Part 4
In Salop he had the manors of Wem and Loppington, with many other lands and tenements; in Leicestershire the manors of Dalby and Broughton; he bought Dalby of the Duke of Buckingham, and after his death it passed to Sir Charles Duncombe, and descended to Anthony Duncombe, afterwards Lord Feversham. In Bucks he had the manor of Bulstrode, which he had purchased of Sir Roger Hill in 1686, and the manor of Fulmer, with other tenements. He built a mansion at Bulstrode, which came afterwards to his son-in-law, Charles Dive, who sold it in the reign of Queen Anne, to William, Earl of Portland, in whose family, now aggrandised by a dukedom, it still continues. And he had an inclination at one time to have become the purchaser of another estate (Gunedon Park), but was outwitted by one of his legal brethren. Judge Jeffreys held his court in Duke Street, Westminster, and made the adjoining houses towards the park his residence. These houses were the property of Moses Pitt the bookseller (brother of the Western Martyrologist), who, in his _Cry of the Oppressed_, complains very strongly against his tenant, the chancellor. Jeffreys's "large house," according to an advertisement in the _London Gazette_, was let to the three Dutch ambassadors who came from Holland to congratulate King William upon his accession in 1689. It was afterwards used for the Admiralty Office, until the middle of King William's reign.
"The house is easily known," says Pennant, "by a large flight of stone steps, which his royal master permitted to be made into the park adjacent, for the accommodation of his lordship. These steps terminate above in a small court, on three sides of which stands the house."
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
The birthplace of Judge Jeffreys should not be a matter of doubt. The old house at Acton in which his father lived, was in the parish of Wrexham, and close to the confines of that parish and Gresford. It was pulled down about seventy years ago, about the time when the present mansion bearing that same name was built. Twenty years ago there were several persons living in the neighbourhood who remembered that it stood in the parish of Wrexham.
Lord Campbell, in his _Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England_, vol. iii. p. 496., writes,--
"He (Judge Jeffreys) of whom such tales were to be told, was born in his father's lowly dwelling at Acton in the year 1648."
And he subjoins the following note:
"This is generally given as the year of his birth, but I have tried in vain to have it authenticated. There is no entry of his baptism, nor of the baptism of his brothers, in the register of Wrexham, the parish in which he was born, nor in the adjoining parish of Gresford, in which part of the family property lies. I have had accurate researches made in these registers by the kindness of my learned friend Serjeant Atcherley, who has estates in the neighbourhood. It is not improbable that, in spite of the Chancellor's great horror of dissenters, he may have been baptized by 'a dissenting teacher.'"
The fact is, however, and it is a fact known certainly twenty years ago to several of the inhabitants of Gresford and Wrexham, that no register has been preserved in the parish of Wrexham for a period extending from 1644 to 1662; and none in the parish of Gresford from 1630 to 1660. I may add that no such registers have been discovered up to this time.
TAFFY.
When the family of Jeffreys became possessed of Acton is uncertain, probably at a very early period, being descended from Cynric ap Rhiwallon, great-grandson of Tudor Trevor.
George Jeffreys, afterwards Chancellor, was born at Acton, and was sixth son of John Jeffreys and Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Ireland of Bewsey, near Warrington, in Lancashire. In 1708 the estate passed into the family of the Robinsons of Gwersyllt by the marriage of the eldest daughter and heiress of Sir Griffith Jeffreys. Ellis Yonge, Esq., of Bryny Orchyn (in the immediate neighbourhood), purchased the estate of Acton from the trustees of the said Robinson. The Yonges were in no way related to the Jeffreys, although bearing the same arms, as being also descended from the same tribe.
GRESFORD.
* * * * *
DUTCH ALLEGORICAL PICTURE.
(Vol. vi., pp. 458. 590.)
