Chapter 3

“The cuts in these little publications are for the most part the same which were used by Davison in the other and more important works which issued from his press. The volumes are in 32mo, and in typographical excellence are far in advance of all other children’s books of the period of their publication with which I am acquainted.”

Herewith we publish one of the series from our own private collection. The justness of Mr. Hugo’s opinion will be at once seen.

THE GUESS BOOK, A COLLECTION OF INGENIOUS PUZZLES. Alnwick: Published and Sold by W. Davison. Price One Halfpenny,

a b c d ef g h i j kl m n o pq r s t u vw x y z &

THE

GUESS BOOK.

THE MOON.

There was a thing a full month old,When Adam was no more;But ere that thing was five weeks old,Adam was years five score.

Guess Book.

A CAT.

In almost every house I’m seen,(No wonder then I’m common),I’m neither man, nor maid, nor child,Nor yet a married woman.

Guess Book.

A CANNON.

I am the terror of mankind,My breath is flame, and by its powerI urge my messenger to findA way into the strongest tower.

Guess Book.

AN OWL.

My patron is Wisdom—if Wisdom you prize,In me put your confidence, borrow my eyes,Who into a mill-stone can see quite as farAs the best of you all, by the light of a star.

Guess Book.

A TOP.

I ne’er offend thee,Yet thou dost me whip,Which don’t amend me,Though I dance and skip;When I’m upright,Me you always like best,And barbarously whip meWhen I want rest.

Guess Book.

BOOKS.

With words unnumber’d I abound;In me mankind do take delight;In me much learning’s to be found;Yet I can neither read nor write.

Guess Book.

A DRUM.

My sides are firmlyLac’d about,Yet nothing is within:You’ll think my headIs strange indeed,Being nothing else but skin.

Guess Book.

A SAND-GLASS.

Made of two bodies join’d,Without foot or hand;And yet you will findI can both run and stand.

Guess Book.

TIME.

Ever eating, never cloying,All devouring, all destroying,Never finding full repastTill I eat the world at last.

Guess Book.

DEATH.

The gate of life, the cause of strife,The fruit of sin,When I appear, you drop a tear,And stay within.

Guess Book.

A PAIR OF SHOES.

To rich and poorWe useful are;And yet for our reward,By both at lastWe’re thrown away,Without the least regard.

Guess Book.

A SQUIRREL.

I am a busy active creature,Fashion’d for the sport of nature,Nimbly skip from tree to tree,Under a well-wrought canopy;Bid Chloe then to Mira tellWhat’s my name and where I dwell.

Guess Book.

A FISH.

Though it be cold I wear no clothes,The frost and snow I never fear;I value neither shoes nor hose,And yet I wander far and near.

John Catnach

Newcastle.

“There is no fooling with Life, when it is once turned forty: the seeking of a Fortune then is but a desperate after-game: it is a hundred to one if a man fling three sixes, and recover all; if his hand be no luckier than mine.”—Cowley.

In or about the latter part of the year 1808, John Catnach, with his wife and family, left Alnwick for Newcastle-upon-Tyne,and commenced business in a small shop in Newgate-street, and among other Works which he printed there, mention may be made of “The Battle of Chevy Chase,” a selection from the works of “Dr. Samuel Johnson, in two volumes,” and “The Life of John Thompson, Mariner. Written by Himself: Also, his Divine Selections, in Prose and Verse.From esteemed Authors.Embellished with steel Engravings. Newcastle:Printed for the Author. By J. Catnach, Newgate-street. 1810. 12mo., pp. lxxvi., 214. With two tail-pieces by Thomas Bewick.”

