2nds. VIII. July 9. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



23 



read, they shall be kept ten, twenty, thirty years to their 

 Horn-books? — Burroughs on Hosea, vol. ii. 38. 



" It is noted of some, who are of poor servile spirits, 

 and whose greatest means comes in by burials, that they 

 ar€ glad and rejoyce when they hear the bell ring." — lb., 

 109. 



" There is great difference between the rebukes of God 

 on the godl^' and the wicked, though perhaps rebuked 

 both in one and the same affliction ; as the Apothecary 

 breaks Bezar stones to powder, but is very carefull of it, 

 and will not loose the least grain of it : So the Lord's 

 people, even in the furnace, ai'e as dear to Him, and have 

 the most experience of God's love, that ever thej- had." — 

 lb., 451. 



" 'Tis reported of the Cristal, that it hath such a vertue 

 in it, that the very touching of it quickens other stones, 

 and puts a lustre and beautv on them. This is true of 

 faith." — /i., 543. 



" As in blind Alehouses [query, what are thej' ? *], there 

 is abundance of disorder," &c., &c. — lb., ii. 33. 



" We know, heretofore, what abundance of advantage 

 there was gotten by Funerals: scarce could you bury a 

 child under three or four pounds, such kind of fees there 

 were." — lb., iii. 169. 



" You know in times of war men will hide their silver 



and I make no question but another generation 



may find treasures of silver in the countrie in the midst 

 of nettle bushes and thorn bushes. It's a lamentable 

 spectacle to see places where fair buildings have been, 

 that now nettles and thorns should grow." — lb., iii. 185. 



" We know that we prize fruit that is first ripe, as 

 cherries when they are first of all come, when they come 

 it may be two or three into the market — and pease . . . 

 how they are prized . . . We say, when Cherries come 

 at first, that thev are Ladies' Meat, or longing Meat." — 

 lb., iii. 212. 



" Tou perhaps can look on poor people carrj'ing Tank- 

 ards, earning dearly ten pence or twelve pence a daj-." — 



" See how white they are, what fair skins they have, 

 and put black Patches likewise to set out their beautj', 

 and the whiteness of their fair skins ; and if that will not 

 serve, even laying over a^ paint to make it fair if it be not 

 otherwise so." — lb., iii. 433. 



Reference was made (2"* S. vi. 322.) to the 

 substitution of / for Aye. It is a somewhat curi- 

 ous circumstance that, in vol. iii. oi Burroughs on 

 Hosea, this substitution appears repeatedly, I 

 think fourteen or fifteen times ; also six times in 

 vol. iv., though scarcely, if at all, in the two for- 

 mer volumes does the interjection appear. Can 

 any correspondent, versed in literature of that 

 period, say whether this form of the expression 

 was then universal ? or, as one friend has sug- 

 gested, supplied by the printer, and peculiar to 

 books from the same office. Volumes iii. and iv. 

 were printed " by Peter Cole, at the sign of the 

 Printing Press, in Cornhil, near the Royal Ex- 

 change." S. M. S. 



THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS. 



The Rev. John Dun, Y. D. M., minister of the 

 parish of Auchinleck, Ayrshire, in two 8vo. vols. 



. [* Obscure, concealed alehouses; hence Holinshed 

 speaks of " a blind village," and " a blind ditch."] 



of Sermons, printed in 1790, by J(ohn) Wils on 

 Kilmarnock (the " wee Johnny " of the epitaph 

 by Burns), notices the two following instances, 

 which, in point of longevity, gives an almost ante- 

 diluvian aspect to the narrations (vol. ii. p. 38.) : — 



" It was no small gratification to the Convivial Meet- 

 ing at a respectable Tavern in the City (London), on 

 Tuesday evening, for the celebration of the Centenary of 

 the Revolution, that a person was present who remem- 

 bered that glorious event, being 112 years of age. This 

 venerable old man was chaired on the occasion. He is 

 said to be a resident in the French Hospital in Old-Street- 

 Eoad, where there are ten persons who were born about 

 that period, their ages making together one thousand 

 years (London Newspapers of Nov. 7, 1788)." — Vol. i. 

 p. 230. 



" Stop, passenger, until my life 3-ou read, 

 That living may have knowledge of the dead : 

 Four times five years I liv'd a virgin's life, 

 Ten times five years I was a wedded wife ; 

 Ten times five j'ears I liv'd a widow chaste, 

 Now tired of this mortal life I rest. 



" Four times five years a Commonwealth I saw ; 

 Ten times the subjects rose against the law ; 

 Twice did I see old Prelacy pull'd down, 

 And twice the Cloak was humbled by the Gown : 

 An end of Stewart's race — I'll say no more — 

 I saw my Country sold for England's ore : 

 Such desolations in my time have been. 

 An end of all perfection I have seen." 



" T7tis is the Elegy of Princess Mary Scott, Dutchess of 

 Buccleugh, who died at Pall-Mall in London, 1728." 



" The above Elegy Mr. Dun has kept since a boy play- 

 ing on the banks of the Esk. He remembers not whence 

 he had it, nor knows the hand in which it is written. 

 He, in Spring 1788, sent a copy to the present Duke, and 

 wrote his Grace as follows : ' I did not chuse to insert it 

 until I should have your Grace's permission ; at least I 

 will give 3'ou some months to forbid me before it be 

 printed, and shall thank you for correction or advice.' " 



•' It contains a short history and some instruction, 

 which (as curious too) induced Mr. Dun to publish it." 



At the time the reverend divine issued his Ser- 

 mons and the notes appended to them, Robert 

 Burns, as a poet, was in the hey-day of his popu- 

 larity. It now becomes somewhat interesting to 

 hear the opinion this Ayrshire clergyman enter- 

 tained of the bard, which may be learned from his 

 words: — 



" A LATE author indeed, who has abused his God and 

 his King, has ridiculed the Communion in the parish 

 where he lived under the sarcasm of a Holy Fair. He 

 pretends to be onlj' a ploughman, though he mixes Latin 

 with his mixture of English and Scottish, and is not like 

 ' thresher Duck who kept at flail.' . 



" He published inter alia a profane poetic address to the 

 Devil, which occasioned what follows — in language simi- 

 lar to his — (This (foot-note) may be suited to him and to 

 other deistical writers of incoraparabl}' more wit,)" 



" The DeeVs Answer to his verra Friend R. Burns. 

 1. "So! zealous Robin, stout an fell. 



True Champion for the cause o' Hell, 

 Thou beats the Righteous down pell mell, 



Sae frank an forthj% 

 That o' a seat where Devils dwell, 

 There's nane mair worthy. , 