In answer to the obliging notice which your correspondent CUTHBERT BEDE (Vol. vi., p. 590.) has taken of my description of the Dutch allegorical picture, I beg to say that I agree with him, and admit myself to be mistaken in supposing the {47} middle picture described (Vol. vi., p. 458.) to represent St. John Baptist. On examining it again, I have no doubt it is intended to denote the Ascension of our Lord. The right hand is raised as in the act of benediction, and, as far as I can make it out (for the paint is here somewhat rubbed), the fingers are in the position of benediction described by your correspondent. I do not, however, concur in his suggestions as to the meaning of the figures on the frame of the picture; which is not shaped as a _vesica piscis_, but is (as I described it) a lozenge. The female figure, holding a flaming heart, is, I would say, _certainly not_ the Virgin Mary.
The appearance of my account of this picture in your pages has been the occasion of a very agreeable correspondence with the Editor of the _Navorscher_ (the Dutch daughter of "N. & Q."). That gentleman has taken a great interest in the subject, and has enabled me to decypher the mottoes on the scrolls which run across the three pictures on the right-hand wall of the room, which, in my former communication, I said I was unable to read.
The scroll on the picture nearest the fireplace contains these words:
"Trouw moet blÿcken."
That on the second picture, noticed by CUTHBERT BEDE, is,
"Liefde boven al."
And the scroll on the third bears the inscription, as I stated in my former communication,
"In Liefd' getrouwe;"
for so it ought to have been printed.
These, as the editor of the _Navorscher_ informs me, are the mottoes of three Haarlem Societies of Rhetoricians called, 1. "De Pelicaen," whose motto was, "_Trouw moet blÿcken_:" 2. "De Wyngaertrancken," whose motto was, "_Liefde boven al_:" and, 3. "Witte Angiren," whose device was, "_In Liefde getrouwe_."
I think you are entitled to have whatever information I may glean respecting this picture, as you so kindly inserted my description of it in your columns; and I have to thank you for procuring me the acquaintance and correspondence of the editor of the _Navorscher_.
J. H. TODD, D.D.
Trin. Coll. Dublin.
* * * * *
THE REPRINT, IN 1808, OF THE FIRST FOLIO EDITION OF SHAKSPEARE.
(Vol. vi., p. 579.)
In reply to the Query of VARRO, I beg to state that I possess the late Mr. Upcott's collation of the reprint of the first folio edition of Shakspeare. It consists of twenty-six folio leaves, exclusive of the fly-leaves, on the first of which occur the following notes in the handwriting of the collator:
"London Institution, "Moorfields, Dec. 25, 1821.
"Four months and twenty-three days were occupied, during my leisure moments, at the suggestion of our late Librarian, Professor Porson, in reading and comparing the _pretended_ reprinted fac-simile _First_ Edition of Shakspeare with the original First Edition of 1623. With what _accuracy_ it passed through the Press, the following pages, noticing 368 typographical errors, will sufficiently show.
WM. UPCOTT."
"MS. note written in Mr. Dawson Turner's transcript of these errors in the reprint of Shakspeare, edit. 1623.
"The contents of the following pages are the result of 145 days' close attention by a very industrious man. The knowledge of such a task having been undertaken and completed, caused some alarm among the booksellers, who had expended a considerable sum of money upon the reprint of Shakspeare, of which this MS. discloses the numerous errors. Fearful, therefore, lest this should be published, they made many overtures for the purchase of it, and at length Mr. Upcott was induced to part with it to John and Arthur Arch, Cornhill, from whom he expected a handsome remuneration; he received a single copy of the reprint, published at five guineas.
"N.B. This copy, _corrected_ by myself from the above MS., I sold to James Perry, proprietor of the _Morning Chronicle_, for six guineas: which at his sale (Part III.) produced 12l. 1s. 6d.
WM. UPCOTT."
At the end of the volume is written:
"Finished this collation Jan. 28, 1809, at three minutes past 12 o'clock.
WM. UPCOTT."
Upon comparing these remarks of Mr. Upcott with Lowndes' _Bibliographer's Manual_, p. 1645., col. 1., it will be seen that the latter was not accurately informed as to Perry's copy; Professor Porson having had no farther share in that laborious work than the recommending Mr. Upcott to undertake the collation, from which Perry's copy was subsequently corrected.
