Notes and Queries, Number 207, October 15, 1853

ATTAINMENT OF MAJORITY

(Vol. viii., pp. 198. 250. 296.)

The misunderstanding which has arisen between Professor De Morgan and A. E. B. has proceeded, it appears, from the misapplication of the statement of the latter's authority (Arthur Hopton) to the question at issue. Where Hopton says that our lawyers count their day from sunrise to sunset, he, I am of opinion, merely refers to certain instances, such as distress for rent:

"A man cannot distrain for rent or rent-charge in the night (which, according to the author of The Mirror, is after sunset and before sunrising)."—Impey on Distress and Replevin, p. 49.

In common law, the day is now supposed among lawyers to be from six in the morning to seven at night for service of notices; in Chancery till eight at night. And a service after such times at night would be counted as good only for the next day. In the case of Liffin v. Pitcher, 1 Dowl. N. S. 767., Justice Coleridge said, "I am in the habit of giving twenty-four hours to plead when I give one day." Thus it will be perceived that a lawyer's day is of different lengths.

With regard to the time at which a person arrives at majority, we have good authority in support of Professor De Morgan's statement:

"So that full age in male or female is twenty-one years, which age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of a person's birth, who till that time is an infant, and so styled in law."—Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. i. p. 463.

There is no doubt also that the law rejects fractions of a day where it is possible:

"It is clear that the law rejecteth all fractions of days for the uncertainty, and commonly allows him that hath part of the day in law to have the whole day, unless where it, by fraction or relation, may be a prejudice to a third person."—Sir O. Bridgm. l.

And in respect to the present case it is quite clear. In the case of Reg. v. The Parish of St. Mary, Warwick, reported in the Jurist (vol. xvii. p. 551.), Lord Campbell said:

"In some cases the Court does not regard the fraction of a day. Where the question is on what day a person came of age, the fraction of the day on which he was born and on which he came of age is not considered."

And farther on he says:

"It is a general maxim that the law does not regard the fraction of a day."

Russell Gole.

I only treat misquotation as an offence in the old sense of the word; and courteously, but most positively, I deny the right of any one who quotes to omit, or to alter emphasis, without stating what he has done. That A. E. B. did misunderstand me, I was justified in inferring from his implication (p. 198. col. 2) that I made the day begin "a minute after midnight."

Arthur Hopton, whom A. E. B. quotes against me (but the quotation is from chapter xiv., not xiii.), is wrong in his law. The lawyers, from Coke down to our own time, give both days, the natural and artificial, as legal days. See Coke Littleton (Index, Day), the current commentators on Blackstone, and the usual law dictionaries.

Nevertheless, this discussion will serve the purpose. No one denies that the day of majority now begins at midnight: no one pretends to prove, by evidence of decisions, or opinion of writers on law, that it began otherwise in 1600. How then did Ben Jonson make it begin, as clearly A. E. B. shows he does, at six o'clock (meaning probably a certain sunrise)? Hopton throws out the natural day altogether in a work on chronology, and lays down the artificial day as the only one known to lawyers: it is not wonderful that Jonson should have fallen into the same mistake.

A. De Morgan.

SIMILARITY OF IDEA IN ST. LUKE AND JUVENAL

(Vol. viii., p. 195.)

I send, as a pendant to Mr. Weir's lines from Juvenal, the following extract from Cicero:

"Sed in eâ es urbe, in quâ hæc, vel plura, et ornatiora, parietes ipsi loqui posse videantur."—Cic. Epist., 1. vi. 3.: Torquato, Pearce's 12mo. edition.

Most, if not all, of the readers of "N. & Q." are I believe, pleased by having their attention drawn to parallel passages in which a similarity of idea or thought is found. Let us adopt for conciseness the term "parallel passages" (frequently used in "N. & Q."), as embracing every kind of similarity. Contributions of such passages to "N. & Q." would form a very interesting collection. I should be particularly pleased by a full collection of parallel passages from the Scriptures and ancient and modern literature, and especially Shakspeare. (See Mr. Buckton's "Shakspearian Parallels," antè, p. 240.)

