Chapter II: Preface: To the First Edition (1)

If any gentleman of a studious turn of mind, who may have acquired the habit of carrying pencils and notebooks, would for one year reside in Monmouth Court, Seven Dials; six months in Orchard Street, Westminster; three months in Mint Street, Borough; and consent to undergo another three months on the extremely popular, but very much disliked treadmill (_vulgo_ the “Everlasting Staircase”), finishing, I will propose, by a six months’ tramp, in the character of a cadger and beggar, over England, I have not the least doubt but that he would be able to write an interesting work on the languages, secret and vulgar, of the lower orders.

In the matter of SLANG, our studious friend would have to divide his time betwixt observation and research. Conversations on the outsides of omnibuses, on steamboat piers, or at railway termini, would demand his most attentive hearing, so would the knots of semi-decayed cabmen, standing about in bundles of worn-out great-coats and haybands, betwixt watering pails, and conversing in a dialect every third word of which is without home or respectable relations. He would also have to station himself for hours near gatherings of ragged boys playing or fighting, but ever and anon contributing to the note-book a pure street term. He would have to “hang about” lobbies, mark the refined word-droppings of magniloquent flunkies, “run after” all the popular preachers, go to the Inns of Court, be up all night and about all day—in fact, be a ubiquitarian, with a note-book and pencil in hand.

As for research, he would have to turn over each page of our popular literature, wander through all the weekly serials, wade through the newspapers, fashionable and unfashionable, and subscribe to Mudie’s, and scour the novels. This done, and if he has been an observant man, I will engage to say, that he has made a choice gathering, and that we may reasonably expect an interesting little book.

I give this outline of preparatory study to show the reason the task has never been undertaken before. People in the present chase after respectability don’t care to turn blackguards, and exchange cards with the Whitechapel Pecker or the Sharp’s-alley Chicken, for the sake of a few vulgar, although curious words; and we may rest assured that it is quite impossible to write any account of vulgar or low language, and remain seated on damask in one’s own drawing room. But a fortunate circumstance attended the compiler of the present work, and he has neither been required to reside in Seven Dials, visit the treadmill, or wander over the country in the character of a vagabond or a cadger.

In collecting old ballads, penny histories, and other printed street narratives, as materials for a _History of Cheap or Popular Literature_, he frequently had occasion to purchase in Seven Dials and the Borough a few old songs or dying speeches, from the chaunters and patterers who abound in those neighbourhoods. With some of these men (their names would not in the least interest the reader, and would only serve the purpose of making this Preface look like a vulgar page from the London Directory) an arrangement was made, that they should collect the cant and slang words used by the different wandering tribes of London and the country. Some of these chaunters are men of respectable education (although filling a vagabond’s calling), and can write good hands, and express themselves fluently, if not with orthographical correctness. To prevent deception and mistakes, the words and phrases sent in were checked off by other chaunters and tramps. Assistance was also sought and obtained, through an intelligent printer in Seven Dials, from the costermongers in London, and the pedlars and hucksters who traverse the country. In this manner the greater number of cant words were procured, very valuable help being continually derived from _Mayhew’s London Labour and London Poor_, a work which had gone over much of the same ground. The slang and vulgar expressions were gleaned from every source which appeared to offer any materials; indeed the references attached to words in the Dictionary frequently indicate the channels which afforded them.

Although in the Introduction I have divided cant from slang, and treated the subjects separately, yet in the Dictionary I have only, in a few instances, pointed out which are slang, or which are cant terms. The task would have been a difficult one. Many words which were once cant are slang now. The words PRIG and COVE are instances in point. Once cant and secret terms, they are now only street vulgarisms.

The etymologies attempted are only given as contributions to the subject, and the derivation of no vulgar term is guaranteed. The origin of many street words will, perhaps, never be discovered, having commenced with a knot of illiterate persons, and spread amongst a public that cared not a fig for the history of the word, so long as it came to their tongues to give a vulgar piquancy to a joke, or relish to an exceedingly familiar conversation. The references and authorities given in italics frequently show only the direction or probable source of the etymology. The author, to avoid tedious verbiage, was obliged, in so small a work, to be curt in his notes and suggestions.

He has to explain also that a few words will, probably, be noticed in the Slang and Cant Dictionary that are questionable as coming under either of those designations. These have been admitted because they were originally either vulgar terms, or the compiler had something novel to say concerning them. The makers of our large dictionaries have been exceedingly crotchety in their choice of what they considered respectable words. It is amusing to know that Richardson used the word HUMBUG to explain the sense of other words, but omitted it in the alphabetical arrangement as not sufficiently respectable and ancient. The word SLANG, too, he served in the same way.

Filthy and obscene words have been carefully excluded, although street-talk, unlicensed and unwritten, abounds in these.

“Immodest words admit of no defence,
For want of decency is want of sense.”

It appears from the calculations of philologists, that there are 38,000 words in the English language, including derivations. I believe I have, for the first time, in consecutive order, added at least 3,000 words to the previous stock,—vulgar and often very objectionable, but still terms in every-day use, and employed by thousands. It is not generally known, that the polite Lord Chesterfield once desired Dr. Johnson to compile a Slang Dictionary; indeed, it was Chesterfield, some say, who first used the word HUMBUG. Words, like peculiar styles of dress, get into public favour, and come and go in fashion. When great favourites and universal they truly become household words, although generally considered slang, when their origin or antecedents are inquired into.

A few errors of the press, I am sorry to say, may be noticed; but, considering the novelty of the subject, and the fact that no fixed orthography of vulgar speech exists, it will, I hope, be deemed a not uninteresting essay on a new and very singular branch of human inquiry; for, as Mayhew remarks, “the whole subject of cant and slang is, to the philologist, replete with interest of the most profound character.”

THE COMPILER WILL BE MUCH OBLIGED BY THE RECEIPT, THROUGH MR. CAMDEN HOTTEN, THE PUBLISHER, OF ANY CANT, SLANG, OR VULGAR WORDS NOT MENTIONED IN THE DICTIONARY. THE PROBABLE ORIGIN, OR ETYMOLOGY, OF ANY FASHIONABLE OR UNFASHIONABLE VULGARISM, WILL ALSO BE RECEIVED BY HIM WITH THANKS.

_Piccadilly, June 30th, 1859._

CONTENTS.

THE HISTORY OF CANT, OR THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF VAGABONDS.

