Vocabulum; or, The Rogue's Lexicon

From the Preface:

It is not, however, to policemen alone that this book will be of service, as these cant words and phrases are being interwoven with our language and many of them are becoming recognized Anglicisms. It is not unusual to see them in the messages of presidents and governors —to hear them enunciated at the bar and from the pulpit, and thus they have come to bo acknowledged as appropriately expressive of particular ideas; so that while they are in common use among the footpads that infest the land, the elite of the Fifth Avenue pay homage to their worth, by frequently using them to express thoughts, that could not, otherwise, find a fitting representative. The vocabulary of the rogue is not of recent date; although it is mainly made up of arbitrary or technical words and phrases, while others are of a purely classical origin. It is a language of great antiquity, and may be dated back to the earliest days of the roving gipsy bands, that infested Europe, from whom the greater portion of it has been derived. It might more properly be termed the Romany or Qipsy language, adapted to the use of modern rogues in all parts of the world, and in which the etymologist will find words drawn from every known language. Some of these words are peculiarly national, bnt as a general thing the language of the rojue in New*York ia the language of the rogue the world oyer.

Among policemen, not only in this - city but in different parts of the United States, the cant language of thieves is attempted to be used; but there being no standard they are unable to do so understandingly, and each one gives to the words the corrupted sense in which he received it; thus speaking as it were, a miserable "patois" to the exclusion of the true "Parisian French." This departure from the true meaning of the words used is mischievous in its tendency, as it is calculated to mislead and bewilder, so that rogues might still converse in the presence of an officer, and he be ignorant of what they said. This I have endeavored to correct, and although I may not claim fallibility in these matters, yet I believe that I have arrived at as high a degree of perfection as is now attainable.

To the readers of the National Police Gazette, the oldest and most reliable criminal journal published in the United States, this work will prove invaluable, as it will enable them to understand and fully comprehend language that the editors and correspondents are frequently compelled to use in order to convey the idea as understood by rogues in general.