Notes and Queries, Number 171, February 5, 1853

Chapter L: L. L

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_On alleged historical Facts._--

"During the troubles in the reign of Charles I., a country girl came up
to London in search of a place as a servant-maid; but not succeeding,
she applied herself to carrying out beer from a brewhouse, and was one
of those then called 'tub-women.' The brewer observing a well-looking
girl in this low occupation, took her into his family as servant, and,
after a little while, she behaving herself with so much prudence and
decorum, he married her; but he died when she was yet a young woman,
and left her a large fortune. The business of the brewery was dropped,
and the young woman was recommended to Mr. Hyde, as a gentleman of
skill in the law, to settle her affairs. Hyde (who was afterwards the
great Earl of Clarendon), finding the widow's fortune very
considerable, married her. Of this marriage there was no other issue
than a daughter, who was afterwards the wife of James II., and mother
of Mary and Anne, queens of England."--_Newspaper Paragraph._

What truth is there in the foregoing statement; and if in any degree true, what further is known of the fortunate "tub-woman?" Is her existence ignored in the Hyde pedigree?

J. B.

_Costume of Spanish Physicians._--I have been informed that the Spanish physicians for a very considerable period, and even until about forty years ago, wore a dress peculiar to their profession. Can any of your readers inform me where I can find a representation or a description of this dress; and also whether it would be the one worn by a Flemish physician residing in Spain about the middle of the sixteenth century?

_Genoveva._--Can any of your readers inform me what history or legend is illustrated by a fine engraving in line, by Felsing after Steinbrück (size 13 × 11 inches), which has no other clue to its subject than the word _Genoveva_, in the lower border. It represents a beautiful maiden, with a sleeping child in her lap, at the foot of a beech-tree in {134} a forest, and a hind or fawn in the background approaching from a cavern. It was published some years ago at Darmstadt, and is not common: but beyond a guess that it is meant for St. Genevieve, the printsellers can tell me nothing about it; and I do not find in _her_ history, as given by Alban Butler, any such incident.

SILURIAN.

_Quotation._--In the Miscellaneous Writings of the celebrated Franklin (Chambers's People's Edition) I find the following anecdote, in an article on "The Art of procuring Pleasant Dreams." Franklin says:

"It is recorded of Methusalem, who, being the longest liver, may be
supposed to have best preserved his health, that he slept always in the
open air; for when he had lived five hundred years, an angel said to
him, 'Arise, Methusalem, and build thee an house; for thou shalt live
yet five hundred years longer.' But Methusalem answered and said, 'If I
am to live but five hundred years longer, it is not worth while to
build me an house: I will sleep in the open air as I have been used to
do.'"

From what source did Franklin derive this information?

CHRISTOPHOROS.

"_God and the World._"--I shall be obliged by being informed from what poet are the following lines:

"God and the world we worship both together,
Draw not our laws to Him, but His to ours;
Untrue to both, so prosperous in neither,
Th' imperfect will brings forth but barren flowers;
Unwise as all distracted interests be,
Strangers to God, fools in humanity;
Too good for great things, and too great for good,
While still 'I dare not' waits upon 'I would.'"

W. H.

"_Solid Men of Boston._"--Where are the verses to be found of which the following were part? I have an indistinct recollection that they were quoted in parliament during the American revolution:

"Solid men of Boston, make no long orations;
Solid men of Boston, drink no strong potations;
Solid men of Boston, go to bed at sundown,
Never lose your way like the loggerheads of London.
Bow, wow, wow.

"Sit down neighbours all, and I'll tell you a merry story,
About a disappointed Whig that wish'd to be a Tory,
I had it piping hot from Ebenezer Barber,
Who sail'd from Old England, and lies in Boston harbour.
Bow, wow, wow."

UNEDA.

_Lost MS. by Alexander Pennecuik._--In the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, is preserved a MS. in 4to., called _The whole Works of Alexander Pennecuik, Gent._, vol. ii. It commences at p. 215. Upon the boards is written "Edinburgh, January 1759. Ex dono viduæ J. Graham, Bibliopegi, cum altero volumine." It is not known in what way the Faculty of Advocates became possessed of this volume. Query, Where is the first?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

"_The Percy Anecdotes._"--Who were the compilers of this excellent collection, published about thirty years ago?

UNEDA.

_Norman Song._--In the year 1198 there was a song current in Normandy, which ran that the arrow was being made in Limousin by which Richard Coeur de Lion was to be slain. Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." inform me where the ballad is to be found, or if MS., give me a copy?

R. L.

_God's Marks._--In Roper's _Life of More_ there is an account of Margaret Roper's recovery from an attack of the sweating sickness. The belief of the writer was, that the recovery was miraculous; and to enforce that opinion he asserts, that the patient did not begin to recover until after "God's marks (an evident undoubted token of death) plainly appeared upon her." (Roper's _More_, p. 29., Singer's edition.) Pray what is meant by "God's marks?"

JOHN BRUCE.

_The Bronze Statue of Charles I., Charing Cross._--What is known of the life and history of John Rivers[4], to whose loyalty the good people of London are now indebted for the preservation of this bust, which the Parliament in the time of Cromwell had ordered to be destroyed? That he was a brazier, and a handy workman, is all that I know of him.

W. W.

Malta.

[Footnote 4: [John _Rivett_, a brazier living at the Dial, near Holborn Conduit. See Walpole's _Anecdotes of Painting_ vol. ii. p. 319.--ED.]]

