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Descriptive Summary

Repository: Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
Location: f
Call No.: MS Eng 1039
Creator: Gay, Ernest Lewis, 1874-1916, collector.
Title: Papers concerning the Mohocks and Hawkubites,
Date(s): 1711-1712.
Quantity: 1v. (.1 linear ft.)
Abstract: Papers concerning the Mohocks and the Hawkubites, gangs of ruffians who roamed the streets of London during the eighteenth century.

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Acquisition Information:

Historical Note

Ernest Lewis Gay (1874-1916) was a librarian and book collector of Boston, Mass. who collected materials especially concerning the English poet and playwright, John Gay (1685-1732). John Gay used the Mohock theme in his one-act play, The Mohocks. A tragi-comical farce, (1712). The Mohocks and Hawkubites were street gangs in London during the reign of Queen Anne. It was their delight to molest and ill-treat the women, children, and feeble old men who might be in the streets after sunset. The Mohocks were named after the American Indian tribe, the Mohawks. In 1712 a royal bounty was placed on their heads for capture.

Arrangement

Arranged as bound in volume.

Scope and Content

Volume of manuscript court proceedings, royal proclamations, accounts, and minutes, as well as printed broadsides, concerning the assaults and nocturnal disturbances committed by the Mohocks and Hawkubites in London, with autograph notes and manuscript transcripts in an unidentified hand (with the initials J.E.H.). Also includes a mezzotint of Edward Richard Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich, Viscount Hinchingbrooke (1692-1722), a member of the Mohock gang.

Lettering on spine: "Gay's argument on the Mohawks and other kindred pieces - 1712."

Container List

• (1) Great Britain. Sovereign (1702-1714 : Anne). [Order in council to] Viscount Simon Harcourt : MS. D.s.; Windsor, 1711 Oct. 22. 2s.(4p.)
  Copy of an order for the suppression of "Profaness and Immorality" for the suppression of the Mohocks by means of a letter sent by order of Queen Anne via the lord keeper of the great seal, to be read publicly at the next Quarter Sessions.
  Also includes MS transcript of text.

• (2) Great Britain. Sovereign (1702-1714) : Anne). By the Queen, a proclamation for the suppressing of riots : and the discovery of such as have been guilty of the late barbarities within the cities of London and Westminster, and parts adjacent ... : printed broadside; London, 1712 Mar. 17. 1 item, 47 x 37 cm., folded and bound to 47 cm.
  Alternate title: Proclamation for the suppressing of riots.
  Printed by John Baskett, and the assigns of Thomas Newcomb, and Henry Hills, deceas'd, printers to the Queens most Excellent Majesty.
  Steele 4506 (England).
  Also includes MS transcript of text.

• (3) Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Middlesex) and Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Westminster). [Minutes taken for proceedings against the Mohocks] : MS.D.; [London], 1711 Mar. 11. 1s.(2p.)
  Records proceedings against Lord Edward Richard Hinchinbrook, Pulter Forrester, and Thomas Watts for committing a "riot and assault" on John Bouch, watchman in Essex Street.
  Also includes MS transcript of text.

• (4) [Miscellany concerning the Mohocks] : MS. transcripts (in unidentified hand), printed sheet, undated. 5p.
  MS transcripts include:

  • William Maitland. The history and survey of London, from its foundation to the present time. Vol. 1, p.510.
  • J. Wright. The Town-Rakes: or, The Frolicks of the "Mohocks" or "Hawkubites." London, 1712.
  • Argument proving that the present Mohocks and Hawkubites are the Gog and Magog mentioned in Revelations. . . " said to be by [John] Gay," printed 1712 [see also item (10)].
  Also with a printed leaf (p.43) possibly from an old song-book containing the "song of the Mohocks," 1711: The Huzza. Also includes MS. transcript of this page.

• (5) Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Middlesex) and Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Westminster). Account of moneys received at St. Clement's Quest House in proceeding against Mohawks : MS.D.; [London], 1711 Mar. 12-15. 1s.(1p.)
  Also includes MS transcript of text.

• (6) Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Middlesex) and Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Westminster). [Draft report to the Queen, by a commission appointed to enquire into the assaults and injuries on citizens by the Mohocks since 1st Feb. 1711] : MS.D.; [London], 1712 Apr. 12. 3s.(4p.)
  Also includes MS transcript of text.

• (7) Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Middlesex) and Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (Westminster). [Minutes of committals of divers persons concerned in the Mohock disorders, with a record of the sums in which they were admitted to bail] : MS.D.; [London], 1711 Mar. 12-14. 4s. (8p.)
  Also includes MS transcript of text.

• (8) Smith, John, 1652-1743, engraver. Edward Lord Hinchingbrooke : mezzotint, London, ca. 1701. 1 print, 35 x 26 cm.
  Portrait of Edward Richard Montague Sandwich, 3rd Earl of Sandwich [Viscount Hinchingbrooke (1692-1722)], after a painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

• (9) A True List of the Names of the Mohocks or Hawkubites who were apprehended and taken on Monday Night, Tuesday, and this Morning. With an Account of the serveral Pirsons they were committed to, where they are now to be seen ... : broadside, [London, 1711?]. 1 item.
  Also includes MS transcript of text.

• (10) An Argument Proving from History, Reason, and Scripture, that the present Mohocks and Hawkubites are the Gog and Magog mention'd in the Revelatons, and therefore that this vain ... written by a Reverend Divine, who took it from the Mouth of the Spirit of a Person, who was lately slain by one of the Mohocks ... : printed broadside London, 1712. 1 item.
  Said to be by John Gay.
  MS transcript of text is in item (4).