Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

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NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

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"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

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No. 197.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 6. 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:— Page High Church and Low Church 117 Concluding Notes on several misunderstood Words, by the Rev. W. R. Arrowsmith 120 Sneezing an Omen and a Deity, by T. J. Buckton 121 Abuses of Hackney Coaches 122 Shakspeare Correspondence, by C. Mansfield Ingleby, Thomas Falconer, &c. 123

MINOR NOTES:—Falsified Gravestone in Stratford Churchyard—Barnacles in the River Thames—Note for London Topographers—The Aliases and Initials of Authors—Pure—Darling's "Cyclopaedia Bibliographica" 124

QUERIES:— Delft Manufacture, by O. Morgan 125

MINOR QUERIES:—The Withered Hand and Motto "Utinam"—History of York—"Hauling over the coals"—Dr. Butler and St. Edmund's Bury—Washington—Norman of Winster—Sir Arthur Aston—"Jamieson the Piper"—"Keiser Glomer"—Tieck's "Comoedia Divina"—Fossil Trees between Cairo and Suez: Stream like that in Bay of Argastoli—Presbyterian Titles—Mayors and Sheriffs—The Beauty of Buttermere—Sheer Hulk—The Lapwing or Peewitt (Vanellus cristatus)—"Could we with ink," &c.—Launching Query—Manliness 125

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:—Pues or Pews—"Jerningham" and "Doveton" 127

REPLIES:— Battle of Villers en Couche, by T. C. Smith, &c. 127 Snail-eating, by John Timbs, &c. 128 Inscription near Cirencester, by P. H. Fisher, &c. 129 Curious Custom of ringing Bells for the Dead, by the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe and R. W. Elliot 130 Who first thought of Table-turning? by John Macray 131 Scotchmen in Poland 131 Anticipatory Use of the Cross, by Eden Warwick 132

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:—Glass Chambers for Photography—Dr. Diamond's Replies—Trial of Lenses—Is it dangerous to use the Ammonio-Nitrate of Silver? 133

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:—Burke's Marriage—The House of Falahill—Descendants of Judas Iscariot—Milton's Widow—Whitaker's Ingenious Earl—Are White Cats deaf?—Consecrated Roses—The Reformed Faith—House-marks—Trash—Adamsoniana—Portrait of Cromwell—Burke's "Mighty Boar of the Forest"—"Amentium haud Amantium"—Talleyrand's Maxim—English Bishops deprived by Queen Elizabeth—Gloves at Fairs—St. Dominic—Names of Plants—Specimens of Foreign English, &c. 134

MISCELLANEOUS:— Notes on Books, &c. 138 Books and Odd Volumes wanted 138 Notices to Correspondents 138 Advertisements 139

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Notes.

HIGH CHURCH AND LOW CHURCH.

A Universal History of Party; with the Origin of Party Names[1] would form an acceptable addition to literary history: "N. & Q." has contributed towards such a work some disquisitions on our party names Whig and Tory, and The Good Old Cause. Such names as Puritan, Malignant, Evangelical[2], can be traced up to their first commencement, but some obscurity hangs on the mintage-date of the names we are about to consider.

As a matter of fact, the distinction of High Church and Low Church always existed in the Reformed English Church, and the history of these parties would be her history. But the names were not coined till the close of the seventeenth century, and were not stamped in full relief as party-names till the first year of Queen Anne's reign.

In October, 1702, Anne's first Parliament and Convocation assembled:

"From the deputies in Convocation at this period, the appellations High Church and Low Church originated, and they were afterwards used to distinguish the clergy. It is singular that the bishops[3] were ranked among {118} the Low Churchmen (see Burnet, v. 138.; Calamy, i. 643.; Tindal's Cont., iv. 591.)"—Lathbury's Hist. of the Convocation, Lond. 1842, p. 319.

Mr. Lathbury is a very respectable authority in matters of this kind, but if he use "originated" in its strict sense, I am inclined to think he is mistaken; as I am tolerably certain that I have met with the words several years before 1702. At the moment, however, I cannot lay my hands on a passage to support this assertion.

The disputes in Convocation gave rise to a number of pamphlets, such as A Caveat against High Church, Lond. 1702, and The Low Churchmen vindicated from the unjust Imputation of being No Churchmen, in Answer to a Pamphlet called "The Distinction of High and Low Church considered:" Lond. 1706, 8vo. Dr. Sacheverell's trial gave additional zest to the dudgeon ecclesiastick, and produced a shower of pamphlets. I give the title of one of them: Pulpit War, or Dr. S——l, the High Church Trumpet, and Mr. H——ly, the Low Church Drum, engaged by way of Dialogue, Lond. 1710, 8vo.

To understand the cause of the exceeding bitterness and virulence which animated the parties denominated High Church and Low Church, we must remember that until the time of William of Orange, the Church of England, as a body—her sovereigns and bishops, her clergy and laity—comes under the former designation; while those who sympathised with the Dissenters were comparatively few and weak. As soon as William was head of the Church, he opened the floodgates of Puritanism, and admitted into the church what previously had been more or less external to it. This element, thus made part and parcel of the Anglican Church, was denominated Low Church. William supplanted the bishops and clergy who refused to take oaths of allegiance to him as king de jure; and by putting Puritans in their place, made the latter the dominant party. Add to this the feelings of exasperation produced by the murder of Charles I., and the expulsion of the Stuarts, and we have sufficient grounds, political and religious, for an irreconcilable feud. Add, again, the reaction resulting from the overthrow of the tyrannous hot-bed and forcing-system, where a sham conformity was maintained by coercion; and the Church-Papist, as well as the Church-Puritans, with ill-concealed hankering after the mass and the preaching-house, by penal statutes were forced to do what their souls abhorred, and play the painful farce of attending the services of "The Establishment."

A writer in a High Church periodical of 1717 (prefacing his article with the passage from Proverbs vi. 27.) proceeds:

"The old way of attacking the Church of England was by mobs and bullies, and hard sounds; by calling Whore, and Babylon, upon our worship and liturgy, and kicking out our clergy as dumb dogs: but now they have other irons in the fire; a new engine is set up under the cloak and disguise of temper, unity, comprehension, and the Protestant religion. Their business now is not to storm the Church, but to lull it to sleep: to make us relax our care, quit our defences, and neglect our safety.... These are the politics of their Popish fathers: when they had tried all other artifices, they at last resolved to sow schism and division in the Church: and from thence sprang up this very generation, who by a fine stratagem endeavoured to set us one against the other, and they gather up the stakes. Hence the distinction of High and Low Church."—The Scourge, p. 251.

In another periodical of the same date, in the Dedication "To the most famous University of Oxford," the writer says:

"These enemies of our religious and civil establishment have represented you as instillers of slavish doctrines and principles ... if to give to God and Caesar his due be such tow'ring, and High Church principles, I am sure St. Peter and St. Paul will scarce escape being censured for Tories and Highflyers."—The Entertainer, Lond. 1717.

"If those who have kept their first love, and whose robes have not been defiled, endeavour to stop these innovations and corruptions that their enemies would introduce, they are blackened for High Church Papists, favourers of I know not who, and fall under the public resentment."—Ib. p. 301.

I shall now give a few extracts from Low Church writers (quoted in The Scourge), who thus designate their opponents:

"A pack or party of scandalous, wicked, and profane men, who appropriate to themselves the name of High Church (but may more properly be said to be Jesuits or Papists in masquerade), do take liberty to teach, preach, and print, publickly and privately, sedition, contentions, and divisions among the Protestants of this kingdom."—Motives to Union, p. 1.

"These men glory in their being members of the High Church (Popish appellation, and therefore they are the more fond of that); but these pretended sons are become her persecutors, and they exercise their spite and lies both on the living and the dead."—The Snake in the Grass brought to Light, p. 8.

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"Our common people of the High Church are as ignorant in matters of religion as the bigotted Papists, which gives great advantage to our Jacobite and Tory priests to lead them where they please, or to mould them into what shapes they please."—Reasons for an Union, p. 39.

"The minds of the populace are too much debauched already from their loyalty by seditious arts of the High Church faction."—Convocation Craft, p. 34.

"We may see how closely our present Highflyers pursue the steps of their Popish predecessors, in reckoning those who dispute the usurped power of the Church to be hereticks, schismaticks, or what else they please."—Ib. p. 30.

"All the blood that has been spilt in the late unnatural rebellion, may be very justly laid at the doors of the High Church clergy."—Christianity no Creature of the State, p. 16.

"We see what the Tory Priesthood were made of in Queen Elizabeth's time, that they were ignorant, lewd, and seditious: and it must be said of 'em that they are true to the stuff still."—Toryism the Worst of the Two, p. 21.

"The Tories and High Church, notwithstanding their pretences to loyalty, will be found by their actions to be the greatest rebels in nature."—Reasons for an Union, p. 20.

Sir W. Scott, in his Life of Dryden, Lond. 1808, observes that—

"Towards the end of Charles the Second's reign, the High-Church-men and the Catholics regarded themselves as on the same side in political questions, and not greatly divided in their temporal interests. Both were sufferers in the plot, both were enemies of the sectaries, both were adherents of the Stuarts. Alternate conversion had been common between them, so early as since Milton made a reproach to the English Universities of the converts to the Roman faith daily made within their colleges: of those sheep—

'Whom the grim wolf with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing said.'" Life, 3rd edit. 1834, p. 272.

I quote this passage partly because it gives Sir Walter's interpretation of that obscure passage in Lycidas, respecting which I made a Query (Vol. ii., p. 246.), but chiefly as a preface to the remark that in James II.'s reign, and at the time these party names originated, the Roman Catholics were in league with the Puritans or Low Church party against the High Churchmen, which increased the acrimony of both parties.

