![[hubbub.jpg|250]] - Author: [[Emily Cockayne]] - Published: [[2008]] - ISBN-10: 0300254768 - ISBN-13: 978-0274759101 - Pages: 352 - Links: - [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51921414) - [LibraryThing](https://www.librarything.com/work/2834917) - [Amazon UK](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hubbub-Filth-Stench-England-1600-1770/dp/0300254768) - Started: [[2024-12-18]] - Finished: [[2024-12-28]] - Pages read per day: 23 pages (of 255 readable pages) - Rating: 62 - [[∙Melvil Decimal System (DDC)]] - [[36 - Social problems and services]] - [[363 - Other social problems and services]] - [[363.7 - Environmental problems]] ## Review I read this after [["Dr. Johnson's London - Everyday Life in London 1740-1770" by Liza Picard|Dr Johnsons London]], which was a mistake, as they were a bit too similar. I got to the end of this, so that’s good (and means the book is good). But this wasn’t a favourite read. It just didn’t excite me too much. The author would mention some aspect of life in the 1600s/1700s, then list out four or five court cases or diary entries as examples – often quite dispassionately. It felt formulaic. I have to admit that I skipped quite a few pages near the end. From about page 180 onwards I was running on fumes. If this was 300+ pages, I wouldn’t have finished it. ## New words - emetic - a medicine or other substance which causes vomiting. - hirsute - hairy. - "their hirsute chests" - calumny - the making of false and [defamatory](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=664a1b17173617b9&hl=en-gb&sxsrf=ADLYWIJLMvYN-KDf1Dy5kBBAMCMcy6joFQ:1734504612336&q=defamatory&si=ACC90nyOnVY18Aw7zUtkWPYo5mTnA-6eZvIQBp0qvDkbv4fMi3OKTeb6SjMfEO7HHqEHGmQikNca33K26KbrLtQoV0y9KrhqaKFrQnUZlqkr7c-KtRRLNvI%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjy-J2a3bCKAxX4VkEAHRrNEK4QyecJegQIIBAM) statements about someone in order to damage their reputation; slander. - "a bitter struggle marked by calumny and litigation" - victual - food or provisions. - "turkey and other savoury victuals were served" - Pewter - soft, silvery-grey allow used for things like spoons and tankards. - It’s mostly made of tin. With small amounts of metals like copper, antimony and lead mixed in. - It’s been around for thousands of years, with the Egyptians and Romans using it. - Garret - “A **garret** is a habitable [attic](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attic "Attic"), a living space at the top of a house or larger residential building, traditionally small with sloping ceilings. In the days before [elevators](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator "Elevator") this was the least prestigious position in a building, at the very top of the stairs.” - Bosky - covered by trees or bushes; wooded - "a slow-moving river meandering between bosky banks" ## Notes & Highlights ### 2. Ugly In the [[1600s]] and [[1700s]] you could often tell a persons job just by what they looked like, as poor working conditions made their mark on a body. Tailors and shoemakers had rounded shoulders and crooked backs from all their stooping. [[Bakers]] had misshapen legs. Potters had sallow, pale skin from lead poisoning. Painters had teeth blacked and pallid complexions from the noxious substances they worked with. Sailors were known for their scars and roughness. (P30) --- As always, nothing changes. - Age-gap relationships were often looked upon with horror and disgust. (P37) - Old people were known for being slow in their story telling (P36-37) - Older people who wore young people’s fashions were mocked. “Mutton dressed as lamb.” (P38-39) - Old people looked down on the younger fashion. A ‘fop’ was someone who worried much about their appearance and was ‘feminine’. They should dress like *men*. (P40-41) --- Women who were charged with being ‘scolds’ were punished with the ducking stool or cuckstool. It was a stool attached to a long wooden beam with a pivot at the end. The women would then be repeatedly dipped into water whilst others watched. (P50-53) --- ### 3. Itchy The phrase of calling someone with power or high up the social ladder a “big [[wig]]” comes from a time in the 1700s when people in those positions literally did wear big wigs, as it was the fashion. (P67-68) --- By the [[1770s]] [[physicians]] started to abandon wearing wigs, or wore smaller ones. However, [[lawyers]] continued wearing them. Even the clergy started wearing wigs by the middle of the 1700s. (P68-69) However, as a rule, by [[1765]] wig-wearing was on the way out of fashion (though ordinary citizens started to style their own hair to look like wigs). The peruke-makers petitioned the king asking for help for their failing businesses. Though in the [[1770s]] there was a revival in the ‘Macaroni period’, where there was a fashion for ultra-extravagant and massive wigs. (P70-71) --- [[Clothes]] were expensive. A man who drowned in Manchester ‘paid’ the cost of recovering and burying his body by having his clothes sold. Even the rich would extend the lives of their garments lives by turning them inside out, dyeing and scouring them. The poor would wear second, third or even fourth hand clothes. One of the reason this period probably stunk was because of the clothes. By its third ‘life’, a piece of clothing would have been filthy and stinking. (P76-77) --- [[Umbrella]]s had been around for quite some time before [[Jonas Hanway]] started using one. He was the first to use one habitually, and he was