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22
The post of Ware
Pepys, i, 212, B.L., three woodcuts, four columns.
The Post, perhaps as a burlesque on the "Currants of News" that were just being introduced into England, begins with some references to affairs on the Continent, but soon degenerates into satirical comments about the general state of England and its trades and professions. The Post-Boy is directed to ride from London twenty-two miles to Ware (the first important town, in Hertfordshire, on the road north from London), spreading his news in every village through which he passes. From the references to Spinola (1569—1630) and the imminence of another war between Spain and the Netherlands, it is evident that the ballad was printed in or slightly before 1621, when the war actually was renewed. In the third stanza of Part Two Paul's steeple is mentioned. It had been destroyed by lightning on June 4, 1561, but was never reconstructed. |
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