Eighteenth-Century English Labouring-Class Poets, vol 1

John Goodridge, Simon Kövesi, David Fairer, Tim Burke, William Christmas

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000748130
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Poets of labouring class origin were published in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some were popular and important in their day but few are available today. This is a collection of some of those poems from the 18th century.

NOTES

Abbreviations

• DNB Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee, 22 vols. (London: Oxford University Press, [1921-22])
• ECWP Eighteenth-Century Women Poets, ed. Roger Lonsdale (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1989)
• EDD The English Dialect Dictionary, ed. Joseph Wright, 6 vols. (London: Henry Frowde, 1898-1905; reprinted New York: Hacker Art Books, 1962)
• Foxon David Foxon, English Verse 1700-1750, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975)
• Grose Captain Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), ed. Eric Partridge (New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1963)
• OED Oxford English Dictionary, compact edition, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982).

EDWARD WARD

From A Journey to Hell: or, a Visit paid to the Devil

• Text A Journey to Hell: or, a Visit paid to the Devil. A Poem (London, Printed, and are to be Sold bv the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1700); A Journey to H—: or, a Visit paid to, &c. A Poem. Part II. Both Parts by the Author of the London-Spy (London, Printed, and are to be Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1700). Part I is divided into six cantos; Part II contains four. A third part appeared in 1705. Complete texts for each canto are given.

Part I. Canto I [The Poet Visits Hades]

• 3 Bacchanals 'Drunken revelry' (OED).
• 4 Thetis Greek maritime divinity; the line references the sun setting on the western ocean.
• 56 Adamantine Gates Gates of Hades, separating the world of the living from the world of the dead.
• 57 Fates In Greek mythology, the three Fates (Clotho, Laehesis, and Atropos) were often represented with instruments (a spindle or roll, a distaff, or a knife, respectively) associated with weaving, as they were said to break or cut off the thread of life.
• 61 Avernuan Hills The hills around Avernus, a mythical lake with connections to the underworld.
• 63 Styx In classical mythology, the principal river of the underworld that must be crossed after death.

Part I. Canto VI [The Physicians in Hades]

• 3 Æsculapian Rout A band of doctors.
• 7 Nostrum 'A quack remedy' (OED).
• 14 Squirt A liquid nostrum given by syringe.
• 24 Pharmaceutick Trade Apothecaries, those who sold drugs for medicinal purposes.
• 34 Emp'ricks Quacks.
• 36 Japan'd Lacquered or varnished black.
• 40 Chamber-Cant Probably a satiric variation of 'chamber-counsel' ('opinion given by a lawyer in private chambers' [OED]). Ward is criticising medical jargon.
• 50 Moorfields Area of London that ran parallel with Moorgate,
• 62-74 Ward's apothecary-speaker calls attention to the rivalry between apothecaries and physicians that was fomenting at the turn of the century. Because apothecaries were tradesmen and filled prescription orders written by physicians, they were considered lower than physicians in the medical hierarchy. However, patients could avoid the physician's fee by going directly to a knowledgeable apothecary, and after their success in the Rose Case (1704), apothecaries were legally allowed to act as physicians. See Roy Porter, Bodies Politic: Disease, Death and Doctors in Britain, 1650-1900 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001), p. 193.
• 75 St. Burth'lomew's St Bartholomew's Hospital, the oldest hospital in London.
• 76 Dance the Rope To be hanged.
• 85 Sow-Gelder 'One whose business it is to geld or spay sows' (OED). Tooth-Drawer A dentist.
• 86 Barber-Surgeon In the early eighteenth century, surgeons were members of the Company of Barbers.
• 89 Gelt Gelded, or castrated.

Part II. Canto VI [The Poets in Hades]

• 4 White-Eryars Friars of the Carmelite convent, Fleet Street.
• 12 Drury-Lane London theatre and red-light district.
• 16 Ninny 'Simpleton' (Grose); the poet is unidentified.
• 21 mungril Variation of 'mongrel'. Test Relating to the Test Acts (16⁷3), and therefore implying nonconformism.
• 34 Billingsgates Billingsgate porters, known for their bad language.
• 43 Apollo's Sons Poets.
• 48 Taglines An epithet for poets.
• 50 Tubal Jubal, father of musicians (Genesis 4:21). Shells Euphemism for 'instruments'; Ward is simplifying the biblical reference which links Jubal to the harp and the organ.
• 83 Bristol Stone 'A kind of transparent rock-crystal found in the Clifton Limestone near Bristol', a poor man's diamond (OED).
• 92 Sapho Sappho (c. 613—c. 570 BC), Greek lyric poet and founder of a female literary society at Mytilene. Given that Ward refers to Sappho as male in the following lines, this is either an error or a cover name for some unknown male figure.
• 118 Sable Vizard Black face.
• 127 Flash A fop. Bounce 'A boastful, swaggering tellow' (OED).
• 130 Old Nick The devil.
• 163 Clarret Claret, general term for red wine.

