Synopses & Reviews
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . I CHAPTER I ORIGINS. Size of the vagaboncldass. . . 3 Enclosures and sheep-farming . . 5 The change from the mediaeval to the modern system of land tenure. . . . . . . . . . . 7 he sixteenth-century literature of economic protest. . 10 The breaking up of the bands of feudal retainers . . I 4 The dissolution of the monasteries . . . . . The question of gipsy origin . S . . . . . . 17 CHAPTER I1 THE ART OF BEGGING. Traditionalmethods. . . . . . Prevalence of indiscriminate charity . . . Licences to beg . . . . . . Harmans twenty-four orders of vagabonds . - Rufflers and upright men . . . . . Hookers or anglers . . . . . . - 3 Rogues . . . . . . . . Counterfeitcranks . . . . . . Dommerers, palliards, and Abraham men. . Priggers of prancers . . . . . . Counterfeiters of licences . . . . . Pedlars and tinkers . . . . . . Minstrels . . . . . . . . Jugglers . . . . . . . . Movers of sedition and spreaders of false rumours Popish spies . . . . . . . CONTENTS CHAPTER 111 LAWS AGAINST VAGABONDS . PAGE Summary of legislative tendencies . . . . . 56 I 530-47 Legislation . . . . . . . . . 58 I 530-47 Enforcement of the laws . . . . 59 I 547-72 Legislation . . . 62 1547-72 Enforcement of the laws . . . . . 63 1572-97 Legislation . . . . . . . . . 68 1572-g7 Enforcementofthelaws . . . . . . 69 The poor laws of 1597 and 1601 . . 72 Conditions at the end of the century . 73 CHAPTER IV THE ART OF CONNY. CATCHING . The trustworthiness of the conny-catching pamphlets The tribe of gulls . . . . . . . - The haunts of the conny-catchers . . . . The conny-catchers busy season . . . . The conny-catching laws . . . . . Conny-catching proper . . . . . . Cheating law . . . . . . . .Vincents law . . . . . . . . The nips and foists . . . . . . . Crossbiting law . . . . . . . . Petty thieves and brokers . . . . . . High law . . . . . . . . . c h esp irit of Elizabethan roguery . . . . CHAPTER V LAWS AGAINST CONNY. CATCHING . Royal protection of unlawful games . . . . . 10 3 The patents of Thomas Cornwallis . . . . . . 105 Efforts to restrain the manufacture and sale of false dice . . 107 Patents for playing-cards . . . . . . . . 10 7 Laws against pickpockets . . . . . . . . 10 9 Cozening versus stealing in law . . . . . . . I I I CONTENTS g. Characteristic certificates of the punishment of vagabonds PAGE A. Ewellme, Oxon., August 25, 1571 D. S. P. Eliz., lxxx. 45 . 158 B. Eccleshall, Stafford, August and September, 1571 D. S. P. Eliz., Ixxxi. 25, I . . . . . . . . 159 C. Several hundreds in Cambridgeshire, August and Septem-. ber, 1571 D. S. P. E liz., luutiii. 36, v . . . . 161 10. Table of searches, 157 1-2 . . . . . . . . 162 11. Order for search for false dice in London, 1598 Re e ory 24, fo. 349 E . . . . . . . . . . 162 12. Letter about corrupt brokers in London, December I, 1601 Remembrancin, ii. 2 I 3 . . . . . . . . I 64 13. A licence to keep a gaming-house in the time of James I Petty Bag, Cert. Var., Bundle i . . . . . . . 165 14. Hexts letter, 1596 British Museum, MS. Lansdowne, 81, Nos. 62 and 64 . . . . . . . . . 167 B. PLAGIARISM IN ELIZABETHAN PAMPHLETS Matttyest Detection, sig. B, verso-C, verso . . . . . 175 MihiZ Mumchance, sig. B, verso, ff. . . . . . . ...
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