Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

The above letter to the _Alnwick Journal_ was the means of obtaining another valuable correspondent--Mr. George H. Thompson, also of Alnwick, who volunteered his services to aid and assist, to the best of his time and ability, in supplying all the information he possessed or could glean from his friends and acquaintances in the good old borough of Alnwick, or the county at large. And _inter alia_ copied out _verbatim_ from the Parish Register of Baptisms in St. Michael's Church all the entries in connection with the family of John and Mary Catnach and which will be found _in extenso_ at pages 2-3 of this work.

Mr. George Skelly and Mr. G. H. Thompson are fortunate by their residence in Alnwick in having had the acquaintance and friendship of the late Mr. Mark Smith--James Catnach's fellow apprentice, Mr. Thomas Robertson, Mr. Tate, the local historian, and several other _Alnwick-folk_. And they have made the best possible use of the circumstance to supply us with information on the subject of our enquiry.

Recently Mr. Geo. Skelly has forwarded to us an original trade invoice of John Catnach of which we here append a _fac-simile_ copy:--

_ALNWICK_

_Mr. Smart_,
_Bought of_ J. CATNACH,

1807.
_July 29._ _£ s. d._

_Printing 500 Bills_ 8 ,, 6
----------

[Signature: Paid
J. Catnach]

We have now brought up the history of our pursuit of knowledge to the eve of the publication of the Life and Times of James Catnach--late of Seven Dials, Ballad-monger--which was first announced in 1878 in the manner following.

YE LIFE OF JEMMY CATNACH.

Now, my friends, you have here just printed and pub--lish--ed, the
Full, True, and Particular account of the Life, Trial, Character,
Confession, Condemnation, and Behaviour, together with an authentic
copy of the last Will and Testament: or DYING SPEECH, of that
eccentric individual "Old Jemmy Catnach," late of the _Seven Dials_,
printer, publisher, toy-book manufacturer, dying-speech merchant, and
ballad-monger. Here, you may read how he was bred and born the son of
a printer, in the ancient Borough of Alnwick, which is in
Northumberlandshire. How he came to London to seek his fortune. How he
obtained it by printing and publishing children's books, the
chronicling of doubtful scandals, fabulous duels between ladies of
fashion, "cooked" assassinations, and sudden deaths of eminent
individuals, apocryphal elopements, real or catch-penny accounts of
murders, impossible robberies, delusive suicides, dark deeds and
public executions, 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.

Yes, my customers, in this book you'll read how Jemmy Catnach made his
fortune in Monmouth Court, which is to this day in the Seven Dials,
which is in London. Not only will you read how he did make his
fortune, but also what he did and what he didn't do with it after he
had made it. You will also read how "Old Jemmy" set himself up as a
fine gentleman:--JAMES CATNACH ES--QUIRE.

And how he didn't like it when he had done it. And how he went back
again to dear old Monmouth Court, which is in the Seven Dials
aforesaid. And how he languished, and languishing, did die--leaving
all his old mouldy coppers behind him--and how being dead, he was
buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Furthermore, my ready-money customers, you are informed that there are
only 750 copies of the work print-ed and pub-lish-ed, viz., namely
that is to say;--500 copies on crown 8vo, at 12/6 each.

250 copies on demy 8vo., at 25/- each.

LONDON:
REEVES AND TURNER,
196, STRAND, W.C.
1878.

The Seven Dials!--Jemmy Catnach and Street Literature are, as it were, so inseparably bound together that we now propose to give a short history of the former to enable us to connect our own history with the later:--

The Seven Dials were built for wealthy tenants, and Evelyn, in his _Diary_, 1694, notes: "I went to see the building near St. Giles's, where Seven Dials make a star from a Doric pillar placed in the middle of a circular area, in imitation of Venice." The attempt was not altogether in vain. This part of the parish has ever since "worn its _dirt_ with a difference." There is an air of shabby gentility about it. The air of the footman or waiting-maid can be recognised through the tatters, which are worn with more assumption than those of their unsophisticated neighbours.

"You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will;
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still."

The Seven Dials are thus described in Gay's Trivia:--

"Where famed St. Giles's ancient limits spread,
An in-railed column rears its lofty head;
Here to seven streets, seven dials count their day,
And from each other catch the circling ray;
Here oft the peasant, with inquiring face,
Bewildered, trudges on from place to place;
He dwells on every sign with stupid gaze--
Enters the narrow alley's doubtful maze--
Tries every winding court and street in vain,
And doubles o'er his weary steps again."

This column was removed in July, 1773, on the supposition that a considerable sum of money was lodged at the base; but the search was ineffectual.

