[285] Swell cove, _gentleman_, _dandy_. [286] Lushy, _drunk_. [287] Clies, _pockets_. [288] Hooks, _fingers_. [289] Collar his dragons, _take his sovereigns_. [290] Ticker, _watch_. [291] Onions, _seals_. [292] Toggery, _clothes_. [293] Swag, _plunder_. [294] Grabbed, _taken_. [295] Beaks, _police officers_. [296] Mots, _girls_. [297] Ogles, _eyes_. [298] Old Cotton, _the ordinary of Newgate_. [299] Humming his pray, _saying prayers_. [300] Fogle-hunters, _pickpockets_. [301] Morning fake, _morning thieving_. NINETEENTH CENTURY. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A THIEF IN THIEVES’ LANGUAGE. By J. W. HORSLEY, _Chaplain of H. M. Prison, Clerkenwell._ TRANSLATED INTO THE LANGUAGE OF FRENCH THIEVES. 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