literature was largely supplemented by English productions. Sermons by
outstanding martyrs and divines, such as James Renwick and Ebenezer
Erskine, were in great demand, but the Scot was not averse from nurturing
his Presbyterian soul on the pulpit orations of clergymen furth of
the realm. The English Nonconformist always commanded a wide public.
Of notable sermons may be mentioned, _Man’s Great Concernment_, and
_Christ’s Glorious Appearance to God! or the End of Time; The Grones of
Believers under their Burdens_, and _God’s Little Remnant Keeping their
Garments Clean in an Evil Day; The Plant of Renown_, and _A Wedding Ring
fit for the Finger; A Choice Drop of Honey from the Rock Christ_, and
_Sins and Sorrows Spread before God_. A sermon that passed through many
editions was _The Stone rejected by the Builders, exalted as the Head
Stone of the Corner_. Preached at Perth, at the opening of the Synod
of Perth and Stirling, on October 10, 1732, it gave rise, its author
tells us, “to three days’ warm debate” in that reverend Synod. In the
other Courts of the Church it was taken up and as warmly debated, and
it led eventually to the secession of its author[38] and his associate
friends from the Church of Scotland. Other religious books were many
and varied. There was _Divine Songs for the Use of Children_, by Isaac
Watts, with its faulty rhymes and homely phrases; and there was also—one
can hardly conceive it possible in the land of Jenny Geddes and Jacob
Primmer—_A Prayer Book for Families and Private Persons upon various
subjects and occasions_. A Scottish sheriff, famous more for his erratic
judgments than his law, recently stated that so far as Scotland was
concerned the word “Liturgy” was a nickname. Probably this particular
directory of devotion deserved such an epithet, and Carlyle may have
seen it ere he wrote about “worshipping by machinery.” The compiler has
discharged his duty in such manner that—a prefatory note explains—“the
Prayers are so arranged that when any one is too long to be used without
inconvenience, it may be shortened by leaving out some of the paragraphs;
and this may be done without injury to the connection.” If history
speaks truthfully, the extensive devotional exercises of the pulpit did
not lend themselves to such a laudable arrangement. An early chapbook
writer, whose productions were of a religious character, was William
Mitchell, better known as “The Tinclarian Doctor.” Many of his booklets
were originally printed by John Reid, Bell’s Wynd, Edinburgh, husband
of the piratical “Lucky Reid,” against whom Allan Ramsay complained to
the Town Council. Mitchell, says George Mac Gregor, “was an odd being
who sought by his works to spread ‘light’ through Scotland. He was a
lamplighter in Edinburgh for twelve years, but losing this situation,
he got, as he says himself, ‘an inward call from the Spirit to give
light to the ministers.’ His works may be classed among the chapbooks of
Scotland, for, though he sold them himself, and did not allow them to be
retailed by the chapmen, they are of the same description.”[39] Incidents
in Holy Writ frequently formed subjects for chapbooks, and these were
almost invariably illustrated. _The New Pictorial Bible_, which comprised
notices of the most important events in Scripture from “the creation of
light” to “the last day” foreshadowed in “Revelation,” was a series of
forty-six illustrations. _The History of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob_, _The
History of Joseph and His Brethren_, _The History of Moses_, _Jonah’s
Mission to the Ninevites_, and _The Life, Journeyings, and Death of the
Apostle Paul_, were some of the subjects. _The Life of Paul_ and _Jonah’s
Mission_, which, in the chapbooks I have examined, were added merely
to eke out space, do not seem to have lent themselves to illustration,
but the other subjects were profusely embellished with woodcuts. The
higher critic draws none of his inspiration from these books. So far
as the artist is concerned, it _was_ a serpent that tempted Eve, the
sun and the moon _did_ stand still, and it _was_ a fish that swallowed
Jonah.[40] One of the most curious, and certainly one of the most
repellant of these Biblical chapbooks, is that entitled, _The Life and
Death of Judas Iscariot, or the Lost and Undone Son of Perdition_. It is
possible to feel a kindly interest in the mortal who played a necessary
part in a disagreeable business even though one may have never read a
line of Marie Corelli, but the Judas of these pages is not calculated
to inspire esteem. He was a villain of the deepest dye—a man who, to
his other crimes, added those of murdering his father and marrying
his mother. Indeed, one rises from a perusal of this booklet with the
conviction that the historic transaction for thirty pieces of silver
was not the greatest of Iscariot’s sins. Two other popular chapbooks
were _The Pilgrim’s Progress_, told in a series of twenty-one realistic
pictures, and _Evan’s Sketch of all Religions_, an abridgment of a larger
work which gives particulars of forty-two different sects, including
“Atheists,” “Jumpers,” and “Hutchinsonians.” Religious poetry was not
unrepresented in the chapman’s wallet, and the _Grave_ by Blair, which
ran through numerous editions, may be cited as a typical example. The
religious chapbook occasionally took a form which has been perpetuated
and developed in the later tracts issued by Missionary Societies and
similar bodies. This was the life-story of some precocious youth with an
early genius for Christianity. Typical examples are found in _An Account
of the Last Words of Christian Kerr, who died at Edinburgh on the 4th of
February, 1702, in the 11th year of her age_, and in _A Brief Memoir of
Urcilla Gebbie, who died at Galston on the 28th of August, aged 15 years_.
