The Temple.
MY DEAR DOROTHY,--So you have decided on commencing your married life
in a flat--a very wise decision on your part. In the first place, in a
flat you know exactly what your position is as regards rent, whereas a
house entails constant expense for repairs, to say nothing of rates and
taxes.
It is true that, if the people on the floor above you indulge in
clog-dancing all the day whilst the occupiers of the floor below
practise the cornet à piston half-way into the night, you might find
that the drawbacks of a flat were unendurable; but I do not think that
you are likely to suffer quite such a terrible experience as I have
depicted.
Another advantage of a flat is that, if you want to run down to the
country or the seaside for the week's end, or for even a longer period,
you can lock up your flat and start off gaily; but with a house on your
hands it is a very different matter.
But perhaps the greatest attraction of a flat is the reduction in the
number of the necessary domestics. In a small flat like yours, you
ought to manage very well with one servant, provided she is capable and
attends to her work.
Whatever you do, don't engage a "treasure," unless you happen to know
all about her. If one is recommended to you by an acquaintance, you may
be quite sure that the "treasure" has some great drawback; otherwise,
why should her mistress be so anxious to part with her? Ask yourself
that question before you burden yourself with a "treasure" that you may
have great difficulty in getting rid of, especially if she turns out to
be a tyrant like some "treasures" I have known. Remember my warning,
beware of "treasures." Get a servant that you can instruct, not one
that will order you about and make your life a burden to you.
I am sorry to hear that Aunt Anne had so much trouble with her late
cook, to whom she had been, as every mistress is bound to be, very
kind; but I am glad that she managed to get rid of her in the end.
Under the circumstances, she would have been quite justified in
discharging her without giving her a month's wages in lieu of notice.
A servant who refuses to do any work and locks herself in her room,
refusing to come out, as this one did, may be summarily dismissed
without being paid for services which she has not rendered.
Aunt Anne was fortunate in getting the policeman to come in and turn
the woman out. A constable is not bound to enter a private dwelling in
order to eject a noisy or troublesome domestic. On the contrary, the
householder has to get the troublesome individual as far as the street
door before the constable will interfere and take charge of him or her.
I hope that Aunt Anne will be more fortunate in her choice of a new
cook.
It may seem rather hard that because you happen to have been given
a silver mustard-pot with Gerald's crest upon it, that you should
be obliged to pay a guinea a year for a licence to carry armorial
bearings; but, strictly speaking, this is what you are bound to do if
you keep the mustard-pot.
I happen to know of a case where a good lady was summoned before the
magistrate for not having taken out this licence, where it was shown
that all she had in the way of a crest or coat-of-arms was a hall
chair, which she had recently purchased, with someone else's crest on
it; but, in spite of this fact, she was fined and ordered to pay for
the licence.
The occasional use of the services of the hall-porter at your flat will
not render you liable to the duty for keeping a male servant.
What is the objection to purchasing a piano on the three years' hire
system? Instead of parting with a large sum in one cash payment, which
is very often an inconvenient thing to do, you pay, by half-a-dozen
half-yearly instalments, or quarterly if you prefer it, with what you
will probably be able to save out of your housekeeping money. It seems
to me a very excellent way of acquiring an expensive article.
Your dressmaker cannot force you to pay for a dress which is so badly
made that it is quite impossible for you to wear it. But then the
question arises, Is it really so bad as you make out? Could it not be
made to fit properly with a few alterations?
If you are positive that nothing can be done with it to make it
wearable, I should advise you to refuse to take it in or to pay for it,
in which case you may possibly have to appear in the County Court for
the judge to decide whether it fits, or can be made to fit, or not.
If such a contingency arises, you may rely upon having the professional
assistance of
Your affectionate cousin,
BOB BRIEFLESS.
CHINA MARKS.
ENGLISH PORCELAIN.
PART III.
THE WORCESTER FACTORIES.
