Sherlock Holmes was once called upon to locate a well-to-do English businessman who had mysteriously disappeared. In doing so, he also discovered the nature of the gentleman's business: begging. Having once tried it for a short period in order to collect material for a story, he had found it so rewarding that he was evermore loath to set his hand to more demanding and less lucrative occupations.

QUESTION: Was this a real phenomenon in Victorian England, or is it Doyle's comic exaggeration for the story?

Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order a…, loc. 1209