Broadside regarding the complaints of the 'Beaux and the Bads'

Commentary

This broadside begins: 'THE Grievious Complaint of the Beaux and the Bads, And a the young Widows, and Lasses and Lads, For Death's taking Mas: James Crouckshanks awa, Who buckl'd the Beggers at Mountounha. / Interr'd in the Church-yeard of Inverask, the 29. of March 1724.' There are no publication details included on this sheet.

It appears that the curate, James Crouckshanks, was a law unto himself: 'He valued neither Kirk or Law'. A colourful character who was fond of a tipple, Crouckshanks is best remembered as the man 'Who buckl'd the Beggers at Mountounha'. 'Buckle-the-beggars' is a old Scots term for someone who is willing to conduct clandestine or unconventional marriages.

Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information often for entertainment, such as memorials and eulogies. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Although many of the people are now lost to researchers, their stories offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in.

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