"Music soothes the savage breast."

It was now two o'clock in the morning, and the streets of St. Giles's were as lively as the other back parts of the metropolis are at eleven at night. The several lodging houses round about were sending forth their various sounds, and an occasional meeting, at the doors, between two friends, with an interchange of blows, tended to keep the policeman from being weary on his duty.

Our company had been too strongly excited, notwithstanding the little check they had received, to sink into anything like sober chat. As soon as this profligate crew were left to themselves, they began to recover their spirits, by whistling and singing—beating time, with their hands upon the tables, and their heels upon the floor, so that one noise was substituted for another and the clamours of strife exchanged for the songs of peace.



The he-woman gave two or three of the sentimental songs of the day, with her usual ability; and that popular song, "The Sea," was sung in fine taste by a chorus singer of Drury Lane. Richard's soliloquy was ranted in stark staring style by a young vagabond who spouted from tavern to tavern for a living. An Italian air was screamed and quivered by an elderly female, who once strutted upon the stage, but who now was half bent with care, want, and blue ruin (gin). It was considered by all to be excellent, (the poor always feeling a respect for what the rich admire) although there were none there that had either hearts or heads to feel or understand it.

Some curious imitations of birds were given by a comical sort of a character, who had a good deal of wit and foolery about him. A jolly drinking song with admirable humour by a hawker of flower-pots—a stout middle-sized young fellow, in a smock frock, and a low crowned hat, with a round ruddy face, and merry eye—one, too, who was all lark, frolic and fun—a very English John with a pipe and jug.

A tall athletic youth, and a short thick-set man (brothers) dressed in flash coats, (velvet shooting jackets), ornamented with large ivory buttons, and their hats slouched on, sat in a corner smoking their pipes. They bore the exact appearance of being half poachers, and half tillers of the earth; fellows who, upon a pinch, would have no objections to take the road with a bludgeon—the very models of country blackguards. They were both in liquor—the shorter one so much so, that he had became quite obstreperous, and had once or twice interrupted the other vocalists; and now, as if unable to contain himself any longer, broke out with a strong voice slobbered a little though from too much malt—

"With a dog and gun, and all such ware, To Donerby woods we did repair. We went till we came to Ryburn town, And there we drank of ale around.

"We ran these dogs till almost one, Which made the gamekeeper load his gun—"

here the honest fellow hiccuped, which rather interrupted his harmony; at length, after a stare, as if to collect his ideas, an extra exertion, and a kind of vaunting look—again stammered forth with—

"If they had took us, and fought us like men, We should not have valued them two to their ten."

This last burst was too much for his remaining senses; he dropped on the floor—the proper level for all topers.

But the best specimens were the street singers, that ragged, squalling class. A dirty tattered, coarse-featured wench whose visits from the cadging house could only be varied to the gin shop and pawn shop, came singing and dancing in rocking her body to and fro. She was saluted by the name, of "Bristol Bet," and "Give us the sergeant;" but Bet had tasted too much of the inspiring liquid, to answer their calls with promptitude. She footed away vigorously, to drive away care, seconding every caper with a shout, and "Jack's the lad," and slapping her body, and heel, in rather an unlady-like style.

After giving her legs a proper shaking, she laid her head a little on one side, and moving it, with her foot to keep time, screamed out, in notes both loud and shrill,

"One lovely morning as I was walking, In the merry month of May, Alone a smart young pair were talking, And I overheard what they did say. The one appeared a lovely maiden, Seemingly in grief and pain, The other was a gay young soldier, A sergeant in the waggon train."

This appeared to be a real "Sweet Home" song; it went to the heart of every one in the room, who roared and bellowed applause, and thumped away with their hands and feet on the floor and tables. Bet never stopped until she had given the whole history of the Sergeant and his dearest Nancy. This poetry and music was too congenial to be easily set aside.

One of the same sex, and certainly one of the same family, a low, squat, scowling, weather-beaten looking hussey, a cadger born and bred, whose shoulders seemed as if they had been squared and rounded by a child continually laying upon them. She was the real songstress of low life; Vulgarity might have taken her by the hand. Throwing up her face which was the very symbol of bad weather and an easterly wind, doled out.

"It was down in the lowlands a poor boy did wander, It was down in the lowlands a poor boy did roam; By his friends he was neglected, he looked so dejected, A poor little fisherman's boy so far away from home."

This dismal ditty, although it brought down thunders of applause, made our very flesh to creep, as it brought to our mind cauld rainy nights, starving times, Ratcliff Highway, and Whitechapel, as the other had street mobs and lads whistling and singing the popular sergeant, as they trudged home from their work at night.

They were all now in the piping mood. The wooden-legged sailor, Jack, our old friend, would have given them "Rude Boreas," but only stiff Mr. Grog would not let him; and, after one or two ineffectual attempts to clear his throat was persuaded to stagger off to his berth above stairs, respectably propped on one side by his mate, a gemman rather top heavy, and his noble timber supporter on the other.

York who had slept the sleep of "deep sleep," never once being disturbed by the din,—for as the seaman is used to the roar of the ocean, so the cadger is used to the roar of revelry,—now opened his eyes, and feeling his lungs and his spirits in refreshing order, made bold to rehearse the exploits of "Bauld Turpin," that mischievous blade; but, unfortunately for his talents as a vocalist, sung it so much in the dry and drawling dialect of a canny Doncaster lad, that the whole company, one and all, were fit to split their sides at York.

Songs, English, Irish, and even Welsh ditties, were bawled and drawled out, until one after one sunk into the arms of the sleeping god.

The master and his man seized this favourable opportunity to haul and coax away a number to bed. Harlequin, who had become fresh again, as he would have termed it, raised the Welshman who had had the fray in his arms, as if he had been a child, and carried him above stairs to his resting-place. York was led most lovingly out by a comely maiden from the mountains of Wales, who had lately become his wife for so long a time.

By the by, this is a great place for the ancient Britons; numbers of whom, with their Welsh names and broken English, make this house their home. There, there might be seen, William Williams fra Glamorganshire, and Hugh Morgan fra Glamorganshire, and David Jones fra Swansea, and Thomas Thomas fra Monmouthshire; with a host of round-faced, and had once been decent, man-hatted wenches.



CHAPTER XIII.

THE CLOSE OF THE NIGHT.

The point of time was now moving fast to the stroke of four. The nymphs of the pave, who made this place their habitation, were all returned from the toils of the night. About a dozen or two of both sexes were gathered together around the fire, chatting of the various occurrences of the preceding day, or otherways quietly amusing themselves. The females—the most of whom cohabited with the men now in the kitchen—were a miscellaneous set; cadgers, flower-girls, servants out of place—or of that class denominated unfortunate. Some, too, went out to char and wash, and all united to their several professions the privilege of the pave. One or two, about a twelvemonth ago, had been the belles of Regent-street walk, but whose bloated cheeks and tattered shawls now made them fit denizens for St. Giles's.

A stout, middle-aged, good-looking woman, who had once been cook and housekeeper in a gentleman's family, and who still retained something of the decency and respectability of her former appearance, was now by misfortune reduced to be their associate. A few were young and handsome, and, what would appear strange in such a place, even well dressed.

There were two girls (sisters) who were romping about with a young lad, certainly in rather an unboarding-school-like manner, that particularly attracted our attention. They were both neat and clean, and genteel in their apparel. One of them, indeed, might be called beautiful. These girls had three ways of making a living. The first was that of selling flowers; the second, begging as servants out of place; the third, and certainly the best, was, to use their own phrase, "seeing gentlemen." It is a fact what we are going to state, that one of these girls has been known to make as much as five pounds a day—doubtless by the seeing profession and although cadgers from their birth, and born and bred, as we may say, in vice, yet it was but a few days before this, that we heard these young strumpets (for they deserve no better name) abusing an unfortunate woman who lodged in the house, using the most opprobrious language; and had at the same time, the most singular audacity to style themselves modest girls.

Of the males, the most of them were young men who had once been in better circumstances, but who now were reduced to get their living by calling papers about the streets. A few fine characters might have been picked out amongst those prodigal sons, as they stood warming their backs, or grouped together in this Vagabond's Hall.

There was an Anglo-German; he was very respectably dressed, only he had neither shoes or stockings, and though of small stature, had a voice like thunder; he was of course, considered a first-rate patterer (caller). Another, a merchant's clerk and active young man, and an excellent mimic, but a Careless himself. The third, a Welshman; one who might have caused a painter to halt—a model of strength; in size and form like one of his own mountain bulls, with a voice as hoarse as the winter's blast on Snowdon. He was a fine compound of ruffianism, shrewdness, and a sort of caustic humour. The fourth and last, was a tall, genteel young man, a draper, or, rather had been; he was still very smart, although much out at elbows. He had a pair of fine large, showy, sharp-pointed whiskers; was exceedingly fond of hard words, and, in his speech, superfine in the extreme. He had been highly chagrined that very night, at a person expressing surprise at seeing him at Cadger's Hall, he considering that a man might make himself respectable wherever he might be, always provided that he conducted himself with propriety; in short, maintaining to the very last, the shadow of his former consequence.



