Replies.

[The charge of simony is loosely noticed by Shaw in hisHistory of Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 278. He says, "Edward Chandler was translated from Lichfield and Coventry to Durham in 1730; and it was thenpublicly saidthat he gave 9000l.for that opulent see." To this Chalmers, in hisBiog. Dict., adds, "which is scarcely credible." The Charge by the bishop is in the British Museum: it is entitled, "A Charge delivered to the Grand Jury at the Quarter-Sessions held at Durham, July 16, 1740, concerning engrossing of corn and grain, and the riots that have been occasioned thereby." 4to., Durham.]

Huggins and Muggins.—Can any of your readers assign the origin of this jocular appellation? I would hazard the conjecture, that it may be corruption ofHogen Mogen, High Mightinesses, the style, I believe, of the States-General of Holland; and that it probably became an expression of contempt in the mouths of the Jacobites for the followers of William III., from whence it has passed to a more general application.

F. K.

Bath.

[Hugger-mugger, says Dr. Richardson, is the common way of writing this word, from Udal to the present time. No probable etymology, he adds, has yet been given. Sir John Stoddart (Ency. Metropolitana, vol i. p. 120.) has given a long article on this word, which concludes with the following remarks:—"The last etymology that we shall mention is from the Dutch title,Hoog Moogende(High Mightinesses), given to the States-General, and much ridiculed by some of our English writers; as inHudibras:'But I have sent him for a tokenTo your Low-country,Hogen Mogen.'It has been supposed thathugger-mugger, corrupted fromHogen Mogen, was meant in derision of the secret transactions of their Mightinesses; but it is probable that the former word was known in English before the latter, and upon the whole it seems most probable thathuggeris a mere intensitive form ofhug, and thatmuggeris a reduplication of sound with a slight variation, which is so common in cases of this kind."]

'But I have sent him for a tokenTo your Low-country,Hogen Mogen.'

'But I have sent him for a token

To your Low-country,Hogen Mogen.'

It has been supposed thathugger-mugger, corrupted fromHogen Mogen, was meant in derision of the secret transactions of their Mightinesses; but it is probable that the former word was known in English before the latter, and upon the whole it seems most probable thathuggeris a mere intensitive form ofhug, and thatmuggeris a reduplication of sound with a slight variation, which is so common in cases of this kind."]

Balderdash.—What is the meaning and the etymology of "balderdash?"

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

[Skinner suggests the following etymology: "Balderdash,potus mixtus, credo ab A.-S.bald, audax,balder, audacior vel audacius, et nostrodash;miscere, q.d.potus temere mixtus." Dr. Jamieson explains it as "foolish and noisy talk. Islandic,bulldur, stultorum balbuties." Dr. Ogilvie, however, has queried its derivation from the "Spanishbalda, a trifle, orbaldonar, to insult with abusive language; Welsh,baldorz, to prattle. Mean, senseless prate; a jargon of words; ribaldry; anything jumbled together without judgment."]

Lovell, Sculptor.—What is known of this artist? That he was in advance of the age he flourished in is evinced by his beautifully executed engravings inLove's Sacrifice(fol. Lond. 1652), which for delicacy of work are far beyond anything of the period.

R.C. Warde.

Kidderminster.

[Is the name Lovell, or Loisell? for we find that Strutt, in hisDictionary of Engravers, vol. ii. p. 101., speaks of "P. Loisell having affixed some slight etchings, something in the style of Gaywood (if I mistake not), to Benlowe'sTheophilia,or Love's Sacrifice."]

St. Werenfrid and Butler's"Lives of the Saints."—One of your correspondents will perhaps explain the cause of an omission in Butler'sLives of the Saints. The life of St. Werenfrid, whose anniversary is the 14th of August, is abstracted, vol. iii. p. 492. His name occurs in the table of contents: and pages 493 and 494, where the life should have appeared, are wanting; still page 495 follows 492 correctly in type, so that the former must have been reprintedafterthe castration of the leaf. Was the saint deemed unworthy of the place which had been allotted to him?

J. H. M.

[In the best edition of Butler'sLives(12 vols., 1812-13), the life of St. Werenfrid is given on Nov. 7. He is honored in Holland on the 14th of August; and his life appears inBritannia Sanctaon that day, but in the Bollandists on the 28th of August.]

(Vol. viii., p. 278.)

On readingMr. Sansom'sletter, it occurred to me that I had seen a different account of the master being shot by his park-keeper; and on search I found the following in 1 Hale'sP. C.p. 40., which I send, as it may tend to clear up the question:

"In the case of Sir William Hawksworth, related by Baker in hisChronicle of the Time of Edward IV., p. 223. (sub anno1471), he being weary of his life, and willing to be rid of it by another's hand, blamed his parker for suffering his deer to be destroyed; and commanded him that he should shoot the next man that he met in his park that would not stand or speak. The knight himself came in the night into the park, and being met by the keeper, refused to stand or speak. The keeper shot and killed him, not knowing him to be his master. This seems to be no felony, but excusable by the statute ofMalefactores in Parcis."

