Good liquor makes us funny:
If you are dry, step in and try,
The flavour of our honey."
3. The sign of "The Gate" (of frequent occurrence):
"The Gate hangs well,
And hinders none;
Refresh and pay,
And travel on."
T. H. KERSLEY, B.A.
Audlem, Nantwich.
In King Street, Norwich, at the sign of "The Waterman," kept by a man who
is a barber, and over whose door is the pole, are these lines:
"Roam not from pole to pole,
But step in here;
Where nought exceeds the shaving,
But the beer."
J. L. S.
There used to be at a small roadside inn, between Wetherby and Borobridge
(Yorkshire), at a place called Ninivy, the following inscription; {628}
whether or not it is still in existence I cannot say:
"At Nineveh, where dwelt Old Toby,
Pray stop and drink before you go by."
C. I. R.
* * * * *
THE CURFEW.
(Vol. ii., pp. 103. 175. 189. 311.; Vol. iv., p. 240.; Vol. vi., pp.
53. 112.; Vol. vii., pp. 167. 530.; Vol. viii., p. 603.)
The curfew is still rung at Kidderminster at eight o'clock. It is the
annual custom there, on a certain night, to continue the ringing for one
hour, a sum of money having been left for that purpose as a thank-offering
to God, for the curfew having been the means of saving a person from
destruction. This person had lost his way on his return from Bridgenorth
Fair, and when (as he afterwards discovered) on the point of falling from a
great height, the sound of the Kidderminster curfew caused him to retrace
his steps and regain the road. A five o'clock morning bell is also rung at
Kidderminster. This and the curfew bell have been rung for many years past
by "Blind William," who, notwithstanding his total blindness, finds his way
along the streets that lead from his house to the church, and gains the
belfry with the greatest ease. So well is he acquainted with the path to
church, that he may be seen to turn the corners of the streets in as
decided a manner as if his wide-open eyes were endowed with sight; and,
with similar facility, he unlocks the gates and church doors. It is curious
to see him on the dark winter evenings, apparently guiding his steps by the
light of a lanthorn, which he probably carries in order to prevent careless
people, who are blessed with sight, from running against him. Like most (if
not all) blind people, he has an extraordinary ear for music, and will
quickly reproduce on his violin any tune that may have caught his fancy. At
this present festive period, a Kidderminster Christmas would lack one of
its component parts, were Blind Willie and his fiddle not there to add to
the harmony of the kindly season. During the month preceding Christmas, he
promenades the streets at untimely hours, and draws from his old fiddle all
the music which it is capable of giving forth. Indeed, Blind Willie may be
considered (in Kidderminster at least) as the harbinger of Christmas, for
he warns the inhabitants of its approach, long before the ordinary "waits"
have taken their ordinary measures for the same purpose. And when Christmas
Day is past and gone, he makes house-to-house visitation for the
Christmas-box which is to be the reward of his "early minstrelsy."
The curfew is rung at Bewdley in Worcestershire.
At Durham the curfew is rung (on the great bell of the cathedral) at nine
o'clock. It is therefore of the same use to the students of the University
of Durham as "Tom" is to the students of the University of Oxford, viz. it
marks the closing of the college gates.
CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.
* * * * *
PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.
_Photographic Engraving._--I inclose a copy of a little book for your
inspection, which is remarkable only in this, that the illustrations are
produced by photography. The general theory of the method is this: a piece
of glass is covered with a uniform thin coating of some substance, so as to
be opaque or semi-opaque (the substance should be light coloured), and a
design is etched on it with a needle. From this _negative_ positive
pictures are printed photographically.
As to details, the prints of the mice (p. 46.) and the cat (p. 37.) are
from a glass coated with iodized collodion rendered sensitive, exposed to
faint light for a short time and developed. In this method, the glass
should be heated; and the collodion _burnished_ with the hand, to make it
adhere well.[5] The owl (p. 22.) and the stork (p. 10.) are from a glass
coated with iodized collodion "rendered sensitive" only, and not developed
so as to be only semi-opaque. On this high lights were put with opaque
white, and darks were etched out. This has the effect of a tinted
lithograph, but requires much more care in printing than the former method,
in order to hit the right tint; so much so, that I have usually printed the
stork faintly so as not to show the "tint" at all. The frontispiece is from
a paper negative, a method much more troublesome and tedious than either of
the others, both in preparation of the negative and in printing.
I have lately tried gilt glass to etch upon. This would be excellent, were
it not most painful to the eyes. And more than two years ago, I prepared a
negative by painting whites with water colour on transparent glass with
moderate success.