John Thompson,aliasGodfried Thomas Leschinsky, born at Riga, 1782, was a seaman. He sailed with Nelson’s fleet to Copenhagen, 1801. Continuing at sea he endured many hardships from severe accidents and ill health, and was at length discharged as not being fit for his Majesty’s service. In 1806, while in the Infirmary at Newcastle, one of his legs—from old injuries, rapidly mortified and had to be amputated. Subsequently, in consequence of the bones and joints of his right hand decaying, his arm was taken off below the elbow. He for years made a living out of his misfortunes and assumed piety. Catnach was induced, by specious reasoning, to undertake the printing of the book, but the eleemosynary author dying just as it was all worked off but not bound, he had the whole of the stock thrown on his hands to do the best he could with. There were between fifty and sixty claims set up by persons who averred that they had in part, or whole, paid for a copy each to the author on signing his subscription list, and most of these claims were allowed on the payment of sixpence extra: the work was subscribed for at 3s. 6d., but being extended to 20 pages more than was expected, the price was advanced to 4s.

John Catnach, at Newcastle, worked attentively for awhile, but without finding his expectations realised. Alas! time and the change of scene and companions had not improved the man. He contrived to get into a great amount of debt, without the least possible chance, from his irregular mode of living, of being able to pay it off. Eventually, he made up his mind for the worst, and the downward course would seem to have been the only way open to him. From bad to worse, and from one extreme to the other, he rapidly drifted. The loose and irregular manner in which he had existed was beginning to tell upon his constitution. His business had been neglected, and his adventures were nearly at a climax. The wreck came, with a terrific blow; but it was not unlooked for. Poor Catnach was a bankrupt, and as such sent to the debtor’s gaol. But just before, he had managed to send his wife and daughters to London, together with a wooden printing press, some small quantity of type, and other articles of his trade that could be hurriedly and clandestinely got together.

During the five years’ residence of John and Mary Catnach in Newcastle, they had one child, Isabella, burned to death, and another, Julia Dalton, born to them.

Mr. Mark Smith, who had been bound apprentice to John Catnach, but by reason of whose removal from the Borough of Alnwick, the indentures had been rendered void, was then in London, serving out his time as a turnover and improver with Mr. John Walker, of Paternoster Row, and on being made acquainted with the arrival of Mrs. Catnach and her family, paid them a visit at their lodgings in a court leading off Drury-lane, and assisted in putting up the press and arranging the other few matters and utensils in connection with their tinyprinting office, there to await John Catnach’s release from prison and arrival in the metropolis.

London life to John Catnach proved very disastrous, matters never went smoothly with him. It was evident to all his friends that he had made a great mistake in leaving the North of England. Mr. Mark Smith continued to visit the family as opportunities presented themselves. On one occasion he found them in extremely distressed circumstances, so much so, that he had to afford them some temporary relief from his slender earnings and then left the northern sojourners for the night, promising that he would return to see them at an early date. Anxious to learn how they were succeeding in the crowded metropolis, it was not many days before he again visited them, but this time he found them in a sorry plight; the landlady had distrained upon their all for arrears of rent. This was an awkward predicament; but the indomitable young Northumbrian, like the more burly Dr. Johnson of old, when his friend Oliver Goldsmith was similarly situated, resolved to do all he could to rescue him from the peril in which he was placed. Not being prepared for a case of such pressing emergency, the full debt and costs being demanded, he was compelled to borrow the required amount of Mr. Matthew Willoughby, a native and freeman of the Borough of Alnwick, then residing in London, and once more his old master was free.

John Catnach then removed his business to a front shop in Soho, when, in the absence of work of a higher class, he had to resort to printing quarter-sheet ballads, here is the title and imprint of one example:—

Tom Starboard and Faithful Nancy.

Tom Starboard was a lover true,As brave a tar as ever sail’d;The duties ablest seamen doTom did, and never had fail’d.****

London.—Printed by J. Catnach, and Sold Wholesale and Retail at No. 60, Wardour-street, Soho-square.

For his wife and family he took apartments in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy-square. Again he shortly removed his business to Gerrard-street, where he had hardly got his plant into working order, when on returning home on the evening of the 29th of August, 1813, he had the misfortune to fall down and injure his leg. He was immediately taken to St. George’s Hospital, Hyde-park Corner, when rheumatic fever supervened, and although placed under the skilful treatment of Dr. Young, he never rallied, his constitution being completely broken, but by means of superior medical treatment and good nursing he lingered until the 4th of December in the same year, on which day he died.

