Argot and Slang / A New French and English Dictionary of the Cant Words, Quaint Expressions, Slang Terms and Flash Phrases Used in the High and Low Life of Old and New Paris

INTRODUCTION.

Argot pervades the whole of French society. It may be heard everywhere, and it is now difficult to peruse a newspaper or open a new novel without meeting with a sprinkling of some of the jargon dialects of the day. These take their rise in the slums, on the boulevards, in workshops, barracks, and studios, and even in the lobbies of the Houses of Legislature. From the beggar to the diplomatist, every class possesses its own vernacular, borrowed more or less from its special avocations. The language of the dangerous classes, which so often savours of evil or bloody deeds, of human suffering, and also of the anguish and fears of the ever-tracked and ever-watchful criminal, though often disguised under a would-be humorous garb, cannot but be interesting to the philosopher. “Everybody,” says Charles Nodier, “must feel that there is more ingenuity in argot than in algebra itself, and that this quality is due to the power it possesses of making language figurative and graphic. With algebra, only calculations can be achieved; with argot, however ignoble and impure its source, a nation and society might be renovated.... Argot is generally formed with ability because it is the outcome of the urgent necessities of a class of men not lacking in brains.... The jargon of the lower classes, which is due to the inventive genius of thieves, is redundant with sparkling wit, and gives evidence of wonderfully imaginative powers.”

If criminals are odious, they are not always vulgar, and a study of their mode of expression possesses certain features of interest. The ordinary slang of the higher strata of French society, as compared with that of the lower classes, being based often on mere distortion of words or misappropriation of meaning, is in many cases vulgar and silly; it casts a stain over a language which has already suffered so much at the hands of the lesser stars of the Naturalistic School. A coarse sentiment, a craving for more violent sensations, will find expression in the jargon of the day. People are no longer content with being astonished, they must be crushed or flattened (ÉpatÉs), or knocked over (renversÉs), and so forth; and the silly “on dirait du veau,” repeated ad nauseam, seldom fails to raise a laugh. Our English neighbours do not seem to be better off. “So universal,” says a writer in Household Words, September 24, 1853, “has the use of slang terms become, that in all societies they are substituted for, and have almost usurped the place of wit. An audience will sit in a theatre and listen to a string of brilliant witticisms with perfect immobility, but let some fellow rush forward and roar out ‘It’s all serene,’ or ‘catch’em alive, oh!’ (this last is sure to take), pit, boxes, and gallery roar with laughter.” It must be said, however, on the other hand, that the slang term is often much more expressive than its corresponding synonym in the ordinary language. Moreover, it is often witty, and capable of suggesting a humorous idea with singular felicity.

Argot is but a bastard tongue grafted on the mother stem, and though it is no easy matter to coin a word that shall remain and take rank among those of any language, yet the field of argot, already so extensive, is ever pushing back its boundaries, the additions surging in together with new ideas, novel fashions, but especially through the necessities of that class of people whose primary interest it is to make themselves unintelligible to their victims, the public, and their enemies, the police. “Argot,” again quoting Nodier’s words, “is an artificial, unsettled tongue, without a syntax properly so called, of which the only object is to disguise under conventional metaphors ideas which are intended to be conveyed to adepts. Consequently its vocabulary must needs change whenever it has become familiar to outsiders, and we find in Le Jargon de l’Argot RÉformÉ curious traces of a like revolution. In every country the men who speak a cant language belong to the lowest, most contemptible stratum of society, but its study, if looked upon as an outcome of the intellect, presents important features, and synoptic tables of its synonyms might prove interesting to the linguist.”

The use of argot in works of any literary pretensions is of modern introduction. However, Villon, the famous poet of the fifteenth century, a vaurien whose misdeeds had wellnigh brought him to the gallows, as he informs us:—

Je suis FranÇois, dont ce me poise,

NÉ de Paris emprÈs Ponthoise,

Or, d’une corde d’une toise,

Saura mon col que mon cul poise—

Villon himself has given, under the title of Jargon ou Jobelin de Maistre FranÇois Villon, a series of short poems worded in the jargon of the vagabonds and thieves his boon companions, now almost unintelligible.

In our days EugÈne Sue, Balzac, and Victor Hugo have introduced argot in some of their works, taking, no doubt, Vidocq as an authority on the subject; while more recently M. Jean Richepin, in his Chanson des Gueux, rhymes in the lingo of roughs, bullies, vagabonds, and thieves; and many others have followed suit. Balzac thus expresses his admiration for argot: “People will perhaps be astonished if we venture to assert that no tongue is more energetic, more picturesque than the tongue of that subterranean world which since the birth of capitals grovels in cellars, in sinks of vice, in the lowest stage floors of societies. For is not the world a theatre? The lowest stage floor is the ground basement under the stage of the opera house where the machinery, the phantoms, the devils, when not in use, are stowed away. Each word of the language recalls a brutal image, either ingenious or terrible. In the jargon one does not sleep, ‘on pionce.’ Notice with what energy that word expresses the uneasy slumbers of the tracked, tired, suspicious animal called thief, which, as soon as it is in safety, sinks down and rolls into the abysses of deep and necessary sleep, with the powerful wings of suspicion constantly spread over it—an awful repose, comparable to that of the wild beast, which sleeps and snores, but whose ears nevertheless remain ever watchful. Everything is fierce in this idiom. The initial or final syllables of words, the words themselves, are harsh and astounding. A woman is a largue. And what poetry! Straw is ‘la plume de Beauce.’ The word midnight is rendered by douze plombes crossent. Does not that make one shudder?”

Victor Hugo, after Balzac, has devoted a whole chapter to argot in his MisÉrables, and both these great authors have left little to be said on the subject. Victor Hugo, dealing with its Protean character, writes: “Argot being the idiom of corruption, is quickly corrupted. Besides, as it always seeks secrecy, so soon as it feels itself understood it transforms itself.... For this reason argot is subject to perpetual transformation—a secret and rapid work which ever goes on. It makes more progress in ten years than the regular language in ten centuries.”

In spite of the successive revolutions referred to, a number of old cant words are still used in their original form. Some have been, besides, more or less distorted by different processes, the results of these alterations being subjected in their turn to fresh disguises. As for slang proper, it is mostly metaphoric.

A large proportion of the vocabulary of argot is to be traced to the early Romance idiom, or to some of our country patois, the offsprings of the ancient Langue d’oc and Langue d’oil. Some of the terms draw their origin from the Italian language and jargon, and were imported by Italian quacks and sharpers. Such are lime (shirt), fourline (thief), macaronner (to inform against), rabouin (devil), rif (fire), escarpe (thief, murderer), respectively from lima, forlano, macaronare, rabuino, ruffo, scarpa, some of which belong to the Romany, as lima. The German schlafen has given schloffer, and the Latin fur has provided us with the verb affurer. Several are of Greek parentage: arton (bread), from the accusative a?t??; ornie (fowl), from ?????; pier (to drink), piolle (tavern), pion (drunk), from p?e??.

The word argot itself, formerly a cant word, but which has now gained admittance into the Dictionnaire de l’AcadÉmie, is but the corruption of jargon, called by the Italians “lingua gerga,” abbreviated into “gergo,” from which the French word sprang,—gergo itself being derived, according to Salvini, from the Greek ?e??? (sacred). Hence lingua gerga, sacred language, only known to the initiated. M. GÉnin thus traces the origin of argot: lingua hiera, then lingua gerga, il gergo; hence jergon or jargon, finally argot. Other philologists have suggested that it comes from the Greek ?????, idler; and this learned derivation is not improbable, as, among the members of the “argot”—originally the corporation of pedlars and vagabonds—were scholars like Villon (though there exists no evidence of the word having been used in his time), and runaway priests who had, as the French say, “thrown the cassock to the nettles.” M. Nisard, however, rejects these derivations, and believes that argot comes from argutus, pointed, cunning. It seems, in any case, an indubitable fact that the term argot at first was applied only to the confraternity of vagabonds or “argotiers,” and there is no evidence of its having been used before 1698 as an appellation for their language, which till then had been known as “jargon du matois” or “jargon de l’argot.” Grandval, in his Vice puni ou Cartouche, offers the following derivation, which must be taken for what it is worth.

Mais À propos d’argot, dit alors Limosin,

Ne m’apprendrez-vous pas, vous qui parlez latin,

D’oÙ cette belle langue a pris son origine?

—De la ville d’Argos, et je l’ai lu dans Pline,

RÉpondit Balagny. Le grand Agamemnon

Fit fleurir dans Argos cet Éloquent jargon.

.........

—Tu dis vrai, Balagny, reprit alors Cartouche;

Mais cette langue sort d’une plus vieille souche,

Et j’ai lu quelque part, dans un certain bouquin

D’argot traduit en grec, de grec mis en latin,

Et depuis en franÇois, que Jason et ThÉsÉe,

Hercule, PhiloctÈte, AdmÈte, Hylas, LyncÉe,

Castor, Pollux, OrphÉe et tant d’autres hÉros

Qui trimÈrent pincer la toison À Colchos,

Dans le navire Argo, pendant leur long voyage,

InventÈrent entre eux ce sublime langage

Afin de mieux tromper le roi Colchidien

Et que de leur projet il ne soupÇonnÂt rien.

.........

Enfin tous les doubleurs de la riche toison,

De leur navire Argo lui donnÈrent le nom.

Amis, voici quelle est son Étymologie.

A certain number of slang terms proceed from uniform and systematic alterations in the body of the French word, but these methods do not seem to have produced many expressions holding a permanent place in the dialect. Such is the “langage en lem,” much used by butchers some forty years ago, but now only known to a few. But a very small number of words thus coined have passed into the main body of the lingo, as being too lengthy, and because argot has a general tendency to brevity.

The more usual suffixes used are mar, anche, inche, in, ingue, o, orgue, aille, iÈre, muche, mon, mont, oque, Ègue, igue, which give such terms as—

Épicemar		for	Épicier,
boutanche		—	boutique,
aminceminche		—	ami,
burlin burlingue	}	—	bureau,
camaro		—	camarade,
bonorgue		—	bon,
vouzaille		—	vous,
mÉziÈre		—	me,
petmuche		—	pet,
cabermon		—	cabaret,
gilmont		—	gilet,
loufoque		—	fou,
chamÈgue		—	chameau,
mÉzigue		—	me.

The army has furnished a large contingent to slang, and has provided us with such words as colon (colonel); petit colon (lieutenant-colonel); la femme du rÉgiment (big drum); la malle (prison); un bleu (recruit); poulet d’Inde (steed), and the humorous expression, sortir sur les jambes d’un autre (to be confined to barracks, or to the guard-room).

Much-maligned animals have been put into requisition, the fish tribe serving to denominate the Paris bully, that plague of certain quarters.

With the parts of the body might be formed a complete orchestra. Thus “guitare” stands for the head; “flÛtes” for legs; “grosse caisse” for the body; “trompette” does duty for the face, “mirliton” for the nose, and “sifflet” for the throat.

The study of the slang jargon of a nation—a language which is not the expression of conventional ideas, but the unvarnished and rude expression of life in its true aspects—may give us an insight into the foibles and predominant vices of those who use it.

Now though the French as a nation are not hard drinkers, yet we must come to the conclusion—in the face of the many synonyms of the single word drunk, whilst there is not one for the word sober—that Parisian workmen have either a lively imagination, or that they would scarcely prove eligible for recruits in the Blue Ribbon Army. Intoxication—from a state of gentle inebriation, when one is “allumÉ,” or “elevated,” to the helpless state when the “poivrot,” or “lushington,” is “asphyxiÉ,” or “regularly scammered,” when he can’t “see a hole in a ladder,” or when he “laps the gutter”—has no less than eighty synonyms.

The French possess comparatively few terms for the word money; but, in spite of the well-worn saying, “l’or est une chimÈre,” or the insincere exclamation, “l’or, ce vil mÉtal!” the argot vocabulary shows as many as fifty-four synonyms for the “needful.” The English are still richer, for Her Majesty’s coin is known by more than one hundred and thirty slang words, from the humble “brown” (halfpenny) to the “long-tailed one” (bank-note).

Though there is no evidence that the social evil has a greater hold on Paris than on London or Berlin, yet the Parisians have no less than one hundred and fifty distinct slang synonyms to indicate the different varieties of “unfortunates,” many being borrowed from the names of animals, such as “vache,” “chameau,” “biche,” &c. Some of the other terms are highly suggestive and appropriate. So we have “omnibus,” “fleur de macadam,” “demoiselle du bitume,” “autel de besoin,” the dismal “pompe funÈbre,” the ignoble “paillasse de corps de garde,” and the “grenier À coups de sabre,” which reflects on the brutality of soldiers towards the fallen ones.

