“ To the spectators, judging from our own experience, and the appearance of many persons present, nothing could have been more terrible than this sight of a man, calmly, methodically strangled under shadow of a prison wall, without any of the frothy excitement that has up to within a very short time formed part of an execution ceremony. Few things could be more impressive, so far as the outside spectators were concerned (by reason of its fearful suggestiveness) than the silent running up of a black flag from the gaol wall just as the murderer passed down into the valley of the shadow of death ”

“ With Gladstone, Russell, Beales, and Bright
We shall weather through the storm,
To give the working man his rights,
And gain the Bill,—Reform.
If the Hyde Park meeting had been allowed,
No disturbance would have been.
Long life, they cried, to the Prince of Wales,
And God bless England’s Queen!
Why should the parks be ever closed
Against the poor, who for them pay,
Work with a will for equality,
And you will gain the day.
We want no Tory government,
The poor man to oppress,
They never try to do you good,
The truth you will confess. ”

“ Oh! father, dear father, awake she did cry,
Arouse from your slumber and launch the boat quickly,
Poor creatures to save, our efforts let’s try,
I fear there’s a wreck, let us strive then to rescue
Some part of the crew from the deep sad and cold,
Their shrieks do appal me, their cries she said pierce me,
Grace Darling—that gallant young female so bold.
Says her father, dear daughter, this night it is stormy,
’Tis cold, and the seas they do run mountains high,
It is folly my child to attempt on the billow,
I fear not the danger, dear father, she cried! ”

“ Long life to brave Beales, and Reformers, I say,
United let’s be, and we’ll yet gain the day,
And always remember Hyde Park.
We do not want SPECIAL duty to be done,
Our rights! it is all that we ask,
To meet with each other when labour is done,
And speak out our minds in the Park. REFORM MEETING
AT
BLACKHEATH.
For Reform, meet again, boys, on Monday I say,
Let trumpets sound loudly, we’ll yet gain the day,
Your banners wave proudly, and shout, boys, hurrah!
When to Blackheath on Monday you start;
Manhood suffrage, you know, is the working man’s own. ”

“ At eight o’clock, the mournful and melancholy procession began to move towards the gallows; the culprit walked slowly, but firm, and having arrived at the foot of the gallows, he mounted the steps on to the top of the platform, and placed himself on the trap-door, under the fatal beam; Calcraft then put over his head the cap, and placing the rope round his neck, he then shook hands with him, and instantly the bolt was withdrawn, and the unhappy man was launched into eternity. After a few short struggles, life was extinct. ”

“ Much respected and truly victorious brethren, and all who have lent a liberal hand in sticking the axe of Reform so deeply into the root of that old contemptible tree called Toryism. I have this day come amongst you to offer up a thanksgiving for the great victory gained by Gladstone and his brave army at the Great Election, and also to offer my sympathy for the alarming illness of the Tories, who are suffering from an attack of the place fever; and all true Liberals are invited to be present and take the front places, as Gladstone and his comrades will in the House of St. Stephen’s. ”

“ When we get Johnny’s Reform. H. Disley, Printer, 57, High Street, St. Giles.
FREEDOM & REFORM.
Unto these lines I’ve penned,
Listen, England’s working men,
Be united, we shall weather thro’ the storm,
Gladstone, Beales, & Bright, God save,
And your banners proudly wave,
Shout Old England for ever and Reform.
Hark to those drums so loudly beating,
See those glorious banners proudly wave,
Come men, and shout with me, Old England’s liberty,
And Reform! for Britons won’t be slaves.
Let’s be firm my boys, I say,
While the sun shines make your hay,
They’ve promis’d it long enough I vow. ”

“ And the ostlers swear they’ll buy a rope and go to felo-de-se.
The steam boats to old Belzebub the watermen do wish,
For they say they’ve nearly ruined them and drowned all the fish,
Of all their new inventions that we have lately seen—
There was none begun or thought upon when Betty was the queen.
Behold the well-bred farmer, how he can strut along,
Let a poor man do whatever he will he’s always in the wrong,
With hard labour and low wages he hangs his drooping head,
They won’t allow him half enough to find his children bread. ”

“ If you will lend a willing shoulder to Reform.
Now when the Tories found,
That in Ashburnham Grounds,
England’s sons were to meet—now only mark,—
At their dirty work they got,
And determined they should not,
As if they wished another scene like Hyde Park.
But, my lads, do not despair,
There is the pure and open air,
Which belong to the great and the small,
And though our foes they make a fuss,
There our rights we can discuss,
For the song says “There’s room enough for all.”
Shall our liberties be crushed.
And be trampled to the dust,
By men who never earnt a penny in their lives? ”

