The Rum-Mort’s Praise Of Her Faithless Maunder

The Rum-Mort’s Praise Of Her Faithless Maunder
1707
From The Triumph of Wit, by J. Shirley: also in New Canting Dict..

I

Now my kinching-cove is gone, 1 little man
  By the rum-pad maundeth none, 2 highway; beggeth
Quarrons both for stump and bone, 3 body
  Like my clapperdogeon. 4 Notes

II

Dimber damber fare thee well, 5 Notes
  Palliards all thou didst excel, 6 Notes
And thy jockum bore the Bell, 7 Notes
  Glimmer on it never fell. 8 Notes

III

Thou the cramprings ne’er did scowre, 9 fetters; wear
  Harmans had on thee no power, 10 stocks
Harmanbecks did never toure; 11 constables, look
  For thee, the drawers still had loure. 12 pockets; money

IV

Duds and cheats thou oft hast won, 13 clothes; general plunder
  Yet the cuffin quire couldst shun; 14 magistrate
And the deuseaville didst run, 15 country
  Else the chates had thee undone. 16 gallows

V

Crank and dommerar thou couldst play, 17 Notes
  Or rum-maunder in one day,
And like an Abram-cove couldst pray,
  Yet pass with gybes well jerk’d away.

VI

  When the darkmans have been wet, 18 night
    Thou the crackmans down didst beat 19 hedge
  For glimmer, whilst a quaking cheat, 20 fire, duck
    Or tib-o’-th’-buttry was our meat. 21 goose

VII

  Red shanks then I could not lack, 22 turkey
    Ruff peck still hung on my Back, 23 bacon
  Grannam ever fill’d my sack 24 corn
    With lap and poplars held I tack. 25 any potable; porridge

VIII

  To thy bugher and thy skew, 26 dog; wooden dish
    Filch and gybes I bid adieu, 27 hook; counterfeit pass
  Though thy togeman was not new, 28 cloak
    In it the rogue to me was true.





Notes

Obviously a companion song to the previous example: See Note ante. Rum-Mort = a beggar or gypsy queen.

Stanza I, line 1. Kinching-cove = (literally) a child or young lad: here as an endearment. Line 4. Clapperdogeon = “The Paillard or Clapperdogeons, are those that have been brought up to beg from their infancy, and frequently counterfeit lameness, making their legs, arms, and hands appear to be sore”—Triumph of Wit, p. 185.

Stanza II, line 1. Dimber-damber = a chief man in the Canting Crew, or the head of a gang. Line 2. Palliard (See note Stanza I). Line 3. jockum =penis. Line 4. glimmer = fire; here, a pox or clap.

Stanza V, line 1. crank (or counterfeit-crank)—“These that do counterfet the cranke be yong knaves and yonge harlots that deeply dissemble the falling sickness”.—(Harman, Caveat, 1814, p. 33). Line 1. dommerar= a beggar feigning deaf and dumb. Line 2. rum-maunder = to feign madness. Line 3. Abram-cove = a beggar pretending madness to cover theft. Line 4. Gybes well jerk’d = pass or license cleverly forged.

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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Nearby

Overview
Forewords
. . .
A Gage Of Ben Rom-Bouse
Bing Out, Bien Morts
The Song Of The Beggar
The Maunder’s Initiation
The High Pad’s Boast
The Merry Beggars
A Mort’s Drinking Song
A Beggar I’ll Be
A Budg And Snudg Song
The Maunder’s Praise Of His Strowling Mort
The Rum-Mort’s Praise Of Her Faithless Maunder
The Black Procession
Frisky Moll’s Song
The Canter’s Serenade
Retoure My Dear Dell
The Vain Dreamer
When My Dimber Dell I Courted
The Oath Of The Canting Crew
Come All You Buffers Gay
The Potato Man
A Slang Pastoral
. . .
Appendix