Chapter II: Part 2

Your correspondent W. ROBSON, in asking to have pointed out "the period at which the crescent became the standard of Mahometanism," appears to assume, what is more than doubtful, that it _has been_, and still _is_ so. For although "modern poets and even historians have named it as the antagonistic standard to the cross," the crescent cannot be considered as "_the_ standard" of Mahometanism--emphatically, much less exclusively--except in a poetical and figurative sense. That it is _one_ among several standards, I admit; it is used by {320} the Turks as an ornament, and probably as a symbol, of their dominion, or in connexion with their religion. This may have originated in the following fact:--Mahomet, at the introduction of his religion, said to his followers, who were ignorant of astronomy, "When you see the new moon, begin the fast; when you see the moon, celebrate the Bairam." And at this day, although the precise time of the lunar changes may be ascertained from their ephemerides, yet they never begin either the Ramazan, or the Bairam, till some have testified that they have seen the new moon. (Cantemir's _History of the Othman Empire_, pref. pp. iv, v.) But the ancient Israelites had precisely the same custom in commencing _their_ "new moons and appointed feasts." (See _Calmet_, art. "Month.") That which may properly be called the standard of the Turks, is the _Sanjak Cherif_, or Standard of the Prophet. It is of green silk[5], preserved in the treasury with the utmost care, and never brought out of the seraglio but to be carried to the army. This banner is supposed by the Turks to ensure victory, and is the sacred signal to which they rally. (De Tott's _Memoirs_, vol. ii. pp. 2, 3.)

The military ensigns which the grand seignior bestows on the governors of provinces and other great men, include the following: 1. The _sanjak_, or standard, only distinguished from that of Mahomet by the colour, one being red and the other green. 2. The _tug_, or standard consisting of one, two, or three horse-tails, according to the dignity of the office borne by him who receives it. Pachas of the highest rank are distinguished by three tails, and the title _beglerbeg_, or prince of princes. Those next in rank are the pachas of two tails, and the beys are honoured but with one. These tails are not _worn_ by the pachas, but fastened at the end of a lance, having a gilt handle, and carried before the pacha, or fixed at the side of his tent. 3. The _alem_ is a large broad standard, which instead of a spear-head has a silver plate in the middle, bored in the shape of a _crescent or half-moon_. (Cantemir, _Hist. Oth. Emp._, p. 10.)

The sultan's barge, with canopy of purple silk, supported throne-like by four gilt pillars, is adorned with _three gilt candlesticks_; and only the capudan pacha, when going to sea, is allowed to have similar ornaments, as he is then considered as _deriyá padishahi_, emperor of the sea. Even the vizier is only permitted to display a canopy of green silk on ivory pillars, but without candlesticks. (_Ib._, p. 424.)

Thus it appears that the crescent holds but a subordinate position among the ensigns at present in use among the Turks. As to its history, I have found no trace of it in connexion with that of the Crusades. Tasso, in _La Gerusalemme Liberata_, mentions "the spread standards" of the soldan's army "waving to the wind" ("Sparse al vento ondeggiando ir le bandiere," canto xx. st. 28.), but he makes no allusion to _the crescent_. I have not access to Michaud's _Histoire des Croisades_, and shall be glad if your correspondent will quote the passage to which he has referred. Does Michaud speak of it as existing _at that time_? This does not clearly appear from the reference. There were several sultans named Mahomet who reigned in or near the age of the Crusades, two of the Seljak dynasty; the first the conqueror of Bagdad, the second cotemporary with Baldwin III., king of Jerusalem. In the Carizmian dynasty, Mahomet I. was cotemporary with Godfrey, Baldwin I., and Baldwin II.; and Mahomet II. commenced his reign about A.D. 1206. But the conqueror of Constantinople, Mahomet II., was of the Othman dynasty, and lived some centuries later, the fall of that city having taken place A.D. 1453. _To which_ of these eras does Michaud ascribe the use of _the crescent_ for the first time?

After all, perhaps, the Turkish crescent, like the modern crown of Western Europe, may be but a variation of the horn, the ancient symbol of authority, so often alluded to in the Old Testament. The _two_ cusps or horns of the crescent, and the circle of diverging _rays_ in the diadem, suggest that the variation is simply one of number; and the derivation is strongly corroborated by etymology. The Hebrew word קרן (_keren_) is connected with, and possibly the original source of, our two words _horn_ and _crown_. Its dual (_karnaim_) signifies _horns_ or _rays_, as in Habak. iii. 4.

A fact mentioned by D'Herbelot may have some connexion with the Turkish crescent. When the celebrated warrior, Tamugin, whose conquests preceded those of the Othman dynasty, assumed in a general assembly of the Moguls and Tartars the title of _Ghenghis Khan_, or king of kings, "Il y ordonna qu'une cornette blanche seroit dorénavant l'étendart général de ses troupes" (_Bibliothèque Orientale_, p. 379.). Thus did the Mogul conqueror (to use the words of the Psalmist) "lift up the horn on high." (Psalm lxxv. 5.) About half a century after the death of Ghengis Khan, Aladin, Sultan of Iconium, conferred on Othman, who afterwards founded the Turkish empire, the _tabl alem_--the drum, standards, and other ornaments of a general. (Cantemir, _Hist. Oth. Emp._, p. 10.) The explanation of the _alem_ by the historian in his annotations, I have already quoted. This is the only allusion to the crescent as an ensign that I have met with in Cantemir.

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The painters of Christendom (no high authorities in this matter) often represent the crescent as a part of Turkish costume, worn in front of the turban. But in the portraits of the Turkish emperors, "taken from originals in the grand seignior's palace," there appears no such ornament. (See the plates in Cantemir's _History_.) Many of them are represented as wearing the _sorgus_, a crest of feathers adorned with precious stones. Like the horn, it is an emblem of authority. Many of them have two fastened to the turban.

