subs. phr. (old).—Hangman’s wages (GROSE).

1

  1602.  DEKKER, The Honest Whore, ii. [Works (1873), ii. 171]. Why should I eate hempe-seed at the Hangmans THIRTEENE-PENCE-HALFE-PENNY Ordinary.

2

  1608.  JOHN DAY, Humour out of Breath, iv. Pa. If I shold, he could not hang me for’t: ’tis not worth THIRTEEN PENCE HALFE PENNY.

3

  1633.  ROWLEY, A Match at Midnight, i. 1 [DODSLEY, Old Plays (REED), vii. 357]. ’Sfoot, what a witty rogue ’twas to leave this fair THIRTEENPENCE HALFPENNY and this old halter; intimating aptly,

        Had the hangman met us there, by these presages,
Here had been his work, and here his wages.

4

  1659.  The Hangman’s Last Will and Testament (Rump Song quoted in Notes and Queries, 2 S. xi., 316).

        For half THIRTEEN PENCE HALF PENNY wages
I would have cleared all the Town cages,
And you should have been rid of all the Sages.
                    I and my Gallows groan.

5