Vnto this nest is another sort to be referred, more sturdie than the rest, which hauing sound and perfect lims, doo yet notwithstanding sometime counterfeit the possession of all sorts of diseases. Diuerse times in their apparell also they will be like seruing men or laborers: oftentimes they can plaie the mariners, and séeke for ships which they neuer lost. But in fine, they are all théeues and caterpillers in the common-wealth, and by the word of God not permitted to eat, sith they doo but licke the sweat from the true labourers browes, & beereue the godlie poore of that which is due vnto them, to mainteine their excesse, consuming the charitie of well disposed people bestowed vpon them, after a most wicked & detestable maner.
It is not yet full thréescore yeares since this trade began: but how it hath prospered since that time, it is easie to iudge, for they are now supposed of one sex and another, to amount vnto aboue 10000 persons; as I haue heard reported. Moreouer, in counterfeiting the Egyptian roges, they haue deuised a language among themselues, which they name Canting, but other pedlers French, a speach compact thirtie yeares since of English, and a great number of od words of their owne deuising, without all order or reason: and yet such is it as none but themselues are able to vnderstand. The first deuiser thereof was hanged by the necke, a iust reward no doubt for his deserts, and a common end to all of that Thomas Harman. profession. A gentleman also of late hath taken great paines to search out the secret practises of this vngratious rable. And among other things he setteth downe and describeth thrée & twentie sorts of them, whose names it shall not be amisse to remember, wherby ech one may take occasion to read and know as also by his industrie what wicked people they are, and what villanie remaineth in them.
The seuerall disorders and degrees amongst our idle vagabonds. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rufflers. | 8 | Fraters. |
| 2 | Vprightmen. | 9 | Abrams. |
| 3 | Hookers or Anglers. | 10 | Freshwater mariners, or whipiacks. |
| 4 | Roges. | 11 | Dummerers. |
| 5 | Wild roges. | 12 | Drunken tinkers. |
| 6 | Priggers or pransers. | 13 | Swadders or pedlers. |
| 7 | Palliards. | 14 | Iarkemen or patricoes. |
¶ Of women kind | |||
| 1 | Demanders for glimmar or fire. | 6 | Doxes. |
| 2 | Baudie baskets. | 7 | Delles. |
| 3 | Mortes. | 8 | Kinching mortes. |
| 4 | Autem mortes. | 9 | Kinching cooes. |
| 5 | Walking mortes. | ||
The punishment that is ordeined for this kind of people is verie sharpe, and yet it can not restreine them from their gadding: wherefore the end must néeds be martiall law, to be exercised vpon them, as vpon théeues, robbers, despisers of all lawes, and enimies to the common-wealth & welfare of the land. What notable roberies, pilferies, murders, rapes, and stealings of yoong children, burning, breaking and disfiguring their lims to make them pitifull in the sight of the people, I need not to rehearse: but for their idle roging about the countrie, the law ordeineth this maner of correction. The roge being apprehended, committed to prison, and tried in the next assises (whether they be of gaole deliuerie or sessions of the peace) if he happen to be conuicted for a vagabond either by inquest of office, or the testimonie of two honest and credible witnesses vpon their oths, he is then immediatlie adiudged to be gréeuouslie whipped and burned through the gristle of the right eare, with an hot iron of the compasse of an inch about, as a manifestation of his wicked life, and due punishment receiued for the same. And this iudgement is to be executed vpon him, except some honest person woorth fiue pounds in the quéenes books in goods, or twentie shillings in lands, or some rich housholder to be allowed by the iustices, will be bound in recognisance to reteine him in his seruice for one whole yeare. If he be taken the second time, and proued to haue forsaken his said seruice, he shall then be whipped againe, bored likewise through the other eare and set to seruice: from whence if he depart before a yeare be expired, and happen afterward to be attached againe, he is condemned to suffer paines of death as a fellon (except before excepted) without benefit of clergie or sanctuarie, as by the statute dooth appeare. Among roges and idle persons finallie, we find to be comprised all proctors that go vp and downe with counterfeit licences, coosiners, and such as gad about the countrie, vsing vnlawfull games, practisers of physiognomie and palmestrie, tellers of fortunes, fensers, plaiers, minstrels, iugglers, pedlers, tinkers, pretensed schollers, shipmen, prisoners gathering for fees, and others so oft as they be taken without sufficient licence. From among which companie our bearewards are not excepted, and iust cause: for I haue read that they haue either voluntarilie, or for want of power to master their sauage beasts, béene occasion of the death and deuoration of manie children in sundrie countries by which they haue passed, whose parents neuer knew what was become of them. And for that cause there is & haue béene manie sharpe lawes made for bearwards in Germanie, wherof you may read in other. But to our roges. Each one also that harboreth or aideth them with meat or monie, is taxed and compelled to fine with the quéenes maiestie for euerie time that he dooth so succour them, as it shall please the iustices of peace to assigne, so that the taxation excéed not twentie shillings, as I haue béene informed. And thus much of the poore, & such prouision as is appointed for them within the realme of England.
