THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES I, / '•• .i Scottish Chapbook Literature Seottisd (Sdapbook literature By WILLIAM HARVEY Author of 'Scottish Life and Character in Anecdote and Story/ " Kennethcrook : Some Sketches of Village Life,'' ** Robert Burns in Stirlingshire," &c., &c« PAISLEY: ALEXANDER GARDNER Publisher by Appointment to the late Queen Victoria 1903 PRINTED BV AIEXANDER GARDNER, CAISl EV PREFACE. The diffusion of knowledge by means of the Chapbook practically began with the introduction of printing into Scotland. From the days when the Gude and Godlie Ballates of the Wedderburns were put in circulation, down to the middle of last century, the chapman was a travelling publisher of much importance. In crowded mart and on solitary moor he plied his calling : there he sold his broadsides by the ream, here he tempted the reading rustic to a judicious selection from his pack : in both cases he did what he could to spread knowledge and line his pockets. The object of this volume is to provide a brief account of the chapman and his literary wares : to present a short survey of the literature of the common people during a period of three centuries, to trace the rise and influence of the Chapbook, and to mark its decay, or rather its blending into the cheap publication of the present time. The most important of the Chapbooks are discussed at length, and as many of them are valuable for the light they throw upon the life and customs of the UBRAKf 6 PREFACE people among whom tliey circulated, the extracts that have been made will doubtless be read with interest and enjoyment. Much biographical and bibliographical information con- cerning authors and printers and publishers is given. The greater part of this is presented in footnotes, which have been introduced freely with the view of enhancing the usefulness and value of the work, and at the same time preventing the text from becoming overloaded with details. To facilitate reference, an alphabetical list of all Chap- books referred to in the volume is included. It will be found at page 145. A Glossary and General Index have also been added. In the matter of Illustrations the book is well supplied. A number of the quaintest pictures are reproduced, many of which shew at once the crudities of art and the pictorial limitations with which early printers had to contend. No pains have been spared to make the volume worthy the subject of which it treats, and it is hoped that it will be of value both as a contribution to the literature of the social life of Scotland, and as supplying, in the absence of an exhaustive history, a hitherto unwritten chapter of the literary annals of our country. 55 MiLNBANK Road, Dundee, July 1903. CONTENTS PAGE Introductory, -.---.. 9 Humorous, -------- S5 Instructive, ---..--72 Historical, -------72 Biographical, ---... 84 Religious and Moral, ----- 89 Manuals of Instruction, - - - - 99 Almanacs, - - - - - - -100 Romantic, - - - - - - - -103 Superstitious, - - - - - - -107 Songs and Ballads, ------ Hg Conclusion, .-._--- 122 List of Chapbooks, - - - - - -145 Glossary, - - - - - - - -149 General Index, - - - - - - -151 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Wedding of Jockey and Maggy, - - 39 Bruce and de Boune, - 85 The Wreck of Robinson Crusoe, - - - 88 Noah Entering the Ark, ----- 89 Hagar and Ishmael Cast Out, - - - - 90 Joseph Sold into Egypt, ----- 91 The Plague of Frogs, ----- 92 The Sun and Moon Stand Still, - - - 93 Jonah is Swallowed by a Fish, - - - - 94 Daniel Cast into the Den of Lions, - - - 95 Sarah Promised a Son, ----- 96 The Old Hound, - 99 The Burial of Jacob, - - - - - 100 Solomon's Temple, --..-_ 102 Jack the Giant Killer and the Giant, - - 104 The Trial of Sir John Barleycorn, Knt., - 117 The Last Day, 144 Scottish Chapbook Literature, ■*•■»■■*- INTRODUCTORY. Nothing has yet been done in the way of providing an exhaustive history of Scottish chapbook literature, but the wish for such a work has not remained unexpressed. So long ago as the late twenties of last century, when the chapman was still a person of considerable importance, and chapbooks — properly so called — were in wide circulation, it was beliered that Sir Walter Scott would undertake the task. When it became evident that the author of Waverley was not to do anything, a hope Avas expressed that William Motherwell might become the historian of the vulgar literature. That poet entertained the idea himself, but subsequently abandoned it owing to paucity of materials and want of leisure. Other writers may have thought to do something, but up to the present time nothing of a general nature has been accom- plished. Certain departments of our chapbook literature, however, have not lacked their editors and historians. The 2 10 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Humorous Pj-ose Chaphooks of Scotland '^ found an able editor in Professor Fraser, although the work done is but a portion of his original scheme ; and George Mac Gregor — notwith- standing that his volumes are not much more than a para- phrase of Professor Frasers books — accomplished a notable work in The Collected Writings of Dougal Graham^ The volumes published by Robert Lindsay of Glasgow ' are valu- able for the specimens of chapbooks which they contain ; and Robert Hays Cunningham has compiled a not unmeritorious work in his Amusing Prose Chapbooks Chiejly of Last \the Eighteenth] Century. ^ But these are only fragments. It is true that Dougal Graham was the chief writer of secular Scottish chapbooks, and that the humorous production found a wider circle of readers than the sermon or the serious poem, but the Skellat Bellman of Glasgow and the comic effusion are not, on that account, wholly representative of Scotland's cheap literature of a by -gone day. It is to be regretted that too often that section of our chapbooks has been held up as typical of the whole, and that our fathers have not received 1 The Humorous Chaphoohs of Scotland. By John Fraser. New York : Henry L. Hinton, publisher, 744 Broadway. 1873. 2 The Collected Writings of Dougal Graham, "Skellat " Bellman of Glas- gow. Edited, with notes, by George Mac Gregor. Glasgow. 1883. 2 vols. 'Robert Lindsay, Queen Street, Glasgow, printed several volumes (reprints) of representative chapbooks. * Amusing Prose Chapbooks Chiefly of Last Century. Edited by Robert Hays Cunningham. Glasgow. 1889. INTRODUCTORY. II the credit which is due them for their appreciation of history and theology. The more serious chapbooks — such as those which recounted the deeds of Wallace and the achievements of Bruce, and those which contained the fiery eloquence of the Covenanters, and, later, of the Erskines — have been al- most entirely overlooked. The song chapbooks, too, of which there were myriads, have only been referred to inci- dentally when they happened to be humorous. It is to be hoped — though every hour that passes makes the task more difficult of accomplishment — that some day a history of our national chapbooks will be written, so that a record may be preserved of a most interesting chapter of our literary annals. Many difficulties beset a writer on this subject, and prob- ably the greatest is to define exactly what a chapbook is. In Chambers's Eiicyclopoedia publications of the chapbook order are defined as " a variety of old and scarce tracts of a homely kind, which at one time formed the only popular literature. In the trade of the bookseller they are distinguishable from the ordinary products of the press by their inferior paper and typography, and are reputed to have been sold by chapmen or pedlars." This may be Encyclopcjedia information, but it is hardly accurate, and was apparently written by one who knew 12 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. nothinfir about the subject. The chapbook is much more than, and is sometimes very different from what is here defined. In a general sense it is anything from a broadside to a decent-sized volume, and it received its name, " chap- book," not on account of its size or its contents, but in virtue of the fact that it was chiefly circulated by the pedlars who sought to carry civilization and soft goods into hamlets and farm-towns far from the madding crowd. These men were known as chapmen. The derivation of the word shews that a "chapman" was simply a "cheap-man"; and chap literature may therefore be truthfully set down as " cheap literature." ^ ^ "The prefix 'chap,'" says Professor Fraser, "originally meant 'to cheap or cheapen,' as in the word ' cheapening-place,' meaning a market- place, — hence the English Cheapside and Eastcheap." The word "chap," meaning "a fellow," is a mere shortening of the name. "In addition," writes George Mac Gregor, ' ' it may be stated that the word ' chapman ' is derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'ceap-man,' ceap meaning 'a sale, or bar- gain ' ; and it is related to the Suio-Gothic or Swedish keop-a, whence is derived the Scottisli 'coup' or ' cowp,' now confined to horse-selling, colloquially spoken of as ' horse-cowping.' " The chapman, like his successor of to day, had to procure a licence, and in old byelaws and proclamations ho is classed among " Hawkers, Vendors, Pedlars, petty Chapmen, and unruly people." There are occasional references in English literature to these itinerant merchants. Chaucer speaks of the commer- cial travellers of the age of the " Canterbury Tales " as " A compane of chapmen riche ; " and in " The Winter's Tale " there is a description of them on their literary side. The servant (act iv. scene 3) gives the following account of the wares of Autolycus : — " He hath songs for man, and woman, of all sizes ; no milliner can so fit his customers with gloves ; he has the prettiest love- INTRODUCTORY. 13 In these days of " World's Classics " and Sixpenny Reprints, " Fenny Poets " and " Halfpenny Novelettes," chapbooks are unknown, while cheap literature is more in evidence than ever it was. But though it is true that chapbook literature derived its name from the fact that it was vended by chap- men, it in reality existed before it was added to the pedlar''s pack of multifarious goods, just as it flourished apart from the chapman altogether, and continued to survive after he had ceased to vend it to any extent. songs for maids ; so without bawdry, which is strange ; with such delicate burdens of dildos and fadings.'^ Thus introduced, Autolycus describes his wares. He has one ballad, " to a very doleful tune, How a usurer's wife was brought to bed of twenty money-bags at a burden ; and how she longed to eat adders' heads and toads carbonadoed : " and another, "of a fish that appeared upon the coast, on Wednesday, the fourscore of April, forty thousand fathom above water, and sung this ballad against the hard hearts of maids:" and yet another, of "two maids wooing a man." Readers of "Tarn o' Shanter " will remember that Burhs there speaks of " chapman billies." In his Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, which was published at London in 1611, Cotgrave defines the chapman thus : — " Bi.rn giffen her the same morning," she ground it to satisfy the " hunger of herself and her young anes." Even in those days of rigid observance and drastic punishment of offences, this particular Session was not wholly unfeeling. They found her guilty of the charge, but overlooked her "repentance upon ye alledgit uecessitie." Had Mrs. Whyte lived further south, she might have fared worse. The Kirk Session of Stow have an ingloi ious immortality in a record which states that they compelled one, William Howatsun, to do public penance on aceount of his having walked on a Sunday " a short distance to see his seik mother." These are but a few instances, but they show the rigour with which Sabbath observance was enforced, and prove that Graham's statements are not exaggerated. 62 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. away with the leg of mutton, which served his lads and him for his supper. When the Principal came home, he was neither to bin nor ha'd, he was so angry ; so on Monday he goes and makes complaint to the Lord Provost, who sends two officers for Leper, who came innnediately. My Lord asked him. How he dared to take away the PrincipaPs mutton ? Leper replied. How came your Civileers to take away my kail-pot ? I am sure there is less sin in making a pot-full of kail than roasting a leg of mutton : Law-makers should not be law-breakers, so I demand justice on the Civileers. The Provost asked him what justice he would have ? Says he. Make them carry the pot back again ; as for the Principal, a leg of mutton won't make him and me fall out. So they were forced to carry the pot back again, and Leper caused the boys to huzza after them to their disgrace." Of the other humorous chapbooks attributed to Graham, no lengthy mention need be made. At most, as has been indicated, he was only editor of them ; and they are, for the greater part, merely collections of Jacet'ioe. Many of the stories were chestnuts even in DougaPs time, and some of them are none the fresher for the fact that they have been fathered on every beadle and minister of distinction within the last decade. He had an eye for a good story, and one seldom lost HUMOROUS. 63 anything in being retailed by him. If the George Buchanan of his pages is rather a buffoon than the first statesman of his age, it should be borne in mind that the Bellman wrote for a people who demanded mirth, and that the George Buchanan of history — if Graham had chosen to treat him seriously — would have cut a sorry figure in the company of Paddy from Cork and Lothian Tom, and would not have been so much appreciated as the ribald courtier of a ribald age. Besides the Skellat Bellman of Glasgow, there were a number of others who contributed humour to Scottish chap- book literature. One of the most notable of these was William Cameron, who in certain respects was a fitting successor to Dougal Graham. He, like Graham, was born within sight of Stirling Castle ; like him, too, he wandered over a large part of Scotland as a " flying stationer ; " and, like him, he ulti- mately settled down in Glasgow and became one of the worthies of St. Mungo.^ Cameron has a connection with Graham's work in respect that he edited Janet Clinker''s 1 Cameron's life-story is told in Hawhie : the Autobiography of a Gangrel, edited by John Strathesk (Glasgow: David Robertson & Co.). He was born in 1781 at Plean, in the parish of St. Ninians, Stirlingshire, was educated at a school in the adjoining village of Milton, and thereafter apprenticed to a tailor in Stirling, He was of a roving, reckless disposition, and was, by turns, tailor, schoolmaster, actor, mender-of-broken-cbina, field-preacher, flyiug-stationer and street-orator. The last years of his life were spent in Glasgow, where he died in 1851. 64 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Oration, and, giving it a new title, sent it forth on a fresh lease of life. His own words are : — " I fell in with Janet Clinker's Oration on the Wit of i the Old Wives and the Pride oj the Young Women. \ This piece never fails. I have turned it ' heels over head' nianv times ; and, when it would sell no longer, I gave it a fresh name, as well as a new introduction, and sold it as freely as ever. ... I changed its title to Grannie M^Nah's Lecture on the Women, and sold it through the West of Scotland." Cameron was author of one or two chapbooks. He wrote The Prophecies of ' Hazvkie ' : a Coxv, which poked fun at a prophet who " prophesied in Fife and appeared in Glasgow, and converted numbers." The book sold well, and secured for Cameron the name by which he was subsequently known — he was " Hawkie " to two generations of Glaswegians. Another of his productions is The Ganger s Journey to the Land of Darkness : ivhat he discovered there and his journey back. It narrates the story of an exciseman who, being found drunk and asleep by some colliers, was taken down a pit and laid in a corner. When he awoke, he fancied he was in another world. The Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith, is a notable chapbook, and cannot be overlooked in this connection. It is — as many of the chapbooks were — a condensation of a HUMOROUS. 