_Notice_ The _Memorial_ to the Lord High Chancellor, and to the Judges of the Supreme Courts of Law, will lie for _Signatures_ at the Tap from 12 till 2 o'Clock. Fleet. Wed. May. 4. 1842.]
One Philip Ball, a Chancery Prisoner, composed
_Written by a_ COLLEGIAN, _on the occasion of the Queen's Prison Bill receiving the Royal Assent._
I'll sing to you a bran new song Made by my simple pate, About the end of the good old Fleet, Which on us now shuts its gate. It has kept confin'd the choicest lads That e'er together met-- Of merry, jolly, rattling dogs, A regular slap up set. Of jovial Fleet prisoners, All of the present day.
This good old pris'n in every room Contains a merry soul, Who for his doings out of doors Is now drop't 'in the hole.' But surely this is better far Than your simple plodding way, Get deep in debt, go through the Court, And whitewash it all away. Like a jovial Fleet prisoner, All of the present day.
Such right good hearts are rarely found, As round me now I see; With such, I'm 'most inclined to say, Hang liberty for me. For T----y, S----y, V----h, In spirits who excel? How could we better live than here, Where friendship weaves her spell? 'Mongst jovial Fleet prisoners, All of the present day.
To racquets, skittles, whistling shops, We must soon say farewell; The Queen's assent to her prison bill Has rung their funeral knell; And Bennett, Gray, and Andrew too Must close their welcome doors, For sing song and tape spinning now, This damn'd new Act all floors, For the jovial Fleet prisoner, All of the present day.
But to her gracious Majesty You'll long be loyal and true, Although this latest act of hers Must be felt by some of you. Speed through the Court, or compromise Like gallant Captain T----h, Or else you'll soon be sent to grieve Your guts out in the Bench. All melancholy prisoners[153] Unlike those of the present day.
Much, however, as the prisoners might grieve, it was of no use kicking against an Act of Parliament, and those prisoners who did not take advantage of the Insolvent Debtors Act, were transferred to the Queen's Prison, which in its turn ceased to be a debtor's prison, and was used by Military offenders, until it was sold on Oct. 30, 1879, and pulled down in that and the following year. Now, legally speaking, there is no imprisonment for debt, but people are only committed for Contempt of Court.