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Hutter's Polyglott._--Can any one inform me whether the following work was ever completed, or give me any particulars respecting it? _Biblia Sacra, Ebraice, Chaldaice, Græce, Latine, Germanice, Saxonice; Studio et Labore_ Eliæ Hutteri, Germani, Noribergæ, 1599. Of this work I have the first volume--a splendid book, which recently came from abroad; but I cannot hear of the other volumes: this includes the Pentateuch. A reply to this Query will be thankfully received.

B. H. C.

[We have an edition before us, printed at Noribergæ, 1599, to the end
of the Book of Ruth, but without the Sclavonic column. According to
Ebert (_Bibliog. Dict._) there is "a fourfold edition, differing only
in the last column, and goes only as far as the Book of Ruth. Scarce,
but of no value. The edition with the {135} Sclavonic column is the
most scarce." In 1600, Hutter published a Polyglott of the New
Testament, in twelve languages, viz. the Syriac, Hebrew, Greek, Latin,
German, Bohemian, Italian, Spanish, French, English, Danish, and
Polish; which, in an edition printed in 1603, were reduced to the
Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German. He died at Nuremberg, about 1603.]

_Ethnology of England._--Will any of your readers favour me with a reference to the best work or works which refer to the ethnology of this island, more particularly in reference to the craniology of the different races which have settled in it?

I beg to ask whether it is yet clearly settled that there are types of the heads of Ancient Britons, Saxons, Danes, and other races, to be referred to as standards or examples of the respective crania of those people? If so, will any of your readers be kind enough to direct me to any work which contains engraved outlines of such crania?

ETHNOLOGICUS.

[ETHNOLOGICUS is referred to the works of Dr. Prichard and Dr. Latham;
more especially to _The Ethnology of the British Islands_, by the
last-named writer, noticed in our 170th Number, p. 120. That types of
the heads of the Ancient Britons, Saxons, Danes, &c. are to be found,
there can be no doubt, though they have never hitherto been brought
together for comparison. To do this is the object of the projected
_Crania Britannica_, about to be published by Dr. Thurnam of Devizes,
and Mr. J. B. Davis, of which some particulars will be found at p. 497.
of our Sixth Volume.]

_Pitt of Pimperne._--Can any of your readers tell me what works of Mr. Pitt, formerly Rector of Pimperne, Dorset, and translator of Virgil's _Æneid_, &c., have been printed?

W. BARNES.

Dorchester

[In addition to the _Æneid_, Christopher Pitt translated Veda's _Art of
Poetry_, about 1724; and subsequently published a volume of _Poems and
Translations_, 8vo. 1727. His _Poems_ will be found in the twelfth
volume of Chalmers's Collection.]

_"The Bottle Department" of the Beer-trade_ was evidently _terra incognita_ in those days:

"He that buys land buys many stones;
He that buys flesh buys many bones;
He that buys eggs buys many shells;
But he that buys good ALE buys nothing else."

"A favourite proverbial rhyme among topers," quoth that most amusing of lexicographers, old N. Bailey, [Greek: Philologos], who inserts it under the word "Buy," folio edition.

Query, What was his Christian name?

BALLIOLENSIS.

[Nathan Bailey. A short account of him will be found in Chalmers's
_Biog. Dict._]

* * * * *

Replies.

BISHOP PURSGLOVE (SUFFRAGAN) OF HULL.

(Vol. vii., p. 65.)

Some time since, when at Tideswell (which is in Derbyshire, not Devonshire), I made a rubbing from the brass of Bishop Pursglove, from which I have copied the inscription asked for by A. S. A., on a plate of brass underneath the figure.

"Under this stone as here doth ly, a corps sumtime of fame,
In Tiddeswall bred and born truely, ROBERT PURSGLOVE by name;
And there brought up by parents' care, at schoole and learning trad;
Till afterwards, by UNCLE dear, to London he was had,
Who, WILLIAM BRADSHAW hight by name, in pauls w^{ch} did him place,
And y^r at schoole did him maintain full thrice three whole years' space;
And then into the Abberye was placed as I wish,
In Southwarke call'd, where it doth ly, Saint MARY OVERIS.
To Oxford then, who did him send, into that Colledge right,
And there fourteen years did him find wh. Corpus Christi hight;
From thence at length away he went, a Clerke of learning great,
To GISBURN ABBEY streight was sent, and plac'd in PRIOR'S seat.
BISHOP of HULL he was also, ARCHDEACON of NOTTINGHAM,
PROVOST of ROTHERAM COLLEDGE too, of YORK eak SUFFRAGAN.
Two GRAMER Schooles he did ordain with LAND for to endure,
One HOSPITAL for to maintain twelve impotent and poor.
O GISBURNE, thou, with TIDDESWALL TOWN, lement and mourn for may,
For this said CLERK of great renoun lyeth here compact in clay.
Though cruell DEATH hath now down brought this body w^c here doth ly,
Yet trump of Fame stay can he nought to sound his praise on high."

"Qui legis hunc versum crebro reliquum memoreris
Vile cadaver sum, tuque cadaver eris."

The inscription is in black letter, except the words which are in small capitals.

On a fillet round the slab, with the evangelistic symbols at the corners,--

"[Maltese cross] Christ is to me as life on earth, and death to me is
gaine,
Because I trust through Him alone saluation to obtaine;
{136}
So brittle is the state of man, so soon it doth decay,
So all the glory of this world must pas and fade away.

"This Robert Pursglove, sometyme Bishoppe of Hull, deceased the 2 day
of Maii, in the year of our Lord God, 1579."

