Stanza II, line 2. _Autem mort_ = a wife; thus Harman, _Caveat_ (1575):--"These Autem Mortes be maried wemen, as there be but a fewe. For Autem in their Language is a Churche; so she is a wyfe maried at the Church, and they be as chaste as a Cowe I have, that goeth to Bull every moone, with what Bull she careth not." Line 5. _wap_ = to lie carnally with. Stanza IV, line 5. _Whittington_ = Newgate, from the famous Lord Mayor of London who left a bequest to rebuild the gaol. After standing for 230 years Whittington's building was demolished in 1666. Stanza V, line 2. _Crackmans_ = hedges or bushes. _Tip lowr with thy prat_ = (literally) get money with thy buttocks, _i.e._ by prostitution. Stanza VI, line 2. _Clapperdogen_ = (B. E. _Dict. Cant. Crew,_ 1690) "a beggar born and bred"; also Harman, _Caveat_, etc. p. 44:--" these go with patched clokes, and have their morts with them, which they call wives." _"A Gage Of Ben Rom-Bouse"_ Thomas Middleton, another of the galaxy of Elizabethan writers contributing so many sidelights on Shakspeare's life and times, is supposed to have been of gentle birth. He entered Gray's Inn about 1593 and was associated with Dekker in the production of _The Roaring Girl_, probably having the larger share in the composition. Authorities concur in tracing Dekker's hand in the canting scenes, but less certainly elsewhere. The original of Moll Cut-purse was a Mary Frith (1584--1659), the daughter of a shoemaker in the Barbican. Though carefully brought up she was particularly restive under discipline, and finally became launched as a "bully, pickpurse, fortune-teller, receiver and forger" in all of which capacities she achieved considerable notoriety. As the heroine of _The Roaring Girl_ Moll is presented in a much more favorable light than the facts warrant. Line 11. _And couch till a palliard docked my dell_ = (literally) 'And lie quiet while a beggar deflowered my girl', but here probably = while a beggar fornicates with my mistress. _"Bing Out, Bien Morts"_ [See Note to "The Beggar's Curse"]. Dekker introducing these verses affirms "it is a canting song not ... composed as those of the Belman's were, out of his owne braine, but by the Canter's themselves, and sung at their meetings", in which, all things considered, Dekker is probably protesting overmuch. Stanza V, line 3. _And wapping dell that niggles well_ = a harlot or mistress who "spreads" acceptably. Stanza IX, line 2. _Bing out of the Rom-vile;_ i.e. to Tyburn, then the place of execution: _Rom-vile_ = London. _The Song Of The Begger_