Cutpurses and pickpockets were very common in England and it was usual for them to dress as gentlemen – according to a disgusted Fynes Moryson, even actors did so. A report written by Fleetwood, the Recorder of London, in 1585 described how these cutpurses and pickpockets operated.
A school for such scoundrels had been founded at an alehouse near Billingsgate. Young thieves were shown “two devices, the one was a pocket, the other was a purse. The pocket had in it certain counters, and was hung about with hawks bells.” The purse was similarly dressed with bells hanging over the top. Those who could take the counters out of the pocket without ringing the bells graduated as pickpockets and those who could do so from the purse as cutpurses. When they graduated they worked in pairs.
Source:
Lisle, Leanda De. "Hope and Fear" After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England. New York: Ballantine, 2005. 166. Print.
Original Source(s) Listed:
Rye, England as Seen by Foreigners, p. 268n.
Ashton, James I, p. 65.
Further Reading:
This feels like an early test to recruit for intelligence services. Prove that you have no morals and prove that you can publicly be undectable. I'd be shocked if GCHQ did not evolve from this.