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Scandalous Norfolk Roman à Clef, with a Manuscript Key

[ENGLISH FICTION]. [Gardiner, Richard].

The History of Pudica, a Lady of N-rf-lk. With an Account of her Five Lovers; viz. Dick Merryfellow, Count Antiquary, Young 'Squire Fog, of Dumplin-Hall, Jack Shadwell, of the Lodge, and Miles Dinglebob, of Popgun-Hall, Esq; Together with Miss Pudica's Sense of the Word Eclaircissement; and an Epithalamium on her Nuptials, By Tom Tenor, Clerk of the Parish. To the Tune of, Green Grow the Rushes o'. By William Honeycomb, Esq [pseud].

Place and Imprint: London: Printed for M. Cooper, 1754.
Edition: First edition.
Bibliographical References: ESTC T63048.
Condition: Wrappers a bit soiled and worn at the edges; enclosed in a cloth slipcase.
Book ID: 29125

Physical Description

8vo, original drab wrappers, stitched, untrimmed. [100] pages.

Comments

A notorious Norfolk autobiographical novel-roman à clef written by Richard Gardiner (1723-1781) under the pseudonym William Honeycomb, about the pursuit of a young wealthy heiress, Pudica, by Dick Merryfellow. Merryfellow’s estate was not in good order, and for practical purposes he sought a bride of means in the wealthy town of Norfolk. The salacious plot is loosely based on Gardiner's own pursuit in vain of a Miss Sotherton of Norfolk, and his tale is in part revenge for her rejection. In addition to Pudica, he ridicules and satirizes many other Norfolk residents, all under pseudonyms: Count Antiquary, Squire Fog, Miles, Dinglebob, Mr. Littlefish, Justice Brutus, Sir Silly Billy, etc., the identities of whom would be lost in the passage of over 300 years were it not for a four-page contemporary manuscript key to all the characters, laid into this copy. The key is undoubtedly the same one used years later by R. W. Ketton-Cremer in his profile of Gardiner in Norfolk Portraits (1941). Ketton-Cremer (1906-1969) was a prominent Norfolk resident and local historian. In his profile, he carefully outlines the plot, and in his notes, acknowledges the existence of a manuscript key in his possession. The ODNB describes Gardiner as a writer and army officer, and Ketton-Cremer adds that he was a “busybody, a sponger, and a cad.” He did serve as the commander of a company of marines in the Caribbean, about which he wrote An Account of the Expedition to the West Indies (1759).

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