30  The Delights of the Bottle;/ OR,/ The Town-Gallants Declaration for Women and Wine [Euing 71]

'To a most Admirable New Tune' (standard name: The delights of the bottle)

The purpose of this section is to provide brief notes on the melody followed by detailed evidence relating to  its career, paying particular attention to the ‘echoes’ (inter-song associations and connections) that may have been set up if it was nominated for the singing of more than one ballad. In the list presented in the ‘Songs and Summaries’ section below, we have endeavoured to include as many of the black-letter ballads that used the tune as possible, under any of its variant names. Titles from our chart of best-sellers are presented in bold type (these are also in colour when there is a link to the relevant ballad page on the website). It should be noted that it is extremely difficult to date many ballads precisely and the chronological order in which the songs are listed is therefore very approximate (we have drawn on previous attempts to date the ballads, making adjustments when additional evidence can be brought into play).  In most cases, we list the earliest surviving edition of a ballad, though in many instances there may have been earlier versions, now lost.

Versions and variations

This melody was originally composed by Matthew Locke for a two-verse song, performed by Bacchus in Shadwell’s opera, Psyche (1675). In the same year, notation was published, with other songs from the work, in The English opera, or, the vocal musick in Psyche. This is the version that we have used for our recording. Other versions of the melody, with only very minor alterations, can also be found in Choice Ayres, Songs, & Dialogues (1676), The Second Book of the Pleasant Musical Companion (1686) and on some editions of the ballad, The Wine-Coopers Delight (see, for example, the one listed below). The tune does not appear to attracted alternative titles.

Echoes (an overview)

A greatly expanded broadside version of the original stage-song was soon a major success on the streets. This hit ballad, The Delights of the Bottle, celebrated drunkenness and debauchery in defiance of disapproving voices, and it set the tone for several of the songs that subsequently adopted the tune. Old Christmass Returnd and The young Gallants Tutor were more restrained in their discussion of sex, focusing more closely on the value of traditional good fellowship and honest mirth. Other songs reacted to the original in a different way, selecting the tune for texts that warned against wenching, drinking and other vices in an attempt to appropriate the melody and reverse its associations (see, for example, The Prodigal Son Converted).

More rarely, the tune was chosen for other types of ballad: The BIRDS Harmony was a sorrowful romantic song; Poor Robin's Prophesie was a piece of satirical social criticism; and The Rich and Flourishing Cuckold well Satisfied advised husbands to put up with their wives’ affairs (there is here an echo of the amorality that characterises The Delights of the Bottle).

The songs listed below were connected not only by their shared tune but through a number of direct intertextual references. Three ballads imitated the hit song’s opening lines, ‘The Delights of the bottle, & Charms of good Wine/ To the Pow’r and the pleasure of Love must resign’. The Rich and Flourishing Cuckold well Satisfied, for example, began with the the closely-related statement, ‘The delights of a Cuckold that doth not repine,/ Is his bags full of gold, and his Celler of Wine’ (see also The Prodigal Son Converted and The Wine-Cooper's Delight).

Several songs followed the original in highlighting ‘debauches’  (The young Gallants Tutor and The Prodigal Son Converted). There is also a striking similarity between the lines ‘Broad peices and Guinneys come tumbling in’ and ‘Broad pieces and Guinnyes about now shall fly’ in The Rich and Flourishing Cuckold well Satisfied and Old Christmass Returnd respectively. And the refrain in The young Gallants Tutor includes the expression, ‘by sobriety dull’d’, apparently an echo of ‘by sobriety curs’d’ in one line of The Delights of the Bottle (in both cases, the intention is to criticise people perceived as joyless and disapproving).

[See 'Postscript', below, for additional notes on the melody].

Songs and Summaries

The Delights of the Bottle: OR, The Town-Gallants Declaration for Women and Wine (Philip Brooksby, and R. Burton, 1675-76). Euing 71; EBBA 31754. Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, music; Gender – sex, masculinity; Religion – puritanism; Society – urban life; Politics – domestic; Bodies – nourishment, health/sickness; Emotions – joy, suspicion. A ballad that describes the pleasures and benefits of sex and alcohol while criticising all those who adopt a disapproving stance.

