Welcome back everyone, and sorry for the delay. I’ve been moving the past week, and things, as they can tend to do, went a bit sideways. So I wasn’t able to find a moment to sit and put all this together until this afternoon, but I’ promise, this is a good one.
Today we are looking at a Balled called Debauchery Scared or the beggar wench turned into a devil together with the policy of a bumpkin. Giving a pleasant account of commercial passages between a country gentleman and a London beggar wench.
Or in short… Debauchery Scared.
Before we jump in though, we need to talk about some of the slang you’re going to hear.
The first that stands out is in the clause “get him a bit for his cat.” Obviously, cat is some kind of slang, but I hit a wall in searching on slang terms using cat in the early modern period, but let’s be honest, we clearly know it's dirty. The only way that works coming from a man is to get what a cat eats…which in this time isn’t no damn Meow-Mix. Cats eat fish… and now I’m thinking about all the fishy vag jokes I’ve heard since middle-school… though I’m not 100% happy with this theory because who the hell asks for that? Yeah… I’m really into that fishy smelly puss. Actually… I’m sure there are a handful out there who that is their thing, and to each his own man.
Anyways…. That then brings in the idea of early modern cleaning habits, so I wonder if it was more common then? All these questions trying to dig deep into this one clause led me to my new favorite site, TimelineofSlang on Tumbler. Whatever beautiful creature created this, I thank you. I’ve linked the vagina slang timeline in the show notes and transcripts, but I’d like to present to you some of my favorites from just the 16th and 17th centuries.
Quiver
Watergate
Pudding
The Gulf
The Netherlands
The treasury
The low-country (As a southerner in love with Charleston South Carolina, this one really sings)
Hey-nonny-no
The Warming pan
Cecily Bumtrinket
Madge Howlett
Key-hole
Jennie Howlett
The front room
Lower mouth
Foredeck
The conundrum
Carnal trap
Flapdoodle
The gatehouse
Nether lips
The cauldron
Fancy twit-twat
Crinkum-crankum
Bumfiddle
Harbor of hope.
Of course, there are some What the Fucks too.
Beef
Leather
Etcetera
Commodity
Poop
Hell
Drippin pan
Candlestick (This one really I don’t get because it’s such a phallic thing….ohhh it’s because you put your candle in it. Now I got it)
Augerhole. What’s an auger? If you don’t know what an auger is… look it up, and also anyone who watches the office should be laughing at the question what’s an auger.
And finally…. Apartment to let.
Some of them are still used like
Bush
Honeypot
Bunghole (though the hole it refers to has changed)
Muff
Meat
Bum
Twat.
Pussy first shows around 1699, and so now that we’ve spent way longer talking about pussy than I ever intended, let’s move to the next slang:
Ad-swounds is like an old kind of a not quite a curse word. Like Jeepers creepers or Jeez Louise!
Shout out to my Bob’s Burgers fans.
Anyways let’s get into the song:
Tune of, Ladies of London. This may be printed, R. P.
A Country Gentleman came up to Town,
to taste the delights of the City,
Who had to his Servant a jocular Clown,
accounted to be very witty:
His master one night got drunk as a Rat,
and swore he would turn him away Sir,
Lest he would get him a bit for his Cat,
and into his Chamber convey her.
Some jolly Dame he was willing to have,
and gave to his Bumpkin a Guiney,
Who had the wit not to give it, but save
the far better part of the money;
To find out a Punck, he walkt in the street,
and backwards and forwards kept trudging;
At last a young beggar wench he did meet,
who was in great want of a Lodging:
Sweet-heart (said he) if thou'lt give thy consent
to go home, and lye with my master,
I'le give thee half a Crown for thy content,
and save thee from any disaster:
It being late, she fearing the watch,
Besides it was very cold weather;
So that they quickly both made up the match,
and trudg'd to his master together.
Bumpkin was arch, as he homewards did come,
he gave her a bout by the way sir;
Then to his master he carried her home,
who in a dark Chamber lay sir:
He bid her be sure let his master not know,
by any means she was a mumper,
But bid her to rise before day-light, and go,
or Ad-swounds he would heartily thump her.
Bumpkin his Trull to the Chamber he led,
and then to his Bed took his way sir,
She quickly undrest, and gropt into the Bed,
and close to the Gentleman lay sir.
Eager of Joy, he gave her a Kiss,
and hug'd her with flaming desire:
The Gentleman swore that she smell'd so of Cheese
he could not indure to lye by her.
He bid her get up to a place in the room,
where a Bottle stood of Rose-water,
And wash her Face to take away the fume,
then come into Bed again after;
A Bottle of Ink there happen'd to stand,
and for the Rose-water she took it,
Pouring a spoonful out into her hand,
and over her face she did stroak it.
Then to their Joys they eagerly fell,
till at last it began to be Light sir,
Then looking he thought her the Devil of Hell,
and ran out of Bed in a fright sir;
Crying, the Devil, the Devil was there,
she being affrighted ran after,
In a tatter'd old smock, crying where is he where
which put all the street in a laughter.
