1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Hey, hey, hey, hey, my name is Eli. 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: I'm Diana, my beautiful wife Diana here she is. I 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: mean my uh no, you know what, my grotesque wife hideous. No, 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: it's fair because I'm trying to keep the suitors away. 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: I don't want them to know that you're gorgeous, so 6 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: I'm trying to scare them off. You're the one who 7 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: wanted to start filming this, oh ship, you can see Damn. 8 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: I'll just blur your face out, okay, or I'll put 9 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: like a little troll gift over you, a gift. The 10 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: whole time, I did love troll dolls growing up. I 11 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: have a bunch at my mouth. I wasn't thinking like 12 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:45,919 Speaker 1: the cute trolls. I was thinking like the trolls from Willow. 13 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: But that way, no, um, no fellas out there or 14 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: or no even industrious ladies who might really put their 15 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: minds to it, none of them are going to steal 16 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: you away. Well. I don't love that, but all right, 17 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: you don't love that. I don't want you stolen a way. 18 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: I don't love having my face covered up with a troll. Well, 19 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: but it's for a romantic purpose, is it. Yeah? I 20 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: want you all to myself. So I'm gonna lock you 21 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: in a room, never let anyone see your face, and 22 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: uh then you'll be mine forever. That's that. Come on, 23 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,320 Speaker 1: that's any fairy tale prints, but basically do that. Yeah, 24 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 1: and they're so problematic, have you ever? Okay, look, welcome 25 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: back to the show, everybody, or welcome to the show 26 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: new listeners. Because the ridiculous romantic cult is growing every week. 27 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: There's something I got to talk about, Diana, you know 28 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:40,759 Speaker 1: what it is? Oh my god, y'all, we won't okay. 29 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: I usually try to keep this down to like five 30 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: minutes a banter or less before we get to the show. 31 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: So we saw our our our theaters are are freaking ore. 32 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: Oh my god, I don't know. I can't. I'm telling 33 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: you when I tell you, I haven't been just ear 34 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: to ear grinning for three eight hours since I was 35 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: a child. I can't believe this movie. It was so 36 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,639 Speaker 1: like it was dumb. How good it was, I don't 37 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: get it. And we also were very fortunate because we 38 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: get to see it at the Plaza Theater. It's like 39 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: a historic theater in Atlanta, one of the coolest places, 40 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,679 Speaker 1: and the room it was very full, screening and everybody's 41 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: just hooting and hollering and having a blast. It was 42 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: just so much fun. So if you get a chance 43 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: to see it in a theater, I highly recommend. I 44 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: had told someone it made me feel really good about 45 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: humanity in this way, not just the movie itself, which 46 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: did in a in a really great way, but just 47 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: the experience of seeing it with a crowd of people 48 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: and being like, oh, man, I really love it when 49 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:46,679 Speaker 1: a bunch of people are all just having a good 50 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: time and we're like, oh, this is why we're here, 51 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,400 Speaker 1: right to like have fun and laugh and be excited. Uh, 52 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: that's the best thing about groups of people. Yeah. And 53 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: I'm so used to like, let's say, d iving, which 54 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: makes you very angry about being in groups of people, 55 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: or the grocery store things like that where I'm like, Oh, 56 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: I just want to go live in the woods, kill 57 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: them all. And then the end of this movie, I 58 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: was like, man, I'm so glad that I was with 59 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: all these other people watching this. Yeah, that was that's 60 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: very true. Again, I really feel like seeing it in 61 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: the theater with everybody willing to like hoot and holler 62 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: and react was just just a beautiful cherry on top. 63 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: And if you're like me, like I can't stand people 64 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: talking and making noise and stuff during movies, but there's 65 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: times where it's like joyful and that's what this was. 66 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: You needed it and it it added so much and 67 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: it wasn't like, oh, you're interrupting or I can't hear 68 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: what's going on. Bonus that the movie is mostly not 69 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: in English, so it's all subtitled for the most part, 70 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: so you were going to miss any dialogue. People could 71 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: scream and you're like, I still know what's happening. I 72 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: have not missed anything because that did help. Go see it. However, 73 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: you can just see it's incredible, incredible. So that's gonna 74 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: be our banter for the day because we got a 75 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: awesome story to get Yeah, because today we want to 76 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: talk to you about John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, 77 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: and you might remember his name if you cast your 78 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: memory back and you had listened to our episode about 79 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: the Brief History of sex Toys that we did with 80 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History. We invited them to Poetry Corner to read 81 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: some of Wilmot's poem signor Dildo, where he was talking 82 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: about the new sex toy out of Italy. I think 83 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: that one. I think so too. They were excited to 84 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: read a sense I'm senior Dildo. But as a fan 85 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: of the show and mother of the host, Barbara Banks said, 86 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: this guy deserves his own episode because he had like 87 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,799 Speaker 1: a bunch of affairs. He abducted an heiress, he disguised 88 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: himself as a gynecologist, and he wrote some of the 89 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: dirtiest poetry of the Restoration era, not just Senor Dildo, 90 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,599 Speaker 1: about other things. So let's hear about the body poet 91 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: and the sharpest wit in King Charles's court, John Wilmot, 92 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: the second Earl of rochest Yes, let's go, Hey the French, 93 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: come listen. Well, Elia and Diana got some stories to tell. 94 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: There's no matchmaking, a romantic tips. It's just about ridiculous relationships, 95 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:22,840 Speaker 1: a love. It might be any type of person at all, 96 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: and abstract cons at a concrete wall. But if there's 97 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: a story, were the second glance Ridiculous Romans a production 98 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:36,039 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. So John Wilmot was born on 99 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: April Fool's Day in sixty seven. To Henry Wilmot, it's 100 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: a perfect day for him to be born. Already have 101 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: a fool. You've set yourself up for a wacky life. 102 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 1: I'm ready to be the King's jester right now. He 103 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 1: was born to Henry Wilmot, who had been created the 104 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:57,679 Speaker 1: Earl of Rochest because he pretty much singlehandedly helped Charles 105 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: the Second escape to the continent after Oliver Cromwell and 106 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: his cronies executed Charles the First made England into a 107 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: republic and Cromwell started ruling as the Lord Protectorate. Great. Okay, 108 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: so people get mad at the king drop his head off, 109 