h's head. Underneath is a rope coiled around the
portraits of twelve felons who have suffered; while, running down, to
form a border, are fetters arranged in zig-zag fashion. Across the note
run these words, "_Ad lib., ad lib._, I promise to perform during the
issue of Bank notes easily imitated, and until the resumption of cash
payments, or the abolition of the punishment of death, for the Governors
and Company of the Bank of England.--J. KETCH." The note is a unique
production, and must have created an enormous sensation. Cruikshank's
own story, writing in 1876, is this:--

Fifty-eight years back from this date there were one-pound Bank of
England notes in circulation, and, unfortunately, many forged notes
were in circulation also, or being passed, the punishment for which
offense was in some cases transportation, in others DEATH. At this
period, having to go early to the Royal Exchange one morning, I
passed Newgate jail, and saw several persons suspended from the
gibbet; _two_ of these were women who had been executed for passing
one-pound forged notes.

I determined, if possible, to put a stop to such terrible
punishments for such a crime, and made a sketch of the above note,
and then an etching of it.

Mr. Hone published it, and it created a sensation. The Directors of
the Bank of England were exceedingly wroth. The crowd around Hone's
shop in Ludgate Hill was so great that the Lord Mayor had to send
the police to clear the street. The notes were in such demand that
they could not be printed fast enough, and I had to sit up all one
night to etch another plate. Mr. Hone realized above L700, and I
had the satisfaction of knowing that no man or woman was ever
hanged after this for passing one-pound Bank of England notes.

The issue of my "Bank Note note not to be Imitated" not only put a
stop to the issue of any more Bank of England one-pound notes, but
also put a stop to the punishment of death for such an offense--not
only for that, but likewise for forgery--and then the late Sir
Robert Peel revised the penal code; so that the final effect of my
note was to stop hanging for all minor offenses, and has thus been
the means of saving thousands of men and women from being hanged.

It may be that the great caricaturist claims almost too much when he
says that the publication of his note ev