Ainsworth in his preface to _Rookwood_ makes the following remarks on this and the three following songs:--"As I have casually alluded to the flash song of Jerry Juniper, I may be allowed to make a few observations upon this branch of versification. It is somewhat curious with a dialect so racy, idiomatic, and plastic as our own cant, that its metrical capabilities should have been so little essayed. The French have numerous _chansons d'argot_, ranging from the time of Charles Bourdigné and Villon down to that of Vidocq and Victor Hugo, the last of whom has enlivened the horrors of his '_Dernier Jour d'un Condamne_" by a festive song of this class. The Spaniards possess a large collection of _Romances de Germania_, by various authors, amongst whom Quevedo holds a distinguished place. We on the contrary, have scarcely any slang songs of merit. This barreness is not attributable to the poverty of the soil, but to the want of due cultivation. Materials are at hand in abundance, but there have been few operators. Dekker, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Ben Jonson, have all dealt largely in this jargon, but not lyrically; and one of the earliest and best specimens of a canting-song occurs in Brome's '_Jovial Crew;_' and in the '_Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew_' there is a solitary ode addressed by the mendicant fraternity to their newly-elected monarch; but it has little humour, and can scarcely be called a genuine canting-song. This ode brings us down to our own time; to the effusions of the illustrious Pierce Egan; to Tom Moore's Flights of '_Fancy;_' to John Jackson's famous chant, '_On the High Toby Spice flash the Muzzle,_' cited by Lord Byron in a note to '_Don Juan;_' and to the glorious Irish ballad, worth them all put together, entitled '_The Night before Larry was stretched_.' This is attributed to the late Dean Burrowes, of Cork. [_See_ Note, p. 220 _Ed_.]. It is worthy of note, that almost all modern aspirants to the graces of the _Musa Pedestris_ are Irishmen. Of all rhymesters of the '_Road_,' however, Dean Burrowes is, as yet, most fully entitled to the laurel. Larry is quite 'the potato!'