PAGE

Black and Coloured VAGABONDS—Vagabonds all over Europe—Vagabonds
Universal 1–5

Etymology of CANT—Cant used in old times—Difference between Cant
and Slang 5–7

THE GIPSEYS—Gipseys taught English Vagabonds—The Gipsey-Vagabond
alliance—The Origin of Cant—Vulgar words from the Gipsey—Gipsey
element in the English language—The poet Moore on the origin of
Cant—Borrow on the Gipsey language—The inventor of Canting not
hanged 7–15

OLD CANT words still used—Old Cant words with modern meanings—The
words “_Rum_” and “_Queer_” explained—Old Cant words entirely
obsolete 16–19

THE OLDEST “ROGUE’S DICTIONARY” 20–26

“Jaw-breakers,” or hard words, used as Cant—Were Highwaymen educated
men?—Vagabonds used Foreign words as Cant—The Lingua Franca, or
Bastard Italian—Cant derived from Jews and Showmen—Classic words
used as English Cant—Old English words used as Cant—Old English
words not fashionable now—Our old Authors very vulgar persons—Was
Shakespere a pugilist?—Old Dramatists used Cant words—Curious
systems of Cant 26–35

ACCOUNT OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS USED BY VAGABONDS.

MENDICANT FREEMASONRY—Hieroglyphics of Vagabonds—Maps used by
Beggars—Account of a Cadger’s Map—Explanation of the
Hieroglyphics—Did the Gipseys invent them?—The Murderer’s Signal on
the Gallows 36–43

THE HISTORY OF SLANG, OR THE VULGAR LANGUAGE OF FAST LIFE.

Slang at Babylon and Nineveh—Old English Slang—Slang in the time of
Cromwell; and in the Court of Charles II.—Swift and Arbuthnot fond
of Slang—The origin of “_Cabbage_”—“The Real Simon Pure”—Tom Brown
and Ned Ward—Did Dr. Johnson compile a Slang Dictionary?—John Bee’s
absurd etymology of _Slang_—The true origin of the term—Derived from
the Gipseys—Burns and his fat friend, Grose—Slang used by all
classes, High and Low—Slang in Parliament, and amongst our
friends—New words not so reprehensible as old words burdened with
strange meanings—The poor Foreigner’s perplexity—Long and windy
Slang words—Vulgar corruptions 44–55

FASHIONABLE SLANG 58

PARLIAMENTARY SLANG 60

MILITARY AND DANDY SLANG 62

UNIVERSITY SLANG 64

RELIGIOUS SLANG 66

LEGAL SLANG, or Slang amongst the Lawyers 70

LITERARY SLANG, _Punch_ on “Slang and Sanscrit” 71

THEATRICAL SLANG, or Slang both before and behind the curtain 75

CIVIC SLANG 77

SLANG TERMS FOR MONEY—Her Majesty’s coin is insulted by one hundred
and thirty distinct Slang terms—Old Slang terms for money—The
classical origin of Slang money terms—The terms used by the Ancient
Romans vulgarisms in the Nineteenth Century 78–82

SHOPKEEPERS’ SLANG 82

WORKMEN’S SLANG, or Slang in the workshop—Many Slang terms for
money derived from operatives 83

SLANG APOLOGIES FOR OATHS, or sham exclamations for passion and
temper—Slang swearing 85

SLANG TERMS FOR DRUNKENNESS, and the graduated scale of fuddlement
and intoxication 86

DICTIONARY OF MODERN SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS; _many with their
etymologies traced, together with illustrations, and references to
authorities_ 89–249

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE BACK SLANG, the secret language of
Costermongers—The principle of the Back Slang—Boys and girls soon
acquire it—The Back Slang unknown to the Police—Costermongers’ terms
for money—Arithmetic amongst the Costermongers 251–255

GLOSSARY OF BACK SLANG 257–262

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RHYMING SLANG, the secret language of Chaunters
and Patterers—The origin of the Rhyming Slang—Spoken principally by
Vagabond Poets, Patterers, and Cheap Jacks—Patterers “well up” in
Street Slang—Curious Slang Letter from a Chaunter 263–268

GLOSSARY OF THE RHYMING SLANG 269–273

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR LANGUAGE, or a list of
the books which have been consulted in the compilation of this work,
comprising nearly every known treatise upon the subject 275–290

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 291

Opinions of the Press upon the First Edition of this
work—List of New Publications, &c. 293–300

THE HISTORY OF CANT,

OR, THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF VAGABONDS.

CANT and SLANG are universal and world-wide.

Nearly every nation on the face of the globe, polite and barbarous, may be divided into two portions, the stationary and the wandering, the civilised and the uncivilised, the respectable and the scoundrel,—those who have fixed abodes and avail themselves of the refinements of civilisation, and those who go from place to place picking up a precarious livelihood by petty sales, begging, or theft. This peculiarity is to be observed amongst the heathen tribes of the southern hemisphere, as well as the oldest and most refined countries of Europe. As Mayhew very pertinently remarks, “it would appear, that not only are all races divisible into wanderers and settlers, but that each civilised or settled tribe has generally some wandering horde intermingled with, and in a measure preying upon it.” In South Africa, the naked and miserable Hottentots are pestered by the still more abject _Sonquas_; and it may be some satisfaction for us to know that our old enemies at the Cape, the Kafirs, are troubled with a tribe of rascals called _Fingoes_,—the former term, we are informed by travellers, signifying beggars, and the latter wanderers and outcasts. In South America, and among the islands of the Pacific, matters are pretty much the same. Sleek and fat rascals, with not much inclination towards honesty, fatten, or rather fasten, like body insects, upon other rascals, who would be equally sleek and fat but for their vagabond dependents. Luckily for respectable persons, however, vagabonds, both at home and abroad, show certain outward peculiarities which distinguish them from the great mass of lawful people off whom they feed and fatten. Personal observation, and a little research into books, enable me to mark these external traits. The wandering races are remarkable for the development of the bones of the face, as the jaws, cheek-bones, &c., high crowned, stubborn-shaped heads, quick restless eyes,[1] and hands nervously itching to be doing;[2] for their love of gambling,—staking their very existence upon a single cast; for sensuality of all kinds; _and for their use of a CANT language with which to conceal their designs and plunderings_.

The secret jargon, or rude speech, of the vagabonds who hang upon the Hottentots is termed _cuze-cat_. In Finland, the fellows who steal seal skins, pick the pockets of bear-skin overcoats, and talk Cant, are termed Lappes. In France, the secret language of highwaymen, housebreakers, and pickpockets is named _Argot_. The brigands and more romantic rascals of Spain, term their private tongue _Germania_, or Robbers’ Language. _Rothwalsch_, or Red Italian, is synonymous with Cant and thieves’ talk in Germany. The vulgar dialect of Malta, and the Scala towns of the Levant—imported into this country and incorporated with English cant—is known as the _Lingua Franca_, or bastard Italian. And the crowds of lazy beggars that infest the streets of Naples and Rome, and the brigands that Albert Smith used to describe near Pompeii—stopping a railway train, and deliberately rifling the pockets and baggage of the passengers—their secret language is termed _Gergo_. In England, as we all know, it is called _Cant_—often improperly _Slang_.

