Chapter II: Part 2

"_That_, am I, have, and will be,
Though all the world should crack their duty to you,
and throw it from their soul," &c.

Still less can it be permitted to change "crack their duty" into "lack their duty." Setting aside all consideration of the comparative force of the two words, and the circumstance that _crack_ is frequently used by Shakspeare in the sense of _sever by violence_--the adoption of _lack_ would be to attribute to Shakspeare an absolute blunder, for how could "all the world" _throw from their soul_ that which they _lacked_?

With reference to another alteration ("capable" into "palpable," in _As You Like It_, Act III. Sc. 5.), notwithstanding that it seems so obvious, and has been declared so self-evident, "_as to be lauded needs but to be seen_," I, for one, enter my protest against it, being of opinion that the conservation of _capable_ is absolutely essential to the context.

_Capable_ may be, and has been, defended upon various grounds; but there is one consideration which, with me, is all-sufficient, viz., it is necessary for the explanation and defence of the accompanying word "_cicatrice_." _Capable_ is _concave_, and has reference to the _lipped_ shape of the impression, and _cicatrice_ is a _lipped_ scar; therefore one word supports and explains the other. And it is not a little singular that _cicatrice_ should, in its turn, have been condemned as an improper expression by the very critic (Dr. Johnson) who, without perceiving this very cogent reason for so doing, nevertheless explains "capable impressure" as _a hollow mark_.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

* * * * *

SIR HENRY WOTTON'S LETTER TO MILTON.

(Vol. vi., p. 5.; Vol. vii., p. 7.)

I desire to speak with the greatest deference to MR. BOLTON CORNEY'S superior judgment, but still I cannot help saying that Thomas Warton's remarks upon "our common friend Mr. R." and "the late R.'s poems" do not seem to be supported by the facts. Randolph's poems were printed at Oxford in 1638, but in which month we are not told. The first question then is this, Were they printed before or after the 13th of April, when Wotton's letter was written? If _after_ the 13th, or even the 6th of April, when Milton's presentation copy of _Comus_ was forwarded, of course the matter is decided. But, allowing for the present that they were printed _before_ the 13th of April in the year 1638, I must ask, in the second place, Could Sir H. Wotton predicate of any volume printed in that year before that date (or rather of _Comus_ stitched up with that volume), that he had viewed it _some long time before_ with singular delight? I certainly think not, but shall be very happy to have my objections overruled.

Then, again, if we admit MR. BOLTON CORNEY'S "novel conjecture" (which I freely allow to be a great improvement upon that of Thomas Warton), how comes it the Sir H. Wotton knew nothing of "the true artificer" of _Comus_ until he was let into the secret by Milton himself? If Robert Randolph was the "common friend" of Wotton and Milton, was he not likely to have {112} known something of the authorship of _Comus_, and to have enlightened Sir Henry thereon? My principal objection remains. Thomas Randolph was far too popular a poet to have been contemptuously alluded to by Wotton or any one else in that age, and, making all due allowance for laudation and compliment, Wotton does disparage the poems to which Milton's _Masque_ was appended.

I think that quaint old Winstanley gives the general opinion of Randolph. He says:

"He was one of such a pregnant wit that the Muses may seem not only to
have smiled, but to have been tickled at his nativity, such the
festivity of his poems of all sorts."--_Lives of English Poets_, p.
142., Lond. 1687.

We must therefore, perhaps, look out for some more obscure and worthless poet, whose "principal" Milton's "accessory" was to "help out."

When writing on this subject before, I said that Samuel Hartlib had not settled in England at the time of Sir H. Wotton's letter to Milton (Vol. vi., p. 5.). I am indebted to Warton for that mistake. He fixes the date of his coming hither to "about the year 1640." (_Illustrations of Milton's Minor Poems_, p. 596.: Lond. 1775.)

Samuel Hartlib figures amongst the correspondents of Joseph Mede in March, 1634, and even then dated from London. (Mede's _Works_, vol. ii. lib. iv. p. 1058.: Lond. 1664, fol.)

Amongst the _Letters and Despatches_ of Lord Strafforde are two letters from Sir Henry Wotton, which do not appear in the _Reliquiæ_ (vide vol. i. pp. 45-48.: Dublin, 1740, fol.), though some sentences in the former of the two may be found at p. 373. of said work. I often find it a pleasant employment to fill up the gaps and trace out the allusions in Wotton's correspondence.

May I give a short specimen of one of his letters filled up? It was written, I suppose, to Nicholas Pey:

"My dear Nic,

"More than a voluntary motion doth now carry me towards Suffolk,
especially that I may confer by the way with an excellent physician at
B., whom I brought myself from Venice."--_Reliquiæ_, p. 359.

By "B." is meant St. Edmund's Bury, and by the "excellent physician" no less than _Gaspero Despotine_, who, together with Mark Anthony de Dominis, accompanied Sir H. Wotton and his chaplain Bedell from Italy.

However, he was very unlike the archbishop of whom Dr. Crakanthorp used to say, that he was well called "De Dominis in the plural, for he could serve two masters, or twenty if they would all pay him wages." (Hacket's _Life of Williams_, part i. p. 103.: Lond. 1693, fol.) Despotine left Italy that he might at the same time leave the communion of the Church of Rome, and when Bedell was appointed to the living of St. Edmund's Bury, he accompanied him thither. One of Wotton's very interesting letters announces the event. (_Reliquiæ_, p. 400.) Under the fostering care of the saintly Bedell, Despotine rose to eminence in his profession at St. Edmund's Bury, and kept up a kind correspondence with his guide and patron after his promotion to the Provostship of Trinity College, Dublin, and the sees of Ardagh and Kilmore. (Burnet's _Life of Bishop Bedell_, ad init.)

In another letter (_Reliquiæ_, p. 356.) Wotton speaks of having given also to Michael Brainthwaite and the young Lord Scudamore the advice of Alberto Scipioni to himself, to "keep his eyes open and his mouth shut," which Milton sadly disregarded.

RT.

Warmington.

* * * * *

SKULL-CAPS VERSUS SKULL-CUPS.

(Vol. vi., pp. 441. 565.)

