CONDUITT AND NEWTON

Footnote 1:(return)Arte y Vocabulario de la lengua, Uamada quichua. En la Ciudad de los Reyes, 1586, 8vo.

Arte y Vocabulario de la lengua, Uamada quichua. En la Ciudad de los Reyes, 1586, 8vo.

In the prospectus of a newLifeof sir Isaac Newton, by sir David Brewster, it is stated that in examining the papers at Hurstbourne Park, the seat of the earl of Portsmouth, the discovery had been maple of "copious materials which Mr. Conduit had collected for a life of Newton,which had never been supposed to exist."

About the year 1836 I consulted the principal biographers of Newton—Conduitt, Fontenelle, Birch, Philip Nichols, Thomas Thomson, Biot,Brewster—and I have ever since believed that such materialsdid exist.

We are assured by Mr. Edmund Turnor, in the preface to hisHistory of Grantham, printed in 1806, which work is quoted in the prospectus, that the manuscripts at Hurstbourne Park then chiefly consisted of some pocket-books and memorandums of sir Isaac Newton, and "the information obtained by Mr. Conduitt for the purpose of writing his life." Moreover, the collections of Mr. Conduitt are repeatedly quoted in that work as distinct from the memoirs which were sent to M. de Fontenelle.

I shall give another anecdote in refutation of the statement made in the prospectus, albeit a superfluity. In 1730 the author ofThe Seasonsrepublished hisPoem to the memory of sir Isaac Newton, with the addition of the lines which follow, and which prove that he was aware of the task on which Mr. Conduitt was then occupied. The lines, it should be observed, have been omitted in all the editions printed since 1738.

"This,Conduitt, from thy rural hours we hope;As through the pleasing shade, where nature poursHer every sweet, in studious ease you walk;The social passions smiling at thy heart,That glows with all the recollected sage."

"This,Conduitt, from thy rural hours we hope;

As through the pleasing shade, where nature pours

Her every sweet, in studious ease you walk;

The social passions smiling at thy heart,

That glows with all the recollected sage."

Thepleasing shadeindicates the grounds of Cranbury-lodge, in Hampshire, the seat of Mr. Conduitt—whose guest the poet seems previously to have been.

Some inedited particulars of the life of Mr. Conduitt, drawn from various sources, I reserve for another occasion.

Bolton Corney.

The Music in Middleton's Tragi-Comedy of the "Witch."—Joseph Ritson, in a letter addressed to J. C. Walker (July, 1797), printed in Pickering's edition of Ritson'sLetters(vol. ii. p. 156.) has the following passage:—

"It may be to your purpose, at the same time, to know that the songs in Middleton'sWitch, which appear also to have been introduced inMacbeth, beginning, 'Hecate, Hecate, come away,' and 'Black spirits and white,' have (as I am informed) been lately discovered in MS. with the complete harmony, as performed at the original representation of these plays. You will find the words in a note to the late editions of Shakspeare; and I shall, probably, one of these days, obtain a sight of the musick."

The MS. here mentioned was in the collection of the late Mr. J. Stafford Smith, one of the Organists of the Chapel Royal. At the sale of this gentleman's valuable library it passed, with many other treasures of a similar nature, into my possession, where it now remains.

Edward F. Rimbault.

Mr. Macaulay and Sir Archibald Alison in error.—How was it that Mr. Macaulay, in two editions of hisHistory, placed the execution of Lord Russell on Tower Hill? Did it not take place in Lincoln's Inn Fields? And why does Sir A. Alison, in the volume of hisHistoryjust published, speak of the children of Catherine of Arragon? and likewise inform us that Locke was expelled from Cambridge? Was he not expelled from the University of Oxford?

Abhba.

"Paid down upon the nail."—The origin of this phrase is thus stated in theRecollections of O'Keefethe dramatist:

"An ample piazza under the Exchange [in Limerick] was a thoroughfare: in the centre stood a pillar about four feet high, and upon it a circular plate of copper about three feet in diameter: this was calledthe nail, and on it was paid the earnest for any commercial bargains made; which was the origin of saying, 'Paid down upon the nail.'"

But perhaps the custom, of which Mr. O'Keefe speaks, was common to other ancient towns?

Abhba.

Corpulence a Crime.—Mr. Bruce has written, in hisClassic and Historic Portraits, that the ancient Spartan paid as much attention to the rearing of men as the cattle dealers in modern England do to the breeding of cattle. They took charge of firmness and looseness of men's flesh; and regulated the degree of fatness to which it was lawful, in a free state, for any citizen to extend his body. Those who dared to grow too fat, or too soft for military exercise and the service of Sparta, were soundly whipped. In one particular instance, that of Nauclis, the son of Polytus, the offender was brought before the Ephori, and a meeting of the whole people of Sparta, at which his unlawful fatness was publicly exposed; and he was threatened with perpetual banishment if he did not bring his body within the regular Spartan compass, and give up his culpable mode of living; which was declared to be more worthy of an Ionian than a son of Lacedæmon.

W. W.

Curious Tender.—

"If any young clergyman, somewhat agreeable in person, and who has a small fortune independent, can be well recommended as to strictness of morals and good temper, firmly attached to the present happy establishment, and is willing to engage in the matrimonial estate with an agreeable young lady in whose power it is immediately to bestow a living of nearly 100l.per annum, in a very pleasant situation, with a good prospect of preferment,—any person whom this may suit may leave a line at the bar of the Union Coffee House in the Strand, directed to Z. Z., within three days of this advertisement. The utmost secrecy and honour may be depended upon."—London Chronicle, March, 1758.

E. H. A.

The Year 1854.—This year commenced and will terminate on a Sunday. In looking through the Almanac, it will be seen that there arefive Sundays in five monthsof the year, viz. in January, April, July, October, and December; fiveMondaysin January, May, July, and October; fiveTuesdaysin January, May, August, and October; fiveWednesdaysin March, May, August, and November; fiveThursdays, in March, June, August, and November; fiveFridaysin March, June, September, and December; fiveSaturdaysin April, July, September, and December; and, lastly, fifty-threeSundaysin the year.

The age of her Majesty the Queen is thirty-five, or seven times five; and the age of Prince Albert the same.

Last Christmas having fallen on the Sunday, I am reminded of the following lines:

"Lordings all of you I warn,If the day that Christ was bornFall upon a Sunday,The winter shall be good I say,But great winds aloft shall be;The summer shall be fine and dry.By kind skill, and without loss,Through all lands there shall be peace.Good time for all things to be done;But he that stealeth shall be found soon.What child that day born may be,A great lord he shall live to be."

