XXVI.
JEMMY DAWSON.
James Dawson was one of the Manchester rebels, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered, on Kennington-common, in the county of Surrey, July 30, 1746.—This ballad is founded on a remarkable fact, which was reported to have happened at his execution. It was written by the late William Shenstone, Esq; soon after the event, and has been printed amongst his posthumous works, 2 vols. 8vo. It is here given from a MS. which contained some small variations from that printed copy.
[Captain James Dawson was one of eight officers belonging to the Manchester regiment of Volunteers in the service of the young Chevalier, who were executed on Kennington Common.
The following ballad is founded upon a narrative first published in a periodical entitled The Parrot, Saturday, 2d August, 1746, three days after the occurrence. In the Whitehall Evening Post, Aug. 7, 1746, the same story is told with the addition, that "upon enquiry every circumstance was literally true." Another ballad is said to have been written upon Dawson's fate, and sung about the streets. It is reprinted in the European Magazine, April, 1801, p. 248, and begins as follows:
"Blow ye bleak winds around my head,
Sooth my heart corroding care, &c.">[
