| 206 |
Rogues.
Beggars, and other idle and disorderly persons, as shall be found and
apprehended
in the general privy search made by the Justices Warrant, &c.
shall be brought before the said Justices at their said Meeting, and
shall be
there punished; or by the said Justices Warrant shall be sent to the House
of Correction, there to be set on work, kept, and corrected, &c. |
Chap. 83. |
|
But here, first to describe you these manner of
persons (sc. Rogues and
Vagabonds) that you may the better know them. |
|
|
A Vagabond (as one saith) is he which hath neither
certain House, nor
stedfast habitation, but liveth idlely and loitering. A Man (as another
describeth
him) sine re, sine spe, sine fide, sine sede; or he may be called
Vagabundus,
quia errat, per mundum. |
|
|
A Rogue may be so called, Quia ostiatium rogat.
Minsh. |
|
|
Or it signifieth an idle Beggar that wandereth from
place to place,
without a lawful Passport. |
|
|
A Beggar, Mendicus quasi manu dicens (speaking
with the hand) Mos
enim erat apud antiquos Egenum silentio manum extendere. |
|
|
And yet Vagabond seem to be all one; for the Latin
words vagus
and vagabundus signifie the one and the other. So as whosoever
wandereth
about idlely and loitering is a Rogue or Vagabond, although he beggeth
not, quod nota. |
|
|
And although a Man have a certain habitation,
yet if he go about from
place to place selling small Wares, he is punishable by 39 El. and
that
although he be not taken wandering; for it is the wandering it self, and
not
the being apprehended wandering,) that brings him within the punishment
of
that Statute. King v. Hollingsworth. Y. 18
Jisc. B. R. Rolls Rep. part. 2.
p. 172. |
|
|
And more particularly, all these persons hereunder
mentioned, being
above the age of seven years, and offending as hereunder is mentioned,
shall by our Laws be adjudged Rogues, or at least shall be punishable as
Rogues. |
39 El. 4.
P. Vag. 2. |
|
1. All persons above the age of seven years
going about begging, upon
any pretence or colour whatsoever; yea, although they be licensed by
any
Subject, except it be in the Cases hereafter mentioned. |
|
|
2. All idle persons going about the Country,
either using any subtil
Craft or unlawful Games, or being Fortune-tellers or Juglers, or using
any
other like crafty Science. |
|
|
3. All Proctors, Patent-gatherers, or Collectors
for Gaols, Prisons or
Hospitals, wandering abroad. |
|
|
4. All Fencers, Bearwards, Common-players
of * Enterludes, and Minsterels
wandering abroad. 21 Jac. c. 28. |
* 1 Jac. 7. |
|
5. All Pedlers, Petty Chapmen, Tinkers and
* Glass-men, wandering
abroad, 21 Jac. c. 28. ' especially if they be unknown; or have
not a sufficient
' Testimonial. |
* 1 Jac. 7. |
|
6. All wandering persons, and common Labourers,
being able in body
using loitering, and refusing to work for reasonable wages, not having
living otherwise than by labour to maintain themselves, are Rogues.
And
yet such persons as be of any Parish, and have able bodies to work and
be
no wanderers abroad out of the Parish, though they refuse to work at such
wages as is taxed, or commonly given in those parts, are not to be sent
to
their place of birth or last dwelling, &c. but to the House of Correction.
See tit. Poor. |
Resol. 10. |
| Poor. |
7. Poor persons appointed to ask relief in
the Parish where they
dwell, by the Overseers thereof, if they shall beg in any other sort than
is |
Resol. 15. |
|
 |