"Lordings all of you I warn,

If the day that Christ was born

Fall upon a Sunday,

The winter shall be good I say,

But great winds aloft shall be;

The summer shall be fine and dry.

By kind skill, and without loss,

Through all lands there shall be peace.

Good time for all things to be done;

But he that stealeth shall be found soon.

What child that day born may be,

A great lord he shall live to be."

W. W.

Malta.

A Significant Hint.—The following lines were communicated to me by a friend some years ago, as having been written by a blacksmith of the village of Tideswell in Derbyshire; who, having often been reproved by the parson, or ridiculed by his neighbours, for drunkenness, placed them on the church door the day after the event they commemorate:

"Ye Tideswellites, can this be true,Which Fame's loud trumpet brings;That ye, to view the Cambrian Prince,Forsook the King of Kings?That when his rattling chariot wheels,Proclaim'd his Highness near,Ye trod upon each others' heels,To leave the house of prayer.Be wise next time, adopt this plan,Lest ye be left i' th' lurch;And place at th' end of th' town a manTo ask him into Church."

"Ye Tideswellites, can this be true,

Which Fame's loud trumpet brings;

That ye, to view the Cambrian Prince,

Forsook the King of Kings?

That when his rattling chariot wheels,

Proclaim'd his Highness near,

Ye trod upon each others' heels,

To leave the house of prayer.

Be wise next time, adopt this plan,

Lest ye be left i' th' lurch;

And place at th' end of th' town a man

To ask him into Church."

It is said that, on the occasion of the late Prince of Wales passing through Tideswell on a Sunday, a man was placed to give notice of his coming, and the parson and his flock rushed out to see him pass at full gallop.

E. P. Paling.

Chorley.

Mr. Richard Binghamwill feel grateful to any literary friend who may be able to assist him in solving some or all of the following difficulties.

1. Where does Panormitan or Tudeschis (Commentar. in Quinque Libros Decretalium) apply the term nullatenenses to titular and utopian bishops? SeeOrigines Ecclesiasticæ, 4. 6. 2.

2. In which of his books does John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, speaking of the monks of Bangor, term them "Apostolicals?" See Ibid., 7. 2. 13.

3. Where does Erasmus say that the preachers of the Roman Church invoked the Virgin Mary in the beginning of their discourses, much as the heathen poets were used to invoke their Muses? See Ibid., 14. 4. 15.; andFerrarius de Ritu Concionum, l.I.c. xi.

4. Bona (Rer. Liturg., l.II.c. ii. n. 1.) speaks of an epistle from Athanasius to Eustathius, where he inveighs against the Arian bishops, who in the beginning of their sermons said "Pax vobiscum!" while they harassed others, and were tragically at war. But the learned Bingham (14. 4. 14.) passes this by, and leaves it with Bona, because there is no such epistle in the works of Athanasius. Where else? How can Bona's error be corrected? or is there extantin operibus Athanasiia letter of his to some other person, containing the expressions to which Bona refers?

5. In another place (Rer. Liturg., l.II.c. 4. n. 3.) Bona refers to tom. iii. p. 307. of anAuctor Antiquitatum Liturgicarumfor certainformulæ; and Joseph Bingham (15. 1. 2.) understands him to meanPamelius, whose work does not exceed two volumes. Neither does Pamelius notice at all thefirst of the two formulæ, though he has the second, or nearly the same. How can this also be explained? And to what work, either anonymous or otherwise, did Bona refer in his expression "Auctor Antiquitatum Liturgicarum?"

6. In which old edition ofGratiani Decretum, probably before the early part of the sixteenth century, can be found the unmutilated glosses of John Semeca, surnamed Teutonicus? and especially the gloss onDe Consecrat., Distinct.4. c. 4., where he says that even in his time (1250?) the custom still prevailed in some places of giving the eucharist to babes? SeeOrig. Ecclesiast., 15. 4. 7.

7. Joseph Bingham (16. 3. 6.) finds fault with Baronius for asserting that Pope Symmachus anathematized the Emperor Anastasius, and asserts that instead ofIsta quidem ego, as given by Baronius and Binius, in the epistle of Symmachus, Ep. vii. al. vi. (see also Labbe and Cossart, t. iv. p. 1298.), the true reading isIsta quidem nego. How can this be verified? The epistle is not extant either in Crabbe or Merlin. Is the argumentof J. B. borne out by any good authority, either in manuscript or print?

Mr. Binghamwill feel further obliged if the Replies to any or all of these Queries be forwarded direct to his address at 57. Gloucester Place, Portman Square, London.

Hunter of Polmood in Tweed-dale.—Where can the pedigree of the Hunters of Polmood, in Peebleshire, be seen?

Hufreer.

Dinteville Family.—Of the family of Dinteville there were at this time, viz. 1530, two knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. 1st.Pierre de Dinteville, Commander of Troyes, and Seneschal of his Order; son of Claude de Dinteville, Seigneur de Polisi and Chevets in Burgundy, and his wife Jeanne de la Beaume, daughter of the Lord of Mont St. Sorlin. The other was nephew to thePierreabove mentioned, son of his younger brother Gaucher, Lord of Polisi, &c.; and his wife, Anne du Plessis d'Ouschamps. His name wasLouis de Dinteville: he was born June 25, 1503; was Commander of Tupigni and Villedieu, and died at Malta, July 22, 1531; leaving a natural son, Maria de Dinteville, Abbé of St. Michael de Tonnerre, who was killed in Paris by a pistol-shot in 1574. The brother of this Chevalier Louis,Jean, Seign. of Polisi, &c., wasambassadorin England, and died a crippleA.D.1555.

Query, Which was the "Dominus" of the king's letter?

Anon.

Eastern Practice of Medicine.—I shall feel indebted to any correspondent who will refer me to some works on the theory and practice of medicine as pursued by the native practitioners of India and the East generally?

C. Clifton Barry.

Sunday.—When and where does Sunday begin or end?

T. T. W.

Three Picture Queries.—1. Kugler (Schools of Painting in Italy, edited by Sir Charles Eastlake, 2nd edit., 1851, Part II. p. 284.), speaking of Leonardo da Vinci's cartoon, representing the victory of the Florentines in 1440 over Nicolo Picinnino, general of the Duke of Milan, and which has now perished, says:

"Rubens copied from Leonardo's, a group of four horsemen fighting for a standard: this is engraved by Edelingk, and is just sufficient to make us bitterly deplore the loss of this rich and grand work."