The factory at Worcester was opened in 1750-51, contemporaneously with
that of Derby, the old mansion of Warmstry House being the first seat
of the works. The latter passed into various hands, but were instituted
by Dr. Wall, a physician, and Dr. Davis, an apothecary. The excellence
of the colouring was a feature of manufacture, and it reached its
highest degree of perfection from 1760 to 1780. Imitations from Chinese
and Japanese designs were chiefly in vogue, enamelled, painted, or
pencilled on the glaze, or in blue under it. Amongst the early marks
distinguishing the Worcester porcelain, there is a "W" standing both
for Worcester and Wall, the sign of Esculapius, a "W" enclosed in a
square, and one formed of two "V's" intersecting each other, besides
outlined crescents in gold or blue, fretted squares, anchors, and
names. It may here be observed that according to general opinion no
figures have been produced at Worcester.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
In the second period of the Worcester manufacture, under Messrs.
Flight & Barr, 1783, the name "Flight," or that name with a crescent,
distinguished the work, and likewise "Flight and Barr," surmounted by
a crown; and then with initials. The Chinese, Chantilly, Dresden, and
Sèvres marks were also borrowed, but the exact date of their adoption
does not appear to be decided.
[Illustration]
Robert Chamberlain, apprentice of the old Worcester factory, took up a
separate business with his brother Humphrey, and Messrs. Kerr & Binns
succeeded them, and employed the marks here following. One consisted
of four "W's" enclosed within a circle; three initial letters, and a
shield bearing initials and the name "Worcester."
[Illustration]
A third factory has been instituted by Chamberlain's nephew, Mr.
Grainger, in partnership with Messrs. Lee & Co., under whose names the
present Worcester china is executed.
The original founder, Dr. John Wall, died at Bath in 1776. In 1783 Mr.
Flight purchased them, and took Binns into partnership, Solomon Cole,
and Baxter. Amongst other names connected with the Worcester works
are Blaney, Davis, Holdship, whose name, "R. Holdship," appears on
some examples, and "RH" united as a monogram, as also a "B" for Binns.
There are some fifty-seven workmen's marks on this china, which are too
numerous to give, mostly of a very insignificant character. A large
"W" (capital letter) is rare. Sometimes a square Chinese seal may be
found on a specimen by no means oriental, and this is accounted for
by the painting of such a mark on the paste before the glazing or the
decorative design was executed or perhaps decided upon by the artist.
[Illustration]
A few more of the Worcester marks may be added. First, the date,
as given in the Shreiber Collection in the South Kensington Museum.
The second is on the small sprig pattern of small blue flowers (like
the _Angoulême_). The third is a group painted in blue, on imitation
Japanese porcelain, very fine and old. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and
seventh groups are all on Japanese china.
[Illustration]
THE BRISTOL PORCELAIN.
Richard Champion, the founder of the Bristol Porcelain works, Castle
Green, 1765, having applied for an extension of his patent (granted for
fourteen years), was strongly opposed by Josiah Wedgwood, and other
Staffordshire potters. The extension under certain conditions was
obtained, but two years subsequently he sold it to some Staffordshire
potters, and the work was carried on at Tunstall and Shelton. The
designs on Champion's Porcelain were taken extensively from Dresden,
for which his work is often mistaken, as he affixed the crossed swords
of that manufactory to his own china. He also copied those of Sèvres
and Vincennes. In one case the Bristol cross is united with that of
Plymouth, _i.e._,
[Illustration]
The plain cross is painted in blue. The Bristol marks next following
are painted on the glaze in blue or slate-colour, _i.e._,
[Illustration]
The marks of Champion, in designs taken more or less from the Dresden
and French are as here given, all under the glaze in blue, excepting
the last three which are over the glaze.
The letter "T" is embossed, standing in relief, and the plain cross is
painted in blue. The Dresden crossed swords in a triangle, is impressed
on the clay.
[Illustration]
The painter's number is sometimes given over the glaze, as "7,"
and when in gold and added to the Dresden mark, in Bristol ware,
it indicates the gilder and not the painter. Also we find the name
"Bristoll" in double lined letters, and the following three, a cross,
date, and figure 1 or T; a cross with a small "b" under it; and a
capital "B" with the figure "7" beneath it on one side. The mark "T^o"
is also distinctive of this factory.
