M END 
were not a little furprifed to find that it contained a 
hundred beds, which are let out by night or otherwife, 
to beggars and loofe charadters of all defcriptions. In 
fome of the lanes leading frorp this llreet there are other 
houl’es of the lame kind.” 
The evidence of the Rev. IF. Gurnet/, reflor of St. Cle¬ 
ment Danes, a gentleman of well-known humanity and 
confideration for the poor, is very interelling.—I am rec¬ 
tor of St. Clement Danes, and minifter of the Free Chapel 
in Well-llreet, St. Giles’s. In the Free Chapel there is 
accommodation for 600 poor. In the courfe of my mi- 
nillry there, I have had occafion to vilit perfons in very 
great diltrefs, and have feen a great deal of fullering. 1 
have afcertained that there are four different forts of beg¬ 
gars, or perfons not having habitations, or rather four 
different ways of begging. Some are by letters, which 
they fend by the poll: thefe are called twopeiiny-pojl beg¬ 
gars. Some are what we call knocker-beggars, who go 
from houfe to houfe, knocking at every door. They con¬ 
trive to get a knowledge of perfons from others redding 
in the fame llreet; and, if they can get information of 
any one redding in a llreet, they go to that houfe, and, if 
they fucceed, or even if they do not get any thing, they 
fay, “ I have been to Mr. Gurney’s, or fome other per- 
fon’s; and I want to make up a fum of money to pay 
rent;” whereas perhaps they pay no rent. [In con¬ 
nection with this lubjeft, Mr. Butterworth obferves, “ I 
have often had petitions of three and four years old, 
with real lignatures, and thole petitions three or four 
times over. I would alfo add, that there are many per¬ 
fons who live by writing letters and petitions. A man 
in Rofe-llreet, Long Acre, gets his living intirely by 
that employment; he is neverthelefs fo idle, that he fre¬ 
quently will not write letters when applied for, and the 
money brought to be paid to him at the time. There is 
alfo another perl'on in the Broadway Weliminfter, who 
gets his livelihood in the fame manner.”] A third fort of 
beggars are Jlationary the whole day; they come to their 
Hand at a certain hour, and they ltay fo many hours, and 
then are led perhaps to another Hand. Thefe perfons get 
a great deal of money, and live very well, efpecially if 
they are pretty well maimed, or if they are blind, or if 
they have children. There is a fourth fort, women and 
children, who are moveable beggars ; they move about with 
the people, not particularly by the llreet, but with the 
people: for inllance, at the time of the play they are al¬ 
ways very near the theatres ; and, if they fee a gentleman 
and lady walking together in deep converfation, they will 
■ peller them, and run before them till they give them a 
penny or twopence to get rid of them. Thole people at 
S>ther times of the day, if it is a Sunday for inllance, will 
be found near chapels where there are large congrega¬ 
tions; they know as well where the large congregations 
are as poflible; not that they ever go within-fide the doors, 
they keep without-fide, and there they fpeak of the bene¬ 
volence and charity of the people coming out, and pray 
for them. If they get any thing, it is well; if not, per¬ 
haps they will afterwards utter imprecations againll them, 
which I have frequently heard. [Mr. Gurney might have 
added, that thefe beggars are of all perfuanons. There 
was one who regularly Hood at the door of the catholic 
chapel in Lincoin's-inn-fields, petitioning “ for the love 
of the Holy Virgin,” and other catholic faints: in half 
an hour afterwards, he was at the door of a diffenting 
m’eeting-houle, bawling “for the love of Chrift.” The 
evening placed him at Well-llreet, or at fome other cha¬ 
pel belonging to the ellablifined church.] 
There are five large gin-fnops, or wine-vaults as they 
are called, clofe to the Seven Dials, which are conftantly 
frequented. There is one where they go in at one door 
and out at another, to prevent the inconvenience of 
returning the fame way, where there are fo many. A 
friend of mine, who lived oppofite, had the curiolity to 
count how many went in in the courfe of one Sunday 
morning, before he went to church 3 and it was 320. 
