Notes and Queries, Number 189, June 11, 1853

Why I have forfeited all claim to be treated by this gentleman with courtesy or common politeness, I am quite at a loss to conceive; but I beg to remind him that vituperation does not carry conviction, and that criticism is enfeebled by an alliance with abuse.

Henry T. Riley.

BOOKS OF EMBLEMS

(Vol. vii., p. 469.)

In your 185th Number, two or three Queries are proposed by the Rev. Mr. Corser in connexion with that interesting branch of literature called Books of Emblems. To these it shall be my endeavour to reply.

First. Some years ago I made particular inquiry from the surviving relatives of the late Rev. William Beloe, whether among his manuscripts there had been found any "Treatise on Emblems," or any notices which had a bearing on the subject? They informed me that they had made search, but without success.

Second. Of Thomas Combe, mentioned by Meres in his Palladis Tamia, I have been unable to learn anything.

Third. It appears certain that Bunyan never published any Book of Emblems, whatever may have been hawked under his name; nor can I find, in the Account of his Life and Writings just published in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London, or in any preceding edition of his works, that such a production was ever contemplated by him.

Fourth. In the extensive and valuable "English Books of Emblems" furnished (chiefly from his own library) by Mr. Corser, he mentions R. Burton's Choice Emblems, Divine and Moral; or Delights for the Ingenious, &c., 12mo. 1721. Perhaps my learned and accomplished friend may not be aware that Burton is an assumed name, placed in the title-pages of several cheap books which appeared at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, but which were thought to have been written by a Mr. Nathaniel Crouch, a bookseller, who sold them. I have a sixth edition of these "choice emblems," dated 1732, which was then sold for "two shillings bound." The work is merely a collection of fifty emblems, taken, without acknowledgment, from George Wither, the copper-plate engravings being poor copies from those of Depasse. To this sixth edition there is prefixed a portrait of K. Charles I., with eight pages of sympathising verses.

Mr. Corser's list of English works is very complete. I possess, however, an unpublished manuscript translation of Alciato into English verse. It is of the time of James I., and possesses much merit; but it has unfortunately been mutilated.

I also possess the following:

"Amorum Emblemata figuris æneis incisa studio Othonis Væni, Batavo-Lugdunensis. Emblemes of Love, with verses in Latin, English, and Italian, obl. 4to.: Antverpiæ, 1608."

Prefixed is an English dedication "to the most Honourable and Worthy Brothers William, Earl of Pembroke, and Philip, Earl of Montgomerie, Patrons of Learning and Chevalrie," whose coat of arms also is given.

"The Doctrine of Morality, or a View of Human Life according to the Stoic Philosophy, &c. A translation, by T. M. Gibbs, from the French of M. De Gomberville, with 103 copper plates by Daret, folio: London, 1721."

To each engraving are appended quotations from Horace, &c., with English translations: but both engravings and quotations have been pirated (without the least acknowledgment) from Van Veen's Horatia Emblemata.

It must be admitted that a comprehensive work on European Books of Emblems, illustrated with fac-similes of the various engravings, &c., is a great desideratum in modern literature. I feel highly flattered by the kind commendations which Mr. Corser has bestowed upon my two small attempts towards such a work, and by his encouraging me to proceed "to enlarge and complete" the same. Now, I do not altogether despair of enlarging it. But when my excellent friend puts forward a proposal to complete it, he should be informed that my library alone contains nearly 250 volumes strictly emblematical, and published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By far the greater part of these are in Latin. To carry forward a work of such magnitude to anything like completion must therefore be rather wished for than expected.

Jos. B. Yates.

West Dingle, near Liverpool.

Allow me to add the following to Mr. Corser's list:

"The Christian's Divine Amusement, consisting of Emblems and Hieroglyphicks on a great Variety of Subjects, Moral and Divine, in four books. By the late Rev. Mr. J. Jones. Embellished with near 100 beautiful emblematical cuts, 12mo. pp. 191.: London, 1764."

I know not who the Rev. Mr. J. was, but his book is the old one of Francis Quarles. The author, or rather adapter, attacks and demolishes the fable as a method of instruction, and would substitute the emblems. In remodelling Quarles, Mr. Jones makes the following alterations, or improvements:—Instead of the Latin motto under each cut, he presents us with four lines of English verse, which contain a general explanation of the emblem. The page facing the cut he divides into two parts or sections of odes and hymns suited to common psalmody, and the moral, or application, also in a poetical dress.

