J82l.] Nvtes written daring a late Residenee at Buenos Jijres. 305 



wlioin he says, " Jnstn ac legitima 

 regiia occiderunt;*' that is, there was 

 au end of legitimacy and legitimate 

 government. For Iiis successor, Tar- 

 quiu, he says, had no other right thair 

 tliat of force, " iit qni neqiie popnlt 

 jiissu neqiie auctorihus patjibiis reg- 

 narct;" he came to the crown by force, 

 Hot by legitimacy, which depends out 

 tlie election of the people; and per- 

 haps if he had lived in our times, 

 lie would have said, without the au- 

 thority of rarliament. Oiu- sove- 

 I'eigu is perhaps one of tlie few to 

 whom the legitimate rigiit of reigning 

 cannot be denied. Wherever a sove- 

 reign assumes the crown by force he 

 can lay no claim to " justa et legitima 

 regna;" that is, to legitimate govern- 

 ment ; and this use of the word by Livy 

 is sauctioned by the common sense of 

 all nations, thougli in some it may be 

 dangerous to express it ; and in our 

 own, there are not a few «'lio have for- 

 gotten the mode by M-hich the Bruns- 

 wick family were set on this throne, and 

 from which no claim of modem legiti- 

 mac}^, however sauctioned by the pre- 

 tended Holy Alliallc^, sliall ever ex- 

 clude them ; at least, such is the wish 

 of Your constant reader, 



POPLICOLA. 



the middle of tliis century lived Phi- 

 lippe Ganltier, who, in his poem en- 

 titled the Alexaudieis, addresses Da- 

 rius, in his fliglrt from Alexander, in 

 the following manner : — 



" Quo (endis inertem 

 " Rex periture fugura? nHscis heu perdite 



uesci.s, 

 "Quemfugies: hostes ixcurris, dum fugis 



bosce, 

 " Incidit in Scyllam, cuiiiens vitare Clia- 

 rybdim." 

 Legitimacy and legitimate govern- 

 ment are now terms in common use; 

 and, in my opinion, the persons who 

 use them in this country frequently 

 entertain sentiments wliicli may almost 

 be called treasonable. For the house 

 of Brunswick is happily seated on the 

 throne, not by the legitimate right, 

 (which the pretended Holy Alliance 

 seemio think requisite for a state to be 

 acknowledged by i() but by a much 

 higher authority, and a much better 

 claim. Ou this subject it ma)', perhaps, 

 be of use to slate what I know to be a 

 feet. A friend of mine was sent to Rome, 

 a few years ago, on a mission relative 

 to the Catholics in this country, which 

 lefl him to frequent communications 

 with Cardinal York, the lineal de- 

 scendant of James the Second, inherit- 

 *^ng, on the death of his brother, tlie 

 claim to the British throne. This 

 claim lie had no means of enforcing, but 

 *lie had medals struck to keep it in mc- 

 moiy, one of whicli he gave to my 

 friend, M'lio brought it to England, and 

 ' frequently shewed to me. The inscrip- 

 L tion on this medal was the same as on 

 J^ our coin, witli the exception of the 

 name, for, instead of George, it had 

 Henricus IX. Heniy the ninth, King 

 of Britain, &c. Now, I should like 

 to know, whether the King of Sardinia, 

 who inherits the claim, lias ever had a 

 medal struck on the occasion, and who 

 knows whether the Holy Alliance may 

 not, at some time or other, call the 

 proceedings in England in 1688 in 

 question, on the very same ground that 

 tney iiave interfered with the changes 

 that have taken place in Naples. 



But wlicnce did these terms legiti- 

 macy and legitimate government ori- 

 ginate ? They who use them are not 

 awan;, perhaps, of the classical autho- 

 rity tliat can be l)rought forward in 

 their support. The phrase is to be 

 found on a transaction in an early 

 part of the Roman government, whilst 

 it was under the domination of 

 kin}|s. Livy uses this phrase on the 

 murder of Servius Tullius, with 



For the Monthly Magazine. 

 NOTES written during a late Residence 

 at BUENOS AVRES, by an English 

 Gentleman, formerly of Benet Col- 

 lege, Cambridge. 

 (Contlmiedfrom No. 351, p. 129.^ 



THE power and numbers of the 

 priests are greatly diminislied 

 since the revolution ; their power, 

 from the piogress of knoMiedge, and 

 tlieir numbers, from many who favour- 

 ed the old Spanish goveni men t, having 

 been banished up the country. Their 

 increase is gtiarded against by a late 

 decree, which prevents any man from 

 taking tlie vows who is under forty 

 years of age. The great body of them 

 are ignorant, or at least know nothing 

 modem ; many barely know Latin, and 

 " as for classics, they ne'er miss 'em." 

 The Bishop* of Cliarcas, who was a 

 friar in Spain, is said by them to be the 

 only man in South America who knew 

 Greek. The Vulgate is the limit of 

 their knowledge, and half of tliem do 

 not know but that it is the original. 



Of their three vows, poverty, humi- 

 lity, and chastity, it is difficult to say 



* This man, Mora, archbishop of Char- 

 ca», died iu Tucumaii, in 1817. 



whicli 



