active 1559-1577 John Awdelay

“ Sometimes 50 hackney coaches from London, ply morning and night, to and from Cambridge, as well as all the towns round, and the very barns and stables are turned into inns for the accommodation of the poorer people. ”

“ Of this fraternity there be that be called helpers, which commonly haunt tauernes or alehouses, and commeth in as men not acquainted with none in the companye, but spying them at any game, wil byd them God spede and God be at their game, and will so place him selfe that he will shew his fellow by sygnes and tokens, without speech commonly, but sometime with far fetched [leaf 6] wordes, what cardes he hath in his hand, and how he may play against him. And those betwene them both getteth money out of the others purse. ”

“ After the wholesale business is over, the country gentry generally flock in, laying out their money in stage-plays, taverns, music-houses, toys, puppet-shows, &c., and the whole concludes with a day for the sale of horses. ”

“ Dell is a yonge wenche, able for generation, and not yet knowen or broken by the vpright man. These go abroade yong, eyther by the death of their parentes, and no bodye to looke vnto them, or els by some sharpe mystres that they serue, do runne away out of seruice; eyther she is naturally borne one, and then she is a wyld Dell: these are broken verye yonge; when they haue béene lyen with all by the vpright man, then they be Doxes, and no Dels. ”

“ THese walkinge Mortes bee not maryed: these for their vnhappye yeares doth go as a Autem Morte, and wyll saye their husbandes died eyther at Newhauen, Ireland, or in some seruice of the Prince. These make laces vpon staues, and purses, that they cary in their hands, and whyte vallance for beddes. Manye of these hath hadde and haue chyldren: when these get ought, either with begging, bychery, or brybery, as money or apparell, they are quickly shaken out of all by the vpright men, that they are in a maruelous feare to cary any thinge aboute them that is of any valure. ”

“ Hese Abrahom men be those that fayne themselues to haue beene mad, and haue bene kept eyther in Bethelem or in some other pryson a good tyme, and not one amongst twenty that euer came in pryson for any such cause: yet wyll they saye howe pitiously and most extreamely they haue bene beaten, and dealt with all. Some of these be merye and verye pleasant, they wyll daunce and sing; some others be as colde and reasonable to talke wyth all. These begge money; eyther when they come at Farmours howses they wyll demaunde Baken, eyther chéese, or wooll, or any thinge that is worthe money. ”

“ An Vpright man is one that goeth wyth the trunchion of a staffe, which staffe they cal a Filtchman. This man is of so much authority, that meeting with any of his profession, he may cal them to accompt, & commaund a share or snap vnto him selfe, of al that they haue gained by their trade in one moneth. And if he doo them wrong, they haue no remedy agaynst hym, no though he beate them, as he vseth commonly to do. He may also commaund any of their women, which they cal Doxies, to serue his turne. He hath ye chiefe place at any market walke, & other assembles, & is not of any to be controled. ”

“ These vpright men wil sildom or neuer want; for what is gotten by anye Mort, or Doxe, if it please him, hée doth comaunde the same. And if he mete any begger, whether he be sturdye or impotent, he wyll demaund of him, whether euer he was stalled to the roge or no. If he saye he was, he wyll know of whom, and his name that stalled hym. And if he be not learnedly able to shewe him the whole circumstaunce thereof, he wyll spoyle him of his money, either of his best garment, if it be worth any money, and haue him to the bowsing ken, Which is to some typpling house next adioyninge ”

“ A Wilde Roge is he that is borne a Roge: he is a more subtil and more geuen by nature to all kinde of knauery then the other, as beastely begotten in barne or bushes, and from his infancye traded vp in trechery; yea, and before ripenes of yeares doth permyt, wallowinge in lewde lechery, but that is counted amongest them no sin. ”

“ Hese Dommerars are leud and most subtyll people: the moste part of these are Walch men, and wyll neuer speake, vnlesse they haue extreame punishment, but wyll gape, and with a maruelous force wyll hold downe their toungs doubled, groning for your charyty, and holding vp their handes full pitiously, so that with their déepe dissimulation they get very much. There are of these many, and but one that I vnderstand of hath lost his toung in dede. Hauing on a time occasion to ride to Dartforde, to speake with a priest there, who maketh all kinde of conserues very well, and vseth stilling of waters ”

