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be used. A pot is peculiar to London and, I believe, the North. In Bristol the universal desig nation is "a can," and, in domestic circles, a "jug," as a pint or quart of any liquid.

Some thirty years ago, when beer was beer and not molasses, &c., there were two or three houses in Bristol (one near Princes Street, one in the neighbourhood of Wine Street, and another near Stokes Croft) celebrated for the Burton mixture, the charm of which consisted in a marriage or blending of two beers (a mild and a stronger) when drawn. It really was half-and-half-ale and beer, not stout-and was a sort of morning or hot-weather drink when XXX was not desired. Afterwards a Burton was brewed of this medium quality, but there was an absence of "something" in the new production which the "marriage " from the two taps produced, and the true palate for Burton was not satisfied with it.

With the beers as now brewed it is impossible to make anything approaching the real Bristol Burton, but had your fair correspondent drunk it as I drank it when a youth she would not have complained of its washiness. The Burton-onTrent and bitter ales of to-day grew out of the Burton mixture.

Portman Square, W.

ANTIMONOPOLY.

VULCAN DANCY (4th S. i. 590; ii. 612.) — One of your correspondents, who divined that the true reading of this startling phrase must be "through the welkin dance I," may like to hear that the MS. of Bishop Percy's Ballads and Songs fully confirms his surmise. In the verbatim copy of this work recently printed, under the editorship of Messrs. Hales and Furnivall, I find the song "Hollowe me Ffancye in vol. ii. p. 30. The two opening lines are printed

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In a melancholly fancy, out of my selfe,
Thorrow the welkin dance I."

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W. M. ROSSETTI. BEZA'S NEW TESTAMENT (4th S. v. 28, 157, 259.)-As MR. TEW is " thoroughly convinced that the preponderance of evidence. . immeasurably in favour of St. Paul as author of the Epistle" to the Hebrews, and as most readers would, I venture to believe, be of the same opinion, may we not be spared a flood of Dean Alford's prolegomena to that Epistle? The good Dean has come to the conclusion that Apollos was the author. A CONSTANT READER.

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version I offer to "N. & Q." is founded upon the
hypothesis stated above, and upon the fact that
some contractions have been used in the inscrip-
and pus for prius occurs frequently.
tion. P for pro is very common in Latin MSS.,

I have endeavoured to keep as closely as possible to the imperfect transcript of the letters, attributed to the exigency of the conditions and any harshness in the construction must be imposed.

"Dedico pro patriâ, pro principe tot mala passus, Me tibi summe Deus; conscia mens satis est. Heu patric requies sit, justi ubi principis almi Pace fruantur agri; vincula me cohibent. Vim superam præstans in eos converteris iram, Namque vident gratum sit mihi velle tuum. B. E. N. Bishop Leslie's inscription is evidently in eleof most of the lines. The quotation from Progiac verse, as may be seen from the terminations verbs is likely to reflect the sentiment of the concluding lines. The following is my conjecture as to the way in which the lacunæ in the inscription restoration will commend itself to many: — may be filled up. I do not think that MR. KING'S "Hic ego pro patria pro principe tot mala passus, Sed tibi, summe Deus, mens mea nota sat est, Ut patriæ requies sit et ut sub principe (~~) Pace fruantur agri, vincula me cohibent. Vim superam præsta; sontes mitescere sîris*

Qui videant gratum quam mihi velle tuum."

"Quum placuerint Domino viæ hominis inimicos ejus convertet in pacem." T. C. D.

GEORGE BUCHANAN'S LATIN PSALMS (4th S. iv. 178.)-Did not the coincidence noticed by MR. R. MEIKLE, between Buchanan and Mr. Gladstone, arise from each having had in his mind Virg. Æneid. iv. 336 –

"Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus"? T. W. C.

FOSTER AND DUFFIELD FAMILIES (4th S. v. 245.)-If N. E. D. can prove that the Fosters of whom he speaks had any connection with Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, I may be able to give Of the Duffield family I am not informed. him one or two particulars in reply to his queries.

