Queries.

"About a donkeys taste why need we fret us?To lips like his a thistle is a lettuce."

"About a donkeys taste why need we fret us?

To lips like his a thistle is a lettuce."

Wm. Ewart.

University Club.

Huber, in hisObservations on the Natural History of Bees, avers that the moth called theSphynx atroposinvades and plunders with impunity a hive containing thousands of bees, notwithstanding the watchfulness, pugnacity, and formidable weapons of those insects. To account for this phenomenon, he states that the queen bee has the faculty of emitting a certain sound which instantly strikes the bees motionless; and he conjectures that this burglarious moth, being endowed with the same property, uses it to produce a similar effect, first on the sentinels at the entrance of the hive, and then on the bees within.

In another part of his book (2nd edit. 1808, p. 202.) he relates what he himself witnessed on introducing a strange queen into a hive. The bees, greatly irritated, pulled her, bit her, and chased her away; but on her emitting the sound and assuming an extraordinary attitude, "the bees all hung down their heads and remained motionless." On the following day he repeated the experiment, and the intrusive queen was similarly maltreated; but when she emitted her sound, and assumed the attitude, from that moment the bees again became motionless.

Have more modern observers verified this curious fact? Is it not a case of mesmerism?

Sydney Smirke.

When Bolingbroke published hisFinal Answer to the Remarks on the Craftsman's Vindication, and to all the Libels which have come, or may come from the same quarter against the Person last mentioned in the Craftsman of the 22nd May, 1731, he was answered in five Poetical Letters to the King, which in keenness of wit, polished satire, and flowing ease of versification, have not been since surpassed. The title of the tract in which they are contained isThe Craftsman's Apology, being a Vindication of his Conduct and Writings in several Letters to the King, printed for T. Cooper, 1732, 8vo. pages 32. By whom were these very clever and amusing letters written? Lord Hervey or Sir Charles Hanbury Williams are the parties one would think most likely to have written them; but they do not appear in the list of Lord Hervey's works given by Walpole, or amongst those noticed by Mr. Croker, or in Sir C. H. Williams'sCollected Works, in three volumes. Independently of which, I question whether the versification is not, in point of harmony, too equal for either of them. If they be included in the collected works of any other writer of the time, which I have no immediate recollection of, some of your correspondents will no doubt be able to point him out. Should it appear that they have not been reprinted, I shall be disposed to recur again to the subject, and to give an extract from them, as, of all the attacks ever made upon Bolingbroke, they seem to me the most pleasant, witty, and effective.

Jas. Crossley.

On April 28, Cardinal Wiseman, at the Manchester Corn Exchange, delivered a lecture "On the Relation of the Arts of Design to the Arts of Production." It occupies thirteen columns ofThe Tabletof May 7, which professes to give it "fromThe Manchester Examiner, with corrections and additions." I have read it with pleasure, and shall preserve it as one of the best discourses on Art ever delivered; but there is a matter of fact, on which I am not so well satisfied. In noticing Bernard Palissy, the cardinal is reported to have said:

"For sixteen years he persevered in this way; and then was crowned with success, and produced the first specimens of coloured and beautiful pottery, such as are to this day sought by the curious; andhe received a situation in the king's household, and ended his days in comfort and respectability."

In the review of "Morley's Life of Palissy the Potter,"Spectator, Oct. 9, 1852, it is said:

"The period of the great potter's birth is uncertain. Mr. Morley fixes it, on probable data, at 1509; but with a latitude of six years on either side.Palissy died in 1589 in the Bastile, where he had been confined four years as a Hugenot; the king and his other friends could defer his trial, but dared not grant him liberty."

All the accounts which I have read agree with Mr. Morley and theSpectator. Are they or the cardinal right, supposing him to be correctly reported?

H. B. C.

U. U. Club.

Polidus.—Can you tell me where the scene of the following play is laid, and the names of thedramatis personæ?—Polidus, a Tragedy, by Moses Browne, 8vo. 1723. The author of this play, who was born in 1703, and died in 1787, was for some time the curate of the Rev. James Harvey, author ofMeditations, and other works. Mr. Browne was afterwards presented to the vicarage of Olney, in Bucks, where the Rev. John Newton was his curate for several years.

A. Z.

Glasgow.

[Moses Browne was subsequently Chaplain of Morden College. The piscatory brotherhood are indebted to him for having revived Walton'sComplete Angler, after it had lain dormant for upwards of eighty years; and this task, he tells us, was undertaken at the request of Dr. Samuel Johnson.—Ed.]

St. Paul's Epistles to Seneca.—It has frequently been affirmed that Seneca became, in the last year of his life, a convert to Christianity—his canonisation by St. Jerome is undoubted and there was stated to be a MS. of the above epistle in Merton College. May I ask any of your contributors whether this MS. has ever been printed?

