aptly designated as the Colburn and Bentley of the "paper" trade, never
abated, but, on the contrary, increased in acrimony of temper, until at
last not being content to vilify each other by "Words! words!! words!!!"
alone, they resorted to printing off virulent lampoons, in which Catnach
never failed to let the world know that "Old Mother Pitts" had been
formerly a bumboat woman, while the Pitt's party announced that:--
"All the boys and girls around,
Who go out prigging rags and phials,
Know Jemmy _Catsnatch_!!! well,
Who lives in a back slum in the Dials.
He hangs out in Monmouth Court,
And wears a pair of blue-black breeches,
Where all the "Polly Cox's crew" do resort
To chop their swag for badly printed Dying Speeches."
But however, in spite of all the opposition and trade rivalry, Catnach
persevered; he worked hard, and lived hard, and was fitted to the
stirring times. The Peninsular wars had just concluded, politics and party
strife ran high, squibs, lampoons, and political ballads were the order of
the day, and he made money. But he had weighty pecuniary family matters to
bear up with, as thus early in his career, his father's sister also joined
them, and they all lived and huddled together in the shop and parlour of
No. 2, Monmouth-court. He did a small and very humble trade as a jobbing
master, printing and publishing penny histories, street-papers, and
halfpenny songs, relying for their composition on one or two out of the
known "Seven Bards of the Seven Dials," and when they were on the drink,
or otherwise not inclined to work, being driven to write and invent them
himself.
The customers who frequented his place of business were for the most part
of the lowest grades of society:--those who by folly, intemperance, and
crime, had been reduced to the greatest penury. Anyone with a few coppers
in his pockets could easily knock out an existence, especially when
anything sensational was in the wind.
The great excitement throughout the country caused by the melancholy death
of the Princess Charlotte, on the sixth day of November, 1817, was an
event of no ordinary description. It was, indeed, a most unexpected blow,
the shining virtues, as well as the youth and beauty of the deceased,
excited an amount of affectionate commiseration, such as probably had
never before attended the death of any royal personage in England.
The Seven Dials Press was busily engaged in working off "papers"
descriptive of every fact that could be gleaned from the newspapers, and
that was suitable for street sale. Catnach was not behind his compeers, as
he published several statements in respect to the Princess's death, and
_made_ the following lines _out of his own head_! And had, continued our
informant--a professional street-ballad writer--"_wood_ enough left for as
many more":--
"She is gone! sweet Charlotte's gone!
Gone to the silent bourne;
She is gone, She's gone, for evermore,--
She never can return.
She is gone with her joy--her darling Boy,
The son of Leopold, blythe and keen;
She Died the sixth of November,
Eighteen hundred and seventeen."
The year 1818, proved a disastrous one to Catnach, as in addition to the
extra burden entailed on him in family matters, he had, in the way of his
trade, printed a street-paper reflecting on the private character and on
the materials used in the manufacture of the sausages as sold by the pork
butchers of the Drury-lane quarter in general, and particularly by Mr.
Pizzey, a tradesman carrying on business in Blackmore-street,
Clare-market, who caused him to be summoned to the Bow-street Police Court
to answer the charge of malicious libel, when he was committed to take his
trial at the next Clerkenwell Sessions, by Sir Richard Burnie, where he
was sentenced to six months' imprisonment in the House of Correction, at
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex.
[Signature: John Morgan]
During Catnach's incarceration his mother and sisters, aided by one of the
Seven Dials bards, carried on the business, writing and printing off all
the squibs and street ballads that were required. In the meanwhile the
Johnny Pitts' crew printed several lampoons on "Jemmy Catnach." Subjoined
is a portion of one of them that has reached us, _vivâ voce_, of the
aforesaid--John Morgan--professional street-ballad writer:--
"Jemmy Catnach printed a quarter sheet--
It was called in lanes and passages,
That Pizzy the butcher, had dead bodies chopped,
And made them into sausages.
"Poor Pizzey was in an awful mess,
And looked the colour of cinders--
A crowd assembled from far and near,
And they smashed in all his windows.
"Now Jemmy Catnach's gone to prison,
And what's he gone to prison for?
For printing a libel against Mr. Pizzey,
Which was sung from door to door.
"Six months in quod old Jemmy's got,
Because he a shocking tale had started,
About Mr. Pizzey who dealt in sausages
In Blackmore-street, Clare-market."