Your correspondent JAMES GRAVES seems to consider cooking in a skull impossible. I certainly have never tried it, nor do I wish to express an opinion as to the taste of the Irish or their invaders, A.D. 1315, though methinks those who relished the "flesh" need not have demurred to the pot. But as to the possibility, in Ewbank on _Hydraulic Machines_, book i. cap. 3., I find the following mention of

"PRIMITIVE BOILERS.--The gourd is probably the original vessel for
heating water, &c. &c., its exterior being kept moistened by water
while on the fire, as still practised by some people, while others
apply a coating of clay to protect it from the effects of flame."

He then quotes Kotzebue as finding "the Radack Islanders boiling something in cocoa-shells." A primitive Sumatran vessel for boiling rice is the bamboo, which is still used; by the time the rice is dressed the vessel is nearly destroyed by the fire. This destructibility needs hardly to be considered an objection to the "starving fugitives," as plenty of the same kind must have been at hand, and even an Irishman's skull is probably as little inflammable as gourds, cocoa-sells, or bamboos.

J. P. O.

Should the following extract not be considered as bearing on the question, we must admit that it is a remarkable bit of folk lore.

The quotation is second-hand, being taken from the Chronicles of London Bridge, _Family Library_, p. 436.; the authority is, however, there given. The passage refers to some parties engaged to refine the coinage, and who were taken ill, affected probably by the fumes of arsenic.

"---- the mooste of them in meltinge fell sycke to deathe, w^{th} the
sauoure, so as they were advised to drynke in a dead man's skull for
theyre recure. {113}

"Whereupon he w^{th} others who had thovergyght of that worke, procured
a warrant from the Counsaile to take of the heades vppon London Bridge
and make cuppes thereof, whereof they dranke and founde some reliefe,
althoughe the moost of them dyed."

This is supposed to have been about 1560 or 1561.

THOMAS LAWRENCE.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

* * * * *

INEDITED POEM BY POPE.

(Vol. vii., p. 57.)

This, which is headed "Note," ought to have been headed _Query_: and it affords an instance of ignorance on the part of some of our correspondents; and of, I fear I must add, inattention on that of our worthy Editor, which I think it right to notice as a warning to all parties for the future: and I appeal to the candour of our Editor himself to give my protest a place.

The first step in this curious affair is to be found in "N. & Q.," Vol. ii., p. 7., where "_the Editor of Bishop Warburton's Literary Remains_" produced, as attributed to Mr. Charles Yorke, a kind of epitaph of sixteen lines, beginning--

"Stript to the naked soul, escaped from clay."

That the "editor of Bishop Warburton's _Literary Remains_," and his friend "an eminent critic," should have been at a loss to know where these well-known verses were to be found, and should have countenanced their having been Charles Yorke's, seems the more wonderful: for the verses are given in _Warburton's own letters_ as _Pope's_, and were printed near a hundred years ago in Ruffhead's _Life of Pope_, _as Pope's_; and in the MS. copy furnished by Mr. Yorke, they are marked as "Mr. Pope's."

The next error is, that this mention of Mr. Yorke's name--though his MS. bore the name of _Pope_--seems to have given rise to the idea that _he_ was the author, which Lord Campbell has so fully adopted as to have reprinted, in his _Lives of the Chancellors_ (vol. v. p. 428.), the verses as the composition of _Charles Yorke_.

We next find in "N. & Q.," Vol. iii., p. 43., a reply of W. S. to the Query of Warburton's editor, stating "that the verses were by _Pope_," and _lately_ republished in a miscellany by James Tayler, with a statement that they _were not inserted in any edition of Pope's works_. The fact being, that they have been inserted in Warton's edition, 1797; and in Bowles', and in all subsequent editions that I have seen: and it seems strange that W. S. did not take the trouble of verifying, by a reference to _any_ edition of Pope, the statement that he quoted.

Next we have, in the same (3rd) volume of "N. & Q.," a communication from MR. CROSSLEY, which states correctly all the foregoing circumstances, with the addition, that the verses appeared as _Aaron Hill's_ in an edition of his works as early as 1753. Thence arises another discussion; were they Pope's or Hill's? Roscoe thought they were Hill's; MR. CROSSLEY thinks they were Pope's. I think, both from external and internal evidence, that they were not Pope's. But that has little to do with my present object, which is to show how often the matter has been already discussed in "N. & Q." I must observe, however, that MR. CROSSLEY has fallen into a slight anachronism. He says that the verses were "transferred from Ruffhead into _Bowles'_ edition;" whereas they, as I have stated, were transferred into _Warton's_ many years earlier.

After all this disquisition comes a recent Number of "N. & Q.," of which a _column and a quarter_ is wasted by a correspondent A. T. W., who confesses that he (or she) has _not a modern edition of Pope within reach_, and begs to know whether these verses (repeated _in extenso_) "have been yet introduced to the public?"

Surely "N. & Q." should beware of correspondents that write to inquire about Pope, without having an edition of his works; and I cannot but wonder that this _crambe_, which had been served up thrice before, and so fully by MR. CROSSLEY, should have been _recocta_, and introduced as a new theme, entitled to a special attention.

C.

* * * * *

CIBBER'S "LIVES OF THE POETS."

(Vol. v., p. 161.)

Allow me to draw your attention to a _curious letter_ which I transcribe, with reference to the above. It appears to have escaped the notice of MR. CROKER, although it corroborates his statements. It was written by the bookseller himself who published the _Lives_, and would seem to set the matter as to their authorship completely at rest. Griffiths appears to have been also the editor of the _Monthly Review_; and Cartwright, the inventor of the power-loom, to whom the letter is addressed, to have been one of his contributors.

"MR. GRIFFITH to MR. CARTWRIGHT.

"Turnham Green, 16th June [1781?].