J. M. S.

Hull.

Meaning of "folowed."—Inside the cover of an old Bible and Prayer-Book, bound in one quarto, Robert Barker, 1611, is the following inscription:

"July eight I was much folowed when I lay in bed alone att Mistris Whitmore's house, wee haveing agreed too bee married nextt daye."God, even our own God, shal bless us. This incouriged mee too hope for God's favour and blessing through Christ."Christopher Curwen and Hannah Whitmore was married att Lambe's Chapel, near Criplegate, July ninth, 1712."

"July eight I was much folowed when I lay in bed alone att Mistris Whitmore's house, wee haveing agreed too bee married nextt daye.

"God, even our own God, shal bless us. This incouriged mee too hope for God's favour and blessing through Christ.

"Christopher Curwen and Hannah Whitmore was married att Lambe's Chapel, near Criplegate, July ninth, 1712."

An entry of his marriage with his first wife, Elizabeth Sutton, 1704, is on the cover at the beginning of the book.

Can any one of your correspondents enlighten me as to the meaning of the wordfolowed? The letters are legibly written, and there can be no mistake about any of them. Is it an expression derived from the Puritans?

H. C. K.

—— Rectory, Hereford.

Roman Catholic Registers.—Can any of your correspondents inform me where I can find the registers of births, marriages, and burials of Roman Catholic families living in Berks and Oxon in the reigns of Charles I. and II.?

A. Pt.

St. Alban's Day.—At p. 340. of theChronicles of London Bridge, it is stated that Cardinal Fisher was executed on St. Alban's day, June 22, 1535. How is it that in our present calendar St. Alban's day is not June 22, but June 17? On looking back I seeSir W. C. Trevelyan, in our first volume, inquired the reason of this change, but I do not find any reply to his Query.

E. H. A.

Meigham, the London Printer.—J. A. S. is desirous of obtaining information regarding a printer in London, of the name of Meigham, about 1745-8, or to be directed where to search for such. Meigham conversed, or corresponded, about Catholicity with Dr. Hay, the then vicar-apostolic of the Eastern District of Scotland.

Adamsoniana.—Is anything known of the family of Michel Adamson, or Michael Adamson, the eminent naturalist and voyager to Senegal, who, though born in France, is said to have been of Scottish extraction?

Where is the following poem to be met with?

"Ode in Collegium Bengalense, præmio dignata quod alumnis collegiorum Aberdonensium proposuit vir reverendus C. Buchanan, Coll. Bengalensis Præfectus Vicarius. Auctore Alexandro Adamson, A.M., Coll. Marisch. Aberd. alumno."

Allow me to repeat a Query which was inserted in Vol. ii., p. 297., asking for any information respecting J. Adamson, the author of a rare tract on Edward II.'s reign, published in 1732, in defence of the Walpole administration from the attacks of theCraftsman.

Who was John Adamson, author ofFanny of Caernarvon, or the War of the Roses, an historical romance, of which a French translation was published in 1809 at Paris, in 2 vols. 12mo.?

E. H. A.

Canker or Brier Rose.—Can any of your correspondents tell me why the brier or dog-rose was anciently called thecanker? The brier is particularly free from the disease so called, and the name does not appear to have been used in disparagement. In Shakspeare's beautiful Sonnet LIV. are the lines:

"Thecanker-bloomshave full as deep a dye,As the perfumed tincture of the roses."

"Thecanker-bloomshave full as deep a dye,

As the perfumed tincture of the roses."

InKing Henry IV., Act I. Sc. 3., Hotspur says:

"Shall it for shame be spoken in these days,Or fill up chronicles in times to come,That men of your nobility and power,Did 'gage them both in an unjust behalf,(As both of you, God pardon it! have done)To put down Richard, that sweet lovely roseAnd plant this thorn, thiscankerBolingbroke."

"Shall it for shame be spoken in these days,

Or fill up chronicles in times to come,

That men of your nobility and power,

Did 'gage them both in an unjust behalf,

(As both of you, God pardon it! have done)

To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose

And plant this thorn, thiscankerBolingbroke."

And again, Don John, inMuch Ado about Nothing, Act I. Sc. 3.:

"I had rather be acankerin a hedge, than a rose in the grave."

Anon.

"Short red, god red."—In Roger of Wendover'sChronicle, Bohn's edition, vol. i. p. 345., is a story how Walchere, Bishop of Durham, was slain in his county court,A.D.1075, by the suitors on the instigation of one who cried out in his native tongue "Schort red, god red, slea ye the bischop."

Sir Walter Scott, in hisTales of a Grandfather(vol. i. p. 85.), tells the same story of a Bishop of Caithness who was burned for enforcing tithes in the reign of Alexander II. of Scotland (about 1220).

