Broadside ballad entitled 'A New Whig Garland'

Commentary

Verse 1: 'I am a freeman, tight and sound, / Of Edinbro's good town, / For trade and lads of honest heart, / A place of high renown'. The song is by 'C. M'K.' and should be sung to the tune 'A begging we will go'. There is a woodcut depiction of a well-dressed lady resting, with her basket, under a leafy tree in the countryside.

The name 'Whig', given to the 'Country Party', was taken from a group of non-Conformist Scottish outlaws, the 'Whiggamores'. This non-conformity and rebellion suited the party's aims at the time. The Whigs, by and large, were anti-Catholic and anti-Monarchy. They were often staunch puritans and they campaigned for parliamentary powers to outweigh those of the monarchy. This laissez-faire and more democratic attitude, however, eventually won them more support in the growing industrial centres.

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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