Such is a briefrésuméof the latter years of John Catnach’s life. It is apparent that, by a little application and self-denial, this man might have made for himself a name and position in the world. He possessed all the necessary talents for bringing success within his reach. The ground which he took is the same which in after years proved to be of inestimable value to hundreds of publishers who never possessed half the amount of ability and good taste in printing and embellishing books that was centred in him.

After his death, and just at the time when his widow and daughters were sunk in the greatest poverty, his son James, who in after years became so noted in street literature publications, made his way to the metropolis. It appears that this extraordinary man at one time contemplated devoting his life to rural pursuits; in fact, when a youth he served for some time as a shepherd boy, quite contrary to the wish and desire of his parents. Every opportunity he could get he would run away, far across the moors and over the Northumbrian mountains, and, always accompanied with his favourite dog Venus, and a common-place book, in which he jotted down in rhymes and chymes his notions of a pastoral life.[5]Thus he would stay away from home for days and nights together.

This project, however, was abandoned, and he commenced to serve as a printer in the employment of his father. It is rather remarkable that he and Mr. Mark Smith

Mr. Smith.

were both bound on the same day as apprentices to Mr. John Catnach, and that they afterwards worked together as “improvers” in their trade with:—

Joseph Graham, Printer, Alnwick.

Mr. Hugo, in the Supplement to his “Bewick Collector,” pp. 256 (5137), says:—“This very beautiful Cut was done by Thomas Bewick, sometime about the year 1794, for a well-known Alnwick printer.”

James Catnach

“Death made no conquest of this man,For now he lives in fame, though not in life.”

At the time James—or, as he afterwards was popularly called “Jemmy,” or, “Old Jemmy” Catnach commenced business in Seven Dials it took all the prudence and tact which he could command to maintain his position, as at that time “Johnny” Pitts,[6]of the Toy and Marble Warehouse, No. 6, Great St. Andrew street, was the acknowledged and established printer of street literature for the “Dials” district; therefore, as may be easily imagined, a powerful rivalry and vindictive jealousy soon arose between these “two of a trade”—most especially on the part of “Old Mother” Pitts, who is described as being a coarse and vulgar-minded personage, and as having originally followed the trade of a bumboat woman at Portsmouth: she “wowed wengeance” against the young fellow in the court for daring to set up in their business, and also spoke of him as a young “Catsnatch,” “Catblock,” “Cut-throat,” and many other opprobrious terms which were freely given to the new comer. Pitts’ staff of “bards” were duly cautioned of the consequences which would inevitably follow should they dare to write a line for Catnach—the newcoveup the court. The injunction was for a time obeyed, but the “Seven Bards of the Seven Dials” soon found it not only convenient, but also more profitable to sellcopies of their effusions to both sides at the same time, and by keeping their own counsel they avoided detection, as each printer accused the other of obtaining an early sold copy, and then reprinting it with the utmost speed, which was in reality often the case, as “Both Houses” had emissaries on the constant look-out for any new production suitable for street-sale. Now, although this style of “double dealing” and competition tended much to lessen the cost price to the “middle-man” or vendor, the public in this case did not get any of the reduction, as a penny broadside was still a penny, and a quarter-sheet still a halfpenny to them, the “street-patterer” obtaining the whole of the reduction as extra profit.

The feud existing between these rival publishers, who have been somewhat aptly designated as the Colburn and Bentley of the “paper” trade, never abated, but, on the contrary, increased in acrimony of temper, until at last not being content to vilify each other by “Words! words!! words!!!” alone, they resorted to printing off virulent lampoons, in which Catnach never failed to let the world know that “Old Mother Pitts” had been formerly a bumboat woman, while the Pitt’s party announced that:—

“All the boys and girls around,Who go out prigging rags and phials,Know JemmyCatsnatch!!! well,Who lives in a back slum in the Dials.He hangs out in Monmouth Court,And wears a pair of blue-black breeches,Where all the “Polly Cox’s crew” do resortTo chop their swag for badly printed Dying Speeches.”

