16: 'Many men shall be so venturously given, as they
shall go into Petticoat Lane, and yet come out again as honestly
as they went first in.
shall go into Petticoat Lane, and yet come out again as honestly
as they went first in.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
1.
60 Petticoate-lane.
= This is the present Middlesex
Street, Whitechapel. It was formerly called Hog Lane and was
beautified with 'fair hedge-rows,' but by Stow's time it had
been made 'a continual building throughout of garden houses and
small cottages' (_Survey_, ed. 1633, p. 120 b). Strype tells us
that the house of the Spanish Ambassador, supposedly the famous
Gondomar, was situated there (_Survey_ 2. 28). In his day the
inhabitants were French Protestant weavers, and later Jews of a
disreputable sort. That its reputation was somewhat unsavory as
early as Nash's time we learn from his _Prognostication_
(_Wks. _ 2. 149):
'If the Beadelles of Bridewell be carefull this Summer, it may
be hoped that Peticote lane may be lesse pestered with ill aires
than it was woont: and the houses there so cleere clensed, that
honest women may dwell there without any dread of the whip and
the carte. ' Cf. also _Penniless Parliament, Old Book Collector's
Misc. _ 2.
16: 'Many men shall be so venturously given, as they
shall go into Petticoat Lane, and yet come out again as honestly
as they went first in. '
=1. 1. 60 the Smock-allies. = Petticoat Lane led from the
high street, Whitechapel, to _Smock Alley_ or Gravel Lane.
See Hughson 2. 387.
=1. 1. 61 Shoreditch. = Shoreditch was formerly notorious for the
disreputable character of its women. 'To die in Shoreditch' seems
to have been a proverbial phrase, and is so used by Dryden in _The
Kind Keeper_, 4to, 1680. Cf. Nash, _Pierce Pennilesse_, _Wks. _ 2. 94:
'Call a Leete at _Byshopsgate_, & examine how euery second house in
_Shorditch_ is mayntayned; make a priuie search in _Southwarke_, and
tell mee how many Shee-Inmates you fin de: nay, goe where you will in
the Suburbes, and bring me two Virgins that haue vowd Chastity and
Ile builde a Nunnery.
Street, Whitechapel. It was formerly called Hog Lane and was
beautified with 'fair hedge-rows,' but by Stow's time it had
been made 'a continual building throughout of garden houses and
small cottages' (_Survey_, ed. 1633, p. 120 b). Strype tells us
that the house of the Spanish Ambassador, supposedly the famous
Gondomar, was situated there (_Survey_ 2. 28). In his day the
inhabitants were French Protestant weavers, and later Jews of a
disreputable sort. That its reputation was somewhat unsavory as
early as Nash's time we learn from his _Prognostication_
(_Wks. _ 2. 149):
'If the Beadelles of Bridewell be carefull this Summer, it may
be hoped that Peticote lane may be lesse pestered with ill aires
than it was woont: and the houses there so cleere clensed, that
honest women may dwell there without any dread of the whip and
the carte. ' Cf. also _Penniless Parliament, Old Book Collector's
Misc. _ 2.
16: 'Many men shall be so venturously given, as they
shall go into Petticoat Lane, and yet come out again as honestly
as they went first in. '
=1. 1. 60 the Smock-allies. = Petticoat Lane led from the
high street, Whitechapel, to _Smock Alley_ or Gravel Lane.
See Hughson 2. 387.
=1. 1. 61 Shoreditch. = Shoreditch was formerly notorious for the
disreputable character of its women. 'To die in Shoreditch' seems
to have been a proverbial phrase, and is so used by Dryden in _The
Kind Keeper_, 4to, 1680. Cf. Nash, _Pierce Pennilesse_, _Wks. _ 2. 94:
'Call a Leete at _Byshopsgate_, & examine how euery second house in
_Shorditch_ is mayntayned; make a priuie search in _Southwarke_, and
tell mee how many Shee-Inmates you fin de: nay, goe where you will in
the Suburbes, and bring me two Virgins that haue vowd Chastity and
Ile builde a Nunnery.
