“Libertine Humor”: Rakish Roguery and Bawdy Pranking in The London Bully

The London Bully, Or The Prodigal Son was published in 1683, the very same year as The London Jilt, Or The Politick Whore. Both are anonymous, picaresque novels and share many similarities, so it has been argued that they may have been written by the same author and conceived as companion pieces. However, the difference in the gender of the protagonist, his being more prone to pranking, the lower number of moral comments, and the lack of an announced second part make The London Bully a notably different narrative. Besides, this novel has so far attracted much less critical attention than The London Jilt. This article seeks to redress that scholarly gap by mainly focusing on two questions. One is the (self-)representation of the protagonist-narrator, William, as a young rogue whose alleged “Libertine Humor” leads him to ignore filial respect, study and work, and engage instead in a self-indulgent life of pranking, thieving, drinking, cuckolding, whoring and travelling. William is ingenious, sexually successful and generally unrepentant. Maybe the missing second part was meant to show him more mature and remorseful, the prodigal son alluded to in the subtitle and the reclaimed debauchee mentioned in the cautionary address from the publisher to the reader. The other issue this article examines is the kind of humour used in the narrative, which is mostly based on pranks full of violence, scatology, and bawdy comments and situations, not unlike from those found in jestbooks and picaresque fiction of the time. As a result, the narrative presents William as a triumphant rakish rogue and a bawdy prankster, rather than a sincere penitent atoning for “the Sallies of impestuous Youth.”