There are two interesting references in a song which Mrs. Jarley's poet adapted to the purposes of the Waxwork Exhibition, 'If I'd a donkey as wouldn't go.' The first verse of the song is as follows: If I'd a donkey wot wouldn't go, D'ye think I'd wollop him? No, no, no; But gentle means I'd try, d'ye see, Because I hate all cruelty. If all had been like me in fact, There'd ha' been no occasion for Martin's Act Dumb animals to prevent getting crackt On the head, for-- If I had a donkey wot wouldn't go, I never would wollop him, no, no, no; I'd give him some hay, and cry gee O, And come up Neddy. The singer then meets 'Bill Burns,' who, 'while crying out his greens,' is ill-treating his donkey. On being interfered with, Bill Burns says, 'You're one of these Mr. Martin chaps.' Then there was a fight, when the 'New Police' came up and 'hiked' them off before the magistrate. There is a satisfactory ending, and 'Bill got fin'd.' Here is a reminder that we are indebted to Mr. Martin, M.P., for initiating the movement which resulted in the 'Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' being established in 1824. Two years previously Parliament had passed what is known as Martin's Act (1822), which was the first step taken by this or any other country for the protection of animals. In Scene 7 of _Sketches by Boz_ there is a mention of 'the renowned Mr. Martin, of costermonger notoriety.' The reference to the New Police Act reminds us that the London police force was remodelled by Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert) Peel in 1829. Hence the date of the song will be within a year or two of this. Mr. Reginald Wilfer (_O.M.F._) owed his nickname to the conventional chorus of some of the comic songs of the period. Being a modest man, he felt unable to live up to the grandeur of his Christian name, so he always signed himself 'R. Wilfer.' Hence his neighbours provided him with all sorts of fancy names beginning with R, but his popular name was Rumty, which a 'gentleman of convivial habits connected with the drug market' had bestowed upon him, and which was derived from the burden-- Rumty iddity, row dow dow, Sing toodlely teedlely, bow wow wow. The third decade of the nineteenth century saw the coming of the Christy Minstrels. One of the earliest of the so-called 'negro' impersonators was T.D. Rice, whose song 'Jim Crow' (_A.N._) took England by storm. It is useless to attempt to account for the remarkable popularity of this and many another favourite, but the fact remains that the song sold by thousands. In this case it may have been due to the extraordinary antics of the singer, for the words certainly do not carry weight (see p. 146).