ABSTRACT
In earlier ventures, Cromek had been accused by others of being a double-dealer, reaping large profits while crying poverty to those who made the enterprise so profitable. In a later venture, however, Cromek was himself the victim of doubledealing, and he was apparently never the wiser. In 1810, Cromek published with Cadell & Davies a collection of ballads purportedly composed by natives of two southern counties of Scotland, Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song. Most of those verses, however, were actually composed by the ambitious and enterprising young Scottish poet, Allan Cunningham (1784-1842), a fact that was not broached publicly until 1819, seven years after Cromek’s death. Investigating the nature and extent of this duplicity shows the means, the motive, and the opportunity involved in this literary crime and, not incidentally, illuminates the deep antipathy of Scottish literati toward their southern brethren.