Does this picture exist? Does Edelingk's engraving state in whose possession it was then?

2. Where can I find any account of a painter named St. Denis? From his name and style, he appears to have been French, and to have flourished subsequently to 1700.

3. Titian painted Charles III., Duke of Bourbon and Constable of France, who was killed May 6, 1527, at the siege of Rome. Where is this picture? It is said to have been engraved by Nörsterman. Where may I see the engraving?

Arthur Paget.

"Cutting off with a Shilling."—This is understood to have arisen from the notion that the heir could not be utterly disinherited by will: that something, however small, must be left him. Had such a notion any foundation in the law of England at any time?

J. H. Chateau.

Philadelphia.

Inman or Ingman Family.—The family of Inman, Ionman, or Ingman, variously spelt, derive from John of Gaunt. This family was settled for five successive generations at Bowthwaite Grange, Netherdale or Nithisdale, co. York, and inter-married with many of the principal families of that period.

Alfred Inman married Amelia, daughter of Owen Gam. Who was Owen Gam?

Arthur Inman married Cecilia, daughter of Llewellyn Clifford. Who was Llewellyn Clifford? Not mentioned in the Clifford Peerage. PerhapsMr. Hughes, or some other correspondent of "N. & Q.," may know, and have the kindness to make known his genealogical history.

This family being strong adherents of the House of Lancaster, raised a troop in the royal cause under the Duke of Newcastle, at the fatal battle of Marston Moor, where several brothers were slain, the rest dispersed, and the property confiscated to Cromwell's party about 1650-52. Any genealogical detail from public records prior to that period, would be useful in tracing the descent.

Sir William de Roas de Ingmanthorpe was summoned to parliament in the reign of Edw. I. This Ingmanthorpe, or Inmanthorpe (spelt both ways), is, according to Thoresby, near Knaresborough on the Nidd. Query, Was this person's name Inman from his residence, as usual at that period?

Arms: Vert, on a chevron or, three roses gules, slipped and leaved vert. Crest, on a mount vert, a wyvern ppr. ducally gorged, and lined or. Motto lost.

A Subscriber.

Southsea.

Constable of Masham.—Alan Bellingham of Levins, in Westmoreland, married Susan, daughter of Marmaduke Constable of Masham, in Yorkshire, before the year 1624.

I should be very much obliged to any of your genealogical readers, if they can inform me who was Marmaduke Constable of Masham; to whichfamily of Constable he belonged; and where I could find a pedigree of his family.

Comes Stabuli.

Malta.

Fading Ink.—I have somewhere seen a receipt for an ink, which completely fades away after it has been written a few months. Will some chemical reader kindly refer me to it?

C. Clifton Barry.

Sir Ralph Killigrew.—Who was Sir Ralph Killigrew, borncirca1585. I should be very much obliged to be referred to a good pedigree of the Killigrew family of the above period.

Patonce.

Pepys.—I have lately acquired a collection of letters between Pepys and Major Aungier, Sir Isaac Newton, Halley, and other persons, relating to the management of the mathematical school at Christ's Hospital; and containing details of the career of some of the King's scholars after leaving the school. The letters extend from 1692 to 1695; and are the original letters received by Pepys, with his drafts of the answers. They are loosely stitched, in order of date, in a thick volume, and are two hundred and upwards in number. Are these letters known, and have they ever been published or referred to?

A. F. B.

Diss.

[It is a singular coincidence that we should receive the communication of A. F. B. on the day of the publication of the new and much improved library edition of Pepys'sDiary. Would our correspondent permit us to submit his collection to the editor of Pepys, who would no doubt be gratified with a sight of it? We will guarantee its safe return, and any expenses incurred in its transmission. On turning to the fourth volume of the new edition of theDiary, we find the following letter (now first published) from Dr. Tanner, afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, to Dr. Charlett, dated April 28, 1699:—"Mr. Pepys was just finishing a letter to you last night when I gave him yours. I hear he has printed some letters lately about the abuses of Christ's Hospital; they are only privately handed about. A gentleman that has a very great respect for Mr. Pepys, saw one of them in one of the Aldermen's hands, but wishes there had been some angry expressions left out; which he fears the Papists and other enemies of the Church of England will make ill use of." Is anything known of this "privately printed" volume? In the Life of Pepys (4th edit., p. xxxi.), mention is made of his having preserved from ruin the mathematical foundation at Christ's Hospital, which had been originally designed by him.—Ed.]

"Retainers to Seven Shares and a Half."—Can any reader of "N. & Q.," conversant with the literature of the seventeenth century, furnish an explanation of this phrase? It occurs in the preface toSteps to the Temple, &c., of Richard Crashaw (the 2nd edit., in the Savoy, 1670), addressed by "the author's friend" to "the learned reader," and is used in disparagement of pretenders to poetry. The passage runs thus:

"It were prophane but to mention here in the preface those under-headed poets, retainers to seven shares and a half; madrigal fellows, whose only business in verse is to rime a poor sixpenny soul, a subburb sinner into hell," &c.

H. L.

[The performers at our earlier theatres were distinguished into whole shares, three-quarter sharers, half sharers, seven-and-a-half sharers, hired men, &c. In one scene of theHistriomastic, 1610, the dissolute performers having been arrested by soldiers, one of the latter exclaims, "Come on, players! now we are the sharers, and you the hired men;" and in another scene, Clout, one of the characters, rejects with some indignation the offer of "half a share." Gamaliel Ratsey, in that rare tract,Ratseis Ghost, 1606, knights the principal performer of a company by the title of "Sir Three Shares and a Half;" and Tucca, in Ben Jonson'sPoetaster, addressing Histrio, observes, "Commend me to Seven shares and a half," as if some individual at that period had engrossed as large a proportion. Shakspeare, inHamlet, speaks of "a whole share" as a source of no contemptible emolument, and of the owner of it as a person filling no inferior station in "a cry of payers." InNorthward Ho!also, a sharer is noticed with respect. Bellamont the poet enters, and tells his servant, "Sirrah, I'll speak with none:" on which the servant asks, "Not a player?" and his master replies:"No, though a sharer bawl:I'll speak with none, although it be the mouthOf the big company."The value of a share in any particular company would depend upon the number of subdivisions, upon the popularity of the body, upon the stock-plays belonging to it, upon the extent of its wardrobe, and the nature of its properties.—See Collier'sEnglish Dramatic Poetry, vol. iii. p. 427.]

"No, though a sharer bawl:I'll speak with none, although it be the mouthOf the big company."