In those days religion was politics, and politics religion, with most of the belligerents. Swift, however, as if he wished to be thought an exception to the general rule, chose one party for its politics and the other for its religion.

"Swift carried into the ranks of the Whigs the opinions and scruples of a High Church clergyman... Such a distinction between opinions in Church and State has not frequently existed: the High Churchmen being usually Tories, and the Low Church divines universally Whigs."—Scott's Life, 2nd edit.: Edin. 1824, p. 76.

See Swift's Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and Commons of Athens and Rome: Lond. 1701.

In his quaint Argument against abolishing Christianity, Lond. 1708, the following passage occurs:

"There is one advantage, greater than any of the foregoing, proposed by the abolishing of Christianity: that it will utterly extinguish parties among us by removing those factious distinctions of High and Low Church, of Whig and Tory, Presbyterian and Church of England."

Scott says of the Tale of a Tub:

"The main purpose is to trace the gradual corruptions of the Church of Rome, and to exalt the English Reformed Church at the expense both of the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian establishments. It was written with a view to the interests of the High Church party."—Life, p. 84.

Most men will concur with Jeffrey, who observes:

"It is plain, indeed, that Swift's High Church principles were all along but a part of his selfishness and ambition; and meant nothing else, than a desire to raise the consequence of the order to which he happened to belong. If he had been a layman, we have no doubt he would have treated the pretensions of the priesthood as he treated the persons of all priests who were opposed to him, with the most bitter and irreverent disdain."—Ed. Rev., Sept. 1846.

The following lines are from a squib of eight stanzas which occurs in the works of Jonathan Smedley, and are said to have been fixed on the door of St. Patrick's Cathedral on the day of Swift's instalment (see Scott, p. 174.):

"For High Churchmen and policy, He swears he prays most hearty; But would pray back again to be A Dean of any party."

This reminds us of the Vicar of Bray, of famous memory, who, if I recollect aright, commenced his career thus:

"In good King Charles's golden days, When loyalty no harm meant, A zealous High Churchman I was, And so I got preferment."

How widely different are the men we see classed under the title High Churchmen! Evelyn and Walton[4], the gentle, the Christian; the arrogant Swift, and the restless Atterbury.

It is difficult to prevent my note running beyond the limits of "N. & Q.," with the ample {120} materials I have to select from; but I cannot wind up without a definition; so here are two:

"Mr. Thelwall says that he told a pious old lady, who asked him the difference between High Church and Low Church, 'The High Church place the Church alcove Christ, the Low Church place Christ above the Church.' About a hundred years ago, that very same question was asked of the famous South:—'Why,' said he, 'the High Church are those who think highly of the Church, and lowly of themselves; the Low Church are those who think highly of themselves, and lowly of the Church."—Rev. H. Newland's Lecture on Tractarianism, Lond. 1852, p. 68.

The most celebrated High Churchmen who lived in the last century, are Dr. South, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Rev. Wm. Jones of Nayland, Bp. Horne, Bp. Wilson, and Bp. Horsley. See a long passage on "High Churchmen" in a charge of the latter to the clergy of St. David's in the year 1799, pp. 34. 37. See also a charge of Bp. Atterbury (then Archdeacon of Totnes) to his clergy in 1703.

JARLTZBERG.

[Footnote 1: There is a book called History of Party, from the Rise of the Whig and Tory Factions Chas. II. to the Passing of the Reform Bill, by G. W. Cooke: Lond. 1836-37, 3 vols. 8vo.; but, as the title shows, it is limited in scope.]

[Footnote 2: See Haweis's Sermons on Evangelical Principles and Practice: Lond. 1763, 8vo.; The True Churchmen ascertained; or, An Apology for those of the Regular Clergy of the Establishment, who are sometimes called Evangelical Ministers: occasioned by the Publications of Drs. Paley, Hey, Croft; Messrs. Daubeny, Ludlam, Polwhele, Fellowes; the Reviewers, &c.: by John Overton, A. B., York, 1802, 8vo., 2nd edit. See also the various memoirs of Whitfield, Wesley, &c.; and Sir J. Stephens Essays on "The Clapham Sect" and "The Evangelical Succession."]

[Footnote 3: It is not so very "singular," when we remember that the bishops were what Lord Campbell and Mr. Macauley call "judiciously chosen" by William. On this point a cotemporary remarks, "Some steps have been made, and large ones too, towards a Scotch reformation, by suspending and ejecting the chief and most zealous of our bishops, and others of the higher clergy; and by advancing, upon all vacancies of sees and dignities, ecclesiastical men of notoriously Presbyterian, or, which is worse, of Erastian principles. These are the ministerial ways of undermining Episcopacy; and when to the seven notorious ones shall be added more, upon the approaching deprivation, they will make a majority; and then we may expect the new model of a church to be perfected." (Somers' Tracts, vol. x. p. 368.) Until Atterbury, there were few High Church Bishops in Queen Anne's reign in 1710. Burnet singles out the Bishop of Chester: "for he seemed resolved to distinguish himself as a zealot for that which is called High Church."—Hist. Own Time, vol. iv. p. 260.]

[Footnote 4: Of Izaak Walton his biographer, Sir John Hawkins, writing in 1760, says, "he was a friend to a hierarchy, or, as we should now call such a one, a High Churchman."]

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CONCLUDING NOTES ON SEVERAL MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS.

(Continued from Vol. vii., p. 568.)

Not being minded to broach any fresh matter in "N. & Q.," I shall now only crave room to clear off an old score, lest I should leave myself open to the imputation of having cast that in the teeth of a numerous body of men which might, for aught they would know to the contrary, be as truly laid in my own dish. In No. 189., p. 567., I affirmed that the handling of a passage in Cymbeline, there quoted, had betrayed an amount of obtuseness in the commentators which would be discreditable in a third-form schoolboy. To substantiate that assertion, and rescue the disputed word "Britaine" henceforth for ever from the rash tampering of the meddlesome sciolist, I beg to advertise the ingenuous reader that the clause,—

"For being now a favourer to the Britaine,"

is in apposition with Death, not with Posthumus Leonatus. In a note appended to this censure, referring to another passage from L. L. L., I averred that MR. COLLIER had corrupted it by chancing the singular verb dies into the plural die (this too done, under plea of editorial licence, without warning to the reader), and that such corruption had abstracted the true key to the right construction. To make good this last position, two things I must do first, cite the whole passage, without change of letter or tittle, as it stands in the Folios '23 and '32; next, show the trivial and vulgar use of "contents" as a singular noun. In Folio '23, thus:

"Qu. Nay my good Lord, let me ore-rule you now; That sport best pleases that doth least know how. Where Zeale striues to content, and the contents Dies in the Zeale of that which it presents: Their forme confounded, makes most forme in mirth When great things labouring perish in their birth." Act IV. p. 141.

With this the Folio '32 exactly corresponds, save that the speaker is Prin., not Qu.; ore-rules is written as two words without the hyphen, and strives for striues. I have been thus precise, because criticism is to me not "a game," nor admissive of cogging and falsification.

I must now show the hackneyed use of contents as a singular noun. An anonymous correspondent of "N. & Q." has already pointed out one in Measure for Measure, Act IV. Sc. 2.:

"Duke. The contents of this is the returne of the Duke."

Another:

"This is the contents thereof."—Calvin's 82nd Sermon upon Job, p. 419., Golding's translation.

Another:

"After this were articles of peace propounded, y^e contents wherof was, that he should departe out of Asia."—The 31st Booke of Justine, fol. 139., Golding's translation of Justin's Trogus Pompeius.

Another:

"Plinie writeth hereof an excellent letter, the contents whereof is, that this ladie, mistrusting her husband, was condemned to die," &c.—Historicall Meditations, lib. iii. chap. xi. p. 178. Written in Latin by P. Camerarius, and done into English by John Molle, Esq.: London, 1621.

Another:

"The contents whereof is this."—Id., lib. v. chap. vi. p. 342.

Another:

"Therefore George, being led with an heroicall disdaine, and nevertheless giuing the bridle beyond moderation to his anger, vnderstanding that Albert was come to Newstad, resolued with himselfe (without acquainting any bodie) to write a letter vnto him, the contents whereof was," &c.—Id., lib. v. chap. xii. p. 366.

If the reader wants more examples, let him give himself the trouble to open the first book that comes to hand, and I dare say the perusal of a dozen pages will supply some; yet have we two editors of Shakspeare, Johnson and Collier, so unacquainted with the usage of their own tongue, and the universal logic of thought, as not to know that a word like contents, according as it is understood collectively or distributively, may be, and, as we have just seen, in fact is, treated as a singular or plural; that, I say, contents taken severally, every content, or in gross, the whole mass, is respectively plural or singular. It was therefore optional with Shakspeare to employ the word either as a singular or plural, but not in the same sentence to do both: here, however, he was tied {121} to the singular, for, wanting a rhyme to contents, the nominative to presents must be singular, and that nominative was the pronoun of contents. Since, therefore, the plural die and the singular it could not both be referable to the same noun contents, by silently substituting die for dies, MR. COLLIER has blinded his reader and wronged his author. The purport of the passage amounts to this: the contents, or structure (to wit, of the show to be exhibited), breaks down in the performer's zeal to the subject which it presents. Johnson very properly adduces a much happier expression of the same thought from A Midsummer Night's Dreame:

"Hip. I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharged; And duty in his service perishing."