I have recently received from Rome a positive printed from a negative on
smoked glass, the subject being a mule's head. Of all the methods I have
tried, the best is the first mentioned; and it seems to me easier than any
species of engraving.
Query, What is the best coating for the glass; and what will be the cost of
printing on a great scale, as compared with woodcut, lithograph, &c.; in
which must be included the cost of the skilled workman which will be saved
by this method?
HUGH BLACKBURN.
[When we add that the work referred to is an edition of _The History of
Little Downey_, that the prints in it are executed by a lady, and
printed at home by the photographic process, and that a limited number
of copies may be had on application to Messrs. {629} Constable and Co.
of Edinburgh, the sale being for the benefit of the Glasgow Ragged
School, we have no doubt many of our readers will be glad to secure
copies, and help to forward the good work which its publication is
intended to promote.]
[Footnote 5: This method was suggested to me by Professor Maconochie, who
indeed prepared the glass on which the mice were etched.]
_Collodion Negatives._--Allow me to communicate a sure and simple way of
darkening collodion positives for printing. It was shown to me by a friend
of mine; and not having seen it in your "N. & Q.," I have undertaken to lay
it before your readers, hoping that it may be found useful to many
beginners.
After having developed your picture, as a positive, with protosulphate of
iron and nitric acid, wash it well from the developing fluid, and keep it
on one end that all the water may drop from the plate. Then take three
parts of a concentrated solution of gallic acid, and one part of a nitrate
of silver solution, 60 grains to the ounce of water; mix together, and pour
on the plate. The picture will gradually begin to blacken; and after half
an hour or more, you will obtain a sufficient density for printing a
positive on paper.
Every one who will take the trouble to try it will be sure to succeed. Of
all the ways to blackening a picture for printing I have tried, not
excepting Professor Maconochie's method with chloride of gold and muriate
of ammonia, the surest I find is the one which I have laid before you. Just
try it, and you will be glad with the result.
F. M. (a Maltese.)
Malta, Valetta.
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
"_London Labour and the London Poor_" (Vol. viii., p. 527.).--I beg to
inform MR. GANTILLON that the above work is discontinued. The parts
entitled "Those that will work" and "Those that cannot work" have been
completed, and form a valuable book; but the discontinuance of the third
part is no loss at all, for in commencing upon "Those that will not work,"
Mr. Mayhew began with a history of prostitution in ancient and modern
times, a subject which did not possess the novelty or originality of his
other divisions, and consequently his readers fell off so fast that he was
forced first to raise the price of, and afterwards to discontinue
altogether, the publication. Probably, if he had confined himself to
treating the London prostitutes as he did the costermongers, the work would
have been completed, and would then have formed a complete encyclopædia of
London Labour and the London Poor.
ARTHUR C. WILSON.
Brompton.
_Felicia Hemans's inedited Lyric_ (Vol. viii., p. 407.).--Your
correspondent MR. WELD TAYLOR seems to possess the first rude draught of
the following beautiful piece by Felicia Hemans, entitled, "The Elfin
Call," a duet sung by Miss A. Williams and Miss M. Williams, Miss Messent
and Miss Dolby, Mrs. A. Newton and Miss Lanza, Miss Cubitt and Miss Porter,
Mrs. Aveling Smith and Miss Sara Flower, Miss Emma Lucombe and Miss Eliza
Birch, Miss Turner and Miss E. Turner. The music by Stephen Glover:
"Come away, Elves! while the dew is sweet,
Come to the dingles where fairies meet;
Know that the lilies have spread their bells
O'er all the pools in our forest dells;
Come away, under arching bows we'll float,
Making each urn a fairy boat;
We'll row them with reeds o'er the fountains free,
And a tall flag-leaf shall our streamer be.
And we'll send out wild music so sweet and low,
It shall seem from the bright flower's heart to flow;
As if 'twere a breeze with a flute's low sigh,
Or water-drops train'd into melody,
And a star from the depth of each pearly cup,
A golden star into heav'n looks up,
As if seeking its kindred where bright they lie,
Set in the blue of the summer sky."
J. YEOWELL.
_Sir Arthur Aston_ (Vol. viii., pp. 126. 302.).--Though unable to inform
CHARTHAM and A READER in what part of the co. of Berks the above cavalier
resided during the interval of time named by the former, I think I can
state the connexion, by marriage only, between the Tattersall and Aston
families: I believe it will be found that they were not "nearly related."