Charles Knight, in his "London," writes thus of Seven Dials:--

"It is here that the literature of St. Giles's has fixed its abode;
and a literature the parish has of its own, and that, as times go, of
a very respectable standing in point of antiquity. In a letter from
Letitia Pilkington, to the demure author of 'Sir Charles Grandison,'
and published by the no less exemplary and irreproachable Mrs.
Barbauld, the lady informs her correspondent that she has taken
apartments in Great White Lion Street, and stuck up a bill intimating
that all who have not found 'reading and writing come by nature,' and
who had had no teacher to make up the defect by art, might have
'letters written here.' With the progress of education, printing
presses have found their way into St. Giles's, and what with
literature and a taste for flowers and birds, there is much of the
'sweet south' about the Seven Dials harmonising with the out-of-door
habits of its occupants. It was here--in Monmouth Court, a
thoroughfare connecting Monmouth Street with Little Earl Street--that
the late eminent Mr. Catnach developed the resources of his genius and
trade. It was he who first availed himself of greater mechanical skill
and a larger capital than had previously been employed in the
department of THE TRADE, to substitute--for the excrable tea-paper,
blotched with lamp-black and oil, which characterised the old
broadside and ballad printing--tolerably white paper and real
printer's ink. But more than that, it was he who first conceived and
carried into effect, the idea of publishing collections of songs by
the yard, and giving to purchasers, for the small sum of one penny (in
former days the cost of a single ballad), strings of poetry,
resembling in shape and length the list of Don Juan's mistresses,
which Leporello unrolls on the stage before Donna Anna. He was no
ordinary man, Catnach; he patronised original talents in many a bard
of St Giles's and is understood to have accumulated the largest store
of broadsides, last dying speeches, ballads and other stock-in-trade
of the flying stationer's upon record."

Douglas Jerrold in his article on the Ballad Singer, published in "Heads of the People; or Portraits of the English"--1841, writes thus of Seven Dials and its surroundings:--

"The public ear has become dainty, fastidious, hypercritical; hence
the Ballad-Singer languishes and dies. Only now and then, his pipings
are to be heard * * * With the fall of Napoleon, declined the English
Ballad-Singer. During the war, it was his peculiar province to vend
halfpenny historical abridgments to his country's glory; recommending
the short poetic chronicle by some familiar household air, that fixed
it in the memory of the purchaser, who thus easily got hatred of the
French by heart, with a new assurance of his own invulnerability. No
battle was fought, no vessel taken or sunken, that the triumph was not
published, proclaimed in the national gazette of our Ballad-Singer. If
he were not the clear silver trump of Fame, he was at least her tin
horn. It was he who bellowed music into news, which, made to jingle,
was thus, even to the weakest understanding, rendered portable. It was
his narrow strips of history that adorned the garrets of the poor; it
was he who made them yearn towards their country, albiet to them so
rough and niggard a mother.

Napoleon lost Waterloo, and the English Ballad-Singer not only lost
his greatest prerogative, but was almost immediately assailed by
foreign rivals, who had well-nigh played him dumb. Little thought the
Ballad-Singer, when he crowed forth the crowning triumphs of the war,
and in his sweetest possible modulations breathed the promised
blessings of a golden peace, that he was then, swan-like, singing his
own knell; that he did but herald the advent of his own provençal
destroyers.

Oh muse! descend and say, did no omen tell the coming of the fall? Did
no friendly god give warning to the native son of song? Burned the
stars clearly, tranquilly in heaven,--or shot they madly across
Primrose-hill, the Middlesex Parnassus?

* * * * *

Evening had gathered o'er Saint Giles's, and Seven Dials. So tranquil
was the season, even publishers were touched. Catnach and Pitts sat
silent in their shops; placing their hands in breeches-poke, with that
serenity which pockets best convey, they looked around their
walls--walls more richly decked than if hung with triumphs of Sidonian
looms, arrayed with Bayeux stitchings; walls, where ten thousand
thousand ballads--strips harmonious, yet silent as Apollo's unbraced
strings,--hung pendulous, or crisply curling, like John Braham's hair.
Catnach and Pitts, the tuneful masters of the gutter-choir, serenely
looked, yet with such comprehensive glance, that look did take their
stock. Suddenly, more suddenly than e'er the leaves in Hornsey wood
were stirred by instant blast, the thousand thousand ballads swung and
rustled on the walls; yet wind there was not, not the lightest breath.
Still like pendants fluttering in a northern breeze, the ballads
streamed towards Catnach, and towards Pitts! Amazing truth--yet more;
each ballad found a voice! 'Old Towler' faintly growled; 'Nancy
Dawson' sobbed and sighed; and, 'Bright Chanticleer' crowed weakly,
dolorously, as yet in chickenhood, and smitten with the pip. At the
same instant, the fiddle, the antique viol of Roger Scratch, fell from
its garret-peg, and lay shivered, even as glass.

A cloud fell upon Seven Dials; dread and terror chilled her many
minstrels: and why--and wherefore?

At that dread moment, a ministrel from the sunny south, with
barrel-organ, leapt on Dover beach! Seven Dials felt the shock: her
troubadours, poor native birds, were to be out-carrolled and
out-quavered, by Italian opera retailed by penn'orths to them, from
the barrel-organs: and prompt to follow their masters, they let the
English ballad singer sing unheard.