Misfortunes are said never to come singly, and so it proved to the Catnach
family, for while Jemmy was _doing_ his six months in the House of
Correction at Clerkenwell, we find in the pages of the _Weekly Dispatch_
for January 3, 1819, and under POLICE INTELLIGENCE, as follows:--
CIRCULATING FALSE NEWS.--At Bow-street, on Wednesday, Thomas Love and
Thomas Howlett, were brought to the office by one of the patrole,
charged with making a disturbance in Chelsea, in the morning, by
blowing of horns, with a tremendous noise, and each of them after
blowing his horn, was heard to announce with all the vociferation the
strength of his lungs would admit of:--"The full, true, and particular
account of the most cruel and barbarous murder of Mr. Ellis, of
Sloane-street, which took place, last night, in the Five Fields,
Chelsea." The patrole, knowing that no such horrid event had taken
place, had them taken up. The papers in their possession, which they
had been selling at a halfpenny each, were seized and brought to the
office with the prisoners. But what is most extraordinary, the
contents of the papers had no reference whatever to Mr. Ellis! They
were headed in large letters, "A HORRID MURDER," and the murder was
stated to have been committed at South-green, near Dartford, on the
bodies of Thomas Lane, his wife, three children, and his mother. The
murderer's conduct was stated very particularly, although, in fact, no
such event occurred. The magistrate severely censured the conduct of
the whole parties. He ordered the prisoners to be detained, and
considered them to be very proper subjects to be made an example of.
On Thursday these parties were again brought before the magistrate,
together with Mrs. Catnach [the mother] the printer of the bills,
which gave a fictitious statement of the horrid murder said to be
committed at Dartford. She was severely reprimanded. The two
hornblowers were also reprimanded and then discharged.
The busy year of 1820 was a very important one to Catnach, in fact the
turning point in his life. The Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III.,
and father to Queen Victoria, died on the 23rd of January--the event was
of sufficient consequence to produce several "Full Particulars," for
street sale. Just six days after his death, viz., on the 29th of January,
1820, George III. died, and that event set the "Catnach Press" going night
and day to supply the street papers, containing "Latest particulars," &c.
"Mourn, Britons mourn! Your sons deplore,
Our Royal Sovereign is now no more,"
was the commencement of a ballad written, printed, and published by J.
Catnach, 2, Monmouth-court, 7 Dials. Battledores, Lotteries, and Primers
sold cheap. Sold by Marshall, Bristol, and Hook, Brighton.
The royal body was committed to the family vault in St. George's Chapel at
Windsor, on the 16th of February, amidst a concourse of the great and the
noble of the land. The usual ceremony of proclamation and salutation
announced the accession of George IV. and another important era commenced.
Immediately following these events came the Cato-street conspiracy. On the
24th of February the newspapers contained the startling intelligence
that, on the previous evening, a party of eleven men, headed by Arthur
Thistlewood, who was already known as a political agitator, had been
apprehended at a stable in Cato-street, an obscure place in the locality
of Grosvenor-square, on the charge of being the parties to a conspiracy to
assassinate the greater part of the King's Ministers. The truth of the
intelligence was soon confirmed by the proceedings which took place before
the magisterial authorities; and in due course all the parties were put on
their trial at the Old Bailey, on a charge of high treason, Arthur
Thistlewood, the leader, being the first tried on the 17th of April; the
Lord Chief Justice Abbott presiding. The names of the other prisoners
were--William Davidson, a man of colour; James Ings, John Thomas Brunt,
Richard Tidd, James William Wilson, John Harrison, Richard Bradburn, James
Shaw Strange, and Charles Cooper, of whom the first four, together with
Thistlewood, were executed as traitors on May 1st.
The Cato-street conspiracy proved a rich harvest to all concerned in the
production of street literature. Catnach came in for a fair share of the
work, and he found himself with plenty of cash in hand, and in good time
to increase his trade-plant to meet the great demand for the street-papers
that were in a few months to be published daily, and in reference to the
ever-memorable trial of Queen Caroline; then it was that his business so
enormously increased as at times to require three or four presses going
night and day to keep pace with the great demand for papers, which
contained a very much abridged account of the previous day's evidence, and
taken without the least acknowledgment from an early procured copy of one
of the daily newspapers.