I C I T Y. 1)5 
Jofeph Butterworth, Efq. M. P. in the committee of the 
Strangers’ Friend Society, remarks—In the courfe of my 
obfervations I have noticed the condition of many beg¬ 
gars; their cafes have been inquired into, and in the ge¬ 
neral way they have been found to be impoltors; and I 
am perluaded they are the moll profligate and idle de- 
fcription of charadler. I am convinced that very few, if 
any, honell, induflrious, and fober, people, ever have 
recourfe to begging. In the neighbourhood where I live 
there is a great refort for beggars; and I have made fome 
inquiries into their condition. There are two public- 
houfes in Church-lane, St. Giles’s, whofe chief fupport 
depends upon beggars: one called The Beggar's Opera, 
which is the Rofe-and-Crown public-houfe; and the other 
the Robin Hood. The number of beggars that frequent 
thole houfes, at various times, is computed to be about 
300. I have been credibly .informed, they are divided 
into companies, and each company is lubdivided into 
what are called walks, and each company has its particu¬ 
lar walk ; if this walk be confidered beneficial, the whole 
company take it by turns, each perfon keeping it from 
half an hour to three or four hours • their receipts, at a 
moderate calculation, cannot be lefs than three to five 
Ihillings a-day, each perfon, frequently more. They can¬ 
not be fuppofed to fpend lefs at night than half-a-crown, 
and they generally pay lixpence for their bed. It is their 
cullom to fally out early in the morning; and thofe who 
have any money left of the preceding day’s earning treat 
the rell with fpirits, before they begin the operations of 
the day. I have been informed, that they have a kind of 
committee to organize the walks to be frequented by 
■each perfon, and they generally appropriate the bell walks 
to the fenior beggars, in rotation. There is an Irilhman 
who pretends to be a failor, and frequently cuts his legs 
to excite companion; he begs Ihoes, and then fells them; 
he is a moll audacious fellow, and has feveral times been 
imprifoned. Another man, half naked, and who gene¬ 
rally appears in that condition, has, I am credibly in¬ 
formed, a confiderable fum of money in the funds ; he is 
a young man with a long beard ; he frequently has flowers 
in his hand, and limps; he will not aft with the gang, 
but preferves his own independence, and is one of the 
greatell boxers in St. Giles’s. I underlland, that, after 
the bufinel's of the day is over, they frequent thofe houfes, 
and partake of the bell food they can obtain ; they Ipend 
their evenings in a very riotous manner; the food that is 
given them by benevolent perfons they do not eat, but 
either throw it away or give it to the dogs. Women have 
been frequently known to afl'ume an appearance of preg¬ 
nancy, in order to obtain child-bed linen, which in many 
cafes they have done eight or ten times over. I know a 
fober hackney-coachman, upon whofe veracity I can de¬ 
pend, who has frequently conveyed beggars to their 
lodgings ; and formerly, when he plied in St. Giles’s, has 
been called to the houfes I before mentioned, to take 
them from thence, being fo intoxicated they could not 
walk home. A fafil lately came under my oblervation, 
of a perfon in Charles-llreet, Drury-lane, who, with his 
wife, obtained their living by begging; lhe lately lay-in; 
a benevolent neighbour, perceiving lhe had no bed or 
bedltead, furnilhed her with them; but he foon found 
they were not ul'ed. The bedltead was cut up and made 
into a rabbit-hutch; and the reafon afligned by the beg¬ 
gar was this : that benevolent peiffons would occalionally 
vifit them, and, finding that they had neither bed nor 
bedltead, would be more difpofed to give them money; 
and he wilhed to appear as mean as poifible. 
The vilitors of the Strangers’ Friend Society, on the 
eallern part of the town, report, that they never knew 
any worthy characters found in the llreets begging. I 
have known feveral inllances of perfons obtaining confi¬ 
derable lums, daily, by begging. About two months 
ago fome children in Ruffell-fquare attracted my atten¬ 
tion ; I inquired particularly into their hillory ; and I 
found the mother fupported by a daughter, a girl about 
twelve 
