Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

Of this species of rhyme I have noted _three other_ instances in Dryden, and _two_ in Pope.

As regards the rhyme _charge ye_ and _clergy_, no instance, in the same words, occurs in Dryden or Pope. They did not write much in that sort of doggerel. But the brogue, even here, is nothing more than the confounding of the sounds of _a_ and _e_, which is so beautifully exemplified in the following couplet in Dryden:

"For yet no George, to our _discerning_,
Has writ without a ten years' warning."
_Epistle to Sir G. Etheredge._

Next, we have the rhyme _satire_ and _hater_. The following in Dryden is quite as bad, if not worse:

"Spiteful he is not, though he wrote a _satire_,
For still there goes some thinking to _ill-nature_."
_Absalom and Achitophel._

Of this rhyme _satire_ and _nature_, I can adduce two other instances from Dryden.

In the same category we must place _nature_ and _creature_, _nature_ and _feature_. Here is an example from Dryden; and I can bring forward two others:

"A proof that chance alone makes every _creature_
A very Killigrew without good _nature_."
_Essay upon Satire._

And here is one from Pope:

"'Tis a virgin hard of _feature_,
Old and void of all good _nature_."
_Answer to "What is Prudery?"_

Can MR. BEDE produce anything to match the following sample of the _crater_, to be found in our most polished English poet?

"Alas! if I am such a _creature_,
To grow the worse for growing _greater_!"
_Dialogue between Pope and Craggs._

It will be seen, from the foregoing quotations, that the rhymes described as Irish were, a century and a half ago, common to both countries,--a fact which MR. BEDE was probably not sufficiently aware of when he introduced the subject in "N. & Q." For obvious reasons, the use of such rhymes, at the present day, would be open to the imputation of "Irishism;" but it was not so in the days of Swift.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

In a former Number I drew attention to that peculiar fondness for "Irish rhymes" which is more evident in Swift than in any other poet; and another correspondent afterwards gave examples to show that "our premier poet, Pope," sometimes tripped in the same Hibernian manner. In looking over an old volume of the _New Monthly Magazine_, during the time of its being edited by the poet Campbell, I have stumbled upon a passage which is so _apropos_ to the subject referred to, that I cannot resist quoting it; and independent of its bearing on our Irish rhyming discussion, the passage has sufficient interest to excuse my making a Note of it. It occurs in one of a series of papers called "The Family Journal," supposed to have been written by the immediate descendants of the "Will Honeycomb" of the _Spectator_. A {313} dinner-party is assembled at Mr. Pope's, when the conversation takes this turn:

"Mr. Walscott asked if he (Dryden) was an Englishman or an Irishman,
for he never could find out. 'You would find out,' answered Mr. Pope,
'if you heard him talk, for he cannot get rid of the habit of saying
_a_ for e. He would be an Englishman with all his heart, if he could;
but he is an Irishman, that is certain, and with all his heart too in
one sense, for he is the truest patriot that country ever saw.... You
must not talk to him about Irish rhymes,' added Mr. Pope, 'any more
than you must talk to me about the _gods_ and _abodes_ in my Homer,
which he quarrels with me for. The truth is, we all write Irish rhymes,
and the Dean contrives to be more exact that way than most of us.'
'What!' said Mr. Walscott, 'does he carry his Irish accent into his
writings, and yet think to conceal himself?' Mr. Pope read to us an odd
kind of Latin-English effusion of the Dean's, which made us shake with
laughter. It was about a consultation of physicians. The words, though
Latin in themselves, make English when put together; and the
Hibernianism of the spelling is very plain. I remember a taste of it. A
doctor begins by inquiring,

"'Is his Honor sic? Præ lætus felis pulse. It do es beat veris loto
_de_.'

"Here _de_ spells _day_. An Englishman would have used the word _da_.

"'No,' says the second doctor; 'no, notis as qui cassi e ver feltu
metri it,' &c.

"_Metri_ for _may try_.

"Mr. Pope told us that there were two bad rhymes in the _Rape of the
Lock_, and in the space of eight lines:

"'The doubtful beam long nods from side to side;
At length the wits mount up, the hairs subside.

But this bold lord, with manly strength endued,
She with one finger and a thumb subdued.'

"_Mr. Walscott._ 'These would be very good French rhymes.'

