Chapter 5

_On preserving the Sensitiveness of Collodion Plates._--_The Philosophical Magazine_ of the present month contains a very important article by Messrs. Spiller and Crookes upon this great desideratum in photographic practice. We have heard from a gentleman of considerable scientific attainments, that, from the few experiments which he had then made, he is convinced that the plan is quite feasible. We of course refer our readers to the paper itself for fuller particulars as to the reasoning which led the writers to their successful experiment, and for all enumeration of the many advantages which may result from their discovery. Their process is as follows:

"The plate, coated with collodion (that which we employ contains iodide, bromide, and chloride of ammonium, in about equal proportions), is made sensitive by immersion in the ordinary solution of nitrate of {430} silver (30 grains to the ounce), and after remaining there for the usual time, is transferred for a second solution of the following composition:

Nitrate of zinc (fused) 2 ounces. Nitrate of silver 35 grains. Water 6 ounces.

The plate must be left in this bath until the zinc solution has thoroughly penetrated the film (we have found five minutes amply sufficient for this purpose, although a much longer time is of no consequence); it should then be taken out, allowed to drain upright on blotting-paper until all the surface moisture has been absorbed (about half an hour), and then put by until required. The nitrate of zinc, which is still retained on the plate, is sufficient to keep it moist for any length of time, and we see no theoretical or practical reason why its sensitiveness should not be retained as long: experiments on this point are in progress; at present, however, we have only subjected them to the trial of about a week, although at the end of that period they were hardly deteriorated in any appreciable degree. It is not necessary that the exposure in the camera should be immediately followed by the development, as this latter process can be deferred to any convenient opportunity, provided it be within the week. Previous to development, the plate should be allowed to remain for a few seconds in the original thirty-grain silver-bath, then removed and developed with either pyrogallic acid or a protosalt of iron, and afterwards fixed, &c. in the usual manner."

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Tippet_ (Vol. ix., p. 370.).--P. C. S. S. cannot help thinking that _tippet_ is nothing more than a corruption, _per metathesia_, of _epitogium_. Such, at least, seems to have been the opinion of old Minsheu, who, in his _Guide to the Tongues_, 1627, describes it thus:

"A habit which universitie men and clergiemen weare over their gownes. L. _Epitogium_, ab [Greek: epi] and _toga_."

P. C. S. S.

_Heraldic Anomaly_ (Vol. ix., p. 298.).--As your correspondent JOHN O' THE FORD wishes to be furnished with examples of arms now extant, augmented with a cross in chief, I beg to inform him that on the north side of St. John's Gate, Clerkenwell, immediately above the arch, are three shields: the centre one bearing a plain cross (the arms of the order); on the right, as you face the gateway, the shield bears a chevron ingrailed between three roundles, impaling a cross flory, over all on a chief a cross; that on the left is merely a single shield, bearing a chevron ingrailed between three roundles apparently (being somewhat damaged), in chief a plain cross. If the colours were marked, they are indistinguishable,--shield and charges are alike sable now. On the south side are two shields: that on the right has been so much damaged that all I can make out of it is that two coats have been impaled thereon, but I cannot discover whether it had the cross in chief or not; that on the left bears a chevron between three roundles, in chief a plain cross. This shield also is damaged; but, nevertheless, enough remains to enable one to make out the charges with tolerable certainty.

TEE BEE.

_George Wood of Chester_ (Vol. viii., p 34.).--I think it very probable that this gentleman, who was Justice of Chester in the last year of the reign of Mary and the first of Elizabeth, will turn out to be George Wood, Esq., of Balterley, in the county of Stafford, who married Margaret, relict of Ralph Birkenhead, of Croughton, in Cheshire, and sixth daughter of Sir Thomas Grosvenor, of Eaton, Knight, ancestor of the present noble house of Westminster. If CESTRIENSIS can obtain access to Shaw's _History of Staffordshire_, the hint I have thrown out may speed him in his investigations.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

_Moon Superstitions_ (Vol. viii., pp. 79. 145. 321.)--The result of my own observations, as far as they go, is, that remarkable changes of weather sometimes accompany or follow so closely the changes of the moon, that it is difficult for the least superstitious persons to refrain from imagining some connexion between them--and one or two well-marked instances would make many converts for life to the opinion;--but that in comparatively few cases are the changes of weather so marked and decided as to give them the air of cause and effect.

