Chapter II: Part 2

"The interest and importance of a serious and earnest inquiry into the
nature of the phenomena which are vaguely called 'supernatural,' will
scarcely be questioned. Many persons believe that all such apparently
mysterious occurrences are due, either to purely natural causes, or to
delusions of the mind or senses, or to wilful deception. But there are
many others who believe it possible that the beings of the unseen world
may manifest themselves to us in extraordinary ways; and also are
unable otherwise to explain many facts, the evidence for which cannot
be impeached. Both parties have obviously a common interest in wishing
cases of supposed 'supernatural' agency to be thoroughly sifted.... The
main impediment to investigations of this kind is the difficulty of
obtaining a sufficient number of clear and well-attested cases. Many of
the stories current in tradition, or scattered up and down in books,
may be exactly true; others must be purely fictitious; others again,
probably the greater number, consist of a mixture of truth and
falsehood. But it is idle to examine the significance of an alleged
fact of this nature, until the trustworthiness, and also the extent of
the evidence for it, are ascertained. Impressed with this conviction,
some members of the University of Cambridge are anxious, if possible,
to form an extensive collection of authenticated cases of supposed
'supernatural' agency.... From all those who may be inclined to aid
them, they request written communications, with full details of
persons, times, and places."

The Prospectus closes with the following classification of phenomena:

"I. Appearances of Angels. (1.) Good. (2) Evil.--II. Spectral
appearances of--(1.) The beholder himself (_e.g._ 'Fetches' or
'Doubles'). (2.) Other men, recognised or not. (i.) Before their death
(_e.g._ 'second sight.') (a.) To one person. (b.) To several persons.
(ii.) At the moment of their death. (a.) To one person. (b.) To several
persons. 1. In the same place. 2. In several places. i. Simultaneously.
ii. Successively. (iii.) After their death. In connexion with--(a.)
Particular places remarkable for--1. Good deeds. 2. Evil deeds. (b.)
Particular times (_e.g._ on the anniversary of any event, or at fixed
seasons). (c.) Particular events (_e.g._ before calamity or death).
(d.) Particular persons (_e.g._ haunted murderers).--III. 'Shapes'
falling under neither of the former classes. (1.) Recurrent. In
connexion with--(i.) Particular families (_e.g._ the 'Banshee'). (ii.)
Particular places (_e.g._ the 'Mawth Dog'). (2.) Occasional. (i.)
Visions signifying events, past, present, or future. (a.) By actual
representation (_e.g._ 'second sight'). (b.) By symbol. (ii.) Visions
of a fantastical nature.--IV. Dreams remarkable for {151} coincidences.
(1.) In their occurrence. (i.) To the same person several times. (ii.)
In the same form to several persons. (a.) Simultaneously. (b.)
Successively. (2.) With facts. (i.) Past. (a.) Previously unknown. (b.)
Formerly known, but forgotten. (ii.) Present, but unknown. (iii.)
Future.--V. Feelings. A definite consciousness of a fact. (1.) Past: an
impression that an event has happened. (2.) Present: sympathy with a
person suffering or acting at a distance. (3.) Future:
presentiment.--VI. Physical effects. (1.) Sounds. (i.) With the use of
ordinary means (_e.g._ ringing of bells). (ii.) Without the use of any
apparent means (_e.g._ voices). (2.) Impressions of touch (_e.g._
breathings on the person).

"Every narrative of 'supernatural' agency which may be communicated,
will be rendered far more instructive if accompanied by any particulars
as to the observer's natural temperament (_e.g._ sanguine, nervous,
&c.), constitution (_e.g._ subject to fever, somnambulism, &c.), and
state at the time (_e.g._ excited in mind or body, &c.)."

As I have no authority to give names, I can do no more than say that, though not a member of the Society, I shall be happy to receive communications and forward them to the secretary.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

[_The Night Side of Nature_ would seem to indicate that its ingenious,
yet sober and judicious, authoress had forestalled the "Folk-lore"
investigations of the projected Cambridge Society. Probably some of its
members will not rest satisfied with a simple collection of phenomena
relating to communications with the unseen world, but will exclaim with
Hamlet--

"Thou com'st in such a questionable shape,
That I will _speak_ to thee!"

and will endeavour to ascertain the _philosophy_ of those
communications, as Newton did with the recorded data and phenomena of
the mechanical or material universe. Whether the transcripts of some of
the voluminous unpublished writings of Dionysius Andreas Freher,
deposited in the British Museum (Add. MSS. 5767-5792.), will assist the
inquirer in his investigations, we cannot confidently state; but in
them he will find continual references to what Jacob Böhme terms "the
eternal and astral magic, or the laws, powers and properties of the
great Universal Will-Spirit of the two co-eternal worlds of darkness
and light, and of this third or temporary principle." Freher was the
principal illustrator of the writings of the celebrated Jacob Böhme,
now exciting so much interest among the German literati; and, if we may
credit William Law, it was from the principles of this remarkable man
that Sir Isaac Newton derived his theory of fundamental powers. (See
"N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 247.) But on this and other matters we may
doubtless expect to be well informed by Sir David Brewster, in his new
"Memoir of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton."
According to Law, the two-fold spiritual universe stands as near, and
in a similar relation to this material mixed world, of darkness and
light, evil and good, death and life, or rather the latter to the
former, as water does to the gases of which it is essentially
compounded.--ED.]

* * * * *

STARVATION.

(Vol. ix., p. 54.)

Until your correspondent Q. designated the word _starvation_ as "an Americanism," I never had the least suspicion that it was obtained from that source. On the contrary, I remember to have heard some thirty or forty years ago, that it was first employed by Harry Dundas, the first Viscount Melville, who might have spoken with a brogue, but whose despatches were in good intelligible English. I once asked his son, the second Viscount, whose correctness must be fresh in the recollection of many of your readers, if the above report was true, and he seemed to think that his father had coined the word, and that it immediately got into general circulation. My impression is, that it was already current during the great scarcity at the end of the last, and the commencement of this century; but the dictionary makers, those "who toil at the lower employments of life," as old Sam Johnson termed it, are not apt to be alert in seizing on fresh words, and "starvation" has shared in the general neglect.

