Chapter XV: Conclusion--Charles interrupts the Congress--Is (3)

The next question, as to the identity of the hero of _The Merry Exploits of George Buchanan_, is one upon which a more definite opinion can be expressed, though it has given rise to several curious notions. The idea most common at the present day among the mass of the Scottish people is that there were two Scotsmen who bore the name of George Buchanan, one of them being the King’s fool, and the other the eminent Latinist, historian, and poet. This theory, it must be confessed, is the one which does the most credit to the scholar, but we are afraid it does not do justice to the fact. There can be no doubt, from many of the stories given in the chap-book, that George Buchanan, the scholar, is the person pointed at; and a careful consideration of his life and opinions, viewed in the light in which these were regarded by many of his contemporaries and immediate successors, will readily furnish the origin of the extraordinary actions attributed to him. We must not, however, be understood to give countenance to another impression, by no means uncommon among a certain class, that George Buchanan acted as the King’s buffoon or fool. The life of the historian of Scotland was cast in a troublous age. Born in the year 1506, he was an active participant in the turmoil of the Reformation period, and had a large share in the proceedings against the unfortunate Queen Mary. Like most of the reformers his nature was stiff and unbending, but he possessed a dry and caustic wit which made him valuable to his friends and more and more hated by his enemies. His opponents took every opportunity to vilify his character, and spread abroad by means of books and conversations, after his death, even by Acts of the Scottish Estates, aspersions on his life and opinions. To show how this was done, one or two instances may be given. A French priest named Garasse, in a work entitled _Doctrine Curieuse_,--an edition of which was published in 1590, a few years after Buchanan’s death--speaks of that illustrious man as a ‘hard drinker.’ After endeavouring to show how his whole life had been one of continual debauchery, Garasse proceeds with his shameless libel, and makes Buchanan say on his death-bed, in answer to the remonstrances of his doctors:--‘“Go along with you, you and your prescriptions and dietaries! I would far rather live only three jolly weeks, getting comfortably drunk every day, than live six dreary _wineless_ years.” ... He died in brief space, however; his chamber being then rarely littered with glasses and wine-measures.’ In his native country, also, his memory was abused. His death in 1582 was little noticed, but it was soon followed by an outburst against his writings. His works have long been regarded as valuable in spite of the many defects they admittedly have; but the Scottish Estates, in 1584, issued an order for their purgation because they contained ‘sundrie offensive matters, worthie to be detecte,’ because of their ‘steiring up his hienes subjectes theirby to misliking sedition unquietness, and to cast off their due obedience to his Majestie.’ Heylin, in his _Cosmographie_, said Buchanan’s _History of Scotland_ and _De Jure Regni_ had ‘wrought more mischief in the world than all Machiavel’s works’; and the authorities of the University of Oxford, in 1683, publicly burned the political works of George Buchanan, along with others equally obnoxious to them. These few incidents, among many, are sufficient to indicate how the extraordinary stories told in the chap-book came to be attached to George Buchanan, one of the most learned and cultured men of his time. There is good ground for the remark that the _Merry Exploits of George Buchanan_ ‘is a terrible libel on an eminent man; never was mental greatness so “let down” in the popular estimation as by this vulgar performance; by and through which Buchanan’s humble countrymen were taught, not to look up to him, but down upon him as a coarse buffoon.’[30] It must be admitted, however, that there is strong reason to suspect that many of the stories were current before the issue of the chap-book, but it, of course, would help to perpetuate the libels. The conclusion from what has been said may be thus briefly summarised. Dougal Graham seems to have been the collector of ridiculous stories about George Buchanan, the scholar and historian, these stories being, for the most part, manifestly untrue, but the natural offspring of the more elaborate libels written and spoken against him immediately after his death.

Many editions of this chap-book have been published, and it promises to have the longest life of any of its race, for it is still being issued. The copy reprinted in this work was published in Falkirk in 1799. Among the other editions we have seen are the following:--One issued in Edinburgh bears ‘to be printed in this present year,’ a somewhat indefinite intimation, consisting of 47 duodecimo pages; and one in two numbers of 24 pp. each, printed in Newcastle by G. Angus, without date, and apparently complete. The earliest edition mentioned is one published by A. Robertson, Coalhill, Leith, in 1765. It was an octavo, in six parts of eight pages each, with a title-page to each part. Another was printed by W. R. Walker, Royal Arcade, Newcastle-on-Tyne, but it bears no date. The Robertsons, of the Saltmarket, Glasgow, also issued several editions of this chap-book, among the rest of their ‘Standards.’

Having thus gone over, with as much detail as possible, the various works attributed to Dougal Graham, it will be proper to give the list of them, with the dates of the editions reprinted in these volumes:--

1.--The History of the Rebellion, 3rd Edition. Glasgow, 1774.
2.--John Hielandman’s Remarks on Glasgow, n.d.
3.--Turnimspike, n.d.
4.--Tugal M‘Tagger, n.d.
5.--Had awa’ frae me, Donald, n.d.
6.--Jockey and Maggy’s Courtship. Glasgow, 1779.
7.--The Coalman’s Courtship. Glasgow, 1782.
8.--Lothian Tom. Edinburgh, 1775.
9.--John Cheap the Chapman. Falkirk, 1798.
10.--Leper the Taylor. Stirling, 1799.
11.--The Taylor’s Funeral. 1816.
12.--Haverel Wives. Glasgow, 1781.
13.--Janet Clinker’s Oration. Glasgow, 1807.
14.--The Witty Jokes of John Falkirk. Edinburgh, 1777.
15.--John Falkirk’s Cariches. Stirling, n.d.
16.--Pady from Cork. Glasgow, 1807.
17.--Simple John, _alias_ Simple Tam. Glasgow, 1780.
18.--History of Buckhaven. Glasgow, 1806.
19.--George Buchanan. Stirling, 1795.