Most nations, then, may boast, or rather lament, a vulgar tongue, formed principally from the national language, the hereditary property of thieves, tramps, and beggars,—the pests of civilised communities. The formation of these secret tongues vary, of course, with the circumstances surrounding the speakers. A writer in _Notes and Queries_,[3] has well remarked, that “the investigation of the origin and principles of Cant and Slang language opens a curious field of enquiry, replete with considerable interest to the philologist and the philosopher. It affords a remarkable instance of lingual contrivance, which, without the introduction of much arbitrary matter, has developed a system of communicating ideas, having all the advantages of a foreign language.”

An inquiry into the etymology of foreign vulgar secret tongues, and their analogy with that spoken in England, would be curious and interesting in the extreme, but neither present space nor personal acquirements permit of the task, and therefore the writer confines himself to a short account of the origin of English Cant.

The terms CANT and CANTING were doubtless derived from _chaunt_ or _chaunting_,—the “whining tone, or modulation of voice adopted by beggars, with intent to coax, wheedle, or cajole by pretensions of wretchedness.”[4] For the origin of the other application of the word CANT, pulpit hypocrisy, we are indebted to a pleasant page in the Spectator (No. 147):—“_Cant_ is by some people derived from one Andrew Cant, who, they say, was a Presbyterian minister in some illiterate part of Scotland, who by exercise and use had obtained the faculty, alias gift, of talking in the pulpit in such a dialect that ’tis said he was understood by none but his own congregation,—and not by all of them. Since Master _Cant’s_ time it has been understood in a larger sense, and signifies all exclamations, whinings, unusual tones, and, in fine, all praying and preaching like the unlearned of the Presbyterians.” This anecdote is curious, if it is not correct. It was the custom in Addison’s time to have a fling at the blue Presbyterians, and the mention made by _Whitelocke_ of Andrew Cant, a fanatical Scotch preacher, and the squib upon the same worthy, in _Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed_, may probably have started the whimsical etymology. As far as we are concerned, however, in the present inquiry, CANT was derived from _chaunt_, a beggar’s whine; CHAUNTING being the recognised term amongst beggars to this day for begging orations and street whinings; and CHAUNTER, a street talker and tramp, the very term still used by strollers and patterers. The use of the word CANT, amongst beggars, must certainly have commenced at a very early date, for we find “TO CANTE, to speake,” in Harman’s list of Rogues’ Words in the year 1566; and Harrison about the same time,[5] in speaking of beggars and Gipseys, says, “they have devised a language among themselves which they name CANTING, but others Pedlars’ Frenche.”

Now the word CANT in its old sense, and SLANG[6] in its modern application, although used by good writers and persons of education as synonymes, are in reality quite distinct and separate terms. CANT, apart from religious hypocrisy, refers to the old secret language, by allegory or distinct terms, of Gipseys, thieves, tramps, and beggars. SLANG represents that evanescent, vulgar language, ever changing with fashion and taste, which has principally come into vogue during the last seventy or eighty years, spoken by persons in every grade of life, rich and poor, honest and dishonest.[7] CANT is old; SLANG is always modern and changing. To illustrate the difference: a thief in _Cant_ language would term a horse a PRANCER or a PRAD,—while in _slang_, a man of fashion would speak of it as a BIT OF BLOOD, or a SPANKER, or a NEAT TIT. A handkerchief, too, would be a BILLY, a FOGLE, or a KENT RAG, in the secret language of low characters,—whilst amongst vulgar persons, or those who aped their speech, it would be called a RAG, a WIPE, or a CLOUT. CANT was formed for purposes of secrecy. SLANG is indulged in from a desire to appear familiar with life, gaiety, town-humour, and with the transient nick names and street jokes of the day. Both Cant and Slang, I am aware, are often huddled together as synonymes, but they are distinct terms, and as such should be used.

To the Gipseys, beggars and thieves are undoubtedly indebted for their Cant language. The Gipseys landed in this country early in the reign of Henry the Eighth. They were at first treated as conjurors and magicians,—indeed they were hailed by the populace with as much applause as a company of English theatricals usually receive on arriving in a distant colony. They came here with all their old Eastern arts of palmistry, fortune-telling, doubling money by incantation and burial,—shreds of pagan idolatry; and they brought with them, also, the dishonesty of the lower caste of Asiatics, and the vagabondism they had acquired since leaving their ancient dwelling places in the East, many centuries before. They possessed, also, a _language_ quite distinct from anything that had been heard in England, and they claimed the title of Egyptians, and as such, when their thievish wandering propensities became a public nuisance, were cautioned and proscribed in a royal proclamation by Henry VIII.[8] The Gipseys were not long in the country before they found native imitators. Vagabondism is peculiarly catching. The idle, the vagrant, and the criminal outcasts of society, caught an idea from the so called Egyptians—soon corrupted to Gipseys. They learned from them how to tramp, sleep under hedges and trees, to tell fortunes, and find stolen property for a consideration—frequently, as the saying runs, before it was lost. They also learned the value and application of a _secret tongue_, indeed all the accompaniments of maunding and imposture, except thieving and begging, which were well known in this country long before the Gipseys paid it a visit,—perhaps the only negative good that can be said in their favour.

_Harman_, in the year 1566, wrote a singular, not to say droll book, entitled, _A Caveat for commen Cvrsetors, vulgarley called Vagabones, newly augmented and inlarged_, wherein the history and various descriptions of rogues and vagabonds are given, together with their canting tongue. This book, the earliest of the kind, gives the singular fact that within a dozen years after the landing of the Gipseys, companies of English vagrants were formed, places of meeting appointed, districts for plunder and begging operations marked out, and rules agreed to for their common management. In some cases Gipseys joined the English gangs, in others English vagrants joined the Gipseys. The fellowship was found convenient and profitable, as both parties were aliens to the laws and customs of the country, living in a great measure in the open air, apart from the lawful public, and often meeting each other on the same bye-path, or in the same retired valley;—but seldom intermarrying, and entirely adopting each other’s habits. The common people, too, soon began to consider them as of one family,—all rogues, and from Egypt. The secret language spoken by the Gipseys, principally Hindoo and extremely barbarous to English ears, was found incomprehensible and very difficult to learn. The Gipseys, also, found the same difficulty with the English language. A rude, rough, and most singular compromise was made, and a mixture of Gipsey, Old English, newly-coined words, and cribbings from any foreign, and therefore secret language, mixed and jumbled together, formed what has ever since been known as the CANTING LANGUAGE, or PEDLER’S FRENCH; or, during the past century, ST. GILES’ GREEK.

