasts from society by their crimes or vices, or unpleasant ways, or unbearable temper, they would seek in vain for employment. Who would willingly employ a filthy jail- AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 293 bird or a ragged deserter ? What respectable labourer would willingly work with such a vagabond ? Some tramps have been from birth in the lowest grade, and have never been able to sur- mount the obstacles arising from early vicious association, or inferior bodily or mental organization. They exhibit an excessive misery and squalor which inspire disgust rather than compassion."* " Tramps are for the most part, if not criminals, at least on the verge of crime. The greater portion of them have never done a week's work consecutively in their lives, and, if they can help it, never intend to do one. From many who have been taken ill on their journey, and had, for a time, to remain in the Wrexham Workhouse, it has been ascertained that they have, since shortly after the passing of the new Poor Law, passed their time circling from union to union, and either begged or stole to eke out an existence." f " As a general rule, the ' casual ward ' of a workhouse so far from being the temporary refuge of deserving poor, is a place of rendezvous for thieves and prostitutes and other vagabonds of the lowest class, gangs of whom " work " allotted districts, and make their circuits with as much regularity as the Judges." J The Master of Atcham Workhouse, in Shropshire, says — " The class of persons received there as vagrants are, gene- rally speaking, men who hardly ever do any sort of work, but who go about the country from workhouse to workhouse, to beg, intimidate, or steal, as opportunity offers. As an illustration, he mentions the case of two strong men, well known both to the police and himself. These men had between two and three pounds of food each when searched on their admission. The Master remarked to them that theirs seemed to be a profitable occupation ; their reply was, ' We are the men to make it so, for if we cannot get it by fair means we will have it by foul ; if we cannot beg we steal.' " The opinion, founded upon experience, of the Master of New- port (Salop) Workhouse of tramps who come there for casual relief is that they are the most worthless and reckless class that he has any knowledge of, and that they are composed of thieves of every sort, deserters from the army, bad characters discharged * Report of Mr. John T. Graves. t Statement of Mr. Kemp, previously master of the Wrexham Workhouse. X Report of Mr. Andrew Doyle. 294 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, from the army as such, runaway apprentices and idle vagabonds of every kind who will not work, and prefer the vagabond life of a vagrant to any other. The Master of Wem Workhouse instances the case of a young woman who was put into the vagrant ward. A short time after came a young man ; he inquired if a young woman had been put up ; the porter said " Yes ; " he said, " Where is she?" the porter replied, " Up-stairs ; " he said, " I am going to sleep with her;" the porter said, "I am sure you are not;" he said, "I shall," and was impertinent, and the Master was fetched, who spoke to him and told him he could not allow anything of the kind. The young man was very abusive, and said he would have his 3d., as he gave the young woman 3d. before she came in, to sleep with her The Master sent for the policeman, but he left before the policeman came. The Master further adds, " Almost all tramps are filthy, dirty, and covered with vermin. They get so dirty that they cannot wear their clothing any longer, so go into the tramp wards, and in the course of the night tear up their clothing; this has occurred many times there. One evening (and this had happened several times) there came a vagrant ; he was shown into the vagrant wards ; he said, ' Is this the place where I am going to sleep ? ' the porter said ' Yes ;' he said, 'Then go to hell, and sleep there yourself/ and so left." The Master of Walsall says he has many times listened at the tramp ward doors to overhear their conversation. At odd times he has heard as follows : " How did you get in, Bill ? " " Oh, I told the b y gaffer that I walked from Stone to-day ; he said he didn't believe me, but he let me in." He heard another say, himself and So-and-so stole a loaf out of a baker's shop at Aberga- venny, and how they knocked the " Bobby " * down and got away. He heard another say that he would tell them a " stunning " f workhouse for a good supper and breakfast. "Much. Wenlock (Madeley), lads, that's the place." Another said, "I'll tell you a house always good for twopence. Do you know that big white house on the right-hand side as you go into Lichfield ? " " Yes." " Well, then, I have had it there many a time, and I know it's always good for it." Another said Dudley Workhouse was the worst place for skilley + that he ever was at, &c, &c. The Master of Wrexham considers that for low cunning, outward immoral conduct, obscene language, and, in many cases, bare- * Policeman. t First rate. % Gruel. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 295 faced lying and stealing, vagrants in general are not to be sur- passed by the most depraved outcasts of the metropolis. The Relieving Officer of Birkenhead says — " Yagrants are young and old unmarried persons of both sexes who gain their living by any means but honest industry." He classifies them as follows : — " Thieves on the look out, low prostitutes, beggars of both sexes and all ages, hawkers of petty articles, such as watches, caps, laces, bead ornaments, steel pens, writing paper (or anything which will serve to approach a house, to find what can be obtained by fair or foul means) ; and begging-letter writers, smashers,* ballad singers, tra velling tinkers, china menders, umbrella repair- ers, f either of which description of business can be much more profitably carried on if the person be aged, lame, or can gracefully assume to be so, or be successful in just keeping alive a delicate child, because greater sympathy will be thereby excited." Their general conduct in the vagrant wards at night is thus depicted : — The Master of Great Boughton, in Cheshire, says he frequently hears them about 9 o'clock at night singing obscene songs, cursing and swearing, or relating some begging adventure. The Master of Madeley observes that — " The police of that town are of opinion that the greater part of the vagrants who come before them are men who never want work, and make a trade of tramping the country, begging, and stealing. They frequently see them in different public-houses before they come to have their tickets signed. . . . Many of them spend a great part of the night in singing and dancing, and telling each other their adventures and the whereabouts of other acquaintances. They all go by slang names, and are known to each other by them." The experience of the Master of Shiffnal is, that "Tramps sometimes obtain orders from the relieving officer between 6 and 7 o'clock, get them countersigned by the police constable, and then stop at public-houses in the town till between 11 and 12, when they come to the workhouse and disturb the in- mates by violently shouting and kicking at the outer doors. The early part of the night in the ward is spent in giving each other an account of the previous day's route, frauds, and success, inquir- * Persons who pass counterfeit coin. t Styled in " Tramps' cant " Mushroom fakers. 296 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, ing after companions, and repeating obscene and disgusting tales and songs. That some have received a liberal education or are possessed of great natural gifts is evident from some good drawings sketched with pencil upon the walls of the ward, or verses nicely written, but on the most obscene subjects. Parties who have been in the tramp ward are frequently taken into custody by the police within an hour after their discharge on charges of vagrancy." The Master of Wem states that — " A great many of the tramps that come there swear most fear- fully ; only tell them of something that they may have done wrong, and then you get your eyes and limbs cursed fearfully. He has stood at the door after locking up tramps, and has many times heard them telling where they have called at that day, and saying, ' You must take care when you go, there ' (describing the house) ' is a large dog also, at another place, ' You will get plenty to eat and to bring away ; but don't go to such a place, you will get nothing so that, generally, the places are marked out, which is good and which is bad ; also, saying they are going to such places, to the races, and stating what arrangements they have made with others to meet at certain places. A woman and three children came there about three weeks previously ; she was so drunk that she could scarcely walk, and swore most dreadfully." The following estimates are given of the proportion of vagrants who devote themselves exclusively to idleness, begging, or crime. The Chief Constable of Chester is " decidedly of opinion that, estimated roughly, 75 per cent, of vagrants never work, but spend their time in tramping from union to union. In fact, he had at that moment the. names, or rather the nicknames, of between 30 and 40 men and women known as the ' Long Gang/* and who ' worked' Cheshire and North Wales in pairs, visiting Liverpool when they got possession of anything that they could not safely dispose of elsewhere. Most of these were thieves, robbing clothes-lines, stables, &c." The Master of Great Bonghtou is of opinion " that at least 18 out of every 20 vagrants are either thieves, or have fully given them- selves up to a life of idleness and vagrancy. They have some every week who admit they have been in gaol." * A criminal confederacy, in which the members of the gang assume the characters of thriving tradesmen, at different addresses, and frequently in dif- ferent towns. They act as referees for one another for the purpose of obtaining credit, and dispose of all goods consigned to them the moment they obtain them. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 297 The opinion of the Master of Burton-on- Trent of the character of the vagrants is, " that about two-thirds of them are regular beggars, very coarse in their manner and language, many appa- rently uneducated, very badly clothed, and appear to have done no work for a long time." The Master of Ettesmere is clearly of opinion " that a very great majority of the males are thorough idle scamps, and the females generally appear to be disreputable characters, both sexes giving the most absurd names and routes. For instance, on the 13th of May, 1865, three young fellows gave the names of George Fordham, Jemmy Grimshaw, and Luke Snowdon, three of the most noted jockeys of the day, and whom they afterwards acknowledged as having seen riding at Chester Races during the week." The Master of Leek states as his opinion that "about two-thirds of the number of males are idle youths and young men who pre- tend to be in search of employment, but who really do not want to obtain work. He finds that many of them have been regularly admitted inmates of workhouses, and disliking the discipline and employment they meet with there, they leave, and take to tram ping- about the country, living by begging in the daytime, and trusting to getting shelter for the night in the tramp wards of workhouses." The Master of Stafford states — " Two-thirds of them are a lazy, indolent, and vicious set of persons, hardened in every kind of vice and infamy, insomuch that when work is offered to them they refuse the offer and curse you for your pains. Their chief characteristic seems to be to lounge about the streets by day begging, and then spend what they can get in tobacco and beer, and finally resort to the different unions at night." The Superintendent of the Ludlow Police says " that 90 per cent, of the vagrants who apply to him for tickets of admission to the Union House consist of that class of tramps who go wandering from town to town under the pretence of looking for work, but praying at the same time ' that they may never find any.' " The following evidence is furnished as to the ages of tramping vagrants : — The Master of Newport (Salop) says — " The average age of the vagrants admitted into this house is about 30 years, and there are about as many youths under 20 as there are men about 40. Very few old men indeed, and still fewer old women." 298 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, The Relieving Officer of Birkenhead states — " The great majority are young men and women from 16 to 27 years of age, unmarried, but travelling together as man and wife. It does not require long acquaintance to form this connexion, and it is as soon broken up, their only home being a prison, a vagrant shed, or a night lodging-house ; in this way they travel from town to town the kingdom over, staging it from workhouse to work- house, calculating as certainly on the provisions which the law has made for them, as if they had the means at their own disposal." The Constable at Congleton, who acts as relieving officer, says that — " Seventy per cent, who apply to him for relief are able-bodied, from 16 to 35 or 40 years of age, and are of a class he may call confirmed vagrants. On searching them he generally finds about 1 Jd. in money, a good supply of bread, cheese, and other eatables, tobacco, one or two knives, constructed so as they could easily be used for housebreaking, a memorandum book, which contains a list of the principal towns, unions, &c, which they travel through, and the names of friends, low lodging-house keepers, whose houses they frequent." The following examples of the reckless resort to the crime of arson on the part of tramps are given : — The Master of Ellesmere mentions the case of two young vagrants, who slept there on the 27th of August, 1865, and set fire to a haystack, close to the town, on the next day, for which they were each sentenced to five years' penal servitude at the Shropshire Winter Assizes. One of them, Thomas Smith, aged 19, proved to be the same person whom the Master got com- mitted to gaol for a month's hard labour, only on the 2nd of May previous, for tearing up his clothes. The Master of Newport (Salop) says — " One night, the beginning of last winter, several tramps were admitted into that house. He knew most of them as regular vagrants, two of them especially. The next morning but one a police officer came there to inquire after two men who had set fire to, and burnt down entirely, a large stackyard about four miles from there, and from his description he at once knew them to be these two tramps. They were taken at Market Drayton, where they were in custody for tearing up their clothes. When charged with the arson they coolly confessed it, and gave as a reason that the farmer refused to give them alms when they went to his house to beg." AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 299 The Master of Shiffnal gives the following instances, of this vicious manifestation of spiteful malignity : — "February, 1863. — William Woodward and Thomas Kent, after leaving the tramp ward, set fire to a stack of hay in a field adjoining the workhouse garden, and went direct to the police station and stated what they had done. " August, 1864.— Two tramps set fire to the rickyard of Mr. Edwin Edwards, Brockton Grange, Sheriffhales, in this union, and were taken into custody in Market Drayton tramp ward the day after. "August, 1865. — Two tramps, after leaving this tramp ward, set fire to a large barley rick, the property of Mr. Boulton, of Lea Farm, Albrighton, in this Union. " The Master of Wrexham supplies the following examples : — " About three months ago, two, who had passed the night at this union, were committed for setting fire to a stack of hay, and another for the same offence last week. One who has often visited here was lately committed for an attempt at highway robbery, and another is now lying in Kuthin gaol under a sentence of transportation for theft." The system of inter-communication amongst tramps alluded to in the reports of 1848 is thus further illustrated by the Chief Con- stable of Chester : — " The perfect system of communication among tramps is sur- prising. I have tested it, and find that about two days are suffi- cient to promulgate a new regulation, &c, among the fraternity. My first test was causing every male to be searched, and burning pipes and tobacco found upon them. Every professional tramp carries a favourite pipe, and, as a rule, has half an ounce of tobacco per day. After two or three nights not one of the applicants had either pipe or tobacco, having hidden these luxuries before enter- ing the police-office. The second test was searching for money, and with a like result." If confirmation were wanted of the truth of the representations as to the character and habits of the vagrant class, it is furnished by themselves in the notices which they usually leave behind them upon the walls and doors of the vagrant wards. Here are some of the notices copied from the vagrant wards of different workhouses : — " Private Notice. — Saucy Harry and his moll * will be at Chester * Girl. 300 YAGBAXTS AXD VAGEANCY, to eat their Christmas dinner, when they hope Saucer and the rest of the fraternity will meet them at theunion. — 14th November, 1865. " "Notice to Long Cockney, or Cambridge, or any of the fraternity. — Harry the Mark was here from Carmarthen, and if anybody of the Yorkshire tramps wishes to find him, he is to be found in South Wales for the next three months. — 17th August, 1865." " Yankey Ben, with Hungerford Tom and Stockport Ginger. — The oakum was tried to be burned here on 28th October by Messrs. John Whittington, Joseph Walker, Thos. Pickering, Jas. Hawthornwaite.' 5 " Wild Scoty, the celebrated king of the cadgers, is in Xewgate, in London, going to be hanged by the neck till he is dead ; this is a great fact. — Written by his mote" " Never be ashamed of cadging. I was worth fiye hundred pounds once, and now I am glad to cadge for a penny or a piece of bread. — Lanky Torn." "If ragtailed Soph stays here (Shiffnal), come on to Stafford." " Shaver here, bound for Salop to see the E,ev. Henry Burton, a most benevolent minister of the Church of England, and may the devil fetch him soon." The late Mr. Burton, who is very correctly described, was also a magistrate well known amongst that class by his frequent con- viction of them. " George Day and William Jackson, 7th November, 1865, bound for Portmadoc." From a report in a local newspaper in the following week, it appears that " George Day " and " William Jackson," upon arriving at their destination, were captured and sent to gaol for robbery. " Poor hould Salford prig* Frank, was here on the 20th June, 1865, bound for the hill of good country, Wales, so no more at present from your poor Frank. Amen." " Browney will not have none of Prince Charles this winter, he is bound for Westmoreland and Cumberland, all padding canst in that country, no dirty rugs and boards." " Bow Street and two other ragamuffins slept here on the night of the 12th April, and was quite shocked at the clownish impudence of the old pauper at the lodge. The thundering old thief denied us a drink of water. So help me Bob." * A thief. t Tramps' lodging houses. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 301 **. Bishop's Castle Union Workhouse is a good one to be down in, but a damned bad lot of paupers about it." " The Dutchman was here on the 21st September, ragged and lousey, padding the hoof * and getting the mange quite fast. — - The Dutchman." " I should dearly like to marry if I could find Any gay old donner f suited to my mind. Jack Sheppard, from York." " This is a rum place for a fellow to come to for a night's lodg- ing ; you will never catch me here again. — Old Bob Bridley Oh / The internal arrangements of the Vagrant wards at this period, as in 1848, were still favourable to the spread of demoralising influences, as by herding all classes together at night, the most depraved tramps were enabled to tutor others in the worst forms of vice and crime. The insanitary condition of the wards must also have had a debasing effect. Br. Edward Smith furnishes the following description of the wards in country districts. " The Yagrant wards vary in charac- ter greatly. They are for the most part placed in detached low buildings, which, if of one story only, are low and open to the roof. In others they are placed in the roof of a building. Hence they are usually cold in winter and hot in summer, and when placed upon the ground floor are seldom quite dry. The ventila- tion is almost universally defective. There is rarely more than one window except in large workhouses, and that is usually placed in a position ill adapted for ventilation. It is very com- monly small, and if made to open and the bed is placed near to it, the vagrants close it. The cubic space allowed is usually sufficient, but at certain periods of the year the number of vagrants so greatly increase that the room becomes crowded, and not one-half of the proper cubic space is allowed. Thus it very frequently occurs that the maximum number admitted is three or four times greater than the average number." The principle of making the cost of maintaining vagrants a common charge upon the metropolis, introduced by the Houseless Poor Act of 1864, was reaffirmed by the Metropolitan Poor Act of 1867 (30 Yict., c. 6), which empowered the Poor Law Board to unite Unions and Parishes into districts for the relief of any class of poor, and enacted that the expenses of providing any * Tramping. t Woman (Italian donna). 302 VAGKANT8 AND VAGRANCY, asylum for the reception and relief of casual paupers should be repayable from the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund. In the year 1871, in consequence of the increase of vagrancy, the Earl of Kimberley introduced a Bill into the House of Lords for the purpose of increasing the stringency of the provisions of the Houseless Poor Act of 1864. In the course of his introductory remarks Lord Kimberley said — "There was some misconception in the public mind as to the exist- ing number of vagrants. The number actually relieved in the work- houses of England and Wales was not so large as was popularly imagined. Taking the night of the 1st of July, when it was usual to take a Census, the number relieved in 1866 was 1,086 in the metropolis, and 4,075 in the rest of England and Wales. In 1867, the numbers were 1,573 and 5,248 respectively ; in 1868, 2,085 and 7,946 ; in 1869, 1,802 and 7,020 ; and in 1870, 1,627 and 5,430. They did not, however, show the whole number of vag- rants in England and Wales. As far as could be ascertained by the police, the whole number on the night of the 1st of April, 1867, was 32,528 ; and in 1868, 36,179.* No later Returns had been published; but it was believed that such Returns would show a diminution corresponding with that exhibited by the Poor Law returns " One of the defects of the present law was, that the Poor Law Board had no power of securing uniformity of treatment as regarded food, lodging, and the labour test. Nothing could be worse than what now happened ; that the treatment was compara- tively inviting in one Union and deterrent in another." This Bill passed into law as " The Pauper Inmates Discharge and Regulation Act, 1871 " (34 and 35 Vict., c. 108). It recites that doubts are entertained as to the length of time for which paupers may be lawfully required to remain in workhouses after giving notice of their intention to discharge themselves : and then enacts that paupers who have not discharged themselves within one month before giving notice may be detained twenty-four hours ; those .who have discharged themselves once within that period, forty-eight hours ; and those who have dis- charged themselves more than twice in the preceding two months, seventy-two hours. A " casual pauper," who is defined to be a * The number of tramps' lodging houses in England and Wales in 1867-8 was 5,648, and wards for casuals are attached to nearly every workhouse (more than 600 in number). AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 303 destitute wayfarer or wanderer applying for relief, may not dis- charge himself before eleven a.m. on the day following his admis- sion nor before he has performed the work prescribed for him, and a casual pauper who has been admitted on more than two occasions during one month shall not be entitled to discharge himself before nine a.m. on the third day after his admission, and may be at any time removed to the workhouse for the remainder of his detention. For the purposes of the Act every casual ward in the metropolis is to be deemed to be a ward of the same Union. Casual paupers absconding, or escaping, refusing to be removed to any workhouse or asylum, refusing or neglecting the work prescribed for them, or wilfully giving a false name, or making a false statement for the purpose of obtaining relief, are to be deemed idle and dis- orderly persons, under 5 Geo. IV., c. 83, and any pauper who repeats these offences, or wilfully destroys or injures his own clothes, or damages the property of the guardians, is to be deemed a rogue and vagabond under the same Act. In the year 1877^ in consequence of a great number of Italian children being reported to be employed for mendicant purposes throughout the country, the Charity Organisation Society ap- pointed a Committee to inquire into the matter. This Committee reported that the ordinary circumstances under which the system was carried on was as follows : — Persons known as padroni, acting generally two together and working alternate six months in Italy and England, obtained the children from their parents in the Neapolitan districts, which are the least advanced of the Italian kingdom. They entered into a verbal contract with the parents to pay a fixed sum for the services of the children at the end of two years, and undertook to clothe and feed them during that period, and to teach them a " virtu," that is, to sing and play a musical instrument, " so that they might become as rich as the padroni themselves/' They were not brought by railroad, but were, made to walk the whole way through France, singing, play- ing, and dancing in the towns and villages through which they passed, and within the previous three years there had been at least four authenticated instances of children having died of sheer exhaustion after their arrival in England. They were then placed in depots in London, whence they were distributed throughout the country in suitable groups, under experienced members of the fraternity. They were sent into the streets by day to play, or to pretend to play, a musical instrument, singing and dancing in 304 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, time to it, and at night they performed in like manner in public- houses. They also exhibited guinea-pigs or white mice, and some- times, in order to excite compassion, a child of a few months old was carried about on the top of an organ placed on a barrow. On their return to their temporary abode the children had to deliver up the whole of their earnings to the padroni, of whom they stood in great awe, being threatened and otherwise ill-treated if they did not bring back enough to satisfy them. In recent years the importation of Italian girls had much increased. They slept in the same room as their padroni, and, sad to say, were used, under various pretences, for the most immoral purposes. A deputation was appointed to wait on the Home Secretary on the subject, and Sir Charles Trevelyan, in introducing it, said — " We are come to lay before you a case of slave trade and slavery in the midst of our English Christian civilisation. That this should have been possible is owing to two causes ; first, the extremely youthful, almost infantile, age of the unhappy children ; and secondly, their total ignorance of ouj language, and the general ignorance of their own language in England. These poor children are thus completely cut off from verbal intercourse with our people, so that, even if they were of sufficient age, and had the courage to claim our protection, they have no means of doing so for want of speech. This system has all the characteristics of a slave trade and slavery. In the first place the children are bought from their parents, on a two or three years' lease, by a class of professional persons who go by the most unsuitable name of ' padroni.' They are also often transferred from one of these professional persons to another for pecuniary considerations. Oc- casionally they are stolen by one padrone from another ; for the attractiveness of many of these children makes their services extremely lucrative ; and there are degrees of respectability even among the padroni. The poor children can often stand it no longer, and run away, which is their only resource ; and when they run away they are advertised for as if they were cattle. In fact, the practice is the same as formerly prevailed among our Liverpool and Bristol West Indian proprietors when the negro footmen and valets brought home by them to England thought they might take advantage of what was supposed to be a free country. Although the poor children earn from day to day con- siderable sums of money, yet they do not get a sixpence of it ; AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 305 neither are they allowed any wages, but only obtain their necessary keep. They are also coerced by harsh treatment and punishment. If they do not bring in as much money as the padroni expect, they rebuke them, stint them of their food, and too often severely whip them. They therefore live in constant fear of them." The Home Secretary (Sir R. A. Cross), in reply, promised that everything that could be done should be done to put an end to such a scandal, and as a result, through the efforts of the police, the traffic was suppressed — the Italian Government having previously done all in its power to put a stop to this abominable speculation. In the year 1879 a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the operation of the existing laws in the United Kingdom relating to the settlement and irremov- ability of paupers, with special reference to the case of removals to Ireland. The evidence given before this Committee showed that the im- migration of Irish paupers into England had largely diminished. Mr. II. J. Hagger, vestry clerk of Liverpool, furnished the following statistics of the number of paupers removed from Liverpool from 1869 to 1878, inclusive : — England. Ireland. Scotland. 1869 15 204 20 1870 15 120 9 1871 19 67 13 1872 15 82 1873 5 53 1874 26 95 2 1875 27 118 4 1876 18 112 3 1877 34 102 4 1878 29 88 6 203 1,041 61 He also stated that a Parliamentary Return made in pursuance of an Order of the House of Commons in 1854, signed by the Mayor of Liverpool, showed that during the year 1849, 80,000 persons came over from Ireland to Liverpool as deck passengers, who presented all the appearance of paupers ; the return being x 306 YAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, headed, " Deck Passengers, apparently Paupers ; " and there being a separate return for other deck passengers. In the following year, 1850, 77,700 of the same class came over ; in 1851, 68,100 came over ; in 1852, 78,400 came over ; and in 1853, 71,300 came over ; and then they seemed to have begun to fall off very rapidly, for the three months of 1854 given in the returns showed that the number was 4,500. Every year the pressure upon Liverpool and other ports caused by people coming from other countries and from Ireland was becoming one of less importance. Mr. Andrew Boyle, inspector of the Local Government Board, said, when he was first appointed upon the Commission, Liverpool was labouring under what was certainly a very great grievance in 1848, viz. an enormous influx of the very lowest and most miser- able class of Irish poor. He believed that the feeling of Liver- pool had been ever since and was now influenced very much by the recollection of the difficulty of that time. He did not think that the Liverpool people made sufficient allowance for the change that had taken place in the condition of the Irish poor from that time. In 1845 and 1846, just before the famine year, there was a population in Ireland of between 8,000,000 and 9,000,000. The exact number, according to the census of 1841, of the population of Ireland was 8,175,000 ; in 1851 there was a diminution to 6,552,000 ; and in 1871 it had fallen to 5,400,000, showing a reduction, from the period when Liverpool was under this appre- hension of 2,700,000 people, and that of exactly the class of people who were likely to become chargeable ; for, looking at the Census Return, it would be found that the holders of small hold- ings, of from one to five acres, numbered in 1841, 310,346, and in 1875, the number was 69,098. That was the class of people who would be likely to come in large numbers. He had known Ireland tolerably well forty years before, and had revisited it, for the first time, two years previously, and he could scarcely imagine that he was passing over the same country, the whole character of the population and the aspect of the country had so completely changed ; and from inquiries amongst the labouring classes as to the rate of wages and as to the condi- tion of the people, he did not think there was any ground for apprehending an incursion of Irish pauperism into either England or Scotland. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 307 In the month of July a large immigration of Irish labour annually took place for the hay harvest, and then came the corn harvest, followed by the potato-getting. Their families would then come over, and they would get what they could in potato- getting and other employments of that sort, and put their money all together and send it over to Ireland. They would then go to Liverpool, and would get sent over by a free passage at 10s. per head. That was exceedingly agreeable to them and to the boat companies that had the carriage of them ; but it was an unfair thing for the Liverpool authorities to point to that and say that that was an evidence of pauperism. It was the evidence of some- thing totally different from pauperism ; it was the evidence of craft and imposition upon the one side, and of great simplicity upon the other. Mr. Zachary Myles, guardian of the Limerick Union, said he remembered when wages were from 6d. to Is. a day, and now they got 2s. and 3s. ; what is commonly called a " handy man " would get 3s., and a common labourer would get 2s. wages. There was not, to his knowledge, any emigration of vagrant paupers from the Limerick Union to England. The vagrancy laws were applied in the unions in the county and through the kingdom. Travelling from one union to another for the purpose of obtaining relief was illegal, and punishable under the Vagrancy Act. Mr. Peter Beattie, inspector of the Barony Parish in Glasgow, said, at that time they were relieving a great number of Irish who had no settlement and who were removable, but who were not removed. The total number of persons of that class treated in the poor-house and receiving indoor relief for the previous year was 439, entailing an expenditure of an amount of money equal to £909. Those were all Irish, with no settlement in Scotland, and persons eligible for removal, so far as settlement was con- cerned. On the outdoor roll they had 73 Irish and 120 depen- dants, the amount of money paid being £153. Their Irish-born poor were one-third of their total poor. For the month of May, 1879, they had in Glasgow, in the barony parish, 4,391 poor families, comprising 7,307 individuals, and one-third of those were Irish-born people. In the year 1882 a discussion on vagrancy took place in the House of Commons. Sir Bakhvyn Leighton, in introducing the subject, said, that x2 308 VAG BANTS AND VAGRANCY, notwithstanding the regulations of the Local Government Board dealing with the relief which was to be given to vagrants, during the last 20 years there had been a great, he might say an alarming and continuous, increase in their numbers. What made it more serious was the terrorism which they began to exercise over orderly and respectable persons ; some roads being so infected by them as to be inconvenient, if not unsafe, to travel upon. In 1869 and 1870 the numbers decreased, owing to the great amendment that then took place in Poor Law administration ; but while in 1873 the numbers were 1,900, in 1880 they were 7,000. That showed great fluctuation ; but at the same time a very serious increase. The present vagrant army sleeping in workhouses was between 6,000 and 7,000 ; about three times as many more were known to the police as vagrants — say, 20,000 — half of whom were more or less wayfarers, and half of whom were undistinguishable from the workhouse tramp, making the vagrant body about 16,000 or 17,000, at least. Now, the fluctuations of the number of the workhouse tramps were very remarkable. Without giving each year, and taking the rise and fall since 1861, there were, according to the Return, of those sleeping on January 1st in workhouse wards — 1861, 1,179 ; 1867, 3,566 ; 1868, 6,053; 1870, 4,147; 1873, 1,987; 1880, 7,041. Then, as regards separate Unions, he had obtained Returns from about 20, showing the increase since 1876 for the half-year. These were ten typical ones : — 1876. 1881. Atcham, Shropshire . 450 1,880 Tenbury, Worcester 350 1,118 Langport, Somerset 160 410 Hatfield, Herts 550 2,133 South Molton, Devon . 110 312 Burton-on-Trent, Stafford 592 6,986 Stafford, Stafford . . 1,838 3,041 Tamworth, Stafford 740 2,430 Uttoxeter, Stafford 929 1,327 Seisdon, Stafford . . 118 369 Showing an increase amounting to 300 per cent, in the five years. By Returns obtained over a month or two in one Union, he found that one-fifth of the vagrants were short-service soldiers, and of AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 309 these one-quarter, or thereabouts, were actually Reserve men. So that out of every 1,000 tramps about 200 were discharged soldiers, and 50 of them actually Reserve men — that was, if the proportion of other Unions tallied with his own. Now, what were the causes of that increase ? It was not easy exactly to define them, but two or three were apparent. Depression of trade was no doubt one ; stricter or laxer administration might be another and a local cause. The short-service Army system might have something to do with it, in de-industrializing young men, and afterwards giving them just enough to be idle upon, and, possibly, the want of industrial training in their school children might have something to answer for. But the danger of the matter seemed to be that it was growing ; and those who took to that life did not return to regular and industrial habits. It seemed to him difficult to imagine a more certain way of inculcating idle habits and vagabond life than taking a young man of 18 or 20, keeping him for six years, when he might be learning some trade, in a somewhat idle pro- fession, and then turning him loose, with just sufficient to live a roving life, living in tramp wards and on what could be begged ; and if that was so, the short-service system might have to answer not only for destroying the efficiency and solidarity of their regi- ments, but also de-industrializing the young men who were en- listed, and forming a pauper Reserve, or proletariat reservoir. Mr, Salt said he had observed this very remarkable feature in respect to vagrancy throughout the country — that if they kept their attention fixed on some particular district — for instance, on some great centre of the iron industry — they would find that a year or so after the adverse circumstances of trade commenced vagrancies spread gradually from that particular point through- out the Kingdom. What happened was this. Men who were thrown out of employment from the bad times held to their homes as long as they could, hoping for a return of better trade ; but at last they left their homes, and started on a journey, sometimes in search of work. They went a certain distance ; some of them got work, others did not. Sir Henry Fletcher said he could prove that since the introduc- tion of the short- service system vagrancy had increased. He had, in his own Union, in the county of Sussex, taken pains to ascertain the number of tramps who had been short-service men, and he was sure tl^at Sir B. Leighton under estimated rather than exag- 310 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY. gerated the number. What happened was this : a man enlisted as a soldier at the age of 18 or 19 ; he served for a period which up to now had been seven years, and at the end of that time he received his discharge and returned to his village, his town, or his parish. He went to his old master, and asked to come back to his former employment ; but the master replied — " I have filled up the place, and I have nothing for you to do." The man, during his soldier life with the Colours, had contracted a restless mode of life, and finding he could not get employment in his own parish, he started off and wandered over the country, living a rest- less, unprofitable existence. Mr. J. G. Talbot said, in his capacity as chairman of the Vagrancy Committee in the county of Kent, it had been his duty to watch the alarming increase of this great evil. It was not only an evil, in so far as it was a disgrace to the community that a large number of persons should be wandering about without visible means of support ; but it was also an evil because vagrants were usually persons who preyed in some way upon society. This discussion was shortly after followed by a measure giving in- creased powers of detention as regards the casual poor : the 45 & 46 Vic, c. 36, known as " The Casual Poor Act, 1882." It amends the 34 & 35 Vic, c. 108, by enacting that a Casual pauper shall not be entitled to discharge himself before 9 a.m. of the second day follow- ing his admission, nor before he has performed the work prescribed for him ; and where he has been admitted more than once during the month he shall not discharge himself before 9 a.m. on the fourth day after his admission, and he may at any time be re- moved to the workhouse for the remainder of his period of deten- tion. In computing the number of days of detention, Sunday is to be excluded. Any person who for the purpose of obtaining poor relief for himself or any other person wilfully gives a false name or makes a false statement to the guardians or their officers is to be deemed an idle and disorderly person under 5 Geo. IV., c. 83. V CHAPTER XIV. 1882—1886. Modem begging — Its various divisions -Average earnings of beggars — The effect of free night refuges and soup kitchens — The rules of trades unions regarding travelling members — Average improvement of the working classes during the last fifty years — Various systems for the repression of vagrancy adopted in Berks, Cumberland, Dorset, Gloucester, Hants, Kent, Wilts, &c. — The cause of failure of the Poor Law system — Contempt of the vagrant for the inmate of the workhouse — Increased nomadic habits of the agricultural labourer — The teachings of history regarding the vagrant — Suggested remedy for vagrancy. Modern begging is quite as much an organised profession as it was more than three hundred years ago ; it has* of course adapted itself to the spirit of the times, but it is wonderful how little adaptation has been called for. The credulity of the charitable is the stock-in-trade of the beggar, and it never fails him. Like the " confidence trick " of the London sharper, the very staleness and antiquity of the beggar's dodges appear to give them a sanctity in the eyes of many, a sanctity derived from the belief that others might be deceived by counterfeits, but that the person appealed to cannot : he or she has found the genuine honest, long-suffer- ing and unappreciated object of charity, and having found this priceless treasure is bound to reward it. Others again adopt the fallacious reasoning that it is better to reward 999 impostors rather than miss the chance of relieving one genuine case of distress, thus altogether ignoring the fact that the deserving poor never beg, and prefer to die rather than incur such a degradation. The principal varieties of begging are now termed larks (from the Welsh Here, a fit of loitering) : the fire lurk (pretended losses by fire), the shipwrecked or disabled sailors' lurk, the accident lurk, the sick lurk (pretended illness ; some tie up their arms in 312 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, a very clever way, others feign fits, others remain in bed simulat- ing illness while they send out their companions to beg for them), the foreigners' lurk, the frozen-out gardeners' lurk, the servants' lurk (pretended loss of place as a domestic servant), the family man lurk (parading a number of children in a state of feigned destitution), the lucifer, air balloon, picture, or bread-and-butter lurk (dropping in the mud or otherwise damaging by an apparent accident boxes of lucifer matches, air balloons, cheap pictures in frames, or slices of bread-and-butter), the deaf and dumb lurk, the colliers' lurk (pretended loss of employment through an ex- plosion)ylhe weavers', the calenderers', and cotton spinners' lurks (" Come all the way from Manchester, and got no work to do.") To these may be added the " shallow cove " or " shivering Jemmy," who goes about half naked, the " cab touter," who begs at cab doors as they are leaving theatres, and the " high-flier," who simulates the broken-down gentleman, officer, or tradesman. It is difficult to draw the line between the habitual vagrant, the petty hawker, and the street swindler, as the pursuits of the vagrant are of the most protean character. One day he is the M lurker," another day he is the " crocus " or " sham doctor," selling potions flavoured with salt, or some form of nastiness, or " vegetable pills," obtained ready made from the rabbit warren and rolled in flour, or he is the card sharper of the public-house or the race-course, or he is the hop-picker just returned from the country with " genuine ketchup," made from " Cattle Market mushrooms" (i.e. decayed pigs' livers), or he is the sham smuggler, who sells brandy or tobacco, the samples of which are genuine, but the bulk of which consists principally of coloured gin or hay. " The men and women who, disguised as gypsies or country folk, come to the kitchen entrance of one's house and offer for sale what they are pleased to term fresh fruit, vegetables, or poultry, are too often arrant frauds. The duck purchased at many shillings below the price charged by the local poulterer is discovered, when too late, to be a vile specimen of a bird and per- fectly worthless ; the eggs palmed off as ' new laid ' turn out to be venerable enough to have come out of the ark ; and so on with everything else. A vendor of apples and potatoes tried this little game on last week, but the purchaser of his goods was a match for him, and the itinerant merchant was given into custody and charged with fraud. The samples exhibited to his customers he pretended were representative of the bulk of the fruit and vege- 4 m , 7A AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 313 tables, but whereas the former was fresh and good, the latter were in a state of decay and dissolution." * There is hardly a source of human suffering or a passing calamity of any magnitude which these rascals do not endeavour to turn to their advantage. Mr. Gomm, the chief officer of the Mendicity Society, is of opinion that the present average earnings of a professional beggar are from 5s. to 20s. a da}^, and that those who write begging letters average still more. Vagrants in many instances still continue to communicate with one another by scribbling on the walls of their dormitories, as described in the report of 1866, and they " are still for the most part, if not criminals, at least on the verge of crime.' ' Reports from country districts testify that arson continues to be their favourite method of venting their spite, and that a large number of discharged soldiers annually swell the ranks of vagrancy. Night refuges, which admit applicants at all hours of the night, continue to exist, as in the year 1846, and lend their aid in promoting vagrancy. Their managers turn a deaf ear to the warning that the casual wards of the workhouse are available for all such cases, and that no amount of cross-questioning will enable them to arrive at the real character of the applicants, as the most unde- serving, from skill acquired by long practice, are always able to make themselves out to be the most deserving. Another promoter of professional vagrancy is the indiscriminate free soup kitchen, the tickets for which are distributed broadcast, being frequently given to the deputy landlords of common lodging- houses. " These tickets have, like those of the bread, grocery, coal, and blanket charities, a market, value in spirits at the public-houses, and are used as authoritative licences to beg for the penny which has to accompany them to the counter. One person was watched while he begged for and received nine pennies in the neighbourhood of one of these soup houses, under the pretence of purchasing a penny basin. The most thriftless tramps and vagrants are col- lected at the distribution, and even the class above them learns how much easier it is to live at the expense of others than by their own labour." A further development of this system is thus commented upon by the Globe newspaper in February, 1886 : — * " Modern Society," February, 1886. 314 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, " Who would have the heart to refuse a copper to some little tatterdemalion begging for the price of a halfpenny dinner ? It would be taken for granted in any locality where this admirable form of charity has come into existence, that the money would be spent for the desired purpose. Coventry tells a different tale, however. It has been ascertained there that, since the establishment of half- penny dinners, juvenile mendicancy has greatly increased. As the hour for the cheap feast draws near, crowds of children turn out in the adjacent streets, and importune every person who passes for "only a halfpenny." At first, few resisted the pathetic appeal, but latterly the nuisance became so great that inquiry was set on foot, with the result of proving that very few of the half- pennies found their way to the dinner room. Many went to supply luxuries to idle and worthless parents, while the sweetstuff shops came in for a share. In short, the halfpenny dinner was merely made the excuse for extracting alms from the public in such a way as would not come under police cognisance." The same demoralising system prevails to a large extent in London, where children during the summer months present cards in the streets, which apparently authorise them to beg for assist- ance for a school treat. The honest travelling mechanic or labourer in search of work is no longer in need of assistance from the outside public. Mr. George Hotvell, M.P., in his work on " The Conflicts of Capital and Labour," gives the following particulars of the travelling relief afforded by trades unions to their members : — " In addition to the extremely useful and legitimate provision for supporting their members when out of work, there is in most societies an allowance to members going from home in search of employment : this is called travelling relief. At one time tramp- ing was systematic and general, and it became a great nuisance, for many men merely used the society as a means for enabling them to tramp all over the country, living upon the funds of the union, supplemented, as it usually was, by collections made by the workmen in several towns through which they passed. This practice has greatly diminished of late years ; if properly used the system of tramp relief is a good and useful one, but in the past it was little better than a kind of professional mendicity, excepting that the mendicants begged from those least able to afford assistance, and urged their claims for contributions with a kind of authority as though it was a right to which they were AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 315 justly entitled. The method of relieving those on tramp is pretty much the same in all societies, although the amounts slightly differ, and the distances to be travelled before the relief can be obtained is greater or less according to the trade, and the several i stations/ that is lodges, on the route taken by the * journeyman ' member. Bed and breakfast are generally provided, but it is not a universal rule, in addition to which they get a shilling or eighteen- pence towards their maintenance until they reach, the next relieving station. These vary in distance ; they may be sixteen or they may be twenty-five miles apart, but on the average the amount paid is about one penny per mile. In some societies it is usual to pay the railway fares, third class, to some distant place in search of em- ployment : this mode of relief has been in operation for some time in the Amalgamated Carpenters' and Joiners' Society, and it is stated that it has had the effect of greatly diminishing the system of tramping from place to place. The custom of tramping from one town to another is a very old one, it existed under the old guilds and was general all through Germany until very recent times, and is still practised there to a much greater extent than it is in England. The origin of the term journeyman may be traced to this ancient custom, one of the objects of which in olden times was to acquire experience in the craft or mystery in which the traveller was engaged by seeing the different methods of work in various parts of the country." The Agricultural Labourers 1 Union pays the fare of its members when they move from one place to another to better their condition. In the Amalgamated Society of Engineers the unemployed mem- bers receive what is termed donation benefit from the Society. This ranges in amount from 10s. per week down to 6s. per week, according to the length of time a member remains unemployed. Should any member in receipt of this benefit wish to travel in search of work he is provided with a travelling card. On the presentation of this card to any of the Branch Secretaries in any part of the world in which the Society has a branch, he will be paid the amount of donation benefit that may be due to him. A branch secretary waited upon by a traveller is bound to direct him to the places where he is most likely to obtain work. In the Amalgamated Society of Tailors free members out of work are entitled to a travelling card on giving the secretary six hours' notice of their requirements. A member whilst on travel is entitled to Is. 4d. in any Branch belonging to the Amalgama- 316 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, tion, but a member who has only been in the society three months and under six is only entitled to 4d. Members refusing employ- ment in a shop where such employment is acceptable to the branch are suspended from travelling benefit for seven days. In the Operative Stone Masons' Society members when travelling in search of employment are provided with a bed at any lodge they call at, and they are paid money relief in proportion to the distance they have travelled from the last lodge at which they have been relieved. In each lodge a list of builders' yards, or the buildings in course of erection, in the town is provided as a guide for the unemployed to seek employment. In many large towns the traveller can remain some two, three, or four days, so as to give him a good opportunity of seeking employment. On Sundays the members do not travel, as the Society allows them extra pay for not doing so. The travelling relief averages about 9s. per week. In the Iron Founders' Society each two years' member receives Is. 4d. psr day for thirteen weeks, and for the next thirteen weeks Is. 2d., and if he still continues out of work he receives lOd. a day for six months. A one year's member receives 8d. per day. Each member on travel, in addition to these allowances, is also allowed a bed at each club-house and one for Sunday once in three months, and where the next branch is more than twenty- five miles distant he is allowed one day's donation in advance for every additional twenty-five miles. Members under twelve months are only entitled to beds. If the distressed artisan or mechanic is not a trades unionist he readily obtains relief from mem- bers of his own calling at the workshops of the town through which he is passing, and as a rule he does not scruple to apply for it. The conditions of society are now entirely changed. The legi- timate vagrant of the Middle Ages, or even of fifty years ago, no longer continues to exist under the old conditions ; he has improved his status and looks down with contempt, if not with disgust, on the base parasite who now usurps the place he formerly occupied. At a meeting of the Statistical Society in January, 1886, Mr. Giffen said the estimate of 50 to 100 per cent, as the average improvement of the working classes in fifty years was not only not excessive, but under the mark. On a broad survey of the facts, the composition of the people of the United Kingdom was entirety changed from what it was fifty years ago. Whereas fifty AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 317 years ago one-third of the working masses were Irish peasants, earning a doubtful 4s. a week on the average, and the agricul- tural population of Great Britain constituted another third of the total, this class likewise earning much smaller incomes than the third class, consisting of the non-agricultural workers of Great Britain ; now the Irish labourers were less than one-eighth of the total, the British agricultural labourers were also one-eighth only, and the remaining three-fourths were artisans and other non- agricultural workers. In Ireland, the improvement in the wages or earnings of small farmers and labourers was at least 100 per cent., the doubtful average, 4s., of fifty years ago having been converted into a much less doubtful 8s., or its equivalent, at the present time. In Scotland and Wales the average improvement in agricultural labour had equally been about 100 per cent., from 9s. in the former case to 18s., and from 7s. 6d. in the latter case to 15s. In England the changes were not so extreme, but from 8s. to 13s. and from 10s. to 16s. were not uncommon figures, fully justifying the conclusion as to there having been an improvement of 60 per cent. The worst-paid labour in Great Britain of a non- agricultural kind had equally undergone improvement. In the Metropolis and the leading manufacturing towns, the rise ranged from 15s. to 25s., or about 70 per cent. ; but in the other parts of the country, as in Glasgow, there were cases of an advance of 100 per cent. There had also been a great increase in the number of income-tax assessments, implying an improvement of the artisan and other classes just above the income-tax limit. There had been a simultaneous improvement in France, Germany, and other countries. While the total income of the country fifty years ago was about five hundred millions only, of which two-fifths were derived from agriculture, the present income, on the authority of Mr. Dudley Baxter and Mr. Leone Levi, might be placed at about 1,270,000,000, of which only one-sixth was from agriculture. At the same time the agricultural labourer was better off, because, whilst his numbers had diminished, the net income from agricul- ture and his share of that income had increased. Further, the working masses of Great Britain had more than doubled their number in the interval, simultaneously with a vast diminution in Ireland, whose aggregate income remained much the same, though with a diminished number to share it. Professor Leone Levi said not only did the working classes earn more, but they worked less, the Factory Acts having reduced 318 YAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, by 20 per cent, the amount of time given to labour. There was no doubt whatever that they were consuming more. They got with the same amount of money a great deal more food and cloth- ing. Taking them as a whole, his impression was that the labouring classes were much more elevated in character — socially, intellectually, and politically — than ever they were before. Vagrancy and crime bear an important relation to each other. Mr. Snowden remarks in his " Police Officers' and Constables' Guide," "that it is his firm opinion that if poaching and vagrancy were put down, and more especially in the rural districts, crime would be of very rare occurrence." Various County systems for the repression of vagrancy have from time to time been tried ; the best known of these are the Dorset system and the Berks system. The Dorset System was established in January, 1870, by Captain Amyatt, the able chief constable of Dorsetshire. It consists in the relief of the vagrant by means of tickets, which up to the year 1881 were exchangeable at distances of about five miles apart for one pound of bread ; since 1881 the allowance has been reduced to half a pound. The tickets are not exchangeable in towns unless signed by the police, and no more than half a pound can be obtained by one person in exchange for any number of tickets. The sys- tem is worked by the police, under the direction of the magis- trates and guardians, and is combined with a uniform enforcement of the Vagrant Act. The following have been the results of the system so far as regards the admissions to casual wards in the county. Year. Number of admissions to casual wards. Year. Number of admissions to casual wards. 