Broadside ballads entitled 'The Edinburgh Convicts' and 'Farewell to Scotland'

Commentary

The first ballad begins: 'Come all young men of learning, / A warning take by me, / I'd have you quit night walking, / And shun bad company.'

The second ballad begins: 'Farewell to Scotland, / It is my native ground, / To the county of Caithness, / Near to Wick Town'. This sheet was published by Walker of Durham. The woodcut at the top of the sheet depicts a solid ship beset by a storm-tossed sea.

Both these ballads deal with emigration from Scotland. The first deals with criminal transportation, and the second with bonded passage and labour. This sheet is rather unusual as these explicitly Scottish poems were published in Durham. It is known that George Walker of Saddler Street, Durham, was a prolific criminal-broadside producer, and so is most likely to have been responsible for this sheet too.

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