Alehouse Characters #1: The Jovial Good Fellow

A new series worth reading – along with Mark’s new book! See below for full details.

the many-headed monster

Mark Hailwood

This is the first in a series of posts to mark the publication of my new book, Alehouses and Good Fellowship in Early Modern England. Each post focuses on a character that features in the book, and uses them to highlight some of my key themes and arguments.

Meet our first alehouse character: Roaring Dick of Dover, the Jovial Good Fellow of Kent.

Roaring Dick of Dover

Roaring Dick is the narrator of an eponymous 1630s drinking ballad of the sort that would have been performed in, and perhaps even pasted onto the walls of, England’s seventeenth-century alehouses. His message is an inviting one: join him in a toast…

“Here’s a health to all good fellows,

that intend with me to join,

At the Tavern, or the Ale-house,

and will freely spend their coin.

But for such as hate strong liquor,

are not for my company,

View original post625 more words