Chapter 1

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Transcriber's note:

Except for [Illustration] labels and similar, all brackets [] are in the original.

The Augustan Reprint Society

A Learned Dissertation on DUMPLING (Anonymous) (1726)

PUDDING AND DUMPLING _BURNT to POT_. or, A COMPLEAT KEY to the DISSERTATION ON DUMPLING (Anonymous) (1727)

_Introduction by_ SAMUEL L. MACEY

Publication Number 140 WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY University of California, Los Angeles

1970

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GENERAL EDITORS

William E. Conway, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ George Robert Guffey, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

David S. Rodes, _University of California, Los Angeles_

ADVISORY EDITORS

Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ Ralph Cohen, _University of Virginia_ Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ Earl Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_ Lawrence Clark Powell, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ James Sutherland, _University College, London_ H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ Robert Vosper, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

Edna C. Davis, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Roberta Medford, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_

INTRODUCTION

_A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling_ and its _Key_ (_Pudding and Dumpling Burnt to Pot_) are typical satiric pamphlets which grew out of the political in-fighting of the first half of the eighteenth century. The pamphlets are distinguished by the fact that the author's level of imagination and writing makes them delightful reading even today. In _Dumpling_ the author displays a considerable knowledge of cooks and cookery in London; by insinuating that to love dumpling is to love corruption, he effectively and amusingly achieves satiric indirection against a number of political and social targets, including Walpole. The _Key_ is in many ways a separate pamphlet in which Swift is the central figure under attack after his two secret visits to Walpole during 1726. _Dumpling_ had a long life for an eighteenth-century pamphlet and was published as late as 1770. Dr. F. T. Wood has even suggested that it may have influenced Lamb's _Dissertation on Roast Pig_;[1] readers might wish to test this for themselves.

_Dumpling_ and its _Key_ were first claimed for Henry Carey by Dr. Wood (pp. 442-447). Carey (1687-1743) is generally thought to have been an illegitimate scion of the powerful Savile family,[2] with whose name he christened three of his sons. He was perhaps best known as a writer of songs. "Sally in our Alley" is a classic, and he has even a tenuous claim to the authorship of the English national anthem. Carey's _Dramatic Works_ appeared in 1743, the year in which he met his death, almost certainly by his own hand. Several of the plays were successful and particular reference should be made to the burlesques _Chrononhotonthologos_ (1734) and _The Dragon of Wantley_ (1737). The latter even outran the performances of _The Beggar's Opera_ in its first year. Not only do these plays show Carey's satiric bent, but so also do a considerable number of his poems. In 1713, 1720, and 1729 Carey published three different collections of his poetry, each entitled _Poems on Several Occasions_. Although a few of the poems were repeated, almost always revised, each edition is very much a different collection. An edition was brought out in this century by Dr. Wood.[3]

I am strongly inclined to support Carey's claim to the authorship of _Dumpling_ and its _Key_ despite Dr. E. L. Oldfield's more recent attempt to invalidate it.[4] There were at least ten editions of _Dumpling_ in the eighteenth century. The first seven (1726-27) appeared during Carey's life, and these (I have seen all but the third) contain the _Namby Pamby_ verses which later appeared under Carey's own name in his enlarged _Poems on Several Occasions_ (1729). There was also a "sixth edition" of _Dumpling_ (really the eighth extant edition) in Carey's own name published "for T. Read, in Dogwell-Court, White-Friars, Fleet-Street, MDCCXLIV." Though _Namby Pamby_ was not added to the first edition of the _Key_, it appears in the second edition. Both editions were published by Mrs. Dodd, of whom Dr. Oldfield says: she "seems to have been a neighbour, and known to Carey" (p. 375). Dr. Wood indicates that "at the foot of a folio sheet containing Carey's song _Mocking is Catching_, published in 1726, the sixth edition of _A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling_ is advertised as having been lately published" (p. 442). Dr. Wood adds in a footnote that this song "appeared in _The Musical Century_ (1740) under the title _A Sorrowful Lamentation for the Loss of a Man and No Man_." Even more striking would seem to be the fact that although there are ninety-one entries in his _Poems_ (1729), Carey has placed the _Sorrowful Lamentation_ directly adjacent to _Namby Pamby_.

