/ · John S. Farmer’s Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes
The Merry Beggars
The Merry Beggars
1641
From A Jovial Crew, by RICHARD BROME. The beggars discovered at their feast. After they have scrambled awhile at their
Victuals:
this song.
I
Here safe in our Skipper let’s cly off our Peck,
1 Safe in our barn let’s eat
And bowse in defiance o’ the Harman Beck.
2 And drink without fear of the constable!
Here’s Pannam and Lap, and good Poplars of Yarrum,
3 Here’s bread, drink, and milk-porridge
To fill up the Crib, and to comfort the Quarron.
4 To fill the belly, and comfort the body.
Now bowse a round health to the Go-well and Corn-well,
5 Drink a good health [Notes]
Of Cisley Bumtrincket that lies in the Strummel;
6 To Cisley Bumtrincket lying in the straw
II
Here’s Ruffpeck and Casson, and all of the best,
7 Here’s bacon and cheese
And Scrape of the Dainties of Gentry Cofe’s Feast
8 And scraps from the gentleman’s table
Here’s Grunter and Bleater, with Tib-of-the-Buttry,
9 Here’s pork, mutton, goose,
And Margery Prater, all dress’d without sluttry.
10 And chicken, all well-cooked.
For all this bene Cribbing and Peck let us then,
11 For this good food and meat let us
Bowse a health to the Gentry Cofe of the Ken.
12 Drink the gentleman’s health and
Now bowse a round health to the Go-well and Corn-well
13 Then drink a bumper
Of Cisley Bumtrincket that lies in the Strummel.
14 to Cisley Bumtrincket.
Notes
Little is known of the birth or extraction of Richard Brome, and
whether he died in 1652 or 1653 is uncertain. For a time he acted as
servant to Ben Jonson. The Jovial Crew was produced in 1641 at
The Cock-pit, a theatre which stood on the site of Pitt Place running
out of Drury Lane into Gt. Wild St.
Stanza I, line 5. Go-well and Com-well = outgoing and incoming.
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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