paper shall be manufactured of a perfect kind, there is no reason to
suppose but paper generally will rival collodion for most purposes.
Nothing prevents it at present but the uneven surface of paper. It is
very nearly perfect in the French negative paper; but that has so many
other drawbacks to its use that it cannot be safely depended upon. Our
manufacturers have still some improvements to make; for if Canson Frères
had left out the blackening chemical in the paper, it would have been
better than any of ours in my estimation.
WELD TAYLOR.
_Ammonio-nitrate of Silver._--Will any of your scientific correspondents
explain the chemical cause of my inability to form the ammonio-nitrate
of silver from a solution of nitrate of silver upon which albumenized
paper has been previously floated? Having excited some albumenized paper
on a forty-grain solution of nitrate of silver, I kept the solution
which had not been consumed for the purpose of converting it into
the ammonio-nitrate. But on dropping in the ammonia, not only did no
precipitate take place, but the ammoniacal smell which usually gives
place to the tarry odour remained. No albumen appeared to be dissolved
from the paper, and the solution had lost none of its silver, which
I subsequently collected by means of having formed a chloride. This
has occurred to me more than once, and I call attention to it, as the
investigation of it may lead to some new results.
PHILO-PHO.
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
"_Up, Guards, and at them!_" (Vol. v., p. 426.; Vol. viii., pp. 111.
184.).--It will, I hope, close all debate on this anecdote, to state that
the account I gave of it in Vol. v., p. 426., was from the Duke himself.
I thought it very unlike him to have given his order in such a phrase,
and I asked him how the fact was, and he answered me to the effect I have
already stated.
C.
_German Heraldry_ (Vol. viii., p. 150.).--Your Querist will probably find
what he inquires for in Fursten's _German Arms_, published at Nurenberg
in folio, 1696. The plates are sometimes divided and bound in three
or four oblong volumes. The work known as Fursten's _German Arms_ was
commenced by Siebmacker, continued by Furst and Helman, and, in 1714, by
Weigel. It is often quoted under these respective names; but of later
years, more frequently under that of Weigel's _Book of German Arms_
(Weigel Wapenbuch). It consists of six Parts, and professes to give the
arms of the principal nobility of the Roman kingdom: dukes, princes,
princely counts; lords and persons of position, foregone and existing, in
all the provinces and states of the German empire. The Preface is by John
David Köhler.
G.
In the year 1698 a book was published by J. A. Rudolphi, at Nurenberg,
entitled _Heraldica Curiosa_. It is in German, a thin folio, with an
innumerable quantity of engravings of the arms of German families.
J. B.
_The Eye_ (Vol. viii., p. 25.).--I hope that interesting question raised
by your correspondent H. C. K., respecting the term "apple of the eye,"
will meet with attention from some philologist. It might help to solve
it, if it could be discovered when the phrase first came into use in our
language. Is it possible that the word "apple" is a corruption of the
Latin "pupilla?" or is it, according to H. C. K.'s suggestion, that the
iris, and not the pupil, is taken to represent an apple? Doubtless your
learned correspondent is aware that in Zech. ii. 12. the Hebrew phrase
is varied, the word בָּבָה being used, and occurring only in this
passage. If Gesenius's derivation of this word be correct, which makes
it to signify "the gate of the eye," we have this idea put into a fresh
shape. Have not the Arabs a phrase, "He is dearer to me than the _pupil_
of mine eye," as well as the other one, "The man of the eye?" Curiously
enough, the Greeks express this idea by another word than κόρη, viz.
γλήνη (_i. e._ κόρης αὐγή, the splendour of the pupil (kin. αἴγλη), or
the pupil itself, οφθαλμου κόρη), in which the change of signification
is exactly the converse of what it is in κόρη; viz., 1st, pupil; 2nd, a
little girl; whence, as a term of reproach, ἔῤῥε κακὴ γλήνη.
QUÆSTOR.
_Canute's Point, Southampton_ (Vol. vii., p. 380.).--A correspondent
having noticed the inscription on the Canute Castle Inn, Southampton,
inquires for proof to authenticate the locality of the tradition referred
to. I submit the following extract from a local history:
"Canute's Point was a projection of the shore near the mouth
of the Itchen, where it is supposed the celebrated but
much-embellished reproof to his courtiers was administered;
and it was preserved by a line of piles driven into the beach,
until the construction of the docks, which effaced the old
beach line. Of Canute's Palace there are still a few remains,
and the position fully justifies the presumption of its
identity."
These piles were, I believe, in existence in the year 1836, when the act
for the construction of the docks was obtained.
WILLIAM SPOOR.
