scappare colla
figlia della donna_, _della casa_. Most costermongers call a penny a
_saltee_, from _soldo_; a crown, a _caroon_; and one half, _madza_, from
_mezza_. They count as follows:--

ITALIAN.
Oney saltee, a penny Uno soldo.
Dooey saltee, twopence Dui soldi.
Tray saltee, threepence Tre soldi.
Quarterer saltee, fourpence Quattro soldi.
Chinker saltee, fivepence Cinque soldi.
Say saltee, sixpence Sei soldi.
Say oney saltee, or setter Sette soldi.
saltee, sevenpence
Say dooee saltee, or otter Otto soldi.
saltee, eightpence
Say tray saltee, or nobba saltee, Nove soldi.
ninepence
Say quarterer saltee, or dacha Dieci soldi.
(datsha) saltee, tenpence
Say chinker saltee, or dacha one Dieci uno soldi
saltee, elevenpence
Oney beong, one shilling Uno bianco.
A beong say saltee, one shilling Uno bianco sei soldi.
and sixpence
Madza caroon, half a crown Mezza corona.

Mr. Hotten says that he could never discover the derivation of _beong_,
or _beonk_. It is very plainly the Italian _bianco_, white, which, like
_blanc_ in French and _blank_ in German, is often applied slangily to a
silver coin. It is as if one had said, "a shiner." Apropos of which
word there is something curious to be noted. It came forth in evidence,
a few years ago in England, that burglars or other thieves always carried
with them a piece of coal; and on this disclosure, a certain writer, in
his printed collection of curiosities, comments as if it were a
superstition, remarking that the coal is carried for an amulet. But the
truth is that the thief has no such idea. The coal is simply a sign for
money; and when the bearer meets with a man whom he thinks may be a
"fence," or a purchaser of stolen goods, he shows the coal, which is as
much as to say, Have you money? Money, in vulgar gypsy, is _wongur_, a
corruption of the better word _angar_, which also means a hot coal; and
_braise_, in French _argot_, has the same double meaning. I may be
wrong, but I suspect that _rat_, a dollar in Hebrew, or at least in
Schmussen, has its root in common with _ratzafim_, coals, and possibly
_poschit_, a farthing, with _pecham_, coal. In the six kinds of fire
mentioned in the Talmud, {222} there is no identification of coals with
money; but in the German legends of Rubezahl, there is a tale of a