Notes and Queries, Number 187, May 28, 1853

This ordinance was to continue for two years, from 25th March, 1644.

An ordinance of a similar character was passed 9th February, 1652, to be in force till 25th March, 1656 (Scobell, 231.).

By an act of the Lord Protector and Parliament, made in 1656, it was enacted that no person or persons should dig within the houses or lands of any person or persons of the commonwealth for the finding of saltpetre, nor take the carriages of any person or persons for the carrying of their materials or vessels, without their leave first obtained or had. (Scobell, 377.) This is the act referred to by Broctuna ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 434.), and by my friend Mr. Isaiah Deck ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 460.), though I am not certain that Mr. Deck's inference be correct, that this act was passed in consequence of the new and uncertain process for obtaining the constituents of nitre having failed; and it is quite clear that Lord Coke could not have referred to this act. The enactment referred to is introduced by way of proviso in an act allowing the exportation of goods of English manufacture (inter alia, of gunpowder, when the price did not exceed 5l. per cwt.).

Allow me, in connexion, with this subject, to refer to Cullum's History of Hawsted, 1st edition, pp. 150. and 151., also to the statute 1 Jac. II. c. 8. s. 3., by which persons obtaining any letters patent for the sole making or importing gunpowder are subjected to the pains and penalties of præmunire.

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

FORMS OF JUDICIAL OATHS

(Vol. vii., p. 458.)

Will you permit me to make a few observations in reply to the Queries of Mr. H. H. Breen on this subject?

There is hardly any custom more ancient than for a person imposing a promise on another to call on him to bind himself by an oath to the due performance of it. In this oath the person swearing calls on God, the king, his father, or some person or thing to whom he attaches authority or value, to inflict on him punishment or loss in case he breaks his oath. The mode of swearing is, in one particular, almost everywhere and in every age the same.

When a father, a friend, a sword, or any corporeal object is sworn by, the swearer places his hand upon it, and then swears. When a man, however, swore by the Deity, on whom he cannot place his hand, he raised his hand to heaven towards the God by whom he swore.

When Abraham made Abimelech swear to obey him, he caused him to place his hand under his thigh, and then imposed the oath; and when Jacob, by his authority as a father, compelled his son Joseph to swear to perform his promise, he ordered him to go through a similar ceremony. (Genesis, ch. xxiv. v. 5., and ch. xlvii. v. 29.)

In the prophet Daniel we read that—

"The man clothed in linen which was upon the waters, held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever," &c.—Daniel, ch. xii. v. 7.

In the Revelation we also find—

"And the angel, which I saw stand upon the sea and the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever," &c.—Revelation, ch. x. v. 5, 6.

Your correspondent inquires how oaths were taken prior to their being taken on the Gospel.

Among the nations who overthrew the Roman empire, the most common mode of swearing was on the relics of the saints. In England, I think, the most common mode was to swear on the corporalia or eucharistic elements, whence we still have the common phrase "upon your corporal oath." In each case the hand was placed on the thing sworn by.

The laws of the Alamanni as to conjurators, direct that the sacrament shall be so arranged that all the conjurators shall place their hands upon the coffer (containing the relics), and that the principal party shall place his hand on all theirs, and then they are to swear on the relics. (Ll. Alam. cap. 657.)

The custom of swearing on the Gospels is repeatedly mentioned in the laws of the Lombards. (Ll. Longo. 1 tit. 21. c. 25.; Ll. Longo. 2. tit. 55. c. 2., and c. 2. tit. 34. et al.)

In the Formularies of Marculphus, two forms of oaths are given, one says that—

"In palatio nostro super capella domini Martini ubi reliqua sacramenta percurrunt debeat conjurare."

In the other we read—

"Posita manu supra sacrosanctium altare sancti … sic juratus dixit. Juro per hunc locum sanctum et Deum altissimum et virtutis sancti … quod," &c.

In the laws of Cnût of England, two forms of oath are given. They both begin with "By the Lord before whom this relic is holy." (Ancient Laws and Justice of England, p. 179.)

Your correspondent asks "what form of Judicial oath was first sanctioned by Christians as a body?"

In the history of the Council of Constantinople, it is stated that—

"George, the well beloved of God, a deacon and keeper of the records, having touched the Holy Gospels of God, swore in this manner, 'By these Holy Scriptures, and by the God who by them has spoken,'" &c.

