Broadside entitled 'An Epithalamium on the Jovial Nuptials of Capt. James Donaldson Gazetteer and Observator'

Commentary

This epithalamium begins: 'In compensation of your Vademecum, / It seems now to be alias tecum, / Than when you call'd us Shamout Whores, / or going masked out of doors.' There are no publication details available for this broadside. However, a note at the bottom of the sheet states that it was 'Completed by a Lady of Honour'.

An epithalamium is a song or poem in celebration of a marriage. In this epithalamium, the author (a female, apparently) writes in a humorous vein about the marriage between Captain James Donaldson, a gazetteer and observator, and Mrs Jean Reid, alias Mrs Scot. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be further information regarding these two individuals, or the marriage. As for the poem, written in rhyming couplets, it is a mixture of the ribald, erudite and humorous - in short, exactly the sort of light-hearted tone that a wedding song should be.

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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