Part 4

_Photography in the Open Air; Improved Camera._--In your Number 172, p. 163., there is a Note of mine in reference to the use to which thin sheet India rubber might be applied. I there alluded to the difficulties attending a single "portable camera," in which all the coating, developing, &c. of your plates is to be done; and for those gentlemen who have the means of carrying about with them a second box, I have devised a modification of Archer's camera, which I think, will prove very useful. It is one which I am about to make for myself. This second box is one in which, when travelling, I can pack my camera, frames, glasses, and chemicals. Having arranged your camera, you proceed to arrange the second box, or "laboratory." This laboratory has three short legs, which screw, or fasten by any simple contrivance, to it, so that it may stand a sufficient height from the ground to allow the bath, which fits in like the one in Archer's camera, to hang beneath it, and also that when working you may do so with ease. It is lighted by either yellow glass or India rubber. There are sleeves of India rubber for your arms, and the holes in the sides of the box traverse nearly the whole of the sides, for the purpose of moving your hands freely from one end of the box to the other; there is also an opening for the head. The bottom of the box is divided: about two-thirds of it, and the nearest to you, has a gutta percha tray, with the four sides, three inches high, fitting it quite tight; and in one corner a tube a few inches long, also of gutta percha, fixed to it, and passing through the bottom of the box, to allow the refuse washings to run off. In the middle of this tray a developing stand of gutta percha is fixed to the bottom, on which to lay the glass plates. The other one-third of the bottom of the laboratory is fitted thus:--There is a slit across the box, immediately before the wall of the tray, for the nitrate of silver bath to slip in. Immediately beyond the edge of the bath is a small fillet of wood running across the box parallel with the bath, and so placed that if the bottom of the dark frame to contain the glass plate is rested against it, and the top of the frame rested against the end of the laboratory, the frame will slope at about an angle of forty-five degrees. Let there be a button, or similar contrivance, on the underside of the lid of the box, that the lid of the dark frame may be fastened to it when open. Bottles of collodion, developing fluid, hypo-soda, or solution of salt, &c., may be arranged in various convenient ways within reach. The proceeding then is very easy. Place the bath-frame and bottles in their places; rear the glass plate in the frame; shut the laboratory lid; place your hands in the sleeves and your head in the hood; fix the door of dark frame to the top; coat the plate; place it in the bath with collodion side from you (it will then be in convenient position when you draw it out of bath to place at once in the frame); fasten the frame door; open the box lid; remove to camera; after taking picture, return frame to its place in camera; bring the plate to developing stand; develop; pour solution of salt over; remove from box; finish outside with hyposulphite of soda.

I have been thus explicit to render the matter as plain and intelligible as possible without aid of diagrams. But I shall be happy to give any {267} one any further information, either privately, or through "N. & Q." It seems to me that by this contrivance you simplify the process as much as is almost possible; you keep separate the different processes, and run little or no risk of mixing your chemicals, a misfortune which would spoil several hours' work, as well as entail a considerable loss of materials. The box would be no expensive article; any one possessing a little mechanical skill could construct it for himself, and its use as a packing-case for your apparatus would repay the cost.

I have for some time been using a developing fluid, which appears to have some desirable qualifications for it is simple, inexpensive, and keeps good, as far as I have tried it, for a very long period. I have worked with it when it has been made ten weeks; it slightly changes colour, but it throws down no deposit, and does not ever stain the film; when first made, it is colourless as water. DR. DIAMOND has kindly undertaken to test its value, and if he pronounces it worthy of being made known, the readers of "N. & Q." shall shortly have the benefit of it.

J. L. SISSON.

Edingthorpe Rectory, Norfolk.

