Broadside entitled 'Elegie'

Commentary

This memorial notice begins: 'ELEGIE / On John Pringle, Town-Piper of Lauder / To the Tune of, Lang Unken'd / [Done by Maggie Riddel's Son.]' The elegy begins: 'O Gosh! what will come o' us now?'

John Pringle, Piper of Lauder, is a fairly well-known songwriter and musician of the eighteenth century. Apart of the works he is now alleged to have composed, as many of them appeared anonymously at the time, very little else is known about him. Pipers and musicians in general, however, were valued and respected members of their communities as testified by the life's of Niel Gow and Habbie Simpson.

Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information often for entertainment, such as memorials and eulogies. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Although many of the people are now lost to researchers, their stories offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in.

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