“ This day upon Victoria shine,
And a thousand blessings attend the reign
Of Victoria, Queen of England.
Then let England, Ireland, Scotland, join,
And bless thy name in every clime—
In unison we all combine
To hail the Queen of England.
Then hail, Victoria, Royal Maid, &c.
There is Portugal, and likewise Spain,
Each govern’d by a youthful Queen,
But of all the Sov’reigns to be seen,
None like the Queen of England:
Her virtues are so very rare,
The poor shall ever be her care,
And all her generous bounty share,
Victoria, Queen of England. ”

“ Some curious changes that will fill you with amaze and wonder.
CHORUS.
So listen to me of all degree, both single, wise, and thrifty,
While I prophecy what you will see, in eighteen hundred and fifty.
The Queen will have another son, he will be a steam-loom weaver,
And Prince Albert he is going to be a wopping big coal-heaver;
Old Wellington as I’ve heard say, with his great whacking nose, sir,
With a donkey cart is going out a gathering old clothes, sir.
Russell and Grey, as I’ve heard say, are going to be sailors,
And Bobby Peel will make, of steel, new thimbles for the tailors ”

“ Simultaneously with the drop falling, a black flag was hoisted at one corner of the prison, announcing that the last dread sentence of the law had been carried into effect.
You Suffolk lads of each degree,
And all young men of each degree,
And when my mournful tale you hear,
For my sad end shed a silent tear.
Upon the dreadful scaffold high,
A murderer’s death I am doom’d to die. ”

“ Sir B. Nay, Mr. Cobbler, you are too severe in the conclusions; a man of my honour can never deceive you;—Can I, Pander?
Pand. No, Sir Bilberry. I have known Sir Bilberry from a child, and never knew a dishonest thing of him, upon my honour, friend Crispin.
Cris. That’s the last lie you told, Friend Pander. Well, Sir Bilberry Dibble, knight and baronet of Dibble-hall, in this county, you are come to ask a vote of a poor cobbler.
Sir B. I am, friend Crispin, and you may assure yourself that there is not a man in the whole borough I respect so much as yourself, though but a poor cobbler. ”

“ The times are hard, the wages low,
Some thousands to the Guild can’t go,
From Blackburn, Burnley, and Chorley still,
They will roll on to Preston Guild,
From Wigan, Bolton, Lancaster,
From Liverpool and Manchester,
The Railroad brings them on it still,
To see the fun at Preston Guild.
So young and old I’ll tell you true,
It’s different now since twenty-two,
The men did labour with good will,
It’s not so now this Preston Guild.
But let us hope the times will mend,
When the poor man can the poor befriend,
We want our rights and then we will,
Have plenty of sport next Preston Guild. ”

“ There are five hundred prisoners within the gaol, but one might as well be in the City of the Dead for all one hears of them, the only sound, the jingling of the warders’ keys, grating on the ear. A little excitement is caused by the hurried entrance of a warder from the direction in which the prisoner is known to be, and his equally hurried disappearance bearing some brandy in a tumbler, but the silence sets in afresh, and one is reduced to watching two little knots in the fore court. ”

“ The jury soon found this monster guilty,
The judge on him the awful sentence passed,
Saying, prepare yourself for the cruel murder,
For in this world, now, your die is cast;
And from your cell you will mount the scaffold,
And many thousands will you behind,
You must die the death of a malefactor,
May the Lord have mercy on your guilty soul. ”

“ You’d laugh to see his daddy, at night he homeward runs,
With some peppermint or lollipops, sweet cakes and sugar plums.
He will want a little fiddle, and a little German flute,
A little pair of stockings and a pretty pair of boots,
With a handsome pair of spurs and a golden headed cane,
And a stick of barley-sugar as long as Drury Lane.
An old maid ran through the palace, which did the nobs surprise,
Bawling out he’s got his daddy’s mouth his mammy’s nose and eyes
He will be as like his daddy as a frigate’s like a ship,
If he had got mustachoes on his upper lip. ”

