April 3. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



329 



MAPS OF AFKICA. 

 (Vol. v., p. 261.) 



I do not know why, because a man publishes 

 maps of Africa at Gotha, they should not be 

 " fancy portraits," any more than why a man's 

 book should be a good one, because it is printed 

 on a composition which nobody but a German 

 would have the effrontery to call paper. 



I had seen Sprunei's Map a few weeks after 

 it came out, and the conclusion I came to about it 

 at the time was, that it was certainly a fancy 

 portrait, I shall be glad to be shown that I am 

 in error ; and, as I am more sure of the fact that 

 I did come to this conclusion after some examina- 

 tion, than I am of the argument whereby I 

 arrived at it — for my memory is singularly gifted 

 in this way — I should be obliged by E. C. H., 

 or any of your correspondents, informing me 

 what grounds there are for believing Spruner, 

 or any one else, to have produced a map or maps 

 of the north coast of Africa between long. 5° west, 

 and 25° east of Greenwich, or any portion of the 

 said coast, — said map or maps being the result of 

 actual survey. Moreover, if I further inquire 

 when any survey whatever took place of this 

 coast at any time, and profess my utter ignorance 

 of the history of our present North African maps, 

 and my great doubts of their credibility, let not 

 your correspondents imagine that this is one of a 

 few things that I ought to be acquainted with, 

 and really know nothing whatever about. Ajax. 



^t^liti t0 Miliar €Lntt\ti. 



James Wilson, M.D. (Vol. v., p. 276.).— To the 

 numerous list of men whose services to literature 

 our English biographers have injudiciously omitted 

 to record may be added James Wilson, M.D. As 

 editor of the Mathematical tracts of Mr. Benjamin 

 liobins in 1761, he has often been noticed with 

 commendation. Beyond that circumstance, all is 

 obscurity. 



He wrote, however, a valuable Dissertation on 

 the rise and progress of the modern art of naviga- 

 tion, which was first published by Mr. John llo- 

 bei tson in his Elements of navigation in 1764, 

 and republished by him in 1772. The authors 

 shall now speak for themselves : — 



" This edition [of the Eletnents of navigation'] is also 

 enriched with the history of the art of navigation ; for, 

 with the author's leave, I have published the following 

 dissertation on that subject, written by Dr. Wilson, 

 believing it would afford the most ample satisfaction on 

 that subject." — John Robertson, 1764. 



" My enquiries into these matters [navigation] in- 

 duced the late learned Dr. James Wilson to review and 

 complete his observations on the subject, and produced 

 his Dissertation on the history of the art of navigation, 

 which he was pleased to give me leave to publish with 



the second edition of tliis work. . . . ITie second 

 edition of tliese Elements having also been well received 

 by the public. Dr. Wilson took the pains to revise his 

 Dissertation, which he improved in many particulars." 

 — John IloBEKTsoN, Nov. 1, 1772. 



" This Dissertation, written at first by desire, is now 

 reprinted with alterations. Though I may be thought 

 to have dwelt too long on some particulars, not directly 

 relating to the subject ; yet I hope tliat what is so 

 delivered, will not be altogether unentertaining to the 

 candid reader. As to any apology for liaving handled 

 a matter quite foreign to my way of life, 1 siiall only 

 plead, that very young, living in a sea-port town, I was 

 eager to be acquainted with an art that could enable 

 the mariner to arrive across the wide and pathless 

 ocean at his desired harbour." — London. James 

 Wilson, 1771 ? 



The united libraries of Henry Pemberton, M.D., 

 F.R.S., and James Wilson, M.D., were sold in 

 1772. The sale occupied eighteen evenings, and 

 produced 701/. 17«. Qd. The learned writers, who 

 were intimate friends, died within seven months 

 of each other in 1771. Bolton Cobnet. 



History of Commerce (Vol. v., p. 276.). — As a 

 learned and lucid account of the early commercial 

 intercourse between Europe and the eastern 

 countries, I believe there is no work comparable 

 to that entitled Histoire du commerce entre le 

 Levant et T Europe depuis les croisades jusqud la 

 fondation des colonies d Amerique, par G. B. Dep- 

 ping. Paris, 1830. 8vo. 2 vols. This subject was 

 proposed in 1826, as a prize essay, by the Academie 

 royale des inscriptions et belles-lettres, and M. 

 Depping was the successful competitor. The prize, 

 a gold medal of the value of 1500 francs, was 

 awarded in 1828. M. le baron Silvestre de Sacy, 

 whose profound acquaintance with oriental history 

 and literature enabled him to detect some slight 

 errors in the work, thus concludes his review of it 

 in the Journal des savants : " Mais ces legeres 

 critiques ne m'empechent pas de rendre toute 

 justice a un travail veritablement estimable, et 

 digne de I'honneur qu'il a obtenu de I'Academie 

 des belles-lettres." Bolton Cobney. 



Ecclesiastical Geography (Vol. v., p. 276.). — 

 There is a work on this subject by I. E. T. "Wiltsch, 

 Handbuch der Kirchlichen Geographic and Sta- 

 tistik, Berlin, 1846, 2 vols. 8vo., which, in so far as 

 I have looked at it, appears to be carefully done. 



J. C. R. 



Butts Family (Vol. iv., p. 501.). — I read yes- 

 terday an article signed Cowgill, asking informa- 

 tion concerning the family of Butts, anciently of 

 Thornage, Norfolk. Sir William Butts, physician 

 to Henry VIII., and Dr. Robert Butts, my great- 

 grandfather, formerly Bishop of Norwich, were of 

 that family, and if your correspondent will com- 

 municate privately with me, I shall be happy to 

 receive from him, and communicate to him, any 



