Part II. only, being a first edition.

1. _Jockie and Maggie_, five parts, 1783; 2. _Paddy from Cork_, 1784; 3. _Lothian Tom_, six parts, 1793; 4. _John Cheap_ (The Chapman), three parts, 1786; 5. _John Falkirk_, 1779; 6. _John Falkirk’s Cariches_; 7. _Janet Clinker’s Orations_; sometimes published under the title of _Granny M’Nab’s Lectures in the Society of Clashing Wives_; 8. _Leper the Tailor_, parts I. and II., 1779; 9. _Simple John and His Twelve Misfortunes_. Motherwell is of opinion that _George Buchanan_, _The Coalman’s Courtship_, and the _History of Buckhaven_, are his also; and questions the existence of any of them before his time. These three are also found attributed to him by M’Vean, a Glasgow antiquarian bookseller, in a MS. list of Dougal’s publications quoted by Dr Strang,[A] which, in addition to those in Motherwell’s list, contains: _The History of the Haverel Wives_, _The Grand Solemnity of the Tailor’s Funeral_, &c.; _The Remarkable Life and Transactions of Alexander Hamwinkle_, &c.; _The Dying Groans of Sir John Barleycorn_, &c.; _A Warning to the Methodist Preachers_; _A Second Warning to the Methodist Preachers_. Mr Fraser, who has, perhaps, given more consideration to the subject than any of his predecessors, besides having the benefit of their labours,[B] gives a classified list of his publications under four heads.

1. _The Works of Dougal Graham._ 2. _Works Probably Written by Graham._ 3. _Works Compiled or Edited by Graham._ 4. _Works attributed to Graham._ Under the first head he adopts Motherwell’s list, substituting for _Paddy from Cork_ and _Simple John_, _The Coalman’s Courtship_, and _Simple Tam_, which is the Scotch introduction to _Simple John_; and adding, _The Grand Solemnity of the Tailor’s Funeral_, _Turnimspike_, _John Hielandman_, _Proverbs on the Pride of Women_, and _The History of the Haverel Wives_. Under the second he gives: _Dugald M’Taggart_, in verse; _Verses on the Popular Superstitions of Scotland_; _Rythmical Dialogue between the Pope and the Devil_; _An Epitaph on the Third Commandment_; _Alexander Hamwinkle_; _Warning to the Methodist Preachers_; and _A Second Warning_. Under the third he places _Paddy from Cork_; _Simple John_; _John Falkirk_; and _John Falkirk’s Cariches_; and under the fourth, _Sir John Barleycorn_; _The History of Buckhaven_; and _Verses on the Pride of Women_; he should also have added _George Buchanan_. Of the _History of Buckhaven_; _George Buchanan_; and _Simple John_, except the Scotch introduction, Mr Fraser thinks it extremely improbable, judging from internal evidence, that they were composed by Graham, though he may have sold them to the publishers as his own composition. “For,” he adds, regarding the two first, “there is not a single sentence in either of them that might not have been written by anyone else.” Then why not by Graham? We wonder whether Mr Fraser has read the _History of Buckhaven_ through, or whether he is thinking of some other tract.

What Mr Fraser says as to their facetiæ--including that of _Paddy from Cork_--being found in the facetiæ of almost every country in Europe, may be true--as Motherwell also states in almost the same words; but Mr Fraser does not contend for originality in the incidents, if the composition be imbued with the national spirit and adapted to the manner of thought and language of Scotchmen. _George Buchanan_ is thoroughly Scotch in spirit, and its language is such as an ordinary Scotchman of common education would use in writing of events that happened out of Scotland, and where the use of his native dialect was inappropriate. The same may be said--of the language only--of _Paddy from Cork_, which Mr Fraser places under the third head, and we see no improbability in the composition of both tracts being Graham’s. Mr Fraser seems to forget that Dougal could write in other styles than that of _Jockie and Maggie_--that, no doubt, is his best--but his preface to the third edition of his History, _Turnimspike_, &c., and his denunciations of the Papists, display a versatility as to style which makes it difficult to except almost anything in chap literature from his authorship.

_Leper the Tailor_, Part II. (as has been already observed), the only first edition in Motherwell’s list, bears date 1779; and on the 20th July, of that year, Dougal died (if the date of his birth given be correct) at the age of 55,[C] and while his literary powers were in unabated vigour. The cause of his death is not recorded, and no obituary of him appeared in any of the local papers of the time; but an elegy “On the much-lamented Death of the Witty Poet and Bellman,” from the pen of some unknown admirer, has been preserved. We quote two stanzas which bear contemporary evidence to his humanity and wit:

“Ye mothers fond! Oh! be not _blate_ To mourn poor Dougal’s hapless fate; Oft times, you know, he did you get Your wandered _weans_; To find them out both _air_ and late He spared no pains.”