What authority is there for the latter story? Did Sir Walter confound the two bishops, or did he add the circumstance for the amusement of Hugh Littlejohn? Was this the formula usually adopted on such occasions? How came the Caithness people to speak such good Saxon?

Overseers of Wills.—I have copies of several wills of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, inwhich one set of persons are appointedexecutorsand anotheroverseers. What were the rights and duties of these latter?

J. K.

Lepel's Regiment.—Can your correspondentMr. Arthur Hamiltoninform me what is the regiment known in 1707 asLepel's Regiment? It was a cavalry regiment, I believe.

J. K.

Vincent Family.—Can any of your correspondents give me any information respecting the descendants of Francis Vincent, grandson of Augustine Vincent, Rouge Croix Pursuivant at Arms. His sister Elizabeth has, or had very lately, a representative in the person of Francis Offley Edmunds of Worsborough, Yorkshire; but nowhere have I been able to obtain any information respecting himself. If you could give any information on this subject, you would much oblige

C. Wilson.

Passage in the First Part of Faust.—

"Faust.Es Klopft? Herein! Wer will mich wieder plagen?Mephistopheles.Ich bin's.Faust.Herein!Mephis.Du musst es dreimal sagen.Faust.Herein denn!Mephis.So gefällst du mir."

"Faust.Es Klopft? Herein! Wer will mich wieder plagen?

Mephistopheles.Ich bin's.

Faust.Herein!

Mephis.Du musst es dreimal sagen.

Faust.Herein denn!

Mephis.So gefällst du mir."

Why must he say itthreetimes? Is this a superstition that can be traced in other countries than Germany? In Horace we have Diana thus addressed:

"Tervocata audis, adimisque letho,Diva triformis."—Lib. iii. Ode 22.

"Tervocata audis, adimisque letho,

Diva triformis."—Lib. iii. Ode 22.

But she is there the benign Diana, not Hecate.

Are we to understand the passage to mean, that the numberthreehas a magical influence in summoning spirits; or to teach that the power of evil is so overruled by a higher Power, that he cannot approach to begin his work of temptation and ruin unless he be, not once merely, or twice, butthreetimes, called by the free will and act of the individual who is surrendering himself to his influence? The subject seems worthy of elucidation.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Lady Anne Gray.—Who was the "Lady Anne Gray," or "Lady Gray," who was one of the attendants on Queen Elizabeth when princess, and is mentioned first in Sir John Harrington's poem in praise of her ladies?

N. A.

Continental Brasses.—At a recent meeting of the Archæological Institute, Mr. Nesbitt exhibited rubbings of some fine brasses at Bamberg, Naumberg, Meissen, and Erfurt. Mr. Nesbitt would confer a favour on the readers of "N. & Q." by stating the names and dates of those sepulchral memorials, and the churches from which he obtained the rubbings, and thus aid in carrying outMr. W. Sparrow Simpson'sexcellent suggestion for obtaining a complete list of monumental brasses on the Continent.

William W. King.

Peter Beaver.—In the early part of the last century, a gentleman named Peter Beaver, whose daughter was married in 1739 to Latham Blacker, Esq., of Rathescar, lived in the old and fashionable town of Drogheda. Can any one inform me as to the year of his death, and whether he left a son? The name has disappeared in Drogheda. I would likewise be glad to know the origin of the name; and, if it be a corruption of Beauvoir, at what time, and for what reason, was it changed? The crest is the animal of the same name.

Abhba.

Cremonas.—Can any of your numerous correspondents kindly supply me with a list of the earliest and the latest of the instruments of each of the famouscremonamakers? Such a list would be a valuable contribution to "N. & Q."

Mr. Dubourg's work on theViolin, excellent as it is in many respects, contains but a meagre account of the instrument itself, and is sadly deficient on the subject of my Query. May I ask him, and I have reason for so doing, on what authority he gives 1664 as the year of the birth ofAntoniusStradivarius, in his last edition?

H. C. K.

Cranmer and Calvin.—In theChristian Observerfor March 1827 (No. 303. p. 150.) it is stated that the late Rev. T. Brock, of Guernsey, had been assured by an eminent scholar of Geneva, afterwards a clergyman in our church, that he had met with, in a public library at Geneva, a printed correspondence in Latin between Archbishop Cranmer and Calvin, in which the latter forewarned the former, that though he perfectly understood the meaning of the baptismal service, yet "the time would come when" it "would be misconceived, and received as implying that baptism absolutely conveyed regeneration;" and that Cranmer replied, "that it is not possible such a construction can be put upon the passage, the church having sufficiently explained her meaning in the Articles and elsewhere." I have heard that search was made for these documents by M. D'Aubigné and others, but without success; one of the reports being, that "the documents had been apparentlycut out." Mr. Brock's informant, I hear, was a Rev. Marc De Joux, who afterwards became an Irvingite, left Guernsey, and went to the Mauritius, where it is believed he still resides. With thetheologicalquestion I wish not here to meddle, or to express an opinion. But I should be glad if you will kindly permit me to inquire whether any of your readers can give any information as to the existence of the supposed "printed" correspondencereferred to? whether or not it does exist? and, if so, where?

