Devil and the Hackney Coachman, The

DESCRIPTION: Ben, a hackney coachman: "how he used to swear." One night the Devil hires him to drive to Hell: "he thought he'd taken poor Ben in." At the gates Ben backs in so he is outside. Ben escapes. "Now ... he never swears And so for the Devil he never cares"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (_The Melodist_)
KEYWORDS: curse escape trick Devil
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "DEVIL AND THE HACKNEY COACHMAN, THE"
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 264-265, "The Hackney Coachman" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 377)
ADDITIONAL: The Melodist and Mirthful Olie (London, 1828 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol II (mislabelled Vol XX), pp. 348-350, "Tommarroo!" or "The Devil and the Hackney Coachman" ("Ben was a Hackney Coachman rare") (1 text)
Roud #1314
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(509), "The Devil and the Hackney Coachman" ("Ben was a hackney coachman rare") , T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; also Harding B 11(873), Johnson Ballads 180, Harding B 11(877), "[The] Devil and [the] Hackney Coachman"; Harding B 11(861), "Deivl[sic] and Hackney Coachman"
LOCSinging, as101590, "The Devil and Hackney Coachman" ("Ben was a hackney coachman, rare,"), L. Deming (Boston), no date
File: WT264

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