Chapter I: Preface

A name is very often only a definition of a thing in one of its aspects--generally the most obvious to ordinary observation, though not always the most comprehensive or characteristic. The name _Chap-book_ is an example of names of this class, and owes its origin to the fact that the tracts which we now recognise by it were first--and, indeed, during the whole time of their circulation as popular literature--sold by chapmen, or pedlars. With the extinction of these itinerants, the popular circulation of chap-books has ceased; and it seemed as if--from the flimsy nature of their get-up--this form of literature was about to vanish, like the compositions of our earliest minstrels, when a taste for collecting specimens sprung up among the curious in literature. To meet the demand for _collections_ which the spread of this taste originated, the present issue has been projected.

What purpose, it may be asked, does their preservation serve? Of no class might this be more properly inquired than of the _Religious_, which may be supposed to admit of less scope for originality of treatment than any other; yet an examination of a few of the tracts under this head soon shows us the popular creed in forms of thought and illustration quite unexpected, and with a definiteness and force the originality of which cannot be mistaken. The same character, of course, applies in a more marked degree to classes where the composer was less influenced by prepossessed ideas, and where his only boundaries were the limits of his own imagination, and the deference which he was careful to pay to the prejudices of his readers.

That these carelessly got-up publications constituted the popular literature of the peasantry and a large part of the urban population of Scotland for about half a century, is a fact which no student of our recent history will wisely ignore. They possess one advantage over the sensational reading of the present day penny journals, in that they represent the opinions and manners of those who read them, and, consequently, have a truthfulness and reality of which their London-manufactured substitutes are entirely destitute. The Chap-book is a mirror of rural opinions and manners; the Penny Sensational is only evidence of a vitiated popular taste.

These remarks are chiefly applicable to the chap-books of Scottish production, which, along with those adopted from foreign sources, but so naturalized as to language and characters as to pass for productions of home growth--in reference to the purposes of this issue--are by far the most important. Keeping this purpose in view, there is no call here to apologise for their coarseness and indelicacy, for which, on the score of taste and morals, from a popular point of view, there is no defence; but their real value to us consists in their being true delineations of the manners and ways of thinking of low rural life, whose grossness was rather the result of the buoyancy of animal vigour than of the indulgence of vicious passions.

The English ones are very varied in character, and have been chosen with considerable judgment, to suit the taste and understanding of those for whom they were selected. Their circulation in Scotland has been so large that we are justified in including them in a collection of Scottish peasant literature.

The original Scottish chap-books attributed to the pen of Dougal Graham are so decidedly superior, that a sketch of his life, containing all that is known of him, has been considered the most fitting introduction to the present issue. The earliest literary inquiry into his history was made by Motherwell, the poet, who contributed a sketch of him and his writings to the _Paisley Magazine_ of January, 1829, based upon information derived from George Caldwell, bookseller, Paisley, who knew Dougal well, and was the chief publisher of his “penny histories.” Some further information regarding him, and corrections of mistakes in Motherwell’s article, are given in an appendix to the 1830 edition of M’Ure’s History of Glasgow, very possibly from the pen of M’Vean, its publisher, who was a collector of Dougal’s tracts. A more recent life of him--chiefly based on those already mentioned--forms chap. iii. of _Scottish Chap-books_, by John Fraser--a dissertation which brings into one view the gist of what has been written on this subject by Scott, Motherwell, Strang, Strathearn, and others.

That any other chapmen contributed to the series is not known, nor very probable, if we except two or three pieces that have been adopted from the writings of Wilson the ornithologist. That the calling afforded excellent opportunities for observing country life and manners is amply testified by those sketches of Graham’s, which in their graphic pictures of low life and morals are unsurpassed, unless in the _Jolly Beggars_. That a chapman’s opportunities may be employed in observing the finer traits of humble life is exemplified in the case of Alexander Laing of Brechin, whose _Wayside Flowers_ contain touches of pathos, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of feeling that rank him as high above Dougal in these respects as he is surpassed by him in force, breadth, and keenness of wit and humour.

