Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/40

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. iv. JULY s, 1011.

to have added some more verses. .. .but they were never transmitted. He appears to have had the old fragment of the ballad called ' Leezie Baillie ' in view when he composed the above .stanza. A large fragment of the old ballad of ' Leezie Lindsay '. . . . may be seen in Jamieson's ' Popular Ballads and Songs,' vol. ii."

S. S. W.

Uflt is asserted that Burns contributed the air of an old song to Johnson's ' Scots Musical Museum,' along with the first verse of a song, entitled ' Leezie Lindsay,' he intended writing, but that he died before finishing it.

The music and verse appeared in vol. v., but have not the author's name attached in the index, as most songs have which were known to be Burns' s. The editor says he "is certain " that those marked "B. & R." "are Burns's composition"; ' Leezie Lindsay ' has not either letter.

In the Kilmarnock edition of Burns, by William Scott Douglas (1890), it is stated that the air and verse were sent by Burns to Johnson. In the * Book of Scottish Song,' edited by Alexander Whitelaw, 1875, the first line is " Will ye gang wi' me, Lizzy Lindsay ? " In Johnson it is " Will ye go to the Highlands, Leezie Lindsay ? "

ALFRED CHAS. JONAS.

SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGALL BRISBANE (11 S. iii. 407, 491). Even if it were impos- sible to prove the marriage of Robert Brisbane to Janette Stewart in 1562, there would still be no difficulty in tracing the descent of Sir Thomas Brisbane from Robert the Bruce. John Brisbane, son of James Brisbane of Bishoptoun, in 1685 married Margaret, daughter of Sir Archibald Stewart of Blackhall and Ardgowan. The descent from Robert III. and Robert the Bruce was thus made doubly secure. See Burke' s ' Peer- age,' &c., s.v. Shaw Stewart ; also Craw- ford's 'History of Renfrewshire' (1818), p. 390, and Paterson's ' History of Ayr- shire,' vol. v. part ii. p. 525.

It is worth noticing that the Brisbanes were originally a Renfrewshire family, having owned the estate of Bishoptoun in the parish of Erskine for many years. The old mansion house, now used as a farmhouse, stands on a commanding site above the Clyde, with a fine view of Dunbarton Rock, &c. The property was sold about 1670, when the lands of Kelsoland, &c., near Largs, in Ayrshire, were acquired, which were subsequently known as Brisbane. See the last two authorities quoted above.

T. F. D.

NOVEL BY G. P. R. JAMES WITH THREE TITLES (11 S. iii. 465). MR. W. A. FROST is right in his surmise that James's novel may have appeared in a magazine in Eng- land. It was published between 9 Novem- ber, 1850, and 8 November, 1851, under the following title : " A Story without a Name : an historical novel, written expressly for this family magazine by G. P. R. James, Esq."

The magazine was entitled :

" The Home Circle : a weekly family magazine of literature, science, domestic economy, arts, practical information, needlework, chess, general knowledge, and entertainment.

" Object. To elevate the taste and morals of those humble classes who have no chance of cultiva- ting their intellect but through the medium of works of a pernicious kind."

The editor, for some time at least, was Pierce Egan. QUILL.

BOOK INSCRIPTIONS (US. iii. 207, 492). The lines beginning

Go, litel book ! God send thee good passage ! are from the " verba translatoris " in Sir Richard Ros or Rous's translation of Alain Chartier's ' La Belle Dame sans Mercy.' The piece was printed in Thynne's edition of Chaucer in 1532, and since then has been ascribed to Chaucer ; but as Chartier was only fourteen years old at Chaucer's death, this is clearly impossible. Full informa- tion is given by Prof. Skeat in vol. vii. of his edition of Chaucer, where he prints ' La Belle Dame sans Mercy.' E. G. T.

THE MUSEUMS OF LONDON ANTIQUITIES (11 S. iii. 401, 483).- In Chambers' s Journal for May, 1851, pp. 308-10, there appeared an article on ' London Museums of the Seventeenth Century.' The article pre- sumably was inspired by the perusal of a tract entitled :

" A Catalogue of many Natural Rarities, with great Industry, Cost, and Thirty Years' Travel in Foraign Conn-tries, collected by Robert Hubert alias Forges, Gent., and Sworn Servant to His Majesty. And daily to be seen at the place called the Musick-House, at the Miter, near the West End of St. Paul's Church. London : 1664."

JOHN T. PAGE.

Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

"TABORER'S INN" (11 S. i. 170). I find the answer to my query as to the situation of this tavern in a recently issued volume of the ' Calendar of Patent Rolls,' and propose to put it on record for the benefit of future inquirers. In 1354 Edward III. granted licence for the aliena- tion in mortmain to the Abbot and Convent