But however, in spite of all the opposition and trade rivalry, Catnach persevered; he worked hard, and lived hard, and wasfitted to the stirring times. The Peninsular wars had just concluded, politics and party strife ran high, squibs, lampoons, and political ballads were the order of the day, and he made money. But he had weighty pecuniary family matters to bear up with, as thus early in his career, his father’s sister also joined them, and they all lived and huddled together in the shop and parlour of No. 2, Monmouth-court. He did a small and very humble trade as a jobbing master, printing and publishing penny histories, street-papers, and halfpenny songs, relying for their composition on one or two out of the known “Seven Bards of the Seven Dials,” and when they were on the drink, or otherwise not inclined to work, being driven to write and invent them himself.

The customers who frequented his place of business were for the most part of the lowest grades of society:—those who by folly, intemperance, and crime, had been reduced to the greatest penury. Anyone with a few coppers in his pockets could easily knock out an existence, especially when anything sensational was in the wind.

The great excitement throughout the country caused by the melancholy death of the Princess Charlotte, on the sixth day of November, 1817, was an event of no ordinary description. It was, indeed, a most unexpected blow, the shining virtues, as well as the youth and beauty of the deceased, excited an amount of affectionate commiseration, such as probably had never before attended the death of any royal personage in England.

The Seven Dials Press was busily engaged in working off “papers” descriptive of every fact that could be gleaned from the newspapers, and that was suitable for street sale. Catnach was not behind his compeers, as he published several statementsin respect to the Princess’s death, andmadethe following linesout of his own head! And had, continued our informant—a professional street-ballad writer—“woodenough left for as many more”:—

“She is gone! sweet Charlotte’s gone!Gone to the silent bourne;She is gone, She’s gone, for evermore,—She never can return.She is gone with her joy—her darling Boy,The son of Leopold, blythe and keen;She Died the sixth of November,Eighteen hundred and seventeen.”

The year 1818, proved a disastrous one to Catnach, as in addition to the extra burden entailed on him in family matters, he had, in the way of his trade, printed a street-paper reflecting on the private character and on the materials used in the manufacture of the sausages as sold by the pork butchers of the Drury-lane quarter in general, and particularly by Mr. Pizzey, a tradesman carrying on business in Blackmore-street, Clare-market, who caused him to be summoned to the Bow-street Police Court to answer the charge of malicious libel, when he was committed to take his trial at the next Clerkenwell Sessions, by Sir Richard Burnie, where he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment in the House of Correction, at Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex.

John Morgan

During Catnach’s incarceration his mother and sisters, aided by one of the Seven Dials bards, carried on the business, writing and printing off all the squibs and street ballads that were required. In the meanwhile the Johnny Pitts’ crew printed several lampoons on “Jemmy Catnach.” Subjoined is aportion of one of them that has reached us,vivâ voce, of the aforesaid—John Morgan—professional street-ballad writer:—

“Jemmy Catnach printed a quarter sheet—It was called in lanes and passages,That Pizzy the butcher, had dead bodies chopped,And made them into sausages.“Poor Pizzey was in an awful mess,And looked the colour of cinders—A crowd assembled from far and near,And they smashed in all his windows.“Now Jemmy Catnach’s gone to prison,And what’s he gone to prison for?For printing a libel against Mr. Pizzey,Which was sung from door to door.“Six months in quod old Jemmy’s got,Because he a shocking tale had started,About Mr. Pizzey who dealt in sausagesIn Blackmore-street, Clare-market.”