The Prodigal Son Converted, OR The Young-man return'd from his Rambles... To a pleasant New Play-house Tune call'd The Delights of the Bottle, &c (R. Burton, 1675-76). Roxburghe 3.188-89; EBBA 30655. Gender – sex, masculinity; Recreation – alcohol, music, games/sports; Morality – general; Emotions – sorrow. A response to The Delights of the Bottle, telling the cautionary tale of a young man who wasted all his wealth and prospects in a life of drunkenness and debauchery before resolving to reform.

Poor Robin's Prophesie, or, The merry Conceited Fortune-teller.. Tune of, The Delights of the Bottle, &c ( (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1675-80). Pepys 4.304; EBBA 21966.  Humour – satire, verbal; Society – criticism; Morality – social/economic; Employment – crafts/trades, professions; Economy – extortion; Recreation – alcohol, games, good fellowship. A fortune-teller predicts that all dishonesty and extortion will come to an end ‘when the Devil is blind’.

The young Gallants Tutor, Or, An Invitation to Mirth... Tune of, The Delights of the Bottle (F. Cole, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke, 1675-80). Pepys 4.246; EBBA 21906. Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship; Humour – general; Bodies – health/sickness; Emotions – joy; Gender – sex; Religion – ancient gods. This sings the praises of mirth and good fellowship as aids to happiness and long life.

The Rich and Flourishing Cuckold well Satisfied... Tune, The Delights of the Bottle (E. Oliver, 1675-85?). Bodleian 4o Rawl. 566(22). Gender – adultery/cuckoldry, marriage, sex, masculinity, femininity; Humour – bawdry, domestic/familial, mockery; Recreation –food, hospitality; Economy – money, hardship/prosperity; Emotions – contentment; Bodies – clothing; Employment – prostitution; Society – neighbours. A cuckold advises others that the way to happiness and wealth is to tolerate and even encourage the extra-marital relations of one’s wife.

The Fathers good Counsel to his Lascivious Son. OR A Caveat against Wenching.. Tune of, The delights of the bottle (no imprint, c. 1675-90). Roxburghe 2.166-67; EBBA 30643. Family – children/parents; Gender – marriage, adultery/cuckoldry, courtship, sex, masculinity; Emotions – anger; Morality – romantic/sexual; Recreation – alcohol, music; Society – old/young.  A father warns a son about his wenching and drinking, and the young man responds by pointing out that the old man’s conduct is just as bad.

Old Christmass Returnd, Or, Hospitality REVIVED... Tune of The Delights of the Bottle (P. Brooksby, 1675-98). Pepys 1.475; EBBA 20222. Recreation – fairs/festivals, hospitality, food, alcohol, music, dance, good fellowship; Society – neighbours, rich/poor; Morality – social/economic; Bodies – nourishment; Economy – hardship/prosperity; Environment – building, weather, seasons; Emotions – joy; Employment – crafts/trades; History – recent; Religion – charity. This celebrates traditional Christmas hospitality in all its rich variety, and criticises contemporary misers and past puritans for not recognising its value.

The Wine-Cooper's Delight, To the Tune of, The Delights of the Bottle (‘Printed for the Protestant Ballad-Singers’, 1681). Roxburghe 3.244-45; EBBA 30949. Employment – crafts/trades; Politics – controversy, domestic, plots; Recreation – alcohol; Royalty – authority, criticism. A disreputable wine-cooper is eager to grow rich by cheating his customers but he seems to get his comeuppance when a group of them, drunk on his unpleasant wine, becomes unruly and start making politically subversive statements.