For the head the French jargon can boast of about fifty representative slang terms, some of which have been borrowed from the vegetable kingdom. Homage is rendered to its superior or governing powers by such epithets as “boussole” and “Sorbonne,” and a compliment is paid to its inventive genius by the term, “la boÎte À surprises,” which is, however, degraded into “la tronche” when it has rolled into the executioner’s basket. But it is treated with still more irreverence when deprived of its natural ornament,—so that a man with a bald pate is described as having no more “paillasson À la porte,” or “mouron sur la cage.” He is also said sometimes to sport a “tÊte de veau.”

Grim humour is displayed in the long list of metaphors to describe death, the promoters of the slang expressions having borrowed from the technical vocabulary of their craft. Thus soldiers describe it as “dÉfiler la parade,” for which English military men have the equivalent, “to lose the number of one’s mess;” “passer l’arme À gauche;” “descendre la garde,” after which the soldier will never be called again on sentry duty; “recevoir son dÉcompte,” or deferred pay. People who are habitual sufferers from toothache have no doubt contributed the expression, “n’avoir plus mal aux dents;” sailors, “casser son cÂble” and “dÉralinguer;” coachmen, “casser son fouet;” drummers, “avaler ses baguettes,” their sticks being henceforth useless to them; billiard-players are responsible for “dÉvisser son billard;” servants for “dÉchirer son tablier.” Then what horrible philosophy in the expression, “mettre la table pour les asticots!”

A person of sound mind finds no place in the argot vocabulary; but madness, from the mild state which scarcely goes beyond eccentricity to the confirmed lunatic, has found many definitions, the single expression “to be cracked” being represented by a number of comical synonyms, many of them referring to the presence of some troublesome animal in the brain, such as “un moustique dans la boÎte au sel” or “un hanneton dans le plafond.”

Courage has but one or two equivalents, but the act of the coward who vanishes, or the thief who seeks to escape the clutches of the police, has received due attention from the promoters of argot. Thus we have the highly picturesque expressions, “faire patatrot,” which gives an impression of the patter of the runaway’s feet; “se faire une paire de mains courantes,” literally to make for oneself a pair of running hands; “se dÉguiser en cerf,” to imitate that swift animal the deer; “fusilier le plancher,” which reminds one of the quick rat-tat of feet on the boards.

To show kindness to one, as far as I have been able to notice, is not represented, but the act of doing bodily injury, or fighting, has furnished the slang vocabulary with a rich contingent, the least forcible of which is certainly not the amiable invitation expressed in the words of the Paris rough, “viens que j’te mange le nez!” or “numÉrote tes abattis que j’te dÉmolisse!”

What ingenuity and precision of simile some of these vagaries of language offer! The man who is annoyed, badgered, is compared to an elephant with a small tormentor in a part of his body by which he can be effectually driven to despair, whilst deprived of all means of retaliation—he is then said to have “un rat dans la trompe!” He who gets drunk carves out for himself a wooden face, and “se sculpter une gueule de bois” certainly evokes the sight of the stolid, stupid features of the “lushington,” with half-open mouth and lack-lustre eyes.

The career of an unlucky criminal may thus be described in his own picturesque but awful language. The “pÈgre” (thief), or “escarpe” (murderer), who has been imprudent enough to allow himself to be “paumÉ marron” (caught in the act) whilst busy effecting a “choppin” (theft), or committing the more serious offence of “faire un gas À la dure” (to rob with violence), using the knife when “lavant son linge dans la saignante” (murdering), or yet the summary process of breaking into a house and killing all the inmates, “faire une maison entiÈre,” will probably be taken by “la rousse” (police), first of all before the “quart d’oeil” (police magistrate), from whose office he will be conveyed to the dÉpÔt in the “panier À salade” (prison van), having perhaps in the meanwhile spent a night in the “violon” (cells at the police station). In due time he will be brought into the presence of a very inquisitive person, the “curieux,” who will do his utmost to pump him, “entraver dans ses flanches,” or make him reveal his accomplices, “manger le morceau,” or, again, to say all he knows about the affair, “dÉbiner le truc.” From two to six months after this preliminary examination, he will be brought into the awful presence of the “lÉon” (president of assize court), at the “carrÉ des gerbes,” where he sits in his red robes, administering justice. Now, suffering from a violent attack of “fiÈvre” (charge), the prisoner puts all his hopes in his “parrains d’altÈque” (witnesses for the defence), and in his “mÉdecin” (counsel), who will try whether a “purgation” (speech for the defence) will not cure him of his ailment, especially should he have an attack of “redoublement de fiÈvre” (new charge). Should the medicine be ineffectual, and the “hÉsiteurs opinants” (jurymen) have pronounced against him, he leaves the “planche au pain” (bar) to return whence he came, to the “hÔpital” (prison), which he will only leave when “guÉri” (free). But should he be “un cheval de retour” (old offender), he will probably be given a free passage to go “se laver les pieds dans le grand prÉ” (be transported) to “La Nouvelle” (New Caledonia), or “Cayenne les Eaux;” or, worse still, he may be left for some time in the “boÎte au sel” (condemned cell) at La Roquette, attired in a “ligotante de rifle” (strait waistcoat), attended by a “mouton” (spy), who tries to get at his secrets, and now and then receiving the exhortations of the “ratichon” (priest). At an early hour one morning he is apprised by the “maugrÉe” (director) that he is to suffer the penalty of the law. After “la toilette” by “Charlot” (cutting off the hair by the executioner), he is assisted to the “Abbaye de Monte-À-regret” (guillotine), where, after the “sanglier” (priest) has given him a final embrace, the “soubrettes de Charlot” (executioner’s assistants) seize him, and make him play “À la main chaude” (hot cockles). Charlot pulls a string, when the criminal is turned into “un boeuf” (is executed) by being made to “Éternuer dans le son” (guillotined). His “machabÉe” (remains) is then taken to the “champ de navets” (cemetery).

For the following I am indebted to the courtesy of the Rev. J. W. Horsley, Chaplain to H. M. Prison, Clerkenwell, who, in his highly interesting Prison Notes makes the following remarks on thieves’ slang: “It has its antiquity, as well as its vitality and power of growth and development by constant accretion; in it are preserved many words interesting to the student of language, and from it have passed not a few words into the ordinary stock of the Queen’s English. Of multifold origin, it is yet mainly derived from Romany or gipsy talk, and thereby contains a large Eastern element, in which old Sanscrit roots may readily be traced. Many of these words would be unintelligible to ordinary folk, but some have passed into common speech. For instance, the words bamboozle, daddy, pal (companion or friend), mull (to make a mull or mess of a thing), bosh (from the Persian), are pure gipsy words, but have found some lodging, if not a home, in our vernacular. Then there are survivals (not always of the fittest) from the tongue of our Teutonic ancestors, so that Dr. Latham, the philologist, says: ‘The thieves of London’ (and he might still more have said the professional tramps) ‘are the conservators of Anglo-Saxonisms.’ Next, there are the cosmopolitan absorptions from many a tongue. From the French bouilli we probably get the prison slang term ‘bull’ for a ration of meat. Chat, thieves’ slang for house, is obviously chÂteau. Steel, the familiar name for Coldbath Fields Prison, is an appropriation and abbreviation of Bastille; and he who ‘does a tray’ (serves three months’ imprisonment) therein, borrows his word from our Gallican neighbours. So from the Italian we get casa for house, filly (figlia) for daughter, donny (donna) for woman, and omee (uomo) for man. The Spanish gives us don, which the universities have not despised as a useful term. From the German we get durrynacker, for a female hawker, from dorf, ‘a village,’ and nachgehen, ‘to run after.’ From Scotland we borrow duds, for clothes, and from the Hebrew shoful, for base coin.

“Considering that in the manufacture of the domestic and social slang of nicknames or pet names not a little humour or wit is commonly found, it might be imagined that thieves’ slang would be a great treasure-house of humorous expression. That this is not the case arises from the fact that there is very little glitter even in what they take for gold, and that their life is mainly one of miserable anxiety, suspicion, and fear; forced and gin-inspired is their merriment, and dismal, for the most part, are their faces when not assuming an air of bravado, which deceives not even their companions. Some traces of humour are to be found in certain euphemisms, such as the delicate expression ‘fingersmith’ as descriptive of a trade which a blunt world might call that of a pickpocket. Or, again, to get three months’ hard labour is more pleasantly described as getting thirteen clean shirts, one being served out in prison each week. The tread-wheel, again, is more politely called the everlasting staircase, or the wheel of life, or the vertical case-grinder. Penal servitude is dignified with the appellation of serving Her Majesty for nothing; and even an attempt is made to lighten the horror of the climax of a criminal career by speaking of dying in a horse’s nightcap, i.e., a halter.”

The English public schools, but especially the military establishments, seem to be not unimportant manufacturing centres for slang. Only a small proportion, however, of the expressions coined there appear to have been adopted by the general slang-talking public, as most are local terms, and can only be used at their own birthplace. The same expressions in some cases have a totally different signification according to the places where they are in vogue. Thus gentlemen cadets at the “Shop,” i.e., the Royal Military Academy, will talk of the doctor as being the “skipper,” whereas elsewhere “skipper” has the signification of master, head of an establishment. The expression “tosh,” meaning bath, seems to have been imported by students from Eton, Harrow, and Charterhouse, to the “Shop,” where “to tosh” means to bathe, to wash, but also to toss an obnoxious individual into a cold bath, advantage being taken of his being in full uniform. Another expression connected with the forced application of cold water at the above establishment is termed “chamber singing” at Eton, a penalty enforced on the new boys of singing a song in public, with the alternative (according to the Everyday Life in our Public Schools of C. E. Pascoe) of drinking a nauseous mixture of salt and beer; the corresponding penalty on the occasion of the arrival of unfortunate “snookers” at the R. M. Academy used to consist some few years ago of splashing them with cold water and throwing wet sponges at their heads, when they could not or would not contribute some ditty or other to the musical entertainment.

“Extra” at Harrow is a punishment which consists of writing out grammar for two and a half hours under the supervision of a master. The word extra at the “Shop” already mentioned is corrupted into “hoxter.” The hoxter consists in the painful ordeal of being compelled to turn out of bed at an early hour, and march up and down with full equipment under the watchful eye of a corporal. Again, we have here the suggestive terms: “greasers,” for fried potatoes; “squish,” for marmalade; “whales,” for sardines; “vaseline,” for honey; “grass,” for vegetables; and to be “roosted” is to be placed under arrest; whilst “to q.” means to qualify at the term examination. Here a man who is vexed or angry “loses his shirt” or his “hair;” at Shrewsbury he is “in a swot;” and at Winchester “front.” At the latter school a clique or party they term a “pitch up;” the word “Johnnies” (newly joined at Sandhurst, termed also “Johns,”) being sometimes used with a like signification by young officers, and the inquiry may occasionally be heard, “I say, old fellow, any more Johnnies coming?”

Fifteenth Century.
LE JARGON OU JOBELIN DE MAISTRE FRANÇOIS VILLON.

BALLADE III.

SpÉlicans,

Qui, en tous temps,

Avancez dedans le pogois

Gourde piarde,

Et sur la tarde,

Desboursez les povres nyois,

Et pour soustenir vostre pois,

Les duppes sont privez de caire,

Sans faire haire,

Ne hault braiere,

Mais plantez ils sont comme joncz,

Pour les sires qui sont si longs.

Souvent aux arques

A leurs marques,

Se laissent tous desbouser

Pour ruer,

Et enterver

Pour leur contre, que lors faisons

La fÉe aux arques respons.

Vous ruez deux coups, ou bien troys,

Aux gallois.

Deux, ou troys

Mineront trestout aux frontz,

Pour les sires qui sont si longs.

Et pource, benars

Coquillars,

Rebecquez vous de la Montjoye

Qui desvoye

Votre proye,

Et vous fera de tout brouer,

Pour joncher et enterver,

Qui est aux pigeons bien cher;

Pour rifler

Et placquer

Les angels, de mal tous rondz

Pour les sires qui sont si longs.

Envoi.

De paour des hurmes

Et des grumes,

Rassurez vous en droguerie

Et faerie,

Et ne soyez plus sur les joncz,

Pour les sires qui sont si longs.

TRANSLATION.