F. C. B.
* * * * *
PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.
_Le Grey and the Collodion Process._--As the claim to the invention of the collodion process is disputed, I think, in justice to MR. LE GREY, whom all will acknowledge as a talented man, and who has done much for photography, that the claims he puts forth, and which I give, should be known to your readers who have not got his work, as they are in direct contradiction to MR. ARCHER'S letter in your 165th No. In his last published work, page 89., he states:
"I was the first to apply collodion to photography. My first experiments were made in 1849. I used that substance then principally to give more equality and {48} fineness to the paper. I employed for that purpose a solution of iodide of potassium in alcohol of forty degrees saturated with collodion.
"In continuing these studies I was induced to apply this body upon glass, to obtain more fineness, and I was soon in possession of an extremely rapid proceeding, _which I at last consigned to the pamphlet that I published in 1850, and which was translated into English at the same time_.
"I had already at that time indicated the protosulphate of iron for developing the image, the ammonia and the fluorides as accelerating agents; and I was the first to announce having obtained by these means portraits in five seconds in the shade.
"The pyro-gallic acid is generally used now in place of the sulphate of iron that I had indicated; but this is wrong, that last salt forming the image much more rapidly and better, it having to be left less time in the camera.
"I believe, then, I have a right to claim for my country and myself the invention of this would-be English process, _and of having been the first to indicate the collodion, and of giving the best method that has been discovered up to the present time_.
"From the publication of my process, till my return from the voyage that I had made for the minister, I was little occupied in practising it, my labours on the dry paper having taken all my time. This has been used as a weapon against me, to make out that the first trials before setting out had been quite fruitless, as they had heard nothing more about it.
"Nevertheless, I have made my discovery completely public; and if I had practised it but little, leaving it to others to further develope, it has only been to occupy myself upon other works of which the public has still profited. It is then much more ungenerous to wish to take from me the merit of its invention."
G. C.
_Ready Mode of iodizing Paper._--The readiest way I have found of iodizing the beautiful paper of Canson Frères, is the cyano-iodide of silver, made as follows: Twenty grains of nitrate of silver may be placed in half an ounce of distilled water, and half an ounce of solution of iodide of potassa, fifty grains to the ounce, added to the silver solution. Cyanide of potassa may then be added, drop by drop, till the precipitate is dissolved, and the whole filled up with four ounces of water. This solution requires but a very few minutes' floating upon water containing a small quantity of sulphuric acid; and it is then ready, after a bath of nitrate of silver, for the camera, and will not present any of the disagreeable spots so noticed by most photographers. This paper is probably the best for negative pictures we have at present; although, if very transparent paper is required, oiled paper may be used for negative pictures very successfully; or paper varnished is equally good. The oiled paper may be prepared as follows: Take the best walnut oil, that oil having less tendency to darken paper of any other kind, and oil it thoroughly. It must then be hung up in the light for a few days, the longer the better, till quite dry. It may then be iodized with the ammonio-nitrate, the ammoniated solution passing more readily over greased surfaces. The varnished paper may be prepared by half an ounce of mastic varnish and three ounces of spirits of turpentine, hung up to dry, and treated as the oiled paper in iodizing; but both are better for resting a short time previous to iodizing upon water containing a little isinglass in solution, but used very sparingly.
As I have experienced the excellence of these preparations, I hope they may be useful to your photographic students.
WELD TAYLOR.
Bayswater.
_After-dilution of Solutions._--There are in general use two methods of preparing sensitive paper. In one, as in Mr. Talbot's, the iodide of silver is formed in a state of purity, before being rendered sensitive: and as, for this end, a small quantity only of nitrate of silver is necessary, a very dilute solution will answer the purpose as well, or even better, than a strong one; but by the other method, the paper being prepared with iodide of potassium only, or with some other analogous salt, the iodide of silver has to be formed by the same solution that renders it sensitive. Now as for every 166.3 parts of iodide of potassium 170.1 parts of nitrate of silver are required for this purpose, it is evident that a dilute solution could not be employed unless a very large bulk were taken, and the paper kept in a considerable time.
