Various

“ A correspondent signing himself Vandyke asks, "Why is Sir Kenelm Digby represented, I believe always, with a sunflower by his side?" The very first portrait of Digby I turned to, in Lodge's Collection, engraved, too, after Vandyke, is without any flower at all. ”

“ The author, after describing the qualities of a good touchstone, observes (p. 36.) :
"The way to make a true touch on the touch-stone is thus: When your touch-stone is very clean ... your silver being filed ... rub it steadily, and very hard, on the stone ... until the place of the stone whereon you rub be like the metal itself ... wet all the toucht places with your tongue, and it will show itself in its own countenance."
And that the touchstone was used in this connexion at a much earlier period is obvious from the language of the ancient statutes. ”

“ Meyrick's 'Practical Working of the Church of Spain.' This is the experience—and it is the experience of every Spanish traveller—of a thoughtful person, as to the lamentable results of unchecked Romanism. Here is the solid substantial fact. Spain is divided between ultra-infidelity and what is so closely akin to actual idolatry, that it can only be controversially, not practically, distinguished from it: and over all hangs a lurid cloud of systematic immorality, simply frightful to contemplate. ”

“ Ross prepares lenses for Portraiture having the greatest intensity yet produced, by procuring the coincidence of the chemical actinic and visual rays. The spherical aberration is also very carefully corrected, both in the central and oblique pencils."
"Mr. Ross has exhibited the best Camera in the Exhibition. It is furnished with a double achromatic object-lens, about three inches aperture. There is no stop, the field is flat, and the image very perfect up to the edge." ”

“ Dip evenly into the bath, lifting up and down to allow of the evaporation of the ether: the film will also saturate more rapidly. When the greasy appearance is gone, it is ready for the camera. Sometimes the film is nearly transparent and bluish, not having sufficient iodide of silver; or it may contain too much iodide, the greater part flaking off in the bath, leaving the collodion with very little, and that patchy; or from being placed in the bath too quick, the lower corner still present a reticulated appearance, which of course renders it useless. ”

“ In fact, all samples of paper require some modification of the process, as the chemicals are different in the various modes of bleaching paper by different manufacturers. The ammonio-nitrate is perfect with Whatman's paper; indeed it is a subject of much regret, that this maker has not turned out a paper as thin and hard as the Canson Frères. The latter gentlemen have added some chemical, probably iodine, to their paper, which renders it almost impossible to iodize it at all. I believe it to be iodine, because the paper becomes perfectly black over free iodine, which no English paper will do. ”

“ A ship shall come sayling up the Thames till it come to London, and the master of the ship shall weep, and the mariners shall ask him why he weepeth, and he shall say, 'Ah, what a goodly city was this! ”

“ From the observations which I have made since I have made use of chloride of barium, I conclude that it has the effect of destroying any injurious properties which may be in the paper, and more especially with respect to the SIZE; and besides which, when combined with iodide of silver, greater intensity is obtained in the negative. ”

“ Oaks are known to live to a much greater age than this; and there are documents which prove that the Shelton Oak was a fine large tree some centuries ago. It is perfectly alive, and bears some hundreds of acorns every year, though it has great marks of age, and is so hollow in the inside, that it seems to stand on little more than a circle of bark. ”

“ Hold the plate with the left hand at 1, pour a body of collodion in the centre: tilt towards 1 (being careful not to let it touch the thumb) , incline towards 2, run into 3, and pour off at 4: then hold the plate vertically (resting the corner 4 on the neck of the collodion bottle) to drain: incline it first to the right and then to the left, repeating this several times until the ridges are removed. By these means an even film may be produced, without a thick ridge, from 2 to 4. The time it may be left before plunging into the silver bath will depend on the temperature (about half a minute) . ”

“ The Scots proving victorious, Magnus of Norway, son and successor of Acho, made peace with Alexander, and renounced and discharged all right and title which he or his successors had, or might have or pretend, to the isles of Scotland, the king of Scotland paying therefor yearly to the said Magnus and his successors one hundred marks of sterling money. ”

“ I have occasionally prepared paper without chloride of barium, but I have always found (except for positives) that I could not rely upon it with the same degree of certainty. I need scarcely add that throughout the whole of this process the greatest care and attention is required, and that the water should be constantly agitated while the paper is in it, and that the water should be once changed.
W. J. Newton.
6. Argyle Street.
Replies to Minor Queries. ”

“ Manufacturers of Photographic Apparatus and Materials, consisting of Cameras, Stands, Coating Boxes, Pressure Frames, Glass and Porcelain Dishes. &c., and pure Photographic Chemicals, suited for practising the Daguerreotype, Talbotype, Waxed-Paper, Albumen and Collodion Processes, adapted to stand any Climate, and fitted for the Requirements of the Tourist or Professional Artist. ”

