2"'« S. VIII. Aug. 13. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



123 



din, amateur eclaire, dont le gout pour les beaux Hvres 

 est connu depuis long- temps, c'est assez faire entendre 

 que leur conservation ne laisse rien a desirer. Trente 

 annees ont h peine suffi h cet amateur pour r^unir un 

 ensemble aussi parfait ; et peut-etre menie ne fiit-il ja- 

 mais parvenu h, se procurer les beaux exemplaires en 

 grand papier des editions anglaises qui jettent un si grand 

 lustre sur sa collection, s'il n'eut pas et^ seconde par 

 I'amitie constante de M. James Payne, libraire de Lon- 

 dres triis-renomme (1.), qui se faisait un plaisir d'enricbir 

 nn cabinet qu'il jugeait digne de toute son attention. 



" La connaissance de cette derniisre circonstance ex- 

 pliquera pourquoi Ton trouve dans une collection formee 

 h Paris, des editions d'Oxford et de Cambridge en grand 

 papier et magnifiquement reliees h Londres, qui sont de- 

 venues tellement rares qu'on les chercherait inutilement 

 aujourd'hui cliez les libraires de Londres. 



(L) " M. James Payne, dont la perte nous a ete si 

 sensible, est movt h Paris le 2 mars 1809, a peine age de 

 quarante-trofs ans. 



" II n'etait pas moins recommandable par I'amenit^ de 

 son caract^re et par sa probite que par I'etendue de ses 

 connaissances bibliographiques. Passionne pour les livres 

 precieux, il avait vu tons ceux que I'Angleterre renferme ; 

 il avait parcouru presque toutes les bibliothfeques publiques 

 de I'Europe, et il en connaissait les richesses aussi-bien 

 que les personnes auxquelles la conservation de ces ^tab- 

 lissemens e'tait confiee. Ses voyages en France, en Alle- 

 magne et en Italie, lui procurferent un grand nombre de 

 manuscrits precieux et d'editions premieres qu'il envoya 

 en Angleterre, au lord Spencer, dont la biblioth^que fut 

 toujours I'objet de sa predilection, et qu'il se plaisait h 

 citer comme la plus magnifique qu'aucun particulier ait 

 jamais formee. — J. C. Bkunet," 



Dibdin may have noticed the above biographi- 

 cal scrap, but it is new to me and may be so to 

 others. Bolton Cobney. 



Fontainebleau. 



THE LAIRD OF COCKPEN : BROSE AND BUTTER. 



A friend of mine has handed to me the enclosed 

 version of the story on which the well-known 

 Scotch ballad " The Laird of Cockpen" is founded, 

 with a request that I would ascertain through you 

 when this anecdote first appeared in print, with a 

 view to discover who " the Laird of Cockpen " 

 was. I believe it is generally admitted that Lady 

 Nairn was author of the words of this song, and 

 I think there can be no doubt that it refers to the 

 lands of Cockpen, situated about seven miles to 

 the south of Edinburgh, which now form part of 

 the estate of Dalhousie. 



This property belonged in 1635 to Mark Carss, 

 W.S., who was succeeded by his son and grandson 

 of the same name. The last Mark Carss sold 

 Cockpen to Mr. Archibald Cockburn, merchant 

 in Edinburgh in 1731, whose son, Baron Cock- 

 burn (father of Lord Cockburn), sold it in 1 785 

 to the Earl of Dalhousie, whose ancestors had held 

 it as a portion of their family estate of Dalhousie 

 from the earliest times. 



The family of Dalhousie, although parting with 

 the property, retained the superiority of Cockpen 

 down to the year 1720, when it was purchased 



from them by Mark Carss of Cockpen. They 

 might, therefore, as crown vassals, be called "the 

 Lairds of Cockpen " in the time of Charles IL, 

 but the actual proprietors of Cockpen at that 

 period were the Carsses. 



The -Earl of Lothian as heir of the last com- 

 mendator of New Battle had some claim to the 

 patronage of the kirk of Cockpen, and also to the 

 ecclesiastical lands connected with it, which he 

 made over to Mark Carss in 1635, and these may 

 have occasioned a dispute between him and his 

 superior in the days of Charles IL 



There was a house on the property in 1785, 

 which, from its appearance as sketched on the 

 plan, was probably erected by Mr. Archibald 

 Cockburn, or by the last Mark Carss. 



I will feel greatly obliged if any of your corre- 

 spondents can furnish an answer in your columns 

 to the above. T. 



The licentiousness and thoughtlessness of King 

 Charles IL have become proverbial, and his good 

 nature, which qualifies these, but ill atones for his 

 ingratitude to those who suffered foi-feiture and 

 persecution in his cause. When he remained in 

 Scotland, suffering the rebuke and censure of 

 austere Presbyterianism, before the battle of Wor- 

 cester (1651), his chief confidant and associate 

 was the Laird of Cockpen, called by the nick- 

 naming manners of those times, " Blythe Cock- 

 pen. 



Cockpen followed Charles to the Hague, and by 

 his skill in playing Scottish tunes, and his sagacity 

 and wit, much delighted his merTy monarch. 

 Charles's favourite tune was "Brose and Butter." 

 It was played to him when he went to bed, and he 

 was awakened by it. At the Restoration (1660), 

 however, Blythe Cockpen was forgotten, and he 

 wandered upon the lands which he once owned in 

 Scotland poor and unfriended. 



Cockpen wrote to the court, but his letters were 

 never presented, or were not regarded. Wearied 

 and incensed he travelled to London, and placed 

 himself in all public places, thinking the eye of his 

 majesty might reach him. But he was never no- 

 ticed, and his mean garb did not suit the rich and 

 embroidered doublets of court ; so he was insulted 

 and pushed away from approaching the king's 

 presence. 



Cockpen at length attempted by cunning what 

 he could not accomplish by plain dealing : he 

 ingratiated himself with the king's organist, who 

 was so enraptured with Cockpen's wit and powers 

 of music that he requested him to play on the 

 organ before the king at divine service. Cockpen 

 played with exquisite skill, yet never attracted 

 his majesty's eye. But at the close of the service, 

 instead of playing the common tune used, he played 

 up " Brose and Butter," with all its energy and 

 characteristic merriment. 



The organist in a moment was ordered into the 



