Lunette

“ In the lunettes of the ceiling are amorini, with the attributes of those gods who have done homage to the power of Love. In the triangular compartments between the lunettes are different groups, illustrative of the incidents in the fable. They are of great beauty, and are examples of the most tasteful disposition in a given space. The picture of the three Graces, that in which Cupid stands in an imploring attitude before Jupiter; a third, where Psyche is borne away by Loves, are extremely graceful. ”

“ For when the Lord He made the earth, it seems uncommon clear,
He gave the job of Africa to some good engineer,
Who started building fortresses on fashions of his own --
Lunettes, redoubts, and counterscarps all made of rock and stone. ”

“ You would have said there can be no lamp without oil or gas, or other combustible substance, to feed it; and yet you see a filament which sheds a light like that of noon all around it, and does not waste at all. So the Lunites live by influx of divine energy, just as the incandescent lamp glows,—glows, and is not consumed; receiving its life, if we may call it so, from the central power, which wears the unpleasant name of 'dynamo.'”
The Lunites appeared to me as pale phosphorescent figures of ill-defined outline, lost in their own halos, as it were. ”

“ The Magic, or, more properly, the Projecting lantern, is an optical instrument, consisting of a case of wood or metal, enclosing a lamp or other illuminating agent, the light of which being gathered and condensed by a suitable condensing lens, and directed upon a small transparent picture, so powerfully illuminates it that its image, brilliantly lighted and greatly magnified, may be projected upon a distant screen by means of an objective—a combination of lenses in a tube—similar or identical in construction with a photographic portrait lens. ”

“ A woman who wears eyeglasses will be pleasantly surprised if, for more formal occasions, she tries the effects of the lorgnon or lorgnette. Whereas eyeglasses, fixed upon the face, tend to fight with the features or with other accessories, the lifted lorgnette becomes not only an adornment but a weapon. ”

“ And her eyes were as black as jet and very bright and shining, and her face was like ivory for clearness and whiteness and her lips were red like to coral for redness. She was clad all in flame-colored satin, embroidered with threads of gold and she wore a bright shining chaplet of gold about her brows so that what with her raiment of flame-color and with her embroidery and ornaments of shining gold, the maiden came up the hall like to a fiery vision of beauty, insomuch that all turned to behold her in passing, and many stood in their places that they might see her the better. ”

“ The magic or optical lantern is an instrument for projecting on a white wall or screen largely magnified representations of transparent pictures painted or photographed on glass, or of objects—crystals, animals, &c.—carried on glass slides or in glass vessels. ”

“ If a lantern is purchased for either long or short-range work, it is usually fitted with a brass front for a large lens, and so arranged that a shorter focus lens of 2 inches diameter can easily be interchanged, utilising the same brass mounting. ”

“ Of course, we carry lanterns—nearly every one does at night—and one constantly meets processions of families or friends, out either for a walk or on their way to some place of amusement, all carrying paper lanterns of various colours, and giving a pretty, fantastic effect to the dark roads and narrow streets of the town. ”

“ Again, after a little, the knight said, “Is there yet a light?” And again the esquire answered, “Not yet, Messire.” And again, after awhile, the knight said for the third time, “Floradaine, is there yet a light?” And this time the knight breathed the words as in a whisper of death. Then of a sudden the esquire called out in a loud and joyful voice, “Yea, Lord, now I behold a light!”
There cometh a light.
All this Sir Launcelot beheld in that waking dream, and though it was in the darkness of night, yet he beheld it very clearly, as though it were by{105} the sun of noonday. ”

“ The essential parts of a magic lantern are a condensing lens to make the beam of light converge upon the slide to illuminate it evenly, a projecting lens with which to throw an enlarged picture of the illuminated slide upon a screen and some appliances for preserving the proper relation of these parts to each other. ”

“ A bi-unial lantern consists essentially of two different instruments, each complete with its limelight jet or other illuminant—front, condensers, objective, &c., usually mounted on one body—and with some arrangement for 'dissolving' or turning the light in each lantern gradually on and off. ”