C. D.

"A Letter to a Convocation Man" (Vol. vii., pp. 358. 415.).—I beg to thank "N. & Q." for the answer to my inquiry respecting the authorship of this letter. I should be very glad to learn further particulars respecting Sir Bartholomew Shower. Was he a member of the House of Commons, as the author of the Letter intimates that he himself was? I shall also be very thankful ifTyro, or any other correspondent, will answer for me these Queries, suggested by the same Letter.

"It was the opinion, indeed, of a lategreat preacher, that Christians under a Mahometan or Pagan government, ought to value the peace of the country above the conversion of the people there."

Who is the preacher here referred to?

Who were the authors, and what were the titles of the manyDefencesof Sherlock'sVindication of the Holy and Ever Blessed Trinity, andThe Divinity and Death of Christ? *

And what farther is to be learned of Mr. Papin, a Socinian, who jointed the Church of Rome about that period? †

Who was Chief Justice in 1697? Was it Chief Justice Treby? ‡

Trelawney, Bishop of Exeter, excommunicated Dr. Bury. When was the living the latter enjoyed "untouched and even unquestioned by another bishop?" §

In case the answers to these should not appear of sufficient importance to be put into type, I enclose an envelope.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

P.S.—The misprint you point out, Vol. vii., p. 409., ofOxoniensisforExoniensis, occurred in the Appendix to Wake'sState of the Church and Clergy of England, p. 4.

[* The titles of nearly twenty works relating to Sherlock's Trinitarian Controversy will be founds. v.in theBodleian Catalogue, vol. iii. p. 462. See also Watt'sBibliotheca Britannica.† A long account of Mr. Papin is given in Rose's as well as in Chalmers'sBiographical Dictionary.‡ Sir George Treby was Chief Justice of Common Pleas in 1697.§ Bishop Trelawney, it appears, suspended Dr. Arthur Bury from the rectorship of Exeter College for some heterodox notions in his work,The Naked Gospel. The affair was carried by appeal from the King's Bench to the House of Lords, when Bishop Stillingfleet delivered a speech on the "Case of Visitation of Colleges," printed in hisEcclesiastical Cases, part ii. p. 411. Wood states that Dr. Bury was soon after restored. For an account of this controversy, and the works relating to it, see Gough'sBritish Topography, vol. ii. p. 147., and Wood'sAthenæ(Bliss), vol. iv. p. 483.Any farther communications on the above Queries shall be forwarded to the correspondent.]

[* The titles of nearly twenty works relating to Sherlock's Trinitarian Controversy will be founds. v.in theBodleian Catalogue, vol. iii. p. 462. See also Watt'sBibliotheca Britannica.

† A long account of Mr. Papin is given in Rose's as well as in Chalmers'sBiographical Dictionary.

‡ Sir George Treby was Chief Justice of Common Pleas in 1697.

§ Bishop Trelawney, it appears, suspended Dr. Arthur Bury from the rectorship of Exeter College for some heterodox notions in his work,The Naked Gospel. The affair was carried by appeal from the King's Bench to the House of Lords, when Bishop Stillingfleet delivered a speech on the "Case of Visitation of Colleges," printed in hisEcclesiastical Cases, part ii. p. 411. Wood states that Dr. Bury was soon after restored. For an account of this controversy, and the works relating to it, see Gough'sBritish Topography, vol. ii. p. 147., and Wood'sAthenæ(Bliss), vol. iv. p. 483.

Any farther communications on the above Queries shall be forwarded to the correspondent.]

Prester John.—I should be glad, through the medium of "N. & Q.," to be favoured with some information relative to this mysterious personage.

Strath Clyde.

[The history of Prester John, or of the individuals bearing that appellation, appears involved in considerable confusion and obscurity. Most of our Encyclopædias contain notices of this mysterious personage, especially Rees's, and Collier'sGreat Historical Dictionary. "The fame ofPresterorPresbyterJohn," says Gibbon, "a khan, whose power was vainly magnified by the Nestorian missionaries, and who is said to have received at their hands the rite of baptism, and even of ordination, has long amused the credulity of Europe. In its long progress to Mosul, Jerusalem, Rome, &c., the story of Prester John evaporated into a monstrous fable, of which some features have been borrowed from the Lama of Thibet (Hist. Généaologique des Tartares, part ii. p. 42.;Hist. de Gengiscan, p. 31. &c.), and were ignorantly transferred by the Portuguese to the emperor of Abyssinia (Ludolph.Hist. Æthop. Comment.l. ii. c. 1.). Yet is is probable that, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Nestorian Christianity was professed in the horde of the Keraites."]

