Various

“ I cannot help myself thinking it may be in no small degree attributable to that separation between class and class, which is the great curse of British society, and for which we are all, more or less, in our respective spheres, in some degree responsible, and which is more complete in these districts than in agricultural districts, where the resident gentry are enabled to shed around them the blessings resulting from the exercise of benevolence, and the influence and example of active kindness. ”

“ To go no farther, the reports of the parliamentary debates, when a "Blue Book" happens to furnish matter for discussion, amply confirm Richardson's definition, that to garble is to pick out what may serve a purpose. ”

“ Would any correspondent help me to the solution of the following case?—A. was the last and only representative of an ancient family; he left at his decease, some years ago, a daughter and heiress who married B. Can the issue of B. (having no arms of their own) legally use the arms, quarterings, crest, and motto of A., without a license from the Heralds' College?
Cid.
Lord Brougham and Horne Tooke.—In Lord Brougham's Statesmen of the Time of George III., he says of Mr. Horne Tooke:
"Thus he (H. T.) would hold that the law of libel was unjust and absurd, because libel means a little book." ”

“ I am afraid we all of us keep too much aloof from those beneath us, and whom we thus encourage to look upon us with suspicion and dislike. Even to our servants we think, perhaps, we fulfil our duty when we perform our contract with them—when we pay them their wages, and treat then with the civility consistent with our habits and feelings—when we curb our temper, and use no violent expressions towards them. ”

“ Trench's charming little book on Proverbs, 2nd ed., p. 31., he remarks:
"There are not a few (proverbs) , as I imagine, which, living on the lips of men, have yet never found their way into books, however worthy to have done so; either because the sphere in which they circulate has continued always a narrow one, or that the occasions which call them out are very rare, or that they, having only lately risen up, have not hitherto attracted the attention of any one who cared to record them. ”

“ This Miltonic rhapsody supposes Adam, when verging on his nine hundreth year, to have assembled his descendants to a kind of jubilee, when sacrifices, and other antediluvian solemnities, being observed, "Seth, the pious son of his comfort, gravely arose, and, after due obedience to the first of men, humbly beseeched the favour to have their memories refreshed by a short history of the marvellous things in the beginning." ”

“ If a furnace were so constructed, that a man might hold his hand in the flame without burning his body, the shock to the nervous system would deprive him of all command over muscular action before the skin could be "entirely consumed." ”

“ Each work is introduced by a preface of great learning, and illustrated by a large body of valuable notes.
Those who have shared our regret, that the brilliant notices of books which occasionally appear in the columns of The Times should be presented in a form which scarcely admits of their being preserved, and also our satisfaction when Mr. Murray put forth his selection from them under the title of Essays from the Times, will be glad that the same publisher has issued in his Railway Reading a Second Series of them, comprising fourteen articles. ”

“ I may be wrong in my notion of oriel window, but I have not met with ancient authority for that expression. Cowel conjectured that Oriel College, in Oxford, took its name from some such room or portico. There is a remarkable portico, in the farther side of the first quadrangle, but not old enough to have given the name. It might, however, be only the successor of one more ancient, and more exactly an oriel." For articles on the disputed derivation of this term, which seems involved in obscurity, see Parker's Glossary of Architecture; a curious paper by Mr. Hamper, in Archæologia, vol. xxiii. ”

“ Richardson's Dictionary contains the following notes under the head Garble:
"Fr. Grabeler; It. Garbellare. Cotgrave says, Grabeller, to garble spices, &c., (and hence) also to examine precisely, sift nearly, look narrowly, search curiously into."
After giving some examples of its use, Richardson says:
"As usually applied in England, to garble is to pick out, sift out what may serve a particular purpose, and thus destroy or mutilate the fair character of the whole." ”

“ But how painful is the thought, that there are men and women growing up around us, ministering to our comforts and necessities, continually inmates of our dwellings, with whose affections and nature we are as much unacquainted as if they were the inhabitants of some other sphere. ”

“ Correspondents should bear in mind the essential requisite of a proverb, currency. Curt, sharp sayings might easily be multiplied; what is wanted, however, is a collection of such only as have that prerequisite of admission into the ranks of recognised proverbs. And while contributors should not lose sight of "the stamp of merit," as that which renders the diffusion of proverbs beneficial to mankind, still they should not reject a genuine proverb for want of that characteristic, remembering that,—
"'Tween man and man, they weight not every stamp ”

“ Take white of an egg, break it with a fork, and, having first cleaned the leather with dry flannel, apply the egg with a soft sponge. Where the leather is rubbed or decayed, rub a little paste with the finger into the parts affected, to fill up the broken grain, otherwise the glair would sink in and turn it black. To produce a polished surface, a hot iron must be rubbed over the leather. The following is, however, an easier, if not a better, method. Purchase some "bookbinders' varnish," which may be had at any colour shop; clean the leather well, as before ”

“ Green Stockings.—Is the custom of sending a pair of green stockings to the eldest unmarried daughter of a family, upon the occasion of the marriage of a younger sister, of English, Irish, or Scottish origin?
L. A.
Nicholas Kieten.—In the thirteenth century, "there was a giant in Holland named Nicholas Kieten, whose size was so prodigious, that he carried men under his arms like little children. His shoe was so large, that four men together could put their feet in it. Children were too terrified to look him in the face, and fled from his presence." ”

“ And that the mere form of a proverb often affords some indication of its age and climate, even where the matter is spurious. I have a large MS. collection of English proverbs by me, from which I doubt not I shall be able to extract some few which have never yet been admitted into any published collection. ”