“ I have seen one lantern damaged to the amount of five hundred dollars, by a goose breaking a pane of glass and striking heavily upon the costly lens which surrounds the lamp. Light-keepers sometimes sit upon the gallery, and, looking along the pathway of light which shoots into the outer darkness over their heads, will see a few dark specks approaching them in this beam of radiance. ”

“ A mouth of velvet, a leg tapered like a fine lady's finger, a coat—sir, I have seen the wonderful manufactures of Lyons. There never was silk so smooth or of so bright a gloss, as the noble creature's coat. ”

“ The sagacious Lunet, whose confidante she is, suggests to her that, unless she enlists some doughty knight as her champion, the king will confiscate her fief; and that there is no champion like a husband. ”

“ Provided with that great refracting lamp of Fresnel, (a lantern equal to four thousand common ones, and throwing its ruddy gleam over a dozen, or so, of leagues) , it can cast, that good modern beacon, its directing and saving light, hither and thither so that [97] strait and shoal are made visible and safe in the deep midnight as in the full broad glow of the bright noon. To the sailor, who steers by the stars, this invention gave him, as it were, a new heaven and added constellations. ”

“ The Objective is really the most vital part of a lantern, as the definition of the picture almost entirely depends upon the excellence or otherwise of this lens. This will be obvious at once when it is realised that the objective has to project on to the distant screen a greatly magnified image of the comparatively small lantern slide, and the intending purchaser is strongly advised to economise almost anywhere rather than on this item. ”

“ On arriving at the hall, the first thing to be done as a rule is to get up the sheet, after which the professional operator generally begins to feel happy again.
The next thing, if it has not been done first, is to determine the position of the lantern, and this, as has been explained in Chapter VII, is a matter of the size of picture to be shown and the focus of the objective.
It is a mistake to show too large a picture; a little 'white' round the edges is a good thing, and it is better to have a small disc well illuminated than a large one less bright. ”

“ C, D, Magnifying-glass. A, B, Enlarged image of the arrow.
"It is here that our 'magic glasses' come to our assistance, and reveal to us what was before invisible. We learnt just now that we see near things by the lens of our eye becoming more rounded in front; but [Pg 36] there comes a point beyond which the lens cannot bulge any more, so that when a thing is very tiny, and would have to be held very close to the eye for us to see it, the lens can no longer collect the rays to a focus, so we see nothing but a blur. ”

“ When the gathering brightness of the dawn enables the form of the tower to be identified from a distance of several miles, the light is extinguished. Heavy curtains are drawn across the windows, not only to protect the lenses from the sun, but also to give a characteristic colour to the lantern.305 Thus, by daylight a lantern may appear to be a dull red or an intense black. ”

“ They behold a white knight.
For after that last speech of Lynette's, they went onward in silence, and ever Lynette looked this way and that as though she wist not that any such man as Beaumains was within the space of a league of that place. So travelling they came, toward the sloping of the afternoon, to a place nigh to the edge of a woodland where was a smooth and level space of grass surrounded on all sides but one by the trees of the forest. Here they beheld a knight who was just come out of the forest, and he was clad all in white [57] armor and he rode upon a white horse. ”

“ The direct light of the lamp G, as well as that reflected by the mirror and passing through the lens c, is so concentrated as to project a brilliant beam of light through the painted slide, which being in the conjugate focus of the large plano-convex lens d, the pictures on the glass are refracted in a magnified form on the white cloth P Q.
The magic lantern, therefore, consists of a box to hold the lamp, a concave mirror, and a convex lens to concentrate the light on the slide, and a second convex lens to throw the image on the screen. ”

“ The object of a lancet is to lance; when used for slashing, gashing, ripping, lopping off heads and limbs, it is a disappointing instrument. The object of an electric light is merely to light (a despicable modesty) ”

“ The use of a double convexed lens, as a magnifier, or as a burning-glass; the employment of a strong field glass; exhibiting the powers and qualities of a strong magnet; showing the wonders of the magic lantern, and other like simple demonstrations, will invariably impress them with something of respect and regard toward the operator, provided he is exceedingly careful in his first attempts not to alarm their pride and suspicion by any boastful or vain expression or demeanor. ”

