ing takes him, attended by his female, and
their equipage of children, he becomes a nuisance to the whole country:
he and his female are thieves, and teach the trade of stealing to their
brood at four years old; and if his infirmities be counterfeit, it is
dangerous for a single person unarmed to meet him on the road. He
wanders from one county to another, but still with a view to this town,
whither he arrives at last, and enjoys all the privileges of a Dublin
beggar.

I do not wonder that the country 'squires should be very willing to send
up their colonies; but why the city should be content to receive them,
is beyond my imagination.

If the city were obliged by their charter to maintain a thousand
beggars, they could do it cheaper by eighty _per cent._ a hundred miles
off, than in this town, or any of its suburbs.

There is no village in Connaught, that in proportion shares so deeply in
the daily increasing miseries of Ireland, as its capital city; to which
miseries there hardly remained any addition, except the perpetual swarms
of foreign beggars, who might be banished in a month without expense,
and with very little trouble.

As I am personally acquainted with a great number of street beggars, I
find some weak attempts to have been made in one or two parishes to
promote the wearing of badges; and my first question to those who ask an
alms, is, _Where is your badge?_ I have in several years met with about
a dozen who were ready to produce them, some out of their pockets,
others from under their coat, and two or three on their shoulders, only
covered with a sort of capes which they could lift up or let down upon
occasion. They are too lazy to work, they are not afraid to steal, nor
ashamed to beg; and yet are too proud to be seen with a badge, as many
of them have confessed to me, and not a few in very injurious terms,
particularly the females. They all look upon such an obligation as a
high indignity done to their office. I appeal to all indifferent people,
whether such wretches deserve to be relieved. As to myself, I must
confess, this absurd insolence hath so affected me, that for several
years past, I have not disposed of one single farthing to a street
beggar, nor intend to do so, until I see a better regulation; and I have
endeavoured to persuade all my brother-walkers to follow my example,
which most of them assure me they do. For, if beggary be not able to
beat out pride, it cannot deserve charity. Howeve