To prevent sending passages that have been inserted in "N. & Q.," every note should refer to the note immediately preceding. I send the following parallel passages with some hesitation, because I have not my volumes of "N. & Q." at hand, to ascertain whether they have already appeared, and because they are probably familiar to your readers. I do not, however, send them as novelties, but as a contribution to the collection which I wish to see made:

"Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ μὴ ἔχοντος καὶ ὃ ἔχει ἀρθήσεται ἀπ' αὐτοῦ."—Matt. xxv. 29., Luke xix. 26.

 
"Nil habuit Codrus. Quis enim hoc negat? et tamen illud
Perdidit infelix totum nihil."
 

—Juvenal, I. iii. 208.

The rich man says:

"Ψυχὴ, ἔχεις πολλὰ ἀγαθὰ κείμενα εἰς ἔτη πολλά· ἀναπαύου, φάγε, πίε, εὐφραίνου."—Luke xii. 19.

"Lo, this is the man that took not God for his strength but trusted unto the multitude of his riches."—Ps. lii. 8.

"For he hath said in his heart, Tush, I shall never be cast down there shall no harm happen unto me."—Ps. x. 6., &c. (See Obadiah v. 3.: "Who shall bring me down to the ground?")

So Niobe boasts:

 
"Felix sum, quis enim hoc neget? felixque manebo.
Hoc quoque quis dubitet? tutam me copia fecit.
Major sum quam cui possit Fortuna nocere."
 

—Ovid, Met. VI. 194.

"Τί δὲ βλέπεις τὸ κάρφος τὸ ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σοῦ, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῷ σῷ ὀφθαλμῳ δοκὸν οὐ κατανοεῖς."—Matt. vii. 3.

 
"Cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis,
Cur in amicorum vitiis tam cernis acutum,
Quam aut aquila, aut serpens Epidaurius?"
 

—Hor. Serm. I. iii. 25.

"Ἡ νὺξ προέκοψεν, ἡ δὲ ἡμέρα ἤγγικεν."—Rom. xiii. 12.

"Ἀλλ' ἴομεν· μάλα γὰρ νὺξ ἄνεται, ἐγγύθι δ' ἠώς."—Hom. Iliad, x. 251.

F. W. J.

Brighton.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE

Mr. Sisson's developing Fluid.—Since I sent you the new formula for Mr. Sisson's positive developer, which you published in Vol. viii., p. 301., Mr. Sisson has written to me to say that if, instead of the acetic acid, you add two drachms of formic acid, the new agent proposed by Mr. Lyte, you certainly obtain the sweetest-toned positives he has ever seen. The pictures, he says, come out very quickly with it indeed; and with a small lens in a sitting-room he can in about ten seconds obtain the most wonderful detail. Every wrinkle in the face, and ladies' lace ribbons or cap-strings, he says, come out beautifully.

The formula then, as improved by Mr. Sisson, is—

Water 5 oz.

Protosulphate of iron 1½ drs.

Nitrate of lead 1 dr.

Formic acid 2 drs.

Perhaps you will give your readers the benefit of it in your next Number. Having tried it myself, I think they will be delighted with the beautiful white silvery tone, without any metallic reflection, produced in pictures developed with it.

J. Leachman.

20. Compton Terrace, Islington.

Dr. Diamond's Process for Albumenized Paper.—Photographers are under many obligations to Dr. Diamond, particularly for the valuable information communicated through "N. & Q.," and his obligingness in answering inquiries. I make no doubt he will readily reply to the following questions, suggested by his late letter on the process for printing on albumenized paper.

Will the solution of forty grains of common salt and forty grains of mur. amm., without the albumen, be found to answer for ordinary positive paper (say Canson's, Turner's, or Whatman's)? and, in that case, may it be applied with a brush?

Will the forty-grain solution of nit. sil. (without amm.) answer for paper so prepared? and may this also be applied with a brush?

Should the positives be printed out very strongly? and how long should they remain in the saturated bath of hypo.?

Is not the use of sel d'or subject to the objection that the pictures with which it is used are liable to fade in time?

Dr. Diamond says that pictures produced by the use of amm. nit. of silver are not to be depended on for permanency. If this be so, it is very important it should be known, as the use of amm. nit. is at present generally recommended and adopted.