65 larger work, and, in its extended form, is still widely esteemed. There is this difference between " Delta's " ^ creation and all of those of Graham, that he is always respectable. Mansie, like many other mortals in chapbook literature, finds himself in strange places and the victim of unfortunate circumstances — such as his experience of " calf- love " and his adventures in the playhouse — but he never loses his self-respect or finds it necessary to be obscene to be emphatic. Doubtless these very characteristics led to his being less widely appreciated by the common people, but he has this much to his credit that when, in later times, a movement originated to suppress or supplant the coarse productions of the Skellat Bellman, it did not — because it could not — affect him. There were a number of chapbooks in verse which deserve to be noticed under the present heading. One of the most popular of these was Alexander AVilson's ^ humorous poem, ^ David MacBeth Moir, better known as " Delta," was born at Mussel- burgh in 1798. He studied for the medical profession, qualified early, and from his eighteenth year was a practitioner in his native town. Amid the cares of his profession he found time to cultivate literature. He contributed to the Edinburgh AJayozine from its commencement, and for many years was a frequent writer to Blackwood. His contributions to the latter of these miscellanies were occasionally signed with tbe (ireek A (Delta), and in time he came to be better known by the initial than by his name. He died at Dumfries in 1851. ^ The author of this notable chapbook was born at Paisley on 6th July, 1776. He was apprenticed to the craft of weaving, and worked for some time at this calling in Paisley, Lochwinnoch, and Queensferrjr. Subse- 66 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Watty and Meg ; or, the Wife Reformed — Owre True a Tale,' which was first published in 1792, and considered worthy of the Ayrshire Bard. Another was, The Comical Story of Thrummy Cap and the Ghost, from the pen of John Burness,^ a cousin of the national poet. Both of these effusions enjoyed a wide popularity as chapbooks ; they were reprinted time and again, down to the very close of the period when these qnently he became a pedlar, and, in company with his brother-in-law, travelled about in this capacity for three years. In 1790 he published a collection of his poems which, however, did not meet with great success. Four years later he emigrated to America, where the remainder of his days were passed. At first he travelled as a pedlar over a large part of the State of New Jersey, but afterwards he took up teaching. He devoted much time to ornithology, and by many he has been recognised as a naturalist rather than as a poet. He died — to some extent a martyr to ornithology — on the 23rd of August, 1813, and was interred at Southwark, Philadelphia. 1 John Burness was (according to the sketch of his life which he prefixed to his volume of Plays, Poems, and Metrical Tales, published in 1819 at Montrose), the youngest son of William Burness, farmer, Bogjorgan, in the parish of Bervie. He was born on the 23rd of May, 1771, learned the trade of baker in Brechin, and followed his calling for some years in different places in Forfarshire. In 1794 he enlisted in the Angus Fencible Volunteer Corps of Infantry. He was with this regiment when it was stationed in Dumfries in 1796, and while there made the acquaintance of his relative, Robert Burns, who perused Thrummy Cvp, and — according to another authority— told him " it was the best ' ghaist ' story he had ever seen in the Scottish dialect." The Angus Fencibles were disbanded at Peterhead in 1799. Burness proceeded to Stonehaven, where he set up in business as a baker, and continued in that place for nearly four years. Later he joined the Forfar Militia, in which he served till 1815, when he was discharged. He then took up the calling of a book-canvasser, which he pursued until his death, which occurred at Portlethen in 1826. HUMOROUS. 67 books may be said to have ceased to be vended ; and then they passed on into standard collections of our national verse, through which they are known to a wide circle of readers. Two other publications which were popular,-- but which had not that fate, are — (1) The Comical Tale oj Margaret and the Minister^ which narrates how Margaret, having been invited to dinner at the manse, accepted the invitation ; and then, through ignorance or misadventure, affixed the table-cover instead of a napkin to her breast : all went well until, having swallowed some mustard, she beat a hasty retreat from the room to hide her discomfiture, and dragged the cloth and dishes with her ; (2) The Dominie Deposed, with a Sequel, by William Forbes, A.M., late school- master of Petercoulter, This sets forth in vigorous verse the lamentation of a dominie, who had the misfortune to sweet- heart, as Mr. Henley might say, " with all his heart, and soul, and strength." ^ 1 A lesser-known poetical chapbook was The Magic Pill ; or, Davie and Bess. A Tale. Relating Davie's Courtship to Bess, and how he Forsook her — How Nanse, Bessie's Mother, went to the Doctor for a Pill, which she got, with Directions how to Use it — How it had the desired effect, by being put into Davie's Pouch by Bess, at a Wedding, which Discovei 'd Davie's Love to Bess, and they were Married. Likewise, how Nanse, being a Widow, went to the Doctor with Twa Fat Hens, to return thanks for the Pill, and how she wanted to buy a Pill for herself, to gain a Neighbour Carle she liked ; with an Account of what the Doctor said to her, and a Receipt how to make up this Pill, and an Advice to all young women how to Use it. EDINBURGH : Printed for the Booksellers in Town and Country. By R. Menzies, Lawnmarket. (Price One Penny). " 8 pp. 68 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. While these were the most important of the humorous chapbooks, there were many others of a similar kind but of lesser merit. Graham called forth numerous imitators, and%stories of love, courtship, and marriage fell fast from the chapbook press. The Art of Courtship,^ a somewhat com- ^ The Art of Courtship, containing An Interenting Dialogue that passed between William Lawson and his sweetheart Bessy Gibb. Also lico Lore- Letters which he sent to his Sioeetheart, and Iter An^icers : Very beneficial for such blate wooers, or young beginners, as have not gotten the art of court- ship. And two receipts : Tlie one for young Men how to wale a good icife, and the other for young Women how to icale a good husband. . . . Stirling : printed and sold by M. Randall. 12nio. n. D. "Hawkie," in his Auto- biography, refers to this chapbook. At page 92, he says, in relating his adventures as a flying-stationer: — "An old copy of an eight-page book entitled WVlie Lawson's Courtship of Bess Gibb, was the first that I tried. It was a peck of ill-put-together nonsense, but I afterwards found that nonsense was the article that ' took ' best in the street. Of this piece I sold a number of reams, and cleaned out the shop ; 1 have never seen it since, and it is a small loss to the public." There were other chapbooks very similar in title to this in circulation. The Accomplished Courtier; or, A New School of Love, published at ?]dinl)urgh in 1764, was not unlike the Letter Writers of a later date. Another, also published in Edinburgh in 1764, was entitled The Art of Coui-tship, and contained "Amorous dia- logues, love letters, complimental expressions, with a particular description of Courtship," etc., etc. A more pretentious work was A New Academy of Compliments ; or, the Complete English Secreta?'y, which was published at Glasgow in 1783. It is a duodecimo of 132 pages, and has the appear- ance of being made up of the contents of a number of smaller books. There are sections dealing with letter-writing and the art of good-breeding ; and chapters which treat of moles and their meanings and the interpreta- tions of dreams. Then there are " dialogues very witty and pleasing," and "the Comical Humours of Jovial London Gossips, in a Dialogue between a Maid, Wife, and Widow, over a Cup of the Creature." To all this is added "A Collection of the newest Play-House Songs." HUMOROUS. 69 monplace production, which, in Professor Eraser's judgment, "bears strong signs of having been written or edited by Dougal Graham, or at least suggested by his writings," was one ; A Diverthig- Coiirtship,^ and The Pleasures of Matri- mony^ were others. Subjects of such a nature lent them- selves to broad treatment ; and the chapbook writer of a century ago — like the enterprising publisher of to-day — gave the public what it wanted, rather than what was good for it. If Graham was imitated in these productions, he also had 1 "An Account of a diverting Courtship that lately happened in this Neighbourhood between a Woman of four- score and a Youth of eighteen, whom she married. Likewise an Account of the great and most wonderful Concessions this fond old Woman made, during the Courtship, in order to secure this young Man for a Husband. " 1. She solemnly promised, under the penalty of keeping separate Beds, which would break her Heart, to be blind to all his Faults, — never to scold or be jealous, even if she should catch him toying with a young Lass. "2. To support and cherish Him, suppose he got sick or lazy ; and to be ready, at all times, to light and help him Home from the Alehouse, drunk or sober. " 3. That, even if he should get a Child or two by the bye, she would nimrisb and cherish them as if they were her own. " But, sorrowful to relate, poor Granny could not keep her word ; for the third week after Marriage, she detected him kissing yellow Meg in her own bed-chamber, broke his head with the tatoe beetle, and scolded most furiously— on which he ran off with Meg to Edinburgh, after robbing the old Wife of seventy pounds sterling." 8 pp. n.d. ' The Pleasures of Matrimony, intertvoven with Sundry Comical and Delightful Stories, with the charming Delights and ravishing Sweets of Wooing and Wedlock, in all its diverting Enjoyments. By Author Reid, Glasgow. Glasgow : Printed for the Booksellers. 70 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. companions who issued publications after the style of Paddy from Cork and the Exploits of George Btichanan. A collection of amusing, and sometimes coarse, anecdotes was published at Glasgow in 1767, under title, The Comical Notes and Sayiiigs of the Reverend Mr. John Pettigrew^ Minister in Govan,^ and a budget of stories of a more general character was issued with the name of The Scotch Haggis. ^ In addition to these, there were Odds and Ends ; or, a Groafs Worth of Fun for a Penny, ^ and Grinning Made Easy ; or. Funny Dick\s Unrivalled Collection of Jests.'^ By way of description, these books of facetice do not call for much attention. Anything in the way of wit and humour was pressed into service. The editors did what they could to caricature Scotland, before Pu7ich and other enterprising ^ The Comical Notes and Sayings of the Rev. Mr. John Pettigrew, Minister in Govan. Glasgow : 1767. ^ The Scotch Haggis : a Selection of Choice Bon-Mots, Frisk Blunder's, Repartees, Anecdotes, etc. Care to our coffin adds a nail no doubt, While every laugh so merry draws one out. Glasgow : Printed for the Booksellers. 12mo. 24 pp. n.d. ^ Odds and Ends ; or, a OroaC s-ioorth of Fun for a Penny. Being a Collection of the Best Jokes, Comic Stories, Anecdotes, Bon-Mots, etc. Printed for the Booksellers. 12mo. 24 pp. n.d. * Grinning Made Easy ; or, Funny Dick's Unrivalled Collection of Jests, Jokes, Bulls, Epigrams, etc., with many other descriptions of Wit and Humour. Glasgow : Printed for the Booksellers. 12mo. 24 pp. n.d. HUMOROUS. 71 London periodicals found this a pleasant and paying duty. Many of the more characteristically Scottish anecdotes in these chapbooks have been made familiar to modern readers through the dignified pages of Dean Ramsay's volume and the works of other gleaners in the field of Scottish story. 72 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. II. INSTRUCTIVE. Under the heading of " Instructive Chapbooks," much falls to be noticed. It is a section which readily sub-divides itself, although at the same time it is difficult to arrive at any very exact classification. Following Professor Fraser's plan, which, unfortunately, he did not elaborate, an attempt will be made to range the productions under one or another of these five heads : — («) Historical ; (6) Biographical ; (c) Religious and Moral ; (d) Manuals of Instruction ; (e) Almanacks. (a) Historical. — The historical chapbook was much in evidence, and few outstanding events in national history were overlooked. There were publications dealing with The Battle of Otterburn, The Battle of Bothioell Bridge ^ The Battle of Drumclog; Execidions in Scotland from the Year 1600, The Battle of Killiecrankie, The Massacre of Glencoe, and The Rebellion of 174-5-6. Then there were others that dealt with such subjects as Scotland, Edinburgh, and Glasgow and the High Church. Three of these chapbooks have the merit of being written by eye-witnesses of the actions they describe. The account INSTRUCTIVE. 73 of The Battle of Bothivell Bridge was composed "by the Laird of Torfoot, an Officer in the Presbyterian Army." It forms a 16 page chapbook, and is written, as will be readily understood, from the Presbyterian point of view. A later editor of this work, in an undated edition issued by G. Cald- well of Paisley, added a footnote which strangely confuses the author of the Scots Wo7'thics — John Howie of Lochgoin — with Old Mortality of the Waveidey Novels. Referring to the John Howie of the Covenant days, the editor says, " The grandson of this person (John Howie) was the person whom the Great Unknown calls Old Mortality. I have been from infancy familiar with the history of this author of the epitaphs, this repairer of the tombs of the martyrs ; but I never heard him called Old Mortality. Everybody in the west of Scotland is familiar with the name of John Howie — Old Mortality is the name in romance." It is quite apparent that the editor confused Robert Paterson with John Howie. An abridgement of this narrative, together with an account of The Battle of Drumclog, was issued as another chapbook. That portion relating to Drum- clog was also from the Laird of Torfoofs pen. It was extracted, a prefatory note explains, " from an American Newspaper entitled, the National Gazette.'''' Like that which 6 74 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. chronicles the doings at Bothwell Bridge, it is written in sympathy with the Covenanters. For the author of the most important of all the Scottish historical chapbooks, we must return to Dougal Graham. If the Caledonian Mercxiry is correct in its statement that Prince Charlie was the first to plunge into the Forth at the Ford of Frew, it may have been that courageous incident which im- pelled the little hunchback to throw in his lot with the Jacobite army. He followed the Young Chevalier in his triumphant march into England, returned with him in his hasty retreat northwards, and witnessed the sun of the Stuarts set in blood on Culloden Moor. It is not improbable that he took notes of the incidents he witnessed, and, like the war-correspondent of a later day, set about their extension with all possible speed. Culloden was fought on the 16th of April, 1746. By September of the same year Graham was in a position to announce the publication of his History. The following advertisement appeared in the columns of the Glasgow Courant for September 29, 1746 : — " That there is to be sold by James Duncan, Printer in Glasgow, in the Saltmercat, the 2nd Shop below Gibson's Wynd, a Book intituled A full, particular, and true Account of the late Rebellion in the Year 1745 and 1746, beginning with the Pretender's Embarking for Scotland, and then an Account of every Battle, Siege, INSTRUCTIVE. 