The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages 27

The Fleet. Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages 27

"Too thoughtless Man! to lavish thus away

A Week's Support in less than half a Day;

But 'tis a Curse attends this wretched Place,

To pay for dear bought Wit in little Space:

The Time shall come, when this new Tenant here,

Will in his Turn _shule_ for a Pot of Beer;

Repent the melting of his Cash too fast,

And snap at Strangers for a Nights Repast."

 

[Footnote 114: Where the _Fleet Market_ is now, there was, a

few Years since, a Ditch, with a Muddy Channel of Water. The

Market was built at the expense of the Lord Mayor and Court of

Aldermen, who receive the Rent for it.]

 

[Footnote 115: The Doorkeeper, or he who opens and shuts the

_Jigg_, is call'd the _Jigger_.]

 

[Footnote 116: Billiards is a very common Game here.]

 

[Footnote 117: Fine Ale drank in the Coffee-Room, call'd the

_Alderman_, because brew'd at Alderman _Parson's_.]

 

[Footnote 118: A _Runner_, is a Fellow that goes Abroad of

Errands for the Prisoners.]

 

[Footnote 119: A common Cant word for Mumping.]

 

[Footnote 120: Persons who give any considerable Offence, are

often try'd, and undergo the Discipline of the Pump. The

Author was one of these in a drunken Frolick, for which he

condemns himself.]

 

[Footnote 121: A spacious Place, where there are all Sorts of

Exercises, but especially Fives.]

 

[Footnote 122: A Publick Place, free for all Prisoners.]

 

[Footnote 123: Where those lie who can't pay their Master's

Fee.]

 

[Footnote 124: There are several of those _Jiggers_ or

Doorkeepers, who relieve one another, and when a Prisoner

comes first in, they take a nice Observation of him, for fear

of his escaping.]

 

[Footnote 125: A cant Word for giving some Money in order to

shew a Lodging.]

 

[Footnote 126: Which is One Pound Six Shillings and

Eightpence, and then you are entitled to a Bed on the Master's

Side, for which you pay so much per week.]

 

[Footnote 127: _Mount Scoundrel_, so call'd from its being so

highly situated, and belonging once to the Common Side, tho'

lately added to the Master's; if there be room in the House,

this Place is first empty, and the Chamberlain commonly shews

this to raise his price upon you for a better.]

 

[Footnote 128: Half a Guinea.]

 

[Footnote 129: A Bedfellow so call'd.]

 

[Footnote 130: When you have a Chum, you pay but 15 Pence per

Week each, and, indeed, that is the Rent of the whole Room, if

you find Furniture.]

 

[Footnote 131: The Upper Floors are accounted best here, for

the same reason as they are at _Edinburgh_, which, I suppose,

every Body knows.]

 

[Footnote 132: It is common to mention the _Fleet_ by the Name

of the _Place_, and I suppose it is call'd _the Place_ by way

of Eminence, because there is not such another.]

 

[Footnote 133: A Cant Word for a Drain of Geneva.]

 

[Footnote 134: A Chew of Tobacco, suppos'd to be given him.]

 

[Footnote 135: The Necessary House, is (by the Prisoners)

commonly call'd _Scotland_, near which is a dung-hill.]

 

[Footnote 136: When there are Holes above Heel, or the Feet

are so bad in a Stocking, that you are forced to pull them to

hide the Holes, or cover the Toes, it is called coaxing.]

 

[Footnote 137: As the Prison is often call'd the _College_, so

it is common to call a prisoner, a _Collegian_; and this

character is taken from a man who had been many Years in the

Place, and like to continue his Life; but it is hard for those

who had not seen him to judge of the Truth of the Draught.]

 

[Footnote 138: The name of the Cook in the Kitchen.]

 

[Footnote 139: A place in the Cellar, called _Bartholomew

Fair_.]

 

[Footnote 140: A phrase for spending Money fast.]

 

[Footnote 141: _Cole_, signifies Money.]

 

[Footnote 142: _Bleed_ also signifies spending.]

 

[Footnote 143: When a Messenger or Friend brings Money from

abroad to the Prisoners, it is usual to say a Ship is

arriv'd.]