Wood says (_Ath. Oxon._, edit. Bliss, ii. c. 820.), that about the beginning of Queen Mary's reign he was made Archdeacon of Nottingham, and suffragan Bishop of Hull; but Dr. Brett, in a letter printed in Drake's _Eboracum_, 1736, fol., p. 539., says he was appointed in 1552, the last year of the reign of Edward VI.

JOHN I. DREDGE.

In Wharton's _List of Suffragan Bishops_, the following entry occurs:

"Robertus Silvester, _alias_ Pursglove, ep[=u]s Hullensis, 1537, 38."

But this is probably a mistake, as, in a short account of his life by Anthony à Wood (vol. ii. col. 820., _Athen. Oxon._, edited by Bliss), I find it stated, that "on the death of Rob. Sylvester about the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, he was made Archdeacon of Nottingham, and suffragan Bishop of Hull, under the Archbishop of York." Wood afterwards adds:

"After Queen Elizabeth had been settled in the throne for some time,
the oath of supremacy was offered to him, but he denying to take it,
was deprived of his archdeaconry and other spiritualities."

TYRO.

It appears, from Dugdale's _Warwickshire_, that Pursglove assented to the suppression of Gisburne in December, 1540, and became a commissioner for persuading other abbots and priors to do the same. It is doubtful at what time he was appointed to the see of Hull; whether in the last year of Edward VI. or in Queen Mary's reign, though it is certain, in 1559, he refused to take the oath of supremacy to Elizabeth.

The hospital and schools mentioned in the epitaph are Gisborough and Tideswell.

R. J. SHAW.

* * * * *

THE GREGORIAN TONES.

(Vol. vi., pp. 99. 178.)

I have neither time nor inclination to expose all the errors and fallacies of MR. MATTHEW COOKE'S article on "Gregorian Tones;" but I cannot resist pointing out certain statements which are calculated to mislead the readers of "N. & Q." in no trifling degree. The writer says:

"The most ancient account we have is, that St. Ambrose of Milan knew of
_four_ tones in his day, and that he added _four_ others to them; the
former being those termed authentic, the latter the plagal modes."

Now the fact is, that St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (A.D. 374 to 397), chose from the ancient Greek modes four series or successions of notes, and called them simply the first, second, third, and fourth tones; laying completely aside the ancient heathen names of Doric, Phrygian, Lydian, Ionic, &c. St. Gregory the Great, who governed the Christian Church from A.D. 591 to 604, added the _four additional_ tones. These eight ecclesiastical successions or scales, which still exist as such in the music of the Roman Liturgy, are called Gregorian after their founder. Thus the old Ambrosian chant is known at present only through the medium of the Gregorian.

The writer continues his statement in these words--

"Some years since, the renowned French theorist, Mons. Fetis, went to
Milan for the express purpose of consulting the celebrated _Book of
Offices_, written by St. Ambrose _in his own handwriting, which is
there preserved_ [the Italics are added]; and in his work, published in
Belgium, he says that he collated them with those known and received
amongst us; and that the variations were of the slightest possible
character, the tones being ostensibly the same."

This extraordinary statement cannot be accepted without the title of M. Fetis' work, and the passage upon which it rests, _verbatim_ in the author's own words. But I have no hesitation in saying that it is founded in error.

Thibaut (_Ueber der Reinheit der Tonkunst_, pp. 28-30.) speaks of a MS. of the Gregorian chants at St. Gall, in Switzerland, as old as the _ninth_ century. This is believed, by all accredited modern writers upon music, to be the oldest MS. of the tones extant.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, ACT V. SC. 2.

(Vol. vi., pp. 268. 296.)

Of this passage we might almost say _conclamatum est_; for really no good sense has yet been made of it, except by bold alterations. For my own part, I agree with A. E. B., that _no alteration is required_ except in the punctuation, and not much even then. The text of the folios is given by MR. SINGER (Vol. vi., p. 268.), and I would read it thus:

"Nay, my good lord, let me o'errule you now.
That sport best pleases that doth least know how,
Where zeal strives to content, and the contents
Dies in[5] the zeal of that which it presents.
Their form confounded makes most form in mirth,
When great things labouring perish in the birth."

The whole difficulty seems to lie in the word _dies_ in the fourth line, and that I think may be removed by merely changing _i_ into _y_, and reading _dyes_. The meaning then will be: That sport will yield most pleasure in which, though the actors are devoid of skill, they are zealous and anxious to give pleasure for their zeal in the endeavour, {137} _dyes_, or tinges (_i. e._ communicates its own hue to) the _contents_ or satisfaction of the spectators (_i. e._ makes them sympathise with the actors). While on the other hand: My good lord, when, as in your late attempt, great things labouring perish in the birth, _their_ confusion causes laughter and derision instead of pleasure, like the former simple effort.

I take, as will be seen, _contents_, in the third line, as the substantive of the preceding verb _content_, and not, with MR. KNIGHT and A. E. B., as "things contained." The poet put it in the plural evidently for the sake of the rhyme. In the next line, _zeal_ may not be the word actually written by the poet, but it makes a very fair sense; and I know no word that could be substituted for it with certainty--we still use the phrase, _to dye in_. In understanding the last two lines of the mask[6] of the king and his lords, I think I am justified by the remark of Byron:

"A right description of our sport, my Lord."

Perhaps it is needless to add, that _labouring_ is i.q. _travailing_; and that _most form in mirth_ means _the highest form in_ (i. e. _the greatest degree of_) _mirth_.