1869 11,248 1878 9,208 00 1 — 1 8,107 1879 11,287 1871+ 5,850 1880 13,231 1872 2,840 1881$ 13,054 1873 2,600 1882§ 10,053 1874 2,847 1883 5,483 1875 2,490 1884 7,251 1876 3,971 1885 8,927 1877 6,931 * Introduction of the system. + Pauper Inmates Discharge and Regulation Act, 1871, passed. X Reduction of the allowance of bread from 1 lb. to ^ lb. ordered. § Casual Poor Act, 1882, passed. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 319 The following are the results so far as regards crime : — x car. Number of persons charged. Number of criminals to eacli thousand, of population. Summarily. Upon indictment. Total. 1869 2,668 139 2,807 17-58 1872 1,997 98 2,075 12-67 1873 2,126 125 2,251 13-75 1882 2,292 80 2,372 15-20 1885 2,330 79 2,407 1543 It will be observed that the subsequent decrease in numbers in the list of admissions to casual wards is coincident with the introduction of increased methods of repression — in 1872 owing to the coming into force of the Pauper Inmates Discharge and Regulation Act, 1871 ; in 1882 owing to the reduction in the allowance of bread from one pound to half a pound ; and in 1883 owing to the Casual Poor Act, 1882, coming into operation. It should be remembered that as under this last-mentioned Act vagrants can be detained two nights, the present number of admissions represents twice that number under the previous system, that is, that the numbers for 1885 to be fairly compared with those of 1882 should be reckoned as 17,854 against 10,053, instead of 8,927 against 10,053. In the year 1880, 7 tons 15 cwt. 46 lbs. of bread was given away. The Berkshire System was instituted by Colonel Blandy, the able chief constable of Berkshire, in August, 1871. It consists in way-tickets, containing a description of the vagrant or tramp, and showing the place he came from and his final destination, which are issued to all who enter a workhouse in the county. Relief stations are formed at the police constables' houses between the workhouses. On the production of the way-ticket the vagrant receives eight ounces of bread, provided he is on his specified route. The ticket is signed by the constable or person adminis- tering the relief, and entry of the matter is made in a book. Punishment of not less than fourteen days' hard labour is inflicted on conviction for vagrancy. The system has been in abeyance in Berks since the passing of the Casual Poor Act, 1882, owing to the withdrawal of one of the leading unions. Vagrancy, it is stated, has much increased in consequence. The system was adopted in 1884 throughout North Wales under the following conditions. On entering the North "Wales Counties District the wayfarer received a ticket which recorded 320 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, his description, the place he came from, and his final destination. The union he should next go to was endorsed on his ticket, and so on throughout the district. The police were in all cases where practicable employed as assistant relieving officers, and afforded to vagrants at each relief station along the route one pound of bread for each adult and eight ounces for each child. At work- houses, in cases where the wayfarer's account of himself and his conduct was satisfactory, and his ticket was in order, he was discharged as soon as he had performed a task of work not exceeding in value the cost of his maintenance. In all other cases full advantage was taken of the powers conferred by the Casual Poor Act of 1882, under which vagrants may be detained two or four days. The police apprehended all persons found begging or otherwise infringing the Vagrant Act. Not less than ten days' hard labour was the recognised punishment for offences against the Vagrant Act, except in the case of threats having been used, when the offender was sent for trial under 24 and 25 Vict., c. 96, s. 45. Union officers gave all possible information as to where employment could be obtained, and employers of labour were invited to communicate their wants to them. The following is the reported number of vagrants relieved under this system : — County. 1883. 1884. Decrease. Anglesey 310 236 74 Carnarvon 4,328 3,367 961 Denbigh 4,710 3,333 1,377 Flint . 4,521 3,719 802 Merioneth 3,222 2,822 400 17,091 13,477 3,614 In the first six months of 1885 the numbers of vagrants relieved as compared with the corresponding period of 1884 showed an increase of 721, viz. 9,040 in 1885 as compared with 8,319 in 1884, and a further increase was subsequently noticeable. The plan was abandoned at Lady Day, 1886, owing to want of funds to pay for the bread rations, and to the want of combined action and active interest on the part of boards of guardians. The following other systems have also been adopted at different times with a view to repress mendicity. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 321 The Cumberland and Westmoreland system, established 1 867, consists in a rigid enforcement of the Yagrant Act, with assist- ance and protection to poor people travelling in search of work. The police act as assistant relieving officers, and whenever persons of the latter description apply for relief, the police supply an order which secures relief at the workhouse, if it is situated suffi- ciently near to be available ; but if not, the necessary relief is supplied by the police, and the expenses incurred in this way are paid by the board of guardians of the district. The Chief Con- stable remarks that "the class of people who make begging a trade are not the honest workpeople who travel from county to county in search of work. They are people who will not work when work is offered to them, they travel through the country, they make begging a trade, and whenever an opportunity occurs they steal whatever they can lay their hands upon." The Gloucester system, established in August, 1866, consisted at first of the way-ticket system combined in June, 1869, with an enforcement of the Vagrant Act, every vagrant found begging being sent to gaol for ten days. The Berkshire system was introduced in July, 1882. The following tables, compiled from information furnished by Admiral Christian, the chief constable, show the effects of this system under his effective management. Number of Persons who slept in Casual Wards and Common Lodging Houses in Gloucestershire on the First Tuesday in April in each Year. Total No. Number who slept in Casual Wards. Remarks as to the truth of their statements. Males. Females. Under 16 years of age. 16 years of age and above. Number of Strangers. Num. of known residents. Supposed to be true. Entirely living by tramping. 1st Tuesday in April, 1878 139 128 11 9 130 1879 137 123 14 8 129 1880 161 133 28 22 139 1881 126 116 10 1 125 1882 171 „ „ 1883 83 65 18 9 74 77 6 50 33 1884 63 48 15 8 55 61 2 40 23 1885 92 76 16 11 81 92 62 30 „ „ 1886 111 87 24 20 91 106 5 58 53 Y 322 • YAGKAXTS AND VAGRANCY, Total No. Xumber who slept in Lodging Houses. Remarks as to the truth of their 1 statements.' Females. m l 6 So a fa 16 years of ago and above. . s £ 1 § Num. of known residents. Supposed to be true. 60 . .E u >.5 a a ; >. z. i~ 1st Tuesday in April, 1878 598 426 172 76 522 1879 551 383 168 74 477 J» » 1880 505 377 128 46 459 1881 593 424 169 96 497 >J » 1882 553 391 162 75 478 417 136 424 129 1883 463 332 131 53 410 279 184 348 115 n » 1-4 561 399 162 62 499 397 164 469 92 1885 570 400 170 83 487 409 161 504 66 » M 1886 597 421 176 91 506 444 153 484 113 Analysis of Trades of the Persons who slept ra Casual Wards. Trades.* 1883 1884 1885 1886 Bricklayers 1 1 1 Carpenters 2 Charwomen 5 2 4 4 Children .... 8 7 10 20 Field hands (females). 2 1 Fitters .... 2 Labourers .... 44 36 39 56 Laundresses 5 1 4 2 Married women 3 1 2 Masons .... 1 1 2 Painters .... 1 4 2 Plasterers .... 1 1 2 Printers . - . 1 2 Seamen .... 6 2 1 1 Tailors .... 2 4 Tailoresses .... 1 2 Tramps (avowed) 1 2 3 * The other callings represented during this period were : — One member once — Blacksmith, boatman, buttonmaker, cabinetmaker, cane chair seater, carver, chandler, coachmaker, coach trimmer, collar maker, dress- maker, fireman, flax dresser, hatter, hawker, lacemaker, needlewoman, piano- maker, printer, rag sorter, rivetter, ropemaker, seaman, servant, shoemaker, shoe finisher, stoker, stone sawyer, striker, tinman, upholstress, wire drawer. One member tvnee — Brickmaker, clerk, currier, gardener, groom, moulder. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 323 Analysis of the Trades of Persons who slept in Common Lodging Houses. Trades.* 1 ooo looz. 1 ooo looo. 1 OO/I looo. looo. Blacksmiths .... 10 3 3 — 6 Bricklayers .... — 1 1 5 2 6 Cabinet Makers .... 4 1 1 3 Carpenters 3 5 1 6 3 Children . 64 45 53 56 80 China menders .... 1 4 2 3 — Charwomen .... 10 10 11 15 9 Colliers 3 — 3 1 4 Drovers . . . 12 8 9 11 11 Field hands (females) . 2 — 2 3 4 Fitters 1 1 4 6 6 Gardeners 6 5 7 3 7 Grooms 2 4 3 1 3 Labourers 141 146 162 159 150 Laundresses .... 7 3 — 3 5 Married women .... 61 38 46 53 49 Masons — — 3 2 2 Musicians ..... 14 13 28 27 17 Nailmakers .... 7 1 3 4 3 Needleworkers .... 1 13 10 2 3 Painters 6 6 5 15 5 Pedlars and Hawkers . 74 75 86 94 97 Pensioners 1 4 2 — 1 Plasterers 1 — 3 1 1 Plumbers — — 2 3 1 Eag and bone gatherers 5 5 9 6 7 Saddlers 3 1 2 1 1 Sawyers 1 3 2 — 2 Shoemakers . 8 6 9 7 9 Street singers .... 4 4 1 14 Seamen 5 2 4 laiiors . . . . . o o A 1 1 i i Q O o Tailoresses 1 3 2 Tinkers . . . ... 1 5 1 Tinmen and Tinworkers 2 2 1 3 2 Tramps (avowed) • . . 5 5 4 2 Umbrella menders 4 4 1 4 Wireworkers . 3 2 5 * The other callings represented during this period were : — One member once — Actor, artist, baker, bellhanger, bootcloser, boot-lace cutter, brickmaker, cane worker, carriage trimmer, carver, chimney sweep, clogger, coach wheeler, confectioner, cook, cork cutter, dealer, decorator, dye- wash maker, dyer, engine driver, engraver, errand boy, farrier, fern maker, galvanist, glover, harness maker, hoop roller, hurdle maker, iron turner, jeweller, lathrender, locksmith, mechanic, mill-stone dresser, navvy, nurse, nut forger, packman, paper maker, parish relief, pattern maker, photographer, potter, sail maker, slaughterman, tanner, upholstress, waggon builder, warehouseman, waterman, well sinker, whip maker, wood gatherer, wood turner. Y 2 324 VAGKANTS AND YAGKANCY , Returns of Persons arrested for Begging. _• Average o amount 1 t* of money t-t o a found i4i In houses of correction (maisons secondares),) w 4 ^ 165 ~ condemned for vagabondage and mendicity \ On public works, discharged prisoners, vaga- \ fi w, bonds and vagrants .....] *925 141 891 147 DENMARK. The general rule is that beggars are liable on conviction to fifteen days' imprisonment, with bread and water; vagrants to thirty days of the same punishment. Children under fifteen years of age are not personally punishable ; but their parents, if conniving, * Report of G. F. Almquist, Director-General of Prisons, 1879. 510 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, may be held responsible and treated accordingly. Any vagrant person who has no apparent means of subsistence may be sent home to his parish by the police. The practical temperaments of these rules are not inconsiderable. I am told that in the country and in the smaller towns there is a systematic tolerance of local beggars, but that intrusive beggars are dealt with as the law directs. In Copenhagen the police are strict, and street mendicancy is very seldom seen.* Number of Persons sentenced" to Heavier Penalties than Fines for Vagrancy, Mendicity, and Making Away with the Property of Institutions for the Eelief of the Poor. 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 In Copenhagen Prefectures in the Islands, ) Copenhagen not included ) Prefectures in Jutland . 109 612 367 89 425 306 61 359 271 68 345 214 72 318 266 120 399 259 128 572 514 136 876 731 223 763 645 197 886 689 Total in the whole kingdom 1088 820 691 627 656 778 1214 1743 1631 1772 The apparent progressive increase of late years in vagrancy and mendicity is attributable to the greater vigilance of the police rather than to any real increase of vagrancy. The total population of Denmark at the last census was 1,000,969. BELGIUM. By the decree of 5th July, 1808, begging was prohibited, a depot de mendicite was ordered to be created in every department, and every person found begging was to be arrested by the gen- darmerie and removed to the depot by order of the " local authority," therefore without a judicial sentence. Beggars in a state of vagrancy were to be sent to prison. The penal code of 1810 (Arts. 271, 275) enacts very severe penalties against both offences, and left the culprits at the disposal of the Government after the expiration of their terms of imprisonment, to be detained in the depots for any further period. Place was also reserved in the depots for homeless paupers who asked for admission. A separation of these different classes and some useful labour was at first attempted, but abandoned as impracticable. Thus the five depots de mendicite became great hostelries for supplying board, lodging, and congenial society to all the profligates of the country at the public expense. * Report by G. Strachey, 1871. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 511 This system was found to be intolerably expensive and perfectly ineffectual as a means of repression. The remedy was thought to lie in the suppression of free admissions. Therefore a law was passed in 1848 providing that beggars and vagrants should still be received in the depots, but that spontaneous applicants should not be admitted without the sanction of their own communal or other authorities. Paupers thus admitted at their own desire may be forced to remain in the depot for thirty days, and if they return within the same year are to be detained for a period of from six to twelve months, at the discretion of the permanent deputation. These restrictions did not produce the desired effect, that of reliev- ing the burden of the communes, but only increased the number of judicial condemnations. For when an applicant was refused admittance, he had only to get himself convicted as a beggar or vagrant, which involved a penalty of one to seven days' imprison- ment, and a further sojourn of from six to twelve months in the depot, at the discretion of the governor of the province. The law had little effect in keeping down the population of the depots, but altered the relative proportions of the free and compulsory inmates. The main result of the above law has been the toleration of mendicancy, particularly in the rural communes, as a lesser evil than that of supporting beggars in the depots for indefinite periods. The system of depots de mendicite was totally transformed by the law of 6th March, 1866, on the principle of bringing able- bodied beggars under severe discipline, while tolerating juvenile and infirm beggars. This law enacts that every able-bodied beggar or vagrant aged more than fourteen years shall be arrested and brought before the tribunal de simple police, may be sentenced to prison for from one to seven days, and may be placed after that at the disposal of the Government for a term to be fixed by the juge de paix, which term is to be from fifteen days to three months for the first offence, and from three to six months for the second. Culprits under fourteen years old are to be arrested and sent to a reformatory till they attain the age of twenty. Able-bodied culprits over fourteen years of age are to be confined in a peniten- tiary or a depot de mendicite during their term of seclusion. The governor is authorised to suppress all the depots and to reorganise them on new principles. If there are extenuating circumstances, the judge is authorised to inflict a penalty of " simple police," i.e. seven days' imprisonment without labour or subsequent seclusion. Additional penalties are awarded by this law to persons who 512 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, cause children to beg, or who procure children or cripples to accompany them for the purpose of exciting commiseration. The new penal code of 1867 is very severe upon the offences committed by beggars or vagrants, such as trespass, threats, simulating sores and infirmities, begging in troops or in disguise, carrying arms, bearing false passports or papers, carrying housebreakers' tools, &c. After the expiration of their penalty they may be kept from five to ten years under the surveillance of the police. Vagrants are defined to be those who have no fixed abode or means of sub- sistence, and who habitually exercise no trade or profession.* By the law of 1866 vagrants and beggars, infirm, or aged less than fourteen years may be arrested and brought before the tribunal of police. If arrested outside of their own commune, the bourgmestre will, in the first instance, enjoin them to return thereto. They cannot be prosecuted without the sanction of the bourgmestre. This disposition withdraws the repression of men- dicity from the exclusive action of the judicial authority when the culprit is infirm or aged less than fourteen. It thus allows the commune to tolerate or put down begging within its own limits as regards these two classes. It is thought probable that each commune will tolerate mendicity exercised by its own inhabitants, and will expel the beggars of neighbouring communes. Juvenile and infirm beggars when convicted must be placed at the disposal of the government for six months on their first and for two years on their second conviction. They are to be detained in a depot, a charitable institution, or a reformatory, according to circumstances, until they are twenty years of age. The reception in the depots of voluntary applicants must be previously sanctioned by the college of bourgmestre and aldermen of their " domicile de secours," which is to pay for their maintenance. Depots de Mendicite. Entries. Average Population. 1840 .... 2,739 2,828 1850 .... 4,508 3,478 1860 .... 3,431 2,448 1862 .... 4,394 2,918 1866 . 2,851 1,570 1867 . . . 4,044 1,659 1869 .... 4,549 1,938 1870 .... 4,836 1,925 * Report by Sir Henry P. T. Barron, 1872. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 513 Although the whole regime of heggars and vagrants is still in a transitional state, the new law has already borne good fruits. HOLLAND. In the year 1818 a philanthropic Dutch statesman, General van den Bosch, organised a Society of Beneficence, the programme of which was to purchase wild heathlands in East Holland for the purpose of cultivating them by the labour of the pauper classes. Nearly 10,000 acres of land were acquired at Fredericksoord, near Steenwyk, Ommerschans, near Meppel, and Yeenhuizen, near Asserj. Beggars and idlers and dissolute vagabonds were by arrangement with the Government sent there, but with in- sufficient powers of discipline and control. As might naturally be expected, the scheme eventually proved a failure, and in 1859 the Government took the matter in hand, paid off the debts of the Society, and relieved it of the care of the worst classes, who were located at Yeenhuizen and Ommerschans, and who were after that time placed under Government control. Even since this change the system is by no means a success, owing to the character of the management. The discipline is imperfect, the association of the inmates being perfectly unchecked at night, and also permitted at intervals during the day. The provision of food is ample if not excessive, the personal accommodation comfortable, the situation of the colonies pleasant, and the amount of work done insufficient. With all these drawbacks to good and firm discipline, which is essential to the reclamation of the vicious or vacillating characters who are the inmates of such establishments, it is not to be won- dered at that the recommittals to the colonies amounted in 1875 to 81 per cent, of the total committals, and maintain very much the same proportion in the present day. In fact, in place of being as they should be, places of reclamation, the colonies, like the unreformed casual wards in England, are sources of contamination, and serve to propagate depravity instead of checking it. Regulations regarding Beggars. Beggars are to be confined in a place which has been specially adapted for their reception, and this rule holds good for the whole kingdom. The places appointed for the purpose are Ommerschans 514 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, and Yeenhuizen, where beggars are punished by imprisonment of from fourteen days to six months. The judge may order that at the end of this punishment the beggar shall be taken to a workhouse (hard labour house). This order is obligatory with reference to such persons as haye already been once punished for begging or vagrancy (tramping about the country without means of subsistence). Convicted beggars who are foreigners may at all times be deported beyond the frontier at the expense of the Government, Beggars who are not in a healthy condition, who may have used threats or menaces, and have entered premises (whether dwelling house or any building attached to it), or who pretend to have wounds or sores, or who beg in company or in collusion, whether man and wife, or father or mother with young children, or blind people with their guides, are to be punished by imprison- ment of from six months to three years. , Any beggar arrested who has in any way disguised himself, or upon whom any weapon is found (although he may not have used it or threatened to use it), or any files, or crow-bars, or other implements which may be used in committing theft or burglary, is punishable by imprisonment for from two to five years. Any beggar upon whom property is found, or money of more than fifty florins value, without being able to give a proper account of it, is punished by imprisonment of from six months to two years. Any beggar proved to have threatened, or abused, or assaulted any one, is punishable by solitary confinement of from five to ten years, without prejudice to any other heavy punishment, according to the kind of violence used, or the peculiar circumstances under which force may have been employed or the assault committed. The punishment appointed for such persons as make use of false written characters, false passports, or false travelling orders, is always to be of the maximum degree if committed by vagrants or beggars. Beggars' Institutions. These institutions are established at Ommerschans, belonging to the town of Ommer, circle of Ommer, and Overeest, in the pro- vince of Overyssel, and at Yeenhuizen, in the province of Drentha. The institution at Yeenhuizen is divided into three departments : AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 515 No. 1 for women, Nos. 2 and 3 for men. These institutions, which are under Government control and are directly subject to the department of Justice, are intended for the reception of beggars and tramps condemned to detention by a judge, and of the children of such persons where they cannot be separated from their parents. The expense of the removal and maintenance of prisoners is borne by Government. Prisoners are actively employed chiefly as agricultural labourers, wood-cutters, cattle- tenders, and herdsmen ; some have to do housework, others are set to do moderate manual labour, such as the making of coffee-bags, knitting stockings, making military gloves, mats, fishing- nets, &c. On the 1st July, 1883, there were : — At Ommerschans . . . . 891 men. At Veenhuizen, No. 1 343 women. „ „ „ 2 ... 615 men. „ „ „ 3 794 ,, Total .... 2,643 persons. Amount of live stock in the four divisions : — Horses 8 Cows, and other horned cattle . . . . 468 Sheep and lambs 916 In the grounds there were under cultivation : — Acres. Eye 324 Oats 194 Horsebeans 31 Potatoes 165 Buckwheat 6 Garden Fruit 26 746 In these establishments are also confined those who have been convicted of repeated public drunkenness and seaweed stealing ; they may also be incarcerated for not less than three months nor more than twelve in a Government gaol by sentence of a judge, in virtue of the law of 28th June, 1881. On the 1st July, 1883, the total number under sentence was thirty-two. In the institutions such of the poor as have not been convicted and are not mentally affected, and who desire a place of refuge, may be received at the cost of their parish. L L 2 516 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY. Future Rules on the Introduction of the New Penal Code. Law Book of 3rd March, 1881, Official Gazette No. 35. " Whoever begs publicly will be punished with imprisonment for from one to twelve days. " Three or more persons united for the purpose of begging, if above sixteen years old, will be punished by confinement of from one day up to three months. " If any of the above-named offenders are again apprehended within a year for the same offence, the judge may increase the penalty by one-third, and if able to work may send them to a Government ' workhouse ' for from three months up to three years. " On the introduction of the new penal code the character of the present Beggar Institutions will be changed ; thus Veenhuizen will become a Government * workhouse ' for the reception of such persons as are able to work, and who will be adjudged to be placed there in accordance with the new Legal Code. " Veenhuizen I. will then be for females, and II. and III. for males. " Ommerschans will then be altered to a penal prison as far as it may be available or can be made available for such a purpose, and will thus cease to be a colony or depot for beggars." CHAPTER XXIV. FRANCE. 570—1885. Ordinance of the 2nd Council of Tours. — Ordinances of St. Louis. — Edict of John in 1350. — Rodeurs de filles under Charles VIII. — Measures of repression under Francois I. — Edict of Henri II. — Description of the various orders of mendicants — Ordinances of Louis XIII. — Suppression of the Cours des Miracles by Louis XIV. — Action of the National Assembly. —Decree of 1809. — Depots de Mendicite. — Circulars issued by the Ministry of the Interior to the prefets in 1864, 1872, 1874, and 1881.— Eesults of the inquiries instituted in consequence of the circular of 1881. — The four classes of vagabonds. — Steps recommended by the prefets for the repression of vagabondage. — Report of a special committee to the National Assembly in 1873. — Census of vagabondage. — Convictions for mendicity and vaga- bondage. In the year 570, the second Council of Tours formulated an ordinance, both religious and social, on the assistance to be given to the necessitous and on the prohibition of mendicity. " Let each city, according to its resources, provide for its poor and infirm, and let the expense be divided between the inhabitants and the clergy, so that the poor may no longer wander about." Charlemagne forbid food being given to mendicants who refused to work. During the Middle Ages the manumission of the serfs, and the incessant wars, famines, and epidemics which occurred, gave men- dicity a frightful expansion, which the most rigorous measures could not suppress. The Church in addition, through its swarms of mendicant orders helped to propagate this deplorable state of things, by elevating laziness to the condition of a profession, and, what is worse, by making it under certain circumstances a pass- port to sanctity. The number of mendicants became so great, that in order to supervise them with greater ease it was found necessary to open 518 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, refuges for them, to which they were in some measure confined ; it was in this wa} 7 that the various Cours des Miracles were formed, dens into which even justice itself hesitated to penetrate. The mendicants organised themselves into distinct corporations like government departments ; they had their States General, and elected kings. This secret organisation of idleness and theft was a continuous peril to society. Saint Louis, whose thorough benevolence is beyond question, ordered in his " Institutions " that every idler and vagabond who, owning nothing and earning nothing, frequented taverns, should be arrested and interrogated on his means of existence ; if he was discovered in making false statements and convicted of an evil course of life he was to be banished from the town. In the reign of John every kind of scourge ravaged France ; war and famine and a fearful epidemic added to the general misery. Troops of peasants and disbanded soldiers, profiting by the universal desolation, overran the town and the country, begging during the day and robbing and murdering at night. To put a stop to these excesses the King in 1350 issued an edict against able-bodied beggars, which formed the basis of subsequent legislation against mendicity. Able-bodied beggars were for- bidden to beg under the penalty of the scourge and the pillory ; for a subsequent offence they were to be branded on the forehead with a hot iron and banished. Alms to able-bodied beggars were forbidden ; the aid of the pulpit was invoked to prevent assistance from being given to able-bodied idlers and vagabonds ; and finally prelates, barons, chevaliers, and burghers were commanded to prohibit their almoners from giving charity to able-bodied beggars. This penal enactment, which erred on the side of excessive seve- rity, was rarely put in force ; in every reign it was therefore necessary to endeavour to provide by new ordinances for the inefficiency of former enactments. An ordinance of 1493 con- demned beggars and vagabonds to the galleys and their accom- plices to the scourge. Under Charles VIII. mention is made of a special order of mendicants, styled in the ordinances prowlers for girls (rodeurs de JiUes) ; these wretches carried off young girls, whom they sold after having abused them. By an ordinance of the 6th July, 1495, the King organised a public force entrusted with the superintendence of the security of the roads, and the execution of AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 519 the regulations against mendicity throughout the kingdom ; this was the origin of the corps de la marechaussee, or provost-marshal's force. In the reign of Francois I. a large number of charitable institutions were established, but at the same time very severe measures of repression were enacted against able-bodied mendi- cants ; for instance, on several occasions the magistrates of Paris were ordered to employ the able-bodied poor on the fortifications of Paris, or on other works, and to provide food for those who accepted work ; beggars were forbidden to assemble on pain of being whipped and scourged with rods, and in order to ensure the safety of the capital, which was invaded by a great number of vagabonds and idle adventurers, Francois I. instituted a perma- nent public force composed of a lieutenant and a certain number of archers. At this period the country was infested with vagabonds and beggars " abandoned to every kind of vice, robbers, murderers, kidnappers, and ravishers of girls, who renounced God, made vice a virtue, and were cruel, inhuman, and wolfish." Miscreants of the worst type, forming themselves into large bands, sacked villages, and sometimes even fortified towns ; they subjected the unfortunate peasants to the most cruel tortures. The edicts of 1523 and 1537 ordered these robbers to be pursued and put to death with refinements of cruelty worthy of these barbarous times. Henri II, by an edict of the 9th July, 1547, again ordered the admission of the able-bodied poor to public works ; he completely proscribed mendicity under the penalty of the scourge and banish- ment for women and the galleys for men. In these two reigns flourished in all their cynical insolence the \ associations of beggars known under the name of belistres (rascals) . At the top of the tree was the king * of the Belistres, who bore the title of Coesre or Arch-rogue. Then came the cagous (master * The "kings," whose reigns were generally of short duration, owing to the demands of the hangman, sometimes took the title of wide Thune, Thune or Tune being the old French name for Tunis. Both this epithet and that of Coesre were a travesty of the assumption by the leader of the Gypsies of the title of Duke of Egypt. Coesre is evidently a brazen-faced appropriation of the name of Kosru I., King of Persia, called by Greek writers Chosroes, the glories and happiness of whose reign are frequently extolled by poets as the golden age of the Persian sovereignty. Both titles are no doubt due to smatterings of knowledge obtained from some vagabond student of the Pierre Gringoire type. 520 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, thieves entrusted with the education of novices) and archisuppots (retired leading thieves), governors or intendants of the provinces of the kingdom of rascality ; they counterfeited persons of rank ruined or robbed, and crippled soldiers. They were sometimes called the gentry of the short sword, on account of the scissors which they used for cutting purses. Among the inferior ranks were the orphelins, the rijfaudes, the malingreux, the mercandiers, the pietres, the polissons, the francs- mitoux, the callots, the sabouleux, the hubins, the coquillards, the courtauds de boutanche * (servants or clerks who only took service in a house for the purpose of robbery), the narqaois, the capons (sharpers), &c. The orphelins (orphans) were young boys, who, in troops of three or four, wandered about the streets of Paris almost naked, and inspired pity by the appearance of the most intense misery. The riffaudesf (victims of fire), bearing sham testimonials and accompanied by a troop of women and children, passed them- selves off as sufferers by fire. The malingreux (malingerers or counterfeit cranks) were sham invalids ; some counterfeited dropsy, others had their limbs covered with manufactured sores. The mercandiers (broken merchants or tradesmen) went from street to street clothed in rags, crying that they were worthy merchants ruined by the wars, the inclemency of the seasons, or by other accidents. The pietres J (maimed), walking with crutches, or dragging themselves along by their hands, counterfeited cripples. The polissons § (tatterdemalions or " shallow coves ") went about almost naked, clad in scanty rags, with a wallet and a bottle at their sides ; the winter was their best time, as they then got plenty of clothes, which they sold. The francs mitoux, trained to all the practices of the profession, assumed according to choice the appearance of every kind of malady, and even deceived the doctors themselves. The callots II (sufferers * Courtaud = shopman, and boutanche is a slang adaptation of boutique. t Riffaude, from the Latin rufus, red, which is the basis of the verb rufare, to redden, to smoke, to smoke out. X Pietre is an old French word meaning bad, or in a bad state. According to the Dictionary of the Academy, it means shabby, mean, or of no value. § Polisson is a derivative of the verb polir, and, according to Littre, origin- ally signified a street "polisher" or scavenger, a street tramp or vagabond. Scheler, on the other hand, says that it meant one who was not yet polished, and that the true signification was therefore an ill-bred boy or unlicked cub. || Callot, from Calotte, the upper half of the skull, where scurvy first shows itself. BEGGARS Taken from the Paintings and Tapestries of the City of Rheims, executed in the XVth century. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 521 from scurvy) gave out that they had returned from Alise-Saint Eeine in the Cote d'Or, famous for its mineral waters, where they had been miraculously cured of the scurvy. The sabouleux* (simulators of epilepsy), with a piece of soap in their mouths, rolled about in the streets and in the porticoes of churches simulating the convulsions of an attack of epilepsy. The hubins (devotees of St. Hubert) alleged that they were cured of the bite of a mad dog through the special protection of Saint Hubert. The coquillards f (pilgrims) covered with shells and a staff in hand, pretended to have returned from all the known pilgrimages. The narquois t (archers or " rumers/') or drilles § (soldiers), sometimes also called gens de la petite flambe (men of the short sword) were mainly recruited from disbanded soldiers, and the passevolants, || or volunteer soldiers, demanded alms in the most insolent manner with swords at their side. This organisation subsisted up to the reign of Louis XIV. Nevertheless, in spite of edicts, the beggars refused to take to work, and continued their vagabond and adventurous life. They attained such a degree of insolence and boldness, that a public outcry was raised against them in every part of the kingdom. The old regulations were consequently renewed in all their rigour ; persons were forbidden to give alms to mendicants under a penalty of 10 livres parisis (250 sous) ; finally, the provost marshal's lieutenants were ordered to go as often as they could through the town and suburbs, accompanied by sergeants, archers, and an officer of the high court of justice, for the purpose of whip- ping caimands (male beggars) and caimandes (female beggars) whom they found begging. All these rigorous measures did not suffice ; it was therefore found requisite to try other means of action. Louis XIII, by an order of the 27th of August, 1612, opened asylums where mendicants were to be confined and fed. Edicts and orders were issued forbidding vagrancy and mendicity under the penalty for * The Sabouleux evidently owe their name to the "sapo" or soap they put in their mouths. f Coquillard, from coquille, a shell. X Narquois is a slang adaptation of archer, a bowman. § Drille. This word, says Michel, undoubtedly springs from soudard, however strange it may appear until one knows that this latter word has produced soudrille, with a similar meaning. The dropping or adding of syllables to words is a common feature in cant languages. || Passevolants, intruders or interlopers. 522 YAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, men of the pillory and the galleys, and for women and girls of the scourge and perpetual banishment ; landlords, householders, lodging-house keepers, and sellers of beer or other liquors were specially forbidden to harbour vagabonds under the penalty of exemplary punishment by imprisonment and whipping. During the early years of the reign of Louis XIV. the political troubles favoured the encroachments of the beggars. Some of these assuming the aspect of bullies, in the style of the period, demanded alms with swords by their sides and bands over their ruffs. These wretches lived among themselves in the most promiscuous manner ; they brought up and trained their children to mendicity, and sold to recruiting officers adults whom they captured by violence and whom they kept in private confinement in houses which were styled fours (ovens). There were then in Paris eleven of the Cours des Miracles* serving as haunts for 40,000 beggars. In this extremity Louis XIV. resumed the work almost abandoned by Louis XIII. , and founded a hospital in Paris for the detention of the poor. "We will and command," says the edict, "that poor beggars, both able-bodied and infirm of both sexes, shall be confined in a hospital in order to be em- ployed in labour, manufactures, and other forms of work according to their ability." Article 9 of this edict forbids mendicancy under severe penalties. In the year 1656 a veritable army of archers and commissioners invaded the principal Cour des Miracles in Paris, since rendered famous by Victor Hugo. The inhabitants tried to resist or to fly ; they had not time for the one or oppor- tunity for the other. The sovereignty of the roi de Thune was broken up, and beggars of all kinds, thieves, and vagabonds were examined and packed off either to prison or to the hospital. Up to the end of the reign of Louis XIV. the powers of the State fought energetically against mendicity and vagrancy without accomplishing the repression of these evils. The successors of the Grand Monarque did not succeed any better in their difficult task. In 1719 beggars were ordered to be transported to the colonies, but owing to expostulations from the colonies the order was revoked in 1722. The question of mendicity was thought of such importance by * The Cours des Miracles owed their title to the miraculous manner in which the blind, the halt, and the lame who inhabited them recovered from their ailments the moment they reached home. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 523 the National Assembly that it bestowed the name of Comite pour r extinction de la mendicite on the commission entrusted with the organisation of relief. The present legislation for the suppression of mendicity is founded upon a decree of July 5, 1809. The instruction of the Emperor runs, " Matters ought to be arranged in such a way that it might be said, 'Every beggar will be arrested.' But to arrest him in order to put him in prison would be barbarous or absurd. One or several houses of charity will therefore be neces- sary in every department." The decree founded upon this instruc- tion declares, " Mendicity is to be forbidden throughout the empire ; beggars in each department are to be arrested and taken to the depot de mendicite of the department, so soon as this depot is established and the following formalities have been complied with : within a fortnight following the establishment and organisation of each depot de mendicite, the prefet of the department is to make known by notice that the said depot having been established and organised, all persons begging and having no means of subsistence are required to present themselves there ; this notice is to be published and repeated in all the communes of the department during three consecutive Sundays ; after the third publication, every person who is found begging in the department is to be arrested in accordance with the orders of the local authorities through the medium of the gendarmerie, and immediately taken to the depot de mendicite ; vagabond beggars are to be arrested and taken to the Houses of Detention. It was also enacted — each depot de mendicite is to be created and organised by a special decree, the expenses of the establishment of the depot being concurrently borne by the Treasury, the departments, and the towns ; within a month of the publication of this decree the prefets are to address to the Minister of the Interior a report upon the establishment of the depot de mendicite of their depart- ment." Article 274 of the Penal Code, modified by the law of April 28, 1832, provides, " Every person who shall be found begging in a locality in which a public establishment exists, organised with a view to preclude mendicity, shall be punished with from three to six months' imprisonment, and shall at the expiration of his punishment be taken to a depot de mendicite." Article 275 continues, " In places where such establishments do not yet exist, 524 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, habitual able-bodied beggars shall be punished with from one to three months' imprisonment, and if they are arrested outside the canton in which they reside they shall be punished with imprison- ment from six months to two years." In accordance with the suggestion of the instruction and the pro- vision of the decree, about forty depots de mendicite were estab- lished, thirty of which existed in 1872. These were to be " paternal establishments/ ' where benevolence was to temper constraint by gentleness, to maintain discipline by affection, and to revive the feel- ing of wholesome shame. These philanthropic institutions do not appear to have answered the expectations of the founders. " The expenses," says M. Bechard, " greatly exceeded the calculations, and only served to sustain the laziness of the prisoners and redoubled the audacity of the beggars who could not be admitted.'' The beggars proved in every sense to be " too many " for the Emperor. " The beggars," says Fodere, "scoffed at him who scoffed at kings. He has passed away and mendicity has sur- vived." " The depot de mendicite," Mr. Hamilton remarks, " which bears some resemblance to the English workhouse, is a departmental establishment intended rather for the punishment of the offence of begging than for the relief of the poor. The depot Saint Denis, near Paris, is practically the only one for the department of the Seine. The management of this depot is good, that is, the most refractory class of the population of Paris, when committed for their term of imprisonment, are described as orderly and industrious, earning during the period of their incarceration a sum sufficient to support them for some time after their libera- tion. But the whole aspect of the place is exceedingly repulsive." " The house of restraint (maison de repression) at Saint Denis," says M. Maxime Du Camp, " is the foulest sink that can be found." This opinion is a trifle exaggerated, but very near the truth. The opening phrases of the circulars issued by the Ministry of the Interior* to the various prefets on the subject of vagabondage from the year 1864 downwards, read very like the preambles to old English Acts of Parliament. On the 10th of November, 1864, the Minister writes, " Monsieur de Prefet, the attention of the Government has for a long time been directed to the means of * The archives of the section of the department relating to vagabondage were burnt in the fire of 1871. The following documents are derived direct from the Ministry, and are now published for the first time. AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 525 protecting our rural populations from the misdeeds and the depredations of bands of vagabond persons and wanderers known under the name of gypsies (Bohemiens)." The circular then goes on to say that the law is powerless to deal with them by expulsion, as they have neither fixed abode, religion, nor social status, but that if they are placed under the surveillance of the police and assigned a fixed residence, they can if they quit it be transported to Cayenne under a decree of December 8, 1851. As to those persons who are wanderers by profession, such as acrobats, musicians, street singers, &c, they are subject to police regulations defined by the ministerial circular of January 6, 1863, and the note of the 28th of March following. The next circular is dated April 4, 1872, and begins, " Mon- sieur le Prefet, tne presence of bands of Gypsies in various parts of the country has been pointed out to me by several of your colleagues, who have sent me on the subject complaints from the inhabitants that the laws and police regulations in force appear to protect them only imperfectly against the incursions and mis- deeds of these wandering bands." It then proceeds to say that the decree of December 8, 1851, having been annulled, and the penal code of 1832 revived, by which every one under surveil- lance is free to choose his own domicile and to change it at will, the surveillance is no longer effective. It then recommends the prefets to take steps for rigidly excluding any persons who present themselves at the frontiers, and who cannot give a satisfactory account of their identity and nationality. The next is dated May 26, 1874, and opens thus : " Monsieur le Prefet, the attention of the department has been several times directed to the injuries occasioned by the passage of bands of gypsies and vagabonds styled ' fugitive camps ' (camps volant) in our towns, and above all in our rural districts. Nevertheless, the measures taken up to this time have only succeeded very im- perfectly in repressing the abuses resulting from the incursions of these wanderers, and fresh complaints have been recently further addressed to me on the subject." It then points out that the Prefet of the Saone and Loire has decided that the stationing of the vehicles of the gypsies on the highways or communal lands of his department shall be forbidden, and that individuals of this class who cannot prove that they have a domicile or means of subsistence shall be arrested and brought before the Courts as 526 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, vagabonds, and recommends the prefet to take steps for suppress- ing the nuisance. The last is dated January 5, 1881, and runs thus : " Monsieur le Prefet, the rural inhabitants of several departments complain of the increasing number of beggars and vagabonds who overrun small localities, forcing themselves into isolated houses and farms, demanding meat and drink, and often exacting money. It is important to remedy so far as possible a state of things which indicates a relaxation on the part of the peace officers, of the supervision to which beggars, vagabonds, and foreign wanderers ought to be subject. I beg of you, then, to be good enough to ascertain, in what degree these complaints apply to your depart- ment, and in case of need to exert all your authority for providing against, or repressing the abuses which may be reported to you in this respect. In addition to this, as this question is manifestly one of general interest, I shall require every kind of infor- mation relating to it. For this purpose, I wish you from the present time to collect particulars so far as they relate to your department in order to forward them to me with a special report. I would draw your special attention to the following points : — " 1st. Under what forms does vagabondage show itself? " (Beggars, Gypsies, Bearwards, &c.) " 2nd. Steps taken up to this time to repress vagabondage ? " 3rd. What measures would be most suitable for repressing vagabondage ? " 4th. Have the Board of Works (Conseil General) or the Town Councils (Conseils Municipaux) taken up this question ? "5th. Are there any public institutions for refuge or work pro- vided for beggars, and what are their resources ? " 6th. Are there any private institutions with the same objects ? " 7th. How do the Courts apply the provisions of the criminal law relating to beggars and vagabonds ? " The results of the inquiries set on foot in consequence of this circular are thus given in a report to the Minister of the Interior. I. The persons reported as composing the various sub-divisions of vagabondage may be grouped under four classes. The first comprehends the poor who take to begging. They AND BEGGABS AND BEGGING. 527 may be divided into able-bodied and infirm, habitual beggars and occasional beggars, stationary beggars and wandering beggars. These last, to whom mendicity has become habitual and a sort of profession, have a tendency to blend with vagabonds properly so called. They leave their settlement (commune de leur residence) for the purpose of roaming about the cantons of the neighbouring departments. Sometimes they quit their settlement (domicile) for ever and pass their life in rambling over the highways, " work- ing " in turn each department, each town, each large village, and returning, at the end of a certain number of years to knock at the same doors at which they were relieved during their previous progresses. In the second class may be ranked persons styled in the reports of the prefets by the name of " Stagers " (Rou tiers), " Rounders " (Rouleurs), and other names of the same kind, who have no settled abode or means of subsistence, and who do not habitually exercise any trade or calling. This is a condition of vagabondage such as is to be found defined in Article 270 of the Penal Code. In private houses, workshops, and institutions where they appeal for assistance they commonly describe them- selves as workmen out of work. Some of them have fallen out of the ranks of labour destitute of means of livelihood and con- demned to live by shifts. The greater number are discharged prisoners whom the difficulty of finding work reduces to the beggar's petition. Some of them are creatures degraded by idle- ness and vice. All of them are unproductive parasites living on the earnings of the working classes, and this is doubtless the reason why the law regards this mode of life as a misdemeanour, even when it is not accompanied by any aggravating circum- stances. The third class includes wanderers exercising migratory callings, such as acrobats, jugglers, organ-grinders, musicians and street singers, fortune-tellers, conjurors, and public entertainers of every kind. Though leading a wandering and often precarious existence, persons of this class are not vagabonds in the legal sense of the term. They in fact exercise a calling subject to the formality of a double authorisation : the one granted by the prefet, on a special pass bearing a description of the bearer ; the other granted by the mayor of the commune in which they wish to exercise their calling. The reports, however, of the depart- 528 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, ments look upon a great number of these wanderers as being only- beggars or vagabonds in disguise. In the fourth class are included wanderers of foreign origin who are commonly known under the name of Gypsies. The gypsies are neither beggars nor vagabonds in the judicial sense of these expressions, but they partake at the same time of the character of vagabonds and beggars. It appears, in fact, that the calling they exercise has no other object than to shelter them from the arm of the law, by allowing them to call at houses under colourable pretexts. Sometimes they drag bears or other animals about with them, which they exhibit from door to door at isolated farm-houses. Sometimes they manufacture trifling articles of basket-work or hardware, which they offer at houses. Sometimes they carry on useful callings, such as tinkers, umbrella- menders, &c. But the trade which they profess rarely suffices for their subsistence. Their apparent calling conceals their real calling, which is mendicity. In houses into which they penetrate without the consent of the master or mistress, they begin by offering something for sale and end by soliciting alms. When they find themselves amongst children, women, or old people incapable of defending themselves, they show themselves bold and menacing. They no longer solicit, they demand, and, if necessary, extort. After their passage through a commune it seldom happens that the inhabitants do not complain of depredations or thefts committed to their detriment and for which the authors are vainly to be sought among the inhabitants of the district. The gypsy does not travel singly. He ordinarily brings with him a numerous family. Sometimes several families unite and form a regular tribe under the management of a head. These wanderers do not lodge in inns. Carriages like waggons and vehicles of all kinds serve as their abodes. When all the members of the tribe cannot find room in these shelters, they live in tents and form a sort of fugitive camp (camp volant) . The fantastic customs of these wanderers, their repulsive appear- ance, their habitual neglect of attention to cleanliness, the strange character of their language, the menacing tone with which they solicit charity, together with the mystery which hovers over the real cause of their distant peregrinations, contributes to make these strange visitors among the rural inhabitants an object of distrust and fear. In resisting their aggressions the people are AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 529 afraid of provoking acts of vengeance on their part. In certain departments the inhabitants suspect them of sometimes playing the part of spies. n. The steps recommended by the Prefets for the repression of vagabondage may be classified under four heads, corresponding with the classes of persons under consideration. 1st. The first concern beggars. Begging being ordinarily occasioned by want of work, or incapacity for it, Combined with the want of pecuniary means, the first step to be taken in this respect is to provide for the relief of the necessitous (venir en aide aux indigents). Now, in the matter of assistance, it seems that it is less necessary to devise new methods than to methodise those already in practice. The greater part of the reports propose to multiply the chari- table boards (bureaux de bienfaisance) in a certain number of communes which have never been provided with them, to create refuges in the shape of cantonal, district, or departmental alms- houses (hospices), asylums for the old and infirm and for all incapable of work, asylums for deserted children, night refuges, and other institutions of a similar character ; to encourage by grants societies for the assistance of discharged prisoners, who, rejected by the workshops at which they seek for work, are often obliged to have recourse for a living to public charity. Finally, it would be expedient, according to certain reports, to have recourse to the application of the organic decree of the 5th July, 1808, which compelled every department to have a depot de mendicite. Mendicity rarely begins to be dangerous to the public safety until it becomes vagabond. The greater number of prefets consider that to extinguish this form of mendicity, every com- mune ought to be compelled in fact, as it is in law, to relieve its own poor. This result might perhaps be attained by an indirect method, if the proper constables (agents) and officers (fonctionnaires) attended to the execution of the provisions of the Penal Code relative to habitual and able-bodied beggars who devote themselves to mendicity outside the canton of their abode. 