“Of witty jokes he had such store, Johnson could not have pleased you more; Or, with loud laughter, made you roar As he could do; He still had something ne’er before Exposed to view.”

To judge Dougal’s character by any fastidious standard of manners and morals would be unfair; but, making a reasonable allowance for the unfavourable nature of the times, and his surroundings, there is nothing known of him inconsistent with the character of a well-intentioned, self-respecting citizen; who thought it no sin to make his lines pleasanter for himself, by contributing to the enjoyment of his fellow-countrymen. His _History of the Rebellion_ abounds with instances of the fairness and impartiality of his judgment, and the humanity of his sentiments; and is full of examples of his quaint and grotesque, yet mostly shrewd reflections on events which he seldom fails to place distinctly before his readers. Dr Robert Chambers, whose opinion, as the writer of an excellent history of the Rebellion, is entitled to all respect, in his _Lives of Eminent Scotsmen_, says of it:--“The poetry is of course in some cases a little grotesque, but the matter of the work is valuable. It contains--and in this consists the chief value of all such productions--many minute facts, which a work of more pretensions would not admit.”

Sir Walter Scott, writing to Dr Strang, of Glasgow, in 1830, in reference to his notice of Graham, says:--“Neither had I the least idea of his being the author of so much of our Bibliotheque Blue as you ascribe to him, embracing, unquestionably, several coarse, but excessively meritorious, pieces of popular humour. The _Turnimspike_, alone, was sufficient to entitle him to immortality. I had in my early life a great collection of these chap books, and had six volumes of them bought before I was ten years old, comprehending most of the rare and curious of our popular tracts.” Motherwell, besides calling him the “Scottish Rabelais” and the “Vulgar Juvenal of his age,” in the article already referred to, reviewing his history and his tracts, says:--“However slightingly we esteem his metrical power, we really believe he has conscientiously and honestly detailed the events that came under his observation. It is not, however, on the merits of this work that Graham’s fame rests. Had he written only it, we believe he never would have occupied our thoughts for a moment; but as one who, subsequently, contributed largely to the amusement of the lower classes of his countrymen, we love to think of the facetious bellman. To his rich vein of gross comic humour, laughable and vulgar description, great shrewdness of observation, and strong though immeasurably coarse sense, every one of us, after getting out of toy books and fairy tales, has owed much. In truth, it is no exaggeration, when we state that he who desires to acquire a thorough knowledge of low Scottish life, vulgar manners, national characteristics, and popular jokes, must devote his days and nights to the study of _John Cheap, the Chapman_, &c., &c., &c., all the productions of Dougal’s fertile brain, and his unwearied application to the cultivation of vulgar literature. To refined taste Dougal had no pretensions. His indelicacy is notorious, his coarseness an abomination, but they are characteristic of the class for whom he wrote. He is thoroughly imbued with the national humours and peculiarities of his countrymen of the humblest class; and his pictures of their manners, modes of thinking, and conversation, are always sketched with a strong and faithful pencil. Indeed, the uncommon popularity his chap books have acquired, entitles them in many a point of view to the regard of the moralist and the literary historian. We meet them on every stall and in every cottage. They are essentially the library of entertaining knowledge to our peasantry; and have maintained their ground in the affections of the people, notwithstanding the attempt of religious, political, or learned associations to displace them by substituting more elegant and wholesome literature in their stead.” It is now about fifty years since Motherwell wrote the article quoted; and the _Waverley Novels_, _Chambers’ Journal_, and _The Tales of the Borders_ have accomplished what the religious and learned societies failed in doing.

Of Dougal’s personal appearance some particulars have been already noted, but an edition of _John Falkirk’s Cariches_, which appeared soon after his death, contains a prefatory notice, in which, under the cognomen of _John Falkirk_, commonly called the _Scots Piper_, the popular contemporary ideal of him is given as “a curious, little, witty fellow, with a round face and a broad nose. None of his companions could answer the many witty questions he proposed to them--therefore he became the wonder of the age in which he lived. Being born of mean parents, he got no education; therefore, his witty invention was truly natural; and being bred to no business, he was under the necessity of using his genius in the composition of several small books, of which the following Cariches was one, which he disposed of for his support.”

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Glasgow and its Clubs.

[B] Scottish Chap-Books, by John Fraser, New York, 1873.

[C] Motherwell calculates his age to have been 65, supposing him to have lived to 1787.

THE

WITTY AND ENTERTAINING

EXPLOITS OF

GEORGE BUCHANAN,

COMMONLY CALLED

THE KING’S FOOL.

GLASGOW: PRINTED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS.

THE

WITTY EXPLOITS

OF

MR GEORGE BUCHANAN.