The after-washing is to remove from the surface of the paper the great excess of silver, which is of but little service, and prevents the paper from keeping.
WILLIAM CROOKES.
Hammersmith.
_Stereoscopic Pictures from one Camera._--Your correspondent RAMUS will easily obtain stereoscopic pictures by either of the following plans:--After the first picture is taken, move the subject, as on a pivot, either to the right or left, through an angle of about 15°; then take the second impression: this will do very well for an inanimate object, as a statue; but, if a portrait is required, the camera, after taking the first picture, must be moved either to the right or left, a distance of not more than one-fifth of the distance it stands from the sitter; that is, if the camera is twenty feet from the face of the sitter, the distance between its first and second position should not exceed four feet, otherwise the picture will appear distorted, and the stereosity unnaturally great. Of course it is absolutely necessary in this plan that the sitter do not move his position between the taking of the two impressions, and also that the distance between him and the camera be the same in both operations. {49}
In reply to the very sensible inquiry of SIMPLICITAS, there is an essential difference between the calotype of Talbot and the waxed-paper process, the picture in the first being almost entirely superficial, whilst in the latter it is much more in the body of the paper; this causes the modification of the treatment. A _tolerably-strong_ solution of (A_9O NO_5) nitrate of silver is required to decompose the (KI) iodide of potassium, with which the paper is _saturated_, in any reasonable time, but if this were allowed to dry on the surface, stains would be the inevitable result; therefore it is floated in distilled water, to remove this from the _surface_; and it seems to me that the keeping of the paper depends on the greater or less extent to which this surface-coating is removed. There can be no doubt that the paper would be far more sensitive, if used immediately, without the washing, simply blotting it off; but then the great advantage of the process would be lost, viz. its capability of being kept.
WILLIAM PUMPHREY.
_Camera for Out-door Operations._--I should be glad to see a clear description of a camera so constructed as to supersede the necessity for a dark room. Such a description has been promised by DR. DIAMOND (Vol. vi., p. 277.); and if he could be induced to furnish it at an early period, I at least, amongst the readers of "N. & Q.," should feel much additionally indebted to him.
E. S.
* * * * *
"'TWAS ON THE MORN."
(Vol. vi., p. 556.)
This is a very celebrated Gloucestershire ballad, which though at one time popular, is, I believe, rarely heard now. I have before me an old and much mutilated broadside of it, which, at the conclusion, has the initials "L. & B." I presume the words are wanted, and therefore send them; and not knowing whether the tune has been published, will also forward it, if wished for by your querist.
1.
"'Twas on the morn of sweet May-day, When Nature painted all things gay, Taught birds to sing, and lambs to play, And gild the meadows fair; Young Jockey, early in the morn, Arose and tript across the lawn; His Sunday clothes the youth put on, For Jenny had vow'd away to run With Jockey to the fair. For Jenny had vow'd away to run With Jockey to the fair.
2.
The cheerful parish bells had rung, With eager steps he trudg'd along, While rosy garlands round him hung, Which shepherds us'd to wear; He tapt the window: 'Haste, my dear;' Jenny impatient cry'd, 'Who's there?' ''Tis I, my love, and no one near; Step gently down, you've nought to fear, With Jockey to the fair.' Step gently, &c.
3.
'My dad and mammy's fast asleep, My brother's up, and with the sheep; And will you still your promise keep, Which I have heard you swear? And will you ever constant prove?' 'I will, by all the Powers above, And ne'er deceive my charming dove. Dispel those doubts, and haste, my love, With Jockey to the fair.' Dispel, &c.
4.
'Behold the ring,' the shepherd cry'd; 'Will Jenny be my charming bride? Let Cupid be our happy guide, And Hymen meet us there.' Then Jockey did his vows renew; He would be constant, would be true. His word was pledg'd; away she flew, With cowslips tipt with balmy dew, With Jockey to the fair. With cowslips, &c.
