Chapter M: M. E. characterises him as the "friend" and "fellow-labourer" of

Lessing. Now Lessing was incomparably the most eminent _littérateur_ of the earlier part of that age,--the man who was the forerunner of the philosophers, and whose criticisms supplied the place of poetry. The satirists of the _Xenien_ affect to compassionate Lessing, in having to endure a companion so forced on him as Nicolai was, whom they speak of as a "thorn in the crown of the martyr." The few who care for the literary controversies of the age of Göthe in Germany will be greatly assisted by an edition of the _Xenien_, with notes, published at Dantzig, 1833.

H. C. R.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

_Processes upon Paper._--The favourable manner in which the account I have given of the Collodion process has been received, not only by your readers in general, as has been evinced by many private letters, but also by the numerous correspondents it has drawn forth, induces me, after some little delay, to request space for a description of the following processes upon paper. In giving these I wish it to be understood that I may offer but little that is original, my object being to describe, as plainly as I possibly can, these easy methods, and to make no observation but what I have found to be successful in my own hands. I have had the good fortune to obtain the friendship of some of the most successful photographers of the day; and taking three very eminent ones, I find they have each some peculiarities in his mode of manipulation, varying with each other in the strength of the solutions employed, and producing results the most agreeable to their respective tastes. Reviewing these different processes in my own mind, and trying with patience the various results, I conclude that the following quantities are calculated to produce an adequate degree of sensibility in the paper, and yet to allow it to be prepared for the action of light for many hours previous to its use, and yet with more certainty than any other I am acquainted with. I think I may always depend upon it for twenty-four to thirty-six hours after excitement, and I have seen good pictures produced upon the third day. I believe it is a rule which admits of no contradiction, that the more you dilute your solution, the longer the excited paper will keep; but in proportion to its diminished sensibility, the time of exposure must be prolonged, and therefore I am, from this waste of time and other reasons, disposed to place much less value upon the wax-paper process than many do.

The process I am about to describe is so simple, and I hope to make it so intelligible to your non-photographic readers, that a perfect novice, using ordinary care, must meet with success; but should I fail doing so upon all points, any information sought through the medium of "N. & Q." shall meet with explanation from myself, if not from other of your experienced correspondents, whose indulgence I must beg should the communication be deemed too elementary, it being my earnest desire to point out to archæologists who are desirous of acquiring this knowledge, how easily they themselves may practise this beautiful art, and possess those objects they would desire to preserve, in a far more truthful state than could be otherwise accomplished.

I have not myself met that uniform success with any other paper that I have with Turner's photographic of Chafford Mills: a sheet of this divided into two portions forms at the same time a useful and also a very easily-managed size, one adapted for most cameras, forming a picture of nine inches by seven, which is adequate for nearly every purpose. Each sheet being marked in its opposite corners with a plain pencil-mark on its smooth side (vide _antè_, p. 372.), the surface for {21} all future operations is in all lights easily discerned. In my instructions for printing from collodion negatives, a form of iodized paper was given, which, although very good, is not, I think, equal to the following, which is more easily and quickly prepared, exhibits a saving of the iodide of potassium, and is upon the whole a neater mode.

Take sixty grains of nitrate of silver and sixty grains of iodide of potassium; dissolve each separately in an ounce of distilled water; mix together and stir with a glass rod. The precipitate settling, the fluid is to be poured away; then add distilled water to the precipitate up to four ounces, and add to it 650 grains of iodide of potassium, which _should_ re-dissolve the precipitated iodide of silver, and form a perfectly clear solution; but if not, a little more must be carefully added, for this salt varies much, and I have found it to require 720 grains to accomplish the desired object.

