RANCY,

ter, however, the vigour Regent Morton brought Under his regency, in uced against vagabonds, hose between the ages of and tried, and on convich the gristle of the right ble person will take them - vagabond quitting such me first offence, and if he to suffer pains of death or the first time included to be deemed vagabonds.

or lodging to vagrants nds. Any person impedthe same penalty as the bitants of every parish are d impotent poor. All im ridden people, are to be non resort during the last t to go are to be punished ng through the ear. Colheir office are to be liable

erson may take a beggar's

rteen into his service, and

and a female to the age

pards or beggars are to be penalty of twenty pounds

med the reins of governmore regular system for the grievously oppressed the he Act, 1579, c. 12, which lish Statute 14 Eliz., c. 5 of the present system of he only authority (with the y Council) for enforcing a of the ordinary poor; the ts to be levied, being for fallen into total desuetude.

This Statute entitled an Act "For pwnishment of the strang
and ydle beggaris, and releif of the pure and impotent," proceeds
on the narrative, that the "sindrie lovable actis of Parliament
maid be our Soverane Lordis maist noble progenitors, for the
stancheing of the maisterfull and ydle beggaris, away-putting of
soirnaris, and provisioun for the puyr," "in tyme bigane hes not
bene put to dew executioun, throw the Iniquitie and troublis of
the tyme bipast, and be ressone that thair wes not heirtofoir ane
ordor of pwnishment sa specialie devisit as neid requirit; bot the
saidis beggaris, besydis the utheris inconvenientis quilke they
daylie produce in the commounwelth, procuris the wraith and dis-
plesure of God, for the wiked and ungodlie forme of leving, usit
amangis thame, without mariage or baptizing of a greit nowmer
of thair bairnis." It then goes on, "Thairfoir, now, for avoiding
of thir inconvenientis and eschewing of the confusioun of sindrie
lawis and actis concerning thair pwnishment, standing in effects,
and that sum certane executioun and gude ordor may follow
thairanent, To the greit plesure of Almichty God, and commoun
weill of the realme, It is thocht expedient, statute and ordanit,
alsweill for the utter suppressing of the saidis strang and Idle
beggaris, sa contageous Innemyes to the commoun weill, As for
the chearitable releving of aiget ‡ and impotent puyr people, that
the ordor and forme following be observit." The "ordor" of
pwnishment appointed for these "sa countageous innemyes to the
commoun weill," was, that in being convicted for the first time,
they be adjudget to be scurget,§ and brunt throw the ear with
ane hett yrne," "except sum honest and responsall man will of
his charitie, be contentit then presentlie To act himself befoir the
judge To tak and keip the offendor in his service for ane haill
zeir; "¶"and gif the offendor depart and leif the service within
the zeir, aganis his will that ressavis him in service, he shall then
be scurgit and brunt throw the ear, as is befoirsaid; quilk pwnish-
ment being anys ressavit,** he sall not suffer the lyk agane for the
space of lx dayis thairefter; Bot gif, at the end of the saidis lx
dayis, he be found to be fallin agane in his ydill and vagabund
trade of lyf, then, being apprehendit of new, he salbe adjudget,
and suffer the panes of deid †† as a theif." The Act then sets

* Nowmer, number. Lat. numerus. + Bairnis, children. A.S. bearn.
Aiget, aged.
§ Scurget, scourged.
|| Hett yrne, hot iron.
Haill zeir, whole year. **Ressavit, received.'" ++ Deid, death.

EXTRACTS

CHAPTER XXX.

FROM VARIOUS WRITERS ILLUSTRATING THE

HABITS AND IMPOSTURES OF THE VAGRANT AND BEGGAR.

1610-1700.

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)

PAGE

601

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)

CHAPTER XXXII.

625

L'Envoyé.

STATISTICS

. 666

. 673

SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF LAWS QUOTED, ENGLISH, SCOTCH, IRISH, WELSH,

MANX, JERSEYIAN AND GUERNSEYIAN

675

INDEX

.

. 703

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

SIR GOSSELINE DENVILLE AND HIS BAND LISTENING TO THE DOMI

NICAN MONK

to face page

40

STOCKS AT THE WEST RIDING COURT-HOUSE AT BRADFORD

48

THE SOLDIER AND HIS DOXY; AND THE POET BETWEEN HIS TWO

POTATO HOOK; INSTRUMENT FOR REMOVING CLOTHES-PINS; THE

BULLY TRAMP AND JOLLY TRAMP

654

THE LUBBERLY TRAMP; THE UNWHOLESOME TRAMP; THE ABJECT

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 Hlothare and Eadric regarding the entertainment of strangers-The chapman-Laws of King Ine-Fugitive ceorls-Laws of King Wihtræd-Wandering monks-Ordinances of Archbishop Ecgbert-Ecclesiastical alms and relief to travellers-Hospitality of the Anglo-Saxons-Laws of Edward the Elder and Ethelstan-Lordless men-Penalties on those who harboured other people's dependents-Laws of Edmund-Cnut and the poor-Laws against foreign slave-dealingThe 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 Britannia*

* 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 statement of Dion Cassius, "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