The High-Kilted Muse: Peter Buchan and His Secret Songs of Silence

Introduction

1 inTrOducTiOn 1. lIfe Peter Buchan was born in Peterhead in 1790, to parents who were quite well off. On his father’s side he traced his descent (to his own satisfaction) through a general Buchan of rathy house, crimond, back to the comyns, the earls of Buchan, renowned in scottish history: the Black comyn, in the thirteenth century, was a candidate for the crown, being descended from King duncan. Buchan’s grandmother, ‘Bonny Peggy irvine’, was a lineal descendant of the ancient family of irvine of drum, in Aberdeenshire, one of whose scions lent money to James Vi, and was a patron of learning in Aberdeen. given his future interests, Buchan was born in a fortunate time. As ed cray mentions in his foreword, there was a remarkable upsurge in interest in old ballads, Bishop Percy having published extracts from a neglected ballad manuscript, reliques of Ancient english Poetry, and with it ‘initiated academic interest in ballads in the english language’, as W. edson richmond put it.1 not long after, the scot david herd published his Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, which were rather less ‘improved’ than the texts of Percy, who was taken to task by the austere Joseph ritson because of his tendency to edit and alter. sir Walter scott took up the mantle and began collecting excursions in the Borders that would lead eventually to his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border . With that 1802–03 collection, scott did for scottish traditionary verse what Percy had done for the english. Then came the flood of antiquaries, Peter Buchan 2 PeTer BuchAn: inTrOducTiOn nationalists and poetasters, almost all with different goals in mind. some of these worthies, such as William stenhouse (1793–1827) and robert chambers (1802–1871), were a little dismayed at the content of these old songs, the latter in particular having to supply innocuous words to the lauded tunes in his Songs of Scotland Prior to Burns.2 nevertheless, none can deny the enthusiasm of this band of patriotic antiquaries. it was in this milieu that Peter Buchan was to find himself. Peter aimed for the sea as a midshipman, but his father led him to give up the idea, because Peter was an only son – and also, more plausibly, because his father refused funds for a midshipman’s outfit. instead, Peter was apprenticed to a jack-of-all-trades, from whom he seems to have picked up all sorts of mechanical expertise; he was, besides, something of an inventive genius, as will be seen. in 1814 he published his first book, a small volume of songs and verses, which was not well received. he had other strings to his bow, however. Peterhead lacked a printing establishment, and he resolved to supply one. in 1816 he went to edinburgh, ‘with a pocket full of flattering introductory letters, and an almost empty purse’, as he himself said. he was introduced to the earl of Buchan, who took to him and recommended him to various friends, including dr charles Wingate, a stirling physician. Peter went to that city to learn the printing trade and, after only ten days, was able to compose and print a song text, which he brought back to edinburgh as a specimen of his workmanship. One of the earl’s friends gave him £50 to enable him to purchase types and other material, and he was able to start business on 24 March 1816. he published a few polemical and expository works of local interest , including a short-lived periodical, before starting a series of chapbooks (1817), containing such ballads as ‘Andrew lammie’ and popular songs like ‘The ewie wi’ the crookit horn’. despite his town’s neglect, he contrived to improve his business, in 1819 devising a new press, of wood, iron, and brass (the ‘Auchmedden’), on which he printed The Annals of Peterhead, a thin duodecimo which, he said, ‘was chiefly composed standing at the case, and was never in manuscript’. it was illustrated with six copperplates, which he himself engraved. The press was worked with the feet, not the hands, and could take impressions from stone, copper, and wood, as well as from type, and could also print on cloth. Another of his inventions was a device for keeping a count of the number of sheets printed in any given time. This he imparted to an edinburgh press-maker, who thanked him and went off to America with the process – and that was that. (Presumably the emigrant made something...