OF SUNDRIE KINDS OF PUNISHMENTS APPOINTED FOR MALEFACTORS.
CHAP. XI.
In cases of felonie, manslaghter, roberie, murther, rape, piracie, & such capitall crimes as are not reputed for treason or hurt of the estate, our sentence pronounced vpon the offendor is to hang till he be dead. For of other punishments vsed in other countries we haue no knowledge or vse, and yet so few gréeuous crimes committed with vs as else where in the world. To vse torment also or question by paine and torture in these common cases with vs is greatlie abhorred, sith we are found alwaie to be such as despise death, and yet abhorre to be tormented, choosing rather frankelie to open our minds than to yeeld our bodies vnto such seruile halings and tearings as are vsed in other countries. And this is one cause wherefore our condemned persons doo go so chéerefullie to their deths, for our nation is frée, stout, hautie, prodigall of life and bloud, as sir Thomas Smith saith lib. 2. cap. 25. de republica, and therefore cannot in anie wise digest to be vsed as villanes and slaues, in suffering continuallie beating, seruitude, and seruile torments. No, our gailers are guiltie of fellonie by an old law of the land, if they torment anie prisoner committed to their custodie for the reuealing of his complices.
The greatest and most gréeuous punishment vsed in England, for such as offend against the state, is drawing from the prison to the place of execution vpon an hardle or sled, where they are hanged till they be halfe dead, and then taken downe and quartered aliue, after that their members and bowels are cut from their bodies, and throwne into a fire prouided neere hand and within their owne sight, euen for the same purpose. Sometimes, if the trespasse be not the more hainous, they are suffered to hang till they be quite dead. And when soeuer anie of the nobilitie are conuicted of high treason by their peeres, that is to saie, equals (for an inquest of yeomen passeth not vpon them, but onelie of the lords of the parlement) this maner of their death is conuerted into the losse of their heads onelie, notwithstanding that the sentence doo run after the former order. In triall of cases concerning treason, fellonie, or anie other greeuous crime not confessed, the partie accused dooth yéeld, if he be a noble man, to be tried by an inquest (as I haue said) and his péeres: if a gentleman, by gentlemen: and an inferiour, by God and by the countrie, to wit, the yeomanrie (for combat or battell is not greatlie in vse) and being condemned of fellonie, manslaughter, &c: he is eftsoons hanged by the necke till he be dead, and then cut downe and buried. But if he be conuicted of wilfull murther, doone either vpon pretended malice, or in anie notable robberie, he is either hanged aliue in chaines néere the place where the fact was committed (or else vpon compassion taken first strangled with a rope) and so continueth till his bones consume to nothing. We haue vse neither of the whéele nor of the barre, as in other countries; but when wilfull manslaughter is perpetrated, beside hanging, the offendor hath his right hand commonlie striken off before or néere vnto the place where the act was doone, after which he is led foorth to the place of execution, and there put to death according to the law.
The word fellon is deriued of the Saxon words Fell and One, that is to say, an euill and wicked one, a one of vntamable nature, and lewdnesse not to be suffered for feare of euill example and the corruption of others. In like sort in the word fellonie are manie gréeuous crimes conteined, as breach of prison An. 1 of Edward the second. Disfigurers of the princes liege people An. 5. of Henrie the fourth. Hunting by night with painted faces and visors An. 1. of Henrie the seuenth. Rape or stealing of women & maidens An. 3 of Henrie the eight. Conspiracie against the person of the prince An. 3. of Henrie the seuenth. Embesilling of goods committed by the master to the seruant, aboue the value of fourtie shillings An. 17. of Henrie the eight. Carieng of horsses or mares into Scotland An. 23. of Henrie the eight. Sodomie and buggerie An. 25. of Henrie the eight. Stealing of hawkes egs An. 31. of Henrie the eight. Coniuring, sorcerie, witchcraft, and digging vp of crosses An. 33. of Hen. 8. Prophesieng vpon armes, cognisances, names & badges An. 33. of Hen. 8. Casting of slanderous bils An. 37. Hen. 8. Wilfull killing by poison An. 1. of Edw. the sixt. Departure of a soldier from the field An. 2. of Edward the sixt. Diminution of coine, all offenses within case of premunire, embeselling of records, goods taken from dead men by their seruants, stealing of what soeuer cattell, robbing by the high waie, vpon the sea, or of dwelling houses, letting out of ponds, cutting of pursses, stealing of déere by night, counterfeiters of coine, euidences, charters, and writings, & diuerse other needlesse to be remembred. If a woman poison hir husband she is burned aliue, if the seruant kill his master he is to be executed for petie treason, he that poisoneth a man is to be boiled to death in water or lead, although the partie die not of the practise: in cases of murther all the accessaries are to suffer paines of death accordinglie. Periurie is punished by the pillorie, burning