“ We've some like you still, Thomas Harman, in our Victorian time. May their number grow!
Thus much about Harman we learn from his book and his literary contemporaries and successors. If we now turn to the historian of his county, Hasted, we find further interesting details about our author: 1, that he lived in Crayford parish, next to Erith, the Countess of Shrewsbury's parish; 2, that he inherited the estates of Ellam, and Maystreet, and the manor of Mayton or Maxton ”

“ David, in the dayes of Ahemel [e] ch the preiste, came into the temple and stole awaye the shewe bread; And yet god saide, “this is a man accordinge to myne owne harte.” Alsoe Christe himsellfe, when he was here vppon earth, did take an asse, a Colte, which was none of his owne. And you knowe that god saide, “this is my nowne sone, in whome I delighte.”
Thus maye you see that most of all god delighteth in theves. I marvell, therefore, that men can despise your lives, when that you are in all poynts almost like vnto Christe; for Christ hade noe dwellinge place,—noe more haue you. ”

“ My maysters, ich am an old man, and halfe blinde, and can skyl of very few games, yet for that you seeme to be such good Gentelmen, as to profer to play for that of which you had no part, but onely I my selfe, and therefore of right ich am worthy to pay for it, I shal with al my hart fulfyl your request. ”

“ A Curtall is much like to the Vpright man, but hys authority is not fully so great. He vseth commonly to go with a short cloke, like to grey Friers, & his woman with him in like liuery, which he calleth his Altham if she be hys wyfe, & if she be his harlot, she is called hys Doxy. ”

“ There wyll they boldlye drawe the latche of the doore, and {78} go in when the good man with hys famyly be at supper, and syt downe without leaue, and eate and drinke with them, and either lye in the hall by the fyre all night, or in the barne, if there be no rome in the house for them. If the doore be eyther bolted or lockt, if it be not opened vnto them when they wyl, they wyl breake the same open to his farther cost. And in this barne sometyme do lye xl. vpright men with their Doxes together at one time. ”

“ The Goldsmith tryeth it to be good gold, and also to haue hys ful weight like gold, and warenteth the party which shall lend the money that the ring is worth so much money according to the waight, this yoncker comming home with the party which shall lend the money, and hauing the gold ring againe, putteth vp the gold ring, and pulleth out a counterfaite ring very like the same, & so deliuereth it to the party which lendeth the money, they thinking it to be the same which they tryed, and so deliuereth the money or sometimes wares, and thus vily be deceiued. ”

“ In the morow the printer sent his boy that stripped him vpon Alhalon day at night to view him, because he would be sure, which boy knew him very well: this Crank confessed unto the debuty, that he had hosted the night before in Kent stréet in Southwarke, at the sign of the Cock, which thing to be true, the printer sente to know, and found him a lyer; but further inquiring, at length found out his habitation, dwelling in maister Hilles rentes, hauinge a pretye house, well stuffed, with a fayre ioyne table, and a fayre cubbard garnished with peuter, hauing an old auncient woman to his wyfe. ”

“ A Roge is neither so stoute or hardy as the vpright man. Many of them will go fayntly and looke piteously when they sée, either méete any person, hauing a kercher, as white as my shooes, tyed about their head, with a short staffe in their hand, haltinge, although they nede not, requiring almes of such as they 37méete, HARMAN. A ROGE.or to what house they shal com. But you may easely perceiue by their colour that thei cary both health and hipocrisie about them, wherby they get gaine, when others want that cannot fayne and dissemble. ”

“ These neuer go with out their Doxes, and yf their women haue anye thing about them, as apparell or lynnen, that is worth the selling, they laye the same to gage, or sell it out right, for bene bowse at their bowsing ken. And full sone wyll they bée wearye of them, and haue a newe. When they happen one woorke at any good house, their Doxes lynger alofe, and tarry for them in some corner; and yf he taryeth longe from her, then she knoweth [leaf 18] he hath worke, and walketh neare, and sitteth downe by him. For besydes money, he looketh for meate and drinke for doinge his dame pleasure. ”

