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. [Illustration] 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. MENDICANT WANDERERS THROUGH THE STREETS OF LONDON. Sailors, according to the old adage, find a port in every storm. The appeal of "My worthy heart, stow a copper in Jack's locker,--for poor Jack has not had a quid to-day," is as piercingly felt by the lowly cottager as the British Admiral. Who can recollect Bigg's pathetic picture of the "Shipwrecked Sailor-boy," or Mrs Ludlam's charming poem of "The Lost Child," without shedding the tear of sympathy? The public are not, however, to conclude, that because a fellow sports a jacket and trousers, he must have been a seaman; for there are many fresh-water sailors, who never saw a ship but from London Bridge. Such an impostor was Jack Stuart, Flaxman's model, whose effigy is attached to the capital letter of this page. Jack's latter history is truly curious. After lingering for nearly three months, he died on the 15th of August 1815, aged 35. His funeral was attended by his wife and faithful dog, Tippo, as chief mourners, accompanied by three blind beggars in black cloaks; namely, John Fountain, George Dyball, and John Jewis. Two blind fiddlers, William Worthington and Joseph Symmonds, preceded the coffin, playing the 104th Psalm. The whimsical procession moved on, amidst crowds of spectators, from Jack's house, in Charlton Gardens, Somers Town, to the churchyard of St Pancras, Middlesex. The mourners afterwards returned to the place from whence the funeral had proceeded, where they remained the whole of the night, dancing, drinking, swearing, and fighting, and occasionally chaunting Tabernacle hymns; for it must be understood, that most of the beggars are staunch Methodists. The person from whom these particulars were obtained, and who was one of the party, thought himself extremely happy that he came off with a pair of black eyes _only_. The conduct of this man's associates in vice was however powerfully contrasted by the extraordinary attachment and fidelity of Jack's cur, Tippo, his long and stedfast guide, who, after remaining three days upon his master's grave, refusing every sort of