{"id":1028,"date":"2013-08-28T07:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T07:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2013-10-08T15:27:43","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T15:27:43","slug":"at-newcastle-my-gossip-being-ill-kept-his-chamber-all-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/at-newcastle-my-gossip-being-ill-kept-his-chamber-all-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hangover in Newcastle"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday 29 August 1618, Ben Jonson, famed tippler, was suffering from a hangover.\u00a0 The previous night he had indulged in forty year old hullock, a Spanish red wine, as he caroused with Newcastle\u2019s prosperous aldermen. Newcastle then, as today, was living up to its reputation for dangerously extravagant hospitality.<\/p>\n

As Sir Thomas Wentworth (later earl of Strafford) was to hear from a similarly indisposed correspondent, at Newcastle<\/p>\n

\u2018before we had remained 24 hours, the worst enemy I saw was Mr Mayor’s great pieces of beef and the profuse entertainment we had from the gentlemen in those parts which endangered our health more than the Spaniards did our coasts.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hullock, according to the great traveller Richard Hakluyt, was to be used<\/p>\n

\u2018For banqueting on shipboard [of] persons of credit\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

along with sack, vials of good sweet waters, figs, walnuts, and almonds. The offering of it to Jonson suggests the esteem in which he was held. Newcastle\u2019s civic elite had a tradition of feasting well, guild accounts showing regular entries for dinners held, for \u2018charges concerning the feast for vittles, wine and beer, \u00a32\u2019.<\/p>\n

Perhaps these good aldermen should have also given Jonson one of the many hangover cures that were available for \u2018surfeit\u2019, such as this one,<\/p>\n

\u2018A powder excellent for the Liver: Take of Rhubarb three drams, of Licorice two drams, of white sugar candy four drams, one dram of Anise seeds, make all these into powder, and take every morning as much as you will upon a shilling and fast an hour after it.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jonson\u2019s relationship with the vine was well known, his membership of London\u2019s convivial societies a focal point for his admirers and detractors alike.\u00a0 William Drummond of Hawthornden thought wine for Jonson was one of the \u2018elements in which he liveth\u2019.\u00a0 But the abandonment to alcoholic excess that this jibe suggests, is not the Jonson that we see on his \u2018Foot-Voyage\u2019, or from his life in metropolitan taverns.<\/p>\n

\"Lawes_of_Drinking,_top.\"<\/a>

Richard Brathwaite, A Solemne Joviall Disputation, Theoreticke and Practicke; briefly shadowing the Law of Drinking (1617)<\/p><\/div>\n

Alcoholic consumption came with rules. Wine was said to liberate the creative senses to produce elevated wit, conversation and poetry. Too much of it, however, or of the lowly ale, produced boorish or bestial behaviour.<\/p>\n

The society of which Jonson was the leading light, that met in the Apollo Rooms over the Devil and St Dunstan in Fleet Street, welcomed its members with the words<\/p>\n

\u2018Here he speaks out of his Pottle,
\nOr the Tripos, his Tower Bottle;
\nAll his Answers are Divine:
\nTruth itself doth flow in Wine.
\nWine it is the Milk of Venus,
\nTis the true Phoebeian Liquor,
\nClears the Brains, makes Wit the quicker.
\nPays all Debts, cures all Diseases
\nAnd at once three Sense pleases.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But inside were the rules of behaviour, the Leges Conviviales<\/i>, <\/em>that Jonson penned<\/p>\n

‘And let our only emulation be,
\nNot drinking much, but talking wittily.
\nLet it be voted lawful to stir up
\nEach other with a moderate chirping cup;
\nLet none of us be mute, or talk too much…’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So prevalent was alcohol in Jacobean society, where light ale was thought healthier than perilous water, that these concerns sat oddly with more puritanical thought. Countless tracts appeared against the evils of excessive alcohol, its corrosive effects on the morals and functioning of society.\u00a0 Englands Bane: or, The Description of Drunkenness<\/i> by Thomas Young, Milton\u2019s tutor, published in 1617, enumerated nine types of drunkards:<\/p>\n

\u2018The first is Lion drunk, which breaks glass windows, calls the Hostess Whore, strikes, fights or quarrels.\u00a0 The second is Ape-drunk, who dances, capers, and leaps about the house, sings and rejoices, and is wholly ravished into jests, mirth and melody.\u00a0 The third is sheep drunk, … Sow, Fox, Maudlin, Goat, Martin, Bat drunk\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"looking<\/a>And in 1627, another critic warned against \u2018Drunkenness … a flattering Devil, a sweet poison, and a pleasing sin\u2019 in A looking glass for drunkards: Wherein drunkards are unmasked to the view of the world. Very convenient and useful for all people to ruminate on in this drunken Age<\/i>. I’ll say no more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday 29 August 1618, Ben Jonson, famed tippler, was suffering from a hangover.\u00a0 The previous night he had indulged in forty year old hullock, a Spanish red wine, as he caroused with Newcastle\u2019s prosperous aldermen. Newcastle then, as today, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foodanddrink","category-hospitality","category-places"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1616,"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk\/ben-jonsons-walk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}