Homer's Iliad in a Nut.—On the tomb of those celebrated gardeners, Tradescant father and son, these lines occur in the course of the inscription:

"Whilst they (as Homer's Iliad in a nut),A World of Wonders in one closet shut."

"Whilst they (as Homer's Iliad in a nut),

A World of Wonders in one closet shut."

Will you explain the comparison implied in the words "as Homer's Iliad in a nut?"

David.

[It refers to the account given by Pliny, vii. 21., that theIliadwas copied in so small a hand, that the whole work could lie in a walnut-shell: "In nuce inclusam Iliada Homeri carmen, in membrana scriptum tradidit Cicero." Pliny's authority is Ciceroapvd Gellium, ix. 421. See M. Huet's account of a similar experiment inGentleman's Magazine, vol. xxxix. p. 347.]

Monogram of Parker Society.—What is the meaning of the monogram adopted by the Parker Society on all their publications?

Tyro.

[The monogram is "Matthew Parker," Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.]

The Five Alls.—Can any of your readers give me an interpretation of a sign on an inn in Oxford, which bears this inscription?

"THE FIVE ALLS."

I can make nothing of it.

Curiosus.

Oxford.

[Captain Grose shall interpret this Query. He says, "The Five Alls is a country sign, representing five human figures, each having a motto. The first is a king in his regalia, 'I govern all.' The second, abishop in pontificals, 'I pray for all.' Third, a lawyer in his gown, 'I plead for all.' Fourth, a soldier in his regimentals, 'I fight for all.' Fifth, a poor countryman with his scythe and rake, 'Ipayfor all!'"]

Corvizer.—In a deed of the middle of the last century, I find this addition to the name of a person residing at Conway. The word is similarly employed in a list of interments of some "common people," contained in Browne Willis's account of Bangor Cathedral. What does it mean, and whence is it derived?

H. B.

Bangor.

[An obsolete word for a cordwainer or shoemaker. See Ash'sDictionary.]

(Vol. ii., pp. 184. 459.; Vol. iii., p. 21.; Vol. vii., pp. 114. 360.)

In 1605 the English comedians first appeared in Prussia. In October they performed before the Duchess Maria Eleonora at Koningsberg, for which they were well paid; they then proceeded to Elbing, whence they were dismissed with twenty thalers, since they produced scandalous things ("weil sie schandbare Dinge fürgebracht"). In 1607, they were again sent away, after they had performed the preceding year at Rostock. Some time after, the Elector of Brandenburg, Joh. Sigismund, employed a certain noble, Hans von Stockfisch, to obtain a theatrical company from England and the Netherlands. A troop of nineteen comedians, under the direction of John Spencer, came with sixteen musicians to add lustre to the electoral feasts. In 1611, they received 720 marks, as well as many hundred ells of various stuffs for costumes and decorations; of which great quantities were used in 1612. Many a time was it necessary to ransom them at great cost from inns and lodging-houses; so that the prince, in 1613, resolved to rid himself of these dear guests, and gave them a recommendation to the Elector of Saxony. In 1616 we find them in Dantzic, where they gave eight representations; and two years later, the Electress of Brandenburg, through Hans von Stockfisch, procured eighteen comedians, who performed at Elbing, Koningsberg, and other places, and were paid for their trouble ("für ihre gehabte Mühe eins für alles") 200 Polish guilders.

In 1639, English comedians are again found in Koningsberg; and, for the last time, in 1650, at Vienna, where William Roe, John Waide, Gideon, Gellius, and Robert Casse, obtained a license from Ferdinand I.

In 1620 appeared a volume ofEnglische Comedien und Tragedien, &c.(2nd edit., 1624), which was followed by a second; and in 1670 by a third: in which last, however, the English element is not so prominent.

These statements of Dr. Hagen are confirmed by numerous quotations from original documents, published by him in theNeue Preuss. Provincial Blätter, Koningsb., 1850, vol. x.; vid. etGesch. der Deuts. Schauspielk., by E. Devrient, Leipzic, 1848. Professor Hagen maintains, that in the beginning of the seventeenth century, the English comedies were performed in Dutch; and that, in Germany, the same persons were called indifferently English or Dutch comedians. They were Englishmen who had found shelter under the English trading companies in the Netherlands ("Es waren Engländer die in den englischen Handelscompagnien in den Niederlanden ein Unterkommen gefunden.")—From theNavorscher.

J. M.

(Vol. vii., p. 107.)

The occurrence noticed by W. W. is, I believe, the only instance on record in the West Indies of theactualexecution of a gentleman for the murder, by whipping or otherwise, of a slave. Nor is this strange. In the days of slavery every owner of slaves was regarded in the light of a gentleman, and his "right to do what he liked with his own" was seldom called in question by judges or juries, who were themselves among the principal shareholders. The case of Hodge was, however, of an aggravated character. For the trivial offence of stealing a mango, he had caused one of his slaves to be whipped to death; and this was, perhaps, the least shocking of the repeated acts of cruelty which he was known to have committed upon the slaves of his estate.