"No, though a sharer bawl:

I'll speak with none, although it be the mouth

Of the big company."

The value of a share in any particular company would depend upon the number of subdivisions, upon the popularity of the body, upon the stock-plays belonging to it, upon the extent of its wardrobe, and the nature of its properties.—See Collier'sEnglish Dramatic Poetry, vol. iii. p. 427.]

Madden's "Reflections and Resolutions proper for the Gentlemen of Ireland."—This work, by the Rev. Samuel Madden, was first published in Dublin in 1738, and was reprinted at the expense of the late Mr. Thomas Pleasants, in one vol. 8vo., pp. 224, Dub. 1816. I possess two copies of the original edition, likewise in one vol. 8vo., pp. 237, and I have seen about a dozen; and yet I find in the preface to the reprint the following paragraph:

"The very curious and interesting work which is now reprinted, and intended for a wide and gratuitous circulation, is also of uncommon rarity; there is not a copy of it in the library of Trinity College, or in any of the other public libraries of this city, which have been searched on purpose. (One was purchased someyears ago for the library of the Royal Dublin Society, if I mistake not, for 1l.6s., or rather more.) The profoundly learned Vice-Provost, Doctor Barrett, never met with one; and many gentlemen well skilled in the literature of Ireland, who have been applied to for information on the subject, are even unacquainted with the name of the book."

Of Dr. Madden, known as "Premium" Madden, few memorials exist; and yet he was a man of whom Johnson said, "His was a name Ireland ought to honour." The book in question does not appear to be of "uncommon rarity." Is it considered by competent judges of "exceeding merit?" I would be glad to know.

Abhba.

[Probably, from this work having appeared anonymously, it was unknown to the writers of his life in Chalmers' and Rose'sBiographical Dictionaries, as well as to Mr. Nichols, when he wrote his account of Dr. Madden in hisLiterary Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 32. A volume containing theReflections and Resolutions, together with the author's tragedy,Themistocles, 1729, and his tract,A Proposal for the General Encouragement of Learning in Dublin College, 1732, is in the Grenville Collection in the British Museum. This volume was presented by Dr. Madden to Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, as appears from the following MS. note on a fly-leaf: "To his Excellency the Right Hon. Philip Earl of Chesterfield, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, these Tracts, writ (how meanly soever) with a real zeal for the service of that country, are most humbly presented by the author, his most obedient humble servant."]

King Edward I.'s Arm.—Fuller, speaking of the death and character of King Edward I., winds up with these words:

"As the arm of King Edward I. was accounted the measure of a yard, generally received in England; so his actions are an excellent model and a praiseworthy platform for succeeding princes to imitate."—Church History, b. iii.,A.D.1307.

Query, Is there historical proof of this statement of "honest Tom?" He gives no reference apparently considering the fact too well established to require any.

J. M. B.

[Ask that staunch and sturdy royalist, Peter Heylin, whether Old Tom is not sometimes more facetious than correct; and whether, in the extract given above, we should not readRichard I.for Edward I. In Knyghton'sChronicle, lib.II.cap. viii. sub Hen. I., we find, "Mercatorum falsam ulnam castigavit adhibita brachii sui mensura." See also William of Malmsbury in Vita Hen. I., and Spelm. Hen. I. apud Wilkins, 299., who inform us, that a new standard of longitudinal measure was ascertained by Henry I., who commanded that the ulna, or ancient ell, which answers to the modern yard, should be made of the exact length of his own arm.]

Elstob, Elizabeth.—Can any of your numerous correspondents state where that celebrated Saxon linguist, Mrs. Elizabeth Elstob, was buried? In Chambers'sBiographical Illustrations of Worcestershire, she is said to have been buried at Saint Margaret's, Westminster; but after every inquiry, made many years since of the then worthy churchwarden of the parish, our researches were in vain, for there is no account of her sepulture in the church or graveyard.

J. B. Whitbourne.

[Most of the biographical notices of Mrs. Elizabeth Elstob state that she was buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster. We can only account for the name not appearing in the register of that church, from her havingchanged her namewhen she opened her school in Worcestershire, as stated, on the authority of Mr. Geo. Ballard, in Nichols'sLiterary Anecdotes, vol. iv. p. 714. Ballard's Correspondence is in the Bodleian.]

Monumental Brasses in London.—Can any of your correspondents favour me with a list of churches in London, or within a mile of the same, containing monumental brasses? I know of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, only.

J. W. Brown.

[As our young crypto-antiquary dates his letter from Crosby Hall, he will probably find in its library the following works to assist him in his researches:—List of Monumental Brasses in England(Rivington),Manual for the Study of Monumental Brasses(Parker), and Sperling'sChurch Walks in Middlesex(Masters). Two are noticed in Waller'sMonumental Brasses, fol., 1842, viz. Dr. Christopher Urswick, in Hackney Church,A.D.1521, and Andrew Evyngar and wife, in All-Hallows Barking Church. If we mistake not, there is one in St. Faith's, near St. Paul's.]

(Vol. viii., pp. 512. 632.; Vol. ix., pp. 39. 88. 135.)

"There is a curious criminal process on record, manuscript 1770, noticed by Voltaire as in the library of the King of France, which was founded upon a remarkable set of visions said to have occurred to the monks of Orleans."The illustrious house of St. Memin had been very liberal to the convent, and had their family vault under the church. The wife of a Lord of St. Memin, Provost of Orleans, died, and was buried. The husband, thinking that his ancestors had given more than enough to the convent, sent the monks a present, which they thought too small. They formed a plan to have her body disinterred, and to force the widower to pay a second fee for depositing it again in holy ground."The soul of the lady first appeared to two of the brethren, and said to them, 'I am damned, like Judas, because my husband has not given sufficient.' They hoped to extort money for the repose of her soul. But the husband said, 'If she is really damned, all the money in the world won't save her,' and gave them nothing. Perceiving their mistake, they declared she appeared again, saying she was inPurgatory, anddemanding to be disinterred. But this seemed a curious request, and excited suspicion, for it was not likely that a soul in purgatory would ask to have the body removed from holy ground, neither had any in purgatory ever been known to desire to be exhumed."The soul after this did not tryspeakingany more, but haunted everybody in the convent and church. Brother Peter of Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it, 'If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four knocks,' and the four knocks were struck. 'If thou art damned, strike six knocks,' and the six knocks were struck. 'If thou art still tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six more times,' and the six knocks were heard still more distinctly. 'If we disinter thy body, wilt thou be less damned, certify to us by five knocks,' and the soul so certified. This statement was signed by twenty-two cordeliers. The father provincial asked the same questions and received the same answers. The Lord of St. Memin prosecuted the father cordeliers. Judges were appointed. The general of the commission required that they should be burned; but the sentence only condemned them to make the 'amende honorable,' with a torch in their bosom, and to be banished."