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: and his son, Charles the Second, I assume, was like, 110 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: somebody get me out of here. Yeah, because after the 111 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,720 Speaker 1: Battle of Wooster. Mm hmmm. Which I think that's how 112 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: you say. It's spelled Worcester, but I think it's pronounced 113 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: in Boston it's Wooster. I don't know or not. That's 114 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:32,720 Speaker 1: a good point. They might in England they might say. 115 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: Well anyway, so he basically helped him escape and and 116 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: survive in exile. This is known as the Interregnum period 117 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: of English history, and Cromwell and his government were Puritans, 118 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: and they basically thought people should not have any fun whatsoever, 119 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: so they outlawed theater, partying, music, and literally Christmas like 120 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,159 Speaker 1: they canceled Christmas. I'm sorry, So there was really a 121 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: war on Christmas in English legit war on Christmas Like 122 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: it was illegal to be found buying food associated with 123 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: the Christmas pief. I guess a boiled goose. I don't know, 124 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: but if you were walking out the grocery store with 125 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: a roast, they would clap you. In Irons, I guess 126 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: they even had cops patrolling the streets busting people for 127 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: singing carols. I mean, didn't say pretty joyless. Eleven years well, 128 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: thanks in part to Henry Wilmot, Charles the Second was 129 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: able to stay alive. He was crowned the King of 130 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: Scotland and Ireland after Cromwell's death, and then he came 131 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: on home and restored the monarchy for better or worse, 132 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: which is why his reign is known as the Restoration Period. Okay, 133 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: so Charles the Second obviously had a lot of reason 134 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: to be pretty grateful to old Henry you know very much? 135 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: Uh oh, you will favor us. Definitely saved my life 136 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: and put me back on the throw and I can 137 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: get back to having Christmas parties again, thank you. So 138 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: after Henry died in sixty eight. The King showed his 139 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: appreciation by taking an interest in his son John. So 140 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: John was privately tutored from the age of seven, and 141 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: when he was twelve he attended Wadham College, Oxford, which 142 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: was pretty newly established. This college wasn't really like that 143 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: respected yet, and so it was kind of a party school. 144 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: No one looking around saying, now you have to respect 145 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: the history of Warham College at Oxford. They're like, no, 146 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,559 Speaker 1: we down. This place is brand new. Let's suck it 147 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,520 Speaker 1: up twice story. Let's like, I don't know why they 148 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: sound like that. Electric's the rolling Stones. So little John 149 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: Wilmot's tutor was this guy, Robert Whitehall. And this guy 150 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: was a hard drinker, but he was quite the wit 151 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: of his day, snippy and sarcastic and literary, quick minded, 152 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: and under this guy's influence, John quote grew debauched. So 153 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: Robert Whitehall is out there teaching him. You who are 154 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 1: not just going to teach you how to rot beautifully 155 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: and and learn your your scholarly duties, but you're gonna 156 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: learn how to drink and gamble and womanizes all the hits, 157 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: learn to have a little fun. Yeah, I want you 158 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: to be not just book smart, but street smart, and 159 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: not just street smart but ladies smart, cheek smart, sheets smart. 160 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 1: But it is a cheek smart, which is also pretty smart. 161 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: If you're smart around a pair of cheeks, he can 162 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: you can go far in this world. I guess that's true. 163 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:46,320 Speaker 1: I didn't think about it like that, but all right. 164 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: When John was fourteen, he was given an honorary masters 165 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: and Charles the Second awarded him a five hundred pound 166 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: per year pension to live on. He also had John 167 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: sent on the Grand Tool of Europe, which is this 168 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: three year trip through France and Italy, you know, all 169 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:07,480 Speaker 1: of Europe. You know. Well, when John got home in 170 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty four, he joined Charles's restoration court at only 171 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: seventeen years old. He made his bows oddly enough on 172 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: Christmas Day, which of course had been fully restored at 173 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: this point. Because of course Charles the Second came in 174 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,760 Speaker 1: and was like, we're bringing back Christmas everyone. I love 175 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: a party. Grab your turkey's deck the halls, you know, 176 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: light up the lights. Seed the reindeer, seed the reindeer. Okay, well, 177 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,079 Speaker 1: Wilmot may have been an earl, but his family didn't 178 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:43,959 Speaker 1: really have that much money. Besides this pension from the 179 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: King's sort of an impoverished title. So Charles the second 180 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: suggested that he marry a wealthy heiress named Elizabeth Mallett, 181 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: because then he'd have money and Elizabeth would be a countess. 182 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: Everybody wins, and she was into it. She wrote quote. 183 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:04,560 Speaker 1: He was had some tall, graceful, well shaped. His complexion 184 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: was fair of a rosie hue, and his good reading 185 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: and wit were striking. He was far too attractive for 186 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:16,680 Speaker 1: a flirtatious fifteen year old to reject out of hand. Moreover, 187 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: he could write the sort of fashionable, amorous, pastoral poetry 188 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: that delighted my girlish heart. Fashionable, amorous and pastoral poetry. 189 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:29,400 Speaker 1: I'm going to hang onto that description for later. Keep 190 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: that one, keep that one for yourself. But Elizabeth's family 191 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 1: was less enthused because they wanted Elizabeth to marry somebody rich. 192 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: They want to add to the coffers titles at everything. 193 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 1: They were like, there's a title out there that also 194 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,440 Speaker 1: has money, Get that guy instead of poor poet dude 195 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: or whatever. But did our seventeen year old hottie give up? 196 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: Absolutely not. Instead, John Wilmot did the late sixteen hundreds 197 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: version of Lloyd Dabbler holding the boom box over his head. 198 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 1: He abducted her, not I don't remember saying anything differently, Weirdly, 199 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: apparently he hatched this plot with his mother. She was like, 200 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: go get this rich bitch right now, we're going to 201 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: snatch her up. But you know, John, he did it 202 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:22,079 Speaker 1: with style. Samuel Pepys, who is best known for keeping 203 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: a diary for ten years that Shirley historians are probably 204 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: constantly thinking they're like he stars for he described the 205 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,479 Speaker 1: scandal in his journal, saying, quote, thence to my Lady Sandwiches, 206 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: where I told her a story of my Lord Rochester's 207 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: running away on Friday night last with Miss Mallett, the 208 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: great beauty and fortune of the North, who had supped 209 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 1: at Whitehall with Mrs Stewart and was going home to 210 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:51,200 Speaker 1: her lodgings with her grandfather, my Lord Hailey by coach, 211 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 1: and was at Charing Cross, seized on by both horse 212 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 1: and footman, and forcibly taken from him and put into 213 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: a coach with sick horces and two women provided to 214 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:07,679 Speaker 1: receive her and carried away. Now what an abduction. Amazing 215 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,439 Speaker 1: how he straight up stole her from her grandfather's carriage, 216 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:15,760 Speaker 1: stuffed her into another one six horses, getting the hell out. Okay, 217 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: he wanted to go fast as hell. So I really 218 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: wanted to point this out because in some of my 219 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: favorite georget highre books, they talk about guys trying to 220 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 1: elope with a like a coach and pair, and everyone's like, 221 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:33,320 Speaker 1: what a shabby a fair at least get four? So disappointed? 