Police spies, who at all times drink good wine at the tavern, and at night empty poor simpletons’ purses, and to provide for your extortions silly thieves have to part with their money, without complaining or clamouring, yet they are planted in jail, like so many reeds, to be plucked by the gaunt hangmen.

Oftentimes at the cashboxes, at places marked out for plunder, they allow themselves to be despoiled, when righting and resisting to save their confederate, while we are practising our arts on the hidden coffers. You make two or three onsets on the boon companions. Two or three will mark them all for the gallows.

Hence, ye simple-minded vagabonds, turn away from the gallows, which gives you the colic and will deprive you of all, that you may deceive and steal what is of so much value to the dupes, that you may outwit and thrash the police, so eager to bring you to the scaffold.

For fear of the gibbet and the beam, exert more cunning and be more wily, and be no longer in prison, thence to be brought to the scaffold.

(Extrait des PremiÈres Œuvres PoÉtiques du Capitaine Lasphrise.)

Accipant[2] du marpaut[3] la galiere[4] pourrie,

Grivolant[5] porte-flambe[6] enfile le trimart.[7]

Mais en despit de Gille,[8] Ô geux, ton Girouart,[9]

A la mette[10] on lura[11] ta biotte[12] conie.[13]

Tu peux gourd pioller[14] me credant[15] et morfie[16]

De l’ornion,[17] du morne:[18] et de l’oygnan[19] criart,

De l’artois blanchemin.[20] Que ton riflant chouart[21]

Ne rive[22] du Courrier l’andrumelle gaudie.[23]

Ne ronce point du sabre[24] au mion[25] du taudis,

Qui n’aille au Gaulfarault,[26] gergonant de tesis,[27]

Que son journal[28] o flus[29] n’empoupe ta fouillouse.[30]

N’embiant[31] on rouillarde,[32] et de noir roupillant,[33]

Sur la gourde fretille,[34] et sur le gourd volant,[35]

Ainsi tu ne luras l’accolante tortouse.[36]

[1] Langage soudardant,: soldiers’ lingo.
[2] Accipant,: for recevant.
[3] Marpaut,: host.
[4] Galiere,: mare.
[5] Grivolant,: name for a soldier.
[6] Flambe,: sword.
[7] Trimart,: road.
[8] Gille,: name for a runaway.
[9] Girouart,: patron.
[10] Mette,: wine-shop; morning; thieves’ meeting-place.
[11] Lura,: will see.
[12] Biotte,: steed.
[13] Conie,: dead.
[14] Gourd pioller,: drink heavily.
[15] Me credant,: for me croyant.
[16] Morfie,: eat.
[17] Ornion,: capon.
[18] Morne,: mutton.
[19] Oygnan,: for oignon.
[20] Artois blanchemin,: white bread.
[21] Riflant chouart,: fiery penis.
[22] Rive,: refers to coition.
[23] Andrumelle gaudie,: jolly girl.
[24] Ne ronce point du sabre,: do not lay the stick on.
[25] Mion,: boy, waiter.
[26] Gaulfarault,: master of a bawdy house.
[27] Gergonant de tesis,: complaining of thee.
[28] Journal,: pocket-book.
[29] O flus,: or pack of cards.
[30] N’empoupe ta fouillouse,: fill thy pocket.
[31] N’embiant,: not travelling.
[32] Rouillarde,: drinks.
[33] De noir roupillant,: sleeping at night.
[34] Gourde fretille,: thick straw.
[35] Volant,: cloak.
[36] Tortouse,: rope.

(From Thomas Harman’s Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors, vulgarly called Vagabones, 1568.)

Upright Man.Bene Lightmans[37] to thy quarromes,[38] in what lipken[39] hast thou lypped[40] in this darkemans,[41] whether in a lybbege[42] or in the strummel?[43]

Roge.I couched a hogshead[44] in a Skypper[45] this darkemans.

Man.I towre[46] the strummel trine[47] upon thy nachbet[48] and Togman.[49]

Roge.I saye by the Salomon[50] I will lage it of[51] with a gage of bene bouse;[52] then cut to my nose watch.[53]

Man.Why, hast thou any lowre[54] in thy bonge[55] to bouse?[56]

Roge.But a flagge,[57] a wyn,[58] and a make.[59]

Man.Why, where is the kene[60] that hath the ben bouse?

Roge.A bene mort[61] hereby at the signe of the prauncer.[62]

Man.I cutt it is quyer[63] bouse, I bousd a flagge the last darkmans.

Roge.But bouse there a bord,[64] and thou shalt haue beneship.[65] Tower ye yander is the kene, dup the gygger,[66] and maund[67] that is bene shyp.

Man.This bouse is as benship as rome bouse.[68] Now I tower that ben bouse makes nase nabes.[69] Maunde of this morte what ben pecke[70] is in her ken.

Roge.She has a Cacling chete,[71] a grunting chete,[72] ruff Pecke,[73] Cassan,[74] and poplarr of yarum.[75]

Man.That is benship to our watche.[76] Now we haue well bousd, let vs strike some chete.[77] Yonder dwelleth a quyer cuffen,[78] it were benship to myll[79] hym.

Roge.Now bynge we a waste[80] to the hygh pad,[81] the ruffmanes[82] is by.

Man.So may we happen on the Harmanes,[83] and cly the Tarke,[84] or to the quyerken[85] and skower quyaer crampings,[86] and so to tryning on the chates.[87] Gerry gan,[88] the ruffian[89] clye the.[90]

Roge.What, stowe your bene,[91] cofe,[92] and sut benat wydds,[93] and byng we to rome vyle,[94] to nyp a bonge;[95] so shall we haue lowre for the bousing ken,[96] and when we byng back to the deuseauyel,[97] we wyll fylche some duddes[98] of the Ruffemans,[99] or myll the ken for a lagge of dudes.[100]

[37] Bene Lightmans,: good day.
[38] Quarromes,: body.
[39] Lipken,: house.
[40] Lypped,: slept.
[41] Darkemans,: night.
[42] Lybbege,: bed.
[43] Strummel,: straw.
[44] Couched a hogshead,: lay down to sleep.
[45] Skypper,: barn.
[46] I towre,: I see.
[47] Trine,: hang.
[48] Nachbet,: cap.
[49] Togman,: coat.
[50] Salomon,: mass.
[51] Lage it of,: wipe it off.
[52] Gage of bene bouse,: quart of good drink.
[53] Cut to my nose watch,: say what you will to me.
[54] Lowre,: money.
[55] Bonge,: purse.
[56] To bouse,: to drink.
[57] Flagge,: groat.
[58] Wyn,: penny.
[59] Make,: halfpenny.
[60] Kene,: house.
[61] Bene mort,: good woman.
[62] Prauncer,: horse.
[63] Quyer,: bad.
[64] Bord,: shilling.
[65] Beneship,: excellent.
[66] Dup the gygger,: open the door.
[67] Maund,: ask.
[68] Rome bouse,: wine.
[69] Nase nabes,: drunken head.
[70] Pecke,: meat.
[71] Cacling chete,: fowl.
[72] Grunting chete,: pig.
[73] Ruff pecke,: bacon.
[74] Cassan,: cheese.
[75] Poplarr of yarum,: milk porridge.
[76] To our watche,: for us.
[77] Strike some chete,: steal something.
[78] Quyer cuffen,: magistrate.
[79] Myll,: rob.
[80] Bynge we a waste,: let us away.
[81] Pad,: road.
[82] Ruffmanes,: wood.
[83] Harmanes,: stocks.
[84] Cly the Tarke,: be whipped.
[85] Quyerken,: prison.
[86] Skower quyaer crampings,: be shackled with bolts and fetters.
[87] Chates,: gallows.
[88] Gerry gan,: hold your tongue.
[89] Ruffian,: devil.
[90] Clye the,: take thee.
[91] Stowe your bene,: hold your peace.
[92] Cofe,: good fellow.
[93] Sut benat wydds,: speak better words.
[94] Rome vyle,: London.
[95] Nyp a bonge,: cut a purse.
[96] Bousing ken,: alehouse.
[97] Deuseauyel,: country.
[98] Duddes,: linen clothes.
[99] Ruffemans,: hedges.
[100] Lagge of dudes,: parcel of clothes.

Seventeenth Century.
DIALOGUE DE DEUX ARGOTIERS.[101]

L’UN POLISSON[102] ET L’AUTRE MALINGREUX,[103] QUI SE RENCONTRENT JUSTE À LA LOURDE[104] D’UNE VERGNE.[105]

(Extrait du Jargon de l’Argot.)

Le Malingreux.La haute[106] t’aquige[107] en chenastre[108] santÉ.

Le Polisson.Et tÉziÈre[109] aussi, fanandel;[110] oÙ trimardes[111]-tu?

Le Malingreux.En ce pasquelin[112] de Berry, on m’a rouscaillÉ[113] que trucher[114] Était chenastre; et en cette vergne fiche-t-on la thune[115] gourdement?[116]

Le Polisson.Quelque peu, pas guÈre.

Le Malingreux.La rousse[117] y est-elle chenastre?

Le Polisson.Nenni; c’est ce qui me fait ambier[118] hors de cette vergne; car si je n’eusse eu du michon,[119] je fusse cosni[120] de faim.

Le Malingreux.Y a-t-il un castu[121] dans cette vergne.

Le Polisson.Jaspin.[122]

Le Malingreux.Est-il chenu?[123]

Le Polisson.Pas guÈre; les pioles[124] ne sont que de fretille.[125]...

Le Malingreux.Veux-tu venir prendre de la morfe[126] et piausser[127] avec mÉziÈre[128] en une des pioles que tu m’as rouscaillÉes?

Le Polisson.Il n’y a ni ronds,[129] ni herplis,[130] en ma felouse;[131] je vais piausser en quelque grenasse.[132]

Le Malingreux.Encore que n’y ayez du michon, ne laissez pas de venir, car il y a deux menÉes[133] de ronds en ma henne,[134] et deux ornies[135] en mon gueulard,[136] que j’ai ÉgraillÉes[137] sur le trimar;[138] bions[139] les faire riffoder,[140] veux-tu?

Le Polisson.Girole,[141] et bÉni soit le grand havre,[142] qui m’a fait rencontrer si chenastre occasion; je vais me rÉjouir et chanter une petite chanson....

Le Malingreux.Si tu veux trimer[143] de compagnie avec mÉziÈre, nous aquigerons grande chÈre,[144] je sais bien aquiger les luques,[145] engrailler l’ornie, casser la hane aux frÉmions,[146] pour Épouser la fourcandiÈre,[147] si quelques rovaux[148] me mouchaillent.[149]

Le Polisson.Ah! le havre garde mÉziÈre, je ne fus jamais ni fourgue[150] ni doubleux.[151]

Le Malingreux.Ni mÉziÈre non plus, je rouscaille[152] tous les luisans[153] au grand havre de l’oraison.

[101] Argotiers,: members of the “canting crew.”
[102] Polisson,: half-naked beggar.
[103] Malingreux,: maimed or sick beggar.
[104] Lourde,: gate.
[105] Vergne,: town.
[106] La haute,: the Almighty.
[107] Aquige,: keep.
[108] Chenastre,: good.
[109] TÉziÈre,: thee.
[110] Fanandel,: comrade.
[111] Trimardes,: going.
[112] Pasquelin,: country.
[113] RouscaillÉ,: told.
[114] Trucher,: to beg.
[115] Fiche-t-on la thune,: do they give alms.
[116] Gourdement,: much.
[117] La rousse,: the police.
[118] Ambier,: go.
[119] Michon,: money.
[120] Cosni,: died.
[121] Castu,: hospital.
[122] Jaspin,: yes.
[123] Chenu,: good.
[124] Pioles,: rooms.
[125] Fretille,: straw.
[126] Morfe,: food.
[127] Piausser,: to sleep.
[128] MÉziÈre,: me.
[129] Ronds,: halfpence.
[130] Herplis,: farthings.
[131] Felouse,: pocket.
[132] Grenasse,: barn.
[133] MenÉes,: dozen.
[134] Henne,: purse.
[135] Ornies,: hens.
[136] Gueulard,: wallet.
[137] EgraillÉes,: hooked.
[138] Trimar,: road.
[139] Bions,: let us go.
[140] Riffoder,: cook.
[141] Girole,: so be it.
[142] Havre,: God.
[143] Trimer,: to walk.
[144] Aquigerons grande chÈre,: will live well.
[145] Aquiger les luques,: prepare pictures.
[146] Casser la hane aux frÉmions,: steal purses at fairs.
[147] Epouser la fourcandiÈre,: to throw away the stolen property.
[148] Rovaux,: police.
[149] Mouchaillent,: see.
[150] Fourgue,: receiver of stolen property.
[151] Doubleux,: thief.
[152] Je rouscaille,: I pray.
[153] Tous les luisans,: every day.

