Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/279

 9 th S. II. OCT. 1, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

271

of rye-grain, is almost certain. The question has several times been raised, and if it has only now begun to exercise the New York mind, for once our American cousins have not been up to date. This beautiful stream is just of the kind that would attract the poet's attention, especially from where at Cunnyng- hame-Baidland to the Ryefield Woods it runs through a deep romantic glen, the banks of which are clothed with a natural wooding of oak, hazel, ash, and thorn. In early summer especially, when decked out with a profusion of mayflower, honeysuckle, and wild roses, the glen presents a picture difficult to beat of its kind. At Kyefield most of my youth was spent, and well do I remember the " steppin' stanes" below the slope from there, and leading from the village of Drakemyre (half a mile from the town of Dairy) to the Ryes- holme side. These stones were associated in my mind with Burns's lass as inculcated by old country folk, and many a more modern lass have I seen " kilt her coats "* well clear of her bare " trilbies " while coming through the Rye here. My impression regarding the stones and the popular song I communicated two or three years ago to the Rev. Jas. B. Johnston, Falkirk, author of ' Place-Names of Scotland' (1892). Whether the crossing is still there I cannot say, not having been in the neighbourhood for over ten years. In that time a mill has extended about the spot, so that there may now be no such " thorough- fare " for lassies " comin' frae the toon." In the same manner as people argue whether " Bonnie Dundee " refers to the town of the name or Claverhouse's handsome features, so doubtless will they go on fighting over this point. Old ideas based on nothing, or pre- judices, are not easily got rid of. But the balance of evidence, I think, is in favour of the stream, and not the grain. Why, indeed, should a girl systematically take a route th rough a field of wet-growing crop ? "Jenny 's seldom dry." v Grain is not grown in glens, and there is direct mention of a glen in the song, by implication, in conjunction with the name of the stream, that of the Rye.

WALTER M. GRAHAM EASTON.

In the "Century Edition" Mr. Henley clearly shows that Burns's song was founded on ' The Bob-tailed Lass,' a song to be found in 'Ane Pleasant Garden of Sweet-scented Flowers,' published in the early part of last century. That the word does not refer to a


 * Tuck up her clothes :

I '11 kilt my coats aboon my knee And follow my love through the water.

' Braw Lads of Gala Water ' (Burns).

stream, but to a field of rye, is evidenced by the following quotation :

On Wednesday in the afternoon

I took a walk in the field : It was to bring my courage down,

And still I was forced to yield. For there I met with a bob-tail'd lass,

As I should have passed her by ; And I kindly took her by the hands

And I led her into the rye/

../..- J. R. M.

CROMWELL'S FOLLOWERS (9 th S. ii. 209). W. S. L. will find information regarding English families settled in Ireland in Prender- gast's ' Crornwellian Settlement,' and he might also consult ' List of Adventurers for Lands in Ireland under Charles I.'. t R. B.

Upton.

Does W. S. L. know Mr. J. P. Prendergast's ' Crornwellian Settlement of Ireland'? The first edition appeared in 1865, and another, which I think was considerably enlarged, in 1870. EDWARD PEACOCK.

W. S. L. may find some information re- specting the above in ' The Irish and Anglo- Irish Landed Gentry,'by John O'Hart, Dublin, 1884. JOHN RADCLIFFE.

MORRIS'S COFFEE-HOUSE (9 th S. ii. 149). Was Morris's really a coffee-house 1 In the list of hotels, coffee-houses, &c., given in ' The Picture of London for 1803 ' is the following :

" Morris's, Kirkum's, and Grillon's Hotels, Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square. Accommodation- for Gentlemen and Families."

JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

OLD PRETENDER'S MARRIAGE (9 th S. i. 67). No reply to this query has yet appeared, but I have recently learnt that the following \yere present at the marriage, which was solemnized in a wing of the episcopal palace at Monte- fiascone on 1 Sept., 1719 : Sebastiano Pompili Bonaventura (Bishop of Montefiascone), Ales- sand ro Mazzinelli (abbate, and secretary to the bishop), Sebastiano Antonini (arch-priest of the cathedral, protonotario, and vicar- general), John Brown (of the Order of Preachers, and the Pretender's confessor), Mr. and Mrs. Hay, James Murray, Charles Wogan, and John O'Brien. Can any of your readers add to this list "? I should feel obliged by any information, especially if authorities are quoted. Are there any biographical notices or portraits of Father Brown, Mazzi- nelli, or Antonini ? W. S.

SWEATING-PITS IN IRELAND (9 th S. ii. 107, 157). These buildings are still fairly common, and such a structure is known as Teach-an-