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Broadside ballad entitled 'The Last Shot' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'Three to ride and to save, one to ride and to be saevd [saved]- / That's the key of my tale, boys, deep on my heart engraved.' A note under the title reads: 'THIS POPULAR RECITATION CAN ALWAYS BE HAD AT POET'S BOX, Overg[a]te Dundee.' With references to 'the Ganges' bank', 'the Sirdar's horsemen', and a 'Siva-charmed sword', it is possible this ballad revolves around events during the Indian Mutiny, otherwise known as India's First War of Independence (1857-8). Following the mutiny, in which Indian soldiers or sepoys in the service of the British East India Company challenged British rule in India, control of the subcontinent passed from the Company to the British Government. Although the British, using extreme measures, managed to quash the uprising, they were unable to eradicate the bitter resentment felt by many Indians towards their presence there. It is not clear what the connection between the different Poet?s Boxes were. They almost certainly sold each other?s sheets. It is known that John Sanderson in Edinburgh often wrote to the Leitches in Glasgow for songs and that later his brother Charles obtained copies of songs from the Dundee Poet?s Box. There was also a Poet?s Box in Belfast from 1846 to 1856 at the address of the printer James Moore, and one at Paisley in the early 1850s, owned by William Anderson. Early ballads were dramatic or humorous narrative songs derived from folk culture that predated printing. Originally perpetuated by word of mouth, many ballads survive because they were recorded on broadsides. Musical notation was rarely printed, as tunes were usually established favourites. The term 'ballad' eventually applied more broadly to any kind of topical or popular verse.
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Probable period of publication:
1880-1900 shelfmark: RB.m.143(048)
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