Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London!

PART I: “THE PENNY DREADFULS”:

• 02:50: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 37: As soon as he can get away, Henry goes next door and challenges Varney to a duel, following a very unsatisfactory conversation about the disposition of Charles Holland, which Varney claims ignorance of, but Henry frankly accuses him of lying. No sooner is Henry home than Admiral Bell sallies forth on a similar errand….
• 36:15: SPORTY STREET BROADSIDE: “Landlord fill a flowing bowl,” a zesty drinking song, presented alongside “The Fire King,” a poem in praise of stage magician and fire-eater J.X. Chabert.
• 42:45: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: A wicked archbishop who called his parishioners vermin was, according to this legend, chased down and devoured by a horde of rats.

PART II: “THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES”:

• 45:45: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: SHADOW OF A SHADE, by Tom Hood, Part 1 OF 2: We are introduced to Lettie, the narrator’s sister, and her fiancé, George Mason, a merchant-marine officer who is about to set out on an expedition to find Sir John Franklin’s missing North Pole expedition. A younger brother has painted a portrait of George, which Lettie really likes, and has it hung in the living room to remind her of her loved one. George’s fellow officer, Vincent Grieve, comes to dinner before the expedition began, and all but follows Lettie around with his tongue hanging out — seeming to be trying to cut in on her. On his last visit, he tells Lettie he was in love with her, and should she ever break it off with George, he hopes she’ll have him instead. Outraged, Lettie orders him out of the house.
• The ship sails. Then, some weeks later, a chill arctic wind seemed to blow through the room, despite it being summer; and when our narrator looks at the painting of George, it looks like the head has become a skull! Upon approaching, the illusion passed; but our narrator very much fears it was an omen …
• 1:03:00: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: The tale of a ghostly butler who still walks the halls of an ancient hall in Yorkshire.
• 1:11:15: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

*The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a deep forest glade west of Arkham (where, as H.P. Lovecraft put it, “the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut; there are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight.”) Actually it is a good 3,000 miles west of Arkham. It is not to be confused with Dunwich, the English seacoast town that fell house by house into the sea centuries ago, or Dunsany, the home until 1957 of legendary fantasy author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• BLACKLEGS: Crooked gamblers.
• CAPTAIN TOBERS: Top-tier highwaymen.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
• TARTARS: Feisty old ladies.
• AUTEM DIPPERS: Preachers from Protestant denominations that emphasize baptism by immersion.
• NOGGEN OF LIGHTNING: Quartern of gin.
• SUGAR-CANE JUICE: Rum.
• MORRIS OFF: Flee or run away.
• BEAKS ON THE NOSE: Magistrates or police detectives on an active investigation.
• DIDDLE COVES: Bartenders at a dram shop or gin palace.
• DAFFY DOXIES: Spicy ladies who drink gin (daffy is gin).
• CAPTAIN LUSHINGTONS: Drunken fellows.

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-5-episodes" thread.

NOTICE/APOLOGY: There are a couple fairly egregious editing errors in this episode caused by my ill-advised attempt at multitasking. I haven't time to re-compile it, but please accept my assurances that I will be more careful in future! — The CORINTHIAN.

Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London!

PART I: “THE PENNY DREADFULS”:

• 01:50: DICKENS’ DREADFUL ALMANAC for today: An attorney who took to the road and became a highwayman Bonnie-and-Clyde style was hanged with his highwaywoman sweetheart, 288 years ago today.
• 04:50: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 35-36: The other men of the household also emerge from the house, and run about trying to figure out where Varney ran off to. After they’re gone, he coolly steps back into the summer house to resume his conversation with Flora. He assures her that after they leave the hall, she will be reunited with Charles; and then he buggers off. They don’t catch him, of course, and next day the whole family gets together to try and figure out what to do next ….
• 33:58: BROADSIDE BALLAD: A couple jolly drinking songs: Bacchus and Time and Heigh-ho Says Thimble!
• 38:24: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: They accused her of theft — but learned, after it was too late, who the real thief was: A magpie!

