Replies.

THE DISCOVERY AND RECOVERY OF MSS.

(Vol. iii., pp. 161. 261. 340.; Vol. iv., p. 282.; Vol. vii., p. 354.)

I am glad to see that a subject to which I have at various times attempted to turn public attention, has at least been responded to by one voice. When the "N. & Q." was first established, I felt that there was now at least one place where it was possible to print historical documents of various kinds, and no one can deny that at various times very interesting and important papers have been made publicly available, which might otherwise have escaped notice. I may instance a very interesting account of the inquest on Chatterton, which I have myself, in a sketch of that ill-fated youth's fate, been the first to make use of for biographical purposes.

It is still my conviction that at some time or other an association for such purposes will be formed, and I must attain earnestly entreat those persons whose position would command assistance, and whose learning and opportunities would aid the cause I am advocating, to give some sign of their favourable intention toward such a scheme. I must once more place this very important matter before the eyes of the public; I trust that my appeal may not be in vain.

See how in other cases, when something offers itself promising amusement and instruction, societies can be formed and spring into life and activity at once. For instance, I might adduce the beautiful and useful processes of photography; within the short space of a few months the art has been brought to a high decree of excellence: a Photographical Institute is, I believe, now in active working, there is a photographical journal, besides the continued and unwearying co-operation of "N. & Q." itself. Why may not historical documents have something of the same sort? For a slight sum (but a few shillings a year), if the reading public were willing, such a society might be founded, and many invaluable documents of every description placed where they would be available for the historian, for the archæologist, for the editor, and for the general inquirer.

Let me hope that something may be proposed; I have myself hunted through dusty MS. folios, quartos, duodecimos innumerable, and my investigations have not been wholly useless.

If there be any who look with a favourable eye upon these hints, I shall be glad to hear from them.

Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie.

68. Mortimer Street.

"THE WHIPPIAD."

(Vol. vii., pp. 393. 417.)

Perhaps a few lines from a fellow-collegian of Reginald Heber, during his last years of residence at Brazenoze College, may throw light on this discussion.

My contemporary MS. copy of The Whippiad contains Heber's own notes, additional ones by myself, explanatory of places and persons mentioned, autographs of the latter, and Blackwood's printed copy (the subject of inquiry), No. 333., July, 1843.

The notes subjoined to Blackwood's printed copy are Heber's notes, varying only from my MS. copy in immaterial points.

As to the epigram mentioned in p. 417., the two first stanzas were by Heber, and written (as I think) after his election to All Souls. The third was attributed to Mr. Wilson, the learned High Master of Clithero School.

Very many jeux d'esprit by Heber, relative to convivialities and passing events in Brazenoze and All Souls, live in the memory and MSS. of his surviving friends; but their amiable author would doubtless have wished them to be forgotten, with the subjects to which they related. The forbearance of Mr. Halliwell made him vainly anxious for the suppression of The Whippiad.

I subjoin from Heber's autograph a Song for a Bow Meeting, near St. Asaph, in or about 1808. It has an airy freshness, and is (as I believe) unpublished.

Lancastriensis.

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION.

(Vol. vii., p. 286.)

Leaving the philosophy of this question for the savans, I beg to add the following to the alleged cases already referred to. Dr. Lindsley has compiled a table of nineteen instances, from the Dictionnaire de Médecine,—not, however, of spontaneous combustion exactly, but of something akin to it; namely, the rapid ignition of the human body (which per se is not combustible) by contact with flame, as a consequence of the saturation of its tissues by alcohol:

No. Works in which they are reported. By whom. Date of Occurrence. Age of the Individual. Extent of the Combustion. Immediate Cause when known. Habit of Life. Situation of the Remains &c.

1 Actes de Copenhagen Jacobeus 1692 — The whole body, except the skull and last joints of the fingers — Abuse of spirits for three years Upon a chair.

2 Annual Register Blanchin de Verone 1763 62 Except the skull, a part of the face, and three fingers Took fire through sitting near a lamp Indulged in frequent fomentation of camphorated spirits Upon the floor.

3 Ibid. Wilmer — 50 Except thigh and one leg A light upon a chair near the bed Took a pint of rum daily Upon the floor near the bed.