{205}
_Symon Patrick, Bishop of Ely--Durham--Weston_ (Vol. viii., p. 103.).--
"Edward Weston, A. B. 1723, A. M. 1727, born at Eton, son of
Steven Weston of 1682, Bishop of Exeter. He was secretary to
Lord Townsend at Hanover, during the king's residence there
in 1729. He continued several years in the office of Lord
Harrington as secretary. He was also _transmitter_ (query,
_translator_?) of the State Papers, and one of the clerks
to the Signet. In 1741 he was appointed gazetteer, a place
of considerable emolument. In 1746 he was secretary to Lord
Harrington, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and became a privy
councillor of that kingdom. He published, though a layman, a
volume of sermons. His son is now [viz. 1797] a prebendary
of Durham and St. Paul's, and rector of Therfield near
Royston."--Harwood's _Alumni Etonenses_, p. 300., under 1719.
Corkenhatch must be Cockenhatch, near Barkway.
J. H. L.
_Battle of Villers en Couché_ (Vol. viii., pp. 8. 127.).--An
authoritative record of this action may be found in--
"An Historical Journal of the British Campaign on the
Continent, in the year 1794; with the Retreat through Holland,
in the year 1795. By Captain L. T. Jones, of the 14th regiment.
Dedicated, by permission, to his Royal Highness Field Marshal
the Duke of York. Printed for the Author. Birmingham, 1797."
The list of subscribers contains about a hundred names. There is a copy
of it in the British Museum. The one now before me is rendered more
valuable by copious marginal notes, evidently written by the author,
which are at the service of your correspondents. They furnish the
following extraordinary instance of personal bravery:
"The same officer of this corps (3rd dragoon guards), who bore
off the corpse of General Mansell, relates some particulars
in the action of the 24th, under Gen. Otto:--that a man of
the name of Barnes, who had been unfortunately reduced from a
serjeant to the ranks, had bravely advanced, doing execution
on the enemy, till his retreat was foreclosed, and he was seen
engaged with five French dragoons at once; all of these he
fairly cut down, when nine more came upon him, whom he faced
and fairly kept at bay, till one of them got behind him, and
shot the brave fellow in the head."
In reference to the action of the 26th, Captain Jones observes:
"It is not possible to describe the bravery of the army on that
day, nearly the whole of the British cavalry were engaged, and
gained immortal honour."
The Duke of York's address to the army, published on the 28th of April,
thus concludes:
"His Royal Highness has, at all times, had the highest
confidence in the courage of the British troops in general, and
he trusts that the cavalry will now be convinced that whenever
they attack with the firmness, velocity, and order which they
showed on this occasion, no number of the enemy (we have to
deal with) can resist them."
BIBLIOTHECAR. CHETHAM.
_Curious Posthumous Occurrence_ (Vol. viii., p. 5.).--Though the worthy
grave-digger's account, reported by A. B. C., may be chargeable with
some exaggeration as to the _generality_ of body-turning, and though
the decomposing reason assigned may not be true, yet, that many dead
human bodies are found with their faces downwards, is nevertheless quite
correct.
Works are now in progress, at the east end of this metropolis, under
my own immediate observation, where this fact has been incontestably
verified. How long since, or on what occasion, these remains of mortality
were placed there, I know not; but, in the course of excavation required
for the foundations, they are frequently met with, and, in many
instances, in this strange position.
I had come to the conclusion, that, during some raging pestilence (and
which may indeed again occur, unless an acceleration takes place in our
wounded-snake-like motion in the way of sanitary improvement), I say, it
had been my impression, that during some such awful calamity, the anxiety
of the uncontaminated to avoid infection had induced them to remove their
less fortunate fellow-creatures out of the way with so much haste as
actually to bury them alive! and in some convulsive struggle between life
and death, they had turned themselves over!
R. M.
In reply to this Note, I would remark that I have consulted a
grave-digger "grown old in the service" here, and he tells me he never
remembers a case where, after interment, in process of time the occiput
takes the place of the facial bones; but, he says, very frequently the
head drops either on one side or the other--a circumstance which any one
conversant with the human skeleton and the connexion of the cranium with
the vertebræ would deem most natural.
BRISTOLIENSIS.
_Passage in Job_ (Vol. vii., p. 14.).--This question is answered, as
far as it seems possible, by Barnes, in his _Notes on Job_, which MR.
EDWIN JONES may easily consult. The fact appears to be that we have no
information respecting the passage in question beyond what is furnished
by itself.