Thomas Howard, fourth duke of Norfolk, by his first wife, Mary Fitzalan,
had Philip (_jure matris_), Earl of Arundel, who died 1595 attainted, and
was succeeded by Thomas, created Earl of Norfolk. This last was father of
Henry Frederick and grandfather of Charles Howard, of Greystock Castle, who
married Mary, eldest daughter and coheiress of George Tattersall, of West
Court, Finchampstead, and Stapleford, co. Wilts.
Charles Howard, as above, was the fourth brother of Henry, sixth Duke of
Norfolk, which last was grandfather (through Thomas, his son, of Worksop)
of Mary Howard, who married Walter Aston, fourth Baron Aston, of Forfar, in
Scotland.
H. C. C.
I furnished a memoir of this famous soldier to the _Gentleman's Magazine_
in 1833 or 1834.
G. STEINMAN STEINMAN.
_Grammar in relation to Logic_ (Vol. viii., p. 514).--MR. INGLEBY evidently
has but a superficial view of this doctrine, which is not only Dr.
Latham's, but one, I apprehend, pretty well known to every Oxford
undergraduate, viz. that, logically, _conjunctions connect propositions,
not words_. By way of proving the falsity of it (which he says is
demonstrable), he bids Dr. Latham "resolve this sentence: _All men are
either two-legged, one-legged, or no-legged_:" and adds, "It cannot be
done." I may inform him that the three categorical propositions, "A man is
two-legged, or he is {630} one-legged, or he is no-legged," connected by
their several copulas, are equivalent to and co-extensive with the
disjunctive proposition which he instances.
MR. INGLEBY quotes Boole's _Mathematical (?) Analysis of Logic_ in support
of his opinion; but, from the following specimen of that work, it does not
appear to be much of an authority. The author says:
"The proposition, Every animal is either rational or irrational, cannot
be resolved into, Either every animal is rational or every animal is
irrational. The former belongs to pure categoricals, the latter to
hypotheticals."
Now the first sentence of this passage is an absurd truism; but the
proposition in question can be resolved into--An animal is rational or it
is irrational. Again, "the former does _not_ belong to pure categoricals,"
it is simply disjunctive. MR. INGLEBY falls into the same error, and
moreover seems not to be aware that a disjunctive proposition is at the
same time hypothetical.
Logically speaking, a conjunction implies two propositions; and, strictly,
connects propositions only. To say that conjunctions connect words, may be
true in a certain sense; but it is a very superficial and loose mode of
stating the matter.
H. C. K.
----Rectory, Hereford.
_Descendants of Milton_ (Vol. viii., p. 339.).--I have in the course of my
life met with or heard of more than once or twice, people of the same
names, and those very uncommon ones, who were in no way related to each
other; nevertheless, I venture to tell your correspondent J. F. M. that
about twenty years ago there was living the skipper of a coasting vessel,
trading between Bridport and London, named Caleb Clark. He or his family
are probably living at Bridport now.
[Greek: Alpha].
_Pronunciation of Bible Names_ (Vol. viii., p. 469.).--The clerk of a
retired parish in North-west Devon, who had to read the first lesson
always, used to make a hash of Shadrac, Meshac, and Abednego; and as the
names are twelve times repeated in the third chapter of Daniel, after
getting through them the first time, he called them "the aforesaid
gentlemen" afterwards.
W. COLLYNS.
Harlow.
_Henry I.'s Tomb_ (Vol. viii., p. 411.).--I fancy that the much mooted
question, as to the existence of a monumental tomb over the remains of King
Henry I. in Reading Abbey, may at once be set at rest by referring to
Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_, edit. 1744, in the second column of p. 15.:
where it is evident that a tomb and an effigy of King Henry I. had once
existed; that they had both fallen into decay; and that, in the time of
King Richard II., the Abbot of Reading was required to repair both the tomb
and the effigy of King Henry the founder, who was there buried, within the
space of one year, as the condition on which the charters were to be
confirmed:
"Cart. 5 & 6 Ric. II. n. 24.; Pat. 8 Ric. II. p. 1. m. 18. Pat. 16 Ric. II.
p. 1. m. 38.; Pat. 21 Ric. II. p. 3. m. 16. Confirm. Libertatum, modo Abbas
infra unum Annum honeste repararet Tumbam et Imaginem _R. Henrici_
Fundatoris, ibidem humati."
I. T. A.
_Bells at Berwick-upon-Tweed_ (Vol. viii., p. 292.): _Chandler, Bishop of
Durham_ (Vol. viii, p. 331.).--I may perhaps "kill two birds with one
stone," by reminding MESSRS. GATTY and NEWBURN that the Bishops of Durham
were formerly _Princes of the Palatinate_. It was probably in that capacity
that Bishop Chandler delivered a charge to the Grand Jury, and Bishop
Barington licensed a meeting-house bell. This latter prelate was, I
believe, the last who exercised the functions of that high office.
