OR A LIST OF THE BOOKS WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED IN COMPILING THIS
WORK, COMPRISING NEARLY EVERY KNOWN TREATISE UPON THE SUBJECT.
Slang has a literary history, the same as authorised language. More
than one hundred works have treated upon the subject in one form or
another,—a few devoting but a chapter, whilst many have given up their
entire pages to expounding its history and use. Old Harman, a worthy
man, who interested himself in suppressing and exposing vagabondism in
the days of good Queen Bess, was the first to write upon the subject.
Decker followed fifty years afterwards, but helped himself, evidently,
to his predecessor’s labours. Shakespere, Beaumont and Fletcher, Ben
Jonson, and Brome, each employed beggars’ Cant as part of the machinery
of their plays. Then came Head (who wrote “The English Rogue,” in 1680)
with a glossary of Cant words “used by the Gipseys.” But it was only a
reprint of what Decker had given sixty years before. About this time
authorised dictionaries began to insert vulgar words, labelling them
“Cant.” The Jack Sheppards and Dick Turpins of the early and middle
part of the last century made Cant popular, and many small works were
published upon the subject. But it was Grose, burly, facetious Grose,
who, in the year 1785, collected the scattered glossaries of Cant
and secret words, and formed one large work, adding to it all the
vulgar words and Slang terms used in his own day. I am aware that the
indelicacy and extreme vulgarity of the work renders it a disgrace to
its compiler, still we must admit that it is by far the most important
work which has ever appeared on street or popular language; indeed,
from its pages every succeeding work has, up to the present time, drawn
its contents. The great fault of Grose’s book consists in the author
not contenting himself with Slang and Cant terms, but the inserting
of every “smutty” and offensive word that could be raked out of the
gutters of the streets. However, Harman and Grose are, after all, the
only authors who have as yet treated the subject in an original manner,
or have written on it from personal inquiry.
AINSWORTH’S (William Harrison) Novels and Ballads. _London_, V.D.
Some of this author’s novels, such as Rookwood and Jack Sheppard,
abound in cant words, placed in the mouths of the highwaymen. The
author’s ballads (especially “Nix my dolly pals fake away,”) have
long been popular favourites.
ANDREWS’ (George) Dictionary of the Slang and Cant Languages, Ancient
and Modern, 12mo. _London_, 1809
A sixpenny pamphlet, with a coloured frontispiece representing a
beggar’s carnival.
A NEW DICTIONARY OF THE JAUNTING CREW, 12mo. N.D.
Mentioned by John Bee in the Introduction to his Sportsman’s Slang
Dictionary.
ASH’S (John, LL.D.) New and Complete Dictionary of the English
Language, 2 vols. 8vo. 1775
Contains a great number of cant words and phrases.
BACCHUS AND VENUS; or, a Select Collection of near 200 of the most
Witty and Diverting Songs and Catches in Love and Gallantry, with Songs
in the Canting Dialect, with a DICTIONARY, _ explaining all Burlesque
and Canting Terms_, 12mo. 1738
Prefixed is a curious woodcut frontispiece of a _Boozing Ken_. This
work is scarce, and much prized by collectors. The Canting Dictionary
appeared before, about 1710, with the initials B. E. on the title.
It also came out afterwards, in the year 1751, under the title of
the _Scoundrel’s Dictionary_,—a mere reprint of the two former
impressions.