The Ballad-Singer has lost his occupation; yet should he not pass away
unthanked, unrecompensed. We have seen him a useful minister in rude
society; we have heard him a loud-mouthed advocate of party zeal, and
we have seen him almost ground into silence by the southern
troubadour. Yet was he the first music-seller in the land. Ye
well-stocked, flourishing vendors of fashionable scores, deign to cast
a look through plate glass at your poor, yet great original,
bare-footed and in rags, singing, unabashed, amidst London
wagon-wheels: behold the true decendant of the primative
music-seller."

Charles Dickens, as Boz, long since "sketched" the Seven Dials, and at the same time and place given us his--"Meditations in Monmouth Street":--

"Seven Dials! the region of song and poetry--first effusions, and last
dying speechees: hallowed by the names of Catnach and Pitts--names
that will entwine themselves with costermongers, and barrel-organs,
when penny magazines shall have superseded penny yards of song, and
capital punishment be unknown."

Several years ago Mr. Albert Smith, who lived at Chertsey, discovered in his neighbourhood part of the Seven Dials--the column doing duty as a monument to a Royal Duchess--when he described the circumstance in a pleasant paper, entitled "Some News of a famous Old Fellow," in his "Town and Country Magazine." The communication is as follows:--

"Let us now quit the noisome mazes of St. Giles's and go out and away
into the pure leafy country. Seventeen or eighteen miles from town, in
the county of Surrey, is the little village of Weybridge.

One of the lions to be seen at Weybridge is Oatlands, with its large
artificial grotto and bath-room, which is said--but we cannot
comprehend the statement--to have cost the Duke of Newcastle, who had
it built, £40,000. The late Duchess of York died at Oatlands, and lies
in a small vault under Weybridge Church, wherein there is a monument,
by Chantrey, to her memory. She was an excellent lady, well-loved by
all the country people about her, and when she died they were anxious
to put up some sort of a tribute to her memory. But the village was
not able to offer a large some of money for this purpose. The good
folks did their best, but the amount was still very humble, so they
were obligated to dispense with the service of any eminent architect,
and build up only such a monument as their means could compass.
Someone told them that there was a column to be sold cheap in a
stonemason's yard, which might answer their purpose. It was
accordingly purchased; a coronet was placed upon its summit; and the
memorial was set up on Weybridge Green, in front of the Ship Inn, at
the junction of the roads leading to Oatlands, to Shepperton Lock, and
to Chertsey. This column turned out to be the original one from Seven
Dials.

The stone on which the dials were engraved or fixed, was sold with it.
The poet Gay, however, was wrong when he spoke of its seven faces. It
is hexagonal in its shape; this is accounted for by the fact that two
of the streets opened into one angle. It was not wanted to assist in
forming the monument, but was turned into a stepping stone, near the
adjoining inn, to assist the infirm in mounting their horses, and
there it now lies, having sunk by degrees into the earth; but its
original form can still be easily surmised. It may be about three feet
in diameter.

The column itself is about thirty feet high and two feet in diameter,
displaying no great architectural taste. It is surmounted by a
coronet, and the base is enclosed by a light iron railing. An
appropriate inscription on one side of the base indicates its erection
in the year 1822, on the others are some lines to the memory of the
Duchess.

Relics undergo strange transpositions. The obelisk from the mystic
solitudes of the Nile to the centre of the Place de la Concorde, in
bustling Paris--the monuments of Nineveh to the regions of Great
Russell Street--the frescoes from the long, dark, and silent Pompeii
to the bright and noisy Naples--all these are odd changes. But in
proportion to their importance, not much behind them is that old
column from the crowded dismal regions of St. Giles to the sunny
tranquil Green of Weybridge."

We are now approaching--"The beginning of the end"--of our history. We were not taken by surprise as we know that "coming events cast their shadows before," and that:--

Often do the spirits
Of great events stride on before the events,
And in to-day already walks to-morrow.

Therefore we were well prepared to read in the newspapers of October, 1883, the following paragraph:--

The old-established printing and publishing house formerly occupied by
James Catnach, 2, Monmouth-court, Seven Dials, will soon be amongst
the lost landmarks of London. The Metropolitan Board of Works have
purchased the house, and it is to be pulled down to make the new
street from Leicester-square to New Oxford-street. The business of the
literature of the street was founded by James Catnach in 1813, who
retired in 1840. The ballads and broadsides he printed, many of them
illustrated with cuts by Bewick, helped to furnish the people with
news and political and social ballads for generations.

All that is fortold in the above has since taken place, Monmouth-court and the house and shop wherein old Jemmy Catnach established the "Catnach Press" in the year 1813 has disappeared to make way for the "New Thoroughfare" from Leicester-square to New Oxford street, and:--

THE CATNACH PRESS

removed by Mr. W. S. Fortey--Catnach's successor--to Great St. Andrew-street, Bloomsbury, W.C.

_O tempora! O mores!_

THOMAS BEWICK,

Thomas Bewick died at his house on the Windmill-Hills, Gateshead, November the 8th, 1828, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and on the 13th he was buried in the family burial-place at Ovingham, where his parents, wife, and brother were interred.

THE CATNACH PRESS.

