Ex Lihris C. K. OGDEN THREE CENTURIES OF CANTING SONGS AND SLANG RHYMES [1536— 1896I COLLECrED AND ANNOTATED BY JOHN S. FARMER PRIVATELY PRiNTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY MDCCCXCVI ^% LTBTIAF.Y UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA \J2r3 CONTENTS Index to Titles v Index to Authors ix Forewords Xlll Notes 199—245 Appendix 247 — 251 Text. Notes. "A beggar I'll be" (Anon — 1660) 26 208 " A Gage of Ben Rom-Bouse" (Middleton and Dekker— 1611) 10 204 "A Hundred Stretches Hence" (G. W. Matsell— 1859) 59 242 'Arry at a Political Picnic (T. Milliken— 1884). 165 242 Beggar's Curse, The (Thomas Dekker— 1608). 3 201 "Bing Out, Bien Morts " (Thomas Dekker— 1612) II 205 Black Procession, The (Anon— 1712). ... 37 2" Blooming uiEsthetic (Anon— 1882) 163 Bobby and His Mary (Anon— 1826) .... 94 228 Bould Yeoman, The (Pierce Egan— 1842) . . 136 241 Bridle-cull and his Httle Pop-gun (Pierce Egan— 1842) 139 241 Budg and Snudg Song, A (Anon- 1676) . . 30 208 Bunter's Christening, The (G. Parker— 1789) . 69 219 By-blow of the Jug, The (Pierce Egan— 1842). 144 241 VI CONTENTS Cadger's Ball, The (Anon — 1852) . . . Canter's Serenade, The (Anon — 1725). . Chickaleary Cove, The (Vance — 1864). . "Come all you Buffers Gay" (Anon — 1760) Coster's Serenade, The (A. Chevalier — 1894) Culture in the Slums (W. E. Henley— 1887) Dashy Splashy . . . little Stringer, The (Leman Rede — 1841) 134 240 "Dear-Bill— This Stone Jug " (Anon — 1857). 152 241 Double Cross, The (W. H, Ainsworth — 1834). 117 239 Text. Notes. 147 241 43 211 161 242 52 216 195 245 178 243 Faker's New Toast, The (Bon Gualtier — 1841). 127 Flashey Joe (R. Morley — 1826) 96 Flashman of St. Giles, The (Anon — 1790). . Frisky Moll's Song (J. Harper — 1724) . , . Game of High Toby, The (W. H. Ainsworth — 1834) Happy Pair, The (G. Parker— 1789) . . High Pad's Boast, The (J. Fletcher— 1625) High Pad's Frolic, The (Leman Rede — 1841) Housebreaker's Song, The (G. W. M. Rey nolds— 1838) Jack Flashman (Pierce Egan — 1842) . . . Lag's Lament, The (H. T. R.— 1829) . . Leary Man, The (Ducange Anglicus — 1857) Leary Mot, A (Anon — 181 1) Masqueraders, The (G. Parker — 1789) . . Maunder's Initiation, The (J.Fletcher — 1625) Maimder's Praise of his Strowling Mort, The (Anon — 1707) Maunder's Wooing, The (S. Rowlands — 16 10) Merry Beggars, The (R. Brome — 1641) . 240 74 219 41 211 115 239 67 219 21 207 132 240 122 239 141 241 109 235 154 242 77 219 72 219 19 206 33 209 / 204 23 207 143 241 25 208 130 240 98 CONTENTS VII Text. Notes. Milling Match, The (T, Moore— 18 19) ... 84 223 Miss Dolly Trull (Pierce Egan— 1842) . . Mort's Drinking Song, A (R. Brome— 1641 My Mother (Bou Gualtier— 1841) .... My mugging maid (J. Bruton — 1826) . . . "Nix my Doll, Pals, Fake Away" (W. Har- rison Ainsworth — 1834) 112 237 Nutty Blowen, The (Bon Gualtier— 184 1) . . 125 240 Oath of the Canting Crew, The (R. Goadby— 1749) 50 213 On the Prigging Lay (H. T. R.— 1829) . . 106 233 Our Little Nipper (A. Chevalier— 1893) . . . 192 245 Pickpocket's Chaunt, The (W. Maginn— 1829). 102 229 Plank-bed Ballad, A (G. R. Sims— 1888). . 184 245 Poor Luddy (T. Dibdin— 1826) 100 228 Potato Man, The (Anon— 1775) 54 216 "Retoure my dear Dell" (Anon— 1725). . . 44 212 Rhyme of the Rusher (Doss Chiderdoss— 1892). 187 Rhymes of the Canting Crew (R. Copland — 1536) » '99 Rondeau of the Knock, The (G. R. Sims— 1890) 186 245 " Rum Coves that ReUeve Us " (H. Baumann— 1887) '7' '43 Rum-Mort's Praise of her Faithless Maunder, The (Anon— 1707) 35 210 Sandman's Wedding, The (G. Parker— 1789)- 64 217 Slang Pastoral, A (R. Tomlinson— 1780) . . 5^ 216 Song of the Beggar, The (Anon — 1620) . . 14 20<^ Song of the Young Prig, The (Anon— 1 8 10-9). 82 222 Sonnets for the Fancy : I. Education. II. Pro- gress. IIL Triumph (Pierce Egan- 1 824). 90 225 VIII CONTENTS Text. Notes. " The Faking Boy to the Crap is Gone " (Bon Gualticr — 1841) 124 240 The Night before Larry was stretched (W. Maher — 18 16) 79 220 Thieves' Chaunt, The (W. H. Smith— 1836). 120 Tottie (G. R. Sims— 1887) 182 245 " Towre Out, Ben Morts" (S.Rowlands — 1610). 5 202 True Bottom'd Boxer, The (J. Jones — 1825). 92 227 Vain Dreamer, The (Anon — 1725)' 46 212 Villon's Good Night (W. E. Henley— 1887) . 174 243 Villon's Straight Tip (W. E. Henley— 1887). 176 243 " When my Dimber Dell I Courted " (Anon — 1725) 48 212 "Wot Cher" (A. Chevalier — 1892) 190 245 " Ye Scamps, ye Pads, ye Divers " (Messink — 1781) 61 217 "Ya-Hip, my Hearties!" (Gregson — 1819). . 88 224 INDEX TO AUTHORS Ainsworth, W. Harrison 112, 115, 117 Anonymous, 14, 26, 30, 33, 35, 37, 43, 44, 46, 48, 52, 54> 74. n^ 82, 90, 94, 147, 152, 163 Baumann, Heinrich 171 Bon Gualtier 124, 125, 127, 130 Brome, Richard 23, 25 Bruton, James 98 Chevalier, Albert 190, 192, 195 Copland, Robert i Dekker, Thomas 3, 10, 11 Dibdin, Thomas 100 Doss Chiderdoss 187 Ducange Anglicus I54 Egan, Pierce 136, 139, 141, 143, 144 Fletcher, John 19. 21 Goadby, Robert 5^ Gregson °8 Harper, J 4' Henley, W. Ernest 174, 176, 178 H. T. R 106, 109 X INDEX TO AUTHORS Jones, J 92 Maginn, William 102 Maher, Will 79 Matsell, G. W 159 Messink 61 Middleton, Thomas 10 Milliken, T 165 Moore, Thomas 84 Morley, R 96 Parker, George 64, 67, 69, 72 Rede, Leman 132, 134 Reynolds, G. W. M 122 Rowlands, Samuel 5> 7 Sims, G. R 182, 184, 186 Smith, W. H 120 Tomlinson, R 5^ Vance 161 FOREWORDS FOREWORDS When Harrison Ainsvvorth, in his preface to Rookivood, claimed to be " the first to write a purely flash song " he was very wide of the mark . As a matter of fact, "Nix my doll, pals, fake away!" had been anticipated, in its treatment of canting phraseology, by nearly three centuries, and subsequently, by authors whose names stand high, in other respects, in English literature. The mistake, however, was not altogether un- pardonable ; few, indeed, would have even guessed that the appearance of utter neglect which sur- rounded the use of Cant and Slang in English song, ballad, or verse— its rich and racy character notwithstanding— was anything but of the surface. The chanson d'argot of France and the romance di gerniania of Spain, not to mention other forms of the MusA Pedestris had long held popular sway, but there was to all appearance nothing to correspond with them on this side the silver streak. It must be confessed, however, that the field of English slang verse and canting song, though xiv FOREWORDS not altogether barren, has yet small claim to the idiomatic and plastic treatment that obtains in many an Argot-song and Germania-romance; in truth, with a few notable exceptions, there is little in the present collection that can claim literary rank. Those exceptions, however, are alone held to be ample justification for such an anthology as that here presented. Moreover these " Rhymes and Songs", gathered from up and down the years, exhibit, en masse, points of interest to the student and scholar that, in isolation, were either wanting altogether, or were buried and lost sight of midst a mass of more (or less) valuable matter. As regards the Vulgar Tongue itself — though exhaustive disquisition obviously lies outside the scope of necessarily brief forewords — it may be pointed out that its origin in England is con- fessedly obscure. Prior to the second half of the 1 6th century, there was Httle trace of that flood of unorthodox speech which, in this year of grace eighteen hundred and ninety-six, requires six quarto double-columned volumes duly to chronicle — verily a vast and motley crowd! As to the distinction to be drawn between Cant and Slang it is somewhat difficult to speak. Cant we know ; its limits and place in the world of philology are well defined. In Slang, however, w-e have a veritable Proteus, ever shifting, and for the most part defying exact definition and orderly derivation. Few, save scholars and such-like FOREWORDS xv folk, even distinguish between the two, though the Une of demarcation is sharply enough defined. In the first place, Slang is universal, whilst Cant is restricted in usage to certain classes of the community: thieves, vagrom men, and — well, their associates. One thing, indeed, both have in common; each are derived from a correct normal use of language. There, however, all similarity ends. Slang boasts a quasi-respectability denied to Cant, though Cant is frequently more enduring, its use continuing without variation of meaning for many generations. With Slang this is the exception; present in force to-day, it is either altogether forgotten to-morrow, or has shaded off into some new meaning— a creation of chance and circumstance. Both Cant and Slang, but Slang to a more determinate degree, are mirrors in which those who look may see reflected a picture of the age, with its failings, foibles, .-.nd idiosyncrasies. They reflect the social life of the people, the mirror rarely being held to truth so faithfully— hence the present interest, and may be future value, of these songs andrhymes. For the rest the book will speak for itself. RHYMES OF THE CANTING CREW. [c. 1536] [Notes] [From " T72e Hye-ivay to the Spvttel-Iwiis" by Robert Copland (Hazlitt, Early Popular Poetry of England, w.) Robert Copland and the Porter of St. Bartholomew's Hos- pital loquitor\. Copland. Come none of these pedlers this way [also, With pak on bak with their bousy speche crapulous Jagged and ragged with broken hose and breche ? Porter. Inow, ynow; with bousy coue maimed nace, [Notes] Teare the patryng coue in the darkeinan cace Docked the dell for a coper meke; I 2 RHYMES OF THE CANTING CREW His watch shall feng a prounces nob-chete, Cyarum, by Salmon, and thou shall pek my jere In thy gan, for my watch it is nace gere For the bene bouse my watch hath a coyn. And thus they babble tyll their thryft is thin I wote not what with their pedlyng frenche. '■C7-- so let all raagis- r-^ re, trates and con- [Cuttin stables go to the devil and be ^y^^ Harmau Beck strine and trine to the ruffin. hanged! THE HIGH PAD'S BOAST THE HIGH PAD'S BOAST [b. 1625] [Attributed to John Fletcher— a song from a collection of black-letter broadside ballads. Also in Neiv Canting Diet. 1725.] I keep my Horse; I keep my whore; I take no rents; yet am not poor; I travel all the land about, And yet was born to ne'er a foot. II With partridge plump, and woodcock fine, At midnight, I do often dine: And if my whore be not in Case, My hostess' daughter has her place. Ill The maids sit up, and watch their turns; If I stay long, the tapster mourns; Nor has the cookmaid mind to sin, Tho' tempted by the chamberlain. in the houso 22 THE HIGH PAD'S BOAST IV But when I knock, O how they bustle; The hostler yawns, the geldings justle: If the maid be sleepy, O how they curse her; And all this comes, of, Deliver your purse, sir. THE MERRY BEGGARS 23 THE IVIERRY BEGGARS [^^°'^'] [1641] [From A Jovial Crew, by Richard Brome. The beggars discovered at their feast. After they have scrambled awhile at their Victuals : this song]. Here safe in our Skipper let's cly off our Peck, ^,^^5^'^^°"' ^'■"■" And bowse in defiance o' the Haniian Beck. ^"^ J^" ^^\l - constable ! Here's Pannam and Lap, and good Poplars ot Here's bread, drink, and milk- [Yarrum, porridge ^ ., , c ^ L\- r\ To fill the belly, To fill up the Cnb, and to comfort the Quarron. ^nd comfort tiie body. Now bowse a round health to the Go-well and Drink a good health [Notes] [Corn-well, To Cisley Bum- Of Cisley Bumtrincket that lies in the Strummel; tri^nckeUying in II Here's Ruffpeck and Casson, and all of the best, "^l^S;;^'^"" ^""^ And Scrape of the Dainties of Gentry Cofe's ^nd ^Xf-?, [Feast. '=''"' 24 THE MERRY BEGGARS Here's pork, mutton, goose, And chicken, all well-cooked. For this good food and meat lot us Drink the gentle- man's health and Then drink a bumper to Cisley Bura- trincket. Here's Grunter and Bleater, with Tib-of-the-Butlry, And Margery Prater, all dress'd without sluttry. For all this bene Cribbing and Peck let us then, Bowse a health to the Gentry Cofe of the Ken. Now bowse a round health to the Go-well and Corn-well Of Cisley Bumtrincket that lies in the Strum- [mel. A MORT'S DRINKING SONG 25 A MORT'S DRINKING SONG [1641] [Notes] [From A Jovial Creiv, by Richard Brome : Enter Patrico with his old wife with a wooden bowle of drink. She is drunk. She sings:— ] This is bien bowse, this is bien bowse, strong ale Too little is my skew. cup or platter I bowse no lage, but a whole gage water; pot Of this I'll bowse to you. II This bowse is better than rom-bowse, wine It sets the gan a-gigling, mouth The autum-mort finds better sport wife In bowsing than in nigling. fornicating This is bien bowse, etc. \_She tosses off her bozvle, falls back and is carried out.] 2b "A BEGGAR I'LL BE" tXote,3 "A BEGGAR I'LL BE" [1660 — 1663] [A black-letter broadside ballad] A Beggar, a Beggar, a Beggar Lll be, There's none leads a life more jocund than he; A Beggar I was, and a Beggar I am, A Beggar I'll be, from a Beggar I came; If, as it begins, our trading do fall, We, in the Conclusion, shall Beggars be all. Tradesmen are unfortunate in their Affairs, And few ]\Ien are thriving but Courtiers and Play'rs. II [Notes] A Graver my Father, a Maunder my INIother, A Filer my Sister, a Filcher my Brother, A Canter my Uncle, that car'd not for Pelf, A Lifter my Aunt, and a Beggar myself; In white wheaten Straw, when their Bellies were [full, Then was I got between a Tinker and a Trull. And therefore a Beggar, a Beggar I'll be. For there's none lives a Life more jocund than he "A BEGGAR I'LL BE" III 27 For such pretty Pledges, as Lullies from Hedges, wet linen We are not in fear to l^e drawn upon Sledges, But sometimes the Whip doth make us to skip And then we from Tything to Tything do trip; But when in a poor Boozing-Can we do bib it, ale-house We stand more in dread of the Stocks than the And therefore a merry mad Beggar I'll be [Gibbet For when it is night in the Barn tumbles he. IV We throw down no Altar, nor never do falter. So much as to change a Gold-chain for a Halter ; Though some Men do flout us, and others do doubt We commonly bear forty Pieces about us; [us. But many good Fellows are fine and look fiercer, And owe for their Cloaths to the Taylor and Mercer : And if from the Harmans I keep out my Feet, stocks I fear not the Compter, King's Bench, nor the Fleet. [Notes] Sometimes I do frame myself to be lame, And when a Coach comes, I hop to my game; We seldom miscarry, or never do marr}'. By the Gown, Common-Prayer, or Cloak-Directory ; But Simon and Susan, like Birds of a Feather They kiss, and they laugh, and so jumble together; [Notes] 28 "A BEGGAR I'LL BE" Like Pigs in the Pea-straw, intangled they lie, Till there they beget such a bold rogue as I. VI When Boys do come to us, and their Intent is To follow our Calling, we ne'er bind 'em 'Prentice; Soon as they come to 't, we teach them to do 't, And give them a Staff and a Wallet to boot; beggar's patter We teach them their Lingua, to crave and to cant. The Devil is in them if then they can want. And he or she, that a Beggar will be, Without any Indentures they shall be made free. VII We beg for our Bread, yet sometimes it happens We fast it with Pig, Pullet, Coney, and Capons The Church's Affairs, we are no Men-slayers, We have no Religion, yet live by our Prayers; But if when we beg, INI en will not draw their [Purses, We charge, and give Fire, with a Volley of [Curses ; The Devil confoimd your good Worship, we cry. And such a bold brazen- fac'd Beggar am I. VIII We do things in Season, and have so much Reason, We raise no Rebellion, nor never talk Treason; "A BEGGAR I'LL BE" 29 We Bill all our Mates at very low rates, While some keep their Quarters as high as the [fates ; With Shinkin-ap-Morgan, with Blue-cap, or Teague, [Notes] We into no Covenant enter, nor League. And therefore a bonny bold Beggar I'll be, For none lives a life more merry than he. 30 A BUDG AND SNUDG SONG [Notes] A BUDG AND SNUDG SONG [1676 and 1712] [From A Warniiig for Housekeepers ... by one who was a prisoner in Newgate (1676. The second version from the Trmmph of Witii'j 1 2)]. Sneaking into ^\^^^ budge it is a delicate trade, house and steal- " ing anything to ^^^ ^ dclicatc trade of fame; hand Accomplished the Yox when that we have bit the bloe, theft We carry a\vay the game : fellow catches But if the cully nap us, swag [properly ^nd the ImTies from us take, money] take us to New- Q then , " u US to the whitt gate; [Notes] (he rubs) (And it is hardly ) ,, , halfpenny }„, , •' ,> worth a make (Though we are not) } A \ when that we come to the whitt fetters Qur darbics to behold, . T ^ ^ (take our penitency ) And for to j^^ ^^^ penance therej' tt;- ' boose the water cold. A BUDG AND SNUDG SONG 31 But when that we come out agen [And the merry hick we meet] ,^, (bite the Cully of) , . , We j file off with i ^'^ ^°le . , (we walk) , ^i , ^ ^' jhe pikesi ^^°"g t^^^ ^^^^^t- III [And when that we have fil'd him Perhaps of half a job; Then every man to the boozin ken O there to fence his hog; But if the cully nap us, And once again we get Into the cramping, rings], (But we are rubbed into (To scoure them in countryman steal his money robbed half a guinea ale-house spend a shilling Handcuffs and leg-shackles the whitt. IV And when that we come \ , | the whitt. For garnish they do cry ; (Mary, faugh, you son of a whore) (We promise our lusty comrogues ) \ry, I shall have it by and bye [Then every man with his mort in his hand, Does booze off his can and part, With a kiss we part, and westward stand. To the nubbing cheat in a cart]. " footing' vbore gallows 32 A BUDG AND SNUDG SONG hung give no money knife [Notes] (But) And when (that) we come to Tyburn j the nubbino- cheat For i°°"^? "I^^^i the budge, ^running on) ° ' [ xxotes] There stands \jl^^, gj^.{;|, that son of a |'^j{°^^ j, That owes us all a grudge. i For j ^^^^^^ t'^^^ ^'^ ^^* jnubbedi "^' And our friends | , -^ I him no cole, O then he throws us in the cart ) He takes his chive and cuts us downj' (tumbles) , (the I a And I -• ' i us into ] „ 1 hole. [An additional stanza is given in Bacchus and Venus (1737), a version which moreover contains many verbal variations]. VI But if we have a friend stand by, Six and eight pence for to pay. Then they may have our bodies back, And carry us quite away: For at St Giles's or St Martin's, A burying place is still; And there's an end of a darkman's budge. And the whoreson hath his will. THE MAUNDER'S PRAISE 33 THE MAUNDER'S PRAISE OF HIS STROWLING MORT [1707] [From The Triumph of Wit, by J. Shirley: "the King of the Gypsies's Song, made upon his Beloved Doxy, or Mistress;" also in New Ca?ifing Did. [lyz^)]. [Notes] Doxy, oh ! thy glaziers shine As glimmar; by the Salomon! No gentry mort hath prats like thine, No cove e'er wap'd with such a one. II White thy fambles, red thy gan. And thy quarrons dainty is; Couch a hogshead with me then, And in the darkmans clip and kiss. Ill What though I no togeman wear, Nor commission, mish, or slate; mistress; eyes fire ; mass lady; [Notes] [Notes] hand ; mouth body sleep night; [Notes] cloak shirt or sheet 34 OF HIS STROWLING MORT. straw in the barn ; lie [Notes] the devil take the woman otherwise feet stockings ; revel Store of strammel we'll have here, And ith' skipper lib in state. IV Wapping thou I know does love, Else the ruffin cly the mort; From thy stampers then remove. Thy drawers, and let's prig in sport. daylight hen chickens ale-house Money ; steal pot ; steal a purse wine ; drink eat; pig When the lightman up does call, Margery prater from her nest, And her Cackling cheats withal, In a boozing ken we'll feast. VI There if lour we want; I'll mill A gage, or nip for thee a bung; Rum booze thou shalt booze thy fill, And crash a grunting cheat that's young. THE RUM-MO RT'S PRAISE 35 THE RUM-MORT'S PRAISE OF HER FAITHLESS MAUNDER [1707] [From The Tnumph of Wit, by J. Shirley: also in New Canting Dict\ [Notes] Now my kinching-cove is gone, By the rum-pad maundeth none, Quarrons both for stump and bone, Like my clapperdogeon. little man highway ; geth body beg- [Notes] II Dimber damber fare thee well, Palliards all thou didst excel, And thy jockum bore the Bell, Glimmer on it never fell. [Notes] [Notes] [Notes] [Notes] III Thou the cramprings ne'er did scowre, Harmans had on thee no power, Harmanbecks did never toure; For thee, the drawers still had loure. fetters ; wear storks constables, look pockets; money ;6 OF HER FAITHLESS MAUNDER clothes ; general plunder magistrate country gallows IV Duds and cheats thou oft hast won, Yet the cuffin quire couldst shun; And the deuseaville didst run, Else the chates had thee undone. [Xotes] night hedge fire; duck goose turkey bacon any potable ; porridge dog ; wooden dish hook ; counterfeit pass, cloak Crank and dommerar thou couldst play, Or rum-maunder in one day, And like an Abram-cove couldst pray, Yet pass with gybes well jerk'd away. VI When the darkmans have been wet. Thou the crackmans down didst beat For glimmer, whilst a quaking cheat. Or tib-o'-th'-buttry was our meat. VII Red shanks then I could not lack, RufF peck still hung on my Back, Grannam ever fill'd my sack With lap and poplars held I tack. VIII To thy bugher and thy skew, Filch and gybes I bid adieu, Though thy togeman was not new. In it the rogue to me was true. THE BLACK PROCESSION 37 THE BLACK PROCESSION [Notes] [1712] [From The Triumph of Wit, by J. Shirley : — " The twenty craftsmen, described by the notorious thief- taker Jonathan Wild"]. Good people, give ear, whilst a story I tell, Of twenty black tradesmen who were brought up [in hell. On purpose poor people to rob of their due; There's none shall be nooz'd if you find but one tung true. The first was a coiner, that stampt in a mould; The second a voucher to put off his gold. ^cot" ° ^° i-n 11 L 1 11 Look ! be on your ioure you well; hark you well, see guard Where they are rubb'd, t^ken Up to the nubbing cheat where they are gaiiows nubb'd. hung II The third was a padder, that fell to decay, pad!"'' Who used for to plunder upon the highway; The fourth was a mill-ken to crack up a door, iionsobrcaker 38 THE BLACK PROCESSION He'd venture to rob both the rich and the poor, window thief The fifth was a glazier who when he creeps in, valuables To pinch all the lurry he thinl<:s it no sin. Toure you well, etc. Ill pickpocket; man The sixth is a file-cly that not one cully spares, or silly fop ' i r i sneaking-thief The scvcnth a budge to track softly upstairs; accomplice who _ , ,, , in i • i jostles whilst an- The eighth IS a bulk, that can bulk any hick, countrj-raan If thc master be nabbed, then the bulk he is [sick, thief who hooks The ninth is an angler, to lift up a grate goods from shop- windows If he sees but the lurry his hooks he will bait. Toure you well, etc. IV The tenth is a shop-lift that carries a Bob, When he ranges the city, the shops for to rob. public-house thief The eleventh a bubber, much used of late; Who goes to the ale house, and steals all their [plate, confidence-trick -p^g twelfth is a beau-trap, if a cull he does man ; good-na- ^ tured fool [meet, steals all his fje nips all his cole, and turns him into the money Toure you well, etc. [street. [Notes] The thirteenth a famble, false rings for to sell, When a mob, he has bit his cole he will tell; THE BLACK PROCESSION 39 The fourteenth a gamester, if he sees the cull ^° ®^^y '^"P'^ [sweet, He presently drops down a cog in the street; ^ '"'^*^ The fifteenth a prancer, whose courage is small, torse-thief If they catch him horse-coursing, he's nooz'd once ^"°s Toure you well, etc. [for all. VI The sixteenth a sheep-napper, whose trade is sheep-steaier [so deep, If he's caught in the corn, he's marked for a ^s a duffer [sheep ; The seventeenth a dunaker, that stoutly makes cattie-iifte [vows, To go in the country and steal all the cows; The eighteenth a kid-napper, who spirits young [men, Tho' he tips them a pike, they oft nap him again. Toure you well, etc. VII The nineteenth's a prigger of cacklers who harms, pouitry-thief The poor country higlers, and plunders the farms ; bumpkins He steals all their poultry, and thinks it no sin. When into the hen-roost, in the night, he gets in ; The twentieth's a thief-catcher, so we him call. Who if he be nabb'd will be made pay for all. Toure you well, etc. 40 THE BLACK PROCESSION [in Bacchus mid Venus (1737) an addition- al stanza is given: — VIII members of the There's many more craftsmen whom here I could Canting Crew [name, Who use such like trades, abandon'd of shame; To the number of more than three-score on the [whole, Who endanger their body, and hazard their soul ; And yet, though good workmen, are seldom made [free. Till they ride in a cart, and be noozed on a tree. Toure }'ou well, hark you well, see where they are [rubb'd. Up to the nubbing cheat, where they are nubb'd. FRISKY MOLL'S SONG 41 FRISKY MOLL'S SONG [1724] [By J. Harper, and sung by Frisky Moll in John Thurmond's Harlequin Sheppard pro- duced at Drury Lane Theatre]. From priggs that snaffle the prancers strong, To you of the Peter Lay, I pray now listen a while to my song, How my Boma?i he kick'd away. stpal horses carriage thieves fancy man or sweetheart II He broke thro' all rubbs in the whitt, And chiv'd his darbies in twain; But fileing of a rumbo ken, My Boman is snabbled again. obstacles ; New- gate cut : fetters Breaking into a pawn-broker's imprisoned III I Frisky Moll, with my rum coll, Wou'd Grub in a bowzing ken ; But ere for the scran he had tipt the cole, The Harman he came in. good man cat ; ale-house refreshments ; paid constable 42 FRISKY MOLL'S SONG IV ring ; watch ; pistols gin-shops A famble, a tattle, and two popps, Had my Bonian when he was ta'en ; But had he not bouz'd in the diddle shops, He'd still been in Drury-Lane. THE CANTER'S SERENADE 43 THE CANTER 'S SERENADE [1725] [horn T/ie Neiv Canting Dictionary : — " Sung early in the morning, at the barn doors where their doxies have reposed during the night"]. [Notes] Ye morts and ye dells women ; giris Come out of your cells, And charm all the palliards about ye; beggars [Notes] Here birds of all feathers, Through deep roads and all weathers, Are gathered together to toute ye. II With faces of wallnut. And bladder and smallgut, We're come scraping and singing to rouse ye; Rise, shake off your straw, And prepare you each maw ^^^^^^■^^ To kiss, eat, and drink till you're bouzy. dnmk, 44 RETOURE MY DEAR DELL [Xotes] night day ; see know well Ue heart eyes •^ R E T O U R E M Y D E A R DELL" [1725] [From The Neiv Canting Dictionar)>\. I Each darkmans I pass in an old shady grove, And live not the lightmans I toute not my love, I surtoute every walk, which we used to pass, And couch me down weeping, and kiss the cold [grass : I cry out on my mort to pity my pain, And all our vagaries remember again. II Didst thou know, my dear doxy, but half of the [smart Which has seized on my panter, since thou didst [depart ; Didst thou hear but my sighs, my complaining [and groans, Thou'dst surely retoure, and pity my moans: Thou'dst give me new pleasure for all my [past pain, And I should rejoice in thy glaziers again. RETOURE MY DEAR DELL 45 in But alas! 