222 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: What is that? What are you pour? It's like rolling 223 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 1: up and up, you know, a nineteen nineties six Honda Civic, 224 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: being like, I'm stealing you away, my dear baby, get 225 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: in the car. I know. But also please note he 226 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: had two women there to receive her, so he wasn't 227 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: trying to ruin her reputation and forced her into marriage. 228 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: She was going to be respectably chaperone the entire time. 229 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,200 Speaker 1: So still a very scandalous behavior. But he still did 230 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: have like he was thinking about her comfort, and it 231 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: wasn't I mean, she did respond to his affections, right, 232 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: I mean, she cared a lot about him. I don't 233 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: think she liked this, but she liked I don't know, 234 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: kind of exciting if your true love comes and rescue 235 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,200 Speaker 1: rescues you from you know, marrying someone you're not as 236 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: excited about, right, I thought I thought she might have 237 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: been a little like, oh he really like yeah, I 238 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: love Also he rolls up with with six horses, like, 239 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: who's Paul? Now? I know, right, he really spending that 240 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 1: on some stuff. It was it was my whole pension. 241 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: But that's how much you mean to me, girl. Well, 242 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 1: after this kidnapping, John was pretty much immediately caught. Now 243 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: Elizabeth went back home to her family. The King was 244 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: super passed. He's like, my buddy, my guy, I'm giving 245 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: you this money. I'm setting you up. You can't go 246 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: kidnapping rich girls. You look crazy now I looked dumb 247 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: for vouching for you. So Lord Rochester was sent to 248 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: the town hour of London for three weeks to think 249 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 1: about what he'd done. He wasn't released until he wrote 250 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: a penitent apology to the King. Although we got to say, 251 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: it feels like it feels like maybe Lord Holly might 252 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: have been like thinking, like I get an apology, kind 253 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: of stole my granddaughter right out of my own carriage. 254 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: I was sitting right there these days. But Rochester wanted 255 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: to redeem himself, so he volunteered for the Navy in 256 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: the Second Dutch War in the winter of sixteen sixty five, 257 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: and his courageous actions made him a war hero. Yeah, 258 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:35,080 Speaker 1: he probably did a pretty good job stealing supplies from 259 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:39,800 Speaker 1: enemy lines. I imagine, right, my specialty, give me six 260 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: horses and twenty four hours you'll have all the cannons 261 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,560 Speaker 1: doated on by two handmaidens. No less, that's right. But yeah, 262 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: this this war had a really important effect on this 263 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: personality because one of his friends was like standing right 264 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: next to Rochester when he got blown away by a 265 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 1: cannon ball, and Rochester had to keep on fighting basically 266 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: covered in his friends remain very crazy, just you know, 267 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: wartime trauma. And it's around then that he kind of 268 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: became an atheist and pretty nihilistic and sort of sort 269 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,239 Speaker 1: of became the skeptic that will see in his poetry 270 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: later on. And yeah, I mean it's no wonder I 271 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: think you you fight a war and you start to 272 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: ask like why a lot why a lot um? But 273 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: his heroism in battle did make Charles so pleased with 274 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: Rochester that he appointed him a Gentleman of the Bedchamber 275 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: in sixteen six which sounds sexy. I've been called a 276 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 1: gentleman of the bed chamber myself a few times who 277 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: called you that. No, this was less sexy than it sounds. 278 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: It basically entitled John to some nice lodgings and a 279 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: thousand pounds a year in exchange for one week out 280 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: of the month where he would help the king dress 281 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: and undress, he would serve him meals, and he would 282 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: sleep at the foot of his bit. And this was 283 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: like a really big honor to be a gentleman of 284 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: the bed chamber, which kind of makes sense because you're 285 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 1: really close to the king. He tried, clearly trusts you 286 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 1: a lot. I'm sure there's like a little bed down there, 287 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 1: but of course I see him sleeping at the foot 288 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 1: of the thing's bed like a like a like a doberman. 289 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: You know, he's got a little water dish on the 290 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: floor of bone. Now. Later that same year, Rochester returned 291 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: to the Navy, and he again distinguished himself by delivering messages. 292 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: That sounds kind of boring, but it was not, because 293 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,520 Speaker 1: before radio and waukie talkies and stuff, a real guy 294 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: just had to like run around a battlefield for in 295 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 1: this case, row between ships and a fleet under fire 296 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: to relay orders from the captain or the general or 297 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: commander or whoever was in charge. So you had to 298 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:50,680 Speaker 1: be very quick, you had to be bold, you had 299 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,159 Speaker 1: to be incredibly brave. So Rochester was even more of 300 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: a legend when he came home. Yeah, I mean, you're 301 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: probably targeting that guy easily got all the orders exactly. 302 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:04,880 Speaker 1: They're like, they'll be scattered and confused. So very very 303 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: crazy job. Just a crazy job, hard pass. Now. John 304 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:12,600 Speaker 1: distinguished himself enough that King Charles the Second gave him 305 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,959 Speaker 1: a special lisense to enter the House of Lords early, 306 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,160 Speaker 1: even though he was seven months under age. So everything 307 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: was coming up Wilmot. Even Elizabeth Mallett decided to forgive 308 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 1: him for, you know, kidnapping her from her grandfather, and 309 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: she ended up eloping with him again by choice. This 310 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,359 Speaker 1: time she actually wanted to, and in this she defied 311 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: her family. She married him in secret in January of 312 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty seven, and they ended up having four children together. 