Free The King's Mistress: The True & Scandalous Story of the Woman Who Stole the Heart of George I by Claudia Gold Page A

London’s disorder at dawn:
Now hardly here and there a hackney coach
Appearing shows the ruddy morn’s approach.
Now Betty from her master’s bed had flown,
And softly stole to discompose her own.
The slipshod prentice from his master’s door
Had pared the dirt, and sprinkled round the floor.
Now Moll had whirled her mop with dext’rous airs,
Prepared to scrub the entry and the stairs.
The youth with broomy stumps began to trace
The kennel-edge, where wheels had worn the place.
The small-coal man was heard with cadence deep,
Till drowned in shriller notes of chimney-sweep.
Duns at his lordship’s gate began to meet,
And Brickdust Moll had screamed through half the street.
The turnkey now his flock returning sees,
Duly let out a-night to steal for fees.
The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands,
And schoolboys lag with satchels in their hands. 3
    But in spite of the dirt, the chaos and the din, London was a great and proud city where all desires could be satisfied, if you were lucky or wealthy enough. Otherwise you could find yourself homeless and poverty-stricken, or abandoned in the notorious debtors’ prison, the Fleet.
    In 1697 we find the Lord Mayor condemning the annual Bartholomew Fair at Smithfield market as the scene of ‘obscene, lascivious and scandalous plays, comedies and farces, unlawful games and interludes, drunkenness etc’. 4 But Londoners loved the fairs. Screams of ‘Show, Show, Show, Show!’ rose from an excitable crowd until the players arrived to entertain them. Spectacles such as rope-dancing, acrobats, music booths, dwarfs and Siamese twins merged with strolling players who performed in plays such as the anonymously authored The Creation of the World , with its images of hellfire; the entertainments were accompanied by huge quantities of food and drink – coffee, tea, ale and sucking pigs.
    The painter and satirist William Hogarth reveals the chaos andbawdiness of the fair in his Southwark Fair of 1734. An elaborate puppet show, ‘The Siege of Troy’, which was performed at Southwark in 1707, 1715 and 1716, had a huge impact on the young Hogarth. He depicted the show with an enormous picture of a wooden horse hoisted above the players. The actors are performing elaborate spectacles to entice the throng, with one swinging from the stage by a rope; but the crowd, with their grotesque and exaggerated features, have their backs to the stage, interested only in observing one another.
    Gambling was ubiquitous among all classes, and the state lottery was a useful way of raising revenue. Even Melusine and Sophia Charlotte bought tickets, and Sophia Charlotte won £10,000 in 1719. Gambling took place either in the streets, adding to the noise and vitality of the city, or in private gaming dens. It was also loved by the aristocracy, and Melusine and George spent many evenings playing cards with their family, friends and courtiers.
    Londoners could not get enough of gory spectacles; even public executions served as theatre. The Chronicles of Newgate , about London’s notorious prison, records how: ‘The upturned faces of the eager spectators resembled those of the “gods” at Drury Lane on Boxing Night.’
    The aristocracy and the well-to-do preferred the pleasures of the stage. Theatres had been closed during the Puritanism of the Interregnum, and on their reopening with Charles II’s restoration performances were sanitized to appeal to the monarch and the wealthy. New theatres were licensed in Drury Lane and Dorset Gardens, and Melusine, George and their daughters were frequent visitors; the theatre was one of the pleasures that reminded them of Hanover.
    During George I’s reign theatre remained a pleasant experience, reflecting the taste of the monarch and his mistress. Bonet complained that because George’s understanding of English was poor,‘ingenious plays are neglected in order to present the spectacle, in the machines, in the dances, the decorations, the farces, and other