Samuel Rowlands’ poem
A straunge ſighted Traueller and the broadside ballad entitled
The Great Boobee describe the unpleasant experience early modern
[London](mol:LOND5) often inflicted on the unwary country tourist. Both texts present a traveller enthralled by the magnificence of the city’s
urbs, but oblivious to the dangers
[London](mol:LOND5)’s complex
communitas could pose. In addition to the spectacle
[London](mol:LOND5) provided, the city’s economic growth enticed newcomers with the possibility of financial success. However, investments were often a dubious adventure for inexperienced country gallants, who were easily duped by unscrupulous business partners. In both works, the references to familiar tourist destinations of
[London](mol:LOND5) presume an audience aware of
[London](mol:LOND5)’s physical and social layout, especially as they contain a subculture of criminal con-artists, or conny-catchers.
Rowlands’ poem acts as a warning against and condemnation of
[London](mol:LOND5)’s street crime, while the anonymously authored
The Great Boobee resonates with the tourist-speaker’s retrospective self-critique and self-satire ending on an optimistic note. Ultimately, the tension in tone between the two works reflects the variable experience of
[London](mol:LOND5)’s new arrivals, who were soon to be either uncharitably initiated into or expelled from
[London](mol:LOND5).
Both texts were printed with [London](mol:LOND5)’s consumers of popular literature in mind. Rowlands was a pamphleteer working in [London](mol:LOND5) between 1600 and 1630. In 1608, the short poem,
A straunge ſighted Traueller, appeared in
Humors looking glass, which was printed by
Edward Allde for the book seller
William Ferebrand. The titles of the other poems in this book, such as
Of one that couſned a Cut-purſe and
A drunken fray, indicate that
Rowlands often took criminals and unruly denizens as his subject matter.
The Great Boobee (
[Wing G1664](mol:WING1)) is a broadside ballad, printed on one side of an unfolded sheet of paper.
Broadside ballads were a form of popular literature read and sung in the public spaces of early modern [London](mol:LOND5) ([Hehmeyer](mol:HEHM1)). Like most broadside ballads, the sheet is undated. The colophon states that it was
Printed for F. Coles, in [VVine-ſtreet](mol:WINE1), on [Saffron-hill](mol:SAFF2), near [Hatton-Garden](mol:HATT1)
. Donald Wing suggests a printing date of
1663, which is reasonable given the material evidence, although the ballad may have been in circulation some years earlier (
[Wing](mol:WING1)).
Francis Coles had a shop in the [Old Bailey](mol:OLDB1) at the sign of the Half Bowl (at the sign of the Lamb from 1663 on); material evidence derived from book title pages, ballads, and colophons listing F. Coles suggests that this Francis Coles belonged to a consortium of ballad printers that included Thomas Vere, John Wright, John Clark, and others. The Francis Coles at the [Vine Street](mol:WINE1) ([Wine Street](mol:WINE1)) address was likely a different man, perhaps a son, selling from this shop in the 1660s and 1670s and perhaps earlier. The [BBTI record](http://bbti.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/) suggests that the Francis Coles of the [Old Bailey](mol:OLDB1) and the Francis Coles of [Vine/Wine Street](mol:WINE1) were the same man. The [Vine/Wine](mol:WINE1) address appears in an undated parodic broadside ballad rendering of Charles I’s January 1648 scaffold speech ([Wing M475bA](mol:WING1)), other undated ballads ([STC 16862](mol:STC1); [Wing D1566C](mol:WING1), [J804B](mol:WING1), [H3011](mol:WING1), [P2041](mol:WING1), [P3372](mol:WING1), [R32A](mol:WING1), [T1779](mol:WING1), [W164A](mol:WING1)), and titles from 1668 ([Wing K733](mol:WING1)) and 1678 ([Wing S3448A](mol:WING1)).
The central event of both texts is the tricking and subsequent robbery of an unsuspecting, sight-seeing traveller from the country. The refrain and title of
The Great Boobee is a pejorative appellation, which the ballad’s speaker alternately receives from others and applies to himself. Sailors attach the term
boobee (a derivation of the Spanish
bobo meaning fool) to a species of sea bird, which is easily caught after it lands on the deck of a ship (
[OED boobee, n.2](mol:OEDI1)). The title is an apt metaphor for the speaker of the poem, who is befriended and then robbed by a female cut-purse purporting to be the speaker’s cousin.
Rowlands describes his subject as
AN honeſt Country foole being gentle bred
(
[Rowlands 1](mol:ROWL3)).
