The History of John Cheap the Chapman belongs to the same class of chap-books as Lothian Tom, though it has been usual to believe that, unlike the latter, it was to a certain extent autobiographical, and that in it Graham related some of his own experiences. It has been already seen that its value in this respect, if it has any, cannot be estimated on account of the doubt as to whether it is autobiography or fiction. There can be no question, however, that it contains a most valuable account of the real life of the Scottish Chapman, with many vivid glimpses of home life in Scotland in the middle of last century. Like all the others, its indelicacy is sometimes notorious, but like them its truthfulness must be its apology. The earliest dated edition we have seen is one published in 1798 by Johnston of Falkirk; but another, in some slight details more complete, was issued by J. Morren, of the Cowgate, Edinburgh, about the beginning of this, or the closing year of the eighteenth, century. The modern editions are almost identical with the ones mentioned.
The plan of another of Graham’s chap-books, Fun upon Fun, or the Comical Tricks of Leper the Taylor, is very similar to that which has been pointed out as characteristic of Lothian Tom and John Cheap. Leper is a madcap whose impudent doings bear a strong resemblance to stories told of similar beings in this and other countries; and the design of the author seems to have been to lay before his readers a collection of tales grouped round one central figure, rather than to give a record of the life of any real person. This, however, has been done so skilfully—by local colouring, and the introduction of little incidents which must have had their counterparts in the every-day life of the people—that the work has always been most deservedly popular. In point of time, this seems to have been one of the latest, if not the latest, of Graham’s publications, for Motherwell was able to give the title and date of what he believed to be the first edition of the second part as follows:—‘Fun upon Fun; or the Comical Tricks of Leper the Taylor. Part II. Glasgow: Printed for the Company of Flying Stationers in Town and Country. 1779.’ As the work is in two parts, it is probable that the first would be published a short time before the date mentioned. Motherwell also records that there was this nota bene to the second part—‘The Third Part will contain a variety of his Witty Tricks in the different periods of his Life.’ It is a question whether Graham was ever able to fulfil his promise; for his death occurred, as has been seen, in the July of the year in which the second part was issued. The fact that, in later editions of Leper the Taylor, there is added to the two original parts one giving an account of The Grand Solemnity of the Taylor’s Funeral, quite in the same style, and a consistent conclusion to the life of the Sartorian worthy, affords reasonable presumption that he did so, and without any hesitation the third part has, like the others, been accepted as the work of Graham. This chap-book is in many respects akin to several booklets which found a place in the popular literature of England; but possibly its counterpart may be found in Joaks upon Joaks, or No Joak like a True Joak, being the Diverting Humours of Mr. John Ogle, a Life Guard Man. As for the modern editions, they differ in many respects from the early ones, though not materially, except that they leave out the third part. The earliest dated edition that we have seen was printed by C. Randall, Stirling, in 1799. It is without the third part, and is of sixteen pages. The next was ‘Printed in the year 1816’; but the title-page does not state the town of publication. It contains all the three parts, and occupies twenty-four pages duodecimo. Another edition, almost identical with the one mentioned, was ‘Printed in the year 1820,’ and in this case also the town of issue is not stated. In what appears to be a chap-book of English manufacture, without date or place of publication, there is appended the Grand Solemnity of the Taylor’s Funeral, on which some slight alterations have been made, notably in the way of Anglicising the names of the characters. On the title-page of the work mentioned is a rough woodcut, representing the lowering of a body into the grave, while in the back-ground stands a primitive-looking hearse, drawn by two horses.