The fluid being put into a porcelain or glass dish, the paper should be laid down upon its surface and immediately removed, and being laid upon a piece of blotting-paper with the wet surface uppermost, a glass rod then passed over it to and fro ensures the _total expulsion_ of all particles of air, which will frequently remain when the mere dipping is resorted to. When dry, this paper should be soaked in common water for three hours, changing the water twice or thrice, so as to remove all the soluble salts. It should then be pinned up to dry, and, when so, kept in a folio for use. I have in this manner prepared from sixty to eighty sheets in an evening with the greatest ease. It keeps good for an indefinite time, and, as all experienced photographers are aware, unless you possess good iodized paper, which should be of a _primrose_ colour, you cannot meet with success in your after-operations. Iodized paper becomes sometimes of a bright brimstone colour when first made; it is then very apt to brown in its use, but tones down and improves by a little keeping.

To excite this paper, dissolve thirty grains of nitrate of silver in one ounce of distilled water, and add a drachm and a half of glacial acetic acid; of this solution take one drachm, and one drachm of saturated solution of gallic acid[3], and add to it two ounces and a half of distilled water. The iodized surface of the paper may then be either floated on the surface of the aceto-nitrate of silver or exciting fluid, and afterwards a rod passed over, as was formerly done in the iodizing, or the aceto-nitrate may be applied evenly with a brush; but in either instance the surface should be immediately blotted off; and the same blotting-paper never used a second time for this, although it may be kept to develop on and for other purposes. It will be scarcely needful to observe that this process of exciting must be performed by the light of a candle or feeble yellow light, as must the subsequent development. The excited paper may be now placed for use between sheets of blotting-paper; it seems to act equally well either when damp or when kept for many hours, and I have found it good for more than a week.

The time for exposure must entirely depend upon the degree of light. In two minutes and a half a good picture may be produced; but if left exposed for twenty minutes or more, little harm will arise; the paper does not solarize, but upon the degree of image visible upon the paper depends the means of developing. When long exposed, a saturated solution of gallic acid only applied to the exposed surfaces will be sufficient; but if there is little appearance of an image, then a free undiluted solution of aceto-nitrate may be used, in conjunction with the gallic acid, the former never being in proportion more than one-third. If that quantity is exceeded, either a brownish or an unpleasant reddish tint is often obtained. These negatives should be fixed by immersing them in a solution of hyposulphite of soda, which may be of the strength of one ounce of salt to eight ounces of water--the sufficiency of immersion being known by the disappearance of the yellow colour, and when they have been once immersed they may be taken to the daylight to ascertain this. The hyposulphite must now be perfectly removed by soaking in water, which may extend to several hours; but this may be always ascertained by the tongue, for, if tasteless, it has been accomplished. If it is deemed advisable--which I think is only required in very dark over-done pictures--to wax the negative, it is easily managed by holding a piece of white wax or candle in front of a clean iron rather hot, and passing it frequently over the surface. The superabundant wax being again removed by passing it between some clean pieces of blotting-paper. Although the minuter details can never be acquired by this mode which are obtained by the collodion process, it has the advantage of extreme simplicity, and by the operator providing himself with a bag or square of yellow calico, which he can loosely peg down to the ground when no other shade is near, to contain spare prepared papers, he can at any future time obtain a sufficient number of views, which afterwards he can develop at his leisure.

It requires no liquids to be carried about with you, nor is that nice manipulation required which attends the collodion process.

