Preface. xiii

The controversy over the oath of a justice introduced the wider question
as to the extension of the English Statute Law to the Province. To influence
public opinion in this discussion, David Dulany wrote and William Parks
printed, in 1728, a pamphlet entitled, " The Right of the Inhabitants of Mary-
land to the Benefit of the English Laws." (This was reprinted from the
copy in the Society's Library as an appendix to St. George L. Sioussat's
" English Statutes in Maryland " in Series XXI of the Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity Studies in Historical and Political Science for 1903.) In this mono-
graph the author treats of the controversy, to which the text of the Assembly
Proceedings gives many references. (In the same volume of the Studies is
found Dr. Sioussat's "Economics and Politics in Maryland 1720-1750 and
the Public Service of Daniel Dulany the Elder.")

We possess an amusing contemporary account in verse of the Session of
1729, in Ebenezer Cook's " Sotweed Redivivus, or the Planter's Looking
Glass " (printed by Parks in 1730 and reprinted in Fund Publication, No. 36,
of the Society). Cook's Elegy on the Hon. Nicholas Lowe, which appeared
in the Maryland Gazette for December 17-24, 1728, is also reprinted in Fund
Publication No. 36. Cook there signs his name with the title " Laureat," and
one conjectures that Governor Calvert may have given him some right to
such a title. Parks not only established about this time the Maryland Gazette,
the first newspaper published in the Province, but also put his imprint, in
1728, on the first work printed in Maryland in a foreign language, the " Mus-
cipula: The Mouse Trap, or the Battle of the Cambrians and the Mice,"
written in Latin by Edward Holdsworth and translated with notes by R. Lewis,
who was a schoolmaster at Annapolis " who formerly belonged to Eton." The
poem is prefaced by a laudatory dedication to Governor Calvert. (Muscipula
has been reprinted in Fund Publication No. 36.) Lewis is also the author
of a poern entitled, "A Description of Maryland " (printed in American Mu-
seum, Vol. 6, 1789, at page 413), addressed to Lord Baltimore in 1732.
A copy of the original edition of Muscipula was sent by Governor Calvert to
his friend, Thomas Hearne, with a letter, dated March 18, 1728/9, in which
a description of the Province is given. (See io Hearne's Collections, 109, in
Publications of Oxford Historical Society, reprinted in n Md. Hist. Mag.
283.) Hearne notes in his Journal the printing, in the newspapers for Janu-
ary 4, 1728/9, Governor Calvert's speech at the opening of the Assembly of
1728. (io Hearne, 142 reprinted in n Md. Hist. Mag. 284.) Information
in regard to legislation concerning the position of the clergy during Governor
Calvert's administration may be found in 2 Hawks' " Ecclesiastical Contri-
butions," 207 and Perry " Historical Collections Relating to the American
Church," 262 to 311.