 

[Footnote 144: Some of the Dirt upon the Stairs is trod into

knots so hard it is almost impossible to break it.]

 

[Footnote 145: _Smart_ generally begins his Stories with a

_That's like_, &c., tho' it is not at all like the Story he

tells.]

 

[Footnote 146: The Master of the Cellar, a Man of a variable

Temper, very passionate, malicious, and ill-natur'd at some

times, at others very well.]

 

[Footnote 147: _Who goes out?_ is repeated by Watchmen

Prisoners, from half an Hour after Nine, till St. Paul's Clock

strikes Ten, to give Visitors Notice to depart.]

 

[Footnote 148: While St. Paul's Clock is striking Ten, the

Watchmen don't call _Who goes out?_ but when the last Stroke

is given, they cry _All told!_ at which Time the Gates are

lock'd, and nobody suffer'd to go out upon any Account.]

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXIV.

 

 

We saw in the lines, under the Frontispiece to the foregoing poem,

_Garnish_ was mentioned, and the fact was stated as a Custom then in

force of taking the prisoner's coat to pay for his fees on entrance.

 

"But kind Sir, as you'r a Stranger,

Down your Garnish you must lay,

Or your Coat will be in danger,

You must either Strip or pay."

 

In the Criminal prisons, the prisoners themselves demanded Garnish from

a new-comer, that is, a trifle of money--to drink. In 1708, at Newgate,

this sum seems to have been Six shillings and Eightpence "Which they,

from an old Custom, claim by Prescription, Time out of Mind, for

entring into the _Society_, otherwise they strip the poor Wretch, if he

has not wherewithal to pay it."[149] And in the old Play of the _Lying

Lover_ we are introduced to a Scene in Newgate where the prisoners are

demanding _Garnish_ from some new-comers.

 

"_Storm._ Nay, nay, you must stay here.

 

_Simon._ Why, I am _Simon_, Madam _Penelope's_ Man.

 

_Storm._ Then Madam _Penelope's_ Man must strip for Garnish;

indeed Master _Simon_ you must.

 

_Simon._ Thieves! Thieves! Thieves!

 

_Storm._ Thieves! Thieves! Why, you senseless Dog, do you think

there's Thieves in _Newgate_? Away with him to the Tap House

(_Pushes him off_). We'll drink his Coat off. Come, my little

Chymist, thou shalt transmute this Jacket into Liquor."

 

[Illustration]

 

Yet although this custom was general, I have only once met with an

engraving of the actual process, which, judging by the man's agonized

countenance, was not a pleasant one to him. It occurs in the

frontispiece to a little pamphlet called "An Oration on the Oppression

of Jailors; which was spoken in the Fleet Prison, on the 20th of

February, 1730/1," &c. And under the engraving, are these lines.

 

"Unhappy, friendless Man! how hard thy Fate!

Whose only Crime is being Unfortunate.

Are Jailors suffer'd in such Acts as these?

To strip the Wretch, who cannot pay his Fees?

Is there no kind _Samaritan_ will lend

Relief, and save him from th' accursed Fiend?"

 

Respecting this practice let us hear what Howard in his "State of the

Prisons in England and Wales," 1777, says, in his Chapter on "Bad

Customs in Prisons." "A cruel custom obtains in most of our Gaols,

which is that of the prisoners demanding of a new-comer GARNISH,

FOOTING, or (as it is called in some London Gaols) CHUMMAGE. 'Pay or

strip' are the fatal words. I say _fatal_, for they are so to some; who

having no money, are obliged to give up part of their scanty apparel;

and, if they have no bedding or straw to sleep on, contract diseases,

which I have known to prove mortal.

 

In many Gaols, to the Garnish paid by the new-comer, those who were

there before, make an addition; and great part of the following night

is often spent in riot and drunkenness. The gaoler or tapster finding

his account in this practice, generally answers questions concerning

it with reluctance. Of the Garnish which I have set down to sundry

prisons, I often had my information from persons who paid it.... In

some places, this demand has been lately waved: in others, strictly

prohibited by the Magistrates"--so that we see that this custom was

already in its death throes, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century.