This account varies from Ritson's in the name "Hawksworth" instead of "Hankford," and the date 1471 instead of 1422. It seems plain that Lord Hale had no idea that the person shot was a judge: and possibly the truth may be, that it was a descendant of the judge that was shot. Even if Hankford's death were in 1422, as stated by Risdon, the traditional account that he caused his own death "in doubt of his safety" does not seem very probable, as Henry V. came to the throne in 1412-13. Probably some of your readers may be able to clear up the matter.

I was at Harewood the other day, and examined a tomb there alleged to be that of the C.-J. Gascoigne. In the centre of the west end of the tomb is a shield: first and fourth, five fleurs-de-lys (France); second and third, three lions passant gardant (England).—May I ask how these arms happen to be on this tomb?

There are several other shields on the tomb, but all are now undistinguishable except one; which appears to be a bend impaling a saltire, as far as I can make it out: the colours are wholly obliterated. The head of the figure has not a coif on it, as I should have anticipated; but a cap fitting very close, and a bag is suspended from the left arm.—Is it known for certain that this is C.-J. Gascoigne's tomb?

S. G. C.

Harrogate.

Mr. Sansomneed not have been very much surprised that I should have omitted noticing a tradition concerning Sir William Hankford, when I was merely rectifying an error with reference to Sir William Gascoigne. That I have not overlooked entirely "the Devonshire tradition, which represents Sir William Hankford to be the judgewho committed Prince Henry," may be seen inThe Judges of England, vol. iv. p. 324., wherein I show the total improbability of the tale. And my disbelief in the story of Hankford's death, and its more probable application to Sir Robert Danby, is already noticed in "N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 93.

Edward Foss.

(Vol. vii., p. 382.)

In answer to some of the questions proposed by O. W. J. respecting the Prayer Book translated into French, I am able to give this information.

A copy of a French Prayer Book is to be found in the Bodleian Library (Douce Coll.), which is very probably the first edition of the translation. A general account of this book may be gained from Strype'sMem. Eccl. K. Ed. VI.(vol. iii. p. 208. ed. 1816); also Strype'sMem. Abp. Cranmer(b. ii. c. 22. sub fin. and c. 33., and App. 54. and 261.); also Collier'sEccl. Hist., vol. ii. p. 321.

From these sources we may conclude that a translation of the first book ofK. Ed. VI.was begun very soon after its publication in England, at the instigation of Pawlet (at that time governor of Calais), with the sanction of the king and the archbishop "for the use of the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, and of the town and dependencies of Calais;" but it does not seem to have been completed before the publication of the second book took place, and so the alterations were incorporated into this edition.

The translator was "Françoys Philippe, a servant of the Lord Chancellor" (Thos. Goodrick, Bishop of Ely), as he styles himself. The printer's name is Gaultier. It was put forth in 1553.

There is still extant an "Order in Council" for the island of Jersey, dated April 15, 1550, commanding to "observe and use the service, and other orders appertaining to the same, and to the ministration of the sacraments, set forth in the booke sent to you presentlye." It is uncertain what the book here referred to was, whether a translation or a copy of the English liturgy.

There are copies extant of another liturgy put forth in 1616, purporting to be "newly translated at the command of the king." The printer's name is Jehan Bill, of London. The name of John Bill appears also as king's printer in the English authorised edition of 1662.

Another was published in 1667, by Jean Dunmore and Octavien Pulleyn.

The edition of 1695, published byErringham(Everingham) and R. Bentley, has the sanction of K. Charles II. appended to it.

Numerous editions have since been published, varying in many important points (even of doctrine) from one another, and from their English original. There is now no authorised edition fit for general use; the older translations having become too antiquated by the variations in the French language to be read in the churches.

M. A. W. C.

(Vol. viii., p. 208.)

Although going over old ground, yet, if it be permitted, I would note a curious coincidence connected with this far-spread veneration for the West.