At the Council of Nice it is said that—

"Prayer having been offered up, every one saluted the Holy Gospels, the venerated cross and image of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and of our Lady the mother of God, and placed his hands upon them in confirmation of what he had said."

From these I infer that the custom of swearing on the Gospels received the sanction of the church at a very early period.

In reply to the question as to other modes of swearing, it may be said briefly, that men swore by anything to which they attached any importance, and generally by that to which they attached most importance.

By the laws of the Alamanni, a wife could claim her Morgen-gabe (or the gift of the morning after the wedding night) by swearing to its amount on her breast; and by the Droits d'Augsbourg, by swearing to it on her two breasts and two tresses.

Nothing was more common than for a man to swear by his beard. This custom is alluded to by one of Shakspeare's fools, who suggests that if a certain knight swore by his honour, and his mistress by her beard, neither of them could be forsworn.

In the canons of the Fourth Council of Orleans, we read—

"Le Roi lui-même, ou le plus renommé des chevaliers présents, ayant découpé le paon, se leva, et mettant la main sur l'oiseau, fit un vœu hardi; Ensuite il passa le plat, et chacun de ceux qui le reçurent fit un vœu semblable."

In the year 1306, Edward I. of England swore an oath on two swans.

It was also very common from an early period, both in England and abroad, to swear by one, two, seven, or twelve churches. The deponent went to the appointed number of churches, and at each, taking the ring of the church door in his hand, repeated the oath.

One of the most curious specimens of the practice of swearing men by that to which they attached most importance, is to be found in an Hindoo law. It says, let a judge swear a Brahmin by his veracity; a soldier by his horses, his elephants, or his arms; an agriculturist by his cows, his grain, or his money; and a Soudra by all his crimes.

John Thrupp.

Surbiton.

I know nothing about judicial oaths: but the origin of the form Mr. Breen states to be used by the Roman Catholics of the Continent, and the Scotch Presbyterians, may be seen in Dan. xii. 7.: "When he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever." And in Revelation x. 5, 6.: "And the angel … lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him," &c. See also Genesis xiv. 22.

Maria.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE

Washing Collodion Pictures—Test for Lens.—As I was indebted to the kindness of Dr. Diamond, amongst other friends, for my original initiation into the mysteries of photography, it may appear somewhat presumptuous in me to differ from one who has had so much more experience in a point of practice. I allude to that of washing the collodion negative after developing, previously to fixing with the hyposulphite of soda; but, probably, the reasons I urge may have some weight. As the hyposulphite solution is intended to be used repeatedly, it appears to me not advisable to introduce into it any free acid (which must occur if the negative be not washed, although the quantity at each operation may be small), because it causes a decomposition of the salt, setting free sulphurous acid, and also sulphur; which last is slightly soluble in the hyposulphite of soda, and thus the sulphur is brought in contact with the reduced silver, and forms a sulphuret of that metal. But the change does not stop here: for, by the lapse of time, oxygen is absorbed, and thus a sulphate of silver is formed, and the colour changed from black to white. That sulphur is set free by the addition of an acid to the solution of hyposulphite of soda, is fact so easily demonstrable both to the eyes and nose of the operator, that no one need remain long in doubt who is desirous of trying the experiment.

A correspondent desires to know how to test the coincidence or otherwise of the visual and actinic foci of a combination: this is very readily accomplished by the aid of a focimeter, which can be easily made thus:

Procure a piece of stout card-board, or thin wood covered with white paper, on which draw a considerable number of fine black lines, or cover it with some fine black net (what I believe the ladies call blond), which may be pasted on. Cut up the whole into a dozen good-sized pieces of any convenient form, so that about four square inches of surface at least be allowed to each piece. Paste over the net a circular or square label about the size of a shilling, bearing a distinctly printed number one on each piece, from 1 upwards; and arrange the pieces in any convenient manner by means of wires inserted into a slip of wood; but they must be so placed that the whole can be seen from one point of view, although each piece must be placed so that it is one inch farther from the operator than the next lowest number. Having placed the camera eight or ten feet from the cards, carefully focus to any one of the numbers, 4 or 5 for instance and observe, not that the number is distinct, but that the minute lines or threads of the net are visible: then take a picture, exposing it a very short time, and the threads of the card bearing the number that was most perfectly in focus visually ought to be most distinct; but, if otherwise, that which is most distinct will not only show whether the lens is over or under corrected, but will indicate the amount of error. If under corrected, a lower number will be most distinct; if over corrected, a higher.

