"[This entry seems to refer to an early edition of a very curious work, printed again by Sampson, alias Awdeley, in 1565, when it bore the following title, 'The fraternitie of vacabondes, as well of rufling vacabones as of beggerly, [3]as well of women as of men, [3]and as well of gyrles as of boyes, with their proper names and qualityes. Also the xxv. orders of knaves, otherwise called a quartten of knawes. Confirmed this yere by Cocke Lorel.' The edition without date mentioned by Dibdin (iv. 564) may have been that of the entry. Another impression by Awdeley, dated 1575 [which we reprint] is reviewed in the British Bibliographer, ii. 12, where it is asserted (as is very probable, though we are without distinct evidence of the fact) that the printer was the compiler of the book, and he certainly introduces it by three six-line stanzas. If this work came out originally in 1561, according to the entry, there is no doubt that it was the precursor of a very singular series of tracts on the same subject, which will be noticed in their proper places.]"—J. P. Collier, Registers, i. 42.
As above said, I take Harman's 'fewe yeares'—in 1566 or 7—to point to the 1561 edition of Awdeley, and not the 1565 ed. And as to Awdeley's authorship,—what can be more express than his own words, p. [2], below, that what the Vagabond caught at a Session confest as to 'both names and states of most and least of this their Vacabondes brotherhood,' that,—'at the request of a worshipful man, I ['The Printer,' that is, John Awdeley] have set it forth as well as I can.'
But if a doubt on Awdeley's priority to Harman exists in any reader's mind, let him consider this second reference by Harman to Awdeley (p. [60], below), not noticed by the bibliographers: "For-as-much as these two names, a Iarkeman and a Patrico, bée in the old briefe of vacabonds, and set forth as two kyndes of euil doers, you shall vnderstande that a Iarkeman hath his name of a Iarke, which is a seale in their Language, as one should make writinges and set seales for lycences and pasporte," and then turn to Awdeley's Fraternitye of Vacabondes, and there see, at page [5], below:
¶ A IACK MAN.
A Iackeman is he that can write and reade, and sometime speake latin. He vseth to make counterfaite licences which they call Gybes, and sets to Seales, in their language called Iarkes. (See also 'A Whipiacke,' p. [4].)
Let the reader then compare Harman's own description of a Patrico, p. [60], with that in 'the old Briefe of Vacabonds,' Awdeley, p. [6]:
| Awdeley. | Harman. |
| ¶ A Patriarke Co. | there is a Patrico ... |
| A Patriarke Co doth make mariages, & that is vntill death depart the maried folke. | whiche in their language is a priest, that should make mariages tyll death dyd depart. |
And surely no doubt on the point will remain in his mind, though, if needed, a few more confirmations could be got, as
| Awdeley (p. [4]). | Harman (p. [44]). |
| ¶ A Palliard. | ¶ A Pallyard. |
| A Palliard is he that goeth in a patched cloke, and hys Doxy goeth in like apparell. | These Palliardes ... go with patched clokes, and haue their Morts with them. |
We may conclude, then, certainly, that Awdeley did not plagiarize Harman; and probably, that he first published his Fraternitye in 1561. The tract is a mere sketch, as compared with Harman's Caueat, though in its descriptions (p. [6]-[11]) of 'A Curtesy Man,' HARMAN'S CAUEAT: THE EARLY EDITIONS.'A Cheatour or Fingerer,' and 'A Ring-Faller' (one of whom tried his tricks on me in Gower-street about ten days ago), it gives as full a picture as Harman does of the general run of his characters. The edition of 1575 being the only one accessible to us, our trusty Oxford copier, Mr George Parker, has read the proofs with the copy in the Bodleian.