4 Ency. Method. — — 50 Except a few bones — Habitually drunken.

5 Acta Medica — — — Except the skull and fingers — She drank brandy as her only drink

6 Mem. on Spon. Com. Lecat 1744 60 Except a part of the head and limbs A pipe which she was smoking A drunkard Near the chimney.

7 Ibid. Ibid. 1745 — Ibid. A fire Habitually drunken Upon the hearth.

8 Ibid. Ibid. 1749 80 A charred skeleton only left Fire of the hearth Drank brandy only for many years Sitting on a chair near the fire.

9 Jour. de Méd. — 1779 — Except a few bones, a hand, and a foot A foot-stove under her feet A drunkard.

10 Ibid. — 1782 60 Ibid. A fire of the hearth Ibid. Upon the hearth.

11 Revue Médicale Julia Fontenelle 1820 90 Except the skull and a portion of skin A candle Abuse of wine and Eau de Cologne In bed.

12 Ibid. Ibid. 1830 66 Except the right leg Ibid. Ibid. In the same bed. Both burnt together.

13 — Gen. William Kepland — Very old Almost wholly consumed A lighted pipe — Upon the floor.

14 Journal de Florence Joseph Battaylia 1786 — Skin of right arm and right thigh only burnt — — Upon the floor. He lived four days after.

15 Revue Méd. Robertson 1799 — Combustion incomplete — Abuse of brandy Upon a bench.

16 Ibid. M. Marchand — — Hand and thigh only burnt — — Cured.

17 Journal Hosp. Hamp. — — 17 One finger of right hand only burnt A candle — Cured.

18 — Alph. Devengee 1829 51 Muscles of thighs, superior extremities and trunk burnt A footstove Abuse of spirits Upon a chair.

19 Dic. de Médecine — — — Combustion almost complete A footstove Ibid. Upon the floor.

The following case is related, on the authority of Dr. Schofield, Upper Canada, in the Journal of the American Temperance Union for March, 1837:—A young man, aged twenty-five, had been an habitual drunkard for many years. One evening at about eleven o'clock he went to a blacksmith's shop: he was then full of liquor, though not thoroughly drunk. The blacksmith, who had just crossed the road, was suddenly alarmed by the breaking forth of a brilliant conflagration in his shop. He rushed across, and threw open the door, and there stood the man, erect, in the midst of a widely-extended silver-coloured flame, bearing, as he described it, exactly the appearance of the wick of a burning candle in the midst of its own flame. He seized him by the shoulder, and jerked him to the door, and the flame was instantly extinguished. There was no fire in the shop, and no articles likely to cause combustion within reach of the individual. In the course of a short time a general sloughing came on, and the flesh was almost wholly removed in the dressing, leaving the bones and a few of the large blood-vessels standing. The blood nevertheless rallied round the heart, and life continued to the thirteenth day, when he died, a loathsome, ill-featured, and disgusting object. His shrieks and cries were described as truly horrible.

Some information will be found in Nos. 44. and 56. of an old magazine called The Hive,—a book which may be found in the British Museum. Two cases have occurred recently, one in 1851 at Paris, and one last year somewhere in the north. Both may be found by reference to the newspapers.

Shirley Hibberd.

MAJOR GENERAL LAMBERT.

(Vol. vii., p. 269.)

Lord Braybrooke speaks of a tradition of Major-General Lambert's having been imprisoned in Cornet Castle, in the island of Guernsey, after the Restoration. The following documents, copies of which exist in Guernsey, will prove that he really was kept as a prisoner in that island:

Charles R.

Upon suite made unto us by Mrs. Lambert, for liberty for herself and children to goe to and remaine w^th her husband Collonell Lambert yo^r prisoner, Wee, graciously inclyninge to gratifye her in that request, have thought fitt to signify our royall pleasure to you in that particular, willing and requiring you, upon sight hereof, to suffer the said Mrs. Lambert, her three children, and three maid-servants, to goe and remaine w^th the said Mr. Lambert, under the same confinement he himselfe is, untill o^r further pleasure be knowne. And for soe doinge this shalbe y^r warrant. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 17^th day Febr., 1661/2.

By his Ma^ts Comand, Edw. Nicholas.

