Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by
GEORGE W. MATSELL & CO.,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the UnitedStates for the Southern District of New-York.
PREFACE.
When a young man enters upon the business of life,he may have some indefinite idea of what he intends tofollow out to the close thereof; but he soon finds himselfsurrounded by circumstances which control hisactions and business pursuits, and lead him into channelsof thought and industry that had not previouslyentered into his philosophy. At least I have found itto be so, and I have no doubt others have had a similarexperience. To become a lexicographer, certainlynever entered into my calculation, or even found aplace in the castle-building of my younger days; andif a kind friend had suggested to me that I wasdestined to fill such a position in life, I would simplyhave regarded him as a fit subject for the care of theauthorities. This improbable event has now takenplace; and I present myself to the world as the compilerof a language used in all parts of the world, andyet understood connectedly but by few persons.
The rogue fraternity have a language peculiarlytheir own, which is understood and spoken by themno matter what their dialect, or the nation wherethey were reared. Many of their words and phrases,owing to their comprehensive meaning, have come intogeneral use, so that a Vocabulum or Rogue's Lexicon,has become a necessity to the general reader, but[pg iv]more especially to those who read police intelligence.
Occupying the position of a Special Justice, andChief of the Police of the great Metropolis of New-York,where thieves and others of a like characterfrom all parts of the world congregate, and realizingthe necessity of possessing a positive knowledge ofevery thing connected with the class of individualswith whom it was my duty to deal, I was naturallyled to study their peculiar language, believing that itwould enable me to converse with them more at ease,and thus acquire a knowledge of their character, besidesobtaining from them information that would assistme in the position I occupied, and consequently be ofgreat service to the public. To accomplish this taskwas no mean undertaking, as I found that it requiredyears of diligent labor to hunt up the various authorities,and these when found proved only