B. H. C.
_St. Paul and Seneca_ (Vol. viii., p. 88.).--There is an account of
the work referred to in the July number of the _Journal of Sacred
Literature_, edited by Dr. Kitto. It will be found among the "Foreign
Intelligence."
B. H. C.
_Haulf-naked_ (Vol. vii., pp. 432. 558.).--As my Query in reference to
this place has drawn forth a {206} Note or two from some correspondents
of yours, allow me to thank them, and at the same time to inform them
that "A general Collection of all the Offices of England, with the Fees,
in the Queene's guifte," a manuscript temp. Elizabeth, contains the
following reference. Under the head "Castles," &c. occurs,--
"_Com. Sussex._
{ Keeper of the Manor of _£_ _s._ _d._
Walberton and { Half-naked and Goodwood 20 0 0
Haulf-naked. { Keeper of the Wood and
{ Chace of Walberton 3 0 10."
CHARLES REED.
_Books chained to Desks in Churches_ (Vol. viii. p. 94.).--An engraving
of a very fine perpendicular lettern, having a book fastened to it by
a chain, is given in the _Proceedings of the Arch. Inst._ for 1846, as
existing at that time in the church of St. Crux, York. In 1851 I noticed
the upper part of one in Chesterton Church near Cambridge, placed on the
sill of the east window of the south aisle with a book lying upon it,
very much torn and wanting the title-page. I ascertained the subject of
it at the time; but omitted to make a note of it, and I am sorry to say
it has now slipped my memory.
Rutter, in his _Somersetshire_, speaks of some old reading desks, which
were still remaining in 1829 in Wrington Church, fastened to the walls of
the chancel, on which were several books, "especially Fox's _Martyrs_,
and the _Clavis Bibliorum_ of F. Roberts, who was rector of the parish
in 1675." There was one also about the same time at Chew Magna Church,
Somersetshire; with a copy of Bishop Jewel's _Defence of the Church_
chained to it. In Redcliff Church, Bristol, there is a small mahogany
one supported by a bracket, with a brass chain attached, near the vestry
on the north side of the choir. Until within a very few years, a desk,
with Fox's _Martyrs_ lying upon it, was in the Holy Trinity Church, Hull,
affixed to one of the pillars in the nave.
A fine old Bible and chain is shown amongst the relics at Trinity Church,
Stratford-upon-Avon.
It would appear that theological works were not the only ones secured
in this manner; for I find (Rutter's _Somersetshire_, p. 258.) that one
Captain S. Sturmy of Easton in Gordano published a folio, entitled _The
Mariner's or Artisan's Magazine_, a copy of which he gave to the parish
to be chained and locked in the desk, until any ingenious person should
borrow it, leaving 3_l._ as a security in the hands of the trustees
against damage, &c.
R. W. ELLIOTT.
It is somewhat strange that I should have omitted the following passage
whilst writing on this subject in a recent Number, as the work to which
it refers, Bishop Jewel's _Defence of his Apology for the Church of
England_, is so well known:
"At the desire of Archbishop Parker, a copy of the _Defence_
was set up soon after Jewel's death, in almost every parish
church in England; and fragments of it are still to be seen in
some churches, together with the chain by which it was attached
to the reading-desk provided for it."
This extract is taken from the _Life of Bishop Jewel_, prefixed to the
English translation of the _Apology_, edited by Dr. Jelf for the Society
for promoting Christian Knowledge (8vo. Lond. 1849), p. xx.
An order for the setting up of "the _Paraphrases_ of Erasmus in English
upon the gospels" in some convenient place within all churches and
chapels in the province of York, will be found in Archbishop Grindal's
_Injunctions for the Laity_, § 4. (_Remains, &c._, Parker Society, p.
134.) See also the _Articles to be enquired of within the Province of
Canterburie_, § 2. (Ibid. p. 158.)
W. SPARROW SIMPSON.
In Malvern Abbey Church is a stand to which two books are chained. The
one is a commentary on the Book of Common Prayer; the other is a treatise
on Church Unity. In Kinver Church (Worcestershire) are three books placed
in a desk (_not_ chained) in the south aisle: being _The Whole Duty of
Man_ (1703); _A Sermon made in Latine in the Reigne of Edward the Sixte_,
by John Jevvel, Bishop of Sarisburie; and _The Actes and Monumentes of
Christian Martyrs_ (1583).
CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.
At Bowness Church, on Windermere Lake, there is (or at least was, in
1842) a copy of Erasmus's _Paraphrase_ chained. If I am not mistaken,
some of Jewel's works will also be found there.
