S"-! S. X Dec. 1. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



423 



ft frontispiece engraved by W. Marshall, who 

 flourished from 1635 to 1650. It is entitled — 



" Barnabaj Itinerarium, or Barnabee's Journall, under 

 tlie names of Mirtilus and Faustulus shadowed : for the 

 Traveller's Solace lately published, to most apt numbers 

 reduced, and to the old Tune of Barnabee commonly 

 chanted. By Corymbseus. 



»• The oyle of malt and jiiyce of spritely nectar. 

 Have made my Muse more valiant than Hector." 



Mr. Ilaslewood, as already shown, fixed the 

 date of the first edition about 1650, and in Bohn's 

 new edition of Lowndes it is given as " circa 

 1648 — 50." But from the following entry, which 

 I discovered in the Registers of the Stationers' 

 Company, its publication was ten or twelve years 

 earlier : — 



« 7th June, 1638 : 

 " JMr. Haviland entered for his copy under the hands of 

 Mr. IJaker and Mr. Apsley, Warden, a booke called 

 Baniahic Itinerarium, or Barnabee's Journall, &c." 



« 8th June, 1G38 : 

 " Robert Bostocke entered for his copy under the hands 

 of Mr. Baker and Mr. Apsle}', Warden, a booke called 

 Mr. Braithwaite his Anniversaries upon his Panarete." * 



The second edition of Barnabee's Journal was 

 in 1716, small 8vo., and took the name oi Drunken 

 Barnahy's Four Journeys to the North of Eng- 

 land. The third edition was in 1723, small Svo. 

 The fourth in 1786, small Svo. The fifth in 

 April, 1805, Svo. : the sixth in September of the 

 same year. The seventh, edited by J. Ilasle- 

 wooJ, in 1818, 12mo. ; and another, edited by the 

 same gentleman from the first edition in 1820, sq. 

 12 mo. 2 vols., of which only 125 copies were 

 printed. J. Y eg well. 



DATE OF CONTEST FOR " THE WHISTLE." 



Burns, in the Preface to his poem. The Whistle, 

 states that the contest took place on Friday, 16th 

 October, 1790; whereas his letter to Capt. Rid- 

 dell, written on the morning of the day on which 

 the bet was to be decided at Carse, is dated 16tli 

 October, 1789. 



Dr. Currie has stated that Burns was supposed 

 to have been umpire in the contest. The same 

 has been repeated by Allan Cunningham. 



Professor Wilson, in his admirable Memoir of 

 Bums, says, " Ae (Burns) was not at the Carse;''' 

 at the same time he does not account for the diflfer- 

 ence in the dates. 



At first it may appear presumptuous, or even 

 absurd, to call in question the accuracy of Burns 

 with regard to the date : but it is not impossible 

 that Dr. Currie may have made a mistake in the 

 date in Burns's MS. 



Be this as it may, I am able to settle the exact 



* According to the Bodleian Catalogue there is an 

 edition of his Fanarete, dated London, 8vo., 1634. 



date of the contest, and also to show that Burns 

 icas not appointed umpire. 



The original Bet for the Whistle came into my 

 late father's possession in 1809, and it is now in 

 my own safe keeping. It is in the handwriting of 

 Fergusson of Craigdarroch, who states that it is 

 " to be settled under the arbitration of Mr. John 

 M'Murdo : the business to be settled at Carse the 

 16th of October, 1789." 



It is signed by all the parties : " Alex. Fergus- 

 son, R. Laurie, Robt. Riddell," — these signatures 

 being followed by the following : — 



" John M'Mukdo accepts as Judge. 

 Geo. Johnston, Witness to be present. 

 Patrick Miller, Witness to be present if possible." 



This memorandum was drawn up at Cowhillt 

 10th Oct. 1789; and on the wrapper is written 

 by John M'Murdo -7- 



" The Bett decided at Carse, 



16"> Oc*. 1789. 

 Won by Craigdarroch, 

 he drank up"*' of 5 Bottles 

 Claret " 



Should the publication of the whole of the 



memorandum be considered desirable, I shall be 



hapyiy to send a copy of it : at present I do not 



wish to take more space in your valuable paper. 



Thomas H. Cromek. 



Wakefield. 



ANCIENT WRITINGS OF lONA. 



The Rev. Donald M^Nicol, A.M., minister of 

 Lismore, Argyleshire, in Remarks on Dr. Samuel 

 Johnsons Journey to the Hebrides (Chapman's ed. 

 Glasgow, 1817, 8vo.), discussing sundry topics re- 

 lative to Gaelic MSS. and literature, at p. 484. 

 refers tlie Doctor to 



"Dr. Alexander Campbell in Argyleshire (who) will, 

 among other things, make him acquainted with a very 

 old manuscript in Gaelic character, which makes a large 

 volume of a quarto size; and which, with a variety of 

 other subjects, gives a particular account of the t'euds 

 which had formerly subsisted between the families of 

 i Fion (or Fingal) and Gaul. Dr. Campbell is in every 

 other view a very respectable character, and his great 

 age, being now upwards of eighty years, has enabled him 

 in particular to acquire a very extensive knowledge of 

 the antiquities of his countrj'. He was told by his father, 

 the celebrated Mr. Colin Campbell, minister of Ardchat- 

 tan, a man eminent for learning in general, and for ma- 

 thematical and antiquarian knowledge in particular, that 

 the greatest part of the books of value belonging to 

 lona, in the latter centuries, were carried to Doway in 

 French Flanders, where the Scots had a seminary which 

 still continues. Here tlie curious will no doubt tind some- 

 thing worth the trouble of inquiry." 



Mr. M'^Nicol, in corroboration of his opinions, 

 adds : — 



" As for the antiquity of learning and writing in gene- 

 ral in Scotland, it is "universally acknowledged by all 

 nations; and notwithstanding the many misfortunes 

 which have befallen the works of our learned men, there 