75 and Skirmish that has happened in either Scotland or England. " To which is added, several Addresses and Epistles to the Pope, Pagans, Poets, and the Pretender : all in Metre. Price Four Pence. But any Bookseller or Pack- men may have them easier from the said James Duncan, or the Author, D. Graham. " The like has not been done in Scotland since the days of Sir David Lindsay." That last exclamation shews that Graham had faith in his work (what poet has not ?), and there is little doubt that it became at once extremely popular. It dealt with a subject in which there was the most intense interest ; it appeared ere Scotland had recovered from the effects of the shock of the Rebellion ; and in the pedlars' wallets it was carried over the length and breadth of the land. It would seem that, with the exception of two copies, the first edition has been read out of existence. Graham's History is scarcer than the Shakespeare folios or the " Kilmarnock " Burns ! The title- page of his book contained the couplet — " Composed by the poet, D. Graham, In Stirlingshire he lives at hame " — which is at once a biographical note and a specimen of the author's doggerel. But, its rough and frequently infelicitous 76 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. rhymes notwithstanding, the work affords good reading. Dougal's information was received at first hand, and he paints his pictures with the baldness of reality. Here, for example, is his description of the arms of the men who went forth to battle for the White Rose : — " Old scythes, with their rumples even, Into a tree they had been driven ; And some with batons of good oak Vow'd to kill at every stroke ; Some had hatchets upon a pole. Mischievous weapons, antick and droll.''"' These were the weapons that cleared the way to the Scottish capital and routed Cope's army at Prestonpans ! The expedi- tion into England is duly set down in the historian's halting numbers, and he does not hesitate to chronicle the chagrin of those " to plunder London that were keen " when the order went forth at Derby to retreat. The incidents of the homeward march are narrated. This is how he speaks of the eight days' sojourn at Glasgow : — " Eight days they did in Glasgow rest. Until they were all cloth'd and drest ; And tho' they on the best o't fed. The town they under tribute laid. INSTRUCTIVE. 77 Ten thousand sterling made it pay, For being of the Georgian way, Given in goods and ready cash. Or else to stand a plundering lash." Those " to plunder London that were keen " having been baulked of their aims on the capital, did their best to recoup themselves at the expense of Glasgow. The thrilling scenes on Culloden Moor are graphically described. Here is what he says of Cumberland's artillery : — " It hew''d them down, ay, score by score, As grass doth fall before the mower ; Breaches it made as large and broad As avenues in through a wood." "O' The subsequent wanderings of " Bonnie Prince Charlie " in the western isles are duly set forth, although much of what is said must be imaginary so far as Graham is con- cerned, or told at second-hand. Many editions of the book were published, and some of them differed widely from others, for Dougal found it necessary on occasion to express himself as a good Hanoverian rather than as a discredited Jacobite. It is usual to characterise the work as " Hudibrastic," and from the extracts given it will be seen that the criticism is not unjust. In point of literary work- manship, it has small claim to distinction, but it is not with- 78 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. out merit as the record of an eye-witness. " It contains,*'"' says Chambers, " and in this consists the chief value of all such productions, many minute facts which a work of more pretensions would not admit." Dougal wrote with a graphic pen, and had his facility in verse been equal to his power of description, the metrical History of the Rebellion had not now been a forgotten volume.^ ^ Elizabeth Isabella Spence (George Mac Gregor calls her 3fr. E. J. Spence), an observant tourist if somewhat inaccurate author, writes as follows concerning Graham in her work, Sketches of the Prtsent Manners, Customs, and Scenery of Scotla7id. (2 Vols. London, 1811.) Vol. I., p. 147. On the side of the hill, above the old village of Campsie, are to be seen the traces of a turf cottage, the birthplace and early residence of Dougal Graham, who, about the year 1750, wrote a rhyming history of the rebellion of 1745. He was lame from his infancy ; but, having an inherent propensity to wander, he, with many others of his countrymen, joined the Pretender on his arrival at Doune, and continued in his train until his departure from Scotland, but in what capacity is unknown. He was afterwards reduced to great poverty', and Jiawlced ballads about the streets of Glasgow, till the magistrates, in reward of his services, gave him the charge of the music-bells, which situation he retained till his death near sixty years ago. He had little imagination ; in his compositions he adhered to a bare recital of facts in doggrel rhyme ; and, as he says, is likely to please only those who, like himself, had no other than a common education. The volume, however, contains some curious anecdotes not noticed by historians of events at that particular period ; and though it possesses otherwise little merit, it serves to illustrate the propensity to literary pursuits amongst the lowest of the Scotch." This somewhat amusing note is chiefly interesting for the statement that Graham was a native of Campsie. The author was either misinformdl or misled. Dougal narrates some biography in the first edition of his metrical History, and among other things states that he was born at Raploch. INSTRUCTIVE. 79 Under the heading " Historical,'' may be included those broadsides and chapbooks which referred to topical events. Frequently the matters dealt with were too local or too trivial to be regarded as history in the proper acceptation of the word, but a passing sentence at least may be awarded them. There was one, for example (and it certainly rises to the dignity of history), which provided " An Account of the Massacre of Captain Porteous of the City Guard," and another which set forth " A Particular Account of the Great Mob at Glasgow that happened on Tuesday, 9th of February, 1779 ; with an account of the Magistrates' and Trades'* activity in assisting to suppress the same." Occasionally, when an important event was to take place, a chapbook in connection therewith was put in circulation. " Hawkie" tells us that he published an account of Ancient King Crispin, which was sold in Edinburgh on the day of a Crispin pro- cession in that town. Sometimes rivals in trade sought the help of the flying-stationer. Cameron says that he sold, for a newspaper office, a broadside entitled, The Expiring Groans, Death, and Funeral Procession of the ''^ Beacon'''' Newspaper. It is safe to say that the erewhile proprietors of the ex- tinguished Beacon did not engage " Hawkie " to spread the news of their disaster. Sometimes these topical chapbooks consisted of the last speeches of condemned criminals. At a time when public executions were in force, and when great crowds of all classes assembled to see a fellow-mortal dance 80 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. into eternity, such literature commanded a ready sale. The last speeches were usually supplied to the " flying-stationers "" on the day before the execution, and " pattered " among the assembling multitude. When no speech was forthcoming, the chapman, recognising that the opportunity was too good to be lost, invented something that would sell. A case in point may be mentioned, and the pedlar's own words quoted ^ : — " There was a man named Robertson under sentence of death in Glasgow for housebreaking and theft, and the execution, which took place 7th April, 1819, brought ' flying-stationers ' from every quarter. . . . The day before Robertson's execution, Jamie [Blue] and I were in Wilson Street, and in a bookseller's shop saw a tract entitled, ' A Reprieve from the Punishment of Death.' As a reprieve was expected for Robertson, we considered that this tract was likely to sell. " We asked the price, and were told ' three half-pence.' We took four dozen each, and started, Jamie in the Candleriggs, and I in Bell's Wynd. I had scarcely reached Albion Street before I had sold the four dozen, and turning back for more I met Jamie, who had sold about three dozen. On the head of our good luck we proposed a ' dram,' to which Jamie agreed, on condition that we would go to one Millar's cellar in the Saltmarket. ^ Hawkie: the Autobiography of a Oangrel, p. 93, INSTRUCTIVE. 81 " I would not consent to this as it was too far, and we might be dogged by other speech-criers, who would find out the shop where we got the tracts ; but Jamie, who was naturally of a cringing disposition, would go there, as they had given him a dram in the moniing on pledg- ing his spectacles. We went, got the glass, and started again ; at night I had nine shillings. " Next morning we started it again, although the ap- paratus of death was now fixed in front of the jail. We continued pattering the ' Reprieve ' till one o'clock, when the people were collecting for the execution. By this time we were both drunk, and had come as far as ' The Cross.' Jamie ' took ' down the High Street, and I the Saltmarket. " I had not gone far, when a boy came and told me to ' stop, as Jamie had been taken to the police office.' A policeman came down the Saltmarket, and I was sure he was in search of me, but at that time there were no less than seven speech-criers who used stilts, and not being so well known I escaped. I went to the printers to get some more books, and found there dozens of speech- criers in as deep sorrow as if they had been friends of the unfortunate man, on account of being prohibited crying the speeches, and thereby deprived of a fuddle," 82 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Having sold the fictitious Reprieve for all he was worth, Cameron turned his attention to the Last Speech. A con- tinuation of the above extract gives us an interesting glimpse of the business. " Thomas Duncan," he writes, " would sell no speeches to be cried in Glasgow. John Muir also printed speeches, and the criers went to him to try to get some. When the criers left, Duncan told me he would give me half-a-ream if I would go and sell them in Paisley ; I took them, and had got to the foot of the Saltmarket when they were bringing the unfortunate man out to the scaffold. I went through the Briggate, started on the old bridge, and sold them all in one hour. " I could have sold more, but was afraid to go back, as I had not kept my promise. I went to Muir*'s and got seven quires, intending to go to Paisley ; but by this time Muir had sold his speeches, and the criers were out on the street. " When they began to cry, they were all apprehended and taken to the ' Old Guard House "* in Montrose Street, where upwards of fifty were kept over the Fast Day. ... I ... started for Paisley. After I passed through Tradeston I changed my mind, and took the road by Renfrew for Greenock. " When I got to Renfrew there were two ' patterers ' INSTRUCTIVE. 83 there before me ; when I saw them I was aware they were for Greenock also. A dram was proposed. They were as ' kittle ' neighbours as Glasgow could produce. One of them, William Anderson, had been three times transported for seven years ; he and the other man, James Johnston, could never meet without a fight." In this case they did fight. " Anderson got Johnston down, and when down put Johnston's books in the fire, and held them till they were burned. Johnston got an opportunity and burned Anderson's books." Later on Cameron's stock received the same treatment, " and," he adds, " we were all without a book." The extract is interesting as affording an illustration of life in the days of spectacular executions, and as showing the character of the men who " pattered " the speeches of the criminals. Fifty or sixty of these ruffians — hardly more respectable than the central figure in the tragedy — moving through the dense throng and shouting their wares, did nothing to dignify a public hanging. Last Speeches and Confessions were, as a rule, melancholy productions, chiefly notable for their bad grammar and the spirit of lamentation in which they were written. Sometimes they were accompanied by a short history of the crime for which the extreme penalty was being exacted, or by some " Verses " called forth by the incident. In these days, when 84 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. public executions are no longer carried out, and when the populace cannot even indulge its morbid curiosity so far as to hail the hoisting of the black flag, the chapbook has been superseded by the newspaper. In the public prints the revolting details are duly served up, and a confession — where one is made and supplied to the reporters — awarded due prominence and set out with all the blandishments of expressive headlines and effective type. The relish and avidity with which such news is read prove that human nature has not changed much since the days when fifty flying-stationers found it worth their while to risk being laid by the heels for vending literature of a similarly sensational kind.i (b) Biographical. — In many instances the biographical chapbook was closely allied to the historical. The History of Sir William Wallace, the Renowned Scottish Champion, The History of the Life and Death of the Great Warrior, Robert ^ A notable chapbook of this order, aud one that would find a ready sale all over Scotland is the following: — " West Port Murder-'^! A Full and Correct Account of the Trial of William Burke and Helen M'Dougal, before the High Court of Justiciary, on Wednesday, the 24th Dec, 1828, for the wilful murder of Mary Campbell or Docherty, with the felonious intent of selling her body to a Surgeon, as a subject for Dissec- tion, and of the Sentence, Confession, aud Execution of Burke. Falkirk : Printed by T. Johnston." 24 pp. n.d. This particular edition is embellished with a crude illustration, which is doubtless intended as a por- trait of Burke. INSTRUCTIVE. 85 Bruce, King of Scotland, and The History of the Black Doug-las, really comprise a narrative of the wars of Scottish independence. Again, The Life and History of Alary, Queen of Scots, and The Life and Meritorious Transactions of John Knox, the Great Scottish Reformer, supply an account of Scotland during the troublous Reformation days. The History of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, commordy called Bruce and de Bounc—Jrom the "History of the Life and Death of the Great Warrior, Robert Bruce, King of Scotland." the Pretender, is largely and naturally a resume of the rebellion of 1745. More distinctly biographical are the chapbooks which deal with Michael Scott and John Welch, Alexander Peden and Donald Cargill, Thomas the Rhymer and Robert Burns, William Lithgow and Peter Williamson, Paul Jones and Rob Roy. None of these is remarkable for literary excellence. They are, as a rule, bald narratives of 86 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. incidents in the lives of the subjects with whom they deal, and, without exception, they may be said to present the tradi- tional view of the person they describe. The craze of modern historical writers to alter the conventional colours of certain portraits was undreamt of by these old-world authors. Wallace is not in these badly-printed pages the beer-stealing thief of Sir Herbert Maxwell, and there is no suggestion that in digging the pits at Bannockburn Bruce was treacherous rather than strategical. The Good Lord James is "the Black Douglas " of the tender heart, and Knox is the stout Reformer " who never feared the face of man." Mary Queen of Scots and Prince Charlie come in for not unfriendly treat- ment, and a good deal is foi'given them on account of the circumstances in which they found themselves. The " Lives " of John Welch and John Knox, Alexander Peden and Donald Cargill, are draw^n either wholly or in part from Howie's Scots Worthies, and are written in the sympathetic style of the Foxe of the Scottish Reformation and Covenant Days. A notable biographical chapbook was the History of the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland Jrom the Reign of James the First to Victoria the First. This, which must have been published during the later forties of the nine- teenth century, is " Part H. " of an earlier book, which dealt with the English sovereigns from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth. Each monarch is represented by a woodcut and a short biography. INSTRUCTIVE. 87 The two outstanding literary portraits in the gallery of chap- book literature are Thomas the Rhymer and Robert Burns. Here Thomas of Ercildoune is Thomas of " the east corner of Fife." He was born near Crail, according to this chapbook writer, and much credit was given to his prophecies, although " they are hard to be understood." ^ The chapbook on the national poet, which is entitled An Interesting Account of Robert Burns, the Ayrshire Bard, is largely made up of extracts from letters of the poet and of his brother Gilbert. The salient points of Burns's life are narrated in a simple manner, and occasionally a word of apology is oiFered for his misdeeds. But there is no enthusiasm ; the author is not even a " common Burnsite," and if a stranger chanced on this booklet for a knowledge of the " peasant poet," he would doubtless conclude that Mr. Henley's " half-read M.P.'s and sheriffs, and divines and provosts flushed with literary patriotism " had a poor excuse for drinking oceans of whisky and eating mountains of haggis, and belching forth be-fuddled speeches every 25th of January. The pen-portrait is about as indistinct as the woodcut which forms the frontispiece. Roh Roy, the Celebrated Highland Freebooter, or Memoirs of the Osbaldistone Family, and the History of Paid Jones, ij. Ross, ill The Booh of Scottish Poems, Ancient and Modern, p. 13, says this chapbook is "very likely from the pen of Dougal Graham." Ross gives no authority or reason for his statement, and " very likely " it is not a production of " the metrical historian of the Rebellion." 