“And thus hath the Belman, through his pitifull ambition, caused me to write that I would not: And whereas he disclaims the name of Brotherhood, I here vtterly renounce him & his fellowship, as not desirous to be rosolued of anything he professeth on this subiect, knowing my selfe to be as fully instructed herein as euer he was.”—Sign. F.
- [35] Where at this day the Rogues of the North part, once euerie three yeeres, assemble in the night, because they will not be seene and espied; being a place, to those that know it, verie fit for that purpos,—it being hollow, and made spacious vnder ground; at first, by estimation, halfe a mile in compasse; but it hath such turnings and roundings in it, that a man may easily be lost if hee enter not with a guide.
- [36] Of the above passages, Dekker speaks in the following manner:—“There is an Vsurper, that of late hath taken vpon him the name of the Belman; but being not able to maintaine that title, hee doth now call himselfe the Bel-mans brother; his ambition is (rather out of vaine-glory then the true courage of an experienced Souldier) to haue the leading of the Van; but it shall be honor good enough for him (if not too good) to come vp with the Rere. You shall know him by his Habiliments, for (by the furniture he weares) he will be taken for a Beadle of Bridewell. It is thought he is rather a Newter then a friend to the cause: and therefore the Bel-man doth here openly protest that hee comes into the field as no fellow in armes with him.”—O per se O (1612 edit.), sign. A. 2.
In the second Part of his Belman of London, namely, his Lanthorne and Candle-light, 1609, Dekker printed a Dictionary of Canting, which is only a reprint of Harman’s (p. [82]–4, below). A few extracts from this Lanthorne are subjoined:
Canting.
“This word canting seemes to bee deriued from the latine verbe canto, which signifies in English, to sing, or to make a sound with words,—that is to say, to speake. And very aptly may canting take his deriuation, a cantando, from singing, because, amongst these beggerly consorts that can play vpon no better instruments, the language of canting is a kind of musicke; and he that in such assemblies can cant {xx} best, is counted the best Musitian.”—Dekker’s Lanthorne and Candle-light, B. 4. back.
Specimen of “Canting rithmes.”
“Enough—with bowsy Coue maund Nace, Tour the Patring Coue in the Darkeman Case, Docked the Dell, for a Coper meke His wach shall feng a Prounces Nab-chete, Cyarum, by Salmon, and thou shalt pek my Iere In thy Gan, for my watch it is nace gere, For the bene bowse my watch hath a win, &c.”
A specimen of “Canting prose,” with translation, is given on the same page.
Dekker’s dictionary of Canting, given in Lanthorne and Candle-light, is the same as that of Harman.
“A Canting Song.