"Dear Sir,

"I have sent you a _feast_! Johnson's _new_ volumes of the _Lives of
the Poets_. You will observe that Savage's _Life_ is one of the
volumes. I suppose it is the same which he published about thirty years
ago, and therefore you will not be obliged to notice it otherwise than
in the course of enumeration. In the account of Hammond, my good friend
Samuel has stumbled on a material circumstance in the publication of
Cibber's _Lives of the Poets_. He intimates that Cibber never saw the
work. This is a reflection on the bookseller, your humble servant. The
bookseller {114} has now in his possession Theophilus Cibber's receipt
for twenty guineas (Johnson says ten), in consideration of which he
engaged to 'revise, correct, and improve the work, and also to affix
his name in the title-page.' Mr. Cibber did accordingly very punctually
revise every sheet; he made numerous corrections, and added many
improvements: particularly in those lives which came down to his own
times, and brought him within the circle of his own and his father's
literary acquaintance, especially in the dramatic line. To the best of
my recollection, he gave some entire lives, besides inserting abundance
of paragraphs, of notes, anecdotes, and remarks, in those which were
compiled by Shiells and other writers. I say _other_, because many of
the best pieces of biography in that collection were not written by
Shiells, but by superior hands. In short, the engagement of Cibber, or
some other _Englishman_, to superintend what Shiells in particular
should offer, was a measure absolutely necessary, not only to guard
against his Scotticisms, and other defects of expression, but his
virulent Jacobitism, which inclined him to abuse every Whig character
that came in his way. This, indeed, he would have done; but Cibber (a
stanch Williamite) opposed and prevented him, insomuch that a violent
quarrel arose on the subject. By the way, it seems to me, that Shiell's
Jacobitism has been the only circumstance that has procured him the
regard of Mr. Johnson, and the favourable mention that he has made of
Shiell's 'virtuous life and pious end'--expressions that must draw a
smile from every one who knows, as I did, the real character of Robert
Shiells. And now, what think you of noticing this matter in regard to
truth, and the fair fame of the honest bookseller?"--_Memoir of the
Life, Writings, and Mechanical Inventions of Edmund Cartwright, D.D.,
F.R.S._: Saunders & Otley.

W. L. NICHOLS.

Lansdown Place, Bath.

* * * * *

ENGLISH COMEDIANS IN THE NETHERLANDS.

(Vol. ii., pp. 184. 459.; Vol. iii., p. 21.)

From the following extract from the _Thes. Rek._ (Treasury Accounts) of Utrecht, it appears that English actors performed there:

"Schenkelwyn, 31 July, 1597. Sekere Engelsche Comedianten, voor hore
speelen op ten Stadhuyse, 8 q. Fransche wyns."--(To certain English
Comedians, for their playing at the town-hall, eight quarts of French
wine.)

In the _Gerechtsdagboecken_ (Minutes of the Council) of Leyden appear several requests of English comedians to perform there in 1614; these I hope soon to have in hand. I can now give the decision of the Council on the request of the Englishman W. Pedel:

"Op te Requeste daerby den voorn. Willem Pedel, versochte aen die van
de Gerechte der stadt Leyden omme te mogen speelen verscheyde fraeye
ende eerlicke spelen mettet lichaem, sonder eenige woorden te
gebruycken, stont geappostileert: Die van de Gerechte deser stadt
Leyden hebben voor zoe veel in hem es, den thoonder toegelaten ende
geconsenteert, laten toe ende consenteren mits desen binnen dezer stede
inde Kercke vant Bagynhoff te mogen spelen voor de gemeente ende syne
speelen verthoonen, mits dat hy hem daervan zalt onthouden geduyrende
tdoen van de predicatien van Gods woorts, en dat de arme Weesen alhier
zullen genieten de gerechte helfte van de incomende proffyten, en dat
zulex int geheel zullen werden ontfangen en gecollecteert by een
persoon daertoe bij M^{ren} van de Arme Weesen te stellen ende
committeeren.

"Aldus gedaen op ten xviij Nov. 1608."

(_Translation._)

On the request by which the aforesaid W. Pedel petitioned the
authorities of the city of Leyden to allow him to exhibit various
beautiful and chaste performances with his body, without using any
words, was determined: The authorities of this city of Leyden have
consented and allowed the exhibitor to perform in the church of the
Bagynhoff within this city, provided he cease during the preaching of
God's word, and that the poor orphans here have half the profits, and
that they be received and collected by a person appointed by the
masters of the poor orphans.

Done on the 18th November, 1608.

In 1656 English comedians came to Dordrecht, but were soon obliged to withdraw. About 1600 some appeared in Germany, who considerably diminished the taste for biblical and moral pieces. See Dr. Schotel, _Blik in de Gesch. v.h. tooneel._; Gervinus, _Neuere Geschichte der poetischen Nationalliteratur der Deutschen_, vol. iii. pp. 96-100.--_From the Navorscher._

W. D. V.

* * * * *

LA BRUYÈRE.

(Vol. vii., p. 38.)

I am unable to reply to URSULA'S questions; but I would ask permission to solicit from such of your better-informed correspondents as may become votaries to URSULA, that they would extend the range of their genealogical pilgrimage so far as to pay a visit to the ruins of Tor Abbey. I should be glad to learn whether either William Lord _Briewere_ or William de la _Bruere_ (both of whom were connected with the foundation of that religious house) were of the same family as Thibault de la _Bruyère_, the Crusader, who is one of the subjects of URSULA'S inquiry. Dr. Oliver (_Monast. Exon._, note at p. 179.) thinks that these two William Brewers may have represented families originally distinct from each other:

"There is some doubt," he says, "whether the family _De Brueriâ_ or
_Bruerâ_, which was settled in Devon at the time of the Domesday, and
then held some of the lands afterwards given by W. _Briwere_ to Torr
Abbey, was the same as that of the founder. In this cartulary the two
names are spelt differently, and Briwere seems {115} to have been a
purchaser of De Bruerâ. See, upon this subject, Dugdale's _Baronage_,
vol. i. p. 700., and Lysons' _Devonshire_, vol. i. p. 106. The names of
Brieguerre and De Bruera existed contemporaneously in Normandy. See
_Rot. Scacc. Norm. Indices_."

Whether these two William Brewers represented distinct families or not, it appears that they became closely allied by marriage. At fol. 81. of an "Abstract of the Tor Cartulary, at Trinity College, Dublin," given by Oliver, p. 187., the following grants occur; viz.:

"Grant from William Briewere to William de la Brueriâ, of four librates
of land in Wodeberi, with Engelesia his sister, _in liberum
maritagium_, &c.

