Malcolm:

To come back to this (and sorry for having given the wrong credit earlier in the thread!), you write:

"The engraving is probably late 1820s; the illustrator Thomas Shepherd produced a whole series of London architectural scenes at that time."

Could you expand on this? I'm not arguing, but it gives a dating -- 1820s -- much earlier than the Bodleian catalogue's 1865+. This could be important, as it would impact on which has temporal priority: "The Buck's Elegy" or "The Unfortunate Lad".

Robin

IGNORE THE ABOVE:

I've just rerun the thread, and I see where the (my) tangle is coming from.

GUEST.Q posted an image of Lock(e) Hospital, by Shepherd, that Malcolm commented on, dating it 1820s. But that image has no +direct+ connection with the printed ballads.

Two of the ballads +do+ have head-illustrations (Masato and I gave clickies to these).

Ouch -- memo to self: Think Before You Post.

Sorry, everyone is making perfect sense, but I'm reading too quickly.

Now, one major remaining problem is Captain Townsend. Surely SOMEONE has access to the British Army Records of 1830-1850? OK, we don't know if he was regular or militia, but I think the time-span can be narrowed down to about that. And there can't have been +too+ many Captains Townsend on the rolls then.

Robin