For those interested in broadsides I would like to remind you that the
Harvard Law School Library has an extensive collection of English 18 & 19
broadsides dealing with executions which often "feature" verses of various
sorts (usually the quality of verse is as ghastly as the subject material),
some of which could, I suppose, have been sung. The collection is largely
uncataloged, but if you have the patience to go through it you can get a
tremendous amount of social history from it. It is advisable not to read
this stuff immediately before, or just after, lunch.
Dorothy Africa
HLS library