London Labour and the London Poor, Vol. 1

by Henry Mayhew

And he seemed fully determined

Soon to conquer Bendigo.

CHORUS.

With their hit away and slash away,

So manfully you see,

Ben Caunt has lost and Bendigo

Has gained the victory.”

Of the Street Poets and Authors.

Authorship, for street sale, is chiefly confined to the production of verse, which, whatever be its nature, is known through the trade as “ballads.” Two distinctions, indeed, are recognised—“Ballads” and “Ballads on a Subject.” The last-mentioned is, as I have said and shown, the publication which relates to any specific event; national or local, criminal or merely extraordinary, true or false. Under the head “Ballads,” the street-sellers class all that does not come under the description of “Ballads on a Subject.”