To give an idea of the excellence to which the work attained in
Bristol, I may observe that a tea-service presented by Richard Champion
to his wife Judith in November, 1774, painted in figures, was sold
at Sotheby's April, 1871, for £565. It consisted only of six pieces
(counting a cup and saucer as one), _i.e._, the teapot, milk jug, sugar
basin and three cups with their saucers. Of course, their value was
greatly enhanced by their age.
PLYMOUTH PORCELAIN.
To William Cookworthy, of Kingsbridge, and Lord Camelford we owe the
production of porcelain at Plymouth. They worked together, and took out
a patent in 1768. For the manufacture, Cookworthy discovered kaolin
and pentuse in Cornwall, both natural substances, requisite for the
production of hard paste; the former to supply an opaque body, and the
latter a perfectly transparent substance, commonly called "moonstone,"
or "chinastone," the two being blended together.
In the first patent taken out in this country in 1768, the porcelain
was described as made of moonstone, or granite and china clay, the
latter giving infusibility and whiteness, Henry Bone, the enameller,
and M. Soqui, a painter from Sèvres, being the decorators of the
Coxside manufactory at Plymouth. After a lapse of a few years, the
interest of the latter was sold, and the patent rights transferred to
Mr. Champion, of Bristol, in 1774. The mark of the original Plymouth
porcelain was the alchemic symbol for tin, sometimes, but rarely,
incised in the clay, in blue under the glaze, or in gold or red upon
it; but many pieces have no mark at all. A great similarity appeared
between the work executed at Plymouth and that in Bow, which may be
accounted for by the fact that Cookworthy employed workmen procured
from the last-named factory. Some £3,000 were expended in perfecting
the discovery of how to bring the porcelain to perfection.
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH MARK.]
(_To be continued._)
NEIGHBOURS.
One of the penalties of the "civilisation" that drives so many people
to live in cities, is that they must have neighbours, good, bad or
indifferent, in close proximity.
There are still some houses in cities standing alone and surrounded
by garden or shrubbery, but the majority of dwellers in towns must,
by force of circumstances, have people next door. These cannot be
altogether ignored (though it is wonderful how the habit grows of
minding one's own business), and we have to bear with their faults and
their failings. A great help in this direction is to remind ourselves
that we are also somebody's neighbour, and, no doubt, they have faults
to find with us.
Still, there is no denying that whatever are our faults, those of
our neighbour are very aggravating. What can be more intolerable than
the barking and yelping of our neighbour's dog, the crowing of our
neighbour's cock, the creaking of his rusty gate, and the crying and
even screaming of his children? Only one thing can be worse, and that
is the strumming on our neighbour's piano. Next door noises are a
source of much ill-temper and even of ill-health to those whose nerves
are strained to tension-point, and in these days of high pressure,
this is one of our most serious troubles. The minor annoyances of our
neighbour's washing and our neighbour's cooking are as nothing compared
to these, and we must consider ourselves fortunate if we have quiet
people next door. Better still if they are godly people who recognise
the divine duty of a neighbour.
I think there is no time when the disposition of a neighbour is more
evident than in times of sickness, and our happiest recollection of
neighbours was under those circumstances. Up to then our acquaintance
was limited to pleasant exchange of courtesies over the weather, the
new baby and the gardens; and friendly relations were established
between us when, one morning we received a little note saying that they
were having a new flagstone put down at their gate, and as ours was
also worn, would we allow their workman to put one down for us--surely
a most neighbourly and considerate proposition! This led to pleasant
intercourse between the houses, exchange of household recipes, bouquets
and visits. But the testing came when long and severe illness laid
one of our family low; and then in truth we learnt to know what "to
be neighbourly" meant. No distance was too great, no journey too
irksome--if any special delicacy were needed for the invalid--every
morning, afternoon, and evening brought some kind message for the
patient or the nurse, and, when recovery happily came, it was our
kind neighbour, the head of the house, who carried the convalescent
downstairs for the first time.
And now, years after these events, when we have moved away--as well
as they--the children are grown-up, and the families are scattered,
there is a bond of happy recollections between us, which time does not
efface, or change of circumstances alter. It is our old neighbours
who send us Christmas and other greetings, when friends and relatives
forget to send them, and some of our pleasantest conversations refer to
the time when we lived "next door."
May this continue till we find ourselves with them again, neighbours,
but in heavenly mansions!