The clock chimed the warning to the final hour. A policeman came in, supporting a man he had picked up in the streets in the last stage of inebriation. Ben put out one of the lights, and gave notice that it was time to move.

The landlord busied himself in rousing two or three slumberers by sundry shakes and pushes with his foot,—not, reader to go to bed, but to go out,—they being lodgers who, having run out of coin and out of credit, were allowed for old acquaintance sake, to lie about the kitchen while it was open, but were invariably desired to depart at the lock-up hour.

The poor wretches got up, buttoned their clothes about them, thrust their hands into their bosoms, and shuffled out half asleep, a melancholy instance of the trials of the children of poverty and crime. The lodgers moved slowly off to bed, one by one; the kitchen was securely locked up, and the landlord then walked away, leaving drunkenness, misery and debauchery about the door.



FLASH DICTIONARY.



A.

Abbess, a bawd, the mistress of a bawdyken

Abbott's Priory, the King's Bench Prison

Abram Cove, a naked or poor man, a sturdy beggar in rags

Above par, having the needful, possession of the poney, plenty of money, 'best bliss of earth'

Abram men, fellows dressing themselves in various rags, old ribbon, fox tails, begging in the streets, pretending to be mad, fellows who steal pocket books only

Abram, to sham, to slum, to pretend sickness

Academy, a brothel, bagnio

Academican, a scholar at an academy, a whore at a brothel

Academy, a floating, a hulk at Woolwich for convicts

Ack ruffians, rogues who in conjunction with watermen sometimes rob and murder on the water

Ack pirates, fresh water thieves who steal on navigable rivers

Acting the deceitful, performing, mumming, acting

Adam, a henchman, an accomplice

Adam's ale, our first father's drink, water, 'best with brandy'

Adam tiler, a receiver of stolen goods, a pickpocket, a fence

Affair of honour, killing an innocent man in a duel

All set, desperate fellows, ready for any kind of mischief

Alderman in chains, turkey and sausages

Alive, awake, fly, up, leery, acquainted with

All out, the reckoning drank out, 'How stands the account 'twixt me and vengeance?'

Ambidexter, one who snacks in gaming with both parties

Amen curler, a parish clerk

Anglers or starrers, an order of thieves who break show glasses in jeweller's windows to steal the goods

Angling cove, a receiver of stolen goods

Angelics, young unmarried ladies

Anointed, knowing, ripe for mischief

Arm props, crutches

Arch rogue, the chief of a gang of thieves, or gypsies

Arch doxey, the same among female canters or gypsies

Astronomer, a star gazer, a horse that carries his head high

As right as a trevit, the tippy all right

A pig's whisper, a grunt, 'a word 'twixt you and me'

Aunt, a bawd, sometimes called mother

Autem, a church, meeting-house

Autem cacklers, dissenters of all sects

Autem bawler, a preacher, a parson

Autem dippers, anabaptists

Autem cackel tub, a meeting house for dissenters, a pulpit

Autem divers, pickpockets who practise in churches; also churchwardens and overseers of the poor, who defraud, deceive, and impose on the parish

Autem gogglers, conjurors, fortune tellers

Autem mort, or mot, a woman of the same sect, a beggar, a prostitute

Autem quaver's tub, a quaker's meeting house

B.

Babes in the wood, rogues in the stocks or pillory

Bacon-faced, full faced

Back slums, low unfrequented parts in the metropolis

Badge coves, parish pensioners

Badge, one burnt in the hand

Badger, to confound, perplex, or tease

Badgers, forestallers and murderers

Bag the swag, pocket your portion, hide your whack

Baggage, a slut, a common prostitute

Ball o'wax, a snob or shoemaker

Ballum ranorum, a hop or a dance, where the women are all prostitutes

Balsam, rag, rhino, money

Balm, a lie

Bandog, a bum-bailiff

Bank, a depository for cash at a gaming-table

Bandy, a tanner, a sixpence

Banyan day, Saturday, when there's nothing left to eat

Bantling, a young child

Bar that, cheese it, stow it, don't mention it

Barber's clerks, conceited ignorant shop-boys

Bark, an Irishman

Barker, a salesman's servant, a prowler to pick up countrymen in the streets

Barking irons, pistols

Barnacles, spectacles

Battered bully, an old gloak, well milled huffing fellow

Bawd, a procuress, a woman that keeps a brothel

Batter, an ox

Beak, a justice of the peace, a magistrate

Beak, rum, a justice who will do any thing for money

Beak, queer, a magistrate that is particularly strict to his duty

Beaks out on the nose, magistrates out on a search night

Beaksman, traps

Bear leader, a travelling tutor

Beat, a watchman's walk

Beaver or tile, a hat

Beck or harman, a beadle

Beeswax, cheese

Belch, malt liquor

Ben or Sam, a raw, a novice

Beau traps, genteel dressed sharpers, fortune hunters

Beef, to alarm, to discover, to pursue

Belly cheat, an apron, a pad

Belly timber, food of all sorts

Belly-go-fister, a hard blow on the belly

Bene, prime, good

Bene cove, hearty fellow, a tramp

Bene bowse, good beer

Bene of gibes, counterfeiters of passes

Bene darmans, good night

Bene fakers, counterfeiters

Bender, a shilling

Benjamin, a top coat, a great coat

Betty, a small picklock

Bever, an afternoon's luncheon

Better half, an ironical name for a wife

Biddy, a fowl, a capon, or chicken; a young chicken

Bilboa, a sword, or any pointed instrument

Billing and cooing, the sexes humbugging one another; courting

Bilk, to swindle, cheat

Bing, to cut, go away

Bingo, spirituous liquors

Bingo boy, a male dram drinker

Bingo mot, a female dram drinker

Bit, money

Big'uns, men of consequence

Bit, taken in, duped

Bit, queer, counterfeit money

Bit cull, a coiner

Bit smasher, an utterer of base coin

Bit of cavalry, a knacker, a saddle horse

Bit of muslin, a flame, a sweetheart

Bitch, to, to yield, to give up an attempt thro' fear

Bitch, to, a character, or to perform any thing badly

Biting your name in, taking a large draught, drinking greedily

Blab, a prating stupid fellow, a fool

Blab, to, to nose, to chatter, to tell secrets

Black beetles, the lower order of people

Black diamonds, coals, or coal heavers

Black boy, a clergyman

Black Indies, Newcastle

Black strap, port wine

Black box or knob, a lawyer

Black spy, an informer

Black act, act of picking locks

Black cove dubber, a gaoler or turnkey

Black-legs, sharpers, fellows who lay wagers, and after losing cannot pay them; a professed gambler

Black houses, prisons

Blank, frustrated, baffled

Blarney, a wonderful story, flattery. See Gammon

Bleaters, lambs, sheep

Bleats, a sheep stealer

Bleak mot, a fair girl

Bleeder, a crammer, a lie

Blind, to, to cheat under a pretence

Blind harpers, itinerant vagabonds with harps

Blinker, a one-eyed horse

Block, jeminy, pipkin, head

Block houses, prisons

Blow out, a belly full, an extraordinary meal

Blow a cloud, smoking a pipe

Blow the gab, to split, to expose, inform

Blow, to split, tell, expose

Blow me tight, a sort of burlesque oath; as, If I don't I'm jigger'd, &c.

Blowings, prostitutes

Blue ruin, gin

Blue devils, blues, low spirits, horror struck

Blue pigeon filers, or flyers, thieves who steal lead from the tops of houses and churches

Blubber, to whine, to cry

Bluff, to bustle, look big

Bluffer, an impudent imposing fellow of an inn-keeper

Blunderbuss, a stupid ignorant fellow

Blunt, tip, rag, money

Boarding school, a house of correction, or prison

Bob, a shilling

Bob, a shoplifter's assistant

Bob-stick, a hog, a shilling

Bobtail, a lewd woman, or prostitute

Bobbery, a disturbance, a row

Bobbish, tol lol, pretty well in health

Body bag, a shirt

Body snatchers, bailiffs, police officers

Boggy, kiddy, covey

Bog trotters, lower orders of Irishmen

Bogey, old Nick, the devil

Bolt the moon, to cheat the landlord by taking the goods away in the night, without paying the rent