2nd. With regard to vagabonds of the second class, those only M M 530 YAGEANTS AND YAGBANCY, to whom this name properly applies, the prefets consider that the existing law is inadequate. The penalty for the offence of vagabondage consists in fine, imprisonment in certain cases, the surveillance of the police, and finally, with regard to vagabonds of foreign extraction, expulsion from the State. Now the principal punishment, imprisonment, is not of a nature to repress efficaciously the offence under con- sideration. The reports of the prefets and those of the judicial magistrates, which in certain departments the prefets have added to their reports, leave no doubt upon this point. The greater number of vagabonds, says one of these reports, come of their own accord in the hard weather to have themselves arrested either by the gendarmerie or the police. Brought to the bar and con- demned, they endeavour to prolong the duration of their imprison- ment. Set at liberty, they resume their life of adventure until the fall of the thermometer informs them that it is again time to seek an asylum in prison. Other documents say that they almost regard penal repression with indifference. The police reports on them (dossiers) are overladen with convictions. Many beg for their arrest as a favour. Imprisonment of any kind, adds the prefet of one of the northern departments, cannot be regarded as a beneficial form of repression. Vagabonds are not afraid of imprisonment ; some, on the contrary, seek it, because through it they obtain rest, subsistence, and an easy and assured exist- ence, though deprived of liberty. Their degeneration or their moral degradation is the explanation of this surprising pheno- menon. For the greater part of old offenders, imprisonment has there- fore ceased to be a punishment. As it constitutes the principal punishment, the insufficiency of this means of repression is clearly discernible. The penalty which the major part of the prefets, magistrates, and Boards of Works who have given an opinion on the point call for, is the transportation to one of our colonies of repeatedly convicted vagabonds, after a certain number of convictions. 3rd. The reports show that persons carrying on wandering callings or trades, form a sufficiently important factor in regard to crime in general and to mendicity and vagabondage in par- ticular. This has given rise to the measures proposed with regard to this particular class of persons. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 531 Certain reports ask that greater caution should be exercised than has hitherto been the custom in the delivery of passes to acrobats, and the administrative licences with which these different performers are bound to provide themselves for the exercise of their calling. Others propose that the prefectoral licences shall only be given to infirm persons, in consequence of their being unable to under- take any other form of work. Some prefets would like the licences delivered up to this time to be rescinded by a general order, and that the delivery of new licences should be absolutely prohibited. This would mean the complete prohibition of all these interloping or precarious callings, which permit a multitude of persons to maintain themselves, who are often incapable of undertaking more regular work. In order to get rid of some counterfeit vagabonds, a crowd of mendicants would be created. It appears that the proposed remedy would be worse than the evil. 4th. Finally, with regard to vagabonds of foreign extraction, as well as wanderers exercising suspicious or dangerous callings, and who are known by the name of Gypsies, the reports of the prefets agree with rare exceptions in substantiating the abso- lute insufficiency of the local police measures. In consequence, they propose — A. When these wanderers present themselves at the frontier to forbid their entrance into the territory of the Republic. B. To apply in a large degree the right of expulsion, resulting from the law of the 3rd December, 1849, when, by eluding the surveillance of the police, they have succeeded in intruding them- selves into the interior of the country. It should be noted that nothing has as yet been resolved upon with regard to the measures proposed by the prefets for the repression of vagabondage, as a consequence of the circular of the 5th January, 1881. With regard to the nationality of the different hordes of gypsies who have recently made their appearance in France, the Minister of the Interior has furnished the following observa- tions : — " The gangs of gypsies who roam about France ordinarily, come from the provinces of the Turkish Empire, from the various states which until recently formed part of it, and from the terri- m m 2 532 VAGBANTS AND VAGRANCY, tory of Austria- Hungary. There is further reason to believe that they are not always homogeneous, that is to say, composed of members of the same family or of the same tribe. Individuals may sometimes be noticed, who, while speaking the common language, make use of western idioms, particularly of German, and appear to belong to different nationalities. The heads of certain gangs are furnished with proper passports issued in the different European States and even in England. "Other gangs appear not to belong to any particular nationality. It is difficult in various instances to ascertain exactly where these people come from." In a report to the National Assembly presented in 1873 by a committee specially appointed to inquire into the organisation of poor relief in the country, the following recommendations are made for the suppression of mendicity. 1st. The suppression of depots de mendicite except for the infirm or for beggars over 50 years of age. 2nd. A new clause 274 of the Penal Code, to run thus : " Every able-bodied person above 50 years of age, habitually devoting himself to the practice of mendicity, shall be sent out to the colonies." This rigorous measure can alone put an end to the shameless speculation which constitutes the sole means of subsist- ence of a class of the population of the great centres well-known to the public prosecutors of Paris, Lyons, and other large towns. Well-organised poor relief may then easily restrain the practice of mendicity within very narrow limits. Can it completely extin- guish it ? Table showing the Number of Persons without a Calling. Beggars, Gypsies, and Vagabonds. Prosti- tutes. Persons without a Calling. Males. Females. Total. Females. M ales. Females. Total. Census of 1872 25,461 37,327 62,788 11,875 79,021 143,928 222,949 Beggars, Vagabonds, and Public Prostitutes. Callings unknown. Census of 1876 27,353 43,970 71,323 90,220 119,997 210,217 In the census of 1881 the classification is of such a heterogeneous character that it is impossible to derive any practically useful information from it. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 533 CONVICTIONS FOE MENDICITY AND VAGABONDAGE. The accompanying statistical table (see next page) shows that from 1875 to 1884 the number of beggars convicted has increased by 36 per cent, and that of vagabonds by 87 per cent. The relative proportions of beggars when subdivided into sexes is exactly the same as that obtained when they are aggregated : males 86 per cent, and females 14 per cent. ; the same does not hold good with regard to Vagabondage where the females are proportionately less numerous, forming only 9 per cent. With regard to age, there are more vagabonds under 21 years than beggars. In both sexes the latter only constitute one-tenth of the total number, while those apprehended of this age and charged with vagabondage show a proportion for males of 22 per cent, and for females of 29 per cent. The Criminal Courts manifest a little more tenderness towards vagabonds than towards beggars. Of 100 of the former 7 are discharged, while the proportion of the latter is only 4 per cent. The causes of the increase of vagabondage are both general and special. Amongst the first, there is one which of itself is sufficient to account for the augmentation shown, and that is the agricul- tural and commercial depression which has reigned on the conti- nent for several years. With regard to individual causes they can only be surmised, such as idleness, poverty, social causes, &c. But to determine in what degree each of them has influenced the result shown, it would be necessary to know the classes of the population which have furnished the most numerous contingent of vagabonds ; unfortunately the statistics do not contain any indica- tion of the kind. 534 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY. Mendicity and Vagabondage. Number of Males Females. Number of Prisoners. Years. CO PH o CD rH i — 1 CM CD O CD rH CM litted nt to ise of ction. Cause! Priso O Unde B ^ o u > o , Vagabonds. Those persons who leave their homes in search of work and finding none, and are known to have no means by which to gain a living, or who do not endeavour to gain an honest living, can be punished as vagabonds, with an arrest of from eight days to one month. If they offend oftener they can be punished with from one to three months' " stringent " arrest (this arrest combines a variety of punishments — imprisonment, fasting, hard labour, hard beds, seclusion, detention in a house of correction, &c, according to the prisoner's offence). The police have authority to require those released after repeated offences to show, during a term of three years, that they are gaining an honest living. If they can- not prove this they can be arrested for from three to fourteen days ; again offending they have to undergo one month's stringent arrest. They can be placed under police supervision, in which case they must remain in the district assigned to them. The police cannot prohibit them from remaining in their native place. They are obliged to give information of their change of domicile, their means of subsistence, and their intercourse with other persons. The police can order them to appear on certain days at the police-station ; they can prevent their attending meetings, or leaving their lodgings at night-time. Their lodgings and person can be searched. Vagabond youths under eighteen years of age are put into a house of correction, but they are not detained there after they attain the age of twenty. 552 V AGE ANTS AND YAGEANCY. Beggars. Beggars are in the first instance warned by the police, and after repeated offences are brought before the tribunals, the punishment varying from eight days to one and even three months' imprisonment. A beggar shamming illness or trying to excite the compassion of the public by pretending bodily defects, is in the first instance punished with one month's imprisonment. Children under fourteen found begging. In such cases the parents, or those under whose care the children are placed, if it is proved they are aware that the children were begging, can be punished with an arrest of from eight days to one month. Persons letting out children for begging purposes are similarly punished with from eight days to one month's imprisonment, and for a repetition of the offence with from one to three months' imprisonment.* * Eeport of Victor Drummond, 1884. CHAPTER XXVII. ITALY. 1586—1872. Law of 1865 regarding vagrants and beggars — Former attempts at repression — The Company of St. Elizabeth, or Beggars' Guild — " The forty hours " — Description of the orders of beggars by Nobili in 1627 — The tricks of the Bianti in Sicily — Their punishment by the Duke of Sessa. By the Public Security Law of March 20th, 1865, as amended by the law of July 6th, 1871, on information laid by the police, or in default thereof, on the ground of public notoriety, the magistrate called Pretone may summon any person charged with being an idler or a vagrant to appear before him within five days. On the appearance of such person, the magistrate, if the charge be admitted or proved, admonishes the idler or vagrant to find regular work, and to show that he has done so within the time prescribed, ordering him not to remove in the meanwhile from the place where he is without previous notice given to the place. When the person summoned denies the charge, and it cannot be immediately established, the case is adjourned for another period of five days, in order to obtain further evidence. If a person admonished as above-mentioned neglects to comply with the injunctions he has received, such disobedience is punish- able with imprisonment for not less than three or more than six months. Vagrants and idlers under the age of sixteen years may be, according to circumstances, either consigned to the care of their parents or guardians, or placed in a workhouse or reformatory. At the expiration of his term of imprisonment the vagrant, if a foreigner, is conducted to the frontier and expelled the State ; if an Italian citizen, he is directed to the local authority of the com- 554 YAGBAXTS AND VAGRANCY, mune where he has declared it to be his intention to fix his residence, which he is required not to change without previous notice to that authority. If he does not keep to the route traced out for him, or if he fails to present himself within the term prescribed to the proper authority, or if he leaves the residence assigned to him without permission, he is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than one month or more than one year. A person who has undergone a sentence of imprisonment for vagrancy may be forbidden by the prefect of the province to establish his residence in the place chosen by him, under pain of imprisonment for not less than one month or more than one year. A place of residence during a period of from six months to two years, or, after conviction for a repeated offence, from one year to five years, may be assigned to such vagrant by the Minister of the Interior. The law above cited of March 20th, I860, provides that in communes where there is no mendicity asylum, persons unable to work, and who have neither means of subsistence nor relations bound by law to support them, shall receive from the municipal authorities certificates of poverty and inability to work ; which certificates, duly countersigned by the district political authorities, shall be considered as licences to beg within the district. It is understood, however, that such permission is not to be granted in places where sufficient charitable foundations exist for the relief of the poor. Mendicancy is prohibited in all cases except those above mentioned. Under any circumstance beggars are forbidden to show their sores, injuries, or deformities, to carry heavy sticks or other arms, or to express desperation by words or gestures. Begging by night is always prohibited. Any person found begging without a licence is taken into custody, and handed over to the judicial authority, to be proceeded against according to law. But in a commune where there exists a mendicity asylum, if the person found begging is unable to work, and without means of subsistence, he is sent to such asylum, and kept there until he has acquired the means of subsistence, or until some one undertakes to maintain him. Cardinal Morichini records a series of ineffectual endeavours to repress mendicancy in Rome, which were made by several Popes since the middle of the sixteenth century,. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 555 Pius Y. issued a bull prohibiting begging in churches under the severest penalties. Gregory XIII. charged the arch-confra- ternity of the Holy Trinity for the care of Pilgrims and Con- valescents with the duty of clearing Rome of beggars. Those incapable of working were to be maintained in the monastery of S. Sisto, which he assigned to the society for that purpose, and the able-bodied were to be sent away to earn their livelihood by their own labour. Full power was given to the arch-confraternity to imprison paupers or expel them from the city. In execution of the Pope's brief to this effect, all the beggars in Rome were required to present themselves on a certain day at the hospital of the Holy Trinity. Eight hundred and fifty of them having been so collected were made to march in solemn procession to their destined asylum, which soon, however, had to be abandoned as unsuitable. The measures adopted proved quite inefficacious, as appears from a bull in which, a few years later, Sixtus Y. declared that the public places, private houses, and churches were filled with importunate and clamorous beggars, who wandered about the city, without having any fixed abode, without religious instruc- tion, and seeking nothing but food. In order to put an end to such a state of things the Pope established a great asylum or almshouse for the indigent, without distinction of nationality, and he ordered that those who should still persist in begging rather than go into the house should be severely punished, even in some cases with the galleys. The desired result, however, was far from being obtained. Only twelve years after the death of Sixtus Y., according to a contemporary writer, the beggars infesting the streets were so numerous that there was no possibility of walking in the town without being surrounded by them, while, on the other hand, very few indeed remained in the asylum. Innocent X. ordered all beggars to be shut up in the Apos- tolical Palace of St. John Lateran ; but his intentions do not seem to have been fulfilled, and Pope Innocent XI. came to the conclusion that the design was not realisable. Innocent XII. took up again the plans of Sixtus Y. for the extirpation of men- dicity, and with that view instituted the " Ospizio Apostolico." During the greater part of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there existed a regularly authorised beggars' society, designated by the name of the Company of S. Elizabeth. It had 5j6 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, between 400 and 500 members, each of whom contributed two bajocchi and a half (about twopence halfpenny) a month towards the expenses of religious ceremonies, of which there were many. Once a year the blind, led by the lame, went in penitential pro- cession with a military escort to visit four churches. Penalties were inflicted on members of the company who failed to pay their subscriptions, or were wanting in due respect to their superior officers. No one was allowed to beg in the streets who was not a member. Children, able-bodied men and women, and foreigners were excluded. Strangers, however, were sometimes allowed to beg in the winter on payment of the ordinary sub- scription. All the members of the company were furnished with licences. They practised begging among themselves, certain of the brethren being charged with the duty of soliciting aims from the rest for those who were ill. On Sundays one of the officers of the company, called Camerlengo, who was lame, accompanied by two who were blind, called the Signore and the Guardiano, went about the town with fiddles and a poet to collect offerings for the feast of the patroness of the society, S. Elizabeth. The custom was to carry a silver basin for contributions, with ten crowns and a silver snuffbox in it ; and every one who put money into the former was asked to take a pinch of snuff from the latter. This grotesque trade union, which was founded in 1613, and lasted until the Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century, was placed under the protection of a cardinal. Its last protector was Cardinal York. Pius YIT. in setting on foot, and Leo XII. in completing, the general system of relief which has already been described, made stringent regulations against mendicity ; but their edicts for its suppression seem to have been as fruitless as those of former Popes. Again, in 1837, all beggars were summoned to give an account of themselves. The infirm received a licence to beg and a medal which they were to wear. The able-bodied, if strangers, were sent away, or, if Romans, were required to find work. Non- compliance was punished with imprisonment on bread and water for a first offence, and with heavier penalties for a second offence. A house was subsequently established where unlicensed beggars were temporarily placed. A singular old custom, still existing when he wrote his book, the second edition of which was published in 1870, is described AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. by Cardinal Morichini. A chosen band of forty beggars received special licence from the Cardinal Vicar to take post outside the doors of churches during the solemnity called The Forty Hours, and the devout had to pass on every such occasion between two long rows of vociferous mendicants, whose clamour even disturbed the prayers of the congregation within. Of these privileged beggars, half were blind and the rest cripples. One-third of the whole number were women. The age for admission was not fixed, and the licence was held during good behaviour. The patronage belonged to the Cardinal Yicar, who appointed to vacant places.* In 1627, Giacinto Nobili, a Dominican monk of Yiterbo, who wrote under the pseudonym of Rafaele Frianoro, published at Venice, under Papal sanction, a work entitled " II Vagabondo overo sferza de Bianti e Vagabondi," the materials of which he appears to have drawn from some of the arch- vagabonds of the period. He divides vagabonds into thirty-four classes : — 1. Bianti,oY Blessed, bearers of false bulls, indulgences, relics, &c. 2. Felsi, or Cozeners, or false prophets, who gave out that they were inspired by God and gifted with the spirit of prophecy. They declared that there were concealed treasures in houses guarded by evil spirits, which could only be discovered through the medium of the sacrifices, prayers, and fastings of their con- fraternity, and that to search for these treasures in any other way would be to risk one's life. 3. Ajfrati, or false monks, who, though they had never been ordained, nevertheless had the hardihood to celebrate mass, saying wherever they went that it was their first mass, in order to obtain more in alms or offerings. The Inquisition made short work of these rascals whenever they fell into its power. 4. Falsi Bordoni, or false pilgrims, who sold medals and shells and solicited alms because they said they could not conscientiously live on their own means during their pilgrimage, through fear of breaking their vow. 5. Acaptosi, or Redeemed Slaves, who pretended to have escaped from slavery and wanted money to redeem their relations. 6. Affarfanti, or Charlatans, who invented miraculous events, stating that they had committed monstrous sins for which they * Report by Sir A. Paget, 1872. 558 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, had been punished by incurable disorders, until they were healed of them through having made a vow to wander through the world, for the purpose of recounting the effects of divine justice and of God's infinite mercy towards miserable sinners. 7. Accaponi, or Ulcerated, who made ulcers on their legs with powder, toast, and hare's blood. 8. Allacrimanti, or Weepers, who owed their name to the facility with which they shed tears at will, principally in the presence of women. They did not solicit anything, but always had their arms extended to receive offerings. 9. Ascioni, or Stupid, who simulated madmen, or deaf and dumb people. They did not ask for anything, but kept their hands extended to receive alms. 10. Accadenti, or Epileptics, who pretended to have fits when- ever they were in the midst of a number of people from whom it seemed likely they would get alms. 11. Cagnabaldi, or Exchangers, who persuaded people to ex- change pearls, rings, &c, for pinchbeck. 12. Mutatori, or Lenders, who professed to lend money without interest. 13. Attremanti, or Tremblers, who shook in every limb, pre- tending to be impotent or paralytic. 14. Admiranti, or Reciters of Ealse Miracles, who pretended that an image of the virgin, or some other saint in a distant locality, had shed tears, or sweated, or inclined its head ; they then sold a fac-simile of it, which they declared had worked a miracle. 15. Acconii, or Image-bearers of Saints, who carried images of the saints on their breasts to be kissed by the faithful. 16. AttarantaM, or Bitten, who pretended to be bitten by taran- tulas, and to be in consequence smitten with a form of madness. They indulged in the most extravagant capers and did not solicit anything; the companion who conducted them, however, accepted alms. 17. Appezzenti, or Bread-eaters, who pretended to eat nothing else. They sold all the whole loaves they collected and eat only the pieces. 18. Cocchini, or tattered rogues, answering to our shallow coves or shivering jemmies, who went naked, even in winter, and col- lected clothes and money, though they pretended to prefer nudity and poverty for the love of God. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 559 19. Spettrini, or False Priests, resembling the English frater, who pretended to collect for hospitals, and pocketed the money. 20. Iucchi or Ribattezzati, Christianised or Rebaptised Jews, who pretended to have been rich Jews converted by terrible visions or incredible miracles. In every town they came to they caused themselves to be rebaptised, and by this means drew valuable gifts from their sponsors and others. 21. Palpatory or Masters of Arts, aged or impotent rascals, who taught children the art of cheating. 22. . Affarinati, or Flourerers, who begged flour to make holy wafers to be used at the celebration of masses for the living and dead. 23. Allampadatiy or Lampists, who during Passion Week and at the great festivals begged oil for the lamps which are lighted in front of the host, or the images of the virgin. 24. Reliquiarii, or Vendors of False Relics. 25. Pauliani, or Paulists, who pretended to descend from the Apostle Paul, and drove away snakes and eat and drank venomous things, for which they swallowed antidotes beforehand. 26. Allacerbanti or Protobianti, or Head Rogues, who often cheated one another. 27. Calcidiarii, or Advisers of Pregnant Women, who made pregnant women believe that they would miscarry or meet with other misfortunes unless they made offerings of tapers, wine, bread, and anything in season, which these rascals appro- priated. 28. Lotori, or Bathers, who pretended to be in possession of miraculous water which would make infants grow to an extra- ordinary degree, or cause them to die. 29. Crociarii, or Saffroners, rogues who sold saffron in places where it did not exist, and cheated people as to its value. 30. Comparizzanti, or Searchers for Godfathers, who endea- voured to relieve themselves of the expenses of childbirth and nursing, and at the same time to curry favour with the rich by making them sponsors for their children. 31. Affamiglioliy or Fathers of Families who carried about a number of children. 32. Poveri Vergognosi, or Respectable Poor ashamed to beg. * 33. Morghigeri, or Bellringers, who carried a lamp and a bell and asked alms for their prayers. 560 VAGRANTS AND YAGBANCY, 34. Testatorij or Testators, who pretended to be ill and bequeath money to their protectors. Religious superstition appears to have been the keynote of most of these forms of rascality. The following will serve as a sample of the modes in which some of these rascals carried on their tricks : — " The Bianti* " The Bianti, or Blessed, are so called because they promise them- selves sovereign blessedness in this world through their constant endeavours to enrich themselves by leading a life all the more infamous on account of its apparent misery [These impostors are unable to exhibit any example of the efficacy of their prayers, but I will produce one of their roguery.] In the year 1457, at the time Pope Calixtus III. admitted S the Confessor into the ranks of the Saints a certain Ser f named Gabriele Prato, having gone to Sicily with several of his companions in rascality, preached the miracles of this great saint, and clothing many per- sons with the habit of the saint, he sold some prayers he had com- posed, as if they had been a fruit of the spirit and zeal of the confessor. [This is the way that sinners sometimes made the saints the guarantors for their crimes, and after having abused everything else, finally abused religion itself.] " One day, being on his way to a town situated at the sea- side, and having learned that there was no white cloth there, he left his companions in a neighbouring hamlet, with instructions to disguise themselves as merchants and to come in a short time with a number of pieces of white cloth to a certain spot [on which he would plant his pilgrim's staff]. Then Gabriele having entered the place began to propound several miracles of the saint, which no one had ever heard of before, and having preached for two days and exhorted people to assume his habit, he could not find any cloth suitable for the purpose. Upon this he ordered the people to pray to God for two days and two nights, until it pleased him to favour the zeal of the devotees [of this great Saint and to cause others to believe]. The prayer had scarcely terminated, when a vessel * The portions in brackets were added to a scarce edition of the book published in French in 1644, the author of which is believed to be Desfon- taines, the dramatist. t A name given to priests and also to lords and masters. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 561 arrived in port, in charge of the false merchants who generally accompanied Grabriele, and who bringing with them a quantity of white cloth, declared that they were charged to do so by the order and by the revelation of the saint. [Is it to be wondered at after this that Devils sometimes transform themselves into Angels of Light, seeing that the worst men in the world will take the shape of the Bianti?~\ " The inhabitants of the town and all the neighbouring people attributing this event to an extraordinary Providence, and not to a concerted trick, took the habit of the saint to the number of fifteen thousand persons, and cloth was more wanting than zeal. Gabriele by this means acquired so much credit and authority, that though poor on coming into the island, he left it laden with gold and silver amassed by this infamous trade. [Sicily was for- merly called the Store house of the Romans but on this occasion it proved that of Beggars and Scoundrels.] " Finally having returned to Naples with his companions, he passed his time in comfort supported by the alms of others, and you would have declared in this case that Lazarus had become Dives. Instead of wooden utensils he only now used vessels of great value, and those who had known him as a beggar were astonished to see him assuming great state. [A king may give his empire for a glass of water, but the rascal of whom I am speaking, while only drinking water found means if not to become a king, at least to treat himself regally.] " This change having come to the ears of the Duke of Sessa, a man with a subtilty equal to the depth of his judgment, he resolved to trick the trickster, and to avenge the outrage on Grod and his saints perpetrated by the most contemptible of men. He therefore ordered some of his footmen to station themselves near a pass which leads to the river Tiano, and to persuade our Beati, who they knew were coming, to present themselves to the Duke, who greatly wanted them, [with the promise that he would give them a handsome reward, which is the magnet for all low natures.] " The Beati having arrived at the pass were entreated to come and absolve the Duke in a reserved case,* according to the very ample and absolute authority they possessed, with which they complied all the more willingly because while they expected a great deal * Sins the absolution of which was reserved for the bishop or even for the Pope. o o 562 YAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, from such a great lord, they hoped to make the same profits at Naples as they did in Sicily. They therefore went to Sessa. The Duke, having learnt that they had arrived, stationed himself in a room with the windows wholly closed, and having admitted them to an audience, he made his appearance with a melancholy air, his tongue stuttering, his head hanging on one side, and his hands trembling. After pretending to be unable to stand on his feet through weakness, counterfeiting the noodle and the simpleton, though he was sensible and ruse, he told them his wish, in broken words, scarcely audible, as if the shame and the pain which lay heavy on his heart only allowed him to half open his mouth. He asked for absolution for a very great sin, [saying that as great people committed the greatest sins they ought to undergo the greatest penances, if an extraordinary means could not be found to give them dispensation for a part of the penances they deserved.] The Beati, looking at one another, began to talk in an unintelligible jargon before the Duke and his attendants, [as rascals make mysteries of what they say quite as much as of what they do not say.] " Finally they believed they would get a handsome reward, seeing the vacuity of the Duke, whom they credited with being thoroughly stupid and weak. The Duke had beforehand suborned one of his Doctors to ask for and read in his presence the Bulls and Privileges of these Beati with a secret instruction to read them aloud, and to say that no Pardoner had ever come from Rome with such extensive powers, that they had authority to absolve, not only sins committed but also those which still remained uncommitted. " The Bull having been drawn up with such authentic approba- tion, he promised them two hundred crowns, provided they would absolve him from a sin which he had not yet committed. Upon this proposal the Beati said they wished to consult amongst them- selves as to whether their power extended so far, and if the pos- sibility was within their jurisdiction as well as the act. The Duke appeared satisfied with this, dismissed them for the day, and had them magnificently entertained in his palace with all their followers. Their baggage was even brought in to give them assurance by paying them more respect. "The following night these Satraps held a meeting, at which it was resolved that the Duke was the greatest fool in the world, and AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 563 the Doctor who had read their Bulls the greatest donkey and the greatest blockhead that could be found, since he had affirmed that they could absolve future sins by a present remission. So they resolved to take the two hundred crowns and pardon the Duke the monstrous excess which remained still to be committed. " The following day the Duke sent for them, and asked them what they had decided upon regarding the proposition he had made to them. They informed him they had resolved that their authority was not limited [either by the past, the present, or the future, as God answered in the highest degree by his Eternal Character for all these differences of time, and that Jesus Christ, who is the same to-day as yesterday, must be the same to-morrow.] They therefore prepared the letters patent of absolution for a sin to be committed at whatever time the Duke desired, and having received the two hundred crowns from his own hand, they left Sessa after dinner, I will not say with joy only, but further with a kind of triumph. [The tricksters placed their glory with truth to the account of their infamy. But dupers are sometimes the victims of the dupes.] " In fact they had hardly arrived at a narrow pass which was not very far from the town, when they found themselves sur- rounded by the officers of the Duke, who despoiled them of all their money and baggage, and while they took away everything they had, gave them a good cudgelling, [so that they should not go away without taking something with them. They derived this advantage from, this treatment, that they went quicker on foot than they did on horseback.] " Finally, having learnt that this trick had been played by order of the Duke, they went back to Sessa, sad and despoiled as they were, and complained with many tears, that after having granted the Duke such an extraordinary boon, they had received such grievous degradation. The Duke at first pretended to know nothing of the evil design of his Footmen, and having sent for them to his presence, asked them who had given them the order to maltreat these good men ? And as they replied that they had received it from his Excellency, the Duke was silent for a little while, and then avowed that the thing was true. Upon this avowal the Beati redoubled their complaints, and representing to the Duke his ingratitude towards such indulgent Pardoners, who had absolved him for the whole of his future life, they tried to o o 2 564 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, persuade him to discharge his conscience of such a weighty crime, which added robbery to sacrilege, and to give them back all that had been taken from them. " Upon this the Duke said to them, ' Come, my friends, this is the sin that I have so long desired to commit. I shall get myself absolved with the powers you have given me, and you will be discharged of such a heavy burden and will return in security to Caretto, without any further fear of being robbed.' " It does not seem to have occurred to Nobili that the Duke in the action he took may not have been animated solely by zeal for religion. Over and above his two hundred crowns which he re- covered, the spoil extracted from the Bianti must have been con- siderable, but in the narrative not a word is said of any part of it being devoted to the cause of religion. The conduct of the Duke, in fact, seems to have been based on the policy which guides big fishes to swallow the smaller fry. " Of many other Kinds of Vagabonds. " There are many other sorts of Vagabonds whom I omit as not worth mentioning or because they are nearly related to others. I shall, however, mention a few. The Rabunati, or Spiritati, are knaves who wag their heads from time to time, bel- lowing like bulls, in order to make believe that they are tor- mented by an evil spirit for having disobeyed their fathers, and incurred their curse. " The Ruffiti, or Bntgiati, that is to say 'the burnt,' are people who burn all the hair on their heads to make believe that they have been nearly burned to death by a fire which consumed their house, and that they are obliged to beg for fear of thieving. " The Sbrici go nearly naked and try to excite compassion with pitiful appeals, stating that they had been assailed, or taken by the Turks, and that they have at last escaped from their hands, having saved nothing but their lives. " The Formigotti are sham soldiers who state that they have returned from some war against the infidels, and have received a musket shot there which has obliged them to bandage their arms and their feet ; they beg to be fed for the love of God, having sacrificed themselves for the faith. " Others say that they have patent remedies for several mala- dies which persons have about them, without ever seeing them or AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 565 reading of them. They sell them at a high price, notwithstand- ing that all the virtue they have consists in having none at all. They gave the following to a lady who had a quartan fever : Madonna Giovanna of the quartan fever, may God give a bad year and a bad week, go to the sea, go on board a vessel, and may a hundred thousand devils take you. A person who had bad eyes also received this charm. Demon evellat oculos tuos et stercoribus repleat loca vacantia ; 1 May the Devil tear out your eyes, and fill the space with dung.' Another woman who made use of objec- tionable methods to prevent conception received these words from their hand : ' Margarita, Margarita, habbi cura alia tua vita, se T piede entra nel stivale, questo breve non ti vale/ * " They sell small iron keys as miraculous remedies, which are in fact useless against the falling sickness. Others give their companions a certain drink which makes them fall into a swoon, and while they are on the ground, the rogues say that it is weak- ness arising from hunger which causes them to swoon. After this, judge if any one will refuse alms when they believe it will revive a man." * " Margaret, Margaret, have a care for your life, If in the stirrup your foot you place, This remedy will lose its grace." CHAPTER XXVIII. RUSSIA, PORTUGAL, - BUCHAREST, AND TURKEY. Russia. — Low standard of comfort of the Russian peasantry — Mendicity among the urban population and its causes — Committee for the relief 6f beggars in St. Petersburg — Treatment of beggars in Moscow, Odessa, Finland, Revel, and Poland. Portugal. — General condition of mendicity. Bucharest. — Conditions of mendicity. Turkey. — Organisation for the relief of the poor — Professional beggars — Begging dervishes — Incentives to almsgiving — Feigned madmen — Beggars at mosques — Administration of the Imarets and Evcaf — Christian charity in Turkey — Precepts of the Koran regarding charity — Sayings of the Prophet concerning almsgiving and charity. RUSSIA. The actual state of prosperity of the Russian peasantry is still very low. The majority of them save nothing ; they live from day to day supplying the wants of their families, and endeavour- ing to pay the heavy taxes imposed upon them by the produce of their allotments of land, which, in the majority of cases, as already stated, are insufficient for the purpose. They generally manage to eke out a bare subsistence when the harvest is good, but when that fails, they are thrown into a state of distress, which is still further aggravated by want of work for the able-bodied men. Under such circumstances the younger men of the villages are sent off to distances in order to find work, and a few become beggars on the high road, and appeal to the charity of the more fortunate inhabitants of villages, where the crops may not have suffered. The Russian peasant is kind-hearted, and ready to give with an open hand to his distressed brethren, nor is he unmindful of the fact that the charity he bestows on such occasions it may some day be his lot to solicit for himself. With regard to mendicity amongst the urban population of YAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY. 567 Russia, it must be repeated that a characteristic feature of the large towns of Russia, and the remark applies particularly to St. Petersburg, consists in the fact that a small proportion only of their inhabitants have a fixed residence in them. The peasants flock to the towns in search of temporary employ- ment, leaving their families in the country, but rejoining them after a few months' residence in the towns. Certainly one-half of the population of St. Petersburg is recruited from the adjoining provinces, the amount of the floating population being principally determined by the state of the labour market. When the harvest is bad and provisions scarce in the provinces, the peasants flock to St. Petersburg, and so great is the demand for hands that employment is generally found for them all. The insalubrious climate of St. Petersburg, however, seriously affects the health of these country people, who consequently die in considerable numbers. Widows, also infant children of soldiers, and subordinate employes further add to the list of poor, which is again augmented by that class of confined beggars, found in every country, who embrace mendicity as a lucrative source of living. All these elements of pauperism, however, are not great when compared to the large population of the city, nor are they difficult to control, thanks to the three classes of institutions that are established in St. Petersburg for the purpose of relieving its poor. The first class of charitable institution, which is entirely under the Government, consists of a committee formed for the classifica- tion and relief of beggars. The duties of the committee of this institution consist in look- ing after the persons charged by the police with begging and vagrancy. The number of such persons averaged during the four years from 1868 to 1871 inclusive from 2,300 to 3,700 annually. The committee classifies the beggars into three categories, viz. : — 1. Those incapacitated by bodily infirmity from working. 2. Those who, through circumstances over which they exercised no control, may have fallen into distress, but are still capable of working. 568 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, 3. Those who, through idleness and bad habits, have taken to mendicity as a profession. 4. Those who recently arrived from the provinces have tempo- rarily failed to find employment. The committee lodge temporarily beggars of the first category in their institutions, and later establish them in the almshouses which exist in St. Petersburg. Persons coming under the second arid fourth category are sent back to their native places, frequently at the cost of the committee, or else are recommended for some sort of employment in St. Petersburg. Persons of the third category are sent to justices of the peace.* In Moscow, begging is forbidden by the law, and beggars are prosecuted and punished by being sent to their own communes or to the workhouse ; but, notwithstanding this, the streets of Moscow are infested with beggars, many of them professional ones. The police not being very vigilant, and the Russians, especially the old merchant class, being very much addicted to giving money to beggars, these make a good living out of begging, f At Odessa, the law respecting vagrancy and begging is very imperfectly enforced, and, generally speaking, only when the attention of the police is particularly directed to any individual case. Beggars are, or should be, punished by short imprison- ment. Vagrants in poverty, and when strangers and without passports, may be sent back to their respective countries at the charge of the State, t In Finland, vagrants and beggars are arrested by the police and delivered over to the poor law administration if they belong to the district in which they are apprehended. Should they, however, belong to another district they are sent there at the expense of the community of that district.! At Bevel, tramps and vagabonds, if they belong to a foreign community (parish), are returned to it by means of a compulsory pass. || In Poland, there are no restrictions on professional mendicancy ; * Report by Francis Clare Ford, 1872. t Report of F. B. Roberts, 1872. i Report by K. E. Abbot, 1871. § Report of Wm Campbell, 1871. |j Report of Etienne de Soncanton, 1871. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 569 and, owing to the Slav superstition that it is unlucky to refuse the application of a beggar, the professional mendicant makes a prosperous career.* PORTUGAL. The Portuguese legislation is not less solicitous with regard to the misfortunes which attend manhood than with those which accompany infancy. The Administrative Code, with the object of repressing mendicity, confers upon the parochial boards the function of committees of charitable relief, and imposes upon them the duty of taking the census of the poor in their respective parishes, and of promoting, in accordance with the laws and regulations and with the instructions of the Government, the extinction of mendicity. In furtherance of these provisions the penal law looks upon mendicants as vagrants, and punishes them with imprisonment not exceeding six months, f Mr. Fleetwood Sandeman says on this subject, " My own impres- sion about beggars and begging in Portugal is that the system is encouraged by Portuguese sentiment instead of being grappled with by the law and met by charitable institutions ; conse- quently, a maimed beggar's success in the receipt of alms is, on the whole, proportionate with the influence prevailing upon that sentiment by the nature of the maim. The roadside horrors in the shape of maimed beggars exposed to view throughout Portugal form a feature peculiar to that country as compared with any other so-called civilised State. As you are aware, I have travelled in most countries of the world, and I may say that taking the worst of them, say China (Japan formerly, now much improved), more horrors of the kind may be daily observed in Portugal than in the others ! " BUCHAREST. • In Bucharest there are some mendicants, whom the police occasionally drive into the charitable institutions, from which they rapidly escape to renew their professional labours. They are rather favourites with the general public, as in all oriental countries ; and although the nationalities on the banks of * Report by Lt.-Col. Mansfield, 1872. f Report of A. R. Sampaio, 1872. 570 YAGRANTS AND YAGEANCY, the Lower Danube may think they are not Orientals, the frontier of western civilisation, for good or for evil, is Vienna.* TUEKEY.f In Turkey such organisation as exists for the relief of the poor is left mainly to the mosques and churches. There exist, however, a Dorcas Society and " Societies de Bienfaisance," which are managed by foreigners and distribute charity under the personal supervision of English ladies in the first case, and in the latter of sisters belonging to the Roman Catholic orders. In both cases the charity is given without regard to religious belief or race. Throughout Turkey there are a large number of professional beggars. The begging dervishes with long hair, and usually carrying a battle-axe or a spear as well as a bowl for the collection of alms, are found all over Turkey, and are of course Mussulmans. They bear a bad reputation and are believed to be mendicants or thieves as occasion serves. They are not to be confounded with the ordinary dervishes, who are pietists of industrious lives. Besides these, in all the great cities there are men and women whose profession is mendicancy. They belong to all the nation- alities of the empire, and so far as I can judge their numbers compared with the total of beggars correspond to the proportion of their nationality to that of the empire. They are in many instances well off. For years I was sceptical of the statement made in Constantinople that many of them possess houses of their own and lend out money ; but so many instances with names and details have been given that I have now no doubt that the assertion is well founded. The ideas of the people of Turkey in regard to almsgiving are peculiar. Many, no doubt, give from charitable motives, and rich and poor relieve beggars frequently. But there is a large amount of giving in order to bring good luck. If a speculation is about to be made, a law-suit to be entered on, a new undertak- ing to be commenced, alms are given freely, and above all are widely spread. Ten paras, or a halfpenny, to four persons is more likely to bring luck than a piastre, or twopence, to one man. * Report of J. Green, 1871. t The whole of the account of Turkey is due to the kindness of Dr. Edwin Pears (LL.D.) of Constantinople. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 571 Many Greek merchants give a regular dole to clients, who attend regularly to receive it. Most of the almsgiving is indiscriminate, and the idea appears never to have dawned upon any of the givers that it is desirable to put an end to professional begging. The exercise of the profession of the mendicant is regarded as legiti- mate as any other, and no efforts are made in any portion of the empire to put an end to it. In the capital and other large towns numbers of men and women beg everywhere. On the bridge of Constantinople may be seen any day men and women with broken arms or legs, with wounds and sores and deformities, which are wilfully exposed and thrust before passengers as advertisements of their condition. Many of these wounds and deformities are said to be artificially caused. No civilised country would tolerate for a week the horrible exposures which the beggars are allowed to make. Mad- men, or people who feign to be mad, form a constant element among the population of the empire. The Moslem notion that they are the favoured of heaven leads to their toleration in all kinds of vagaries. One of these fellows went for years stark- naked about the streets, and, whether mad or not, found out that by going into European shops where ladies were present he generally managed to get a bribe to be off. An English shop- keeper three or four years ago determined not to be fleeced any more, and having arranged that his neighbouring shopkeepers should come at a signal, he and they on his next visit instead of paying him gave him a good thrashing with yard measures. Since then he has not troubled the European quarter of the city. Others, however, who feign madness go about crying aloud, blessing those who give and cursing those who refuse to their heart's content. In front of every mosque and of every church there are always to be found a number of beggars. The pious Moslem and the pious members of the Eastern Churches agree that beggars are a necessary factor in the community, and the idea appears never to have dawned upon either that mendicancy may be regarded as a crime. Charity forms one of the five pillars of Mahometanism. Among the Moslems the word is understood to mean almsgiving. Hence throughout Turkey there exists among the Mussulmans a large amount of more or less systematic charity. The construction and 572 YAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, endowment of fountains is one of the commonest and least objec- tionable forms. The scarcity of water in summer and its often very high price makes this form one peculiarly acceptable to the community. Property has been devoted to the distribution of bread among the poor. A rough attempt has been made to organise the latter form of charity in connection with the Imarets. These are offices which are supported by endowments or the gifts of living persons. In the districts where Imarets are established they are entitled to a share of the real property which is forteited - for the want of heirs, and this of itself constitutes a considerable item, since while according to Turkish law all persons, Christian or Moslem, native subject or foreigner, can hold land, the same law provides that the unbeliever, that is the non-Moslem, of one nationality cannot succeed to the property of a person belonging to another. The administration of the Imarets belongs to the department of the Evcaf, which is one of the largest and most important sections of the Turkish Government. The Evcaf collects the revenues of an enormous number of properties in the capital and throughout the country and divides them among the districts of the Imarets. The functions of the Evcaf may be gathered from the fact that in Constantinople it is often spoken of as the depart- ment of Pious Foundations. A poor Turk, in order to get provisions from one of these Imarets, must present to the Evcaf a certificate from the Imam of his quarter declaring that he is destitute, upon which the Evcaf delivers to him a ticket in order that he may obtain relief. All this sounds better than the facts justify. The Imarets give countenance to or create a large amount of mendicancy. Turkish beggars are everywhere seen, and probably every Turk would believe it to be a sin to forbid a man, woman, or child to beg. The poor are allowed to find shelter in the out-houses of the mosques. There is nothing which corresponds to a work- house, no provision for the vagrant, and in spite of the Evcaf there exists a terrible amount of unrelieved poverty throughout Turkey. Individual Turks exist, possibly in considerable numbers, who spend time and money in relieving districts, but very little is done by the Evcaf. It is believed, like other departments in Turkey, to be thoroughly corrupt. Voluntary organisations, either for the AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 573 establishment of hospitals or for aiding the poor in other ways, are unknown among the Turks. Among the Christian subjects of the Sultan there is no elaborate organisation like that of the Evcaf, among the rayahs, and of course no assistance from Government for the relief of the poor. But a good deal is done by voluntary and combined efforts. In both the Orthodox and the Armenian Churches this duty, so far as it is organised, centres in the churches. The churches of each quarter take charge of its destitute people. Each church makes a special collection every day for the support of the poor. Special donations are made to churches for this object, and endowments have been left which are administered by the church. Each quarter elects members to form a special council for the administration of the funds belonging to its district. According to the decision of this council the poor are supplied with food, fuel, &c, and occasionally with money. Poor children are educated at its expense. Some rich quarters have local hospitals for the sick, and in nearly all the quarters medicine is supplied to the poor at the expense of the council. Voluntary societies, usually managed by ladies who collect money and superintend its distribution, exist in all the large towns, and undoubtedly prevent a good deal of misery, while this personal supervision is especially valuable in preventing waste and defeating imposture. The Armenians have a very large hospital at the Seven Towers in Constantinople, together with a lunatic asylum attached to it. Both these institutions are supported by voluntary contri- butions. The Greeks, besides these organisations in connection with the Church, have developed a large amount of zeal in the direction of charitable relief. They too have their hospitals and ladies of benevolent societies. But their chief charities are directed towards schools. The amount given for this purpose is remarkable. A Mr. Zappa, for example, has recently built a girls' school for the middle classes in Constantinople, which cannot have cost him less than £30,000. Poor girls are received gratis and mix with those who pay in a really charitable way. A great number of similar schools, only inferior in size, are found in Turkey, and owe their existence and support to the charity of wealthy Greeks. The late George Zarifi, of Constantinople, expended many 574 VAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, thousands on education. Everywhere the Greeks recognise the solidarity of their race and no money is begrudged for educational purposes. Among the Christians, however, medicancy is quite as prevalent as among the Turks, and at any church door, cripples, women with infants, and other beggars implore aid from the worshippers. I have no doubt that the large amount of almsgiving which they receive is due to the belief that almsgiving is itself a virtue to be duly credited to the donor, independent of all consideration whether the donee is a fit person to be benefited or whether the gift will do harm or good. The following extracts from the Koran * embody the injunc- tions regarding almsgiving : — " To him who is of kin to thee, then give his due, and to the poor, and the wayfarer : this is best for those who seek the face of God ; and with them it shall be well." — Sura xxx. v. 38. " They will ask thee what they shall bestow in alms. Say : Let the good which ye bestow be for parents, and kindred, and orphans,and the poor, and the wayfarer ; and whatever good ye do, of a truth God knoweth it." — Sura ii. v. 211. " Fear God then with all your might, and hear and obey : and expend in alms for your soul's weal ; for whoso is saved from his own greed, these shall prosper." — Sura lxiv. v. 16. " If ye lend God a generous loan, He will double it to you and will forgive you, for God is Grateful, kind." — Sura lxiv. v. 17. " 0 ye who believe ! when ye go to confer in private with the Apostle, give alms before your private conference. Better will this be for you, and more pure. But if ye find not the means, then truly God is Lenient, Merciful." " Do ye hesitate to give alms previously to your private con- ference ? Then if ye do it not (and God will excuse it in you), at least observe prayer, and pay the stated impost, and obey God and his Apostle : and God is cognizant of your actions." — Sura Iviii. v. 13, 14. The following are some of the sayings of Mahomet on the subject of almsgiving, as they occur in the Traditions : — " The upper hand is better than the lower one. The upper hand is the giver of alms, and the lower hand is the poor beggar." " The best of alms are those given by a man of small means, who gives * Translated by the Eev. J. M. Kodwell. Second Edition. 