_New Effect in Collodion Pictures._--In the course of some experiments I have been following in reference to a photographic subject, a method by which a new effect in pictures on glass may be obtained has occurred to me. Such productions, when treated as positives, are of course white pictures upon a black ground; and although for beauty of detail they are superior to those belonging to any other process, there is a certain harshness and want of artistic effect: to remedy this, I turned my attention towards obtaining a dark picture upon a light ground, as is the case when glass photographs are printed from; in this I have succeeded, and as the modification affords a pleasing variation, it may be acceptable to the tastes of some of your readers. The principle I proceed upon is to copy, by means of the camera, from a previously-taken picture in a negative state. Suppose, for instance, our subject is an out-door view: I take a collodion picture--which would answer for a positive if backed with black: this, viewed by transmitted light, is of course negative,--an effect which may be produced by placing a piece of white paper behind it from this _white_-backed plate: I take another collodion picture, which, being reversed in light and shade, is negative by reflected light; but viewed as a transparency is _positive_, and of course retains that character when backed with white paint, paper, or other substance lighter in colour than the parts formed by the reduced silver. Instead of the first picture being formed by the glass, any of the paper processes may be adopted which will afford negative pictures. Copies of prints may be beautifully produced on this principle by obtaining the first or negative by the ordinary process of printing. As these pictures are to form a contrast with a white ground, they should be as brown in tint as possible; nitric acid, or other whitening agents, being avoided in the developing solutions for both negative and positive. By this process the detail and contrasts can be kept far better than by the operation of printing: for it is exceedingly difficult to obtain a picture which will convey to the prepared surface an amount of light corresponding to the natural lights and shades, and the trouble of making collodion copies is far less than printing. There is certainly the drawback of having the copies upon glass: I think, however, that some white flexible substance may be found, upon which the collodion, albumen, &c., may be spread; but if they be intended for framing, of course they are better on glass. The general effect is that of a sepia drawing. The picture first taken and used as a negative, may be preserved as a positive by removing the white back, and treating it in the usual manner.

Permit me to observe, that much confusion arises from the _manner_ in which the terms positive and negative are often used; a negative glass picture is frequently spoken of as a definite, distinct thing; this is not the case, for all photographic pictures upon glass are both negative and positive, accordingly as they are seen upon a back of lighter or darker shade than the reduced silver--by transmitted or reflected light. A picture intended to be printed from is no more a negative than another, its positive character being merely obscured by longer exposure in the camera. When first removed from the developing solution, glass pictures are negative, because they are seen upon the iodide of silver, which is a light ground. This is a thing of course well known to many of your readers, but beginners are, I know, often puzzled by it.

WM. TUDOR MABLEY.

Manchester.

_Powdered Alum--How does it act?_--SIR W. NEWTON has again kindly informed me of _his motive_ for using the powdered alum, which in "N. & Q." (Vol. vii., p. 141.) he asserts readily removes the hyposulphite of soda. What is the _rationale_ of the chemical action upon the hyposulphite of soda?

W. ADRIAN DELFERIER.

40. Sloane Square.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Chatterton_ (Vol. vii., p. 189.).--J. M. G. informs N. B. that he is possessed of the whole of the late Mr. Hazlewood's collection of volumes, tracts, and cuttings from periodicals, published during the period when the Rowleian and Chattertonian {268} controversy engrossed so much of public criticism and dispute.

He has likewise various other articles relating to Chatterton, both in print and manuscript, collected during many years that he was resident at and connected with Bristol, which then naturally interested him in the subject. But what would be of far greater use to N. B. in ascertaining who was the author of the Rowleian poems, is an essay in manuscript, recently furnished to J. M. G. by a gentleman now resident in Bristol, whose ancestors were acquainted with Chatterton's family, and who has in this document shown, not only great archæological research, but has thrown much new light upon various disputed points both relative to Chatterton's relations and friends, which go far to settle the opinion, that the venerable Rowley, and not the boy Chatterton, was the writer of the poems.

J. M. G. is afraid that this subject is one, the revival of which would fail to interest the public mind, or he might be induced to publish the essay, to which he has reason to believe that its author would give his consent; and should J. M. G. again raise the controversy by sending to "N. & Q." any detached parts, he is apprehensive that the subjects of them would not meet with the attention they formerly would have done.

J. M. G.

Worcester.

