arance of
captives recently escaped from slavery. Shaking the chains with which they
said they had been bound, jabbering unintelligible words, telling
heart-rending tales of their sufferings and privations, and showing the
marks of blows which they had received, they went on their knees, begging
for money that they might buy off their brethren or their friends, whom
they said they had left in the hands of the Saracens or the Turks, We must
mention, also, the _allacrimanti_, or weepers, who owed their name to the
facility which they possessed of shedding tears at will; and the
_testatori_, who, pretending to be seriously ill and about to die,
extorted money from all those to whom they promised to leave their
fortunes, though, of course, they had not a son to leave behind them. We
must not forget the _protobianti_ (master rogues), who made no scruple of
exciting compassion from their own comrades (Fig. 381), nor the
_vergognosi_, who, notwithstanding their poverty, wished to be thought
rich, and considered that assistance was due to them from the mere fact of
their being noble. We must here conclude, for it would occupy too much
time to go through the list of these Italian vagabonds. As for the German
(Figs. 382 and 383), Spanish, and English rogues, we may simply remark
that no type exists among them which is not to be met with amongst the
Argotiers of France or the Bianti of Italy. In giving a description,
therefore, of the mendicity practised in these two countries during the
Middle Ages, we are sure to be representing what it was in other parts of
Europe.

[Illustration: Fig. 381.--Italian Beggar.--From an Engraving by Callot.]

[Illustration: Figs. 382 and 383.--German Beggars.--Fac-simile of a
Woodcut in the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Munster: in folio, Basle,
1552.]

The history of regular robbers and highwaymen during this long period is
more difficult to describe; it contains only disconnected anecdotes of a
more or less interesting character. It is probable, moreover, that robbers
did not always commit their depredations singly, and that they early
understood the advantages of associating together. The _Tafurs_, or
_Halegrins_, whom we notice as followers of Godefroy de Bouillon at the
time of the Crusades, towards the end of the eleventh century, were
terribly bad characters, and are actually accused by contemporary writers
of violating tombs, and of living on human flesh. On this account they
were looked