John Stephen Farmer

“ 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 largely in this jargon, but not lyrically; and one of the earliest and best specimens of a canting-song occurs in Brome's 'Jovial Crew;' and in the 'Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew' there is a solitary ode addressed by the mendicant fraternity to their newly-elected monarch ”

“ THE GAME OF HIGH TOBY [Notes] [1834]
[By W. HARRISON AINSWORTH in Rookwood] .
I Now Oliver puts his black night-cap on, [1]
And every star its glim is hiding, [2]
And forth to the heath is the scampsman gone, [3]
His matchless cherry-black prancer riding; [4]
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. [5]
Chorus. ”

“ 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,
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 ”

“ 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 aspirants to the graces of the Musa Pedestris are Irishmen. ”

“ It must be confessed, however, that the field of English slang verse and canting song, though 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. ”

“ 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 true. [1]
The first was a coiner, that stampt in a mould;
The second a voucher to put off his gold, [2]
Toure you well; hark you well, see [3]
Where they are rubb'd, [4]
Up to the nubbing cheat where they are nubb'd. ”

“ Nor will budge one foot faster for all I can say.
X Will no blood-hunting foot-pad, that hears me complain,
Stop the wind of that nabbing-cull, constable Payne? [11]
If he does, he'll to Tyburn next sessions be dragg'd,
And what kiddy's so rum as to get himself scragg'd? [12]
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. ”

“ IV My peepers! who've we here now? why this is sure Black-Moll: [7]
My ma'am, you're of the fair sex, so welcome to mill doll;
The cull with you who'd venture into a snoozing-ken, [8]
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,
Nor for a little bub come the slang upon your fare; [9]
Your jazy pays the garnish, unless the fees you tip, [10]
Though you're a flashy coachman, here the gagger holds the whip,
With my tow row, etc. ”

“ 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 follow.
Stanza I, line i. Ben = Lat. bene = good. Mort = a woman, chaste or not. Line 3. Rome-cove = "a great rogue" (B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, 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 his confederate. ”

“ Cracksman, in Newgate, to Bill Sykes] .
I Dear Bill, this stone-jug at which flats dare to rail, [1]
(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 [2]
In a ward with one's pals, not locked up in a cell, [3]
To an old hand like me it's a family hotel. [4]
II In the dayrooms the cuffins we queers at our ease, [5]
And at Darkmans we run the rig just as we please, [6]
There's your peck and your lush, hot and reg'lar each day. ”

“ Darkman
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. lightmans = day; ruffmans = a wood or bush; greenmans = 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 meke (or make) = a half-penny. Line 7. His watch = he: my watch = I, or me: cf. 'his nabs' and 'my nabs' in modern slang. ”

“ THE MASQUERADERS: OR, THE WORLD AS IT WAGS [Notes] [1789]
[By GEORGE PARKER in Life's Painter of Variegated Characters] .
I Ye flats, sharps, and rum ones, who make up this pother;
Who gape and stare, just like 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 sings, 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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". ”

“ 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, [25]
The poor country higlers, and plunders the farms; [26]
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. ”

“ Of all rhymesters of the 'Road,' however, Dean Burrowes is, as yet, most fully entitled to the laurel. Larry is quite 'the potato!'
"I venture to affirm that I have done something more than has been accomplished by my predecessors, or contemporaries, with the significant 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 Pedler's French. ”

“ Go wrong you never can.
All fighting coves too you must know
Ben Caunt as well as Bendigo,
And to each mill be sure to go,
And be one of the van.
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 [9]
Round your scrag for bloaks to see [10]
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 [11]
To win must be your plan. ”

“ 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 expectation of being hanged rubbed shoulders with others still hoping for reprieve. ”

“ 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 sty, saying, as usual, "There is a sow for you! Did you ever see the like?" One of the visitors replied, "Well, it is the drunkenest sow I ever beheld." Whence the woman was ever after called "Davy's sow."
A Leary Mot
Stanza III, line 1. Cock and Hen Club = a free-and-easy for both sexes. ”

