GEORGE BARNWELL.
And behold there met him an Harlot, subtle of heart; and she kissed him, and said unto him, I have decked my bed with fine linen, come let us take our fill of love until the Morning.
SARAH MILLWOOD.
The lips of a strange Woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is sweeter than oil; but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Editions of this popular story were published in several towns, and the present one has been chosen as having the most curious illustrations, there being none specially illustrated to exemplify the text, any female head doing duty for Sarah Milwood. The story of George Barnwell, of his lapse from virtue, and his rapid declension from theft to murder, together with his penitence and execution, is so well known that it needs no repetition. It is a very old story, dating back, it is said, to Queen Elizabeth's time. The earliest ballad on the subject in the British Museum is,[*] "An excellent ballad of George Barnwell, an apprentice in the City of London, who was undone by a strumpet, who caused him thrice to rob his master and murder his uncle in Ludlow" (London, 1670). Lillo dramatized it in 1731, and within very few years since it was always acted at the minor theatres on Boxing night, previous to the pantomime, as a warning to apprentices.