Great as was the demand, the printers of street literature were equal to
the occasion, and all were actively engaged in getting out "papers,"
squibs, lists of various trade deputations to the Queen's levées, lampoons
and songs, that were almost hourly published, on the subject of the
Queen's trial. The following is a selection from one which emanated from
the "Catnach Press," and was supplied to us by John Morgan, the Seven
Dials bard, and who added that he had the good luck--the times being
prosperous--to screw out half-a-crown from Old Jemmy for the writing of
it. "Ah! sir," he continued, "it was always a hard matter to get much out
of Jemmy Catnach, I can tell you, sir. He was, at most times, a
hard-fisted one, and no mistake about it. Yet, sir, somehow or another, he
warn't such a bad sort, just where he took. A little bit rough and ready,
like, you know, sir. But yet still a 'nipper.' That's just about the size
of Jemmy Catnach, sir. I wish I could recollect more of the song, but
you've got the marrow of it, sir:--
'And when the Queen arrived in town,
The people called her good, sirs;
She had a Brougham by her side,
A Denman, and a Wood, sirs.
'The people all protected her,
They ran from far and near, sirs,
Till they reached the house of Squire Byng,
Which was in St. James's-square, sirs.
'And there my blooming Caroline,
About her made a fuss, man,
And told how she had been deceived
By a cruel, barbarous, husband.'"
Street papers continued to be printed and sold in connection with Queen
Caroline's trial up to the date of her death, in the month of August,
1821.
[Illustration]
A COPY OF VERSES IN PRAISE OF QUEEN CAROLINE.
"Ye Britons all, both great and small,
Come listen to my ditty,
Your noble Queen, fair Caroline,
Does well deserve your pity.
Like harmless lamb that sucks its dam,
Amongst the flowery thyme,
Or turtle dove that's given to love:
And that's her only crime.
Wedlock I ween, to her has been
A life of grief and woe;
Thirteen years past she's had no rest,
As Britons surely know.
To blast her fame, men without shame,
Have done all they could do;
'Gainst her to swear they did prepare
A motley, perjured crew.
Europe they seek for Turk or Greek,
To swear her life away,
But she will triumph yet o'er all,
And innocence display.
Ye powers above, who virtue love,
Protect her from despair,
And soon her free from calumny,
Is every true man's prayer."
J. Catnach, Printer, 2, Monmouth Court, 7 Dials.
[Illustration]
Immediately following the Queen's death, there were published a whole host
of monodies, elegies, and ballads in her praise. Catnach made a great hit
with one entitled--"Oh! Britons Remember your Queen's Happy Days,"
together with a large broadside, entitled "An Attempt to Exhibit the
Leading Events in the Queen's Life, in Cuts and Verse. Adorned with Twelve
splendid Illustrations. Interspersed with Verses of Descriptive Poetry.
Entered at Stationers' Hall. By Jas. Catnach, Printer, 7 Dials. Price 2d."
A copy is preserved in the British Museum. Press Mark. _Tab._ 597, _a_,
1-67, and arranged under CATNACH, from which we select two pieces as a
fair sample of Jemmy's "poetry-making!"--Which please to read carefully,
and "Mind Your Stops!" quoth John Berkshire.
AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN.
Curs'd be the hour when on the British shore,
She set her foot--whose loss we now deplore;
For, from that hour she pass'd a life of woe,
And underwent what few could undergo:
And lest she should a tranquil hour know,
Against her peace was struck a deadly blow;
A separation hardly to be borne,--
Her only daughter from her arms was torn!
And next discarded--driven from her home,
An unprotected Wanderer to roam!
Oh, how each heart with indignation fills,
When memory glances o'er the train of ills,
Which through her travels followed everywhere
In quick succession till this fatal year!
Here let us stop--for mem'ry serves too well,
To bear the woes which Caroline befel,
Each art was tried--at last to crush her down,
The Queen of England was refus'd a crown!
Too much to bear--Thus robb'd of all her state
She fell a victim to their hate!
"They have destroy'd me,"--with her parting breath,
She died--and calmly yielded unto death.
Forgiving all, she parted with this life,
A Queen, and no Queen--wife, and not a wife!
To Heaven her soul is borne on Seraph's wings,
To wait the Judgment of the KING of Kings;
Trusting to find a better world than this,
And meet her Daughter in the realms of bliss.
CAROLINE THE INJURED QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
Beneath this cold marble the "Wanderer" lies,
Here shall she rest 'till "the Heavens be no more,"
'Till the trumpet shall sound, and the Dead shall arise,
Then the perjurer unmask'd will his sentence deplore.
Ah! what will avail then? Pomp, Titles, and Birth,
Those empty distinctions all levell'd will be,
For the King shall be judg'd with the poor of the earth,
And perhaps, the poor man will be greater than he.
Until that day we leave Caroline's wrongs,
Meantime, may "Repentance" her foes overtake;
O grant it, kind POWER, to whom alone it belongs.
AMEN. Here an end of this Hist'ry we make.
_Quod._ JAS. C-T-N-H, Dec. 10th, 1821.