88 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. the Pirate^ may be mentioned as typical examples of the Scottish chapbook literature which dealt with Notorious Char- acters, Hio'hrcaT/tiien, and Burglars. Rob Roy is nothing more than a fictitious account of the Highland cateran written up from Scott's novel. We meet the creations of the The Wreck of Robinson. Crusoe— from " Tlie Surprizing Life and most Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe." Author of Waverley — Die Vernon, Bailie Nicol Jarvie, Dougal Craitur, Rasleigh, Andrew Fairservice, and all the others — but they are mere skeletons, not the living beings that move in the pages of Scott. The L\fe of Paul Jones would not be wanting in readers. It presents in small compass the life- story of one who for a considerable time " kept the coasts of INSTRUCTIVE. 89 the United Kingdom in a constant state of alarm," and dis- puted Britannia's right to rule the waves. (c) Religious and Moral. — This is a section in which Scot- tish chapbook literature was largely supplemented by English productions. Sermons by outstanding martyrs and divines, such as James Renwick and Ebenezer Erskine, were in great Noah entering the Ark^rom " The New Pictorial Bible." demand, but the Scot was not averse from nurturing his Pres- byterian soul on the pulpit orations of clergymen furth of the realm. The English Nonconformist always commanded a wide public. Of notable sermons may be mentioned, Mali's Great Concernment, and Chrisfa Glorious Appearance to God! or the End of Time ; The Grones of Believers under their Burdens, and God''s Little Remnant Keeping their Garments Clean in an Evil Day ; The Plant of Renown, and A Wedding Ring fit for the Finger ; A Choice Drop of Honey 7 90 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. from the Rock Christ, and S'nhs and Sorroxvs Spread before God. A sermon that passed through many editions was The Stone rejected hy the Builders, exalted as the Head Stone of the Corner. Preached at Perth, at the opening of the Synod of Perth and Stirhng, on October 10, 1732, it gave rise, its author tells us, " to three days' warm debate "" in that Hagar and Ishmael cast out— from " The History of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." reverend Synod. In the other Courts of the Church it was taken up and as warmly debated, and it led eventually to the secession of its author ^ and his associate friends from the Church of Scotland. Other religious books were many and varied. There was Divine Songs for the Use of Children, by 1 Ebenezer Erskine. INSTRUCTIVE. 91 Isaac Watts, with its faulty rhymes and homely phrases ; and there was also — one can hardly conceive it possible in the land of Jenny Geddes and Jacob Primmer — A Prayer Bookjor Families and Private Persons upon various subjects and occasions. A Scottish sheriff, famous more for his erratic judgments than his law, recently stated that so far as Scotland was concerned the word " Liturgy "" was a nickname. Joseph sold into E^ypt—Jrom " The History of Joseph ami his Brethren." Probably this particular directory of devotion deserved such an epithet, and Carlyle may have seen it ere he wrote about " worshipping by machinery." The compiler has discharged his duty in such manner that — a prefatory note explains — " the Prayers are so arranged that when any one is too long to be used without inconvenience, it may be shortened by leaving out some of the paragraphs ; and this may be done without injury to the connection." If history speaks truth- 92 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. fully, the extensive devotional exercises of the pulpit did not lend themselves to such a laudable arrangement. An early chapbook writer, whose productions were of a religious character, was William Mitchell, better known as " The Tin- clarian Doctor." Many of his booklets were originally The Plague of Frogs— from " The History 0/ Moses ; giving an account 0/ his birth, his being found by Phajvah's daughter in the ark of bulrushes, and the miracles wrought by him for the deliverance of the children of Israel." printed by John Reid, BelPs Wynd, Edinburgh, husband of the piratical " I.ucky Reid," against whom Allan Ramsay complained to the Town Council. Mitchell, says George Mac Gregor, " was an odd being who sought by his works to spread ' light ' through Scotland. He was a lamplighter in INSTRUCTIVE. 93 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 chapbooks 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."^ Incidents in Holy Writ frequently The Sun and Mooji Stand Still— from " The New Pictorial Bible." formed subjects for chapbooks, and these were almost invari- ably illustrated. The New Pictorial Bible, which comprised notices of the most important events in Scripture from " the creation of light " to " the last day " foreshadowed in " Reve- lation,'" was a series of forty-six illustrations. The History of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, The History of Joseph and His Brethren, The History of Moses, Jonah''s Mission to the ^ The Collected Writings of Dougal Grnham. Vol. I., p. 73. 94 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Ninevites, and The Life, JoiirneTjings, and Death of the Apostle Paul, were some of the subjects. The Life of Paul and Jonah''s Mission, which, in the chapbooks I have examined, were added merely to eke out space, do not seem to have lent themselves to illustration, but the other subjects were pro- fusely embellished with woodcuts. The higher critic draws none of his inspiration from these books. So far as the artist Jonah is sivallowed by a fish— from " The New Pictorial Bible." is concerned, it icas a serpent that tempted Eve, the sun and the moon did stand still, and it was a fish that swallowed Jonah. ^ One of the most curious, and certainly one of the most repellant of these Biblical chapbooks, is that entitled, Ihe Life and Death of Judas Lscariot, or the Lost and Un- done So7i of Perdition. It is possible to feel a kindly interest in the mortal who played a necessary part in a disagreeable 1 The illustration referred to is in The New Pictorial Bible. There are, as stated in the text, no pictures in Jonah's Mission to the Ninevites. INSTRUCTIVE. 95 business even though one may have never read a line of Marie Corelli, but the Judas of these pages is not calculated to inspire esteem. He was a villain of the deepest dye — a man who, to his other crimes, added those of murdering his father and maiTying his mother. Indeed, one rises from a perusal of this booklet with the conviction that the historic transaction for thirty pieces of silver was not the greatest of Iscariot's sins. Two other popular chapbooks were The Daniel cast into the den of Lions— from " The Netu Pictorial Bible.' Pilgrim's Progress, told in a series of twenty-one realistic pictures, and Evans Sketch of all Religions, an abridgment of a larger work which gives particulars of forty-two different sects, including "Atheists,"" "Jumpers," and " Hutchinson- ians." Religious poetry was not unrepresented in the chap- man's wallet, and the Grave by Blair, which ran through numerous editions, may be cited as a typical example. The religious chapbook occasionally took a form which has been 96 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. perpetuated and developed in the later tracts issued by Missionary Societies and similar bodies. This was the life- story of some precocious youth with an early genius for Christianity. Typical examples are found in An Account of the Last Words of Christian Kerr, who died at Edinburgh on the 4th of February, 1702, in the 11th year of her age, and in \Sarah promised a Son— from " The History of Abraham, Isaac, ami Jacob." A Brief Memoir of Ur cilia Gebbie, who died at Galston on the 28th of August, aged 15 years. The term " Moral '' embraces a number of secular chap- books. The Wonderful Advantages of Drunhenness Aesevves to be remembered for its "Comparisons of Drunkenness." It gives the following comparisons and explanations : — - INSTRUCTIVE. 97 " As drunk as an Owl — as drunk as a Sow — as drunk as a Beggar — as drunk as the Devil — as drunk as a lord. The explanation of which is as follows : A man is as drunk as an Owl when he cannot see. He is as drunk as a Sow when he tumbles in the dirt. He is as drunk as a Beggar when he is very impudent. He is as drunk as the Devil when he is inclined to mischief; and as drunk as a lord when he is everything that is bad." One cannot fail to be impressed with the distinct temper- ance note which is sounded in Scottish chapbook literature. It is true that there are verses in praise of " Scottish Whiskie," and also that there is the equivocal song entitled the "Effects of Whiskey " ; but these notwithstanding, there are many chapbooks which are directed against the use of intoxicants. The most notable is undoubtedly Scotland's Skaith ; or, the Sad Effects of DrunTvenness, exemplified in the History of Will ami Jean. This poem, from the pen of Hector Mac- neill,^ had an almost unprecedented run of popularity, ^ Hector Macneill, who was born at RosHn in 1746, was the son of a re- tired Captain of the 42nd Highlanders. Shortly after his birth, the family removed to the west of Stirlingshire, and in due time Macneill entered the Stirling Grammar School, which was then under the capable management of Dr. David Doig. When a young man, he emigrated to the West Indies, where he was engaged for a short time in a counting-house. He returned to Scotland in 1795, when he published Scotland's Skaith. A year later he went out again to Jamaica, coming back to Scotland in 1800. He died at Edinburgh on March 15, 1818, aged seventy-two. 98 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. although it is doubtful if more than one verse is known to-day, and many who quote it would probably be at a loss to orive the author's name — &' " Of a' the ills poor Caledonia E'er yet preed, or e'er will taste, Brew'd in helPs black pandemonia, Whisky's ill will skaith her maist ! " Temperance teaching is inculcated in A Night frae Hame, and, in a lesser degree, in Rah and Ringan. The subject is also dealt with in the Oration on Teetotalization, and in the Dialogue between John and Thomas on sundry questions. The vigorous verses entitled a Protest against Whisky, might have been written by an uncompromising Rechabite. Chap- books of this nature could not fail to exert some influence upon the people who read them, and although, as unspeak- able Scots, we may never be able to get over our thirst for the barley bree, it is gratifying to know that — even in our darkest hour — we endeavoured to free ourselves from one at least of our original and selected sins. Allan Ramsay's Collection of Scotch Proverbs should not be overlooked in this section. First published in 1736, this volume of " sententious saws of antecedent centuries," as William Motherwell would call it, was considerably abridged, and frequently produced as a penny chapbook. It professed INSTRUCTIVE. 99 to contain "all the wise sayings and observations of the old people of Scotland," and as it circulated at a time when the average Scot punctuated his conversation with proverbial expressions, it doubtless sold as readily as anything in the pedlar's pack. The Old Hound— front " Tlic Fables of ALsop, the Celebrated Ancient Philosoplier." An old hou7id %vho had been an excellent good one in his time, had at last by reason of years, become feeble and unserviceable. How- ever, being in the field one day, he happened to be the first to come up with the game, but his decayed teeth prevented him from keeping his hold of it, and it escaped. His }>taster, being in a passion, was going to strike him. "'Ah, do not strike your old serz'ant," said the dog, " it is not my heart or inclination, but 7ny strength that fails me. If ivhat I am now displeases you, pray don't forget what I have been ?" Moral: — "It is a sad thing to be treated unkindly by the tnan you have senied." {d) Manuals of Instruction. — This is a section which cannot be said to be distinctly Scottish. There was The Housewife s Cookery Booh^ which provided recipes for many 100 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. things from the roasting of beef to the fermenting of wines ; and there was The Housekeiper, which gave practical in- struction in domestic economy. The bashful swain who found it difficult to woo in words on the 14th of February, found refuge in The Valentine Writer ; while The Art of Courtship or The Accomplished Courtier or the Nezv Academy of Compliments, assisted him towards the same end all the T/ic Burial of Jacob— from " The History of Joseph and his Brethren.'' year round. ^ There were text-books on the making of money and on personal etiquette ; and treatises on divers subjects from the killing of vermin to the art of swimming. {e) Almanacs. — These were hardy annuals, and were always in great demand. Their number is legion. Only one 1 See anti, page 68, note I. INSTRUCTIVE. lOI or two can be noticed, and these in a very general way. In Kelly's Collection of Scottish Proverbs, published at London in 1721, there is a reference to an early almanac in the maxim, " Buchanan's ^^ma?iac, lang foul and lang fair." The Aber- deen Almajiac enjoyed a wide popularity, and readers of Burns will remember that the poet, writing to his friend, Gavin Hamilton, during the Edinburgh period of his life, said he was " in a fair way of becoming as eminent as Thomas a Kempis or John Bunyan," and that he might expect hence- forth to see his " birthday inserted among the wonderful events in the Poor Robins and Aberdeen Almanacs.'''' "The Aberdeen Almanac (or Prognostication, as it was commonly called)," writes Dr. William Wallace, " was among the first of the kind issued in Scotland. It was founded in 1623 by Edward Raban, Aberdeen's first printer, enjoyed a long life, and acquired an almost proverbial celebrity. It had an immense circulation, accounted for by the fact that Aberdeen had for long a monopoly (in Scotland) of the sale of almanacs." ^ When this monopoly was broken down, other almanacs were rapidly put in circulation. Poor Robin's, which existed for nearly two centuries — from 1664 to 1823 — also enjoyed con- * The Lift and Works of Robert Burns, edited by Robert Chambers, revised by William Wallace. Edinburgh, 1896. Vol. II., p. 17. 102 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. siderable popularity north of Tweed. A typical example of these publications, but of later date, is to be found in Orr's Scottish Almanac, which still circulates widely and preserves all the outstanding features of the almanac of a by-gone day. Published by the firm of Messrs. Francis Orr & Sons, Glasgow, who issued many chapbooks during the first half of the nineteenth century, this annual has changed but slightly — if at all — in its appearance. Features have been forced upon it, and things of which it once took note have passed out of everyday life, but, when allowances of these kinds have been made, it is still — in its paper and general get-up — the chapbook almanac of long ago. Any one searching in the mass of cheap literature of these days for a lineal descendant of the chapbook family, could hardly find a nearer representative in the direct line than Orr's Scottish Almanac. Solomon's Temple— from " Tlie New Pictorial Bible ^ ROMANTIC. 103 III. ROMANTIC. Scotland's contribution to this section of our chapbook literature is remarkable for its poverty. Few of the romantic chapbooks were of native growth. Apart from certain of Dougal Graham's productions and Mansie Waiich, which have been considered under the heading " Humorous," the most notable romances of Scottish origin were those by the Ettrick Shepherd.^ Duncan Campbell and his dog Oscar, and The Long Pack ; or, The Robbers Discovered, are two of Hogg's tales which were in much demand as chapbooks. They were printed by the thousand, and editions came from almost every press in the country. Although in many cases they were published anonymously, the authorship was occa- sionally acknowledged, and these tales did much to increase the popularity of the Ettrick Shepherd with the Scottish people. His Brownie of Bodsbeck, appearing shortly after Old Mortality, was sometimes compared by the literati of 1 James Hogg, born 1770. Died 1835. 