_Princes' Whipping-boys_ (Vol. v., pp. 468. 545.).--In your publication are notices respecting two whipping-boys, Edward Browne and William Murray, who both endured punishment for the offences of English princes. I, however, think it not improbable such infliction was perpetrated in other kingdoms, and perhaps in Spain, for the improvement of Philip III. or some such worthy scion of royalty. Le Sage, who was a most incomparable observer of men and manners, has, in his admirable novel of _Gil Blas_, introduced, with purely natural humour, and in his style so _naïf_, an instance of such mode of correction. In livre 5ième, chap. i., there is the history of Don Raphaël, who at twelve years of age was selected by the Marquis de Leganez to be the companion of his son of the same age, who "ne paraissait pas né pour les sciences," and scarcely knew a letter of his alphabet. The story goes on with describing various endeavours of his masters to induce him to apply to his studies, but without success: till at last the _Précepteur_ thought of the expedient to give _le fouet_ to young Raphaël whenever the little Leganez deserved it; and this he did without mercy, till Raphaël determined to elope from the roof of the Marquis de Leganez: and in some degree to revenge himself for all the injustice he had suffered, took with him all the _argent comptant_ of the Précepteur, amounting to one hundred and fifty ducats. In concluding, I may observe that there is a very neat edition of _Gil Blas_ lately published in Paris, with _illustrated vignettes_ by _Gigoux_, one of which represents the Précepteur operating upon the unfortunate Raphaël:

"... horribili sectêre flagello."--_Hor._

and young Leganez looking on seemingly unconcerned!

[Theta].

Richmond.

"_Grub Street Journal_" (Vol. vii., p. 108.).--Some particulars relating to this work are given in Drake's _Essays on the Rambler, &c._, vol. i. p. 66.

F. R. A.

"_Pinch of Snuff_" (Vol. vi., p. 431).--I have been informed by a gentleman conversant in literary matters, that the author or compiler of this little volume was Benson Earle Hill, formerly an officer in the artillery, but at the time of his death (circa 1842-3) a performer or prompter at one of the theatres in the Strand.

I may here mention another humorous little work, closely allied to the above, and entitled _A Paper of Tobacco; treating of the Rise, Progress, Pleasures and Advantages of Smoking: with Anecdotes of distinguished Smokers, Mems. on Pipes and Tobacco-boxes: and a Tritical Essay on Snuff. By Joseph Fume_. 2nd ed., with additions. Lond. Chapman and Hall, 1839. 12mo. It contains six spirited and characteristic etchings by "Phiz," besides several woodcuts; and is a very amusing book, well worthy of being enlarged, for which there are ample materials both in prose and rhyme.

F. R. A.

_Race for Canterbury_ (Vol. vii., p. 219.).--J. F. infers that Hoadley was a competitor with Herring and Gibson for the archiepiscopal throne after the death of Bishop Potter, because he is mentioned in some lines under the woodcut broadside in his possession. He may also find him alluded to in the last lines of the other print in his possession:

"Then may he win the prize who none will oppress, And the palace at Lambeth be _Benjamin's_ mess."

Benjamin being Benjamin Hoadley.

I have two other prints upon this subject, besides the three mentioned by J. F. In one which has the title "For Lambeth," the bishop in the most distant boat has dropt his oars, sits with his arms across, looks very sulky, and exclaims, "Damn my scull."

The other is entitled "Haw'y Haw'y L--b-th Haw'y." Three bishops, as in the others, are rowing towards Lambeth: a fourth, approaching in an opposite direction, is rowing "against tide." In the foreground are two groups. In one, two noblemen are addressing three competing bishops: "Let honour be the reward of virtue, and not interest." One bishop says: "I give it up till {269} next." Another holds a paper, inscribed "10,000l. for it." In the other group, two noblemen are promising to different bishops. Another bishop is fighting his way through boatmen; and two persons are running forward as candidates for an archdeaconry or dean of arches. Underneath are two lines:

"Sculls, sculls to Lambeth! see how hard they pull 'em! But sure the Temple's nearer much than Fulham."

_Temple_ alluding to Sherlock, _Fulham_ to Gibson.

Underneath this print, some one, perhaps Horace Walpole, mistaking the date and the subject, has written:

"The man whose place they thought to take Is still alive, and still _a Wake_."

There is still another print entitled "Lambeth," where three bishops are rowing from Lambeth, with the word "Disappointed" under them. A fourth is rowed towards Lambeth by a waterman, who exclaims "Your're all Bob'd!"

EDW. HAWKINS.