Bolt, cut, go, make yourself scarce

Bolted, hopped the twig, shuffled, gone

Bone, to steal

Bone box, the mouth

Bonesetter, a hackney coach

Bonnetter, a thump on the hat

Bon vivant, a choice spirit, a jolly dog

Booth, a place for harbouring thieves

Booked, in for it, dished

Booze, drink

Boozy, drunk

Boozing ken, a lush crib, a sluicery, alehouse

Bore, a tedious story, or a vexatious circumstance

Bordell, a bawdyken, house of ill fame

Bottle-head stupid, void of sense

Bought, anything that's dearly paid for

Bounce, to lie, to swagger

Bounceable, proud, saucy

Bower, the, Newgate

Bowsprit, cork snorter, the nose

Bow wow mutton, cag mag, dog's flesh, bad ill looking meat

Bow wow broth, broth made of stinking meat

Bow mam, a thief

Box o'dominos, mouth and teeth

Box of ivory, the teeth

Box Harry, to go without victuals

Boxed, locked up

Boxing a Charley, upsetting a watchman in his box

Brads, money

Brass, impudence

Bracket face, devilish ugly

Bravoes, bullies

Bread basket, the stomach

Breaking shins, borrowing money

Breeze, kicking up a, exciting a disturbance

Brisket beater, a Roman Catholic

Brick, a loaf

Broads, cards

Brogue, Irish accent

Broom, go, cut, be gone

Browns, copper coin

Brown Bess, a soldier's firelock

Brown suit, no go

Brown gater droppings, heavy wet, heavy brown, beer

Brush, or buy a brush, be off, make yourself scarce

Brusher, a full glass

Brushed off, run away

Bub, guzzle, drink

Bubble, to cheat, defraud

Bub, rum, good liquor

Bub, queer, bad liquor

Buff, to, to swear falsely, to perjure

Buffer, a perjurer

Buffer napper, dog stealer

Bug, to damage

Buggaboes, sheriff's officers

Buggy, a one-horse chaise

Bugging, money taken by bailiffs not to arrest a person

Bull, a blunder

Bull, crown piece

Bull, half a crown piece

Bull dogs, pistols

Bulk, a fellow that attends a pickpocket, to receive stolen goods

Bully, a cowardly blustering fellow, pretended husband to a bawd or prostitute

Bully rocks, impudent villains kept to preserve order in houses of ill fame

Bully traps, pretended constables called to frighten the unwary and extort money

Bum, a bailiff

Bum'd, arrested

Bunce of dog's meat, a squalling child in arms

Bunce of fives, the closed hand, the fist

Bunch of onions, chain and seals

Bunter, a low-life woman

Buntlings, petticoats

Bung-eyed, drunk, tipsy

Burning the ken, vagabonds residing in an alehouse, and leaving it without paying the reckoning

Buss, a kiss

Bustle, ready money

Buster or burster, a loaf of bread

Button, a bad shilling

Buttering up, praising, flattering

Buttock and file, pickpocket

Buzman, a pickpocket

Buz, a pickpocket

Bye-blow, a bastard

C.

Cabbage, tailors' perquisites

Cadger, a beggar, a scranning cove, a mean sort of a thief

Cag mag, stinking or bad meat

Cake, an easy stupid fellow

Camesa, a shirt or shift

Canary bird, the inmate of a prison

Cank, dumb, silent

Cannister, see Block

Cant, mock religion, language of methodists

Canter gloak, a parson, a liar

Canting, language of thieves gypsies, beggars, &c.

Canting crew, impostors who go about preaching, methodists, &c.

Canticle, a parish clerk

Cap, to, to out do, to beat

Caper merchant, a dancing master

Captain tober, first rate highwayman

Captain, head of a gang, a bully

Captain Flashman, a blustering fellow, a coward

Captain queer Nabs, a dirty fellow without shoes

Captain Sharp, a cheat, a bully

Caravan, great quantity of money

Carrion case, shirt and shift

Carrion hunters, undertakers

Castor, a tile, a hat

Cass, cheese

Cast your skin, strip naked

Cat, a drunken, fighting prostitute

Cat's meat, the constitution, the body

Cat's meat shop, an eating house

Catastrophe, behind, seat of honour

Catchpole, bailiff

Catgut scraper, a violin player

Cavil, to jaw, quarrel

Cavon, an old wig, or jasey

Chimmy, a shift

Chaff, irritating, or ironical language, to banter

Chaffer, the mouth

Chaffing crib, a drinking room where bantering is carried on

Chalk, advantage

Chalks, the legs

Chant, a flash song

Chancery, head in, said in fighting, of him whose head is held fast under the arm of his antagonist, and gets punished with little chance of extricating himself, unless he floors his man

Charley, a watchman

Charm, picklock

Chats, lice

Chates, the gallows

Chaw-bacons, countrymen, bumpkins

Cheeks, an imaginary person; nobody; as, who does that belong to? Cheeks.

Cheese it, stow it, give over, drop it

Cheese cutters, bandy legs

Chere amie, a bed fellow, a sweetheart

Chickster, a flame, a prostitute

Chink, rhino, rag, money

Chiv, a bleeder, a knife

Chizzle, to gammon, cheat

Chuff, jolly, merry

Chum, a bedfellow, a companion, fellow prisoner

Chummy, or clergyman, a sweep

Civil rig, a trick of the beggars to obtain by over civility

Clean shirt day, Sunday

Clankers, silver tankards

Clapper dudgeon, a beggar born

Claret, blood

Cleaned, out, mucked, having lost all your money

Clench it, complete the thing, finish the business

Clerked, cheated, imposed upon

Clicks in the gob, thumps in the mouth

Click, a knock down blow

Clinkers, fetters

Clickman toad, a watch[3]

[Footnote 3: It was originally called so from the following circumstance. A gentleman passing through some part of the West of England, by accident lost his watch, and a greenhorn hearing it tick imagined it to be some live creature; so with the greatest astonishment carried it to his neighbours, who, equally amazed as himself, (for none of them had ever heard of such a thing as a watch) thought it was some reptile, and so christened it a 'Clickman toad;' and with a view to get a breed of young clickman toads, put it with a real toad; but after making many fruitless trials, they all assembled together and dashed its brains out for madness.]

Clink, to nab, to snatch

Clockey, a watchman

Cloy, to steal

Cly or clie, a pocket

Coach wheel, a crown piece

Cock chafer, a lady bird, a prostitute

Cloaker, drop at Newgate

Coffee-mill, watchman's rattle

Cock, a trump, good fellow

Cob, a dollar

Cobble colter, a turkey

Cog, to cheat with dice

Cogue, a glass of gin

Colt, one who lets horses to highwaymen

Coal-scuttle, a large bonnet

Cole, or coal, blunt, money

Collector, a highway robber

Colguarian, the neck

College, the King's Bench or Fleet Prison

Commission, a shirt

Commission, to shake your, to shake your whole frame

Conk, the sneezer, the nose

Convenient, a mistress

Cooler, a glass of porter

Coal-box, chorus of a song

Cod, haughty meddling fool

Come down, to give, stand treat

Come out, worse than very bad, execrable

Communicator, bell

Conk, the nose

Collar, to grab, snatch

Cooped in durance vile, to lock up in a gaol

Corinth, a brothel

Coriander seed, money

Corinthians, men of rank

Corpus, the body

Core, the heart

Coppers, halfpence

Conveyancers, thieves

Costermongers, jackass boys, venders of greens &c.

Cove, or covey, a fellow

Cove, a receiver of stolen goods

Covess of a ken, a female keeper of a brothel

Cove, lumber, a person that keeps a place for thieves

Cover me decent, a top tog, a great coat

Cover me properly, fashionable toggery

Cover me queerly, ragged raiment

Court-card, a trump

Counting-house, Mrs. Jones's, the privy

Coxy fuss, billing and cooing

Crabb shells, shoes

Crack, to break open

Cracksman, a housebreaker

Crack'd canister, a broken head

Cramp-rings, fetters

Crammer, a lie

Cramp words, sentence of death passed on a criminal

Crap, money

Crapp'd, hanged

Craping curl, an executioner

Creeme, to put money in the hands of another

Crank, gin and water

Crib, to thieve

Crib, a ken, a mean looking room

Crikey, a word of wonderment

Crimp, a decoyer, kidnapper

Crony, a companion

Cropping, the tail

Cross, on the, getting a living by dishonest means

Cross fight, a sold battle

Cross bite, to cheat a friend

Cross the herring pond, transported to Botany-bay

Crowdsman, a fiddler

Crummy, fat

Crusty, vexed, chagrined

Cub, a young child

Cucumbers, tailors

Coffin queer, a magistrate

Culch, cag-mag meat, or the refuse of anything

Culp, a kick

Cup-hot, very drunk

Cur, a sneak, a coward

Curbing law, to take goods out of window

Curl, clippings of money

Curlers, Jews who sweat gold coin by rubbing them together, for the dust

Cursitons, broken down lawyers, Newgate attorneys

Cussin, a man

Cut, sheer off, go, avoid, or shun a companion

Cut bene, to speak gently

D.

Dab, a bed

Dab, one who is clever

Dad, a father

Daffy, max, gin

Dagen, a sword

Daddle, the hand

Damn, to crush, to do away with a drama

Damp your mugs, wet your mouth, drink

Dandy, a swell, an exquisite

Dancers, stairs

Darby, ready money

Darbies, sausages, fetters

Darby's fair, the day when felons are removed to Newgate for trial

Darkey, night

Darkmans, the night

Darken the daylights, to close up the eyes

Dash, a waiter

Dash, a portion

Daylights, the eyes

Dealers in queer, passers of bad money

Dead beat, done over

Derrick to, to set out on an enterprise

Deuce, twopence

Deux wins, two pence

Dews, a crown piece

Dew-beaters, the feet

Diamond squad, folks of quality, big'uns

Diamond a horn to, to put a stone under the shoe, to sham walking lame

Diddle, spirituous liquors

Diddle cove, landlord of a gin shop, &c.

