The opening of Preface
The publication of a dictionary of French cant and slang demands some explanation from the author. During a long course of philological studies, extending over many years, I have been in the habit of putting on record, for my own edification, a large number of those cant and slang terms and quaint expressions of which the English and French tongues furnish an abundant harvest. Whatever of this nature I heard from the lips of persons to whom they are familiar, or gleaned from the perusal of modern works and newspapers, I carefully noted down, until my note-book had assumed such dimensions that the idea of completing a collection already considerable was suggested. It was pointed out to me, as an inducement to venture on so arduous an undertaking, that it must prove, from its very nature, not only an object of curiosity and interest to the lover of philological studies and the public at large, but also one of utility to the English reader of modern French works of fiction.