_Chichester Pallant_ (Vol. vii., p. 206.).--Chichester, I need not say, is of Roman foundation, and has several marks of its Roman origin; the little stream that runs through it is called the _Lavant_, evidently from _lavando_. The _Pallant_, the chief quarter of the town, and, of old, a _separate jurisdiction_, was called "Palatinus sive Palenta." "Palantia, Palatinatus," says Ducange, "jurisdictio ejus qui habet jus lites decidendi supremo jure." The _Pallant_ of Chichester is not to be confounded with the Bishop's _Palace_. It is in a different district, and was, no doubt, from Roman times, a separate _palatine_ jurisdiction.

C.

_Scarfs worn by Clergymen_ (Vol. vii., pp. 143. 215.).--As MR. JEBB has intervened voluntarily in this question, not merely as an inquirer or reasoner, but as an _evidence_ to _facts_, I hope I may be allowed to ask him his authority for the distinction "between broad and narrow scarfs." After this assertion as to the _fact_, he adds his own personal authority of having "in his boyhood _heard mention_ made of that distinction." As I do not know his age, I would beg to ask _when_ and _where_ he heard that _mention_; and to make my inquiry more clear, I would ask whether he has any (and what) authority for the _fact_ of the distinction beyond having "in his boyhood _heard mention_ of it?" We must get at the facts before we can reason on them.

C.

_Alicia Lady Lisle_ (Vol. vii., p. 236.).--The lady referred to was Alice, or Alicia, daughter and coheir of Sir White Beconsawe: she was beheaded at Winchester, 1685. The jury by whom she was tried had, it is stated, thrice acquitted her; but the judge, that disgrace to human nature, Jefferies, insisted upon a conviction. Her husband was John Lisle the regicide, a severe republican, and one of the Protector's lords. An account of the family will be found in _Curious Memoirs of the Protectorate House of Cromwell_, vol. i. p. 273.

The family of the present Lord Lisle, whose family name is _Lysaght_, and elevated to the peerage of Ireland in 1758, has nothing to do with that of the republican court.

Respecting the old baronies of Lisle, full accounts will be found in the admirable report of the claim to that barony by Sir Harris Nicolas, one of the counsel for the claimant, Sir John Shelley Sidney: 8vo. Lond. 1829.

G.

_Major-General Lambert_ (Vol. vii., p. 237.).--Major-General Lambert appears, from a meagre memoir of him given in the _History of Malham in Yorkshire_, by Thomas Hursley: 8vo. 1786, to have descended from a very ancient family in that county. According to the register of Kirkby Malhamdale, he was born at Calton Hall, in that parish, 7th of September, 1619, and lost his father at the age of thirteen. On the 10th of September, 1639, he married Frances, daughter of his neighbour Sir William Lister, of Thornton, in Craven, then in her seventeenth year, and said to have been a most elegant and accomplished lady. Nothing seems to be known as to the precise time or place of the death of Lambert or his wife, beyond the tradition of his having been imprisoned in Cornet Castle, in the island of Guernsey, after the Restoration, and that he remained in confinement thirty years. His marriage is confirmed in the account of Lord Ribblesdale's family in Collins' _Peerage_, vol. viii. edition Brydges. John Lambert, son and heir of the major-general, married Barbara, daughter of Thomas Lister, of Arnoldsbigging, and had by her three sons, who all died v. p., and one daughter, who was the wife of Sir John Middleton, of Belsay Castle, in Northumberland, and became the heir-general of her family. Pepys speaks of Lady Lambert in 1668.

Perhaps these very imperfect notices may elicit further information,--on which account only can they be worthy of a place in "N. & Q."

BRAYBROOKE.

_Mistletoe_ (Vol. iii., pp. 192. 396.).--In addition to the trees, on which the mistletoe grows, mentioned by "the late learned Mr. Ray" in the quotation cited by Dr. Wilbraham Falconer, I subjoin others named in Jesse's _Country Life_, some of which I have had opportunities of verifying viz., horse-chestnut; maple (_Acer opalus_, _A. rubrum_, _A. campestre_); poplar (_Populus alba_, _P. nigra_, _P. fastigiata_); acacia, laburnum, pear; large-leaved sallow (_Salix caprea_); locust tree (_Robinia pseudo-acacia_); larch, Scotch fir, spruce fir; service tree (_Pyrus domestica_); hornbeam {270} (_Carpinus ostrya_); _Loranthus Europæus_ (itself a parasite); olive, vine, walnut, plum, common laurel, medlar, grey poplar. The localities and authorities are stated.

