Musa Pedestris - Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536 - 1896] Part 7

III

[And when that we have fil'd him [11]

Perhaps of half a job; [12]

Then every man to the boozin ken [13]

O there to fence his hog; [14]

But if the cully nap us, And once again we get Into the cramping rings], [15]

(But we are rubbed into; To scoure them in) the whitt.

IV

And when that we come (to; unto) the whitt, For garnish they do cry; [16]

(Mary, faugh, you son of a wh.o.r.e; We promise our l.u.s.ty comrogues) (Ye; They) shall have it by and bye [Then, every man with his mort in his hand, [17]

Does booze off his can and part, With a kiss we part, and westward stand, To the nubbing cheat in a cart]. [18]

V

{But/And} when {that/---} we come to {Tyburn/the nubbing cheat} For {going upon/running on} the budge, There stands {Jack Catch/Jack Ketch}, that son of a {wh.o.r.e/b.i.t.c.h}, [19]

That owes us all a grudge.

{And/For} when that he hath {noosed/nubbed} us, [20]

And our friends {tips/tip} him no cole, [21]

{O then he throws us in the cart/He takes his chive and cuts us down}, [22]

And {tumbles/tips} us into {the/a} hole.

[An additional stanza is given in _Bacchus and Venus_ (1737), a version which moreover contains many verbal variations]. [23]

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 wh.o.r.eson hath his will.

[1: Sneaking into houses and stealing anything to hand]

[2: Accomplished the theft]

[3: fellow catches]

[4 swag [properly money]]

[5: take us to Newgate; [Notes]]

[6: halfpenny]

[7: fetters]

[8: drink]

[9: countryman]

[10: steal his money]

[11: robbed]

[12: half a guinea]

[13: ale-house]

[14: spend a s.h.i.+lling]

[15: Handcuffs and leg-shackles]

[16: "footing"]

[17: wh.o.r.e]

[18: gallows]

[19: Notes]

[20: hung]

[21: give no money]

[22: knife]

[23: Notes]

THE MAUNDER'S PRAISE OF HIS STROWLING MORT [Notes]

[1707]

[From _The Triumph of Wit_, by J. s.h.i.+RLEY: "the King of the Gypsies's Song, made upon his Beloved Doxy, or Mistress;" also in _New Canting Diet_. (1725)].

I

Doxy, oh! thy glaziers s.h.i.+ne [1]

As glimmar; by the Salomon! [2]

No gentry mort hath prats like thine, [3]

No cove e'er wap'd with such a one. [4]

II

White thy fambles, red thy gan, [5]

And thy quarrons dainty is; [6]

Couch a hogshead with me then, [7]

And in the darkmans clip and kiss. [8]

III

What though I no togeman wear, [9]

Nor commission, mish, or slate; [10]

Store of strammel we'll have here, [11]

And ith' skipper lib in state. [12]

IV

Wapping thou I know does love, [13]

Else the ruffin cly the mort; [14]

From thy stampers then remove, [15]

Thy drawers, and let's prig in sport. [16]

V

When the lightman up does call, [17]

Margery prater from her nest, [18]

And her Cackling cheats withal, [19]

In a boozing ken we'll feast. [20]

VI