Abraham-men

Abraham-men, a class of sturdy beggars who simulated lunacy, and wandered about the country in a disorderly manner; at one time working on the sympathy, and at another on the fears of women, children, and domestics. They were common in Shakespeare's time, and, it would seem, existed even as late as the period of the civil war. The term is a cant one, as old at least as 1561. An 'Abram cove' meant one who personated a 'Tom o' Bedlam.' He 'would disguise himself in grotesque rags, with knotted hair, and with many more disgusting contrivances to excite pity;' but he did not hesitate to live by thieving too, and when detected pilfering, or in any species of depredation, he pleaded the immunities of the real Bedlamite, who was formally permitted to roam about the country when discharged from 'Bethlem Hospital.' A verbal relic of this class is still preserved in the slang phrase, 'to sham Abraham.'