Your correspondent states that "the crescent is common upon the reverses of coins of the Eastern empire long before the Turkish conquest." I think this highly probable, but would be glad to see the authorities for the fact. I cannot admit, however, that the crescent was in any degree "peculiar to Sclave nations" for, first, the Sclave nations reached no farther south than Moravia, Bohemia, and their vicinity, they did not occupy the seat of the Eastern empire, which was partly Greek and partly Roman. Secondly, though I have no work on numismatics to consult, I have casually met with instances in which the heavenly bodies are represented on Persian, Phœnician, and Roman coins. As instances, in Calmet's _Dictionary_, art. "Moloch," is represented a Persian coin with the figures of a star and _crescent_; in the Pictorial Bible, 2 Chron. xv. 16., a Phœnician coin bearing a _crescent_; and in Matt. xx. 1., on a Roman coin of Augustus, there is the figure of a star. The Turks, however, stamp nothing on their coins but the emperor's name and the date of coinage.

Again, in European heraldry, Frank, German, Gothic, and not Sclave, the _crescent_ appears; in "common charges," for example, as one of the emblems of power, glory, &c. and among "differences," to distinguish a second son.

Should the above facts tend to throw any light on the subject of your correspondent's inquiry, I shall be gratified; and if any of my views can be shown to be erroneous, it will afford me equal pleasure to correct them.

J. W. THOMAS.

Dewsbury.

[Footnote 5: So says De Tott; Cantemir says it is _red_. But this discrepancy in the authorities is easily accounted for, since the _Sanjak Cherif_ is so sacred that it must be looked upon by none but the _Muslimans_, the true believers. If seen by the eyes of _giaours_ (unbelievers), it would be profaned. (De Tott, _Memoirs_, p. 3.)]

* * * * *

SEALS OF THE BOROUGH OF GREAT YARMOUTH.

(Vol. viii., p. 269.)

I fear that the result of my researches will be but of little service; but your Querist is heartily welcome to the mite I offer.

The second seal appears to have been the seal of assay; probably used for certifying the correctness of the king's beam, or for sealing documents authorising exports, of which there were formerly many and various from this port. Yarmouth was held by the kings until 9 John, when a charter was granted to his burgesses, inhabitants of Gernemue, that they should henceforth hold the town in "fee-farm," paying yearly the sum of 55_l._ in lieu of all rents, tolls, &c. Probably on this occasion a seal of arms was granted. About the year 1306 a dispute fell out between Great Yarmouth and the men of Little Yarmouth and Gorleston adjoining, the latter insisting on the right to load and unload fish in their harbours; but the former prevailed as being free burgh, which the others were not. In 1332 a charter was granted (6 Ed. III.) for adjusting these disputes, wherein it was directed--

"That ships laden with wool, leather, and skins upon which
the great custom is due, shall clear out from that port where
our beam and the seal called _coket_ remain, and nowhere else
(ubi thronus noster et sigillum nostrum, quod dicitur _coket_,
existunt, et non alibi carcentur)."

What _coket_ is, I am unable to say: but the king's beam for weighing merchandise, called _thronus_ or _tronus_, stood usually in the most public place of the town or port. The legend on this seal appears to be old French, and is evidently the "seal of assay of Great Yarmouth."

The third seal has probably belonged to Little Yarmouth. The arms of Great Yarmouth were "azure three herrings in pale argent." It is not unlikely that during disputes between the two ports the Little Yarmouthites might assume a seal of arms; but as such thing were more carefully looked after then than in these degenerate days, they would not venture on the _three herrings_, but content themselves with one; and they might desire to dignify their town as "New" instead of "Little" Yarmouth.

With regard to the first seal, I should judge from its oval shape, the cross, and legend, that it is ecclesiastic, and has no connexion with Yarmouth.

BROCTUNA.

Bury, Lancashire.

* * * * *

MOON SUPERSTITIONS.

(Vol. viii., pp. 79. 145.)

Notwithstanding the authority upon which MR. INGLEBY founds the assertion, that there is not the "slightest observable dependence" between the moon and the weather, the dictum is open to something more than doubt. That the popular belief of a full moon bringing fine weather is not strictly correct, is undoubted; and the majority of the popular ideas entertained on the influence of the moon on the weather are equally fallacious; but that the moon exerts no influence whatever on the changes of the weather, is a statement involving grave errors.

The action of the moon on meteorological processes is a highly complex problem; but the principal {322} conclusions to which scientific observations tend, on this matter, may be pointed out without perhaps encroaching too much on the space of "N. & Q."

Luke Howard, of Ackworth, several years ago, concluded, from a series of elaborate observations, extending over many years, that the moon exerted a distinct influence on atmospheric pressure: and Col. Sabine has more recently shown, from observations made at the British Magnetical and Meteorological Observatory at St. Helena since 1842--

"That the attraction of the moon causes the mercury in the
barometer to stand, on the average, .004 of an English inch
higher when the moon is on the meridian above or below
the pole, than when she is six hours distant from the
meridian."--_Cosmos_, vol. i. note 381, (author. trans.);
_Phil. Trans._, 1847, art. v.

Luke Howard farther gives cogent reasons, from his tabulated observations, for the conclusion that the moon has an appreciable effect upon the weather, exerted through the influence of its attraction on the course and direction of the winds, upon which it acts as a marked disturbing cause; and through them it affects the local distribution of temperature, and the density of the atmosphere. There is no constant agreement between the _phases_ of the moon and certain states of the weather; but an apparent connexion is not unfrequently observed, due to the prevalence of certain winds, which would satisfactorily account for the origin and persistence of the popular belief: for, "it is the peculiar and perpetual error of the human understanding to be more moved and excited by affirmatives than negatives" (_Nov. Org._, Aph. 46.). For example, in 1807, "not a twentieth part of the rain of the year fell in that quarter of the whole space, which occurred under the influence of the moon at full" (_Lectures on Meteorology_, by L. Howard, 1837, p. 81.). In 1808, however, this phase lost this character completely.