The BIRDS Harmony... Tune, The delights of the bottle, &c (M. Coles. T. Vere. J. Wright. [J.] Clark, W Thackery, and T. Passenger, 1681-82). Pepys 4.268; EBBA 21929. Nature – birds; Gender – courtship; Emotions – sorrow; Morality – romantic/sexual. The narrator overhears a variety of birds singing sadly about the pain they have suffered in love, and consumers are urged to behave with constancy in romantic matters.

Postscript

The original stage-song was published not only in the printed version of Shadwell’s Psyche but in several song-books, including Choice Ayres, Songs & Dialogues (London, 1676), p. 76. In Thomas D’Urfey’s Psyche debauch’d a comedy (1678), one character is asked to ‘sing that Ingenious Song of the delights of the Bottle three and thirty times’ in order to free two ghosts from their suffering (D’Urfey used the tune again in Sir Barnaby Whigg, 1681). The tune was also used for several white-letter ballads, including The Prince of LIQUORS (W. H., 1679) and News from the West (P. Brooksby, 1685). Both songs draw on the tune’s associations with alcohol, festivity and fellowship.

Christopher Marsh

References

Matthew Locke, The English opera, or, the vocal musick in Psyche (1675), p. 59.

John Playford, Choice Ayres, Songs, & Dialogues (1676), Book 1, p. 74.

                The Second Book of the Pleasant Musical Companion (1686), in ‘The Third part, containing choice songs for two voices’, no. 2.

Thomas Shadwell, Psyche a tragedy (1675), p. 70.

Claude Simpson, The British broadside ballad and its music (New Brunswick, 1966), pp. 170-72.

Standard woodcut name: Alehouse scene with candle at centre

The purpose of this section is to provide evidence relating to  the career of the image under discussion, paying particular attention to the ‘reflections’ (inter-song associations and connections) that may have been set up if it was chosen to illustrate more than one ballad. The list given below includes all ballads from the Pepys and Roxburghe collections that feature this woodcut or a close variant (these are the two largest collections, including approximately 3300 sheets, in total). References to ballads from other collections occur only when the featured edition of the song under consideration here (or the featured edition of another song from our list) comes from such a source. Ballads from our chart of best-sellers are presented in bold type, and they also appear in colour where there is a link to another song in the database. Please note, however, that the editions of hit songs listed below are not necessarily those for which digital images are presented on this website. Cross-references to other examples of our featured woodcuts are also presented in bold. It is extremely difficult to date many ballads precisely and the chronological order in which the songs are listed is therefore very approximate (we have drawn on previous attempts to date the ballads, making adjustments when additional evidence can be brought into play).

Reflections (an overview)

This interesting woodcut appeared commonly on seventeenth-century ballads and can be seen on surviving sheets in at least five different guises. It is thus apparent that several printers had their own versions of the woodblock, one of which was a back-to-front version of the norm. Over twenty publishers issued ballads bearing this image, and its popularity and familiarity were such that it was still used when the condition of the woodblock had deteriorated very significantly.

The associations that the picture accumulated are also intriguing. On the one hand, it was deployed on ballads that celebrated ‘good fellowship’, concentrating on some combination of drinking, sociability, sex and living for the moment. The Delights of the Bottle sits snugly within this tradition, and the image appeared on more than one edition. Not infrequently, ballads in this group were also explicit in their support for the Charles II (and his father before him). The image may look to us like a simple depiction of an alehouse but to early-modern viewers it carried a more potent charge.

And after William III took the throne in highly controversial circumstances in 1688, this woodcut appeared on ballads that sung his praises. The intention, presumably, was to foster a sense of continuity with earlier English loyalism and to popularise the new king by associating him with an image that, to many people, had positive associations.

On the other hand, this woodcut also appeared in the seventeenth century on an equal number of ballads that warned against so-called ‘good fellowship’ on moral and economic grounds. Several of the ballads listed below introduce us to men who have wasted all their money on irresponsible recreations, and to the wives who have been left to struggle at home. Clearly, the moralising priority was a response to the celebratory theme, and an attempt was being made to appropriate the image by calling upon its existing associations while seeking to transform them (see also Featured tune history).