If you permit me I will, however, afford them my humble aid, by transcribing some omitted words which I find noted in a little Walker's _Dictionary_, printed in 1830, and which has been my companion in many pilgrimages through many distant lands. Many of them may by this time have found their way even into dictionaries, but I copy them as I find them.

Fiat.
Lichen.
Dawdle.
Compete (verb).
Starvation.
Cupel (_see_ test).
Stationery (writing materials).
Chubby.
Mister (form of address).
Iodine.
Disorganise.
Growl (substantive).
Avadavat (School for Scandal).
Apograph.
Flange.
Effete.
Jungle.
Celt (formed of touchstone).
Minivar.
Unhesitating.
Remittent.
Tannin.
Curry (substantive).
Uncompromised.
Duchess.
Resile (verb).
Gist.
Nascent.
Dictum.
Retinence.
Phonetic.
Lacunæ.
Extradition.
Laches.
Fulcrum.
Statics.
Æsthetical.
Complicity.

N.L. MELVILLE.

However "strange it may appear, it is nevertheless quite true," that this word, "_Starvation_ {152} (from the verb), state of perishing from cold or hunger," is to be found, and thus defined, in "An Appendix to Dr. Johnson's English Dictionary," published along with the latter, by William Maver, in 2 vols. 8vo., Glasgow, 1809, now forty-five years ago. In his preface to this Appendix he says:

"In the compilation the editor is principally indebted to Mr. Mason,
whose labours in supplying the deficiencies of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary
have so much enriched the vocabulary of our language, that every
purchaser of the quarto edition should avail himself of a copy of Mr.
Mason's Supplement."

Whether or not Mr. Maver drew the word "starvation" from Mr. Mason's Supplement, I cannot say; but from old date in the west of Scotland it has been, and is still, popularly and extensively used in the exact senses given to it by Mr. Maver as above. I think it much more likely to be of Scottish than of American origin, and that Mr. Webster may have picked it up from some of our natives in this country.

I may add, that in early life I often spoke with Mr. Maver, who was a most intelligent literary man. In 1809 he followed the business of a bookseller in Glasgow, but from some cause was not fortunate, and afterwards followed that of a book auctioneer, and may be dead fully thirty years ago. His edition of, and Appendix to, Johnson were justly esteemed; the latter "containing several thousand words omitted by Dr. Johnson, and such as have been introduced by good writers since his time," with "the pronunciation according to the present practice of the best orators and orthoepists" of the whole language.

G. N.

This word was first introduced into the English language by Mr. Dundas, in a debate in the House of Commons on American affairs, in 1775. From it he obtained the nick-name of "Starvation Dundas." (Vide the _Correspondence between Horace Walpole and Mason_, vol. ii. pp. 177. 310. 396., edition 1851.) The word is of irregular formation, the root starve being Old English, while the termination _-ation_ is Latin.

E. G. R.

The word may perhaps be originally American; but if the following anecdote be correct, it was introduced into this country long before Webster compiled his _Dictionary_:

"The word _starvation_ was first introduced into the English language
by Mr. Dundas, in a speech in 1775 on an American debate, and hence
applied to him as a nickname, 'Starvation Dundas.' 'I shall not,' said
he, 'wait for the advent of starvation from Edinburgh to settle my
judgment.'"--_Letters of Horace Walpole and Mason_, vol. ii. p. 396.

J. R. M., M.A.

Throughout this part of the country, "starved" always refers to cold, never to hunger. To express the latter the word "hungered" is always used: thus, many were "like to have been hungered" in the late severe weather and hard times. This is clearly the scriptural phrase "an hungred." To "starve" is to perish; and it is a common expression in the south, "I am quite perished with cold;" which answers to our northern one, "I am quite starved."

H. T. G.

Hull.

I cannot ascertain the period of the adoption of the unhappily common word "starvation" in our language, but it is much older than your correspondent Q. supposes. It occurs in the _Rolliad_:

"'Tis but to fire another Sykes, to plan
Some new _starvation_ scheme for Hindostan."

M.

* * * * *

OSMOTHERLEY IN YORKSHIRE.

(Vol. viii., p. 617.)

R. W. CARTER gives an account of folk lore in reference to Osmotherley, and expresses a desire to know if his statement is authentic. I have endeavoured to make myself acquainted with Yorkshire folk lore, and beg to inform MR. CARTER that his statement approaches as near the truth as possible. In my early days I frequently had recited to me, by a respectable farmer who had been educated on the borders of Roseberry (and who obtained it from the rustics of the neighbourhood), a poetical legend, in which all the particulars of this curious tradition are embodied. It is as follows:

"In Cleveland's vale a village stands,
Though no great prospect it commands;
As pleasantly for situation
As any village in the nation.
Great Ayton it is call'd by name;
But though I am no man of fame,
Yet do not take me for a fool,
Because I live near to this town;
But let us take a walk and see
This noted hill call'd Roseberry,
Compos'd of many a cragged stone,
Resembling all one solid cone,
Which, monumental-like, have stood
Ever since the days of Noah's flood.
Here cockles ... petrified,
As by the curious have been tried,
Have oft been found upon its top,
'Tis thought the Deluge had cast up.
'Tis mountains high (you may see that),
Though not compar'd with Ararat.
Yet oft at sea it doth appear, }
To ships that northern climates steer, }
A land-mark, when the weather's clear. }
If many ships at sea there be,
A charming prospect then you'll see;
Don't think I fib, when this you're reading,
They look like sheep on mountains feeding.
{153}
Then turn your eyes on the other hand,
As pleasing views you may command.
For thirty miles or more, they say, }
The country round you may survey, }
When the air's serene and clear the day. }
There is a cave near to its top,
Vulgarly call'd the Cobbler's Shop,
By Nature form'd out of the rock,
And able to withstand a shock.
On the north side there is a well,
Relating which this Fame doth tell:
Prince Oswy had his nativity }
Computed by astrology, }
That he unnatural death should die. }
His mother to this well did fly }
To save him from sad destiny; }
But one day sleeping in the shade,
Supposing all secure was made,
Lo! sorrow soon gave place to joy;
This well sprung up and drown'd the boy."

