The London Spy: Difference between revisions

'''''The London Spy''''' by [[Ned Ward]] (1660/67 - June 20, 1731) was a [[periodical]] about [[London]] life,<ref name=ACB>{{cite book|last1=Baugh|first1=edited by Albert C.|title=A literary history of England|date=1972|publisher=Routledge & K. Paul|location=London|isbn=9780415045865|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=r3FNCg-w024C&pg=PA817&dq=The+London+Spy+Ned+Ward&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOgKHquMDJAhWK0hoKHR-DBfAQ6AEIPjAH#v=onepage&q=The%20London%20Spy%20Ned%20Ward&f=false|page=817|edition=2nd|accessdate=3 December 2015}}</ref> later published as a book.▼

Ward first published the story as a series of 16-page periodicals during 1698-1700,<ref name=ACB /> comprising 18 [[folio]] editions. They were printed as a collection in book form in 1703 by J. How of [[Gracechurch Street]], [[London]], a mile from where Ward had his [[pub]] (public house).<ref name=TLSJH>{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=Ned|title=THE London Spy Compleat, In Eighteen-Parts. [sic]|date=1703|publisher=J. How|page=v|edition=1st|url=http://grubstreetproject.net/works/T119938?func=title&display=text|accessdate=3 December 2015|archiveurl=http://grubstreetproject.net/works/T119938?func=title&display=text|archive-date=1 Jan 1990}}</ref>▼

The parts are arranged [[topographic]]ally, the story being told in the [[first-person narrative|first person]] by the author under the persona of 'The London Spy'. It concerns his adventures as an "innocent" [[Country Gentlemen (disambiguation)|Country Gentleman]]<!-- linked to DB page as the first line is the def--> visiting London, his native-Londoner [[chaperone (social)|chaperone]]-cum-guide, and the adventures they fall into.<ref name=SoMLG>{{cite book|last1=Ogborn|first1=Miles|title=Spaces of modernity : London's geographies, 1680-1780|date=1998|publisher=Guilford Press|location=New York, NY [u.a.]|isbn=9781572303652|page=106|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tCp_X-AUQ6MC&pg=PA269&dq=The+London+Spy+Ned+Ward&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOgKHquMDJAhWK0hoKHR-DBfAQ6AEINTAF#v=onepage&q=London%20Spy&f=false|accessdate=3 December 2015}}</ref> The story relates his travels about London to various pubs and tourist attractions, and the people that lived there. He gives vivid depictions of the lower classes of the day and how they made ends meet - including [[prostitution]], [[robbery]], [[burglary]] and other [[felony|felonious]] activities. It is a [[ribaldry|ribald]] story, written in part in [[prose]], and contains many [[slang]] expressions used in that time.▼

== References ==▼

{{Reflist}}▼

''The London Spy'' by Ned Ward. Edited by Kenneth Fenwick (1955). The Folio Society: London.▼