Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy, Vol. 5 of 6

Before there was stand-up comedy, there were ballads like these: sharp, bawdy, and absolutely unafraid. D'Urfey's legendary collection captures the unapologetic voice of early 18th-century England, where the humor was as irreverent as the company kept in taverns and coffeehouses across London. This fifth volume offers a staggering variety of comic songs: a dog story that unravels into social satire, a soldier's exploits told with martial swagger, and lovesick verses that mock the pretensions of romance even as they celebrate it. The ballads zip from lewd to lyrical, from political to picaresque, united only by their mission to shock laughter out of anyone listening. These aren't delicate courtly verses meant for aristocratic ears. They're meant to be roared in pubs, passed hand to hand, and sung until the candles burn down. For anyone curious about where modern wit actually comes from, this is it: raw, immediate, and still startlingly funny three centuries later.