Such is the catalogue of Graham’s works--works with which it is believed he had something more or less to do--and which we have been able to find. Of the others attributed to him, but unfound, are:--

20.--Verses on Popular Superstitions.
21.--Dialogue between the Pope and the Prince of Darkness.
22.--Epitaph on the Third Command.
23.--Life and Transactions of Alexander Hamwinkle.
24.--Warning to Methodist Preachers.
25.--Second Warning to Methodist Preachers.
26.--Proverbs on the Pride of Women.
27.--Verses on the Pride of Women.
28.--Dying Groans of John Barleycorn.[31]

There are probably others of which even the names have been lost; but it seems likely that very few, if any, of those classified as not found, will ever be traced. It is a pity that this should be so; and every lover of the literary antiquities of Scotland must fondly hope that in the course of time, by some happy accident, the lost chap-books of Dougal Graham may again see the light of day.

By way of conclusion, it will be appropriate to discuss the general character of these works. Such an inquiry involves the weighing of opinions of several writers who, it must be admitted on all hands, were in every way qualified to give a judgment in the matter.

The leading opinion must, of course, be that of Sir Walter Scott. This is the record Strang[32] gives of it:--‘A history of the vulgar literature of Scotland has been long and is unquestionably still a desideratum, for certainly nothing could tend to throw so much light on the manners and tastes of the great body of the people as such a work. In 1830 it was hoped that Sir Walter Scott--than whom no man could have so well and so heartily performed the task--would have undertaken it as a preface to Dougal Graham’s History of the Rebellion, which, as we have hinted, he proposed giving to the Maitland Club, but unfortunately he abandoned the idea; yet, in doing so, Sir Walter, in a letter dated 10th May, 1830, to the writer of this volume, among other things of Dougal, said--“Neither had I the least idea of his being the author of so much of our Bibliotheque Bleue as you ascribe to him, embracing unquestionably several coarse but excessively meritorious pieces of popular humour. The _Turnamspike_ alone was sufficient to entitle him to immortality. I had, in my early life, a great collection of these chap-books, and had six volumes of them bought before I was ten years old, comprehending most of the more rare and curious of our popular tracts.”’

Motherwell, again, says that he himself projected--but was unable, through want of leisure, and the difficulty of obtaining materials, to carry his intention into effect--a history of vulgar literature, in which, as a matter of course, Graham must have occupied a prominent place. Referring to the _History of the Rebellion_, he says:--‘However slightingly we esteem his metrical powers, we really believe he has conscientiously and honestly detailed the events which came under his observation. It is not, however, on the merits of this work, that Graham’s fame rests. Had he only written it, we believe he never would have occupied our thoughts for a moment; but as one who subsequently contributed largely to the amusement of the lower classes of his countrymen, we love to think of the facetious bellman. To his rich vein of gross comic humour, laughable and vulgar description, great shrewdness of observation, and strong, though immeasurably coarse sense, every one of us, after getting out of toy books and fairy tales, has owed much. In truth, it is no exaggeration when we state, that he who desires to acquire a thorough knowledge of low Scottish life, vulgar manners, national characteristics, and popular jokes, must devote his days and nights to the study of John Cheap the Chapman--Leper the Taylor--Paddy from Cork--The whole proceedings of Jockie and Maggie’s Courtship--Janet Clinker’s Orations--Simple John, &c., all productions of Dougald’s fertile brain, and his unwearied application to the cultivation of vulgar literature. To refined taste Dougald had no pretensions. His indelicacy is notorious--his coarseness an abomination--but they are characteristic of the class for whom he wrote. He is thoroughly imbued with the national humours and peculiarities of his countrymen of the humblest classes, and his pictures of their manners, modes of thinking and conversation, are always sketched with a strong and faithful pencil. Indeed, the uncommon popularity the chap-books above noted have acquired, entitles them, in many a point of view, to the regard of the moralist, and the literary historian. We meet with them on every stall, and in every cottage. They are essentially the Library of Entertaining Knowledge to our peasantry, and have maintained their ground in the affections of the people, notwithstanding the attempt of religious, political, or learned associations, to displace them, by substituting more elegant and wholesome literature in their stead.’[33]

Dr. Strang’s judgment is similar:--‘Of the vulgar literature to which we have referred, and of so much of which Dougal Graham was the author, it is enough to say that it really contributed the chief literary pabulum enjoyed by the bulk of our countrymen in the humbler walks of life; and though the jokes therein promulgated certainly were broad, and sometimes even grossly indecent, they were not untrue portraitures of Scottish life and Scottish manners.’[34]

