Part 8
[20] A prevalent opinion among the common people of a by-gone day seems to have been that witches, brownies, and other “unco bodies,” were inhabitants of foreign countries. Here we have a reference to them as being domiciled in Italy, and in _The History of John Cheap the Chapman_, there is a remark about London being their home. John Cheap explains to a woman at Tweedside that he had been at Temple-bar, in London, when she answers—“Yea, yea, lad, an ye be cum’d frae London ye’re no muckle worth, for the folks there awa’ is a’ witches and warlocks, deils, brownies, and fairies.”
[21] The subject of Sabbath observance and regular attendance at worship has long received the attention of the Scottish Church. In every part of the kingdom the Sabbath-breaker was found. The evil was to a certain extent a local one, arising from local causes, and consequently each Kirk Session framed enactments to suit its own needs. Occasionally—as _Leper the Taylor_ sets forth—the Church called in the assistance of the civic authorities. In the records of the Guildry and Trade Incorporations of Dundee there are various references to church attendance and Sabbath observance. The Bonnetmaker Craft considered the question of the keeping of the Lord’s Day in 1665. Finding that it was not observed as it ought to have been, they passed an act rendering the brethren liable in a penalty of forty shillings for transgression of the Sabbath in any manner of way, but especially if the transgression took the form of drinking in a tavern, or of abstention from divine service. This enactment was deemed sufficient to meet the cases of brethren in ordinary, as they were called, but if the defaulter was a member of the Trade Council his sin was punishable by deposition from office. Despite these penalties, the evil continued, and eighteen years later, the same Corporation was forced to pass more stringent acts. At that time—1683—they declared it an offence to hang out bonnets, clothes, or fish to dry. Each of these articles had its own penalty. In the case of bonnets, the fine was 6/8; clothes, 4/-; and fish, 3/-. Here again attendance at church is introduced, although in an indirect way. Certain practices are declared to be punishable if they are indulged in “in time of sermon.” If water was carried from a well in time of sermon, the penalty was 8/-; gathering kail during the same period was apparently less offensive, as the fine was only 5/-. The kindly call of one neighbour on another was censured by the Craft if the visit were made “in time of sermon;” and, unless there was a good excuse, such as illness, a penalty was imposed. A first offender was mulct in a sum of 12/-; if the offence were repeated, the amount was doubled and a “rebuke before the Craft” added to it; and if the practice were indulged in a third time, the delinquent was haled before the Kirk Session, and thereafter rebuked in presence of the congregation. The civic and church authorities in Aberdeen fought the evil of Sabbath journeying by means which would appear strangely ludicrous if adopted in these days. Watchers were stationed at the various places by which citizens could pass out of the town, to take the names of those who sought to escape the sermon. Apparently the enquiries of these watchers were sometimes met with the excuse that the persons were journeying to a neighbouring church to attend service there, for we find the Session circumventing this by ordaining “that na inhabitant within the burgh sall ... go to sermons in Futtie Kirk on the Sabbath,” but resort to “their ain parish kirks” within the burgh, and hear sermons there “both before and after noone.” If they bowed to this order, it cost them the usual collection; if they preferred Futtie, they had to contribute a collection plus 6/8 of a fine, “for the use of the poor.” The penalties imposed at Stirling were more severe. In 1649 the Kirk Session of that place took into consideration the case of a citizen who bore the honourable name of “Johne Smythe.” They found him guilty of “vaiging through the fields unnecessarlie in time of sermon.” On a previous occasion Smythe had been admonished, and as the admonition had not proved a sufficient deterrent, the Session ordained him to make public repentance before the congregation for his fault, “and to stand before the pulpit all the tyme of sermon.” The Rev. George S. Tyack, B.A., in his article entitled “Discipline in the Kirk,” which appears in Mr. William Andrew’s work on _By-gone Church Life in Scotland_, mentions several instances of Sabbath breaking in different parts of the country. “In 1627,” he writes, “nine millers at Stow, in Midlothian, had to do public penance and pay forty shillings for that ‘their milnes did gang on the Sabbath;’ and in 1644, another miller, in Fifeshire, was sentenced to a fine of thirty shillings, with the same addition, for a similar offence. The uncertainty of the weather was not admitted as any excuse for Sunday harvesting, as is shown by a fine inflicted (together with the usual penance) upon one Alexander Russell and his servant, for ‘leading corn on the Sabbath evening,’ at Wester Balrymont. There are records of the stool of repentance being called into use for the correction of fishermen who mended their nets, of sundry people who gathered nuts, of a woman who ‘watered her kail,’ and of another who ‘seethed bark’ on a Sunday. The last named had to stand in the jagg for three Sundays as well.” An interesting case, and one with a deal of humanity in it, came before the Fraserburgh Kirk Session. A woman, the wife of one William Whyte, was accused of breaking the Sabbath by grinding corn. She admitted the charge, but pleaded that having got the “roche corn 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 necessitie.” Had Mrs. Whyte lived further south, she might have fared worse. The Kirk Session of Stow have an inglorious immortality in a record which states that they compelled one, William Howatson, to do public penance on account 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.