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
RULES.
I. No charge is made for answering questions.
II. All correspondents to give initials or pseudonym.
III. The Editor reserves the right of declining to reply to any of
the questions.
IV. No direct answers can be sent by the Editor through the post.
V. No more than two questions may be asked in one letter, which
must be addressed to the Editor of "The Girl's Own Paper," 56,
Paternoster Row, London, E.C.
VI. No addresses of firms, tradesmen, or any other matter of the
nature of an advertisement will be inserted.
MEDICAL.
EMILY DALTON.--We thank you for your letter, but we must remind you
that the preparation that cured you is by no means likely to be of
equal value to others. If the remedy that you used is one that is not
commonly employed for that purpose, we may be almost certain that it
would be totally useless in another case. Most unexpected things do
happen in medicine, and it requires a long time to decide whether a
drug has any good effect, even though it may have apparently cured one
or two persons. You are hardly likely to have discovered any new drug,
and most of the medicines used in England, whether in the pharmacopœia
or not, have been exhaustively studied. Those drugs which are not
official are not given a place in the pharmacopœia, either because
they are of insufficient value or because they have not yet been
sufficiently studied. The reason why patent medicines and advertised
nostrums are not given a place in our official list of drugs is
either, as is most commonly the case, they are useless or inferior to
preparations already in the pharmacopœia, or because they are simply
time-honoured prescriptions which have been stolen and patented for
running a company with, and charging thirteenpence halfpenny for what
can be got for a penny! You must also remember that using drugs, with
the action of which you are not familiar, is indeed dealing with edged
tools, which may do great good if properly handled, but which can work
disaster if wrongly applied.
"NOT BAD."--You are suffering from the nervous and physical depression
which is a constant symptom of anæmia. That you are anæmic is perfectly
obvious from your account. If you pay attention to what we are going to
tell you, we feel certain that you will soon get better. First read the
three articles on diet and digestion which appeared in the GIRL'S OWN
PAPER in February 1897, December 1897, and September 1898. Then turn to
page 384 of last year's volume and read the answer which describes the
treatment of anæmia. When you have read those papers, then read what
follows here. Give up the cold bath in the morning and do not return
to it till you are completely well again. In its place you may take a
warm bath before going to bed. Pay great attention to your digestion by
observing all the rules laid down in the articles above mentioned. Take
a walk regularly every day. As regards drugs, you must guard carefully
against constipation, which is the chief cause of anæmia. A teaspoonful
of liquorice powder, or an aloes and nux vomica pill, may be taken
occasionally for this purpose. Tonics are the greatest bane of modern
medicine, and you will do well to fight shy of them altogether. Iron,
taken as a blood-former, but not as a tonic, is invaluable for anæmia.
You should begin with a small dose of a mild preparation. A five-grain
"Bland's" pill taken three times a day after meals is a good way of
taking iron. It is the rule for persons with anæmia to get stout and
not to become thin, as one would, _a priori_, have expected.
"JESSIE."--Your deafness is, almost for certain, due to wax. That you
are very subject to sore throats, and that you usually breathe through
your mouth, are perhaps against this opinion, but everything else is in
favour of it. Syringe out your ears, or get some careful friend to do
it for you. Before syringing out your ears read the article "All about
the ear" which appeared in this magazine October 1897. If the syringing
is properly done you will recover your hearing immediately. It may take
an hour to efficiently syringe out an ear.
"MINNIE STEWARD."--Your deafness is unquestionably due to wax. Read
what we said to "JESSIE."
ANXIOUS ONE.--We think that you will find the cause of your symptoms
in your spectacles. Did you have your eyes examined by a medical man,
or did you go to an oculist and choose the pair that suited you best?
We guess that you did the latter, and if our surmise is correct, your
symptoms are very easily accounted for. Your eyes evidently have
different refractive powers, that is, they need different glasses. The
spectacles kept by oculists, or, rather, opticians, have both glasses
of equal power, so that you could not get a pair of spectacles to suit
your own case unless you had them made for you. You say your "other eye
is defective." By this do you mean that you cannot use that eye for
working, or that it squints? In either case it would be practically
useless, so that your "bad eye" has to do all the work, and is
consequently overworked, becomes sore, and gives you headaches. If it
is not exactly suited by the lens in front of it, it is quite capable
of incapacitating you altogether. Go to an ophthalmic surgeon and get a
prescription for glasses for each eye separately. Take the card to the
best optician you know and have the glasses made for you. We know that
this will be rather expensive, but it is necessary if you wish to keep
your sight.
