76 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2-i S. IX. Feb. 4. '60. 



important augmentation to the recently published 

 Rubens' Papers, viz. one dated " Louanii xii. Kal. 

 Jun. mdci.," commencing : " Annus est mi frater 

 cum Italia te abduxit," etc. Another from the 

 same to the same, dated " Patavii Idib. Dec. 

 mdci.," beginning : " Prima votorum Italiam vi- 

 dere," etc. Another from the same to the same, 

 dated " Patavii Idibus quintil. mdcii.," which com- 

 mences thus : " Fabulam narras vel potius agis 

 mi frater," etc. 



Philip was the author of some pieces addressed 

 to his brother : one, a kind of epithalamium, with 

 this heading, " Petro Paullo Rubenio Fratri suo 

 et Isabella? Brantise nuptiale fcedus animo et stilo 

 gratulatur." Another dedicated "Ad Petrum 

 Paullum Rubenium navigantem," sent to him 

 " three years since (as he mentions), when he went 

 into Italy out of Spain." 



I would by way of Query inquire the date of 

 this paper, as I find no mention of the great ar- 

 tist being in Spain at so early a period. To 

 conclude, I cannot refrain from adding the flat- 

 tering testimonial given to him by that prince of 

 scholars Justus Lipsius : — 



" Omnis ordo, 

 Quisquis hsec leges. 

 Ex fide et vero scies scripta. Philippam Rubenium dorao 

 Antverpia, annos P. M. quatuor in domo et contubernio 

 meo egisse, mensse participem, sermonis et discipline. 

 Probitatera a natura et modestiam attulisse, item semina 

 aliqua doctrinse, qua? immane quantum in spatio illo 

 brevi auxit: Latina et Grseca literatura promptus, utrave 

 orationis sive scriptione disertus, soluta et nexa. His- 

 torian et antiquitatem addidit et quicquid boni bonitate et 

 celeritate ingeuii hausit, judicio direxit. Adeo supra rem 

 nihil adstruo, ut pro re non dicam. Vis fidem? experire 

 et sub modestiae illo velo, sed paulatim relege, quae dixi 

 et qua: non dixi. O vos quibus virtus et honor curse, 

 carum hunc habete, producite, applaudite: ita utraque 

 ilia vos respiciant, et hunc Fortuna, qua: pro mentis non- 

 dum risit. Scripsi et signavi 



" Justus Lipsius, Professor et llis- 

 toriographus Regius Lovanii, xv. 

 Kal. Oct. mdci." 



Cl. Hoppeb. 



GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. 



On looking into the alleged letters of Logan of 

 Restalrig, as they were for the first time correctly 

 given in Mr. Pitcairn's Criminal Trials (Part n. 

 vol. ii.), there are some things not easy to be re- 

 conciled with their genuineness. One of them 

 bears to be dated at Fastcastle, which is in Ber- 

 wickshire, upwards of- forty miles from Edin- 

 burgh ; and though the name is not given of tbe 

 party to whom it was sent, that party was evi- 

 dently Alexander Ruthven, the Earl of Gowrie's 

 brother. It contains this passage : — 



" Qhen ye hav red, send this my letter bak agane with 

 ye berar, that I may se it brunt myself, for sa is the 

 fasson in sik errandis, aud if ye please, vryt yowr an- 

 swer on the bak hereof in case ye vill tak my vord for 

 the credit of the berar." 



It is added afterwards : " For Godds cause 

 keep all things very secret." 



This letter, it is professed, was sent by the per- 

 son called " Laird Bour," Logan's confidential 

 servant ; and on the very day of its date in Ber- 

 wickshire, appears another letter from Logan to 

 Bour himself, committing the other to his charge, 

 and dated from the Canongate of Edinburgh. This 

 last apparent incongruity may possibly admit of 

 explanation, though it is not easy to see how ; 

 but, letting that pass, there remains to be ex- 

 plained — 



1. How came Logan either to trust the letter 

 to Bour, and much more, how came he to write 

 to him, when the indictment itself bears (see p. 

 280. of the volume), that Bour was literurum 

 prorsus ignarus, confirmed by what is afterwards 

 said of Bour on p. 257., " he could not read 

 himself." 



2. Is it at all probable that, after the death of 

 the Earl of Gowrie and his brother, Logan, who is 

 represented as so anxious to destroy the letter 

 immediately after it had served its purpose, should 

 not have done so without at least any farther de- 

 lay, seeing the risk he personally ran by its pre- 

 servation ; yet — 



3. Not only does he not appear to have looked 

 after it, but to have allowed this confidential ser- 

 vant, Mr. Bour, to take it (without returning it 

 to himself) to Sprot the notary, in order that 

 Sprot might decipher it for Bour's information ; 

 and — 



4. Logan lived six years afterwards, and al- 

 lowed Sprot to keep possession of it all along. 



Some of your readers, who take an interest in 

 this mysterious subject, may perhaps be able to 

 find a clue for unravelling this piece, so as to put 

 it in keeping with King James's account of the 

 business. G. J. 



FIRELOCK AND BAYONET EXERCISE. 



At a time when the rifle and sword-bayonet 

 have caused the introduction of new evolutions in 

 France, and will, I have no doubt, ultimately 

 work a revolution in our own army, your mili- 

 tary readers may be interested by the following 

 document found amongst a mass of papers con- 

 nected with the army in Ireland in the seven- 

 teenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries, 

 preserved in the Ormonde Muniment Room at Kil- 

 kenny Castle. James Graves, A.B. 

 Kilkenny. 



The Exercise of the Firelock and Bayonett. 



Words of Comand. 



Take Care. 



1. Joyne your. Right hand to y r 

 Firelocks - - 1. 



2. Poise your Firelocks - - 1. 



3. Joyne yo r left hand to yo* Fire- 

 locks - - - 1. 