1876. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 575 of that which he has earned by labour, and gives as much as he is able.'' " Begin by giving alms to your own relatives/ ' " Doing justice between two people is alms ; assisting a man on his beast is alms ; good words are alms." " A camel lent out for milk is alms ; a cup of milk every morning and evening is alms." " Your smiling in your brother's face is alms ; assisting the blind is alms." Grod says, " Be thou liberal, thou child of Adam, that I may be liberal to thee." Begging. — It is not lawful for any person possessing sufficient food for a day and night to beg, and it is related that the Prophet said : " Acts of begging are scratches and wounds with which a man wounds his own face." " It is better for a man to take a rope and bring in a bundle of sticks to sell than to beg." " A man who continues to beg will appear in the Day of Judgment without any flesh on his face." CHAPTER XXIX. EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS WRITERS ILLUSTRATING THE JIABITS AND IMPOSTURES OF THE VAGRANT AND BEG- GAR, 1383—1567. Chaucer, The Begging Friar and the Pardoner (1383) — Foxe, The Blind Impostor (circa 1433 — 35)— Lydgate, The Foolish Penniless Beggar (circa 1430) — Skelton and the Beggar (circa 1490) — Samuel Rowlands, The Runnagate Race, a History of Rogues, from 1450 to 1534 — Alexander Barclay, Of Foolish Beggars and their Vanities (1508) — Dunbar, The Excess of Beggars (1509) — Henry Watson, Of Beggars and their Vanities (1517)^ A Canting Rogue. Tis not unlikely but he was begot by some intelligencer under a hedge ; for his mind is wholly given to travell. Hee is not troubled with making of joyntures : he can divorce himselfe without the fee of a proctor, nor feares hee the cruelty of over-seers of his will. Hee leaves his children all the world to cant in, and all the people to their fathers. His language is a constant tongue ; the Northerne speech differs from the South, Welsh from the Cornish : but canting is generall, nor ever could be altered by conquest of the Saxon, Dane, or Norman. He will not beg out of his limit though hee starve ; nor breake his oath if hee sweare by his Salomon, 3 though you hang him : and hee payes his custome as truly to his grand rogue, as tribute is paid to the great Turke. The March sunne breeds agues in others, but hee adores it like the Indians ; for then begins his progresse after a hard winter. Ostlers 4 can- not indure him, for hee is of the infantry, and serves best on foot. He offends not the statute against the excesse of apparel, 5 for hee will go naked, and counts it a voluntary pennance. Forty of them lye in a barne together, yet are never sued upon the statute of inmates. 6 If hee were learned, no man could make a better description of England ; for hee hath travel'd it over and over. Lastly, he brags, that his great houses are repaired to his hands, when churches goe to ruine : and those are prisons. The Gypsies Metamorphosed. 1621. From " a Masque of the Gypsies Metamorphos'd," written by Ben Jonson. First represented at Burleigh on the Hill before King James I., August, 1621. London : Printed for Richard Meighen, 1640. 1 5 Eliz. c. 20. 2 From Bishop Corbet's Iter Boreale, the town of Banbury appears to have been inhabited chiefly by Puritans. It was also celebrated for its tinkers. 3 The rogues' inviolable oath. 4 Innkeepers. 6 Statutes against the excess of apparel were frequentlv passed. The earliest is the 3 Edw. IV. c. 5. 6 By 13 Edw. I. St. 2, c. 4, the host was to answer for inmates, but the refer- ence is probably to the Proclamation against overcrowding in 1607, see p. 139. 604 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, Enter a Gypsie, leading a Horse laden with five little Children bound in a trace of scarffes upon him. A second, leading another Horse laden with stoll'ne Poultrey : The first leading Gypsie speaks being the Jackman. Roome for the five Princes of JEgipt, mounted all upon the Horse like thy foure Sonnes of Aymon, to make the miracle the more, by a head, if it mae be : gaze upon them, as on the off-spring of Ptolomie, begotten upon several Cleopatraes, in their severall Countries ; especially on this brave Sparke strooke out of Flint-shire, upon Justice Jugges Daughter then Sheriffe of the County ; who running away with a kinsman of our Captaines, and her Father pursuing her to the Marshes, Hee great with Justice, She great with Juggling, they were both for the time turn'd stone upon the sight each of other, in Chester : Till at last (see the Wonder) a Jugge of the Towne Ale, reconciling them ; the memoriall of both their gravities, his in beard and hers in bellie, hath remain'd ever since preserv'd in picture upon the most Stone Jugs of the Kingdome. The famous impe yet grew a wretchcocke, 1 and though for seven yeares together, he were very carefully carried at his Mother's backe, rock'd in a cradle of Welch-Cheese, like a maggot, and there fed with broken Beere, and blowne Wine o' the best, dayly, yet lookes he, as if he never saw his Quin- quennium? 'Tis true, he can thread needles o' horse-backe, or draw a yard of inckle 3 through his nose : but what's that to a growne G-ipsie, one of the bloud, and of his time, if he had thriv'd : Therefore, till with his painefull Progenitors, he be able to beate it on the hard hoofe, or the bene Bawse* or the Starling Ken, to nip a Jan, and Cly, the Jack ; 'tis thought tit he march in the Infants' Equipage. With the Convoy, Cheats, and peckagef Out of clutch of Harman Beckage, 6 To the libkins 7 at the Crackmans 8 Or some skipper of the Black-mans. The Beggars' Bush. 1622. From the "Beggars Bush," written by John Fletcher, gentleman. First represented in 1622. Printed for Humphrey Robinson and Anne Moseley, 1661. Actus Secundus. Scasna Prima. Enter Higgen, Ferret, Prig, Clause, Jaculine, Snap, G-ynkes, and other Beggars. Hig. Come Princes of the ragged regiment, You o' the blood Prig my most upright Lord, And these (what name or title e're they bear) Jarkman, or Patrico, Cranke, or Claperdudgeon, Frater or Abram-man ; I speak to all 1 The smallest of a brood of domestic fowls. 2 Quinquennium, a period of five years. 3 Inferior tape. 4 For an explanation of the other Cant terms in this and the following selections, see the extracts from Harman, pp. 468, 596. 5 Meat. 6 Beadle. 7 House or place to sleep. 8 Hedges. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 605 That stand in fair Election for the title Of King of Beggars, with the command adjoyning ; Higgen, your Orator in this Inter-regnum, That whilome was your Dommerer ; doth beseech you All to stand fair, and put your selves in rank, That the first comer may at his first view Make a free choice, to say up the question. Fer. Pr. 'Tis done Lord Higgen. Hig. Thanks to Prince Prig, Prince Ferret. Fer. Well, pray my Masters all Ferret be chosen ; Y'are like to have a merciful milde Prince of me. Prig. A very tyrant, I, an arrant tyrant, If e're I come to reign ; therefore look to't, Except you do provide me hum 1 enough, And Lour to bouze with : I must have my Capons And Turkeyes brought me in, with my green 2 Geese, And ducklings i' th' season ; fine fat chickens ; Or if you chance where an eye 3 of tame Phesants Or Partridges are kept, see they be mine, Or straight I seize on all your priviledge, Places, revenues, offices, as forfeit ; Call in your crutches, wooden legs, false bellies, Forc'd eyes and teeth, with your dead arms, not leave you A durty clout to beg with o' your heads, Or an old rag with Butter, Frankinsence, Brimstone and Bozen, birdlime, blood, and cream, To make you an old sore ; not so much sope As you may fome with i' th' falling-sickness ; The very bag you bear, and the brown dish Shall be escheated. All your daintiest dells too I will deflow'r, and take your dearest Doxyes From your warm sides ; and then some one cold night I'le watch you what old barn you go to roost in, And there I'le smother you all i' th' musty hay. ***** Hig. Thou that art chosen, venerable Clause, Our King and Sovereign, Monarch o' th' Maunders. Thus we throw up our Nab-cheats first for joy, And then our filches, last we clap our fambles, Three subject signs, we do it without envy : For who is he here did not wish thee chosen, Now thou art chosen 1 ask 'em : all will say so, May swear 't ; 'tis for the King ; but let that pass. When last in conference at the bouzing ken This other day, we sate about our dead Prince Of famous memory, (rest go with his rags :) And that I saw thee at the tables end Bise mov'd, and gravely leaning on one Crutch — Lift the other like a Scepter at my head, I then presag'd thou shortly wouldst be King, And now thou art so : but what need presage ; To us, that might have read it in thy beard, 1 Double ale. 2 Fresh. 3 A brood. O.E. ei, an egg. VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, As well as he that chose thee ? by that beard Thou wert found out, and mark'd for Soveraignty. * * * * * If now the beard be such, what is the Prince That owes the beard ? a father ; no, a grandfather ; Nay, the great-grandfather of you his people. He will not force away your hens, your bacon, When you have ventur'd hard for 't, nor take from you The fattest of your puddings ; under him Each man shall eat his own stoln eggs and butter, In his own shade, or sun-shine, and enjoy His own dear Dell, Doxy, or Mort, at night, In his own straw, with his own shirt, or sheet, That he hath filtch'd that day, I, and possess What he can purchase, back or belly cheats To his own prop ; he will have no purveyors For Pigs and Poultry. ***** Omn. 0 gracious Prince, 'save, 'save the good King Clause. Hig. A Song to crown him. Fer. Set a Centinel out first. Sn. The word 1 Hig. A Cove comes, and fumbumbis to it. Strike. The Song. Cast our caps and cares away, this is beggars Holy-day ; &c. Actus Tertius. Scaena Tertia. ***** Ger. Now swear him. Hig. I crown thy nab with a gag of ben-bouse, And stall thee by the salmon into the clowes, 1 To maund on the pad, and strike all the cheats To mill from the Ruffmans, Commission and slates, Twang dells i' th stiromel, and let the Quire Cuffin, And Hermon Beck strine, and trine to the Rufifrn. Ger. Now interpret this unto him. Hig. I poure on thy pate a pot of good ale, And by the Rogues oath, a Rogue thee install, To beg on the way, to rob all thou meets, To steal from the hedge, both the shirt and the sheets : And lie with thy wench in the straw till she twang, Let the Constable, Justice, and Divell go hang. ***** Actus Quintus. Scsena Prima. Hig. But what's the action we are for now 1 ha ? Robbing a Ripper 2 of his fish ] Prig. Or taking A poultrer prisoner, without ransome, Bullyes ? Rogues, 0. Dutch, hloet, a clown or looby. A person who carried fish from the coast to inland towns. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 607 Hig. Or cutting off a convoy of butter ? Fer. Or surprising a Boors ken, for granting cheats ? Prig. Or cackling cheats 1 Hig. Or mergery-praters, Rogers, And Tibs o'th Buttery 1 Prig. O' I could drive a Regiment Of geese afore me, such a night as this, Ten leagues with my hatt, and staffe, and not a hiss Heard, or a wing of my troops disordered. Hig. Tell us, If it be milling of a lag of duds, The fetching of a back of clothes, or so, "We are horribly out of linnen. ***** Scsena Secunda. ***** Hig. Then bear up bravely with your Brute my lads Higgen hath prig'd the prancers in his dayes, And sold good peny -worths ; we will have a course. The spirit of Bottom is grown bottomlesse. Prig. I'le mand no more, nor cant. The Song of the Begger. 1629. From " A description of Love. With certaine Epigrams Elegies and Sonnets. And also Mast. Iohnsons Answere to Master Withers. With the Crie of Ludgate, and the Song of the Begger. The sixth Edition. London Printed by M.F. for Francis (Joules at the vpper end of the Old-Baily neere Newgate. 1629. I am a Rogue and a stout one, A most couragious drinker, I doe excell, 'tis knowne full well, The Ratter, Tom, and Tinker. Still doe I cry, good your Worship, good Sir, Bestow one Small Denire 1 Sir ; And brauely at the bousing Ken He bouse it all in Beere Sir. If a Bung 2 be got by the hie Law, 3 Then straight I doe attend them, For if Hue and Crie doe follow, I A wrong way soone doe send them. Still I doe cry, &c. Ten miles vnto a Market, I runne to meet a Miser, Then in a throng, I nip his Bung, 4 And the partie ne'er the wiser. Still doe I cry, &c. 1 A penny ; a deneere ; a small copper coyne valued at the tenth part of an English penny (Cotgrave). Falstaff says, " I'll not pay a denier" (I. K. Hen. IV., III., 3) ; and Sly in the Taming of the Shrew, answers, " No, not a denier." 2 A purse. 3 High lawyers or highwaymen, see p. 582. 4 Pick his pocket. 608 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, My daintie Dais, my Doxis, Whene'er they see me lacking, Without delay, poore wretches they Will Set their Duds a packing. Still doe I cry, (Sec. I pay for what I call for, And so perforce it must be, For as yet I can, not know the man, Nor Oastis that will trust me. Still I doe cry, &c. If any giue me lodging, A courteous Knaue they find me, For in their bed, aline or dead I leaue some Lice behind me, Still doe I cry, &c. If a Gentrie Coe be comming, Then straight it is our fashion, My Legge I tie, close to my thigh, To moue him to compassion. Still doe I cry, &c. My doublet sleeue hangs emptie, And for to begge the bolder, For nieate and drinke, mine arme I shrinke Vp close vnto my shoulder. Still doe I cry, &c. If a Coach I heare be rumbling, To my Crutches then I hie me. For being lame, it is a shame, Such Gallants should denie me. Still doe I cry, &c. With a seeming bursten belly, I looke like one halfe dead Sir, Or else I beg with a woodden legge, And a Night-cap on me head Sir. Still doe I cry, &c. In Winter time starke naked I come into some Citie, Then euery man that spare them can, Will giue me clothes for pittie. Still doe I cry, &c. If from out the Low-countrie, I heare a Captaines name Sir, Then Strait I swere I haue bin there ; And so in fight came lame Sir. Still doe I cry, &c. My Dogge in a string doth lead me, When in the Towne I goe Sir, For to the blind, all men are kind, And will their Almes bestow Sir, Still doe I cry, &c. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 609 With Switches sometimes stand I, In the bottome of a Hill Sir, There those men which doe want a Switch, Some monie giue me still Sir. Still doe I cry, &c. Come buy, come buy a Horne-booke, Who buyes my Pins or Needles 1 In Cities I these things doe crie, Oft times to scape the Beadles. Still doe I cry, &c. In Pauls Church by a Pillar ; Sometimes you see me stand Sir, With a Writ that showes, what care and woes I past by Sea and Land Sir. Still doe I cry, &c. Now blame me not for boasting, And bragging thus alone Sir, For my selfe I will be praysing still, For Neighbours haue I none Sir. Wliich makes me cry Good your Worship, good Sir, Bestow one small Denire, Sir, And brauely then at the Bousing Ken, lie bouse it all in Beere Sir. The Cunning Northern Beggar. Circa 1635. From the Koxburghe Collection of Ballads. The Boxburghe Collection of Ballads was formed by Robert Harley, subse- quently Earl of Oxford, born in 1661. John Bagford the antiquary was one of the buyers he employed. When his printed books were dispersed these ballads were bought by James West, president of the Royal Society. At his death in 1773 they were bought by Major Thomas Pearson, who added to them. At the death of Major Pearson in 1788 they were sold to John, Duke of Boxburghe, who added a few ballads. In 1813 they were sold to Mr. B. H. Bright, who added to them, and in 1843 they were acquired by the British Museum. The cunning Northerne Begger, Who all the By-standers doth earnestly pray, To bestow a penny upon him to-day. To the Tune of Tom of Bedlam. I am a lusty begger And live by others giving, I scorne to worke But by the highway lurke, And beg to get my living : lie 'ith wind and weather, And weare all ragged Garments, Yet though I'm bare, I'm free Irom care ; R R 610 VAGRANTS AXD VAGRANCY, A fig for hi?h preferments. For still will I cry good tout worship good sir, Bestow one poore denier sir ; Which when I've got At the Pipe and Pot, I soone will it casheere sir. I have my shifts about me, Like Proteus often changing My shape when I will, I alter still, About the Country ranging ; As soone as I a Coatch see, Or Gallants by come riging, I take my Crutch And rouse from my Couch, Whereas I lay abiding. And still doe I cry, &c. Now like a wandring Souldier (That has ith Warres bin niaymed, "With the shot of a Gunne) To Gallants I runne And begg Sir helpe the lamed, I am a poore old Souldier, And better times once viewed, Though bare now I goe, Yet many a foe, By me hath bin subdued. And therefore I cry, &c. Although I nere was further Then Kentish Street in Southwarke, Xor ere did see A Battery M ade against any Bulwarke, But with my Trulls and Doxes, Lay in some corner lurking, And nere went abroad But to beg on the road, To keepe my selfe from working. And alwaies to cry, &c. Anon I'm like a savior, And weare old Canvas cloathing, And then I say The Dunkerks 1 away, Tooke all and left me nothing : Sixe ships set all upon us, 'Gainst which wee bravely ventur'd, And long withstood, Yet could doe no good, Our ship at length they enter'd. 1 The privateers of Dunkirk were notorious for preying on English merchant ships at this period. THE CUNNING NORTHERN BEGGAR (circa 1635) AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. And therefore I cry good your worship good sir Bestow one poore denier sir : Which when I've got, At the Pipe and Pot, &c. The second part. To the same tune. Sometime I like a Criple Upon the ground lye crawling, For money I begge, As wanting a legge To beare my corps from falling, Then seeme I weake of body, And long t' have been diseased, And make complaint, As ready to faint, And of my griefes increased, And faintly I cry good your worship good sir, Bestow one poore denier sir, Which when I've got, At the Pipe and Pot, I soone will it casheere sir. My flesh I so can temper, That it shall seeme to feister, And looke all or'e Like a raw sore, Whereon I sticke a plaister. With blood I daub my face then, To faigne the falling sicknesse, That in every place They pitty my case, As if it came through weakenesse, And then I doe cry, &c. Then as if my sight I wanted, A Boy doth walke beside me, Or else I doe Grope as I goe Or have a Dog to guide me : And when I'm thus accounted, To th' highway side I hye me And there I stand With cords in my hand, And beg of all comes nye me. And earnestly cry good your worship good sir Bestow one poore denier, &c. Next to some country fellow, I presently am turned, And cry alacke With a child at my back, My house and goods were burned : Then me my Doxes followes, Who for my wifes believed, R It 2 6:2 VAGRANTS AND VAGBANCY, And along wee two Together goe, With such mischances grieved. And still we doe cry good your worship, »xc. What though I cannot labour. Shall I therefore pine with hunger No, rather then I Will starve where I lye l ie beg of the money monger. No other care shall trouble My minde. or griefe disease me, Though sometimes the slash I get. or the lash, Twill but a while displease me, And still I will cry good your worship good sir Bestow one, &c. No tricks at all shall scape me But I will by my maunding Get some reliefe To ease my griefe, When by the highway standing : Tis better be a Begger, And aske of kinde goode fellowes And honestly have What we doe crave Then steale and goe to 'th' Gallowes. Therefore Tie cry good your worship good sir, Bestow one poore denier sir. Which when I've got At the Pipe and Pot, I soone will it casheere sir. Fes-is. Printed at London for F. Couks. A Jovial Crew or the Merry Beggars. 1641. From "A J oviall Crew : or, the Merry Beggars. Presented in a Comedie. at The Cock-pit 1 in Drury-Lane, in the veer 1641. Written by Richard Brome. London : printed by J. Y. for E. D. and N. E. and are to be sold at the Gun in Ivy Lant 1652." I- (chard Bromt was of mean extraction, and sometime servant to Ben Jonson. At what time he began to write we have no account. " In imitation of his master." says Langbaine, " he studied men and humour more than books ; and his genius affecting comedy, his province was more observation than study ; his plots were his own, and he forg'd all his various characters from the mint of Ms own experience and judgment." 1 This theatre stood on the site of Pitt Place, properly Cock-pit Place, runDing out of Drury Lane into Great Wild Street AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 613 Actus Primus. Springlbve (Steward to Master Oldrents), on the stage. Enter Kandal (a groom) and three orfovr servants with a great Kettle, and black Jacks, 1 and a Bakers Basket, all empty, exeunt with all, manet Randal. Springlove. Now fellows, what news from whence yon came 1 Randal. The old wonted news, Sir, from your Guest-house, the old Barn. We have unloaden the Bread-basket, the Beef-Kettle, and the Beev-Bumbards 1 there, amongst your Guests the Beggars. And they have all prayed for you and our Master, as their manner is, from the teeth outward, marry from the teeth inwards 'tis enough to swallow your Alms ; from whence I think their Prayers seldom come It might be better though (if old Randal, whom you allow to talk, might counsel) to help to breed up poor mens children, or decayed labourers, past their work, or travel ; or towards the setting up of poor young married couples ; then to bestow an hundred pound a year (at least you do that, if not all you get) besides our Masters bounty, to maintain in begging such wanderers as these, that never are out of their way ; that cannot give account from whence they came, or whither they would ; nor of any beginning they ever had, or any end they seek, but still to strowle and beg till their bellies be full, and then sleep till they be hungry. Spr. Thou art ever repining at those poore people ! they take nothing from thee but thy pains : and that I pay thee for too. Why should'st thou grudge ] Ran. Am I not bitten to it every day, by the six-footed blood-hounds that they leave in their Litter, when I throw out the old, to lay fresh straw for the new comers at night. That's one part of my office. And you are sure that though your hospitality be but for a night and a morning for one Babble, to have a new supply every evening. They take nothing from me indeed, they give too much Scene with the Beggars. Spr. Thou art a brave fellow, and speak'st like a Commander. Hast thou born arms ? 4 Beggar. Sir, he has born the name of a Netherland Souldier, till he ran away from his Colours, and was taken lame with lying in the Fields by a Sciatica : I mean, Sir, the strapado. 2 After which, by a second retreat, indeed running away, he scrambled into his Country, and so scap'd the Gallows ; and then snap'd up his living in the City by his wit in cheating, pimping, and such like Arts, till the Cart and the Pillory shewed him too publiquely to the world. And so, begging being the last refuge, he enter'd into our society. Actus Secundus. Bandal opens the Scene. The Beggars discovered at their Feast. After they have scrambled a while at their Victuals : This Song. Here, safe in our Skipper, 3 lefs cly 4 off our Peck 5 And bowse 6 in defiance o' th } Harman-Beck. 7 Herds Pannum 8 and Lap, 9 and good Poplars 10 of Yarrum, 11 To fill up the Crib, 12 and to comfort the Quarron. 13 Now bowse a round health to the Go-well and Corn-well Of Cisley Bumtrincket that lies in the Strummell. 14 1 A large drinking-can made of leather. 2 An old form of military punishment, the victim being drawn up to a beam, and then suddenly let fall half way with a jerk, which frequently dislocated his limbs. Ital. Strappdta, a violent snatching or pulling away. 3 Barn. 4 Have. 5 Meat. 6 Drink. 7 Constable. 8 Bread. 9 Butter. 10 Porridge. 11 Milk. 12 Stomach. 13 Body. 14 Straw. 614 YAGEANTS AND VAGEANCY, Here's Kuffpeck 1 and Casson, 2 and all of the best, And Scraps of the Dainties of Gentry Cofe's 3 Feast. Here's Grunter 4 and Bleater, 5 with Tib of the Buttry, 6 And Margery Prater, 7 all drest without sluttry. For all this bene Cribbing 8 and Peck let us then, Bowse a health to the Gentry Cofe of the Ken. 9 Now bouse a round health to the Go-well and Corn-well Of Cisley Bumtrincket that lies in the Strummel. . . . Enter Patrico. Many of the Beggars look out. Patrico. Toure out 10 with your Glasiers. 11 I sweare by the Muffin, 12 That we are assaulted by a quire Cuffin. 13 Randal. Hold ! what d'e mean, my Friends ? This is our Master, The Master of your Feast and feasting House. • , Pat. Is this the Gentry Cofe ? All the Beggars. Lord bless his Worship. His good Worship. Bless his Worship. . . . [Exit Beggars manet Patr. Pat. Sir, I can lay my Function by, And talk as wilde and wantonly As Tom or Tib, or Jack, or Jill, When they at Bowsing Ken 14 do swill. Will you therefore daign to hear My Autum Mort, 13 with throat as clear, As was Dame Anisses of the Name ; How sweet in Song her Notes she'll frame, That when she chides, as lowd is yawning, As Chanticlere wak'd by the dawning. Hearty. Yes, pray let's hear her. What is she your wife ? Pat. Yes Sir, we of our Ministery, As well as those oth' Presbyterie, Take wives and dene Dignitie. [Exit. Hearty. A learned Cleark in veritie. Enter Patrico with his old wife, with a wooden Bowie of Drink. She is drunk. Pat. By Salmon, 16 I think my Mort is in drink. I finde by her stink ; and the pretty pretty pink Of her Neyes, that half wink, That the tipling Feast, with the Doxie 17 in the Neast, Hath turn'd her brain, to a merry merry vain. Mort. Go Fiddle Patrico, and let me sing. First set me down here on both my Prats. 18 Gently, gently, for cracking of my wind, now I must use it. Hem, hem. She sings. This is Bien Bowse, 19 this is Bien Bowse Too little is my Skew 20 I bowse no Lage, 21 but a ivhole Gage 22 Of this Pll bowse to you. This Bowse is better then Eom-bowse, 23 It sets the Gan 24 a gigling, 1 Bacon. " 2 Cheese. 3 Gentleman. 4 Pork. 5 Mutton. 6 Goose. 7 Fowl. 8 Good spoil. 9 House. 10 Look about. 11 Eyes. 12 Devil. 13 Magistrate. 14 Ale-house. 15 Wife. 16 Sacred oath. 17 Girl. 18 Buttocks. 19 Good ale. 20 Cup. 21 Water. 22 Quart pot. 23 Wine. 24 Mouth. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 615 The Autum-Mort finds better sport hi bowsing then in nigling. This is Bien-bowse, &c. [She tosses off her Bowie, falls back, and is carried out. * * * * * Enter Dauncers. Pat. See, in their rags, then, dauncing for your sports Our Clapper Dugeons 1 and their walking Moris. 2 Daunce. Pat. You have done well. Now let each Trippet Make a retreat into the Skipper ; 3 And couch a Hogs-head f till the dark man's 5 past ; Then all with Bag and Baggage bing awast. 6 [Exeunt Beggars. Actus Quintus. Master Sentwell. Sentwell. But Sir, we have taken with her such Beggars, such Rogues, such Vagabonds, and such Hedge-birds (since you call 'em so) as you never knew, or heard of, though now the Countries swarm with 'em under every Hedge, as if an innumerable army of 'em were lately disbanded without Pay. Hedge-birds said you 1 Hedge Lady-birds, Hedge Cavaliers, Hedge Souldier, Hedge Lawyer Hedge Fidlers, Hedge Poet, Hedge Players, and a Hedge Priest among 'em. Such we have taken for the Principals. But to see how the Multitude scap'd us, was more sport than pitty. How, upon a Watch-word given, they in the instant vanish'd by more severall waies than there were legs among 'em ; how the Creeples leap'd over Pales and Hedges ; how the Blinde found their way thorow Lakes and Ditches ; how a Loxie flew with two Children at her back, and two more, perhaps, in her belly — Justice Clack. A Hedge Priest have you taken, say you ? Sen. Yes, Sir, an old Patrico, an ancient Prophet, to tell Fortunes, and cozen our poor Country People of their single Money. . . . Cla. But are there Players among the apprehended ? Sen. Yes, Sir. And they were contriving to act a Play among themselves, just as we surpriz'd 'em, and spoil'd their Sport. Cla. Players I I'll pay them above all the rest. Sen. You shall do well in that ; to put 'hem in stock to set up again. Cla. Yes, I'll put 'em in Stocks, and set 'em up to the Whipping post. They can act Justices, can they ? I'll act a Justice among 'em ; that is to say, I will do justice upon them ; that is to say — Sen. Pray Sir, be not severe, they act Kings and Emperours, as well as Jus- tices. And Justice is blinde they say : you may therefore be pleas'd to wink a little. I finde that you have merry old Gentlemen in your House, that are come far to visit you. I'll undertake that these Players, with the help of their Poet; in a device which they have already studied, and a pack of cloaths which I shall supply 'em with, shall give your Guests much content, and move compassion in you towards the poor Strowles. Cla. But you know my way of Justice (and that's a sure way) is to punish 'em first, and be compassionate afterwards, as I finde 'em upon their Examina- tion. 1 Beggars with patched cloaks. 3 Barn. 5 Night. 2 Women who pass for widows. 4 Lie down and sleep. 6 Go hence. 616 VAGKANTS AND VAGRANCY, The Beggars' Chorus in the "Jovial Crew." (From the Bagford Collection of Ballads.) To an excellent New Tune. " The song belongs to Act IV. sc. 2, and is given at that place in the first edition of Dodsley's Old Plays 1744, vol. vi. p. 372. But the words do not appear in the earliest edition of 'A Jovial Crew,' printed in 1652. It is scarcely to be doubted that the song was written either by Richard himself, or by his affectionate namesake Alexander Brome. Although not printed in the 1652 editio princeps of 'A Jovial Crew,' the song was certainly known or popular by or before 1660." There was a jovial Beggar, he had a wooden Leg ; Lame from his Cradle, and forced for to Beg : And a Begging we will go, we'll go, we'll go, And a Begging we will go. A Bag for my Oat-meal — another for my Salt, A little pair of Crutches, to see how I can Halt : And a Begging, &c. A Bag for my Bread, another for my Cheese, A little Dog to follow me, to gather what I leese : 1 And a Begging, &c. A Bag for my Wheat, another for my Rye, A little Bottle by my side, to drink when I'm a dry : And a Begging we will go, we'll go, we'll go, And a Begging we will go. To Pimlico 2 we'll go, where merry we shall be, With ev'ry Man, a Can in's Hand, and a Wench upon his knee : And a Begging, &c. Seven years I served, my old Master Wild ; Seven years I begged Whilst I was but a Child : And a Begging, &c. 1 Lose. 2 A place of entertainment at Hoxton originally kept by one Ben Pimlico. It stood near the junction of the New North Road and Pitfield Street, abutting on Pimlico Walk. It is alluded to by Ben Jonson in the Alchemist, by Massinger in the City Madam, and by other writers of the period. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 617 I had the pretty knack for to wheedle and to cry ; By young and by old, Much pitied e'er was I. And a Begging, etc. Fatherless and Motherless still was my Complaint, And none that ever saw me, but took me for a saint : And a Begging, d?c. I begg'd for my Master, and got him store of Pelf ; But Jove now be praised, I now beg for my self ; And a Begging, &c. Within a hollow Tree I live, and pay no Rent ; Providence provides for me, and I am well content, And a Begging, &c. Of all Occupations, a Beggar lives the best, For when he is a weary, he'll lie him down and rest : And a Begging, &c. I fear no Plots against me, but live in open Cell ; Why who wou'd be a King, when a Beggar lives so well 1 And a Begging we will go, we'll go, we'll go, And a Begging we will go. The Tinker and the Beggar. 1661. From Wit and Drollery, J oviall Poems : Corrected and much amended, with additions, By Sir J(ohn) M(ennis) Ja(mes) S(mith) SirW(illiam)D(avenant) J(ohn)D(onne) and the most refined Wits of the Age. Edited by E. M. London Printed for Nath. Brook, at the Angel in Cornhil, 1661. The Preface states that " these Poems reprinted, with additions, are collected from the best Wits, of what above 20 years since, were begun to be pre- served, for mirth and friends ; the fear of having some of them imperfectly set forth, hath, though unwillingly made them common." A Song. The Tinker. For he sits all day quaffing and turning ouer the boul, And goes about from house, to house, to stop the good wifes hole ; 618 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, Ting quoth the metal, found quoth the kettle, He calls to his wife for a hammer, He goes about from town to town Most like a Rogue in manner. Beggar. And of all occupations Begging is the best, Whensoever he is weary he may lay him down to rest ; For howsoe're the world goes they never take any care ; And whatsoever they beg or get they spend it in good lare. Up goes the staff, down goes the wallet, To the alehouse they go with speed ; They spend many a pot, they care not for the shot, This is the best occupation indeed. This hath his doxy, another is almost foxy, They have still a peny to their need, They drink many a pot, they care not for the shot : This is the best trade indeed. With a hey down derry, they'l be full merry, Though the marshal stand at the dore ; When their money is done, they'l have more before noon, Or drink upon the score. The English Rogue. 1665. From the English Rogue described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant. Being a compleat History of the most Eminent- Cheats of both sexes, by Richard Head, 1665. (Corrected by the edition of 1672.) In the Epistle to the Reader the author says — " What here I present ye with, is an original in your own mother tongue ; and yet I may not improperly call it a Translation, drawn from the Black Copy of mens wicked actions ; such who spared the Devil the pains of courting them, by listing themselves Volunteers to serve under his Hellish Banners ; with some whereof I have heretofore been unhappily acquainted, and am not ashamed to confess that I have been somewhat soiled by their vitious practices, but now I hope cleansed in a great measure from those impurities." In a Preface to the Reader subsequently written by Francis Kirkham, the following occurs as to the identity of the author with Meriton Latroon. " When this piece was first published it was ushered into the World with the usual ceremony of a Preface, and that a large one, whereby the Authour inten- ded and endeavoured to possess the Reader with a belief, that what was written was the Life of a Witty Extravagant, the Authours Friend and Acquaintance. This was the intent of the Writer, but the Readers could not be drawn to this belief but in general concurred in this opinion, that it was the Life of the Authour, and notwithstanding all that hath been said to the contrary many still continue in this opinion." .... CHAPTER V. Wherein he Relates what manner of People they were in whose Society lie entered himself ; division of their Tribes, Manners, Customs, and Language. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 619 As soon as I had resolv'd to travel the Country with them, they fitted me for their company, by stripping me, and selling my proper garments, and cloathing me in rags, which they pinn'd about me, giving a stitch here and there, accord- ing as necessity required. We used not when we entered our Libhin, or Lodging, to pull off our cloaths ; which had I been forced to do, I could never have put them on again, nor any, but such who were accustomed to produce Order out of a Babel of Rags. Being now ale mode de Tatterdemallion, to compleat me for their purpose, with green Walnuts they so discoloured my face, that everyone that saw me, would have sworn I was the true son of an Egyptian. Before we marcht on, let me give you an account of our Leaders, and the rancks we were disposed in. Our chief Commander was called by the name of Ruffeler, the next to him Vpright-man, the rest in order thus : Hookers, (alias) Anglers. Prigges. Priggers of Prancers. Swadlers. We muster'd above threescore old and young, and because we were too great a company to march together, we were divided into three Squadrons. The first Squadron that led the Van, was ordered by our Commander, to stick up small boughs all the way they went, 1 that we might know what course they steer'd. For like Wild Fowl we flie one after another, and though we are scattered like the quarters of a Traitor, yet like water when cut with a Sword, we easily came together again. As the Switzer hath his Wench and his Cock with him when he goes to Wars : or like a Scotch Army, where every soldier almost hath the Geud Wife and the Beams following him : so we had every one his Doxie or Wench, who carried at her back a Lullaby-cheat, 2 and it maybe another in her Arms. When they are weary of carrying them, they take their turns to put them in a pair of Panniers, like green Geese going to Market, or like Fish in Dossers 3 coming from Rye. Where note, that each division hath a small Horse or two, or else Asses to ease them of their burdens. Some of us were clad Antickly with Bells and other toyes,.meerly to allure the Countrey people unto us, which most commonly produced their desired effects. In some places they would flock unto us, in great quantities, and then was our time to make our Markets. We pretended an acquaintance with the Stars (as having an alliance to the Egyptian Magi, the founders of Astrologick Art) and that the Ministers of Fate were our Familiars, and so possessing these poor ignorant people with a belief, that we could tell their Fortunes by inspection into either hands or faces ; whil'st we were seriously looking thereon, one of our diving Comrades pickt their pockets, or with a short sharp knife, and a horn on the thumb nipt their bungs. 4 .... Thus 5 we rambled up and down the Country ; and where the people demean'd themselves not civil to us by voluntary contributions, their Geese, Hens, Pigs, or any such mandible thing we met with, made us satisfaction for their hide- 1 This is evidently founded on the practice of the gypsies who form a trail with three heaps of grass termed " trooshelsJ 2 An infant. 3 Panniers or baskets. 4 Picked their pockets. 5 P. 43. Gurtals. Irish toyle. Dommerars. Glymmerer. Bawdy-baskets. Autem-Morts. Doxies. Dells. Kitchin-Morts. Swigmen. Jarkemen. Patri-Coes. Kitchin-Coes. Abram men. Whip-Jacks. Counterfeit- Cranks. 620 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, bound injuries. Our revenge most commonly was very bloody, and so merci- less, that whatever fell into our hands, never escaped alive, and in our murders so cruel, that nothing would satisfie us but the very hearts-blood of what we killed. The usual sacrifices of our implacable revenge, were innocent Lambs, Sheep, Calves, &c, all of which we handled more severely than Prisoners are by Serjeants, when they are not paid their unjust Demands ; Fees, I should have said, but that by experience I have found, they walk not according to the Rules of ancient Constitutions, but are guided by the dictates of their insatiate wills, which is their Law, which poor Prisoners must indulge, (though they rack their slender credits, or pawn their cloaths) or else they must expect less kindness from them, then a Condemned person about to be tyed up by the Hangman, who will stay till he is ready to be turned off. A Goose coming among us, we have a trick to make him so wise, as never to be a Goose again : but let the wisest use what tricks they can, they shall never make some Serjeants honest men. We seize the prey, and leave the Tragical part to our Morts or women to act : the Stage on which they perform their parts, is either some large Heath, or Firz-bush-Common, far from any House. This being done and night approaching, we repair to our Dormitories, or Houses of Rest, which are most usually Out-barns of Farmers and Husbandmen, which we make choice of in some poor stragling Village, who dare not deny us, for fear ere the morning they find their Thatcht Houses too hot to hold them. These Barns serve us instead of Cook Rooms, Supping Parlours, and Bed-Chambers : having Supt, (most commonly in a plentiful manner) we cannot Couch a Hogshead, that is to say, Sleep, without good store of Rum-booz, that is, Drink ; and having sufficiently warm'd our brains with humming Liquor, which our Lower (Silver) shall procure ; if our deceitful Maunding (Begging) cannot, we then sing a Catch or two in our own Language, of which we had good store ; which for their bawdry 1 I omit \ however, give me leave to instance one Canting Song, and I shall wave the rest. Bing out bien Morts, and toure and toure, Bing out bien Morts, and toure ; For all your Duds are bing'd awast The bien cove hath the loure And Jybe well jerckt, teck rome confect, For back by glymmar to Maund ; To mill each Ken, let Cove bing then, Through Ruffmans, jague, or Laund, Till Crampings quire tip Cove his hire ; And Quire Ken do them catch, A Canniken, mill quire Cuffen, So quire to ben Coves watch. Bien Darkmans then, Bouse Mort and Ken, The Men coves bings awast, On Chates to trine by Rome Coves dine, For his long lib at last. Bing'd out bien Morts and toure and toure, Bing out of the Rome vile bine, And toure the Cove that cloyd your duds, Upon the Chates to trine Go forth, good girls, and look about and look about, Go forth, good girls, and look about ; For all your clothes are taken away The good man hath the money And pass well sealed, and licence counterfeited, Indecent language. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 621 For back by fire to beg ; To rob each house, let man go then . Through wood, ditch, or lawn, Till shackles evil give man his due ; And prison do them catch, The Plague take every magistrate, So wicked as to good men watch. Good night then, drink girl and house The good man goes away On gallows to hang by bad mens command, For his long sleep at last. Go forth, good girls, and look about and look about, Go forth from London lithely, ' And look for the man that stole your clothes. Upon the gallows to hang. This song originally appeared in English Villanies seven severall times prest to death by the Printers ; But (still reviving again) are now the eighth time, (as at the first) discovered by Lanthorne and Candle-light ; and the helpe of a New Cryer, called 0 Per se 0 : &c, by Thomas Decker, 1637, Chap. xix. Like most cant songs it is a mere jingle of favourite cant expressions; part of it has been necessarily omitted on account of its indecency. Having 1 now obtained more than a convenient boldness I travell'd, and begg'd with very good success. But me thought my life was somewhat uncom- fortable without a Companion, (all Creatures coveting society, but more espe- cially Man :) at length, according to my desires, I met with one, whose long practice in this Art (besides the Observations of his Predecessours, deriving his Pedegree in a direct line from Prince Prigg), indti'd him with so much skill as to furnish me with the knowledge of anything that belonged to the liberal art of Begging. We straight betook ourselves to the Boozing Ken 2 ; and having bubVd rumly, 3 we concluded an everlasting friendship. Then did he recount to me the most material things observable in our Profession. First he tun'd my voice to that pitch which might most of all raise compassion ; next what form of prayer I was to use upon such an occasion, what upon such, varying according to the humour of those persons that I begged of, gathered from their habit or gesture ; then he told me when he came to London, he would acquaint me what places were most fit for our purpose, and what times. That I ought not to be too importunate to some, always wishing well, and loudly praying for the health and safety of Estate and Limbs of such as denied me Alms ; but more especially pronounce a God bless you Master, and let Heaven reward what you have here done on earth, if any thing is bestowed upon me. If any should pity my nakedness, and cloathmein garments without holes in them, I should wear them no longer than in the Donors sight, reserving my rags to re-invest myself, and sell the other, as unfit and scandalous to our Occupation. That we should never beg far from one another, and at nights faithfully share the gains. Moreover he inform'd me the way to make all sorts of seeming sores and lameness. That within the tatter'd rags there be places provided for private conveyance. Some of maturer age, if they have no children, rent them of such as have ; but we had no occasion for this fallacy. That if I saw a door open, I should go in boldly ; if I met any in the way, I should then in a very submissive manner implore their help in the assistance of my wants, never desiring any thing but what was of small value, one half-penny, farthing, or some broken crust, (if at a door) pretending the not eating of a bit in two days. If the passage was clear, whip away what was nearest to hand. That the time of rising in the morning 1 Chap. vi. p. 54. 2 Ale-house 3 Liquored well. • 622 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, be very early, shewing myself in the streets : for then will those that pass by, judge I have no other lodging but what a stall affords, that way procuring relief from pitiful-minded persons, and so continue begging till the evening ; when it beginneth to be duskish, if any then walks singly, accost him in a begging form ; coming up so close, as that you may knock him down with a Truncheon, still carried about for that purpose ; which is done securely, and many times with a good booty. Being full fraught with these, and many more precepts he delivered, we set forth on our progress. We had not gone far, before we were surprized by the Constable, as two sturdy Vagrants, and as handsail to my new Trade, we were both soundly whipt out of Town. To avoid this danger for the time to come, we mist all the towns of any considerable note in our way, and only frequented Villages ; nay at last we were forc'd not onely to avoid them but the High-ways too : for Travellers observing our garb, countenances, and weapons,' which was a Battoon, 1 suspecting us, would before they came near us, set spurs to their horses and ride as if the Devil drove them. My course of life appeared so idle (by my lazy stalking and gaping this way and that, sometimes standing still and seriously and viewing what deserved not a minutes observance) that the Beadle 2 took hold on me, telling me it was great pitty that such a lusty young Man should want imployment, and therefore would help me to some : but understanding from him that it must be in Bride- wel, my leggs failed me, shewing thereby how unwilling they were to be accessary to the punishment which would be inflicted on my back. Nearly the whole of these experiences of the life of a vagabond, though written more than two hundred years ago, are equally true in the present day. The Joviall Crew, or Beggars Bush. In which a Mad Maunder doth vapour and swagger With praising the Trade of a bonney bold beggar To the tune of, From hunger and cold, &c. Circa 1671. From the Bagford Collection of Ballads. John Bagford (1651-1716) was a book-collector, agent for noblemen and gentry who desired to win the reputation of possessing valuable libraries. The collection he made was afterwards increased by James West, president of the Royal Society ; next by Major Thomas Pearson, who bought it in 1773. It was acquired in 1788 by the Duke of Roxburghe, who added to it. It passed into the possession of Mr. B. H. Bright in 1813, who made some additions, and was sold to the British Museum in 1845. A Beggar, a Beggar A Beggar lie bee, There's none lead a Life so jocond as hee ; A Beggar I was And a Beggar I am, A Beggar He be, from a Beggar I came : If (as it begins) our Trading do fall, I fear (at the last) we shall be Beggers all. Our Trades-men miscarry in all their Affayrs And few men grow wealthy, but Courtiers and Players, A Craver my Father, A Maunder 3 my Mother, i Cudgel. 2 Chap. xv. p. 157. A Town Beggar. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 623 A Filer 1 my sister, a Filcher 2 my Brother, A Canter 3 my Unckle That car'd not for Pelfe ; A Lifter 4 my Aunt, a Begger my selfe ; In white wheaten-straw, when their bellies were full, Then I was begot, between Tinker & Trul. And therefore a Begger, a Begger Fie be, For none hath a spirit so jocond as he. When Boyes do come to us, And that their intent is To follow our Calling, we here bind tKem Prentice, Soon as they come too't ' We teach them to doo't And give them a staff and a wallet to boo't, We teach them their Lingua, to crave and to Cant, The-devil is in them if then they can want. If any are here, that Beggers will bee, We without Indentures will make them free. We begg for our bread, But sometimes it happens We feast with Pigg, Pullet, Conny and Capons, For Churches Affairs We are no men slayers We have no Religion, yet live by our Prayers, But if when we begg, Men will not draw their purses, We charge and give fire, with a vally of curses. The Devil confound gour good worship we cry And such a bold brazen f add Begger am I. London. Printed for W. Thackeray, T. Passenger, and W. Whitwood. This Song was in the year 1700 sung by Mr. Hemskirk at Sadler's Wells with the second part in the following form : — We do things in season and have so much Reason We raise no Rebellions nor never talk treason We billet our Mates at very low Rates While some keep their Quarters as high as y e Gates With Shinkin ap Morgan 5 with blew Cap 6 or Teague 7 We into no Covenants enter nor League And therefore a bonny bold Beggar I'll be For none leads a life so merry as we. For such pretty Pledges as Shirts from y e Hedges We are not in fear to be drawn upo n Sledges But sometimes the Whip does make us to skip And then we from Tything to Tything do trip 1 Pickpocket. 2 Thief. 3 Tramping beggar. 4 Shoplifter. 5 A Welshman. This was one of the names under which the Welsh were satirised by Ben Jonson and others in the reign of J ames I. 6 A Scotchman. 7 An Irishman ; from Tadhg, a poet or philosopher, a favourite Irish name, 624 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, For when at a Poor bousing ken we do bib it We stand more in fear of ye Stocks than ye Gibbet And if from ye Stocks we can keep out our Feet We fear not ye Counter Kings Bench or y e Fleet. We throw down no Alter nor never do falter So much as to Change a Gold Chain for a Halter Tho' some men do flout us and others do doubt us We commonly bear fourty Guineas about us But many good fellows are finer and look fiercer That owe for their Cloaths' to y e Taylor or Mercer And therefore a merry bold Beggar 111 be For w n it is night in ye Barn tumbles he. Sometimes I feign in my self to be lame And when a Coach comes I'll hop to my Game We seldom miscarry or ever do marry By the brown Common Prayer or Cloke Directory For Simon and Susan like Birds of a Feather They kiss and they laugh and so lie together Like Pigs in the Pease straw entangled they lie There they beget such a bold Beggar as I. The Complete Mendicant. 1699. From the Compleat Mendicant : or, Unhappy Beggar being the Life of an Unfortunate Gentleman by Daniel Defoe, 1699. When we came at a convenient distance from the Town, I put him in mind of his promise i.e. to instruct me in the Secrets, and Mysteries of a Travelling Mendicant, which he readily comply'd with, and withal told me, to prevent being mis-understood, it would be necessary to give me a general Idea and Notion of the business. As to the Science and Occupation of begging, (for that in strictness of sense is the properest Name I can call it by) 'tis in the main, a kind of ars vivendi, a sort of Trade and Profession as well as any of the rest, so that if it be not always nicely conformable to the Rules of Vertue, Justice and Truth, there's as much if not more to be said for it, than for any other Science or Calling To go on therefore, if you intend to be a Proficient in the Science of begging ; your first business will be, to consult the Nature and Temper of the Person you are to make your application to, and by what expedient you may best recom- mend your self to him : our method for this is, commonly to go to some adjacent Alehouse, where for the expence of Six Pence, we may be equipt with the several Characters and Inclinations of all the Gentry and Clergy within four or five Miles round. When you have hit of the Person, the next thing is, to consult whether it be most proper to attend him your self, or send him the nature of your Case in a letter ; if you do the first, you must be sure to fix upon such a time, when you are morally certain he is not engag'd in business or Company ; if you do the latter, the great difficulty is, to get your Letter handsomly convey'd to him ; my way (and I think 'tis the best) is to carry it my self and walk about the Hall &c. Till I have got my Answer. CHAPTER XXXI. EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS WRITERS ILLUSTRATING THE HABITS AND IMPOSTURES OF THE VAGRANT AND BEGGAR, 1708—1886. Memoirs of the right villainous John Hall (1708) — The Lazy Beggar (1731) — James Caulfield, Earnings of a Beggar (1751) — G. Parker, Illustrations of Low Life (1781) — Robert Burns, the Jolly Beggars (1785) — Francis Grose, Beggars and Vagrant Impostors (1796) — J. T. Smith, Vagabond- iana (1817) — Pierce Egan, A Cadger's Resort (1821) — William Hone, Anty Brignal and the Begging Quaker (1827) — John Badcock, Beggars and Tinkers (1828)— W. A. Miles, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime (1839) — Letters from George Atkifs Brine (1848, 1871, 1875) — Charles Dickens, The Begging Letter Writer and Tramps (1850). — Hent May- hew, London Labour and the London Poor — The Patterer — The Screever — Beggar Street Sellers (1851) — A Blind Impostor (1865) — J. Hornsby Wright, Confessions of an Old Almsgiver (1871) — A. H. Toulmin, Rogues and Vagabonds of the Racecourse (1872) — Pseudo Missionaries (1872) — A Deaf and Dumb Impostor (1874.) — The American Tramp (1878) — What a Beggar Boy buys (1886) — Street begging (1886) — Rich Beggars — Frozen- out Beggars — Beggars' Barns — A Christmas Haymaker — Gipsy Anecdote — Begging Letter Impostures (1874). Vagabond Cheats. 1708. From the " Memoirs of the right Villainous John Hall the late famous and notorious robber," 1708. John Hall was executed at Tyburn Dec. 17, 1707, for breaking open the house of Captain Guyon near Stepney. He was originally a chimney sweep, and commenced a career of crime about 1675. Sweetners— Such as drop Money before People, 1 and taking out of Sight, inveigle a Man (after a hot Dispute with some of their Accomplices, who earnestly claim halves of what they find) into a Tavern they use, where they draw him into Cards, Dice, or Buckle and Thong, which they planted in some visible Place, and win all his Money : These sort of Vermine likewise go about the Countrey to cheat People of their Money by the Legerdemain Slight of Cups and Ball, 2 and Luck in a Bag ; 3 this is a Function too that has not flourished since the late Act for Vagabonds. 1 Generally counterfeit guineas. 2 A trick performed with three metal cups and four small cork balls, in which the spectator is mystified as to the situation of the balls. 3 A bag into which the spectator is invited to drop a stipulated coin and draw out a ticket, which entitles him to a prize of greater or less value than his money, according to his luck. S S 626 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, In these memoirs a fearful picture is given of the depraved condition of the prisoners in Newgate. The Lazy Beggar. 1731. From the Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1731. Common Beggars, the Author tells us, are, for the most part, idle Counter- feits, Rogues and Profligates ; who, to avoid working, take up this lazy course of Life, and by various Disguises and pretences extort more money from tender- hearted People than can be imagin'd, which they squander away in Drunken- ness and Revelling ; and doubts not but many of 'em who beg at our Doors a days, are ready to pick our Pockets, break into our Houses, or assault us in the Streets by Night. The Evils, he says, are owing to the "Weakness of some good People, who give Money to be rid of the miserable Appearances, and dismal Outcries of the vilest Rogues, and worst of Impostors. As a Confirmation of this, tells a Story of a Gentleman crossing Morefields, who was followed by a middle-aged shabby Fellow importunately begging for Six Pence. The Gentleman wondered at his odd Demand, and told him he had not for him : But the Fellow walked along, repeating his Intreaties, till finding no likelihood of a Success — Well, Sir, says he, with a melancholy Air, I shall trouble you no more ! — but that small Matter would have saved me from doing what I shall now be forc'd to do ! — Then fetching a deep Sigh, he shook his Head, — and slowly moved away. The Strangeness of his Words and Behaviour struck the Gentleman ; this poor Creature, thought he, by Want is grown desperate, and shall my Refusal of such a Trifle drive him to Extremities 1 With that, calling back the Fellow, Here, Friend, is Sixpence for thee ; but 'pr'ythee tell me the meaning of what you said just now. The Fellow thanked him, and pocketing the Money, Why truly, Master, reply'd he, I've been begging here this whole Day to little purpose, and unless your Charity had saved me from it, must have been forced to work, the thoughts of which gave me no small Disquiet. Earnings of a Common Beggar. 1751. From " Portraits, Memoirs, and Characters of Remarkable Persons," by James Caulfield (1820). James Turner, a common beggar, whose silvered locks and flowing beard gave him a patriarchal appearance, raised a considerable sum of money by the veneration generally directed towards aged people in distress. Turner, though an old man, was so well experienced in his profession, that he deemed it no trifling advantage to appear still older than he really was. To form some esti- : mate of how much money this man obtained daily, it is necessary to state that Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Nathaniel Hone, and many other celebrated painters, struck with the singularly reverend character of his aspect, wished to make studies from his head, and solicited him to sit to them. He, however, would not consent, unless paid at the rate of one shilling per hour, which he asserted he always got by his profession of begging. Sir Joshua has often introduced the portrait of Turner into his pictures, particularly in that of Count Ugolino and his Children starved to death. Hone likewise made Turner the prominent feature in his picture of the Con- juror ; and painted his portrait as he generally appeared in the year 1751, which was engraved by Captain Baillie in the year 1762. