The English Wits : Literature and Sociability in Early Modern England

In The Late Sixteenth And Early Seventeenth Centuries The Inns Of Court And Fashionable London Taverns Developed A Culture Of Clubbing, Urban Sociability And Wit. The Convivial Societies That Emerged Created Rituals To Define Social Identities And To Engage In Literary Play And Political Discussion. Michelle O'callaghan Argues That The Lawyer-wits, Including John Hoskyns, In Company With Authors Such As John Donne, Ben Jonson And Thomas Coryate, Consciously Reinvigorated Humanist Traditions Of Learned Play. Their Experiments With Burlesque, Banquet Literature, Parody And Satire Resulted In A Volatile Yet Creative Dialogue Between Civility And Licence, And Between Pleasure And The Violence Of Scurrilous Words. The Wits Inaugurated A Mode Of Literary Fellowship That Shaped The History And Literature Of Sociability In The Seventeenth Century. This Study Will Provide Many New Insights For Historians And Literary Scholars Of The Period.--jacket. Gentleman Lawyers At The Inns Of Court -- Ben Jonson, The Lawyers And The Wits -- Taverns And Table Talk -- Wits In The House Of Commons -- Coryats Crudities (1611) And The Sociability Of Print -- Traveller For The English Wits -- Afterlives Of The Wits. Michelle O'callaghan. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 178-228) And Index. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgements 9 Note on the text 10 Introduction 11 Chapter One Gentleman lawyers at the Inns of Court 20 ‘The foundation of a good common weale’ 22 ‘The duties of societies’ 28 Law sports 33 Clubbing and commoning 40 Chapter Two Ben Jonson, the lawyers and the wits 45 ‘To judge with distinction’ 46 ‘Wits and braveries’ 54 Playing games 60 Chapter Three Taverns and table talk 70 Laws of drinking 71 Tavern poetry 75 The banquet of the wits 80 Chapter Four Wits in the House of Commons 91 Composition, performance, circulation 92 Hearing the ‘parliament fart’ 99 Dissonance, wit and the 1614 ‘addled’ parliament 106 Chapter Five Coryats Crudities (1611) and the sociability of print 112 Print and sociability 113 Performing in print and the talked book 120 ‘Wits gargantua colume’ 129 Chapter Six Traveller for the English wits 138 Travel and the city 139 The curious and independent traveller 144 Sight-seeing and ‘memorable occurents’ 148 Greeting from the court of the great mogul 154 Chapter Seven Afterlives of the wits 163 After coryats crudities 165 Clubbing in the 1620s 171 The ‘Tribe of Ben’ at the Apollo Room 176 The wits in print: musarum deliciæ and the prince d’amour 179 Notes 188 Introduction 188 1 Gentleman lawyers at the inns of court 191 2 Ben jonson, the lawyers and the wits 198 3 Taverns and table talk 203 4 Wits in the house of commons 207 5 Coryats crudities (1611) and the sociability of print 211 6 Traveller for the english wits 215 7 Afterlives of the wits 220 Bibliography 225 PRIMARY SOURCES 225 Manuscripts 225 Printed books 226 Electronic 229 SECONDARY SOURCES 229 Index 239 A study of literary fellowship and clubbing that includes John Donne, Ben Jonson and Thomas Coryate