Angleterre

Victorian poem describing the public execution of a woman. Autograph poem by Sir Richard Harington titled 'The Judicial Murder - A Fragment' a fictional account of a woman's execution with drawings by the author.

réf. 19694 — Eton 1870s or Oxford 1880s . 4pp. 12mo. Bifolium. On paper watermarked 'J GREEN & SON'. In fair condition on aged and worn paper with slight loss at the spine.From the Harington family papers the author's identity being established from other items. Clearly a youthful production and either written during Harington's time at Eton in the 1870s or Christ Church Oxford in the 1880s. Written employing the long s. The 140 lines of verse are numerated by the author and a catch-word at the end suggests that more followed or the poet's invention failed him. Three illustrations in pencil are on the middle two pages: one of the hangman another of the woman in Victorian clothing fallen to the floor and the last of her lying inside her coffin. A fourth pencil illustration on the last page depicting the dead woman on the ground written over by the text. As often with Victorian writing on the subject the writing is charged with a certain erotic undertone. Public execution was of course the staple of Victorian street ballads but it is unusual to find such a production by a member of the upper classes. The 'fragment' begins: 'Thus she though free from guilt & fair & young Goes a convicted felon to be hung Her pinioned elbows bound behind her back And bared all ready for the rope her neck They help her mount the cart & her they bid To seat herself upon the coffin lid'. The execution is described as follows: 'The cart moves on: the rope about her neck Drawn tighter still & drags her helpless back Forced o'er the edge at last it holds her there To swing & twist & dangle in the air As her full weight bears on the slipping knot Begins a strangling pressure round her throat Without - the halter gulls her tender skin Her windpipe chokes & checks her breath within She tries to scream for mercy but in vain No sound shall issue from those lips again But silent movements only testify How long the struggling body takes to die Striving in vain the pinioned arms to loose Could she but reach the ever tightening noose Relax a little of it's sic choking strain Pull off the stifling cap & breathe again.' Further on is another suggestive couplet: 'So ask not we if she or cares or notes What passes 'neath those dangling petticoats.' The last four lines read: 'With heavy thud she fills her narrow bed And on its flannell pillow rests her head To quit it once but only to assume Washed & laid out the garments of the tomb'. Beneath the last line is the catch-word 'There'. [ Eton? 1870s? or Oxford? 1880s? ] hardcover