MANUSCRIPT BALLAD. 'The Devil and the Dean - a new song to the tune of A Cobbler there was and he Lived in a Stall. [c.1745?]
A nine stanza ballad, written on three sides of a folded sheet. The final page forms an address panel to a Mr Robinson; sl. dusted.
¶The first page is headed 'The Devil and the Dean both begins with a Letter. If the Devil had the Dean, the Church wou'd fare the better'. This is a manuscript ballad version of a popular proverbial saying. The phrase is recorded in V.S. Lean's Collectiania of Proverbs (1904), with a reference to Ferguson (Nine Hundred and Fourty Scottish Proverbs, published 1667). Any mid-18th century reference to 'The Dean' invites reference to Jonathan Swift, and it may be that this ballad was so directed. PLEASE NOTE: For customers within the UK this item is subject to VAT.
Stock #56212
£350
46, Great Russell Street - (opp. British Museum) - Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3PA