Misfortunes are said never to come singly, and so it proved to the Catnach family, for while Jemmy wasdoinghis six months in the House of Correction at Clerkenwell, we find in the pages of theWeekly Dispatchfor January 3, 1819, and underPolice Intelligence, as follows:—

Circulating False News.—At Bow-street, on Wednesday, Thomas Love and Thomas Howlett, were brought to the office by one of the patrole, charged with making a disturbance in Chelsea, in the morning, by blowing of horns, with a tremendous noise, and each of them after blowing his horn, was heard to announce with all the vociferation the strength of his lungs would admit of:—“The full, true, and particular account of the most cruel and barbarous murder of Mr. Ellis, of Sloane-street, which took place, last night, in the Five Fields, Chelsea.” The patrole, knowing that no such horrid event had taken place, had them taken up. The papers in their possession, which they had been selling at a halfpenny each, were seized and brought to the office with the prisoners. But what is most extraordinary, the contents of the papers had no reference whatever to Mr. Ellis! They were headed in large letters, “A Horrid Murder,” and the murder was stated to have been committed at South-green, nearDartford, on the bodies of Thomas Lane, his wife, three children, and his mother. The murderer’s conduct was stated very particularly, although, in fact, no such event occurred. The magistrate severely censured the conduct of the whole parties. He ordered the prisoners to be detained, and considered them to be very proper subjects to be made an example of. On Thursday these parties were again brought before the magistrate, together with Mrs. Catnach [the mother] the printer of the bills, which gave a fictitious statement of the horrid murder said to be committed at Dartford. She was severely reprimanded. The two hornblowers were also reprimanded and then discharged.

The busy year of 1820 was a very important one to Catnach, in fact the turning point in his life. The Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III., and father to Queen Victoria, died on the 23rd of January—the event was of sufficient consequence to produce several “Full Particulars,” for street sale. Just six days after his death, viz., on the 29th of January, 1820, George III. died, and that event set the “Catnach Press” going night and day to supply the street papers, containing “Latest particulars,” &c.

“Mourn, Britons mourn! Your sons deplore,Our Royal Sovereign is now no more,”

was the commencement of a ballad written, printed, and published by J. Catnach, 2, Monmouth-court, 7 Dials. Battledores, Lotteries, and Primers sold cheap. Sold by Marshall, Bristol, and Hook, Brighton.

The royal body was committed to the family vault in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor, on the 16th of February, amidst a concourse of the great and the noble of the land. The usual ceremony of proclamation and salutation announced the accession of George IV. and another important era commenced.

Immediately following these events came the Cato-street conspiracy. On the 24th of February the newspapers containedthe startling intelligence that, on the previous evening, a party of eleven men, headed by Arthur Thistlewood, who was already known as a political agitator, had been apprehended at a stable in Cato-street, an obscure place in the locality of Grosvenor-square, on the charge of being the parties to a conspiracy to assassinate the greater part of the King’s Ministers. The truth of the intelligence was soon confirmed by the proceedings which took place before the magisterial authorities; and in due course all the parties were put on their trial at the Old Bailey, on a charge of high treason, Arthur Thistlewood, the leader, being the first tried on the 17th of April; the Lord Chief Justice Abbott presiding. The names of the other prisoners were—William Davidson, a man of colour; James Ings, John Thomas Brunt, Richard Tidd, James William Wilson, John Harrison, Richard Bradburn, James Shaw Strange, and Charles Cooper, of whom the first four, together with Thistlewood, were executed as traitors on May 1st.

The Cato-street conspiracy proved a rich harvest to all concerned in the production of street literature. Catnach came in for a fair share of the work, and he found himself with plenty of cash in hand, and in good time to increase his trade-plant to meet the great demand for the street-papers that were in a few months to be published daily, and in reference to the ever-memorable trial of Queen Caroline; then it was that his business so enormously increased as at times to require three or four presses going night and day to keep pace with the great demand for papers, which contained a very much abridged account of the previous day’s evidence, and taken without the least acknowledgment from an early procured copy of one of the daily newspapers.

