A CURSORY HISTORY OF SWEARING.
A
CURSORY
HISTORY OF SWEARING.
BY
JULIAN SHARMAN.
“Ha! this fellow is worse than me; what, does he swear with pen and ink?”—The Tatler, No. 13.
LONDON:
J. C. NIMMO AND BAIN,
14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C.
1884.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| [CHAPTER I.] | |
| At the Scufflers’ Club—A stranger at the gates—A somnolent post-office—The bestmen in London—A sing-song—“Damn their eyes!”—“Qui s’excuses’accuse”—The philosophy of swearing—A retrospect—“Whenthat I was and a little tiny boy” | [1] |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| The son of discord—Origin of swearing—Decline of lying as an art—Growth of swearing asa science—The military oath—Religious oath—John the Marshall—Fustian oaths—Legislationbegins—“Moralité des Blasphémateurs”—George Fox and Margaret Fell—Oathof the King-Maker—Oath of the Bear-garden | [22] |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| “Odd’s bodikins”—In Socrates’ thinking-shop—The Britishshibboleth—Don Juan—Beaumarchais—Parny—Joan of Arc a satirist of swearing—LaHire—Corbleu et Cie.—“Jarnicoton”—“Μὰ τὸν”—‘Juronsde Cadillac’—Little King Goddam—Sir John Harrington—‘Amendsfor Ladies’—“Don’t care a damn” | [38] |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| Why has a dog a bad name?—Canine swearing—“Jarnichien!”—The cast of thedie—Dog oath of Socrates—A nation of swearers—Aristophanes—The Rhodiancabbage—“Mehercule”—‘Ship of Fools’—Amenitiesof Roman swearing | [60] |
| [CHAPTER V.] | |
| Mediæval swearing—The monastic teaching—Cleric and lay—Robert Crowley—Mysteryof the five wounds—“God’s bread!”—In a Tuscan studio—Stephen Hawes—ThomasBecon—‘Miroir du Monde’—‘Handlyng Sinne’—Chaucer’soaths—Plantagenet swearing—“Ventre Saint Gris”—A royalscapegrace—“Bismillah!” | [77] |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | |
| The genius of antiquity—A study in dust and cobwebs—The why and the wherefore ofswearing—A swearing corps d’élite—“Swear me, Kate, like alady”—The freemasonry of swearing—Lord Thurlow—Sir ThomasMaitland—“By jingo!” | [99] |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | |
| A bank of swearing—Legislation at work—“The sweirer’s and theDevill”—Aberdeen town records—Across the border—Before the footlights—‘MagneticLady’—The wits—Colman the younger—A swearing bureau—Quarter Sessions—Statute ofWilliam and Mary—Convictions—A carnival of swearing | [115] |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| A saviour of society—Joseph Addison—A tradesman of the last century—A clericalapologist—Swearing in earnest and at play—An explanation offered—Blue laws ofConnecticut—Bobadil—‘The Rivals’—‘Covent Gardenweeded’—Brantôme’s oaths—Eccentricities of swearing—“OldHarry”—“The dickens”—“The deuce”—“Le diable deBiterne” | [139] |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | |
| Utilitarian view of swearing—One touch of nature—The Shandean method—Code ofErnulphus—“Sacré froc d’Habacuc”—Mr. William Barley—Philosophyof imprecation—“Bloody”—In the Low Countries—‘The Man of Mode’—Swiftwithout his waistcoat—Sanglant—Retrospect and ending | [171] |
| [Appendix] | [193] |