/ · John S. Farmer’s Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes
Bobby And His Mary
Bobby And His Mary
1826
From Universal Songster, iii. 108.
Tune—
Dulce Domum.
In Dyot-street a booze-ken stood,
1 Notes; ale-house
Oft sought by foot-pads weary,
And long had been the blest abode
Of Bobby, and his Mary.
For her he’d nightly pad the hoof,
2 walk around
And gravel tax collect
3 rob passers-by
For her he never shammed the snite.
Though traps tried to detect him;
4 police
When darkey came he sought his home
While she, distracted blowen
5 girl
She hailed his sight,
And, ev’ry night
The booze-ken rung
As they sung,
O, Bobby and his Mary.
II
But soon this scene of cozey fuss
Was changed to prospects queering
The blunt ran shy, and Bobby brush’d,
6 money; went off
To get more rag not fearing;
7 notes or gold
To Islington he quickly hied,
A traveller there he dropped on;
The traps were fly, his rig they spied
8 object
And ruffles soon they popped on.
9 handcuffs
When evening came, he sought not home,
While she, poor stupid woman,
Got lushed that night,
10 drunk
Oh, saw his sprite,
Then heard the knell
That bids farewell!
Then heard the knell
Of St. Pulchre’s bell!
11 Notes
Now he dangles on the Common.
Notes
[See ante for note on Universal Songster].
Stanza I, line 1. Dyot Street, see note page 222.
Stanza II, line 16. St. Pulchre’s bell, the great bell of St.
Sepulchre’s Holborn, close to Newgate, always begins to toll a little
before the hour of execution, under the bequest of Richard Dove, who
directed that an exhortation should be made to “... prisoners that are
within, Who for wickedness and sin are appointed to die, Give ear unto
this passing bell.”
Taken from
Musa Pedestris,
Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes
[1536―1896], collected and annotated by John S. Farmer.
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