Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/360

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. m. MAY G, ion.

of 94 guns (commanded by M. de la Clue, the French admiral), which had run ashore; this task he is said to have performed with his own hands (Gent. Mag., 1799, p. 260).

On 24 June, 1791, the following marriage took place at Edinburgh : '* Capt. Alex. Cunningham of the Royal Navy to Miss Jane Scott, dau. of the late Dr. Jn. Scott of Coats " (Gent. Mag.}. This marriage may refer to Alex. Cunningham, R.N., who entered the Navy circa 1770, although he was not promoted tc the rank of Commander until 1805, and to that of post-captain until 1812.

Capt. Alexander Cunningham died at Anstruther 12 March, 1799, and in the notice in Gent. Mag. he is described as of Pitarthie. It states that he " behaved very gallantly in the last two wars, having been in no fewer than 1 7 line - of- battle engagements." It would not appear that he was in the Russian service, as this fact would probably have been mentioned in the above notice. F. M. R. HOLWORTHY.

Bickley, Kent.

AMERICAN WORDS AND PHRASES (11 S. ii. 67, 132, 193). MR. THORNTON asks if the mud-wasp has been separately recog- nized by entomologists. It was impossible for me to respond when the query appeared in ' N. & Q.,' but I may now say that the mud-wasp, also called the mud-dauber, is very common in North America, and is classified in all books treating of wasps.

It belongs to the family of the Sphegidse, and until recently was classed as of the genus Pelopaeus, but in the latest books its genus is now called Sceliphron. A very good picture of this wasp can be found in ' The Century Dictionary,' s.v. ' Mud-dauber.' M. C. L.

New York.

MANSEL FAMILY (US. ii. 269, 533; iii. 151, 215). As I fully stated whence my notes were derived, I cannot be supposed to be one of those who perpetuate what MR. D. P. MAUNSELL describes as ancient mis- takes.

The pedigrees, as stated, were the work of no novice. The fine collection of docu- ments in the possession of Miss Talbot (1894) was printed by Mr. F. G. T. Clark, F.S.A.", in the third volume of ' Cartae et alia Munimenta de Glamorgan.' The docu- ments were deciphered by Dr. Walter de Gray Birch of the British Museum. Rafe Brook, who was created York Herald 16 March, 1592, drew up one of the two pedigrees, which were worked up from original charters,

writings, and documents preserved among the Penrice MSS. in the Record Office.

A great deal more might be added, but my only object is to point out that, so far as my notes are concerned, they have not then* origin in " ancient mistakes " or " books full of errors."

ALFRED CHAS. JONAS.

BURNS AND ' THE WEE WEE GERMAN LAIRDIE' (11 S. iii. 286). I agree with MR. BAYNE that the late " Ian Maclaren " (Rev. John M. Watson, D.D.) was mistaken in connecting Burns with the Jacobite song known as ' The Wee Wee German Lairdie.' Cromek's ' Remains of Nithsdale and Gallo- way Song ' appeared, as has been stated, in 1810, and the same year he edited and pub- lished ' Select Scottish Songs, Ancient and Modern; with Observations and Notices by Robert Burns,' in 2 vols. In these volumes every old song that Burns is known to have touched, revised, or altered is re- ferred to, but no mention is anywhere made of ' The Wee Wee German Lairdie.' The omission proves that Cromek at least did not connect Burns in any way with the song which he published for the first time.

I am extremely doubtful, in fact utterly sceptical, in spite of high authority to the contrary, as to any version of ' The Wee Wet-- German Lairdie ' earlier than 1810. To me the song seems much too good to be the worksmanship of any early eighteenth- century song-maker. It is generally ad- mitted that Allan Cunningham, who fur- nished Cromek with the poems for his ' Remains,' imposed his own compositions on the publisher. This was well known at tl.e time to Scott, Hogg, Wilson, Bishop Percy, and others.

"Who," asks Maginn, "that has any taste for ballad-poetry, will have let slip from his memory those beautiful specimens of that style of composi- tion which, under the pretence of being frag- ments of Galloway and ISiithsdale songs, were published by an especial ass of the name of Cromek, on whom Allan in that particular not honest Allen, but about as dishonest as Chatterton palmed them as genuine? "

Possibly in some few instances Cunningham may have had traditionary fragments on which to model his songs; but in the vast majority of cases this was not so. There is every reason, therefore, to believe the version of * The Wee Wee German Lairdie ' given in the ' Remains ' to be wholly the work of Cunningham. The contemptuou phrase "wee German laird " may hav been current in the early eighteenth century, but in all likelihood the song * The Wee

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