A prose work belonging to the class under notice is an

"Emblematical Representation of the Paradise of God; showing the Nature of Spiritual Industry, in the similitude of a Garden well ordered, dressed, and kept. London, 1779."

The author of this was a visionary Scots gardener named Alexander Clark, who had been favoured with a special manifestation of divine glory, "by which," he says, "(to my own astonishment) I was enabled to see through every profound passage of Scripture, and to spiritualise every material thing;" but he belongs to my fanatical rather than to my emblematical shelf, and may be worth a separate Note hereafter.

Under the name of Farlie, or Fairlie, Mr. Corser mixes up the titles of two distinct books; they are now before me, and divide themselves thus:

1. "Lychnocavsia, sive Moralia Facvm Emblemata. Light's Moral Emblems. Authore Roberto Farlæo, Scoto-Britanno. 12mo.: London, Th. Cotes for M. Sparke, 1638."

Containing fifty-eight emblems in Latin and English, each with a cut, with a dedication in Latin to the Earl of Ancrum, and one in English to his Countess. There are also complimentary verses by J. Hooper, Christ. Drayton, Mr. Povey, Thos. Beedome, and Edm. Coleman.

2. "Kalendarium Humanæ Vitæ. The Kalendar of Man's Life. Authore R. F., S.-B. 12mo. London, for W. Hope, 1638."

With a Latin dedication to his patron the Earl of Ancrum. The book contains verses upon the various stages of man's life, under the heads of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter; again subdivided into moralisations upon the months, as corresponding with the periods of life, as "August, or Man's Youth," &c. This has also a variety of curious cuts, and both have engraved emblematical titles, the latter bearing on its face "G. Glover fecit."

When book-rarities were in more request, these were costly little volumes; and I shall be glad if any of your correspondents can direct me where to find any notice of Robert Fairlie, the author of two of the most interesting of the emblematical series.

J. O.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE

[The following paper, which has been kindly communicated to us by Mr. Pollock at the request of Dr. Diamond, describes a process which deserves the especial attention of our photographic friends, for the beauty and uniformity of its results.]

MR. POLLOCK'S DIRECTIONS FOR OBTAINING POSITIVE PHOTOGRAPHS UPON ALBUMENISED PAPER

The paper should be carefully chosen, by holding up every sheet to the light, and only those sheets which are homogeneous in appearance and free from spots should be kept for use.

The albumen should be obtained from new-laid hens' eggs; twenty-four is a convenient number to use at a time: these will yield twenty-four ounces of albumen, to which should be added six ounces of distilled writer (making thirty ounces in all) and four per cent. of chloride of ammonium, viz. one ounce and a quarter.

The albumen water and chloride should be whipped with a silver fork for several minutes, and then put into a narrow tall jar, and allowed to stand for not less than two days (forty-eight hours). In cool weather it will keep well for eight days, at the end of which time the upper half of the albumen is to be poured off into a shallow vessel, rather larger than the sheets of paper intended to be albumenised.

To put the Albumen on the Paper.—Take a sheet by two opposite corners; turn one up; place the sheet boldly on the albumen, the centre first coming in contact with the albumen; lower the corners of the paper, gradually carefully excluding, the air. Let the sheet so placed remain four minutes: then take it by the turned up corner, and rip it from the albumen quickly, so as to carry up a quantity of the albumen with it. Let it drain for a minute or two, moving it so as not to allow the albumen to run in streaks; pin it to a piece of tape; and, when dry, pass a very hot iron over the back. This ends the albumenising process.

To make the Paper sensitive.—Place the albumenised side downwards, for four minutes, on the surface of a solution of nitrate of silver, of the strength of ninety grains to the ounce of distilled water; pin it up by one corner to dry, and keep it between pieces of blotting-paper. This must be done by yellow light, or the light of a candle.

To print from the Negative.—The simplest apparatus to have is a number of pieces of plate-glass a quarter of an inch thick, colourless, about twelve inches by ten in size.

The sensitive paper is to be placed on one of the plates of glass, sensitive side upwards, and the negative is to be placed firmly upon it, collodion side downwards; and a second glass plate is then to be placed on the negative, and the whole arrangement exposed to the light. The time for exposure is from three minutes to an hour. With a little practice the negative can be lifted up, and the positive viewed front time to time, without any risk of displacement.