The reader cannot fail to have observed the faultless punctuation of the Folios in the forecited passage, and I think concur with me, that like many, ay, most others, all it craves at the hands of editors and commentators is, to be left alone. The last two lines ask for no explanation even to the blankest mind. Words like contents are by no means rare in English. We have tidings and news, both singular and plural. MR. COLLIER himself rebukes Malone for his ignorance of such usage of the latter word. If it be said that these two examples have no singular form, whereas contents has, there is means, at any rate precisely analogous. On the other hand, so capricious is language, in defiance of the logic of thought, we have, if I may so term it, a merely auricular plural, in the word corpse referred to a single carcase.

I should here close my account with "N. & Q." were it not that I have an act of justice to perform. When I first lighted upon the two examples of chaumbre in Udall, I thought, as we say in this country, it was a good "fundlas," and regarded it as my own property. It now appears to be but a waif or stray; therefore, suum cuique, I cheerfully resign the credit of it to MR. SINGER, the rightful proprietary. Proffering them for the inspection of learned and unlearned, I of course foresaw that speedy sentence would be pronounced by that division, whose judgment, lying ebb and close to the surface, must needs first reach the light. I know no more appropriate mode of requiting the handsome manner in which MR. SINGER has been pleased to speak of my trifling contributions to "N. & Q.," than by asking him, with all the modesty of which I am master, to reconsider the passage in Romeo and Juliet; for though his substitution (rumourers vice runawayes) may, I think, clearly take the wall of any of its rivals, yet, believing that Juliet invokes a darkness to shroud her lover, under cover of which even the fugitive from justice might snatch a wink of sleep, I must for my own part, as usual, still adhere to the authentic text.

W. R. ARROWSMITH.

P. S.—In answer to a Bloomsbury Querist (Vol. viii., p. 44.), I crave leave to say that I never have met with the verb perceyuer except in Hawes, loc. cit.; and I gave the latest use that I could call to mind of the noun in my paper on that word. Unhappily I never make notes, but rely entirely on a somewhat retentive memory; therefore the instances that occur on the spur of the moment are not always the most apposite that might be selected for the purpose of illustration. If, however, he will take the trouble to refer to a little book, consisting of no more than 448 pages, published in 1576, and entitled A Panoplie of Epistles, or a Looking-glasse for the Unlearned, by Abraham Flemming, he will find no fewer than nine examples, namely, at pp. 25. 144. 178. 253. 277. 285. (twice in the same page) 333. 382. It excites surprise that the word never, as far as I am aware, occurs in any of the voluminous works of Sir Thomas More, nor in any of the theological productions of the Reformers.

With respect to speare, the orthography varies, as spere, sperr, sparr, unspar; but in the Prologue to Troilus and Cressida, sperre is Theobald's correction of stirre, in Folios '23 and '32. Let me add, what I had forgotten at the time, that another instance of budde intransitive, to bend, occurs at p. 105. of The Life of Faith in Death, by Samuel Ward, preacher of Ipswich, London, 1622. Also another, and a very significant one, of the phrase to have on the hip, in Fuller's Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, 1647:

"Arnulphus was as quiet as a lambe, and durst never challenge his interest in Jerusalem from Godfrey's donation; as fearing to wrestle with the king, who had him on the hip, and could out him at pleasure for his bad manners."—Book ii. chap. viii. p. 55.

In my note on the word trash, I said (somewhat too peremptorily) that overtop was not even a hunting term (Vol. vii., p. 567.). At the moment I had forgotten the following passage:

"Therefore I would perswade all lovers of hunting to get two or three couple of tryed hounds, and once or twice a week to follow after them a train-scent; and when he is able to top them on all sorts of earth, and to endure heats and colds stoutly, then he may the better relie on his speed and toughness."—The Hunting-horse, chap. vii. p. 71., Oxford, 1685.

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SNEEZING AN OMEN AND A DEITY.

In the Odyssey, xvii. 541-7., we have, imitating the hexameters, the following passage:

"Thus Penelope spake. Then quickly Telemachus sneez'd loud, Sounding around all the building: his mother, with smiles at her son, said, Swiftly addressing her rapid and high-toned words to Eumaeus, {122} 'Go then directly, Eumaeus, and call to my presence the strange guest. See'st thou not that my son, ev'ry word I have spoken hath sneez'd at?[5] Thus portentous, betok'ning the fate of my hateful suitors, All whom death and destruction await by a doom irreversive.'"

Dionysius Halicarnassus, on Homer's poetry (s. 24.), says, sneezing was considered by that poet as a good sign ([Greek: sumbolon agathon]); and from the Anthology (lib. ii.) the words [Greek: oude legei, Zeu soson, ean ptarei], show that it was proper to exclaim "God bless you!" when any one sneezed.

Aristotle, in the Problems (xxxiii. 7.), inquires why sneezing is reckoned a God ([Greek: dia ti ton men ptarmon, theon hegoumetha einai]); to which he suggests, that it may be because it comes from the head, the most divine part about us ([Greek: theiotatou ton peri hemas]). Persons having the inclination, but not the power to sneeze, should look at the sun, for reasons he assigns in Problems (xxxiii. 4.).

Plutarch, on the Daemon of Socrates (s. 11.), states the opinion which some persons had formed, that Socrates' daemon was nothing else than the sneezing either of himself or others. Thus, if any one sneezed at his right hand, either before or behind him, he pursued any step he had begun; but sneezing at his left hand caused him to desist from his formed purpose. He adds something as to different kinds of sneezing. To sneeze twice was usual in Aristotle's time; but once, or more than twice, was uncommon (Prob. xxxiii. 3.).

Petronius (Satyr. c. 98.) notices the "blessing" in the following passage:

"Giton collectione spiritus plenus, ter continuo ita sternutavit, ut grabatum concuteret. Ad quem motum Eumolpus conversus, salvere Gitona jubet."

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

[Footnote 5: The practice of snuff-taking has made the sneezing at anything a mark of contempt, in these degenerate days.]

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ABUSES OF HACKNEY COACHES.

[The following proclamation on this subject is of interest at the present moment.]

By the King.

A Proclamation to restrain the Abuses of Hackney Coaches in the Cities of London and Westminster, and the Suburbs thereof.

Charles R.

Whereas the excessive number of Hackney Coaches, and Coach Horses, in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, and the Suburbs thereof, are found to be a common nuisance to the Publique Damage of Our People by reason of their rude and disorderly standing and passing to and fro, in and about our said Cities and Suburbs, the Streets and Highways being thereby pestred and made impassable, the Pavements broken up, and the Common Passages obstructed and become dangerous, Our Peace violated, and sundry other mischiefs and evils occasioned:

We, taking into Our Princely consideration these apparent Inconveniences, and resolving that a speedy remedy be applied to meet with, and redress them for the future, do, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, publish Our Royal Will and Pleasure to be, and we do by this Our Proclamation expressly charge and command, That no Person or Persons, of what Estate, Degree, or Quality whatsoever, keeping or using any Hackney Coaches, or Coach Horses, do, from and after the Sixth day of November next, permit or suffer the said Coaches and Horses, or any of them, to stand or remain in any the Streets or Passages in or about Our said Cities either of London or Westminster, or the Suburbs belonging to either of them, to be there hired; but that they and every of them keep their said Coaches and Horses within their respective Coach-houses, Stables, and Yards (whither such Persons as desire to hire the same may resort for that purpose), upon pain of Our high displeasure, and such Forfeitures, Pains, and Penalties as may be inflicted for the Contempt of Our Royal Commands in the Premises, whereof we shall expect a strict Accompt.

And for the due execution of Our Pleasure herein, We do further charge and command the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of Our City of London, That they in their several Wards, and Our Justices of Peace within Our said Cities of London and Westminster, and the Liberties and Suburbs thereof, and all other Our Officers and Ministers of Justice, to whom it appertaineth, do take especial care in their respective Limits that this Our Command be duly observed, and that they from time to time return the names of all those who shall wilfully offend in the Premises, to Our Privy Council, and to the end they may be proceeded against by Indictments and Presentments for the Nuisance, and otherwise according to the severity of the Law and Demerits of the Offenders.

Given at Our Court at Whitehall the 18th day of October in the 12th year of Our Reign.

GOD SAVE THE KING.

London: Printed by John Bell and Christopher Barker, Printers to the King's most Excellent Majesty, 1660.

* * * * *

Pepys, in his Diary, vol. i. p. 152., under date 8th November, 1660, says:

"To Mr. Fox, who was very civil to me. Notwithstanding this was the first day of the King's {123} proclamation against hackney coaches coming into the streets to stand to be hired, yet I got one to carry me home."

T. D.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

Passage in "The Tempest," Act I. Sc. 2.—

"The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire out."

"The manuscript corrector of the folio 1632," MR. COLLIER informs us, "has substituted heat for 'cheek,' which is not an unlikely corruption, a person writing only by the ear."

I should say very unlikely: but if heat had been actually printed in the folios, without speculating as to the probability that the press-copy was written from dictation, I should have had no hesitation in altering it to cheek. To this I should have been directed by a parallel passage in Richard II., Act III. Sc. 3., which has been overlooked by MR. COLLIER:

"Methinks, King Richard and myself should meet With no less terror than the elements Of fire and water, when their thundering shock At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven."

Commentary here is almost useless. Every one who has any capacity for Shakspearian criticism must feel assured that Shakspeare wrote cheek, and not heat.

The passage I have cited from Richard II. strongly reminds me of an old lady whom I met last autumn on a tour through the Lakes of Cumberland, &c.; and who, during a severe thunderstorm, expressed to me her surprise at the pertinacity of the lightning, adding, "I should think, Sir, that so much water in the heavens would have put all the fire out."