It is confidently stated, in the neighbourhood of Osmotherley and Roseberry, that Prince Oswy and his mother were both interred at Osmotherley, from whence comes the name of the place, Os-by-his-mother-lay, or Osmotherley.

THOMAS GILL.

Easingwold.

* * * * *

ECHO POETRY.

(Vol. ix., p. 51.)

As another and historically-interesting specimen of echo poetry, perhaps the readers of "N. & Q." may not dislike to see preserved in your pages the following translation from the French. The original publication, it is said, exposed the bookseller, Palm of Nuremberg, to trial by court-martial. He was sentenced to be shot at Braunau in 1807--a severe retribution for a few lines of echo poetry. It is entitled

"_Bonaparte and the Echo._

_Bon._ Alone, I am in this sequestered spot not overheard.

_Echo._ Heard!

_Bon._ 'Sdeath! Who answers me? What being is there nigh?

_Echo._ I.

_Bon._ Now I guess! To report my accents Echo has made her task.

_Echo._ Ask.

_Bon._ Knowest thou whether London will henceforth continue to resist?

_Echo._ Resist.

_Bon._ Whether Vienna and other Courts will oppose me always?

_Echo._ Always.

_Bon._ O, Heaven! what must I expect after so many reverses?

_Echo._ Reverses.

_Bon._ What? should I, like a coward vile, to compound be reduced?

_Echo._ Reduced.

_Bon._ After so many bright exploits be forced to restitution?

_Echo._ Restitution.

_Bon._ Restitution of what I've got by true heroic feats and martial
address?

_Echo._ Yes.

_Bon._ What will be the fate of so much toil and trouble?

_Echo._ Trouble.

_Bon._ What will become of my people, already too unhappy?

_Echo._ Happy.

_Bon._ What should I then be, that I think myself immortal?

_Echo._ Mortal.

_Bon._ The whole world is filled with the glory of my name, you know.

_Echo._ No.

_Bon._ Formerly its fame struck this vast globe with terror.

_Echo._ Error.

_Bon._ Sad Echo, begone! I grow infuriate! I die!

_Echo._ Die!"

It may be added that Napoleon himself (_Voice from St. Helena_, vol. i. p. 432.), when asked about the execution of Palm, said:

"All that I recollect is, that Palm was arrested by order of Davoust, I
believe, tried, condemned, and shot, for having, while the country was
in possession of the French and under military occupation, not only
excited rebellion amongst the inhabitants, and urged them to rise and
massacre the soldiers, but also attempted to instigate the soldiers
themselves to refuse obedience to their orders, and to mutiny against
their generals. _I believe_ that he met with a fair trial."

JAS. J. SCOTT.

Hampstead.

* * * * *

BLACKGUARD.

(Vol. ix., p. 15.)

In a curious old pamphlet of twenty-three pages, entitled _Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business answer'd Paragraph by Paragraph_, by a Committee of Women-Servants and Footmen, London, printed by T. Read for the author, and sold by the booksellers of London, and ... price one penny (without date), the following passage occurs:

"The next great Abuse among us is, that under the Notion of cleaning
our Shoes, above ten Thousand Wicked, Idle, Pilfering Vagrants are
permitted to stroll about our City and Suburbs. These are called the
_Black-Guard_, who Black your Honour's Shoes, and incorporate
themselves under the Title of the _Worshipful Company of Japanners_.
But the Subject is so low that it becomes disagreeable even to myself;
give me leave therefore to propose a Way to clear the streets of those
Vermin, and to substitute as many honest and industrious persons in
their stead, who are now starving for want of bread, while these
execrable {154} villains live (though in Rags and Nastiness) yet in
Plenty and Luxury."

"A(nswer). _The next Abuse you see is_, Black your shoes, your Honour,
_and the_ Japanners _stick in his Stomach. We shall not take upon us to
answer for these pitiful Scrubs, but in his own words_; the Subject is
so low, that it becomes disagreeable even to us, _as it does_ even to
himself, _and he may_ clear the Streets of these Vermin _in what Manner
he pleases if the Law will give him leave, for we are in no want of
them; we are better provided for already in that respect by our Masters
and their Sons_."

G. N.

The following lines by Charles, Earl of Dorset and Middlesex (the writer of the famous old song "To all you ladies now at land"), are an instance of the application of this term to the turbulent link-boys, against whom the proclamation quoted by MR. CUNNINGHAM was directed. Their date is probably a short time before that of the proclamation:

"Belinda's sparkling wit and eyes,
United cast so fierce a light,
As quickly flashes, quickly dies;
Wounds not the heart, but burns the sight.
Love is all gentleness, Love is all joy;
Sweet are his looks, and soft his pace:
_Her_ Cupid _is a black-guard boy,_
_That runs his link full in your face_."

F. E. E.

* * * * *

"WURM," IN MODERN GERMAN--PASSAGE IN SCHILLER'S "WALLENSTEIN."

(Vol. viii., pp. 464. 624.; Vol. ix., p. 63.)

I believe MR. KEIGHTLEY is perfectly right in his conjecture, so far as Schiller is concerned. _Wurm_, without any prefix, _had_ the sense of serpent in German. Adelung says it was used for all animals without feet who move on their bellies, serpents among the rest. Schiller does not seem to have had Shakspeare in his thoughts, but the proverb quoted by Adelung:

"Auch das friedlichste Würmchen _beiszt_, wenn man es treten will."

