A true & lamentable ballad call'd Billy Taylor shewing the fatal effects of inconstancy / [graphic]Nixon, John, -1818, printmaker[24 September 1804]eng"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 catalogueTitle below image, at head of verses.Plate numbered '367' in the lower left corner.From the Laurie & Whittle series of Drolls.One line of text above design: (Sung by Mr. Bannister, of Drury Lane Theathre, Mr. Fawcett, and Mr. Emery, of Covent Garden. &c &c &c.)Ten numbered stanzas of verse below title: Billy Taylor was a gay young fellow, full of mirth and full of glee, and his heart he did diskiver, to a lady gay and free ...