his day, beggars were so numerous that he recom-
mended shambles to be made in Dublin. In Scotland,
in Burns's time, beggars were not, perhaps, so nume-
rous as they are to-day, for Scotland was not then so
thickly populated as it is now. In one of his poems
Burns has given such a description of these men and
women that, had he written nothing else, his name
would be immortal. Gipsies are a wandering, begging
race, dispersed the wide world over, and differing
from the nomads in physique and mode of life. Their
number in Europe is estimated at 700,000. They
may be called a nomadic race, the members of which
came to Europe by way of the Isthmus of Suez and
Egypt. They were, therefore, assumed to be Egyptians,
and are so called in the Elizabethan legislation against
them, and in other places. The real meaning of the
word gipsy is a cunning or crafty person-a person of
bad character, a sly person. They call themselves
Sind, the name of the country through which the
river Indus flows in the lower part of its course. They
are believed to have quitted their native country in
dread of Tamerlane, and first appeared in Paris at the
end of August, 1427. I may say that it is now proved
that they are from India, and apparently from that part
of it adjacent to the river Indus. With the languages
of some of the tribes inhabiting its banks their tongue
best agrees. Though the law against begging-that is
to say, English statutes for the repression of
mendicancy, date from the 14th_century-there is no
law against giving to beggars. It has been said that
indiscriminate charity only feeds the evil it seeks to
remove, and the weak-willed, shiftless population
continue to be a problem to the benevolent.
beggar class is largely recruited by the lazy, idle,
drunken, and vicious, though there is always a certain
percentage of those who are really the victims of
misfortune. General Booth estimated that there were
3,000,000 persons in England who could not live for
a week on their own resources, including 100,000
homeless waifs, sleeping on, in, or under hedges,
carts, barns, lofts, and so forth. There are no fewer
than 83 societies in Great Britain for improving the
condition of the poor. Let me here give you the
"Bard" from the "Jolly Beggars." I believe his
name was Jock Sandy :-

"I am a bard of no regard,
Wi' gentle-folks an' a' that;
But Homer-like the glowran byke,
Frae town to town I draw that.

Great love I bear to a' the fair,
Their humble slave an' a' that
But lordly will I hold it still

A mortal sin to thraw that.

The

In raptures sweet this hour we meet,
Wi' mutual love an' a' that;

But for how lang the flie may stang,
Let inclination law that.

Their tricks and craft hae put me daft,
They've ta'en me in an' a' that;
But clear your decks and 'here's the sex!
I like the jads for a' that.

For a' that and a' that,

And twice as meikle's a' that;
My dearest bluid to do them guid,
They're welcome till't for a' that.

For a' that and a' that,

And twice as meikle's a' that;
I've lost but ane, I've twa behin',
I've wife eneugh for a' that."

Very severe laws have been passed against the beggar in the Saxon and Norman periods of English history. At a later date, say the 16th century, the determined beggar was to be whipped when first caught, next to have his ears cropped, and for a third offence to suffer death as a felon and an enemy to the commonwealth. In the year 1547, the following penalties were substituted, and were in force for some considerable time: Branding on first conviction with a V on the shoulder and made a slave for two years, and claimed by anyone and fed, not on beefsteaks, but on bread and water, and caused to work by beating. Running away from this cruel treatment (or as it was then considered tender treatment) was punishable with S branded on the face and slavery for life to the town or parish, on the roads of which the incorrigible vagrant was to work in chains. The following is how a tinker tells his story in Burns's "Jolly Beggars":

"My bonnie lass, I work in brass,

A tinker is my station,

I've travell'd round all Christian ground,
In this my occupation;

I've ta'en the gold, I've been enrolled

In many a noble squadron,

But vain they searched when off I march'd
To go and clout the cauldron.

Despise that shrimp, that withered imp
Wi' a' his noise and caprin',
And tak' a share wi' those that bear
The budget and the apron;

And by that stowp, my faith and houp,
And by that dear Kilbagie,

If e'er ye want, or meet wi' scant,

May I ne'er weet my craigie."

Burns's poem entitled "Jolly Beggars" gives, in my opinion, the best insight that is to be found in history or literature of the different classes of mendicants in the 17th and 18th centuries. The scene of the poem is laid at the house of Pousie Nansie. It stood in Mauchline, and was the favourite resort of lame sailors, maimed soldiers, wandering tinkers, travelling ballad-singers, and vagabonds of every description. Burns sometimes called there, and had a glass of “guid auld Scotch drink," as it has been called. The beggars are supposed to have been there in the year 1785. The "Soldier" of this piece enthusiastically sings:

"I am a son of Mars, who has been in many wars, And show my cuts and scars wherever I come; This here was for a wench, and that other in a trench, When welcoming the French, at the sound of the drum. My 'prenticeship I passed where my leader breath'd his last,

When the bloody die was cast on the heights of Abram; I served out my trade when the gallant game was play'd,

And the Morro' low was laid at the sound of the drum.
I lastly was with Curtis, among the floating batt'ries,
And there I left for witnesses an arm and a limb;
Yet let my country need me, with Elliott to head me,
I'd clatter on my stumps at the sound of the drum.
And now, tho' I must beg, with a wooden arm and
leg,

And many a tatter'd rag hanging over my bum,
I'm as happy with my wallet, my bottle, and my callet
As when I used in scarlet to follow the drum.

