This illustration is from 'Glasgow Characters' by Peter Mackenzie (1857). I have not seen the original, but it was reprinted in 'The Penny Whistle' by Norman Dannatt (1993), where it says:

Wee Willie White was a diminutive, blind, street performer...The book describes it as either a flute or a flageolet - neither of which is correct. Wee Willie White was said to have lived inoffensively and the money he earned by exercising his musical talents kept him respectable poverty.
He was suddenly taken ill whilst performing and died quietly soon after he was taken to his lodging on the same day. He must have been well thought of. for his admirers provided for a decent interment and marked the resting place of his body by a simple monumental stone which bears a representation of his favourite musical instrument and the box in which he always carried it.