Chapter M: J. C

If the _jeu d'esprit_ on the above name be worthy of preservation, the more correct version of it is as follows:

"My first is the emblem of purity,
My second is used for security;
My whole is a name,
Which, if I had the same,
I should blush to hand down to futurity."

The authorship was ascribed (I believe with truth) to a lady of the name of Belson.

M. (2)

The following is the correct version:

"My first is an emblem of purity,
My second the means of security;
My whole is a name,
Which, if mine were the same,
I should blush to hand down to futurity."

N. L. J.

General Whitelocke died at Clifton, in his house in Princes Buildings.

ANON.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

_Gravelly Wax Negatives._--The only remedy I am acquainted with is to use the paper within twenty-four hours after excitement. I have tried the methods of Messrs. Crookes, Fenton, and How; in every case I was equally annoyed with gravel, if excited beyond that time; in fact, I believe all the good wax negatives have been taken within twelve hours. The Rev. Wm. Collings, who has produced such excellent wax negatives, 24 in. x 18 (several were sent to the late Exhibition of the Photographic Society), informs me the above is quite his experience, and that he excites his papers for the day early in the morning. The cause lies, I believe, in the fault of homogeneity of the waxed paper, arising from unevenness in the structure of the paper exaggerated by the transparency of the wax, partly, perhaps, from a semi-crystallizing of the wax in cooling, and also from its being adulterated with tallow, resin, &c. As a consequence of this, the paper is filled with innumerable hard points; the iodizing and exciting solutions are unequally absorbed, and the actinic influence acting more on the weak points, produces under gallic acid a speckled appearance, if decomposition has gone to any length in the exciting nitrate by keeping. The ceroleine process, by its power of penetrating, will, I hope, produce an homogeneous paper, and go far to remove this annoyance.

In answer to a former Query by MR. HELE, Whatman's paper of 1849 is lightly sized, and not hard rolled, so that twenty minutes' washing in repeated water sufficed to remove the iodide of potassium, and if long soaked the paper became porous, often letting the gallic acid through in the development. I have lately been trying Turner's and Sandford's papers; they require three or four hours' repeated washing to get rid of the salts, being very hard rolled. Many negatives on Turner's paper, especially if weak, exhibit a structural appearance like linen, the unequal density gives almost exactly the same gravelly character as wax, as the positive I inclose, taken from such a negative, shows. Not only ought collodion to be "structureless," as MR. SHADBOLT well expresses it, but likewise all the other substrata of iodide of silver.

T. L. MANSELL.

Guernsey.

_Photographic Experience._--The plan proposed by DR. MANSELL, in the last Number of "N. & Q.," for comparison of photographic experiences, will, I am sure, prove of much practical advantage and I therefore lose no time in filling up the table published in your paper:

1. Eight minutes' exposure.
2. South Wales.
3. Mr. Talbot's original receipt.
4. Turner.
5. 3/8 inch.
6. 2 inches.
7. 3 inches. Focal length, 17 inches. Maker, Ross.

I would also suggest that the character of the object copied should be included in the above table. My answer supposes a light-coloured building, of an ordinary sandstone colour. A view comprising foliage would require a much longer time for its full development. In working on the sea-coast, I find that the dark slate rocks of north Cornwall require an exposure in the camera half as long again as the blue mountain limestone cliffs of South Wales, which abound in actinic power.

J. D. LLEWELYN.

Pen-ller-gaer.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Turkish Language_ (Vol. ix., p. 352.).--Your correspondent HASSAN, who would much gratify our friends the Turks if he would spell his signature with one _s_ only, will find the object of his inquiry in a little book just published by Clowes, Military Publisher, Charing Cross, _Turkish and English Words and Phrases, for the Use of the British Army and Navy in the East_, price 1s. The pronunciation is given in the Roman character, and according to the plainest English rules.

OSMANLI.

_Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke's Charts of the Black Sea_ (Vol. ix., p. 132.).--A reply respecting these important Charts, and their value, was given by the First Lord of the Admiralty in the House of Commons on March 6, in consequence of an inquiry made by Mr. French. Sir James Graham {457} is stated by _The Times_ of the following day to have said on that occasion:

"The Charts alluded to by the hon. gentleman were most valuable, and
had been made use of; but subsequent observations, and farther surveys,
had in a great measure superseded them at the present time."

ELLUM.

_Aristotle on living Law_ (Vol. ix., p. 373).--Your correspondent H. P. asks where Aristotle says that a judge is a living law, as the law itself is a dumb judge. The first part of this antithesis is in _Eth. Nic._, v. 4. s. 7.:

"[Greek: Ho gar dikastes bouletai einai hoion dikaion empsuchon.]"

"The judge wishes to be justice incarnate."

Your correspondent, however, probably had in his mind the passage of Cicero, _de Leg._, iii. 1.:

"Videtis igitur, magistratus hanc esse vim, ut praesit, praescribatque
recte et utilia et conjuncta cum legibus;--vereque dici, magistratum
legem esse loquentem, legem autem mutum magistratum."

