And Sleep unbribed his dews refreshing shed. White-mantled Innocence, ethereal sprite! Shall chase far off the goblins of the night, And Independence o'er the day presidePropitious Power! my patron and my pride. THY FATAL SHAFTS Thy fatal shafts unerring move; For while I gaze my bosom glows, My faltering tongue attempts in vain Condemned to nurse eternal care, DOUGAL GRAHAM 1724-1779 A COMPENDIUM of the Glasgow poets could not be considered complete without some mention at least of the famous Skellat Bellman. Born of humble parents in the village of Raploch, near Stirling, he was deformed in person, and of the scantiest education; yet his native wit made him a marked figure in his day in Glasgow; he composed a metrical account of "the '45" which, though not indeed to be ranked as fine poetry, possesses not a little of the merit of the early chronicles; and his chapbooks remain among the most famous and entertaining of their class of literature. For a time Dougal was servant to a small farmer near Campsie; but the wandering spirit was in his blood; like his own John Cheap he became a pedlar, and for some years plied his craft throughout the country. When the Rebellion of 1745 broke out, and the Jacobite army marched south, the pedlar seized his chance, joined the Highlanders as they crossed the Fords of Frew, and followed the fortunes of the Chevalier till they finally broke at Culloden. The probability is that Graham was not a soldier but a sutler. Nevertheless he saw the whole campaign, and no sooner was it over than he proceeded with no little ingenuity to turn it to account. In five months he had written and published at Glasgow his rhymed "History of the Rebellion." The book was at once popular, and eight editions appeared before 1809. Settling in Glasgow Graham apparently became the rhyming chronicler of passing events, issuing his broadsides in rhyme and prose under the name of "John Faikirk," the "Scots Piper," and the like. At the same time he still carried on his business of pedlar, or "merchant;" is said by M'Ure to have become a printer and set up his own works as he composed them at the press; and latterly filled the post of bellman to the city. In this last character his ready wit was as conspicuous as his rhyming faculty. At every corner where he rang his bell a crowd of boys gathered to hear his rhyming tags, and woe to the wight who tried to "take him off." "The story goes," says his editor, "that Dougal was on one occasion passing along the Gallowgate making some intimation or other. Several officers of the 42nd Highlanders, then returned from the American War of Independence, where their regiment had been severely handled by the colonists, were dining in the Saracen's Head Inn. They knew Dougal of old, and they thought to have a joke at his expense. One of them put his head out of the window, and called to the bellman—‘What's that you've got on your back, Dougal?' This was rather a personal reference, for Dougal had the misfortune to be 'humphie backit.' But he was not put out by the question, for he at once silenced his interrogator by answering— 'It's Bunker's Hill; do you choose to mount?"" Such stories were once common tradition regarding him. Dr. Strang, in "Glasgow and its Clubs," thus describes Graham"Only fancy a little man, scarcely five feet in height, with a Punch-like nose, with a hump on his back, a protuberance on his chest, and a halt in his gait, donned in a long, scarlet coat nearly reaching the ground, blue breeches, white stockings, shoes with large buckles, and a cocked hat perched on his head, and you have before you the comic author, the witty bellman, the Rabelais of Scottish ploughmen, herds, and handicraftsmen." Caldwell, his publisher, said "he could screed aff a bit penny history in less than nae time. A' his warks took weel-they were level to the meanest capacity, and had plenty o' coarse jokes to season them." A just criticism of Graham's "History" is that of Robert Chambers in his "Illustrious Scotsmen "-"The poetry is, of course, in some cases, a little grotesque, but the matter of the work is in many instances valuable. It contains, and in this consists the chief value of all such productions, many minute facts which a work of more pretension would not admit." Graham's other short pieces run in the same vein of humour. "John Highlandman's Remarks on Glasgow " furnish a curious picture of the city in the middle of the eighteenth century. "Tugal M'Tagger" is a satire of no little shrewdness, and "Haud awa' frae me, Donald," attributed to Graham by Stenhouse in his "Lyric Poetry and Music of Scotland," remains a classic of its kind. Burns admired "The Turnimspike" on account of its local humour, and Sir Walter Scott declared that piece alone enough to entitle its author to immortality. The collected writings of Dougal Graham, with a memoir and notes, were edited by Mr. George MacGregor and published at Glasgow in two volumes in 1883. THE TURNIMSPIKE Hersel' pe Highland shentleman, Amang the Lawland whig, man. First when her to the Lowlands came, Nainsel did wear the philapeg, The plaid prickt on her shouder; But for whereas these cursed preeks, Ohon that ere she saw the day! For a' her houghs pe prokit. Everything in the Highlands now The sodjer dwall at our door cheek, Scotland be turn't a Ningland now, Another law came after that, Me never saw the like, man; They mak' a lang road on the crund, And ca' him turnimspike, man. Fal lal, etc. And wow, she pe a ponnie road, They sharge a penny for ilk horse, Fal lal, etc. |