The First Edition of this work had a rapid sale, and within a few weeks
after it was published the entire issue passed from the publisher’s
shelves into the hands of the public. A Second Edition, although
urgently called for, was not immediately attempted. The First had been
found incomplete and faulty in many respects, and the author determined
to thoroughly revise and recast before again going to press. The
present edition, therefore, will be found much more complete than the
First; indeed, I may say that it has been entirely rewritten, and that,
whereas the First contained but 3,000 words, this gives nearly 5,000,
with a mass of fresh illustrations, and extended articles on the more
important slang terms—HUMBUG, for instance. The notices of a _Lingua
Franca_ element in the language of London vagabonds is peculiar to this
edition.
My best thanks are due to several correspondents for valuable hints
and suggestions as to the probable etymologies of various colloquial
expressions.
One literary journal of high repute recommended a division of
cant from slang; but the annoyance of two indices in a small work
appeared to me to more than counterbalance the benefit of a stricter
philological classification, so I have for the present adhered to the
old arrangement; indeed, to separate cant from slang would be almost
impossible.
Respecting the HIEROGLYPHICS OF VAGABONDS, I have been unable to obtain
further information; but the following extract from a popular manual
which I have just met with is worth recording, although, perhaps,
somewhat out of place in a Preface.
“Gipseys follow their brethren by numerous marks, such as strewing
handfuls of grass in the day time at a four lane or cross roads;
the grass being strewn down the road the gang have taken; also, by
a cross being made on the ground with a stick or knife, the longest
end of the cross denotes the route taken. In the night time a cleft
stick is placed in the fence at the cross roads, with an arm pointing
down the road their comrades have taken. The marks are always placed
on the left-hand side, so that the stragglers can easily and readily
find them.”—_Snowden’s Magistrate’s Assistant_, 1852, p. 444.
_Piccadilly, March 15th, 1860._