Dougal was elected unanimously, and the traditional fame of his bellmanship leaves no doubt that he discharged the duties of the office to the satisfaction of the magistrates, and the advantage and entertainment of the public. He was imbued with all the love of fun and drollery of an Irishman, and all the pawky sarcastic humour, and independent sagacity of a Scot; and invariably drew large crowds to hear his rhymed or otherwise queerly-worded notices, to which his laugh-provoking manner gave additional point. His appointment as bellman did not necessitate the giving up of his business; and he still continued to write and print with unabated vigour; indeed, some of the most popular productions of his pen are assigned to this date. In 1774 he issued a third edition of his _History of the Rebellion_, with “amendments,” and the addition of “a description of the dangers and travels of the Pretender through the Highland isles after the break at Culloden.” It extends to 189 pages, and contains plans of the battles of Prestonpans, Clifton, Falkirk, and Culloden; with a full-length woodcut portrait of the author, in his bellman costume, fronting the title-page; and bears to have been printed by John Robertson, Glasgow. This edition, there is every probability in supposing, was the last issued during his lifetime, for between it and the second there is a space of twelve years, and, allowing for his increased popularity, six years is a short enough time to allow for the disposal of it. We are unable to get any trace of the fourth--the third, of which, probably, there was a much larger edition, being the oftenest met with of the early editions; but the fifth, we learn from Campbell’s History of Scottish Poetry, was issued by John Robertson in 1787, eight years after the author’s death, and is, no doubt, along with the fourth, a reprint of the third. Besides the additions already indicated, this last has a new preface, very much in Ramsay’s style, in which he gives his motives for having written the book. “First, then, I have an itch for scribbling; and having wrote the following for my pleasure, I had an ambition to have this child of mine placed out in the world; expecting, if it should thrive and do well, it might bring credit or comfort to the parent. For it is my firm opinion that parental affection is as strong towards children of the brain as those produced by ordinary generation. I have wrote it in vulgar rhyme, being not only what pleased my own fancy, but what I have found acceptable to the most part of my countrymen, especially those of common education like myself. If I have done well, it is what I should like; and if I have failed, it is what mankind are liable to. Therefore, let cavilers rather write a better one, than pester themselves and the public with criticisms on my faults.”