Such is the catalogue of Graham’s works—works with which it is believed he had something more or less to do—and which we have been able to find. Of the others attributed to him, but unfound, are:—
20.—Verses on Popular Superstitions.
21.—Dialogue between the Pope and the Prince of Darkness.
22.—Epitaph on the Third Command.
23.—Life and Transactions of Alexander Hamwinkle.
24.—Warning to Methodist Preachers.
25.—Second Warning to Methodist Preachers.
26.—Proverbs on the Pride of Women.
27.—Verses on the Pride of Women.
28.—Dying Groans of John Barleycorn.[31]
There are probably others of which even the names have been lost; but it seems likely that very few, if any, of those classified as not found, will ever be traced. It is a pity that this should be so; and every lover of the literary antiquities of Scotland must fondly hope that in the course of time, by some happy accident, the lost chap-books of Dougal Graham may again see the light of day.
By way of conclusion, it will be appropriate to discuss the general character of these works. Such an inquiry involves the weighing of opinions of several writers who, it must be admitted on all hands, were in every way qualified to give a judgment in the matter.
The leading opinion must, of course, be that of Sir Walter Scott. This is the record Strang[32] gives of it:—‘A history of the vulgar literature of Scotland has been long and is unquestionably still a desideratum, for certainly nothing could tend to throw so much light on the manners and tastes of the great body of the people as such a work. In 1830 it was hoped that Sir Walter Scott—than whom no man could have so well and so heartily performed the task—would have undertaken it as a preface to Dougal Graham’s History of the Rebellion, which, as we have hinted, he proposed giving to the Maitland Club, but unfortunately he abandoned the idea; yet, in doing so, Sir Walter, in a letter dated 10th May, 1830, to the writer of this volume, among other things of Dougal, said—“Neither had I the least idea of his being the author of so much of our Bibliotheque Bleue as you ascribe to him, embracing unquestionably several coarse but excessively meritorious pieces of popular humour. The Turnamspike alone was sufficient to entitle him to immortality. I had, in my early life, a great collection of these chap-books, and had six volumes of them bought before I was ten years old, comprehending most of the more rare and curious of our popular tracts.”’
Motherwell, again, says that he himself projected—but was unable, through want of leisure, and the difficulty of obtaining materials, to carry his intention into effect—a history of vulgar literature, in which, as a matter of course, Graham must have occupied a prominent place. Referring to the History of the Rebellion, he says:—‘However slightingly we esteem his metrical powers, we really believe he has conscientiously and honestly detailed the events which came under his observation. It is not, however, on the merits of this work, that Graham’s fame rests. Had he only written it, we believe he never would have occupied our thoughts for a moment; but as one who subsequently contributed largely to the amusement of the lower classes of his countrymen, we love to think of the facetious bellman. To his rich vein of gross comic humour, laughable and vulgar description, great shrewdness of observation, and strong, though immeasurably coarse sense, every one of us, after getting out of toy books and fairy tales, has owed much. In truth, it is no exaggeration when we state, that he who desires to acquire a thorough knowledge of low Scottish life, vulgar manners, national characteristics, and popular jokes, must devote his days and nights to the study of John Cheap the Chapman—Leper the Taylor—Paddy from Cork—The whole proceedings of Jockie and Maggie’s Courtship—Janet Clinker’s Orations—Simple John, &c., all productions of Dougald’s fertile brain, and his unwearied application to the cultivation of vulgar literature. To refined taste Dougald had no pretensions. His indelicacy is notorious—his coarseness an abomination—but they are characteristic of the class for whom he wrote. He is thoroughly imbued with the national humours and peculiarities of his countrymen of the humblest classes, and his pictures of their manners, modes of thinking and conversation, are always sketched with a strong and faithful pencil. Indeed, the uncommon popularity the chap-books above noted have acquired, entitles them, in many a point of view, to the regard of the moralist, and the literary historian. We meet with them on every stall, and in every cottage. They are essentially the Library of Entertaining Knowledge to our peasantry, and have maintained their ground in the affections of the people, notwithstanding the attempt of religious, political, or learned associations, to displace them, by substituting more elegant and wholesome literature in their stead.’[33]
Dr. Strang’s judgment is similar:—‘Of the vulgar literature to which we have referred, and of so much of which Dougal Graham was the author, it is enough to say that it really contributed the chief literary pabulum enjoyed by the bulk of our countrymen in the humbler walks of life; and though the jokes therein promulgated certainly were broad, and sometimes even grossly indecent, they were not untrue portraitures of Scottish life and Scottish manners.’[34]
Professor Fraser thus discusses the same matter:—‘He [Graham] possessed this advantage over the ordinary historian; that the latter from his superior height and position seldom condescended to enter the huts of the poor, and when he did enter, the inmates were frightened into their “Sunday clothes and manners” by his stately and majestic presence. But Dougal, being himself one of the poorest, introduces us into the most secret, domestic, and every-day life and thoughts of the lower classes of last century. Nothing is hidden from him. He is treated with a familiarity which shows that his hosts have no wish to hide anything. Then, too, he made his reader familiar not only with their mode of life, but with the peculiarities of their dialect, and in this way shed a not unfrequent light on philology. Add to these virtues that Dougal is never out of humour, always laughing and gossiping, drinking and telling old tales. His laughter, also, is contagious; we cannot contain ourselves. All his stories are full of people who laugh “like to burst,” and one cannot help but join them in their cacchinations. Nor are his sketches wanting in dramatic power. The characters are full of individuality and life, rendered more significant by a local flavour of demeanor and dialect. More than one of them might have afforded models for some of the raciest of Scott’s creations, and all of them are instinct with genuine humour and vitality.’[35]
Such were the opinions regarding the writings of Dougal Graham, given expression to by four men who had studied them, and saw their value. It is difficult, and almost unnecessary, to add anything further to what they have said; but in bringing this account of Graham’s works to a close, we may be permitted to supplement the judgments quoted, by a few additional speculations.
Much has been said about the value these writings possess, because they are, for the most part, truthful descriptions of the life of the Scottish people of last century. In what other works, or series of works—even those professedly dealing with the subject—can there be obtained such a knowledge of how the common people lived a century or two ago? We venture to affirm that such cannot be found. The life of the people is the life of the nation; and if it be a virtue to write personal biography like Boswell, it is surely more so to record the inner life of a nation, like Graham. Both, differing widely in many and important respects, have attained success by the same means—by placing before their readers sketches of private life, of the life which is most natural and least artificial, and which gives the best notion of the feelings and motives that guided either individuals or nations to success or failure. To understand thoroughly the history of Scotland in the eighteenth century, the ordinary historical works, dealing principally with great movements and events, must be read in the light, and by the aid, of the popular literature of that period; in the same way as the resident of the twentieth century, desiring to know the true history of the present age must, while looking to its great religious, philanthropic, scientific, commercial, political, and military achievements, also take into account the criminal records, the proceedings of the courts, the annals of the poor, and the ephemeral literature of all kinds.