Broadside showing a letter from Alexander Pennecuik to the Laird of Boghall, and Boghall's reply

Commentary

This broadside begins: 'A Gentleman's Letter TO THE LAIRD of BOGHALL, The Day before his Execution, With BOGHALL's ANSWER.' The letters are both dated the 5th January 1721.

Nicol Mushett (or Mushet), Laird of Boghall, was found guilty of murdering his wife, and until his execution was held at Edinburgh's Tolbooth. In the first letter Alexander Pennecuik asks that Boghall clear his name of any involvement in the murder. At the time of writing, Pennecuik was in prison under the suspicion of being an accessory to the murder. In his reply, Bogall denies ever having implicated Pennecuik in the crime. The National Library of Scotland's collection also includes at least two further broadsides regarding this case.

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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