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 627 Illustrations of Low Life. 1781. From " A view of Society and Manners in High and Low Life, being the Adventures of Mr. G. Parker," 1781. " A modern Bamfylde Moore Carew, but not like him, who ended his Days comfortably in the country ; this one went about from Race to Race selling Gingerbread nuts, and at last finished his career at the Poor House at Liver- pool." Queer Bit Makers. — A cant word for coiner. Royal Scamp. — The term appropriated to those highwaymen who rob without using ill. Foot Scamp. — Men not having horses, who are on the Food-pad Rig, but whose behaviour is correspondent with that of those who are on the Royal Scamp. Ken 1 -crackers. — A term for house-breakers. Daisy-Kickers. — Hostlers belonging to large inns, and are known to each other by this name. You may often hear them ask each other, " When did you sell your Daisy- Kicker or Grogham ? " Daisy-Kicker and Grogham being likewise cant for a horse. Fidlum Ben. — These are a kind of general tradesmen, who are likewise called Peter's Sons, 2 with every finger a fish-hook. They watch all opportuni- ties, rob at all times and all places, from a diamond ring on a lady's toilet down to a dish-clout in the sinkhole. Chaunter Culls. 3 — A species of pasquinade the most injurious to society. If a man has an enmity to a particular person or family, there is a House of Call where a set of men are ready to write on any subject or business., and you hear the song sung in the course of three hours from your time of payment in St. Paul's Churchyard or the Fleet Market. Kiddy Nippers. — Kiddy Nipper is a man out of work among steel-bar flingers, which is cant for journeymen tailors. The Kiddy Nipper frequents the Houses of Call, especially on Saturday night, when those in work have received their wages. ... In the course of the evening the Kiddy Nipper, who has a pair of scissors about him, sits on the side of the man whom he has des- tined for his prey, whether he sits on chair or bench, cuts the bottom of his pocket open, and grabbles all his Bit.* Blue Pigeon 5 Flyer. — These are journeymen plumbers and glaziers who repair houses, and running dustmen. To fly the blue pigeon is cutting off lead from what they call a Prayer Book up to a Bible. Jibber the Kibber. 6 — Is the watch-word made use of by the people on tho coast of Cornwall to point out a wreck. Jigger-Dubber. — Is a term applied to jailors or turnke} 7 s, jigger being flash or cant for door. Dub the jigger is, in other words, shut the door. Knuckle. 7 — In the flash language signifies those who hang about the lobbies of both Houses of Parliament, the Opera House, and both Play Houses, and in general wherever a great crowd assemble. They steal watches, snuff- boxes, &c. Morning, Evening and Upright Sneak. — Names derived from the sneaking and mean manner in which they commit their robberies. The other 1 Ken, a house. 2 See note on Peter er, p. 629. 3 Gyp. chal, lad, boy, son, fellow. 4 Money. 5 German Blti, lead, and pichm, to pick. 6 Cornish, gwybod, to recognise, and ceber, a beam. 7 0. Dutch, knevelinge, robbing or thieving. s s 2 628 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, part of the epithet is borrowed from the time when their frauds are perpetrated, or as a description of the things they steal. Morning Sneak. — A fellow who watches the maid servants in houses when they open parlour windows, &c, particularly if they carry the shutters back- wards or up an entry. In this interval they sneak their hands into the casement of the windows, and take the first thing they can lay their hands on. Evening Sneaks. — Fellows on the same lay. 1 Upright Sneaks. — Those who steel pint and quart pots from out of those people's baskets who have had them to scour, as also from off shelves, stair- cases, &c. Lumpers. — The lowest order and most contemptible species of thieving, for even in thieving there are gradations ; and they look down from a superior upon those in an inferior rank with more contempt than a Peer would on a Porter. They have been expelled from the Society of their brethren for being unable to scamp, 2 prig, 3 or dive, 11 and they then commence Lumpers, which is skulking about ships, lighters, &c, hanging about quays, wharfs, &c, stealing old iron, fruit, sugar, or whatever comes to hand. The Pinch. — This rig is changing of money. Hook 5 and Snivey, with Nix the Buffer. — This practice is executed by three men and a dog: one of the men counterfeits sickness, and has a white handkerchief tied round his head, or wears a night-cap. They go into an ale- house, and are shewn a room: having hid the dog under the table, they ring the bell and call for a pot of beer, and desire to know of the landlord if he has got any cold meat in house, and what two of them must give a-piece to dine, as the third man is very ill ] All of them then dine plentifully at the cost of two. The people who practise this rig are dog-stealers. They call the dog a Buffer, from a practice among them of killing such dogs as no advertisement or enquiry has been made for, and this they call " buffing the dog," whose skin they sell, and feed the remaining dogs with his carcase. Little Snakesman. — Is a rig practised in the following manner : A very small boy is carried by a gang of fellows in the dead of night to a house, the sink-hole of which they have already observed open. When this gang is pretty certain that the family is in bed, they dispatch their ambassador, the boy, or Little Snakesman, to obtain their admittance. Snitchers. 6 — Informers against their comrades, who discover their haunts, and lay open their schemes. Your third rate class of sharpers, when they have won a sum of money, if they should happen to refuse a brother sharper who is flash to the rig, and has been a by-stander, his whack, 7 are instantly snitched upon ; that is, the Snitcher follows the loser, and asks him what he will give him (the Snitcher) if he puts him in the way of recovering his money] Prad 8 Borrowers. — A term used for Horse-stealers. Rum Snoosers. — If a man who has happened to be out late and fearful of not getting in at home, and desirous of seeing Life should stroll into a night- house, he ought to be very careful lest he should fall asleep in any of those places ; for if he should, he may be certain of a large piece of paper being fas- tened to his hat, and set fire to. Awakened by the cry of fire, he struggles with it, and endeavours to extin- 1 Enterprise or pursuit. 2 Rob on the highway.- 3 Thieve. 4 Pick-pockets. 5 Gyp. Hukni, ringing the changes. Prov. E. Snivey, mean ; G. nichts. Dutch, niets, nothing. 6 The cant term for share. 7 O. Dutch, Snicken, to follow or trace by the scent. 8 Dutch, Paard, a horse. AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 629 guish the flames that have seized on his wig or hair, which are burned, perhaps destroyed by the fire. Exasperated by this injury, he offers half a guinea if anybody will inform him who has used him thus ; somebody naps the bit, and tells him that such a Coachman had done it, that he was just run upstairs, and that his coach had such a number. He runs up in search of the Coachman, but there is no such person ; and when he returns, the man who had gotten his money has run away, and the Landlord charges the Watch with him for raising a riot in his house ; so the night finishes in a Round-house. Queer Rooster. — A fellow who gets into a house of rendezvous for thieves, pretends to be asleep, and listens to their conversation in order to discover it to some Justice, or to inform for a reward. The Rush. — Fellows who knock at a street door in a summer's night : if the maid comes with a candle in her hand, they fling some powdered rosin across it, which seems to her to be a flash of lightning ; they then rush past her, leaving, however, one or two behind them to guard her while they rob the house. Peterers. 1 — Those who follow coaches and chaises, cutting off the portman- teaus, trunks, &c, from, behind. Star the Glaze. — A term for cracking a Jeweller's show-glass, which when cracked forms a star. Glaze is cant for glass. Lifters. — A species of theft executed in the following manner ; A genteel looking woman goes into a large shop, and asks to look at some of the newest- fashion lace ; she has a small fish-hook in her hand, which she fixes in a piece of lace, and then lets it slip down between her and the counter, at the same time covering it with her coats ; this done, she buys a yard of lace, and then in putting her hand into her pocket, pulls a string which is fixed to the hook and communicates with her pocket, into which she lifts the lace by it. Dining-room Post. — A mode of stealing by a man, who, pretending to be the Postman, goes to lodging-houses under the pretence of having letters for the lodgers. These sham letters being sent up for the postage, which he seems to wait for, as soon as he is left alone, he goes into the first room which he finds open, and whips off with him whatever he can lay hold of, nor once minds the postage of his letter. Reader Merchants.— ^Reader is cant for a Pocket-book. This business is practised by young Jews who ply only at the Bank and the Royal Ex- change, and pick the pockets of those going in and out. Lully 2 Priggers. — People who steal linen from hedges, get over walls and take the wet linen from the lines upon which laundresses hang it. Resurrection Rig. — Fellows who live by stealing and selling dead bodies, coffins, shrouds, &c. Tolliban Rig. 3 — This rig has been exercised in some parts of England with amazing success. A genteel looking woman ties a bit of thread to the end of her tongue, which communicates to a bit of paste that she swallows and draws the tongue back, so as even to make the Faculty believe she was born without one. As soon as she is admitted into a house, she points to her tongue, then puts her fingers to her ears, which she persuades you something has grown over. Another motion is made to bring her a pen, ink, and paper, when she writes down, that " tho' she has been deprived of her hearing and speech, yet it is suffi- ciently compensated by a fore-knowledge which the Almighty has given her ; 1 0. Dutch, Peuteren, to search thoroughly, or to ransack. 2 Dutch, Lul, the small foresail of a ship. 3 Gyp. Tulipen, grease, fat ; Big, to bear, to carry, to bring. 630 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, and as she can look into futurity, she begs leave to cast the figures of their nativity who happen to attend to her." It is not surprising that inferior people should be deceived by these artifices, when very often sensible people give way to their contrivances. Traps.— A term for thief takers. Dobin 1 Rig.— Going upon the dobin, is done by a woman about seven o'clock on a winter's morning, who is dressed like a servant-maid, with a cream-pot in one hand, and Betty 2 in the other ; and a number of young Bubs 3 hanging by her side ; no hat or cloak on as she passes through a street. If she spies an apprentice at a haberdasher's opening the shop windows, she applies for a yard and a half of ribbon, but takes care to stand in the darkest part of the shop. ... As soon as the ribbon drawer is set before her in order to choose the colour, she begins to work. ... It has been well known, that in a few morn- ings a woman has made on the Dobbin Rig two or three hundred yards of ribbon. Rum Drag. 4 — The Rum Dragger generally follows broad- wheel waggons on horseback, and counterfeits drunkenness, tells the waggoner he will give him half-a-crown if he will lead his horse, and let him get half an hour's sleep in his waggon. He then takes off the directions from the trunks and parcels, and puts on others addressed to fictitious personages represented by his con- federates who claim them on arrival. Low Gagger. 5 — The professors of this Rig are old soldiers, old sailors, gypsies, tinkers, &c. The ways and means which they make use of to excite the pity and compassion of the humane, are innumerable. An Instance : An old soldier had gagged about London many years. His mode for pro- voking compassion was to get some sheep's blood and a handful of flour, which he put so artfully upon his knee, as to make the passengers, who saw it, believe it to be a mortification in his leg and thigh. Sham Leggers. 6 The Duff. 7 Whispering Dudders. — These are divided into several classes : some travel on horseback, and some on foot ; some with carts and waggons, &c. They frequent the out-skirts of cities, large towns, markets, villages, and fairs. The goods they have for sale are damaged, which they get from on board ships or out of large manufactories ; but tho' damaged, they are generally of the newest fashions and neatest patterns. They endeavour to make you believe that the goods they sell art smuggled, tho' they were really manufactured in Spitalfields and are sold at an enormous profit. Bleating Rig. — The stealing of sheep. Chosen Pells. — Are companions who ride in pairs. They shoe their horses with leather, stop coaches in town, strip ladies, take down their hair, and ex- tract the jewels from their heads, &c, besides taking their purses, &c. Flying Porter. — A fellow dressed like a porter ; a pen and ink and sheet of paper set him up. He examines the Daily Advertiser for robberies, writes to the victim as from the Landlord of the inn informing him that a suspicious man has been stopped with a sack full of things answering the description and tells him that he has nothing to do but to pay the porter. The Fawhey 8 Rig. — A Ring Dropper ; a fellow who has gotten a woman's 1 Dutch, dobbel, double dealing. 2 Betty, cant for the key of the street-door. 3 Dubs, cant for a bunch of small keys. 4 Dutch, draager, carrier or bearer. 5 Dutch, gagie, the wages or reward of any service. 6 Dutch, legger, layer, rester, or caster with counters. 7 Dutch, duf, musty or mouldy. 8 Gyp. fashono, false, fashioned, made up ; fashono wangustis, pretended gold rings ; vangus, a finger. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 631 pocket, with a pair of scissors, some thread, a thimble, and a housewife with a ring in it, which he drops for some credulous person to pick up. He then comes the stale story of "If you will give me eight or nine shillings for my share, you shall have the whole." If you accede to this and swallow his bait, you have the ring and pocket, worth about sixpence. The Eunning Snavel. 1 — Men and women who watch little boys of a Monday Morning going to school, with their satchel of books thrown over their shoulders, and the money for their week's schooling in their pockets, and a large piece of bread and butter in their hands. As soon as the Snaveller is up to this, he or she coaxes the child up some by- alley, narrow court, or dark passage, and grabbles the whole. Levanters. 2 — These are of the order and number of Black Legs, who live by the Broads 3 and the Turf. 11 I Crocussing Eig. — Is performed by men and women, who travel as Doctor or Doctoresses. Academy Buz-Nappers. — This Big is generally executed by a young fry of boys, who are first picked up in the purlieus of St. Giles's, and carried to J — y B — s's in street, where they are put into a room, in which there are figures dressed up like a man and a woman, with bells in every pocket for the young ones to practice on. Dingers. 5 — Is a term for throwing away or hiding : a highwayman will ding his Upper-Benjamin,® his Jazey, 7 his Sticks, 8 his Flogger, 9 his Diggers, 10 his Beater cases, 11 &c, and having all thes2 on him when he committed the robbery, is totally transformed by dinging. Clinking. 12 — Stealing silver tankards, pints, &c. Kid Eig. — Fellows who meet boys coming home with work, pretend that they are sent for the work, and desire the boy to make haste with the rest of it ; or at other times, they propose to a boy who carries a bundle, to give him sixpence if he will deliver a message, and they will hold the parcel. Tick, Bit and Sack Diver. Cant words for watch, purse, and money. Jolly Beggars. 1785. From the " Jolly Beggars," by Eobert Burns. When lyart 13 leaves bestrow the yird, 14 Or wavering like the Bauckie-bird, 15 Bedim cauld Boreas' blast ; When hailstanes drive wi' bitter skyte, 16 A ad infant frosts begin to bite, In hoary cranreuch 17 drest ; Ae night at e'en a merry core 18 O'randie, 19 gangrel 20 bodies, O. Dutch, snaphaen, a robber on the highway. 2 French, levant, a rising up or starting. 3 Cant for Cards. 4 Horse Racing. 5 Dutch, dinger, a bargainer. 6 Great coat. 7 Wig. 8 Pistols. 9 Whip. 10 Spurs. 11 Boots. 12 0. Dutch, klinckinge, sounding or tinMi-ig. 13 Faded, withered. 14 Earth. 16 the Bat. 16 Dash, force. 17 Hoar frost. 18 Company. 19 Sturdy. 20 Vagrant. 632 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, In Poosie-Nansie's 1 held the splore, 2 To drink their orra dudies : 3 Wi 3 quafhng, and laughing, They ranted 4 an' they sang ; Wi 3 jumping, an' thumping, The vera girdle 5 rang. First, niest 6 the fire, in auld, red rags, Ane sat ; weel brac'd wi' mealy bags, And knapsack a' in order ; His doxy 7 lay within his arm ; Wi 3 usequebae 8 an' blankets warm, She blinket on her Sodger : An' ay he gies the "tozie drab 9 The tither 10 skelpan 11 kiss. While she held up her greedy gab 12 Just like an aunious 13 dish : Ilk smack still, did crack still, Just like a cadger's 14 whip. . . . Then owre again, the jovial thrang The Poet did request To lowse 15 his Pack an' wale 16 a Sang, A ballad o' the best. He, rising, rejoicing, Between his twa Deborahs, Looks round him, an' found them Impatient for the chorus. I. See the smoking bowl before us, Mark our jovial, ragged ring ! Round and round take up the Chorus, And in raptures let us sing. — Chorus. A fig for those by law protected ! Liberty's a glorioiLS feast I Courts for cowards were erected Churches built to please the priest. II. What is title, what is treasure, What is reputation's care ? If we lead a life of pleasure, 'Tis no matter hoiv or where. A fig, on a corner house or a sign-post means, " I went this way ; " or " Go on in this direction. :* on a corner-house or sign-post means, " Stop — don't go any further in this direction." 0 as before explained, means " danger." Of the different Grades of Patterers. 1 will endeavour to sketch a few of the most renowned " performers " on this theatre of action. By far the most illustrious is " Nicholas A ," a name well known to the whole cadging fraternity as a real descendant from Bam- fylde Moore Carew, and the " prince of lurkers " and patterers for thirty years past Scarcely was he out of his teens, when he honoured the sister country with his visits and his depredations. This man's ingenuity was then taxed as to the next move, so he thought it expedient to tax somebody else. He went with his " pal " to a miscellaneous repository, where they bought a couple of old ledgers — useful only as waste- paper — a bag to hold money, two ink-bottles, &c. Thus equipped, they waited on the farmers of the district, and exhibited a " fakement " (forged document) setting forth parliamentary authority for imposing a tax upon the geese ! They succeeded to admiration, and weeks elapsed before the hoax was discovered. The coolness of thus assuming legislatorial functions, and being at the same time the executive power, has rarely been equalled I will give an account of the pretended missionary proceedings of a man, well known to the vagrant fraternity as " Chelsea George." .... After a career of incessant ''lurking" and deceit, Chelsea George left Eng- land, and remained abroad, writes my informant, four or five years Some time after his return to England, and while pursuing the course of a " high-flyer " (genteel beggar), he met with an interruption to his pursuits which induced him to alter his plan without altering his behaviour. The newspapers of the district, where he was then located, had raised before the eye and mind of the public, what the " patterers " of his class proverbially call a " stink," — that is, had opened the eyes of the unwary to the movements of 'Chelsea George ; ' and although he ceased to renew his appeals from the moment he heard of the notice of him, his appearance was so accurately described that he was captured and committed to Winchester jail as a rogue and vagabond. The silent system was not then in vogue, consequently there existed no barrier to mutual intercourse between prisoners, with all its train of conscience-hardening tendencies Chelsea George had by this time scraped acquaintance with two fellow- prisoners — Jew Jem and Russian Bob. The former in " quod " (prison) for " pattering " (holding forth) as a " converted Jew T ," the latter for obtaining money under equally false, though less theological, pretences. Liberated about one time, this trio laid their heads together, — and the result was a plan to evangelize, or rather victimize, the inhabitants of the collier villages in Staffordshire and the adjoining counties. To accomplish this pur- AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 649 pose, some novel and imposing representation must be made, both to lull suspicion and give the air of piety to the plan, and disinterestedness to the agents by whom it was carried out. George and his two fellow-labourers were " square-rigged" — that is, well- dressed, Something, however, must be done to colour up the scene, and make the appeal for money touching, unsuspected, and successful. Just before the time to which I allude, a missionary fiom Sierra Leone had visited the larger towns of the district in question, while the inhabitants of the surrounding hamlets had been left in ignorance of the " progress of missions in Africa and the East." George and his comrades thought it would be no great harm at once to enlighten and fleece this scattered and anxious population. The plan was laid in a town of some size and facility. They " raised the wind " to an extent adequate to some alteration of their appearances, and got bills printed to set forth the merits of the cause. The principal actor was Jew Jem, a con- verted Israelite, with " reverend " before his name, and half the letters of the alphabet behind it. He had been in all the islands of the South Sea, on the coast of Africa, all over Hindostan, and half over the universe ; and after assuring the villagers of Torryburn that he had carried the Gospel to various dark and uninhabited parts of the earth, he introduced Eussian Bob (an Irishman who had, however, been in Eussia) as his worthy and self-denying colleague, and Chelsea George as the first-fruits of their ministry — as one who had left houses and land, wife and children, and taken a long and hazardous voyage to show Christians in England that their sable brethren, children of one common Parent, were beginning to cast their idols to the moles and to the bats. Earnest was the gaze and breathless the expectation with which the poor deluded colliers of Torryburn listened to this harangue ; and as argument always gains by illustration, the orator pulled out a tremendous black doll, bought for a " flag " (fourpence) of a retired rag-merchant, and dressed up in Oriental style. This, Jew Jem assured the audience, was an idol brought from Murat in Hindostan. He presented it to Chelsea George for his worship and embraces. The convert indignantly repelled the insinuation, pushed the idol from him, spat in its face, and cut as many capers as a dancing-bear. The trio at this stage of the performances began " puckering " (talking privately) to each other in murdered French, dashed with a little Irish ; after which the missionaries said that their convert (who had only a few words of English) would now pro- fess his faith. All was attention as Chelsea George came forward. He stroked his beard, put his hand in his breast to keep down his dickey (false shirt front), and turning his eyes upwards, said : " I believe in Desus Tist — dlory to 'is 'olyName!" This elicited some loud " amens " from an assemblage of nearly 1,000 persons, and catching the favourable opportunity, a " school of pals," appointed for the purpose, went round and made the collection. Out of the abundance of their credulity and piety the populace contributed sixteen pounds ! The mission- party and their " pals " took the train to Manchester, and as none of them were teetotallers, the proceeds of their imposition did not last long. Of the "Screevers," or Writers of Begging-letters and Petitions. It is not uncommon in extensive districts — say for instance, a section of a county taking in ten or a dozen townships — for a school of lurkers to keep a secretary and remit his work and his pay at the same time. In London this functionary is generally paid by commission, and sometimes partly in food, beer, and tobacco. The following is a fair estimate of the scale of charges : — Friendly letter Long ditto Petition . s. d. 0 6 0 9 1 0 650 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, s. d. Ditto, with ream monektirs (genuine signatures) . . 16 Ditto, with gammy monekurs (forged names) . . 2 6 Very " heavy " (dangerous) 3 0 Manuscript for a broken-down author . . . . 10 0 Part of a play for ditto .76 To this I may add the prices of other articles in the begging line : — s. d. Loan of one child, without grub 0 9 Two ditto . . 10 Ditto, with grub and Godfrey's Cordial . . . . 0 9 If out after twelve at night, for each child, extra . . 0 2 For a school of children, say half a dozen ... 2 6 Loan of any garment, per day 0 2 Going as a pal to vindicate any statement ... 10 Such is an outline, open to circumstantial variation, of the pay received for the sort of accommodation required. There is a very important species of " lurking " or " screeving " which has not yet been alluded to. It is well known that in the colliery districts an explosion of fire-damp fre- quently takes place, when many lives are lost, and the men who escape are often so wounded as to render amputation of a leg or arm the only probable means of saving them from the grave. Of course the accident, with every par- ticular as to date and locality, goes the round of the newspapers. Such an event is a sort of God-send to the begging-letter writer. If he is anything of a draughtsman so much the better. He then procures a sheet of vellum, and heads it with a picture of an explosion, and exhibiting men, boys, and horses up in the air, and a few nearer the ground, minus a head, a leg, or an arm ; with a back-ground of women tearing their hair, and a few little girls crying. Such a " fakement," professionally tilled up and put , into the hands of a pro- fessional lurker, will bring the " amanuensis," or " screever," two guineas at least, and the proceeds of such an expedition have in many cases averaged £60 per week. Of the Beggar Street-Sellers. In a few instances the street-sellers of small articles of utility are also the manufacturers Some few profess to be the makers of their commodities, solely with the view of enlisting sympathy, and thus either selling the trifles they carry at an enormous profit, or else of obtaining alms. An inmate of one of the low lodging-houses has supplied me with the following statement: — "Within my recollection," says my informant, "the great branch of trade among these worthies was the sale of sewing-cotton, either in skeins or on reels. In the former case, the article cost the 1 lurkers ' about 8d. per pound ; one pound would produce thirtj r skeins, which, sold at •one penny each, or two for three-halfpence, produced a heavy profit. The lurkers could mostly dispose of three pounds per day ; the article was of course damaged, rotten, and worthless." The mode of sale consisted in the " lurkers " calling at the several houses in a particular district, and representing themselves as Manchester cotton-spinners out of employ. Long tales, of course, were told of the distresses of the opera- tives, and of the oppression of their employers ; these tales had for the most part been taught them at the padding ken (lodging-house) by some old and experienced dodger of "the school ;" and if the spokesman could patter (talk) well, a much larger sum was frequently obtained in direct alms than was reaped by the sale. Cotton on reels was — except to the purchaser — a still better speculation ; AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 651 the reels were large, handsomely mounted, and displayed in bold relief such inscriptions as the following : — Pike's Patent Cotton. 120 Yards. The reader, however, must divide the "120 yards," here mentioned, by 12, and then he will arrive at something like the true secret as to the quantity ; for the surface only was covered by the thread. The cotton lurk is now "cooper'd" (worn out) ; a more common dodge — and, of course, only an excuse for begging — is to envelope a packet of "warranted " needles, or a few inches of " real Honiton lace " in an envelope, with a few lines to the " Lady of the House," or a printed bill, setting forth the misery of the manufacturers, and the intention of the parties leaving the "fakement" to presume to call for an answer in a few hours. Statement of a Beggar. " Fits " are now bad, and "paralytics" are no better. The lucifer lurk seems getting up though. I don't mean the selling, but the dropping them in the street as if by accident. It's a great thing with the children ; but no go with the old 'uns. I'll tell you of another lurk : a woman I know sends out her child with a quarter of an ounce of tea and half a quarter of sugar, and the child sits on a door-step crying, and saying, if questioned, that she was sent out for tea and sugar, and a boy snatched the change from her, and threw the tea and sugar in the gutter. The mother is there, like a stranger, and says to the child : — " And was that your poor mother's last shilling, and daren't you go home, poor thing 1 " Then there is a gathering— sometimes 18d. in a morning. A Blind Impostor. 1866. (From The Times, 1866.) There is a middle-aged woman who makes a handsome livelihood by simu- lating blindness, perambulating the thoroughfares with eyes shut and hands extended, solicitive of alms. Notwithstanding that the face of this woman was positively unctuous with comfortableness and good-feeding, many a copper I at times deposited in her fat hands. Indeed, I should no doubt have gone on contributing to this hour, had I not happened accidentally, when walking one day in a back street, to meet her with her eyes open, and evidently seeing per- fectly. The next time I found her begging I could not restrain my indignation. " You old humbug ! " I said ; " you know you are no more blind than I am ! " Her answer was perfect (with a sardonic grin) : " Well, sir, and ain't that a blessing to be very thankful for ! " I was speechless. The argument and the audacity were alike confounding. Confessions of an Old Almsgiver. 1871. From the " Confessions of an Old Almsgiver," by J. Hornsby Wright. The late Mr. Hornsby Wright was a gentleman of fortune, whose name was • a synonym for high-minded, sympathetic, and self-denying benevolence. " On one occasion, returning from my rounds, I found the basement of my establishment boiling over with beatific excitement. A quietly-dressed and modest-mannered female, pale of face and with a seeming cough, had been found sitting in the sweep. She begged not, but rather apologized for the liberty she had taken in staggering in and sinking down on the ground when seized with sudden faintness. They had placed her in a chair just within the side-door, 652 VAGRANTS AND VAGEANCY, and brought a whole fraternity of smelling-bottles into requisition. Invited to take a little brandy, she respectfully declined, asking for a little water instead. She accepted with thanks a small piece of bread, of which, however, she seemed too ill to eat much. To myself the apparent invalid stated that she had come from some place on the North* Kent line to see a married sister at Kilburn, who she had little doubted would have helped her in a sudden emergency ; but on reaching her sister's late home found they had gone away, the people in the house not knowing whither ; and that she had spent her last sixpence on an omnibus to these parts, being too ill to walk. I directed some bread to be given her, adding that the gardener (old enough to be her grandfather) should, she being so weak, accompany her to London Bridge, pay for a ticket for her, and see her safe into the train, so that she might promptly reach home and be able to bring her case before those who knew her personally. She entreated me to put myself to no such trouble on her account, but, I persisting, off she went with her aged escort. In a very short space he re- turned out of breath with astonishment, and exclaiming, " Well, sir, this is a rum start. We got into a Atlas 'bus, and when half way down the Wellington Koad she sings out to the conductor, 1 Here, you sir : you let me out ! This old fool's to pay for me.' And with that she bolted out and ran off to a couple of young chaps waiting at the corner of Circus Eoad." . . . An affecting case of the hunger and thirst after charity which unorganised almsgiving begets was brought to my notice many years ago, in fact on my first settling in my present neighbourhood, by a deceased City Missionary. His statement in substance was this : — " In a small court in his missionary district there once lived several hard- working and, on the whole, sober families. A room in it at length fell vacant, which was let to a dissolute couple who lived on the charitable, chiefly by means of begging-letters. They, of course, lived far better than the rest of the court, indeed, as the phrase goes, like ' fighting cocks.' Two maiden ladies, supposed sisters, visited them, and often relieved them. By degrees one after another of the remaining families got discontented with their condition, and thought they might as well try and get a slice of these ladies' bounty. The usual dodges were adopted, including pledging their things and cultivating rags and wretchedness. They succeeded but too well. In vain the City Missionary tried to waylay these ladies, in order to give them a private caution. If he attempted to address them, off they shot, as if they thought he had small-pox. Their movements, indeed, were wholly eccentric. They came and vanished like shadows, — no, they did not vanish like them, for shadows leave nothing behind them : they left moral desolation in their wake. No band of locusts could have done their work more effectually ; for the fruit of their labours was that not an undemoralized household remained in that luckless court. Idle- ness, drink, vice in various forms, with rejection of missionary visitation once welcomed, or at least accepted, at length took the place of the opposite habits previously cherished. Once more had that kind, self-denying, conscien- tious evil-doer, unorganized Charity, been sowing by mistake a curse for a blessing." The Three-Card Man. 1872. From " Eogues and Vagabonds of the Eacecourse," by Alfred H. Toulmin. Next, perhaps, to the roulette man, though considerably lower in the social scale of racecourse rogues and vagabonds, comes the three-card man. Not that he does less harm ; truly he may only gather to his pockets, ever yawning to receive his dupes' all, but a very small percentage of the gains accrued by his more fortunate and more aristocratic brother swindler, yet, for all that, the class on which, as a rule, he levies his black-mail can less afford to lose their AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 653 shillings and half-crowns than can the victims sacrificed on the altar of roulette their sovereigns or five-pound notes. It would be doing the three-card man a gross injustice not to allow that, as a scoundrel, he has not his match, more especially in the versatility of his genius ; and just as great minds are apt to grow weary when concentrated on one single object, so will he of the lowest order of card-sharper while away an hour or so before the races begin by playfully knocking children down, and abstracting the coppers that should have been spent in gingerbread, or invested in independent file-firing for nuts. Then, whilst more ordinary beings are engaged in such commonplace pursuits as the consumption of lobster salad and champagne, he will, in his errant fancy, help himself to coats and race-glasses : but it is during a well-contested race, or an exciting finish, that he is most dreaded amongst the carriages. He also finds an agreeable change in the purse-trick. Watch how indefati- gably he rushes frantically about with his stool, on which he stands irresistibly reminding one of a naughty boy at school, conjuring the bystanders to accept his " solemn word, the word of a gentleman, that there are two 'arf-crowns and a sixpence in the purse, and all for a shilling," concluding his eloquent harangue somewhat in this style : " If they ain't all in, give me in charge — take me before the magistrate — put me into prison — brand-me-as-an-impostor- for-obtaining-money-under-false-pretences-from-the- working-classes," — all this in a breath. PSEUDO-MlriSIONARIES. 1872. A Personal Experience. An individual, who, following the example of the Eeverend Giles Jowls, the illuminated cobbler, had dubbed himself Reverend, 1 and who had also ap- pointed himself to the dual office of President and Secretary of a pseudo- charity, called the " National Bible and Clothing Society," was summoned to the Marlborough Street Police Court in July, 1872, for collecting money under false pretences. He had received about <£1,000 in subscriptions, and was able to prove that he had expended about <£10 in Bibles and £2 in clothing — the charge therefore fell to the ground, as the embezzlement of charitable funds is unfortunately not an offence against the law. This man, who was a journey- man tailor, alleged that he took the title of " Reverend " " because he was a member of the Baptist community," though he confessed that it was not a common practice on the part of the members of that community. Having suddenly dropped the title he was asked why he did so, to which his reply was, " that he had come to the conclusion that no one was Reverend but the Lord." Two years afterwards this man was convicted on another charge. A Deaf and Dumb Impostor. 1874. A Personal Experience. In January, 1874, a man named Walter Scott was brought before the Mayor of Hertford charged with begging under the pretence of being deaf and dumb. He had circulated a written appeal, in which he set forth that he was a hair- dresser by trade, and had lost his hearing and the sight of one eye by lightning, and had not been able to speak since. Evidence was given to shew that he had obtained a good deal of money in the town, and it transpired in the course of the inquiry that on presenting his letter at one house, the occupier after looking at it, said to the prisoner, " What's this you say 1 " Upon which the prisoner put his hand to his head and exclaimed, " I'm dumb, ma'am." This, it need hardly be said, sufficed to convict him. 1 This species of impostor is a lineal descendant of the Frater described on pp. 593, 598. 654 VAGEANTS AND YAGEANCY, The American Tramp. 1878. From " The Tramp : his Tricks, Tallies, and Tell-Tales, by an Ex-tramp." (New York, 1878.) We soon found ourselves, under the guidance of Coal-tar George, in the middle of a large camp, surrounded "by trees. Here, on all sides, were rude shanties or tents made out of the limbs of trees, leaves, grass and rags, some little more than kennels, others large enough to enable a man to stand up- right ; and one, a tent twelve feet square, furnished with a table, a chair and a leather valise, I learned was the quarters of the Perfessor, or the Fillomcer, as he was sometimes called. "We better 'nitiate them right away," suggested Coal-tar George. The word was passed round, producing immediately a considerable nutter through- out the camp. Much to my relief, I found they had selected Chivvy as the first to go through the ordeal. Chivvy looked pert and sassy, and seemed to enjoy the prospect of a lark, as he called it, hugely. The whole gang having formed a ring around the enclosure, Coal-tar George led Chivvy into the centre, and placed before him three stools. On one stool he laid a motley collection of ugly looking knives, on another a handful of ropes with slip nooses at the end, and on the third a bundle of rough clubs. Now about a dozen of the gang, whose faces were striped with black, red and white paint, stepped forward, and Chivvy, under the direction of Coal-tar George, handed each of them a club. On receiving this, every one in turn uttered a short grunt, struck an attitude like the stage assassin, and commenced flourishing it over Chivvy's head. When the whole were supplied with sticks, they struck another attitude, with the clubs held aloft, and so remained as rigid as statues, while the little cockney, now beginning to look rather pale, repeated after Coal-tar George, sentence for sentence, the initiatory oath as follows : " I solemnly swear, by my bones, my blood and vitals, in the pre- sence of these brothers now around me assembled, that I will never betray the brotherhood ; that I will never tell anything that may occur in this or any other camp of the brotherhood ; that I will never betray a brother ; that I will never lie to a brother ; that I will never rob a brother, but that I will always aid, counsel and cheer a brother ; that I will share with him when he is in need ; I will comfort him when he is sick ; 1 will aid him when he is in trouble, and will fight for him when he is in danger. If I fail in this my solemn oath, I hope the blood may dry in my veins, end my bones rot in my flesh ; that I may tramp bare-footed through New Jersey till I am a hundred years old ; that every man's promise made to me may be broken ; that every- thing I love may learn to hate me ; that my food and drink may turn to muck in my mouth ; that all children may curse me, and that I may die alone. I also swear that if any brother turns traitor, I will aid, to the utmost of my ability, in bringing him to punishment, and carry out, without shirking, all orders of the duly elected officers of the brotherhood, to that end, whether by fire or water, club, knife or halter." Here the twelve painted Tramps gave a grunt, a long groan changing into a roar, flung their clubs in a heap on the ground, and resumed their places in the circle. After a few moments' pause, the twelve men, who were called " Execu- tioners," again stepped . forward, and Chivvy was instructed to hand them each a knife, when the same ceremony was performed as with the clubs, varied only by placing the knives across the novitiate's throat, instead of over his head. Then the halters were placed around his neck, and the ceremony repeated for a third time. After this, Coal-tar George placed a black bag over the novitiate's head, and tied it round his neck, while the twelve executioners AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 655 marched round him, each muttering in his right ear as he passed, first the words, " Remember the club ! " then, on the second round, " Remember the knife ! " and on the third round, " Remember the rope ! " The bag was now removed, and Chivvy escorted in solemn procession to the tent of the " Perfessor," where he was instructed in the different grips, signs and passwords of the brotherhood. Here I must hold up a moment to describe this singular character. The " Perfessor " was a man of no little importance in the gang. He was about five feet ten in height, had a large, well-developed Kead, wore his gray hair and beard long, and a patch over his right eye. His rusty black coat hung down below his knees, his pantaloons were tucked into his boots, and he carried a hooked stick under his arm. If you add to this picture a long-limbed, vicious- looking dog, which always slouched at his heels, you will have a good general idea of the " Perfessor." The grip consisted in pressing the nail of the thumb in the back of the other person's hand, and was answered by the other person taking your middle and fore-fingers in his hand and squeezing them firmly. The sign consisted in scratching the chin with the right hand, and then holding the lobe of the right ear between the finger and thumb of the same hand ; the recognition of this sign was performed by placing the clenched fist of either hand, right or left, over the heart. The signal of danger, such as the presence or approach of some suspicious person, was made by pressing the back of the head with either hand, and putting the lips to the back of the same hand. The general pass- word was as follows : Question : " What might you be 1 " Answer : " A Rover." Question : " What kind of a Rover ? " Answer : " A Ragged Rover." Question : " Any color ? " Answer : " Red." Our gang was called The Ragged Red Rovers, or The Rovers for short. There are numerous other gangs all over the countrv, such as The Alligators, The Bang Woos, Billy Dubb's Guard, The Good Time Comings, The Help Yourselves, and numerous others. Each gang has a certain set of signs, or hieroglyphics, which they mark up, with chalk, on houses, fences, trees, &c, as a guide to others of their gang who may come the same road. Our signs, of which the " Perfessor" handed us each a copy, were as represented in the annexed engravings. The "Perfessor" explained to us the different punishments inflicted by the brotherhood, ranging from death, in aggravated cases of treachery, down to a severe reprimand. Some of the tortures were very curious, and not unfrequently invented for the occasion by the executioners, or the Tycoon or Tyke. One con- sisted in sewing the culprit up in a sack, with or without thorns ; another, in stripping him naked, and chasing him through the woods with rods ; another was to hook the victim by the nose, after binding him hand and foot, and to make him stand on tip-toe tor a certain length of time. Again, another was to bind a man's hands and feet together, seat him on thorns, and set all the women to work to tell him unpleasant things about his personal appearance, his previous lite, his future fate, his moral and intellectual faculties, his friends and rela- tives, &c, &c. Still another was to dress a man in woman's attire, and put him in Coventry. Two of their punishments we had an opportunity of witnessing on the very day of our initiation, they being expedited, I fancy, for our especial benefit and admonition. As soon as my initiation was over, which occurred immediately after poor little Chivvy was put through his particular course of sprouts, the " Perfessor " took us kindly by the hands, and said : " And so, gentlemen, you have joined 656 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, our ragamuffin band ? "Well, you will find us a pretty amiable lot of vaga- bonds, with a good deal more kindness and charity among us (so long as you are true to the order) than exists in most church congregations ; not, perhaps, quite so much of the suaviter in modo, but a good deal more of the fartiter in re. I can hardly say that we are an industrial organization, though many of lis would work if we could get work to do. I am not one of the number, however. I am constitutionally tired. Nothing pleases me more than to see industry in others. I can sit and contemplate such a spectacle for days together ; but as for myself — well, my tastes are different. Do you gentlemen like to work ? " We told him we had no objection to it, provided we could thereby make a living. "Ah ! well then," he continued, "we shall have to classify you under the head of Bees. We have two orders among us, you must know — Butterflies and Bees : the Bees work when they can ; the idle vagabonds call themselves Butter- flies — a little bit of a misnomer, by the way, for the butterfly is a harmless, beautiful object, flitting about from flower to flower, delighting the eyes of all beholders — whilst our poor fellows, I fear, do not attract any very general admiration by their loveliness, and play the devil's own mischief too, some- times, with the farmers' chicken-roosts and potato patches ; however, they encourage the raising of a very fine breed of watch dogs, and, so far, do some good in the world. But excuse me, I think I have not explained to you our form of government, which I will now proceed to do. It is very simple, and will detain you only a few minutes. The brotherhood is governed by an autocrat called the Tyke, or Tycoon, who is at present, as he has been for the last year and a half, Coal-tar George. He is the executive, and his word is absolute, subject only to the veto of the non-executive Judge, which latter position I now fill myself. Both these officers are elected by popular vote, and can be deposed at any moment by a majority vote. The brotherhood may call for an election, or the twelve executioners may at any time order one to be held ; but we have very little trouble or grumbling, and not much punish- ment, although this evening we have one case — a rather aggravated one, I am sorry to say. A brother refused aid to the famished wife and child of a member of the order, and was afterwards detected in a saloon spending money for beer. I have talked to him, and I do not think, at the time, he folly realised the necessity of the case, and he is now quite penitent ; still, his punishment will be severe. I found the " Perfessor " to be the organizer, the systematizer, the recorder — in fact, the brains of the brotherhood. In his valise he had a nice collection of books, some legal, and others books of reference ; he had also maps, mathe- matical instruments, and writing materials. He had a large map of one whole neighbourhood, enlarged from a county map, whereon was marked every house for miles round, with numerous comments, derived chiefly from information given him by members of the order, who all reported to him on their return to camp. The comments would run something like the follow- ing, each house being distinguished by a combination of numbers or letters, thus : — X2. — Family lost a son in the war. Females feel kindly towards old soldiers, particularly those who marched with Sherman to the sea ; all the better if wounded, as old man likes to set them to work. VV. — Old woman has a son out West ; good thing to say you are making your way to Indiana. P6. — Ugly bull-dog. Family pious. Ask for reading matter ; say your father was a minister. Don't ask, and you may get something. BB. — Old man has been swindled out of a lot of money by relatives. Tell some kind of story. Good stock of poultry. Chicken-house in rear easily got at. Dog fat and lazy. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 657 DD8. — Shiftless ; leave things round loose. Can't work on their feelings. 189. — Always can get a job of work here, and a square meal. No good for Butterflies. SS. — Old man and wife; old man goes to the tavern about seven ; blazing drunk by ten ; old woman deaf. YL. — Man and wife quarrel. Abuse husband to wife; abuse wife to husband. TTT.— Don't like long faces ; be jolly. YO. — Down on men who are cheerful. T31. — Safe with children ; baby if possible, 222. — Old chap subject to biles ; bile him. The " Perfessor " would mark out routes on this map for different Tramps, and often give them rough copies of the line they were to follow. He had several maps, extending over a large section of the country, and containing thousands of homes. His memory was wonderful, and his knowledge of the peculiarities of hundreds of families something marvellous. He was in correspondence with a grand central lodge somewhere out West ; but the name of the place I could never ascertain, for that secret was guarded with jealous care. I learned, however, that the Tramp organization was something immense, and that their organization is political and revolutionary. They have nothing in common with the Socialists, whose chief object is to organize and stimulate labor, and who are bitterly opposed to all loafers, tramping or stationary ; but the tramp's object is, when any trouble takes place, to aid the revo- lutionary party, strikers or what not, and reap a large harvest of plunder. I must here draw attention to one fact which very few people seem to understand — or won't understand — and that is, that every poor fellow who is ragged and hungry, and looking for work, is by no means necessarily a Tramp in the invidious sense of the word. Thousands of them are good honest fellows, who would rejoice at obtaining employment. I suppose, of course, the most of well-to-do people know this ; but they prefer to lump them all together, and by howling at them bad names — Tramp, loafer, thief, &c. — salve their own conscience for not striving to better their con- dition, as they ought to do, and as they will bitterly rue not doing at no very distant day. For the Tramps are a fearful power in this country at present, under a most perfect system of organization, and ready at any moment, when the opportunity occurs, to hurl their power at the throat of organized authority. If the supine and prosperous citizen could only hear, as I have done, from thousands of lips, the glorious pictures of riot and anarchy, painted in the rudest of rude word- colours, they would not sleep quite so calmly in their beds as they now do. But to proceed with the " Perfessor's " functions. One of his offices was to devise numerous disguises and make-ups, like a property man or costumer in a theatre. In these duties he was assisted by a subordinate called "the Artist." This artist had paints, and patches, and odds and ends of various kinds, with which he could get you up a very fair imitation of a man recover- ing from the small-pox or yellow fever. Men got up in this style would be sent to families known to be nervous on the subject of infectious disease, who would pay liberally to induce so dangerous a visitor to leave their threshold. With the aid of a huckle-berry, or a currant, and a little collodion, he could counterfeit the most venomous looking boil, with which he would ornament Tramps wishing to excite commiseration and avoid work. With the same materials he could imitate scars and wounds for sham soldiers. He had a wardrobe of a few old soldier and sailor clothes, and rags of the most pictur- esque description. Also some fine suits, with the full black rig of a minister ; these were used on special occasions for special purposes, and were the property of the brotherhood. He had, too, various implements useful in picking and stealing. One, a belt with hooks, for poultry, to be worn round the waist, and under the dress of a female tramp. u u 658 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, Another little instrument made out of a cork, or piece of wood, in one side of -which was fastened a barbed nail, in the other a feather and a long string. A Tramp, concealed on one side of a fence, would dart this at a heap of potatoes on the other side, harpoon a potato, and drag it within reach with the string. This, of course, could be used on apples, turnips, and various other small game. The Eagsooker was an instrument attached to the end of a long pole for removing clothes-pins from the lines, and afterwards dragging the released clothes over the fence; this will be better understood by a glance at the annexed diagram. He had a kind of armour made of strips of wood, covered with padding, to protect the arms and legs against dogs ; these were generally charged with cayenne pepper and snuff to choke the animals. When attacked in front by a fierce dog, the Tramp would present his left arm, covered with this armour, which the creature would seize in his teeth, whereupon the Tramp would at once pound him over the head with a short club, or piece of iron. This practice was found very effective on night excursions for chickens or harness, when the foragers were apt to be disturbed by the watch-dog. Whenever they could, however, they tried to make away with the dog beforehand, by means of medicated meat balls, of which the " Per- fessor " had several kinds. The difficulty in this case was that the poison often did not act quickly enough, and it would not answer to poison a dog before the owner went to bed, as the discovery that such a thing had been done would naturally excite suspicion, They had an instrument for muzzling pigs, to prevent their squealing, and various others, which my space will not permit me to describe. Each Tramp had a peculiar character to perform ; he was cast, like an actor, for a particular part best suited to his appearance and ability. There was : — The meek Tramp, with children, The bully Tramp, The ragged Tramp, The respectable Tramp, The Tramp who asks for work, The unwholesome Tramp, The lubberly Tramp, The abject Tramp, The jolly Tramp, Mrs. Tramp, And many others, I do not mean to say that these men all played parts as actors do — not at all. The ' 1 Pert essor " seeing the natural character of each man in the brother- hood, only coached him artistically how to make the most of his natural disadvantages. Here, for example, was Sam Discoll, the jolly Tramp. The " Perfessor " put him through a'regular course of training; taught him many pert sayings, jokes and complimentary speeches for farmers' wives and daughters, such, " Ah, mum, I had a wife once, and a good wife, too, and nearly as handsome as you, though you'd hardly think it of a poor Tramp like me ; " or, " Ah, well ! a smile from you'd be as good as a square meal for a man any day ; " or, "I caught a bad cold last night, ma'am, sleeping in a t eld with the gate open and the grass not aired," and such like stuff. Sam had been a deck-hand on a North Eiver barge, and once thought he might become President of the United States ; he now hopes he may have a clam- cart of his own some day. There was Bill Gouch ; the " Perfessor " saw he had the natural talent for a bully, and gently trained his mind to distinguish the right objects for bullying; but still he would make mistakes now and then, and come home with a black eye in consequence. AND BEGGAES AND BEGGING. 