"_Mother Damnable_" (Vol. v., p. 151.).--The real name of this shrew
does not appear to have reached posterity, but she gave rise to the sign
of Mother Red-cap on the Hampstead Road, A.D. 1676, and was probably the
person represented _on_ that sign; to her portrait, which may be found
in a book published by "Arnett, Westminster, 1819," entitled _Portraits
and Lives of Remarkable and Eccentric Characters_, are annexed the
following lines:
"You've often seen (from Oxford tipling house)
Th' effigies of Shipton fac'd Mother Louse,
Whose pretty pranks (tho' some they might excel)
With this old trot's ne'er gallop'd parallel--
'Tis Mother Damnable! that monstrous thing,
Unmatch'd by Macbeth's wayward women's ring,
For cursing, scolding, fuming, flinging fire
I' th' face of madam, lord, knight, gent, cit, squire;
Who (when but ruffled into the least pet)
With cellar door-key into pocket get--
Then no more ale; and now the fray begins!
'Ware heads, wigs, hoods, scarfs, shoulders, sides, and shins!
While these dry'd bones, in a Westphalian bag,
(Through the wrinkled weasan of her shapeless crag)
Send forth such dismal shrieks and uncouth noise,
As fills the town with din, the streets with boys;
Which makes some think, this fierce she-dragon fell
Can scarce be match'd by any this side hell.
So fam'd both far and near, is the renown
Of Mother Damnable of Kentish Town.
Wherefore this symbol of the cat's we'll give her,
Because, so curst, a dog, would not dwell with her."