to have added some more verses....but they were never transmitted. He appears to have had the old fragment of the ballad called Leezie Baillie in view when he composed the above stanza. A large fragment of the old ballad of 'Leezie Lindsay'....may be seen in Jamieson's Popular Ballads and Songs,' vol. ii." S. S. W. It is asserted that Burns contributed the air of an old song to Johnson's Scots Musical Museum,' along with the first verse of a song, entitled 'Leezie Lindsay,' he intended writing, but that he died before finishing it. The music and verse appeared in vol. v., but have not the author's name attached in the index, as most songs have which were known to be Burns's. The editor says he is certain" that those marked "B. & R." are Burns's composition "; 'Leezie Lindsay' has not either letter. 66 In the Kilmarnock edition of Burns, by William Scott Douglas (1890), it is stated that the air and verse were sent by Burns to Johnson. In the Book of Scottish Song,' edited by Alexander Whitelaw, 1875, the first line is "Will ye gang wi' me, Lizzy Lindsay?" In Johnson it is Will ye go to the Highlands, Leezie Lindsay ?" ་་ ALFRED CHAS. JONAS. "The Home Circle: a weekly family magazine of literature, science, domestic economy, arts, practical information, needlework, chess, general knowledge, and entertainment. humble classes who have no chance of cultiva"Object. To elevate the taste and morals of those ting their intellect but through the medium of works of a pernicious kind." The editor, for some time at least, was Pierce Egan. QUILL. BOOK INSCRIPTIONS (11 S. iii. 207, 492).— The lines beginning 66 Go, litel book! God send thee good passage! are from the ' verba translatoris" in Sir Richard Ros or Rous's translation of Alain Chartier's 'La Belle Dame sans Mercy.' The piece was printed in Thynne's edition of Chaucer in 1532, and since then has been ascribed to Chaucer; but as Chartier was only fourteen years old at Chaucer's death, this is clearly impossible. Full information is given by Prof. Skeat in vol. vii. of his edition of Chaucer, where he prints La Belle Dame sans Mercy.' E. G. T. SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGALL BRISBANE (11 S. iii. 407, 491).-Even if it were impossible to prove the marriage of Robert Brisbane to Janette Stewart in 1562, there would still be no difficulty in tracing the descent of Sir Thomas Brisbane from Robert THE MUSEUMS OF LONDON ANTIQUITIES the Bruce. John Brisbane, son of James (11 S. iii. 401, 483).—In Chambers's Journal Brisbane of Bishoptoun, in 1685 married for May, 1851, pp. 308-10, there appeared Margaret, daughter of Sir Archibald Stewart an article on London Museums of the of Blackhall and Ardgowan. The descent Seventeenth Century.' The article prefrom Robert III. and Robert the Bruce was sumably was inspired by the perusal of thus made doubly secure. See Burke's 'Peer- a tract entitled :— age,' &c., s.v. Shaw Stewart; also Crawford's History of Renfrewshire' (1818), p. 390, and Paterson's History of Ayrshire,' vol. v. part ii. p. 525. It is worth noticing that the Brisbanes were originally a Renfrewshire family, having owned the estate of Bishoptoun in the parish of Erskine for many years. The old mansion house, now used as a farmhouse, stands on a commanding site above the Clyde, with a fine view of Dunbarton Rock, &c. The property was sold about 1670, when the lands of Kelsoland, &c., near Largs, in Ayrshire, were acquired, which were subsequently known Brisbane. See the last two authorities quoted above. T. F. D. as "A Catalogue of many Natural Rarities, with great Industry, Cost, and Thirty Years' Travel in Foraign Countries, collected by Robert Hubert alias Forges, Gent., and Sworn Servant to His Majesty. And daily to be seen at the place called the Musick-House, at the Miter, near the West End of St. Paul's Church. London : 1664." of St. Mary, Bec Hellouin, Eure, France, of "a messuage in the parish of St. Botolph without Aldrichesgate in the suburb of London, sometime of William de Gayton, called 'le Taborer ('Cal. 1354-8,' p. 105). It thus appears that Timbs was mistaken in assigning the inn to St. Martinsle-Grand, no portion of that thoroughfare having been at any time comprised within the parish of St. Botolph. WILLIAM MCMURRAY. 'HAYWRA," PLACE-NAME (11 S. iii. 487). There is no difficulty, because the place is not only near Harrogate (Yorkshire), but gave its name to that well-known resort. The road from Knaresborough to Otley passed near it, and was consequently named Haywra-gate, i.e., the road passing near Haywra. It is named Haverah Park in some maps, where Haverah represents the Norman form of Haywra. Hay represents A.-S. hege and A.F. haie, and means enclosure" or park"; and wra is the A.-S. wrā, a corner. That is to say, the road passed near the corner of an old enclosed park, a portion (it is said) of the old Forest of Knaresborough. The names Haverah and Haywra are still familiar ones at Harrogate. WALTER W. SKEAT. 