P. HUTCHINSON.

THE "EDINBURGH REVIEW" AND LORD JEFrectness of F. W. J.'s assumption, that the words FREY (4th S. v. 273.)-Let me question the corquoted by him in italics show the keen eye of Jeffrey & Co. to financial results. It seems to me plain that Jeffrey, by riches, meant intellectual wealth. As editor, proprietor, or contributor, permit.

* Siris is a common contraction for siveris = In line three, for "sit et ut" perhaps satius.

his financial interest would be to put as little as possible into a page, so as to show as many pages as possible. W. T. M.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

History of the French Revolution, by Heinrich von Sybel, Professor of History in the University of Bonn. Translated from the Third Edition of the original German Work by Walter C. Perry, Esq. Vols. III. and IV. (Murray.)

It is not often that it can be said of a translation that it is more useful than the work from which it is translated, but we have the author's own confession for it in this case. Professor Von Sybel informs us in a prefatory note that, for the present translation of the third and concluding volumes of his work, he has been enable to consult, in addition to the large number of original documents already specified by him, a very considerable number of diplomatic papers contained in the archives of Vienna, thanks to the courteous liberality of Count Von Beust; and adds, that he has had the satisfaction of finding his general views of events and persons confirmed by them; while their use has enabled him to improve and enrich his narrative in many important particulars. It is unnecessary here to enter into details as to the peculiar merits of Professor Von Sybel's complete and compendious History of the French Revolution, which is here brought to a close, and made more useful by a very full index; but this much may be briefly and justly predicted, that the Professor's work is destined to take its place among the chief authorities which must be consulted by all who desire to make themselves masters of the eventful chapter of modern history to which it is devoted.

The Complete Poems of George Gascoigne. Tam Marte quam Mercurio. Now first collected and edited from the early printed Copies and from Manuscripts. With a Memoir and Notes by William Carew Hazlitt. In two volumes. Vol. I. (Printed for the Roxburghe Library.)

.

In a goodly volume of upwards of five hundred pages, Mr. Hazlitt here presents to the subscribers to the Roxburghe Library the first portion of his collected edition of the poems of the soldier-scholar George Gascoigne, which will be completed by a second volume of smaller dimensions, in which Mr. Hazlitt will include his Notes, Index, &c. The reader will find in the volume before us, Gascoigne's "Flowres," containing a collection of miscel laneous poems, mostly of an amatory character, and all strongly marked with the writer's peculiar style; his "Hearbes"-in which division are contained his "Comedie called Supposes," and "The Tragedie called Jocasta," and some eighteen or twenty miscellaneous poems; and lastly his "Weedes," among which will be found a prose translation of "The pleasant Fable of Ferdinando Jeronimi and Leonora de Velasco, translated out of the Italian riding Tales of Bartello." These are preceded by an Introduction, in which Mr. Hazlitt furnishes us with all that is known of the Life of Gascoigne, supplementing the materials collected by the late Joseph Hunter and others with the result of his own inquiries; so that the book will be a boon to all students of Elizabethan literature.

"BETTER late than never" may well be said of the proposal which is now being brought forward to erect a Central Hall and Free Library to the memory of Lord

Brougham. It must seem strange to foreigners, to whom he was so well known, that no steps have ever been taken to place a memorial of him, whether considered as a statesman or man of letters, in the Abbey.

THE North German Correspondent announces the death of Dr. Carl Friedrich Neumann, the historian and orientalist, the well-known author of the "History of the British Empire in India," and the "History of the United States."

THE National Gallery in Berlin, which was begun five years ago, will be roofed before the end of this year, and it is expected will be finished in about three years more.

It is now understood that Her Majesty will open the new building of the University of London, in Burlington Gardens, on Wednesday, May 11th.

A COMPLETE " 'Shakespeare Grammar," in which all phraseological points differing from modern usage are treated, by the Rev. E. A. Abbott, is in the press.