As mentioned by G. W., the Puranas point to the "Sacred Isles of the West" as the elysium of the ancient Hindûs, "The White Islands of the West." The Celtæ of the European continent believed that their souls were transported to England, or some islands adjacent. (SeeEncyclopédié Méthodique, art. "Antiquités," vol. i. p. 704.) The Celtic elysium, "Flath-Innis," a remote island of the West, is mentioned by Logan in hisCeltic Gaël, vol. ii. p. 342., who no doubt drew his information from the same source as Professor Rafinesque, whose observations on this subject I transcribe, viz.:

"It is strange but true, that, throughout the earth, the place of departed souls, the land of spirits, was supposed to be in the West, or at the setting sun. This happens everywhere, and in the most opposite religions, from China to Lybia, and also from Alaska to Chili in America. The instances of an eastern paradise were few, and referred to the eastern celestial abode of yore, rather than the future abode of souls. The Ashinists, or Essenians, the best sect of Jews, placed Paradise in the Western Ocean; and the Id. Alishe, or Elisha of the Prophets, the happy land. Jezkal (our Ezekiel) mentions that island; the Phœnicians called it Alizut, and some deem Madeira was meant, but it had neither men nor spirits! From this the Greeks made their Elysium and Tartarus placed near together, at first in Epirus, then Italy, next Spain, lastly in the ocean, as the settlers travelled west. The sacred and blessed islands of the Hindus and Lybians were in this ocean; Wilford thought they meant the British Islands. Pushcara, the farthest off, he says, was Iceland, but may have meant North America."The Lybians called their blessed islands 'Aimones;' they were the Canaries, it is said, but likely the Atlantides, since the Atlantes dwelt in the Aimones," &c.

"The Lybians called their blessed islands 'Aimones;' they were the Canaries, it is said, but likely the Atlantides, since the Atlantes dwelt in the Aimones," &c.

And farther he says, the Gauls had their Cocagne, the Saxons their Cockaign, Cocana of the Lusitanians,—

"A land of delight and plenty,which is proverbial to this day! By the Celts it was called 'Dunna feadhuigh,' a fairy land, &c. But all these notions have earlier foundations, since the English Druids put their paradise in a remote island in the west, called'Flath-Innis,' the flat island", &c.—American Nations, vol. ii. p. 245.et infra.

The coincidence then is this. The same veneration for the West prevails among many of our Indian tribes, who place their Paradise in an island beyond the Great Lake (Pacific), and far toward the setting sun. There, good Indians enjoy a fine country abounding in game, are always clad in new skins, and live in warm new lodges. Thither they are wafted by prosperous gales; but the bad Indians are driven back by adverse storms, wrecked on the coast, where the remains of their canoes are to be seen covering the strand in all directions.

I cannot refrain from adding here another coincidence connected with futurity. The above idea of sailing to the Indian Paradise, though prevalent, is not general; for instance, the Minnetarees and Mandans believed that to reach Paradise the souls of the departed had to pass over an extremely narrow bridge, which was done safely by the good Indians, but the bad ones slipped off and were buried in oblivion. (See Long'sExpedition to the Rocky Mountains, vol. i. p. 259.)

The Chepewa crosses a river on a bridge formed by the body of a large snake (see Long'sExpedition to St. Peter's River, vol. i. p. 154.); and in the same volume it is stated that the Dacota, or Sioux, believe they must pass over a rock with a sharp edge like a knife. Those who fall off go to the region of evil spirits, where they are worked, tormented, and frequently flogged unmercifully.

Now, this bridge for gaining Paradise is just the Alsirat of the Mahomedans; I think it will be found in theBibliothèque Orientaleof D'Herbelot; at all events it is mentioned in the preliminary discourse to Sale'sKoran. Sale thinks Mahomet borrowed the idea from the Magians, who teach, that on the last day all mankind must pass over the "Pûl Chînavad" or "Chînavar,"i.e."The Straight Bridge." Farther, the Jews speak of the "Bridge of Hell," which is no broader than a thread. According to M. Hommaire de Hell, the Kalmuck Alsirat is a bridge of iron (or causeway) traversing a sea of filth, urine, &c. When the wicked attempt to pass along this, it narrows beneath them to a hair's breadth, snaps asunder, and thus convicted they are plunged into hell. (Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian, &c., p. 252.)

Having already trespassed most unconscionably, I forbear farther remark on these coincidences, except that such ideas of futurity being found amongst nations so widely separated, cannot but induce the belief of a common origin, or at least of intimate communication at a former period, and that so remote as to have allowed time for diverging dialects to have become, as it were, distinct languages.

A. C. M.

Exeter.

(Vol. viii., p. 37.)

The completion of a laborious literary work has taken my attention away from the "N. & Q." for some weeks past, otherwise I should sooner have givenMr. Bobartthe following information.

The engraving of old Jacob Bobart by W. Richardson isnotof any value, being a copy from an older print. Query if it is not a copy of the very rare engraving by Loggan and Burghers?

The original print of the "founder of the physick garden," "D. Loggan del., M. Burghers sculp., 1675," which Mr. Bobart wishes to procure, may be purchased of A. E. Evans, 403. Strand, for 2l.12s.6d.I also learn from Mr. Evans' invaluableCatalogue of Engraved British Portraits(an octavo of 431 pages, lately published), that there exists a portrait of Bobart, "the classical alma mater coachman of Oxford," whole length, by Dighton, 1808. The same catalogue also contains other portraits of the Bobarts.