Diddle, to cheat

Die proud, or game, to die with courage, or hardened

Dimmock, money

Dimber, handsome pretty

Dimber damber, the king of the canting crew

Dimber cove, a pretty cove, or fellow

Dimber mot, an enchanting girl

Ding, to throw away

Ding boy, a rogue, knave, or sly fellow

Dinger, a pickpocket, or thief

Dipper, anabaptists

Dock yarder, a skulk in any sly place

Doctors, false dice

Doff, to uncover, take your hat off

Dollop, a handful

Dominic, a parson

Done brown, done over, queered, floored

Donovans, potatoes

Donkey's ears, a false collar

Don't name em's, inexpressibles, breeches

Dorse, a place of rest

Douse the glimm, blow out the light

Doughey, a baker

Down, fly, awake, knowing

Down in the mouth, having nothing to say, low spirited

Doxy, girl of the town

Dozing crib, a sleeping room

Drag, a cart or waggon

Drap, a drop

Draw it mild, gently

Draw latches, robbers of houses

Drawers, stockings

Drawing a cork, giving a bloody nose

Drawing a thimble, picking a pocket of a watch

Drawing a wiper, picking a pocket of a handkerchief

Drawing a long bow, telling a lying story for truth

Dromedary, a clumsy thief, a young beginner

Drop, the squeezer at Newgate

Drops, who go about to public houses to cheat unwary countrymen at cards

Droppings, heavy wet, beer

Dub, a key

Dub the jigger, fasten the door

Dubber, a picker of locks

Duds, togs, clothes

Duds cheer, ragged, poor

Duffers, swindlers, who go about with articles pretending they are smuggled and to sell them at an apparently cheap rate

Dummy, a stupid fellow, one who has nothing to say for himself

Duke of limbs, a deformed person

Dunnaken, if it be necessary to explain the word, a privy

Dupe, a victim to artifice and misrepresentation

Durance vile, prison

Dutch reckoning, bad reckoning

Dust, money

Dustman, sleep, or drowsiness

E.

Earwig, a crony, a close friend

Earth stoppers, horses feet

Elbow shaker, a dice rattler, a gambler

English Burgundy, strong beer

Eriffs, young thieves in training

Eve droppers, vagabonds who rob hen roosts

F.

Facer, a blow on the face, a bumper

Fadge, a farthing

Fag, to ill use, to work hard

Fakements, scraps, morsels

Fast trotters, good horses, rum prads

Fam, a ring

Fams, or fambles, hands

Fancy, the ton of low life

Farmer, an alderman

Fastener, a warrant

Faulkner, a juggler, a tumbler

Fawney, a ring

Feck, to, to discover which is the safest way of obtaining stolen goods

Feeder, a spoon

Feint, pawnbroker

Felt, a hat

Fem, a hole

Fence, a receiver of stolen goods

Fencing ken, a house where stolen goods are deposited

Feret, a pawnbroker

Fib, to fight, to box

Fibbing, pummelling a head while in chancery

Flich me some panea and causau, cut me some bread and cheese

Fiddler, a sixpence

Fiddle, a watchman's rattle

Fiery snorter, a red nose

Field lane duck, a baked sheep's head

Fig out, to dress

Figure, a little boy put in at a window to hand goods to his accomplices

Filcher, a thief

File, a rum, an odd fellow

Filch, to steal

Fin, arm

Fishfag, a woman that sells fish

Fishooks, the fingers

Fives, the fingers

Fives, a bunch of the fist, the hand closed

Flag, groat, fourpence

Flame, a bit of muslin, a sweetheart

Flankey, the behind, the part you sit on

Flash of lightning, a glass of gin

Flash, language used by thieves, gypsies; to sport

Flashman, a prostitute's bully

Flash cove, the keeper of a place for the reception of stolen goods

Flashing his gab, showing off his talk

Flash his ivory, showing off his teeth

Flat, a raw, an inexperienced fellow, a fool

Flat-catcher, an article to dupe the public

Fleec'd, clean'd out, stript

Flick, to cut

Flicker, a drinking glass

Flimsies, Bank of England notes

Flipper, the hand

Floating academy, the hulks at Woolwich for convicts

Flogger, a whip

Floored, knocked down

Floorers, fellows who throw people down in the street, &c. when their companions under the pretence of assisting, rob them

Flowers of society, the ornaments of high life, big'uns

Fly, up, acquainted with

Flyers, shoes

Flying colours, to come off with, to come off with luck, to do anything with advantage to yourself

Flue faker, a chummy, a sweep

Fogle, pocket handkerchief

Fogo, stink

Fog, smoke

Fogus, tobacco

Fogay, a stupid fellow

Footing, money paid by a prostitute when going among her companions, also money paid on entering into any trade or calling amongst mechanics

Fork, a pocket

Fork it out, to produce anything by the hand

Forks, fore and middle fingers

Fresh water bay, Fleet-market

Frisk, mischief

Frontispiece, the face

Frow, a prostitute

Frummag'd, choked, or hang'd

Frumper, sturdy blade

Fudge, gammon

Fuller's earth, gin

Fumbles, gloves

Funk, stew, to fret

Funk, to cheat, alarm, to smoke, stink

Funkers, the very lowest order of thieves

G.

Gab, the mouth

Gaff, a fair

Gaffing, tossing with the pie man

Gag high, on the whisper, nosing, telling secrets

Gag low, the last degree of beggary; to ask alms in the streets with a pretended broken limb

Gage, a quart pot

Gaggler's coach, a hurdle

Galters, blacklegs; gamblers

Galligaskins, breeches

Gams, the legs

Game, courageous, sturdy, hearty, hardened

Gammon, falsehood or bombast

Gammoners, cheats, swindlers

Gan, the mouth

Gape seed, anything that attracts the sight

Garnish, money demanded of people entering into prison

Gay tyke boys, dog fanciers

Gee, suitable; that won't gee, won't do

Gelter, money

Gentry cove, a gentleman

Gentry ken, a gentleman's house

George, yellow, a guinea

George, a half crown piece

Gig, fun, nonsense, ready, on the alert

Gill, a cove, fellow

Gills, cheeks

Gin spinner, proprietor of a gin shop

Grinny, an instrument to lift up a grate, in order to steal what articles are in the window

Giving turnips, to cut acquaintance, to shun any body

Glazier, one that breaks windows and show glasses in order to steal goods exposed for sale

Glibe, a writing

Glim, the candle, or light

Glims, peepers, eyes

Glims flashy, a person in a passion

Glim Jack, a link

Glimstick, a candlestick

Glim fenders, hand irons

Gloak, a man

Glue, the lady's fever, venereal disease

Gnostics, knowing ones

Go it, keep on

Go slow, draw it mild, easy

Go by, to rise by superior force, turn the tables, against you

Gob stick, a silver table spoon

God permit, a stage coach

Goggles, the eyes

Goldfinch, yellow boy, gold coin

Gone to pot, become poor in circumstances, gone to the dogs

Goose, to, to hiss like a goose

Goth, A, a fool, an idiot

Grabb, snatch

Grab the bit, to seize the money

Grabbed, taken, or apprehended

Grand strut, Rotten Row, Bond Street

Grand twig, in prime style

Grannum gold, old hoarded coin

Gravel digger, a sharp toed dancer

Gravel tax, money robbed from people on the highway

Grease, money

Greek, St. Giles's, slang language

Greeks, gamblers, blacklegs

Green bag, lawyer

Green, raw, unlearned

Greenhorn, a sponge, a raw countryman

Grig, merry fellow, merry companion

Grinders, the teeth

Groaners, a sort of wretches who attend meetings, sighing and looking demure; in the meantime their pals pick the pockets of those persons who may be in the same pew with them. They also rob the congregation of their watches, as they are coming out of church; exchange their hats for good ones jocosely called hat making; steal prayer-books, &c.; also fellows who go around with street preachers, who, while the mock parson is preaching, they pick the pockets of the listeners

Groat, a flag, fourpence

Grogham, a horse

Gropers, blind men

Gropusses, the pockets

Ground sweat, to be buried

Grub, provender, victuals

Grub and bub, victuals and drink

Grunter, a pig

Grunter, a bob, shilling

Guinea pig, a fellow who receives a guinea for puffing off an unsound horse

Gull, to cheat, circumvent

Gulpin, a raw, a yokel unlearned

Gum, abusive language

Gun powder, an old woman

Gutter lane, the throat

Gutting a quart pot, drinking a pot of beer

H.