A more marked relation is found between the state of the weather and the _declination_ of the moon: for--

"It would appear, that while the moon is far south of the
equator, there falls but a moderate quantity of rain with us;
that while she is crossing the equator towards these latitudes,
our rain increases; that the greatest depth of rain falls, with
us, in the week in which she is in the full north declination,
or most nearly vertical to these latitudes; and that during her
return over the equator to the south, the rain is reduced to
its minimum quantity. _And this distribution obtains in very
nearly the same proportions both in an extremely dry and in an
extremely wet season._"--_Climate of London_, by L. Howard,
vol. ii. p. 251., 1820.

Still more recently, Luke Howard has summed up the labours of his life on this subject, and he writes:

"We have, I think, evidence of a great _tidal wave_, or swell
in the atmosphere, caused by the moon's attraction, preceding
her in her approach to us, and following slowly as she departs
from these latitudes. Were the atmosphere a calm fluid ocean
of air of uniform temperature, this tide would be manifested
with as great regularity as those of the ocean of waters. But
the currents uniformly kept up by the sun's varying influence
effectually prevent this, and so complicate the problem.

"There is also manifest in the lunar influence a _gradation
of effects_, which is here shown, as it is found to operate
_through a cycle of eighteen years_. In these the mean weight
of our atmosphere increases through the forepart of the period;
and having kept for a year at the maximum it has attained,
decreases again through the remaining years to a minimum; about
which there seems to be a fluctuation, before the mean begins
to rise again."--"On a Cycle of Eighteen Years in the Height
of the Barometer" (_Papers on Meteorology_, Part II.; _Phil.
Trans._, 1841, Part II.).

It is satisfactory to all interested in this matter to know that "the incontestable action of our satellite on atmospheric pressure, aqueous precipitations, and the dispersion of clouds, will be treated in the latter and purely telluric portion of the _Cosmos_" (vol. iii. p. 368., and note 596, where an interesting illustration is given of the effects of the radiation of heat from the moon in the upper strata of our atmosphere).

JNO. N. RADCLIFFE.

Dewsbury.

Not being quite satisfied with MR. INGLEBY'S answer to W. W.'s Query, I beg to refer inquirers to the _Nautical Magazine_ for July, 1850, and three subsequent months, in which will be found a translation by Commander L. G. Heath, R.N., of a paper published by M. Arago in the _Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes_ for the year 1833, entitled "Does the Moon exercise any appreciable Influence on our Atmosphere?" This treatise enters fully into the subject, and gives the results of several courses of experiments extending over many years; which go to prove that in Germany, at all events, there is more rain during the waxing than during the waning moon. Several popular errors are shown to have arisen in the belief that certain appearances in the moon, really the _effect_ of peculiar states of the atmosphere, were the _cause_ of such atmospheric peculiarities; but we are allowed some ground for supposing that this "vulgar error" may have some foundation in "vulgar truth."

G. WILLIAM SKYRING.

* * * * *

LATIN RIDDLE.

(Vol. viii., p. 243.)

The enigma of Aulus Gellius (_Noctes Atticæ_, lib. xii. cap. vi.), though transmitted to us in a corrupt form, is solved at once by the story mentioned by Livy (lib. i. cap. lv.). When Tarquinius {323} Superbus was about to build the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, it was found necessary to "exaugurate" or dispossess the other deities whose shrines had previously occupied the ground. All readily gave way to Father Jupiter with the exception of _Terminus_; and the point of the riddle lies in the analogy between "_Semel_ minus," "_Bis_ minus," and "_Ter_ minus."

I extract a note from the copy of Aulus Gellius before me:

Barthius (_Adv._, lib. xvi. cap. xxii.) hos versus ita legebat:

'Semel minus? Non. Bisminus? Non. Sat scio.
An utrumque? Verum; ut quondam audivi dicier,
Jovi ipsi regi noluit concedere.'

"Ita et trimetri sua sibi constant lege, et acumen repetitis
interrogatiunculis. Alioquin frigidum responsum. Potest tamen
ita intelligi, ut semel, bis, imo ter Jove minus sit, et
noluerit tamen Jovi cedere."--Page 560. N.: Lugd. Batav., 1706,
4to.

Lactantius, "the Christian Cicero," thus tells the story:

"Nam cum Tarquinius Capitolium facere vellet, eoque in loco
multorum deorum sacella essent: consuluit eos per augurium;
utrum Jovi cederent, et cedentibus cæteris, solus Terminus
mansit. Unde illum Poeta 'Capitoli immobile Saxum' vocat
(Virg., _Æn._ ix. 441.). Facto itaque Capitolio, supra ipsum
Terminum foramen est in tecto relictum: ut quia non cesserat,
libero cœlo frueretur."--_De Falsa Relig._, lib. i. cap. xx.
_ad fin._

Livy, in a subsequent book (v. 45.), Dionysius of Halicarnassus (_Antiqu. Rom._, lib. iii. cap. lxix.) and Florus assert that _Juventas_ also refused to move; and St. Augustine tells the same story of _Mars_. I may as well quote his words:

"Cum Rex Tarquinius Capitolium fabricare vellet, eumque locum
qui ei dignior aptiorque videbatur, ab Diis aliis cerneret
præoccupatum, non audens aliquid contra eorum facere arbitrium,
et credens eos tanto numini suoque principi voluntate
cessuros; quia multi erant illic ubi Capitolium constitutum
est, per augurium quæsivit, utrum concedere locum vellent
Jovi: atque ipsi inde cedere omnes voluerunt, præter illos,
quos commemoravi, Martem, Terminum, Juventatem: atque ideo
Capitolium ita constitutum est, ut etiam iste tres intus
essent tam obscuris signis, ut hoc vix homines doctissimi
scirent."--_De Civit. Dei_, lib. iv. cap. xxiii. 3.

Nor must I omit the following from Ovid:

"Quid, nova quum fierent Capitolia? Nempe Deorum
Cuncta Jovi cessit turba, locumque dedit,
Terminus ut memorant veteres, inventus in æde,
Restitit, et magno cum Jove templa tenet.
Nunc quoque, se supra ne quid nisi sidera cernat,
Exiguum templi tecta foramen habent."

_Fast._, lib. ii. 667., &c.

