Gentleman Harry Simms, Flash, and the OED

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is a matching passage published in 1825, i.e., before the 1841
publication that you have cited, but many years after the 1745
execution.

Year: 1825
Title: The Terrific Register: Or, Record of Crimes, Judgments,
Providences, and Calamities,
Volume: 1
Publisher: Sherwood, Jones, and Company, London
Start Page: 485
Quote Page: 486

http://bit.ly/XkQuu2
http://books.google.com/books?id=8esTAAAAIAAJ&q=haunts#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
CONFESSIONS OF A HIGHWAYMAN

Henry Simms was tried and executed for a highway robbery in 1745 after
conviction he gave the following account of his exploits: . . .

On my promise of amendment I got released, and more new clothes were
bought me, which when I got, I went to my old haunts, and this being
the time of Tottenham-court fair, I went thither, and saw my
companions tossing up for money. They soon recollected me, and were
glad to see me, so I went with them to a music booth, where they made
me almost drunk with gin, and began to talk their flash language,
which I did not then understand.
[End excerpt]

The second citation in the OED for flash in the appropriate sense is dated 1756.

flash, adj. 3
5 b. esp. of the language spoken by thieves: Cant, slang. Also quasi-n.

1747   Narr. Exploits H. Simms in G. Borrow Zincali (1841) II. iii.
ii. 129   They..began to talk their Flash Language, which I did not
then understand.

1756   W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans II. 79   Copper learnt flash, and
to blow the trumpet.

Garson


On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 8:55 PM, Robin Hamilton
<robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM>
> Subject:      Gentleman Harry Simms, Flash, and the OED
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The OED, for FLASH, adj, Sense 5b, -- of the language spoken by thieves:
> Cant, slang -- has as its first citation:
>
>     1747   Narr. Exploits H. Simms in G. Borrow Zincali (1841) II. iii. ii.
> 129   They..began to talk their Flash Language, which I did not then
> understand.
>
> Well, Henry Simms *was* hanged in 1747, and citation in question occurs as
> the epigraph to a chapter in George Borrow's _Zincali, or The Gypsies in
> Spain_.  However, I've never managed to find this form of words anywhere
> other than in Borrow's work, which suggests (it wouldn't be the first time)
> that Borrow composed the quotation from whole cloth.  It certainly doesn't
> occur in either the Old Bailey transcript of the trial of Henry Simms, the
> Ordinary's Account of Simms' life, or the text of an alleged Life published
> shortly after he died. ***
>
> Has anyone ever found Henry Simms uttering the words which Borrow attributes
> to him, or is the OED sustaining a ghost here?
>
> HDAS includes the OED citation, but encloses it in square brackets, which to
> my eye indicates a degree of scepticism.
>
> Robin Hamilton
>
> *** To give this its full title, _The life of Henry Simms, alias Young
> Gentleman Harry: From his birth, to his death at Tyburn, on June 17, 1747_
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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