"Grant from said William de la Bruera, with the assent of Engelesia his
wife, of all their land in Grendle to William Briewere, brother of the
said Engelesia, &c.

"Confirmation thereof by said Engelesia."

Both families appear to have given the name of _Brewer_ to their places of residence.

"The tything of _Teign Grace_," says Risdon, "anciently _Teign Brewer_,
was in the time of King Henry the Second the land of Anthony de la
Brewer, whom divers knights of that race succeeded. Sir William de la
Brewer, the last of the male line, left this inheritance among
co-heirs, Eva, wife of Thomas le _Grace_, and Isabel, &c.... Concerning
which lands these lines I found in the leger-book of the Abbey of Torr:
'_Galfridus de Breweria dominus de Teigne pro salut. animæ Will. de
Breweria & Argalesia uxor ejus conc. abbat. de Torr liberum transitum
in Teigne._'"--P. 135.

_Buckland Brewer_, on the other hand, derived its name (according to the same authority) from the family of which William Lord Brewer was the representative.

The Brewers appear to have founded other religious houses, and to have held possessions in other parts of England. It was from Welbeck Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, that William Lord Briwere obtained subjects for his abbey at Tor; and Bruern, or Temple Bruer, in Lincolnshire, belonging to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell (see Dugdale's _Monast._, new edition, vol. vi. par. ii. p. 801.), would seem to owe its name to some connexion with the Brewer family, as did also, perhaps, Bruera in Chester, &c.

Mention is made of a William de la Bruera in the _History of Northamptonshire_ (edit. Oxon., 1791, tom. i. p. 233.), in connexion with the township of Grafton, to which manor Joane, his wife, and her sister Bruna, appear to have been co-heirs, as daughters of Ralph de S. Samson, temp. Henry III.

William Brewer, Bishop of Exeter (_brother_ of the William Lord Briewere already mentioned), was "put in trust" by King Henry III. "to conduct his sister, the Lady Isabella, into Germany, to her intended marriage with the Emperor Frederic." See Jenkins's _History of Exeter_, 1806, p. 252.

"This Bishop Brewer also went into the Holy Land (_transfretavit, cruce
signat._) the eleventh of Henry the Third."--Risdon, edit. Lond., 1811,
p. 137.

There was another William Brewer, a _son_ of William Lord Brewer; but he died without male issue.

I fear these few notices bear no very precise relation to URSULA'S inquiries. Still I send them, in the hope of discovering, by the kindness of some of your erudite contributors, what is the difference (if any) between the names _La Bruyère_, _De la Bruere_, and _Briewere_; and also whether, _originally_, these names belonged to _two_ or _three_ distinct families, or only to so many different branches of the same family.

J. SANSOM.

P.S.--The name _Bruere_ is probably not yet extinct, either in France or in England. In the Bodleian Library there is a letter, addressed by _John Bruere_ to the clergy of the diocese of Oxford, written within the last century, and bearing date "May 19, 1793," "Odington, near Islip," of which place the author was probably the rector. And in the British Museum _Catalogue_, under the name of (_M. de la_) _Bruere_, is mentioned _Histoire du Règne de Charlemagne_, 2 tom. 12^o; Paris, 1745.

* * * * *

SOUTHEY'S CRITICISM UPON ST. MATHIAS' DAY IN LEAP-YEAR.

(Vol. vii., p. 58.)

MR. YARRUM'S _exposé_ of Southey's singular blunder is perfectly just; but it does not include _the whole_ truth, a consideration of which renders the lapsus even more notable and unaccountable than if it arose _only_ from a want of acquaintance with the distribution of Roman Catholic Feriæ.

The allegation of error against the historians, because they had "fixed the appointed day on the eve of Mathias," would seem to imply that they might have fixed upon some other feast-day with more correctness; whereas there is no other in the calendar which could by any possibility be affected by leap-year: but the most extraordinary part of the mistake is, the ignorance it displays (scarcely credible in Southey) of the origin and etymology of the bissextile institution--the very subject he was criticising.

Because the name "bissextile," as every body knows, arose from the repetition in leap-year of the identical day in question: the sixth of the kalends of March; the 24th of February; the feast of the Regifugium amongst the Romans; and of its substitute, that of St. Mathias, amongst the Christians.

It is clear, that since the Regifugium was held upon the sixth day before the 1st of March (both inclusive), that day must, according to our {116} reckoning, be the 24th of February in common years, and the 25th in leap-years: therefore, the supernumerary or superfluous day, added on account of leap-year, was considered to be the 24th of February, and not the 25th; which latter, in those years, became the true "Sixth before the Kalends." Indeed, it is highly probable, although it cannot be supported by direct evidence, that the first day of the double sextile was distinguished from its name-fellow of the following day by having the word "bis" prefixed to _sextum_; so that, in leap-years, the 24th of February would be expressed as follows: "Ante diem _bis_-VI Calend. Martias;" while the following day, or the 25th of February (being considered the real Simon Pure), would retain the usual designation of "A.D. VI Calend. Mar." Such an hypothesis offers a reasonable explanation of the seeming reversal in terms of calling the day which _first_ arrived _posterior_, and that which succeeded it _prior_.

Although the Church of England Calendar now places the feast of Saint Mathias invariably on the 24th of February in all years, yet the earlier copies of the Book of Common Prayer allocated it to "The Sixth of the Kalends of March," without any direction as to which of the two days, bearing that name in leap-years, it should be appropriated. The modern Reformed Church Calendar therefore repudiates the usage of the Romans themselves, rather than that of the Roman Catholics.

A. E. B.

Leeds.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.

_Portable Camera for Travellers._--Your correspondent E. S. asks for a clear description of a camera that will supersede the necessity of a dark room. Mr. Stokes has invented one; and in the early part of the photographic exhibition at the Society of Arts it was exhibited. The weight of the camera is only nine pounds, including focussing-glass, lens, shutter, &c. The shutter is so arranged that it will contain from twelve to twenty pieces of prepared paper, each piece between separate sheets of blotting-paper. Light and air are completely excluded, by the paper being pressed by the front portion of the shutter. When required for use, the first piece of paper is placed at the back of the glass. By the assistance of a small hood, the impression is then taken; and, by removing the millboard, the paper will fall back into its place. At the same time another piece can be brought forward, ready for a second picture, before focussing, and so on to the end. The hood is made of India rubber cloth, and answers the purpose of a focussing cloth, without the trouble of removing it from the camera throughout the day. The size of the pictures that can be taken by it is 9½ by 12 inches. It has been tried during the latter part of the last year, and proved most successful.