The present issue of the Chap-books is printed from plates that have been used in producing the texts of chap circulation, and are the veritable impressions of these, with “all their imperfections on their heads.” The classification is an innovation, which, it is expected, will at least please the studious collector; and the extra margins, the want of which is the great difficulty in binding stray collections, should be welcomed by all who dislike to see the text stitched into the back of the binding.

THE LIFE

OF

DOUGAL GRAHAM.

It has been observed, by nearly every one who has written on the subject of Scottish chap-books, that, as truthful delineations of the manners and ways of thinking of native peasantry, they excel those of most other nations. There is an equal unanimity of opinion that this superiority of the Scottish chap-books is due to the penetrating observation, the broad humour, and the truthful adherence to nature of Dougal Graham--a genius of a somewhat grotesque type, whose literary ambition it was to make his writings “acceptable, especially, to those of common education” like himself; and whose social aspirations were satisfied by the appointment of _skellat_ bellman to the city of Glasgow.

Dougal was born in the small hamlet known by the Celtic name of Raploch, situated at the western base of the romantic rock on which stands Stirling Castle; and now in a most tumble-down condition, characteristically abandoned to the natives of Erin. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but is placed in or about the year 1724. Nothing is recorded of his boyhood and youth, except that he learned no trade, it is said, on account of the poverty of his parents, but probably as much on account of physical deformities, which rendered him unsuitable for most mechanical labour. His education does not appear to have gone beyond reading and writing; for his composition shows no traces of his having been taught any other grammar than that which regulates the conversation of the class whose manners he so faithfully sketches. It is related that he tried farm service for some time at Campsie, in the west of Stirlingshire, but soon found it incompatible with his physical constitution and the restlessness of his disposition.

If the date assigned to his birth be correct, he was only twenty-one when the rebellion of 1745 awoke the martial ardour of the youth of Scotland, and Dougal, notwithstanding his incapacity for bearing arms, had his love of adventure fired by the popular enthusiasm evoked by the romantic enterprise of “Prince Charlie.” The Fords of Frew, on the Forth--the Rubicon crossed by the Highland army in its march into the Lowlands--are only a few miles to the west of Dougal’s birthplace; and it was here that he appears to have embarked in the popular cause, with what purposes it would be difficult to say. In his metrical History of the Rebellion, although he writes in the first person, he makes no mention of any adventures personal to himself; he records only what he saw, and in the preface he says “that he had been an eye witness of most of the movements of the Highland army from the crossing of the Fords of Frew till the final defeat at Culloden.” Nor does he make any allusion to the capacity in which he observed the movements of the army; and, as it is every way improbable that he gave the Jacobites any other assistance than that of sympathy, the conjecture almost amounts to a certainty that he followed them as a sutler. He had sufficient pride not to mention the fact in his writings; yet, no doubt, a man of his genial and outspoken disposition must often have referred to the incidents of his campaigning among his boon companions. We are disposed to think, considering the circumstances, that he must have been born earlier than 1724; for the coolness and self-confidence, not to say the indifference, with which he regarded the success or failure of either side, the impartiality of his narrative, and, it is conjectured, his dealing with either side, according as it suited his convenience or his safety, argue greater experience of the world than could reasonably be expected of a person of such limited education at the age of twenty-one. It is true he was born within hearing of the muster trumpet of Stirling Castle, and must, from his boyhood, have been sufficiently familiar with the garrison exercises to make him at home in the bustle of a camp; but there is the fact, that, almost before the smoke of the rebellion was extinguished, his metrical History, consisting of over five thousand lines, Hudibrastic metre, is announced in the _Glasgow Courier_ as “A full and particular account of the late rebellion, in the years 1745 and 1746, beginning with the Pretender’s embarking for Scotland, and then, an account of every battle, siege, or skirmish that has happened in either Scotland, or England; to which is added several addresses and epistles to the Pope, Pagans, Poets, and Pretender; all in metre; price fourpence.” After stating that any bookseller of packman might have it on easier terms from James Duncan, or the author, D. Graham, it is added:--“The like has not been done since the days of David Lindsay.” The book appeared in September, 1746, and has been so popular, that by 1828 it reached its twentieth edition. The first edition is now supposed to be extinct; yet so late as 1830 a copy was in the possession of Sir Walter Scott, which he intended publishing, in facsimile, for the Maitland Club.

