Randall’s constitution—he was a persistent drinker of ardent spirits—gave way under the irregularities of a licensed victualler’s life; Jack never possessed the moral courage to say “No” to a drop with every customer who proposed to “wet an eye,” and but rarely with those who suggested to “wet the other.” He was a martyr to gout, complicated with a disorganisation of the liver and a fatty degeneration of the heart. These disorders prostrated him, and finally carried him off at the early age of 34 years. He died March 12th, 1828, at the Hole-in-the Wall, Chancery Lane.
A leash of sonnets, from an accomplished pen, which appeared in Blackwood’s Magazine, with a few passages from an obituary notice, will form an appropriate finale to the biography of Jack Randall, the Nonpareil
“SONNET.
“‘None but himself can be his parallel!’
“With marble coloured shoulders—and keen eyes
Protected by a forehead broad and white,—
And hair cut close, lest it impede the sight,
And clenched hands, firm and of punishing size,
Steadily held, or motion’d wary-wise,
To hit or stop,—and ‘kerchief too drawn tight