Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/361

 9* s. xii. OCT. si, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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an engraving of one of Sir Edwin Landseer's pictures, ' The First Earring ' (if I remember rightly), and I am almost certain that the plate contained this phrase. I well remem- ber the two ladies, in early Victorian ringlets, occupied in piercing the ear of a little girl, who, I am convinced, was only coaxed into submission to the torture by her being made thoroughly to understand the relevancy of the expression. The sympa- thetic attitude of a King Charles spaniel, sitting in a corner of the room and scratching his ear with one of his hind legs, added humour to the scene, and was what struck my fancy most, I recollect.

J. S. UDAL, F.S.A.

Antigua, W.I.

ORIGIN OF THE TURNBULLS (9 th S. xi. 109, 233, 329, 498 ; xii. 51). After an absence from home of about four months, I have read J. B. P.'s reply at 9 th S. xi. 329. That the contents of ' N. & Q.' are taken " more or less as authoritative" I do not, and am sure readers generally did not, require to be told.

Having been a reader of and a very insignificant contributor to 'N. & Q.' for nearly three decades, I may be pardoned if I say that J. B. P. has no higher apprecia- tion of, or respect for, its pages than I have, and is no more imbued with the feeling that it -is essential all appearing in its columns should be well, as correct as writers can make it with the very little perfect informa- tion at hand. Might I ask, What would be the value of 'N. & Q.' if infallibility was stamped on its every page, or if all the con- tributors to it were perfect 1 The mere contemplation of such a condition of things is enough for the seriously thoughtful.

J. B. P. attempts to traverse my note as to Ragman Roll, and starts quoting my words, emphasizing them by his own " I do wish."

If I have erred with respect to the Ragman Roll, I have the honour to be in good company, and, in passing, may be allowed to express the opinion that even the " autho- rities " J. B. P. and myself necessarily quote were fallible. Is J. B. P. acting fairly in making me write what I did not? For instance, I did not say the valuation made in 1275 (J. B. P.'s figures) contained a grant of land to Turn bull; I said that "subse- quently the name Ragman Roll was applied," <kc., naturally pointing to the latter as recording the act of homage by Turnbull for lands held. Did J. B. P., or will J. B. P., give me credit for knowing when history

fixes the date of Bruce's birth, as well as when he was crowned and died 1

J. B. P. asserts that the name Turnbull or any of its variants are not present in the Ragman Roll. Until he produces evidence to nullify what is here stated, I must, and I think readers will, refuse to admit that he is correct. In the Ragman Roll, * Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, 1295-6,'p. 169, will be found, among those who performed homage, Robert de Tremble, and in Rotuli Scaccarii Regum Scotorum, 1264, "decidunt per terram de Dolany datam Waltero de Trembeley." If J. B. P. denies these are variants of Turnbull, well then he only disagrees with my "ventured opinion," and might have said so.

J. B. P. next falls foul of my "thought" that the gift of land by Bruce was before 1296, and says that Bruce had no power to grant land before he was king. Whether J. B. P. is right in this assertion, I leave to readers ; personally I decline to accept it. Bruce represented a family in which the purest Norman blood flowed ; he was Lord of Annandale in his own right, and Earl of Carrick ; and in a letter of Baliol's, Robert Bruce, Lord of Carrick, is mentioned as Regent. In 1124 David gave a large tract of country to Robert de Brus, in fee and heri- tage to him and his heir ; and besides Bruce's property in Scotland, he owned several manors in England. Apart from all this, the greater usually includes the less, and if, as Druinmond writes, "Bruce caused him- self to be crowned king," is it so impossible that he made a grant of land before he was actually crowned as to warrant J. B. P.'s speaking so authoritatively ? But this is all beside the question and object of my note under this heading, and certainly did not call, in this respect, for J. B. P.'s valuable criticism.

J. B. P. denies at considerable length that Bruce made a grant of land to Turnbull in Teviotdale, admitting he did somewhere else, frankly owning that he does not know the date. J. B. P. seemingly infers that I stated or implied that all the variations in spelling Turnbull appear in the Treasurer's accounts. This is at least a misconception. What was said with regard to Trumble is absolutely correct ; and because J. B P. has not found all the variants am I to be blamed by implica- tion ; and if not, why does J. B. P. refer to it 1

J. B. P. tells readers that " Trubillis and none of its variants occur in connexion with the king's visit to the borders." First let me apologize for inadvertently placing / before Y instead of after, thus making it read