ABSTRACT
Gavin Wilson published his sole volume of verse, A Collection of Masonic Songs and Entertaining Anecdotes, for the Use of all Lodges, at Edinburgh in 1788. The songs and anecdotes in its ninety-six pages are undistinguished affairs, predominantly concerned with topical political characters and events. They seem to have been written over many years; a number specifically target John Wilkes and his activities in the late 1760s and early 70s, and typify the poet's political conservatism. The replacement limbs supplied brought Wilson some celebrity and reward: as Craque observes, 'Lately, the honourable Board of Trustees for Fisheries, Manufactures, and Improvement in Scotland, honoured the inventor of Legs and Arms with a genteel premium on that account'. Unusually for a volume of labouring-class verse published in Scotland at this time, Wilson's Collection makes no direct reference to Robert Burns, and nor does it betray any signs of engagement with his work or his celebrated appearances at Edinburgh in 1787.
