THE ROGUES AND VAGABONDS OF SHAKESPEARE'S YOUTH: AWDELEY'S 'FRATERNITYE OF VACABONDES'…

CHATTO AND WINDUS, PUBLISHERS LONDON MCMVII

R. CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.

PREFACE.

If the ways and slang of Vagabonds and Beggars interested Martin Luther enough to make him write a preface to the Liber Vagatorum[1] in 1528, two of the ungodly may be excused for caring, in 1869, for the old Rogues of their English land, and for putting together three of the earliest tracts about them. Moreover, these tracts are part of the illustrative matter that we want round our great book on Elizabethan England, Harrison's Description of Britain, and the chief of them is quoted by the excellent parson who wrote that book.

The first of these three tracts, Awdeley's Fraternitye of Vacabondes, has been treated by many hasty bibliographers, who can never have taken the trouble to read the first three leaves of Harman's book, as later than, and a mere pilfering from, Harman's Caueat. No such accusation, however, did Harman himself bring against the worthy printer-author (herein like printer-author Crowley, though he was preacher too,) who preceded him. In his Epistle dedicatory to the Countes of Shrewsbury, p. 20, below, Harman, after speaking of 'these wyly wanderers,' vagabonds, says in 1566 or 1567,

There was a fewe yeares since a small bréefe setforth of some zelous man to his countrey,—of whom I knowe not,—that made a lytle shewe of there names and vsage, and gaue a glymsinge lyghte, not sufficient to perswade of their peuishe peltinge and pickinge practyses, but well worthy of prayse.

This description of the 'small bréefe,' and the 'lytle shewe' ofii the 'names and vsage,' exactly suits Awdeley's tract; and the 'fewe yeares since' also suits the date of what may be safely assumed to be the first edition of the Fraternitye, by John Awdeley or John Sampson, or Sampson Awdeley,—for by all these names, says Mr Payne Collier, was our one man known:—

It may be disputed whether this printer's name were really Sampson, or Awdeley: he was made free of the Stationers' Company as Sampson, and so he is most frequently termed towards the commencement of the Register; but he certainly wrote and printed his name Awdeley or Awdelay; now and then it stands in the Register 'Sampson Awdeley.' It is the more important to settle the point, because ... he was not only a printer, but a versifier,[2] and ought to have been included by Ritson in his Bibliographica Poetica. (Registers of the Stationers' Company, A.D. 1848, vol. i. p. 23.)

These verses of Awdeley's, or Sampson's, no doubt led to his 'small bréefe' being entered in the Stationers' Register as a 'ballett':

"1560-1. Rd. of John Sampson, for his lycense for pryntinge of a ballett called the description of vakaboundes ... iiijd.

"[This entry seems to refer to an early edition of a very curious work, printed again by Sampson, alias Awdeley, in 1565, when it bore the following title, 'The fraternitie of vacabondes, as well of rufling vacabones as of beggerly, [3]as well of women as of men, [3]and as well of gyrles as of boyes, with their proper names and qualityes. Also the xxv. orders of knaves, otherwise called a quartten of knawes. Confirmed this yere by Cocke Lorel.' The edition without date mentioned by Dibdin (iv. 564) may have been that of the entry. Another impression by Awdeley, dated 1575 [which we reprint] is reviewed in the British Bibliographer, ii. 12, where it is asserted (as is very probable, though we are without distinct evidence of the fact) that the printer was the compiler of the book, and he certainly introduces it by three six-line stanzas. If this work came out originally in 1561, according to the entry, there is no doubt that it was the precursor of a very singular series of tracts on the same subject, which will be noticed in their proper places.]"—J. P. Collier, Registers, i. 42.

As above said, I take Harman's 'fewe yeares'—in 1566 or 7—to point to the 1561 edition of Awdeley, and not the 1565 ed. And as to Awdeley's authorship,—what can be more express than his own words, iiip. 2, below, that what the Vagabond caught at a Session confest as to 'both names and states of most and least of this their Vacabondes brotherhood,' that,—'at the request of a worshipful man, I ['The Printer,' that is, John Awdeley] have set it forth as well as I can.'

But if a doubt on Awdeley's priority to Harman exists in any reader's mind, let him consider this second reference by Harman to Awdeley (p. 60, below), not noticed by the bibliographers: "For-as-much as these two names, a Iarkeman and a Patrico, bée in the old briefe of vacabonds, and set forth as two kyndes of euil doers, you shall vnderstande that a Iarkeman hath his name of a Iarke, which is a seale in their Language, as one should make writinges and set seales for lycences and pasporte," and then turn to Awdeley's Fraternitye of Vacabondes, and there see, at page 5, below:

¶ A IACK MAN.