659 Sharkey, the lubberly Tramp, was taught to whine ; but he was a difficult subject to make much of, having no special gift for anything, honest or dis- honest, except robbing small children, which the "Perfessor" would never tolerate. George Shime, the unwholesome Tramp, was very effective in the small- pox and yellow fever line of business, and the ' ' Perfessor " instructed him how to counterfeit all the systems of various disorders, including a hacking cough and Saint Vitus's dance. He had once been assistant to an onion and potato butcher, and had no idea where he was drifting, either here or hereafter. Abner Howe, the abject Tramp, was taught a tale of suffering and mis- fortune, dates and places all complete, that would have melted the heart of a fashionable lady. Then there was Sarah Book, Mrs. Tramp, the deserted wife, whose hus- band had run away and left her with four children, three of whom had died in her arms, while the fourth had done worse, and married a journeyman hatter with tight pantaloons and an incurable taste for drink, a thing Mrs. Tramp could not overlook in any man — though she didn't mind taking three times as much of her share of whisky in camp when she could get it. . . . The " Perfessor" often told me that there were half a million of tramps all over the country belonging to their organization, who could be concentrated at various points in less than a week. 1886. What a Beggar Boy Buys. From the Echo, February 15, 1886. A bright-faced child, giving the name of William Archer, ten years of age, and living at Notting Hill, was charged at Marylebone Police-court on Saturday with begging of foot-passengers at Porchester Eoad, Bayswater. A constable proved the charge, and informed the Magistrate that the boy had told him that if he did not take home three or four shillings each day he got a good whacking from his parents. The boy, whose head just reached the height of the solicitor's table, made a statement to the officer to the effect that he rarely received less than four shillings as the result of a day's beg- ging, and that he sometimes got as much as ten shillings on a Sunday, his most liberal patrons being foreigners. When asked what he did with the money he said that when he got about four shillings he always " went in" for sausages, vegetables, bread and butter, cake, coffee, and finished up by smoking tobacco. The rest of the money he took home. Street Begging. From the Standard, March 20, 1886. For the last four or five years, between eleven and half-past eleven p.m., a woman — pale and, apparently, destitute — has taken her seat on the south steps of St. Martin's Church, and occasionally on a door-step in Pall Mall East. She does not solicit alms, but she nurses a baby about six to twelve months of age, in all weathers. The baby also, apparently, never gets any older. It is not a dummy, but a real baby. Between the same spot and the south-east corner of the churchyard another . woman perambulates at the same hour, pestering everyone to give her some- thing, and as an inducement she thrusts a bunch of dirty artificial flowers under one's nose. This woman is hale and hearty. The flowers are never renewed. I suppose they stand the east wind better than the baby. TJ u 2 GOO VAGRANTS AND YAGBAXCY, I have spoken to various constables, without result, and I have given the matter up. When these two women come on duty and when they go off I have no knowledge. I speak of the hour only when I see them. M. Eich Beggabs. There are multitudes of instances of beggars who. amid squalor, rags and dirt utterly miserable, contrive to amass considerable sums of money. For obvious reasons, they generally conceal their wealth during life, and it is only when the breath is out of their body that the golden hypocrisy is discovered. Usually, the hoarded coins are found sewn up in rags or straw- beds, or otherwise hidden in holes and corners ; it is only in a few instances that the beggar ventures to invest his money in a bank. Among the many recorded examples of rich beggars, have been Daniel Eagle, who begged for thirty years in London, and lived in a room which was never entered by any one but himself, and never cleaned during the whole period ; after his death, coins to the value of £25 were found there. — Margaret Coles, who died in wretched filth in St. Giles's at the age of 101, and in whose hovel was found £30 in gold and silver, and £10 in copper. — Margaret Everett, an equally squalid beggar, who left £150 behind her. — Esther Davies, who died in London at the advanced age of 103, and who for thirty years had the double chances of a street-beggar and a parish pauper ; she left £160 — Mary Wilkinson, beggar and bone-grubber, whose rags of clothing concealed £300 in money. — Alice Bond, who had risen to the dignity of £300 in the funds, besides £50 in guineas, half-guineas, and seven -shilling pieces, and £23 in silver. — Frances Beet, whose bed and rickety fui'niture yielded a booty of no less than £S00. And " Poor Joe all alone," a famous character about a century ago, who wore a long beard, and had not lain in a bed for fifty years ; he left £3,000, and with it a will, by which he bequeathed all the money to certain widows and orphans. Foreign countries are not without instances of like kind. Witness the case of Dandon, of Berlin, who died in 1812 ; he was competent to teach as a professor of languages during the day. and went out begging at night. After his death, 20,000 crowns were found secreted under the floor of his room. He had refused to see a brother for thirty-seven years, because he once sent him a letter without prepaying the postage. This Dandon, however, was an exampler rather of the miser than of the beggar, popularly so considered. Some beggars have been remarkable quite as much for their eccentricity, as for the amount of money they left behind them. Such was the case with William Stevenson, who died at Kilmarnock on the 17th of July. 1817. Although bred a mason, the greater part of his life was spent as a beggar. About the year 17S7, he and his wife separated, making this strange agree- ment — that whichever of them was the first to propose a reunion, should forfeit £100 to the other. According to the statements in the Scotch newspapers, there is no evidence that they ever saw each other again. In 1815, when about 85 years old, Stevenson was seized with an incurable disease, and was confined to bis bed. A few days before bis death, feeling his end to be near, he sent for a baker, and ordered twelve dozen burial- cakes, a large quantity of sugared biscuit, and a good supply of wine and spirits. He next sent for a joiner, and instructed him to make a good sound, dry, roomy, '•comfortable'*' coffin. Next he su m moned a grave-digger, whom he re- quested to select a favourable spot in the church-yard of Piiccarton, and there dig a roomy and comfortable grave. This done, he ordered an old woman who attended him, to go to a certain nook, and bring him out £9 to pay all these preliminary expenses : assuring her that she was remembered in his will. Shortly after ihis he died. A neighbour came in to search for AND BEGGARS AND BEGGING. 661 his wealth, which had been shrouded in much mystery. In one bag was found large silver pieces, such as dollars and half-dollars, crowns and halt- crowns ; in a musty heap of rags, was found a collection of guineas and seven - shilling pieces, and in a box were found bonds of various amounts, including one for £300 — giving altogether a sum of about £900. A will was also found, bequeathing £20 to the old woman, and most of the remainder to distant relations, setting aside sufficient to give a feast, to all the beggars who chose to come and see his body " lie in state." The influx was immense ; and after the funeral, all retired to a barn which had been fitted up for the occasion ; and there they indulged in revelries but little in accordance with the solemn season of death. — The Booh of Days, edited by E. Chambers. A Beggar in Moorfields used daily to have a penny given him by a merchant on his way to the Exchange. The penny was withheld, and the appearance of the merchant manifested his embarrassment and distress. The beggar at length spoke to him, offered him a loan of-£500, and another of the same sum if it were required. It re-established his affairs. — Panorama, vol. x. Obituary, 1784. April 23. Was found dead, in his house at Frome, William Thatcher, an old man, who for many years past had subsisted on the charitable benefactions of his neighbours. His success in the begging trade was considerable, as may be perceived by the following inventory of property found in his house at his death : 221. in silver, 2 guineas in gold, 51. in copper, 12 old hats, 14 pair of shoes, 14 pair of stockings, 35 cakes, 2 bushels of morsels of bread, cheese, flesh, &c, &c. — The above has not been long accumulating ; for but two years since his house was robbed of the valuables it then contained, which were much more considerable than the above. — The Gentleman's Magazine. Obituary, 1811, March. Aged 90, Edmund Mashiter, alias Old Honey, of Bolton, near Lancaster. He had been a beggar 70 years ; and was justly entitled to the appellation of King of the Beggars. His father was a school- master at Halstead, in Yorkshire, who gave him a good education ; but, after his father's death, he preferred the wandering life of a mendicant, and pertinaciously persisted in it ; nor could threats or entreaties make him desist, till within the last four years, during which time he had been bed- ridden. — The Gentleman's Magazine. Blandfokd. Mendicancii not ahuays Poverty. — On Tuesday a coroner's inquest was held at the King's Arms Inn, in this town, on the body of an old man named John Collins, a mendicant, who died suddenly at a lodging- house in Back Lane on Thursday afternoon. It appears from the evidence, that the deceased came to the house on Tuesday night, having obtained an order from the Relieving Officer for a bed. He was rather unwell at the time, but seemed better the next day, and slept there again on Wednesday night. He refused to have a medical man, and died very quietly while sitting before the fire. The jury returned a verdict of "Died by the Visitation of God." He is supposed to be between 60 and 70 years of age. This case excited some attention from the fact that, on the deceased's clothes being searched, a Blandford Savings' Bank book was found on him, by which it appears that he had no less a sum than £365 invested in the savings bank. On the 29th of January he drew out £10, but only a few shillings were found on him. It has since been ascertained that he was a native of East Orchard, near this town. His sister has identified him. — Sherborne, Dorchester, and Taunton Journal, March 30, 1848. 662 VAGEANTS AND VAGRANCY, An Opulent Vagrant. At the Town Hall, Nottingham, yesterday, James Carrigan was charged with begging the previous night. Prisoner denied that he was begging, and said that he was simply trying to find a person "of the name of Smith." Police-constable Stafford said that the prisoner had three-halfpence in his possession and a Post Office Savings Bank book, showing that the prisoner had £20 10s. in the bank. In reply to the Bench, prisoner said he lodged at 94, Parliament Street, Nottingham, and his money was in the Post Office Savings Bank. He was remanded. — Echo, March 13, 1886. A Wealthy Crossing- sweeper. John Sullivan, 56. and Kate Sullivan, 50, both Irish, were accused of being concerned together in stealing £32 in gold and 20s. in silver, the money of Mary Blake, a crossing- sweeper, lodging at 19, Paul Street, Lissoa Grove. The prosecutrix, a very old woman and very feeble, when asked how old she was said she knew she was over sixty. She swept a crossing by Hyde Park, and near the house of Lord Coleridge. She met with an accident on New Year's Eve and broke her arm, and she was taken to St. Mary's Hospital. When she left home she left thirty yellow sovereigns — (laughter) — in a purse in a drawer, which she locked. She also locked her room-door. At the hospital she gave her clothes, with the keys, to a Mrs. Mahoney, with directions that she was to keep the key of the drawers and to give the room-door key to Mrs. Sullivan, who was her landlady. The pro- secutrix, who was most difficult to understand, owing to her broad Irish dialect, and her running on from one point to another, continuing, said she met Mr. Sullivan on reaching home, and he gave her the keys. She at once looked into the drawer and found every farthing gone. She called his attention to the loss of the money, and he said, " Oh dear, oh dear! I don't know anything about it. I knew she " (his wife) " was not up to anything good, because she has been out drinking. Don't make a hurrah * about it. I am sorry for you, but I can't help it." Mrs. Sullivan had left home, and when she returned on the following Friday she (prosecutrix) said nothing to her, as the matter had then been communicated to the police. After that the male prisoner came to her and gave her £2, and told her she must be quiet about the matter. He was an honest man. — Mr. Frith : What's that ? Do you say Sullivan is honest ? — Prosecutrix : Yes, he is a honest hard-working man — (laughter) — and wouldn't do any one harm. It's not his fault, he said so. (Renewed laughter.) Besides that, he's a teetotaller. He promised to find out who robbed me. Mary Mahoney spoke to receiving the keys from the prosecutrix and handing them to the male prisoner. Detective-sergeant Recard, D Division, said he arrested the defendants on Saturday night. The man said he could not have taken the money as he did not have the keys, but the prosecutrix said she received them from him on returning from the hospital. Witness asked Sullivan if he had any money, and he replied that he had 9s., being the balance of 19s. which he had received as wages. That was all he had. When witness, however, searched the prisoners' room he found concealed in a purse between two beds £6 in gold and 8s. 6d. in silver. In cross-examination, the witness said the man had been in respectable employment for some years, and was an abstainer. Mr. de Eutzen then remanded the defendants. — Daily Telegraph, January, 25, 1887. "Frozen-out" Beggars. A protracted frost necessarily deranges the lower class of employments in such a city as London, and throws many poor persons into destitution. Just * Erse, ura, urach, contention. AND BEGGAKS AND BEGGING. 663 as sure as this is the fact, so sure is it that a vast horde of the class who systematically avoid regular work, preferring to live by their wits, simulate the characteristic appearances of distressed labourers, and try to excite the charity of the better class of citizens. Investing themselves in aprons, clutching an old spade, and hoisting, as their signal of distress, a turnip on the top of a pole or rake, they will wend their way through the West-end streets, proclaiming themselves in sepulchral: tones as Frozen-out Gardeners, or simply calling, " Hall frozen out ! " or chanting " We've got no work to do ! " The faces of the corps are duly dolorous ; but one can nevertheless observe a sharp eye kept on the doors and windows they are passing, in order that if possible they may arrest some female gaze on which to practice their spell of pity. It is alleged on good grounds that the generality of these victims of the frost are impostors, and that their daily gatherings will often amount to double a skilled workman's wages. Nor do they usually discon- tinue the trade till long after the return of milder airs has liquidated even real claims upon the public sympathy. — The Book of Days, edited by fi. Chambers. Beggars' Barns. From the Times, February 23, 1874. "Sir, — Sixty years ago there was in this small parish (and in most others) a "Beggars' Barn," wherejtravellers were"entitled to a night's lodging and a meal gratis. The farmer who happened to live nearest the church was bound to furnish this measure of hospitality to all wayfarers claiming it. When I inquired of the old people still living, who remember the Beggars' Barn here, what a traveller would have done if the farmer had refused him lodging, &c, I was informed that he had a right to sleep in the church porch, and that if he did so the farmer would be both censured and fined by his fellow -parishioners in Vestry. A country magistrate, on hearing this statement from an old inhabitant of this village, said he recollected hearing, when he was a bey, his aunt speaking of a woman in their parish, who threatened to bring her bed and place it in the church porch to shame the people, unless certain relief was given her. This, as he said, was an evidence of the prevalence of the idea of a right to lodge in the church porch, and of other curious points in the old system of relieving the poor. I have a lithograph, or rather an engraving, published by R Ackermann, 101, Strand, in 1815, of the Beggars' Barn of this parish. I remain, your obedient servant, G. H. BlLLINGTON. Chalbury Eectory, Wimborne, Feb. 20. A Christmas Haymaker. A repartee, which never loses its reward of applause, is recorded as having been made to old Master Barnard, a shoemaker. A sturdy vagrant was begging at his door one Christmas time, and Master Barnard, thinking that the man was able-bodied enough to work, said, rather indignantly, ' ' No, I've got nothing to give you ; a strong, able-bodied man like you ought to get a trade and work at it, as I'm forced to do." " I do work at my trade when I can get work," said the man, "but there's nothing much doing in my trade just now." "Your trade!" said old Barnard. " I wonder what sort of a trade yours is." " I'm a haymaker by trade," said the man, " and my trade's very slack this Christmas time." 664 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY, The Gypsies. From " Romano Lavo-lil : word-book of the Romany," by George Borrow, 1874. Something like the following little anecdote is related by the Gypsies in every part of Continental Europe : — Beg On, Brother. A Gypsy brat was once pestering a gentleman to give him a halfpenny. The mother, who was sitting nigh, cried in English, " Leave off, you dog, and cume here ! Don't trouble the gentleman with your noise ! " and then added in Romany, " Mang, Praia, mang / " 1 And so the brat did till the gentleman flung him a sixpence. Begging Letter Impostures. From the Times of November 10, 1874. Sir, — In consequence of the large extent to which frauds by begging- letter impostors are now carried on, I have prepared a statement regarding them, as over three thousand names of persons residing in London and its suburbs have been found marked in the directories — thirty-four in number — which were used by one of the chieis of a London gang of begging- letter impostors, and have recently come into my possession. The following are the marks, with their meanings : — — means " doubtful," or not called on before, x ,, " good," or likely to give. * ,, " very good," or very likely to give. O ,, "has given something recently." 6 , , " has given something recently and will give again if called on." The gang consists of over fifty persons, who are believed on an average to make at least £o a week each by their proceedings. Personal descriptions of fifty-two of them are kept at my office for purposes of identification. The letters and petitions sent or presented in each case are skilful fabrica- tions and forgeries ; sometimes they are sent by post, but more frequently they are presented in person. The petitions often profess to be signed by the vestry clerk of the parish, and have attached to them excellent imitations of the signatures of a number of influential people who are stated to have contributed to the case. Sometimes the case is that of a laundress whose horse has taken fright and dashed her van to pieces, injuring her only son and causing her great loss. At other times the case is represented as that of a widow in distress, whose husband has died under afflicting circumstances and left her unprovided for — the circumstances varying with the supposed social position of the husband. Or a widow is represented as being in danger of ruin in consequence of her shop having been robbed by burglars, or of her having an execution in her house, or of her cows having died from pleuro -pneumonia. In other instances sad cases of losses at sea are put forward, apparently vouched by the consul at some foreign port, by the captain of the ship, or by the city authorities, written on paper prepared for the purpose, headed with the Royal or city arms and the place or office from which they profess to issue. Beg on, bi other ! i Mr, or whom else it may concern. Mr By Virtue of an Authority to me, given by your Landlo^^C Mr ^'^jf f£^M: ^ TAKE NOTICE, that I have- this day distrained the Goods, Chattels, and Things, mentioned in the Inventory hereunder written, for the sum of ^fl/Pid*/ ^li^L Pound s, *2-0t>c/<<">-L Shillings, and Pence, being for cQz*-h . ~"* Arrears of Rent due to the said above-mentioned Mr -i^^t^e. r^-s^T^e^*^ 011 *2_jf "~~ day of fct-Ac*-^ l %7 2. >/ or M ie use an( ^ occupation of \(t>-U.^ 6<^t-> 9ie^ pxcj^ ' . situate and being No. J. u> tJ? V ^ the Parish of /?» W L*l. y in the County of ^W^^^c And unless you pay the said Rait, toge ther with the said Expenses attending this Distress, or Replevy the said Goods, within five days from the date hereof, they will be Appraised and Sold to satisfy the Rent and Expenses, pursuant to the statute in that ease made and provided. Dated this / Z. '. " day of ^t^U^ l&f4* ) 'ours, o t,f fl&£i>-e<: The Inventory to which the ahove Notice refers, viz.— S ■ And any other Goods and Effects that may be found in or about the said premises, to pay the said Rent and Expenses of this Distress. Removing any Goods oft" the Premises to avoid a Distress, or any person Aiding. Assisting, or Concealing the s.uik. will subject themselves to double the value of such Effects so removed or concealed, or suffer imprisonment in the Honsfl of Correction, there to be kept to hard labour, without Bail or Mainprise, for six months, pursuant in Act I rth, I -co. II Sold by AV. Davis, Stationer, Printer, and Bookbinder, 4o, Rochester Row, S.W. V f ?Jauji\ c JyttijincJiti uic i ^rOcf o Uilctv fa : f (Xivci bco In- Lectin mcttd-.AtA ' Gade oriiuv <>i G&i'St * fiheAA-ttevt cit0 5241,229 894 1840 4 498 9 Q9'3 i ^n^ i ,ouo 1 4601,666 1 04P» 1 y\J L kO 1841 4 841 *3 990 1 R91 1 ,OZl 1 9 Zt 6891,606 VOVJ 1842 O jOZlK) 1 ^71 1,0/ 1 9 4RQ 6181,686 1843 4 40^ QQ9 i 1 1 9 079 Zi,\J t Zi 4191,338 *»79 O 1 Zi 1844 4 841 o,DDo 1 , 1 1 O 5081,604 OOo 1845 0,00 1 9 8ft8 1 71 *7 1, < 1 / 5221,151 p>47 1846 3,758 2,647 1,111 — — 1,588 4801,059 631 1847 4,450 3,058 1,392 1,928 6791,130 713 1848 5,598 3,768 1,830 2,330 1,0251,438 805 1849 6,515 4,450 2,065 2,810 1,2171,640 848 1850 3,810 2,790 1,020 1,798 608 992 412 1851 4,316 2,876 1,440 1,708 821 1,168 619 1852 3,708 2,418 1,290 1,441 727 977 563 1853 3,214 1,921 1,293 1,141 722 780 571 T OK. A 1854 3,511 2,175 1,336 1,302 763 873 573 1855 2,866 1,586 1,280 1 1 899 729 686 550 1856 3,259 1,856 1,403 1,127 829 729 574 1857 4,162 2,512 1,650 1 1 1,511 9741,000 675 1858 3,420 1,951 1,469 2 1,094 914 857 553 1859 2,576 1,491 1,085 2 859 638 630 447 1860 2,753 1,449 1,304 1 781 689 667 615 1861 2,760 1,700 1,060 3 1 1,046 612 651 447 1862 3,331 2,135 1,196 3 4 1,306 749 826 443 1§63 3,081 1,915 1,166 1 1 1,335 800 579 365 1864 3,440 2,051 1,389 1 2 1,437 1,029 613 358 1865 4,971 3,387 1,584 1 1 2,234 986 1,152 597 1866 4,315 3,042 1,273 6 1 1,860 690 1,176 582 1867 5,766 4,312 1,454 7 2,498 792 1,807 662 1868 5,434 4,107 1,327 11 1 2,585 755 1,511 571 X X 674 VAGRANTS AND VAGRANCY. RETURN showing the Number of Vagrants Apprehended, Convicted, and Discharged during the Years 1831 to 1885 inclusive (continued). Apprehended. Tried and Convicted. Tried and Acquitted . Summarily Convicted. Discharged. Year. Total of Males and Females. Males. Females. Males. Females. Males. Females. Males © © Males. Females. Remarks. 1869 7,0545,443 1,611 13 2 — ' — 3,698 888 1,732 721 1870 6,340 5,0151,325 18 7 3,596 801 1,401 517 18715,9114,570 1,341 18 5 2 1 3,150 854 1,400 481 1872 5,163 3,857 1,306 26 8 2 1 2,598 811 1,231 486 18734,555 3,5351,020 37 7 2 2,439 634 1,059 377 1874 3,858 2,999 859 30 8 2,133 549 836 302 1875i3,549|2,728 821 i? 7 1 1 1,914 481 796 332 1876 3,8302,926 904 5 2,009 543 900 356 1877 4,1013,273 828 16 5 2,369 512 888 311 1878 3,960 3,095 865 16 6 1,972 508 1,107 351 1879 4,188 3,340 848 27 6 2,167 475 1,146 367 1880 4,213 3,421 792 31 11 1 2,111 425 1,278 356 188114,018 3,238 780 51 10 1,928 412 1,259 358 1882 4,392 3,536 856 49 9 2,199 456 1,288 391 1883 5,492 4,575 917 53 7 1 3,016 503 1,505 407 1884 4,799 3,984 815 39 9 2,506 422 1,439 384 1885 4,573 3,773 800 62 8 1 2,128 392 1,583 399 C. H. CUTBUSH, Chief Inspector. Metropolitan Police Office, 4, Whitehall Place, 10th February, 1887. INDEX OF STATUTES. ENGLAND. PAGE Hlothjere (673-685) and Eadric (685-686). — C. 15. A man to be responsible for a stranger whom he entertains three nights .... 5 Wihtrjed (690-725). — C. 7. A shorn man wandering to be entertained once only 7 Ine (688-725). — C. 24. An English " wite-theow " who steals himself away to be hanged 7 C. 25. Chapmen to traffic before witnesses ...... 6 C. 30. A ceorlish man harbouring a fugitive to pay for him according to his wer ........... 7 C. 39. A man going from his lord without leave, to return and pay 60 shillings 7 C. 48. A " wfte-theow " committing theft before he becomes a "wite- theow" may be scourged by his accuser ...... 7 Alfred (870-901). — C. 34. Chapmen to bring men whom they take with. them before the King's reeve ........ 6 Edward the Elder (901-924). — C. 10. No man to receive another man's man without leave 9 .ZEthelstan (924-940). — I., c. 2. Lordless men to be domiciled by their kin- dred to folk-right .10 I., c. 8. Landless men becoming followers in another shire and again seek- ing their kinsfolk, may be harboured on condition of being presented to folk-right r . _ . . . 10 I. , c. 22. No man to receive another man's man without his leave . . 11 II. , c. 4. No man to harbour another man's man without his leave . 11 III. , c. 4. Whoever harbours another man's man, and on his ill-doing has let him depart and is unable to punish him, to pay one hundred and twenty shillings to the King, and the man to return to his master 11 IV. , c. 1. Whoever receives another man's man whom he, for his evil conduct, turns away from him, to pav for him to his former master, and also to pay the King one hundred and twenty shillings . . 11 Edmund (940-946). — C. 3. No one to harbour another man's man before he is quit in all respect of every authority that may claim right from him 12 Cnut (1017-1035). — C. 21. Everyman above twelve to make oath that he will neither be a thief nor cognizant of theft . . . . . 14 C. 28. No one to receive any man longer than three nights unless he is recommended . . . . 13 C. 35. A friendless man without " borh " to go to prison . . . 13 «■•"» Edward the Confessor (1042-1066). — C. 23. Any one entertained for two nights maybe kept as a sojourner, and if the man do wrong, the host shall suffer no loss, provided the wrong was not done by his counsel, x x 2 676 INDEX OF STATUTES. PAGE but if he entertains him a third night, the host shall he responsible for him as one of his own household . . , . . . 14 Libertas Civitatum. — C. 2. A citizen of London may kill a guest who makes a forcible sojourn in his house 15 William the Conqueror (1066-1087). — C. 15. Of the method of manumit- ting slaves 19 C. 16. Slaves remaining unclaimed for a year and a day in cities, boroughs, walled towns, or castles, to be free 33 C. 30. Bondmen not to quit their lands 19 C. 48. No one to harbour a guest beyond three nights unless bidden so to do by his previous entertainer 19 Henry I. (1101).- — C. 8, s. 5. No one shall retain an unknown or a wandering man beyond three nights, and shall not harbour another man's man without a recommendation or a pledge . . . . . . 20 C. 43, s. 2. A man leaving his lord without licence to be fined and com- pelled to return 20 i— s C. 58. A vagabond to be brought before the judge of the place to be dealt with 21 _ C. 65, s. 5. A friendless man or a foreigner on his first accusation to be committed to prison and sustained by his accuser until he is tried . 21 C. 82, s. 2. A vagabond who does wrong to be brought to trial in the place where he is found to be 21 C. 83, s. 5. Any one despoiling a grave to be accounted a "wargus," or outcast ............ 22 Henry II. (1166). — Assize of Clarendon. No vagabond or unknown man to be entertained in any place except a borough, and only there for a single night, unless he be detained by sickness .... 26 (1176). — Assize of Northampton. No one, either in a borough or vill, to entertain for more than one night any stranger for whose forthcoming he shall be unwilling to give security 26 (1180). — C. 23. A person may entertain a friend or a stranger for two nights as a guest, without incurring a penalty, but if he enter- tain him a third night, he is to be responsible for him as one of his own household 27 ENGLAND AND WALES. 12 Edward I. (1284). — C 1. Wales. To inquire of them that give lodging unto persons unknown more than two nights. (Repealed 6 Geo. IV. - c. 50, s. 62) 34 13 Edward I. (1285).— C. 4. The gates of walled towns to be closed from sunset to sunrise. Persons harbouring suspicious lodgers in the suburbs to be liable to the bailiffs. Strangers to be arrested by the watch. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) ... 36, 603 13 Edward I. (1285). — Stat. Civ. Lond. No one to wander about the streets of the city after curfew, with arms for doing mischief, nor in any other manner unless he be a lawful person of good repute. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 38, 58 2 Edward III. (1328). — C. 2. In what cases only pardons of felony shall be granted. (Repealed 44 & 45 Vict. c. 59, s. 3) 41 C. 3. No man to come before the justices, or to go, or ride armed. (Re- pealed 44 & 45 Vict. c. 59, s. 3) 41 4 Edward III. (1330).— C. 13. Confirming 2 Edward III. c. 2, touching granting of pardons. (Repealed 44 & 45 Vict. c. 59, s. 3) . . 41 5 Edward III. (1331). — C. 14. Roberdesmen, Wastours, and Drawlatches to be arrested. Confirmed by 7 Richard II. c. 5. (Repealed 19 & 20 Vict. c. 64) 42, 58, 388, 469, 580 23 Edward III. (1349). — St. 1, c. 7. No person to give anything to beggars able to labour, upon pain of imprisonment. (Repealed 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) 43, 59 INDEX OF STATUTES. 677 PAGE 25 Edward III. (1350).— St. 1, c. 7. Proceedings in respect of servants, labourers, or artificers flying from one county to another. (Repealed 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) 43, 46, 59, 64 34 Edward III. (1360-1). — C. 1. To appoint justices of the peace with juris- diction over offenders, rioters, barrators, and vagabonds . . . 49, 50 C. 10, 11. Fugitive labourers to be outlawed, imprisoned, and burnpd in — — • the forehead. Mayors and bailiffs to deliver them up. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 50 1 Richard II. (1377). — C. 6. Commissions to be awarded to inquire of and punish the misbehaviour of villeins and land tenants to their lords. (As to England, repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863 ; as to Ireland, repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act. 1872) 56 2 Richard II. (1378).— C. 8. To confirm the statute 23 Edward III., and all other statutes of labourers. (Repealed 5 Eliz. c. 4) . . . 43—=""" 7 Richard II. (1383).— C. 5. For the punishment of vagabonds. Confirms 5 m _ Edward III. c. 14. (Repealed as to vagabonds 39 Eliz. c. 4 ; alto- gether repealed 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) 58 12 Richard II. (1388). — C. 3, 7, 8. For the regulation of servants, labourers, beggars, and vagrants. (Repealed 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) . 59, 64, 66 "~ 13 Richard II. (1389-90).— C. 8. The rates of labourers' wages to be assessed and proclaimed by the justices of peace. (Repealed 44 & 45 Vict. c. 59, s. 3) 63, 66 15 Richard II. (1392). — C. 6. In appropriation of benefices, provision to be made for the poor and the vicar. (As to England, repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863 ; as to Ireland, repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1872) 63 4 Henry IV. (1402).— C. 27. No westours, rhymers, minstrels, or vagabonds to be sustained in Wales. (Repealed 19 & 20 Vict. c. 64) . . 63— 7 Henry IV. (1405). — C. 17. No man to put his son or daughter to bean apprentice unless he have twenty shillings in land or rent. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 64 1 Henry V. (1413).— C. 8. Irishmen and Irish clerks mendicant to depart the realm. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 64 2 Henry V. (1414). — C. 4. Justices empowered to send their writs for fugitive servants or labourers to every sheriff of England. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 65 I Henry VI. (1422). — C. 3. Irishmen to depart the realm. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . 65 6 Henry VI. (1427). — C. 3. Justices to assign the wages of artificers and workmen by proclamation. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . 66 23 Henry VI. (1444). — C. 12. To assess the wages of servants, labourers, and artificers, and to provide for the punishment of those who refuse to serve. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 66 25 Henry VI. (1446-7). — All statutes against Welchmen confirmed. (Repealed 21 James I. c 28, s. 11) 66 II Henry VII. (14G5,.*— C 2. Against vagabonds and beggars. (Repealed as to vagabonds 39 Eliz. c. 4 ; altogether repealed 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) . . . 67, 68 C. 22. To fix the wages of servants and artificers. (Repealed 12 Henry VII. c. 3, 5 Eliz. c. 4, and Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) .... 68 19 Henry VII. (1503-4). — C. 12. To fix the wages of servants and artificers. (Repealed 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) 68 3 Henry VIII. (151 1-12). — C 9. Mummers or disguised persons, to be arrested as suspects or vagabonds, and committed to gaol. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 70-^ 6 Henry VIII. (1514-15). — C. 3. Concerning the wages of artificers and labourers. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . . . 71 22 Henry VIII. (1530-1).— C. 10. Concerning Egyptians. (Repealed 19 & 20 Vict. c. 64) 72, 4 86 * By the 10 Henry VII. cap. 22 (1495) of the Parliament of Ireland, all English statutes enacted up to this time concerning the public weal are to be deemed good and effectual, and to be accepted, used, and executed in Ireland. 678 INDEX OF STATUTES. 22 Henry VIII. (1530-1).— C. 12. Punishment of beggars and vagabonds. (Explained and amended 27 Hen. VIII., continued as therein men- tioned by 28 Hen. VIII. c. 6, 31 Hen. VIII. c. 7, S3 Hen. VIII. c. 17 ; repealed 1 Edw. VI. c. 3 ; revived and amended 3 & 4 Edw. VI. c. 16. That Act and this confirmed 5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 2 and 5 Eliz. c. 3. This Act and Statutes 3 & 4 Edw. VI., 5 Eliz., repealed by 14 Eliz. c. 5. See also 35 Eliz. c. 7, ss. 6, 7 ; and this Act finally repealed by 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) . 72, 81, 82, 95, 98, 100, 106, 121, 391, 393, 411 25 Henry VIII. (1533-4). — C. 13. To limit the number of sheep kept by any one man. (Repealed 19 & 20 Vict. c. 64) 78 26 He^ry VIII. (1534). — C. 6. No person to levy or gather any commorthe. (Repealed 19 & 20 Vict. c. 64)' 79, 431, 439 27 Henry VIII. (1535-6). — C. 25. Punishment of slur dy vagabonds and beg- gars, to continue to the end of next Parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 81 27 Henry VIII. (1535-6). — C. 28. To dissolve all religious houses under the yearly revenue of two hundred pounds. (Repealed in part 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) 83 28 Henry VIII. (1536-7).— C. 6. Continuing 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12. (Re- pealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 31 Henry VIII. (1539).— C. 7. Continuing 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12, and 27 Hen. VIII. c. 25, until the end of next Parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . . . . . . . . . 72, 81 31 Henry VIII. (1539). — C. 13. To dissolve monasteries and abbeys . . 83 33 Henry VIII. (1541-2). — C. 8. Persons using invocations, or other practices of sorcery, to discover treasure, &c, or to destroy or injure anyone, or to provoke unlawful love, declared felons without clergy, &c. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 134 33 Henry VIII. (1541-2). — C. 14. Persons pretending to make prophecies as to what shall become of those who bear arms, cognizances, or badges derived from their arms, badges, &c, declared guilty of felony. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev! Act, 1863) 135 33 Henry VIII. (1541-2).— C. 17. Continuing 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12, until the end of next Parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . 72 24 & 35 Henry VIII. (1543). — C. 1. Penalty on persons printing or selling prohibited books, or playing or singing, or rhymiug any matter con- trary to 31 Hen. VIII. c. 14. (Repealed 1 Edw. VI. c. 12, s. 2) . 87 1 Edward VI. (1547.) — C. 3. Eor the punishment of vagabonds, and for the relief of the poor, and impotent persons, to continue to the end of the next Parliament. Repeals 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 89 1 Edward VI. (1547).— C. 12, s. 2. Repeals 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 1. . . 87 2 & 3 Edward VI. (1548-9). — C. 15, s. 1. To impose penalties on butchers, bakers, &c, conspiring to sell victuals only at certain prices ; and on artificers conspiring as to the prices or times of work. 1st offence £10 or imprisonment for twenty days ; 2nd offence £20 or pillory ; 3rd offence £40 or pillory, loss of an ear and iniamy. (Repealed 6 Geo. IV. c. 129, s. 2) 102 3 & 4 Edward VI. (1549-50). — C. 15. Against false prophecies founded on arms, badges, relating to the King, for the purpose of raising insur- rections. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) .... 135 3 & 4 Edward VI. (1549-50). — C. 16. For the punishment of vagabonds and other idle persons. Revives and amends 22 Hen. VII 1. c. 12. (Repealed 21 James I. c. 28, s. 11) . . . . 94, 95, 98, 100, 106 3 & 4 Edward VI. (1549-50). — C. 22, s. 5. Journeymen clothiers, weavers, tailors, and shoemakers, not to be hired for less than a quarter of a year ; penalty one month's imprisonment and fine of forty shillings. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 102 5 & 6 Edward VI. (1551-52).— C. 2. To confirm 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12, and 3 & 4 Edw. VI. c. 16, and to appoint collectors of alms. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 95 INDEX OF STATUTES. 679 PAGE 5 & 6 Edward VI. (1551-2). — C. 21. Against tinkers, pedlars, and Buch-like vagrant persons. (Repealed 1 James I. c. 25, s. 7) . . . . 95 7 Edward "VI. (1552-3).— C. 11. To continue the 3 & 4 Edw. VI. c. 15, till the next session of Parliament. (Repealed Stai. L-*w Rev. Act, 1863) 135 1 Mary (1553).— Stat. 2, c. 13. To continue 5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 2, until the end of next Parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . 97 1 & 2 Philip & Mary (1554). — C. 4. For the punishment of certain persons calling themselves Egyptians. (Repealed 19 & 20 Vict. c. 64) 97, 489 2 & 3 Philip & Maky (1555). — C. 5. To conform and amend 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12, and 3 & 4 Edw. VI. c. 16. To continue until the end of the first session of the next Parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . . . . • 98, 99, 100, 17 "> 4 & 5 Philip & Maky (1557).— C. 9. To continue 2 & 3 Phil. & Mar. c. 5. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 99 5 Elizabeth (1562-3).— C. 3. To confirm and amend 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12, and 3 & 4 Edw. VI. c. 16. To continue until the end of the first session of the next Parliament. (Repealed 14 Eliz. c. 5, s. 1) 100, 106, 176 5 Elizabeth (1562-3). — C. 4. VTages of servants, labourers, and ar.ificers to be assessed by the Justices, servants taking more than is taxed to be punished. Repeals 2 Rich. II. c. 8. (Repealed 38 & 39 Vict. c. 86, s. 17) 101 5 Elizabeth (1562-3). — C. 15. Against false prophecies founded on arms, badges, &c, relating to the Queen, for the purpose of raising insur- rections. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) .... 135 5 Elizabeth (1562-3). — C. 16. Against persons practising witchcraft. (Re- pealed 1 James I. c. 12) 134 5 Elizabeth (1562-3). — C. 20. For the punishment of vagabonds calling themselves Egyptians. (Repealed 23 Geo. III. c. 51) 102, 490, 505, 603 14 Elizabeth (1572). — C. 5. For the punishment of vagabonds and for the relief of the poor and impotent. To continue for seven years and thence to the end of the next Parliament. Repeals 22 Hen. VIII. c. 12 ; 3 & 4 Kdw. VI. ; 5 Eliz. c. 3. (So much of this Act as con- cerns the gaoling, boring through the ear, and death (in the second degree) of vagabonds, repealed, 35 Eliz. c. 7, s. 6 ; as concerns the punishment of vagabonds, 39 Eliz. c. 4) . 106, 116, 121, 147, 344, 471 18 Elizabeth (1575-6). — C. 3. For the setting of the poor on work and for the avoiding of idleness. To continue for seven years and thence to the end of the next Parliament. (Gaoling, boring through the ear, and death (in the second decree) of vagabonds, repealed by 35 Eliz. c. 7, and the remainder by Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . . 115, 148 35 Elizabeth (1593-4).— C. 7, ss. 6 & 7. Penalties of imprisonment, &c, of vagabonds under statutes 14 Eliz. c. 5, 18 Eliz. c. 3, repealed. Pu- nishment of vagabonds by whipping, under Stat. 22 Hen. VTI1. c. 12, s. 2, &c, revived. To continue to the end of next Parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 121 39 Elizabeth (1597-8). — C. 3. Of the office and duty of overseers of the poor. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863.) 128 39 Elizabeth (1597-8). — C. 4. For the punishment of rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars. To continue to the end of the first session of the next Parliament. Repeals 7 Rich. II. c. 5, as to vagabonds; 11 Hen. VII. c. 2, as to vagabonds. (Continued by several Acts, and last by 16 Charles I. c. 5, but repealed by Stat. 13 Anne c. 26) 128, 133, 165, 180, 182 39 Elizabeth (1597-8). — C. 12, ss. 2, 3. Justices empowered to rate wages in sessions for divisions of fihires. Proclamation of the rates to be made by the sheriffs. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863.) 39 Elizabeth (1597-8). — C. 17. Against lewd and wandering persons pre- tending themselves to be soldiers and mariners. To continue until the end of next Parliament. (Continued by several Acts, and last by 16 Charles I. c. 5 ; but repealed by 52 Geo. III. c. 31, and bv 6 Geo. IV. c. 50, s. 62) . . . . . . . *. 130, 14S, 216 680 INDEX OF STATUTES. PAGE 43 Elizabeth (1601).— C. 2. For the relief of the poor. To continue until the end of next Parliament 131 43 Elizabeth (1601).— C. 3. Soldiers and mariners taken "begging to he pun- ished as rogues and vagabonds. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1S63) .......... 130, 213 1 James I. (1603-4).— C. 6. s. 2. To make more effectual 5 Eliz. c. 4. La- bourers, "weavers, spinners, and workmen's wages to be rated by the justices. Proclamations to be made by the sheriff of the rates of wages. (Repealed 19 & 20 Vict. c. 64) 154 1 James I. (1603-4).— C. 7. For the continuance and explanation of 39 Eliz. c. 4. (Continued by 3 Charles I. c. 4, s. 22 ; 16 Charles I.e. 5 ; but re- pealed by 13 Anne, c. 26) . . . . 131, 148, 165, 166, 182 1 James I. (1603-4). — C. 12. Against conjuration, witchcraft, and dealing with evil and wicked spirits. Repeals 5 Eliz. c. 16. (Repealed 9 Geo. II. c. 5, s. 1) 135 1 James I. (1603-4).— C. 25. To continue 39 Eliz. c. 17, and explain 39 Eliz. c. 4, s. 10. To continue to the end of the first session of the next Parliament. Repeals 5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 21. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) ........ 95, 128, 130 1 James I. (1603-4). — C. 31. Persons infected with the plague and commanded to keep house, going abroad, to be punished. (Repealed 7 Will. IV. and 1 Vict. c. 91, s. 4) .135 3 James I. (1605-6). — C. 21. To restrain the abuses of players. (Repealed 6 & 7 Vict. c. 68, s. 1) .134 7 James I. (1609-10). — C. 4. For the due execution of divers laws and statutes heretofore made against rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, and other lewd and idle persons. To continue for seven years, and from thence to the end of the next session of Parliament. (Continued by 3 Charles I. c. 5, s. 22 ; 16 Charles I. c. 4 ; in part repealed by 13 Anne, c. 26,8. 8, and 4 Geo. IV. c. 64 ; altogether repealed by Stat, Law Rev. Act, 1863) ........ 140, 182 21 James I. (1623-4).— C. 28, s. 11. Repeals 23 Edw. III. Stat. 1, c. 7; 25 Edw. III. Stat. 1, c. 7 ; 7 Rich. II. c. 5 ; 12 Rich. II. cc. 3, 7, 8 ; 25 Hen. VI. ; 11 Hen. VIL c. 2 ; 19 Hen. VII. c. 12 ; 27 Hen. VIII. c. 28, in part ; 3 & 4 Edw. IV. c. 16. 1 Chables I. (1625). — C. 1. For punishing divers abuses committed on Sun- day. (Repealed in part Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . . . .147 3 Chables 1.(1628).— C. 5. To continue 39 Eliz. c.4 (as amended by 1 James I. c. 25, and 7 James I. c, 4), and 1 James I. c. 6, until the end of the first session of next Parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) . 147,14S 16 Chables I. (1641). — C. 4. To continue all Acts continued by 3 Charles I. c. 5, until some other Act be made touching the Statutes so con- tinued. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863T) .... 148 22 Chables I. (1647). — C. 97. Common players to be punished as rogues . 155 22 Chables I. (1647). For the relief and employment of the poor, and the punishment of vagrants and other disorderly persons . . . 158 23 Chables I. (164S). — C. 106. Common players to be punished .as rogues, whether they are wanderers or not 155 Commonwealth (1656). — C. 21. Against vagrants and wandering, idle, disso- lute persons .......... 161, 356 13 & 14 Chables II. (1662).— C. 12. ss. 16, 17, 18, 23. To procure due execu- tion of 39 Eliz. c. 4, and 1 James I. c. 7. Orders a reward of two shillings for the apprehension of each beggar. To continue until Mav 29, 1665, and thence to the end of the first session of the next Parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1863) 164, 172, 189, 215, 447 15 Chables II. (1663). — C. 2. Persons cutting, stealing, or spoiling wood or underwood, for a first offence to pay a penalty of ten shillings ; for a second to be sent to hard labour for a month ; and for a third to be deemed incorrigible rogues. (Repealed 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 27, s. 1) . . _ 1€7 INDEX OF STATUTES. 681 I James II. (1685).— C. 17. To continue 13 & 14 Charles IT. c, 12 for seven years. (Repealed in pari, by Stat. Law Eev. Act, 1863) . . . 172 3 William & Mary (1691). — C. 11. For supplying defects of the former laws for the settlement of the poor. (Repealed, in part by Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) 173 4 William & Mary (1692). — C. 8. To encourage the apprehending of high- waymen. (Repealed 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, s. 32) 173 8.& 9 William III. (1696-97). — C. 30. Persons receiving alms to wear a badge. (Repealed in part 50 Geo. III. c. 52 ; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101, s. 13 ; finally repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) . . . 173, 215 II & 12 William III. (1698-9).— C. 18. For the more effectual punishment of vagrants, and sending them whither by law they ought to be sent. To continue for three years and thence to the end of the next session of Parliament. (Persons deemed rogues and vagabonds to be dealt with as directed by this Act. See 2 & 3 Anne c. 6, s. 16 ; continued for seven years by 6 Anne c. 32 ; repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) 176. 178, 180 1 Anne (1702).— St. 2, c. 13. To make more effectual the Statute 11 Will. III. c. 18. To continue for three years and thence to the end of the next session of Parliament. (Repealed 6 Geo. IV. c. 50, s. 62) . 178 2 & 3 Anne (1703). — C. 6, s. 16. Persons adjudged rogues and vagabonds by 39 Eliz. c. 4, to be taken up for the sea service, according to Stat. 11 WiU. III. c. 18. (Repealed 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 19, s. 1) . 179 6 Anne (1706). — C. 32. For the continuance of the laws for the punishment of vagrants, and for making such laws more effectual. To continue for seven years and thence to the end of the next session of Parlia- ment. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) 625 13 Anne (1713). — C. 26. For reducing the laws relating to rogues, vaga- bonds, sturdy beggars, and vagrants into one Act of Parliament, and for the more effectual punishing such rogues, vagabonds, sturdy beggars, and vagrants, and sending them whither they ought to be sent. Repeals 39 Eliz. c. 4 ; 1 James I. c. 7 ; 7 James I. c. 4, in part. (Repealed 13 Geo. II. c. 24, s. 36. Publicly whipping female offenders abolished by 1 Geo. IV.) 180, 195 4 George I. (1716). — C. 11, s. 5. Merchants or others may contract with persons of the age of fifteen, and under twenty-one, to serve them in America for eight years. (Repealed 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 27, s. 1) . 185 5 George I. (1717). — C. 8. For the more effectual relief of wives and chil- dren deserted by husbands or parents 185 6 George I. (1718). — C. 19, s. 2. Justices may commit vagrants, &c, to the common gaol or house of correction. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867.) 7 George I. (1719). — C. 7. For preserving and encouraging the woollen and silk manufactures. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) . . 186 13 George I. (1726-7). — C. 23. End gatherers buying and receiving ends of yarn, wefts, thrums, and other refuse cloth, &c, on conviction to be deemed incorrigible rogues. (Repealed 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 28) . 186 7 George II.) 1734). — C. 21. For the more effectual punishment of assaults with intent to commit robbery. (Repealed 4 Geo. IV. c. 54, s. 5) 192 9 George II. (1736).— C. 5, s. 1. Repeals 1 James I. c. 12. 10 George II. (1736-7). — C. 19, s. 1. Stage players acting within five miles of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, to be deemed rogues and vagabonds. (Repealed 6 & 7 Vict. c. 68, s. 1) 192 10 George II. (1736-7). — C. 28. Stage players who perform for gain in a place where they have no settlement, without letters patent or licence from the Lord Chamberlain, to be deemed rogues and vagabonds. (Repealed 6 & 7 Vict. c. 68, s. 1) 195, 236 12 George II. (1738-9). — C. 29. To authorise the charges for maintaining and conveying vagrants to be paid out of the general county rate. (Repealed in part 53 Geo. III. c. 113, s. 1 ; 55 Geo. III. c. 51, s. 17 ; 15 & 16 Vict. c. 81, s. 1 ; Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) ... 197 6^2 INDEX OF STATUTES. 12 Geoege LL (1738-9).— C. 31. Persons loitering about the city of Bath, after being discharged from the hospital, to be deemed vagabonds, and all beggars resorting to the city to be liable to be sent to the house of correction for not more than twelve months . . . 197 13 George II. (1739-40 . — C. 24. To amend and enforce the laws relating to rogues, vagabonds, and other idle and disorderly persons, and to reduce the same into oi.e Act of Parliament, also to amend the laws relating to houses of correction. Eepeals 13 Anne c. 26. Repealed 17 Geo. II. c. 5, s. 34) 199 17 Geoege II. (1743-4). — C. 5. To repeal 13 Geo. II. c. 24, and to amend and make more effectual the laws relating to rogues, vagabonds, and other idle and disorderly persons, and to houses of correction. (Repealed in part Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) 110, 202. 209, 212, 214, 215, 22s 2-5 Geoege II. (1751-2). — C. 36, s. 12. To empower Justices to examine upon oath, persons apprehended as rogues and vagabonds, as to their place of settlement and means of Hveiinood. To continue for three years. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) 203 26 Geoege II. (1753). — C. 34, s. 2. To amend 17 Geo. II. by authorising county treasurers, instead of high constables, to pay the cost of pass- ing vagran.s from one county to another. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) 203 25 George II. ,1755}. — C. 19. To make perpetual 25 Geo. LI. c. 36. (Re- pealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) 203, 229 6 Geoege III. (1766). — C. 48. For the punishment of persons convicted of damaging or taking awav wood or underwood. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1867) 204, 229 9 Geoege HI. (1768). — C. 41. For the punishment of persons convicted of desti-oying or caiTving away hollies, thorns, or quicksets. (Re- pealed Stat. Law Rev" Act, 1867) 205, 229 22 Geoege. III. (1782). — C. 83, s. 31. For the prosecution of idle persons who nearlect to provide for their families. (Repealed Stat. Law. Rev. Act, 1871) 208, 229 23 Geoege III. (17S2-3). — C. 51. To repeal 5 Eliz. c. 20 against gypsies . 505 23 Geoege III. (1782-3).— C. 88. To extend theprovis ons^of 17 Geo. II. c. 5 to persons apprehended with implements of house-breaking. (Re- pealed Stat. Law Rev. Act. 1561.. . 208 27 Geoege III. (1787).— C. 1, s. 3. To extend the provisions of 17 Geo. IT. c. 5 to persons who deal in lottery tickets without taking out a licence. (Repealed 46 Geo. ILL c. 148, s. 64) 210 27 Geoege III. (1787). — C. 11. To authorise the commitment of vagrants either to the common gaol or the house of correction, as shall seem most proper. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act. 1871) . . . 210 32 Geoege III. (1792).— C. 45. To amend 17 Geo.' II. c. 5 by ordering rogues and vagabonds to be whipped or sent to the house of correc- tion before being passed : rewards for apprehension not to be paid beiore punishment : female vagabonds not to be whipped : soldiers and mariners found begging to be deemed vagabonds : persons ne^lectine their families to be deemed idle and disorderlv. (Amended 43^Geo. III. c. 61. Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1861) . 212, 214 35 Geoege LLL (1795). — C. 101. To prevent the removal of poor persons until they become chargeable, and to authorise the suspension of the removal of sick persons. (Repealed in part bv Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1871) ■ 215, 216, 229 39 & 40 Geoege HX (1S00). — C. 50. Persons to the number of two or more found poaching in the ni°rht. to be deemed rogues and vagabonds. (Repealed 57 Geo. ILL c. 90, s. 5) 209 39 & 40 Geoege ELL (1800). — C. 87, s. 12. Suspected persor.s and reputed thieves frequenting the River Thames, and the qu.-.ys, warehouses, &c, adjoining, with felonious intent, to be deemed rogues and vagabonds. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1871) .... 210 INDEX OF STATUTES. 683 42 George III. (1802).— C. 76, s. 18. To extend the provisions of 17 Geo. IT. c. 5 to ill-disposed and suspected persons, and reputed thieves, fre- quenting public places with intent to commit felony. To continue till 1807. (Repealed Stat. Law Eev. Act, 1861) .... 210 42 George III. (1802). — C. 119. Persons setting up mischievous games or lotteries to be deemed rogues and vagabonds .... 210, 229 43 George III. (1803).— C. 61. To amend 32 Geo. III. c. 45, and to allow soldiers, marines, and sailors, and their wives, carrying certificates, to ask relief on their route home. (Repealed Stat. Law Eev. Act, 1872) . 212, 236, 237 ■ 45 George III. (1805). — C. 66, s. 3. For the punishment of persons who take away bark from woods or wood grounds. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1872) 205 46 George III. (1806).— Cap. 148, s. 64. Repeals 27 Geo. III. c. 1, s. 3. 49 George III. (1809). — C. 124. To empower justices to suspend the re- moval by pass of sick or infirm vagrants, and of other persons nearly connected with them or related to them, living together as one family at the time of the order of removal. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1872) 216 50 George III. (1810).— C. 52. Repeals 8 & 9 Will. III. c. 30, s. 2, regard- ing badges. (Wholly repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1872, No. 2) . 216 51 George III. (1811).— C. 119, s. 18. To repeat provisions of 42 Geo. III. c. 76, s. 18 ; to continue till 1813. (Repealed 54 Geo. III. c. 37) . 210 52 George III. (1812).— C. 31. To repeal 39 Eliz. c. 17, against lewd and wandering persons pretending themselves to be soldiers or mariners. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1861) 216 54 George III. (1813).— C. 37, s. 18. To repeat provisions of 51 Geo. III. c. 119, s. 18. To continue till 1820 ; repeals 51 Geo. III. c. 119, s. 18. (Repealed 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 118, s. 1) .... 210 57 George III. (1817).— C. 90, s. 5. Repeals 39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 50. 59 George III. (1819). — C. 12, s. 33. To empower the removal by pass of chargeable poor born in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, or Chan- nel Islands, although they have not committed any act of vagrancy and without being first whipped or imprisoned. (Repealed 31 & 32 Yict. c. 122, s. 36) 227 1 & 2 George IV. (1820).— C. 118,. s. 1. Repeals 54 Geo. III. c. 37, s. 18. 3 George IV. (1822). — C. 40. To consolidate into one Act and amend the laws relating to idle and disorderly persons, rogues and vagabonds, incorrigible rogues, and other vagrants in England. Repeals all former provisions relating to such persons, except the 10 Geo. II. c. 28, or any Act relating to plavers. To continue to September 1, 1824. (Repealed 5 Geo. IV. c. 83, s. 1) . . . . 110, 234, 236 4 George IV. (1823).— C. 54, s. 5. Repeals 7 Geo. II. c. 21. 4 George IV. (1823). — C. 64. Repeals 7 James I. c, 4, in part. 5 George IV. (1824). — C. 83. For the punishment of idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds in England. Repeals all former provisions relating to such persons. (3 Geo. JV. c. 40.) (Amended 1 & 2 Vict, c. 38 ; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101 ; 11 & 12 Vict. c. 110 ; 12 & 13 Vict. c. 103 ; 28 & 29 Vict. c. 79 ; 29 & 30 Vict. c. 113 ; 31 & 32 Vict. c. 52 (which is repealed by 36 & 37 Vict. c. 38) ; 34 & 35 Vict, c. 112 ; 39 & 40 Vict. c. 61) 236, 251, 303 6 George IV. (1825).— C. 50, s. 62. Repeals 12 Edw. I. c. 1 ; remainder of 39 Eliz. c. 17 ; 1 Anne, St. 2, c, 13, ss. 2 & 3. 6 George IV. (1825).— C. 129, s. 2. Repeals 2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. 15, s. 1. 7 George IV. (1826).— C. 64, s. 32. Repeals 4 Will. & Mary, c. 8. 7 & 8 George IV. (1826-7).— C. 27, s. 1. Repeals 15 Car. II. c. 2 ; 4 Geo. I. c. 11. 3 & 4 William IV. (1833).— C. 28. Repeals 13 Geo. I. c. 23. 4 & 5 William IV. (1834). — C. 76. For the amendment and better adminis- tration of the laws relating to the poor in England and Wales . . 241 5 & 6 William IV. (1835).— C. 19, s. 1. Repeals 2 & 3 Anne, c. 6, s. 16. 6S4 INDEX OF STATUTES. PAGE 7 William IT. & 1 Victoria (1837).— C. 91, s. 4. Eepeals 1 James I. c. 31. I & 2 Victoria (1838). — C. 38. Persons exposing obscene prints in shop win- dows to be liable to punishment as rogues and vagabonds . . 238 5 & 6 Victoria (1842). — C.*57, s. 5. To empower guardians to set the occa- sional poor to work. (Eepealed in part 10 & 11 Vict. c. 109, s, 22. Eepealed Stat. Law Eev. Act, 1874, No. 2) 238, 250, 273 6 & 7 Victoria (1843).— C. 68, s. 1. Eepeals 3 James I. c. 21, k 10 Geo. II. c. 19, s. I. 7 & 8 Victoria (1844). — C. 101, ss. 6, 41, 53. Women able to maintain their bastard children and neglecting to do so to be deemed idle and dis- orderly persons. To provide for the establishment of asylums for the temporary relief of the houseless poor in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, and Birmingham, and to enact that any person received into such an asylum giving a false name, or making a false statement, or giving different names on different occasions, is to be deemed a rogue and vagabond. (Eepeals 8 & 9 Will. III. c. 30) 238, 250, 291 8 & 9 Victoria (1845).