The Cries of London: Exhibiting Several of the Itinerant Traders of Antient and Modern TimesSmith, John Thomas
History
The Cries of London: Exhibiting Several of the Itinerant Traders of Antient and Modern Times
Smith, John Thomas
Cries -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs -- Illustrations; Peddling -- England -- London
Purgatory was a place with a ceiling so low that they
could not walk without bending the head into the chest; and Hell was a
dungeon with little or no light, where they had only bread and water. The
pump lately standing in the street close by the Exchequer Coffee House,
and now carried to the opposite side of the way, was the pump of this last
prison, and to this day goes under the appellation of "Hell Pump."
To the credit of present manners, our modern jailors are in general men of
feeling, and wherever it is discovered that they act with cruelty they are
immediately dismissed from their office. This was not the case in former
days, for they were in general the most hard-hearted of men, and callous
even to the distresses of the aged, and crying infant at the breast.
The following Plate, pourtraying a Jailor of those times, will
sufficiently convey an idea of the morose gluttony of such a character. It
was copied from a rare tract, entitled, "Essayes and Characters of a
Prison and Prisoners, by Geffray Mynshul, of Grayes Inne, Gent. with new
additions, 1638." On the right side of the figure is written, "Those that
keepe me, I keepe; if can, will still." On the left hand, "Hee's a true
Jaylor strips the Divell in ill." The following extracts from this curious
work will shew the estimation in which the author held a Jailor:
"As soone as thou commest before the gate of the prison, doe but think
thou art entring into Hell, and it will extenuate somewhat of thy misery,
for thou shalt be sure not only to find Hell, but fiends and ugly
monsters, which with continuall torments will afflict thee; for at the
gate there stands Cerberus, a man in shew, but a dogge in nature, who at
thy entrance will fawne upon thee, bidding thee welcome, in respect of the
golden croft which he must have cast him; then he opens the doore with all
gentlenes, shewing thee the way to misery is very facile, and being once
in, he shuts it with such fury, that it makes the foundation shake, and
the doore and windows so barricadoed, that a man so loseth himself with
admiration that he can hardly finde the way out and be a sound man.
"Now for the most part your porter is either some broken cittizen who hath
plaid jack of all trades, some pander, broker, or hangman, that hath plaid
the knave with all men; and for the more certainty his emblem is a red
beard, to which sacke hath made his nose cousin-german.
"If marble-hearted Jaylors were so haplesse happy as to be mistaken, and
be made Kings, they would, instead of iron to their grates, have barres
made of men's ribs, Death should stand at doore for porter, and the Divell
every night come gingling of keyes, and rapping at doores to lock men up.
"The broker useth to receive pawnes, but when he hath the feathers he lets
the bird flye at liberty: but the Jaylor when he hath beene plum'd with
the prisoner's pawnes, detaines him for his last morsell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account