Tuesday, June 27, 2017

1826: Scotch Poems for 'the Poor of Belfast'

This advert, from the Belfast Commercial Chronicle newspaper of 4th November 1826 has a great bit of marketing ‘spin' in it, tantalising the reader with a tale of a mysterious anonymous visitor from Scotland, a will, and a bundle of documents including a collection of poems - ‘fugitive pieces, on various subjects, chiefly in the Scotch dialect’ including ‘On a Visit to Grey Abbey’, ‘Bonaparte’s Soliloquy at St Helena’, ‘To A Mountain’, ‘Farewell Verses’. The air of intrigue is upped even further at the end, discouraging the reader from enquiring as to the writer’s identity due to his request ’that his name might not be disclosed’. The philanthropic fund-raising aspect of this is also very interesting. 

I’ve made a few enquiries of people who are knowledgeable on these things, but this seems to be a new find. 

Poor of Belfast

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