To our right trusty and welbeloved Counsello^r S^r Hugh Pollard, K^nt and Bar^t, Governo^r of our Island of Guernsey and Castle there, or to other our Governo^r for y^e tyme beinge, and in his absence to his Deputy Governo^r.

This is a true copie of his Ma^t's Warrant.

(Signed) Hugh Pollarde.

[In dorso.]

The King's order for Lambert's children.

In 1662, Christopher Lord Hatton was appointed Governor of Guernsey, upon which the following warrant was issued:

Charles R.

Our will and pleasure is, That you take into your custody the person of John Lambert, commonly called Collonell Lambert, and keepe him close prisoner, as a condemned traytor, untill further order from us, for which this shall be your warrant. Given at our Court at Hampton Court, this 25^th day of July, 1662.

By his Ma^ty's Comand, Edw. Nicholas.

To our trusty and welbeloved Councellor y^e Lord Hatton, Governor of our Island of Guernsey, and to the Lieutenant Governo^r thereof or his Deputy.

Lambert to Guernsey.

Four months later the following order was issued:

Charles R.

Our will and pleasure is, That from sight hereof you give such liberty and indulgence to Collonell John Lambert your prisoner, within the precincts of that our island, as will consist with the security of his person, and as in your discretion you shall think fitt; and that this favour be continued to him till you receive our order to the contrary, allwayes understood, that he the sayd Collonell Lambert show himself worthy thereof in his comportment, and entertaine noe correspondencyes to the prejudice of our service, for which this shall be your warrant. Given at our Court at Whitehall, November the eighteenth, one thousand six hundred sixty-two,

By his Ma^ts command, Henrye Bennet.

To our trusty and well-beloved Counsellor the Lord Hatton, our govern^r of our Island of Guernsey, to his Leiftenant Governour, or other officer commanding in chief there.

Liberty of the Island to Mr. Lambert.

[In dorso.]

The King's order for Mr. Lambert's liberty.

In Rees's Cyclopædia, art. Amaryllis, sect. 27., A. Sarniensis, Guernsey lily, I find the following statement: "It was cultivated at Wimbledon, in England, by General Lambert, in 1659." As Guernsey, during the civil wars, sided with the Parliament, it is probable that Lambert procured the roots from some friend in the island.

The exact date of his arrival as a prisoner in Guernsey is fixed by a sort of journal kept by Pierre Le Roy, schoolmaster and parish clerk of St. Martin de la Bellouse in that island, who says:

"Le 17^e de 9vembre, 1661, est arrivé au Château Cornet, Jean Lambert, générall des rebelles sectères en Angleterre, ennemy du roy, et y est constitué prisonnier pour sa vie."

There is no tradition in the island of his having died there. I remember to have read, but cannot at present remember where, that he died a Roman Catholic.

Edgar MacCulloch.

Guernsey.

[Lambert was removed to the island of St. Nicholas, at the entrance of Plymouth Harbour, in 1667, where his death took place during the hard winter at the close of 1682 or commencement of 1683.—See "N. & Q"., Vol. iv., p 340. Probably some of our readers in that neighbourhood might, by a reference to the parish registers, be enabled to ascertain the precise date of that event.]

THE "SALT-PETER-MAN."

(Vol. vii., p. 377.)