Dr. Wood maintains of _Dumpling_ that "the general style bears a close resemblance to that of the prefaces to Carey's plays and collections of poetry" (p. 443). I should like strongly to support his statement. Dr. Oldfield says that an inviolable regard for decency "is nowhere contradicted in Carey's works . . . . Yet the pamphlets, besides being palpably Whiggish, are larded _passim_ with vulgarity of the 'Close-Stool' and 'Clyster' variety" (p. 376). The reader need look no further than _Namby Pamby_ to see that Carey satisfies Northrop Frye's very proper observation: "Genius seems to have led practically every great satirist to become what the world calls obscene."

As for the pamphlets being "palpably Whiggish," the reader will not look far into the allegory before he realizes that one of the central attacks is against those well-known Whigs Walpole and Marlborough and their appetite for Dumpling (i.e., bribery and perquisites). Furthermore, the attack on Swift, which is central to the _Key_, is based on the very real fear that the Dean's two recent private interviews with Walpole might presage a return to that leader's Whig party in exchange for Dumpling. The last pages of the _Key_ (pp. 28-30) deal with the possibility of an accommodation between Swift and Walpole which is, I feel sure, the main target of attack. In his poems (_Poems_, ed. Wood, pp. 83, 86, 88, and _passim_) Carey claims to stand between Whig and Tory, just as he does in the pamphlets (_Dumpling_, p. 1, and _Key_, p. 15 and _passim_).

Dr. Wood perceptively points to two parallels between _Dumpling_ and the satiric _Of Stage Tyrants_ (1735) which Carey openly addressed to the Earl of Chesterfield. _Dumpling's_ "O Braund, my Patron! my Pleasure! my Pride" (p. [ii]) becomes: "O Chesterfield, my patron and my pride" (_Poems_, ed. Wood, p. 104). The passage which follows, dealing with "all the Monkey-Tricks of Rival Harlequins" (_Dumpling_, p. [ii]), becomes:

Prefer pure nature and the simple scene To all the monkey tricks of Harlequin

(_Poems_, ed. Wood, p. 106).

Even more striking is a passage in the _Key_: "Mr. B[ooth] had spoken to Mr. W[ilks] to speak to Mr. C[ibber] . . ." (p. 111). This is similar to the following lines in _Stage Tyrants_:

Booth ever shew'd me friendship and respect, And Wilks would rather forward than reject. Ev'n Cibber, terror to the scribbling crew, Would oft solicit me for something new

(_Poems_, ed. Wood, p. 104).

What is particularly impressive is that Carey not only refers to the three managers of Drury Lane but mentions them in the same order and as bearing the same relationship to himself. Several highly topical theatrical allusions in the pamphlets, by which the works can be dated, accord closely to the life, views, and writings of Carey. All three managers of Drury Lane were subscribers to Carey's _Poems on Several Occasions_ (1729), which was dedicated to the Countess of Burlington, who (like the Earl of Chesterfield) was closely related to Carey's putative family. In the _Poems_ these people and many others (including Pope) would have seen _Namby Pamby_ under Carey's name and drawn the obvious conclusion that _Namby Pamby_, _Dumpling_ and the _Key_ were by the same author.

We have already seen how closely _Dumpling_ and _Stage Tyrants_ can be tied together; the reader can compare for himself that part of _Namby Pamby_ containing "So the Nurses get by Heart / Namby Pamby's Little Rhymes," with the passage from the _Key_: "It was here the D[ean] . . . got together all his Namby Pamby . . . from the old Nurses thereabouts" (_Key_, pp. 16-17).

There exists in the Bodleian an early copy of _Namby Pamby_ (1725?) "By Capt. Gordon, Author of the Apology for Parson Alberony and the Humorist." The joke here is surely in not only letting the Whig Gordon attack the Whig Ambrose Phillips but then, also by association, connecting Gordon's name with the attack on Walpole and Marlborough. There is a parallel to this: Carey's "Lilliputian Ode on Their Majesties Succession" appeared in _Poems_ (1729), separated from the pieces previously mentioned by only one short patriotic stanza. Yet in the Huntington Library there is an almost identical version (1727) which was ostensibly published by Swift.

