CHAPTER XV.

“_There is no place like Home!_” JERRY _bids adieu to_ LIFE IN LONDON, _and sets out, with the_ CORINTHIAN, _for_ HAWTHORN HALL. _Rosebud Cottage in sight, the Church in perspective, and a good look-out towards the High Road to Matrimony. Uncertainty of existence: sorrow succeeding sorrow_: TOM _killed by a fall from his horse while hunting_. JERRY _disconsolate for the loss of his two Pals. Reflections on the death of the_ CORINTHIAN, _and a few Lines to his Memory. Grieving’s a folly! Thoughts on Marriage: popping the Question--the bit of Gold--the reluctant_ NO--YES!--OLD JOLLYBOY _an important feature. The Wedding Day--all happiness at_ HAWTHORN HALL--JERRY AND MARY ROSEBUD _united. The_ TIE-UP _of the Story, i.e., to promote_ LIFE IN THE COUNTRY.

The sudden death of LOGIC made quite a _chasm_ in the movements of TOM and JERRY; indeed he had been the principal caterer for their amusements, and our heroes were not only in grief for his loss, but reduced completely to a _stand-still_ without him. It is true; JERRY had previously made up his mind to quit London, but the sudden demise of the _Oxonian_ positively hurried him out of town. The Metropolis had lost its attractions upon the feelings of JERRY, and he flattered himself that the neighbourhood of HAWTHORN HALL, the sports of the field, and the fascinating company of MISS ROSEBUD, would, in a great measure, afford relief to his mind, and ultimately restore him to cheerfulness. The parents of JERRY were overjoyed in beholding their darling son once more safe under their roof, and the CORINTHIAN also received the most friendly congratulations on his arrival at Hawthorn Hall. The _sombre_ appearance of our heroes, who were in deep mourning for the _Oxonian_, operated as a great drawback to the festivities which under different circumstances, had been intended to celebrate their reception; indeed, at every step they took, the loss of Logic was sincerely regretted by all those persons who had ranked him as one of their best acquaintances, during his last appearance at HAWTHORN HALL. “To me, the loss of LOGIC is incalculable,” said Jerry, to his father; “he was not only able to advise, but his manner of doing it was so persuasive, that it was impossible not to benefit by his experience; more especially at my time of life, when such experience was by far more valuable to my mind, than any knowledge I might have obtained of men and manners, through my own exertions!”

Our hero lost no time in visiting Rosebud Cottage. On his entrance he was welcomed by the father of our heroine with no common sort of ardour; but, on his being ushered into the presence of MARY ROSEBUD, he felt confused, nay, ashamed; her looks, although accompanied with a smile, nevertheless told him that he had been neglectful towards her, during his residence in London, and she gently chided him for his want of attention. “I am afraid, Sir,” said she, “it has been with you like most professed lovers, ‘out of sight, out of mind.’” JERRY could not reply; his excuses were lame and impotent; indeed, he was aware that he was in fault, and, therefore, sensibly threw himself upon the mercy of the Court, and sued in the most persuasive manner for pardon. The good nature of MARY, aided by a little of something else--perhaps, love--could not resist the application; and she generously admitted that some allowance might be made for him, when surrounded by the attractions of London. “Generous girl!” exclaimed JERRY, “the remainder of my life shall be devoted to your happiness.”

JERRY being now perfectly established in the good opinion of MISS ROSEBUD, became doubly attentive in his visits; when the minutes, the hours, the days, nay, the weeks almost appeared to fly, so fascinated was JERRY with the company and attractions of our charming heroine. In truth, the time of JERRY was completely occupied with hunting, dinners, card-parties, assemblies, &c., accompanied by TOM; and his life appeared so happy, that he congratulated himself on his return to the seat of his father, also upon the hair-breadth escapes he had met with, during his Day and Night Scenes in London.

* * * * * * * * * *

During a walk one fine evening, and Hawthorn Church appearing in view, JERRY was determined to make the best use of the opportunity which offered itself, by soliciting MARY ROSEBUD to name the day that was to complete his happiness. “I have always promised my father,” replied MARY, with the utmost frankness, “that he should name the wedding-day; therefore, gain his consent, and you will have no complaint to make against my decision.” “I will be your father upon that joyful occasion,” said the CORINTHIAN, “if you will permit me, my dear MISS ROSEBUD, as I am very anxious to bestow on my friend JERRY one of the greatest treasures in this life,--a most amiable companion and virtuous wife.” MISS ROSEBUD blushed at the remark, but nevertheless felt pleased with the compliment paid by the CORINTHIAN; and the subject was dropped until they arrived at Rosebud Cottage. The father of our heroine, on being made acquainted with the wishes of the young folks, observed, “I am quite content; and I sincerely hope they will prove one of the happiest couples alive. Therefore, let the settlements be drawn immediately, the licence procured without delay, the dresses made offhand, our friends invited in good time, and OLD JOLLYBOY requested to hold himself in readiness. Now, having settled this marriage business to my mind, let us have a jolly evening together, before we part; and to-morrow, JERRY, what do you say to a day’s hunting? And your cousin, TOM, I have no doubt, will make one of the party.” “It will afford me great pleasure,” replied the CORINTHIAN; “and we will be in time to start with you.” The evening was spent in great jollity.--“The single married, and the married happy,” were toasted over and over again by the party, until JERRY became as lively as a lark, OLD ROSEBUD roaring out the view halloo! The CORINTHIAN quite merry and facetious, and OLD JOLLYBOY rather above par, hiccoughing, every now and then, with an attempt to pun, that he was “fond of (_a_) _good living_!”

Our heroes were ready at the appointed time to take the field with OLD ROSEBUD; the latter fox-hunter was in high glee with the excellence of the day’s sport, JERRY equally delighted, and TOM had just declared he had not been so pleased for a long time; but, unfortunately for him, in his bold endeavour to clear some high palings, his horse fell with him, and he was thrown some distance. On being raised from the ground, it was discovered that his neck was dislocated, and he expired instantly. Upon JERRY’S ascertaining the fate of the CORINTHIAN, his feelings were so completely overcome, that he fell down in a fit quite senseless.

To describe the wretched state of mind which JERRY suffered for several days, at the unexpected accident and melancholy death of his dearest friend in the world would have baffled the poet’s skill and the painter’s talents to pourtray--the shock was so sudden, and the loss to our hero so great, that it was impossible to have been otherwise; just at the moment when happiness appeared to be within his grasp, and he was also slowly recovering from the serious effects which the death of LOGIC had also made upon his feelings, to have met with such an immense blow--the death of CORINTHIAN TOM--shattered his nerves all to pieces, and anything in the shape of consolation appeared to him officious, troublesome, and unavailing! Ultimately, by the soothing attention of MISS ROSEBUD, the friendly interference of the old fox hunter, her father, the unremitting kindness of his parents, and the cheering, good advice of OLD JOLLYBOY, by degrees he was restored to a state of convalescence.

From “GAY to _grave_,” was now the reversed scene for the contemplation of our hero, and the old proverb verified to an awful extent, “that many things happen between the cup and the lip;” the _marriage rites_ were now suspended to make way for the performance of the burial service. The remains of the CORINTHIAN were conveyed to town with the utmost solemnity, and interred in the family vault, with all those obsequies due to his rank; and although JERRY remained extremely ill, and scarcely able to stand upon his legs, yet he was determined, at all hazards, to pay the last respect to his most valued friend and relative, CORINTHIAN TOM, by his appearance at the funeral in the character of chief mourner. JERRY did not quit the Metropolis until he had settled every thing to his satisfaction respecting the interment of the CORINTHIAN. Upon the return of JERRY to HAWTHORN HALL, several days elapsed before anything like pleasure occupied his mind; he positively refused to quit the house, and he also shunned the society of his acquaintances. “It requires no common fortitude,” observed JERRY, to OLD JOLLYBOY, “to bear up against the loss of two such invaluable friends as TOM and LOGIC, snatched, as it were, in an instant from me, when I stood most in need of their assistance, and to whom I am principally indebted for the knowledge of mankind which I now possess. In LOGIC, I have lost a model of experience, a fund of talent, and a heart overflowing with the milk of human kindness. By the death of TOM, I shall heavily miss that urbanity, discernment and liberality, which highly distinguishes the polished, and thorough-bred gentleman. I am now left to decide for myself; but, nevertheless, I hope I shall sincerely profit by their example. APPEARANCES, I am perfectly aware might be against both of their characters with the fastidious part of society, yet hypocrisy, cant, humbug, or dissimulation, never disgraced their conduct: a love of honour shone conspicuously throughout their actions, and, by an acknowledgment of their own errors, displayed a noble generosity towards the faults of others. They taught me not to spend time in regretting any mistakes that I had made, but to exert myself upon every occasion to repair them. This maxim shall be my guide through life--I will not repine, but struggle with fortitude against unavoidable calamities, and endeavour to make myself happy under all circumstances of my existences.”

JERRY immediately gave orders for a very handsome stone to be placed in the most conspicuous situation near to the spot where CORINTHIAN TOM lost his life, with the following inscription engraved upon it:--

Near to this Spot of Earth, Lost his Life by a Fall from his Horse while Hunting, CORINTHIAN TOM, One of the highest-bred creatures in the Universe, and who got over the ground like nothing else but A GOOD ONE: In the walks of fashion, he was a CORINTHIAN; Amongst the BLOODS, a _bon vivant_; On the TURF a real SPORTSMAN; in the Chase, an OUT and OUTER; And in his deportment to every person A PERFECT GENTLEMAN! If he could not put in a positive claim to the title of THE ROSE AND PILLAR OF THE STATE. No man in the world ever possessed the SUAVITER IN MODO and FORTITER, IN RE In a more eminent degree than Corinthian Tom.

This Remembrance has been erected by his Relative and sincere Friend JERRY HAWTHORN, ESQ., Under the hope, that when he hears the LAST VIEW HALLOO! His PEDIGREE may be found sound; his RACE complete, by Winning the HAPPY STAKES; and nothing against him Noted down in the Steward’s Book.

“I admit your loss has been great, and I also admire the tenour of your argument,” observed Mr. ROSEBUD, “but, nevertheless, ‘grieving’s a folly;’ there is a time for every thing, as my friend OLD JOLLYBOY would have observed, therefore, JERRY, having done every thing becoming the character of a sincere friend, I think you ought now to turn to a more pleasant view of the picture, and once more give your acquaintances the benefit of your company.” “Good!” exclaimed OLD JOLLYBOY; “for some time past, I have been holding myself in readiness to receive a summons to perform a certain ceremony, without SQUIRE HAWTHORN has given up the marriage altogether. All in good time perhaps!”

The trifling hint was quite sufficient, and JERRY, lest his conduct should be thought cold or neglectful, presented himself, in the course of the morning, “for better or for worse,” to Miss ROSEBUD, at the Cottage, anxiously soliciting her to name the wedding day. The disposition of MARY ROSEBUD was of the most ingenious nature, and her attachment to our hero too great to keep him long in suspense. “Perhaps, Sir,” said MARY, “I ought to say ‘No!’--and insist upon more time, to enable me to form a correct opinion of your conduct, whether you have duly considered the serious and important charge of martrimony, and the confinement also attendant on such a state; and, likewise, freely consenting, as it is termed, to surrender a part of your liberty, before I say ‘YES.’ But I prefer being frank on the present occasion; and, relying on your honour, generosity, and true love, I am content, whenever my father shall think proper to name the day.” “Generous, amiable girl,” replied JERRY, “I have well considered the subject, in every point of view; but I will make no professions: yet my endeavours throughout my life, shall be to _strengthen_, what the Poet has so beautifully described, the

“Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets.”

The day was immediately fixed for the nuptials by Mr. ROSEBUD; the marriage ceremony was performed by OLD JOLLYBOY, and when MISS ROSEBUD answered “I will!” the old Curate was so full of joy, that the word “GOOD!” had almost escaped his lips. The estates of the Rosebuds and the Hawthorns were united, and MARY and JERRY made the happiest of the happy. The wedding-day was devoted to pleasure. “It shall be kept in the old style,” said JERRY’S father; “every body, shall be welcome; we will have a dance upon the green; all the lads and lasses in the village shall be invited to celebrate the wedding; we will broach a tub of ‘_humming bub!!_’ and nothing shall be wanting to promote mirth and harmony.” “Good!” said OLD JOLLYBOY, over his pipe; but, long before the approach of night, the “gaily circulating glass” had been pushed about by OLD HAWTHORN to all the company--that, suffice to observe; as we have too much respect for the cloth to tell tales, the fine old Curate required the assistance of “AMEN,” the clerk, to make JOLLYBOY “all right” at the Curacy.

The honey-moon was, of course, a raptuous one; after which JERRY might be viewed as a “_settled being_.” Time rolled over pleasantly with him and his bride; and the sports of the field, if possible, he enjoyed with greater zest than heretofore. His fire-side was a pattern of domestic comfort, although a sigh would now and then escape his lips, whenever the thoughts of TOM and LOGIC came over his mind. In every other respect, JERRY was a picture of contentment; determined to profit by his experience, and to turn to a good account, for the benefit of himself and his family, the many hair-breadth escapes and dangerous adventures he had met with in his DAY and NIGHT SCENES in LIFE in London. He was the delight of all the companies he visited in the neighbourhood of HAWTHORN HALL; his general conduct was the praise of the surrounding gentry, and he was admitted, by all parties, to sustain the character of a perfect COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. We now take our leave of JERRY, “all happiness,” with his amiable wife, a fine estate, a capital stud of horses, and a crack pack of hounds, to promote--

LIFE IN THE COUNTRY.

THE END.

KEY TO PERSONS AND PLACES, &c.

A.

=A.B.C.=--Any easy matter, the A.B.C. of the affair, _i.e._, the whole of the particulars can be comprehended as soon, or as easy as you can say A.B.C.:--Then comes answer like A.B.C. book.--_Shakespeare._

=Above Board.=--In open sight, all fair and _square_, dealing without artifice or trick.

=Above Par.=--Tolerably drunk--also to be possessed of money beyond one’s actual expenses--plenty of the _needful_--lots of _blunt_!--able to _post_-the-_pony_--lay down the _rag_!--chink the _ochre_! &c., in case of laying a wager or making an investment.

=Ace of Spades.=--A widow.

=Adelphi.=--Greek for brothers: several streets on the south side of the Strand, London, erected about 1768 by the brothers, John, Robert, James, and William Adam, after whom the streets are named.

=Adelphi Theatre.=--Formerly called the _Sans Pareil_, opened under the management of Mr. and Miss Scott, 27 Nov., 1806. Messrs. Rodwell and Jones purchased the property and opened on Monday, Oct. 18, 1819, and issued the first playbill bearing the name of “Adelphi Theatre.” Messrs. Mathews and Yates became managers, Sept. 29, 1828--Mr. Charles Mathews--_Mathews at Home_--died the 28th of June, 1835. The theatre was then let for the remainder of the season to Messrs. Ephraim Bond and Company, and announced to be “under the management of Mrs. Nisbett.” After that Mr. Yates had the sole management. In 1840 Messrs. Yates and Gladstone were the proprietors. Mr. Benjamin Webster became lessee, and Madame Celeste directress, 1844. The theatre was re-built and opened, with improved arrangements 27 Dec., 1858, as The New Adelphi. In 1870 it was announced that while Mr. Ben. Webster was sole proprietor, Mr. Webster and Mr. F. B. Chatterton were joint managers. After several changes Messrs. A. and S. Gatti became sole proprietors and managers.

=Air and Exercise.=--Or, _Shoving the tumbler_. Being whipped at the cart’s tail.

=Alderman.=--A turkey, _Alderman in chains_, a roast turkey well-stuffed and garnished with pork sausages; the latter emblematical of the gold chain worn by that civic dignitary.

=Ale Draper.=--The alehouse-keeper; a _rum cull_, a _squirt quester_. _Ale spinner_, a brewer or publican.

=Alive.=--Active, smart, to be ever on the alert. _Alive_ to the subject; the game, the fact, or to any circumstance. Tom’s _alive_ to his own interest, let him alone for that; he’s _wide-a-wake_!

=All Hands to the Pump.=--All force concentrated to one spot.

=All-Max in the East.=--Open to all influenced by none--was held at the Coach and Horses public-house, Nightingale-lane, East Smithfield, and was frequented by most of the Wapping _elegantes_. BLUE RUIN and reels were generally the _order_--rather the _dis_order of the evening.

=All Out.=--The whole of the reckoning. “How stands the great account t’wixt me and vengeance!”

=Almack’s.=--Aristocratic exclusiveness. A ball given by the highest nobility. Almack’s means properly a suite of assembly rooms in King Street, St. James’s, London, built in 1765 by a Scotchman named Macall, who inverted his name to obviate all prejudice and hide his origin. Balls, presided over by a committee of ladies of the highest rank, used to be given in these rooms; and to be admitted to them was as great a distinction as to be introduced at Court. The rooms are now called Willis’s from the present proprietor.

If once to ALMACK’S you belong, Like MONARCH’S, you can _do no wrong_; But banished thence on Wednesday night, By Jove, you can do nothing right.

=Alone.=--A knowing one may be trusted “_Alone_” by reason of his experience in worldly matters.

=Angelics.=--Young ladies. N.B. _Unmarried!_

=Annointed.=--Knowing, ripe for mischief, full of courage and energy for any desperate exploit.

=Apartments to Let.=--It is said that the “widow’s cap,” denotes that there are _Apartments to Let_! Also of an empty-headed or _shallow-cove_.

=Argument.=--The best of the. Any man with a pair of leather lungs has the best of an argument at a tavern, unless there be an other present who can lay heavy sums which are quite _uncoverable_ that _his_ opinion or assertion is correct. A stable-keeper being beaten in argument by one of the leather-lunged breed, produced a large roll of bank-notes and a handful of sovereigns, smacking them down on the table exclaiming, “There you ---- look at that; if I am a fool my money’s none. _That beats you!_”

=Arm Pits.=--_To work under the arm pits_, is to practise only such depredations as will amount on conviction to transportation. By following this course and system, a thief avoids the _halter_, or _neck-squeezer_! which certainly is applied _above_ the arm pits.

=Arm Props.=--Crutches.--Go it ye cripples _crutches_ are cheap.

=Astley’s Amphitheatre.=--Was built and opened by Philip Astley, 1773.

=Astronomer.=--A star-gazer. A horse that carries his head high-up in the air.

=At Fault.=--At a loss; not knowing in what direction to proceed, like dogs who have lost scent of a hare or fox. This sporting phrase is often used, figuratively to signify that a man has been defeated in his pursuits, and does not know how to extricate himself from difficulty.

=At Home.=--To _Provincials_, this phrase may operate rather as a sort of paradox--as houses and persons, in general are robbed not “at home” but when the parties are _abroad_.

=Awake.=--Knowing; acquainted with, aware of, or knowing what is going on. _Awake to the move_, aware of the proceedings; _Stow the books, the culls are awake_, Hide the cards, the persons know what we intend to do. This word is used on many occasions, and in most situations of life, being expressive of attention.

B.

=Babes in the Wood.=--Persons confined in the stocks or pillory, said also of dice.

=Babes of Grace.=--Puritanical, sanctified-looking persons; also drunken psalm-smiting cobblers.

=Back-slums.=--Beggars’ meeting places; Dyot Street, St. Giles’; Kent Street, in the Borough, &c. The expression applies to all Metropolitan receptacles of mendicants, prostitutes, thieves, and rogues of every degree to get a night’s lodging. _Back Slummers_, dirty, common, low, and vagrant people who reside in the _Back-slums_.

=Bag the Swag.=--Pocket, or put into a bag, the plunder, or hide the stolen property.

=Baked.=--Done up, exhausted, tired out, “_When I got to the top of the hill_ I was regularly--_Baked_!”--_Soft-baked_ in also employed to persons who lack worldly wisdom.

=Baker, Charles.=--Comedian, died November 26, 1844.

=Bang-up.=--Quite right, the thing! the go! done complete, in handsome style, quite fashionable, at the top of the _mode_.

=Bank.=--A snug and secure place to deposit plunder; _Bank the rag_, to take care of money.

=Barbers’ Clerks.=--Shopmen, and poor ill-paid and half-starved apprentices, or conceited ignorant shop-boys.

=Barking Irons.=--Pistols, from the explosions being supposed to resemble the barking of a dog.

=Baron Nab’em.=--Otherwise NICHOLAS BORROWBODY. The individual bearing this name who _devotes his attentions_ to Logic, in his _moments of retirement_, is Mr. James Soares, more familiarly termed _Jemmy Soares_; well-known in the sporting world, particularly among the friends and supporters of the _Ring_, and long the _President of the Daffy Club_, a society held at Belcher’s, the Castle Tavern, Holborn. Events have occurred to prevent his occupying so prominent a place, as formerly, in the list of milling amateurs: but his open heartedness, his native humour, his liberal temper, and convivial disposition, will long be remembered with pleasure, by the numerous pals, who were wont to surround him.

=Barrymore, W.=--Comedian, died in America, November 24, 1846.

=Baxter’s Hats.=--A celebrated _Topper-maker_ to the _Fancy_. Formerly in high repute with the amateurs, in respect to giving the _knowledge-box_ an important _look_!

=Beaks.=--Justices, from their former cormorantish qualities--“Your _vulture_ hath a devil of a _beak_!” But things are different. The Magistrates of the present day, that is the Metropolitan ones, are, with some few exceptions an honour to the Bench. _Beaksmen_, constables, or police officers.

=Beat.=--A watchman’s walk, the district in which he is licensed to _beat_ at will all Her Majesty’s peaceable and loving subjects.

=Beaver.=--A hat; probably from generally possessing very little _beaver_. My last _beaver_ turned out to be all _silk_, as Jack Bannister said, “The loss was felt”:--I cleft his _beaver_ with a downright blow.--_Shakespeare._

=Beeswax.=--Cheese, generally Gloucester, from the similarity between them--“Lets have a twopenny burster, half a quartern o’ _beesvax_, an ha’p’oth o’ ingens, and a dollop o’ salt along vith it, vill you?”--_Dusty Bob._

=Beggars.=--Our street beggars have existed from time immemorial; their profession had become, in some measure, sanctioned by long tolerance. They were a merry, ingenious, persevering, and almost innoxious race. They are associated with our earliest recollections; like _Springlove_ in BROME’S healthful and truly old English opera, “_The Jovial Crew!_” we at certain seasons feel almost a yearning to join them. Their wild free life, their careless revelry, present charms to us in retrospection, to which we are not wholly proof!--we think upon the “_Beggar’s Bush_” of those twin stars BEAUMONT and FLETCHER. Classic recollections bring BELISARIUS with his “_Date Obolum_” to our mind. BAMFYLDE MOORE CAREW; Sir SIMON MONTFORD, _The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green_; King COPHUETA, who loved the _Beggar Maid_, the valiant _beggar_ who beat the redoubted ROBIN HOOD to a standstill are among the most favourite heroes of our childhood. The race whose cause we are attempting to advocate, had at least the claim of destitution on our attention; as Lubin Log has it, our bounty was at all events “_hobtional_.” But what shall we say of the wealthy and the great, who have become beggars upon the _public purse_ for the purpose of putting these their now persecuted rivals down? They have no claim, no excuse--away with them--shame on such monopoly!

=Beggar’s Opera.=--There were two public-houses in Church Lane, St. Giles’s; chiefly supported by beggars, one, called the Beggar’s Opera, which was the Rose and Crown, and the other the Robin Hood--at both of which Noah Ark Societies--that is “_Motley-Crew_ Societies”--were held. The number that frequented these houses at various times, was computed to be from two to three hundred, and the receipts at a moderate calculation could not be less than from three to five shillings a day each person, frequently more.

=Bellamy, William.=--Bass Singer, died January 3, 1843, aged 74.

=Belch.=--All sorts of malt liquor, beer and porter being apt to cause uncomfortable eructations:--The bitterness of it I now belch forth from my heart.--_Shakespeare._

=Belcher.=--A large red neckerchief spotted with yellow and black, and first worn by Jem Belcher the famous pugilist, 1781-1811. “The _Kiddy_ flashes his _Belcher_.” Tom Belcher’s colour was yellow, with white and black spots.