J. S. WARDEN.

"_Myself_" (Vol. ix., p. 270.).--The inscription from a gravestone, inserted by G. A. C., brought to my mind a poem by Bernard Barton, which I had met with in a magazine (_The Youth's Instructor_ for December, 1826), into which it had been copied from the _Amulet_. The piece is entitled "A Colloquy with Myself." The first two stanzas, which I had always considered original, are subjoined for the sake of comparison:

"As I walk'd by myself, I talk'd to myself, And myself replied to me; And the questions myself then put to myself, With their answers I give to thee.

Put them home to thyself, and if unto thyself, Their responses the same should be: O look well to thyself, and beware of thyself, Or so much the worse for thee."

T. Q. C.

Polperro, Cornwall.

I cannot inform G. A. C. by whom or in what year the lines were written, from which the epitaph he mentions was copied; but he will find them amongst {431} the Epigrams, &c., &c., in _Elegant Extracts_, in the edition bearing date 1805, under the title of a Rhapsody.

WEST SUSSEX.

_Roman Roads in England_ (Vol. ix., p. 325.).--I think that in addition to the reference to _Richard of Cirencester_, PRESTONIENSIS should be apprised of the late General Roy's _Military Antiquities of Great Britain_ (published by the Society of Antiquaries), a most learned and valuable account of and commentary on _Richard de Cirencester_, and on all the other works on the subject; Stukeley, Horsley, &c. I have my own doubts as to the genuineness of Richard's work; that is, though I admit that the facts are true, and compiled with accuracy and learning, I cannot quite persuade myself that the work is that of the Monk of Westminster in the fourteenth century, never heard of till the discovery of an unique MS. in the Royal Library at Copenhagen about 1757. I suspect it to have been a much more modern compilation.

C.

_Anecdote of George IV._ (Vol. ix., pp. 244. 338.)--If JULIA R. BOCKETT has accurately copied (as we must presume) the note that she has sent you, I am sorry to inform her that it is a forgery: the Prince never, from his earliest youth, signed "George" _tout court_; he always added P. If the story be at all true, your second correspondent, W. H., is assuredly right, that the "old woman" could not mean the Queen, who was but eighteen when the Prince was born, and could not, therefore, at any time within which this note could have been written, be called, even by the giddiest boy, "an old woman." When the Prince was twelve years old, she was but thirty.

C.

_General Fraser_ (Vol. ix., p. 161.).--The communication of J. C. B. contains the following sentence:

"During his interment, the incessant cannonade of the enemy covered with dust the chaplain and the officers who assisted in performing the last duties to his remains, they being within view of the greatest part of both armies."

As some might suppose from this that the American army was guilty of the infamous action of knowingly firing upon a funeral, the following extract from Lossing's _Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution_, lately published, is submitted to the readers of "N. & Q." It tells _the whole truth_ upon the subject. It is from vol. i. p. 66.:

"It was just sunset in that calm October evening, that the corpse of General Fraser was carried up the hill to the place of burial within the 'great redoubt.' It was attended only by the members of his military family, and Mr. Brudenel, the chaplain; yet the eyes of hundreds of both armies followed the solemn procession, while the Americans, ignorant of its true character, kept up a constant cannonade upon the redoubt. The chaplain, unmoved by the danger to which he was exposed, as the cannon-balls that struck the hill threw the loose soil over him, pronounced the impressive funeral service of the Church of England with an unfaltering voice.[2] The growing darkness added solemnity to the scene. Suddenly the irregular firing ceased, and the solemn voice of a single cannon, at measured intervals, boomed along the valley and awakened the responses of the hills. It was a minute gun, fired by the Americans in honour of the gallant dead. The moment information was given that the gathering at the redoubt was a funeral company fulfilling, amid imminent perils, the last breathed wishes of the noble Fraser, orders were issued to withhold the cannonade with balls, and to render military homage to the fallen brave."

I may add, for the information of English readers, that Lossing's _Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution_ is a work of great general accuracy, written by a gentleman who travelled thousands of miles to collect the materials. The drawings for the work were drawn, and the numerous woodcuts engraved, by him. They are the finest woodcuts ever produced in this country.

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

[Footnote 2: Burgoyne's _State of the Expedition_, p. 169. Lieutenant Kingston's _Evidence_, p. 107.]

