act v., scene 1.

SING OUT, to call aloud.—_Sea._

SING SMALL, to lessen one’s boasting, and turn arrogance into humility.

SINKERS, bad money.

SINKS, a throw of fives at dice. _French_, CINQS.

SIR HARRY, a close stool.

SISERARA, a hard blow.—_Suffolk._ Moor derives it from the story of Sisera in the Old Testament, but it is more probably a corruption of CERTIORARI, a Chancery writ reciting a complaint of hard usage.

SIT UNDER, a term employed in Dissenters’ meeting houses, to denote attendance on the ministry of any particular preacher.

SITTING PAD, sitting on the pavement in a begging position.

SIT-UPONS, trousers.—_See_ INEXPRESSIBLES.

SIVVY, “’pon my SIVVY,” _i.e._, upon my soul or honour. Corruption of _asseveration_, like DAVY, which is an abridgment of _affidavit_.

SIXES AND SEVENS, articles in confusion are said to be all SIXES and SEVENS. The Deity is mentioned in the Towneley Mysteries as He that “sett all on seven,” _i.e._, set or appointed everything in seven days. A similar phrase at this early date implied confusion and disorder, and from these, _Halliwell_ thinks, has been derived the phrase “to be at SIXES AND SEVENS.” A Scotch correspondent, however, states that the phrase probably came from the workshop, and that amongst needle makers when the points and eyes are “heads and tails” (“heeds and thraws”), or in confusion, they are said to be SIXES AND SEVENS, because those numbers are the sizes most generally used, and in the course of manufacture have frequently to be distinguished.

SIXTY, “to go along like SIXTY,” _i.e._, at a good rate, briskly.

SIZE, to order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in college halls. Soup, pastry, &c., are SIZINGS, and are paid for at a certain specified rate _per_ SIZE, or portion, to the college cook.—_Peculiar to Cambridge._ _Minsheu_ says, “SIZE, a farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter _s_.”

SIZERS, or SIZARS, are certain poor scholars at Cambridge, annually elected, who get their dinners (including _sizings_) from what is left at the upper, or Fellows’ table, free, or nearly so. They pay rent of rooms, and some other fees, on a lower scale than the “Pensioners” or ordinary students, and answer to the “battlers” and “servitors” at Oxford.

SIZINGS, _see_ SIZE.

SKATES LURK, a begging impostor dressed as a sailor.

SKID, a sovereign. Fashionable slang.

SKIE, to throw upwards, to toss “coppers.”—_See_ ODD MAN.

SKILLY, broth served on board the hulks to convicts.—_Linc._

SKILLIGOLEE, prison gruel, also sailors’ soup of many ingredients.

SKIN, a purse.

SKIN, to abate, or lower the value of anything; “thin SKINNED,” sensitive, touchy.

SKIN-FLINT, an old popular simile for a “close-fisted,” stingy person.

SKIPPER, the master of a vessel. _Dutch_, SCHIFFER, from _schiff_ a ship; sometimes used synonymous with “Governor.”

SKIPPER, a barn.—_Ancient cant._

SKIPPER IT, to sleep in the open air, or in a rough way.

SKIPPER-BIRDS, or KEYHOLE WHISTLERS, persons who sleep in barns or outhouses in preference to lodging-houses.

SKIT, a joke, a squib.

SKITTLES, a game similar to Ten Pins, which, when interdicted by the Government was altered to Nine Pins, or SKITTLES. They are set up in an alley and are _thrown at_ (not bowled) with a round piece of hard wood, shaped like a small flat cheese. The costers consider themselves the best players in London.

SKROUGE, to push or squeeze.—_North._

SKULL-THATCHERS, straw bonnet makers,—sometimes called “bonnet-BUILDERS.”

SKY, a disagreeable person, an enemy.—_Westminster School._

SKY-BLUE, London milk much diluted with water, or from which the cream has been too closely skimmed.

“Hence, Suffolk dairy wives run mad for cream, And leave their milk with nothing but the name; Its name derision and reproach pursue, And strangers tell of three times skimmed—SKY-BLUE.”

_Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy._

SKY-BLUE formerly meant gin.

SKY-LARK.—_See_ LARK.

SKY PARLOUR, the garret.

SKY SCRAPER, a tall man; “are you cold up there, old SKY SCRAPER?” Properly a sea term; the light sails which some adventurous skippers set above the royals in calm latitudes are termed SKY-SCRAPERS and MOON-RAKERS.

SKY WANNOCKING, unsteady, frolicking.—_Norfolk._

SLAMMOCK, a slattern or awkward person.—_West_; and _Norf._

SLANG, low, vulgar, unwritten, or unauthorised language. _Gipsey_, SLANG, the secret language of the Gipseys, synonymous with GIBBERISH, another Gipsey word. This word is only to be found in the Dictionaries of _Webster_ and _Ogilvie_. It was, perhaps, first recorded by _Grose_, in his _Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_, 1785. SLANG, since it has been adopted as an English word, generally implies vulgar language not known or recognised as CANT; and latterly, when applied to speech, has superseded the word FLASH.

SLANG, counterfeit or short weights and measures. A SLANG quart is a pint and a half. SLANG measures are lent out at 2d. per day. The term is used principally by costermongers.

SLANG, to cheat, to abuse in foul language.

SLANG, a travelling show.

SLANG, a watch chain.

SLANGY, flashy, vulgar; loud in dress, manner, and conversation.

SLANTINGDICULAR, oblique, awry,—as opposed to PERPENDICULAR.

SLAP, paint for the face, rouge.

SLAP, exactly, precisely; “SLAP in the wind’s eye,” _i.e._, exactly to windward.

SLAP-UP, first-rate, excellent, very good.

SLAP-BANG, suddenly, violently.

SLAP-BANG SHOPS, low eating houses, where you have to pay down the ready money with a SLAP-BANG.—_Grose._

SLAP-DASH, immediately, or quickly.

SLASH, a pocket in an overcoat.

SLASHER, a powerful roisterer, a pugilist; “the TIPTON SLASHER.”

SLATE, to pelt with abuse, to beat, to “LICK;” or, in the language of the reviewers, to “cut up.”

SLATE, “he has a SLATE loose,” _i.e._, he is slightly crazy.

SLAVEY, a maid servant.

SLEWED, drunk, or intoxicated.—_Sea term._ When a vessel changes the tack she, as it were, staggers, the sails flap, she gradually heels over, and the wind catching the waiting canvas, she glides off at another angle. The course pursued by an intoxicated, or SLEWED man, is supposed to be analogous to that of the ship.

SLICK, an _Americanism_, very prevalent in England since the publication of Judge Haliburton’s facetious stories. As an _adjective_, SLICK means rapidly, effectually, utterly; as a _verb_, it has the force of “to despatch rapidly,” turn off, get done with a thing.

SLICK A DEE, a pocket book.

SLING, to pass from one person to another.

SLIP, “to give the SLIP,” to run away, or elude pursuit. _Shakespere_ has “you _gave me the counterfeit_,” in Romeo and Juliet. GIVING THE SLIP, however, is a _Sea phrase_, and refers to fastening an anchor and chain cable to a floating buoy, or water cask, until such a time arrives that is convenient to return and take them on board. In fastening the cable, the home end is _slipped_ through the hawse pipe. Weighing anchor is a noisy task, so that giving it the SLIP infers to leave it in quietness.

SLIP, or LET SLIP; “to SLIP into a man,” to give him a sound beating; “to LET SLIP at a cove,” to rush violently upon him, and assault with vigour.

SLOG, or SLOGGER (its original form), to beat, baste, or wallop. _German_, SCHLAGEN; or, perhaps a vulgar corruption of SLAUGHTER. The pretended _Greek_ derivation from σλογω, which _Punch_ puts in the mouth of the schoolboy, in his impression of 4th May, 1859, is of course only intended to mystify grandmamma, there being no such word in the language.

SLOGGERS, _i.e._, SLOW-GOERS, the second division of race-boats at _Cambridge_. At _Oxford_ they are called TORPIDS.—_Univ._

SLOGGING, a good beating.

SLOP, cheap, or ready made, as applied to clothing, is generally supposed to be a modern appropriation; but it was used in this sense in 1691, by _Maydman_, in his _Naval Speculations_; and by _Chaucer_ two centuries before that. Slops properly signify sailors’ working clothes.

SLOP, a policeman. Probably at first _back slang_, but now general.

SLOPE, to decamp, to run, or rather _slip_ away. Originally from LOPE, to make off; the _s_ probably became affixed as a portion of the preceding word, as in the case of “_let’s lope_,” let us run.—_Americanism._

SLOPS, chests or packages of tea; “he shook a slum of SLOPS,” _i.e._, stole a chest of tea.

SLOUR, to lock, or fasten.

SLOUR’D, buttoned up; SLOUR’D HOXTER, an inside pocket buttoned up.

SLOWED, to be locked up—in prison.

SLUICERY, a gin shop or public house.

SLUM, a letter.

SLUM, a chest, or package.—_See_ SLOPS.

SLUM, gammon; “up to SLUM,” wide awake, knowing,

“And this, without more SLUM, began, Over a flowing Pot-house can, To settle, without botheration, The rigs of this here tip-top nation.”

_Jack Randall’s Diary_, 1820.

SLUM THE GORGER, to cheat on the sly, to be an eye servant. SLUM in this sense is _old cant_.

SLUMMING, passing bad money.

SLUMS, or BACK SLUMS, dark retreats, low neighbourhoods; “the Westminster SLUMS,” favourite haunts for thieves.

SLUSHY, a ship’s cook.

SMACK SMOOTH, even, level with the surface, quickly.

SMALL BEER, “he does’t think SMALL BEER of himself,” _i.e._, he has a great opinion of his own importance. SMALL COALS is also used in the same sense.

SMASH, to become bankrupt, or worthless; “to go all to SMASH;” to break, or “go to the dogs.”

SMASH, to pass counterfeit money.

SMASHER, one who passes bad coin.

SMASHFEEDER, a Britannia metal spoon,—the best imitation shillings are made from this metal.

SMELLER, a blow on the nose, or a NOSER.

SMIGGINS, soup served to convicts on board the hulks.

SMISH, a shirt, or chemise. Corruption of the _Span_.—See MISH.

SMITHERS, or SMITHEREENS, “all to SMITHEREENS,” all to smash. SMITHER, is a _Lincolnshire_ word for a fragment.

SMOKE, to detect, or penetrate an artifice.

SMUDGE, to smear, obliterate, daub. Corruption of SMUTCH.—_Times_, 10th August, 1859.

SMUG, extremely neat, after the fashion, in order.

SMUG, to snatch another’s property and run.

SMUGGINGS, snatchings, or purloinings,—shouted out by boys, when snatching the tops, or small play property, of other lads, and then running off at full speed.

“Tops are in; spin ’em agin. Tops are out; SMUGGING about.”

SMUT, a copper boiler. Also, the “blacks” from a furnace.

SMUTTY, obscene,—vulgar as applied to conversation.

SNACK, booty, or share. Also, a light repast.—_Old cant and Gipsey term._

SNAFFLED, arrested, “pulled up,”—so termed from a kind of horse’s bit, called a SNAFFLE. In _East Anglia_, to SNAFFLE is to talk foolishly.

SNAGGLE TEETH, uneven, and unpleasant looking dental operators.—_West._ SNAGS (_Americanism_), ends of sunken drift-wood sticking out of the water, on which river steamers are often wrecked.

SNAGGLING, angling after geese with a hook and line, the bait being a worm or snail. The goose swallows the bait, and is quietly landed and bagged.

SNAGGY, cross, crotchetty, malicious.

SNAM, to snatch, or rob from the person.

SNAPPS, share, portion; any articles or circumstances out of which money may be made; “looking out for SNAPPS,” waiting for windfalls, or odd jobs.—_Old._ _Scotch_, CHITS,—term also used for “coppers,” or halfpence.

SNEAKSMAN, a shoplifter; a petty, cowardly thief.

SNEEZER, a snuff box; a pocket-handkerchief.

SNEEZE LURKER, a thief who throws snuff in a person’s face and then robs him.

SNID, a sixpence.—_Scotch._

SNIGGER, “I’m SNIGGERED if you will,” a mild form of swearing. Another form of this is JIGGERED.

SNIGGERING, laughing to oneself.—_East._

SNIP, a tailor.

SNIPE, a long bill; also a term for attorneys,—a race remarkable for their propensity to long bills.

SNIPES, “a pair of SNIPES,” a pair of scissors. They are occasionally made in the form of that bird.

SNITCHERS, persons who turn queen’s evidence, or who tell tales. In _Scotland_, SNITCHERS signify handcuffs.

SNOB, a low, vulgar, or affected person. Supposed to be from the nickname usually applied to a Crispin, or a maker of shoes; but believed by a writer in _Notes and Queries_ to be a contraction of the _Latin_, SINE OBOLO. A more probable derivation, however, has just been forwarded by an ingenious correspondent. He supposes that NOBS, _i.e._, _Nobiles_, was appended in lists to the names of persons of gentle birth, whilst those who had not that distinction were marked down as S. NOB., _i.e._, _sine nobilitate_, without marks of gentility,—thus reversing its meaning. Another “word-twister” remarks that, as at college sons of nobleman wrote after their names in the admission lists, _fil nob._, son of a lord, and hence all young noblemen were called NOBS, and what they did NOBBY, so those who imitated them would be called _quasi-nobs_, “like a nob,” which by a process of contraction would be shortened to _si-nob_, and then SNOB, one who pretends to be what he is not, and apes his betters. The short and expressive terms which many think fitly represent the three great estates of the realm, NOB, SNOB, and MOB, were all originally slang words. The last has safely passed through the vulgar ordeal of the streets, and found respectable quarters in the standard dictionaries.

SNOBBISH, stuck up, proud, make believe.

SNOB-STICK, a workman who refuses to join in strikes, or trade unions. Query, properly KNOB-STICK.

SNOOKS, an imaginary personage often brought forward as the answer to an idle question, or as the perpetrator of a senseless joke.

SNOOZE, or SNOODGE (vulgar pronunciation), to sleep or doze.

SNOT, a term of reproach applied to persons by the vulgar when vexed or annoyed. In a Westminster school vocabulary for boys, published in the last century, the term is curiously applied. Its proper meaning is the glandular mucus discharged through the nose.

SNOTTER, or WIPE-HAULER, a pickpocket who commits great depredations upon gentlemen’s pocket-handkerchiefs.—_North._

SNOTTINGER, a coarse word for a pocket-handkerchief. The German _schnupftuch_ is, however, nearly as plain. A handkerchief was also anciently called a MUCKINGER, or MUCKENDER.

SNOTS, small bream, a slimy kind of flat fish.—_Norwich._

SNOW, wet linen.

SNOW GATHERERS, or SNOW-DROPPERS, rogues who steal linen from hedges and drying grounds.

SNUFF, “up to SNUFF,” knowing and sharp; “to take SNUFF,” to be offended. _Shakespere_ uses SNUFF in the sense of anger, or passion. SNUFFY, tipsy.

SNYDER, a tailor. _German_, SCHNEIDER.

SOAP, flattery.—_See_ SOFT SOAP.

SOFT, foolish, inexperienced. An old term for bank notes.

SOFT-SOAP, or SOFT-SAWDER, flattery, ironical praise.

SOFT TACK, bread.—_Sea._

SOLD, “SOLD again! and the money taken,” gulled, deceived.—_Vide_ SELL.

SOLD UP, or OUT, broken down, bankrupt.

SOLDIER, a red herring.

SON OF A GUN, a contemptuous title for a man. In the army it is sometimes applied to an artilleryman.

SOOT BAG, a reticule.

SOP, a soft or foolish man. Abbreviation of MILKSOP.

SOPH (abbreviation of SOPHISTER), a title peculiar to the University of _Cambridge_. Undergraduates are _junior_ SOPHS before passing their “_Little Go_,” or first University examination,—_senior_ SOPHS after that.

SOUND, to pump, or draw information from a person in an artful manner.

SOW, the receptacle into which the liquid iron is poured in a gun-foundry. The melted metal poured from it is termed PIG.—_Workmen’s terms._

SOW’S BABY, a pig; sixpence.

SPANK, a smack, or hard slap.

SPANK, to move along quickly; hence a fast horse or vessel is said to be “a SPANKER to go.”

SPANKING, large, fine, or strong; _e.g._, a SPANKING pace, a SPANKING breeze, a SPANKING fellow.

SPECKS, damaged oranges.

SPEEL, to run away, make off; “SPEEL the drum,” to go off with stolen property.—_North._

SPELL, “to SPELL for a thing,” hanker after it, intimate a desire to possess it.

SPELLKEN, or SPEELKEN, a playhouse. _German_, SPIELEN.—_See_ KEN.—_Don Juan._

SPICK AND SPAN, applied to anything that is quite new and fresh.—_Hudibras._

SPIFFED, slightly intoxicated.—_Scotch slang._

SPIFFS, the percentage allowed by drapers to their young men when they effect a sale of old-fashioned or undesirable stock.

SPIFFY, spruce, well-dressed, _tout à la mode_.

SPIFLICATE, to confound, silence, or thrash.

SPILT, thrown from a horse or chaise.—_See_ PURL.

SPIN, to reject from an examination.—_Army._

SPIN-EM-ROUNDS, a street game consisting of a piece of brass, wood, or iron, balanced on a pin, and turned quickly around on a board, when the point, arrow shaped, stops at a number and decides the bet one way or the other. The contrivance very much resembles a sea compass, and was formerly the gambling accompaniment of London piemen. The apparatus then was erected on the tin lids of their pie cans, and the bets were ostensibly for pies, but more frequently for “coppers,” when no policeman frowned upon the scene, and when two or three apprentices or porters happened to meet.

SPINIKEN, a workhouse.

SPIRT, or SPURT, “to put on a SPIRT,” to make an increased exertion for a brief space, to attain one’s end; a nervous effort.

SPITFIRE, a passionate person.

SPLENDIFEROUS, sumptuous, first-rate.

SPLICE, to marry; “and the two shall become one flesh.”—_Sea._

SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE, to take a drink.—_Sea._

SPLIT, to inform against one’s companions, to tell tales. “To SPLIT with a person,” to cease acquaintanceship, to quarrel.

SPLODGER, a lout, an awkward countryman.

SPOFFY, a bustling busy-body is said to be SPOFFY.

SPONGE, “to throw up the SPONGE,” to submit, give over the struggle,—from the practice of throwing up the SPONGE used to cleanse the combatants’ faces, at a prize fight, as a signal that the “mill” is concluded.

SPOON, synonymous with SPOONEY. A SPOON has been defined to be “a thing that touches a lady’s lips without kissing them.”

SPOONEY, a weak-minded and foolish person, effeminate or fond; “to be SPOONEY on a girl,” to be foolishly attached to one.

SPOONS, “when I was SPOONS with you,” _i.e._, when young, and in our courting days before marriage.—_Charles Mathews_, in the farce of _Everybody’s Friend_.

SPORT, to exhibit, to wear, &c.,—a word which is made to do duty in a variety of senses, especially at the University. _See the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam._ “To SPORT a new tile;” “to SPORT an _Ægrotat_” (_i.e._, a permission from the “Dons” to abstain from lectures, &c., on account of illness); “to SPORT ONE’S OAK,” to shut the outer door and exclude the public,—especially _duns_, and boring acquaintances. Common also in the Inns of Court.—_See Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, vol. viii., p. 492, and _Gentleman’s Magazine_, December, 1794.

SPORTING DOOR, the outer door of chambers, also called the OAK.—_See_ under SPORT.—_University._

SPOTTED, to be known or marked by the police.

SPOUT, “up the SPOUT,” at the pawnbroker’s; SPOUTING, pawning.—_See_ POP for origin.

SPOUT, to preach, or make speeches; SPOUTER, a preacher or lecturer.

SPRAT, sixpence.

SPREAD, butter.

SPREAD, a lady’s shawl. SPREAD, at the _East_ end of London, a feast, or a TIGHTENER; at the _West_ end a fashionable reunion, an entertainment, display of good things.

SPREE, a boisterous piece of merriment; “going on the SPREE,” starting out with intent to have a frolic. _French_, ESPRIT. In the _Dutch_ language, SPREEUW is a jester.

