Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/176

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

a S. N 9., MAU. 1. '56.

ginning of the " Registrum Secundum " of tlie prior and convent of Durham. On the same page is entered a receipt for money paid by a prebendary of the collegiate church of Howden, oa December 1, 1425. John Fishburne, whose surname is given in connexion with the poetical recipe (No. 3.) was a monk of Durham, and in that year held the office of " Terrarius " in the convent. I also enclose two early recipes for making red and green wax, transcribed by me, now a long time ago, from a MS. in the British Museum, which once belonged to our prior, John Wessington (1416 1446). In one or two points I am not quite sure of the accuracy of my copy ; but the MS. may be easily consulted, and I should be glad if some one on the spot would take that trouble.* The red wax of that period was, as is well known, of the most perfect and durable character.

" 1. Modus faciendi incaustum sine igne. Eecipe de gumma ix uncias, et pone in uno vase per sc, cum taiita aqua quod gumma sit cooperta ilia aqua. Item recipe de gallis uncias vij, et tere bene in mortario, et pone in alio vase per se, cum tanta aqua quod gallae sint coopertas aqua ilia; et stent sic in madefactione per diem et noctem ad minus, et omnino dura gumma sit liquefacta. Et tune pone insiinul, et move bene unam materiam cum alia cum uno baeulo. Et tune adde de coperos, similiter trito in mortario, v uncias cum illis duabus materiis, aut plus aut minus, secundum nigredinem quam habere volueris, et move bene omnia iusimul, et sic simul commixta stent uno die et una nocte ad minus. Et secundum quod tibi videtur de spissitudine, adde aquam plus vel minus secun- dum exigenciam racionis. Aliqui reeipiunt equaliter de omnibus tribus."

!' 2. Alius modus faciendi incaustum sine igne. In primis recipe de gumma quatuor uncias, et pone in uno vase per se, cum tanta aqua quod gumma sit cooperta cum ilia aqua, et sic stet quousque gumma liquefiat, et misceatur cum aqua. Item recipe de gallis vj uncias, et de coppross vj uncias equaliter, et ponantur in duobus vasis ut supra."

" 3. Alius^ modus faciendi incaustum cum igne. Uncia gallarum mediata sit uncia gummy ^ ^ Bis duo vitrjoli superaddas octo phalerni J Memorandum quod ad unam uuciam gummy debent ap- poni ij uncioe gallarum et iiij uncia? de copross et xvj uncias vini sive aquae, qua; faciunt terciam partem unius quartae, et sic tres librro faciunt quartam, et duodecim libra de aver de poys ponderant lagenam de mensura Dunelmensi."

" 4. Ad faciendum encaustum niyrwn. Accipe galoneni aquas stantisvel pluvise, et libram de gallis, et medietatem librae de vitriolo viridi, et tere utrumque per se in palve- rem minutissime, et divide aquam illani in equali pro- pprtione, et tune pone predictum pulverem de gallis et vitriolo factum in una proportione iljius aquae, vel in majori quantitate. Postea accipe libram de gumma Ara- bica, et pone in residue aquas illius, et permitte liquefieri. Postea cola illud per pannum lineum, propter stramina et attamos, et pone illam cum alia aqua, et move bene pariter, et permitte stare per septimanum unam vel per duas, et fit."

MS.]

" Ad faciendum ceram rubeam vel viridem gummatam. MSS. Lansdowne, 397. fol. 6. b.

" In primis, cape iiij partem librae cerae albas communis, non tamen prius operatse, quam in frusta minutissima divisam et inpositam in patellam asream ad hoc aptam, ha- bentem unam hastam qua teneatur, liquefacta et calefacta prope bullionem, et depositam de igne de spuma subtiliter, quo facto habe parate dimidiam unceam vermiculi electi minutissime pulverizati ; quern pulverem impone in salsa- reum de electro et quasi ij cocliarea plena olei rosaici, et bene movendo incorpora pulverem in oleo. Deficieute vero oleo rosayico, cape oleum olivse per se. quod oleum sic mixtum cum pulvere funde in ceram calidam, to turn incorporando cum cera, et dum cera sic sit calida, cum onmi festinatione cum uno ligniculo ad opus apto semper nitens in quantum potes ne pulvis descendat ad fundum ; et eciam adhuc dum cera sit calida, cape fere j unciam gummi vocati terbentyn, ita quod gummum cum oleo ponderetur j unciam vel amplius, et infunde in ceram, et incorpora movendo cum ligniculo prcefato, et tune statim funde ceram in unam formulam ad hoc factam, prius tamen bene madefactam ; qua; formula fieri potest de lapide laterico, vel plumbo vel lapide marmoreo ; formula tamen ilia non sit profunda, sed tenuis, ita quod possit statim cera frigifieri.

" Consimiliter fiat in toto cera viridis, et cum consimili porcione pulveris de vertgres et gummi praedicti, dum- modo illud vertgres sit bonum et electum. Sed nota quod in hyeme oportet aliquantulum plus apponere de gummo quam in asstate, quia frigiditas facit ceram aliqualiter in- durari. Et nota quod terbintyn, de quo superius fit niencio, est quoddam gummum emanans de quadam ar- bore crescente in partibus transmarinis. Aliud vero tur- bintyn quod est sofisticatum, minus valet ad hoc opus. Item si videatur quod cera non sit satis colorata aut gum- niata, potest iterum cera caleficri et addi quantum placet de vermiculo vel de gumina." E Libra Johannis Wes- sington, Prioris Dunelm.

JAMES RAINE.

Durham.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACAULAT.

State of the Highlands. Mr. Macaulay has given us in his third volume, lately published, some interesting particulars of the deplorable state of the Highlands of Scotland about the period of William III., and very properly compares it with the splendid state of that country at the present time. The progress for half a century must have been very slow, as I find that even so late as 1746, the roads, &c., were still in a misera- ble condition, and that the capital itself was in an extremely indifferent state. That such was the fact is fully attested in a carious correspondence, preserved in the Library of the British Museum (the volume is numbered 17,997, Add. MSS.), between the Ordnance and General William Skin- ner, who was one of the principal engineers at that time. I may here remark, that so soon as the rebellion of 1745 had been completely put down by the celebrated Duke of Cumberland, his royal highness wrote to the government, re- quiring an engineer officer of high standing to be sent to him in Scotland, for the purpose of con-