Broadside ballad entitled 'Huzzah! For Provost Spittal !!! An Excellent New Song'

Commentary

Verse 1 begins: 'Ye Whig Reformers all draw near, / To Aytoun's trash ne'er lend an ear'. The song should be sung to the tune 'The Arethusa' and was printed by Waugh of Edinburgh.

The song refers to the battle for the position of Edinburgh's Lord Provost, between James Aytoun (1797-1881) and Sir James Spittal, (1769-1842) a silk merchant, which took place during 1833. Spittal won and was Lord Provost from 1833 to 1837. Aytoun never succeeded. This broadside must have been quite popular, as the National Library of Scotland's collection holds further sheets which are exactly the same but for the top which carries the imprint 'Second Edition'. That must have been an easy earner for the printer Waugh!

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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