438
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. JCXE 2, im.
the Werrington estate and influence having
passed to his cousin Humphry Morice (for
whom see 'D.N.B.,' vol. xxxix. pp. 44-6, and
- N. & Q.,' 2 nd IS. ix. 486 ;, 3 rd S. i. 422 ; 9 th S.
iii. 241), Bury did not offer himself at the general election of April, 1754. He can scarcely have been the Thomas Bury who died in 1802, as noted ante, p. 396, but was most probably his father. DUNHEVED.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
History of the Land* and their Owners in Galloway.
By P. H. M'Kerlie, F. S.A.Scot. 2 vols. (Paisley,
Gardner.)
Ix presence of these two handsome, well-illus- trated, and painfully erudite volumes, with their twelve hundred compact pages, it is easy to accept the statement contained in the preface to the first j volume that, considering the labour involved in | compilation and the private expenditure incurred ' in excess of the sum realized, "such histories can \ only be written by those whose time is not money." j From the appearance of the first volume in 1870 i until death interrupted the labours of the author, j the work had been gratuitously accomplished by Mr. M'Kerlie, who had declined to have anything to do with the publishing or to receive any share from | the sale of the work. Six years have elapsed since j the death of the writer, by whose daughter the whole is now given to the public. The most im- portant and valuable portion of the work is genea- logical, which fact, to those acquainted with the difficulties of Scottish pedigrees and the niceties of Scottish heraldry, will tell how thankless as well as arduous a task has been accomplished.
It is, of course, superfluous to say that Galloway, though not civilly recognized as a division of Scot- land, comprises the modern Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire, and at one time included por- tions of Ayrshire and Dunfermline. Its history in Roman times is that of the south of Scotland, and the opening pages relate to the various occu- pants of the district from the Goidels, the Cymri (sometimes called the Brythons), the Picts, and others; and it is not until p. 265 that, with an account of the parish of Kirkmaiden, the history of the lands and their owners begins. Till the tenth century Galloway formed a portion of the Strath- clyde kingdom. It then came under Norse rule, and it was not until the twelfth century that it became a portion of the kingdom of Scotland. Fergus, the first Earl of Galloway under David L, married Elizabeth, illegitimate daughter of Henry I., King of England. Alan, the last of the Lords of Galloway of the finst line of rulers so styled, and Constable of Scotland, died in 1234. " The present Earls of Galloway obtained the lands of Garlies about the beginning of the fifteenth century." With the lordship of Galloway they are said to have had no connexion.
Kirkmaiden, the parish first named, is, as the southernmost point of Scotland, mentioned by Burns under the name Maidenkirk :
Hear, Land o' Cakes and brither Scots.
Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groats.
With the account of the McDowalls or McDoualls r
reputed owners of Kirkmaiden from the earliest
time, begins the controversial matter which con-
stitutes the most valuable portion of the book.
Under Agnew, Dalrymple, and other names of the.
class, information of the most interesting and not
seldom the most disputatious kind is conveyed.
It is impossible, in anything short of a quarterly
review, to do justice to contents so varied and so
numerous as are herein given, or to afford an idea
of the task that has been discharged in the com-
pilation.
A change of creed is announced on the part of the lady by whom the finishing touches have been supplied. Since the points at issue have nothing to do with theology, this is a matter practically of no importance.
The Assemble of Goddes. By John Lydgate. Printed at Westminster by Wynkyn de Worde about the Year 1500. (Cambridge, University Press.)
THE work here reprinted in facsimile by M. Dujardin is one of the most interesting and the rarest in the University Library. It formed a portion of the famous volume of black-letter tracts given, with the rest of the library of John Moore, Bishop of Ely, by King George I. in 1715. So far as records extend, it is unique. The types employed" are Caxton's type 3 for the title, and Wynkyn de Worde's type 3, with final m and n, &c., from type 1, in the rest of the book. On the title-page, and again below the colophon, is given a rough woodcut illustration, taken, says Mr. Sayle, from Caxton's second edition of 'The Canterbury Tales,' and- showing Jupiter presiding over a crowded and uncomfortable banquet of the deities. On the recto of the last page is Caxton's printer's mark. In a dream the poet is taken by Morpheus to the assembly of the gods, where he sees, next to Dyana " in a mantell fyne,"
the god Jupyter in his demenynge. Full sad and wyse he seined sykefly. A crowne of tynne stood on his hede. Neither for its poetry nor for its display of classic lore is the 'Assembly' of great importance, and the chief interest of the book is bibliographical. Two hundred and fifty copies have, it is certified, been printed, the impressions of the plates have been rubbed off, and the negatives destroyed. These facsimile reprints constitute a delightful experiment of the University Press, and are worthy of hearty approval and encouragement.
The Magazine of Fine Arts. (Newnes.) THE latest number of this brilliantly executed periodical has an article bv Mr. Percy Bate on 'The Chalk Drawings of William Str'ang,' with thirteen illustrations, of which one is a beautiful lithograph. Among those of whom portraits are supplied are Dr. Story (Principal of Glasgow University), M. Alphonse Legros, and Dr. Furnivall. The other contents comprise an essay by Sir James Linton on the sketches of John Constable, with eight plates, including one reproduced in colour ; some curious Japanese masks; and 'The Portraits of Nattier,' with eleven plates, of which one is exquisitely reproduced in tints. The execution of the whole is marvellous.
