Again, newspapers of both countries have also brought in their contingent, but the most interesting sources of information, as being the most original, have been workpeople, soldiers, pickpockets, and other malefactors having done their “time,” or likely to be “wanted” at a short notice. The members of the light-fingered gentry were not easily to be got at, as their natural suspicions precluded their realizing at once my object, and it required some diplomacy and pains to succeed in enlisting their services. In one particular instance I was deprived of my informants in a rather summary manner. Two brothers, members of a family which strongly reminded one of E. Sue’s Martials, inasmuch as the father had mounted the scaffold, the mother was in prison, and other members had met with similar accidents, had volunteered to become my collaborators, and were willing to furnish information the more valuable, it seemed to me, as coming from such distinguished individuals. Unfortunately for the _Dictionary_ the brothers were apprehended when coming to my rendez-vous, and are now, I believe, far on their way to the penal settlement of New Caledonia. I have to thank numerous correspondents, French and English officers, journalists, and artists, for coming to my assistance and furnishing me with valuable information. My best thanks are due also to M. Godefroy Durand for his admirable etching. As regards the English part, I am considerably indebted to the _Slang Dictionary_ published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus, to the _History and Curious Adventures of Bampfylde-Moore Carew, King of the Mendicants_, as well as to the various journals of the day, and to verbal inquiries among all classes of people. I have not attempted, except in a few cases, to trace the origin of words, as an etymological history of cant would be the work of a lifetime. It is somewhat difficult to know exactly where to draw the line, and to decide whether a word belongs to slang or should be rejected. I have been guided on this point by Littré, and any terms mentioned by him as having passed into the language I have discarded. I have introduced a small number of what might be termed eccentricities of language, which, though not strictly slang, deserve recording on account of their quaintness. To the English reader I need not, I trust, apologize for not having recoiled, in my desire for completeness, before certain unsavoury terms, and for having thus acted upon Victor Hugo’s recommendation, “Quand la chose est, dites le mot.” AUTHORITIES CONSULTED AND QUOTED. _About_ (Edmond). Trente et Quarante. Paris. _Almanach Chantant_, 1869. _Amusemens à la Grecque_ ou les Soirées de la Halle par un ami de feu Vadé. Paris, 1764. _Amusemens rapsodi-poétiques._ 1773. _Apothicaire (l’) empoisonné_, dans les Maistres d’Hostel aux Halles. 1671. _Audebrand_ (Philibert). Petits Mémoires d’une Stalle d’Orchestre. Paris, 1885.