Great as was the demand, the printers of street literature were equal to the occasion, and all were actively engaged in getting out “papers,” squibs, lists of various trade deputations to the Queen’s levées, lampoons and songs, that were almost hourly published, on the subject of the Queen’s trial. The following is a selection from one which emanated from the “Catnach Press,” and was supplied to us by John Morgan, the Seven Dials bard, and who added that he had the good luck—the times being prosperous—to screw out half-a-crown from Old Jemmy for the writing of it. “Ah! sir,” he continued, “it was always a hard matter to get much out of Jemmy Catnach, I can tell you, sir. He was, at most times, a hard-fisted one, and no mistake about it. Yet, sir, somehow or another, he warn’t such a bad sort, just where he took. A little bit rough and ready, like, you know, sir. But yet still a ‘nipper.’ That’s just about the size of Jemmy Catnach, sir. I wish I could recollect more of the song, but you’ve got the marrow of it, sir:—

‘And when the Queen arrived in town,The people called her good, sirs;She had a Brougham by her side,A Denman, and a Wood, sirs.‘The people all protected her,They ran from far and near, sirs,Till they reached the house of Squire Byng,Which was in St. James’s-square, sirs.‘And there my blooming Caroline,About her made a fuss, man,And told how she had been deceivedBy a cruel, barbarous, husband.’”

Street papers continued to be printed and sold in connection with Queen Caroline’s trial up to the date of her death, in the month of August, 1821.

A Copy of Verses in Praise of Queen Caroline.

“Ye Britons all, both great and small,Come listen to my ditty,Your noble Queen, fair Caroline,Does well deserve your pity.Like harmless lamb that sucks its dam,Amongst the flowery thyme,Or turtle dove that’s given to love:And that’s her only crime.Wedlock I ween, to her has beenA life of grief and woe;Thirteen years past she’s had no rest,As Britons surely know.To blast her fame, men without shame,Have done all they could do;’Gainst her to swear they did prepareA motley, perjured crew.Europe they seek for Turk or Greek,To swear her life away,But she will triumph yet o’er all,And innocence display.Ye powers above, who virtue love,Protect her from despair,And soon her free from calumny,Is every true man’s prayer.”

J. Catnach, Printer, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials.

Immediately following the Queen’s death, there were published a whole host of monodies, elegies, and ballads in her praise. Catnach made a great hit with one entitled—“Oh! Britons Remember your Queen’s Happy Days,” together with a large broadside, entitled “An Attempt to Exhibit the Leading Events in the Queen’s Life, in Cuts and Verse. Adorned with Twelve splendid Illustrations. Interspersed with Verses of Descriptive Poetry. Entered at Stationers’ Hall. By Jas. Catnach, Printer, 7 Dials. Price 2d.” A copy is preserved in the British Museum. Press Mark.Tab.597,a, 1-67, and arranged underCatnach, from which we select two pieces as a fair sample of Jemmy’s “poetry-making!”—Which please to read carefully, and “Mind Your Stops!” quoth John Berkshire.

An Elegy on the Death of the Queen.

Curs’dbe the hour when on the British shore,She set her foot—whose loss we now deplore;For, from that hour she pass’d a life of woe,And underwent what few could undergo:And lest she should a tranquil hour know,Against her peace was struck a deadly blow;A separation hardly to be borne,—Her only daughter from her arms was torn!And next discarded—driven from her home,An unprotected Wanderer to roam!Oh, how each heart with indignation fills,When memory glances o’er the train of ills,Which through her travels followed everywhereIn quick succession till this fatal year!Here let us stop—for mem’ry serves too well,To bear the woes which Caroline befel,Each art was tried—at last to crush her down,The Queen of England was refus’d a crown!Too much to bear—Thus robb’d of all her stateShe fell a victim to their hate!“They have destroy’d me,”—with her parting breath,She died—and calmly yielded unto death.Forgiving all, she parted with this life,A Queen, and no Queen—wife, and not a wife!To Heaven her soul is borne on Seraph’s wings,To wait the Judgment of the KING of Kings;Trusting to find a better world than this,And meet her Daughter in the realms of bliss.

CAROLINE

THE INJURED

QUEEN

OF ENGLAND.