Professor Fraser thus discusses the same matter:--‘He [Graham] possessed this advantage over the ordinary historian; that the latter from his superior height and position seldom condescended to enter the huts of the poor, and when he did enter, the inmates were frightened into their “Sunday clothes and manners” by his stately and majestic presence. But Dougal, being himself one of the poorest, introduces us into the most secret, domestic, and every-day life and thoughts of the lower classes of last century. Nothing is hidden from him. He is treated with a familiarity which shows that his hosts have no wish to hide anything. Then, too, he made his reader familiar not only with their mode of life, but with the peculiarities of their dialect, and in this way shed a not unfrequent light on philology. Add to these virtues that Dougal is never out of humour, always laughing and gossiping, drinking and telling old tales. His laughter, also, is contagious; we cannot contain ourselves. All his stories are full of people who laugh “like to burst,” and one cannot help but join them in their cacchinations. Nor are his sketches wanting in dramatic power. The characters are full of individuality and life, rendered more significant by a local flavour of demeanor and dialect. More than one of them might have afforded models for some of the raciest of Scott’s creations, and all of them are instinct with genuine humour and vitality.’[35]

Such were the opinions regarding the writings of Dougal Graham, given expression to by four men who had studied them, and saw their value. It is difficult, and almost unnecessary, to add anything further to what they have said; but in bringing this account of Graham’s works to a close, we may be permitted to supplement the judgments quoted, by a few additional speculations.

Much has been said about the value these writings possess, because they are, for the most part, truthful descriptions of the life of the Scottish people of last century. In what other works, or series of works--even those professedly dealing with the subject--can there be obtained such a knowledge of how the common people lived a century or two ago? We venture to affirm that such cannot be found. The life of the people is the life of the nation; and if it be a virtue to write personal biography like Boswell, it is surely more so to record the inner life of a nation, like Graham. Both, differing widely in many and important respects, have attained success by the same means--by placing before their readers sketches of private life, of the life which is most natural and least artificial, and which gives the best notion of the feelings and motives that guided either individuals or nations to success or failure. To understand thoroughly the history of Scotland in the eighteenth century, the ordinary historical works, dealing principally with great movements and events, must be read in the light, and by the aid, of the popular literature of that period; in the same way as the resident of the twentieth century, desiring to know the true history of the present age must, while looking to its great religious, philanthropic, scientific, commercial, political, and military achievements, also take into account the criminal records, the proceedings of the courts, the annals of the poor, and the ephemeral literature of all kinds.

Another line of thought is suggested by the indelicacy of expression so frequently to be found in Graham’s works. That such indelicacy exists in his works must be admitted; but in this respect they are no worse than, and will compare favourably with, the writings of many of the most prominent Scottish authors, such as Sir David Lindsay, and others. Indeed, it is worthy of notice, that men such as Fielding, Sterne, Swift, and Smollet, highly educated, and moving in a better circle of society in the same age with Dougal Graham, have tainted their writings with the grossness which has been noticed, and which, in their case, is less easily excused. The fault was in the time when plain speaking took the place now occupied by inuendo. Notwithstanding this, it cannot but be noticed that in his writings there is a native manliness not often discovered in works having greater pretensions; that there is no mawkish sentiment or sickly prudishness; and that in the presentation of pictures of life, they have no artificial draperies more suggestive than nature itself. There is a tendency on the part of those who have written upon this subject, to deplore the indelicacy of many passages of Graham’s works. We do not feel ourselves under any obligation to do so, for had the author toned down the colouring of some of his chap-books, they would have been untrue to nature to the extent of the suppression. What should be regretted was the immorality and coarseness so prevalent among the lower classes in Scotland during last century; and he who wishes to further the improvement and condition of the people will welcome Graham’s chap-books as showing distinctly what required reformation a century ago. It would hardly be too much to say, that in some parts of Scotland a state of matters very little different from what Graham frequently describes, may still be found. Any one who is at all acquainted with life among the lower classes, must admit that these descriptions are true to nature, and that a study of them is necessary before we can know thoroughly upon what the present superstructure of Scottish civilisation has been built. Graham, perhaps unintentionally, has held ‘the mirror up to nature,’ has shown ‘virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.’

It would be difficult, again, to over-estimate the value of Dougal Graham’s works as affording illustrations of the folk-lore of Scotland. Almost all the superstitions that obtained among the common people of his time he has touched upon either directly or indirectly; and in many instances he has given information upon this and kindred subjects which it would be difficult to find anywhere else. While all his chap-books may be found useful in this direction, a few of them stand out as perfect storehouses of folk-lore. Among the most notable of these are _The History of Buckhaven_, _The History of the Haveral Wives_, _Jockey and Maggy’s Courtship_, the three parts of _Leper the Taylor_, and even _Pady from Cork_. In the first-mentioned chap-book there are some particularly valuable notes about the opinions current regarding the Arch-enemy and all his supposed representatives on earth, such as witches, kelpies, fairies, and ‘bogles’ of all kinds. The folk-lore of the hare, or ‘mauken,’ in this work is also very full, and has given Mr. William George Black, F.S.A., Scot., a valuable illustration for his able article on ‘The Hare in Folk-Lore,’ in a recent issue of _The Folk-Lore Journal_. Similar remarks could be made about the other chap-books specially named, but enough has been said in a general way to indicate their value in this direction. In the notes to the chap-books themselves some attempt may be made to show, in a manner more detailed than is possible here, their worth as throwing light upon the superstitions prevalent during the eighteenth century.

