https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/browse?tags=sodomy&output=atom <![CDATA[Execution Ballads]]> 2024-03-29T07:02:19+11:00 Omeka https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/948 <![CDATA[The Penitent Gallant, ]]> 2020-01-14T13:15:44+11:00

Title

The Penitent Gallant,

Subtitle

Being, An Account of a Gentleman who lay Condemn'd for the Murther of his Friend, and pretended he could not dye till he had eas'd his Conscience, in sending for thirteen Men, to beg their Pardons, whom he had Cuckolded at Branford.

Synopsis

A man convicted of murder feels guilty about cuckolding thirteen men of Branford and calls them in to confess to them before he is executed.

Digital Object

Image / Audio Credit

Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 4.138; EBBA 21802

Set to tune of...

Hyde Park

Transcription

THere was, I must tell you, a Jocular Spark, who Rambl'd and Revel'd at pleasure,
Young Women he often would kiss in the Dark, and tickle their Giggs out of measure;
He being a wanton young frolicksom Blade,
He was so well skill'd in the Courtezan Trade,
That in seven Weeks he declar'd that he made full thirteen poor Cuckolds in Branford.

As honest good Christians as ever broke Bread, dear friends, I would have you believe it,
Tho' each Man had lusty large Horns on his Head, alas! they could no way perceive it;
Concluding their Wives to be honest and Chaste,
Sweet Women, that hated a wanton Embrace;
Yet now after all you may pitty the Case of the thirteen poor Cuckolds of Branford.

These Cuckolds did love this young Fop as their lives, in Taverns they tippl'd together,
In Corners he kist, and made much of their Wives, whose Heels was as light as a Feather;
They were not the Rabble, I'de have you to know,
But delicate Women as plump as a Doe,
Then listen a while and the Horns you'll hear blow of the thirteen poor Cuckolds of Branford.

But if you wou'd know how this Mischief came out, I pray now attend to the Ditty,
This Gallant he murther'd a Man brave and stout, in cool Blood, the more was the pitty:
And while he in Prison Condemned did lye,
In sad Lamentation he often did cry,
He must ease his Conscience before he could dye, concerning these Cuckolds of Branford.

He told them that he was tormented in mind,
the Guilt like sharp Arrows run through him.
Beseeching the Keeper he would be so kind, as to send for these men to come to him;
Right earnestly he for this favour did plead,
The Keeper he could not deny him indeed,
And therefore to Newgate they sent for with speed, the thirteen poor Cuckolds of Branford.

So soon as the Keeper he sent for them then to come to the Gallant in Prison,
It was an astonishment to these poor Men, who wonder'd what might be the reason,
But knowing him to be their Friend, they presume,
To mount Roan and Dobbin, for Newgate they come,
Not thinking that he had put Pope into Rome, and made them the Cuckolds of Branford.

As these thirteen Cuckolds did enter the Goal, it almost bereft them of Senses,
The Gallant he begg'd with a pittiful Tale, a pardon for all his offenses,
Said he, an Extravagant Race I have run,
Forgive me the Injuries which I have done,
Alas! I have wronged you every one, My Cronyes in private in Branford.

We know not wherein you have wrong'd us, they cry'd the value or weight of a farthing;
But if you will tell us the Truth, they reply'd, you shall have our absolute Pardon;
The Gallant did then on his marrow-bones fall,
And said, your good Wives they have been at my Call,
So that in a word I have Cuckold you all, while I did inhabit at Branford.

With shaking their Noddles they turn'd them about, the foremost was Cuthbert the Hatter,
Now as in a body they came trooping out, the People cry'd, What is the matter?
A Keeper that follow'd, said clear the way wide,
Pray what do you think they should be, he reply'd,
But good honest Christians, not Men that are Try'd, the thirteen poor Cuckolds of Branford.

Crime(s)

murder, rape, sodomy

Execution Location

Branford

Printing Location

Printed for C. Bates, next door to the Crown-Tavern in West-Smithfield.