During slavery each colony had its Hodge, and some had more than one. The most conspicuous character of this kind in St. Lucia wasJacques O'Neill de Tyrone, a gentleman who belonged to an Irish family, originally settled in Martinique, and who boasted of his descent from one of the ancient kings of Ireland. This man had long been notorious for his cruelty to his slaves. At last, on the surrender of the colony to the British in 1803, the attention of the authorities was awakened; a charge of murder was brought against him, and he was sentenced to death. From this sentence he appealed to a higher court; but such was the state of public feeling at the bare idea of putting a white man to death for any offence against a slave, that for a long time the members of the court could not be induced to meet; and when they did meet, it was only to reverse the sentence of the court below. I have now before me the proceedings of both courts.The sentence of the inferior court, presided over by an European judge, is based upon the clearest evidence of O'Neill's having caused two of his slaves to be murdered in his presence, and their heads cut off and stuck upon poles as a warning to the others. The sentence of the Court of Appeal, presided over by a brother planter, and entirely composed of planters, reverses the sentence, without assigning any reason for its decision, beyond the mere allegations of the accused party. Such was criminal justice in the days of slavery!

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

(Vol. vii., p. 358., &c.)

On looking over some volumes of theAnnual Register, from its commencement in 1758, I find instances of longevity very common, if we can credit its reports. In vol. iv., for the year 1761, amongst the deaths, of which there are many between 100 and 110, the following occur:

January. "At Philadelphia, Mr. Charles Cottrell, aged 120 years; and three days after, his wife, aged 115. This couple lived together in the marriage state 98 years in great union and harmony."April. "Mrs. Gillam, of Aldersgate Street, aged 113."July. "John Newell, Esq., at Michael(s)town, Ireland, aged 127, grandson to old Parr, who died at the age of 152."August. "James Carlewhite, of Seatown, in Scotland, aged 111."John Lyon, of Bandon, in the county of Cork, Ireland, aged 116."

January. "At Philadelphia, Mr. Charles Cottrell, aged 120 years; and three days after, his wife, aged 115. This couple lived together in the marriage state 98 years in great union and harmony."

April. "Mrs. Gillam, of Aldersgate Street, aged 113."

July. "John Newell, Esq., at Michael(s)town, Ireland, aged 127, grandson to old Parr, who died at the age of 152."

August. "James Carlewhite, of Seatown, in Scotland, aged 111.

"John Lyon, of Bandon, in the county of Cork, Ireland, aged 116."

In September there are three aged 106; one 107; one 111; one 112; and one 114 registered. I will take three from the year 1768, viz.:

January. "Died lately in the Isle of Sky, in Scotland, Mr. Donald McGregor, a farmer there, in the 117th year of his age."Last week, died at Burythorpe, near Malton in Yorkshire, Francis Confit, aged 150 years: he was maintained by the parish above sixty years, and retained his senses to the very last."April. "Near Ennis, Joan McDonough, aged 138 years."

January. "Died lately in the Isle of Sky, in Scotland, Mr. Donald McGregor, a farmer there, in the 117th year of his age.

"Last week, died at Burythorpe, near Malton in Yorkshire, Francis Confit, aged 150 years: he was maintained by the parish above sixty years, and retained his senses to the very last."

April. "Near Ennis, Joan McDonough, aged 138 years."

Should sufficient interest attach to this subject, and any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." wish it, I will be very happy to contribute my mite, and make out a list of all the deaths above 120 years, or even 110, from the commencement of theAnnual Register, but am afraid it will be found rather long.

J. S. A.

Old Broad Street.

A few years ago there lived in New Ross, in the county of Wexford, two old men. The one, a slater named Furlong, a person of very intemperate habits, died an inmate of the poorhouse in his 101st year: he was able to take long walks up to a very short period before his death; and I have heard that he, his son, and grandson, have been all together on a roof slating at the same time. The other man was a nurseryman named Hayden, who died in his 108th year: his memory was very good as to events that happened in his youth, and his limbs, though shrunk up considerably, served him well. He was also in the frequent habit of taking long walks not long before his death.

J. W. D.

(Vol. vii., p. 380.)

The derivation given in the "cutting from an old newspaper," contributed byMr. Breen, seems little better than that of Dr. Douglas, who derives the name from aM. Cane, to whom he attributes the honour of being the discoverer of the St. Lawrence.