Seventeenth Century.
ENGLISH GIPSIES’ OATH.

(Extract from Bampfylde-Moore Carew, King of the Mendicants.)

When a fresh recruit is admitted into this fraternity, he is to take the following oath, administered by the principal maunder,[154] after going through the annexed form:—

First a new name is given him, by which he is ever after to be called; then, standing up in the middle of the assembly, and directing his face to the dimber damber, or principal man of the gang, he repeats the following oath, which is dictated to him by some experienced member of the fraternity:—

“I, Crank Cuffin, do swear to be a true brother, and that I will in all things obey the commands of the great tawny prince,[155] keep his counsel, and not divulge the secrets of my brethren.

“I will never leave or forsake the company, but observe and keep all the times of appointment, either by day or by night, in every place whatever.

“I will not teach anyone to cant; nor will I disclose any of our mysteries to them.

“I will take my prince’s part against all that shall oppose him, or any of us, according to the utmost of my ability; nor will I suffer him, or anyone belonging to us, to be abased by any strange abrams,[156] ruffies,[157] hookers,[158] palliardes,[159] swaddlers,[160] Irish toyles,[161] swigmen,[162] whip Jacks,[163] Jarkmen,[164] bawdy baskets,[165] dommerars,[166] clapper dogeons,[167] patricoes,[168] or curtails;[169] but I will defend him, or them, as much as I can, against all other outliers whatever. I will not conceal aught I win out of libkins,[170] or from the ruffmans,[171] but will preserve it for the use of the company. Lastly, I will cleave to my doxy,[172] wap[173] stiffly, and will bring her duds,[174] margery praters,[175] gobblers,[176] grunting cheats,[177] or tibs of the buttery,[178] or anything else I can come at, as winnings for her wappings.”[179]

[154] Maunder,: beggar.
[155] Tawny prince,: Prince Prig, the head of the gipsies.
[156] Abrams,: half-naked beggars.
[157] Ruffies,: beggars who sham the old soldier.
[158] Hookers,: thieves who beg in the daytime and steal at night from shops with a hook.
[159] Palliardes,: ragged beggars.
[160] Swaddlers,: Irish Roman Catholics who pretend conversion.
[161] Toyles,: beggars with pedlar’s pack.
[162] Swigmen,: beggars.
[163] Whip Jacks,: beggars who sham the shipwrecked sailor.
[164] Jarkmen,: learned beggars, begging-letter impostors.
[165] Bawdy baskets,: prostitutes.
[166] Dommerars,: dumb beggars.
[167] Clapper dogeons,: beggars by birth.
[168] Patricoes,: those who perform the marriage ceremony.
[169] Curtails,: second in command, with short cloak.
[170] Libkins,: lodgings.
[171] Ruffmans,: bushes or woods.
[172] Doxy,: mistress.
[173] Wap,: to lie with a woman.
[174] Duds,: clothes.
[175] Margery praters,: hens.
[176] Gobblers,: ducks.
[177] Grunting cheats,: pigs.
[178] Tibs of the buttery,: geese.
[179] Wappings,: coition.

(From Ainsworth’s Rookwood.)

In a box[180] of the stone jug[181] I was born,

Of a hempen widow[182] the kid[183] forlorn,

Fake away!

And my father, as I’ve heard say,

Fake away!

Was a merchant of capers gay,

Who cut his last fling with great applause,

Nix my doll pals, fake away![184]

To the tune of hearty choke with caper sauce.

Fake away!

The knucks[185] in quod[186] did my schoolmen[187] play,

Fake away!

And put me up to the time of day,[188]

Until at last there was none so knowing,

No such sneaksman[189] or buzgloak[190] going,

Fake away!

Fogles[191] and fawnies[192] soon went their way,

Fake away!

To the spout[193] with the sneezers[194] in grand array,

No dummy hunter[195] had forks so fly,[196]

No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly,[197]

Fake away!

No slourd hoxter[198] my snipes[199] could stay,

Fake away!

None knap a reader[200] like me in the lay.[201]

Soon then I mounted in swell street-high,

Nix my doll pals, fake away!

Soon then I mounted in swell street-high,

And sported my flashest toggery,[202]

Fake away!

Fainly resolved I would make my hay,

Fake away!

While Mercury’s star shed a single ray;

And ne’er was there seen such a dashing prig,[203]

Nix my doll pals, fake away!

And ne’er was there seen such a dashing prig,

With my strummel faked[204] in the newest twig,[205]

Fake away!

With my fawnied famms[206] and my onions gay,[207]

Fake away!

My thimble of ridge,[208] and my driz kemesa,[209]

All my togs[210] were so niblike[211] and plash.[212]

Readily the queer screens[213] I then could smash.[214]

Fake away!

But my nuttiest blowen,[215] one fine day,

Fake away!

To the beaks[216] did her fancy man betray,

And thus was I bowled at last,

And into the jug for a lay was cast,

Fake away!

But I slipped my darbies[217] one morn in May,

And gave to the dubsman[218] a holiday.

And here I am, pals, merry and free,

A regular rollicking romany.[219]

[180] Box,: cell.
[181] Stone jug,: Newgate.
[182] Hempen widow,: woman whose husband has been hanged.
[183] Kid,: child.
[184] Nix my doll pals,: fake away! never mind, friends, work away!
[185] Knucks,: thieves.
[186] Quod,: prison.
[187] Schoolmen,: fellows of the gang.
[188] Put me up to the time of day,: made a knowing one of me, taught me thieving.
[189] Sneaksman,: shoplifter.
[190] Buzgloak,: pickpocket.
[191] Fogles,: silk handkerchiefs.
[192] Fawnies,: rings.
[193] Spout,: pawnbroker’s.
[194] Sneezers,: snuff-boxes.
[195] Dummy hunter,: stealer of pocket books.
[196] Forks so fly,: such nimble fingers.
[197] No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly,: no pickpocket so skilfully could pick a pocket.
[198] Slourd hoxter,: inside pocket buttoned up.
[199] Snipes,: scissors.
[200] Knap a reader,: steal a pocket book.
[201] Lay,: robbery, dodge.
[202] Flashest toggery,: best made clothes.
[203] Prig,: thief.
[204] Strummel faked,: hair dressed.
[205] Twig,: fashion.
[206] Fawnied famms,: hands bejewelled.
[207] Onions,: seals.
[208] Thimble of ridge,: gold watch.
[209] Driz kemesa,: shirt with lace frill.
[210] Togs,: clothes.
[211] Niblike,: fashionable.
[212] Plash,: fine.
[213] Queer screens,: forged notes.
[214] Smash,: pass.
[215] Nuttiest blowen,: favourite girl.
[216] Beaks,: magistrates.
[217] Darbies,: handcuffs.
[218] Dubsman,: turnkey.
[219] Romany,: gipsy.

(Extrait du Vice Puni ou Cartouche, 1725.)

Fanandels[220] en cette Piolle[221]

On vit chenument;[222]

Arton, Pivois et Criolle[223]

On a gourdement.[224]

Pitanchons, faisons riolle[225]

Jusqu’au Jugement.

Icicaille[226] est le ThÉÂtre

Du Petit Dardant;[227]

FonÇons À ce Mion[228] folÂtre

Notre Palpitant.[229]

Pitanchons Pivois chenÂtre[230]

Jusques au Luisant.[231]

[220] Fanandels,: comrades.
[221] Piolle,: house, tavern.
[222] Chenument,: well.
[223] Arton, pivois et criolle,: bread, wine, and meat.
[224] Gourdement,: in plenty.
[225] Pitanchons, faisons riolle,: let us drink, amuse ourselves.
[226] Icicaille,: here.
[227] Petit Dardant,: Cupid.
[228] FonÇons À ce Mion,: let us give this boy.
[229] Palpitant,: heart.
[230] ChenÂtre,: good.
[231] Luisant,: day.

I was born in 1853 at Stamford Hill, Middlesex. My parents removed from there to Stoke Newington, when I was sent to an infant school. Some time afterwards I was taken by two pals (companions) to an orchard to cop (steal) some fruit, me being a mug (inexperienced) at the game. This got to my father’s ears. When I went home he set about me with a strap until he was tired. He thought that was not enough, but tied me to a bedstead. You may be sure what followed. I got loose, tied a blanket and a counterpane together, fastened it to the bedstead, and let myself out of the window, and did not go home that night, but met my two pals and dossed (slept) in a haystack. Early next morning my pals said they knew where we could get some toke (food), and took me to a terrace. We went down the dancers (steps) to a safe, and cleared it out. Two or three days after I met my mother, who in tears begged of me to go home; so I went home. My parents moved to Clapton, when they sent me to school. My pals used to send stiffs (notes) to the schoolmaster, saying that I was wanted at home; but instead of that we used to go and smug snowy (steal linen) that was hung out to dry, or rob the bakers’ barrows. Things went from bad to worse, so I was obliged to leave home again. This time I palled in with some older hands at the game, who used to take me a parlour-jumping (robbing rooms), putting me in where the windows was open. I used to take anything there was to steal, and at last they told me all about wedge (silver-plate), how I should know it by the ramp (hall-mark—rampant lion?); we used to break it up in small pieces and sell it to watchmakers, and afterwards to a fence down the Lane (Petticoat Lane). Two or three times a week I used to go to the Brit. (Britannia Theatre) in Hoxton, or the gaff (penny music-room) in Shoreditch. I used to steal anything to make money to go to these places. Some nights I used to sleep at my pals’ houses, sometimes in a shed where there was a fire kept burning night and day. All this time I had escaped the hands of the reelers (police), but one day I was taken for robbing a baker’s cart, and got twenty-one days. While there I made pals with another one who came from Shoreditch, and promised to meet him when we got out, which I did, and we used to go together, and left the other pals at Clapton.

Je suis nÉ en 1853 À Stamford Hill, Middlesex. Mes parents, de lago, allÈrent se pioler À Stoke Newington, et l’on m’envoya À une École maternelle. Peu de temps aprÈs, deux de mes fanandels me menÈrent À un verger pour grinchir des fruits, mais je n’Étais qu’un sinve À ce flanche. Mon dab apprit la chose, et quand je rentolai À la caginotte il me refila une purge avec une courroie jusqu’À plus soif. Pensant que ce n’Était pas assez, il me ligota au pieu. Vous vous doutez de ce qui arriva. Je me dÉbarrassai des ligotes, attachai un embarras À une couverture que je fixai au pieu, et je me laissai glisser par la vanterne. Je ne rappliquai pas À la niche cette nogue-lÀ, mais j’allai retrouver mes deux fanandes et je pionÇai dans une meule de foin. Au matois mes fanandels me bonnirent qu’ils conobraient oÙ nous pouvions acquiger de la tortillade et me menÈrent À une rangÉe de pioles. Nous dÉgringolons les grimpants. Nous embardons dans un garde-manger et nous le rinÇons. Deux ou trois reluis aprÈs, je me casse le mufle sur ma dabuche, qui, en chialant, me supplie de rappliquer À la niche, ce que j’ai fait. Mes parents alors ont dÉmÉnagÉ et sont allÉs À Clapton. Alors on m’a envoyÉ À l’École. Mes camerluches balanÇaient des lazagnes au maÎtre d’École disant qu’on me demandait À la niche, mais au lieu de cela nous allions dÉflorer la pictouse ou rincer les bagnoles des lartonniers. Les choses allÈrent de mal en pis et je fus obligÉ de redÉcarrer de la niche. Cette fois je me mis avec des fanandes plus affranchis, qui me menaient avec eux rincer les cambriolles, me faisant enquiller par les vanternes ouvertes. Je mettais la pogne sur toute la camelote bonne À grinchir, et enfin ils me firent entraver tout le truc de la blanquette, et comment je la reconobrerais par la marque; nous la frangissions en petits morceaux et nous la fourgattions chez des boguistes et ensuite chez un fourgue qui demeurait dans la Lane. Deux ou trois fois par semaine je suis allÉ au Brit. de Hoxton ou au beuglant de Shoreditch. Je grinchissais n’importe quelle camelote pour affurer de la thune afin d’aller À ces endroits. Des sorgues, je pionÇais dans les pioles de mes fanandels, quelquefois sous un hangar oÙ il y avait un rif qui riffodait jorne et sorgue. Cependant, j’avais ÉchappÉ aux pinces de la riflette, mais un reluis j’ai ÉtÉ pomaquÉ pour avoir rincÉ une bagnole de lartonnier et enflacquÉ pendant vingt et un reluis. Lago j’ai eu pour amarre un autre qui venait de Shoreditch et je lui ai promis un rendez-vous pour quand nous serions dÉfouraillÉs; alors nous sommes devenus amarres d’attaques et nous avons laissÉ les autres zigues À Clapton.