Such was the origin of CANT; and in illustration of its blending with the Gipsey or Cingari tongue, dusky and Oriental from the sunny plains of Central Asia, I am enabled to give the accompanying list of Gipsey, and often Hindoo words, with, in many instances, their English adoptions.

_Gipsey._ _English._

BAMBOOZLE, to perplex or BAMBOOZLE, to delude, cheat,
mislead by hiding. _Mod Gip._ or make a fool of any one.

BOSH, rubbish, nonsense, BOSH, stupidity, foolishness.
offal. _Gipsey and Persian._

CHEESE, thing or article, CHEESE, or CHEESY, a
“that’s the CHEESE,” or first-rate or very good
thing. _Gipsey and Hindoo._ article.

CHIVE, the tongue. _Gipsey._ CHIVE, or CHIVEY, a shout,
or loud-tongued.

DADE, or DADI, a father. DADDY, nursery term for
_Gipsey._ father.[9]

DISTARABIN, a prison. _Gipsey._ STURABIN, a prison.

GAD, or GADSI, a wife. _Gipsey._ GAD, a female scold; a woman
who tramps over the country
with a beggar or hawker.

GIBBERISH, the language of GIBBERISH, rapid and
Gipseys, synonymous with unmeaning speech.
SLANG. _Gipsey._

ISCHUR, SCHUR, or CHUR, a CUR, a mean or dishonest man.
thief. _Gipsey and Hindoo._

LAB, a word. _Gipsey._ LOBS, words.

LOWE, or LOWR, money. LOWRE, money. _Ancient Cant._
_Gipsey and Wallachian._

MAMI, a grandmother. _Gipsey._ MAMMY, or MAMMA, a mother,
formerly sometimes used for
grandmother.

MANG, or MAUNG, to beg. MAUND, to beg.
_Gipsey and Hindoo._

MORT, a free woman,—one for MORT, or MOTT, a prostitute.
common use amongst the male
Gipseys, so appointed by
Gipsey custom. _Gipsey._

MU, the mouth. _Gipsey and MOO, or MUN, the mouth.
Hindoo._

MULL, to spoil or destroy. MULL, to spoil, or bungle.
_Gipsey._

PAL, a brother. _Gipsey._ PAL, a partner, or relation.

PANÉ, water. _Gipsey._ PARNEY, rain.
_Hindoo_, PAWNEE.

RIG, a performance. _Gipsey._ RIG, a frolic, or “spree.”

ROMANY, speech or language. ROMANY, the Gipsey language.
_Spanish Gipsey._

ROME, or ROMM, a man. RUM, a good man, or thing.
_Gipsey and Coptick._ In the Robbers’ language of
Spain (partly Gipsey) RUM
signifies a harlot.

ROMEE, a woman. _Gipsey._ RUMY, a good woman or girl.

SLANG, the language spoken SLANG, low, vulgar,
by Gipseys. _Gipsey._ unauthorised language.

TAWNO, little. _Gipsey._ TANNY, TEENY, little.

TSCHIB, or JIBB, the tongue. JIBB, the tongue;
_Gipsey and Hindoo._ JABBER,[10] quick-tongued,
or fast talk.

Here then we have the remarkable fact of several words of pure Gipsey and Asiatic origin going the round of Europe, passing into this country before the Reformation, and coming down to us through numerous generations purely in the mouths of the people. They have seldom been written or used in books, and simply as vulgarisms have they reached our time. Only a few are now cant, and some are household words. The word JOCKEY, as applied to a dealer or rider of horses, came from the Gipsey, and means in that language a whip. Our standard dictionaries give, of course, none but conjectural etymologies. Another word, BAMBOOZLE, has been a sore difficulty with lexicographers. It is not in the old dictionaries, although extensively used in familiar or popular language for the last two centuries; in fact, the very word that Swift, Butler, L’Estrange, and Arbuthnot would pick out at once as a telling and most serviceable term. It is, as we have seen, from the Gipsey; and here I must state that it was Boucher who first drew attention to the fact, although in his remarks on the dusky tongue, he has made a ridiculous mistake by concluding it to be identical with its offspring, CANT. Other parallel instances, with but slight variations from the old Gipsey meanings, could be mentioned, but sufficient examples have been adduced to show that Marsden, the great Oriental scholar in the last century, when he declared before the Society of Antiquaries that the Cant of English thieves and beggars had nothing to do with the language spoken by the despised Gipseys, was in error. Had the Gipsey tongue been analysed and committed to writing three centuries ago, there is every probability that many scores of words now in common use could be at once traced to its source. Instances continually occur now-a-days of street vulgarisms ascending to the drawing-rooms of respectable society. Why, then, may not the Gipsey-vagabond alliance three centuries ago have contributed its quota of common words to popular speech?

I feel confident there is a Gipsey element in the English language hitherto unrecognised; slender it may be, but not, therefore, unimportant.

“Indeed,” says Moore the poet, in a humorous little book, _Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress_, 1819, “the Gipsey language, with the exception of such terms as relate to their own peculiar customs, differs but little from the regular Flash or Cant language.” But this was magnifying the importance of the alliance. Moore knew nothing of the Gipsey tongue other than the few Cant words put into the mouths of the beggars, in _Beaumont and Fletcher’s Comedy of the Beggar’s Bush_, and _Ben Jonson’s Masque of the Gipseys Metamorphosed_,—hence his confounding Cant with Gipsey speech, and appealing to the Glossary of Cant for so called “Gipsey” words at the end of the _Life of Bamfylde Moore Carew_, to bear him out in his assertion. Still his remark bears much truth, and proof would have been found long ago if any scholar had taken the trouble to examine the “barbarous jargon of Cant,” and to have compared it with Gipsey speech. As George Borrow, in his _Account of the Gipseys in Spain_, eloquently concludes his second volume, speaking of the connection of the Gipseys with Europeans:—“Yet from this temporary association were produced two results: European fraud became sharpened by coming into contact with Asiatic craft; whilst European tongues, by imperceptible degrees, became recruited with various words (some of them wonderfully expressive), many of which have long been stumbling-blocks to the philologist, who, whilst stigmatising them as words of mere vulgar invention, or of unknown origin, has been far from dreaming that a little more research or reflection would have proved their affinity to the Sclavonic, Persian, or Romaic, or perhaps to the mysterious object of his veneration, the Sanscrit, the sacred tongue of the palm-covered regions of Ind; words originally introduced into Europe by objects too miserable to occupy for a moment his lettered attention,—the despised denizens of the tents of Roma.”

