“Catherine Berringer”

Description

Broadside account of a murder: "Muse breathe the Dirge o'er Delia's tomb...." "She from the man she once did love... received the fatal cup... And drunk the poison up." "O Bernard t'was a barbarous deed." The girl hopes others will mourn her

Notes

Don't ask me why the girl is named Catherine but called Delia (and the poem uses the name "Delia" at least twice). Whatever the girl's real name, it's at least as dreadful as the quoted sections -- and pretty definitely not traditional. - RBW

References

  1. Burt, pp. 36-37, "An Eulogy on the Death of MISS CATHERINE BERRINGER who was poisoned by her lover" (1 text, excerpted)
  2. BI, Burt036

About

Author: unknown
Earliest date: 1958 (Burt)
Keywords: homicide poison
Found in: US