- Bully Dawson
Bully Dawson was a renowned gambler from
London ,England in the time of Charles II. His name became a byword for a swaggering fool. His character is summed up byCharles Lamb : "Bully Dawson kicked by half the town, and half the town kicked by Bully Dawson".cite book|title=Brewer's Concise Dictionary of Phrase and Fable|location=London|publisher=Helicon Publishing|date=1992|pages=|id=ISBN 1-85986-286-1]He is said to have come from either Blackfriars or Whitefriarscite web|url=http://meta.montclair.edu/spectator/text/march1711/no2.html|title=No. 2|work=The Spectator|date=1711-03-02|accessdate=22 November|accessyear=2006] and little is known of him other than he was a gambler and "sharper". He may have been a punch brewer. Some idea of his reputation can be gleaned from the various works of literature that mention him.In Goldsmith's "
She Stoops to Conquer " Hardcastle refers to him in Act 3: "And can you be serious? I never saw such a bouncing, swaggering puppy since I was born. Bully Dawson was but a fool to him."He appears in one of "Joe Miller's Jests":
He is reputed to be the model for Captain Hackhum in
Thomas Shadwell 's "The Squire of Alsatia".Sir
Roger de Coverley is mentioned in "The Spectator" No. 2 as having "kicked" him in a publiccoffee house for being called "youngster", and he is noted in "The Newgate Calendar " as having being robbed by Davy Morgan after having some success at the gaming table. Morgan, observing Dawson had won a great deal of money, asked to speak to him outside where he proceeded to rob Dawson of 18guinea s at gun point before tying him up and making off.cite web|url=http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng126.htm|title=The Newgate Calendar: Davy Morgan|date=1842|accessdate=22 November|accessyear=2006]References
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