Much more information may be found in Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography_, &c., sub voc. TERMINUS. Servius, _ad Aen._ ix. 448. Politiani, _Miscell._ c. 36. _Histoire Romaine_, par Catrou et Rouille, vol. i. p. 343. &c., N.: à Paris, 1725, 4to. Grævii, _Thesaur. Antiqu. Rom._, vol. ix. 218. N., and vol. x. 783. Traject. ad Rhen., 1699, fol. Plutarch, in _Vit. Numæ_.

ROBERT GIBBINGS.

* * * * *

"HURRAH!"

(Vol. viii., p. 20. &c.)

In two previous Numbers (Vol. vi., p. 54.; Vol. vii., p. 594.) Queries have been inserted as to the derivation of the exclamations _Hurrah!_ and _Hip, hip, hurrah!_ These have elicited much learned remark (Vol. vii., p. 633.; Vol. viii., pp. 20. 277.), but still I think the real originals have not yet been reached by your correspondents.

As to _hip, hip!_ I fear it must remain questionable, whether it be not a mere fanciful conjecture to resolve it into the initials of the war-cry of the Crusaders, "Hierosolyma est perdita!" The authorities, however, seem to establish that it should be written "hep" instead of _hip_. I would only remark, _en passant_, that there is an error in the passage cited by MR. BRENT (Vol. viii., p. 88.) in opposition to this mediæval solution, which entirely destroys the authority of the quotation. He refers to a note on the ballad of "Old Sir Simon the King," in which, on the couplet--

"Hang up all the poor _hep_ drinkers,
Cries Old Sir Sim, the king of skinkers."

the author says that "_hep_ was a term of derision applied to those who drank a weak infusion of the hep (or _hip_) berry or sloe: and that the exclamation 'hip, hip, hurrah!' is merely a corruption of 'hip, hip, away!'" But, unfortunately for this theory, the hip is not the sloe, as the annotator seems to suppose; nor is it capable of being used in the preparation of any infusion that could be substituted for wine, or drunk "with all the honours." It is merely the hard and tasteless _buckey_ of the wild dog-rose, to the flower of which Chaucer likens the gentle knight Sir Thopas:

"As swete as is the bramble flour,
That beareth, the red _hepe_."

This demurrer, therefore, does not affect the validity of the claim which has been set up in favour of an oriental origin for this convivial _refrain_.

As to _hurrah!_ if I be correct in my idea of its parentage, there are few words still in use which can boast such a remote and widely extended prevalence. It is one of those interjections in which sound so echoes sense, that men seem to have adopted it almost instinctively. In India and Ceylon, the Mahouts and attendants of the baggage-elephants cheer them on by perpetual repetitions of _ur-ré, ur-ré!_ The Arabs and camel-drivers {324} in Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt encourage their animals to speed by shouting _ar-ré, ar-ré!_ The Moors seem to have carried the custom with them into Spain, where the mules and horses are still driven with cries of _arré_ (whence the muleteers derive their Spanish appellation of _arrieros_). In France, the sportsman excites the hound by shouts of _hare, hare!_ and the waggoner turns his horses by his voice, and the use of the word _hurhaut!_ In Germany, according to Johnson (_in verbo_ HURRY), "_Hurs_ was a word used by the old Germans in urging their horses to speed." And to the present day, the herdsmen in Ireland, and parts of Scotland, drive their cattle with shouts of _hurrish, hurrish!_ In the latter country, in fact, to _hurry_, or to _harry_, is the popular term descriptive of the predatory habits of the border reivers in plundering and "driving the cattle" of the lowlanders.

The sound is so expressive of excitement and energy, that it seems to have been adopted in all nations as a stimulant in times of commotion; and eventually as a war-cry by the Russians, the English, and almost every people of Europe. Sir Francis Palgrave, in the passage quoted from his _History of Normandy_ ("N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 20.), has described the custom of the Normans in raising the country by "the cry of _haro_," or _haron_, upon which all the lieges were bound to join in pursuit of the offender. This _clameur de haron_ is the origin of the English "hue and cry;" and the word _hue_ itself seems to retain some trace of the prevailing pedigree.

This stimulating interjection appears, in fact, to have enriched the French language as well as our own with some of the most expressive etymologies. It is the parent of the obsolete French verb _harer_, "to hound on, or excite clamour against any one." And it is to be traced in the epithet for a worn-out horse, a _haridelle_, or _haridan_.

In like manner, our English expressions, to _hurry_, to _harry_, and _harass_ a flying enemy, are all instinct with the same impulse, and all traceable to the same root.

J. EMERSON TENNENT.

The following extract frown Mr. Thos. Dicey's _Hist. of Guernsey_ (edit. Lond. 1751), pp. 8, 9, 10., may be worth adding to the foregoing notes on this subject:

"One thing more relating to _Rollo_ Mr. Falle, in his account
of Jersey, introduces in the following manner, not only for the
singularity of it, but the particular concern which that island
has still in it, viz.--

"Whether it began through Rollo's own appointment, or took its
rise among the people from an awful reverence of him for his
justice, it matters not; but so it is, that a custom obtained
in his time, that in case of incroachment and invasion of
property, or of any other oppression and violence requiring
immediate remedy, the party aggrieved need do no more than
call upon the name of the Duke, though at never so great a
distance, thrice repeating aloud _Ha-Ro_, &c., and instantly
the aggressor was at his peril to forbear attempting anything
further.--_Aa!_ or _Ha!_ is the exclamation of a person
suffering; _Ro_ is the Duke's name abbreviated; so that _Ha-Ro_
is as much as to say, _O! Rollo, my Prince, succour me._
Accordingly (says Mr. Falle) with us, in Jersey, the cry is,
_Ha-Ro, à l'aide, mon Prince!_ And this is that famous _Clameur
de Haro_, subsisting in practice even when Rollo was no more,
so much praised and commented upon by all who have wrote on the
Norman laws. A notable example of its virtue and power was seen
about one hundred and seventy years after Rollo's death, at
William the Conqueror's funeral, when, in confidence thereof,
a private man and a subject dared to oppose the burying of his
body, in the following manner:

"It seems that, in order to build the great Abbey of St.
Stephen at Caen, where he intended to lie after his decease,
the Conqueror had caused several houses to be pulled down
for enlarging the area, and amongst them one whose owner had
received no satisfaction for his loss. The son of that person
(others say the person himself) observing the grave to be dug
on that very spot of ground which had been the site of his
father's house, went boldly into the assembly, and forbid them,
_not in the name of God_, as some have it, but _in the name of
Rollo_, to bury the body there.