"The illustrious house of St. Memin had been very liberal to the convent, and had their family vault under the church. The wife of a Lord of St. Memin, Provost of Orleans, died, and was buried. The husband, thinking that his ancestors had given more than enough to the convent, sent the monks a present, which they thought too small. They formed a plan to have her body disinterred, and to force the widower to pay a second fee for depositing it again in holy ground.

"The soul of the lady first appeared to two of the brethren, and said to them, 'I am damned, like Judas, because my husband has not given sufficient.' They hoped to extort money for the repose of her soul. But the husband said, 'If she is really damned, all the money in the world won't save her,' and gave them nothing. Perceiving their mistake, they declared she appeared again, saying she was inPurgatory, anddemanding to be disinterred. But this seemed a curious request, and excited suspicion, for it was not likely that a soul in purgatory would ask to have the body removed from holy ground, neither had any in purgatory ever been known to desire to be exhumed.

"The soul after this did not tryspeakingany more, but haunted everybody in the convent and church. Brother Peter of Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it, 'If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four knocks,' and the four knocks were struck. 'If thou art damned, strike six knocks,' and the six knocks were struck. 'If thou art still tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six more times,' and the six knocks were heard still more distinctly. 'If we disinter thy body, wilt thou be less damned, certify to us by five knocks,' and the soul so certified. This statement was signed by twenty-two cordeliers. The father provincial asked the same questions and received the same answers. The Lord of St. Memin prosecuted the father cordeliers. Judges were appointed. The general of the commission required that they should be burned; but the sentence only condemned them to make the 'amende honorable,' with a torch in their bosom, and to be banished."

This sentence is of the 18th of February, 1535. Vide Abbé Langlet'sHistory of Apparitions.

From the above extract, and from what your correspondentsMr. Jardineand R. I. R. have written, it is satisfactorily shown that rapping is no novelty, having been known in England and France some centuries ago.Mr. Jardinehas given us an instance in 1584, and leads us to suppose that it was the earliest on record. I now give one as early as 1534; and it would be interesting to know if the monks of Orleans were the first to have practised this imposition, and to have been banished for their deception and fraud.

William Winthrop.

Malta.

In Ammianus Marcellinus, lib.XXIX.cap. i. p. 552. of a Paris edition, 1681, two persons, Patricius and Hilarius, charged with disseminating prophecies injurious to the Emperor Valens, were brought before a court of justice, and a tripod, which they were charged with using, was also produced. Hilarius then made the following acknowledgment:

"Construximus, magnifici judices, ad cortinæ similitudinem Delphicæ, diris auspiciis, de laureis virgulis infaustam hanc mensulam quam videtis; et imprecationibus carminum secretorum, choragiisque multis ac diuturnis ritualiter consecratam movimus tandem; movendi autem, quoties super rebus arcanis consulebatur, erat institutio talis. Collocabatur in medio domûs emaculatæ odoribus Arabicis undique, lance rotunda pure superposita, ex diversis metallicis materiis fabrefacta; cujus in ambitu rotunditatis extremo elementorum viginti quatuor scriptiles formæ incisæ perite, dijungebantur spatiis examinate dimensis. Hac linteis quidam indumentis amictus, calciatusque itidem linteis soccis, torulo capiti circumflexo, verbenas felicis arboris gestans, litato conceptis carminibus numine præscitionum auctore, cærimoniali scientia perstitit; cortinulis pensilem anulum librans, sartum ex carpathio filo perquam levi, mysticis disciplinis initiatum: qui per intervalla distincta retinentibus singulis litteris incidens saltuatim, heroos efficit versus interrogationibus consonos, ad numeros et modos plene conclusos; quales leguntur Pythici, vel ex oraculis editi Branchidarum. Ibi tum quærentibus nobis, qui præsenti succedet imperio, quoniam omni parte expolitus fore memorabatur et adsiliens anulus duas perstrinxerat syllabas,ΘΕΟcum adjectione litteræ postrema, exclamavit præsentium quidem, Theodorum præscribente fatali necessitate portendi."

In lib.XXXI.cap. ii. p. 621. of same edition, a method of prognostication by the Alami is described; but there is no mention of tables there. The historian only says:

"Rectiores virgas vimineas colligentes, easque cum incantamentis quibusdam secretis præstituto tempore discernentes, aperte quid portendatur norunt."

H. W.

The mention of table-turning by Ammianus Marcellinus reminds me of a curious passage in theApologeticusof Tertullian, cap. xxiii., to which I invite the attention of those interested in the subject:

"Porro si et magi phantasmata edunt et jam defunctorum infamant animas; si pueros in eloquium oraculi elidunt; si multa miracula circulatoriis præstigiis ludunt; si et somnia immittunt habentes semel invitatorum angelorum et dæmonum assistentem sibi potestatem,per quoset capræ etmensæ divinare consueverunt; quanto magis," &c.

Here table divination by means of angels and demons seems distinctly alluded to. How like the modern system! The context of this passage, as well as the extract itself, will suggest singular coincidence between modern and ancient pretensions of this class.

B. H. C.

(Vol. viii., pp. 521. 621.)

Much interesting information concerning General Whitelocke, about whose conduct some difference of opinion appears to exist, will be found in the Rev. Erskine Neale'sRisen from the Ranks(London, Longmans, 1853); but neither the date nor the place of his death is there given. The reverend writer's account of the general's conduct is not at all favourable. After alluding to him as "a chief unequal to his position," he says:

"John Whitelocke was born in the year 1759, and received his early education in the Grammar School at Marlborough. His father was steward to John, fourth Earl of Aylesbury; and the peer, inacknowledgment of the faithful services of his trusted dependent, placed young Whitelocke at Lochee's Military Academy, near Chelsea. There he remained till 1777, when, the Earl's friendly disposition remaining in full force, and the youth's predilection for a military career continuing unabated, an ensigncy was procured him, through Lord Aylesbury's intervention, in the 14th regiment of Foot."—Risen from the Ranks, p. 68.

Through the influence of his brother-in-law, General Brownrigge, Whitelocke's promotion was rapid; and in 1807 he was gazetted commander-in-chief of an expedition destined for the recapture of Buenos Ayres. His conduct during this expedition became the subject of a court-martial; he was found guilty, sentenced to be cashiered, and declared to be "totally unfit to serve his Majesty in any military capacity whatever."

