Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ballad-basket n.

a street-singer.

1749		B.M. Carew ‘The Oath of the Canting Crew’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 51: No ballad-basket, bouncing buffer, / Nor any other, will I suffer.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.