[22] Cameron’s life-story is told in _Hawkie: 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-china, field-preacher, flying-stationer and street-orator. The last years of his life were spent in Glasgow, where he died in 1851.
[23] David MacBeth Moir, better known as “Delta,” was born at Musselburgh 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 Magazine_ 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 the Greek Δ (Delta), and in time he came to be better known by the initial than by his name. He died at Dumfries in 1851.
[24] 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 Queensferry. Subsequently 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.
[25] 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 Cap_, 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.
[26] 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 Discover’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.
[27] _The Art of Courtship_, containing _An Interesting Dialogue_ that passed between William Lawson and his sweetheart Bessy Gibb. _Also two Love-Letters which he sent to his Sweetheart, and her Answers_: Very beneficial for such blate wooers, or young beginners, as have not gotten the art of courtship. And two receipts: _The one for young Men how to wale a good wife, and the other for young Women how to wale a good husband...._ Stirling: printed and sold by M. Randall, 12mo, N.D. “Hawkie,” in his Autobiography, 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 _Willie 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; I 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 Edinburgh in 1764, was not unlike the _Letter Writers_ of a later date. Another, also published in Edinburgh in 1764, was entitled _The Art of Courtship_, and contained “Amorous dialogues, 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 Secretary_, which was published at Glasgow in 1783. It is a duodecimo of 132 pages, and has the appearance 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 interpretations 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.”
[28] “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 nourish 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.
[29] _The Pleasures of Matrimony, interwoven 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.
[30] _The Comical Notes and Sayings of the Rev. Mr. John Pettigrew, Minister in Govan._ Glasgow: 1767.
[31] _The Scotch Haggis: a Selection of Choice Bon-Mots, Irish Blunders, 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.
[32] _Odds and Ends; or, a Groat’s-worth 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.
[33] _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.
[34] Elizabeth Isabella Spence (George MacGregor calls her _Mr._ E. J. Spence), an observant tourist if somewhat inaccurate author, writes as follows concerning Graham in her work, _Sketches of the Present Manners, Customs, and Scenery of Scotland_. (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 _hawked_ 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 misinformed 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.
[35] _Hawkie: the Autobiography of a Gangrel_, p. 93.
[36] A notable chapbook of this order, and one that would find a ready sale all over Scotland is the following:—“_West Port Murders!_ 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 Dissection, and of the Sentence, Confession, and 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 portrait of Burke.
[37] J. Ross, in _The Book 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.”
[38] Ebenezer Erskine.
[39] _The Collected Writings of Dougal Graham._ Vol. I., p. 73.
[40] 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_.
[41] Hector Macneill, who was born at Roslin in 1746, was the son of a retired 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.
[42] See _ante_, page 68, note 1.
[43] _The Life and Works of Robert Burns_, edited by Robert Chambers, revised by William Wallace. Edinburgh, 1896. Vol. II., p. 17.
[44] James Hogg, born 1770. Died 1835.
[45] _The Tales of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd._ London. 1880.
[46] John Wilson, born 1785. Died 1854.
[47] 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 surveying and engineering, and in 1670 he superintended the introduction of water into Edinburgh. In addition to the above contribution to the literature of witchcraft, he wrote various works on astronomy, hydrostatics, and mathematics.
[48] 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 commission 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 misdeeds.” 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 Patullo, an old soldier, and this is what happened:—
“On the very first evening after Patullo 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 phantom 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 Patullos and the author of _Reekiana_.
[49] “Scots Wha Hae” in one chapbook version began as follows:—
“Near Bannockburn King Edward lay, The 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.
[50] _The Collected Writings of Dougal Graham._ Vol. I., p. 77.
[51] 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.
[52] _“Hawkie”: the Autobiography of a Gangrel_, p. 35.
[53] It is due to Milne’s memory to say that as a man he was distinctly more respectable than the average pedlar.
[54] _The Bards of the Angus and Mearns_, p. 75. By Alan Reid. Paisley.
[55] _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. 24 pp.
[56] _The Collected Writings of Dougal Graham._ Vol. I., p. 79.
[57] _The Humorous Chapbooks of Scotland._ By John Fraser. Part I., p. 114.
[58] _The Humorous Chapbooks of Scotland._ By John Fraser. Part II., p. 215.
LIST OF CHAPBOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING PAGES.