[Illustration: _Noah entering the Ark—from “The New Pictorial Bible.”_]
[Illustration: _Hagar and Ishmael cast out—from “The History of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.”_]
[Illustration: _Joseph sold into Egypt—from “The History of Joseph and
his Brethren.”_]
[Illustration: _The Plague of Frogs—from “The History of Moses: giving an
account of his birth, his being found by Pharoah’s daughter in the ark
of bulrushes, and the miracles wrought by him for the deliverance of the
children of Israel.”_]
[Illustration: _The Sun and Moon Stand Still—from “The New Pictorial
Bible.”_]
[Illustration: _Jonah is swallowed by a fish—from “The New Pictorial
Bible.”_]
[Illustration: _Daniel cast into the den of Lions—from “The New Pictorial
Bible.”_]
[Illustration: _Sarah promised a Son—from “The History of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.”_]
The term “Moral” embraces a number of secular chapbooks. _The Wonderful
Advantages of Drunkenness_ deserves to be remembered for its “Comparisons
of Drunkenness.” It gives the following comparisons and explanations:—
“As drunk as an Owl—as drunk as a Sow—as drunk as a Beggar—as
drunk as the Devil—as drunk as a lord. The explanation of which
is as follows: A man is as drunk as an Owl when he cannot see.
He is as drunk as a Sow when he tumbles in the dirt. He is as
drunk as a Beggar when he is very impudent. He is as drunk as
the Devil when he is inclined to mischief; and as drunk as a
lord when he is everything that is bad.”
One cannot fail to be impressed with the distinct temperance note
which is sounded in Scottish chapbook literature. It is true that
there are verses in praise of “Scottish Whiskie,” and also that there
is the equivocal song entitled the “Effects of Whiskey”; but these
notwithstanding, there are many chapbooks which are directed against the
use of intoxicants. The most notable is undoubtedly _Scotland’s Skaith;
or, the Sad Effects of Drunkenness, exemplified in the History of Will
and Jean_. This poem, from the pen of Hector Macneill,[41] had an almost
unprecedented run of popularity, although it is doubtful if more than
one verse is known to-day, and many who quote it would probably be at a
loss to give the author’s name—
“Of a’ the ills poor Caledonia
E’er yet preed, or e’er will taste,
Brew’d in hell’s black pandemonia,
Whisky’s ill will skaith her maist!”
Temperance teaching is inculcated in _A Night frae Hame_, and, in a
lesser degree, in _Rab and Ringan_. The subject is also dealt with in
the _Oration on Teetotalization_, and in the _Dialogue between John and
Thomas_ on sundry questions. The vigorous verses entitled a _Protest
against Whisky_, might have been written by an uncompromising Rechabite.
Chapbooks of this nature could not fail to exert some influence upon the
people who read them, and although, as unspeakable Scots, we may never be
able to get over our thirst for the barley bree, it is gratifying to know
that—even in our darkest hour—we endeavoured to free ourselves from one
at least of our original and selected sins.
Allan Ramsay’s _Collection of Scotch Proverbs_ should not be overlooked
in this section. First published in 1736, this volume of “sententious
saws of antecedent centuries,” as William Motherwell would call it, was
considerably abridged, and frequently produced as a penny chapbook. It
professed to contain “all the wise sayings and observations of the old
people of Scotland,” and as it circulated at a time when the average Scot
punctuated his conversation with proverbial expressions, it doubtless
sold as readily as anything in the pedlar’s pack.