'tis my fear that the false Patri-coe hedge-priest Is reaping those transports are only my due : Retoure, my dear doxy, oh, once more retoare, And I'll do all to please thee that lies in my [power : Then be kind, my dear dell, and pity my pain, And let me once more toute thy glaziers again IV On redshanks and tibs thou shalt every day dine, turkey geese And if it should e'er be my hard fate to trine, hang I never will whiddle, I never will squeek, speak Nor to save my colquarron endanger thy neck, neck Then once more, my doxy, be kind and [retoure, And thou shalt want nothing that lies in my [power. 46 THE VAIN DREAMER [Notes] THE VAIN DREAMER. [From The Neiu Cariting Dictiotiarv]. pretty Vest darkmans dream'd I of my dell, When sleep did overtake her; It was a dimber drowsy mort, She slept, I durst not wake her. lips stolen II Her gans were like to coral red, A thousand times I kiss'd 'em; A thousand more I might have filch'd' She never could have miss'd 'em. hair III Her strammel, curl'd, like threads of gold, Hung dangling o'er the pillow; Great pity 'twas that one so prim, Should ever wear the willow. THE VAIN DREAMER 47 IV I turned down the lilly slat, "'^''^ ^^^^*- Methought she fell a screaming, This startled me; I straight awak'd, And found myself but dreaming. 48 WHEN MY DIMBER DELL I COURTED [Notes] "WHEN MY DIMBER DELL I COURTED" [1725] [From The New Canting Dictionary^. pretty wench When mv dimber dell I courted She had youth and beauty too, Wanton joys my heart transported, 'CS.ox.e&s And her wap was ever new. But conquering time doth now deceive her Which her pleasures did uphold ; All her wapping now must leave her, For, alas! my dell's grown old. II Her wanton motions which invited, Now, alas ! no longer charm, eyes Her glaziers too are quite benighted. Nor can any prig-star charm. For conquering time, alas! deceives her Which her triumphs did uphold, And every moving beauty leaves her Alas ! my dimber dell's grown old. WHEN MY DIMBER DELL I COURTED 49 III There was a time no cull could toute her, But was sure to be undone: Nor could th' uprightman live without her, She triumph'd over every one. But conquering time does now deceive her, Which her sporting us'd t' uphold, All her am'rous dambers leave her, For, alas ! the dell's grown old. man ; look at [Notes] IV All thy comfort, dimber dell. Is, now, since thou hast lost thy prime. That every cull can witness well. Thou hast not misus'd thy time. There's not a prig or palliard living, Who has not been thy slave inroll'd. Then cheer thy mind, and cease thy grieving; Thou'st had thy time, tho' now grown old. 50 THE OATH OF THE CANTING CREW [Notes] THE OATH OF THE CANTING CREW [1749] [From The Life of Bampfylde Moore Carew, by Robert Goadby]. reveal secrets betray to bailiff or magistrate [Notes] [Notes] I, Crank Cuffin, swear to be True to this fraternity ; That I will in all obey Rule and order of the lay. Never blow the gab or squeak ; Never snitch to bum or beak; But religiously maintain Authority of those who reign Over Stop Hole Abbey green, Be their tawny king, or queen. In their cause alone will fight; Think what they think, wrong or fight; Serve them truly, and no other. And be faithful to my brother; Suffer none, from far or near. With their rights to interfere; No strange Abram, ruffler crack, Hooker of another pack, [Notes] ; beggar Rogue or rascal, frater, maunderer. [Notes] THE OATH OF THE CANTING CREW 51 Irish toyle, or other wanderer; [Notes] No dimber, dambler, angler, dancer, Prig of cackler, prig of prancer; No swigman, swaddler, clapper-dudgeon ; Cadge-gloak, curtal, or curmudgeon ; No whip-jack, palliard, patrico ; No jarkman, be he high or low ; No dummerar, or romany ; No member of the family ; No ballad-basket, bouncing buffer, Nor any other, will I suffer; But stall-off now and for ever All outtiers whatsoever; And as I keep to the foregone, So may help me Salamon ! By the mass 1 52 COME ALL YOU BUFFERS GAY [Notes] COME ALL YOU BUFFERS GAY [1760J [From The Humourist .... a choice collection of songs. 'A New Flash Song', p. 2J. rogue or horse- Comc all vou buffers gay, thief J b ." prowl about That rumly do pad the city, Come listen to what I do say. And it will make you wond'rous wity. II The praps are at Drury Lane, And at Covent Garden also, Therefore I tell you plain, It will not be safe for to go. Ill well-dressed vie- But if after a rum cull you pad tim ; walk Pray follow hira brave and bold ; For many a buffer has been grab'd, For fear, as I've been told. COME ALL YOU BUFFERS GAY 53 IV Let your pal that follows behind, Tip your bulk pretty soon; And to slap his whip in time, For fear the cull should be down. give signal to confederate [Notes] For if the cull should be down And catch you a fileing his bag, Then at the Old Bailey you're found, And d— m you, he'll tip you the lag. VI But if you should slape his staunch wipe Then away to the fence you may go, From thence to the ken of one T — Where you in full bumpers may flow. VII But now I have finish'd my rhime, And of you all must take my leave ; I would have you to leave off in time, Or they will make your poor hearts to bleed. robbing. get you trans- ported steal ; handker- chief receiver of stolen property house 54 THE POTATO MAN [Notes] THE POTATO MAN [1775] [from The Ranelaugh Coiicert ... a choice collection of the newest songs sung at all the public places of entertainment]. fellow I am a saucy rolling blade, I fear not wet nor dry, I keep a jack ass for my trade. And thro' the streets do cry Chorus. And they all rare potatoes be ! And they're, etc. mistress A moll I keep that sells fine fruit, money [Notes] There's no oue brings more cly ; She has all things the seasons suit, While I my potatoes cry. Chorus. And they all, etc. Ill cry out A link boy once I stood the gag, At Charing Cross did ply, THE POTATO MAN Here's light your honor for a mag, But now my potatoes cry. Chonis. And they all, etc. 55 halfpenny With a blue bird's eye about my squeeg, And a check shirt on my back, A pair of large wedges in my hoofs, And an oil skin round my hat. Chorus. And they all, etc. handkerchief [Notes] neck. I'll bait a bull or fight a cock, Or pigeons I will fly; I'm up to all your knowing rigs smart tricks Whilst I my potatoes cry. Chorus. And they all, etc. VI There's five pounds two-pence honest weight Your own scales take and try; For nibbing culls I always hate, cheating dealers And I in safety cry. Chorus. And they all, etc. 56 A SLANG PASTORAL [Notes] A SLANGPASTORAL [1780] [By R. Tomlinson: — a Parody on a poem by Dr. Byrom, " My time, O ye muses, was happily spent"]. compamons accompanied jailed drink ight-hearted My time, O ye kiddies, was happily spent. When Nancy trigg'd with me wherever I went; Ten thousand sweet joys ev'ry night did we prove; Sure never poor fellow like me was in love! But since she is nabb'd, and has left me behind, What a marvellous change on a sudden I find ! When the constable held her as fast as could be, I thought 'twas Bet Spriggins; but damme 'twas she. II With such a companion, a green-stall to keep, To swig porter all day, on a flock -bed to sleep, I was so good-natur'd, so bobbish and gay, And I still was as smart as a carrot all day: But now I so saucy and churlish am grown. So ragged and greasy, as never was known; My Nancy is gone, and my joys are all fled, And my arse hangs behind me, as heavy as lead. A SLANG PASTORAL 57 III The Kennel, that's wont to run swiftly along, And dance to soft murmurs dead kittens among, Thou know'st, httle buckhorse, if Nancy was there, 'Twas pleasure to look at, 'twas music to hear : But now that she's off, I can see it run past, And still as it murmurs do nothing but blast. Must you be so cheerful, while I go in pain? Stop your clack, and be damn'd t'ye, and hear [me complain. IV When the bugs in swarms round me wou'd often- [times play, And Nancy and I were as frisky as they, We laugh'd at their biting, and kiss'd all the time, For the spring of her beauty was just in its prime ! But now for their frolics I never can sleep, So I crack 'em by dozens, as o'er me they creep : Curse blight you ! I cry, while I'm all over smart. For I'm bit by the arse, while I'm stung to the [heart. The barber I ever was pleased to see. With his paigtail come scraping to Nancy and me; And Nancy was pleas'd too, and to the man said, 58 A SLANG PASTORAL Come hither, young fellow, and frizzle my head: But now when he's bowing, I up with my stick, Crv, blast you, you scoundrel ! and give him a kick — And I'll lend him another, for why should not John Be as dull as poor Dermot, when Nancy is gone ? VI When sitting with Nancy, what sights have I seen ! How white was the tumep, the col'wart how green ! What a lovely appearance, while under the shade, The carrot, the parsnip, the cauliflow'r made! picks oakum But now shc mills doll, tho' the greens are still there They none of 'em half so delightful appear : It was not the board that was nail'd to the wall, Made so many customers visit our stall. VII Sweet music went with us both all the town thro', [Notes] To Bagnigge, White Conduit, and Sadler's-Wells [too; Soft murmur'd the Kennels, the beau-pots how [sweet. And crack went the cherry-stones under our feet : Kone But now she to Bridewell has punch'd it along, My eye, Betty Martin! on music a song: 'Twas her voice crying mack'rel, as now I have [found. Gave ev'ry-thing else its agreeable sound. A SLANG PASTORAL 59 VIII Gin! What is become of thy heart-chearing fire, And where is the beauty of Calvert's Intire ? Does aught of its taste Double Gloucester beguile, That ham, those potatoes, why do they not smile, Ah! rot ye, I see what it was you were at. Why you knocked up your froth, why you fiash'd [off your fat: To roll in her ivory, to pleasure her eye, To be tipt by her tongue, on her stomach to lie. IX How slack is the crop till my Nancy return ! No duds in my pocket, no sea-coal to burn! Methinks if I knew where the watchman wou'd [tread, I wou'd follow, and lend him a punch o' the head. Fly swiftly, good watchman, bring hither my dear. And, blast me! I'll tip ye a gallon of beer. Ah, sink him! the watchman is full of delay, Nor will budge one foot faster for all I can say. Will no blood-hunting foot-pad, that hears me [complain. Stop the wind of that nabbing-cull, constable [Notes] [Payne ? 6o A SLANG PASTORAL If he does, he'll to Tyburn next sessions be dragg'd, foolish And what kiddy's so rum as to get himself [scragg'd ? No! blinky, discharge her, and let her return; For ne'er was poor fellow so sadly forlorn. Zounds ! what shall I do ? I shall die in a ditch ; Take warning by me how you're leagu'd with a [bitch. YE SCAMPS, YE PADS, YE DIVERS 6i YE SCAMPS, YE PADS, YE DIVERS [Notes] [1781] [From The Choice of Harlequin : or The Indian Chief by Mr. Messink, and sung by John Edwin as "the Keeper of Bridewell"). Ye scamps, ye pads, ye divers, and all upon '^""'^'wsi rNo^te's'^ [the lay. In Tothill- fields gay sheepwalk, like lambs ye sport ToAiii-fieids [and play; Rattling up your darbies, come hither at my call ; I'm jigger dubber here, and you are welcome warder; [to mill doll. pick oakum With my tow row, etc. II At your insurance office the flats you've taken in. The game they've play'd, my kiddy, you're always [sure to win; First you touch the shiners — the number up — money [you break. With your insuring-policy, I'd not insure your neck. With my tow row, etc. 62 YE SCAMPS, YE PADS, YE DIVERS III feet The French, with trotters nimble, could fly from [English blows, fist And they've got nimble daddies, as monsieur [plainly shews; Be thus the foes of Britain bang'd, ay, thump [away, monsieur. The hemp you're beating now will make your [solitaire. With my tow row, etc. IV eyes My peepers! who've we here now? why this is [sure Black-Moll: My ma'am, you're of the fair sex, so welcome [to mill doll; common lodging- The cull with you who'd venture into a snoozing-ken, house [Notes] Like Blackamore Othello, should " put out the [light — and then. " With my tow row, etc. V I think my flashy coachman, that you'll take better [care, drink ; abuse jsq-Q,- fgj- g^ ]j(-)-]g i^^j^ come the slang upon your fare ; ''''^' "footing" Your jazy pays the garnish, unless the fees you tip. Though you're a flashy coachman, here the [gagger holds the whip. With my tow row, etc. YE SCAMPS, YE PADS, YE DIVERS 63 Chorus omnes We're scamps, we're pads, we're divers, we're all [upon the lay, In Tothill-fields gay sheepwalk, like lambs we sport [and play ; Rattling up our darbies, we're hither at your call, You're jigger dubber here, and we're forc'd for [to mill doll. With my tow row, etc. 64 THE SANDMAN'S WEDDING [Notes] THE SANDMAN'S WEDDING [b. 1789] street rag-gatherer kissed her [A Cantata by G. Parker (?)]. Recitative. As Joe the sandman drove his noble team Of raw-rump'd jennies, " Sand-ho ! " was his theme : Just as he turned the comer of the drum, His dear lov'd Bess, the bunter, chanc'd to come; With joy cry'd " Woa", did turn his quid and stare, First suck'd her jole, then thus addressed the fair. Air. eyes Forgive me if I praise those charms Thy glaziers bright, lips, neck, and arms Thy snowy bubbles e'er appear Like two small hills of sand, my dear : Thy beauties. Bet, from top to toe Have stole the heart of Sandman Joe. ale-house Come wed, my dear, and let's agree. Then of the booze-ken you'll be free; THE SANDMAN'S WEDDING 65 No sneer from cully, mot, or froe fellow, girl, or Dare then reproach my Bess for Joe ; For he's the kiddy rum and queer, ' ^rave a„d cute That all St. Giles's boys do fear Recitative. With daylights flashing, Bess at length reply'd, eyes Must Joey proffer this, and be deny'd ? No, no, my Joe shall have his heart delight And we'll be wedded ere we dorse this night; sleep " Well lipp'd," quoth Joe, " no more you need to spoken [say"- " Gee-up ! gallows, do you want my sand to-day? " Air. money Joe sold his sand, and cly'd his cole, sir, pocketed his While Bess got a basket of rags. Then up to St. Giles's they roll'd, sir, To every bunter Bess brags: Then into a booze-ken they pike it, Where Bess was admitted we hear; For none of the coves dare but like it. As Joey, her kiddy, was there. go n Full of glee, until ten that they started, For supper Joe sent out a win; 5 66 THE SANDMAN'S WEDDING A hog's maw between them was parted, And after they sluic'd it with gin : It was on an old leather trunk, sir, The}' married were, never to part ; But Bessy, she being blind drunk, sir, Joe drove her away in his cart. THE HAPPY PAIR 67 THE HAPPY PAIR. [Notes] [1789] [By George Parker in Life's Painter 0/ Variegated Characters], Joe. Ye slang-boys all, since wedlock's nooze, Together fast has tied Moll Blabbermums and rowling Joe, Each other's joy and pride; Your broomsticks and tin kettles bring, [Notes] With cannisters and stones: Ye butchers bring your cleavers too, Likewise your marrow-bones; For ne'er a brace in marriage hitch'd. By no one can be found. That's half so blest as Joe and Moll, Search all St. Giles's round. Moll. Though fancy queer-gamm'd smutty Muns Was once my fav'rite man, Though rugged-muzzle tink'ring Tom For me left maw-mouth'd Nan: 68 THE HAPPY PAIR tramping; pick- Though padding Tack and diving Ned, pocket With blink-ey'd buzzing Sam, pickpocket paid for woman, girl jilted man ; woman whores spirit ; spend our guineas drink : food drinking-house Have made me drunk with hot, and stood The racket for a dram; Though Scamp the ballad-singing kid, Call'd me his darling frow, I've tip'd them all the double, for The sake of rowling Joe. Chorus. Therefore, in jolly chorus now, Let's chaunt it altogether, And let each cull's and doxy's heart Be lighter than a feather; And as the kelter runs quite flush. Like natty shining kiddies, To treat the coaxing, giggling brims, With spunk let's post our Jieddies; Then we'll all roll in bub and gnib, Till from this ken we go, Since rowling Joe's tuck'd up with Moll, And Moll's tuck'd up with Joe. THE BUNTER'S CHRISTENING 69 THE BUNTER'S CHRISTENING [1789] [Notes] [By George Parker in Lifers Painter of Variegated Characters\ Bess Tatter, of Hedge-lane, To ragman Joey's joy, The cull with whom she snooz'd Brought forth a chopping boy; Which was, as one might say. The moral of his dad, sir; And at the christ'ning oft, A merry bout they had, sir. For, when 'twas four weeks old, Long Ned, and dust-cart Chloe, To give the kid a name. Invited were by Joey; With whom came muzzy Tom, And sneaking Snip, the boozer, Bag-picking, blear-ey'd Ciss, And squinting Jack, the bruiser. muddled drunkard pugilist ;o THE BUNTER'S CHRISTENING III Likewise came bullying Sam, With cat's-and-dog's-meat Nelly, Young Smut, the chimney-sweep. And smiling snick-snack Willy; Peg Swig and Jenny Gog, harlots; thievish The brims, with birdlime fingers. Brought warbliiig, seedy Dick, The prince of ballad-singers. IV The guests now being met. The first thing that was done, sir, Was handling round the kid, That all might smack his muns, sir; drop of gin A jifi^fi qJ lightning next, gave; man; gggg ^Jp^- gjich Cull and frOW, sir, woman r^ ' ' Ere they to church did pad, To have it christen'd Joe, sir. kiss him woman •walk Away they then did trudge; But such a queer procession, Of seedy brims and kids, Is far beyond expression. THE BUNTER^S CHRISTENING 71 The christ'ning being o'er, They back again soon pik't it, To have a dish of lap, Prepar'd for those who lik't it. VI Bung all come back once more They slobber'd little Joey; Then, with some civil jaw, Part squatted, to drink bohea. And part swig'd barley swipes. As short-cut they were smoaking, While some their patter flash'd In gallows fun and joking. VII For supper, Joey stood, To treat these curious cronies; A bullock's melt, hog's maw Sheep's heads, and stale polonies: And then they swill'd gin-hot. Until blind drunk as Chloe, At twelve, all bundled from The christ'ning of young Joey. went tea kissed words drank beer tobacco talked screaming THE MASQUERADERS; [Notes] THE MAbQUERADERS: OR, THE WORLD AS IT WAGS [1789] [By George Parker in Lifers Painter of Variegated Characters]. money bribing Ye flats, sharps, and rum ones, who make up [this pother ; Who gape and stare, just Uke stuck pigs at [each other, As mirrors, wherein, at full length do appear, Your follies reflected so apish and queer Tol de rol, etc. II Attend while I sifigs, how, in ev'ry station. Masquerading is practised throughout ev'ry nation: Some mask for mere pleasure, but many we know, To lick in the rhino, false faces will show. Tol de rol, etc. Ill Twig counsellors jabb'ring 'bout justice and law. Cease greasing their fist and they'll soon cease [their jaw; OR, THE WORLD AS IT WAGS 73 And patriots, 'bout freedom will kick up a riot. Till their ends are all gain'd, and their jaws then [are quiet. Tol de rol, etc. Twig methodist phizzes, with mask sanctimonious, See Their rigs prove to judge that their phiz is methods [erroneous. Twig lank-jaws, the miser, that skin-flint old elf, From his long meagre phiz, who'd think he'd [the pelf. Tol de rol, etc. Twig levees, they're made upoftime-^rt'/'zw/^faces. With fawning and flatt'ring for int'rest and places ; And ladies appear too at court and elsewhere. In borrow'd complexions, false shapes, and false hair. Tol de rol, etc. VI Twig clergyman — but as there needs no more proof My chaunt I coitchides, and shall now pad the hoof; walk away So nobles and gents, lug your counterfeits out, I'll take brums or cut ones, and thank you to boot. Tol de rol, etc. 74 THE FLASH MAN OF ST. GILES [Notes] THE FLASH INI AN OF ST. GILES [b. 1790] [From The Busy Bee\. [Notes] walked victims stole handker chiefs ; pocket I was a flash man of St. Giles, And I fell in love with Nelly Stiles; And I padded the hoof for many miles To show the strength of my flame : In the Strand, and at the Admiralty^ She pick'd up the flats as they pass'd by, side And I mill'd their wipes from their side clye, And then sung fal de ral tit, tit fal de ral. Tit fal de ree, and then sung fal de ral tit! girl, whore talking noisily [Notes] The first time I saw the flaming mot, Was at the sign of the Porter Pot, I call'd for some purl, and we had it hot, With gin and bitters too ! We threw off our slang at high and low, And we were resolv'd to breed a row For we both got as drunk as David's sow, And then sung fal de ral tit, etc. THE FLASH MAN OF ST. GILES 75 III As we were roaring forth a catch, ('Twas twelve o'clock) we wak'd the watch, I at his jazy made a snatch, wig And try'd for to nab his rattle! steal But I miss'd my aim and down I fell. And then he charg'd both me and Nell, And bundled us both to St. Martin's cell Where we sung fal de ral tit, etc. IV We pass'd the night in love away, And 'fore justice H — we went next day, And because we could not three hog pay, shilling Why we were sent to quod ! prison In quod we lay three dismal weeks, Till Nell with crying swell'd her cheeks. And I damn'd the quorum all for sneaks And then sung fal de ral tit, etc. From Bridewell bars we now are free, And Nell and I so well agree. That we live in perfect harmony. And grub and bub our fill ! "-^t and drink For we have mill'd a precious go ™adc a rich haul And queer'd the flats at thrums, E, O, 70 THE FLASH MAN OF ST. GILES Every night in Titmouse Row, Where we sing fal de ral tit, etc. VI All you who live at your wit's end, Unto this maxim pray attend, Never despair to find a friend, While