Skipper from Leith: A Life of Robert Barton of Over Barnton by W. Stanford Reid (review)

{•2 TI-IE CANADIAN HISTOHICAL REVIEW Somerset, 1625 to 1640: A County's Government duringthe "Personal Rule." ByTx•o•a__a.s Ga_VmE• Ba_m•s. Cambridge: Harvard University Press [Toronto: S. J. Reginald Saunders andCompany Limited].1961.Pp. xviii,369,maps. $9.00. IT mA COMMONPLACE thatCharles I's experiment in personal government founderedontherockof the"county organization." Thisbookisanattempt to explain howit happened in oneimportant county. In moregeneral terms it is a study of the organization andfunctioning of county government in Somerset at a time whenunusual, difficult, andunpopular duties werebeingimposed on justices, sheriffs, andotherofficials whose loyalco-operation wasessential forthesuccess of the King'spolicy The perioddifferssharpl fromthatwhichpreceded it. ß y Charles I began hisrei$•withanevident determination toputanendtothe indolence andneglect thathadprevailed underhisfather.His Bookof Orders envisaged a thorough overhaul andreformof the wholesystem of localgovernment .Magistrates andothers werecharged withduties andresponsibilities which wereeithernew,or hadbeenlargelyneglected for a generation or more;and it is clearfromProfessor Barnes' evidence thattheydidnotlikeit. Apartfromtheseduties, whichmanyof themdescribed asunprecedented andburdensome, theywereinvolved in the execution of themoreunpopular measures forraising money. Theloanof 1627aroused some discontent, butmost of it wascollected. Thelevyof shipmoney some years laterpresents a striking contrast. Opposition began assoon asit became evident thatthiswasto be a regular annual tax.Professor Barnes suggests thatthegrowth oftheopposition wasduein partto thefailureof theKingandcouncil to dealsternly withit assoon asit appeared. Just whattheycould have done isnotexplained. Strangely, in viewof all thathasbeenwrittenonthesubject, thelevywasnotopposed ontheground of itsillegality, orbecause it hadnotbeensanctioned byparliament .The collection wassimply frustrated. Against theendless devices which menunwilling to paycouldanddid adopt,thesheriff andhisassistants were helpless. By similar methods other unpopular measures, such theKing's attempt toreorganize themilitiawerenullified. Whathappened in Somerset wasperhaps typical of whatwashappening in othercounties. Studies of thekindfor otherpartsof thecountry, in particular for counties in whichthenewereconomic interests weremoreimportant, would beofgreat value. This book willserve inmany ways asamodel. D. J. McDoUGALL University ofToronto Skipper fromLeith:A Lifeof Robert Barton of OverBarnton. ByW. STANFORD Rzm.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 1962.Pp.334.$6.00. max-m Pm•:FACE TO Tins, thefirst f,,u.l,l-length study ofRobert Barton, Professor Reidpoints outthatin recent yearsthere hasbeen a tendency insome quarters, although bynomeans universally, toregard theProtestant ethicasoneofthe maior sources oftheriseofmodern industrial capitalism." It istheauthor's professed intention to testthisgeneralization by a studyof thecareer of a man whohassome claimto beingthe leading capitalist of theperiod whichimmediately preceded thecoming of;the Reformation toScotland. There isample materialfor sucha study;Barrenscareeris well documented, and Professor Reidhasmined bothpublished andunpublished sources most industriously. Bartonbegan asa merchant adventurer ofLeithintheearly years ofJames IV. His vmws 63 rise inthatadventurous monarch's favour was comparatively rapid, and Barton playeda majorpartin implementing James splansto turnScotland intoa naval power.After FleddenBartonbecame deeplyinvolvedin the confused politics of theminori of ames V; hissuccess asabusinessman ledto his.appointment as comptroller of •'e kingdom in 1516. He held the office until 1525, and again, briefly, in 1529-31, when hewastreasurer aswell,d,u•ing which timehe wrestled as successfully as anyone couldwith the Crownsinsoluble financial problems. All of thisis set downin the fullestpossible detail.Professor Reid givestheimpression of neverhaving discarded a note,andwhentheevidence is notsufficiently precise, he speculates. Thusthe book, particularly in itsearly chapters, contains many passages likethis(p. 64): Thathewasable tocarry onhis commercial ventures while serving thekinggives soraeindication of the destinations to whichhis exports traveled.No doubtmostof themhe d' osedof in Die e or Rouenwhichseemto havebeenhisprincipal ports ofcall atthis time. Aseco•P• place of business would seera to have been the Netherlands --Bruges, Middleburg, and Veere-whitherhe went occasionally on business œor thekingandwherehehadmanyfriends. Some of hisgoods mayalsohavetraveled as far astheBalticto whichhisbrother Johnseems frequently to havesailed andwhich he himself visitedat leastonce.All toldhistradeseems to havebeennotmerelyquite largein volume but alsoratherwidespread in itsdistribution. (Italicsmine. ) Thisis an informative book,butalsoa disappointing one.For themostpart it is sheerantiquarianism; Professor Reid hascontented himseN with a recital ofthefacts, without telling uswhat they mean. Theimplied pr ,o•nise ofthe Preface, to analyse the Weber-Tawney thesis in the lightof Barton s career, is left unfulfilled. The bookwill be consulted by students of sixteenth-century Scotland and by economic historians, Whocan quarrysomeusefulillustrative information outof it, though itsusefulness in thisregardis impaired by aninadequate Index.Professor Reidhasaddedto ourknowledge, but it cannot be saidthat he hasgreatlyfurthered our understanding of the periodof which he writes. MAURm•. L•.•.,JR. University of Illinois Jacobean Pageant: TheCourto[ KingJames I. ByG. P. V. Armmo. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press[Toronto: S...