"_Mr. Pope._ 'Yes, the French make a merit of necessity, and force
their poverty upon us for riches. But it is bad in English. However, it
is too late to alter what I wrote. I now care less about them,
notwithstanding the Doctor. When I was a young man, I was for the free
_disinvolte_ way of Dryden, as in the _Essay on Criticism_; but the
town preferred the style of my pastorals, and somehow or other I agreed
with them. I then became very cautious, and wonder how those lines in
the _Lock_ escaped me. But I have come to this conclusion, that when a
man has established his reputation for being able to do a thing, he may
take liberties. Weakness is one thing, and the carelessness of power
another.'"--_New Monthly Magazine_, vol. xiii. (1825), pp. 551, 552.

With regard to the French rhyme, I see, in a note to _Odes and other Poems_, by Henry Neele, 1821, that he apologises for rhyming _multitude_ with _solitude_, by saying:

"It is of that kind which is very common in French, but I fear hardly
justified by English practice. Still, 'La rime est une esclave, et ne
doit qu'obéir.'"

I would append to this Note a Query. Where in Swift's works is the "Latin-English effusion of the Dean's" to be met with?[2] or is it composed for him by the writer of the article? I only know of two such effusions really written by Swift; the _Love Song_, "Apud in is almi des ire," &c., and the _Epigram on Dic_:

"Dic, heris agro at an da quarto finale
Fora ringat ure nos an da stringat ure tale."

I should also like to know the author of the clever series of papers from which I have quoted.

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

[Footnote 2: [See "Consultation upon a Lord that was Dying," in Swift's _Works_, ed. Scott, vol. xiii. p. 471.--ED.]]

* * * * *

COUNT GONDOMAR.

(Vol. v., p. 489.)

Your correspondent W. STANLEY SIMMONDS will find a lengthy account of this notable Spanish Don--Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Conde de Gondomar--in the _Nobiliario genealogico de los Reyes y Titulos de España_ of Lopez de Haro, folio, Madrid, 1622, vol. i. pp. 236-238. In this notice he chiefly figures, strange to say, as a military character! At the ripe age of _seventeen_ this "famous captain" is said to have chastised the insolence of that bold "English pirate, Francisco Draques," who in 1584 had had the temerity to land somewhere near Bayona, his sole object being of course plunder. Don Diego guarded well his territory of Tuy when the same formidable "dragon," in the year 1589, made his appearance before Coruña; and again in 1596, when the English Armada visited ill-fated Cadiz. Being a person of "great parts," the Count was despatched to England as ambassador in 1613, and during the five years that he resided in this country, "the king and his nobility showered upon him favours and honours innumerable." He once told James that the flour of England (meaning the gentry) was very fine, but the bran (meaning the common people) was very coarse; "_La harina de Inglatierra es muy delgada y fina, pero el afrecho es muy grossero_,"--for Gondomar, like the learned Isaac Casaubon, had been subject to the grossest insults from the London rabble. We next find ranked among his praiseworthy deeds the following atrocious one:

"Hizo cortar la cabeça al General Ingles Wbaltero Rale (Sir Walter
Raleigh) por aver intentado descubrimiento en las Indias Occidentales
de Castilla a su partida."

Another meritorious action is added:

"A su instancia perdonó la Magestad de aquel Rey (James I.) a sesenta
sacerdotes que estavan presos condenados por causa de la religion, y a
otros mucho Catolicos, passandolos todos consigo a Flandes."

{314}

The title of Count Gondomar was conferred upon him by Philip III. in 1617, but the date of his death is still a desideratum. Many anecdotes concerning him are to be seen scattered in Howel's _Treatise of Ambassadors_.

W. M. R. E.

* * * * *

DOOR-HEAD INSCRIPTIONS.

(Vol. vi., p. 543.)

B. B. WOODWARD (urged, probably, by R. RAWLINSON'S question in Vol. vi., p. 412.) sends you the following inscription,

"Sit mihi nec glis servus, nec hospes hirudo,"

copied from over the entrance to an old hostel in the town of Wymondham, Norfolk. He says he quotes from memory.

Vol. vii., p. 23., you give an English translation of the inscription:

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

but suggest that "hirudo" should be "hiru_n_do," and produce some apt classical quotations supposing it may be so, requesting MR. WOODWARD to look again at the original inscription.