In these, and any other remarks on Shakspeare with which I may happen to trouble you at any time, I beg to be regarded as a mere _guerilla_ as compared with regularly trained and disciplined Shakspearians like _Mr. Singer_, MR. COLLIER, and others. I have never read the folios of 1623 or 1632. I do not even possess a _variorum_ edition of the poet; my only copy being Mr. Collier's excellent edition. Finally, my studies have lain most about the sunny shores of the Mediterranean; and I am most at home in the literature of its three peninsulas, and the coasts of Asia.

THOS. KEIGHTLEY.

[Footnote 5: "in" corrected from "with" by erratum in Issue 172.--Transcriber.]

[Footnote 6: "mask" corrected from "remark" by erratum in Issue 172.--Transcriber.]

* * * * *

NIÁGARA, OR NIAGÁRA.

(Vol. vi., p. 552.; Vol. vii., p. 50.)

As I consider J. G.'s apology for the popular, though undoubtedly erroneous, pronunciation of this word to be far from satisfactory, may I trouble you with some evidence in favour of Niagára, which MR. W. FRASER truly says is the Huron pronunciation? I also agree with him, that it is "unquestionably the most musical." For my own part, the sound of Niágara is painful to my ear; even Moore himself could not knock music out of it. Witness the following lines:

"Take, instead of a bowl, or a dagger, a
Desperate dash down the Falls of Niágara."[7]

How very different is the measured, solemn sound, which the word bears in the noble lines of Goldsmith, who, it is reasonable to suppose, was as well informed of its proper pronunciation as of its correct interpretation.

Travelling a few years since in Canada, I was assured by an old gentleman, who for many years held constant intercourse with the aborigines, that they invariably place the accent upon the penult. If this be true, as I doubt not, it is conclusive: and in order to testify to the correctness of the assertion, I could cite numberless aboriginal names of places in "The States," as well as in Canada: a few, however, will here suffice:

Stadacóna.
Hochelága.
Torónto.
Mississíppi.
Alleghány.
Apalachicóla.
Saratóga.
Ticonderóga.
Narragánset.
Oswégo.
Canandáigua.
Tuscalóosa.

Now, I am aware that there are other Indian words which would seem, at first sight, if not to contradict, to be at least exceptions to the rule, but upon investigation they, I conceive, rather strengthen my argument: for instance, Connécticut--the original of which is, Quonehtácut, the long river.

In conclusion, we should bear in mind that we have the prevalent pronunciation of such words through either of two channels,--the French or the American; consequently, in Canada, we find them Frenchified, and in "The States" Yankeefied.

I therefore hold that Niágara is a most inharmonious Yankeefication of the melodious aboriginal word Niagára.

ROBERT WRIGHT.

40. Tavistock Street, Covent Garden.

[Footnote 7: I quote these lines from memory. They occur, I believe, in the _Fudge Family_.]

* * * * *

DRENGAGE.

(Vol. vii., p. 39.)

The tenure in _drengage_ was common in, if it was not confined to, the territory which was comprised in the ancient kingdom of Northumbria. _Drenghs_ are mentioned in Domesday on the lands between the Ribble and the Mersey, which then formed part of Northumbria. They occur in Yorkshire; and they are mentioned in the survey, called the _Boldon Book_, compiled in A.D. 1183, by order of Hugh Pudsey, the great Bishop of Durham, which may be termed the Domesday of the palatinate. Sir Henry Ellis, in his _General Introd. to Domesday_, says, "The _drenchs_ or _drenghs_ were of the description of allodial tenants ... and from the few entries in which they occur, it certainly appears that the allotments of territory they possessed were held as manors." (_Domesd._, tom. i. fo. 269.) But as menial services (to be rendered, nevertheless, by the villans of the tenant in _drengage_) were attached to the tenure, at all events in the county of Durham, it was inferior to military tenure; and the instance in the Pipe Rolls of Westmoreland, 25 Henry II., of the enfranchisement of _drenghs_, together with the particulars {138} given in records of the palatinate of Durham and the county of Northumberland, as to the services attached to _drengage_, show that it was far from being a free tenure. Yet Spelman (_Gloss._, ed. 1687, p. 184.) speaks of _drenges_ as "tenantes per servitium militare;" and Coke calls them "free tenants of a manor."[8] From the _Boldon Book_ we learn, however, that the services of the _drengh_ were to plough, sow, and harrow a portion of the bishop's land, to keep a dog and horse for the bishop's use, and a cart to convey his wine; to attend the chase with dogs and ropes; and perform certain "precaria," or harvest works. To take an example from the roll of Bishop de Bury in 1336:--We find Nicholas de Oxenhale held of the bishop in capite the manor of Oxenhale, performing, amongst other services, "the fourth part of a _drengage_; to wit, he was to plough four acres, and sow the land with seed of the bishop's, and harrow it, and do four days' work in autumn." And in the Pipe Roll for Westmoreland, already mentioned, we find eighteen _drenghs_ in the honour held by Hugh de Morvill, who had not been enfranchised by him, and who remained paying a fine to be exempt from foreign service. In Northumberland the tenants in _drengage_ paid a fixed money-rent, and were subject to tallage, heriots, merchet, &c. So, in the palatinate, in 25th Bishop Hatfield (A. D. 1369), John Warde, of Hoton, died seised in his demesne of a messuage and sixty acres which were held of the bishop in capite, by homage and fealty in _drengage_, rendering six bushels of oats and three bushels of barley, at the manor of Middleham. But the agricultural and menial services were lighter than those of the villan, and, as already stated, were not performed by the tenant in person, or by those of his household. This tenure existed in Tynedale at the close of the thirteenth century, as appears from _Rot. Orig. 20 Edw. I._, vol. i. p. 70., where the "consuetudinem partium prædictarum" are mentioned. "A _drengage_," says Blount, in his _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_, "seems to have consisted of sixteen acres, to be ploughed, sown, and harrowed." The word _drengage_ is derived, by the Rev. Wm. Greenwell, in the glossary to his recent valuable edition of _Boldon Book_, from the Anglo-Saxon _dreogan_, to do, work, bear; the root, according to Tooke, of our English word _drudge_. _Drengage_ is, in Kelham's _Norman-French Dictionary_, explained to be "the tenure by which the _drenges_ held their lands." In Lye's _Saxon Dictionary_ I find "_Dreng_, miles, vir fortis."

