Author: Anon

Publication: Reformers' Gazette

Publisher: Muir, Gowans, & Co.

Published: 22 December 1832

Place of publication: Glasgow, Scotland

Publication type: Newspaper/Periodical

Featured individuals:
Andrew Hardie (1793-1820)

A full copy of this poem is available.

Archive/Library: Mitchell Library, Glasgow
Classmark(s): Reel Number: 3089; Pressmark: SNMU 175/98
Pages(s): 414-415

The subject of this poem is Andrew Hardie, who was one of the radicals executed in Stirling during the Scottish Insurrection of 1820.  Hardie's name will pass on through the ages, we are told, and he is characterised as his 'country's champion' and the 'adventurous muse of Scotia's rustic lyre'.  Two interesting lines are included: 'And his blood it has sullied the loveliest gem / In Britain's proud diadem glowing'.  These carefully constructed lines critique the actions of the British state, while simultaneously expressing loyalism to it.