The wax-paper process has been extolled by many, and very successful results have been obtained: the paper has the undoubted advantage of keeping after being excited much longer than any other; but, from my own experience, just so much the weaker it is made, and so as to safely rely upon its long remaining useful, so it is proportionally slower in its action. And I have rarely seen from {22} wax negatives positives so satisfactory in depth of tone, as from those which have been waxed after being taken on ordinary paper. It is all very well for gentlemen to advocate a sort of photographic tour, upon which you are to go on taking views day after day, and when you return home at leisure to develop your past proceedings: I never yet knew one so lukewarm in this pursuit as not to desire to know, at his _earliest possible_ opportunity, the result of his labours; indeed, were not this the case, I fear disappointment would more often result than at present, for I scarcely think any one can exactly decide upon the power of the light of any given day, without having made some little trial to guide him. I have myself, especially with collodion, found the action very rapid upon some _apparently_ dull day; whilst, from an unexplained cause, a comparatively brighter day has been less active in its photographic results. As in the previous process, I would strongly advise Turner's paper to be used, and not the thin French papers generally adopted, because I find all the high lights so much better preserved in the English paper. It may be purchased ready waxed nearly as cheap as it may be done by one's self; but as many operators like to possess that which is entirely their own production, the following mode will be found a ready way of waxing:--Procure a piece of thick smooth slate, a trifle larger than the paper to be used; waste pieces of this description are always occurring at the slate works, and are of a trifling value. This should be made very hot by laying it close before a fire; then, covered with one layer of thick blotting-paper, it will form a most admirable surface upon which to use the iron. Taking a piece of wax in the left hand, an iron well heated being pressed against it, it may rapidly be made to flow over the whole surface with much evenness, the surplus wax being afterwards removed by ironing between blotting-paper. When good, it should be colourless, free from gloss, and having the beautiful semi-transparent appearance of the Chinese rice-paper. To iodize the paper completely, immerse it in the following solution:

Iodide of potash 200 grains.
Mannite 6 drachms.
Cyanide of potash 5 grains.
Distilled water 20 ounces.

Allow it to remain three hours, taking care that air-particles are perfectly excluded, and once during the time turning over each sheet of paper, as many being inserted as the fluid will conveniently cover, as it is not injured by after keeping. It should be then removed from the iodide bath, pinned up, and dried, ready for use. When required to be excited, the paper should, by the light of a candle, be immersed in the following solution, where it should remain for five minutes:

Nitrate of silver 4 drachms.
Glacial acetic acid 4 drachms.
Distilled water 8 ounces.

Being removed from the aceto-nitrate bath, immerse it into a pan of distilled water, where let it remain about a quarter of an hour. In order to make this paper keep a week or two, it must be immersed in a second water, which in point of fact is a mere reduction of the strength of the solutions already used; but for ordinary purposes, and when the paper is to be used within three or four days, one immersion is quite sufficient, especially as it does not reduce its sensitiveness in a needless way. It may now be preserved between blotting-paper, free from light, for future use. The time of exposure requisite for this paper will exceed that of the ordinary unwaxed, given in the previous directions. The picture may be developed by a complete immersion also in a saturated solution of gallic acid; but should it not have been exposed a sufficient time in the camera, a few drops of the aceto-nitrate solution added to the gallic acid greatly accelerates it. An excess of aceto-nitrate often produces an unpleasant red tint, which is to be avoided. Instead of complete immersion, the paper may be laid upon some waste blotting-paper, and the surface only wetted by means of the glass rod or brush. The picture may now be fixed by the use of the hyposulphite of soda, as in the preceding process.

It is not actually necessary that this should be a wax-paper process, because ordinary paper treated in this way acts very beautifully, although it does not allow of so long keeping for use after excitement; yet it has then the advantage, that a negative may either be waxed or not, as shall be deemed advisable by its apparent depth of action.

HUGH W. DIAMOND.

[Footnote 3: the gallic acid was omitted in Issue 166, but inserted by an erratum in Issue 168. Also "a saturated solution of gallic acid" was printed as "a solvent solution ...", "hyposulphate" appeared for "hyposulphite" throughout, and "solari_s_e" for "solari_z_e"--Transcriber.]

_Exhibition of recent Specimens of Photography at the Society of Arts._--This exhibition, to which all interested in the art have been invited to contribute, was inaugurated by a conversazione at the Society's rooms, on the evening of Wednesday, the 22nd of December: the public have since been admitted at a charge of sixpence each, and it will continue open until the 8th of January.

