Progress. III. Triumph (Pierce Egan--1824) "The Faking Boy to the Crap is Gone" (Bon Gualtier--1841) The Night before Larry was stretched (W. Maher--1816) Thieves' Chaunt, The (W. H. Smith--1836) Tottie (G. R. Sims--1887) "Towre Out, Ben Morts" (S. Rowlands--1610) True Bottom'd Boxer, The (J. Jones--1825) Vain Dreamer, The (Anon--1725) Villon's Good Night (W. E. Henley--1887) Villon's Straight Tip (W. E. Henley--1887) "When my Dimber Dell I Courted" (Anon--1725) "Wot Cher" (A. Chevalier--1892) "Ye Scamps, ye Pads, ye Divers" (Messink--1781) "Ya-Hip, my Hearties!" (Gregson--1819) INDEX TO AUTHORS Ainsworth, W. Harrison Anonymous Baumann, Heinrich Bon Gualtier Brome, Richard Bruton, James Chevalier, Albert Copland, Robert Dekker, Thomas Dibdin, Thomas Doss Chiderdoss Ducange Anglicus Egan, Pierce Fletcher, John Goadby, Robert Gregson Harper, J. Henley, W. Ernest H. T. R. Jones, J. Maginn, William Maher, Will Matsell, G. W. Messink Middleton, Thomas Milliken, T. Moore, Thomas Morley, R. Parker, George Rede, Leman Reynolds, G. W. M. Rowlands, Samuel Sims, G. R. Smith, W. H. Tomlinson, R. Vance FOREWORDS When Harrison Ainsworth, in his preface to _Rookwood,_ claimed tobe "the first to write a purely flash song" he was very wide of themark. As a matter of fact, "Nix my doll, pals, fake away!" had beenanticipated, in its treatment of canting phraseology, by nearly three centuries, and subsequently, by authors whose names stand high, in other respects, in English literature. The mistake, however, was not altogether unpardonable; few, indeed, would have even guessed that the appearance of utter neglect which surrounded the use of Cant and Slang in English song, ballad, or verse--its rich and racy character notwithstanding--was anything but of the surface. The _chanson d'argot_ of France and the _romance di germania_ of Spain, not to mention other forms of the MUSA PEDESTRIS had long held popular sway, but there was to all appearance nothing to correspond with them on this side the silver streak. It must be confessed, however, that the field of English slang verse and canting song, though not altogether barren, has yet small claim to the idiomatic and plastic treatment that obtains in many an _Argot- song_ and _Germania-romance;_ in truth, with a few notable exceptions, there is little in the present collection that can claim literary rank. Those exceptions, however, are alone held to be ample justification for such an anthology as that here presented. Moreover these "Rhymes and Songs", gathered from up and down the years, exhibit, _en masse_, points of interest to the student and scholar that, in isolation, were either wanting altogether, or were buried and lost sight of midst a mass of more (or less) valuable matter.