"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.
But in the interval between Bambridge and Howard, the prison was not a pleasant place of residence, if we may judge from "The Prisoner's Song" published in 1738, of which I give an illustration and the Words.
"A Starving life all day we lead, No Comfort here is found, At Night we make one Common bed, Upon the Boarded Ground; Where fleas in troops and Bugs in shoals Into our Bosoms Creep, And Death watch, Spiders, round y^e Walls, Disturb us in our Sleep.
Were Socrates alive, and Bound With us to lead his life, 'Twould move his Patience far beyond His crabbed Scolding Wife; Hard Lodging and much harder fare, Would try the wisest Sage, Nay! even make a Parson Swear, And curse the Sinful Age.
Thus, we Insolvent debtors live, Yet we may Boldly say, Worse Villains often Credit give, Than those that never pay; For wealthy Knaves can with applause Cheat on, and ne'er be try'd, But in contempt of human Laws, In Coaches Safely ride."