"All vacabondes and myghty beggers, the whyche gothe beggynge from dore to dore, and ayleth lytell or nought, with lame men and crepylles, come unto me, and I shall gyve you an almesse saluberryme and of grete vertue. The mendycans be in grete nombre, wherfore I wyll declare unto you some of theyr foolysshe condycyons. These fooles, the whiche be founde in theyr corporal bodyes, wyl nourysh and kepe dyvers chyldren. The monkes have this myschefe and the clerkes also, the whiche have theyr coffers ful of grete rychesses and treasoures. Nevertheles yet they applye themselfe in the offyce of the mendycans, in purchasyng and beggynge on every syde. They be a grete sorte replenysshed with unhappynes, saynge that they lede theyr lyves in grete poverte and calamyte; and therefore, they praye evry man to gyve them theyr good almesse, in release of theyr payne and myserye. And yet they have golde and sylver grete plentye, but they will spende nothinge before the comyn people. Somtyme the cursed taketh the almesse of the poore indygente. I fynde grete fautes in the abbottes, monkes, pryours, chanons, and coventes, for all that they have rentes, tenementes, and possessyons ynough, yet, as folkes devoyde of sense and understondynge, they be never satysfyed with goodes. They goo from vyllage to vyllage and from towne to towne, berynge grete bagges upon theyr neckes, assemblynge so moche goodes that it is grete mervayle, and whan they be in theyr relygyous cloysters, they make them byleve that they have had lytell gyven them or nothynge; for God knoweth they make heven chere in the countre. There is another sort of pardoners, the which bereth relyques aboute with them, in abusynge the pore folkes; for and yf they have but one poore peny in theyr purses they must have it. They garde togyder golde and sylver in every place, lyke as yf it grewe. They make the poore folkes byleve moche gay gere. They sel the feders of the Holy Ghoost. They bere the bones of some deed body aboute, the which, paraventure, is damned. They shewe the heer of some old hors, saynge that it is of the berde of the Innocentes. There is an innumerable syght of suche folkes and of vacabondes in this realme of Englonde, the which be hole of all theyr membres and myghte wynne theyr lyves honestly. Notwithstondynge they go beggynge from dore to dore, because they wyll not werke, and patcheth an olde mautell or an olde gowne with an hondred colours, and byndeth foule cloutes aboute theyr legges, as who say they be sore. And oftentymes they be more rycher than they that gyveth them almesse. They breke theyr chyldrens membres in theyr youthe, because that men sholde have the more pyte of them. They go wepynge and wryngynge of theyr handes, and counterfettynge the sorrowfull, praynge for Goddes sake to gyve them an almesse, and maketh so well the hypocrytes that there is no man the whiche seeth them but that he is abused, and must gyve them an almesse. There is some stronge and puysaunt rybaudes, the whiche wyll not laboure, but lyve, as these beggers, without doynge ony thynge, the whiche be dronke oftentymes. They be well at ease to have grete legges and bellyes eten to the bonis; for they wyll not put noo medycynes therto for to hele them, but soner envenymeth them, and dyvers other begylynges of which I holde my pease. O poore frantyke fooles, the whiche robbeth them that hathe no brede for to ete, and by adventure dare not aske none for shame, the auncyent men, poore wedowes, lazars, and blynde men. Alas! thynke thereon, for truely ye shall gyve accomptes before Hym that created us."
