Broadside entitled 'An Elegy'

Commentary

This broadside begins: 'AN ELEGY / On the Death of the much lamented Reverend Mr. WILLIAM DUNN, late Minister of Kirkintilloch, who died on Saturday, November 3, 1798.' The elegy begins: 'Mourn Dame RELIGION! / sable garments wear'.

It is possible that the Rev. William Dunn, Minister of Kirkintilloch, who is being mourned here, was the very same Dunn who was imprisoned for three months under the suspicion of an alleged association with the political agitator and staunch republican, Thomas Muir of Huntershill. Whether or not he is, it is apparent from this elegy that William Dunn was a popular man who would be sorely missed by his congregation.

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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