AN OLD FRIEND OF THE "G.O.P."--We advise you not to use lemons for your
hair, for though we do not think that they would do much harm, they are
not likely to do any good. Try a hairwash of rosemary or quinine, or
use a pomade containing cantharides.
SLIGHT DEAFNESS (An answer to "JESSIE," "DEFFEE," "AN UNHAPPY ONE,"
"MINNIE STEWARD," and "QUEEN").--We are much pleased that our answer to
"A CONSTANT READER" has been the cause of so many of our readers laying
their troubles before us. As the five correspondents whom we are now
answering have understood the absolute necessity of supplying us with
information about their ills before we can give them a definite answer,
and as all have answered the thirteen points which it is necessary to
know before discussing the treatment of deafness, we will be able to
give them much more lucid replies than is possible in most cases of the
kind when correspondents merely ask us for "a cure for deafness."
"DEFFEE" has given us "a poser," for her answers to our thirteen
queries seem rather to indicate a combination of unhealthy conditions
rather than a single complaint. There is a great amount of information
in her report which suggests wax. As the treatment for this condition
is perfectly simple, she should try this first. A person who
"scarcely knows what a sore throat means" is hardly likely to have
suffered much from it. There are certain passages in her letter which
strongly suggest that the chief cause of her deafness is hardening
and stiffening of the drums of her ears from catarrh of the nose and
eustachian tube. We advise her to get an "atomiser" and thoroughly
spray her nose and throat with a solution of menthol in paraleine
(1 in 8) three times a day. We hardly like to give an opinion as to
the ultimate result.
"AN UNHAPPY ONE" would do best to go to a hospital as she suggests. The
cause of her deafness is probably catarrh.
"QUEEN."--Your letter was most interesting, but we fear that we can
hold out no hope of your ever recovering your hearing. You are to
be congratulated upon having recovered at all from so frightful an
accident, which is nearly always fatal. Your left auditory nerve was
torn through by the fracture of your skull. It is an exceedingly soft
nerve, and we have never heard of its recovery from division. This is
probably because the nerve is always more or less lacerated as well as
torn across.
MISCELLANEOUS.
TRELA.--Miniature portrait painting on ivory has become very
fashionable of late, and there are always many in the exhibition at
the Royal Academy each year. Moist water-colours are used for the
painting, sable brushes, and a piece of ivory. The work is very fine,
and requires strong and good sight. We think you would require lessons
and some study before you made it valuable to you. Meanwhile you should
try to see a collection. Richard Cosway was a great miniature painter.
You do not say where you write from, so we cannot tell you where to go.
If near it, go to the South Kensington Museum.
MARGHERITA.--The population of the world is given in Meyer's
_Konversations Lexikon_ at, Christians, 448,000,000; non-Christians,
1,004,000,000.
GREEN-EYED CAT.--For "madeira cake" take eight ounces of flour, five
ounces of castor sugar, five ounces of butter, four eggs, citron as
desired, and grated lemon-peel. Blend the butter and sugar together,
add the grated lemon-peel, stir in the eggs one at a time, and sift in
the flour by degrees. Then pour the mixture into a buttered cake-tin,
placing the pieces of citron on the top, and bake during forty minutes
in a moderately hot oven.
CONFECTIONER (New Zealand).--The following is the recipe for the cream:
Take three cups of sugar, one and a half of water, half a teaspoonful
of cream of tartar, and flavour with essence of vanilla. Boil the
mixture till drops will nearly keep their shape in water, then pour
into a bowl set in cold water. Stir steadily with a silver or wooden
spoon till cold enough to bear the hand in it, and then place on a
platter and knead till of an even texture. If too hard, a few drops of
warm water may be stirred in; if too soft, it must be boiled again.