How far the genius of Dougal Graham would have been affected by an education superior to that which he obtained, it would be difficult to say. Possibly greater culture might have raised him to the rank of a Scott; perhaps it might only have left him in the ranks of mediocrity. In the one case he would have produced works of greater literary value; in the other, possibly, none at all. One thing is evident, however, that a series of writings which discover the under-currents of Scottish life in a busy century, would have been lost to literature, and that whatever gain there may have in one direction, it could hardly counter-balance the loss another way. Taking Dougal Graham all in all, his uncultured energy, his ‘hameliness,’ and his ready wit, have won for him a place in Scottish literature it would be difficult to supply, and which no one but himself was qualified to occupy. What that place was we shall endeavour to show in the following pages, when dealing with the chap-literature of Scotland.

III.--THE CHAP-LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND.

Fully half a century ago, William Motherwell, whose name has been frequently mentioned in these pages, penned this sentence:--‘A History of Vulgar Literature, from the earliest of the present times, we believe, would form a valuable acquisition to the libraries of the curious.’ About thirty years later Dr. Strang expressed the same idea in terms somewhat similar:--‘A history of the vulgar literature of Scotland has been long and is unquestionably still, a desideratum, for certainly nothing could tend to throw so much light on the manners and tastes of the great body of the people as such a work.’ Notwithstanding the lapse of time the work so much desired has yet to be done; though Professor Fraser within recent years has brought together, in a concise form, material regarding chap-literature, which, before his work on the Humorous Chap-Books of Scotland, was only to be found in fragments in various books and magazines. By his own confession, however, his work is merely an instalment, and, as we have indicated, a history of the chap-literature of Scotland has yet to be written. It is a matter to be regretted that the popular works of last century--the works which found most favour with the great mass of the people, and which, with the addition of the Bible, was the bulk of their reading--should have been over-looked. No complaint can be made of any neglect of the higher walks in the profession of letters in the eighteenth century. The philosophers, poets, novelists, and historians of Scotland in the last century, have had at least justice done them. But their works, for the most part, were addressed to the educated, then a small proportion of the population. Those who wrote for the people--for the uneducated peasantry--have been ignored, a notable exception being Burns, whose works were popular with all classes. Their works were long considered to be unworthy of notice; and out of a very large issue, there can now only be found a few stray leaflets. With such material as can be had, a short sketch of that literature is given in the following pages, for the purpose of showing the place occupied in it by Dougal Graham.

‘Our fathers have told us,’ could the mediæval Scot say as well as the ancient Israelite, for the traditions of former days in ballad, song, and story, were handed down from generation to generation. In the good old times, the gaberlunzie man would rehearse, by the peat fire of some remote farm-house, tales of the present and the past; or the discredited minstrel of the ‘iron time’ would tune--

---- ‘To please a peasant’s ear,
The harp a king had loved to hear.’

From these, celebrated by royal and knightly poets, and encircled by the halo of romance, we must descend to the more prosaic, because better known, chapman, who, in a latter age, filled their places. Travelling over the country with a pack composed of haberdashery goods of the most varied kind, and with coarsely printed specimens of the literature to which his profession has given a name, he retailed at each farm-house the news he had heard on his journeys; and on a winter’s evening, by the kitchen fire, he could make the time seem to pass swiftly, as he drew upon his experience for stories of the most wonderful description, or recalled the days of chivalry by his old-world tales. He was thus admitted to the inner circle: he mixed with the people as one of themselves.

Having thus shown the chapman’s descent, it will be interesting to notice the origin of the name given to his profession, if it may be so called. Professor Fraser says ‘the prefix “chap” originally meant “to cheap or cheapen,” as in the word “cheapening-place,” meaning a market-place,--hence the English Cheapside and Eastcheap.’ In addition, it may be stated that the word ‘chapman’ is derived from the Anglo-Saxon “ceap-man,” _ceap_ meaning ‘a sale, or bargain’; and it is related to the Suio-Gothic or Swedish _keop-a_, whence is derived the Scottish ‘coup’ or ‘cowp,’ now confined to horse-selling, colloquially spoken of as ‘horse-cowping.’ Another illustration may be found in the name ‘Chepstow,’ a place in Monmouthshire, meaning a market, or place for chapmen. The general title of ‘chap-books’ was given to small tracts hawked through the country by these worthies, who, however, were willing to sell anything upon which they could make a profit. Their business was a necessity of the times, when roads were bad, when stage-coaches were hardly known, and when railways would have been thought an impossibility and absurdity. The people in the rural districts bought all their smallwares from them; and the visit of the chapman to a remote Lowland village, or Highland clachan, was an event to be remembered by the women-folks far and near.

