“Something like it, I confess,” said I, “though this sounds more genuine than his dialect, which he picked up out of the canting vocabulary at the end of the ‘English Rogue,’ a book which, however despised, was written by a remarkable genius.  What do you call the speech you were using?” said I, addressing myself to the jockey.

“Latin,” said the jockey, very coolly, “that is, that dialect of it which is used by the light-fingered gentry.”

“He is right,” said the Hungarian; “it is what the Germans call Roth-Welsch:  they call it so because there are a great many Latin words in it, introduced by the priests, who, at the time of the Reformation, being too lazy to work and too stupid to preach, joined the bands of thieves and robbers who prowled about the country.  Italy, as you are aware, is called by the Germans Welschland, or the land of the Welschers; and I may add that Wallachia derives its name from a colony of Welschers which Trajan sent there.  Welsch and Wallack being one and the same word, and tantamount to Latin.”

“I dare say you are right,” said I; “but why was Italy termed Welschland?”

“I do not know,” said the Hungarian.

“Then I think I can tell you,” said I; “it was called so because the original inhabitants were a Cimbric tribe, who were called Gwyltiad, that is, a race of wild people, living in coverts, who were of the same blood, and spoke the same language as the present inhabitants of Wales.  Welsh seems merely a modification of Gwyltiad.  Pray continue your history,” said I to the jockey, “only please to do so in a language which we can understand, and first of all interpret the sentence with which you began it.”

“I told you that my grandfather was a shorter,” said the jockey, “by which is meant a gentleman who shortens or reduces the current coin of these realms, for which practice he was scragged, that is, hung by the scrag of the neck.  And when I said that my father was a smasher, I meant one who passes forged notes, thereby doing his best to smash the Bank of England; by being lagged, I meant he was laid fast, that is, had a chain put round his leg and then transported.”

“Your explanations are quite satisfactory,” said I; “the three first words are metaphorical, and the fourth, lagged, is the old genuine Norse term, lagda, which signifies laid, whether in durance, or in bed, has nothing to do with the matter.  What you have told me confirms me in an opinion which I have long entertained, that thieves’ Latin is a strange mysterious speech, formed of metaphorical terms, and words derived from the various ancient languages.  Pray tell me, now, how the gentleman, your grandfather, contrived to shorten the coin of these realms?”