In the year 1566, Thomas Harman, Esq., probably a justice of peace, published a very singular and amusing work, entitled, "A Caveat, or Warning for Common Cursetors (runners) vulgarely called Vagabones;" in which he has described the several sorts of thieving beggars and other rogues with considerable humour, and has collected together a great number of words belonging to what he humorously calls the "leud lousey language of these lewtering luskes and lazy lorrels, wherewith they bye and sell the common people as they pas through the countrey." He says they term this language Pedlar's French, or, Canting, which had not then been invented above thirty years. As the book has lately been reprinted, it will be proper, on this occasion, to use it more sparingly, and to mention only such of Harman's vagabonds as fall under the begging class. These are 1. The Rufflers; particularly mentioned in the Stat. xxvii. Henry VIII. against vagabonds, as fellows pretending to be wounded soldiers. These, says Harman, after a year or two's practice, unless they be prevented by twined hemp, become,—2. Upright Men; still pretending to have served in the wars, and offering, though never intending, to work for their living. They decline receiving meat or drink, and take nothing but money by way of charity, but contrive to steal pigs and poultry at night, chiefly plundering the farmers. Of late, says the author, they have been much whipped at fairs. They attack and rob other beggars that do not belong to their own fraternity, occasionally admitting or installing them into it by pouring a quart of liquor on their pates, with these words, "I do stall thee, W. T., to the rogue, and that from henceforth it shall be lawful for thee to cant for thy living in all places." All sorts of beggars are obedient to them, and they surpass all the rest in pilfering and stealing. 3. Hookers, or Anglers; these knaves beg by day, and pilfer at night, by means of a pole with a hook at the end, with which they lay hold of linen, or any thing hanging from windows or elsewhere. The author relates a curious feat of dexterity practised by one of them at a farm house, where, in the dead of the night, he contrived to hook off the bed-clothes from three men who were lying asleep, leaving them in their shirts, and when they awoke from cold, supposing, to use the author's words, "that Robin Goodfellow had bene with them that night." 4. Rogues; going about with a white handkerchief tied round the head, and pretending to be lame. These people committed various other frauds and impostures, in order to obtain charity. 5. Pallyards; with patched garments, collecting, by way of alms, provisions, or whatever they could get, which they sold for ready money; they are chiefly Welshmen, and make artificial sores by applying spearwort to raise blisters on their bodies, or else arsenic or ratsbane to create incurable wounds. 6. Abraham Men; pretending to be lunatics, who have been a long time confined in Bedlam or some other prison, where they have been unmercifully used with blows, &c. They beg money or provisions at farmers' houses, or bully them by fierce looks or menaces. 7. Traters; or fellows travelling about the country with black boxes at the girdle, containing forged briefs, or licences to beg for hospitals. Some have clouts bound round their legs, and walk as if lame, with staves in their hands. 8. Freshwater Mariners, or Whipjacks; whose ships, says the witty author, were drowned in Salisbury Plain. These counterfeit great losses at sea by shipwreck and piracy, and are chiefly Irishmen, begging with false licences, under the supposed seal of the Admiralty, so artfully constructed as to deceive even the best lawyers. 9. The Counterfeit Crank; who is described at large, with a figure, in another part of this work. 10. Dommerars; chiefly Welshmen, pretending to be dumb, and forcibly keeping down their tongues doubled, groaning for charity, and keeping up their hands most piteously, by which means they procure considerable gains. 11. Demanders for glymmar; who are chiefly women that go about with false licences to beg, as sufferers from fire,—glymmar, in pedlars' language, signifying that element. Many other classes are enumerated in this curious volume, as—priggars of prauncers, swadders, jarkman, patricos, bawdy baskets, autem morts, walking morts, doxies, dells, kynchin morts, and kynchin coes; but all these are rather pilferers than beggars.