Geo. Shadbolt.

Test for Lenses.—I beg to submit to a Country Practitioner the following very simple test for the coincidence of the chemical and visual foci of an achromatic lens:

Take a common hand-bill or other sheet of printed paper, and having stretched it on a board, place it before the lens in an oblique position, so that the plane of the board may make an angle with a vertical plane of about thirty or forty degrees. Bring any line of type about the middle of the sheet into the true visual focus, and take a copy of the sheet by collodion or otherwise. Then, if the line of type focussed upon be reproduced clearly and sharply on the plate, the lens is correct; but if any other line be found sharper than the test one, the foci disagree; and the amount of error will depend on the distance of the two lines of type one from the other on the hand-bill.

J. A. Miles.

Fakenham, Norfolk.

Improvement in Positives.—I have great pleasure in communicating to you an improvement in the process of taking positives, which may not be uninteresting to some of your readers, and which ensures by far the most beautiful tints I have yet seen. I take three ounces of the hyposulphite of soda, and dissolve it in one pint of distilled or rain water; and to this I add about one or one and a half grains of pyrogallic acid, and seventy grains of chloride of silver; which must be squeezed up between the finders facilitate its solution and separate the lumps, which, in their dry state, are tough, and not easily pulverised. The whole is then to be set aside for a week or two in a warm place. The solution, at first colourless, becomes brown, and ultimately quite opaque; in this state it is fit for use, and the longer kept the better it becomes. I generally use French paper for this process, and, according to the time of immersion, obtain fine sepia or black tints; the latter requiring long over-exposure to the light, and proportionately long exposure to the action of the liquid; which however will be found, particularly when old, to have a more rapid action than most other setting liquids, and has the merit of always affording fine tints, whatever the paper used. I imagine the pyrogallic acid to possess a reducing influence on the salts of silver employed; but this effect is only produced by its combination with the hyposulphite of soda and chloride of silver. I may add, that in any case the pictures should be much overdone before immersion, as the liquid exerts a rapid bleaching action on them; and when the liquid becomes saturated, a few crystals of fresh hyposulphite will renew its action.

F. Maxwell Lyte.

Florian, Torquay.

P. S.—In answer to a Country Practitioner, he will find great assistance in choosing his lens by laying it on a sheet of blue wove post paper, when he will immediately perceive the slightest yellow tinge in the glass, this being the fault which frequently affects many well-ground and well-made lenses. Of course, for sharpness of outline he must be guided entirely by experiment in the camera; but where weakness of action exists, it most frequently arises from this yellow colouration, and which the manufacturers say is very difficult to avoid.

[Mr. Lyte having sent with his communication a positive prepared in the manner described, we are enabled to corroborate all he says as to the richness and beauty of its tints.]

Cheap Portable Tent.—M. F. M. inquires for a cheap and portable tent for working collodion out of doors. I have been using one lately constructed on the principle of Francis's camera stand. It has a good size table, made like the rolling patent shutters; and it is not necessary to stoop, or sit down at your work, which is a great consideration on a hot day: you may get them of any respectable dealer in photographic apparatus; it is called Francis's Collodion Tent.

H. D. Francis.

Rev. Mr. Sisson's New Developing Fluid (Vol. vii., p. 462.).—The Rev. Mr. Sisson's developing fluid for collodion positives, the formula for which was published in the last Number of "N. & Q.," is merely a weak solution of the protonitrate and protosulphate of iron. It does not, as he seems to think, contain any lead; for the whole of the latter is precipitated as sulphate, which the acetic acid does not dissolve even to the smallest extent: and Mr. Sisson will find that an equivalent proportion of the nitrate of baryta will answer equally as well as the nitrate of lead.

I have myself for a long time been in the habit of using a weak solution of the protonitrate of iron in conjunction with acetic acid for positive pictures; for, although I do not consider it so good a developer as that made according to the formula of Dr. Diamond, it produces very good pictures; occupies very little time in preparing, and will moreover keep good for a much longer time than a more concentrated solution would.