[Illustration: _The Old Hound—from “The Fables of Æsop, the Celebrated
Ancient Philosopher.”_
_An old hound who had been an excellent good one in his time, had at last
by reason of years, become feeble and unserviceable. However, being in
the field one day, he happened to be the first to come up with the same,
but his decayed teeth prevented him from keeping his hold of it, and it
escaped. His master, being in a passion, was going to strike him. “Ah,
do not strike your old servant,” said the dog, “it is not my heart or
inclination, but my strength that fails me. If what I am now displeases
you, pray don’t forget what I have been?”_
_Moral:—“It is a sad thing to be treated unkindly by the man you have
served.”_]
(_d_) MANUALS OF INSTRUCTION.—This is a section which cannot be said
to be distinctly Scottish, There was _The Housewife’s Cookery Book_,
which provided recipes for many things from the roasting of beef to
the fermenting of wines; and there was _The Housekeeper_, which gave
practical instruction in domestic economy. The bashful swain who found
it difficult to woo in words on the 14th of February, found refuge in
_The Valentine Writer_; while _The Art of Courtship_ or _The Accomplished
Courtier_ or the _New Academy of Compliments_, assisted him towards the
same end all the year round.[42] There were text-books on the making of
money and on personal etiquette; and treatises on divers subjects from
the killing of vermin to the art of swimming.
[Illustration: _The Burial of Jacob—from “The History of Joseph and his
Brethren.”_]
(_e_) ALMANACS.—These were hardy annuals, and were always in great
demand. Their number is legion. Only one or two can be noticed,
and these in a very general way. In Kelly’s _Collection of Scottish
Proverbs_, published at London in 1721, there is a reference to an early
almanac in the maxim, “Buchanan’s _Almanac_, lang foul and lang fair.”
The _Aberdeen Almanac_ enjoyed a wide popularity, and readers of Burns
will remember that the poet, writing to his friend, Gavin Hamilton,
during the Edinburgh period of his life, said he was “in a fair way of
becoming as eminent as Thomas à Kempis or John Bunyan,” and that he might
expect henceforth to see his “birthday inserted among the wonderful
events in the _Poor Robin’s_ and _Aberdeen Almanacs_.”
“The _Aberdeen Almanac_ (or _Prognostication_, as it was
commonly called),” writes Dr. William Wallace, “was among the
first of the kind issued in Scotland. It was founded in 1623 by
Edward Raban, Aberdeen’s first printer, enjoyed a long life,
and acquired an almost proverbial celebrity. It had an immense
circulation, accounted for by the fact that Aberdeen had for
long a monopoly (in Scotland) of the sale of almanacs.”[43]
When this monopoly was broken down, other almanacs were rapidly put in
circulation. _Poor Robin’s_, which existed for nearly two centuries—from
1664 to 1823—also enjoyed considerable popularity north of Tweed. A
typical example of these publications, but of later date, is to be found
in _Orr’s Scottish Almanac_, which still circulates widely and preserves
all the outstanding features of the almanac of a by-gone day. Published
by the firm of Messrs. Francis Orr & Sons, Glasgow, who issued many
chapbooks during the first half of the nineteenth century, this annual
has changed but slightly—if at all—in its appearance. Features have been
forced upon it, and things of which it once took note have passed out of
everyday life, but, when allowances of these kinds have been made, it
is still—in its paper and general get-up—the chapbook almanac of long
ago. Any one searching in the mass of cheap literature of these days for
a lineal descendant of the chapbook family, could hardly find a nearer
representative in the direct line than _Orr’s Scottish Almanac_.
[Illustration: _Solomon’s Temple—from “The New Pictorial Bible.”_]
III.
ROMANTIC.