As every trade or profession had its patron saint, so the beggars made choice of St Martin, who appears to have had a great regard for them. This person was originally a soldier of rank in the armies of the Emperors Constantius and Julian, but preferring a religious life, he applied to Saint Hilary, of Poitou, who appointed him his sub-deacon; and soon afterwards becoming a saint himself, he of course acquired the power of working miracles, many of which, with much other legendary matter, have been related by his credulous but elegant historian, Sulpitius Severus, and transferred, with due additions and improvements, into that grand repertory of pious frauds, the Golden Legend, and some other works of similar authority. It is related of him, that when a soldier, as he passed by one of the gates of Amiens in winter time, he met a poor naked man, on whom none would bestow alms. Martin drew out his sword, and cutting his mantle asunder in the middle, gave one half to the poor man, having nothing else to bestow on him, contenting himself with the remainder to keep him from the cold. On the ensuing night he saw the Saviour of the world in heaven, clothed with that part which he had given to the poor man, and exclaiming to the angels that surrounded him, "Martin, yet new in the faith, hath covered me with this vesture." Ever afterwards he became particularly attached to beggars and poor people. The cripples and lepers seem, however, to have made exclusive choice of St Giles for their patron, to whom the hospitals and other places for their relief were usually dedicated. So the parish church of Cripplegate was dedicated to him; and the ward itself, named after a very ancient gate to which the crippled beggars particularly resorted. There would be some difficulty to account for their preference of this Saint, as he does not appear to have been either lame or leprous. He was a noble Christian, born at Athens, a man of singular charity, giving largely to the poor, and on one occasion doing more than St Martin, by giving the whole of his coat to a diseased and naked beggar, who is said to have been immediately healed on putting it on.
As an exemplification of the legend of Saint Martin might be acceptable to many readers, it has been thought fit to select, as an appropriate embellishment, one of the oldest figures of the Saint that remain, and to place it before the title of the work. This print has been copied with scrupulous fidelity from an ancient engraving in copper, in the truly valuable collection of Thomas Lloyd, Esq., by a German artist, whose name unfortunately has not been preserved, and who probably executed it between the years 1460 and 1470. In this instance the story has not been correctly adhered to, for the designer of the print has there introduced a couple of beggars; an error that is sufficiently compensated by the variety it affords of the mendicant costume, one of these fellows making use of a creeper and dish, the other of a crutch. A later print of this subject, and of extreme curiosity on all accounts, may likewise be consulted. It is from a design by Jerom Bosche, an artist of grotesque celebrity, and represents Saint Martin in a boat full of beggars, with crowds of others on shore, in every possible form and attitude. It is accompanied with the following inscription, in the Flemish language: "The good Saint Martin is here represented among the crippled, nasty, wretched tribe, distributing to them his cloak, instead of money; the miserable crew contending for the spoil."
In the year 1741, a spirited presentment to the Court of King's Bench was made by the Grand Jury of Middlesex, against the unusual swarms of sturdy and clamorous beggars, as well as the many frightful objects exposed in the streets; in which they state, that notwithstanding a very strong presentment to the same effect had been made by a former jury in 1728, they had found the evil rather increased than remedied. This they ascribe to negligence in the proper officers, and trust that a proper remedy will be applied, and themselves not troubled with the poor, at the same time that they are every day more and more loaded with taxes to provide for them; and that his Majesty's subjects may have the passage of the streets, as in former happy times, free and undisturbed, and be able to transact the little business to which the decay of trade has reduced them, without molestation.
In the last session of the present Parliament, the matter has been again taken up with a degree of skill and vigour that reflects great honour on its conductors; and we may indulge a hope to see the streets of the Metropolis freed from the many public and disgusting nuisances that have increased with its population, and the real objects of charity and compassion humanely and properly cherished and protected, as well as the vast and oppressive expense of supporting them reduced.
Already we perceive the alarm has been taken by the members of the mendicant tribes; and it may not be too much to add, that the interest and curiosity of the present work are likely to augment, in proportion as the characters that have led to its composition shall decrease in numbers. That they should entirely disappear, may be more than can be reasonably expected.
The figure above represents an English Beggar about the middle of the fifteenth century, and has been copied from a Pontifical among the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum, on one of the margins of which the illuminator has rather strangely introduced it.
[1] Psal. cix. 10. The passage in 1 Samuel ii. 8, "He lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill," has not been used, because the original word does not seem to mean a common beggar. Strictly rendered, it signifies a poor person, or one in want.