When and how the chap-literature of Scotland took its origin it would be difficult to say with anything like precision. There is, however, good ground for the assumption that it may have originated about the period of the Covenanting troubles, and that it probably received its first material impetus from the Revolution of 1688. As early as 1644, Zachary Boyd, for some time minister of the Barony Parish of Glasgow, and Vice-Chancellor of the University, complained to the General Assembly about the ‘idle books, ... fables, love-songs, baudry ballads, heathen husks, youth’s poison,’ in circulation. Printing was then in its infancy in Scotland, and it is interesting to note how, thus early in its existence, it sought to extend to the people a cheap literature which, though perhaps not of the most wholesome kind, might hardly be deserving of the strictures of the stern presbyterian of the seventeenth century. After the Restoration, a change appears to have come over the popular literature; a new element was introduced; and the internal evidence of the chap-books relating to Peden, Cargill, and other worthies of the ‘killing time,’ indicate that their first editions were published within a few years at least of the events recorded in them. The press, apparently, was made great use of by the preachers who had been ousted from their pulpits; and many sermons were sent out in the form of chap-books. In the second portion of the library of the late Dr. David Laing, which was recently sold off in London, there was an interesting volume of chap-books relating chiefly to Scottish religious and ecclesiastical affairs. Among others, it included the following:--‘Renwick (J.), Man’s Great Concernment, 1687’; ‘Love (C.), Christ’s Glorious Appearance, _Glasgow_, 1692’; and ‘Row (J.), Sermon commonly known by the Pockmanty Preaching, _Edin._, 1723.’ From what has been said, there seems to be little doubt that the chap-literature of Scotland was of somewhat earlier origin than that of England. A recent writer, referring to English chap-books, says:--‘The Chap-book proper did not exist before the former date [1700], unless the Civil War and political tracts can be so termed. Doubtless these were hawked by the pedlars, but they were not those penny worths, suitable to everybody’s taste, and within the reach of anybody’s purse, owing to their extremely low price, which must, or ought to have, extracted every available copper in the village, when the Chapman opened his budget of brand-new books.’[36]

But happier times produced a further change on Scottish chap-literature, which again included within its borders productions of a less sober character than sermons and the lives and opinions of martyrs, though these still held their ground in public estimation. Among the chaps, the originals or early reprints of which were published at the beginning of the eighteenth century, were many of a religious or semi-religious character, such as the following:--‘Last Words of Christian Kerr, _Edin._, 1708’; ‘Description of Jerusalem, _Edin._, 1727’; and ‘Last Words of Margaret Abercromby, _Edin._, 1729.’ As for the ‘Pockmanty Preaching,’ already mentioned as having been issued in 1723, it was one of a considerable class which has been well represented in _Scottish Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed_. About this time, also, Allan Ramsay published many of his earlier poems in chap-book or broadside form, and to this must be attributed the speedy hold he took on the favour of the people. Chalmers, in his life of the poet, says that after the year 1715, Ramsay ‘wrote many petty poems, which from time to time he published at a proportionate price. In this form, his poetry was at the time attractive; and the women of Edinburgh were wont to send out their children, with a penny, to buy “Ramsay’s last piece.” ... On those principles he published, about the year 1716, the “Christ’s Kirk on the Green.”’[37] Though he did not long continue this practice, he had afterwards to suffer some annoyance by others doing it for him. In his ‘Address to the Town Council of Edinburgh,’ written in 1721, he complains that he had ‘suffer’d muckle wrang’ by ‘Lucky Reid and ballad-singers,’ publishing a trashy edition of his pastoral on Addison. He bewails the many mistakes in it, and says that publication kept him from his natural rest.

The ‘Lucky Reid,’ mentioned in Ramsay’s complaint, was the widow of John Reid, printer, in Bell’s Wynd, Edinburgh. Reid did a large business in issuing scraps of popular literature. He was the original publisher of many of the strange productions of William Mitchell, _alias_ ‘The Tinclarian Doctor;’ an odd being who sought by his works to spread ‘light’ throughout Scotland. Mitchell was a lamplighter in Edinburgh for twelve years, but, losing this situation, he got, as he says himself, ‘an inward call from the Spirit, to give light to the ministers.’ His works may be classed among the chap-books of Scotland, for, though he sold them himself, and did not allow them to be retailed by the chapmen, they are of the same description.

Great activity in the publication of chap-books is known to have been displayed by printers in the various cities and towns in Scotland for the next decade or two; though, as far as can be judged from the few remnants of their productions still to be found, there was no author who, in any way, marked the literature with his individuality. Small collections of songs seem to have been in great request; old ballads were reprinted, and extracts were made from the writings of many of the poets; and the chap literature of England, which by this time had attained to some maturity, was beginning to make an impression on the Scottish people. Dream-books, and small works relating to astrology, palmistry, physiognomy, foreign travel, and such like, had become common, and were hailed by the people with manifest delight. These publications, issued at a price which put them within the reach of all classes, served to keep alive the superstitious beliefs which to this day are by no means eradicated from the popular mind, and which occasionally show themselves in most unlooked for quarters, and under the most extraordinary circumstances. Even the semi-religious chap-books had a tendency in this direction; and the so-called prophecies of the leaders in the Covenanting movement were regarded as certain of fulfilment, each change being eagerly watched and noticed as having a bearing upon the utterance of some martyr to the unholy zeal of the persecutors. As the general prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer, the seer of Ercildoune, were regarded as finding their fulfilment in the political events of the time; as the prophecies of Mother Shipton have recently been scanned, and even caused agitation among a nervous few, on account of the prediction--