THE discovery at Paris of an autograph of Henry Duke of Guise, written on the fly-leaf of a MS. Book of Hours, which belonged to Queen Catherine of Medicis, is reported. The words in the duke's handwriting are "All is arranged for the 24th," and are supposed to have reference to the 24th of August, 1572, the eve of St. Bartholomew's festival. The signature attached is "Le B.," which is explained as "Le Balafré," under which name Henry of Lorraine was known on account of the scar upon his face. Some doubt however, as to the whole affair, is entertained by the Pall Mall Gazette, which says: Autograph-collectors in Paris have recently shown themselves so easily hoaxed that we should not be surprised to learn that this was only another instance of successful forgery. No evidence is adduced to prove that Henry of Guise ever adopted the nickname for his signature, and the sensational character of the hint savours rather of the modern stage than of real life in the sixteenth century."

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THE Abingdon Herald lately reported the discovery of a massive stone sarcophagus in the grounds of Mr. E. J. Trendell of the Abbey House, Abingdon. It is seven feet long, fifteen inches deep, and two inches and a half thick, and is supposed to have contained the remains of Cissa, King of Wessex, father to King Ina, and reputed founder of Abingdon. On the lid of the coffin is an elaborately cut raised cross, with the figure of a cross-bow, and other tracings now almost obliterated.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.

Particulars of Price, &c., of the following Books to be sent direct t the gentlemen by whom they are required, whose names and addresse are given for that purpose:

ROWE'S SHAKESPEARE. First Edition. 7 Vols. 1709.
Second Edition. 9 Vols. 1714.
POPE'S SHAKESPEARE. 6 Vols. 4to.
THEOBALD'S SHAKESPEARE. Second Edition, 1740. 8 vols. 12mo.
Wanted by Mr. Alfred Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square, London.
ARCHEOLOGIA. Vol. XXXVI. Part II. Or "Observations on a Pic-
ture in Gloucester Cathedral," &c., with the Addenda; being Article
Thirty-three in the above volume.

Wanted by Rev. J. F. Fowler, Winterton, Brigg.
WATSON'S HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF WARREN.
ARMY LIST FOR TIME OF COMMONWEALTH.

Wanted by Mr. Henry Fishwick, Carr Hill, near Rochdale.
PENNANT'S JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND.

CLUTTERBUCK'S HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE. 3 Vols.
WOUVERMANS' PICTURES. The Engravings.
STREET'S REIGN OF LOUIS XVI. 1795.
WHITAKER'S HISTORY OF WHALLEY.
BEWICK'S ESOP'S FABLES.

SELECT FABLES

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G. A. SCHRUMPF, F. G. S., and B. II. C. anticipated. PHOENIX ISLAND, &c. The writer has not forwarded his name and address.

F. R. S.'s reply on the subject of The Garrison Chapel, Portsmouth, is unavoidably postponed till next week.

SIDA. The term "Baker's dozen" probably arose from the practice of giving, in addition to the twelve loaves, a further quantity as inbread. See "N. & Q." 1st S. iii. 520. For another conjecture as to the origin of the phrase, formerly called "Devil's dozen," see Nares's Glossary, ed. 1859, i. 47. The Long Hundred, 120 lbs., is the hundred-weight legalized on most of the canals and navigable rivers in the North of England, and of the Midland Counties, by their acts for collecting tolls. The standard Hundred, 112 lbs., is the legal hundred-weight of the custom-house in London, and all the southern parts of England. The legend of the building of Cologne Cathedral will be found in The Rhine, Legends, Traditions, &c., by Joseph Snowe, ed. 1839, i. 19-39.

PUTNEY. The first Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race was in 1829, from Hambledon-lock to Henley, two miles and a quarter. It was won by Oxford by sixty yards, or five or six lengths.

A. F. The expression, "To love her (Lady Elizabeth Hastings) was a liberal education," occurs in The Tatler, No. 49, by Sir R. Steele.