“ 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 "Canting Rhymes" (ante) . In spite of this shortcoming, however, and a certain recklessness of workmanship, the scholar of to- day owes Dekker a world of thanks: his information 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. ”

“ The autum-mort finds better sport [6]
In bowsing than in nigling. [7]
This is bien bowse, etc.
[She tosses off her bowle, falls back and is carried out.]
[1: strong ale] [2: cup or platter] [3: water; pot] [4: wine] [5: mouth] [6: wife] [7: fornicating]
"A BEGGAR I'LL BE" [Notes] [1660—1663]
[A black-letter broadside ballad]
I
A Beggar, a Beggar, a Beggar I'll 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 ”

“ Dimber-damber = the chief of a gang: also an expert thief. Angler = hooker (see ante) . Line 23. swigman = 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 curtall 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. ”

“ 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.
[1: pretty wench] [2: Notes] [3: eyes] [4: man; look at] [5: Notes]
THE OATH OF THE CANTING CREW [Notes] [1749]
[From The Life of Bampfylde Moore Carew, by ROBERT GOADBY] .
I, Crank Cuffin, swear to be [1]
True to this fraternity;
That I will in all obey
Rule and order of the lay.
Never blow the gab or squeak; [2]
Never snitch to bum or beak ”

“ He useth commonly to go with a short cloke, like to grey Friers, and his woman with him in like livery, which he calleth his Altham if she be hys wyfe, and if she be his harlot, she is called hys Doxy."— (HARMAN) . Line 25. Whip-jack = a rogue begging with a counterfeit license. Palliard = 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 seales, in their language called Jarkes. "— (HARMAN) . Line 27. Dommerar = a rogue pretending deaf and dumb. ”

“ A Mort's Drinking Song
See Note to "The Merry Beggars," ante.
"A Beggar I'll Be"
This ballad is from the Bagford Collection which, formed by John
Bagford (1651-1716) , passed successively through the hands of James
West (president of the Royal Society) , Major Pearson, the Duke of
Roxburghe and Mr. B. H. Bright, until in 1845 it and the more
extensive Roxburghe Collection became the property of the nation.
Stanza II, line 1. Maunder = beggar. Line 2. filer = pickpocket; filcher = thief. Line 3. canter = a tramping beggar or rogue. Line 4. lifter = a shop-thief. ”

“ Dekker introducing these verses affirms "it is a canting song not ... composed as those of the Belman's were, out of his owne braine, but by the Canter's themselves, and sung at their meetings", in which, all things considered, Dekker is probably protesting overmuch.
Stanza V, line 3. And wapping dell that niggles well = a harlot or mistress who "spreads" acceptably.
Stanza IX, line 2. Bing out of the Rom-vile;
i.e. to Tyburn, then the place of execution: Rom-vile = London.
The Song Of The Begger
The Description of Love is an exceedingly scarce little "garland" which first appeared in 1620 ”

“ Flash Song', p. 2] .
I Come all you buffers gay, [1]
That rumly do pad the city, [2]
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.
III But if after a rum cull you pad [3]
Pray follow him brave and bold;
For many a buffer has been grab'd,
For fear, as I've been told.
IV Let your pal that follows behind,
Tip your bulk pretty soon;
And to slap his whip in time, [4]
For fear the cull should be down. [5]
V For if the cull should be down. ”

“ 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 and gag = beg and talk. Line 6. Tats = dice. Spot, (at billiards) . Line 7. Stag = shilling.
Stanza III, line 2. Flash your flag = sport your apron. Line 4. Mug = make faces. Line 5. Nix = nothing. Line 6. Graft = trade. Line 7. Goblins = sovereigns. Stravag = go astray. ”

“ Stanza III, line 10. New Drop. The extreme penalty of the law, long carried out at Tyburn (near the Marble 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. ”