“ It is only in converting a positive picture into a negative one, or in increasing the powers of a feeble negative, that the bichloride of mercury is recommended to be used. A perfectly good printing negative will be procured by following the instructions we have given in our former Numbers. Dr. Diamonds's Photographic Notes will treat fully upon this subject.
Our Sixth Volume, strongly bound in cloth, with very copious Index is now ready, price 10s. 6d. Arrangements are making for the publication of complete sets of "Notes and Queries," price Three Guineas for the Six Volumes. ”

“ Having exposed the plate the necessary time, the next step is the development. The solution I usually employ is prepared with protosulphate of iron. I do not find distilled water absolutely necessary (during the summer months I fancied the tones were improved by using ordinary water, perhaps from containing a little lime) , and the acetate acid is not glacial, but a description termed Beaufoy's, much less expensive. The proportions are—
Mix the water and acetic acid first ”

“ The correct quotation is:
"So comes a reck'ning when the banquet's o'er,
The dreadful reck'ning, and men smile no more."
S. Wmson.
Sir J. Covert, not Govett (Vol. vii., p. 85.) .—Quæro may be perfectly assured that there never was a baronet of the name of Govett, nor a member of parliament so called. P. C. S. S. is confident that the individual to whom Quæro refers, as having sat in the second parliament of Charles II., must have been Sir John Covert, Baronet, who was member for Horsham. ”

“ He arrived at Bristol, having obtained letters patent of Henry II. for any of the king's subjects to assist him against his enemies: but no one in Bristol was found able or willing to undertake such expedition, when Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, who resided at Chepstow Castle, offered his assistance (Seyer's Memoirs of Bristol) ; and, in 1169, entered Ireland with two hundred knights and others, to the number of 1000. The object being effected, Strongbow was united to Eva, the daughter of Dermot; and, at that prince's death, became seised of Leinster. ”

“ Sham Epitaphs and Quotations (Vol. vi., p 340.) .—Your correspondent A. A. D. asks, in reference to a certain epitaph, "has it really a local habitation, and where?" This is a Query full of grave suggestions. Are there not hundreds of epitaphs in print which have no existence except as printer's paragraphs, and which serve the same purpose as the immortal calf with six legs, and the numberless gigantic gooseberries and plethoric turnips. ”

“ For it is of "unwieldy form," has "disproportionate wings," and is altogether of a "clumsy figure." P. C. S. S. has till now believed that the uncouth appearance of the bird was owing to the want of skill in the artist. But it is now clear that it must undoubtedly be a Dodo; and P. C. S. S. will henceforward live, sibi carior, in the certainty that the chief justice of England temp. Henry VIII., from whom he has the honour to descend, bore a "veritable Dodo" as his crest.
P. C. S. S. takes this occasion of adverting to some Queries which appeared a few months ago, respecting serjeants' rings. ”

“ That in regard a thorough settlement of Church affaires may be long under debate, in the mean time some speedy and effectuall course may be taken, where by ignorant and scandalous persons may be kept from the Lord's Supper. ”

“ The niches in the walls are all filled, and when one of the order now dies, that mummy which has been the longest exposed, or most decayed, is removed to make way for the remains of him who is lately deceased. ”

“ The miniature, which is beautifully painted in enamel, and said to be by Vandyke, has been reset in a tasteful and appropriate style; and it is in this state that I have seen it. But Mr. Rogers informs me that its original setting and inscriptions exactly corresponded with those of the ring in the possession of the Misses Pigott, described in Hulbert's History of Salop; and the same tradition exists in the family as to its having been one of four presented by Charles to certain of his friends or followers. ”

“ Sir William Newton's Process: Further Explanations.—In reply to your correspondent F. Maxwell Lyte, who is desirous of knowing my motive for washing the paper over with chloride of barium previous to iodizing—
In the first place, I find that it appears to give strength to the paper.
Secondly, that the action in the camera is better and more certain.
Thirdly, it keeps cleaner in the bringing-out process, thereby allowing a longer time for a more complete development.
Fourthly, I have never found any solarizing take place since I have used it (about three years) ”

“ That such ancient lawes as may be yet in force relating to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, so far as they are or may prove burdensome to truly godly and conscientious ministers and people, may be duly regulated.
"2. That so far as you in your wisdomes shall think fitt, ordinances of Parliament that have been made after aduice had with the late Assembly of Diuines in order {177}to Church settlement, may be returned upon, and begun reformation carried on. ”

“ This is an important matter: for it is no pleasant affair to spend a month or two in the endeavour to trace a quotation, and then to become convinced that you have been hunting for a mare's nest.
Shirley Hibberd.
Door-head Inscription (Vol. vii., p. 23.) .—In accordance with the suggestion of A. B. R., I have by means of a friend obtained an accurate transcript of the door-head inscription at Wymondham. It runs thus:
"Nec mihi glis servus, nec hospes hirudo." ”

