The insulted pedlar, : a poetical tale..
Wilson, Alexander,1766-1813.
Glasgow: : Printed for the booksellers,,
M.DCC.XCI. [1791]
Signatures: [A]⁴
Anonymous: by Alexander Wilson of Paisley The poem appears in 19th-century collections of his works.
The poem recounts an altercation between a pedlar and a landowner. The pedlar, the narrator of the poem, is, at the end of a long, weary day, about to defecate in a field when he is confronted by the irate landowner who threatens him. Wilson has the landowner, 'bailie', speak in an Anglicised manner which contrasts with the pedlar's Scots. The poem also raises issues about the ownership of land being increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few powerful landowners and the lack of rights of the working man.
ESTC
Land tenure
Scotland Glasgow