WM. HAZEL.
_Return of Gentry, temp. Henry VI._ (Vol. viii., p. 469.).--The return of
12th Henry VI. is printed in Fuller's _Worthies_, under each county.
G. STEINMAN STEINMAN.
I read in Fuller's _Worthies_, edit. Nuttall, vol. i. p. 60.:
"A later list might be presented of the English gentry towards the end
of the reign of King Henry VIII."
Does this list exist in any of our record offices?
And has it ever been printed?
TEWARS.
_Peter Allan_ (Vol. viii., p. 539.).--Your correspondent E. C. will find
much interesting information respecting this person in an account of him
reprinted from the _Sunderland and Durham County Herald_, and published
(1848) by Vint and Carr, Sunderland, under the title of _Marsden Rock, or
the Story of Peter Allan, and Marsden Marine Grotto_. He, his wife, eight
children, and aged father and mother, are there described as being in a
very flourishing condition: and (if I remember rightly) I saw them all,
when I last visited the rock in 1850.
CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.
_Burial in an Erect Posture_ (Vol. viii., p. 5.).--The following passage,
which I quote from Hearne's _Collection of Antiquarian Discourses_, vol. i.
p. 212., may perhaps prove acceptable to CHEVERELLS, as showing (on
traditional authority) that this mode of burial was anciently adopted in
the case of captains in the army:
"For them above the grounde buryed, I have by tradition heard, that
when anye notable captayne dyed in battel or campe, the souldyers used
to take his bodye, and to sette him on his feet _uprighte_, and put his
{631} launce or pike into his hand; and then his fellowe souldyers did
by travell everye man bringe so muche earthe, and laye aboute him as
should cover him, and mount up to cover the top of his pike."
I have a very curious print in my possession, illustrating the manners and
customs of the Laplanders; and, amongst the rest, their modes of burial. In
one case several bodies are represented standing in an upright posture,
perfectly nude, with railings all round except in the front; and another,
one body is represented in a similar condition, inclosed in a kind of
sentry-box.
R. W. ELLIOTT.
Clifton.
_The Word "Mob"_ (Vol. viii., pp. 386. 524. 573.).--Roger North, speaking
of the King's Head, or Green Ribbon Club, which was "a more visible
administration, mediate, as it were, between his lordship (Shaftsbury) and
the greater and lesser vulgar, who were to be the immediate tools," says:
"I may note that the rabble first changed their title, and were called
_the mob_, in the assemblies of this club. It was their beast of
burthen, and called first _mobile vulgus_, but fell naturally into the
contraction of one syllable, and ever since is become proper
English."--_Examen_, part III. ch. vii. p. 89.
H. GARDINER.
_Gen. Sir C. Napier_ (Vol. viii., p. 490.).--I may state, for the
instruction of officers who think study needless in their profession, that,
having enjoyed the intimate friendship of Sir C. Napier for some time
before he had the command in the midland district of England, I constantly
found him engaged in inquiries connected with his profession. He was always
in training. Not long before this time he had returned from Caen, in
Normandy, and he told me that when there he had surveyed the ground on
which William the Conqueror had acquired military fame before he made his
descent on England, and his conclusion was that that Conqueror was
remarkably well instructed for his time in the art of war. He expressed his
intention to write on this subject; but great events soon afterwards called
him to India, which became the scene of his own mastery in military and
civil command.
T. F.
_To Come_ (Vol. viii., p. 468.).--In the Lower Saxon dialect, to come is
_camen_, and the imperfect, as in Gothic, _quam_. It would therefore seem
that the English _came_ is not an innovation, but a partial restoration or
preservation of a very ancient form. (See Adelung's _Wörterbuch_.)
E. C. H.
_Passage in Sophocles_ (Vol. viii., pp. 73. 478.).--The Italics were
introduced to draw attention to the _new_ version which was adventured, "N.
& Q." being an excellent medium for such suggestions.
Sophocles having referred to "an illustrious saying of some one," and the
old scholiast having furnished this saying,
"[Greek: Hotan d' ho daimôn andri porsunêi kaka]
[Greek: Ton noun eblapse prôton hôi bouleuetai],"
it merely became necessary to compare the form which Sophocles adopted to
suit his metre with the words of this "illustrious saying," whence it
appeared that--
[Greek: hôi bouleuetai prassei d' oligoston chronon ektos atas];
and therefore I could not agree with the common version "and that he lives
for a brief space apart from its visitation;" erroneous, as I submit, from
the adoption of Brunck's reading [Greek: prassein], instead of reading, as
I venture to do, with Hermann, [Greek: theos agei ... prassei d'], taking
[Greek: theos] as the nominative of both verbs.