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MODERN INVENTIONS.-That great invention the "Chronograph,' which times all the principal events of the day, and has superseded the old-fashioned" Stop-watch," seems likely to be eclipsed in fame by that still more useful invention the "Keyless Watch.' The fact of no key being required renders these Watches indispensable to the traveller. the nervous, and invalids. The enormous number sent even by post to all parts of the world, is a convincing proof of their great utility. The prices range from 5 to 100 guineas. Thousands of them are manufactured by Mr. J. W. BENSON, of Old Bond Street, and of the Steam Factory, Ludgate Hill, London, who sends post free for 2d. a most interesting historical pamphlet upon watch-making.

"NOTES & QUERIES" is registered for transmission abroad.

BOOKS WANTED LIST. - If you have any Books

to SELL, send for my BOOKS WANTED LIST, pp. 12, 500 items. EDWARD G. ALLEN, Export Bookseller, 12, Tavistock Row, Covent Garden, London, W.C.

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BOOKS.-Just published, and to be had post

free for seven stamps, C. J. STEWART'S CATALOGUE, including a most extensive Collection of BOOKS relating to the Jesuits. Scottish Writers, and other Schoolmen, the Reunion of Christian Churches, Early Italian Reformers, Councils, the Infallibility and Temporal Power of the Pope. Indices Librorum Prohibitorum et Expurgandorum, &c.-On Sale at No. 11, King William Street, West Strand, London, W.C.

BOOK-BUYERS.-A NEW CATALOGUE is now

Trendy of avable asemblage of SECOND-HAND BOOKS, IN

cluding many in BLACK-LETTER and of the highest curiosity and interest. Send stamp for postage.-THOMAS BEET, 15, Conduit Street, Bond Street, W.

Libraries purchased, full value given, immediate cash.

NUNN

UNN'S MARSALA or BRONTE WINE, 25s. per to any station in England. This wine will be found of superior quality, is soft and old, and, though full flavoured, entirely free from heat or the slightest approach to acidity.-THOMAS NUNN & SONS, Wine, Spirit, and Liqueur Merchants, 44, Lamb's Conduit Street, W.C. Priced list on application. Established 1801.

THOMAS NUNN & SONS' TEAS. Rail paid to

any station in England. Good strong Congou, 2s. 2d.. 2s. 6d.; 28. 10.; ripe, rich Souchong, 3s. 2d., 38. 6d., 38. 10d.; mixed teas at the same prices. 12 lb. free to all England.-44, Lamb's Conduit Street, W.C. Established 1801.

PARTRIDGE AND COOPER,
MANUFACTURING STATIONERS,
192, Fleet Street (Corner of Chancery Lane).
CARRIAGE PAID TO THE COUNTRY ON ORDERS
EXCEEDING 203.

NOTE PAPER, Cream or Blue, 38., 4s., 5s., and 6s. per ream.
ENVELOPES, Cream or Blue, 48. 6d., 58. 6d., and 68. 6d. per 1,000.
THE TEMPLE ENVELOPE, with High Inner Flap, ls. per 100.
STRAW PAPER-Improved quality, 2s. 6d. per ream.
FOOLSCAP, Hand-made Outsides, 8s. 6d. per ream.
BLACK-BORDERED NOTE, 48. and 68. 6d. per ream.
BLACK-BORDERED ENVELOPES, Ls. per 100 Super thick quality.
TINTED LINED NOTE, for Home or Foreign Correspondence (five
colours), 5 quires for 18. 6d.

COLOURED STAMPING (Relief), reduced to 4s. 6d. per ream, or 88. 6d. per 1,000. Polished Steel Crest Dies engraved from 5s. Monograms, two letters, from 58.; three letters, from 78. Business or Address Dies, from 35.

SERMON PAPER, plain, 4s. per ream; Ruled ditto. 48. 6d.
SCHOOL STATIONERY supplied on the most liberal terms.

Illustrated Price List of Inkstands, Despatch Boxes, Stationery Cabinets, Postage Scales, Writing Cases, Portrait Alburns, &c., post free.

(ESTABLISHED 1841.)

THE NEW VELLUM WOVE CLUB-HOUSE
NOTE PAPER.

