Notes and Queries, Number 190, June 18, 1853

P.S.—I see that Johnson's Dictionary gives the same statement about enough and enow. This answer is therefore superfluous. Johnson gives numerous instances of the use of enow from our best authors.

    H. C. R.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE

Mr. Wilkinson's Mode of levelling Cameras.—As you have done me the honour to notice my simple invention for levelling cameras, which I have since had an opportunity of trying in the open air for a week, and find to succeed perfectly, I wish to correct some errors which appeared in the Photographic Journal, from which you copied my remarks, and which arose from the notes being taken down from my verbal observations. The first part is perfectly correct but after l. 9. col. 2. "N. & Q." (Vol. vii., p. 462.) it should read thus:

"The other perpendicular is then sought for; the back or front of the camera being raised or lowered until the thread cuts the perpendicular lines drawn upon the sides of the camera. By this means a perfectly horizontal plane is obtained, as true as with the best spirit-levels, and in less time. By tying three knots in the silk at twelve inches distance from the one bullet and from each other, we have a measure for stereoscopic pictures; and by making the thread thirty-nine inches and two-tenths long from one bullet to the centre of the other, we obtain a pendulum vibrating seconds, which is useful in talking portraits; as it will continue vibrating for ten minutes, if one bullet be merely hung over any point of suspension."

Thus we obtain a levelling instrument, a chronometer, and a measure of distances, at a cost considerably under one penny.

The above will more fully explain to your correspondent Φ. (Vol. vii., p. 505.) my reasons for the length of thread stated; and with respect to the diagonal lines on the ground glass, it is not material what may be the distance of the principal object, whether six feet or six hundred: for if the cross lines, or any other lines drawn on the glass, cut the central object in the picture at any particular part—for example, the window of any particular house, or the branch of any tree,—then the camera may be removed to higher or lower ground, several feet or inches, to the right or to the left, and the same lines be made to cut the same objects, previously noted; the elevation will then be the same, which completes all that is required.

In most stereoscopic pictures, the distances are too wide. For a portrait, two inches and half to three inches, at nine or twelve feet distant, is enough; and for landscapes much less is required than is generally given, for no very great accuracy is necessary. Three feet, at three hundred yards, is quite enough; and four to six feet, at a mile, will do very well. Let experiment determine: for every photographer must learn his profession or amusement; there is no royal road to be depended on. But a small aperture, a quarter of an inch diameter, may be considered a good practical size for a lens of three and a quarter inches, depending on light and time: the smaller the aperture, the longer the time; and no rules can be given by any one who does not know the size and quality of the lenses employed. Every one can make a few trials for himself, and find it out; which will be more satisfactory than any instructions derived from books or correspondence. I obtain all the information I can from every source, then try, and judge for myself. At worst, you only spoil a few sheets of paper, and gain experience.

I perfectly agree with Dr. Diamond, that it is much better not to wash the collodion pictures after developing; but pour on about one drachm of sat. sol. hypo. at once, and then, when clear, plenty of water; and let water rest on the surface for an hour or more, before setting on edge to dry.

    Henry Wilkinson.

Collodion Negative.—Can you inform me how a collodion negative may be made? that is, how you can ensure the negative being always of a dense enough character to print from. This is rarely the case.

    F. M.

Developing Collodion Process.—I use to develope my collodion pictures M. Martin's plan, i. e. a solution of common copperas made a little acid with sulphuric acid. This answers very well and gives to the pictures, after they have been exposed an hour or two to the atmosphere, a silver-like appearance: but this copperas solution seems to destroy the glass for using a second time, inasmuch as a haziness is cast upon the glass, and its former enamel seems lost, not to be regained even by using acids. The hyposulphite also seems to be affected by this manner of developing the pictures after a short time, which is not the case with pyrogallic acid. The hypo., when thus affected with the copperas, appears also to throw a mist over the picture, which new hypo. does not. I should esteem it a favour if any of your numerous readers could inform me the cause of this.

    A. A. P.

An iodizing Difficulty.—May I request the favour, from some one of your numerous photographic correspondents, of a solution to the following apparent enigma, through the medium of "N. & Q."?