WM. SIDNEY GIBSON.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

[Footnote 8: Spelman says they were "E genere vassallorum non ignobilium," and such as, being at the Conquest put out of their estate, were afterwards restored.]

* * * * *

CHATTERTON.

(Vol. vii., p. 14.)

The following account of the whole of the proceedings at the inquest which was held at the Three Crows, Brook Street, Holborn, on Friday, Aug. 27, 1770, before Swinson Carter, Esq., and ten jurymen, whose names are mentioned, is from a MS. copy in my possession.

I am not acquainted with any printed work which contains a report of the inquest. It is not in the large collection of Chatterton's _Works_ and _Lives_, and the innumerable newspaper and magazine cuttings, which fill several volumes, and which belonged to Mr. Haslewood; nor is it in Barrett's _Bristol_, or Herbert Croft's _Love and Madness_.

"Account of the Inquest held on the body of THOMAS CHATTERTON,
deceased, at the Three Crows, Brook Street, Holborn, on Friday, the
27th August, 1770, before Swinson Carter, Esq., and the following
jury:--Charles Skinner, ---- Meres, John Hollier, John Park, S. G.
Doran, Henry Dugdale, G. J. Hillsley, C. Sheen, E. Manley, C. Moore,
---- Nevett.

"MARY ANGELL, sack maker, of No. 17. Brook Street, Holborn, deposed, that the deceased came to lodge at her house about nine or ten weeks ago; he took the room below the garret; he always slept in the same room; he was always very exact in his payments to her; and at one time, when she knew that he had paid her all the money he had in the world, she offered him sixpence back, which he refused to take, saying: 'I have that here (pointing to his forehead) which will get me more.' He used to sit up nearly all night, and she frequently found his bed untouched in the morning, when she went to make it. She knew that he always bought his loaves--one of which lasted him for a week--as stale as possible, that they might last the longer: and, two days before his death, he came home in a great passion with the baker's wife, who had refused to let him have another loaf until he paid her 3s. 6d. which he owed her previously. He, the deceased, appeared unusually grave on the 28th of August; and, on her asking him what ailed him, he answered pettishly: 'Nothing, nothing--why do you ask?' On the morning of the 24th August, he lay in bed longer than usual; got up about ten o'clock, and went out with a bundle of paper under his arm, which he said 'was a treasure to any one, but there were so many fools in the world that he would put them in a place of safety, lest they should meet with accident.' He returned about seven in the evening, looking very pale and dejected; and would not eat anything, but sat moping by the fire with his chin on his knees, and muttering rhymes in some old language to her. Witness saw him for the last time when {139} he got up to go to bed; he then kissed her (a thing he had never done in his life before), and then went upstairs, stamping on every stair as he went slowly up, as if he would break it. Witness stated that he did not come down next morning, but she was not alarmed, as he had lain longer than usual on the day before; but at eleven o'clock, Mrs. Wolfe, a neighbour's wife, coming in, they went and listened at the door, and tried to open it, but it was locked. At last, they got a man who was near to break it open; and they found him lying on the bed with his legs hanging over, quite dead: the bed had not been lain on. The floor was covered all over with little bits of paper; and on one piece the man read, in deceased's handwriting, 'I leave my soul to its Maker, my body to my mother and sister, and my curse to Bristol. If Mr. Ca....' The rest was torn off. The man then said he must have killed himself, which we did not think till then, not having seen the poison till an hour after. Deceased was very proud, but never unkind to any one. I do not think he was quite right in his mind lately. The man took away the paper, and I have not been able to find him out.

"FREDERICK ANGELL deposed to the fact of deceased lodging at their house; was from home when deceased was found. Always considered him something wonderful, and was sometimes afraid he would go out of his mind. Deceased often came home very melancholy; and, on his once asking him the reason, he said, 'Hamilton has deceived me;' but could get no more from him. Deceased was always writing to his mother or sister, of whom he appeared to be very fond. I never knew him in liquor, and never saw him drink anything but water.

"EDWIN CROSS, apothecary, Brook Street, Holborn. Knew the deceased well, from the time he came to live with Mrs. Angell in the same street. Deceased used generally to call on him every time he went by his door, which was usually two or three times in a day. Deceased used to talk a great deal about physic, and was very inquisitive about the nature of different poisons. I often asked him to take a meal with us, but he was so proud that I could never but once prevail on him, though I knew he was half-starving. One evening he did stay, when I unusually pressed him. He talked a great deal, but all at once became silent, and looked quite vacant. He used to go very often to Falcon Court, Fleet Street, to a Mr. Hamilton, who printed a magazine; but who, he said, was using him very badly. I once recommended him to return to Bristol, but he only heaved a deep sigh; and begged me, with tears in his eyes, never to mention the hated name again. He called on me on the 24th August about half-past eleven in the morning, and bought some arsenic, which he said was for an experiment. About the same time next day, Mrs. Wolfe ran in for me, saying deceased had killed himself. I went to his room, and found him quite dead. On his window was a bottle containing arsenic and water; some of the little bits of arsenic were between his teeth. I believe if he had not killed himself, he would soon have died of starvation; for he was too proud to ask of any one. Witness always considered deceased as an astonishing genius.