104 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Edinburgh with that work, to the disadvantage of the former, but his shorter tales, such as those mentioned, circulating widely among that class of people whom Messrs, Henley and Henderson would call " the uncritical," were read and enjoyed Jack the Giant Killer and the Giant— f>-0)n the ^^ History of Jack the Giant Killer, containing his Birth and Parentage — His tneeting ■with the King's Son— His noble Conquests over 7nany fuonstrous Giants — and, his relieving a beautiful Lady, whom he afterwards tnarricd," etc. for themselves alone. At many a fireside the touching tale of Duncan Campbell and his faithful dog has moved readers and hearers to tears. So familiar did it become in time that matrons all over the country were able to tell the story to INSTRUCTIVE. 105 their children without the book, and garnished occasionally with little touches of added pathos that detracted nothing from the genius of Hogg. The popularity accorded to Duncan Campbell was equalled by that meted out to The Long Pack. The concealment of a robber in a pedlar's pack was a thing that concei-ned the everyday life of the people, and many a later chapman who had the good fortune to possess a large stock of goods would be looked upon with suspicious eyes until he opened his bundle and proved that there was no robber where no robber should be. The people of those days, like their successors of our time, enjoyed a spice of sensation, and doubtless gloated over the " moving pack " from which, when the fatal shot was fired, " blood gushed out upon the floor like a torrent, and a hideous roar, followed by the groans of death, issued from the pack."" Hogg was a master of the gruesome, and in this sketch he maintains the role to the very end. The body " lay open for inspection for a fortnight," and, even after it was buried, the neighbours " confidently reported that his grave was opened and his corpse taken away ! " Hogg has fallen upon evil days, and to many his romances are practically non- existent. The copious tears of the up-to-date "Kailyairder " blind the eyes of his readers, who, in their endeavour to master the " pidgin " Scots that flows from his pen, forget that Scottish life was lived generations before London pub- lishers found a Klondyke in the joys and sorrows of every 8 106 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Scottish village. But to those who care to read them, the Ettrick Shepherd's tales are still accessible in the two volumes of his collected romances.^ Christopher North ^ was laid under tribute to the extent of Blind Allan, wliich was extracted from the now forgotten Lights and Shado'ccs of Scottish Life. In addition to these, there were a few, such as Allan Barclay, and The Broken Heart : a Tale of the Rebellion of 17^5 ; The Ghost of my Uncle, and John Hetheringtons Dream ; The Murder Hole, and The Strange Adventures of Tarn Merrilces, by innom- inate writers, but the great bulk of romance was of alien manufacture. Many of the fairy tales which still delight and terrify young readers were in constant circulation. Alt Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, and Sinbad the Sailor ,• Beauty and the Beast, Whittington and his Cat, and Jacl: the Giant Killer ; Gulliver''s Travels, Robinson Crusoe, and Baron Munchaiisen ; Hero and Leander, The Siege of Troy, and The King and the Cobbler, may be cited as representative types of the romantic literature of the pedlar's wallet. But, beyond the fact that they were extremely popular with readers north of Tweed, these are in no sense Scottish. 1 The J'alea of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. London. 1880. 2 John Wilson, born 1785, Died 1854. SUPERSTITIOUS. 107 IV. SUPERSTITIOUS. Unlike the Romantic, the Superstitious chapbook flourished vigorously in Scotland. Some one has said that the average Scot spoke to and of God as though He had been a next-door neighbour. This familiarity was not confined to the Divinity. A very material Devil held Scotland in fear and trembling, and, aided by numberless servants, kept the powers — both civil and ecclesiastical — in active employment. Many chap- books went to the elucidation of " Satan's Invisible World," of which, one of 24 pages, published by C. Randall at Stirling in 1807, may be regarded as a typical specimen. It is entitled : — " Sata?i's Invisible World Discover d : or, the History of Witches and Warlocks ; containing The Wonderful Relation of Major Weir and His Sister ; The Witches of Calder, Pittenweem, Borrowstounness, Bargarran and Culross ; and a Remarkable Proclamation, which was heard at the Cross of Edinburgh at Twelve o'clock at night, in the Reign of King James the IV. of Scotland." 108 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. The above may be said to be the ordinary chapbook version — and there were many more or less varied editions — of George Sinclair's credulous work, a duodecimo, which was printed at Edinburgh by .John Reid in 1685, and the full title of which is as follows : — " Sata7i's Invisible World Discovered ; or A Choice Collection of Modern relations, proving evidently against the Sadducees and Atheists of this present AgQ that there are Devils, Spirits, Witches and Apparitions, from Authentick Records, Attestations of Famous Witnesses and undoubted Verity. To all which is added, That Marvellous History of Major Weir and His Sister. With two Relations of Apparitions at Edinburgh. By George Sinclair,^ late Professor of Philosophy in the Colledge of Glasgow," This is not the place to refer at any length to that terrible condition of matters which led to so many innocents being sacrificed to the demands of a deluded people. The litera- ^ George Sinclair, who was born in 1630, was appointed to the Chair of Philosophy in Glasgow University in 1654, but eight years later — in 1662 — was ejected from office on account of his non-compliance with Episcopacy. He thereafter devoted his time and energies to the business of mineral sur- veying and engineering, and in 1670 he superintended the introduction of water into Edinburgh. In addition to the above contribution to the litera- ture of witchcraft, he wrote various works on astronomy, hydrostatics, and mathematics. SUPERSTITIOUS. 109 ture of witchcraft and devilry affords amusing reading in these days, but it is almost impossible to gauge the serious- ness with which it must have been read by folks who found it difficult to distinguish an old woman from a witch. The stories are ludicrously absurd to a modern reader : they were doubtless very real to the simple Scots of a by-gone day. One is inclined for once to oppose Sydney Smith in his exclama- tion, " Thank God, I was born so late," and wish that he could have met some of these children of the devil in the flesh. How exciting it would be, for example, if one could join Major Weir^ in his fiery chariot at Edin- ^ Major Weir, who has been called the prince of Scottish wizards, was the son of a farmer in Clydesdale. He entered the army, held a commis- sion as Lieutenant for some time, and took part in the quelling of the insurgents in Ireland in 1641. Later, he settled in Edinburgh, joined the Town Guard, and in time was promoted to the position of Major of that body. In that credulous age when Satan, forgetting his Bible, went about, not as a "roaring lion," but as a docile cat or timid hare, or took upon himself some more lovely form of passion, and made compacts with many people, he found a ready recruit in the Major. Gradually it was voiced abroad that Weir was in league with the Devil. He was put on trial on April 9, 1670, when he "confessed himself guilty of a life of wretched hypocrisy and vice — guilty, in fact, of crimes possible and impossible. He felt some relief in the idea that the Devil had the larger share in his mis- deeds." He was sentenced to be burned, and five days later the doom was carried out "between Edinburgh and Leith, at a place called Gallowlee." The memory of the wizard of the West Bow was long held in dread, and for more than a century his house remained tenantless. At length a person foolhardy enough to occupy the place was found in William PatuUo, an old soldier, and this is what happened : — no SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. bui-frh, and ride out with him as far as Dalkeith ; or how comfortiiiir it would be if one could venture out with Luggy, the Zetland fisherman and wizard, knowing that he could cast out a line and, from the depths of the ocean, bring up " fish well boiled and roasted." The chap- book says his companions " would make a merry meal thereof, not questioning who was cook," and one would be prepared to be similarly silent if one could meet him on these terms. The marks of Peter's finger and thumb, and the finding of the piece of money, lose something of the miraculous alongside Luggy's wonderful feat. If the " chap- " Ou the very first evening after PatuUo and his spouse had taken up their abode in the house," says the author of Reekiana, " a circumstance took place which effectually deterred them and all others from ever again inhabiting it. About one o'clock in the morning, as the worthy couple were lying awake in their bed, a dim, uncertain light proceeded from the gathered embers of their fire, and all being silent around them, they suddenly saw a form like a calf, but without the head, come through the lower panel of the door and enter the room : a spectre more horrible, or more spectre-like conduct, could scarcely have been conceived. The phan- tom immediately came forward to the bed, and setting its forefeet on the stock, looked steadfastly in all its awful headlessness at the unfortunate pair, who were of course, almost ready to die with fright. When it had contemplated them thus for a few minutes, to their great relief it took itself away, and slowly retiring, vanished from their sight. As might be expected, they deserted the house next morning, and for another half century no other attempt was made to embank this part of the world of light from the aggressions of the world of darkness." There is something amusing in the expression " looked steadfastly in all its awful headlessness." How a headless object without eyes could look at all is known only to the PatuUos and the author of Reekiana, SUPERSTITIOUS. Ill man billies " of Burns's day vended books of this kind, and were at all communicative as to the nature of their wares, the wonder is that " Tam o' Shanter " did not witness something more infernal than " warlocks and witches in a dance " during that immortal ride from Ayr to the Shanter Farm. Witchcraft formed a common subject for chapbook treat- ment. Among others there were The Life and Transactions with the Trial and Burning of Maggie Lang, the Cardonald Witch, who was executed at Paisley in 1697 ; Ihe History of Witches, Ghosts, and Highland Seers ; Witchcraft Detected and Prevented, or the School of Black Art Newly Opened; Witchcraft Proven, Arraign'' d and Condemned, etc., by a Lover of the Truth ; and The Life and Transactions icith the Trial and Burning of Maggie Oshorne, the Ayrshire Witch. In the Elegy in Memory of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag, we are introduced to a Devil who is as remorseless as the creation of Milton, and who is in keeping with the super- stition of the time. If there is a material Devil, there is also a material Hell, and Lag is there without even the privilege of Judas, who, according to a kindly legend, gets out to cool himself for one day in each year. The Elegy is 24 pages of what is probably as ribald verse as ever was put forward in connection with religion. It is not lacking in point, and one or two impressive lines save it from being altogether commonplace. There is something striking in the idea that Satan cannot weep. The author says : — 112 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. *' Could such a furious fiend as I Shed tears, my cheeks would never dry ; But I could mourn both night and day, 'Cause Lag from earth is ta'en away."" It is interesting to learn who have served the Devil. Be- ginning with Cain, he claims quite a host of notabilities — Saul, Doeg, Ahab, of early days ; and Clavers, Middleton, Fletcher, King Charles, of Covenant times, are all " Among the princes of my pit." None of these, however, not even " My dear cousin. Provost Mill 5 is worthy to be named with Lag for his exertions on behalf of the Prince of Darkness. Nor in the hour of death was he forsaken by his master. " For," says the Devil, " when I heard that he was dead, A legion of my den did lead Him to my place of residence. Where still he'll stay, and not go hence : For purgatory, I must tell. It is the lowest place in Hell : Well plenish'd with the Romish sort. Where thousands of them do resort. There many a prince and pope doth dwell, SUPERSTITIOUS. 113 Fast fettered in that lower cell, And from that place they ne'er win free. Though greedy priests for gain do lie In making ignorants conceive They'll bring them from the infernal cave. This Lag will know and all the rest Who of my lodging are possest, On earth no more they can serve me. But still I have their company ; With this I must my grief allay, So I no more of Lag will say." It is interesting to note — though the authority is "The Father of Lies " — that according to this Presbyterian rhymer there is such a place as " purgatory." As a rule, the Covenanter denied its existence, even as " the lowest pit of Hell." Superstitious literature of a different and slightly more respectable kind was that which treated of the prophetic utterances of Thomas the Rhymer, Alexander Peden, and Donald Cargill. Where a fulfilment of a prophecy is desired, it is sometimes an easy matter to find it, and the populace which enrolled Peden and Cargill among men of more than natural power would have sent them — a few years earlier or a 114 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. few yeai's later — to the stake to be burned as wizards en- dowed with powers from the Evil One. There was yet another class of superstitious chapbooks — that which dealt with dreams and fortune-telling. Three which were common to Britain were, The Neio Fortune Book; or, the Conjuror's Guide, which largely concerned itself with fortune-telling by cards ; Napoleon Bonaparte's Book of Fate, which is still on sale in various forms ; and Mother Bunch's Golden Fortune-Teller, which was perhaps the most popular of all. There were others that bore evidence of being more distinctly Scottish. Such, for ex- ample, was The Spaewife, or Universal Fortune-Teller, where- in your future welfare may he knoion, by Physiognomy, Cards, Palmistry, and Coffee Grounds: Also, a Distinct Treatise on Moles. The matter comprising this book is just the non- sense which, notwithstanding our School Boards, our vanity, and our superior intelligence, finds thousands of readers (shall we say believers ?) at the present time. Two chap- books — The Golden Dreamer ; or. Dreams Realised, contain- ing the Interpretation of a Great Variety of Dreams; and Tlie True Fortune Teller ; or. The Universal Book of Fate — deserve to be noticed for a different reason. Undated editions of these were issued at Glasgow, " printed for the Booksellers," and appended to both there is a note " To the Reader "" in the following terms : — SUPERSTITIOUS. 115 " The foregoing pages are published principally to show the superstitions which engrossed the mind of the population of Scotland during a past age, and which are happily disappearing before the progress of an en- lightened civilization. It is hoped, therefore, that the reader will not attach the slightest importance to the solutions of the dreams as rendered above, as dreams are generally the result of a disordered stomach, or an ex- cited imagination ! " It almost seems like a case of wilful fraud to ask a person to pay a penny for a dream-book which, when he has referred to it for the meaning of his yesternight's dream, gives him a solution, and then — in effect — tells him that he had better consult a doctor, as his stomach is disordered. Still, one cannot but admire the candour of the old-world publisher. How many of the dream-books at present on sale are as honest .'' 