In addition to the full title of our work--"The History of the Catnach Press"--the two Catnachs--John and James--father and son, we deem it necessary to incidentally introduce into our pages some notice of Alnwick, an ancient borough, market-town and parish of Northumberland, also a few passing remarks on the life and doings of Mr. William Davison, who, in conjunction with the elder Catnach as a business partner and subsequent successor, employed Thomas Bewick--an English artist, who imparted the first impulse to the art of wood-engraving--for many of their publications.

Of the early life of John Catnach, (_Kat-nak_), the father, we have little information. He was born in 1769, at Burntisland, a royal burgh and parish of Fifeshire, Scotland, where his father was possessed of some powder-mills. The family afterwards removed to Edinburgh, when their son John was bound apprentice to his uncle, Sandy Robinson, the printer. After having duly served out his indentures, he worked for some short time in Edinburgh, as a journeyman, then started in a small business of his own in Berwick-upon-Tweed, where he married Mary Hutchinson, who was a native of Dundee, a seaport-town in Scotland. While at Berwick a son and heir, John, was born. In 1790 they removed their business to Alnwick, and during their residence there seven children were born to them and from the Register of Baptisms in St. Michael's Church we glean that four of them were baptised at one time, viz., September 24, 1797, and there described as "of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his wife: Dissenter."[?] John Catnach had been brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, and his wife as a Presbyterian. The following is taken _verbatim_ from the Parish Register:--

Sep{t.} 24, 1797.

Margaret, Daug{r.} of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his Wife. Born
Dec{r.} 26{th}, 1790. Dissenter.

James, son of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his Wife. Born August
18{th}, 1792. Dissenter.

Mary, Daug{r.} of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his Wife. Born
February 26{th}, 1794. Dissenter.

Nancy, Daug{r.} of John Catnach, printer, and Mary his Wife. Born
Sep{r.} 2{nd}, 1795. Dissenter.

May 23, 1798.

Elizabeth Catnach. Born March 21, 1797, 4{th} Daughter of John
Catnach, printer, native of Burnt Island, Shire of Fife, by his wife
Mary Hutchinson, Native of Dundee, Angus Shire, Scotland.

Dec{r.} 14, 1798.

Isabella Catnach. Born Nov{r.} 2, 1798. 5th Daughter of Jn{o.}
Catnach, Stationer, Nat. of Scotland, by his wife, Mary Hutchinson,
Nat. of Dundee, Angus Shire, Scotland.

March 28, 1800.

Jane Catnach, 6{th} Daughter of John Catnach, printer, Native of
Edinburgh (_sic_) by his wife Mary Hutchinson, Native of Dundee,
Scotland.

To the above we have to add that there were two sons--John, born to John and Mary Catnach. John I. who was born at Berwick-upon-Tweed, died August 27, 1794, aged 5 years and 7 months, and we find him duly recorded in the Register of Deaths. John II., whose name appears at the end of the inscription on a tombstone in Alnwick churchyard, and of which further mention will be made in another portion of our work, died, presumably unbaptized, March 5, 1803, aged 4 months.

John Catnach was not long a resident in the borough of Alnwick before he became acquainted with many of the principal tradesmen in the place. Naturally he was of a free-and-easy disposition, and, like many of his kinsman on the Borders, was particularly fond of the social glass. The latter practice he allowed to grow upon him in such a way that it ultimately interfered very much with his business prospects, and finally hastened his death.

The shop that he commenced business in, was situated in Narrowgate-street, and adjoining the old Half-Moon hostelry. In gaining access to the place one had to ascend a flight of steps. Whilst in this shop he secured a fair amount of patronage, and the specimens of printing that emanated from his press are of such a character as to testify to his qualifications and abilities in the trade which he adopted as his calling. He possessed a fond regard for the traditions and customs which for centuries had been so closely associated with the Border country.

When the printing press was first introduced into Alnwick is not exactly known; but that it was considerably before the time of Catnach is certain. John Vint, the bookseller and author of the "Burradon Ghost," for several years used a press for printing purposes in the town, and Thomas Lindsay carried on a similar business at a still earlier period.

John Catnach had a great relish for printing such works as would admit of expensive embellishments, which, at the time he commenced business, were exceedingly rare. The taste he displayed in the execution of his work will be best exemplified in examining some of the printed editions of the standard works which emanated from his press; and in no instance is this more characteristically set forth than in those finely printed books which are so beautifully illustrated by the masterly hand of Thomas Bewick and his accomplished and talented pupil, Luke Clennell. Notably among which are:--

1.--"The Beauties of Natural History. Selected from Buffon's History of Quadrupeds, &c. Alnwick: J. Catnach, [n. d.] _Circa_ 1790, 12mo., pp. 92. With 67 cuts by Bewick."--Another edition. Published and Sold by the Booksellers. By Wilson and Spence, York, and J. Catnach, printer, Alnwick. (Price 1_s._ 6_d._ sewed, or 2_s._ half-bound.) [n. d.] _Circa_ 1795.

The embellishments of "The Beauties of Natural History" form an unique and valuable collection. They are very small and were done at an exceedingly low price, yet every bird and animal is exquisitely brought out in the minutest detail; whilst many of the illustrations which served as "tail pieces" are gems of art.

