As a rule there are but two songs printed on the half-penny ballad-sheets—generally a new and popular song with another older ditty, or a comic and sentimental, and “adorned” with two woodcuts. These are selected without any regard as to their fitness to the subject, and in most cases have not the slightest reference to the ballad of which they form the head-piece. For instance:—“The Heart that can feel for another” is illustrated by a gaunt and savage looking lion; “When I was first Breeched,” by an engraving of a Highlander sans culotte; “The Poacher” comes under the cut of a youth with a large watering-pot, tending flowers; “Ben Block” is heralded by the rising sun; “The London Oyster Girl,” by Sir Walter Raleigh; “The Sailor’s Grave,” by the figure of Justice; “Alice Grey” comes under the very dilapidated figure of a sailor, or “Jolly Young Waterman;” “Bright Hours are in store for us yet” is headed with a tail-piece of an urn, on which is inscribed Finis! “The Wild Boar Hunt,” by two wolves chasing a deer; “The Dying Child to its Mother,” by an Angel appearing to an old man; “Autumn Leaves lie strew’d around,” by a ship in full sail; “Cherry Ripe,” by Death’s Head and Cross Bones; “Jack at the Windlass,” falls under a Roadside Inn; while “William Tell” is presented to the British public in form and style of an old woman nursing an infant of squally nature. Here follow a few examples of the style, also that of some of the ballad-sheets: together with various verbatim imprints used by “The Catnach Press,” chronologically arranged from circa 1813 to the present time.
London:
Printed by J. Catnach, and sold Wholesale and Retail at
No. 60, Wardour Street, Soho Square.
Farewell thou dear and Gallant Sailor,
Since thou and I have parted been,
Be thou constant and true hearted,
And I will be the same to thee.
CHORUS.
May the winds and waves direct thee,
To some wishful port design’d,
If you love me, don’t deceive me,
But let your heart be as true as mine.
*****
When oft times my fancy tells me,
That in battle thou art slain,
With true love I will requite thee,
When thou dost return again.
May the winds, &c.
