The crime of which I was found guilty, Oh! it was shocking vile; The very thoughts of the cruel deed Now makes my blood to bile. IV. _He speaks of the happy hours of Childhood, never more to return._ [Illustration] In Somersetshire I was born'd, And my little sister dear Didn't think then that my sad end Would be like unto this here. V. _The revelation of his name and profession; and subsequent avowal of his guilt._ [Illustration] James Guffin is my hated name, And a footman I'm by trade; And I do confess that I did slay My poor fellow-servant maid. VI. _He acknowledges the justice of his sentence._ [Illustration] And well I do deserve, I own, My fate which is so bitter: For 'twas most wicked for to kill So innicent a critter. VII. _And pictures what might have taken place but for the interference of Destiny._ [Illustration] Her maiden name was Sarey Leigh, And was to have been Guffin; For we was to have been marri-ed, But Fate brought that to nuffin. VIII. _He is particular as to the date of the occurrence._ [Illustration] All on a Wednesday afternoon, On the ninth of Janivary, Eighteen hundred and forty-four, Oh! I did kill my Sarey. IX. _And narrates the means employed, and the circumstances which led him to destroy his betrothed._ [Illustration] With arsenic her I did destroy, How could I be so vicious! But of my young master I was jealous, And so was my old Missus. X. _He is led away by bad passions._ [Illustration] I thought Sarey Leigh warn't true to me, So all pity then despising, Sure I was tempted by the Devil To give to her some p'ison. XI. _His bosom is torn by conflicting resolutions; but he is at last decided._ [Illustration] Long--long I brooded on the deed, 'Til one morning of a sudden, I did determine for to put It in a beef-steak puddin. XII. _The victim falls into the snare._ [Illustration] Of the fatal pudding she did partake, Most fearful for to see, And an hour arter was to it a martyr, Launch'd into eternity. XIII. _He feels that his perception comes too late._ [Illustration] Ah! had I then but viewed things in The light that I now does 'em, I never should have know'd the grief As burns in this here buzum. XIV. _He commits his secret to the earth._ [Illustration] So when I seed what I had done, In hopes of justice retarding, I took and buried poor Sarey Leigh Out in the kitching garding. XV. _But the earth refuses to keep it._ [Illustration] But it did haunt me, so I felt As of a load deliver'd, When three weeks after the fatal deed, The body was diskiver'd. XVI. _Remorse and self examination._ [Illustration] O! why did I form of Sarey Leigh Such cruel unjust opinions, When my young master did her find Beneath the bed of inions. XVII. _His countrymen form a just estimate of his delinquency._