Likewise the Second best,
for so we all agree;
Has both his Ordinary
and Extraordinary free:
And a Planting, &c.
These Flowers rais'd from Seed,
which we preserve with Care;
For if the Seed be bad,
the Flowers they are not Fair:
And a Planting, &c.
We have Stewards at our Feasts,
to see that all be right;
In Joy we spend the Day,
and Pleasure crowns the Night:
And a Planting, &c.
Our Feasts are full of Mirth,
we have no windy Wars;
We never raise Disputes,
and are very free from Jars:
And a Planting, &c.
Our Judges are impartial,
both faithful Men and true;
They never take a Bribe,
but gives each Man his due:
And a Planting, &c.
Then to Conclude, since FLORISTS
enjoy so sweet a Life;
Here's a Health to the Society
all Foes to Care and Strife:
And a Planting we will go, will go,
and a Planting we will go.
THE SORROWFUL LAMENTATION, LAST DYING SPEECH AND CONFESSION OF
Old Nun's Green,
Who after upwards of 460 Years (being a great and good Gift, by JOHN of GAUNT, Duke of Lancaster, and Earl of Leicester) was tried, cast and condemned, on the 14th of February, 1791, for being serviceable to the Poor People of this Town, as well as a Stranger, but a great Eye Sore to some particular Gentlemen; but the Execution is left till the Pleasure of Parliament be known.
Nun's Green was a large piece of ground, containing about fifty acres of land, in the town of Derby, on which the inhabitants of the borough had right of common. On this common many encroachments were made by persons digging for gravel, erecting small buildings, etc.; and in 1768 an act was passed for selling a portion of the Green, so as to erect dwelling-houses for the increasing population of the town, and for the removal of nuisances and encroachments.
In 1791 the remaining portion of the Green was determined to be sold for the like purpose, and application for the necessary powers was made to Parliament, the scheme being that the proceeds should in part, at all events, go towards defraying the cost of paving and lighting, and otherwise improving, the town of Derby. This movement provoked the utmost opposition, and I have in my own collection some thirty or forty, at least, different hand-bills, squibs, pamphlets, and songs to which the excitement gave birth. Despite the opposition and the petitions which were got up, Nun's Green was disposed of, and the tract of land is now covered with thickly inhabited streets. The following pieces will serve to show the style of the songs and ballads to which I have alluded. The first, which is printed in two columns, has a wood-cut, at its head, of a man being led to execution in a cart, with hangman, parson, javelin-men, and others around—