J. Sansom.
Oxford.
The Laird of Brodie (Vol. viii., p. 103.).—I. H. B. mistakes, I think, the meaning of the lines. The idea is not that the Laird was less than a gentleman, but that he was a gentleman of mark; at least, I have never heard any other interpretation put upon it in Scotland, where the ballad of "We'll gang nae mair a-roving," is a great favourite. King James is the subject of the ballad. That merry monarch made many lively escapades, and on this occasion he personated a beggarman. The damsel, to whom he successfully paid his addresses, saw through the disguise at first; but from the king's good acting, when he pretended to be afraid that the dongs would "rive his meal pokes," she began to think she had been mistaken. Then she expressed her disgust by saying, that she had thought her lover could not be anything less than the Laird of Brodie, the highest untitled gentleman probably in the neighbourhood: implying that she suspected he might be peer or prince.
W. C.
Mulciber (Vol. viii., p. 102).—It may not be a sufficient answer to Mr. Ward's Query, but I wish to state that there was no "Mayor of Bromigham" until after the passing of the Reform Bill. I think that it may be inferred from the extract given below, that the mayor was no more a reality than the shield which he is said to have wrought:
"His shield was wrought, if we may credit Fame,
By Mulciber, the Mayor of Bromigham.
A foliage of dissembl'd senna leaves
Grav'd round its brim, the wond'ring sight deceives.
Embost upon its field, a battle stood,