E. H. A.
_Scheltrum_ (Vol. vi., p. 364.).--KARL will find _scheltrum_, variously
written "scheltrun, sheltrun, shiltroun, schetrome," of very common
occurrence in the translation of the Old Testament by Wicliff and his
followers; it is there rendered from the Lat. _aeies_. The instances
quoted by Jamieson, from the Latin _testudo_, come nearer to the origin,
_shield_.
Q.
Bloomsbury.
_Quarrel_ (Vol. vi., p. 172.).--BALLIOLENSIS will be pleased with Mr.
Trench's ingenious account of our conversion of a _complaint_ into a
_quarrel_.
"The Latin word (_querela_) means properly 'complaint,' and we
have in 'querulous' this its proper meaning coming distinctly
out. Not so, however, in 'quarrel,' for Englishmen, being wont
not merely to 'complain,' but to set vigorously about righting
and redressing themselves, their griefs being also grievances,
out of this word, which might have given them only {207}
'querulous' and 'querulousness,' have gotten 'quarrel' as
well."--_On the Study of Words_, p. 57.
"We might safely conclude," Mr. Trench premises, "that a nation
would not be likely tamely to submit to tyranny and wrong,
which made 'quarrel' out of 'querela.'"
This, I say, is very ingenious, but did _this_ nation make _quarrel_ out
of _querela_? Did they not take it ready made from their neighbours,
the French, Italian, Spanish, who have all performed, and, I presume,
led the way in performing, the same exploit; showing that they must all
have had the same disposition inhering in them to set about righting and
redressing themselves, though not always, perhaps, with so prompt and
active a vigour as that ascribed to the English by Mr. Trench.
Q.
Bloomsbury.
_Wild Plants, and their Names_ (Vol. vii., p. 233.).--A preparation from
St. John's Wort, called red oil, is used in the United States for the
cure of bruises and cuts. It may have been formerly used in England. St.
John's Wort is one of the commonest weeds in the Middle States.
UNEDA.
Philadelphia.
_Jeremy Taylor and Christopher Lord Hatton_ (Vol. vii., p. 305.).--Bishop
Taylor uses the word _relative_ in the sense of a dependent or humble
friend in several places in his works; a fact which his editor, Bishop
Heber, missed observing, as appears from a passage in the Preface to
Taylor's _Works_.
M. E.
Philadelphia.
_Burial on the North Side of Churches_ (Vol. vi., p. 112. &c.).--The
opinion of your correspondent SELEUCUS, that the avoidance of burial on
the north side of a churchyard is to be attributed to its being generally
the unfrequented side of the church, is borne out by the fact, that in
the rare cases where the entrance to the church is _only_ on the north
side, the graves are also to be found there in preference to being on
the south, which in such a case would of course be "the back of the
church." SELEUCUS mentions one instance of a church entered only from the
north. To this example may be added the little village church of Martin
Hussingtree, between Worcester and Droitwich, where the sole entrance is
on the north, and where _all_ the burials are on the same side of the
church.
CUTHBERT BEDE, B. A.
_Rubrical Query_ (Vol. vii., p. 247.).--The contradiction of the two
rubrics is purely imaginary. Both are to be closely construed. The
_first_ enjoins notice to be given of Communion as of any other festival;
the _second_ provides that in the same service (notice having been so
given) the Exhortation shall be the last impression on the thoughts of
the congregation.
S. Z. Z. S.
_Stone Pillar Worship_ (Vol. vii., p. 383.).--The Rowley Hills near
Dudley, twelve in number, and each bearing a distinctive name, make up
what may be called a mountain of basaltic rock, which extends for several
miles in the direction of Hales Owen. From the face of a precipitous
termination of the southern extremity of these hills rises a pillar of
rock, known as the "The Hail Stone." I conjecture that the word _hail_
may be a corruption of the archaic word _haly_, holy; and that this
pillar of rock may have been the object of religious worship in ancient
times. The name may have been derived directly front the Anglo-Saxon
_Haleg stan_, holy stone. It is about three quarters of a mile distant
from an ancient highway called "The Portway," which is supposed to be of
British origin, and to have led to the salt springs at Droitwich. I have
no knowledge of any other place bearing the name of Hail Stone, except
a farm in the parish of West Fetton in Shropshire, which is called "The
Hail Stones." No stone pillars are now to be found upon it: there is a
quarry in it which shows that the sand rock lies there very near the
surface. Dr. Plot, in his _History of Staffordshire_ (p. 170.), describes
the rock on the Rowley Hills as being "as big and as high on one side
as many church steeples are." He relates that he visited the spot in
the year 1680, accompanied by a land-surveyor, who, ten years before
that time, had noticed that at this place the needle of the compass was
turned six degrees from its due position. The influence which the iron in
basaltic rocks has on the needle was not known at that period, and the
Doctor makes two conjectures in explanation of the phenomenon observed.