Being located in a neighbourhood where there is a scarcity of water in the summer months, I lately took advantage of a pool in a running stream, which ran at the bottom of the grounds of a friend, to soak my calotype papers in, subsequent to having brushed them over with the solution of iodide of silver, according to the process recommended by Sir W. Newton. One-half of the batch was removed in about two hours and a half, being beautifully clean, and of a nice light primrose colour; and in consequence of an unexpected call and detention longer than I had anticipated, the other half was left floating from two o'clock p.m. until seven or eight in the evening (nearly six hours), when, much to my chagrin, I found on their removal that they had all, more or less, become browned, or, rather, had taken on a dirty, deep, nankeen colour, those that had been first floated being decidedly the worst. I had previously thought that the papers must be left at least two and a half to three hours, a longer period having no other effect than that of softening the papers, or, at most, of allowing some slight portion of the iodide to fall off from their surface, whereas, from the above-described discoloration, an evident decomposition must have commenced, which I am quite at a loss to account for; neither can I conjecture what the chemical change can have been. I have several times before prepared good papers in trays filled with water from the same stream, but from the quantity running in the brook in the spring months, I never before have had the chance of floating them in the stream itself.

An explanation of the above difficulty from some obliging and better-informed photographist would be very thankfully received by

    Henry H. Hele.

Ashburton, Devon.

P.S.—The pool of water was well shaded, consequently not a ray of bright sunlight could possibly impinge on the papers while floating.

I have always understood that pure iodide of silver was quite insensible to the action of light, or to any other chemical change, as far as the action of atmospheric air was concerned.

Replies to Minor Queries

Bishop Frampton (Vol. iii., p 261.).—For some account of this excellent man, see chapter xxxi. of Mr. Anderdon's Life of Bishop Ken, where are given some very interesting letters, that are printed from the MSS. in the possession of Dr. Williams, Warden of New College, Oxford. Frampton appears to have been at one time chaplain to the British Factory at Aleppo. Mandeville, in the Dedication prefixed to his Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, makes honourable mention of him, and attributes the highly creditable character of the society to the influence of that incomparable instructor. When the funeral procession of Christian, Countess of Devonshire, halted at Leicester, on the way to Derby, a sermon was preached on the occasion by Frampton, who was then chaplain to the Earl of Elgin, the Countess's near relative. In sending these scraps, allow me to express the hope that Mr. Evans has not laid aside his intention of favouring us with a Life of Frampton.

    E. H. A.

[We cordially join in the wish expressed by our correspondent, that the Vicar of Shoreditch will before long favour us with the publication of the manuscript life of this amiable prelate, written, we believe, by his chaplain. It appears to us doubtful whether the bishop ever published any of his sermons, from what he states in a letter given in the Appendix to The Life of John Kettlewell. "I have often," he says, "been in the pulpit, in season and out of season, and also bold and honest enough there, God be praised; but never in the printing-house yet; and believe I never shall be." The longest printed account of this deprived bishop is given in Rudder's History and Antiquities of Gloucester; and no doubt many particulars respecting him and other Nonjurors may be found in the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian Library.]

Parochial Libraries (Vol. vi., p. 432; Vol. vii. passim).—At Dunblane the collection of books bequeathed by the amiable Leighton is still preserved. At All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, I once saw, among some old books in the vestry, a small quarto volume of tracts, including Archbishop Laud's speech in the Star Chamber, at the censure of Bastwick, Burton, and Prynne. It had been presented by the Rev. E. Moise, M. A., many years lecturer of that church.

The old library at St. Nicholas, Newcastle-on-Tyne, contains many curious books and MSS., particularly the old Bible belonging to Hexham Abbey. This library was greatly augmented by the munificent bequest of the Rev. Dr. Thomlinson, rector of Whickham, prebendary of St. Paul's, and lecturer of St. Nicholas, who died at an advanced age, in 1748, leaving all his books to this church. In 1825 Archdeacon Bowyer presented a series of lending libraries—ninety-three in all—to the several parishes in the county of Northumberland. They are in the custody of the incumbent for the time being. Lastly, there is a very valuable library at Bamburgh Castle, the bequest of Dr. Sharp: the books are allowed to circulate gratuitously amongst the clergy and respectable inhabitants of the adjoining neighbourhood.

