SHORT NOTES 119 



Park, four miles south of Dumfries, who had married, in 1791, 

 Maria Woodley, daughter of William Woodley, governor of St. 

 Kitts and the Leeward Islands. The lady was only nineteen, but 

 had a taste for literature, and was anxious to publish an account 

 of her own voyages. Burns gave her a letter of introduction to a 

 printer, and proceeded, according to his wont, to write love-songs 

 about her. Early in 1794, at an entertainment held at Walter 

 Riddell's house to celebrate his return from a voyage to the West 

 Indies, Burns insulted his hostess. Burns's apology was rejected 

 by the lady and her husband, and he attacked Mrs. Eiddell in the 

 1 Monody on a Lady famed for her Caprice,' and other verses. By 

 1795 the poet was again on friendly terms with Walter Riddell's wife. 

 When Burns died in 1796 she published in the 'Dumfries Journal ' 

 an admirable article on her friend's character, a defence which re- 

 flects credit on both the writer and her subject.' ' Mr. Skan adds 

 that Maria Riddell edited The Metrical Miscellany, published in 1802. 



James Britten. 



SHORT NOTES. 



Notes from Cornwall. — Mr. Hemsley's interesting observations 

 (p. 60) on the Wild Cabbage growing between Fowey and Ready- 

 money afford an opportunity for expressing suspicions that I have 

 had about the origin of these plants since first examining them 

 more than ten years ago. Their gigantic proportions, perennial 

 character, and long, more or less pinnatifid leaves, all of which are 

 foreign to genuine Brassica oleracea, have forced me to the con- 

 clusion that they originated from outcasts from some of the gardens 

 that abut on the cliffs above. Along the cliffs at Polruan, just 

 across Fowey Harbour, as well as at Looe, a few miles farther east, 

 plants occur about whose indigeneity there can be no question ; 

 these are of much less stature, have short, rounded leaves, and are 

 not nearly so long-lived. Four sheets of such specimens are now 

 before me, on one of which the petals are nearly as large as those 

 on the Walmer plants in H. C. Watson's Herbarium. If my 

 suspicions about the Fowey plants are correct, it would appear to 

 follow that the plate of B. oleracea in Eng. Bot. was prepared from 

 a specimen of similar status, as the leaf there drawn is both long 

 and pinnatifid. The occurrence of Cotoneaster microphylla Wall, 

 by the side of Point Neptune Koad, leading from Fowey to Mena- 

 billy, is easily explained. With Erica vagans, E. mediterranean and 

 several other ornamental species, it was planted there when the 

 road was cut to cover and beautify the bare rocky sides. In several 

 parts of the county, however, I have seen it flourishing on walls 

 and hedge-banks, where it is certain it was never planted. The 

 same observation applies to Veronica angustifolia A. Kich., Leyces- 

 teria formosa Wall., Santoliva Chamacyparissus Linn., &C. — F. 

 Hamilton Davey. 