=Bell’s Life in London.=--And SPORTING CHRONICLE, _a rich Repository of Fashion, Wit, and Humour, and the interesting Incidents of_ REAL LIFE:--Was founded March 3, 1822, by Mr. John Bell, one of the most spirited publishers of his time, and the printer and proprietor of “Bell’s Edition of Plays,”--“Bell’s Edition of the Poets,”--“Bell’s Weekly Messenger,” &c., &c. Mr. Vincent Dowling, was first installed Editor August, 1824. On Sunday, November 4, 1827, it was publicly announced that--“PIERCE EGAN’S LIFE IN LONDON AND SPORTING GUIDE” is this day incorporated with “BELL’S LIFE IN LONDON.” All communications for the Editor, therefore, are requested to be transmitted, in future, to the Office, No. 169, Strand.... Let it not be forgotten, that “BELL’S LIFE IN LONDON,” is the largest, and best, and the cheapest, Sporting Journal in the Kingdom. “Compare and Judge.” ☞ “The Price is but Sevenpence.”--“Mr. Vincent Dowling, the Editor, was well known in the Sporting World and in him the _Fancy_ found a sincere friend. He is a most excellent companion; cheerful, witty, and satirical at all times, but, in the latter display of his talents, the _feather_ appears more than the razor--he tickles his adversaries, rather than wounds their feelings”--_Pierce Egan._--A service of plate value 100 gs. was presented to Mr. Vincent Dowling, at the Castle Tavern, Holborn, July 18, 1833.

=Beef.=--To cry Beef is to give the alarm.--“A _mot_ in the regency below, bolted out into the _hairy_ and cried _beef_ on us; just as ve had _sacked_ the _swag_; so Tim Snooks who vos vide awake in the rum pad in front; giv’d as the office to _scarper_! and ve cut like blazes! Squinting Bill piked through the glaze, and vos out of sight in less than no time, and I got over the balcony, and slides down the vater shoot, and makes good my hexit, but leaving all the tools and the swag behind in the old coveys snoozing-ken.”

=Beer and Britannia.=--What two ideas are more inseparable than BEER and BRITANNIA? What event more awfully important to an English colony than the erection of its first brewhouse!:--

Beer! Boys, Beer! all over town and country, Beer! Boys, Beer! with pewter pot in hand; Beer! Boys, Beer! for all who don’t mind labour, Beer! Boys, Beer! who a gallon’s going to stand.

=Big ones.=--Men of consequence: such as Tom Cribb,--The Duke of Wellington,--John Jackson,--The Lord Chancellor,--John Gully,--The Chancellor of the Exchequer,--Tom Spring,--The Master of the Rolls, &c.

=Big Wigs.=--Judges, &c.,:--“_The wisdom’s in the wig._” If you doubt it, play the part of _Paul Pry_ for half-an-hour in any of the Courts of Law, or ask the Vice-Chancellor. You’ll soon be convinced.

=Bilk the Schoolmaster.=--Not to stand your _regulars_, _i.e._, not to pay for being let into the secret.

=Billing and Cooing.=--Courting; the two sexes humbugging one another--_faking the sweetner_, kissing, &c.:--What billing again?--_Shakespeare._

=Bill of Sale.=--A widow’s weeds.

=Billy.=--The cant term for a silk pocket handkerchief.

=Billy Buzman.=--A class of pickpockets who confine their attention exclusively to silk pocket handkerchiefs. In thieving as in other professions and arts of life in this highly civilized age, “Division of Labour,” as political economists term it, is particularly attended to in the London School of _gonnofs_, not only for the sake of convenience, but from the well-known principle that “_Practice makes perfect_.” Accordingly, it would be considered as untradesman-like for a _Billy Buzman_ to go out of his own line of business, as for an ironmonger to sell treacle, or a silk mercer to deal in or sell neat’s foot oil.

=Bird-cage.=--Small country watch-houses, or gaols. Come, let’s away to prison; we two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage:--_Shakespeare._

=Birds of Prey.=--Lawyers.--The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.--_Jack Cade._

=Bit.=--Taken in, one half the world bite the other. Also money of any kind or quantity. _Queer-bit_, bad money. _Rum-bit_, good money. “He grabbed the _Cull’s-bit_.” He seized the man’s money.

=Bit of Cavalry.=--A horse.--An two men ride a horse, one must ride behind.

=Bit of good Truth.=--The plain facts.--Facts are stubborn things.

=Bit of Muslin.=--A sweetheart.--Love me little, love me long.

=Biting one’s name in it.=--Taking a good draught out of a pot of heavy wet.

=Black Beetles.=--The Lower orders--the rabble (_Canaille_).

=Black Diamonds.=--Coals. _Black diamonds Lords_, owners of coal mines. _Black diamond merchant_, a coal merchant. _Black diamond polisher_, a coalheaver.

=Black Miller.=--The--The brave and somewhat ill used Molineux. The Black pugilist who was twice beaten by Tom Cribb, 1810-11.

=Black Sharks.=--Attorneys and Lawyers.--_Arcades ambo!_

=Black Strap.=--Port wine. “What will you lay it is a lie!”

=Blade.=--A man: who may be a _brother blade_ as a butcher, a _knowing blade_, if a sharp fellow, wide awake and cunning.

=Blinker.=--A one-eyed horse.

=Bloods, Bucks, and Choice Spirits.=--_Tria juncta in uno_--A riotous disorderly set of young men who imagine that their noise, bluster, warwhoop, and impertinence impress those who come in contact with them with the opinion that they are men of spirit and fashion. The nocturnal exploits of the true high-mettled, and fast-going _Blood_: consists of throwing a waiter out of a tavern window _lumpus!_ pinking a sedan-chairman, or a jarvey, who is so uncivil as to demand his fare, milling and boxing-up the charlies, kicking-up rows at Ranelagh and Vauxhall, driving stage coaches, getting up prize fights, breaking shop windows with penny pieces thrown from a Hackney coach, bilking a turnpike-man, and at other times painting-out in a very opposite colour his “LIST OF TOLLS PAYABLE,” Funking a cobbler, smoking cigars at divans and club-houses, fleecing each other in the Hells around Jermyn Street, drinking champagne at Charley Wright’s in the Haymarket, claret and brandy at Offley’s, and “early pearl” and dogsnose at the Coal Hole, wearing large whiskers, and false noses and moustachios, exchanging blackguard _baninage_ with women of the town in and about Covent Garden, the Haymarket, and Piccadilly--“_Dem’ee that’s yer sort!--Keep it up--keep it up!_”

=Blown.=--Exposed, informed against.

=Blow a Cloud.=--Smoke a pipe. Cock a Broseley.

=Blue Blazes.=--Spirituous liquors in general, GIN in particular.

=Blue Ruin.=--Gin, called _blue_ from its tint, and _ruin_ from its effects. In the words of Otway most gin drinkers are “in love and pleased with _ruin_!”

=Blunt.=--Cash, or money of any value, or in any quantity. Lots of _blunt_, plenty of money--“Thou dear delightful evil.”

=Bob, or Bobstick.=--A shilling.

=Bobbish.=--Smart, active, clever.

=Bodkin.=--William Bodkin, Esq., or as he was familiarly termed _Billy Bodkin_, was originally a painstaking _Broker_ and _Auctioneer_ at Islington, he was the first Hon. Sec. to the Mendicity Society, which office it was said he found more lucrative. So neglected _knocking down_, for the sake of _taking-up_, giving the vagrants their quietus “_With a bare Bodkin_.”--For further particulars about this _sharp_ Bodkin _see_ Billy Waters.

=Bolt.=--Throat, _Sluice your bolt_--Drink.

=Bone-setter.=--A hackney-coach, also a hard trotting horse.

=Booked.=--The time fixed when a thief is ripe for the gallows, or when any one is likely to die from some mortal disease. “He’s _booked_ for a ride in a Government omnibus, _i.e._, prison van.” “You are _booked_ for a ride to Gravesend.” Secured, bespoke, in for it, dished!

=Booze.=--Liquor, “To drink.” “_Rum booze_,” good drink.

=Boozey.=--Drunk. Man being reasonable must get drunk.--_Byron._

=Boozing-ken.=--An alehouse, or tavern.

=Bosh.=--A fiddle. To _fake_ a _bosh_, to play the fiddle; _Boshmen_, fiddlers, or musicians in general.

=Bought.=--I have _bought_ that and no mistake, _i.e._, paid too much for it. _Bought_ and _sold_: taken in and done for.--It would make a man as mad as a buck, to be so bought and sold.--_Shakespeare._

=Bouncing Chit.=--A bottle, from the explosion in drawing the cork.

=Boxed.=--Locked up.--Cabin’d, cribb’d, and confined.

=Boxing a Charley.=--Upsetting a watchman in his box.

=Box of Dominoes or Ivories.=--The mouth, containing the teeth.

=Box of Minutes.=--A watch.--Watches you know, were made to go.

=Brads.=--Half-pence, also money in general.--Shell out the _brads_ Jack.

=Brass.=--Money, also impudence,--“A man who carries plenty of _brass_ in his face will never lack gold in his pocket.”

=Bread Basket.=--The stomach.

=Breaking up of the Spell.=--The breaking up of a party of long sitting: the nightly termination of performance at the theatres, which is regularly attended by pickpockets, who exercise their vocation about the doors and avenues leading thereto.

=Broads-=Cards, _Swell_ BROAD-COVES.--Elegantly dressed card-players; also possessing a good address with other requisites befitting them to keep company with gentlemen.

=Broad Fencers.=--The Cads and fellows who hawk Lists, or k’rect cards, at races,--Pierce Egan, in an account of--“The gallant and spirited Race at Knavesmire in Yorkshire, for 500 gs. and 1000 gs. bye--4 miles. Between the late Colonel Thornton’s Lady and Mr. Flint,” and reported by him in “BOOK OF SPORT,” thus graphically describes the _Broad Fencer_ of the period:--“The _Cads_, and fellows with the Race Lists, were thus _hawking_ their bills and cards over the race ground to obtain purchasers. Come my worthy sporting gentlemen from all parts of the kingdom--now’s your time to open your eyes and look about you, when you will see to-day what you never saw before in your life, and, perhaps, you may never see again, if you live as long as Old Methuselah. Come, I say, who’s for a list--the whole list, and nothing else but a true list--besides, you will have a correct and particlar account of the terrible, terrible, terrible high-bred female--the good-lady of Colonel Thornton; there is nothing like her in the universal world. Old Astley’s troupe are mere _patches_ upon her managing a horse, she will this day ride a match like a lady, over the four mile course for 500 guineas, and 1000 guineas bye; and some hundreds of thousands are likewise depending upon this most extraordinary match between the “_Jockey in Petticoats_” against the well-known sporting character Mr. Flint, in his “_doe skins and top boots_;” and looked upon as one of the best gentlemen riders in the nation. You have also the names of the horses, and the colours of the riders, with every other particular that can enlighten your minds, and make you gentlemen sportsmen acquainted with this lively race. You have now the opportunity to lay out your money according to your inclination. The gentleman allows the lady to ride what weight she likes, there being a mutual understanding between them upon the subject; therefore, she will not, like commoners go “_to scale_” as she will not be _handled_ by any body before she starts for the prize; indeed, the Female Jockey is not considered any _weight_ at all. Her importance and self-possession are the only objects for consideration. What does spirit, fire, blood, and gaiety weigh, I should like to ask? I answer nothing,--my masters! Such high bred qualities are as light as air--brisk as the wind--and 2 to 1 towards winning. You have also at the same price, the plain and simple pedigree of the female Jockey. Her “_sire_” was a capital “good un;” her _dam_, a prime fleet “un,” an Eclipse in character; her _brother_, all that could be wished upon the turf, for getting over the ground like a sky rocket, her _sister_, a Nonpareil at all points, and above any price, but her owner, her out-and-out owner, the Colonel from his “upper crust” down to his “walker,” is a match for all England against any thing--for every thing alive--either on the turf or turnpike,--from a mouse to an elephant: and nothing else but winning belongs to his stable. And lastly, though not the least in the above Catalogue of Excellence,--every _point_ of the Female Jockey is tip-top, her agility is captivating; and she mounts her _prad_ like the most accomplished horseman in the world. Her movements defy expression; her nods to the females, as she rides over the Course, delightful! but her smiles to the applauding gentlemen, in answer to the winks, bows, and other marks of politeness towards her, as compliments for her daring exploits, are fascinating, elegant, and nothing else but winning. She is seated upon her high-bred animal with all the firmness of a _Nimrod_; she holds her reins with the most perfect ease and style; and Chifney, in the best of his days, never displayed a better knowledge of horsemanship than the Female Jockey, and she flourishes her whip with all the good taste of the leader of a band at a concert. In fact, she is a _Nonesuch!_ a PARAGON!! a PHENOMENON!!! Her _prad_ too, _Old Vingarillo_, is also a picture of _goodness_, from his _peepers_ down to his _fetlocks_! Therefore, my worthy sportsmen, do not lose this opportunity--be not too late--but purchase this great curiosity--this _List_ of _lists_--nothing like it having occurred in Yorkshire, or, in any other part of the globe since Noah’s flood--either before or since the wet season of the year; and it is _York Minster_ to a _brass farden_ that nothing like it can occur again till we have a new generation of the human race? _That’s a fact!!!_”

=Buckingham, Thomas.=--Comedian and Comic-singer, died September 2, 1847, aged 52.

=Buffers.=--Dogs. _Buff-napper_, a dog stealer.

=Broom.=--To brush, to run away.

=Browns.=--Half-pence and pence--“Got any _browns_, Jem, for a drop o’ Max? No, Bill, not never a von left; s’elp me criky.”

=Buffs--Buffaloes--and Buffaloism.=--A society held at the Harp Tavern in Great Russell Street, opposite Drury Lane Theatre, and was first established in August, 1822, by an eccentric young man of the name of Joseph Lisle, an artist, in conjunction with Mr. W. Sinnett, a comedian, to perpetuate, according to their ideas upon the subject, of that hitherto neglected ballad of “_We’ll chase the_ BUFFALO!” The society is composed of numerous Performers, and other “comical wights” resident in the metropolis. The ceremony of making a BUFFALO is very simple, yet extremely ludicrous, and productive of great laughter. At first the person intended to become a BUFFALO, is seated on a chair in the middle of the room, with a bandage placed over his eyes. The initiated BUFFALOES are waiting outside of the door: the orator being decorated with a wig, &c., for the occasion. On a given signal, they all enter the room, with what they term the Kangaroo Leap, and jump round the chair of the “DEGRADED WRETCH,”--as the victim is termed. This is succeeded by a solemn march, and the following _chaunt_; the BUFFALOES carrying brooms, shovels, mops, and a large kettle by way of a kettledrum:--

Bloody-head and raw-bones! Bloody-head and raw-bones! Be not perplexed, This is the text. Bloody-head and raw-bones!

The CHARGE is then given to the “_victim_” by the _Primo Buffo_, accompanied by the most extravagant and ridiculous gestures:--

“DEGRADED WRETCH!--MISERABLE ASHANTEE!!--_Unfortunate individual!!!_--At least you were so, not a quarter of an hour since. You are now entitled to divers privileges: you may _masticate_, denticate, chump, grind, swallow, and devour, in all turnip fields, meadows, and pastures; and moreover, you have the especial privilege of grazing in Hyde Park;--Think of that my BUFFALO! You may also drink at all the lakes, rivers, canals, and ponds; not forgetting the Fleet and lower ditches. You are entitled to partake of all public dinners,--upon your paying for the same--such are a few of the advantages you will enjoy! but you must promise to _gore_ and _toss_ all enemies to BUFFALOISM! You must likewise promise to patronise the _Horns_, at Kennington; and occasionally visit _Horn_-sey Wood, where you may do what you like best--_rusticate_, _cogitate_, or _illustrate_, and prove yourself an _Horn_-ament by respecting the natives of the island of GOREE-HE!”

The bandage is then removed from the eyes--and the chorus of “_Chase the Buffalo_,” is repeated. The _victim_ is then led into the passage, and the signs, &c., are given to him, after which he is ushered into the room with the full chorus of:--

See! the conquering hero comes, Sound the trumpet, beat the drums, Sports prepare, the laurels bring, Songs of triumph to him sing.

He is then called on for the accustomary fees for liquor, and a small compliment for the _Buffalo_ in waiting: the expenses are in proportion to the means, or inclination of the newly-made member. The liquor is introduced by the chorus altered from the Pirates:--

“We Buffaloes lead a jolly, jolly life, Fal de, &c., &c.”

A blessing is then given by the _Primo Buffo_, reminding the new member that the greatest characters in the country have solicited to become BUFFALOES, and the following is sung in solemn style.

HARPONIANS list unto me, And KANGAROOS rejoice! And BUFFALOES lift up your _horns_, Whilst I lift up my voice.

Oh! JOSEPH LISLE a painter is, And a BUFFALO besides: So sit not in the scorner’s chair, Nor BUFFALOES deride.

Now BUFFALOES join in a roar, Be heard from pole to pole; My solemn chaunt is at an end, Because you’ve heard the _whole_!

=Bull.=--A crown. _Half a bull_, half a crown.

=Bunch of Dog’s meat.=--A squalling child in arms.

=Bunch of Fives.=--A slang term for the hand or fist.

=Bunch of Onions.=--A watch chain and seals.

=Bunch of Turnips.=--Itinerant fruit vendors, &c.

=Bunter.=--A low loose woman.--“Neither maid, wife, nor widow.”

=Burlington Arcade, The=--Piccadilly, London, opened 20th March, 1814.

=Burster.=--A small loaf. A _burster_ and _beeswax_, bread and cheese.

=Bustle.=--Money of any sort or quantity.

=Buzz--Buzzers.=--Pickpockets.

=Buzz Napper.=--A young pickpocket.

=Buzz Napper’s Academy.=--A school in which young thieves are trained to the art. Stow informs us that in 1585 a person named Wotton kept an _Academy_ for the education and perfection of pickpockets and cut-purses: two devices were hung up--one was a pocket, and the other was a purse; the pocket had in it certain counters, and was hung about with hawk’s bells, and over the top did hang a little scaring bell; the purse had silver in it, and he that could take out a counter without noise of any of the bells was adjudged a judicial _napper_!

C.

=Cabbage.=--Cloth, stuff, or silk, purloined by tailors and sempstresses, who are for ever, _snip! snip!! snipping!!!_ _Cuttings_ that serve for _trimmings_ to an occasional merry-making leg of mutton.

=Cadge, Cadger, Cadging.=--To beg, a beggar, begging of the lowest degree; a mean sort of thief. Very indefatigable persons in their vocation.

=Cads of the Aristocracy.=--Liveried footman, servants, and all other hangers on upon the nobility and gentry.

=Cake.=--A silly fellow, cakes being made like him, of very soft dough, and not over well baked.--Our cake’s dough on both sides.--_Shakespeare._

=Call me cousin=--but cozen me not--Quoth Mrs. Saunders.

=Calves gone to Grass.=--Said of a man with slender legs. “He’s put some hay in his boots, and his _calves_ have gone down to feed.”

=Calves’ Head.=--A tallow-faced fellow, with a large meaty head. “Calves’ head is best hot,” was the apology for one of those who made “no bones” of dining with his hat on.

=Came up to the Scratch.=--A pugilistical phrase; also said of a person who keeps his appointments in money matters.

=Canary.=--A sovereign. _Canary Birds_, inmates of prisons.

=Canister.=--The head, with a sly allusion to its emptyness. _Cracked canister_, a broken head.

=Cant.=--A language made use of among beggars, gipsies, thieves, and the _Fancy_ in general.

=Captain.=--A travelling title, adopted by adventurers, who have no other good enough.

Captain is a good travelling name, and so I took it, it stops a good many foolish enquiries that are generally made about gentlemen who travel; it gives a man an air of something, and makes the drawers obedient. And thus far I am a captain, and no farther.--_Farquhar’s, The Beaux’s Stratagem._

=Captain Flasham.=--A blustering, bounceable fellow.

=Captain Queernabs.=--A shabby ill-dressed fellow.

=Carcase Lords.=--Wholesale butchers who monopolise and forstall the markets.--“For wheresoever the _carcase_ is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”

=Card.=--A man, who may be a _knowing_, a _downy_, _cunning_, _shifting_, _queer_, or any other sort of CARD according to circumstances.

=Cart Wheel.=--A five shilling piece.

=Carving knife.=--A sword.

=Castle Tavern.=--_The Castle Tavern, Holborn_, was first opened as a Sporting House by the well-known BOB GREGSON; but designated at that period under the familiar title of BOB’S CHOP HOUSE:--

His house is known to all the _milling_ train; He gives them liquor, and relieves their pain.

The appearance of Bob Gregson was prepossessing--he was in height six feet one inch and a half, weighing about fifteen stone six pounds. It is rather singular to relate that Bob Gregson rose in the estimation of the Sporting World, from defeat, he fought only three battles in the P.R., and lost them all--thus, beaten by John Gulley, 200 gns., 36 rds., near Newmarket, Oct. 14, 1807. Again beaten by John Gulley, 200 gns., 75 mins., 28 rds., May 10, 1808. Beaten by Tom Cribb, 500 gns., 23 rds., Moulsey Hurst, Oct. 25, 1808. The sun for a long time shone brilliantly over the “Temple of the Fancy,” but poor Bob, like too many of his class, did not make hay while it was in his power; when the scene changed, the clouds of misfortune overwhelmed him; and the once sprightly, gay Lancashire hero was compelled to beat an inglorious retreat. The stylish, well-conducted TOM BELCHER, next appeared in the character of landlord of the Castle. The house had undergone some repairs, the rooms were all retouched by the painter; elegance with cleanliness, backed by civility, became the order of the day; a prime stock of liquors and wines were also laid in to command the attendance of the public. _Tom’s_ opening dinner was completely successful, and the _Fancy_ rallied round a hero who had so nobly contended for victory in thirteen prize battles. Tom was also considered the most accomplished boxer of the day; and the remembrance, likewise, that he was the brother of the renowned Jem Belcher, were _points_ in themselves of great attractions in the Sporting World; and the above Tavern again became one of the most favourite resorts of the _Fancy_ in general. Tom Belcher, after fourteen years residence at the Castle, was enabled by his civil conduct, attention to business, good luck, and a good quantity of the “_Sweeteners of Life_” with BANK! security against a rainy day, he retired to a very handsome cottage on Finchley Common, living at his ease like a man of fortune, with his dog and his gun. TOM SPRING--Champion of England--next appeared in the character of “Mine Host” at the Castle Tavern. “His appearance” said Pierce Egan--“is very much in his favour; and there is a manly dignity about his person which is prepossessing, his language is also mild and perfectly correct; and his behavour at all times truly civil and attentive to his customers.” A night spent at Tom Spring’s may not be regretted by the most _fastidious_ visitor. If the _ears_ cannot at all times be gratified with the various topics of argument brought forward; the _eyes_ have no cause for complaint, the coffee room and every part of it is covered over with some attractive device, and if there are not so many pictures for criticism as may be seen at the EXHIBITION, there are a number of most excellent sporting subjects well worthy the attention of the observer. One of the most prominent amongst them for a display of talent is a “Picture of the Road going to the Fight” drawn and etched from life by Robert Criukshank, Esq., but often attributed to his brother, George Cruikshank. As this is not the fact, and as the opportunity occurs we hasten to set the matter right, in order that every _tub_ may stand upon its own bottom, or, in other words, that the saddle may be put on the right horse. Soon after the above “_Picture of the Road to the Fight_” was hung up at the Castle Tavern, I met there one evening my two friends, Mr. Hone (the very clever editor of the ‘Every Day Book’ and several other publications of merit) and Mr. George Cruikshank. On looking at the picture, Mr. Hone said to me, after praising it to the skies, “George has out-done himself!” “No,” I replied, “you mean Bob Cruikshank.” “Indeed, I do not,” answered Mr. H., “I repeat, that George has out-done himself; and more clever touches of art I never saw--they are beautiful!” “Well,” said I, “if you are so positive, Mr. Hone, I will bet you anything you like, from a glass of grog to a five pound note, that Bob Cruikshank accompanied myself down the Road to Moulsey Hurst, to accomplish the above picture.” Upon Mr. Hone appealing to George Cruikshank on the subject, the latter celebrated artist, without the least hesitation, answered, “_I had no hand in it_.” After this declaration, Mr. Hone did not attempt to retract the compliments he had paid to the merits of the picture in question; but, of course, they now operated with double effect on the talents of Mr. Robert Cruikshank. In conclusion, I have only to observe that the Castle Tavern is open at all times to the visitor, either to confute my representation of it, or to verify the truth of my assertion--but of this circumstance I feel strongly assured that an evening spent at the above sporting house will never prove a source of regret to the stranger who is anxious to witness some of the peculiarities of “LIFE IN LONDON.”

=Castor.=--A hat. To prig a _castor_, to steal a hat.

=Cast-your-Skin.=--To pull off your clothes.

=Champagne.=--Charles Wright, of the Haymarket, London, and elsewhere, is the purveyor _par excellence!_ of this sparkling and spirit-stirring nectar, which being good in quality and moderate in price he is patronized by all the _knowing kiddies_ in town and country. But do not take my word for it, but call in and judge for yourself.