66 66 barchan,' by Robert Sempill of Beltrees (1599-1670), he had a standard exemplar, which he utilized ably and well. Even as Sempill declared that piping was done because Habbie Simson was no more, so his youthful follower concludes that Macgibbon's death creates a sorry outlook for national song, as there is none to "fill his stead." Sempill thus opens his lament : Kilbarchan now may say, Alas! For she hath lost her game and grace, For no man can supply his place- The same spirit pervades Fergusson's monody, as these stanzas illustrate : Macgibbon's gane: Ah, wae 's my heart! And tune the reed Wi' sic a slee and pawky art; Ilk carline now may grunt and grane, The blythest sangster on the plain! thus eulogized, who was for many years It is interesting to note that the musician leader of the orchestra of the "Gentlemen's Concert" at Edinburgh, was considered by contemporaries “to play the music of Corelli, Geminiani, and Handel with great execution and judgment." Even he, apparently, had felt the foreign influence without giving it pre-eminent position in determining his preferences. Without him, the poet fears, national song will lose its prestige and be routed by "sounds fresh sprung frae Italy." THOMAS BAYNE. WILL WATCH: JOHN GALLOT (11 S. ii. 269, 353; iii. 492).-Gallot, who is mentioned by MR. RALPH THOMAS at the last reference, was an actor at the Haymarket and Coburg Theatres, and ultimately became prompter "THE GAG," "GUILLOTINE," AND "KANat the old Adelphi during Webster's manage-iii. 468). With regard to the first of GAROO AS PARLIAMENTARY TERMS (11 S. ment. these expressions there is a Parliamentary note in a letter from Henry Brougham to Thomas Creevey, dated 1814 : "Now, there is not a pretence for keeping these Besides-the gag is sources of patronage open. gone, which used to stop our mouths as often as any reform was mentioned 'Revolution' first, and then Invasion.' These cues are gone." The Creevey Papers,' 1905, p. 192. 46 A. RHODES. The terms "gag," "guillotine," and "kangaroo," as used in Parliament, are tolerably familiar, but the question as to who first used them is a more difficult matter to determine. Perhaps "gag" may boast a more venerable antiquity than the other two. In 1795 the Act 36 Geo. III. bucket. See a well-informed article, over cc. 7, 8, for the prevention of treason and the initials J. M. B., in Scottish Notes and sedition, was known as the "Gagging Act." Queries, 1901, vol. iii. Second Series, pp. 43-4. A Bill for restricting public meetings, W. S. S. passed in 1819, was popularly called a gagging Bill." Some Acts affecting the right of public meeting in Ireland have also at a later date been so designated. W. SCOTT. LAMB'S ROSAMUND GRAY' (11 S. iii. 467). -Writing to Southey on 29 October, 1798, Lamb says that the opening lines of the ballad An Old Woman clothed in Gray' suggested the writing of 'Rosamund.' Substantially fictitious, the play in various features unquestionably draws upon the writer's personal experience. The scene is laid at Widford, Herts, with which the happiness of his early days is associated, and Rosamund Gray seems to adumbrate his first and only love, the Anna of his Sonnets and the Alice W-n of the Essays of Elia.' In chap. iii. of his monograph on Lamb for the " English Men of Letters Canon Ainger discusses the matter as follows: "The heroine, Rosamund Gray, is drawn with those features on which he was never weary of dwelling in the object of his own boyish pas. sion. Rosamund, with the pale blue eyes and the yellow Hertfordshire hair,' is but a fresh copy of his Anna and his Alice. That Rosamund Gray had an actual counterpart in real life seems certain, and the little group of cottages, in one of which she dwelt with her old grandmother, is still shown in the village of Widford, about half a mile from the site of the old mansion of Blakesware. ..Her fair hair and eyes, her goodness, and (we may assume) her poverty, were drawn from life. The rest of the story in which she bears a part is of course pure fiction." THOMAS BAYNE. Charles Kent in his edition of Lamb says that the root-idea of the story is traceable to the antique ballad of 'The Old Woman clothed in Gray'; and that the author appears to have borrowed the name of his heroine from a small volume of poems by Charles Lloyd, published in 1795 at Carlisle : "The child-heroine's reputed dwelling-place, it may be interesting to add, is still shown at Blenheim, as one of a couple of cottages near Healin Green, some two miles from Blakesweir." A. R. BAYLEY. [TOE REA also refers to Canon Ainger.] FORBES OF SKELLATER (11 S. iii. 467; iv. 17).