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

The Case referred to by Shakspeare in Hamlet (Vol. vii., p. 550.).—

"If the water come to the man."—Shakspeare.

The argument Shakspeare referred to was that contained in Plowden's Report of the case of Hales v. Petit, heard in the Court of Common Pleas in the fifth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was held that though the wife of Sir James Hale, whose husband was felo-de-se, became by survivorship the holder of a joint term for years, yet, on office found, it should be forfeited on account of the act of the deceased husband. The learned serjeants who were counsel for the defendant, alleged that the forfeiture should have relation to the act done in the party's lifetime, which was the cause of his death. "And upon this," they said, "the parts of the act are to be considered." And Serjeant Walsh said:

"The act consists of three parts. The first is the imagination, which is a reflection or meditation of the mind, whether or no it is convenient for him to destroy himself, and what way it can be done. The second is the resolution, which is the determination of the mind to destroy himself, and to do it in this or that particular way. The third is the perfection, which is the execution of what the mind has resolved to do. And this perfection consists of two parts, viz. the beginning and the end. The beginning is the doing of the act which causes the death; and the end is the death, which is only the sequel to the act. And of all the parts, the doing of the act is the greatest in the judgment of our law, and it is, in effect, the whole and the only part the law looks upon to be material. For the imagination of the mind to do wrong, without an act done, is not punishable in our law; neither is the resolution to do that wrong which he does not, punishable; but the doing of the act is the only point the law regards, for until the act is done it cannot be an offence to the world, and when the act is done it is punishable. Then, here, the act done by Sir James Hale, which is evil and the cause of his death, is the throwing of himself into the water, and death is but a sequel thereof, and this evil act ought some way to be punished. And if the forfeiture shall not have relation to the doing of the act, then the act shall not be punished at all, for inasmuch as the person who did the act is dead, his person cannot be punished, and therefore there is no way else to punish him but by the forfeiture of those things which were his own at the time of the act done; and the act was done in his lifetime, and therefore the forfeiture shall have relation to his lifetime, namely, to that time of his life in which he did the act which took away his life."

And the judges, viz. Weston, Anthony Brown, and Lord Dyer, said:

"That the forfeiture shall have relation to the time of the original offence committed, which was the cause of the death, and that was, the throwing himself into the water, which was done in his lifetime, and this act was felony."——"So that the felony is attributed to the act, which act is always done by a living man and in his lifetime," as Brown said; for he said, "Sir James Hale was dead, and how came he to his death? It may be answered, By drowning. And who drowned him? Sir James Hale. And when did he drown him? In his lifetime. So that Sir James Hale being alive, caused Sir James Hale to die; and the act of the living man was the death of the dead man. And then for this offence it is reasonable to punish the living man who committed the offence, and not the dead man. But how can he be said to be punished alive when the punishment comes after his death? Sir, this can be done no other way but by devesting out of him, from the time of the act done in his life, which was the cause of his death, the title and property of those things which he had in his lifetime."

The above extract is long, but the work from which it is taken can be accessible to but very few {124} of your readers. Let them not, however, while they smile at the arguments, infer that those who took part in them were not deservedly among the most learned and eminent of our ancient judges.

THOMAS FALCONER.

Temple.

Shakspeare Suggestion.—

"These sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours; Most busy—less when I do it." Tempest, Act III. Sc. 1.

I fear your readers will turn away from the very sight of the above. Be patient, kind friends, I will be brief. Has any one suggested—

"Most busy, least when I do"?

The words in the folio are

"Most busy lest, when I do it."

The "it" seems mere surplusage. The sense requires that the thoughts should be "most busy" whilst the hands "do least;" and in Shakspeare's time, "lest" was a common spelling for least.

ICON.

Shakspeare Controversy.—I think the Shakspeare Notes contained in your volumes are not complete without the following quotation from The Summer Night of Ludwig Tieck, as translated by Mary Maynard in the Athen. of June 25, 1853. Puck, in addressing the sleeping boy Shakspeare, says:

"After thy death, I'll raise dissension sharp, Loud strife among the herd of little minds: Envy shall seek to dim thy wondrous page, But all the clearer will thy glory shine."

CERIDWEN.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

Falsified Gravestone in Stratford Churchyard.—The following instance of a recent forgery having been extensively circulated, may lead to more careful examination by those who take notes of things extraordinary.

The church at Stratford-upon-Avon was repaired about the year 1839; and some of the workmen having their attention directed to the fact, that many persons who had attained to the full age of man were buried in the churchyard; and, wishing "for the honour of the place," to improve the note-books of visitors, set about manufacturing an extraordinary instance of longevity. A gravestone was chosen in an out-of-the-way place, in which there happened to be a space before the age (72). A figure 1 was cut in this space, and the age at death then stood 172. The sexton was either deceived, or assented to the deception; as the late vicar, the Rev. J. Clayton, learned that it had become a practice with him (the sexton) to show strangers this gravestone, so falsified, as a proof of the extraordinary age to which people lived in the parish. The vicar had the fraudulent figure erased at once, and lectured the sexton for his dishonesty.

These facts were related to me a few weeks since by a son of the late vicar. And as many strangers visiting the tomb of Shakspeare "made a note" of this falsified age, "N. & Q." may now correct the forgery.

ROBERT RAWLINSON.

Barnacles in the River Thames.—In Porta's Natural Magic, Eng. trans., Lond. 1658, occurs the following curious passage:

"Late writers report that not only in Scotland, but also in the river of Thames by London, there is a kind of shell-fish in a two-leaved shell, that hath a foot full of plaits and wrinkles: these fish are little, round, and outwardly white, smooth and beetle-shelled like an almond shell; inwardly they are great bellied, bred as it were of moss and mud; they commonly stick in the keel of some old ship. Some say they come of worms, some of the boughs of trees which fall into the sea; if any of them be cast upon shore they die, but they which are swallowed still into the sea, live and get out of their shells, and grow to be ducks or such like birds(!)."

It would be curious to know what could give rise to such an absurd belief.

SPERIEND.

Note for London Topographers.—

"The account of Mr. Mathias Fletcher, of Greenwich, for carving the Anchor Shield and King's Arms for the Admiralty Office in York Buildings, delivered Nov. 2, 1668, and undertaken by His Majesty's command signified to me by the Hon. Samuel Pepys, Esq., Secretary for the Affairs of the Admiralty:

L s. d.

"For a Shield for the middle of the front of the said office towards the Thames, containing the Anchor of Lord High Admiral of England with the Imperial Crown over it, and cyphers, being 8 foot deep and 6 foot broad, I having found the timber, &c. 30 0 0

"For the King's Arms at large, with ornaments thereto, designed for the pediment of the said front, the same being in the whole 15 foot long and 9 foot high, I finding timber, &c. 73 15 0

————- L103 15 0"

Extracted from Rawlinson MS. A. 170, fol. 132.

J. YEOWELL.

The Aliases and Initials of Authors.—It has often occurred to me that it would save much useless inquiry and research, if a tolerable list could be collected of the principal authors who have published their works under assumed names or initials: thus, "R. B. Robert Burton," Nathaniel Crouch, "R. F. Scoto-Britannicus," Robert Fairley, &c. The commencement of a new volume of {125} "N. & Q." affords an excellent opportunity for attempting this. If the correspondents of "N. & Q." would contribute their mites occasionally with this view, by the conclusion of the volume, I have little doubt but a very valuable list might be obtained. For the sake of reference, the whole contributions obtained could then be amalgamated, and alphabetically arranged.

PERTHENSIS.

Pure.—In visiting an old blind woman the other day, I was struck with what to me was a peculiar use of the word pure. Having inquired after the dame's health, and been assured that she was much better, I begged her not to rise from the bed on which she was sitting, whereupon she said, "Thank you, Sir, I feel quite pure this morning."

OXONIENSIS.

Oakridge, Gloucestershire.

Darling's "Cyclopaedia Bibliographica."—The utility of Mr. Darling's Cyclopaedia Bibliographica is exemplified by the solution conveyed under the title "Crellius," p. 813, of the following difficulty expressed by Dr. Hey, the Norrisian professor (Lectures, vol. iii. p. 40.):

"Paul Crellius and John Maclaurin seem to have been of the same way of thinking with John Agricola. Nicholls, on this Article [Eighth of the Thirty-nine Articles], refers to Paul Crellius's book De Libertate Christiana, but I do not find it anywhere. A speech of his is in the Bodleian Dialogue, but not this work."

Similar information might have been received by your correspondent (Vol. vii., p. 381.), who inquired whether Huet's Navigations of Solomon was ever published. In the Cyclopaedia reference is made to two collections in which this treatise has been inserted, Crit. Sac., viii.; Ugolinus, vii. 277. With his usual accuracy, Mr. Darling states there are additions in the Critici Sacri printed at Amsterdam, 1698-1732, as Huet's treatise above referred to is not in the first edition, London, 1660.

BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.

* * * * *

Queries.

DELFT MANUFACTURE.

I am extremely desirous of obtaining some information respecting the Dutch manufactories of enamelled pottery, or Delft ware, as we call it.

On a former occasion, by your connexion with the Navorscher, you were able to obtain for me some very valuable and interesting information in reply to some question put respecting the Dutch porcelain manufactories. I am therefore in hopes that some kind correspondent in Holland will be so obliging as to impart to me similar information on this subject also. I should wish to know—

When, by whom, at what places, and under what circumstances, the manufacture of enamelled pottery was first introduced into Holland?

Whether there were manufactories at other towns besides Delft?

Whether they had any distinctive marks; and, if so, what were they?

Whether there was more than one manufactory at Delft; and, if so, what were their marks, and what was the meaning of them?

