A true & lamentable ballad call'd Billy Taylor shewing the fatal effects of inconstancy / [graphic]

"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