Jacobean street cries

[wolfinthewood]

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment booked for a dental filling. This has put me irresistibly in mind of the cry of the Jacobean tooth-drawer:

Touch and go! Touch and go!
Ha’ ye any work for Kind-heart the tooth drawer?
Touch and go!

It’s one of the authentic London street cries incorporated by the composer Richard Deering (c. 1580–1630) in his piece City Cries (1616, or a bit earlier).

There are various Elizabethan and Jacobean songs that make use of street cries. In addition, Deering and Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625) both wrote works in which a large number of street cries, sung by several voices, are woven closely together to the accompaniment of viols. Three years ago I managed to hear both these compositions, and some other street-cry pieces, performed live by The Theatre of Voices at Wyastone near Monmouth. It was an amazing evening. And hey! I have just noticed – they have a CD of this material out now! I must order it.

More street cries from Gibbon and Deering:

Sweep, chimney sweep! Sweep, chimney sweep!
Sweep, chimney sweep, Mistress,
With a hey, derry, derry, derry sweep!
From the bottom to the top,
Sweep, chimney sweep!
Then shall no soot fall in your porridge pot,
With a hoop, derry, derry, derry sweep!

*

Rats or mice!
Ha’ ye any rats, mice, pole-cats or weasels?
Or ha’ ye any old sows sick o’ the measles?
I can kill them, and I can kill moles,
And I can kill vermin
That creepeth up and creepeth down
And peepeth into holes.

*

Garlic, good garlic, the best of all the cries,
It is the only physic against all maladies.
It is my chiefest wealth good garlic for to cry,
And if you love your health, my garlic then come buy.

*

Buy any ink,
Will ye buy any ink?
Very fine writing ink;
Will ye buy any ink and pens?

*

Poor naked Bedlam, Tom’s a -cold.
A small cut of thy bacon,
Or a piece of thy sow’s side, good Bess.
God almighty bless thy wits!


<link>

Comments

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

Ooh, awesome-- that last one has shades of King Lear, which is a sort of forehead-slapping moment for me, because it makes perfect sense that Edgar's taglines when he feigns madness wouldn't just be random madspeak, but would be things that Bedlam beggars actually said. And he refers to these same beggars during the soliloquy before he adopts the "poor Tom" persona. Of course!

Also, the world would be a better place if more dentists called themselves "Kind-Heart."

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

My dentist has a very deft and gentle touch, I am grateful to say. Still, my jaw still aches today...

On Tom o' Bedlam - yes, there is evidence from various sources that 'Bless thy five wits, Tom's a-cold' and similar phrases used by Edgar were formulaic expressions used by mad beggars (who were nearly all fakes, of course, acting a part).

Do you know the Tom o' Bedlam song 'From the hag and hungry goblin'?

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, the day you posted this entry I went and looked it up online. Strange, because I've actually sung Mad Maudlin's Search for Tom o' Bedlam (http://www.pbm.com/pipermail/minstrel/1997/007771.html)-- the refrain's insanely catchy. But I don't think I'd read the original till now. Very cool.

I hope your jaw feels better soon.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

It was falling in love with the original Tom o'Bedlam song (or rather, a couple of stanzas from it, which were in a school anthology) that started me on the track that eventually led to all this research into beggars, con men, thieves, robbers etc. I was aged about eight at the time, and I remember asking permission from the teacher to stay in at break and write the verses out on a sheet of paper.

Do you know Purcell's 'Bess of Bedlam' ('From silent shades')?

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

Something in my head is saying "I looked at it, and it was too high." Poxy excuse, really-- I probably ought to look at it again now that I've got a top A that's suitable for public consumption.

How cool, that that anonymous lyric was the seed of so much inspiration! I really need to pick up a copy of your actual book next time I'm in a reputable bookshop-- I've enjoyed both the website, and this journal, so much.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

'Bess of Bedlam' is quite high.

I think the only bookshop still stocking Outlaws and Highwaymen may be Foyle's, who have it in their history section - did a few weeks ago, anyway. (No, I wasn't checking to see if it was there - I am not that sad. I was browsing in Foyle's, and saw it on the shelf - which was rather nice, I must admit.) Otherwise it's available to order, or off the web.

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com]

Foyle's it shall be! Hurrah, huzzah, etc.