BACKGROUND

• This chapbook was published between 1820-1830 in Stirling, Scotland
• It contains six ballads with the common theme of a soldier’s life
• The entries are in juxtaposition to horrors of battle and pleasures of home
• It was sold following the turbulent times of the Napoleonic Wars, the Luddite protests, post war depression and the political chaos of the Regency era
• It is reflective of Sir Walter Scott’s romantic novels of the early 1800’s: Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since, Rob Roy and, The Abbott.  

BALLADS

• SOLDIER’S DREAM is about a dying man longing for home and his family.
• HAP ME WITH THY PETTICOAT is about a lover begging Bell for sex.
• AT THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT is about a a drunk who knocks on Katty’s window, calls her sirloin beef, has  sex all night, then sneaks away at dawn.                                                                                                                   
• BONNY MALLY STEWART uses the first-person voices of a soldier going to Germany to  fight and his sweetheart, Mally who wants to go with him.
• LOCHABER NO MORE is about a soldier who fought at Culloden. He is taken to Carlisle to be executed and sharply criticizes Prince Charley. 
• DOWN THE BURN DAVIE is about Mary and Davie who  lovingly go to a burn for sex.  

Soldier's dream; to which are added, Hap me with thy petticoat, At the dead of the night, Bonny Mally Stewart, Lochaber no more, Down the burn Davie. Stirling: Printed and sold, wholesale and retail by W. Macnie, Booksellers, 1820-1830.  8 p.; 15 cm. Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library (S0130b29)

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