Guy Mannering | Page 9

author and reader in the
present instance the trouble of writing and perusing a long string of
detached notes.
ABBOTSFORD, January, 1829.

ADDENDUM: I may add that the motto of this novel was taken from
the Lay of the Last Minstrel, to evade the conclusions of those who
began to think that, as the author of Waverley never quoted the works
of Sir Walter Scott, he must have reason for doing so, and that the
circumstances might argue an identity between them.
ABBOTSFORD, August 1, 1829.

ADDITIONAL NOTE
GALWEGIAN LOCALITIES AND PERSONAGES WHICH HAVE
BEEN SUPPOSED TO BE ALLUDED TO IN THE NOVEL
An old English proverb says, that more know Tom Fool than Tom Fool
knows; and the influence of the adage seems to extend to works

composed under the influence of an idle or foolish planet. Many
corresponding circumstances are detected by readers of which the
Author did not suspect the existence. He must, however, regard it as a
great compliment that, in detailing incidents purely imaginary, he has
been so fortunate in approximating reality as to remind his readers of
actual occurrences. It is therefore with pleasure he notices some pieces
of local history and tradition which have been supposed to coincide
with the fictitious persons, incidents, and scenery of Guy Mannering.
The prototype of Dirk Hatteraick is considered as having been a Dutch
skipper called Yawkins. This man was well known on the coast of
Galloway and Dumfriesshire, as sole proprietor and master of a
buckkar, or smuggling lugger, called the 'Black Prince.' Being
distinguished by his nautical skill and intrepidity, his vessel was
frequently freighted, and his own services employed, by French, Dutch,
Manx, and Scottish smuggling companies.
A person well known by the name of Buckkar-tea, from having been a
noted smuggler of that article, and also by that of Bogle Bush, the place
of his residence, assured my kind informant Mr. Train, that he had
frequently seen upwards of two hundred Lingtow men assemble at one
time, and go off into the interior of the country, fully laden with
contraband goods.
In those halcyon days of the free trade, the fixed price for carrying a
box of tea or bale of tobacco from the coast of Galloway to Edinburgh
was fifteen shillings, and a man with two horses carried four such
packages. The trade was entirely destroyed by Mr. Pitt's celebrated
commutation law, which, by reducing the duties upon excisable articles,
enabled the lawful dealer to compete with the smuggler. The statute
was called in Galloway and Dumfries-shire, by those who had thriven
upon the contraband trade, 'the burning and starving act.'
Sure of such active assistance on shore, Yawkins demeaned himself so
boldly that his mere name was a terror to the officers of the revenue. He
availed himself of the fears which his presence inspired on one
particular night, when, happening to be ashore with a considerable
quantity of goods in his sole custody, a strong party of excisemen came

down on him. Far from shunning the attack, Yawkins sprung forward,
shouting, 'Come on, my lads; Yawkins is before you.' The revenue
officers were intimidated and relinquished their prize, though defended
only by the courage and address of a single man. On his proper element
Yawkins was equally successful. On one occasion he was landing his
cargo at the Manxman's Lake near Kirkcudbright, when two revenue
cutters (the 'Pigmy' and the 'Dwarf') hove in sight at once on different
tacks, the one coming round by the Isles of Fleet, the other between the
point of Rueberry and the Muckle Ron. The dauntless freetrader
instantly weighed anchor and bore down right between the luggers, so
close that he tossed his hat on the deck of the one and his wig on that of
the other, hoisted a cask to his maintop, to show his occupation, and
bore away under an extraordinary pressure of canvass, without
receiving injury. To account for these and other hairbreadth escapes,
popular superstition alleged that Yawkins insured his celebrated
buckkar by compounding with the devil for one-tenth of his crew every
voyage. How they arranged the separation of the stock and tithes is left
to our conjecture. The buckkar was perhaps called the 'Black Prince' in
honour of the formidable insurer.
The 'Black Prince' used to discharge her cargo at Luce, Balcarry, and
elsewhere on the coast; but her owner's favourite landing-places were at
the entrance of the Dee and the Cree, near the old Castle of Rueberry,
about six miles below Kirkcudbright. There is a cave of large
dimensions in the vicinity of Rueberry, which, from its being
frequently used by Yawkins and his supposed connexion with the
smugglers on the shore, is now called Dirk Hatteraick's Cave. Strangers
who visit this place, the scenery of which