In the first place, the "cutting" is not correct, in so far as Gaspar Cortereal never ascended the river, having merely entered the gulf, to which the name of St. Lawrence was afterwards given by Jacques Carter. Neither was the main object of the expedition the discovery of a passage into the Indian Sea, but the discovery of gold; and it was the disappointment of the adventurers in not finding the precious metal which is supposed to have caused them to exclaim "Aca nada!" (Nothing here).

The author of theConquest of Canada, in the first chapter of that valuable work, says that "an ancient Castilian tradition existed, that the Spaniards visited these coasts before the French,"—to which tradition probably this supposititious derivation owes its origin.

Hennepin, who likewise assigns to the Spaniards priority of discovery, asserts that they called the landEl Capo di Nada(Cape Nothing) for the same reason.

But the derivation given by Charlevoix, in hisNouvelle France, should set all doubt upon the point at rest;Cannádasignifying, in the Iroquois language, a number of huts (un amas de cabanes), or a village. The name came to be applied to the whole country in this manner:—The natives being asked what they called the first settlement at which Cartier and his companions arrived, answered, "Cannáda;" not meaning the particular appellation of the place, which was Stadacóna (the modern Quebec), but simply a village. In like manner, they applied the same word to Hochelága (Montreal) and to other places; whence the Europeans, hearing every locality designated by the same term,Cannáda, very naturally applied it to the entire valley of the St. Lawrence. It may not here be out of place to notice, that with respect to the derivation ofQuebec, the weight of evidencewould likewise seem to be favourable to an aboriginal source, as Champlain speaks of "la pointe de Québec, ainsi appellée des sauvages;" not satisfied with which, some writers assert that the far-famed city was named after Candebec, a town on the Seine; while others say that the Norman navigators, on perceiving the lofty headland, exclaimed "Quel bec!" of which they believe the present name to be a corruption. Dissenting from all other authorities upon the subject, Mr. Hawkins, the editor of a local guide-book calledThe Picture of Quebec, traces the name to an European source, which he considers to be conclusive, owing to the existence of a seal bearing date 7 Henry V. (1420), and on which the Earl of Suffolk is styled "Domine de Hamburg et de Québec."

Robert Wright.

(Vol. vii., pp. 180. 246.)

Although the positions assigned by Camden to the ancient names of the various estuaries on the coasts of Lancashire and Cumberland are very much at variance with those laid down by more modern geographers; still, with regard to the particular locality assigned by him to theSetantiorum Portus, he has made a suggestion which seems worthy the attention of your able correspondent C.

His position forMorecambe Bayis a small inlet to the south of the entrance ofSolway Firth, into which the riversWaverandWampoolempty themselves, and on which stands "the abbey ofUlme, orHolme Cultraine." He derives the name from the British, as signifying a "crooked sea," which doubtless is correct; we haveMôr taweh, the main sea;Morudd, the Red Sea; andMôr cammmay be supposed to indicate a bay much indented with inlets. It is needless to say that the presentMorecambe Bayanswers this description far more accurately than that in the Solway Firth.Belisama Æstuariumhe assigns to the mouth of the Ribble, and is obliged to allotSetantiorum Portusto the remaining estuary, now called Morecambe Bay. However, he seems not quite satisfied with this last arrangement, and suggests that it would be more appropriate if we might read, as is found in some copies,Setantiorumλίμνη, instead ofλιμὴν, thus assigning the name of Setantii to the inhabitants of thelake district.

The old editions of Ptolemy, both Greek and Latin, are very incorrect, and, there is little doubt, have suffered from alterations and interpolations at the hands of ignorant persons. I have not access at present to any edition of his geography, either of Erasmus, Servetus, or Bertius, so I know not whether any weight should be allowed to the following circumstance; in theBritannia Romana, in Gibson'sCamden, this is almost the onlyPortusto be found round the coast of England. The terms there used are (with one more exception) invariablyæstuarium, orfluvii ostium. If this variation in the old reading be accepted, the appellation as given by Montanus, Bertius, and others, toWinandermere, becomes more intelligible.

H. C. K.

—— Rectory, Hereford.

Stereoscopic Queries.—Can any of your readers inform me what are the proper angles under which stereoscopic pictures should be taken?

Mr. Beard, I am informed, takes his stereoscopic portraits at about 6½°, or 1 in 9; that is to say, his cameras are placed 1 inch apart for every 9 inches the sitter is removed from them. The distance of the sitter with him is generally, I believe, 8 feet, which would give 10⅔ inches for the extent of the separation between his cameras. More than this has the effect, he says, of making the pictures appear to stand out unnaturally; that is to say, if the cameras were to be placed 12 inches apart (which would be equal to 1 in 8), the pictures would seem to be in greater relief than the objects.

I find that the pictures on a French stereoscopic slide I have by me have been taken at an angle of 10°, or 1 in 6. This was evidently photographed at a considerable distance, the triumphal arch in the Place de Carousel (of which it is a representation) being reduced to about 1¼ inch in height. How comes it then that the angle is here increased to 10° from 6½°, or to 1 in 6 from 1 in 9.