But the Gipseys, their speech, their character—bad enough as all the world testifies—their history and their religious belief, have been totally disregarded, and their poor persons buffeted and jostled about until it is a wonder that any trace of origin or national speech exists in them. On the continent they received better attention at the hands of learned men. Their language was taken down, their history traced, and their extraordinary customs and practice of living in the open air, and eating raw or putrid meat, explained. They ate reptiles and told fortunes, because they had learnt it through their forefathers centuries back in Hindostan, and they devoured carrion because the Hindoo proverb—“_that which God kills is better than that killed by man_,”[11]—was still in their remembrance. Grellman, a learned German, was their principal historian, and to him we are almost entirely indebted for the little we know of their language.[12]

GIPSEY then started, and partially merged into CANT, and the old story told by Harrison and others, that the first inventor of canting was hanged for his pains, would seem to be a fable, for jargon as it is, it was, doubtless, of gradual formation, like all other languages or systems of speech. The Gipseys at the present day all know the _old cant_ words, as well as their own tongue,—or rather what remains of it. As Borrow states, “the dialect of the English Gipseys is mixed with English words.”[13] Those of the tribe who frequent fairs, and mix with English tramps, readily learn the new words, as they are adopted by what Harman calls, “the fraternity of vagabonds.” Indeed, the old CANT is a common language to vagrants of all descriptions and origin scattered over the British Isles.

Ancient English CANT has considerably altered since the first dictionary was compiled by Harman, in 1566. A great many words are unknown in the present tramps’ and thieves’ vernacular. Some of them, however, bear still their old definitions, while others have adopted fresh meanings,—to escape detection, I suppose. “ABRAHAM MAN” is yet seen in our modern SHAM ABRAHAM, or PLAY THE OLD SOLDIER, _i.e._, to feign sickness or distress. “AUTUM” is still a church or chapel amongst Gipseys; and “BECK,” a constable, is our modern cant and slang BEEK, a policeman or magistrate. “BENE,” or BONE, stands for _good_ in Seven Dials, and the back streets of Westminster; and “BOWSE” is our modern BOOZE, to drink or fuddle. A “BOWSING KEN” was the old cant term for a public house, and BOOZING KEN, in modern cant, has precisely the same meaning. “BUFE” was then the term for a dog, now it is BUFFER,—frequently applied to men. “CASSAN” is both old and modern cant for cheese; the same may be said of “CHATTES” or CHATTS, the gallows. “COFE,” or COVE, is still the vulgar synonyme for a man. “DRAWERS” was hose, or “hosen,”—now applied to the lining for trousers. “DUDES” was cant for clothes, we now say DUDDS. “FLAG” is still a fourpenny piece; and “FYLCHE” means to rob. “KEN” is a house, and “LICK” means to thrash; “PRANCER” is yet known amongst rogues as a horse; and “to PRIG,” amongst high and low, is to steal. Three centuries ago, if one beggar said anything disagreeable to another, the person annoyed would say “STOW YOU,” or hold your peace; low people now say STOW IT, equivalent to “be quiet.” “TRINE” is still to hang; “WYN” yet stands for a penny. And many other words, as will be seen in the glossary, still retain their ancient meaning.

As specimens of those words which have altered their original cant signification, I may instance “CHETE,” now written CHEAT. CHETE was in ancient cant what _chop_ is in the Canton-Chinese,—an almost inseparable adjunct. Everything was termed a CHETE, and qualified by a substantive-adjective, which showed what kind of a CHETE was meant; for instance, “CRASHING CHETES” were teeth; a “MOFFLING CHETE,” a napkin; a “GRUNTING CHETE,” a pig, &c. &c. CHEAT now-a-days means to defraud or swindle, and lexicographers have tortured etymology for an original—but without success. _Escheats_ and _escheatours_ have been named, but with great doubts; indeed, Stevens, the learned commentator on Shakespere, acknowledged that he “did not recollect to have met with the word _cheat_ in our ancient writers.”[14] CHEAT, to defraud, then, is no other than an old Cant term, somewhat altered in its meaning,[15] and as such it should be described in the next Etymological Dictionary. Another instance of a change in the meaning of the old Cant, but the retention of the word is seen in “CLY,” formerly to take or steal, now a pocket;—remembering a certain class of low characters, a curious connection between the two meanings will be discovered. “MAKE” was a halfpenny, we now say MAG,—MAKE being modern Cant for appropriating,—“convey the wise it call.” “MILLING” stood for stealing, it is now a pugilistic term for fighting or beating. “NAB” was a head,—low people now say NOB, the former meaning, in modern Cant, to steal or seize. “PEK” was meat,—we still say PECKISH, when hungry. “PRYGGES, _dronken Tinkers or beastly people_,” as old Harman wrote, would scarcely be understood now; a PRIG, in the 19th century, is a pickpocket or thief. “QUIER,” or QUEER, like _cheat_, was a very common prefix, and meant bad or wicked,—it now means odd, curious, or strange; but to the ancient cant we are indebted for the word, which etymologists should remember.[16] “ROME,” or RUM, formerly meant good, or of the first quality, and was extensively used like _cheat_ and _queer_,—indeed as an adjective it was the opposite of the latter. RUM now means curious, and is synonymous with queer, thus,—a “RUMMY old fellow,” or a “QUEER old man.” Here again we see the origin of an every day word, scouted by lexicographers and snubbed by respectable persons, but still a word of frequent and popular use. “YANNAM” meant bread, PANNUM is the word now. Other instances could be pointed out, but they will be observed in the dictionary.

Several words are entirely obsolete. “ALYBBEG” no longer means a bed, nor “ASKEW” a cup. “BOOGET,”[17] now-a-days, would not be understood for a basket; neither would “GAN” pass current for mouth. “FULLAMS” was the old cant term for false or loaded dice, and although used by Shakespere in this sense, is now unknown and obsolete. Indeed, as Tom Moore somewhere remarks, the present Greeks of St. Giles, themselves, would be thoroughly puzzled by many of the ancient canting songs,—taking for example, the first verse of an old favourite:

Bing out, bien Morts, and toure and toure,
Bing out, bien Morts, and toure;
For all your duds are bing’d awast;
The bien cove hath the loure.[18]

But I think I cannot do better than present to the reader at once an entire copy of the first Canting Dictionary ever compiled. As before mentioned, it was the work of one Thos. Harman, a gentleman who lived in the days of Queen Elizabeth. Some writers have remarked that Decker[19] was the first to compile a Dictionary of the vagabonds’ tongue; whilst Borrow,[20] and Moore, the poet, stated that Richard Head performed that service in his _Life of an English Rogue_, published in the year 1680. All these statements are equally incorrect, for the first attempt was made more than a century before the latter work was issued. The quaint spelling and old-fashioned phraseology are preserved, and the reader will quickly detect many vulgar street words, old acquaintances, dressed in antique garb.[21]

_ABRAHAM-MEN_, be those that fayn themselves to have beene mad, and
have bene kept either in Bethelem, or in some other pryson a good
time.

