Obviously a companion song to the previous example: See Note ante. Rum-Mort = a beggar or gypsy queen.
Stanza I, line 1. Kinching-cove = (literally) a child or young lad: here as an endearment. Line 4. Clapperdogeon = "The Paillard or Clapperdogeons, are those that have been brought up to beg from their infancy, and frequently counterfeit lameness, making their legs, arms, and hands appear to be sore"—Triumph of Wit, p. 185.
Stanza II, line 1. Dimber-damber = a chief man in the Canting
Crew, or the head of a gang. Line 2. Palliard (See note Stanza
I). Line 3. jockum =penis. Line 4. glimmer =
fire; here, a pox or clap.
Stanza V, line 1. crank (or counterfeit-crank)—"These that do counterfet the cranke be yong knaves and yonge harlots that deeply dissemble the falling sickness".—(Harman, Caveat, 1814, p. 33). Line 1. dommerar= a beggar feigning deaf and dumb. Line 2. rum-maunder = to feign madness. Line 3. Abram-cove = a beggar pretending madness to cover theft. Line 4. Gybes well jerk'd = pass or license cleverly forged.
The Black Procession
See Note as to J. Shirley on page 209.
Frisky Moll's Song
John Harper (d. 1742), actor, originally performed at Bartholomew and Southwark fairs. On 27 Oct. 1721 his name appears as Sir Epicure Mammon in the Alchemist at Drury Lane. Here he remained for eleven years, taking the parts of booby squires, fox-hunters, etc., proving himself what Victor calls 'a jolly facetious low comedian'. His good voice was serviceable in ballad opera and farce. On account of his 'natural timidity', according to Davies, he was selected by Highmore, the patentee, in order to test the status of an actor, to be the victim of legal proceedings taken under the Vagrant Act, 12 Queen Anne, and on 12 Nov. 1733 he was committed to Bridewell as a vagabond. On 20 Nov. he came before the chief justice of the Kings Bench. It was pleaded on his behalf that he paid his debts, was well esteemed by persons of condition, was a freeholder in Surrey, and a householder in Westminster. He was discharged amid acclamations on his own recognisance.
The Canter's Serenade
The New Canting Dictionary (1725) is, in the main, a reprint of The Dictionary of the Canting* Crew (c. 1696) compiled by B. E. The chief difference is that the former contains a collection of Canting Songs, most of which are included in the present collection.