burglar-poet

Updated: July 16, 2026

"Tousjours vieil synge est desplaisant," says the burglar-poet, and he means that the old buffoon is tiresome; the young man with the newest phases of city slang at his tongue's end is most acceptable in merry company. Very few people can read Villon's longer poems at all, for they are almost entirely written in cant language, and the glossary must be in constant requisition.

James Runciman - The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions: Joints In Our Social Armour