flats have bit aboard! For Nell and I now keep a gig, And look so grand, so flash and big, are up to every Wg roll in every knowing rig move While we sing fal de ral tit, etc. A LEARY MOT T] A LEARY MOT fNotes] \c. 1811J [A broadside ballad]. I Rum old Mog was a leary flash mot, and ^°'"^" °^ '^^'•1°' she was round and fat, With twangs in her shoes, a wheelbarrow too, and an oilskin round her hat; A blue bird's-eye o'er dairies fine — as she mizzled chief ^"[Notesi; through Temple Bar, papsjwent Of vich side of the way, I cannot say, but she boned it from a Tar — st°'^ Singing, tol-lol-lol-Kdo. II Now Moll's flash com-pan-ion was a Chick-lane sweetheart gill, and he garter'd below his knee, He had twice been pull'd, and nearly lagg'd, Sported but got off" by going to sea; With his pipe and quid, and chauuling voice, " Potatoes ! " he would cry ; For he valued neither cove nor swell, for he had wedge snug in his cly >^°"''y: i'"^'''"' Singing, tol-lol-lol-lido. 78 A LEARY MOT III [Notes] One night they went to a Cock-and-Hen Club, at the sign of the Mare and StalUon, But such a sight was never seen as Mog and her flash com-pan-ion ; kissed Her covey was an am'rous blade, and he burs'd young Bet on the sly, fist; straight to When Mog up with her daddle, bang-up to the rag-gatherer mark, and she black'd the Bunter's eye. Singing, tol-lol-lol-lido. Now this brought on a general fight, Lord, what great shindy a gallowS rOW— With whacks and thumps throughout the night, [Notes] till '■ drunk as David's sow" — fighting Milling up and down — with cut heads, and lots of broken ribs. But the lark being over — they ginned themselves at jolly Tom Cribb's. Singing, tol-lol-lol-lido. THE DEATH OF SOCRATES 79 "THE NIGHT BEFORE LARRY [Notes] WAS STRETCHED" [c. 1816J The night before Larry was stretch' d, The boys they all paid him a visit; A bit in their sacks, too, they fetch'd — They sweated their duds till they riz it; p;?,X1 '^''''' For Larry was always the lad. When a friend was condemn'd to the squeezer, gaiiows or rop But he'd pawn all the togs that he had, clothes Just to help the poor boy to a sneezer, drink And moisten his gob 'fore he died. II ' 'Pon my conscience, dear Larry', says I, ' I'm sorry to see you in trouble. And your life's cheerful noggin run dry, And yourself going off like its bubble ! ' ' Hould your tongue in that matter, ' says he ; 'For the neckcloth I don't care a button, ''^'ter And by this time to-morrow you'll see So THE DEATH OF SOCRATES Your Larry will be dead as mutton: All for what ? ' Kase his courage was [good ! ' III The boys they came crowding in fast; They drew their stools close round about him, candles Six glims round his coffin they placed — He couldn't be well waked without 'em, I ax'd if he was fit to die, Without having duly repented ? Says Larry, ' That's all in my eye, And all by the clargy invented. To make a fat bit for themselves. IV Then the cards being called for, they play'd, Till Larry found one of them cheated ; Quick he made a hard rap at his head — The lad being easily heated, 'So ye chates me bekase I'm in grief! O! is that, by the Holy, the rason? Soon I'll give you to know you d — d thief! Tliat you're cracking your jokes out of sason, And scuttle your nob with my fist'. Then in came the priest with his book He spoke him so smooth and so civil; THE DEATH OF SOCRATES 8i Larry tipp'd him a Kilmainham look, [Notes] And pitch'd his big wig to the devil. Then raising a little his head, To get a sweet drop of the bottle, And pitiful sighing he said, ' O ! the hemp will be soon round my throttle. And choke my poor windpipe to death ! ' So mournful these last words he spoke, We all vented our tears in a shower; For my part, I thought my heart broke To see him cut down like a flower! On his travels we watch'd him next day, O, the hangman I thought I could kill him ! Not one word did our poor Larry say. Nor chang'd till he came to King William ; [Notes] Och, my dear ! then his colour turned white. VII When he came to the nubbing-cheat, He was tack'd up so neat and so pretty ; The rumbler jugg'd off from his feet, cart And he died with his face to the city. He kick'd too, but that was all pride. For soon you might see 'twas all over; And as soon as the nooze was untied. Then at darkey we waked him in clover, "'g'lt And sent him to take a ground-sweat, buried him 6 82 THE SONG OF THE YOUNG PRIG [Notes] THE SONG OF THE YOUNG PRIG [c. 1819] [Notes] beggars hackno)'-coach pick a pocket; lay hold of notes or mone3' steal handker- chiefs dextrously steal a watch ; pocket the plun- der steal pocket- books. My mother she dwelt in Dyot's Isle, One of the canting crew, sirs; And if you'd know my father's style. He was the Lord-knows-who, sirs ! I first held horses in the street, But being found defaulter. Turned rumbler's flunkey for my meat, So was brought up to the halter. Frisk the cly, and fork the rag, Draw the fogies plummy, Speak to the rattles, bag the swag, And finely hunt the dummy. [Notes] an intended rob- ber5- My name they say is young Birdlime, My fingers are fish-hooks, sirs; And I my reading learnt betime. From studying pocket-books, sirs; I have a sweet eye for a plant, THE SONG OF THE YOUNG PRIG 83 And graceful as I amble, Finedraw a coat-tail sure I can't So kiddy is my famble. Chorus. Frisk the cly, etc. Ill A night bird oft I'm in the cage, But my rum-chants ne'er fail, sirs; The dubsman's senses to engage, While I tip him leg-bail, sirs; There's not, for picking, to be had, A lad so light and larky, The cleanest angler on the pad In daylight or the darkey. Chorus. Frisk the cly, etc. IV And though I don't work capital, And do not weigh my weight, sirs; Who knows but that in time I shall, For there's no queering fate, sirs. If I'm not lagged to Virgin-nee, I may a Tyburn show be. Perhaps a tip-top cracksman be. Or go on the high toby. Chorus. Frisk the cly, etc. skilful is my hand lock-up gaoler run away frolicsome expert pickpocket night [Notes] getting the better of transported [Notes] be hanged housebreaker become a high- wayman 84 THE MILLING-MATCH [Notes] THE MILLING-MATCH [1819] [By Thomas Moore in Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress: — '' Acconni of the Milling-match between Entellus and Dares, translated from the Fifth Book of the /Eneid by One of the Fancy "J. hands; head With daddles high upraised, and nob held back, In awful prescience of the impending thwack, ieiiows usually j^q^j^ kiddies stood— and with prelusive spar, young lellows ■• '■ And light manoeuvring, kindled up the war! The One, in bloom of youth— a light-weight [blade - The Other, vast, gigantic, as if made, pugilism Express, by Nature, for the hammering trade; But aged, slow, with stiff limbs, tottering much, And lungs, that lack'd the bellows-mender's touch. men Yet, sprightly to the scratch, both Buffers came, While ribbers rung from each resounding frame. And divers digs, and many a ponderous pelt, stomachs Were on their broad bread-baskets heard and felt. Willi roving aim, but aim that rarely miss'd ears and eyes Rouud lugs and ogles flcw the frequent fist; THE MILLING-MATCH 85 While showers of facers told so deadly well, That the crush'd jaw-bones crackled as they fell! But firmly stood Entellus— and still bright, Though bent by age, with all the Fancy's light, [Notes] Stopp'd with a skill, and rallied with a fire The immortal Fancy could alone inspire ! While Dares, shifting round, with looks of thought. An opening to the cove's huge carcass sought (Like General Preston, in that awful hour. When on one leg he hopp'd to — take the Tower!), And here, and there, explored with active fin. And skilful feint, some guardless pass to win, And prove a boring guest when once let in. And now Entellus, with an eye that plann'd Punishing deeds, high raised his heavy hand ; But ere the sledge came down, young Dares spied Its shadow o'er his brow, and slipped aside — So nimbly slipp'd, that the vain nobber pass'd Through empty air; and He, so high, so vast. Who dealt the stroke, came thundering to the [ground; — Not B— ck— gh — m himself, with balkier sound. Uprooted from the field of Whiggist glories. Fell souse, of late, among the astonish'd Tories! Instant the ring was broke, and shouts and yells From Trojan Flashmen and Sicilian Swells Fill'd the wide heaven— while, touch'd with grief [to see 86 THE MILLING-INIATCH friend ; frolic His jxill, well-knowii through many a lark and spree, heavily Tluis rumlv floor'd, the kind Ascestes ran, And pitying rais'd from earth the game old man. Uncow'd, undamaged to the sport he came. His limbs all muscle, and his soul all flame. fighting The memory of his milling glories past, The shame that aught but death should see him [grass'd. All fired the veteran's pluck — with fury flush'd, Full on his light-limb'd customer he rush'd, — dealing blows And hammering right and left, with ponderous [swing RufEan'd the reeling youngster round the ring — Nor rest, nor pause, nor breathing-time was given But, rapid as the rattling hail from heaven Beats on the house-top, showers of Randall's shot Around the Trojan's lugs fell peppering hot! 'Till now ^neas, fiU'd with anxious dread, Rush'd in between them, and, with words well- [bred, Preserved alike the peace and Dares' head. Both which the veteran much inclined to break — Then kindly thus the punish'd youth bespake : " Poor Johnny Raw ! what madness could impel So rum a Flat to face so prime a Swell ? See'st thou not, boy, the Fancy, heavenly maid. Herself descends to this great Hammerer's aid. And, singling him from all her flash adorers, THE MILLING-MATCH 87 Shines in his hits, and thunders in his floorers? Then, yield thee, youth, -nor such a spooney be, To think mere man can mill a Deity ! " Thus spoke the chief— and now, the scrimmage [o'er, His faithful pals the done-up Dares bore Back to his home, with tottering gams, sunk heart, And muns and noddle pink'd in every part. While from his gob the guggling claret gush'd blood And lots of grinders, from their sockets crush'd teeth Forth with the crimson tide in rattling fragments [rush'd ! 88 YA-HIP, MY HEARTIES! [Notes] YA-HIP, MY HEARTIES [1819] [From Moore's Tom Crib' s Memorial to Congress: — " Sung by Jack Holmes, the Coachman, at a late Masquerade in St Giles's, in the character of Lord C — st — e — on . . . This song which was written for him by Mr. Gregson, etc."]. drive a hackney- J fij-st was hired to pep a Hack coach -i o coach talk slang horses ; whip money drive They call " The Erin " sometime back, Where soon I learned to patter flash. To curb the tits, and tip the lash — Which pleased the Master of The Crown So much, he had me up to town, And gave me lots of quids a year. To tool " The Constitutions " here. So, ya-hip, hearties, here am I That drive the Constitution Fly. II Some wonder how the Fly holds out, So rotten 'tis, within, without; YA-HIP, MY HEARTIES! 89 So loaded too, through thick and thin, And with such heavy creturs in. But, Lord, 't will last our time— or if The wheels should, now and then, get stiff. Oil of Palm's the thing that, flowing, money. Sets the naves and felloes going. So ya-hip, Hearties! etc. Ill Some wonder, too, the tits that pull This rum concern along, so full. Should never back or bolt, or kick The load and driver to Old Nick. But, never fear, the breed, though British, Is now no longer game or skittish; Except sometimes about their corn, Tamer Houghnhums ne'er were born. [Notes] So, ya-hip. Hearties, etc. IV And then so sociably we ride ! — While some have places, snug, inside, Some hoping to be there anon. Through many a dirty road hang on. And when we reach a filthy spot (Plenty of which there are, God wot). You'd laugh to see with what an air We take the spatter — each his share. So, ya-hip. Hearties, etc. 90 SONNETS FOR THE FANCY [Notes] SONNETS FOR THE FANCY: After the Manner of Petrarch [c. 1824] [From Bo.xiana, iii. 621. 622]. Education. A link-boy once, Dick Hellfinch stood the grin, At Charing Cross he long his toil apply'd; penny "Here light, here light! your honours for a win," man; woman To every cull and drab he loudly cried. In Leicester Fields, as most the story know, half-penny " Come black your worship for a single mag," spent the money And while he shin'd his Nelly suck'd the bag, made a lot of And thus they sometimes stagg'd a precious go. In Smithfield, too, where graziers' flats resort, He loiter'd there to take in men of cash, With cards and dice was up to ev'ry sport. And at Saltpetre Bank would cut a dash ; cute fellow A very knowing rig in ev'ry gang, [i.e. fraternity] Dick Hcllfinch was the pick of all the slang. Progress. His Nell sat on Newgate steps, and scratch'd [her poll. Her eyes suffus'd with tears, and bung'd [with gin ; SONNETS FOR THE FANCY 91 The Session's sentence wrung her to the soul, Nor could she lounge the gag to shule a win ; The knowing bench had tipp'd her buzer queer, sentenced the For Dick had beat the hoof upon the pad, Of Field, or Chick-lane — was the boldest lad That ever mill'd the cly, or roll'd the leer. picked pockets And with Nell he kept a lock, to fence, and tuz. And while his flaming mot was on the lay, With rolling kiddies, Dick would dive and buz, And cracking kens concluded ev'ry day; burgling But fortune fickle, ever on the wheel, Turn'd up a rubber, for these smarts to feel. Triumph. Both'ring the flats assembled round the quod, goal The queerum queerly smear'd with dirty black ; gallows The dolman sounding, while the sheriff's nod, Prepare the switcher to dead book the whack, While in a rattle sit two blowens flash, coach; women Salt tears fast streaming from each bungy eye; To nail the ticker, or to mill the cly steal a watch ; •^ pick a pocket Through thick and thin their busy muzzlers splash, The mots lament for Tyburn's merry roam, That bubbl'd prigs miist at the New Drop fall, Newgate And from the start the scamps are cropp'd at [home; All in the sheriff" 's picture frame the call hangman's noose Exalted high, Dick parted with his flame. And all his comrades swore that he dy'd game. 92 THE TRUE BOTTOM'D BOXER [Notes] THE TRUE BOTTO M'D BOXER [1825] [By J. Jones in Universal Sof/gster, ii. 96]. Air: "Oh! nothing in life can sadden ns.'^ [Notes] Spring's the boy for a Moulsey-Hurst rig, my lads, Shaking a flipper, and milhng a pate; Fibbing a nob is most excellent gig, my lads, Kneading the dough is a turn-out in state. Tapping the claret to him is delighting, Belly-go-firsters and chcks of the gob ; For where are such joys to be found as in fighting. And measurnig mugs for a chancery job: With flipping and milling, and fobbing and nob- [bing, With belly-go-firsters and kneading the dough. With tapping of claret, and clipping and gobbing. Say just what you please, you must own he's the go. II Spring's the boy for flooring and flushing it. Hitting and stopping, advance and retreat, THE TRUE BOTTOM'D BOXER 93 For taking and giving, for sparring and rushing it, And will ne'er say enough, till he's down right [dead beat; No crossing for him, true courage and bottom all, You'll find him a rum un, try on if you can; You shy-cocks, he shows 'em no favour, 'od rot ['em all. When he fights he trys to accomplish his man ; With giving and taking, and flooring and flushing. With hitting and stopping, huzza to the ring. With chancery suiting, and sparring and rushing. He's the champion of fame, and of manhood [the spring. Ill Spring's the boy for rum going and coming it. Smashing and dashing, and tipping it prime, Eastward and westward, and sometimes back- [slumming it, He's for the scratch, and come up too in time; For the victualling-office no favor he'll ask it. For smeller and ogles he feels just the same; At the pipkin to point, or upset the bread-basket, He's always in twig, ami bang-up for the game ; With going and tipping, and priming and timing 'Tii! groggy and queery, straight-forwards the rig; With ogles and smellers, no loping and chiming, You'll own he's the bov that is always in twig. 94 BOBBY AND HIS MARY [Notes] BOBBY AND HIS MARY [1826] [From Universal Sojigster, iii. 108J. Tune — Didce Domum. I [Notes]; ale-house In Dyot-strect a booze-ken stood, Oft sought by foot-pads weary, And long had been the blest abode Of Bobby, and his Mary, walk around Fot hcr hc'd nightly pad the hoof, rob passers-by And gravel tax collect For her he never shammed the suite, police Though traps tried to detect him ; When darkey came he sought his home girl While she, distracted blowen She hailed his sight, And, ev'ry night The booze-ken rung As they sung, O, Bobby and his Mary. II But soon this scene of cozey fuss Was changed to prospects queering BOBBY AND HIS MARY 95 The blunt ran shy, and Bobby brush'd, To get more rag not fearing; To IsHngton he quickly hied, A traveller there he dropped on; The traps were fly, his rig they spied And ruffles soon they popped on. When evening came, he sought not home, While she, poor stupid woman, Got lushed that night. Oh, saw his sprite. Then heard the knell That bids farewell! Then heard the knell Of St. Pulchre's bell ! Now he dangles on the Common. money ; went off notes or gold object handcuffs drunk [Notes] 96 FLASHEY JOE [Notes] FLASHEY JOE [1826] [By R. MoRLEY in Universal Songster, ii. 194]. As Flashey Joe one day did pass Through London streets, so jolly, A crying fish, he spied a lass 'Twas Tothill's pride, sweet Molly! mouth ; silk hand- j^e wip'd his muo; with bird's-eye blue kerchief [Notes] r & i-iss He cried, — " Come, buss your own dear Joe "; She turned aside, alas! 'tis true And bawled out—" Here's live mackerel, O ! Four a shilling, mackerel, O ! All alive, O! New mackerel, O." Says I, — "Miss Moll, don't tip this gam, You knows as how it will not do ; For you I milled flash Dustman Sam Who made your peepers black and blue. Vhv, then you swore you would be kind acted strangely But you havc quecr'd so much of late, talk like that fought eyes FLASHEY JOE 97 And always changing like the wind, So now I'll brush and sell my skate." be off Buy my skate, etc. Ill She blubb'd— " Now, Joe, vhy treat me ill? You know I love you as my life! When I forsook both Sam and Will, And promised to become your wife, You moiled it up with Brick-dust Sail took as a mistress And went to live with her in quod ! gaol So I'll pike off with my mack'ral walk And you may bolt with your salt cod." Here's mack'rel, etc. IV I could not part with her, d'ye see So I tells Moll to stop her snivel ; crying "Your panting bubs and glist'ning eye raps Just make me love you like the divil." "Vhy, then," says she, "come tip's your dad, shake hands And let us take a drap of gin, And may I choke with hard-roed shad If I forsake my Joe Herring." Four a shilling, etc. 98 UY MUGGING MAID [Notes] [Notes] tongue speech drink mouth MY MUGGING MAID [1826] [By James Bruton. Unive?sa/ Songs/er, iii. 103]. I Why lie ye in that ditch, so snug, With s — and filth bewrayed With hair all dangling down thy lug My mugging maid? II Say, mugging IMoll, why that red-rag Which oft hath me dismayed, Why is it now so mute in mag. My mugging maid ? Ill Why steals the booze down through thy snout, With mulberry's blue arrayed, And why from throat steals hiccough out My mugging maid? IV Why is thy mug so wan and blue. In mud and muck you're laid; MY MUGGING MAID 99 Say, what's the matter now with you My mugging maid ? The flask that in her fam appeared hand The snore her conk betrayed, nose Told me, that Hodge's max had queered [Notes]; got the better oi My mugging maid. 100 POOR LUDDY INotes] POOR LUDDY [b. 1826] [By T. DiBDiN. Universal Songster, Vol. iiij. As I was walking down the Strand, Luddy, Luddy, Ah, poor Luddy, L O. As I was walking down the Strand, police ; arrested The traps they nabbed me out of hand Luddy, Luddy, Ah, poor Luddy, I. O. As I was walking, etc. Said I, kind justice, pardon me, Luddy, Luddy, Ah, poor Luddy, L O. Said I, kind justice, pardon me. Or Botany-Bay I soon shall see Luddy, Luddy, Ah, poor Luddy, L O. Said I, kind justice, etc. Sessions and 'sizes are drawing nigh, Luddy, Luddy, Ah, poor Luddy, I. O. POOR LUDDY loi Sessions and 'sizes are drawing nigh, I'd rather you was hung than I. Luddy, Luddy, Ah, poor Luddy, I. O. Sessions and 'sizes, etc. M &w s ^m LIBRARY UNTVERRTTY OF TATTV^ S^NTA ^<"' 102 THE PICKPOCKET'S CHAUNT [Notes] THE PICKPOCKET'S CHAUNT [1829] [By W. Maginn: being a translation of Vidocq's song, " En roulant de vergne en vergne "]. shop ; house thieving girl, strumpet, sweetheart 'cute in business As from ken to ken I was going, Doing a bit on the prigging lay, Who should I meet but a jolly blowen, Tol lol, lol lol, tol dirol lay; Who should I meet but a jolly blowen, Who was fly to the time of day. spoke in slang drink and food II Who should I meet but a jolly blowen, Who was fly to the time of day, I pattered in flash like a covey knowing, Tol, lol, etc. ' Ay, bub or grubby, I say ? ' III I pattered in flash like a covey knowing, 'Ay, bub or grubby, I say?' THE PICKPOCKET'S CHAUNT 103 * Lots of gatter,' says she, is flowing Tol lol, etc. Lend me a lift in the family way. IV Lots of gatter, says she, is flowing Lend me a lift in the family way. You may have a crib to stow in. Tol lol, etc. Welcome, my pal, as the flowers in May. porter, beer [family = frater- nity of thieves] You may have a crib to stow in, Welcome, my pal, as the flowers in May. To her ken at once I go in Tol lol, etc. Where in a corner out of the way, VI To her ken at once I go in. Where in a corner out of the way With his smeller a trumpet blowing Tol lol, etc. A regular swell cove lushy lay. VII With his smeller a trumpet blowing A regular swell cove lusliy lay, gentleman; drunk 104 THE nCKPOCKET'S CHAUNT pockets; fingers To his clics my hooks I throw in Tol lol, etc. take his sover- ji^^(\ coUar his dragons clear away. cigns ° ■' vni To his dies my hooks I throw in, And collar his dragons clear away ^atch Then his ticker I set agoing, Tol lol, etc. seals And his onions, chain, and key. IX Then his ticker I set a going And his onions, chain, and key Next slipt off his bottom clo'ing, Tol lol, etc. hai And his ginger head topper gay. Next slipt off his bottom clo'ing And his ginger head topper gay. clothes Then his other toggery stowing, Tol lol, etc. plunder All with the swag I sneak away. XI Then his other toggery stowing All with the swag I sneak away. THE PICKPOCKET'S CHAUNT 105 Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen, Tol lol, etc. Or be grabbed by the beaks we may. taken ; police XII Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen Or be grabbed by the beaks we may. And we shall caper a-heel and toeing, Tol lol, etc. A Newgate hornpipe some fine day. hanging XIII And we shall caper a-heel and toeing * A Newgate hornpipe some fine day With the mots their ogles throwing girl's; eyes Tol lol, etc. And old Cotton humming his pray. [Notes] XIV With the mots their ogles throwing And old Cotton humming his pray, And the fogle hunters doing Tol lol, etc. Their morning fake in the prigging lay. io6 ON THE PRIGGING LAY [Notes] ON THE PRIGGING LAY [1829] pickpockets thieving game ; thieves' rendez- vous drinking gin ; porter evening ; sun pocket-books ; watches hand- kerchiels; money [By H. T. R . . . . : a translation of a French Slang song (" Un jour a la Croix Rouge ") in Vidocq's Metnoirs, 1828-9, 4 vols.J. Ten or a dozen " cocks of the game," On the prigging lay to the flash-house came, Lushing blue ruin and heavy wet Till the darkey, when the downy set. All toddled and begun the hunt For readers, tattlers, fogies, or blunt. II plunder police run; before they see you Whatever swag we chance for to get. All is fish that comes to net: Mind your eye, and draw the yokel. Don't disturb or use the folk ill. Keep a look out, if the beaks are nigh, And cut your stick, before they're fly. ON THE PRIGGING LAY 107 III As I vas a crossing St James's Park I met a swell, a well-togg'd spark. well- dressed I stops a bit : then toddled quicker, For I'd prigged his reader, drawn his ticker; ^'b°ook ''anrwatch Then he calls — Stop thief! " thinks I, my master. That's a hint to me to mizzle faster. run IV When twelve bells chimed, the prigs returned, thieves And rapped at the ken of Uncle : " Uncle, open the door of your crib If you'd share the swag, or have one dib. Quickly draw the bolt of your ken, Or we'll not shell out a mag, old ." house plunder ; coin give you a half- penny pickpockets ; burglars of our band Then says Uncle, says he, to his blowen, woman "D'ye twig these coves, my mot so knowing? '',"055; ' Are they out-and-outers, dearie ? safe to trust Are they fogle-hunters, or cracksmen leary? Are they coves of the ken, d'ye know? Shall I let 'em in, or tell 'em to go?" VI " Oh ! I knows 'em now ; hand over my breeches— I always look out for business— vich is io8 ON THE PRIGGING LAY A reason vy a man should rouse At any hour for the good of his house, a chcco- greeting The top o' thc moming, gemmen all, And for vot you vants, I begs you'll call." police saw us going dandy robbed of the plunder police and magis- trates transported VII But now the beaks are on the scene, And watched by moonlight where we went ; — Stagged us a toddling into the ken, And were down upon us all; and then Who should I spy but the slap-up spark What I eased of the swag in St James's Park. VIII There's a time, says King Sol, to dance and [sing; I know there's a time for another thing: There's a time to pipe, and a time to snivel — I wish all Charlies and beaks at the divel : For they grabbed me on the prigging lay, And I know I'm booked for Bot'ny Bay. THE LAG'S LAMENT 109 THE LAG'S LAMENT [1829] [Notes] [By H. T. R. in Vidocqs Memoirs, YoWll. 