Since my last communication on the present subject, I find the following memorandums in one of my note-books, which possibly may be unknown to your correspondent; they relate to MSS. in the British Museum.

Add. MS. 5290. contains 227 folio drawings of various rare plants, the names of which are added in the autograph of Jacob Bobart the elder.

Sloane MS. 4038. contains some letters from Jacob Bobart to Sir Hans Sloane, 1685-1716; also one from Anne Bobart, dated 1701.

Sloane MS. 3343. contains a catalogue of plants and seeds saved at Oxford, by Mr. Bobart, 1695-6.

Sloane MS. 3321., consisting of scientific letters addressed to Mr. Petiver, contains one from Jacob Bobart, and another from Tilleman Bobart. The latter has a letter dated "Blenheim, Feb. 5, 1711-12," to some person unknown, in Sloane MS. 4253.

TillemanBobart appears to have been employed in laying out the park and gardens at the Duke of Marlborough's magnificent seat at Blenheim. A member of his original papers and receipts were lately disposed of by auction at Messrs. Puttick and Simpson's. (See the sale catalogue of July 22, 1853, lot 1529.)

Edward F. Rimbault.

(Vol. viii., p. 290.)

Many questions are proposed by G.W., to which it is extremely improbable that any but a conjectural answer can ever be given. That tin was in common use 2800 years ago, is certain. Probably evidence may be obtained, if it have not been soalready, of its use at a still earlier period; but it is unlikely that we shall ever know who first brought it from Cornwall to Asia, and used it to harden copper. It is, however, a matter of interest to trace the mention of this metal in the ancient inscriptions, Egyptian and Assyrian, which have of late years been so successfully interpreted. Mistakes have been made from time to time, which subsequent researches have rectified. It was thought for a long time that a substance, mentioned in the hieroglyphical inscriptions very frequently, and in one instance said to have been procured from Babylon, wastin. This has now been ascertained to be a mistake. Mr. Birch has proved that it wasLapis lazuli, and that what was brought from Babylon was an artificial blue-stone in imitation of the genuine one. I am not aware whether the true hieroglyphic term fortinhas been discovered. Mention was again supposed to have been made oftinin the annals of Sargon. A tribute paid to him in his seventh year by Pirhu (Pharaoh, as Col. Rawlinson rightly identifies the name; not Pihor, Boccharis, as I at one time supposed), king of Egypt, Tsamtsi, queen of Arabia, and Idhu, ruler of the Isabeans, was supposed to have contained tin as well as gold, horses, and camels. This, however, was in itself an improbable supposition. It is much more likely that incense or spices should have been yielded by the countries named than tin. At any rate, I have recently identified a totally different word with the name of tin. It readsanna; and I supposed it, till very lately, to mean "rings." I find, however, that it signifies a metal, and that a different word has the signification "rings." When Assur-yuchura-bal, the founder of the north-western palace at Nimrúd, conquered the people who lived on the banks of the Orontes from the confines of Hamath to the sea, he obtained from them twenty talents of silver, half a talent of gold, one hundred talents ofanna(tin), one hundred talents of iron, &c. His successor received from the same people all these metals, and also copper.

It is already highly probable, and farther discoveries may soon convert this probability to certainty, that the people just referred to (whom I incline strongly to identify with theShirutanaof the Egyptian inscriptions) were the merchants of the world before Tyre was called into existence; their port being what the Greeks called Seleucia, when they attempted to revive its ancient greatness. It is probably to them that the discovery of Britain is to be attributed; and it was probably from them that it received its name.

In G. W.'s communication, a derivation of the name frombarat-anac, "the land of tin," is suggested. He does not say by whom, but he seems to disclaim it as his own. I do not recollect to have met with it before; but it appears to me, even as it stands, a far more plausible one thanbruit-tan, "the land of tin:" the former term being supposed to be Celtic fortin, and the latter a termination with the sense ofland: or thanbrit-daoine, "the painted (or separated) people."

I am, however, disposed to think that the name is not of Phœnician origin, but was given by their northern neighbours, whom I have mentioned as their predecessors in commerce. These were evidently of kindred origin, and spoke a language of the same class; and I think it all but certain, that in the Assyrian name for tin (anna) we have the name given to it by this people, from whom the Assyrians obtained it. "The land of tin" would be in their languagebarat(or probablybarit)anna, from which the transition to Britannia presents no difficulty. I assume here thatb-r-t, without expressed vowels, is a Phœnician term for "land of." I assume it on the authority of the person, whoever he may be, that first gave the derivation that G. W. quotes. I have no Phœnician authority within reach: but I can readily believe the statement, knowing thatbanitwould be the Assyrian word used in such a compound, and thatn,r, andbare perpetually interchanged in the Semitic languages, and notoriously so in this very root.Ummi banitiya, "of the mother who produced me," is pure Assyrian; and so wouldbanit-anna, "the producer of tin," be; all names of lands being feminine in Assyrian.