Beneath this cold marble the “Wanderer” lies,Here shall she rest ’till “the Heavens be no more,”’Till the trumpet shall sound, and the Dead shall arise,Then the perjurer unmask’d will his sentence deplore.Ah! what will avail then? Pomp, Titles, and Birth,Those empty distinctions all levell’d will be,For the King shall be judg’d with the poor of the earth,And perhaps, the poor man will be greater than he.Until that day we leave Caroline’s wrongs,Meantime, may “Repentance” her foes overtake;O grant it, kind POWER, to whom alone it belongs.AMEN. Here an end of this Hist’ry we make.Quod.JAS. C-T-N-H, Dec. 10th, 1821.

In the early part of the year 1821, the British public were informed through the then existing usual advertising mediums that there was about to be published, in monthly parts, “Pierce Egan’s Life in London; or, the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant friend Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis. Embellished with Scenes from Real Life, designed and etched by I. R. and G. Cruikshank, and enriched with numerous original designs on wood by the same Artists.”

And on the 15th of July, the first number, price one shilling, was published by Messrs. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, of Paternoster Row. This sample, or first instalment, of the entire work was quite enough for society to judge by. It took both town and country by storm. It was found to be the exact thing in literature that the readers of those days wanted. Edition after edition was called for—and supplied, as fast as the illustrations could be got away from the small army of women and children who were colouring them. With the appearance of numbers two and three, the demand increased, and a revolution in our literature, in our drama, and even in our nomenclature began to develope itself. All the announcements from Paternoster Row were of books, great and small, depicting life in London; dramatists at once turned their attention to the same subject, and tailors, bootmakers, and hatters, recommended nothing but Corinthian shapes, and Tom and Jerry patterns.[7]

Tom and Jerry.

“Of Life in London, Tom, Jerry and Logic I sing.”To the Strand then I toddled—the mob was great—My watch I found gone—pockets undone:I fretted at first, and rail’d against fate,For I paid well to see “Life in London.”

As may be readily conceived; the stage soon claimed “Tom and Jerry.” The first drama founded upon the work was from the pen of Mr. Barrymore, and produced—“in hot haste,” at the Royal Amphitheatre, on Monday, Sept. 17, 1821. The second dramatic version was written for the Olympic Theatre, by Charles Dibden, and first played on Monday, Nov. 12, 1821.

Mr. Moncrieff appeared as the third on the list of dramatists, and it was announced at the Adelphi Theatre in the following style:—“On Monday, Nov. 26th, 1821, will be presented for the first time, on a scale of unprecedented extent (having been many weeks in preparation under the superintendence of several of the most celebrated Artists, both in theUps and Downsof Life, who have all kindly come forward to assist the Proprietors in their endeavours to render the Piece a complete out-and-outer), an entirely new Classic, Comic, Operatic, Didactic, Aristophanic, Localic, Analytic, Panoramic,Camera-Obscura-ic Extravaganza-Burletta of Fun, Frolic, Fashion and Flash, in three acts, called ‘TomandJerry; orLifeinLondon.’ Replete with Prime Chaunts, Rum Glees, and Kiddy Catches, founded on Pierce Egan’s well-known and highly popular work of the same name, by a celebrated extravagant erratic Author. The music selected and modified by him from the most eminent composers, ancient and modern, and every Air furnished with an attendant train of Graces. The costumes and scenery superintended by Mr. I. R. Cruikshank, from the Drawings by himself and his brother, Mr. George Cruikshank, the celebrated Artists of the original Work.

“Corinthian Tom, Mr. Wrench; Jerry Hawthorn, Mr. John Reeve; Logic, Mr. Wilkinson; Jemmy Green, Mr. Keeley; Dusty Bob, Mr. Walbourn; African Sal, Mr. Sanders; Billy Waters, Mr. Paulo; Kate, Mrs. Baker; Sue, Mrs. Waylett, &c., &c.

Black Sal and Dusty Bob.

Besides the authors already mentioned, Tom Dibden, Farrell, and Douglas Jerrold, each produced dramas upon the popular theme, and during the seasons of 1821-2, “Life in London” was performed withéclat, at ten theatres in and around the metropolis, to overflowing houses. But Pierce Egan at length became tired of the successes of the playwrights in using his book, and resolved to try his own hand at a dramatic version—or, as he termed it, to “take a leaf out of his own book,”—and theAuthor’s Piecewas “got up” and performed for the first time at Sadler’s Wells, under the management of Mr. Egerton, on Monday, April 8, 1822, with most decided success.