Good god part of me hopes this was based on a true event. Like maybe the very end. A country gentleman running out in the street butt-assed naked screaming about demons and followed by a poor prostitute covered in ink. You can kind of picture her. She’s clearly the poorest of the poor, meaning she was filthy and dressed in rags, I mean the whole thing happened because she smelled too much like cheese… cheese. If it was so bad he couldn’t get hard because it… the girl stank. Then on top of all that ink is smeared across her face in a weird kind of demonic war paint.
The stink issue has me thinking back to “A Cuckold by Consent” and the miller who couldn’t tell it was his own wife he was mounting. So, as much as we like to imagine as a culture that women were always seen as weak and dumb while men were strong and smart… that’s clearly not the case.
I’m sorry, but I still find it hard to believe that a man could be that much in the dark both literally and figuratively to not tell that it was not a higher-class prostitute in his bed… or that the miller couldn’t tell what his own wife’s body felt like under him.
Anyways… let’s talk about the servant, who at the core is a trickster, and tricksters, fools, and prostitutes are often found together. Usually, the trickster is the pimp, but there are plenty of double-ups as well.
The trickster-prostitute
The foolish trickster
The foolish prostitute…. Though let’s be honest, no way that’s ever going to be anything other than a tragedy.
You have just three archetypes present, but depending on how they are connected and combined, you get a whole new set of possible storylines.
What happens when a trickster-prostitute meets the foolish-trickster?
Here we have the foolish gentleman and a trickster servant.
Before we go digging into this, let’s refresh a minute on what an archetype is. Joseph Campbell, creator of “The Hero’s Journey” pattern refers to archetypes as “elementary ideas.” That means they are the basic fundamentals of the abstract ideas around us. Things like personality and emotions. That’s because Campbell was largely influenced by the works of Jung, who will be making regular appearances, but today is not the day for his biography.
Today we are archetyping. They are the key elements that weave society together. Character types such as the sage, who we would call a nerd today. The thing is, the archetypes are fluid and we move through them during the natural patterns of growth throughout our life.
For example, we have all at some time been the fool. Every time we start something completely new, we are the fool.
Hell, I’m in a fool moment now creating this podcast. Never done it before, but walking forward anyway, trusting that I’ll figure it out as I go along.
We’ve also all had our prostitution moments. Anytime you have gone against your true inner nature and self in order to attain a sense of security.
Pretend to like something you actually did for the approval of your peers? That’s a prostitute moment.
My big prostitute moment came when I was still trying to work in public education. I sold bit after bit of my true eccentric, odd, and brilliant self in order to hopefully not rustle any feathers so that I’d get asked back the following year. I let fear control and conform to me. I lost so much of myself, and it’s taken a while to really get back to who I am.
It’s not a good archetype to be in, no matter the actual circumstances because in the end you are letting fear and insecurity rule you, decide for you, and they are some hard-ass masters.
What about the trickster? What’s his deal?
At his core he’s mischievous, but it’s not necessarily good or bad-natured, it depends on the trickster. They are often a bit of trouble-makers. Think Kevin in Home Alone. On a smaller scale, think of that friend who is constantly doing some prank or another. They shake us up and help us set limits on what we will and will not put up with.
He’s the wildness within all of us, the one who laughs at slap-stick. Hell…. He’s Bug’s damn Bunny. He creates confusion, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad.
He’s also one of the most predominant and important archetypes in mythology. Anansi, the spider- a trickster and storyteller has always been a figure that has appealed to me.
The trickster servant pulling one over his master had to be appealing to the working class then. Hell, they are now. How much do we love to watch some dickhead CEO get pulled down? I mean this is filling the same need as trash celebrity tabloids and scandal sheets.
Shit, as I record this the Depp/ Heard trial has finally ended after what feels like two months of constant coverage. I honestly don’t know exactly how long it has been and I’ll be honest, I don't care enough to take 30 seconds to look it up. Though now I think about it, it’s another example of the prostitute, fool, and trickster combo.
I’m not saying Depp is an actual trickster, but if you combine some of his most memorable roles and his love of Gonzo?
What’s Gonzo? Well, it started as a reference to a kind of journalism, but it grew out to represent a kind of life or philosophy embraced by Hunter S. Thompson. Someone who was such a player with reality that there isn’t the time here to fully describe what a fantastic example of the trickster that I’m going to suggest you use your brain and go look up Thompson…though I have a feeling that if you’re here, you probably know who Thompson is.
So, I ask you to think about what these archetypes look like to you. When have you been embodying one of these archetypes?
In what ways can you see the fool, the prostitute, and the trickster interacting?
As always, please let all this inspire you somehow… write a story. Hell, try and write a new tune for this song. Just create something.
As always, I’d love ya’ll to share by emailing me at bawdyballads@gmail.com, and make sure to check out Bawdyballads.com for show notes and additional cool links and other shenanigans.
Until next time… stay curious and keep creating.
Comentarios