Scotland’s contribution to this section of our chapbook literature is
remarkable for its poverty. Few of the romantic chapbooks were of native
growth. Apart from certain of Dougal Graham’s productions and _Mansie
Wauch_, which have been considered under the heading “Humorous,” the
most notable romances of Scottish origin were those by the Ettrick
Shepherd.[44] _Duncan Campbell and his dog Oscar_, and _The Long Pack;
or, The Robbers Discovered_, are two of Hogg’s tales which were in much
demand as chapbooks. They were printed by the thousand, and editions came
from almost every press in the country. Although in many cases they were
published anonymously, the authorship was occasionally acknowledged,
and these tales did much to increase the popularity of the Ettrick
Shepherd with the Scottish people. His _Brownie of Bodsbeck_, appearing
shortly after _Old Mortality_, was sometimes compared by the _literati_
of Edinburgh with that work, to the disadvantage of the former, but
his shorter tales, such as those mentioned, circulating widely among
that class of people whom Messrs. Henley and Henderson would call “the
uncritical,” were read and enjoyed for themselves alone. At many a
fireside the touching tale of Duncan Campbell and his faithful dog has
moved readers and hearers to tears. So familiar did it become in time
that matrons all over the country were able to tell the story to their
children without the book, and garnished occasionally with little touches
of added pathos that detracted nothing from the genius of Hogg. The
popularity accorded to _Duncan Campbell_ was equalled by that meted out
to _The Long Pack_. The concealment of a robber in a pedlar’s pack was a
thing that concerned the everyday life of the people, and many a later
chapman who had the good fortune to possess a large stock of goods would
be looked upon with suspicious eyes until he opened his bundle and proved
that there was no robber where no robber should be. The people of those
days, like their successors of our time, enjoyed a spice of sensation,
and doubtless gloated over the “moving pack” from which, when the fatal
shot was fired, “blood gushed out upon the floor like a torrent, and a
hideous roar, followed by the groans of death, issued from the pack.”
Hogg was a master of the gruesome, and in this sketch he maintains
the _rôle_ to the very end. The body “lay open for inspection for a
fortnight,” and, even after it was buried, the neighbours “confidently
reported that his grave was opened and his corpse taken away!” Hogg
has fallen upon evil days, and to many his romances are practically
non-existent. The copious tears of the up-to-date “Kailyairder” blind the
eyes of his readers, who, in their endeavour to master the “pidgin” Scots
that flows from his pen, forget that Scottish life was lived generations
before London publishers found a Klondyke in the joys and sorrows of
every Scottish village. But to those who care to read them, the Ettrick
Shepherd’s tales are still accessible in the two volumes of his collected
romances.[45]
[Illustration: _Jack the Giant Killer and the Giant—from the “History of
Jack the Giant Killer, containing his Birth and Parentage—His meeting
with the King’s Son—His noble Conquests over many monstrous Giants—and,
his relieving a beautiful Lady, whom he afterwards married,” etc._]
Christopher North[46] was laid under tribute to the extent of _Blind
Allan_, which was extracted from the now forgotten _Lights and Shadows of
Scottish Life_. In addition to these, there were a few, such as _Allan
Barclay_, and _The Broken Heart: a Tale of the Rebellion of 1745_; _The
Ghost of my Uncle_, and _John Hetherington’s Dream_; _The Murder Hole_,
and _The Strange Adventures of Tam Merrilees_, by innominate writers, but
the great bulk of romance was of alien manufacture. Many of the fairy
tales which still delight and terrify young readers were in constant
circulation. _Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves_, _Aladdin and the Wonderful
Lamp_, and _Sinbad the Sailor_; _Beauty and the Beast_, _Whittington and
his Cat_, and _Jack the Giant Killer_; _Gulliver’s Travels_, _Robinson
Crusoe_, and _Baron Munchausen_; _Hero and Leander_, _The Siege of Troy_,
and _The King and the Cobbler_, may be cited as representative types of
the romantic literature of the pedlar’s wallet. But, beyond the fact that
they were extremely popular with readers north of Tweed, these are in no
sense Scottish.
IV.
SUPERSTITIOUS.
Unlike the Romantic, the Superstitious chapbook flourished vigorously in
Scotland. Some one has said that the average Scot spoke to and of God
as though He had been a next-door neighbour. This familiarity was not
confined to the Divinity. A very material Devil held Scotland in fear
and trembling, and, aided by numberless servants, kept the powers—both
civil and ecclesiastical—in active employment. Many chapbooks went to
the elucidation of “Satan’s Invisible World,” of which, one of 24 pages,
published by C. Randall at Stirling in 1807, may be regarded as a typical
specimen. It is entitled:—
“_Satan’s Invisible World Discover’d_: or, the History of
Witches and Warlocks; containing The Wonderful Relation of
Major Weir and His Sister; The Witches of Calder, Pittenweem,
Borrowstounness, Bargarran and Culross; and a Remarkable
Proclamation, which was heard at the Cross of Edinburgh at
Twelve o’clock at night, in the Reign of King James the IV. of
Scotland.”
