NED WARD (1667-1731)   Ned Ward was a grub-street wit (or hack if you prefer), perhaps second only to Defoe in terms of output, and famous enough to appear as one of the dunces in Pope's The Dunciad. Ward was also landlord of an alehouse and then a tavern. He was under no illusion as to his literary abilities, considering himself forced into hack-work much as someone might needs resort to prostitution. In his never-ending search to find new markets for his material, he was often experimenting with innovative literary formats that might catch the public's attention. His first success was A Trip to Jamaica (1698), probably based on personal experience, a work that Troyer (his only biographer to date) claims set a trend for conversational reportage (Howard William Troyer, New Ward of Grubstreet: A Study of Sub-Literary London in the Eighteenth Century, Harvard UP, 1946). His best work is The London Spy, a 'journal' that came out in eighteen monthly parts between 1698 and 1700. Using the I/eye of someone fresh from the countryside with which to view London, Ward offered his audience a vivid, satirical and sometimes scatological picture of the city (two editions in the twentieth century have still found it necessary to excise passages). Amongst the pages of The London Spy are some of the best descriptions of taverns, brothels and alehouses to be found in the history of low-life representations. His style is one rich in metaphorical language, offering scenes that verge on the fantastic and surreal, yet depictions that obviously struck a chord with his fellow citizens. I have included extracts from The London Spy and a canto from The Delights of the Bottle - a heartfelt rant against his less-pleasing customers.   The London Spy (Under construction) The Delights of the Bottle: OR, The Compleat Vintner (Canto IV - The Tavern Tormentors)