In a recent Number (Vol. vii., p. 190.) MR. WOODWARD appears to have done this, and sends you the inscriptions correctly (as I beg to vouch, having often read and copied it, and living within four miles of the spot), thus:

"Nec mihi glis servus, nec hospes hirudo."

Permit me to add to this corroboration, that I should venture a different translation of the word "hospes" from your correspondent's, and render the notice thus:

"Good attendance and cheap charges:"

taking "hospes" not as guest but host, and the literal words, "My servant is not a dormouse, nor (I) the host a leech."

Ainsworth gives authority for "hospes" meaning host as well as guest, and quotes Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ in support of it.

JOHN P. BOILEAU.

Ketteringham Park, Wymondham, Norfolk.

With due respect to your correspondent A. B. R., the word "hospes" most probably means host, not guest.

"Sit mihi nec servus glis, nec hospes hirudo."

In Blomfield's _Norfolk_ (but I cannot now lay my finger on the passage) the line is given as an inscription on the lintel of a door of an ancient hostelry, carved in oak. If so, the line may be rendered--

"No maid like dormouse on me wait,
Nor leech-like host be here my fate."

But, on the supposition that _guest_ is the proper meaning, "hirudo" might be taken in the sense of a greedy guest, although this would not be complimentary to the older hospitality. And even in the sense of gossiping, "hirudo" would not be so inappropriate an imitation of the "recitator acerbus" at the conclusion of the _Ars Poetica_:

"Nec missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo."

E. L. B.

Ruthin.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.

_Photographic Gun-Cotton._--The "doctors differ" not a little in their prescriptions for preparing the best gun-cotton for photographic use. How shall the photographer decide between them?

DR. DIAMOND ("N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 277.) says (I quote briefly), "_Pour upon_ 100 grains of cotton an ounce and a half of nitric acid, previously mixed with one ounce of strong sulphuric acid. Knead it with glass rods _during five minutes_," &c.

Mr. Hunt, quoting, (apparently with approbation) from MR. ARCHER, says (p. 260., 3rd edit.), "Take one ounce by measure of nitric acid, mixed with one ounce by measure of ordinary sulphuric acid, and _add to them_ eighty grains of cotton; well stir," &c., "_for not more than_ FIFTEEN SECONDS," &c. "It will be seen that the cotton is not exposed to the action of the mixed acids in this last mode longer than is necessary to saturate the cotton; should the action be continued further, the solubility of the cotton is entirely lost."

Not only is the order of manipulation different (a point probably not material), but the time between "five minutes" and "fifteen seconds" must exercise a most important influence on the result. Who is right?

COKELY.

_Sealing-wax for Baths._--I notice in your answers to correspondents (No. 176., p. 274.), that you inform H. HENDERSON that glass may be cemented for baths with sealing-wax. May I recommend to H. HENDERSON the use of gutta percha, instead of glass, for that purpose? Sheet gutta percha is now very cheap, and the baths are most easily made. I have had one of my own making in constant use since last July, having never emptied it but twice, to filter the nitrate of silver solution. It is not liable to breakage. The joinings are much less liable to leakage. And when it is necessary to heat slightly the silver solution (as it has been during the late cold weather), I have adopted the following simple plan: Heat moderately a stout piece of plate glass; plunge it into the bath; repeat the operation according to the size of bath. It is very useful to make a gutta percha cap to cover over the bath when not in use; it protects it from dust and evaporation, and saves the continual loss of materials arising from pouring the solution backwards and forwards. For home-work I have reduced {315} the whole operation to a very simple system. My bath, hypo-soda, developing fluid (of which, as it keeps so long, I make ten ounces at a time), are always ready in a small closet in my study. These I arrange on my study-table: a gutta percha tray, a brass levelling-stand upon it, a jug of soft water, and half-a-dozen small plates to place my pictures on, after treating them with the hypo-solution (for, to save time, I do not finish washing them until I have done all the pictures I require). All these things I can prepare and arrange in less than ten minutes, and can as easily return them to their places afterwards.