J. Leachman.

20. Compton Terrace, Islington.

Replies to Minor Queries

Vanes (Vol. v., p. 490.).—Taking up by accident the other day your fifth volume, I saw what I believe is a still unanswered Query respecting the earliest notice of vanes as indicators of the wind; and turning to my notes I found the following extract from Beckman's Inventions, &c.:

"In Ughelli Italia Sacra, Romæ 1652, fol. iv., p 735., we find the following inscription on a weathercock then existing at Brixen; 'Dominus Rampertus Episc. gallum hunc fieri præcepit an. 820.'"

L. A. M.

Loselerius Villerius (Vol. vii., p. 454.).—I beg to inform S. A. S. that his copy of the New Testament, which wants the title-page, was printed by Henry Stephens the second, at Geneva, in the year 1580. As to it being "valuable," I should not consider him unfortunate if he could exchange it for a shilling.

Loselerius Villerius was Pierre l'Oyseleur de Villiers, a professor of Genevan divinity, who came over to London, and there published Beza's Latin version of the New Testament, in 1574. He was not, however, as your correspondent supposed him to be, the editor of the decapitated volume in question; but Beza transferred his notes to an impression completed by himself.

S. A. S. has, in the next place, inquired for any satisfactory "list of editions of the Bible." It appears that, so far as he is concerned, Le Long, Boerner, Masch, and Cotton have lived and laboured in vain.

The folio Bible lastly described by your correspondent is not "so great a curiosity" as family tradition maintained. The annotations "placed in due order" are merely the Genevan notes.—See the Archdeacon of Cashel's very accurate and excellent work, Editions of the Bible, and Parts thereof, in English, p. 75.: Oxford, 1852.

R. G.

Westminster Parishes (Vol. vii., p. 454.).—In 1630 the City and Liberties of Westminster contained the churches of St. Margaret, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. Clement Danes, and St. John Baptist Savoy.

The registers of burials, marriages, and christenings, of St. Margaret's Church, began January 1, 1538.

The Fire of London did not destroy any church in Westminster.

Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.

Hevristic (Vol. vii., p. 237.).—The term hevristisch, in the first edition of the translation of Kant's Critik, is not given in the vocabulary appended to the translation; but under the word ostensiv it is stated that in its meaning it stands opposed to the word euristic (hevristisch in German). But in the second edition, published in 1818, it is remarked, under the words evristic, euristic, hevristisch, that the term should, in Sir Wm. Hamilton's opinion, be euretic or heuretic; the word hevristisch being an error of long standing in German philosophy. The derivation of euretic would be from εὑρετικος.

In Tissot's translation, hevristisch is rendered by heuristique; in Mantovani's, by evristico; in Born's, by heuristicus. In Krug's Lexicon, hevristik is given as derived from εὑρισκω, εὑρειν. The hevristic method, Krug remarks, is also called the analytical. It may be added, that in the first edition of the Critik (Riga, 1781), the word is hevristisch. In the fourth edition (Riga, 1794), published also in Kant's lifetime, it is hevristisch. In Rosenkranz's edition (Leipzig, 1838), the word is changed into heuristisch; and also, in another edition of the same year, published also at Leipzig, it is written heuristisch, and not hevristisch.

In respect to the Leipzig edition of 1818, which is that now before me, the term hevristisch, in speaking of hevristich principles, is particularly alluded to. (See page 512. line 10.) I do not find, after a hasty inspection, this word changed, in any of the editions I possess, to empirisch.

Francis Haywood.

Liverpool.

Creole (Vol. vii., p. 381.).—The word appears to be a French form of the Spanish criollo, which in the dictionary of Nuñez de Taboada is defined, "El hijo de padres Europeos nacido en America;" whilst in the old dictionary of Stevens (1726) it is translated, "Son of a Spaniard and a West India woman." In Brande's Dictionary of Science, &c. Creole is said to mean the descendants of whites born in Mexico, South America, or the West Indies, the blood remaining unmixed with that of other races, &c.

Von Tschudi says, that in South America the Spaniards apply the term Creole not only to the human race, but also to horses, bullocks, and even to poultry.

A. C. M.

Exeter.