‘The world to an end shall come,
In eighteen hundred and eighty-one’;

so were the sayings of Peden, Cargill, and others, believed to be finding their realisation in the many actual and supposed calamities that every now and then occurred within the land for which they had suffered so much. An interesting notice of the power of these books is furnished by the Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk, in the middle of last century:--‘In the month of March or April this year [1744], having gone down [from Glasgow] with a merchant to visit New Port-Glasgow, as our dinner was preparing at the inn, we were alarmed with the howling and weeping of half-a-dozen of women in the kitchen, which was so loud and lasting that I went to see what was the matter, when, after some time, I learnt from the calmest among them that a pedlar had left a copy of Peden’s _Prophecies_ that morning, which having read part of, they found that he had predicted woes of every kind to the people of Scotland; and in particular that Clyde would run with blood in the year 1744, which now being some months advanced, they believed that their destruction was at hand. I was puzzled how to pacify them, but calling for the book, I found that the passage which had terrified them was contained in the forty-fourth paragraph, without any allusion whatever to the year; and by this means I quieted their lamentations. Had the intended expedition of Mareschal Saxe been carried into execution that year, as was intended, their fears might have been realised.’[38] An instance of the supposed fulfilment of a prophecy of Thomas the Rhymer, about this date, may be cited from Dougal Graham’s _History of the Rebellion_. Referring to Prestonpans, and after describing the battle fought there on the 21st of September, 1745, between the clans under Prince Charlie and the troops under Sir John Cope, he says:--

‘The place old Rhymer told long before,
“That between Seaton and the sea,
“A dreadful morning there should be,
“Meet in the morning lighted by the moon,
“The lion his wound here, heal shall not soon.”
In Thomas’ book of this you’ll read,
Mention’d by both Merlin and Bead.’

The publication, in 1746, of Dougal Graham’s _History of the Rebellion_, marks the beginning of an important era in the progress of the chap literature of Scotland. Larger than most of the works hitherto issued to the public at a cheap rate and through the medium of pedlars, the living interest it possessed, by dealing with events and aspirations which at that time still had a firm hold on the minds of the people, gave it a popularity hardly less than that attained by the smaller and cheaper productions preceding it. Even yet, it possesses a unique position among its class. But the _History_ is also interesting in its relation to Scottish popular literature in that it was the first known publication of an author whose numerous works afterwards gave to it a distinctive character, and elevated it to a rank certainly not equalled by the kindred literature of England. It is probable that the publication of Graham’s works extended from 1746 until his death in 1779, the poetical pieces being first in order; and, while there is no definite information on the point, it can be fairly assumed that they from the first made a distinct impression. Their predecessors, though they had a strong hold upon the popular favour, treated for the most part either with the theological and superstitious sides of the Scottish nature, or with peculiarities common to every section of the island. Dougal struck out a new line, described Scottish life as he found it and knew it by personal observation and contact. By this means he was able to present to his readers vigorous pictures of the life they themselves lived, the opinions they themselves expressed, the language in which they spoke, and, above all, he could appeal to their likes and dislikes in a way which none of his craft had done before, or was able to do after him. These features in the works of Dougal Graham gave him an unwonted popularity, and the couplet in the preface to a late edition of _John Falkirk’s Cariches_ shows the estimation in which he was held:--

‘The wittiest fellow in his time,
Either for Prose or making Rhyme.’

The varied character of his works gave to the literature of which they were a part a native strength that otherwise would not have belonged to it; and while they may have, to some extent, deepened the taint of coarseness which before found a place within its ranks, they added to its value as illustrating the tastes and manners of the common people. To convince himself of the truth of this statement, all that the reader requires to do is to note carefully the chap-books written by Graham, either in contrast with others, or by themselves. There is enough in them, without considering their relation to others, to prove that statement, for their truthfulness to human nature, and especially Scottish human nature, appeals to the heart and convinces the judgment.

While Dougal Graham was thus actively employed, and with so much effect, other writers were contributing their quota to chapman literature. None of these authors can now be traced, possibly because they kept their identity concealed, but a few of their works still remain. One or two of them may be noticed. In 1764, there were issued in Edinburgh two chap-books which may be regarded as the forerunners of the modern ‘letter-writers.’ One of them, _The Art of Courtship_, contained ‘Amorous dialogues, love letters, complimental expressions, with a particular description of Courtship, etc.’; while the other bore the title of _The Accomplished Courtier, or A New School of Love_. In the same city, in 1767, there was published _The Comical Notes and Sayings of the Reverend Mr. John Pettegrew_, minister in Govan. It contained stories, humorous and sometimes very broad, about the reverend gentleman, but they had probably as little foundation in fact as the extraordinary tales recorded of George Buchanan. There are other chap-books with a popularity almost equal to those named, and to the productions of Dougal Graham, such as--_The Wife of Beath_, a metrical travesty of Chaucer’s tale; the still highly esteemed _Watty and Meg_; _Thrummy Cap_; _The Dominie Deposed_; _Margaret and the Minister_; and a host of others.