_ALYBBEG_, a bedde.

_ASKEW_, a cuppe.

_AUTEM_, a churche.

_AUTEM MORTES_, married wemen as chaste as a cowe.

_BAUDYE BASKETS_, bee women who goe with baskets and capcases on
their armes, wherein they have laces, pinnes, nedles, whyte inkel,
and round sylke gyrdels of all colours.

_BECK_ [Beek], a constable.

_BELLY-CHETE_, apron.

_BENE_, good. _Benar_, better.

_BENSHIP_, very good.

_BLETING CHETE_, a calfe or sheepe.

_BOOGET_, a travelling tinker’s baskete.

_BORDE_, a shilling.

_BOUNG_, a purse [_Friesic_, pong].

_BOWSE_, drink.

_BOWSING-KEN_, a alehouse.

_BUFE_ [buffer, a man], a dogge.

_BYNGE A WASTE_, go you hence.

_CACKLING-CHETE_, a coke [cock], or capon.

_CASSAN_ [cassam], cheese.

_CASTERS_, a cloake.

_CATETH_, “the vpright Cofe _cateth_ to the Roge” [probably a
shortening or misprint of _Canteth_].

_CHATTES_, the gallowes.

_CHETE_ [see what has been previously said about this word].

_CLY_ [a pocket], to take, receive, or have.

_COFE_ [cove], a person.

_COMMISSION_ [mish], a shirt.

_COUNTERFET CRANKE_, these that do counterfet the Cranke be yong
knaves and yonge harlots, that deeply dissemble the falling sicknes.

_CRANKE_ [cranky, foolish], falling evil [or wasting sickness].

_CRASHING-CHETES_, teeth.

_CUFFEN_, a manne [a _cuif_ in Northumberland and Scotland signifies
a lout or awkward fellow].

_DARKEMANS_, the night.

_DELL_, a yonge wench.

_DEWSE-A-VYLE_, the countrey.

_DOCK_, to deflower.

_DOXES_, harlots.

_DRAWERS_, hosen.

_DUDES_ [or dudds], clothes.

_FAMBLES_, handes.

_FAMBLING-CHETE_, a ring on one’s hand.

_FLAGG_, a groat.

_FRATER_, a beggar wyth a false paper.

_FRESHE-WATER-MARINERS_, these kind of caterpillers counterfet great
losses on the sea:—their shippes were drowned in the playne of
Salisbury.

_FYLCHE_, to robbe: _Fylch-man_ [a robber].

_GAGE_, a quart pot.

_GAN_, a mouth.

_GENTRY COFE_, a noble or gentle man.

_GENTRY-COFES-KEN_, a noble or gentle man’s house.

_GENTRY MORT_, a noble or gentle woman.

_GERRY_, excrement.

_GLASYERS_, eyes.

_GLYMMAR_, fyer.

_GRANNAM_, corne.

_GRUNTING-CHETE_, a pygge.

_GYB_, a writing.

_GYGER_ [jigger], a dore.

_HEARING-CHETES_, eares.

_JARKE_, a seale.

_JARKEMAN_, one who make writings and set seales for [counterfeit]
licences and pasports.

_KEN_, a house.

_KYNCHEN CO_ [or _cove_], a young boye trained up like a “_Kynching
Morte_.” [From the German diminutive _Kindschen_.]

_KYNCHING MORTE_, is a little gyrle, carried at their mothers’ backe
in a slate, or sheete, who brings them up sauagely.

_LAG_, water.

_LAG OF DUDES_, a bucke [or basket] of clothes.

_LAGE_, to washe.

_LAP_, butter, mylke, or whey.

_LIGHTMANS_, the day.

_LOWING-CHETE_, a cowe.

_LOWRE_, money.

_LUBBARES_,—“sturdy _Lubbares_,” country bumpkins, or men of a low
degree.

_LYB-BEG_, a bed.

_LYCKE_ [lick], to beate.

_LYP_, to lie down.

_LYPKEN_, a house to lye in.

_MAKE_ [mag], a halfpenny.

_MARGERI PRATER_, a hen.

_MILLING_, to steale [by sending a child in at the window].

_MOFLING-CHETE_, a napkin.

_MORTES_ [motts], harlots.

_MYLL_, to robbe.

_MYNT_, gold.

_NAB_ [nob], a heade.

_NABCHET_, a hat or cap.

_NASE_, dronken.

_NOSEGENT_, a nunne.

_PALLYARD_, a borne beggar [who counterfeits sickness, or incurable
sores. They are mostly Welshmen, Harman says].

_PARAM_, mylke.

_PATRICO_, a priest.

_PATRICOS KINCHEN_, a pygge [a satirical hit at the church, _Patrico_
meaning a parson or priest, and _Kinchen_ his little boy or girl].

_PEK_ [peckish], meat.

_POPPELARS_, porrage.

_PRAT_, a buttocke.

_PRATLING-CHETE_, a toung.

_PRAUNCER_, a horse.

_PRIGGER OF PRAUNCERS_, be horse stealers, for to prigge signifieth
in their language to steale, and a Prauncer is a horse, so being
put together, the matter was playn. [Thus writes old Thomas Harman,
who concludes his description of this order of “pryggers,” by very
quietly saying, “I had the best gelding stolen out of my pasture,
that I had amongst others, whyle this book was first a printing.”]

_PRYGGES_, dronken Tinkers, or beastly people.

_QUACKING-CHETE_, a drake or duck.

_QUAROMES_, a body.

_QUIER_ [queer], badde [see what has been previously said about this
word].

_QUYER CRAMP-RINGES_, boltes or fetters.

_QUIER CUFFIN_, the iustice of peace.

_QUYER-KYN_, a pryson house.

_RED SHANKE_, a drake or ducke.

_ROGER_, a goose.

_ROME_, goode [now curious, noted, or remarkable in any way. _Rum_ is
the modern orthography].

_ROME BOUSE_ [rum booze], wyne.

_ROME MORT_, the Queene [Elizabeth].

_ROME VYLE_ [or Rum-ville], London.

_RUFF PECK_, baken [short bread, common in old times at farm houses].