PHILIP H. DELAMOTTE.

Bayswater.

_The Albumen Process._--I shall be greatly obliged to DR. DIAMOND, or any other photographer, by their kindly communicating through your medium their experience with albumenized glass. I have Thornthwaite's _Guide to Photography_.

I should like answers to the following Queries:

Must the albumen be poured off from the plate after it is spread over the surface, in the same manner as collodion?

Is the plate (while roasting, according to the process of Messrs. Thompson and Ross) nearly perpendicular in the process?

Will the iodized albumen, for giving the film, keep; and how long?

How long will the plate retain its sensitiveness after exciting?

May the same sensitive bath be used for a number of plates without renewing, in the same way as silver bath for collodion?

In conclusion, what is the average time with single achromatic lens, six or seven inch focus, to allow to get a good picture?

Will photographers who are chemists turn their attention to obtain sensitive dry glass plates? for I think there can scarcely be any doubt of the advantage of glass over paper for _small_ pictures (weight, expense, &c., are perhaps drawbacks for pictures larger than 5 × 4 inches); but the desideratum is a sensitiveness nearly equal to collodion, and a plate that can be used dry.

THOS. LAWRENCE.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

_Black Tints of French Photographers._--Can you inform me, through the medium of your valuable periodical, how those beautiful black tints, so much prized in the French prints from photographic negatives, are obtained? By so doing you will give great pleasure to several excellent amateur photographers, and especially your constant reader,

PHILOPHOTOG.

_Originator of the Collodion Process._--As some think the credit of the invention of the collodion process a matter of dispute, will you allow me to remind your correspondents that the truth will be much easier to discover if they will confine themselves to actual facts?

In No. 167., p. 47., G. C. first recklessly accuses MR. ARCHER of untruth, and then tests his own claim to truth by quoting from Le Gray's edition of 1852, to prove Le Gray's edition of 1850. Why did he not go back at once to the 1850 edition; and if that contains anything like an intelligible process, why is it altogether omitted from Le Gray's edition of 1851, which was the one MR. ARCHER spoke of, and correctly? {117}

The history of collodion is (as far as I know) this. In September, 1850, DR. DIAMOND invited me to meet MR. ARCHER at his house, and for the first time MR. ARCHER produced some prepared collodion, a portion of which identical sample DR. DIAMOND now has in his possession.

MR. ARCHER had then been trying it some five or six weeks. His experiments then went on, and in March, 1851, he published it in the _Chemist_. Let any of your readers procure that Number, and compare MR. ARCHER'S claim with Le Gray's, who, in 1852, states that he published it in 1850, and gave "the best method that has been discovered up to the present time;" and yet, singularly enough, in his edition of 1851, leaves out _this best method_ entirely.

W. BROWN.

Ewell.

_Developing Paper Pictures with Pyrogallic Acid, &c._--Have any of your photographic correspondents tried developing their paper negatives with pyrogallic acid? If so, perhaps he would favour the readers of "N. & Q." with the result of his experiments.

In DR. DIAMOND'S process for paper negatives, he says the paper, after the iodizing solution has been applied, must be dried before soaking in water. I wish to ask whether it may be dried quickly by the fire, or must it be dried spontaneously by suspension, &c.? Again, how long must the paper remain on the sensitive mixture: must it be placed on the sensitive solution, and _immediately_ taken off and blotted, or placed on the sensitive solution, and _after some time_ (what time?) taken off and _immediately_ blotted?

Have any of your readers substituted iodide of ammonium for iodide of potassium, in preparing paper, collodion, &c., and with what success? And have they substituted nitrate of zinc for glacial acetic acid, as recommended in a French work, with any success?

R. J. F.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Waterloo_ (Vol. vii., p. 82.).--P. C. S. S. conceives that it may be interesting to PHILOBIBLION to learn that the greatest man in the world was not ignorant of the passage in Strada regarding _Waterloo_, to which PHILOBIBLION refers. From a diary kept for some years, it appears that on Saturday, the 30th of October, 1843, P. C. S. S., who was then on a visit at Walmer Castle, had the pleasure of directing the Duke of Wellington's attention to the passage in question, as translated by Du Ryer (Paris, 1665). He well remembers that the Duke seemed to be greatly struck with it; that he more than once referred to it, in subsequent conversations; and that on the following day he requested P. C. S. S. to furnish him with a transcript, which he doubts not might still be found among the Duke's papers.

P. C. S. S.

Your correspondent PHILOBIBLION has been led into a double error by a similarity of name. The _pagus Waterloeus_ mentioned by Strada is the French village of Wattrelo, in the modern Département du Nord, about six miles to the northeast of Lille.

J. S.

Norwich.

_Irish Peerages_ (Vol. vi., p. 604.).--The book alluded to by D. X. as professing to give pedigrees of ennobled Irish families, may be the contemptible _Letters to George IV._, by Captain Rock, a miserable attempt at a continuation of Moore's _Memoirs_ of that mystic personage. Some half of the former book contains libellous notices of the "low origin" of the Irish nobility. Can your correspondent refer me to the play in which there is some sneer that "the housemaid is cousin to an Irish peer?"

H.

_Martha Blount_ (Vol. vii., p. 38.).--An engraving of this lady, from "an original picture, in the collection of Michael Blount, Esq., at Maple-Darham," is prefixed to the tenth volume of Pope's _Works_ by Bowles, 1806.

W. A.

In reply to MR. A. F. WESTMACOTT (Vol. vii., p. 38.), I have, in my collection of engraved portraits, one of the subject of his inquiry, "Martha Blount." It is in _stipple_, by Picart, after a picture by Gardner. I have no idea the portrait is rare, and think your correspondent may easily procure it among the printsellers in London.

