KEY WRITINGS ON SUBCULTURES 1535–1727 Classics from the Underworld Key Writings on Subcultures 1535–1727 Classics from the Underworld Volume I The Elizabethan Underworld: A Collection of Tudor and Early Stuart Tracts and Ballads Edited by A. V. Judges Volume II The English Rogue, Described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, A Witty Extravagant, Being a Complete History of the Most Eminent Cheats of Both Sexes By Richard Head and Francis Kirkman Volume III A Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads, Shoplifts & Cheats of Both Sexes By Captain Alexander Smith, Edited by Arthur L. Hayward Volume IV A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, From their First Rise and Settlement in the Island of Providence to the Present Year By Captain Charles Johnson, Edited by Arthur L. Hayward Volume V Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining and Other Offences Edited by Arthur L. Hayward KEY WRITINGS ON SUBCULTURES 1535–1727 Classics from the Underworld Volume I The Elizabethan Underworld: A Collection of Tudor and Early Stuart Tracts and Ballads Edited by A. V. Judges London and New York First published 1930 by Routledge Reprinted with a new preface 1965 This edition reprinted 2002 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016 Transferred to Digital Printing 2008 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-415-28675-1 (Set) ISBN 0-115-28676-X (Volume I) ISBN 9781136483608 (ebk) Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of these reprints, but wishes to point out that certain characteristics of the original copies will, of necessity, be apparent in reprints thereof. THE ELIZABETHAN UNDERWORLD A collection of Tudor and early Stuart tracts and ballads telling of the lives and misdoings of vagabonds, thieves, rogues and cozeners, and giving some account of the operation of the criminal law The Text prepared with Notes and an Introduction by A. V. JUDGES Professor of the History of Education University of London King's College With 20 Illustrations ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL LTD. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS (An asterisk denotes that portions of the original have been omitted*) PAGE Preface xi Introduction xiii The Highway to the Spital-house (1535-6) ROBERT COPLAND I A Manifest Detection of Dice-play (1552) GILBERT WALKER (?) 26 The Fraternity of Vagabonds* (1561) JOHN AWDELEY 51 A Caveat for Common Cursitors (1566) THOMAS HARMAN 61 A Notable Discovery of Cozenage (1591) ROBERT GREENE I 19 The Second Part of Cony-catching (1591) ROBERT GREENE 149 The Third Part of Cony-catching (1592) ROBERT GREENE 179 A Disputation between a He-cony-catcher and a She-cony catcher (1592) ROBERT GREENE 206 The Black Book's Messenger (1592) ROBERT GREENE 248 The Black Dog of Newgate (c- 1596) LUKE HUTTON 265 Luke Hutton's Lamentation (1596) 292 The Testament of Laurence Lucifer (being a part of The Black Book,* 1604) THOMAS MIDDLETON (?) 296 VI CONTENTS PAGE The Bellman of London* (1608) THOMAS DEKKER 303 Lantern and Candlelight* (1608) THOMAS DEKKER 312 O per se O (1612) THOMAS DEKKER (?) 366 Martin Markall, Beadle of Bridewell (1610) SAMUEL RID (?) 383 The Counter's Commonwealth (1617) WILLIAM FENNOR 423 The Song of a Constable (1626) JAMES GYFFON 488 Notes to the Text 491 Glossary 522 Index 533 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS GYPSIES ON THE MARCH (FIFTEENTH CENTURY) ♦ From a tapestry at the Chateau d'Emat (Paul Lacroix : Moears, usages et costumes, 1873) p. xii I A MANIFEST DETECTION OF THE MOST VYLE AND DETESTABLE USE OF DlCEPLAY* Title page* Bodleian Library, 8° K* 3, Art. B*S* To face p. Ixiv II THE HYE WAY TO THE SPYTELL HOUS* Title page* British Museum, C* 57, b* 30 To face p. i A MENDICANT* (Joál Amman*) British Museum, C* 27, a* 40 P* 25 III NEWGATE IN 1650* Crace Collection : T3*»<-#-« «-it-» uritisn Museum To face p. 32 IV CARD AND DICE BOXES OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES* (H* R* d'Alle- magne : Les Cartes a jouer, 1906) To face p* 33 V A CAUEAT OR WARENING, FOR COMMON CUR- SETORS CALLED VAGABONES* Title page* British Museum, Huth 114 To face p. 96 VI NICHOLAS JENNINGS IN TWO ROLES* (The Groundwork of cony-catching, 1592O British Museum, 95, b* 19 To face p* 97 VII (a) AT THE GALLOWS FOOT (Harman's Caveat, 1566*) British Museum, Huth 114 (b) NICHOLAS JENNINGS IN THE PILLORY* (From the same) To face p. 128