cation of the word; for, as far as the evidence is concerned, both the good and bad shades of meaning appear to run contemporaneously. It is also noteworthy that the word enters largely into the slang of nationalities other than our own; indeed, one of the most curious, as well as one of the most interesting facts connected with the comparative study of slang, is that which reveals the oneness of the human race in its modes of thought and speech, the Tower of Babel notwithstanding. This special feature of slang will, to some extent, be found dealt with at the end of this work; but the subject is too wide, and the field too vast, for one student to have accomplished much single-handed. This, however, may be said; that, comparing the slang of one nation with that of another, one finds the same ideas cropping up, revealing, alas! the same follies and foibles, but also showing, let it be said, in the few cases where slang travels beyond the earthy and the sensual, the same aspirations, the same endeavour, and the same hope.
Subs.—1. A policeman. [From the colour of the uniform.] This epithet can be traced back to Elizabethan days [see Bluebottle], and the uniform seems to have been blue from time immemorial; indeed, this colour appears from the earliest times to have been the badge of servitude. Pliny tells us blue was the colour in which the Gauls clothed their slaves; and, for many ages, blue coats were the liveries of servants, apprentices, and those in humble stations of life—to wit, the blue-clad beadles, the 'varlets' who wore the blue, the blue-coat boys, and even harlots in a house of correction, who wore blue as a dress of ignominy. The proverb quoted by Ray, 'he's in his better blue clothes,' i.e., 'he thinks himself wondrous fine,' has reference to the livery of a servant. The police more recently have been known collectively as blues, the men in blue, blue-boys, blue bottles, blue-devils, royal regiment of foot-guards blue, all nicknames referring to the colour of the uniform. For general synonyms, see Beak.
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 257. He would chatter gaily and enter with great gusto into the details of some cleverly executed 'bit of business,' or 'bilking the blues,'—evading the police.
18(?). Hood, Row at the 'Oxford Arms.' Well, that's the row, and who can guess the upshot after all? Whether Harmony will ever make the 'Arms' her house of call; Or whether this here mobbing, as some longish heads fortell it, Will grow to such a riot that the Oxford blues must quell it.
2. A blue is known to licensed victuallers and their customers in certain districts of Wales as a compromise between the half-pint and the pint pot. It is not recognised as a legal measure by the authorities on weights and measures, but it is approaching to something like a status, as it deserves to do in the interests of temperance. Although there is no Board of Trade standard of the blue, and inspectors have no power to stamp measures of this denomination for use in trade, the Board of Trade has pointed out to the local authorities that
