THE SORROWFUL LAMENTATION, LAST DYING SPEECH AND CONFESSION OF Old Nun's Green, Who after upwards of 460 Years (being a great and good Gift, by JOHN of GAUNT, Duke of Lancaster, and Earl of Leicester) was tried, cast and condemned, on the 14th of February, 1791, for being serviceable to the Poor People of this Town, as well as a Stranger, but a great Eye Sore to some particular Gentlemen; but the Execution is left till the Pleasure of Parliament be known.
Reading edition
Nun's Green was a large piece of ground, containing about fifty acres of land, in the town of Derby, on which the inhabitants of the borough had right of common. On this common many encroachments were made by persons digging for gravel, erecting small buildings, etc.; and in 1768 an act was passed for selling a portion of the Green, so as to erect dwelling-houses for the increasing population of the town, and for the removal of nuisances and encroachments.
In 1791 the remaining portion of the Green was determined to be sold for the like purpose, and application for the necessary powers was made to Parliament, the scheme being that the proceeds should in part, at all events, go towards defraying the cost of paving and lighting, and otherwise improving, the town of Derby. This movement provoked the utmost opposition, and I have in my own collection some thirty or forty, at least, different hand-bills, squibs, pamphlets, and songs to which the excitement gave birth. Despite the opposition and the petitions which were got up, Nun's Green was disposed of, and the tract of land is now covered with thickly inhabited streets. The following pieces will serve to show the style of the songs and ballads to which I have alluded. The first, which is printed in two columns, has a wood-cut, at its head, of a man being led to execution in a cart, with hangman, parson, javelin-men, and others around—
A TRAVELLER'S DREAM.
Last Night as slumbering on my Bed I lay, Good People pray now mind but what I say, I thought as I was walking over cross Nun's Green, I saw the fairest Goddess that was ever seen: Her Head reclining o'er the purling Stream, At first I thought this could not be a Dream, I ask'd her Name, and weeping thus said she, I once was call'd, that Jewel Liberty. I ask'd her, why she in that Posture lay, She rais'd Her head, and softly thus did say, With broken Accents and with flowing Tears, "I have liv'd here, Four Hundred and Sixty Years; Was station'd here by Glorious John of Gaunt, Who never thought the poor should ever want, But now I'm doom'd to die a cruel Death, By Gentlemen, who never knew my Birth; Because I gave Assistance to the Poor, And oft times kept the Wolf, Sir, from the Door, Because I'll not be sold the Streets to light, That is the Reason, Sir they owe me spite; If Gentlemen could only once agree, They need not hang nor sell poor Liberty, But let me live as I was first design'd, To be a Comfort to the poorest Kind: Tho' I'm the smallest of that Family, I'm not the only Child of Liberty. If you will tamely stand and see me die, You'll soon repent the Loss of Liberty: My other Sisters soon, must fall a Prey, To those who falsely take my Life away; Now Tyranny does put the Town in Fear, Don't wonder why I drop this melting Tear, Tread on a Worm, that Insect cannot bite, But turns in Anguish to revenge its Spite: So let them know such Usage you'll not brook Whilst such a Man does live as Parker Coke;" At this I shouted, but found it a Joke, A Dream it was, so instantly awoke.