/ · John S. Farmer’s Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes

The Song Of The Beggar

The Song Of The Beggar
1620

I

I am Rogue and a stout one,
  A most courageous drinker,
I doe excell, ’tis knowne full well,
  The Ratter, Tom, and Tinker.
    Still doe I cry, good your Worship good Sir,
      Bestow one small Denire, Sir 1 penny
    And brauely at the bousing Ken 2 ale-house
      He bouse it all in Beere, Sir. 3 drink

II

If a Bung be got by the hie Law, 4 purse; Notes
  Then straight I doe attend them,
For if Hue and Crie doe follow, I
  A wrong way soone doe send them.
      Still doe I cry, etc.

III

Ten miles vnto a Market.
  I runne to meet a Miser,
Then in a throng, I nip his Bung, 5 steal his purse
  And the partie ne’er the wiser.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

IV

My dainty Dals, my Doxis, 6 girls; whores
  Whene’er they see me lacking,
Without delay, poore wretches they
  Will set their Duds a packing. 7 pawn their clothes
    Still doe I cry, etc.
V

I pay for what I call for,
  And so perforce it must be,
For as yet I can, not know the man,
  Nor Oastis that will trust me.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

VI

If any giue me lodging,
  A courteous Knaue they find me,
For in their bed, aliue or dead,
  I leave some Lice behind me.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

VII

If a Gentry Coue be comming, 8 gentleman
  Then straight it is our fashion,
My Legge I tie, close to my thigh,
  To moue him to compassion.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

VIII

My doublet sleeue hangs emptie,
  And for to begge the bolder,
For meate and drinke mine arme I shrinke,
  Vp close vnto my shoulder.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

IX

If a Coach I heere be rumbling,
  To my Crutches then I hie me,
For being lame, it is a shame,
  Such Gallants should denie me.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

X

With a seeming bursten belly,
  I looke like one half dead, Sir,
Or else I beg with a woodden legge,
  And a Night-cap on me head, Sir,
    Still doe I cry, etc.

XI

In Winter time starke naked
  I come into some Citie,
Then euery man that spare them can,
  Will giue me clothes for pittie.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

XII

If from out the Low-countrie, 9 Notes
  I heare a Captaines name, Sir,
Then strait I swere I have bin there;
  And so in fight came lame, Sir.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

XIII

My Dogge in a string doth lead me,
  When in the towne I goe, Sir,
For to the blind, all men are kind,
  And will their Almes bestow, Sir,
    Still doe I cry, etc.

XIV

With Switches sometimes stand I,
  In the bottom of a Hill, Sir,
There those men which doe want a switch,
  Some monie give me still, Sir.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

XV

Come buy, come buy a Horne-booke,
  Who buys my Pins or Needles?
In Cities I these things doe crie,
  Oft times to scape the Beadles.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

XVI

In Pauls Church by a Pillar; 10 Notes
  Sometimes you see me stand, Sir,
With a Writ that showes, what care and woes
  I past by Sea and Land, Sir.
    Still doe I cry, etc.

XVII

Now blame me not for boasting,
  And bragging thus alone, Sir,
For my selfe I will be praying still,
  For Neighbours have I none, Sir.
    Which makes me cry, etc.


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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

• 1811 Dictionary of UK Slang, originally by Captain Francis Grose
• 1736 Dictionary of Thieving Slang by Nathan Bailey