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.