284 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. YI., No. 139. 



debted to D. B. Updike, Esq., now of Boston, 

 for the use of a rare pamphlet without a title- 

 page, giving the dying confession of Thomas 

 Mount, then in jail at New^port, R. I., "and 

 to be executed agreeable to m}^ [his] sentence 

 at Little Rest [R.I.] on the 27th of this month 

 of May." The year unluckily is missing ; but 

 Mount was born at ' Middletown, East Jersey,' 

 in 1764, being thus eighteen years j^ounger than 

 Tufts, who was born in 1746. Mount, how- 

 ever, served, like Tufts, in the revolutionary 

 army, and was, therefore, to all intents and 

 purposes, his contemporary ; leading, more- 

 over, the same wandering and predatory life, 

 and confessing an equal number and variety- 

 of rascalities. The date of his list of words 

 may be safely fixed about the year 1800, Tufts' 

 being a few years earlier. It will be seen 

 that the}" coincide as to many characteristic 

 phrases, while Mount's list is on the whole 

 fuller. I have not altered this glossary in any 

 way, but have designated b}" an asterisk the 

 words that agree substantially with Tufts' s 

 list, and have added a few notes in brackets. 

 I insert also the preface and appendix to the 

 glossary. 



I shall be ver}" much indebted to an}- one 

 who can enable me to fix the precise date of 

 Mount's execution, or of the publication of this 

 pamphlet. 



" The Flash company in London (of which Moun- 

 tain, lately executed in Connecticut, was a member) 

 had a language peculiar to themselves, and books 

 printed in that language : Mount says he never saw 

 any of those books; but Williams confessed to the 

 publisher of these papers that he had seen them in 

 London, and one of them in the possession of a J. 



S rs, in Jacksonborough, S.C. This language 



has been taken notice of in some British magazines, 

 but little information communicated concerning it; 

 and therefore, to gratify the public, the following 

 dictionary of the Flash language (so far as could be 

 obtained from Mount and Williams), together with 

 several Flash songs, and the oath they administer to 

 flats (as they call the novices in the art of thieving) 

 when they are admitted into the Flash society, are 

 added. 



The flash language. 



A man A cove.* 



A woman A blowen.* 



A young woman A young blowen. 



A young lad A young cove. 



A house A ken. 



Play house or fair Garf. [<?«/", Dickens.] 



Master of the house .... Cove of the ken. 



Mistress of the house . . . Blowen of the ken. 



Son Young cove of the ken. 



Daughter Young blowen of the ken. 



A gentleman A swell. 



A lady A fine blowen. 



A child A kinicher.* [Tufts, kinchen.] 



Hands Dads. 



Eyes Peepers. 



Head Nanny. 



Nose Mugg. 



Mouth Mamma. 



A hat A kelp. 



A wig A busby. [Rev. Dr. Busby.] 



A coat A tog.* 



A jacket A javin.* [Tufts, jarveL] 



A shirt A smisk.* [Tufts, smish.] 



Breetches (sic) Kicksees.* 



Stockings Leg-bags.* 



Boots . . .' Quill-pipes.* 



Shoes Crabs.* 



Buckles Latches. 



Cash Lowr.* [Tufts, lour.] 



A watch A trick.* 



A guinea A quid.* 



A dollar A wheel.* 



Money of any kind .... Bit. 



Bad money Blue bit. 



Passing bad money .... Ringing blue bit. 



Gold in plate of any sort . , Ridge. 



Silver plate of any sort . . . Wedge. 



Coppers Maggs. 



Silver spoons Wedge feeders. 



Ahorse A pred.* [Tufts, />rarf.] 



A horse-stealer A prednapper.* 



A sheep A woolly bird. 



A knife A chive. 



A pair of pistols A pair of pops.* 



A sword A lash. 



A crowbar A gentleman.* 



A thief A prigg. 



A gambler A sharp. 



A blanket or sheet .... A spread. [Tufts calls a saddle 



a spread.] 



A bed A dause. 



Dry-goods Chattery. 



Cards Broads or flats. 



A pocketbook A reader. 



A note of any kind .... A screen. 



Ribbons Dobbins. 



Bread Pinum. 



Butter A spread. 



Cheese Caz. 



Victuals of any kind .... Grub or peck. 



Rum Suck.* 



Drunk Sucky. 



A bottle A glaze. [Tufts applies this 



word to a square of glass.] 



Sugar Pellock. 



Tobacco AVeed or funk. 



Tobacco-smoke Blast of flumer. 



Thief's girl Blowen spenie, or mush. 



To take To hobble. 



To lose To sweet. 



A goal A quod or a quae.* [Tufts, a 



qua.] 



A goalkeeper A quod or quaecall. [Tufts, a 



quakeeper/] 



A constable A horney.* 



A sherifi" A trapp. 



A judge Abeeks. [^eaA, English slang.] 



A clergyman .... ^ ... A duU-gown's-man. 



The law Pattur. 



The devil The crimson cove. 



Hell The crimson ken. 



The moon Oliver's leary.* [Tufts, Oliver.] 



The sun Phoebus. 



A fit night for stealing ... A good darky. 



A town A wile. 



A vessel A barkey. 



Lewd women Cats. 



A coach A rattle. 



Country people Flats. 



The highway Bonny-throw. 



Picking pockets Diving. 



One that turns evidence . . . A snitch. 

 One that robs a wagon on the 



highway A drag. 



Flash phrases. 



*Peter (a watchword) . . . Somebody hears us. [Tufts, 

 take care of yourself ] ; also an 

 iron chest where cash is kept. 



Lea (another watchword) . . Look who comes. 



Nose the cove Watch the man, and see where 



he goes. 



Go weed the cove Go speak to the man. 



Stow your weeds Hold your tongue. 



*I am spotted I am disappointed, somebody 



saw me. [Tufts, like to be 

 found out.] 



Let us sterry Let us make our escape. 



Rumble like a miza . . . . Wash my clothes. 



