Dublin.
Hieroglyphics of Vagabonds (Vol. v., p. 49.).
—I have a cutting from a newspaper of 1849 confirmative of the truth of this practice:—
"MENDICANT FREEMASONRY.—Persons indiscreet enough to open their purses to the relief of the beggar tribe would do well to take a readily-learned lesson as to the folly of that misguided benevolence which encourages and perpetuates vagabondism. Every door or passage is pregnant with instruction as to the error committed by the patron of beggars, as the beggar-marks show that a system of free-masonry is followed, by which a beggar knows whether it will be worth his while to call into a passage or knock at a door. Let any one examine the entrances to the passages in any town, and there he will find chalk marks, unintelligible to him, but significant enough to beggars. If a thousand towns are examined, the same marks will be found at every passage entrance. The passage mark is a cypher with a twisted tail: in some cases the tail projects into the passage, in others outwardly; thus seeming to indicate whether the houses down the passage are worth calling at or not. Almost every door has its marks: these are varied. In some cases there is a cross on the brick-work, others, a cypher: the figures 1, 2, 3 are also used. Every person may for himself test the accuracy of these statements by the examination of the brickwork near his own doorway ... thus demonstrating that mendicity is a regular trade, carried out upon a system calculated to save time and realise the largest profits!"
A. A. D.
"The bright lamp that shone in Kildare's holy fane" (Vol. v., p. 87.).
—Moore has given a reference himself as to where the story of the "inextinguishable fire of St. Bridget," alluded to in his melody, may be found: viz. Giraldus Camb. de Mirab. Hibern. dist. ii. c. 34.
[5] Not "lay."
A. A. D.