Law -- England; Poor -- England; Poor laws -- England; Working class -- England
"(2) What is to be done unto them?"
The charming impersonal technical spirit of this little work is beyond all
praise. Not a word is ever used to remind you that, after all, a rogue
and a vagabond is a man and a brother. You are taught first to diagnose
him as Izaak Walton would teach the young angler how to discover the
singling that did not usually stir in the daytime, and having captured
your rogue and vagabond, you are then enlightened as to the various
methods of killing or curing him.
And first you are to note that all persons above the age of seven, man or
woman, married or single, that wander abroad without a lawful passport and
give no good account of their travel are accounted rogues. Then follows a
very lengthy list of such as are "of a higher degree and are to be
accounted as Rogues, Vagabonds and sturdy Beggars." Such are all Scholars
and Sea-faring men that beg, wandering persons using unlawful games,
subtle crafts, or pretending to have skill in telling of fortunes by the
marks or figures on the hands or face, Egyptians or Gypsies. All Jugglers
or Slight-of-hand Artists pretending to do wonders by virtue of Hocus
Pocus, the Powder of Pimper le Pimp, or the like; all Tinkers, Pedlars,
Chapmen, Glassmen, especially if they be not well known or have a
sufficient testimonial. All collectors for Gaols or Hospitals, Fencers,
Bearwards, common players of interludes, and Fiddlers or Minstrels
wandering abroad. Also Persons delivered out of Gaols who beg their fees,
such as go to and from the Baths and do not pursue their License, Soldiers
and Mariners that beg and counterfeit certificates from their commanders.
And, lastly: "All Labourers which wander abroad out of their respective
Parishes, and refuse to work for wages reasonably taxed, having no
Livelyhood otherwise to maintain themselves, and such as go with general
Passports not directed from Parish to Parish."
In a word, all the unfortunate poor who would not do as they were told by
their pastors and masters and wanted to work and amuse themselves in their
own way were rogues and vagabonds. And it is not without interest to run
your eye over this list, for the statutory rogue and vagabond is still
with us and our Poor Law of to-day suffers from its direct hereditary
connection with the Poor Law of the eighteenth century.
The duty of "The Compleat Constable" was, in the words of Dogberry, to
"comprehend all vagrom men" and he was liable to a fine of ten shillings
for every neglect. Moreover, if you were a stalwart fellow, you could
apprehend your own rogue and vagabond and hand him over to the constable,
who was bound to receive him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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