s appear to have been seen by Horace Walpole, who had
collected a great number of Gerbier's pamphlets, and also the MS. next
mentioned, which, at the Strawberry Hill sale, came together into my
possession. The MS. contains the original appointments of Sir Balthazar to
the offices he held while in England, a pedigree of his family beautifully
emblazoned, and a large quantity of MS., prose and poetry, in his
autograph; including a most extensive collection of projects and proposals,
which seem to have been equally at the service of England or France. The
best account we have of Gerbier is that which Horace Walpole has supplied
in the _Anecdotes of Painting_ (see _Works_, vol. iii. p. 189.); but his
diplomatic negotiations, and his career as an artist and adventurer, never
forgetting his academy at Whitefriars and Bethnal Green, would furnish
matter for a very amusing volume. The general biography, however, to which
he would be most appropriately remitted, and which is still a desideratum
in literature, is that which is proposed by Dr. Johnson, in Chalmers's
admirable parody:

"I think a good book might be made of scoundrels. I would have a
_Biographia Flagitiosa_, the Lives of Eminent Scoundrels from the
earliest accounts to the present day."

JAS. CROSSLEY.

* * * * *

THE TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.

(Vol. ii., p. 519.; Vol. iii., p. 117.)

Is not your correspondent J. ME. in error when he says the original travels
of the Baron were written to ridicule Bruce? I think this will only apply
to the second volume, or "Sequel," seeing that there exists an edition of
_Gulliver Revived_, printed at Oxford, 1786, four years before Bruce
published. J. ME. further remarks, that there was at one time reason to
believe that James Graham was the author of the well-known book in
question, but that circumstances have come to his knowledge altogether
precluding the possibility that the author of _The Sabbath_ and _The
Travels of Baron Munchausen_ are identical.

To me it appears there were _two_ of these James Grahams, and that from
their being contemporaries, they are usually rolled into one. I have in my
library a volume containing _Wallace, a Tragedy_, Edinburgh, 1799; and
_Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, an Historical Drama_, Edinburgh, 1801, which
appears to have belonged to Mr. George Chalmers, upon the titles of which
that gentleman has written, "by James Graham, Advocate, Edinburg