116 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. V. SONGS AND BALLADS. For number and variety, the song chapbook occupies first place. Considerable notice has already been taken of the broadside which flourished during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and is, indeed, far from being extinct even at the present date, and little further need be said here. Of the song chapbook, however, a more detailed account may be given. It was ordinarily the single sheet broadside folded so as to form a book of 8 pages, and, like the other productions vended by the chapman, was usually badly printed on execrable paper. As is the case with the song-sheets which are still issued from " Poets' Boxes " and other similar adjuncts of Parnassus, all sorts and conditions of verse were admitted to its pages. The choicest lyrics of Burns and Tannahill, Lady Nairne and Susanna Blamire are found in company with doggerel stanzas by the veriest tyro in rhyme ; and verses dealing with local events of momentary importance are sand- wiched between songs written for all time. Unholy hands SONGS AND BALLADS. 117 are laid on sacred lines, and poems are sometimes parodied and altered out of all recognition. " Scots Wha Hae " in a The Trial of Sir John Barleycorn— from " The Whole Trial and In- dictment of Sir John Barleycorn, Knt., A Person 0/ noble Birth and Extraction and well known by Rich and Poor throughout the Kingdom of Great Britain ; Being accused of several Misde- meanours, by him committed against His Majesty's Liege People ; by killing some, wounding others, and bringing Thousands to Beggary, and ruins many a poor family." common chapbook version was spun out to four verses more than its normal length. The extra stanzas were hardly an improvement, and it is possible that it was this version that 118 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. came under the notice of the " southron loon "" who char- acterized the war-song as " swaggering rant." ^ A parody of Burns's " Ode " was published under the title of " Welling- ton's Address," and the opening stanza may be quoted as a sample : — ^ " Scots Wha Hae " in one chapbook version began as follows : — " Near Bannockburn King Edward lay, Tlie Scots they were not far away ; Each eye bent on the break of day, Glimm'ring frae the east. *' At last the sun shone o'er the heath. Which lighted up the field of death, While Bruce, with soul-inspiring breath, His heroes thus addressed." Then followed the version, according to Burns, to which these stanzas were added by way of finish : — " Now fury kindled every eye, ' Forward ! forward ! ' was the cry ; ' Forward, Scotland, do or die ! ' And Where's the knave shall turn ? " At last they all run to the fray. Which gave to Scotland liberty ; And long did Edward rue the day He came to Bannockburn. " Thomson's monstrous interpolations are kindly, compared with these verses. SONGS AND BALLADS. 119 " Britons bauld though Britons few, On the plains o' Waterloo ; Britons, heroes always true To rights and liberty. Fire your blood my vefran boys, Usurpation's yoke despise ; Slavery fa's and slavery dies, Before brave British play." If the " Iron Duke " had been as indifferent a soldier as he is a poet in this " Address " put into his mouth, Napoleon might never have learned that little lesson about " striking his medals at London ; " or, if Wellington had met the bard, he would probably have told him what he told an ultra-obsequious hero-worshipper who doft'ed his hat to the great soldier, and remarked how pleased he was to do so — " Don't be a damned fool ! " The author of The Gentle Shepherd waxed wroth with Lucky Reid over the liberties she took with his text, and one wonders what he would have said had he seen the later version of " Lochaber No More." Borrowing Ramsay's title, some minstrel who " rhymed in [odd] numbers" composed a Jacobite song, of which the following are the closing stanzas : — " Defeating of Johnny Coup at Prestonpans Enliven'd our hearts and encouraged our clans ; Being flush'd with success, we to England did steer, But valiant Duke William put us all in great fear. 120 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. " He fought us, he beat us, he ruiu'd us quite, And now we are all in a sorrowful plight ! INIay Heaven its blessing upon thee, love, pour. For thee nor Lochaber I ne'er shall see more.'"' If the Jacobite lines were as broken as these, they were in a soxTowful plight indeed. It is only fair, however, to say that these doggerel effusions formed a small percentage of the songs which were issued in chapbook form. The best of our national minstrelsy was put in circulation in this way, although acknowledgments of authorship were seldom made. Publishers apparently believed that the song, not the singer, deserved to survive. Burns had a chapbook devoted to himself, and a fairly good selection of his songs is given in it ; and he and other bards — Tannahill, Hogg, Scott, Lady Nairne, Susanna Blamire, Jean Elliot, Ramsay, Sempill, Macneill — are repre- sented in many publications. It is not improbable that, so far as Scottish song is con- cerned, the chapbook in one way did a distinct disservice to the cause. Rude productions such as those cited were com- mitted to print and stereotyped for all time, or as much of it as they might survive. In this way their crudities were per- petuated. Had topical ballads such as " The Lamentation for Mr. M'Kay " and " Wellington's Address," and lyrics of love like " The True Lovers' Farewell " and " The Sailor's SONGS AND BALLADS. 121 Journal," been cast upon the world after the manner of our early ballad minstrelsy, and made to depend for existence on oral tradition, they, in passing from mouth to mouth, might have been shorn of their faulty rhymes and infelicitous expressions as the poly-sided stone is smoothed of its angulari- ties by the ebb and flow of many tides. The means taken for their preservation may have proved their undoing ! 122 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. CONCLUSION. The foregoing survey, brief though it is, may be sufficient to indicate the varied nature, as well as the poverty and riches, of the productions that went to the formation of our chap- book literature. Every one of the five divisions was supple- mented by publications from beyond the Border; and even though Professor Eraser's opinion, that the English chapbook was inferior to the Scottish, be true, no student of the subject can fail to be struck with the variety which the English com- positions gave to the publications of the north. We have nothing, for example, to take the place of The Comical History of the King and the Cobbler ; and there is no doubt that the Scot would laugh as hilariously as the Elnglishman over the " entertaining and merry tricks "" that were enacted in the Strand in the early hours of the morning, when the King of all England discussed a pot of ale with the poor follower of St. Crispin. The wonder is that we have nothing. These tales of King Henry the Eighth are in line with the adventures of King James the Fifth, and it does seem strange that Harry Tudor never suggested The Gudeman of Ballen- CONCLUSION. 123 gekh to a Scottish author as a subject for chapbook treat- ment. Again, our romances and fairy tales would make a poor show were it not for the classics imported from south of Tweed ; and our sermons and religious verse would lose much in bulk at least if we expunged the tractates of English ministers and the simple rhymes of Isaac Watts. Mother Bunch and Mrs. Shipton were not native born. The adven- tures of Dick Turpin, George Barnwell, and James Allan the Northumberland Piper, were pleasing variants to those of Rob Roy, Paul Jones the Pirate, and Gilderoy. It has been said that the chapbook existed in all its vigour down to the early years of the nineteenth century, and George Mac Gregor, clearly confounding a part with the whole, says : " An impression of their vulgarity got abroad, they were regarded by public moralists as pestilential, and there- fore deserving extinction." ^ Such a remark can only apply to the broadly humorous effusions of Graham and pro- ductions of a similar kind, and we must look elsewhere for an explanation of the passing away of the distinctive chapbook. The introduction of periodical literature had as much to do with the matter as anything. A notable printer and publisher of chapbooks in Haddington was Mr. G. Miller, who sought to impart something new to the cheap litera- ture in existence by the starting of a penny literary paper. ^ The Collected Writings of Dougal Graham. Vol. I., p. 77. 124 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. This he entitled The Cheap Magazine, and readers of A Windoio hi Thrums will remember that it was in the pages of that periodical that Tammas Haggart read the account of the origin of cock-fighting. But the natives of Thrums and other places appreciated the old familiar booklets better than The Cheapy^ and, after a short existence, it expired. Other publishers endeavoured to succeed where Miller had failed, but they, too, were unsuccessful, until the Messrs. Chambers took the matter in hand. The first number of Chambers's Edinhurgh Journal was produced on 4th February, 1832. From the beginning its success was phenomenal. Fifty thousand copies of the first issue were put in circulation, and, so heartily was the new venture taken up, that the third number totalled the remarkable figure of eighty thousand. Chambers''s Journal was followed by other publications of a similar kind, such as Hogg''s Instructor and the Scottish Reader, which have collapsed, and The PeopWs Friend, which was founded in 1869, and still flourishes vigorously. To keep pace with this newer form of cheap literature, some of the chapbook firms began the issue of " New and Improved Series." Reference has already been made to the "Caledonian Classics of the Common People." Another series, " illustrated with fine wood-cuts," was issued by James Watt, Montrose ; and publishers in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere, hoping to gratify popular taste, set about the preparation of emas- culated versions of Graham's works. But the public that CONCLUSION. 125 might have gone on enjoying the realistic pictures of Scottish life which amused their fathers would not tolerate the colour- less outlines, and ere long they ceased to sell in any great quantity. The work of destruction begun by Chambers's Journal and other similar periodicals was assisted by the increase of daily and weekly newspapers. The abolition of the duty on this form of literature gave an impetus to journalism, and soon organs of all kinds began to issue from all parts of the country. The bi-weekly of the city became a daily, some- times with several editions ; and soon every town with a few thousand inhabitants could boast as many rival newspapers as churches. The circulation of these sheets demanded the institution of the newsagent, who soon made his (or her) appearance in town and village and hamlet.^ The Advertiser, or the Journal, or the Gazette, penetrated with the mail- coach into rural parts, and was displayed in the window of the local post-office beside ginger-bread horses and double- strong peppermints. By and by the local newsagent found that she could sell song-sheets and dream-books, almanacs and penny-histories as well as newspapers ; and then the " Flying ^ In the early years of the nineteenth century there were no newsagents in the Scottish towns, and the sale of the few newspapers in existence was undertaken by the regular booksellers and by law-agents. The latter have ceased to regard this as part of their duty, but many booksellers still have a newspaper counter. 126 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Stationer" awoke to find his occupation gone. The business of vending popular literature was silently transferred from one agency to another, and the chapman became the occa- sional character he is to-day. He could still push his trade at farm-towns remote from hamlets, and follow his vocation at fairs and centres of interest, but as a permanent and general means of supply he had outlived his time. Something has already been said of the nature and char- acter of the literary chapman, and, in taking leave of him here, a few notes may be added. Like his great prototype, John Cheap, he was seldom a respectable being, and not unfrequently turned pedlar when he had failed in a higher line of merchandise. The able-bodied man who makes Saturday night hideous in our busy streets with his raucous rendering of " the newest and popular songs of the day," and spends his profits in the nearest tavern, is not an unworthy successor to, as he certainly maintains the inglorious tradi- tions of, the " Flying Stationer " of a century ago. Hawkie describes two of them as being " as ' kittle ' neighbours as Glasgow could produce," and the description might apply to many, including Cameron himself. Of course, in the city, amid the excitement of fairs and hangings, the pedlar was seen at his worst, and to those who may incline to the opinion that the outline here given is lurid rather than just, the fol- lowing sketch of the chapman as he appeared in rural places w^ill be more acceptable. It is taken from a volume of CONCLUSION. 127 Scottish sketches, which was published in 1872, under title, Round the Grange Farm ; or. Good Old Times. " Old Dauvit was a middle-sized, broad-shouldered man, w^ith a keen, pawky eye, and a very sleek, worldly face. He was always clad in a blue coat like a large surtout, with big metal buttons, homespun grey vest and trousers, while his head was surmounted by a huge broad bonnet with a red top ; round his neck he wore a green and yellow Indian neckerchief, which encircled his un- bleached shirt collar. The lappels of his coat and vest pockets were the only fanciful parts of his dress ; his pack was tied in a linen table-cover and slung over his shoulders, but Dauvit strode on as if he felt no burden, planting his staff firmly on the ground, and keeping a sharp eye on business. His stock consisted, perhaps, of hardware goods, comprising five-bawhee knives, needles, pins of all sizes, from the small ' mannikin ' to the large ' Willie Cossar ; ' thimbles, scissors, bone-combs, specks ; also ballads such as ' Gill Morice ' and ' Sir James the Rose,' or four and eight page pamphlets generally com- prehending among the number ' John Cheap the Chap- man,' ' The King and the Cobbler,' and ' Ali Baba or the Forty Thieves.' Dauvit had his regular ' rounds,' which he traversed twice, or it might be many times a year, usually contriving at nightfall to reach some 128 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. friendly farmhouse, where the cog of porridge and bed of straw were cheerfully given in return for his budget of news, his packet of chapbooks, or small parcel of tea and sugar, bespoken on his last visit. Every person, from the peer to the peasant, welcomed and encouraged Dauvit to castle and cot. When he entered a house he had always a suitable remark to set off his rustic bow and confident familiar smile. ' Uncommon fine weather, mistress,' was his favourite salutation, varying the ' fine ' with ' coarse,' ' cauld,' ' dry,' ' wat,' or ' changeable,' to suit the weather. Then followed some complimentary remark, such as, ' I needna ask if ye're weel the day, for ye're the very picture o' health ; ' or some decidedly pleasant observation, especially to the young lasses, as ' fair fa' your bonny face, I haena seen your match in a' the borders ; ' or, ' Eh, now ! but a sight of you's a gude thing, I wonder if I hae ony nice ribbon in my pack for you the day,' with, it might be, ' Ye're a comely lassie ; I wish he saw you the noo that likes ye best.' Of course, after such flattering speeches Dauvit was asked to lay down his pack and give them his news ; and then he, nothing loath, opened up his budget of information, told the mistress when he last saw her married daughter, and how she was looking ; delivered the message to Jenny the kitchen-maid, received from some far-away brother ; or told the master all about the various ' craps ' upon CONCLUSION. 