313 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: And it seems like John Wilmot really did love her. 314 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,359 Speaker 1: One of his poems is dedicated to her. So let's 315 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: go down to poetry corner and here to my more 316 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: than meritorious wife by John Wilmot I am by fate 317 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,879 Speaker 1: slave to your will, and I will be obedient still 318 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: to show my love. I will compose ye for your 319 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: fair fingers, ring a posey in which shall be expressed 320 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: my duty, and how I'll be forever true to ye, 321 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:15,440 Speaker 1: with low made legs and sugared speeches, yielding to your 322 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:19,920 Speaker 1: fair bum the breeches, and shoo myself and all I can. 323 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: You're very humble servant. Jam Wow, I gotta say, I 324 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: really respect that big stretch in their rhyming duty with 325 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:37,600 Speaker 1: true to ye. I love it, true to ye, clever. 326 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:39,160 Speaker 1: And then he's like, I know my name is John, 327 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 1: but we're just gonna stay. We're just gonna get the rhyming. 328 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:48,000 Speaker 1: That's the poets do, and they manipulate language until it fits. Look, 329 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: and here's the thing. You know, John Wilmot didn't really 330 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:56,120 Speaker 1: yield to her fair bum the breeches because he had 331 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,879 Speaker 1: tons of blings with both men and women throughout his life. 332 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:02,680 Speaker 1: We're going to get into that right after this break. 333 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: Welcome back, everybody. Yeah. So John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester 334 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,160 Speaker 1: is doing pretty good at this point in his life. 335 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,440 Speaker 1: He's around twenty years old. He's making moves in Parliament 336 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: is married to this hot, rich lady. Um, he's a 337 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 1: favorite Charles the Second, And he's hanging out with the 338 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: Merry Gang, which was like a bunch of dudes who 339 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: were a lot like John in that they were tight 340 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: with the King, and they like to get drunk, half sex, 341 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,600 Speaker 1: get rowdy, and write ribald rhymes and satires. Oh yeah, 342 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 1: I'd be a Merry Gang too. I know. It sounds 343 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: like a pretty fun life. These guys partied so hard 344 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: that John and Wilmot himself told his friend, the historian 345 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:49,119 Speaker 1: Gilbert Burnett that quote. For five years together, he was 346 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 1: continually drunk and not perfectly master of himself, which led 347 00:20:54,600 --> 00:21:00,639 Speaker 1: him to do many wild and unaccountable things. Rochester, I 348 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:04,920 Speaker 1: love not perfectly master of myself. That's such a great 349 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: way to put exactly fully in control of the things 350 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 1: I was doing. I was telling myself to stop, and 351 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: I wouldn't now. Rochester described this life in another one 352 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: of his poems, probably one of my favorites. So let's 353 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: head on down to poetry Corner once more, and here 354 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:29,400 Speaker 1: regime de vive. I rise at eleven, I dine about two, 355 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 1: I get drunk before seven, And the next thing I 356 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:37,119 Speaker 1: do I send for my whore, when, for fear of 357 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,479 Speaker 1: a clap, I spend in her hand and I spew 358 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,399 Speaker 1: in her lap. Then we quarrel and scold till I 359 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:49,240 Speaker 1: fall fast asleep. When the bitch, growing bold to my pocket, 360 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: does creep. Then slyly she leaves me, and to revenge 361 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:57,000 Speaker 1: the affront at once she bereaves me of money and cunt. 362 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: If by chance, then I wake hothead it and drunk. 363 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: What a coil do I make for the loss of 364 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 1: my punk? I storm and I roar, and I fall 365 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 1: in a rage and missing my horn. I blug on 366 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:16,880 Speaker 1: my page, then cropsic All morning, I rail at my men, 367 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:23,560 Speaker 1: and in bed I lie yawning till eleven again. I'm 368 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:28,439 Speaker 1: sorry that poem is my favorite column. He straight up like, 369 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 1: I got this mistress, and she rolled me for my 370 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:36,320 Speaker 1: dough and dipped out spending her hand and I spew 371 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: in her lap with a sport girl she should steal, 372 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,239 Speaker 1: And I wonder she stole his money and ran. She's like, 373 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: what what am I would you? I'm here for free, 374 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,880 Speaker 1: you know I'm not, Oh my god, And then he 375 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,919 Speaker 1: yells at his friends all night, falls asleep, and then 376 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,360 Speaker 1: it wakes up and it starts all over. Seriously, it's 377 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: so good. Oh man, oh the life, you know, but 378 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: honestly the light and I love that. At the end 379 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: of it, King Charles is paying for this, right, He's like, thanks, 380 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:07,960 Speaker 1: bro for financing my lifestyle. The list sounds so great. 381 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,159 Speaker 1: I love it too, because you can tell he sounds 382 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 1: a little bored by it even like he's like, it's 383 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: still kind of like just the same ship every day. Yeah, 384 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 1: all right, now, King Charles the Second is known as 385 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,920 Speaker 1: the playboy King. He had like something like fourteen mistresses. 386 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: He had a bunch of illegitimate children running around. He 387 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,439 Speaker 1: definitely set the tone for this court. There's a reason 388 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,359 Speaker 1: that he liked men like the Earl of Rochester. It 389 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: starts at the top exactly, and like one of the 390 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: first things that he did when he was restored to 391 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,680 Speaker 1: the monarchy in sixteen sixty was to allow a lot 392 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 1: of the stuff that Cromwell and the Puritans had banned, 393 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: like Christmas, but also theater. And this time Charles legalized 394 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 1: acting as a profession for women, which is so funny 395 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: because we were just talking about that in our William 396 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: Dorsey Swan. I didn't know King Charles the Second was 397 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 1: the one who did that. But that was cool to 398 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: find probably sleeping with some girl who was like, hey, buddy, 399 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: can I get on stage please? I kind of wondered 400 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,399 Speaker 1: if it was like because so many aristocrats ended up 401 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: finding their mistresses through opera and theater. I was like, 402 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:16,679 Speaker 1: I wonder if King Charles was like, man, you know, 403 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,880 Speaker 1: if these orange seller girls could be on stage, would 404 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:21,800 Speaker 1: be a lot easier to see how pretty they are, 405 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: and I can meet them later. So he's just trying 406 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: to increase his own choice. I don't know, he's like, 407 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 1: let me wine the net. I don't know, but Nell 408 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,879 Speaker 1: Gwinn was one of his favorite mistresses, um and she 409 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: started as an orange seller at the theater, and I wonder, 410 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:41,880 Speaker 1: I just wonder if he's like, I don't see these 411 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: orange sellers. I'm the king. They don't sell me orange, 412 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:46,680 Speaker 1: but I need to be able to look at them 413 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,680 Speaker 1: put them on stage. I'm sick of looking all these dudes. 