169]. Happy the days when I vorked away, In my usual hne in the prigging lay, Making from this, and that, and t'other, A tidy living without any bother: When my little crib was stored with swag, And my cly vas a veil-lined money bag, Jolly vas I, for I feared no evil. Funked at naught, and pitched care to the devil. picking pockets plunder pocket I had, beside my blunt, my blowen, •"""«)- ""^"-"^ 'So gay, so nutty and so knowing' [Notes] On the wery best of grub we lived, food And sixpence a quartern for gin I gived; My toggs was the sportingst blunt could buy, clothes ; money And a slap-up out-and-outer was L Vith my mot on my arm, and my tile on ijiy head, hat 'That ere's a gemman' every von said. no THE LAG'S LAMENT III A-coming avay from Wauxhall von night, drunken I cleared out a muzzy cove quite ; He'd been a strutting avay like a king, And on his digit he sported a ring, A di'mond sparkler, flash and knowing, Thiiiks I, I'll vatch the vay he's going, And fleece my gemman neat and clever, So, at least I'll try my best endeavour. IV A'ter, the singing and fire-vorks vas ended, I follows my gemman the vay he tended In a dark corner I trips up his heels, Took' ^°'^^*' Then for his tattler and reader I feels, pockets his money I pouches his bluut, and I draws his ring, Prigged his buckles and every thing, And saying, " I thinks as you can't follow, man," ran off I pikes me off" to Ikey Soloman. Then it happened, d'ye see, that my mot, Yellow a-bit about the swag: that I'd o-ot, Thinking that I should jeer and laugh, indulge in banter Although I never tips no chaff" Tries her hand at the downy trick, And prigs in a shop, but precious quick THE LAG'S LAMENT iii " Stop thief ! " was the cry, and she vas taken I cuts and runs and saves ray bacon. VI "Then," says he, says Sir Richard Birnie, [Notes] " I adwise you to nose on your pals, and turn the inform Snitch on the gang, that'll be the best vay betray To save your scrag." Then, without delay, "eck He so prewailed on the treach'rous varmint That she was noodled by the Bow St. sarmint persuaded Then the beaks they grabbed me, and to prison police ; arrested [I vas dragged And for fourteen years of my life I vas lagged, transported VII My mot must now be growing old. And so am I if the truth be told; But the only vay to get on in the vorld. Is to go with the stream, and however ve're To bear all rubs; and ven ve suffer [twirld. To hope for the smooth ven ve feels the rougher, Though very hard, I confess it appears. To be lagged, for a lark, for fourteen years. 112 NIX MY DOLL, PALS, FAKE AWAY INotes] "NIX MY DOLL, PALS, FAKE AWAY" [1834] [By W. Harrison Ainsworth, being Jerry Juni- per's chaunt in Rookwood\ cell ; Newgate jj^ ^ box of the stonc jug I was bom, woman whose husband has Qf a hempen widow the kid forlorn, been hanged ; child Fake awa^' ! work away ! And my father, as I've heard sa}% Fake away ! dancing master Was a merchant of capers gay. Who cut his last fling with great applause, never mind, ]sjix my doll, pals, fake away ! hanging To the time of hearty choke with caper sauce. Fake away ! thieves; prison The knucks in quod did my schoolmen play, Fake away ! taught me thiev- And put me up to the time of day, Until at last there was none so knowing, shoplifter; pick- jnJq such sneaksmau or buzdoak goino^ pocket =' 00' Fake away ! silk handker- Fosflcs and fawnies soon went their way, chiefs ; rings ° Fake away ! NIX MY DOLL, PALS, FAKE AWAY 113 To the spout with the sneezers in grand array, No dummy hunter had forks so fly. No knuckler so deftly, could fake a cly. Fake away ! No slourd hoxter my snipes could stay, Fake away ! None knap a reader like me in the lay. Soon then I mounted in swell street-high, Nix my doll, pals, fake away ! Soon then I mounted in swell street-high. And sported my flashest toggery, Fake away! Fainly resolved I would make my hay. Fake away ! While Mercury's star shed a single ray; And ne'er was there seen such a dashing prig, With my strummel faked in the newest twig, Fake away ! With my fawnied famms and my onions gay, Fake away ! My thimble of ridge and my driz kemesa, All my togs were so niblike and plash. Readily the queer screens I then could smash. Fake away ! But my nuttiest blowen one fine day, Fake away ! To the beaks did her fancy-man betray, Aud thus was I bowled at last, pawnbrokers ; snuffboxes pocket-book; nimble fingers pickpocket: steal inside pocket but- toned up steal a pocket- book best made clothes hair dressed ; fashion hands bejewelled ; seals gold watch ; lace- frilled shirt clothes; fashion- able ; fine forged notes ; pass favorite girl magistrates; sweetheart 114 NIX MY DOLL, PALS, FAKE AWAY And into the jug for a lag was cast, Fake away ! handcufe But I slipped my darbies one morn in May, warder And gavc to the dubsman a holiday. And here I am, pals, merry and free, gj-psy A regular rollicking romany. THE GAME OF HIGH TOBY 115 THE GAME OF HIGH TOBY [1834] [Notes] [By W. Harrison Ainsworth in Rookwood]. Now Oliver puts his black night-cap on, the moon And every star its glim is hiding, light And forth to the heath is the scampsman gone, highwayman His matchless cherry-black prancer riding ; black horse Merrily over the Common he flies, Fast and free as the rush of rocket. His crape-covered vizard drawn over his eyes. His tol by his side and his pops in his pocket, sword; pistols Chonis. Then who can name So merry a game. As the game of all games— high-toby ? high-way robbery The traveller hears him, away! away! Over the wide, wide heath he scurries; He heeds not the thunderbolt summons to stay. But ever the faster and faster he hurries. ii6 THE GAME OF HIGH TOBY fleet horec ; horse But what daisy-cuttcr can match that black tit? He is caught— he must 'stand and deUver'; pocket book Then out with the dummy, and off with the bit, Oh ! the game of high-toby for ever ! Chorus. Then who can name So merry a game As the game of all games— high-toby ? Ill Believe me, there is not a game, my brave boys, To compare with the game of high-toby; highwayman No rapture Can equal the tobyman's jo}'s, bullets To blue devils, blue plumbs give the go-by; gallows And what if, at length, boys, he come to the crap ! Even rack punch has some bitter in it, gallows For the mare-with-three-legs, boys, I care not [a rap, 'Twill be over in less than a minute ! Chorus. Then hip, hurrah ! Fling care away ! Hurrah for the game of high-toby I THE DOUBLE CROSS 117 THE DOUBLE CROSS • [i«34] [Notes 1 [By W. Harrison Ainsworth, in Roohvood]. I Though all of us have heard of crost fights, And certain gains, by certain lost fights; I rather fancies that its news, How in a mill, both men should lose; For vere the odds are thus made even. It plays the dickens with the steven: Besides, against all rule they're sinning, Vere neither has no chance of vinning. Ri, tol, lol, etc. II Two milling coves, each vide awake, Vere backed to fight for heavy stake; But in the mean time, so it vos. Both kids agreed to play a cross; Bold came each buffer to the scratch. To make it look a tightish match; They peeled in style, and bets were making. fight money stripped ii8 THE DOUBLE CROSS 'Tvos six to four, but few were taking. Ri, tol, lol, etc. in Quite cautiously the mill began, For neither knew the other's plan : fellow Each cull completely in the dark, Of vot might be his neighbour's mark; [Notes] Resolved his fibbing not to mind, Nor yet to pay him back in kind; So on each other kept they tout, And spaiTed a bit, and dodged about. Ri, tol, lol, etc. IV hands '^'ith mawleys raised, Turn bent his back. As if to place a heavy thwack; Vile Jem, with neat left handed stopper. Straight threatened Tommy with a topper; blood 'Tis all my eye! no claret flows. No facers sound — no smashing blows, Five minutes pass, yet not a hit, How can it end, pals ?— vait a bit. Ri, tol, lol, etc. Each cove vos teared witli double duty, deceive them To plcasc his backers, yet play booty. THE DOUBLE CROSS 119 Ven, luckily for Jem, a teller Vos planted right upon his smeller Down dropped he, stunned ; ven time was called Seconds in vain the seconds bawled; The mill is o'er, the crosser crost, The losers von, the vinners lost. I20 THE THIEVES' CHAUNT [Notes] public house pipe ; smoke paid a shilling THE THIEVES' CHAUNT [i83t)] (By W. H. Smith in The Indhnduaf]. I There is a nook in the boozing ken, Where many a mug I fog, And the smoke curls gently, while cousin Ben Keeps filling the pots again and again, If the coves have stump'd their hog. The liquors around are diamond bright, gin And the diddle is best of all; But I never in liquors took delight, humbug For liquors I think is all a bite, porter So for heavy wet I call. Ill The heavy wet in a pewter quart, As brown as a badger's hue, sherry Morc than Bristol milk or gin, Brandy or rum, I tipple in, mistress With my darling blowen, Sue. THE THIEVES' CHAUNT IV Oh ! grunting peck in its eating pork Is a richly soft and savoury thing; A Norfolk capon is jolly grub red-herring When you wash it down with strength of bub : lots of beer But dearer to me Sue's kisses far, Than grunting peck or other grub are, And I never funks the lambskin men, judges When I sits with her in the boozing ken. Her duds are bob— she's a kinchin crack, And I hopes as how she'll never back; For she never lushes dog's-soup or lap, But she loves my cousin the bluffer's tap. She's wide-awake, and her prating cheat, For humming a cove was never beat; But because she lately nimm'd some tin. They have sent her to lodge at the King's Head Inn. Newgate [Notes] clothes ; neat; fine young woman drinks water or tea inn-keeper tongue fooling a man stole ; money 122 THE HOUSE BREAKER'S SONG [Notes] THE HOUSE BREAKER'S SONG [c. 1838] [By G. W. M. Reynolds in Pickwick Abfoacr\. police spy; share of the booty house was burgled gentlemanly police-oflScers Old Bailey plea- ders prison gunpowder, hand dextrous at thieving thieves double-barrelled gun I ne'er was a nose, for the reg'lars came Whenever a pannie was done: — Oh! who would chirp to dishonour his name, And betrays his pals in a nibsome game To the traps?— Not I for one! Let nobs in the fur trade hold their jaw, And let the jug be free : — Let Davy's dust and a well-faked claw For fancy coves be the only law, And a double-tongued squib to keep in awe The chaps that flout at me! II drink freely From morn till night we'll booze a ken, brandy And we'll pass the bingo round; depart At dusk We'll make our lucky, and then, With our nags so fresh, and our merr}- men. We'll scour the lonely ground. And if the swell resist our " Stand ! " THE HOUSE BREAKER'S SONG 12 We'll squib without a joke; For I'm snigger'd if we will be trepanned By the blarneying jaw of a knowing hand, And thus be lagged to a foreign land, Or die by an artichoke. Ill But should the traps be on the sly. For a change we'll have a crack ; The richest cribs shall our wants supply — Or we'll knap a fogle with fingers fly, When the swell one turns his back. The flimsies we can smash as well. Or a ticker deftly prig: — But if ever a pal in limbo fell. He'd sooner be scragg'd at once than tell; Though the hum-box patterer talked of hell, And the beak wore his nattiest wig. fire transported hanging [hearty choke] burglary houses steal ; handker- chief skilfu! pass false notes watch prison hanged parson magistrate ; hand soraest 1-4 THE FAKING BOY [Xotes] "THE FAKING BOY TO THE CRAP IS GONE " [1841] [By Bon Gaultier in Tail's Edinbtirgh Magazine]. pickpocket ; gal- lows gallows blast ray ej-es ! The faking boy to the crap is gone, At the nubbing-cheat you'll find him; The hempen cord they have girded on, And his elbows pinned behind him. " Smash my glim," cries the reg'lar card, " Though the girl you love betrays you. Don't split, but die both game and hard. And grateful pals shall praise you." II The bolt it fell, — a jerk, a strain ! The sheriff's fled asunder; The faking-boy ne'er spoke again, For they pulled his legs from under. And there he dangles on the tree, That sort of love and bravery ! Oh, that such men should victims be Of law, and law's vile knavery. THE NUTTY BLOWEN 125 THE NUTTY BLOWEN ^Notes] [1841] [By Bon Gaultier in laifs Edinburgh Magazine]. I She wore a rouge like roses, the night when first we met, Her lovely mug was smiling o'er mugs of heavy face; wet ; porter Her red lips had the fullness, her voice the husky tone, That told her drink was of a kind where water is unknown. I saw her but a moment, yet methinks I see her now. With the bloom of borrowed flowers upon her cheek and brow. II A pair of iron darbies, when next we met, iia>uicufls she wore. The expression of her features was more thoughtful than before ; And, standing by her side, was he who strove with might and main 126 THE NUTTY BLOWEN To soothe her leaving that dear land she ne'er might see again. I saw her but a moment, yet methinks I see her now, As she dropped the judge a curtsey, and he made her a bow. Ill And once again I see that brow no idle rouge is there, gaoler's The dubsman's ruthless hand has cropped her once luxurious hair; She teases hemp in solitude, and there is no one near. To press her hand within his own, and call for ginger-beer. I saw her but a moment, yet methinks I see her now, With the card and heckle in her hand, a-teas- ino; of that tow. THE FAKER'S NEW TOAST 127 THE FAKER'S NEW TOAST [Notes] [1841J [By Bon Gaultier ("Nimming Ned") in TaWs Edinburgh Magazine] I Come, all ye jolly covies, vot faking do admire, fellows; stealing And pledge them British authors who to our line aspire ; Who, if they were not gemmen born, like us had kicked at trade. And every one had turned him out a genuine fancy blade, pickpocket And a trumn. 'Tis them's the boys as knows the vorld, 'tis them as knows mankind, And vould have picked his pocket too, if Fortune (vot is blind) Had not to spite their genius, stuck them in a false position, Vere they can only write about, not execute their mission. Like a trump. 128 THE FAKER'S NEW TOAST III If they goes on as they're begun, things soon will come about, And ve shall be the upper class, and turn the others out; Their laws ve'll execute ourselves, and raise their hevelation, That's tit for tat, for they'd make that the only recreation Of a trump. IV But ketch us! only vait a bit, and ve shall be their betters; For vitch our varmest thanks is due unto the men of letters, Who, good 'uns all, have showed us up in our own proper light, steal And proved ve prigs for glory, and all becos it's right In a trump. 'Tis ve as sets the fashion : Jack Sheppard is fashion the go And every word of 'Nix my dolls' the finest ladies know : THE FAKER'S NEW TOAST 129 And ven a man his vortin'd make, vy, vot d'ye think's his vay? He does vot ve vere used to do— he goes to Botany Bay [Notes] Like a trump. VI Then fill your glasses, dolly palls, vy should they be neglected. As does their best to helewate the line as ve's selected ? To them as makes the Crackman's life, the burglar's subject of their story, To Ainsworth, and to Bullvig, and to Reynolds [Notes] be the glory. Jolly trumps. i-.o MY MOTHER [Notes] MY MOTHER [1841] [By Bon Gaultier in Tali's Edinhtirgh Magazine]. I Who, when a baby, lank and thin, I called for pap and made a din. Lulled me with draughts of British gin ? — My mother. II When I've been out upon the spree, And not come home till two or three. Who was it then would wallop me ? — My mother. Ill well-dressed man Who, when she met a heavy swell, handkerchief Would ease him of his wipe so well, And kiss me not to go and tell ? — My mother. IV Who took me from my infant play. And taught me how to fake away. MY MOTHER 131 And put me up to the time of day? — made me cunning My mother. Who'd watch me sleeping in my chair, And sHly to my fob repair, And leave me not a mopus there ? — My mother. VI Who, as beneath her care I grew. Taught my young mind a thing or two, Especially the flats to do? — My mother. VII I'm blessed if ever I did see. So regular a trump as she: I own my virtues all to thee,- My mother. VIII So hand, my pals, the drink about. My story and my glass are out, A bumper, boys, and with me shout — My mother. pocket penny stupid ones 132 THE HIGH-PADS FROLIC [Notes] THE HIGH-PADS FROLIC [1841] [Bv Leman Rede, being Kit's and Adelgitha's Duet in Sixteeii String Jack\. clothes horses Ade. Kit. Ade. Kit. Both. Crissy odsbuds, I'll on with my duds, And over the water we'll flare ; Coaches and prads, lasses and lads, And fiddlers will be there. There beauty blushes bright. The punch is hot and strong, lAnd there we'll whisk it, frisk it, whisk it, / Skip it, and trip it along ! n Ade. There's Charley Rattan, and natty Jack And giant-like Giles McGhee; [Rami, There's Sidle so slim, and flare-awav Tim, And all of them doat on me. Kit. Hadelgitha — platonically, Christopher! Ade. But Charley, and Jack, and Tim, In vain mav exert their wit. THE HIGH-PADS FROLIC 133 For still I'll dance it, prance it, dance it, Flaring away with Kit ! II Kit. There's frollicking Kate, and rolUcking Bet, And slammerkin Sail so tall, And leary-eyed Poll, and blue-eyed Moll — Blow me, I love them all ! Christopher— platonically, Hadelgitha ! But Winny, not Jenny, nor Sue, Shall wean this heart from thee — So thus I'll trip it, lip it, trip it, Trip it with Hadelgitha! IV Kit. The morning may dawn as sure as you're Ade. Will find us dancing alone [born. Kit. I'll get a hack, be oft' in a crack, Ade. An elegant Darby and Joan! How'll the vulgarians stare As they see you sportingly ! !For none can splash it, dash it, splash it, Crissy i ,. , . ^ . \ httle you and 1. Addy ) 134 THE DASHY, SPLASHY [Notes] THE DASHY, SPLASHY.... LITTLE STRINGER [1841] [By Leman Rede, being Kit's Song in Si.xleen- Striiig Jack], A cloudy night, and pretty hard it blow'd, spirited horse The dashy, splashy, leary little stringer, Mounted his roan, and took the road — Phililoo ! " My Lord Cashall's on the road to-night, Down with the lads, make my lord alight — Ran dan row de dow, on we go ! " Chorus. — Ran, dan, etc. ir " You horrid wretch," said my Lord to Rann — The dashy, splashy, leary little stringer — "How dare you rob a gentleman?" Phililoo ! wink Says Jack, says he, with his knowing phiz, " I ain't very pertic'lar who it is ! Ran dan row de dow, on we go ! " Chorus. — Ran, dan, etc. LITTLE STRINGER 135 III Ve collar'd the blunt, started off for town, money With the dashy, splashy, leary little stringer, Horses knock'd up, men knock'd down — Phililoo ! A lady's carriage we next espied, I collar'd the blunt, Jack jumped inside, Ran dan row de dow, on we go! Chorus. — Ran, dan, etc. IV Jack took off his hat, with a jaunty air — The dashy, splashy, leary little stringer — And he kiss'd the lips of the lady fair — Phililoo 1 She sigh'd a sigh, and her looks said plain, I don't care much if I'm robb'd again! Ran dan row de dow, on we go ! Chorus.— KdiW, dan, etc. 136 THE BOULD YEOMAN Kotes] THE BOULD YEOMAN [1842] [By Pierce Egan in Captain Macheaih], I teii;iiighwajTnan A chant I'll tip to you about a High-pad pal so down, pistols: horse With his pops, and high-bred prad which brought to him renown; On the road he cut a dash, to him 'twas delight ! men And if cuUs would not surrender, he shewed the kiddies fight ! With his pops so bright and airy, And his prad just like a fairy, steal He went out to nab the gold ! Derry down, down, derry down, He met a bould yeoman, and bid him for to stand; " If I do, I'm damn'd ! " said he, " although you cut it grand. I'm an old English farmer, and do not me provoke l\e a cudgel, look ye here, it's a prime tough bit of oak! THE BOULD YEOMAN 137 And I'll give you some gravy, beating Of that I'll take my davy, oath If you try to prig my gold steal Derry down. Ill Then the High-toby gloque drew his cutlass so [Notes] fine; Says he to the farmer, " you or I for the shine ! " And to it they went both, like two Grecians of old, Cutting, slashing, up and down, and all for the gold! 