=Champions of England.=--From 1719 to 1857.--FIGG 1719.--GEORGE TAYLOR 1734.--JACK BROUGHTON 1740.--JACK SLACK 1750.--JEM STEPHENS 1760.--GEORGE MEGGS 1761.--BILL DARTS 1764.--TOM LYONS 1769.--HARRY SELLERS 1777.--JOHNSON 1785.--BEN RYAN 1790.--MENDOZA 1792.--JOHN JACKSON (retired) 1795.--JEM BELCHER 1803.--PEARCE (the Game Chicken) 1805.--GULLY (declined the office) 1808.--TOM CRIBB (received a belt, not transferable, and cup) 1809.--TOM SPRING (received four cups, and resigned office) 1824.--JEM WARD (received a belt, not transferable) 1825.--DEAF BURKE (claimed the office) 1833.--BENDIGO (beat Deaf Burke, claimed championship, and received a belt from Jem Ward).--BEN CAUNT (beat Nick Ward, and received a transferrable belt by subscription) 1841.--BENDIGO (beat Caunt, and got the belt) 1845.--PERRY (the Tipton Slasher, after his fight with TOM PADDOCK, claimed the office, as Bendigo declined fighting again) 1850.--HARRY BROOME (beat Perry, and succeeded to the office) 1851.--PERRY (again claimed the office, Harry Broome having forfeited to him in a match, and retired from the ring) 1853.--The office still claimed by the Tipton Slasher, who, during 1856 received forfeit from both Tom Paddock and Aaron Jones, 1857.

=Charley.=--A London watchman before the introduction of the present system of police.

=Chaunt.=--To sing or to make known.--The birds _chaunt_ melody on every bush.

=Chaunter.=--A puffer, or hired bidder at a sale. _See_ HORSE CHAUNTER.

=Chawbacons.=--Country clodhoppers, rustics.

=Cherry-colour.=--A jocular name given to either of the two colours in a pack of cards. A black cat is said to be a _cherry-coloured_ cat, there being _black_ as well as _red_ cherries.

=Children in the Wood.=--Dice.--“Once before he won it of me by false dice.”

=Chivey.=--To run after, to chase, to move off quickly.

=Chivey your Nurse.=--To get rid of your tutor, guardian, father, &c.

=Chovey.=--A shop as _crocus chovey_, a chemist shop, &c.

=Chum.=--A companion, a bedfellow, a fellow prisoner.

=Church going Stays.=--That is best stays for special purposes.

=Churchwarden.=--A very long clay pipe.

=Churchyard Cough.=--A cough that is likely to terminate in death.

=Church with a Chimney in it.=--A public house.

=Civil Rig.=--A trick of the beggars to obtain money by _ultra_ civility.

=Clap of Thunder.=--A glass of brandy.

=Claret.=--Blood. “I tapped him on the nose and out flew the claret.” _Claret-faced_, having a red face.

=Clean gone.=--Quite out of sight, vacated, levanted.

=Cleaned Out.=--Having lost all your money, beaten, ruined. “O horrid, horrid case.”

=Clean Shirt Day.=--Sunday.

=Clenched it.=--Completed the thing, or _clenched_ the bargain.

=Clockey.=--A watchman, also a travelling clockmaker.

=Cly.=--A pocket, _cly-fakers_, pickpockets.

=Coal.=--Money, _post-the-coal_, pay down the money at once.

=Cock and Hen Club.=--A public-house concert, or _Free-and-Easy_, to which women are admitted, and everybody is supposed to do as they like, to stand upon no ceremony, come when they please, and _brush_ when it suits. But all sorts of _lush_ must be _tipped_ for on delivery. “POOR TRUST” being dead and buried.--“To keep the game alive,” LOGIC said to TOM and JERRY, “you shall now accompany me to what is termed a COCK AND HEN CLUB. Where you may say and do as you like, the _crib_ is situated in an obscure part of the town, but I know it well.” * * * On entering the club-room JERRY was struck with astonishment at the surrounding group. “It is nothing new to me,” replied LOGIC, “but rather a renewed feature of low Life in London. But we will ask the waiter for some little account about the chairman, who appears to me to be an original; and we must also obtain, if possible, a trifling outline of his assistant, the _Lady Patroness_ of this meeting. The chairman in petticoats.”

“They are both _out-and-outers_,” answered the waiter, “and nothing like them on earth to keep such an unruly company together, as ‘_Any-thing_ TOMMY’ and ‘_Half-quartern_ LUCE!’ The chairman TOMMY, has been, by turns, a costard-monger, a coal-whipper, a flying dustman, a boner of _stiff-ones_--that’s a resurrection man, and a “_anything_,” to yarn an honest penny, and a bit of a prig, if it suited him, sooner than have to complain of an empty _Victualling-Office_. He can throw off a flash _chaunt_ in the first style; and patter _slang_, better than most blades on the town:”--

Come all you rolling kiddy boys, that in London does abound, If you wants to see a bit of life, go to the _Bull in the Pound_; ’Tis there you’ll see Poll, Bet, and Sal, with many other _Flames_, And “pitch and hustle,” “ring the bull,” and lots of _Fancy_ games.

“As to _Half-quartern_ LUCE,” continued the waiter, “she’s a clever woman, in fact, she was reared a real lady, but now she is scarcely ever sober. I have known her to drink thirty-six half-quarterns of gin in a day; it is from her love of _blue ruin_ she derives her name. LUCE was once a very handsome woman, but she has been reduced, step by step, to the wretched creature she now appears to be, and drinks herself stupid to drown all reflections.”

“I have witnessed a great variety of scenes, since I have been in London,” said JERRY to LOGIC, “but this is equal to any, if it does not _beggar_ the whole of them, in truth, I had not the least idea that such meetings were suffered to take place.”

=Coffee Mill.=--A watchman’s rattle.

=College.=--The Fleet Prison, or King’s Bench, a rough school, but salutary at times, _collegiates_, the prisoners.

=Coper.=--or Horse couper--a cheating horse dealer. See HORSE CHAUNTER.

=Core.=--The heart.--In my heart’s core.--_Horatio._

=Cooped up.=--Confined in the _Poultry Counter_, or elsewhere.

=Chaffer.=--The mouth.

=Chaffing Crib.=--A drinking-room where quizzing or bantering is carried on. _Chaff-cutting_, joking, jesting, playing on words.

=Chalk, A.=--An advantage. _Take a chalk_, the admitting of the advantage. In public-houses it is usual for the _habituès_ to keep the score of a game of cards, dominoes, or coddom, &c., by means of chalk marks thus, | | | | |; therefore when one of the parties gains an advantage, he _takes a chalk_ by rubbing one out.

=Chalk Farm.=--A well-known tavern and tea-garden, near Primrose-hill, _alias_ Cockney-mount, between Hampstead and Highgate. This house is said to have taken its name from the farm being of a chalky soil, or, do they use _double chalk!_ to their customers, who frequent this house either for amusement--or mischief! the “_farm_” is much resorted to by those persons who cannot settle a dispute without the use of powder and shot. Hence _Jemmy Green_ says--“Vell, I’m glad its settled vithout bloodshed--Chalk Farm! pistols! half-past six!--Pooh!!!”

=Chalk Up.=--To have credit at a public-house, where they usually _chalk up_ the amount behind the door, or on a large slate kept for that purpose.

=Copy of Uneasiness.=--A copy of a writ.

=Corinthians.=--Sporting men of rank and fashion:--I am no proud Jack, Like Falstaff, but a _Corinthian_, a lad of mettle.--_Shakespeare._

=Corinthian Kate=--and her friend SUE.--In the original _Life in London_ these ladies were meant as _sketches in water colours_ of the notorious _Mrs. Maples_, alias _Mrs. Bertram_, alias _Mother Bang_; and the no less notorious _Harriett Wilson_, alias _Mrs. Colonel Rochfort_; heroines whose “birth, parentage, and education--life, character, and behaviour,” have been made execrable by that congenial pair of publishers in infamy _Messrs. Stockdale_ and _Duncombe_:--The characters of KATE and SUE are in rather _different keeping_ in the dramatic version, and are at the service of any couple of modest, harmless, though at the same time somewhat adventurous, love-sick, roving young ladies, that may choose to claim them.

=Costermonger.=--See my friend Hone’s Jewel of a Work, for Instruction and Amusement, the Every Day Book, Vol. I.

=Cousin Betty.=--A travelling prostitute, frequenting fairs, races, and country club feasts.--“Ah! could you but see _Bet Bouucer_ of these parts, you might then talk of beauty. Ecod! she has two eyes as black as sloes, and cheeks as broad and red as a pulpit cushion.” _Tony Lumpkin_: SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER.

=Cove, or Covey.=--A knowing fellow, _covess_ feminine of _cove_. _Covess of the Ken_, the mistress of the house.

=Cover me Decently.=--A great coat with men, and a cloak with women.

=Court Card.=--A trump, or out and out good one. A spirited fellow.

=Crack.=--The fashionable theme. The _Go! All the crack!_ First-rate, as a _crack article_, an excellent one; _crack a bottle_, to drink; _crack a crib_, to break into a house; _crack a canister_, to break a man’s head; a _crack-fencer_, one who sells nuts; a _crack hand_, an adept; _in a crack_, in a moment; _crack a kirk_, to break into a church or chapel; _crack_, horses--men--races--regiments, &c., all first class of their kinds; _crack-up_, to praise; to _crack a whid_ or _wheeze_, to make a joke, jokes or witticism; a _crack-whip_, a good coachman.

=Crib.=--A house, or an apartment.

=Cribb’s Crib.=--A slang alliteration for Tom Cribb’s house, the _Union Arms_, corner of Oxendon Street and Panton Street, Haymarket.

=Cross.=--A very general term for getting a living by dishonest means, and symbolized by placing the forefingers thus ╳, and is in direct opposition to being on the ◻, as implying honesty. A _cross-fight_, a sold prize fight. _Cross-men_, thieves and receivers of every degree. _Cross-crib_, a public-house where thieves “most do congregate.”

=Crowdsman.=--A fiddler.

=Cubitt’s Machine.=--The treadmill.

=Cucumbers.=--Tailors, because both are seedy.

=Cut along Coaches.=--The accidents of life.

=Cyprians.=--Women of loose morals. So called from the Island of Cyprus, one of the chief seats of the worship of Venus, hence called Cypria.

=Cruikshank, Isaac Robert.=--Caricaturist, born 1791. Illustrated many books, &c., including Pierce Egan’s, “The FINISH to the Adventures of TOM, JERRY, and LOGIC, in their pursuits through LIFE in and out of London,” 1827. Died March 13, 1856.

=Cruikshank, George.=--Caricaturist, born September 27, 1792. Illustrated Hone’s political squibs, 1817-20; “Peter Schlemil, Mornings at Bow-Street,” and in conjunction with his brother “TOM AND JERRY,” and many other books since, died 1879.

D.

=Dab.=--A bed, also a slight blow, as a _dab_ on the cheek.

=Daffy.=--Gin, Gin, sweet, sweet Gin! Pierce Egan says in his “BOOK OF SPORTS and MIRROR OF LIFE.”--“During the time Tom Belcher was the landlord of the Castle Tavern, Holborn, the DAFFY CLUB was started by Mr. James Soares”--_See_ BARON NAB’EM.--“The above club is a complete antidote to the _Blue Devils_, and has to boast of greater advantages than any other Society in the Metropolis, from its members being always in _Spirits_! Formality does not belong to this Institution; it has no written rules to bind its members; no specified time of meeting; no fines for non-attendance; but the corner-stone is “TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT.”--The only _definition_ I can give to the term “DAFFY” is that the phrase was coined at the _Mint_ of _Fancy_, and has since passed _current_ without being overhauled as _queer_. The _squeamish_ Fair One who takes the DAFFY regularly on the _sly_ merely to cure the _vapours_, politely names it to her friends as “_White Wine_.” The _Swell chaffs_ it as “_Blue Ruin_” to elevate his notions. The _Laundress_ loves dearly a drain of “_Ould Tom_,” from its strength to _comfort_ her inside. The _drag Fiddler_ can _toss off_ a quartern of “_Max_” without making a wry mug. The _Coster Monger_ illumines his ideas with “_a flash of lightning_.” The _hoarse Cyprian_ owes her existence to copious draughts of “_Jacky_.” The _Link Boy_ and _Mud Larks_, in joining their _browns_ together, are for some “_Stark Naked_.” And the _Out and Outers_, from the addition of _bitters_ to it in order to sharpen up a dissipated and damaged _Victualling Office_, cannot take any thing but “_Fuller’s Earth_.” Much it should seem, therefore, depends upon a name; and as a soft sound is at all times pleasing to the _listener_--to have denominated the Sporting Society the “GIN CLUB,” would not only have proved barbarous to the ear, but the vulgarity of the _chaunt_ might have deprived it of many of its elegant friends. It is a subject, however, which must be admitted has a good deal of _Taste_ belonging to it--and as a Sporting Man would be _nothing_ if he was not _flash_, the DAFFY CLUB meet under the above title.”

=Dairies.=--Bosom--a woman’s breasts. Milk-cans!

=Dandy.=--A coxcomb, a fop; an empty-headed, vain person. In 1820, when Geo. III. _mizzled_, and Geo. IV. _reigned_ with _thunder_ and _lightning_ speed. Pierce Egan published the birth, parentage, and education of the Dandy thus: THE DANDY was got by _Vanity_ out of _Affectation_--his dam, _Petit-Maître_ or _Maccaroni_--his grand-dam, _Fribble_--great-grand-dam, _Bronze_--his great-great-great-grand-dam, _Coxcomb_--and his earliest ancestor, _Fop_. His uncle _Impudence_--his three brothers _Trick_, _Humbug_, and _Fudge_! and allied to the extensive family of the _Shuffletons_. Indeed, this _Bandbox_ sort of creature took so much the lead in the walks of fashion, that the BUCK was totally missing; the BLOOD vanished; the TIPPY not to be found, the GO out of date; the DASH not to be met with; and the _Bang-up_ without a leader, at fault, and in the back-ground. It was only the CORINTHIAN that remained triumphant--his excellence was of such a _genuine_ quality that all _imitation_ was left at an immeasurable distance.

=Dandiprat.=--An insignificent or trifling fellow.

=Dandy-cock.=--A little _dandy_ man, one of the Bantam breed.

=Darkey.=--Night, also a man of colour.

=Dead-beat.=--Quite done up, not a leg to stand on. Common phrases in the Sporting World, when a man or a horse is so completely exhausted with over-exertion, or the constitution breaking down, as to give up the object in view, not being able to pursue it any farther.

=Deadly’s Fluid.=--Gin, distilled at Deady and Hanley’s, Hampstead Road.

=Dealer’s in Queer.=--Passers of bad notes.

=Demirep.=--A flighty woman, too free in her manners.

=Devil’s Bones.=--Dice, which are made of bones and lead to ruin.

=Dibdin, Charles.=--Writer of sea songs and operas, born 1745, died July 25, 1814. His _evergreen!_ Ballad Opera, The Waterman; or, The First of August, was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre, 1774, thus cast:--

_Tom Tug_ Mr. Bannister. _Bundle_ Mr. Wilson. _Robin_ Mr. Weston. _Mrs. Bundle_ Mrs. Thompson. _Wilhelmina_ Mrs. Jewell.

=Dimmock.=--Money. _To flap the dimmock_, to spend the money.

=Dive.=--A visit to the lower regions of Wapping and St. Giles’s.

=Diamond Squad.=--People of quality. _Vide_ Almack’s.

=Dog Billy.=--The--This celebrated Hero of the canine race to the great joy of the rats, lost his _wind_ on Monday, February 23, 1829, in Panton Street, Haymarket. The body-snatchers and _dog-priggers_ are out-done upon this suit, and the remains of Billy, instead of being obscured in _clay_, are preserved in an elegant glass case and gilt frame. The Ex-Champion, Tom Cribb, who _liked_ BILLY when _alive_, still likes him although _told out_. Billy was the property of Charley Aistrop when he last _barked_ out an adieu; although Cribb was his tender nurse up to the time when he gave up the ghost. The rats it is said, are extremely glad to find Billy has left no _successor_ to give them a nip.

MONODY ON THE ABOVE RAT KILLER.

Not a _bark_ was heard--but a mournful whine Broke in cadence slow from the race canine; And the prick’d-up ear, and wagging tail, Were drooping low ’mid the general wail.

* * * * *

Not a _bark_ was heard--but a lively squeak Was echoed from rat to rat (a whole week), From Whitechapel Church to Piccadilly, Of “Long _life_ to grim _Death_--for _boning_ BILLY!”

=Done the thing Right.=--Managed matters properly, taken care of one’s-self and one’s friend.

=Dollop.=--A handful. A lump of anything.

=Dominoes.=--The teeth.

=Down.=--Understanding. To be _down_. To understand, to be _fly_.

=Doxies.=--Loose women--prostitutes.

=Dragging-Time.=--The evening of a fair-day, when the wenches are pulled about.

=Draggle-Tail.=--A slut, a dunghill quean.

=Drinking Freely.=--Not paying for it.

=Drop.=--The gallows, which always proves to be the “_last drop_,” or “_a drop too much_.”

=Duce.=--Twopence.

=Dummy.=--A cant phrase for a stupid fellow; a man who has not a word to say for himself. The family of the _dummies_ is a very numerous one.

=Dust.=--Money. Down with the _dust_, to spend money.

=Dust-Hole.=--The nose, otherwise _Snuff-receiver_!

=Dustman.=--Sleep, or drowsiness.

=Dustypoll.=--A nickname for a miller.

E.

=Earth Stoppers.=--Horses’ feet. _Earth Stopping_, stopping up the holes of foxes previously to hunting them.

=Egg-Hot.=--Beer, eggs, spirits, sugar, and spice made hot.

=Everlasting Shoes.=--The feet.

=Everlasting Staircase.=--The treadmill.

=Eye Water.=--Gin.

F.

=Face.=--Impudence; _To face it out_. To persist in an assertion which is not true. To maintain without changing colour, or hanging down the head. _Brazen-faced_, without shame.--God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another.--_Shakespeare._

=Fadge.=--To suit or fit together--“How will this fadge?” also a street term for a farthing.

=Family People.=--Rogues and thieves of every degree: All of the same _family_ or _Kidney_!--There is nothing but roguery to be found in villianous man.--_Shakespeare._

=Fancy.=--Boxing, bull baiting, cock fighting, and sporting in general.

=Fancy Piece.=--A sporting phrase for a bit of nice _game_ kept in a _preserve_ in the suburbs. A sort of _Bird of Paradise_.

=Fast trotters.=--Rum prads, good horses.

=Felt.=--A hat.--“What manner of man? is his head worth a hat.”

=Fib.=--To beat or strike with the fist. _Fibbed_, held with one hand, and hit with the other.

=Fiddle.=--A rattle, _Charleys’ fiddle_, a Watchman’s rattle.

=Fiddler’s Fare.=--Meat, drink and money.

=Fig.=--To _fig_ a horse is to place a bit of ginger under his tail to make him frisky. _Fig_, dress. In _Full Fig_, full dress.--“All in the best.”

=Fig leaf.=--An apron, an allusion to our Mother Eve.

=File.=--An odd fellow, a queer dog, a bit of a rogue.

=Finish.=--The “_Finish_” was a notorious night-house kept by Jack Rowbottom, in James-street, Covent Garden. Here the swells who were _bundled_ out of Offley’s, about four o’clock in the morning _bundled_ into the FINISH, where drinking and other _innocent_ pastimes were kept up till eight, nine, or ten o’clock. Jack Rowbottom was quite a study in character. Soon after 1832, he got into “diffs,” and his residence was divided between the King’s Bench and the Fleet Prison. In the latter poor Dr. Maginn expired in his arms, after being faithfully nursed and attended by Jack during a long illness.

=Fish--Fishing=:--Some fish for compliments, and get what they want. Some fish in dirty waters and get what they do not want: but remain _as mute as a fish_ on the subject.

=Fives.=--‘Bunch of _Fives_,’ the fist--_Fives Court_ (The) was a large room in the neighbourhood of St. Martin’s-lane, where the prize fighters of the day took their Benefits and made open challenges.

=Flame.=--A sweetheart. _An old flame_, a discarded one.

=Flash.=--Cant language, also to sport or show off. A fellow who affects any particular habit, as swearing, dressing in a particular manner, taking a fashionable snuff, &c., &c., merely to be noticed, is said to do it out of _flash_. _Flashman_, a despicable wretch and the paramour of a prostitute.

=Flash of Lightning.=--A glass of gin, “gone in the twinkling of an eye.”

=Flat Catcher.=--A man, woman, or any article intended to take in the public.

=Flat= _cum_ =Sharp:= _par nobile fratrum_.--There is not a word in cant or flash vocabulary, nor, in the English language, taken in its right sense and meaning, that conveys so much, and is so generally applicable, as the simple monosyllable FLAT. There are _flats_ of every rank, grade, and station in society, in every part of the known world--and possibly in the unexplored portion also. There are _flats_ alike in office and out; in the senate house and in the cottage--from the councillor of state to the omega of legislators, parochial vestrymen! Oh, most comprehensive patronymic! SHARP is also a good term; but only a cipher, in numerical strength of application, when compared with _flat_. Flat is an independent, honest, and respectable word. Sharp is diametrically opposite; it owes its very birth to _flat_, and cannot live without it. _Flat_ is the parent; progenitor, and preserver of _sharp_, the very root and sap of its existence. Without flats sharps would become extinct. The fact of _sharp_ having sprung from _flat_ is so apparent, that there is not a _sharp_ to be found that has not a _flat_ about him; there consanguinity, therefore, is undoubted.

Such is human nature, that three parts of the vast universe is peopled with _flats_; while the circumscribed and degenerated race of _sharps_ do not occupy more than a quarter or one fourth of the space. Another proof may be adduced of the independence of the _flats_, and that is that they can live, flourish, and prosper much better without the company of _sharps_ than with it. Not so with the _sharps_. They cannot herd and feed together without first getting the means from the substance and resources of the _flats_. We think we have satisfactorily proved to every dispassionate, disinterested individual, that _sharps_ are entirely dependent upon their fathers and forefathers, the _flats!_ and there can be very little doubt but that they are both ungrateful and undutiful to the parents who have, as we have shown, given them being, succour, the means of existence.

If a _sharp_ happens to reside in the neighbourhood of a _flat_, he will always be found setting his wits to work to relieve him of his property and earnings, even though the _sharp_ have plenty, and the flat but little. Such is the undutiful _penchant_ of the _sharp_ for the goods and chattels of his progenitor the flat!

In this good city, not inappropriately denominated the world’s metropolis, _flats_ and _sharps_ are plentiful, and may be found located together in every street and alley. Although the _flats_ have the advantage numerically, such are the ingenuity and plausible tactics of the _sharps_, that they compel the _flats_ to work to support them. The _sharps_, though industrious at scheming, always profess, as their creed, a profound and rooted contempt for manual labour. Sharps are not found among gravel-diggers or stone-breakers; we may go further--seldom amongst artisans or mechanics of any description. No, they are men whose exalted minds soar far above the ordinary pursuits even of middle life. The army boasts of them in abundance. The navy may be said to be composed of _flats_, with scarcely one exception. The attachment of the _sharps_ to the red-coat service of their country is clearly demonstrated by the fact of the _élite_ of their class conferring military titles on themselves, without troubling the formal publicity of the _Gazette_! We may safely venture to assert, that there is not an army of any nation that can boast of the number of staff-officers that adorn the lists of our royal corps of London _malleteers_, otherwise gentlemen sharps. They resemble our disbanded militia, only the staff preserved. It is said and sung that “One half the world does not know how the other half lives--or dies.” How true is that oft-used aphorism? What quiet, respectable, church-going citizen would believe that, early as he rises to give his best care to the legitimate commerce of his enterprise, there are many traders in the illegitimate mercantile world who are wide awake, and in full pursuit of their customers long before his drowsy eyes are open to the brightly-shining sun; long before the aforesaid shining sun has superseded the gas-light radiance shed over the populous city of London:--

From East-end to West-end. From worst end to best end?

=Flats.=--Persons easily taken in, good customers.

=Flesh and Blood.=--Port wine and brandy mixed.

=Flimsy.=--A bank note, according to Cobbett a very _flimsy_ thing.

=Floored.=--Knocked down.

=Flowers of Society.=--The ornaments of high life, the upper classes.

=Flue Fakers.=--Chimney sweepers.

=Fly.=--Knowing, wide awake.

=Fogle.=--A handkerchief.

=Fork out.=--To give money.

=Four Eyes.=--The man and the spectacles.

=Free-and-Easy.=--A singing-club, held at public-houses.

=Freshwater Bay.=--The _harbour_ of the _Fleet_-Prison.

=Frisk.=--Mischief, to dance and skip about.

=Fullams.=--Loaded dice. There were high _fullams_, and low _fullams_, to denote loaded on the high or low number.

=Full Cry.=--When all the hounds have caught the scent, and give tongue, Tom and Jerry, when in town, had other _game_ in view.