In this proverb there is evidently an allusion to the serpent, as if of the same nature with the worm; which, as _we_ know, neither _stings_ nor _bites_ the foot which treads on it. Shakspeare therefore says "will turn," making a distinction, which Schiller does _not_ make. In the translation Coleridge evidently had Shakspeare in his recollection; but he has not lost Schiller's idea, which gives the worm a serpent's _sting_. _Vermo_ is applied both by Dante and Ariosto to the Devil, as the "great serpent:"

"... I' mi presi
Al pel del _vermo_ reo, che 'l mondo fora."
_Inferno_, C. XXXV.

"Che al gran _vermo_ infernal mette la briglia."
_Orlando furioso_, C. XLV. st. 84.

E. C. H.

* * * * *

With deference to C. B. d'O., I consider that _Wurm_ is used, in poetry at least, to designate any individual of the tribe of _reptiles_. In the _Kampf mit dem Drachen_, the rebuke of the "Master" is thus conveyed:

"Du bist ein Gott dem Volke worden,
Du kommst ein Feind zurück dem Orden,
Und einen schlimmern _Wurm_ gebar.
Dein Herz, als deiser _Drache_ war,
Die _Schlange_ die das Herz vergiftet,
Die Zwietracht und Verderben stiftet!"

The monster which had yielded to the prowess of the disobedient son of the "Order" is elsewhere called "der _Wurm_:"

"Hier hausete _der Wurm_ und lag,
Den Raub erspähend Nacht und Tag;"

while the "counterfeit presentment" of it--"Alles _bild ich nach genau_"--is delineated in the following lines:

"In eine _Schlange_ endigt sich,
Des Rückens ungeheure Länge
Halb _Wurm_ erschien, halb Molch und Drache."

The word in question is in this passage applicable perhaps to the _serpent_ section, but we have seen that it is used to denote the entire living animal.

A. L.

Middle Temple.

* * * * *

WAS SHAKSPEARE DESCENDED FROM A LANDED PROPRIETOR?

(Vol. ix., p. 75.)

I am inclined to think that MR. HALLIWELL has been misled by his old law-books, for upon looking at the principal authorities upon this point, I cannot find any such interpretation of the term _inheritance_ as that quoted by him from Cowell. The words "the inheritance," in the passage "heretofore the inheritance of William Shakspeare, Gent., deceased," would most certainly appear to imply that Shakspeare inherited the lands as heir-at-law to some one. But, however, it must not be concluded upon this alone that the poet's father was a landed proprietor, as the inheritance could proceed from any other ancestor to whom Shakspeare was by law heir.

Blackstone, in his _Commentaries_, has the following:

"Descent, or hereditary succession, is the title whereby a man on the
death of his ancestor acquires his estate by right of representation,
as his heir-at-law. An heir, therefore, is he upon whom the law casts
the estate immediately on the death of the ancestor: and an estate, so
descending to the heirs, is in Law called _the inheritance_."--Vol. ii.
p. 201.

{155} Again:

"Purchase, _perquisitio_, taken in its largest and most extensive
sense, is thus defined by Littleton; the possession of lands and
tenements which a man hath by his own act or agreement, and not by
descent from any of his ancestors or kindred. In this sense it is
contra-distinguished from acquisition by right of blood, and includes
every other method of coming to an estate, _but merely that by
inheritance_: wherein the title is vested in a person, not by his own
act or agreement, but by the single operation of law."--Vol. ii. p.
241.

Thus it is clear the possession of an estate by inheritance is created only by a person being heir to it; and the mere purchase of it, though it vests the fee simple in him, can but make him the _assign_ and not the _heir_. The nomination (as it would be in the case of a purchase) of an heir to succeed to the inheritance, has no place in the English law; the maxim being "Solus Deus hæredem facere potest, non homo;" and all other persons, whom a tenant in fee simple may please to appoint as his successors, are not his heirs but his assigns. (See _Williams on the Law of Real Property_.)

RUSSELL GOLE.

MR. HALLIWELL is perfectly right in his opinion as to the expression "heretofore the _inheritance_ of William Shakspeare." All that that expression in a deed means is, that Shakspeare was the absolute owner of the estate, so that he could sell, grant, or devise it; and in case he did not do so, it would descend to his heir-at-law. The term has no reference to the mode by which the estate came to Shakspeare, but only to the nature of the estate he had in the property. And as a man may become possessed of such an estate in land by gift, purchase, devise, adverse possession, &c., as well as by descent from some one else, the mere fact that a man has such an estate affords no inference whatever as to the mode in which he became possessed of it. The authorities on the subject are Littleton, section ix., and Co. Litt., p. 16. (a), &c. A case is there mentioned so long ago as the 6 Edw. III., where, in an action of waste, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant held "de hæreditate suâ," and it was ruled that, albeit the plaintiff had purchased the reversion, the allegation was sufficient.

In very ancient deeds the word is very commonly used where it _cannot_ mean an estate that has descended to an heir, but _must_ mean an estate that may descend to an heir. Thus, in a grant I have (without date, and therefore probably before A.D. 1300), Robert de Boltone grants land to John, the son of Geoffrey, to be held by the said John and his heirs "in feodo et hæreditate in perpetuum." This plainly shows that _hæreditas_ is here used as equivalent to "fee simple." I have also sundry other equally ancient deeds, by which lands were granted to be held "jure hæreditaris," or "liberè, quietè, _hæreditariè_, et in pace." Now these expressions plainly indicate, not that the land has descended to the party as heir, but that it is granted to him so absolutely that it may descend to his heir; in other words, that an _estate of inheritance_, and not merely for life or for years, is granted by the deed.

S. G. C.

MR. HALLIWELL'S exposition of the term "inheritance," quoted from the Shakspeare deed, is substantially correct, and there can be no question but that the sentence "heretofore the inheritance of William Shakspeare, Gent., deceased," was introduced in such deed, simply to show that Shakspeare was formerly the _absolute owner in fee simple_ of the premises comprised therein, and not to indicate that he had acquired them by descent, either as heir of his father or mother, although he might have done so. As MR. HALLIWELL appears to attach some importance to the word "purchase," as used by Cowell in his definition of the term "inheritance," the following explanation of the word "purchase" may not prove unacceptable to him.