Moreover, the only work I have been able to obtain on the mode of taking stereoscopic pictures, lays it down that all portraits, or near objects, should be taken under an angle of 15°, or, as it says, 1 in 5; that is, if the camera is 20 feet from the sitter, the distance between its first and second position (supposing only one to be used) should not exceed 4 feet: otherwise, adds the author, "the stereosity will appear unnaturally great."

When two cameras are employed, the instructions proceed to state that the distance between them would be about 1/10th of the distance from the part of the object focussed. The example given is a group of portraits, and the angle, 1 in 10, is afterwards spoken of as being equivalent to an arc of 10°.

Farther on, we are told that "the angle should be lessened as the distance between the nearest and farthest objects increase. Example: if the farthest object be twice as far from the camera as the near object, the angle should be 5° to a central point between these two.

Now, I find by calculation that the measurements and the angle here mentioned by no meansagree. For instance, an angle of 15° is spoken of as being equivalent to the measurement 1 in 5. An angle of 10° is said, or implied, to be the same as 1 in 10. This is far from being the fact. According to my calculations, the following are the real equivalents:—

An angle of

15°

is equal to

1 in 4.

12°

1 in 5.

10°

1 in 6.

6½°

1 in 9.

6°

1 in 10.

5°

1 in 12.

4°

1 in 15.

Will any of your readers oblige me by solving the above anomalies, and by giving the proper angles or measurement under which objects should be taken when near, moderately distant, or far removed from the camera; stating, at the same time, at how many feet from the camera an object is to be considered as near, or distant, or between the two? It would be a great assistance to beginners in the stereoscopic art, if some experienced gentleman would state the best distances and angles for taking busts, portraits, groups, buildings, and landscapes.

It is said that stereoscopic pictures at great distances, such as views, should be taken "with a small aperture." But as the exact dimensions are not mentioned, it would be equally serviceable if, to the other details, were added some account of the dimensions of the apertures required for the several angles.

In the directions given in the work from which I have quoted, it is said that when pictures are taken with one camera placed in different positions, the angle should be 15°; but when taken with two cameras, the angle should be 10°. Is this right? And, if so, why the difference?

In the account given by you of Mr. Wilkinson's ingenious mode of levelling the cameras for stereoscopic pictures, it is said the plumb-line should be three feet long, and that the diagonal lines drawn on the ground glass should be made to cut the principal object focussed on the glass; and "when you have moved it, the camera, 8or10 feet, make it cut the same object again." At what distance is the object presumed to be?

Any information upon the above matters will be a great service, and consequently no slight favour conferred upon your constant reader since the photographic correspondence has been commenced.

φ.

Photographic Portraits of Criminals, &c.—Such experience as I have had both in drawing portraits and taking photographs, impels me to hint to the authorities of Scotland Yard that they will by no means find taking the portraits of gentlemen that are "wanted" infallible, and I anticipate some unpleasant mistakes will ere long arise. I have observed that inability to recognize a portrait is as frequent in the case of photographs as on canvass, or in any other way. I defy the whole world of artists to reduce the why and wherefore into a reasonable shape; one will declare that "either" looks as if the individual was going to cry; the next critic will say he sees nothing but a pleasant smile. "I should never have known who it is if you hadn't told me," says a third; the next says "it's his eyes, but not his nose;" and perhaps the next will say, "it's his nose, but not his eyes."

I was present not long since at the showing a portrait, which I think about the climax of doubt. "Not a bit like," was the first exclamation. The poor artist sank into his chair; after, however, a brief contemplation, "It's very like,in-deed; it's excellent:" this was said by a gentleman of the highest attainments, and one of the best poets of the day.

Some persons (I beg pardon of the ladies) take the habiliments as the standard of recognition. I do not accuse them of doing it wilfully; they do not know it themselves. For example, Miss Smith will know Miss Jones a mile or so off. By her general air, or her face? Oh no! It's by the bonnet she helped her to choose at Madame What-d'ye-call's, because the colour suited he complexion.

These are some of the mortifications attendant on artistic labour, and if they occur with the educated classes, they are more likely to happen even to "intelligent policemen," as the newspaper have it. If I dissent from the plan it is because I doubt its efficiency, but do not deny that it is worth a trial. If the French like to carry their portraits about with them on their passports to show to policemen, let them submit to the humiliation. I doubt very much whether the Chamber of Deputies would have made a law of it: it appears a new idea in jurisprudence that a manmustsit for his picture. Any one, however, understanding the camera, would be alive before the removal of the cup of the lens, and be ready with a wry face; I do not suppose he could be imprisoned forthat.

Both plans are miserable travesties on the lovely uses of portrait painting and photography. Side by side with Cowper's passionate address to his mother's picture, how does it look?

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