A Iackeman is he that can write and reade, and sometime speake latin. He vseth to make counterfaite licences which they call Gybes, and sets to Seales, in their language called Iarkes. (See also 'A Whipiacke,' p. 4.)

Let the reader then compare Harman's own description of a Patrico, p. 60, with that in 'the old Briefe of Vacabonds,' Awdeley, p. 6:

And surely no doubt on the point will remain in his mind, though, if needed, a few more confirmations could be got, as

We may conclude, then, certainly, that Awdeley did not plagiarize Harman; and probably, that he first published his Fraternitye in 1561. The tract is a mere sketch, as compared with Harman's Caueat, though in its descriptions (p. 6-11) of 'A Curtesy Man,' iv HARMAN'S CAUEAT: THE EARLY EDITIONS.'A Cheatour or Fingerer,' and 'A Ring-Faller' (one of whom tried his tricks on me in Gower-street about ten days ago), it gives as full a picture as Harman does of the general run of his characters. The edition of 1575 being the only one accessible to us, our trusty Oxford copier, Mr George Parker, has read the proofs with the copy in the Bodleian.

Let no one bring a charge of plagiarizing Awdeley, against Harman, for the latter, as has been shown, referred fairly to Awdeley's 'small breefe' or 'old briefe of vacabonds,' and wrote his own "bolde Beggars booke" (p. 91) from his own long experience with them.

Harman's Caueat is too well-known and widely valued a book to need description or eulogy here. It is the standard work on its subject,—'these rowsey, ragged, rabblement of rakehelles' (p. 19)—and has been largely plundered by divers literary cadgers. No copy of the first edition seems to be known to bibliographers. It was published in 1566 or 1567,—probably the latter year,[4]—and must (I conclude) have contained less than the second, as in that's 'Harman to the Reader,' p. 28, below, he says 'well good reader, I meane not to be tedyous vnto the, but haue added fyue or sixe more tales, because some of them weare doune whyle my booke was fyrste in the presse.' He speaks again of his first edition at p. 44, below, 'I had the best geldinge stolen oute of my pasture, that I had amongst others, whyle this boke was first a printynge;' and also at p. 51, below, 'Apon Alhollenday in the morning last anno domini 1566, or my booke was halfe printed, I meane the first impression.' All Hallows' or All Saints' Day is November 1.

The edition called the second[5], also bearing date in 1567, is known to us in two states, the latter of which I have called the third edition. The first state of the second edition is shown by the Bodleian copy, which is 'Augmented and inlarged by the fyrst author here of,' and has, besides smaller differences specified in the footnotes in our pages, this great difference, that the arrangement of 'The Names of vHARMAN'S CAUEAT: THE TWO STATES OF THE 2ND EDITION.the Vpright Men, Roges, and Pallyards' is not alphabetical, by the first letter of the Christian names, as in the second state of the second edition (which I call the third edition), but higgledy-piggledy, or, at least, without attention to the succession of initials either of Christian or Sur-names, thus, though in three columns:

¶ Vpright men.

[&c.]

¶ Roges.

[&c.]

¶ Pallyards.

[&c.]

This alone settles the priority of the Bodley edition, as no printer, having an index alphabetical, would go and muddle it all again, even for a lark. Moreover, the other collations confirm this priority. The colophon of the Bodley edition is dated A.D. 1567, 'the eight of January;' and therefore A.D. 1567-8.

The second state of the second edition—which state I call the third edition—is shown by the copy which Mr Henry Huth has, with his never-failing generosity, lent us to copy and print from. It omits 'the eight of January,' from the colophon, and has 'Anno Domini 1567' only. Like the 2nd edition (or 2 A), this 3rd edition (or 2 B) has the statement on p. 87, below: 'Whyle this second Impression viwas in printinge, it fortuned that Nycholas Blunte, who called hym selfe Nycholan Gennyns, a counterefet Cranke, that is spoken of in this booke, was fonde begging in the whyte fryers on Newe yeares day last past. Anno domini .1567, and commytted vnto a offescer, who caried hym vnto the depetye of the ward, which commytted hym vnto the counter;' and this brings both the 2nd and 3rd editions (or 2 A and 2 B) to the year 1568, modern style. The 4th edition, so far as I know, was published in 1573, and was reprinted by Machell Stace (says Bohn's Lowndes) in 1814. 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.