_The Fusion_ (Vol. ix., p. 323.).--The Orleans branch, though it derives its eventually hereditary claim to the throne of France from Louis XIII., as stated by E. H. A., have later connexions in blood with Louis XIV. The Regent Duke married Mdlle de Blois, the legitimated daughter of Louis XIV. Louis-Philippe's mother was great-granddaughter of Louis XIV. by another line.

C.

"_Corporations have no souls_" (Vol. ix., p. 284.).--This saying is to be found in Coke's _Reports_, vol. x. p. 32.:

"A corporation aggregate of many is invisible, immortal, and rests only in intendment and consideration of the law. They cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicate, _for they have no souls_, neither can they appear in person, but by attorney."

ERICA.

_Apparition of the White Lady_ (Vol. viii., p. 317.).--Some account of the origin of this apparition story is given at considerable length by Mrs. Crowe in the _Night Side of Nature_, chapter on Haunted Houses, pp. 315. 318.

JOHN JAMES.

Avington Rectory, Hungerford.

_Female Parish Clerk_ (Vol. viii., p. 338.).--The sexton of my parish, John Poffley, a man worthy of a place in Wordsworth's _Excursion_, was telling me but a few days ago, that his mother was the parish clerk for twenty-six years, and that he well remembers his astonishment as a boy, whenever {432} he happened to attend a neighbouring church service, to see a man acting in that capacity, and saying the responses for the people.

JOHN JAMES.

Avington Rectory, Hungerford.

I have just seen an extract from "N. & Q." in one of our local papers, mentioning Elizabeth King as being clerk of the parish of Totteridge in 1802, and a question by Y. S. M. if there were any similar instance on record of a woman being a parish clerk? In answer to this Query, I beg to inform Y. S. M. that in the village of Misterton, Somerset, in which place I was born, a woman acted as clerk at my mother's wedding, my own baptism, and many years subsequently: I was born in 1822.

WM. HIGGINS.

_Bothy_ (Vol. ix., p. 305.).--For a familiar mention of this word (commonly spelt _Bothie_), your correspondent may be referred to the poem of _The Bothie of Toper-na-fuosich_, a Long-Vacation Pastoral, by Arthur Hugh Clough, Oxford: Macpherson, 1848. The action of the poem is chiefly carried on at the Bothie, the situation of which is thus described (in hexameter verse):

"There on the blank hill side, looking down through the loch to the ocean, There with a runnel beside, and pine trees twain before it, There with the road underneath, and in sight of coaches and steamers, Dwelling of David Mackaye, and his daughters Elspie and Bella, Sends up a volume of smoke the Bothie of Toper-na-fuosich."

This sort of verse, by the way, is thus humorously spoken of by Professor Wilson in his dedication, "to the King," of the twelfth volume of Blackwood (1822):

"What dost thou think, my liege, of the metre in which I address thee? Doth it not sound very big, verse bouncing, bubble-and-squeaky, Rattling, and loud, and high, resembling a drum or a bugle-- Rub-a-dub-dub like the one, like t'other tantaratara? (It into use was brought of late by thy Laureate Doctor-- But, in my humble opinion, I write it better than he does) It was chosen by me as the longest measure I knew of, And, in praising one's King, it is right full measure to give him."

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

_King's Prerogative and Hunting Bishops_ (Vol. ix., p. 247.).--The passage of Blackstone, referred to by the Edinburgh Reviewer, will be found in his _Commentaries_, vol. ii, p. 413., where reference is made to 4 [Cokes'] _Inst._ 309. See also the same volume of Blackstone, p. 427. It is evident that Bishop Jewel possessed his "muta canum." See a curious account of a visit to him by Hermann Falkerzhuemer, in the _Zurich Letters_, second series, pp. 84 &c.

H. GOUGH.

Lincoln's Inn.

_Green Eyes_ (Vol. viii., p. 407.; Vol. ix., p. 112.).--Antoine Heroet, an early French poet, in the third book of his _Opuscules d'Amour_, has the following lines:

"Amour n'est pas enchanteur si divers Que les yeux noirs face devenir _verds_, Qu'un brun obscur en blancheur clere tourne, Ou qu'un traict gros du vissage destourne."

(Love is not so strange an enchanter that he can make black eyes become green, that he can turn a dark brown into clear whiteness, or that he can change a coarse feature of the face.)

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Brydone the Tourist_ (Vol. ix., pp. 138. 255. 305.).--

"On lui a reproche d'avoir sacrifie la verite au plaisir de raconter des choses piquantes."

In a work (I think) entitled _A Tour in Sicily_, the production of Captain Monson, uncle to the late Lord Monson, published about thirty years ago, I remember to have read a denial and, as far as I can remember, a refutation of a statement of Brydone, that he had seen a pyramid in the gardens or grounds of some dignitary in Sicily, composed of--chamber-pots! I was, when I read Mr. Monson's book (a work of some pretensions as it appeared to me), a youngster newly returned from foreign travel, and in daily intercourse with gentlemen of riper age than myself, and of attainments as travellers and otherwise which I could not pretend to; many of them were Italians, and I perfectly remember that by all, but especially by the latter, Brydone's book was treated as a book of apocrypha.

TRAVELLER.

_Descendants of John of Gaunt, Noses of_ (Vol. vii., p. 96.).--Allow me to repeat my Query as to E. D.'s remark: he says, to be dark-complexioned and black-haired "is the family badge of the Herberts quite as much as the unmistakeable nose in the descendants of John of Gaunt." I hope E. D. will not continue silent, for I am very curious to know his meaning.

Y. S. M.

_"Put"_ (Vol. vii., p. 271.).--I am surprised at the silence of your Irish readers in reference to the pronunciation of this word. I certainly never yet heard it pronounced like "but" amongst educated men in Ireland, and I am both a native of this country and resident here the greater part of my life. The Prince Consort's name I have {433} occasionally heard, both in England and Ireland, pronounced as if the first letter was an O--"Olbert"--and that by people who ought to know better.

Y. S. M.

_"Caricature; a Canterbury Tale"_ (Vol. ix., p. 351.).--The inquiry of H. as to the meaning of a "Caricature," which he describes (though I doubt if he be correct as to all the personages), appears to me to point to a transaction in the history of the celebrated "Coalition Ministry" of Lord North and Fox; in which--

"Burke being Paymaster of the Forces, committed one or two imprudent acts: among them, the restoration of Powel and Bembridge, two defaulting subordinates in his office, to their situations. His friends of the ministry were hardly tasked to bring him through these scrapes; and, to use the language of Wraxall's _Memoirs_, 'Fox warned the Paymaster of the Forces, as he valued his office, not to involve his friends in any similar dilemma during the remainder of the Session.'"

A. B. R.

Belmont.

* * * * *

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

Dr. Waagen, the accomplished Director of the Royal Gallery of Pictures, Berlin, has just presented us with three volumes, to which, as Englishmen, we may refer with pride, because they bear testimony not only to the liberality of our expenditure in works of art, but also to the good taste and judgment which have generally regulated our purchases. _The Treasures of Art in Great Britain, being an Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated MSS., &c._, as the work is designated, must become a handbook to every lover of Art in this country. It is an amplification of Dr. Waagen's first work, _Art and Artists in England_, giving, not only the results of the author's more ripened judgment and extended experience, but also an account of twenty-eight collections in and round London, of nineteen in England generally, and of seven in Scotland, not contained in his former work. And as the Doctor has bestowed much pains in obtaining precise information regarding the art of painting in England since the time of Hogarth, and of sculpture since the time of Flaxman; and also devoted much time to the study of English miniatures contained in MSS. from the earliest time down to the sixteenth century; of miniatures of other nations preserved in England; of drawings by the old masters, engravings and woodcuts; he is fully justified in saying that, both as regards the larger class of the public who are interested in knowing the actual extent of the treasures of Art in England, and also the more learned connoisseurs of the history of Art, this edition offers incomparably richer and more maturely digested materials than the former one. Let us add, that the value of this important and most useful and instructive book is greatly enhanced by a very careful Index.

We have received from Messrs. Johnston, the geographers and engravers to the Queen, two maps especially useful at the present moment, viz., one of the Baltic Sea, with enlarged plans of Cronstadt, Revel, Sveaborg, Kiel Bay, and Winga Sound; and the other of the seat of war in the Danubian Principalities and Turkey, with map of Central Europe.

At the Annual General Meeting of the Camden Society on Tuesday last, M. Van de Weyer, Mr. Blencowe, and the Rev. John Webb were elected of the New Council in the place of Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Foss, and Sir Charles Young, who retire.

The Inaugural General Meeting of the Surrey Archaeological Society is announced for Wednesday next, at the Bridge House Hotel, London Bridge, Henry Drummond, Esq., in the chair. Objects of antiquarian and general interest intended for exhibition may be sent, not later than Monday the 8th, to Mr. Bridger, the curator.

BOOKS RECEIVED.--_The present State of Morocco, a Chapter of Mussulman Civilisation_, by Xavier Durriew, the new Part of Longman's _Traveller's Library_, is an interesting picture of the institutions, manners, and religious faith of a nation too little known in Europe.--_Deeds of Naval Daring, &c._, by Edward Giffard, _Second Series_. This new volume of Murray's _Railway Reading_ is well timed.--_The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay_, Vol. III., carries on her record of the gossip of the Court during the years 1786-7.--_Critical and Historical Essays, &c._, by T. B. Macaulay, contains, among other admirable essays, those on Walpole's Letters to Mann, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, Mackintosh's History of the Revolution, and Lord Bacon.

* * * * *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

Particulars of Price, &c. of the following books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose:

ESSAYS AND SKETCHES OF LIFE AND CHARACTER, by a Gentleman who recently left his Lodgings. London, 1820.

MEMOIR OF SHERIDAN, by the late Professor Smyth. Leeds, 1841. 12mo.

Wanted by _John Martin_, Librarian, Woburn Abbey.

* * * * *

THE ARTIFICES AND IMPOSITIONS OF FALSE TEACHERS, discovered in a Visitation Sermon. 8vo. London, 1712.

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND NOT SUPERSTITIOUS--showing what Religions may justly be charged with Superstition, pp. 46, 8vo. London, 1714.

PHYSICA ARISTOTELICA MODERNA ACCOMODATA IN USUM JUVENTUTIS ACADEMICAE, Auctore Gulielmo Taswell. 8vo. London, 1718.

ANTICHRIST REVEALED AMONG THE SECT OF QUAKERS, London, 1723.

The above were written by Wm. Taswell, D.D., Rector of Newington, Surrey, &c.

MISCELLANEA SACRA; containing the Story of Deborah and Barak; David's Lamentations over Saul and Jonathan; a Pindaric Poem; and the Prayer of Solomon at the Dedication of the Temple, 4to., by E. Taswell. London. 1760.

THE USEFULNESS OF SACRED MUSIC, 1 Chron. 16. 39. 40. 42., by Wm. Taswell, A.M., Rector of Wootton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. 8vo. London, 1742.

COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES AND WEST INDIES, by the Hon. Littleton W. Tazewell. London, 1829.

Wanted by _R. Jackson_, 3. Northampton Place, Old Kent Road.

* * * * *

{434}

LIBER PRECUM. 1569.

LIBER PRECUM. 1571.

LIBER PRECUM. 1660. Ch. Ch. Oxford.

LITURGIA. 1670.

ETON PRAYERS. 1705.

ENCHIRIDION PRECUM. 1707.

ENCHIRIDION PRECUM. 1715.

LIBER PRECUM. 1819. Worcester College, Oxford.

Wanted by _Rev. J. W. Hewett_, Bloxham, Banbury.

* * * * *

Any of the occasional Sermons of the Rev. Charles Kingsley, of Eversley, more particularly THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH TO THE LABOURING CLASSES, and CLOTHES CHEAP AND NASTY, by Parson Lot.

Wanted by _H. C. Cowley_, Melksham, Wilts.

* * * * *

The Numbers of the BRITISH AND COLONIAL QUARTERLY REVIEW, published in 1846, by Smith and Elder, Cornhill, containing a review of a work on graduated, sliding-scale, Taxation. Also any work of the French School on the same subject, published from 1790 down to the end of the Revolution.

Wanted by _R. J. Cole_, 12. Furnival's Inn.

* * * * *

BREVINT'S CHRISTIAN SACRAMENT AND SACRIFICE. 4th Edition, 1757. Rivingtons.

Wanted by _S. Hayward_, Bookseller, Bath.

* * * * *

J. G. AGARDH, SPECIES, GENERA, ET ORDINES ALGARUM. Royal 8vo. London, 1848-1853.

LACROIX, DIFF. ET INTEG. CALCULUS. Last edition.

Wanted by the _Rev. Frederick Smithe_, Churchdown, Gloucester.

* * * * *