The night before Larry was stretched,
And the boys they all paid him a visit
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
And they p***ed all their clothes[5] till they riz it
For Larry was ever the lad,
When the boy was condemn'd to the squeezer,[6]
To p*** all the duds[7] that he had
Just to help the poor friend to a sneezer[8]
- And moisten his gob before he died.
The boys they came crowding in fast;
They drew their stools close round about him,
Six glims[9] round his trap-case[10] were placed
For he couldn't be well waked without 'em,
When one of us asked, "Would he die,
Without having duly repented?
Says Larry, 'That's all in my eye,
And firstly the clargy invented,
- To get a fat bit for themselves
"And then I'll be cut up like a pie,
And me nob[12] from me body be parted."
"You're in the wrong box, then", says I,
"For blast me if they're so bad-hearted.
A chalk on the back of your neck
Is all that Jack Ketch[13] dares to give you;
So mind not such trifles a f***,
Sure why should the likes of them grieve you?
- And now boys, come tip us the deck.[14]
Then the clergy came in with his books
He spoke him so smooth and so civil;
Larry tipp'd him a Kilmainham[15] look,[16]
And pitch'd his big wig to the divil.
Then sighing he threw back his head,
To get a sweet drop of the bottle,
And pitiful sighing he said,
'O! the hemp will be soon round my throttle,[17]
- And choke my poor windpipe to death!'
Though sure it's the best way to die
Oh the devil is ever done livin'
For when the gallows is high
Your journey is shorter to heaven
But what harasses Larry the most
And makes him so pure and melancholy
He thinks of the time when his ghost
Will come back and to see his sweet Molly
Oh yes, it will kill him alive!
When he came to the mumbling-cheat,
He was pumped up so neat and so pretty;
The rambler[18] jugg'd off from his feet,
And he died with his face to the city.
He kick'd too, but that was all pride,
For soon you might see 'twas all over;
And as soon as the noose was untied,
Then at darkey[19] we waked him in clover,
- And sent him to take a ground-sweat.
1.The Festival of Anacreon, 7th ed., (Part 2) p. 177, 1789 (and a later undated edition of 1790 or 1791)
2.The Night Before Larry was Stretched (Canting Songs)
3. Harte, Frank, 'Songs of Dublin'
4. [1]
5. They p***ed their clothes
6. The Hangman or Gallows
7. p*** all the clothes
8. a drink
9. candles
10. coffin
11.prefer
12. head
13."Jack Ketch" was the generic name for the hangman, as "Chips" was for a ship's carpenter and so on; the original Jack Ketch was "the common executioner 1663(?)-1686. He became notorious on account of his barbarity at the executions of William Lord Russell and others."
14. deck of cards
15. An area in Dublin's Liberties
16. "Kilmainham look" may be something like a Ringsend tango or a Ringsend uppercut (a kick in the groin) - or perhaps not. Kilmainham was the county jail in former times, and later was the scene of the execution of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. Larry may have been confined in Kilmainham or in the Green Street prison, the "new" Newgate which replaced the old Newgate in the 1770s. Kilmainham is remembered in another prison ballad called "The Kilmainham Minit", i.e., "minuet", the dance of the hanged man.
17. neck
18. cart
19. night time
And the boys they all paid him a visit
A bit in their sacks too they fetched
And they p***ed all their clothes[5] till they riz it
For Larry was ever the lad,
When the boy was condemn'd to the squeezer,[6]
To p*** all the duds[7] that he had
Just to help the poor friend to a sneezer[8]
- And moisten his gob before he died.
The boys they came crowding in fast;
They drew their stools close round about him,
Six glims[9] round his trap-case[10] were placed
For he couldn't be well waked without 'em,
When one of us asked, "Would he die,
Without having duly repented?
Says Larry, 'That's all in my eye,
And firstly the clargy invented,
- To get a fat bit for themselves
"And then I'll be cut up like a pie,
And me nob[12] from me body be parted."
"You're in the wrong box, then", says I,
"For blast me if they're so bad-hearted.
A chalk on the back of your neck
Is all that Jack Ketch[13] dares to give you;
So mind not such trifles a f***,
Sure why should the likes of them grieve you?
- And now boys, come tip us the deck.[14]
Then the clergy came in with his books
He spoke him so smooth and so civil;
Larry tipp'd him a Kilmainham[15] look,[16]
And pitch'd his big wig to the divil.
Then sighing he threw back his head,
To get a sweet drop of the bottle,
And pitiful sighing he said,
'O! the hemp will be soon round my throttle,[17]
- And choke my poor windpipe to death!'
Though sure it's the best way to die
Oh the devil is ever done livin'
For when the gallows is high
Your journey is shorter to heaven
But what harasses Larry the most
And makes him so pure and melancholy
He thinks of the time when his ghost
Will come back and to see his sweet Molly
Oh yes, it will kill him alive!
When he came to the mumbling-cheat,
He was pumped up so neat and so pretty;
The rambler[18] jugg'd off from his feet,
And he died with his face to the city.
He kick'd too, but that was all pride,
For soon you might see 'twas all over;
And as soon as the noose was untied,
Then at darkey[19] we waked him in clover,
- And sent him to take a ground-sweat.
1.The Festival of Anacreon, 7th ed., (Part 2) p. 177, 1789 (and a later undated edition of 1790 or 1791)
2.The Night Before Larry was Stretched (Canting Songs)
3. Harte, Frank, 'Songs of Dublin'
4. [1]
5. They p***ed their clothes
6. The Hangman or Gallows
7. p*** all the clothes
8. a drink
9. candles
10. coffin
11.prefer
12. head
13."Jack Ketch" was the generic name for the hangman, as "Chips" was for a ship's carpenter and so on; the original Jack Ketch was "the common executioner 1663(?)-1686. He became notorious on account of his barbarity at the executions of William Lord Russell and others."
14. deck of cards
15. An area in Dublin's Liberties
16. "Kilmainham look" may be something like a Ringsend tango or a Ringsend uppercut (a kick in the groin) - or perhaps not. Kilmainham was the county jail in former times, and later was the scene of the execution of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. Larry may have been confined in Kilmainham or in the Green Street prison, the "new" Newgate which replaced the old Newgate in the 1770s. Kilmainham is remembered in another prison ballad called "The Kilmainham Minit", i.e., "minuet", the dance of the hanged man.
17. neck
18. cart
19. night time