"ANNE WOLFE, of Brook Street. Witness lived three doors from Mrs. Angell's; knew the deceased well; always thought him very proud and haughty. She sometimes thought him crazed. She saw him one night walking up and down the street at twelve o'clock, talking loud, and occasionally stopping, as if to think on something. One day he came in to buy some curls, which he said he wanted to send to his sister; but he could not pay the price, and went away seemingly much mortified. On the 25th August, Mrs. Angell asked her to go upstairs with her to Thomas's room: they could make no one hear. And, at last, being frightened, they got a man who was going by to break open the door, when they found him dead on the bed. The floor was covered with little bits of paper, and the man who was with them picked up several and took away with him.

"_Verdict._--Felo de se."

J. M. G.

Worcester.

* * * * *

LITERARY FRAUDS OF MODERN TIMES.

(Vol. vii., p. 86.)

It is not for P. C. S. S. to explain the grounds on which Cardinal Wiseman considers the _History of Formosa_, and the _Sicilian Code of Vella_, as the most celebrated literary frauds of modern times. But he thinks that before he penned the Query, MR. BREEN might have recollected the well-known name of _George Psalmanazar_, and the extraordinary imposture so successfully practised in 1704 by that good and learned person; a fraud scarcely redeemed by the virtue and merits of a man of whom Dr. Johnson said, that "he had never seen the close of the life of any one that he so much wished his own to resemble, as that of Psalmanazar, for its purity and devotion."

With respect to the _Sicilian Code of Vella_, MR. BREEN will find, on a very little inquiry, that the work to which the Cardinal adverts (entitled _Libro del Consiglio di Egitto, tradotto da Giuseppe Vella_) was printed at Palermo in 1793; that the book, from beginning to end, is an entire fiction of the learned canon; that the forgery was detected before the publication of the second part--which, consequently, never saw the light; that the detection was due to the celebrated orientalist Hager, whose account thereof (a masterpiece of {140} analytical reasoning) was published in 1799 by Palm, the bookseller of Erlang (murdered in 1806 by order of the uncle of the present French emperor). But this was not the only imposture of the kind of which Vella was the author, and which his profound knowledge of Arabic enabled him to execute in a way which it would scarcely have been possible for any other European to have accomplished. He had published, 1791, at the Royal Press at Palermo, under the name of Alfonso Airoldi, a fictitious _Codex Diplomaticus Siciliæ, sub Saracenorum Imperio_, to the discovery of which ingenious fraud we are also indebted to the acute Pyrrhonism of M. Hager.

P. C. S. S.

* * * * *

SIR H. WOTTON'S LETTER TO MILTON.

(Vol. vi., p. 5.; Vol. vii., pp. 7. 111.)

I am obliged to apologise for having made Sir Henry Wotton use the words "some long time before," instead of "some good while before," and therefore take the opportunity of saying that I think Sir Henry's allusion to "the art of stationers," in binding a good and a bad book up together, almost proves "our common friend Mr. R." to have been a bookseller. Notwithstanding the very high authorities against me, I will then venture to insinuate, that instead of John Rouse, or Robert Randolph, plain Humphrey _Robinson_ is meant, by whom _Comus_ was printed in 1637, "at the signe of the Three Pidgeons, in Paul's Church-yard."

Once grant the probability of this being the case, and we have no further difficulty in understanding why _Comus_ should be stitched up "with the late Rd. poems," or Wotton be left in ignorance of the author's name. Lawes tells us in the dedication to _Comus_, that it was "not openly acknowledged by the author;" and the publisher would naturally keep the secret: but why Rouse or Robert Randolph should do so, appears to me inexplicable. I hope soon to have access to some public libraries, and also to return to this very interesting question again. Meanwhile, may I beg the forbearance of your more learned correspondents?

RT.

Warmington.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.

_Sir W. Newton's Process._--Having been requested by several friends to give them a statement of my mode of proceeding with reference to the calotypic art, and as I am of opinion that we ought to assist each other as much as possible in the pursuit of this important branch of photography, I beg therefore to offer the following for insertion in your "N. & Q.," if you should deem them worth your acceptance.

_To iodize the Paper._--1st. Brush your paper over with muriate of barytes (half an ounce, dissolved in nearly a wine-bottle of distilled water): lay it flat to dry. 2nd. Dissolve sixty grains of nitrate of silver in about an ounce of distilled water. Ditto sixty grains of iodide of potassium in another bottle with the like quantity of water. Mix them together and shake well: let it subside: pour off the water, and then add _hot_ water: shake it well: let subside: pour off the water, and then add three ounces of distilled water, and afterwards as much iodide of potassium as will redissolve the iodide of silver.

Brush your previously prepared paper well with this, and let dry; then place them in water, one by one, for about one hour and a half or two hours, _constantly agitating the water_. As many as a dozen pieces may be put into the water, one after the other, taking care that there are no air-bubbles: take them out, and pin to the edge of a board at one corner.

When dry they will be ready for exciting for the camera by the following process:

(These are supposed to be in six 1-ounce bottles with glass stoppers.)