    E. H. A.

The Honourable Mrs. Dudleya North died in 1712. Her choice collection of books in oriental learning were "by her only surviving brother, the then Lord North and Grey, given to the parochial library at Rougham, in Norfolk, founded by the Hon. Roger North, Esq., for the use of the minister of that parish, and, under certain regulations and restrictions, of the neighbouring clergy also, for ever. Amongst these there is, in particular, one very neat pocket Hebrew Bible in 12mo., without points, with silver clasps to it, and bound in blue Turkey leather, in a case of the same materials, which she constantly carried to church with her.... In the first leaf of all the books that had been hers, when they were deposited in that library," was a Latin inscription, setting forth the names of the late owner, and of the donor of these books. (Ballard's Memoirs of British Ladies. 8vo. 1775, p. 286.)

    Anon.

Pierrepont (Vol. vii., p. 65.).—John Pierrepont, of Wadworth, near Doncaster, who died 1st July, 1653, is described on a brass plate to his memory, in the church at Wadworth, as "generosus." He was owner of the rectory and other property there. It appears from the register that he married, 18th April, 1609, Margaret, daughter and coheir of Michael Cocksonn, Gent., of Wadworth and Crookhill, and by her (who was buried 22nd July, 1620) he had

Mary (ultimately only daughter and heir), baptized at Wadworth, 27th July, 1612; married John Battie, of Wadworth, Gent., and had issue,

Francis Battie, of Wadworth, Gent., who died without issue, 1682; having married Martha, daughter of Michael Fawkes, Esq., of Farnley.

Elizabeth, wife of John Cogan, of Hull.

Margaret, wife of William Stephens, Rector of Sutton, Bedfordshire.

Frances, bap. 1st July, and bur. Aug. 12, 1616.

John, bap. 19th Aug., 1617; bur. Feb. 10, 1629-30.

George, bur. 26th Jan., 1631-2.

The arms on the memorial to John Pierrepont are—A lion rampant within eight roses in orle.

N.B.—By the second wife of the above John Battie there was issue, now represented by William Battie Wrightson, Esq., M.P. of Cusworth.

    C. J.

Passage in Orosius (Vol. vii., pp. 399. 536.).—I cannot exactly subscribe to the three propositions of Mr. E. Thomson, which he deduces from his observations on "twam tyncenum" in Alfred's Orosius. In the first place, the sentence in which the word tyncenum occurs is perfectly gratuitous on the part of Alfred, or whoever paraphrased Orosius in Anglo-Saxon. No such assertion appears in Orosius, so that we have no means of comparing it with the original.

The occurrence, as recounted by both Orosius and Herodotus, is attributed to a horse (a sacred horse, Herod.), not to a horseman, knight, or thane. What is meant by the Anglo-Saxon text is, certainly, anything but clear, as it stands in Barrington's edition; and he himself confesses this, and does not admit it into his English translation.

Dr. Bosworth seems to have wisely omitted the word in the second edition of his dictionary; and Thorpe confesses he can make nothing of it, in his Analecta. We find no such word in Cædmon, Beowulf, or the Saxon Chronicle; and the only reference made by Dr. Bosworth, in his first edition, is to this very place in Alfred's Orosius, in which he seems to have followed Lye.

May it not have been an error in the earlier transcribers of the MS., and the real word have been twentigum, i. e. he ordered his thane to pass over the river with twenty men, since the thane, by himself, could have been but of little use on the other side the river? However this may be, the fact is not historical at all, and therefore, as respects history, is of little consequence.

    John Orman, M.A.

Cambridge.

Pugna Porcorum (Vol. vii., p. 528.).—The author of this poem, as is generally believed (though its production has also been assigned to Gilbertus Cognatus or Cousin), was Joannes Leo Placentius, or Placentinus, of whom the following account is given in the Biographie Universelle:

"Jean-Leo Placentius ou Le Plaisant, n'est connu que comme l'auteur d'un petit poème tautogramme, genre de composition qui ne peut offrir que le frivole mérite de la difficulté vaincue. Né à Saint Trond, au pays de Liège, il fit ses études à Bois-le-Duc, dans l'école des Hiéronomytes; embrassa la vie religieuse, au commencement du seizième siècle, dans l'ordre des Dominicains, et fut envoyé à Louvain pour y faire son cours de théologie. Les autres circonstances de sa vie sont ignorées; et ce n'est que par conjecture qu'on place sa mort à l'année 1548. On peut consulter sur cet écrivain, la Bibl. Belgica de Foppens, et les Scriptores ordin. Prædicator. des PP. Quétif et Echard."

    Ἀλιέυς.