us by Patrick Colquhoun in his fabulated Treatise' on this non-existent subject about 1794; called poor-lice, giggishly. Pompel (ring,) provincial of Oxfordshire; compounded of pommel, to beat, and to impel. Not good.

Purl-hot porter, having an infusion of wormwood. It was anciently a winter-morning drink-dashed with gin.

6.

Relieved from a troublesome customer, is any woman who. miscarries; but the advertising Mr. White, at the blue lamp,' till within a few years, acted professionally in this. ingenious line. He is evanished from St. Paul's. Ribbon, or ribben-money.

Ring-the word was applied by the city-officers to that connexion, circle, or secret understanding which is supposed to exist among the caddees of stage-coaches who are upon the lay-or kedge; and in this sense of a ring representing a circle, round, or connexion, better heads than their's

concur.

"Thus various tastes and tempers may be found

In our small circle as the world's large round."

Roleau-fifty guineas, done up in paper, and pasted close, passing from hand to hand at hazard, E. O., &c. formerly, -but commonly one piece short, often two, and we have found the mistake a trifle worser for the actual holder. Howsomdever the discovery is not to be disclosed, unless laughingly, if the holder value his neck or collar-bone, [see Neck and crop,] or doubts the utility of the cold steel application at his ribs, or is apocryphal concerning the final efficacy of cranial perforation by the legs. See Lead towels. Guineas once avaunt! not practised upon sovereigns, parceque le jeu de grab-coup.

Roper the hangman-obsolete. If I do, then damme the roper,' is not now used.

Saffron-down-derry-Saffron-hill and its beautiful vicinage; Caroline-court was, not long since, the sole rookery of Derry-men, their Shelahs and shelalahs.

Scotch fiddle the itch. No where to be found, 'tis inculcated, since the Bute ascendancy; all the Scotch being now too genteel, though, as Dr. Gregory, (himself a Scot,) lectured "it is engendered by the climate, it pervades every person of every age and every condition, the present company always excepted."

Scrag-fair-a hanging-bout. The procession to Tyburn resembled going to a fair. Cock-feeders, when they twist the necks of their dungs, call it scragging them.

Second (ring)(seldom performed completely) he who aids with advice the actual pugilist, or, indeed, boxer; who, when his principal is down, raiseth him up, bodily, supports him on his knee, gives advice as to the opponent's weak points, admonisheth him if neglectful-cheers him up-moisteneth his lips with water or orange, and, as the contest is protracted, with brandy diluted,-who, if an accident happens, takes prompt means of alleviation. He must be furnished with a lancet, to let out the extravasated blood below the puff; and never desert his man on account of reverse of luck. Shaking-hands-the last ceremony preceding a well-regulated man-fight; and with some it marks the commencement of the battle, the shaking and the thwacking having no interval: shaking of hands, then, is but falseness, deceit.

Shallow-a hat; term acquired when the crown was worn shallow, and continued in the face of fact.

Slow-top (chase) said of a person who, to all appearances, cannot ride to hounds: the cut of his coat, or wearing a three-chisselled wig, or his horse a martingale, tells plainly enough he will never do the thing.

Snake-headed (ring)—one of the many blunders of the jargonic writers is, that the best fighters, or finest-bottomed men, are long-visaged, vel snake-headed,' as they slangwhang the matter; whereas, no truth lies in the pretended craniological position, as may be proved upon the nobs of Hen. Pearce, John Gully, and others, but the fact is, those jargonics reason from effect to cause, and because some men who have been hammered much about the jawbones, &c. so that their features become long, possessed courage, this must necessarily indicate a priori those qualities.

Sobriquets-avant names, such as were at first given according to individual circumstances. These began about the time of the conquest-the conqueror himself being nicknamed William Bastard;' his son was called Carrots,' in French, by reason of his nob being all' flames;' Henry II. stuck to his learning, and was therefore called Beauclerk; and then-about all persons obtained such surnames, which

shortly became sire-names. One landholder was called Simon Wolfsface, several Hog, many Bull, numbers Hare, and multitudes Cocks; whence proceeded (respectively) Hogsflesh and Hogard, Buller and Bulteel, Hartop and Harman, Cockshut and Hitchcock. Mr. White designated a pale face, whilst a dark muzzle had Mr. Black; Grey alluded to the hair, and Long, Short, Broad, to the stature or built, our Edward I. being king Longshanks. Song-smith-one who hammers out a chaunt occasionally; as Tom Durfey did, so did squire Fitzgerald, and so will the Bullers and Stebbings, and the Fogo tribes of this daywho are, after all, mere gatherers of scrap-iron,' or mudlarks prepense. Dibdin the younger called himself ‘a song-smith;' but he was a poet too, and, it should seem, modest likewise.