Thus much about our present edition. I now hark back to the first, and the piracies of it or the later editions, mentioned in Mr J. P. Collier's Registers of the Stationers' Company, i. 155-6, 166.

"1566-7 Rd. of William Greffeth, for his lycense for printinge of a boke intituled a Caviat for commen Corsetors, vulgarly called Vagabons, by Thomas Harman ... iiijd.

"[No edition of Harman's 'Caveat or Warning for common Cursetors,' of the date of 1566, is known, although it is erroneously mentioned in the introductory matter to the reprint in 1814, from H. Middleton's impression of 1573. It was the forerunner of various later works of the same kind, some of which were plundered from it without acknowledgment, and attributed to the celebrated Robert Greene. Copies of two editions in 1567, by Griffith, are extant, and, in all probability, it was the first time it appeared in print: Griffith entered it at Stationers' Hall, as above, in 1566, in order that he might publish it in 1567. Harman's work was preceded by several ballads relating to vagabonds, the earliest of which is entered on p. 42 [Awdeley, p. ii. above]. On a subsequent page (166) is inserted a curious entry regarding 'the boke of Rogges,' or Rogues.]

"1566-7. For Takynge of Fynes as foloweth. Rd. of Henry viiBynnyman, PIRATERS OF HARMAN'S CAUEAT.for his fyne for undermy[n]dinge and procurynge, as moche as in hym ded lye, a Copye from wylliam greffeth, called the boke of Rogges ... iijs.

"[This was certainly Harman's 'Caveat or Warning for Common Cursetors'; and here we see Bynneman fined for endeavouring to undermine Griffith by procuring the copy of the work, in order that Bynneman might print and publish it instead of Griffith, his rival in business. The next item may show that Gerard Dewes had also printed the book, no doubt without license, but the memorandum was crossed out in the register.]

"Also, there doth remayne in the handes of Mr Tottle and Mr Gonneld, then wardens, the somme of iijli. vijs. viijd., wherto was Recevyd of garrad dewes for pryntinge of the boke of Rogges in aº 1567 ... ijli. vjs. viijd.

"[All tends to prove the desire of stationers to obtain some share of the profits of a work, which, as we have already shown, was so well received, that Griffith published two editions of it in 1567.]"

The fact is, the book was so interesting that it made its readers thieves, as 'Jack Sheppard' has done in later days. The very wood-cutter cheated Harman of the hind legs of the horse on his title, prigged two of his prauncer's props (p. 42).

To know the keen inquiring Social Reformer, Thomas Harman, the reader must go to his book. He lived in the country (p. 34, foot), in [Crayford] Kent (p. 30, p. 35), near a heath (p. 35), near Lady Elizabeth Shrewsbury's parish (p. 19), not far from London (p. 30, p. 35); 'he lodged at the White Friars within the cloister' (p. 51), seemingly while he was having his book printed (p. 53), and had his servant there with him (ib.); 'he knew London well' (p. 54, &c.); and in Kent 'beinge placed as a poore gentleman,' he had in 1567, 'kepte a house these twenty yeares, where vnto pouerty dayely hath and doth repayre,' and where, being kept at home 'through sickenes, he talked dayly with many of these wyly wanderars, as well men and wemmen, as boyes and gyrles,' whose tricks he has so pleasantly set down for us. He did not, though, confine his intercourse with vagabonds to talking, for he says of some, p. 48,

¶ Some tyme they counterfet the seale of the Admiraltie. I haue diuers tymes taken a waye from them their lycences, of both sortes, viiiwyth suche money as they haue gathered, and haue confiscated the same to the pouerty nigh adioyninge to me. p. 51-6.

Our author also practically exposed these tricks, as witness his hunting out the Cranke, Nycholas Genings, and his securing the vagabond's 13s. and 4d. for the poor of Newington parish, p. 51-6, his making the deaf and dumb beggar hear and speak, p. 58-9 (and securing his money too for the poor). But he fed deserving beggars, see p. 66, p. 20.

