THE 
 
 CHILDREN 
 
 IN THE 
 
 WOOD 
 
 A TALE FOR THE NURSERY. 
 
 ;/7'/7/ SEVERAL COPPER-PLATES. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 VJLUAM DARTONj 08, HOLBORK M r.L. 
 
 1821. 
 
0? 
 
add, after a o-reat Seal of trouble , tlxe pretty- "babes wre at last found sti c teked riL each other's ar-ins ; ^vitbTVlLLIAMS - 
 m romi<l the Heck o£ JAXE F Ms face turned close to liexs f and liis feoct pxilled otci- liex- body. mffltl iIIim gii 
 
C II I L D REN 
 
 IN THE 
 
 f, TALE FOR THE RCRJERS. 
 With Copper-plates. 
 
 A NEW EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 WILLIAM DARTON, Jvti* 
 
 5S HOLBORN HILL* 
 1819. 
 
 Price Sixpence, 
 
THE 
 
 CHILDREN IN THE WOOD, 
 
 A great many years ago there 
 lived in the county of Norfolk 
 a gentleman and his lad v. The 
 gentleman was brave/ kind, and 
 of a noble spirit; and the lady 
 vras gentle; beautiful, and virtuous, 
 They were very much loved by 
 all who knew tkem ; for they 
 
 were 
 
 a 2 
 
4 
 
 were" always trying to do service 
 to every body who came near 
 them, or who had any thing at all 
 to do with them. 
 
 This lady and gentleman lived 
 together very happily for many 
 years, for they loved each other 
 most tenderlv. They had two 
 children, who were as yet very 
 young; for the eldest, who was 
 a boy, was but three years old, 
 and the youngest, who was a 
 girl, not quite two years old. 
 The boy was very much like his 
 
 lather, 
 
5 
 
 father, and the girl was like lift 
 mother. 
 
 By the end of this time the 
 gentleman fell sick, and day after 
 day he grew worse. His lady, 
 as I have just said, loved him 
 with the greatest fondness ; and 
 she was so much grieved by his 
 illness that she fell sick too. No 
 physic, nor any thing else, was 
 of the least use to them, for their 
 illness got worse and worse ; and 
 they saw that they should soon 
 be taken away from their two 
 
 little 
 
 A 3 
 

 
 little babes, and be forced to 
 leave them in the world without 
 a father or mother. 
 
 They bore this cruel thought 
 as well as they could ; and truste- 
 ed, that after they were dead, 
 their children would find some 
 kind friend or another to bring 
 them Up. They talked to one 
 another tenderly about them* 
 and at last agreed to send for the 
 gentleman's brother, and give 
 their darlings into his care. 
 
 As soon as ever the gentle- 
 man's 
 
7 
 
 mans brother blard this news* 
 he made all the haste he could 
 to the bed-side where the father 
 and mother were lying sick. 
 
 "Ah! brother," said the dy- 
 ing man, f 'vou see liow short a 
 time 1 can expect to live ; yet, 
 neither d&ath, nor pain, can gi\e 
 me half so much grief as I feel 
 at the thought of what these dear 
 babes will do without a parent's 
 care. Brother, brother,"' skid 
 the gentleman, putting out bis 
 hand as well all he could, and 
 
 pointing 
 
 a 4 
 
8 
 
 pointing to the children, <( they 
 will have none but vou to be kind 
 to tliem ; none but vou to see 
 them clothed and fed, and teach 
 them to be good and happy." 
 
 •'Dear, dear brother," said 
 the dying lady, "you must be 
 father, mother, and uncle too, 
 to these lovely little lambs. First 
 let William be taught to read ; 
 and then he should be told how 
 good his father was, And little 
 Jane,— Oh ! brother, it wring* 
 my heart to talk of her : think 
 
 of 
 
9 
 
 of the gentle usage she will stand 
 in need of, and take her fondly 
 on your knee, brother, and she 
 and William too will repay your 
 -care with love." 
 