PART II: "THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES":

• 41:10: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: No Living Voice, by Thomas Street Millington: Stuck in a boring border town while he waits for his passport to be fixed, an English travler named Mr. Brown takes to exploring the scenery and ruins of the picturesque Neopolitan countryside. One day, darkness catches him still far from town. But a passing shepherd guides him to a rustic country inn, where he can get a good meal and a bed, saving him from the discomfort of being stuck outside all night. A lucky break for Mr. Brown — or is it? Because there’s something about that country inn that’s not quite right ….
• 1:05:30: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: The family had no end of trouble from ghostly manifestations in a particular room in the house… then, when they demolished that room to expand the staircase, they found a coffin under the floorboards.
• 1:15:30: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• CONVEYANCERS: Burglars or thieves.
• CHICKSTERS: Prostitutes.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• CORINTHIAN: A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry").
• CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
• GUNPOWDER: Proper old lady.
• IRON DOUBLET: Fire-and-brimstone preacher.
• BRUSHER: Large glass.
• STRIKE-ME-DEAD: New gin, hot off the still, also known as kill-devil.
• HEDGE BIRDS: Scoundrels.
• CAKES: Soft-headed fellows.
• SLIPPERY BLADE: A crafty gentleman.
• JARVEY: Hackney-coach driver.
• VADE MECUM: Latin for "hand book."
• JOE MILLER: A player at Drury-lane, in the early 1700s, who was famous for a Leslie Nielsen style of stone-faced comedy. Mr. Miller was always so serious (and don’t call him Shirley) that he was hilarious on stage. When he died leaving some dependents uncared-for, the jestbook was created by Joe’s friends as a sort of inside joke, as a fundraiser to support his bereaved family.
• EXIT PURSUED BY A BEAR: The most famous stage direction in all of Shakespeare’s work. Appears seemingly out of the blue in The Winter’s Tale.

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-5-episodes" thread.

Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London!

PART I: "THE HA’PENNY HORRIDS," 0:00 — 39:30:

• 01:20: DICKENS' DREADFUL ALMANAC for today: A desperate butler tried to save his job by pretending to have been jumped by robbers … it didn’t work.
• 03:20: HANGED TODAY IN HISTORY: On January 16, 1813, 14 Luddites were scragged in a dreadful mass hanging, their punishment for having allegedly broken some machinery on purpose. It was the high-water mark of the “Bloody Code” under which one could be hanged for stealing a quartern loaf of bread! For more about this mass execution: https://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/2013/01/16th-january-1813-14-convicted-luddites.html and https://www.executedtoday.com/2013/01/16/1813-14-luddites-at-york/
• 09:30: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 80: Mrs. Lovett now decides the best policy is to flee the country at once. So she decides she is going to visit the stockbroker with whom her joint resources with Todd are deposited, withdraw them all (including Todd’s half, of course!) and, without returning to the pie shop or making any other delay, go straight from there to a seaport and quit the country before Todd even knows she’s gone. But when she gets to the stockbroker’s place, there is a nasty surprise awaiting her …
• 26:45: BROADSIDE BALLAD: An account, and long poem, about Ann Williams, a young maiden who in 1823 was murdered by her so-called sweetheart, William Jones, after that worthy learned he had gotten her pregnant.
• 31:30: THE LIVES OF THE HIGHWAYMEN: Jack “Mul-Sac” Cottington was the only highway robber to have cried “Stand and Deliver” to Oliver Cromwell himself! His was a short life and a merry one; but not as short as you might expect.

PART II: "THE TWOPENNY TORRIDS," 40:30 — 1:18:00:

• 42:00: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 46-47: Turpin and King turn at bay under the shelter of the fallen oak tree. It’s the best possible place they could have found to fend off attack; but it’s eight to two, and one of the two can barely walk. Is this curtains for our felonious friends?
• 1:04:30: SOME STREET POETRY from an 1830s “broadside”: "The Bloom is on the Rye” and “The Cheerless Soul.”
• 1:07:45: A MILDLY NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONG: “Cobbing a Stiff-un.”
• 1:12:00: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker."

*The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a wood west of Arkham (where, as H.P. Lovecraft put it, “the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut; there are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight.”)

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• HIGH SPICERS: Highway robbers.
• ACK PIRATES: Thieves who operate on the river.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• CORINTHIAN: A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry").
• CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
• SCRAGGED: Hanged.
• BEAKS: Judges and magistrates.
• BIRDS OF PREY: Lawyers and prosecutors.
• JARVEYS: Hackney-coach drivers.
• GRAVEL TAX: The contribution levied at pistol-point by a highwayman.
• BRUSH OFF: Leave quickly.
• DARBIES: Handcuffs or manacles.
• BUMMED: Arrested (a “bum” is a gaoler/jailer or turnkey).
• IN DURANCE VILE: In prison or gaol.
• CHARLEYS: Watchmen.
• SCREWS: Gaolers or turnkeys.
• BOARDING-SCHOOL: Prison.

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-5-episodes" thread.

APOLOGIES — the wrong Dreadful was cued up for this episode when it was first posted. It has now been fixed! You may need to re-download to get the new one.