“ CLASSICAL EDUCATION IN FRANCE.—A married gentleman, of literary habits, a graduate and repeated prizeman of Cambridge, who has resided many years in France, receives into his family THREE PUPILS, to whom with his own younger son he devotes the whole of his time. ”

“ Llandudno on the Great Orme's Head (Vol. v., pp. 175. 235. 305.) .—I am surprised that the twice-repeated Query of your correspondent L. G. T. of Lichfield yet remains unanswered. "The cavern" he refers to is that called Llech, and concerning which he has fallen into several errors. The cavern, so far from having been lately discovered, has been known for generations past, and is yearly visited by hundreds of strangers. If the entrance has been made as private and inaccessible as possible, there is nobody to blame but nature and time ”

“ If the author is right, then the changes he so eloquently urges upon the present attention of his brethren ought to have been made three hundred years ago; and the obstinate refusal of the Council of Trent to make such reforms in conformity with Scripture and Antiquity, throws the whole burthen of the sin of schism upon Rome, and not upon our Reformers. ”

“ The elections at the collegiate church are constantly referred to as subjects of all-absorbing interest; there being a strong party, {180}as well in the town as in the church, of Jacobites, and these elections being regarded as a trial of party strength. ”

“ A great and large slaughter shall be throughout the land of darkness where the unrighteous decrees and laws have been founded. Yea, a great effusion of blood, fire, and smoke shall encrease up in the dark habitations of cruelty ”

“ Fabulous Bird.—Among the many quaint and beautiful conceits in Fuller, there is one preeminently fine: in which he likens the life-long remorse of a man who has slain another in a duel to the condition of "a bird I have read of, which hath a face like, and yet will prey upon, a man ”

“ They work to focus, cover flat, and define well, producing pictures equal to the most expensive.
I have usually preferred Mr. Archer's collodion, as the most certain and cleanest. The silver bath is composed of thirty grains nitrate of silver and two drops of nitric acid to each ounce of distilled water. ”

“ If dead, as I suppose—for the account which I read some years ago stated that it was fast decaying—then I would like to know if the young tree, one of its progeny, is still flourishing in the forest, and enjoying, from its peculiarity, the same veneration {181}which was paid to the parent stock. ”

“ TO PHOTOGRAPHERS.—MR. PHILIP DELAMOTTE begs to announce that he has now made arrangements for printing Calotypes in large or small quantities either from Paper or Glass Negatives. Gentlemen who are desirous of having good impressions of their works, may see specimens of Mr. Delamotte's Printing at his own residence, 38. Chepstow Place, Bayswater, or at
MR. GEORGE BELL'S, 186. Fleet Street.
ROSS'S PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT AND LANDSCAPE LENSES.—These lenses give correct definition at the centre and margin of the picture, and have their visual and chemical acting foci coincident. ”

“ During the late dull weather, many of my plates have shown a tendency to an uniform leaden-looking deposit, destroying the blacks of the picture. A little more nitric acid in the bath will sometimes overcome this, but I have not yet found a sufficient remedy. During the summer months I was in the habit of using double the quantity of {187}iron I have stated, diluting the solution more ”

“ The pedigree embraces about sixty names, including the alliances, but reaches no further downwards than the sons of Roger Mortimer in the reign of Henry III. These documents do not contribute in any way to answer the inquiry of one of your correspondents as to La Bruyère; and it may be satisfactory to the other to know that there is nothing in them to show any connexion with the name of De la Bruere.
J. D. S.
Murray, titular Earl of Dunbar (Vol. vi., p. 11.) .—In correcting Lord Albemarle's mistake respecting "James Murray, titular Earl of Dunbar," your correspondent C. (2.) ”

“ That in your Highness' lifetime such prouision be made for the future gouernment of the commonwealth, as may secure the interest of good people of these nations for succeeding generations, that they may call you blessed.
"And in the prosecution of such ends we shall be ready, as the Lord shall help us, with all that is dear to us, to defend your Highness' person and gouernment, with the true interest of religion and the lawes, and shall ever pray, &c. ”

“ Their Collodion (price 9d. per oz.) retains its extraordinary sensitiveness, tenacity, and colour unimpaired for months: it may be exported to any climate, and the Iodizing Compound mixed as required. J.B. HOCKIN & CO. manufacture PURE CHEMICALS and all APPARATUS with the latest Improvements adapted for all the Photographic and Daguerreotype processes. Cameras for Developing in the open Country. GLASS BATHS adapted to any Camera. Lenses from the best Makers. ”