It would be curious if the true derivation of the world-renowned name of Britain should be ascertained for the first time through an Assyrian medium.

Edw. Hincks.

Killyleagh, Down.

As there are several Queries in the Note of G. W. which the Celtic language is capable of elucidating, I beg to offer a few derivations from that language.

Britain is derived frombriot, painted, andtan, a country—i. e."the country of the painted people." It is a matter of history, that the people of Britain dyed their bodies with various colours.

Tinis from the Celtictin, to melt readily, to dissolve. It is also calledstan: Latin,stannum.

Hercules is from the Phœnician or Celtic,Earr-aclaide, pronouncedEr-aclaie,i. e. the noble leader or hero.

Melkarthus is derived fromMal-catair, pronouncedMal-cahir, i. e. the champion or king of the city (of Tyre).

Moloch cannot be identical with the Tyrian Hercules, as Moloch was the god of fire: probably a name for the sun, from the Celticmolc, i. e. fire.

Fras. Crossley.

(Vol. viii., p. 244.)

Whilst offering a solution to the Query ofR. C. Warde, as to the placing yew-trees in churchyards, I am obliged to differ from himtoto cœlo, by considering the derivation of the name of the plant itself, though I must candidly confess that the solution of the Query and the derivation of the word are my own.

Yewis ancient British, and signifiesexistentand enduring, having the same root asJehovah; andyewis Welsh forit is, being one of the forms of the third person present indicative of the auxiliary verbbód, to be. Hence the yew-tree was planted in churchyards, not to indicatedeath, despair, butlife, hope and assurance. It is one of our few evergreens, and is the most enduring of all, and clearly points out the Christian's hope in the immortality of the soul:Resurgam.

Whilst on the wordyew, I may perhaps observe that I am hardly inclined now (though I once was so) to derive from it, as the author of theEtymological Compendiumdoes, the nameyeoman: I think that yeoman is notyew-man, "a man using the yew-bow," butyoke-man, a man owning as much land as ayokeof oxen could plough in a certain time.

J. G. Cummings.

The following extract frown theHandbook of English Ecclesiology, p. 190., may be of some assistance to your correspondent:

"Yew.These were planted generally to the south of the church, to supply green for the decoration of churches at the great festivals; this tree being an emblem of immortality. It is a heathen prejudice which regards it as mournful. It is not probable yews were used as palms; the traditional name given to the withy showing that this was used in the procession on that festival."

William W. King.

Instead of troubling you with a particular answer toMr. Warde'sinquiry, let me refer him to theForest Trees of Britain, by the Rev. C. A. Johns, p 297.et seq., where, among many other curious and interesting facts, he will find the various reasons assigned by different authors, ancient and modern, for the plantation of yew-trees in churchyards. I do not find, however, that the origin ingeniously assigned byMr. Wardeis among the number.

Φ.

I have always supposed, but I know not upon what authority, that the custom of planting yew-trees in churchyards originated in the idea of supplying the yeomen of the parish with bows, in the good old archery days.

Ignoramus.

(Vol. vii.passim.)

I sent a Note to "N. & Q" some time ago, expressing my conviction that the originallocaleof this beautiful idea was in St. Chrysostom. but, as I could not then give a reference to the passage which contained it, my suggestion was of course not definite enough to call for attention. I am now able to vindicate to the "golden-mouthed" preacher of Antioch this expression of poetic fancy, the origination of which has excited, and deservedly, so much inquiry among the readers of "N. & Q." It occurs in Homily X., "On the Statues," delivered at Antioch. I transcribe the passage from the translation inThe Library of the Fathers:

"Follow me whilst I enumerate the meadows, the gardens, the flowering tribes; all sorts of herbs and their uses, their odours, forms, disposition; yea, but their very names; the trees which are fruitful and the barren; the nature of metals; that of animals, in the sea or on the land; of those that swim and those that traverse the air; the mountains, the forests, the groves;the meadow below and the meadow above;for there is a meadow on the earth,and a meadow too in the sky,THE VARIOUS FLOWERS OF THE STARS; the rose below, and the rainbow above!... Contemplate with me the beauty of the sky; how it has been preserved so long without being dimmed, and remains as bright and clear as if it had been only fabricated to-day; moreover the power of the earth, how its womb has not become effete by bringing forth during so long a time!" &c. Homily X., "On the Statues," pp. 178-9.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

P.S.—Are the following lines, which contain this idea, and were copied long ago from the poet's corner of a provincial paper, with the title of "The Language of the Stars, a fragment," worth preserving?

