Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/389

 2<i S. N 19., MAY 10. '56.]

NOTES AND QUEEIES.

381

bath of gold. Fine proofs may also be obtained by sensi- tising as above, and then, after an exposure of only a few- seconds, developing in a solution of gallic acid.

When the requisite strength is arrived at, it is to be fixed in the acid bath to fix it, and then toned, washed, &c. as before.

The proof I enclose is a sample of this mode of print- ing; and it is not waxed, in order to show you the na- ture of the process more perfectly, and to offer facility to the testing of the picture as to fixity, if you may desire.

F. MAXWELL LYTE.

Maison Ramonet, Bagneres de Bigorre, April 27th, 1856.

Papin (2 nd S. i. 303.) I may remind your correspondent that Papin was a learned French- man who lived for many years at the Court of Cassel, and was a friend and correspondent of Leibnitz. He not only invented the steam en- gine, but the steam boat. His engines, with which he moved his vessel up the Fulda and Werra into the Weser, were broken by the jealous boatmen of the latter river. I have seen his application to the magistrates of Minden for redress, which he could not get ; and his letters on scientific subjects to Leibnitz are still in Hanover. Among them is a plan for raising water by a steam pump, in- tended to be applied to mining operations. A model of Papin's engines is said to have existed at Cassel till the date of the French occupation, when it most mysteriously vanished. Papin's boiler however is, I believe, still to be seen in that city. Professor Ruhlmann, of Hanover, has lately published some very interesting details upon this subject. J. M. K.

Keeping the Lord's Hounds (2 nd S. i. 315.) is a service still retained on the borders of Scotland, and in the northern parts of England ; it was also a right of the crown, and could of course, like all the rest, be matter of grant. In Anglo-Saxon Charters nothing is more common than relief from this burthen, ab omni in commodo canum, et ac- cipitrum et a parafrithis, and the like. Vide Cod. Dipl. jEvi Saxon, passim, and The Saxons in England, vol. ii., " Rights of Royalty."

J. M. K.

In the country hunted by Lord Fitzwilliam, it is the custom to quarter hounds upon the tenant-farmers ; though I am not aware if the farmer is compelled to receive the hound by any clause in his lease. At one period I had rooms in a large farm-house in the Fitzwilliam country, where a young fox-hound was annually added to my landlord's canine stock. As a delicate compliment to his noble owner, the hound was always called " My-lord ;" and an in- tolerable nuisance " My-lord" was, not only to every inmate of the house, but also to the callers

and passers-by. Lord Fitzwilliam's hounds are of a large and powerful breed, and "My-lord" was quite big and strong enough to alarm (and to injure) any woman or child upon whom he sprang. Many a time have I heard a scream ; and, on rushing out into the road, have found "My-lord" worrying a petticoat, or being fought off by a market-woman's only weapons her well- filled baskets. "My-lord" was an errant coward, and would slink away at the approach of a man ; and never (to my knowledge) attacked any one but children and unprotected females. " My- lord" was also a great thief; and, more than once, have I heard the cry of " Get out, My-lord ! " accompanied with a sound as of the flying of brooms, mops, and other missiles ; and, on looking out, I have seen "My-lord" flying from the as- sault, with drooping stern and guilty look ; and, in his thieving jaws, the chicken or partridge on which I was to have dined.

CUTHBEBT BEDE, B.A.

Ancient Writers quoted by Camden (2 nd S. i. 313.) "The 'old riming poet' who sings of Wales " is Walter Mapes, an ecclesiastic who flourished in the twelfth century, and was the author of several Latin poems. Both the passages referred to by your correspondent will be found in a poem attributed to Mapes, entitled Cambria Epitome. The first, commencing with line 29 of the poem, and slightly differing from the lines as quoted, runs thus :

" Terra fascunda fructibus

et carnibus et piscibus

domesticis, silvestribus

bobus, equis, et ovibus ;

apta cunctis seminibus," &c.

The second begins at line 185. of the same poem :

" Mores brutales, Britonum jam, ex convictu Saxonum, commutantur in melius, ut patet luce clarius. Hortos et agros excolunt ; ad oppida se conferunt ; et loricati equitant, et calceati peditant," &c.

The whole will be found in one of the early publications of the Camden Society, " Latin Poems commonly attributed to Walter Mapes, collected and edited by Thomas Wright, 1841." J. R. W.

Bristol.

Insecure Envelopes (2 nd S. i. 292. 361.) My inquiry was as to the possibility of obtaining the " metallic safety " envelopes; of their security I had no doubt. I made many experiments, and placed some in the hands of a very ingenious me- chanic, who, after a careful investigation, expressed his opinion that they could not be opened without such a fracture as would be obvious to the most careless. I had inquired at the shop mentioned