Manufactured and sold only by
PARTRIDGE AND COOPER,

192, Fleet Street, corner of Chancery Lane. MANUFACTURED expressly to meet an universally experienced want, i. c. a paper which shall in itself combine a perfectly smooth surface with total freedom from grease. The NEW VELLUM WOVE CLUBHOUSH PAPER will be found to possess these peculiarities completely. being made from the best linen rags only, possessing great tenacity and durability, and presenting a surface equally well adapted for quill or steel pen.

Sample Packet post free for 19 stamps.

*** The Public are CAUTIONED against DITATIONS of this incomparable paper.

THE PRETTIEST GIFT for a LADY is one of

JONES'S GOLD LEVERS, at 11. 11s. For a GENTLEMAN. one at 107. 10s. Rewarded at the International Exhibition for "Cheapness of Production."

Manufactory, 338, Strand, opposite Somerset House.

BREAKFAST.-EPPS'S COCOA.

COMFORTING.

GRATEFUL and

The Civil Service Gazette remarks:-"By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition. and by a careful application of the fine properties of well-selected coCDS, Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately-flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors' bills."-Made simply with boiling water or milk. Sold only in lb., lb., and 1 lb. tin-lined packets,labelled, JAMES EPPS & CO., Homeopathic Chemists, London.

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INVALIDS.

OXYGENATED WATER FOR INVA Wales, the

purity of which, added to the vital element it contains, may put roses on the pale cheek or otherwise help to regain health.

Laboratory, 36, Long Acre, London, and all Druggists.

WHIT BROWNT'S ORIENTAL TOOTH PASTE, established,

AND SOUND TEETH.-JEWSBURY

by forty years' experience, as the best Preservative for the Teeth and gums.

The Original and only Genuine is Is. 6d. and 2s. 6d. per pot. 113, MARKET STREET, MANCHESTER. And by Agents throughout the Kingdom and Colonies.

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QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:-Daulius-Hog Barbecu'd
Angel Inn, Oxford Slaughter the Artist- Heraldic-
Madame Godin's "Voyage," 882.
REPLIES:- Garrison Chapel (or Church), Portsmouth
383 Lascelles Family, 385 Oath of the Judges on
Nominating the Sheriffs, 386-The Duke of Monmouth:
the Man in the Iron Mask - Centenarians in America-
Tennyson: "In Memoriam ". Snape or "Nape" as a
Termination in Topographical Names Heraldry in a
Prebendal House at Chichester Sword-Blade Inscrip-
tions Position of Creed, &c., in Churches- Armorial
Tiles-"The Brunswick," a Poem -"La Henriade
Touching Glasses in drinking Healths -"Plant" as ap-
plied to Machinery French Folk-lore: "Corde de
Pendu"-The Ranties-Henri Heine's Letters-Press
Yard in Newgate, &c., 387.
Notes on Books, &c.

Notes.

ANECDOTE OF BURNS AT BROW.

1

name of the landlord of that little inn at Clarencefield. He and his spouse must have been a worthy pair. The high sense of rectitude and honour in the poet-his determination to pay his way even in that hour of deepest poverty and impending death-rises to the sublime, and is in fine contrast to the mean and insolent advantage which some would-be geniuses take of those with whom they deal, as if such superior beings as they are could not owe any obligation to an humble shop- or innkeeper, and as if the latter were legitimate victims to be plundered by the former. There is a fine pathos, too, in that stamp of the landlady's foot. She was a poet as well as Burns, though she waited in a bar, and carried mutchkins ben the house to the not over-refined and roystering carles of that Solway shore. For them to dream of taking the poet's watch seal! What a scandal and disgrace that would be! And to think, that in this sad hour, broken, shattered, dying, the man whose songs have filled all Scotland with melody should be so poor! You see both of these reflections flashing in that stamp of the landlady's foot. She must have been, we repeat, a good soul; and so must the landlord too. Cannot some one rescue their names from an oblivion they do not deserve?