Your correspondent J. O. asks for information to No. 4. of his notes respecting the "salt-peter-man," so quaintly described by Lord Coke as a troublesome person. Before the discovery and importation of rough nitre from the East Indies, the supply of that very important ingredient in the manufactory of gunpowder was very inadequate to the quantity required; and this country having in the early part of the seventeenth century to depend almost entirely upon its own resources. Charles I. issued a proclamation in 1627, which set forth that the saltpetre makers were never able to furnish the realm with a third part of the saltpetre required, especially in time of war. The proclamation had reference to a patent that had been granted in 1625 to Sir John Brooke and Thomas Russel, for making saltpetre by a new invention, which gave them power to collect the animal fluids (ordered by the same proclamation to be preserved by families for this purpose), once in twenty-four hours in summer, and in forty-eight hours in winter. This royal proclamation was very obnoxious and inconvenient to the good people of England, increased as it was by the power granted to the saltpetre makers to dig up the floors of all dove-houses, stables, cellars, &c., for the purpose of carrying away the earth, the proprietors being at the same time prohibited from laying such floors with anything but "mellow earth," that greater facility might be given them. This power, in the hands of men likely to be appointed to fulfil such duties, was no doubt subject to much abuse for the purposes of extortion, making, as Lord Coke states, "simple people believe that Lee (the salt-peter-man) will, without their leave, breake up the floore of their dwelling-house, unless they will compound with him to the contrary." The new and uncertain process for obtaining the constituents of nitre having failed to answer the purpose for which the patent was granted, an act was passed in 1656, forbidding the saltpetre makers to dig in houses or lands without leave of the owner: and this is the point to which the learned commentator of the law, in his Discouerie of the Abuses and Corruption of Officers, alludes, when "any such fellowe if you can meete with all, let his misdemenor be presented, that he may be taught better to understand his office." In England, up to about the period when these curious acts of parliament were passed, the right of all soil impregnated with animal matter was claimed by the crown for this peculiar purpose; and in France the rubbish of old houses, earth from stables, slaughter-houses, and all refuse places, was considered to belong to the Government, till 1778, when a similar edict, to relieve the people from the annoyances of the saltpetre makers, was made.

J. Deck.

Cambridge.

METRICAL PSALMS AND HYMNS.

(Vol. iii., pp. 119. 198.)

In reply to your correspondent Arun, who inquired about the origin and authority of metrical psalms and hymns in churches, in addition to an extract from one of Bishop Cosin's letters on the subject, I referred also to the treatise commonly known as Watson's Deduction, but of which treatise Heylin was in fact the author. I have recently met with a passage in Heylin's History of the Reformation (ann. 1552, Lond., 1674, p. 127.) which seems to contain the rudiment or first germ of the Deduction, and to which Arun therefore (if not already acquainted with it) may be glad to be referred:

"About this time (says Heylin) the Psalms of David did first begin to be composed in English meetter by one Thomas Sternhold, one of the grooms of the Privy Chamber; who, translating no more than thirty-seven, left both example and encouragement to John Hopkins and others to dispatch the rest:—a device first taken up in France by one Clement Marot, one of the grooms of the bedchamber to King Francis the First; who, being much addicted to poetry, and having some acquaintance with those which were thought to have enclined to the Reformation, was persuaded by the learned Vatablus (professor of the Hebrew tongue in the University of Paris) to exercise his poetical phancies in translating some of David's Psalms. For whose satisfaction, and his own, he translated the first fifty of them; and, after flying to Geneva, grew acquainted with Beza, who in some tract of time translated the other hundred also, and caused them to be fitted unto several times; which hereupon began to be sung in private houses, and by degrees to be taken up in all the churches of the French, and other nations which followed the Genevian platform. Marot's translation is said by Strada to have been ignorantly and perversely done, as being but the work of a man altogether unlearned; but not to be compared with that barbarity and botching, which everywhere occurreth in the translation of Sternhold and Hopkins. Which notwithstanding being first allowed for private devotion, they were by little and little brought into the use of the church, permitted rather than allowed to be sung before and after sermons; afterwards printed and bound up with the Common Prayer Book, and at last added by the stationers at the end of the Bible. For, though it is expressed in the title of those singing psalms, that they were set forth and allowed to be sung in all churches before and after Morning and Evening Prayer, and also before and after sermons; yet this allowance seems rather to have been a connivance than an approbation: no such allowance being anywhere found by such as have been most industrious and concerned in the search thereof. At first it was pretended only that the said Psalms should be sung before and after Morning and Evening Prayer, and also before and after sermons; which shows they were not to be intermingled in the public Liturgie. But in some tract of time, as the Puritan faction grew in strength and confidence, they prevailed so far in most places, to thrust the Te Deum, the Benedictus, the Magnificat, and the Nunc Dimittis, quite out of the church. But of this more perhaps hereafter, when we shall come to the discovery of the Puritan practices in the times succeeding."

J. Sansom.

Oxford.

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS IN THE GREEK CHURCH.

(Vol. vii., p. 380.)