=Fuller’s Earth.=--Another of the thousand endearing names for the universal favourite GIN! GIN!! GIN!!!

=Funk.=--To smoke, to alarm.

G.

=Gab.=--Small talk, patter, flash. _Gift of the Gab_, talent in conversation.

=Gaffing.=--Low gambling.

=Game of the Spell.=--The play of life.

=Gammoners.=--Cheats.

=Gammoning the Draper.=--When a man is without a shirt, and is buttoned up close to his neck, with merely a handkerchief round it, to make an appearance of cleanliness, it is termed “_gammoning the draper_!”

=Gammoning a Main.=--Pretending to be hurt, or crippled.

=Garnish.=--Entrance money, to be spent in drink, demanded of all newcomers in Debtor’s Prisons.

=Gay Tyke Boys.=--Dog fanciers.

=Gig.=--Fun. _Bit of gig_, a bit of fun.

=Gin Spinners.=--Distillers, also publicans.

=Glim.=--A lanthorn, a hazy eye, &c.

=Goldfinches.=--Sovereigns.--“Fine singing birds.”

=Go it.=--Keep it up: keep moving.

=Gomersal, Edward Alexander=, Actor: represented with wonderful success Napoleon, in the Astley’s dramatic version of the Battle of Waterloo, died at Leeds, October 19th, 1862, aged 74.

=Grand-twig.=--Handsome set out.

=Grand Strut--The.=--Rotten Row, Hyde Park.

=Gravel Digger.=--A sharp toe’d dancer.

=Greeks.=--Black legs, sharpers, &c. Also a term for low Irish People.

=Green.=--Raw, not understanding.

=Greyhound, A.=--Should have according to all sporting Kiddies:--

A head like a snake, a neck like a drake, A back like a beam, a belly like a bream: A foot like a cat, a tail like a rat.

=Grimaldi, Joseph.= _Vulgo_, Joey Grimaldi, the renowned clown, 1779-1837.

=Grog.=--Rum and water cold without. Admiral Vernon was called “_Old Grog_” by his sailors, because he was accustomed to walk the deck in rough weather in a “grogram cloak,” as he was the first to serve water in the rum on board ship, the mixture went by the name of _Grog_. TOM, JERRY and BOB LOGIC found out its _use_ and _abuse_ not only in the _Back Slums_ in the _Holy Land_, but at Mr. Mace’s _Crib_ in the East.

=Grub.=--It is scarcely necessary to explain the meaning of _grub_; it is a subject in the _mouth_ of everybody, and therefore interesting to the _taste_. Indeed, this sort of _cant_ is quite current throughout all ranks of society, and is well understood.--_Grub and Bub_, victuals and drink of any kind.

=Grub-street.=--This phrase, respecting the _residence_ of AUTHORS, is nearly obsolete; and, in point of fact, is altogether erroneous. If it might not be deemed trespassing rather too _feelingly_ upon so delicate a subject, in consulting the best authorities, both living and dead, it will be found that _hungry_ AUTHORS, in the best of times, have had very little to do with _grub-street_! the _smell_ of the joint being more within their province than the actual possession of the substance.

=Guinea Pig.=--A fellow who receives a _guinea_ for puffing off an unsound horse.

H.

=Habeas Corpus.=--Body and breeches.

=Haberdasher.=--Is the whistler, otherwise the spirit-merchant--and _tape_ the commodity he deals in. It is a contrabrand article dispensed in Debtor’s Goals. White is _Max_, and red is _Cognac_.--“You see” says the _Haberdasher_, “smuggling does a lot of _good_, it does me _good_, and it does you _good_, and do’nt you see it _does_ the Government!”

=Hack.=--A coach. _See_ JARVEY.

=Half and Half Coves.=--Neither one thing nor the other.

=Hammer School.=--Boxing School.

=Harp.=--The Harp tavern in Russell Street, Drury Lane, is well known--if the phrase is not offensive to the profession, as a House of Call for Actors. Here you have an opportunity of viewing, and interviewing players in and out of an engagement, stage-struck youths, anxious to become actors; and other perfect enthusiasts, together with _mummers_, and _spongers_ without end, ever ready to get _Lush_ out of you, or make you a member of the _City of Lushington_! _see_ Buffaloism.

Then off he went, quite full of glee, Strutting towards the HARP, In hopes some manager to see; Mixing with _Flat_ and _Sharp_! Pierce Egan’s--_The Show Folks_.

=Hartland, Frederick=, Pantomimist, died August 17th, 1852, aged 70.

=Hear any thing knock.=--Take the office, to be put up to any thing that is going forward.

=Heavy Plodders.=--Stock brokers.

=Heavy Wet.=--Porter.

=Hedge.=--_To_ “_hedge off_,” or “_its a prime hedge for me_,” are phrases repeatedly made use of in the Sporting World, when an individual wishes to save himself from any serious consequences.

=Heel Tap.=--“Bumpers all round,” and no _heel-taps_! “that is,” said BOB LOGIC, “your glasses are to be drained to the bottom.”

=Hell.=--A gambling house, from the _infernal_ practices carried on in such places. In 1823 Lord Byron wrote--“What number of Hells there may be now in this life, I know not. Before I was of age, I knew them pretty accurately, both “Gold” and “Silver.” I was once nearly called out by an acquaintance, because, when he asked me where I thought that his soul would be found hereafter, I answered, ‘In Silver Hell.’”--

Don Juan, our young diplomatic sinner, Pursued his path, and drove past some hotels, St. James’s Palace, and St. James’s Hells.

=Hells upon Earth.=--Is a name given to the _Swell Gambling-houses_, at the West-end of the town; most of them situated in the vicinity of St. James’ Street. Some of the principal of these have been _queered outright_, by the vigilance and exertions of the _beaks_, whose orders to the _traps_ upon the subject were so imperative, that taking _tip to stash_ the matter, was quite out of the question; and some of the most distinguished _Spirits_ that haunted these infernal abodes, were actually put under the discipline of _Cubitt’s Machine_ to purify. But though the amateur of the _broads_ may as he perambulates the suburbs of the Palace, see reason in many instances, to mourn for the desolation of his ZION, there are still enough of these places to make “a HELL upon earth” for thousands. All of these now remaining, are however eclipsed by the _piscatory Hell_, called _Fishmongers’ Hall_! so named, from CROCKFORD, the keeper of it, having formerly been a Fishmonger, many persons remember CROCKFORD, a poor, very poor _Sprat Seller_, yet he must now be living at the rate of nearly £4000, annum.--“_Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis._” at this establishment money is sported like _dirt_, which may account for so many of the visitors being _cleaned out_. It is a question whether any other Fishmonger’s shop, can boast of so numerous an assembly of _flat fish and gudgeons_.

IMPROMPTU.

On hearing that Mr. Ude, the celebrated cook, was engaged by Mr. Crockford, at a salary of £1,200 per annum.

With this UDE for a cook--who all cooks doth excell-- There’ll be nothing on _earth_ like a dinner in “HELL!”

=Hen and Chickens.=--All my pretty _chickens_ and their _dam_, St. James’.--The _Missus_ and the _blooming kids_, St. Giles’.

=Highflier.=--A tip-topper, a first rater.

=Hop Merchant.=--A dancing master.

=Holy Land.=--The back slums of St. Giles’.

=Holy Water.=--Gin.

=Horse Chaunter.=--A man being brought up at one of the police courts, the magistrate asked, “What is your trade?”--“_A horse chaunter_, yer vurship.”--“A what! a horse chaunter? Why what’s that?”--“Vy, yer vurship, ain’t you _up_ to that ere trade?”--“Come, explain yourself,” said the magistrate.--“Vell, yer vurship, I goes round among the livery stables--they all on’em knows me--and ven I sees a gen’man bargaining for an ’orse, I just steps up like a stranger, and ses I, “Vell, that’s a rare ’un, I’ll be bound,” ses I; ‘he’s got the beautifullest ’ead and neck as ever I seed,’ ses I; ‘only look at ’is open nostrils--he’s got vind like a no-go-motive, I’ll be bound; he’ll travel a hundred miles a day, and never vunce think on’t; them’s the kind of legs vat never fails.’ Vell, this tickles the gen’man, and he ses to ’imself, ‘that ’ere ’onest countryman’s a rale judge of a ’orse;’ so please you, yer vurship, he buys ’im and trots off. Vell, then I goes up to the man vat keeps the stable, and axes ’im, ‘Vell, vat are you going to stand for that ’ere _chaunt_?’ and he gives me a suvrin. Vell, that’s vat I call ’orse _chaunting_, yer vurship; there’s rale little ’arm in it; there’s a good many sorts on us; some _chaunts_ canals, some _chaunts_ railroads, some _chaunts_ j’int stock companies, and ther’s a werry many other _chaunts_ in this ’ere vorld as is too numerous to mention and some on ’em as even me nor ye vurship is’nt fly too.”

=Hot House.=--A brothel:--“Now she professes a hot-house, which I think, is a very ill-house too.”

=Hot Waters.=--Spirits.

=Humming Ale.=--Strong liquor that froths well. A corruption of _spuming_. French, _espuma_, froth. Latin, _spuma_.

=Hummums.=--The well-known hotel in Covent Garden. So called from an Eastern word, signifying _baths_. ROCKLEY and _the_ CO. is the _Boss of the Show_, and TAWNY PORT the order of the day. _Bob Soutar--ultra--crepidam?_ and _Joe Cave (at) actor? May_ for your dresses, and _White_ for spangles. Chaffcutting from 12 till 5 daily.

=Hyde Park.=--London, W., was the ancient manor of Hyde, belonging to the Abbey of Westminster, became Crown property at the dissolution 1539. It was sold by parliament in 1652, but was resumed by the King at the restoration in 1661. The Serpentine was formed 1730-33. “My dear JERRY,” said TOM, “HYDE PARK is in my opinion, one of the most delightful scenes in the world. Indeed it is a fine picture of the English people. It is in this Park, JERRY, that the PRINCE may be seen dressed as plain as the most humble individual in the kingdom; the _Tradesman_ more stylish in his apparel than his LORDSHIP; and the _Shopman_ with as fine clothes on his person as a DUKE. The COUNTESS not half so much ‘bedizened’ over as her own _Waiting-Maid_; the _Apprentice-Boy_ as sprucely _set-off_ as a young sprig of NOBILITY; while the _Milliner’s Lass_ in finery excels the DUCHESS. But the air of independence which each person seems to breathe renders the _tout ensemble_ captivating.”

“Observe those prime _bits of blood_,” from the choicest studs in the kingdom, prancing about as proud as peacocks, and almost unmanageable to their dashing riders. The _Goldfinches_ of the day trying to excel each other in point of coachmanship, turning their vehicles rapidly--almost to the eighteenth part of an inch, each priding himself in having obtained the character for displaying the most elegant “_set-out_.” The MAN OF TON _staring_ some modest female, that attracts his attention, completely out of countenance; while the _Lady of Rank_, equally _delicate_ in her ideas of propriety, uses her _glass_ upon the same object till her carriage removes her out of sight. The DEBAUCHEE, endeavouring to renovate or brace himself up with the fine air of the Park, _ogling_ all the girls that cross his path. The SWELL DANDY could not exist if he did not show himself in the Park on a Sunday. The GAMBLER on the _look-out_ to see if any new pigeon appears in the circle, in order to plan future operations that may turn out to his advantage. The _peep o’-day_ WOMAN _of Quality_, who, night after night, disposes of all her hours of rest in card-parties and routs, is here to be seen riding down the circle to _chit-chat_ and nod to her friends, in order to get rid of her yawnings, and to appear something like being _awake_ at dinner-time. The PEER, relaxing from his parliamentary duties, and the Members of the Lower House here take a ride among the various parties in the circle, to hear their conduct and measures descanted upon, and likewise to “pick-up” a little information respecting the buz on public affairs. The scheming _Procuress_ sporting some new-caught lady-birds in a splendid carriage, in order to excite attention and to distribute her _cards_ with more effect. The wealthy CIT, whose _plum_ has rendered him _sweet_ amongst his grand next-door neighbours at the West-end of the town, here shows himself with all the confidence derived from a splendid fortune. The extravagant _Fancy-Lady_, making use of the thousand little arts that she is mistress of, trying to take the _shine_ out of all the other females in the circle, merely to show the _taste_ and liberality of her _keeper_. The _flashy Tradesman_, who laughs at the vulgar prejudices of old sayings and propriety about “Keeping your shop and it will keep you,” here pushes along in his _natty_ gig and prime trotter, and appears upon as “good terms” with himself as the richest banker in London, laughing in his sleeve at the idea, that, if anything goes wrong from his stylish-pursuits, a temporary absence from his friends, united with the aid of _white-washing_, will soon make him “all right again.”

It is equally interesting and attractive, from the numerous characters of both sexes, _ogling_ each other, as they frequently come in contact. The _Tailor_ confined to his shop-board all the week, enjoys the double advantage of gaining a little fresh air in the Park, as well as admiring some of his own performances on the backs of many of the dashing crowd; and the _Milliner_, also upon the same errand, not only to improve her health, but to retain in her eye the newest fashion sported in this hemisphere of the GREAT. The pleasure, too, of being known and recognized by your friends and acquaintances. The numerous bows and friendly How d’ye do’s? With that admired sort of LIFE IN LONDON, all jostling against each other in the Park with the utmost _sang-froid_. The NOBLEMAN and the _Yokel_--the DIVINE and the “_Family-man_”--the PLAYER and the _Poet_--the IMPURE and the _Modest-girl_--the GRAVE and the _Gay_--the FLASH COVE and the _Man of Sentiment_--the FLAT and the _Sharp_--the DANDY and the _Gentleman_--the out-and-out SWELL and the _Groom_--the real SPORTSMAN and the _Black-Leg_--the HEAVY TODDLERS and the _Operators_--the dashing BUM TRAP and the _Shy Cove_--the MARCHIONESS and her _Cook_--the DUKE and the “_Dealer in Queer_,”--the LADY and her _Scullion_--the PINK OF THE TON and his “_Rainbow_”--the _Whitechapel_ KNIGHT OF THE CLEAVER and his fat _Rib_--the BARBER’S CLERK and the _Costard-Monger_--the SLAVEY and her _Master_--the SURGEON and _Resurrection Man_--the ardent LOVER to catch the smiling eye of his _Mistress_--the young BLOOD in search of adventures and to make assignations.

It ought, however, not to be forgotten, that every thing which is lovely, interesting, honourable, virtuous, generous, feeling, witty, elegant, and humane, which tends so much to give the English females a proud superiority over those of most other nations, is here to be met with in a transcendant degree; and it should also be remembered, that every thing which is designing, crafty, plausible, imposing, insinuating, and deluding, is likewise to be run against in these gay paths of pleasure. The passions are all _afloat_, but GAIETY of disposition overtops the whole.

I.

=Index.=--Reference.

=I’ll Chance It.=--A common expression among sporting men, when the object in view is doubtful of accomplishment. _It is a good Flat that is never done._

=I’s Yorkshire Coves.=--Doncaster horse dealers.

=Isle of Bishop.=--A phrase among the Collegians at Oxford for getting _jolly_ over port wine, roasted oranges and lemons.

=Ivories.=--The teeth: _wash_, or _sluice_ your _Ivories_; drink.

J.

=Jackson’s Rooms=--were in Bond Street.--Mr. John Jackson, otherwise Gentleman Jackson? The proprietor was for a long time the connecting link between the patrons and practitioners of the Prize Ring. His persevering and honourable character enabled him to realize a handsome competence. He died at his residence 4, Grosvenor-street, Eaton-square, Oct. 7, 1845, aged 76.

=Jarvey.=--A Hackney-coach--“Better known perhaps by the name of a _Hack_: handy enough in wet weather or in a hurry.”

=Jemmy.=--A head. _Bleeding Jemmy._--A sheep’s head, otherwise a _Field-lane duck_, otherwise _The one eyed joint_, otherwise _Claretted James_, otherwise _Sanguinary Jacobus_, otherwise a _Pastoral Countenance_, otherwise a _Mountain Pecker_, otherwise a _Peaceful Profile_. That man is to be pitied, who has not luxuriated on the delicasies of one of these, hot from the pan in their native element, at Mrs. Holmes’, the Two Brewers--the Sheep’s Head Tavern, Little St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials. Where the particular guest is never offended with a dirty table cloth, that appendage to mastication being invariably dispensed with; always taking care that they are accompanied with their proper and only sauce--a little of Hodges’s best, or Deady’s true cordial. Poor Colley Skylark, the Apollo of the pugilistic corps, has neglected many lordly banquets, for the felicity of feeding on them, and gouging out the rich eye in company with many of the gifted and learned of the age, viz.--The Keen pride of the British stage--the Comic Sheepface of Covent Garden--The talented author of the CIGAR who acted as _Clarke_ to the meeting: in their nocturnal vigils, and rich chaunts, will long be remembered there. Let us hope that Mr. Nash, the great architect, in his projected inroads through the Seven Dials, will spare this sacred haunt, so dear to the sons of good-feeding and fellowship. If he has ever had the happiness of regaling there, on a red hot _bleeding jemmy!_ this remonstrance will not be needed.

=Jemmy Green.=--Every one must know this gentleman; he is a veritable being, and in being;--but as he is here said to live in _Tooley Street, in the City_, a place of no existence, no libel will lie. The lively _Bunch of Greens_, therefore, that at one time so pestered the Author with threatening and other letters, are informed their suspicions are quite correct, and that they were most certainly the officious empty fools of which this character is the representative.

=Jerry Sneak.=--A henpecked husband. From the poor sniveling Cockney cur in Foote’s farce of the “Mayor of Garrett.”

=Johnny Raw.=--A countryman.

=Juniper.=--Gin.

=Junk.=--Salt beef.

K.

=Kean.=--“_Hear_ KEAN _speak_.” Edmund Kean, the celebrated tragedian, 1787-1833.

=Kean’s Head--The.=--Was a well-known theatrical tavern in Russell Court, Drury Lane. It had previously been called the O.P. and P.S. but re-christened in _honour!_ to the celebrated tragedian--then in the zenith of his fame, the late Edmund Kean:--

Then off again, no fear or dread, To the once famed O.P. In better taste--chang’d to KEAN’S HEAD-- And noted for a _spree_! Pierce Egan’s _The Show Folks_.

The tavern was much frequented by all persons directly and indirectly connected with the theatrical profession. And was at one time kept by Tom Hudson, a jolly _bon vivant_, and famous comic song writer and singer, of whom Pierce Egan, wrote--“his facility in producing songs is astonishing--he also sings them with a peculiar _naiveté_, and tells his ‘story’ to his company better than most men, who are not regular performers. In his line, he is a second Charles Dibdin, senr.--The above tavern,” continues Pierce Egan--“afforded considerable amusement to its visitors, as a few wags, fond of a bit of fun, frequented the coffee-room every evening, and, in concert together, represented themselves as managers from the country, in want of performers, and waiting in turn to engage young men for different ‘_lines of business_,’ to complete their companies. This had the desired effect; and numerous ludicrous scenes was the result, which defy anything like communication, and enthusiastic, stage-struck, inexperienced youths afforded these _pretended_ managers sport and roars of laughter, night after night. The plan generally adopted was, that one of the party kept on the look out to pick up a simple youth--having a soul above buttons!--and having got one in tow, he was formally introduced to the assumed proprietor of a country theatre. The latter person, with a face of gravity, then inquired whether he wished to engage for the _light_ or _heavy_ business of the stage, or if singing was his forte; or, perhaps, he could undertake the general line, and assist in melo-dramas, spectacles, &c., &c. The manager then, with a polite request, wished to have a ‘taste’ of the young man’s quality, before he finally settled his engagement, and fixed his salary. And several young aspiring heroes, anxious to obtain an engagement, have been prevailed upon to mount the table, and to give selections from Romeo, Hamlet, and Octavian, &c., amidst the shouts of _pretended_ applause from country actors, wags of all sorts, and men of the world, who nightly resorted to this tavern, to pick up anecdotes, and spend a pleasant hour. When the managers! thought they had had enough of this burlesque, ‘the _exit_--the _exit_,’ would be whispered one to another, and while the hero on the table was spouting out some impassioned speech from Shakespeare, his back would be readily assailed with the contents of their jugs; and upon the unfortunate wight hastily looking round for the authors of such an assault, his front, from another part of the company, would be attacked in the same manner. Redress was out of the question, and the more passion and rage exhibited by the youth, produced the more laughter; when he was informed it was the way to teach him how to make his ‘_exit_’ in a rage! and that no person would deny him the title of being a _wet_ actor. It was Tom Hudson who altered the sign of the tavern to the Kean’s Head: a remarkable likeness of the great tragedian was hung over the fireplace, and he was wont to visit Tom and take a drink after the fatigue of the night’s performance. The mere rumour of this attracted many to the house. A capital harmonic meeting took place late at night--or rather early in the morning, which was supported by a mixture of professionals from the theatres, and amateurs of talent and celebrity. Vain endeavours were seldom entered upon at Tom Hudson’s; a pretender was soon coughed down. Amongst the leaders of the vocal department who contributed to the musical attractions were Morton Box; Jem Savern; Little Harris; Joe Wells, so popular afterwards in connection with the Coal Hole; Mr. John Hart, late of the Cider Cellars; Tom Prynn, Belasco, and others of great vocal talent and celebrity. _Apropos_ of Edmund Kean, the late Mr. Leman Rede, author and dramatist, in his ‘Sketch of the Life of John Reeve,’ relates the following anecdote--‘Kean’s name was the ‘open sesame’ to all night houses near the theatres; and ere John Reeve came upon the stage, he was apt to indulge much in the ‘little hours.’ He and his friends, lads of his own age, could not have got admission, but he knew the secret, and acted accordingly. After giving a mystic knock, he applied his mouth to the keyhole, and with an exactitude of imitation that defied detection, exclaimed--‘’Tis I----Kean--Edmund Kean!’ In an instant the door was opened; in glided Reeve, saying, with an easy assurance, ‘Ned’s just gone round the corner--back in a moment.’”

=Keep the Line.=--To behave in a becoming manner: not to forget one’s self.

=Keep it Up.=--To prolong the debauch, or game. A term made popular by frequent reiteration.

=Keep up the Ball.=--Be jolly. _Keep the ball rolling_, is also used in the same sense.

=Kick.=--A sixpence. _Quite the Kick_, quite a dandy.

=Kick the Bucket.=--To die.

=Kick over the Traces.=--To become unmanagable.

=Kicksies.=--Small clothes, from the appetency of their contents, to the exercise of kicking, and from being _the kick_--the fashion.--Take my advice, never resist the law, if a man claims your coat and vestcoat, let him have ’em, or you’ll lose your _kicksies_ in trying the argument. And if a man kicks you rub the place, but don’t go to law, that’s my advice.

=Kid.=--A knowing boy or man, in a _low_ or _flash_ point of view--a thief.

=Kiddy.=--A thief of the lower order, who, when he is well breeched by a course of successful depredations, dresses in the extreme of vulgar gentility, and effects a knowingness in his air and conversation, which renders him in reality an object of ridicule:--

Poor Tom was once a _Kiddy_ upon town, A thorough _varmint_ and a _real_ swell. Byron’s _Don Juan_.

=Kiddy.=--Tasty. _Kiddy Artist_, a tasty workman.

=Kidney.=--Men of the same thoughts and kind--kindred spirits, &c. _Men of another Kidney._--The opposites.

=Kinchin Cove.=--A paltry thief who robs children--even of their bread and butter; or, a caged-bird of its lump sugar!

=King of Bath.=--Beau Nash, master of the ceremonies at that city for some fifteen years (1674-1761).

=Kite Flying.=--_To fly a Kite_ is to “raise the wind,” or obtain money on bills, whether good or bad. The phrase means as a _Kite_ flutters in the air by reason of its lightness, and is a mere toy, so these bills fly about, but are light and worthless.

=Knacker.=--One who sings Psalms over a dead horse.

=Knight of the Cleaver.=--A butcher.

=Knight of the Pestle and Mortar.=--An apothecary.

=Knight of the Post.=--A man in the pillory, or that has been tied to a whipping-post.

=Knight of the Rainbow.=--A cant phrase for a footman in livery, in allusion to the various colours of his clothes--also said of a master tailor. _See_ RAINBOW.

=Knights of the Road.=--Highwaymen.--_Dick Turpins!!_

=Knights of the Whip.=--Long stage coachmen.

=Knowing.=--Skilful, well-informed, sharp, shrewd, artful, or cunning.

=Knowing one.=--_Vide_ BOB LOGIC.

=Knowledge Box.=--The head.

L.

=Lace.=--To beat. _I’ll lace your jacket for you_--I will beat you.

=Laced Mutton.=--See _Shakespeare’s_: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, _Act_ i., _Scene_ 1.

