He plunged her straightway, But with her precious blood was stained Which soon did him betray. O then this young man taken was, And into prison sent, In ratling chains he is confin'd His crime for to lament, Until the Assizes do come on When trembling he must stand, Reflecting on the deed he's done; Waiting the dread command. Now all you thoughtless young men A timely warning take; Likewise ye fair young maidens, For this poor damsel's sake. And Oh beware of flattering tongues, For they'll your ruin prove; So may you crown your future day, In comfort, joy, and love. Or take another and stereotyped example, which from time to time has served equally well for the verses _written by_ the culprit--Brown, Jones, Robinson, or Smith: "Those deeds I mournfully repent, But now it is too late, The day is past, the die is cast, And fixed is my fate. I see the hangman before me stand, Ready to seize me by the law's command; When my life is ended on the fatal tree, Then will be clear'd up all mystery." Occasionally the Last Sorrowful Lamentation contained a "Love Letter"--the criminal being unable, in some instances, to read or write, being no obstacle to the composition--written according to the street patterer's statement: "from the depths of the condemned cell, with the condemned pen, ink, and paper." This mode of procedure in "gallows" literature, and this style of composition having prevailed for from sixty to seventy years. Then they would say: "Here you have also an exact likeness of the murderer, taken at the bar of the Old Bailey by an eminent artist!" when all the time it was an old woodcut that had been used for every criminal for many years. The _block!_ opposite, to our own knowledge, served as the _counterfeit_ presentment of all popular murderers for upwards of forty years. [Illustration: LIKENESS OF THE MURDERER.] "There's nothing beats a stunning good murder after all," said a "running patterer" to Mr. Henry Mayhew, the author of "London Labour and London Poor." It is only fair to assume that Mr. James Catnach shared in the sentiment, for it is said that he made over £500 by the publication of:-- "The Full, True and Particular Account of the Murder of Mr. Weare by John Thurtell and his Companions, which took place on the 24th of October, 1823, in Gill's Hill-lane, near Elstree, in Hertfordshire:--Only One Penny." There were eight formes set up, for old Jemmy had no notion of stereotyping in those days, and pressmen had to re-cover their own tympans with sheep-skins. But by working day and night for a week they managed to get off about 250,000 copies with the four presses, each working two formes at a time. [Illustration: THURTELL MURDERING MR. WEARE.]