Although hailing from a
relatively affluent middle-class family that could, and would, constantly provide him new clothes to wear, Emerson was well-known within the
progressive circles in which he moved for his tendency to dress like- and indeed in all other respects appear to be- a genuine beggar. Thus he earned for himself amongst his friends and their wider circles the
affectionate sobriquet 'the bourgeois tatterdemalion'
Michael's tatterdemalion appearance did little to endear him to the people he was (for reasons relating to dole payments) obliged to approach to ask for a job from