Nothing that can be said to have given any new feature to chap literature was published after Graham’s death, though it still continued to be very popular. Many printers throughout the country set themselves almost exclusively to its circulation, which, it has been stated, had reached, before the close of the century, a quarter of a million copies annually. The old chap-books were reprinted in almost every town of any note in Scotland, sometimes in full, sometimes abridged; songs and ballads were collected and got up in chap-book and broadside form; and extracts from larger works were made and published in a guise under which their authors would have had difficulty in recognising them. Dougal Graham, of course, had great attention paid to him; and edition after edition of his numerous works was scattered over the country; while Robert Burns, then rising into fame as a poet, had his writings reproduced in many of the collections of songs. For the first twenty years of the present century the chap-books enjoyed an unimpaired popularity, but they gradually began to decline in favour. An impression of their vulgarity got abroad, they were regarded by public moralists as pestilential and therefore deserving extinction; some publishers turned out from their presses ‘New and Improved Series,’ and at last they came to be regarded as belonging to a bygone age, worthy only of the consideration of antiquaries, some utilitarians being doubtful if they even merited that attention. The time had changed, and the popular taste had improved; and, after 1832, Chambers’ _Journal_ took the place among the people formerly occupied by chap-books. As the taste for reading increased, the _Journal_ shared honours with other publications, until now the issue of ephemeral literature has reached an extraordinary development. There are, however, many still living who remember the days of chap-literature, and who can recall the zest with which they first read the adventures of ‘Louden Tam,’ ‘Leper the Tailor,’ ‘John Cheap,’ and all that race.

It would be impossible in this place to give a note of the printers who assisted in the issue of the chap literature of Scotland, though to do so would be highly interesting. Their name is legion. Of the work of the earlier printers very few specimens remain; but towards the end of last century some of the printers in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Falkirk, and other large towns, attained to quite a celebrity for their efforts in this direction. James and Matthew Robertson, whose shop was in the Saltmarket, between the Cross and what is now known as St. Andrew’s Street, and who were in business at the end of the eighteenth, and beginning of the nineteenth, century, made about £30,000 off them. They published all Dougal Graham’s booklets in their most complete forms, besides everything of the chap-book kind then in circulation. At their death their money went to the only daughter of Matthew, and her reputation for benevolence to the poor long survived her. Two other Saltmarket printers were Thomas Duncan, at No. 159, and R. Hutchison, at No. 10, both of whom flourished in the early years of this century. The headquarters of the chap-book printers in Edinburgh were in Niddery’s Wynd and the Cowgate. Some most valuable pieces were issued from the Wynd about the middle of last century; and, in the Cowgate in the early years of this century, Morren printed all and sundry, scattering chap-books broadcast over the east coast. About 1760, A. Robertson, Coalhill, Leith, did an extensive business in this way. Falkirk, again, occupies a high position in this respect, for during the last few years of the eighteenth, and the early years of the present, century, T. Johnston issued a large number of chap-books, most of them valuable because they do not seem to have been much, if any, abridged. C. and M. Randall, of Stirling, about the same time were engaged in a similar work. Without further detail, this list of these eminent printers may be closed by the mention of the name of George Caldwell, Paisley, who flourished in both centuries, and who is believed to have been the original printer of many of Dougal Graham’s chap-books. Few, if any, of his early productions can now be found.

In concluding this necessarily brief outline of the history of the chap-literature of Scotland, we may be allowed to quote from _The Thistle_, a Glasgow magazine published in 1847. It was edited by Alexander B. Grosart, the now eminent editor of the Fuller Worthies’ Library, etc., who was at that time in the employment of Dr. John Buchanan, the Glasgow banker and antiquary. Mr. Grosart had in that magazine a quaintly written article on ‘Chap-Beuks and Ballats,’ beginning in this strain:--

‘Chap-Beuks and Ballats
---- “To rede are delectabill.
Suppois that thai be nocht bot fabill;
Then suld ‘auld storyss’ that suthfast were,
Have ‘doubill pleasance.’”

‘So said or sung “Makkar” Barbour in his “Quhair” of the Bruce. Chap-beuks and Ballats occupied a “far-ben corner o’ the heart” of our Fathers and Grandfathers; indeed we have a “doubill pleasaunce” in these “auld storyss” when “tauld in gude manner.”’ Such is a true estimate of their position in the hearts and minds of the Scots of the eighteenth century. The opinions Sir Walter Scott and William Motherwell had of Dougal Graham’s writings have already been shown, and their estimate of the value of the literature for which he wrote has been clearly brought out.

