Gallows Nymph (Short): "Alas! That I should die in scorn"

Vendors with stacks of cheap pamphlets arrived at the square, where the headsman's handiwork was on display. The vendors pushed their way through the excited crowd, shouting out the salacious details of Madame Du Crete's life and offering their merchandise for sale. 

(An illustration of Madame Du Crete in her prime, with her hair styled in a luxurious updo and her body displayed provocatively. She is depicted with a sly smile, as if she is aware of the notoriety she has gained. )

The pamphlets depicted Madame in a Venus-like pose, her nudity uncovered for all to see. Spectators eagerly snatched them up, eager to own a piece of the notorious woman's image and her supposed unbridled exploits. Some laughed and joked as they leafed through the pages, while others whispered amongst themselves, sharing details of the scandalous stories depicted within.

Despite the pamphlets being of poor quality, the gawkers were enraptured by the risqué images, and they quickly passed the pamphlets from hand to hand, their eyes feasting on the scandalous scenes. Men and women alike clamored to get their hands on the forbidden images, their eyes fixed hungrily on the illustrations. Some hid the pamphlets in their pockets or beneath their cloaks, while others proudly brandished them in the air, eager to show off their purchases to others.

The art was printed on low-quality paper, the cheapness of the materials only served to emphasize the lurid nature with ink still wet and smudging the fingertips of the people who handle them. But this did not detract from its impact, as it was eagerly snapped up by nearby spectators, eager to enhance the balmy death they just enjoyed.

The images on the cover are hard to miss and inescapable, depicting Madame in a Venus-like pose, completely unclothed, her curves and contours on full display. But they captured the essence of the Madame's rumored beauty and allure. Her heart-shaped face, with its sharp cheekbones and full lips, hair was styled in a well-coiffured updo.

The curves of her body were accentuated by the way she was positioned, and her full breasts and round hips were on full display.

Her face was turned towards the viewer, with a seductive half-smile playing across her lips and a dreamy expression in her eyes. Barely repressing a hint of ecstasy, but stares at the viewer, shockingly scandalous familiarity despite bounds of rank, or even decency. It verged, as her sobriquet of Nymph implied, on bestiality. 

Her hair was styled in a loose classical bun, with a few strands of hair cascading down her bare shoulders. The background of the image was left deliberately blank, putting all the focus on Madame Du Crete's soft exposed body and sensuous pose. The image was surrounded by a plain but clean cut border, occasionally mingled with intricate patterns and flourishes 

The shape of her lips, and the tilt of her head, the supposed soul of the late Madame that~ seen in this light, must be plunging far towards the maw of fire. 

The detail was meticulous, with every curve, fold, and crevice of her body visible, enticing the viewer to take in her beauty and forbidden allure. The printing process was done with a high degree of precision, allowing for the vivid and bold lines to stand out, bringing the image to life and tantalizing the imagination of those who laid their eyes upon it. 

The image was so sensational that it caused a stir, with the mere mention of Madame Du Crete sending shivers down the spines of the readers who were eagerly devouring it with their eyes, and her upon it.

The vendors could be seen making their way through the crowded square, their armpits filled with stacks of the infamous pamphlets. Meanwhile, facing them as they waded through the throng, the head of Madame Du Crete remained affixed to the scaffold, her pale face still on display for all to see. 

The vendors hawked, the thrilled excitement only seemed to grow. The rabidly excited spectators crowded around them, jostling for a better view of the pictures and the chance to purchase one for themselves. The vendors' voices grew louder as they tried to make themselves heard over the din of the excited crowd.

They gazed upon her face, frozen in death, they couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement. A piece of history unfold before their very eyes, a glimpse into a forbidden unseen world, perverse and thrilling. 

They scrutinized her features, it was clear that some of the spectators were still under her spell. They whispered to one another, pointing out the details of her face, the curve of her lips, the arch of her brows.

But for others, the cheap pamphlets were enough to satiate their macabre curiosity. They crowded around the vendors, handing over coins in exchange for the tasteless depictions of the woman they had just witnessed die stripped of all modesty. 

(copy found by the housemaid beside the water closet of John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester's privy chamber. Like its original French prints, the pamphlets contained several lurid supposed but impossible to verify accounts of the wayward Madame Du Crete's exploits of unbridled fornications, including at intervals demeaning orgies before the very king of France with a number of French gentlemen in wigs and without pants, as well as shocking scenes of fornication with several breeds of dogs. This version, which evidently had been thoroughly well used by the Earl in discreet secrecy for some number of years also included a printed poem, which is written on the backleaf of the notorious nude dead woman's portrait. It is written in loose English of the times~)

"Alas! That I should die in scorn"

Alas! This dreadful fate of mine, that I should die in scorn.

My fair head to the scaffold led, must like a Murderer's shorn.

And while I stand exposed thus, before my pale neck is rend

My shame I will declare, to all the world and wide spent.

Farewell my late Mother dear, your heart is saved, not broke,

Gratias! You'll never see, had your eyes lived, this stroke.

What would your tender bosom feel, to see your darling child,

That she had nourish'd at her breast, brought to an end so vile.

So gather and witness all, this punishment just and true,

And learn from one so stained, with the filth of lovers too.

Alas! This sight, my head speared to the lion's pride,

A warning to all harlots, who see such an odious guide.

Let all maids and matrons view, my head so richly garnish'd,
And see the pox of sins, where beauty and powder perish'd.

What once was fairest of my sex, now molder upon this pole,
To serves as warning, to all who dare to trade their soul.

So gaze upon my divorced head, exposed to wind and rain,
And let its sight be your deterrent, to shun a life of pain.