—J. F. J. is correct in his impression as to the parentage of General Forbes ("Ian Roy") of Skellater. He was the second son of George Forbes of Skellater by his wife Christian Gordon of Glen ST. GEORGE AND THE LAMB (11 S. iii. 487). Many famous Italian painters. Correggio, Veronese, Carpaccio, Tintoretto, and L. Caracci among them-have painted St. George, with or without the dragon, and there are representations of him at Florence, Venice, Verona, Padua, Bologna, and Rome. But I never saw or heard of the saint represented with a lamb; and such well-known authorities as Mrs. Jameson, C. E. Clement (Saints in Art '), and Husenbeth ('Emblems of Saints') are silent on the subject. I cannot think that St. George is "often represented" thus, either in Italy or anywhere else. Can MR. FANE have possibly misunderstood his Italian friend's question ? D. O. HUNTER BLAIR. Fort Augustus. There is no legend_concerning the saint and a lamb, so far as I can ascertain, nor do I remember ever having seen any picture such as MR. FANE's Italian friend mentions. The representation, however, would seem to portray the martyr's meek submission to the torments that he had to undergo by the order of Diocletian. In the Acta Sancti Georgii Megalo-Martyris,' published by the Bollandists, and collated with the manuscripts of the Vatican and Florence, we are told how the "vir sanctus, tanquam agnus," was bound with cords before suffering the frightful punishment of the wheel:: "Hoc ille supplicii genus perferens, primum quidem magna voce precabatur, deinde secum ipse tacite gratias agebat Deo, nec suspirium quidem ullum edebat. Mox bonum temporis spatium tanActa,' vol. iv. pp. 208-9, Gaume Frères, Paris, 1853. "-Selecta Martyrum quam dormiens, conquievit." JOHN T. CURRY. The lamb is probably symbolical of the Saviour, and, along with St. George, may be taken to represent the force of the Christian religion. In this connexion Mrs. Jameson ('Sacred and Legendary Art,' vol. ii.) says: "When the princess is introduced [in representations of St. George], she is clearly an allegorical Una of Spenser. I can recollect but one instance personage, representing truth or innocence-the in which she has the lamb......It is an exquisite little print by Lucas van Leyden, which appears to represent the meeting of St. George and the princess before the conquest of the dragon." Row TAY. According to Spenser, the Red Cross Knight (called "St. George" in the 'F. Q.,' ii. 12) was accompanied by Una. And as for Una ('F. Q.,' i. 4), it is said that "by her, in a line, a milkewhite lambe she had." Why she did so we are not informed; still less what became of the lamb. WALTER W. SKEAT. [MR. HARRY HEMS also thanked for reply.] The Rev. Lilly Butler, LL.B., second son of Dr. Lilly Butler (Canon of Canterbury, &c.), was-if I mistake not-Rector of that parish from 1716 until his death in 1736, as well as Rector of Dagenham, Essex, and Chaplain to the Marquess of Annandale. His name appears in the register of Merchant Taylors' School in 1696. C. E. BUTLER. 'WAVERLEY": "CLAN OF GREY FINGON FIGURES RISING FROM THE DEAD (11 S. (11 S. iii. 487).-The "clan of grey Fingon iii. 407). In 1881, during the restoration represented the Mackinnons, who dwelt at of the parish church of Preston, Holderness, several figures made of alabaster were different periods in Mull, Iona, and Skye. Fingon is said to have been a name common have originally formed part of a piece brought to light. They were supposed to bairn." See Skene's Highlanders of Scot-representing our Lord's resurrection, formerly land,' edited by Macbain, 1902, and the placed in the interior of the sacred edifice. Rev. Donald D. Mackinnon's Memoirs A brief account of the discovery will be found in The Antiquary, iv. 81. of Clan Fingon,' 1899. in ancient times, and denoted "Fair W. SCOTT. The Mackinnons (Sliochd Fhionnon, no Mac'Ionnon) are a branch of the great Clan Alpin, claiming descent from Fingon, grandson of Gregor, whose father was Kenneth Mac Alpin, King of the Picts and Dalriad Scots. The prefix Mac renders the initial consonant quiescent; hence Mac Fhinnon-Mac'innon. Their burial-place was in Iona, where, in the chancel, is to be seen on a tabletomb the monumental effigy of Abbat Mac Fingon, who died in 1500. In conjunction with his father Lachlan, he erected one of those elaborately sculptured crosses still remaining in the Reilig Ouran on the island. A. R. BAYLEY. MATTHEW ARNOLD ON MODERN HURRY (11 S. iii. 488). The passage of Matthew Arnold which is inquired for will be found in his Friendship's Garland,' 1871, p. 146, in the essay entitled 'My Countrymen.' BIBORG. Matthew Arnold uses the phrase 66 sick hurry" in 'The Scholar-Gipsy,' stanza 21 :This strange disease of modern life, With its sick hurry, its divided aims. ALFRED ANSCOMBE. RAIKES CENTENARY (11 S. iii. 366).In the entry of the marriage of Robert Raikes (16 May, 1725), quoted by MR. MCMURRAY from the marriage register of St. Anne and St. Agnes, Gresham Street, ought not the signature of the officiating elergyman to be "Lilly"-perhaps abbreviated instead of "W" Butler ? ROW TAY. SHIPDEM FAMILY (11 S. iii. 407, 478).The Kentish Gazette, 7 April, 1815, announced that" in the night of Saturday last, the counting-house (and banking room) of R. Shipdem, Esq., at Hythe, was burglariously entered by person or persons." The office of Mayor of Hythe was filled on several occasions by members of this family. In 1791 John Shipdem was Town Clerk R. J. FYNMore. of Dover. iii. 450).