First, he says, "there must be in these lands that miracle of Nature
we call a loadstone;" and he adds, "unless it come to pass by some old
armour buried hereabout in the late civil war." The sonorous property of
the rock led him to conjecture "that there might be here a vault in which
some great person of ancient times might be buried under this natural
monument; but digging down by it as near as I could where the sound
directed, I could find no such matter."
Plot does not mention the name by which this rock was known. It is not
mentioned at all by either Erdeswick, Shaw, or Pitt, in their Histories
of Staffordshire.
N. W. S.
_Bad_ (Vol. vi. p. 509.).--Horne Tooke's etymology may, perhaps, satisfy
B. H. COWPER'S inquiry, or at least gratify his curiosity. He assumes
the _bay_ or bark of a dog to be excited by what it _abhors_, _hates_,
_defies_; and farther, that our epithet of _bad_ is applied by us to
that, which, for reasons which we may call moral (_æsthetic_, I believe
{208} I ought to say) reasons or feelings, we _hate_, or _abhor_. And he
forms it thus, _bay-ed_, bay'd, ba'd, _bad_.
Q.
Bloomsbury.
_Porc-pisee_ (Vol. vi., p. 579.).--MR. WARDE will find that this is
the old English way of writing _porpoise_, more nearly to the French
and Italian. Spenser writes _porcpisces_, and Ray _porpesse_, i.e.
_porc-pesee_. Both are quoted in Richardson.
"_Wheal_ instead of milk," is _whey_ or _whig_. "To _flesh_ in sin," is
to indulge in, to accustom to, to inure to, the gratification of the
sinful lusts of the _flesh_. Johnson has from Hales the same expression
"fleshed in sin" which he interprets "hardened."
Q.
Bloomsbury.
_Lowbell_ (Vol. vii., pp. 181. 272.).--Your correspondents H. T. W. and
M. H. will find sufficient reasons from Nares' quotations to convince
them that _lowbell_ is so called from its sound; and the usage by Hammond
(in Johnson) that the verb, to _lowbell_, was used consequentially to
signify to frighten into a snare, and thus, to ensnare. And the noun, a
snare, allurement, temptation.
"Now commonly he who desires to be a minister looks not at the
work, but at the wages; and by that _lure_ or _lowbell_ may
be toll'd from parish to parish all the town over."--Milton,
"Hirelings," &c., _Works_, vol. i. p. 529.
Q.
Bloomsbury.
_Praying to the West_ (Vol. viii., p. 102.).--_The isles of the West_, by
which is understood what we term the British Isles, in the ancient Hindoo
writings are described as _the Sacred Isles_, or the abode of religion.
The Celtic tribes used the practice of turning to the West in their
religious rites, having adopted it in a very early age from a reason
similar to that which led the _Turks_ in a later age to turn towards
Mecca, and _other nations_ towards the East; that is, the superior
sanctity attached by each to these several points. This practice the
Celtic tribes brought with them in their migration from the East to those
parts in which we now find it in the West; where it has been retained by
their descendants after the circumstances which gave rise to it had been
long forgotten.
G. W.
Stansted, Montfichet.
_Old Dog_ (Vol. iv., p. 21.).--See _The Observer_ (Cumberland's), No.
131.:--"Uncle Antony was _an old dog_ at a dispute."
P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.
_Contested Elections_ (Vol. vii., p. 208.).--An account of many of the
English contested elections may be found in Oldfield's _Representative
History of Great Britain and Ireland_, 6 vols.: London, 1816. I hope that
X. Y. Z. does not rank this among the "wretched compilations." Oldfield
was a man of much experience as a parliamentary agent, and his book is
entertaining--at least, to us Americans.
M. E.
Philadelphia.
_"Rathe" in the Sense of "early"_ (Vol. vii., p. 634. _et alibi._).--See
_The Antiquary_, cap. xxxix. (vol. i. p. 468. People's Edition), where
Maggie Mucklebacket says:
"I havena had the grace yet to come down to thank your honour
for the credit ye did puir Steenie, wi' laying his head in a
_rath_ grave."
The Glossary explains the word as _ready_, _quick_, _early_.
P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.
_Chip in Porridge_ (Vol. i., p. 382).--Though a long time has elapsed, I
see nothing more on the subject of this phrase than Q. D.'s application
for information regarding it.
I take it to mean a nonentity, a thing of no importance, and to have no
more distinctive origin than the innumerable other cant sayings in daily
use.