[Illustration]
In the early part of the year 1821, the British public were informed
through the then existing usual advertising mediums that there was about
to be published, in monthly parts, "Pierce Egan's Life in London; or, the
Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant friend
Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in their Rambles
and Sprees through the Metropolis. Embellished with Scenes from Real Life,
designed and etched by I. R. and G. Cruikshank, and enriched with numerous
original designs on wood by the same Artists."
And on the 15th of July, the first number, price one shilling, was
published by Messrs. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, of Paternoster Row. This
sample, or first instalment, of the entire work was quite enough for
society to judge by. It took both town and country by storm. It was found
to be the exact thing in literature that the readers of those days wanted.
Edition after edition was called for--and supplied, as fast as the
illustrations could be got away from the small army of women and children
who were colouring them. With the appearance of numbers two and three, the
demand increased, and a revolution in our literature, in our drama, and
even in our nomenclature began to develope itself. All the announcements
from Paternoster Row were of books, great and small, depicting life in
London; dramatists at once turned their attention to the same subject, and
tailors, bootmakers, and hatters, recommended nothing but Corinthian
shapes, and Tom and Jerry patterns.[7]
[Illustration]
TOM AND JERRY.
"Of Life in London, Tom, Jerry and Logic I sing."
To the Strand then I toddled--the mob was great--
My watch I found gone--pockets undone:
I fretted at first, and rail'd against fate,
For I paid well to see "LIFE IN LONDON."
As may be readily conceived; the stage soon claimed "Tom and Jerry." The
first drama founded upon the work was from the pen of Mr. Barrymore, and
produced--"in hot haste," at the Royal Amphitheatre, on Monday, Sept. 17,
1821. The second dramatic version was written for the Olympic Theatre, by
Charles Dibden, and first played on Monday, Nov. 12, 1821.
Mr. Moncrieff appeared as the third on the list of dramatists, and it was
announced at the Adelphi Theatre in the following style:--"On Monday, Nov.
26th, 1821, will be presented for the first time, on a scale of
unprecedented extent (having been many weeks in preparation under the
superintendence of several of the most celebrated Artists, both in the
_Ups and Downs_ of Life, who have all kindly come forward to assist the
Proprietors in their endeavours to render the Piece a complete
out-and-outer), an entirely new Classic, Comic, Operatic, Didactic,
Aristophanic, Localic, Analytic, Panoramic, Camera-Obscura-ic
Extravaganza-Burletta of Fun, Frolic, Fashion and Flash, in three acts,
called 'TOM and JERRY; or LIFE in LONDON.' Replete with Prime Chaunts, Rum
Glees, and Kiddy Catches, founded on Pierce Egan's well-known and highly
popular work of the same name, by a celebrated extravagant erratic Author.
The music selected and modified by him from the most eminent composers,
ancient and modern, and every Air furnished with an attendant train of
Graces. The costumes and scenery superintended by Mr. I. R. Cruikshank,
from the Drawings by himself and his brother, Mr. George Cruikshank, the
celebrated Artists of the original Work.
"Corinthian Tom, Mr. Wrench; Jerry Hawthorn, Mr. John Reeve; Logic, Mr.
Wilkinson; Jemmy Green, Mr. Keeley; Dusty Bob, Mr. Walbourn; African Sal,
Mr. Sanders; Billy Waters, Mr. Paulo; Kate, Mrs. Baker; Sue, Mrs. Waylett,
&c., &c.
[Illustration: BLACK SAL AND DUSTY BOB.]
Besides the authors already mentioned, Tom Dibden, Farrell, and Douglas
Jerrold, each produced dramas upon the popular theme, and during the
seasons of 1821-2, "Life in London" was performed with _éclat_, at ten
theatres in and around the metropolis, to overflowing houses. But Pierce
Egan at length became tired of the successes of the playwrights in using
his book, and resolved to try his own hand at a dramatic version--or, as
he termed it, to "take a leaf out of his own book,"--and the AUTHOR'S
PIECE was "got up" and performed for the first time at Sadler's Wells,
under the management of Mr. Egerton, on Monday, April 8, 1822, with most
decided success.
It was thus announced by Mrs. Egerton, in the address written for the
occasion by T. Greenwood, Esq.:--
"To-night my friends, this modern taste to meet,
We show you JERRY at his country seat:
Then up to town transport the rustic beau,
And show him 'Life in London,' HIGH and LOW."
