Notes and Queries, Number 181, April 16, 1853

"I was struck with the peculiar appearance of a very white shining cloud, that lay remarkably close to the ground. The sun was nearly setting, but shone extremely bright. I walked up to the cloud, and my shadow was projected into it; when a very unexpected and beautiful scene was presented to my view. The head of my shadow was surrounded, at some distance, by a circle of various colours; whose centre appeared to be near the situation of the eye, and whose circumference extended to the shoulders. The circle was complete, except what the shadow of my body intercepted. It resembled, very exactly, what in pictures is termed a glory, around the head of our Saviour and of saints: not, indeed, that luminous radiance which is painted close to the head, but an arch of concentric colours. As I walked forward, this glory approached or retired, just as the inequality of the ground shortened or lengthened my shadow."

A plate "by the writer's friend, Mr. Falconer," accompanies the paper.

In my copy of the Transactions, the following MS. note is attached to this paper:

"See Juan's and De Ulloa's Voyage to South America, book vi. ch. ix., where phænomena, nearly similar, are described."

    I. H. M.

Lowbell (Vol. vii., pp. 181. 272.).—This is also surely a Scotch word, low meaning a light, a flame.

"A smith's hause is aye lowin."—Scots. Prov.

    R. S. N.

Burn at Croydon (Vol. vii., p. 283.).—This seems to be of the same nature as the "nailburns" mentioned by Halliwell (Arch. Dict.). In Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent, p. 221., 2nd edit., mention is made of a stream running under ground. But it seems very difficult to account for these phenomena, and any geologist who would give a satisfactory explanation of these burns, nailburns, subterraneous streams, and those which in Lincolnshire are termed "blow wells," would confer a favour on several of your readers.

    E. G. R.

Miscellaneous

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC

Our learned, grave, and potent cotemporary, The Quarterly Review, has, in the number just issued, a very pleasant gossiping article on The Old Countess of Desmond. The writer, who pays "N. & Q." a passing compliment for which we are obliged, although he very clearly establishes the fact of the existence of a Countess of Desmond, who was well known and remarkable for her extreme longevity, certainly does not prove that the old Countess actually lived to the great age of 140 years.

The publisher of Men of the Time, or Sketches of Living Notables, has just put forth a new edition of what will eventually become a valuable and interesting little volume. There are so many difficulties in the way of making such a book accurate and complete, that it is no wonder if this second edition, although it contains upwards of sixty additional articles, has yet many omissions. Its present aspect is too political. Men of the pen are too lightly passed over, unless they are professed journalists; many of the greatest scholars of the present day being entirely omitted. This must and doubtless will be amended.

It is with great regret that we have to announce the death of one whose facile pen and well-stored memory furnished many a pleasant note to our readers,—J. R. of Cork, under which signature that able scholar, and kindly hearted gentleman, Mr. James Roche, happily designated by Father Prout the "Roscoe of Cork," was pleased to contribute to our columns. The Athenæum well observes that "his death will leave a blank in the intellectual society of the South of Ireland, and the readers of 'N. & Q.' will miss his genial and instructive gossip on books and men."

The Photographic Society is rapidly increasing. The meeting on the 7th for the exhibition and explanation of cameras was a decided failure, from the want of due preparation; but that failure will be fully compensated by the promised exhibition of them in the rooms of the Society of Arts. While on the subject of Photography, we may call the attention of our readers to a curious paper on Photographic Engraving, in The Athenæum of Saturday last, by a gentleman to whom the art is already under so much obligation, Mr. Fox Talbot.

Books Received.—Wellington, his Character, his Actions, and his Writings, by Jules Maurel, is well described by its editor, Lord Ellesmere, as "among the most accurate, discriminating, and felicitous tributes which have evaluated from any country in any language to the memory of the great Duke."—Temple Bar, the City Golgotha, a Narrative of the Historical Occurrences of a Criminal Character associated with the present Bar, by a Member of the Inner Temple. A chatty and anecdotical history of this last remaining gate of the city, under certainly its most revolting aspect. The sketch will doubtless be acceptable, particularly to London antiquaries.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE

Archæologia. Vols. III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., X., XXVII., XXVIII. Unbound.

–– Vols. III., IV., V., VIII. In Boards.

Bayle's Dictionary. English Version, by De Maizeaux. London, 1738. Vols. I. and II.

Gmelin's Handbook of Chemistry. Inorganic part.

Lubbock, Elementary Treatise on the Tides.

Sanders (Rev. H.), the History of Shenstone. 4to. Lond. 1794.

Swift's (Dean) Works. Dublin: G. Faulkner. 19 Volumes. 1768. Vol. I.

Todd's Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology.

Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London. Vols. I. and II.

Archæologia. Vols. III., IV., V., VIII. Boards.

Martyn's Plantæ Cantabrigienses. 12mo. London, 1763.

Abbotsford Edition of the Waverley Novels. Odd Vols.

The Truth Teller. A Periodical.

Sarah Coleridge's Phantasmion.

J. L. Petit's Church Architecture. 2 Vols.

R. Mant's Church Architecture Considered in Relation to the Mind of the Church. 8vo. Belfast, 1840.

Cambridge Camden Society's Transactions. Vol. III.—Ellicott on Vaulting.

Quarterly Review, 1845.

Gardeners Chronicle, 1838 to 1852, all but Oct. to Dec. 1851.

Collier's Further Vindication of his short View of the Stage. 1708.

Congreve's Amendment of Collier's false and imperfect Citations. 1698.

Filmer's Defence of Plays, or the Stage vindicated. 1707.

The Stage Condemned. 1698.

Bedford's Serious Reflections on the Abuses of the Stage. 8vo. 1705.

Dissertation on Isaiah, Chapter XVIII., in a Letter to Edward King, &c., by Samuel Horsley, Lord Bishop of Rochester. 1799. First Edition, in 4to.

Bishop Fell's Edition of Cyprian, Containing Bishop Pearson's Annales Cypriania.

⁂Correspondents sending Lists of Books Wanted are requested to send their names.

⁂ Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

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