 The uncle then answered, 
 i: Oh t how it grieves my heart 
 to see you, my dearest brother 
 and sister, in this sad state ! but 
 take comfort, there may still be 
 hope of your getting well : yet if 
 we should happen to lose you, I 
 will do all you can desire for 
 your darling children. In me 
 
 thev 
 
 A o 
 
10 
 
 they snail find a father, mother, 
 and uncle. William shall learn 
 to read ; and shall be often tola 
 how good his father was, that 
 lie may turn out as good himself 
 when he grows up to be a man. 
 Jane shall he used with the most 
 tender care, and shall be kindly 
 fondled on mv knee. But, dear 
 brother, you have said nothing 
 of the riches you must leave 
 behind. I am sure you know 
 mv heart too well to think that. 
 P speak of this for any other rea- 
 son 
 
HEUE T liere brother, is bit will , Toti -will see Wwr I 
 have dome tike l^est I eoolcL for oxlj Lakes" 
 
11 
 
 son than vour dear children*;* 
 C'ood, and that I may be able to 
 make use of all vour money on ! v 
 for their sake." 
 
 << Pray, brother,' 1 said the 
 Ajjft&g man, " do not grieve me 
 with talking of any such tiling ; 
 for plow could you, who will he 
 their father, mother, and uncle 
 too, once think of wronging 
 them ? Here, here, brother, || 
 my will, You will see how I 
 hove done the best I could for 
 inv babes." 
 
12 
 
 A few moments after the gen- 
 tleman had said these words, he 
 pressed his cold lips to the chil- 
 dren ; the lady did the same, and 
 in a short time they both died. 
 
 The uncle shed a few tears at 
 this sad sight, and then broke 
 open the will ; in which he found 
 that his brother had left the little 
 boy, William, the sum of three 
 hundred pounds a year, when he 
 should be twenty- one years old, 
 and to Jane, the girl, the sum of 
 five hundred pounds in gold, to 
 
 be 
 
13 
 
 be paid her the day of her being; 
 married. But if the children 
 sfeould happen to die before 
 coming of ag&, then all the 
 money was to belong to their 
 uneie. The vvill of the gentle- 
 man next ordered that he and 
 his dear wife should be buried 
 side by side in the same grave. 
 The two little children wore 
 now taken home to the house of 
 their uncle ; who, for some tim< , 
 iliri just as their parents had so 
 lately told him upon their death- 
 
 bed ; 
 
14 
 
 bed ; niul so he used them with 
 great kindness. But when lie 
 hud kept them about a year, be 
 forgot by degrees to think how 
 their father and mother looked 
 when they gave their children to 
 bis care, and how he hunself had 
 made a promise to be their" 
 father, inother, and aneje, all 
 ir, one. 
 
 After a little more time had 
 passed ; the uncle could not help 
 thinking that he wished tlje 
 little boy and giri would die, for 
 
 then 
 
15 
 
 then he should faasre all t\mk 
 money for himself \ ami wli^s. he 
 had once begun to think tflis, 
 he went on till he could hardly 
 think of any thing else. At last 
 he said to himself: u K woaUl 
 not be very hard for me to kill 
 them so as for nobeuv feo know 
 auy thimr at. .all okodt t\m m;Mmr, 
 and th.cn the money will be h\mk 
 at cure. 
 
 Wiiefe tlie cruel uncle had 
 once brought his mi ml to kill 
 •he helpless lutlc erea&tfres, he 
 
 WHS 
 
was not long in finding a way to 
 bring it about, lie hired two 
 sturdy ruffians, who had already 
 killed many travellers in a dark 
 thick wood, some way oil, for 
 the sake of robbing them of their 
 money. These two wicked 
 creatures now agreed with the 
 uncle, for a larare sum of monev 
 to do the most cruel deed that 
 ever yet was heard of; and so 
 the uncle began to get every 
 thing ready lor them. 
 
 Ho i#H an artful story to hil 
 
 wife 
 
Took tliexa out of the Coacli, telling- liein tlxey 
 
 might now walk a little way and g'atliex- some flowers 
 
 .!-((' /></(/< /(/ 
 
 Z'mSn Wt&am Barton ,66 MWcm ZSS 
 
17 
 
 wife, of what good it would do 
 to the children to put them for- 
 ward in their learning ; and how 
 he had a friend in London Who 
 would take great care of them, 
 lie then said to the poor little 
 tilings : "Should not you like, 
 my pretty ones, to see the 
 famous town of London ; where 
 you, William, can buy a fine 
 wooden horse to ride upon aH 
 day long, and a whip to make 
 him gallop, and a fine sword to 
 wear by your side ? And you, 
 
 ism . 
 