=Lady Birds.=--Cyprians, female peripatetics. Light or lewd women.

The merchant’s daughter died soon after, Tears she shed, but spoke no words, So all young men a warning take, And don’t go with the naughty _Lady Birds_.

=Lady in Mourning.=--A negress, a black woman.

=Lag.=--A returned transport. _Bill has been out of the country for some time past studying botany!_--That is he has been to Botany Bay as a transport, but now returned.

=Laid on the Shelf.=--For further particulars consult any unmarried woman under the age of ----!!!---- If I know more of any man alive than that which maiden modesty doth warrant, let all my sins lack mercy.--_Shakespeare._

=Lamp.=--The human eye! _The cove has a queer Lamp_, the man has a blind or squinting eye.

=Lark.=--A frolic, joke, spree. _Cut your larks_, leave off larking.

=Lawful Blanket.=--A wife.--’Till I have no wife, I’ll have nothing else.

=Lay.=--A scheme or trick. _Shabby genteel lay_, a scheme of beggars to excite compassion by dressing as decayed tradesmen.

=Leading strings.=--The restraint of friends.

=Leery.=--To look sharp and knowing--from the rolling of the eye.

=Leg Bail.=--Running away.--Your legs did better service than your hands.

=Legs.=--Men who live by cheating. _Blacklegs_, gamblers, &c.

=Levanters.=--Persons who run away to avoid paying their debts of honour.

=Lifter.=--A thief.--Is he so young a man, and so old a lifter?--_Shakespeare._

=Lighthouse.=--The watch-house.

=Lily.=--A black.--To paint the lily is wasteful--and very silly.

=Lilywhite.=--A chimney sweeper or negro.

=Limbo.=--Prison.--As far from help as _limbo_ is from bliss.--_Shakespeare._

=Line.=--An awkward thing to get into. _To give any one Line enough_, to let him go his lengths. _To keep the Line_, to be correct.

=Lion’s Share.=--The larger part; all or nearly all. In “Æsop’s Fables,” several beasts joined the lion in a hunt, but when the spoil was divided, the lion claimed one quarter in right of his prerogative, one for his superior courage, one for his dam and cubs--“as for the other fourth, let who will dispute it with me.” Awed by his frown, the other beasts silently withdrew.

=Listener.=--The ear.--Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice.

=Little Shilling.=--Love money:--Just another little shilling _ducky_!

=Lob’s Pound.=--A prison, the stocks, or any other place of confinement.

=Lothario.=--A gay libertine, a seducer of female modesty, a debauchee. The character is from “The Fair Penitent,” by Nicholas Rowe, 1673-1718.

Is this that haughty gallant, gay Lothario? _Act_ v., _Sc._ 1.

=Low Water Mark.=--Without cash. “A most damnable condition.”

=Lug.=--The ear from its being very often _lugged_.

=Lump.=--The workhouse.

=Lush.=--Beer and other intoxicating drinks, so called from Lushington the brewer. _Lush-crib_, a public-house.

=Lushy.=--Drunk. Introduced by Leigh Hunt and Keats, and others of the Cockney School into the service of poetry--“Trees _lush_ with bliss,” _i.e._, Trees drunk with love, possibly of the succulent sort.

=Lushington.=--Intoxication--“the best of life is but intoxication,” so said BYRON over his gin and water: “there is more truth in it than folks may generally imagine.” To join _Captain Lushington_, to get drunk--“See how snugley Captain Lushington’s getting aboard of Logic,” said Jerry to Corinthian Tom on the night of their visit to “_All Max, in the East_.”

M.

=Mab.=--A cabriolet, from the projector, Mr. Maberly.

=Mace.=--To cheat, impose, rob.

=Mace Cove.=--A swindler, a sharper, a cheat. A gentleman from the Spice Islands, _i.e._, a fellow living on his wits. _On the mace_, to live by swindling.

=Mag.=--A halfpenny.

=Malty Coves.=--Porter patrons, heavy wet encouragers, beer drinkers--and _thinkers_!

=Maulagaram.=--An awkward knock.

=Max.=--Gin.--Oh! for a glass of _Max_. Byron’s _Don Juan_, Canto xi., Stanza 16. His Lordship added by way of a foot-note in explanation of the word MAX! The advance of science and of language has rendered it unnecessary to translate the above good and true English, spoken in its original purity by the select mobility and their patrons.

=Master of the Mint.=--A punning term for a gardener.

=Master of the Rolls.=--A baker. Jack Martin, the renowned pugilist, who was a baker by trade, was well known to the _Fancy_ as _The Master of the Rolls_.

=Masquerade.=--Masquerades were in fashion in the time of Edward III., 1340, and in the reign of Charles, 1660. The Bishops preached against them, and made such representations as occasioned their suppression, 9 Geo. I., 1724. They were revived, and carried to shameful excess in violation of the laws, and tickets of admission to a masquerade at Ranelagh were on some occasions subscribed for at twenty-five guineas each. Now, if the reader wishes to take the mask off this scene, let him go and take a glass of champagne with Charles Wright of the Haymarket, and he will fully initiate him into all its merry mysteries, he is at liberty to make use of the Author’s name in his enquiries.

=Mazzard.=--Head. _Rap on the Mazzard_, a thump on the head.

=Men are but Children of a Larger Growth.=--From _Dryden’s_, “All for Love,” _Act_ iv., _Sc._ 1.

=Mendicity Society.=--Red Lion-square, London, was established in 1818, for the suppression of public begging, and other impositions.

=Mill.=--A fight. _Millers_, pugilists. _Mill the Glaze_, break a window.

=Misfortunes.=--If “_misfortunes_” as the saying has it, “attend the righteous,” the wicked as a matter of course cannot expect to go _unpunished_: although a man might have the “Old One’s _luck_ and his own too!” “If,” said LOGIC to JERRY--after the latter hero had been complaining to him on getting up rather late one morning after a night’s _spree_, that he thought his _constitution_ had got a little _scratch_ since he had left HAWTHORN HALL,--“people who are fond of a _lark_; enjoy a _row_; love a _bit of fun_; take a peep at a _fair_; join in a _hop_; go to a _mill_; play at _rouge et noir_; parade the _lobby_; stroll through the _back slums_; visit the _cock and dog pits_; spend a few _interesting_ moments at _gaffing_; _blow a cloud_ at a free and easy; meet with _Mr. Lushington_; drop in on the sly at a _case_; _floor_ the _charleys_, and, after all, nothing be the _matter_, why then it is a prime circumstance in the career of a man indeed. But it is five hundred to one, that ALL the above _events_ do not _come off right_, with the most experienced and skilful sportsman: that is to say, my dear friend, if you do not get _punished_ in your person, yet you may be most preciously _physicked_ in your _cly_; and, if you have even the good fortune to keep your _peepers_ from being measured for a _suit of mourning_; your _canister_ from being _cracked_; and your face from being _spoiled_ among the low _coveys_ of _St. Kitts_; you are, perhaps, even in more real danger among the refined heroes of the creation, from paying too much “_attention_” to their _ladies_ which has often occasioned more than one JOHN BULL sort of _ill-natured unaccommodating_ husband to give such very _polite_ gallants a dose of _leaden_ powder, that has _cooled_ their courage, or, at least, _checked_ their importunities. In society where _politeness_ of that sort is measured out to the extreme nicety of splitting a hair as at the _West End_ assemblies, it will at all times, be well to remember that _Misfortunes_ are in _morals_, what bitters are in medicine: each is at first disagreeable; but as the bitters act as corroborants to the stomach, so Adversity chastens and ameliorates the disposition. Therefore it is much better to endeavour to forget one’s _Misfortunes_, than to speak of them, and ever to bear in mind that:--

“Misfortunes tell us what fortune is.”

=Mizzle.=--To disappear, to leave the company.

=Mob.=--A contraction of the Latin _mobile_--the fickle crowd. Query: As _Mob_ is mobility, is _Nob_ nobility?

=Moisten your Chaffers.=--To drink.

=Mollishers.=--A slang term made use of by thieves and police officers for low prostitutes.

=Moncrieff, W. G. T.=--_Otherwise_ William George Thomas, author of between two and three hundred dramas, &c., died in the Charter-house, December 8, 1857, aged 63.

=Money-Lenders.=--Bob Logic termed those persons _Brags_ in consequence of their repeatingly advertising to render embarrassed individuals assistance, yet making them _pay_ well for it; something after the old adage, that “BRAG’S a good dog; but _Holdfast_ is a better!”

=Mot.=--A prostitute. _A Leary Mot_, a knowing one:--

Rum old Mog was a _leary_ flash _mot_, and she was round and fat, With _twangs_ in her shoes, a wheel-barrow too, and an oil skin round her hat; A blue birds-eye o’er _dairies_ fine, as she _mizzled_ through Temple Bar-- Of vich side of the vay, I cannot say, but she _boned_ it from a Tar. Singing Fol-lol-lol-lido.

Now Mog’s flash com-pan-ion was a Chick-lane gill, and he garter’d below his knee, He had twice been _pull’d_, and nearly _lagg’d_, but got off by going to sea; With his pipe and quid, and _chaunting_ voice, Potatoes he would cry; For he valued neither _cove_ nor _swell_, for he had _wedge_ snug in his cly. Singing Fol-lol-lol.

One night they went to a Cock-and-Hen Club, at the sign of the Mare and Stallion, But such a sight was never seen as Mog and her flash com-pan-ion; Her _covey_ was an am’rous blade, and he buss’d young Bet on the sly, When Mog up with her _daddle_ bang-up to the mark, and she black’d the Bunter’s eye. Singing Fol-lol-lol.

Now this brought on a general fight, Lord, what a gallows row-- With whacks and thumps throughout the night, till drunk as David’s sow-- Milling up and down--with cut heads, and lots of broken ribs, But the _lark_ being over--they _ginned_ themselves at jolly Tom Cribb’s. Singing Fol-lol-lol.

=Mother Cummins.=--In Dyott Street, St. Giles’s--now George Street, after George Prince of Wales--but called Dyott Street after Sir Thomas Dyott, _temp._ Charles II., lived that most notorious and world-renowned lodging-house keeper “Mother Cummins,” so well-known to all the _Bucks_ about town, in their hot youth, when George the Third was King.

Oh, she lives snug in the Holy Land Right, tight, and merry in the Holy Land, Search the globe round, none can be found So _accommodating!_ as Old Mother Cummins Of the Holy Land.

It is related that Major Hanger accompanied George IV. to a beggar’s carnival in St. Giles’s. He had not been there long when the Chairman, Sir Jeffery Dunston, addressing the company, and pointing to the then Prince of Wales, said “I call upon that ’ere gemman with a shirt for a song.” The Prince, as well as he could, got excused upon his friend promising to sing for him, and he chaunted in a prime style a flash ballad full of “St. Giles’s Greek,” for which he received great applause. The Major’s health having been drunk with nine times nine, and responded to by him, wishing them “good luck till they were tired of it,” he departed with the Prince to afford the company time to fix their different routes for the ensuing day’s business.

=Mother Emerson’s.=--A night-house situate in the Haymarket, at one time called the Turk’s Head, but of later times named the Waterford Arms, out of compliment to the late generous-hearted and frolicsome Marquis of Waterford, who was a great patron and supporter of the house.

The late--self-styled--Lord Chief Baron Nicholson: who was intimately acquainted with “Mother Emerson,” wrote of her thus.--“In business Mrs. Emerson was a wonder. I cannot possibly do better than present a sketch of her in and out of her trade:--”

NIGHT-HOUSES AND THEIR KEEPERS.

MRS. EMERSON.

’Twas landlady Meg that made such rare flip; Pull away, pull away, my hearties; At Wapping she lived, at the sign of the Ship, Where tars met in such jolly parties. _Dibdin._

The famous landlady, Meg of Wapping, might have been very celebrated, and a very great person, at the time she lived, and at the particular part of the town she resided in, namely, that _Fashionable Watering-Place_, Wapping; but all landladies of the present day are placed in the shade, totally eclipsed, by that all-accomplished and indefatigable woman of business, Mrs. Emerson, of the Waterford Arms, late the Turk’s Head, Haymarket.

Although she is not defunct, she may be properly termed the _late_ Mrs. Emerson. Night after night she keeps her body up, and her appearance, every time we see her she seems to look younger and fresher. She is quite a character in her way, and the best flat-catcher in London. “How d’ye do, my dear?” is her general salutation to the swells who frequent her lush-crib. “Well, I thank you, mother,” is the reply. “What’ll you take?” For it is considered a great honour amongst the flats to get mother to drink with them. “Oh! Sherry, my son; Sherry for me,” says mother.

“A bottle of sherry here, waiter,” says the flat; and she makes the favoured few who have the right of _entrée_ behind her bar, pay for the distinguished indulgence.

The Irishmen say, “Who has e’er had the luck to see Donnybrook Fair?” We ask, “Who has e’er had the luck to see Mistress Emerson on a race-course? We have, and a greater out-and-outer we never met--“Rich and rare were the gems she wore:”--and there you may see the gay old gal togged to the extreme of fashion, with pink silk stockings to display her well-shaped understandings--for we must inform our readers that mother don’t stand upon trifles--generally a nice satin shoe and dress; also lots-and-lots of jewellery, stated to be worth, including _thimble_, _hoops_, and _chin-prop_, something approaching a cool thousand. It is a great advantage to single gentlemen _wot_ go to the races to be acquainted with mother; she always takes a plentiful supply of _wittles_, and an awful lot of the sparkling and still--not the _private still_; for amongst her friends and patrons she makes it as public as possible, and when she is really “standing sam,” as she facetiously calls it, you can’t make more free than welcome.

In conclusion, we must observe that we do justice to every one, and seek not to gain popularity by villifying those who are not in a situation to resent it. In many--very many instances the public little know--or care of whom they speak, and we are all too prone to come to hasty conclusions, and to speak with prejudice and without inquiry. Now be it known to all who care to know, that, Mrs. Emerson is really and truly a very kind-hearted and charitable person, in spite of the very disadvantageous position she stands in with the public by keeping a night-house. She strives as much as possible to prevent the ingress of improper characters, and so far she is successful, for no robbery has ever taken place in her house since she has been in business.

=Mother H’s.=--Was a notorious night-house opposite the front entrance of Drury Lane Theatre, and then the great _rendezvous_ for the gay city birds, as well as the more fantastic dandies of the West-end. Mother H., or Mrs. Hoskins, was the _remnant_ of Mr. Hoskins, who had, in the words of George Barrington, the pickpocket, _par excellence!_ “Left his country for his country’s good.” Mother H. is described by a writer who knew her well as the “ugliest woman I ever beheld; but she dearly loved paint, dress, and decorations. Her attire was in the highest style of fashion, generally black velvet or satin, jewellery in profusion, silk stockings, and very neat kid shoes. She had rather a pretty ankle.” “_Apropos_ of her shoes, I may remark that the old girl was artful, deceitful, and dishonest. I remember a half-drunken, foolish fellow dropping a handful of sovereigns in the large supper-room. A number of the fair and frail were present; Mother H. said, “Now girls, stand away, I’ll pick them up and see that the gentleman ain’t robbed;” she should have added, “_By any one but myself_,” for about every second sovereign she took from the floor she “welled” in her shoes. “Well,” said one of the girls; “I don’t blame you mother, but I should like to stand in your shoes.” Mother H. retired with an ample fortune. Turned--as a matter of course, _very religious_, married a highly respectable timber merchant at Brighton, who died and left her money. She again tried her luck in the matrimonial lottery, although nearly seventy years of age. Her third husband was a serious, calm, tall and respectable Dissenter, who outlived her.”

=Mother’s Milk.=--The liquor we like best.

=Mouse.=--Is a black--or perhaps, more correctly speaking, a swollen eye.

=Move on the Board.=--An action in life.

=Mudlarks.=--Men who rake about the mud on the banks of the Thames, when the tide is out, for what they can find.

=Muff.=--A soft article, a tool, a fool: a soft _thing_ that holds a lady’s hand without squeezing it!

=Munden, Joseph.=--Comedian, died February 6, 1832, aged 74.

=Mutton Walk.=--The Saloons of Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres--“Upon the arrival of TOM and JERRY at Drury Lane Theatre, the performances did not operate on their feelings as a source of attraction. It is true they took a _glimpse_ at the play, but as they did not go for anything like _criticism_ on the abilities of the actors, or to descant upon the merits of the pieces, it was merely a _glimpse_ indeed. Our heroes went upon another errand. Their eyes were directed to different parts of the house; and TOM not meeting with any of his acquaintances at ‘Old Drury,’ as he had anticipated, they immediately pushed off to take a peep at Covent Garden Theatre. A _look_ at the stage was quite sufficient for their purpose; and without any more delay, the CORINTHIAN and JERRY soon _bustled_ into the Saloon.

“TOM and his Coz, had scarcely reached the place for refreshments, when the _buz_ began, and they were surrounded by numbers of the gay _Cyprians_ who nightly visit this place. Some of these _delicate_ heroines, soon began to jeer the CORINTHIAN on the _cause_ of his absence; while others of these _Lady Birds_ were offering their congratulations to him on his restoration to Society. JERRY being in company with so distinguished a hero as TOM was of itself a sufficient source of attraction to these _Fancy Pieces_ to pay their court to HAWTHORN; and, accordingly, their cards were presented to JERRY, in order to grace their lists with the addition of a _new_ and rich _Friend_. These cards rather puzzled JERRY, who appeared astonished that such dashing females should keep _Shops!!!?_”

=My Uncle.=--The cant term for a pawnbroker:--

Who lives where hang those golden balls, Where Dick’s poor mother often calls, And leaves her _dickey_, gown, and shawls?--MY UNCLE.

Who, when you’re _short_ of the _short_ stuff, _Nose-Starving_ for an ounce of snuff, Will “_raise the wind_” without a _puff_?--MY UNCLE.

A _poor_ PUNSTER, who was hurrying through the streets one evening, was met by a friend, who asked him where he was going in such great haste? The _humourist_ being rather _shy_ in stating his errand, as well as anxious to conceal the _poverty_ of his circumstances, and having only a few minutes left before his ticket or _Mortgage-deed!_ expired as to _date_, which not being renewed, his property must have been forfeited, turned off the question, with a smile, observing, “To a place of _amusement_.” “What part of the house?” “To the private boxes.” “Is it a good piece?” “Excellent! It abounds with incidents; and you cannot depart without feeling an _interest_ in it.” “What’s the name of it?”--“JUST IN TIME!” “So I’m off at once,” replied the PUNSTER.

N.

=Nab.=--To catch or seize. _Nabbed_, caught.

=Nabob.=--Corruption of the Hindoo word Nawâb. An administrator, commander, and other high officers under the Mogul empire. These men acquired great wealth and lived in Eastern splendour, so that they gave rise to the phrase, “Rich as a Nawâb,” corrupted into _Rich as a Nabob_. In England we apply the phrase to a merchant who has obtained great wealth in the Indies, and has returned to live--and die in his native country.

=Nail.=--To prig, or to capture. _I nailed_ him on the spot. _To pay down on the Nail_, to pay ready money on the counter--which was often studded over with nails.

=Naked Truth.=--The fable says that Truth and Falsehood went bathing: Falsehood came first out of the water, and dressed herself in Truth’s garments, Truth, unwilling to take those of Falsehood, went naked.

=Nap.=--To catch, to grasp.

=Napping.=--To be taken in the act, especially in adultery. “To catch napping--_Rem in re_.”

=Napping your Bib.=--Crying, and wiping your eyes with an apron.

=Nappy Ale.=--Strong ale is so called either because it makes one _nappy_, or else because it contains a nap or frothy head.

=Nash.=--To throw away. _Nash your leading strings_, throw off all restraint.

=Natty.=--Tidy, methodical and neat. _Natty Lads_, young pickpockets.

=Needful.=--Money. _To show the Needful_, to produce the money.

=Never-wag Man of War.=--The Fleet Prison.

=Nibble.=--To steal.

=Nob.=--Head. _Nobbed_, thumped on the head.

=Nob Thatchers.=--Straw bonnet makers, also wig makers.

=Nod.=--He’s gone to the land of Nod, _i.e._, he’s gone to bed.

=Noodle.=--An _ass_ of the _human_ species.

=Nose.=--An informer. _Out on the nose_, a night search.

=Nun.=--A mealy mouthed prostitute.

=Nurses.=--Guardians, tutors, &c.

=Nutty.=--To be _nuts_ upon, is to be very much pleased or gratified with any thing: thus, a person who conceives a strong inclination for another of the opposite sex is said to be quite _nutty_ upon him or her.

Who on a lark, with black-eyed Sal (his blowing) So prime, so swell, so _nutty_, and so knowing. Byron’s _Don Juan_.

O.

=Office.=--Warning. _To give the Office_, make people aware.

=Offley’s.=--A sporting hotel, the resort of the Corinthians of the day was in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. To the men about town the excellence of Offley’s catering was well known. In cooking a beefsteak, he was unrivalled; and many a gentleman who had a great _stake_ in the country would walk miles to have a small _steak_ in London, cooked and dished up under the superintendence of “Old Offley” together with a nip of ale, the quality of which was on a par for excellence with the other good things of the house.

Mr. Offley lies buried in the churchyard of St Paul, Covent Garden, only a few feet from the back window of the room which was the scene of so many agreeable orgies. Shortly after his death a hearty toast to his memory was drunk in claret, over his grave, by a few of the jovial herd who loved him in life, and respected him in the tomb.

=Ogles.=--Eyes. _Queer Ogles_, bad eyes.

=Olympic Theatre.=--Was originally erected by Philip Astley, and opened with horsemanship, September 18, 1806. The theatre was leased in 1813 to the celebrated R. W. Elliston. On Monday, November 12, 1821, a dramatised version of “Tom and Jerry,” by Charles Dibdin, was produced: Tom, Mr. Blake; Jerry, Mr. Oxberry; Logic, Mr. Vale. Madame Vestris had the management to 1839, then followed Mr. George Wild, Miss Davenport, and Watts. The theatre was destroyed by fire March, 1849; re-built and opened by Mr. Watts, December 26, 1850.

=Omnibuses.=--The first pair of London omnibuses started from the Yorkshire Stingo, public-house, in the New Road, to the Bank of England and back, on Saturday, July 4th, 1829. They were constructed to carry twenty-two passengers, all inside, and were drawn by three horses abreast. The fare was one shilling, or sixpence for half the distance, together with the luxury of a newspaper. A Mr. J. Shillibeer was the owner of these carriages, and in order that the introduction might have every chance of success and the full prestige of respectibility, he brought over with him from Paris two youths, both the sons of British naval officers, and these young gentlemen were his “conductors.” They were smartly dressed in blue cloth, after the Parisian fashion. Their addressing any foreign passenger in French, and the French style of the affair, gave rise to an opinion that Mr. Shillibeer was a Frenchman, and that the English were indebted to a foreigner for the improvement of their vehicular transit, whereas Mr. Shillibeer had served in the British navy, and was born in Tottenham Court Road; yet he had afterwards carried on the business of a coach builder both in London and Paris. His speculation was particularly and at once successful, for he insured punctuality and civility; and the cheapness, cleanliness, and smartness of his omnibuses were in most advantageous contrast with the high charges, dirt, dinginess, and rudeness of the drivers of many of the “short stages” and Hackney coaches, who were loud in their railings against what they were pleased to describe as a French innovation, and many were the street-papers and ballads issued on the subject both for and against the “Shillibeer’s” and “French Hearses.”

The ’Buss, the ’Buss, the Omnibus! That welcomes all without a fuss; And wafts us on with joyous sound, Through crowded streets on our busy round, Reckless of cold and gloomy skies, Or the driving storm as it downward hies: Stow’d snug in thee! stow’d snug in thee! I am where I would wish to be, While the rain above and the mud below Affects me not where’er I go---- Though the sleet and the slush be ankle deep, What matters? while I can ride so cheap! What matters? &c.

I love, oh how I love to ride In cozy converse, side by side, With some sweet sly enchanting one, Who lets her little ’larum run Till scarcely can the listener know If that or Time more swiftly go! Henceforth I’ll know the terrible bore Of “padding the hoof” no more, no more; But back to his seat I so oft have press’d I’ll spring, to be wafted the while I rest: For thou, dear ’Bus! art a home to me, While I am snugly seated in thee. While I am, &c.

=On the Town.=--A man of the world: a person supposed to have a general knowledge of men and manners. In short UP and DOWN _to everything_!

=Operators.=--Pickpockets.

=O.P. and P.S.=--The name given to a tavern in Russell Court, Drury Lane--_See_ Kean’s Head--This sign was construed several ways according as it suited the different _tastes_ of its visitors. The stage-players took it in its original sense, to denominate the tavern a theatrical house;--and the O.P. and P.S., according to its technicality upon the stage, thus--O.P. _Opposite Prompter_, and P.S. the _Prompt Side_. The men of the world placed it in another point of view, “Come and see me to-night,” said they to a friend, “at the O.P. and P.S., where you will be sure to meet some _Old_ PALS, and hear _Prime_ SINGING.” And the Bacchanalians hailed the O.P. and P.S. as the harbour containing fine _Old_ PORT and _Prime_ SHERRY.

