ABSTRACT
Grub-street: a street near Moorfields in London, Grub Street was a real place, as real as Fleet Street. Its name came from the refuse ditch (grub) that ran alongside. Built on marshy ground, Grub Street was a notoriously unhealthy place, prone to epidemics. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support the picturesque myth that the garrets of Grub Street played host to a colony of impoverished writers. It is known that some of the more destitute writers and printers of 'mean publications' lived in the area around Grub Street. The term Grub Street was first recorded in its non-geographical sense in 1630. It became more prevalent during the Civil War when both sides paid the authors of newsbooks to fight a paper war on their behalf. Grub Street is a metaphor for the hack writer. Hogarth portraits the Grub Street hack in his book The Distrest Poet. The view from outside Grub Street was no more respectful.
