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A true & lamentable ballad call'd Billy Taylor shewing the fatal effects of inconstancy
Title
A true & lamentable ballad call'd Billy Taylor [graphic] : shewing the fatal effects of inconstancy / J.N. 1804.
Publication
[London] : Publish'd Sepr. 24, 1804 by Laurie & Whittle, 53 Fleet Street, London, [24 September 1804]
Physical Description
1 print : etching with stipple ; plate mark 273 x 225 mm, on sheet 29 x 24 cm
Medium
wove paper.
Notes
Title below image, at head of verses.
Plate numbered '367' in the lower left corner.
From the Laurie & Whittle series of Drolls.
One line of text above design: (Sung by Mr. Bannister, of Drury Lane Theathre, Mr. Fawcett, and Mr. Emery, of Covent Garden. &c &c &c.)
Ten numbered stanzas of verse below title: Billy Taylor was a gay young fellow, full of mirth and full of glee, and his heart he did diskiver, to a lady gay and free ...
Summary
"Illustration to a song engraved in three columns below the title: A scene on the shore, with a frigate in the offing. A grotesque naval officer, with wooden leg and black patch over one eye, takes the wrist of a young sailor of feminine appearance who holds a pistol. In the background (right) a dead sailor lies across the body of a woman. The song relates that Billy Taylor was taken by a press-gang; his sweetheart dressed as a sailor to follow him, but discovered his inconstancy with 'a lady gay', and shot him With his fair one in his hand. The last verse:'When the Captain com'd for to hear on't He werry much applauded her for what she'd done, And quickly he made her the first Lieutenant, Of the Gallant - Thunder Bomb.'"--British Museum online catalogue.
Variant and related titles
True and lamentable ballad call'd Billy Taylor
Format
Images
Language
English
Added to Catalog
November 26, 2008
References
Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum, v. 8, no. 10359
Subjects
Genre/Form
Songs.
Satires (Visual works) - England - 1804.
Etchings - England - London - 1804.
Also listed under
Laurie & Whittle, publisher.
Bookmark As
Citation