Purchase--"Acquisitum, perquisitum, purchasium"--signifies the _buying_ or acquisition of lands and tenements, with _money_, or by taking them by deed or agreement, and _not by descent or hereditary right_. (Lit. xii.; Reg. Orig., 143.) In Law a man is said to come in by purchase when he acquires lands by legal conveyance, and he hath a lawful estate; and a purchase is always intended by title, either from some consideration or by gift (for a gift is in Law a purchase), whereas descent from an ancestor cometh of course by act of law; also all contracts are comprehended under this word purchase. (Coke on _Littleton_, xviii., "Doctor and Student," c. 24.) Purchase, in opposition to descent, is taken largely: if an estate comes to a man from his ancestors without writing, that is a descent; but where a person takes an estate from an ancestor or others, by deed, will, or gift, and _not as heir-at-law_, that is a purchase. This explanation might be extended, but it is not necessary to carry it farther for the purpose of MR. HALLIWELL'S inquiry.

CHARLECOTE.

The word "inheritance" was used for hereditament, the former being merely the French form, the latter the Latin. Littleton (§ 9.) says:

"Et est ascavoir que cest parol (enheritance) nest pas tant solement
entendus lou home ad terres ou tenementes per discent de heritage, mes
auxi chescun fee simple ou taile que home ad per son purchase puit
estre dit enheritance, pur ceo que ses heires luy purront enheriter.
Car en briefe de droit que home portera de terre, que fuit de son
purchase demesne, le briefe dira: Quam clamat esse jus et
hereditamentum suum. Et issint serra dit en divers auters briefes, que
home ou feme portera de son purchase demesne, come il appiert per le
Register."

{156}

The word is still in use, and signifies what is capable of being inherited.

H. P.

Lincoln's Inn.

* * * * *

LORD FAIRFAX.

(Vol. ix., p. 10.)

Your correspondent W. H. M. has called my attention to his Note, and requested me to answer the third of his Queries.

The present rightful heir to the barony of Fairfax, should he wish to claim it, is a citizen of the United States, and a resident in the State of Virginia. He is addressed, as any other American gentleman would be, Mr., when personally spoken to, and as an Esquire in correspondence.

A friend of mine, Captain W., has thus kindly answered the other Queries of W. H. M.:

1. Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton in Yorkshire was employed in several diplomatic affairs by Queen Elizabeth, and particularly in negotiations with James VI. of Scotland. By Charles I. he was created a peer of Scotland, his patent having been dated at Whitehall on Oct. 18, A.D. 1627.

2. The family of Fairfax never possessed property, or land, in Scotland, and had no connexion with that country beyond their peerage. Many English gentlemen were created peers of Scotland by the Stuart kings, although unconnected with the nation by descent or property. I may cite the following instances:--The old Yorkshire House of Constable of Burton received a peerage in the person of Sir Henry Constable of Burton and Halsham; by patent, dated Nov. 14, 1620, Sir Henry was created Viscount Dunbar and Lord Constable. Sir Walter Aston of Tixal in Staffordshire, Bart., was created Baron Aston of Forfar by Charles I., Nov. 28, 1627. And, lastly, Sir Thomas Osborne of Kineton, Bart., was created by Charles II., Feb. 2, 1673, Viscount Dumblane.

3. Answered.

4. William Fairfax, fourth son of Henry Fairfax of Tolston, co. York, second son of Henry, fourth Lord Fairfax, settled in New England in America, and was agent for his cousin Thomas, sixth lord, and had the entire management of his estates in Virginia. His third and only surviving son, Bryan Fairfax, was in holy orders, and resided in the United States. On the death of Robert, seventh Lord Fairfax, July 15, 1793, this Bryan went to England and preferred his claim to the peerage, which was determined in his favour by the House of Lords. He then returned to America. Bryan Fairfax married a Miss Elizabeth Cary, and had several children. (Vide Douglas, and Burke's _Peerage_.)

There are several English families who possess Scottish peerages, but they are derived from Scottish ancestors, as Talmash, Radclyffe, Eyre, &c.

Perhaps the writer may be permitted to inform your correspondent W. H. M. that the term "subject" is more commonly and correctly applied to a person who owes allegiance to a crowned head, and "citizen" to one who is born and lives under a republican form of government.

W. W.

Malta.

1. Thomas, first Lord Fairfax (descended from a family asserted to have been seated at Towcester, co. Northampton, at the time of the Norman invasion and subsequently of note in Yorkshire), accompanied the Earl of Essex into France, temp. Eliz., and was knighted by him in the camp before Rouen. He was created a peer of Scotland, 4th May, 1627; but why of Scotland, or for what services, I know not.

2. I cannot discover that the family ever possessed lands in Scotland. They were formerly owners of Denton Castle, co. York (which they sold to the family of Ibbetson, Barts.), and afterwards of Leeds Castle, Kent.

3. Precise information on this point is looked for from some transatlantic correspondent.

4. The claim of the Rev. Bryan, eighth Lord Fairfax, was admitted by the House of Lords, 6th May, 1800 (_H. L. Journals_). He was, I presume, born before the acknowledgment of independence.

5. The title seems to be erroneously retained in the Peerages, as the gentleman now styled Lord Fairfax cannot, it is apprehended, be a natural-born subject of the British Crown, or capable of inheriting the dignity. It seems, therefore, that the peerage, if not extinct, awaits another claimant. As a direct authority, I may refer to the case of the Scottish earldom of Newburgh, in the succession to which the next heir (the Prince Gustiniani), being an alien, was passed over as a legal nonentity. (See _Riddell on Scottish Peerages_, p. 720.) There is another case not very easily reconcilable with the last, viz. that of the Earl of Athlone, who, though a natural-born subject of the Prince of Orange, was on 10th March, 1795, permitted to take his seat in the House of Lords in Ireland (_Journals H. L. I._). Perhaps some correspondent will explain this case.

