Darby and Joan

Darby and Joan is a British proverbial phrase for a happily married couple who share a quiet life of mutual devotion and attachment. It is first cited in 1735 in a poem by Henry Woodfall (c. 1686-1746) published in The Gentleman's Magazine, entitled The Joys of Love Never Forgot. A Song. Woodfall wrote the poem as a paean to his employer, a Mr Darby and his wife Joan, who struck Woodfall as a particularly happy and devoted married couple. Woodfall's poem was put to song and it became a popular ballad during the 18th century. The ballad became so popular that the phrase soon passed into the language. In 1773, Oliver Goldsmith used the expression in his play She Stoops to Conquer and in the early 19th century, Lord Byron used it in an 1811 letter to a friend of his, to describe a devoted married couple. Its popularity was sealed in 1937 when Hammerstein and Kern used the expression in their popular song The Folks who Live on the Hill.