The statement in the advertisement, that dealers might have copies from the author, points to his having a place of business or residence in Glasgow; but this does not appear to have been the case, then at least, for in the preface he tells his readers that it was

“Composed by the Poet, Dougal Graham;
In Stirlingshire he lives at hame.”

The probability is that he made his father’s house at Raploch his home, whence he started on his journeys, as a chapman, through the counties of Stirling, Lanark, and Dumbarton, more rarely over the three Lothians, and occasionally into Fifeshire. Glasgow would, of course, be his purchasing market, which he would frequently visit for replenishing his stock; and, while there, his resort would be well known to his confrères in the “travelling line.” He continued thus for several years, after the publication of his history, compiling chap-books, and writing poems and songs, for which there seems to have been an eager competition among the booksellers of Glasgow, Paisley, Stirling and Falkirk, until, by his industry and saving, he accumulated sufficient capital to set up a printing office in the “Salt Mercat” of Glasgow.

Dougal did not make a fortune by his campaigning, any more than the chiefs whose wake he generally followed; but he was at least more fortunate than most of them, in getting back to where he might begin. At first he appears to have encountered some hardships for want of money, and, possibly from the dislike of Jacobitism, and all who “_melled_ with the rebels,” for which Glasgow was distinguished; and the exasperation caused by these difficulties he ventilates on the heads of the Papists, to whom, with bad rhyme, and worse reason, he attributes the general scarcity of money, and his own in particular:

“You Papists are a cursed race,
And this I tell you to your face;
And your images of gold so fine,
Their curses fall on me and mine.
Likewise themselves at any rate,
For money now is ill to get.
I have run my money to an en’,
And have nouther paper nor pen
To write thir lines, the way you see me,
And there’s none for to supplie me.”

As may be inferred from his having soon after set up in business, his finances did not remain long in the condition implied in the above doggerel; and in 1752, in the preface to a second edition of his History, he styles himself “merchant,” a title which ambitious pedlars assumed on finding themselves progressing in business and wealth, which many of them did, to the extent of making large fortunes, and founding establishments whose present owners are merchant princes of Glasgow.

Whether the phrase “me and mine” in the above quotation means a wife and children, as it is usually understood, or dependent parents, or whether mine is a mere expansion for rhyme’s sake, is uncertain; for there is no authentic account of his having ever married; but an advertisement which appeared in the _Glasgow Journal_ of 14th June, 1764, _crying down the credit_ “of Jean Stark, spouse of Dougal Graham, ale seller above the Cross, Glasgow,” for having parted from her husband, has raised some doubts about his having always retained his single blessedness. There is, however, no other evidence than the coincidence of his name with that of a less fortunate clansman, to identify the real Dougal with the “ale seller above the Cross.” The fact that a namesake was such, would naturally lead to a confounding of his name with the better known of the two; and out of the confusion of names would originate the tradition that Dougal the poet was Dougal the ale seller.

When he learned printing, and the date of his setting up in that art, in the Saltmarket, are not known. A second edition of his “History of the Rebellion” having been published in 1752, it is very natural to suppose that he learned type-setting and the other details necessary for printing the class of publications in which he dealt, during its progress through the press. Like his better known predecessor, Ramsay, whom he resembled in many traits of character, he relinquished the reputedly less respectable profession as soon as he found that he could depend upon the more dignified one of printer. It is obvious, also, that, to a person of his constitution, travelling must have been attended with difficulties which would create a strong desire to quit it as soon as possible.