The commentators compare an antithetical sentence attributed to Simonides,--that a picture is a silent poem, and that a poem is a speaking picture.

L.

_Christ's or Cris Cross Row_ (Vol. viii., p. 18.).--The Alphabet. See _The Romish Beehive_, 319.:

"In Bacon's _Reliques of_ +---+ _Rome_, p. 257., describing
the hallowing of churches, | A | among other ceremonies
is the following: 'There | B | must be made in the
+-----+ C +-----+
pavement of the | D E F G H I K | church a crosse
+-----+ L +-----+
of ashes and sand wherein | M | the whole Alphabet,
or Christ's Crosse, shall | O | be written in Greek and
Latin letters.' | P |
| Q |
"Sir Thos. More, in | R | his Works, p. 606. H, says,
'Crosse Rowe was printed | S | on cards for learners.'
I first went to school | T | at a dame's, and had a
Horn-Book (as it was | V | called), in which was
the Alphabet in a form | U | something like that here
given, and the dame | W | called me and other beginners
to learn our | X | 'Cris Cross Row;' at
that time the term was | Y | used, that is, about
seventy years since." | Z |
+---+

GODDARD JOHNSON.

_Titles to the Psalms in the Syriac Version._--MR. T. J. BUCKTON (Vol. ix., p. 242.) observes, in reference to the superscription [Hebrew: LMNTSCH BNGYNT], "For the chief performer on the neginoth," that "the Syriac and Arabic versions omit this superscription altogether, from _ignorance_ of the musical sense of the words." And lower down he speaks as if [Hebrew: NCHYLWT] were expressed in the Syriac by the word "church." I do not question the accuracy of MR. B.'s renderings of the Hebrew words, for they have been admitted for centuries; but I wish to observe that the translator of the Syriac should not be lightly charged with ignorance of Hebrew, as I can testify from an extensive acquaintance with that venerable version. I therefore cannot allow that the words were omitted by the translator for that reason. Besides, whenever he found a word untranslateable, he transferred it as it was. Nor do I admit that _nehiloth_, in Psalm v., is translated by the term "church." And this leads me to remark, what seems to have been overlooked by most writers, viz. that the Syriac version _omits_ uniformly the titles of the Psalms as they are found in Hebrew[9]. The inscriptions contained in the common editions of these Psalms form no part of the translation. One of them refers to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus! They are not always the same. I am acquainted with at least _three different sets_ of these headings contained in the Syriac MSS. in the British Museum. Erpenius omitted them altogether in his edition of the Psalter, and Dathe's follows his; for which very substantial reasons are given by him in the "Praef. ad Lect." of his _Psalterium Syriacum_, pp. 36, 37., Halae, 1768.

B. H. C.

[Footnote 9: Except the words "of David:" I am not sure about these.]

"_Old Rowley_" (Vol. ix., p. 235.).--The nickname of "Old Rowley," as applied to Charles II., seems to be derived from Roland, and has reference to the proverbial saying, "A Roland for an Oliver;" the former name being given to Charles, in contradistinction to the Protector's name of Oliver. Roland and Oliver were two celebrated horses, or, as some say, two pages of Charlemagne possessing equal qualities and hence, "I'll give you a Roland for your Oliver" was tantamount to "I'll give you as good as you send."[10]

N. L. J.

[Footnote 10: [See "N. & Q.," Vol. ii., p. 132.]]

_Wooden Effigies_ (Vol.ix., p. 17.).--I beg to refer your readers to two figures which are in excellent preservation, and I am not aware that they have ever obtained public notice. In the church at Boxted, near Sudbury, Suffolk, which is the burial-place of the ancient family of Poley of Boxted Hall, are, with several other interesting monuments, the effigies of William Poley and Alice Shaa, his wife.

He is in armour, with a beard, and the lady in the dress of her day, with a long pendant from her girdle, having suspended a small thick book and the arms of Poley impaling Shaa on the cover. At her feet a greyhound to fill up the space, in consequence of the lady being short, and their heads on the same line. There is an inscription in relief on the cushion on which the lady rests her head, which states that he died 17th December, 1587, and the lady March 7, {458} 1579. The figures rest on a tomb of masonry, and fill the recess of a window, with iron railing to protect them. Their are painted black, so that the nature of the wood is not apparent.

Alice Shaa was the only daughter and heiress of her father, and the eldest son of this William and Alice was Sir John Poley, Knt. (See Morant's _Essex_, vol. i. pp. 151. 217. &c.)

R. A.

Melford.

_Abbott Families_ (Vol. ix., pp. 105. &c.).--MR. ADAMS having very satisfactorily afforded the required information concerning Samuel Abbott, I shall still feel very greatly obliged if any other gentleman can throw any light upon the Archbishop's descendants, especially Sir Maurice's sons and their issue. I have in my possession an old will of an ancestress, sealed with the crest of Bartholomew Barnes, of London, merchant, whose daughter was second wife and mother to Sir Maurice's children, viz., Bartholomew, George, Edward, and Maurice. Did any of them leave a son called James, born about 1690 or 1700?