Part II. Canto VII [The Printers and the Booksellers in Hades]

• 17 The Dev'l a Barrel better Herring 'All equally bad'(Grose).
• 20 Bibliopoles Booksellers.
• 21 Typographs Printers.
• 54 Poke 'A small sack' (OED).
• 71 Hacknies Writers for hire.
• 125 wifling Curs Insignificant dogs.
• 129 Breviate. 'A summary, compendium' (OED).
• 190 O—d—'s; Sb—y's Identified in the 1712 edition as 'Oldish' and 'Shirley'; probably Valentine Oldys (d. 1685), a dabbler in verse, and James Shirley (1596-1666), poet and dramatist, attacked by Dryden in MacFlecknoe (l. 29).

From A Collection of Historical and State Poems, Satyrs, Songs, and Epigrams.

• Text A Collection of Hihstorical and State Poems, Satyrs, Songs, and Epigrams. Being the Fifth Volume of Miscellanies. By the Author of the London-Spy (London: Sole) by A. Bettesworth at the Red-Lyon in Paternoster-Row. Where also may be had most of this Author's Writings, 1717).

The Character of a certain rattling Whig

• 19 Eugene Prince Eugene of Austria, who began the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701.
• 21 Villars Claude Louis Hector, Due de Villars (1653-1734), French military commander, defeated Eugene's attempts to enter France in 1708, and later repelled him at Brussels in 1712.
• 22 Gallia France.
• 23 Whate'er the Dutch propose England remained allied with the Netherlands throughout the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13). Because of the connections established during William III's reign (1689-1702), Whig ministries in the early eighteenth century remained friendly with the Dutch, which angered many Tories who, like Ward, felt that the Dutch were dictating British foreign policy.
• 32-3 by his Tongue...Penance That is, he sometimes talks too much and so gets physically abused.
• 36 Tubster 'A tub-preacher' (OED); a contemptuous term for a dissenting minister.
• 37 Ninny-Broth Coffee.
• 41 Sowre Sour.
• 42 lob To move heavily or clumsily' (OED).
• 44 Sachev'relite A supporter of the Revd Henry Sacheverell (c. 1674-1724), whose sermons attacking the Whig government in 1709 prompted the House of Lords to impeach him in 1710. Sacheverell became synonymous with High-church Toryism in this period.
• 47 frow'rd 'Perverse; ungovernable' (OED).
• 54 Marlbrough John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), commander of the British forces in the War of the Spanish Succession; hero of the Whig party.
• 57 Hector Trojan hero killed by Achilles.
• 62 Rev'rend Fl—d Probably William Fleetwood (1656-1723), Bishop of Ely, a Whig controversialist who preached against Tory principles.
• 70 Daniel's Revolution Principles Probably a reference to Daniel Defoe (1660-
• 1731), a Whig propagandist in this period and a religious dissenter. 'Revolution Principles' evokes the constraints on the monarchy inaugurated by the Revolution Settlement of 1789.
• 73 'less is Unless it is.
• 74 Moorfield Area of London known to be populated by nonconformists.
• 90 Will's London coffee-house frequented by literati of the period.
• 94 High-Church...Low-Church A religious distinction with significant political overtones. 'High-church' clergy tended to hold Tory sympathies; 'Low-church' clergy tended to be Whig supporters who tolerated religious dissent. Ward is criticizing his hypothetical Whig here for apparently using High-church rhetoric to support his Low-church position.

The Tobacco Sot. An Epigram

• Title Sot Drunkard.

Truth without Dissembling: or, A Merry Ballad on the Times

• 9 Duke...Duche ss The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough; see notes to 11. 14 and 15 below.
• 14 New Oliver The Duke of Marlborough. Ward is using a popular Tory metaphor that figured the ambitious Marlborough as the next Cromwell (cf. 1. 17 and note below). After his Whig allies lost the election of 1710, Marlborough was dismissed by Queen Anne in 1711 on charges of embezzling public money.
• 15 Petticoat-Ranker Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744), also out of roval favour bv 1711.
• 16 ANN Queen Anne (1665-1714), reigned from 1702.
• 17 Usurping Protector Oliver Cromwell (1599—1658), Lord Protector (1653—8), who ruled without a parliament.
• 21 present Translator Probably Alexander Pope (1688-1744), who in 1717 was in the midst of his translation of the Iliad (1713-20). Ward expresses anxiety about Pope's political allegiances.
• 24 R— or J— Robert or John; probably Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford (1661-1724) and Hen...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• General Editor's Introduction
• Introduction
• Chronology
• Note on the Text
• EDWARD WARD (1667-1731)
• JANE HOLT (fl. 1682?—1717)
• HENRY NELSON (fl. 1725-29)
• EDWARD CHICKEN (1698-1747)
• ROBERT DODSLEY (1703-1764)
• ANONYMOUS (c. 1730)
• STEPHEN DUCK (1705?-56)
• JOHN BANCKS (1709-51)
• JOHN FRIZZLE (fl. 1733)
• MARY MASTERS (1694?-1771)
• PETER ARAM (1667-1735)
• ROBERT TATERSAL (fl. 1734-5)
• MARY COLLIER (1688?-1762)
• Notes
• Thematic Index
• Index of First Lines
• Index of Titles