At length TOM and JERRY had been repeated so often in the Metropolis, that
the performers, notwithstanding the great applause they nightly received
in the above piece, absolutely became tired and worn-out with the
repetition of their characters, when the following piece of satire,
written by T. Greenwood, Esq., was published, entitled, "The Tears of
Pierce Egan, Esq., for the Death of 'Life in London;' or, the Funeral of
Tom and Jerry, dedicated to Robert and George Cruikshank, Esqs. Price Two
Shillings, with an engraving by George Cruikshank."
"Beat out of the Pit and thrown over the Ropes,
TOM and JERRY resign'd their last breath,
With them, too, expired the Managers' hopes,
Who are left to deplore their sad death!
"Odd and various reports of the cause are about,
But the real one was _this_, I opine:
They were run to a _standstill_, and, therefore, no doubt,
That the cause was a rapid _decline_.
"When Death showed his _Nob_, out of _Time_ they were beat,
And neither would come to the _scratch_;
They hung down their heads and gave up the last heat,
Not prepared with the Spectre to _match_.
"All wept at the FUNERAL! the FANCY and all--
Some new, but a great many mended:
And EGAN, while CRUIKSHANK and _Bob_ held the pall,
As _Chief-Mourner_ in person attended!!!
"Their _Sprees_ and their _Rambles_ no more shall amuse,
Farewell to all nocturnal parleys:
The Town felt regret as the bell tolled the news,
And no one rejoiced--but the _Charleys_!
"A monument, too, their kind Patrons will raise,
Inscribed on--'Here lies TOM and JERRY,
Who, departing the _stage_ to their immortal praise,
ONE THOUSAND NIGHTS made the _Town Merry_!!!'
"May their souls rest in peace, since they've chosen to flit,
Like other great heroes departed;
May no mischief arise from the _sudden_ exit,
Nor PIERCE EGAN die--_broken-hearted_!"
In reference to the above, Pierce Egan states in "The Finish to the
Adventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic," that Catnach, in less than twelve
hours after the publication, produced a pirated edition for street sale,
for twopence.
Mr. Pierce Egan, in his "_Finish_," states that he reckoned no less than
sixty-five separate publications, which he enumerates _in extenso_, all
derived from his own work, and adds, with his usual amount of large and
small CAPITALS and _italics_--"We have been _pirated_, COPIED,
_traduced_; but unfortunately, not ENRICHED by our indefatigable
exertions; therefore NOTORIETY must satisfy us, instead of the smiles of
FORTUNE."
Jemmy Catnach, true to his line of life, soon joined what Pierce Egan
designates as the "Mob of Literary Pirates," and brought out a "whole
sheet" for street-sale, entitled "Life in London," with twelve woodcuts,
which are reduced and very roughly executed copies of the centre figures
of the original plates by the Brothers Cruikshank--but all in reverse. The
letter-press matter consists of a poetical epitome of the plot and design
of the original work of "Life in London." And taking it as it stands, and
from whence it emanated, rather a creditable performance, particularly
when we take into consideration--as duly announced by the street-patterer,
that it was "Just printed and pub--lish--ed, all for the low charge of
twopence."
On the rarity of this Catnachian and pirated edition of "Life in London"
it is superfluous to enlarge, and it is easy to account for this
circumstance, if we reflect that the broadside form of publication is by
no means calculated for preservation; hundreds of similar pieces printed
for street-sale must have perished. The more generally acceptable a
broadside or street ballad became, and was handed about for perusal, the
more it was exposed to the danger of destruction. No copy of Catnach's
version is preserved in the British Museum, therefore, and for the reason
above stated, it must be considered as a great "Literary Rarity."[8]
CUT I.--JERRY IN TRAINING FOR A SWELL.
[Illustration]
Now Jerry must needs be a swell,
His coat must have a swallow-tail,
And Mr. Snip, so handy, O,
Soon rigg'd him out a Dandy, O.
CUT II.--TOM AND JERRY AMONG THE LADIES.
[Illustration]
Ladies, your most humble servants,
Tom and Jerry stand before you.
Our blood is thrilling, you're so killing;
At once we love you and adore you.
CUT III.--JERRY LOSES AT PLAY.
[Illustration]
At St. James's they dine, when, flushed with new wine,
To the Gaming Tables they reel,
Where blacklegs and sharps, often gammon the flats,
As their pockets do presently feel.
CUT IV.--JERRY LEARNING TO SPAR.
[Illustration]
Now Jerry's become a Fancy blade,
To Jackson's he often goes,
And to shew his skill in the milling trade,
He crack'd poor Logick's nose.
CUT V.--TOM AND JERRY AT A FORTUNE-TELLER'S.
[Illustration]