That the question is not of any minor importance must be at once admitted, when it is seen how very extensive a portion of the reading of the poor is supplied by the "Sorrowful Lamentations" and "Last Dying Speech, Confession, and Execution" of criminals. (..)

The procedure on the occasion of a "good" murder, or of a murder expected to "turn out well," is systematic. First appears a quartersheet (a hand-bill, 9½ in. by 7½ in.) containing the earliest report of the matter. Next come half-sheets (twice the size) of later particulars, or discoveries, or -- if the supposed murderer be in custody -- of further examinations. (..) Then are produced the whole, or broad-sheets (twice the size of the half-sheets), and, lastly, but only on great occasions, the double broad- sheet. (..)

[This particular] sheet bears the title of "The Sorrowful Lamentation and Last Farewell of J. B. Rush, who is ordered for Execution on Saturday next, at Norwich Castle." There are three illustrations. The largest represents Rush, cloaked and masked, "shooting Mr. Jermy, Sen." Another is of "Rush shooting Mrs. Jermy." A prostrate body is at her feet, and the lady herself is depicted as having a very small waist and great amplitude of gown-skirts. The third is a portrait of Rush, -- a correct copy, I was assured, and have no reason to question the assurance, -- from one in the Norwich Mercury. The account of the trial and biography of Rush, his conduct in prison, &c., is a concise and clear enough condensation from the newspapers. Indeed, Rush's Sorrowful Lamentation is the best, in all respects, of any execution broad-sheet I have seen; even the "copy of verses" which, according to the established custom, the criminal composes in the condemned cell -- his being unable, in some instances, to read or write being no obstacle to the composition -- seems, in a literary point of view, of a superior strain to the run of such things. The matters of fact, however, are introduced in the same peculiar manner. The worst part is the morbid sympathy and intended apology for the criminal.