[28] This song was in vogue, as far as I can learn, about 1854 or 1855. [29] Elegy. [30] The _Penny Magazine_ was first published on March 31, 1832, and its success was such, that the Chap books vanished as if by magic, and a new and purer popular literature sprung up. [31] This was the supposed site of a bloody battle between the ancient Britons and the Romans. [32] This was a small mountain of refuse, dust, and ashes, which, although unsightly, was as profitable as were the heaps of Mr. Boffin in Charles Dickens’s “Our Mutual Friend.” This mound, so it is said, once had a curious clearance. It was bought, in its entirety, and sent over to Russia, to help make bricks to rebuild Moscow; and the ground on which it stood was sold to a company for £15,000. [33] Breeze is the technical term for the sifted ashes mixed with the clay to make inferior bricks, which are “clamp” burnt, _i.e._ in large stacks. [34] In George IV.’s reign a statue was erected to him at Battle Bridge, and the neighbourhood renamed King’s Cross. It surmounted a _Camera obscura_, and this was atop of a building, which in its turn, was alternately a police station and a public-house. It was a miserable affair, only made of brick and cement, and, after cumbering the ground for a few years, it was pulled down. [35] Gully was a prize-fighter--was made one of the Royal pages at the coronation of George IV., took to the turf and kept racehorses, and was M.P. for Pontefract. [36] A false shirt-front. [37] Leaving a house, or apartments, without paying rent. [38] A Workhouse, so called because of the loss of personal liberty when once in “the House.” The House of Correction, Coldbath Fields, now done away with, was called “_the Bastille_,” and to its dying day was known to the criminal classes as “the Steel.” [39] A strike is four pecks or one bushel, _strike measure_, which would make wheat eight guineas per quarter. [40] The writer of this makes no mention of the advantages the labourer had in those days, low rent, meal, skim milk, etc., and constant work, wet or fine. Money then had more purchasing power, and eight shillings was worth at least fifteen of the present currency. Now, thanks to Mr. Joseph Arch and other agitators, the agricultural labourer has, presumably, higher wages, but he has higher rent to pay, his privileges are curtailed or annulled, and he has lost the sympathy of his employer. Paid by the hour, he is discharged as soon as it comes on to rain hard, instead of, as in the old days, being paid for a whole day, even if he only worked part of it. [41] Story. [42] October 20, 1827. [43] This is supposed to refer to some frolic of William IV.’s when he was Duke of Clarence, and properly belongs to last century. [44] This story is supposed to be told of William IV. [45] The date of this ballad is evidently 1837, soon after the Queen’s accession. [46] This, in all probability, was the Peace of 1814.