Neither the Oxford translation, Edwards's, nor Buckley's, renders [Greek:
oligoston] "_very_ brief," agreeably to the admonition of the old scholiast
to the contrary. The word "practise" objected to is, I submit, derived from
[Greek: prassô], to act, through [Greek: pragma], business, and [Greek:
praxis], practice, and is therefore the most appropriate English word,
although the word "does" will furnish Sophocles' meaning nearly as well. I
shall, however, be most happy to submit to correction by any classical
scholar.
T. J. BUCKTON.
Lichfield.
_Party-Similes of the Seventeenth Century_ (Vol. viii., p. 485.).--I must
beg of you to contradict the loose statement of JARLTZBERG at p. 486. of
this Volume, "as to the object of the Church of England in _separating
from_ Rome." Now, the Church of England did never _separate herself_ from
_any_ Christian Church; the doctrine and discipline of the Church of
England is to be found in her Book of Common Prayer. Popes Paul IV. and
Pius IV. offered to confirm this book, if Queen Elizabeth would acknowledge
the Pope's supremacy; and Roman Catholics in these realms habitually
conformed to the worship of the Church of England for the first _twelve
years_ of Queen Elizabeth's reign, after which time they were prevented
from doing so by the bull of Pius V. (dated Feb. 23, 1569), which
excommunicated that sovereign.
So Romanists are the separatists, and not Anglicans.
THOMAS COLLIS.
_Judges styled Reverend_ (Vol. viii., pp. 158. 276. 351.).--Sir Anthony
Fitzherbert was certainly not chief justice, yet in _A Letter to a
Convocation Man_ I find him so styled:
"I must admit that it is said in the second part of Rolle's
_Abridgment_, that the Archbishop of Canterbury {632} was prohibited to
hold such assemblies by Fitzherbert, Chief Justice, because he had not
the King's licence; but he adds that the archbishop would not obey it,
and he quotes Speed for it. I shall not consult that lame historian for
a law-point, and it seems strange that Rolle should cite
him."--_L. C. M._, p. 38.
I have not lately had an opportunity of looking into either Rolle's
_Abridgment of Cases_, or Speed's _History of Great Britain_, but I am not
able to discover to what event in any of Henry VIII.'s convocations
allusion is here made. I am therefore led to think that Fitzherbert must be
a misprint, and that we should read in the above passage "Fitz-Peter," and
that the following is the circumstance, in King John's reign, which is
referred to by the author of the _Letter_:
"This year (1200), Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, held a National
Synod at Westminster, notwithstanding the prohibition of Geoffrey
Fitz-Peter, Earl of Essex, and Chief Justiciary of England."--Collier's
_Ecclesiastical History_, vol. i. folio, p. 410.
I shall be glad if any of your readers can throw farther light on the
passage.
W. FRASER.
Tor-Mohun.
_Veneration for the Oak_ (Vol. viii., p. 468.).--Since my Query upon this
matter appeared, I find that Mr. Layard, in his work upon _Nineveh and
Babylon_, at p. 160., describes a cylinder of green felspar, which he
believes to have been the signet of Sennacherib, and upon which is engraved
a rare mode of portraying the supreme deity, and a sacred tree, whose
flowers are in this instance in the shape of an _acorn_. Whence did the
Assyrians derive this veneration for a tree bearing acorns? Did they derive
this notion, as they did their tin, from Celtic Britain? I believe they
did.
G. W.
Stansted, Montfichet.
_Rapping no Novelty_ (Vol. viii., p. 512.).--De Foe, in his veracious
_History of Mr. Duncan Campbell_ (2nd ed., p. 107.), quotes a story of
sprit-knocking from "the renowned and famous" Mr. Baxter's _History of
Apparitions_, prefacing it thus:
"What in nature can be more trivial than for a spirit to employ himself
in knocking on a morning at the wainscot by the bed's head of a man who
got drunk over night, according to the way that such things are
ordinarily explained? And yet I shall give you such a relation of this,
that not even the most devout and precise Presbyterian will offer to
call in question."
According to De Foe, Mr. Baxter gave full credit to the story, adding many
pious reflections upon the subject, and expressing himself "posed to think
what kind of spirit this is."
R. I. R.
* * * * *
Miscellaneous.