At last one day we was at St. John’s Wood. I went in after some wedge. While picking some up off the table I frightened a cat, which upset a lot of plates when jumping out of the window. So I was taken and tried at Marylebone Police Court and sent to Feltham Industrial School. I had not been there a month before I planned with another boy to guy (run away), and so we did, but was stopped at Brentford and took back to the school, for which we got twelve strokes with the birch. I thought when I first went there that I knew a great deal about thieving, but I found there was some there that knew more, and I used to pal in with those that knew the most. One day, while talking with a boy, he told me he was going home in a day or so. He said his friends was going to claim him out because he was more than sixteen years old. When my friends came to see me I told them that they could claim me out, and with a good many fair promises that I would lead a new life if they did so. They got me out of the school. When I got home I found a great change in my father, who had taken to drink, and he did not take so much notice of what I done as he used. I went on all straight the first few moons at costering. One day there was a “fÊte” at Clapton, and I was coming home with my kipsy (basket); I had just sold all my goods out. I just stopped to pipe (see) what was going on, when a reeler came up to me and rapped (said), “Now, ——, you had better go away, or else I shall give you a drag (three months in prison).” So I said “all right;” but he rapped, “It is not all right; I don’t want any sauce from you or else I shall set about (beat) you myself.” So I said, “What for? I have done nothing; do you want to get it up for me?” Then he began to push me about, so I said I would not go at all if he put his dukes (hands) on me. Then he rammed my nut (head) against the wall and shook the very life out of me. This got a scuff (crowd) round us, and the people ask him what he was knocking me about for, so he said, “This is young —— just come home from a schooling (a term in a reformatory).” So he did not touch me again; so I went home, turned into kip (bed) and could not get up for two or three days, because he had given me such a shaking, him being a great powerful man, and me only a little fellow. I still went on all straight until things got very dear at the market. I had been down three or four days running, and could not buy anything to earn a deaner (shilling) out of. So one morning I found I did not have more than a caser (five shillings) for stock-pieces (stock-money). So I thought to myself, “What shall I do?” I said, “I know what I will do. I will go to London Bridge rattler (railway) and take a deaner ride and go a wedge-hunting (stealing plate).” So I took a ducat (railway ticket) for Sutton in Surrey, and went a wedge-hunting. I had not been at Sutton very long before I piped a slavey (servant) come out of a chat (house), so when she had got a little way up the double (turning), I pratted (went) in the house. When inside I could not see any wedge lying about the kitchen, so I screwed my nut in the washhouse and I piped three or four pair of daisy roots (boots). So I claimed (stole) them, and took off the lid of my kipsy and put them inside, put a cloth over them, and then put the lid on again, put the kipsy on my back as though it was empty, and guyed to the rattler and took a brief (ticket) to London Bridge, and took the daisies to a Sheney (Jew) down the gaff, and done (sold) them for thirty blow (shillings).

Enfin, un jour nous nous trouvions À St. John’s Wood et j’Étais À soulever de la blanquette. Pendant que je mettais la pogne dessus, je coquai le taf À un greffier qui fit dÉgringoler un tas de morfiantes en sautant par la vanterne. De cette faÇon, je fus pomaquÉ, mis en gerbement au carrÉ des gerbes de Marylebone et envoyÉ au pÉnitencier de Feltham. Y avait pas une marque que j’y Étais que je me prÉparai avec un autre À faire la cavale. AprÈs avoir dÉcarrÉ, nous fÛmes engraillÉs À Brentford et renflacquÉs au pÉnitencier oÙ l’on nous donna douze coups de la verge. Je croyais, quand j’y avais ÉtÉ enfouraillÉ tout d’abord, que j’Étais un pÈgre bien affranchi, mais je trouvai lÀ des camerluches qui en conobraient plus que mÉzigue et j’avais pour amarres ceux qui Étaient les plus mariolles. Un reluis en jaspinant avec un gosselin, il me jacte que dans un luisant ou deux il allait rappliquer À la niche. Il me bonnit que ses parents allaient le rÉclamer parcequ’il avait plus de seize brisques. Quand mes parents sont venus me voir je leur bonnis qu’ils pouvaient me faire dÉfourailler, et leur ayant fait de belles promesses de rengracier s’ils y consentaient ils m’ont fait dÉfourailler. Quand j’ai aboulÉ À la kasbah, j’ai trouvÉ du changement chez mon dab qui s’Était mis À se poivrer, et il n’a pas fait autant d’attention que d’habitongue À mes flanches. RangÉ des voitures pendant les premiÈres marques comme marchand des quatre saisons. Un reluis il y avait une fÊte À Clapton et je rappliquais avec mon panier. Je venais de laver toute ma camelote et de m’arrÊter pour rechasser ce qui se passait quand un roussin aboule À moi et me bonnit, “Allons, dÉcampe d’ici, ou je te mets À l’ombre pour trois marques.” Je lui bonnis “c’est bien;” mais il me jacte, “C’est pas tout Ça, tÂche de filer doux, autrement je te passe À travers tocquardement.” Que je lui bonnis, “Pourquoi? Je n’ai rien fait; c’est une querelle d’allemand que vous me cherchez lÀ.” Alors il se met À me refiler des poussÉes et je lui dis que je ne le suivrais pas s’il me harponnait. Alors il me sonne la tronche contre le mur et me secoue tocquardement. Le trÈpe s’assemble autour de nouzailles et les gonces lui demandent pourquoi il me bouscule. Alors, qu’il dit, “C’est le jeune —— qui vient de sortir du pÉnitencier.” Puis, il me laisse tranquille, de sorte que j’ai rappliquÉ À la niche, et je me suis mis au pucier oÙ je suis restÉ deux ou trois reluis, car il m’avait harponnÉ tocquardement, lui qui Était un grand balouf et moi un pauvre petit gosselin. Tout a marchÉ chouettement pendant quelque temps mais la camelote est devenue trÈs chÈre au marchÉ. Depuis trois ou quatre reluis je n’avais pas le moyen d’abloquer de quoi affurer un shilling. Alors un reluis je me suis aperÇu que je n’avais pas plus de cinq shillings comme fonds de commerce et je me suis demandÉ: quel truc est-ce que je vais maquiller? Je me bonnis, je connais bien mon flanche. J’acquigerai le roulant vif de London Bridge pour un shilling et je tÂcherai de mettre la pogne sur de la blanquette. Alors je prends une brÈme pour Sutton en Surrey et je me mets en chasse pour la blanquette. Y avait pas longtemps que j’Étais À Sutton quand j’allume une cambrousiÈre qui dÉcarrait d’une piole. DÈs qu’elle a tournÉ le coin de la rue, j’embarde dans la piole. Une fois dedans je n’ai pas remouchÉ de blanquette dans la cuisine, et, passant ma sorbonne dans l’arriÈre-cuisine, j’ai mouchaillÉ trois ou quatre paires de ripatons. J’ai mis la pogne dessus, et Ôtant le couvercle de mon panier, je les y ai plaquÉs avec une piÈce d’Étoffe par dessus et j’ai remis le couvercle, puis j’ai plaquÉ mon panier sur mon andosse comme s’il Était vide, et je me suis cavalÉ jusqu’au roulant vif; acquigÉ un billet pour London Bridge, portÉ les ripatons À un youtre prÈs du beuglant et fourguÉ pour trente shillings.

The next day I took the rattler to Forest Hill, and touched for (succeeded in getting) some wedge and a kipsy full of clobber (clothes). You may be sure this gave me a little pluck, so I kept on at the old game, only with this difference, that I got more pieces for the wedge. I got three and a sprat (3s. 6d.) an ounce. But afterwards I got 3s. 9d., and then four blow. I used to get a good many pieces about this time, so I used to clobber myself up and go to the concert. But though I used to go to these places I never used to drink any beer for some time afterwards. It was while using one of those places I first met a sparring bloke (pugilist), who taught me how to spar and showed me the way to put my dukes up. But after a time I gave him best (left him) because he used to want to bite my ear (borrow) too often. It was while I was with him that I got in company with some of the widest (cleverest) people in London. They used to use at (frequent) a pub in Shoreditch. The following people used to go in there—toy-getters (watch-stealers), magsmen (confidence-trick men), men at the mace (sham loan offices), broadsmen (card-sharpers), peter-claimers (box-stealers), busters and screwsmen (burglars), snide-pitchers (utterers of false coin), men at the duff (passing false jewellery), welshers (turf-swindlers), and skittle-sharps. Being with this nice mob (gang) you may be sure what I learned. I went out at the game three or four times a week, and used to touch almost every time. I went on like this for very near a stretch (year) without being smugged (apprehended). One night I was with the mob, I got canon (drunk), this being the first time. After this, when I used to go to concert-rooms, I used to drink beer. It was at one of these places down Whitechapel I palled in with a trip and stayed with her until I got smugged. One day I was at Blackheath, I got very near canon, and when I went into a place I claimed two wedge spoons, and was just going up the dancers, a slavey piped the spoons sticking out of my skyrocket (pocket), so I got smugged. While at the station they asked me what my monarch (name) was. A reeler came to the cell and cross-kidded (questioned) me, but I was too wide for him. I was tried at Greenwich; they ask the reeler if I was known, and he said no. So I was sent to Maidstone Stir (prison) for two moon. When I came out, the trip I had been living with had sold the home and guyed; that did not trouble me much. The only thing that spurred (annoyed) me was me being such a flat to buy the home. The mob got me up a break (collection), and I got between five or six foont (sovereigns), so I did not go out at the game for about a moon.

Le lendemain j’ai acquigÉ le roulant vif jusqu’À Forest Hill, et j’ai mis la pogne sur de la blanquette et un panier plein de fringues. Bien sÛr, cela m’a donnÉ un peu de courage, alors j’ai continuÉ le mÊme flanche avec cette diffÉrence seulement, que j’ai affurÉ plus d’auber pour la blanquette. On m’en a foncÉ trois shillings sixpence l’once. Mais aprÈs j’en ai eu trois shillings neuf pence, et puis quatre shillings. J’affurais pas mal de galtos À cette Époque, de sorte que je me peaussais chouettement pour aller au beuglant. Mais si j’allais À ces sortes d’endroits, je ne pictais jamais de moussante. C’est À ce moment et dans un de ces endroits que j’ai fait la connaissance d’un lutteur qui m’a appris la boxe et À me servir de mes louches. Mais peu aprÈs, je l’ai lÂchÉ parcequ’il me coquait trop souvent des coups de pied dans les jambes. C’est en sa compagnie que j’ai fait la connaissance de quelques-uns des pÈgres les plus mariolles de Londres. Ils frÉquentaient un cabermon de Shoreditch. Ceux qui y allaient Étaient des grinchisseurs de bogues, des amÉricains, des guinals À la manque, des grecs, des valtreusiers, des grinchisseurs au fric-frac, des passeurs de galette À la manque, des voleurs À la broquille, des bookmakers À la manque, et des grinches joueurs de quilles. Etant avec cette gironde gance, vous pouvez imaginer ce que j’ai appris. J’allais turbiner trois ou quatre fois par quart de marque, et je rÉussissais presque toujours. J’ai continuÉ ainsi pendant prÈs d’une brisque sans Être enfilÉ. Une nogue que j’Étais avec les fanandes, j’ai ÉtÉ poivre pour la premiÈre fois. Et aprÈs Ça, quand j’ai ÉtÉ au beuglant, j’ai pitanchÉ de la moussante. C’est À un de ces endroits dans Whitechapel que je me suis collÉ avec une largue, et je suis restÉ avec elle jusqu’À ce que j’ai ÉtÉ enfouraillÉ. Un reluis, j’Étais À Blackheath, je me suis presque poivrottÉ, et embardant dans une piole, j’ai grinchi deux poches de plÂtre. Je grimpais le lÈve-pieds, quand une cambrousiÈre a remouchÉ les cuillers qui sortaient de ma profonde, c’est comme cela que j’ai ÉtÉ pomaquÉ. Au bloc, on m’a demandÉ mon centre. Un rousse est venu À la boÎte et m’a fait la jactance, mais j’ai ÉtÉ trop mariolle pour entraver. J’ai ÉtÉ mis en sapement À Greenwich; on a demandÉ au rousse s’il me conobrait et il a rÉpondu nibergue. Alors on m’a envoyÉ À la motte de Maidstone pour deux marques. Quand j’ai ÉtÉ dÉfouraillÉ, la largue avec qui je vivais avait tout lavÉ et s’Était fait la dÉbinette, mais cela m’Était Égal. La seule chose qui m’a ennuyÉ, c’est que j’avais ÉtÉ assez sinve pour abloquer le fourbi. La gance m’a fait une manche et j’ai eu de cinq À six sigues, de sorte que je n’ai pas rappliquÉ au turbin pour prÈs d’une marque.