2.--"Poems by Percival Stockdale. With cuts by Thomas Bewick. Alnwick: printed by J. Catnach. 1800."

3.--"The Hermit of Warkworth. A Northumberland Ballad. In three Fits. By Dr. Thos. Percy, Bishop of Dromore. With Designs by Mr. Craig; and Engraved on Wood by Mr. Bewick. Alnwick: Printed and Sold by J. Catnach. Sold by Lackington, Allen, and Co., London; Constable and Co., Edinburgh; and Hodgson, Newcastle. 1806." The Arms of the Duke of Northumberland precedes the Dedication, thus:--

TO HER GRACE FRANCES JULIA,
DUCHESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND,
_This Edition of_
THE HERMIT OF WARKWORTH,
Is respectfully Inscribed
By Her Grace's Obliged and Humble Servant,
J. CATNACH

ALNWICK, _October, 1805_.

4.--A Second Edition; of which a few copies were printed on extra thick paper, royal 8vo., to match with some of his other works, illustrated by Bewick, pp. xiv., 182, with 13 cuts. At the end of the Poem are a Postcript, a Description of the Hermitage of Warkworth, Warkworth Castle, Alnwick Castle, Alnwick Abbey, and A Descriptive Ride in Hulne Park, Alnwick: Printed and Sold by J. Catnach. Sold by Wilson and Spence, York. 1807.

THE HERMIT OF WARKWORTH.

"And now, attended by their host,
The hermitage they view'd."

With hospitable haste he rose,
And wak'd his sleeping fire:
And snatching up a lighted brand,
Forth hied the reverend sire.

* * * *

He fought till more assistance came;
The Scots were overthrown;
Thus freed me, captive, from their bands,
To make me more his own.

The illustrations of "The Hermit of Warkworth" are, upon the whole, very creditable, and are well calculated to enhance the value of the book, but as works of art some few of them fall far short of many of Craig or Bewick's other productions.

John Catnach also printed and published a series of Juvenile Works, as "The Royal Play Book: or, Children's Friend. A Present for Little Masters and Misses." "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin, &c. ADORNED WITH CUTS.--Which in many cases were the early productions of Thomas Bewick.--Alnwick: Sold Wholesale and Retail by J. Catnach, at his Toy-Book Manufactory."

In the year 1807, John Catnach took an apprentice--a lad named Mark Smith, of whom more anon; a few months afterwards he entered into partnership with a Mr. William Davison, who was a native of Ponteland, in the county of Northumberland, but he duly served his apprenticeship as a chemist and druggist to Mr. Hind, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and for whom he ever cherished a fond regard. The union was not of long duration--certainly under two years--but it is very remarkable that two such men should have been brought together, for experience has shown that they were both morally and socially, the very opposite of each other.

During the partnership: Mr. Davison held his business of chemist, &c., in Bondgate-street; while the printing and publishing continued at Narrowgate-street, and among the works published by the firm of CATNACH and DAVISON we may record:--

"The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genuis. In Two Parts. With some other Poems. By James Beattie, LL.D. With sixteen Cuts from Designs by Mr. Thurston; and engraved on Wood by Mr. Clennel, Alnwick. Printed by Catnach and Davison. Sold by the Booksellers in England and Scotland. 1807. 12mo. and Royal 8vo., pp. 142."

"The Grave. A Poem. By Robert Blair. To which is added Gray's Elegy. In a Country Church Yard. With Notes Moral and Explanatory. Alnwick: Printed by Catnach and Davison. Sold by the Booksellers in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 1808. 12mo., pp. xiv., 72. With a frontispiece and other cuts by Thomas Bewick."

THE GRAVE.

"Prone, on the lowly grave of the dear man
She drops; whilst busy meddling Memory,
In barbarous succession, musters up
The past endearments of their softer hours
Tenacious of its theme."

After the dissolution of the strange partnership, Mr. Davison still prosecuted with vigour the several departments of the business; for although reared to the prescribing of physics, he had a fine taste and relish for the book trade, and the short time that he was with Catnach enabled him to acquire a good amount of valuable information on this subject. Be this as it may, he soon laid the basis of a large and lucrative business. About the first work Mr. Davison issued on his own account was:--

THE REPOSITORY OF SELECT LITERATURE.

Being an Elegant Assemblage of Curious, Scarce, Entertaining and Instructive Pieces in Prose and Verse. Adorned with beautiful Engravings by Bewick, &c. Alnwick: Printed by W. Davison. Sold by the Booksellers in England and Scotland. 1808.

This work is a fine specimen of provincial book-printing; its pages are adorned with some of Bewick's excellent cuts. There is one that we would particularly refer to, and that is "Shepherd Lubin." In size it is very small, but, like most of Bewick's pieces, sufficiently large to show the inimitable skill of the artist. The picture tells its own tale:--

"Young Lubin was a shepherd's boy,
Who watched a rigid master's sheep,
And many a night was heard to sigh,
And may a day was seen to weep."