“ Dr. Gilbert Sheldon was Archbishop of Canterbury in the middle of the seventeenth century; and the Sheldons are shown by Burke to be still an existing family at Brailes House in Warwickshire, previously in Oxfordshire, and semble in Staffordshire. I have made application on the subject to Mr. Sheldon of Brailes House, the more confidently as the Christian name of "Ralph" is frequent in the pedigree of that family, and Colonel Dominick Sheldon had a brother Ralph; but Mr. Sheldon could not satisfy me.
One of the adventurers or soldiers in Cromwell's time, in Ireland, was a William Sheldon ”

“ It appears to us impossible to produce instruments of the same size possessing a richer and finer tone, more elastic touch, or more equal temperament, while the elegance of their construction renders them a handsome ornament for the library, boudoir, or drawing-room. ”

“ We may remind all lovers of beautiful illustrations of Mediæval Art, that Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell by auction on Monday next the entire stock of the magnificent publications of Mr. Henry Shaw, F.S.A., whose Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages are a type of the whole. Such an opportunity of securing copies at a reasonable rate will never occur again. While on the subject of sales, we may mention that Messrs. Puttick and Simpson announce a sale of Photographs. ”

“ Polygamy (Vol. ix., p. 246.) .—The practice of monogamy had been established among the Jews before the Christian era, as is shown by various expressions in the New Testament; but their law (like that of other oriental nations) still permitted polygamy, and they were expressly prohibited by an enactment of the Emperor Theodosius, of the year 393, from marrying several wives at the same time (Cod. 1. 9. 7.) ; so that the practice was not then extinct among them. Monogamy was the law and practice of all the Greek and Italian communities, so far back as our accounts reach. ”

“ Diamond's formula for albumenizing Canson paper, either positive or negative, viz.,
and will excite this paper by floating it for about two minutes on a solution of nitrate of silver twenty grains to the ounce, distilled water,—provided his chemicals are good, he will obtain perfectly satisfactory results.
Let his fixing bath be a saturated solution of hypo. soda, and if newly made let him, as recommended by Dr. Diamond, add 40 grains of chloride of silver to every 8 ounces of the solution. ”

“ He is informed that if the edges of his glass are roughed, it will greatly tend to the adhesion of the collodion. The nitrate of silver bath, used for exciting collodion plates, is not available for exciting albumenized paper or any other purpose.
H. C. C. 1. The addition of cyanide of potassium to the sensitive collodion not only prevents its decomposition, but appears to add to its general good qualities. 2. Protosulphate of iron mixed with your nitrate bath is quite fatal. 3. Good pictures are constantly taken when the temperature is below sixty ”

“ In fact, the term is the same, whether it be applied to oath or cloth; and when used with oath, it is used in the same sense as our immortal bard uses it in "corporal suffering" and "corporal toil."
S. G. C.
As the various forms in which oaths have been administered and taken is a question not altogether devoid of interest, I would wish to add a few words to what I have already written upon this subject. The earliest notice of this ceremony is probably that which is to be found in Genesis xxiv. 2, 3.:
"And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had. ”

“ Shadbolt.
[This application is not a novelty to us: Dr. Diamond has for some time added a small portion of his amber varnish (which is prepared from chloroform) to his collodion, and with satisfactory results. It is a pity that so admirable a varnish is not to be procured at the generality of photographic warehouses. We have never yet been able to procure any which will bear comparison with some which Dr. Diamond was good enough to prepare for us.—Ed. "N. & Q."] ”

“ B. T. A. The line "England, with all thy faults I love thee still," is by Cowper (The Task, book ii.) .
Rev. J. J. We fear some injustice was done—unintentionally, but fear also that it is now too late to remedy it.
Inquirer (Birmingham) . Some of our correspondents have met with great success from Mr. Crookes' process; but we are bound to say that it has not been universal.
G. W. E. recommends that in immersing a collodion plate it should first be inserted horizontally, and then transversely in the nitrate of silver bath, as a sure means of avoiding spots. ”

“ He appears, throughout his career, an individual of whom his descendants should be proud; but I cannot discover the house of this Englishman.
In the Outlawries of 1691, he is described on one as "of the city of Dublin," on another, as "of Pennyburn Mill, co. Derry." No other person of his name appears in my whole Army List; although the "Diary" preserved in the Harleian Miscellany (old edit., vol. vii. p. 482.) ”

“ If I were aided with such by them, and by the old families of Ireland, the work should be a gem.
John D'Alton.
48. Summer Hill, Dublin.
QUOTATIONS WANTED. (Vol. ix., pp. 247, 301.)
"The knights are dust,
Their good swords are rust,
Their souls are with the saints, we trust."
This seems to be an imperfect recollection of the concluding lines of a short poem by Coleridge, entitled "The Knight's Tomb." (See Poems of S. T. Coleridge: Moxon, 1852, p. 306.) ”

“ It is much too long, and not of sufficient merit, for insertion in "N. & Q."
F. E. E.
Footnote 2: (return)
[See "N. & Q.," Vol. iii., p. 300.]
OATHS. (Vol. viii., no. 364, 605.; Vol. ix., p. 45.)
I am extremely obliged to your several correspondents who have replied to my Query.
I now send you "a remarkable case," which occurred in 1657, and throws considerable light upon the subject.
Dr. Owen, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, being a witness for the plaintiff in a cause, refused to be sworn in the usual manner, by laying his right hand upon the book, and by kissing it afterwards ”

“ This gun is said to have been invented in Ireland by General Melville; but having been perfected at Carron, it thence took its name.
Landmann (no mean authority at the beginning of this century) , in his Questions and Answers on Artillery, says: "The carronade takes its name from being first made at Carron."
H. T. Ellacombe.
"Largesse" (Vol. v., p. 557.; Vol. ix., p. 209.) .—The use of this word is not confined to Essex and Northamptonshire, but extends also to Norfolk. ”