Whether any particular manufactories were confined to the making of any particular sort or quality of articles; and, if so, what were they?

Whether any of the manufactories have ceased; and, if so, at what period?

Also, any other particulars respecting the manufactories and their products that it may be possible to communicate through the medium of a paper like "N. & Q."

OCTAVIUS MORGAN.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

The Withered Hand and Motto "Utinam."—At Compton Park, near Salisbury, the seat of the Penruddocke family, there is a three-quarter length picture, in the Velasquez style, of a gentleman in a rich dress of black velvet, with broad lace frill and cuffs, and ear-rings, probably of the latter part of Queen Elizabeth's reign. His right hand, which he displays somewhat prominently, is withered. The left one is a-kimbo, and less seen. In the upper part of the painting is the single Latin word "UTINAM" (O that!). There is no tradition as to who this person was. Any suggestion on the subject would gratify

J.

History of York.—Who is the author of a History of York, in 2 vols., published at that city in 1788 by T. Wilson and R. Spence, High Ousegate? I have seen it in several shops, and heard it attributed to Drake; and obtained it the other day from an extensive library in Bristol, in the Catalogue of which it is styled Drake's Eboracum. Several allusions in the first volume to his work, however, render it impossible to be ascribed to him. It is dedicated to the Right Honourable Sir William Mordaunt Milner, of Nunappleton, Bart., who was mayor at the time.

R. W. ELLIOT.

Clifton.

"Hauling over the coals."—What is the origin and meaning of the phrase, "Hauling one over the coals;" and where does it first appear?

FABER.

Dr. Butler and St. Edmund's Bury.—Can any of your readers give me any information respecting the Mr. or Dr. Butler, of St. Edmund's Bury, referred to in the extracts from the Post Boy and Gough's Topography, quoted by MR. BALLARD in Vol. vii., p. 617.?

BURIENSIS.

Washington.—Anecdotes relative to General Washington, President of the United States, {126} intended for a forthcoming work on the "Homes of American Statesmen," will be gratefully received for the author by

JOSEPH STANSBURY.

26. Parliament Street.

Norman of Winster.—Can any of your correspondents afford information bearing on the family of Norman of Winster, county of Derby?

"John Norman of Winster, county of Derby, married, in 1715 or 1716, to Jane (maiden name particularly wanted). The said J. Norman married again in 1723, to Mary" (maiden name wanted also).

I shall be particularly obliged to any one affording such information.

W.

Sir Arthur Aston.—I shall be much obliged, should any of your very numerous correspondents be able to inform me in which part or parish, of the county of Berkshire, the celebrated cavalier Sir Arthur Aston resided upon his return from the foreign wars in which he had been for so many years engaged; and previously to the rupture between Charles I. and the Houses of Parliament.

I believe one of his daughters, about the same period, married a gentleman residing in the same county: also that George Tattersall, Esq., of Finchampstead, a family of consideration in the same county of Berkshire, was a near relative.

CHARTHAM.

"Jamieson the Piper."—I am anxious to ascertain who was the author of the above ditty; it was very popular in Aberdeenshire about the beginning of this century. The scene, if I remember rightly, is laid in the parish of Forgue, in Aberdeenshire. Possibly some of the members of the Spalding Club may be able to enlighten me on the subject.

BATHENSIS.

"Keiser Glomer."—I have a Danish play entitled Keiser Glomer, Frit oversatte af det Kyhlamske vech C. Bredahl: Kiobenhavn, 1834. It is a mixture of tragedy and farce: the former occasionally good, the latter poor buffoonery. In the notes, readings of the old MS. are referred to with apparent seriousness; but Gammel Gumba's Saga is quoted in a manner that seems burlesque. I cannot find the word "Kyhlam" in any dictionary. Can any of your readers tell me whether it signifies a real country, or is a mere fiction? The work does not read like a translation; and, if one, the number of modern allusions show that it is not, as it professes to be, from an ancient manuscript.

M. M. E.

Tieck's Comoedia Divina.—I copied the following lines six years ago from a review in a Munich newspaper of Batornicki's Ungoettliche Comoedie. They were cited as from Tieck's suppressed (zurueckgezogen) satire, La Comoedie Divina, from which Batornicki was accused of plundering freely, thinking that, from its variety, he would not be detected:

"Spitzt so hoch ihr koennt euer Ohr, Gar wunderbare Dinge kommen hier vor. Gott Vater identifieirt sich mit der Kreatur, Denn er will anschauen die absolute Natur; Aber zum Bewustseyn kann er nicht gedeihen, Drum muss er sich mit sich selbst entzweien."

I omitted to note the paper, but preserved the lines as remarkable. I have since tried to find some account of La Divina Comedia, but in vain. It is not noticed in any biography of Tieck. Can any of your readers tell me what it is, or who wrote it?

M. M. E.

Fossil Trees between Cairo and Suez—Stream like that in Bay of Argastoli.—Can any of your readers oblige me by stating where the best information may be met with concerning the very remarkable fossil trees on the way from Cairo to Suez? And, if there has yet been discovered any other stream or rivulet running from the ocean into the land similar to that in the Bay of Argastoli in the Island of Cephalonia?

H. M.

Presbyterian Titles (Vol. v., p. 516.).—Where may be found a list of "the quaint and uncouth titles of the old Presbyterians?"

P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.

Mayors and Sheriffs.—Can you or any of your readers inform me which ought to be considered the principal officer, or which is the most important, and which ought to have precedence of the other, the mayor of a town or borough, or the sheriff of a town or borough? and is the mayor merely the representative of the town, and the sheriff of the Queen; and if so, ought not the representative of majesty to be considered more honourable than the representative of merely a borough; and can a sheriff of a borough claim to have a grant of arms, if he has not any previous?

A SUBSCRIBER.

Nottingham.

The Beauty of Buttermere.—In an article contributed by Coleridge to the Morning Post (vid. Essays on his own Times, vol. ii. p. 591.), he says:

"It seems that there are some circumstances attending her birth and true parentage, which would account for her striking superiority in mind and manners, in a way extremely flattering to the prejudices of rank and birth."

What are the circumstances alluded to?

R. W. ELLIOT.

Clifton.

Sheer Hulk.—Living in a maritime town, and hearing nautical terms frequently used, I had always supposed this term to mean an old vessel, {127} with sheers, or spars, erected upon it, for the purpose of masting and unmasting ships, and was led to attribute the use of it, by Sir W. Scott and other writers, for a vessel totally dismasted, to their ignorance of the technical terms. But of late it has been used in the latter sense by a writer in the United Service Magazine professing to be a nautical man. I still suspect that this use of the word is wrong, and should be glad to hear on the subject from any of your naval readers.

I believe that the word "buckle" is still used in the dockyards, and among seamen, to signify to "bend" (see "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 375.), though rarely.

J. S. WARDEN.

The Lapwing or Peewitt (Vanellus cristatus).—Can any of your correspondents, learned in natural history, throw any light upon the meaning in the following line relative to this bird?—

"The blackbird far its hues shall know, As lapwing knows the vine."

In the first line the allusion is to the berries of the hawthorn; but what the lapwing has to do with the vine, I am at a loss to know. Having forgotten whence I copied the above lines, perhaps some one will favor me with the author's name.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

"Could we with ink," &c.—Could you, or any of your numerous and able correspondents, inform me who is the bona fide author of the following lines?—

"Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the heavens of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky."

NAPHTALI.

Launching Query.—With reference to the accident to H.M.S. Caesar at Pembroke, I would ask, Is there any other instance of a ship, on being launched, stopping on the ways, and refusing to move in spite of all efforts to start her?

A. B.

Manliness.—Query, What is the meaning of the word as used in "N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 94., col. 2. l. 12.

ANONYMOUS.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

Pues or Pews.—Which is the correct way of spelling this word? What is its derivation? Why has the form pue been lately so much adopted?

OMEGA.

[The abuses connected with the introduction of pues into churches have led to an investigation of their history, as well as to the etymology of the word. Hence the modern adoption of its original and more correct orthography, that of pue; the Dutch puye, puyd, and the English pue, being derived from the Latin podium. In Vol. iii., p. 56., we quoted the following as the earliest notice of the word from the Vision of Piers Plouman:

"Among wyves and wodewes ich am ywoned sute Yparroked in pues. The person hit knoweth."

Again, in Richard III., Act IV. Sc. 4.: "And makes her pue-fellow with others moan."—In Decker's Westward Hoe: "Being one day in church, she made mone to her pue-fellow."—And in the Northern Hoe of the same author: "He would make him a pue-fellow with lords."—See a paper on The History of Pews, read before the Cambridge Camden Society, Nov. 22, 1841.]

"Jerningham" and "Doveton."—Who was the author of Jerningham and Doveton, two admirable works of fiction published some twelve or fifteen years ago? They are equal to anything written by Bulwer Lytton or by James.

J. MT.

[The author of these works was Mr. Anstruther.]

* * * * *

Replies.

BATTLE OF VILLERS EN COUCHE.

(Vol. viii., p. 8.)

I possess a singular work, consisting of a series of Poetical Sketches of the campaigns of 1793 and 1794, written, as the title-page asserts, by an "officer of the Guards;" who appears to have been, from what he subsequently states, on the personal staff of His Royal Highness the late Duke of York. This work, I have been given to understand, was suppressed shortly after its publication; the ludicrous light thrown by its pages on the conduct of many of the chief parties engaged in the transactions it records, being no doubt unpalatable to those high in authority. From the notes, which are valuable as appearing to emanate from an eye-witness, and sometimes an actor in the scenes he describes, I send the following extracts for the information of your correspondent; premising that the letter to which they are appended is dated from the "Camp at Inchin, April 26, 1794."

