y
play a troop of grenadiers were required to fire a volley. Their
officer waved his sword and gave the word of command superbly; but no
sound followed, save only that of the snapping of locks: Not a gun had
been loaded. An unfortunate unanimity had prevailed among the
grenadiers. Each had forborne to load his weapon, trusting that his
omission would escape notice in the general noise, and assured that a
shot more or less could be of little consequence. It had occurred to
no one of them that his scheme might be put into operation by others
beside himself--still less that the whole band might adopt it. But
this had happened. For the future their guns were given them loaded.

CHAPTER XXXI.

"GAG."

The stage, like other professions, is in some sort to be considered as
a distinct nation, possessing manners, customs, a code, and, above
all, a language of its own. This, by the outside world, is designated
"slang;" just as in one country the tongue of another is vulgarly
described as gibberish. Now and then, however, a word escapes from the
peculiar vocabulary of the players, and secures the recognition and
acceptance of the general public. It may not be forthwith registered
in formal dictionaries, or sanctioned by the martinets of speech and
style; still, like a French sou or a Jersey halfpenny appearing
amongst our copper coins, it obtains a fair degree of currency and
circulation, with little question as to the legitimacy of the mint
from which it originally issued.

"Gag" is a word of this class. It belongs of right to the actors, but
of its age or derivation nothing can be ascertained, Modern
lexicography of the best repute does not acknowledge it, and for a
long time it remained unnoticed, even by the compilers of glossaries
of strange and cant terms. Thus, it is not to be found in "Grose's
Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," published in 1796. This is
a coarse, but certainly a comprehensive work, and from its omitting to
register "gag," we may assume that the word had no ascertained
existence in Grose's time. In the "Slang Dictionary; or, The Vulgar
Words, Street Phrases, and 'Fast' Expressions of High and Low
Society," published in 1864, "gag" is duly included, and defined to
be "language introduced by an actor into his part." Long before this,
however, the word had issued from the stage-door, and its
signification had become a matter of general knowledge.

And even if the word be comparatively