SHOW NOTES — for — EPISODE 35 (Season 5)

(April 26, 2026)

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Join host Corinthian Finn, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John 18th Baron Dunwitch,* for a one-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of early-Victorian London!

This show cycles through four segments over a two-week cycle, two shows per week. This is the main show, including the "Penny Dreadfuls" segment. It will be followed by ...

• The “Twopenny Torrids” minisode, coming this Thursday eve;
• The “Ha’penny Horrids” minisode, to be posted next Sunday (one week from today); and finally—
• The “Sixpenny Spookies” minisode, which posts two Thursdays hence.

For COMPLETE SHOW NOTES, including art and links to resources, see ⁠⁠pennydread.com/discord.⁠⁠

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• 01:40: ON THIS DREADFUL DAY (April 26, 1855): A woman drew a five-month prison stretch for swindling a man out of 5 shillings by pretending her baby had died.
• 04:15: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE; or, THE FEAST OF BLOOD, Chapter 52-54: While Sir Francis Varney’s servants are battling to defend the house from the mob, a shout from upstairs lets everyone know that the townies have figured out another way in, and are inside the house. They soon find Varney himself. That worthy, with very provoking coolness, steps behind a curtain and vanishes. — A thorough search of the house for the vampire ensues, which is unsuccessful, although it does lead to the wine cellars. Then someone gets the bright idea of burning the vampire out ….
• 32:32: “CATCHPENNY” BROADSIDE: A soldier arrested for playing cards in church has a very thorough explanation for how he uses a pack of standard gambling accoutrements as Bible, almanac and prayer book.
• 41:55: THE LIVES OF THE HIGHWAYMEN: Being a sort of posthumous collaboration with Arthur Griffiths, the late inspector of Her Majesty’s prisons, to describe some of the more subtle and respectable highwaymen of the Georgian and Regency period — the government officials and aristocrats who shamelessly plundered the public cookie jar.
• 54:00: A FEW SQUEAKY-CLEAN DAD JOKES from the early-1800s' most popular joke book: "Joe Miller's Jests; or, The Wit's Vade-mecum."

GLOSSARY OF EARLY-VICTORIAN SLANG USED IN THIS EPISODE:

MACE COVES: Well-dressed young pickpockets.

PRATE ROASTS: Pretty, high-spirited young maidens.

KNIGHTS OF THE BRUSH AND MOON: Drunken fellows wandering amok in meadows and ditches, trying to stagger home.

CORINTHIAN: A fancy toff or titled swell. Used here as a reference to Corinthian Tom, the quintessential Regency rake depicted in Pierce Egan's "Life in London" (usually referred to as "Tom and Jerry").

CHAFFING-CRIB: A room where drinking and bantering are going on.

SHE-LION: A shilling.

GUNPOWDERS: Imperious dowager ladies.

FLOWERS OF SOCIETY: Slightly contemptuous reference to the rich and famous.

CLANKER: A pewter drinking pot usually used for ale.

HEAVY BROWN: Strong ale.

PIKE OFF: Run away.

RED WAISTCOAT: The traditional uniform of the Bow-Street Runners, London’s first real professional police force.

GAMMONERS: Swindlers or gamblers who cheat.

ROMONERS: Fake occultists and fortune tellers.

SHARPS: Swindlers.

OLD ST. GILES: The neighbourhood of St. Giles in the Fields parish, which in the early Victorian age was a notorious slum.

RUM TE TUM WITH THE CHILL OFF: Most emphatically excellent.

* The Barony of Dunwitch is located in a deep forest glade west of Arkham (where, as H.P. Lovecraft put it, “the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut; there are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight.”) Actually it is a good 3,000 miles west of Arkham. It is not to be confused with Dunwich, the English seacoast town that fell house by house into the sea centuries ago, or Dunsany, the home until 1957 of legendary fantasy author Edward J.M.D. Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany.