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 »
This broadside ballad “To a pleasant new tune” survives in a variety of editions. The English Broadside Ballad Archive has two dated from 1619-1629 and 1630, while the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads lists three further versions dated between 1674 and 1679. All of these include similar text which lists places, mainly hostelries (ordinaries) linked with the characters of the people who used them. Notably it is the spendthrifts who go to Beggars Bush – which is consistent with the literary usage of the phrase. It is sometimes connected to a song by Thomas Heywood, first published in 1608. For the full text see Londons Ordinarie.
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Posted: March 20th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Ballads, John Taylor, London, Londons Ordinary, Robert Greene, Southwark, St Giles, The Oath, The Play, Thomas Heywood, derogatory, pubs | No Comments »