 | OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE,
AND THE FINE ARTS. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 |  |
OF " COCKS," ETC.
These " literary forgeries," if so they may be
called, have already been alluded to under the
head of the " Death and Fire Hunters," but it
is necessary to give a short account of a few of
the best and longest know nof those stereotyped;
no new cocks, except for an occasion, have been
printed for some years.
One of the stereotyped cocks is, the "Married
Man Caught in a Trap." One man had known
it sold " for years and years," and it served,
he said, when there was any police report in the
papers about sweethearts in coal-cellars, &c.
The illustration embraces two compartments.
In one a severe-looking female is assaulting a
man, whose hat has been knocked off by the
contents of a water-jug, which a very stout
woman is pouring on his head from a window.
In the other compartment, as if from an adjoin-
ing room, two women look on encouragingly.
The subject matter, however, is in no accord-
ance with the title or the embellishment. It is a
love-letter from John S — n to his most " adora-
ble Mary." He expresses the ardour of his
passion, and then twits his adored with some-
thing beyond a flirtation with Robert E — , a
" decoyer of female innocence." Placably
overlooking this, however, John S — n con-
tinues: —
" My dearest angel consent to my request, and keep
me no longer in suspense — nothing, on my part, shall
ever be wanting to make you happy and comfortable.
My apprenticeship will expire in four months from
hence, when I intend to open a shop in the small ware
line, and your abilities in dress-making and self-adjust-
ing stay-maker, and the assistance of a few female me-
chanics, we shall be able to realize an independency."
" Many a turn in seductions talked about in
the papers and not talked about nowhere," said
one man, " has that slum served for, besides
other things, such as love-letters, and confes-
sions of a certain lady in this neighbourhood."
Another old cock is headed, " Extraordinary
and Funny Doings in this Neighbourhood."
The illustration is a young lady, in an evening
dress, sitting with an open letter in her hand, on a
sort of garden-seat, in what appears to be a
churchyard. After a smart song, enforcing the
ever-neglected advice that people should " look
at home and mind their own business," are
two letters, the first from R. G.; the answer
from S. H. M. The gentleman's epistle com-
mences: —
" Madam,
" The love and tenderness I have hitherto expressed for
you is false, and I now feel that my indifference towards
you increases every day, and the more I see you the more
you appear ridiculous in my eyes and contemptible —
I feel inclined & in every respect disposed & determined
to hate you. Believe me, I never had any inclination
to offer you my hand."
The lady responds in a similar strain, and the
twain appear very angry, until a foot-note offers
an explanation: " By reading every other line
of the above letters the true meaning will be
found."
Of this class of cocks I need cite no other
specimens, but pass on to one of another
species — the " Cruel and Inhuman Murder
Committed on the Body of Capt. Lawson."
The illustration is a lady, wearing a coronet,
stabbing a gentleman, in full dress, through the
top button of his waistcoat. The narrative
commences: —
" WITH surprise we have learned that this neigh-
bourhood for a length of time was amazingly alarmed
this day by a crowd of people carrying the body of Mr.
James Lawless, to a doctor while streams of blood
besmeared the way in such a manner that the cries of
Murder re-echoed the sound of numerous voices. It
appears that the cause of alarm, originated through
a court-ship attended with a solemn promise of mar
riage between him and miss Lucy Guard, a handsome
young Lady of refined feelings with the intercourse of
a superior enlightened mind she lived with her aunt
who spared neither pain nor cost to improve the talents
of miss G. those seven years past, since the death of
her mother in Ludgate Hill, London, and bore a most
excellent character until she got entangled by the
delumps alcurement of Mr. L."
The writer then deplores Miss Guard's fall
from virtue, and her desertion by her betrayer,
" on account of her fortune being small."
Capt. Lawson, or Mr. James Lawless, next
woos a wealthy City maiden, and the banns are
published. What follows seems to me to be a
rather intricate detail: —
" We find that the intended bride learned that Miss
Guard, held certain promissory letters of his, and that
she was determined to enter an action against him for
a breach of promise, which moved clouded Eclipse
over the extacy of the variable miss Lawless who knew
that Miss G had Letters of his sufficient to substan-
tiate her claims in a court."
Lawson visits Miss Guard to wheedle her
out of his letters, but " she drew a large
carving-knife and stabbed him under the left
breast." At the latest account the man was
left without hope of recovery, while " the
valiant victress" was " ordered to submit to
judicial decorum in the nineteenth year of her
age." The murders and other atrocities for
which this " cock" has been sponsor, are — I
was informed emphatically — a thundering lot!
I conclude with another cock, which may be
called a narrative " on a subject," as we have
" ballads on a subject" (afterwards to be de-
scribed), but with this difference, that the narra-
tive is fictitious, and the ballad must be founded
[Description: 915EAF. Page 239.]
highest newspaper style, I was told, was aimed
at. Part of the production reads as if it had
done service during the Revolution of February,
1848.
" Express from Paris. Supposed Death of LOUIS
NAPOLEON. We stop the press to announce, That Luis
Napoleon has been assasinated, by some it is said he
is shot dead, by others that he is only wounded in the
right arm.
" We have most important intelligence from Paris.
That capital is in a state of insurrection. The viva-
cious people, who have herefore defeated the gover-
ment by paving-stones, have again taken up those
missiles. On Tuesday the Ministers forbade the
reform banquet, and the prefect of police published a
proclamation warning the people to respect the laws,
which he declared were violated, and he meant to
enforce them. But the people dispised the proclama
tion and rejected his authority. They assembled in
great multitudes round the Chambers of Deputies,
and forced their way over the walls. They were
attacked by the troops and dispersed, but, re-assembled
in various quarters. They showed their hatred of M.
Guizot by demolishing his windows and attempting to
force an entrance into his hotel, but were again
repulced by the troops. All the military in Paris,
and all the National Guard, have been summoned to
arms, and every preparation made on the part of the
government to put down the people.
" The latter have raised barricades in various places,
and have unpaved the streets, overturned omnibusses,
and made preparations for a vigorous assault, or a
protracted resistance.
" Five o'Clock — At this momont the Rue St. Honore
is blockaded by a detachment dragoons, who fill the
market-place near the Rue des Petits Champs, and are
charging the people sword in hand, carriages full of
deople are being taken to the hospitals.
" In fact the maddest excitement reigns throughout
the capital.
" Half past Six. — During the above we have insti-
tuted enquiries at the Foreign office, they have not
received any inteligence of the above report, if it has
come, it must have been by pigeon express. We have
not given the above in our columns with a view of its
authenticity, any further information as soon as ob-
tained shall be immediately announced to the public."
| OF THE STREET-SELLERS OF STATIONERY, LITERATURE,
AND THE FINE ARTS. London Labour and the London Poor, volume 1 | |