Part 2
_Citt and Bumpkin_ survives close scrutiny according to the critical criteria for evaluating dialogues suggested by Purpus and Macdonald. Although L'Estrange does use the genre for a specific controversial end, he does not lapse into a barren question-and-answer type of organization nor into that of an artificial didactic catechism. While he sketches a setting, develops characterization, and creates believable conversation, L'Estrange does not err in the direction of over-dramatization either. He provides all the requisite machinery to support the dramatic realism necessary in a successful dialogue, but he goes no further. Throughout _Citt and Bumpkin_, L'Estrange maintains the appropriate "plain, easy and familiar" style. The sentence structure is simple, and clauses are well punctuated. Abounding with colloquial expressions, contractions, and slang, the vocabulary is common and especially suited to the low characters. A bantering tone predominates, accompanied by passages employing irony, satire, and invective. There is not enough invective, however, to destroy the mood. If L'Estrange's Tory bias is perfectly evident, it is not aggressive enough to prevent the accomplishment of his polemic objectives. Although the republican political theories of the Whigs are attacked satirically in the first part of _Citt and Bumpkin_, they are stated and refuted in proper controversial style in the final pages of the pamphlet. On the whole, _Citt and Bumpkin_ conforms to the conventions of a successful dialogue; where it does not, the infringements are not great enough to destroy its artistic integrity.
_Citt and Bumpkin's_ popularity was indisputable. Of all the pamphlets about petitioning, it was by far the most widely read. It went into four editions by June 1680 and a fifth in 1681. Although there were no substantive changes in the various editions, the type was reset each time, so implying a continuing demand for the pamphlet. Indeed, the contemporary response was so overwhelming that within six weeks L'Estrange wrote a sequel entitled, _Citt and Bumpkin, The Second Part; Or, A Learned Discourse upon Swearing and Lying_. In addition, there were many references in the Whig press denigrating L'Estrange and his pamphlet; derogatory remarks appeared in newspapers, ballads, and poems. In particular, three pamphlets were issued, replying directly to _Citt and Bumpkin_ and attacking L'Estrange personally. The first and most considerable of these rejoinders appeared on 16 March, a month after the publication of _Citt and Bumpkin_, when its effect was being fully realized and the need felt to combat it.
_A Dialogue Between Tom and Dick Over a Dish of Coffee Concerning Matters of Religion and Government_, issued also as _Crack-fart and Tony; Or, Knave and Fool_,[9] is a parody following closely the format and arguments of _Citt and Bumpkin_. Having appropriated the framework employed by L'Estrange, the author of _Tom and Dick_ adjusted it by a series of simple substitutions from an attack on the Protestant Plot, Dissenters, Schism, and republicans, to an assault on the Popish Plot, Papists, Roman Catholicism, and loyalists. The parallels in setting and characterization are established immediately, when Tom and Dick meet in a coffee house and agree to hold a conversation in which Tom will speak, write, invent, and hold forth as Citt had done, while Dick will hear, believe, and speak in his turn (but to little purpose) like Bumpkin. The parody breaks down, however, when one compares Trueman with Goodman, who endorses Trueman's arguments rather than misrepresenting or opposing them. Nor does Goodman observe Trueman's scrupulous care in replying to all the issues raised by the other two characters. Throughout the dialogue, the author manages to maintain dramatic realism and to sustain a mock-serious tone in the absurd-but-credible verbal exchange between his two buffoons.
The second rebuttal was released three months later on 14 June. Signed E. P. (possibly Edward Phillips), _The Dialogue Betwixt Cit and Bumpkin Answered_ replies not only to _Citt and Bumpkin_, but reflects upon several other polemic tracts by L'Estrange, and attacks him _ad hominem_ from beginning to end. A long prefatory letter discussing the powers and privileges of city corporations and the faults of L'Estrange's _Popery in Masquerade_ precedes the dialogue, which preserves the same general format and style of its target. The roles of the characters are only roughly analogous, however, and the development of the argument is retarded and obscured by the abuse of L'Estrange. All too often, the argument is neither pertinent nor incisive. Unfortunately, E. P. lacks all the vitality, wit, and imagination of his polemic adversary. Incensed by E. P.'s scurrility, L'Estrange replied within three days to all of his charges in _A Short Answer to a Whole Litter of Libels_.
