[Notes]
I
The Ruffin cly the nab of the Harmanbeck,
If we mawnd Pannam, lap, or Ruff-peck,
Or poplars of yarum: he cuts, bing to the Ruffmans,
Or els he sweares by the light-mans,
To put our stamps in the Harmans,
The ruffian cly the ghost of the Harmanbeck
If we heaue a booth we cly the lerk.
[The devil take the Constable's head!
If we beg bread, drink, bacon,
Or milk porridge, he says: "be off to the hedges"
Or swears, in the morning
To clap our feet in the stocks.
The devil take the Constable's ghost
If we rob a house we are flogged.]
II
If we niggle, or mill a bowzing Ken,
Or nip a boung that has but a win,
Or dup the giger of a Gentry cores ken,
To the quier cuffing we bing;
And then to the quier Ken, to scowre the Cramp-ring,
And then to the Trin'de on the chates, in the light-mans,
The Bube &. Ruffian cly the Harmanbeck & harmans.
[If we fornicate, or thieve in an alehouse,
Rob a purse with only a penny in it.
Or break into a gentleman's house,
To the magistrate we go;
Then to gaol to be shackled,
Whence to be hanged on the gallows in the morning,
The pox and the devil take the constable and his stocks.]
"OWRE OUT BEN MORTS" [1610]
[By SAMUEL ROWLANDS in "Martin Mark-all, Beadle of Bridewell: His
Defence and Answere to the Belman of London"].