Tune Data

Hyde Park (Simpson 1966, pp. 327-8). Recording on EBBA is wrong for the meter, recording is The Crossed Couple, Tantara Rara Tantivy (Simpson 1966, pp. 143-145).
]]>
https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/916 <![CDATA[The life and death of M. Geo: Sands, ]]> 2020-01-08T15:11:32+11:00

Title

The life and death of M. Geo: Sands,

Subtitle

who after many enormous crimes by him committed, with Iones and Gent his confederates, was executed at Tyburne on Wednesday the 6 of September, 1626.

Digital Object

Image / Audio Credit

Magdalene College - Pepys Library, Pepys Ballads 1.128-128; EBBA 20055

Set to tune of...

Flying Fame

Transcription

COme hither yongmen and give eare, and good example take,
By this which is related here for admonitions sake,
Wherein is showne the life and death, of Sands that noted theefe.
The reason why he lost his breath, is here declar'd in briefe.
That all young men from him may learne to live in better awe,
Foule vice from vertue to discerne, according to the law:
A wicked life this caitiffe led, rejecting vertues lore,
The grace of God from him was fled, all good he did abhorre.
Since first he came to any strength, he practis'd nought but stealing,
Which brought a shamefull death at length for his ungracious dealing,
He alwayes hath himselfe maintain'd by base sinister courses,
And oftentimes hath beene araign'd by Law, for stealing horses.
Yet still it was his lucke to scape, which hardned him in evill,
From theft to murder, and to rape, suborned by the Devill,
His wicked heart so bent to sin, in villany tooke pride,
There lived scarce the like of him, in all the Land beside.
His name so infamous was growne to all both far and neere,
And he tooke pride to have it knowne, as by him did appeare.
For when he was araign'd of late, at the Tribunall seat,
He seemed to exhilerate, at his offences great.
And boasted that he oftentimes had scap't the fatall cord,
For stealing horses, and such crimes, as high wayes doe afford,
And with a braving impudence, he did the Bench outface,
Not shewing any reverence, to any in that place.
The facts he was indited for, were three enornous sinnes,
Which God and nature doth abhor, the least damnation winnes,
Without the speciall grace of God, for which he never sought,
Nor never seemed to be sad, for that which he had wrought.
The Maid that on Saint James his day, was found neere Holborne dead,
Tis [t]hought this wretch did make away, if all be true that's sed.
From her he tooke away twelve pound, and then to ma[k]e all sure,
He strangled her, as she was found, his safety to procure.

The second part. To the same tune.

BUt no such crimes can be conceal'd, old time will find them out,
And have them to the world reveal'd, and publisht all about,
As this strange murder came to light, by Sands his owne confession,
When as he sought with all his might, to act a foule transgression,
Upon the body of a Maid, whom he perforce did ravish,
If she oppos'd his will he said with speeches somewhat lavish:
That if she did deny to yeeld to him, hee'd serve her so,
As he did one in Holborne field not very long agoe.
To this foule sin of ravishment he likewise did seduce
Another youngman, whose consent gave ayd to this abuse.
For which by law he hath his doome, to suffer shamefully,
Take heed young men how you do come into leud company.
For if young Jones had never seene this wicked Sands his face,
He surely now had living beene, but wanting Gods good grace,
He was allured by his meanes to live by lawlesse stealth,
Thus to maintaine strong drink & queanes he robd the commonwealth.
Some other men of good regard, he did to robbery draw,
All these with him in death have shar'd, according to the Law.
But he the chiefe occasion was of these same youngmens ends,
Whose deaths have brought to wofull passe their parents and their friends.
Among the rest one father Jones, an honest ancient man,
With lachrimable teares bemones the losse of his owne son.
But Sands hath run so [w]ild a race, that few bewaile his death,
How many flockt with joy to'th place where he did lose his breath.
His father named Sir George Sands, when by his carelesse dealing,
He had quite wasted goods and lands, did live long time by stealing:
And with his wicked Lady wife, did rob the high way side,
For which at length he lost his life, and by base hanging dyde.
Thus both the father and the sonne did end their lives alike,
The Lady yet hath scapt that death, and sorrow doth her strike.
God grant her life may now be such, that men of her may say,
Her life was leud, yet now shee's prov'd a convert at last day.
Loe here you see a fearfull end, of Sir George Sands his sonne,
Let every one a warning take, and better courses runne:
Which to effect let us all pray to him that gave us breath,
That of his mercy he'll us keepe
from such untimely death.
The following lines Jones writ with his owne hand, a little before his death.
To me death is not death, but life for ever.
My joy in heaven is, which endeth never.
Lord thou hast promist to the penitent,
That thou wilt save him if he doe repent:
And now most gratious Lord, I crave of thee.
Mercy for him that hath contemned thee,
I am a sinner (Lord) thou knowst I am,
And full of ill, above an'other man,
Yet am I free from'th fault for which I dye,
But have transgrest the Lawes most hainously. Oh save my soule, O Lord of thee I crave, Let that mount up, though body rot in grave.