The first six editions of _Dumpling_ appeared in 1726 and both editions of the _Key_ are dated 1727. Apart from the dates on the title page, this can be verified externally by the initial entries in Wilford's _Monthly Catalogue_ (1723-30) of February 1726 and April 1727 respectively. Swift's first return visit to England (in March 1726 after twelve years) was subsequent to the publication of _Dumpling_; his second visit was in the same month as the publication of the _Key_, which assigns him _ex post facto_ the authorship "from Page 1. to Page 25." of _Dumpling_ (_Key_, p. ix).

Sir John Pudding and his Dumpling are manipulated throughout these pamphlets to carry a multiplicity of meaning which brings them almost as close to symbolism as they are to the allegory that Carey claims to be writing (_Key_, pp. 18, 24 and 29). Collation of _Dumpling_ with its _Key_ clearly reveals (with due allowance for satiric arabesque) a series of allegories moving backwards and forwards through history. At various stages, Sir John Pudding (ostensibly Brawn [or John Brand], the famous cook of the Rummer in Queen Street who appears in Dr. King's _Art of Cookery_ [1708]), becomes identifiable with King John, Sir John Falstaff, Walpole, Marlborough, and even Queen Anne (for the change in sexes see _Key_, p. 18). All of these enjoyed Dumpling, and their tastes are ostensibly approved while at the same time being heavily undercut with satiric indirection. Naturally enough, Walpole (although a Dumpling Eater) is treated with considerable circumspection. Carey has warned us that he is a bad chronologist (_Key_, p. 21), and the Sir John Pudding (be he Walpole or Marlborough [d. 1722]), who at the end of _Dumpling_ is referred to as "the Hero of this DUMPLEID," is for good reason spoken of in the past tense.

The fable of Dumpling, in the true spirit of _lanx satura_, allows Carey to attack by indirection a complete spectrum of traditional eighteenth-century targets. Like the musician and the satirist that he is, he builds up to a magnificent crescendo (pp. 19-24 of his "Dumpleid") which results in one of the finest displays of sustained virtuosity in early eighteenth-century pamphlet writing.

The notes which follow the texts point to a number of the contemporary allusions, but the reader will surely wish to recognize some of the references and the more delicate ironies for himself. As the author puts it on page 17 of _Dumpling_:

O wou'd to Heav'n this little Attempt of Mine may stir up some _Pudding-headed Antiquary_ to dig his Way through all the mouldy Records of Antiquity, and bring to Light the Noble Actions of Sir _John_!

What scholar could refuse?

University of Victoria

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

1. "An Eighteenth-Century Original for Lamb," _RES_, V (1929), 447.

2. An exception is Henry J. Dane who denies the relationship in "The Life and Works of Henry Carey," unpublished doctoral dissertation (University of Pennsylvania, 1967), pp. xxix-xxx, and _passim_.

3. _Poems_, ed. F. T. Wood (London, 1930).

4. "Henry Carey (1687-1743) and Some Troublesome Attributions," _BNYPL_, LXII (1968), 372-377.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

These facsimiles of _A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling_ (1726) and _Pudding and Dumpling Burnt to Pot_ (1727) are reproduced from copies in the Bodleian Library and the British Museum.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A Learned Dissertation on DUMPLING;

Its Dignity, Antiquity, and Excellence.

With a Word upon PUDDING.

And

Many other Useful Discoveries, of great Benefit to the Publick.

_Quid Farto melius? Huic suam agnoscit corpus energiam, Suam aciem mens: ------------ ---- Hinc adoleverunt praestantissimi, Hi Fartophagi in Reipublicae commodum._

_Mab._ de Fartophagis, _lib._ iii. _cap._ 2.

_LONDON._

Printed for _J. Roberts_ in the _Oxford-Arms_-Passage, _Warwick-lane_; and Sold by the Booksellers of _London_ and _Westminster_. 1726. [Price 6 _d._]

[Decoration]

TO Mr. BRAUND.