To knowledgeable ballad consumers, therefore, there may have been a sense in which this image pulled them in two very different directions. We should also note that this duality amounted to a deliberate tactic on the part of ballad-makers; many of the individual publishers put their names to songs on both sides of the divide.

Songs and summaries

Dead and Alive (F. G., 1623-62).  Roxburghe 3.210-11; EBBA 30860.  Gender – marriage, femininity, masculinity, sex; Humour – domestic/familial, misunderstanding, mockery; Employment – agrarian, female/male; Emotions – anger, fear, contentment; Violence – interpersonal; Environment – animal; Recreation – alcohol; Society – friendship, neighbours; Places – English. Simple Simon, a Gloucestershire man, attempts to poison himself to escape his domineering wife, but he drinks by mistake her secret supply of alcohol and lives to face the consequences (picture placement: it appears beneath the title).

The Good-fellowes Advice: Shewing what favour a man shall have while he hath meanes, But being in want, then all Friendship ends (J. Wright junior, 1634-58).  Roxburghe 1.520-21; EBBA 30348.  Recreation – good fellowship, alcohol, tobacco; Society – friendship; Economy – money; Emotions – guilt, hope; Employment – alehouses/inns; Gender – marriage, masculinity, femininity; Morality – general, familial.  A man has lost all his money on ale and his friends have deserted him, so he resolves to mend his ways and advises others to do the same (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title).

The good Fellowes best Beloved (John Wright junior, 1634-58).  Roxburghe 1.516-17; EBBA 30346.   Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, music; Employment – crafts/trades, professions; Gender – masculinity; Humour – verbal. This song celebrates alcoholic sociability, particularly that which is associated with a cup of good ‘ipse he’ (picture placement: the scene appears over the third and fourth columns of text).

Nick and Froth; OR, The Good-fellows Complaint for want of full Measure (no imprint, mid-seventeenth century).  Roxburghe 2.376-77; EBBA 30812.  Employment – alehouses/inns; Emotions – anger; Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship;  Gender – masculinity, femininity; Morality – social/economic; Places – English. An attack on tapsters and victuallers for conning their customers by serving short measure in a variety of questionable drinking vessels (picture placement: it appears beneath the title).

A Merry new song wherein you may view The drinking Healths of a Ioviall Crew, To 'thappie Return of the Figure of Two (no imprint, c. 1659).  Roxburghe 2.344-45; EBBA 30788.  Politics – Royalist, celebration, domestic; Royalty – praise; Emotions – joy; History – recent; Humour – verbal.  This welcomes Charles II back to England, praises the figure of 2 in general, and looks forward to happier times ahead (picture placement: it appears over the third and fourth columns of text).

The heavy Heart, and a light Purse (no imprint, 1660-90?).  Roxburghe 2.210-11; EBBA 30675.  Recreation – alcohol, food, hospitality; Economy – money, hardship; Emotions – sorrow, anger; Employment – alehouses/inns, female/male; Family – children/parents; Gender – marriage; Morality – familial, general.  A man laments that fact that he has spent all his money on drink, and he urges others to take heed (picture placement: it appears beneath the title and there are no other woodcuts).

THE Good Fellows Frolick, Or, Kent Street Clubb (J. Coniers, 1661-92).  Pepys 4.239; EBBA 21899.  Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, hospitality; Emotions – joy; Economy – hardship; Bodies – clothing.  A drinking song in which a succession of customers in an alehouse declare and demonstrate their love of ale, despite the economic damage it causes to them (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title on the left side of the sheet).

The Loyal Subject (as it is reason) Drinks good Sack and is free from Treason (F. Coles, T. Vere and J. Wright, 1665-74).  Pepys 4.243; EBBA 21903.  Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship; Politics – domestic, Treason, general; History – recent.  A song in praise of sack, a joyous drink noted particularly for its incompatibility with dangerous and rebellious thoughts (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title on the left side of the sheet).