414 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 1: A stick of this, which I also like in our version, 415 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: the reason women are allowed on stage just because men 416 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: are pigs. I mean, it's like, doesn't exactly empower that, really, doesn't, 417 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:03,640 Speaker 1: you know? I don't know whatever, I guess it got 418 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: me to where I want to be, so, like we said, 419 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: one of the women to benefit from this new profession 420 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: was Nell Gwynn, who was Charles the second Mistress. She 421 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: had a lot of influence with him. But before she 422 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: hooked up with Charles, she quote more than likely had 423 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:22,760 Speaker 1: a brief fling with John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester. Now, 424 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 1: after the passion cooled, they remained pretty close friends, and 425 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 1: her influence at court and with Charles really helped Rochester 426 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 1: the many many times he was in disgrace with the King. 427 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,679 Speaker 1: But it was another actress that John Wilmot's name is 428 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,120 Speaker 1: linked to the most, and that brings us to this 429 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: episode side piece. Yea, Elizabeth Barry was an actress, but 430 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 1: her first performance at the age of seventeen was so 431 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,480 Speaker 1: terrible that she was immediately fired from the company she 432 00:25:55,560 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: was working for. It Fortunately for her, she met On Wilmot, 433 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: the Earl of Rochester, in sixteen seventy three, and he 434 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,240 Speaker 1: apparently started training her as an actress. Now, there's no 435 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 1: details as to why Rochester was qualified to be an 436 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: acting coach. I mean, I mean, you know, he did 437 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: have a flair for language, right, he didn't have a 438 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,919 Speaker 1: love for the ladies. Maybe that's all it took. I 439 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,959 Speaker 1: know some acting coaches now who that's that's pretty much 440 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: their qualifications. I love the ladies and I can talk good. 441 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: Learn how to act for me four dollars please. You 442 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:36,200 Speaker 1: got to be careful out there aspiring actors. John Wilmot 443 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,400 Speaker 1: must have been pretty good at it, though, because eventually 444 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:43,400 Speaker 1: Elizabeth became the most famous actress of the Restoration period, 445 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,199 Speaker 1: and all this despite the fact that she was not 446 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: known as a beauty by any means. In fact, one 447 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,159 Speaker 1: anonymous author wrote in a seventeen of two book called 448 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 1: a Comparison between the Two Stages that she was quote 449 00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:01,400 Speaker 1: the ugliest woman in the real world, the finest woman 450 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,119 Speaker 1: in the world upon the stage. And Elizabeth Barry was 451 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 1: probably like anonymous coward, come here and say to my faith, right, 452 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,520 Speaker 1: or she was like, yeah, well whatever said beauty subjective. 453 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: I mean, she definitely had something that John Wilmot liked, 454 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,919 Speaker 1: because they were together for five years. They even had 455 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:26,400 Speaker 1: a daughter together. But has her success grew, John got 456 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:30,120 Speaker 1: kind of jealous. Probably she just had like a lot 457 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: more demands on her time. She didn't have as much 458 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: you know, she didn't need him as much as she 459 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:39,120 Speaker 1: had before. He's like, I'm I'm making time away from 460 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: my wife and you can't do the same for your craft. 461 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 1: I need to spend in your hat. Hurry up. She's like, 462 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 1: you vomited in my lap one too many times. Pal, 463 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:54,960 Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know exactly, but that's what 464 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 1: they say. Got a little resentful, and they eventually broke up, 465 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:04,080 Speaker 1: and in his poem upon leaving his mistress, Rochester famously wrote, quote, 466 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,720 Speaker 1: with what face can I incline to? Damn you? To 467 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,479 Speaker 1: be only mine? Live up to thy mighty mind, and 468 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,439 Speaker 1: be the mistress of mankind. When she retired at fifty 469 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: two in seventeen ten, she was one of the greatest 470 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 1: tragic actresses of her time. She had a career that 471 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:26,159 Speaker 1: lasted thirty five years, and although Rochester is known to 472 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: have had many affairs through his life, hers is kind 473 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,479 Speaker 1: of the only name that we can find. Otherwise likely 474 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 1: it was like nameless actresses, servants, prostitutes who kind of 475 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,760 Speaker 1: enjoyed his special ski, his routine, his routine at his 476 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:47,400 Speaker 1: regime d VIV seven o'clock, where's my lap? Besides all this, 477 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: Rochester was always busy getting into trouble. He had been 478 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: banned from court once before, in sixteen sixty nine, when 479 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: he punched a playwright in the ear in front of 480 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 1: the King. This was considered a less magest offense, and 481 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: it didn't take long for him to get welcomed back. 482 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: But then he messed up again because on Christmas of 483 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,560 Speaker 1: sixty three, Charles asked for a copy of one of 484 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 1: his poems, and by accident, Rochester reached into his little 485 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:16,400 Speaker 1: bag and he handed him the wrong one. It was 486 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: a pretty biting lampoon of the King himself. This wasn't 487 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: always a problem because once Rochester read this little witticism quote, 488 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,480 Speaker 1: we have a pretty witty king whose word no man 489 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: relies on. He never said a foolish thing and never 490 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,480 Speaker 1: did a wise one. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. 491 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: But King Charles supposedly kind of chuckled and said back, quote, 492 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: that's true for my words on my own, but my 493 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:52,560 Speaker 1: actions are those of my ministers. Ah, anybody, pretty good 494 00:29:53,520 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: sings rested, everyone laugh, I'm the king, so you know 495 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 1: that was That was a quick singer, and Charles took 496 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: it in stride. But this time maybe Rochester had gone 497 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: a little too far, or maybe Charles just couldn't think 498 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: up a witty response quickly, so he again banished the 499 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: Earl of Rochester for months. But what was this poem 500 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: that made the king so angry? Well, let's go back 501 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,200 Speaker 1: down to the poetry corner, and here just a section 502 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:31,240 Speaker 1: from in the Isle of Britain. In the Isle of Britain, 503 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 1: long since famous, grown for breeding the best constant Christendom 504 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 1: their reigns, And oh long may he reign and thrive 505 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: the easiest king and best bred man alive. Forgiveim no 506 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: ambition moves to get renowned, like the French fool that 507 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 1: wanders up and down, starving his people, hazarding his crown. 508 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:02,080 Speaker 1: Peace is his aim. His gentleness is such, and love 509 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,959 Speaker 1: he loves. For he loves fucking much. I can't deny it. 510 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:10,160 Speaker 1: Nor are his high desires above his strength. His scepter 511 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: and prick are of a length, And she may sway 512 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 1: the one that plays with the other, and make him 513 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:23,720 Speaker 1: little wiser than his brother, my brother. How he also 514 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 1: ended the poem with this little couplet quote all monarchs 515 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: I hate, and the thrones they sit on From the 516 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: Hector of France to the Cully of Britain. Hector, by 517 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: the way, means bully, and he's referring to the son 518 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: king Cully means cuckold, and the brother is James the second, 519 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: and people were making fun of him because James the 520 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: Second had married a commoner and people were like, what 521 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:57,000 Speaker 1: is wrong with you? But he was also always ogling women, 522 00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 1: like he had no chills, so he would just straight 523 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,080 Speaker 1: up like get a quick in glass and looked down 524 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: their shirts, and people said he had bad taste in women. 