PART I: “THE PENNY DREADFULS”: 0:00 — 32:00:

• 01:46: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 34: Varney wakes Flora up. “The vampire!” she shrieks. “Yes,” he replies, “the vampire.” He then tells Flora that he can only be un-vampired if a lovely maiden such as Flora will consent to love him. She, of course, cannot. He makes a bit show of demanding more blood; and once he’s got her really terrified, he tells her she has but one chance: Flight. Leave Bannerworth Hall…. And, as we know but Flora does not, its hidden treasure!
• 19:00: STREET BROADSIDE: A moralizing cautionary “catchpenny” about what (allegedly) happened to a farmer when he casually uttered some blasphemies.
• 28:25: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: Two short ones — one about a nobleman taming a lion, and another about a brave French officer forced to wrestle for his life with an angry wolf.

PART II: "THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES," 32:30 — 1:10:00:

• 32:55: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: COUNT MAGNUS, by M.R. James; Part 2 of 2 parts: Mr. Wraxall gets to see inside the tomb, and finds the metallic sound he heard when he called a greeting to Count Magnus was the sound of one of three padlocks dropping off his sarcophagus. On a later visit the second one falls away. Mr. Wraxall finds himself behaving strangely, chanting greetings to Count Magnus; what is happening to him? And what will happen when the third padlock falls away, leaving the sarcophagus free to be opened and entered … or, dare we say, emerged from?
• 53:10: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: A gentleman is surprised to see his cousin’s governess on the streets of a faraway city. But when he turns to greet her, he finds she’s vanished!
• 1:08:15: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

*The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a deep forest glade west of Arkham, Massachusetts Colony. Actually it is a good 3,000 miles west of Arkham. It is not to be confused with Dunwich, the English seacoast town that fell house by house into the sea centuries ago, or Dunsany, the home until 1957 of legendary fantasy author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• AUTEM GOGGLERS: Conjurers or fortune-tellers.
• ANGELICS: Pretty maidens.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• CORINTHIAN: A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry").
• CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
• BODY-SNATCHERS: Magistrates, thief-takers and police officers.
• FLOWERS OF SOCIETY: VIPs, big-‘uns, fancy people.
• CLAP OF THUNDER: Glass of brandy.
• FLASH OF LIGHTNING: Glass of gin.
• VADE MECUM: Latin for "hand book."
• JOE MILLER: A player at Drury-lane, in the early 1700s, who was famous for a Leslie Nielsen style of stone-faced comedy. Mr. Miller was always so serious (and don’t call him Shirley) that he was hilarious on stage. When he died leaving some dependents uncared-for, the jestbook was created by Joe’s friends as a sort of inside joke, as a fundraiser to support his bereaved family.
• LEG BAIL: Running away to avoid being caught and imprisoned.
• UNBOILED LOBSTERS: New Model Police officers (post-1829) so named for their blue uniforms; unboiled lobsters being blue-ish. Boiled lobsters, which are red, furnished a Flash slang term for Royal Army soldiers.
• PUT THE TOUCH ON: Arrest.
• MACERS: Swindlers.
• STARGAZERS: Prostitutes.
• BUZ-NAPPERS: Pickpockets.
• COLLEGE: Prison, in this case Fleet Prison and King’s Bench Prison.
• RUM TE TUM WITH THE CHILL OFF: Most emphatically excellent.

Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London!

PART I: "THE HA’PENNY HORRIDS," 0:00 — 49:00:

• 01:10: TODAY’S TERRIBLE TIDBIT — Jan. 8, 1851: A little chimney-sweeper boy who suffocated in the factory chimney he was cleaning, because the proprietor did not let it cool completely before sending him in, on Jan. 8, 1851. From Dickens’ Dreadful Almanac, a book by Cate Ludlow, 2010.
• 02:50: HANGED TODAY — Jan. 8, 1813: A new Ha’penny Horrid feature! January 8, 1813, three Luddites were hanged for murder after allegedly ambushing and killing industrialist William Horsfall on the high road at Crosland Moor. More details: https://www.executedtoday.com/2013/01/08/1813-yorkshire-luddites-william-horsfall/ .
• 05:20: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 78-79: You’re going to think we’ve gotten our Horrids and Torrids mixed up. In Chapter 78, Arabella pours her heart out to Big Ben regarding her feelings of guilt and shame for having put Johanna up to the secret-agent-in-Todd’s-shop wheeze. He, unfortunately, misinterprets her statement as a confession that she has gotten pregnant somehow, and we get some much-needed laughs out of that! And then in Chapter 79, Colonel Jeffery gives us all a fantastic demonstration of how to screw up a confession of love, when he tries to get Arabella to take him on as a boyfriend.
• 36:00: BROADSIDE BALLAD: A “catchpenny” account of an entitled squire who lusted after a maiden who belonged to another, and, finding himself alone with her in a quiet place, escalated his suit to violence, then double-murdered his way out of the ensuing difficulty when her beau came on the scene. From Curiosities of Street Literature, a book by Charles Hindley, 1871.
• 40:15: HIGHWAYMAN CULTURE (THE NEWGATE CHRONICLES): In the 1600s and 1700s, the roads of England were plagued with banditti, and the most surprising people, from shopkeepers to members of the King’s Guard, chose a life of violent crime. James Whitney (hanged in 1694) is a great example. (Image: Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, via romantic-circles.org, a peer-reviewed scholarly Website devoted to Romantic-period literature and culture. More on highwayman Whitney: https://romantic-circles.org/gallery/image/trwe-effigies-james-whitney-notorious-highwayman .