An Excellent Medley, Which you may admire at (without offence) For every line speaks a contrary sense (F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright, 1665-74).  Pepys 4.342; EBBA 22005.  Society – criticism, rich/poor; Humour – misunderstanding; Employment - trades/crafts, professions; Morality – general; History – recent, medieval.  A string of pithy and somewhat perplexing observations, united perhaps by a general tone of social criticism (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title, and there are no other woodcuts).

[title missing] OR The Good Fellows Frolick BEING The Jovial Companions Pastime (F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright, 1665-74).  Pepys 4.242; EBBA 21902. Recreation – good fellowship, alcohol, music; Society – friendship; Gender – masculinity; Emotions – joy; Morality – general.  A man sings in praise of a ‘short and merry life’, full of ale and empty of care (picture placement: the image appears beneath the title on the left side of the sheet).

The Noble Prodigal (no imprint, 1670-80?).  Roxburghe 2.372-3; EBBA 30809.  Recreation – alcohol, dance, music, good fellowship; Emotions – joy; Family – children and parents; Places – nationalities. Six short songs in which a man carouses to celebrate coming into his inheritance (picture placement: it appears beneath the title).

All is ours and our HUSBANDS, Or the Country Hostesses VINDICATION (P. Brooksby, 1670-98).  Roxburghe 2.8; EBBA 30111.  Employment – alehouses/inns, female/male, prostitution; Economy – livings, money; Recreation – alcohol; Gender – marriage, adultery/cuckoldry, femininity, sex; Family – children/parents; Humour – deceit/disguise, satire.  A hostess explains, on behalf of all her co-workers, that the tricks of the trade – false measure, confiscating goods and selling sex – are an integral and legitimate feature of the livelihood (picture placement: the image appears over the third and fourth columns of text).

THE bad Husband's Information of ill Husbandry; Or, He goes far that never turns (P. Brooksby, 1670-98).  Pepys 2.89; EBBA 20712.  Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, music; Gender – marriage, sex; Family – children/parents; Employment – crafts/trades; Society – old/young;  Morality – general.  A man determines to abandon his drunken ways and warns others to avoid the perils of alcohol (picture placement: a new-looking version of the woodcut appears beneath the title and there are no other pictures).

A Groatsworth of Good Counsel for a Penny; Or, The Bad Husbands Repentance (P. Brooksby, 1670-98).  Pepys 4.78; EBBA 21742.  Recreation – alchohol; Family – children/parents; Gender – marriage; Morality – familia.  Men are warned to look after their families and save for the future rather than wasting their money, particularly on ale (picture placement: a heavily worn version of the woodcut appears beneath the title, and there are no other picture).

Englands Triumph: Or, The Subjects joy (J. Hose, 1672-90).  Roxburghe 2.142-43; EBBA 30624.  Recreation – good fellowship, alcohol; Emotions – joy, patriotism; Politics – celebration, Royalist, foreign affairs; Employment – sailors/soldiers, professions; Royalty – praise; Economy – taxation; Religion – Protestant nonconformity.  A celebratory drinking song that asserts the benefits of alcohol and praises the reigning monarch (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title).

The Delights of the Bottle: OR, The Town-Gallants Declaration for Women and Wine (Philip Brooksby, and R. Burton, 1672-77). Euing 71; EBBA 31754. Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, music; Gender – sex, masculinity; Religion – puritanism; Society – urban life; Politics – domestic; Bodies – nourishment, health/sickness; Emotions – joy, suspicion. A ballad that describes the pleasures and benefits of sex and alcohol while criticising all those who adopt a disapproving stance (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title, to the right of a man holding a wine barrel).

Win at First, lose at Last: Or, A New Game at Cards (Fra. Coles, Tho. Vere, Jo. Wright, and Jo. Clarke, c.1680).  Roxburghe 2.522-23; EBBA 31029.  Politics – celebration, controversy, domestic, Royalist, satire; Recreation – games; Royalty – praise; Humour – deceit/disguise, extreme situations; History – recent; Violence – civil war.  This Royalist ballad represents the conflicts of the period 1640-60 as a game of cards in which the normal rules were turned on their heads (picture placement: a worn version of the woodcut appears beneath the title, alongside two soldiers, one of whom is on horseback).