in the forehead with the letter P, the rewalting of the trées growing vpon the grounds of the offenders and losse of all his mooueables. Manie trespasses also are punished by the cutting of one or both eares from the head of the offendor, as the vtterance of seditious words against the magistrates, fraimakers, petie robbers, &c. Roges are burned through the eares, cariers of sheepe out of the land by the losse of their hands, such as kill by poison are either boiled or skalded to death in lead or séething water. Heretikes are burned quicke, harlots and their mates by carting, ducking, and dooing of open penance in shéets, in churches and market stéeds are often put to rebuke. Howbeit as this is counted with some either as no punishment at all to speake of, or but smallie regarded of the offendors, so I would wish adulterie and fornication to haue some sharper law. For what great smart is it to be turned out of an hot sheet into a cold, or after a little washing in the water to be let lose againe vnto their former trades? Howbeit the dragging of some of them ouer the Thames betwéene Lambeth and Westminster at the taile of a boat, is a punishment that most terrifieth them which are condemned therto; but this is inflicted vpon them by none other than the knight marshall, and that within the compasse of his iurisdiction & limits onelie. Canutus was the first that gaue authoritie to the cleargie to punish whoredome, who at that time found fault with the former lawes as being too seuere in this behalfe. For before the time of the said Canutus, the adulterer forfeited all his goods to the king, and his bodie to be at his pleasure; and the adulteresse was to lose hir eies or nose, or both, if the case were more than common: whereby it appéereth of what estimation mariage was amongst them, sith the breakers of that holie estate were so gréeuouslie rewarded. But afterward the cleargie dealt more fauourablie with them, shooting rather at the punishments of such priests and clearkes as were maried, than the reformation of adulterie and fornication, wherein you shall find no example that anie seueritie was shewed, except vpon such laie men as had defiled their nuns. As in theft therefore so in adulterie and whoredome I would wish the parties trespassant, to be made bond or slaues vnto those that receiued the iniurie, to sell and giue where they listed, or to be condemned to the gallies: for that punishment would proue more bitter to them than halfe an houres hanging, or than standing in a shéet, though the weather be neuer so cold.
Manslaughter in time past was punished by the pursse, wherin the quantitie or qualitie of the punishment was rated after the state and calling of the partie killed: so that one was valued sometime at 1200, another at 600, or 200 shillings. And by an estatute made vnder Henrie the first, a citizen of London at 100, whereof else-where I haue spoken more at large. Such as kill themselues are buried in the field with a stake driuen through their bodies.
Witches are hanged or sometimes burned, but théeues are hanged (as I Halifax law. said before) generallie on the gibbet or gallowes, sauing in Halifax where they are beheaded after a strange maner, and whereof I find this report. There is and hath beene of ancient time a law or rather a custome at Halifax, that who soeuer dooth commit anie fellonie, and is taken with the same, or confesse the fact vpon examination: if it be valued by foure constables to amount to the sum of thirtéene pence halfe penie, he is foorthwith beheaded vpon one of the next market daies (which fall vsuallie vpon the tuesdaies, thursdaies, & saturdaies) or else vpon the same daie that he is so conuicted, if market be then holden. The engine wherewith the execution is doone, is a square blocke of wood of the length of foure foot and an halfe, which dooth ride vp and downe in a slot, rabet, or regall betwéene two péeces of timber, that are framed and set vpright of fiue yardes in height. In the neather end of the sliding blocke is an ax keied or fastened with an iron into the wood, which being drawne vp to the top of the frame is there fastened by a woodden pin (with a notch made into the same after the maner of a Samsons post) vnto the middest of which pin also there is a long rope fastened that commeth downe among the people, so that when the offendor hath made his confession, and hath laid his necke ouer the neathermost blocke, euerie man there present dooth either take hold of the rope (or putteth foorth his arme so neere to the same as he can get, in token that he is willing to sée true iustice executed) and pulling out the pin in this maner, the head blocke wherein the ax is fastened dooth fall downe with such a violence, that if the necke of the transgressor were so big as that of a bull, it should be cut in sunder at a stroke, and roll from the bodie by an huge distance. If it be so that the offendor be apprehended for an ox, oxen, shéepe, kine, horsse, or anie such cattell: the selfe beast or other of the same kind shall haue the end of the rope tied somewhere vnto them, so that they being driuen doo draw out the pin wherby the offendor is executed. Thus much of Halifax law, which I set downe onelie to shew the custome of that countrie in this behalfe.