Joyce’s references in Ulysses and in Finnegan’s Wake to Beggars Bush are not literary usages. These are examples of the phrase re-entering literature from a place name. Joyce is referring to the place name in Dublin. From April to August 1904 he lodged with the McKernon’s in Beggars Bush, Donnybrook. This is also the source of several more twentieth century usages in folk and punk songs. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: David King, Dublin, Flogging Molly, James Joyce, Literary, The 'Ol Beggars Bush, Whiskey on a Sunday | No Comments »
Harrington & Wren were political economists, and as economists they necessarily disagreed. The first use is in Wren’s work criticising Harrington’s Oceana, from which Harrington quotes at length in order to refute it. Wren suggests that Harrington plans for an agrarian economy would leave “a commonwealth of cottagers” at “the beggars bush”. He is clearly not referring to an actual place, but to a state of poverty and powerlessness. Harrington clearly recognises the phrase and expects his readers to understand it, as he quotes it back in his response. Both usages show the wide distribution of the phrase. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Jamaica, James Harrington, Literary, Matthew Wren, St Thomas in the Vale | No Comments »
Another source which would have kept the phrase alive is Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler, one of the most popular of all English books, and one with much interest to the countryman. It was first published in 1653, and continuously reprinted into the twentieth century.
In the second edition (1655) a group of beggars who, being unable to resolve an argument amongst themselves, decide to refer the dispute for resolution by “old father Clause, whom Ben Jonson in his Beggars Bush created King of their Corporation”. There is no doubt this is the Fletcher & Massinger Beggars Bush, which Walton has misattributed. It shows, and may have helped sustain, the popularity of the play and of the character Clause. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers, The Play | Tags: Ben Jonson, Clause, Francis Kirkman, Izaak Walton, James Mabbe, Literary, The Lame Commonwealth, The Play | No Comments »
“Since the King of the Beggars was married to the Queen of the Sluts at Lowzy-Hill near Beggars-Bush, being most splendidly attended by a ragged Regiment of Mumpers.”
The entry is characteristic of the Poor Robin almanacs, reporting the fictional event in splendid style. “Mumper” is a Cant word for beggar. At this time “slut” did not necessarily imply sexual licence, but encompassed slovenly, untidy or disorderly women generally: in this context all are implied I see no reason to assume that this is a reference to a real event. The King of the Beggars was a common character, not just from the Beggars Bush play by Fletcher & Massinger. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 9th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Dublin, Francis Kirkman, John Taylor, Literary, Poor Robin, The Play, William Winstanley | No Comments »
“I will take home the Lady to my Charge,
And these her Servants, and leave you my Cloke,
To travel in to Beggers Bush!”
Ben Jonson stood at the centre of the theatrical and literary life early modern England. He was connected with many writers who used the phrase Beggars Bush. Beggars Bush is mentioned in his late play when the character Peni-Boy senior reveals himself to his errant son, Peni-Boy junior. The usage is characteristic of the literary use of the phrase by Jane Anger and others. Peni-Boy junior, expecting an inheritance will instead fall into penury through his own folly. It is a state of being, not a geographical location.
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Posted: April 9th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Ben Jonson, Dutch, Henry Chettle, Henry Porter, Izaak Walton, John Day, John Taylor, Literary, Londons Ordinary, Philip Henslowe, The Oath, The Play, Thomas Nashe, canting, pubs | No Comments »
The popular author and doctor used the phrase Beggars Bush in Christian Morals (written before 1682, though not published until 1716). He uses the phrase in the standard literary sense, but in an unusual classical context. His usage establishes the the usage of the phrase outside the vernacular. The most likely origin is through the play by Fletcher & Massinger; there is evidence that his son saw it. There is no direct evidence that Browne saw or read it and there are other sources from which he may have acquired the phrase. His and his son’s library included the works of Ben Jonson. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 7th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Literary, Sir Thomas Browne, The Play | 1 Comment »
I have set out below the text of the ballad in full. For analysis of the origin, and the role of alehouses, inns and ordinaries see this link. See also the earlier version by Thomas Heywood. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 7th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Literary, Londons Ordinary, Thomas Heywood, pubs | No Comments »
“He throws away his wealth as heartily as young heirs, or old philosophers, and is so eager of a goal, or a mumper’s wallet, that he will not wait fortune’s leisure to undo him, but rides post to beggar’s bush, and then takes more pains to spend money than day-labourers to get it.”
A “mumper’s wallet” was a beggars bag, another symbol commonly associated with beggars. Thomas Blount (1656) Glossographia or a Dictionary has “To Dun, is a word lately taken up by fancy, and signifies to demand earnestly, or press a man to pay for commodities taken up on trust, or other debt”. The usage is typical of the standard literary usage. Specifically it refers to being brought to poverty by one’s own folly. It also refers to heirs throwing away their inheritances, as did Jane Anger almost one hundred years earlier.
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Posted: April 7th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Jane Anger, Literary, Londons Ordinary, Thomas Heywood, Twelve Ingenious Characters | No Comments »
In England’s Improvement by Sea and Land to outdo the Dutch without fighting Andrew Yarranton wrote “We are almost as Beggars-bush, and we cannot tell how to help our selves”. The work was one of the first promoting inland navigation on rivers & canals, amongst other modern economic ideas (including the establishment of a national land registry). It was influential because it gave the economic arguments for such projects rather than the technical aspects of their construction.
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Posted: March 30th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Andrew Yarranton, Dublin, Literary | No Comments »
You will have gathered that this is not a simple linear narrative which starts at the beginning and goes on to an end. Even the flexibility of linking and tagging entries doesn’t allow me to present a coherent narrative. I have attempted to do that in a mindmap – like this site it is still incomplete and confusing but it is as complete and clear as I can make it.
The Beggars Bush Mindmap – March 2011
Posted: March 28th, 2011 | Filed under: Speculations | Tags: Literary | 1 Comment »