=O.P. Riot.=--When the new Covent Garden Theatre was opened in 1809, the charges of admission were increased; but night after night for three months a throng crowded the pit shouting O.P. (_old prices_), much damage was done, and the manager was obliged at last to give way.

=Out-and-Outer.=--A real good one.

=Oxberry, William.=--An actor of many parts: who held a very respectable position at various metropolitan theatres--and was a friend and contemporary with Pierce Egan, W. T. Moncrieff, Leman Rede, Tom Hudson and Beuler--the funny John Reeve--a great _body_ of talent on or off the boards. Bob Keeley--the _multum in parvo_, and other choice spirits of the day, who frequently paid a visit to the coffee-room at the Craven’s Head, Drury Lane, when “_Billy_” Oxberry--that comical wight, acted the part of _Boniface_, to hear him tell his tales, and relate his theatrical and other adventures he had met with in playing “_The Five P’s_,” viz., the Printer, Poet, Publisher, Publican, and Player. (1784-1824.)

P.

=Pad.=--The highway, or a robber thereon; also a bed. _Footpads_, foot robbers. _To go out upon the pad_, to go out in order to commit a robbery. _To pad the hoof_, to walk. _Padding-ken_, a tramp’s lodging-house.

=Paddington Fair Day.=--An execution day; Tyburn being in the parish or neighbourhood of Paddington. _To dance the Paddington frisk_, to be hanged.

=Pal.=--A companion, one who generally accompanies another, or who commit robberies together.

=Parker.=--To part or pay money.

=Patter.=--To speak. _Patterer_, a noisy talkative street hawker of songs, last dying speeches, &c.

=Patter-Flash.=--To talk flash, or the language of thieves.

=Paulo, Signor.=--Comedian and Clown--the original Billy Waters in the Adelphi Version of “Tom and Jerry,” died July 27, 1835, aged 48.

=Pavé.=--The town. _A nymph of the pavé_, a prostitute.

=Pea-Green Hayne--Mr.=--He was nicknamed “_Pea-green_” from his folly in reference to Miss Maria Foote, afterwards the Countess of Harrington. It will be remembered that that beautiful and accomplished lady brought an action against Hayne for breach of promise of marriage, and recovered 3000_l._ damages; but Hayne was not _green_ upon that account; it was an affair which the shrewdest man of fashion might have fallen into. If _greenness_ existed at all in Hayne on that question, it laid in not marrying her. Fate, however, designed for the lady a better match. The eccentric Lord Harrington, though a wild, sporting, boxing spirit, as Lord Petersham, was, as the Earl, one of the most refined gentlemen that ever added grace to a coronet; and it might be fairly said that his Lordship did so. Mr Hayne was a man with a mind well stored; he had experience to aid him. In his association with Ned Baldwin, _alias_ White-headed Bob, the pugilist, whom he trained and backed, and other fast celebrities of the day, he learnt much, though he paid dearly for it.

=Peck.=--To eat. _Peck and Booze_, victuals and drink. _Peckish_, hungry. _Peck-alley_, the throat.

=Peel.=--To strip, to undress; allusion to the taking off of the coat or rind of an orange.

=Peepers.=--Eyes. _Single peeper_, a one eyed man.

=Pewter.=--Money, from the close alliance of much of our so-called _silver_. _To stump the pewter_, to pay money.

=Pierce Egan.=--Author of “Tom and Jerry,” died August 3, 1849, aged 77.

=Pig and Tinder-box.=--A jocular term for the sign of the Elephant and Castle.

=Pigs.=--Thief-takers, formerly applied to a Bow Street Officer.

=Pigeons.=--Young beginners, or novices, persons very necessary to be _plucked_. Also companions of the right sort--birds of a feather.

=Pilot.=--A watchman.

=Pimple.=--The head.

=Pinks.=--Dashing fellows. _Pinks_ of the fashion.

=Pipkin.=--The head. _To crack a pipkin_, to break a head.

=Pippen.=--A good fellow.

=Plum.=--_He is worth a plum_--is said of a man possessed of £100,000, and of him who has only realized £50,000, he’s got but “half-a-plum.”

=Pockets to Let.=--When there’s no money in them--such are best let alone.

=Point Nonplus.=--Neither money nor credit.

=Police.=--The London police grew out of the London watch, instituted about 1253; the whole system was remodelled by Mr., afterwards Sir Robert Peel, by 10 Geo. IV., 19th June, and the New Police commenced duty 29th September, 1829. Sir Richard Mayne was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan District. The new system was not popular with the people, nor with those who deemed they had “vested rights,” and the constables were considered as a target that every one might fire off their chaff and witticism at with impunity. The terms “Bobby and Peeler”--after Robert Peel, immediately became the cant words, together with “Blue Bottles,” “Blue Devils,” the “Royal Blues; or, the Cook’s Own,” and other opprobious terms. Within a month of the establishing of the New Police--viz., on the 14th of October, 1829, one of the members, named John Jones, was charged, at the Hatton Garden Police-station, with stealing a scrag of mutton, from the stall-board of a butcher, named Samuel, in Skinner Street, Somer’s Town. The circumstance having been witnessed by a neighbour, he pursued the policeman, and took him into custody. He had fifteen shillings and sixpence in his pocket. In his defence, he said he was going to take the mutton to show his wife. This was a circumstance that could not be lost sight of by the Seven Dials printers, and several street-papers and ballads were immediately issued on the subject, and continued to find a ready sale for some months; while “Who stole the mutton?” became the by-word. Following is one of the many ballads that appeared:--

THE NEW POLICEMAN, AND THE SOMERS TOWN BUTCHER.

Air--“_Bob and Joan._”

Hollo! New Police, Who in blue coats, strut on, Your fame you wont increase By stealing joints of mutton, Who would e’er suppose, In such handsome rigging, Spick and span new clothes, Men would go a prigging? Hollo! New Police, &c., &c.

At very little cost Jones wished to have a luncheon; But now the blade has lost His uniform and truncheon. Alas! the worthy soul, While the victuals bagging, Tho’ a _scrag_ he stole Never dreamt of _scragging_. Hollo! &c., &c.

Off he made a move, And muttered in retreating, “D----, this will prove Very good eating!” With this bit of meat, Doubtless quite enraptur’d; But joy is very fleet, And Mr. Jones was captur’d. Hollo! &c., &c.

“Oh!” cried Mr. Jones, “This is inconvenient! Curse the mutton bones-- Gentlemen, be lenient. This joint you will remark (The truth I won’t conceal it), I _borrowed_ for a lark-- I never meant to steal it.” Hollo! &c., &c.

Here’s a pretty prig, Thus went Somer’s Sam on, First my meat to prig, And then to pitch his gammon. Borrow’d! blow me tight, Seeing is believing; I loves the thing vot’s right, And always hated thieving. Hollo! &c., &c.

Peel’s new plan, I say, Ought to be rejected, If this here’s the way We’re to be protected. These coves parade the street In dashing dark blue habit; But when they eye our meat, ’Tis ten to one they grab it. Hollo! &c., &c.

’Twas droll to hear the chaff When they were embodied; Now it makes me laugh To see so many quodded. Thieves may feel secure, Whate’er the hour or weather, For Sam is very sure They are all rogues together. Hollo! &c., &c.

The City of London successfully rejected the introduction of the New Police within their territories. “They worn’t a going to hav’ no new French Police Spy system in their ancient and honourable City,” said Alderman Cute-Grub-Bub-Turtle-and-Soup, “not if ve knows it.” Therefore, no one will be surprised at frequently reading in the newspapers of the period paragraphs like the following:--

THE EFFECTS OF THE NEW POLICE.

At the Guildhall, on Monday, October 12th, 1829, after Sir Peter Laurie had admonished and discharged a disorderly woman, who had been accused of being noisy in the street, he asked her accuser, a watchman, named Livingstone, where his beat was? The watchman said it was from St. Dunstan’s Church to Temple Bar. Do you find any increase of bad characters on your beat? Watchman (smilingly): Yes, I believe I do; the New Policemen drives ’em into the City. Sir Peter: Then you should drive them back again; it would be better than taking them up. Watchman: When there was a quarrel among them the other night, a policeman came up and drove them through the Bar, saying, “Ye shan’t stand here; go into the City with your rows.” Sir Peter Laurie said that he had heard that a police magistrate had directed the policemen to drive all bad characters into the City. If there was any truth in this, it was an imprudent--an improper observation. He desired the watchman present to drive all the bad characters out of the City. The thing must be put down. Subsequently, some vagrants were brought up, and Sir Peter told them to drive them out of the City instead of apprehending them in future. “We can play at tennis-ball,” said the Alderman, in an under tone.

“Who stole the Mutton?” together with many other words and phrases in reference to the supposed partiality of the police to _The Cook!_ _The Kitchen!!_ and _The Cold Mutton!!!_ have clung to the service from the day of its formation to the present time, while comic writers of all degrees, in farces, burlesques, songs, and pantomimes, have never failed to make capital out of the New Police, Peel’s Raw-Lobsters, Peeler’s, Blue Bottles, &c., &c.

=Polito’s Beasts.=--Polito, the Italian successor to Pidcock’s Zoological Collection, and very famous in his day. Attracted many thousands of spectators every year at Bartholomew Fair.

=Pony.=--Money. _To post the pony_, to pay down the money, also the sum of twenty-five pounds.

=Poundage Cove.=--A fellow who receives poundage for procuring a customer for damaged goods--also a puffer at auction sales.

=Prads.=--Horses. The swell flashes a fine pair of horses.

=Press-Gang.=--Reporters, better known, perhaps, as gentlemen connected with the _Press_!

=Prigs.=--Pickpockets, and snappers-up of unconsidered trifles in general--from a needle to an anchor!

=Prime Twig.=--In high condition.

=Pudding Sleeves.=--A parson.

=Pull Out.=--To come it strong.

=Punch.=--From the Indian word punj (five); so called from its five ingredients, viz., spirit, water, lemon, sugar and spice. It was introduced into England from Spain, where it is called _ponche_. It is said to be a great “contradiction,” because it is composed of _spirits_ to make it strong, and _water_ to make it weak, of _lemon juice_ to make it sour, and _sugar_ to make it sweet.

=Pupil’s-straits.=--School tuition.

Q.

=Quean.=--A slut, or worthless woman, a strumpet.

=Queer.=--Bad. _To Queer_, to puzzle, or confound.

=Quid.=--A guinea, rather a scarce article now.

=Qui-tam.=--A ╳ species of lawyer, whose dealings are seldom or never on the ◻.

=Quiz.=--A strange looking fellow, an odd dog. _Oxford._

=Quod.=--Newgate, or any other prison.

R.

=Rag.=--Bank notes, money in general. The cove has no _Rag_; the fellow has no money. _Rag-carrier_, an ensign.

=Rainbow.=--A tailor’s pattern book.

=Rain Napper.=--An umbrella.

=Randall, Jack.=--Jack Randall, the _Nonpareil_ of the ring, died at his house, the Hole-in-the-Wall, Chancery Lane, March 12th, 1828, aged 34. Jack was an _Anglo-Irishman_, and first drew his breath in the Hibernian colony of St. Giles. He was the hero of sixteen prize battles, and left the ring undefeated. At this period it was considered he had received not less than £1,200 by his good fortune, but “easy got, easy gone”--as fast as it was got it was spent, until prudence suggested the expediency of laying the foundation of something substantial for his family, and he accordingly closed his bargain for the Hole-in-the-Wall, under the patronage of General Barton, his friends giving him a pipe of wine, instead of a piece of plate, to commence operations. From henceforth he pursued the business of a publican, and was highly respected by all ranks of the _Fancy_. Tom Moore, the Irish poet, was a frequenter of his house, and it was there that he picked up most of his material for his “Tom Cribb’s Memorial to Congress,” &c. The liberality of his friends, however, added to his own predilection for _daffey_, gradually paved the way to the “break-up” of his constitution, and for the last few months of his life he was but the shadow of his former self.

Alas! poor Jack lies on his back, As flat as any flounder: Although he died of a _bad inside_, No _heart_ was ever _sounder_.

The _Hole-in-the-Wall_ was once his _stall_, His _crib_ the _Fancy_ name it: A _hole in the ground_ he now has found, And no one else will claim it.

But too much _lush_ man’s strength will crush, And so found poor Jack Randall: His fame once bright as morning light, Now’s out, like _farthing candle_.

=Rap.=--Money, indifferent of what coin.

=Rattler.=--A Hackney coach. _Rattler_ and _Prad_, a coach and horses. _Rattling-cove_, a coachman.

=Reader.=--A pocket book.

=Ready.=--Money--not always _ready_.

=Red Tape.=--Brandy.

=Reeve, John.=--_Glorious Jack!_ Comedian, died January 24, 1838, aged 39.

=Regular.=--In proper course. _Regulars_, the usual share of the booty.

=Rent.=--Money. _Nap the rent_, receive money.

=Rhino.=--Money.--May there always be plenty _rhino_ betwixt the chaps that you and I know.

=Rig-Out.=--A suit of clothes.

=Right and Fly.=--Complete.

=River Tick.=--Tradesmen’s books.

=Rolled-up.=--Put in a sponging-house.

=Roses, Pinks and Tulips.=--Nobility.

=Rosy Gills.=--One with a sanguine or fresh-coloured countenance.

=Row.=--A street broil.

=Rumbler.=--A Hackney coach.

=Rum One.=--A knowing one.

=Rum Peck.=--Good grub.

=Rum Slim.=--Mixed wine or liquor, Rum Punch.

=Russell, Samuel.=--_Otherwise_ “Jerry Sneak Russell,” from the very admirable manner in which he played the character of the henpecked cockney lout in Foote’s farce of “The Mayor of Garratt.” Mr. Russell was for some years manager of the Theatre Royal, Brighton, where he produced “Tom and Jerry” in 1822. After a long life of toil and trouble as a manager, actor, and--the father of a large family, a charitable benefit was got up for him at the Haymarket Theatre, July 1st, 1841, when “Macbeth” was performed, with Charles Kean as Macbeth; Mr. S. Phelps, Macduff; Lady Macbeth, Miss Ellen Tree. After which Mr. Russell spoke an address thanking his kind friends and patrons for their support and patronage; explaining that he deemed it necessary to address them before his final appearance on the stage, least he should not have the nerve power to do so afterwards. Then followed THE MAYOR OF GARRATT, Jerry Sneak (for the last time), Mr. Russell; Major Sturgeon, Mr. Robert Strickland. Unfortunately the money realized by the Benefit, and the private subscription list, was injudiciously invested in a very risky security; and a year or two afterwards the house of business failing the whole of it was irretrievably lost. Mr. Russell died at his daughter’s residence, Gravesend, February 25, 1845, aged 79.

S.

=Sadler’s Wells.=--The oldest theatre in London, and named in part from a mineral spring, which was superstitiously dispensed by the monks of the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, from an early date. In the reign of Charles II. a Mr. Sadler, built here a music-house, and in 1683, re-discovered while digging gravel for his garden the _Holy Well_ of “excellent steel water” which in 1684 was visited and drunk by hundreds of persons of every degree in their morning’s walk. In 1765, Mr. Rosoman converted Sadler’s Wells garden into a theatre. Mr. King, of Drury Lane Theatre, was long a partner and stage-manager, and Charles Dibdin and his sons Thomas and Charles were proprietors. Grimaldi, father, son and grandson, were famous clowns. The season of 1803 is memorable for the appearance of the celebrated Italian traveller Signor Benzoni, as the Patagonian Samson, in which character he performed prodigious feats of strength. Wine was sold and drunk on the premises until 1807, under the old regulation,--“for an additional sixpence, every spectator was allowed a pint of either port, Lisbon, mountain, or punch.” On the 15th of October, 1807, twenty three persons, male and female, were killed, and many dangerously injured by reason of a false alarm of “Fire!” New River water was introduced in a tank under the stage, and plays were written and arranged so as to display “Real Water” in some of the scenes, and the place advertised as the AQUATIC THEATRE SADLER’S WELLS. In some cases the “good young man” and rightful heir to the estate, was basely and unmercifully hurled from some rock-work into the angry and surging billows below; by the hired myrmidons of the “Cruel Squire” of the Castle: then it was that the real dog would plunge into the real water, and rescue the real Count De Montfordiano from perdition. At other times the Lord of ----“the star-breasted villain,” was set upon by the highly virtuous villagers, for having disgraced the “Village-born Beauty,” who chased him in and out, and all round about the huge mountain-pass which overhung the “Perilous Pool,” until his noble Lordship! was captured, and then hurled into the “depths below,” and while his _dummy!_ body was descending, it was shot--in two places, by Robin the Ploughman and Virtuous Villager--“under whose calf-skin waistcoat beat a heart truer than all the Lords, Dukes and Squires in wide England and Foreign parts.” Pierce Egan’s own version of “Tom and Jerry”--the “AUTHOR’S PIECE” was performed for the first time on Monday, April 8, 1822; TOM, Mr. Elliott; JERRY, Mr. Keeley; LOGIC, Mr. Vale. But the more honourable distinction of Sadler’s Wells Theatre is the admirable representation of Elizabethan plays under the able management of Mrs. Warner and Messrs. Phelps and Greenwood, by whom it was made “the popular retreat of the regular drama”--1844-59 and 1861.

=Sam=--_To Stand Sam._--To pay for the whole of the reckoning. _Sammy_ is he who is fool enough to do it.

=Sanders, John.=--“_Old Jack of the Adelphi_”--and original Black Sal, died December 9, 1865, aged 66.

=Saving one’s Bacon.=--Taking care of one’s self.

=Schneider.=--A tailor. Scholars will perceive this “cognomen is _german_ to the matter.”

=Scamp.=--A street-walking vagabond of the lowest order.

=Scarce.=--_Non est inventus._

=Scout.=--A watchman.

=Scran.=--Food in general.

=Screen.=--A bank-note.

=Screw.=--A turnkey.

=Screw Loose.=--Something wrong.

=Seven Dials Bard.=--

There is a pleasure in poetic pains, Which only Poets know.

“Yonder, sir, is Mr. Goosequill, one of the ‘Seven Bards of the Seven Dials,’ a clever man, who came to town with half-a-crown in his pocket, and his tragedy, called the ‘Mines of Peru,’ by which he of course expected to make his fortune. For five years he danced attendance on the manager, in order to hear tidings of its being ‘cast,’ and put into rehearsal, and four years more in trying to get it back again. During the process he was groaned, laughed, whistled, guyed, and nearly kicked out of the secretary’s room, who swore--which well he might do, considering the exhausted treasury of the concern--that he knew nothing about, or ever heard of the ‘Mines of Peru.’ At last Mr. Goosequill, being shown into the manager’s kitchen, to wait till he was at leisure, had the singular pleasure of seeing two acts of the ‘Mines of Peru’ daintily fastened round a savory capon on the spit, to preserve it from the scorching influence of the fire.

“‘This was _foul_ treatment,’ I observed, and I ventured to ask how he had subsisted during the meanwhile? ‘Why he first made an agreement with a printer of Ballads, Last Dying Speeches and Confessions, &c., living in the Seven Dials, who finding his inclinations led to poetry, expressed his satisfaction, telling him that one of his poets had lost his senses, and was confined in Bedlam, and another was dazed with drinking drams. An agreement was made, and he earned five shillings and two-pence-three-farthings per week as his share of this speculation with the muses. But his profits were not always certain. He had often the pleasure of dining with Duke Humphrey, and for this reason he turned his thoughts to prose; and in this walk he was eminently successful, for during a week of gloomy weather he published an _apparition_, on the _substance_ of which he subsisted very comfortably for a month. He often makes a good meal upon a monster. A _rape_ has often afforded him great satisfaction, but a _murder_--an out-and-out _murder_--if well timed, is board, lodging, and washing, with a feast of nectared sweets for many a day.’”

=Shaking the Shallow.=--Tossing in a hat. Three or more coins are shaken together in the hat, then cast out on the table, most heads or most tails being the winner or loser, according to the calling of the players.

=Sharps.=--Persons ready to take you in on all occasions.

=Shell Out.=--Subscribe, or club their pence together.

=Shirk.=--To skulk or get off.

=Shove in the Mouth.=--A glass of gin.

=Shoulder Knot.=--A man-trap or bailiff.

=Six and Eight-pence.=--A lawyer of the first order of _Sharks_, whose whole object in commencing an action is to make a “bill of costs.”

=Sketch-Room.=--THE--in CORINTHIAN HOUSE which was principally dedicated to the productions of the late GEORGE MORLAND, JERRY was rather more if not quite at home, almost skipping with rapture as his eye ran over the subjects of that unrivalled genius of the pencil. NATURE was seen so strongly at every touch that JERRY nearly fancied himself again at HAWTHORN HALL, looking at his dogs, pigs, and horses.

“It was the opinion of CORINTHIAN TOM, in his remarks to JERRY, when the latter first entered this apartment, that if MORLAND had only painted half the number of subjects which are now before the public, their value might have been enhanced twice as much; and _finished_ pictures, instead of _sketches_, most likely would have been the result. This was the reason TOM assigned to JERRY for having it called the SKETCH-ROOM. ‘Nine times out of ten,’ said TOM, ‘dull matter-of-fact calculation is not allied with genius.’ _Money_, to GEORGE MORLAND, was a _colour_ that he did not paint with; and, therefore, respecting its _value_, he seemed to know nothing. _Embarrassment_ and the Catchpoles first drew up the curtain and showed him the iron bars which stopped his thoughtless career. They also explained to him, in the most feeling manner, the _uses_ of a strong lock. They likewise pointed out to GEORGE the difference in his _prospects_,--not in an artist-like manner to his ‘mind’s eye,’ but in a clear distinct way of business, that _twenty shillings_ make a POUND. For the _moment_, he keenly felt the disgusting _cramped_ situation of Carey Street,[40] which compelled him to _peep_ at his objects, through the rails of his apartment: for the _moment_, also, he felt the immediate _necessity_ of procuring the gold _talismanic_ key to give him once more liberty, again to wander amidst the beauties of nature: it was then that MORLAND painted for _money_: it was then that GENIUS was in fetters: it was then that rapid _exertions_ got the better of his _taste_. ‘The sooner you paint _me_ a picture, MR. MORLAND,’ said the _leary_ Bum-trap, ‘the sooner the door will be open to you. Freedom is in view,--and I’ll discharge your debt.’ No skilful angler ever threw his line into waters with more _coaxing_ bait to hook the poor fish, than Mr. _Screw_ ‘tried it on’ with his prisoner. It was plausible: it was better,--it gave no trouble to his acquaintance: it also prevented _shyness_ or REFUSAL from his friends. The lock-up-house, by such means lost its terror. Employment was found for the mind and pencil of _Morland_. He experienced no _shiverings_ of the body--no feverish _parched-up_ tongue, waiting with the most anxious suspense for the return of the messenger to bring the NO, which ultimately sent him to jail, or the delightful YES, that set the prisoner once more at liberty. On the contrary, GEORGE was quite at home. He did as his inclinations prompted him. Jolly fellows called on him in abundance; and the song and the glass went round with the freedom of a tavern. All his wants were supplied, and the _misery_ of a spunging-house was not seen in MORLAND’S apartments. In fact, he was better attended than when out of it. From the _top screw_ to the _stamper cleaner_, all of them felt an interest in waiting upon the ‘GREAT GENIUS,’ as he was termed, in order to take a sly peep at his paintings. _Here_ GEORGE set no price to his pictures, but when he was tired of his companions, and his confined situation, he then industriously, and in a short time, _painted_ himself out of the lock-up house. _Lumbering_ him, never afterwards gave MORLAND any horrors: and, whenever he was in _trouble_, the same kind of judgment was repeated, time and often, till Mr. _Screw_ had realized a tolerable collection of valuable paintings. This officer was rather fond of paintings himself; but when any gentleman took a fancy to purchase any of them, Mr. _Screw_ never betrayed a want of knowledge of their value--by the _prices_ he affixed to them. MORLAND died at the premature age of 41, in October 29, 1804--dissipated habits proved his _quietus_.”

=Slang.=--St. Giles’s Greek--a conversational expression of an irregular, more or less vulgar, type, familiar to and in vogue among a certain class.

=Slavey.=--Servants of all work, in allusion to their laborious employment and hard work.

=Slipped Cover.=--Got away.

=Sluice.=--To drink. _Sluice your whistle_, wet your throat.

=Sly.=--Contraband. _On the sly_, concealed, unlawful.

=Smart Blunt.=--Forfeit money.

=Smash your Countenance.=--To give a thump on the face.