'Twas cut for cut while it did last, Thrashing, licking, hard and fast, Hard milling for the gold. fighting Derry down. IV The High-pad quickly cut the farmer's towel in cudgel twain — Pulled out his barking-iron to send daylight through pistol; shoot him his brain; But said he I will not down you, if you will but disburse Your rowdy with me, yeoman — I'm content to money whack your purse ! Down with the dust, and save your life, money Your consent will end our strife, Ain't your life worth more than gold ? Derry down. 138 THE BOULD YEOMAN money horse Hand up the pewter, farmer, you shall have a share A kindness, for a toby gloque, you must say is rare; That's right — tip up the kelter, it will make my bones amends, And wherever we may meet, farmer, we'll be the best of friends! So mount your trotter and away, And if you ever come this way. Take better care of your gold! Derry down. VI Now listen to me, lads, and always you'll do well, pocket Empty every die of duke, commoner, or swell; brave man But if you Stop a game cove, who has little else than pluck, rob him of all Do not clcan him out, and you'll never want for luck. So High-pads drink my toast, Let honour be our boast. And never pluck a poor cull of his gold. Derry down. THE BRIDLE-CULL AND HIS 139 THE BRIDLE-CULL AND HIS [Notesi LITTLE POP-GUN [1842] [By Pierce Egan in Captain Machealh]. My brave brother troopers, slap-up in the abode, Come Usten unto me while I chant about " the Road" ; Oh prick up your list'ners if you are fond of fun <-ars A bridle-cull's the hero, and his little pop-gun. higiuvayman Fal, de, roll lal! lal! la! II One morning early he went, this rollicking olade, fallow To pick the blunt up, and he met a nice young "^^"cy maid; "I'll not rob you," said he, " and so you needn't bunk;" ^"" -"^^^'^y But she lammas'd off" in style, of his pop-gun went off; Fal, de, rol! lal! lal! la! [afunk, afraid III Then up came a stage-coach, and thus the gloque did say, highwayman I40 LITTLE POP-GUN I'm sorry for to stop you, but you must hear my lay ; "Come, stand and deliver! if not, sure as the sun, Your journey I will stop with my little pop-gun." Fal, de, rol ! lol! lol! IV highwayman 'Tis by these little lays a High-padsman he thrives, money " ^^ take all our rhino, but pray spare our lives!" Crv the passengers who anxious all are for to run, Frightened nigh to death by his little pop-gun." Fol, de. rol. companions; out Then, mv blades, when you're bush'd. and must of luck ; plunder have the swag, watches ; money ; Walk uito tattlers, shiuers, and never fear the lag; transportation talk; civilly; give Then patter to all spicey, and tip "em lots of fun, monpy And blunt you'll never want while you've got a pop-gun. Fol, de, rol! la! JACK FLASHMAN 141 JACK FLASHMAN [1842] [Notes] [By Pierce Egan in Captain Macheath]. I Jack Flashman was a prig so bold, Who sighed for nothen but the gold; For sounding, frisl^ing any die, Jack was the lad, and never shy. Fol, de, rol. n Jack long was on the town, a teazer; A spicy blade for wedge or sneezer; Could turn his fives to anything Nap a reader, or filch a ring. Fol, de, rol. ni Jack was all game, and never slack, In the darky tried the crack; Frisk'd the lobby and the swag; "I'm fly to every move," his brag. Fol, de, rol. robbing ; pocket clever follow silver plate; snuffbox hands pocket-book ; steal a ring bold evening; burglary 142 JACK FLASHMAN IV But Jack, at last, got too knowen— betrayed by his ^y^g ^-nje a flat bv his blowen! mistress •' gave information She pcached, SO got him into trouble, deserted And then, tipp'd poor Jack the double ! Fol, de, rol. prison sweetheart men advice hung talk about Jack left the jug right mer-ri-ly, And vent and black'd his doxy's eye! Saying — look, marm, when next you split, I'll finish you with a rummy hit ! Fol, de, rol. VI My blades, before my chaunt I end. Here the rag-sauce of a friend ; Ne'er trust to any fancy jade. For all their chaff is only trade ! Fol, de, rol. VII Let all their gammon be resisted; Vithout you vishes to get twisted ! And never nose upon yourself — • You then are sure to keep your pelf. Fol, de, riddle. MISS DOLLY TRULL 143 MISS DOLLY TRULL [1842] [Notes] [By Pierce Egan in Captain Macheath\ Of all the mots in this here jug, There's none like saucy Dolly; And but to view her climber mug Is e'er excuse for folly. She runs such precious cranky rigs With pinching wedge and lockets Yet she's the toast of all the prigs Though stealing hearts and pockets. women ; prison pretty face stealing plate Just twig Miss Dolly at a hop — She tries to come the graces ! To gain her end she will not stop And all the swells she chases. She ogles, nods, and patters flash To ev'ry flatty cully Until she frisks him, at a splash Of rhino, wedge, and tully. see ; dance act talks slang suscoptiblc- fi'llinv robs ; entirely money 144 THE BY-BLOW OF THE JUG [Notes] THE BY-BLOW OF THE JUG [1842] [By Pierce Egan in Captain Macheath\ child feet accomplished ; thief round for theft In Newgate jail the jolly kid was born — Infamy he suck'd without any scorn ! His mammy his father did not know, But that's no odds — ^Jack was a by-blow ! Foddy, loddy, high O. II Scarcely had Jack got on his young pins, When his mammy put him up to some very [bad sins, And she taught him soon to swear and lie, And to have a finger in every pie. Foddy, loddy, high O. Ill His mammy was downy to every rig, — Before he could read she made him a prig ; Very soon she larn'd Jack to make a speak And he toddled out on the morning sneak Foddy, loddy, high O. THE BY-BLOW OF THE JUG 145 IV Jack had a sharp-looking eye to ogle, And soon he began to nap the fogle ! And ever anxious to get his whack — When scarcely ripe, he went on the crack. Foddy, loddy, high O. leer steal; handker- chief housebreaking "Now, my chick," says she, "you must take the 'Tis richer than the finest abode, [road! For watches, purses, and lots of the gold — A scampsman, you know, must always be bold." highwayman Foddy, loddy, high O. VI His mother then did give Jack some advice, To her son a thief, who was not o'er nice ; Says she — "Fight your way. Jack, and stand the [brunt, You're of no use, my child, without tlie bhmt, Foddy, loddy, high O. VII " Then keep it up, Jack, with rare lots of fun. A short life, perhaps, but a merry one; Your highway dodges may then live in fame, 10 cart [Notes] 146 THE BY-BLOW OF THE JUG Cheat miss-Fortune, and be sure to die game." Foddy, loddy, high O. VIII " In spite of bad kick, don't be a grumbler ; If you are finished off from a tumbler! But to the end of your life, cut a shine, You're not the first man got into a line." Foddy, loddy, high O. THE CADGER'S BALL 147 THE CADGER'S BALL [Notes] [1852] [From John Labern's Popular Comic Song Book]. Tune — Joe Buggins. Oh, what a spicy flare-up, tear-up, Festival Terpsickory, Was guv'd by the genteel cadgers In the famous Rookery. As soon as it got vind, however, Old St Giles's vos to fall— They all declar'd, so help their never, They'd vind up vith a stunnin' ball ! Tol, lol lol, etc. Jack Flipflap took the afiliir in hand, sirs — Who understood the thing complete — He'd often danced afore the public, On the boards, about the streets. Old Mother Swankey, she consented To lend her lodging-house for nix — noiinnK i^S THE CADGER'S BALL Say's she, 'The crib comes down to-morrow, nifniiy So, go it, just like beans and bricks.' Tol, lol lol, etc. Ill walking The night arrived for trotter-shaking — lodging-house To Mother Swankey's snoozing-crib ; Each downy cadger was seen taking sweetheart; wife His bit of musHn, or his rib. Twelve candles vos stuck into turnips. Suspended from the ceiling queer — Bunn's blaze of triumph was all pickles To this wegetable shandileer. Tol, lol lol, etc. IV Ragged Jack, wot chalks ' Starvation ! ' Look'd quite fat and swellish there — While Dick, wot 'dumbs it' round the nation. Had all the jaw among the fair. Limping Ned wot brought his duchess, At home had left his wooden pegs — And Jim, wot cadges it on crutches, Vos the nimblest covey on his legs. Tol, lol lol, etc. The next arrival was old Joe Burn, Wot does the fits to Natur chuff- THE CADGER'S BALL 149 And Fogg, wot's blind each day in Ho'born, Saw'd his way there clear enough, Mr. Sinniwating Sparrow, In corduroys span new and nice, Druv up in his pine-apple barrow, Which he used to sell a win a slice. penny Tol, lol lol, etc. VI The ball was open'd by fat Maty, Togg'd out in book muslin pure, dressed And Saucy Sam, surnamed 'The Lary,' Who did the ' Mhuiit-on-a-squre.^ While Spifflicating Charley Coker, And Jane of the Hatchet-face divine, Just did the Rowdydowdy Poker, And out of Greasy took the shine. [Grfsi?] Tol, lol lol, etc. VII The Sillywarious next was done in Tip-top style just as it should. By Muster and Missus Mudfog, stunning. Whose hair curled like a bunch of wood. The folks grinn'd all about their faces, 'Cos Mudfog— prince of flashy bucks- Had on a pair of pillow Cases, Transmogrified slap into ducks! Tol, lol lol, etc. ISO THE CADGER'S BALL VIII The celebrated Pass de Sandwich To join in no one could refuse — Six bushels on 'em came in, and wich Wanish'd in about two two's. teer The Gatter Waltz next followed arter — drunk They lapp'd it down, right manful-ly, Until Joe Guflin and his darter, Was in a state of Fourpen-ny ! Tol, lol lol, etc. IX Next came the Pass de Fascination Betwixt Peg Price and Dumby Dick- But Peg had sich a corporation, He dropp'd her like a red hot brick. The company was so enraptur'd. They buckets of vail flowers threw — But one chap flung a bunch of turnips. Which nearly split Dick's nut in two. Tol, lol lol, etc. The dose now set to gallopading, And stamp'd with all their might and main- They thump'd the floor so precious hard-in. It split the ancient crib in twain. THE CADGER'S BALL 151 Some pitch'd in the road, bent double — Some was smash'd with bricks— done brown— So the cadgers saved 'The Crown' the trouble Of sending coves to pull it down, Tol, lol lol, etc. 1^2 -DEAR BILL, THIS STONE-JUG" lXo,„l "DEAR BILL; THIS STONE-JUG" [1B57] [From Punch, 31 Jan., p. 49. Being an Epistle from Toby Cracksman, in Newgate, to Bill Sykes]. friends [Notes] Dear Bill, this stone-jug at which flats dare to rail, (From which till the next Central sittings I hail), Is still the same snug, free-and-easy old hole, Where Macheath met his blowens, and Wild [floor'd his bowl In a ward with one's pals, not locked up in a cell. To an old hand like me it's a family hotel. boozle night meat and drink II ^^^^^r% ; bam- In. the dayrooms the cuffins we queers at our ease, And at Darkmans we run the rig just as we please, There's your peck and your lush, hot and reg'lar [each day. All the same if you work, all the same if you [play greenhorn But the lark's when a goney up with us they shut tricks; talking . • . slang; obscenity As ain t up to our lurks, our flash patter, and smut; "DEAR BILL, THIS STONE-JUG" 153 III But soon in his eye nothing green would remain, He knows what's o'clock when he comes out again. And the next time he's quodded so downy imprisoned [and snug, He may thank us for making him fly to the jug. up to prison ways But here comes a cuffin — who cuts short my tale, It's agin rules is screevin' to pals out o' gaol, anting [The following postscript seems to have been added when the Warder had passed.] IV For them coves in Guildhall, and that blessed [Lord Mayor, Prigs on their four bones should chop whiners °" ^^'^^^ should <-> ^ pray [I swear: That long over Newgit their Worships may rule, As the high-toby, mob, crack and screeve model ^sfyeYi-mobsmen • [school ; burglars, forgers For if Guv'ment wos here, not the Alderman's [Bench, Newgit soon 'ud be bad as 'the Pent,' or 'the [Notes] [Tench '. 154 THE LEARY MAN INotes] THE LEARY MAN [1857] [From The Vulgar Tongue, by Ducange Anglicus]. Of ups and downs I've felt the shocks Since days of bats and shuttlecocks, And allcumpaine and Albert-rocks, When I the world began; And for these games I often sigh Both marmoney and Spanish-fly, And flying kites, too, in the sky. For which I've often ran. II But by what I've seen, and where I've been, I've always found it so. That if you wish to learn to live Too much you cannot know. For you must now be wide-awake, If a living you would make, So I'll advise what course to take To be a Leary Man. THE LEARY MAN 155 II Go first to costermongery, To every fakement get a-fly, And pick up all their slangery, But let this be your plan; Put up with no Kieboshery, But look well after poshery, And cut teetotal sloshery, And get drunk when you can. IV And when you go to spree about, Let it always be your pride To have a white tile on your nob And bull-dog by your side Your fogle you must flashly tie Each word must patter flashery, And hit cove's head to smashery, To be a Leary Man. dodge ; learn nonsense money drink hat ; head necktie talk slang To Covent Garden or Billingsgate You of a morn must not be late, But your donkey drive at a slashing rate. And first be if you can. From short pipe you must your bacca blow And if your donkey will not go. To lick him you must not be slow But well his hide must tan. 156 THE LEARY MAN [Notes] VI The fakement conn'd by knowing rooks Must be well known to you, And if you come to fibbery, You must mug one or two. Then go to St Giles's rookery, And live up some strange nookery, Of no use domestic cookery, To be a Leary Man. VII Then go to pigeon fancery And know each breed by quiz of eye, Bald-heads from skin-'ems by their fiy, Go wrong you never can. All fighting coves too you must know Ben Gaunt as well as Bendigo, And to each mill be sure to go, And be one of the van. banfikrrchief VIII Things that are found before they're lost, Be always first to find. Restore dogs for a pound or two You'll do a thing that's kind. And you must sport a blue billy, Or a yellow wipe tied loosily THE LEARY MAN Roiuid your scrag for bloaks to see That you're a Leary Man IX At knock-'em-downs and tiddlywink, To be a sharp you must not shrink, But be a brick and sport your chink To win must be your plan. And set-toos and Cock-fighting Are things you must take deUght in, And always try to be right in And every kidment scan. 157 neck ; men good fellow ; money And bullying and chaffing too, To you should be well known, Your nob be used to bruisery. And hard as any stone. Put the kiebosh on the dibbery, Know a Joey from a tibbery, And now and then have a black eye, To be a Leary Man. head ; pugilism XI To fairs and races go must you, And get in rows and fights a few, And stopping out all night it's true Must often be your plan. 158 TIIK LEARV MAN And as through tl\c world you budgery, Get well awake to fudgery, And rub ofi" every grudgery, And do the best you can. XII But mummery and slummery You must keep in your mind, For every day, mind what I say, Fresh fakements you will find. But stick to this while you can crawl. To stand 'till you're obliged to fall. And when you're wide awake to all You'll be a Leary Man. A HUNDRED STRETCHES HENCE 159 "A HUNDRED STRETCHES HENCE" [1859] [From The Vocabulum : or Rogues Lexicoti, by G. W. Matsell, New York]. [Notes] Oh ! where will be the culls of the bing A hundred stretches hence? The bene morts who sweetly sing, A hundred stretches hence? The autum-cacklers, autum-coves, The jolly blade who wildly roves ; And where the buffer, bruiser, blowen, And all the cops, and beaks so knowin, A hundred stretches hence ? publicans years pretty women married women and men boon companion smuggler ; pugi- list ; whore police; magistrate II And where the swag so bleakly pinched A hundred stretches hence? The thimbles, slangs, and danglers filched, A hundred stretches hence? The chips, the fawneys, chatty-feeders, The bugs, the boungs, and well-filled readers ; plunder cleverly stolen watches; chains ; seals ; stolen money; rmgs ; spoons breast-pins; purses pocket-book i6o A HUNDRED STRETCHES HENCE receiver ofstoicn ^\,^j whcic tlic fciice, and snoozing ken, goods; brothel ' ° thieves; driink- With all tlic piigs and lushing men, A hundred stretches hence ? Ill Played out they lay, it will be said A hundred stretches hence ; buried With shovcls they were put to bed A hundred stretches since ! taken to gaol had _, i i , • i i i ■ ^ cheated a life oome I'ubbed to Wit had napped a winder, sentence . i i i i i- i hanged; drowned And somc wcrc scraggcd and took a blinder, oneself t->i i i i i ■ i got rid of the 1 ianted the swag and lost to sight, plunder ,,. m i • i i i ,. , . , Well bid them one and all good-night, A hundred stretches hence. THE CHICKALEARY COVE i6i THE CHICKALEARY COVE [Notes] [c. 1864] I'm a ' Chickaleary bloke ' with my one, two, three, Ywln"^^^*' Whitechapel was the village I was born in, For to get me on the hop, or on my tibby drop, get the better of You must wake up very early in the morning. I have a rorty gal, also a knowing pal, flashiy^ dressed; And merrily together we jog on, I doesn't care a flatch, as long as I've a tach, halfpenny; hat Some pannura for my chest, and a tog on. eatables; coat I'm a Chickaleary bloke with my one, two, [three, Whitechapel was the village I born in, For to get me on the hop, or on my [tibby drop, You must wake up very early in the morning. II Now kool my downy kicksies — the style for me, '°,"^a*''""'°'"* Built on a plan werry naughty, The stock around my squeeze a guiver colour see, neck ; flash [I lO: THE CHICKALEARY COVE TP»t ; pckfts And the vcstat with the bins so rorty, teetotaller Mv tailor scrves you well, from a perger to a swell, pUce At Groves's you're safe to make a sure pitch, money For ready yenom down, there ain't a shop in town, beat Can lick Groves in The Cut as well as Shoreditch. I'm a Chickaleary bloke, etc. Ill Off to Paris I shall go, to show a thing or two pickpockets To the dipping blokes what hangs about the [cafFes, [Notes]; watch; How to do a cross-fam, for a super, or a slang, And to bustle them grand'armes I'd give the [office : Now my pals I'm going to slope, see you soon [again, I hope, My young woman is awaiting, so be quick; salute; shout Now join in a chyike, the jolly we all like, I'm off with a party to the Vic. I'm a Chickaleary bloke, etc. BLOOMING ESTHETIC 103 BLOOMING ESTHETIC [1882] [From The Rag, 30 Sept.]. He [Notes] A dealer-in-coke young man, A wallop-his-moke young man, A slosher-of-pals, A spooning-with-gals, An ought-to-be-blowed young man. making love A tell-a-good-whopper young man, A slogging-a-copper young man, A pay-on-the-nod. An always-in-quod, A sure-to-be-scragged yovmg man. Ill A Sunday-flash -togs young man, A pocket-of-hogs young man, A save-all-his-rhino, A cut-a-big-shine, oh, Will soon-have-a-pub young man lie the assaulting police take unlimited credit in prison hung clothes silver money i64 BLOOMING ESTHETIC She A powder-and-paint young girl, Not-quite-a-saint young girl, drunk An always-get-tight, A stay-out-all-night, child Have-a-kid-in-the-end young girl. Make-a-bloke-a-choke young girl, Love-a-gin-soak young girl, On-the-kerb-corae-a-cropper, Run-in-by-a-copper, " Fined-forty-bob "—young girl. drunken bout policeman III A tallow-faced-straight young girl, A never-out-late young girl, A Salvation-mummery, Smoleless-and-glummery, Kid-by-a-captain young girl. 'ARRY AT A POLITICAL PICNIC 165 'ARRY AT A POLITICAL [Notes] PIC NIC [By T Milliken in Punch, 11 Oct.] Dear Charlie. 'Ow are yer, my ribstone ? Seems scrumtious to write the old name. I 'ave quite lost the run of you lately. Bin playing gjgjjj some dark little game? I'm keeping mine hup as per usual, fust in the pick of the fun, For wherever there's larks on the tappy there's 'Arry as sure as a gun. II The latest new lay's Demonstrations. You've heard on 'em, Charlie, no doubt, For they're at 'em all over the shop. I 'ave 'ad a rare bustle about. All my Saturday arfs are devoted to Politics. Fancy, old chump. Me doing the sawdusty reglar, and follering swells nonsense on the stump! !^fS 'ARRV AT A POLITICAL PICNIC III uikinc But, bless yer, my bloater, it isn't all chin-music, votes, and ''Ear! 'ear!' Or they wouldn't catch me on the ready, or nail me for ninepence. No fear! walking Percessions I've got a bit tired of, hoof-padding and scrouging's dry rot. But Political Picnics mean sugar to them as is fly to wet's wot. IV Went to one on 'em yesterday, Charlie; a reglar old up and down lark. The Pallis free gratis, mixed up with a old country fair in a park. And Rosherville Gardens chucked in, with a dash of the Bean Feast will do. To give you some little idear of our day with Sir Jinks Bottleblue. Make much of us, Charlie? Lor bless you, we might ha' bin blooming Chinese A-doing the rounds at the 'Ealthries. 'Twas regular go as you please. Lawn-tennis, quoits, cricket, and dancing for them as must be on the shove, 'ARRY AT A POLITICAL PICNIC 167 But I preferred pecking and prowling, and spotting eating the mugs making love. fools VI Don't ketch me a-slinging my legs about arter a beast of a ball At ninety degrees in the shade or so, Charlie, old chap, not at all. Athletics 'aint 'ardly my form, and a cutaway coat and tight bags trousers Are the species of togs for yours truly, and lick your loose 'flannels' to rags. VII So I let them as liked do a swelter ; I sorntered about on the snap. prowl Rum game this yer Politics, Chariie, seems arf talkee-talkee and trap. Jest fancy old Bluebottle letting the 'multitood' pic-nic and lark, And make Battersea Park of his pleasure-grounds, Bathelmy Fair of his park ! VIII 'To show his true love for the People!' sezs one vote-of- thanking tall-talker. And wosn't it rude of a bloke as wos munching a bun to cry 'Walker!'? [Notes] i68 -AKKV AT A POLITICAL PICNIC I'm Tory right down to my boots, at a price, and I bellered "Ear, 'ear!' c^teh But they don't cop yours truly with chaff none tlic more, my dear CharHe, no fear! IX •hook hands Old Bottlebluc tipped me his flipper, and 'oped I'd ' refreshed, ' and all that. 'Wy rather,' sez I, 'wot do you think? ' at which he stared into his 'at, foce And went a bit red in the gills. Must ha' thought fool me a muggins, old man, To ask sech a question of 'Arry — as though grubbing short was his plan. I went the rounds proper, I tell yer; 'twas like the free run of a Bar, And Politics wants lots o' wetting. Don't ketch me perched up on a car. Or 'olding a flag-pole no more. No, percessions, dear boy, ain't my fad. But Political Picnics with fireworks, and plenty of swiz ain't 'arf bad. XI The palaver was sawdust and treacle. Old Bottleblue buzzed for a bit, ARRY AT A POLITICAL PICNIC 169 And a sniffy young Wiscount in barnacles landed wot 'e thought a 'it; Said old Gladstone wos like Simpson's weapon, a bit of a hass and all jor, When a noisy young Rad in a wideawake wanted . . 1 • 1 i f „ I something to talk to give him what tor! ^^„„t XII Yah ! boo ! Turn 'im hout ! ' sings yours truly, a-thinkin' the fun was at 'and, But, bless yer ! 'twas only a sputter. I can't say the meeting looked grand. Five thousand they reckoned us, Charlie, but if so I guess the odd three Were a-spooning about in the halley's, or lappin' up buns and Bohea. XIII The band and the 'opping wos prime though, and 'Arry in course wos all there. I 'ad several turns with a snappy young party with stror coloured 'air. Her name she hinformed me wos Polly, and wen in my 'appiest style, I sez, ' Polly is nicer than Politics ! ' didn't she colour and smile? XIV We got back jest in time for the Fireworks, a proper flare-up, and no kid, i;o 'ARRV AT A POLITICAL PICNIC Wliich finished tliat day's Demonstration, an' must 'ave cost many a quid. Wot fireworks and park-feeds do Demonstrate, Charlie, I'm blest if I see, And I'm blowed if I care a brass button, so long as I get a cheap spree. XV The patter's all bow-wow, of course, but it goes with the buns and the beer. If it pleases the Big-wigs to spout, wy it don't cost hus nothink to cheer. Though they ain't got the 'ang of it, Charlie, the toffs ain't — no go and no spice ! Why, I'd back Barney Crump at our Singsong to lick 'em two times out o' twice ! XVI Still I'm all for the Lords and their lot, Charlie. Rads are my 'orror, you know. Change R into C and you've got 'em, and 'Arry 'ates anythink low. So if Demonstrations means skylarks, and lotion as much as you'll carry, These ' busts of spontanyous opinion' may reckon all round upon 'Arry. "RUM COVES THAT RELIEVE US" 171 "RUM COVES THAT RELIEVE US" [1887] [Notes] [By Heinrich Baumann in Londonismeii\. I Rum coves that relieve us Of chinkers and pieces, Is gin'rally lagged, Or wuss luck gets scragg'd. II Are smashers and divers And noble contrivers Not sold to the beaks By the coppers an' sneaks? Ill Yet moochin' arch-screevers, Concoctin' deceivers, Chaps as reap like their own What by tothers were sown; IV Piratical fakers Of bosh by the acres, thieves money imprisoned hung counterfeiters ; pickpockets magistrates police ; informers prowling; begging letter writers writers of " blood and thunder " 172 "RUM COVES THAT RELIEVE US" These muck-worms of trash Cut, oh, a great dash. But, there, it don't matter Since, to cut it still fatter, By 'ook and by crook Ve've got up this book. VI queer places Tcll ye 'ow ? Vy in rum kens, thieves' resorts In flash cribs and slum dens, I' the alleys and courts, 'Mong the doocedest sorts ; VII When jawin' with Jillie Or. Mag and 'er Billie, Ve shoved down in black talk Their illigant clack. VIII prostitutes So from hartful young dodgers, From vaxy old codgers. From the blowens ve got Soon to know vot is vot. "RUM COVES THAT RELIEVE US" 173 IX Now then there is yer sumptuous Tuck-in of most scrumptious, And dainty mag-pie! speech Will ye jes' come and try? •74 VILLON'S GOOD-NIGHT [Notes] \ILLON'S GOOD-NIGHT [1887] lalsc clericos beggar feigning sickness cadgers ; loafing saucy girls; non- sense women ; dress ; game [Notes] rings; right hand harlot [Notes] [By William Ernest Henley]. I You bible-sharps that thump on tubs, You lurkers on the Abrara-sham, You sponges miking round the pubs, You flymy titters fond of flam, You judes tliat clobber for the stramm, You ponces good at talking tall, With fawneys on your dexter famm — A mot's good-night to one and all ! II prostitutes;expose Likewise you molls that flash your bubs paps •> see; pay for For swells to spot and Stand you sam, [Notes] You bleeding bonnets, pugs, and subs, Punch-and-judy- You swatclicl-coves that pitch and slam. man ^ pattering trades- You magsmen bold that work the cram, man ° You flats and joskins great and small, wife Gay grass-widows and lawful-jam — A mot's good-night to one and all! VILLON'S GOOD-NIGHT 175 III For you, you coppers, narks, and dubs, Who pinched me when upon the snam, And gave me mumps and mulligrubs With skilly and swill that made me clam, At you I merely lift my gam — I drink your health against the wall ! That is the sort of man I am, A mot's good-night to one and all ! The Fareivell. police ; informers; warders arrested; stealing " the blues" refuse food leg Paste 'em, and larrup 'cm, and lamm ! Give Kennedy, and make 'em crawl! I do not care one bloody damn, A mot's good-night to one and all. (thrash them and j make them stir 170 VILLON'S STRAIGHT TIP [Notes] VILLON'S STRAIGHT TIP TO ALL CROSS COVES [1887] [By William Ernest Henley]. ' Tout aux tavernes et anx filles ' ^tr^^ la'tion^i ^°^ Supposc vou screcvc, or go cheap-jack ? Or fake the broads ? or fig a nag ? Or thimble-rig ? or knap a yack ? Or pitch a snide ? or smash a rag ? Suppose you duff? or nose and lag ? Or get the straight, and land your pot ? How do you melt the multy swag ? Booze and the blowens cop the lot. Fiddle, or fence, or mace, or mack ; Or moskeneer, or flash the drag; Dead-lurk a crib, or do a crack ; Pad with a slang, or chuck a mag ; Bonnet, or tout, or mump and gag ; Rattle the tats, or mark the spot TO ALL CROSS COVES 177 You cannot bank a single stag: Booze and the blowens cop the lot. Suppose you try a different tack, And on the square you flash your flag ? At penny-a-lining make your whack, Or with the mummers mug and gag ? For nix, for nix the dibbs you bag At any graft, no matter what ! Your merry goblins soon stravag: Booze and the blowens cop the lor. The Moral. It's up-the-spout and Charley-Wag With wipes and tickers and what not ! Until the squeezer nips your scrag. Booze and the blowens cop the lot. 12 i:S CULTURE IN THE SLUMS [Notes] CULTURE IN THE SLUMS [1887] [By William Ernest Henley: "Inscribed to an intense poet "J. I. Rondeau. " O crikey, Bill ! " she ses to me, she ses. "Look sharp," ses she, " with them there sossiges. sausages Yea! sharp with them there bags of mysteree.! friend For lo ! " she ses, "for lo ! old pal," ses she, verj- hungry " I™ blooming pcckish, neither more nor less." n Was it not prime — I leave you all to guess girl How prime! to have a jude in love's distress fondling; softly Come spooning round, and murmuring balm- [ilee, "O crikey, Bill!" ni thus expressively FoT in such rorty wise doth Love express [Notes] His blooming xaews, and asks for your address, CULTURE IN THE SLUMS 179 And makes it right, and does the gay and free. I kissed her — I did so ! And her and me Was pals. And if that ain't good business; O crikey, Bill! II. Villanelle. Now ain't they utterly too-too (She ses, my Missus mine, ses she), Them flymy little bits of Blue. Notes] «'.