300 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2 n <» S. IX. April 21. '60. 



ably mislaid and lost to her surviving relatives), are 

 chiefly founded upon local circumstances or familiar sub- 

 jects known only to a few, and arising from the moment ; 

 and therefore would undoubtedly fail to amuse, or even 

 to be understood by others than the persons immediately 

 concerned, and feeling the occasions which gave rise to 

 them ; and under that consideration it would not be 

 doing her justice to expose to view what was written 

 merely for her own and her selected friends' entertain- 

 ment. 



"The only work I know of that appears in print is her 

 song of ' The Flowers of the Forest,' lately published in 

 Mr. Scott's second volume of The Border Minstrels//. It 

 was composed by her many years ago on a subject inti- 

 mately connected with her native land, namely, the- loss 

 that country sustained at the battle of Flodden, and the 

 beautiful situation of her father's house at Fairnalee upon 

 the Tweed naturally inspired the muse. But as the 

 edition of this song, as given by Mr. Scott, differs some- 

 what, though not materially, from the one in my posses- 

 sion, which I consider to be the most correct, because I 

 received it from a contemporary and one of her most in- 

 timate friends, I take the liberty of copying it, and 

 sending for your perusal. 



" ' The Flowers of the Forest. 

 I've seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling, 



I've felt all her favours, and found their decay; 

 Sweet were her blessings, kind her caressings, 



But now they are fled — fled all far away. 



I have seen the Forest* adorned the foremost 



With flowers of the fairest most charming and gay : 



Sae bonny was their blooming, with scents the air per- 

 fuming, 

 But now they are wither'd, and wed all away. 



I've seen the morning with gold the hills adorning, 

 In loud tempest storming before middle day; 



I've seen Tweed's silver streams shining in the sunny 

 beams, 

 Grow drumlyf and dark as they roll'd on their way. 



O fickle Fortune ! why this cruel sporting ? 



Why thus torment us poor sons of a day ? 

 No more your smiles can cheer me, no more your frowns 

 can fear me, 



For our brave foresters are all wedd away.' 



"Thus, Sir, have I endeavoured to communicate to you 

 a few particulars in regard to Mrs. Cokburne, my grand- 

 aunt (for her brother was father to my mother), and 

 though 'the simple annals' of a private Scotch woman 

 can little merit your attention, I am not without hope this 

 short narrative may peradventure amuse you, and beguile 

 a quarter of an hour from the precious yet laborious time 

 you devote so much to public utility. At least it gives 

 me an opportunity of ottering you my respectful compli- 

 ments, and adding that I have the honour to remain, 

 Dear Sir, your faithful and most obedient servant, 



Mask Pinole. 



" P.S. I have, throughout the foregoing pages, written 

 Mrs. Cokbunit"'.-- name without the letter c in the middle, 

 and with an e at the end, because she always spelt it so 

 herself, as likewise did her son ; upon what authority I 

 know not. I never saw her husband's signature." 



Mr. Pringle subsequently furnished the follow- 

 ing additional particulars of Mrs. Gockburn to 

 George Chalmers : — 



* Forest, or the Forest, is the appellation in general 

 given to the county of Selkirk, anciently Ettrick Forest. - 

 f Drumly — discoloured. ] 



" Edinburgh, Feb. 28, 1805. 

 "My Dear Sir, — I should have returned you my 

 warmest acknowledgment before this time for your kind 

 and flattering approbation of the few particulars I had it 

 in my power to send relating to Mrs. Cokburne, if I had 

 not been a good deal indisposed and confined with the 

 gout. The questions you farther wish me to answer in 

 regard to that lady are, What was the baptismal name of 

 her father? Who was her mother? Where did she 

 die, and is there any monument to her memory ? Her 

 father's name was Robert; her mother was a daughter of 

 Carr of Ashett in Northumberland, a branch, I believe, of 

 the Etal family, but now extinct. She was buried in the 

 chapel-of-ease ground at Edinburgh, where she died, 

 and a small tablet records her death and age. If I can 

 possibly procure any remnants of her works, either in 

 prose or verse, which may appear worthy of your perusal, 

 I will not fail to communicate them to you; but I fear 

 they are either lost or gone into hands I don't know, for 

 I have some reason to imagine her repositories were not 

 strictly attended to during her latter moments. Your 

 faithful and obedient servant, Mark Pringle." 



Mark Pringle of Clifton and Haining, George 

 Chalmers's correspondent, was born in 1754; called 

 to the Scottish bar in 1777 ; appointed Deputy- 

 Judge Advocate and Clerk of the Courts-Martial 

 in North Britairyn 1782. He was elected M. P. 

 for the county ot Selkirk in 1786, and continued 

 to represent that constituency for sixteen years. 

 He died at Bath on April 25, 1812. 



J. Yeowjell. 



MANUSCRIPT KEY TO BELOE'S "SEXAGENA- 

 RIAN." 



My copy of tills curious work appears, from the 

 binding, to have once formed part of Southey's 

 Cottonian library. Most of the blanks are filled 

 up by the names in MS. ; not, however, in the 

 Laureate's neat caligraphy, but in the hand ap- 

 parently of one more nearly contemporary with 

 those with whose names he is familiar. These in- 

 sertions I have transcribed seriatim by way of a 

 key to the work, incorporating with them a few 

 from a copy in'the British Museum. My copy is 

 the first edition, 2 vols. 8vo., 1817 (in which are 

 to be found the passages relative to Porson which 

 were subsequently eliminated) ; that of the Mu- 

 seum is the second edition, 1818. The pagination 

 in both editions is frequently identical ; when it 

 differs, it does so but by a page, or perhaps in 

 some cases two, either before or after ; hence in 

 the following key, which is arranged entirely for 

 the first edition, possessors of the second will find 

 little or no difficulty in making their references. 

 Dr. Parr, in his copy of the Sexagenarian, had 

 written a note, the insertion of which will not pro- 

 bably be thought out of place : — 



" Dr. Parr is compelled to record the name of Beloe as 

 an ingrate and a slanderer. The worthy and enlightened 

 Archdeacon Nares disdained to have any concern with 

 this infamous work. The Rev. Mr. Rennell of Kensing- 

 ton could know but little of Beloe. But having read his 

 slanderous book, Mr. Rennell, who is a sound scholar, an 



