Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/426

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. x. NOV. 21, wu.


Berkeley is shown by his support of the Bermuda scheme, though it is clear that, like the Govern ment and the wits of the day, he had suffered himself to be bewitched in the matter by Berkeley's eloquence and charm, for, in answer to a scathing .and clever criticism of the scheme from one Willian Byrd, a wealthy and cultivated Virginian, he has mighty little to say. But his own chief public work, the care of the colonization of Georgia in all that was required to be done for it in this country, must, one cannot but think, have owec . something of its steady zeal and generous far- sightedness to the peculiar inspiration derived from Berkeley and from Berkeley's example. Not the least pleasing passages in the corre- spondence considering the characters of the two men are those relating to Percival's manage- ment of some of Berkeley's pecuniary affairs.

The letters break off while the two friends are still in their prime. We could have wished for them to continue over some part of the eighteen years which Berkeley spent at Cloyne a period for which the details known are delightful indeed, yet hardly copious enough for the satisfaction of the philosopher's admirers. Dr. Rand gives from Percival's Journal the scanty extracts bearing on Berkeley, which yet suffice to attest that their friendship remained unbroken. Berke- ley, it will be remembered, survived Percival for some five years.

The Scottish Historical Review : October, (Glas- gow, MacLehose & Sons, 2s. 6d.) THIS is a very interesting number. Mr. J. D. Mackie opens with ' Scotland and the Spanish Armada,' and shows that although her share in the event limits itself to dealing with the few weather-beaten ships which managed to reach

her shores," yet Scotland was vitally concerned,

and was during the whole period from 1580 to 1588 a most important card in the diplomatic game in Europe," being " the hinge upon which these world -politics turned."

The next article, by Sir P. J. Hamilton-Grierson, treats of ' The Boundary Stone and the Market Cross.' He states that " the evidence seems to show that the borderland was a holy ground, a neutral territory, within which those who belonged to different communities i.e., strangers, and, because they were strangers, enemies met with one another for the purpose of trading, without fear of violence or robbery, so long, at all events, as the trading lasted." The trading probably took place at the boundary stone itself, so that the symbol of the market-place may have been in origin the symbol of the boundary and its neutrality. Many market crosses were Christian crosses from the time of their erection, and were in some cases planted by the Church as substi- tutes for the old pagan monoliths. " Still, the question remains whether some of the stones, now crosses in appearance, were not originally the objects of heathen worship, and dp not owe their existing form to attempts by their votaries to give them the shape of a living body."

Mr. David Baird Smith gives an account of the career and work of John Barclay. " He was the only child of William Barclay, of Pont-a- Mousson and Angers, and his French wife. His father, a man of fine character and high attain- ment, gained a European reputation as a political theorist, and his treatises ' De regno et regali


potestate ' and ' pe potestate Papas ' mark important stages in the development of the doctrine of the divine right of kings." The work which his son John has left " serves to define him as a polilique and moralisle in the French sense of the terms." His most important work, the ' Argenis,' published after his death, " stands by itself. It is a political romance with a peculiar character, and has features which* mark it off from the work f of Harrington and More, Sidney and Fdnelon." There is a legend that the 'Argenis ' was one of Richelieu's bedside books, and was in fact his favourite political manual. This Mr. Baird Smith does not consider to be well founded, " but it is true in the sense that the political principles set forth in Barclay's romance found frequent expression in the policy of the great French statesman of the succeeding generation." " The ' Argenis ' was treated by the author's con- temporaries as a roman d clef, and all the editors of the Latin text have furnished their readers with keys in which an attempt is made to identify the characters with real persons ; but the attempt is doomed to failure, and adds nothing to the interest of the story. It is easy to identify Philip of Spain, the Duke de Guise, and one or two other actors in the French Wars of Religion ; but Henry of Navarre appears now as one character and now as another, and the father of the heroine, a benevolent, dignified, wise, ami weak old king, has more of our King James I. than of the last of the Valois. Argenis herself is undoubtedly France, and in his portrait of this charming and spirited girl Barclay achieved a masterpiece, and repaid a hundredfold his debt to the country of his exile."

There is also an article on the battle of Bannock- burn, in which the Rev. Thomas Miller ventures to construct a new theory of the battle which seems to him compatible with the authorities on which Mr. W. M. Mackenzie relies " in his inge- nious and revolutionary theory," and " also in harmony with new evidence and other lecords." Mr. George Neilson continues his editing of Scotstarvet's ' Trew Relation.'


to 0msjr0tttonts.


ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

R. HOWARD H. COTTERELL, of Foden Road, Walsall, would be obliged to Ii. A. A.-L. and G. F. R. B. if they would communicate to him any information they may have received in answer to their queries ante p. 148 (Clement Cotterell) and p. 131 (Charles Cotterell) rr>]- ively. He is in possession of much material onnected with the Cotterell family, and may be able to give additional particulars.

MR. H. SIIAMU. Many thanks for very interest- ng communication. Another correspondent had anticipated it by a note which appears ante,

Miss Fox-PowYS. For explanations of the svords "Boches" and "Alboches" see ante, pp.

  • 67, 416, 417.

G. W. E. R., MR. J. E. RADCLIFFK, and Pi CIPAL SALMON. Forwarded.