Chapter X: Y. Z. seems also to have forgotten what Mr. Campbell duly records, viz

that Roland used to station himself at a window overlooking "the nun's green isle;" it being after her decease that he met his death at Roncevall, which event, by the way, is alluded to by Sir W. Scott in _Marmion_, canto vi.:

"Oh, for a blast of that dread horn,
On Fontarabian echoes borne,
That to King Charles did come;
When Roland brave, and Olivier,
And every paladin and peer,
At Roncesvalles died!"

H. B. F.

The legends of Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne, are very numerous and vary much from each other. The Orlando of Pulci has a very different history from the Orlando of Bojardo and Ariosto.

The legend of "Rolandseck and the Nonnenwerth," which has been adopted by Campbell, not Mrs. Hemans, and charmingly set to music by Mrs. Arkwright, is well known on the Rhine. There are two poems on the legend in Simrock's _Rheinsagen_ (12mo., Bonn, 1841), one by the editor, and another by August Kopisch. They exactly accord with Campbell's poem.

The legend of Ritter Toggenburg resembles that of Roland in many particulars, but it is not the same, and it belongs to another locality, to Kloster Fischingen, and not to Nonnenwerth. "Roland the Brave" appears in all the later editions of Campbell's _Poems_. Simrock's _Rheinsagen_ is one of the most delightful handbooks that any one can take through the romantic region which the poems (partly well selected by the editor, and partly as well written by himself) describe.

E. C. H.

The author of the beautiful lines which are quoted by your correspondent X. Y. Z., is Campbell, not Mrs. Hemans. The poet, in the fifth stanza of his ballad, tells how the unfortunate Roland, on finding that Hildegund had taken the veil, was accustomed to sit at his window, and "sad and oft" to look "on the mansion of his love below."

"There's yet one window of that pile,
Which he built above the nun's green isle;
Thence sad and oft look'd he
(When the chant and organ sounded slow)
On the mansion of his love below,
For herself he might not see.

"She died! He sought the battle plain,
Her image fill'd his dying brain,
When he fell and wish'd to fall;
And her name was in his latest sigh,
When Roland, the flower of chivalry,
Expired at Roncevall."

F. M. MIDDLETON.

Scott has, in _Marmion_,--

"When Roland brave, and Olivier,
And every paladin and peer,
At Roncesvalles died!"

I quote from memory, and have not the poem.

F. C. B.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

_Recovery of Silver._--As many correspondents of "N. & Q." have asked how to recover the silver from their nitrate baths when deteriorated or spoiled, perhaps the following hints may be acceptable to them. Let them first precipitate the silver in the form of a chloride by adding common salt to the nitrate solution. Let them then filter it, and it may be reduced to its metallic state by either of the three following methods.

1. By adding to the wet chloride at least double its volume of water, containing one-tenth part of sulphuric acid; plunge into this a thick piece of zinc, and leave it here for four-and-twenty hours. The chloride of silver will be reduced by the formation of {477} chloride and sulphate of zinc, and of pure silver, which will remain under the form of a blackish powder, which is then to be washed, filtered, and preserved for the purpose of making nitrate of silver.

2. The chloride of silver which is to be reduced is put into a flask with about twice its volume of a solution of caustic potash (of one part of caustic potash to nine of water), in which a small portion of sugar has been dissolved. Let it boil gently. The operation is complete when the blackish powder which results from this process, having been washed in several waters, is entirely soluble in nitric acid, which is easily ascertained by experimenting on a small quantity. This powder is to be preserved in the same way as the former for the purpose of converting it into nitrate of silver.

3. The metallic silver is obtained in the form of a button, by mixing thoroughly 100 parts of dried chloride of silver, 70 parts of chalk or whitening, and 4 parts of charcoal. This mixture is to be exposed in a crucible to a fierce red heat for at least half an hour. When completely cold the crucible is broken, and a button of pure silver is the result. The first two processes are those which I should most strongly recommend to your correspondents.

N. C.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Ashes of "Lignites"_ (Vol. ix., p. 422.).--RUSTICUS is obliged to the Editor for so soon giving a reply to his Query; but seems convicted of being a bad penman, like many other rustics. For the strange word, respecting which he asked for information, having seen it used in a newspaper, was not _lignites_ but _liquites_. RUSTICUS could have guessed that the ashes of _lignites_ were but wood-ashes under a pedantic name; but a term which looks, to a rustic, as if chemists meant to persuade him to burn his beer for a valuable residuum, is more perplexing.

RUSTICUS.

_Old Rowley_ (Vol. ix., p. 457., &c.).--The late Sir Charles Bunbury, who was long the father of the Jury, and considered as an oracle in all matters relating to it, told me, many years ago, that Charles II. was nicknamed "Old Rowley" after a favourite stallion in the royal stud so called; and he added, that the same horse's appellation had been ever since preserved in the "Rowley Mile," a portion of the race-course still much used, and well-known to all frequenters of Newmarket.

BRAYBROOKE.

"_Bachelors of every Station_" (Vol. ix., p. 301.) is the beginning of the _Berkshire Lady_, an old ballad nearly extinct, and republished by me some years ago in the form of a small pamphlet, which sold rapidly. If I can procure one, it shall be forwarded to Mr. Bell.

The story is a true one, and related to a daughter of Sir William Kendrick's, who succeeded him, and was possessor of Calcot Place in the parish of Tylehurst, and to Benjamin Child, Esq., whom she met at a marriage feast in the neighbourhood. A wood near Calcot is where the party met to fight the duel in case Mr. Child rejected the proposals of marriage made to him by Miss Kendrick.

