Note 59 — SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RHYMING SLANG, THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF CHAUNTERS AND PATTERERS.
Reading edition
The writer, a street chaunter of ballads and last dying speeches, alludes in his letter to two celebrated criminals, Thos Drory, the murderer of Jael Denny, and Sarah Chesham, who poisoned her husband, accounts of whose Trials and “Horrid Deeds” he had been selling. I give a glossary of the cant words:
Thickun, a crownpiece.
Dowry of Parny, a lot of rain.
Stumped, bankrupt.
Coopered, spoilt.
Bossman, a farmer. ⁂ Drory was a farmer.
Patter, trial.
Tops, last dying speeches.
Dies, ib.
Croaks, ib.
Burick, a woman.
Topped, hung.
Sturaban, a prison.
Quid, a sovereign.
James, ib.
Clye, a pocket.
Carser, a house or residence.
Speel on the Drum, to be off to the country.
All Square, all right, or quite well.