SPRINGER-UP, a tailor who sells low-priced ready made clothing, and gives starvation wages to the poor men and women who “make up” for him. The clothes are said to be SPRUNG-UP, or “blown together.”

SPRY, active, strong, manly.—_Americanism._

SPUDDY, a seller of bad potatoes. In _Scotland_, a SPUD is a raw potato; and roasted SPUDS are those cooked in the cinders with their jackets on.

SPUNGING-HOUSE, the sheriff’s officer’s house, where prisoners, when arrested for debt, are sometimes taken. As extortionate charges are made there for accommodation, the name is far from inappropriate.

SPUNK, spirit, _fire_, courage, mettle.

“In that snug room, where any man of SPUNK Would find it a hard matter to get drunk.”

_Peter Pindar_, i., 245.

Common in _America_. For derivation see the following.

SPUNKS, lucifer matches.—_Herefordshire; Scotland._ SPUNK, says Urry, in his MS. notes to Ray, “is the excrescency of some tree, of which they make a sort of tinder to light their pipes with.”

SPUNK-FENCER, a lucifer match seller.

SQUABBY, flat, short and thick.

SQUARE, honest; “on the SQUARE,” _i.e._, fair and strictly honest; “to turn SQUARE,” to reform, and get one’s living in an honest manner,—the opposite of CROSS.

SQUARE, “to be SQUARE with a man,” to be _even_ with him, or to be revenged; “to SQUARE up to a man,” to offer to fight him. _Shakespere_ uses SQUARE in the sense of to quarrel.

SQUARE COVE, an honest man.

SQUARE MOLL, an honest woman.

SQUARE RIGGED, well dressed.—_Sea._

SQUARING HIS NIBS, giving a policeman money.

SQUEEZE, silk.

SQUIB, a temporary _jeu d’esprit_, which, like the firework of that denomination, sparkles, bounces, stinks, and vanishes.—_Grose._

SQUINNY-EYED, squinting.—_Shakespere._

SQUIRT, a doctor, or chemist.

STAFF NAKED, gin.

STAG, a shilling.

STAG, a term applied during the railway mania to a speculator without capital, who took “scrip” in “_Diddlesex Junction_,” and other lines, _ejus et sui generis_, got the shares up to a premium, and then sold out. _Punch_ represented the house of Hudson, “the Railway King,” at Albert Gate, with a STAG on it, in allusion to this term.

STAG, to demand money, to “cadge.”

STAG, to see, discover, or watch,—like a STAG at gaze; “STAG the push,” look at the crowd. Also, to dun, or demand payment.

STAGGER, one who looks out, or watches.

STAGGERING BOB, an animal to whom the knife only just anticipates death from natural disease or accident,—said of meat on that account unfit for human food.

STALE, to evacuate urine.—_Stable term._

STALL, to lodge, or put up at a public house. Also, to act a part.—_Theatrical._

STALL, or STALL OFF, a dodge, a blind, or an excuse. STALL is _ancient cant_.

STALL OFF, to blind, excuse, hide, to screen a robbery during the perpetration of it by an accomplice.

STALL YOUR MUG, go away; spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of a troublesome or inconvenient person.

STALLSMAN, an accomplice.

STAMPERS, shoes.—_Ancient cant._

STAND, “to STAND treat,” to pay for a friend’s entertainment; to bear expense; to put up with treatment, good or ill; “this house STOOD me in £1,000,” _i.e._, cost that sum; “to STAND PAD,” to beg on the curb with a small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed “_I’m starving_.”

STANDING, the position at a street corner, or on the curb of a market street, regularly occupied by a costermonger, or street seller.

STANDING PATTERERS, men who take a stand on the curb of a public thoroughfare, and deliver prepared speeches to effect a sale of any articles they have to vend.—_See_ PATTERER.

STANGEY, a tailor; a person under petticoat government,—derived from the custom of “_riding the STANG_,” mentioned in Hudibras:—

“It is a custom used of course Where the grey mare is the better horse.”

STARK-NAKED (originally STRIP-ME-NAKED, _vide Randall’s Diary_, 1820), raw gin.—_Bulwer’s Paul Clifford._

STARCHY, stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, disdainful, cross.

STAR IT, to perform as the centre of attraction, with inferior subordinates to set off one’s abilities.—_Theatrical._

STAR THE GLAZE, to break the window or show glass of a jeweller or other tradesman, and take any valuable articles, and run away. Sometimes the glass is cut with a diamond, and a strip of leather fastened to the piece of glass cut out to keep it from falling in and making a noise. Another plan is to cut the sash.

START, “THE START,” London,—the great starting point for beggars and tramps.

START, a proceeding of any kind; “a rum START,” an odd circumstance; “to get the START of a person,” to anticipate him, overreach him.

STASH, to cease doing anything, to refrain, be quiet, leave off; “STASH IT, there, you sir!” _i.e._, be quiet, sir; to give over a lewd or intemperate course of life is termed STASHING IT.

STEEL, the house of correction in London, formerly named the _Bastile_, but since shortened to STEEL.

STEEL BAR DRIVERS, or FLINGERS, journeymen tailors.

STEMS, the legs.

STEP IT, to run away, or make off.

STICK, a derogatory expression for a person; “a rum” or “odd STICK,” a curious man. More generally a “poor STICK.”—_Provincial._

STICK, “cut your STICK,” be off, or go away; either simply equivalent to a recommendation to prepare a walking staff in readiness for a journey—in allusion to the Eastern custom of cutting a stick before setting out—or from the ancient mode of reckoning by notches or tallies on a stick. In Cornwall the peasantry tally sheaves of corn by cuts in a stick, reckoning by the score. CUT YOUR STICK in this sense may mean to make your mark and pass on—and so realise the meaning of the phrase “IN THE NICK (or notch) OF TIME.” Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in _Notes and Queries_ (December, 1859), considers the phrase equivalent to “cutting the connection,” and suggests a possible origin in the prophets breaking the staves of “Beauty” and “Bands,”—_vide_ Zech., xi., 10, 14.

STICK, to cheat; “he got STUCK,” he was taken in; STICK, to forget one’s part in a performance—_Theatrical_; STICK ON, to overcharge or defraud; STICK UP FOR, to defend a person, especially when slandered in his absence; STICK UP TO, to persevere in courting or attacking, whether in fisty-cuffs or argument; “to STICK in one’s gizzard,” to rankle in one’s heart; “to STICK TO a person,” to adhere to one, be his friend through adverse circumstances.

STICKS, furniture, or household chattels; “pick up your STICKS and cut!” summary advice to a person to take himself and furniture away.—_Cumberland._

STICKS, pistols.—_Nearly obsolete._

STICK-UPS, or GILLS, shirt collars.

STICKINGS, bruised or damaged meat sold to sausage makers and penny pie shops.—_North._

STICKY, wax.

STIFF, paper, a bill of acceptance, &c.; “how did you get it, STIFF or _hard_?” _i.e._, did he pay you cash or give a bill?

STIFF FENCER, a street seller of writing paper.

STIFF ’UN, a corpse.—_Term used by undertakers._

STILTON, “that’s the STILTON,” or “it is not the STILTON,” _i.e._, that is quite the thing, or that is not quite the thing;—polite rendering of “that is not the CHEESE,” which see.

STINGO, strong liquor.—_Yorkshire._

STINK, a disagreeable exposure.

STINKOMALEE, a name given to the then New London University by Theodore Hook. Some question about _Trincomalee_ was agitated at the same time. It is still applied by the students of the old Universities, who regard it with disfavour from its admitting all denominations.

STIPE, a stipendiary magistrate.—_Provincial._

STIR, a prison, a lock-up; “IN STIR,” in jail. _Anglo Saxon_, STYR, correction, punishment.

STIR UP SUNDAY, the Sunday next before Advent, the collect for that day commencing with the words “Stir up.” Schoolboys, growing excited at the prospect of the vacation, irreverently commemorate it by stirring up—pushing and poking each other. CRIB CRUST MONDAY and TUG BUTTON TUESDAY are distinguished by similar tricks; while on PAY-OFF WEDNESDAY they retaliate small grudges in a playful facetious way. Forby says, good housewives in Norfolk consider themselves reminded by the name to mix the ingredients for their Christmas mince pies.

STOCKDOLAGER, a heavy blow, a “finisher.” _Italian_, STOCCADO, a fencing term.

STODGE, to surfeit, gorge, or clog with food.

STONE JUG, a prison.

STOOK, a pocket-handkerchief.

STOOK HAULER, or BUZZER, a thief who takes pocket-handkerchiefs.

STOP, a detective policeman.

STORY, a falsehood,—the soft synonyme for a _lie_, allowed in family circles and boarding-schools. A Puritanism that came in fashion with the tirade against romances, all novels and stories being considered as dangerous and false.

STOTOR, a heavy blow, a SETTLER.—_Old cant._

STOW, to leave off, or have done; “STOW IT, the gorger’s leary,” leave off, the person is looking. _See_ STASH, with which it is synonymous.—_Ancient cant._

STOW FAKING! leave off there, be quiet! FAKING implying anything that may be going on.

STRAW. Married ladies are said to be “in THE STRAW” at their _accouchements_. The phrase is a coarse allusion to farm-yard animals in a similar condition.

STRAWING, _selling_ straws in the streets (generally for a penny) and _giving_ the purchaser a paper (indecent or political), or a gold (!) ring,—neither of which the patterer states he is allowed to sell.

STREAK, to decamp, run away.—_Saxon._ In _America_ the phrase is “to make STREAKS,” or “make TRACKS.”

STREAKY, irritated, ill-tempered.

STREET PITCHERS, negro minstrels, ballad singers, long song men, men “working a board” on which have been painted various exciting scenes in some terrible drama, the details of which the STREET PITCHER is bawling out, and selling in a little book or broadsheet (price one penny); or any persons who make a stand in the streets, and sell articles for their living.

STRETCH, abbreviation of “STRETCH one’s neck,” to hang, be executed as a malefactor.—_Bulwer’s Paul Clifford._

STRETCH, twelve months,—generally used to intimate the time any one has been sentenced by the judge or magistrate. ONE STRETCH is to be imprisoned twelve months, TWO STRETCH is two years, THREE STRETCH is three years, and so on.

STRETCHER, a falsehood.

STRETCHER, a contrivance with handles, used by the police to carry off persons who are violent or drunk.

STRETCHER FENCER, one who sells braces.

STRETCHING MATCH, an execution.—_See_ STRETCH.

STRIKE ME LUCKY! an expression used by the lower orders when making a bargain, derived from the old custom of striking hands together, leaving in that of the seller a LUCK PENNY as an earnest that the bargain is concluded. In Ireland, at cattle markets, &c., a penny, or other small coin, is always given by the buyer to the seller to ratify the bargain.—_Hudibras._ Anciently this was called a GOD’S PENNY.

“With that he cast him a God’s peny.”—_Heir of Linne._

The origin of the phrase being lost sight of, like that of many others, it is often corrupted now-a-days into STRIKE ME SILLY.

STRIKE THE JIGGER, to pick the lock, or break open the door.

STROMMEL, straw.—_Ancient cant._ Halliwell says that in Norfolk STRUMMEL is a name for hair.

STRONG, “to come it STRONG.”—_See_ COME.

STUCK-UP, “purse-proud”—a form of snobbishness very common in those who have risen in the world. Mr. Albert Smith has written some amusing papers on the _Natural History of_ STUCK-UP _People_.

STUFF, money.

STUFF, to make false but plausible statements, to praise ironically, to make game of a person,—literally, to STUFF or CRAM him with gammon or falsehood.

STUMP, to go on foot.

STUMPED, bowled out, done for, bankrupt, poverty stricken.—_Cricketing term._

STUMPS, legs, or feet.

STUMPY, money.

STUMP UP, to pay one’s share, to pay the reckoning, to bring forth the money reluctantly.

STUN, to astonish.

STUNNER, a first-rate person or article.

STUNNERS, feelings of great astonishment; “it put the STUNNERS on me,” it confounded me.

STUNNING, first-rate, very good. “STUNNING pears,” shouts the coster, “only eight a penny.”—_Vide Athenæum_, 26th March, 1859. Sometimes amplified to STUNNING JOE BANKS! when the expression is supposed to be in its most intense form. JOE BANKS was a noted character in the last generation. He was the proprietor of a public-house in Dyott-street, Seven Dials, and afterwards, on the demolition of the Rookery, of another in Cranbourne-alley. His houses became well-known from their being the resort of the worst characters, at the same time that the strictest decorum was always maintained in them. JOE BANKS also acquired a remarkable notoriety by acting as a medium betwixt thieves and their victims. Upon the proper payment to Joe, a watch or a snuff box would at any time be restored to its lawful owner—“no questions in any case being asked.” The most daring depredators in London placed the fullest confidence in Joe, and it is believed (although the _Biographie Universelle_ is quiet upon this point) that he never, in any instance, “sold” them. He was of the middle height, stout, and strongly made, and was always noted for a showy pin, and a remarkably STUNNING _neck-tie_. It was this peculiarity in the costume of Mr. Banks, coupled with those true and tried qualities as a friend, for which, as I have just remarked, he was famous, that led his customers to proclaim him as STUNNING JOE BANKS! The Marquis of Douro, Colonel Chatterley, and men of their stamp, were accustomed to resort to a private room at his house, when too late or too early to gain admittance to the clubs or more aristocratic establishments.

STUNNED ON SKILLY, to be sent to prison and compelled to eat SKILLY, or SKILLIGOLEE.

STURABAN, a prison. _Gipsey_, DISTARABIN.

SUCK, a parasite, flatterer of the “nobs.”—_University._

SUCK, to pump, or draw information from a person.

SUCK-CASSA, a public-house.

SUCK THE MONKEY, to rob a cask of liquor by inserting a straw through a gimlet hole, and sucking a portion of the contents.

SUCK UP, “to SUCK UP to a person,” to insinuate oneself into his good graces.

SUFFERER, a tailor.

SUIT, a watch and seals.

SULKY, a one-horse chaise, having only room for one person.

SUN IN THE EYES, to have too much drink.—_Dickens._

SUP, abbreviation of _supernumerary_.—_Theatrical._

SUPER, a watch; SUPER-SCREWING, stealing watches.

SURF, an actor who frequently pursues another calling.—_Theat._

SWADDLER, a Wesleyan Methodist; a name originally given to members of that body by the Irish mob; said to have originated with an ignorant Romanist, to whom the words of the English Bible were a novelty, and who, hearing one of John Wesley’s preachers mention the _swaddling clothes_ of the Holy Infant, in a sermon on Christmas-day at Dublin, shouted out in derision, “_A swaddler! a swaddler!_” as if the whole story were the preacher’s invention.—_Southey’s Life of Wesley_, vol. ii., p. 109.

SWADDY, or COOLIE, a soldier. The former was originally applied to a discharged soldier, and perhaps came from shoddy, of which soldiers’ coats are made.

SWAG, a lot or plenty of anything, a portion or division of property. In Australia the term is used for the luggage carried by diggers: in India the word LOOT is used. _Scotch_, SWEG, or SWACK; _German_, SWEIG, a flock. _Old cant_ for a shop.

SWAG, booty, or plundered property; “collar the SWAG,” seize the booty.

SWAG-SHOP, a warehouse where “Brummagem” and general wares are sold,—fancy trinkets, plated goods, &c. Jews are the general proprietors, and the goods are excessively low priced, trashy, and showy. SWAG-SHOPS were formerly plunder depôts.—_Old cant._

SWAGSMAN, one who carries the booty after a burglary.

SWANKEY, cheap beer.—_West._

SWAP, to exchange. _Grose_ says it is _Irish_ cant, but the term is now included in most dictionaries as an allowed vulgarism.

SWEAT, to extract money from a person, to “bleed,” to squander riches.—_Bulwer._

SWEATER, common term for a “cutting” or “grinding” employer.

SWEEP, a low or shabby man.

SWEET, loving or fond; “how SWEET he was upon the moll,” _i.e._, what marked attention he paid the girl.

SWELL, a man of importance; a person with a showy, jaunty exterior; “a rank SWELL,” a very “flashly” dressed person, a man who by excessive dress apes a higher position than he actually occupies. Anything is said to be SWELL or SWELLISH that looks showy, or is many coloured, or is of a desirable quality. Dickens and Thackeray are termed great SWELLS in literature; so indeed are the first persons in the learned professions.

SWELL FENCER, a street salesman of needles.

SWELL HUNG IN CHAINS, said of a showy man in the habit of wearing much jewellery.

SWIG, to drink. _Saxon_, SWIGAN.

SWIG, a hearty drink.

SWIM, “a good SWIM,” a good run of luck, a long time out of the policeman’s clutches.—_Thieves’ term._

SWINDLER, although a recognised word in respectable dictionaries, commenced service as a slang term. It was used as such by the poor Londoners against the German Jews who set up in London about the year 1762, also by our soldiers in the German War about that time. SCHWINDEL, in _German_, signifies to cheat.

SWING, to be hanged.

SWINGING, large, huge.

SWIPES, sour or small beer. SWIPE, to drink.—_Sea._

SWIPEY (from SWIPES), intoxicated.

SWISHED, married.

SWIZZLE, small beer, drink.

SWOT, mathematics; also a mathematician; as a verb, to work hard for an examination, to be diligent in one’s studies.—_Army._

This word originated at the great slang manufactory for the army, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in the broad Scotch pronunciation of Dr. Wallace, one of the Professors, of the word _sweat_.—_See Notes and Queries_, vol. i., p. 369.

T, “to suit to a T,” to fit to a nicety.—_Old._ Perhaps from the T-square of carpenters, by which the accuracy of work is tested.

TACKLE, clothes.—_Sea._

TAFFY (corruption of _David_), a Welshman. Compare SAWNEY (from _Alexander_), a Scotchman.

TAG-RAG-AND-BOBTAIL, a mixed crowd of low people, mobility.

TAIL BUZZER, a thief who picks coat pockets.

TAKE, to succeed, or be patronised; “do you think the new opera will TAKE?” “No, because the same company TOOK so badly under the old management;” “to TAKE ON,” to grieve; _Shakespere_ uses the word TAKING in this sense. To “TAKE UP for any one,” to protect or defend a person; “to TAKE OFF,” to mimic; “to TAKE heart,” to have courage; “to TAKE down a peg or two,” to humiliate, or tame; “to TAKE UP,” to reprove; “to TAKE AFTER,” to resemble; “to TAKE IN,” to cheat or defraud, from the lodging-house keepers’ advertisements, “single men TAKEN IN AND DONE FOR,”—an engagement which is as frequently performed in a bad as a good sense; “to TAKE THE FIELD,” when said of a _General_, to commence operations against the enemy; when a _racing man_ TAKES THE FIELD he stakes his money against the favourite.

TAKE BEEF, to run away.

TAKE IN, a cheating or swindling transaction,—sometimes termed “a DEAD TAKE IN.” _Shakespere_ has TAKE IN in the sense of conquering. TO BE HAD, or TO BE SPOKE TO, were formerly synonymous phrases with TO BE TAKEN IN.

TALLY, five dozen bunches of turnips.

TAN, to beat or thrash; I’ll TAN your hide, _i.e._, give you a good beating.

TANNER, a sixpence. _Gipsey_, TAWNO, little, or _Latin_, TENER, slender?

TANNY, or TEENY, little. _Gipsey_, TAWNO, little.

TANTREMS, pranks, capers, or frolicking; from the _Tarantula_ dance? See account of the involuntary phrensy and motions caused by the bite of the tarantula in Italy.—_Penny Cyclopædia._

TAPE, gin,—term with female servants.

TAPER, to gradually give over, to run short.

TAP TUB, the _Morning Advertiser_.

TAT BOX, a dice box.

TATER, “s’elp my TATER,” another street evasion of a profane oath, sometimes varied by “s’elp my GREENS.”

TATLER, a watch; “nimming a TATLER,” stealing a watch.

TATS, dice.

TATS, old rags; MILKY TATS, white rags.

TATTING, gathering old rags.

TAW, a large or principal marble; “I’ll be one on your TAW,” I will pay you out, or be even with you,—a simile taken from boys aiming always at winning the TAW when playing at marbles.

TEAGUELAND, Ireland.