We strongly recommend all our friends to pay a visit to this most delightful collection. By our visit at the crowded conversazione, and another hasty view since, we do not feel justified to enter into a review and criticism of the specimens so fully as the subject requires; but in the mean time we can assure our archæological readers that they will find there such interesting records of architectural detail, together with views of antiquities from Egypt and Nubia, as will perfectly convince them of the value of this art with reference to their own immediate pursuits. Those who feel less delight in mere antiquity will be gratified {23} to see, for the first time, that there are here shown photographs which aim at more than the bare copying of any particular spot; for many of the pictures here exhibited may rank as fine works of art. We feel much delicacy and hesitation in mentioning any particular artist, where so many are entitled to praise, especially in some particular departments. We could point out pictures having all the minute truthfulness of nature, combined with the beautiful effects of some of the greatest painters. We must, however, direct especial attention to the landscapes of Mr. Turner, the views in the Pyrenees by Mr. Stewart, and one splendid one of the same locality by Le Gray. Mr. Buckle's views in paper also exhibit a sharpness and detail almost equal to collodion; as do the various productions of Mr. Fenton in wax paper. The effects obtained also by Mr. Owen of Bristol appear to be very satisfactory: why they are, with so much excellence, called _experimental_, we cannot tell. In collodion Mr. Berger has exhibited some effective portraits; and we think the success of Mr. De la Motte has been so great, that in some of his productions little remains to be desired. We cannot conclude this brief notice without directing attention to the minuteness and pleasing effect of the views in Rome by M. Eugène Constant, which are also from collodion; as also the specimens from albumen negatives of M. Ferrier; and, lastly, to the pleasant fact that lady amateurs are now practising this art,--very nice specimens being here exhibited by the Ladies Nevill, whose example we shall hope to see followed.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Quotation in Locke_ (Vol. vi., p. 386.).--The words "Si non vis intelligi non debes legi" were, I believe, the exclamation of St. Jerome, as he threw his copy of Persius into the fire in a fit of testiness at being unable to construe some tough lines of that tough author. I set down this reply from memory, and am unable to give the authority for it.

W. FRASER.

_Pic-nic_ (Vol. vi., pp. 152. 518.).--The Query of A. F. S. (p. 152.) as to the etymology of _pic-nic_ still remains unanswered. The Note of W. W. (p. 518.) merely refers to the time (1802) when pic-nic suppers first became fashionable in England. Under a French form, the word appears in a speech of Robespierre's, quoted in the _British and Foreign Review_ for July, 1844, p. 620.: "C'est ici qu'il doit m'accuser, et non dans les _piques-niques_, dans les sociétés particulières." An earlier instance occurs in one of Lord Chesterfield's letters (No. 167.), dated October 1748.

JAYDEE.

_Discovery at Nuneham Regis_ (Vol. vi., pp. 386. 488. 558.).--Nuneham Regis was granted to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, in the seventh year of King Edward VI.; but as it was forfeited on his attainder, in the first year of Queen Mary, and immediately granted by her to Sir Rowland Hill, knight, and citizen of London, from whom Sir Thomas Leigh, knight, and alderman of London, almost immediately acquired it; and as he exercised the right of presentation to the vicarage in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there is no probability of the body of John, Duke of Northumberland, being removed from the Tower of London to Newnham.

The letters T. B. on the clothes on the body at Nuneham are distinctly worked in Roman capitals, like those on a common sampler. I have seen them.

J. S.S.

_Door-head Inscriptions_ (Vol. vi., p. 543.).--

"Sit mihi nec glis servus nec hospes hirudo."

"From servant lazy as dormouse,
Or leeching guest, God keep my house."

MR. WOODWARD tells us that he quotes this inscription "from memory:" it is so very pertinent that it seems a pity even to hint a correction, but, as I read it, it seemed partly familiar to me, and I find something so like the latter part of it in two ancient authors, that I am tempted to inquire whether he may not have omitted _one letter_, which alters the sense as given above, and yet gives a sense as good.

Among the Symbols of Pythagoras, I read the following:

"[Greek: Omôrophious chelidônas mê echein]."

"Domesticas hiru_n_dines ne habeto."