The first day that I went out I went to Slough and touched for a wedge kipsy with 120 ounces of wedge in it, for which I got nineteen quid (sovereigns). Then I carried on a nice game. I used to get canon every night. I done things now what I should have been ashamed to do before I took to that accursed drink. It was now that I got acquainted with the use of twirls (skeleton-keys).

Le premier reluis de ma guÉrison je suis allÉ À Slough et j’ai soulevÉ un panier, qui contenait 120 onces de blanquette, pour lequel j’ai reÇu dix-neuf livres sterling. Alors j’Étais bien À la marre. J’Étais pion toutes les sorgues. J’ai maquillÉ des flanches alors que j’aurais eu honte de faire si je ne m’Étais pas mis À pitancher gourdement. C’est alors que j’ai appris le truc des caroubles.

A little time after this I fell (was taken up) again at St. Mary Cray for being found at the back of a house, and got two moon at Bromley Petty Sessions as a rogue and vagabond; and I was sent to Maidstone, this being the second time within a stretch. When I fell this time I had between four and five quid found on me, but they gave it me back, so I was landed (was all right) this time without them getting me up a lead (a collection).

Peu aprÈs j’ai ÉtÉ emballÉ de nouveau À St. Mary Cray pour avoir ÉtÉ pigÉ derriÈre une piole et j’ai ÉtÉ gerbÉ À deux marques au juste de Bromley comme ferlampier et purotin, puis j’ai ÉtÉ envoyÉ À Maidstone pour la seconde fois dans la brisque. Quand j’ai ÉtÉ emballÉ, j’avais de quatre À cinq signes sur mon gniasse, mais on me les a rendus, de sorte que j’ai pu cette fois me passer de la manche.

I did not fall again for a stretch. This time I got two moon for assaulting the reelers when canon. For this I went to the Steel (Bastile—Coldbath Fields Prison), having a new suit of clobber on me and about fifty blow in my brigh (pocket). When I came out I went at the same old game.

Je n’ai pas ÉtÉ emballÉ pendant une brisque. Cette fois, j’ai ÉtÉ sapÉ À deux marques pour avoir refilÉ une voie aux rousses pendant que j’Étais pion. On m’a envoyÉ, pour ce flanche, À la Steel. J’avais des fringues d’altÈque et environ cinquante shillings dans ma fouillouse. Quand j’ai dÉcarrÉ j’ai rappliquÉ au truc.

One day I went to Croydon and touched for a red toy (gold watch) and red tackle (gold chain) with a large locket. So I took the rattler home at once. When I got into Shoreditch I met one or two of the mob, who said, “Hallo, been out to-day? Did you touch?” So I said, “Usher” (yes). So I took them in, and we all got canon. When I went to the fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me £8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him, and asked him if he was not going to grease my duke (put money into my hand). So he said, “No.” Then he said, “I will give you another half-a-quid;” and said, “Do anybody, but mind they don’t do you.” So I thought to myself, “All right, my lad; you will find me as good as my master,” and left him.

Un reluis, je suis allÉ À Croydon et j’ai fait un bogue de jonc et une bride de jonc avec un gros mÉdaillon. Puis j’ai acquigÉ dare-dare le roulant vif. Quand j’ai aboulÉ À Shoreditch, je suis tombÉ en frime avec deux pÈgres de la gance qui m’ont bonni, “Eh bien, tu as turbinÉ ce luisant, as-tu fait quelque chose?” Alors que je jacte, “Gy.” Puis je les ai emmenÉs et nous nous sommes tous piquÉ le blaire. Quand je suis allÉ chez le fourgat il m’a refait parceque j’Étais poivre et m’a aboulÉ seulement £8 10s. pour le tout. Alors le lendemain, je suis allÉ À lui et lui ai demandÉ s’il n’allait pas me foncer du michon. Il rÉpond, “Nibergue.” Puis il ajoute, “Je vais te foncer un autre demi-sigue,” et aussi, “MÈne en bateau les sinves, mais ne te laisse pas mener en bateau.” Je me suis dit, “Chouette, ma vieille branche; tu me trouveras aussi mariolle que mon maÎtre,” et je l’ai quittÉ.

Some time after that affair with the fence, one of the mob said to me, “I have got a place cut and dried; will you come and do it?” So I said, “Yes; what tools will you want?” And he said, “We shall want some twirls and the stick (crowbar), and bring a neddie (life preserver) with you.” And he said, “Now don’t stick me up (disappoint); meet me at six to-night.” At six I was in the meet (trysting-place), and while waiting for my pal I had my daisies cleaned, and I piped the fence that bested me go along with his old woman (wife) and his two kids (children), so I thought of his own words, “Do anybody, but mind they don’t do you.” He was going to the Surrey Theatre, so when my pal came up I told him all about it. So we went and screwed (broke into) his place, and got thirty-two quid, and a toy and tackle which he had bought on the crook. We did not go and do the other place after that. About two moon after this the same fence fell for buying two finns (£5 notes), for which he got a stretch and a half. A little while after this I fell at Isleworth for being found in a conservatory adjoining a parlour, and got remanded at the Tench (House of Detention) for nine days, but neither Snuffy (Reeves, the identifier) nor Mac (Macintyre) knew me, so I got a drag, and was sent to the Steel. While I was in there, I see the fence who we done, and he held his duke at me as much as to say, “I would give you something, if I could;” but I only laughed at him. I was out about seven moon, when one night a pal of mine was half drunk, and said something to a copper (policeman) which he did not like; so he hit my pal, and I hit him in return. So we both set about him. He pulled out his staff, and hit me on the nut, and cut it open. Then two or three more coppers came up, and we got smugged, and got a sixer (six months) each. So I see the fence again in Stir.

Quelque temps aprÈs ce flanche avec le fourgat une des poisses de la gance me bonnit, “J’ai un poupard nourri, veux-tu en Être?” Que je lui bonnis, “Gy, de quelles alÈnes as-tu besoin?” Il me jacte, “Il nous faut des rossignols et le sucre de pomme; tu apporteras un tourne-clef.” Il me bonnit, “Ne me lÂche pas au bon moment, nous nous rencontrerons À six plombes cette nogue.” Six plombes crossaient quand j’ai aboulÉ au rendez-vous, et en attendant mon fanande je faisais cirer mes ripatons, quand j’ai mouchaillÉ le fourgue qui m’avait refait qui se balladait avec sa fesse et ses deux mÔmes. Alors j’ai pensÉ À ce qu’il m’avait bonni, “MÈne les sinves en bateau mais ne laisse pas gourer tÉzigue.” Il allait À la misloque de Surrey, alors, quand mon poteau aboule, je lui dÉgueularde tout le flanche. Puis nous filons le luctrÈme, nous enquillons dans la piole et nous mettons la pogne sur trente-deux sigues, sur un bogue et une bride que le fourgue avait abloquÉs À la manque. Nous ne sommes pas allÉs aux autres endroits aprÈs cela. Deux marques aprÈs, ce mÊme fourgue a ÉtÉ poissÉ pour avoir abloquÉ deux fafiots de cinq livres sterling, et sapÉ À une longe et six marques. Peu de temps aprÈs j’ai ÉtÉ emballÉ À Isleworth pour avoir ÉtÉ pigÉ dans une serre voisine d’un parloir et remis À la Tench pour neuf reluis, mais ni Snuffy ni Mac ne me conobraient, de sorte que j’ai ÉtÉ sapÉ À trois marques et malade À la motte. Pendant que j’y Étais, j’ai vu le fourgue que nous avions refait, et il a tendu la pince de mon cÔtÉ comme pour bonnir, “Je te refilerais une purge si je pouvais,” mais cela m’a fait rigoler. J’Étais guÉri depuis environ sept marques quand une sorgue, un de mes fanandes, qui Était poivre, jacte quelque chose À un roussin qui ne l’ayant pas À la bonne, l’a sonnÉ et moi j’ai sonnÉ le roussin À mon tour. Tous deux alors nous lui avons travaillÉ le cadavre. Il a tirÉ son bÂton, m’a sonnÉ le citron et me l’a fendu. Alors deux ou trois roussins sont arrivÉs, nous ont emballÉs et nous avons ÉtÉ gerbÉs À six marques. De sorte que j’ai revu le fourgue au chÂteau.

On the Boxing-day after I came out I got stabbed in the chest by a pal of mine who had done a schooling. We was out with one another all the day getting drunk, so he took a liberty with me, and I landed him one on the conk (nose); so we had a fight, and he put the chive (knive) into me. This made me sober, so I asked him what made him such a coward. He said, “I meant to kill you; let me kiss my wife and child, and then smug me.” But I did not do that. This made me a little thoughtful of the sort of life I was carrying on. I thought, “What if I should have been killed then!” But this, like other things, soon passed away.

Au Boxing-day aprÈs ma guÉrison, un de mes fanandes m’a refilÉ un coup de bince dans le haricot. Il avait ÉtÉ dÉjÀ enfouraillÉ au collÈge. Nous nous Étions balladÉs tout le luisant en nous poivrottant, de sorte que m’ayant manquÉ de respect, je lui ai collÉ une chÂtaigne sur le morviau. Nous nous sommes empoignÉs et il a jouÉ du surin. Cela m’a dÉgrisÉ et je lui ai demandÉ pourquoi il s’Était montrÉ aussi lÂche. Il me bonnit, “Je voulais t’estourbir. Laisse-moi aller sucer la pomme À ma largue et mon mÔme et fais-moi emballer.” Mais je n’ai pas voulu. Cela m’a fait rÉflÉchir un peu au genre de vie que je menais et je me dis, “J’aurais bien pu Être refroidi.” Mais bientÔt je n’y pensai plus.

After the place got well where I was chived, me and another screwed a place at Stoke Newington, and we got some squeeze (silk) dresses, and two sealskin jackets, and some other things. We tied them in a bundle, and got on a tram. It appears they knew my pal, and some reelers got up too. So when I piped them pipe the bundle, I put my dukes on the rails of the tram and dropped off, and guyed down a double before you could say Jack Robinson. It was a good job I did, or else I should have got lagged (sent to penal servitude), and my pal too, because I had the James (crowbar) and screws (skeleton keys) on me. My pal got a stretch and a half. A day or two after this I met the fence who I done; so he said to me, “We have met at last.” So I said, “Well, what of that?” So he said, “What did you want to do me for?” So I said, “You must remember you done me; and when I spoke to you about it you said, ‘Do anybody; mind they don’t do you.’” That shut him up.

Une fois guÉri du coup de bince, nous avons refilÉ le luctrÈme d’une piole À Stoke Newington, et nous avons grinchi des robes de lyonnaise et deux jaquettes de peau de phoque et d’autre camelote. Nous en avons fait un pacsin et nous avons pris le tram. On conobrait mon fanande, paraÎt-il, et des rousses y montent avec nouzailles. Quand je vois qu’ils remouchent le pacsin, je mets mes agrafes sur le pieu d’appui du tram, je saute, je fais patatrot au coin de la rue et je cours encore. C’est bate pour moi d’avoir agi ainsi autrement j’aurais ÉtÉ gerbÉ À bachasse et mon fanande aussi parceque j’avais le Jacques et les caroubles sur mÉzigue. Mon fanande a ÉtÉ sapÉ À une longe et demie. Un reluis ou deux aprÈs, je me casse le mufle sur le fourgat que j’avais refait, et il me jacte, “Te voilÀ enfin!” Je lui rÉponds, “Eh bien, et puis aprÈs?” “Pourquoi m’as-tu refait?” dit-il. Et je lui rÉponds, “Rappelle-toi que tu as refait mon gniasse, et quand je t’en ai jactÉ tu m’as rÉpondu, ‘MÈne en bateau qui tu voudras, mais ne te laisse pas enfoncer.’” Et cela a coupÉ la chique À sÉzigue.