PART II: "THE TWOPENNY TORRIDS," 50:00 — 1:28:30:

• 50:20: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 45: Dick and Tom flee, hotly pursued by the officers, who chase them all day. They just make it to a forest, which they plunge into. Unable to shake their pursuers, they turn at bay behind a great fallen tree and draw their swords. But Tom has been hit and has lost a lot of blood. Things are looking bleak for our heroes!
• 1:11:00: SOME STREET POETRY from an 1830s “broadside”: "The Blooming Lady,” a ballad of a fancy toff’s bride, worth £500,000 on her own, who ran off with a handsome servant … and her £500k.
• 1:14:30: ONE OR TWO VERY NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONGS: "Noses to Faces and Tails to Arses” (about a frustrated farmer who finds his village parson is taking too great an interest in “prayer services” with his pretty wife)
• 1:18:50: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker."

*The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a wood west of Arkham (where, as H.P. Lovecraft put it, “the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut; there are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight.”) Actually it is a good 3,000 miles west of Arkham.

FLASH TERMS:

A full glossary of the flash-cant terms used in this episode at https://pennydread.com/discord .

Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch, for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London!

PART I: “The HALF-CROWN CAMPIES” segment: 0:00 — 33:20:

• 01:27: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 33: Varney quits Ratford Abbey and walks to Bannerworth Hall; although the moon has not yet risen, he shows great familiarity with the grounds and is able to make his way almost blind. By listening to him muttering, we gather that the quest he is on is one which he hopes will furnish him with sufficient money to make his final £1000 payment early, and thus be spared the dread of the stranger’s last visit. But soft: is that a footstep on the garden path? Someone else is also walking abroad in the garden on this pitch-dark night. Who could it be?
• 24:35: BROADSIDE CATCHPENNY: An account of a couple of titled Regency roysterers on a spree, in which one bets the other £5,000 (about £600,000 today — $800,000 to $1.2 million in USD, CAD, AUD or NZD) that he can carry him on his shoulders nine times around St. James’s Square … with a twist.
• 28:50: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: A “Tiger King” moment for the Regency era: A lioness escapes from a private zoo and attacked the Exeter Mail coach, severely wounding a horse and killing a brave dog and frightening the passengers half to death.

PART II: "THE SIXPENNY SPOOKIES," 33:47 — 1:04:30:

• 34:12: EARLY VICTORIAN GHOSTLY SHORT STORY, TO-WIT: Count Magnus, by M.R. James; Part 1 of 2 parts: A tour-guide writer named Mr. Wraxall comes to a town called Roebeck, family seat of an aristocratic family called De La Gardie. One of the De La Gardies, a man so cruel, brutal, and sinister that his reputation lingers even 300 years later, was a character named Count Magnus. Mr. Wraxall is fascinated by Count Magnus, and as he prosecutes his research he starts to see that Count Magnus has been on something called the “Black Pilgrimmage.” But no one will tell him what that is …
• 50:43: A SHORT GHOST STORY from the scrapbook of Charles Lindley, Viscount Halifax: Staying up late in the library of an old manor house to study some rare books in its library, our correspondent finds he is not alone ….
• 1:02:00: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• BLOODS, BUCKS AND CHOICE SPIRITS: Disorderly young roisterers on a spree.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• CORINTHIAN: A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry").
• CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
• LACED WOMEN: Virtuous women.
• GENTRY COVES: Gentlemen of high social standing.
• SNICKER: Small tumbler.
• BLUE RUIN: Gin, with the implication that it’s a cheaper grade.
• BITE YOUR NAME IN IT: Take a very big drink.
• JOE MILLER: A player at Drury-lane, in the early 1700s, who was famous for a Leslie Nielsen style of stone-faced comedy. Mr. Miller was always so serious (and don’t call him Shirley) that he was hilarious on stage. When he died leaving some dependents uncared-for, the jestbook was created by Joe’s friends as a sort of inside joke, as a fundraiser to support his bereaved family.
• RED WAISTCOAT: Uniform apparel of the Bow-street Runners, an early London police force replaced by the New Model Police (who dressed in blue rather than red) in 1839.
• GAMMONERS: Swindlers or bullshitters.
• ROMONERS: Gammoners who pretend to have occult powers.
• NEW DANCING-ACADEMY: The treadmill at Brixton Prison.

