He expressed himself much pleased with the quickness of my parts, and honoured me with an assurance that in less than three months he would engage to make me as complete a Ruffler as ever nailed a swell.
"Pelham, Complete"
Edward Bulwer-Lytton Last Updated: March 16, 2009
A Ruffler went with a weapon to seek service, saying that he was a servitor in the wars, but his chief "trade" was to rob poor wayfaring men and market women.
"Our Legal Heritage, 4th Ed."
S. A. Reilly
The meanest Ruffler who, with broken feather and tarnished lace, swaggered at the heels of Turenne, was scarcely to be distinguished from me.
"Historical Romances: Under the Red Robe, Count Hannibal, A Gentleman of France"
Stanley J. Weyman