Steevin-money, coined; and of silver is understood. Stop a blow, (ring)-to prevent its alighting on the part intended, by means of the guard, or position of defence, i. e. the fore-arm or elbow. But this was effected differently by the several schools: the Broughtonian caught the coming blow on the perpendicular arm, which enabled them to make a quick return, cutting downwards. Mendoza's consisted in throwing up the arm from the elbow, catching the adversary at the wrist or higher, which disabled the muscle, and spoiled that arm awhile, when he chopped. The Bristolian tactique is to hit past the intended blow, lengthwise, inside the arm (if possible), when the arm must be thrown away, and the man stopping be well in; but he gets himself to off-fighting again, if desirable, by hitting the ribs with the other hand-this springs him back, though he has the option of in-fighting, if, instead thereof, he lets fly at the neck, throat, and upper works. Harmer's guard (a square one) for the head, or rather his eyes, would inevitably cost him a broken arm [when fighting] were he a shorter man. The sloping guard, against an antagonist's main arm, who ruffians in, is a good one and effectual, as exemplified in the celebrated battle of Neat and Hickman. We said, "If Neat can be induced to fight upon the retreating system, knocking away at the nob of his antagonist, as he comes on, with an almost straight left-handed guard, while hitting away with the right he may pocket the brads, and realise the odds that are now so freely laid upon the invincible gas-man." Vide [Old] Fancy, for Nov. 4, 1821.

Subscription-house-a species of tavern, open to subscribers only, and their friends, each peculiarly regulated, gambling being allowed in all, and in a few it is carried to a great extent. By a recent blow-up of their transactions, one of these was found to have been robbing its frequenters of immense sums-Piccadilly to wit.

ite-course of proceeding in any affair. 'What suite are you after now?' i. e. what game, or species of robbery does he follow. Derived from the legal slang for a suit at law, which robs the clients of the speaker. Sukey-tawdry-a slatternly female in fine frippery. Surname, or undername such as are taken, or applied 'under certain circumstances.' Sirnames, are names derived from the sire or ancestor, and were originally nicknames, except those ending in son, or beginning with Fitz, which show that about the time of Henry II., when those nickeries, or sobriquets we now bear, were applied generally, the wearers were worthy of no other note than what they derived from their parents. The family of O's come from the squeals of their mothers, except one lot, the O'Donnelly, who may place their O at least nine months earlier than any other O' family, when their sire wheedled their dam with O, do Nelly!' The Oudinots of Flanders, and Hoddinots of north-England, are derived from the reply to the supplication just quoted, which was O, do not! See Sobriquet.

Swaddle-to baste with stick or sword.

Thus, Hudibras,

"Great on the bench, great in the saddle,
He could as well bind o'er as swaddle."

System-a word misused for every course of proceedingsas the fighting system, eating system, system of robbery. The Bonifaces on the road practised the old system of double charges and baptising their max.'

Three-sheets in the wind.-Naval, but naturalized ashore, and means drunk, but capable of going along-like a ship which has three sheets braced-main, mizen, and foresail.

Tintin a-metre-matronical scolding, when she letteth loose her red-rag like the clapper of a bell, perturbed by a frightened campagnologist. See Tinney.

Tom Owen's Stop-(ring;) the left-hand open, scrawling over the antagonist's face, service with the right.

Toss, the (ring)-one of the preliminaries to a regular fight; he who wins the toss placing his back towards the sun at each setting-to. At Blenheim fight the Bavarian had his face towards the sun, and got diddled by Marlborough. Trade-any means of getting money, robbery not excepted: Q. What trade is this Tom Bedford?' A. Vhy, ye see, he vos a carver, yarning his three quid a week, but now he lives vith a voman as valks the City-road.' Tyburn-top-the hair combed over the forehead, with a curl betwixt the eye and the ear; up underneath the former the cuticle is pushed, wrinkling (sure sign of fear,) in order to smoothen the muscle which the consciousness of crime engenders about the eyes. Name disused; practice continued.

Vagabonds (diverting)—players are so, according to the Act. Variety-that change in our occupations or pleasures which alone renders life supportable. I pity the man that can travel all the way from Dan to Beersheba, and say 'tis all barren.' Sterne was of opinion, that a man's happiness depended mostly on his own desire to be pleased: variety performs this operation upon our minds; so sung Morris. To no one subject I'm confin'd, about I mean to range, sir, Most folks like variety—you may be fond of change, sir,

Bow, wow, wow; fol lal de iddy oddy. Vardo- -a waggon, is derived from nothing-never was worth any thing, and is gone to the nothings.

FINIS.

SHORTLY WILL APPEAR,

A work wanted many a-year, which will render full accounts and clear, as regards history of the fancy for fighting; price small, but cannot fix, precisely-not much more than nix (or pretium or prix), of Squire Bee's own writing and inditing-videlicit :

FANCY CHRONOLOGY; a History of PUGILISM in BRITAIN, being a brief Chronological Account of all the Prize Fights, Milling Matches, and Hammering Bouts, which have occurred during the last One Hundred Years. Affording a clear and perspicuous view of above SEVEN HUNDRED CONTESTS of fisty-cuffs, with the leading incidents and remarkable circumstances attending each.

W. LEWIS, PRINTER, FINCH-LANE, CORNHILL.