Judging from the evidence adduced, the conduct of the commander-in-chief was totally unworthy of the flag under which he served, and highly calculated to arouse the indignation of the men whom he commanded; and for some considerable time, whenever the soldiers met together to take a friendly glass, the toast was, "Success togrey hairs, but bad luck toWhite-locks!" On the whole, the Rev. E. Neale's account seems to be quite impartial; and most persons, after reading the evidence of the general's extremely vacillating conduct, will be inclined to agree with him in awarding this unfortunate officer the title of the "Flincher-General at Buenos Ayres."

James Spence Harry.

I have only just seen your correspondent's Reply (Vol. ix., p. 87.) respecting General Whitelocke. He is right in stating that the general resided at Clifton: he might have added, as late as 1830; but he had previously, for time, lived at Butcombe Court, Somersetshire.

There is an anecdote still rife in the neighbourhood, that when Whitelocke came down to see the house before taking it, he put up at an inn, and after dinner asked the landlord to take a glass of wine with him. Upon announcing, however, who he was, the landlord started up and declared he would not drink another glass with him, throwing down at the same time the price of the bottle, that he might not be indebted to the general.

Respecting the story of the flints, it is said that he desired them to be taken out of the muskets, wishing that the men should only use their bayonets against the enemy.

Ardelio.

I remember well that soon after the unsuccessful attack of General Whitelocke upon Buenos Ayres, it was stated that the flints had been taken out of the muskets of some of our regiments because they were quite raw troops, and the General thought that they might, from want of knowledge and use of fire-arms, do more mischief to themselves than to the enemy, and that they had better trust to the bayonet alone. The consequence was, that when they entered the streets of the town, they found no enemy in them to whom they could apply the bayonet. The inhabitants and troops were in the strong stone houses, and fired on and killed our men with perfect impunity, as not a shot could be fired in return: to surrender was their only chance of life. A reference to a file of newspapers of that date (which I am too lazy to make myself) will show whether this was understood at the time to be a fact or not.

J. Ss.

In theAutobiography of B. Haydon(I think vol. i.), he mentions that as he was passing through Somersetshire on his way from Plymouth to London, he saw General Whitelocke. A reference to the passage may interest G. L. S.

W. Denton.

The following charade was in vogue at the time of Whitelocke's death:

"My first is an emblem of purity;My second is that of security;My whole forms a nameWhich, if yours were the same,You would blush to hand down to posterity."

"My first is an emblem of purity;

My second is that of security;

My whole forms a name

Which, if yours were the same,

You would blush to hand down to posterity."

J. Y.

(Vol. viii., p. 552.; Vol. ix., p. 87.)

1. If your correspondent H. P. will again examine my communication on this subject, he will find that I havenotoverlooked the view which attributes theDe Imitationeto John Gerson, but have expressly referred to it.

2. If Gersonwasthe author, this will not prove that in quoting the proverb in question, Piers Ploughman quoted from theDe Imitatione, as H. P. supposes. The dates which I gave will show this. TheVisionwas written aboutA.D.1362, whereas, according to Du Pin, John Gerson was born December 14, 1363, took a prominent part in the Council of Constance, 1414, and died in 1429. Of the Latin writers of the fifteenth century, Mosheim says:

"At their head we may justly place John Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, the most illustrious ornament that this age can boast of, a man of great influence and authority, whom the Council of Constance looked upon an its oracle, the lovers of liberty as their patron, and whose memory is yet precious to such among the French clergy as are at all zealous for the maintenance of their privileges against papal despotism."—Ecc. Hist., cent. xv. ch. ii. sec. 24.

3. Gerson was not a Benedictine monk, but a Parisian curé, and Canon of Notre Dame:

"He was made curate (curé, parson or rector) of St. John's, in Greve, on the 29th of March, 1408, andcontinued so to 1413, when in a sedition raised by the partizans of the Duke of Burgundy, his house was plundered by the mob, and he obliged to fly into the church of Notre Dame, where he continued for some time concealed."—Du Pin,History of the Church, cent. xv. ch. viii.

It is said that the treatise in question first appeared—

"Appended to a MS. of Gerson'sDe Consolatione Theologiæ, dated 1421. This gave rise to the supposition that he was the real author of that celebrated work; and indeed it is a very doubtful point whether this opinion is true or not, there being several high authorities which ascribe to him the authorship of that book."—Knight'sPenny Cyclopædia, vol. vi. art. "Gerson."

Was there thenanotherJohn Gerson, a monk, and Abbot of St. Stephen, between 1200 and 1240, to whom, as well as to the above, theDe Imitationehas been ascribed? This, though not impossible, appears extremely improbable. Is H. P. prepared with evidence to prove it?

Du Pin, in the chapter above quoted, farther says, in speaking of theDe Imitatione Christi:

"The style is pretty much like that of the other devotional books of Thomas à Kempis. Nevertheless, in his lifetime it was attributed to St. Bernard and Gerson. The latter was most commonly esteemed the author of it in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Afterwards some MSS. of it were found in Italy, where it is attributed to one Gerson or Gessen, to whom is given the title ofabbot. Perhaps Gersen or Gessen are only corruptions of the name of Gerson. Notwithstanding, there are two things which will hardly let us believe that this was Gerson's book; one, that the author calls himself a monk, the other, that the style is very different from that of the Chancellor of Paris. All this makes it difficult to decide to which of these three authors it belongs. We must leave Thomas à Kempis in possession of what is attributed to him, without deciding positively in his favour."

J. W. Thomas.

Dewsbury.

This saying is quoted twice, as follows, inThe Chronicle of Battel Abbey from 1066 to 1177, translated by Mr. Lower, 8vo., London, 1851:

"Thus, 'Man proposes, but God disposes,' for he was not permitted to carry that resolution into effect."—P. 27."But, as the Scripture saith, 'Man proposes, but God disposes,' so Christ suffered not His Church to want its ancient and rightful privileges."—P. 83.

"Thus, 'Man proposes, but God disposes,' for he was not permitted to carry that resolution into effect."—P. 27.

"But, as the Scripture saith, 'Man proposes, but God disposes,' so Christ suffered not His Church to want its ancient and rightful privileges."—P. 83.

Mr. Lower says in his Preface, p. x.:

"Of the identity of the author nothing certain can be inferred, beyond the bare fact of his having been a monk of Battel. A few passages would almost incline one to believe that Abbot Odo, who was living at the date of the last events narrated in the work, and who is known to have been a literary character of some eminence, was the writer of at least some portions of the volume."

