Book excerpt: First published in 1967. This volume has grown out of a study of a number of Elizabethan pamphlets dealing with rogues and vagabonds, the most important of which are the Conny-catching series of Robert Greene and the Catteat for Commm Cursetors of Thomas Harman. 'Conny-catching' was an Elizabethan slang word for a particular method of cheating at cards, but it came to be used in a general sense for all kinds of tricks by which rogues and sharpers beguiled simple people of their money. The books are vivid and well written, and they picture an elaborately organized profession of roguery with a language of its own and a large number of well-defined. Methods and traditions.