TEETH, “he has cut his _eye_ TEETH,” _i.e._, is old and cute enough.

TEETH-DRAWING, wrenching off knockers.

TEETOTALLER, a total abstainer from alcoholic drinks.

TEETOTALLY, amplification of TOTALLY.

TELL-ON, to tell about.

TENPENCE TO THE SHILLING, a vulgar phrase denoting a deficiency in intellect.

TESTER, sixpence. From TESTONE, a shilling in the reign of Henry VIII., but a sixpence in the time of Q. Elizabeth.—_Shakespere._ _French_, TESTE, or TETE, the head of the monarch on the coin.

TEVISS, a shilling.

THEATRE, a police court.

THICK, intimate, familiar. _Scotch_, CHIEF; “the two are very CHIEF now,” _i.e._, friendly.

THICK-UN, a sovereign; a crown piece, or five shillings.

THIMBLE, or YACK, a watch.

THIMBLE-RIG, a noted cheating game played at fairs and places of great public thronging, consisting of two or three thimbles rapidly and dexterously placed over a pea, when the THIMBLE-RIGGER, suddenly ceasing, asks you under which thimble the pea is to be found. If you are not a practised hand you will lose nine times out of ten any bet you may happen to make with him. The pea is sometimes concealed under his nail.

THIMBLE TWISTERS, thieves who rob persons of their watches.

THINSKINNED, over nice, petulant, apt to get a “raw.”

THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND, unsteady from drink.—_Sea._

THREE-UP, a gambling game played by costers. Three halfpennies are thrown up, and when they fall all “heads,” or all “tails,” it is a mark; and the man who gets the greatest number of marks out of a given amount—three, five, or more—wins. The costers are very quick and skilful at this game, and play fairly at it amongst themselves; but should a stranger join in they invariably unite to cheat him.

THRUMS, threepence.

THRUMMER, a threepenny bit.

THRUPS, threepence.

THUMPING, large, fine, or strong.

THUNDERER, the _Times_ newspaper.

THUNDERING, large, extra-sized.

TIBBING OUT, going out of bounds.—_Charterhouse._

TICK, credit, trust. _Johnson_ says it is a corruption of _ticket_,—tradesmen’s bills being formerly written on tickets or cards. ON TICK, therefore, is equivalent to _on ticket_, or on trust. In use 1668. Cuthbert Bede, in _Notes and Queries_, supplies me with an earlier date, from the _Gradus ad Cantabrigiam_.

“No matter upon landing whether you have money or no—you may swim in twentie of their boats over the river UPON TICKET.”—_Decker’s Gul’s Hornbook_, 1609.

TICKER, a watch.

TICKET, “that’s the TICKET,” _i.e._, what was wanted, or what is best. Corruption of “that is not _etiquette_,” by adding, in vulgar pronunciation, _th_ to the first _e_ of etiquette; or, perhaps, from TICKET, a bill or invoice. This phrase is sometimes extended into “that’s the TICKET FOR SOUP,” in allusion to the card given to beggars for immediate relief at soup kitchens.—_See_ TICK.

TIDY, tolerably, or pretty well; “how did you get on to-day”—“Oh, TIDY.”—_Saxon._

TIED UP, given over, finished; also married, in allusion to the Hymenial knot, unless a jocose allusion be intended to the _halter_ (altar).

TIFFIN, a breakfast, _dejeuner a la fourchette_.—_Anglo Indian slang._

TIGER, a boy employed to wait on _gentlemen_; one who waits on ladies is a page.

TIGHT, close, stingy; hard up, short of cash; TIGHT, spruce, strong, active; “a TIGHT lad,” a smart, active young fellow; TIGHT, drunk, or nearly so; “TIGHT laced,” puritanical, over-precise. Money is said to be TIGHT, when the public, from want of confidence in the aspect of affairs, are not inclined to speculate.

TIGHTNER, a dinner, or hearty meal.

TIKE, or BUFFER LURKING, dog stealing.

TILE, a hat; a covering for the head.

“I’m a gent, I’m a gent, In the Regent-street style,— Examine my vest, And look at my TILE.”—_Popular Song._

Sometimes used in another sense, “having a TILE loose,” _i.e._, being slightly crazy.—_See_ PANTILE.

TIMBER MERCHANT, or SPUNK FENCER, a lucifer match seller.

TIME O’ DAY, a dodge, the latest aspect of affairs; “that’s your TIME O’ DAY,” _i.e._, _Euge_, well done; to PUT A PERSON UP TO THE TIME O’ DAY, let him know what is o’clock,—to instruct him in the knowledge needful for him.

TIN, money,—generally applied to silver.

TINGE, the percentage allowed by drapers and clothiers to their assistants, upon the sale of old-fashioned articles.—_See_ SPIFFS.

TIN-POT, “he plays a TIN-POT game,” _i.e._, a low or shabby one.—_Billiards._

TIP, a douceur; also to give, lend, or hand over anything to another person; “come, TIP up the tin,” _i.e._, hand up the money; “TIP the wink,” to inform by winking; “TIP us your fin,” _i.e._, give me your hand; “TIP one’s boom off,” to make off, depart.—_Sea._ “To miss one’s TIP,” to fail in a scheme.—_Old cant._

TIP THE DOUBLE, to “bolt,” or run away from a creditor or officer. Sometimes TIP THE DOUBLE TO SHERRY, _i.e._, to the sheriff.

TIP-TOP, first-rate, of the best kind.

TIPTOPPER, a “swell,” or dressy man, a “_Gorger_.”

TIT, favourite name for a horse.

TIT FOR TAT, an equivalent.

TITIVATE, to put in order, or dress up.

TITLEY, drink.

TITTER, a girl.

’TIZER, the _Morning Advertiser_.

TIZZY, a sixpence. Corruption of TESTER.

TOASTING FORK, derisive term for a sword.

TOBY CONSARN, a highway expedition.

TOBY, a road; “high TOBY,” the turnpike road. “High TOBY spice,” robbery on horse-back.—_Don Juan_, canto xi., 19.

TODDLE, to walk as a child.

TO-DO (pronounced quickly, and as one word), a disturbance, trouble; “here’s a pretty TO-DO,” here is an unpleasant difficulty. This exactly tallies with the _French_ word AFFAIRE (_a faire_).—_See Forby’s Vocabulary of East Anglia._

TOFFER, a well dressed, “gay” woman.

TOFFICKY, dressy, showy.

TOFT, a showy individual, a SWELL, a person who, according to a Yorkshireman’s vocabulary, is UP-ISH.

TOG, a coat. _Latin_, TOGA.—_Ancient cant._

TOG, to dress, or equip with an outfit; “TOGGED out to the nines,” dressed in the first style.

TOGS, clothes; “Sunday TOGS,” best clothes. One of the oldest cant words, in use in the time of Henry VIII.

TOGERY, clothes, harness, domestic paraphernalia of any kind.

TOKE, dry bread.

TOL-LOL, or TOL-LOLISH, tolerable, or tolerably.

TOMMY.—_See_ DICKEY.

TOMMY, bread,—generally a penny roll.

TOMMY, a truck, barter, the exchange of labour for goods, not money. Both term and practice general among English operatives for half-a century.

TOMMY-MASTER, one who pays his workmen in goods, or gives them tickets upon tradesmen, with whom he shares the profit.

TOMMY SHOP, where wages are generally paid to mechanics or others, who are expected to “take out” a portion of the money in goods.

TOM-TOM, a street instrument, a small kind of drum beaten with the fingers, somewhat like the ancient tabor; a performer on this instrument. It was imported, doubtless, with the _Nigger_ melodies,—TOM-TOMS being a favourite instrument with the darkies.

TONGUED, talkative; “to TONGUE a person,” _i.e._, talk him down.

TOOL, “a poor TOOL,” a bad hand at anything.

TOOL, to drive a mail coach.

TOOL, to pick pockets.

TOOLER, a pickpocket. MOLL-TOOLER, a female pickpocket.

TOOTH, “he has cut his eye TOOTH,” _i.e._, he is sharp enough, or old enough, to be so; “up in the TOOTH,” far advanced in age,—said often of old maids. _Stable term_ for aged horses which have lost the distinguishing mark in their teeth.

TOPHEAVY, drunk.

TOPPED, hung or executed.

TOP-SAWYER, the principal of a party, or profession. “A TOP-SAWYER, signifies a man that is a master genius in any profession. It is a piece of _Norfolk_ slang, and took its rise from Norfolk being a great timber county, where the _top_ sawyers get double the wages of those beneath them.”—_Randall’s Diary_, 1820.

TOPS, dying speeches and gallows broadsides.

TOPSY-TURVY, the bottom upwards. _Grose_ gives an ingenious etymology of this once cant term, viz., “_top-side turf-ways_,”—turf being always laid the wrong side upwards.

TO-RIGHTS, excellent, very well, or good.

TORPIDS, the second-class race-boats at Oxford, answering to the Cambridge SLOGGERS.

TOSHERS, men who steal copper from ships’ bottoms in the Thames.

TOSS, a measure of sprats.

TOUCHED, slightly intoxicated.

TOUCHER, “as near as a TOUCHER,” as near as possible without actually touching.—_Coaching term._ The old jarveys, to show their skill, used to drive against things so close as absolutely to _touch_, yet without injury. This they called a TOUCHER, or, TOUCH AND GO, which was hence applied to anything which was within an ace of ruin.

TOUCHY, peevish, irritable. _Johnson_ terms it a low word.

TOUT, to look out, or watch.—_Old cant._

TOUTER, a looker out, one who watches for customers, a hotel runner.

TOWEL, to beat or whip. In _Warwickshire_ an oaken stick is termed a TOWEL—whence, perhaps, the vulgar verb.

TOWELLING, a rubbing down with an _oaken_ TOWEL, a beating.

TRACKS, “to make TRACKS,” to run away.—_See_ STREAK.

TRANSLATOR, a man who deals in old shoes or clothes, and refits them for cheap wear.

TRANSLATORS, second-hand boots mended and polished, and sold at a low price. Monmouth-street, Seven Dials, is a great market for TRANSLATORS.

TRANSMOGRIPHY, to alter or change.

TRAP, a “fast” term for a carriage of any kind. TRAPS, goods and chattels of any kind, but especially luggage and personal effects; in Australia, SWAG.

TRAP, “up to TRAP,” knowing, wide awake,—synonymous with “up to SNUFF.”

TRAP, a sheriff’s officer.

TRAPESING, gadding or gossiping about in a slatternly way.—_North._

TRAVELLER, name given by one tramp to another. “A TRAVELLER at her Majesty’s expense,” _i.e._, a transported felon, a convict.

TREE, “up a TREE,” in temporary difficulties,—out of the way. _American expression_, derived from RACCOON or BEAR-HUNTING. When Bruin is TREED, or is forced UP A TREE by the dogs, it means that then the tug of war begins.—_See_ ’COON. Hence when an opponent is fairly run to bay, and can by no evasion get off, he is said to be TREED. These expressions originated with Colonel Crockett. In _Scotland_ the phrase is “up a CLOSE,” _i.e._, a passage, out of the usual track, or removed from observation.

TRINE, to hang.—_Ancient cant._

TROLLING, sauntering or idling.

TROLLY, or TROLLY-CARTS, term given by costermongers to a species of narrow cart, which can either be drawn by a donkey, or driven by hand.

TROTTER, a tailor’s man who goes round for orders.—_University._

TROTTER CASES, shoes.

TROTTERS, feet. Sheep’s TROTTERS, boiled sheep’s feet, a favourite street delicacy.

TRUCK, to exchange or barter.

TRUCK-GUTTED, pot-bellied, corpulent.—_Sea._

TRUCKS, trowsers.

TRUMP, a good fellow; “a regular TRUMP,” a jolly or good natured person,—in allusion to a TRUMP card; “TRUMPS may turn up,” _i.e._, fortune may yet favour me.

TUB THUMPING, preaching or speech making.

TUCK, a schoolboy’s term for fruit, pastry, &c. TUCK IN, or TUCK OUT, a good meal.

TUFTS, fellow commoners, _i.e._, wealthy students at the University, who pay higher fees, dine with the Dons, and are distinguished by golden TUFTS, or tassels, in their caps.

TUFT-HUNTER, a hanger on to persons of quality or wealth. Originally _University slang_, but now general.

TUMBLE, to comprehend or understand. A coster was asked what he thought of _Macbeth_,—“the witches and the fighting was all very well, but the other moves I couldn’t TUMBLE to exactly; few on us can TUMBLE to the jaw-breakers; they licks us, they do.”

TURF, horse racing, and betting thereon; “on the TURF,” one who occupies himself with race course business; said also of a street-walker, nymph of the pavé.

TURKEY-MERCHANTS, dealers in plundered or contraband silk. Poulterers are sometimes termed TURKEY MERCHANTS, in remembrance of Horne Tooke’s answer to the boys at Eton, who wished in an aristocratic way to know who _his_ father was,—a TURKEY MERCHANT, replied Tooke;—his father was a poulterer. TURKEY MERCHANT, also, was formerly slang for a driver of turkeys or geese to market.

TURNED OVER, to be stopped and searched by the police.

TURNED UP, acquitted by the magistrate or judge for want of evidence.

TURNER OUT, a coiner of bad money.

TURN OUT, personal show or appearance; a man with a showy carriage and horses is said to have a good TURN OUT.

TURNOVER, an apprentice who finishes with a second master the indentures he commenced with the first.

TURNPIKE-SAILORS, beggars who go about dressed as sailors.

TURN UP, a street fight; a sudden leaving, or making off.

TURN UP, to quit, change, abscond, or abandon; “Ned has TURNED UP,” _i.e._ run away; “I intend TURNING IT UP,” _i.e._ leaving my present abode or altering my course of life. Also to happen; let’s wait, and see what will TURN UP.

TUSHEROON, a crown piece, five shillings.

TUSSLE, a pull, struggle, fight, or argument. _Johnson_ and _Webster_ call it a vulgar word.

TUSSLE, to struggle, or argue.

TWELVER, a shilling.

TWIG, style, _à-la-mode_; “get your strummel faked in TWIG,” _i.e._, have your hair dressed in style; PRIME TWIG, in good order, and high spirits.—_Pugilistic._

TWIG, “to hop the TWIG,” to decamp, “cut one’s stick,” to die.

TWIG, to understand, detect, or observe.

TWIST, brandy and gin mixed.

TWIST, appetite; “Will’s got a capital TWIST.”

TWITCHETTY, nervous, fidgetty.

TWITTER, “all in a TWITTER,” in a fright, or fidgetty state.

TWO-HANDED, awkward.

TWOPENNY, the head; “tuck in your TWOPENNY,” bend down your head.

TWOPENNY-HOPS, low dancing rooms, the price of admission to which was formerly—and not infrequently now—two pence. The clog hornpipe, the pipe dance, flash jigs, and hornpipes in fetters, _à la_ Jack Sheppard, are the favourite movements, all entered into with great spirit and “joyous, laborious capering.”—_Mayhew._

TYBURN COLLAR, the fringe of beard worn under the chin.—_See_ NEWGATE COLLAR.

TYE, or TIE, a neckerchief. Proper hosier’s term now, but slang thirty years ago, and as early as 1718. Called also, SQUEEZE.

UNBETTY, to unlock.—_See_ BETTY.

UNCLE, the pawnbroker.—_See_ MY UNCLE.

UNDER THE ROSE.—_See_ ROSE.

UNICORN, a style of driving with two wheelers abreast, and one leader,—termed in the _United States_, a SPIKE TEAM. TANDEM is one wheeler and one leader. RANDOM, three horses in line.

UNUTTERABLES, trousers—_See_ INEXPRESSIBLES.

UNWHISPERABLES, trousers.

UP, “to be UP to a thing or two,” to be knowing, or understanding; “to put a man UP to a move,” to teach him a trick; “it’s all UP with him,” _i.e._, it is all over with him, often pronounced U.P., naming the two letters separately; “UP a tree,” see TREE; “UP to TRAP,” “UP to SNUFF,” wide awake, acquainted with the last new move; “UP to one’s GOSSIP,” to be a match for one who is trying to take you in;—“UP to SLUM,” proficient in roguery, capable of committing a theft successfully.

UPPER BENJAMIN, a great coat.

UPPER STOREY, or UPPER LOFT, a person’s head; “his UPPER STOREY is unfurnished,” _i.e._, he does not know very much.

UPPISH, proud, arrogant.

USED UP, broken-hearted, bankrupt, fatigued.

VAMOS, or VAMOUS, to go, or be off. _Spanish_, VAMOS, “let us go!” Probably NAMUS or NAMOUS the costermonger’s word, was from this, although it is generally considered back slang.

VAMPS, old stockings. From VAMP, to piece.

VARDO, to look; “VARDO the cassey,” look at the house. VARDO formerly was _old cant_ for a wagon.

VARMENT, “you young VARMENT, you!” you bad, or naughty boy. Corruption of _vermin_.

VELVET, the tongue.

VERTICAL-CARE-GRINDER, the treadmill.

VIC., the Victoria Theatre, London,—patronised principally by costermongers and low people; also the street abbreviation of the Christian name of her Majesty the Queen.

VILLAGE, or THE VILLAGE, _i.e._, London.—_Sporting._

VILLE, or VILE, a town or village.—pronounced _phial_, or _vial_.—_French._

VINNIED, mildewed, or sour.—_Devonshire._

VOKER, to talk; “can you VOKER Romany?” can you speak the canting language.—_Latin_, VOCARE; _Spanish_, VOCEAR.

WABBLE, to move from side to side, to roll about. _Johnson_ terms it a “low, barbarous word.”

WALKER! or HOOKEY WALKER! an ejaculation of incredulity, said when a person is telling a story which you know to be all gammon, or false. The _Saturday Reviewer’s_ explanation of the phrase is this:—“Years ago, there was a person named _Walker_, an aquiline-nosed Jew, who exhibited an orrery, which he called by the erudite name of _Eidouranion_. He was also a popular lecturer on astronomy, and often invited his pupils, telescope in hand, to _take a sight_ at the moon and stars. The lecturer’s phrase struck his school-boy auditory, who frequently “took a sight” with that gesture of outstretched arm, and adjustment to nose and eye, which was the first garnish of the popular saying. The next step was to assume phrase and gesture as the outward and visible mode of knowingness in general.” A correspondent, however, denies this, and states that HOOKEY WALKER was a magistrate of dreaded acuteness and incredulity, whose hooked nose gave the title of BEAK to all his successors; and, moreover, that the gesture of applying the thumb to the nose and agitating the little finger, as an expression of “Don’t you wish you may get it?” is considerably older than the story in the _Saturday Review_ would seem to indicate. There is a third explanation of HOOKEY WALKER in _Notes and Queries_, iv., 425.

WALK INTO, to overcome, to demolish; “I’ll WALK INTO his affections” _i.e._, I will scold or thrash him. The word DRIVE (which see) is used in an equally curious sense in slang speech.

WALK OVER, a re-election without opposition.—_Parliamentary_, but derived from the _Turf_, where a horse—which has no rivals entered—WALKS OVER the course, and wins without exertion.

WALK-THE-BARBER, to lead a girl astray.

WALK YOUR CHALKS, be off, or run away,—spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of you.—_See_ CHALKS.

WALL-FLOWER, a person who goes to a ball, and looks on without dancing, either from choice or not being able to obtain a partner.

WALL-FLOWERS, left-off and “regenerated” clothes, exposed for sale in Monmouth-street.

WALLOP, to beat, or thrash. Mr. John Gough Nichols derives this word from an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth, one Sir John Wallop, Knight of the Garter, who, in King Henry VIII.’s time, distinguished himself by WALLOPING the French; but it is more probably connected with WEAL, a livid swelling in the skin, after a blow.—_See_ POT WALLOPER.

WALLOPING, a beating or thrashing; sometimes in an adjective sense, as big, or very large.

WAPPING, or WHOPPING, of a large size, great.

WARM, rich, or well off.

WARM, to thrash, or beat; “I’ll WARM your jacket.”

WASH, “it won’t WASH,” _i.e._, will not stand investigation, is not genuine, can’t be believed.

WATCHMAKER, a pickpocket, or stealer of watches.

WATCH AND SEALS, a sheep’s head and pluck.