"Paulus Æmylius, who relates the story, says that he addressed
himself to the company in these words:--'He who oppressed
kingdoms by his arms has been my oppressor also, and has kept
me under a continual fear of death. Since I have outlived him
who injured me, I mean not to acquit him now he is dead. The
ground whereon you are going to lay this man is mine; and I
affirm that none may in justice bury their dead in ground which
belongs to another. If, after he is gone, force and violence
are still used to detain my right from me, I APPEAL TO ROLLO,
the founder and father of our nation, who, though dead, lives
in his laws. I take refuge in those laws, owning no authority
above them.'

"This uncommonly brave speech, spoken in presence of the
deceased king's own son, Prince Henry, afterwards our King
Henry I., wrought its effect: the _Ha-Ro_ was respected,
the man had compensation made him for his wrongs, and, all
opposition ceasing, the dead king was laid in his grave."

J. SANSOM.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

_Process for Printing on Albumenized Paper._--The power of obtaining agreeable and well-printed positives from their negatives being the great object with all photographers, induces me to communicate the following mode of preparing albumenized paper; a mode which, although it does not possess any remarkable novelty, seems to me deserving of being made generally known, from its giving a uniformity of results which may at all times be depended upon.

{325}

Independently of the very rich and agreeable tones which may be produced by the process which I am about to describe, it has the property of affording permanent pictures, not liable to that change by time to which pictures produced by the use of the ammonio-nitrate solution are certainly liable. I have upon all occasions advocated the economical practice of photography, and the present process will be found of that character; but at the same time I can assure your readers that a rapidity of action and intensity are hereby obtained with a 40-grain solution of nitrate of silver, fully equal to those gained from solutions of 120, or even 200, grains to the ounce, as is frequently practised.

In eight ounces of water (distilled or not) dissolve forty grains of common salt, and the same quantity of muriate of ammonia.[6] Mix this solution with eight ounces of albumen; beat[7] the whole well together, allow it to stand in tall vessel from twenty-four to forty hours, when the clear liquor may be poured off into a porcelain dish rather larger than the paper intended to be albumenized.

Undoubtedly the best paper for this process, and relative quantity of chemicals, is the _thin_ Canson Frères' but a much cheaper, and perhaps equally suitable paper, is that made by Towgood of St. Neots. Neither with Whatman's nor Turner's papers, excellent as they are for some processes, have I obtained such satisfactory results. If the photographer should unfortunately possess some of the thick paper of any inferior makers, he had far better throw it away than waste his chemicals, time, and temper upon the vain endeavour to turn it to any good account.

The paper, having first been marked on the right-hand upper corner of the smooth side, is then to be floated with that marked side on the albumen. This operation, which is very easy to perform, is somewhat difficult to describe. I will however try. Take the marked corner of the sheet in the right-hand, the opposite corner of the lower side of the paper in the left; and bellying out the sheet, let the lower end fall gently on to the albumen. Then gradually let the whole sheet fall, so as to press out before it any adherent particles of air. If this has been carefully done, no air-bubbles will have been formed. The presence of an air-bubble may however soon be detected by the puckered appearance, which the back of the paper assumes in consequence. When this is the case, the paper must be carefully raised, the bubble dispersed, and the paper replaced. A thin paper requires to float for three minutes on the albumen, but a thicker one proportionably longer. At the end of that time raise the marked corner with the point of a blanket pin; then take hold of it with the finger and thumb, and so raise the sheet steadily and _very slowly_, that the albumen may drain off at the lower left corner. I urge this raising it very slowly, because air-bubbles are very apt to form on the albumen by the sudden snatching up of the paper.

Each sheet, as it is removed from the albumen, is to be pinned up by the marked corner on a long slip of wood, which must be provided for the purpose. In pinning it up, be careful that the albumenized side takes an inward curl, otherwise, from there being two angles of incidence, streaks will form from the middle of the paper. During the drying, remove from time to time, with a piece of blotting-paper, the drop of fluid which collects at the lower corner of the paper.

In order to fix the albumen, it is necessary that the paper should be ironed with an iron as hot as can be used without singeing the paper. It should be first ironed between blotting-paper, and when the iron begins to cool, it may be applied directly to the surface of each sheet.

To excite this paper it is only needful to float it carefully from three to five minutes, in the same way as it was floated on the albumen, upon a solution of nitrate of silver of forty grains to the ounce. Each sheet is then to be pinned up and dried as before. It is scarcely necessary to add, that this exciting process must be carried on by the light of a lamp or candle.

This paper has the property of keeping good for several days, if kept in a portfolio. It has also the advantage of being very little affected by the ordinary light of a room, so that it may be used and handled in any apartment where the direct light is not shining upon it; yet in a tolerably intense light it prints much more rapidly than that prepared with the ammonio-nitrate.

The picture should be fixed in a bath of saturated solution of hypo. The hypo. never gets discoloured, and should always be carefully preserved. When a new bath is formed, it is well to add forty grains of chloride of silver to every eight ounces of the solution.

A beautiful violet or puce tint, with great whiteness of the high lights, may be obtained by using the following bath as a fixing solution:

Hyposulphite of soda 8 ounces.
Sel d'or 7 grains.
Iodide of silver 10 grains.
Water 8 ounces.

It may be as well to add, that although the nitrate of silver solution used for exciting becomes {326} discoloured, it acts equally well, even when of a dark brown colour; but it may always be deprived of its colour, and rendered sufficiently pure again, by filtering it through a little animal charcoal.

HUGH W. DIAMOND.

[Footnote 6: The addition of one drachm of acetic acid much facilitates the easy application of the albumen to the paper; but it is apt to produce the unpleasant redness so often noticeable in photographs. The addition of forty grains of chloride of barium to the two muriates, yields a bistre tint, which is admired by some photographers.]