To the same effect (but, strange to say, without any reference to Pythagoras' dictum), we find it in the _proverbia_ of Polydore Virgil (A.D. 1498):

"Hiru_n_do suscipienda non est."

and the exposition is the same in both:

"Hirundo garrula semper, _i.e._ garruli et tumigeri homines recipiendi
non sunt."

I find no original for the former part of the inscription. Probably MR. WOODWARD will agree with me, that it is difficult to decide whether a greedy or a gossipping guest would be the worst household infliction; but as a careful householder might well deprecate either, as matter of curiosity perhaps he would refer to the original inscription again, and decide whether he has or has not omitted an "n."

A. B. R.

Belmont.

Stratford Parsonage, Wilts:

"Parva sed apta Domino.
1675."

Montacute House, Somerset:

"Through this wide opening gate
None come too soon, none go too late.
And yours."

{24}

Sudbury House, Derbyshire:

"Omne Bonum Dei Donum."

At Verona:

"Patet Janua, Cor magis."

The next I have seen somewhere:

"Detur digniori."

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George.

_Cross and Pile_ (Vol. vi., pp. 386. 513.).--The _pile_ is invariably on the obverse or _head_ side of a coin; and _pile_ or _poll_ both mean the head, from whence the "poll tax" and "poll groat"--a tax paid by the head, or a personal tax, of which we have an historical example of its collector in the case of Wat Tyler.

Ruding, in _Annals of the Coinage_, vol. ii. p. 119., 8vo., edit. 1819, states that Ed. I. A.D. 1304, in the delivering out the stamps for the coinage, orders that three _piles_ and six _crosses_ shall be given. It is well known to all numismatists that all, or most early coins, both Saxon and English, had a head on the obverse and a cross on the reverse--the latter being placed on the coins as symbolical of Christianity.

_Pile_ also means the hair, or any filament: as the "pile of velvet, the nap of woollen cloth," &c. And Jamieson, in his _Scotch Dictionary_, says:

"PILE. The soft hair which first appears on the chins of young men."

Coles, Ashe, Webster, and others give the same meaning.

The superstitious effect of the cross as a charm or amulet is well known; from whence the saying:

"I have never a cross in my purse to keep the Devil away."

Again:

"Priests were coin-proof against the Devil, they never being without
money; of course, always had a cross in their pocket."--Gilpin's
_Beehive of the Romish Church_, 1636, p. 251.

And Nash, in the Supplication of Pierce Penniless to the Devil, makes Pierce to say:

"Whereas your impious excellence hath had the poore tenement of my
purse anytime this half year for your dancing schole, and he,
notwithstanding, hath received no penye nor crosse for farme," &c.

And the poet Skelton says:

". . . . . . . . and in his pouche,
The Devil might dance therein for any crouche."
P. 71.

Trusting the above will be satisfactory to D. W. S., I beg to conclude, thinking, you will say I have already made "much ado about nothing."

GODDARD JOHNSON.

_Rhymes upon Places_ (Vol. vi. p. 281.).--Perhaps you will think the following rhymes upon places worth insertion:

"I stood upon Eyemouth Fort,
And guess ye what I saw?
Fairmiside and Furmintong,
Neuhouses and Cocklaw,
The fairy fouk o' Fosterland,
The witches o' Edincran,
The bly-rigs o' Reston;
But Dunse dings a'."

Near the seaside village of Eyemouth, in Berwickshire, is a promontory marked with a succession of grassy mounds, the remains of a fort built there in the regency of Mary of Lorraine. A number of places are represented as visible from the fort: but here fact is not strictly adhered to.

Fosterland once existed in the parish of Bunkle as a small village; but even its vestiges are not now visible on the brown moor where it once stood. Edincran, properly Auchinchran, is an estate in the vicinity of Fosterland, as is Reston also. There is a variation as follows:

"The fairy fouk o' Fosterland,
The witches o' Edincran,
And the rye-kail o' Reston
Gar'd a' the dogs die."

The rye-kail alluded to must have been a broth chiefly made from rye, which grain, it is well known, is sometimes so much tainted as to be poisonous.