—“A cord moors" is a not infreMOOR, MORE, AND MOORY-GROUND (11 S. quent entry in the old parish books of Hampshire, meaning a cord of roots. Root, of O. Norse origin, failed for centuries to displace in the South the A.-S. and M.E. more, still, or lately, existing in dialect. In Sir Beues of Hamtoun' (fifteenth-century MS.) will be found "borne of Jesses more. This should account for "moory-ground," ground stated to have been reclaimed in the past. Skidmore is of interest as accounting for the name Scudamore (Bardsley, 8.r.), well known in the history of the Stanhopes and Earls of Chesterfield. Lower states that a Scudamore was lord of Upton, Wilts, in the reign of Stephen: but there is an Upt in Hants, close to Skidmore. Skid may represent A.-S. scid (mod. shide), stake, stick (for lighting fire), compounds of which are recorded. H. P. L. previously in use in the House. Beyond these facts there does not seem to be anything connecting him with the authorship of any kind of prayer. W. SCOTT. RAGS AT WELLS (11 S. iii. 409, 470, 498). RALPH PIGGOTT, CATHOLIC JUDGE (11 S. iii. 449). This name does not appear in any of the Admission Books of the four Inns of-Seventy years ago, in Ireland, I often Court, except in the year 1576 in the Admission Book of Gray's Inn; nor does Dugdale or Beatson's Political Index' make mention of it. It seems hardly likely in these circumstances that he can have been an English judge. C. H. R. PEACH. According to Foss (Judges of England '), Yelverton was certainly the composer of the prayer which he read in the House of Commons every morning; and according to the same authority, it was the custom at that time for Speakers to compose the prayer themselves. John Cosin was only three years old when Yelverton was chosen Speaker, and it was not until sixty years later (after the Convocation of 1661) that the Book of Common Prayer was enriched with his compositions. I have found no reference in any biography of Cosin to his having drawn up any form of prayer for the use of the House of Commons. D. O. HUNTER BLAIR. Speaker Yelverton, no doubt, claimed for the House of Commons the power of reforming the Book of Common Prayer "if there was anything Jewish, Turkish, or Popish in it." He also boldly defended a member, Mr. Strickland, who had been imprisoned for proposing an alteration in the form of prayer passed a stunted tree known as "the ragged bush," but commonly called by the equivalent name in Irish (I spell it as pronounced) "skeogh na gibbogue." It deserved this title, for it was lavishly decorated with rags of various kinds and colours. At that time it was the habit of the less educated people in the neighbourhood, on certain Saints' days, to detach scraps of their clothing, tie them to the bush, and then adjourn to a holy well not far off, and there do penance by going round the well several times on their knees. Quite recently a friend at my request visited the spot, and found the bush (even now known as "the bush") still there, but bereft of all claim to its old title, for not a vestige of rag remains. Evidently the ancient practice has died out. The suggestion that the custom has come to these islands from the East, seems to be supported by the following quotation from a book written by Dr. Sheepshanks, late Bishop of Norwich, and published in 1909, 'A Bishop in the Rough': "In Mongolia. "One place, a long weird valley, abhorred and dreaded of travellers, was full of traces of Obi worship. Cairns on the hillsides were everywhere to be descried, with rods or poles carrying strips of rags, or of clothing torn from the garments of passing travellers, who had alighted to say a prayer. Thus to decorate these piles of wood is a sacred duty. Tradition demands a portion of one's own garb, but any piece of cloth seems to meet the requirements of the occasion. Amidst these fluttering memorials of the Mongolian religion, the wayfarer left behind him for ever that strange and ill-known country." Edgbaston, Birmingham. HENRY SMYTH. Those who are interested in the subject of rags left at wells may like to be referred. if they do not already know it, to a short story, The Mourner's Horse,' in The Delectable Duchy,' by "Q." (Cassell & Co., 1894). The concluding paragraphs are relevant. If any reader of ' N. & Q.' will condescend to be more communicative than “Q." and explain the bit of folk-lore mentioned in the preface to the book, I am sure other readers will be grateful as well as I. H. K. ST. J. S. |