The next event in Dougal’s career of which we have any information, and that which, it is most likely, he would himself consider the crowning success of his life, is his appointment as bellman to the city of Glasgow. Of this it might be thought that the date, or a close approximation to it, might be found in some of the public records of the city, for at that time the office was one of considerable importance; and many duties connected with the municipality, as the ringing of the Skellat bell and attending the meetings of the Town Council, in the livery of his office, were discharged by the bellman. The emoluments also were considerable, for, besides his official salary of ten pounds, and many valuable perquisites, the bellman was then the chief advertising medium. The year 1772 is assigned as the most probable date of the election; and as the candidates for the office were unusually numerous, the competition was keener than ordinary. As the selection was to be made after a public trial of the fitness of the candidates before the magistrates, the arrangement was all in Dougal’s favour, for he was just the man to undergo such an ordeal triumphantly. But his connection with the Rebellion, and suspicions, not without foundation, that he still sympathized with the Jacobite cause, were election weapons not likely to be overlooked by his opponents, to rouse the Hanoverianism of the magistrates against him, so that, notwithstanding the toning down of political asperity, and Dougal’s advances in popular favour, as a poet and a wit, it needed all his address to overcome what George Caldwell, his Paisley publisher, called the _ill brew_ (ill will) of the Glasgow bailies against Highlanders and anybody that _melled_ (associated) with the rebels.

The trial of skill took place in the court behind the old Town’s Hospital, near the Clyde; and the popular traditional account of the event represents Dougal as the hero of the occasion. After the other candidates had tried the strength of their lungs and the reach of their voices on the announcement of “Fresh herrings at the Broomielaw,” he sang out at the top of his voice, with simulated gravity, in a manner that put them all in the shade--

“Caller herring at the Broomielaw,
Three a penny, three a penny.”

But remembering that it was not the season for fresh herring, he added, with the comic confidence for which he was distinguished--

“But indeed, my friends, it is a’ a blawflum,
For the herring’s no catch’d and the boat’s no come.”

Dougal was elected unanimously, and the traditional fame of his bellmanship leaves no doubt that he discharged the duties of the office to the satisfaction of the magistrates, and the advantage and entertainment of the public. He was imbued with all the love of fun and drollery of an Irishman, and all the pawky sarcastic humour, and independent sagacity of a Scot; and invariably drew large crowds to hear his rhymed or otherwise queerly-worded notices, to which his laugh-provoking manner gave additional point.

His appointment as bellman did not necessitate the giving up of his business; and he still continued to write and print with unabated vigour; indeed, some of the most popular productions of his pen are assigned to this date. In 1774 he issued a third edition of his _History of the Rebellion_, with “amendments,” and the addition of “a description of the dangers and travels of the Pretender through the Highland isles after the break at Culloden.” It extends to 189 pages, and contains plans of the battles of Prestonpans, Clifton, Falkirk, and Culloden; with a full-length woodcut portrait of the author, in his bellman costume, fronting the title-page; and bears to have been printed by John Robertson, Glasgow. This edition, there is every probability in supposing, was the last issued during his lifetime, for between it and the second there is a space of twelve years, and, allowing for his increased popularity, six years is a short enough time to allow for the disposal of it. We are unable to get any trace of the fourth--the third, of which, probably, there was a much larger edition, being the oftenest met with of the early editions; but the fifth, we learn from Campbell’s History of Scottish Poetry, was issued by John Robertson in 1787, eight years after the author’s death, and is, no doubt, along with the fourth, a reprint of the third. Besides the additions already indicated, this last has a new preface, very much in Ramsay’s style, in which he gives his motives for having written the book. “First, then, I have an itch for scribbling; and having wrote the following for my pleasure, I had an ambition to have this child of mine placed out in the world; expecting, if it should thrive and do well, it might bring credit or comfort to the parent. For it is my firm opinion that parental affection is as strong towards children of the brain as those produced by ordinary generation. I have wrote it in vulgar rhyme, being not only what pleased my own fancy, but what I have found acceptable to the most part of my countrymen, especially those of common education like myself. If I have done well, it is what I should like; and if I have failed, it is what mankind are liable to. Therefore, let cavilers rather write a better one, than pester themselves and the public with criticisms on my faults.”

