A Leary Mot [Notes] [c. 1811]
[A broadside ballad].
I
Rum old Mog was a leary flash mot,
and she was round and fat, [1]
With twangs in her shoes, a wheelbarrow too,
and an oilskin round her hat;
A blue bird’s-eye o’er dairies fine—
as she mizzled through Temple Bar, [2]
Of vich side of the way, I cannot say,
but she boned it from a Tar— [3]
Singing, tol-lol-lol-lido.
II
Now Moll’s flash com-pan-ion was a Chick-lane gill,
and he garter’d below his knee, [4]
He had twice been pull’d, and nearly lagg’d, [5]
but got off by going to sea;
With his pipe and quid, and chaunting voice,
“Potatoes!” he would cry;
For he valued neither cove nor swell,
for he had wedge snug in his cly [6]
Singing, tol-lol-lol-lido.
III
One night they went to a Cock-and-Hen Club, [7] at the sign of the Mare and Stallion, But such a sight was never seen as Mog and her flash com-pan-ion; Her covey was an am’rous blade, and he buss’d young Bet on the sly, [8] When Mog up with her daddle, bang-up to the mark, [9] and she black’d the Bunter’s eye. [10] Singing, tol-lol-lol-lido.
IV
Now this brought on a general fight,
Lord, what a gallows row— [11]
With whacks and thumps throughout the night,
till “drunk as David’s sow”— [12]
Milling up and down—with cut heads,
and lots of broken ribs, [13]
But the lark being over—they ginned themselves
at jolly Tom Cribb’s.
Singing, tol-lol-lol-lido.
[1: woman or harlot] [2: Silk-handkerchief; Notes; paps; went] [3: stole] [4: sweetheart] [5: gaoled; transported] [6: money; pocket] [7: Notes] [8: kissed] [9: fist; straight to the spot] [10: rag-gatherer] [11: great shindy] [12: Notes] [13: fighting]