CEBES.
[Dr. Jamieson, in his Scottish Dictionary, defines PRIMSIE, demure, precise, S. from E. prim.
"Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt
Was brunt wi' primsie Mallie."
Burns, iii. 129.]
Lady Flora Hastings' Bequest (Vol. iii., p. 443.).
—Were the beautiful lines entitled "Lady Flora's Bequest" in reality written by that lamented lady? They are not to be found in the volume of her Poems published after her death by her sister, the Marchioness of Bute; and they did appear in The Christian Lady's Magazine for September, 1839, with the signature of Miss M. A. S. Barber appended to them.
In the preceding Number of the same magazine there is a very touching account of Lady Flora, from the pen of its talented editress, who mentions the fact of Lady Flora having with her dying hand "delivered to her fond brother a little Bible, the gift of her mother, requesting him to restore it to that beloved parent with the assurance that from the age of seven years, when she received it from her, it had been her best treasure; and, she added, her sole support under all her recent afflictions."
If your correspondent ERZA has never seen that obituary notice (Seeleys, publishers) I think she will be glad to meet with it.
L. H. K.