H. G.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

_Mr. Lyte on Collodion._--When I had the pleasure of meeting you in London, I promised that I would write to you from this place, and give you a detailed account of my method of making the collodion, of which I left a sample with you; but since then have been making a series of experiments, with a view, first, to simplifying my present formulæ, and next, to produce two collodions, one of great sensibility, the other of rather slower action, but producing better half-tones. I have also been considering the subject of {157} printing, and the best methods of producing those beautiful black tints which are so much prized; and I think that, although the processes formerly given all of them produce this effect with tolerable certainty, yet many operators, in common with myself, have met with the most provoking failures on this head, where they felt the most certain of good results.

I do not pretend to make a collodion which is different in its ingredients from that compounded by others. The only thing is that I am anxious to define the best proportions for making it, and to give a formula which even the most unpractised operator may work by. First, to produce the collodion I always use the soluble paper prepared according to the method indicated by MR. CROOKES, and to which I adverted in "N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 252. Take of colourless nitric acid of 1.50, and sulphuric acid of 1.60, equal quantities by measure, and mix them; then plunge into the mixture as much of the best Swedish filtering paper (Papier Joseph is also very good) as the liquid will cover; it must be placed in it a single piece at a time. Cover the basin, and let it remain a night, or at least some hours. Then pour off the liquid, and wash the paper till its washings cease to taste the least acid, or to redden litmus paper. Then dry it. Of this paper I take 180 grains to one pint of ether, and having placed them together, I add alcohol drop by drop, till the ether begins to dissolve the paper, which will be denoted by the paper becoming quite transparent. I have rather increased the quantity of paper to be added, as the after treatment rather thins the collodion. This, when shaken up and completely dissolved, forms the collodion. To sensitize I use two preparations, one prepared with potassium, the other with ammonium compounds; and, contrary to what many operators find the case, I find that the potassium gives the most rapid results. To prepare the potassium sensitizer, I take two bottles of, we will suppose, 6 oz. each; into one of these I put about half an ounce of iodide of potassium in fine powder, and into the other an equal quantity of bromide of potassium, also pounded; we will call these No. 1. and No. 2. I fill the bottle No. 1. with absolute alcohol, taking great care that there is no oxide of amyle in it, as that seriously interferes with the action of the collodion. After leaving the alcohol in No. 1. for two hours, or thereabouts, constantly shaking it, let it settle, and then quite clear decant it off into No. 2., where leave it again, with constant shaking, for two hours, and when settled decant the clear liquid into a third bottle for use. The oxide of amyle may be detected by taking a portion of the alcohol between the palms of the hands, and rubbing them together, till the alcohol evaporates, after which, should oxide of amyle be present, it will easily be detected by its smell, which is not unlike that exhaled by a diseased potato. Of the liquid prepared, take one part to add to every three parts of collodion. The next, or ammonium sensitizer, is made as follows. Take

Absolute alcohol 10 oz.
Iodide of ammon. 100 grs.
Bromide of ammon. 25 grs.

Mix, and when dissolved, take one part to three of collodion, as before. I feel certain that on a strict adherence to the correct proportion depends all the success of photography; and as we find in the kindred process of the daguerrotype, that if we add too much or too little of the bromine sensitizer, we make the plate less sensitive, so in this process. When making the first of these sensitizers, I always in each case let the solution attain a temperature of about 60º before decanting, so as to attain a perfectly equable compound on all occasions.

In the second, or ammonium sensitizer, the solution may be assisted by a moderate heat, and when again cooled, may advantageously be filtered to separate any sediment which may exist; but neither of these liquids should ever be exposed to great cold.

I dissolve in my bath of nitrate of silver as much freshly precipitated bromide of silver as it will take up. Next, as to the printing of positives to obtain black tints, the only condition necessary to produce this result is having an acid nitrate bath; whether the positive be printed on albumen paper, or common salted paper, the result will always be the same. I have tried various acids in the bath, viz. nitric, sulphuric, tartaric, and acetic, and prefer the latter, as being the most manageable, and having a high equivalent. The paper I now constantly use is common salted paper, prepared as follows. Take

Chloride of barium 180 grs.
Chloride of ammon. 100 grs.
Chloride of potassium 140 grs.
Water 10 oz.

Mix, and pour into a dish and lay the paper on the liquid, wetting only one side; when it has lain there for about five minutes if French paper has been used, if English paper till it ceases to curl and falls flat on the liquid, let it be hung up by a bent pin to dry. These salts are better than those generally recommended, as they do not form such deliquescent salts when decomposed as the chloride of sodium does, and for this reason I should have even avoided the chloride of ammonium, only that it so much assists the tints; however, in company with the other salts, the nitrate of ammon. formed does not much take up the atmospheric moisture, and I have never found it stain an even unvarnished negative. To sensitize this paper take

Nitrate of silver 500 grs.
Acetic acid, glacial 2 drs.
Water 5 oz.

Mix, and lay the paper on this solution for not less than five minutes, and if English paper, double that time. The hyposulphite to be used may be a very strong solution of twenty to twenty-five per cent., and this mode of treatment will always be found to produce fine tints. After some time it will be found that the nitrate bath will lose its acidity, and a drachm of acetic acid may be again added, when the prints begin to take a red tone: this will again restore the blacks. Lastly, the bath may of itself get too weak, and then it will be best to place it on one side, and recover the silver by any of the usual methods, and make a new bath. One word about the addition of the bromide of {158} silver to the double iodide, as recommended by DR. DIAMOND. I tried this, and feel most confident that it produces no difference; as soon as the bromide of silver comes in contact with the iodide of potassium, double decomposition ensues, and iodide of silver is formed. Indeed, farther, this very double decomposition, or a similar one, is the basis of a patent I have just taken for at the same time refining silver and manufacturing iodide of potassium; a process by which I much hope the enormous present price of iodide of potassium will be much lowered.

F. MAXWELL LYTE.

Hôtel de l'Europe,
à Pau, Basses Pyrénées.