It is stated at the beginning to be in part derived from early document and traditional statements.

E. J. M.

Hastings.

(Vol. viii., pp. 386. 502.)

The question as to Napoleon's spelling may seem, at first sight, to be one of little importance; and yet, if we will look at it aright, we shall find that it involves many points of interest for the philosopher and the historian. During a residence of some years in France, I had heard it remarked, more than once, by persons who appeared hostile to the Napoleon dynasty, that its great founder had, in his bulletins and other public documents, shown an unaccountable ignorance of the common rules of orthography: but I had never seen the assertion put forth by any competent writer until I met with the remarks of Macaulay, already quoted by me, Vol. viii., p. 386.

In reply to my inquiry as to the authority for this statement, your correspondent C. has readily and kindly furnished a passable from Bourrienne'sMémoires, in which it is alleged that Napoleon's "orthographe est en généralextraordinairement estropiée."

From all this it must be taken for granted, as, indeed, it has never been denied, that Napoleon's spelling is defective; but the question to be considered is, whether that defectiveness was the effect of ignorance or of design. That it did not arise from ignorance would seem probable for the following reasons.

Napoleon received his education chiefly in France; and it is to be presumed that the degree of instruction in grammar, orthography, &c.,ordinarilybestowed on educated Frenchmen, was not withheld from him.

To say the least of it, he was endued with sufficient intelligence to acquire anordinaryknowledge of such matters.

Nay more: he was a man of the highest order of genius. Between the possession of genius, and a knowledge of orthography, there is, I admit, no necessary connexion. The humblest pedagogue may be able to spell more correctly than the greatest philosopher. But neither, on the other hand, does genius of any kind necessarily preclude a knowledge of spelling.

While still a young man, Napoleon wrote several works in French, such as theSouper de Beaucaire, theMémoire sur la Culture du Mûrier, &c. Some of the manuscripts of these writings must be still extant; and a comparison of the spelling of his unpretending youth, with that of his aspiringmanhood, would show at once whether the "orthographe extraordinairement estropiée" of his later productions was the result of habit or design.

The orthography of the French language is peculiarly intricate; and it is no uncommon thing to meet with educated men in that country who are unable to spell with accuracy. That Napoleon may have been in a similar predicament, would not be surprising; but that it should be said of the mostextraordinaryman of the age, that his spelling isextraordinairement estropiée, seems inexplicable upon any fair supposition, except that he accounted the rules of spelling unworthy the attention of any but copyists and office drudges; or (which is more probable) that he wished this extraordinary spelling to be received as an indication of the great rapidity with which he could commit his thoughts to paper.

Henry H. Breen.

(Vol. viii., pp. 461. 549.; Vol. ix., p. 3.)

There appearing to be a strong feeling that a correct edition of theseMemoirsshould be published, with the present inaccurate notes thoroughly revised, I send you a few notes from a collection I have made on the subject.

The proper orthography of the name is "Gramont," and the family probably originally came from Spain. Matta's friend, the Marquis de Sevantes, asserts the fact; and it is corroborated by the fact, that on the occasion of the Marshal de Grammont's demanding the hand of the Infanta Maria Theresa for Louis XIV., the people cried, "Viva el Marescal de Agramont, que es de nuestro sangue!" And the King of Spain said to the Marshal after the presentation of his sons, the Counts de Guiche and De Louvigny, "Teneis Muy Buenos y lindos hijos y bien se hecha de ver que los Agramonteses salen de la sangue de Espana."

The Grammont family had been so enriched and ennobled by its repeated marriages with the heiresses of great families, that, like many noble houses of our own times, members of it hardly knew their own correct surname: thus, in the famous declaration of the parliament of Paris against the Peers in 1717, on the subject of the Caps, it was said:

"The Grammonts have determined on their armorial bearings, and hold to those of the house of Aure. The Count de Grammont said one day to the Marshal, What arms shall we use this year?"

The Grammonts in the male line are descended from Sancho Garcia d'Aure, Viscount de l'Arboust. Menaud d'Aure, his lineal representative, married Claire de Grammont, sister and heiress of Jean, Seigneur de Grammont, and daughter of Francis, Seigneur de Grammont, and Catherine d'Andoins his wife.

Menaud d'Aure is the ancestor who is disguised in theMemoirsas "Menaudaure" and "Menodore;" and in the notes, coupled with "la belle Corisande," they are styled two of the ancestresses of the family celebrated for their beauty.

Philibert, who was styled Philibert de Grammont and de Toulongeon, Count de Grammont and de Guiche, Viscount d'Aster, Captain of fifty men at arms, Governor and Mayor of Bayonne, Seneschal of Bearne, married on Aug. 7, 1567, Diana, better known as "La belle Corisande" d'Andouins, Viscountess de Louvigny, Dame de Lescun, the only daughter of Paul Viscount de Louvigny; who, although a Huguenot, was killed at the siege of Rouen, fighting under the command of the Duke de Guise. They had two children: Antoine, subsequently the first duke, and Catherine, who married Francois Nompar de Chaumont, Count de Lauzun, the ancestor of the celebrated Duke de Lauzun, who was first introduced at court by his relative the Marshal de Grammont.

This Philibert, Count de Grammont, was killed at the siege of La Fere in Aug. 1580. The connexion between his widow, the fair Corisande, and Henry IV., was subsequent to the Count's death.

The Duchy Peerage was created on Dec. 13, 1643. Antoine, the first duke, married, firstly, on Sept. 1, 1601, Louise, eldest daughter of the Marshal de Roquelaure; she died in 1610, leaving Antoine, subsequently the Marshal Duke de Grammont, and Roger, Count de Louvigny, killed in a duel in Flanders on March 18, 1629. The Duke de Grammont married, secondly, on March 29, 1618, Claude, eldest daughter of Louis de Montmorency, Baron de Boutteville; and had Henri, Count de Toulongeon, who died unmarried on Sept. 1, 1679; Philibert, the celebrated Chevalier de Grammont, who was born in 1621; and three daughters.

The Marshal de Grammont was one of the most celebrated men of the court of Louis XIV.: he was a favourite both of Richelieu and Mazarin, and married a niece of the former; and, as a wit, was not inferior to his brother the Chevalier. He sided with the Court during the wars of the Fronde; whilst the Chevalier in the first instance joined the Prince of Condé, probably from their mutual connexion with the Montmorency family. The Marshal died at Bayonne, on July 12, 1678, aged seventy-four years, leaving four children, of whom the Count de Guiche and the Princess de Monaco are well known.

