After the troubles of 1837, William Lyon Mackenzie became an exile from Canada. In the verses in the legend, he recounts his unhappy experiences in political life to Robert Baldwin, who is figuratively represented as bearing him company. The gallows on the mainland in the distance is a reminder that a price had been set upon Mackenzie’s head.
Punch in Canada, 1849.
WINTER’S TALE.
AUTOLYCUS, — (A Knavish Peddler) — MR. W. L. MACKENZIE.
CLOWN, — — MR. BALDWIN.
Autolycus.—I see this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive. Sure the gods do this year connive at us, that we may do anything extempore. (Sings.)
1837.
The daisies were dead on Gallows Hill,—
With heigh! the skulkers behind the rail,—