_See_ Note to "The Canter's Serenade." The first two stanzas appear in a somewhat different form as "a new song" to the time of _Beauty's Ruin_ in _The Triumph of Wit_ (1707), of which the first stanza is as follows:-- When Dorinda first I courted, She had charms and beauty too; Conquering pleasures when she sported, The transport it was ever new: But wastful time do's now deceive her, Which her glories did uphold; All her arts can ne'er relieve her, Poor Dorinda is grown old. Stanza I, line 4. _Wap_ = the act of kind. _Dimber dell_ = pretty wench--"A dell is a yonge wenche, able for generation, and not yet knowen or broken by the upright man ... when they have beene lyen with all by the upright man then they be Doxes, and no Dells."-- (HARMAN). Stanza III, line 3. _Upright-men_--"the second rank of the Canting tribes, having sole right to the first night's lodging with the Dells."--(B. E., _Dict. Cant. Crew_, 1696). _The Oath Of The Canting Crew_ Bamfylde Moore Carew, the King of the Gypsies, born in 1693, was the son of the Rector of Bickley, near Tiverton. It is related that to avoid punishment for a boyish freak he, with some companions, ran away and joined the gypsies. After a year and a half Carew returned for a time, but soon rejoined his old friends. His career was a long series of swindling and imposture, very ingeniously carried out, occasionally deceiving people who should have known him well. His restless nature then drove him to embark for Newfoundland, where he stopped but a short time, and on his return he pretended to be the mate of a vessel, and eloped with the daughter of a respectable apothecary of Newcastle on Tyne, whom he afterwards married. He continued his course of vagabond roguery for some time, and when Clause Patch, a king, or chief of the gypsies, died, Carew was elected his successor. He was convicted of being an idle vagrant, and sentenced to be transported to Maryland. On his arrival he attempted to escape, was captured, and made to wear a heavy iron collar, escaped again, and fell into the hands of some friendly Indians, who relieved him of his collar. He took an early opportunity of leaving his new friends, and got into Pennsylvania. Here he pretended to be a Quaker, and as such made his way to Philadelphia, thence to New York, and afterwards to New London, where he embarked for England. He escaped impressment on board a man- of-war by pricking his hands and face, and rubbing in bay salt and gunpowder, so as to simulate smallpox. After his landing he continued his impostures, found out his wife and daughter, and seems to have wandered into Scotland about 1745, and is said to have accompanied the Pretender to Carlisle and Derby. The record of his life from this time is but a series of frauds and deceptions, and but little is absolutely known of his career, except that a relative, Sir Thomas Carew of Hackern, offered to provide for him if he would give up his wandering life.