 9 A 
 
18 
 
 Jane, si tall have pretty frocks, 
 and pretty dolls, and many oilier 
 pretty play thing's ; and a nice 
 Sti'Med coach shall be irot to lake 
 von there;" 
 
 "Oh yes, 1 vvill ge, uncle, 1 ' 
 said William : OSi yes, i will 
 go, nncU'," said Jane : and the 
 uuelc, with a heart as hard as 
 stone, soon got them ready for 
 'ceo journey. 
 
 The harmless little creatures 
 were put into a fme coach a few 
 r'jys after ; and akmg with them 
 
 the 
 
19 
 
 the two eruri wretches, who 
 were soon to put an end to their 
 riierry prattfe, and turn their 
 smiles into tears One of them 
 drove the eoacW, and t$k other 
 Sat inside between little Yv r illiam 
 and little Jane. 
 
 When tib&t had reached the 
 entrance ol the dark thicic wood, 
 the two ra. Trans took them out 
 of the eoaeh, telling them Ihe^ 
 miffht now walk a little way and 
 patina- some flowers ; and while 
 the children were skipping al)Oiit 
 
 like 
 
like Iambs, the ruffians turned 
 their backs to them, and begat* 
 to talk about what they had 
 to do. 
 
 "In good truth, w said the one 
 who had been sitting between 
 the children all the way, "now 
 I have seen their sweet faces* 
 and heard that pretty talk, I 
 have no heart to do the cruel 
 deed : let us fling away the ugly 
 knife, and send the children back 
 to their uncle. J> "But indeed 
 I will not," said the other ; 
 
1 
 
 Tke two ruffians fel into nruk a -reat pafsicm about 
 kikhi- tke poor l>al>e*, tkut the on. vvko wisked to t\. ; m 
 tkeil lives took out a great knife ecoA st uUmmI the otke.-, 
 
 so tkrat ko loll .Iowxl de«ul . " /""/' 
 
 /., n.l.-ii .'Willi.u,, hoiii'H.:^ JU'll'crn It'll 
 
 ■ 
 
t 
 
•'what is their ptttty talk to m ? 
 and who will pay lis for being so 
 tender hearted t" '* itiiiik of 
 \onr own children at horned 
 answered the first. "Yes, but 
 I shall jgei nothing to take back 
 ■to the in if I turn coward vns you 
 •would have me to do,* 1 replied the 
 other. 
 
 At last the two ruffians fell 
 into such a great, passion about 
 killing' the poor babes, that the 
 one who wished to spare their 
 lives took out the great knife he 
 
 * had 
 
mad jad 
 
 had brought to murder there, 
 m4 stabbed the other to the 
 fee&rt, go that he fell down dead 
 at his feet, 
 
 The one who had killed him 
 was now at a loss what to 
 do with the children ; for he 
 wanted to get away as fast as he 
 could for fear of being found in 
 the wood. At last he thought 
 the only thing he could do was, 
 to leave them in the wood by 
 themselves, and trust them t© 
 the kindness of any body that 
 
 might 
 
might happen to pass by and find 
 them tli ere. 
 
 " Cope here, my pretty o»ea$ w 
 said lie, tl you must take hold of 
 my hands and go a little way 
 ulnim- with me." The noor ehi!- 
 dren took eaeh a hand, and went 
 on ; but the tears hurst fmm their 
 eves, and their little limbs shook 
 with fear i ll the while. 
 
 In t!i is wav he led them for 
 about two miles further on in 
 the wood ; and then told them 
 % wait; there till he came baek 
 
 from 
 
24 
 
 (from the next town, where he 
 would sro and eet them some 
 
 food. 
 