525 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: One guy said that his mistresses were given to him 526 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:12,640 Speaker 1: by priests as pennant. He thought they were so unattractive, 527 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 1: like damn so that you just talking about James and 528 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:20,520 Speaker 1: Charles in the same poem. He's like, how daio compare 529 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:25,000 Speaker 1: mede my idiot? Bravo wow, And Rochester just straight up 530 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 1: handed him the wrong one. I know. You imagine when 531 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: he starts reading it, he's like, oh shit, I thought 532 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: I gave him the one about you know, the jizzing 533 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: in that girl's hands. I thought he'd love that like 534 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, as soon as Charles like, let me 535 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: see this at a poem in the Isle of Britain 536 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: and who no, no, stop actually, so, if I may 537 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: let me finish, I like it so far. You said 538 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 1: I had a big dick. Wow, whoopsie. Well, Rochester was 539 00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: in disgrace for a while after this, but it wasn't 540 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 1: too long before Charles welcomed him back to court again 541 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:07,240 Speaker 1: and even appointed him the ranger of Woodbury Park. But 542 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:09,440 Speaker 1: of course it was not going to be the last 543 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 1: time this guy got into trouble. We'll hear more about 544 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:19,400 Speaker 1: that right after this welcome back everyone. So by February 545 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: of sixteen seventy four, John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, 546 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 1: was bestias with King Charles the Second again, and he 547 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: managed to hold his position until June of sixteen seventy five, 548 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: when he and some of the Merry Gang were drunk 549 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:35,600 Speaker 1: as usual and they were out in the palace gardens. 550 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,960 Speaker 1: There was this sun dial in the gardens. It was 551 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,720 Speaker 1: considered one of the finest and rarest, most beautiful sun 552 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,520 Speaker 1: dials in all of England, and it was decorated with 553 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:50,160 Speaker 1: a painting of King Charles holding his scepter, which John 554 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: had so kindly compared to his dick. It is a 555 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: little fallon, sure, you know the angle and stuff. You know, 556 00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: he's like holding it down by his hips, but it's 557 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 1: pointing out straight out. He's like pointing at it, like, hey, lady, well, 558 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: Rochester was totally wasted. And he took one look at 559 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 1: the sun dial and he said, quote, what dost thou 560 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:16,719 Speaker 1: stand there? To fuck time? And then he runs up 561 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,239 Speaker 1: and he starts wailing on this sun dial until it 562 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:24,200 Speaker 1: fell over. Now he takes one look at what he 563 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 1: has done. He's like, oh, I've I'm not exactly a 564 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: master of myself right now, and he thinks, oh my god, 565 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: Charles is going to hear that this. I'm definitely going 566 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,560 Speaker 1: to get banished from the quote again, let me save 567 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,440 Speaker 1: you the trouble, and he just ran off on his own. However, 568 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,400 Speaker 1: just like every other time, he was welcome back to court. Eventually, 569 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,400 Speaker 1: Charles loved this guy. He really did. Daniel peppis the 570 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:51,960 Speaker 1: diary guy. He was like, all serious men just hate 571 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:54,400 Speaker 1: how much he's willing to forgive this guy. He should 572 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,399 Speaker 1: really just get rid of him. So John's fine. He's 573 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:01,360 Speaker 1: in with the king again until sixteen seventy six. This 574 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:03,759 Speaker 1: basic like an annual thing. How He's like, oh, it's 575 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,800 Speaker 1: been a year. I guess i'd better get banished again. 576 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,799 Speaker 1: So he and some friends mary gang guys. Probably they're 577 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,880 Speaker 1: out late at night, drunk as hell, as per usual, 578 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,640 Speaker 1: and they started a fight with the night watch. Now, 579 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: scuffles with the cops were not an uncommon pastime for 580 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:23,440 Speaker 1: young aristocrat because you know, the cops can't really do 581 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 1: anything to do, you know him, My daddy is exact daddy, 582 00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:32,360 Speaker 1: Come get me. I'm friends with King child. Yeah, and usually, 583 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: you know, the worst thing that would happen is they 584 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:35,680 Speaker 1: would kind of spend the night in the drunk tank 585 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: until someone came along and bailed him out. But this 586 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:43,799 Speaker 1: time one of Rochester's friends, Roger Downs, was killed by 587 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:46,479 Speaker 1: a pipe thrust from one of the watchman during this fight, 588 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,640 Speaker 1: and instead of staying by his friend and kind of 589 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: like owning up to his drunken behavior that had started 590 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: the fight in the first place, Rochester fled the scene. 591 00:35:56,480 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 1: The King considered this to be super cowardly, totally unacceptable, 592 00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:03,720 Speaker 1: no man of honor, etcetera, etcetera, and Rochester was again 593 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,360 Speaker 1: banished from the court damn well. This time he fled 594 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 1: to Tower Hill, just a poor neighborhood in London near 595 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,320 Speaker 1: the Tower Prison, and he disguised himself as a respectable 596 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:19,319 Speaker 1: O B G. Y In named Dr Bendo. Just so great, 597 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:23,480 Speaker 1: I guess doctor Gold. He was supposed to be Italian. 598 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:31,839 Speaker 1: Oh he was Italian, be over and the way, let's 599 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 1: see what's going on down there. The doctor Bendo would 600 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:38,600 Speaker 1: treat women who were dealing with infertility. Now, John Wilmot, 601 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:43,760 Speaker 1: second Earl of Rochester, acting coach extraordinaire and drunken debauch, 602 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,480 Speaker 1: honorary master's degree from the Party School. None of this 603 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 1: allowed him to know a single thing about medical stuff. 604 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:53,840 Speaker 1: He's not a doctor. But one thing he did know 605 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:57,280 Speaker 1: was how to get a lady pregnant. And the historian 606 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 1: Gilbert Burnett notes that his treatments were quote not without success, 607 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: implying that some of the women did get pregnant, just 608 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:12,160 Speaker 1: not by their husband's. Yikes. The treatments were very crazy. Now, 609 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:16,000 Speaker 1: if these husbands were particularly suspicious or jealous of Dr 610 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:20,359 Speaker 1: Bendo reading their wives, Rochester simply went into the back 611 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:25,759 Speaker 1: and changed out his disguise into Mrs Bendo, an ulder 612 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 1: matronly woman. I'm just an order Italian a woman, Mrs Bendo. 