“The Diverting History of John Gilpin” is a rollicking ballad about the misadventure of a linen draper about to celebrate a delayed 20-year honeymoon. His wife and family are to go by chaise to ‘the Bell, an inn at Edmonton,’ and he would ride along on a borrowed horse. Just as they are leaving three customers arrive, so John dismounts to attend to business. Thus he gets a late start.

William Cowper, author of the poem which inspired this W. Ridgway jug, wrote “The Diverting History of John Gilpin” in 1782. Cowper was a contemporary of Robert Burns. Circa 1835.