(Vol. ii., p. 375.)

Your correspondent J. Mt. has great reason to congratulate himself on the possession of the singularly curious tract which he describes, and which gives an autobiography of this extraordinary adventurer. I am not aware of any other copy in any public or private collection. I have a 4to. tract in nineteen pages, evidently printed abroad, the title of which is—

"Balthazar Gerbier, Knight,
to
All Men that love Truth."

This gives a very interesting life of him by himself, perfectly distinct from, and containing many particulars not given in the tract possessed by your correspondent, which also contains matter not in the above. I have likewise another tract, privately printed in Holland in English, French, and Dutch, in fifteen pages 12mo., the English title to which is—

"A true Manifest,
By S^r B. Gerbier.
Anno
1653."

In this, which gives some curious particulars as to "Mr. Hughe Peeters," and the book entitled The Nonsuch Charles, he refers to another "little manifest" published on the 2nd day of October, 1652, "that the world might take notice that he was not at all invested with any foreigne engagement." Of the tract so referred to, I regret to say no copy is known. None of the other three tracts appear to have been seen by Horace Walpole, who had collected a great number of Gerbier's pamphlets, and also the MS. next mentioned, which, at the Strawberry Hill sale, came together into my possession. The MS. contains the original appointments of Sir Balthazar to the offices he held while in England, a pedigree of his family beautifully emblazoned, and a large quantity of MS., prose and poetry, in his autograph; including a most extensive collection of projects and proposals, which seem to have been equally at the service of England or France. The best account we have of Gerbier is that which Horace Walpole has supplied in the Anecdotes of Painting (see Works, vol. iii. p. 189.); but his diplomatic negotiations, and his career as an artist and adventurer, never forgetting his academy at Whitefriars and Bethnal Green, would furnish matter for a very amusing volume. The general biography, however, to which he would be most appropriately remitted, and which is still a desideratum in literature, is that which is proposed by Dr. Johnson, in Chalmers's admirable parody:

"I think a good book might be made of scoundrels. I would have a Biographia Flagitiosa, the Lives of Eminent Scoundrels from the earliest accounts to the present day."

Jas. Crossley.

THE TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.

(Vol. ii., p. 519.; Vol. iii., p. 117.)

Is not your correspondent J. Me. in error when he says the original travels of the Baron were written to ridicule Bruce? I think this will only apply to the second volume, or "Sequel," seeing that there exists an edition of Gulliver Revived, printed at Oxford, 1786, four years before Bruce published. J. Me. further remarks, that there was at one time reason to believe that James Graham was the author of the well-known book in question, but that circumstances have come to his knowledge altogether precluding the possibility that the author of The Sabbath and The Travels of Baron Munchausen are identical.

To me it appears there were two of these James Grahams, and that from their being contemporaries, they are usually rolled into one. I have in my library a volume containing Wallace, a Tragedy, Edinburgh, 1799; and Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, an Historical Drama, Edinburgh, 1801, which appears to have belonged to Mr. George Chalmers, upon the titles of which that gentleman has written, "by James Graham, Advocate, Edinburgh, son of T. Graham, a writer of reputation in Glasgow."

From this one would think Mr. Chalmers had the author of The Sabbath in his eye: a conclusion, however, difficult to come to in the face of a critique which thus characterises the tragedy of Wallace:

"The play is not uninteresting, and the author has exhibited occasional proofs of poetical genius; but there are some passages in the piece that fall little short of blasphemy:"

—a charge which, of course, could never apply to this "lovable" and subsequently reverend author of The Sabbath, a poem breathing the humblest piety, and published only five years after Wallace; consequently here is, in the author of the tragedy of Wallace, another James Graham at the service of J. Me., to whom, if his other proofs are strong, the Baron may be assigned with more probability.

I may add, taking it for granted that Chalmers was right in claiming these two plays for a James Graham, that there is the strongest corroborative proof of there being two of the name in the existence of Mary Stewart, a Dramatic Poem, the acknowledged performance of the author of The Sabbath (see his Poems, 2 vols. 1809), a production differing in title, and bearing no resemblance, I should think, to the first named.

While upon the subject, and presuming that the tragedy of Wallace is known to J. Me., I may take the opportunity to ask him, as he is ayont the Tweed, whether there is really any authority for the assertion contained in the Abbotsford Library Catalogue, and also in that of Constable's Library, sold in 1817, that of this anonymous tragedy of Wallace there were only six copies printed? Upon the face of mine there is nothing to indicate its rarity, it being an octavo, printed for A. Constable; but the remarkable book may be some other: your correspondents will, however, I dare say, be able to enlighten me.

A Collector.

Baron Munchausen (Vol. ii., p. 519.).—As it was nearly thirty years since I had seen the Percy Anecdotes, I was obliged to speak doubtfully of having derived from that work the statements that the author of Munchausen was a Mr. "M——," and that he was a prisoner in France. Accident has within the last few days thrown in my way the very volume of the Anecdotes in which this is stated (vol. v., Anecdotes of Captivity, p. 103.); and I find that I was mistaken only in supposing "M——'s" place of confinement to have been the Bastile, whereas the time is said to have been the Reign of Terror, and therefore of course the Bastile cannot have been the place.

J. C. R.