Although it does not appear in Luttrell's _Popish Plot Catalogues_, the third reply to _Citt and Bumpkin_, _Crack upon Crack: Or, Crack-Fart Whipt with his own Rod, by Citt and Bumpkin_, can be dated approximately upon the basis of internal evidence. References to L'Estrange's flight to escape a sham plot against him in October, 1680, imply a late autumn publication date. Purporting to answer both parts of _Citt and Bumpkin_, this pamphlet does not deal with any of the arguments raised in either work. The author abandons any attempt at parody, and instead borrows details of setting from the popular _Letter from Legorn_ pamphlets which appeared that year. The characters pursue the absconded Trueman (_i.e._, L'Estrange) aboard a Mahometan (_i.e._, Papist) ship and lure him ashore in order to seek revenge for their recent humiliation at his hands. The dialogue contains four pages of unimaginative abuse of Trueman which culminates in his drubbing by Citt and Bumpkin. Largely scatological, this uninspired attack upon L'Estrange does not strike a single telling blow against _Citt and Bumpkin_.
In fact, _Citt and Bumpkin_ enjoyed unqualified success despite the best efforts of its various detractors. And its popularity was well deserved. Appearing just when the unrest over petitioning was at its height, _Citt and Bumpkin_ captured the interest and imagination of the public with its cogent argument and witty satire.
NOTES
1: J. R. Jones, _The First Whigs_ (London, 1961), p. 117; Roger North, _Examen, or an Enquiry into the Credit and Veracity of a Pretended Complete History_ (London, 1740), p. 542.
2: North, p. 542.
3: Jones, pp. 119-20.
4: Eugene R. Purpus, "The Dialogue in English Literature, 1660-1725," _ELH_, XVII (1950), II. 58.
5: The information on the dialogue in this paragraph is taken from Purpus, pp. 48-49.
6: Purpus, pp. 50-52.
7: Purpus, p. 48; Hugh Macdonald, "Banter in English Controversial Prose after the Restoration," _Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association_, XXXII (1946), 21-22.
8: Macdonald, p. 23.
9: One of L'Estrange's opponents nicknamed him the "Crack-fart of the Nation" and the epithet stuck to him for years.
=Text=
The text of _Citt and Bumpkin_ here reprinted is the copy in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.
CITT
AND
BUMPKIN.
IN A
DIALOGUE
OVER
A Pot of Ale,
CONCERNING
MATTERS
OF
RELIGION
AND
GOVERNMENT.
_LONDON_,
Printed for _Henry Brome_ at the Gun in S. _Pauls_ Church-yard, 1680.
_Citt_ and _Bumkin_,
In a DIALOGUE, _&c._
_Citt._ So that you would know, _First_, how we _manag'd_ the _Petition_; and _Secondly_, how it came to _miscarry_.
Bum. _Those are the two Points_, Citt, _but first take off your_ Pot, _and then tell your_ Story; _you shall have mine afterward_.
Committees to promote the Petitions.
_Citt._ There was no way, you must know, to carry the business clear, without getting a _Vote_ of _Common-Council_ for the _Petition_; and so making it an Act of the _City_: And in order to this End, we planted our _Committees_ every where up and down, from _Algate_ to _Temple-barr_, at convenient distances; some few of them in _Taverns_ but most at _Coffee-houses_; as less liable to suspition. Now we did not call these _Meetings_, _Committees_, but _Clubs_; and _there_ we had all Freedom both for _Privacy_ and _Debate_: while the _Borough_ of _Southwark_, _Westminster_, and the _Suburbs_, proceeded according to our Method.
Bum. _And what were these_ Committees _now to do_?
Their Powers and Instructions.
_Citt._ Their _Commission_ was to procure _Subscriptions_, to justify the Right of _Petitioning_, and to gain _Intelligence_: And then every _Committee_ had one man at least in it that wrote _short-hand_.
Bum. _Well, and what was he to do?_
_Citt._ It was his part to go smoking up and down from One Company to another, to see who was _for_ us, and who _against_ us: and to take Notes of what people said of the _Plot_, or of the _Kings Witnesses_, or against this way of _Petitioning_.
Bum. _But how came those Committees (as ye call 'um) by their_ Commissions?
Two Grand Committees.
_Citt._ For that, let me tell you, we had _two Grand Committees_, that adjourn'd from place to place, as they saw occasion: But they met most commonly at _Two Coffee-houses_; the _One_ near _Guild-Hall_, the _Other_ in the _Strand_; for you must take notice that we went on, hand in hand with our _Neighbours_ in the _Main Design_.
Bum. _But you do not tell me yet who set up the_ Other Committees.
The Office of the Grand Committees.
