Synthesized answer
The passages state that, according to the author’s premise, “the Emancipating or Freeing of Slaves was indeed the making of Beggers” [3]. This implies that social progress—specifically the Christian act of redeeming slaves from pagan slavery—came at the cost of creating a class of beggars who then required maintenance as “the Price and Purchace of our Freedoms” [3]. The broader implication is that liberation, in this view, does not eliminate dependency but merely transfers it: former slaves become beggars, and society must bear the “Rent-charge” of supporting them [1][3].
This perspective challenges modern notions of liberation by suggesting that freeing the vulnerable without providing for their economic integration inherently produces new forms of vulnerability (beggary) [1][3]. It also implies a societal responsibility: the passages note that the first English statute for parish poor relief followed the dissolution of the abbeys, which the author links to the “Delivery of the Slaves” [1][4]. Thus, social progress is framed as a trade-off, where freedom for some requires ongoing support for others, rather than a simple moral victory.
However, the passages do not discuss modern…
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From the book
st, at no dearer a Rate, than the Rent-charge of maintaining the _Beggers_, as the Price and Purchace of our Freedoms. As for the Antiquity of the _English Beggers_, it may be observed, That the first _Statute_ which makes Provision for the _Parish-Poor_, is no older than Queen _Elizabeth_; from which it may be fairly Collected, That they entred with us upon the _Dissolution_ of the _Abbeys_, as with them abroad, upon the _Delivery_ of the _Slaves_.
Doubt, Whether they partake more of the Nature of the Countries whence they rise, or of those through which they Pass? Nor is it also new to meet the _Beggers_ and the _Proverbs_ together, for the Fashion is as old as _Plautus_, who puts the Proverbs and the Jests in the Mouth of his _Slaves_. And in the Character of _Sancho Pancha_, _Cervantes_ has Trod in the same Steps; in the History of _Don Quixot_, _Sancho_ being distinguished no less by his _Proverbs_, than his _Asse_. And between the _Slaves_ and the _Beggers_, the Difference is no greater, than between _Fathers_ and their…
Corner of _Chancery-lane_ in _Fleet-street_, and _W. Davis_ at the _Black Bull_ in _Cornhill_. THE PREFACE. Before I present the Reader, with the following Dictionary of the _Beggers_ and _Gypsies Cant_, I think it not amiss to premise a few Words concerning the _Beggers_ and _Gypsies_ themselves, by way of an Historical Account, of the Antiquity of the one, and the Universality of the other. It makes not a little for the Honour of the _Beggers_, that their Original according to some Accounts, is no less Ancient than that of _Christianity_ it self; for in the Opinion of…
t they entred with us upon the _Dissolution_ of the _Abbeys_, as with them abroad, upon the _Delivery_ of the _Slaves_. For the _Gypsies_, they and the _Foul Disease_ have alike the Fate to run through a _Geography_ of _Names_, and to be made free of as many _Countries_, as almost there are _Languages_ to call them Names in; for as the _French_ call the _Pox_, the _Italian_ Disease, they again give it to the _Spaniards_, as these to the _French_; so the _French_ call the Gypsies _Boemie_, or _Bohemians_, belike, because they made their first Appearance in _Bohemia_ of any Part of…
ither kind, the Odds is no greater than this, of giving a Nation a Clap, or of laying a brood of Bastards at it’s Door. Though _Holland_ has no Beggers, if the _Dutch_ themselves are not the greatest Beggers in the World; and _Switzerland_ has no Thieves, if the _Swiss_ who are altogether Soldiers, are not the greatest of Thieves. Yet, I say, neither the _States_ that are without _Beggers_, nor the _Cantons_ that are without _Thieves_, are notwithstanding either the one or the other, without _Gypsies_. So as what they want of _Beggers_ and _Thieves_ in point of Antiquity, the _Gypsies_…
More questions about this book
- The text suggests a direct lineage: "as the _Slaves_ went off, the _Beggers_ came in their Place." Explain this historical transition and its implied cause-and-effect as if you were teaching someone who knows nothing about either slavery or the dissolution of abbeys, using a simple analogy to illustrate the shift in social structures.
- The author frames the maintenance of beggars as a "Rent-charge" for the "Freedoms" gained through Christianity's role in freeing slaves. Unpack this provocative economic and moral equation: what does it reveal about the author's perceived societal cost-benefit analysis of social welfare in their time?
- The author compares the universality of Gypsies to the "Foul Disease," noting how both are widely attributed to foreign origins by various nations. Explain what this specific analogy reveals about the common human tendency to externalize blame or "other" perceived social problems.
- Considering the dictionary's stated aim to help readers "secure their Money and preserve their Lives" from the "Canting Crew," how does the lengthy historical and social context provided in the preface about the origins and universality of beggars and gypsies shape the reader's likely perception of the dictionary's content and its subjects?