"The History of Crazy Jane, by Sarah Wilkinson, with a frontispiece by Bewick: Alnwick. Printed by W. Davison; _and Sold by all the Principal Booksellers in England and Scotland_. 1813."

"The Poetical Works of Robert Burns. Engravings on Wood by Bewick, from designs by Thurston. Alnwick: Printed by Catnach and Davison, 1808." And London: Printed for T. Cadell and Davis, Strand, 1814. With cuts previously used in Davison's publications.

"Many of the engravings produced for Burns' Poems, are of a very superior class, and cannot be too highly commended."--_Hugo._

"The Poetical Works of Robert Ferguson, with his Life. Engravings on Wood by Bewick. ALNWICK: Printed by W. Davison."

Mr. Davison, following up the actions of his former partner, had a great regard for the standard poets. Previous to the issuing of the poems of Ferguson they had tried to imbue a better taste into the minds of the general reader, by means of publishing nothing but what was of an elevating character. And this will be seen by examining such works as Buffon, Beattie, Percy, Burns, &c. Almost simultaneously with the poems of Burns appeared those of Ferguson. Both works are uniform in size and price--_viz_: 2 vols., Foolscap 8vo.--12s. in boards; they contain some of Bewick's choicest and most exquisite wood-engravings.

"The Northumberland Minstrel: A Choice Selection of Songs. Alnwick: Printed by W. Davison."

There were only three numbers of this work published,[4] each of which contained 48 pages. The object of this undertaking was for the carrying out a project which at that time was becoming very popular, and consisted in bringing together in a collected form some of the best and most admired of our ballad-poetry. In fact, the object Mr. Davison had in view was only to extend what had been so successfully accomplished by Herd, Ramsay, Motherwell, Ritson, and others.

Mr. Davison continued in business at Alnwick up to the time of his death, in 1858, at the ripe age of 77. He was by far the most enterprising printer that had settled in the North of England. His collection of wood blocks was very large, and it is hardly possible to form an adequate conception of the many hundreds of beautiful specimens which he possessed. He stated that he had paid Thomas Bewick upwards of five hundred pounds for various woodcut blocks. With a view of disposing of some of his surplus stock, he printed and published in 4to., a catalogue:--"NEW SPECIMENS OF CAST-METAL ORNAMENTS AND WOOD TYPES, SOLD BY W. DAVISON. ALNWICK. With impressions of 1,100 Cast Ornaments and Wood Blocks, many of the latter executed by Thomas Bewick." This Catalogue--now exceedingly rare--is of the greatest interest and utility, as it embraces a series of cuts dispersed, as Mr. Hugo plainly shows, among a considerable number of publications, and enables those who collect Bewick's pieces to detect the hand of the Artist in many of his less elaborated productions.

Those of our readers who desire more information as to the many books printed by W. Davison, the Alnwick publisher, are referred to "The Bewick Collector," and the Supplement thereto, by the Rev. Thomas Hugo, M.A., &c. London: 1866-68. These volumes, illustrated by upwards of two hundred and ninety cuts, comprise an elaborate descriptive list of the most complete collection yet formed of the works of the renowned wood-engravers of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Not only to Bewick collectors, but to all persons interested in the progress of Art, and especially of wood-engraving, these volumes, exhibiting chronologically the works of the Fathers of that Art in England, cannot fail to be of the highest interest.

Mr. Davison printed and published a series of Halfpenny Books; they are not only well printed, but in addition to this it is not unusual to see them illustrated by some of Thomas Bewick's choicest engravings. Mr. Hugo possessed twenty-seven in number, the titles of which he enumerates in his "Bewick Collector" and the Supplement thereto: adding the remarks that follow:--

"The cuts in these little publications are for the most part the same
which were used by Davison in the other and more important works which
issued from his press. The volumes are in 32mo, and in typographical
excellence are far in advance of all other children's books of the
period of their publication with which I am acquainted."

Herewith we publish one of the series from our own private collection. The justness of Mr. Hugo's opinion will be at once seen.

THE GUESS BOOK,
A COLLECTION OF
_INGENIOUS PUZZLES_.

ALNWICK:
Published and Sold by W. Davison.

_Price One Halfpenny_,

2

a b c d e

f g h i j k

l m n o p

q r s t u v

w x y z &

3

THE

GUESS BOOK.

THE MOON.

There was a thing a full month old,
When Adam was no more;
But ere that thing was five weeks old,
Adam was years five score.

4

_Guess Book._

A CAT.

In almost every house I'm seen,
(No wonder then I'm common),
I'm neither man, nor maid, nor child,
Nor yet a married woman.

5

_Guess Book._

A CANNON.

I am the terror of mankind,
My breath is flame, and by its power
I urge my messenger to find
A way into the strongest tower.

6

_Guess Book._

AN OWL.

My patron is Wisdom--if Wisdom you prize,
In me put your confidence, borrow my eyes,
Who into a mill-stone can see quite as far
As the best of you all, by the light of a star.

7

_Guess Book._

A TOP.

I ne'er offend thee,
Yet thou dost me whip,
Which don't amend me,
Though I dance and skip;
When I'm upright,
Me you always like best,
And barbarously whip me
When I want rest.