Hack, a hackney coach

Half and half, half seas over, tipsy

Half a bull, half a crown

Half a hog, half a shilling

Half a grunter, sixpence

Half nap, venture, hesitation

Hams, breeches

Hammering, excessive heavy thumps with the fists

Hamlet, high constable

Hand over, to bribe evidence not to appear against a culprit, to drop an argument, an action

Handle the ribbing, to knock the ribs about

Hang it up, to leave a reckoning unpaid at a public house

Handle, a tool, a silly fellow

Hard up, in a queer way, money all gone

Harman, a constable

Harmans, the stocks

Havannah, under a canopy of, sitting where there are many persons smoking tobacco

Hawks, swindlers, sharpers

Hawks, an advantage

Hear anything knock, do you take the hint

Hearing cheats, ears

Heave, to rob

Heavy brown, beer

Heavy plodders, stock brokers

Hedge taverns, public houses on the road side, little frequented by travellers

Heavers, breasts

Hedge creeper, the meanest order of thieves

Hedge bird, mean scoundrel

Hedge, to secure a bet by betting on the contrary side

Hedge off, slink off to avoid serious consequences

Hell, a gambling house

Hell cat, a lewd abandoned woman

Hell hound, profligate impudent fellow

Hempen casement, a halter

Hempen furniture, money rewards for convicting felons by thief takers and others; commonly called blood money

Hempen widow, a woman [Transcriber's Note: whose] husband has been hang'd

Hen, woman

Hick Jop, a bumpkin, a fool

Hick Sam, a country fellow, a fool

High pads, thieves, or footpads who rob on the highway, on foot, of the same class as scamps and spicers

High flyer, an audacious impudent woman

High tide, having plenty of money

High tobers, the highest order of thieves, who rob on the highway, well dressed and mounted on fine horses

High gloak, well dressed highwayman

High jinks, gamblers, a set of fellows who keep little goes, take in insurances; also attendants at the E.O. tables and at the races; fellows always on the look out to rob unwary countrymen at cards

Hob, a bumpkin, a clodhopper

Hobbled on the leg, a transported felon ironed on the leg, and sent on board the hulks

Hog, a shilling

Hog grabber, a sneaking mean fellow, a cadger

Hog grunter, a close fisted narrow-souled, mean fellow

Hoisters, shop-lifters, fellows who go into shops, and under the pretence of buying goods, generally conceal some article under the sleeves of the coat, mostly frequenting jeweller's shops

Hoister mots, women who go into shops and steal some small article

Holy land, St. Giles's, from St. Giles's being the patron saint of beggars

Hoofs, the feet

Hoof it, to walk

Hooked, overreached

Hookers, thieves

Hop, a sixpenny, a dancing room, where sixpence is the price of admission

Hop merchant, a dancing master

Hop the twig, run away

Harness, watchmen, constables, police officers

Hot flannel, liquor made of beer and gin, with eggs, sugar, and nutmeg

Hue, to whip, lash

Huff, a bullying, cowardly, fellow

Huggar, drunk

Hum box, pulpit

Hum, a liar, a canting deceitful Wesleyan methodist

Hum, to humbug, deceive

Hums, people at church

Humpty dumpty, boiled ale and brandy

Hunting, drawing unwary people to play

Hush still, quiet

Hush money, money given to compound felony

Huskey lour, a guinea, gold coin

I.

Index, the face

Ignoramus, a stupid fellow, a novice

Inexpressibles, breeches

Ingle boxes, jacks tipped with silver and hung with bells

Ingler, horse dealer of bad character

Interlopers, lazy fellows who are dependent on the generosity of their friends for support

Irish apricots, potatoes

Irish evidence, false witness

Irish legs, thick legs

Iron doublet, a parson

Iron, money

Itch land, Scotland

Ivories, the teeth

J.

Jack, a farthing

Jack Adams, a muff, stupid fellow

Jack at a pinch, a hackney parson

Jack in the box, a sharper, a cheat

Jack cove, a sloven, dirty fellow

Jack-a-dandy, a little impertinent fellow

Jack pudding, merry Andrew, a clown

Jacken closer, a seal

Jacob, a ladder,

Jacobites, sham or collar shirts

Jackrum, a license for marriage

Jam, gold ring

Jarvey, hackney coachman

Jasey, a wig

Jaw, abusive language

Jehu, a coachman

Jemmy, twopenny, head

Jenny, a picklock

Jet, a lawyer

Jet Autem, a parson

Jew, an over-reaching fellow

Jig, a trick

Jigger, a door, bolt, or private still

Job, guinea

Jobber knot, a tall stupid fellow

Jock gagger, fellows who live on the prostitution of their wives, &c.

Joe, an imaginary person, nobody; as, Who do those things belong to? Joe

Jolter head, a heavy dull blustering landlord

Jones's, Mrs., the coffee house, privy

K.

Kate, a picklock

Keep up the ball, to live and be jolly

Keep the line, to, to behave with decorum

Ken, a cribb, room

Ken-cracker, house breaker

Ken Bowman, a well furnished house

Ken, flash, a house where thieves and vagrants resort

Ken miller, house breaker

Kick, sixpence

Kick, to borrow money, to ask a favour

Kick the bucket, to expire

Kicksies, breeches

Kid, a fellow thief

Kiddies, flash fellows

Kid lays, villains who defraud boys of their parcels and goods

Kiddiess, a slap up well-dressed girl

Kid, with, pregnant

Kid-nappers, fellows who steal children, and decoy countrymen and strangers in the street, to rob them; also recruiting crimps

Kidwy, a thief's child

Kill devil, new rum, from its pernicious quality

Kinchin, a young child

Kimbau, to defraud, cheat

King's mots, female children carried on the backs of strollers and beggars to excite the pity of the public

King's picture, king's head on gold coin

Kinchin coves, fellows who steal children for gypsies, beggars, &c.

Knacker, an old good for nothing horse

Knife it, stow it, be quiet

Knight, a poor silly fellow

Knight of the awl, a snob, cobbler

Knight of the hod, a brick-layer's labourer

Knight of the road, a highwayman

Knight of the brush and moon, a drunken fellow

Knight of the post, a perjurer, false swearers, fellows employed to give false evidence

Knight of the blade, a bullying sham captain, a braggadocio

Knights of the rainbow, waiters, footmen, lacqueys

Knowledge box, the jemmy, head

Knuckles, pickpockets

Knuckle dabs, ruffles

Ky-bosh on, to put the, to turn the tables on any person, to put out of countenance

L.

Lady-bird, a sweetheart, bedfellow

Laced woman, a virtuous female

Lady's man, an obsequious fellow to females

Lady in mourning, hottentot girl

Lag, to transport

Lagged, transported

Lagger, a person working on the water

Lame ducks, defaulters at the Stock Exchange

Lambskin men, the judges

Lantern, dark, a servant or agent that receives a bribe to conceal a robbery

Lap, butter-milk, whey

Lap, rum, good liquor

Lap feeder, a spoon

Lapping your congou, drinking your tea

Lark, a bit of mischief, fun

Leading strings, the control of friends

Leery, fly, up, acquainted

Leerers, the eyes

Left, over the, no go, it won't do

Leg bail, running away

Leg o'mutton sleeves, large sleeves worn by the ladies

Levanters, persons who run away from their debts of honour

Lib, to live together

Lib ken, lodging house

Libbege, a bed

Lifter, a robber of shops

Lighting a candle, sneaking out of a public house with out paying the reckoning

Light blue, gin

Lightning, gin

Lightning, a noggen of, a quartern of gin

Lightments, the day

Lil, a pocket book

Lily white, a snowball, a black, a chimney sweep

Limbo, prison

Line, getting into a, confusing a person, imposing on any body's belief by joking

Lingo, slang, language

Link it, turn it out

Lipish, saucy

List, or Loist, shop-lifting, robbing a shop

Little Barbary, Wapping

Little shillings, love money

Lively kid, a funny fellow, a brave man

Loap'd, run away

Lob, money till

Lob, an easy foolish fellow

Lob lolly, a queer cooked mess

Lob's pound, a prison

Lobsters, soldiers

Lock, a warehouse for the reception of stolen goods

Lock, rum, being in good health; rich, clever, expert

Locksmith's daughter, key

Loge, a watch

Loose house, round house or cage

Lord, a deformed hump-backed person

Lour, money

Low-water mark, having little money

Lugs, or listeners, the ears

Lully, wet linen

Lullaby cheat, an infant

Lully priggers, the lowest order of thieves, who decoy children to some bye place and rob them of their clothes

Lully snow prigging, stealing wet linen from hedges

Lumber ken, a pawnbroker's shop

Lumber the ticker, to pawn a watch

Lurch, in the, to be left behind, to sneak, to hang on

Lush cribs, sluicery's, gin shops

Lush, drink

Lush ken, an alehouse

Lushingtons, drunkards

M.

Mace, to rob, steal

Mackry, the country

Mad Toms of Bedlam, fellows who counterfeit madness in the streets, and after beating themselves about, spit out some blood, in order to convince the too feeling multitude that they have injured themselves by violent struggles, and so obtain relief: they have a small bladder of sheep's blood in their mouth and when they choose can discharge it

Made, stolen

Mag, halfpenny

Make, to, steal

Malty coves, beer drinkers

Mary-le-bone kick, a kick in the belly

Marrowbones, the knees

Mat macers, fellows and old women who go round in a morning when the servants are cleaning the doorways and steal the mats, &c.