The above may be said to be the ordinary chapbook version—and there were
many more or less varied editions—of George Sinclair’s credulous work, a
duodecimo, which was printed at Edinburgh by John Reid in 1685, and the
full title of which is as follows:—
“_Satan’s Invisible World Discovered_; or A Choice Collection
of Modern relations, proving evidently against the Sadducees
and Atheists of this present Age that there are Devils,
Spirits, Witches and Apparitions, from Authentick Records,
Attestations of Famous Witnesses and undoubted Verity. To all
which is added, That Marvellous History of Major Weir and
His Sister. With two Relations of Apparitions at Edinburgh.
By George Sinclair,[47] late Professor of Philosophy in the
Colledge of Glasgow.”
This is not the place to refer at any length to that terrible condition
of matters which led to so many innocents being sacrificed to the demands
of a deluded people. The literature of witchcraft and devilry affords
amusing reading in these days, but it is almost impossible to gauge
the seriousness with which it must have been read by folks who found
it difficult to distinguish an old woman from a witch. The stories are
ludicrously absurd to a modern reader: they were doubtless very real to
the simple Scots of a by-gone day. One is inclined for once to oppose
Sydney Smith in his exclamation, “Thank God, I was born so late,” and
wish that he could have met some of these children of the devil in the
flesh. How exciting it would be, for example, if one could join Major
Weir[48] in his fiery chariot at Edinburgh, and ride out with him as
far as Dalkeith; or how comforting it would be if one could venture out
with Luggy, the Zetland fisherman and wizard, knowing that he could cast
out a line and, from the depths of the ocean, bring up “fish well boiled
and roasted.” The chapbook says his companions “would make a merry meal
thereof, not questioning who was cook,” and one would be prepared to
be similarly silent if one could meet him on these terms. The marks of
Peter’s finger and thumb, and the finding of the piece of money, lose
something of the miraculous alongside Luggy’s wonderful feat. If the
“chapman billies” of Burns’s day vended books of this kind, and were at
all communicative as to the nature of their wares, the wonder is that
“Tam o’ Shanter” did not witness something more infernal than “warlocks
and witches in a dance” during that immortal ride from Ayr to the Shanter
Farm.
Witchcraft formed a common subject for chapbook treatment. Among others
there were _The Life and Transactions with the Trial and Burning of
Maggie Lang, the Cardonald Witch_, who was executed at Paisley in 1697;
_The History of Witches, Ghosts, and Highland Seers_; _Witchcraft
Detected and Prevented, or the School of Black Art Newly Opened_;
_Witchcraft Proven, Arraign’d and Condemned_, etc., by a Lover of the
Truth; and _The Life and Transactions with the Trial and Burning of
Maggie Osborne, the Ayrshire Witch_.
In the _Elegy in Memory of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag_, we are introduced
to a Devil who is as remorseless as the creation of Milton, and who is
in keeping with the superstition of the time. If there is a material
Devil, there is also a material Hell, and Lag is there without even
the privilege of Judas, who, according to a kindly legend, gets out to
cool himself for one day in each year. The _Elegy_ is 24 pages of what
is probably as ribald verse as ever was put forward in connection with
religion. It is not lacking in point, and one or two impressive lines
save it from being altogether commonplace. There is something striking in
the idea that Satan cannot weep. The author says:—
“Could such a furious fiend as I
Shed tears, my cheeks would never dry;
But I could mourn both night and day,
’Cause Lag from earth is ta’en away.”
It is interesting to learn who have served the Devil. Beginning with
Cain, he claims quite a host of notabilities—Saul, Doeg, Ahab, of early
days; and Clavers, Middleton, Fletcher, King Charles, of Covenant times,
are all
“Among the princes of my pit.”
None of these, however, not even
“My dear cousin, Provost Mill,”
is worthy to be named with Lag for his exertions on behalf of the Prince
of Darkness. Nor in the hour of death was he forsaken by his master.
“For,” says the Devil,
“when I heard that he was dead,
A legion of my den did lead
Him to my place of residence,
Where still he’ll stay, and not go hence:
For purgatory, I must tell,
It is the lowest place in Hell:
Well plenish’d with the Romish sort,
Where thousands of them do resort.
There many a prince and pope doth dwell,
Fast fetter’d in that lower cell,
And from that place they ne’er win free,
Though greedy priests for gain do lie
In making ignorants conceive
They’ll bring them from the infernal cave.
...
This Lag will know and all the rest
Who of my lodging are possest,
On earth no more they can serve me,
But still I have their company;
With this I must my grief allay,
So I no more of Lag will say.”
It is interesting to note—though the authority is “The Father of
Lies”—that according to this Presbyterian rhymer there is such a place as
“purgatory.” As a rule, the Covenanter denied its existence, even as “the
lowest pit of Hell.”