613 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: Nothing to worry about here. Uh. Suddenly all these husbands 614 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,880 Speaker 1: were just totally fine with Mrs Bendo looking up their 615 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,520 Speaker 1: wives skirts. No word on if Mrs Bendo was as 616 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 1: successful as doctor Bendo and getting these wives pregnant. But 617 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:50,200 Speaker 1: Shirley Rochester gave it the old Waldham College trial. I'm 618 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:52,839 Speaker 1: sure what they were alone. He was like, now you 619 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,600 Speaker 1: know he's taking the wig off or whatever he's wearing, 620 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 1: and he's like, now I could get you pregnant. I'm 621 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:03,480 Speaker 1: a hot younger man. This is the most modern, this 622 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,480 Speaker 1: is the newest in modern medicine. It's where I fuck 623 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:10,120 Speaker 1: you trust me. It works most of the time. Then, 624 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:14,799 Speaker 1: in sixteen seventy nine, one of Rochester's main rivals was 625 00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:18,840 Speaker 1: England's very first poet laureate, whose name was John Dryden, 626 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 1: and he wrote a poem called an Essay on Satire 627 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: which contained pointed attacks on Rochester as a notorious womanizer. 628 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: So that kind of piste him off. And in December 629 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,640 Speaker 1: of that year Dryden was leaving a popular coffeehouse that 630 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: was frequented by all the wits of the day and 631 00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:39,840 Speaker 1: he was set upon by a bunch of dudes with 632 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,480 Speaker 1: cudgels who beat him up pretty badly. Now, Dryden offered 633 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:47,160 Speaker 1: a reward of fifty pounds, which is worth something like 634 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:54,480 Speaker 1: eight thousand pounds today looking about hundred dollars, so nearly 635 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:58,440 Speaker 1: ten grand reward just for information about why this happened 636 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:00,759 Speaker 1: and who did it and stuff, But no one ever 637 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:05,000 Speaker 1: came forward. And some say Rochester is the guy who 638 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,920 Speaker 1: hired the street thugs to beat him up as a 639 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,880 Speaker 1: response to this unflattering verse about him. But I have 640 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,279 Speaker 1: to say I'm not I'm not sure that I, at 641 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,399 Speaker 1: least in what we have learned about him. I don't 642 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:20,360 Speaker 1: see it myself, do you. It doesn't seem like his 643 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:24,800 Speaker 1: style right, because he's so busy, you know, roasting other people. 644 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:27,440 Speaker 1: Surely he I don't know. Maybe he was really bad 645 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:29,319 Speaker 1: at taking it, but he was really good addition it 646 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:30,759 Speaker 1: out well. He just seemed like the kind of guy 647 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 1: who was like, I'm just gonna get go drunk and 648 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:35,399 Speaker 1: punch you in the nose myself exactly. Yeah, why would 649 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:38,319 Speaker 1: I hire someone? That's just my opinion. I don't think 650 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,040 Speaker 1: that he did it personally, But some say that he 651 00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: was just too sick by that time to be arranging 652 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:48,040 Speaker 1: a beat down on anyone, because by the time he 653 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,880 Speaker 1: was thirty three years old, the Earl of Rochester was 654 00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:54,520 Speaker 1: dying now. Either he was afflicted with gnarrhea and or 655 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:58,759 Speaker 1: syphilis uh and or he had the ill effects of alcoholism, 656 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,600 Speaker 1: and or he might have had any disease. Sources don't agree. 657 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,720 Speaker 1: They all sound believable. The guy did not treat himself 658 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: well and his health was failing at a young age. 659 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,360 Speaker 1: His mother, Anne, who was a Puritan but always for 660 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:16,720 Speaker 1: some reason, encouraged her son's excesses, like if you remember, 661 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,799 Speaker 1: she also helped him plot to kidnap that heiress back 662 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:23,080 Speaker 1: when he was seventeen. She decided to take matters into 663 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:26,280 Speaker 1: her She decided to take matters into her own hands, 664 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,840 Speaker 1: and she had Gilbert Burnett come through to John's deathbed. 665 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,279 Speaker 1: Gilbert was a good Protestant minister and and hoped that 666 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,719 Speaker 1: he would save her son's soul in his eleventh hour here. 667 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:41,799 Speaker 1: But according to Gilbert himself, Rochester did have a last 668 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:44,759 Speaker 1: minute change of heart. He renounced his atheism and his 669 00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:49,239 Speaker 1: debaucherous ways, and he requested to convert to Anglicism. But 670 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:52,200 Speaker 1: a lot of scholars are kind of skeptical about this 671 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:56,759 Speaker 1: because the only account that exists of John converting and 672 00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:00,759 Speaker 1: all this stuff is in Gilbert Burnette's own right, and 673 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:03,239 Speaker 1: Gilbert was later able to come out and say, I 674 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 1: converted you know, the Restoration's greatest libertine on his deathbed, 675 00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: and that really enhanced his reputation. He later became the 676 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,640 Speaker 1: Bishop of Salisbury. So there's a lot of reason to 677 00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:16,920 Speaker 1: think that Gilbert might have just kind of made this up. 678 00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:18,719 Speaker 1: Who's going to call him on it, right, and the 679 00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:22,520 Speaker 1: guy's dead, Yeah, you can't check my work, So we 680 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 1: don't really know if Rochester did, you know, convert and 681 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:27,879 Speaker 1: renounce all his ways at the last minute there, right, 682 00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:30,400 Speaker 1: which you know, it's interesting to think about because he 683 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,080 Speaker 1: definitely lived his life like I'm an atheist, I don't 684 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,600 Speaker 1: believe in, you know, any of this stuff, and he 685 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:38,680 Speaker 1: was very much like I don't know, nothing was sacred 686 00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:40,359 Speaker 1: to him. I guess it's a good way to put it. 687 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: But you know, they had a very serious belief in hell, 688 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 1: like they truly are like I can feel the flames 689 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,960 Speaker 1: of hell, you know, licking around my heart. Like they 690 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:53,080 Speaker 1: really had a visceral image of what that was. So 691 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 1: it is kind of believable that went right faced with 692 00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:59,160 Speaker 1: death and faced with what you think might be coming next, 693 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,399 Speaker 1: you would be like Okay, fine, just in case, let 694 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: me hedge my bets right right. And I mean even today, 695 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,080 Speaker 1: there's a lot of people who you know, have a 696 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,520 Speaker 1: have a you know, nasty personality during the life or something, 697 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,160 Speaker 1: or they're very greedy, or you know, they spurned a 698 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:15,919 Speaker 1: lot of people, and in their final days they might 699 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:17,960 Speaker 1: be like, oh my god, what have I done. I've 700 00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:20,879 Speaker 1: I've regret you know, these certain things about my life 701 00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:23,560 Speaker 1: I wish I had done differently. Yeah, that's not uncommon. Well. 702 00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:27,760 Speaker 1: John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, died on July 703 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:35,040 Speaker 1: and tragically Elizabeth Mallett, Lady Wilmot, died only a year later, 704 00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:39,480 Speaker 1: and shortly after her, their only son, Charles, died as well. 705 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:43,279 Speaker 1: So the Earl of Rochester title when extinct after only 706 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:46,800 Speaker 1: two generations. Now. John Wilmot never really collected his poetry 707 00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:50,120 Speaker 1: together for publication. I don't think you ever had plans 708 00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:53,120 Speaker 1: to publish it, so a lot of his writing is lost. 709 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:58,200 Speaker 1: His most famous poem remains a satire against reason and mankind, 710 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:02,720 Speaker 1: where he railed again like valuing reason and rationality above 711 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,560 Speaker 1: everything else. Um. But after his death, that was exactly 712 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:11,000 Speaker 1: what people did value. During the prim Victorian era, respect 713 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:15,600 Speaker 1: for his writing declined even more. Writer Horace Walpole said 714 00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:18,680 Speaker 1: he was quote a man whom the muses were fond 715 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:23,239 Speaker 1: to inspire but ashamed to avow. And apparently like a 716 00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:25,400 Speaker 1: lot of his books, if they were available at all, 717 00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:28,560 Speaker 1: they were wrapped in brown paper and they were put 718 00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:30,840 Speaker 1: in the topmost shelf, so you had to like be 719 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:33,719 Speaker 1: willing to ask for it, and like embarrass yourself is 720 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:37,800 Speaker 1: like buying a sex toy or something. But critic William 721 00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:42,680 Speaker 1: Haslett said, quote his verses cut and sparkle like diamonds. 