These episodes make no claim to veracity, while the personages are not even
sun-myths. I have merely amused myself and attempted to amuse idlers by
incarnating the floating tradition of the Jewish Schnorrer, who is as unique
among beggars as Israel among nations. The close of the eighteenth century was
chosen for a background, because, while the most picturesque period of
Anglo-Jewish history, it has never before been exploited in fiction, whether by
novelists or historians. To my friend, Mr. Asher I. Myers, I am indebted for
access to his unique collection of Jewish prints and caricatures of the period,
and I have not been backward in schnorrinG suggestions from him and other
private humourists. My indebtedness to my artists is more obvious, from my old
friend George Hutchinson to my newer friend Phil May, who has been good enough
to allow me to reproduce from his Annuals the brilliant sketches illustrating
two of the shorter stories. Of these shorter stories it only remains to be said
there are both tragic and comic, and I will not usurp the critic's prerogative
by determining which is which.
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