We have dwelt upon the “_History of the Rebellion_,” not because we think it the greatest--though by far the largest of his works--but, because its history is almost the only authentic nucleus round which the events of his life cluster; the only “child of his brain,” of which he himself acknowledges the fatherhood. For this reason, and because of the disappearance of first editions, it has been found impossible to determine the date, or even his authorship, of many popular chap-books ascribed to his pen. Fortunately, the authorship of the best of them rests upon the authority of Motherwell the poet, whose information, derived, as it is, direct from his “intelligent” friend, George Caldwell, the chief publisher of Dougal’s “_Penny Histories_,” is of the most reliable kind. His article in the _Paisley Magazine_ of January, 1829, on “Dougald Graham” being the stimulus and groundwork of all subsequent investigations on the subject. The incidents of Dougal’s official life being committed to the keeping of tradition, have faded out of public memory with the generation whose sides were tickled by his jokes; but a list of his chap-books made by Motherwell, lets us see how he employed his literary leisure, and the date of publication of the last but one on the list, brings us to the date of his exit from the scene which his pen and his voice helped so much to enliven. It is generally agreed that “_Jockie and Maggie’s Courtship_” is the first of his original prose compositions; and that it was written some time after his having set up in business as a printer. He appears to have previously devoted his pen entirely to the service of the poetic muses; and is the originator of those comic, but harmless satires on the simplicity and imperfect English of Highlanders, of which his _John Hielandman_ and _Turnimspike_ are the prototypes. But, like his greater countryman, and it may be added, his greatest extinguisher, Scott--and much about the same age--after he had worked out the poetic vein, he discovered a prose one, equally prolific, and of richer ore; but of which, like the “Great Unknown,” he preferred to be the unknown excavator. It is an odd coincidence that, like Scott, too, he frequently wrote under cognomens, as _John Falkirk_, or _The Scots Piper_. The following is Motherwell’s list of his prose tracts, with the dates of the earliest editions which he was able to obtain:--_Leper the Tailor_, Part II. only, being a first edition.