WATER-BEWITCHED, very weak tea, the third brew (or the first at some houses), grog much diluted.

WATER OF LIFE, gin.

WATERMAN, a light blue silk handkerchief. The Oxford and Cambridge boats’ crews always wear these—light blue for Cambridge, and a darker shade for Oxford.

WATTLES, ears.

WAXY, cross, ill-tempered.

WEDGE, silver.—_Old cant._

WEDGE-FEEDER, silver spoon.

WEED, a cigar; _the_ WEED, tobacco generally.

WELL, to pocket, or place as in a well.

WENCH, provincial and old-fashioned term for a girl, derived from WINK. In _America_, negro girls only are termed WENCHES.

WEST CENTRAL, a water-closet, the initials being the same as those of the London Postal District. It is said that for this reason very delicate people refuse to obey Rowland Hill’s instructions in this particular.

WET, a drink, a “drain.”

WET, to drink. Low people generally ask an acquaintance to WET any recently purchased article, _i.e._, to stand treat on the occasion; “WET your whistle,” _i.e._, take a drink; “WET the other eye,” _i.e._, take another glass.

WET QUAKER, a drunkard of that sect; a man who pretends to be religious, and is a dram drinker on the sly.

WHACK, a share or lot; “give me my WHACK,” give me my share. _Scotch_, SWEG, or SWACK.

WHACK, to beat; WHACK, or WHACKING, a blow or thrashing.

WHACKING, large, fine, or strong.

WHALE, “very like a WHALE in a teacup,” said of anything that is very improbable; taken from a speech of Polonius in _Hamlet_.

WHEEDLE, to entice by soft words. “This word cannot be found to derive itself from any other, and therefore is looked upon as wholly invented by the CANTERS.”—_Triumph of Wit_, 1705.

WHERRET, or WORRIT, to scold, trouble, or annoy.—_Old English._

WHIDDLE, to enter into a parley, or hesitate with many words, &c.; to inform, or discover.

WHIDS, words.—_Old Gipsey cant._

WHIM-WAM, an alliterative term, synonymous with _fiddle-faddle_, _riff-raff_, &c., denoting nonsense, rubbish, &c.

WHIP, to “WHIP anything _up_,” to take it up quickly; from the method of hoisting heavy goods or horses on board ship by a WHIP, or running tackle, from the yard-arm. Generally used to express anything dishonestly taken.—_L’Estrange_ and _Johnson_.

WHIP JACK, a sham shipwrecked sailor, called also a TURNPIKE sailor.

WHIPPER-SNAPPER, a waspish, diminutive person.

WHIPPING THE CAT, when an operative works at a private house by the day. Term used amongst tailors and carpenters.

WHISKER. There is a curious slang phrase connected with this word. When an improbable story is told, the remark is, “the mother of that was a WHISKER,” meaning it is a lie.

WHISTLE, “as clean as a WHISTLE,” neatly, or “SLICKLY done,” as an American would say; “to WET ONE’S WHISTLE,” to take a drink. This is a very old term. _Chaucer_ says of the Miller of Trumpington’s wife (_Canterbury Tales_, 4153)—

“So was hir joly WHISTAL well Y-WET;”

“to WHISTLE FOR ANYTHING,” to stand small chance of getting it, from the nautical custom of _whistling_ for a wind in a calm, which of course comes none the sooner for it.

WHITE FEATHER, “to show the WHITE FEATHER,” to evince cowardice. In the times when great attention was paid to the breeding of game-cocks, a white feather in the tail was considered a proof of cross-breeding.

WHITE LIE, a harmless lie, one told to reconcile people at variance; “mistress is not at home, sir,” is a WHITE LIE often told by servants.

WHITE LIVER’D, or LIVER FACED, cowardly, much afraid, very mean.

WHITE PROP, a diamond pin.

WHITE SATIN, gin,—term amongst women.

WHITE TAPE, gin,—term used principally by female servants.

WHITE WINE, the fashionable term for gin.

“Jack Randall then impatient rose, And said, ‘Tom’s speech were just as fine If he would call that first of GO’S By that genteeler name—WHITE WINE.’”

_Randall’s Diary_, 1820.

WHITECHAPEL, or WESTMINSTER BROUGHAM, a costermonger’s donkey-barrow.

WHITECHAPEL, the “upper-cut,” or strike.—_Pugilistic._

WHITEWASH, when a person has taken the benefit of the Insolvent Act he is said to have been WHITEWASHED.

WHOP, to beat, or hide. Corruption of WHIP sometimes spelled WAP.

WHOP-STRAW, cant name for a countryman; _Johnny_ WHOP-STRAW, in allusion to threshing.

WHOPPER, a big one, a lie.

WIDDLE, to shine.—_See_ OLIVER.

WIDE-AWAKE, a broad-brimmed felt, or stuff hat,—so called because it never had a _nap_, and never wants one.

WIDO, wide awake, no fool.

WIFE, a fetter fixed to one leg.—_Prison._

WIFFLE-WOFFLES, in the dumps, sorrow, stomach ache.

WIGGING, a rebuke _before comrades_. If the head of a firm calls a clerk into the parlour, and rebukes him, it is an _earwigging_; if done before the other clerks, it is a WIGGING.

WILD, a village.—_Tramps’ term._—_See_ VILE.

WILD, vexed, cross, passionate. In the United States the word _mad_ is supplemented with a vulgar meaning similar to our Cockneyism, WILD; and to make a man MAD on the other side of the Atlantic is to vex him, or “rile” his temper—not to render him a raving maniac, or a fit subject for Bedlam.

WILD OATS, youthful pranks.

WIND, “to raise the WIND,” to procure money; “to slip one’s WIND,” coarse expression meaning to die.

WIND, “I’ll WIND your cotton,” _i.e._, I will give you some trouble. The Byzantine General, Narses, used the same kind of threat to the Greek Empress,—“I will spin such a thread that they shall not be able to unravel.”

WINDED-SETTLED, transported for life.

WINDOWS, the eyes, or “peepers.”

WINEY, intoxicated.

WINKIN, “he went off like WINKIN,” _i.e._, very quickly.

WINKS, periwinkles.

WINN, a penny.—_Ancient cant._

WIPE, a pocket handkerchief.—_Old cant._

WIPE, a blow.

WIPE, to strike; “he fetcht me a WIPE over the knuckles,” he struck me on the knuckles; “to WIPE a person down,” to flatter or pacify a person; to WIPE off a score, to pay one’s debts, in allusion to the slate or chalk methods of account keeping; “to WIPE a person’s eye,” to shoot game which he has missed—_Sporting term_; hence to obtain an advantage by superior activity.

WIRE, a thief with long fingers, expert at picking ladies’ pockets.

WOBBLESHOP, where beer is sold without a license.

WOODEN SPOON, the last junior optime who takes a University degree; denoting one who is only fit to stay at home, and stir porridge.—_Cambridge._

WOODEN WEDGE, the last name in the classical honours list at Cambridge. The last in mathematical honours had long been known as the WOODEN SPOON; but when the classical Tripos was instituted, in 1824, it was debated among the undergraduates what _sobriquet_ should be given to the last on the examination list. Curiously enough, the name that year which happened to be last was WEDGEWOOD (a distinguished Wrangler). Hence the title.

WOOL, courage, pluck; “you are not half-WOOLLED,” term of reproach from one thief to another.

WOOLBIRD, a lamb; “wing of a WOOLBIRD,” a shoulder of lamb.

WOOL-GATHERING, said of any person’s wits when they are wandering, or in a reverie.—_Florio._

WOOL-HOLE, the workhouse.

WORK, to plan, or lay down and execute any course of action, to perform anything; “to WORK the BULLS,” _i.e._, to get rid of false crown pieces; “to WORK the ORACLE,” to succeed by manœuvring, to concert a wily plan, to victimise,—a possible reference to the stratagems and bribes used to corrupt the _Delphic oracle_, and cause it to deliver a favourable response. “To WORK a street or neighbourhood,” trying at each house to sell all one can, or so bawling that every housewife may know what you have to sell. The general plan is to drive a donkey barrow a short distance, and then stop and cry. The term implies thoroughness; to “WORK a street well” is a common saying with a coster.

WORM, _see_ PUMP.

WORMING, removing the beard of an oyster or muscle.

W.P., or WARMING PAN. A clergyman who holds a living _pro tempore_, under a bond of resignation, is styled a W.P., or WARMING PAN rector, because he keeps the place warm for his successor.—_Clerical slang._

WRINKLE, an idea, or fancy; an additional piece of knowledge which is supposed to be made by a WRINKLE _à posteriori_.

WRITE, “to WRITE ONE’S NAME on a joint,” to have the first cut at anything,—leaving sensible traces of one’s presence on it.

YACK, a watch; to “_church_ a YACK,” to take it out of its case to avoid detection.

YARD OF CLAY, a long, old-fashioned tobacco pipe, also called a _churchwarden_.

YARMOUTH CAPON, a bloater, or red herring.—_Old_—_Ray’s Proverbs._

YARN, a long story, or tale; “a tough YARN,” a tale hard to be believed; “spin a YARN,” tell a tale.—_Sea._

YAY-NAY, “a poor YAY-NAY” fellow, one who has no conversational power, and can only answer _yea_ or _nay_ to a question.

YELLOW BELLY, a native of the Fens of Lincolnshire, or the Isle of Ely,—in allusion to the frogs and a yellow-bellied eel caught there; they are also said to be _web-footed_.

YELLOW-BOY, a sovereign, or any gold coin.

YELLOW-GLOAK, a jealous man.

YELLOW-JACK, the yellow fever prevalent in the West Indies.

YELLOW-MAN, a yellow silk handkerchief.

YOKEL, a countryman.—_West._

YOKUFF, a chest, or large box.

YORKSHIRE, “to YORKSHIRE,” or “come YORKSHIRE over any person,” is to cheat or BITE them.—_North._

YORKSHIRE ESTATES, “I will do it when I come into my YORKSHIRE ESTATES,”—meaning if I ever have the money or the means. The phrase is said to have originated with _Dr. Johnson_.

YOUNKER, in street language, a lad or a boy. Term in general use amongst costermongers, cabmen, and old-fashioned people. _Barnefield’s Affectionate Shepherd_, 1594, has the phrase, “a seemelie YOUNKER.” _Danish_ and _Friesic_, JONKER. In the _Navy_, a naval cadet is usually termed a YOUNKER.

YOUR-NIBS, yourself.

ZIPH, LANGUAGE OF, a way of disguising English in use among the students at _Winchester College_. Compare MEDICAL GREEK.

ZOUNDS, a sudden exclamation,—abbreviation of _God’s wounds_.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE BACK SLANG,

THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF COSTERMONGERS.

The costermongers of London number between thirty and forty thousand. Like other low tribes, they boast a language, or secret tongue, in which they hide their earnings, movements, and other private affairs. This costers’ speech, as Mayhew remarks, offers no new fact, or approach to a fact, for philologists; it is not very remarkable for originality of construction; neither is it spiced with low humour, as other cant. But the costermongers boast that it is known only to themselves; that it is far beyond the Irish, and puzzles the Jews.

_The main principle of this language is spelling the words backwards,—or rather, pronouncing them rudely backwards._ Sometimes, for the sake of harmony, an extra syllable is prefixed, or annexed; and, occasionally, the word is given quite a different turn in rendering it backwards, from what an uninitiated person would have expected. One coster told Mayhew that he often gave the end of a word “a new turn, just as if he chorussed it with a tol-de-rol.” Besides, the coster has his own idea of the _proper_ way of spelling words, and is not to be convinced but by an overwhelming show of learning,—and frequently not then, for he is a very headstrong fellow. By the time a coster has spelt an ordinary word of two or three syllables in the proper way, and then spelt it backwards, it has become a tangled knot that no etymologist could unravel. The word GENERALISE, for instance, is considered to be “shilling” spelt backwards. Sometimes Slang and Cant words are introduced, and even these, when imagined to be tolerably well known, are pronounced backwards. Other terms, such as GEN, a shilling, and FLATCH, a halfpenny, help to confuse the outsider.

After a time, this back language, on BACK-SLANG, as it is called by the costermongers themselves, comes to be regarded by the rising generation of street sellers as a distinct and regular mode of speech. They never refer words, by inverting them, to their originals; and the YENEPS and ESCLOPS, and NAMOWS, are looked upon as proper, but secret terms. “But it is a curious fact, that lads who become costermongers’ boys, without previous association with the class, acquire a very ready command of the language, and this though they are not only unable to spell, but ‘don’t know a letter in a book.[56]’” They soon obtain a considerable stock vocabulary, so that they converse rather from the memory than the understanding. Amongst the senior costermongers, and those who pride themselves on their proficiency in BACK-SLANG, a conversation is often sustained for a whole evening, especially if any “flatties” are present whom they wish to astonish or confuse. The women use it sparingly, but the girls are generally well acquainted with it.

The addition of an _s_, I should state, always forms the plural, so that this is another source of complication. For instance, _woman_ in the BACK-SLANG, is NAMOW, and NAMUS, or NAMOWS, is _women_, not NEMOW. The explorer, then, in undoing the BACK-SLANG, and turning the word NAMUS once more into English, would have _suman_,—a novel and very extraordinary rendering of _women_. Where a word is refractory in submitting to a back rendering, as in the case of _pound_, letters are made to change positions for the sake of harmony; thus, we have DUNOP, a pound, instead of _dnuop_ which nobody could pleasantly pronounce. This will remind the reader of the Jews’ “_old clo! old clo!_” instead of _old clothes, old clothes_, which would tire even the patience of a Jew to repeat all day.

This singular BACK tongue has been in vogue about twenty-five years. It is, as before stated, soon acquired, and is principally used by the costermongers (as the specimen Glossary will show), for communicating the secrets of their street tradings, the cost and profit of the goods, and for keeping their natural enemies, the police, in the dark. COOL THE ESCLOP (look at the police) is often said amongst them, when one of the constabulary makes his appearance.

Perhaps on no subject is the costermonger so particular as on money matters. All costs and profits he thinks should be kept profoundly secret. The Back Slang, therefore, gives the various small amounts very minutely.

FLATCH, halfpenny.

YENEP, penny.

OWT-YENEPS, twopence.

ERTH-YENEPS, threepence.

ROUF-YENEPS, fourpence.

EVIF, or EWIF-YENEPS, fivepence.

EXIS-YENEPS, sixpence.

NEVIS-YENEPS, sevenpence.

TEAICH, or THEG-YENEPS, eightpence.

ENIN-YENEPS, ninepence.

NET-YENEPS, tenpence.

NEVELÉ-YENEPS, elevenpence.

EVLÉNET-YENNEPS, twelvepence.

GEN, or GENERALIZE, one shilling, or twelvepence.

YENEP-FLATCH, three halfpence.

OWT-YENEP-FLATCH, twopence halfpenny. &c. &c. &c.

GEN, or ENO-GEN, one shilling.

OWT-GENS, two shillings.

ERTH-GENS, three shillings.

The GENS continue in the same sequence as the YENEPS above, excepting THEG-GENS, 8s., which is usually rendered THEG-GUY,—a deviation with ample precedents in all civilised tongues.

YENORK, a crown piece, or five shillings.

FLATCH-YENORK, half-a-crown.

Beyond this amount the costermonger reckons after an intricate and complicated mode. Fifteen shillings would be ERTH-EVIF-GENS, or, literally, three times 5s.; seventeen shillings would be ERTH-YENORK-FLATCH, or three crowns and a half; or, by another mode of reckoning, ERTH-EVIF-GENS FLATCH-YENORK, _i.e._, three times 5s., and half-a-crown.

DUNOP, a pound.

Further than which the costermonger seldom goes in money reckoning.

In the following Glossary only those words are given which costermongers principally use,—the terms connected with street traffic, the names of the different coins, vegetables, fruit and fish, technicalities of police courts, &c.

The reader might naturally think that a system of speech so simple as the BACK-SLANG would require no Glossary; but he will quickly perceive, from the specimens given, that a great many words in frequent use in a BACK sense, have become so twisted as to require a little glossarial explanation.

GLOSSARY OF THE BACK SLANG.

BIRK, a “crib,”—house.

COOL, to look.

COOL HIM, look at him. A phrase frequently used when one costermonger warns another of the approach of a policeman.

DAB, bad.

DABHENO, one bad, or a bad market.—_See_ DOOGHENO.

DAB TROS, a bad sort.

DA-ERB, bread.

DEB, or DAB, a bed; “I’m on to the DEB,” I’m going to bed.

DILLO-NAMO, an old woman.

DLOG, gold.

DOOG, good.

DOOGHENO, literally “one-good,” or “good-one,” but implying generally a good market.

DOOGHENO HIT, one good hit. A coster remarks to a “mate,” “_Jack made a_ DOOGHENO HIT _this morning_,” implying that he did well at market, or sold out with good profit.

DUNOP, a pound.

ERTH, three.

EARTH[57] GENS, three shillings.

EARTH SITH-NOMS, three months.

EARTH YANNOPS, or YENEPS, threepence.

EDGABAC, cabbage.

EDGENARO, an orange.

E-FINK, knife.

EKAME, a “make,” or swindle.

EKOM, a “moke,” or donkey.

ELRIG, a girl.

ENIF, fine.

ENIN GENS, nine shillings.

ENIN YENEP, ninepence.

ENIN YANNOPS, or YENEPS, ninepence.

ENO, one.

ERIF, fire.

ERTH GENS, three shillings.

ERTH-PU, three-up, a street game.

ERTH SITH-NOMS, three months,—a term of imprisonment unfortunately very familiar to the lower orders.

ERTH-YENEPS, threepence.

ESCLOP, the police.

ES-ROPH, or ES-ROCH, a horse.

EVIF-YENEPS, five pence.

EVLENET-GENS, twelve shillings.

EVLENET SITH-NOMS, twelve months.

EWIF-GENS, a crown, or five shillings.

EWIF-YENEPS, fivepence.

EXIS GENS, six shillings.

EXIS-EWIF-GENS, six times five shillings, _i.e._, 30s. All moneys may be reckoned in this manner, either with YENEPS or GENS.

EXIS-EVIF YENEPS, elevenpence,—literally, “sixpence and fivepence = elevenpence.” This mode of reckoning, distinct from the preceding, is also common amongst those who use the back slang.

EXIS SITH-NOMS, six months.

EXIS-YENEPS, sixpence.

FI-HEATH, a thief.

FLATCH, a half, or halfpenny.

FLATCH KEN-NURD, half drunk.

FLATCH YENEP, a halfpenny.

FLATCH-YENORK, half-a-crown.

GEN, twelvepence, or one shilling. Possibly an abbreviation of ARGENT, cant term for silver.—See following.

GENERALIZE, a shilling, generally shortened to GEN.

GEN-NET, or NET GENS, ten shillings.

HEL-BAT, a table.

HELPA, an apple.

KENNETSEENO, stinking.

KENNURD, drunk.

KEW, a week.

KEWS, or SKEW, weeks.

KIRB, a brick.

KOOL, to look.

LAWT, tall.

LEVEN, in back slang, is sometimes allowed to stand for _eleven_, for the reason that it is a number which seldom occurs. An article is either 10d. or 1s.

LUR-AC-HAM, mackarel.

MOTTAB, bottom.

MUR, rum.

NALE, or NAEL, lean.

NAM, a man.

NAMESCLOP, a policeman.

NAMOW, a woman; DILLO NAMOW, an old woman.

NEERGS, greens.

NETENIN GENS, nineteen shillings.

NEETEWIF GENS, fifteen shillings.

NEETEXIS, or NETEXIS GENS, sixteen shillings.

NETNEVIS GENS, seventeen shillings.

NET-THEG GENS, eighteen shillings.

NEETRITH GENS, thirteen shillings.

NEETROUF GENS, fourteen shillings.

NET-GEN, ten shillings, or half a sovereign.

NET-YENEPS, tenpence.

NEVELE GENS, eleven shillings.

NEVELE YENEPS, elevenpence,—generally LEVEN YENEPS.

NEVIS GENS, seven shillings.

NEVIS STRETCH, seven years’ transportation, or imprisonment.—_See_ STRETCH, in the _Slang Dictionary_.

NEVIS YENEPS, sevenpence.