J. BURTON.

_Quotations wanted_ (Vol. vii., p. 40.).--Bacon, in his Essay "Of Studies," has this sentence:

"And if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know
that he doth not."

which is perhaps the reference Miss Edgeworth intended.

"A world without a sun," is from Campbell's _Pleasures of Hope_, Part II. line 24.:

"And say, without our hopes, without our fears,
Without the home that plighted love endears,
Without the smile from partial beauty won,
Oh! what were man?--a world without a sun."

I beg to add a parallel from Burns:

"What is life, when wanting love?
Night without a morning:
Love's the cloudless summer sun,
Nature gay adorning."

See the song beginning:

"Thine am I, my faithful fair."

ARTHUR H. BATHER.

East Sheen, Surrey.

{118}

_Pepys's Morena_ (Vol. vi., pp. 342. 373.).--In the note on this word in the last edition of the _Diary_, it is stated that it may be read either "Morma" or "Morena." There is little doubt but the latter is the correct reading. "Morena" is good Portuguese for a brunette, and may have been used by Pepys as a term of endearment for Miss Dickens, like the "Colleen dhas dhun" of the Irish, which has much the same meaning. The marriage of the king to Catherine of Braganza in the previous year would have caused her language to be more studied at this time, especially by persons about the court. Morma has no meaning whatever.

J. S. WARDEN.

_Goldsmiths' Year-marks_ (Vol. vi., p. 604.; Vol. vii., p. 90.).--I observe that, a few weeks ago, in the "N. & Q.," one of your correspondents made inquiries respecting the publication of my paper on plate-marks, which was read at the Bristol meeting of the Archæological Institute.

In reply, I beg to inform him that he will find, in the last two Numbers of the Journal of the Institute, the first and second parts of the paper, and that the concluding portion of it, and I hope also the table of annual letters, will appear in the forthcoming Number. Should it not be possible to get the table in a fit state for printing in that Number, it will appear in the next; and the whole subject of the assay marks of British plate will then be complete.

OCTAVIUS MORGAN.

The Friars.

_Turner's View of Lambeth Palace_ (Vol. vii., pp. 15. 89.).--In reply to your correspondent L. E. X., respecting Mr. Turner's picture of Lambeth Palace (which is in _water-colours_), I beg leave to say that it is in the possession of a lady residing in Bristol, to whose father _it_ was given by the artist after its exhibition at Somerset House, and it has never been in any other hands. The same lady has also a small portrait of Mr. Turner, done by _himself_ when visiting her family about the year 1791 or 1792: further particulars respecting these pictures (if desired) may be known by a line addressed to Miss N----, 8. St. James' Square, Bristol.

ANON.

J. H. A., after referring to the exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1791, by Mr. Turner, of "King John's Palace, Eltham" (No. 494.), and "Sweakley, near Uxbridge" (No. 560.), adds:

"In the horizon of art (strange to say, and yet to be explained!) this
luminary glows no more till 1808, when he had 'on the line' (?) several
views of Fonthill, as well as 'The Tenth Plague of Egypt.'"

A reference to the catalogues of the Royal Academy exhibitions will prove that Mr. Turner's name appears as an exhibitor there every year between 1790 and 1850, excepting the years 1821, 1824, and 1848. Several views of Fonthill Abbey, and "The Fifth (not the Tenth) Plague of Egypt," were exhibited in 1800, and "The Tenth Plague of Egypt" in 1802.

G. B.

"_For God will be your King to-day_" (Vol. vii., p. 67.).--In reply to your querist H. A. S. with respect to the above line, I believe that it belongs not to Somersetshire, but to Ireland; not to Monmouth's rebellion, but to the civil wars of 1690.

It is the closing couplet of a stanza in the popular ballad on the "Battle of the Boyne."

A very perfect copy of this ballad will be found in Wilde's _Beauties of the Boyne_, p. 271., beginning with--

"July the first, of a morning clear,
One thousand six hundred and ninety,
King William did his men prepare--
Of thousands he had thirty,--
To fight King James and all his host,
Encamp'd near the Boyne water," &c.

The passage from which the lines in question are taken is as follows:

"When that King William he observed,
The brave Duke Schomberg falling,
He rein'd his horse with a heavy heart,
On the Enniskilleners calling.

"'What will you do for me, brave boys?
See yonder men retreating;
Our enemies encouraged are,
And English drums are beating.'

"He says, 'My boys feel no dismay,
At the losing of one commander,
_For God shall be our King this day,_
_And I'll be general under_.'"

W. W. E. T.

66. Warwick Square, Belgravia.

The lines here referred to occur in the old ballad of _Boyne Water_, some fragments of which are given in Duffy's _Ballad Poetry of Ireland_, 5th edition, p. 248. They are supposed to have been spoken by William III. on the death of the Duke Schomberg.

"Both horse and foot they marched on, intending them to batter,
But the brave Duke Schomberg he was shot, as he crossed over the water.
When that King William he observed the brave Duke Schomberg falling,
He rein'd his horse, with a heavy heart, on the Enniskilleners calling:
'What will you do for me, brave boys? See yonder men retreating;
Our enemies encouraged are, and English drums are beating.'
He says, 'My boys, feel no dismay at the losing of one commander,
For God shall be our King this day, and I'll be general under.'"

{119}

The lines quoted by your correspondent also occur in the more modern song of _The Battle of the Boyne_, which may be found at p. 144 of Mr. Duffy's work.

THOMPSON COOPER.

Cambridge.

[We are indebted to many other correspondents for similar Replies to
this Query.]

_Jennings Family_ (Vol. vii., p. 95.).--I am much obliged to PERCURIOSUS for his reply to my Query. The William Jennings, who was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1678, an admiral, and knighted by King James II. (see Le Neve's _Knights_, Harleian MS. 5801.), was most probably descended from the Yorkshire family of that name, his escutcheon being the same. The Francis who married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Spoure of Trebartha, was descended from the Shropshire family, whose arms were--Ermine, a lion rampant, gules quartered with those of Jay, as recorded in the Visitation by Henry, the son of Francis. This Francis died about 1610-11. His will (the executor being Henry Spoure) was proved at Doctors' Commons in 1611. But what I particularly wanted to ascertain was, whether Rowland, who is the first that occurs in the Cornish Visitation, was the first who settled in Cornwall. I have inquired at the Heralds' College, but can gain no further information than that to be found in the Visitations of Salop and Cornwall in the British Museum. PERCURIOSUS would gratify my curiosity, if he would kindly inform me where the Spoure MSS. are to be seen. They are not to be found in the British Museum. I have always thought that they were in the hands of some member of the Rodd family, whose ancestor (a Life Guardsman) was about to be married to the heiress of all the Spoures, but she, dying before the marriage, left him all her estates, Trebartha among the rest which is in the possession of the family to this day.