Tis Money that makes a Man: OR, The Good-Fellows Folly (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackery, and T. Passinger, 1681-82).  Roxburghe 3.80-1; EBBA 30415.  Recreation – good fellowship, alcohol; Gender – marriage, sex, masculinity; Morality – social. A warning to men of the need to be careful with their money and not waste it on dissolute pastimes (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title).

Win at First, Lose at Last: Or, A New game at CARDS (F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, J. Clark, and T. Passinger, 1682).  Pepys 2.207; EBBA 20818. Politics – celebration, controversy, domestic, Royalist, satire; Recreation – games; Royalty – praise; Humour – deceit/disguise, extreme situations; History – recent; Violence – civil war. This Royalist ballad represents the conflicts of the period 1640-60 as a game of cards in which the normal rules were turned on their heads (picture placement: the woodcut appears immediately beneath the title, alongside a Gallant on rearing horse and the head and shoulders of a nobleman or king).

The Somersetshire LADY: CONTAINING Her sorrowful Lamentation for her Misfortunes, in an Extravagant SPENDTHRIFT, who by Riotous Living, brought her to Ruine (J. Back, 1682-1702).  Pepys 4.83; EBBA 21747.  Gender – marriage, masculinity; Recreation – alcohol, tobacco; Morality – familial; Emotions – sorrow; Family – children/parents; Economy – hardship. A once-wealthy woman laments her economically and emotionally ruinous marriage to a man who cares for nothing but the pipe and the pot (picture placement: the drinking men appear beneath the title, alongside a woman in the countryside who turns her back on them).

Wades Reformation, To all good Fellows in this Nation (J. Clark, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, 1684-86).  Pepys 2.90; EBBA 20713.  Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, hospitality, music; Gender – marriage, adultery/cuckoldry, sex; Morality – general; Emotions – sorrow; Employment – crafts/trades, male/female; Economy – hardship, household. A man explains how a love of drink led him down a pathway to disaster, and he now advises others to avoid such courses (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title and there are no other woodcuts).

Down-right Honesty; OR, A Discourse between two well-meaning Protestants (J. Bissel, 1684-1700).  Pepys 4.333; EBBA 21996.  Politics – domestic, controversy; News – political, international; Religion – Catholicism/Protestantism; Society – neighbours, criticism; Emotions – anxiety; Nature – animals. Two neighbours call for Protestant unity and lament the dissemination of pamphlets critical of the government and the church (picture placement: the woodcut appears to the right of Akimbo man with raised hand and a man holding a hat).

A Looking glass for all Good-fellows; or, The Provident Wives Directions to her Husband (J. Conyers, 1685-88).  Pepys 4.79; EBBA 21743.  Gender – marriage, masculinity, femininity; Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship; Family – children/parents; Emotions – anger, sorrow; Economy – hardship, household; Morality - familial; Society – neighbours. In this dialogue-ballad, a wise wife counsels her ale-loving husband and eventually persuades him to reform his behaviour (picture placement: the woodcut appears over the third and fourth columns of text).

Nothing like to a good Wife: Let a Man consider to the end, A Loving Wife is his best Friend (J. Conyers, 1685-88).  Pepys 4.80; EBBA 21744.  Gender – marriage, adultery/cuckoldry, sex; Morality – familial; Family – children/parents; Religion – Christ/God, heaven/hell. This warns husbands to be content with their honest wives, rather than ignoring them in favour of lascivious women who bring only ruin (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title, alongside an image of a happy couple in the sunshine).

Wit never ought, till it be bought; & then it is stark nought.  OR The Spendthrifts Recantation (J. Conyers, 1685-88).  Pepys 4.260; EBBA 21921. Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship Emotions – sorrow; Gender – marriage; Morality – general; Bodies – health/sickness; Economy - hardship, household. A man, noting the terrible effects that alcohol has had on his economic and domestic life, warns others to take heed and resolves to turn his life around (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title and there are no other woodcuts).

