Classical Dictionary OF THE VULGAR TONGUE, REVISED AND CORRECTED, With the Addition of numerous SLANG PHRASES, COLLECTED FROM TRIED AUTHORITIES. BY PIERCE EGAN, Author of "Boxiana," « Picture of the Fancy," "Sporting Anecdotes," &c. "A kind of cant phraseology is current from one end of the Metropolis to the Corinthian Tom-LIFE IN LONDON. LONDON: PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1823. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE great approbation with which so polite a nation as France has received the Satirical and Burlesque Dictionary of Monsieur Le Roux, testified by the several editions it has gone through, will, it is hoped, apologize for an attempt to compile an English Dictionary on a similar plan; our language being at least as copious as the French, and as capable of the witty equivoque; besides which, the freedom of thought and speech arising from, and privileged by, our constitution, gives a force and poignancy to the expressions of our common people, not to be |