Rowlands’ less pejorative description indicates a certain sympathy for
[London](mol:LOND5)’s victims, a sentiment absent from
The Great Boobee. Like the Great Boobee,
Rowlands’ traveller is befriended and toured around the city before finally being robbed, an event precipitating his decision to leave
[London](mol:LOND5) (
[Rowlands 17–20](mol:ROWL3)).
The element of [London](mol:LOND5)’s communitas responsible for the inhospitable reception of rustic newcomers is described by the poet-pamphleteer, Robert Greene. In his five pamphlets on the subject, he reveals the tricks of the con-artists’ trade in a series of pamphlets on Conny-catching.A conny
is a dupe, a gull, the victim of a conny-catcher
([OED conny, n.10](mol:OEDI1)). A conny
is also a rabbit ([OED conny, n.2.a](mol:OEDI1)). Thus, the term conny-catcher
invokes the metaphor of predator and prey, which is apt for the relationship between a thief and his mark. Published in 1591, The
Second Part of Conny-catching explains how those who steal purses frequent the tourist locales mentioned in
The Great Boobee and
Rowlands’ poem, looking for the kinds of naive newcomers described in the ballad and poem. These thieves make
their cheife walks [Paules](mol:STPA2), the [Weſtminſter](mol:WEST6), [Exchange](mol:ROYA1), Plaies, [and the] [Beare garden](mol:BEAR1)
, where crowds hide them as they stalk the tourists (
[Greene 103](mol:GREE1)).
Greene explains how when the nip (purse cutter) and foist (purse stealer)
spie a Farmer or Marchant, whome they ſuſpect to be well monied, they followe him hard
looking for an opportunity to run into him and take his money in the confusion (
[Greene 103](mol:GREE1)). Anticipating the circumstances of the robbery in
The Great Boobee, Greene warns that
the woman Foiſt is the moſt daungerous, for commonlie there is ſome olde hand, or mout[h] fair ſtrumpet, who inueigleth either ſome ignorant man or ſome youth to folly: ſhe hath ſtraight foiſts him of all that hee hath
(
[Greene 108](mol:GREE1)). In
Greene’s descriptions, country visitors are robbed either by clandestine theft or by trickery. These techniques rely on both the gullibility of the victims and the crowded areas the thieves operate in. The speaker in
The Great Boobee is robbed in a crowded vintner’s shop in
[Smithfield](mol:SMIT1). Here, the Foist is able to disappear into the crowd and the traveler is left with a bill he cannot pay. In this scenario, the thief benefits from her knowledge of the
urbs, the alleys between streets and buildings, and her sense of the
communitas—that is the likelihood of being caught. The tourist becomes a fool due to his lack of knowledge regarding both
urbs and
communitas of
[London](mol:LOND5).
Greene, the author of
The Great Boobee, and
Rowlands all capitalize on the reading public’s desire to take pleasure in their special knowledge of the city. This knowledge provides a sense of belonging that contrasts with the superficiality of a tourist’s interest in
[London](mol:LOND5)’s great landmarks. As evidenced by the two poems’ focus on
[London](mol:LOND5)’s famous sites, both tourists are able to experience the
urbs, but leave themselves open to the threats of the city’s
communitas. Gaping in wonder at the spectacle of the city below him, the Great Boobee forgets he is in public and begins to cry (
[The Great Boobee 2.46–48](mol:GREA5)). His counterpart in
Rowlands’ poem is likewise distracted by the sights in the time leading up to his robbery. It is the height of
[Saint Paul’s](mol:STPA2) (
[The Great Boobee 2.46](mol:GREA5)); the monstrousness of the whale bones at
[Whitehall](mol:WHIT5) (
[Rowlands 12](mol:ROWL3)); and the lifelike portraits of the kings at the
[Royal Exchange](mol:ROYA1) (
[The Great Boobee 2.43–45](mol:GREA5)) that capture their attention. Meanwhile, they miss the threatening social dynamics to which a more experienced Londoner would, perhaps, remain alert. A seasoned Londoner would likely find it gratifying to contrast his knowledge of the city with that of the two travellers.
Rowlands’ traveler and the Great Boobee function to consolidate the Londoner’s sense of superiority vis-à-vis the new arrivals to the city.
The most striking difference between the content of the two texts is the tone of their respective endings: one is a celebration, the other a condemnation of [London](mol:LOND5). The two poems represent alternate possible outcomes available to [London](mol:LOND5)’s new arrivals. Rowlands’ stranger leaves [London](mol:LOND5) convinced that he has encountered the devil ([Rowlands 19–20](mol:ROWL3)), while the Great Boobee imagines transcending the stigma of his past naiveté by becoming an actor brave enough to play before the Bears ([The Great Boobee 2.75–80](mol:GREA5)). After what is likely a brusque and disagreeable initiation, new arrivals must decide whether to chart a new course in the frequently unforgiving urban landscape or return to their provincial point of origin. Thomas Dekker’s
Gull’s Hornbook is a collection of sardonic encouragement and admonition for young country gallants attempting to make
[London](mol:LOND5) their home.