The Squire's Grief Crown'd with Comfort: OR, Nectar preferr'd before Scornfull Cynthia (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96).  Roxburghe 2.439; EBBA 30905.  Gender – courtship, masculinity, femininity; Emotions – disdain, sorrow, contentment; Recreation – alcohol. A man initially expresses sadness that his sweetheart has rejected him, but he then decides that there is no woman so fair as a bottle of claret (picture placement: it appears over the third and fourth columns of text, in which the squire decides to turn to drink).

Love and Loyalty; OR, A Letter from a Young-Man, on Board of an English Privateer, to his beloved Susan in the City of London (P. Brooksby, J. Dean, J. Blare, and J. Back, 1688-96).  Pepys 4.173; EBBA 21835.  Gender – courtship, masculinity; Employment – sailors/soldiers; Violence – at sea, between states; Emotions – love; News – international; Politics – foreign affairs. A soldier/sailor reassures his beloved that, although he is currently busy inflicting humiliation on the French, his devotion to her is undiminished (picture placement: the image appears over the third and fourth columns of text).

The Brewers Benefit, Who to pay the New Excise, pinches the poor of their Measure; making others pay for what was laid upon themselves (J. Millet, 1690).  Pepys 4.338; EBBA 22001.  Employment – crafts/trades, female/male; Economy – hardship; Emotions – anger; Morality – social/economic; Recreation – alcohol. An attack upon brewers for cutting their measures in order to transfer the costs of the excise onto their poor customers (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title, and there are no other woodcuts).

Newes from More-lane; OR, A mad knavish an vncivil Frolick of a Tapster dwelling there (William Gammon, 1690-1700).  Roxburghe 3.212-13; EBBA 30863.  Humour – extreme deceit/disguise, situations/surprises; Employment – alehouses/inns, crafts/trades; Recreation – food, alcohol, hospitality; Gender – mixed sociability; Emotions – anger; Places – English.  A tapster outrages his neighbourhood by serving a pie made from horse-meat rather than venison (picture placement: a reversed version of the woodcut appears over the third and fourth columns of text).

The Countries Loyalty: Shewing, their Joy and Gladness for the good Success of King William's Arms (no imprint, c. 1691).  Pepys 2.357; EBBA 20976.  Politics – celebration, foreign affairs, Royalist; Royalty – praise; Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship, music; Religion – Catholic/ Protestant; Emotions – joy; Death – warfare; Violence – between states; Gender – masculinity; News – international, political.  This urges us all to celebrate William’s military successes against France (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title and there are no other woodcuts).

An ANSWER to The Royal Frollick (A. Milbourn, c. 1692).  Pepys 2.326; EBBA 20945.  Royalty – praise; Politics – celebration, domestic, Royalist; Humour – extreme situations, misunderstanding; Family – children/parents; Gender – marriage; Employment – agrarian; Recreation – food. A farmer and his family are pleasantly surprised when King William and his entourage happen to stop in for a meal (picture placement: the scene appears beneath the title, watched by a woman who stands to the left).

King WILLIAM'S Welcome from Flande[r]s; OR, The True Protestants Loyal Health For his Happy and Safe Return (P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back, c. 1692).  Pepys 2.331; EBBA 20950.  Politics – celebration, foreign affairs, Royalist; Royalty – praise; Emotions – joy; Gender – masculinity; News – political; Places – European. A song that praises King William in extravagant terms upon the occasion of his return from the continent (picture placement: the scene appears over the third and fourth columns of text).

The Country Travellers Advice (Eben Tracy, 1695). Pepys 2.60; EBBA 20684.  Recreation – alcohol, good fellowship; Morality – general; Employment – crafts/trades, female/male. A warning about the perils of drunkenness, aimed at travellers because they are particularly dependent on alehouses (picture placement: the woodcut appears over the third and fourth columns of text).

Christopher Marsh