2»4 S. No 33., Aug. 16. '66.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



135 



immediately takea up, and has been sometimes followed 

 by a simultaneous plunge of the flocks into the pool. 

 On mentioning this to the keeper, he, quite aware of the 

 characteristic readiness of the geese to sound an alarm in 

 the night, attributed it to the visit of a foumart, or other 

 predatory vermin. On other occasions, the cackling has 

 seemed to be caused by a deer stalking near the flock. 

 But often has the old Roman anecdote occurred to me 

 when I have been awoke by the midnight alarm-notes of 

 my anserine neighbours; and more than once I have 

 noticed, when the cause of alarm has been such as to 

 excite the dogs of the next-door keeper, that the geese 

 were beforehand in giving loud warning of the strange 

 steps. 



" I have never had the smallest sympathy with the 

 sceptics as to Livj^'s statement : it is not a likely one to be 

 feigned ; it is in exact accordance with the characteristic 

 acuteness of sight and hearing, watchfulness, and power 

 and instinct to utter alarm-cries, of the goose." 



L. 



"HET, JOHNNIE COPE. 



(2"'i S. ii. 68.) 



The original song, beginning, — 



" Cope sent a challenge frae Dunbar," 

 was written by Adam Skirving, farmer of Garle- 

 ton, near Haddington ; who, says Allan Cunning- 

 ham, " besides his gift of song-making, which was 

 considerable, was one of the wittiest and most 

 whimsical of mankind." Adam Skirving was born 

 in 1719, and died in 1803. He is called "Mr. 

 Skirvm " by Ritson, " Mr. Sklrven " by Sten- 

 house, and ^^ Alexander Skirving" by Cunning- 

 ham. He was a remarkably handsome man, free 

 and outspoken in his manners, and being very 

 saving in money-matters, he left a considerable 

 fortune to his surviving children. He was twice 

 married. His eldest son by his first marriage, 

 Archibald Skirving, the portrait painter, who re- 

 sembled him in person and disposition, was well 

 known in Edinburgh. The second son. Captain 

 Robert Skirving, also inherited his father's poet- 

 ical genius. After many years' service in the 

 East Indies, he returned home in the year 1806, 

 and was living in 1838 at Croys, near Castle 

 Douglas. A letter, containing some curious par- 

 ticulars^of his father, was addressed by the Cap- 

 tain to the last editor of Johnson's Scots Musical 

 Museum, 1839, vol. ii. p. 190*. 



The authority for attributing this song to Adam 

 Skirving rests upon the late Mr. Stenhouse (notes 

 to Musical Museum, vol. iii. p. 220.) ; but, as the 

 writer of the "Additional Illustrations" to the 

 same work remarks, " Notwithstanding his son's 

 silence respecting the authorship of this song, 

 there is no reason for calling in question Mr. 

 Stenhouse's assertion, as the local character of the 

 verses, and their caustic spirit and resemblance 

 to his ' Trament Muir,' would place this point, I 

 think, beyond all reasonable doubt." 



Hogg, in the Second Series of his JacoUle 

 Belies, 1821, p. 308., says : 



" This song, so generally a favourite throughout Scot- 

 land, is certainly more indebted for its popularity to the 

 composer of the air, than the poet who wrote the verses. 

 The tune is really excellent, but the verses, take which 

 set we will, are commonplace enough. Yet I scarcely 

 know a song that so many people are fond of. For my 

 part 1 love it, and ever will, because it was a chief fa- 

 vourite with my late indulgent and lamented master and 

 friend, the Duke of Buccleugh, whom I have often heard 

 sing it with great glee." 



"Johnnie Cope" is still a universal favourite in 

 Scotland, and no song, perhaps, has So many dif- 

 ferent " sets." Allan Cunningham mentions that 

 he once heard a peasant boast, among other ac- 

 quirements, that he could sing " Johnnie Cope," 

 with all the nineteen variations ! 



Copies of the various sets may be seen in Hogg's 

 Jacobite Relics; Allan Cunningham's Songs of Scot- 

 land; Gilchrist's Ancient and Modern Scottish Bal- 

 lads ; Jacobite Minstrelsy, 18mo., Glasgow, 1829; 

 Ritson's Scottish Songs ; Johnson's Scots Musical 

 Museum, &c. 



The old air of "Johnnie Cope" originally con- 

 sisted of one strain, the author of which is un- 

 known. The earliest copies appear in Oswald's 

 Caledonian Pocket Companion, and in Johnson's 

 Scots Musical Museum. Edward F. Rimbault. 



Upon a reference to Chevalier Johnstone's Me- 

 moirs of the Rebellion, 1745, your correspondent 

 Mr. Knowles will find much interesting matter 

 relative to Sir John Cope. The best edition of 

 the work is the one published in 1822, 8vo. The 

 author of the song, " Hey, Johnnie Cope," &c., was 

 Adam Skirving, farmer, Haddington ; full parti- 

 culars of whom, and his various songs, will be found 

 in Stenhouse's Illustrations of the Lyric Poetry and 

 Music of Scotland, by Laing and Sharpe, 8vo., 

 1853. T.G.S. 



Edinburgh. 



GAM AGE FAMILY. 



(2"^ S. ii. 48.) 



Amongst notes collected by the writer from 

 various sources relating to Gloucestershire fa- 

 milies are the following : 



Gamage of Gamage. William Gamage was 

 Sheriff of Gloucestershire with another in 1325. 



There is a place called Gamage Hall in Dymock 

 (co. Glou.). 



Mune was anciently a manor within the manor 

 of Dymock. It was granted to William _de Ga- 

 mage, 1 John ; and Jeffry, his son and heir, died 

 seised of it, and of lOl. rent in Dymock, in 

 37 Hen. III. 



Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of the last- 



