Chapter I: Front Matter

_The King of Schnorrers_

_I. Zangwill_

_The King of Schnorrers_

_GROTESQUES AND FANTASIES_

BY I. ZANGWILL

AUTHOR OF
"CHILDREN OF THE GHETTO,"
"THE OLD MAIDS' CLUB,"
"MERELY MARY ANN," ETC.

New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
1909

_All rights reserved_

COPYRIGHT, 1893,
BY MACMILLAN AND CO.

Set up and electrotyped January, 1894. Reprinted April,
1894; September, 1895; January, 1897; October, 1898; August,
1899; June, 1909.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith
Norwood Mass. U.S.A.

_Foreword to "The King of Schnorrers."_

_These episodes make no claim to veracity, while the personages are not even sun-myths. I have merely amused myself and attempted to amuse idlers by incarnating the floating tradition of the Jewish_ SCHNORRER, _who is as unique among beggars as Israel among nations. The close of the eighteenth century was chosen for a background, because, while the most picturesque period of Anglo-Jewish history, it has never before been exploited in fiction, whether by novelists or historians. To my friend, Mr. Asher I. Myers, I am indebted for access to his unique collection of Jewish prints and caricatures of the period, and I have not been backward in_ SCHNORRING _suggestions from him and other private humourists. My indebtedness to my artists is more obvious, from my old friend George Hutchinson to my newer friend Phil May, who has been good enough to allow me to reproduce from his Annuals the brilliant sketches illustrating two of the shorter stories. Of these shorter stories it only remains to be said there are both tragic and comic, and I will not usurp the critic's prerogative by determining which is which._

_I. Z._

_That all men are beggars, 'tis very plain to see,
Though some they are of lowly, and some of high degree:
Your ministers of State will say they never will allow
That kings from subjects beg; but that you know is all bow-wow.
Bow-wow-wow! Fol lol, etc._

OLD PLAY.

_Contents._

THE KING OF SCHNORRERS
_Illustrated by_ GEORGE HUTCHINSON.
THE SEMI-SENTIMENTAL DRAGON
_Illustrated by_ PHIL MAY.
AN HONEST LOG-ROLLER
_Illustrated by_ F. H. TOWNSEND.
A TRAGI-COMEDY OF CREEDS
THE MEMORY CLEARING HOUSE
_Illustrated by_ A. J. FINBERG.
MATED BY A WAITER
_Illustrated by_ MARK ZANGWILL.
THE PRINCIPAL BOY
_Illustrated by_ F. H. TOWNSEND _and_ MARK ZANGWILL.
AN ODD LIFE
_Illustrated by_ F. H. TOWNSEND.
CHEATING THE GALLOWS
_Illustrated by_ GEORGE HUTCHINSON.
SANTA CLAUS
_Illustrated by_ MARK ZANGWILL.
A ROSE OF THE GHETTO
_Illustrated by_ A. J. FINBERG.
A DOUBLE-BARRELLED GHOST
_Illustrated by_ PHIL MAY.
VAGARIES OF A VISCOUNT
_Illustrated by_ F. H. TOWNSEND.
THE QUEEN'S TRIPLETS
_Illustrated by_ IRVING MONTAGU.
A SUCCESSFUL OPERATION
FLUTTER-DUCK: A GHETTO GROTESQUE
_Illustrated by_ MARK ZANGWILL.

THE KING OF SCHNORRERS.