2»* 8. VII. Feo. 26. '69.3 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



169 



Thence shall I come, when ages close, 



To take 3'ou home with me ; 

 There we shall meet to part no more, 



And still together be. 



<' I am the Way, the Truth, the Life ; 

 No son of human race, 

 But such as I conduct and guide,_ 

 Shall see my Father's face." 



Bethgelert. — Perhaps it is not generally known 

 that the story of Betho;elert is found in Persian 

 literature, from which it has been translated into 

 Hindustani. The hero of the tale in the East is a 

 niungoose instead of a greyhound. Exul. 



A Suggestion. — That in all cases where it is 

 possible, when rare works, or MSS. in the Brit. 

 Mus., or any other great public library, are 

 quoted, the press mark he given ; by which rneans, 

 anyone wishing to consult the book mentioned, 

 will be able to do so at once, without the loss of 

 time in searching for it in the Catalogue. A. 



Maggie Lauder. — The first complete version of 

 this old song presented to the public in a satisfac- 

 tory shape has been printed in Mr, Maidment's 

 singular Collection of Original Scotish Ballads, 

 which forms so interesting a Supplement to Mr. 

 Aytoun's charming little volumes. 



The reputed author was Robert Lempill of Bel- 

 trees, a Renfrewshire Laird, author of the Elegi/ 

 on Habbie Simpson, and other humorous poems. 

 From the received opinion Mr. R. Chambers dis- 

 sents, and one of the principal grounds for doing 

 so is, that Lempill had no connexion with the 

 "Kingdom " of Fife. This does not appear to be a 

 very substantial reason for disturbing the general 

 understanding; but whether well or ill-founded 

 matters not, for it happens that Mr. James Pater- 

 son, the able editor of the Remains of the Poetical 

 Family of Lempill, has, since its publication, dis- 

 covered direct evidence from the records that 

 Lempill was possessed of heritable property in 

 Fifeshire. So this reason is at once extinguished. 

 This circumstance was unknown to the editor of 

 the Scotish Ballads when he prepared his prefatory 

 notice. Mr. Chambers's suggestion that Maggie 

 was a daughter of the potent Laird of the Bass is 

 startling. 



Lord Macaulay, in his eloquent volumes, has 

 not been disposed to speak very favourably of 

 the ladies, whether married or single, of the period, 

 and he assumes that neither in their education nor 

 morals were they entitled to be ranked very high ; 

 but we do not think his Lordship, evident as his 

 bias against the fair sex is, would have dreamt of 

 converting the "walloping" wench of Anstruther, 

 the mistress of " Rob the Ranter," into the high- 

 born young Lady of the Bass, who, like all otTier 

 females in her position, thought that attention to 

 domestic matters were not inconsistent with gen- 

 tle blood. If ladies in the present " intellectual " 



age entertained similar notions, we believe there 

 would be fewer bankruptcies, separations, and di- 

 vorces. 



It has occurred to us that, after all, the ballad is 

 neither more nor less than a poetical account of 

 some rustic amour of the author. His Cliristian 

 name was Robert ; his admitted productions show 

 his jovial habits and fondness for fun. Hence 

 Rob the Ranter might be very appropriately ap- 

 plied to him. The heroine probably was some 

 " cottar's daughter" in the vicinity of his Fifeshire 

 heritage. This is mere speculation, but it looks 

 more like reality than- the conjecture as to the 

 Laird of Bass's daughter. Anon. 



Provision for a Lunatic in 1625. — The follow ■» 

 ing extract from the Wells City Records will give 

 some idea how mad people were cared for in the 

 early days of our Poor Laws : — 



" Wheras Thomas Trowe is Madd or Franticke, and 

 by means therof some course is to be p'vided for him for 

 his reliefe ; — It is ordered that the Distributers and Col- 

 lectors for the poore shall have a Note of the Subsidie 

 Men w'Mn this Towne, and shall demande a benevolence 

 of ev'rie of them for his reliefe." 



Ina. 



Wells, Somerset. 



KNIGHTS-TEMPLAKS' CKOSS. 



On many of the houses in Leeds, new as well as 

 old, may be seen a double cross moline, inserted 

 into the brickwork, or raised upon it in relief of 

 cast bricks or plaster ; the former being such that, 

 taking the six points, it would form a hexagon. 

 I was informed that this was the Ten>plars' cross, 

 and that to this day certain privileges were at- 

 tached to the houses bearing this mark. This 

 form of the cross does not appear in any work re- 

 lative to the Templars to which I have access : the 

 patriarchal cross approaches it more nearly than 

 any other, but in that the upper cross is made 

 shorter than the lower, and it is a stall". Besides 

 this, the cross patee and the plain cross are the 

 only sort given as borne by the Templars. Is it 

 in any way symbolically connected with the an- 

 cient device of the Templars, the two knights rid- 

 ing upon the same horse, as represented on their 

 earliest seals ? 



Addison, in his work on the Knights Templars, 

 quoting from Sir Edward Coke, says : — 



" That the Knights Templars were cruce signati, and as 

 the cross was the ensign of their profession, and their ten- 

 ants enjoyed great privileges, they did erect crosses upon 

 their houses, to the end that those inhabiting them might 

 be known to be tenants of the Order, and thereby be 

 freed from many duties and services which other tenants 

 were subject to; which led the tenants of other lords to 

 set up crosses on their house?. This abuse led to the pass- 

 ing of a statute, enacting that the lands of such tenants 

 should be forfeited to the chief Lords, or to the King. 