It was thus announced by Mrs. Egerton, in the address written for the occasion by T. Greenwood, Esq.:—

“To-night my friends, this modern taste to meet,We show youJerryat his country seat:Then up to town transport the rustic beau,And show him ‘Life in London,’ HIGH and LOW.”

At lengthTomandJerryhad been repeated so often in the Metropolis, that the performers, notwithstanding the great applause they nightly received in the above piece, absolutely became tired and worn-out with the repetition of their characters, when the following piece of satire, written by T. Greenwood, Esq., was published, entitled, “The Tears of Pierce Egan, Esq., for the Death of ‘Life in London;’ or, the Funeral of Tom and Jerry, dedicated to Robert and George Cruikshank, Esqs. Price Two Shillings, with an engraving by George Cruikshank.”

“Beat out of the Pit and thrown over the Ropes,TomandJerryresign’d their last breath,With them, too, expired the Managers’ hopes,Who are left to deplore their sad death!“Odd and various reports of the cause are about,But the real one wasthis, I opine:They were run to astandstill, and, therefore, no doubt,That the cause was a rapiddecline.“When Death showed hisNob, out ofTimethey were beat,And neither would come to thescratch;They hung down their heads and gave up the last heat,Not prepared with the Spectre tomatch.“All wept at theFuneral! theFancyand all—Some new, but a great many mended:AndEgan, whileCruikshankandBobheld the pall,AsChief-Mournerin person attended!!!“TheirSpreesand theirRamblesno more shall amuse,Farewell to all nocturnal parleys:The Town felt regret as the bell tolled the news,And no one rejoiced—but theCharleys!“A monument, too, their kind Patrons will raise,Inscribed on—‘Here lies TOM and JERRY,Who, departing thestageto their immortal praise,ONE THOUSAND NIGHTS made theTown Merry!!!’“May their souls rest in peace, since they’ve chosen to flit,Like other great heroes departed;May no mischief arise from thesuddenexit,NorPierce Egandie—broken-hearted!”

In reference to the above, Pierce Egan states in “The Finish to the Adventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic,” that Catnach, in less than twelve hours after the publication, produced a pirated edition for street sale, for twopence.

Mr. Pierce Egan, in his “Finish,” states that he reckoned no less than sixty-five separate publications, which he enumeratesin extenso, all derived from his own work, and adds, with his usual amount of large and smallCapitalsanditalics—“Wehave beenpirated,COPIED,traduced; but unfortunately, notENRICHEDby our indefatigable exertions; thereforeNOTORIETYmust satisfy us, instead of the smiles of FORTUNE.”

Jemmy Catnach, true to his line of life, soon joined what Pierce Egan designates as the “Mob of Literary Pirates,” and brought out a “whole sheet” for street-sale, entitled “Life in London,” with twelve woodcuts, which are reduced and very roughly executed copies of the centre figures of the original plates by the Brothers Cruikshank—but all in reverse. The letter-press matter consists of a poetical epitome of the plot and design of the original work of “Life in London.” And taking it as it stands, and from whence it emanated, rather a creditable performance, particularly when we take into consideration—as duly announced by the street-patterer, that it was “Just printed and pub—lish—ed, all for the low charge of twopence.”

On the rarity of this Catnachian and pirated edition of “Life in London” it is superfluous to enlarge, and it is easy to account for this circumstance, if we reflect that the broadside form of publication is by no means calculated for preservation; hundreds of similar pieces printed for street-sale must have perished. The more generally acceptable a broadside or street ballad became, and was handed about for perusal, the more it was exposed to the danger of destruction. No copy of Catnach’s version is preserved in the British Museum, therefore, and for the reason above stated, it must be considered as a great “Literary Rarity.”[8]

CUT I.—Jerry in Training for a Swell.

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