SIR,

Let Mercenary _Authors_ flatter the Great, and subject their Principle to Interest and Ambition, I scorn such sordid Views; You only are Eminent in my Eyes: On You I look as the most Useful Member in a Body-Politic, and your Art far superior to all others: Therefore,

_Tu mihi Mecaenas Eris!_

O BRAUND, my Patron! my Pleasure! my Pride! disdain not to grace my Labours with a kind Perusal. Suspend a-while your more momentous Cares, and condescend to taste this little _Fricassee_ of Mine.

I write not this, to Bite you by the Ear, (_i.e._) flatter you out of a Brace or two of Guinea's: No; as I am a true _Dumpling Eater_, my Views are purely _Epicurean_, and my utmost Hopes center'd in partaking of some elegant _Quelque Chose_ tost up by your judicious Hand. I regard Money but as a Ticket which admits me to your Delicate Entertainments; to me much more Agreeable than all the Monkey-Tricks of Rival _Harlequins_, or _Puppet-Show_ Finery of Contending _Theatres_.

The Plague and fatigue of Dependance and Attendance, which call me so often to the Court-end of the Town, were insupportable, but for the Relief I find at AUSTIN's, your Ingenious and Grateful Disciple, who has adorn'd _New Bond-street_ with your Graceful _Effigies_. Nor can he fail of Custom who has hung out a Sign so Alluring to all true _Dumpling-Eaters_. Many a time and oft have I gaz'd with Pleasure on your Features, and trac'd in them the exact Lineaments of your glorious Ancestor Sir JOHN BRAND, vulgarly call'd Sir JOHN PUDDING.

Tho' the Corruption of our _English_ Orthography indulges some appearance of Distinction between BRAND and BRAUND, yet in Effect they are one and the same thing. The ancient Manor of BRAND's, alias BRAUND's, near Kilburn in _Middlesex_, was the very Manor-House of Sir JOHN BRAND, and is call'd BRAND's to this Day, altho' at present it be in the Possession of the Family of MARSH.

What Honours are therefore due to One who is in a Direct Male Line, an Immediate Descendant from the Loins of that Great Man! Let this teach You to value your Self; this remind the World, how much they owe to the Family of the BRAUNDS; more particularly to YOU, who inherit not only the Name, but the Virtues of your Illustrious Ancestor. I am,

SIR,

With all imaginable Esteem and Gratitude, Your very most Obedient Servant, _&c._

Page 5. line 15, _&c._ for _Barnes_ read _Brand_.

[Decoration]

A

Learned Dissertation

on

DUMPLING;

Its Dignity, Antiquity, _&c._

The Dumpling-Eaters are a Race sprung partly from the old _Epicurean_, and partly from the _Peripatetic Sect_; they were brought first into _Britain_ by _Julius Cesar_; and finding it a Land of Plenty, they wisely resolv'd never to go Home again. Their Doctrines are Amphibious, and compos'd _Party per Pale_ of the two Sects before-mention'd; from the _Peripatetics_, they derive their Principle of Walking, as a proper Method to digest a Meal, or create an Appetite; from the _Epicureans_, they maintain that all Pleasures are comprehended in good Eating and Drinking: And so readily were their Opinions embrac'd, that every Day produc'd many Proselytes; and their Numbers have from Age to Age increas'd prodigiously, insomuch that our whole Island is over-run with them, at present. Eating and Drinking are become so Customary among us that we seem to have entirely forgot, and laid aside the old Fashion of Fasting: Instead of having Wine sold at Apothecaries Shops, as formerly, every Street has two or three Taverns in it, least these Dumpling-Eaters should faint by the Way; nay, so zealous are they in the Cause of _Bacchus_, that one of the Chief among 'em has made a Vow never to say his Prayers 'till he has a Tavern of _his own_ in every Street in _London_, and in every Market-Town in _England_. What may we then in Time expect? Since by insensible Degrees, their Society is become so numerous and formidable, that they are without Number; other Bodies have their Meetings, but where can the Dumpling-Eaters assemble? what Place large enough to contain 'em! The _Bank_, _India_, and _South-Sea_ Companies have their General Courts, the _Free-Masons_ and the _Gormogons_ their Chapters; nay, our Friends the _Quakers_ have their Yearly Meetings. And who would imagine any of these should be Dumpling-Eaters? But thus it is, the Dumpling-Eating Doctrine has so far prevailed among 'em, that they eat not only Dumplings, but _Puddings_, and those in no small Quantities.

