The Golden Age of the Insult

The Guardian recently published a marvellous article about the 'golden age' of the insult in Britain. It picks up on work by historian Robert Shoemaker in his 'The Decline of Public Insult in London 1660-1800', a title which pretty much sums up the contents within: a study of how public insults, which could lead you to court and prison, rose to a peak in the 1620s and 30s and fell in number and offense, to the small number of prosecutions we have today. Sadly, while the article sums up the findings, it doesn't give us any examples of exactly how people were insulting each other back then. Or maybe none are fit to print in newspapers...