_Citt._ These two _Grand Committees_, I tell you, nominated and appointed the _Sub-Committees_, gave them their _Orders_, and received their _Reports_: It was their Office moreover to digest _Discoveries_, and _Informations_; to instruct _Articles_, improve _Accusations_, manage _Controversies_, defray the charge of _Intelligencers_, and _Gatherers of hands_, to dispose of _Collections_; to influence the _Anglicus_'s and _Domesticks_, and fortify those that were weak in the Faith; to furnish matter sometimes for _Narratives_.----
Bum. _What dost thou mean by_ Narratives, Citt?
_Citt._ They are only _Strange Storys_; as that of the _Dragon_ in _Essex_; _Earth-quakes_, _Sights in the Air_, _Prodigies_, and the like.
Bum. _One would think it should not be worth their while, to busy their heads about such Fooleries as these._
Stories of Prodigies startle the Common People.
_Citt._ Now this is thy simplicity _Bumpkin_, for there is not any thing that moves the hearts of the People so effectually toward _the Work of the Lord_, especially when the _Narrative_ carries some _Historical Remarque_ in the Tayl of it: As for the purpose, _this or that happen'd in such a Kings Reign, and soon after such and such troubles befell the Church and State_: such a _Civil War_, such or such a _Persecution_, or _Invasion_ follow'd upon it. When the People perceive once that the Lord hath declared himself against the Nation, in these tokens of his Displeasure, the Multitude seldom fail of helping the Judgment forward.
Bum. _I don't know what ye call your_ Committees, _but Our Gentry had their_ Meetings _too; and there was a great Lord or two among 'um that shall be Nameless_.
_Citt._ We could shew you _othergates Lords_ among _Us_, I'le assure you, then any you have; but let that passe.
Bum. _You told me that your_ Committees _were to procure_ Subscriptions; _we were hard put to't, I'm sure, in the_ Country _to get_ Hands.
The way of getting hands in and about _London_.
_Citt._ And so were we in the City _Bumpkin_; and if it had not been to advance the _Protestant Interest_, I'de have been torn to pieces by wild Horses, before I'de have done what I did. But _extraordinary Cases_ must have _extraordinary allowances_. There was hardly a _Register_ about the Town that scap'd us for _Names_: _Bedlam_, _Bridewell_, all the _Parish-books_, nay the very _Goals_, and _Hospitalls_; we had our _Agents_ at all _Publick Meetings_, _Court_, _Church_, _Change_, all the _Schools_ up and down; _Masters_ underwrit for their _Children_, and _Servants_, _Women_ for their _Husbands_ in the _West-Indies_, nay we prevail'd upon some _Parsons_, to engage for their whole _Congregations_; we took in _Jack Straw_, _Wat Tyler_, and the whole Legend of _Poor Robins Saints_ into our List of _Petitioners_; and the _same Names_ serv'd us in four or five _several places_. And where's the hurt of all this now? So long as the Cause it self is Righteous.
Several ways of getting Hands in the Country.
Bum. _Nay, the thing was well enough_ Citt, _if we could but have gone through with it: And you shall see now that we were put to our shifts in the_ Country, _as well as you in the_ City. _I was employ'd you must know, to get_ Names _at_ four shillings a Hundred, _and I had all my_ Real Subscriptions _written at such a distance, one from another, that I could easily clap in a Name or two betwixt 'um; and then I got as many_ School-boys _as I could, to underwrite after the same manner, and after this, fill'd up all those spaces with_ Names _that I either_ Remember'd, _or_ Invented _my self, or could get out of two or three_ Christning-books. _There are a World (ye know) of_ Smiths, Browns, Clarks, Walkers, Woods, _so that I furnish'd my Catalogue with a matter of Fifty a piece of these_ Sir-names_, which I_ Christen'd _my self. And besides, we had all the_ Non-conformist Ministers _in the_ Country _for us, and they brought in a power of hands_.
The Protestant Dissenters great Promoters of the Petition.
_Citt._ What do you talk of _your Non-conformists_? They do but work _Journey-work_ to _Ours_. We have the _Heads_ of all the _Protestant Dissenters_ in the _Nation_ here in this Town, why, we have more _Religions_, _Bumpkin_, in _this City_, then you have _People_ in your whole _Country_.
Bum. _Ay, and 'tis a great blessing too, that when_ Professors _are at so mighty Variance among_ themselves_, there should be so wonderfull an_ Agreement _in the_ Common Cause.
_Citt._ And that's notably observ'd, _Bumkin_; for so we found it here. The _Presbyterian_ got hands of _His Party_; the _Independent_ of _His_; the _Baptist_ of _His_; the _Fifth-Monarchy_ man of _His_; and so throughout all our Divisions: and we had still the most zealous man in His way, to gather the _Subscriptions_: And when they had completed their _Roll_, they discharg'd themselves as Naturally into the _Grand Committee_, as _Rivers_ into the _Sea_. And then we were sure of all the _Republicans_.
