2°<"S. IX. April 21. 'CO.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



299 



set of poetical characters given as toasts in a circle 

 of a few friends. The original was immediately re- 

 cognised: — 



"To a thing that's uncommon — 



A youth of discretion, 



Who, though vastly handsome, 



Despises flirtation : 



To the friend in affliction, 



The heart of affection, 



Who may hear the last trump 



Without dread of detection." 



To " The Flowers of the Forest," printed in the 

 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. p. 161., 

 edit. 1802, Sir Walter Scott has prefixed the fol- 

 lowing interesting notice of Mrs. Cockburn : — 



" The following verses, adapted to the ancient air of 

 The Flowers of the Forest, are, like the elegy which pre- 

 cedes them, the production of a lady. The late Sirs. 

 Cockburn, daughter of Rutherford of Fairualie, in Sel- 

 kirkshire, and relict of Mr. Cockburn of Ormiston (whose 

 father was Lord Chief Justice Clerk of Scotland) was the 

 authoress. Mrs. Cockburn has been dead but a few 

 years. Even at an age advanced beyond the usual bounds 

 of humanity - , she retained a play of imagination, and an 

 activity of intellect, which must have been attractive 

 and delightful in youth, but was alirifct preternatural at 

 her period of life. Her active benevolence, keeping pace 

 with her genius, rendered her equally an object of love 

 and admiration. The editor, who knew her well, takes 

 this opportunity of doing justice to his own feelings ; and 

 thcj' are in unison with those of all who knew his re- 

 gretted friend. The verses which follow were written at 

 an early period of life, and without peculiar relation to any 

 event, unless it were the depopulation of Ettrick Forest." 



The best account, however, of this accomplished 

 lady is contained in the following unpublished 

 letters of her grandnephew, Mr. Mark Pringle, 

 addressed to George Chalmers, Esq., the Shak- 

 gperian commentator: — 



" Georges Square, Edinburgh, 

 Jan. 15, 1805. 



" Dear Sip., — In a letter which I received some time 

 ago from our mutual and much esteemed friend, Mr. Archi- 

 bald Hamilton, I was requested to send you some account 

 of Mrs. Cokbume, a near relation of mine, whom you 

 found celebrated in Mr. Scott's publication The Border 

 Minstrelsy ; and as I feel very highly flattered by having 

 it in my power to supply any information you wish 

 to possess, and by that means to renew in some degree 

 your acquaintance which I was proud formerly to enjoy, 

 I now take the liberty of conveying a few circumstances 

 relating to this lady, and shall be happy if they are such 

 as in any degree merit your notice. 



'•.Mrs. Alison Rutherfurd was the youngest of several 

 children of Mr. Rutherfurd of Faimilee in the county of 

 Selkirk, and married Mr. Patrick Cokbume, Advocate, a 

 younger son of Adam Cokbume of Onniston, Lord Jus- 

 tice Clerk of Scotland, with whom she lived happily till 

 the year 1753, when he left her a widow with one" son, 

 who likewise predeceased his mother. Mrs. Cokburne 

 was a lady much esteemed among a very numerous ac- 

 tauce; and though neither of splendid birth nor 

 affluent fortune, her company was courted by persons the 

 most distinguished; and I have often seen within her 

 smull house at Edinburgh a circle of visiters whose ta- 

 lents and reputation in the literary world, whose wit and 

 gaiety, or whose beauty and fashion, would have graced 

 any society in Europe. Her genius and conversation 



suited themselves to every age and condition : she could 

 be learned, sentimental, witty, playful, as the occasion 

 required ; and was equally prepared to become serious 

 with the old, or frolicsome with the j-oung. Indeed, her 

 turn of mind was of that various capacity as to enable 

 her to associate with every age; and it was no uncom- 

 mon thing to meet at her table with the children, nay, 

 the grandchildren of the friends of her youth, with whom 

 she forgot for the moment there was any disparity in 

 years, and that intervening generations had passed away. 



" With David Hume, Lord Monboddo, Dr. John Gregory, 

 Sir John Dalrymple, and many other literary characters, 

 she lived in continued intimacy and confidence, and with 

 the gens d'esprit of her own sex she was no less intimate. 

 So long as her bodily powers enabled her to join in 

 society she relished their company ; and afterwards, when 

 these powers became blunted, an epistolary intercourse 

 succeeded, for it was her happy and rare lot that though 

 years might blunt they did not extinguish her faculties; 

 and she preserved her senses and spirits, both in no com- 

 mon degree, till an advanced period of life, which she 

 quitted at the age of eighty-one, without pain or distress, 

 in the j'ear 1794.* 



" Of Mrs. Cokburne's genius it is difficult to render a 

 satisfactory account or to describe in what she excelled 

 particularly, for she could be 'everything by turns;' 

 and having read a great deal, ami being blessed with a 

 retentive memory, she had the facility of applying the 

 fruits of her knowledge as best suited the occasion. She 

 was not an author by profession, nor did she seek for re- 

 putation in print ; yet she wrote much for the amuse- 

 ment of herself and friends, both in prose. and verse, and 

 seldom failed to excite applause. In epistolary corre- 

 spondence she possessed a peculiar neatness and spirit, 

 and her letters approached nearer perhaps to the easy 

 and animated style of the French ladies in former times, 

 whose works we are acquainted with, than is often to be 

 met in our own language. 



"Upon serious subjects I have been told a very curious 

 and interesting correspondence took place between her 

 and the celebrated David Hume ; but unfortunately I 

 never saw it while she lived, nor can I now trace where 

 it is to be found. From the characters and intimate 

 friendship, however, of the "correspondents, these letters 

 could not fail in being highly entertaining, and probably 

 threw some light upon the religious principles of that phi- 

 losopher. 



" Of a different, but no less amusing cast, were the let- 

 ters which passed between her and the facetious Sir 

 Hew Dalrymple of North Berwick, in which wit and ex- 

 quisite satire were displayed ; but being confidential they 

 do not now appear. Many other proofs of her epistolary 

 talents I have seen and admired, mostly relating however 

 to domestic subjects and family concerns, and of course 

 less interesting in a general view. 



" In poetry, Mrs. Cokburne's genius was no less respect- 

 able; and though perhaps not always perfectly correct 

 in rules of composition or exact structure, her poems had 

 great merit, and she possessed a wonderful readiness and 

 fluency, for ' the numbers came,' and she had the power 

 of using them with uncommon rapidity. Some of her 

 poems upon mournful and solemn subjects are interesting, 

 and speak to the heart: those upon light and gay topics 

 fail not to please and amuse ; and her little songs and 

 ballads upon occasional opportunities of mirth and jollitv, 

 have some of them very considerable elegance and point. 

 It is here to be regretted again, that the few which now 

 remain of these compositions (for many are unaccount- 



* Died on Nov. 22, 171)4, at Edinburgh, Mrs. Cockburn, 

 relict of Patrick Cockburn, Esq., Advocate, — foots il/«- 

 guziiie, lvi. 735, j 