_To excite for the Camera._--Mix equal parts of Nos. 1. and 2., and with a glass rod excite the iodized paper and blot off; and it may be put in the slide at once, or the number you require may be excited, and put into a blotting paper book, one between each leaf, and allowed to remain until required to be placed in the slide.

_Time of Exposure._--The time varies from three minutes to a quarter of an hour, according to the nature of the subject and the power of the sun; but five minutes is _generally_ the proper time.

_To bring out._--Bring out with No. 3., and when the subject begins to appear, add No. 5.; and when sufficiently developed hold it up, and pour water upon it; and then put it into hyposulphite of soda to fix it, for about half an hour {141} or more, and then into water: this is merely to fix it for the after process at your leisure.

_To clean the Negative._--Get a zinc tray about three or four inches deep, with another tray to fit in at the top, about one inch deep; fill the lower tray with boiling water, so that the upper tray may touch the water; put your solution of hyposulphite of soda, not strong, in the upper tray, and then your negatives one by one, watching them with care until the iodine is removed; then put them in hot water, containing a small piece of common soda (the size of a nutmeg to about two quarts of water), for about ten minutes; pour off the dirty water, and then add more hot water, shaking them gently for a short time; pour off the water again, and then add fresh hot water, and let it remain until it is cold, after which take them out CAREFULLY, one by one, and put them in clean cold water for an hour or two; then take them _all out together_, and hold up to drain for a short time, and then put them between three or four thicknesses of linen, and press as much of the water out as you can; then _carefully_ (_for now all the size is removed_) lay them out flat upon linen to dry.

_Mode of Waxing the Negatives._--Melt the pure white wax over a lamp of moderate heat, just merely to keep it in a liquid state; then fill the same deep tray as above described with boiling water, and with _another_ similar to the upper one before described (_which must be kept for this purpose only_); put a clean piece of blotting-paper in this tray, and lay your negative _face downwards_, and with a soft _flat_ hog's hair-brush, about an inch wide, dip it into the liquid wax, and brush the negative over, when it will be immediately transparent, and it can be done so that there is very little redundant wax, after which it may be put between two or three thicknesses of blotting-paper and ironed, if necessary, which, however, should not be _very_ hot, when it is ready to take positives from.

_Positives on Negative Paper._--Take one part of the iodide of silver before described, and add two parts of water; then add as much iodide of potassium as will redissolve it. Brush your paper with the foregoing, let dry, put into water, and proceed, in all respects, as above described for the negatives.

_Excite for Positives._--Excite with No. 1.; blot off: lay it in your press, place the negative face downwards: expose to the light from ten seconds to half a minute, or more, according to the light (_not in the sun_), and bring out with No. 3.; and when it is nearly developed add No. 1.; then take it up and pour water upon it, and then place it in hyposulphite of soda (cold) until the iodine is removed; after which put it into allum water, about half a teaspoonful of powdered allum in two quarts of water; this will readily remove the hyposulphite, and also fix the positive more particularly; it will also take away any impurities which there may be in the paper, after which put it into clean cold water, and change two or three times.

I have been thus particular in describing the process which I have adopted, more especially for beginners; and with great cleanliness and care in each process, and especially in keeping all the bottles with the chemicals free from dirt of every kind, the foregoing will lead to favourable results.

W. J. NEWTON.

I have been making some experiments in preparing the iodized paper in the following manner, more especially in consideration of the present price of iodide of potassium:--60 grains of nitrate of silver; 60 ditto of iodide of potassium, cleaned and prepared as before described, by the addition of three ounces of water,--that is 3 oz. altogether; 60 grains of cyanide of potassium; add a little of this at a time, and shake it up; and I generally find that this quantity is sufficient to redissolve the 60 grains of iodide of silver. Brush the paper over with the above, and when the wet surface disappears, dip it into cold water containing one drachm of dilute sulphuric acid to one quart of water; and then into water for half an hour, changing the water once: pin up to dry. I have not had an opportunity of trying this for negatives, but I have taken some good positives with the paper so prepared.

N.B.--I find that if the paper is allowed to dry with the cyanide of potassium, or that it is allowed to remain in the dilute sulphuric acid water too long, it weakens the paper so much as to be very absorbent. I would therefore wish to know from any of your correspondents whether this arises from taking away the size, or injuring the fibres of the paper? and, if so, whether a paper prepared with starch, instead of size, would be better? as it appears to me that this mode of iodizing might be an improvement. At all events, it is an enormous saving of iodide of potassium; as, for instance, to redissolve the 60 grains, it would take 1½ oz. of iodide of potassium (about four shillings); whereas 60 grains of cyanide would not cost more than one penny or twopence.

W. J. N.

_Collodion Film on Copper Plates._--Would any of your correspondents kindly describe the manner in which the collodion film may be transferred to prepared copper plates?

It was noticed by your correspondent H. W. D. in Vol. vi., p. 470.

J. M. S.

_Treatment of the Paper Positive after fixing._--1. Is it absolutely necessary for the preservation of the picture, that the size should be wholly removed from the paper? It seems to me that the hot-water treatment materially injures the tone. {142}

2. In re-sizing, what is the kind of size and degree of strength generally made use of, and mode of application? I have tried gelatine and isinglass size, of various degrees of strength, without satisfactory results.

3. Should the hot iron, used for improvement of tone, be applied previous to the picture being re-sized, or as a finishing operation? I find much difficulty from the liability of the paper to shrivel under it.

