FRIARY COURT. lOl 



operate in the modes of business above mentioned, 

 but always remembering to forget the eighth com- 

 mandment. 



No. 3. SoUcitors. These are considered as res- 

 pectable vagabonds by their co-mates. They quickly 

 discover, in whatever town they may be, such elderly 

 and single ladies as bear a character for sanctity. 

 These are visited with begging letters, and it is con- 

 sidered a very bad day which does not produce 14 

 or 15 shillings. Others call upon tradesmen of some 

 particular craft representing themselves as having 

 been once in good circumstances, in the same busi- 

 ness, but now reduced to poverty by sundry calami- 

 tous occurrences. The plausibility of their manners, 

 and apparently very modest address, seldom fail to 

 effect their object. 



No. 4. Wandering Italians. These men have 

 generally the command of separate gangs of a dozen 

 or more boys, who perambulate the streets with an 

 organ, a monkey, a white mouse, or some other little 

 means of amusement. The miserable appearance of 

 these boys is sufficient to excite the charity of num- 

 bers, who little suppose that the puny exhibitors are 

 ill lodged and worse fed, v^hilst their masters live in 

 clover. The boys are expected to bring home a cer- 

 tain sum every week, otherwise they are harshly 

 treated. 



No. 5. Thimble-riggers and prod-in- the-lo op 

 boys : the thimble-rig is perpetrated as follows, a pea 

 is placed under one of three thimbles, which are then 

 moved rapidly about upon a smooth board, and a 

 wager is offered to a by-stand er that he cannot point 

 out the thimble which covers the pea. Should any 

 green-horn of a farmer, or comfortable butler bet a 

 sovereign that he is knowing enough to point it out, 

 the operator, instantly, on the score of " doing it all 

 fair," makes the moves anew, taking especial care 

 to remove the pea altogether by a sleight-of-hand 

 manoeuvre, peculiar to the clan. Whatever odds he 

 may bet are of course no consequence, as he cannot 