[Footnote 7: Nothing answers so well for this purpose as a small box-wood salad spoon.]

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Anderson's Royal Genealogies_ (Vol. viii, p. 198.).--In reply to your correspondent G., I may be permitted to remark that it is generally understood that _no_ "memoir or biographical account" is extant of Dr. James Anderson; but _short notices_ of him and his works will be found on reference to the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. liii. p. 41.; Chalmers' _General Biographical Dictionary_, 1812; Chambers' _Lives of Illustrious Scotsmen_, 1833; _Biographical Dictionary of the Society of Useful Knowledge_, 1843; and also in Rose's _New Biographical Dictionary_, 1848.

T. G. S.

Edinburgh.

_Thomas Wright of Durham_ (Vol. viii., p. 218.).--It may interest MR. DE MORGAN to be referred to a manuscript in the British Museum, marked "Additional, 15,627.," which he will find to be one of the original "note-books," if not the very note-book itself, from which the notice of the life of Thomas Wright was compiled for the _Gentleman's Magazine_. It is, in fact, an autobiography by Wright, written in the form of a journal; and although containing entries as late as the year 1780, it ceases to be continuous with the year 1748, and has no entries at all between that year and 1756. This break in the journal sufficiently accounts for the deficiency in the biography given by the _Gentleman's Magazine_.

I may mention, also, that the Additional MS. 15,628. contains Wright's unpublished collections relative to British, Roman, and Saxon antiquities in England.

E. A. BOND.

_Weather Predictions_ (Vol. viii., p. 218. &c.).--The following is a Worcestershire saying:

"When Bredon Hill puts on his hat,
Ye men of the vale, beware of that."

Similar to this is a saying I have heard in the northern part of Northumberland:

"When Cheevyut (_i. e._ the Cheviot Hills) ye see put on his cap,
Of rain ye'll have a wee bit drap."

There is a saying very common in many parts of Huntingdonshire, that when the woodpeckers are much heard, rain is sure to follow.

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

_Bacon's Essays_: _Bullaces_ (Vol. viii., pp. 167. 223.).--"Bullace" (I never heard Bacon's plural used) are known in Kent as small white tartish plums, which do not come to perfection without the help of a frost, and so are eaten when their fellows are no more found. They have only been cultivated of late years, I believe, but how long I cannot tell.

G. WILLIAM SKYRING.

Somerset House.

"Bullaces" are a small white or yellow plum, about the size of a cherry, like very poor kind of greengage, which, in ordinary seasons, when I was a boy, were the common display of the fruit-stalls at the corners of the streets, so common and well known that I can only imagine MR. HALLIWELL to have misdescribed them by a slip of the pen writing black for white.

FRANK HOWARD.

"Gennitings" are early apples (_quasi June-eatings_, as "gilliflowers," said to be corrupted from July flowers). For the derivation suggested to me while I write, I cannot answer; but for the fact I can, having, while at school in Needham Market, Suffolk, plucked and eaten many a "striped genniting," while "codlins" were on a tree close by. And many a time have I been rallied as a Cockney for saying I had gathered "enough" instead of "enow," which one of your Suffolk correspondents has justly recorded as the county expression applied to number as distinguished from quantity.

FRANK HOWARD.

_Nixon the Prophet_ (Vol. viii., p. 257.).--MR. T. HUGHES mentions Nixon "to have lived and prophesied in the reign of James I., at whose court, we are farther told, he was, in conformity with his own prediction, starved to death." I have an old and ragged edition, entitled _The Life and Prophecies of the celebrated Robert Nixon, the Cheshire Prophet_. The "life" professes to be prepared from materials collected in the neighbourhood of Vale Royal, on a farm near which, and rented by his father, Nixon was born--

"on Whitsunday, and was christened by the name of Robert in the
year 1467, about the seventh year of Edward IV."

Among various matters it is mentioned,--

"What rendered Nixon the most noticed was, that the time when
the battle of Bosworth Field was fought between King Richard
III. and King Henry VII., he stopped his team on a sudden, and
with his whip pointing from one land to the other, cried 'Now
Richard! now Henry!' several times, till at last he said, 'Now
Harry, get over that ditch and you gain the day!'"

This the plough-holder related; it afterwards proved to be true, and in consequence Robert was required to attend Henry VII.'s court, where he was "starved to death," owing to having been locked in a room and forgotten. The Bosworth Field prophecy, which has often been repeated, {327} carries the time of Nixon's existence much before the period named by T. HUGHES, namely, James I.'s reign.

A HERMIT AT HAMPSTEAD.

_Parochial Libraries_ (Vol. viii., p. 62.).--There is an extensive, and rather valuable, library attached to St. Mary's Church, Bridgenorth, presented to and for the use of the parishioners, by Dean Stackhouse in 1750. It comprises some eight hundred volumes, chiefly divinity. There are two or three fine MSS. in the collection, one especially worthy of notice. A splendidly illuminated Latin MS., dated about 1460, engrossed upon vellum, and extending to three hundred leaves (C. 62. in the Catalogue). I noticed many fragments of early MSS. bound up with Hebrew and Latin editions of the Bible; and a portion of a remarkably fine missal, forming the dexter cover of a copy of Laertius _de Vita Philosophica_ (4to. 1524). Surely a society may be formed, having for its object the rescuing, transcribing, and printing of those scarcely noticed fragments. MR. HALES' plan appears perfectly feasible. I am convinced much interesting matter would be brought to light, if a little interest was excited on the subject.

R. C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

Over the porch of Nantwich Church is a small room, once the repository of the ecclesiastical records; but latterly (in consequence of the sacrilegious abstraction of those documents by an unknown hand) used for a library of theological works, placed there for the special behoof of the neighbouring clergy. The collection is but a small one; and is, I fear, not often troubled by those for whose use it was designed.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

_"Ampers and," &c._ (Vol. viii., p. 173.).--MR. C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY having revived this Query without apparently being aware of the previous discussion and of MR. NICHOLL'S solution, "and _per se_ and," may I be permitted to enter a protest against the latter mixture of English and Latin, though fully concurring in the statement of MR. NICHOLL, that it is a rapidly formed _et_ (&). To the variety of pronunciations already appearing in "N. & Q.," let me add what I believe will be found to be the most general, _empesand_, which I believe to be a corruption from _emm, ess, and_ (MS. and) by the introduction of a _labial_, as in many other instances. But has any one ever seen it _spelt_ till the Query appeared in "N. & Q.," and where?