"As the enemy were known to have assembled in great force at the Camp de Caesar, near Cambray, Prince Cobourg requested the Duke of York would make a reconnoissance in that direction: accordingly, on the evening of the 23rd, Major-General Mansel's brigade of heavy cavalry was ordered about a league in front of their camp, where they lay that night at a farm-house, forming part of a detachment under General Otto. Early the next morning, an attack was made on the French drawn up in front of the village of Villers en Couchee (between Le Cateau and Bouchain) by the 15th regiment of Light Dragoons, and two squadrons of Austrian Hussars: they charged the enemy with such velocity and force, that, darting through their cavalry, they dispersed a line of infantry formed in their rear, forcing them also to retreat {128} precipitately and in great confusion, under cover of the ramparts of Cambray; with a loss of 1200 men, and three pieces of cannon. The only British officer wounded was Captain Aylett: sixty privates fell, and about twenty were wounded.

"Though the heavy brigade was formed at a distance under a brisk cannonade, while the light dragoons had so glorious an opportunity of distinguishing themselves, there are none who can attach with propriety any blame on account of their unfortunate delay; for which General Otto was surely, as having the command, alone accountable, and not General Mansel, who acted at all times, there is no doubt, according to the best of his judgment for the good of the service.

"The Duke of York had, on the morning of the 26th, observed the left flank of the enemy to be unprotected; and, by ordering the cavalry to wheel round and attack on that side, afforded them an opportunity of gaining the highest credit by defeating the French army so much superior to them in point of numbers.

"General Mansel rushing into the thickest of the enemy, devoted himself to death; and animated by his example, that very brigade performed such prodigies of valour, as must have convinced the world that Britons, once informed how to act, justify the highest opinion that can possibly be entertained of their native courage. Could such men have ever been willingly backward? Certainly not.

"General Mansel's son, a captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, anxious to save his father's life, had darted forwards, and was taken prisoner, and carried into Cambray. Since his exchange, he has declared that there was not, on the 26th, a single French soldier left in the town, as Chapuy had drawn out the whole garrison to augment the army destined to attack the camp of Inchi. Had that circumstance been fortunately known at the time, a detachment of the British army might easily have marched along the Chaussee, and taken possession of the place ere the Republicans could possibly have returned, as they had in their retreat described a circuitous detour of some miles."

MR. SIMPSON will perceive, from the above extracts, that the brilliant skirmish of Villers en Couche took place on April 24th; whereas the defeat of the French army under Chapuy did not occur until two days later. A large quantity of ammunition and thirty-five pieces of cannon were then captured; and although the writer does not mention the number who were killed on the part of the enemy, yet, as he states that Chapuy and near 400 of his men were made prisoners, their loss by death was no doubt proportionately large.

The 15th Hussars have long borne on their colours the memorable words "Villers en Couche" to commemorate the daring valour they displayed on that occasion.

T. C. SMITH.

In Cruttwell's Universal Gazetteer (1808), this village, which is five miles north-east of Cambray, is described as being "remarkable for an action between the French and the Allies on the 24th of April, 1794." The following officers of the 15th regiment of light dragoons are there named as having afterwards received crosses of the Order of Maria Theresa for their gallant behaviour, from the Emperor of Germany, viz.:

"Major W. Aylett, Capt. Robert Pocklington, Capt. Edw. Michael Ryan, Lieut. Thos. Granby Calcraft, Lieut. Wm. Keir, Lieut. Chas. Burrel Blount, Cornet Edward Gerald Butler, and Cornet Robert Thos. Wilson."

D. S.

* * * * *

SNAIL-EATING.

(Vol. viii., p. 33.)

The Surrey snails referred to by H. T. RILEY, are thus mentioned by Aubrey in his account of Box Hill:

"On the south downs of this county (Surrey), and in those of Sussex, are the biggest snails that ever I saw, twice or three times as big as our common snails, which are the Bavoli or Drivalle, which Mr. Elias Ashmole tells me that the Lord Marshal brought from Italy, and scattered them on the Downs hereabouts, and between Albury and Horsley, where are the biggest of all."

Again, Aubrey, in his Natural History of Wiltshire, says:

"The great snailes on the downes at Albury, in Surrey (twice as big as ours) were brought from Italy by * * * Earle Marshal, about 1638."—Aubrey's History, p. 10., edited by John Britton, F.S.A., published by the Wiltshire Topographical Society, 1847.

The first of these accounts, from Aubrey's Surrey, I have quoted in my Promenade round Dorking, 2nd edit. 1823, p. 274., and have added in a note:

"This was one of the Earls of Arundel. It is probably from this snail account that the error, ascribing the planting of the box (on Box Hill) to one of the Earls of Arundel, has arisen. The snails were brought thither for the Countess of Arundel, who was accustomed to dress and eat them for a consumptive complaint."

When I lived at Dorking (1815-1821) a breed of large white snails was found on Box Hill.

JOHN TIMBS.

MR. H. T. RILEY is informed that the breed of white snails he refers to is to be plentifully found in the neighbourhood of Shere. I have found them frequently near the neighbouring village of Albury, on St. Martha's Hill, and I am told they are to be met with in the lanes as far as Dorking. I have always heard that they were imported for the use of a lady who was in a consumption; but who this was, or when it happened, I have never been able to ascertain.

NEDLAM.

The breed of large white snails is to be found all along the escarpment of the chalk range, and is {129} not confined to Surrey. It is said to have been introduced into England by Sir Kenelm Digby, and was considered very nutritious and wholesome for consumptive patients. About the end of the last century I was in the habit of collecting a few of the common garden snails from the fruit-trees, and taking them every morning to a lady who was in a delicate state of health; she took them boiled or stewed, or cooked in some manner with milk, making a mucilaginous drink.

E. H.

I have somewhere read of the introduction of a foreign breed of snails into Cambridgeshire, I forget the exact locality, for the table of the monks who imported them; but unfortunately it was before I commenced making "notes" on the subject, and I have not been able to recollect where to find it.

SELEUCUS.

* * * * *

INSCRIPTION NEAR CIRENCESTER.

(Vol. viii., p. 76.)

This inscription is not "in Earl Bathurst's park," as your correspondent A. SMITH says, but is in Oakley Woods, situated at some three or four miles' distance from Cirencester, and being separated and quite distinct from the park; nor is the inscription correctly copied. Rudder, in his new History of Gloucestershire, 1779, says:

"Concealed as it were in the wood stands Alfred's Hall, a building that has the semblance of great antiquity. Over the door opposite to the south entrance, on the inside, is the following inscription in the Saxon character and language [of which there follows a copy]. Over the south door is the following Latin translation:

"'Foedus quod AElfredus & Gythrunus reges, omnes Anglia sapientes, & quicunq; Angliam incolebant orientalem, ferierunt; & non solum de seipsis, verum etiam de natis suis, ac nondum in lucem editis, quotquot misericordiae divinae aut regiae velint esse participes jurejurando sanxerunt.

"'Primo ditionis nostrae fines ad Thamesin evehuntur, inde ad Leam usq; ad fontem ejus; tum recta ad Bedfordiam, ac deniq; per Usam ad viam Vetelingianam.'"

I copy from Rudder, with the stops and contracted "et's," as they stand in his work; though I think the original has points between each word, as marked by A. SMITH.

The omissions and mistakes of your correspondent (which you will perceive are important) are marked in Italics above.

Rudder adds,—

"Behind this building is a ruin with a stone on the chimney-piece, on which, in ancient characters relieved on the stone, is this inscription:

'IN . MEM . ALFREDI . REG . RESTAVR . ANO . DO . 1085.'

"It would have been inexcusable in the topographer to have passed by so curious a place without notice; but the historian would have been equally culpable who should not have informed the reader that this building is an excellent imitation of antiquity. The name, the inscription, and the writing over the doors, of the convention between the good king and his pagan enemies, were probably all suggested by the similarity of Achelie, the ancient name of this place, to AEcglea, where King Alfred rested with his army the night before he attacked the Danish camp at Ethandun, and at length forced their leader Godrum, or Guthrum, or Gormund, to make such convention."

It is many years since I saw the inscription, and then I made no note of it; but I have no doubt that Rudder has given it correctly, because when I was a young man I was intimately acquainted with him, who was then an aged person; and a curious circumstance that occurred between us, and is still full in my memory, impressed me with the idea of his great precision and exactness.

I would remark on the explanation given by Rudder, that the Iglea of Asser is supposed by Camden, Gibson, Gough, and Sir Richard Colt Hoare to be Clayhill, eastward of Warminster; and Ethandun to be Edington, about three miles eastward of Westbury, both in Wilts.

Asser says that, "in the same year," the year of the battle, "the army of the pagans, departing from Chippenham, as had been promised, went to Cirencester, where they remained one year."

On the signal defeat of Guthrum, he gave hostages to Alfred; and it is probable that, if any treaty was made between them, it was made immediately after the battle; and not that Alfred came from his fortress of AEthelingay to meet Guthrum at Cirencester, where his army lay after leaving Chippenham.

If the treaty was made soon after the battle, it might have been at Alfred's Hall near Cirencester, especially if Hampton (Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire), which is only six miles from Oakley Wood, be the real site of the great and important battle, as was, a few years since, very plausibly argued by Mr. John Marks Moffatt, in a paper inserted, with the signature "J. M. M.," in Brayley's Graphic and Historical Illustrator, p. 106. et seq., 1834.

