The Ship of Fools | Page 7

have declined
republishing the 'Ship of Fools,' a folio volume of great rarity and high
price. Our probable demand would not have been more than for a
hundred copies, at the price of 12 guineas each. The delivery of eleven
copies to the public libraries decided us against entering into the
speculation."
A wider and more eager interest is now being manifested in our early
literature, and especially in our early popular poetry, to the satisfaction
of which, it is believed, a new edition of this book will be regarded as a
most valuable contribution. Indeed, as a graphic and comprehensive

picture of the social condition of pre-Reformation England; as an
important influence in the formation of our modern English tongue; and
as a rich and unique exhibition of early art, to all of which subjects
special attention is being at present directed, this mediæval
picture-poem is of unrivalled interest.

NOTICE
OF THE
_Life and Writings of Alexander Barclay_,
THE TRANSLATOR OF BRANDT'S SHIP OF FOOLS.

ALEXANDER BARCLAY.
Whether this distinguished poet was an Englishman or a Scotchman has
long been a _quæstio vexata_ affording the literary antiquary a suitable
field for the display of his characteristic amenity. Bale, the oldest
authority, simply says that some contend he was a Scot, others an
Englishman, (Script. Illust. Majoris Britt. Catalogus, 1559). Pits (De
Illust. Angliæ Script.,) asserts that though to some he appears to have
been a Scot, he was really an Englishman, and probably a native of
Devonshire, ("_nam_ ibi ad S. Mariam de Otery, Presbyter primum
fuit"). Wood again, (Athen. Oxon.), by the reasoning which finds a
likeness between Macedon and Monmouth, because there is a river in
each, arrives at "Alexander de Barklay, seems to have been born at or
near a town so called in Somersetshire;" upon which Ritson pertinently
observes, "there is no such place in Somersetshire, the onely Berkeley
known is in Gloucestershire." Warton, coming to the question
double-shotted, observes that "he was most probably of Devonshire or
Gloucestershire," in the one case following Pits, and in the other
anticipating Ritson's observation.
On the other hand Bale, in an earlier work than the _Catalogus_, the

_Summarium Ill. Maj. Britt. Script._, published in 1548, during
Barclay's life time, adorns him with the epithets "Scotus, rhetor ac
poeta insignis." Dempster (Hist. ecclesiastica), styles him "Scotus, ut
retulit ipse Joannes Pitsæus." Holinshed also styles him "Scot"! Sibbald
gives him a place in his (MS.) Catalogues of Scottish poets, as does
also Wodrow in his Catalogues of Scots writers. Mackenzie (Lives of
the Scots writers) begins, "The Barklies, from whom this gentleman is
descended, are of a very ancient standing in Scotland." Ritson (Bib.
Poetica), after a caustic review of the controversy, observes "both his
name of baptism and the orthography of his surname seem to prove that
he was of Scottish extraction." Bliss (Additions to Wood) is of opinion
that he "undoubtedly was not a native of England," and Dr Irving (Hist.
of Scot. Poetry) adheres to the opinion of Ritson.
Such contention, whatever may be the weight of the evidence on either
side, is at any rate a sufficient proof of the eminence of the individual
who is the subject of it; to be his birthplace being considered an honour
of so much value to the country able to prove its claim to the distinction
as to occasion a literary warfare of several centuries' duration.
We cannot profess to have brought such reinforcements to either side as
to obtain for it a complete and decisive victory, but their number and
character are such as will probably induce one of the combatants
quietly to retire from the field. In the first place, a more explicit and
unimpeachable piece of evidence than any contained in the authors
mentioned above has been found, strangely enough, in a medical
treatise, published about twenty years after Barclay's death, by a
physician and botanist of great eminence in the middle of the sixteenth
century, who was a native of the isle of Ely, at the Monastery of which
Barclay was for some time a monk.
It is entitled "A dialogue both pleasaunt and pietifull, wherein is a
godlie regiment against the Fever Pestilence, with a consolation and
comforte against death.--Newlie corrected by William Bullein, the
author thereof.--Imprinted at London by Ihon Kingston. Julij, 1573."
[8vo., B.L., 111 leaves.] "There was an earlier impression of this work
in 1564, but the edition of 1573 was 'corrected by the author,' the last

work on which he probably was engaged, as he died in 1576. It is of no
value at this time of day as a medical treatise, though the author was
very eminent; but we advert to it because Bullein, for the sake of
variety and amusement, introduces notices of Chaucer, Gower, Lidgate,
Skelton, and