^. china Joe, just you kool 'em— nice and skew Upon our old meogginee, Now ain't they utterly too-too ? Ill They're better than a pot'n a screw, They're equal to a Sunday spree. Them flymy little bits of Blue ! IV Suppose I put 'em up the flue. And booze the profits, Joe ? Not me. Now ain't they utterly too-too? look at pawn drink I do the 'Igh Art fake, I do. Joe, I'm consummate; and I see Them flymy little bits of Blue. i8o CULTURE IN THE SLUMS VI Which, Joe, is why I ses to you— ^sthetic-Hke, and limp, and free- Now ain't they utterly too-too, Thera flymy little bits of Blue ? IIL Ballade. I often does a quiet read Botticem(?) At Booty Shelley's poetry; I thinks that Swinburne at a screed Is really almost too-too fly; Wagner (?) At Signor Vagna's harmony I likes a merry little flutter; I've had at Pater many a shy; In fact, my form's the Bloomin' Utter. II My mark's a tidy little feed, And 'Enery Irving's gallery, To see old 'Amlick do a bleed, And Ellen Terry on the die, Or Franky's ghostes at hi-spy, The corsican And parties carried on a shutter Brothers (.-) ^ Them vTjlgar Coupeaus is my eye! In fact, my form's the Bloomin' Utter. CULTURE IN THE SLUMS i8i The Grosvenor's nuts — it is, indeed! I goes for 'Olman 'Unt like pie. It's equal to a friendly lead [Notesj To see B. Jones's judes go by. Stanhope he makes me fit to cry, Whistler he makes me melt like butter, Strudwick he makes me flash my cly — spend money In fact, my form's the Bloomin' Utter. Envoy. I'm on for any Art that's 'Igh! I talks as quite as I can splutter; I keeps a Dado on the sly; In fact, my form's the Blooming Utter! i8; " TOTTIE " [Kotes] "TOTTIE" [1887] [By " Dagonet " (G. R. Sims) in Referee, 7 Nov.]. ieet hair eyes breast As she walked along the street With her little 'plates of meat,' And the stiniraer sunshine falling On her golden ' Barnet Fair,' Bright as angels from the skies Were her dark blue 'mutton pies.' In my ' East and West ' Dan Cupid Shot a shaft and left it there. nose teeth mouth knees She'd a Grecian ' I suppose,' And of 'Hampstead Heath' two rows, In her ' Sunny South ' that glistened Like two pretty strings of pearls; Down upon my 'bread and cheese' Did I drop and murmur, 'Please Be my " storm and strife," dear Tottie, O, you darlingest of girls ! ' "TOTTIE" III Then a bow-wow by her side, dog Who till then had stood and tried A 'Jenny Lee' to banish, flee Which was on his 'Jonah's whale,' tail Gave a hydrophobia bark, (She cried, 'What a Noah's Ark!') lark And right through my 'rank and riches' breeches Did my 'cribbage pegs' assail. legs IV Ere her bull-dog I could stop She had called a ' ginger pop,' Who said, 'What the "Henry Meville" Do you think you're doing there?' And I heard as ofif I slunk, 'Why, the fellow's "Jumbo's trunk!" And the 'Walter Joyce' was Tottie's With the golden 'Barnet Fair.' slop = policeman devil drunk voice hair 1 84 A PLANK BED BALLAD [Notes] A PLANK BED BALLAD [1888] [By " Dagonet" (G. R. Sims) in Referee, 12 Feb.]. Understand, if you please, I'm a travelling thief, boys The gonophs all call me the gypsy; rail ; ticket By the rattler I ride when I've taken my brief, basket And I sling on my back an old kipsey. see; horse; go If I pipe a good chat, Nvhy, I touch for the wedge, for ; silver plate j. i o But I'm not a " particular " robber ; steal; linen I smug any snowy I see on the hedge, boots- clothes -A-nd I ain't above daisies and clobber. Ill jg5 notes; pocket Ox\^& day I'd a spree with two finns in my brigh, watch; chain; And a toy and a tackle— both red 'uns ; gold diamond pin; And a spark prop a pal (a good screwsman) and I Had touched for in working two dead 'uns. IV ticket I was taking a ducat to get back to town (I had come by the rattler to Dover), A PLANK BED BALLAD 185 When I saw as a reeler was roasting me brown, ^^^In^.^g m°e ""'^ And he rapped, "I shall just turn you over." said; search you I guyed, but the reeler he gave me hot beef, ^^"j ^^^' "^^''^ And a scuff came about me and hollered; I pulled out a chive, but I soon came to grief, knife And with screws and a jaraes I was collared. Wi^^^^rs tools; VI I was fullied, and then got three stretch for the job, remanded; years And my trip— cuss the day as I seen her— mistress She sold off my home to some pals in her mob, friends ; set For a couple of foont and ten deener. jbs notes; shillings VII Oh, donnys and omees, what gives me the spur, girl; fellows Is, I'm told by a mug (he tells whoppers), man [Notes] That I ought to have greased to have kept out bribed [of stir The dukes of the narks and the coppers. ''^^itL''""'"''' i80 THE RONDEAU OF THE KNOCK [Notes] THE RONDEAU OF THE KNOCK [1890J [By " Dagonet " (G. R. Sims) in Referee, 20 Ap. P- 7J. B500 opportunity pay up fello mined He took the knock ! No more with jaunty air He'll have the " push " that made the punter stare; No more in monkeys now odds on he'll lay And make the ever grumbling fielder gay. One plunger more has had his little flare And then came to Monday when he couldn't [" square" ; Stripped of his plunees a poor denuded J He took the knock ! Where is he now? Ah! echo answers "where"? Upon the turf he had his little day And when, stone-broke, he could no longer [pay Leaving the ring to gnash its teeth and swear He took the knock ! THE RHYME OF THE RUSHER 187 THE RHYME OF THE RUSHER [1892] [Notes] [By Doss Chiderdoss in Sportitig Times, 29 Oct. In Appropriate Rhyming Slanguage^. I was out one night on the strict teetote, 'Cause I couldn't afford a drain ; I was wearing a leaky I'm afloat, And it started to France and Spain. But a toff was mixed in a bull and cow, And I helped him to do a bunk ; He had been on the I'm so tap, and now He was slightly elephant's trunk. without drink coat rain swell ; row get away rap drunk II He offered to stand me a booze, so I Took him round to the "Mug's Retreat;' And my round the houses I tried to dry By the Anna Maria's heat. He stuck to the I'm so to drown his cares, While I went for the far and near, drink trousers fire beer warning pockets bounce i88 THE RHYiME OF THE RUSHER Until the clock on the apples and pears Gave the office for us to clear. ni Then round at the club we'd another bout, And I fixed him at nap until I had turned his skyrockets inside out, And had managed my own to fill. Of course, I had gone on the half-ounce trick, And we quarrelled, and came to blows; But I fired him out of the Rory quick, ^^^ And he fell on his I suppose. IV And he laid there, weighing out prayers for me, fggj \Vithout hearing the plates of meat poiiceman;arrest- Qf a slop, who piuclied him for " d. and d." ed ; drunk and disorderly And disturbing a peaceful beat. gygs And I smiled as I closed my two mince pies In my insect promenade; him ; advantage For out of his nibs I had taken a rise, And his stay on the spot was barred. hair Next morning I brushed up my Barnet Fair, And got myself up pretty smart; Then I sallied forth with a careless air, be^t And contented raspberry tart. THE RHYME OF THE RUSHER At the first big pub I resolved, if pos., That I'd sample my lucky star; So I passed a flimsy on to tlie boss Who served drinks at the there you are. possible banknote bar He looked at the note, and the air began With his language to pen and ink; stink For the muo- I'd fleeced had been his head man, feiiow; cheated And had done him for lots of chink. I'm blessed if my luck doesn't hum and ha. For I argued the point with skill; But the once a week made me go ta-ta For a month on the can't keep still. robbed ; money beak everlasting wheel = mill IQO WOT CHER! [Notes] WOT CHER! or, Knocked Vw /'/; the Old Ke?it Rd. [1892] [By Albert Chevalier]. well-dressed man Last wcck down our alley come a toff, man Nicc old gcczer with a nasty cough, Sees ray Missus, takes 'is topper ofF In a very gentlemanly way! "Ma'am," says he, "I 'ave some news to tell, Your rich Uncle Tom of Camberwell, Popped off recent, which it ain't a sell, Leaving you 'is little Donkey Shay. "Wot cher!" all the neighbours cried, " Who're yer goin' to meet, Bill ? Have yer bought the street, Bill?" Laugh ! I thought I should 'ave died, made them stare Knock'd 'em in the Old Kent Road ! hat died : mistake donkey fellow II Some says nasty things about the moke. One cove thinks 'is leg is really broke, That's 'is envy, cos we're carriage folk, WOT CHER! 191 Like the toffs as rides in Rotten Row ! Straight! it woke the alley up a bit, no mistake Thought our lodger would 'ave 'ad a fit, When my missus, who's a real wit, Says, " I 'ates a Bus, because it's low! " "Wot Cher!" &c. Ill When we starts the blessed donkey stops, He won't move, so out I quickly 'ops, Pals start whackin' him, when down he drops, Someone says he wasn't made to go. Lor it might 'ave been a four-in-'and. My Old Dutch knows 'OW to do the grand, wife;makeashow First she bows, and then she waves 'er 'and. Calling out we're goin' for a blow ! "Wot cher !" &c. IV Ev'ry evenin' on the stroke of five, Me and Missus takes a little drive. You'd say, "Wonderful they're still alive," If you saw that little donkey go. I soon showed him that 'e 'd have to do Just whatever he was wanted to. Still I shan't forget that rowdy crew, 'Ollerin' " Woa ! steady! Neddy Woa! "Wot cher!" &c. iq2 OUR LITTLE NIPPER [Notes] OUR LITTLE NIPPER [1893] [By Albert Chevalier]. I'm just about the proudest man that walks, child I've got a Uttle nipper, when 'e talks shiUings ; pound I'H lay ycr forty shiners to a quid You'll take 'im for the father, me the kid. Now as I never yet was blessed wi' wealf, I've 'ad to bring that youngster up myself, And though 'is education 'as been free, 'E's alius 'ad the best of tips from me. And 'e's a little champion, Do me proud well 'e's a knock out. Takes after me and ain't a bit too tall. 'E calls 'is mother "Sally," And 'is father "good old pally," And 'e only stands about so 'igh, that's all! II [Notes] 'E gits me on at skittles and 'e flukes, hands And when 'e wants to 'e can use 'is "dooks," You see 'im put 'em up, well there, it's great, infamation [Notes] OUR LITTLE NIPPER 193 'E takes a bit of lickin at 'is weight; 'E'll stick up like a Briton for 'is pals, An' ain't 'e just a terror with the gals ; I loves to see 'im cuttin' of a dash, A walkin' down our alley on the mash. courtin There, 'e's a little champion, Do me proud well 'e's a knock out, I've knowed 'im take a girl on six foot tall ; 'E'll git 'imself up dossy, dressy Say I'm goin' out wi' Flossie, An' 'e only stands about so 'igh, that's all. I used to do a gin crawl e'vry night, round otginshops An' very, very often come 'ome tight, drunk But now of all sich 'abits I've got rid, I alius wants to git 'ome to the kid. In teachin' 'im I takes a regular pride, Not books, of course, for them 'e can't abide, But artful little ikey little ways, funny As makes the people sit up where we stays. stare {Spokeii) — Only last Sunday me an' the missus took 'im out for a walk — I should say 'e took us out. As we was a comin' 'ome I says to the old gal " Let's pop into the ' Broker's Arms ' and 'ave a drop o' beer?" She didn't raise no objection so in we goes, followed by 'is nibs — IM forgotten all about 'im— I goes to the bar and 13 194 OUR LITTLE NirPER calls for two pots of four 'alf; suddenly I feels 'im a tuggiu' at my coat, " Wot's up ? " sez I ; " Wot did yer call for ? " sez 'e ; " Two pots of four 'alf," sez I; "Oh," sez 'e, "ain't mother goin' to 'ave none ? " Well, 'e's a little champion, Do me proud well 'e's a knock out, "Drink up," sez 'e, "Three pots, miss, it's I sez "Now Jacky, Jacky;" [my call." 'E sez, "And a screw of baccy," And 'e only stands about so 'igh, that's all. THE COSTER'S SERENADE 195 THE COSTER'S SERENADE [Notes] [1894] [By Albert Chevalier]. You ain't forgotten yet that night in May, Down at the Welsh 'Arp, which is 'Endon way, You fancied winkles and a pot of tea, "Four 'alf" I murmured's "good enough for me." "Give me a word of 'ope that I may win" — You prods me gently with the winkle pin — We was as 'appy as could be that day Down at the Welsh 'Arp, which is 'Endon way. Oh, 'Arriet I'm waiting, waiting for you my dear, Oh, 'Arriet I'm waiting, waiting alone out here ; When that moon shall cease to shine. False will be this 'eart of mine, I'm bound to go on lovin' yer my dear; d'ye 'ear? You ain't forgotten 'ow we drove that day Down to the Welsh 'Arp, in my donkey shay ; igb THE COSTER'S SERENADE shout finest ; trap [Kotes] ; swell Folks with a "cliy-ike" shouted, "Ain't they smart?" You looked a queen, me every inch a Bart. Seemed that the moke was saying "Do me proud ;" Mine is the nobbiest turn-out in the crowd; Me in my " pearlies" felt a toff that day, Down at the Welsh 'Arp, which is Endon way. Oh, 'Arriet, &c. Eight months ago and things is still the same, You're known about 'ere by your maiden name, chafifed I'm getting chivied by my pals 'cos why? Nightly I warbles 'ere for your reply. Summer 'as gone, and it's a freezin' now, Still love's a burnin' in my 'eart, I vow ; Just as it did that 'appy night in May Down at the Welsh 'Arp, which is Endon way. Oh, 'Arriet, &c. NOTES Rhymes of the Canting Crew=* These lines are of little interest apart from the fact of being the earliest known example of the Canting speech or Pedlar's French in English literature. Sorry in point or meaning, they are sorrier still as verse. Yet, antedating, by half a century or more, the examples cited by Awdeley and Harman, they possess a certain value they carry us back almost to the beginnings of Cant, at all events to the time when the secret language of rogues and vagabonds first began to assume a concrete form. Usually ascribed to Thomas Dekker (who " con- veyed " them bodily, and with errors, to Lanthorne and Candlelight, published in 1609) this jingle of popular Canting phrases, strung together almost at hap-hazaid, is the production of Robert Cop- land (1508 — 1547), the author of The Hye Way to the Spyttel House, a pamphlet printed after 1535, and of which only two or three copies are now known. Copland was a printer-author; in the * Throughout these notes free use has been made of the Na- iiotial Dii iionary of Ringraphy ; a work whieh, without question, contains the latest and most accurately sifted array of biograph- ical information, much of which could not be obtained from any other source whatever. 20O RHYMES OF THE CANTING CREW former capacit}- a pupil of Caxton in the office of Wynkyn de Worde. The phin of The Hye Way is simpHcity itself. Copland, taking refuge near St. Bartholo- mew's Hospital during a passing shower, engages the porter in conversation concerning the "losels, mighty beggars and vagabonds, the michers, hedge- creepers, fylloks and luskes" that "ask lodging for Our Lord's sake". Thereupon is drawn a vivid and vigorous picture of the seamy side of the social life of the times. All grades of " vagrom men," with their frauds and shifts, are passed in review, and when Copland asks about their " bousy " speech, the porter entertains him with these lines. Lines 2 and 4. Botisy = drunken, sottish, dis- sipated. So Skelton in Elytioor Roiiniim (Harl. MSS. ed. Park, i. 416), 'Her face all boivsie\ Booze = to drink heavily, is still colloquial ; and, = to drink, was in use as early as A.D. 1300. Line 4. Cove (or Co/e) = a man, an individual. Maimed iiace {iiase or wrts;^) = helplessly drunk; Lat. 7/(??Wi?(2 = sickness ; cf. line 9, ' nace gere' . Line 5. Teare {totire or tozvre) = to look, to see. Patrying cove [patrico, patricove, or pattercove) = a strolling priest ; cf. Awdeley, Frat. of Vaca- bondes (1560), p. 6.:— "A Patriarke Co. doth make marriages, and that is untill death depart the married folke, which is after this sort : When they come to a dead Horse or any dead Catell, then they shake hands and so depart, euery one of them a seuerall way." ll\v^ ioxm patryijig cove seems to suggest a derivation from 'pattering' or 'muttering'— the Pater-noster, up to the time of the Reformation, was recited by the priest in a low voice as far as 'and lead us not into temp- tation' when the choir joined in. Daikman THE BEGGAR'S CURSE 201 cace (or case) = a sleeping apartment or place — ward, barn, or inn : darkmans = night + Lat. casa = house etc.: 'mans' is a common canting affix := a thing or place: e.g. h'ghtmans = da.y ; ruffmans = a wood or bush ; greerwians = the fields ; Chepemans = Cheapside market etc. Line 6. docked the dell = deflowered the girl : dell = virgin; see Harman, Caveat (1575), p. 75 : — 'A dell is a yonge wenche, able for generation, and not yet knowen or broken by the upright man'. Coper nieke (or make) = a half-penny. Line 7. His watc/i = he: my luatch =^1, or me: cf. 'his nabs' and 'my nabs' in modern slang. Fefig (A. S.) = to get, to steal, to snatch. Proutices noh- chete = prince's hat or cap: cheat (A. S.) = thing, and mainly used as an affix: thus, belly- chete = an apron ; cackling-chete = a fowl ; crash- t'ng-chetes = the teeth; mib bing- chete =^hQ gal- lows, and so forth. Line 8. Cyarnm, by Salmon — the meaning of cyarnm is unknown : by Salmon (or Solomon) = a beggar's oath. I.e., by the altar or mass. Pek my /ere = eat excrement : c/. ' turd in your mouth'. Line g. gan = mouth. My watch, see ante, line 7. JVace gere = nauseous stuff: c/. ante, line 4: ^i?r5 = generic for thing, stuff, or material. Line 10. betie bouse = strong drink or wine. The Beggar's Curse Thomas Dekker, one of the best known of the Elizabethan pamphleteers and dramatists, was born in London about 1570, and began his literary career in 1597-8 when an entry referring to a loan-advance occurs in Henslowe's Diary. A month later forty shillings were advanced from the same source to have him discharged from 202 "TOWRE OUT BEN MORTS" the Counlei-, a debtor's prison. Dekker was a most voluminous writer, and not always over- particular whence he got, or how he used, the material for his tracts and plays. T/ie Be/man of Lotidon BringiJig to Light the Most Notorious Villanies that are 7ioiv practised in the Kingdome (1608) of which three editions were published in one year, consists mainly of pilferings from Harman's Caveat for Cominon Cursetors first published in 1566-7. He did not escape conviction, however, for Samuel Rowlands showed him up in Martin Mark- All. Yet another instance of wholesale " Conveyance " is mentioned in the Note to "Cant- ing Rhymes" (<77i/f). In spite of this shortcoming, however, and a certain recklessness of workman- ship, the scholar of to-day owes Dekker a world of thanks : his infonnation concerning the social life of his time is such as can be obtained nowhere else, and it is, therefore, now of sterling value. Lanthorne and Candlelight is the second part of The Belman of London. Published also in 1608, it ran to two editions in 1609, a fourth appearing in 1612 under the title of O per se O, or a neiv Cryer of Lanthorne and Candlelight, Beiiig an Addition or Lengthening of the Belmaii's Second Night Walke. Eight or nine editions of this second part appeared between 1608 and 1648 all differing more or less from each other, another variation occurring when in 1637 Dekker republished Lanthorne and Candlelight under the title of Eriglish Villanies, shortly after which he is supposed to have died. "Towre Out Ben Morts" Samuel Rowlands, a voluminous writer ciira 1570 — 1628, though little known now, neverthe- "TOWRE OUT BEN MORTS" 203 less kept the publishers busy for thirty years, his works selling readily for another half century. Not the least valuable of his numerous productions from a social and antiqiiarian point of view is Martin Mark- All, Beadle of Brideivell ; his Defence and Answere to the Belnian of London (see both Notes ante). Martin Markall delivers himself of a vivid and " originall " account of " the Regiment of Rogues, when they first began to take head, and how they have succeeded one the other successively unto the sixth and twentieth year of King Henry the Eighth, gathered out of the Chronicle of Crackropes " etc. He then criticizes somewhat severely the errors and omissions in Dekker's Canting glossary, adding considerably to it, and finally joins issue with the Belman in an attempt to give ".song for song". Dekker's "Canting Rhymes" (plagiarised from Copland) and "The Beggar's Curse" thus apparently gave birth to the present verses and to those entitled "The Maunder's Wooing" that foUov/. Stanza I, fine i. Ben ■= Lat. bene = good. Mart = a woman, chaste or not. Line 3. Rome-cove = "a great rogue" (B. E., Did. Cant. Creiv, 1690), i.e., an organizer, or the actual perpetrator of a robbery : quire-cove — a subordinate thief— the money had passed from the actual thief to liis confederate. Rom (or nim) and quier (or qitcer)Q\\V^x largely into combination, thus -rom = gallant, fine, clever, excellent, strong; rom-iouse = w'mc or strong drink ; rum-bite = a clever trick or fraud ; rum-blowen = a handsome mistress; rum-bung = full purse; rum-diver = a. clever pickpocket; rum-padder= = the act of kind. Dimher dell = pretty wench — "A dell is a yonge wenche, able for generation, and not yet knowen or broken by the upright man . . . when they have beene lyen with all by the upright man then they be Boxes, and no Dells." — (Harman). Stanza HI, line 3. Upright-me?i — " the second rank of the Canting tribes, having sole right to the first night's lodging with the Dells." — (B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, 1696). The Oath of the Canting Crew Bamfylde Moore Carew, the King of the Gyp- sies, born in 1693, was the son of the Rector of Bickley, near Tiverton. It is related that to avoid punishment for a boyish freak he, with some companions, ran away and joined the gypsies. After a year and a half Carew returned for a time, but soon rejoined his old friends. His career was a long series of swindling and imposture, very ingeniously carried out, occasionally deceiving people who should have known him well. His restless nature then drove him to embark for Newfoundland, where he stopped but a short time, and on his return he pretended to be the mate of a vessel, and eloped with the daughter of a respectable apothecary of Newcastle on Tyne, whom he afterwards married. He continued his course of vagabond roguery for some time, and when Clause Patch, a king, or chief of the gyp- sies, died, Carew was elected his successor. He was convicted of being an idle vagrant, and sen- tenced to be transported to Maryland. On his arrival he attempted to escape, was captured, and made to wear a heavy iron collar, escaped again, and fell into the hands of some friendly Indians, 214 OATH OF THE CANTING CREW who relieved him o{ his collar. He took an early opportunity of leaving his new friends, and got into Pennsylvania. Here he pretended to be a Quaker, and as such made his way to Philadel- phia, thence to New York, and afterwards to New London, where he embarked for England. He escaped impressment on board a man-of-war by pricking his hands and face, and rubbing in bay salt and gunpowder, so as to simulate small- pox. After his landing he continued his impostures, found out his wife and daughter, and seems to have wandered into Scotland about 1745, and is said to have accompanied the Pretender to Car- lisle and Derby. The record of his life from this time is but a series of frauds and deceptions, and but little is absolutely known of his career, except that a relative. Sir Thomas Carew of Hackern, offered to provide for him if he would give up his wandering life. This he refused to do, but it is believed that he eventually did so after he had gained some prizes in the lotterj'. The date of his death is uncertain. It is generally given, but on no authority, as being in 1770 but 'I. P.', writing from Tiverton, in No^es and Queries, 2nd series, vol. IV, p. 522, says that he died in 1758. The story of his life in detail is found in the well- known, and certainly much-printed, Life mid Advent- tires of Bamfylde Moore Caretv, the earliest edition of which (1745) describes him on the title-page as "the Noted Devonshire Stroller and Dogstealer". This book professes to have been "noted by himself during his passage to America", but though no doubt the facts were supplied by Carew him- self, the actual authorship is uncertain, though the balance of probability lies with Robert Goadby, a printer and compiler of Sherborne Dorsetshire, who printed an edition in 1749. A correspondent of Notes and Queries, however, states that Mrs. OATH OF THE CANTING CREW 215 Goadby wrote it from Carew's dictation. [N'. and Q. 2 S iii. 4; iv. 330, 440, 522]. Line i. Crank Cuffiti = Queer Cove =■ a rogue. Line g. Stop-hole Abbey, "the nick-name of the chief rendezvous of the Canting Crew".