No one need regret that the days of chap-books are gone, but the human mind has a tendency to turn with a loving look to the past, as if life in it had been easier than in the present. It is, however, another illustration of the familiar adage that ‘distance lends enchantment to the view.’ These works, impossible now, must be regarded in the light in which Dean Ramsay prepared his _Reminiscences_. His object was to ‘depict a phase of national manners which was fast passing away, and thus, in however humble a department, contribute something to the materials of history, by exhibiting social customs and habits of thought which at a particular era were characteristic of a race.’[39] Such is the value of the remnants of the once extensive chap literature of Scotland. With a finer public taste, and a purer, though not more vigorous, popular literature, these old books are now discredited except for antiquarian purposes. Perhaps the change cannot be better shown than in the illustration given by Dean Ramsay, who says in his ‘Conclusion’:--‘In 1821, Mrs. Keith of Ravelstone, grand-aunt of Sir Walter Scott, thus writes, in returning to him the work of a female novelist which she had borrowed from him out of curiosity, and to remind her of “auld lang syne:”--“Is it not a very odd thing that I, an old woman of eighty and upwards, sitting alone, feel myself ashamed to read a book which, sixty years ago, I have heard read aloud for the amusement of large circles, consisting of the first and most creditable society in London!”’[40] It is well that such should be the case; but it is in the interests of the purity of public morals, of the progress of national life, that these old land-marks should be preserved; for by them only can we tell of the manners and customs of our forefathers, or estimate what advancement has been made since their time.

AN IMPARTIAL

HISTORY

of the

RISE, PROGRESS, and EXTINCTION

of the late

REBELLION

In _Britain_, in the Years 1745 and 1746.

Giving an ACCOUNT of every BATTLE, SKIRMISH, and SIEGE, from the
Time of the PRETENDER’S coming out of _France_, until he landed
in _France_ again; with Plans of the Battles of _Preston-pans_,
_Clifton_, _Falkirk_, and _Culloden_.

With a real DESCRIPTION of his DANGERS and TRAVELS through the
_HIGHLAND_ Isles, after the Break at _CULLODEN_.

[The _History of the Rebellion_, as given in the following pages, is a reprint, _verbatim et literatim_, of the third edition--the earliest now existent--published in 1774 by John Robertson, Glasgow. It is from a beautiful copy in the possession of Mr. George Gray, Clerk of the Peace, Glasgow, who kindly placed it at the disposal of the editor.]

_PREFACE._

IT is grown customary to introduce New Publications (however trifling) to the Public, with some kind of Oration in their Favour----Some must have their Literary Productions shelter’d under the Protection of the GREAT, that they may have an Opportunity of showing their Talents in paying flattering Compliments, to gratify their Patron’s Vanity, often at the expence of Truth, and always with the sinister View of Advantage to themselves----Others, take their own Word for it, are prevail’d upon, to publish their Writings at the request of judicious Friends, thereby, laying the Public under a kind of Tribute to their friends, by obliging them to subscribe to their Judgment, or condemn their Taste, and excuse the poor Author, whose Modesty would otherwise have kept his Productions a Secret.----Some have wrote with the momentuous View of instructing and amending the World----A laudable, but arduous Task! and every One alledges some Reason or other for commencing Author.

I TOO have my Reasons, which I will candidly own: I shall not say they are as weighty as others are; but I will venture to affirm, they are as common, and such as have introduced into the World ten thousand BRATS OF THE BRAIN, besides mine.

FIRST then, I have an Itch for Scribling, and having wrote the following for my Pleasure, I had an Ambition to have this Child of mine 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 natural Generation.

HAVING thus far shown my Reason for Publishing, allow me in the next Place, to show my Method----I have no dread of any Body’s finding Fault with me for telling the Truth, because Charles has no Sway here; Duke William, once the Idol of the loyal British, is gone to the house of Silence, and I believe, if I should take the Liberty to tell the Truth of him, no Body could blame me--therefore, I have impartially related all that to me seemed worth while, of the Actions of either Party in that confused Fray, from the Writings of the Celebrated VOLTAIRE, from the Author of Ascanius, or from my own OBSERVATION, having been an Eye-witness to most of the Movements of the Armies, from the Rebels first crossing the Ford of Frew to their final defeat at Culloden.----The Highlanders STEALT, RAIVT, and SIPPED the KIRN, I really think, pinching Hunger caused most of their Disorders.----The Red-coats unmercifully houghed the Cows, and burnt the Houses of many poor Folks who were innocent of the Rebellion: By both, the Sakeless suffered.----I have wrote it in Vulgar Rhyme, being what not only pleased my own Fancy, but what I have found acceptable to the most part of my Countrymen, especially to those of common Education like myself. If I have done well, ’tis what I should like: and if I have fail’d, ’tis what Mankind are liable to----Therefore, let Cavillers rather write a better one, than pester themselves and the Public with their Criticisms of my Faults.----To the candid Public, I beg leave to present it, such as it is, and if they applaud, let Zoilus carp his fill----I have gained my End, and am

The Public’s most obedient Servant,

DOUGAL GRAHAM.

THE

HISTORY

OF THE

REBELLION

IN BRITAIN in the years 1745 and 1746.

CHAP. I.

_Introduction and Origin of the War. Charles’ landing in Scotland and march to Tranent._

In the year se’enteen hundred and forty one,
An imperious and bloody war began,
Amongst kings and queens in Germanie,
Who should the Roman Emperor be.
French and Prussians did jointly go,
The Hungarian queen to overthro’;
But British, Hanoverians, and Dutch,
Espous’d her cause, and that too much.
From year to year, the flame it grew,
Till armies to the field they drew,
At Dittingen and Fontenoy,
Did many thousand lives destroy.
And then the French, they form’d a plan,
To animate our Highland clan,
By sending the Pretender’s son
To claim Great Britain as his own;
Which drew the British forces back,
And made the German war to slack.