Life in London) is a swell mob man; and “flash' is "fly." "down," or "awake," i.e. knowing, not easily imposed upon.]

["Ken" is a house s.c. a thieves' lodginghouse; spellken," a play-house; "high tobyspice" is robbery on horseback, as distinguished from "spice," i.e. footpad robbery; to "flash the muzzle is to show off the face, to swagger openly; "blowing" or "blowen" is a doxy or trull; and nutty" is, conjointly, amorous and fascinating.]

The advance of science and of language has rendered it unnecessary to translate the above good and true English, spoken in its original purity by the select mobility and their patrons. The following is a stanza of a song which was very popular at least in my early days:"On the high toby-spice flash the muzzle, In spite of each gallows old scout; If you at the spellken can't hustle,

You'll be hobbled in making a clout. "Then your blowing will wax gallows haughty, When she hears of your scaly mistake, She'll surely turn snitch for the forty

That her Jack may be regular weight." If there be any gemman so ignorant as to require a traduction, I refer him to my old friend

With "To be let," upon their doors proclaimed;

and corporeal pastor and master, John Jackson, Esq., Professor of Pugilism; who, I trust, still retains the strength and symmetry of his model of a form, together with his good humour, and athletic as well as mental accomplishments.

[Gentleman Jackson was of good renown. "Servility," says Egan (Life in London, 1823, p. 217), "is not known to him. Flattery he detests. Integrity, impartiality, good-nature, and manliness, are the corner-stones of his understanding." Hints from Horace, line 638, note 1, vide ante. p. 143. As to the stanza quoted by Egan (Anecdotes of the Turf, 1827, p. 44), but not traduced or interpreted. "To be hobbled for making a clout" is to be taken into custody for stealing a handkerchief, to "turn snitch" is to inform, and the "forty" is the £40 offered for the detection of a capital crime, and shared by the police or Bow Street runners. Dangerous characters were let alone and tacitly encouraged to continue their career of crime, until the measure of their iniquity was full, and they "weighed forty." If Jack was clumsy enough to be detected in a trifling theft, his "blowen' would go over to the enemy, and betray him for the sake of the Government reward (see Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose, 1823, art. "Weigh forty").]