Bum. _But after all this_ Care _and_ Industry_, how was it possible for the business to_ Miscarry?
_Citt._ Why I know 'tis laid in our dish, that when we had set the whole Kingdome agogg upon _Petitioning_, our hearts would not serve us to go through stitch, and so we drew our own necks out of the Collar, and left the Countries in the Lurch.
Bum. _Nay that's the Truth on't,_ Citt_; We stood all gaping for_ London _to lead the way_.
_Citt._ The great work that we look't upon was the gaining of a _well-affected Common-Council_; which we secur'd upon the _Election_, with all the skill, and watchfullness imaginable.
Bum. _And that was a huge point_ Citt; _but how were ye able to compasse it_?
Tricks to defeat Elections.
_Citt._ Why we had no more to do, then to mark those that we knew were not for our turns, either as _Courtiers_, or _Loose-livers_, or _half-Protestants_, and their business was done.
Bum. _We went the same way to work too in the_ Country_, at all our_ Elections; _for it is a Lawfull Policy, you know, to lessen the Reputation of an Enemy_.
_Citt._ Nay we went further still; and set a _Report_ a foot upon the _Exchange_, and all the _Coffee-houses_ and _Publique Houses_ thereabouts, which held from _Change-time_, till the very _Rising_ of the _Common-Councill_, when the _Petition_ was _laid aside_; that past so currant, that no mortall doubted the Truth on't.
Bum. _But you ha' not told me what that_ Report _was yet_.
_Citt._ It was this, _that the King had sent a Message to the City to let them understand that he took notice how much they stood affected to the_ Petition; _that he expected they would proceed upon it; and that his Majesty was ready to give them_ a gracious Answer.
Bum. _But was this fair dealing, Brother?_
_Citt._ Did not _Abraham_ say of _Sarah, She's my Sister_?
Bum. _Well thou'rt a heavenly man_, Citt! _but come to the Miscarriage it self_.
The Petition laid aside in the _Common-Council_.
_Citt._ After as Hopefull a _Choice_ as ever was made, we procur'd a _Common-Councill_: where the _Petition_ was put to the _Vote_, and it was carry'd in the _Commons_ by _two Voyces_, for the presenting it, and by _Fourteen_, or _Fifteen Votes_ in the _Court of Aldermen_, on the _Negative_.
Bum. _So that_ your Damn'd Aldermen_, and_ our Damn'd Justices, _have ruin'd us both in_ City _and_ Country.
_Citt._ Hang'um, they are most of them _Church-Papists_; but we should have dealt well enough with _them_, if it had not been for that confounded _Act_ for _Regulating Corporations_.
Bum. _Prethee let me understand that, for I know nothing on't._
The Act for Corporations brake the neck on't.
_Citt._ Take notice then that this Devillish Statute has provided, that _no man shall serve as a_ Common-Councell man, _but upon condition of taking three_ Oaths, _and subscribing_ one Declaration, _therein mention'd; and having taken the_ Sacrament _of the_ Lords Supper, _according to the Rites of the Church of_ England, _within one year next before his Election_. Now it so fell out, that what with this _Act_, and a _Court-Letter_ for putting it in _Execution_, a matter of _thirty_ of our _Friends_ were put _by_, as not duly qualify'd; And upon this Pinch we lost it. Nay let me tell ye as a friend, there were at least _twenty_ or _thirty_ of the rest too, that would hardly have past Muster.
Bum. _But is this certain?_
_Citt._ Why I am now in my Element, _Bumkin_; for thou know'st my Education has been toward the Law.
Bum. _This was a Plaguy jobb_, Citt, _but we must look better to our Hitts next bout_.
_Citt._ Nay my life for thine we'll have another touch for't yet. But tell me in short; how came you off with your _Petition_ in the _Country_?
Bum. _It went on for a good while prettily well at the_ Quarter-Sessions; _till at last one_ Cross-grain'd Curr _there upon the_ Bench _claw'd us all away to the Devill, and got an Order of Court against it, while you would say what's this_.
_Citt._ But what did he say?
The Petition baffled in the Country.