8

_Guess Book._

BOOKS.

With words unnumber'd I abound;
In me mankind do take delight;
In me much learning's to be found;
Yet I can neither read nor write.

9

_Guess Book._

A DRUM.

My sides are firmly
Lac'd about,
Yet nothing is within:
You'll think my head
Is strange indeed,
Being nothing else but skin.

10

_Guess Book._

A SAND-GLASS.

Made of two bodies join'd,
Without foot or hand;
And yet you will find
I can both run and stand.

11

_Guess Book._

TIME.

Ever eating, never cloying,
All devouring, all destroying,
Never finding full repast
Till I eat the world at last.

12

_Guess Book._

DEATH.

The gate of life, the cause of strife,
The fruit of sin,
When I appear, you drop a tear,
And stay within.

13

_Guess Book._

A PAIR OF SHOES.

To rich and poor
We useful are;
And yet for our reward,
By both at last
We're thrown away,
Without the least regard.

14

_Guess Book._

A SQUIRREL.

I am a busy active creature,
Fashion'd for the sport of nature,
Nimbly skip from tree to tree,
Under a well-wrought canopy;
Bid Chloe then to Mira tell
What's my name and where I dwell.

15

_Guess Book._

A FISH.

Though it be cold I wear no clothes,
The frost and snow I never fear;
I value neither shoes nor hose,
And yet I wander far and near.

[Signature: John Catnach]

AT NEWCASTLE.

"There is no fooling with Life, when it is once turned forty: the
seeking of a Fortune then is but a desperate after-game: it is a
hundred to one if a man fling three sixes, and recover all; if his
hand be no luckier than mine."--_Cowley._

In or about the latter part of the year 1808, John Catnach, with his wife and family, left Alnwick for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and commenced business in a small shop in Newgate-street, and among other Works which he printed there, mention may be made of "The Battle of Chevy Chase," a selection from the works of "Dr. Samuel Johnson, in two volumes," and "The Life of John Thompson, Mariner. Written by Himself: Also, his Divine Selections, in Prose and Verse. _From esteemed Authors._ Embellished with steel Engravings. Newcastle: _Printed for the Author_. By J. Catnach, Newgate-street. 1810. 12mo., pp. lxxvi., 214. With two tail-pieces by Thomas Bewick."

John Thompson, _alias_ Godfried Thomas Leschinsky, born at Riga, 1782, was a seaman. He sailed with Nelson's fleet to Copenhagen, 1801. Continuing at sea he endured many hardships from severe accidents and ill health, and was at length discharged as not being fit for his Majesty's service. In 1806, while in the Infirmary at Newcastle, one of his legs--from old injuries, rapidly mortified and had to be amputated. Subsequently, in consequence of the bones and joints of his right hand decaying, his arm was taken off below the elbow. He for years made a living out of his misfortunes and assumed piety. Catnach was induced, by specious reasoning, to undertake the printing of the book, but the eleemosynary author dying just as it was all worked off but not bound, he had the whole of the stock thrown on his hands to do the best he could with. There were between fifty and sixty claims set up by persons who averred that they had in part, or whole, paid for a copy each to the author on signing his subscription list, and most of these claims were allowed on the payment of sixpence extra: the work was subscribed for at 3s. 6d., but being extended to 20 pages more than was expected, the price was advanced to 4s.

John Catnach, at Newcastle, worked attentively for awhile, but without finding his expectations realised. Alas! time and the change of scene and companions had not improved the man. He contrived to get into a great amount of debt, without the least possible chance, from his irregular mode of living, of being able to pay it off. Eventually, he made up his mind for the worst, and the downward course would seem to have been the only way open to him. From bad to worse, and from one extreme to the other, he rapidly drifted. The loose and irregular manner in which he had existed was beginning to tell upon his constitution. His business had been neglected, and his adventures were nearly at a climax. The wreck came, with a terrific blow; but it was not unlooked for. Poor Catnach was a bankrupt, and as such sent to the debtor's gaol. But just before, he had managed to send his wife and daughters to London, together with a wooden printing press, some small quantity of type, and other articles of his trade that could be hurriedly and clandestinely got together.

During the five years' residence of John and Mary Catnach in Newcastle, they had one child, Isabella, burned to death, and another, Julia Dalton, born to them.

Mr. Mark Smith, who had been bound apprentice to John Catnach, but by reason of whose removal from the Borough of Alnwick, the indentures had been rendered void, was then in London, serving out his time as a turnover and improver with Mr. John Walker, of Paternoster Row, and on being made acquainted with the arrival of Mrs. Catnach and her family, paid them a visit at their lodgings in a court leading off Drury-lane, and assisted in putting up the press and arranging the other few matters and utensils in connection with their tiny printing office, there to await John Catnach's release from prison and arrival in the metropolis.

