Hurlothrumbo

“ Glass being fragile and diamonds being relatively rare, it is not surprising that few examples of graffiti produced by the method employed by Moll and her lover are known to us today. Interestingly enough, we do, however, have available to us a variety of Renaissance and eighteenth-century written materials suggesting that the practice of using a diamond to write ephemeral statements on window glass was far less rare in those periods than we might expect. ”

“ The practice of toasting the beauty of young ladies had originated at the town of Bath during the reign of Charles II. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the members of some social clubs had developed complex toasting rituals which involved the inscription of the name of the lady to be honored on a drinking glass suitable for that purpose. In 1709 an issue of The Tatler described the process in some detail:
that happy virgin, who is received and drunk to at their meetings, has no more to do in this life but to judge and accept of the first good offer. ”

“ Using a diamond, the poet, before beginning an extended journey, scratches his name on a window pane in the house of his mistress. Here is the first stanza of the poem:
My name engrav'd herein,
Doth contribute my firmnesse to this glasse,
Which, ever since that charme, hath beene
As hard, as that which grav'd it, was;
Thine eyes will give it price enough, to mock
The diamonds of either rock.4
While he is absent, the characters he has cut in the glass will, the poet hopes, magically defend his mistress against the seductive entreaties of his rivals. ”

“ But I may venture to say, That good Things are not always respected as they ought to be: The People of the World will sometimes overlook a Jewel, to avoid a T——d, though the Proverb says, Sh‐tt‐n Luck is good Luck. Nay, I have even found some of the Spectator's Works in a Bog-house, Companion with Pocky-Bills and Fortune-telling Advertisements ”

“ In 1727 in a "critical dissertation prefix'd" to A Collection of Epigrams, the anonymous editor of the work argued that the epigram itself "is a species of Poetry, perhaps, as old as any other whatsoever: it has receiv'd the approbation of almost all ages and nations...." In the book proper, he found room for a number of epigrams which he evidently copied from London window panes. Here is an example:
CLX. To a Lady, on seeing some Verses in Praise of her, on a Pane of Glass. Let others, brittle beauties of a year,
See their frail names, and lovers vows writ here ”

“ Aware that the eligible men of her day have little interest in prospective wives with small or nonexistent fortunes, Moll slyly devises a plan to keep her relative poverty a secret from the charming and (as she has every reason to believe) wealthy plantation owner who has fallen in love with her. ”

“ The title-page of Part I of The Merry-Thought states that the contents of the pamphlet had been taken from "Original Manuscripts written in Diamond by Persons of the first Rank and Figure vii in Great Britain" and that they had been "Faithfully Transcribed from the Drinking-Glasses and Windows in the several noted Taverns, Inns, and other Publick Places in this Nation. Amongst which are intermixed the Lucubrations of the polite Part of the World, written upon Walls in Bog-houses, &c." ”

“ For he car'd not a T--d,
Away goes the Dyer,
Caught his Wife with the Frier.
And led the Monk down,
And pickled him soon,
10
In a Dye-Fat of Blue,
Which he ever will rue,
'Twas so lasting a Hue;
And that spoilt his hunting,
A Twelve-month or two, &c.
Daniel Cowper, &c.
On a Tavern Window in Fleet-Street. An Address to our present Petit-Maitres.
No more let each fond foppling court a Brother,
And quit the Girls to dress for one another;
Old maids, in Vengeance to their slighted Beauty,
Shall one Day make you wish you'd done your Duty ”

“ To divert attention from her own financial condition, she repeatedly suggests that he has been courting her only for her money. Again and again he protests his love. Over and over she pretends to doubt his sincerity. ”

“ One of the epigrams in this collection suggests that, unlike Moll's lover and Hughes's poet, some affluent authors had even acquired instruments specifically designed to facilitate the practice of writing poetry on glass:
Written on a Glass by a Gentleman, who borrow'd the Earl of CHESTERFIELD's Diamond Pencil. Accept a miracle, instead of wit;
See two dull lines by Stanhope's pencil writ.6
As the title of this epigram also suggests, window panes were not the only surfaces considered appropriate for such writing. ”

“ Although, as the title-page of the third edition advertises, the third edition does contain materials not to be found in the second edition, it does not indicate that the second edition itself contained materials omitted from the third edition. Among the materials not reprinted were the following verses:
Red-Lyon at Stains.
My Dear Nancy P---k---r
I sigh for her, I wish for her,
I pray for her. Alas! it is a Plague
That Cupid will impose, for my Neglect
Of his Almighty, Dreadful, Little Might.
Well, will I love, write, sigh, pray, sue, and groan
Ah! where shall I make my Moan! ”

“ These statements suggest one of the principal leveling strategies of the pamphlet as a whole: the nobility and the rich, whatever their advantages otherwise, must, like the lowest amongst us, make use of privies ”

“ In a Barber's Shop.
Will. —— —— always fights with his Cunning,
Whilst one Foot stands still, th'other is running.
At the Sugar-Loaf in Bell-Yard, Temple-Bar.
If Venus, or if Bacchus, be my Boast,
Claret's my Liquor, and Miss C—— my Toast,
Upon all the Windows of Note on the Roads.
If one Stone splits the most obdurate Glass,
Why needs there two to split a pretty L--ss. ”

“ Dean's Yard, Westminster, in Charcoal, on a Wall, a Verse to be read upwards or downwards or arsey-versey the same. S A T O R A R E P O T E N E T O P E R A R O T A S Maidenhead, in a Window. In a Window, In a Window,
I saw a Cat lick her Ear in a Window. Nay, Sir, —— she cry'd, I'll swear I won't. ”