FRANK HOWARD.

_The Arms of De Sissonne_ (Vol. viii., p. 243.).--There is a copy of _Histoire Généalogique et Chronologique de la Maison Royale de France, par le Père Anselme_, nine vols. folio, Paris, 1726-33, in the library of Sir R. Taylor's Institution, Oxford. The arms of the Seigneurs de Sissonne are not _blazoned_ in it. It is stated by Anselme, that

"Louis, Bâtard de Sarrebruche-Roucy, fils naturel de Jean de
Sarrebruche, Comte de Roucy, fut Seigneur de Sissonne, servit
sous Jean d'Humières, et est nommé dans plusieurs actes des
années 1510, 1515, 1517, et 1518. Il fit un accord devant
le prevôt de Paris avec Robert de Sarrebruche, Comte de
Roucy, le 28 Mars, 1498, touchant la terre et châtellenie de
Sissonne."--Tome viii. p. 537.

The arms of the "Comte de Sarrebruche, Sire de Commercy en Lorraine, Conseiller et Chambellan du Roi, Bouteiller de France," &c., are represented--

"D'azur semé de croix recroisetées au pied fiché d'or, au lion
d'argent couronné d'or sur le tout."

The following are also extracts from the _Histoire Généalogique_:

"Louis de Roucy, Comte de Sissonne, élection de Laon, portoit
d'or au lion d'azur."...

"Le Nobiliaire de Picardie, in 4º. p. 46., donne à Louis de
Roucy, Comte de Sissonne, deux neveux, Charles et Louis de
Roucy, Seigneurs d'Origny et de Ste Preuve."--Tome viii. p. 538.

J. MACRAY.

_St. Patrick's Purgatory_ (Vol. vii., p. 552.).--Some degree of doubt appearing to exist, by the statement in p. 178. of the present volume, as to the position of the _real_ St. Patrick's Purgatory, I send the following from Camden:

"The _Liffey_," says he, "near unto his spring head, enlarges
his stream and spreads abroad into a _lake_, wherein appears
above the water an island, and in it, hard by a little
monastery, a very narrow vault within the ground, much spoken
of by reason of its religious horrors. Which cave some say was
dug by Ulysses when he went down to parley with those in hell.

"The inhabitants," he continues, "term it in these days _Ellan
n' Frugadory_, that is, _The Isle of Purgatory_, or _St.
Patrick's Purgatory_. For some persons devoutly credulous
affirm that St. Patrick, the Irishmen's apostle, or else some
abbot of the same name, obtained by most earnest prayer at
the hands of God, that the punishments and torments which the
wicked are to suffer after this life, might _here_ be presented
to the eye; that so he might the more easily root out the sins
and heathenish errors which stuck so fast to his countrymen the
_Irish_."

G. W.

Stansted, Montfichet.

_Sir George Carr_ (Vol. vii., pp. 512. 558.).--Since W. ST. and GULIELMUS replied to my Query, I have discovered more particular information regarding him. In a MS. in Trinity College, Dublin, I find the following:

"Sir George Carr of Southerhall, Yorkshire, married, on Jan.
15, 1637, Grissell, daughter of Sir Robert Meredith, Chancellor
of the Exchequer in Ireland; their son, William Carr, born
Jan. 11, 1639, married {328} on August 29, 1665, Elizabeth,
daughter of Francis (Edward) Synge, Bishop of Cork. There were
two children of this marriage: Edward, born Oct. 7, 1671 (who
died unmarried); and Barbara, born May 12, 1672; she married
John Cliffe, Esq., of Mulrankin, co. Wexford, and had several
children, of whom the eldest, John, was grandfather of the
present Anthony Cliffe of Bellevue, co. Wexford, Esq."

Edward Synge was Bishop of Cork from Dec. 1663 to his death in 1678.

Sir George Carr appears to be the son of William Carr, the eldest son of James Carr of Yorkshire: see Harl. MS. 1487, 451.

Sir Robert Meredith, father of Lady Carr, married Anne, daughter of Sir William Upton, Clerk of the Council in Ireland.

Could any of your correspondents give any account of the family of either of them?

Y. S. M.

_Gravestone Inscription_ (Vol. viii., p. 268.).--The gravestone inscription communicated by JULIA R. BOCKETT consists of the last four lines of the ballad of "Death and the Lady" (see Dixon's _Ballads_, by the Percy Society). They should be:

"The grave's the market-place where all men meet,
Both rich and poor, as well as small and great:
If life were merchandise that gold could buy,
The rich would live, the poor alone would die."

In the introduction to Smith's edition of Holbein's _Dance of Death_, the editor says:

"The concluding lines have been converted into an epitaph, _to
be found in most of our village churchyards_."

Of the truth of which assertion the churchyard of Milton-next-Gravesend, in Kent, furnishes an illustration, as I copied the lines from a stone there some years ago. Being generally, I imagine, quoted from memory, they do not appear to be exactly similar in any two instances.

S. SINGLETON.

Greenwich.

"_A Tub to the Whale_" (Vol. viii., pp. 220. 304.).--I observe that a Querist, PIMLICO, asks the origin of the phrase to "throw a tub to the whale." I think an explanation of this will be found in the introduction to Swift's _Tale of the Tub_. I cannot lay my hand on the passage, but it is to the effect that sailors engaged in the Greenland fisheries make it a practice to throw over-board a _tub_ to a wounded whale, to divert his attention from the boat which contains his assailants.