NIRE, rain.

NIG, gin.

NI-OG OT TAKRAM, going to market.

NITRAPH, a farthing.

NOL, long.

NOOM, the moon.

NOS-RAP, a parson.

OCCABOT, tobacco; “tib of OCCABOT,” bit of tobacco.

ON, no.

ON DOOG, no good.

OWT GENS, two shillings.

OWT YENEPS, twopence.

PAC, a cap.

PINURT POTS, turnip tops.

POT, top.

RAPE, a pear.

REEB, beer.

REV-LIS, silver.

ROUF-EFIL, for life,—sentence of punishment.

ROUF-GENS, four shillings.

ROUF-YENEPS, fourpence.

RUTAT, or RATTAT, a “tatur,” or potato.

SAY, yes.

SEE-O, shoes.

SELOPAS, apples.

SHIF, fish.

SIR-ETCH, cherries.

SITH-NOM, a month.

SLAOC, coals.

SLOP, a policeman.—_See Dictionary of Slang and Cant Words._

SNEERG, greens.

SOUSH, a house.

SPINSRAP, parsnips.

SRES WORT, trowsers.

STARPS, sprats.

STOOB, boots.

STORRAC, carrots.

STUN, nuts.

STUNLAWS, walnuts.

SWRET-SIO, oysters.

TACH, a hat.

TAF, or TAFFY, fat.

THEG, or TEAICH GENS, eight shillings.

TEAICH-GUY, eight shillings,—a slight deviation from the numerical arrangement of GENS.

TENIP, a pint.

THEG YENEPS, eightpence.

TIB, a bit, or piece.

TOAC, or TOG, a coat. TOG is the _old cant_ term.—_See Dictionary of Slang, &c._

TOAC-TISAW, a waistcoat.

TOL, lot, stock, or share.

TOP O’ REEB, a pot of beer.

TOP-YOB, a pot boy.

TORRAC, a carrot.

TRACK (or TRAG), a quart.

TROSSENO, literally, “one-sort,” but the costermongers use it to imply anything that is bad.

WAR-RAB, a barrow.

WEDGE, a Jew.

YAD, a day; YADS, days.

YADNAB, brandy.

YENEP, a penny.

YENEP-A-TIME, penny each time,—term in betting.

YENEP-FLATCH, three halfpence,—all the halfpence and pennies continue in the same sequence.

YAP-POO, pay up.

YEKNOD, or JERK-NOD, a donkey.

YENORK, a crown.

YOB, a boy.

ZEB, best.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RHYMING SLANG,

THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF CHAUNTERS AND PATTERERS.

There exists in London a singular tribe of men, known amongst the “fraternity of vagabonds” as Chaunters and Patterers. Both classes are great talkers. The first sing or chaunt through the public thoroughfares ballads—political and humorous—carols, dying speeches, and the various other kinds of gallows and street literature. The second deliver street orations on grease-removing compounds, plating powders, high polishing blacking, and the thousand and one wonderful pennyworths that are retailed to gaping mobs from a London kerb stone.

They are quite a distinct tribe from the costermongers; indeed, amongst tramps, they term themselves the “harristocrats of the streets,” and boast that they live by their intellects. Like the costermongers, however, they have a secret tongue or Cant speech, known only to each other. This Cant, which has nothing to do with that spoken by the costermongers, is known in Seven Dials and elsewhere as the RHYMING SLANG, _or the substitution of words and sentences which rhyme with other words intended to be kept secret_. The chaunter’s Cant, therefore, partakes of his calling, and he transforms and uses up into a rough speech the various odds and ends of old songs, ballads, and street nick-names, which are found suitable to his purpose. Unlike nearly all other systems of Cant, the rhyming Slang is not founded upon allegory; unless we except a few rude similes, thus—I’M AFLOAT is the rhyming Cant for _boat_, SORROWFUL TALE is equivalent to _three months in jail_, ARTFUL DODGER signifies a _lodger_, and a SNAKE IN THE GRASS stands for a _looking-glass_—a meaning that would delight a fat Chinaman, or a Collector of Oriental proverbs. But, as in the case of the costers’ speech and the old gipsey-vagabond Cant, the chaunters and patterers so interlard this rhyming Slang with their general remarks, while their ordinary language is so smothered and subdued, that, unless when they are professionally engaged and talking of their wares, they might almost pass for foreigners.

From the inquiries I have made of various patterers and “paper workers,” I learn that the rhyming Slang was introduced about twelve or fifteen years ago. Numbering this class of oratorical and bawling wanderers at twenty thousand, scattered over Great Britain, including London and the large provincial towns, we thus see the number of English vagabonds who converse in rhyme and talk poetry, although their habitations and mode of life constitute a very unpleasant Arcadia. These nomadic poets, like the other talkers of Cant or secret languages, are stamped with the vagabond’s mark, and are continually on the move. The married men mostly have lodgings in London, and come and go as occasion may require. A few never quit London streets, but the greater number tramp to all the large provincial fairs, and prefer the MONKERY (country) to town life. Some transact their business in a systematic way, sending a post-office order to the Seven Dials printer, for a fresh supply of ballads or penny books, or to the SWAG SHOP, as the case may be, for trinkets and gewgaws, to be sent on by rail to a given town by the time they shall arrive there.

When any dreadful murder, colliery explosion, or frightful railway accident has happened in a country district, three or four chaunters are generally on the spot in a day or two after the occurrence, vending and bawling “_A True and Faithful Account_,” &c., which “true and faithful account” was concocted purely in the imaginations of the successors of Catnach and Tommy Pitts,[58] behind the counters of their printing shops in Seven Dials. And but few fairs are held in any part of England without the patterer being punctually at his post, with his nostrums, or real gold rings (with the story of the wager laid by the gentleman—see FAWNEY BOUNCING, in the Dictionary), or save-alls for candlesticks, or paste which, when applied to the strop, makes the dullest razor keen enough to hack broom handles and sticks, and after that to have quite enough sharpness left for splitting hairs, or shaving them off the back of one of the clodhoppers’ hands, looking on in amazement. And CHEAP JOHN, too, with his coarse jokes, and no end of six-bladed knives, and pocket-books, containing information for everybody, with pockets to hold money, and a pencil to write with in the bargain, and a van stuffed with the cheap productions of Sheffield and “Brummagem,”—he, too, is a patterer of the highest order, and visits fairs, and can hold a conversation in the rhyming Slang.

Such is a rough description of the men who speak this jargon; and simple and ridiculous as the vulgar scheme of a rhyming Slang may appear, it must always be regarded as a curious fact in linguistic history. In order that the reader’s patience may not be too much taxed, only a selection of rhyming words has been given in the Glossary,—and these for the most part, as in the case of the back Slang, are the terms of everyday life, as used by this order of tramps and hucksters.

It must not be supposed, however, that the chaunter or patterer confines himself entirely to this Slang when conveying secret intelligence. On the contrary, although he speaks not a “leash of languages,” yet is he master of the beggars’ Cant, and is thoroughly “up” in street Slang. The following letter, written by a chaunter to a gentleman who took an interest in his welfare, will show his capabilities in this line.

Dear Friend,[59]

Excuse the liberty, since i saw you last i have not earned a thickun, we have had such a Dowry of Parny that it completely stumped or Coopered Drory the Bossmans Patter therefore i am broke up and not having another friend but you i wish to know if you would lend me the price of 2 Gross of Tops, Dies, or Croaks, which is 7 shillings, of the above mentioned worthy and Sarah Chesham the Essex Burick for the Poisoning job, they are both to be topped at Springfield Sturaban on Tuesday next. i hope you will oblige me if you can for it will be the means of putting a Quid or a James in my Clye. i will call at your Carser on Sunday Evening next for an answer, for i want to Speel on the Drum as soon as possible. hoping you and the family are All Square,

I remain Your obedient Servant, ————

GLOSSARY OF THE RHYMING SLANG.

ABRAHAM’S WILLING, a shilling.

ALACOMPAIN, rain.

ALL AFLOAT, a coat.

ANY RACKET, a penny faggot.

APPLES AND PEARS, stairs.

ARTFUL DODGER, a lodger.

ARTICHOKE RIPE, smoke a pipe.

BABY PAPS, caps.

BARNET FAIR, hair.

BATTLE OF THE NILE, a tile—vulgar term for a hat.

BEN FLAKE, a steak.

BILLY BUTTON, mutton.

BIRCH BROOM, a room.

BIRD LIME, time.

BOB, MY PAL, a gal,—vulgar pronunciation of _girl_.

BONNETS SO BLUE, Irish stew.

BOTTLE OF SPRUCE, a deuce,—slang for twopence.

BOWL THE HOOP, soup.

BRIAN O’LINN, gin.

BROWN BESS, yes—the affirmative.

BROWN JOE, no—the negative.

BULL AND COW, a row.

BUSHY PARK, a lark.

BUTTER FLAP, a cap.

CAIN AND ABEL, a table.

CAMDEN TOWN, a brown,—vulgar term for a halfpenny.

CASTLE RAG, a flag,—slang term for fourpence.

CAT AND MOUSE, a house.

CHALK FARM, the arm.

CHARING CROSS, a horse.

CHARLEY LANCASTER, a handkercher,—vulgar pronunciation of handkerchief.

CHARLEY PRESCOTT, waistcoat.

CHERRY RIPE, a pipe.

CHEVY CHASE, the face.

CHUMP (OR CHUNK) OF WOOD, no good.

COW AND CALF, to laugh.

COVENT GARDEN, a farden,—Cockney pronunciation of farthing.

COWS AND KISSES, mistress or missus—referring to the ladies.

CURRANTS AND PLUMS, thrums,—slang for threepence.

DAISY RECROOTS (so spelt by my informant of Seven Dials; he means, doubtless, _recruits_), a pair of boots.

DAN TUCKER, butter.

DING DONG, a song.

DRY LAND, you understand.

DUKE OF YORK, take a walk.

EAST AND SOUTH, a mouth.

EAT A FIG, to “crack a crib,” to break into a house, or commit a burglary.

EGYPTIAN HALL, a ball.

ELEPHANT’S TRUNK, drunk.

EPSOM RACES, a pair of braces.

EVERTON TOFFEE, coffee.

FANNY BLAIR, the hair.

FILLET OF VEAL, the treadwheel, house of correction.

FINGER AND THUMB, rum.

FLAG UNFURLED, a man of the world.

FLEA AND LOUSE, a bad house.

FLOUNDER AND DAB (two kinds of flat fish), a cab.

FLY MY KITE, a light.

FROG AND TOAD, the main road.

GARDEN GATE, a magistrate.

GERMAN FLUTES, a pair of boots.

GIRL AND BOY, a saveloy,—a penny sausage.

GLORIOUS SINNER, a dinner.

GODDESS DIANA (pronounced DIANER), a tanner,—sixpence.

GOOSEBERRY PUDDING (_vulgo_ PUDDEN), a woman.

HANG BLUFF, snuff.

HOD OF MORTAR, a pot of porter.

HOUNSLOW HEATH, teeth.

I DESIRE, a fire.

I’M AFLOAT, a boat.

ISLE OF FRANCE, a dance.

ISABELLA (vulgar pronunciation, ISABELLER), an umbrella.

I SUPPOSE, the nose.

JACK DANDY, brandy.

JACK RANDALL (a noted pugilist), a candle.

JENNY LINDER, a winder,—vulgar pronunciation of window.

JOE SAVAGE, a cabbage.

LATH AND PLASTER, a master.

LEAN AND LURCH, a church.

LEAN AND FAT, a hat.

LINENDRAPER, paper.

LIVE EELS, fields.

LOAD OF HAY, a day.

LONG ACRE, a baker.

LONG ACRE, a newspaper. See the preceding.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL, a bustle.

LORD LOVEL, a shovel.

LUMP OF COKE, a bloak,—slang term for a man.

LUMP OF LEAD, the head.

MACARONI, a pony.

MAIDS A DAWNING (I suppose my informant means _maids adorning_), the morning.

MAIDSTONE JAILOR, a tailor.

MINCE PIES, the eyes.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, water.

MUFFIN BAKER, a Quaker.

NAVIGATORS, taturs,—vulgar pronunciation of potatoes.

NAVIGATOR SCOT, baked potatoes all hot.

NEEDLE AND THREAD, bread.

NEVER FEAR, a pint of beer.

NIGHT AND DAY, go to the play.

NOSE AND CHIN, a winn,—_ancient cant_ for a penny.

NOSE-MY, backy,—vulgar pronunciation of tobacco.

OATS AND BARLEY, Charley.

OATS AND CHAFF, a footpath.

ORINOKO (pronounced ORINOKER), a poker.

OVER THE STILE, sent for trial.

PADDY QUICK, thick; or, a stick.

PEN AND INK, a stink.

PITCH AND FILL, Bill,—vulgar shortening for William.

PLATE OF MEAT, a street.

PLOUGH THE DEEP, to go to sleep.

PUDDINGS AND PIES, the eyes.

READ OF TRIPE (?), transported for life.

READ AND WRITE, to fight.

READ AND WRITE, flight.—See preceding.

RIVER LEA, tea.

ROGUE AND VILLAIN, a shillin,—common pronunciation of shilling.

RORY O’MORE, the floor.

ROUND THE HOUSES, trouses,—vulgar pronunciation of trousers.

SALMON TROUT, the mouth.

SCOTCH PEG, a leg.

SHIP IN FULL SAIL, a pot of ale.

SIR WALTER SCOTT, a pot,—of beer.

SLOOP OF WAR, a whore.

SNAKE IN THE GRASS, a looking glass.

SORROWFUL TALE, three months in jail.

SPLIT ASUNDER, a costermonger.

SPLIT PEA, tea.

SPORT AND WIN, Jim.

STEAM PACKET, a jacket.

ST. MARTINS-LE-GRAND, the hand.

STOP THIEF, beef.

SUGAR AND HONEY, money.

SUGAR CANDY, brandy.

TAKE A FRIGHT, night.

THREE QUARTERS OF A PECK, the neck,—in writing, expressed by the simple “¾.”

THROW ME IN THE DIRT, a shirt.

TOMMY O’RANN, scran,—vulgar term for food.

TOM TRIPE, a pipe.

TOM RIGHT, night.

TOP JINT (vulgar pronunciation of joint), a pint,—of beer.

TOP OF ROME, home.

TURTLE DOVES, a pair of gloves.

TWO FOOT RULE, a fool.

WIND DO TWIRL, a fine girl.

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR LANGUAGE;

OR A LIST OF THE BOOKS WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED IN COMPILING THIS WORK, COMPRISING NEARLY EVERY KNOWN TREATISE UPON THE SUBJECT.

Slang has a literary history, the same as authorised language. More than one hundred works have treated upon the subject in one form or another,—a few devoting but a chapter, whilst many have given up their entire pages to expounding its history and use. Old Harman, a worthy man, who interested himself in suppressing and exposing vagabondism in the days of good Queen Bess, was the first to write upon the subject. Decker followed fifty years afterwards, but helped himself, evidently, to his predecessor’s labours. Shakespere, Beaumont and Fletcher, Ben Jonson, and Brome, each employed beggars’ Cant as part of the machinery of their plays. Then came Head (who wrote “The English Rogue,” in 1680) with a glossary of Cant words “used by the Gipseys.” But it was only a reprint of what Decker had given sixty years before. About this time authorised dictionaries began to insert vulgar words, labelling them “Cant.” The Jack Sheppards and Dick Turpins of the early and middle part of the last century made Cant popular, and many small works were published upon the subject. But it was Grose, burly, facetious Grose, who, in the year 1785, collected the scattered glossaries of Cant and secret words, and formed one large work, adding to it all the vulgar words and Slang terms used in his own day. I am aware that the indelicacy and extreme vulgarity of the work renders it a disgrace to its compiler, still we must admit that it is by far the most important work which has ever appeared on street or popular language; indeed, from its pages every succeeding work has, up to the present time, drawn its contents. The great fault of Grose’s book consists in the author not contenting himself with Slang and Cant terms, but the inserting of every “smutty” and offensive word that could be raked out of the gutters of the streets. However, Harman and Grose are, after all, the only authors who have as yet treated the subject in an original manner, or have written on it from personal inquiry.

AINSWORTH’S (William Harrison) Novels and Ballads. _London_, V.D.

Some of this author’s novels, such as Rookwood and Jack Sheppard, abound in cant words, placed in the mouths of the highwaymen. The author’s ballads (especially “Nix my dolly pals fake away,”) have long been popular favourites.

ANDREWS’ (George) Dictionary of the Slang and Cant Languages, Ancient and Modern, 12mo. _London_, 1809

A sixpenny pamphlet, with a coloured frontispiece representing a beggar’s carnival.

A NEW DICTIONARY OF THE JAUNTING CREW, 12mo. N.D.

Mentioned by John Bee in the Introduction to his Sportsman’s Slang Dictionary.

ASH’S (John, LL.D.) New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language, 2 vols. 8vo. 1775

Contains a great number of cant words and phrases.

BACCHUS AND VENUS; or, a Select Collection of near 200 of the most Witty and Diverting Songs and Catches in Love and Gallantry, with Songs in the Canting Dialect, with a DICTIONARY, _ explaining all Burlesque and Canting Terms_, 12mo. 1738

Prefixed is a curious woodcut frontispiece of a _Boozing Ken_. This work is scarce, and much prized by collectors. The Canting Dictionary appeared before, about 1710, with the initials B. E. on the title. It also came out afterwards, in the year 1751, under the title of the _Scoundrel’s Dictionary_,—a mere reprint of the two former impressions.

BAILEY’S (Nath.) Etymological English Dictionary, 2 vols, 8vo. 1737

Contains a great many cant and vulgar words;—indeed, Bailey does not appear to have been very particular what words he inserted, so long as they were actually in use. A _Collection of Ancient and Modern Cant Words_ appears as an appendix to vol. ii. of this edition (3rd).

BANG-UP DICTIONARY, or the Lounger and Sportsman’s Vade Mecum, containing a copious and correct Glossary of the Language of the Whips, illustrated by a great variety of original and curious Anecdotes, 8vo. 1812

A vulgar performance, consisting of pilferings from Grose, and made-up words with meanings of a degraded character.

BARTLETT’S Dictionary of Americanisms; a Glossary of Words and Phrases colloquially used in the United States, 8vo. _New York_, 1859

It is a curious fact connected with slang that a great number of vulgar words common in England are equally common in the United States; and when we remember that America began to people two centuries ago, and that these colloquialisms must have crossed the sea with the first emigrants, we can form some idea of the antiquity of popular or street language. Many words, owing to the caprices of fashion or society, have wholly disappeared in the parent country, whilst in the colonies they are yet heard. The words SKINK, to serve drink in company, and the old term MICHING or MEECHING, skulking or playing truant, for instance, are still in use in the United States, although nearly, if not quite, obsolete here.

BEAUMONT and FLETCHER’S Comedy of _The Beggar’s Bush_, 4to, 1661, or any edition.

Contains numerous cant words.

BEE’S (Jon.) Dictionary of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, the Pit, the Bon Ton, and the Varieties of Life, forming the completest and most authentic Lexicon Balatronicum hitherto offered to the notice of the Sporting World, by Jon. Bee [_i.e._ John Badcock], Esq., Editor of the Fancy, Fancy Gazette, Living Picture of London, and the like of that, 12mo. 1823

This author published books on Stable Economy under the name of Hinds. He was the sporting rival of Pierce Egan. Professor Wilson, in an amusing article in _Blackwood’s Magazine_, reviewed this work.

BEE’S (Jon.) Living Picture of London for 1828, and Stranger’s Guide through the Streets of the Metropolis; shewing the Frauds, the Arts, Snares, and Wiles of all descriptions of Rogues that everywhere abound, 12mo. 1828

Professes to be a guide to society, high and low, in London, and to give an insight into the language of the streets.

BEE’S (Jon.) Sportsman’s Slang, a New Dictionary of Terms used in the affairs of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, and the Cockpit; with those of Bon Ton and the Varieties of Life, forming a _Lexicon Balatronicum et Macaronicum, &c._, 12mo, _plate_. _For the Author_, 1825

The same as the preceding, only with an altered title. Both wretched performances, filled with forced and low wit.