This is the usual foundation of cream bon-bons. It may be flavoured
with chocolate by adding a tablespoon of melted chocolate while the
syrup is hot. To make "chocolate creams," set one-half of a cake of
cooking chocolate on a flat dish in the oven until soft. Prepare cream
as above. Roll into small balls, leave for a few minutes to dry, then
roll in the melted chocolate and place on buttered paper. A two-pronged
fork will be found convenient for so doing.
VIPERS BUGLOSS.--In the year 1620 Oliver Cromwell married Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir James Bourchier, a gentleman of landed property in
Essex. The name Bourchier is said by Burke to be Anglo-Norman. The
first number of THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER is dated January 3rd, 1880.
C. T. J. (Harrogate).--The kings of England claimed the crown of
France from Edward III., 1340, to the time of George III., 1802--462
years--and the title "King of France" was used till the treaty of
Amiens in 1802. At the time of the Union, however, we find the royal
style and title was appointed to run thus:--"Georgius Tertius, Dei
Gratia Britanniarum Rex, Fidei Defensor," France having been omitted
already in 1801. This title was assumed by Edward III. in right of
his mother, Isabella, daughter of Philip IV. of France, A.D. 1290. As
France was under the Salic Law, which excludes women from the throne,
this claim was obviously untenable, but is said to have been made to
win over the Flemish allegiance. Edward, however, was originally forced
into a defensive war with France, because Philip of Valois desired to
seize Edward's duchy of Aquitaine, which had never belonged to the
kings of France.
H. R. H.--There are loan funds for helping women to train for
professional or technical careers at the Ladies' College, Cheltenham,
at Bedford College, and at Queen Margaret's College, Glasgow. For the
latter, address Mrs. E. J. Mills, 5, Hillhead Street, Glasgow. In
London there is the "Caroline Ashurst Bigg Memorial Loan Fund," Hon.
Secretary, Mrs. Alfred Pollard, 13, Cheniston Gardens, Kensington, W.
We believe that the paper is still in being. Write and inquire about
it, however.
SWEET BRIAR.--You should learn the Roman numerals. MDCCCXXVII. means
1827. M means a thousand, D five hundred, and C one hundred; X ten, V
five, and I one. There are many nice books for girls, from Sir Walter
Scott's downwards. Mrs. Craik, Miss Beale, Miss Rosa N. Carey, Miss
Sarah Doudney, are all writers for girls.
NELL.--There are twenty-one colleges at Oxford, and about 3000 members
of the university in residence. At Cambridge there are seventeen
colleges, and the members on the boards amounted to 13,079 in 1897,
while 887 students matriculated. The earliest university was at
Bologna, and that at Paris was the most important. These both rose
into notice in the twelfth century, and Oxford and Cambridge in the
thirteenth. The system of degrees and the names of the chief officers
were introduced into England, as well as into other countries, from
Paris. The distinguishing characteristic of Oxford or Cambridge is
the existence of a number of separate corporations or colleges within
the universities themselves. The origin of the colleges was due to
benevolent persons who desired to relieve a certain number of poor
scholars from the hardship of their lives at the mediæval universities,
and so provided a building where they could have a common life, and an
endowment for their maintenance.
DOLLY.--The first steamer that crossed the Atlantic was the _Rising
Sun_, built in 1818 by Lord Cochran. We do not know how long her voyage
was, but the following year an American ship left New York and arrived
at Liverpool after a run of twenty-six days. Her engines propelled her
during eighteen days, but the rest of the voyage was accomplished with
the assistance of her sails. She was called the _Savannah_, of 300
tons. Now the transit may be made in about five days.
LIZZIE.--We remember seeing an account of the so-called language of
stamps, but we hope no one will adopt it, as it would give extra
trouble to the Post Office employés, who ask us to put them always in
the right-hand upper corner. Besides, we do not see the use of it when,
by opening the letter itself, you would acquire the knowledge you want;
and it is a vulgar idea, and "bad form."
HIGH CHURCH.--Your bookseller would inform you. The Church of England
does not hold the first two dogmas you mention.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note--the following changes have been made to this text:
Page 147: Shorncliff to Shorncliffe.
Page 151: disburbed to disturbed.
Page 154: acepted to accepted.