Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Ah, the Immortal!
Literally tipenny is two pence or pennies, indicating cheap. Used about women ( "a tippeny Ann" or "tippeny Jean") a tawdry, rather tarnished-looking woman.
The general message and the tipenny reference brings to mind the English calamity of the Gin Craze in the first half of the 18th century. The government encouraged distillation to prop up grain prices (for the benefit of the wealthy landowners). Cheap gin, (the gin they drank was not the same as we drink today, it was more in the same vein as moonshine, poor quality alcohol mixed with ingredients like turpentine and sulphuric acid that would kill anyone with a weak constitution) caused a disaster in poor urban areas.
English artist William Hogarth in support of what would become the Gin Act produced the print Beer Street and Gin Lane showing the health of beer drinkers compared to Gin
The Tie to Burns is the famous sign at the gin cellar, Gin Royal, advertising its wares with the slogan:
Drunk for a penny
Dead drunk for twopence
Clean straw for nothing
(still am?
)