Method of Punishment

hanging

Crime(s)

murder, rape, sodomy

Gender

Date

Execution Location

Tyburn

Printing Location

London for F. Couls, and are to be / sold at his shop at the vpper end of the / Old Baily neere Newgate.

Tune Data

'Flying Fame' probably aka Chevy Chase, (Simpson 1966, pp. 96-101)
Date tune first appeared: 1430?

Wikipedia:  There are two extant English ballads known as The Ballad of Chevy Chase, both of which narrate the same story. As ballads existed within oral tradition before being written down, other versions of this once popular song may also have existed.

The ballads tell the story of a large hunting party upon a parcel of hunting land (or chase) in the Cheviot Hills, hence the term, Chevy Chase. The hunt is led by Percy, the English Earl of Northumberland. The Scottish Earl of Douglas had forbidden this hunt, and interprets it as an invasion of Scotland. In response he attacks, causing a bloody battle which only 110 people survived. Both ballads were collected in Thomas Percy's Reliques and the first of the ballads in Francis James Child's Child Ballads. 

The ballads are thought to have been based on the events of the Battle of Otterburn in 1388, although the account of the battle is not historically accurate and it may relate to border skirmishes up to fifty years later. Nevertheless, the first ballad includes the lines

This was the hontynge off the Cheviat, that tear begane this spurn; Old men that knowen the grownde well yenoughe call it the battell of Otterburn. There is also a third ballad named The Battle of Otterburn which is assuredly about this battle.

First ballad: The first of the two ballads of Chevy Chase was perhaps written as early as the 1430s, but the earliest record we have of it is in The Complaynt of Scotland, one of the first printed books from Scotland. The Complaynt of Scotland was printed about 1540, and in it the ballad is called The Hunting of Cheviot.

Sir Philip Sidney said of this early ballad:
"I never Heard the old song of Percie and Douglas, that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet" -- Defence of Poesy.

Second ballad: In 1711 Joseph Addison wrote in The Spectator,
The old song of "Chevy-Chase" is the favourite ballad of the common people of England, and Ben Jonson used to say he had rather have been the author of it than of all his works. Sir Philip Sidney, in his discourse of Poetry, speaks of it in the following words: "I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my heart more moved than with a trumpet; and yet it is sung by some blind crowder with no rougher voice than rude style, which being so evil apparelled in the dust and cobweb of that uncivil age, what would it work trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindar?" For my own part, I am so professed an admirer of this antiquated song, that I shall give my reader a critique upon it without any further apology for so doing.

Addison was apparently unaware that the ballad he then goes on to analyse in detail was not the same work praised by Sidney and Jonson. The second of the ballads appears to have been written in modernized English shortly after Sidney's comments, perhaps around 1620, and to have become the better-known version.
]]>