— C. 83, s. 77. To authorise the removal of English, Irish, and Manx paupers in Scotland. (Eepealed in part 24 & 25 Vict. c. 37 : 25 k 26 Vict. c. 113, s. 8 ; Stat. Law Eev. Act, 1875) . 8 & 9 Victoria (1845). — C. 117. To amend the laws relating to the removal of poor persons born in Scotland, Ireland, the Islands of Man, Scilly, Jersev, or Guernsey, and chargeable in England. (Eepealed in part 24 & 25 Vict. c. 76, s. 7 ; 26 & 27 Vict. c. 89, s. 3, and sees. 6 ; Stab. Law Eev. Act, 1875.) 10 and 11 Victoria (1847).— C. 109, s. 22. Eepeals in part 5 & 6 Vict. c. 57, s. 5. II k 12 Victoria (1848). — C. 110, s. 10. Persons in possession of means applying for relief to a relieving officer or at a workhouse, and not making a correct disclosure of their means, to be punishable as idle and disorderly persons 238, 277 12 & 13 Victoria (1849). — C. 103, s. 3. Persons chargeable to the common fund of a union, to be in respect of proceedings to be taken under 5 Geo. IV. c. 83, regarded as persons chargeable to a parish . 238, 278 14 k 15 Victoria (1851). — C. 28. Power to local authority to make regula- tions respecting common lodging-houses. (Eepealed and re-enacted as to E. except as to the Metropolitan Police District, 38 k 39 Vict, c. 55, s. 343) 670 16 & 17 Victoria (1852-53). — C. 41, s. 8. Power to local authority to order reports from keepers of common lodging-houses kept for beggars and vagrants. (Eepealed and re-enacted as to E. except as to the Metro- politan Police District, 38 k 39 Vict. c. 55, s. 343) .... 670 19 & 20 Victoria (1856).— C. 64. Eepeals 5 Edw. III. c 14; 4 Hen. IV. c. 27 : 22 Hen. VIII. c. 10; 25 Hen. VHT. c. 13 : 26 Hen. VILL c. 6 ; 1 & 2 Phil. & Mar. c. 4 ; 1 James I. c. 6. 20 & 21 Victoria (1857). — C. 48. To authorise the committal of vagrant children to an Industrial School up to the age of fifteen. (Eepealed 24 k 25 Vict. c. 113) 286,287 23 k 24 Victoria (I860).— C. 108. To transfer the powers of the Committee of Council on Education under 20 k 21 Vict. c. 48, to a Secretary of State. (Eepealed 24 k 25 Vict. c. 113, s. 27) 286, 287 24 k 25 Victoria (1861). — C. 113. To authorise the committal of children under fourteen found begging or wandering in a state of destitution to an Industrial School. To continue until Januarv 1, 1864. Eepeals 20 & 21 Vict. c. 48. (Eepealed 29 k 30 Vict. c. 118) . . 286,288 Statute Law Eevision Act, 1861.— Eepeals 23 Geo. III. c. 88 ; 32 Geo. III. c. 45 : 42 Geo. III. c. 76, s. 18 ; 52 Geo. III. c. 31. 25 k 26 Victoria (1862).— C. 10. To continue the 24 k 25 Vict. c. 113 till Januarv 1, 1867. (Eepealed 29 & 30 Vict. c. 118, s 3) . . 287, 288 Statute Law Eevision Act, 1863. —Eepeals 13 Edw. I. c. 4, and Stat. Civ. INDEX OF STATUTES. 685 PAGE Lond. ; 34 Edw. III. c. 10, 11 ; 1 Eich. II. c. 6 (England) ; 15 Rich. II. c. 6 ; 7 Hen. IV. c. 17 ; 1 Hen. V. c. 8 ; 2 Hen. V. c. 4 ; 1 Hen. VI. c. 3 ; 6 Hen. VI. c. 3 ; 23 Hen. VI. c. 13 ; 11 Hen. VII. c. 22 ; 13 Hen. VIII. c. 9 ; 6 Hen. VIII. c. 3 ; 27 Hen. VIII. c. 25; 31 Hen. VIII. c. 7 ; 33 Hen. VIII. c. 8 ; 33 Hen. VIII. c. 14; 33 Hen. VIII. c. 17 ; 1 Edw. VI. c. 3; 3 & 4 Edw. VI. c. 15 ; 3 & 4 Edw. VI. c. 22 ; 5 & 6 Edw. VI. c. 2 ; 7 Edw. VI. c. 11; 1 Mary, St. 2, c. 13 ; 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary, c. 5 ; 4 & 5 Phil. & Mary, c. 9 ; 5 Eliz. c. 15 ; 5 Eliz. c. 16 ; remainder of 18 Eliz. c. 3 ; 35 Eliz. c. 7, ss. 6 and 7 ; 39 Eliz. c. 3 ; 43 Eliz. c. 3 ; 1 James I. c. 25 ; 7 James I. c. 4 ; 1 Charles I. c. 1, in part; 3 Charles I. c. 5 ; 16 Charles I. c. 4 ; 14 Charles II. c. 12, ss. 16, 17, 18, 23 ; 1 James II. c. 17, in part. 27 & 28 Victoria (1864).— C. 116. To empower guardians to provide proper wards for the reception of destitute wayfarers, and to relieve them at the cost of the Metropolitan Board of Works. (Repealed in part 28 & 29 Vict. c. 34, s. 1 ; 30 & 31 Vict. c. 6, s. 60) . . 291, 331 28 Victoria (1865). — C. 34. To repeal in part and make perpetual 27 & 28 Vict. c. 116. (Repealed in part Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1875) . . 291 28 & 29 Victoria (1865). — C. 79, s. 7. Paupers returning within twelve months after removal to he deemed idle and disorderly persons . 238 29 & 30 Victoria (1866).— C. 113, s. 15. Persons relieved out of the work- house refusing to perform a task of work to he punishable as idle and disorderly persons . . . . . . . . .239 29 & 30 Victoria (1866). — C. 118. To authorise the committal to an Indus- trial School of children under fourteen found begging or wandering in a state of destitution. Repeals 24 & 25 Vict. c. 113 ; 25 & 26 Vict. c. 10 287 30 Victoria (1867). — C. 6. To authorise the payment out of the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund of the expenses of providing for the reception and relief of casual paupers in any union or parish in the metropolis. Repeals in part 27 & 28 Vict. c. 116. (Repealed 31 & 32 Vict. c. 122, s. 9 ; 32 & 33 Vict. c. 63, ss. 9, 20 ; Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1875 ; 42 & 43 Vict. c. 6, s. 11) 301 Statute Law Revision Act, 1867. — Repeals 3 Will. & Mary, c. 11, in part ; 8 & 9 Will. III. c. 30 ; 11 Will. III. c. 18 ; 6 Anne, c. 32 ; 6 Geo. I. c. 19 ; 7 Geo. I. c. 7 ; 17 Geo. II. c. 5, in part ; 25 Geo. II. c. 36, s. 12 ; 26 Geo. II. c. 34, s. 2 ; 28 Geo. II. c. 19 ; 6 Geo. III. c. 48 ; 9 Geo. III. c. 41. 31 & 32 Victoria (1867-8).— C. 52. To extend the provisions of 5 Geo. IV. c. 83 to gaming in public with any coin, card, token, or other means of wagering or gaming in public. (Repealed 36 & 37 Vict. c. 38, s. 5) 238 31 & 32 Victoria (1867-8).— C. 122, s. 36. Repeals 59 Geo. III. c. 12, s. 33. 33 & 34 Victoria (1870).— C. 75, ss. 27, 28, 36. To authorise board schools to contribute to, or to establish Industrial Schools . . . .289 34 & 35 Victoria (1871). — C. 108. To provide for the regulation, control, and discharge of paupers from workhouses and wards provided for the casual poor. (Repealed in part 45 & 46 Vict. c. 36, s. 4) . 239, 302, 310, 318, 319, 331 34 & 35 Victoria (1871).— C. 112, s. 14. To authorise the children of women convicted of crime for a second time to be sent to Industrial Schools. (Repealed in part 39 & 40 Vict. c. 20, s. 5 ; Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1883) . . 238, 288 ' S. 15. To extend the provisions of 5 Geo. IV. c. 83 to suspected persons or reputed thieves frequenting any highway or place adja- cent to a street or highway ........ 238 Statute Law Revision Act, 1871.— Repeals 22 Geo. III. c. 83 ; 27 Geo. III. c. 11 ; 35 Geo. III. c. 101, in part ; 39 & 40 Geo. III. c. 87, s. 12 . Statute Law Revision Act, 1872. — Repeals 1 Rich. II. c. 6 (Ireland) ; 15 Rich. II. c. 6 (Ireland) ; 43 Geo. III. c. 61 ; 45 Geo. III. c. 66, s. 3 ; 49 Geo. III. c. 124. 6S6 IXDEX OF STATUTES. Statute Law Eevision Act, 1872 (Xo. 2).— Eepeals 50 Geo. ILT. c. 52. 35 & 36 Victoria (1872). — C. 21. To empower the prison authority to contri- bute towards the expenses of Industrial Schools .... 288 36 & 37 Victoria (1873).— C. 38. To repeal 31 & 32 Yict. c. 52, and allow a fine to be imposed in lieu of imprisonment at the discretion of the magistrate % ... 238 Sratute Law Eevision Act, 1874 (Xo. 2). — Eepeals 5 & 6 Yict. c. 57, s. 5. Statute Law Eevision Act, 1875. — Eepeals 8 & 9 Yict. c. 83, and 8 & 9 Vict, c. 117. 38 & 39 Victoria (1875).— C. 86, s. 17. Eepeals 5 Eliz. c. 4. 39 k 40 Victoria (1876).— C. 61, s. 44. The word "pauper " in the Poor Law Amendment Act, to include any person who obtains relief by wilfully giving a false name, or making a false statement, and such person to be punishable as an idle and disorderlv person . . . .239 39 & 40 Victoria (1876).— C. 79, ss. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. To authorise children habitually neglected by parents or habitually wandering to ■ be sent to a certified efficient school, and in case of non-compliance, to a Day Industrial School. To permit the establishment of day Industrial Schools 289 44 & 45 Victoria (18sl).— C. 59, s. 3. Eepeals 2 Edw. III. c. 2; 4Edw. ILL c. 13; 13 Rich. II. c. 8 : 7 Hen. IV. e. 17; 2 Hen. V. c. 4; 6 Hen. VI. c. 3 : 23 Hen. VI. c. 13. 45 & 46 Victoria (1882). — C. 36. To extend the time of detention of casual paupers authorised by 34 6c 35 Vict. c. 112. Eepeals in part 34 & 35 Vict. c. 108 ' . 239, 319, 331 SCOTLAND. Eobert IT. (1385). — Caterans and vagrants destroying and taking goods by violence to be arrested 337 Ordo Just itk are. — Sorning to be a point of dittay at the justice ayre . 337 James I. (1424k — C. 7. Sorners to be punished as breakers of the King's peace 337 (1424) . — C. 21. Xo one between the ages of fourteen and seventy to beg, unless provided with a token from the sheriff or bailies . 337, 342 (1425) . — C. 20. The sheriff to arrest and imprison idle men unless they find a master 338 (1426) . — C. 3, 4. The aldermen and town councils to fix the wages of craftsmen ........... 362 (1427) . — C. 4. The chamberlain at his ayre yearly to enforce the acts against beggars 338 James IT. (1449). — C. 9. Masterful beggars with horses and hounds, as also feigned fools and bards, to be punished 339 (1455). — C. 8. Sorners to be punished by the sheriff as thieves or reivers 340 (1455). — C. 13. The king, on going to any head burgh, to inquire whether there be anv sorners or oppressors of the poor, and to punish them 340 (1457). — C. 26. The justiciar at his ayres to punish sorners, bards, masterful beggars, and feigned fools. Eepeats provisions of James I. (1424), c. 21 337, 340 James ILL (1478). — C. 10> 11. The Acts of James I. against masterful beg- gars and sorners to be rigorously enforced at justice-ayres . . 340 James IV. (1493). — C. 14. Craftsmen making rules for payment of wages on holidays to be indicted as common oppressors 362 (1493). — C" 20. Idle able-bodied men to be compelled to serve for wages as sailors 362 (1496). — C. 5. Craftsmen taking exorbitant prices to be punished . . 362 INDEX OF STATUTES. 687 PACE James IV. (1503). — C. 14. The Act of James I. against" stark beggars " to be enforced ; the crooked, blind, impotent, and weak alone allowed to beg . 341, 342 James V. (1535). — C. 29. The former Acts against masterful beggars to be rigorously enforced ; no one to beg except in the parish where he was born, and with a token from the headsman of the parish . 342, 343 James V. (1540). — C. 21. The meal market at Edinburgh to be removed, because a multitude of vile, unhonest, and miserable creatures 1'requent it daily for sustentation ......... 343 Mary (1551).— C. 16. Repeals provisions of James V. c. 9 (1535) . . .343 (1551). — C. 18. All provosts and bailies to ordain reasonable prices for craftsmen 362 (1555). — C. 38. Eepeats provisions of James Y. c. 29 (1535) . . .343 James VI. (1567). — C. 17. Vagabonds having no goods, and shooting with culverin, crossbow, or handbow at doe, roe, hart, hind, hare, rabbit, dove, heron, or fowl of the river, to be punished .... 343 (1574). — Vagabonds and strong and idle beggars between the ages of fourteen and seventy to be apprehended and tried . . . 344, 505 (1579).— C. 12. Repeats Act of 1574. (Referred to in the Scotch Poor Law Act, 8 & 9 Vict., c. 83, ss. 79, 80) 344, 505 (1579). — C. 21. Actions for servants' wages to prescribe in three years 362 (1581).— Ratifies James VI. c. 12 (1579) 344 (1587). — C. 59, s. 7. Vagabonds and "unanswerable" men in the bor- ders, highlands and isles to find security to underlie the law . . 348 (1592). — C. 28. Judges to inquire, search, and apprehend sorners, strong vagabonds, and beggars wandering about the realm . . 348 (1592) . — C. 28. The lieges to inform against traitors and unknown vaga- bonds 348 (15-92). — C. 28 ratified; the ministers and elders in every parish em- powered to appoint two or three persons to enforce the Act . . 348 (1593) . — Vagabonds and masterless men to find security to underlie the law 348 (1593) . — The Acts of 1579 and 1581 against vagabonds and beggars to be enforced by the ordinary judges or justices . . . . .348 (1594) . — C. 33. Students wandering with swords, pistolets, or other weapons to have them confiscated . . . . . . .349 (1594). — C. 37. For punishing theft, reiff, oppression, and sorning on the part of several Highland clans ....... 349 » (1594).— C. 58. The magistrates of Canongate to remove common and idle beggars from the High gate and street ..... 350 (1597). — C. 39. The Acts against strong and idle beggars, vagabonds, and Egyptians ratified, with this addition, that strong beggars and their bairns are to be employed in common works, and their service mentioned in the Acts of 1579 to be prorogated during their lifetime 350, 505 (1600). — C. 28. A penalty of £20 to be exacted from Kirk-sessions in case of neglect to carry out the Act of 1597 . 350 (1606). — C. 10. Masters of coalheughs and saltpans may apprehend and put to labour all vagabonds and sturdy beggars . . . .351 (1609). — C. 20. Vagabonds, sorners, and common thieves, commonly called Egyptians, to quit the kingdom by the 1st August . 352, 505 (1617). — C. 7, s. 7. Justices of peace to put in execution the Acts against wilful beggars and vagabonds, solitary and idle men, and women without calling or trade . 354, 355, 356 (1617). — C. 8, s. 11. Hostlers not to receive masterless men, rebels at the horn, vagabonds, or other persons guilty of known crimes . 354 (1617). — C. 8, s. 5. Constables to arrest all vagabonds, sturdy beggars, and Egyptians ..... ... 354, 50 5 (1617). — C. 8, ss. 14, 18. Justices of the peace to appoint at their quarter sessions the ordinary hire and wages of labourers, workmen, arid servants. A price to be set on craftsmen's work .... 362 688 INDEX OF STATUTES. James VI. (1621). — C. 21. Servants not to leave their masters at Whitsuntide, unless able to prove that they are hired by another master from Whitsuntide to Martinmas 363 Charles I. (1625). — Missive from the king, stating that he understands that the laws against beggars are not properly enforced. He commands the former Acts to be put in execution 354 (1630). — Complaint that the Acts against beggars are not enforced, and enjoining that penalties for the non-execution of the Acts are to be enforced 355 (1630). — Estimate of the wages to be paid to herring-fishers . . . 363 (1639, 7th September). — Petition by the General Assembly anent idle beggars remitted to a committee, who are to meet and peruse all Acts of Parliament and Council anent idle beggars, idle persons, servants and servants' fees, and the instruction given to justices of the peace, 355, 364 j (1639, 13th September). — The committee anent sturdy beggars to give in their overtures 355 (1639, 1st October). — The Act that all vagabond knaves without passes be apprehended, delayed . . . 355 (1640) . — Commissioners for manufactories to set masterless beggars to work at reasonable rates . . . 355 (1641) . — C. 100. The Commissioners for Manufactories to appoint cor- rection houses for the restraint of idle and masterless beggars . 355, 364 (1641). — C. 124. The maximum wages of colliers to be 20 merks . . 355 (1641). — C. 124. Petition of the Commissioners of the Kirk that order may be taken with sturdy beggars, Egyptians, and vagabonds . 355, 505 (1646) . — C. 290. Manufactories to be erected and encouraged as the best ways and means of restraining idle and sturdy beggars, and master- less vagabonds ........... 355 (1647) . — C. 341. The Procurator of State to consider all the Acts of Parliament relating to idle and sturdy beggars and gypsies, and to report to the next session 355, 505 Charles II. (1649).— C. 161. Able-bodied beggars to be compelled to work. Begging to be punished, as directed in former Acts . . . 355 Acts and Ordinances of the Government, 9 (1655). — The Commissioners of the peace to put the laws in execution against the classes described in 1617, c. 7, s. 7 355, 364 Acts and Ordinances of the Government, 13 (1655). — Innkeepers or hoast- lers receiving masterless men or vagabonds to be fined . . 355, 356 Constables to arrest vagabonds, sturdy beggars, and Egyptians . . 356 Each parish to maintain its own poor ....... 356 Masterless idle vagabonds, and robbers to be apprehended and transported 356 Lists of idle masterless vagabonds and robbers, to be given in from time to time, to the governors of Inverlochy and Inverness, and to the commander-in-chief on the south side of the Forth .... 356 Acts and Ordinances op the Government, 16 (1655). — The Commissioners of the Peace to appoint at their Quarter Sessions, to be kept in February and August, the ordinary hire and wages of labourers, workmen, and servants 356 (1656). — All idle, loose, and dissolute persons found wandering after the 1st of July declared to be rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, and punishable as such under 39 Eliz. c. 4 . . . . 161, 356 Charles II. (1661). — C. 275. Persons to be appointed in each parish to instruct poor children, vagabonds, and other idlers 356 (1661). — C. 338. The Commissioners of the Peace to put the laws in execution against the classes described in 1617, c. 7, s. 7 • . 356 (1661). — C. 238. Hostlers not to receive masterless men, rebels at the horn, vagabonds, or other persons guilty of known crimes, under the penalties set forth in 1655, c. 13 356 (1661). — C. 238. Constables to arrest vagabonds, sturdy beggars, and Egyptians .......... 356, 505 (1661). — C. 333. Coalmasters not to give more than 20 merks a year as wages. Coalhewers and workmen to work six days a week . . 364 INDEX OF STATUTES. 689 Charles II. (1663). — C. 52. Eecites and ratines c. 74 of the 6th Parliament of James VI., c. 268 of the loth Parliament of James VI., and fi. 10 of the 22nd Parliament of James VI., and ordains that persons or societies who have set up manufactories may seize vagabonds found begging, and employ them in their service .... 356, 364 Charles II. (1672). — C. 42. An Act for establishing correction houses for idle beggars and vagabonds 357 James VII. (1686). — C. 22. The magistrates of Edinburgh to lay down effec- tual ways for freeing and purging the streets, wynds, and closes of the numerous beggars which repair in and about them . . .357 William (1695). — C. 64. Idle, loose, and vagabond persons, without wives or children, to be compelled to serve as soldiers .... 358 (1695) . — (C. 74. All Acts of Parliament, and Acts and proclamations of Council, for maintaining the poor and repressing beggars, ratified, approved, and revived, and ordained to be put in immediate execution 357 (1696) . — C. 23. Sheriffs to cause vagabonds to be seized for service in the army 358 (1696). — C. 29. Acts, &c, for maintaining the poor and repressing beggars ratified; supervisors to be appointed to enforce them . . . 357 (1698).— C. 40 Acts again ratified 357 1700. Overtures for providing the poor and repressing beggars, remitted to the Committee for security to bring in an Act . . . .358 1700. Petition from Eoxburgh that the laws already made be put in exe- cution for maintaining the pocr in ilk shire, and restraining idle and vagrant persons . . . .358 1701. Acts, &c, for maintaining the poor and repressing beggars, &c, ratified. Heritors to provide and lay down rules for the main- tenance of the poor * 358 8 & 9 Victoria (1845). — C. 83, s. 70. Destitute persons to be relieved although having no settlement in the parish to which they apply . 364 17 & 18 Victoria (1854). — C. 74. To render Eeformatory and Industrial Schools in Scotland more available for the benefit of vagrant children. (Repealed 24 & 25 Vict. c. 132, s. 9) 284, 372 17 & 18 Victoria (1854). — C. 86. For the better care and reformation of youthful offenders in Great Britain. (Repealed 29 & 30 Vict. c. 117, s. 37) 372 18 & 19 Victoria (1855).— C. 87. To amend the Act for the better care and reformation of youthful offenders, and the Act to render Reformatory and Industrial Schools in Scotland more available for the benefit of vagrant children. (Repealed 29 & 30 Vict. c. 117, s. 37) . . 372 19 & 20 Victoria (1856). — C. 28. To make further provisions for rendering Reformatories and Industrial Schools in Scotland more available for the benefit of vagrant children. (Repealed 24 & 25 Vict. c. 132, s. 29) 372 19 & 20 Victoria (1856).— C. 109. To amend the mode of committing criminal and vagrant children to Reformatory and Industrial Schools. (Re- pealed 29 & 30 Vict. c. 117, s. 37) 372 24 & 25 Victoria (1861).— C. 117, s. 37. Repeals 17 & 18 Vict. c. 86 ; 18 & 19 Vict. c. 87 ; 19 & 20 Vict. c. 109. 24 & 25 Victoria (1861). — C. 132. To consolidate and amend the law relating to Industrial Schools in Scotland. Repeals 17 & 18 Vict. c. 74; 19 & 20 Vict. c. 28. (Repealed 29 & 30 Vict. c. 118, s. 3) . . 288 25 & 26 Victoria (1862).— C. 10. To continue 24 & 25 Vict. c. 132, until January 1, 1867. (Repealed 29 & 30 Vict. c. 118, s. 3) . . . 287 25 & 26 Victoria (1862).— C. 101, s. 331. Vagrants, beggars, &c, in towns, under the Act, to be apprehended and, upon conviction, imprisoned. 365 28 & 29 Victoria (1865). — C. 56. Persons lodging in any premises, or en- camping or lighting a fire on or near any enclosed land without the * One peculiarity distinguishes the old Scotch statutes prior to the Union, which is this, that those statutes lost their force by desuetude, that is, by mere lapse of time, coupled with neglect or non-observance, or at least with a contrary usage. — Chambers. Y Y 690 INDEX OF STATUTES. PAGE consent of the owner or occupier, liable to a penalty of 20s. or four- teen days' imprisonment for a first offence, and 40s. or twenty-one days' imprisonment for a subsequent offence 366 29 & 30 Victoria (1866).— C. 118. To consolidate and amend the Acts relating to Industrial Schools in Great Britain. Repeals 24 & 25 Vict. c. 132 ; 25 & 25 Vict. c. 10 287 34 & 35 Victoria (1871). — C. 112, s. 14. To authorise the children of women convicted of crime for a second time to be sent to Industrial Schools. (Repealed in part 39 & 40 Vict. c. 20, s 5) 288 39 & 40 Victoria (1876).— C. 79, ss. 11-16. To authorise children habitually neglected by parents, or habitually wandering, to be sent to a certified efficient school, and in case of non-compliance to a Day Industrial School. To permit the establishment of Day Industrial Schools . 289 IRELAND. Senchus Mob. (Great Law Compilation), (438-441). — Alms prevent the period of a plague, the suspension of amity between a king and his country, and the occurrence of a general war 374 No labourer, fuidhir, imbecile vagrant, shepherd, cowherd, or cart-boy, to be distrained in a decision about debts 375 Notice of one day to be served on a vagrant before removing him . . 375 Corus Bescna {Customary Law). — Regulations regarding refections connected with charity and duty ......... 375 Penalty on persons who entertain fugitives 376 Book of Aicill [Ancient Irish Criminal Law), (circa 650). — Regulations re- lating to compulsory hospitality 377 Penalties against those who feed proclaimed persons .... 378 Responsibility for sheltering a violator of the King's laws . . . 379 Crith Gabhlach (circa 1300-1325). — Rights of chiefs as regards compulsory hospitality .379 3 Edward II. (1310).— C. 1. To restrain great lords from taking prises, lodging, or sojourning against the will of the owner. (Repealed 9 Geo.lV. c. 53, s. 1) 383 3 Edward II. (1310). — C. 2. Against idle men and kearns being kept in times of peace to live upon the poor of the country. (Repealed Stat. Law. Rev. (I.) Act, 1878) 382 18 Henry VI. (1440). — C. 3. No lord or other to charge the King's subjects with horses, horsemen, or footmen, without their good wills. (Re- pealed 9 Geo. IV. c. 53, s. 1) 384 25 Henry VI. (1447).— C. 7. The sons of labourers and travailers of the ground to labour as their fathers and parents have done. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (1) Act, 1878) 384 28 Henry VI. (1450). — C. 1. No marcheour or other man to keep more horse- men or footmen than they shall answer for and maintain upon their own charges. (Repealed 10 & 11 Charles I.c.6) . . . . 385 28 Henry VI. (1450). — C. 3. To make it lawful for every liege man to kill or take notorious thieves. (Repealed 10 Geo. IV. c. 34, s. 1) . . 386 5 Edward IV. (1465). — C. 2. To make it lawful to take, kill, and decapitate thieves. (Repealed 10 & 11 Charles I. c. 6) 387 10 Henry VII. (1495).— C. 4. No Parliament to be held in Ireland till the Lieutenant and Council certify the King's licence in affirmation thereof and to summon the said Parliament. (Repealed 28 Hen. VIII. c. 4 & 20. Explained 3 & 4 Ph. & M. c. 4. Repealed 11 Eliz. 1 & 8. Finally repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act (I.), 1878) .... 387 10 Henry VII. (1495). — C. 22. All English statutes concerning the public weal enacted up to this time to be deemed good and effectual in law, and to be accepted, used, and executed in Ireland. (Extended by 21 & 22 Geo. HI. c. 48 (Ir.) Repealed so far as it extended certain enact- ments as to Parliamentary elections by 35 & 36 Vict. c. 33, sch. 6 . 3S7 INDEX OF STATUTES. 691 PAGE 33 Henry VIII. (1542).— C. 15. Against vagabonds. (Repealed 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 30) 391, 393, 395, 411 33 Henry VIII. (1542). — C. 9. Wages by the day of artificers and labourers, to be proclaimed by the justices at every Easter, and Michaelmas sessions. (Eepealed 5 Geo. IV. c. 95, s. 1, and 6 Geo. IV. c. 129, s. 2.) 390 11 Elizabeth (1569). — C. 4. Five persons of the best and eldest of every nation amongst the Irishrie to bring in all the idle persons of their surname. (Repealed 10 & 11 Charles I. c. 6, s. 1) . . . . 391 11 Elizabeth (1569).— C. 5, Sess. 1. To make perpetual 33 Hen. VIII. c. 9. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1878) ...... 391 10 & 11 Charles I. ( 1634-35). — C. 4. For erecting houses of correction and for the punishment of rogues, vagabonds, sturdy beggars, Egyp- tians, and other lewd and idle persons. (Repealed 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 30) 392, 395, 411, 506 10 & 11 Charles I. (1634-35).— C. 6. Repeals 28 Hen. VI. c. 1 ; 33 Hen. VI. c. 3 ; 5 Edw. IV. c. 2 ; and 11 Eliz. c. 4. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1878) 393, 400 10 & 11 Charles I. (1634-35). — C. 16. For suppressing cosherers and idle wanderers. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1878) . . 340, 393 7 William III. (1695). — C. 21. For the better suppressing tories, robbers, and rapparees. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (Ireland) Act, 1878) . 396 9 William III. (1697).— C. 9. To amend 7 Will. III. c. 21. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (Ireland) Act, 1878) 396 2 Anne (1703). — C. 19. To erect a workhouse in the city of Dublin for employing and maintaining the poor, and to relieve, regulate, and set to work all vagabonds and beggars. (The corporation hereby created dissolved by 1 Geo. II. c. 27; repealed 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 11, s. 1) 397, 412 6 Anne (1707). — C. 11. Against vagrants and pretenders to be Irish gentle- men wandering about. (Repealed 28 Vict. c. 33) . . . 399, 405 2 George I. (1715).— C. 17. To empower justices to determine disputes about wages. Ministers and churchwardens of a parish empowered to bind out any child begging, or any poor child to a Protestant housekeeper or tradesman. (Repealed in part 54 Geo. III. c. 116, s. 1 ; 9 Geo. IV. c. 53, s. 1 ; 5 & 6 Vict. c. 97, s. 2 ; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 113, s. 69, in general terms and leaving parts of ss. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1878-79; 400 6 George I. (1719). — C. 12. To continue and amend the Acts for suppress- ing tories, robbers, and rapparees. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1878) . . _ 396, 401 8 George I (1721). — C. 9. To continue and amend the Acts for suppressing tories, robbers, and rapparees. (Repealed 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 9) . 401 10 George I. (1723).— C. 3, s. 17. The Lord Mayor of Dublin may make rules for the beadles to clear the city, &c, of beggars, and inflict a fine of 10s. for each breach. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1878) 402 1 George II. (1727). — C. 27, s. 30. Workhouse authorities, or any five of them, empowered to cause beggars and vagrants to be seized ; and any fifteen of them may sentence them to confinement in the work- house for not longer than four years. Corporation created by 2 Anne, c. 19, dissolved. (Repealed 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 29) 402 3 George II. (1729). — C. 14. All contracts or bye-laws in unlawful clubs of tradesmen for advancing wages to be void. (Kepealed in part 54 Geo. III. c. 116, s. 1 ; 6 Geo. IV. c. 129, s. 2 ; and 9 Geo. IV. c. 53, s. 1 ; residue by Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1878) .... 405 3 George II. (1729). — C. 17, s. 4. One member of the workhouse board empowered to exercise the powers delegated to five by 1. Geo. II. c. 27, and beadles, bell-hours, and constables neglecting to apprehend beggars liable to a fine of 20s. (Repealed 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 29) 402, 407 5 George II. (1731). — C. 14, s. 12. Vagrants and beggars committing dis- orders in the workhouse to be committed to Bridewell. (Repealed 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 29) . 403 Y Y 2 692 INDEX OF STATUTES. 9 George II. (1735).— C. 6, ss. 2, 3, 4. Loose, idle vagrants, and all loose persons of infamous lives and characters, on presentment or on war- rant, may be committed to the county gaol till they can be sent on board the fleet or to the plantations in America. Continues 7 "Will. III. c. 21 ; 9 Will. III. c. 9 ; 6 Anne, c. 11 ; part of 11 Geo. II. c. 9. (Re- pealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1878.) 405 9 George II. (1735). — C. 25, s. 15. Enacts provisions similar to 3 Geo. II. c. 17, s. 4, for the city of Cork. (Spent. Local.) .... 403 19 George II. (1745). — C. 21, s. 11. Repeats provisions of 3 Geo. II. c. 17, s. 4. (Repealed 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 11.) 402 23 George II. (1749). — C. 11, s. 10. Beggars and vagrants labouring under offensive disorders, rendering them offensive to the sight, and danger- ous to health, to be sent to the workhouse. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) . . . . . . . ^ . . .406 3 . George 111.(1763). — C. 34, ss. 23, 24. Combinations to raise wages or the price of labour or workmanship in linen, cotton, or any other manufacture to be punished. (Hepealed 6 Geo. IV. c. 122, s. 1, and Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 407 11 & 12 George III. (1771-2;. — C. 9. Repeals 8 Geo. I. c. 9. 11 & 12 George III. (1771-2).— C. 11, ss. 13, 14, 15. No vagabond or strol- ling beggar to be sent to the workhouse. Beadles, bellowers, and constables to arrest vagrants under a penalty of 20s. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 407, 412 11 & 12 George III. (1771-2). — C. 18, s. 40. Combinations to raise wages or price of labour in the city of Cork to be .punished. "Wages to be settled every Easter sessions. (Repealed 15 & 16 Vict. c. 142, s. 1). 408 11 & 12 George III. (1771-2).— C. 29. Repeals 1 Geo. II. c. 27 ; 3 Geo. II. c. 17 ; 5 Geo. II. c. 14 ; 2 Anne, c. 19 ; 19 Geo. II. c. 21. (Re- pealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879). 11 & 12 George III. (1771-2).— C. 30, ss. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10. Corporations for the relief of the poor to grant badges to the helpless poor who have resided one year in their district, and to grant them a licence to beg. "Workhouses to be established for the relief of the poor. Repeals 33 Hen. VIII. c. 15 ; 10 & 11 Charles I. c. 4 . 409, 410, 411, 418, 420 11 & 12 George III. (1771-2). — C. 33. Combinations of journeymen tailors and shipwrights to raise wages in the city of Dublin to be punished. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 408 13 & 14 George III. (1773-4).— C. 46, ss. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 21. Beggars in Dublin may be sent to the House of Industry. News-cryers, shoe- cleaners, basket- carriers from market, and vendors of small wares in Dublin without licence may be committed as vagabonds. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 410, 411 15 & 16 George III. (1775-6). — C. 25. Poor children above one year old not to be received into the Foundling Hospital. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) _ 412 19 & 20 George III. (1779-80).— C. 19, s. 2. Making bye-laws or orders for regulating or advancing the price of labour to be evidence of un- lawful combination. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1878) . 408 19 & 20 George III. (1779-80).— C. 27. Journeymen in the city of Cork only to be whipped after conviction by a jury. Amends 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 18. (Never repealed, but no longer in force because the Act which it amends is repealed) 408 19 & 20 George III. (1779-80).— C. 36. Combinations to fix the price of labour amongst those concerned in the provision trade in Dublin to be punished. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (1.) Act, 1879) . . .408 21 & 22 George III. (1781-2).— C. 22. To amend 19 & 20 Geo. III. c. 36. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 409 21 & 22 George III. (1781-2).— C. 45. Sums raised for providing for the impotent poor and beggars under 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 30, and which have not been applied to the purposes of the Act, to be applied to the purposes of the county. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 410 INDEX OF STATUTES. G93 23 & 24 George III. (1783-4).— C. 54. To continue 21 & 22 Geo. III. c. 22, to the year 1786. (Repealed Stat. Law Eev. (I.) Act, 1878) . 409 23 & 24 George III. (L783-4).— C. 58. Subscribers to the chariiable pur- poses mentioned in 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 30, declared to be members of the Corporation erected by the Act. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 410 27 George III. (1787).— C. 57. To enable the Corporation of the Poor in Dublin to acquire and take lands within two miles of the Castle for the purposes of the House of Industry. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 410 30 George III. (1790). — C. 32. To render the transportation of felons and vagabonds more easy. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) . 413 31 George III. (1791). — C. 44. Continues 6 Anne, c. 11. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) 413 35 George III. (1795).— C. 36, ss. 27, 28, 35. Any person harbouring a rogue or vagabond to be liable to a fine of £50 for a first offence, and £100 for every subsequent offence. Superintendent magistrates or constables, &c, may enter ale-houses, &c, and apprehend journey- men, apprentices, servants, or labourers drinking or gaming at un- seasonable hours. (Repealed 48 Geo. III. c. 140, the marginal reference in which Act is wrong) . . . . . .413 36 George ITI. (1796).— C. 20, ss. 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 30, 31, 32, 34. Strangers may be arrested and examined on oath as to their place of abode, &c. Persons found out of their place of abode one hour after sunset to sunrise, if not out for a lawful purpose may be sent on board the navy as recruits. (Repealed 47 Geo. III. sess. 2, c. 13) . . 414, 415 37 George III. (1797). — C. 34. To empower the Corporation of the House of Industry to choose seven governors until May 1, 1798, any three or more of whom are to have the sole management. (Amended by 40 Geo. III. c. 40) 410 37 George III. (1797).— C. 38, s. 5. Persons taking unlawful oalhs liable to be sent to serve in the army or navy. (Repealed 47 Geo. III. Sess. 2, c. 13) 415 38 George III. (1798). — C. 21, s. 4. Persons found in possession of arms, or offensive weapons, to be deemed disord. rly persons. (Repealed 47 Geo. III. Sess. 2, c. 13) 415 38 George III. (1798). — C. 34. To continue the seven governors of the house of industry in office until May 1, 1799. No beggar to be dis- charged without the consent of three governors. (Continued and amended by 39 Geo. III. c. 38 ; 40 Geo. III. c. 33 ; 50 Geo. III. c. 192. Obsolete, left unrepealed by Stat. Law Rev. Act (I.), 1879, as being local) . . 410, 416 38 George III. (1798). — C. 35. Nine persons named in the Act to be appointed as governors of the house of industry with power to elect officers at salaries not exceeding £990 in the aggregate. (Continued by 39 Geo. III. c. 38. Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) . . .410 39 George III. (1799).— C. 38. To continue 38 Geo. III. c. 34, and 38 Geo. III. c. 35, until May 1, 1800, and thence to the end of the next session of parliament. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879) . 410 40 George III. (1800).— C. 33. To continue and amend 38 Geo. III. c. 34., aggregate salaries may be increased to £1,190. (Amended by 50 Geo. III. c. 192. Repealed in part Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act, 1879; residue local) 410 40 George III. (1800).— C. 40. To amend 37 Geo. III. c. 34, by empower- ing the Lord Lieutenant to appoint not more than five governors of the House of Industry instead of seven. (Amended by 41 Geo. III. c. 50, and 1 Geo. IV. c. 49. Local) 410 41 George III. (1801).— C. 50. To amend 40 Geo. III. c. 40, by empower- ing the five governors to elect three others. (Repealed 50 Geo. III. c. 192) 410 46 George III. (1806).— C. 95. Where any member of a Corporation for the 694 INDEX OF STATUTES. Poor shall make it appear to any judge of assize that a greater sum should be levied than the sums mentioned in 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 30, and 23 & 24 Geo. III. c. 58, the grand jury shall present such sums up to not less than £400 nor more than £500 for any town, nor less than £500 nor more than £700 for a county. (Repealed Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1872) 410 47 George III. (1807).— Sess. 2, c. 13. Repeals 36 Geo. III. c. 20 ; 37 Geo. 111. c. 38 ; 38 Geo. III. c. 21. 48 George III. (1808). — C. 140. Night-walkers to he treated as vagrants and if children to he apprenticed. Repeals 35 Geo. III. c. 36. (Re pealed in part 5 Geo. IV. c. 102, ss. 6, 15, 20, 23 ; Stat. Law Rev Acts, 1872 (No. 2.), 1873) 416 50 George III. (1810).— C. 192. To amend and continue 38 Geo. III. c 34, and 40 Geo. III. c. 33. Repeals 41 Geo. III. c. 50. . . .410 54 George III. (1814).— C. 116, s. 1. Repeals in part 2 Geo. I. c. 17; 3 Geo. II. c. 14. 54 George III. (1814). — C. 128. To amend the several Acts for regulating the Foundling Hospital in Dublin, and to empower the governors to suspend the admission of infants for six months in the year. . 412 1 George IV. (1820). — C. 49. To amend the laws relating to the House of Industry in Dublin, and to empower the Lord Lieutenant to appoint one governor only with a salary not exceeding £500 per annum, in whom all the powers of former governors are to be vested. The Lord Lieutenant may appoint visitors to meet quarterly and report to him 410 5 George IV. (1825).— C. 95, s. 1. Repeals 33 Hen. VIII. c. 9. 5 George IV. (1825).— C. 102, ss. 6, 15, 20, 23. Repeals 48 Geo. III. c. 140, in part. 6 George IV. (1826).— C. 122. Repeals 3 Geo. III. c. 34. 6 George IV. (1826).— C. 129, s. 2. Repeals 33 Hen. VIII. c. 9 ; 3 Geo. II. c. 14, in part. 9 George IV. (1829).— C. 53, s. 1. Repeals 3 Edw. II. c. 1 ; 18 Hen. VI. c. 3 ; 28 Hen. VI. c. 3 ; 3 Geo. I. c. 17 in part ; 3 Geo. II. c. 14 in part. 10 George IV. (1830).— C. 34, s. 1. Repeals 28 Hen. VI. c. 3. 1 & 2 Victoria (1837).— C. 56, ss. 3, 59. Houses of Industry and Found- ling Hospitals to be under the direction and control of the Poor Law Commissioners. Persons deserting their wives or children to be liable to three months' hard labour. (Repealed 2 & 3 Vict. c. 1, s. 10 ; 6 & 7 Vict c. 92, ss. 9, 10 ; 10 & 11 Vict. c. 31, ss. 16, 17 ; 10 & 11 Vict. c. 84, s. 1 ; 10 & 11 Vict. c. 90, ss. 9, 13 ; 12 & 13 Vict. c. 104, ss. 2, 12 ; 25 & 26 Vict. c. 83, s. 13 ; 31 & 32 Vict, c. 49, s. 15 ; Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1874, No 2.) . . . 410, 419, 421 2 & 3 Victoria (1838).— C. 1, s. 10. Repeals 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, in part. 5 & 6 Victoria (1842).— C. 97, ss. 2, 9, 10. Repeals 2 Geo. I. c. 17, in part. 6 & 7 Victoria (1843).— C. 92, ss. 9, 10. Repeals 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, in part 10 & 11 Victoria (1847).— O. 31, ss. 16, 17. Repeals 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, in part. 10 & 11 Victoria (1847). — C. 84. For the punishment of vagrants and persons offending against the laws in force for the relief of the desti- tute poor in Ireland. (The first 8 sections of this Act are still law. The last section (9) is repealed by Stat. Law Rev. Act, 1875) . . 421 10 & 11 Victoria (1847).— C. 90, ss. 9, 13. Repeals 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, in pari. 12 & 13 Victoria (1849).— C. 104, ss. 2, 12. Repeals 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, in part. 15 & 16 Victoria (1852).— 0. 142, s. 1. Repeals 11 & 12 Geo. Ill c. 18. 16 & 17 Victoria (1853).— C. 113 s. 69. Repeals 2 Geo. I. c. 17, in general terms. 25 & 26 Victoria (1862).— C. 83, s. 13. Repeals 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, in part. 28 Victoria (I8b5). — C. 33. Repeals 6 Anne, c. 11. INDEX OF STATUTES. 695 PAGE 31 & 32 Victoria (1868).— C. 25. To extend the Industrial Schools Act (29 & 30 Vict. c. 118) to Ireland 426 31 & 32 Victoria (1867-8).— C. 49, s. 15. Repeals 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, in part. Stat. Law Rev. Act (1872). Repeals 46 Geo. III. c. 95 Stat. Law Rev. Act (1872^, (No. 2), (1875). Repeals 48 Geo. III. c. 140, in part. Stat. Law Rev. Act (1874) (No. 2). Repeals 1 & 2 Vict. c. 56, in part. Stat. Law Rev. Act (1875). Repeals s. 9 of 10 & 11 Vict. c. 84. Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act (1878). Repeals 3 Edw. II. c. 2 ; 25 Hen. VI. c. 7 ; 11 Eliz. c. 5, sess. 1 ; 10 & 11 Car. I. c. 6 ; 10 & 11. Car I. c. 16 ; 7 Will. III. c. 21 ; 9" Will. III. c. 29 ; 2 Geo. I. c 17 ; 6 Geo. I. c. 9 ; 6 Geo. I. c. 12 ; 10 Geo. I. c. 3 ; residue of 3 Geo. II. c. 14 ; 9 Geo. II. c. 6 ; 19 & 20 Geo. III. c. 19 ; 19 & 20 Geo. III. c. 36 ; 21 & 22 Geo. III. c. 22; 23 & 24 Geo. III. c. 54. Stat. Law Rev. (I.) Act (1879). Repeals 23 Geo. II. c. 11 ; 3 Geo. III. c. 34 ; 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 11 ; 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 30 ; 11 & 12 Geo. III. c. 33; 13 & 14 Geo. III. c. 46; 15 & 16 Geo. III. c. 25; 21 & 22 Geo. III. c. 45 ; 23 & 24 Geo. III. c. 58 ; 27 Geo. III. c. 57 ; 30 Geo. III. c. 32 ; 31 Geo. III. c. 44 ; 38 Geo. III. c. 35 ; 39 Geo. III. c. 38 ; 40 Geo. III. c. 33, in part. WALES. Venedotian Code (circa 1080). — Book I. c. 34, s. 11. Gwestva dues of the land-maer 434 Book II. c. 2, ss. 12, 14. The men of Arvon privileged as to payments for guests. The privileges of Arvon ....... 434 Dimetian Code (circa 1180). — Book II. c. 8, s. 13. Harbouring of a guest . 430 Book II., c. 17, s. 49. Caption fee for a fugitive bondman . . . 432 Book III. c. 3, s. 8. The bondman to be valued as a beast . . . 433 Gwentian Code (circa 943). — Book I. c. 4. Of the king's retinue . . . 434 Book II. c. 39, s. 46. Fine for an offence against a homeless beggar . 432 Sundry or Anomalous Laws. — Book V. c. 2, s 111. Description and worth of an adventitious and a domestic bondman 433 Book VI. c. 1, s. 72. Description of a serving bondman .... 433 Book IX. c. 35, s. 1. Guardians required for custody of guests . . 431 Book X. c. 8, s. 8. The nine nights of the guest house a nine of law . 431 Book X. c. 13, s. 1. Uchelwrs permitted to rule their bondmen accord- ing to conditional bondage in South Wales, and perpetual bondage in Gwynedd 433 Book XI. c. 1, s. 12. Punishment for feeding a food-forbidden man . 434 Book XL c. 2, s. 2. Conventional bondmen may be sold or given by their lords 433 Book XIV. c. 2, s. 3. As to exonerating a guest 431 Book XIV. c. 3, s. 31. The king's Gwestva cow ..... 434 Book XIV. c. 10, s. 6. The lord's Gwestva dues from his man . . 434 Book XIV. c. 12, s. 7. As to exonerating a guest . 431 Book XIV. c. 12, s. 11. As to exonerating a guest 431 Book XIV. c. 15, s. 6. As to exonerating a guest 431 Book XIV. c. 15, s. 22. As to exonerating a guest 431 Book XIV. c. 16, s. 9. Guardians appropriate for lawful guests . . 431 Book XIV. c. 21, s. 3. As to an arddelw of custody of guests . . . 432 Book XIV. c. 21, s. 14. As to an arddelw of custody of guests . . 432 Book XIV. c. 30, ss. 1, 2, 3, 4. Of theft absent, for which an arddelw is not had, and against which guardians are to be had . . . .432 BORDER LAWS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. Henry III. of England and Alexander II. of Scotland (1249).— C. 3. Me- thods of recovering fugitive vassals or bondmen .... 32 Edward VI. of England and Mary of Scotland (1549).— C. 7. Murderers, 696 INDEX OF STATUTES. PAGE thievep, robbers, runaways, rebels, or other evil-doers whatsoever flying from one country to the other to be delivered up within ten days after the presentation of a letter of requisition . . . . 97 Elizabeth of England and James VI. of Scotland (1586). — None of the broken borderers to keep in their company any idle persons not employed in any honest service or trade ; no idle persons to be suf- fered to remain in the border villages or ale-houses . . . .130 ISLE OF MAN. 9 Henry V. (1422). — No man of whatever condition to go out of the island without licence of the lord or his- lieutenant 441 Chapmen and shipmen to have licence to go to England . . . .442 Tenants or servants not to be taken out of the island without licence of the lieutenant on pain of forfeiture of the vessel in which they are conveyed, &c. All Scots to avoid the land. No man to bring beggars or vagabonds into the island on pain of forfeiture of his boat . . 442 3 Elizabeth (1561). — No alien coming into any haven with merchandise or otherwise to pass further without licence on pain of forfeiture of his goods and imprisonment. Irish women loitering and not working commanded forth of the isle, and no boat hereafter to bring any such persons into the isle on pain of forfeiture 442 7 James I (1609). — To fix the wages of ploughmen, drivers, horsemen, tailors, woollen and linen weavers, fullers, masons, carpenters, shipwrights, hoopers, slaters, thatchers, and blacksmiths ..... 443 4 Charles II. (1664). — Persons conveying natives out of the island without special licence to be fined, and servants leaving without licence to be proceeded against. Refractory servants to be punished by imprison- ment and spare diet. Vagrant servants to be punished. Male ser- vants not to be compelled to serve unless engaged in winter time, and female servants within a reasonable time of summer . 445, 446 5 Charles IT. (1665). — The poor not to beg out of their own parish, if they do they are to be warned back ; if they neglect or refuse they are to be compelled and whipped, and if they continue disobedient they are to be taken to gaol until they declare themselves conformable. None but blind, lame, maimed, decrepid, or other infirm persons are to be relieved. Young and sound persons are to labour or otherwise made to serve as servants, or else be committed until they submit . . 446 Apprentices to enter into surety to serve for five years, and when out of time not to take apprentices themselves for one year, nor to marry for one year without special licence . . . . . . .447 7 Charles II. (1667). — To fix the wages of ploughmen, drivers, horsemen, household fishermen, men servants, and shepherds. Refractory ser- vants to be imprisoned and dieted. Persons not to have the benefit of choice children except with the approbation of the jury of servants 449 10 Victoria (1846). — C. 40. Masters of vessels bringing over paupers or vagrants to be imprisoned until they enter into sureties to maintain the pauper or vagrant while in the island, and to convey him back to the port from whence he was brought. (Repealed 1870) . . 451 47 & 48 Victoria (1884).— C. 40. To enable Manx children to be sent to Reformatory or Industrial Schools in Great Britain. INDEX OF STATUTES. 697 CHANNEL ISLANDS. Jersey. PAGB Charles II. (1669). — Letters Patent of Charles II. providing for the setting to work of poor and idle people ....... 454 George III. (Code of 1771). — Provision to be made in each parish for the maintenance of the poor ......... 455 As to Mendicants. Infirm poor people may be licensed to beg in their own parish only. Those who beg outside their parishes may be punished ........... 455 Persons giving alms to those forbidden to beg may be fined . . 456 Strangers may not take children chargeable to the parishes out of the island under a penalty of £50 ...... 456 The able-bodied poor over thirteen years of age may be let out . 456 As to Strangers. No inhabitant to receive a stranger for more than one night without giving notice to the constable . . . .456 Constables to report the arrival of strangers to the Governor . . 456 Strangers not to be allowed to remain in the island or to marry the women of the country without permission of the Governor . 456 As to Tavern-keepers. Tavern-keepers to reserve at least two beds for strangers, and not to tolerate drunkards, blasphemers, vagabonds, idlers, and persons of bad repute. Nor to harbour young men or servants, or to permit the poor to drink beyond their means . 457 Guernsey. Henry VIII. (1534). — No one to harbour a stranger under a penalty of sixty sols 458 1537. Poor strangers who cannot live without begging to quit the country under pain of scourging. All native beggars to beg in their own parish ........... 458 1537. The sheriff to note the names of all passengers who arrive in vessels, and see that they return whence they came . . . .458 1542. All young men and women living by themselves, to take service by next All Saints' day ......... 459 Elizabeth (1566) . — Orphans or destitute children of poor persons to be appren- ticed or sent to England ......... 459 1566-7. Strange servants not to be received into service without a licence . 459 1566-7. No masters of vessels to put on shore passengers without per- mission 460 1583. Banished criminals to quit the island under pain of capital punishment 460 1588-9. Vagabonds, idlers, &c, who are strangers to quit the island within forty days after being ordered . . . . . .461 1588-9. No strangers to let lodgings, keep a tavern, &c 461 1588-9. No strangers to be permitted to marry and settle. . . . 462 1588-9. No strangers to be permitted to live in the island without giving sureties from inhabitants .462 1588-9. No young children or others of more mature age to go begging ; their relations are to support them. If they have none, or if they are too poor, the constable is to take charge of them . . . .462 1597. Persons who languish in their homes without the means of solicit- ing charity to be supported at the common cost . . . .463 James I. (1611). — No person to beg without a licence ..... 4b3 1611. Constables, &c. to make a rate for the relief of the poor . . . 463 Charles II. (1684-5). — Ordinances relating to the poor and mendicants re- enacted 464 LAW TEXTS CITED. England. — Ancient Laws and Institutes of England. In 1 vol. fol. Printed by Command. 1840. The Statutes of the Eealm to the end of the reign of Queen Anne, from original Records and authentic Manuscripts. In 11 vols. fol. Printed by Command. 1810—1822. The Public General Acts to the present time. Published by Authority. Scotland. — The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland from 1124 to 1707. In 12 vols. fol. Printed by Command. 1844—1875. Ireland. — Ancient Laws of Ireland. In 4 vols. 8vo. Published under direction of the Commissioners. 1865 — 1879. The Statutes at large passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland from 1310 to 1801. In 20 vols. fol. Published by Authority. 1786—1801. Wales. — Ancient Laws and Institutes of "Wales. In 1 vol. fol. Printed by Com- mand. 1841. The Borders. — Leges Marchiarum, or Border Laws. In 1 vol. 8vo. By W. Nicolson. 1705. Isle of Man. — The Ancient Ordinances and Statute Laws of the Isle of Man. In 1 vol. 8vo. By M. A. MiUs. 1832. Statute Laws of the Isle of Man promulgated since the year 1836. In 1 vol. 8vo. By J. Gell. 1848. Jersey. — A Codex of Law for the Island of Jersey. In 1 vol. 8vo. 1771. Guernsey. — Approbation des lois, coutumes et usages de Tile de Guernesey. In 1 vol. 8vo. 1822. INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL VARIETIES OF BEGGARS AND ROGUES DEPICTED IN THE HISTORY. I. — Beggars. (1) Afflicted Classes. ■Accident suflPei'Gi'S from 3X1 Blind, 45, 55, 72, 223, 233, 361, 371, 556, 577, 590, 591, 608, 611, 634, 651, 667. {Orickisses) 545 Blind harpers {Platschierers), 546 Cnpples, 45, 72, 81, 178, 184, 234, 361, 371, 542, 557, 584, 587, 589, 591, 605, 608, 610, 611, 616, 621, 634, 637, 643. {Billies-in-the-Bowl) 634; (Klenkners) 545 ; {Pietres) 520 Deaf and dumb, 179, 312, 361, 653. (Ascioni) 558 ; {Bummer ers) 596, 598, 605, 619 Demoniacs or madmen, 56, 172. {Abraham men) 340, 593, 596, 604, 619; {Spiritali) 564 ; ( Voppers) 545 Fits, sufferers, from, 81, 221, 605, 651. {Accadenti) 558 ; {Counterfeit Cranks) 587, 596, 598, 604, 619 ; {Grantners) 545 ; {Sabouleux) 521 Invalids, 55. {Butzers) 545 Jaundice, sufferers from {Schweigers), 546 Lame beggars, 556, 589 Lepers, 46, 51, 81, 83, 338, 344, 576, 590. Female lepers {Jungfrauen) 546 Lying-in women, 223. {Butzbetterins) 546 Maimed persons, 55, 179, 188, 371, 569, 571, 587. {Pietres) 520 Malingerers {Malingreux), 520 Pregnant women, 220. {Bil-wearers) 546 Scurvy, sufferers from {Callots), 520 Sores, bites, &c, sufferers from, 81, 188, 220, 406, 571, 590, 611, 621. {Accaponi) 558 ; {Attarantati) 558; {Clapper dudgeons) 47 '3, 585, 602, 615; {Flowches) 81; {Francs mitoux) 520; {Low gaggers) 630; {Palliards) 476, 477, 594, 597, 619; {Seffers) 546; {Washmen) 594 Weepers {Allacrimanti) 558 (2) Distressed Classes. Apprentices, 262, 294 Beggars, ordinary, {Bregers) 545;. {Caimands and Caimandes) 521; {Crumb-foxes) 382; {Shoulers) 425; {Stocachs) 394; {Truands) 80; {Westours) 35, 42, 63, 64, 439 TOO INDEX OF BEGGARS AXD ROGUES Beggars, naked or in rags, 264, 312, 571, 586, 588, 608, 609. (Blichsc-hlahers) 545 ; (Coechini) 558 ; (Folissons) 520 ; (Schivanfelders) 545. Bluegowns, 99, 361, 590 Bread and butter lurkers, 312 Calenderers, 312 Captives, prisoners, or slaves released, 81, 587, 634. (Acaptosi) 557; (Lossners) 54o ; (Sbrici) 564 Children, 45, 221, 322, 323, 548, 587, 590, 616, 623, 635, 638, 642, 650, 659, 667 ; [Kinchen or Kitchen Coes and Mortes) 594, 596, 619 ; (Lullaby Cheats) 619 Colliers, 312, 323, 650 Cotton spinners, 312, 650 Countrymen, 258 Family men, 312, 642. (Affamiglioli) 559 Fire, ^etims of, 311, 361, 611. (Demanders for Glimmer or Glimmerers) 596, 599, 619 ; (Brugiati) 564 ; (Riffaudes) 520 ; (Ruffiti) 564 Foreigners, 312 Frozen-out gardeners or watermen, 312, 634, 662 Merchants or tradesmen broken down, 641, 646. (Kandierers) 546 ; (Jfercandier*) 520 Negroes, 221, 247, 637 Xoolemen or knights or gentlemen broken down. (Highflyers) 312, 641, 648 ; (TJbern S'onzen Ganger) 546, 547, 549 Orphans, 642. (Orphelins) 520 Sailors shipwrecked or distressed, 127, 220, 224, 249, 250, 311, 322, 323, 610, 634, 641, 664. (Xightingales of Xewgate) 81 ; (Whipjaclcs) 593, 596, 598, 619 Scholars or students, 60, 61, 62, 73, 81, 107. (Kammesierers) 545 Servants out of place, 258, 312 Soldiers discharged, 126, 216, 308, 309, 371, 595, 608, 610, 613, 634. (Dtil/es, Xarguois, Fa sse volants) 521; (Formigotti) 564; (Katherans) 337 ; (Kearns) 383; (Rufflers) 82, 593 (3) Religious Classes. Appurtenances of Religion : Church mendicants, 219. (Dobissers) 545 Flour for the Host, seekers for (Affarinati), 559 Exorcisers (Yagiereren), 545 Godfathers, seekers for (Comparizzanti), 559 Miracle mongers (Admiranti), 558 Miraculous water vendors (Lotori), 559 Oil for church lamps, seekers for (Allampadati), 559 Pardoners, 74, 562, 577, 587, 590, 591 Pregnant women, advisers of (Calcidiarii), 559 Relic vendors (Reliquiarii), 559 Converts : Jews, 649. (Iucchi) 559 Jewesses (Veramrin), 546 Penitents : St. Anthony's {Bur&hart), 546 Bread eaters (Appezzenti), 558. (Stabulers) 545 For enormities (Ajfarfanti), obi Hangmen {Dallingers), oio Manslayers (Suntvegers), 546 Pilgrims : Devotees of St. Hubert (Hubins), 521 Image bearers of saints (Acconii), 558 Pilgrims proper (Christianiers Calmierers), 546. (Coquillards) 521 ; (Falsi Bor- doni) obi Professors of Religion : Bedesmen with a bell (Morghigeri), 559 DEPICTED IN THE HISTORY. 701 False monks (Afrati), 557. (Curtails) 582, 594, 619 (Fraters) 593, 596, 598, 604, 619, 653 False prophets (Felsi), 557 False descendants of the Apostle Paul (Pauliani), 559 False priests, 87. (Patriarcos), 474, 476, 496, 595, 596, 599, 604, 615, 619. (Spettrini) 559 II. — Rogues and Vagabonds. Cheats or Sharpers: Barrators, 49, 336 At "buckle and thong, 625 Coney catchers, 583 Versers to the coney catcher, 583 At cups and hall, 625 At fast and loose, 346, 584 Fawney riggers, ring droppers or fallers, 248, 505, 595, 630 At hook and snivey, 628 Levanters, 631 At luck in a bag, 625 Money lenders (Mutatori), 558 Pinchers, 628. (Cagnabaldi) 558 Purse tricksters, 653 Snitchers, 628 Sweetners, 625 Testators (Testatori), 560 Thimble riggers, 275 Three-card men, 312, 652 Sham or Vagabond Employments: Air balloon carriers, 312 Bawdy baskets, 596, 599, 619 Ballad singers, 249, 295, 323, 361, 525, 634, 636. (Bards) 35, 339 ; (Chaimter Culls) 627 Bearwards, 107, 111, 128, 180, 199, 202, 235, 237, 324, 392, 528 Cab touters, 312 China menders, 295, 323 Crossing sweepers, 267, 634, 636, 662 Fencers, 39, 107, 112, 115, 121, 128, 180, 199, 202, 392 Fiddlers, 162, 499, 501, 615, 637 Flower sellers, 220, 547, 659 Irish toyle, 594, 619 Jockies or strolling minstrels, 346, 359 Jugglers, 107, 180, 199, 202, 346, 392, 484, 527 Petty hawkers, 126, 128, 245, 295, 323, 364, 369, 370, 371, 542, 650. (Coney- skin dealers) 154, 599; (Glassmen) 126, 154; (Muggers) 370; (Potmen) 154; (Swadlers or Swigmen) 594, 596, 619 Match carriers, 312, 651 Minstrels, 35, 64, 87, 107, 128, 162, 180, 199, 202, 323, 346, 359, 361, 525, 527 Picture carriers, 312 Flying porters, 630 Quack doctors, 248, 312, 324, 479, 631, 641, 644 Rag sellers, 248, 323 Saffron sellers (Crociarii), 559 Sham leggers, 630 Staff-strikers or cudgel-players, 53 Soap vendors, 249 Tale-tellers, 96. 346 ; (STcelaghes) 390 Tinkers, 95, 126, 295, 323, 371, 504, 528, 584, 594, 596, 598, 603, 617, 638 Umbrella repairers, 249, 295, 323, 528 Walking morts, 596, 599 702 INDEX OF BEGGAES AND KOGITES. Fortune Tellers : Gypsies, 498, 502 Sham gypsies, 247, 249, 312, 527, 619. {Tolliban rig) 629 Professors of Palmistry and Physiognomy, 74, 75, 128, 180, 199, 202,235, 236, 392 Prostitutes: 253, 263, 271, 293, 294, 295, 297, 298, 324. {Bells) 596, 606, 608, 619 ; {Doxies) 594, 596, 597, 599, 605, 606, 608, 610, 611, 614, 615, 619, 632; {Fylloks) 80; {Gyllots) 469 ; {Autem morts) 594, 596, 602, 606, 614, 619; {Walking morts) 596, 599, 615 Prowlers for Girls : {Apple squires) 583; {Rodeurs de Jilles) 518 Eapparees and Tories, 396, 399, 403 Thieves : Highwaymen, 39, 579, 580. {Chosen, pells) 630; {Dingers) 631 ; {High lawyers) 582, 607; {Padders) 582; (Prigmen or Prigs) 593, 619; {Roberdesmen) 42, 52, 58, 580; {Royal scamps) 627; {Rufflers) 82. 