We saw in the lines, under the Frontispiece to the foregoing poem, _Garnish_ was mentioned, and the fact was stated as a Custom then in force of taking the prisoner's coat to pay for his fees on entrance. "But kind Sir, as you'r a Stranger, Down your Garnish you must lay, Or your Coat will be in danger, You must either Strip or pay." In the Criminal prisons, the prisoners themselves demanded Garnish from a new-comer, that is, a trifle of money--to drink. In 1708, at Newgate, this sum seems to have been Six shillings and Eightpence "Which they, from an old Custom, claim by Prescription, Time out of Mind, for entring into the _Society_, otherwise they strip the poor Wretch, if he has not wherewithal to pay it."[149] And in the old Play of the _Lying Lover_ we are introduced to a Scene in Newgate where the prisoners are demanding _Garnish_ from some new-comers. "_Storm._ Nay, nay, you must stay here. _Simon._ Why, I am _Simon_, Madam _Penelope's_ Man. _Storm._ Then Madam _Penelope's_ Man must strip for Garnish; indeed Master _Simon_ you must. _Simon._ Thieves! Thieves! Thieves! _Storm._ Thieves! Thieves! Why, you senseless Dog, do you think there's Thieves in _Newgate_? Away with him to the Tap House (_Pushes him off_). We'll drink his Coat off. Come, my little Chymist, thou shalt transmute this Jacket into Liquor." [Illustration] Yet although this custom was general, I have only once met with an engraving of the actual process, which, judging by the man's agonized countenance, was not a pleasant one to him. It occurs in the frontispiece to a little pamphlet called "An Oration on the Oppression of Jailors; which was spoken in the Fleet Prison, on the 20th of February, 1730/1," &c. And under the engraving, are these lines. "Unhappy, friendless Man! how hard thy Fate! Whose only Crime is being Unfortunate. Are Jailors suffer'd in such Acts as these? To strip the Wretch, who cannot pay his Fees? Is there no kind _Samaritan_ will lend Relief, and save him from th' accursed Fiend?" Respecting this practice let us hear what Howard in his "State of the Prisons in England and Wales," 1777, says, in his Chapter on "Bad Customs in Prisons." "A cruel custom obtains in most of our Gaols, which is that of the prisoners demanding of a new-comer GARNISH, FOOTING, or (as it is called in some London Gaols) CHUMMAGE. 'Pay or strip' are the fatal words. I say _fatal_, for they are so to some; who having no money, are obliged to give up part of their scanty apparel; and, if they have no bedding or straw to sleep on, contract diseases, which I have known to prove mortal.