The Babes in the Wood

Now ponder well, you parents deare, These wordes which I shall write; A doleful story you shall heare, In time brought forth to light. A gentleman of good account In Norfolke dwelt of late. Who did in honour far surmount Most men of his estate. Sore sicke he was, and like to dye, No helpe his life could save; His wife by him as sicke did lye, And both possest one grave. No love between these two was lost, Each was to other kinde; In love they liv'd, in love they dyed, And left two babes behinde: The one a fine and pretty boy, Not passing three yeares olde; The other a girl more young than he And fram'd in beautye's molde. A number of his letters have been reprinted with their illustrations in Yours Pictorially, a book edited by Michael Hutchings. In 1870, a painter friend in London, Thomas Armstrong, put Caldecott in touch with Henry Blackburn, the editor of London Society, who published a number of his drawings in several issues of the monthly magazine. Encouraged by this evidence of his ability to support him-self by his art, Caldecott decided to quit his job and move to London; this he did in 1872 at the age of 26. Within two years he had become a successful magazine illustrator working on commission. His work included individual sketches, illustrations of other articles and a series of illustrations of a holiday which he and Henry Blackburn took in the Harz Mountains in Germany. The latter became the first of a number of such series.