Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/123

. iv. JULT 29,1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 99 in his capacity of Professor of Ancient Scottish History and Palieography in the University of Edinburgh. No attempt is made in its pages to deal with the events which make Scottish history in medueval and succeeding days the most tur- bulent and picturesque in Europe, nor with the grim struggle of the .Reformation. The aim of the writer is simply to show the condition, social, physical, and economic, of Scotland at or near the time of Mary Stewart—what, indeed, was the state of things out of which sprang the Scotland of to- day. Questions of religion and policy, adequately treated elsewhere, are thrust so completely into .the background that, after the introductory por- tion, the name of John Knox is but once mentioned and that of Mary Stewart herself but twice. As a companion to the student, however, the value of the work can scarcely be overestimated, and the picture of life, settled or vagabond, is of singular interest. In dealing, more tardily than we could have wished, with a work possessing strong claims on attention, we can but mention, as they rise, points of interest, and abandon the attempt to dp justice to the entire scheme of the author. Chap. i. 'is concerned with the appearance of the country at a time when the journey of a native of St. Andrews into Galloway or the Highlands would be attended by as many risks as in modern days would accom- pany an exploration of the sources of the Congo, and when, consequently, locomotion was rarely adopted without urgent necessity. Materials are more abundant than might have been anticipated, and besides the records of such experienced travel- lers as Lithgow, Pont, and Fyues Moryson, and historians such as Hector Boece, John Major, and George Buchanan, we have Information of varying trustworthiness. " from, /Eneas Sylvius in the fifteenth century to Dr. Johnson in the eighteenth," .including French visitors, who seem to have been more anxious to be courteous than sincere. Many comment upon the want of timber, the sneer of Sir Anthony VVeklon in 1617, that Judas could not •have found in Scotland a tree on which to hang himself, having been, if tradition may be trusted, transmitted in another form, a century and a half later, by Johnson. It is surprising, in view of the •late of things now existing, to learn that in pre- Reformation times the eel was the fish most com- •monly eaten in Scotland. On her arrival in Fife in 1538 Mary of Lorraine told her subsequent husband, James V., that she sever saw in France or elsewhere so many good faces as she saw that day in Scotland. Broadly .speaking, the most fertile parts of the country under cultivation were rAit to a similar use in the time of Mary. • A French physician notes about 1551 that provisions are as plentiful as anywhere else, and that nothing' Is scarce but money. .ICnea's Sylvius say* that a Scottish palace is inferior in comfort' ind luxury tb the house of a'Nuremberg burgher. At the close of the fourteenth century Kcliiilnirgh did not contain more than 400 houses, and. according to Froissart, was less than Tournai or Valenciennes. It was healthy, and impressed strangers favourably; but the inhabitants were "most sluttish, nasty, and slothful people," the visitor being constantly compelled to " hold his nose." It is curious to find the example of Glasgow anticipated in 1436, when it was enacted that drinking in taverns after nine o'clock should be punishable at law. In 1579 gambling and drinking on Sundays "in time of sermon" were punished. Sturdy beggars seem to have been as common ii> Scotland as " masterless men'' in England. The beggars in the English ballad, which seems incor- rectly quoted at p. 68, we always understood to be- actors or the like, rather than mendicants. A. description (p. 89) of the scene at- the town port is stirring. An application for leave to build a ship- in the kirkyard of the Trinity Friars (see p. 96) is very curious. Three pages later on we are intro- duced to a bishop, a remarkable specimen of the Church militant. Among the public amusements provided by the town officials seems to have been "the annual frolic of Robin Hood and Little John on the first of May." We might proceed far with quotations of the kind, but must stop. We havfr dealt with matter conducive to entertainment; but there is equally much behind tending to instruction, and edification. The book is, in fact, excellent id- all respects. County of Suffolk: its Hirtory as disclosed by Exitt- ing Records, etc. By W. A. Copinger, LL.D. Vols. II., III., and IV. (Sotheran & Co.) SINCE we first drew attention (10th S. ii. 218) to the splendid work begun by Dr. Copinger in his cata- logue of all materials for the history of the couniy of Suffolk existing in our great public and private depositories, three further volumes have been added. Judging from the progress that has been made, the four volumes carrying the alphabet from A to Soxam, it seems probable that the whole, instead of extending, as we anticipated, over six volumes, will be comprised in five. The latest volume, which contains over 482 pages, is, however, the bulkiest of the lot. Nothing in the shape of eulogy or comment has to be added to what has previously been said. The task is one of the most important ever accomplished by what may be- described as local patriotism, and is carried out with unflinching industry and integrity. It is next to impossible to convey an idea of the nature of the entries. Students of history, genealogy, and topography, for whom the work is principally intended, will, however, need no inatmiclion on th» subject. Under place-names such as Eye, Ipswich, and the like, the most numerous entries are found. Next, perhaps, in order, xed lonyo interralfo, come- 7>amea of families, such as Cavendish, Gage, or Henley, and then those of individuals. These last can scarcely be regarded as numerous, except in the- case of holdings of land. The reference concerning. "Gorleston, its history, 'N. & Q.,' xii. 286, 355,^ is technically correct. Trouble would, however, have been spared others besides ourselves.by th& insertion of 1" S. Nothing is further from our mind than to hint at shortcomings in so magni- ficent, public-spirited, and well-executed an under- taking. Under Cotton Manor we find the mention of Sir John Fastolf (tic). Crabbe the poet, miscalled by Byron " Nature's sternest painter, yet the best," is supplied with what is almost a bibliography as well as a reference to his pedigree. His 'In- ebrifejty,' a poem, was published at Ipswich in 1775. Romance seems near at hand when, under ' Outlaws in Suffolk,' we hear of a commission being appointed to inquire touching who assemble armed and lie in wait for John de Tudenhain, late sheriff of that county, and his bailiffs, to kill and maim them. Occasionally we come upon a significant entry such as " Newton Lothingland (now destroyed by sea)." Thomas Nash, the dramatist, born at Lowes- toft in 1564, is the subject of many entries, ajl