The two chap-books that now fall to be spoken of are very different in their nature from any to which reference has yet been made, and, indeed, they may be said to form a class by themselves, for they are unique in the popular literature of either Scotland or England. The History of Haverel Wives, ‘written,’ as the title-page states, ‘by Humphrey Clinker, the Clashing Wives’ Clerk,’ one of the many cognomens adopted by Graham, is a ‘comical’ and exceedingly interesting conference between two old women, on their experiences of the past. The object of the author seems to have been to bring together in small compass as much folk-lore as possible, and this he prefaces by the remark, that he had ‘furnished the public with a small collection of old wives’ noted sayings and wonders, which, they relate, happened in their own time; also, what has been told them by their forefathers.’ The intention is thus shown to have been to hold the old wives up to a little gentle satire, though this generation must regard the result as being a most valuable contribution to the antiquities of Scotland. The language used is frequently very old, and ancient superstitions and beliefs are given expression to in the words of those who more or less put faith in them. This chap-book, also, must be esteemed because of the descriptions given in it of the doings of an age long before the period usually dealt with by works of a similar nature—an age, the great events of which have been duly recorded by historians who have paid but little attention to the lives of the peasantry, or to the motives of their actions. It would not be too much to say that not within the whole range of Scottish literature could a more graphic account be obtained of the manner of observing the first day of the week in Scotland in pre-reformation and prelatic times, than is to be found in this unconsidered booklet The second chap-book of this class is Janet Clinker’s Oration on the Virtues of the Old Women, and the Pride of the Young. It is put forward as having been dictated by Janet Clinker, one of the Haverel Wives, to ‘Humphrey Clinker,’ and it consists of a comparison between the women of her young days and those of the days in which she then lived. The whole tone of the work is satirical, and the young women are made to undergo a severe reprimand for their proud and upsetting behaviour. These chap-books were frequently printed together, though a 1781 edition of the Haverel Wives concludes with the simple intimation—‘Humphrey’s Aunt Janet is yet alive, and has made an oration in praise of the old women, and on the pride of the young.’ Another edition, undated, published by Morren of Edinburgh, is also without Janet’s Oration, but it concludes by stating that the two old women went and ‘birl’d their bawbees,’ and made an agreement
‘Never to drink ae drop of tea,
But stout brown ale and whisky bare’—
a conclusion quite different from what is given in the edition of 1781, for in it Maggy, Janet’s gossip, dies ‘keeping her purse in her hand.’ An edition was published in Glasgow, in 1807, by J. & J. Robertson. This is the first in which we have seen the two chap-books printed together, and it is also the earliest copy of Janet Clinker’s Oration that has come under our notice. The Haverel Wives, in this case, is reprinted from the 1781 edition, and only in one or two slight matters, apparently typographical, differs from it. The Oration was printed alone in 1824, with the title—‘Grannie M‘Nab’s Lecture in the Society of Clashing Wives, Glasgow, on Witless Mothers and their Dandy Daughters, who bring them up to hood-wink the men, and deceive them with their braw dresses, when they can neither wash a sark, mak’ parritch, or gang to the well. Printed for the Booksellers.’ A chap-book bearing the title of The Art of Courtship,[25] an Undated edition of which was published by M. Randall, of Stirling, contains matter somewhat similar to much that is contained in Janet Clinker’s Oration, and the part that relates to the choosing of a wife is quoted almost verbatim et literatim. It is somewhat remarkable that no editions of these works were, so far as we have been able to discover, issued subsequent to 1824.
The Comical and Witty Jokes of John Falkirk, the Merry Piper, one of the least known of Graham’s chap-books, is, as its name indicates, merely a collection of facetiæ. Many of the tales in it are cleverly told, while a few have nothing to recommend them to the reader. Motherwell, on the authority of Caldwell, attributes the work to Graham, and all other writers on the subject have concurred with him. We have only seen one edition of John Falkirk, and it was published in Edinburgh in 1777; but Motherwell notes one issued in Glasgow two years later. No modern edition of it has been published. The Scots Piper’s Queries, or John Falkirk’s Cariches, is regarded as a sequel to the Jokes of the same worthy. The Cariches are well known, and have long been popular, though it cannot be said there is anything particularly original about them. Many of the jokes in them were venerable in Graham’s time, but he has touched them up to suit the tastes of the age in which he wrote. Not a few of the questions and answers have a distinct flavour of the proverbs of Solomon; and while the expressions used are sometimes far from delicate, a good deal of worldly wisdom is to be found in them. The intention of the author, however, seems to have been amusement purely and simply, for in the title-page of an undated edition, published by C. Randall, of Stirling, there are these lines, which, it may be assumed belong to the original work:—
‘’Twill please the bairns and keep them laughing,
And mind the goodwife o’ her daffing.’