J. EMERSON TENNENT.

_Hour-glasses in Pulpits_ (Vol. vii., p. 489.; Vol. viii., pp. 82. 209.).--Whilst turning over the pages of Macaulay's _History_, I accidentally stumbled upon the following passage, which forms an interesting addition to the Notes already collected in your pages. Speaking of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, he says:

"He was often interrupted by the deep hum of his audience;
and when, after preaching out the hour-glass, which in those
days was part of the furniture of the pulpit, he held it in
his hand, the congregation clamorously encouraged him to go on
till the sand had run off once more."--Macaulay's _History_,
vol. ii. p. 177. edit. 8., with a reference in a foot-note to
Speaker Onslow's Note on _Burnet_, i. 596.; Johnson's _Life of
Sprat_.

The hour-glass stand at St. Alban's, Wood Street, appears to be a remarkable example: see Sperling's _Church Walks in Middlesex_, p. 155., and Allen's _Lambeth_. And in the report of the meeting of the Archæological Association at Rochester, in the _Illustrated London News_ of the 6th August, 1853, it is noted that in the church at Cliff, "the pulpit has an hour-glass stand dated 1636:" the date gives an additional interest to this example.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

_Slow-worm Superstition_ (Vol. viii., p. 33.).--The slow-worm superstition, about which TOWER inquires, and to whom I believe no answer has been returned, is quite common in the North of England. One of the many uses of "N. & Q." is the abundant proof that supposed localisms are in fact common to all England. I learn from the same Number, p. 44., that in Devonshire a slater is called a _hellier_. _To hill_, that is to cover, "hill me up," _i. e._ cover me up, is as common in Lancashire as in Wicliff's Bible. We have not, however, _hellier_ or _hillier_ for one whose business it is to cover in a house.

P. P.

_Sincere_ (Vol. viii., p. 195.).--I should be glad if MR. INGLEBY would point out any authority for the practice of the Roman potters to which he refers. The only passage I can call to mind as countenancing his derivation is Hor. _Ep._ i. 2. 54.:

"Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcumque infundis, acescit."

in which there is no reason why _sincerum_ should not be simply _sine cera_, _sine fuco_, i. e. pure as honey, free or freed from the wax, thence anything pure. This derivation is supported also by Donatus, ad Ter. _Eun._ i. 2. 97., and Noltenius, _Lex. Antibar_. Cicero also, who chose his expressions with great accuracy, employs _sincerus_ as directly opposed to _fucatus_ in his _Dialogus de Amicit._ 25.:

"Secernere omnis fucata et simulata a sinceris atque veris."

In the absence of positive proof on the side, I am inclined to think MR. TRENCH right.

H. B.

_Books chained to Desks in Churches--Seven Candlesticks_ (Vol. viii., pp. 94. 206.).--In Mr. Sperling's _Church Walks in Middlesex_, it is noted {329} in the account of the church at Whitchurch (_alias_ Little Stanmore), that--

"Many of the prayer books, given by the duke [of Chandos],
still remain chained to the pues for the use of the poorer
parishioners."--P. 104.

At p. 138. a curious ornament of some of the London churches is referred to:

"We find several altar-pieces in which seven wooden
candlesticks, with wooden candles, are introduced, viz. St.
Mary-at-Hill; St. Ethelburgs, Bishopsgate; Hammersmith, &c.:
these are merely typical of the seven golden candlesticks of
the Apocalypse."--Rev. i. 20.

This portion of ecclesiastical furniture appears to me sufficiently unusual to be worth noting in your pages: is it to be found elsewhere than in churches in and near London? If not, a list of these churches in which it is now to be seen would be acceptable to ecclesiologists.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

Oxford.

_D. Ferrand; French Patois_ (Vol. viii., p. 243.).--The full title of Ferrand's work, referred to by your correspondent MR. B. SNOW of Birmingham, is as follows:

"Inventaire Général de la Muse Normande, divisée en XXVIII
parties où sont descrites plusieurs batailles, assauts,
prises de villes, guerres etrangères, victoires de la France,
histoires comiques, Esmotions populaires, grabuges et choses
remarquables arrivées à Rouen depuis quarante années, in 8o. et
se vendent à Rouen, chez l'arthevr, rue du Bac, à l'Enseigne de
l'imprimerie, M.DC.LV., pages 484."

There is also another publication by Ferrand with the title of--

"Les Adieux de la Muse Normande aux Palinots, et quelques
autres pièces, pages 28."

The author was a printer at Rouen, and the patois in which his productions are written is the Norman. The _Biographie Universelle_ says they are the best known of all that are composed in that dialect.

J. MACRAY.

_Wood of the Cross_ (Vol. vii., pp. 177. 334. 437. 488.).--Is it an old belief that the cross was composed of four different kinds of wood? Boys, in a note on Ephesians iii. 18. (_Works_, p. 495.), says, "Other have discoursed of the foure woods, and dimensions in the materiall crosse of Christ, more subtilly than soundly," and refers in the margin to Anselm and Aquinas, but without giving the reference to the exact passages. Can any of your readers supply this deficiency?

R. J. ALLEN.

_Ladies' Arms in a Lozenge_ (Vol. viii., pp. 37. 83.).--BROCTUNA has a theory that ladies bear their arms in a lozenge, because hatchments are of that shape; and it is probably that widows in old time "would vie with each other in these displays of the insignia of mourning." It has, however, escaped his memory, that maids with living fathers also use the lozenge, and that in a man's hatchment it is the _frame_ only, and not the shield at all, which has the lozenge shape. The man's arms in the hatchment not being on a lozenge, it is scarcely possible his widow could thence have adopted it. He suggests that the shape was adopted for hatchments as being the most convenient for admitting the arms of the sixteen ancestors.

I wish to insert a Query, as to whether the sixteen quarters _ever were_ made use of this way in English heraldry? Perhaps your readers will be willing to allow that the lozenge is surely a fitting emblem for the _sweeter_ sex; but is not the routine reason the true one after all? The lozenge has a supposed resemblance to the distaff, the emblem of the woman. We have spinster from the same idea; and, though I cannot now turn to the passage, I am sure I have seen the Salic law described as forbidding "the holder of the distaff to grasp the sceptre."

P. P.