P.S.--Since writing the former part of this letter, I see in _La Lumière_ a paper on the subject of printing positives, in part of which the addition of nitric acid is recommended to the bath; but as my experiments have been quite independent of theirs, and my process one of a different nature, I still send it to you. When I have an opportunity, I will send a couple of specimens of my workmanship. I had prepared some for the Exhibition, but could not get them off in time. I may add that the developing agent I use is the same in every way as that I have before indicated through the medium of your pages; but where formic acid cannot be got, the best developer is made as follows:

Pyrogallic acid 27 grs.
Acetic acid 6 drs.
Water 9 oz.

_On Sensitive Collodion._--As I have lately received many requests from friends upon the subject of the most sensitive collodion, I am induced to send you a few words upon it.

Since my former communication, I believe a greater certainty of manufacture has been attained, whereby the operator may more safely rely upon uniformity of success.

I have not only tried every purchasable collodion, but my experiments have been innumerable, especially in respect to the ammoniated salts, and I may, I think, safely affirm that all preparations containing ammonia ought to be rejected. Often, certainly, great rapidity of action is obtained; but that collodion which acted so well on one day may, on the following, become comparatively useless, from the change which appears so frequently to take place in the ammoniacal compounds. That blackening and fogging, of which so much has been said, I much think is one of the results of ammonia; but not having, in my own manipulations, met with the difficulty, I have little personal experience upon the subject.

The more simple a collodion is the better; and the following, from its little varying and active qualities, I believe to be equal to any now in use.

A great deal has also been said upon the preparation of the simple collodion, and that some samples, however good _apparently_, never sensitize in a satisfactory manner. I have not experienced this difficulty myself, or any appreciable variation.

The collodion made from the Swedish filtering paper, or the papier Joseph, is preferable, from the much greater care with which it is used.

If slips of either of these papers be carefully and completely immersed for four hours in a mixture of an equal part (by weight) of strong nitric acid or nitrous acid (the aqua fortis of commerce) and strong sulphuric acid, then _perfectly_ washed, so as to get entirely rid of the acids, the result will be an entirely soluble material. About 100 grains of dry paper to a pint (twenty ounces) of ether will form a collodion of the desired consistence for photographic purposes. If too thick, it may be reduced by pure ether or alcohol. However carefully this soluble paper or the gun cotton is prepared, it is liable to decompose even when kept with care. I would therefore advise it to be mixed with the ether soon after preparation, as the simple collodion keeps exceedingly well. Excellent simple collodion is to be procured now at the reasonable price of eight shillings the pint, which will to many be more satisfactory than trusting to their own operations.

_To make the sensitizing Fluid._--Put into a clean stoppered bottle, holding more than the quantity required so as to allow of free shaking, six drachms of iodide of potassium and one drachm of bromide of potassium; wet them with one drachm of distilled water first, then pour into the bottle ten ounces of spirits of wine (not alcohol); shake frequently until dissolved. After some hours, if the solution has not taken place, add a few more drops of water, the salts being highly soluble in water, though sparingly so in rectified spirits; but care must be taken not to add too much, as it prevents the subsequent adhesion of the collodion film to the glass.

A drachm and a half to two drachms, according to the degree of intensity desired, added to the ounce of the above collodion, which should have remained a few days to settle before sensitizing, I find to act most satisfactorily; in fine weather it is instantaneous, being, after a good shake, fit for immediate use. If the sensitive collodion soon assumes a reddish colour, it is improved by the addition of one or two drops of a saturated solution of cyanide of potassium; but great care must be used, as this salt is very active.

HUGH W. DIAMOND.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Portrait of Alva_ (Vol. ix., p. 76.).--There is a fine portrait of the Duke of Alva in the Royal Museum at Amsterdam, by D. Barendz (No. 14. in the _Catalogue_ of 1848); and MR. WARDEN will find a spirited etching of him, decorated with the Order of the Golden Fleece, in the _Historia Belgica_ of Meteranus (folio, 1597), at p. 63. The latter portrait is very Quixotic in aspect at the first glance, but the expression becomes more Satanic as the eye rests on it.

LANCASTRIENSES.

_Lord Mayor of London not a Privy Councillor_ (Vol. iv. _passim_; Vol. ix., p. 137.).--L. HARTLY a little misstates Mr. Serjeant Merewether's evidence. The learned serjeant only said that "he believed" the fact was so. But he was undoubtedly mistaken, probably from confounding {159} the Privy Council (at which the Lord Mayor _never_ appeared) with a meeting of other persons (nobility, gentry, and others), who assemble on the same occasion in a different room, and to which meeting (altogether distinct from the Privy Council) the Lord Mayor is always summoned, as are the sheriffs, aldermen, and a number of other notabilities, not privy councillors. This matter is conclusively explained in Vol. iv., p.284.; but if more particular evidence be required, it will be found in the _London Gazette_ of the 20th June, 1837, where the names of the privy councillors are given in one list to the number of eighty-three, and in another list the names of the persons attending the meeting to the number of above 150, amongst whom are the local mayor, sheriffs, under-sheriffs, aldermen, common sergeants, city solicitor, &c. As "N & Q." has reproduced the mistake, it is proper that it should also reproduce the explanation.

C.

_New Zealander and Westminster Bridge_ (Vol. ix., p. 74.).--Before I saw the thought in Walpole's letter to Sir H. Mann, quoted in "N. & Q.," I ventured to suppose that Mrs. Barbauld's noble poem, _Eighteen Hundred and Eleven_, might have suggested Mr. Macaulay's well-known passage. The following extracts extracts describe the wanderings of those who--

"With duteous zeal, their pilgrimage shall take,
From the blue mountains on Ontario's lake,
With fond adoring steps to press the sod,
By statesmen, sages, poets, heroes, trod."