BLACKGUARDIANA; or, Dictionary of Rogues, Bawds, &c., 8vo, WITH PORTRAITS [by _James Caulfield_]. 1795

This work, with a long and very vulgar title, is nothing but a reprint of _Grose_, with a few anecdotes of pirates, odd persons, &c., and some curious portraits inserted. It was concocted by Caulfield as a speculation, and published at _one guinea_ per copy; and, owing to the remarkable title, and the notification at the bottom, that “only a few copies were printed,” soon became scarce. For philological purposes it is not worth so much as any edition of Grose.

BOXIANA, or Sketches of Modern Pugilism, by Pierce Egan (an account of the prize ring), 3 vols, 8vo. 1820

Gives more particularly the cant terms of pugilism, but contains numerous (what were then styled) “flash” words.

BRANDON. Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime; or, the Facts, Examinations, &c., upon which the Report was founded, presented to the House of Lords by W. A. Miles, Esq., to which is added a _Dictionary of the Flash or Cant Language, known to every Thief and Beggar_, edited by H. Brandon, Esq., 8vo. 1839

A very wretched performance.

BROME’S (Rich.) Joviall Crew; or the Merry Beggars. Presented in a Comedie at the Cockpit, in Drury Lane, in the Year (4to.) 1652

Contains many cant words similar to those given by Decker,—from whose works they were doubtless obtained.

BROWN’S (Rev. Hugh Stowell) Lecture on Manliness, 12mo. 1857

Contains a few modern slang words.

BRYDGES’ (Sir Egerton) British Bibliographer, 4 vols, 8vo. 1810–14

Vol ii., page 521, gives a list of cant words.

BULWER’S (Sir Edward Lytton) Paul Clifford. V.D.

Contains numerous cant words.

BULWER’S (Sir Edward Lytton) Pelham. V.D.

Contains a few cant terms.

BUTLER’S Hudibras, with Dr. Grey’s Annotations, 3 vols, 8vo. 1819

Abounding in colloquial terms and phrases.

CAMBRIDGE. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam; or a Dictionary of Terms, Academical and Colloquial, or Cant, which are used at the University, _with Illustrations_, 12mo. _Camb._, 1803

CANTING ACADEMY; or Villanies Discovered, wherein are shewn the Mysterious and Villanous Practices of that Wicked Crew—Hectors, Trapanners, Gilts, &c., with several new Catches and Songs; also Compleat Canting Dictionary, 12mo., _frontispiece_. 1674

Compiled by Richard Head.

CANTING; a Poem, interspersed with Tales and additional Scraps, post 8vo. 1814

A few words may be gleaned from this rather dull poem.

CANTING DICTIONARY; comprehending all the Terms, Antient and Modern, used in the several Tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Shoplifters, Highwaymen, Foot Pads, and all other Clans of Cheats and Villains, with Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c., to which is added a complete Collection of Songs in the Canting Dialect, 12mo. 1725

The title is by far the most interesting part of the work. A mere make-up of earlier attempts.

CAREW. Life and Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew, the King of the Beggars, _with Canting Dictionary, portrait_, 8vo. 1791

There are numerous editions of this singular biography. The Canting Dictionary is nothing more than a filch from earlier books.

CHARACTERISMS, or the Modern Age Displayed; being an attempt to expose the Pretended Virtues of Both Sexes, 12mo (part i., Ladies; part ii., Gentlemen), _E. Owen_. 1750

An anonymous work, from which some curious matter may be obtained.

CONYBEARE’S (Dean) Essay on Church Parties, reprinted from the _Edinburgh Review_, No. CC., October, 1853, 12mo. 1858

Several curious instances of religious or pulpit slang are given in this exceedingly interesting little volume.

COTTON’S (Charles) Genuine Poetical Works, 12mo. 1771

Scarronides, or Virgil Travestie, being the first and fourth Books of Virgil’s Æneis, in English burlesque, 8vo, 1672, and other works by this author, contain numerous vulgar words now known as slang.

DECKER’S (Thomas) The Bellman of London; bringing to light the most notorious villanies that are now practised in the Kingdome, 4to, black letter. _London_, 1608

Watt says this is the first book which professes to give an account of the canting language of thieves and vagabonds. But this is wrong, as will have been seen from the remarks on Harman, who collected the words of the vagabond crew half a century before.

DECKER’S (Thomas) Lanthorne and Candle-light, or the Bellman’s Second Night’s Walke, in which he brings to light a brood of more strange villanies than ever were to this year discovered, 4to. _London_, 1608–9

This is a continuation of the former work, and contains the _Canter’s Dictionary_, and has a frontispiece of the London Watchman with his staff broken.

DECKER’S (Thomas) Gulls Hornbook, 4to. 1609

“This work affords a greater insight into the fashionable follies and vulgar habits of Q. Elizabeth’s day than perhaps any other extant.”

DECKER’S (Thomas) O per se O, or a new Cryer of Lanthorne and Candle-light, an Addition of the Bellman’s Second Night’s Walke, 4to, black letter. 1612

A lively description of London. Contains a Canter’s Dictionary, every word in which appears to have been taken from Harman without acknowledgment. This is the first work that gives the Canting Song, a verse of which is inserted at page 20 of the Introduction. This Canting Song was afterwards inserted in nearly all Dictionaries of Cant.

DECKER’S (Thomas) Villanies discovered by Lanthorne and Candle-light, and the Helpe of a new Cryer called O per se O, 4to. 1616

“With Canting Songs neuer before printed.”

DECKER’S (Thomas) English Villanies, eight several times prest to Death by the Printers, but still reviving again, are now the eighth time (as at the first) discovered by Lanthorne and Candle-light, &c., 4to. 1648

The eighth edition of the “_Lanthorne and Candle-light_.”

DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages, both Ancient and Modern, 18mo. _Bailey_, 1790

DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages, 12mo. _London_, 1797

DICTIONARY of the Canting Crew (Ancient and Modern), of Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves, &c., 12mo. N.D. [1700]

DICTIONNAIRE des Halle, 12mo. _Bruxelles_, 1696

This curious Slang Dictionary sold in the Stanley sale for £4 16s.

DUCANGE ANGLICUS.—The Vulgar Tongue: comprising Two Glossaries of Slang, Cant, and Flash Words and Phrases used in London at the present day, 12mo. 1857

A silly and childish performance, full of blunders and contradictions. A second edition appeared during the past year.

DUNCOMBE’S Flash Dictionary of the Cant Words, Queer Sayings, and Crack Terms now in use in Flash Cribb Society, 32mo, _coloured print_. 1820

DUNTON’S Ladies Dictionary, 8vo. _London_, 1694

Contains a few cant words.

EGAN. Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, with the addition of numerous Slang Phrases, edited by Pierce Egan, 8vo. 1823

The best edition of Grose, with many additions, including a Life of this celebrated antiquarian.

EGAN’S (Pierce) Life in London, 2 vols, thick 8vo, _with coloured plates by Geo. Cruikshank, representing high and low life_. 18—

Contains numerous cant, slang sporting, and vulgar words, supposed by the author to form the basis of conversation in life, high and low, in London.

ELWYN’S (Alfred L.) Glossary of supposed _Americanisms_—Vulgar and Slang Words used in the United States, small 8vo. 1859

GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE, 8vo. N.D.

“In a very early volume of this parent magazine were given a few pages, by way of sample, of a Slang Vocabulary, then termed Cant. If, as we suspect, this part of the Magazine fell to the share of Dr. Johnson, who was then its editor, we have to lament that he did not proceed with the design.”—_John Bee, in the Introduction to his Slang Dictionary_, 1825.

GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE, vol. xcii., p. 520.

Mention made of slang.

GLOSSARIES of County Dialects. V.D.

Many of these will repay examination, as they contain cant and slang words, wrongly inserted as provincial or old terms.

GOLDEN CABINET (The) of Secrets opened for Youth’s delightful Pastime, in 7 parts, the last being the “City and Country Jester;” with a Canting Dictionary, by Dr. Surman, 12mo. _London_, N.D. (1730)

Contains some curious woodcuts.

GREENE’S (Robert) Notable Discovery of Coosnage, now daily practised by sundry lewd persons called Conie-catchers and Crosse biters. Plainly laying open those pernitious sleights that hath brought many ignorant men to confusion. Writen for the general benefit of all Gentlemen, Citizens, Aprentices, Country Farmers, and Yeomen, that may hap to fall into the company of such coosening companions. With a delightful discourse of the coosnage of Colliers, 4to, _with woodcuts_. _Printed by John Wolfe_, 1591

_The first edition._ A copy of another edition, supposed to be _unique_, is dated 1592. It was sold at the Heber sale.

GREENE’S (Robert) Groundworke of Conny-Catching, the manner of their PEDLERS’ FRENCH, and the meanes to understand the same, with the cunning slights of the Conterfeit Cranke. Done by a Justice of the Peace of great Authoritie, 4to, _with woodcuts_. 1592

Usually enumerated among Greene’s works, but it is only a reprint, with variations, of _Harman’s Caveat_, and of which Rowland complains in his Martin Markall. The _second_ and _third_ parts of this curious work were published in the same year. Two other very rare volumes by Greene were published—_The Defence of Cony-Catching_, 4to, in 1592, and THE BLACK BOOKES MESSENGER, in 1595. They both treat on the same subjects.

GROSE’S (Francis, generally styled _Captain_) Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 8vo. 178—

The much sought after FIRST EDITION, but containing nothing, as far as I have examined, which is not to be found in the _second_ and _third_ editions. As respects indecency, I find all the editions equally disgraceful. The Museum copy of the _First Edition_ is, I suspect, Grose’s own copy, as it contains numerous manuscript additions which afterwards went to form the second edition. Excepting the obscenities, it is really an extraordinary book, and displays great industry, if we cannot speak much of its morality. It is the well from which all the other authors—Duncombe, Caulfield, Clarke, Egan, &c. &c.—drew their vulgar outpourings, without in the least purifying what they had stolen.

HAGGART. Life of David Haggart, alias John Wilson, alias Barney M‘Coul, written by himself while under sentence of Death, _curious frontispiece of the Prisoner in Irons_, intermixed with all the Slang and Cant Words of the Day, to which is added a Glossary of the same, 12mo. 1821

HALL’S (B. H.) Collection of College Words and Customs, 12mo. _Cambridge_ (_U.S._), 1856

Very complete. The illustrations are excellent.

HALLIWELL’S Archaic Dictionary, 2 vols, 8vo. 1855

An invaluable work, giving the cant words used by Decker, Brome, and a few of those mentioned by Grose.

HARLEQUIN Jack Shepherd, with a Night Scene in Grotesque Characters, 8vo. (_About_ 1736)

Contains Songs in the Canting dialect.

HARMAN’S (Thomas, Esq.) Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors, vulgarely called Vagabones, set forth for the utilitie and profit of his naturall countrey, augmented and inlarged by the first author thereof; whereunto is added the tale of the second taking of the counterfeit Crank, with the true report of his behaviour and also his punishment for his so dissembling, most marvellous to the hearer or reader thereof, newly imprinted, 4to. _Imprinted at London, by H. Middleton_, 1573

Contains the earliest Dictionary of the Cant language. Four editions were printed—

William Griffith 1566

William Griffith 1567

William Griffith 1567

Henry Middleton, 1573

What _Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_ was to the authors of the earlier part of the present century, Harman’s was to the Deckers, and Bromes, and Heads of the seventeenth.

HARRISON’S (William) Description of the Island of Britain (prefixed to Holinshed’s Chronicle), 2 vols, folio. 1577

Contains an account of English vagabonds.

HAZLITT’S (William) Table Talk, 12mo (vol. ii. contains a chapter on _Familiar Style_, with a notice on _Slang Terms_.) V.D.

HEAD’S (Richard) English Rogue, described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant, 4 vols., 12mo. _Frans. Kirkman_, 1671–80

Contains a list of cant words, evidently copied from Decker.

HELL UPON EARTH, or the most pleasant and delectable History of Whittington’s Colledge, otherwise vulgarly called Newgate, 12mo. 1703

HENLEY’S (John, _better known as_ ORATOR HENLEY) Various Sermons and Orations. 1719–53

Contain numerous vulgarisms and slang phrases.

[HITCHING’S (Charles, _formerly City Marshal, now a Prisoner in Newgate_)] Regulator; or, a Discovery of the Thieves, Thief-Takers, and Locks, alias Receivers of Stolen Goods in and about the City of London, also an Account of all the FLASH WORDS _now in vogue amongst the Thieves, &c._, 8vo., VERY RARE, _with a curious woodcut_. 1718

A violent attack upon Jonathan Wild.

HOUSEHOLD WORDS, No. 183, September 24.

Gives an interesting but badly digested article on slang; many of the examples are wrong.

JOHNSON’S (Dr. Samuel) Dictionary (the earlier editions). V.D.

Contains a great number of words italicised as _cant_, low, or barbarous.

JONSON’S (Ben.) Bartholomew Fair, ii., 6.

Several cant words are placed in the mouths of the characters.

JONSON’S (Ben.) Masque of the Gipsies Metamorphosed, 4to. 16—

Contains numerous cant words.

KENT’S (E.) Modern Flash Dictionary, containing all the Cant Words, Slang Terms, and Flash Phrases now in Vogue, 18mo., _coloured frontispiece_. 1825

L’ESTRANGE’S (Sir Roger) Works (principally translations). V.D.

Abound in vulgar and slang phrases.

LEXICON Balatronicum; a Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence, by a Member of the Whip Club, assisted by Hell-fire Dick, 8vo. 1811

One of the many reprints of _Grose’s_ second edition, put forth under a fresh, and what was then considered more attractive title. It was given out in advertisements, &c., as a piece of puff, that it was edited by a Dr. H. Clarke, but it contains scarcely a line more than Grose.

LIBER VAGATORUM: Der Betler Orden, 4to.

The first edition of this book appears to have been printed at Augsburg, by Erhard Öglin, or Ocellus, about 1514,—a small quarto of twelve leaves. It was frequently reprinted at other places in Germany; and in 1528 there appeared an edition at Wittemberg, with a preface by Martin Luther, who says that the “Rotwelsche Sprach,” the cant language of the beggars, comes from the Jews, as it contains many Hebrew words, as anyone who understands that language may perceive. This book is divided into three parts, or sections; the first gives a special account of the several orders of the “Fraternity of Vagabonds;” the second, sundry “_notabilia_” relating to the different classes of beggars previously described; and the third consists of a “Rotwelsche Vocabulary,” or “Canting Dictionary.” There is a long notice of the “Liber Vagatorum” in the “Wiemarisches Jahrbuch,” 10te, Band, 1856. Mayhew, in his “London Labour,” states that many of our cant words are derived from the Jew fences. It is singular that a similar statement should have been made by Martin Luther more than three centuries before.

LIFE IN ST. GEORGE’S FIELDS, or the Rambles and Adventures of Disconsolate William, Esq., and his Surrey Friend, Flash Dick, with Songs and a FLASH DICTIONARY, 8vo. 1821

MAGINN (Dr.) wrote Slang Songs in _Blackwood’s Magazine_. 1827

MAYHEW’S (Henry) London Labour and London Poor, 3 vols, 8vo. 1851

An invaluable work to the inquirer into popular or street language.

MAYHEW’S (Henry) Great World of London, 8vo. 1857

An unfinished work, but containing several examples of the use and application of cant and slang words.

MIDDLETON (Thomas) and DECKER’S (Thomas) Roaring Girl; or Moll Cut Purse, 4to. 1611

The conversation in one scene is entirely in the so-called Pedlar’s French. It is given in _Dodsley’s Old Plays_.

MODERN FLASH DICTIONARY, 48mo. 1825

The smallest slang dictionary ever printed.

MONCRIEFF’S Tom and Jerry, or Life in London, a Farce in Three Acts, 12mo. 1820

An excellent exponent of the false and forced “high life” which was so popular during the minority of George IV. The farce had a run of a hundred nights, or more, and was a general favourite for years. It abounds in cant, and the language of “gig,” as it was then often termed.

MORNINGS AT BOW STREET, by T. Wright, 12mo, _with Illustrations by George Cruikshank_. _Tegg_, 1838

In this work a few etymologies of slang words are attempted.

NEW CANTING DICTIONARY, 12mo. N.D.

A copy of this work is described in _Rodd’s Catalogue of Elegant Literature_, 1845, part iv., No. 2128, with manuscript notes and additions in the autograph of Isaac Reed, price £1 8s.

NEW DICTIONARY of the Terms, Ancient and Modern, of the Canting Crew in its several tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves, Cheats, &c., with an addition of some _Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c._, by B. E. GENT, 12mo. N.D. [1710]

Afterwards issued under the title of _Bacchus and Venus_, 1737, and in 1754 as the _Scoundrel’s Dictionary_.

NEW DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages used by every class of offenders, from a Lully Prigger to a High Tober Gloak, small 8vo., pp. 62. 179—

Mentioned by John Bee.

NOTES AND QUERIES. The invaluable Index to this most useful periodical may be consulted with advantage by the seeker after etymologies of slang and cant words.

PARKER. High and Low Life, A View of Society in, being the Adventures in England, Ireland, &c., of Mr. G. Parker, a _Stage Itinerant_, 2 vols in 1, thick 12mo. _Printed for the Author_, 1781

A curious work, containing many cant words, with 100 orders of rogues and swindlers.

PARKER’S (Geo.) Life’s Painter of Variegated Characters, with a Dictionary of Cant Language and Flash Songs, to which is added a Dissertation on Freemasonry, _portrait_, 8vo. 1789

PEGGE’S (Samuel) Anecdotes of the English Language, chiefly regarding the Local Dialect of London and Environs, 8vo. 1803–41

PERRY’S (William) London Guide and Stranger’s Safeguard, against Cheats, Swindlers, and Pickpockets, by a Gentleman who has made the Police of the Metropolis an object of enquiry twenty-two years (no wonder when the author was in prison a good portion of that time!) 1818

Contains a dictionary of slang and cant words.

PHILLIPS’ New World of Words, folio. 1696

PICKERING’S (F.) Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases which have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States of America, to which is prefixed an Essay on the present state of the English Language in the United States, 8vo. _Boston_, 1816

The remark made upon _Bartlett’s Americanisms_ applies equally to this work.

PICTURE OF THE FANCY, 12mo. 18—

Contains numerous slang terms.

POTTER’S (H. T., of _Clay, Worcestershire_) New Dictionary of all the Cant and Flash Languages, both ancient and modern, 8vo, pp. 62. 1790

POULTER. The Discoveries of John Poulter, alias Baxter, 8vo, 48 pages. (1770?)

At pages 42, 43, there is an explanation of the “Language of Thieves, commonly called Cant.”

PRISON BREAKER, The, or the Adventures of John Shepherd, a Farce, 8vo. _London_, 1725

Contains a canting song, &c.

PUNCH, or the London Charivari,

Often points out slang, vulgar, or abused words. It also, occasionally, employs them in jokes, or sketches of character.

QUARTERLY REVIEW, vol. x., p. 528.

Gives a paper on Americanisms and slang phrases.

RANDALL’S (Jack, _the pugilist_, formerly of the “_Hole in the Wall_,” Chancery lane) Diary of Proceedings at the House of Call for Genius, edited by Mr. Breakwindow, to which are added several of Mr. B.’s minor pieces, 12mo. 1820

Believed to have been written by Thomas Moore. The verses are mostly parodies of popular authors, and abound in the slang of pugilism, and the phraseology of the fast life of the period.

RANDALL (Jack) A Few Selections from his Scrap Book; to which are added Poems on the late Fight for the Championship, 12mo. 1822

Frequently quoted by Moore in _Tom Crib’s Memorial_.

SCOUNDREL’S DICTIONARY, or an Explanation of the Cant Words used by Thieves, Housebreakers, Street-robbers, and Pickpockets about Town, with some curious dissertations on the Art of Wheedling, &c., _the whole printed from a copy taken on one of their gang, in the late scuffle between the watchmen and a party of them on Clerkenwell green_, 8vo. 1754

A reprint of _Bacchus and Venus_, 1737.

SHARP (Jeremy) The Life of an English Rogue, 12mo. 1740

Includes a “Vocabulary of the Gypsies’ Cant.”