=Smell a Rat.=--To suspect or discover any concealed thing, _a la Hamlet_. _Vide_ Old Polonius behind the arras: “A rat, a rat; dead, for a ducat, dead.”

=Smeller.=--The nose. _A smeller_, a blow on the nose.

=Smokey.=--Suspicious.

=Sneezer.=--The _Conk_ or nose.

=Snicker.=--A small tumbler.

=Snip.=--Mr. Snip a tailor.--Come in, taylor, here you may warm your goose.--_Macbeth._

=Snowball.=--A Negro, or chimney sweeper.

=Soho Bazaar, The.=--The first of its kind in England, was established by John Trotter, Esq., to whose family it still belongs. The building covers a space of 300 feet by 150, and extends from the Square to Dean Street on the one hand, and to Oxford Street on the other. The bazaar occupies two floors, and has counter accommodation for upwards of 160 tenants. The two principal rooms in the building are about ninety feet long, and in them the visitor may find almost every trade represented. One large room is set apart for the sale of books, another for furniture, and another for birds, cages, &c.; and at one end of the latter room is a large recess, occupied with a rustic aviary, through which runs a stream of water. Connected with the bazaar are offices for the registration of governesses and the hire of servants, &c.; and the scene that here presents itself during business hours is one well worthy of a visit. The bazaar has been frequently patronised by royalty.

THE SOHO BAZAAR.

Ladies in furs, and gemmen in spurs, Who lollop and lounge about all day: The Bazaar in Soho is completely the go-- Walk into the shop of Grimaldi! Come from afar, here’s the Bazaar!-- But if you won’t deal with us, stay where you are.

Here’s rouge to give grace to an old woman’s face, Trowsers of check for a sailor; Here’s a cold ice, if you pay for it twice, And here’s a hot goose for a tailor. Soho Bazaar, come from afar: Sing ri fal de riddle, and tal de ral la.

Here’s a cock’d hat, or an opera flat-- Here’s a broad brim for a Quaker; Here’s a white wig for a Chancery prig, And here’s a light weight for a baker. Soho Bazaar, &c.

A fringed parasol, or a toad-in-the-hole. A box of japan to hold backy; Here’s a relief for a widow in grief-- A quartern of Hodge’s jacky. Soho Bazaar, &c.

Here, long enough, is a lottery puff (I was half-drunk when it caught me); It promised, my eyes! what a capital prize: And here’s all the rhino it brought me. Soho Bazaar, &c.

“Put it down to the bill,” is the fountain of ill This has the shopkeepers undone; Bazaars never trust--so down with your dust, And help us to diddle all London. Soho Bazaar, &c.

=Something Short.=--_A drop of summat short._ A glass of spirits, neat, unmixed--_straight_!

=Some Tune.=--A large amount.

=Spavined.=--Damaged, injured.

=Speeling.=--Gambling generally.

=Spellken.=--A playhouse:--Lord Byron in his _Don Juan_, Canto xi., stanza 19, uses the word in that sense, and then by way of a foot note, adds--

The advance of science and of language has rendered it unnecessary to translate the above good and true English, spoken in its original purity by the select nobility and their patrons. The following is a stanza of a song which was very popular, at least in my early days:--

On the high toby-spice flash the muzzle, In spite of each gallows old scout: If you at the _spellken_ can’t hustle, You’ll be hobbled in making a clout.

Then your Blowing will wax gallows haughty When she hears of your scaly mistake, She’ll surely turn snitch for the forty, That her Jack may be regular weight.

If there be any gem’men so ignorant as to require a translation, I refer him to my old friend and corporeal pastor and master, John Jackson, Esq., Professor of Pugilism; who, I trust, still retains the strength and symmetry of his model of a form, together with his good humour, and athletic as well as mental accomplishments.

=Spike Hotel.=--The King’s Bench, the Fleet, or any other prison.

=Spree.=--A bit of fun.

=Stand.=--To treat. _Stand the nonsense_, to pay the reckoning, very great nonsense when there’s no occasion for it. _Stand Sammy_, to pay for other people.

=Stand Still.=--A table.

=Stark Naked.=--Pure gin, neat without water.

=Staunch.=--Bang up to the neck, the thing!

=Steamer.=--A pipe. _A swell steamer_, a long pipe--Churchwarden.

=Stiffener.=--A letter.

=Straw Chipper.=--A straw bonnet maker.

=St. Giles’ Greek.=--Cant language. _See_ CANT.

=Street Solicitors.=--Mendicity Societies’ clients, a class of beings that, as before mentioned, BODKIN makes it a _point_ to take care of, in other words--_beggars_.

=String of Onions.=--Costermongers, and others of the lower class.

=Stringer.=--A mace cove, or line man, in plain English a cheat.

=Stumpy.=--Money.

=Stunning Joe Banks.=--Who was in all that’s _flash_, “bang-up to the knocker,” and for many years a very popular and much respected London character. He kept a renowned _lush-crib_ called the “Hare and Hounds,” formerly the “Beggar in the Bush;” in No. 1, Buckeridge Street, within the classic region the “_Holy Land_,” or more frequently termed the _Rookery_ in the heart of St. Giles’. Joe Banks, “mine host” of this boosing-ken; was a civil, rough, good natured, and very elaborate specimen of the _genus homo_, possessing a flow of spirits as extensive as his person. Good nature and conviviality were his leading characteristics, although his regular customers were composed of the veriest cadgers both male and female. The girls without shoes or stockings, clad in rags and jags. The male cadgers seldom or never used a comb or a pocket handkerchief:--

No _small tooth-trap_ their locks disposes No ’kerchiefs white attack their noses.

It was the fashion of the day for all the _lively spirits--flash kiddies_ and country cousins curious in such matters to visit Stunning Joe Banks’ “CITY OF THE CADGERS” on such occasions, the persons and property of all were sacred while under his roof, and escorted through the intricacies of the “ROOKERY,” by Joe himself--or in his temporary absence by a well and truly trusted _aide-de-camp!_ in order that they might not be in any way molested after leaving his house.

In conclusion we may add that “Stunning Joe Banks’s” _drum_ was the resort of all classes, from the aristocratic marquis--especially he, who before he _mizzled_, _hailed_ from Waterford!--to the _downy_ vagabond, whose way of living was a puzzle to himself.

=Sufferer.=--A tailor or creditor.

=Suspicion of Debt.=--Owing two or three thousand pounds.

=Swag.=--Money, from its appetency to make its possessor _swagger_. _Bag the Swag_, to collect money.

=Swaddies.=--Soldiers.

=Swallow-tail.=--A dress, or tail coat.

=Swell.=--A dashing buck.

=Swill Tub.=--A drunkard, a sot.

=Syntax.=--A schoolmaster.

T.

=Tag, Rag and Bobtail.=--Extremes of low life.

=Tape.=--Spirits--white and red.

=Tartar.=--A sour one, a shrewish woman, a scolding wife.

=Tattersall in the Rostrum.=--“Gentlemen, what can you hesitate about? Only look at her! She is one of the most beautiful creatures that I have ever had the honour of submitting to your notice! So gentle in her paces; indeed, so safe a goer, that a child might ride her. Her pedigree is excellent--she is thorough-bred from her ear to her hoof; and the Herald’s College could not produce a more sound and satisfactory one--she comes from a good house, I pledge, my word, gentlemen. My Lord Duke, will you allow me to say £250 for your Grace? She will, notwithstanding the excellence of your Grace’s stud, be an ornament to it. She is a picture--complete to a shade; in fact, I could gaze upon her for ever, and always be struck with some new beauty she possesses. Thank you, My Lord Duke, I was certain your Grace would not let such an opportunity pass. There is not a horse-dealer in the kingdom who can show such a fine creature! She is above competition--I may say, she is matchless! The Regent’s Park might be betted to a mole-hill with safety that she has no parallel. Sir Henry, let me call your attention to CLEOPATRA! She is like her namesake in the olden times--but beautiful without paint! She is pure Nature, and no vice! Her action, Sir Henry--yes, her action--I could dilate upon it for a quarter of an hour--but _puffing_ is out of the question--you shall judge for yourself. Run her down, John--The Graces, I am sure, _Sir Harry_, were they to behold her movements, would be out of temper with her captivating excellence! _Taglioni_, I must admit, can perform wonders with her pretty feet, but _Cleopatra_, my Lord Duke, can _distance_ the whole of them put together; and positively leave the Opera House with all its talent, in the back ground. In fact, I am deficient in words to display her immense capabilities--£300, _Going!_ £300. Thank you, my Lord Duke, she must be yours. For the last time, going at £310; but I will do the handsome thing, I will allow you five minutes to compose your mind--I am well aware that such unparalleled beauty is very dazzling--therefore, before you lose sight of this handsome creature, I do impress upon you, to remember that the opportunity once lost--£320; Sir Harry, I am obliged to you--the world has always acknowledged you as a man of great taste in matters of this kind; and without flattery, you have never shown it more than in the present instance--according to the poet, ‘Beauty; or, Loveliness, needs not the foreign aid of ornament, but is, when unadorned, adorned the most!’ _Going_--CLEOPATRA, my Lord Duke, will be in other hands if your Grace does not make up your mind in your usual princely style of doing things--a good bidding will make CLEOPATRA your own for ever, therefore, now’s the time to put on the _distancing_ power, and your Grace will win the race in a canter! £340, my Lord Duke, I can only express my gratitude to say, that you have done me honour--_Going!--Going!!--Going!!!_--in fact, gentlemen, I am like an artist in this case, I do not like to leave such a delightful picture and I could _dwell_ upon the qualities of CLEOPATRA to the very echo that applauds again and again! But most certainly I have given you all a fair chance--CLEOPATRA is on the _go_--are you all silent--_going_ for £340, after all, what is that sum for one of the greatest English beauties ever submitted to the inspection of the public! £350, thank you, Sir Charles--worth your money at any price. I have witnessed your notice of CLEOPATRA for some time past--she will bear looking at, again and again! Charming CLEOPATRA! I am glad to see she has so many suitors for her _hand_--I beg pardon, gentlemen--a slip will happen to the best of us--her _feet_ I should have said, but nevertheless, I am happy to see she has a host of admirers. I cannot _bid_ myself, or else I would ‘make play’ and CLEOPATRA should become a noble prize--£370. Bravo! my Lord Duke! for £370 positively, yes, positively, ’pon my honour, positively the last time--or else the beautiful CLEOPATRA goes into the _keeping_ of my Lord Duke. You are sure, gentlemen, that you have all done? Don’t blame me, but blame yourselves! Going _once_! Going _twice_! Going _three times--Going--Gone!!!_ CLEOPATRA belongs to the Duke. ‘JERRY expressed himself so much pleased with his visit to TATTERSALL’S, that he observed to LOGIC, during his stay in London he should often frequent it.’ ‘I delight,’ said HAWTHORN, ‘to be in the company of sportsmen; and no objects afford me greater satisfaction than the sight of a fine hunter,--the view of a high-mettled racer,--and the look of a _perfect_ greyhound.’ ‘I admire them also,’ replied the CORINTHIAN; ‘and TATTERSALL’S will always prove an agreeable lounge, if no direct purpose call a person thither. If nothing more than INFORMATION be acquired, that _alone_, JERRY, to a man of the world, is valuable at all times. Besides, TATTERSALL’S gives a _tone_ to the _sporting_ world, in the same way that the transactions on the ROYAL EXCHANGE influence the mercantile part of society. It has likewise its ‘_settling days_,’ after the great races at _Newmarket_, _Doncaster_, _Epsom_, _Ascot_, _&c._ I do not know about the _bulls_ and _bears_;[41] but if it has no _lame ducks_ to _waddle_ out, it has sometimes _Levanters_ that will not _show_ for a time, and others that will _brush off_ altogether. But this does not happen very often; and TATTERSALL’S has its ‘_good_ MEN’ as well as the _’Change_, and whose ‘_word_,’ will be taken for any amount. It has also its Subscription-room, which is extremely convenient for gentlemen and other persons who feel any inclination to become acquainted with the events of the sporting world, at the moderate charge of _one guinea_ a year. Indeed,’ continued TOM, ‘there is an air of sporting about this place altogether; elegance, cleanliness, and style, being its prominent features. The company, I admit, is a _mixture_ of persons of nearly all ranks in life; but, nevertheless, it is that sort of _mixture_ which is pleasingly interesting; there is no _intimacy_ or _association_ about it. A man may be well known here; he may also in his turn _know_ almost everybody that visits TATTERSALL’S; and yet be quite a _stranger_ to their habits and connections with society. It is no matter who _sells_ or who purchases at this repository. A _bet_ stands as good with a LEG, and is thought as much of, as with a PEER,--MONEY being the _touchstone_ of the circumstance. The ‘best judge’ respecting sporting events is acknowledged the ‘best man’ here; every person being on the ‘look out’ to see how he _lays_ his _blunt_. The DUKE and the _Parliamentary Orator_, if they do not know the properties of a horse, are little more than cyphers; it is true they may be _stared_ at, if pointed out as great characters, but nothing more. The _nod_ from a _stable-keeper_ is quite as important, if not more so, to the Auctioneer, as the _wink_ of a RIGHT HONOURABLE. Numbers of persons who visit TATTERSALL’S are, or wish to, appear _knowing_: from which ‘_self_’ importance they are often most egregiously duped. In short, if you are not as familiar with the _odds_ upon all events as CHITTY in quoting precedents--show as intimate an acquaintance with the _pedigree_ and _speed_ of race-horses as a GULLEY--and also display as correct a knowledge of the various capabilities of the prize pugilists as a JACKSON--if GAIN is your immediate object, you are ‘of no _use_’ at TATTERSALL’S,’ ‘Yes,’ said LOGIC, with a grin, interrupting TOM; ‘there are to be found here as many _flats_ and _sharps_ as would furnish the _score_ of a musical composer; and several of these _instruments_ have been so much played upon, and are so wretchedly out of _tune_, that the most skilful musician in the world cannot restore them to perfect _harmony_.’ ‘It is,’ resumed the CORINTHIAN, ‘an excellent mart for the disposal of carriages, horses, dogs, &c., and many a fine fellow’s _stud_ has been _floored_ by the hammer of TATTERSALL. There is a capacious TAP attached to the premises, for the convenience of servants of gentlemen in attendance upon their masters, or for any person who stands in need of refreshment. TATTERSALL’S, for the purposes intended, is the most complete place in the Metropolis; and if you have any desire to witness ‘real life’--to observe _character_--and to view the favourite _hobbies_ of mankind, it is the resort of the _pinks_ of the SWELLS,--the _tulips_ of the GOES,--the _dashing_ heroes of the military,--the fox hunting clericals,--sprigs of nobility,--stylish coachmen,--smart guards,--saucy butchers,--natty grooms,--tidy helpers,--knowing horse-dealers,--_betting_ publicans,--neat jockeys,--sporting men of all descriptions,--and the picture is finished by numbers of real gentlemen. It is the tip-top sporting feature in London.’ ‘It must have been the work of some time,’ said JERRY, ‘to have formed such a famous connection.’ ‘Yes,’ replied TOM; ‘you are quite right. It is not the _work_ of a day. The name of TATTERSALL is not only high, but of long standing in the sporting world; and everything connected with this splendid establishment is conducted in the most gentlemanly manner. The founder of these premises was during his time, viewed as one of the best judges of horse-flesh in the kingdom; and, as a proof of it, he made his fortune by a horse called HIGHFLYER.’”

=Tattler.=--A watch. “Time’s a tell tale.”

=Teazer of the Catgut.=--A hardworking fiddler.

=Thames.=--“_He’ll never set the Thames on fire_,” _i.e._, He will never make any figure in the world. This popular phrase is as to the word “THAMES” altogether a misapplication. The _temse_ was a corn sieve which was worked in former times over the receiver of the sifted flour. A hard-working active man would not unfrequently ply the _temse_ so quickly as to set fire to the wooden hoop at the bottom; but a lazy fellow would never--no never set the _temse_ on fire! The play on the word _temse_ has engendered many stupid imitations as “He will never set the Mersey--or the Humber, &c., on fire,” which has no meaning. Dutch, _teme_; French, _tamis_; Italian, _tamiso_, a sieve.

=Thigh of Mutton and Smash.=--A boiled leg of mutton, with turnips and caper sauce, &c. A prominent article among _pot-house_ gamblers.

=Thimble.=--A watch.

=Third of Daffy.=--Third part of a quartern of gin.

=Timber Merchant.=--A dealer in the old-fashioned brimstone matches.

=Tip your Rags a Gallop.=--To run away.

=Tip.=--Money. _To be in Tip-street_, to have plenty of money, “a consummation devoutly to be wished.”

Toddle.--To move your pins.

=Toggery.=--Wearing apparel; from the Roman _toga_.

=Tom King.=--_The Jolly Dog_--“When did Tom King ever fail when the object was to serve a friend and promote mirth?” Zounds! for a quiz, a hoax, a joke, a jest, a song, a dance, a catch, a tale, a race, or a row. Tom King would not turn his back on any man in England. A’n’t I the choice spirit of the day, the jolly dog, the roaring boy, the knowing lad, the rare blood, the prime buck, the rum soul, the funny fellow? Emperor of the Cockonians! Chairman of the Jacks! General of the Lumber Troop! Master of the Mugs! Chief of the Eccentrics! Member of Daffy’s! President of the Flounder Club! Chairman of the Owls! Chancellor of the Two o’Clock Club! Vice-Chairman of the Hard-up Club! Captain of the Rag and Famish! Chairman of the Never Sinks! Founder of the Snugs! Member of the Beef-steak Club! Past Primo of all the BUFFALOES Lodges held within the precincts of the City of Lushington! Noble Grand of the Oddfellows! Past-Arch of the Druids! And Vice of half the Freemasons’ Lodges in the United Kingdom! And though last, not least, in love, Founder of the Moral Philosophers’ Club! Oh, d----n! Tom King is the Jolly Dog! of the day.

=Top of the Tree.=--The heads of their profession.

=Tooth Picker.=--An Irish watchman’s shillelah.

=Tothill Fields.=--Situate between Pimlico and the Thames, formerly a great rendezvous for beggars, thieves, &c.

=Tow Street.=--Being decoyed or persuaded by any person.

=Town Tabby.=--Dowager of quality.

=Traps.=--Constables.

=Translator of Soles.=--A cobbler that can _vamp_ up old shoes to look like new. A _prime_ piece of deception; and those persons who purchase second-hand shoes soon find it out on a wet day.

=Trotters.=--The feet. _Walk your trotters_, to be off. _Trotter-cases_, shoes. _Trotter shakers_, dancers.

=Turkey Merchant.=--A poulterer.

=Turf--The.=--The race course; the profession of horse racing, which is done on turf or grass. One who lives by the turf, or one on the turf, is one whose chief occupation or means of living is derived from running horses or betting on races. All men are equal on the _turf_ and under it.--_Lord George Bentinck._

U.

=Umbrella.=--Otherwise _mush, spread, summer cabbage, water-plant, gingham, &c._ The first person who used an umbrella in the streets of London was Jonas Hanway, founder of the Magdalene Hospital, who died 1786.

=Uncle.=--The pawnbroker. _See_ MY UNCLE.

=Under a Cloud.=--In debt and difficulties. Not able to show out, or come to the front in daylight.

=Undergoing a Three Months’ Preparation.=--The modern “New way to pay old debts,” or taking the Benefit of the Act! Sometimes resorted to by an honest man overwhelmed by the harpies of the law, but more generally in use among swindlers, scamps, blacklegs, rogues, and vagabonds of every description.

=Under the Rose.=--_Sub rosa._--Secretly, confidentially. Amongst the ancients the rose was an emblem of silence.

=Under the Screw.=--In prison.

=Uneasiness.=--Trouble. _To have the uneasiness_, to be vexed, restless. _A copy of uneasiness_, a copy of a writ.

=Up.=--Knowledge. _To be up_, to understand. _Up to trap_, aware of things.

=Uphills.=--False dice that run high.

=Upper Benjamin.=--A great coat.

=Upper Crust.=--The lions or crack men of the day.

=Upper Story, or Garret.=--Figuratively used to signify the head.

=Upper Ten Thousand.=--The aristocracy.

=Uppish.=--Testy, apt to take offence, proud, arrogant.

=Upstarts.=--Persons lately raised to honours and riches, from mean stations.

=Used Up.=--Killed; a military saying, originating from a message sent by the late General Guise, on the expedition at Carthagena, where he desired the Commander-in-chief to order him some more grenadiers, for those he had were all _used up_!

V.

=Vale, Samuel.=--Low comedian, died March 24, 1848, aged 51.

=Various Classes of Society.=--“‘Now my dear Coz,’ said TOM, ‘as we shall soon have to intermix with the ‘_various classes of society_;’ and although it is not absolutely necessary that you should be able to dispute the accuracy of a _Greek quotation_ with a PORSON--contend with a MOZART upon the fundamental _principles of harmony_--enter into a dissertation on the properties of _light and shade_ with a REYNOLDS--quote _precedents_ with a SPEAKER of the House of Commons--argue _law_ with an ELDON--display a knowledge of _tactics_ with a WELLINGTON--write _poetry_ with a BYRON--relate _history_ with a GIBBON--contest _grammatical points_ with a HORNE TOOKE--_wit_ and _eloquence_ with a CANNING--support the _Old English Character_ with a WYNDHAM--_dance_ with an OSCAR BYRNE--_fence_ with an O’SHAUNESSY--_set-to_ with a BELCHER--_sing_ with BRAHAM--contest the _law of nations_ with a LIVERPOOL--_erudition_ with a JOHNSON--_philosophy_ with a PALEY--the _wealth of nations_ with a SMITH--_astronomy_ with an HERSCHEL--_physiognomy_ with a LAVATER--_equity_ with a ROMILLY--and so on to the end of the Chapter of Talents in the Metropolis;--although it is not necessary, I again repeat, my dear Coz, that you should be able to rival all the traits of excellences possessed by the above characters, yet it is essentially requisite that you should have some knowledge of their respective qualities, and be sensibly alive to their immediate value, and the impression they have made on the minds of mankind.’ ‘Hold, hold!’ said JERRY, smiling, and making a low bow at the same time; ‘there is one person among these distinguished men that you have forgot to mention--who shall dispute _taste_ with CORINTHIAN TOM?’ The latter hero gave rather a graceful _nod_ in return for this unexpected compliment, which, it would seem, augured to TOM a kind of budding of the lively genius of his cousin’s mind.”

=Vauxhall Gardens=--were sold by auction, 9th September, 1841, for £20,000. The last performance took place 25th July, 1859. The ground has been since sold for building purposes.--In allusion to the _thinness_ and artist-like manner in which the _ham_ was brought to table. LOGIC offered to bet JERRY “that it was not _cut_ with a _knife_, but _shaved_ off with a _plane_: and, if necessary, from its transparent quality, conceived it might answer the purpose of a _sky-light_!” _Vauxhall Slices!_ or _Ham Shavings!_ are terms well understood to this day.

A Vauxhall supper usually consisted of:--

Lilliput chickens boil’d, Bucellas warm from Vauxhall ice; And hams that flit in airy slice, And salads scarcely soil’d.--_London Mag., Sept., 1824._

=Velvet.=--The tongue. “_To be upon velvet_,” have the best of a bet or match.

=Venus.=--Love; the Goddess of Love; courtship. _My Venus turns out a whelp_, _i.e._, my swans are changed to geese; my cake is dough. In dice the best cast--three sixes--was called “Venus,” and the worst--three aces--was called “Canis.” My win-all turns out to be a lose-all!

=View-Holloa= of a fox is “Tally-ho!” or, as _Jemmy Green_ would have it, “_Tally-man!_” of a _hare_, “Gone away!” but the “Who-hoop” signifies the death of each.

=Viper and File.=--The biter bit.--Æsop says a viper found a file, and tried to bite it, under the supposition that it was good food; but the file said that its province was to bite others, and not to be bitten.

=Vowel.=--“_To vowel a debt._” Where the acknowledgment of the debt is expressed by the vowels I.O.U.

Let old I.O.U.’s be forgot, And never brought to mind, Let Writs and Judgments be forgot And the Bills that I have signed

W.

=Waifs and Strays.=--The juvenile homeless poor. Waifs are goods found but not claimed. Strays are animals that have wandered from their proper enclosures to the grounds of some one not their owner.

=Walking Poulterer.=--One who steals fowls, and hawks them from door to door.

=Walking Stationer.=--A hawker of books, prints and dying-speeches, &c.

=Walking-up against the Wall.=--To run up a score, which in alehouses is commonly recorded with chalk on the walls of the bar.

=Wapping Great.=--Means astonishingly great. Saxon, _Wafian_, to be astonished.

=Ware Hawk.=--An exclamation used by thieves to inform their confederates that some police officers are at hand.

=Warming-pan.=--A large old fashioned watch.