“ Each drum has the tomoye painted on its ends. Then there were hundreds of paper lanterns carried on long poles of various lengths round a central lantern, 20 feet high, itself an oblong 6 feet long, with a front and wings, and all kinds of mythical and mystical creatures painted in bright colours upon it—a transparency rather than a lantern, in fact. ”

“ As it was getting dark, I lit and took with me the big red-silk lantern, and we set out, she leading, and walking confoundedly fast, slackening when I swore at her, and getting fast again: and she walks with a certain levity, flightiness, and liberated furore, very hard to describe, as though space were a luxury to be revelled in. ”

“ The light furnished with a small magic lantern does very well for evening exhibitions, but the lantern can be used in the daytime with good results by directing sunlight through the lens instead of using the oil lamp. ”

“ I saw the white dress, the splendid hair, the rosary, and the gold locket quite plainly. She turned her lovely face to me and smiled a sweet, pathetic smile; gently raised her hand, and floated away towards the picture gallery. Now for the end. Next day my kind hostess took me through the old gallery. I saw pictures of all ages, sorts, and sizes; but imagine my amazement when I saw 'The White Lady'—the same white dress, the lovely sweet face and splendid eyes, the rosary, and a locket, which I now saw had on it the arms of Queen Mary and Lord Darnley. 'Who on earth is that?' I asked. ”

“ This ignis fatuus may be represented by a young slender actress in a white gauze dress, holding in her hand a small neatly-made paper lantern. A misguided traveller is seen groping his way along a treacherous heath to trace the whereabouts of the fascinating vision, which at last vanishes, all but the dimly lighted lantern, which last of all dies out, and the actor appears emerging from a quagmire. ”

“ To get a more exact idea of the character of our illuminations, imagine one of your large toy-shops filled with transparent lanterns—horses, lions, sheep, elephants, soldiers, horsemen, parasols, flowers, grotesque figures, fantastic animals, &c. All the imitations of living things are associated with all the varieties of fancy to transform light silk or translucid paper into multi-coloured lanterns, now simple, now double. ”

“ It is evident also that if the eye be placed just above the wick of the lamp, it will see through any particular piece of glass that very portion of the landscape which will be illuminated by a ray starting from the same spot; or the photographic image formed in the place of the flame by any one of the lenses will tell us the direction in which that lens will throw the luminous rays. ”

“ Certainly they should not gleam with gold nor glitter with rhinestones when one is wearing earclips. The meretricious sparkle of the eyeglass rims draws attention from the earclips—which is the reverse of the proper procedure, for well designed clips can lure attention away from the glasses. ”

“ A few minutes' thought will show that the projecting lens of the lantern will reverse an image just as the lens of the camera does, so that we must insert the slide into the lantern carrier upside down and wrong way round, and as the spots are used to indicate this, they must be placed at the top of the slide, when the view appears to us as we saw it in nature. ”

“ Some means for tilting the lantern is always advisable, as it is seldom convenient to raise the instrument to the level of the centre of the screen, and a slight upward elevation does not appreciably distort the image. This arrangement for tilting may be either embodied in the lantern itself, as for instance in the instrument shown in Fig. ”

“ From childhood we are familiar with the triangular prisms of glass which break a sunbeam into all the hues of the rainbow. A lens is a prism of circular form, and has, equally with an ordinary prism, the power to show rays of all colors. ”

“ A good magic lantern or stereopticon is a luxury, but for the ambitious boy there is a way to make one at home with but little outlay of money beyond the cost of the lenses and lamp.
A Home-made Magic Lantern
A box, some thin boards, an ordinary central-draught or duplex-burner lamp, a reflector, some nails and screws, a pair of condensing-lenses, and a projector are the materials necessary.
Make a box of half-inch wood, twelve inches long, eleven inches high, and seven inches wide, outside measure. ”