The Debtor's Salutation

This sheet is taken from English Orpheus, a songbook published by the engraver Thomas Kitchin. The book, a collection of drinking songs, was produced by Kitchin early on in his career when he worked at Clerkenwell. It was sold by Samuel Lyne who had a print shop at the Globe on Newgate Street. The words may have been written by the Jamaican poet Francis Williams. The son of freed slaves, Williams travelled to England where he was educated before returning to Spanish Town, Jamaica. There he opened a school where he taught Latin, reading, writing and mathematics. Williams is thought to be the first recorded black writer in the colonial period.

Many people became insolvent and were sent to one of London's debtors' prisons, the most notorious of which were the Fleet and the Marshalsea. The scene above the verses shows a prisoner newly arrived in his cell. It was customary for newcomers to be charged a 'garnish' by their fellow prisoners. Those who were unable to pay forfeited their clothes.