The half-apologetic reason for having written in vulgar rhyme, coupled with the addenda in the advertisement of the first edition, “the like has not been done since the days of David Lindsay,” almost lead to the inference that he was acquainted with Lindsay’s works; while the reference to “those of common education _like myself_,” does not support the assertion that “he got no education.” The disappearance of the first and second editions makes it impossible to ascertain the extent of the “amendments” which he made on their texts; but they are said to be in the way of toning down the Jacobite leanings, in deference to the Hanoverianism of his patrons, the Glasgow magistrates. On this is founded a charge of trimming, which, the impossibility presently existing of comparing the two texts, prevents our either verifying or refuting. We must therefore suspend our judgment until a copy of either of the lost editions turns up--if that should ever happen. Meanwhile, it may be observed that the edition “amended,” as he himself calls it, was published two years after his appointment as bellman, and could no way influence his preference to that office. If made in remembrance of past favours, it at least shows a sense of gratitude; but this is proverbially not a strong motive; and as to future favours, there is every reason to think that Dougal’s ambition in that direction was already satisfied. If we also take into consideration that the History was written when he was little over twenty-one, and published within a few months of the last and misguided struggle of the clans, too soon to admit of the events truthfully recorded being impartially judged, and before the lapse of time admitted of their being seen in their true bearings, that, nearly thirty years afterwards, “amendments” were made on some of his early judgments, need excite no suspicion that they went beyond the real change in his convictions.

We have no wish to claim for Dougal, and it would be unfair to exact of him a high moral standard: he had been all his life too much under the stern discipline of circumstances, and saw too much of its levelling effects to have retained--if he ever possessed--any sympathy for that scrupulosity of thought and conduct which constitutes a high principled character. But we see nothing in his behaviour which betrays any lack of spirit or independence; the quotations from his preface are the expression of sober self-respect, without egotism; conveyed in quaint, but appropriate language, and full of good common sense.

We have dwelt upon the “_History of the Rebellion_,” not because we think it the greatest--though by far the largest of his works--but, because its history is almost the only authentic nucleus round which the events of his life cluster; the only “child of his brain,” of which he himself acknowledges the fatherhood. For this reason, and because of the disappearance of first editions, it has been found impossible to determine the date, or even his authorship, of many popular chap-books ascribed to his pen. Fortunately, the authorship of the best of them rests upon the authority of Motherwell the poet, whose information, derived, as it is, direct from his “intelligent” friend, George Caldwell, the chief publisher of Dougal’s “_Penny Histories_,” is of the most reliable kind. His article in the _Paisley Magazine_ of January, 1829, on “Dougald Graham” being the stimulus and groundwork of all subsequent investigations on the subject.

The incidents of Dougal’s official life being committed to the keeping of tradition, have faded out of public memory with the generation whose sides were tickled by his jokes; but a list of his chap-books made by Motherwell, lets us see how he employed his literary leisure, and the date of publication of the last but one on the list, brings us to the date of his exit from the scene which his pen and his voice helped so much to enliven. It is generally agreed that “_Jockie and Maggie’s Courtship_” is the first of his original prose compositions; and that it was written some time after his having set up in business as a printer. He appears to have previously devoted his pen entirely to the service of the poetic muses; and is the originator of those comic, but harmless satires on the simplicity and imperfect English of Highlanders, of which his _John Hielandman_ and _Turnimspike_ are the prototypes. But, like his greater countryman, and it may be added, his greatest extinguisher, Scott--and much about the same age--after he had worked out the poetic vein, he discovered a prose one, equally prolific, and of richer ore; but of which, like the “Great Unknown,” he preferred to be the unknown excavator. It is an odd coincidence that, like Scott, too, he frequently wrote under cognomens, as _John Falkirk_, or _The Scots Piper_. The following is Motherwell’s list of his prose tracts, with the dates of the earliest editions which he was able to obtain:--_Leper the Tailor_,