With regard to MR. MABLEY'S process, described in "N. & Q.," No. 176., p. 267., as I am but a beginner myself, and have much to learn, I should be sorry to condemn it; but I should fear that his pictures would not exhibit sufficient contrast in the tints. Nor do I see the advantage the pictures would possess, if they did, over positives taken by our process. We amateurs in the country labour at present under great disadvantages, some of which I think the Photographic Society will remove. I am myself quite unable to form an idea what the collodion pictures done by first-rate photographers are like. All the positives done by amateurs in this part of the world, and developed by pyrogallic acid, which I have seen, present a dirty brown hue, by no means pleasing or artistic; and I have seen but very few, either developed by pyrogallic acid or protosulphate of iron, free from blemishes. I think if we were to act upon the suggestion made in "N. & Q." some time back, and send the editor a specimen of our performances, it would be a slight return for his endeavours in our behalf; and he would, I doubt not, honestly tell us whether our pictures were tolerable or not. I, for one, shall be very happy to do so.

J. L. SISSON.

Edingthorpe Rectory.

_Developing Chamber._--I think MR. SISSON will find some difficulty in applying his very excellent idea of a sheet India rubber lighting medium to his portable laboratory, as the vapour of the ether will act upon it and render it sticky and useless after one or two usings. Allow me to suggest what I am in the habit of using, viz. a double layer of yellow glazed calico, stuck together with a little common drying oil, and allowed to dry for a few days: this causes a perfect exclusion of the actinic rays, and is very durable.

F. MAXWELL LYTE.

Falkland, Torquay.

_The Black Tints on Photographic Positives._--A correspondent having inquired how these were obtained, and another replying that it was caused by starch, I beg to offer a process to your readers as to how they may obtain those carbonic tints; though I must premise that the process requires some skill, and is not always successful, though always sure to make them black: but on occasions of failure the lights sink, and the brilliancy of the picture is lost. That it is not starch in the French process, unless that vehicle contains some preparation, I am tolerably certain; the chloride of barium will often produce black images, though very uncertain; and the black process as given by Le Gray is uncertain also. For myself, I generally prefer the colour given by ammoniac salt; it is artistical and sufficient for any purpose. The present process, which I use myself when I require a black colour, with its imperfections, I offer to the photographic readers of "N. & Q.," and here it is.

Take a two-ounce vial, and have some powdered litharge of lead, by some called gold or scale litharge; pound it fine in a Wedgewood mortar, and put in the vial about one scruple; pour on it about half an ounce of Beaufoy's acetic acid, but do not replace the cork or stopper, as the gas evolved is very active, and will burst the vial, placing the operator's eyes in jeopardy; agitate and allow it to stand some hours to settle, or leave it till next day, when it will be better for the purpose: then decant the clear part and throw the fæces away, return the solution into the bottle, and fill up with distilled water. The positive paper being now prepared with the ammonio-nitrate of silver, and placed as usual in the sun, the artist must remove it when a tolerably distinct image is visible, but not altogether up: this is _one_ of the niceties of the process; if it is too much done the blacks will be too black, and if not enough they will be feeble and want richness; it is when a visible image of the whole is developed: at this point put the positive into cold water; this will remove a great deal of the silver that has not been acted upon by the light: let it soak three or four minutes; take it out and blot off the water, laying a clean piece of paper below. Now pour a small quantity of the solution of lead on one end, and with a glass rod pass it carefully over every part; blot it off, and giving the paper a little time to dry partially, pass over a solution of newly made gallic acid; the shadows will rapidly become perfectly blank, and the picture will come up. But _another_ nicety in the process is the point at which it must be plunged into hyposulphite of soda solution; if plunged in too soon the black will be mingled with the sepia tints, and if too late the whole tint will be too black. I offer it, however, because I know its capabilities of improvement, and the intensity of the black is sometimes beautiful: it is better suited for architectural subjects, where there is but little sky, as it will lay a faint tint over it; but if a sky is attempted, it must be kept under by a brush with a little hyposulphite of soda solution, touching it {316} carefully. The time it will take in becoming black will not exceed one minute; but as the eyesight is the guide, the moment the tints have changed from red to black is the proper time to arrest its further progress: the combination thus obtained will not change, nor, I believe, become faint by time; but I repeat it may be much improved, and if any abler hand, or one with better means at his disposal, will take the trouble to examine its capabilities, I shall be very thankful for his notes on the subject.

N.B. The solution of lead must contain acid; and if by keeping it does not change litmus-paper, acid must be added till it does.

WELD TAYLOR.

7. Conduit Street West.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Contested Elections_ (Vol. vii., p.208.).--There is a very fair history of the boroughs of Great Britain, by Edwards, in 3 Vols. 8vo., printed by Debrett in 1792.

J. B.