A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern.

  • Iwan Bloch
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    646/700 (page 616)
    beggarly prices calculated according to the length of th ballads. A few of these ballads became universally know and liked, and finally rose to the dignity of being sung a such places as the Argyll Rooms, and even in ' polit society'. A typical example of the latter kind of ballad wa 'Sweet Minnie', in which the sentimental bent of tb Anglo-Saxon spirit found due expression. On the othe hand, there were also obscene ballads at this period, lib 'The Ratcatcher's Daughter', which contained man3 filthy passages. This magnificent specimen of London's folk poetry had a rival in ' Polly, Won't You Try Me Oh? ' The latter song contains a characteristic feature oi a certain type of English song, namely, euphonious but meaningless words and phrases. An interesting group among London's street songs were those written in ' cant' or slang, and collected by J. S. Farmer in his Musa Pedestris. Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes (London, 1896). Another interesting feature of London streets, in addition to street songs, were the long-drawn and sometimes melodious street cries which were made the subject of artistic treatment and historical appreciation from earliest times. At the end of William Ill's reign Peter Molyn Tempest published a number of etchings illustrating the ' Cries of London', made after the paintings of the Dutch artist, Mercellus Laroon (1653-1702). At a later period it was the famous cartoonist Thomas Rowlandson, in particular, who paid considerable attention to the ' Cries of London '. The first of his etchings appeared m 1799 over the various cries, such as c Buy a Trap, a Rat Trap, buy my Trap ', or ' Buy my Goose, my Fat Goose', etc. Around 1810 Rowlandson published thirty more [616]