4. Is the glossy appearance, observed in finished photographs, attained solely by use of the burnisher?

5. What is albumenized paper? used, I believe, by some in printing; and the mode of its preparation?

H. B. B.

P.S.--If I am not presuming too much upon your kindness, I should feel greatly indebted for information upon the above points, either privately or through the medium of "N. & Q.," according to the importance you may attach to them.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Essay for a New Translation of the Bible_ (Vol. vii., p. 40.).--This work was written by Charles Le Cene, a French Protestant minister, who, on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, sought refuge in England, and died at London in 1703. The translation was made by Hugh Ross, a Scotchman and sea-chaplain, but who was not sufficiently ingenuous to tell his readers that it was a translation. Orme says: "The essay contains a good deal of valuable information; points out many erroneous renderings of passages of Scripture; and suggests better meanings, and the means of correcting the modern translations generally."--_Bibliothecha Biblica_, p. 94. A short account of Le Cene will be found in Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._ See also Lewis's _Translations of the Bible_, 8vo. 1818, p. 338.

JOHN I. DREDGE.

I have a copy of the _Essay for a New Translation of the Bible_, second edition, 1727 (not 1717), which your correspondent W. W. T. inquires about (Vol. vii., p. 40.). It is the translation of a work of the Huguenot refugee, Charles Le Cene, _Projet d'une nouvelle version françoise de la Bible_. H. R., who signs the dedication, was Hugh Ross, according to a note in my copy, which my father made on the authority of one of the clergy of Norwich about twenty years ago, I believe of Dr. Charles Sutton. I have been unable to ascertain anything about him, his name not appearing in any biographical dictionary I have seen, and the book not being in the Museum library. The _Biog. Universelle_ charges Le Cene with a tendency to Pelagian or Socinian errors, both in his _Projet_, and in the _Version_ he actually made, and which was printed at Amsterdam. This was a great curiosity in its way, the ancient Oriental titles, &c. being rendered in their corresponding modern analogues.

B. B. WOODWARD.

_Touchstone_ (Vol. vii., p. 82.).--I think your correspondent ALPHAGE is mistaken in alleging that the word _touchstone_ is so called because it "gives a musical sound when touched with a stick."

The _touchstone_ is the dark-coloured flinty slate or schistus (the _Lapis Lydius_ of the ancients), which has been used from the remotest ages, down even to our own days, for testing gold. By touching the black stone with the metal, it leaves behind a clear mark, the colour of which indicates the distinction between the pure and alloyed. Pliny describes it (lib. xxxiii. cap. 43.):

"Auri argentique mentionem comitatur lapis quem coticulam appellant,
quondam non solitus inveniri, nisi in flumine Tmolo, ut auctor est
Theophrastus: nunc vero passim; quem alii Heraclium, alii Lydium
vocant. His coticulis periti, cum e vena ut lima rapuerint
experimentum, protinus dicunt quantum auri sit in ea, quantum argenti
vel æris, scripulari differentia, mirabili ratione, non fallente."

This is the substance referred to in the apothegms of Lord Bacon, that "gold is tried by the _touchstone_, and men by gold."

The French, from the same practice, know the same substance by the name of _Pierre de touche_. The use of the touchstone, at the present day, is thus described by Ure in his _Dictionary of Arts and Mines_, under the head of "Assay:"

"In such small work as cannot be assayed, by scraping off a part and
cupelling it, the assayers endeavor to ascertain its fineness or
quality by the touch. This is a method of comparing the colour and
other properties of a minute portion of the metal, with those of small
bars, the composition of which is known. These bars are called _touch
needles_, and they are rubbed upon a smooth piece of black basaltes, or
pottery, which _for this reason is called the touchstone_."

W. W. E. T.

66. Warwick Square, Belgravia.

_Early Edition of Solinus_ (Vol. vi., p. 435.).--"Solinus _de Situ et Memor. Orbis_, editio princeps, folio, Venet. 1473." My copy was described as above in the catalogue of the bookseller of whom I purchased it. It contains a very fine illuminated initial letter, red, blue, and gold. It has no pagination. At the end, in capitals:

"IVLII SOLINI DE SITV ORBIS ET MEMORABILIBVS QVAE MVNDI AMBITU
CONTINENTVR LIBER IMPRESSVS VENETIIS PER NICOLAVM IENSON GALLICVM.
M.CCCC.LXXIII."

Should any gentleman wish to see it, I shall be happy to oblige him. Mine is marked "6s.," and below this price, "sold 10s."

A. DUNKIN.

Dartford.

{143}

_Straw Bail_ (Vol. vii., p. 85.).--Part of this Query may be answered by the following extract:

"For the bribery and perjury so painfully frequent in Attic testimony,
the editor contents himself with quoting from an article in the
_Quarterly Review_ (vol. xxxiii. p. 344.), in which the Greek courts of
justice are treated of.--'We have all heard of a race of men who used,
in former days, to ply about our own courts of law, and who, from their
manner of making known their occupation, were recognized by the name of
_Straw-shoes_. An advocate, or lawyer, who wanted a _convenient_
witness, knew by these signs where to find one, and the colloquy
between the parties was brief. 'Don't you remember?' said the
advocate--(the party looked at the fee and gave no sign; but the fee
increased, and the powers of memory increased with it). 'To be sure I
do.' 'Then come into the court and swear it.' And Straw-shoes went into
the court and swore it. Athens abounded in Straw-shoes."

See Mitchell's _Wasps_ of Aristophanes, note on line 945.

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Notes and Queries, Number 171, February 5, 1853Chapter L: L. L

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