“ Every since their first sanguinary revolution some classes of the French people have fondly hugged the guillotine as a national toy of great worth, and petted three generations of Sansons as their most excellent scientific headsmen; they have also at every execution followed the criminal sitting in a cart, bound and bare-necked, on his coffin, beside his confessor, and gloated with open mouths and staring eyeballs upon the descending blade and the head rolling into the basket of sawdust ”

“ A man being wanted for the coming “job,” he applied, sent in the “lowest tender,” and was accepted. Visions by day and night now haunted his mind; asleep or awake the gallows and all its appurtenances dwelt strongly upon his imagination, and flitted before his eyes in his drunken moments. Coils of rope here, there, and everywhere rose up before him, and sometimes twined about his own neck in his midnight dreams, like fiery serpents. Time was getting brief, and he must prepare to perform his task neatly and expeditiously, and in dexterity equal the renowned William Calcraft. ”

“ D stands for Derby, and also Dizzey,
Who talks large when there’s nothing to do;
Like parsons they say, you must do as they say,
But, mind you, don’t do as they do.
E stands for England, the land of the free,
The home of the true and the brave;
But our share of freedom is small, you’ll agree,
Though the song says we ne’er shall be slaves!
F stands for Franchise, it is our birthright,
So we want what is justly our due;
Tho’ the Tories they say, they will have their own way,
We’ll tell them, we’ll be damn’d if they do. ”

“ We can stop no longer in Sebastopol;
If we do they will choke us with long iron tools.
So come my brave fellows let’s sing and let’s dance,
Both Turkey, Sardinnia, old England and France;
We will all have a jig while the music does play,
We have nothing to fear for the Russians will pay;
And when we come home we will all keep a pig,
Our wives shall have bustles made of Russian wigs,
We will all take a bumper and drink good health,
So down with the Russians and up with the French. BATTLE
OF
ALMA
Oh! ”

“ And a bustle nearly seven times as big as a milking pail.
The nobles from the pockets of John Bull are all well paid;
Sometimes you hardly know the lady from the servant maid,
For now they are so very proud, silk stockings on their legs,
And every step they take you think they walk on pigeon’s eggs.
The tradesman he can hardly pay his rent and keep his home,
And the labourer has eighteen pence a day for breaking stones,
In former days the farmer rode a donkey or a mule,
There never was such times before since Adam went to school. ”

“ Cheer up, says old Barney, here comes the police:
Here’s old Erin and glory, plum pudding and peace,
A glass of good whiskey twice every day,
That is better than fighting and running away!
As for me, my dear boys, if a row I was in it,
I’d rather run for a mile than fight for a minute;
And I would advise all to have done with such capers,
And just stay at home to look after the taters. ”

“ A little penny rattle and silver sword so bright,
A little cap and feather with scarlet coat so smart,
And a pretty little hobby horse to ride about the park.
Prince Albert he will often take the young Prince on his lap,
And fondle him so loving while he stirs about the pap,
He will pin on his flannel before he takes his nap,
Then dress him out so stylish with his little clouts and cap. ”

“ To a prison cell in Newgate.
I was tried for the dreadful murder,
The Jury they convicted me,
The Judge he passed the dreadful sentence,
Which was to die on the gallows tree;
I left the Bar in grief and sorrow,
Went to my cell for to deplore,
Inside the Gaol I die to-morrow,
Where no one ever died before.
My dying moments are approaching,
The authorities me do surround,
The hangman by me is preparing,
My limbs by him will soon be bound;
No one but those inside a prison,
A poor unhappy youth can see,
Young and old pray take a warning,
And while you live remember me. ”

“ Suddenly the prisoner begins, in a low, thick, trembling voice, to sing a hymn—one, as we afterwards learn, which he has been recently repeating in his cell—and continues to sing it after Calcraft has pulled the cap over his face, and the chaplain has shaken hands with him—is singing it when, at a signal from his superior, Smith pulls the bolt, and then, with a sickening rattle, the drop falls, Calcraft standing behind, and, as it were, guiding the falling figure. In our belief, life was not wholly extinct for three or four minutes after the falling of the drop. ”

“ O most noble Johnny, pull yourself together, and spare us the necessity of selecting another steward.
Hear us, O Russell.
And O, most Gracious Queen, gladden the hearts of thy people by dwelling amongst them, and so improve the trade of thy most loyal subjects in this mighty city.
We beseech thee to hear us, O Queen.
From having our roads turned into honeycombs, and endangering our lives by being swallowed up by the underground railways, spare us we implore thee.
Railway Committees, spare us. ”