Commentary
This report begins, 'Just Published, an Account of the Trial of the Rev. MR TAIT, Minister of the College Church, before the Presbytery of Edinburgh, which met this day in the Trustee's Hall, head of Scott's Close.' Published in Edinburgh by A. McMillan. The broadside is not dated. The subject here is not a criminal trial, but the trial of a minister accused of arousing 'fanatical excitement' in his congregation. Reverend Tait, of College Church (possibly Trinity College Church) was called in front of the Presbytery of Edinburgh to answer charges of committing 'extravagances in a place of worship . . . by which all sobre persons were deeply scandalised'. The Reverend was served with libel and suspended. Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information such as proclamations as well as ballads and news of the day. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Broadsides offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in, and the National Library of Scotland holds over 250,000 of them.
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Probable date of publication:
1835-1836 shelfmark: F.3.a.13(93)
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