The best rule is to print the lightest shade on the positive very decidedly darker than it would be wished that it should remain permanently.

To fix the Positive.—On removing it from the pressure frame, place it in a bath made as follows:

Mix these: let them stand some hours; and filter before use. If the chloride of silver is omitted, the bath will do very well, but will very much improve with age, as it will acquire chloride of silver from the positives placed in it.

The time to leave the positive in the fixing bath varies from one hour to twelve. To get good black and white tints, the average time is five or six hours. When the desired tint is obtained, remove it into a bath composed of

Water 6 oz.Hypo. 1 oz.

Leave in this for half an hour, and then keep it in running water for several hours. If the water is hot, the time of soaking may be lessened: boiling water is objectionable. Nearly dry the positive between sheets of clean blotting-paper, and finish it by passing a very hot iron over it.

General Remarks.—The albumenised paper will keep any length of time in a dry place.

When made sensitive, as directed, it will keep three days, always supposing that it is both prepared and kept most carefully excluded from white light. If, instead of a solution of nitrate of silver of ninety grains to the ounce, a weaker one be used, to make the paper sensitive, it will keep when sensitive a much longer time,—with a thirty-grain solution, a fortnight, or sometimes even a month; but then it does not give a positive of the same force and tone as that obtained with the stronger solution.

After the fixing bath has done its day's work, it should be poured back into the bottle from which it came, and the bottle be filled up from the finishing bath; and so the bath is kept always of the same quantity; and by adding from time to time chloride of gold, it is kept of the same quality.

The nitrate of silver and chloride of silver will never have to be renewed. The iodide of silver should be added as at first, viz. ten drops for about every two hundred positives fixed; and the acetic acid, viz. two drops for about every four hundred.

In a bath of twenty-four ounces, as many as thirty positives, five inches by four, may be placed at one time: but the dark tints will then appear very slowly and gradually.

To insure a good positive, next to having a good negative, it is most important to print of the right depth, neither too much nor too little. Great attention should be paid to this: for the finest tints are only to be obtained in positives exposed exactly the right time.

Positives printed in a bright sun quickly are always better than those obtained by longer exposure without sun.

H. P.

21. Maddox Street, Regent Street.

Test for Lenses.—In applying the methods recommended in your last Number for the purpose of testing lenses, there is one precaution absolutely necessary to be taken, but which all your correspondents have omitted to point out. The operator must take care that his focussing-glass is placed at precisely the same distance from the lens as the collodionised glass is. To insure this, my practice is to place a piece of ground glass in the dark frame, which is afterwards to receive the collodionised glass, and to obtain the focus of the lens on that; then to put in the proposed plate, and obtain an impression as described by Mr. Shadbolt. In this way I secure myself from what I believe is often a source of fallacy in these experiments, and am sure that I give the lens a fair trial.

E. S.

Washing Collodion Pictures.—I have never offered to your readers an opinion in photography without having bonâ fide tested it, to the best of my ability; and however correct my friend Mr. Shadbolt may be, chemically and theoretically, I am convinced that in practice so good a tone is never obtained in a positive collodion picture which has been washed, as in one which has been instantly fixed with the old saturated solution of hyposulphite of soda. The unpleasant tints obtained upon positive collodion pictures, I believe to be much dependent upon the frequent washings in the proofs. When a collodion picture is properly treated, it surpasses in pleasing effect every other photograph.

H. W. Diamond.

Replies to Minor Queries

Cremonas (Vol. vii., p. 501.).—A discriminative account of the violins and basses by the great Italian makers, showing, in every ascertainable instance, the date of manufacture, and thereby forming to some extent a chronological catalogue, as it were, of the works of each master, would be, indeed, a curious and interesting achievement. Such a task, involving much consultation of books and examination of instruments, calls for sounder eye-sight and larger opportunities than are possessed by me; but I shall rejoice if the desire expressed by your correspondent H. C. K. shall be found to have stirred up some competent investigator. Time and accident are gradually attaching, to the fine instruments in question, a kind of sibylline intensity of value; and the inquiry, if omitted now, may become impossible hereafter. Let us not fear, however, that those "cunning'st patterns of excelling art," the Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri fiddles, will eventually perish without worthy issue, and "die, and leave the world no copy." Provision to the contrary, it seems, has already been made; Monsieur Vuillaume "has ta'en order for't," that is to say, if his instruments, which at present look very like faithful fac-similes of the renowned classic prototypes, shall verify the confident predictions of their admirers, by continuing to stand the test of time.

