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Begging is to request a donation in a supplicating manner. Beggars are commonly found in public places such as street corners or public transport, where they request money, most commonly in the form of spare change. They may use cups, boxes or hats to collect the donations.

History of begging

In a 1786 James Gillray caricature, the plentiful money bags handed to King George III are contrasted with the beggar whose legs and arms were amputated, in the left corner

There are few current techniques for begging which have not been used for hundreds of years, or are not based on older techniques, adapted to modern technology. Beggars rarely recorded their techniques, and often used to disguise their own communication. What is known of them is largely from records of law enforcement, penitential or rogue literature. A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, vulgarly called vagabonds was first published in 1566 by Thomas Harman. From early modern England other examples are Thomas Harman, and Robert Greene in his coney-catching pamphlets he titles of which included "The Defence of Conny-catching," in which he argued there were worse crimes to be found among "reputable" people. There is no reason to suppose that what he recorded was new.The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay. The Life and Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew was first published in 1745. There are similar writers for many European countries in the early modern period.

 Begging and spirituality

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See also: Mendicant