S. JENNINGS-G.

P. S.--I inclose my card, in order that PERCURIOSUS (who evidently knows something of the family) may communicate personally or by letter. I think that I might possibly be able to give him some information in return for his kindness.

_The Furze or Gorse in Scandinavia_ (Vol. vi., pp. 127. 377.).--Henfrey, in his _Vegetation of Europe_, states that the furze (_Ulex Europæus_) occurs, but not abundantly, in the south-western parts of the Scandinavian peninsula. It is well known that in Central Germany it is a greenhouse plant.

SELEUCUS.

_Mistletoe_ (Vol. ii., p. 418.; Vol. iii., pp. 192. 226. 396. 462.).--There is in the parish of Staveley, Derbyshire, a solitary mansion called the Hagg, erected by Sir Peter Frescheville, in what was at that time a park of considerable extent, for a hunting lodge, when age and infirmity prevented him from otherwise enjoying the pleasures of the chase. In one of Colepeper's MSS. at the British Museum, there is the following curious notice of this house:

"This is the Parke House which Sir Peter Frescheville, in his will,
16th March, 1632, calls my new Lodge in Staveley Parke. Heare my Lord
Frescheville did live, and heare growes _the famous mistleto tree, the
only oake in England that bears mistleto_, which florished at my deare
Wife's birth, who was born heare."

I presume it is the same which is referred to in the following letter addressed by the Countess of Danby to Mrs. Colepeper; it is without date, but was written between 1663 and 1682:

"Dear Cosen.--Pray if you have any of the miselto of yo^r father's oke,
oblidge me so far as to send sum of it to

Yo^r most affectionat servant, BRIDGET DANBY."

The oak tree still exists, and in 1803 it contained mistletoe, but there is none to be seen now. About a quarter of a mile from this locality I observed the mistletoe in a large crab-tree, and I recently found it in a venerable yew of many centuries' growth near Sheffield.

W. S. (Sheffield.)

_Inscription on a Dagger_ (Vol. vii., p. 40.).--These lines form a Dutch proverb, and, if thus written, rhyme:

"Die een peninck wint ende behovt
Die macht verteren als hi wort owt.
Had ick dat bedocht in min ionge dagen
Dorst ick het in min ovtheit niel beklagen."

Which being interpreted inform us that, He who gains a penny, and saves it, may live on it when he becomes old. Had I minded this in my youthful days, I should not have to complain in my old age.

J. S.

Norwich.

_Steevens_ (Vol. ii., p. 476.; Vol. iii., p. 230.; Vol. vi., pp. 412. 531.).--Steevens's will contains no mention of any portrait of himself, nor any other except his picture of "Mr. Garrick and Mrs. Cibber, in the characters of Jaffier and Belvidera, painted by Zottanij," which he bequeaths to George Keate, Esq. He gives to Miss Charlotte Collins of Graffham, near Midhurst, daughter of the late Christopher and Margaret Collins of Midhurst, 500l. To his cousin Mary Collinson (late Mary Steevens), wife of William Collinson of Narrow Street, Ratcliffe Cross, Middlesex, 300l. for a ring (so in my copy). The residue of his property he gives to his dearest cousin Elizabeth Steevens of Poplar, spinster, and appoints her sole executrix of his will. A copy of the will can be met with in the ninth volume of the _Monthly Mirror_ for 1800.

W. S. (Sheffield.)

{120}

_"Life is like a Game of Tables," &c._ (Vol. vii., p. 40.).--The sentiment is very possibly "_from_ Jeremy Taylor," but it is not his own. It occurs in Terence's _Adelphi_ and Plato's _Commonwealth_.

A. A. D.

* * * * *

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

The issue by the Shakspeare Society of an edition of the _Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakspeare's Plays from early MS. Corrections in a Copy of the Folio 1632, in the Possession of J. Payne Collier, Esq._, affords an opportunity, of which we gladly avail ourselves, to recall attention to a volume which is unquestionably the most important contribution to Shakspearian literature which has issued from the press for many years. Although we have no evidence of the authority upon which these _Notes and Emendations_ were made, an examination of them must, we think, convince even the most sceptical, that they were made upon _authority_, and are not the result of clever criticism and happy conjecture. The readers of "N. & Q." know well what discussions have been raised upon such phrases as "Prenzie Angelo," "Whose mother was her painting," "Ribaudred nag," "Most busy, least when I do it," &c. The writer of the _Notes and Emendations_, now first published, has given in these, and hundreds of other difficult and disputed passages, corrections which are consistent with Shakspeare's character as the poet of common sense. He converts the "_prenzie_ Angelo" into the "priestly," and the "_prenzie guards_" into "_priestly garb_." So that the passage now reads--

"_Claud._ The priestly Angelo.

_Isab._ O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In priestly garb."

In the passages to which we have referred above, "whose mother was her painting," is changed into "who smothers her with painting;" "ribraudred nag" into "ribald hag;" and the passage from _The Tempest_ is made plain--

"Most busy blest when I do it."

We think these examples are sufficient to make all lovers of Shakspeare anxious not only to examine the present volume, but to see the promised new edition of his works, in which Mr. Collier proposes to give the text as corrected by this great, although unknown authority.

The meeting for the establishment of the Photographic Society, held on Thursday week at the Society of Arts, was most numerously attended. The Society was formed, Sir Charles Eastlake elected president for the first year, Mr. Fenton honorary secretary, and Mr. Roslyn treasurer. The subscription was fixed at one guinea, with an admission fee of the same amount.