The mention of Rudder's History brings to my mind an inscription over the door of Westbury Court, which I noticed when a boy at school, in the village of Westbury in this county. This mansion was taken down during the minority of Maynard Colchester, Esq., the present owner of the estate. Rudder, in his account of that parish, has preserved the inscription—

"D. O. M. N. M. M. H. E. P. N. C."

He reads the first three letters "Deo Optimo Maximo," and says the subsequent line contains the initials of the following hexameter:

"Nunc mea, mox hujus, et postea nescio cujus,"

{130} alluding to the successive descent of property from one generation to another.

Perhaps one of your readers may be enabled to tell me whether the above line be original, or copied, and from whom.

P. H. FISHER.

Stroud.

The agreement referred to is no other than the famous treaty of peace between Alfred and Guthrun, whose name, by the substitution of an initial "L." for a "G.," among various other inaccuracies for which your correspondent is perhaps not responsible, has been disguised under the form of "Lvthrvnvs." The inscription itself forms the commencement of the treaty, which is stated, in Turner's Anglo-Saxons, book iv. ch. v., to be still extant. It is translated as follows, in Lambard's [Greek: Archaionomia], p. 36.:—

"Foedus quod Aluredus & Gythrunus reges ex sapientum Anglorum, atque eorum omnium qui orientalem incolebant Angliam consulto ferierunt, in quod praeterea singuli non solum de se ipsis, verum etiam de natis suis, ac nondum in lucem editis (quotquot saltem misericordiae divinae aut regiae velint esse participes), jurarunt.

"Primo igitur ditionis nostrae fines ad Thamesim fluvium evehuntor: Inde ad Leam flumen profecti, ad fontem ejus deferuntor: tum recta ad Bedfordiam porriguntor, ac denique per Usam fluvium porrecti ad viam Vetelingianam desinunto."

Another translation will be found in Wilkins's Leges Anglo-Saxonicae, p. 47., and the Saxon original in both. As to the boundaries here defined, see note in Spelman's Alfred, p. 36.

At Cirencester Guthrun remained for twelve months after his baptism, according to his treaty with Alfred. (See Sim. Dunelm. de gestis Regum Anglorum, sub anno 879.)

J. F. M.

* * * * *

CURIOUS CUSTOM OF RINGING BELLS FOR THE DEAD.

(Vol. viii., p. 55.)

W. W., alluding to such a custom at Marshfield, Massachusets, asks "if this custom ever did, or does now exist in the mother country?" The curiosity is that your worthy Querist has never heard of it! Dating from Malta, it may be he has never been in our ringing island: for it must be known to every Englishman, that the custom, varying no doubt in different localities, exists in every parish in England.

The passing bell is of older date than the canon of our church, which directs "that when any is passing out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, and the minister shall not then slack to do his duty. And after the party's death, if it so fall out, then shall be rung no more than one short peal."

It is interesting to learn that our colonists keep up this custom of their mother country.

In this parish, the custom has been to ring as quickly after death as the sexton can be found; and the like prevails elsewhere. I have known persons, sensible of their approaching death, direct the bell at once to be tolled.

Durand, in his Rituals of the Roman Church, says: "For expiring persons bells must be tolled, that people may put up their prayers: this must be done twice for a woman, and thrice for a man." And such is still the general custom: either before or after the knell is rung, to toll three times three, or three times two, at intervals, to mark the sex.[6]

"Defunctos plorare" is probably as old as any use of a bell; but there is every reason to believe that—

"the ringing of bells at the departure of the soul (to quote from Brewster's Ency.) originated in the darkest ages, but with a different view from that in which they are now employed. It was to avert the influence of Demons. But if the superstition of our ancestors did not originate in this imaginary virtue, while they preserved the practice, it is certain they believed the mere noise had the same effect; and as, according to their ideas, evil spirits were always hovering around to make a prey of departing souls, the tolling of bells struck them with terror. We may trace the practice of tolling bells during funerals to the like source. This has been practised from times of great antiquity: the bells being muffled, for the sake of greater solemnity, in the same way as drums are muffled at military funerals."

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

At St. James' Church, Hull, on the occurrence of a death in the parish, a bell is tolled quickly for about the space of ten minutes; and before ceasing, nine knells given if the deceased be a man, six if a woman, and three if a child. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the custom is now almost peculiar to the north of England; but in ancient times it must have been very general according to Durandus, who has the following in his Rationale, lib. i. cap. 4. 13.:

"Verum aliquo moriente, campanae debent pulsari; ut populus hoc audiens, oret pro illo. Pro muliere quidem bis, pro eo quod invenit asperitatem.... Pro viro vero ter pulsator.... Si autem clericus sit, tot vicibus simpulsatur, quot ordines habuit ipse. Ad ultimum vero compulsari debet cum omnibus campanis, ut ita sciat populus pro quo sit orandum."—Mr. Strutt's Man. and Cust., iii. 176.

{131} Also a passage is quoted from an old English Homily, ending with:

"At the deth of a manne three bellis shulde be ronge, as his knyll, in worscheppe of the Trinetee; and for a womanne, who was the secunde persone of the Trinetee, two bellis should be rungen."

In addition to the intention of the "passing-bell," afforded by Durandus above, it has been thought that it was rung to drive away the evil spirits, supposed to stand at the foot of the bed ready to seize the soul, that it might "gain start." Wynkyn de Worde, in his Golden Legend, speaks of the dislike of spirits to bells. In alluding to this subject, Wheatly, in his work on the Book of Common Prayer, chap. xi. sec. viii. 3., says:

"Our Church, in imitation of the Saints of former ages, calls in the minister, and others who are at hand, to assist their brother in his last extremity."

The 67th canon enjoins that, "when any one is passing out of this life, a bell shall be tolled, and the minister shall not then slack to do his duty. And after the party's death, if it so fall out, there shall be rung no more than one short peal."

Several other quotations might be adduced (vid. Brand's Antiq., vol. ii. pp. 203, 204. from which much of the above has been derived) to show that "one short peal" was ordered only to be rung after the Reformation: the custom of signifying the sex of the deceased by a certain number of knells must be a relic, therefore, of very ancient usage, and unauthorised by the Church.

R. W. ELLIOT.

Clifton.

[Footnote 6: This custom of three tolls for a man, and two for a woman, is thus explained in an ancient Homily on Trinity Sunday:—"At the deth of a manne, three bells should be ronge as his knyll in worship of the Trinitie. And for a woman, who was the second person of the Trinitie, two bells should be ronge."]

* * * * *

WHO FIRST THOUGHT OF TABLE-TURNING?

(Vol. viii., p. 57.)

Respecting the origin of this curious phenomenon in America, I am not able to give your correspondent, J. G. T. of Hagley, any information; but it may interest him and others among the readers of "N. & Q." to have some account of what appears to be the first recorded experiment, made in Europe, of table-moving. These experiments are related in the supplement (now lying before me) to the Allgemeine Zeitung of April 4, by Dr. K. Andree, who writes from Bremen on the subject. His letter is dated March 30, and begins by stating that the whole town had been for eight days preceding in a state of most peculiar excitement, owing to a phenomenon which entirely absorbed the attention of all, and about which no one had ever thought before the arrival of the American steam-ship "Washington" from New York. Dr. Andree proceeds to relate that the information respecting table-moving was communicated in a letter, brought through that ship, from a native of Bremen, residing in New York, to his sister, who was living in Bremen, and who, in her correspondence with her brother, had been rallying him about the American spirit-rappings, and other Yankee humbug, as she styled it, so rampant in the United States. Her brother instanced this table-moving, performed in America, as no delusion, but as a fact, which might be verified by any one; and then gave some directions for making the experiment, which was forthwith attempted at the lady's house in Bremen, and with perfect success, in the presence of a large company. In a few days the marvellous feat, the accounts of which flew like wildfire all over the country, was executed by hundreds of experimenters in Bremen. The subject was one precisely adapted to excite the attention and curiosity of the imaginative and wonder-loving Germans; and, accordingly, in a few days after, a notice of the strange phenomenon appeared in The Times, in a letter from Vienna, and, through the medium of the leading journal, the facts and experiments became rapidly diffused over the world, and have been repeated and commented upon ten thousand fold. As the experiment and its results are now brought within the domain of practical science, we may hope to see them soon freed from the obscurity and uncertainty which still envelope them, and assigned to their proper place in the wondrous system of "Him, in whom we live, and move, and have our being."

JOHN MACRAY.

Oxford.

* * * * *

SCOTCHMEN IN POLAND.

(Vol. vii., pp. 475. 600.)

"Religious freedom was at that time [the middle of the sixteenth century] enjoyed in Poland to a degree unknown in any other part of Europe, where generally the Protestants were persecuted by the Romanists, or the Romanists by the Protestants. This freedom, united to commercial advantages, and a wide field for the exercise of various talents, attracted to Poland crowds of foreigners, who fled their native land on account of religious persecution; and many of whom became, by their industry and talents, very useful citizens of their adopted country. There were at Cracow, Vilna, Posen, &c., Italian and French Protestant congregations. A great number of Scotch settled in different parts of Poland; and there were Scotch Protestant congregations not only in the above-mentioned towns, but also in other places, and a particularly numerous one at Kieydany, a little town of Lithuania, belonging to the Princes Radziwill. Amongst the Scotch families settled in Poland, the principal were the Bonars, who arrived in that country before the Reformation, but became its most zealous adherents. This family rose, by its wealth, and the great merit of several of its members, to the highest dignities of the state, but became extinct during the seventeenth century. There are even now in Poland many families of Scotch descent belonging to the class of nobles; as, for instance, {132} the Haliburtons, Wilsons, Ferguses, Stuarts, Haslers, Watsons, &c. Two Protestant clergymen of Scotch origin, Forsyth and Inglis, have composed some sacred poetry. But the most conspicuous of all the Polish Scotchmen is undoubtedly Dr. John Johnstone [born in Poland 1603, died 1675], perhaps the most remarkable writer of the seventeenth century on natural history. It seems, indeed, that there is a mysterious link connecting the two distant countries; because, if many Scotsmen had in bygone days sought and found a second fatherland in Poland, a strong and active sympathy for the sufferings of the last-named country, and her exiled children, has been evinced in our own times by the natives of Scotland in general, and by some of the most distinguished amongst them in particular. Thus it was an eminent bard of Caledonia, the gifted author of The Pleasures of Hope, who, when

'Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime,'

has thrown, by his immortal strains, over the fall of her liberty, a halo of glory which will remain unfaded as long as the English language lasts. The name of Thomas Campbell is venerated throughout all Poland; but there is also another Scotch name [Lord Dudley Stuart] which is enshrined in the heart of every true Pole."—From Count Valerian Krasinski's Sketch of the Religious History of the Sclavonic Nations, p. 167.: Edinburgh, Johnstone and Hunter, 1851.