In answer to your correspondent ACHE, I may add, that the opinion of recent botanists is contrary to Sir Thomas Browne's notion with reference to the propagation of the seed; for it is known that the seeds, in germinating, send their radicles into the plant to which they are attached; and grow afterwards as true parasites, selecting certain chemical ingredients in preference to others. The mistletoe has never been known to grow in Ireland; but its frequency in various parts of the world--in France, Italy, Greece, and parts of Asia--has been remarked by travellers. Its use seems to be to provide food for birds during those rare seasons of scarcity, when a very sparing supply of other fruits and seeds can be procured.

ROBERT COOKE.

Scarborough.

_The Sizain_ (Vol. vi., p. 603.; Vol. vii., p. 174.).--I know not whether any one of the sizains you have published may be the original, from which all the others must be considered as imitations or parodies; but they bring to my mind an English example, which I met with many years ago in some book of miscellanies. I do not recollect whether the book in question attributed it to any particular author; who, I presume, must have been some staunch adherent for Protestant ascendancy in the early part of the last century:

"Our three great enemies remember, The Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender. All wicked, damnable, and evil, The Pope, the Pretender, and the Devil. I wish them all hung on one rope, The Devil, the Pretender, and the Pope."

Since writing the foregoing, the following has been dictated to me from recollection; which may be referred to about the period of George III.'s last illness:

"You should send, if aught should ail ye, For Willis, Heberden, or Baillie. All exceeding skilful men, Baillie, Willis, Heberden. Uncertain which most sure to kill is, Baillie, Heberden, or Willis."

M. H.

_Venda_ (Vol. vii., p. 179.).--This word, in Portuguese, signifies a place where wine and meat are sold by retail in a tavern. It also appears to answer to the Spanish _Venta_, a road-side inn; something between the French and English inn, and the Eastern caravansaries. In the places which C. E. F. mentions, _Venda_ in Portugal is like Osteria in Italy, of which plenty will be seen on the plains of the Campagna at Rome.

T. K.

_Meaning of "Assassin"_ (Vol. vii., p. 181.).--We owe this word to the Crusaders, no doubt; but MUHAMMED will find a very interesting account of the word in the Rev. C. Trench's admirable little work _On the Study of Words_. See also Gibbon's _Decline and Fall_, chap. lxiv.; to which, if I remember rightly, Mr. Trench also refers.

R. J. S.

If MUHAMMED would take the trouble of looking into the translation of Von Hammer's _Geschichte der Assassinen_, or, a more common book, _The Secret Societies of the Middle Ages_, he would find that there _was_ "a nation of the assassins;" and that his idea of the derivation of the name, which was first indicated by De Sacy, is the received one.

T. K.

_Dimidium Scientiæ_ (Vol. vii., p. 180.).--MR. B. B. WOODWARD will find Lord Bacon's sententia, "Prudens interrogatio quasi dimidium scientiæ," in his _De Augmentis Scientiarum_, lib. v. cap. iii., "Partitio Inventivæ Argumentorum in Promptuariam et Topicam."

BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.

_Epigrams_ (Vol. vii., p. 175.).--The true version of the epigram on Dr. Toe, which I heard or read about fifty years ago, is as follows:

"'Twixt Footman John and Doctor Toe, A rivalship befel, Which should become the fav'rite beau, And bear away the belle.

"The Footman won the Lady's heart; And who can wonder? No man: The whole prevail'd against the part,-- 'Twas _Foot_-man versus _Toe_-man."

Perhaps the "John" ought to be "Thomas;" for I find, on the same page of my Common-place Book, the following:

"Dear Lady, think it no reproach, It show'd a generous mind, To take poor Thomas in the coach, Who rode _before behind_.

"Dear Lady, think it no reproach, It show'd you lov'd the more, To take poor Thomas in the coach, Who rode _behind before_."

SCRAPIANA.