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Subject Browse Results
Your search for fairs returned 13 broadsides
Displaying broadsides 1 to 13 of 13:
Christ's Kirk on the Green
Verse 1: 'Was never in Scotland heard or seen, / such dancing and deray; / Neither at Falkland on the green, / nor Peebles at the play, / As was of woers as I ween; / at Christs Kirk on a day: / For there came Kittie washen clean, / with her new Gown of Gray, / Full gay that day' The poem is attributed to James V (1512-42), but the printer's note under the title, 'Newly Corrected according to the Original Copy' indicates that this was one of the many reprints that were made of the poem in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with the spelling updated to the standard forms of the period.
Country Hirings
Verse 1: 'Come all you blooming country lads and listen unto me, / And if I do but tell the truth I know you will agree; / It's of the jolly farmers who servants want to have, / For to maintain them in their pride and be to them a slave.' There are no publication details given on this broadside.
Country Hirings
Verse 1: 'Come all ye blooming country lads & listen unto me / And if I do but tell the truth, I know you will agree / It's of the jolly farmers, who servants want to have, / For to maintain them in their pride and be to them a slave.' There are no publication details given on this broadside.
Feeing Time
This ballad begins: 'My friend and I struck frae Millgye, / For Glasgow town we took our way, / When all along the road was strung, with lads and bonnie lasses gay'. It was published by the Poet's Box, Dundee, and sold for a penny.
Feeing Time
Verse 1 begins: 'My friend and I struck frae Milgye, / From Glasgow town we took our way'. The directions under the title reveal that the accompanying tune should be 'Craigmaddy Muir'. This sheet was published by James Lindsay of 11 King Street, Glasgow. Lindsay is known to have worked from Glasgow between 1847 and 1910.
Feeing Time and Lament for John Mitchell
The first ballad begins: 'My friend and I struck frae Milngavie, / For Glasgow town we took our way.' 'Feeing time', usually twice a year in the spring and autumn, was when servants and farm hands were employed - normally at a feeing or hiring fair.
Forfar Fair
Verse 1: 'When I was a 'prentice in Forfar, / I was a braw lad an' a stout; / My master was old Tailor Orquher, / That lived at the fit o' the Spout. / His wife's name was gleyed Gizzie Miller; / And O! she was haughty and vain, / For the bodies had plenty o' siller; / Forbye a bit house o' their ain.' This ballad was published at the Poet's Box, Overgate, Dundee by William Shepherd.
Funny Conversation
This poem is introduced by a bit of text that reads: 'A FUNNY CONVERSATION Between Cuddy WILLIE, the Pigman, and HAWKIE, the Speech Crier, Twa Celebrated and Well-known Characters in Edinburgh, on occasion of the Last All-Hallow Fair, held in the Vicinity of Auld Reekie.'
Glasgow Fair on the Banks of Clyde
Verse 1: 'When I was young and youth did bloom, / Where fancy led me, I did roam; / From town to town the country round, / Through every sylvan shady grove. / Until I came from Scotland by name, / Where beauty shines on every side, / There's no town there we can compare / With Glasgow fair, on the banks of Clyde.' It was to be sung to the original tune, suggesting that both the song and melody were well-known, and was published in 1869 by the Poet's Box, 80 London Street, Glasgow.
Highlander's Adventures in Glasgow Fair
Verse 1: 'Her nainsel cam to the Lowland town to see the fair and thrang man, / Before she walk'd the city round, she got mony a squeeze and bang, man, / But she'll awa down by the auld brig, bear to the Broomi law, man, / The lads kick'd up the funniest rig, the like you never saw, man.' 'Nainsel' is a nickname for a Highlander, and means 'one's own self'. Unfortunately, no publication details are included on the sheet.
I Gaed Hame Wi' Jessie
Verse 1: 'The moon was shedding lustre / O'er field and forest far, / And joyous love was streaming / Frae mony a happy star; / The merry burn was singing / wi' ne'er a thocht o' care, / As I gaed hame wi' Jessie / Frae the Fair.' The name 'TOBERMORY' is printed at the foot of the poem, but it is unclear whether this is the name of the author, or of the publisher, or of the place of publication. Beneath this, a pencil annotation has been added: '(A.M. Bisset, Bathgate)'. Again the significance of the name and place is not explained.
Week After the Fair
Verse 1 begins: 'O John what's this ye've done John, / Yer head this morning's sair'. The woodcut above the title displays a well-dressed couple sitting in a parlour playing cards. Despite the rough nature of the illustration, the lady looks out of the scene to catch the reader's eye and engage them. This is a classic artist's trick.
Week After the Fair
Verse 1: 'Oh! John, what's this you've done, John, / You're head this morn's sair, / You're rigs ye've carried on, John, / The hale week of the Fair. / It's now you're in the horrors, John, / And in them you may be, / This day O cou'dna help ye, John, / Although ye were to dee.'