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In respect to this anecdote, I was desirous to discover, if possible, independent evidence to corroborate it, and for this purpose I communicated with Mr. James Scott, the intelligent parish schoolmaster of Ruthwell, where Brow is situated, a small watering-place about eight miles from Dumfries, not far from the shores of the Solway. There is a mineral well, chalybeate, of no great strength, but to which the invalids of Dumfries and its neighbourhood resort in search of health. Mr. Scott writes to me thus:

"The landlord at the inn at Clarencefield, at the time of Burns's sojourn at Brow, was Mr. John Burnie. He appears to have been a man of considerable intelligence, and some of his deeds of kindness have been reported to me by some of the old inhabitants with gratitude and affectionate remembrance. He was dead before I came to the parish, but I lived for two or three years nearest

The following anecdote respecting Burns during his last days is given on the authority of Mr. Drummond of the Perthshire Advertiser, and is sufficiently interesting to be transferred to your pages. It appeared in the Dumfries and Galloway neighbour to his widow, who died in 1845, nearly eighty Standard of March 9:

"Mr. Drummond tells us that the story which he now narrates was communicated to him many years ago at the village of Brow, on the Solway, where Burns spent those sad dying days. During his sojourn there, the poet's health was so much reduced that he lived almost entirely on port wine. Being off duty, his poor salary of 501, was now reduced to 351. What way, in the name of thrift,' he wrote to Mr. Cunningham, 'shall I maintain myself, and keep a house in country quarters, with a wife and five children at home, on 357.?' In these sad circumstances, of which no one can think without profound emotion, the poor poet's little stock of port wine and cash ran out simultaneously. In a state bordering on despair,' writes Mr. Drummond, he went to the little inn at Clarencefield, the landlord of which was one of his devoted admirers, and, laying down an empty bottle on the bar counter, asked for a bottle of port wine. When the wine was handed to him, he whispered to the landlord that the deil had got into his pouch and was sole possessor; but taking his watch seal in his hand, tendered it to the landlord, and began to unfasten it. The landlady observed the motion, and gave a stamp with her foot, while the landlord pushed the poet towards the door, and when they passed the bar window the landlord had his arm round the poet's waist, and floods of tears rushed from both the men's eyes. One would like to know the

years of age. She recounted to me several anecdotes of Burns; the story of the seal and the bottle of wine, as reported in the Dumfries Standard, is literally correct. When she told me this, I asked what kind of a seal it was, when she replied, "a gold seal with a stone, on which was engraved a man crouching behind a bush, with the motto Better a wee bush than nae bield.'

"As anything respecting Brow in 1796 may be interesting to you, I may state that it lay on the great drove road between Dumfries and Carlisle, was a clachan containing eight or ten families and a public-house, the chamber end of which was occupied by the poet. As it was a convenient resting-place between Dumfries and Annan, the inn was largely patronised by drovers as well as by health-seekers like the poet.

"But before the year indicated above, the new road leading through the village of Clarencefield had been made; this led the traffic away from Brow. When the new road by Clarencefield was opened, a resting-place for the wayfarer was required at Clarencefield, it being about equidistant from Dumfries and Annan. The Mr. John Burnie indicated was at this time tenant of Clarencefield farm; he married the daughter of the landlord at Brow, Miss Davidson, and these were the worthy couple who supplied our poet with wine. The writer in the Standard makes a mistake when he talks of the small inn. am informed that while it was conducted by Mrs

Burnie there was not a larger or better kept inn between Glasgow and Carlisle. You are not, however, to suppose that it was the house now occupied as an inn, but the two-story farm-house to the north of it.

"Mrs. Burnie did not tell me that she stamped with her foot when the seal was offered to her husband, but I could readily imagine how eminently qualified she would be for such a movement. When I became acquainted with her, when approaching fourscore, she was surrounded by a joyous group of roistering grandchildren, and I could not but observe the complete command she exercised over the whole party. To the last the old lady entertained the profoundest feelings of admiration for

Burns."