"Pensive and thoughtful shall the wanderers greet
Each splendid square, and still untrodden street;
Or of some crumbling turret, mined by time,
The broken stairs with perilous step shall climb,
Thence stretch their view the wide horizon round,
By scatter'd hamlets trace its ancient bound,
And choked no more with fleets, fair Thames survey,
Through reeds and sedge pursue his idle way.
. . . . . .
Oft shall the strangers turn their eager feet,
The rich remains of ancient art to greet,
The pictured walls with critic eye explore,
And Reynolds be what Raphael was before,
On spoils from every clime their eyes shall gaze,
Egyptian granites and the Etruscan vase;
And when, 'midst fallen London, they survey
The stone where Alexander's ashes lay,
Shall own with humble pride the lesson just,
By Time's slow finger written in the dust."

J. M.

Cranwells, near Bath.

The beautiful conception of the New Zealander at some future period visiting England, and giving a sketch of the ruins of London, noticed in "N. & Q." as having been suggested to Macaulay by a passage in one of Walpole's letters to Sir H. Mann, will be found more broadly expressed in Kirke White's Poem on Time. Talking of the triumphs of Oblivion, he says:

"Meanwhile the Arts, in second infancy,
Rise in some distant clime; and then, perchance,
Some bold adventurer, fill'd with golden dreams,
Steering his bark through trackless solitudes,
Where, to his wandering thoughts, no daring prow
Had ever plough'd before,--espies the cliffs
Of fallen Albion. To the land unknown
He journeys joyful; and perhaps descries
Some vestige of her ancient stateliness:
Then he with vain conjecture fills his mind
Of the unheard-of race, which had arrived
At science in that solitary nook,
Far from the civil world; and sagely sighs,
And moralises on the state of man."

This hardly reads like a borrowed idea; and I should lean to a belief that it was not. Kirke White's _Poems and Letters_ are but too little read.

J. S.

Dalston.

_Cui Bono_ (Vol. ix., p. 76.).--Reference to a dictionary would have settled this. According to Freund, "Cui bono fuit=Zu welchem Zwecke, or Wozu war es gut?" That is, To what purpose? or, For _whose_ good?

CARNATIC.

The syntax of this common phrase, with the ellipses supplied, is, "Cui homini fuerit bono negotio?" To what person will it be an advantage? Literally, or more freely rendered, Who will be the gainer by it? It was (see _Ascon. in Cicer. pro Milone_, c. xii.) the usual query of Lucius Cassius, the Roman judge, implying that the person benefiting by any crime was implicated therein. (Consult Facciolati's _Dict. in voce_ BONUM.)

HK.

The correct rendering of this phrase is undoubtedly that given by F. NEWMAN, "For the benefit of whom?" but it is generally used in such a manner as to make it indifferent whether that, or the corrupted signification "For what good?" was intended by the writer making use of it. The latter is, however, the idea generally conveyed to the mind, and in this sense it is used by the best writers. Thus, _e.g._:

"The question '_cui bono_,' to what practical end and advantage do your
researches tend? is one," &c.--Herschel's _Discourse on Nat.
Philosophy_, p. 10.

WILLIAM BATES.

Birmingham.

_Barrels Regiment_ (Vol. viii., p. 620.; Vol. ix., p. 63.).--I am obliged to H. B. C. for his attention to my Query, though it does not quite answer my purpose, which was to learn the circumstances which occasioned a print in my possession, entitled "The Old Scourge returned to Barrels." It represents a regiment, the body of each {160} soldier being in the form of a barrel, drawn up within view of Edinburgh Castle. A soldier is tied up to the halberts in order to be flogged; the drummer intercedes: "Col., he behaved well at Culloden." An officer also intercedes: "Pray Col. forgive him, he's a good man." The Col.'s reply is, "Flog the villain, ye rascal." Under the print--"And ten times a day whip the Barrels." I want to know who this flogging Col. was; and anything more about him which gained for him the unenviable title of Old Scourge.

E. H.

_Sir Matthew Hale_ (Vol. ix., p. 77.).--From Sir Matthew Hale, who was born at Alderley, descends the present family of Hale of Alderley, co. Gloucestershire. The eldest son of the head of the family represents West Gloucestershire in parliament. The Estcourts of Estcourt, co. Gloucestershire, are, I believe, also connexions of the family of Hale.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

The descendants of Sir Matthew Hale still live at Alderley, near Wotton Underedge, in Gloucestershire. I believe a Mr. Blagdon married the heiress of Hale, and took her name. The late Robert Blagdon Hale, Esq., married Lady Theodosia Bourke, daughter of the late Lord Mayo, and had two sons. Robert, the eldest, and present possessor of Alderley, married a Miss Holford. Matthew, a clergyman, also married; who appears by the Clergy List to be Archdeacon of Adelaide, South Australia. Mr. John Hale, of Gloucester, is their uncle, and has a family.

JULIA R. BOCKETT.

Southcote Lodge.

The Hales of Alderley in Gloucestershire claim descent from Sir Matthew Hale, born and buried there. (See Atkins, p. 107.; Rudder, p. 218., and Bigland, p. 30.) When Mr. Hale of Alderley was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1826, the judge then on circuit made a complimentary allusion to it in court. The descent is in the female line, and the name was assumed in 1784.

LANCASTRIENSIS.

_Scotch Grievance_ (Vol. ix., p. 74.).--The Scottish coins of James VI., Charles I., William, have on the reverse a shield, bearing 1. and 4. Scotland; 2. France and England quarterly; 3. Irish harp.

EDW. HAWKINS.

Under this head A DESCENDANT OF SCOTTISH KINGS asks: "Can any _coin_ be produced, from the accession of James VI. to the English throne, on which the royal arms are found, with Scotland in the first quarter, and England in the second?"

Will you kindly inform your querist, that in my collection I have several such coins, viz. a shilling of Charles I.; a mark of Charles II., date 1669; a forty-shilling piece of William III., date 1697: on each Scotland is _first_ and _third_. I shall be most happy to submit these to your inspection, or send them for the satisfaction of your correspondent.

F. J. WILLIAMS.

24. Mark Lane.