 William look his sister Jane 
 by the hand, and they walked 
 m (car up arid down the wood, 
 k ' Will the strange man come 
 with some eakes, Billy V said 
 tittle Jane. "Bv and fov, dear 
 Jane," said William : And soon 
 after, '"1 wish I had some cakes, 
 Bitty," said she. They then 
 looked about with their little 
 #yes to every part of tht wood ; 
 
 and 
 
»nd ^ would have melted a heart 
 as hard as stone, to sec how sad 
 they looked, and how they 
 listened to every sound of wind 
 in the trees. 
 
 After they had waited a very 
 W time, they tried to fill their 
 bellies with blackberries : but 
 they soon ate all that were 
 within their reach. Night was 
 now coming on ; and William, 
 *who had tried all lie could to 
 comfort his little sister, at last 
 Minted comfort hupielf: so when 
 
 jane 
 
=Vaue said once more, " flow 
 hungry I amj Billy, I Tb-c-l-icvc 
 — I cannot help crying — ; 
 William burst out a-crywg too ; 
 and down they lay upon the 
 cold earth ; and putting their 
 arms round each others neck, 
 
 ;re they starved, and there 
 they died. 
 
 Thus wetfc these two pretty 
 harmless babes murdered ; and 
 as no one knew of their death, 
 .so there was no one to die; a 
 graves and hurv them. 
 
 u 
 
axLa it ^oxild We melted a. Txeaxt a* Wd a* stone, 
 
 to see Ilow sad tkey looted, andW ti-ey listened to 
 every soxmd of ^viaid in rhe trees! 
 
 Zen don . William Iktrtvn. 56 ID? Ib era JTi U 
 
it 
 
In the mean time the wicked 
 uncle thought they had been 
 killed as he ordered, m lie told 
 all the folks who asked him 
 about them, an artful tale of 
 their havin<r died ia London of 
 the small-pox ; and he then 
 took ail their fortune to himself, 
 and lived upon it as if it had 
 been his own by good right. 
 
 But all this did him very little 
 service ; for soon after his wife 
 died; and as he could not help 
 being very unhappy, and and was 
 
 always 
 
always thinking too that he saw 
 the bleeding children before his 
 eyes, he did not attend at all to 
 his affairs ; so that, instead of 
 growing richer, ho grew poorer 
 every d ly. Besides this his two 
 sons had gone on board a ship 
 to try their fortune abroad, but 
 they both were drowned at sea, 
 and he became quite Wretched, 
 so that his life was a burden to 
 him. 
 
 When things had gone on in 
 this manner for some years, the 
 
 ruffian, 
 
29 
 
 ruffian, who took pity on the 
 children and would not kill 
 them, robbed some person in 
 that very wood ; an I being 
 pursued, he was laid hold of 
 and brought to prison, and soo-i 
 after was tried before a judge 
 and was found guilty : m that 
 he was condemned to be handed 
 for the crime. 
 
 As soon as he found that his 
 death must be, he sent for the 
 keeper of the prison, and owned 
 to him all the crimes he had 
 
 been 
 
80 
 
 been guilty of in his whole life. 
 Thus he made known the story 
 of the two children ; and, at 
 the same time, told that part 
 of the wood he had left them 
 to starve in. 
 
 The news of this matter soon 
 reached the wicked uncle s ea/s ; 
 who was already broken-hearted 
 for the many ills that had 
 happened to himself, and could 
 not bear the load of public 
 shame that he knew must now 
 fait upon him, so he lay down 
 
 UpOB 
 
§1 
 
 Upon his bed, and died that 
 very day. 
 
 As soon as ever the tidings of 
 the death of the two children 
 were made public, proper per- 
 sons were sent to search the 
 wood for them ; and, after a 
 great deal of trouble, the 
 pretty babes were at last found 
 stretched in each other's arms ; 
 with William's arm round the 
 neck of Jane, his. face turned 
 close to hers, and his frock 
 pulled over her body. They 
 
 were 
 
were quite covered over with 
 leaves, which in all that time 
 had never withered ; and en a 
 bush near this cold grave, there 
 sat a robin red-breast watching 
 and chirping ; so that many 
 gentle hearts still think it was 
 this kind bird that did bring 
 the leaves and cover the little 
 babes over with them* 
 
 THE END, 
 WILLIAM DART ON, >w« 
 
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