I find on further inquiry that while the poet resided at Brow he had to go to Clarencefield Inn for port wine, as in the public-house at Brow there was sold only "British spirits, porter, and ale." This house, where the poet spent a few of the last sad days of his life, was rased to the ground about twenty years ago, and the tree under the shade of which it stood was uprooted

at the same time.

As to the length of time that the poet was at Brow, a friend has drawn my attention to a dis-. crepancy between the account given by Dr. Chambers and the memoranda on the point by Mrs. Burns as they appear in the Life by Mr. Waddell. Mrs. Burns says in these memoranda that her husband was only about a week at Brow, while in referring to his own letters dated from Brow, it will be seen that he went on July, and returned on the 18th, making the time to be a fortnight.

Mr. and Mrs. Burnie have long since been "gathered unto their fathers," but some of their children still survive, and move in a respectable sphere of life. One of his sons was the late William Burnie, farmer, Clarencefield-a man well known in Annandale. His daughters were married, and some of them, though widowed now, still survive and are much respected.

CRAUFURD TAIT RAMAGE.

P.S. In a subsequent communication from Mr. Scott he says:—

"Mr. Joseph Hetherington, who died here six or eight years ago, perfectly remembered Burns when at Brow; from him I received a great deal of information respecting the changes which had taken place during his life. He knew the anecdote respecting the wine."

Again :

"When Mr. Davidson died at Brow, all his effects were brought to Clarencefield. I asked Mrs. Burnie what had become of the bed in which Burns slept, she replied, 'that when brought to Clarencefield the cow-herd slept in it; but it had been destroyed on account of the filthy state into which it had come.' I asked if she had anything connected with the poet when at Brow-any of the furniture of the room he occupied. I think she said: 'I have one thing which was brought to the Brow by Mr. Burns, and was much used by him while there. ente

to find it, and you shall have it.' Next day she sent me the tattered remains of an old Bible.'

FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR AT LEEK.

Ere it be too late, I should much like to call attention to the subject of the French prisoners of war quartered on parole in the Midland Counties soon after the termination of the Peace of Amiens, April 29, 1803. Possibly some of their descendants now living in sunnier climes and under happier auspices may like to see even this very meagre record of their sojourn in the Moorlands; or, better still, may be induced to add to the small crumbs of information here garnered together. It is at least very certain that an eleven years' residence of a large body of energetic, highspirited sons of Mars in such out-of-the-way country towns as Ashburne, Leek, &c., must have left more or less of impress on ye manners and customs of ye place," and resulted in connections whose moral and physical effects will permeate through all time.

"

The officers appear to have received all courtesy and hospitality at the hands of the principal inhabitants of Leek and its charming neighbourhood, with many of whom they were on terms of the closest intimacy, frequenting the assemblies, which were then as gay and well-attended as any within a circuit of twenty miles. (It must be borne in mind that, not as in our days of manufacturing industry, these old-fashioned marketthe dowagers and cadets of the great countytowns were the then acknowledged domiciles of ocracy. They used to dine out in full uniform, each with his body-servant stationed behind his chair.) My uncle Hugh was at that time captain of the Yeomanry; and a troop of the Oxford Blues, under the command of Captain Charles Slingsby, of Scriven Park, was also stationed in the town, besides three companies of local militia, commanded by Major William Badnall.

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I have before me an old card intimating that James Francis Néau, of Derby Street, has on sale "straw hats, beautiful straw, ivory, and bone fancy articles, made by the French prisoners; and many exquisite drawings and models of ships and other nick-nacks still in existence testify to the facile talent and marvellously patient industry of these victims to an unprincipled lust of power.

Their number at Leek never exceeded 200 (says Pierre Magnier, ex-paymaster des ouvriersmilitaires, and taken at Flushing; one of the last survivors in the place), and they came by detachout immediately after Napoleon's abdication on ments in 1803, '5, '9, and 12; almost all clearing April 5, 1814. Curious traditions still linger of the men turning out in the early mornings in search of snails as an additional bonne-bouche to their doubtless limited cuisine; and more notably, done, in which Captain Decourbes was shot by the record still exists of a duel fought on Balione Captain Robert, who had been taken in

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