The cross, X, in the Greek Church, represents the initial of Χριστὸς, the Messiah, the symbolic affixing of which (sealing) before and after baptism indicates that the name of Christ is imposed on the believer, who takes his new or Christian name at baptism. This mark on the forehead refers to Revelation vii. 3., xiv. 1., xxii. 4. The longer catechism of that church, in answer to the question, "What force has the sign of the cross, used on this and other occasions?" says, "What the name of Jesus Christ crucified is, when pronounced with faith by the motion of the lips, the very same is also the sign of the cross, when made with faith by the motion of the hand, or represented in any other way." The authority quoted is Cyril of Jerusalem (Cat. Lect. xiii. 36.).

In the Western Church the cross, , represented the σταυρὸς whereon Christ suffered.

Both these crosses are now found in the Greek Church; and the Latin form, , has at least been used therein nine centuries, for in Goar's Rituale Græcorum may be seen (pp. 114, 115. 126.) the icons of Saints Methodius, Germanus, and Cyrillus, whose vestments are embellished with Latin crosses. The Latin cross is marked on the sacramental bread of the Greek communion,—which bread is also impressed with an abbreviation of the words on Constantine's labarum: "Jesus Christ overcometh." (Eusebius's Life of Constantine, lib. i. c. 25.: compare with Goar's Rituale Græcorum, p. 117.)

The Latin cross, , is rarely found on the sepulchres in the catacombs at Rome,—the most ancient Christian memorials; but, instead of it, a combination of the letters ΧΡ prevails, as the monogram for "Christ." Aringhi, in his Roma Subterranea (Romæ, 1651) says:

"Illud autem fatendum nobis est, nullatenus ante felicissima Constantini Magni ad fidem traducti tempora crucem publicæ populorum venerationi expositam fuisse."—Vol. ii. lib. vi. c. xiv. p. 546.

The following statement from Humphrey's Montfaucon (vol. x. part ii. book iii. cap. 1. p. 158.) is very clear as to the form of the cross:

"The cross, made with beams put together, had the shape of the Samaritan tau, says St. Jerome, whose words are these: 'In the oldest Hebrew letters, which the Samaritans now make use of, the last, which is tau, had the form of a cross.' This tau, like a cross, was like the Τ of the Greeks, according to Paulinus, who says that the shape of the cross is expressed by the Greek letter tau, which stands for three hundred. The cross of our Lord was something different from the letter tau; the beam that was fixed in the earth crossing that which was athwart it above, and made as it were a head by rising above it: such a cross we see in the medals of Constantine the Great, in this form, , and such is it found described in the most ancient Christian monuments; this is the form of the cross which St. Jerome means, when he compares it to birds flying, to a man swimming, and to a man praying to God, with his arms extended."

The Greek church has retained both forms: the Latin Church, in its ignorance of the Greek language, has lost the more important symbol. These forms were probably invented by Constantine, who used them on his helmet, as crests were afterwards used in the ages of chivalry.

T. J. Buckton.

Birmingham.

The difference between the manner in which the members of the Greek and those of the Latin Church used to sign themselves with the sign of the cross is this: both used the right hand, the thumb and first and second fingers open, and the third and fourth closed; both began at the forehead, and descended to the breast: but in crossing that vertical line by an horizontal one, from one shoulder to the other, the Greeks go from the right to the left, but the Latins from the left to the right. It is said, that in the Latin Church, up to the thirteenth century, the cross line was traced indifferently from either shoulder.

Whilst there is this difference between the Greek and Latin sign of the cross when made upon oneself, there is also a difference between the two when made upon others. The Latin Benediction is given with the thumb and the first two fingers open; the third and fourth fingers remaining closed. This arrangement of the the fingers is symbolical of the Trinity: the three open fingers signifying the three divine persons, and the two closed fingers being emblematic of the two natures of Christ.

The Greek benediction is given with the forefinger entirely open; the middle finger slightly bent, the thumb crossed upon the third finger, and the little finger bent.

In the present day, however, in the Latin Church, a person making on himself the sign of the cross, employs the right hand entirely open, instead of three fingers only. And as it has been thought desirable to make a distinction between the benediction given by a bishop and a priest, bishops reserved to themselves the right of blessing with three fingers; and priests give the benediction with the hand entirely open.

