An alley leading from St. Martin’s church-yard to Round-court, chiefly inhabited by cooks, who cut off ready-dressed meat of all sorts, and also sell soup.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Porridge * PoseyNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes