Part 5

_Mr. Townsend's Wax-paper Process._--At the last meeting of the Photographic Society a paper was read by Mr. Townsend, giving the results of a series of experiments instituted by him in reference to the wax-paper process. One of the great objections hitherto made to this process has been its slowness, as compared with the original calotype process, and its various modifications; and another, that its preparation involved some complexity of manipulation. Mr. Townsend has simplified the process materially, having found that the use of the fluoride and cyanide of potassium, as directed by Le Gray, in no way adds to the efficiency of the process, either in accelerating or otherwise. The iodide and bromide of potassium with free iodine give a paper which produces rapid, sure, and clean results. He discards whey, sugar of milk, grape sugar, &c., hitherto deemed essential, but which his experience shows to be unnecessary. He exhibited three negatives of the same view taken consecutively at eight o'clock in the morning, with the respective exposures of thirty seconds, two and a half minutes, and ten minutes, each of which was good and perfect. The formula he adopts is:

Iodide of potassium 600 grs. Bromide of potassium, from 150 to 250 " Re-sublimed iodine 6 " Distilled water 40 oz.

The waxed papers are wholly immersed in this solution, and left to soak at least two hours, and are then hung to dry in the usual way. The papers are made sensitive by wholly immersing them in aceto-nitrate of silver of the following proportions:

Nitrate of silver 30 grs. Acetic acid 30 minims. Distilled water 1 oz.

The papers remaining in this solution not less than eight minutes. They are washed in two waters for eight minutes each, and then blotted off in the ordinary manner. Mr. Townsend states that there is no need to fear leaving the paper in the sensitive bath too long. He has left it in the bath fourteen hours without any injury. The paper thus prepared will keep ten or twelve days; it may be longer, but his experience does not extend beyond that time. With paper thus prepared a portrait was exhibited, taken in fifty-five seconds, in a room with a side light; but it must be added, that in this instance the paper was not washed, but was blotted off immediately on its leaving the sensitive bath, though not used until two hours had elapsed. Mr. Townsend uses for developing a saturated solution of gallic acid with a drachm of aceto-nitrate to every four ounces of it, but he considers that this proportion of aceto-nitrate may be beneficially lessened. He finds that by this process he is certain of success, and is never troubled with that browning over of the paper which so often attends the use of the other methods of preparation. Besides the rapidity of action which he states, there is the farther advantage that a lengthened exposure is not injurious. The proportion of bromide may vary from 150 grs. to 250 grs.; less than 150 is not sufficient to produce a maximum of rapidity, whilst more than 250 adds nothing to the effect.

_Photographic Litigation._--Will you allow me, through the medium of "N. & Q.," to suggest to those who {599} take an interest in the collodion process, the desirableness of making a subscription to aid Mr. Henderson in his defence against the proceedings commenced by Mr. Talbot, to restrain him (and through him, no doubt, all others) from taking collodion portraits.[11]

It does not appear just that one person should bear the whole expense of a defence in which so many are interested; and I have no doubt that if a subscription be set on foot, many photographers will willingly contribute. A subscription, besides its material aid to Mr. Henderson, would also serve to show that public opinion is opposed to such absurd and unjust attempts at monopoly.

It is difficult to imagine how a claim can be established to a right in an invention made many years subsequent to the date of the patent under which the claim is made--not only made by another person, but differing so widely in principle from the patent process. The advertisement in the _Athenæum_ of Saturday last (June 10) shows plainly that it is intended, if possible, to prevent the production of portraits on collodion by any person not licensed by Mr. Talbot; and the harshness of this proceeding, after the process has been in public use for several years, needs no comment.

H. C. SANDS.

30. Spring Gardens, Bradford.

[Footnote 11: The words of the advertisement are "making _and selling_."]

[We insert this communication, because we believe it gives expression to a sentiment shared by many. Subscriptions in favour of M. La Roche, whose case stands first for trial, are received by Messrs. Horne and Thornthwaite. Our correspondent does not, however, accurately represent the caution issued by Mr. F. Talbot's solicitors, which is against "making _and selling_" photographic portraits by the collodion process. When giving up his patent to the public, Mr. Fox Talbot reserved "in the hands of his own licensees the application of the invention to the taking photographic portraits for sale," and we have always regretted that Mr. F. Talbot should have made such reservation, founded, as it is, upon a very questionable right.--ED. "N. & Q."]

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Vandyking_ (Vol. ix., p. 452.).--Your correspondent P. C. S. S. asks the meaning of the term _Vandyking_, in the following passage of a letter from Secretary Windebanke to the Lord Deputy Wentworth, dated Westminster, Nov. 20, 1633, the Lord Deputy being then in Ireland:--

"Now, my Lord, for my own observations of your carriage since you had the conduct of affairs there [in Ireland], because you press me so earnestly, I shall take the boldness to deliver myself as freely.

"First, though while we had the happiness and honour to have your assistance here at the Council Board, you made many ill faces with your pen (pardon, I beseech your Lordship, the over free censure of your Vandyking), and worse, oftentimes, with your speeches, especially in the business of the Lord Falconberg, Sir Thomas Gore, Vermuyden, and others; yet I understand you make worse there in Ireland, and there never appeared a worse face under a cork upon a bottle, than your Lordship hath caused some to make in disgorging such church livings as their zeal had eaten up."--_Strafford's Letters_, vol. i. p. 161.

This passage, as well as what follows, is written in a strain of banter, and is intended to compliment the great Lord Deputy under the pretence of a free censure of his conduct. The first part of the second paragraph evidently alludes to Wentworth's habit of drawing faces upon paper when he was sitting at the Council Table, and the word _Vandyking_ is used in the sense of _portrait-painting_. Vandyck was born in 1599; he visited England for a short time in 1620, and in 1632 he came to England permanently, was lodged by the king, and knighted; in the following year he received a pension of 200l. for life, and the title of painter to his Majesty. It was therefore quite natural that Windebanke should, in November, 1633, use the term _Vandyking_ as equivalent to _portrait-painting_.

In the latter part of the same paragraph, the allusion is to the wry faces, which the speeches of this imperious member of council sometimes caused. Can any of your correspondents explain the expression, "a worse face under a cork upon a bottle?"

L.

_Monteith_ (Vol. ix., p. 452.).--The Monteith was a kind of punch-bowl (sometimes of delf ware) with scallops or indentations in the brim, the object of which was to convert it into a convenient tray for bringing in the glasses. These were of wine-glass shape, and being placed with the brims downwards, and radiating from the centre, and with the handles protruding through the indentations in the bowl, were easily carried, without much jingling or risk of breakage. Of course the bowl was empty of liquor at the time.

P. P.

_A. M. and M. A._ (Vol. ix., p. 475.).--JUVERNA, M. A., is certainly wrong in stating that "Masters of Arts of Oxford are styled 'M. A.,' in contradistinction to the Masters of Arts in every other university." A. B., A. M., are the proper initials for _Baccalaureus_ and _Magister Artium_, and should therefore only be used when the name is in Latin. B.A. and M.A. are those for Bachelor and Master of Arts, and are the only ones to be used where the name is expressed in English. Thus John Smith, had he taken his first degree in Arts at any university, might indicate the fact by signing John Smith, B.A., or Johannes S., A.B. If he put John Smith, A.B., a doubt might exist whether he were not an _able-bodied_ seaman, for that is implied by A.B. attached to an English name. The editor of Farindon's _Sermons_, who is, I believe, a Dissenter, styles himself the Reverend T. Jackson, S.T.P., _i. e._ Sacrosanctæ Theologiæ {600} Professor. He might as well have part of his title in Sanscrit, as part in English and part in Latin.

I believe this mistake is made more frequently by graduates of Cambridge than by those of Oxford. Indeed, they have now created a new degree, Master of Laws, with the initials LL.M. (Legum Magister). But they are usually infelicitous in their nomenclature, as witness their _voluntary_ theological examination, now made _compulsory_ by all the bishops.

E. G. R., M.A.

Cambridge.

_Greek denounced by the Monks_ (Vol. ix., p. 467).--In his _History of the Reformation_ (b. I. ch. iii.), D'Aubigné says,--

"The monks asserted that all heresies arose from those two languages [Greek and Hebrew], and particularly from the Greek. 'The New Testament,' said one of them, 'is a book full of serpents and thorns. Greek,' continued he, 'is a new and recently-invented language, and we must be upon our guard against it. As for Hebrew, my dear brethren, it is certain that all who learn it immediately become Jews.' Heresbach, a friend of Erasmus and a respectable author, reports these expressions."

Had there been more authority, probably D'Aubigné would have quoted it.

B. H. C.

In Lewis's _History of the English Translation of the Bible_, edit. London, 1818, pp. 54, 55., the following passage occurs:

"These proceedings for the advancement of learning and knowledge, especially in divine matters, alarmed the ignorant and illiterate monks, insomuch that they declaimed from the pulpits, that 'there was now a _new language_ discovered called Greek, of which people should beware, since it was that which produced all the heresies; that in this language was come forth a book called the _New Testament_, which was now in everybody's hands, and was full of thorns and briers: that there was also another language now started up which they called Hebrew, and that they who learnt it were termed Hebrews.'"

The authority quoted for this statement is Hody, _De Bibliorum Textibus_, p. 465.

See also the rebuke administered by Henry VIII. to a preacher who had "launched forth against Greek and its new interpreters," in Erasmus, _Epp._, p. 347., quoted in D'Aubigné's _Reformation_, book XVIII. 1.

C. W. BINGHAM.

_Caldecott's Translation of the New Testament_ (Vol. viii., p. 410.).--J. M. Caldecott, the translator of the New Testament, referred to by your correspondent S. A. S., is the son of the late ---- Caldecott, Esq., of Rugby Lodge, and was educated at Rugby School, where I believe he obtained one or more prizes as a first-class Greek and Hebrew scholar. After completing his studies at this school, his father purchased for him a commission in the East India Company's service; but soon after his arrival in India, conceiving a dislike to the army, he sold his commission and returned to England. Being somewhat singular in his notions, and altogether eccentric both in manner and appearance, he estranged himself from his family and friends, and, as I have been informed, took up his temporary abode in this city about the year 1828. Although his income was at that time little short of 300l. per annum, he had neither house nor servant of his own; but boarded in the house of a respectable tradesman, living on the plainest fare (so as he was wont to say), to enable him to give the more to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. In this way, and by being frequently imposed upon by worthless characters, he gave away, in a few years, nearly all his property, leaving himself almost destitute: and, indeed, would have been entirely so, but for a weekly allowance made to him by his mother (sometime since deceased), on which he is at the present time living in great obscurity in one of our large seaport towns; but may be occasionally seen in the streets with a long beard, and a broad-brimmed hat, addressing a group of idlers and half-naked children. I could furnish your correspondent S. A. S. with more information if needful.

T. J.

Chester.

_Blue Bells of Scotland_ (Vol. viii., p. 388. Vol. ix., p. 209.).--Surely [W (black-letter)] of Philadelphia is right in supposing that the Blue Bell of Scotland, in the ballad which goes by that name, is a bell painted blue, and used as the sign of an inn, and not the flower so called, as asserted by HENRY STEPHENS, unless indeed there be an older ballad than the one commonly sung, which, as many of your readers must be aware, contains this line,--

"He dwells in merry Scotland, At the _sign_ of the Blue Bell."

I remember to have heard that the popularity of this song dates from the time when it was sung on the stage by Mrs. Jordan.

Can any one inform me whether the air is ancient or modern?

HONORÉ DE MAREVILLE.

Guernsey.

"_De male quæsitis gaudet non tertius hæres_" (Vol. ii., p. 167.).--The quotation here wanted has hitherto been neglected. The words may be found, with a slight variation, in _Bellochii Praxis Moralis Theologiæ, de casibus reservatis, &c._, Venetiis, 1627, 4to. As the work is not common, I send the passage for insertion, which I know will be acceptable to other correspondents as well as to the querist:

"Divino judicio permittitur ut tales surreptores rerum sacrarum diu ipsis rebus furtivis non lætentur, sed imo ab aliis nequioribus furibus præfatæ res illis {601} abripiantur, ut de se ipso fassus est ille, qui in suis ædibus hoc distichon inscripsit, ut refert Jo. Bonif., lib. de furt., § contrectatio, num. 134. in fin.:

'Congeries lapidum variis constructa rapinis, Aut uret, aut ruet, aut raptor alter habebit.'

Et juxta illud:

'De rebus male acquisitis, non gaudebit tertius hæres.'

Lazar (de monitorio), sect. 4. 9. 4., num. 16., imo nec secundus, ut ingenuè et perbellè fatetur in suo poemate, nostro idiomate Jerusalem celeste acquistata, cant. x. num. 88. Pater Frater Augustinus Gallutius de Mandulcho, ita canendo:

'D'un' acquisto sacrilego e immondo, Gode di rado il successor secondo, Pero che il primo e mal' accorto herede Senza discretion li da di piedi.'"

BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.

_Mawkin_ (Vol. ix., pp. 303. 385.).--Is not _mawkin_ merely a corruption for _mannikin_? I strongly suspect it to be so, though Forby, in his _Vocabulary of East Anglia_, gives the word _maukin_ as if peculiar to Norfolk and Suffolk, and derives it, like L., from _Mal_, for Moll or Mary.

F. C. H.

This word, in the Scottish dialect spelt _maukin_, means a hare. It occurs in the following verse of Burns in _Tam Samson's Elegy_:

"Rejoice, ye birring paitricks a'; Ye cootie moorcocks, crousely craw; Ye _maukins_, cock your fud fu' braw, Withouten dread; Your mortal fae is now awa', Tam Samson's dead!"

KENNEDY MCNAB.

"_Putting a spoke in his wheel_" (Vol. viii., pp. 269. 351. 576.).--There is no doubt that "putting a spoke in his wheel" is "offering an obstruction." But I have always understood the "spoke" to be, not a radius of the wheel, but a bar put between the spokes at right angles, so as to prevent the turning of the wheel; a rude mode of "locking," which I have often seen practised. The correctness of the metaphor is thus evident.

WM. HAZEL.

_Dog Latin_ (Vol. viii., p. 523.).--The return of a sheriff to a writ which he had not been able to serve, owing to the defendant's secreting himself in a swamp, will be new to English readers. It was "Non come-at-ibus in swampo."

Since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the motto of the United States has been "E pluribus unum." A country sign-painter in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, painted "E pluribur unibus," instead of it on a sign.

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Swedish Words current in England_ (Vol. vii., pp. 231. 366.).--Very many Swedish words are current in the north of England, _e. gr._ _barn_ or _bearn_ (Scotticè _bairn_), Sw. _barn_; _bleit_ or _blate_, bashful, Sw. _blöd_; to _cleam_, to fasten, to spread thickly over, Sw. _klemma_; _cod_, pillow, Sw. _kudde_; to _gly_, to squint, Sw. _glo_; to _lope_, to leap, Sw. _löpa_; to _late_ (Cumberland), to seek, Sw. _leta_; _sackless_, without crime, Sw. _saklös_; _sark_, shirt, Sw. _särk_; to _thole_ (Derbyshire), to endure, Sw. _tala_; to _walt_, to totter, to overthrow, Sw. _wälta_; to _warp_, to lay eggs, Sw. _wärpa_; _wogh_ (Lancashire), wall, Sw. _wägg_, &c. It is a fact very little known, that the Swedish language bears the closest resemblance of all modern languages to the English as regards grammatical structure, not even the Danish excepted.

SUECAS.

_Mob_ (Vol. viii., p. 524.).--I have always understood that this word was derived from the Latin expression _mobile vulgus_, which is, I believe, in Virgil.

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

"_Days of my Youth_" (Vol. viii., p. 467.).--In answer to the inquiry made a few months since, whether Judge St. George Tucker, of Virginia, was the author of the lines beginning--

"Days of my youth."

the undersigned states that he was a friend and relative of Judge Tucker, and knows him to have been the author. They had a great run at the time, and found their way not only into the newspapers, but even into the almanacs of the day.

G. T.

Philadelphia.

_Encore_ (Vol. viii., pp. 387. 524.).--A writer in an English magazine, a few years ago, proposed that the Latin word _repetitus_ should be used instead of _encore_. Among other advantages he suggested that the people in the gallery of a theatre would pronounce it _repeat-it-us_, and thus make English of it.

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cambridge_ (Vol. ix., p. 493.).--Your correspondent will find his question answered by referring to the _History of the Royal Family_, 8vo., Lond., 1741, pp. 119. 156. For an account of this book, which is founded upon the well-known Sandford's _Genealogical History_, see Clarke's _Bibliotheca Legum_, edit. 1819, p. 174.

T. E. T.

Islington.

_Right of redeeming Property_ (Vol. viii., p. 516.).--This right formerly existed in Normandy, and, I believe, in other parts of France. In the bailiwick of Guernsey, the laws of which are based on the ancient custom of Normandy, the right is still exercised, although it has been abolished for some years in the neighbouring island of Jersey. {602}

The law only applies to real property, which, by the Norman custom, was divided in certain proportions among all the children; and this right of "retrait," as it is technically termed, was doubtless intended to counteract in some measure the too minute division of land, and to preserve inheritances in families. It must be exercised within a year of the purchase. For farther information on the subject, Berry's _History of Guernsey_, p. 176., may be consulted.

HONORÉ DE MAREVILLE.

Guernsey.

_Latin Inscription on Lindsey Court-house_ (Vol. ix., pp. 492. 552.).--I cannot but express my surprise at the learned (?) trifling of some of your correspondents on the inscription upon Lindsey Court-house. Try it thus:

"Fiat Justitia, 1619, Hæc domus _O_dit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat, _N_equitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos."

which will make two lines, an hexameter and a pentameter, the first letters, _O_ and _N_, having perhaps been effaced by time or accident.

NEGLECTUS.

[That this emendation is the right one is clear from the communication of another correspondent, B. R. A. Y., who makes the same, and adds in confirmation, "The following lines existed formerly (and do, perhaps, now) on the Market-house at Much Wenlock, Shropshire, which will explain their meaning:

'Hic locus _O_dit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat, _N_equitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos.'

The _O_ and _N_, being at the beginning of the lines as given by your correspondent, were doubtless obliterated by age."]

The restoration of this inscription proposed by me is erroneous, and must be corrected from the perfect inscription as preserved at Pistoia and Much Wenlock, cited by another correspondent in p. 552. The three inscriptions are slightly varied. Perhaps "amat pacem" is better than "amat leges," on account of the tautology with "conservat jura."

L.

_Myrtle Bee_ (Vol. ix., p. 205. &c.).--"I have carefully read and reread the articles on the myrtle bee, and I can come to no other conclusion than that it is not a bird at all, but an insect, one of the hawkmoths, and probably the humming-bird hawkmoth. We have so many indefatigable genuine _field naturalists_, picking up every straggler which is blown to our coasts, that I cannot think it possible there is a bird at all common to _any_ district of England, and yet totally unknown to science. Now, insects are often exceedingly abundant in particular localities, yet scarcely known beyond them. The _size_ C. BROWN describes as certainly not larger than _half_ that of the common wren. The humming-bird (_H. M._) is scarcely so large as this, but its vibratory motion would make it look somewhat larger than it really is. Its breadth, from tip to tip of the wings, is twenty to twenty-four lines. The myrtle bee's "short flight is rapid, steady, and direct," exactly that of the hawkmoth. The tongue of the myrtle bee is "round, sharp, and pointed at the end, appearing capable of penetration," not a bad _popular_ description of the suctorial trunk of the hawkmoth, from which it gains its generic name, _Macroglossa_. Its second pair of wings are of a rusty yellow colour, which, when closed, would give it it the appearance of being "tinged with yellow about the vent." It has also a tuft of scaly hairs at the extremity of the abdomen, which would suggest the idea of a tail. In fact, on the wing, it appears very like a little bird, as attested by its common name. In habit it generally retires from the mid-day sun, which would account for its being "put up" by the dogs. The furze-chat, mentioned by C. BROWN, is the _Saxicola rubetra_, commonly also called the whinchat.

WM. HAZEL.

_Mousehunt_ (Vol. ix., p. 65. &c.).--G. TENNYSON identifies the mousehunt with the beechmartin, the _very largest_ of our _Mustelidæ_, on the authority of Henley "the dramatic commentator." Was he a naturalist too? I never heard of him as such.