One day I went to Lewisham and touched for a lot of wedge. I tore up my madam (handkerchief) and tied the wedge in small packets and put them into my pockets. At Bishopsgate Street I left my kipsy at a barber’s shop, where I always left it when not in use. I was going through Shoreditch, when a reeler from Hackney, who knew me well, came up and said, “I am going to run the rule over (search) you.” You could have knocked me down with a feather, me knowing what I had about me. Then he said, “It’s only my joke; are you going to treat me?” So I said “Yes,” and began to be very saucy, saying to him, “What catch would it be if you was to turn me over?” So I took him into a pub which had a back way out, and called for a pint of stout, and told the reeler to wait a minute. He did not know that there was an entrance at the back; so I guyed up to Hoxton to the mob and told them all about it. Then I went and done the wedge for five-and-twenty quid.

Un jour je vais À Lewisham et je grinchis un lot de blanquette. Je dÉchire mon blavin, je fais des petits pacsins de la blanquette et je les plaque dans mes profondes. A Bishopsgate St. je dÉpose mon panier dans la boutogue d’un merlan oÙ je le laissais toujours quand je ne m’en servais pas. Je traversais Shoreditch, quand un rousse de Hackney, qui me conobrait bien, aboule et jacte, “Je vais te rapioter.” J’avais la frousse en pensant À ce que j’avais sur mon gniasse. Alors il me bonnit, “C’est une batterie douce; est-ce que tu ne vas pas me rincer les crochets?” Je lui jacte, “Gy,” et je me mets À blaguer avec lui, lui disant, “Quelle bonne prise, si vous me fouilliez?” Je l’emmÈne alors dans un cabermon qui avait une sortie de derriÈre, je demande une pinte de stout, et je dis au rousse d’attendre une broquille. Il ne conobrait pas la lourde de derriÈre; alors je me la tire jusqu’À Hoxton et j’apprends aux fanandes ce qui s’Était passÉ. Puis je fourgue la blanquette pour vingt-cinq livres.

One or two days after this I met the reeler at Hackney, and he said, “What made you guy?” So I said that I did not want my pals to see me with him. So he said it was all right. Some of the mob knew him and had greased his duke.

Un ou deux reluis aprÈs, je tombe en frime avec la riflette À Hackney, et il me jacte, “Pourquoi t’es-tu dÉbinÉ?” Et je lui rÉponds que je ne voulais pas que mes fanandes me remouchent en sa compagnie. Quelques pÈgres de la gance le conobraient et lui avaient foncÉ du michon.

What I am about to relate now took place within the last four or five moon before I fell for this stretch and a half. One day I went to Surbiton. I see a reeler giving me a roasting (watching me), so I began to count my pieces for a jolly (pretence), but he still followed me, so at last I rang a bell, and waited till the slavey came, and the reeler waited till I came out, and then said, “What are you hawking of?” So I said, “I am not hawking anything; I am buying bottles.” So he said, “I thought you were hawking without a licence.” As soon as he got round a double, I guyed away to Malden and touched for two wedge teapots, and took the rattler to Waterloo.

Ce que je vais raconter maintenant a eu lieu dans le courant des quatre ou cinq marques avant mon sapement À une longe et demie. Un reluis je vais À Surbiton. Je remouche une riflette qui me poireautait. Je fais la frime de compter mon carle, mais il me prend en filature. A la fin je tire une retentissante, et j’attends que la larbine aboule, le rousse attend que je dÉcarre et me jacte, “Qu’est-ce que vous vendez donc?” Et je rÉponds, “Je ne vends rien; j’achÈte des bouteilles.” Il me dit alors, “Je croyais que vous faisiez le commerce sans patente.” AussitÔt qu’il a tournÉ le coin, je vais À Malden et je fais deux thÉiÈres de plÂtre, puis j’acquige le roulant pour Waterloo.

One day I took the rattler from Broad Street to Acton. I did not touch there, but worked my way to Shepherd’s Bush; but when I got there I found it so hot (dangerous), because there had been so many tykes (dogs) poisoned, that there was a reeler at almost every double, and bills posted up about it. So I went to the Uxbridge Road Station, and while I was waiting for the rattler I took a religious tract, and on it was written, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” So I thought to myself, What good has the money done me what I have had? So instead of getting out at Brondesbury, I rode on to Broad Street, and paid the difference, and went home, and did not go out for about a week.

Un jour j’acquige le roulant de Broad Street À Acton. Lago, je ne fais rien, et je continue ma route jusqu’À Shepherd’s Bush; mais quand j’y dÉvale je trouve qu’il y avait tant de pet À cause de tous les tambours qu’on avait empoisonnÉs, qu’on avait mis une riflette presque À chaque coin de rue et des babilles partout. Alors je vais À la station du roulant de Uxbridge Road, et pendant que je poireautais pour le roulant je prends une brochure religieuse et il y avait capi dessus, “A quoi bon acquÉrir le monde entier si l’on doit perdre son Âme?” Et je me jacte, A quoi m’a servi le carme que j’ai affurÉ? Et alors au lieu de descendre À Brondesbury, je continue jusqu’À Broad Street et j’aboule la diffÉrence. Je rapplique À la caginotte d’oÙ je ne dÉcarre pas d’un quart de marque.

The Sunday following when I went to Uxbridge Road, I went down a lane called Mount Pleasant, at Clapton; it was about six o’clock. Down at the bottom of the lane you could get a fine view of Walthamstow; so while I was leaning against the rails I felt very miserable. I was thinking about when I was at Feltham. I thought I had threw away the only chance I had of doing better; and as I stood thinking, the bells of St. Matthew’s Church began to play a hymn-tune I had heard at Feltham. This brought tears to my eyes: this was the first time in my life that I thought what a wretch I was. I was going home very downcast, when I met some pals, who said, “Why, what is the matter? you look miserable.” So I said, “I don’t feel very well.” So they said, “Are you coming to have something to drink?—that will liven you up.” So I went in with them, and began to drink very hard to drown my thoughts.

Le dimanche d’aprÈs, en allant À Uxbridge Road, je dÉgringole une ruelle appellÉe Mount Pleasant, À Clapton; il Était À peu prÈs six plombes. Au fond de la ruelle on avait une vue magnifique de Walthamstow; donc pendant que je m’appuyais contre la palissade j’avais des papillons noirs dans la sorbonne. Je pensais au temps oÙ j’Étais À Feltham. Je voyais que j’avais perdu la seule occasion que j’avais de rengracier et Étant lÀ À rÉflÉchir, les retentissantes de la rampante de Saint-Matthew se mirent À jouer un hymne que j’avais entendu À Feltham. Ceci me fit baver des clignots: pour la premiÈre fois de ma vie je jacte À mÉzigue, Quel misÉrable tu es! Je rappliquais À la niche, en paumant mes plumes, quand je tombe en frime de deux fanandes qui bonnissent, “Eh bien, qu’est-ce qu’il y a; tu as une sale bobinette? “Alors je jacte, “Je suis tocquard.” “Alors viens avec nous te rincer la dalle, Ça te ragaillardira.” Je suis allÉ avec eux, et j’ai commencÉ À picter d’attaque pour noyer le chagrin.

Monday morning I felt just the same as I always did; I felt ready for the old game again. So I went to Hoxton, and some of the mob said to me, “Why, where have you been the last week or so—we thought you had fell?” So I told them I had been ill.

Le lundi matin d’aprÈs, je me suis senti comme d’habitongue et prÊt À rappliquer au turbin. Je suis allÉ À Hoxton, et quelques-uns de la gance m’ont fait la jactance, “Eh bien, oÙ as-tu ÉtÉ pendant tous ces reluis—nous pensions que tu t’Étais fait emballer?” Je leur rÉponds que j’avais ÉtÉ tocquard.

I went out the next day to Maidenhead, and touched for some wedge and a poge (purse), with over five quid in it.

Le lendemain je suis allÉ À Maidenhead. J’ai fait de la blanquette et une filoche qui contenait plus de cinq sigues.

A little while after this I went with two pals to the Palace at Muswell Hill; the races were on. So when we got there, there was some reelers there what knew me, and my pals said, “You had better get away from here; if we touch you will take your whack (share) just the same.” So I went and laid down on the grass. While laying there I piped a reeler whom I knew; he had a nark (a policeman’s spy) with him. So I went and looked about for my two pals and told them to look out for S. and his nark. About an hour after this they came to me and woke me up, and they said, “Come on, we have had a lucky touch for a half century in pap” (£50 in paper, i.e. notes). I thought they was only kidding (deceiving) at first, so they said, “Let us guy from here, and you will see if we are kidding to you.” When we got into the rattler they showed me the pap; yes, there it was, fifty quids in double finns (£10 notes). We did them for £9 10s. each to a fence.

Peu aprÈs, je suis allÉ avec deux fanandels À Muswell Hill oÙ il y avait des courses. Quand nouzailles y avons dÉvalÉ, il y avait des roussins qui me conobraient et mes fanandes me jactent, “Tu ferais mieux de te cavaler; si nous rinÇons, tu auras ton fade tout de mÊme.” Alors j’allai me plaquer sur l’herbe. Pendant que j’y Étais, je remouche un rousse que je conobrais. Il Était accompagnÉ d’une riflette. Je cherche alors mes deux fanandes et leur dis, “Acresto, attention À S. et À sa riflette!” Une plombe aprÈs, environ, ils aboulent vers mÉzigue, m’Éveillent, et me jactent, “Aboule, nous avons barbotÉ schpille, nous avons acquigÉ cinquante livres en faffes.” Je croyais qu’ils me collaient des vannes mais ils me jactent, “DÉvalons d’icigo et tu verras si nous te gourrons.” Quand nous nous sommes plaquÉs dans le roulant vif ils m’ont montrÉ les faffes; gy, il y avait bien cinquante sigues en faffes de dix livres. Nous les avons lavÉs pour £9 10s. À un fourgue.

I took the rattler one day to Reigate and worked my way to Red Hill. So I went into a place and see some clobber hanging up, so I thought to myself, I will have it and take the rattler home at once; it will pay all expense. So while I was looking about I piped a little peter (parcel). When I took it up it had an address on it, and the address was to the vicarage; so I came out and asked a boy who lived there, and he said “Yes,” but to make sure of it I went back again. This time I looked to the clobber more closely, and I see it was the same as clergymen wear, so I left it where it was. I always made it a rule never to rob a clergyman’s house if I knew one to live there. I could have robbed several in my time, but I would not. So I took the rattler to Croydon and touched for some wedge, and come home. I used to go to Henley most every year when the rowing matches was on which used to represent Oxford and Cambridge, only it used to be boys instead of men. The day the Prince of Wales arrived at Portsmouth when he came home from India, me and two pals took the rattler from Waterloo at about half-past six in the morning. When we got to Portsmouth we found it was very hot, there was on every corner of a street bills stuck up, “Beware of pickpockets, male and female,” and on the tramcars as well. So one of my pals said, “There is a reeler over there who knows me, we had better split out” (separate). Me and the other one went by ourselves; he was very tricky (clever) at getting a poge or a toy, but he would not touch toys because we was afraid of being turned over (searched). We done very well at poges; we found after we knocked off we had between sixty or seventy quid to cut up (share), but our other pal had fell, and was kept at the station until the last rattler went to London, and then they sent him home by it. One day after this I asked a screwsman if he would lend me some screws, because I had a place cut and dried. But he said, “If I lend you them I shall want to stand in” (have a share); but I said, “I can’t stand you at that; I will grease your duke, if you like.” But he said, “That would not do;” so I said, “We will work together then;” and he said, “Yes.” So we went and done the place for fifty-five quid. So I worked with him until I fell for this stretch and a half. He was very tricky at making twirls, and used to supply them all with tools. Me and the screwsman went to Gravesend and I found a dead ’un (uninhabited house), and we both went and turned it over and got things out of it which fetched us forty-three quid. We went one day to Erith; I went in a place, and when I opened the door there was a great tyke (dog), laying in front of the door, so I pulled out a piece of pudding (liver prepared to silence dogs) and threw it to him, but he did not move. So I threw a piece more, and it did not take any notice; so I got close up to it, and found it was a dead dog, being stuffed, so I done the place for some wedge and three overcoats; one I put on, and the other two in my kipsy. We went to Harpenden Races to see if we could find some dead ’uns; we went on the course. While we was there we saw a scuff, it was a flat that had been welshed, so my pal said, “Pipe his spark prop” (diamond pin). So my pal said, “Front me (cover me), and I will do him for it.” So he pulled out his madam and done him for it. After we left the course, we found a dead ’un and got a peter (cashbox) with very near a century of quids in it. Then I carried on a nice game, what with the trips and the drink I very near went balmy (mad). It is no use of me telling you every place I done, or else you will think I am telling you the same things over again.