I had the account from an old man between eighty and ninety years of age, clerk of the parish; and my friend Miss Mitford agreed with me in the accuracy of the story: she had it from the late Countess Dowager of Macclesfield, an old lady celebrated for her extensive and accurate knowledge of legendary lore.

In opening a vault in St. Mary's, Reading, last year, her coffin was found entire, with this inscription:

"Frances Child, wife of Benjamin Child. Esq., of Calcot, and first
daughter of Sir Benjamin Kendrick, Bart. Died Feb. 27, 1722, aged 35.
The Lady of Berks."

Another coffin,--

"Benjamin Child, Esq., died 2nd May, 1767, aged 84 years."

JULIA R. BOCKETT.

Southcote Lodge.

_Mousehunt_ (Vol. viii., pp. 516. 606.; Vol. ix., pp. 65. 136. 385.).--In Vol. ix., p. 65., the _Natural History of Quadrupeds_, by James H. Fennell, is quoted; where, speaking of the Beech Marten (_alias_ Mousehunt), he says:

"In Selkirkshire it has been observed to descend to _the shore_ at
night time to feed upon mollusks, particularly upon the large Basket
Mussel (_Mytilus modiolus_)."

In p. 136, I ventured to state that Mr. Fennell must have been a better naturalist than geographer, as Selkirkshire was well known to be an inland county nowhere approaching the sea by many miles. I added, that I hoped, for Mr. Fennell's sake, that _Selkirkshire_ was either a misprint or a misquotation.

In p. 385. MR. ARCHIBALD FRASER, Woodford, not choosing to exonerate Mr. Fennell by either of my suggestions, prefers, as a staunch, but I think rather an inconsiderate friend and champion, to _vindicate_ the paragraph as it stands, by candidly admitting that if the word _beach_ had been used, it would certainly have referred to the sea; but that the word _shore_ applies to rivers as well as seas. And he goes back as far as Spenser to find an instance of its use, as applied to the banks of the river Nile.

I will not agree that this use is nearly obsolete, but give him the full value of his quotation from Spenser. But what does he say to the _habitat_ of the _Mytilus modiolus_, which the Mousehunt goes {478} to the _shore_ to feed upon. I quote from _Rees' Cyclopaedia_, voce "MYTILUS:"

"MODIOLUS. Shell smooth and blackish, obtuse at the smaller end, and
rounded at the other; one side near the beaks is angular. Two varieties
are noticed by Lister. It _inhabits_ the European, American, and Indian
_seas_, adhering to fuci and zoophytes; is six or seven inches long,
and about half as broad: the fish is red or orange, and eatable."

J. S.S.

_Value of Money in the Seventeenth Century_ (Vol. ix. p. 375.).--Say, in his _Political Economy_ (Prinsep's translation, i. 413.), has furnished a comparative statement, the result of which is, that the _setier_ of wheat, whose relative value to other commodities has varied little from 1520 down to the present time, has undergone great fluctuations, being worth--

A. D. 1520 512 gr. of pure silver.
A. D. 1536 1063 ditto.
A. D. 1602 2060 ditto.
A. D. 1789 2012 ditto.

Whence it may be inferred that 1000l. in 1640, 1660, and 1680 did not vary much from its value at the present time, _such value being measured in silver_. But as the value of all commodities resolves itself ultimately into the cost of labour, the rate of wages at these dates, in the particular country or part of a country, must be taken as the only safe criterion.

Thus, if labour were 20d. per diem in 1640, and is 40d. at this time, 1000_l_. in 1640 is equivalent to 500l. (only half as much) now. But, on the contrary, as the cost of production of numerous articles by machinery, &c. has been _by so much_ reduced, the power of purchase now, as compared with 1640, of 1000l., is _by so much_ increased. The article itself must determine by how much. The question put by C. H. is too general to admit of a positive solution; but should he specify the commodity and place of investment in the seventeenth century and to-day of the 1000l., our statistics might still be at fault, and deny us even a proximate determination of his inquiry. Even his 1000l., which he may consider a fixed measure of value, or _punctum comparationis_, is varying in value (=power of purchase) daily, even hourly, as regards almost every exchangeable product. Tooke _On Prices_ is a first-rate authority on this subject.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Lichfield.

_Grammars for Public Schools_ (Vol. ix., pp. 8. 209.).--Pray add this little gem to your list, now scarce:

"The Gate of Tongues Unlocked and Opened, or else A Seminarie or Seed
Plot of all Tongues and Sciences, that is, a short way of teaching and
thorowly learning, within a yeare and a half at the farthest, the
Latin, English, French, and any other tongue, together with the ground
and foundation of Arts and Sciences, comprised under an hundred Titles
and 1058 Periods. In Latine first, and now as a token of thankfulnesse
brought to light in Latine, English, and French, in the behalfe of the
most illustrious Prince Charles, and of British, French, and Irish
Youths. By the labour and industry of John Anchoran, Licentiate of
Divinity, London, 1633."

Our British youths of those days seem to have been _apt scholars_.

I. T. ABBOTT.

Darlington.

_Classic Authors and the Jews_ (Vol. ix., pp. 221. 384.).--Any edition of the _Historiae Augustae Scriptores Sex_, containing an index, ought to supply B. H. C. with a few additional references. See, for instance, the Index to the Bipont Edition, 2 vols. 8vo., [MDCCLXXXVII], under the words "Judaei," "Judaicus," "Moses."