The Vain Dreamer

The Vain Dreamer
1725
From The New Canting Dictionary.

I
  Yest darkmans dream’d I of my dell, 1 evening
  When sleep did overtake her;
  It was a dimber drowsy mort, 2 pretty
  She slept, I durst not wake her.

II

  Her gans were like to coral red, 3 lips
  A thousand times I kiss’d ’em;
  A thousand more I might have filch’d’ 4 stolen
  She never could have miss’d ’em.

III

  Her strammel, curl’d, like threads of gold, 5 hair
  Hung dangling o’er the pillow;
  Great pity ’twas that one so prim,
  Should ever wear the willow.

IV

  I turned down the lilly slat, 6 white sheet
  Methought she fell a screaming,
  This startled me; I straight awak’d,
  And found myself but dreaming.





Notes

See Note to “The Canter’s Serenade.”

Taken from Musa Pedestris, Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536―1896], collected and annotated by John S. Farmer.

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Nearby

Overview
Forewords
. . .
The Merry Beggars
A Mort’s Drinking Song
A Beggar I’ll Be
A Budg And Snudg Song
The Maunder’s Praise Of His Strowling Mort
The Rum-Mort’s Praise Of Her Faithless Maunder
The Black Procession
Frisky Moll’s Song
The Canter’s Serenade
Retoure My Dear Dell
The Vain Dreamer
When My Dimber Dell I Courted
The Oath Of The Canting Crew
Come All You Buffers Gay
The Potato Man
A Slang Pastoral
Ye Scamps, Ye Pads, Ye Divers
The Sandman’s Wedding
The Happy Pair
The Bunter’s Christening
The Masqueraders
. . .
Appendix