722 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:46,960 Speaker 1: His epigrams were the bitterest, the least labored, and the 723 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:51,319 Speaker 1: truest that were ever written. His contempt for everything that 724 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:56,720 Speaker 1: others respect almost amounts to sublimity. Still, all the buttoned 725 00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,480 Speaker 1: up Victorians were not interested in erotic poetry, so it 726 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:03,800 Speaker 1: wasn't until the nineteen twenties that John Wilmot's writing enjoyed 727 00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:07,120 Speaker 1: a little renaissance, thanks to people like Ezra Pound and 728 00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:08,920 Speaker 1: of course the twenties. We we are we know a 729 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:10,960 Speaker 1: lot about the twenties, and they were very st wheeling 730 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,520 Speaker 1: about sexuality and stuff, so they probably definitely were like, 731 00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:17,120 Speaker 1: oh hell, yes, this is my manual, I'm waking up 732 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:20,280 Speaker 1: at eleven, I'm getting drunk by seven. Let me send 733 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:25,400 Speaker 1: for my whole laugh now. For modern readers, Rochester stands 734 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:28,800 Speaker 1: alone mainly because he didn't bother to couch his poems 735 00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:32,160 Speaker 1: and a bunch of metaphors. Austin Saunders writes in the 736 00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:36,200 Speaker 1: Spectator quote, his poems make perfectly clear what he's talking about, 737 00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:39,240 Speaker 1: and he's always more than happy to call a dildo 738 00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:44,360 Speaker 1: a dildo, or at least senor dilto. Saunders goes on quote. 739 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:48,480 Speaker 1: In every case, the explicitness of Rochester's poems creates a 740 00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:52,080 Speaker 1: sense that he is talking honestly to us. Their conspicuous 741 00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:56,000 Speaker 1: refusal to use euphemism or to avoid subject matter generally 742 00:44:56,040 --> 00:45:00,640 Speaker 1: recognized as obscene implies an unwillingness to abide by convention 743 00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:04,879 Speaker 1: or to repress instinct. Yeah, he's pointing out like John 744 00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:08,359 Speaker 1: Dunn wrote about oral sex and you know Chaucer, he 745 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,120 Speaker 1: wrote a lot of body, but it took nine the 746 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:13,800 Speaker 1: sauruses and three different language dictionaries to find out what 747 00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:15,960 Speaker 1: they were talking about exactly. They found a lot of 748 00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:19,759 Speaker 1: ways to quote, you know, beating around the bush. They 749 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,360 Speaker 1: wouldn't even say beat around the bush, probably not, whereas 750 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,600 Speaker 1: John Wilmot was like, let's talk about bush. I'd love 751 00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:27,960 Speaker 1: to talk about that bush I was beating around last night. 752 00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:31,080 Speaker 1: He actually did. In I think it was a play 753 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:34,319 Speaker 1: that he wrote. He wrote the line my prick no 754 00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:38,600 Speaker 1: more to bald cunt shall resort, Merkins, rub off and 755 00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:44,920 Speaker 1: often spoil the sport he wants. He wants a bush 756 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:48,560 Speaker 1: like he does. He wants to beat around the bush. 757 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:51,040 Speaker 1: I want a bush to beat around. Well. In two 758 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:53,920 Speaker 1: thousand four, they did make a movie about this guy's life, 759 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,919 Speaker 1: starring another controversial fellow, Johnny Depp, and this was called 760 00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:02,000 Speaker 1: The Libertine, based on a by the same name. We 761 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:03,960 Speaker 1: were able to share some of his poems with you 762 00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:08,560 Speaker 1: here today. Delightful, I think, too funny, but there are 763 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:11,359 Speaker 1: more that we really want to get into, like an 764 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:16,959 Speaker 1: Imperfect Enjoyment, which is another just raunchy, hilarious piece about 765 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:21,480 Speaker 1: premature ejaculation. So come back for our next episode and 766 00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:26,239 Speaker 1: we will spew those poems in your laps. Gross, Just 767 00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:28,360 Speaker 1: make sure you don't bring the kids along, because again, 768 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:31,319 Speaker 1: this guy, I mean, if you haven't noticed already, this 769 00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:35,239 Speaker 1: guy's not exactly a PG author. Or do if you 770 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:40,600 Speaker 1: want them to get interested in poetry. That's true because if, right, 771 00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:43,120 Speaker 1: if we'd read this in high school, I'd probably be 772 00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:45,719 Speaker 1: a poet right now. I'm saying like, I'm like, I 773 00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:48,320 Speaker 1: remember reading John Dunne in one of my English classes, 774 00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:51,000 Speaker 1: and we had to have so many conversations about his 775 00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:54,600 Speaker 1: metaphor and all the I don't know, the ways he 776 00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:57,239 Speaker 1: kind of obscured his meaning and talked about, you know, 777 00:46:57,360 --> 00:46:59,600 Speaker 1: something in the Bible, which what he really meant was 778 00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:01,520 Speaker 1: this political thing that was going on at the time, 779 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:03,680 Speaker 1: and blah blah blah. They had to really like get 780 00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:06,879 Speaker 1: into so much history to understand when he was writing. Yeah, 781 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:08,719 Speaker 1: and I'm like, why didn't we start with the oral 782 00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:11,280 Speaker 1: sex one. I'm telling you you would have my attention 783 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:14,480 Speaker 1: the entire semester if we just started there. Maybe that's 784 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,520 Speaker 1: just me, but I feel like people say about language classes, 785 00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:19,239 Speaker 1: like teach me the curse words on the first day 786 00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:25,399 Speaker 1: and then I'm yours for the rest complaints. Yeah, if 787 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:28,439 Speaker 1: we could do it all over well, anyway, I hope 788 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:30,440 Speaker 1: you all love this episode about John Wilmoke because it 789 00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:32,960 Speaker 1: was really fun to learn about hilarious. Thank you all 790 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:35,040 Speaker 1: for tuning in for this yeah, you had fun to 791 00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:38,120 Speaker 1: Thanks again to Barbara for telling us to do his 792 00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:41,959 Speaker 1: Life as a Store as an episode because I wasn't 793 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:44,160 Speaker 1: going to, but I'm glad I looked into him because 794 00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:47,520 Speaker 1: this is hilarious, amazing, amazing. Please let us know what 795 00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:50,560 Speaker 1: you thought. Tell us any suggestions you have, because obviously 796 00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:53,440 Speaker 1: they lead us down some great pads. Reach out to 797 00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:56,440 Speaker 1: us at dick Romance at gmail dot com right or 798 00:47:56,520 --> 00:47:59,600 Speaker 1: we're on Instagram and Twitter. I'm at Dianamite Boom, I'm 799 00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:03,120 Speaker 1: at Great It's Eli and the show is at ridict Romance. 800 00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:05,320 Speaker 1: I don't forget to follow us along. Catch some videos 801 00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:09,960 Speaker 1: on TikTok where we're at Ridiculous Romance, and make sure 802 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:11,440 Speaker 1: you go see R R R as soon as you 803 00:48:11,480 --> 00:48:13,960 Speaker 1: can never stop talking about that movie. We are not 804 00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:17,680 Speaker 1: steering you wrong. Guys, it's so good. Thank you so 805 00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:19,520 Speaker 1: much for tuning in. Everybody. We will catch you at 806 00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:23,160 Speaker 1: the next one. Love you bye, so long. Friends, It's 807 00:48:23,239 --> 00:48:27,359 Speaker 1: time to go. Thanks so listening to our show. Tell 808 00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:30,719 Speaker 1: your friends name is uncle Sandez. To listen to our show, 809 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:32,080 Speaker 1: Ridiculous Romance.