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Broadside ballads entitled 'The Beggar Man', 'The Bonnie Lassie's Plaidie' and 'The Band o' Shearers' |
CommentaryThe first ballad begins: 'There was an old man cam' o'er the lea, / Wi' mony a fine story unto me'. The second ballad begins: 'A butcher lad there lived in Crieff, / A bonnie lassie came for to buy some beef'. The third ballad begins: 'Autumn comes with heather bells, / And bonnie o'er thon mountain dells'. This particular sheet was published by the Poet's Box of the Overgate, Dundee, and probably sold for one penny. The three ballads featured all deal with the subject of love. Although 'The Beggar Man' and 'The Bonnie Lassie's Plaidie' could easily have ended in tragedy, as many traditional ballads do, they both in fact end on a very happy note. Along with 'The Band o' Shearers', which is light-hearted in tone, this broadside would have offered people a pleasant alternative to the grim crime reports that were also in circulation at this time. 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(126)
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