Edward Solly.
London Street Cry (6th S. viii. 348, 393).—The following quotations from Taylor, the Water Poet, may be of interest to Mr. Tuer:—
“I could name more, if so my Muse did please,
Of Mowse Traps, and tormentors to kill Fleas.”
The Travels of Twelve-pence.
Yet shall my begg’ry no strange Suites devise,
As monopolies to catch Fleas and Flyes.”
The Beggar.
Faringdon. Walter Haines.
I notice a query from you in N. and Q. about a London Street Cry which troubles you. Many of the curious adjuncts to Street Cries proper have, I apprehend, originally no meaning beyond drawing attention to the Crier by their whimsicality. I will give you an instance. Soon after the union between England and Ireland, a man with a sack on his back went regularly about the larger streets of Dublin. His cry was:
“Bits of Brass,
Broken Glass,
Old Iron,
Bad luck to you, Castlereagh.”
Party feeling against Lord Castlereagh ran very high at the time, I believe, and the political adjunct to his cry probably brought the man more shillings than he got by his regular calling.