SHERWOOD’S Gazetteer of Georgia, U.S., 8vo.

Contains a glossary of words, slang and vulgar, peculiar to the Southern States.

SMITH’S (Capt.) Compleat History of the Lives and Robberies of the most Notorious Highwaymen, Foot-pads, Shop-lifts, and Cheats, of both Sexes, in and about London and Westminster, 12mo, vol. i. 1719

This volume contains “THE THIEVES NEW CANTING DICTIONARY OF THE WORDS, PROVERBS, &c., USED BY THIEVES.”

SMITH (Capt. Alexander) The Thieves Grammar, 12mo., p. 28. 17—

A copy of this work is in the collection formed by Prince Lucien Bonaparte.

SMITH’S (Capt.) Thieves Dictionary, 12mo. 1724

SNOWDEN’S Magistrate’s Assistant, and Constable’s Guide, thick small 8vo. 1852

Gives a description of the various orders of cadgers, beggars, and swindlers, together with a _Glossary of the Flash Language_.

SPORTSMAN’S DICTIONARY, 4to. 17—

By an anonymous author. Contains some low sporting terms.

STANLEYE’S Remedy, or the Way how to Reform Wandring Beggers, Thieves, etc., wherein is shewed that Sodomes Sin of Idlenes is the Poverty and the Misery of this Kingdome, 4to. 1646

This work has an engraving on wood which is said to be the veritable original of Jim Crow.

SWIFT’S coarser pieces abound in vulgarities and slang expressions.

THE TRIUMPH OF WIT, or Ingenuity display’d in its Perfection, being the Newest and most Useful Academy, Songs, Art of Love, _and the Mystery and Art of Canting, with Poems, Songs, &c., in the Canting Language_, 16mo. _J. Clarke_, 1735

What is generally termed a shilling _Chap Book_.

THE TRIUMPH OF WIT, or the Canting Dictionary, being the Newest and most Useful Academy, containing the Mystery and Art of Canting, with the original and present management thereof, and the ends to which it serves and is employed, illustrated with Poems, Songs, and various Intrigues in the Canting Language, with the Explanations, &c., 12mo. _Dublin_, N.D.

A Chap Book of 32 pages, circa 1760.

THOMAS (I.) My Thought Book, 8vo. 1825

Contains a chapter on slang.

THE WHOLE ART OF THIEVING and Defrauding Discovered: being a Caution to all Housekeepers, Shopkeepers, Salesmen, and others, to guard against Robbers of both Sexes, and the best Methods to prevent their Villanies; to which is added an Explanation of most of the cant terms in the Thieving Language, 8vo, pp. 46. 1786

TOM CRIB’S Memorial to Congress, with a Preface, Notes, and Appendix _by one of the Fancy_ [Tom Moore, the poet], 12mo. 1819

A humorous poem, abounding in slang and pugilistic terms, with a burlesque essay on the classic origin of slang.

VACABONDES, The Fraternatye of, as well of ruflyng Vacabones, as of beggerly, of Women as of Men, of Gyrles as of Boyes, with their proper Names and Qualities, with a Description of the Crafty Company of Cousoners and Shifters, also the XXV. Orders of Knaves; otherwyse called a Quartern of Knaves, confirmed by Cocke Lorell, 8vo. _Imprinted at London by John Awdeley, dwellyng in little Britayne streete without Aldersgate._ 1575

It is stated in _Ames’ Typog. Antiq._, vol. ii., p. 885, that an edition bearing the date 1565 is in existence, and that the compiler was no other than old John Audley, the printer, himself. This conjecture, however, is very doubtful. As stated by Watt, it is more than probable that it was written by Harman, or was taken from his works, in MS. or print.

VAUX’S (Count de, _a swindler and a pickpocket_) Life, written by himself, 2 vols., 12mo, _to which is added a Canting Dictionary_. 1819

These Memoirs were suppressed on account of the scandalous passages contained in them.

WEBSTER’S (Noah) Letter to the Hon. John Pickering, on the Subject of his Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases supposed to be peculiar to the United States, 8vo, pp. 69. _Boston_, 1817

WILD (Jonathan) History of the Lives and Actions of Jonathan Wild, Thieftaker, Joseph Blake, _alias_ Blue skin, Footpad, and John Sheppard, Housebreaker; together with a CANTING DICTIONARY BY JONATHAN WILD, _woodcuts_, 12mo. 1750

WILSON (Professor) contributed various Slang pieces to _Blackwood’s Magazine_; including a Review of Bee’s Dictionary.

WITHERSPOON’S (Dr., of America) Essays on Americanisms, Perversions of Language in the United States, _Cant_ phrases, &c., 8vo., in the 4th vol. of his Works. _Philadelphia_, 1801

The earliest work on American vulgarisms. Originally published in a series of Essays, entitled the _Druid_, which appeared in a periodical in 1761.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, &c.

_A.N._—Anglo-Norman.

_Ancient_, or _Ancient English_—Whenever these terms are employed, it is meant to signify that the words to which they are attached were in respectable use in or previous to the reign of Elizabeth.—See _Old_.

_Ancient Cant_—In use as a _cant_ word in or previous to the reign of Elizabeth.

_A.S._—Anglo-Saxon.

_Beds._—Bedfordshire.

_Cor._—A corruption.

_East._—Used in the Eastern Counties.

_Eng._—English.

_Fren._—French.

_Ger._—German.

_Glouc._—Gloucestershire.

_Hants._—Hampshire.

_Ital._—Italian.

_L.F._—Lingua Franca, or Bastard Italian.

_Lat._—Latin.

_Linc._—Lincolnshire.

_Midx._—Middlesex.

_N.D._—No date.

_Norf._—Norfolk.

_Old_, or _Old English_—In general use as a respectable word in or previous to the reign of Charles the Second.—See _Ancient_.

_Old Cant_—In use as a cant word in or previous to the reign of Charles II.

_Oxon._—Oxfordshire.

_Prov._—Provincial.

_Pug._—Pugilistic.

_Sal._, or _Salop_—Shropshire.

_Sax._—Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon.

_Scot._—Scotch.

_Sea_—Used principally by Sailors.

_Shaks._—Shakspeare.

_Som._—Somerset.

_Span._—Spanish.

_Suf._—Suffolk.

_Theat._—Theatrical.

_Teut._—Teutonic.

_V.D._—Various dates.

_West._—Used in the Western Counties.

_Wilts._—Wiltshire.

_Worc._—Worcestershire.

_Yorks._—Yorkshire.

Footnotes

[1] “Swarms of vagabonds, whose eyes were so sharp as Lynx.”—_Bullein’s Simples and Surgery, 1562._

[2] _Mayhew_ has a curious idea upon the habitual restlessness of the nomadic tribes, _i.e._, “Whether it be that in the mere act of wandering, there is a greater determination of blood to the surface of the body, and consequently a less quantity sent to the brain.”—_London Labour_, vol. i., p. 2.

[3] Mr. Thos. Lawrence, who promised an _Etymological, Cant, and Slang Dictionary_. Where is the book?

[4] _Richardson’s Dictionary._

[5] _Description of England_, prefixed to _Holinshed’s Chronicle_.

[6] The word SLANG, as will be seen in the chapter upon that subject, is purely a Gipsey term, although now-a-days it refers to low or vulgar language of any kind,—other than cant. SLANG and GIBBERISH in the Gipsey language are synonymous; but, as English adoptions, have meanings very different from that given to them in their original.

[7] The vulgar tongue consists of two parts: the first is the CANT Language; the second, those burlesque phrases, quaint allusions, and nick names for persons, things, and places, which, from long uninterrupted usage, are made classical by prescription.—_Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_, 1st edition, 1785.

[8] “Outlandish people calling themselves _Egyptians_.” 1530.

[9] In those instances, indicated by a *, it is impossible to say whether or not we are indebted to the Gipseys for the terms. DAD, in _Welsh_, also signifies a father. CUR is stated to be a mere term of reproach, like “Dog,” which in all European languages has been applied in an abusive sense. Objections may also be raised against GAD and MAUND.

[10] JABBER, I am reminded, may be only another form of GABBER, GAB, very common in Old English, from the _Anglo-Saxon_, GÆBBAN.

[11] This very proverb was mentioned by a young Gipsey to Crabb, a few years ago.—_Gipseys’ Advocate_, p. 14.

[12] I except, of course, the numerous writers who have followed Grellman, and based their researches upon his labours.

[13] _Gipseys of Spain_, vol. i., p. 18.

[14] _Shakes._ Hen. IV., part 2, act ii, scene 4.

[15] It is easy to see how _cheat_ became synonymous with “fraud,” when we remember that it was one of the most common words of the greatest class of cheats in the country.

[16] I am reminded by an eminent philologist that the origin of QUEER is seen in the _German_, QUER, crooked,—hence “odd.” I agree with this etymology, but still have reason to believe that the word was _first_ used in this country in a cant sense. Is it mentioned any where as a respectable term before 1500? If not, it had a vulgar or cant introduction into this country.

[17] BOOGET properly signifies a leathern wallet, and is probably derived from the _low Latin_, BULGA. A tinker’s budget is from the same source.

[18] Which, literally translated, means:

Go out, good girls, and look and see, Go out, good girls, and see; For all your clothes are carried away, And the good man has the money.

[19] Who wrote about the year 1610.

[20] _Gipseys of Spain_, vol. i., p. 18. Borrow further commits himself by remarking that “Head’s Vocabulary has always been accepted as the speech of the English Gipseys.” Nothing of the kind. Head professed to have lived with the Gipseys, but in reality filched his words from _Decker_ and _Brome_.

[21] The _modern_ meanings of a few of the old cant words are given in brackets.

[22] This is a curious volume, and is worth from one to two guineas. The Canting Dictionary was afterwards reprinted, word for word, with the title of _The Scoundrel’s Dictionary_, in 1751. It was originally published, without date, about the year 1710 by B. E., under the title of a _Dictionary of the Canting Crew_.

[23] _Bacchus and Venus_, 1737.

[24] Mayhew’s _London Labour and London Poor_, vol. iii., No. 43, Oct. 4th, 1851.

[25] _Mayhew_ (vol. i., p. 217), speaks of a low lodging-house, “in which there were at one time five university men, three surgeons, and several sorts of broken down clerks.” But old Harman’s saying, that “a wylde Roge is he that is _borne_ a roge,” will perhaps explain this seeming anomaly.

[26] _Mr. Rawlinson’s Report to the General Board of Health, Parish of Havant, Hampshire._

[27] Vol. v., p. 210.

[28] Vol. i., pages 218 and 247.

[29] See Dictionary.

[30] Sometimes, as appears from the following, the names of persons and houses are written instead. “In almost every one of the padding-kens, or low lodging-houses in the country, there is a list of walks pasted up over the kitchen mantel piece. Now at St. Albans, for instance, at the ——, and at other places, there is a paper stuck up in each of the kitchens. This paper is headed “WALKS OUT OF THIS TOWN,” and underneath it is set down the names of the villages in the neighbourhood at which a beggar may call when out on his walk, and they are so arranged as to allow the cadger to make a round of about six miles each day, and return the same night. In many of these papers there are sometimes twenty walks set down. No villages that are in any way “gammy” [bad] are ever mentioned in these papers, and the cadger, if he feels inclined to stop for a few days in the town, will be told by the lodging-house keeper, or the other cadgers that he may meet there, what gentlemen’s seats or private houses are of any account on the walk that he means to take. The names of the good houses are not set down in the paper for fear of the police.”—_Mayhew_, vol. i., p. 418.

[31] _Mayhew_, vol. i., p. 218.

[32] See Dictionary.

[33] _Mayhew_, vol. i., p. 218.

[34] _Mr. Rawlinson’s Report to the General Board of Health,—Parish of Havant, Hampshire._

[35] This term, with a singular literal downrightness, which would be remarkable in any other people than the French, is translated by them as the sect of _Trembleurs_.

[36] Swift alludes to this term in his _Art of Polite Conversation_, p. 14. 1738.

[37] See _Notes and Queries_, vol. i., p. 185. 1850.

[38] He afterwards kept a tavern at Wapping, mentioned by Pope in the _Dunciad_.

[39] _Sportsman’s Dictionary_, 1825, p. 15. I have searched the venerable magazine in vain for this Slang glossary.

[40] Introduction to _Bee’s Sportsman’s Dictionary_, 1825.

[41] The Gipseys use the word Slang as the Anglican synonyme for Romany, the continental (or rather Spanish) term for the Cingari or Gipsey tongue. _Crabb_, who wrote the _Gipsies’ Advocate_ in 1831, thus mentions the word:—“This language [Gipsey] _called by themselves_ _Slang_, or _Gibberish_, invented, as they think, by their forefathers for secret purposes, is not merely the language of one or a few of these wandering tribes, which are found in the European nations, but is adopted by the vast numbers who inhabit the earth.”

[42] The word SLANG assumed various meanings amongst costermongers, beggars, and vagabonds of all orders. It was, and is still, used to express cheating by false weights, a raree show, for retiring by a back door, for a watch-chain, and for their secret language.

[43] _North_, in his _Examen_, p. 574, says, “I may note that the rabble first changed their title, and were called the mob in the assemblies of this [Green Ribbon] club. It was their beast of burden, and called first _mobile vulgus_, but fell naturally into the contraction of one syllable, and ever since is become proper English.” In the same work, p. 231, the disgraceful origin of SHAM is given.

[44] It is rather singular that this popular journal should have contained a long article on _Slang_ a short time ago.

[45] The writer is quite correct in instancing this piece of fashionable twaddle. The mongrel formation is exceedingly amusing to a polite Parisian.

[46] Savez vous cela?

[47] From an early period politics and partyism have attracted unto themselves quaint Slang terms. Horace Walpole quotes a party nickname of February, 1742, as a Slang word of the day:—“The Tories declare against any further prosecution, if Tories there are, for now one hears of nothing but the BROAD-BOTTOM; it is the reigning Cant word, and means the taking all parties and people, indifferently, into the ministry.” Thus BROAD-BOTTOM in those days was Slang for _coalition_.

[48] This is more especially an amusement with medical students, and is comparatively unknown out of London.

[49] _Edinburgh Review_, October, 1853.

[50] A term derived from the _Record Newspaper_, the exponent of this singular section of the Low, or so called Evangelical Church.

[51] A preacher is said, in this phraseology, to be OWNED, when he makes many converts, and his converts are called his SEALS.

[52] “All our newspapers contain more or less colloquial words; in fact, there seems no other way of expressing certain ideas connected with passing events of every-day life, with the requisite force and piquancy. In the English newspapers the same thing is observable, and certain of them contain more of the class denominated Slang words than our own.”—_Bartlett’s Americanisms_, p. x., 1859.

[53] The terms _leader_ and _article_ can scarcely be called Slang, yet it would be desirable to know upon what authority they were first employed in their present peculiar sense.

[54] For some account of the origin of these nicknames see under MRS. HARRIS in the Dictionary.

[55] See Dictionary.

[56] _Mayhew_, vol. i., p. 24.

[57] My informant preferred EARTH to ERTH,—for the reason, he said, “that it looked more sensible!”

[58] The famous printers and publishers of sheet songs and last dying speeches thirty years ago.

[59] The writer, a street chaunter of ballads and last dying speeches, alludes in his letter to two celebrated criminals, Thos Drory, the murderer of Jael Denny, and Sarah Chesham, who poisoned her husband, accounts of whose Trials and “Horrid Deeds” he had been selling. I give a glossary of the cant words:

_Thickun_, a crownpiece.

_Dowry of Parny_, a lot of rain.

_Stumped_, bankrupt.

_Coopered_, spoilt.

_Bossman_, a farmer.

⁂ Drory was a farmer.

_Patter_, trial.

_Tops_, last dying speeches.

_Dies, ib._

_Croaks, ib._

_Burick_, a woman.

_Topped_, hung.

_Sturaban_, a prison.

_Quid_, a sovereign.

_James, ib._

_Clye_, a pocket.

_Carser_, a house or residence.

_Speel on the Drum_, to be off to the country.

_All Square_, all right, or quite well.

New Books Published by JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, 151B, PICCADILLY.

Now ready, SECOND EDITION, beautifully printed, Fcap. 8vo, pp. 316, cloth extra, 4s. 6d.,

=A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant=, and VULGAR WORDS, used at the present day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James: preceded by a HISTORY OF CANT AND VULGAR LANGUAGE _from the time of Henry VIII., showing its connection with the_ GIPSEY TONGUE; with GLOSSARIES OF TWO SECRET LANGUAGES, _spoken by the Wandering Tribes of London, the Costermongers, and the Patterers_. BY A LONDON ANTIQUARY. Fcp. 8vo. _extra cloth_. WITH A CURIOUS WOODCUT, “=A Cadger’s Map of a Beggar’s District=,” _and Explanation of_ THE HIEROGLYPHICS USED BY VAGABONDS.

“Rabble-charming words, which carry so much wild-fire wrapt up in them.”—SOUTH.

☞ THE SECOND EDITION, entirely rewritten, with more than TWO THOUSAND _additional_ words, and a mass of fresh information not included in the _first_ issue.

This interesting work is an important contribution to popular philology, as it chronicles for the first time nearly FIVE THOUSAND WORDS used by persons of every denomination in common conversation, MOST OF WHICH ARE CONTAINED IN NO ENGLISH DICTIONARY whatever. The origin of many cant and slang words is also traced.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

“The author has spared no pains to make his little volume perfect, both by collecting original and unused material from costermongers, vagabonds, and tramps, and by consulting nearly all writers who have gone before. * * * The author divides SLANG into _historical_, _fashionable_, _parliamentary_, _military and dandy_, _university_, _religious_, _legal_, _literary_, _theatrical_, _civic_, _money_, _shopkeepers’ and workmen’s slang_,—the _slang apologies for oaths_, and the _slang of drunkenness_. The Freemasonry of tramps and beggars, and the hieroglyphics they use, is an interesting part of vagabond history that requires, if possible, further investigation. * * * His work is carefully and honestly performed, and we hope that the writer will read our remarks [five full columns] in a proper spirit, and, in the latest slang of the present hour, will “TAKE THEM ON HIS HEAD LIKE A BIRD.”—_Athenæum._

“Extremely interesting. This little volume is evidently the result of a great deal of labour, as all works must be that are, in the chief part, collected directly by the observation and care of the author: and this we believe is the case in the present instance. The author we suspect to be identical with the publisher, and if so, he has had great opportunity by his possession of a large amount of scarce tracts, ballads, and street publications, of informing himself of the language of the vagabond portion of our population.”—_Leader._

“There is a certain amount of interest in preserving the origin of slang words as a record of existing manners, and of those strange popular sayings which have a rapid and almost universal popularity, and then fade away as rapidly. The combinations of language in cant are often curious. The London Antiquary informs us that the cant for a public house at the present day is _suck cassa_,—pure Saxon and pure Spanish.”—_Saturday Review._

“This is by far the most complete work upon a curious subject which has yet been compiled—a dictionary of more than three thousand words in current use in our streets and alleys, lanes and by-ways, from which the learned lexicographers have turned aside with contempt.”—_Critic._

“This new Dictionary of our English cant and slang is _full_, and may be received as an amusing and suggestive little book of common knowledge into any household. Indecency has been omitted from its pages.”—_Examiner._

“The ‘London Antiquary’ has certainly taken up a very curious and interesting branch of linguistic research.”—_Notes and Queries._

“An instructive as well as amusing work. The author may be congratulated upon the successful issue of his labours in the field of vagabond and unrecognised speech.”—_Titan_ in an article of _ten pages_.

“An amusing work, and a most useful and valuable contribution to the study of words. It is absolutely necessary to all those who in fast life would “mind their P’s and Q’s,” as well as to the readers of our newspaper and periodical literature.”—_Montrose Review._

“We do not wonder that of so quaint and entertaining a compilation a new edition should so soon have been demanded.”—_Globe._

“Contains a good deal of curious historical and anecdotical information, and is altogether a well got up, well edited, and amusing little volume.”—_Shipping Gazette._

“Evinces a great amount of industry.”—_Morning Star._

Beautifully printed, 12mo., cloth, 3s. 6d.,

THE CHOICEST HUMOROUS POETRY OF THE AGE.

=The Biglow Papers. By James Russell= LOWELL. (Alluded to by John Bright in the House of Commons.)