J. C. B. will find this subject fully treated in Didron's Christian Iconography, Bohn's edition, pp. 405. 412.; and an illustration of the Latin benediction at p. 205., and the Greek benediction at p. 176.

Ceyrep.

PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.

New Developing Fluid.—Dr. Diamond has reported very favourably of the developing fluid, which I spoke of in "N. & Q." of March 12 as "being simple, inexpensive, and keeping good a length of time." In accordance with what I then stated, I herewith give the readers of "N. & Q." the benefit of it, and leave them to form their own opinion of its value after trying it:

Dissolve the protosulphate of iron in the water; then throw in the nitrate of lead in powder; stir with glass rod until it is dissolved; keep stirring while pouring in the acetic acid, and for a few minutes afterwards. Let the precipitate subside, then filter. I have used nothing else for positives on glass since I discovered the preparation. I have not tried it for developing in the wax-paper or other paper process. The liquid is colourless as water when first made. By long keeping it will change colour, but throws down no deposit, nor loses its properties. If those gentlemen who try it would give their opinions of it, I should be obliged.

J. L. Sisson.

Edingthorpe Rectory.

[Since this was in type, Mr. Sisson has written to say, that he has been informed that the use of nitrate of lead has already been recommended by Mr. W. Brown. Mr. Sisson was not aware of that fact, but is unwilling to appear in any way to appropriate to himself the suggestion of another.—Ed.]

Photographic Tent.—Can any of your readers inform me how, or where, to procure an effective tent for photographic operations out of doors? All those I have yet seen are sadly wanting in the two great essentials—portability and cheapness. If any one could suggest the means for supplying the desiderata, it would prove in the coming season a boon to photographers at large, and confer a favour on

M. F. M.

Mr. Wilkinson's simple mode of levelling Cameras.—The following ingenious suggestion appears in the 3rd Number of the Journal of the Photographic Society, and deserves to be widely circulated. "My plan is to place a T-square on the bottom of the camera, and draw one perpendicular line on each side (exactly opposite to each other), either with paint or pencil; or the ends of the camera itself will do if perpendicular to the base. Then, having two musket bullets attached to a silk thread, simply hang them over the camera, and everything required will be attained much quicker by these plumb-lines, and with accuracy equal to the spirit-levels. The advantage of the simple contrivance of two bullets suspended by threads is, that when the thread is laid across the camera, it is at once seen whether the thread touches all the way down both sides; if not, one or other side of the camera is raised, until the thread lies close on each side: this gives the level crossways. The other perpendicular of the line is then sought for, and the back or front of the camera raised or lowered, until the thread cuts the line drawn below. Here then we have the most perfect line that can be obtained, at the expense of two bullets and a bit of silk, answering every purpose of the best spirit-level, and applied in one-half the time. It has since occurred to me, that as we sometimes require to measure the distance for stereoscopic pictures, this thread ought to be about three feet long; and we might as well make three knots, and then we should have the measure of a three-feet rule always with us. It has also occurred to me, that in taking portraits you sometimes require to have a measure of time; and by a little modification we have here the most accurate chronometer that can be produced. Instead of three feet, I make it thirty-nine inches and the decimal necessary, say two-tenths from the centre of support to the centre of the bullet. I then get a pendulum which vibrates to second exactly, from the point of suspension to the point of oscillation. I hang it by a pin, and I there have a chronometer of the greatest possible accuracy; and I can employ it for taking portraits of one, two, three, or four seconds: it will vibrate for a minute. Consequently I have a mode of levelling my camera with the greatest accuracy, a measure of time, and a measure of distance; and all at a cost considerably under one penny."

Antiquarian Photographic Club.—This association for the interchange of photographic views of objects of antiquarian interest, has now nearly attained the number of members to which it is proposed to limit it. For the few remaining vacancies preference will be given, for obvious reasons, to parties resident in varied localities. Any gentlemen or ladies desirous to join the club, may send their names, with specimens of their skill, to the Honorary Secretary, care of Mr. Bell, 186. Fleet Street. The amount of the annual subscription is not yet fixed, but as all that can be required will be to meet the expenses incident to the receipt and interchange of the photographs, it must necessarily be very limited.