"The stars bear tidings, voiceless though they are:'Mid the calm loveliness of the evening air,As one by one they open clear and high,And win the wondering gaze of infancy,They speak,—yet utter not. Fair heavenly flowersStrewn on the floor-way of the angels' bowers!'TwasHisown hand that twined your chaplets bright,And thoughts of love are in your wreaths of light,Unread, unreadable by us;—there lieHigh meanings in your mystic tracery;Silent rebukings of day's garish dreams,And warnings solemn as your own fair beams."

"The stars bear tidings, voiceless though they are:

'Mid the calm loveliness of the evening air,

As one by one they open clear and high,

And win the wondering gaze of infancy,

They speak,—yet utter not. Fair heavenly flowers

Strewn on the floor-way of the angels' bowers!

'TwasHisown hand that twined your chaplets bright,

And thoughts of love are in your wreaths of light,

Unread, unreadable by us;—there lie

High meanings in your mystic tracery;

Silent rebukings of day's garish dreams,

And warnings solemn as your own fair beams."

(Vol. viii., p. 272.)

Your correspondentBalliolensisshould remember that at the time Dr. Drake published hisHistoria Anglo-Scotica, 1703, there were no bounds to the angry passions and jealousies evoked by the discussion of the projected union; consequently, what may appear to as in the present day an insufficient reason for the treatment the book met with in the northern metropolis, wore a very different aspect to the Scots, who, under the popular belief that they were tobe soldto their enemies, saw every movement with distrust, and tortured everything said or written on this side the Tweed, upon the impending question, to discover an attack upon their national independence, their church, and their valour.

Looking at Dr. Drake's book, then, for the data upon which it was condemned, we find that it opens with a prefatory dedication to Sir E. Seymour, one of Queen Anne's Commissioners for the Union, and a high churchman, wherein the author distinctly ventures a blow at Presbytery when he says to his patron:

"The languishing oppressed Church of Scotland is not without hopes of finding in you hereafter the same successful champion and restorer that her sister of England has already experienced."

He farther calculated upon Sir Edward inspiring the neighbouring nation "with as great a respect for the generosity of the English as they have heretofore had to dread their valour." Now the Scots neither acknowledged the Episcopacy which Seymour is here urged to press upon them, nor had they any such slavish fear of the vaunted English prowess with which Dr. Drake would have them intimidated; without going farther, therefore, into the book, it appears to me that the Scots parliament had a right to consider it written in a bad spirit, and to pacify the people by condemning it.

Defoe, in hisHistory of the Union(G. Chalmers' edition, London, 1786), says:

"One Dr. Drake writes a preface to an abridgment of theScots History, wherein, speaking something reflecting upon the freedom and independence of Scotland, the Scots parliament caused it to be burned by the hangman in Edinburgh."

In hisNorthern Memoirs, 1715, Oldmixon observes:

"They (the Jacobites) therefore put Dr. Drake, author of theHigh Church Memorials, upon publishing an antiquated Scotch history, on purpose to vilify the whole nation in the preface, and create more ill blood. This had the desired effect. The Scots parliament highly resented the affront, and ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman at Edinburgh."

D'Israeli, in hisCalamities of Authors, has the following interesting notice of Drake:

"I must add one more striking example of a political author in the case of Dr. James Drake, a man of genius and an excellent writer. He resigned an honorable profession, that of medicine, to adopt a very contrary one, that of becoming an author by profession for a party. As a Tory writer he dared every extremity of the law, while he evaded it by every subtlety of artifice; he sent a masked lady with his MSS. to the printer, who was never discovered; and was once saved by a flaw in the indictment, from the simple change of anrfor at, ornorfornot, one of those shameful evasions by which the law, to its perpetual disgrace, so often protects the criminal from punishment. Dr. Drake had the honor of hearing himself censured from the throne, of being imprisoned, of seeing hisMemorials of the Church of Englandburned at (the Royal Exchange) London, and hisHist. Angl. Scot.at Edinburgh. Having enlisted himself in the pay of the booksellers, among other works, I suspect, he condescended to practise some literary impositions; for he has reprinted Father Parsons famous libel against the Earl of Leicester, under the title ofSecret Memoirs of Robert Dudley, E. of L., 1706, with a preface pretending it was printed from an old MS."

The same instructive writer adds:

"Drake was a lover of literature; he left behind him a version of Herodotus, and a system of anatomy, once the most popular and curious of its kind. After all this turmoil of his literary life, neither his masked lady nor the flaws in his indictments availed him; government brought a writ of error, severely prosecuted him; and abandoned, as usual, by those for whom he had annihilated a genius which deserved a better fate, his perturbed spirit broke out into a fever, and he died raving against cruel persecutors, and patrons not much more humane."

