mulligrubs

We’re deep in the mulligrubs.”

Here take my Bills, take my Bills, I cure all Ills, past, present, and to come; the Cramp, the Stitch, the Squirt, the Itch, the Gout, the Stone, the Pox, the Mulligrubs, the Bonny Scrubs, and all, all, all, all, all, Pandora’s Box; Thousands I’ve Dissected, Thousands new erected, and such Cures effected, as none e’er can tell.

The salt water, I think, Has made me most bloodily thirsty; So bring me a flagon of drink To keep down the mulligrubs, burst ye!

To this class belongs mulligrubs, for which we find in the 17th century also mouldy grubs.

The occasions, for instance, when I was stood in the corner for misconduct at table, or thrashed by my big brother for my “cheek,” or dosed with castor oil by the doctor for “mulligrubs,” all stand out in my memory as tragic, and no doubt prepared me to appreciate tragedy later on as a fine art.