5.
In raptures meet the joyful train; Their gay companions, blithe and young, Each join the dance, each join the throng, To hail the happy pair. In turns there's none so fond as they, They bless the kind, propitious day, The smiling morn of blooming May, When lovely Jenny ran away With Jockey to the fair. When lovely, &c.
H. G. D.
* * * * *
ALLEGED REDUCTION OF ENGLISH SUBJECTS TO SLAVERY.
(Vol. v., p. 510.)
The crime imputed to the Dutch authorities (that of reducing English subjects to slavery) is of so atrocious a character, that any explanation that should place the matter in a less offensive light, would be but an act of justice to the parties implicated. With this view I venture to submit to URSULA and W. W. the following conclusions which I have arrived at, after a careful consideration of all the circumstances.
I am of opinion that the writer of the letter in question (charging the Dutch Governor with the above mentioned offence) was the officer commanding the troops in the English division of St. Christopher; and, in that capacity, invested with the civil government. At that period, the {50} administration of our West Indian possessions was generally confided to the military commandants: our policy, in that respect, being different from that of the French, who have contrived at all times to maintain, in each of their colonies, an uninterrupted succession of Governors appointed from home.
The name of the Dutch Governor of St. Martin, to whom the letter was addressed, has not been ascertained. He was probably some buccaneering chief, who cared as little for the States-General as he did for the Governor of St. Christopher. If not actually engaged in the piratical enterprises of his countrymen, he certainly had no objection to receive, according to usage, the lion's share of the booty as a reward for his connivance.
It is very doubtful whether the outrage imputed, in this instance, to the Dutch Governor, was perpetrated, or even attempted. The buccaneers, English, French, and Dutch, began by uniting their efforts against the Spaniards. After a time they "fell out" (as thieves will sometimes do), and, turning from the common enemy, they directed their marauding operations against each other. It was doubtless during one of these that the Dutch captured the English ship in question; detaining the passengers and crew at St. Martin, in the hope of extorting some considerable ransom for their release. When, therefore, the English Governor threatened to complain to the States-General of the "reduction to slavery of English subjects," we must presume that, by the words "reducing to slavery," he meant to describe the forcible _detention_ of the passengers and crew; and that, in doing so, he merely resorted to the expedient of magnifying a common act of piracy into an outrage of a more heinous character, with the view of frightening the Dutch authorities into a compliance with his wishes, and obtaining the restitution of the property and subjects of his "dread Sovereigne Lord y^e King." The annals of that period are replete with similar adventures; and Labat relates several of them which he witnessed during a voyage to Guadaloupe in a vessel belonging to the French buccaneers. As to the English, the daring exploits of Sir Henry Morgan and his followers, and the encouragement which they received, both at home and in the colonies, show that _we_ were not behind our neighbours in those days of marauding notoriety.
HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia.
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
_Royal Assent, &c._ (Vol. vi., p. 556.).--
1. No such forms as those referred to by Clarendon are usual now.
2. The last time the prerogative of rejecting a bill, after passing both Houses of Parliament, was exercised, was in 1692, when William III. refused his assent to the bill for Triennial Parliaments. Two years after, however, he was induced to allow the bill to become the law of the land.
J. R. W.
Bristol.
_Can Bishops vacate their Sees?_ (Vol. v., p. 156.).--R. C. C., in his reply to this Query of K. S., writes, that he has never heard of any but Dr. Pearce who wished so to do.
There is another instance in the case of Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, who, having failed in his attempt to exchange his bishopric for some canonry or headship at Oxford, applied to the Secretary of State for his majesty's permission to resign his bishopric.
So extraordinary a petition excited his majesty's curiosity, and caused his inquiry from whence it came; when, learning that the person was his old acquaintance, Dr. Berkeley, he declared that he should die a bishop in spite of himself, but gave him full power to choose his own place of residence. This was in 1753.
The above is taken from Bp. Mant's _History of the Church of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 534.
RUBI.