Broadside ballad entitled 'The Destruction of Abercrombie!'

Commentary

This ballad begins: 'ABERCROMBIE came down like a wolf on the fold, / And his pockets were furnish'd with Devonshire gold; / And his pale senseless face was as fearful to see, / As the dark troubl'd wave on the deep Galilee.'

The Abercrombie mentioned in the first line here, refers to the Right Honourable James Abercrombie, later elevated to Lord Dunfermline. He was the agent of the sixth Duke of Devon (1790-1858), as well as being a speaker in the House of Commons between 1835 and 1839. This further explains his presence here and that of the Duke of Devon. The first line here is a direct quote from Byron's 'Destruction of Sennacherib' where the name 'Abercrombie' reads 'Assyrian' and a comparison is perhaps being drawn here. Broadsides were often used as a vehicle for political satire and comment as they reached such a wide audience.

This style of text, with its implicit political propaganda, would not only have made for compelling entertainment, but would also perhaps have stimulated political thought, reasoning and debate.

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