The Chevalier de Grammont received his outfit from his mother, and joined the army under Prince Thomas of Savoy, then besieging Trin in Piedmont, which was taken on Sept. 24, 1643. The notes to theMemoirssay May 4, 1639; but thatwas a former siege by the French, then under the command of the Cardinal de la Vallette.

Probably this will be as much as you can afford space for at present, and I will therefore reserve any farther communications for a future Number.

W. H. Lammin.

Fulham.

(Vol. viii., p. 593.)

Ere venturing an opinion as to the exact size of the above, as compared with the Golden-crested Wren, I should much like to ascertain where I am likely to meet with a faithful specimen of the latter? The Myrtle Bee is about half the size of the common Wren, certainly not larger: and I always took it for granted, the bird derived its name from its diminutiveness and the cover it frequented. I cannot say the bird was generally known in the neighbourhood, having only met with it when in company with sportsmen, in a description of country little frequented by others. I originally obtained the name when a boy from a deceased parent whom I accompanied out shooting; and for a succession of years the bird was familiar to me, in fact, to all sportsmen of that period who shot over the immediate locality; we all knew it, although its name was seldom mentioned. In fact, it never induced a thought beyond—"Confound the bees, how they bother the dogs"—or some such expression. I am unacquainted with the Dartford Warbler (Sylvia provincialis, Gmel.); but the description as quoted by Mr. Salmon from Yarrell'sHist. of British Birds, 1839, vol. i. p. 311. et seq., differs from the Myrtle Bee. The Warbler is said to haunt and build among furze on commons, and flies with jerks; whereas I never met with the Myrtle Bee among furze, neither does it fly with jerks: on the contrary, its short flight is rapid, steady, and direct. The description of the Warbler appears to agree with a small bird well known here as the Furze Chat, but which is out of all proportion as compared with the Myrtle Bee.

As regards the Query touching the possibility of my memory being treacherous respecting the colour of the bird, after a lapse of twenty-five years, more faith will be placed therein on my stating that I am an old fly-fisher, making my own flies: and that no strange bird ever came to hand without undergoing a searching scrutiny as to colour and texture of the feathers, with the view of converting it to fishing purposes. No such use could be made of the Bee. In a former Number I described the tongue of the Myrtle Bee as round, sharp, and pointed at the end, appearing capable of penetration. I beg to say that I was solely indebted to accident in being able to do so, viz. the tongue protruded beyond the point of the bill, owing to the pressure it received in my dog's mouth; the dog having brought it out enveloped in dead grass, from the foot of the myrtle bush.

Charles Brown.

(Vol. ix., p. 136.)

Mr. Crossleyseems to confine the wordCelticto the Irish branch of that dialect. My notion of the wordsiosalandiriosalis taken from the Highland Gaelic, and the authorised version of the Bible in that language. Let Celtic scholars who look to the sense of words in thefourspoken languages, decide between us. There can be no doubt of the meaning of the two words in the Gaelic of Job v. 11. and Ps. iv. 6. In Welsh, and (I believe) in bas-Breton, there is no word similar touimorumhal, in the senses ofhumusandhumilis, to be found. In Gaelicuiris more common thanuim, andtalamhmore common than either in the sense ofhumus; and in that ofhumble,iosalandiriosalare much more common thanumhal.

It is certain that Latin was introduced into Ireland before it reached the Highlands, and Christianity with it; and therefore, as this word is not found in one branch of the Celtic at all, and is not a very common word in another, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it is of Latin origin. The sense whichMr. Crossleydeclares to be the only sense ofiosalandiriosal, is precisely that which is the nearest to the original meaning oflow, andlow as the earth; and this is also the sense whichhumilisalways bears in classical Latin, though Christianity (which first recognisedhumilityas a virtue, instead of stigmatising it as a meanness) attached to it the sense which its derivatives in all modern Romance languages, with the exception of Italian, exclusively bear.

NowMr. Crossleyhas omitted to notice the fact thatumhalin Gaelic, and, I believe,umalin Irish, have not the intermediate sense oflowandcringing, but only the Christian sense ofhumble, as a virtuous attribute. It seems natural that ifuimandumalwere radical words, the latter would bear the some relation touim, in every respect, whichhumilisdoes tohumus, its supposed derivative. But unlesshumusbe derived fromχάμαι(the root ofχθὼνandχθαμαλὸς), how doesMr. Crossleyaccount for theh, which had a sound in Latin as well ashorrorandhostilis, both of which retain the aspirate in English, though they lose it in French? IfMr. Crossleywill tell me whyhorreurandhostilehave no aspirate in French, I will tell him whyheir,honour, andhumourhave none in English, thoughhumid(which is as closely connected withhumour, ashumidusis withhumor) retains the aspirate.

These Celtic etymologies, however, though amusing, do not touch the main point, which is simply this: the usual mode of pronouncing the wordhumblein good English society. What that is, seems to be so satisfactorily shown by your correspondent S. G. C., Vol. viii., p. 393., that all farther argument on the subject would be superfluous.

E. C. H.

Improvements in the Albumenized Process.—Your expectation of being soon able to announce the successful manufacture of a new negative calotype paper, will, I am sure, be gladly received by many photographers, and especially by those who, like me, have been subjected to much disappointment with Turner's paper. For one sheet that has turned out well, at least half-a-dozen have proved useless from spottiness, and some sheets do not take the iodizing solution evenly, from an apparent want of uniformity in the texture of the paper, which causes the solution to penetrate portions the moment it is laid on the solution. Undoubtedly, when it does succeed, it is superior to Whatman's, but this is not enough to compensate for its extreme uncertainty.

InDr. Diamond'sdirections for the calotype, he gave a formula for the addition of bromide of potassium to the iodide of potassium, but did not speak with much certainty as to the proportions. Will he kindly say whether he has made farther trials; and if so, whether they confirm the proportions given by him, or have led him to adopt any change in this respect? and will he likewise say whether the iodizing solution which he recommends for Turner's paper, is suitable also to Whatman's?

In albumenizing paper, I have not found it desirable to remove the paper very slowly from the solution. Whenever I have done so, it has invariably dried with waves and streaks, which quite spoiled the sheet. A steady motion, neither too slow nor too quick, I have found succeed perfectly, so that I now never spoil a sheet. I have used the solution with less albumen than recommended byDr. Diamond. My formula has been.—

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