[1: public house] [2: pipe; smoke] [3: paid a shilling ] [4: gin] [5: humbug] [6: porter] [7: sherry] [8: mistress] [9: pork] [10: red-herring] [11: lots of beer] [12: judges] [13: clothes; neat; fine young woman] [14: drinks water or tea] [15: inn-keeper] [16: tongue] [17: fooling a man] [18: stole; money] [19: Newgate; Notes] THE HOUSE BREAKER'S SONG [Notes] [c. 1838] [By G. W. M. REYNOLDS in _Pickwick Abroad_]. I I ne'er was a nose, for the reg'lars came [1] Whenever a pannie was done:-- [2] Oh! who would chirp to dishonour his name, And betrays his pals in a nibsome game [3] To the traps?--Not I for one! [4] Let nobs in the fur trade hold their jaw, [5] And let the jug be free:-- [6] Let Davy's dust and a well-faked claw [7] For fancy coves be the only law, [8] And a double-tongued squib to keep in awe [9] The chaps that flout at me! II From morn till night we'll booze a ken, [10] And we'll pass the bingo round; [11] At dusk we'll make our lucky, and then, [12] With our nags so fresh, and our merry men, We'll scour the lonely ground. And if the swell resist our "Stand!" We'll squib without a joke; [13] For I'm snigger'd if we will be trepanned [14] By the blarneying jaw of a knowing hand, And thus be lagged to a foreign land, Or die by an artichoke. [15] III But should the traps be on the sly, For a change we'll have a crack; [16] The richest cribs shall our wants supply-- [17] Or we'll knap a fogle with fingers fly, [18] When the swell one turns his back. [19] The flimsies we can smash as well, [20] Or a ticker deftly prig:-- [21] But if ever a pal in limbo fell, [22] He'd sooner be scragg'd at once than tell; [23] Though the hum-box patterer talked of hell, [24] And the beak wore his nattiest wig. [25] [1: police spy; share of the booty] [2: house was burgled] [3: gentlemanly] [4: police-officers] [5: Old Bailey pleaders] [6: prison] [7: gunpowder, hand dextrous at thieving] [8: thieves] [9: double-barrelled gun] [10: drink freely] [11: brandy] [12: depart] [13: fire] [14: transported] [15: hanging [hearty choke]] [16: burglary] [17: houses] [18: steal; handkerchief] [19: skilful] [20: pass false notes] [21: watch] [22: prison] [24: parson] [25: magistrate; handsomest] "THE FAKING BOY TO THE CRAP IS GONE" [Notes] [1841] [By BON GAULTIER in _Tait's Edinburgh Magazine_]. I The faking boy to the crap is gone, [1] At the nubbing-cheat you'll find him; [2] The hempen cord they have girded on, And his elbows pinned behind him. "Smash my glim," cries the reg'lar card, [3] "Though the girl you love betrays you, Don't split, but die both game and hard, And grateful pals shall praise you." II The bolt it fell,--a jerk, a strain! The sheriff's fled asunder; The faking-boy ne'er spoke again, For they pulled his legs from under. And there he dangles on the tree, That sort of love and bravery! Oh, that such men should victims be Of law, and law's vile knavery.