At a recent meeting of the _Surtees Society_, it was announced that the works in progress for this year are the _Pontifical of Egbert_, Archbishop of York (to be edited by the Rev. W. Greenwell), and a volume of _Wills and Inventories from the Registry at Richmond_, by Mr. Raine, Jun. The books for 1854 are to be the Northumbro-Saxon translation of _The Gospel of St. Matthew_, to be edited by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, and the _Inventories and Account Rolls of the Monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow_ until the Dissolution, which will appear under the editorship of the Rev. James Raine.

The Corporation of London Library is being thrown open to all literary men; the tickets of admission being accompanied by letters expressive of a wish that the holders should make frequent use of them. This is an act of becoming liberality, worthy of imitation in other quarters.

BOOKS RECEIVED.--_History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles, 1713-1783_, by Lord Mahon, vol. i. This is the first volume of a new and revised edition of this history of a most important period in our national annals, by the noble President of the Society of Antiquaries.--_The Ethnology of the British Islands_, by R. G. Latham, M.D. The value of all Dr. Latham's researches, whether into the history of our language, or of the races by which these islands have been successively inhabited, is so fully recognised, that we may content ourselves by merely calling attention to the publication of this able little volume.--_On the Lessons in Proverbs: Five Lectures, &c._, by the Rev. R. C. Trench. Those who know the value of Mr. Trench's admirable lectures _On the Study of Words_, will find in this companion volume, in which he attempts to sound the depths and measure the real significance of National Proverbs, a book which will give them a pleasant hour's reading, and subjects for many pleasant hours' meditation.

* * * * *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

FREE THOUGHTS ON THE BRUTE CREATION, by the REV. JOHN HILDROP. Lond. 1751.

DE LA CROIX'S CONNUBIA FLORUM. Bathoniæ, 1791. 8vo.

REID'S HISTORICAL BOTANY. Windsor, 1826. 3 vols. 12mo.

ANTHOLOGIA BOREALIS ET AUSTRALIS.

FLORILEGIUM SANCT. ASPIRAT.

LADERCHII ANNALES ECCLESIASTICI, 3 tom. fol. Romæ, 1728-1737.

TOWNSEND'S PARISIAN COSTUMES. 3 Vols. 4to. 1831-1839.

THE BOOK OF ADAM.

THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS, THE SONS OF JACOB.

MASSINGER'S PLAYS, by GIFFORD. Vol. IV. 8vo. Second Edition. 1813.

SPECTATOR. Vols. V. and VII. 12mo. London, 1753.

COSTERUS (FRANÇOIS) CINQUANTE MEDITATIONS DE TOUTE L'HISTOIRE DE LA PASSION DE NOSTRE SEIGNEUR. 8vo. Anvers, Christ. Plantin.; or any of the works of Costerus in any language.

THE WORLD WITHOUT A SUN.

GUARDIAN. 12mo.

WHAT THE CHARTISTS ARE. A Letter to English Working Men, by a Fellow-Labourer. 12mo. London, 1848.

LETTER OF CHURCH RATES, by RALPH BARNES. 8vo. London, 1837.

COLMAN'S TRANSLATION OF HORACE DE ARTE POETICA. 4to. 1783.

CASAUBON'S TREATISE ON GREEK AND ROMAN SATIRE.

BOSCAWEN'S TREATISE ON SATIRE. London, 1797.

JOHNSON'S LIVES (Walker's Classics). Vol. I.

TITMARSH'S PARIS SKETCH-BOOK. Post 8vo. Vol. I. Macrone, 1840.

FIELDING'S WORKS. Vol. XI. (being second of "Amelia.") 12mo. 1808.

HOLCROFT'S LAVATER. Vol. I. 8vo. 1789.

{121} OTWAY. Vols. I. and II. 8vo. 1768.

EDMONDSON'S HERALDRY. Vol. II. Folio, 1780.

SERMONS AND TRACTS, by W. ADAMS, D.D.

THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for January 1851.

BEN JONSON'S WORKS. (London, 1716. 6 Vols.) Vol. II. wanted.

RAPIN'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 8vo. Vols. I., III. and V. of the CONTINUATION by TINDAL. 1744.

*** _Correspondents sending Lists of Books Wanted are requested to send their names._

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

* * * * *

Notices to Correspondents.

DICK THE TREBLE _will find the Gloucestershire Ballad_ George Ridler's Oven _in our_ 4th Volume, p. 311.

HOGMANAY. _Our Correspondent_ J. BD., _who inquires the etymology of this word, is referred to Jamieson's_ Scottish Dictionary _and Brand's_ Popular Antiquities (ed. Bohn. 1849), vol. i. p. 460., _for the very numerous and contradictory derivations which the learned have given of it_.

W. W. (Stilton.) _The stone of which our Correspondent has forwarded an impression appears to be one of those gems called_ Abraxas, _used by the Gnostic and Basilidian heretics. On it is a double serpent, and the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet_, [Greek: A E Ê I O U Ô], _which constantly appear on their engraved stones, and to which they referred certain mystical ideas. These were worn as amulets: sometimes used as love charms; and our Correspondent will find some curious facts about them in an old Greek papyrus just published by Mr. Godwin, in the_ Proceedings or Transactions of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society.

C. E. F. _is informed that Mr. Eaton's proportion of ten grains of salt to the pint is quite correct; and he will find it produce a most agreeable tint_.

G. S. _"The Cataract of Lodore" will be found in Longman's one-volume edition (1850) of Southey's_ Poetical Works, _p._ 164.

RUBI. _We have several communications for this Correspondent. How may they be forwarded?_

ROSA, _who asks about_ Men of Kent and Kentish Men, _is referred to our_ 5th Vol., p. 322.

I. N. (Leicester.) _There must be something wrong in the preparation of your chemicals. Consult the directions given in our Nos. 151, 152. We have seen some glass negatives of landscapes taken by DR. DIAMOND during the past week, which have all the intensity which can be desired. The time of exposure in these cases has varied from fifteen to sixty seconds, the lens used being a single meniscus._

AMBER VARNISH. _Our Correspondent LITTLELENS will find the directions for making this in_ No. 153. p. 320. _It will be reprinted in the_ Photographic Notes _announced in our advertising columns_.