Bum. _Oh there was a great deal of stuff on't; the_ King, _and the_ Judges _(he said) had declared it to be_ Seditious, _and so they were to take it. That they sat there to_ keep _the_ Kings Peace, _not to countenance the_ Breaking _of it; and then (says he) these fellows don't know what they would have_. One _Petitions for_ Chalk, _and_ Another _for_ Cheese; _the Petition was at first_ for the meeting of the Parliament; _and then they came to Twit the King with his_ Coronation-Oath, _and then_, Delinquents _must be brought to_ Punishment; _and then the_ Parliament _was to Sit as_ long _as_ they pleas'd, _and at_ last, _every man must be_ mark'd _for a_ Common Enemy _that would not_ Subscribe _it. So that first they would have the_ Parliament Sit; _and then they'd cut 'um out their work; and in fine, it was little other then a_ Petition _against_ those _that would_ not Petition. _He said there were Ill practices in the getting of hands, and so they threw out the_ Petition, _and order'd an_ Enquiry _into the_ Abuses.
_Citt._ Well, there's no remedy but Patience.
Bum. _I had need of Patience I'm sure, for they're Examining the Hands allready, as hard as they can drive; You'l see me in the_ Gazette next Thursday, _as sure as a Gun_.
_Citt._ Why then we must play the _Domestique_ against _him, next Fryday_.
Bum. _Nay, I'm sure to be trounc'd for't to some tune, if I be_ taken.
_Citt._ Pre'thee what art affraid of? There's no _Treason_ in getting hands to a _Petition_ man.
Bum. _No, that's true; but I have put in such a Lurry of_ Dog-Rogues; _they cry_ they're defam'd, _with a Pox_, they'le have their remedy; _and they make such a Bawling_.
_Citt._ Come, come, set thy heart at rest: and know that in this City th'art in the very Sanctuary of the _Well-affected_. But 'tis good however to prepare for the _worst_, and the _best_ (as they say) _will help its self_. But art thou really afraid of being _taken_?
Bum. _And so would you be too, if you were in my condition, without a_ penny, _or a_ friend _in the world to help ye_.
The blessing of having neither friends nor Mony.
_Citt._ Thou art two great Owls, _Bumkin_, in a very few words. _First_, thou hast _great friends_ and do'st not _know on't_, and _Secondly_ thou do'st not understand the _Blessing_, of having neither _Friends_, nor _Money_. In one word, I'll see thee provided for; and in the mean time, give me thy answer to a few questions.
I make no doubt but they that put thee into this _Trust_, and _Employment_ of helping on the _Petition_, are men of _Estate_, and men _well-inclin'd_ to the _Publique Cause_.
Methods of _Popularity._
Bum. _O, their_ Landlords _and_ Masters _are men of huge Estates; but 'tis the_ Tenants, _and the_ Stewards _that I have to do withall. But then (do you mark me) those people are all in all with their Masters._
_Citt._ I suppose you may be known to the _Landlords_ and _Masters themselves_ too. Do they ever take any notice of you?
Bum. _Yes, yes; I go often to their Houses man, and they speak mighty kindly to me; and there's nothing but_ Honest Obadiah, _and_ Good Obadiah _at every turn; and then the Men take me into the Kitchin, or into the Cellar, or so. And let me tell you_ Citt, _if it had not been for them once, I had been plaguyly paid off in the_ Spirituall Court _upon a certain Occasion_.
_Citt._ That's a very good sign of _Affection_ to the _Cause_, as I told thee: and it would be never the worse if they were under a Cloud at _Court_; for _an Honest Revenge_, ye know _goes a great way with a tender Conscience_.
Bum. _I have hear'd some Inkling that way, but we'le scatter no words._
_Citt._ They never speak any thing to you in private, do they? As of _Grievances_, (I mean) _Religion, the Liberty of the Subject_, and such like?
Bum. _No, no, but they talk as other people do, of the_ Plot, _and the_ Jesuits, _and_ Popery, _and the_ French King, _and so_.
_Citt._ And what is the reason now, do ye think, that you are not receiv'd into their _Bed-Chambers_, their _Closets_, into their _Arms_, and into their very _Hearts_, as well as some other people as we know?
Bum. _Alas! what should they do with me? I'm not a man fit to keep them Company._
A Golden Sentence.
_Citt._ Why then _Honest Bumpkin_, here's a Golden Sentence for thee; _Be Taken, Sifted, Imprison'd, Pillory'd_, and stand true to thy _Principles_, and th'art company for the best _Lord_ in _Christendom_. They'l never dare to trust thee till th' art _Jayl_ and _Pillory-proof_; and the bringing of _thee into_ a Jayl would be a greater kindness, then the fetching of _Another man Out_.
Bum. _Prethee Cit, tell me one thing by the way, hast thou ever made Tryal of this Experiment thy self?_
A Jayl is the High-way to Preferment.
_Citt._ To tell thee as a friend, I have try'd it, and I'm the best part of a thousand pound the better for't. 'Tis certainly the high way to preferment.
Bum. _And yet for all this_, Citt, _I have no minde in the World to be_ taken.