The Dumpling is indeed, of more antient Institution, and of _Foreign_ Origin; but alas, what were those Dumplings? nothing but a few Lentils sodden together, moisten'd and cemented with a little seeth'd Fat, not much unlike our Gritt or Oatmeal Pudding; yet were they of such Esteem among the ancient _Romans_, that a Statue was erected to _Fulvius Agricola_, the first Inventor of these Lentil Dumplings. How unlike the Gratitude shewn by the Publick to our Modern Projectors!

The _Romans_, tho' our Conquerors, found themselves much out-done in Dumplings by our Fore-fathers; the _Roman_ Dumplings were no more to compare to those made by the _Britons_, than a Stone-Dumpling is to a Marrow Pudding; tho' indeed, the _British_ Dumpling at that time, was little better than what we call a Stone-Dumpling, being no thing else but Flour and Water: But every Generation growing wiser and wiser, the Project was improv'd, and Dumpling grew to be Pudding: One Projector found Milk better than Water; another introduc'd Butter; some added Marrow, others Plumbs; and some found out the Use of Sugar; so that, to speak Truth, we know not where to fix the Genealogy or Chronology of any of these Pudding Projectors, to the Reproach of our Historians, who eat so much Pudding, yet have been so Ungrateful to the first Professors of this most noble Science, as not to find 'em a Place in History.

The Invention of Eggs was merely accidental, two or three of which having casually roll'd from off a Shelf into a Pudding which a good Wife was making, she found herself under a Necessity either of throwing away her Pudding, or letting the Eggs remain, but concluding from the innocent Quality of the Eggs, that they would do no Hurt, if they did no Good. She wisely jumbl'd 'em all together, after having carefully pick'd out the Shells; the Consequence is easily imagined, the Pudding became a Pudding of Puddings; and the Use of Eggs from thence took its Date. The Woman was sent for to Court to make Puddings for King _John_, who then sway'd the Scepter; and gain'd such Favour, that she was the making of her whole Family. I cannot conclude this Paragraph without owning, I received this important Part of the History of Pudding from old Mr. _Lawrence_ of _Wilsden-Green_, the greatest Antiquary of the present Age.

From that Time the _English_ became so famous for Puddings, that they are call'd Pudding-Eaters all over the World, to this Day.

At her Demise, her Son was taken into Favour, and made the King's chief Cook; and so great was his Fame for Puddings, that he was call'd _Jack Pudding_ all over the Kingdom, tho' in Truth, his real Name was _John Brand_, as by the Records of the Kitchen you will find: This _John Brand_, or _Jack-Pudding_, call him which you please, the _French_ have it _Jean Boudin_, for his Fame had reached _France_, whose King would have given the World to have had our _Jack_ for his Pudding-Maker. This _Jack Pudding_, I say, became yet a greater Favourite than his Mother, insomuch that he had the King's Ear as well as his Mouth at Command; for the King, you must know, was a mighty Lover of Pudding; and _Jack_ fitted him to a Hair, he knew how to make the most of a Pudding; no Pudding came amiss to him, he would make a Pudding out of a Flint-stone, comparatively speaking. It is needless to enumerate the many sorts of Pudding he made, such as Plain Pudding, Plumb Pudding, Marrow Pudding, Oatmeal Pudding, Carrot Pudding, Saucesage Pudding, Bread Pudding, Flower Pudding, Suet Pudding, and in short, every Pudding but Quaking Pudding, which was solely invented by, and took its Name from our Good Friends of the _Bull and Mouth_ before mentioned, notwithstanding the many Pretenders to that Projection.