Maunder, beggar

Maundering, begging

Mauns, tip us your, give me your hand

Mawley, the fist

Mawmouth, one that splutters in his talk

Max, gin

Mazzard, the head

Mest, to spend

Middle-piece, the stomach

Mill, thump, fight

Mill the glaze, breaking windows or lamps

Mill the ken, break open the house

Mill his nob, break his head

Mill clapper, a woman's tongue

Milldoll, to beat hemp in Bridewell

Miller, a boxer

Missing, courting; to be gone or away

Misstopper, a coat and petticoat

Mizzle, go, begone

Moabites, bailiffs and their crew

Mog, a lie

Moisten your chaffer, drink

Monish, tip us the, give me the money

Monkey up, being in a violent passion

Mopus, a halfpenny

Moon cursers, link boys

Moonshine, nonsense, flummery

Morriss off, to run away

Mother, a name for the keeper of a brothel

Mother's milk, rum, boose, good liquor

Mots, cyprians, whores

Mount, to give false evidence

Mounter, a common perjurer, villains who give false evidence and become bail for fellows of their own stamp

Mouth, a stupid fellow, a novice

Move, an incident, an action in life

Mower, a cow

Muck, money

Muck, to, to clean out, to win all a person's money

Muck'd, lost all at play, no money left

Mud pipes, thick boots

Muff, a raw, a silly fellow

Mufflers, sparring gloves

Mug, the face

Mugs, cutting of, making faces

Mullygrubs, the belly ache

Mummer, the mouth

Mummers, strolling players, mountebank speakers, gypsies, and beggars who tell pitiful stories to excite compassion

Muns, mouth

Mumbling cove, a sturdy ill-natured landlord, shabby fellow

Murphies, potatoes

Muzzle, the mouth

N.

Nab, to steal

Nabb'd, taken

Nail, to lay hold

Natty lads, young thieves

Nash, to bolt, to run away

Needful, money

Never wag, man of war, the Fleet Prison

Neat thing, good liquor

Nab, a hat

Nabs, a person to either sex; a familiar way of talking; as, How are you my Nabs

Nob the bib, to cry and wipe the eyes

Nab the rust, to receive the money

Nab the noge, to receive a guinea

Nab the clout, steal a handkerchief

Nab the cramp, having sentence of death passed

Nab the bung, to receive a purse

Nask, a prison

Napper, or Nads, a sheepstealer

Napper, the head

Ne'er a face but his own, not a farthing in his pocket

Newlicks, or Noolucks, a person not known, an imaginary being, said to be a kin to Joe, Cheeks, &c.

Nibble, thieve, steal

Nicks, nothing

Nim, to steal

Nimmer, a thief of the lowest order

Niggers, fellows who clip and file gold coin

Nig, clipping of money

Nick it, to win a wager

Nip, a cheat

Nipperkin, half pint measure

Nix, or nix my doll, nothing

No go, it won't do, a bad experiment

Nob, the head

Nob, the head; a fellow carrying a high head, a man of money, of respectability

Nob thatcher, a hat maker

Nob, old, a favourite game used by sharpers, called pricking in the hat

Nobblers, blows, thumps

Noddle, empty headed, shallow pated, stupid

Noll, a wig

Noodle, a sawney

Norway neckcloth, the pillory

Norfolk capon, a soldier, a red herring

Nose, a, one who splits or tells

Nose, to, to expose, tell

Nozzle, the nose

Nub, the neck

Nubbing, hanging

Nubbing cove, the hangman

Nubbing ken, the sessions house

Nubbing cheat, the gallows

Nail gropers, people who sweep the streets in search of old iron, nails, &c.

Nunnery, a brothel

Nurse, to cheat

Nutty, fond

Nut crackers, the pillory

Nutmeg grater, the beard

O.

Oak, a rich man of credit, substance

Office, warning, notice

Ogles, the eyes

Ogles in mourning, black eyes

Ogles, rum, fine piercing eyes

Oil of palm, money

Old One, or Old Harry, names for the devil

Old Tom, good gin

Old toast, a brisk lively old man

Oliver, the moon

Oliver widdles, the moon shines

Oliver sneaks, the moon hid under a cloud, has got his upper Ben on

Oli compoli, a rogue of the canting crew

On the pot, being in trouble, vex'd

On the mallet, having goods on trust

One two, two blows succeeding each other

One in ten, a parson

Optics, the eyes

Operators, pickpockets

Os chives, bone handle knives

Out and outer, a rum'un, a good fellow at any thing, a trump

Ousted, turned out, thrown

Over the left, it won't do, no go

Over the bender, over the bridge

Overseer, a fellow in the pillory

Owlers, runners and smugglers of wool

P.

Pad, a highwayman who robs on foot

Pad it, to walk

Palm, to fee, to hand over

Pallaird, beggars who borrow children, the better to obtain charity

Panum, victuals

Panum struck, very hungry, wanting something to eat

Pantler, a butler

Param, bread

Parings, clippings of money

Panter, heat

Pat, an accomplice or companion

Patter, slang

Patter slang, to talk flash

Pattered, tried in a court of justice for felony

Pave, the pathway

Pavier's workshop, the street

Peck and boose, victuals and drink

Peel, to strip

Peeper, looking glass

Peepers, eyes

Peel your skin, strip, pull off your clothes

Peery, suspicious

Peg a hack, to drive a hackney coach

Peg, or peg stick, a bender, shilling

Peg tantrums, dead

Penance board, pillory

Persuaders, cudgels or spurs

Peter, a trunk

Peteresses, persons who make it their business to steal boxes from the backs of coaches, chaises, and other carriages

Pewter, money

Pewter, to unload, to drink porter out of a quart pot

Philistines, bailiffs and their crew

Phizog, the face

Pickling tubs, Wellington, or top boots

Picture frame, the gallows, or pillory

Pig, a sixpence

Pigman, a trap, or bailiff

Pigeon, a meek stupid easy fellow

Pike off, run away

Pinch, to steal money under pretence of getting change, see Ringing the changes

Pimple, the head

Pinks of fashion, dashing fellows

Pins, the gams, legs

Pippin, funny fellow, friendly way of expressing one's self as 'How are you, my Pippin?'

Planket, concealed

Pockets, to let, empty pockets, no money

Point non plus, neither money nor credit

Poke fun, to chaff, joke

Poke, a bag, or sack

Poker, a sword

Poney, money, L50

Pop, to pledge or pawn

Poplers, mess of pottage

Poppers, pistols

Potato, drop it like a, to drop any thing suddenly

Potato trap, the mouth

Potato, red hot, take a, a word by way of silencing a person, a word of contempt

Pot scum, bad or stinking dripping

Pothooks and hangers, short hand characters

P's & Q's mind your, mind what you're at

Poundage cove, a fellow who receives poundage for procuring customers for damaged goods

Prad, a horse

Prancers, horses

Prate, roast, a loquacious fellow

Pratt, buttocks

Pricking in the wicker for a dolphin, stealing bread from a baker's basket

Prigs, thieves, pickpockets

Prime twig, high condition

Prog, victuals

Prog, rum, good victuals

Prog, queer, bad victuals

Property, an easy fellow, a tool made use of to serve any purpose, a cat's paw

Provender, a person from whom any money is taken on the high road

Pudding house, the workhouse

Pull, having the advantage over an adversary

Pull out, come it strong

Punch, a blow

Punish, to beat in fighting

Punisher, one who beats soundly

Pupil's straits, school tuition

Purgatory, trouble, perplexity

Purl, royal, ale and gin made warm

Purse, a sack

Put, a country fellow, silly, foolish

Putty and soap, bread & cheese

Q.

Quarroms, a body

Queer, base, doubtful, good for nothing, bad

Queer bit makers, coiners

Queer buffer, sharp inn keeper

Queer street, to be in, in a quandary

Queer cove, a rogue, villain

Queer ogles, squinting eyes

Queer patter, foreign talk

Queer rotar, a bad ill looking coach

Queer rag, ill-looking money, base coin

Queer blowing, ugly wench

Queer gill, suspicious fellow

Queer plungers, fellows who pretended to be drowned

Queer cole makers, coiners of bad money

Queer lap, bad liquor

Queer beak, strict justice, upright judge

Queer rag, bad farthing

Queer bit, counterfeit money

Queer lully, deformed child

Queer tats, false dice

Queer vinegar, worn out woman's cloak

Queer belch, sour beer

Queer cove, a turnkey

Queer bid, insolvent sharpers who make a practice of billing persons arrested

Queer cat lap, bad tea

Queer chum, a suspicious companion

Queer pops, bad pistols

Queer put, an ill-looking foolish fellow

Queer thimble, good for nothing watch

Queer hen, a bad woman

Quota, whack, share

Quod cull, a gaol keeper

Quail pipe, woman's tongue

Queer prad, broken knee'd horse

Queer lambs, bad dice

Queer Nantz, bad brandy

Queer nicks, breeches worn out

Queer dogen, rusty sword

Queer buffer, a cur

Queer harmen beak, a strict beadle

Queer gum, outlandish talk

Queer glim, a bad light

Queer ken, a gentleman's house without the furniture

Queer doxy, a clumsy woman

Queer booze, bad beer

Queer amen curler, a drunken parish clerk

Qui tam, a shark, lawyer

Qui vive, on the alert, in expectation

Quid, a goldfinch, sovereign

Quiz, a queer one, a gig, an aboriginal

Quod, prison

R.