J. K.

* * * * *

ANTICIPATORY USE OF THE CROSS.

(Vol. vii., pp. 548. 629.)

I think THE WRITER OF "COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE UNSEEN WORLD" would have some difficulty in referring to the works on which he based the statement that "it was a tradition in Mexico that when that form (the cross) should be victorious, the old religion should disappear, and that a similar tradition attached to it at Alexandria." He doubtless made the statement from memory, and unintentionally confounded two distinct facts, viz. that the Mexicans worshipped the cross, and had prophetic intimations of the downfall of their nation and religion by the oppression of bearded strangers from the East. The quotation by MR. PEACOCK at p. 549., quoted also in Purchas' Pilgrims, vol. v., proves, as do other authorities, that the cross was worshipped in Mexico prior to the Spanish invasion, and therefore it was impossible that the belief mentioned by THE WRITER, &c. could have prevailed.

On the first discovery of Yucatan,—

"Grijaha was astonished at the sight of large crosses, evidently objects of worship."—Prescott's Mexico, vol. i. p. 203.

Mr. Stephens, in his Central America, vol. ii., gives a representation of one of these crosses. The cross on the Temple of Serapis, mentioned in Socrates' Ecc. Hist., was undoubtedly the well-known Crux ansata, the symbol of life. It was as the latter that the heathens appealed to it, and the Christians explained it to them as fulfilled in the Death of Christ.

MR. PEACOCK asks for other instances: I subjoin some.

In India.—The great pagoda at Benares is built in the form of a cross. (Maurice's Ind. Ant., vol. iii. p. 31., City, Tavernier.)

On a Buddhist temple of cyclopean structure at Mundore (Tod's Rajasthan, vol. i. p. 727.), the cross appears as a sacred figure, together with the double triangle, another emblem of very wide distribution, occurring on ancient British coins (Camden's Britannica), Central American buildings (Norman's Travels in Yucatan), among the Jews as the Shield of David (Brucker's History of Philosophy), and a well-known masonic symbol frequently introduced into Gothic ecclesiastical edifices.

In Palestine.—

"According to R. Solomon Jarchi, the Talmud, and Maimonides, when the priest sprinkled the blood of the victim on the consecrated cakes and hallowed utensils, he was always careful to do it in the form of a cross. The same symbol was used when the kings and high priests were anointed."—Faber's Horae Mosaicae, vol. ii. p. 188.

See farther hereon, Deane on Serpent Worship.

In Persia.—The trefoil on which the sacrifices were placed was probably held sacred from its cruciform character. The cross ([+]) occurs on Persian buildings among other sacred symbols. (R. K. Porter's Travels, vol. ii.)

In Britain.—The cross was formed by baring a tree to a stump, and inserting another crosswise on the top; on the three arms thus formed were inscribed the names of the three principal, or triad of gods, Hesus, Belenus, and Taranis. The stone avenues of the temple at Classerniss are arranged in the form of a cross. (Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall.)

In Scandinavia.—The hammer of Thor was in the form of the cross; see in Herbert's Select Icelandic Poetry, p. 11., and Laing's Kings of Norway, vol. i. pp. 224. 330., a curious anecdote of King Hacon, who, having been converted to Christianity, made the sign of the cross when he drank, but persuaded his irritated Pagan followers that it was the sign of Thor's hammer.

The figure of Thor's hammer was held in the utmost reverence by his followers, who were called the children of Thor, who in the last day would save themselves by his mighty hammer. The fiery cross, so well known by Scott's vivid description, was originally the hammer of Thor, which in early Pagan, as in later Christian times, was used as a summons to convene the people either to council or to war. (Herbert's Select Icelandic Poetry, p. 11.)

EDEN WARWICK.

Birmingham.

{133}

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Glass Chambers for Photography.—I am desirous to construct a small glass chamber for taking portraits in, and shall be much obliged if you can assist me by giving me instructions how it should be constructed, or by directing me where I shall find clear and sufficient directions, as to dimensions, materials, and arrangements. Is it essential that it should be all of violet-coloured glass, ground at one side, as that would add a good deal to the expense? or will white glass, with thin blue gauze curtains or blinds, answer?

Probably a full answer to this inquiry, accompanied with such woodcut illustrations as would be necessary to render the description complete, and such as an artificer could work by, would confer a boon on many amateur photographers, as well as your obliged servant,

C. E. F.

[In the construction of a photographic house, we beg to inform our correspondent that it is by no means needful to use entirely violet-coloured glass, but the roof thereof exposed to the rays of the sun should be so protected; for although the light is much subdued, and the glare so painful to the eyes of the sitter is taken away, yet but few of the actinic rays are obstructed. It has been proposed to coat the interior with smalt mixed with starch, and afterwards varnished; but this does not appear to have answered. Calico, both white and coloured, has also been used, but it is certainly not so effectual or pleasant. Upon the whole, we think that the main things to attend to are, firmness in its construction, so as to avoid vibration; ample size, so as to allow not only of room for the operator, but also for the arrangements of background, &c., and the sides to open so as to allow a free circulation of air; blinds to be applied at such spots only as shall be found requisite. Adjoining, or in one corner, a small closet should be provided, admitting only yellow light, which may be effectually accomplished by means of yellow calico. A free supply of water is indispensable, which may be conveyed both to and from by means of the gutta percha tubing now in such general use. We apprehend, however, that the old proverb, "You must cut your coat according to your cloth," is most especially applicable to our querist, for not only must the house be constructed according to the advantages afforded by the locality, but the amount of expense will be very differently thought of by different persons: one will be content with any moderate arrangement which will answer the purpose, where another will be scarcely satisfied unless everything is quite of an orne character.]

Dr. Diamond's Replies.—I am sorry I have not before replied to the Queries of your correspondent W. F. E., contained in Vol. viii., p. 41.; but absence from home, together with a pressure of public duties here, has prevented me from so doing.

1st. No doubt a small portion of nitrate of potash is formed when the iodized collodion is immersed in the bath of nitrate of silver, by mutual decomposition; but it is in so small a quantity as not to deteriorate the bath.

2nd. I believe collodion will keep good much longer than is generally supposed; at the beginning of last month I obtained a tolerably good portrait of Mr. Pollock from some remains in a small bottle brought to me by Mr. Archer in September 1850; and I especially notice this fact, as it is connected with the first introduction of the use of collodion in England. Generally speaking, I do not find that it deteriorates in two or three months; the addition of a few drops of the iodizing solution will generally restore it, unless it has become rotten: this, I think, is the case when the gun cotton has not been perfectly freed from the acid. The redness which collodion assumes by age, may also be discharged by the addition of a few drops of liquor ammoniae, but I do not think it in any way accelerates its activity of action.

3rd. "Washed ether," or, as it is sometimes called, "inhaling ether," has been deprived of the alcohol which the common ether contains, and it will not dissolve the gun cotton unless the alcohol is restored to it. I would here observe that an excess of alcohol (spirits of wine) thickens the collodion, and gives it a mucilaginous appearance, rendering it much more difficult to use by its slowness in flowing over the glass plate, as well as producing a less even surface than when nearly all ether is used. A collodion, however, with thirty-five per cent. of spirits of wine, is very quick, allowing from its less tenacious quality a more rapid action of the nitrate of silver bath.

4th. Cyanide of potassium has been used to re-dissolve the iodide of silver, but the results are by no means so satisfactory; the cost of pure iodide of potassium bought at a proper market is certainly very inconsiderable compared to the disappointment resulting from a false economy.

H. W. DIAMOND.

Surrey County Asylum.

Trial of Lenses.—When you want to try a lens, first be sure that the slides of your camera are correctly constructed, which is easily done. Place at any distance you please a sheet of paper printed in small type; focus this on your ground glass with the assistance of a magnifying-glass; now take the slide which carries your plate of glass, and if you have not a piece of ground glass at hand, insert a plate which you would otherwise excite in the bath after the application of collodion, but now dull it by touching it with putty. Observe whether you get an equally clear and well-focussed picture on this; if you do, you may conclude there is no fault in the construction of your camera.

Having ascertained this, take a chess-board, and place the pieces on the row of squares which run {134} from corner to corner; focus the middle one, whether it be king, queen, or knight, and take a picture; you will soon see whether the one best in the visual focus is the best on the picture, or whether the piece one or more squares in advance or behind it is clearer than the one you had previously in focus. The chess-board must be set square with the camera, so that each piece is farther off by one square. To vary the experiment, you may if you please stick a piece of printed paper on each piece, which a little gum or common bees'-wax will effect for you.