1. A certain town is Mudfog.
2. Workhouse- public assisted housing; harsh living environment
3. Flock mattress- mattress stuffed with rags or wool fragments
4. Parish surgeon- a physician who attended the workhouse inmates for an agreed fee; usually the cheapest fee
5. Gruel- like porridge
6. Beadle- minor church official of a parish with a range of duties (they maintained public order)
7. The Board- the body charged with administering public relief
8. Farmed- the system of “contracting” out the care of pauper infants
9. 9th Birthday- the crucial age at which pauper children were required to work
10. Daffy- a widely used tonic, one can assume the tonic was mixed with some sort of liquor
11. Half Baptized- baptized privately without full rights, usually only dome when there is fear that the baptized infant is not going to survive much longer
12. Settlement- “condition” for one to receive poor relief, burden usually fell on the mother
13. Pick Oakum- a horrible job assigned to felons in prison, tear apart old ships’ ropes for reuse
14. Doctor’s commons- the only court in which divorce could be granted
15. Porringer- a small bowl that gruel was served in to the people living in workhouses
16. Por diem- each day (Latin)
17. Commons- staple food shared by others
18. Ten shillings- pre decimal coinage in Great Britain, there are 20 shillings to a pound
19. Indentures- the contract binding apprentice- legal document required review of magistrate (judge)
20. Charity boy- a pupil at school supported by charity
21. Leathers- breeches (pants) a distinctive form of charity school clothing
22. Kennel- open drainage gutter
23. “the grave was so full” another illustration of the treatment of the poor. Those being buried at parish expense were buried in mass graves and literally “dumped” on top of one another.
24. Hot band- funeral dress- like a black crape that flowed down the back of the hat
25. Beak’s order- order from the magistrate (judge) to leave the parish
26. “play booty”- means to betray