=Watch, Chain and Seals.=--A sheep’s head and pluck.

=Watchmaker.=--A stealer of watches--he _makes_ them in a crowd!

=Water Sneaksman.=--A man who steals from ships or crafts on the river.

=Ways and Means.=--To raise the supply of ready money for the current expenses of the day.

=Wear the Breeches.=--To be White Serjeant.

=Weasel.=--“_To catch a weasel asleep._” To catch a person nodding; to find he has not his weather-eye open--_Nunquam dormio!_

=Weather-Eye.=--“_I have my weather-eye open._” I have my wits about me; I know what I am after: I can see the difference between a clock and a cabbage.

=Wedge.=--Silver plate, because melted by the receivers of stolen goods into wedges.

=West-End Tailor--A.=--“CORINTHIAN TOM had just ordered his servant to bring him ‘_The Weekly Dispatch_,’ to see how sporting matters had been going on in the Metropolis during his absence from town, when Mr. Primefit--the West-End _Schneider_!--_Par excellence!_--was announced to MR. HAWTHORN to be in waiting to receive his commands.

“MR. PRIMEFIT, according to the ‘_counter-talking_ part of the community,’ had done, all his ‘dirty work;’ and among the _needles_--otherwise _sharps_--at the West-end of the Town, who must sport a genteel _outside_, no matter at whose _suit_, it was observed, between a grin and a pun, that he had not only got rid of all his ‘_bad habits_,’ but had likewise outlived his _sufferings_. It was said of this celebrated ‘apparel furnisher,’ that, if he received the cash for ONE coat out of _three_, nothing was the matter! In his _intercourse_ with people of fashion, the character that ran before him was a perfectly gentlemanly tradesman. He had one _point_ in view on setting out in life, and he never lost sight of it. To ask his customers for payment was to _lose_ their custom. Though for the first seven years DICKEY PRIMEFIT was engaged in _cutting-up_ his cloth, he was _hurried_ beyond _measure_, by those ‘troublesome customers,’ _John Doe_ and _Richard Roe_, who were continually at his elbow, _nudging_ him to take ‘measure of their suits’ in preference to every other person; his law expenses and ‘MUM _tip_’--that is _rhino_ to _silence_, or, shut-up the _gab_ of the _bum-traps_--in consequence, were frightful; yet DICKEY braved the fury of the woollen-draper’s ‘storm’ with the utmost composure. With a placid countenance he never refused credit to any British officer, either in the sea or land service, let the distance or uncertainty be what it might. The _reference_ of one gentleman to another was quite sufficient to MR. PRIMEFIT; and the _garments_ were made and sent home without further enquiry or delay. Of course, in return, the _charges_ of DICKEY were never overhauled; indeed, what GENTLEMAN would have behaved so _ungentlemanly_ to a tradesman who was all civility, politeness, and _accommodation_, from one end of his pattern-card to the other? The business of MR. PRIMEFIT, therefore, became so extensive, that he sent clothes to all parts of the world. In London, no _gentleman_, who had been once in the books of DICKEY, would listen to the name of any other tailor, which rendered PRIMEFIT the ‘_go_ for a tasty cut, best materials, and first-rate workmanship.’ DICKEY had a ‘soul above buttons,’ he had no narrow ideas belonging to him: and he flattered himself that, ultimately, it would _all be right_. ‘_No gentleman_,’ MR. PRIMEFIT would often assert, when he has been blamed for giving such an extensive loose sort of credit, ‘_I am convinced, but will act as such, sooner or later_, towards me!’ So it proved. Things, at length, took the expected turn. Many long out-standing bills came in. His capital accumulated. His business also increased in so extraordinary a manner that several clerks were necessary to keep it in order, and ensure punctuality. DICKEY was almost as true as a clock to his time, in attending to orders. His character for fashion was so _emphatic_, that numbers of stylish tradesmen, who found it necessary to have a ‘bettermost coat’ by them, for ‘high days and holidays’ regardless of the charge, employed MR. PRIMEFIT. The sunshine of prosperity was now so complete, that not a single _bum-trap_ had crossed the threshold of DICKEY’S door, in the way of _private_ business, for many a long day past. In short, MR. PRIMEFIT had realised the climax of his exertions--he had _measured_ his way into a carriage. DICKEY was principally distinguished for the _cut_ of his coats. To CORINTHIAN TOM he was peculiarly indebted, as a leader of the fashion. It was owing to this circumstance that MR. PRIMEFIT waited in person at CORINTHIAN HOUSE; indeed, the active use of the scissors and parchment had long been removed from the hands of DICKEY, and his principal occupation now consisted of _talking_ over the versatility of fashion to his customers, and giving directions to his men. But the slightest idea that might drop from CORINTHIAN TOM respecting the advantages of dress was what DICKEY could not resist, and he, therefore, ordered his carriage immediately to attend upon the rustic JERRY at once.

“TOM and JERRY, previously to the arrival of the _apparel-furnisher_, had been discussing the advantages resulting from _dress_ and ADDRESS; and the CORINTHIAN had also been pointing out to his Coz not to _skim_ too lightly over so important a subject, but to peruse with most marked attention that _grand living_ BOOK of _books_:--MAN!!!”

=Whetstone Park.=--A lane between Holborn and Lincoln’s-Inn-Field’s. Formerly famed for being the resort of women of the town.

=Whistling Shop.=--A place in which spirits are sold without a licence. “Who that has ever visited a Friend undergoing a three months’ purification in the Fleet or King’s Bench, but has been introduced to a _Whistling Shop_; and who that has been initiated into its sacred rites, would basely betray his knowledge. No one at all ambitious of bearing the character of the real thing. Neither Mr. Brown nor Marshal Jones would thank any _Paul Pry_ for splitting on this point. Any reader that may not have visited a _Whistling Shop_, cannot do better than put a little of the _bustle_ in his poke; call on the first Friend he has in _Limbo_, and get introduced to one as quickly as possible; and thus do a double good, furnish himself with a little useful information, and cheer a Pal in distress at the same time.

=Whitechapel.=--Anything low, mean, or paltry. _A Whitechapel portion_, a smock, and what nature gave. _Whitechapel breed_, fat, ragged, and saucy. _Whitechapel Beau_, one who dresses with a needle and thread, and undresses with a knife. _A Whitechapel Brougham_, a costermonger’s donkey-barrow.

=Wipe.=--A nose handkerchief.

=Wrench, Benjamin.=--Comedian; original Corinthian Tom at the Adelphi, died November 24, 1843, aged 67.

=Wrekin Tavern.=--In Broad Court, Drury Lane, was much frequented by first-rate theatricals, authors, poets, painters, gentlemen of the press, men of the world, and intelligent persons in general, and was a house of entertainment of no common description, kept at the time by a Mr. Williams, a person connected with literary pursuits. It was to the Wrekin Tavern that Edmund Kean was conveyed on the ever-memorable night of the 24th of March, 1833, when he partly played Othello to his son Charles’s Iago, at Covent Garden Theatre. And described thus by his biographer:--

“After making one or two feeble steps towards his son, and attempting the speech of:--

Villian, be sure thou prove my love a whore; Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof, &c.

“When his head sunk on his son’s shoulder, and the tragedian’s acting was at an end. He was able to groan out a few words in Charles’s ear--‘I am dying--speak to them for me;’ after which (the audience refusing in kindness, to hear any apology) he was borne from the stage. His son, assisted by other persons, carried him to his dressing-room, and laid him on a sofa. He was as cold as ice; his pulse was scarcely perceptible; and he was unconscious of all that was going on around him. In this state he remained some time, when the remedies which were applied having restored him to his senses, he was taken to the ‘Wrekn’ Tavern, near the theatre, and Messrs. Carpue and Duchez, the surgeons, were sent for. From the Wrekin Tavern, he was after a week’s stay, removed to Richmond: where he died on the fifteenth day of May, 1833.”

The Wrekin Tavern--the Times--and the Proprietors underwent many changes from good, bad, and very indifferent; in fact, the character of house and company was entirely altered--_O tempora! O mores!_ Here Johnny Broome, the pugilist, who was born at Birmingham, 1817, and the successful hero of six or seven battles in the P.R., and also the prime mover in “The Great Brighton Card Cheating Case,” committed suicide by cutting his throat, May 31, 1855.

LONDON: E. A. Beckett, Printer, 111 & 113, Kingsland Road, E.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Books published by G. Virtue, Ivy-lane, Paternoster-row_:--

BOXIANA; or, Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism; including every Exploit from the Days of Figg and Broughton to the present year (1829); with Biographical Memoirs of all the Boxers, particulars of their age, weight, style of fighting, &c.; and interspersed with a variety of Sporting Anecdotes, never before published. By PIERCE EGAN.

Also in royal 8vo. price £1 16s., embellished with 36 beautifully coloured, characteristic plates and woodcuts, from scenes in real life, by I. R. and G. Cruikshank.

=A New Edition of Life in London=; or, the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant Friend, Corinthian Tom, in their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis. By Pierce Egan.

Also, just published, uniform with the above, price £1 16s., embellished with 36 richly coloured scenes from real life, and spirited wood cuts, by R. Cruikshank.

“Begar here’s Monsieur Tonson come again.”

=Pierce Egan’s Finish= to the =Adventures= of =Tom, Jerry=, and =Logic=, in their Pursuits through Life In and Out of London. Being the Second Part, or Continuation of ‘Life in London,’ calculated to attract the Corinthian, entertain the Sportsman, relieve the cares of the Merchant, a specific against Ennui, delight the Country Folks, please Everybody, and ‘No Mistake.’

Also, by the same Author, and uniform with the above.

=The Life of an Actor, Peregrine Proteus.= Illustrated by Twenty-seven coloured Scenes, representing the Vicissitudes of the Stage; and nine beautiful wood cuts. By Pierce Egan, Author of ‘Life in London,’ ‘Tom and Jerry,’ &c. Price £1 1s. in boards; or in nine parts, at 2s. 6d. each.

“The present work is one of the best exemplifications of Mr. Egan’s peculiar talents. It is impossible for us to do justice to the spirit of the designs, many of which would not discredit the pencil of Hogarth.”--_Monthly Critical Gazette._

[2] =Quarterly Review=, the organ of the Tory party, first appeared in February, 1809, under the editorship of William Gifford, the celebrated translator of “Juvenal.” He died 31 December, 1826.

[3] =Edinburgh Review= was founded October, 1802, by Francis Jeffrey, Scotch lawyer, critic, and politician, Francis Horner, Brougham, Rev. Sidney Smith, and other Whigs.

[4] =Fistulæ and Piles.=--Mr. Van Butchell, Surgeon Accoucheur No. 2, Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, having, without cutting or confinement, in the short space of three weeks, cured me of the above-named complaints (under which I had laboured for nearly four years). I am prompted by gratitude to him publicly to state, that I had previously consulted several Surgeons, who pronounced my cure impossible, without submitting to the painful operation of cutting, to which dangerous experiment I had always been averse, and therefore despaired of ever regaining my health, till, on applying to Mr. Van Butchell, to whom I was strongly recommended, he, in the short space above-mentioned, realized his assurances by performing a perfect cure.

Newhaven, Sussex. THOMAS EAGLES, Butcher & Salesman.

[5] =John Abernethy=, Surgeon and Physiologist, 1764-1831.

[6] =William Blackwood=, Scotch bookseller, born 1776; established “Blackwood’s Magazine,” 1817, died 1834.

[7] POCKET-BOOK. Townsend’s first introduction to the police, it seems, was owing to his knowledge of the numerous persons hanged, transported, &c.; he having kept a regular journal to that effect. This calender of offences gave him a great superiority over his fellows.

[8] JAMES GILLRAY, the famous caricaturist, 1785-1815.

[9] In Cheyne walk, Chelsea, was the museum and coffee house of Don Saltero, renowned in the swimming exploits of Dr. Franklin. The landlord, James Salter, was a noted barber, who made a collection of natural curiosities, which acquired him the name (probably first given him by Steele,) of Don Saltero.--_See_ _Tatler_, Nos. 34, 195 and 226.--The quiet tavern remains, but the museum was dispersed by auction about the year 1807. Another wonder was the Old Chelsea Bun-house, which possessed a sort of rival museum to Don Saltero’s. It was taken down in 1839.--_John Timbs Curiosities of London._

[10] This is certainly good and correct advice, but, perhaps the metaphor might have proved rather more _illustrative_, if the old adage had been quoted, that, “_when at_ ROME _do as_ ROME _does_!”

[11] =Pea-Green Hayne.= _See_ page 195.

[12] =Parson Colton=:--Rev. Caleb C. Colton, A.M., eccentric clergyman; published “Lacon; or, Many Things in Few Words; addressed to Those Who Think.” 1820-25.--Died by suicide 29th April, 1832.

[13] =The Three R’s.=--Sir William Curtis being asked at a City Banquet to give a toast said--“I will give you Gemmen the three R’s, that’s Reading! Riting!! and Rithmetic!!!”

[14] =None but himself can be his parallel.=--Louis Theobald’s--_The Double Falsehood_, Act iii. Sc. 2.

“Quæris Alcidæ parem? Nemo est nisi ipse.” SENECA, _Hercules Furens_, Act. i., Sc. 1.

[15] =This Piece=--that is to say the Adelphi Dramatic Version, as written, printed, and published by Mr. W. T. Moncrieff, at No. 104, Drury Lane. 1824.

[16] Not out of _wind_, nor beat to a _stand-still_; but sorry that I am compelled to _forfeit_ on the 1st of January, 1821, being out of _condition_ to appear _bang-up_ at the _scratch_!

[17] =Jack Randall=, the _Nonpareil_, of the Ring, was then keeping the Hole-in-the-Wall, in Chancery Lane. _See_ RANDALL, page 199.

[18] =Crooky Booked= it, _i.e._, Cruikshank made a mental note; or, sketch of the circumstance at the time:--“When found, make a note of.”

[19] =Leicester Fields.=--Now Leicester Square, so called from a family mansion of the Sydneys, Earls of Leicester, which stood on the north-east side.

[20] THE PLATE in question occurs at page 276 of the work, and is entitled--“LIFE IN LONDON.--_Peep O’ Day-Boys; A Street Row, the Author losing his ‘reader;’ Tom and Jerry showing fight, and Logic floored._” N.B.--A Catnachian pirated copy of the Plate will be found at page 36 and 99, of the present work.--But a far better idea of this, and all the other Plates by the Brothers Cruikshank: in Colours after the Originals, will be found in the reprint of LIFE IN LONDON: Published by Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. Crown 8vo., cloth extra 7s. 6d.--_Editor._

[21] Mr. Jones of the firm of Sherwood, Jones and Co., Publishers, Paternoster Row, London.

[22] Literary.

[23] A half-penny.

[24] Short-hand.

[25] One pound note. An author, indeed, with money in his pocket-book, would be a novelty in Life in London. But in the North, they are not quite so SCOTT free in this respect. Merit is at all times, worthy of reward.

[26] MR. PARRY, the celebrated composer of the Welsh Melodies and several other popular pieces of music; a gentleman well known in the musical world, and who has risen to the well-merited eminence he now enjoys entirely from the possession of superior talents. MR. PARRY was originally the master of the Derbyshire Band, and the fife was the first instrument he excelled upon, when quite a boy; but his performances on the flageolet are exquisitely fine, and the admiration of all those persons who have heard him.

[27] PAINTINGS OF HOGARTH AND HAYMAN.=At the sale of the movable property, Oct., 1841, twenty-four pictures by William Hogarth [1697-1764] and Francis Hayman, R.A., historical painter [1708-1776] produced but small sums: they had mostly been upon the premises since 1742; the canvas was nailed to boards, and much obscured by dirt. Those by Hogarth fetched as follows.--A Drunken Man, £4 4s.; A Woman pulling out an Old Man’s grey hairs, £3 3s.; Jobson and Nell in the _Devil to Pay_, £4 4s.: The Happy Family, £3 15s.; Children at Play, £4 11s. 6d. Those by Hayman:--Children Bird’s-nesting, £5 10s.; Minstrels, £3; The Enraged Husband, £4 4s.; The Bridal Day, £6 6s.; Blindman’s Buff, £3 8s.; Prince Henry and Falstaff, £7: Scene from the Rake’s Progress, £9 15s.; Merry-making, £1 12s.; The Jealous Husband, £4; Card-party, £6; Children’s Party, £4 15s.; Battledore and Shuttlecock, £1 10s.; The Doctor, £4 14s. 6d.; Cherrybob, £2 15s.; The Storming of Seringapatam, £8 10s.; Neptune and Britannia, £8 15s. Four busts of Simpson, the celebrated Master of the Ceremonies, were sold for 10s.; and a bust of his royal shipmate, William IV.--not a sovereign!--only 19s. Among the Vauxhall composers were Arne, Boyce, Carter, Mountain, Hook (father to Theodore Edward) and Signor Storace. Male singers: Beard, Tommy Lowe, Webb, Charley Dignum, Vernon, Incledon, Braham, Pyne, Sinclair, Tinney--Pretty Jane Robinson, Paul Bedford, W. H. Williams, Sharp, Weekes, &c. Females: Miss Brent, Mrs. Wrighten, Mrs. Weischel (mother of Mrs. Billington), Mrs. Mountain, Mrs. Crouch, Mrs. Bland, Miss Tryer (afterwards Mrs. Liston), Miss Graddon, Miss Love, Miss Tunstall, Miss P. Horton, &c. Italian Operas were performed here in 1829. The band were the last to wear the semi-circular or cocked hat:--

“By the high dome that trembling glows With lamps, cock’d hats, and shiv’ring bows, How many hearts are shook! A feather’d chorister is there, Warbling some tender, grove-like air. Composed by Mr. Hook.”--_London Magazine_, Sept., 1824.

[28] =Vauxhall Slices! or Ham Shavings!=--_See_ page 213. _Apropos_ to the subject we here insert the following _J’eu d’esprit_: from BELL’S LIFE IN LONDON: August 2, 1829.

A NEW SONG TO AN OLD TUNE.

[Mr. Moncrieff, the Dramatist, having received an invitation to supper from the Proprietors of Vauxhall, returned one of the Gentlemen the following extemporaneous answer:--]

By thy cold fowls, each worth, at least a _crown_-- And by thy _ham_ which makes these fowls go down-- By thy French rolls--thy beef and pickled ghirkins-- By thy brown stout, by _Barclay_ brew’d and _Perkins_-- And by thy lettuce, from the isle of Cos-- Thy pepper, vinegar, and mustard, pos.-- In that same place thou hast appointed me, This ev’ning, truly, will I meet with thee!

By thy old port, and thy particular sherry, With which men, for six shillings, oft get merry-- By thy Sauterne, thy Hock, and thy Bucellas, Thy real Champagne--Nectar of good fellows-- By thy best _Chateau Margaux_; and again, By Mr. Simpson,[A] blandest, best of men! In that same place thou hast appointed me, This ev’ning, truly, will I meet with thee.

By thy Italian singers, whose fine throats Produce such a vast quantity of notes-- By thy _Hydraulics_ and thy _Cosmoramas_, Delight of all town-visiting clods and farmers-- By thy famed fire-works, pleasing great and small-- And by thy _rack-punch_, greatest charm of all! In that same place thou hast appointed me, This ev’ning, truly, will I meet with thee!

[A] M.C., and Inspector of the Gardens.

[29] The late John Camden Hotten’s Introduction to the new edition of “Life in London.” Chatto & Windus: Piccadilly.

[30] Mr. Pierce Egan says:--“Mr. Barrymore’s Burletta was _thought of_, written, and got up, in five days. As a friend, I attended the rehearsals, notwithstanding I had previously made an outline of a Drama for myself.”

[31] AN ITALIAN TURN-UP.

_Surprising Novelty in the Sporting Circle._

On Tuesday next, at Seven o’Clock in the Evening,

_A special grand combat will be decided at the_

WESTMINSTER PIT,

FOR ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS,

Between the extraordinary and celebrated creature, the famed Italian Monkey:

JACCO MACCACCO,

And a Dog of 20lbs. weight, the property of a Nobleman well-known in the circle.

[32] Tom Cribb, born at Hanham, Gloucestershire, July 8, 1781. His last fight was with Molineux, a black, for £600, at Thistleton Gap, September 28, 1811. Presented by the Sporting World with a cup of the value of eighty guineas, December 2, 1811, at the Castle Tavern, Holborn. Which he received from the hands of Mr. Emery, the comedian, who made the following complimentary address:--“THOMAS CRIBB, I have the honour this day of being the representative of a numerous and most respectable body of your friends; and though I am by no means qualified to attempt the undertaking which has devolved on me, by a vote of the subscribers, yet the cause will, I am confident, prove a sufficient excuse for my want of ability. You are requested to accept this CUP, as a tribute of respect for the uniform valour and integrity you have shown in your several combats, but, most particularly, for the additional proofs of native skill and manly intrepidity displayed by you in your last memorable battle, when the cause rested not merely upon individual fame, but for the pugilistic reputation of your native country, in contending with a formidable foreign antagonist. In that combat you gave proof that the innovating hand of a foreigner, when lifted against a son of Britannia, must not only be aided by the _strength_ of a LION but the HEART also.

“The fame you have so well earned has been by manly and upright conduct, and which I have no doubt will ever mark your very creditable retirement from the ring or stage of pugilism. However intoxicated the _cup_ or its _contents_ may at any future period make you, I am sufficiently persuaded the gentlemen present, and the sons of John Bull in general, will never consider you have a _cup_ too much.”

Tom Cribb took a farewell benefit under the auspices of the Pugilistic Association, at the National Baths, Westminster Road, November 12, 1840. Died in High Street, Woolwich, May 11, 1848. Monument erected to his memory in Woolwich Churchyard, May 1, 1851.

[33] ALL-MAX IN THE EAST.--The very antipodes of the _Almack’s in the West_--was held at the Coach and Horses public house, Nightingale-lane, East Smithfield, which was kept by a person of the appropriate name of MACE. Here it required no patronage;--a card of admission was not necessary; no enquiries were made, and every _cove_ that put in his appearance was quite welcome, colour or country considered no obstacle; and _dress_ and ADDRESS completely out of the question. _Ceremonies_ were not in use, therefore no struggle took place at ALL-MAX for the master of them. The parties _paired off_ to _fancy_; the eye was pleased in the choice, and nothing thought of about birth and distinction. _All was happiness!_--every body free and easy, and freedom of expression allowed to the very echo. The group motley indeed;--Lascars, blacks, jack tars, coalheavers, dustmen, women of colour, old and young, and a sprinkling of the remnants of once fine girls, &c. were all _jigging_ together, provided the _teazer of the catgut_ was not _bilked_ out of his _duce_. _Gloves_ might have been laughed at, as dirty hands produced no _squeamishness_ on the heroines in the dance, and the scene changed as often as a pantomime, from the continual introduction of new characters. _Heavy wet_ was the cooling beverage, but frequently overtaken by _flashes of lightning_.

“I am quite satisfied in my mind, said LOGIC to TOM, it is the LOWER ORDERS of society who really enjoy themselves. They eat with a good appetite, _hunger_ being the sauce; they _drink_ with zest, in being _thirsty_ from their exertions, and not _nice_ in their beverage, and, as to _dress_, it is not an object of serious consideration with them. Their minds are daily occupied with work, which they quit with the intention of _enjoying_ themselves, and _enjoyment_ is the result; not like the rich, who are out night after night to _kill_ time, and what is worse, dissatisfied with almost every thing that crosses their path, from dulness of _repetition_.”

“There is too much truth about your argument, I must admit,” replied CORINTHIAN; “and among the scenes that we have witnessed together, where the LOWER ORDER have been taking their _pleasure_, I confess they have appeared ALL HAPPINESS. I am sorry I cannot say as much for the higher ranks of society.”

[34] E. L. Blanchard’s History of the Adelphi Theatre.

[35] Mr. Edmund Kean.

[36] Mr. Joseph Munden.

[37] It is well-known that the dust hill at the bottom of Gray’s Inn Lane, near Battle Bridge, was sold for some thousands of pounds, and was shipped off to Russia, to aid in the rebuilding of Moscow.--_Pierce Egan._

[38] Our thanks are due, and are hereby given to Crawford John Pocock, Esq., of Cannon Place, Brighton, for the loan and use of his--what we feel almost inclined to consider--unique copy of Catnach’s broadside of “Life in London.”--PRICE TWO PENCE.

[39] TESTAMENT, is perfectly correct. The words _will_ and _testament_ are generally used indiscriminately; but they are not words exactly of the same import. A _will_, is properly limited to land; a _testament_, to personal estate, as money, furniture, &c., &c.

[40] Carey Street, and its immediate neighbourhood, abounded in spunging-houses.

[41] CORINTHIAN TOM, it appears, was rather in doubt whether _bulls_ or _bears_ were disposed of by MR. TATTERSALL.