MR HENDERSON'S ADDITIONS TO THE 



hedges, and sowing of broome," which ordains that the " tonnontes 

 plant woodcs and tnvs, and make hedges, and saw broome, after the 

 fin-nit ios of their maillinges, in place convenient therefor, under sik 

 |>aii io as law and unlaw of the barone or lord sail modifie." Whether 

 in tliis act there be any " pains and penalties" annexed for injuring 

 wood, I have no means of knowing; but in various subsequent acts of 

 the Scottish Parliament, rigorous punishments were inflicted, * toties 

 quotics," against any person who should " contravene" the law, and 

 " cut, break, or pull up any tree, or peel the bark olf any tree." They 

 extended " the punishment for destroying green wood, even to death, for 

 the third offence." Probably the rhyme may perpetuate some cruelties 

 exercised by the strong hand of power upon the peasantry, while they 

 yet groaned under a state of villanage. For the facts in this illus- 

 tration, I am indebted to a paper on the " Laws of Scotland for pro- 

 tecting woods, trees, and enclosures," given in the Farmer's Maga- 

 zine for November 1815. 



You're o'er near the Water &e. 



Often said by a mother to a peevish child; but whether it refers to 

 the Water Eye par excellence, or to the water of the eye, " non nobis 

 tantum componere litem." 



" Loudon loots, Merse brutes, Lammermuir whaps." 



This is the satirical effusion of some nameless Pasquin. The fol- 

 lowing extracts from Ray's Itineraries may be appropriate. " August 

 the 17th [1661], we travelled to Dunbar [from Berwick], atown noted 

 for the fight between the English and Scots." On the journey, the 

 author remarked that " the women generally to us seemed none of 

 the handsomest. They are not very cleanly in their houses, and but 

 sluttish in dressing their meat." " The Scots cannot endure to hear 

 their country or countrymen spoken against. They have neither 

 good bread, cheese, or drink ; they cannot make them, nor will they 

 learn. Their butter is very indifferent, and one would wonder how 

 they contrived to make it so bad." When he appears to have arrived 

 in the vicinity of Dunbar, he says " We observed little or no fallow 

 grounds in Scotland ; some layed ground we saw, which they ma- 

 nured from sea wreck. The people seem to be very lazy, at least the 

 men, and may be frequently observed to plough in their cloaks." Why 

 the Lammermuir people are designated whaps (curlews), I cannot 

 determine. It probably relates metaphorically to their being still 

 more uncivilized than their brethren in the low countries. 



" The bat, the bee, 

 The butterflee, 

 The cuckoo and the swallow, 

 The kittiwake, 

 And the corn crake, 

 Sleep a' in a little hollie." 