heavily mocked for it (which is surprising as most houses didn’t have downpipes, so shot water out into the street onto pedestrians). However, with time they caught on. Also, I found it interesting that umbrellas were black to not show the stains of sooty rain. (P78) --- ### 4. Mouldy A lot of shops in the 1600s and 1700s were open-fronted. Whereas today you often go into a [[butchers]] and all the meat is behind a window, in the past that was directly facing onto the street. But without the glass to protect it. So the meat of a butchers shop was more prone to contamination. (P91) --- There was a belief that cow meat ([[beef]]) that had been baited – harassed and attacked by dogs until it died – was more tender. (P97) --- [[Milk]], like seemingly every other foodstuff in this time, was prone to being tampered with. If you were weary of bad milk you could its freshness by buying some straight from the tit from one of the cows that were walked around London, like a kind of [[vending machine]]. (P99-100) --- [[Butter]] was eaten in great quantities in the 1700s, especially by the middle and upper classes. Vegetables was served in so much of it that they swam in it. The price of butter would even fluctuate based on the availability of vegetables. (P100) --- The pastry of a [[pie]] wasn’t originally meant for eating. It was a kind of case and storage whilst it cooked. You would then spoon out the filling. (P103) --- ### 5. Noisy An ‘ordinary’ in the 1600s was, according to GPT-4o: > In 17th century London, an **'ordinary'** was a type of public dining establishment where guests could enjoy a fixed-price meal, often served at a communal table. These establishments were popular with a wide range of people, including merchants, travelers, and sometimes the less affluent members of society. > > The term "ordinary" referred to the fact that the meal was a set offering (or "ordinary" fare) at a standard, fixed price. The food was typically simple and hearty, and the social atmosphere often made them a gathering place for conversation, business dealings, and even gossip. > > In addition to being dining venues, ordinaries were sometimes associated with inns or taverns, and they might serve as informal meeting places for various groups, including gamblers, playwrights, and other urban figures of the time. --- The early modern period: > The **early modern period** in history generally spans from the late 15th century to the late 18th century, though the exact dates can vary depending on the context. For London specifically, this period is often defined as roughly from the late **15th century (c. 1485)**, following the end of the Wars of the Roses and the start of the Tudor dynasty, to the **late 18th century (c. 1789)**, which coincides with the early stages of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. Key events in London's early modern history include: - **1485**: The beginning of the Tudor period with Henry VII's reign. - **1530s**: The English Reformation under Henry VIII, including the dissolution of monasteries, which reshaped the city’s religious and social life. - **1665-1666**: The Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, which were transformative events for the city. - **1707**: The Acts of Union, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain, which further expanded London's role as a global trade hub. This period saw London grow significantly in population, wealth, and importance, shifting from a medieval city into a major player in the global stage. It was characterized by the rise of trade, the influence of the Renaissance, and significant political and cultural changes. --- ### 6. Grotty In the early modern period the ground-lease of most properties was often 50-60 years. And poor building was so endemic during this time that newly built houses often barely lasted the length of their ground-lease. (P133) --- One of the reasons [[beds]] with drapes were popular was because houses were just so draughty. (P140) --- ### 7. Busy The demarcation between road and footway were often subtle – potentially dangerously so. Pedestrian paves were rarely raised like they are now. (P158) --- The stereotype of a person having a [[dog]] that matches them and their personality is nothing new: > Ned Ward thought that owners chose dogs that suited their own temperament. 'All Men, in short, that take delight / In surly Brutes that snarl and bite / Make choice, tho' to themselves unknown, / Of such whose Natures sute their own.' The worse behaved the owner, the more terrible the dog. Thus pretty ladies clutched delicate 'Lap-Dog Elves' who snarled and barked at all except those 'whom Madam favour shows'. Bailiffs and watchmen preferred dogs that growled at all 'but Rogues'. The drunken tinker kept a 'Mongrel of some ugly Breed/ In whose sowre Aspect we may find / The Master's rough unpolish'd Mind'. Beggars' curs yapped at everyone. (P167) --- Coaches weren’t a wonderful way to travel by 21st century standards. You would be rocked about the place due to the bad wheels on bad roads. And you might be sat extremely close to a total stranger. > Conversation in coaches could be awkward, stilted and frustrating. Crammed close to strangers while being joggled about along the rutted tracks was some people's idea of a nightmare. Count Kielmansegge described the initial 'deep silence' among the passengers, which slowly fell away as conversation turned to the road conditions and the weather. (P179) ---