593 Housebreakers, 265, 275, 298. {Drawlatches) 42, 55, 58 ; {Ken crackers) 627 ; {Little snakesmen) 628 Makers and utterers of false coin, 506, 633. {Queer bit makers), 627; {Smashers) 295, 479 Pickpockets, 607, 619. {Filers) 623; {Foists) 583,585; {Stall to a foist) 583; {Kiddy nippers) 627 ; {Reader merchants) 629 Reivers, 340, 349 Rogues, 579, 596, 597, 606, 647. {Bianti) 560 ; {Capons) 521 ; {Sack divers) 631 ; ( Wild rogues) 594 Servants or shopmen with false characters {Courtauds de boutanche), 520 Thieves in general, 80, 87, 249, 276, 293, 294, 295, 296, 300, 583. (Academy buz nappers) 631; {Bleating rig) 630; {Blue pigeon flyers) 627; {Clinking) 631 ; {Dining-room post) 629 ; {Dobin rig) 630 ; {Fidlum Ben) 627 ; {Fowl stealers) 275, 580, 605, 606, 607, 619, 656, 657, 658 ; {Hedge creepers) 80 ; {Hookers or anglers) 596, 619; {Kibbers) 627; {Kid rig) 631 ; {Lifters) 583, 623; {Limmers) 350 ; {Long gang) 296 ; {Losels) 80 ; {Lumpers) 628 ; {Lusks) 80 ; {Michers) 80 ; (Peterers) 629 ; {Poachers) 263, 275 ; {Prad borroivers) 628 ; {Priggers of pal- freys or prancers) 593, 607, 619; {Rum draggers) 630; {Running snavellers) 631; {Rushmen) 629 ; {Sneaks) 628 ; {Starrers of the glaze) 629 Instructors of Thieves : {Cagous) 519 ; {Falpatori) 559 Retired Thieves : {Archisuppots) 520 Upright men, 583, 593, 619 "Writers of begging letters or petitions, 649. {Jack or jar km en) 594, 596, 599, 604, 619 GENERAL INDEX. A. B., an anonymous vagrant, evidence of, 257 Abbeys, suppression of, 83 A'Becket, Thomas, edict against bis "Welsh sympathisers, 27 Aberdeen, scholars of the University of, forbidden to beg without licence, 34 6 idle persons in, 348 A'-agrancy in the county of, 366 Abraham men, 340, 593, 596, 604, 619 Academy Buz-nappers, description of, 631 Acaptosi, or pretended redeemed slaves, 557 Accadenti, or sham epileptics, 558 Accaponi, or Italian palliards, 558 Acconii, or image-bearers of saints, 558 Actors. See Players Admiranti, or reciters of false miracles, 558 iEromancy, prediction by, 77 ^Ethelstan, reign of, 9 Affamiglioli, or family man, 559 Affarfanti, or feigned penitents, 557 Affrati, or false monks, 557 Affarinati, or beggars for flour, 559 Aged poor, relief of, 108, 462 Ages of vagrants, average of, 298 Agricultural labourer, 43, 47, 51, 53, 54, 57, 59, 63, 64, 66, 71, 101, 107, 150, 154, 164, 173, 177, 243, 252, 263, 317, 360, 384, 385, 390 nomadic habits of, 329, 330 Agriculture in Scotland, former state of, 360 Aicill, book of, regulations of, 377, 378 Aill of Beneurling, court held upon, 441 Albans, St., blind impostor at, 557 Algerine beggars, 634 Allacerbanti, or Italian " upright men," 559 Allacrimanti, or weepers, 558 Allampadati, or beggars for oil, 559 Alectromancy, prediction by, 77 Alehouses, 38, 98, 126, 130, 152, 153, 162, 184, 188, 212, 217, 219, 247, 293, 457, 539 576, 585, 587, 588, 593, 596, 601, 602, 605, 609, 614, 618, 621, 624, 632, 637 punishment of vagrants lodging in, 235 excess of, in Ireland, 395 Alexander II. of Scotland (1214—1249), border law in the reign of, 32 Alfred, King, law of, 6 almsgiving by, 9 Alfric, or JEifric, Archbishop of York (circa 965-1051), homily of, 12 Aliens without a licence forbidden in Guernsey, 461 in the Isle of Man, 442 in Jersey, 457 Alms for the poor, collection of, 95, 98, 99, 100, 128 preventing the period of a plague, 374 Almsgiving, evils of indiscriminate, 652 prohibition of, 67, 68 American tramp, 654 Ammianus Marcel] inus on the Atta- cotti, 3 Andrew's, St., scholars of the university of, forbidden to beg without a licence, 346 Anglers or hookers, 596, 619 Anglo-Saxon laws, 5 — 16 Anne, Queen, 178, 397 Anty Brignal and the begging Quaker, 637^ Appezzenti, or bread-eaters, 558 Apprentice, the idle, 262 Apprentices in Dublin, regulation of the wages of, 409 in Guernsey, 459 in the Isle of Man, 447, 448 Apprenticing children of labourers for- bidden, 64 704 GENEEAL INDEX. Archisuppots, or retired leading thieves, 520 Armstrong, Johnnie, the freehooter, 342, 591 Army, compulsory service in, 146, 358 Arson, crime of, 13, 191, 298, 313 Artificers absenting themselves from service, punishment of, 48, 50, 51, 59 regulation of wages of, 70 Ascioni, or Italian dummerers or idiots, 558 Asser (d. 910), on King Alfred, 9 Attacotti, or Aitheach-Tuatha, 3 Attarantati, or persons who pretend to be bitten, 558 Attremanti, or tremblers, or shivering Jemmies, 558 Augury, prediction by, 74 Austria-Hungary, beggars and vaga- bonds in, 547 Autem mort, the, 594, 596, 602, 606, 614, 619 A u vergne, thieves from, 22 Bauen, mendicity and vagrancy in, 543 Badges to be worn by beggars in Eng- land, 99, 101, 174, 175 in Ireland, 410 in Scotland, 330 " Bagford Ballads," extracts from, 616, 622 Ban-apadh, or white proclamation, mean- ing of, 376 n. Bang beggar, nature of the, 419 Banishment of English vagabonds, 106, 129, 133, 141, 143, 165, 180, 182, 185 Guernsey, 461 Irish, 400, 401, 402, 403, 406, 413 Scotch, 336, 338, 340, 356 Gypsies. 488 Banquets, ancient Irish, connected with charity and religion, 375, 376 Barclay, Alexander (1475—1552), extract from the " Ship of Fools," 586 Bards in Ireland, 394 in Scotland, 339, 340, 344, 347, 348 in Wales, 35, 63, 64, 439 Bark, stealers of, deemed rogues, 205 Barns frequented by beggars, 71, 153, 597, 600, 603, 613, 620, 624, 663 Barrators, punishment of, 49, 336 Basset, Balph, thieves hanged by, 23 Bastard children, penalty for deserting, 141, 238, 250 Bath, beggars at, 109, 112, 129, 197, 263 Bawdy basket, the, 596, 599, 619 Bavaria, mendicity and vagrancy in, 543 Beadles, 52, 104, 105, 170, 184, 226, 273, 402, 407, 604, 622, 647 abuses by, 184 Bearbaiting, 111, 147, 193, 237 Beard of the Innocents, sale of the hair of, 590 Bearwards in England, 107, 111, 128, 180, 199, 202, 235, 237, 324 n. France, 528 Ireland, 392 Bede, the Venerable (672 — 735), on charity, 12 on English slavery, 6 Bee, Jon (John Badcock), extract from "A Living Picture of London," 638 Beg, licence to, in England, 74, 83, 92, 95, 99, 100, 108 Scotland, 341 Beggars abroad. See Austria-Hungary, Baden, Bavaria, Belgium, Bu- charest, Denmark, France, Fin- land, Germany. Hamburg, Hol- land, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Revel, Eussia, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Sweden, Turkey banishment of. See Banishment Beggar boy, what a, buys, 659 Beggars at Bristol, 176 Bush, 604 carried home in triumph, 421 Beggar catcher in Peeblesshire, 361 Beggars' Chorus, 616 infesting the court, 72, 78 Beggar, the Cunning Northern, 609 derivation of the word, 470 Beggars, description of, in "Peers Ploughman," 55, 405, 576, 587 preferring to be diseased, 98, 187 in Edinburgh, 353, 357 gains, 177 216—225, 233, 324 in general, 214, 576, 578, 580, 585, 616 618, 626 ~ in Guernsey, 458, 462, 463, 464, 465 Mr. Joshua Gee on, 186 Sir Matthew Hale on, 168 Beggars, harbouring of, forbidden in the Border counties, 130 in England, 68, 74, 153 in France, 522 in Guernsey, 458 in Ireland, 391 in the Isle of Man, 448 in Jersey, 456 in Scotland, 347 Beggars, Italian, in England, 303 in the Isle of Man, 451—455 in Jersey, 457 in London. See London. proclamations against, 78, 95, 97, 121 GENEEAL INDEX. 705 Beggars, punishment of, in England, 60, 67, 68, 73, 81, 89, 90, 94, 99, 100, 106, 109, 117, 119, 121, 128, 133, 135, 136, 148, 153, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 174, 179, 180, 190, 197, 199, 202, 235, 236, 238, 602, 615, 622, 623, 636, 639, 642, 648, 651 punishment of, in Guernsey, 458, 461, 462, 463, 464 in Ireland, 391, 392, 398, 399, 401, 427 in the Isle of Man, 446 in Jersey, 455 in Scotland, 337 Beggars, rieh, 660 Beggar, the song of the, 607 Beggars' songs, 601,604, 607, 609, 611, 613, 616, 618, 620, 622, 631 Stanley's remedy for, 136 stark, in Scotland, 341 Beggar, statement of a, 651 street sellers, 650 Beggars, sturdy, 53, 82, 93, 104, 106, 108, 117, 121, 129, 137, 161, 165, 172, 174, 179, 180, 187, 190, 201, 471, 576, 587, 589, 593, 597, 609, 622, 633, 671 the Supplication for, 72 and Vagrant Impostors, 633 and their Vanities, 586, 589 to be sent to Virginia, 141, 143, 144 in "Wales, protection of homeless, 432, 438 ■whipping of. See Whipping Begging, 71 friars, 480, 576, 587, 590 letter in 1542, 592 letters, charges for, 649 letter impostors, 663 letter writer, the, by Dickens, 645 Beghards, 470 Beguines, 470 Bell-hour, or bellower, signification of, 402 Belgium, beggars and vagrants in, 510 Belistre, signification of, 519 Bethlehem. Hospital, a sham collector for, pilloried, 65 ■warning issued by, against sham lunatics, 172 Berkshire system of repressing vagrancy, 319 Betting men to be punished as rogues and vagabonds, 235, 236, 238 Bianti, the tricks of, in Italy, 560 Bibblesworth, Walter de, directions by, for laying the table, 45 Bidale prohibited, 79, 439 Billy in the bowl, the, 634 Bil-wearers, or pretended pregnant women, 546 Bishop to remonstrate with persons ne- glecting to give alrns, 98, 100 Black death, ravages of the, 42 Blackmen beggars, 221, 247 Bleating rig, description of, 630 Blome, John, indicted as a vagabond, 39 Blickschlahers, or naked beggars, or shallow coves, 545 Blind beggars, 45, 51, 108, 182, 223, 233, 361, 371, 590, 667 Blind impostors 182, 577, 591, 611, 634, 651 Bluebeard, a captain of rogues, 579 Blue pigeon flyer, description of, 627 Bo-aire, chief privileges of, 378 Bonaght, an Irish exaction, 388 Bondmen, English, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 32, 43, 47, 50, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58, 88, 113 sale of, out of the country forbidden, 19 manumission of, 88, 113 Scottish, 334, 335 Welsh, 432, 433 Border laws, 32, 97, 130 Borh, signification of 13, n. Bot, signification of, 9, n. Bradford (Yorkshire), stocks at, 48 Branding, punishment of, in England, 51, 90, 125, 133, 138 in France, 518 in Scotland, 338 Breakfast, or edraugh, an Irish exaction, 393 Bregers, or beggars, in Germany, 545 Brehon laws, the, 373 Brignal, Anty, and the begging Quaker, 637 Brine, George Atkins (1812—1881), a noted vagrant, letters from, 639 — 645 Brislington, prohibition of the relief of vagrants at, 198 Bristol, complaint from, regarding Irish vagrants, 148 treatment of beggars at, 176, 187, 240 Britain, origin of the name, 1 n. Brittany, extract from the ancient cus- tomary of, 381 n. Brome, R. (4. 1652), extracts from " A Jovial Crew," 612 Brugiati, or burnt (Italian demanders for glimmer), 564 Bucharest, mendicity at, 569 Bull-baiting, 147, 193 Burkhart, or St. Anthony's penance, 546 Burning through the ear, punishment of, 106, 121, 344, 345 Burns, Robert (1759— 1796), extractfrom the " Jolly Beggars." 631 Z Z 706 GENERAL INDEX. Bury St. Edmunds, distribution of alms at, 84 | Butchers in Dublin, regulation of the wages of, 409 Burton-on-Trent, treatment of the poor at, 174, 202 Buxton, diseased poor forbidden to resort to, without licence, 109, 112, 129 Cade, Jack, rebellion of, 66 Cadgers' resort, a, by Pierce Egan, 635 Cagnabaldi, or exchangers, in Italy, 558 Cagous, or master thieves, in France, 519 Calcidiarii, or advisers of pregnant women, 559 Callots, or sufferers from scurvy, 520 Calot, Kyt, mistress of Giles Hather, 585 Cambrensis, Giraldus (circa 1146 — 1219), extracts from, relating: to Ireland (a.d. 1185). 28, 115, 379 relating to Wales (a.d. 1188), 435 Cambridge, scholars of, begging without licence to be punished, 73, 107 plays at, 193 vagabonds at, in 1555, 99 Cant language, 245, 466—479, 623 origin of, 466 first specimen of, 467 Capons, or sharpers, in France, 520 Captives, redeemed, 545, 557, 564, 587 Cardinals robbed, 39 Cary, John, on the treatment of beggars, 176 Casual wards, 250, 253, 255, 256, 269, 274, 276, 277, 291, 295, 296, 301 robberies planned in, 258 Catherans deemed rebels, 337 Cattle, importation of Irish, into Eng- land forbidden, 396 Caulfield, James, extract from, 626 Censerie, an oppressive tax, 24 Ceorl, condition of the, 18 the fugitive, 7 Certificate, false begging, 127 Channel Islands, vagrants from, in Eng- land, 278, 281 penalty on masters of vessels bring- ing vagrants or beggars from, 182 Chapman, the, in Anglo-Saxon times, 5, 6 Chapmen, petty punishment of, 107, 128, 154, 200, 202, 235, 236 Charitable contributions, punishment of collectors of, under false pre- tences, 235, 236 Charity Organization Society, 303, 327 Charles I., reign of, in England, 147 in Ireland, 392 in Scotland, 354 Charles II., reign of, in England, 163 remarks on the poor, 166 in Ireland, 395 in Scotland, 355 Charles VIII. of France, 518 Chaucer, Geoffrey (1345 — 1402), extracts from, 576, 577 Cheke, Sir John (1514 — 1557), as a Mem- ber of Parliament, 89 extract from the ' ' Hurt of Sedicion,' ' 92 Chelsea, George, imposture of, 64S Children of beggars in England, 83, 91, 95, 108, 159, 168, 169, 176, 178, 185, 190, 191, 208, 213, 214, 216, 217, 218, 221, 223, 224, 225, 236, 246, 284—290, 296, 303, 312, 314, 322, 323, 587, 590, 594, 611, 615, 616, 619, 621, 623, 628, 633, 634, 635, 638, 642, 650, 651, 659, 664, 667 Ireland, 398, 401, 404, 407, 410, 416, 423, 426, 427 Scotland, 344, 347, 350, 354, 365 Children to be apprenticed to the sea, 179 begging, their tricks, 178, 221, 246, 659, 664 desertion of, 180, 185, 199, 202,235, 236, 250 in industrial schools, 284 — 290 Italian, in England, 303, 304 Chosen Pells, description of, 630 Christallomancy, prediction by, 74 Chris tianiers Calmierers, or pretended pilgrims, 546 Christmas haymaker, a, 663 Churchwardens to collect alms for the relief of the infirm poor, 82 Clack dish, the beggar's, 46 Clans, certain Scottish, denounced as thieves, 349 Clapper dudgeon, the, 473, 585, 602, 615 Clarendon, the assize of, 25 Clidomancy, prediction by, 74 Clinking, description of, 631 Clothing of vagrants, 241, 262 Cnut, King, reign of, 13 Coal heughs, vagrants employed in, 351, 356, 357, 364 Cocchini, or tattered rogues, 558 Cock Lorrell, a captain of rogues, 584 extracts from, 593 Coesre, signification of, 519 Coigny in Ireland, 383, 385, 388 in Scotland, 335 Coinage of small money established, 145 Collection of alms for the impotent poor, 82, 95 Collectors for gaols, hospitals, punish- ment of fraudulent, 128, 199, 202 Colquhoun, P. (1745— 1820), on beg- ging, 213, 214 GENERAL INDEX. 707 Comedians. See Players Commission of Elizabeth for the en- franchisement of villeins, 113 of Charles I. for putting into execu- tion the laws for the relief of the poor, 151 Commitments for vagrancy in England, number of, 206, 241, 246, 673 in Scotland, number of, 370 Commons, House of, committees on va- grancy and poor removal, 183, 198, 206, 216,228, 251, 278, 306. Commortha. See Cymmortha. Comparizzanti, or searchers for god- fathers, 559 " Complete Mendicant," extract from the, 624 Concealment of property by vagrants, 275 Coney-catching, explanation of, 583 " Confessions of an Old Almsgiver," extracts from, 651 Conjurations, enchantment, and witch- craft, punishment of, 134, 135 Constables, 42, 44, 47, 48, 49, 54, 58, 73, 81, 91, 96, 101, 108, 115, 116, 117, 129, 133, 137 141, 143, 149, 153, 159, 161, 165, 166, 172, 177, 178, 181, 182, 186, 187, 188, 197, 198, 203, 230, 237, 244, 250. 253, 255, 258, 275, 279, 280, 285, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 318, 320, 321, 327, 328, 331, 354, 355, 356, 363, 365, 367, 402, 407, 413, 414, 446, 447, 453, 455, 456, 458, 459, 463, 469, 48S, 489, 496, 500, 601, 602, 606, 613, 622, 633, 637, 662 Constabulary Commissioners report on vagrancy, 244 Conveyance of beggars and vagrants, 178, 180, 207, 215, 216, 224, 229, 241 Coopers in Dublin, regulation of the wages of, 409 Copland, Robert, author of " The Hye- way to the Spytielhouse," 79, 467 Coquillards, or pretended pilgrims, 521 Corilomancy, prediction by, 77 Cornish language, the, 2 Cornish place, or Llan Cerniw, 2 Correction, houses of. See Houses of Correction Corns Bescna, or customary law, regula- tions of, in Ireland/ 3 7 4, 375 Coscinomancy, prediction by, 77 Coshering an Irish exaction, 16, 379, 390, 393, 394, 400 Council, the Privy-, action and orders of, 97, 102, 103, 112, 119, 122, 124, 133, 141, 142, 143, 144, 148, 149, 155, 460, 490 Z Court, the, infested by vagabonds, 72, 78 Courtauds de Boutanche, or servants or _ shopmen with false characters, 520 Cowdiddle Jenkin, a captain of rogues, 580 Cozeners and shifters, the company of, 595 Crank the Counterfeit, 596, 598 Cripples, begging, 45, 51, 182, 184 sham, 584, 587, 5S9, 605, 60S, 610, 611, 616, 621, 634. 637, 643 Crith Gabhlach, extracts from, 379, 380, 381 Crociarii, or fraudulent saffron-sellers, 559 Crocus. Sec Quack Doctor Crocussing rig, description of, 631 Cromwell, Thomas (1490 — 1540), letter regarding the gypsies, 487 Crosbiter, Lawrence, a captain of rogues, 583 Cross, begging like a cripple at a, 45, 46 Crumb fox, signification of, 382 Cuddy, an Irish exaction, 385 Cumberland, system of repressing men- dicity in, 321 Cumhal, explanation of, 377 Cunning northern beggar, the, 609 Curtail, the, 582, 594, 619 Cymmortha, a Welsh exaction, 35, 63, 79, 439 Cymry, or Welsh, the, 2 Cyprus, King of, robbed, 53 Dacre, Lord, payment of Scottish out- laws by, 342 Dactilomancy, prediction by, 77 Daggers or dirks, persons in possession of, in Ireland, deemed vagabonds, 415 Daisy Kicker, description of, 627 Dallingers, or pretended hangmen, 545 David II. of Scotland, reien o', 337 Davis, Sir John (1569—1626), on Irel ind, 383, 388 Deaf and dumb impostors, 178, 312, 653 Death, punishment of, for vagabondage in England, 91, 94, 107, 121. 129, 130, 133, 135, 145 in Scotland, 340, 344, 345, 34S in Guernsey, 461 Defoe, Daniel (1661—1731), extracts from works of, 190, 624 Dekker, Thomas {d. 1641), works of, 144, 467, 600, 621 Dell, the, 596, 606, 608, 619 Demander for glimmer, description of, 596, 599 Demon feasts in Ireland, nature of, 375 Denier, signification of, 607 Denmark, beggars and vagabonds in, 509 Denville, Sir Gosseline, his robberies, 39 70S GENERAL INDEX. Depots de Mendicite in France, 523, 524, j 532 Derby, household order against vagrants, '121 Earls of, as kings of Man, 441, 442, 445, 447 Derg-apadh, or red proclamation, mean- ing of, 376 Desertion of wives or children in Eng- land, 180, 185, 199, 202, 235, 236, 238, 250 in Ireland, 419, 421 Desmond, Earl of, beheaded, 387 devastation caused by, 596 Devil, the, would not be refused relief at EIrk Michael, 451 Dickens, Charles (1812—1870), on the begging letter writer and tramps, 645 Dimetian Code, laws of the, 430, 432 Dingers, description of, 631 Dining-room post, description of, 629 Disease voluntarily preferred by beg- gars, 98 Dobin-rig, description of, 630 Dobissers, or church mendicants, or image-bearers of saints, 545 Doctors, quack, or crocuses. See Quack Doctors Dogs, vagabonds with, in Scotland, 339 in Ireland, 393 Dommerer, the, 596, 59S, 605, 619 Dopfers, or church mendicants, or image- bearers of saints, 545 Dorset svstem of repressing vagrancy, 318 Douglas, house of, excesses of. 342 Isle of Man, beggars in, 452 Doxies, 594. 596. 597, 599, 605, 606, 608, 610, 611, 614, 615, 619, 632 Drawlatches, vagabonds so called, 42, 55, 58 ~ Dreams, prediction by, 78 Drilles, or disbanded soldiers, 521 Drink, evil of, in Guernsey, 464 Drinking among beggars and vagabonds, 71, 82, 187, 219, 220, 233, 234, 247, 257, 258, 262, 295, 296, 297, 326, 5S0, 581, 582, 5S8, 590, 592, 597, 605, 6*09, 610, 614, 618, 620, 621, 631, 634, 637, 643 Dublin, beggars in, 397, 398, 399, 402, 403, 406, 407, 411, 412, 413, 414, 416, 420 workhouse in, 397, 398, 402, 410, 411, 414, 420 picture of, in 1818, 416 Duffe, King, reign of (968—972), 336 Dunbar, William (1460—1520), extract from a general satire, 588 Dunstan, St. (d. 98S), influence of, 12 Dunkirk privateers, 610 Dutton, John, exemption in favour o the heirs of, 109, 129, 133, 148 182, 201, 202 origin of the privileges granted to the heirs of, 109 n. Dutzbetterins, or lying-in women. 546 Dutzers, or pretended invalids, 545 Dwellings, overcrowding in, forbidden, 122, 139 Eadiuc, King of Kent, laws of, 5 Earnings of the working classes, 316, 317 Ears of vagabonds to be burnt through, 106, 121, 344, 345 to be cut. off, 74, 82, 339 to be nailed to the trone and cut off, 339 Eaught and Edraugh, Irish exactions, 393 Ecclesiastical institutes on alms -riving, 12 Ecgbert, Archbishop of York, ordinances of, 8, 21 Edinburgh, vasrants in, 343, 353, 357 Edgar, King, laws of, 12 Edmund, King, laws of, 11 Edward the Confessor, laws of, 14, 15, 27 Edward I., reign of, 34 IE, reign of, 39 II. , robbed by Sir Gosseline Den- ville, 40 IE, poem on the evil times of, S4 III. , reign of, 40 III., impecuniosity of, 53 III., introduces the practice of feed- ing and clothing the poor on Maunday Thursday, 52 IY., reign'of, 67, 3S7 VI., reign of, 89 Egan, Pierce (1772—1849), extract from u Life in London," 635 Eglintoun, beinrars at the funeral of the Earl ot"T360 Elizabeth, reign of, 100, 391, 490 annoyed by beggars, 119 Elizabeth, St., beggars, company of, 555 End gatherers to be deemed rogues, 186 Entertainment of guests in Wales, 430, 435, 436, 437, 438 Epilepsy, simulation of, 81, 221, 521, 545, 55S, 587, 596, 598, 604, 605, 619, 651 Erasmus (1467-1536) on astrology, 77 Ere the ground, labourers in Ireland ceasing to, 3S4 Erse, derivation of cant words from the, 473 Essex justices' letter to the Council re- garding Irish beggars, 148 Evcaf, department of the, in Turkey, 572 Fairs frequented, by vagrants, 251, 268, 275, 498, 499, 597 GENERAL INDEX. 709 Falpatori, or instructors of young thieves, 559 Falsi Bordoni, or pretended pilgrims, 557 Families, punishment of persons neglect- ing to support their, in England, 180, 185, 200, 202, 212, 235, 236, 238, 250 in Ireland, 419, 421 Famine, the Irish, 259, 266, 422 Farms, union of, forbidden, 78 Fast and loose, a cheating s;ame amongst vagrants, 346 n., 584 Fawney rig, description of the, 630 Feathers of the Holy Ghost, ^ale of, 590 Feigned fools in Scotland, 339, 340 Feitors, punishment of, 58 Felsi, or false prophets, 557 Female slaves, traffic in, 14 Fencers in England, 39, 107, 112, 115, 121, 128, 180, 199, 202 in Ireland, 392 Fiddlers, punishment of, 162 Fidlum Ben, description of, 627 Fielding, Henry (1707 — 1754), on beg- gars, 203 Finland, beggars in, 568 Fire, punishment of persons pretending losses by, 129, 235 Fish, Simon [d. 1531), the "Supplica- tion for beggars," 72 Fish, order for the consumption of, on certain days, 112, 124 Fits, imposition by means of feigned. See Epilepsy FitzStephen (d. 1191), description of London, 33 Fletcher, Andrew, of Saltoun (1653— 1716), on Scottish vagabonds, 359 Fletcher, John (1576 — 1625), extractfrom the "Beggars' Bush," 604 Flying porter, description of, 630 Fly ma, signification of, 10 n. Folk-right, signification of, 10 n. Food collected by vagrants, 220, 247, 249, 250, 262, 264, 276, 293, 294, 453, 545, 5o8, 590, 605, 613, 616, 621, 623, 632, 635, 637, 643, 648, 649, 661 Foolish beggars and their vanities, 586, 589 Foot scamp, description of, 627 Forest laws, the, 30 Formigotti, or pretended soldiers, 564 Fortune-tellers, punishment of, in Eng- land, 199, 202, 235, 236 in Scotland, 346 Fortune-telling, 134, 135, 247, 249, 498, 502, 619 Forty hours, begging in Italy during the, 557 Foundling hospital in Dublin, 398, 410, 412 Foxe, John (1517-1587), extract from acts and monuments, 577 France, beggars and vagabonds in, 517 thieves from, 22 Francois I., reign of, 519 Francs mitonx, 520 Frater, 593, 596, 598, 619, 653 Fraternity of vagabonds, extract from the, 593 Free borgh or frith borg, signification of, 10 n. Freshwater mariner, description of, 250 Froissart, Jean (1337-1410), on the reign of Richard II., 63 Frozen-out beggars, 662 Frum-tihtle, signification of, 13 n. Fugitives forbidden to bo harboured in England, 9, 10, 11, 13, 19, 20, 26, 29, 68 in Ireland, 376 in Scotland, 347 Fuller, Thomas (1608—1661), rendering bv, of Grower's versds on the re- bellion of Wat Tiler, 57 on the hospitality of abbeys, 85 Gaberlunyie man, the, 590 Gaels, arrival of the, in England, 1 Gaelic, derivation of cant words from the, 473 Gallowglass, the, in Ireland, 382 Game, persons in pursuit of, in England deemed vagabonds, 209 persons shooting at, in Scotland deemed vagabonds, 343 Gay, John (1688—1732), extracts from " Trivia," 184 Gee, Joshua, on the treatment of beggars and vagrants, 186 GemSt, signification of, 6 n. " Gentleman"s Magazine," extracts from, 191, 213, 215, 360, 661 Geomancy, prediction by, 77 George L, reign of, 183, 400 II., „ 192, 402 in., ,, 204, 407 IV., „ 228, 409 Germany, vagrancy and mendicity in, 535 Gervase of Canterbury \fi. 12th cent.), extract from, 27 Gesithman, signification of, 7 n Gickisses, or blind beggars, 545 Gilbert's Act for the better relief and employment of the poor, 208 Giles's, St., beggars in, 218, 635, 638 Glasgow, scholars of the University of, forbidden to beg without licence, 346 Glassmen classed as rogues, 133, 154 Glaze, starring the, description of, 629 710 GENEEAL INDEX. Glimmer, the demander for {or Glim- merer), 596, 599, 619 Gloucester system of repressing vagran C} T , 321 Gloucestershire, bands of outlaws in, 42 Godly banquets in Ireland, nature of, 375 Gower, John (1325 — 1403), verses on the rebellion of Wat Tiler, 57 Grantners, or knaves with the falling sickness, 545 Grand jury of Middlesex, presentment of, against beggars, 201 Gray, Lord, complaints of the soldiery in Ireland, 388 Gregory, St., and English slaves, 6, 115 Gringoire Pierre, the ragged, starveling poet of Notre-Dame de Paris, 519 Grogham, description of, 627 Grose, Francis (1731 — 1791), on beggars and vagrant impostors, 633 Guernsey, laws of, 457 poor, removal of, from England, 227, 237 Guests, custody and entertainment of, in Wales, 430 Gwentian Code, laws of, 432, 434 Gwestva, nature of, 16, 434, 439 Gwestwr or Westour, the, 35, 63, 64, 439 Gwilym, Dafydd ab, the " Welsh Pe- trarch " (1340 — 1400), extract from, 471 Gypsies, Acts against, in England, 72, 97, 102, 486, 489, 490, 603 in Ireland, 393 in Scotland, 344, 346, 352, 355, 356 Gypsies, first appearance in England, 485 Gypsies, arrest of, ordered, 103, 490 counterfeit, 247, 249, 312, 495, 584 counterfeit, punishment of, 129, 180, 199, 202, 235 deportation of, to Norway, 488 description of, in 1858-59, 496—502 fortune-telling by, 498, 502 in France, 525, 528, 531 language of, 245 language of, derivation of cant words from, 475, 479 letter from Thomas Cromwell re- garding, 487 malpractices of, 491, 492, 493, 494, 498, 499, 501, 502, 505, 506 masque of the metamorphosed, 603 names by which they are known, 483 origin of the, 483 punishment of, in England, 488, 490, 491, 492 punishment of, in Ireland, 393 punishment of, in Scotland, 344, 352, 354, 355 Gypsies in Scotland, 371 Gypsyries at Wandsworth, 503 Hackball, a notorious Dublin beggar, 412 Hale, Sir Matthew (1609—1676), on thieves and beggars, 168 Hallam, Henry, on monastic charity, 85 Hamburg, beggars and vagabonds in, 542 Hants, system of repressing vagrancy, 326 Harbouring of vagrants forbidden in England, 53, 68, 94, 108, 153, 201, 202 in Scotland, 347 in Ireland., 393 Harbouring of fugitives in Ireland, penalty for, 376, 379 in Wales, 434 Harman, Thomas {d. 1569), Extracts from the " Caveat for Cursetors," 71, 466, 468, 477, 595 Harrington, a cant name for a farthing, 146 Harrison, William (d. 1594), extracts from his ''Description of Britain," 88. 119, 129, 336, 466 Harse, William, begging letter from, in 1542, 592 Harvesting, certain labourers allowed to leave their homes for that pur- pose, 47, 49, 200 Hawick, a great centre of crime, 343 Hawkers. See Pedlars Head Act, the, in Ireland, 387 Head, Eichard, extract from the "Eng- lish Eogue," 618 Hempen manufacture in Ireland, regu- lation of wages in the, 407 Hedge pulling, punishment for, 205 Heidelberg, ordinance at, forbidding students to carry arms, 349 Henri II., reign of, in France, 519 Henry I., laws of, 20 II. , reign of, 25 III. „ 31 . IV. „ 63 V. „ 65 VI. „ 65, 384 VII. „ 67, 387 VIII. „ 70, 390, 486 Hervey, James (1714 — 1758;, extract from, 671 Hext, Edward, letters of, regarding vagabonds and gypsies, 125, 491 Highlands of Scotland, vagabonds in, 344, 348 ? 349, 359 Highwaymen in England, 39, 53, 173, 192 " Histrio Mastix," by William Prynne, extract from, 156 GENERAL INDEX. 711 HlothEere, King of Kent, laws of, 5 Hoblors in Ireland forbidden to be quar- tered on the inhabitants, 384 Hohn stein in Saxony, house of correc- tion at, 331 n. Hulland, beggars and vagi ants in, 513 Holy Ghost, sale of the feathers of, 590, 666 Holy ground, the, in St. Giles's, 635 Hone, William (1779—1842), extract from the "Table Book," 637 Hooded men in Ireland forbidden to be quartered on the inhabitants, 384 Hook and Snivey, with Nix the buffer, description of, 628 Hooker or angler, the, 596, 619 Horn, rebels at the, 352, 354, 356 Horse races frequented by vagrants, 251, 268, 292, 297, 498, 501 Horses and hounds, vagabonds with, in Ireland, 393 Scotland, 339 Hospitals, abuses in the administration of, 65 attracting poor country people to London, 256 Hospitality, Anglo-Saxon, 9, 15 Irish, 377, 379 Scotch, 335, 360 Welsh, 435, 436 Hostlers in Scotland forbidden to receive vagabonds, 354, 356 Hounds, vagabonds with, in Ireland, 393 in Scotland, 339 House of Correction, 116, 125, 129, 136, 140, 153, 158, 165, 167, 174, 177, 181, 193, 197, 198, 199, 206, 207, 208, 211, 227, 231, 235, 393, 636, 671 management of, temp. Elizabeth, 116 Housebreaking implements, punishment of persons in possession of, in England, 209, 235, 236 in Scotland, 365 Houseless Poor Acts, 291, 301, 302, 310 Houseless person, penalty for feeding, in Ireland, 378 Hoveden Eoger de [ft. 1204), extracts from, 27, 28, 30 Howel dda (d. 948), laws of, 429 Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury (1193 —1205), oath of peace of, 29, 341 Hubins or devotees of St. Hubert, 521 Human banquets, Irish nature of, 375 Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester (1391 — 1447), and the blind impostor, 577 Huncothoe, thieves hanged at, 23 Hydromancy, prediction by, 77 *' ilyeway to the Spyttelhouse," ex- tracts from, 79, 467 Idle and disorderly persons, punishment of, 182, 199, 202, 235, 236 Imarets, administration of the, in Tur- key, 572 Impotent poor, provision for, 63, 73, 82, 92, 108 regulations for, 60, 67, 69, 73, 108, 116 In-borg, signification of, 21 n. Incorrigible rogues, punishment of, 181, 199, 202, 235, 236 Industrial schools in England, 284 — 290 in Ireland, 426 in Scotland, 284, 372 Industry, House of, in Dublin, 397, 402, 403, 406, 407, 410, 411, 413, 416, 420 Ine, King of Wessex, laws of, 6, 7 Innkeepers in Scotland forbidden to re- ceive vagabonds, 354, 356 Innocents, sale of the hair of the beard of, 590_ Intercommunication of vagrants, 273, 299 Inverness, beggars in, 360 Ireland, slave trade with, 28 Irish beggars and vagrants in England, 64, 109, 129, 148, 149, 150, 182, 201, 202, 214, 216, 220, 225, 226, 227, 230, 232, 234, 239, 240, 245, 253, 258, 259, 260, 263, k66, 267, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 276, 278, 279, 281, 282, 283, 292, 305, 306, 504, 596, 534. 640, 642 in Ireland, 392, 393, 398, 399, 401— 427 in the Isle of Man, 442, 454 in Guernsey, 465 in Scotland, 280, 281, 307, 372 1 Irish, condition of, in the twelfth cen- tury, 379 fourteenth century, 380 Irish kings, their body guards, 380 Irish men and Irish clerks, mendicant, to quit England, 64 Irishmen, Act against, 65 Irish surnames taken by the English, 384 Irish toyle, the, 594, 619 Ishp, Archbishop (1349—1366), on the impecuniosity of Edward III., 53 Italian children begging in England, 303, 304 Italy, beggars and vagabonds in, 553 Iucchi, or Christianised Jews, 559 Jackman. See Jarkeman. James I. of England, reign of, 132 IE „ „ 172 James I. of Scotland, reign of, 337 II. „ „ 339 III. „ „ 340 IV. „ „ 341 712 GENERAL INDEX. James V. of Scotland, reign of. 342 ; sup- posed author of the Gaberlunvie Man, 590 VI. of Scotland, reign of, 343 Jarkeman, or Jackman, the, 594, 596, 599, 604, 619 Jargon of the mendicant and vagrant, description of, 466 Jersey, laws of, 454 Jibber the kibber, signification of. 627 Jigger dubber, signification of, 627 Jmgo, derivation of, 479 JocMes or strolling minstrels in Scot- land, 359 John of England, reign of, 31 John of France, reign of, 518 "Jolly Beggars," the, extract from, 631 Jonson, Ben (1573 — 1637), extracts from the " Gypsies Metamorphosed," 603 " Jovial Crew, the, or the Merry Beg- gars," 612, 616, 62' Jowls, the Reverend Giles, the illumi- nated cobbler. 653 Jugglers, punishment of, in England, 107, 180, 199, 202 in Ireland, 392 in Scotland, 346 Jungfrauen, or pretended female lepers, 546 Justices empowered to regulate wages, 63, 66, 390 Kamilesieb.ee. s, or begging students, 545 Kandierers, or broken-down merchants, 546 Katherans. See Catherans. Kearns forbidden to be kept in Ireland in time of peace, 383 Keighley, Yorkshire, last use of the stocks at, 48 n. Ken cracker, description of, 627 Kenilworth, the award of, 32 Kenneth III., reign of, 336 Kent svstem of repressing vagrancy, 326 Kernety, an Irish exaction, 390 Kid rig, description of the, 631 Kiddy nipper, description of the, 627 Kilmallock union beggars carried home with rejoicing, 421 Kinchin or kitchen co, 594, 596, 619 Kinchin or kitchen morte, 594, 596, 619 King's laws, penalty for sheltering the violator of, in Ireland, 379 Kittv, a name for a lock-up in Durham, 637 Klenkners, or cripples, 545 Knocker beggars, description of, 218 Knuckle, description of, 627 Koran, extracts from, 574 i Labourers, statute of, -43. 46 apprenticing the children of, for- bidden, 64 and artificers punishment of, for absenting themselves from ser- vice, 44, 48, 50, 51, 56, 59, 64, 66, 71, 102, 107, 363, 400 flocking to London, proclamation against, 51 in Ireland forbidden to become kearns, 384 statutes against, confirmed, 64, 65, 66 Lambard, William (1536—1601), on the origin of the word rogue, 471 Laneham, Robert, his letter from Kenil- worth, 111 Langland, William (1332—1402) , extracts from " Peers Ploughman," 54, 405, 470, 576, 587, 590 Latymer, Hugh (1485 — 1555), on valiant beggars, 592 , Lauderdale, beggars at the funeral of the Duke of, 357 Lazar houses, 46 ' Lazy beggar, the, 626 Leipzig, beggars and vagabonds at, 543 Leper's alms basket and window, 46 Leprous and bedridden creatures in England, 51, 81, 83, 94, 108 Lepers in Scotland, 338, 344 Levanters, description of, 631 ! Licences to beg, 74, 83, 92, 95. 99. 100, 108 " Life in London," extract from, 635 Lif'.ers, description of, 629 Lincoln's Inn, beggars in, 185, 219, 221 Linen manufacture in Ireland, regulation of wages in the, 407 Little go lotteries, setters up of, deemed rogues, 211 Liverpool, vagrancy in, 232, 240, 259, 281, 282, 283, 305 Livery, an Lrish exaction, 383, 388 Livre Tournois, value of, in Guernsey, 458 Llan Cerniw, or the Cornish place, 2 Lodging houses for vagrants, 217. 226, 233, 247, 249, 276, 298, 300, 302, 313, 322, 323, 325, 331, 641, 647, 650, 661, 670 London, beggars and vagrants in, 52, 79, 97, 104, 105, 106, 115, 119, 120, 122, 125, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146, 149, 150, 155, 158, 159, 160, 167, 171, 178, 184, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 203, 207, 213, 214, 216—227, 253—259, 268, 275, 291, 292, 312, 313, 327, 328, 596, 598, 600, 602, 609, 610, 616, 625, 626, 627, 628, 629, 630, 631, 633, 634, 635, 636, 638, 646, 650, 651, 652, 653, 659, 664, 667 GENERAL INDEX. 713 London, Irish beggars in, 149, 214, 216, 220, 225, 226, 230, 253, 258, 292, 427, 594, 634, 662 proclamation in 1359 against la- bourers flocking to, 51 ordinances against beggars, 52, 104, 122 punishment of beggars in, 119, 122, 155, 190, 224, 602, 636 Statutes of, 15, 38 "London Labour and the London Poor," extracts from, 647 Long gang, description of a, 296 n. Lord's Day, Act for the better observ- ance of the, 147 Lossners, or liberated prisoners, 545 Lotori, or vendors of miraculous water, 559 Lottery tickets, unlicensed dealers in, deemed rogues, 211 Louis IX. (Saint Louis), reign of, 518 XII., 521 XIV. , 521 XV. , 521 Low gaggers, description of, 630 Lowland Scotch, derivation of cant words from the, 473 Luggage, excessive, of vagrants, 242 Lulley priggers, description of, 629 Lumpers, description of, 628 Lunatics, wandering, 56 sham, 172 Lurks of vagrants, 246, 311, 641, 648, 650, 651 Luther, Martin, on vagrants and beg- gars, 544, 671 Lydgate, Dan John (1373—1460), ex- tract from the " Order of Fools," 578 "Mabinogion," or " Juvenile Amuse- ments " (Welsh prose romances of the fourteenth century), ex- tracts from the, 436, 438 Macaulay, Lord, on Oliver Cromwell's soldiers, 163 Magna Charta, protection afforded to the villein by, 31 Mahomet the Prophet, sayings of, 574 Malingreux, or malingerers,' 520 Malmesbury, William of (1095—1143), extracts from, 9, 14, 17 Malvern system of repressing vagrancy, 327 Man, Isle of, vagrancy in, 440 tenants and servants not to leave without licence, 442, 445 Mansfeldt, Count, levy of vagrants for his army, 146 Manufactories in Scotland, vagrants to work in, 354, 356 Manx vagrants in England, 109, 129, 182, 201, 202, 227, 278, 281 Marchers in Ireland, exactions of, 385 Margaret, sister of Edgar Athelmg, charity of, 33 Mariners, freshwater. See Sailors, sham. Martin's, St.. in the Fields, vagrancy in, 183, 268 Mary, Queen of England, reign of, 97 Marv of Guise, regency of, in Scotland, 343 Mary, Queen of Scots, reign of, 343 Marylebone, St., vagrancy and pauper- ism in, 257, 292 Massalian heretics, practices of the, 483 Masterful beggars in Scotland, 339, 340, 341 Masterless men, proclamation against, 96, 97, 105 pun shment of, 106, 115 relief to, forbidden in the Derby household, 121 Masterless vagabonds in Scotland, 355 Maundy Thursday, introduction of the custom of feeding and clothing the poor on, 52 Mayhew, Henry (b. 1812), extracts from " London Labour and the London Poor," 647 Meed money, signification of, 11 n. Mendall, Jack, alias Cade, 579 Mendicant or begging friars, 82, 576, 587, 589 Mendicants in Jersey, regulations for, 455 Mendicity Society in London, 253, 327 in Dublin, 420 Mercandiers, or broken-down tradesmen, 520 "Merry Beggars, the, or a Jovial Crew," 612 Metoposcopy, prediction by, 77 Metropolitan gypsyries, description of, 503 Minstrels in England, punishment of, 87, 107, 128, 162, 180, 199, 202 in Scotland, 346, 359, 361 in Wales, 35, 64 Missionaries, pseudo, 653 Moles on the body, prediction by, 78 Monasteries, suppression of, 83 their charity, 84 Money, Scottish value of, 347 n. Monks, wandering, 8 Monmouth, order for the apprehension of vagabonds in, 113 More, Sir Thomas (1480 — 1535), extracts from his " Dialogues," 110, 111, 577 Morghigeri, or bedesmen with a beil, 559 714 GENEEAL INDEX. Morichini, Cardinal, on mendicity, 557 Mort, the Autem, description of, 596 Mort, the Walking, 596, 599, 615 Mortimer, Sir Hugh de, charity of, 33 Morton, Earl of, Regent of Scotland, 344, 348 Mountebank, reason for being dishon- oured in Ireland, 376, 381 Mummers in England deemed vagabonds, 70 in Ireland, 381 Mumsen, or beggars in Germany, 546 Murders by vagrants, 668 Mutatori or pretended monev-lenders, 558 Myddle, parish of, removal of poor in, 175 Narquois, or rufflers, 521 Nativus, or bondman, in England, 19 Navy, vagabonds in Ireland to be sent to serve in, 400, 414, 415 Napoleon L, reign of, 523, 524 National Assembly on mendicity, 523, 532 Necromancy, prediction by, 77 News-tellers in England, 96 in Ireland, 389 " Nigelli Speculum Stultorum," extract from, 60 Night refuges for vagrants, 253, 255, 256, 258, 267, 313, 641 profitable character of, 256 Night suppers an Irish exaction, 385 Night, usage of vagrants in the, 71, 600, 603, 613, 620, 641, 663 Night-walkers in England, punishment of, 235 Ireland, 416 Norfolk justices, punishment of vaga- bonds by the, 119 Northampton, the assize of, 26 the statute of, 41 Northbrook, John, on beggars, vaga- bonds, and players, 120, 134 North Wales system of repressing vag- rancy, 319 Norwich, treatment of musicians at, 201 Notices of vagrants to one another, 299, 300, 313, 619, 647, 648 Oath of peace sent out by Hubert, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, 29 in Scotland, 341 Obloquium, description of, 595 O'Brien's Bridge, destruction of, 388 Obscene language. See under Vagrants. Obscene prints, punishment of those who exhibit, 236 Oferhyrnes, signification of, 9 n. " Olio," the, by Francis Grose, extracts from, 633 Omens, signification of, 78 Ommerschans, beggars and vagabonds at, 513, 514, 515, 516 Oneirocracy, prediction by, 78 Onychomancy, prediction by, 78 Ordericus Vitalis (1075 — 1150), extract from, 25 Orphelins, or pretended orphans, 520 Oswald, King of Northumberland (634 —642), charity of, 12 Overseers of the poor, 128, 141 Overliers in Scotland, description of, 339 n. Oxford scholars begging without licence to be punished, 73, 107 plays at, forbidden, 192 Palatine war, levy of vagrants for the, 146 Pale, limits of the English, in Ireland, 373 Palliard, the, 476,477, 594, 596, 597, 619 Palmistry, prediction by, 75 punishment in England of professors of, 74, 128, 180, 199, 202, 235, 236 in Ireland, 392 Pardoners, their practices, 562, 577, 587, 590, 591 their punishment, 74 Pardons for felony forbidden, 41 Parker, G., extracts from "A View of Society," 627 Patent gatherers, punishment of, 128, 199, 202 Passevolants, or volunteer soldiers, 521 Patrico, patriarch co, or pattering cove, 474, 476, 595, 596, 599, 604, 615, 619 Patterers' signs, 647, 648 Pauliani, or pretended descendants of the Apostle Paul, 559 Peasant, description of, in " Peers Plough- man," 54 by Taylor, the water poet, 150 Pedlars, their practices, 126, 128, 312, 323, 364, 369, 370, 371, 594, 619, 650 punishment of, 95, 107, 154, 200, 202, 235, 236 Peeblesshire, beggars in, 361 Peel, Isle of Man, beggars in, 452 Pembruke, justices of, on Irish beggars, 148, 150 Peterers, description of, 629 Petty, Sir William (1623—1687), on the state of Ireland, 396 Philip and Mary, reign of, 97, 489 Physiognomy, prediction by, 75 punishment in England of professors of, 74, 128, 180, 199, 202 in Ireland, 392 GENERAL INDEX. 715 Pietres, or maimed beggars, 520 Picarde, nature of a, 109 n. Pikes and pike-heads, persons found in possession of, in Ireland deemed vagabonds, 415 Pillory, the, as a punishment, 74, 522, 613 Pimlico, locality so called, 616 Pinch, description of the, 628 Pinghim, explanation of, 377 n. Plague, the, 42, 135 Platschierers, or blind harpers, 546 Players, motives of the legislation against, 110, 134, 156, 157, 194, 196, 381 n., 615 legislation against, in England, 70, 87, 107, 128, 134, 147, 155, 156, 157, 180, 192, 195, 199, 202, 235 legislation against, in Ireland, 376, 381, 392 proclamations against, 95, 97, 102 Plays forbidden on Sundays, 147 Plough alms, nature of, 14 n. " Ploughman, Peers," extracts from. See Langland, William Poachers deemed rogues and vagabonds, 209 Poland, beggars in, 568 Police. See Constables. Polissons or tatterdemalions, 520 Poor Law Amendment Act, 241 Population of England, estimate of, in 1688, 177 Portugal, beggars in, 569 " Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime," ex- tracts from, 638 Prad borrowers, description of, 628 Prigger of prancers, the, 596, 607, 619 Prigmen, or Prigs, 593, 619 Prises, Act against taking, in Ireland, , 382 Proclaimed person, penalty for feeding, in Ireland, 378 Proclamation against Irish beggars in England, 149 against beggars and vagabonds in England, 78, 95, 97, 132, 139, 160, 171 in Scotland, 358 Proclamation against pretended soldiers, 125 Proctors, punishment of, 74, 128 Procurors, punishment of, 128 Prophecies, legislation against, 135 Prostitutes, punishment of, 115, 235, 236 vagrant, 262, 271, 272, 295, 297 Provost marshals, 121, 125, 142, 143, 224, 618 Prynne, William (1600—1669), extract from the " Histrio-Mastix," 156 Puffing Dick, a captain of rogues, 582 Purse trick, description of the, 653 Purveyance, Acts against taking, in Ire- land, 382 Pyromancy, prediction by, 78 Quack doctors, 248, 312 Quaker, the begging, 637 Queer bird, description of, 593 Queer bit-makers, description of, 627 Queer rooster, description of, 629 Racecourse, rogues and vagabonds of the, 652 Races frequented by vagrants, 251, 268, 292, 297, 498, 501 Rag-sellers, the tricks of, 248 Rapparees in Ireland, 396 Read William (b. 1816), a vagrant exa- mined by a parliamentary com- mittee, 257 Reader merchants, description of, 629 Red cock perching on the thatch, mean- ing of, 539 Redesdale, description of, in 1542, 85 Refuges. See Night Refuges. Regality, signification of, 341 n. Reivers, punishment of, 340, 341 Relief of the poor, measures for the, 81, 95, 98, 99, 100, 128, 142, 147, 158 Reliquarii, or vendors of false relics, 559 Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln, on slavery, 28 Removal orders, suspension of, 215, 216 Reports on vagrancy by Poor Law In- spectors, 261, 292 Reneurling, Aill of, meeting upon the, 441 Resurrection rig, description of, 629 Revel, beggars in, 568 Rewards for the apprehension of vag- rants, 166, 181, 200, 202, '230, 231, 235 Rhonabwy, the dream of, 436 Rialte, signification of, 341 n. Ribalds, the banishment of, 52 Richard I., reign of, 29 II. , „ 56 III. , „ 67 Rich beggars, 660 Riffaudes, or sufferers by fire (French demanders for glimmer), 520 Ring-f aller or dropper, the, 248, 505, 595, 630 Ripper of fish, signification of, 606 n. Robert II., reign of, 337 Roberdesmen, 42, 52, 58, 580 Roberts, Hugh, a captain of rogues, 580 Robbery in Anglo-Saxon times, 14 Robbery by organised bands, 32, 37 716 GENEEAL INDEX. Rochester, wreck of the, 260 Rodeurs de filles, or prowlers for girls, 518 Roger de Hoveden, extracts from, 27, 28, 30 Roger le Skirmisour indicted, 39 Rogue, the description of, 581, 596, 597, 603 the wild description of, 594, 596, 597 derivation of the word, 471 Rogues, captains of ; Blueheard, 579 ; Hugh Roberts, 580 ; Jenkin Cow- diddle, 580 ; Spising, 581 ; Puff- ing Dick, 582 ; Lawrence Cros- biter, 583: Skelton, 584; Cock Lorrell, 584 ; Giles Hather, 585 march, the, 331 punishment of, 53, 103, 109, 115, 117, 119, 129, 133, 136, 137, 140, 148, 153, 154, 155, 158, 160, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 179, 186, 199, 202, 203, 205, 209, 210, 211, 212, 235, 236, 238, 392 Rolle, Richard (d. 1349), on charity, 44 Romany, derivation of cant words from the, 475, 479 Rowlands, Samuel (1570 — 1625), ex- tracts from the works of, 466, 485, 489, 579, 601, 602 " Roxburghe Ballads," extract from the, 609 Royal scamp, description of the, 627 Ruffeler, description of the, 593 Ruff elers,. punishment of, 82 Ruffiti, or sufferers by fire (Italian de- manders for glimmer), 564 Rum-drag, description of the, 630 snoozer, description of the, 628 Runnagates' race, the, by Samuel Row- lands, 579 Running snavel, description of the, 631 Rush, description of the, 629 Rushton, Mr., evidence on vagrancy, 259, 281 Russia, beggars and vagrants in, 566 Sachenteges, torture "by, 24 Sailors begging in England to carry cer- tificate, 131, 180, 200, 202, 212, 235, 236 Scotland, 346 forbidden to beg, 130, 131 sham, 127, 220, 246, 248, 250, 311, 593, 596, 598, 610, 619, 634, 641, 664 Salt, consumption of, by Irish vagrants, 272 . Salters in Dublin, regulation of the wages of, 409 Salt-pans, beggars and vagabonds in Scotland to work in, 351, 357, 364 Saunders, Richard, extract from " Pal- mistry, " 75 Savages, vagrants described as living as, 154, 350, 359 Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, mendicity in, 542 Sbrici, or fugitive captives, 564 Scholars of the universities in England not to beg without a licence, 60, 67, 68, 73, 107 in Scotland, 346 Scotland, English slaves in, 28 native slaves in, 351 beggars and vagrants in, 334 former state of agriculture in, 360 Scotch, incursions of the, into England, 25, 28, 33 Lowland, derivation of cant words from the, 473 scholars begging in England, 62 Scothala, or Scotteshale, a forest exaction, 31, 184 Scott, John (1730—1783), on workhouses, 208 Walter, a deaf and dumb impostor, 653 Scottish beggars and vagrants in Eng- land, 129, 227, 239, 242, 258, 278 beggars and vagrants in the Isle of Man, 442 bondmen, 334, 335 border, condition of, in 1542, 85 money, value of, 347 n. Screpall, explanation of, 377 n. Schwanfelders, or naked beggars, or shallow coves, 545 Schweigers, or jaundiced persons, 546 Screevers, or writers of begging letters and petitions, 649 Sea, children to be apprenticed to the, 179 vagabonds to be sent to, 180, 400, 414, 415 Seffers, or persons afflicted with sores, 546 Senchus Mor, the, or Great Law of Ire- land, 374 Servants quitting service before the time agreed on to be imprisoned, 44, 48, 50, 51, 56, 59, 64, 66, 102, 107, 363, 401, 445, 450 regulation of the wages of, 43, 44, 47, 48, 50, 51, 56, 59, 63, 65, 66, 71, 101, 102, 154, 362, 363, 364, 390, 405, 408, 409, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 449, 450 jury of, in the Isle of Man, 445, 449 not to quit the Isle of Man without licence, 442, 445 GENERAL INDEX. 717 Sessings, an Irish exaction, 390 Settlement, laws of, 164, 172, 173, 215, 306 Shakspere (1564 — 1616), extracts from, 120 n., 341, 475, 476, 577, 607 use of the name of God by, 134 Sham leggers, description of, 630 Sheep, Act limiting the number to be kept, 79 Sheep-stealers, 126, 630 Shipmen pretending losses at sea to be punished, 74, 107, 129 Shipwrecked mariners begging in Eng- land to carry certificates, 67, 68 Scotland, 346, 347 Shipwrights in Dublin, regulation of the wages of, 408 Shoulers, or wandering beggars in Ire- land, 425 Signs of patterers and tramps, 619, 647, 648 Silures, origin of the, 1 Simpcox, the blind impostor at St. Alban's, 577 Skelas4h.es, or news-tellers, in Ireland, 389 Skelton, John, the poet (1460—1529), cant words in the works of, 477 and the beggar, 578 a captain of rogues, 584 Slaves, manumission of, in England, 17, 33, 88, 113 beggars and vagabonds in England, to serve as, 90 in Scotland, 344, 345, 347, 350, 351, 354, 355 Snakesman, the little, description of, 628 Sneaks, morning, evening, and upright, description of, 628 Snitchers, description of, 628 Soke, right nature of, 1 1 n. Soldiers begging to carrv certificates, 67, 130, 180, 200, 202, 212, 235, 236 discharged, becoming vagrants, 308, 309, 310 English plundering their country- men, 67 forbidden to beg, 130, 131 levy of vagrants as, 146 proclamation against pretended, 125 sham, 81, 246, 595, 608, 610, 613, 615, 634, 656 vagabonds in Scotland to serve as, 358 Song of the beggar, the, 607 Songs, beggars', 601, 602, 604, 606, 607, 608, 609, 610, 611, 612, 613, 614, 616, 618, 620, 622, 623 Sorners in Scotland, 337, 339, 340, 341, 346, 352 Sorning, nature of, 16, 337 Soup kitchens promoters of vagrancv 313 Spenser, Edmund (1553 — 1599), extract from the "View of the State of Ireland," 394 Spettrini, or false prie&ts, or fraters, 559 Spiritati, or demoniacs, 564 Spising, a captain of rogues, 581 Stabulers, or bread gatherers, 545 Staf -strikers, or cudgel-players, 53 Stage-players. See Players. Stanley's remedy for beggars, thieves, pickpockets, &c, 136 Star Chamber, proceedings in, 122 Star the glaze, to, meaning of, 629 Statistics of vagrancy and mendicity in England, 178, 206, 213, 216, 225, 231, 232, 239, 240, 241, 252, 253, 259, 260, 263, 265, 280, 281, 282, 290, 302, 318, 320, 325, 673 Ireland, 413, 417, 427 Scotland, 367—371 Stephen, reign of, 23 Stirpes or families in Ireland to justify all idle persons of their surname, 391 Stocach, signification of, 394 Stocks, punishment of the, 48, 51, 52, 59, 64, 67, 68, 73, 82, 108, 150, 176, 401, 463, 488, 615, 624 Strabo on British slaves, 3, 115 Strafford, Earl of (1593—1641), Lord Deputy of Ireland, 392 Strangers in Jersey, treatment of, 456 Guernsey, 458, 461, 462 Street sellers, beggar, 650 Students, wandering, forbidden to carry arms, 349 Sturdy beggars. See Beggars. Suntvegers, or pretended man-slayers, 546 Suppers, a form of Irish exaction, 385, 393 Supplication for the beggars by Simon Fish, 72 Surnames, Irish, taken by the English, 384 Swadder, or pedlar, the, 596, 619 Swearing and cursing, Act against, 434 Sweden, beggars and vagabonds in, 507 Sweep, delight of a poor, on going to prison, 638 Sweetners, description of, 625 Swigman, the, 594, 619 Tailors, journeymen, in Dublin, regula- tion of the wages of, 408 Tallages in Ireland, nature 01, 390 Tanist, meaning of the term, 390 Taylor, John, the water poet (1580 — 1654), description of the plough- man in 1630, 150 718 GENERAL INDEX. Tale letters forbidden in Ireland, 390 Scotland, 346 Tavern-keepers in Jersev, regulations for, 457 Tenant ale forbidden, 79 Tenants and servants not to be taken out of the Isle of Man without licence. 442, 445 Tenements, small, forbidden in the city. 122, 139 Terrible statute, tbe. 102, 490, 603 Testatori, or pretended testators, 560 Thames, ill disposed frequenters of the, deemed rogues, 210 Theodore. Archbishop of Canterbury, ordinances of, 8, 9, 21 Theow, the, 4, 19 Tnieves, foreign, in England, 22 Thieves hanged at Huncothoe. 23 in Ireland, to be killed by any liege man, 387 Thimble rig, description of, 275 n. Three-card man, description of the, 652 Tick bit and sack diver, meaning of, 631 Tiler, "Wat, the rebellion of, 57 Tinker, description of a drunken, 594. 596, 598, 603 Tinkers. 95. 126. 323, 371, 504, 528, 5S4, 594, 617, 63S in Scotland, 371 punishment of, 95, 107, 154 Tokens issued by James I., 145 Tolliban rig. description of, 629 Tories in Ireland, 396, 399 Toulmin, A. H., extract from' ; Eogues and Vagabonds of the Eacecourse," 652 Tours, second council of, 517 Towns, precautions for preventing rob- bery in, 36, 38 Trades unions, their allowance to travel- ling members, 314 Tramps. See Vagabonds. Tramps, by Charles Dickens, 646 Transportation of vagrants in England, 132, 141, 143, 182, 185 in Ireland, 395, 399 in Scotland, 356 Traps, signification of, 630 Trencher, signification of, 45 Troll Hazard of Tritrace, description of, 595 Trone. ears of vagabonds in Scotland to be nailed to the, 339 Trudging or drugging house, 583 Turner, Ja-res, a common beggar, 626 Turner, William (1515 — 1568), extracts from his new booke of spirituall physick, 98 Twopennv-post beggars, description of, 218 Uberk Sonzer ganger, or pretended noblemen and kniehts, 546 Umbrella menders, 249, 295, 323, 528 University scholars in England not to beg without licence, 60. 67, 68, 73, 107 in Scotland, 3 46 Universities, plays at the, forbidden, 192 Uprightman,description of, 583, 593,596 " Vagaboxdtana," by J. T. Smith, ex- tracts from, 634 Vagabonds in England, 164, 165, 166, 179. 186, 190, 197, 199, 202, 203, 235, 236, 238. 579 Vagabonds in England, apprehension of, 112 banishment of, 133 convevance of, 178, 180, 207. 209, 210; 211, 212, 215, 216, 224, 225, 229, 230, 231, 241 conduct of. in casual wards, 256, 257, 269, 274, 295, 296 female, 262, 263. 271, 295, 297 harbourage of, 53 letter of Mr. Hext regarding', in 1596, 125, 491 in London. See London. punishment of, 59. 67. 68, 73, 81, 90, 94, 99, 100, 101, 106, 117, 119, 120, 121, 128, 133, 135, 140, 148, 153, 158. 159, 160, 161, 162 proclamations against. See Pro- clamations. relief to, forbidden in the Derby household, 121 to be sent to Virginia, 141, 143, 144 V : is in. foreign countries. See Beggars Abroad. in G-uernsev, 461. 464 in Ireland, "375, 379, 381, 384, 385— 390, 391—395, 398 in the Isle of Man, 442, 448 in Jersev, 457 in Scotland. 336—361, 364—372 the fraternity of, extracts from, 593 Vagiereren, or exorcisers, 545 Vagrancy, countv systems for the repres- sion of, 318—327 discussion on, in the House of Com- mons, 307 increase of. at various periods, 144, 241, 251,' 266, 268, 308 "Vagrant impostors," by Erancis Grose, 633 lurks. See Lurks, removal of the, in Ireland, 375 .' Vagrants, average ages of, 298 their conduct at night, 71, 80, 217, 247, 257, 263, 294, 295, 296, 600, 620 GENERAL INDEX. 719 Vagrants, frequently thieves, 245, 257, 258, 265, 276, 293, 318, 580, 593, 596, 602, 605, 607, 614, 619, 620, 623, 626, 627, 630, 639, 658 intercommunication of, 273, 299, 300, 313 obscene language of, 223, 258, 263, 269, 294, 295, 296, 635 proportion who are habitual, 264, 265, 296 statistics of. See Statistics. Veenhuizen, beggars and vagabonds at, 513, 514, 515 Venedotian code, laws of the, 434 Veranerins, or Christianised Jewesses, 546 Vergognosi, or persons ashamed to beg, 559 Viage, signification of, 109 n. Victoria, Queen, reign of, 243 Vienna, beggars and vagabonds in, 547 Villanus, or bondman, 19 Villeins under Richard II., 56 manumission of, 88, 113 Violator of the king's laws, penalty for sheltering, in Ireland, 379 Virginia, poor to be sent to, 141, 143, 144 Visors, persons wearing, punishable as vagabonds, 70 Vocabulary of cant, 468 Voppers, or demoniacs, 545 Wages in the reign of Edward III., 48 regulation of, in England, 48, 63, 66, 68, 71, 101 Ireland, 390 Isle of Man, 447, 448, 449, 450 Scotland, 362, 363, 364 Wainage of the villein, 31 "Wales, arrival of the Cymry in, 2 extortion and oppression of the people of, 66 condition of the Welsh border in the time of Edward I., 36 Irish vagrants in, 148, 150, 270, 271 laws and institutes of, 429 North, system of repressing va- grancy in, 319 the statute of, 34 Walsingham, Thomas (b. 1410), extract from " Historia brevis,'' 53 Wargus, the, or outcast, 22 Washman, description of the, 594 Wastours. See Westours. Waters, Tom, his robbery of gypsies, 493 Watson, Henry, extract from the " Ship of Fools," 589 Watson, sheriff, on vagrancy in Scotlan d, 366 Waytingas, Scottish, 335 Welsh, Acts to repress the forays of, 64 bards and idlers, 35, 63, 64, 439 derivation of cant words from the, 473 ^ expulsion of, from England, 27 incursions of, in England, 19, 25 Wem, removal of poor in, 175 Wendover, Roger of (d. 1237), extract from, 25 Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, Lord Deputy of Ireland, 392 Wer, signification of, In. West Indies, banishment of vagabonds to the, 133, 401 Westour, or Gwestwr, the, 35, 42, 63, 64, 439 Wheedle, origin of the word, 13, Whipjack, the, 593, 596, 598, 619 Whipping of beggars and vagabonds in England, 57, 73, 78, 82, 83, 101, 106, 108, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 129, 137, 140, 150, 170, 176. 181, 200, 202, 205, 227, 597, 613, 623, 639 in Ireland, 401, 408 Whipping-posts, 150, 176, 205 Wickliffe, John, (1324 — 1384), on begging friars, 481 Wihtrsed, King of Kent, reign of, 7 William the Conqueror, reign of, 18 II. , reign of, 20 III. , reign of, 173, 396; and re- marks on the poor, 178 IV. , reign of, 240 Wilts, system of repressing vagrancy in, 327 Winchester, statute of, 36 William, Bishop of, council held by, 25 Witchcraft, legislation against, 134, 135 Wite, signification of, 6 n. Wite-theow, the, 7 Wives, punishment for desertion of, in England, 180, 185, 199, 202, 235, 236 in Ireland, 419, 421 Wodsworth, W. D., on Irish vagabonds, 398 Wogan, Sir John, Lord Justice of Ire land, 382 Wolves, rewards for the destruction of, in Ireland, 395 Wood, spoilers of, punishable as rogues, 167, 204, 205 Workhouses, advantages of, 168, 1 76, 188, 189 bad state of, 191, 208 720 GENERAL INDEX, Working classes, earnings of the, 307, 317 Workmen quitting service "before time agreed upon to be imprisoned, See Labourers. Wounds or deformities, punishment for the exposure of, in England, 235, 236 in Scotland. 365 Wretchcock, signification of, 604 Wright, J. Hornsbv (1S17— 1885), ex- tract from the " Confessions of an old Almsgiver," 651 Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, on the foreign slave trade, 28 Yarding, nature of, in the Isle of Man, 445 York, Eichard, Duke of, Lieutenant ol Ireland, 385 PRINTED BT J. S. YIF.1TTE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LO.VDOX.