“ I warraunt you they meane to bye no land with your money; but how could they come into you in the night, your dores being shut fast? your house is very stronge." Then this prason [73] shewed her all the hole circumstance, how he gaue them his almes oute at the wyndowe, they [74] made such lamentable crye that it pytied him at the hart; for he sawe but one when he put oute his hand at the wyndowe. "Be ruled by me," quoth this good wyfe. "Wherin?" quoth this parson. "By my troth, neuer speake more of it: when they shal vnderstand of it in the parish, they wyll but laugh you to skorne." ”

“ NOw I thinke it not vnnecessary to make the Reader vnderstand how and in what maner they lodge a nights in barnes or backe houses, and of their vsage there, for asmuch as I haue acquaynted them with their order and practises a day times. The arche and chiefe walkers that hath walked a long time, whose experience is great, because of their continuinge practise, I meane all Mortes and Doxes, for their handsomnes and diligence for making of their couches. The men neuer trouble them selues with that thing, but takes the same to be the dutye of the wyfe. ”

“ A Whypiacke is one, that by coulor of a counterfaite Lisence (which they call a Gybe, and the seales they cal Iarckes) doth vse to beg lyke a Maryner, But hys chiefest trade is to rob Bowthes in a Faire, or to pilfer ware from staules, which they cal heauing of the Bowth.
¶ A FRATER.
A Frater goeth wyth a like Lisence to beg for some Spittlehouse or Hospital. Their pray is commonly vpon [leaf 2⁠b.] poore women as they go and come to the Markets.
¶ A QUIRE BIRD.
A Quire bird is one that came lately out of prison, & goeth to seeke seruice. ”

“ The manor of Maxton, in the parish of Hougham “passed to Hobday, and thence to Harman, of Crayford; from which name it was sold by Thomas Harman to Sir James Hales. . . . . William Harman held the manor of Mayton, alias Maxton, with its appurtenances, of the Lord Cheney, as of his manor of Chilham, by Knight’s service. Thomas Harman was his son and heir: Rot. Esch. 2 Edw. VI.”—Hasted’s History of Kent, vi. p. 47.
“It is laid down as a rule, that nothing but an act of parliament can change the nature of gavelkind lands ”

“ These are their chiefe houses neare about London, where commonly they resorte vnto for Lodginge, and maye repaire thether freelye at all tymes. Sometyme shall come in some Roge, some pyckinge knaue, a nymble Prygge; he walketh in softly a nightes, when they be at their rest, and plucketh of as many garmentes as be ought worth that he maye come by, and worth money, and maye easely cary the same, and runneth a waye with the same with great seleritye, and maketh porte sale at some conuenient place of theirs, that some be soone ready in the morning, for want of their Casters and Togemans. ”

“ From that reprint Mr W. M. Wood has made a collation of words, not letters, for us with the 3rd edition. The chief difference of the 4th edition is its extension of the story of the 'dyssembling Cranke,' Nycholas Genings, and 'the Printar of this booke' Wylliam Gryffith (p. 53-6, below) , which extension is given in the footnotes to pages 56 and 57 of our edition. We were obliged to reprint this from Stace's reprint of 1814, as our searchers could not find a copy of the 4th edition of 1573 in either the British Museum, the Bodleian, or the Cambridge University Library. ”

“ As somtyme a whole bucke of clothes caryed awaye at a tyme. When they haue a greatter booty then they maye cary awaye quickly to their stawling kendes, as is aboue sayd, They wyll hyde the same for a thre dayes in some thicke couert, and [leaf 8] in the night time carye the same, lyke good water Spanlles, to their foresayd houses. To whom they wyll discouer where or in what places they had the same, where the markes shalbe pycked out cleane, and conuayed craftely fare of, to sell. If the man or woman of the house want money them selues. ”

“ And as they walke by the waye, they often gaine some money wyth their instrument, by such as they sodaynely mete withall. The vpright men haue good acquayntance with these, and will helpe and relieue them when they want. Thus they trade their lyues in lewed lothsome lechery. Amongest them all is but one honest woman, and she is of good yeares; her name is Ione Messenger. I haue had good proofe of her, as I haue learned by the true report of diuers. ”