_RUFFMANS_, the woods or bushes.

_SALOMON_, a alter or masse.

_SKYPPER_, a barne.

_SLATE_, a sheete or shetes.

_SMELLING CHETE_, a nose.

_SMELLING CHETE_, a garden or orchard.

_SNOWT FAYRE_ [said of a woman who has a pretty face or is comely].

_STALL_ [to initiate a beggar or rogue into the rights and privileges
of the canting order. Harman relates, that when an upright-man, or
initiated, first-class rogue, “mete any beggar, whether he be sturdy
or impotent, he will demand of him whether ever he was ‘_stalled to
the roge_’ or no. If he say he was, he will know of whom, and his
name yt stalled him. And if he be not learnedly able to show him the
whole circumstance thereof, he will spoyle him of his money, either
of his best garment, if it be worth any money, and haue him to the
bowsing ken: which is, to some typpling house next adjoyninge, and
layth there to gage the best thing that he hath for twenty pence or
two shillings: this man obeyeth for feare of beatinge. Then dooth
this upright man call for a gage of bowse, which is a quarte potte of
drink, and powres the same vpon his peld pate, adding these words,—I,
_G. P._ do stalle the, _W. T._ to the Roge, and that from henceforth
it shall be lawfull for thee to cant, that is to aske or begge for
thi liuiug in al places.” Something like this treatment is the
popular idea of Freemasonry, and what schoolboys term “freeing.”]

_STAMPES_, legges.

_STAMPERS_, shoes.

_STAULING KEN_, a house that will receyue stollen wares.

_STAWLINGE-KENS_, tippling houses.

_STOW YOU_ [stow it], hold your peace.

_STRIKE_, to steale.

_STROMMELL_, strawe.

_SWADDER_, or _Pedler_ [a man who hawks goods].

_THE HIGH PAD_, the highway.

_THE RUFFIAN CLY THEE_, the devil take thee.

_TOGEMANS_ [togg], a cloake.

_TOGMAN_, a coate.

_TO BOWSE_, to drinke.

_TO CANTE_, to speake.

_TO CLY THE GERKE_, to be whipped.

_TO COUCH A HOGSHEAD_, to lie down and slepe.

_TO CUTTE_, to say [_cut it_ is modern slang for “be quiet”].

_TO CUT BENE WHYDDES_, to speake or give good words.

_TO CUTTE QUYER WHYDDES_, to giue euil words or euil language.

_TO CUT BENLE_, to speak gentle.

_TO DUP YE GYGER_ [jigger], to open the dore.

_TO FYLCHE_, to robbe.

_TO HEUE A BOUGH_, to robbe or rifle a boweth [booth].

_TO MAUNDE_, to aske or require.

_TO MILL A KEN_, to robbe a house.

_TO NYGLE_ [coition].

_TO NYP A BOUNG_ [nip, to steal], to cut a purse.

_TO SKOWER THE CRAMPRINGES_, to weare boltes or fetters.

_TO STALL_, to make or ordain.

_TO THE RUFFIAN_, to the Devil.

_TO TOWRE_, to see.

_TRYNING_ [trine], hanging.

_TYB OF THE BUTERY_, a goose.

_WALKING MORTE_, womene [who pass for widows].

_WAPPING_ [coition].

_WHYDDES_, wordes.

_WYN_, a penny.

_YANNAM_, bread.

Turning our attention more to the Cant of modern times, in connection with the old, we find that words have been drawn into the thieves’ vocabulary from every conceivable source. Hard or infrequent words, vulgarly termed _crack-jaw_, or _jaw-breakers_, were very often used and considered as cant terms. And here it should be mentioned that at the present day the most inconsistent and far-fetched terms are often used for secret purposes, when they are known to be caviare to the million. It is really laughable to know that such words as _incongruous_, _insipid_, _interloper_, _intriguing_, _indecorum_, _forestal_, _equip_, _hush_, _grapple_, &c. &c., were current Cant words a century and a half ago; but such was the case, as any one may see in the _Dictionary of Canting Words_, at the end of _Bacchus and Venus_,[22] 1737. They are inserted not as jokes or squibs, but as selections from the veritable pocket dictionaries of the Jack Sheppards and Dick Turpins of the day. If they were safely used as unknown and cabalistic terms amongst the commonalty, the fact would form a very curious illustration of the ignorance of our poor ancestors. One piece of information is conveyed to us, _i.e._, that the “Knights” or “Gentlemen of the road,” using these polite words in those days of highwaymen, were really well educated men,—which heretofore has always been a hard point of belief, notwithstanding old novels and operas.

Amongst those Cant words which have either altered their meaning, or have become extinct, I may cite LADY, formerly the Cant for “a very crooked, deformed, and ill-shapen woman;”[23] and HARMAN, “a pair of stocks, or a constable.” The former is a pleasant piece of satire, whilst the latter indicates a singular method of revenge. HARMAN was the first author who specially wrote against English vagabonds, and for his trouble his name became synonymous with a pair of stocks, and a policeman of the olden time.

Apart from the Gipsey element, we find that Cant abounds in terms from foreign languages, and that it exhibits the growth of most recognised and completely formed tongues,—the gathering of words from foreign sources. In the reign of Elizabeth and of King James I., several Dutch, Spanish, and Flemish words were introduced by soldiers who had served in the Low Countries, and sailors who had returned from the Spanish Main, who like “mine ancient Pistol” were fond of garnishing their speech with outlandish phrases. Many of these were soon picked up and adopted by vagabonds and tramps in their Cant language. The Anglo-Norman and the Anglo-Saxon, the Scotch, the French, the Italian, and even the classic languages of ancient Italy and Greece, have contributed to its list of words,—besides the various provincial dialects of England. Indeed, as Mayhew remarks, English Cant seems to be formed on the same basis as the _Argot_ of the French, and the _Roth-Spræc_ of the Germans,—partly metaphorical, and partly by the introduction of such corrupted foreign terms as are likely to be unknown to the society amid which the Cant speakers exist. ARGOT is the London thieves’ word for their secret language,—it is, of course, from the French, but that matters not so long as it is incomprehensible to the police and the mob. BOOZE, or BOUSE, I am reminded by a friendly correspondent, comes from the Dutch, BUYSEN. DOMINE, a parson, is from the Latin; and DON, a clever fellow, has been filched from the Spanish. DONNA AND FEELES, a woman and children, is from the Lingua Franca, or bastard Italian, although it sounds like an odd mixture of Spanish and French; whilst DUDDS, the vulgar term for clothes, may have been pilfered either from the Gaelic or the Dutch. FEELE, a daughter, from the French; and FROW, a girl or wife, from the German—are common tramps’ terms. So are GENT, silver, from the French, _Argent_; and VIAL, a country town, also from the French. HORRID-HORN, a fool, is believed to be from the Erse; and GLOAK, a man, from the Scotch. As stated before, the Dictionary will supply numerous other instances.