— (B. E., Diet. Cant. Cr&iu, 1696). Line 17. Abram = formerly a mendicant lunatic of Bethlehem Hos- pital who on certain days was allowed to go out begging : hence a beggar feigning madness. Ruffler crack = an expert rogue. Line 18. Hooker = " peryllous and most wicked Knaves . . . for, as they walke a day times, from house to house, to demaund Charite . . . well noting what they see . . . that will they be sure to have. . .for they customably carry with them a staffe of V. of VL foote long, in which within one ynch of the tope thereof, ys a lytle hole bored through, in which hole they putte an yron hoke, and with the same they wyll pluck unto them quickly anything that they may reche therewith." — (Harman, Caveat, 1869, p. 35, 36). Line ig. Frater = "such as beg with a sham-patent or brief for Spitals, Prisons, Fires, etc." — (B. E.). Line 20. Irisk toyle = a beggar-thief, working under pretence of peddling pins, lace, and such-like wares. Line 21. Dimber-damber =- the chief of a gang: also an expert thief. Angler = hooker (see ante). Line 23. sivigman = a beggar peddling haberdashery to cover theft and roguery. Clapperdogeon = a beggar born and bred, see note p. 210, tenth line from bottom. Line 24. Curtal—"a. curtail is much like to the upright man (that is, one in authority, who may " call to account ", " command a share ", chastise those under him, and "force any of their women to serve his turn"), but hys authority is not fully so great. He useth commonly to go with a short cloke, like to grey Friers, and his woman with 2i6 " COME ALL YOU BUFFERS GAY " him in like livery, which he calleth his Altham if she be h_vs wyfe, and if she be his harlot, she is called hys Doxy, "—(Harman). Line 25. Whip- jack = a rogue begging with a counterfeit license. Pa Ilia rd = a beggar born and bred. Patrico = a hedge-priest. Line 26. Jarkman = " he that can write and reade, and sometime speake latin. He useth to make counterfaite licenses which they call gybes, and sets to scales, in their lan- guage called Jarkes."—(HARMAN). Line 27. Dotn- vierai- = a rogue pretending deaf and dumb. Ro7Jia7iy = a gipsy. Line 28. 77/e family = the fraternity of vagabonds. "Come All You Buffers Gay" In the Roxburghe Collection (ii. 504) is a ballad upon which the present song is clearly based. It is called The West Cotmtry Nymph, or the little maid of Bristol to the time of Voting femmy {i.e. the Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's natural son). The first stanza runs — Come all you maidens fair, And listen to my ditty, In Bristol city fair There liv'd a damsel pretty. The Potato Man Stanza II, line 2. Cly = properly pocket, but here is obviously meant the contents. Stanza IV, line i. Blue bird's-eye = a blue and silk handkerchief with white spots. A Slang Pastoral Of R. Tomlinson nothing is known. The Dr. Byrom whose poem is here parodied is per- "YE SCAMPS, YE PADS, ETC." 217 haps best remembered as the author of a once famous system of shorthand. He was born m 1 69 1, went to the Merchant Taylor's School, and at the age of 16 was admitted a pensioner of Trinity College Cambridge. It was here_ that he wrote My time, O ye muses. He died in 1763, and his poems, no inconsiderable collection, were published in 1773. ♦*Ye Scamps, Ye Pads, Ye Divers" Stanza I, line i . The lay — a pursuit, a scheme : here = thievery and roguery in general. Stanza IV, line 4. Like Blackamore Othello &fc.— the reference is to Othello, v. 2. " Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men. Put out the light, and then— put out the light." The Sandman's Wedding Though George Parker's name is not formally attached to this " Cantata " there would appear little doubt, from internal evidence, that it, with the two songs immediately following, forms part of a characteristic series from the pen of this roving soldier-actor. Parker was born m 1732 at Green Street, near Canterbury and was ' early admitted', he says, 'to walk the quarterdeck as a midshipman on board the Falmouth and the Guernsey'. A series of youthful indiscre- tions in London obliged him to leave the navy, and in or about 1754 to enlist as a common soldier in the 20th regiment of foot, the second battalion of which became in i75« the 67th re- giment, under the command of Wolfe. In his regiment he continued a private, corporal, and 2iS THE SANDMAN'S WEDDING sergeant for seven years, was present at the siege of Belleisle, and saw service in Portugal, Gibraltar, and Minorca. At the end of the war he returned home as a supernumerary excise- man. About 1 76 1 his friends placed him in the King's Head inn at Canterbury where he soon failed. Parker went upon the stage in Ire- land, and in company with Brownlow Ford, a clergyman of convivial habits, strolled over the greater part of the island. On his return to Lon- don he played several times at the Ha}market, and was later introduced by Goldsmith to Colman. But on account of his coq^ulence Colman de- clined his services. Parker then joined the pro- vincial strolling companies, and was engaged for one season with Digges, then manager of the Edinburgh Theatre. At Edinburgh he married an actress named Heydon, from whom, however, he was soon obliged to part on account of her dissolute life. Returning again to London, he set up as wandering lecturer on elocution, and in this character travelled with varying success through England. In November 1776 he set out on a visit to France, and lived at Paris for upwards of six months on funds supplied by his father. His resources being exhausted, he left Paris in the middle of July 1777 on foot. On reaching England he made another lecturing tour, which proved unsuccessful. His wit, humour, and knowledge of the world rendered him at one time an indispensable appendage to convivial gatherings of a kind; but in his later days he was so entirely neglected as to be obliged to sell gingerbread-nuts at fairs and race-meetings for a subsistance. He died in Coventry poorhouse in April 1800. THE HAPPY PAIR 219 The Happy Pair and The Bunter's Christening and The Masqueraders See note {ante) to "The Sandman's Wedding". Life's Painter etc. ran through several editions. The Flash Man of St. Giles Stanza H, line 7. Drunk as David's ^(3Z£;=beastly drunk. Grose {Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue) says : One David Lloyd, a Welshman, who kept an ale-house at Hereford, had a sow with six legs, which was an object of great curiosity. One day David's wife, having indulged too freely, lay down in the sty to sleep, and a company coming to see the sow, David led them to the st) , saying, as usual, "There is a sow for you! Did you ever see the like?" One of the visitors replied, "Well, it is the drunken est sow I ever beheld." Whence the woman was ever after called " Davy's sow." A Leary Mot Stanza IH, line i. Cock and Hen Cluh = ?i free-and-easy for both sexes. Stanza IV, line 4. lorn Cribb—see note p. 22^^. 220 THE NIGHT BEFORE LARRY, ETC. "The Night Before Larry was Stretched " Neither the authorship nor the date of these inimitable verses are definitely known. According to the best authorities, Will Maher, a shoemaker of Wateiford, wrote the song. Dr. Robert Bur- reiwes, Dean of St. Finbar's Cork, to whom it has been so often attributed, certainly did not. Often quoted in song book and elsewhere. Francis Sylvester Mahony, better known as " Father Prout" contributed to Fraser's Magazine the following translation into the French. La mort de Socrate. Far r Abbe de Front, Cure dii Mont-aux-Ci'essons, pres de Cork. A la veille d'etre pendu, Notr' Laurent re^ut dans son gite, Honneur qui lui etait bien du, De nombreux amis la visite; Car chacun scavait que Laurent A son tour rendrait la pareille, Chapeau montre, et veste engageant, Pour que I'ami put boire bouteille, Ni faire, a gosier sec, le saut. " Helas, notre garyon!" lui dis-je, '• Combien je regrette ton sort ! Te voila fieur, que sur sa tige Moisonne la cruelle mort!" — "Au diable," dit-il, " le roi George! Qa me fait la valeur d'un bouton; Devant le boucher qui m'egorge, Je serai comme un doux mouton, Et saiirai montrer du courage!" LA MORT DE SOCRATE 221 Des amis deja la cohorte Remplissait son elroit reduit : Six chandelles, ho! qu'on apporte, Donnons du lustre a cette nuit! Alors je cherchai a connaitre S'il s'etait dument repenti? " Bah ! c'est les fourberies des pretres Les gredins, ils en ont menti, Et leurs contes d'enfer sont faux!" L'on demande les cartes. Au jeu Laurent voit un larron qui triche; D'honneur tout rempli, il prend feu, Et du bon coup de poign I'affiche. " Ha, coquin ! de mon dernier jour Tu croyais profiter, peut-etre; Tu OSes me jouer ce tour! Prends 9a pour ta peine, vil traitre ! Et apprends a te bien conduire!" Quand nous edmes cesse nos ebats, Laurent, en ce triste repaire Pour le disposer au trepas, Voit entrer Monsieur le Vicaire. Apres un sinistre regard, Le front de sa main il se frotte, Disant tout haut, " Venez plus tard i " Et tout bas, "Vilaine calotte!" Puis son verre il vida deux fois. Lors il parla de I'echaufaud, Et de sa derniere cravate; Grands dieux ! que 9a paraissait beau De la voir mourir en Socrate ! Le trajet en chantant il fit — La chanson point ne fut un pseaume; Mais palit un pcu quand il vit La statute de Roy Guillaume — Les pendards n'aiment pas ce roi! 212 THE SONG OF THE YOUNG PRIG Quand fut au bout de son voyage, Le gibet fut pret en un clin: Mourant il tourna de visage Vers la bonne ville de Dublin. II dansa la carmagnole, Et mourit comme fit Malbrouck; Puis nous enterrames le drole Au cimetiere de Donnybrook Que son ame y soit en repos! Stanza V, line 3. Kilmainham, a gaol near Dublin. Stanza VI, line 7. King William, the statute of William III erected on College Green in commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. It was long the object of much contumely on the part of the Nationalists. It was blown to pieces in 1836, but was subsequently restored. The Song of the Young Prig Said to have been written by Little Arthur Chambers, the Prince of Prigs, who was one of the most expert thieves of his time. He began to steal when he was in petticoats, and died a short time before Jack Sheppard came into notice. Internal evidence, however, renders this attributed authorship very improbable. Stanza I, line i. Dyofs Isle, i.e., Dyot St., St. Giles, afterwards called George St. Bloomsbury, was a well-known rookery where thieves and their associates congregated. Stanza II, line 3. And I my reading learnt hetime From studying pocket-boohs. " Pocket-book" = reader. THE MILLING MATCH 223 Stanza IV, line i. To work capital = to commit a crime punishable with death. Previous to 1829 many offences, now thought comparativel}' trivial, were deemed to merit the extreme penalty of the law. The Milling Match Tom Cribb's Manorial to Congress : With a Preface, Notes, and Appendix. By One of the Fancy. London, Longmans & Co., 181 9. There were several editions. Usually, with good reason, ascribed to Thomas Moore. It may be remarked that, though the Irish Anacreon's claim to fame rests avowedly on his more serious contributions to literature, he was, nevertheless, never so popular as when dealing with what, in the early part of the present century, was known as The Fancy. Pugilism then took the place, in the popular mind, that football and cricket now occupy. Tom Cribb was born at Hanham in the parish of Bitton, Gloucestershire, in 1781, and coming to London at the age of thirteen followed the trade of a bell-hanger, then became a porter at the public wharves, and was afterwards a sailor. From the fact of his having worked as a coal porter he became known as the ' Black Diamond,' and under this appellation he fought his first public battle against George Maddox at Wood Green on 7 Jan. 1805, when after seventy-six rounds he was proclaimed the victor, and received much praise for his coolness and temper under very unfair treatment. In 1807 he was introduced to Captain Barclay, who, quickly perceiving his natural good qualities, took him in hand, and trained him under his own eye. He won the championship from Bob Gregson in 1808 but in 1809 he was beaten by Jem Belcher. He subsequently regained the 224 YA-HIP, MY HEARTIES! belt. After an unsuccessful venture as a coal merchant at Hungerford Wharf, London, he undenvent the usual metamorphosis from a pugilist to a publican, and took the Golden Lion in South- wark; but finding this position too far eastward for his aristocratic patrons he removed to the King's Arms at the corner of Duke Street and King Street, St. James's, and subsequently, in 1828, to the Union Arms, 26 Panton Street, HajTiiarket. On 24 Jan. 1821 it was decided that Cribb, having held the championship for nearly ten years without receiving a challenge, ought not to be expected to fight any more, and was to be per- mitted to hold the title of champion for the remainder of his life. On the day of the corona- tion of George IV, Cribb, dressed as a page, was among the prizefighters engaged to guard the entrance to Westminster Hall. His declining years were disturbed by domestic troubles and severe pecuniary losses, and in 1839 ^^^ '^^'^-S obliged to give up the Union Arms to his creditors. He died in the house of his son, a baker in the High Street, Woolwich, on 11 May 1848, aged 67, and was buried in Woolwich churchyard, where, in 1 85 1, a monument representing a lion grieving over the ashes of a hero was erected to his me- mory. As a professor of his art he was match- less, and in his observance of fair play he was never excelled; he bore a character of unim- peachable integrity and unquestionable humanity. Ya Hip, My Hearties! Stanza III, line 8. Hoiiyhnhnms. A race of horses endowed with human reason, and bearing rule over the race of man — a reference to Dean Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726). SONNETS FOR THE FANCY 225 Sonnets for The Fancy Pierce Egan, the author of the adventures of Tom and Jerry was born about 1772 and died in 1849. He had won his spurs as a sporting reporter by 1812, and for eleven years was recog- nised as one of the smartest of the epigrammatists, song-writers, and wits of the time. Boxiana, a monthly serial, was commenced in 18 18. It con- sisted of 'Sketches of Modern Pugilism', giving memoirs and portraits of all the most celebrated pugilists, contemporary and antecedent, with full reports of their respective prize-fights, victories, and defeats, told with so much spirited humour, yet with such close attention to accuracy, that the work holds a unique position. It was con- tinued in several volumes, with copperplates, to 1824. At this date, having seen that Londoners read with avidity his accounts of country sports and pastimes, he conceived the idea of a similar description of the amusements pursued by sporting men in town. Accordingly he announced the publication of Life in London in shilling numbers, monthly, and secured the aid of George Cruik- shank, and his brother, Isaac Robert Cruik- shank to draw and engrave the illustrations in aquatint, to be coloured by hand. George IV had caused Egan to be presented at court, and at once accepted the dedication of the forthcoming work. This was the more generous on the king's part because he must have known himself to have been often satirised and caricatured mercilessly in the Green Bag literature by G. Cruikshank, the intended illustrator. On 15 July 182 1 appeared the first number of Life in London; or, 'The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant friend, Corinthian Jem, accom- 15 226 SONNETS FOR THE FANCY panied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis.' The success was instantaneous and unprecedented. It took both town and country by storm. So great was the demand for copies, increasing with the publication of each successive number, month by month, that the colourists could not keep pace with the printers. The alternate scenes of high life and low life, the contrasted characters, and revelations of misery side by side with pro- digal waste and folly, attracted attention, while the vivacity of dialogue and description never flagged. Stanza III, line lo. JVeru Drop. The extreme penalty of the law, long carried out at Tyburn (near the INIarble Arch corner of Hyde Park), was ultimately transferred to Newgate. The lament for " Tyburn's merry roam " was, without doubt, heart-felt and characteristic. Executions were then one of the best of all good excuses for a picnic and jollification. Yet the change of scene to Newgate does not appear to have detracted much from these functions as shows. " Newgate to-day, " says a recent writer in The Daily Mail, is little wanted, and all but vacant, as a general rule. In former days enormous crowds were herded together indiscriminately — young and old, innocent and guilty, men, women, and children, the heinous offender, and the neo- phyte in crime. The worst part of the prison was the " Press Yard," the place then allotted to convicts cast for death. There were as many as sixty or seventy sometimes within these narrow limits, and most were kept six months and more thus hovering between a wretched existence and a shameful death. Men in momentary expecta- tion of being hanged rubbed shoulders with THE TRUE BOTTOMED BOXER ii-j others still hoping for reprieve. If the first were seriously inclined, they were quite debarred from private religious meditation, but consorted, per- force, with reckless ruffians, who played leap-frog, and swore and drank continually. Infants of tender years were among the condemned; luna- tics, too, raged furiously through the Press Yard, and were a constant annoyance and danger to all. The " condemned sermon " in the prison chapel drew a crowd of fashionable folk, to stare at those who were to die, packed together in a long pew hung with black, and on a table in front was placed an open coffin. Outside, in the Old Bailey, on the days of execution, the awful scenes nearly baffle description. Thousands collected to gloat over the dying struggles of the criminals, and fought and roared and trampled each other to death in their horrible eagerness, so that hundreds were wounded or killed. Ten or a dozen were sometimes hanged in a row, men and women side by side. The True Bottomed Boxer The Universal Songster, or Museum of Mirth: forming the most complete collection of ancient and modern songs in the English language, with a classified Index . . . Embellished with a Frontis- piece and wood cuts, designed by George Cruik- shank etc, 3vols. London, 1825-26. 8vo. Stanza I, line i. Moulsey-IIursl rig = a prize- fight: Moulsey-Hurst, near Hampton Court, was long a favorite venue for pugilistic encounters. Line 3. Fibbing a nob is most excellent gig = getting in a quick succession of blows on Ihc head is good fun. Line 4. Kneading the don^ii — a good pummelling. Line 6. Belly-go-firslcrs = 228 BOBBY AND HIS MARY an initial blow, generally given in the stomach. Line 8. Measuring mtigs for a chancery job = getting the head under the arm or ' in chancery '. Stanza II, line i. Flooring = downing (a man). Flushing = delivering a blow right on the mark, and straight from the shoulder. Line 5. Cross- itig = unfair fighting; shirking. Stanza III, line 5. Victualling-office = the stomach. Line 6. Smeller and ogles = nose and eyes. Line 7. Bread-basket = stomach. Line 8, In twig = in form; ready. Bobby and His Mary [See a7ite for note on Universal Songster]. Stanza I, line i. Dyot Street, see note page 222. Stanza 11, line 16. St. Pulclire''s bell, the great bell of St. Sepulchre's Holborn, close to Newgate, always begins to toll a little before the hour of execution, under the bequest of Richard Dove, who directed that an exhortation should be made to " . . . . prisoners that are within. Who for wickedness and sin are appointed to die, Give ear unto this passing bell." Poor Luddy Thomas John Dibdin (1771 — 1841), the author of this song, was an actor and dramatist —an illegitimate son of Charles Dibdin the elder. He claimed to have written nearly 2000 songs. THE PICKPOCKET'S CHAUNT 229 The Pickpocket's Chaunt Eugene Francois Vidocq was a native of Arras, where his father was a baker. From early associations he fell into courses of excess which led to his flying from the paternal roof. _ After various, rapid, and unexampled events in the romance of real life, in which he was everything by turns and nothing long, he was liberated from prison, and became the principal and most active agent of police. He was made chief of the Police de Surete under Messrs. Delavau and Franchet, and continued in that capacity from the year 1 8 10 till 1827, during which period he extirpated the most formidable gangs of ruffians to whom the excesses of the revolution and subsequent events had given full scope for daring robberies and iniquitous excesses. He settled down as a paper manufacturer at St. Mande near Paris. Of Maginn (1793 -1842) it may be said he was, without question, one of the most versatile writers of his time. He is, perhaps, best remem- bered in connection with the Nodes Ambrostance. which first appeared in Blachvood, and with the idea of which Maginn is generally credited. He was also largely concerned with the mception of Fraser's. Maginn's English rendering of Vidocq's famous song first appeared in Blachvood [ox ]v\y 1829 For the benefit of the curious the ori- ginal is appended. It will be seen that Maginn was very faithful to his copy. 230 THE PICKPOCKET'S CHAUNT En roulant de vergne en vergne ^ Pour apprendre a goupiner, ^ J'ai rencontre la mercandiere, ^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Qui du pivois solisait, * Lonfa malura donde. J'ai rencontre la mercandiere Qui du pivois solisait; Je lui jaspine en bigorne; ^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Qu'as tu done a morfiUer? ® Lonfa malura donde. Je lui jaspine en bigorne; Qu'as tu done a morfiller? J'ai du chenu '' pivois sans lance. ^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Et du larton savonne ^ Lonfa malura donde. J'ai du chenu pivois sans lance Et du larton savonne, Une lourde, ^^ une tournante, ^^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Et un pieu ^^ pour roupiller ^^ Lonfa malura donde. Une lourde, une tournante Et un pieu pour roupiller. J'enquille ^* dans sa cambriole, ^^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Esperant de I'entifler, ^® Lonfa malura donde. ' Vergne, icwn. ' Larton savonne, tvhite ' Goupiner, to ileal. bread. ' ^Mercandiere, Iradesvomen. '" Lourde, door. ' Du pivois so\\sa.it, sold 7vt>ie. " Tournante, iey. ' Jaspine en bigorne, say in '^ Pieu, bed. cant. " Roupiller, to sleep. ' ^lorfiller. to eat and drink. " J'enquille, / enter. ' Chenu, good. " Cambriole, room. Lance, water. '* Entifler, to marry. THE PICKPOCKET'S CHAUNT 231 J'enquille dans sa cambriole Esperant de I'entifler; _ ^ Je renibroque ^ au coin du rifle, Lonfa maluia dondaine, Un messiere ^ qui pion^ait, * Lonfa malura donde. Je rembroque au coin du rifle Un messiere qui pion^ait; J'ai sonde dans ses vallades, ^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Son carle ^ j'ai pessigue, '' Lonfa malura donde. J'ai sonde dans ses vallades, Son carle j'ai pessigue, Son carle et sa tocquante, ^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Et ses attaches de ce, ^ Lonfa malura donde. Son carle et sa tocquante, Et ses attaches de ce, Son coulant ^^ et sa montante, Lonfa malura dondaine, Et son combre galuche ^^ Lonfa malura donde. Son coulant et sa montante Et son combre galuche, ^^ Son frusque, ^^ aussi sa lisette, Lonfa malura dondaine,^ Et ses tirants brodanches, ^^ Lonfa malura donde. 