This Brixton Mill's a fearful ill, And he who brought the Bill in, Is threat'n'd by the _cribbing_ coves, That he shall have a _milling_. They say he shew'd a simple pate, To think of felons mending; As every _step_ which here they take They're still in crime _ascending_. Tom, Jerry, Logic, three prime sprigs, Find here they cannot _come_ it, For though their _fancy_ soars aloft, They ne'er will reach the _summit_. Corinthian Kate and buxom Sue Must change their _warm_ direction, For if they make one _false step_ more They'll have _Cold Bath Correction_. [Illustration: "The gallows does well: But how does it well? it does well to those that do ill."--_Hamlet_, Act v., sc. i.] There can be little doubt that Jemmy Catnach, the great publisher of the Seven Dials, had his mind mostly centred upon the chronicling of doubtful scandals, fabulous duels between ladies of fashion, "cooked" assassinations, and sudden deaths of eminent individuals, apochryphal elopements, real or catch-penny account of murders, impossible robberies, delusive suicides, dark deeds, and--though last, not least, in _his_ love--public executions, _vulgo_ "Hanging Matches," to which was usually attached the all-important and necessary "Sorrowful Lamentations," or "Copy of Affectionate Verses," which according to the established custom, the criminal composed in the condemned cell the night before his execution, after this manner:-- [Illustration] THE FLYING STATIONER, OTHERWISE PATTERER. "All you that have got feeling, I pray you now attend To these few lines so sad and true, a solemn silence lend; It is of a cruel murder, to you I will unfold---- The bare recital of the tale must make your blood run cold." "Mercy on earth I'll not implore, to crave it would be vain, My hands are dyed with human gore, none can wash off the stain, But the merits of a Saviour, whose mercy alone I crave; Good Christians pray, as thus I die, I may His pardon have." A mournful and affecting COPY OF VERSES on the death of ANN WILLIAMS, Who was barbarously and cruelly murdered by her sweetheart, W. JONES, near Wirksworth, in Derbyshire, July, 1823. William Jones, a young man aged 20, has been fully committed to Derby gaol for the murder of his sweetheart, under circumstances of unheard of barbarity. The poor victim was a servant girl, whom under pretence of marriage he seduced. On her proving with child the villain formed the horrid design of murdering her, and carried his diabolical plan into execution on Monday evening last. The following verses are written upon the occasion, giving a complete detail of this shocking affair:--