Though Harman tells us 'Eloquence haue I none, I neuer was acquaynted with the Muses, I neuer tasted of Helycon' (p. 27-8), yet he could write verses—though awfully bad ones: see them at pages 50 and 89-91, below, perhaps too at p. 26[6];—he knew Latin—see his comment on Cursetors and Vagabone, p. 27; his una voce, p. 43; perhaps his 'Argus eyes,' p. 54; his omnia venalia Rome, p. 60; his homo, p. 73; he quotes St Augustine (and the Bible), p. 24; &c.;—he studied the old Statutes of the Realm (p. 27); he liked proverbs (see the Index); he was once 'in commission of the peace,' as he says, and judged malefactors, p. 60, though he evidently was not a Justice when he wrote his book; he was a 'gentleman,' says Harrison (see p. xii. below); 'a Iustice of Peace in Kent,[7] in Queene Marie's daies,' says Samuel Rowlands;[8] he bore arms (of heraldry), and had them duly stamped on his pewter dishes (p. 35); he had at least one old 'tennant who customably a greate tyme went twise in the weeke to London, (over Blacke Heathe) eyther wyth

fruite or with pescoddes' (p. 30); he hospitably asked his visitors to dinner (p. 45); he had horses in his pasture,[9] the best gelding of which the Pryggers of Prauncers prigged (p. 44); he had an unchaste cow that went to bull every month (p. 67, if his ownership is not chaff here); he had in his 'well-house on the backe side of ixhis house, a great cawdron of copper' which the beggars stole (p. 34-5); he couldn't keep his linen on his hedges or in his rooms, or his pigs and poultry from the thieves (p. 21); he hated the 'rascal rabblement' of them (p. 21), and 'the wicked parsons that keepe typlinge Houses in all shires, where they haue succour and reliefe'; and, like a wise and practical man, he set himself to find out and expose all their 'vndecent, dolefull [guileful] dealing, and execrable exercyses' (p. 21) to the end that they might be stopt, and sin and wickedness might not so much abound, and thus 'this Famous Empyre be in more welth, and better florysh, to the inestymable joye and comfort' of his great Queen, Elizabeth, and

the 'vnspeakable ... reliefe and quietnes of minde, of all her faythfull Commons and Subiectes.' The right end, and the right way to it. 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; 3, that he was the grandson of Henry Harman, Clerk of the Crown, who had for his arms 'Argent, a chevron between 3 scalps sable,' which were no doubt those stampt on our Thomas's pewter dishes; 4, that he had a 'descendant,'—a son, I presume—who inherited his lands, and three daughters, one of whom, Bridget, married Henry Binneman—? not the printer, about 1565-85 A.D., p. vi-vii, above.

Hasted in his description of the parish of Crayford, speaking of Ellam, a place in the parish, says:—

"In the 16th year of K. Henry VII. John Ellam alienated it (the seat of Ellam) to Henry Harman, who was then Clerk of the Crown,[10] and xwho likewise THOMAS HARMAN'S FAMILY AND ESTATES.purchased an estate called Maystreet here, of Cowley and Bulbeck, of Bulbeck-street in this parish, in the 20th year of King Edward IV.[11] On his decease, William Harman, his son, possessed both these estates.[12] On his decease they descended to Thomas Harman, esq., his son; who, among others, procured his lands to be disgavelled, by the act of the 2 & 3 Edw. VI.[13] He married Millicent, one of the daughters of Nicholas Leigh, of Addington, in the county of Surry, esq.[14] His descendant, William Harman, sold both these places in the reign of K. James I. to Robert Draper, esqr."—History of Kent, vol. i. p. 209.

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; and this has occasioned several [acts], for the purpose of disgavelling the possessions of divers gentlemen in this county.... One out of several statutes made for this purpose is the 3rd of Edw. VI."—Hasted's History of Kent, vol. i. p. cxliii.

And in the list of names given,—taken from Robinson's Gavelkind—twelfth from the bottom stands that of Thomas Harman.

Of Thomas Harman's aunt, Mary, Mrs William Lovelace, we find: "John Lovelace, esq., and William Lovelace, his brother, possessed this manor and seat (Bayford-Castle) between them; the latter of whom resided at Bayford, where he died in the 2nd year of K. Edward VI., leaving issue by Mary his wife, daughter of William Harman, of Crayford, seven sons...."—Hasted's History of Kent, vol. ii. p. 612.

The rectory of the parish of Deal was bestowed by the Archbishop on Roger Harman in 1544 (Hasted, vol. iv. p. 171).

Harman-street is the name of a farm in the parish of Ash (Hasted, vol. iii. p. 691).