My authority for 1664 as the date of birth of Antonio Stradivari, is a living Belgian writer, Monsieur Fétis, who has not stated from whence he has adopted it. I find that the Paris Biographie Universelle gives no fixed date, but only a conjectural one, about 1670, so that 1664 may possibly be right.

G. Dubourg.

Brighton.

James Chaloner (Vol. vii., p. 334.).—Mr. Hughes is mistaken in imagining that James Chaloner the herald-painter was the same person as James Chaloner, Governor of the Isle of Man, and one of the judges of Charles I. He will find the error exposed by Chalmers (Biog. Dict., Jas. C.), and in my family, as descendants of the latter James Chaloner, there are among his papers many which prove the governor to have been (as Mr. Hughes doubts) the son of Sir Thomas Chaloner of Gisborough.

Should any farther doubts remain on the subject, I shall be happy to give all information required concerning these papers, among which are the original commission of governor and captain, signed by Lenthal, and twenty-one letters from Lord Fairfax to his "dear cousin James Chaloner." The son of Sir Thomas Chaloner married Ursula Fairfax. It may be presumed the herald-painter did not stand in the same relationship to the Parliamentary general. Lord Fairfax thanks his correspondent for a copy of "his" History of the Isle of Man.

Ursula.

Irish Convocation (Vol. vi., p. 317.; Vol. vii., p. 345.).—In vol. i. of Letters written by the late Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and several of his Friends, from the Year 1703 to 1740, &c., with Notes, by John Hawkesworth, LL.D.: London, 1766,—will be found some account of the Irish Convocation in 1711. See Archbishop King's Letters at pp. 110, 111. 122, 123. 132, 133. 140, 141.

J. K.

St. Paul's Epistle to Seneca (Vol. vii., p. 500.).—It is not manifest whether J. M. S. wishes for information simply respecting the MS. in Merton College, or whether his inquiry really relates to the printing of the fourteen spurious epistles, eight of which are ascribed to Seneca, and six to St. Paul.

If your correspondent is curious about the particular MS. he mentions, which is a very old one, and was the gift of William Reade, Bishop of Chichester (who had been a Fellow of Merton) about the year 1370, he may consult the Catal. Lib. MSS. Ang. et Hib., part. ii. p. 23., Oxon. 1697; and should he desire to peruse the fictitious Epistles, he may easily discover them in the Bibliotheca Sancta of Sixtus Senensis, lib. ii. pp. 102-104. Francof. 1575, or in Fabricii Cod. Apoc. Nov. Test., ii. 892-904. Jacobus Faber Stapulensis has inserted them in the handsome volume of his Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul. (Fol. clxxvi.-clxxix.: Paris, 1517.) I find them also annexed to the Epistole Francisci Philelphi, 4to., Hagenau, 1514. So far as I can perceive, it does not appear that the correspondence in question was published amongst any of the works of Seneca earlier than the year 1475; and it is commonly omitted in later editions. (Fabr., Bib. Lat., i. 429.: Venet. 1728.) Vid. Raynaudi Erotemata, p. 119.: Lugd. 1653.; Nicolai Antonii Biblioth. Hisp. vetus, tom. i. pp. 39, 40.: Matriti, 1788.

R. G.

Captain Ayloff (Vol. vii., p. 429.).—I possess a small volume (a 12mo.) by "Captain Ayloffe," with a title-page as follows:

"A Pocket Companion for Gentlemen and Ladies; being a true and faithful Epitomy of the most exact and ample Histories of England; containing all the material Particulars in every reign of the English Monarchs, from Egbert to her present Majesty, being 884 years. With forty-nine Copper plates curiously engraved, being the effigies of every Monarch. London, printed by J. Nutt, near Stationers' Hall, 1703."

It is dedicated "To the Honourable Col. Archibald Row, Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Scots Fuzileers," and signed "W. Ayloffe." Then follows an introduction of six pages.

Should the above be useful to Mr. Sternberg, I shall feel pleasure in having made the communication by means of the useful and intelligent publication of "N. & Q."

Goddard Johnson.

