1853 419 354 62,788 1854 332 326 52,212 1855 235 239 52,731 1856 325 293 49,806 1857 354 358 54,074 1858 329 298 43,836 1859 364 305 40,256 1860 430 350 42,912 1861 446 335 73,077 1862 542 411 47,458 1863 607 451 45,477 1864 413 370 55,265 1865 774 586 52,137 1866 481 372 38,131 1867 488 311 44,347 54,767 27,609 3,713,726 Assuming that the Society constantly employs the same number of officers, and that they are always maintained in the same condition of activity, it is difficult to account for the disparity displayed by the above-quoted figures. It would almost seem that the mendicity constabulary were gifted with a prescience of what was about to happen; that they know, by the barking of dogs or some other unmistakable token, when “the beggars are coming to town,” and sallied out, as fishermen do at the approach of herrings or mackerel, prepared, and fully determined to make a good haul. It is a pity that, despite the good work it accomplishes, the Society for the Suppression of Mendicity should have weighty reasons for lamenting the falling-off of public support it has of late experienced. Nothing could be more promising than its launching. It took the field with a staff of eight constables only, and an income of 4,384_l._; nor could it be said to disappoint the expectations of its patrons. In its first year of operation it prosecuted 385 professional vagrants. Its success progressed. After a lapse of twenty-five years, in 1842 we find it with an income of 6,576_l._; and that prosperity had not dulled its energy appears from the fact that in the year last mentioned there occurred, in the deep waters where that slippery and voracious fish, the incorrigible beggar, lurks for prey, the splendid catch of over thirteen hundred. Encouraged by so fair a stroke of business, and the kindness and generosity of an appreciative public, the Society then added a new branch to their business—the begging-letter branch; which, it should be understood, did not originally come within the scope of its operations in any shape.