There are more! But we’re out of space here. A full glossary of all the flash-cant terms used in this episode is at ⁠https://pennydread.com/discord⁠ in the "#season-4-episodes" thread.

Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London!

PART I: "THE HA’PENNY HORRIDS," 0:00 — 41:25:

• 01:20: DICKENS' DREADFUL ALMANAC for today: Three years before, she walked in on a murder that had just been committed …
• 03:35: SWEENEY TODD, THE BARBER OF FLEET-STREET, Chapter 76-77: We now cut away to Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop. It is thronged with eager customers and doing a land-office trade. But Mrs. Lovett is nervous. Her captive cook has suddenly started being super punctual and cheerful, which makes her suspicious. She decides she’s going to disappear from the scene; but she’s a little worried about that cook. If he pulls whatever stunt he’s scheming about too soon, it could ruin everything …
• 33:00: STREET BROADSIDE: A “catchpenny” broadside about a gang of highway robbers who murder a newlywed couple, and then one by one fall victim to deadly accidents.
• 36:35: TERRIFIC REGISTER ARTICLE: An account of an evil servant of a linen bleacher who murdered a neighbor kid to cover up his theft. In the 1820s, chlorine having not yet been invented, linen was still bleached by boiling it in lye and then laying it out on grass for seven days.

PART II: "THE TWOPENNY TORRIDS," 42:00 — 1:19:45:

• 42:30: BLACK BESS; or, THE KNIGHT OF THE ROAD (starring HIGHWAYMAN DICK TURPIN), Chapter 43-44: After our boys have a night’s rest courtesy of a family of gypsies — a noble and honorable people provided one respects their customs — the lads push on, keeping a sharp eye out for any chance to “do some business.” They soon come upon what looks like a wedding party! Who doesn’t want to be robbed at pistol-point on his wedding-night? The groom, that’s who! Who does? His newly-wedded bride, it seems. Sounds ridiculous, right? You’ll soon see.
• 1:02:20: SOME STREET POETRY from an 1830s “broadside”: "The Blooming Goddess” and “18s.-A-Week.”
• 1:07:20: ONE OR TWO VERY NAUGHTY COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB SONGS: "The bug destroyers” (about some exterminators called to purge the bedbugs from a whorehouse) and “Up the Flue; or, The Knowing Clergyman,” about a frisky chimney-sweep.
• 1:13:10: A FEW MILDLY DIRTY JOKES from what passed in 1830 for a dirty joke book: "The Joke-Cracker.

GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:

• SPICE ISLANDERS: A punning reference to swindlers. A mace is a swindle, but mace is also a spice.
• SMASHERS: Counterfeit-coin makers.
• KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.
• CORINTHIAN: A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry").
• CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.
• BAWDY DAME: A brothel madam.
• BUGGER: Then as now, a reference to sodomy.
• KNOWING CLERGYMAN: A rakish chimney sweep. (Like clergymen, chimney sweeps were always dressed in black.)
• CHUMMY: A chimney sweep’s boy helper sent to crawl into chimneys to clean them. These kids had a hard life, and often a short one.
• BLOW HIS BAGS OUT: Give him a really good feed.
• TO BE BURNT: To be infected with an STD.
• SHERRY OFF: To run away at top speed. Adopted from the nautical term "to sheer off."
• FLATS: Suckers.
• FLY TO: Wised-up about, aware of.
• FAKEMENT: Plot or scheme.
• TOPPING COVE: Hangman.
• THE OLD STONE JUG: Newgate Prison, or prisons in general.
• PADDINGTON FAIR: Execution day at Tyburn Tree gallows, which was in Paddington parish; during the years when the “Bloody Code” was in effect, and one could get “scragged” for stealing less than 10 modern dollars’ worth of goods, it was also a blackly humourous pun, as “pad” was Flash slang for “thief” or “robber.”