Radical, Hunt's breakfast powder, roasted corn

Rag, money; I've no rag, meaning I've no notes

Rag, blow up, rap out, scold

Rainbow, a tailor's pattern book

Rainbows, gay young bucks

Rain napper, an umbrella

Rap, I'm not worth a rap, I've got no money

Rap, give evidence, take false oath

Rap out, to swear, blow up, be in a passion

Rat, drunken man or woman taken in custody for breaking the lamps

Rattling cove, a hackney coach man

Rattling gloak, a simple easy fellow

Rattling mumpers, beggars who ply coaches

Ready, money

Reader, a pocket-book

Red rag, the tongue

Red rag, give your, a holiday, hold your tongue

Red tape, Cognac, brandy

Regular, in proper course

Regulars, persons thus called from their leaving parties of pleasure at eleven or twelve o'clock at night, to the no small discomforture of many an out-and-outer

Regent, half a sovereign

Resurrection men, fellows who steal dead bodies from the church yard for the surgeons

Rhino, grease, money

Ribbon, money

Ridge, gold outside of a watch or other article

Ridge cove, a wealthy goldsmith

Riff raff, black beetles, the lower order of people

Rig, fun, game, diversion

Rig out, a suit of clothes

Rig conoblin, cutting the string of large coals hanging at the door of coal sheds

Rigging, clothing

Right and fly, complete

Ring, to exchange one article for another

Rise, a, a disturbance

Rivertick, tradesman's books

Rivits, money

Roger, a portmanteau

Rooled up, put in a spunging house

Romoners, fellows pretending to be acquainted with the occult sciences, fortune tellers

Rome ville, London

Rookery, an ill furnished house

Roses, nobility

Rotan, a coach

Rum glimmer, head of the link boy

Rum bodick, dirty shabby fellow

Rum beak, sensible justice

Rum doxy, fine made wench

Rum drawers, silk stockings

Rum gloak, well dressed man

Rum Nantz, good brandy

Rum ghelt, or rum cole, new money

Rum squeeze, wine or other liquor given to fiddlers

Rum prancer, fine horse

Rum rufe peck, Westphalia ham

Rum prad, a highwayman's horse

Rum duke, queer old fellow, rich man

Rum gill, a man who appears to have plenty of money

Rum rush, a number of villains rushing into a house in order to rob it

Rum gutters, cape wine

Rum quid, good guinea

Rum chaunt, good song

Rum booze, good wine, or any liquor

Rum buffer, valuable dog

Rum cly, a full pocket

Rum feeder, large silver table spoon

Rum gaggers, cheats who tell wonderful stories of their sufferings at sea, in order to obtain money

Rot gut, swankey, small beer

Row, disturbance, 'and in the ken to breed a row'

Roysters, noisy, turbulent fellows, rude vile singers

Roundyken, the watchhouse

Rumpus, a scuffle

Rub, an obstacle in the way, to run away, to make off

Rub out, when its dry, all right when its forgotten

Ruffman, any person who handles a thief roughly; the wood, hedges

Rugg, all right and safe

Rug carrier, an ensign

Rum blowing, a handsome girl

Rum hopper, a waiter at a tavern

Rum mot, a woman of the town

Rum bob, a shop till

Rum peepers, fine looking glasses, or bright eyes

Rum speaker, good booty

Rum job or rum dagen, a handsome sword

Rum quids, guineas

Rum, pad, the high road

Rum maundy, fellows who counterfeit the fool, going about the streets in order to obtain charity

Rum kicks, breeches

Rum file, or rum diver, a female pickpocket

Rum dropper, a vintner

Rum cove, good natured landlord

Rum fun, sharp trick

Rum bung, full purse

Rum bow, rope stolen from any of the king's dock-yards

Rum clout, handkerchief

Rum bluffer, a jolly host

Rum bleating cheat, a fat sheep

Rum back, good natured Irishman

Rum barking irons, prime pistols

Rum dumber, good natured prince of the canting crew

Rum quod cull, a gaoler

Rum, or monogin, good, the most valuable of any thing jewels, diamonds

Rum'un, a trump, a good fellow

Rum ti tam with the chill off, good, slab up, the tippy, excellent

Ryder, a cloak

S.

Sack, a pocket

Sack, to, to take up

Sam, a foolish fellow, an idiot

Sam, to stand, to pay for all

Sangaree, rack punch

Sans prisado, a person who comes into company without any money

Saving one's bacon, to escape with a whole skin, to evade any accident

Seedy, poor, miserable looking without money

Scamp, a thief

Setter, persons using the haunts of thieves in order to give information for the reward

Seven-pence, to stand, to suffer seven years transportation

Sew up the sees, to give a person two black eyes

Scandal broth, tea

Scamp foot, a street robber

Scent box, the nose

School butter, whipping

Scot, a savage person

Scotch fiddle, itch

Scottish, savage, wild, chagrined

Score, a debt, fine

Scout, a watchman or beadle

Screwbado, a dirty fellow, insignificant

Scroof, to go about living with friends at their expense

Scran, victuals

Scrap, a villainous scheme

Screw, a miser

Screw loose, a quarrel between two individuals, something wrong in a man's affairs

Screen, a pound note

Sharps, persons ready to take you in on all occasions

Shake a toe, to dance

Shark, a lawyer

Shade, nice to a, very particular

She lion, a shilling

Shell, to contribute, club

Sherry, run away, be gone

Sheriff's bail, an execution

Shindy, a regular row, a general quarrel

Shiners, guineas

Shirk, to cut, to skulk

Shop, a gaol

Shop lobber, a dressed up silly coxcomb of a shopman, a powdered fop

Shopped, imprisoned

Shoot, to go skulking about

Shooting the cat, vomiting

Shove, crowd, push

Shove the tumbler, whipped at the cart's tail

Shove in the mouth, a glass of gin

Shoving the moon, moving goods by moonlight

Shoulder knot, a bailiff

Shuffle, go, morriss, begone

Slum, gammon, sham

Shy cock, a person afraid of a bailiff

Sigster, a nap, after dinner, a short sleep

Sidle, come close to

Sighers, See Groaners

Sight, take a, a manner of expressing contempt or ridicule by putting the thumb to the nose, with the fingers straight up in the air

Sight, a lot, a great many, a great deal

Sinkers, old stockings that have sunk the small parts into the heel

Sipper, a tea spoon

Six and eight pence, a lawyer

Sink hole, the throat

Skewer, a sword

Skin, a purse

Skinners, villains who steal children; kidnappers who entrap unwary men to enlist for soldiers

Sky parlour, a garret, or first floor next the sky

Slang, flash language, patter

Slanged, ironed on one leg

Slap bang, victuals sold at a cook shop

Slate, a sheet

Sling tale and galena, fowl and pickled pork

Slipped cove, got away

Slogg, to thump hard

Slogger, a miller, a boxer

Sluicery, a gin shop

Sluiced their gobs, drank heartily

Sluice, wet, moisten

Slubber, a heavy stupid fellow

Sly, contraband

Smack the bit, share the booty

Smart blunt, forfeit money

Smart, regular, up, awake

Smashing cove, housebreaker

Smash, to break, strike, also bad coin

Smash, a thigh of mutton and, leg of mutton, turnips, and capers

Smasher, passer of bad money

Smell, half a guinea

Smell a rat, to surmise something

Smeller, the nose

Smiter, the arm

Smicket, a shift

Smug, steal, nibble

Shaffle, highwayman

Sneak, on the morning, sneaking down in the kitchen, &c., just as the servants are up, and purloining any small articles, commonly practised by cadgers

Sneezer, the nose

Snitch, to turn, to nose, to tell tales, to turn sneak

Snorter, the nose

Snooze, to sleep, doze

Snoozing ken, a sleeping room

Snow ball, a black man

Snuffle, the nose

Snuge, thief under a bed

Solomon, the mass

Some tune, a large amount

Something short, a glass of liquor

Soul driver, methodist parson

South sea mountain, gin

Speck, a bad, a bad undertaking

Specks, barnacles, spectacles

Spicer, footpad, robber

Spicer, high, highwayman

Spike hotel, the Fleet, or King's Bench

Spilt, overturned in a carriage

Spittleonian, yellow handkerchief

Spoke with, to rob

Spoke to, he's taken by the officers, cast for death

Spooney, a foolish fellow

Spoil, to bruise, injure

Spree, a lark, fun

Spurs, diggers

Spunge, to eat and drink at another's expense

Squail, a dram

Squeaker, a cross child, also a pot boy

Squeezer, a drop at Newgate

Stach, to conceal a robbery

Stool, help, assistance

Staller, an accomplice in picking of pockets by holding up the arms of persons

Stam fish, to cant

Stand the racket, treat, pay for all

Stand the nonsense, pay the money, stand treat

Stand still, a table

Stale whimper, a bastard

Stall, to make a stand, to crowd

Stag, an accomplice who has turned king's evidence

Stagged, discovered

Staller, an accomplice

Stalling ken, broker's shop, or that of a person receiving stolen goods

Stampers, feet, shoes, stairs

Stark naked, gin

Star-gazers, prostitutes who frequent hedge rows

Stephen, money

Stern, the, the goat, behind, what we sit upon

Stifle a squeaker, to murder a child

Sticks, goods, chattels

Stiffner, a letter

Stick fans, gloves

Sticks, pistols

Stone pitcher, Newgate

Stoop, the pillory

Stow it, drop it, be quiet

Stow your whid, be silent

Stranger, a guinea

Strap, mallet, trust

Strammel, straw

Stretching, hanging

Straw chipper, a straw bonnet maker

Strike, a guinea

Strings of onions, the lower orders of society

String, to, to impose on a person's belief by some joke or lie

Strike me dead, small beer

Strummer faker, hair dresser

Stumps, the feet or legs

Sucked, devilish drunk

Suit of cover me properly, suit of fashionable clothes

Sugar, cock your leg and cry, a way of expressing triumph or joy, by standing on one leg, and shaking the other up hooting 'sugar' loudly

