http://www.pascalbonenfant.com Website of Pascal Bonenfant Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:51:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've been doing a bit of research into 18th century medicine. Like most things in the 18th century it evolves from the end of superstition through to beginnings of science. I'm still very much working on it but, during the course of things I found the Pharmacopeia Extemporanea, produced in ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/pharmacopeia-extemporanea/ I've added a new source of cant terms from the Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux published in 1819. Vaux was an English criminal transported to New South Wales in the early 19th century. At the end of his memoirs he includes a glossary of some 700 cant terms. Vaux's list overlaps ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/new-cant-source-added/ It is always nice when your site tops the google rankings for a search topic. I have a little thingie set up whereby google will tell me where I appear in various searches. It told me that the site is #1 if you are searching for the words: so blossed beat. ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/so-blossed-beat/ The Newgate Calendar Database Search is now available! I have followed a similar format to the one for Thieves' Cant. You can search by Names, Tagline (the punchy little one-liner provided with each entry) or by the Body Text. I've had a lot of fun poking around, finding stuff I never even ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/newgate-calendar-database/ I've started a new project - this time The Newgate Calendar. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is a collection of stories about criminals and their fates. There have been various editions, the latest covering up to about 1840. The stories are a great resource for anyone interested in the ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/the-newgate-calendar/ 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 ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/good-to-see-you-all/ 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 ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/cant-database-search/ 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 ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/im-still-here/ 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 ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/update-to-food-and-drink/ 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 ... http://www.pascalbonenfant.com/regency-cant/