Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/259

 w* s. LMABCH KUDO*.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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heather. Beneath the hill, on the far side o the Cross Water of Luce, and within th< parish of Old Luce, is the deserted farmsteac of Laggangarn. A stone pillar, about seven feet high, stands near the ruined dwelling house, graven with an incised cross. When I first visited this solitude, many years ago I had come to see the Wells o' the Rees ano the Standing Stanes o' Laggangarn. But, lo there was only one stone standing. I askec the shepherd who guided me to the place whether there were not more standing stones "There was three o' them ance," said he. " but the tenant o' Laggangarn [he mentioned the man's name, but I forget it] had gotten the promise o' a new barn frae the laird ; but he was to cart the stanes for the biggin' o't, ye understand. So he just took twa o' the standin' stanes for lintels like ; an' fowk said at the time that nae guid wad come to him for moving thae auncient landmarks. Weel, an' sae it fell oot ; for syne [at length] his dowgs went mad and bit him, an' the puir fallow went mad tae. There was nae person in the hoose wi' him but his wife an' twa dochters ; an' they buid [were obliged] to pit haunds till him [lay hands on him], and they smoored him between twa cauff beds [smothered him between two chaff mat- tresses]."

L write without being able to refer to my notes made at the time ; but my impression is _that the date of this tragedy was near the middle of last century.

HERBERT MAXWELL.

" CHAPERONED BY HER FATHER " (9 th S. xii. 245, 370, 431 ; 10 th S. i. 54, 92, 110). PROF. STRONG states that Littre gives no meaning to chaperon corresponding to the English use of the word. This is, however, incorrect, for under ' Chaperon,' No. 4, Littre says :

" Personne agee ou grave qui accompagne une jeune femme par bienseance et comme pour rSpondre de sa conduite ; locution prise de ce que cette personne protege comme un chaperon."

M. HAULTMOXT.

''AN AUSTRIAN ARMY" (10 th S. i. 148). The author, date, and source of issue have yet to be ascertained. A correspondent stated at 7 th S. xi. 213 that the lines have been attributed to many authors, but that their real authorship was due to Alaric A. Watts, for whom they were claimed by his son in a biography published in 1844. They appeared anonymously in the Literary Gazette for 1820, p. 826. A contributor at 4 th S. x. 503, as also Timperley in his ' Dic- tionary of Printers and Printing,' asserted they were written by the boys of West-

minster School, and published by W. Ginger, of College Street, Westminster, in a periodical paper called the Trifler of 7 May, 1817. The late Dr. Brewer attributed them to the Rev. P. Poulter, Prebendary of Winchester, and thought them to have been written about 1828. They are also said to have been written by Hood. They will be found in the Saturday Magazine, 1832, p. 138, and entley's Magazine, 1838, p. 313.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

G. C. W.'s memorandum is correct. This alliterative poem appeared in the Trifler for Wednesday, 7 May, 1817 (No. xx. p. 233). It consists of twenty-seven lines, each line dealing consecutively with the letters of the alphabet, and the last line returning to the letter "A." It is headed thus: "The following curious specimen of Poetry, pre- sented to us by a friend, is dedicated to lovers of Alliteration." URLLAD.

FRENCH MINIATURE PAINTER (10 th S. i. 86, 137, 171). The DUCHESS OF WELLINGTON is, of course, right in suggesting doubt as to whether Madame Lebrun painted in minia- ture. I have a miniature of Madame Lebrun which was thought by Lady Morgan, the Irish author, to whom it belonged, to be by Madame Lebrun herself, but which has never been so catalogued by me. I do not re- member to whom it was attributed when exhibited in the First Loan Collection of Miniatures at South Kensington. When it appeared in the first exhibition of the Society of Miniaturists in 1896 (No. 134) I do not think it was attributed to any particular hand. My miniature appears to me to be based on the oil portrait of which Braun has a reproduction, and, although originally a jood miniature, to have been spoilt at some time by retouching. D.

KNIGHT TEMPLAR (10 th S. i. 149). READER should refer to Kenning's 'Cyclopaedia of Freemasonry ' for full information as to tha Knights Templar, &c., or even to any ency- loptedia. Eight, according to the Pytha- gorean lore of numbers, as explained by that _reatest of all authorities on Freemasonry /he Rev. Dr. Oliver, especially in his post- lumous work published by Hogg in 1875, was esteemed as the first cube by the con- tinued multiplication of two, and was held to ,ignify mystically friendship, advice, pru- dence, and justice. The figure 8 has always >een a mystical figure in consequence of ts connexion with the Arkite teaching, and las been dwelt upon by writers alike in