2n<i s. V. 119., ArRiL 10. '68.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



299 



flechit h la situation particulifere de rhomme qui avait 

 propose le projet. Un Emigre Fran9ais, qui ne s'est jamais 

 soumis au nouvel ordre deschoses, qui n'a jamais reconnu 

 Bonaparte, qui ne lui a jamais prete hommage, qui I'a 

 constamment regard^ conune usurpateur, assassin ou com- 

 plice et heritier des assassins de son Roi legitime, comme 

 ennemi de la nation Fran9aise, et obstacle au repos de 

 I'univers, peut former, sans etre un scelerat, le projet de 

 tuer cet liomme. II a le droit de ne voir en lui qu'un 

 ennemi declare, perpetuel et implacable, centre lequel, 

 place audessus de toutes les loix et de toutes les puni- 

 tions ordinaires, chaque genre d'attaque est juste, legitime 

 et permis. Cet homme pouvait etre aussi un parjure, un 

 assassin, un miserable ; mais il ne I'etait nullement, par 

 le simple fait de sa proposition ; comme emigre, la pre- 

 somption contraire militait plutot en sa faveur. M. Fox 

 avait le droit de lui dire : ' Je n'entre pas dans vos pro- 

 jets ; ils sont contraires h, mes principes ; ils me font 

 horreur. Si vous faites des demarches quelconques pour 

 les mettre a ex&ution, je vous ferai chasser de ce pays,' — 

 mais rien au monde ne I'autorisait h, le livrer h, la ven- 

 geance de Bonaparte. Cet homme n'dtait pas responsable 

 K M. Fox de sa manifere particulifere de voir et de sentir; 

 il s'etait rendu chez lui avec d6s intentions qu'il croyait 

 bienfaisantes pour I'Angleterre ; il avait annonc^ son 

 projet, 'comme le mnyen de tranquilliser toutes les cou- 

 roimes,' projet honorable en lui-meme, quelque repr(?hen- 

 sible qu'efit ete le moyen. Enfm, ce que M. Fox pouvait 

 faire, c'ctait tout au plus de le tirer de son erreur ; mais ce 

 n'etait pas h lui a, Ten punir." 



E. C. L. 



BIRDS -J3YE VIEWS OF TOWNS, ETC. 



(2-"^ S. V. 130. 198.) 



I feel much obliged by Mr. Bingham naming 

 La France Aerienne, as containing several birds'- 

 eye views of the towns of France ; but not having 

 seen this work, I am unaware if such views are 

 from ancisnt plans, or if they merely show the 

 towns as they now exist. I have in my collection 

 a very thick, and somewhat rare little volume, 

 called Les Delices de la France, published at 

 Amsterdam in 1677, which contains a map of 

 France and forty-three plans, and what may be 

 called birds'-eye views of the principal palaces, 

 castles, cities, and towns of France at that period. 

 Many of them are long folding plates, and they 

 are all very spirited and striking, although per- 

 haps on too minute a scale to show all the public 

 buildings properly. A work, somewhat akin to 

 this, was published in 1661, under the title of 

 Hermannida *, if I mistake not, which had curious 

 birds'-eye views of the principal towns in Great 

 Britain, but I could never fall in with a copy of 

 it. It Is to be regretted that all topographical 

 works, where their authors could procure them, 

 have not such interesting ancient views of the 

 towns they are writing about, as they would have 

 rendered their descriptions doubly valuable. In 



[* This work is by Rutgerus Hermannida, and is en- 

 titled, Britannia Magna, sive Anglice, ScotifB, Hibernice, et 

 adjacentium Insularum Geographico-Historica Descriptio. 

 Amstel. 1C61. 12mo.— Ed.] 



case the suggestion which I lately made as to the 

 expediency of publishing a volume of such things 

 should ever be carried out, it would afford much 

 assistance to the compilers, if a list of works could 

 be given in " N. & Q.," where such views are 

 engraved, and where they may be elsewhere seen, 

 and I now beg to add one or two as a commence- 

 ment. 



In Lawson's Book of Perth, 1847, there is a 

 view of Perth as it appeared before the Reform- 

 ation. In Frost's History of Kingston-on-Hull 

 are two very curious old views of that town. 

 There are several ancient views of Edinburgh, 

 such as that of Alexander Alesse, circa 1544, 

 preserved in the British Museum (MS. Cotton, 

 Augustus I. vol. ii. art. 56.) ; Gordon of Rothie- 

 may's two engravings of the town, circa 1645, and 

 his exquisite and large bird's-eye view of it, 

 engraved at Amsterdam by De Wit in 1647. In 

 Slezer's Theatrum Scotice, 1693, are several very 

 striking engravings of Edinburgh, and the prin- 

 cipal towns, palaces, and ecclesiastical antiquities 

 of Scotland at that period, but they cannot pro- 

 perly be called birds'-eye views. Other old 

 engravings of Edinburgh were also published at 

 different times, but those I have named are the 

 most interesting ones, and they are all exceed- 

 ingly scarce now. A facsimile of De Wit's large 

 view was engraved by Kirkwood of Edinburgh, 

 but the plate and most of the impressions were 

 unfortunately destroyed during the great fire 

 there in 1824. The large bird's-eye view of 

 London, circa 1560, if I remember rightly, pre- 

 fixed to Maitland's History of that city, is very 

 minute and striking. In the Penny Magazine, 

 January 31, 1836, there is a view of Birmingham 

 in 1640; and in Le Magasin Pittoresque for De- 

 cember, 1845, is a beautiful bird's-eye view of 

 Paris at the end of the sixteenth century. This 

 latter work, now a very voluminous one, I con- 

 sider not the least interesting in my collection, as 

 besides numerous other exquisite wood-cuts*, it 

 contains many of rare engravings and curiosities, 

 priceless works of art, the strange old maps of 

 the ancients, in facsimile, castles, cathedrals, and 

 other objects so dear to the heart of every true 

 antiquary. 



I have not at present the opportunity of con- 

 sulting topographical works, else I would have 

 added to the preceding list of birds'-eye and other 

 ancient views of towns, but it will gratify me 

 much should any others, who have greater facili- 

 ties than I possess, be induced to add to their 

 number, so that I and others may know where to 

 look for them in future. 



Before closing, I must express my obligations 

 to T. G. S. for the interesting details (ante, p. 

 176), as to the nature, purchaser, and prices of. 

 the late Lord Cockburn's pamphlets. It is to be 

 regretted, however, that they were not secured 



