Musa Pedestris

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Musa Pedestris - Three Centuries of
Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536 - 1896], by John S. Farmer
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Title: Musa Pedestris - Three Centuries of Canting Songs
and Slang Rhymes [1536 - 1896]
Author: John S. Farmer
Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8466]
[Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on July 14, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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0. START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUSA
PEDESTRIS ***
Produced by Tiffany Vergon, Jerry Fairbanks
and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team
Musa Pedestris
THREE CENTURIES OF
CANTING SONGS
AND SLANG RHYMES
[1536-1896]
COLLECTED AND ANNOTATED
BY
JOHN S. FARMER
CONTENTS
Index to Titles
Index to Authors
Forewords
Notes
Appendix
"A beggar I'll be" (Anon--1660)
"A Gage of Ben Rom-Bouse"
(Middleton and Dekker--1611)
"A Hundred Stretches Hence" (G. W.
Matsell--1859)
'Arry at a Political Picnic (T. Milliken--1884)

Beggar's Curse, The (Thomas Dekker--1608)
"Bing Out, Bien Morts"
(Thomas Dekker--1612)
Black Procession, The (Anon--1712)

Blooming Æsthetic (Anon--1882)
Bobby and His Mary (Anon--1826)

Bould Yeoman, The (Pierce Egan--1842)
Bridle-cull and his little
Pop-gun (Pierce Egan--1842)
Budg and Snudg Song, A (Anon--1676)

Banter's Christening, The (G. Parker--1789)
By-blow of the Jug,
The (Pierce Egan--1842)
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)

"Dear-Bill--This Stone Jug" (Anon--1857)
Double Cross, The (W. H.
Ainsworth--1834)
Faker's New Toast, The (Bon Gualtier--1841)

Flashey Joe (R. Morley--1826)
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.
Reynolds--1838)
Jack Flashman (Pierce Egan--1842)
Lag's Lament,
The (H. T. R.--1829)
Leary Man, The (Ducange Anglicus--185?)

Leary Mot, A (Anon--1811)
Masqueraders, The (G. Parker--1789)

Maunder's Initiation, The (J. Fletcher--1625)
Maunder's Praise of his
Strowling Mort, The (Anon--1707)
Maunder's Wooing, The (S.
Rowlands--1610)
Merry Beggars, The (R. Brome--1641)
Milling
Match, The (T. Moore--1819)
Miss Dolly Trull (Pierce Egan--1842)

Mort's Drinking Song, A (R. Brome--1641)
My Mother (Bon
Gualtier--1841)
My mugging maid (J. Bruton--1826)
"Nix my Doll,
Pals, Fake Away" (W. Harrison Ainsworth--1834) Nutty Blowen, The
(Bon Gualtier--1841)
Oath of the Canting Crew, The (R.
Goadby--1749)
On the Prigging Lay (H. T. R.--1829)
Our Little
Nipper (A. Chevalier--1893)
Pickpocket's Chaunt, The (W.
Maginn--1829)
Plank-bed Ballad, A (G. R. Sims--1888)
Poor
Luddy (T. Dibdin--1826)
Potato Man, The (Anon--1775)
"Retoure
my dear Dell" (Anon--1725)
Rhyme of the Rusher (Doss
Chiderdoss--1892)
Rhymes of the Canting Crew (R. Copland--1536)

Rondeau of the Knock, The (G. R. Sims--1890)
"Rum Coves that
Relieve Us" (H. Baumann--1887)
Rum-Mort's Praise of her Faithless
Maunder, The (Anon--1707) Sandman's Wedding, The (G.
Parker--1789)
Slang Pastoral, A (R. Tomlinson--1780)

Song of the
Beggar, The (Anon--1620)
Song of the Young Prig, The
(Anon--1810-9)
Sonnets for the Fancy: I. Education.
II. Progress.
III. Triumph (Pierce Egan--1824)
"The Faking Boy to the Crap is
Gone" (Bon Gualtier--1841)
The Night before Larry was stretched
(W. Maher--1816)
Thieves' Chaunt, The (W. H. Smith--1836)


Tottie (G. R. Sims--1887)
"Towre Out, Ben Morts" (S.
Rowlands--1610)
True Bottom'd Boxer, The (J. Jones--1825)
Vain
Dreamer, The (Anon--1725)
Villon's Good Night (W. E.
Henley--1887)
Villon's Straight Tip (W. E. Henley--1887)
"When
my Dimber Dell I Courted" (Anon--1725)
"Wot Cher" (A.
Chevalier--1892)
"Ye Scamps, ye Pads, ye Divers" (Messink--1781)

"Ya-Hip, my Hearties!" (Gregson--1819)
INDEX TO AUTHORS
Ainsworth, W. Harrison
Anonymous
Baumann, Heinrich
Bon
Gualtier
Brome, Richard
Bruton, James
Chevalier, Albert

Copland, Robert
Dekker, Thomas
Dibdin, Thomas
Doss
Chiderdoss
Ducange Anglicus
Egan, Pierce
Fletcher, John

Goadby, Robert
Gregson
Harper, J.
Henley, W. Ernest
H. T. R.

Jones, J.
Maginn, William
Maher, Will
Matsell, G. W.

Messink
Middleton, Thomas
Milliken, T.
Moore, Thomas

Morley, R.
Parker, George
Rede, Leman
Reynolds, G. W. M.

Rowlands, Samuel
Sims, G. R.
Smith, W. H.
Tomlinson, R.

Vance
FOREWORDS
When Harrison Ainsworth, in his preface to Rookwood, claimed tobe
"the first to write a purely flash song" he was very wide of themark. As
a matter of fact, "Nix my doll, pals, fake away!" had beenanticipated, 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 unpardonable; few, indeed,
would have even guessed that the appearance of utter neglect which
surrounded 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