129 the different farms he passed through, generally ending with — ' I hae seen nae pasture to compare wi' your ain,' or, ' Ye've braw corn, maister, in the park down there."' He was generally asked to join the family of the small farmer at meals ; but he was a very moderate eater and well bred in his own fashion, handing all the plates of bread to the company at table till told again and again ' that he was eatin' nane his seV but only watchin'' other folk.' Dauvit learned about all the marriages likely to take place, and, throwing himself in the way of the bridegroom or bride, would make him or her a present of a ribbon or neckerchief; then, after a joke and an encomium on the absent one, expressing his certainty that two such ' weel-doin' industrious young folk couldna but be happy,' he would inform them that he ' was aye at hame frae the last Monday o' the ae month to the first Monday o' the other ; or, if they wad either write what they wanted or come owre, he wad gie them some grand bargains,' adding ' that he wad tak' the siller as they could gie him it ? ' But Geordie Johnston o' the Shaw remarked, after doing, as he termed it, a ' gude stroke wi' Dauvit,' that ' he wasna sae accommodatin' as he made believe.' When business w^as over, if he could reach another farm-town before dark, he would roll up the pack, and, wishing them all ' a gude afternoon,' speed on his way ; but, if it was near nightfall, he remained and 130 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. spent the evening, sitting with the assembled household round the fire, retailing his news, or it might be slyly, but faithfully, delivering a message or letter to some lad or lass amongst the company from an absent sweetheart. The fore supper was the best time for gossip, and this, during winter, was from lozcsin'' time, about five o'clock, until eight, when the cows were milked and the horses Slippered. All eagerly listened to Dauvit''s summary of news, as well they might, for his budget was varied, extending from Parliamentary discussion to domestic cookery, the bairns listening so intently and so quietly that they generally fell asleep on their stools, while the older part of the audience, unwilling to break the thread of his narrative, scarcely interrupted him with a single question." This picture is more pleasing than that of the drunken crew with whom Hawkie and the Glasgow police hob- nobbed, and it presents what is the most favourable sketch that could be drawn of the travelling pedlar. But it is not essentially different from the coarser portrait to be found in John Cheap the Chapman. Both charac- ters are wily merchants, ever ready to watch the main chance, and to further their interests by a word in season or a remark that is flattering rather than complimentary. The life they live is the same, and when one is a little more CONCLUSION. 131 decently clad — in tongue and manner — than the other, it is due to the fact that the portrait came from a feminine pen. Dauvit doubtless broke as many commandments as John Cheap, and it was well for him that his author, being a woman, had not, presumably, so intimate a knowledge of her subject and his sins as had Dougal Graham of "John Cheap" and his shortcomings. It is to be feared — perhaps regretted — that the " Flying Stationer " seldom acquired wealth. If he had watched his business, it could have made him a man of money. There were large profits on his wares. William Cameron tells us that he could buy eight-page ballads at twopence a dozen, and states that, out of a capital of twopence, he made six shillings in about three hours. On another occasion, he bought tracts at three half-pence a dozen and sold them so well that by night he had nine shillings, and was drunk into the bargain. Sometimes, when there was a ready purchase, the price of the chapbook went up a hundred per cent., and, notwithstanding the increase, sold by the ream. The chapman had various ways of going to work, A great deal of his success lay in his being able to " patter" well. If he could give an attractive rendering of the song or ballad he was selling, he was sure to draw a crowd of customers. Some- times recourse was had to the practice of vending straw. The " Flying Stationer," pretending that the books he carried were of a particularly interesting nature, informed his 132 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. audience that he dared not " call " them, but that he would sell them a straw for a penny and give them a copy of the book to the bargain. This " catch " seldom failed. The selling of the straw was more or less a piece of imposition, but sometimes the unscrupulous chapman descended to even greater fraud. When the worst came to the worst, he did not hesitate to "patter" one thing and sell another. Cameron, in his interesting reminiscences of a pedlar's life, affords an illustration of this, and the good folks of Paisley were his victims, " Paisley," he m rites, " was the first town that ever I imposed on, by selling useless paper for books. One Saturday night I could get no books to buy, as there was only one bookseller in Paisley who sold them, George Caldwell, residing in Dyer's Wynd, Moss Street, who had retired from business ; and in a room of his dwelling- house was selling off the remainder of his stock. " That night he was out, and had taken the key of the room along with him ; I wearied waiting for him, and seeing a number of papers lying on the kitchen table, I bargained for them with Mrs. Caldwell ; and she, honest woman, not knowing the purpose for which I wanted them, sold them to me. I went out into the street, told a long tale, and sold the papers. Times were good then I drew upwards of four shillings. None challenged me CONCLUSION. 133 that night, but on the Monday following, when I was at the ' Cross,' a young woman came to me and said, ' You rascal, you cheated me on Saturday night ; you sold me a newspaper instead of a book.' I asked her, 'What she gave for it .'' ' She said, ' A halfpenny.'' And I told her ' She could never be cheated with a newspaper for a half- penny.' " 1 John Milne, a poet-pedlar of Aberdeenshire, who sold his own effusions over a wide tract of the East of Scotland, always pleaded his cause in a verse of doggerel. He was one of the later-day chapmen. His poems frequently dealt with inci- dents connected with the great religious struggle that cul- minated in the Disruption of 1843, and these he recited at fairs and markets, always concluding with the following lines : — " I, Jock Milne of the Glen, Wrote this poem wi' my ain pen ; And Tm sure I couldna sell it cheaper, For it'll hardly pay the price o' the paper." 2 The chapman was not always dealt with in life in a kindly fashion, and it is to be feared that he frequently found him- ^ " Hawkie" : the Autobiography of a Oangrel, p. 35. ' It is due to Milne's memory to say that as a man he was distinctly more respectable than the average pedlar. 134 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. self deserted and alone in the hour of death. Sometimes in the gloaming of his days he found " a hained rig " in the shelter of a city hospital, but it is likely that more often he died, " a cadger-powny's death At some dyke-side." Mr. Alan Reid, writing of John Burness, the author of Thrummy Cap, says his end was unutterably sad. " His occupation was anything but lucrative ; his spirit was broken, and his physique impaired through struggles and disappoint- ments ; and at Portlethen, in 1826, the toiling wayfarer was overtaken in a snowstorm and literally ' driven to the Avail ' by the conqueror Death." ^ The shroud of many, like that of Burness, was woven by the snowy flakes of a wintry blast. The flying-stationer did not lack his elegist. Part of a lament for Dougal Graham has been preserved, but it is more in relation to the bellman than the pedlar side of his char- acter, and a few lines from the "Elegy on Peter Duthie" ^ may be quoted in preference to it. Duthie, who flourished from 1721 to 1812, was a flying-stationer for " upwards of ^ The Bards of the Angus and Mearns, p. 75. By Alan Reid. Paisley. ^ Memoirs of the late John Kippen, Cooper in Methven, near Perth, to which is added an Elegy on Peter Duthie, who was upwards of eighty years a flying-stationer. Stirling : Printed by C. Randall. 12mo. 24pp. CONCLUSION. 135 eighty years," and when at length he passed away his memory was embahned in elegaic verse, from which the following is an extract : — " Lament ye people, ane an' a'. For Peter Duthie's e'en awa' ; Nae mair will Pate e'er travel round The circle o' his native ground ; Nae mair shall he last speeches cry, Nor in the barns will ever lie ; Nae mair shall he again appear To usher in the infant year With Almanacks frae Aberdeen, The best and truest ever seen ; Nae mair shall he again proclaim The prophecies in Rhymer s name ; Nor sell again the great commands, Nor praise the book ca'd Meally Hands ; Nor Arry's ware for lads and lasses. Which for the highest wisdom passes ; Nor shall he Jock and Maggies tale Again expose to view or sale ; Nae mair shall he e'er gain a dram Upon the tricks o' Louden Tarn ; Buchanans wit he cannot praise. As aft he did in former days ; 136 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Nor tell how Leper threw the cat Into auld Janefs boiling pat. [Death's] sovereign will nae doubt it was, Altho' we canna tell the cause, To drive poor Peter from the earth. An' cause sic mourning into Perth, Where lang the honest body dwelt, Where mony a bunder beuk he selt, An' where ten thousand wad defend him. And sae wad ilk ane done that kend him. Alas ! poor Pate ! nae mair will ye Tell tales again wi' mirth and glee ; Lang will the country lasses weary, To see that face was ay sae cheery, A face weel kent o'er Britain's Isle, A face ay painted with a smile. O, wha will now fill up thy place, And fill it with so good a grace ? There's only one that I do ken. Among the mortal sons o' men, An' that is Jackey, ance thy friend, The fittest fellow e'er I kend ; Thy customers he knew right well. An' can a canty story tell. CONCLUSION. 137 On winter nights, while round the ingle, The wheels an' reels an' plates do jingle. So let him now tak' up thy trade. An' then Fm sure his fortune's made." If " Jackey " took up the business where Tcter Duthie left it, and lived to anything like the age of his predecessor, the chances are that his elegist — if he had one — would not be under the necessity of looking for somebody to succeed him. By that time, the newsagent would be supplanting the " Flying Stationer." The chapbook was issued from many towns in Scotland, and Dr. Robert Chambers — though his figure is believed to be well within the mark — put the annual circulation at 200,000. The leading presses were those of Glasgow, Edin- burgh, Falkirk, Stirling, and Paisley. Many of the chap- books Avere issued without printer's name, and cannot there- fore be assigned to any particular office. In Edinburgh, the great places of publication were Niddery's Wynd and Cowgate, and the most notable printers were J. Morren and Alexander Robertson. In Glasgow, the firm of James and Matthew Robertson did an extensive business, and are understood to have realised =£'30,000 from the work. Their premises were situated in the historic Saltmarket. Other printers of the same locality were R. Hutchison and Thomas Duncan. Francis Orr, who started business in 1790, was a notable lO 158 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. Glasgow printer. In 1825, he assumed his three sons as partners, and his firm has since been known as that of Francis Orr & Sons. James, the last of the three sons, died so recently as 1899, leaving wealth to the value of about a million sterling. Paisley and Falkirk had two outstanding publishers. In the former town, George Caldwell cari-ied on business, and was the original printer of many of Dougal Graham's productions ; in the latter place, T, Johnston issued a numerous collection of chapbooks, Stirling had no fewer than four printers engaged in the business. There were the two separate firms of C. Randall and M. Randall, and J. Fraser and W. Macnie, one or another of whose imprints appear on many publications. A number of other towns throughout Scotland — Leith, Dundee, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Irvine, Newton-Stewart, Haddington, Montrose, Airdrie — contributed to the general stock, and endeavoured to meet the demands of the " Flying Stationer."" In criticising our chapbook literature, the prevailing tone has been either — as in the case of George Mac Gregor — to say that " no one need regret that the days of chapbooks are gone ^ ; " or — as in the case of Professor Fraser — to say that they " should be read in the light of the age that gave them birth." 2 Neither position is quite just to the literature 1 The Collected Writings of Dougal Graham. Vol. I., p. 79. * The Humorous Chapbooks of Scotland. By John Fraser. Part I., p. 114. CONCLUSION. 139 itself. In the mass that circulated over Scotland there was a considerable leaven of indecency, just as there is more than a suggestion of filth in the literature of to-day. Writing of what was virtually the chapbook era, Mr. Henley described Scotland, out of the fulness of his ignorance and epigram, as a land of " fornication and theology." To the Southron mind, therefore, it will not appear strange that Erskine's Sermons were sandwiched between The Comical Adventures of Lothian Tom and Jockey and Maggy's Courtship, or that Isaac Watts's Divine Songs lay cheek for jowl with The Coal- man's Courtship of the Creelzoi/e\s Daughter. There were many tastes to be suited, and in this direction we are probably as diverse as our fathers were. Any bookseller will supply you with Newman's Apologia and Jude the Obscure. The distinctive chapbook — that is, the broadly humorous production of which Dougal Graham was author-in-chief — affords a faithful reflex of life as it really was. Graham was an early " kailyairder," who reared his plants from a stronger and more strictly Scottish soil than Barrie or Maclaren or Crockett. These later workers in the same Held met un- common Scots who knew more about Hell than the sins that fit a man for it, and who were religious to the point of extravagance. Their narrowness of view and their feeling for sanctity are insisted on, and only a glimpse of their normal condition is given here and there by way of comedy or bur- lesque. The weavers of Thrums, and the villagers of Drum- 140 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. tochty, and the rustics around Cairn Edward lived in the time when, as the old Scotswoman said, swearing was regarded as " a grand set-aff to the conversation,"" and yet not one of them could say " Damn it ! "" to save his life. It may be that the exigencies of modern taste, or the sympathies of the authors, demanded that their mouths be closed against the "aith that wad relieve" them, but to that extent many readers may think them less truthfully Scottish in their walk and conversation. The authors of some of the chapbooks felt no such scruples ; and in their desire to paint life as they saw it, had no inclination to tone down that forceful beauty of our native tongue which is not taught at school. Their wish was like that of old Oliver — to have warts and all. It may be also, so far as Graham at least is concerned, that the old author was more intimately acquainted than the new with the life portrayed. The modern " kailyairder " writes from his study — it may be in London or in Liverpool — of a life he only knows by hearsay or from observation in long past years ; Dougal Graham condescended on scenes and manners, customs and traits which he himself had witnessed or experienced — he was neither a son of the soil nor a chapman for nothing. What Fraser says of him, in comparison with the historian, is true of him as compared with J. M. Barrie or Ian Maclaren. CONCLUSION. 141 " He possessed this advantage over the ordinary historian," writes Fraser, " 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 everyday life and thoughts of the lower classes of the last [the eighteenth] century. Nothing is hidden from him. He is treated with a familiarity which shows that his hosts have no wish to hide anything." ^ But if the recent " kailyairder " has not repeated the expressive Scots of the Skellat Bellman and his compeers, it cannot be said that the modern novelist has forgotten the incidents which bulk in the chapbook pages. The dominie, or the minister, is still occasionally " deposed " for the old lechery to help out an attractive plot, and even the prim, semi-religious authoress can insinuate a good deal about the nameless " Pleasures of Matrimony." And although it is sometimes embellished with art and occasionally obscured with indifferent grammar, the incident round which much of Jockey and Maggijs Courtship circles is so frequently turned 1 The Humorous Chapbooks oj Scotland. By John Fraser. Part II., p. 215. 