beenanticipated, in its treatment of canting phraseology, by nearly
three centuries, and subsequently, by authors whose names stand high,
in other respects, in English literature.

The mistake, however, was not altogether unpardonable; few, indeed,
would have even guessed that the appearance of utter neglect which
surrounded the use of Cant and Slang in English song, ballad, or
verse--its rich and racy character notwithstanding--was anything but
of the surface. The _chanson d'argot_ of France and the
_romance di germania_ of Spain, not to mention other forms of the
MUSA PEDESTRIS had long held popular sway, but there was to all
appearance nothing to correspond with them on this side the silver
streak.

It must be confessed, however, that the field of English slang verse
and canting song, though not altogether barren, has yet small claim to
the idiomatic and plastic treatment that obtains in many an _Argot-
song_ and _Germania-romance;_ in truth, with a few notable
exceptions, there is little in the present collection that can claim
literary rank.

Those exceptions, however, are alone held to be ample justification
for such an anthology as that here presented. Moreover these "Rhymes
and Songs", gathered from up and down the years, exhibit, _en
masse_, points of interest to the student and scholar that, in
isolation, were either wanting altogether, or were buried and lost
sight of midst a mass of more (or less) valuable matter.

As regards the Vulgar Tongue itself--though exhaustive disquisition
obviously lies outside the scope of necessarily brief forewords--it