Je prends un jorne le roulant pour Reigate et je trimarde jusqu’À Red Hill. Puis j’embarde en une piole et je remouche des harnais suspendus. Je me jacte, je vais les pÉgrer et acquiger aussitÔt le roulant; cela couvrira toutes mes dÉpenses. Alors en gaffinant par ci par lÀ je remouche un petit pacsin. Je mets la pogne dessus et je reluque une adresse. Celle du curÉ. Alors je dÉcarre et je demande À un gosse si ce n’est pas un ratichon qui demeure lago? “gy,” qu’il dit. Mais pour qu’il n’y ait pas d’erreur, je retourne. Cette fois, je gaffine de plus prÈs le harnais, je vois que c’Était celui d’un prÊtre, et alors je l’ai laissÉ oÙ il Était. J’ai toujours eu soin de ne jamais barboter une cambriolle de prÊtre quand je savais que c’en Était une. J’aurais pu en barboter mais je n’ai pas voulu. Alors j’ai pris le roulant vif pour Croydon, j’ai effarouchÉ de la blanquette et rappliquÉ À la kasbah. J’allais À Henley presque chaque berge pendant les rÉgattes qui Étaient comme celles entre Oxford et Cambridge, seulement c’Était des gosses au lieu de gonces. Le reluis oÙ le linsprÉ de Galles a dÉvalÉ À Portsmouth quand il a renquillÉ des Indes, mÉzigue et deux fanandes, nous avons acquigÉ le roulant vif vers six plombes et trente broquilles au matois. Quand nous avons dÉvalÉ À Portsmouth nous avons trouvÉ qu’il faisait trÈs chaud; il y avait aux coins des trimes des babilles, “Prenez garde aux filous, mÂles et femelles,” et aussi sur les trains de vache. De sorte qu’un de mes fanandes jacte, “Il y a un roussin labago qui conobre mon gniasse, et il vaut mieux nous sÉparer.” MÉzigue et l’autre nous nous dÉbinons de notre cÔtÉ; il n’Était pas trÈs mariolle pour faire une filoche ou un bogue, mais il ne voulait pas grinchir de bogues parcequ’il avait le taf d’Être rapiotÉ. Nous avons eu de la bate pour les morningues; nous avons trouvÉ, aprÈs avoir turbinÉ, que nous avions de soixante À soixante-dix sigues À fader, mais notre autre fanande avait ÉtÉ pigÉ et gardÉ au bloc jusqu’au dernier roulant vif pour Londres, puis renvoyÉ chez lui par ce roulant. Un reluis aprÈs ce flanche, je demande À un caroubleur s’il voulait me prÊter des caroubles parceque j’avais un poupard nourri. Mais il bonnit, “Si je les prÊte, je veux mon fade.” Que je rÉponds, “Ça fait nib dans mes blots, mais je te carmerai tout de mÊme, si tu l’as À la bonne.” Mais qu’il bonnit, “Ça fait nib dans mes blots aussi.” Alors je jacte, “Nous turbinerons ensemble,” et il me rentasse “gy.” Alors nous avons rincÉ la piole et acquigÉ cinquante-cinq sigues. J’ai turbinÉ ensuite avec lui puis j’ai ÉtÉ pigÉ et sapÉ À ces dix-huit marques. Il Était trÈs mariolle pour maquiller les caroubles et il fournissait des alÈnes À toute la gance. MÉzigue et le caroubleur nous sommes allÉs À Gravesend ou nous avons trouvÉ une piole vide. Nous avons embardÉ dedans et l’avons rincÉe ce qui nous a affurÉ quarante-trois sigues. Nous sommes allÉs un reluis À Erith. J’ai enquillÉ dans une piole, et quand j’ai dÉbÂclÉ la lourde il y avait un gros tambour couchÉ devant, de sorte que j’ai tirÉ de ma profonde un morceau de bidoche et je la lui ai balancÉe, mais il n’a pas bougÉ. Je lui en ai jetÉ un autre morceau mais il est restÉ tranquille. Alors je m’approche et je vois que c’Était un cab empaillÉ. J’ai rincÉ la piole pour la blanquette et trois temples, j’en ai peaussÉ un et plaquÉ les deux autres dans mon panier. Nous sommes allÉs ensuite aux courses de Harpenden pourvoir si nous pouvions trouver des pioles sans lonsguÉ; nous allons sur la piste. Pendant que nous y sommes, nous remouchons une tigne, c’Était un gonsse qui venait d’Être refait, alors mon fanande me jacte, “Gaffine son Épingle. Couvre-moi, et je vais la lui faire.” Alors il tire son blavin et la lui poisse. AprÈs avoir quittÉ la piste, nous trouvons une piole vide et nous faisons un enfant qui contenait une centaine de sigues. A partir de ce jour je me suis mis À la rigolade et À force d’aller avec les chamÈgues et de pitancher, je suis presque devenu louffoque. Il est inutile de vous raconter toutes les pioles que j’ai rincÉes, ce serait toujours la mÊme histoire.

I will now tell you what happened the day before I fell for this stretch and a half. Me and the screwsman went to Charlton. From there we worked our way to Blackheath. I went in a place and touched for some wedge which we done for three pounds ten. I went home and wrung myself (changed clothes), and met some of the mob and got very near drunk. Next morning I got up about seven, and went home to change my clobber and put on the old clobber to work with the kipsy. When I got home my mother asked me if I was not a going to stop to have some breakfast? So I said, “No, I was in a hurry.” I had promised to meet the screwsman and did not want to stick him up. We went to Willesden and found a dead ’un, so I came out and asked my pal to lend me the James and some twirls, and I went and turned it over. I could not find any wedge. I found a poge with nineteen shillings in it. I turned everything over, but could not find anything worth having, so I came out and gave the tools to my pal and told him. So he said, “Wasn’t there any clobber?” So I said, “Yes, there’s a cartload.” So he said, “Go and get a kipsy full of it, and we will guy home.” So I went back, and as I was going down the garden, the gardener it appears had been put there to watch the house, so he said, “What do you want here?” So I said, “Where do you speak to the servants?” So he said, “There is not anyone at home, they are all out.” So he said, “What do you want with them?” So I said, “Do you know if they have any bottles to sell, because the servant told me to call another day?” So he said, “I do not know, you had better call another time.” So I said, “All right, and good day to him.” I had hardly got outside when he came rushing out like a man balmy, and said to me, “You must come back with me.” So I said, “All right. What is the matter?” So when we got to the door he said, “How did you open this door?” So I said, “My good fellow, you are mad! how could I open it?” So he said, “It was not open half-an-hour ago because I tried it.” So I said, “Is that any reason why I should have opened it?” So he said, “At any rate you will have to come to the station with me.”

Je vous raconterai maintenant ce qui est arrivÉ juste la veille du reluis oÙ j’ai ÉtÉ enfouraillÉ pour dix-huit marques. MÉzigue et le caroubleur nous allons À Charlton. De lago nous trimardons jusqu’À Blackheath. J’enquille en une piole et j’effarouche de la blanquette que nous fourguons pour trois livres dix. Je rapplique À la niche et je change de fringues, je rencontre quelques fanandes de la gance et je me poivrotte presque. Le lendemain matin je me lÈve vers sept plombes pour changer de fringues et je me peausse du vieux harnais pour aller turbiner avec le panier. Quand je rapplique À la niche ma dabuche me jacte de rester pour la refaite du matois. Je bonnis, “Non, j’ai À me patiner.” J’avais promis de rencontrer le grinchisseur au fric-frac et je ne voulais pas flancher. Nous sommes allÉs À Willesden et j’ai trouvÉ une piole sans personne, de sorte que j’en suis dÉcarrÉ et j’ai demandÉ À mon fanandel de me prÊter le Jacques et des caroubles, j’ai renquillÉ et j’ai cherchÉ la camelote. Je n’ai pas trouvÉ de blanquette. J’ai trouvÉ une filoche avec dix-neuf shillings. J’ai tout retournÉ mais je n’ai trouvÉ rien de schpille de sorte que j’ai dÉcarrÉ. J’ai refilÉ les alÈnes À mon fanandel et je lui ai dit le flanche. Alors, qu’il jacte, “N’y avait-il pas de fringues?” Et je lui rÉponds, “Gy, il y en a une charretÉe.” Alors, qu’il dit, “Acquiges-en plein un panier et dÉbinons-nous.” Je retourne, et comme je dÉvalais le long du jaffier, l’arroseur de verdouze qui paraÎt-il, avait ÉtÉ plaquÉ lago pour faire le gaffe, me bonnit, “Qu’est-ce que tu maquilles icigo?” Je rÉponds, “OÙ peut-on parler aux larbins?” Et il dit, “Il n’y a personne À la maison, ils sont tous sortis. Que leur voulez-vous?” et je lui rÉponds, “Savez-vous s’ils ont des bouteilles À vendre, parceque la servante m’a dit de revenir?” “Je ne sais pas, revenez un autre jour.” “C’est bien,” que je lui dis; “je vous souhaite le bonjour.” J’avais À peine dÉcarrÉ qu’il aboule comme un louffoque et me jacte, “Vous allez revenir avec moi.” Je lui dis, “C’est bien, mon brave; qu’est-ce qu’il y a?” Et quand nous aboulons juxte la lourde il jacte, “Comment avez-vous fait pour ouvrir cette porte?” “Mon brave homme,” lui dis-je, “vous Êtes fou, comment aurais-je fait?” Alors il jacte, “Elle n’Était pas ouverte il y a une demi-heure, car je l’ai essayÉe pour voir.” Alors je bonnis, “Est-ce une raison pour que je l’aie ouverte?” Et il jacte, “Dans tous les cas, vous allez m’accompagner au poste de police.”

The station was not a stone’s throw from the place, so he caught hold of me, so I gave a twist round and brought the kipsy in his face, and gave him a push and guyed. He followed, giving me hot beef (calling “Stop thief”). My pal came along, and I said to him, “Make this man leave me alone, he is knocking me about,” and I put a half-James (half-sovereign) in his hand, and said, “Guy.” As I was running round a corner there was a reeler talking to a postman, and I rushed by him, and a little while after the gardener came up and told him all about it. So he set after me and the postman too, all the three giving me hot beef. This set other people after me, and I got run out. So I got run in, and was tried at Marylebone and remanded for a week, and then fullied (fully committed for trial), and got this stretch and a half. Marylebone is the court I got my schooling from.—From Macmillan’s Magazine, October, 1879.

Le bloc Était À deux pas, alors il me met la louche au colas et je pirouette en lui refilant un coup de panier sur le citron; puis je lui refile une pousse et je fais patatrot. Il me suit en gueulant À la chienlit. Mon fanande me suivait et je lui bonnis, “DÉfends-moi contre ce pante, il me passe À travers;” je refile À son gniasse un demi-souverain dans sa louche et je lui dis, “Crompe! crompe!” Comme je tournais le coin, il y avait un flique qui jactait avec un facteur, je le dÉpasse en faisant la paire, et peu aprÈs l’arroseur de verdouze aboule et lui dÉbine le truc. Alors, il me cavale avec le facteur, tous les trois gueulant À la chienlit. De cette faÇon, d’autres pantes se mettent À me refiler et je suis pigÉ. On m’emballe, on me met sur la planche au pain À Marylebone et on me remet À huitaine, alors gerbÉ À une longe et six marques. Marylebone est le carrÉ oÙ j’ai ÉtÉ gerbÉ au collÈge.

Clyx.com

Fifteenth Century. LE JARGON OU JOBELIN DE MAISTRE FRANÇOIS VILLON.

BALLADE III.

TRANSLATION.

Seventeenth Century. DIALOGUE DE DEUX ARGOTIERS.[101]

Seventeenth Century. ENGLISH GIPSIES’ OATH.

Fifteenth Century.
LE JARGON OU JOBELIN DE MAISTRE FRANÇOIS VILLON.

Seventeenth Century.
DIALOGUE DE DEUX ARGOTIERS.[101]

Seventeenth Century.
ENGLISH GIPSIES’ OATH.