Journal

The cant database seems to be popular. Welcome to everyone from around the world (29 countries so far this month) – even those of you who were lost.

I’m still working on it. I’ve just categorised another 400-500 terms which will now appear in their proper subject headings. I’ve also removed a few duplicates which crept in there somehow. You may still find the odd duplicate with an entry in both the categorised and uncategorised sections. I’ll get to them shortly.

The database now has nearly 6,000 entries of which about half have been put into categories. Nearly of the uncategorised ones are from 1811.

I need to update the fixed category pages (the ones listed on the menu in the Cant section) as they still only contain the old lists and have very little of the later material. Shouldn’t be too big a job – really it’s more a matter of making sure their aren’t any terms on those pages which somehow haven’t made it into the database.

If all this sounds a bit dodgy, it has been a very manual process and mistakes do creep in. If you do spot any problems, please contact me and let me know. All help is appreciated.

I’ve added the thieves’ cant database search I mentioned last time. It allows you to do a string search on either the cant term, the plain language description or the subject category.

The good news is, I’ve included all (or nearly all – I still have one or two bits to deal with) the terms from both 1736 and 1811. You can search either date or both together.

The bad news is, most of the 1811 terms are in a category called "Uncategorised". You still get to see them – they just won’t be divided up neatly like the ones that have already been categorised. I’ll get around to fixing this but it is a slow, manual task so don’t expect miracles too soon.

Anyway, give it a go. I’m open to any suggestions for improvements. I hope it proves useful.

It’s been a while since I last posted but there has been a lot of life happening over the last few months. I’m working on adding more Regency cant to the lists of cant terms and also building a searchable cant database. I’ll be setting all that up as soon as I can.

A few people have linked to the cant section so I hope it is being of some use. Feel free to add links from your own site.

After some delays I have updated the Food and Drink section of the Thieves Cant to include references from 1811 as well as from 1736.

This has made the page a fair bit bigger but so far I have decided against splitting it up. Let me know if you think it would help to do so.

I’ll update some more sections when and as I have time.

Most of the entries in the Thieves’ Cant section of this site come from Nathan Bailey’s Canting Dictionary published in 1736. Francis Grose produced a similar work called Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue in 1811 which contains much of Bailey’s material but also a lot of new terms.

I have started to add these into the Cant section. They appear in the same subject tables as the 1736 versions but I have indicated the date in each case.

Hopefully this will be of some use to those whose interests lie with the Regency rather than the early 18th century.

Given the popularity of Wikipedia these days I’ve decided it makes sense to put some of the 18th century data in it. As a test case I’ve added an entry about Quilt Arnold – one of the henchmen of master criminal Jonathan Wild between the years 1716 to 1725.

Check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilt_Arnold and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Well, the research trip had its good bits and its not so good bits. I unfortunately wasn’t all that well in London so I managed to do less than I had hoped. Also, a remarkable amount of 18th century London just isn’t there any more. (Not surprising I guess. They had to put 19th and 20th century London somewhere).

I did manage to spend some time around Spitalfields, the district where a lot of Huguenots lived and the site of a thriving cloth industry. Christ Church Spitalfields is one of Nicholas Hawksmoor’s constructions and is pretty impressive (although bits of it got monstered during the 19th century). Spitalfields market is still in the same place but is covered over now and has no sense of history about it.

The same can be said for West Smithfield. This was once the site of a huge meat market and a hangout for thieves and rogues of all descriptions. As at Spitalfields the markets are still there (at least in part) but covered over. I didn’t spot any thieves or rogues either. In fact, it was raining and I barely saw anybody. The smart people were all inside.

Actually, that’s not completely true. I got approached by a homeless man asking for money. Thinking that any other fool out in that rain deserved support I pulled out a few coins and handed them over. It turned out to be three pounds. He was gobsmacked and told me he’d be lucky to get that much in a day normally.

We both agreed that some days you got luckier than others. But it seems to me to be pretty hard yakka when you have to spend the whole day parting people from less than three quid. It seems the streets of London still have their vagabonds and they aren’t doing it all that easy. Not that Sydneysiders have any reason to be proud in that regard but at least the weather is warmer.

We did a trip out to Framlingham Castle in East Anglia. This is an interesting place. Only the curtain walls remain of the medieval castle but inside is a poorhouse built in the late 17th century and expanded considerably in the early 18th. It was quite interesting seeing how they had to live.

It would have been hard work but on the whole a hell of a lot better than trying to stay alive in London. At least you got enough to eat, some clothes (rough but adequate) and a roof over your head. The East Anglian winds would have been chilly but you’d be indoors much of the time. Better than being homeless in London, that’s for sure.

Hopefully the next time I head over I’ll be in better nick.

Off to England in a few days where I plan to spend a couple of weeks pottering around London and researching its 18th century aspects. And maybe taking in a few non-18th century bits as well.

I’ll be mostly off the air for a while but I’ll post any interesting stuff I find when I can.

I’ve added a new page to the 18th century resources section dedicated to the Cost of Living. It includes such things as the prices of food, drink and clothing – everyday stuff affecting people’s lives.

I’ve also updated the Wages page with a couple of items. Did you know that a Ship’s Boy earned £2 10s per year while the First Commissioner to the Admiralty earned £3,000? The gap between rich and poor was pretty big.

I’ve added a couple more categories to the Thieves’ Cant section of the site – one for miscellaneous verbs and the other for places and travel. I’ve also moved some of the other categories around to be a bit more sensible.

Nearly all the cant terms date to the early Georgian period although quite a number are still in use in the later Georgian and Regency periods.

If you have any suggestions as to how it might be better arranged I’d be interested to hear them.