Fiddlers’ green

[wolfinthewood]

Fiddlers’ green, the place where sailors expect to go when they die. It is a place of fiddling, dancing, rum, and tobacco, and is undoubtedly the “Land of Cocaigne,” mentioned in mediaeval manuscripts. A story is told of a drunken sailor who heard a street preacher threatening all listeners with eternal damnation, and who went up and asked where he (the sailor) was going after death. “To hell, of course,” replied the preacher. “No, you lubberly son of a sea-cook!” shouted the seaman, knocking the itinerant down; “I’m going to FIDDLERS’ GREEN; and if you say I’m not, I’ll throttle you.” Under compulsion, the preacher admitted the existence of FIDDLERS’ GREEN, pro tempore.

John Camden Hotten (1832–1873)

from The Slang Dictionary (revised edition, 1874)


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