Dekker’s newcomers resemble those figured in
Rowlands’ poem and
The Great Boobee: their fathers are
old worm-eaten farmer[s]
who have died and left
five hundred a year
to their sons.
Dekker invites those who
would strive to fashion
to
whiff down these observations. For if he once get but to walk by the book (and I see no reason but he may, as well as fight by the book) [Paul’s](mol:STPA2) may be proud of him
(
[Dekker 88](mol:DEKK8)). The Great Boobee admires the gallants he meets recalling,
they were very gay
(
[The Great Boobee 2.12](mol:GREA5)). Ultimately, he comes to believe that if he can get a licence, he will, like the gallants, make a life in
[London](mol:LOND5). This is a more optimistic endnote than
Rowlands allows for his poem, which concludes with his traveler’s exodus and his claim that
[London](mol:LOND5) contains visions of the devil. The demonic vision constitutes a moral judgement directed against the criminal opportunism of
[London](mol:LOND5)’s
communitas.
The beginnings of the two poems provide hints regarding the decision each traveller ultimately makes to either stay, or return to the country. The reason for the Great Boobee’s and Rowlands’ traveller’s decision to journey to [London](mol:LOND5) likely lies in the collective attention focused on the city as a centre of commerce and prestige. The Great Boobee comes from a wealthy estate ([The Great Boobee 1.5–8](mol:GREA5)). After being unsuccessful at school, he tries farming, but is declared incompetent so he travels to [London](mol:LOND5) ([The Great Boobee 1.13–25](mol:GREA5)) for ſome Vaſhions for to ſee
([The Great Boobee 1.30](mol:GREA5)). The draw toward [London](mol:LOND5) is its novelty. This motivation is echoed by William Fennor’s characterization of young gallants, that never [give] over plodding with himself how he might get into the books of some goldsmith, haberdasher, silkman, woollen- or linen-draper
([Fennor 443](mol:FENN1)). Throughout the early modern period, [London](mol:LOND5) experienced rapid growth owing primarily to its important position in world trade ([Sheppard 125](mol:SHEP1)). The lure of highly valued objects—great edifices, or finely crafted goods—attract both businessmen and recently un-landed gentlemen to the city. Fennor goes on to explain how an aspiring country gallant, dazzled by the possibility of financial success and prestige of participating in the great commerce of [London](mol:LOND5), finds himself penniless after the city’s criminals are through with him ([Fennor 444](mol:FENN1)). The draw of [London](mol:LOND5)—as a city frequented by kings and port to ships from around the world—for marginally educated youths must have been enormous. Like the Great Boobee, Rowlands’
Country foole is
by an odde conceited humor led, / To trauell and ſome Engliſh faſhions ſee
(
[Rowlands 3](mol:ROWL3)). This
odde conceited humor
is legible as the simple mimetic curiosity inspired by large concentrations of people. The prestige of participating in
[London](mol:LOND5) despite humble origins—and perhaps leaving a mark in a great city—is summed up by
Dekker’s mocking advice that country gallants ascending the tower of
[Saint Paul’s](mol:STPA2) should carve their name somewhere in the monument,
or for want of a name [and literacy], the mark which you clap on your sheep
(
[Dekker 91](mol:DEKK8)).
Both
The Great Boobee and
A straunge ſighted Traueller acknowledge the draw
[London](mol:LOND5)’s
urbs had upon curious country people, but also the challenges that the criminal element of the city presented to a newcomer’s successful integration into the
communitas. Both poems dramatize the threat of conny-catching that contemporary pamphleteers address. The publication of such pamphlets and poems indicates a
[London](mol:LOND5) audience eager to know about their own city’s criminal underworld.
The Great Boobee and
Rowlands’ poem also touch on the powerful draw
[London](mol:LOND5) had for young country people with enough freedom to indulge their curiosity regarding the land’s greatest city and its landmarks. However, the curiosity terminates in an ultimatum: either weather the assaults of the urban
communitas, or give up and go home. The optimism of the Great Boobee leans toward the first possibility. Alternately, the straunge ſighted Traueller’s flight from the city combined with his bitter denunciation of
[London](mol:LOND5) as demonic indicts the
civitas’s often inhospitable reception of inexperienced newcomers. Taken together, the two works illuminate the anxiety new arrivals to
[London](mol:LOND5) experienced and the stereotypes established Londoners assigned them.