What though with hoary locks I must stand the winter shocks,

Beneath the woods and rocks, oftentimes for a home; When the t'other bag I sell, and the t'other bottle tell, I could meet a troop of hell, at the sound of the drum." For picturesque painting, for vivid description, for graphically depicting character, for pathos, for wit and humour, the "Jolly Beggars" of Burns, I think, has never been surpassed. You must not be astonished at the language used by Burns, for it is supposed to be the language of the beggars of that time, and I have no doubt it is the language of the beggars of to-day. But the language Burns represents them using contains wit and humour and genius. Education has not

made everybody brilliant. I have known people who have been well educated, but who have not become clever. You can educate people in a certain direction, but it does not develop thought. The education a man gets from nature, that is from personal observation, from being on the road, makes him wonderfully clever, but the mere school education is very often no education at all; it does not make him think. The professional tramp is one of those parasites of our social life whose existence it is impossible to ignore, since it is forced upon us at every turn and corner. One of the most remarkable features about him is the strong family likeness which prevails throughout the tribe. He appears to be a very harmless individual, who wants but little to make him happy, and has no animosity against a single creature; and yet no section of the pauper class has given the legislature greater trouble than this apparently somewhat dilapidated specimen of humanity. He is the despair of our boards of guardians, and a thorn in the flesh to all philanthropists, whether amateur or professional. To do him justice, he bears no ill-will to his would-be benefactor, It is, in his view, a fair bargain between them; he listens and agrees to whatever is proposed, and, having received his pay, he goes off. As for troubling himself further in the matter, thinking over what has been said to him, or making up his mind to try and act upon the advice given, he would as soon think of trying to learn Greek or Hebrew. One of the most interesting records to be found on vagrancy is the "Book of Vagabonds and Beggars," edited by Martin Luther, and published in 1529:-"Beggars, or those who plainly and simply went about asking alms. Bread-gatherers, who went about with their wives and children with them, dressed in ragged garments, collecting food, &c.; these carried cooking utensils, &c., as a part of their equipment, and neither they nor their children ever left off begging from their infancy to the day of their death. Liberated prisoners, who excused themselves for begging by saying they had been unjustly deprived of their liberty and character, and thus prevented from earning a different livelihood. Cripples, many of whom shammed lameness or deformity. Church mendicants, producing false credentials to show that they were collecting alms for religious purposes. Learned beggars, young scholars or students, who said they had naught on earth but the alms wherewith people helped them, and which they would use in furthering their studies for the Church or some of the professions. Pretended murderers, who asserted that they had taken a man's life away, and had afterwards been seized by remorse, though it was in self-defence, and

Pre

that this had driven them to a wandering life. Wives of the above. Lepers, or those suffering from loathsome diseases. Spurious beggars, who pretended that, like the Capuchin friars, they were voluntarily poor. tended noblemen and knights, who travelled about well-dressed, saying that they had suffered by war, fire, or captivity, or had been driven away and lost all they had. Pretended merchants, who produced documents to show that they had been possessed of merchandise which they had lost. Baptised Jewesses, who had turned Christians. Pretended pilgrims. Beggars, suffering with sores. Strollers, professing to country people that they were possessed of magic power, and could prevent murrain, &c. Knaves, with falling sickness, who took fits and assumed sudden illness. Invalids, alleging that they had suffered for years with incurable ailments, or whose wives or families were alleged to be so afflicted. False begging priests. Blind beggars. Naked beggars, whose apparel was so very scanty as to arouse universal pity. Silly or half-witted beggars, who, while apparently bereft of some of their mental faculties, were generally "more knave than fool." Hangmen, who had given over their hateful avocation. Women, so clothed as to lead to the belief that they were pregnant. Mendicants, who besmeared themselves with a yellow fluid to simulate jaundice. Vagrants, professing to be doing penance. Blind harpers. Goose shearers, or those who put on good clothes and begged, saying that they had lain ill a long time, and were mechanics who had expended all their goods and were ashamed to beg, but asked that they might be helped to proceed on their journey

"Patterers," or street-singers, or speech-makers, are found in almost every country. The following is a fine specimen of tramp theosophy:-"Work?" said the burly, bushy-faced tramp. "Not this time. This is my existence off. I am taking a rest after the work done in my previous incarnations, and trying to collect the pay that is due me. This is my seventh incarnation, and as I worked hard in the other six I am taking a rest now. A rest of one out of seven. See! My theosophical philosophy is sound, and I am acting on it. The first time I was born I worked without pay on the Tower of Babel. The next time I was an Egyptian, and did star-labour on the pyramids. During my third incarnation I worked eighteen hours a day in a Greek galley, and got little food and less clothes. Then I was a Roman soldier, fighting for glory, and was killed in battle. The fifth time I was a Peruvian, worked in a mine, and didn't see pay or sunshine for years. The last time I was a Russian serf, and had the hardest existence of all. Now