Notes and Queries, Number 189, June 11, 1853

    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."

The sense of the Bull's reply in Arabic seems to be:

"O you, whatever you are [Ya hadi], I did not know when you descended, nor shall I know when you take yourself off [Taterin]."

A pointed reply, leaving the mosquito one horn of the dilemma.

    T. J. Buckton.

Birmingham.

The following lines by Prior immediately occurred to my mind on perusing J. C. R.'s interesting note. The points of resemblance between the two fables are somewhat striking:

"'Say, sire of insects, mighty Sol!'
A fly on the chariot pole cried out,
'What blue-bottle alive
Did ever with such fury drive?'

"'Tell, Beelzebub, great father, tell!'
Says t'other, perch'd upon the wheel,
'Did ever any mortal fly