“I will take my prince’s part against all that shall oppose him, or any of us, according to the utmost of my ability; nor will I suffer him, or any one belonging to us, to be abused by any strange _Abrams_, _Rufflers_, _Hookers_, _Paillards_, _Swaddlers_, _Irish Toyles_, _Swigmen_, _Whip Jacks_, _Jackmen_, _Bawdy Baskets_, _Dommerars_, _Clapper Dogeons_, _Patricoes_, or _Curtals_; but will defend him, or them, as much as I can, against all other outliers whatever. I will not conceal aught I win out of _Libkins_[70], or pun the _Ruffmans_[71], but will preserve it for the use of the company. Lastly, I will cleave to my _Doxy-wap_[72], stifly, and will bring her _Duds_[73], _Margery Prators_[74], _Goblers_[75], _Grunting Cheats_[76], or _Tibs of the Buttery_[77], or any thing else I can come at, as _winning_[78] for her wappings.” The canters, it would appear, have a tradition, that from the three first articles of this oath, the first founders of a certain boastful, worshipful fraternity, (who pretend to derive their origin from the earliest times) borrowed both the hint and the form of their establishment; and that their pretended derivation of the first word _Adam_ is a forgery, it being only from the first _Adam Tyler_[70]. At the admission of a new brother, a general stock is raised for _booze_ or drink, to make themselves merry on the occasion. As for peckage or eatables, this they can procure without money, for while some are sent to break the ruffmans, or woods and bushes, for firing, others are detached to filch geese, chickens, hens, ducks, or mallards, and pigs. Their morts, or women, are their butchers, who presently make bloody work with what living things are brought to them; and having made holes in the ground under some remote hedge, in an obscure place, they make a fire, and boil or broil their food; and when it is done enough, fall to work tooth and nail; and having eaten more like beasts than human beings, they drink more like swine than men, entertaining each other during the time with songs in the canting dialect. As they live, so they lie together, promiscuously, and know not how to claim a property either in their goods or children; and this general interest ties them more firmly together, than if all their rags were twisted into ropes, to bind them indissolubly from a separation, which detestable union is farther consolidated by the preceding oath. They stroll up and down all summer-time in droves, and dexterously pick pockets while they are telling fortunes; and the money, rings, silver thimbles, &c. which they get, are instantly conveyed from one hand to another, till the remotest person of the gang (who is not suspected, because they come not near the person robbed) gets possession of it; so that in the strictest search, it is impossible to recover it, while the wretches, with imprecations, oaths, and protestations, disclaim the thievery.