WITH AN ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK.

⁂ _This Edition has been Edited with additional Notes explanatory of the persons and subjects mentioned therein._

“The rhymes are as startling and felicitous as any in ‘Hudibras.’ ‘Sam Slick’ is a mere pretender in comparison.”—_Blackwood’s Magazine._

“The fun of the ‘Biglow Papers’ is quite equal to the fun of the ‘Ingoldsby Legends.’ This is the real doggerel, the Rabelaiesque of poetry.”—_Fraser._

☞ There is an edition of this work extant, hastily got up after my own was announced, edited by Mr. Hughes, the author of _Tom Brown’s School Days_. It gives an introduction, long and occasionally amusing, but of not the least value in explaining to the _English_ reader the peculiarities of the work. The _Globe_ pointed out this sad defect in reviewing the present edition:—“The copy beside us,” remarks the writer, “is apparently edited and published by Mr. Hotten, who gives a preface—which has the rare merit of explaining exactly what the ordinary English reader requires to know of satirical political poems, written in the Yankee dialect, touching the Mexican war, and the extension of the slave states—and of attempting to explain nothing else.”—_Globe_, Dec. 8, 1859.

Now ready, SECOND EDITION, fcap. 8vo, neatly printed, price 1s.,

=Macaulay; the Historian, Statesman=, and ESSAYIST: Anecdotes of his Life and Literary Labours, with some Account of his Early and Unknown Writings.

⁂ Also, a fine paper Edition, cloth, neat, with a PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT (_the only one known to have been taken_) by MAULL and POLYBLANK, price 2s. 6d.

☞ Includes Anecdotes of SYDNEY SMITH, MOORE, ROGERS, and LORD JEFFREY; and gives numerous examples of Lord Macaulay’s extraordinary memory and great powers of conversation.

“A brilliant sketch of the great historian, containing particulars of his youthful compositions, which are new and deeply interesting.”—_Herald._

“We regard the little work before us as a very opportune publication. The author has brought together such a mass of facts, sketches, and anecdotes, illustrative of the character and mind of Lord Macaulay, that the book is very valuable as supplying, in a small compass, a faithful and vivid account of the great historian.”—_Bradford Review._

“An interesting account of a man who was an ornament to our nation. Of the extraordinary capacity and availability of his memory many wonderful stories are told.”—_Evangelical Repository._

“This work is well timed. Here we really have all that is known concerning the great man. The little book brings together with much dexterity and success very various and very scattered materials. We have been peculiarly interested in the details of the late illustrious Baron’s youthful productions. Never before has Wordsworth’s famous couplet, “The boy is father of the man,” received so vivid illustration. It is earnestly to be hoped that the whole of these early papers, and his inedited speeches and addresses written and spoken in the flush of his powers, and with all the wealth of illustration that so distinguished him, shall be collected. Why not at once by the writer of the present brilliant sketch? We know not who he is, but he is a man of no common powers. He has evidently, too, put his heart into his book. It thrills and throbs with reverent love towards the man. We like exceedingly his fresh, generous, glowing style; and not less his genial, gossipy way of telling the many anecdotes with which his pages sparkle.”—_Advertiser._

“Valuable from the original matter and anecdotes it gives concerning Macaulay’s youthful productions.”—_Leader._

“We hear Mr. Hotten’s little book on Macaulay is a success. Ten thousand copies sold within a few days!”—_Critic._

Now ready, NEW AND POPULAR EDITION, neatly printed, fcap. 8vo, pp. 336, price 2s. 6d.,

=Anecdotes of the Green Room and= STAGE; or Leaves from an Actor’s Note-Book, at Home and Abroad, by GEORGE VANDENHOFF.

☞ Mr. Vandenhoff, who earned for himself, both in the Old and New Worlds, the title of THE CLASSIC ACTOR, has retired from the Stage. His reminiscences are extremely interesting, and include Original Anecdotes of the Keans (father and son), the two Kembles, Macready, Cooke, Liston, Farren, Elliston, Braham and his Sons, Phelps, Buckstone, Webster, Chas. Mathews: Siddons, Vestris, Helen Faucit, Mrs. Nisbett, Miss Cushman, Miss O’Neil, Mrs. Glover, Mrs. Chas. Kean, Rachel, Ristori, and many other dramatic celebrities.

Now ready, post 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.,

=Rubbing the Gilt Off: a West End Book= for All Readers. By JOHN HOLLINGSHEAD, Author of “Under Bow Bells, a City Book for All Readers.”

WITH A HUMOROUS ILLUSTRATION.

CONTENTS.

The Humiliation of Fogmoor.

A Pet of the Law.

Navy Dry Rot.

How to Make a Madman.

Nine Kings.

An Official Scarecrow.

A Model Theatre.

The Suffering Sinecurist.

A National Christmas Bill.

The Social Reformer.

Mudfog on Colonies.

Diplomatic World.

The Man behind my Chair.

Wanted, a Court Guide.

“Clever and sagacious writing.”—_Athenæum._

“As a collection of papers which, through all their whimsical fancies, develope a political system with an earnestness and a consistency that are rare, we can cordially recommend Mr. Hollingshead’s book.”—_Leader and Saturday Analyst._

“Mr. Hollingshead has lost nothing of his dramatic power.”—_Critic._

“The stories are no less interesting and amusing than instructive.”—_Morning Star._

“Mr. Hollingshead has considerably widened his range of humorous illustration, still keeping, however, to the field of political economy.”—_Daily News._

Now ready, fcap. 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d., beautifully printed,

=Gog and Magog; or, the History of the= Guildhall Giants. With Some Account of the Giants which Guard English and Continental Cities. By F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS ON WOOD BY THE AUTHOR, COLOURED AND PLAIN.

⁂ The critiques which have appeared upon this amusing little work have been uniformly favourable. The _Athenæum_ pronounces it a perfect model of successful antiquarian exposition, readable from the first line to the last. The _Art Journal_ devotes a considerable space to the little work, and congratulates the author upon his success. The _Leader_ contributes two full columns of eulogy. The _Builder_ directs its readers to purchase it. The _Critic_ says, in a long article, that it thoroughly explains who these old Giants were, the position they occupied in popular mythology, the origin of their names, and a score of other matters, all of much interest in throwing a light upon fabulous portions of our history.

Now ready, in 8vo, 4s., blue cloth and gold,

=Photographic Pleasures: Popularly= pourtrayed with Pen and Pencil. By CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A., Author of “Verdant Green,” &c.

WITH SEVENTY HUMOROUS DESIGNS BY THE AUTHOR.

“The ludicrous side of Photography is fair game for the caricaturist. With much cleverness Mr. Bede has seized the salient points of the new art.”—_Athenæum._

“The work is full of illustrations, radiant with the raciness of Cruikshank, the broad and round humour of Rowlandson, knowledge of the world of Doyle, and quick apprehension of Leech.”—_Herald._

NEW WORK BY THE LATE DOUGLAS JERROLD.

Nearly ready, in Two Vols. 8vo, cloth, extra,

=Old Wine in New Bottles: Tales and= Sketches of Life and Character, by DOUGLAS JERROLD, edited, with an Introduction, by his son, Blanchard Jerrold. With Illustrations by John Leech.

⁂ This work will contain some of the most characteristic pieces from the pen of the master wit—tales hitherto unknown and untold. Amongst others may be enumerated:—

Some Account of a Stage Devil.

Baron von Botts, a Tale of Blood.

A Chapter on Black Dogs.

The Actress at the Duke’s.

Papers of a Gentleman-at-Arms.

Bully Bottom’s Babes.

The Rocking Horse.

My Husband’s Winnings: a Household Incident.

The Lamp-post: a Household Narrative.

Midnight at Madame T.’s.

The Old Boatman.

Solomon’s Ape.

Patty Larkspur’s Watch.

The Tutor Fiend and his Three Pupils.

Lizzy’s Back Hair.

Christopher Snub, who was Born’d to be Hang’d.

Recollections of Guy Fawkes, &c. &c.

Nearly ready, in fcap. 8vo, cloth extra,

=A Pedlar’s Wallet: Filled from Household= Words, by DUDLEY COSTELLO.

This work will comprise some of the best papers contributed to Charles Dickens’ famous periodical.

Nearly ready, beautifully printed, fcap. 8vo, price 3s. 6d.

=The Choicest Jests of English Wits=; from the Rude Jokes of the Ancient Jesters, to the refined and impromptu Witticisms of Theodore Hook and Douglas Jerrold. Including the Cream of Joe Miller: comprising the best Sayings, Facetious and Merry, which have contributed to give to our country the name of Merry England.

Nearly ready, beautifully printed, on fine paper, fcap. 8vo, pp. 350, price 5s.,

=The History of Playing Cards, and the= VARIOUS GAMES connected with them, from the Earliest Ages; with some Account of Card Conjuring, and Old-Fashioned Tricks.

ILLUSTRATED WITH FORTY CURIOUS WOODCUTS ON TINTED PAPER.

This most amusing work, introducing the reader to a curious chapter of our social history, gives an interesting account, replete with anecdotes, of the most popular and widely known pastime which has ever been invented by man for his amusement. A more instructive and entertaining book could not be taken in hand for a pleasant hour’s reading.

Two Vols. royal 8vo, handsomely printed, £2 8s.

=Ancient Songs, Ballads, and Dance= TUNES of the Olden Time, illustrative of the National Music of England, with Introductions to the different Reigns, and Notices of the Airs from Writers of the Sixteenth Century; also a Short Account of the Minstrels, by W. CHAPPELL, F.S.A.

This interesting work forms the largest and most complete collection of Ancient British Ballads and Songs ever published. The words are from the original old copies, and the addition of the Old Tunes to which they were formerly sung is an interesting and most curious feature. Several facsimiles adorn the work.

Preparing for publication, fcap. 8vo, beautifully printed,

=Old English Ballads, relating to New= England, the Plantations, and other Parts of North America; with Ancient Poetical Squibs on the Puritans and the Quakers who emigrated there; now first collected from the original excessively rare Broadsides sold in the streets at the time, and edited with Explanatory Notes. _Illustrated with facsimiles of the very singular woodcuts which adorn the original Songs and Ballads._

Preparing for publication, beautifully printed, post 8vo, half morocco, Roxburghe style,

=Garland of Pepysian Ballads, Historical=, ROMANTIC, and HUMOROUS, some illustrating Shakespere, edited by EDWARD F. RIMBAULT, Esq., LL.D.

It is well known that the unfortunate regulation imposed by Pepys, the celebrated diarist, that his Manuscripts and Books should never be examined save in the presence of a Fellow of the College at Cambridge where they are preserved, has hitherto alone prevented the collecting and publishing some of the more interesting of these world-renowned Ballads and Songs. The difficulty, however, has been surmounted by Dr. Rimbault, aided by the authorities of Magdalene College; and the lovers of our charming old popular poetry will be glad to know that a _Garland_ of these Balladian ditties is in course of publication. The work will be preceded by an Introduction on Ballad Lore, Ballad Writers, and Ballad Printers, giving some new and interesting particulars gathered from “old bookes,” and other sources, hitherto unexplored. The publisher would state that the work will be beautifully printed by Whittingham, and that it will be adorned by a curious woodcut facsimile frontispiece.

Nearly ready, in small 4to, half morocco, very neat,

An hitherto unknown Poem, written by John Bunyan, whilst confined in Bedford Jail, for the Support of his Family, entitled,

=Profitable Meditations, Fitted to Man’s= DIFFERENT CONDITION; in a Conference between Christ and a Sinner. By JOHN BUNYAN, Servant to the Lord Jesus Christ.

_London: Printed for Francis Smith at the Sign of the Elephant and Castle without Temple Bar, 1661_

This very interesting, though melancholy literary memorial of the Author of the celebrated Pilgrim’s Progress, will be choicely reprinted by Whittingham, from the only known copy lately discovered by the publisher. It will be edited, with an Introduction by George Offor, Esq. The impression will be limited.

Now ready, price 5s.

=Magna Charta. An Exact Facsimile of= the Original Document, preserved in the British Museum, very carefully drawn, and printed on fine plate paper, nearly 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, with the ARMS AND SEALS OF THE BARONS ELABORATELY EMBLAZONED IN GOLD AND COLOURS.

A.D. 1215

COPIED BY EXPRESS PERMISSION, and the only _correct_ drawing of the Great Charter _ever taken_. This important memorial of the liberties and rights of Englishmen is admirably adapted for framing, and would hang with propriety from the walls of every house in the country. As a guarantee to the purchaser that the facsimile is exact, the publisher need only state that Sir Frederick Madden has permitted copies to hang for public inspection upon the walls of the Manuscript Department in the British Museum. It was executed by Mr. Harrison, under whose auspices the splendid work on the Knights of the Garter was produced some years ago.

A LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL CURIOSITY.

Shortly will be published, in square 12mo, beautifully printed, price 3s. 6d.,

=The Book of Vagabonds and Beggars=, (LIBER VAGATORUM: _Der Betler Orden_), with a Vocabulary of their Language (_Rotwelsche Sprach_); edited, with Preface, by MARTIN LUTHER, in the year 1528. NOW FIRST TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, WITH NOTES, by JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN.

⁂ This very singular work is comparatively unknown in this country. The first edition appears to have been printed at Augsburg, by Erhard Öglin, or Ocellus, as early as 1514—a small quarto of twelve leaves. It was frequently reprinted at other places in Germany; and in 1528 there appeared an edition at Wittemberg, with a Preface by Martin Luther, from which the present translation has been made. The work is divided into three parts or sections; the first gives a special account of the several orders of the “Fraternity of Vagabonds;” the second, sundry _notabilia_ relating to the different classes of beggars previously described; and the third consists of a CANTING DICTIONARY. It is singular that more than three centuries ago Martin Luther should have declared that the cant language of beggars comes from the Hebrews, and that in our own time a similar statement should be made by Mayhew in his _London Labour_. Mayhew says that many of the most expressive street terms in every day use by London and provincial vagabonds are derived from the Jew _Fences_.

Now ready, fcap. 8vo, beautifully printed by Whittingham, price 2s.,

=Letters of the Marchioness Broglio Solari=, one of the Maids of Honour to the Princess Lamballe, &c.; with a Sketch of her Life, and Recollections of Celebrated Characters (intended to have been sold at 5s.)

The Marchioness Broglio Solari was the natural grand-daughter of Lord Hyde Clarendon, and consequently one of the collateral branches of the Queens Mary and Ann, and their grand-father, the great Chancellor of England. She played an important part in the French Revolution; was the friend of Emperors and Princes; was intimately acquainted with George the Fourth, Burke, Sheridan, Madame de Stael, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Sir H. Davy, Paganini, &c., of most of whom she gives characteristic anecdotes. The Marchioness endured many troubles, was robbed of her fortune, and for some time obtained her living as an actress at the theatres of London and Dublin. This work was published by an intimate friend, and the entire impression (with the exception of a few copies) passed into the hands of the family. It is believed that only 150 copies were printed. The book (by those who know of its existence) has always been considered as a _suppressed work_.

[In preparation.]

=The History of English Popular Literature=, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF CHEAP OR CHAP-BOOKS, Penny and Sixpenny Histories, Old Romances, Fairy Tales, Books of Wonder, Garlands and Penny Collections of Ballads, Books of Recipes and Instruction, Jest Books, &c.; ALSO THE HISTORY OF THE RISE OF CHEAP SERIAL LITERATURE. 8vo.

This very important work will range with _Nisard’s History of French Popular Literature_, 2 vols., Paris, 1854. It will be illustrated with numerous exceedingly curious woodcuts, many by FAIRHOLT, and several from the original blocks used by the old London Bridge and Aldermary Church Yard publishers.

Printed by TAYLOR & GREENING, Graystoke-place, Fetter-lane, London, E.C.

* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes

Variant spelling and hyphenation have been preserved as printed; simple typographical errors have been corrected.

The following changes were also made:

Page 24: _ROME BOUSE_ [rum booze], [TN: added comma]

Page 25: and what schoolboys term “freeing.”] [TN: added closing bracket]

Page 32: through the caprices of fashion. [TN: deleted extraneous quotation mark]

Page 35: “Hou_g_ do_g_ you_g_ do_g_?” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 67: a “GRACIOUS child,” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 91: singular enough now, but common forty years ago. [TN: deleted extraneous quotation mark]

Page 95: “oh, BETTER ’n a mile.” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 95: talk BIG,” _i.e._ [TN: was "ie."]

Page 96: BLOOD-RED [TN: added hyphen]

Page 98: “O du _blühende_ [TN: was "bülhende"]

Page 103: having been at first plastered [TN: was "filastered"]

Page 127: “tip us your DADDLES,” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 133: “what does he intend to imply?” [TN: added opening quotation mark]

Page 135: DUNAKER, a stealer of cows or calves. [TN: added period]

Page 138: “cut up FAT,” [TN: added opening quotation mark]

Page 142: FLUMMUXED, stopped, used up. [TN: added period]

Page 148: GO, a GO of gin, [TN: added comma]

Page 152: for his customers to visit him. [TN: was a comma]

Page 154: ST. BEE’S.—_University._ [TN: added period]

Page 156: feigning sickness or other means. [TN: added period]

Page 164: KIMBO, or A-KIMBO [TN: was "A KIMBO"]

Page 167: “landsman.”—_See_ LOAFER [TN: added opening quotation mark]

Page 174: “gay women.” [TN: added opening quotation mark]

Page 177: MUMMER, a performer at a travelling theatre. [TN: added period]

Page 178: “he picked up a bit of MUSLIN.” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 180: NESTS, varieties.—_Old_. [TN: added period]

Page 182: NYMPH OF THE PAVE (_French_, PAVÉ [TN: was "PAVÈ"]

Page 190: “PIPE one’s eye.” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 191: “he’s a rare PLUCKED-’UN,” _i.e._ [TN: added period]

Page 194: PRIG, a thief. [TN: added period]

Page 194: PUB, or PUBLIC, a public-house. [TN: added period]

Page 196: “M.B.” coats worn by Tractarian curates.— [TN: deleted extraneous quotation mark]

Page 199: “Lord Strut was not very _flush_ in READY.” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 199: RIBROAST, to beat till the ribs are sore. [TN: was a comma]

Page 200: “Rip! well, he was an old RIP, and no mistake.” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 202: “ROUGHING IT _in the Bush_” [TN: added opening quotation mark]

Page 204: or SALOP, a greasy [TN: deleted extraneous comma]

Page 204: NOVE SOLDI. [TN: added period]

Page 218: is supposed to be analogous [TN: was "analagous"]

Page 220: Tops are out; SMUGGING about.” [TN: single quote changed to double]

Page 227: “a rum START,” [TN: added opening quotation mark]

Page 227: “to get the START of a person,” to anticipate [TN: deleted extraneous comma]

Page 234: “to TAKE THE FIELD,” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 236: swim in twentie of their boats over the river UPON TICKET.” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 241: TWIST, appetite; “Will’s got a capital TWIST. [TN: was a comma]

Page 242: TWOPENNY, the head; “tuck in your TWOPENNY, [TN: was a period]

Page 242: hornpipes in fetters, _à la_ Jack Sheppard, [TN: was a period]

Page 244: WALK-THE-BARBER, [TN: added comma]

Page 244: WALL-FLOWER, [TN: added comma]

Page 244: this word from an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth, [TN: added comma]

Page 245: Generally used to express anything dishonestly taken. [TN: added period]

Page 247: “_Jack made a_ DOOGHENO HIT _this morning_,” [TN: added opening quotation mark]

Page 277: BAILEY’S (Nath.) Etymological English Dictionary, 2 vols, 8vo. [TN: added period]

Page 283: Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 8vo. 178— [TN: final number missing; em dash added]

Page 284: (prefixed to Holinshed’s Chronicle) [TN: added closing parenthesis]

Page 293: —SOUTH. [TN: added em dash]

Page 294: ‘Sam Slick’ [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 295: many wonderful stories are told.” [TN: added closing quotation mark]

Page 299: other sources, hitherto unexplored. [TN: added period]

Page 300: one of the Maids of Honour to the Princess Lamballe, &c. [TN: added period]

Page 300: The Marchioness Broglio [TN: was "Broglia"]