London life to John Catnach proved very disastrous, matters never went smoothly with him. It was evident to all his friends that he had made a great mistake in leaving the North of England. Mr. Mark Smith continued to visit the family as opportunities presented themselves. On one occasion he found them in extremely distressed circumstances, so much so, that he had to afford them some temporary relief from his slender earnings and then left the northern sojourners for the night, promising that he would return to see them at an early date. Anxious to learn how they were succeeding in the crowded metropolis, it was not many days before he again visited them, but this time he found them in a sorry plight; the landlady had distrained upon their all for arrears of rent. This was an awkward predicament; but the indomitable young Northumbrian, like the more burly Dr. Johnson of old, when his friend Oliver Goldsmith was similarly situated, resolved to do all he could to rescue him from the peril in which he was placed. Not being prepared for a case of such pressing emergency, the full debt and costs being demanded, he was compelled to borrow the required amount of Mr. Matthew Willoughby, a native and freeman of the Borough of Alnwick, then residing in London, and once more his old master was free.

John Catnach then removed his business to a front shop in Soho, when, in the absence of work of a higher class, he had to resort to printing quarter-sheet ballads, here is the title and imprint of one example:--

TOM STARBOARD AND FAITHFUL NANCY.

Tom Starboard was a lover true,
As brave a tar as ever sail'd;
The duties ablest seamen do
Tom did, and never had fail'd.

LONDON.--Printed by J. Catnach, and Sold Wholesale and Retail at No. 60, Wardour-street, Soho-square.

For his wife and family he took apartments in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy-square. Again he shortly removed his business to Gerrard-street, where he had hardly got his plant into working order, when on returning home on the evening of the 29th of August, 1813, he had the misfortune to fall down and injure his leg. He was immediately taken to St. George's Hospital, Hyde-park Corner, when rheumatic fever supervened, and although placed under the skilful treatment of Dr. Young, he never rallied, his constitution being completely broken, but by means of superior medical treatment and good nursing he lingered until the 4th of December in the same year, on which day he died.

Such is a brief _résumé_ of the latter years of John Catnach's life. It is apparent that, by a little application and self-denial, this man might have made for himself a name and position in the world. He possessed all the necessary talents for bringing success within his reach. The ground which he took is the same which in after years proved to be of inestimable value to hundreds of publishers who never possessed half the amount of ability and good taste in printing and embellishing books that was centred in him.

After his death, and just at the time when his widow and daughters were sunk in the greatest poverty, his son James, who in after years became so noted in street literature publications, made his way to the metropolis. It appears that this extraordinary man at one time contemplated devoting his life to rural pursuits; in fact, when a youth he served for some time as a shepherd boy, quite contrary to the wish and desire of his parents. Every opportunity he could get he would run away, far across the moors and over the Northumbrian mountains, and, always accompanied with his favourite dog Venus, and a common-place book, in which he jotted down in rhymes and chymes his notions of a pastoral life.[5] Thus he would stay away from home for days and nights together.

This project, however, was abandoned, and he commenced to serve as a printer in the employment of his father. It is rather remarkable that he and Mr. Mark Smith

[Signature: Mr. Smith.]

were both bound on the same day as apprentices to Mr. John Catnach, and that they afterwards worked together as "improvers" in their trade with:--

Mr. Hugo, in the Supplement to his "Bewick Collector," pp. 256 (5137), says:--"This very beautiful Cut was done by Thomas Bewick, sometime about the year 1794, for a well-known Alnwick printer."

[Signature: James Catnach]

"Death made no conquest of this man,
For now he lives in fame, though not in life."

At the time James--or, as he afterwards was popularly called "_Jemmy_," or, "_Old Jemmy_" Catnach commenced business in Seven Dials it took all the prudence and tact which he could command to maintain his position, as at that time "Johnny" Pitts,[6] of the Toy and Marble Warehouse, No. 6, Great St. Andrew street, was the acknowledged and established printer of street literature for the "Dials" district; therefore, as may be easily imagined, a powerful rivalry and vindictive jealousy soon arose between these "two of a trade"--most especially on the part of "Old Mother" Pitts, who is described as being a coarse and vulgar-minded personage, and as having originally followed the trade of a bumboat woman at Portsmouth: she "wowed wengeance" against the young fellow in the court for daring to set up in their business, and also spoke of him as a young "Catsnatch," "Catblock," "Cut-throat," and many other opprobrious terms which were freely given to the new comer. Pitts' staff of "bards" were duly cautioned of the consequences which would inevitably follow should they dare to write a line for Catnach--the new _cove_ up the court. The injunction was for a time obeyed, but the "Seven Bards of the Seven Dials" soon found it not only convenient, but also more profitable to sell copies of their effusions to both sides at the same time, and by keeping their own counsel they avoided detection, as each printer accused the other of obtaining an early sold copy, and then reprinting it with the utmost speed, which was in reality often the case, as "Both Houses" had emissaries on the constant look-out for any new production suitable for street-sale. Now, although this style of "double dealing" and competition tended much to lessen the cost price to the "middle-man" or vendor, the public in this case did not get any of the reduction, as a penny broadside was still a penny, and a quarter-sheet still a halfpenny to them, the "street-patterer" obtaining the whole of the reduction as extra profit.

The feud existing between these rival publishers, who have been somewhat 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.