68 THE SONGS OF " ROOKWOOD." 



" All my togs were so niblike and splash, 



Readily the queer screens I then could smash ft ; 



Fake away, 

 But my nuttiest blowen b , one fine day, 



Fake away, 



To the beaks c did her fancy man betray, 

 And thus was I bowled out at last d . 



Nix my doll palls, fake away. 



" And thus was I bowled out at last, 

 And into the Jug for a lag was cast e ; 



Fake away, 

 But I slipped my darbies f one morn in May, 



Fake away, 



And gave to the dubsman $ a holiday. 

 And here I am palls, merry and free, 

 A regular rollocking Romany b . 



Nix my doll palls, fake away." 



This is first-rate flash. Doctor Maginn has translated Vidocq's 



" En roulant de vergne en vergne, 

 Pour apprendre a goupiner" 



in most excellent style ; beginning, if we remember rightly, 



" As from ken to ken I was going, 



Doing a bit in the prigging lay, 

 Who should I meet but a jolly blowen, 



Tol lol, lol lol, lol derol ay ; 

 Who should 1 meet but a jolly blowen, 

 Who was fly to the time of day ;" 



but we must concede the palm to the author of " Rookwood." His 

 reprises are inimitable, and the "fake away" the perfection of a 

 roguish chorus.* 



We believe Mr. Ainsworth to be a fellow-countryman of our own ; 

 but there is something very Irish about 



a Easily then forged notes could I pass. b Favourite mistress. 



c Police. d Taken at length. e Cast for transportation. 



f Fetters. e Turnkey. h Gipsy. 



* The Quarterly Review, we perceive, objects to the slang of "Rookwood," but 

 without much show of reason. The flash is only used in the dialogues of highway- 

 men, and how otherwise ought such a reprobate as Turpin to clothe his sentiments 

 than in the garniture of "the family V Physiologically speaking, it is part of 

 his costume. He would be out of character if he pattered after any other fashion, 

 and we believe it is now admitted on all hands that the " Turpin" of " Rook- 

 wood" is the best drawn highwayman that has as yet been presented to the 

 public ; and we suspect that he derives much of his maisemblance from his 

 plentiful use of this very flash. As well might Byron have made his " Lucifer" 

 talk like a clergyman as Mr. Ainsworth portray his highwaymen as the pattern 

 of gentility the Quarterly Review would have him. That the flash is good flash we 

 take it upon our credit to uphold ; with such subjects the Quarterly Review is 

 not, or ought not, to be too conversant. We have faith in Mr. Ainsworth. 

 Experto crede Roberto. 



1 