Sufferer, a sovereign, also a tailor

Swaddy, a lobster, soldier

Swaddler, a pitiful fellow, a methodist preacher who preaches on the high road, when a number of people are assembled, his accomplices pick their pockets

Swag, a lot, much

Swallow, the throat

Swankey swipes, table beer

Sweeteners, guinea droppers

Swell out of luck, a decayed fop or dandy

Swinger, one leg and a, a sound leg and a lame one

Swig, liquor of any kind

Swigs men, thieves who travel the country under colour of buying old clothes

Swindling gloak, a cheat

T.

Tackle, good clothes, also a mistress

Tag rag and bobtail, extremes of low life

Tail, a sword

Tallymen, persons who let out clothes to saloon cyprians

Tamarhoo, a hackney coachman, so called from the song of 'Tamarhoo; or The Devil and the Hackney Coachman'

Tanner, sixpence

Tape, gin

Tat, rum, good dice

Tatt, queer, bad dice

Tatt men, fellows who get their living by attending the gaming tables and playing at dice

Tater trap, the mummer, mouth

Tatty tog, a gaming cloth

Tattler, watch or clock

Tea-pot, a negro

Teaser, sixpence

Teazer of catgut, a fiddler

Tears of the tankard, drops of liquor

Teaze, to whip at the cart's tail

That's the ticket, just the thing as it ought to be

That dab's in quod, the rogue's in prison

Thimble, a watch

Three sheets in the wind, three parts drunk

Throw the hatchet, to, to tell a marvellous story, or a lie, and swear it's true

Thums, three pence

Tie, equal

Tib of the buttery, goose

Tibby, one on your, I owe you one

Ticker, a watch

Tidy, pretty good

Timber, matches

Timber merchant, a match dealer

Time o' day, quite right, the thing

Tinker, sixpence

Tip, money

Tip, to give

Tip your rags a gallop, to bolt, run away

Tip street, to be in, to have plenty of money

Tippy, the, just the thing, as it ought to be

Tip top, the highest, best

Tits, horses

Title-page, the face

Tizzy, sixpence

To nab a kid, to steal a child

To sing small, to draw the horns in, to be humbled

To mill a cheating bleat, to kill a sheep

To diamond a horse, to put a stone under the shoe to make it appear lame

Toddle, to walk

Toddlers, legs

Tog and kicks, breeches and coat

Togged, dressed

Togman, a cloak

Togs, clothes

Tol lol, pretty well in health

Tolo bon rig, persons who go about the country telling fortunes by signs, pretending to be deaf and dumb

Tolobon, the tongue

Tombstones, teeth

Tonic, a halfpenny

Tooth pickers, Irish watchmen's shillalies

Topper, a hat

Topping, hanging

Topping cove, hangman

Touted, to be followed, or pursued

Touch, to arrest

Tout, to look out sharp, to guard

Tow street, in, said of a person who is being misled or decoyed

Towe, clipt money

Town toddlers, silly fellows taken in by sharpers at play

Town tabby, a dowager of quality

Track, to go

Traps, constables or thief takers

Transporter, the mouth

Tramp, to wander as a beggar

Translators, sellers of old boots and shoes

Trib, a prison

Trine, to hang

Trine, the new drop

Trotters, the legs

Trooper, a blowing, prostitute

Trooper, half a crown

Trump, a good one, a jolly fellow

Trulls, the lowest order of prostitutes, followers of soldiers

Truck, stealing money under pretence of changing

Tuck, victuals

Tuck out, a good meal, a bellyfull

Tuck up fair, Newgate at a hanging time

Tucked up, hanged; married

Tumbler, a cart

Turn-up, a casual set-to, a fight

Tulips of the goes, the highest order of fashionables

Tarter, a queer customer, a powerful enemy

Turnip, a watch

Turkey merchant, driver of turkeys

Twelver, a shilling

Twaddlers, pease

Twig, to see, observe

Twinklers, the eyes

Twirlers, hawkers of men's and women's clothes

Twittoe, two

Tykes, dogs

Tyke boys, dog owners

Tyro, a yokel, a novitiate

U.

Under the screw, in prison

Under the rose, on the sly, concealed enjoyment

Unload pewter, drinking beer from pewter pots

Unrigged, stripped of money and clothes

Up, acquainted with the conversation of the company, apprised of any transaction

Up to slum, humbug or gammon

Up the spout, articles at the pawnbrokers

Up the flue, being in trouble, on the pot

Upper Benjamin, an upper coat

Upright, alehouse pots

V.

Vamp, to pledge any article

Vampers, stockings

Vhite, gin

Velvet, the tongue

Velvet, to tip the, to talk to a woman, to impose by flowery language

Victualling office, the stomach or paunch

Voil, town

W.

Wapstraw, Johnny Raw, a yokel, a countryman

Wall flowers, old clothes exposed for sale

Wall it, chalking a reckoning up at a public house

Wall fruit, kissing against a wall

Warm, rich

Wattles, the ears

Water pads, fellows who rob ships

Water-heaped, a snivelling fellow

Wearing the breeches, the wife ruling the husband

Wedge, silver plate

Wet the other eye, take another glass

Wetting the neck, drinking

Whacks, shares of booty

Wheadle, a sharper

White wood, silver

White port, gin

Whither, silver bowl

Whimpshire, Yorkshire

Whiddler, a talkative fellow, an informer

Whirligig, the pillory

Whistling shop, a public house in a prison

Whisker, a bouncing lie

White buzmen, pickpockets

White toppers, white hats

White tape, gin

Whites, counterfeit silver

Wiggen, the neck

Win, a penny

Wipe, fogle, handkerchief

Wing, fly, up, acquainted with

Wobble, to reel, drunk

Wo ball, a milk woman

Wood pecker, a punster, joker, player on words

Wooden ruff, the pillory, as he wore the wooden ruff, he stood in the pillory

W's, between the two, hitting in the belly between wind and water

Won't suit, no go, it won't do

Y.

Yace and onions, watch and seal

Yam, to eat hearty

Yankee, a tawney man

Yard of tape, a glass of gin

Yarmouth capon, a red herring

Yarum, food made of milk

Yellow boys, goldfinches, sovereigns

Yellowman, a yellow handkerchief

Yelper, a fellow who makes pitiful lamentations of trifles

Yokels, green horns, countrymen



THE SIXTY ORDERS OF PRIME COVES.

1. Rum-bubbers 2. Coves 3. Groaners 4. Duffers 5. Out-and-outers 6. Coiners 7. Macers 8. Swigs men 9. Bully rocks 10. Lully priggers 11. Ginglers 12. Ken coves 13. Bully huffs 14. Starrers 15. Strollers 16. Mounters 17. Shoplifters 18. Swadlers 19. Sweeteners 20. Clapper dogens 21. Cloak twitchers 22. Upright men 23. Dubs men 24. Forkers 25. Bullies 26. Autem men 27. Beau nappers 28. Badgers 29. Cadgers 30. Beau traps 31. Twirlers 32. Gammoners 33. Groaners 34. Fencers 35. Spicers 36. High topers 37. Footpads 38. Gamblers 39. Swindlers 40. Shoplifters 41. Sturdy beggars 42. Pad priggers 43. Money lenders 44. Ken crackers 45. Queer culls 46. Rushers 47. Fawney coves 48. Divers 49. Adam iglers 50. Knackers 51. Millers 52. Smashers 53. Filers 54. Gypsies 55. Buffers 56. Priggers 57. Rum padders 58. Gaggers 59. Dragsmen 60. Bloods

FINIS.

* * * * *

Companion Volume by the Editor of "Sinks of London Laid Open," cloth, 7s. 6d.

ANNALS

OF

FASHIONABLE GALLANTRY,

A COLLECTION OF

REMARKABLE TRIALS FOR DIVORCE,

&c.,

With many curious Anecdotes of Supreme Bon Ton.