Superstitious literature of a different and slightly more respectable
kind was that which treated of the prophetic utterances of Thomas the
Rhymer, Alexander Peden, and Donald Cargill. Where a fulfilment of a
prophecy is desired, it is sometimes an easy matter to find it, and the
populace which enrolled Peden and Cargill among men of more than natural
power would have sent them—a few years earlier or a few years later—to
the stake to be burned as wizards endowed with powers from the Evil One.
There was yet another class of superstitious chapbooks—that which dealt
with dreams and fortune-telling. Three which were common to Britain were,
_The New Fortune Book; or, the Conjuror’s Guide_, which largely concerned
itself with fortune-telling by cards; _Napoleon Bonaparte’s Book of
Fate_, which is still on sale in various forms; and _Mother Bunch’s
Golden Fortune-Teller_, which was perhaps the most popular of all. There
were others that bore evidence of being more distinctly Scottish. Such,
for example, was _The Spaewife, or Universal Fortune-Teller, wherein your
future welfare may be known, by Physiognomy, Cards, Palmistry, and Coffee
Grounds: Also, a Distinct Treatise on Moles_. The matter comprising this
book is just the nonsense which, notwithstanding our School Boards,
our vanity, and our superior intelligence, finds thousands of readers
(shall we say believers?) at the present time. Two chapbooks—_The Golden
Dreamer; or, Dreams Realised, containing the Interpretation of a Great
Variety of Dreams_; and _The True Fortune Teller; or, The Universal Book
of Fate_—deserve to be noticed for a different reason. Undated editions
of these were issued at Glasgow, “printed for the Booksellers,” and
appended to both there is a note “To the Reader” in the following terms:—
“The foregoing pages are published principally to show the
superstitions which engrossed the mind of the population of
Scotland during a past age, and which are happily disappearing
before the progress of an enlightened civilization. It is
hoped, therefore, that the reader will not attach the slightest
importance to the solutions of the dreams as rendered above, as
dreams are generally the result of a disordered stomach, or an
excited imagination!”
It almost seems like a case of wilful fraud to ask a person to pay
a penny for a dream-book which, when he has referred to it for the
meaning of his yesternight’s dream, gives him a solution, and then—in
effect—tells him that he had better consult a doctor, as his stomach is
disordered. Still, one cannot but admire the candour of the old-world
publisher. How many of the dream-books at present on sale are as honest?
V.
SONGS AND BALLADS.
For number and variety, the song chapbook occupies first place.
Considerable notice has already been taken of the broadside which
flourished during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and is,
indeed, far from being extinct even at the present date, and little
further need be said here. Of the song chapbook, however, a more detailed
account may be given.
[Illustration: _The Trial of Sir John Barleycorn—from “The Whole Trial
and Indictment of Sir John Barleycorn, Knt., A Person of noble Birth and
Extraction and well known by Rich and Poor throughout the Kingdom of
Great Britain; Being accused of several Misdemeanours, by him committed
against His Majesty’s Liege People; by killing some, wounding others, and
bringing Thousands to Beggary, and ruins many a poor family.”_]
It was ordinarily the single sheet broadside folded so as to form a
book of 8 pages, and, like the other productions vended by the chapman,
was usually badly printed on execrable paper. As is the case with the
song-sheets which are still issued from “Poets’ Boxes” and other similar
adjuncts of Parnassus, all sorts and conditions of verse were admitted
to its pages. The choicest lyrics of Burns and Tannahill, Lady Nairne
and Susanna Blamire are found in company with doggerel stanzas by the
veriest tyro in rhyme; and verses dealing with local events of momentary
importance are sandwiched between songs written for all time. Unholy
hands are laid on sacred lines, and poems are sometimes parodied and
altered out of all recognition. “Scots Wha Hae” in a common chapbook
version was spun out to four verses more than its normal length. The
extra stanzas were hardly an improvement, and it is possible that it
was this version that came under the notice of the “southron loon” who
characterized the war-song as “swaggering rant.”[49] A parody of Burns’s
“Ode” was published under the title of “Wellington’s Address,” and the
opening stanza may be quoted as a sample:—
“Britons bauld though Britons few,
On the plains o’ Waterloo;
Britons, heroes always true
To rights and liberty.
Fire your blood my vet’ran boys,
Usurpation’s yoke despise;
Slavery fa’s and slavery dies,
Before brave British play.”