A History of the Cries of London Part 20

IX.

_And narrates the means employed, and the circ.u.mstances which led him to destroy his betrothed._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

With a.r.s.enic her I did destroy, How could I be so vicious!

But of my young master I was jealous, And so was my old Missus.

X.

_He is led away by bad pa.s.sions._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

I thought Sarey Leigh warn't true to me, So all pity then despising, Sure I was tempted by the Devil To give to her some p'ison.

XI.

_His bosom is torn by conflicting resolutions; but he is at last decided._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Long--long I brooded on the deed, 'Til one morning of a sudden, I did determine for to put It in a beef-steak puddin.

XII.

_The victim falls into the snare._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Of the fatal pudding she did partake, Most fearful for to see, And an hour arter was to it a martyr, Launch'd into eternity.

XIII.

_He feels that his perception comes too late._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Ah! had I then but viewed things in The light that I now does 'em, I never should have know'd the grief As burns in this here buzum.

XIV.

_He commits his secret to the earth._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

So when I seed what I had done, In hopes of justice r.e.t.a.r.ding, I took and buried poor Sarey Leigh Out in the kitching garding.

XV.

_But the earth refuses to keep it._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

But it did haunt me, so I felt As of a load deliver'd, When three weeks after the fatal deed, The body was diskiver'd.

XVI.

_Remorse and self examination._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

O! why did I form of Sarey Leigh Such cruel unjust opinions, When my young master did her find Beneath the bed of inions.

XVII.

_His countrymen form a just estimate of his delinquency._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Afore twelve jurymen I was tried, And condemned the perpetrator Of this here awful Tragedy, As shocks one's human natur.

XVIII.

_He conjures up a painful image._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

But the bell is tolling for my end; How shocking for to see A footman gay, in the prime of life, Die on the fatal tree.

XIX.

_His last words convey a moral lesson._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE MORAL!!!

Take warning, then, all ye as would Not die like malefactors; Never the company for to keep Of them with bad characters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: J. CATNACH, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER.]

Little Boys and Girls will find At CATNACH'S something to their mind; From great variety may choose, What will instruct them and amuse.

The prettiest plates that you can find, To please at once the eye and mind.

One cla.s.s of literature which the late Jemmy Catnach made almost his own, was children's farthing and halfpenny books. Among the great many that he published we select, from our own private collection, the following as a fair sample:--"The Tragical Death of an Apple Pie," "The House that Jack Built," "Jumping Joan," "The b.u.t.terflies Ball and Gra.s.shoppers' Feast,"

"Jerry Diddle and his Fiddle," "Nurse Love-Child's Gift," "The Death and Burial of c.o.c.k Robin," "The Cries of London," "Simple Simon," "Jacky Jingle and Suky Shingle," and--"Here you have just prin--ted and pub--lish--ed, and a--dor--ned with eight beau--ti--ful and ele--gantly engraved embellish--ments, and for the low charge of one _farden_--Yes!

one _farden_ buys."