Another book before me, and one which shared the fate of Drake's in Edinburgh, isThe Superiority and Direct Dominion of the Imperial Crown of England over the Crown and Kingdom of Scotland, the true Foundation of a compleat Union reasserted; 4to. London, 1705. This had appeared the year before, but was reproduced to answer the objections to it from the other side. It was written by William Attwood, Esq. If it required a nice discrimination to discover the offence of Drake, there was no such dubiety about this book, which goes the whole length of Scottish vassalage; and Mr. Attwood would lead us to believe that he knocks over the arguments of Hodges and Anderson[6]for Scottish independence with as much ease as he would ninepins.

Unfortunately these subjects are again forced upon us, and a reference to some of the books I have cited will enable gentlemen who are curious upon the point to judge for themselves in the matter of the present agitation of "Justice to Scotland."

J. O.

Footnote 6:(return)Jas. Hodges, a Scotch gentleman, who supported the Independency in a work entitledWar betwixt the Two Kingdoms considered, for which, says Attwood, "he had 4800 Scots Punds given him for nothing but begging the question, and bullying England with the terror of her arms.""An Historical Essay, showing that the Crown of Scotland is Independent; wherein the gross Errors of a late book, entitled 'The Superiority and Direct Dominion,' &c., and some other books for that purpose, are exposed by Jas. Anderson, A.M., Writer to His Majesty's Signet," Edin. 1705. For this work Anderson received the thanks of the Scottish parliament, as well as some pecuniary reward. (Chalmers'Life of Ruddiman.) The authors of these books having made out a case which was adopted as the national one, it is nowise surprising that they should hand over Drake and Attwood to the hangman for attempting to demolish it.

Jas. Hodges, a Scotch gentleman, who supported the Independency in a work entitledWar betwixt the Two Kingdoms considered, for which, says Attwood, "he had 4800 Scots Punds given him for nothing but begging the question, and bullying England with the terror of her arms."

"An Historical Essay, showing that the Crown of Scotland is Independent; wherein the gross Errors of a late book, entitled 'The Superiority and Direct Dominion,' &c., and some other books for that purpose, are exposed by Jas. Anderson, A.M., Writer to His Majesty's Signet," Edin. 1705. For this work Anderson received the thanks of the Scottish parliament, as well as some pecuniary reward. (Chalmers'Life of Ruddiman.) The authors of these books having made out a case which was adopted as the national one, it is nowise surprising that they should hand over Drake and Attwood to the hangman for attempting to demolish it.

On May 5, 1686, M. Claude's account of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew was burnt in the Old Exchange, "so mighty a power and ascendant here had the French ambassador." (Evelyn'sMemoirs.)

John S. Burn.

Stereoscopic Angles.—As I presume thatMr. T. L. Merrittis, like myself, only desirous of arriving at truth, I beg to offer the following reply to his last communication (Vol. viii., pp. 275-6.), in which he misinterprets some observations of mine upon the subject in question.

With regard to the distance quoted by me of 2¼ inches, I look upon it as the same thing as intended byMr. Merritt—that is, theaveragedistance between the centres of the eyes; and it amounts simply to a difference ofopinionbetween us; but, so far as that point is concerned, I am quite ready to adopt 2½ inches as a standard, although I believe that the former is nearer the truth: however, I require more than a mereassertionthat "theonlycorrect space for the cameras to be apart is 2½ inches, and this under every circumstance, and thatanydeparture from thismustproduce error." I quote verbatim, having merely Italicised three words to point my meaning more clearly. An object being 5 feet distant, and another at 10 feet from the observer, a line between the eyes will subtend a verymuch largerangle in the former than in the latter instance: hence the inclination of the axes of the eyes is the chief criterion by which people with the usual complement of those useful organs judge of proximity: but if half a dozen houses are made to appear as if 10 or 12 feet distant (by means of the increase of the angle between the points of formation of the pictures), while the angle which each picture subtends is relatively small; it is clear that both eyes will see in relief at a short distance half a dozen houses in a space not large enough for a single brick of one of them, and,consequently,the view will appear as if taken from a model.Mr. Merrittwill object that an erroneous effect is produced; if he will refer to my statement (Vol. viii., p. 228.), he will find that it is precisely what I admitted; and he appears to have overlooked theprovisoattached to my next observation (judging by his comment thereon), so I shall make no farther remark upon that point, beyond inquiring why the defect he is content to put up with is called atrifling exaggeration, while that which is less offensive to me is designated asabsolute deformityand error? Persons with one eye arenot good judgesof distance, and this may be easily tested thus:—Close one eye, and endeavour to dip a pen in an inkstand at some little distance not previously ascertained by experiment, with both eyes open; it will be found far less easy than would be imagined. One-eyed people, from habit, contrive to judge of distance mainly byrelative position, and by moving the headlaterallycause a change therein: to them, all pictures are, to an extent, stereoscopic.

