OMEKA.NET EXHIBIT EXERCISE
Melissa McAfee, Special Collections Librarian
University of Guelph, Archival & Special Collections
October 2014
Digital facsimiles of title-pages from the Scottish chapbooks listed below will be used to create
an online exhibit in Omeka.net. The following descriptions of these materials will be used to
create metadata and to develop the exhibit.
Fairy & Folk Tales
1. The crafty princess; or, the golden bull, in four parts. Glasgow: Printed by Robertson,1801.
Summary: A fairy tale in which a king is resolved to marry his own daughter due to her
extraordinary beauty. When her protests are ignored, the princess tricks her father into having a
golden bull made for her, which she hides in when her father comes for her. The king sends the
bull with the princess still inside as a wedding gift to a prince with whom the princess had fallen
in love. When she emerges in his chambers, the prince vows to marry her, but keeps her hidden
inside the bull until he can return. While he is gone, she is discovered by the ladies of the court,
who throw her into the river. She survives and ultimately is returned to the prince by a gentleman
who finds her, whereupon the ladies are punished, the prince marries the princess, and they rule
both their countries after the death of her father.
2. The comical history of the king and the cobbler; containing the entertaining and merry tricks,
and droll frolics, played by the cobbler; How he got acquainted with the King, became a great
man, and lived at court ever after. Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers, 1840.
Summary: In this tale, Henry VIII meets a jovial cobbler while exploring the city one night, in
disguise. He is so pleased with the humor, songs, and stories of the cobbler that he spends the
night drinking with him and invites him to visit him at court and to inquire after a Harry Tudor
there. The cobbler takes him up on the offer – still unaware of his new friend’s status – and sets
out to court dressed in his Sunday best. When he arrives, he is brought before the king, who he
still does not recognize. Henry sends him to the cellar and meets him there again, this time in his
disguise, where the cobbler recognizes him, and they drink together until the king’s identity is
unmasked, whereupon the cobbler is rewarded with an annuity and by becoming a popular figure
at court. The tale includes the drinking song of the cobbler, and is followed by an anecdote on
Charles II, and a short (and ironic) moral story about two friends who steal a hoard of treasure
from a monastery, and the trickery of one of the friends in temporarily replacing his companion’s
children with bears as punishment for taking the greater share of the treasure.
3. The history of the Haverel wives, or The folly of witless women displayed. Written by
Humphray Clinker the clashing wives clerk. Being a comical conference between Maggy and
Janet his two old aunts. With Janet's advice to Maggy, concerning marriage, with the manner in
which she courted her husband, which began by her taking him by the twa lugs and kissing him.
To which is added, an oration on the virtues of the old women and the pride of the young.
Dictated by Janet Clinker, and written by Humphray Clinker, the clashing wives' clerk. Stirling:
Macnie, c. 1820.
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Summary: This story was written Dougal Graham, a chapman from Glasgow. Graham wrote
many other chapbooks including a long doggerel on the history of the Jacobite rebellion. Others
include Jocky and Maggy’s Courtship, The Coalman’s Courtship, The Comical Transactions of
Lothian Tom, Janet Clinker’s Oration, The Ancient and Modern History of Buckhaven and The
Comical Sayings of Paddy From Cork. Graham’ prose tales are some of the only written texts that
document the Scots language, as it was spoken in rural 18th c. Scotland.
Biographies
These chapbooks are from series of histories and biographies of notable Scottish figures, which
have been bound together by a previous collector.
4. The History of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Commonly Called the Pretender. Glasgow:
Printed for the Booksellers, c. 1840.
A short history and biography of the life and death of Bonnie Prince Charlie, focusing especially
on the events of the Second Jacobite Rising.
5. The life and wonderful prophecies of Donald Cargill. Who was executed at the Cross of
Edinburgh, on the 16th of July, 1680. For his adherence to the Covenant, and work of the
Reformation. Glasgow: Printed for the Bookseller, c. 1840
Summary: A short history and biography of the life and death of Donald Cargill, a notable
Presbyterian activist and preacher in the seventeenth century. The biography focuses in particular
on his involvement in the religious conflicts of the Restoration and Killing Times. A detailed
description of his execution for high treason is included, as well as postscript of an acrostic of his
name.
6. The travels and adventures of Wm. Lithgow, in Europe, Asia, and Africa, during nineteen
years. Glasgow: Printed for the Bookseller, c. 1840
Summary: A short history and biography of William Lithgow, a famous seventeenth-century
traveler who was known for having walked further and in more places than any other Scot. This
chapbook is presented as an abridged version of an autobiography published elsewhere, focusing
less on Lithgow’s early life, and more on his many adventures he experiences in his travels. A
short anecdote follows, describing the humility, justice, and religious devotion of Henry IV of
France, who prays for forgiveness on the eve of battle when a Protestant minister chastises him
for having seduced the daughter of a noble family.
Ballads & Songs
7. Allan Tine O'Harrow; to which are added, Highland laddie, Bonnie wood of Craigie lea.
Stirling: Mackie, c. 1820.
Summary: A short ballad or tale about Allan Tine O’Harrow – a Robin Hood-esque character
who runs away from home after getting a maid with child. He travels to London where he joins
the army and fights in Britain’s wars on the continent, where after he deserts and becomes a
highwayman who robs from the rich and gives to the poor. The tale concludes with O’Harrow
locked up in Newgate awaiting his judgment for thievery. Also included are a short song about a
young Highland man who must fight in war, possibly for the love of his Lowland girl as well as
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his king, and a second short song about the beauty and peace of the woods of Craigie lea as
remembered by the author in the days of his youth.
8. The watchman. To which are added, the lucky escape. A wife for any man. The sailor's
adventure for a wife. Glasgow: Robertson, 1802
Summary: A collection of songs/ballads on a variety of themes. The first tells the tale of a
curmudgeonly old watchman who takes advantage of his job to make a bit of profit. The next few
songs tell of men who left their homes and their loves to make their fortune, sailing or fighting,
from different perspectives. In one song the sailor returns home, never to leave again; in the
second, the soldier is killed while fighting in Flanders. In the last song, a happy marriage is made
between a sailor and his love.
9. The Wat’ry God, To which are added, High Jenny high. The cold winter night. The young
man's petition. The nymph's reply. Glasgow: Printed by J. and M. Robertson, 1803.
Summary: A collection of ballads on a variety of topics. The first song, in which Neptune bears
witness to the Battle of Quiberon Bay during the Seven Year’s War, celebrates the victory of
Admiral Hawke and the glory of the British monarchy. The second is a humorous song following
the familiar theme of the marriage of an old man and a young virgin, and her various objections
and preferences for a young man. The next song, also humorous, tells the woes of a shiftless man
who keeps trying to borrow money. The last two songs are the entreaty of a young man to win his
love, and the maid’s reply and rejection due to her belief that his love will not last.
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