Plan of London (Vol. vii., p. 382.).—L. S. W. asks whether there is a good plan of London, and answers his Query thus, None. I beg to differ from him, believing that no city in the world possesses so good a plan as that lately made under the late Commissioners of Sewers. It is true I and my tenants have paid very dearly for it, but having examined both the reduced plan and block plan very carefully, am compelled to admit their accuracy. It is published in sheets at two shillings each; size, three feet by two feet; scale of block plan, five feet to one mile; reduced plan, one foot to one mile. On each plan accurate levels of every place is given. An index-map, price threepence, is also published.

A. P.

Canonbury.

Syriac Scriptures (Vol. vii., p. 479.).—The editions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, preceding the Bible Society's edition, are,—

1. Nov. Testam. Syriac. et Arabic. Romæ, typis Sacr. Cong. de prop. Fide, 1703, fol.

2. Nov. D. N. Jesu Christi Test. Syriac. cum versione Latiná, currâ et studio Joh. Leusden et Caroli Schaaf. Secunda editio à mendis purgata. Lugduni. Bat. Typ. Jo. Mulleri. John. fil. apud Vid. et fil. Cornel. Boutesteyn, Samuelem Luchtmans, 1717, 4to.

3. Biblia Sacra quadrilinguia N. T. Græci, cum versione Syriacâ, Græcâ vulgari, Latinâ, et Germanicâ, accurante M. Christ. Reineccio, Lips. 1713, fol.

4. Psalter, by John. Aug. Dathe, 1768.

5. Sacrorum evangeliorum versio Syriaca Pholoxeniana ex codd. MSS. Ridleianis, nunc primum edita cum interpretatione et annotationibus Josephi White. Oxon. 1778.

6. Pentateuchus Syriace. Ex Polyglottis Anglicanis summa fide edidit M. Georgius Guil. Kirsch. Gymnasii quod Hofæ est, in Principatu Baruthino Rector. Hofæ et Lipsiæ ap. A. Fr. Bœhm, 1787, 4to.

An elaborate criticism on No. 5. (the Oxford edit.) appears in Eichhorn's Repertorium, vol. vii. p. 1., by D. Gottlob Christian Storr.

T. J. Buckton.

Birmingham.

Meaning of "Worth" (Vol. v., p. 509.).—As this suffix enters into the composition of many of our English surnames, particularly in the northern counties, Mr. Lower (and probably your readers in general) will be glad to have the explanation of an able Anglo-Saxon scholar and antiquary, the late lamented Mr. John Just of this town, whose merits as a philosopher and etymologist were highly appreciated by the learned societies in this district. It occurs in a paper read at a chapter of the Rosicrucians in Manchester a few months since:

"Worth.—Weorthe, Anglo-Saxon, a field, &c. Worth means land, close, or farm. It does not necessarily imply any residence, although thereon might be a hall or mansion. It likewise sometimes means nothing more than road or public way. Hence it is connected with the names of many places on our old roads, as Ainsworth, Edgeworth, on the Roman military road to the north; Failsworth, Saddleworth, on the Roman military road from Manchester to York; Unsworth, Pilsworth, on the old road between Bury and Manchester; also Ashworth, Whitworth, Butterworth, on old roads, and connected with old places, near Rochdale. Whether originally land, closes, or farms, worths were acquired properties. The old expression of 'What is he worth?' in those days meant, 'Has he land? Possesses he real property?' If he had secured a worth to himself, he was called a worthy person, and in consequence had worship, i. e. due respect shown him. A worth was the reward of the free; and perchance the fundamentals of English freedom were primarily connected with such apparently trivial matters, and produced such a race of worthies as the proud Greeks and haughty Romans might not be ashamed of. Worth is pure Anglo-Saxon. The Scandinavians applied it not in their intercourse with our island."

Broctuna.

Bury, Lancashire.

Khond Fable (Vol. vii., p. 452.).—This fable is clearly from Lokman, of which the following is Hélot's translation:

"Une moustique se posa un jour sur la corne d'un taureau, et, pensant qu'elle pouvait être trop lourde pour lui, elle lui dit: 'Si je te suis à charge, fais-le-moi savoir afin que je m'envole.' Le taureau lui répondit: 'Je ne t'ai point sentie au moment où tu es descendue, je ne saurai pas davantage quand tu t'envoleras.' Cette fable regarde celui qui cherche à s'attribuer de l'honneur et de la gloire tandis qu'il est faible et méprisable."