There is one source, however, of secret street terms, which, in the first edition of this work, was entirely overlooked,—indeed, it was unknown to the editor until pointed out by a friendly correspondent,—the _Lingua Franca_, or bastard Italian, spoken at Genoa, Trieste, Malta, Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria, and all Mediterranean seaport towns. The ingredients of this imported Cant are many. Its foundation is Italian, with a mixture of modern Greek, German (from the Austrian ports), Spanish, Turkish, and French. It has been introduced to the notice of the London wandering tribes by the sailors, foreign and English, who trade to and from the Mediterranean seaports, by the swarms of organ players from all parts of Italy, and by the makers of images from Rome and Florence,—all of whom, in dense thoroughfares, mingle with our lower orders. It would occupy too much space here to give a list of these words. They are all noted in the Dictionary.

“There are several Hebrew terms in our Cant language, obtained, it would appear, from the intercourse of the thieves with the Jew _fences_ (receivers of stolen goods); many of the Cant terms, again, are Sanscrit, got from the Gipseys; many Latin, got by the beggars from the Catholic prayers before the Reformation; and many, again, Italian, got from the wandering musicians and others; indeed the showmen have but lately introduced a number of Italian phrases into their Cant language.”[24] The Hindostanèe also contributes several words, and these have been introduced by the Lascar sailors, who come over here in the East Indiamen, and lodge during their stay in the low tramps’ lodging houses at the East end of London. Speaking of the learned tongues, I may mention that, precarious and abandoned as the vagabond’s existence is, many persons of classical or refined education have from time to time joined the ranks,—occasionally from inclination, as in the popular instance of Bamfylde Moore Carew, but generally through indiscretion, and loss of character.[25] This will in some measure account for numerous classical and learned words figuring as Cant terms in the vulgar Dictionary.

In the early part of the last century, when highwaymen were by all accounts so plentiful, a great many new words were added to the canting vocabulary, whilst several old terms fell into disuse. CANT, for instance, as applied to thieves’ talk, was supplanted by the word FLASH.

A singular feature, however, in vulgar language, is the retention and the revival of sterling old English words, long since laid up in ancient manuscripts, or the subject of dispute among learned antiquaries. Disraeli somewhere says, “the purest source of _neology_ is in the revival of _old words_”—

“Words that wise Bacon or brave Rawleigh spake,”

and Dr. Latham honours our subject by remarking that “the thieves of London are the conservators of Anglo-Saxonisms.” Mayhew, too, in his interesting work, _London Labour and London Poor_, admits that many Cant and Slang phrases are merely old English terms, which have become obsolete through the caprices of fashion. And the reader who looks into the Dictionary of the vagabonds’ lingo, will see at a glance that these gentlemen were quite correct, and that we are compelled to acknowledge the singular truth that a great many old words, once respectable, and in the mouths of kings and fine ladies, are now only so many signals for shrugs and shudders amongst exceedingly polite people. A Belgravian gentleman who had lost his watch or his pocket-handkerchief, would scarcely remark to his mamma that it had been BONED—yet BONE, in old times, meant to steal amongst high and low. And a young lady living in the precincts of dingy, but aristocratic May-Fair, although enraptured with a Jenny Lind or a Ristori, would hardly think of turning back in the box to inform papa that she, Ristori or Lind, “made no BONES of it”—yet the phrase was most respectable and well-to-do, before it met with a change of circumstances. “A CRACK article,” however first-rate, would, as far as speech is concerned, have greatly displeased Dr. Johnson and Mr. Walker—yet both CRACK, in the sense of excellent, and CRACK UP, to boast or praise, were not considered vulgarisms in the time of Henry VIII. DODGE, a cunning trick, is from the Anglo-Saxon; and ancient nobles used to “get each other’s DANDER UP” before appealing to their swords,—quite FLABERGASTING (also a respectable old word) the half score of lookers-on with the thumps and cuts of their heavy weapons. GALLAVANTING, waiting upon the ladies, was as polite in expression as in action; whilst a clergyman at Paule’s Crosse, thought nothing of bidding a noisy hearer to “hold his GAB,” or “shut up his GOB.” GADDING, roaming about in an idle and trapesing manner, was used in an old translation of the Bible; and “to do anything GINGERLY” was to do it with great care. Persons of modern tastes will be shocked to know that the great Lord Bacon spoke of the lower part of a man’s face as his GILLS.

Shakespere, or as the French say, “the divine William,” also used many words which are now counted as dreadfully vulgar. “CLEAN gone,” in the sense of out of sight, or entirely away; “you took me all A-MORT,” or confounded me; “it won’t FADGE,” or suit, are phrases taken at random from the great dramatist’s works. A London costermonger, or inhabitant of the streets, instead of saying “I’ll make him yield,” or “give in,” in a fight or contest, would say, “I’ll make him BUCKLE under.” Shakespere, in his _Henry the Fourth_ (Part 2, Act i., Scene 1) has the word, and Mr. Halliwell, one of the greatest and most industrious of living antiquaries, informs us, that “the commentators do not supply another example.” How strange, then, that the Bard of Avon, and the Cockney costermongers, should be joint partners and sole proprietors of the vulgarism. If Shakespere was not a pugilist, he certainly anticipated the terms of the prize ring—or they were respectable words before the prize ring was thought of—for he has PAY, to beat or thrash, and PEPPER, with a similar meaning; also FANCY, in the sense of pets and favourites,—pugilists are often termed _the_ FANCY. The cant word PRIG, from the Saxon, _priccan_, to filch, is also Shakesperian; so indeed is PIECE, a contemptuous term for a young woman. Shakespere was not the only vulgar dramatist of his time. Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Brome, and other play-writers, occasionally put cant words into the mouths of their low characters, or employed old words which have since degenerated into vulgarisms. CRUSTY, poor tempered; “two of a KIDNEY,” two of a sort; LARK, a piece of fun; LUG, to pull; BUNG, to give or pass; PICKLE, a sad plight; FRUMP, to mock, are a few specimens casually picked from the works of the old histrionic writers.

One old English mode of canting, simple and effective when familiarised by practice, was the inserting a consonant betwixt each syllable; thus, taking _g_, “How do you do?” would be “Hou_g_ do_g_ you_g_ do_g_?” The name very properly given to this disagreeable nonsense, we are informed by Grose, was _Gibberish_.