142 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. to account that one wonders what the average noveHst would do if it were an impossibility for children to be born out of wedlock. The newspaper, too, often provides all the naked realism of the chapbook ; and the generation which supports the journal supplying the longest account of the obscenities of the Breach of Promise and Divorce Courts, is hardly entitled to pronounce a very strong judgment against the indecencies of the antiquated chapbook. If there must be filth, the vulgar frankness of Graham is preferable to the insinuated suggestiveness of the present-day romancist. Mention has already been made of the suppression of the chapbook by the literary periodical and of the abolition of the flying-stationer by the resident newsagent. Alongside these factors, there was a third, which had much to do with altering the tone of the compositions which circulated among the work- ing classes. This was the wide distribution of religious tracts. Many of these — issued by the Religious Tract Society which was instituted in 1799 — came from south the Border. Others were of Scottish production. During the foi'ties of last cen- tury the land was deluged with pamphlets and tracts, many of which had reference to the Morisonian controversy. Series were issued at different towns, such as Perth, Edinburgh, Kelso, and Falkirk, and in 1848 Stirling revived the position it held in the dissemination of the older chapbooks by the establishment of a Tract Depot. This organisation, which is now known as " The Stirling Tract Enterprise," originated in CONCLUSION. 143 the hobby and Free Church leanings of a Stirling seed mer- chant. It began in a very casual way — its inception was almost unconscious — but when it attained its jubilee, in (Jctober, 1898, the trustees were able to state that they had circulated something like four hundred and seventy millions of publications during the fifty years. These productions are distributed over all the world, and, so far as Scotland is con- cerned, they must have largely taken the place of the old religious chapbook. In its other departments, chapbook literature has equally developed. The old romances were followed by a succession of lurid penny and twopenny dreadfuls issued at Glasgow, but chiefly dealing with American life. An attempt was made to counteract the influence of these by the issue of a series of religious tales under title, " The Stirling Stories." A more recent Scottish publication with a similar aim, though not ostensibly religious, is the series of " People's Penny Stories," issued by Messrs. John Leng & Co., Dundee. In addition to these Scottish issues, there is a bewildering plethora of productions of English growth. Penny romances abound, and weekly miscellanies of the Tit-Bits order are legion. The advertising fiend, too, does much towards this multiplication of books. Enterprising soap-boilers now add literature to their business, and a man may shave himself into possession of a library of shabby editions of famous authors. The free distribution of almanacs and 144 SCOTTISH CHAPBOOK LITERATURE. dream -books is carried on wholesale by pushing patent- medicine vendors. Mother Shipton and Mother Bunch have given place to Mother Seigel, and Dr. Williams and his pink pills have superseded Dr. Faustus and Major Weir. When this gratis circulation and the gorgeous array of cheap literature are compared with the chapbooks of an earlier time, one may be inclined to commiserate the old-world reader. And yet he had compensating advantages. If he did not have the newest discoveries in photography or the latest achievements in colour-printing, neither was he invited to buy soap that wouldn't wash clothes, or tempted to gorge himself on pills worth a guinea a box. The Last Day — /'roiii " The AVtc Pictorial Bihle." LIST OF CHAPBOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING PAGES. PAGE Aberdeen Almanac, loi Accomplished Courtier ; or, a New School of Love 68, loo Account, an Interesting, of Robert Burns 87 Account of the Last Words of Christian Kerr, 96 Account of the Massacre of Captain Porteous, 79 Address to the Town Council of Edinburgh, 30 Akenstaff, 25 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, 106, 127 Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, 106 Allan Barclay, 106 Ancient King Crispin, 79 Art of Courtship, 68, 100 Auld Lang Syne, 21 Baron Munchausen, 106 Battle of Bothwell Bridge, the,... 72, 73 Battle of Drumclog, the, 72, 73 Battle of Killiecrankie, 72 Battle of Otterburn, the, 72 Beauty and the Beast, 106 Blind Allan, 106 Blithesome Bridal, the, 15 Blue Beard, 33 Brief Memoir of Urcilla Gebbie, 96 Broken Heart, the, a Tale of the Rebellion of 1745 106 Brownie of Badenoch, the, 25 Buchanan's Almanac, loi Caledonian Classics of the Common People, 26 Choice Drop of Honey, a, 89 Christ's Glorious Appearance to J udgment 89 Coalman's Courtship to the Creel- wife's Daughter, 43, 139 Collection of Scotch Proverbs, 27, 98, loi Comical History of the King and the Cobbler, 33, 106, 122, 127 Comical, Notes and Sayings of Mr. John Pettigrew 70 Comical Sayings of Paddy from Cork, 33.. 56, 70 Comical Transactions of Lothian Tom, 56, 139 Comical Tale of Margaret and the Minister, 67 Devil upon Two Sticks, the, 25 Dialogue between John and Thomas, 98 Dick \Vhittington and his Cat, 33, 106 Diverting Courtship, a, 69 Divine Songs for the Use of Child- ren, 90, 139 Dominie, the. Deposed, with a Sequel, 67 Duncan Campbell and his Dog Oscar, 103, 105 Edinburgh, 72 Edinbury (j?r) Gleaner, the, 31 Elegy in Memory of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag, 1 1 1 Entertaining Exploits of George Buchanan, 56, 57, 70 Evan's Sketch of All Religions, 95 Executions in Scotland from the year 1600, 72 146 LIST OF CHAPBOOKS. PAGE Expiring; Groans, Death, and Funeral Procession of the Beaton News- paper 79 Fables of .Esop, 99 Fishwives of Buckhaven, the, 25 Gau^er's, the, Journey to the Land of Darkness, 64 Gentle Shepherd, the, 22, 119 Ghaist of Firenden, the, 25 Ghost of my Uncle, 106 Gilderoy, 25 Glasgow and the High Church, 72 God's Little Remnant Keeping their Garments Clean, 86 Golden Dreamer, the, or Dreams Realised, I14 Grannie M'Nab's Lecture on the Women, 64 Grave, the, 95 Grinning made easy, 70 Grones of Believers Under their Burdens, 89 Gude and Godlie Ballates, 19 Gulliver's Travels, 106 Hero and Leander, 106 History of the Rebellion of 1745, 25, 36. 37, 51, 74. 78 History of Sir William Wallace, the Renowned Scottish Champion, 24, 84 History of the Haveral Wives,... 48, 57 History of James Allan, 29 Hi.story of the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, 33 History of the Great Warrior, Robert Bruce 84 History of the Black Douglas, 85 History of Prince Charles Edward Stuart , 85 History of the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland, 86 History of Paul Jones the Pirate,... 87 History of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 9O; 93, 96 History of Joseph and His Brethren, 91, 93. 100 PAGE History of Moses, 92, 93 History of Witches, Ghosts, and Highland Seers, in Housekeeper, the, 100 Housewife's Cookery Book, 99 Jack the Giant Killer, 33, 104, 106 Janet Clinker's Oration, 63 Jockey and Maggy's Courtship, 38, 41, 43. 57, I39> 141 John Cheap the Chapman, 35, 53, 57, •27, 130 John Falkirk, the Merry Piper, 56 fonah's Mission to the Ninevites, ... 93 John Hetherington's Dream, 106 Leper the Taylor, 35, 57, 58 Life and Astonishing Adventures of Peter Williamson, 33 Life and Death of Judas Iscariot, ... 94 Life and History of Mary Queen of Scots, 85 Life and Meritorious Transactions of John Knox, 85 Life and Transactions with the Trial of Maggie Lang, in Life and Transactions with the Trial of Maggie Osborne, in Life, Journeyings, and Death of the Aposile Paul, 94 Loss of the Pack, the, 14 Long Pack, the, or the Robber Discovered, 29, 103, 105 Maggie Lauder, 21 Magic Pill, the, or Davie and Bess, 67 Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith, 33, 64, 103 Man's Great Concernment, 89 Massacre of Glencoe, the, 72 Memoirs of the late John Kippen, 134 Mother Bunch's Closet Newly Broke Open, 33 Mf)ther Bunch's Golden Fortune Teller, 114 Murder Hole, the, 106 LIST OF CHAPBOOKS. 147 PAGE Napoleon Bonaparte's Book of Fate, 114 New Academy of Compliments ; or, the Complete English Secretary, 68, 100 New Pictorial Bible, 89, 93, 94, 95, 102, 144 New Fortune Book, or the Con- juror's Guide, 114 Night frae Hanie, 98 Odds and Ends, or a Groat's Worth of Fun for a Penny, 29, 70 Oration on Teetotalisation, 98 Orr's Scottish Almanac, 102 Paisley Repository, the, 32 Particular Account of the Great Mob at Glasgow, 79 Penny Budget of Wit, the, 33 Pilgrim's Progress, the, 95 Pleasures of Matrimony, the, 69 Plant of Renown, 89 Poor Robin's Almanac, loi Prayer-Book, a, for Families and Private Persons, 91 Protest Against Whisky, 98 Prophecies of " Hawkie," a Cow, 64 Rob Roy, the celebrated Highland Freebooter, 87 Rebellion of 1 745-46, 72 Reprieve, a, from the Punishment of Death, 80 Satan's Invisible World Discover'd, 107, 108 Scotch Haggis, the, 29, 70 Scotland 72 Scotland's Skaith, 97 PAGE Select Collection, 31 Siege of Troy, the, 106 Simple John, 56 Simple Simon, 33 Sinbad the Sailor, 106 Sins and Sorrows Spread before God, 90 Sir James the Rose 25, 127 Spaewile, the ; or, Universal For- tune Teller, 114 Stone, the, rejected by the Builders, 90 Strange Adventures of Tam Merri- lees, 106 Surprising Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe 88, 106 Tam o' Shanter, 13, m Thrummy Cap and the Ghost, ...25, 66 Trial of Sir John Barleycorn, Knt., the, 117 True Fortune Teller, the ; or, the Universal Book of Fate, 114 Valentine Writer, the, 100 Watty and Meg ; or, The Wife Reformed, 66 Willie Lawson's Courtship of Bess Gibb, 68 Wedding Ring fit for the Finger, .. 89 West Port Murders ! a Full Accuunt of the Trial of William Burke, etc., 84 Witchcraft Detected and Prevented, 1 1 1 Witchcraft Proven, Arraign'd, and Condemned, 141 Wonderful Advantages of Drunken- ness, 96 GLOSSARY. Aboon, above. A deed, indeed. Ae, one. Aft, oft, often. Ain, own. Ance, once. Aneugh, enough. Bare-fit, barefooted. Baudy, evil. Bawk, crossbeam in roof of house. Bin nor ha'd, bind nor hold. Boul-horned, obstinate. Braid, broad. Braw, beautiful. Brogit, pierced. Canker'd, ill-natured. Canty, happy. Chappin, knocking. Chirtin, pressing. Clap, pat. Clung, empty. Cog, basin. Contrair, contrary. Coupt, emptied. Cow'd, trimmed. Creesh, grease. Creims, stalls. Cumstrarie, perverse. Curits, curates. Dauts, fondles. Dwal, dwell. Elshinirons, shoemakers' tools. Fallow, fellow. Flaes, fleas. Forjeskit, disreputable. Forfaughten, exhausted. Fow, full. Frae, from. Gade, went. Gar, make. Gin, if. Girning, grumbling. Gude, good. Gudis, goods. Graithed, clothed. Gule fitted, yellow-footed. Halesome, wholesome. Hantle, lot. Harled, pulled. Haud, hold. Heckle, a weaver's comb. Hizey, a girl, a huzzy. Hoddle, waddle. Hoiting, following, running after. Ilk, every. Keek, glance slyly. Kend, knew. Kirnan-rung, " That long staflf with a circular frame on the head of it, used anciently for agitating the cream, when upstanding kirns were fashion- able." — Gall. Encyd. Kist, chest. Lufe, hand. Maist, most. Mair, more. Makar, poet. ISO GLOSSARY. Maumier, sweeter, pleasanter. Maun, must. Mou, mouth. Muckle, much. Munanday, Monday. Murgully'd, mismanaged, abused. Nayther, neither. Neb, nose. Neist, next. Neits, nits. Ouk, week. Outhir, either. Paepery, Popery. Preed, tasted. Prent, printing-press. Prins, pins. Redd, separate. Ripples, a weakness in the back. Rive, burst. Rumple, the rump. Saep, soap. Saut, salt. Sen, since. Shaws, shows. Shune, shoes. Sic, such. Siccan, such-like. Skaith, harm. Snites, wipes. Socht, sought. Sowp, sup. Stap, put. Staw, stole. Steer, stir. Stively, stoutly, firmly, Sumf, a blockhead. Supple, the part of a flail that strikes the grain. Sykin, sighing. Tane, tuther, one, other. Tangs, tongs. Tod-lowrie, a name given to the fox. Toom, empty. Trykle, treacle. Unco, very. Wab, web. Waefu', woful. Wames, bellies. Wan, got. Wat, wet. Weir-men, war-men. Whang, piece. Wheens, lots. Whilly'd, cheated. Wud, mad, distracted. Yeal, old, barren. Ye'se, you will. GENERAL INDEX. PAGE Aberdeen, 60, loi, 13S Airdrie '3^ Amusing Prose Chapbooks chiefly of last Century, lO, 32 Ashton, John, 16, 22, 34 Auld Licht Idylls, 24,25 Barrie, J. M., 24, 140 Blamire, Susanna, 114, 120 Blue, Jamie, 80 Rook of Scottish Poems, 87 Boyd, Zachary, 23 Brechin, 66 Broivnie of Bodsbeck, 103 Bruce, King Robert, n, 86 Buchanan, George 19, 63 Bunyan, John, loi Burne, Nicol, 19 Burness, John, 66, 133 Burns, Robert, 21, 66, 85, 87, loi, in, 116, 118, 120 Caldwell, G., of Paisley,.... 27, 73, 138 Caledonian Mercury, 74 Cameron, William, 63, 68, 79, 80, 126, 130 Cargill, Donald, 28, 85, 86, 113 Chambers, Robert, 78, 122, 137 Chambers's Encyclopedia 11 Chambers's Journal, 124, 125 Chepman, Walter, 17 Chapbooks of the Eighteenth Cen- tury, 16, 22, 23 Charles, Prince, 74. 76 Chaucer, 12 Clackmannan, 36 Claverhouse, 52 Corelli, Marie, 95 Cunningham, Robert Hays, 10, 32, 34 PAGE D.-ividson, John 19 Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, 13 Duncan, James, 74> 82 Duncan, Thomas, 137 Dundee, 17. 59^ 'jS Edinburgh 17, 30, 67, 69, loi, 108, 137. 142 Elliot, Jean, 120 Erskine, Ebenezer II, 28, 89 Falkirk, 137, 138. 142 Forbes, William, 67 Eraser, J., 138 Fraser, Professor, ... 10, 12, 33, 34. 38, 69, 72, 139. 141 Fraserburgh, 61 Glasgow, 10, 17, 38, 58. 68, 69, 74, 76, 80, 102, 114, 126, 130, 137 Glasgow Courant, 74 Glasgow Green, 47 Glencairn, Earl of, 19 Graham, Dougal, ... 10, 14, 25, 36, 47, 52, 55, 56, 58, 65, 68, 69, 74, 75, 87, 103, 123, 131, 139, 141 Greenock, 83 Haddington, 47, 123, 138 Hamilton, Gavin loi Hawkie {see Cameron, William). Henderson, T. F., 21 Henley, W. E., 67, 87, 104, 139 Hogg, James, 103, 105, 120 Hogg's htstructor, 124 Howie, John, 73 152 GENERAL INDEX. I'ACB Humorous Prose Chapbooks of Scot- latid, lo, 12, 33, 34, 38, 69, 72, 139, 141 Hutchison, R., 137 I nine, 138 Johnston, T., 138 Jones, Paul, 85 Kelso 142 Kempis, Thomas k, loi Kilmarnock, 138 Kirkcaldy of Grange, William, 19 Knox, John, 19, 86 Leith, 138 Lekprevick, Robert, 18 Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life, 106 Lindsay, Robert, 10 Lindsay, Sir David, 75 Lithgow, William, 85 Love's Labour Lost, 13 Mac Gregor, George, ... 10, 12, 24, 78, 92, 123, 139 Macnie, William, 48, 138 Macneill, Hector, 97, 120 Maxwell, Sir Herbert, 86 Maitland, Sir John, 19 Maitland, Sir Robert, 18 Menzies, R., 67 Miller, G., 123 Milne, John, 133 Mitchell, William, 92 Moir, David MacBeth, 65 Montrose, 66, 124, 138 Morren, J., 137 Mortality, Old 73 Mortality, Old, 103 Motherwell, William, 9, 19, 98 Muir, John, 82 Myllar, Androw, 17 Nairne, Lady, 116, 120 National Gazette, 73 Newton-Stewart, 138 North, Christopher 106 O'Donnell 29 Oil the Malice of Poets, 18 Orr, Francis & Son, 102, 138 Paisley, ... 27, 65, 73, 82, 132, 137, 138 Paterson, Robert, .. 73 Peden, Alexander, 85, 86, 113 Perth, 90, 142 Peterhead, 66 People's Friend, The, 124 People's Penny Stories, The, 1 43 Raban, Edward lOl Ramsay, Allan, 21, 22, 27, 30, 92, 98, 119, 120 Ramsay, Dean, "Jl Randall, C 107, 134, 138 Randall, M., 68, 138 Raploch, 36 Reid, Alan, 132 Reid, Author, 69 Reiil, John, 30, 92, 108 Reid, "Lucky," 30,92, II9 Religious Tract Society, 142 Renwick, James. 89 Rhymer, Thomas ihe, 85, 87, II3 Rob Roy 85 Robertson, Alexander, 137 Robertson, J. & iM., 137 Ross, J., 87 Round the Grange Farm, 127 Sabbath Observance, 58 Scott, Sir Walter, 9, 120 Scott, Michael, 85 Scottish Vernacular Litcratute, 2i Scots Worthies, 73 Scottish Reader, I'he, II4 Seeker, William, 28 Sempill, Robert, i8, 21, 22, 120 Shakespeare, 13 Sharp, Archbishop, 52 Simpson, Habbie, 21 Sinclair, George, 108 Smith, W., Si Spence, E. J., 78 Stirling Stories, 143 GENERAL INDEX. 155 PAGE Stirling, 36, 48, 60, 63, 68, 107, 134, 137, 138 Stow, 62 Stonehaven, 66 Strathern, Sheriff, 38 Strathesk, John 63 Stirling Tract Enterprise, 142 Tannahill, Robert, 116 The Collected Writings of Dougal Graham, lo, 24 The Winter's Tale, 12 The Cries and Habits of the City of London, J 6 Thirlstane, Lord, 19 Troilus and Cressida, 13 Turpin, Dick, 29 PAGE Wallace, Sir William, 11, 86 Wallace, Dr. William, loi Watt, James 124 Watts, Isaac, 28,91, 123 Waver ley, 9, 73 Webster & Son, D., of Edinburgh, 26 Wedderburn (the brothers) of Dun- dee, 19 Weir, Major, 107, 108. 109, 144 Welch, John, 28, 85, 86 Wellington, Duke ol, 118, 119 Wilcocks, Thomas 28 Williamson, Peter, 85 Wilson, Alexander, 65 Wilson, John, 106 Windotv in Thrums, A, 124 THE END. ERRATA. Page 27, line 10, for "characters" read "capitals." Page 37, note 1, line 4, for " 1700" read " 1770." '11 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. m 2 ^- 1^^<^ AUG 1 n 1C|R4 gECO LO-LRO (HI I' ljjlSCHI^(i&lP- DEC 1 ^"^^ fiEC'D LU-UKi DEC 31 ;h80' Form L9 — 15m-10,'48(B1039^)A44_ UI^VEES. Wf^ f^y^T^AWT ( •' ( LOS ANGiiLES ^-'TOKmA V/^1 3 1158 00625 5078 L^ . •