Page:A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew, in its several tribes, of gypsies, beggers, thieves, cheats, &c. with an addition of some proverbs, phrases, figurative speeches, &c.djvu/7

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THE

PREFACE.

Before I present the Reader, with the following Dictionary of the Beggers and Gypsies Cant, I think it not amiss to premise a few Words concerning the Beggers and Gypsies themselves, by way of an Historical Account, of the Antiquity of the one, and the Universality of the other.

It makes not a little for the Honour of the Beggers, that their Original according to some Accounts, is no less Ancient than that of Christi-anity