General Monk and the University of Cambridge (Vol. vii., pp. 427. 486.).—Leicestriensis begs to thank Mr. C. H. Cooper and Mr. J. P. Ord for their replies to his Query on this subject. He avails himself of this, the earliest opportunity, of assuring Mr. Ord of his readiness to afford him what slight information is in his power respecting the MS. in question (which only came into his possession within the last two or three months), if he will communicate with him as below.

William Kelly.

Town Hall, Leicester.

Ecclesia Anglicana (Vol. ii., pp. 12. 440.).—I am much obliged to your correspondent W. Fraser for his answer to my Query, and the references with which he supplies me. I shall be glad to ask a still more extensive question, which will probably explain the object of the former more limited one. Is it usual, in any of the unreformed branches of the church on the continent, to find a similar appellation (implying distinct nationality) employed in authoritative documents, e.g. would it be possible to find in the title-pages of any Missal, &c., such words as "in usum Ecclesiæ Hispanicæ, Lusitanæ, Gallicanæ?" If not now, was it more customary in mediæval times, and when did it cease?

Should we be justified in saying, that at every period of her existence, with rare exceptions, the Anglican church, consciously or unconsciously, maintained the theory of her nationality with greater distinctness than any of the continental churches? I fancy I have heard, though I cannot state on what authority, that this assertion might be made most truly of the Portuguese church, and should be very glad to have any light thrown on the subject by your able correspondent. Certain it is, that amongst the various complaints made against Cardinal Wiseman and the Papal aggressors, it has never been laid to their charge, that they arrogated to themselves the title of members of the Anglican church.

G. R. M.

Gibbon's Library (Vol. vii., p. 485.).—In 1838 I purchased some of Gibbon's books at Lausanne, out of a basketful on sale at a small shop, the depôt of the Religious Tract Society! Edward Gibbon, printed on a small slip of paper, was pasted in them.

A. Holt White.

Golden Bees (Vol. vii., p. 478.).—When the tomb of Childeric, father of Clovis, was opened in 1653, there were found, besides the skeletons of his horse and page, his arms, crystal orb, &c., "more than three hundred little bees of the purest gold, their wings being inlaid with a red stone like cornelian."

Ceridwen.

Passage in Orosius (Vol. vii., p. 399.).—May not the "twam tyncenum," between which Cyrus the Great's officer attempted to cross a river, be the inflated skins which the Arabs still use, as the ancient inhabitants of Assyria did, for crossing the Tigris and Euphrates, and of which the Nimroud sculptures give so many illustrations?

Ceridwen.

Names first given to Parishes (Vol. iv., p. 153.).—I wish to repeat this Query in another form, and particularly in reference to the termination -by. I suspect that wherever a cluster of villages, like that given by F. B., occurs with this Danish suffix, it is a proof that the district was originally a colony of Danes. The one in which I reside (the hundreds of Flegg), from its situation is particularly likely to have been so. Its original form was evidently that of a large island in the estuary of the Yare, which formed numerous inlets in its shores; and this was flanked on each aisle by a Roman garrison, one the celebrated fortress of Garianonum, now Burgh Castle, and the other Caistor-next-Yarmouth, in which a camp, burying-ground, &c., besides its name, sufficiently attest its Roman origin. The two hundreds of Flegg, (or Fleyg, as appears on its common seal) comprise twenty villages, thirteen of which terminate in -by. These are Ormesby, Hemesby, Filby, Mauteby, Stokesby, Herringby, Thrigby, Billockby, Ashby or Askeby, Clippesby, Rollesby, Oby, and Scratby or Scroteby.

Professor Worsaae, I believe, considers Ormesby to have been originally Gormsby, i.e. Gorm's or Guthrum's village, but I have not his work at hand to refer to. Thrigby, or Trigby as it is vernacularly pronounced, and Rollesby, may take their names from Trigge or Tricga, and Rollo, names occurring in Scandinavian history. I should feel obliged if Professors Worsaae and Stephens, or other Scandinavian antiquaries and scholars, would kindly inform me if my surmises are correct, and if the rest of the names may be similarly derived. I should add that Stokesby fully hears out the suggestion of C. (Vol. v., p. 161.), as there is even now a ferry over the Bure at that point. The district is entirely surrounded by rivers and extensive tracts of marshes, and intersected by large inland lakes, locally termed "Broads," which undoubtedly were all comprised in the estuary, and which would form safe anchorages for the long galleys of the Northmen.