Each cove vos teared with double duty,
To please his backers, yet play booty, [9]
Ven, luckily for Jem, a teller
Vos planted right upon his smeller [10]
Down dropped he, stunned; ven time was called
Seconds in vain the seconds bawled;
The mill is o'er, the crosser crost,
The losers von, the vinners lost.
[1: fight]
[2: money]
[3: man]
[4: stripped]
[5: fellow]
[6: Notes]
[7: hands]
[8: blood]
[9: deceive them]
[10: nose]
THE THIEVES' CHAUNT [Notes]
[1836]
(By W. H. SMITH in _The Individual_)
I
There is a nook in the boozing ken, [1]
Where many a mug I fog, [2]
And the smoke curls gently, while cousin Ben
Keeps filling the pots again and again,
If the coves have stump'd their hog. [3]