I am really amazed that my advocacy of the radial, instead of the parallel, position of the cameras should have been so misunderstood. Surely, it cannot be seriously asserted that the former will producetwovanishing points, and the latter only one? And as to the supposition connected with the boy, the ass, and the drum, a camera that would produce the effect of showing both sides of the ass, both legs of the boy, and both heads of the drum,with a movement of only 2½ inches, whether radially or parallel, would indeed be a curiosity. But if the motion of the camera extended over a space sufficiently large to exhibit the phenomena alluded to, then it would confirm what I have before advanced, viz. present the idea of asmall modelof the objects, which could be so placed as to show naturally these very effects.

That the axes of the eyes are inclined when viewing objects, is readily proved thus:—Let a person look across the road at any object—say a shop-window; but stand so that alamp-post near himshall intervene, and be in adirect linebetween the observer's nose and the object viewed. If he be requested to observe the post instead of the distant object, the pupils of his eyes will be seen to approach one another; and on again looking to the distant object, will instantly recede. Therangeof vision is another point that appears to be misunderstood, as we are differing about words instead of facts. The column is an illustration that willexactlysuit my views; for I call therangeof vision the same if taken from side to side of the column, although it is perfectly true that the tangents to the two eyes differ by the angle they subtend: but certainlyMr. Wilkinson'scase (Vol. viii., p. 181.) of seven houses and five bathing-machines in one picture, and five houses and eight machines in the other, illustrates an instance where the range of vision is not the same; but I contend that the stereoscopic effect is thenconfinedto fivehouses and five machines, otherwiseMr. Wilkinson'ssupposititious case (ibid.), of all machines in one, and all houses in the other, might be considered as stereoscopic.

In concluding this very lengthened and, I fear, tedious reply, I beg to assert that I am most willing to recant any proposition I may have put forth, ifprovedto be erroneous; but I must have proof, not mere assertion. And farther, my willing thanks are always tendered to any one kind enough to correct an error.

Geo. Shadbolt.

Mr. Pumphrey's Process for securing black Tints in Positives.—The importance that appears to be attached by some of thy correspondents to the stereoscopic appearance of photographs, induces me to call the attention of those who may not have noticed it to the fact that, as all camera pictures are monocular, they are best seen by closing one eye, and then they truly represent nature; and the effect of distance (which so often appears wanting in photographs) is given with marvellous effect, so well indeed as to render the use of a stereoscope unnecessary. Like other photographers, I have been long seeking for a method, easy, cheap, and certain, for obtaining the black tints that are so highly prized by many in the French positives; and having at last attained the object of my search, I lose no time in laying it before my fellow-operators.

I obtain these results with a twenty-grain solution of nitrate of silver, a fact that will, I think, commend the plan to most operators. Thou wilt be able to judge of the result from the inclosed specimen.[7]I use Canson's paper, either albumenized or plain (but the former is far preferable). If albumen is used, I dilute it with an equal measure of water, and add half a grain of common salt (chloride of sodium) to each ounce of the mixture. This is applied to the paper with a soft flat brush, and all bubbles removed, by allowing a slender stream of the mixture to flow over its surface: it is then hung up to dry, and afterwards the albumen is coagulated with a hot iron. If the paper is used plain, a solution of common salt (half a grain to one ounce of water) is placed in a shallow tray, and the paper floated on its surface for a minute, and then hung up to dry. Excite, in either case, with an ammonio-nitrate of silver solution (twenty grains to one ounce of water), by floating the paper, prepared side downwards, for one minute, and hang up to dry.

Print tolerably strongly, and the proof will be of a reddish-brown. Fix in tolerably strong solution of hypo. sodæ (I never weigh my hypo., so cannot give the proportion), that either has been in use some time, or else, if new, has been nearly saturated with darkened chloride of silver. When fixed, remove the proofs into another vessel of the same solution of hypo., to which has been added chloride of gold and acetic acid. The way I do this is to dissolve one drachm of chloride of gold in two and a half ounces (1200 minims) of water. Of this I take twenty minims (which will contain one grain Au Cl3) and forty minims of acetic acid (Beaufoy's) for every dozen proofs (of the size of 7 × 9 in.), that I mean to operate on, and having mixed the gold and acetic acid with the solution of hypo., place the proofs in it till they attain the desired colour: they are then to be washed and dried in the usual way.

Knowing that so cheap and easy a process for obtaining these tints would have been a great boon to me a short time since, I lose no time in communicating this to the readers of "N. & Q." I shall feel a pleasure in explaining the plan more in detail to any photographer who may feel disposed to drop me a line.

William Pumphrey.

Osbaldwick, near York.

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