8 ^T •'-.!«,«« " Montante, hrcfch^!:. Carle, 'nou'}- _, ' ij^odanchcs, em- THE nCKPOCKET'S CHAUNT Son frusque, aussi sa Hsette Et ses tirants brodanches. Crompe, ^ crompe, mercandiere, Lonfa malura dondaine, Car nous serions bequilles, ^ Lonfa malura donde. Crompe, crompe, mercandiere, Car nous serions bequilles. Sur la placarde de vergne, ^ Lonfa malura dondaine, II nous faudrait gambiller, * Lonfa malura donde. Sur la placarde de vergne II nous faudrait gambiller, Allumes ^ de toutes ces largues, ^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Et du trepe '' rassemble, Lonfa malura donde. Allumes de toutes ces largues Et du trepe rassemble; Et de ces chariots bons drilles, ^ Lonfa malura dondaine, Tous aboulant ^ goupiner. Lonfa malura donde. Stanza XIII, line 5. Cotton, the ordinary at Newgate. ' Crompe, run ctvay. ' Largues, wojrien. ' Bequilles, haJiged. ' Trepe, crowd. « Placarde de wergne, public " Chariots bons drilles, y^Z/y P^ace. thieves. * Gambiller, to dance. » Aboulant, coming. ' Allumes, stared at. ON THE PRIGGING LAY 233 On the Prigging Lay H. T. R., the English translator of Vidocq's Memoirs (4 vol., 1828-9), says of this and the following renderings from the French that they "with all their faults and all their errors, are to be added to the Hst of the translator's sins, who would apologise to the Muse did he but know which of the nine presides over Slang poetry." The original of "On the Prigging Lay" is as follows : — Un jour a la Croix-Rouge Nous etions dix a douze {She interrupted herself with " Comme a I'instant menie.") Nous etions dix a douze Tous grinches de renom, ^ Nous attendions la sorgue ^ Voulant poisser des bogues ^ Pour faire du billon. * {bis) Partage ou non partage Tout est a notre usage; N'epargnons le poitou ^ Poissons avec adresse ^ Messieres et gonzesses ^ Sans faire de regout. ^ {bis) Dessus le pont au change Certain argent-de-change Se criblait au charron, ^ J'engantai sa toquante ^*^ Ses attaches brillantes ^^ Avec ses billemonts. ^^ {bis) ' Thieves ' Citizen and wife. 2 vr.VVif ' Awaken suspicion. ' wftches ' Cried "Thief." ♦ Money '" I '""'^ '"^ ^^''^^- . » Let usbe cautious. '' His diamond buckles. » Let us rob. " His bank notes. ?34 ON THE PRIGGING LAY Quand douze plombes crossent, * Ses pegres s'en retournant ^ All tapis de Montron ^ Montron ouvre ta lourde, * Si tu veux que j'aboule, ^ Et piausse en ton bocsin. ^ (bt's) Montron drogue a sa larque, ^ Bonnis-moi done girofle ^ Qui sont ces pegres-la ? ^ Des grinchisseurs de bogues, ^'^ Esquinteurs de boutoques, ^^ Les connobres tu pas? ^^ {bis) Et vite ma culbute; ^^ Quand je vois mon affure ^* Je suis toujours pare ^^ Du plus grand coeur du monde Je vais a la profonde ^® Pour vous donner du frais. (dt's) Mais deja la patrarque, ''' Au clair de la moucharde, ^^ Nous reluge de loin. ^^ L'aventure est etrange, C'etait I'argent-de-change, Que suivait les roussins. ^° {its) ' Twelve oclock strikes. " Burglars. - The thieves. " Do vou not know them? ' At the cabaret. " Breeches. * Your door. '* Profit. ' Give money. " Ready. ' Sleep at your house. " Cellar. ■ Asks his wife. " Patrol. ' Say, my love. " The moon. ' These thieves. '" Looks at us. '° Watch stealers. *" Spies. THE LAG'S LAMENT 235 A des fois Ton rigole ^ Ou bien Ton pavillonne ^ Qu'on devrait lansquiner ^ Raille, griviers, et cognes * Nous ont pour la cigogne ^ Tretons marrons paumes. ® [bis) The Lag's Lament See Note ante, "On the Prigging Lay". The original runs as follows: — Air: VHeureux Pilote. Travaillant d'ordinaire, La sorgue dans Pantin, '' Dans mainte et mainte affaire Faisant tres-bon choppin, ® Ma gente cambriote, * Rendoublee de camelotte, ^*' De la dalle au flaquet; ^^ Je vivais sans disgrace, Sans regout ni morace, ^^ Sans taff et sans regret. ^^ J'ai fait par comblance ^* Giroude larguecape, ^^ Soiffant picton sans lance, ^' Pivois non maquille, ^'' Tirants, passe a la rousse, ^ Attaches de gratouse, ^^ ' Laughs. " Money in the pocket. ' Jokes. " Without fear or uneasi- ' To weep. ness. * Exempt, soldiers and gen- " Without care. darmes. " An increase. ' Palace of justice. " A handsome mistress. ' Taken in the act. '" Drinking wine without ' Evening in Paris. water. ' A good booty. " Unadulterated wine. " Chamber. " Stockings. "> Full of goods. " Lace. 236 THE LAG'S LAMENT Combriot galuchc. ' Cheminant en bon drille, Un jour a la Courtille Je m'en etais engante. ^ En faisant nos gambades, Un grand niessierc franc, ^ Voulant faire parade, Serre un bogue d'orient. * Apres la gambriade, ^ Le filant sur I'eslrade, ® D'esbrouf je I'estourbis, ' j'enflaque sa limace, ^ Son bogue, ses frusques, ses passes, ^ Je m'en fus au fourallis. ^° Par contretemps, ma largue, Voulant se piquer d'honneur, Craignant que je la nargue Moi que n' suis pas taffeur, *^ Pour gonfler ses valades Encasque dans un rade ^^ Sert des sigues a foison ^^ On la crible a la grive, ^* Je m' la donne et m' esquive, ^^ Elle est pommee maron. ^^ Le quart d'oeil lui jabotte ^^ Mange sur tes nonneurs, ^^ Lui tire une carotte Lui montant la couleur. '^ Laced hat. "> The receiving house. Clad. >■ Coward. ' Citizen. la Enters a shop. ♦ A gold watch. " Steals money. ' Dance. i» They call for the guard. Following him in the bou- '^ I fly. ^ levard. i« Taken in the fact. I stun him. i' The commissary questions I take off his shirt. him. • I steal his watch, clothes '» Denounces his accomplices. and shoes. >» Tell a falsehood. " NIX MY DOLL, PALS, ETC." 237 L'on vient, on me ligotte, ^ Adieu, ma cambriote, Mon beau pieu, mes dardants ^ Je monte a la cigogne, ^ On me gerbe a la grotte, * Au tap et pour douze ans. ^ Ma largue n' sera plus gironde, Je serais vioc aussi; ^ Faudra pour plaire au monde, Clinquant, frusque, maquis. ' Tout passe dans la tigne, ^ Et quoiqu'on en juspine. ^ C'est un f— flanchet, 1° Douze longes de tirade, ^* Pour un rigolade, ^^ Pour un moment d'attrait. Stanza II, line 2. So o-ay, so nutty and so knowing — Sec Don Juan, Canto XI, stanza . . . Stanza VI, line i. Sir Richard Birnie the chief magistrate at Bow St. "Nix my Doll, Pals, Fake Away" Ainsworth in his preface to Roohoood VL\7ik(:t% the following remarks on this and the three following songs: — "As I have casually alluded to the flash song of Jerry Juniper, I may be allowed to make a few observations upon this branch of versifica- tion. It is somewhat curious with a dialect so ' They tie me. ' Roii(je. ' My fine bed, my loves. " In this woilil. ' The dock. " Whatever people say. * They condemn my to the '" Lot. galleys. " Twelve years of letters, ' To exposure. " Fool, « Old. 238 " NIX MY DOLL, PALS, ETC." racy, idiomatic, and plastic as our own cant, that its metrical capabilities should have been so little essayed. The French have numerous chansons (i'argot, ranging from the time of Charles Bourdigne and Villon down to that of Vidocq and Victor Hugo, the last of whom has enlivened the horrors of his ' Dernier Joiir d^tin Condamne'' \>y a fes- tive song of this class. The Spaniards possess a large collection of Roinances de Germam'a, by various authors, amongst whom Quevedo holds a distinguished place. We on the contrary, have scarcely any slang songs of merit. This barreness is not attributable to the poverty of the soil, but to the want of due cultivation. Materials are at hand in abundance, but there have been few operators. Dekker, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Ben Jonson, have all dealt lar;.jely in this jargon, but not lyrically ; and one of the earliest and best specimens of a canting-song occurs in Brome's 'Jovial Crerv ;'' and in the 'Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Careiv ' there is a solitary ode addressed by the mendicant fraternity to their newly-elected monarch; but it has little humour, and can scarcely be called a genuine canting- song. This ode brings us down to our own time ; to the effusions of the illustrious Pierce Egan; to Tom Moore's Flights of 'Fancy ; ' to John Jackson's famous chant, ' On the High Toby Spice flash the Muzzle,^ cited by Lord Byron in a note to ' Don Juan;'' and to the glorious Irish ballad, worth them all put together, entitled 'The Night before Larry was stretched.' This is attributed to the late Dean Burrowes, of Cork. \See Note, p. 220 Ed\ It is worthy of note, that almost all modern as- pirants to the gi-aces of the Musa Pedestris are Irishmen. Of all rhymesters of the ' Road,' how- ever. Dean Burrowes is, as yet, most full}- entitled to the laurel. Larry is quite ' the potato ! ' THE GAME OF HIGH TOBY 239 "I venture to affirm that I have done some- thing more than has been accomplished by my pred'ecessors, or contemporaries, with the signifi- cant language under consideration. I have written a purely flash song ; of which the great and peculiar merit consists in its being utterly incomprehensible to the uninformed understanding, while its meaning must be perfectly clear and perspicuous to the practised patterer of Romany, or Pedlers French. I have, moreover, been the first to introduce and naturalize amongst us a measure which, though common enough in the Argotic minstrelsy of France, has been hitherto utterly unknown to our pedestrian poetry." How mistaken Ainsworth was in his claim, thus ambiguously preferred, the present volume shows. Some years after the song alluded to, better known under the title of ' Nix my dolly, pals,— fake aivay !' sprang into extra- ordinary popularity, being set to music by Rodwell, and chanted by glorious Paul Bedford and clever little Mrs. Keeley. The Game of High Toby and The Double Cross See note to "Nix my Doll, Pals, etc.," ante. The House Breaker's Song G W. M. Reynolds followed closely on the heels of Dickens when the latter scored his great success in The Pickwick Papers. He was a most voluminous scribbler, but none of his productions are of high literary merit. 240 THE FAKING BOY ... IS GONE The Faking Boy to the Crap is gone The Nutty Blowen The Fakers New Toast and My Mother " Bon Gualtier " was the joint nom-de-plume of W. E. Aytoun and Sir Theodore Martin. Between 1840 and 1844 they worked together in the pro- duction oiThe Boti Gualtier Ballads, which acquired such great popularity that thirteen large editions of them were called for between 1855 and 1877. They were also associated at this time in writing many prose magazine articles of a humorous character, as well as a series of translations of Goethe's ballads and minor poems, which, after appearing in Blackwood's Magazine, were some years afterwards (1858) collected and published in a volume. The four pieces above mentioned appeared as stated in Tails Edi?ibtirgh Magazine under the title of " Flowers of Hemp, or the Newgate Garland," and are parodies of well-known songs. The High Pad's Frolic and The Dashy, Splashy. . . . Little Stringer Leman Rede (1802-47) an author of numerous successful dramatic pieces, and a contributor to the weekly and monthly journals of the day, chiefly to the Neiv Monthly and Bentley's. He was born in Hamburgh, his father a barrister. THE BOULD YEOMAN 241 Some of the best parts ever played by Listen, John Reeve, Charles Mathews, Keeley, and G. Wild were written by him. The Bould Yeoman The Bridle-cull and his little Pop-gun Jack Flashman Miss Dolly Trull and The By-blow of the Jug See Note to "Sonnets for The Fancy" p. 225. Captain Macheath was one of Egan's latest, and by no means one of his best, productions. It is now very scarce. The Cadger's Ball John Labern, a once popular, but now forgotten music-hall artiste, and song-writer, issued several collections of the songs of the day. It is from one of these that "The Cadger's Ball" is taken. "Dear Bill, This Stone- Jug" The state of affairs described in this poem is now happily a thing of the past. Newgate, as a prison, has almost ceased to be. Only when the Courts are sitting do its functions com- mence, and then there is constant coming and going between the old city gaol and the real London prison of to-day, Holloway Castle. 16 242 THE LEARY MAN The Leary Man The Vulgar 'To7igue, by Ducange Anglicus, is, as a glossary, of no account whatever; the only thing not pilfered from Brandon's Poverty, Men- dicity, and Crime being this song. Where that canie from deponent knoweth not. A Hundred Stretches Hence The Rogue's Lexicon, mainly reprinted from Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, is of permanent interest and value to the philologist and student for the many curious survivals of, and strange shades of meaning occuring in, slang words and colloquilisms after transplantation to the States. G. W. Matsell was for a time the chief of the New York police. The Chickaleary Cove Vance, a music-hall singer and composer in the sixties, made his first great hit in Jolly Dogs ; or Slap-bang ! here zve are again. This was followed by The Chickaleary Cove: a classic in its way. 'Arry at a Political Picnic The 'Arry Ballads' are too fresh in public memory to need extensive quotation. The ex- ample given is a fair sample of the series ; which, taken as a whole, very cleverly "hit off" the idiosyncrasies and foibles of the London larrikin. Stanza VIII, line 4. Walker = Be off"! "RUM COVES THAT RELIEVE US" 243 "Rum Coves that Relieve us" Heinrich Baumann, the author of Lotidotiismen, an English-German glossary of cant and slang, to which " Rum Coves that Relieve us " forms the preface. Villon's Good Night Villon's Straight Tip and Culture in the Slums William Ernest Henley, poet, critic, dramatist, and editor was born at Gloucester in 1849, and educated at the same city. In his early years (says Me7i of the Time) he suffered much from ill-health, and the first section of his Book of Verses (1888 : 4th ed. 1893), In Hospital: Rhymes and Rhythms, was a record of expe- riences in the Old Infirmary, Edinburgh, in 1873-5. In 1875 he began writing for the London maga- zines, and in 1877 '^^.s one of the founders as well as the editor of London. In this journal much of his early verse appeared. He was after- wards appointed editor of The Magazi?ie of Art, and in 1889 of The Scots, a.iiQxv^-Axds The National Observer. To these journals, as well as to The Athenceum and Saturday Review he has contri- buted many critical articles, a selection of which was published in 1890 under the title of Vieivs and Reviews. In collaboration with Robert Louis Stevenson he has published a volume of plays, one of which. Beau Austin, was produced at tlie Hay- market Theatre in 1892. His second volume of verses— 7^^ Song of the Sword — marks a new departure in style. He has edited a fine col- 16 244 CULTURE IN THE SLUMS lection of verses, Lyra Heroica, and, with Mr. Charles Whibley, an anthology of English prose. In 1893 Mr. Henley received the honour of an L.L.D. degree of St. Andrew's university. At the present time he is also editing The Neiv Reviexv, a series of Tudor Translations, a new Bvron, a new Burns, and collaborating with Mr. J. S. Farmer in Slang and its Analogues ; an historical dictionary of slang. " Villon^ s Straight Tip : Stanza I, line i . Screeve = provide (or work with) begging-letters. Line 2. Fake the broads = pack the cards. Tig a nag = play the coper with an old horse and a fig of ginger. Line 3. Knap a yack = steal a watch. Line 4. Pilch a snide = pass a false coin. Smash a rag = change a false note. Line 5. T)uff = sell sham smugglings. Nose and lag = collect evidence for the police. Line 6. Get the straight = get the office, and back a winner. Line 7. Multy (expletive) = "bloody". Line 8. Booze and the blowens cop the lot: cf. " 'Tis all to taverns and to lasses." (A. Lang). Stanza II, line i. Fiddle = swindle. Fence = deal in stolen goods. Alace = welsh. Mack = pimp. Line 2. Moskeneer = to pawn for more than the pledge is worth. Flash the drag = wear women's clothes for an improper purpose. Line 3. Dead-lurk a crib = house-break in church time. Do a crack = burgle with violence. Line 4. Pad with a slang = tramp with a show. Line 5. Mump ajid gag = beg and talk. Line 6. Tats = dice. Spot, (at billiards). Line 7. Stag = shilling. Stanza III, line 2. Flash yotir flag = sport your apron. Line 4. A^ug = make faces. Line 5. Nix = nothing. Line 6. Graft = trade. Line 7. Gohlijis = sovereigns. Stravag = go astray. TOTTIE 245 The Moral. Line i. Up the spout and Charley Wag — expressions of dispersal. Line 2. Wipes = handkerchiefs. Tickers = watches. Line 3. Squeezer = halter. Scrag = neck. "Tottie" A Plank-Bed Ballad and The Rondeau of the Knock G. R. Sims ("Dagonet") needs little introduc- tion to present-day readers. Born in London in 1847, he was educated at Han well College, and afterwards at Bonn. He joined the staff of jFim on the death of Tom Hood the younger in 1874, and The Weekly Despatch the same year. Since 1877 he has been a contributor to The Referee under the pseudonym of " Dagonet". A voluminous miscellaneous writer, dramatist, poet, and novelist, M. Sims shows yet no dimi- nution of his versatility and power. Wot Cher! Our Little Nipper and The Coster's Serenade Albert Chevalier, a "coster poet", music-hall artist, and musician of French extraction was born in Hammersmith. He is a careful, competent actor of minor parts, and sings his own little ditties extremely well. APPENDIX. There are still one or two "waifs and strays" to be mentioned: — In Don Juan, canto XI, stanzas xvii— xix, Byron thus describes one oi his dramatis personce. Poor Tom was once a kiddy upon town, A thorough varmint and a real swell . . . Full flash, all fancy, until fairly diddled, His pockets first, and then his body riddled. He from the world had cut off a great man Who in his time had made heroic bustle. Who in a row like Tom could lead the van, Booze in the ken, or in the spellken hustle? Who queer a flat ? Who (spite of Bow Street's ban) On the high-toby-splice so flash the muzzle ? Who on a lark, with Black-eyed Sal (his blowing) So prime, so swell, so nutty, and so knowing ? In a note Byron says, "The advance of science and of language has rendered it unnecessary to translate the above good and true English, spoken J48 AITENDIX in its original purity b}- the select mobility and their patrons. The following is the stanza of a song which was \'ery popular, at least in my early days: — (" If there be any German so ignorant as to require a traduction, I refer him to my old friend and corporeal pastor and master John Jackson, Esq., Professor of Pugilism.") On the high toby splice flash the muzzle In spite of each gallows old scout ; If you at the spellken can't hustle You'll be hobbled in making a clout. Then your blowing will wax gallows haughty, When she hears of your scaly mistake She'll surely turn snitch for the forty — That her Jack may be regular weight. John Jackson, to whom is attributed the slang song of which the foregoing stanza is a fragment was the son of a London builder. He was born in London on 28 Sept. 1769, and though he fought but thrice, was champion of England from 1795 to 1803, when he retired, and was succeeded by Belcher. After leaving the prize-ring, Jackson established a school at No. 13 Bond Street, where he gave instructions in the art of self-defence, and was largely patronised by the nobility of the day. At the coronation of George IV he was employed, with eighteen other prize-fighters dressed as pages, to guard the entrance to West- minster Abbey and Hall. He seems, according to the inscription on a mezzotint engraving by C. Turner, to have subsequently been landlord of the Sun and Punchbowl, Holborn, and of the Cock at Sutton. He died on 7 Oct. 1845 at No. 4 Lower Grosvenor Street West, London, APPENDIX 249 in his seventy-seventh year, and was buriled in Brompton Cemetery, where a colossal monument was erected by subscription to his memory. Byron, who was one of his pupils, had a great regard for him, and often walked and drove with him in public. It is related that, while the poet was at Cambridge, his tutor remonstrated with him on being seen in company so much beneath his rank, and that he replied that "Jackson's manners were infinitely superior to those of the fellows of the college whom I meet at ' the high table'" (J. W. Clark, Cambridge, 1890, p. 140). He twice alludes to his 'old friend and cor- poreal pastor and master' in his notes to his poems (Byron, Poetical Works, 1885-6, ii. 144, vi. 427), as well as in his 'Hints from Horace' (lb. i. 503): And men unpractised in exchanging knocks Must go to Jackson ere they dare to box. Moore, who accompanied Jackson to a prize- fight in December 18 18, notes in his diary that Jackson's house was 'a very neat establishment for a boxer', and that the respect paid to him everywhere was 'highly comical' {Memoirs, ii. 233). A portrait of Jackson, from an original painting then in the possession of Sir Henry Smythe, bart., will be found in the first volume of Milcs's 'Pugilistica' (opp. p. 89). There are two mezzotint engravings by C. Turner. II. In Boucicault's Janet Pride (revival by Charles Warner at the Adelphi Theatre, London in the early eighties) was sung the following (here given from memory) : 250 APPENDIX The Convict's Song. The Farewell. Farewell to old England the beautiful ! Farewell to my old pals as well ! Farewell to the famous Old Ba-i-lv ( Whistle). Where I used for to cut sich a swell. Ri-chooral, ri-chooral, Oh! ! ! The [Werdhick ?] These seving long years I've been serving, And seving I've got for to stay, All for bashin' a bloke down our a-alley, ( Whistle). And a' takin' his huxters away ! The Complaint. There's the Captain, wot is our Command uer. There's the Bosun and all the ship's crew, There's the married as well as the single 'uns, ( Whistle). Knows wot we pore convicks goes through. The [Suffering ?] It ain't' cos they don't give us grub enough, It ain't' cos they don't give us clo'es : It's a-cos all we light-fingred gentery ( Whistle). Goes about with a log on our toes. The Prayer. Oh, had I the wings of a turtle-dove, Across the broad ocean I'd fly, Right into the arms of my Polley love ( Whistle). And on her soft bosum I'd lie ! APPENDIX 251 The Morrell. Now, all you young wi-counts and duchesses, Take warning by wot I've to say, And mind all your own wot you touches is, {Whistle). Or you'll line us in Botinny Bay ! Oh ! ! ! Ri-chooral, ri-chooral, ri-addiday, Ri-chooral, ri-chooral, iday. 3 • 'r\iviLK.3l I I tir • " UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 001 380 710 2