C. E. F.

Mr. Lyte's New Process.—Although I presume it is none of your affair what is said or done in "another place," will you kindly ask Mr. Lyte for me, if he will be so good as to explain the discrepancy which appears between his "new processes," as given in the Journal of the Photographic Society of Sept. 21, and "N. & Q." of Sept. 10? In the former he says, for sensitizing, take (amongst other things) iodide of ammonia 60 grains: in "N. & Q.," on the contrary, what would seem to be the same receipt, or intended as the same, gives the quantity of this salt one fourth less, 45 grains—a vast difference. Again, in the developing solution the quantity of formic acid is double in your paper what it is in the journal.

I should not have trespassed on your space, but would have written to Mr. Lyte directly, except from the fear that some other unfortunate practitioner may have stumbled over the same impediment as I have done, and may not have had courage to make the inquiry.

S. B.

[Having forwarded this communication to Mr. Lyte, we have received from that gentleman the following explanations of his process, &c.]

The process which was published in the Photographic Journal was, I am sorry to say, not quite correct in its proportions, on account of a mistake in inclosing the wrong letter to the Editor; but the mistake will, I trust, be rectified by another communication which I have now sent.

The whole of the formulæ, however, as given in "N. & Q.," are quite correct.

Let me now, however, trespass on your pages by a few more answers to several other Querists, and which at the same time may be acceptable to some of your readers.

1. The developing agents which are made with iron are very applicable as baths to immerse the plate in; and the formic acid, from its powerful deoxidizing property, renders the iron salt more stable during long use and exposure to the air.

2. In coating paper with albumen, if the upper edge of the paper be sufficiently turned back, and the paper be forced down sufficiently on to the surface of the albumen, no bubbles will form; and the operator will not be troubled with the streaks so often complained of.

3. No time can possibly be fixed for the exposure of the positive to the action of the hypo.; and to produce the best effects, the positive must be continually watched, both while printing and while in the hypo.

4. No hot iron should be applied to the positive after being printed, but the picture should be allowed to dry spontaneously.

5. The developing agent with the pyrogallic and formic acids will keep good a very long time, longer, I think, than that in which acetic acid is used, but cannot be used as a dipping bath.

6. I find the formic acid which I obtain from different chemists rather variable in its strength. What I use is rather below the average strength, so that in general about six drachms of the commercial acid will suffice where I use one ounce; but the excess seems to produce no bad result.

7. A great advantage of the pyrogallic developer which I recommend, is that of its being able to be diluted to almost any extent, with no other result than simply making the development slower. Another point is also worthy of notice, viz. a method by which even a very weak positive on glass may be converted into a very strong negative.

I take a saturated solution of bichloride of mercury in hydrochloric acid, and add of this one to six parts of water. This I pour over the collodion plate, and watch it till the whitening process is quite complete. Having well washed the surface with water, I pour over it a solution of iodide of potassium, very weak, not more than two or three grains to the ounce of water. The effect of this is to turn the white parts to a brilliant yellow, quite impervious to actinic rays. This process is only applicable to weak negative or instantaneous pictures, as, if used on a picture of much intensity, the opacity produced is too great. By using, however, instead of the iodide of potassium, a weak solution of ammonia, as recommended by Mr. Hunt, a less degree of intensity may be produced again a less intensity by hyposulphate of soda and a less degree again, but still a slight darkening, by pouring on the bichloride and pouring it off at once before the whitening commences. I thus can tell the exact degree of negative effect in any picture of whatever intensity. The terchloride of gold is most uncertain in its results, at any rate I find it so.

I must again beg you to excuse the great length of my communication, and hope it will be of service to my fellow photographers.

F. Maxwell Lyte.

Florian, Torquay.

Replies to Minor Queries

Derivation of the Word "Island" (Vol. viii., p. 49.).—I have received through the kindness of Hensleigh Wedgwood, Esq., a copy of the Philological Journal for Feb. 21, 1851, in which my late observations on the etymology of the word island are shown to be almost identical with his own, published more than two years ago, even the minutest particulars. His own surprise on seeing my remarks must have been at least as great as my own, on learning how singularly I had been anticipated; and those of your readers who will refer to the number of the journal in question, will be doubtless as much surprised as either of us.

This coincidence suggests two things: first, the truth of the etymology in question, secondly, the excellency of that spirit which (as in this instance) "thinketh no evil;" and, in so close a resemblance of ideas as that before us, rather than at once start a charge of plagiarism, will believe that it is possible for two persons, with similar habits of thought, to arrive at the same end, and that, too, by singularly identical means, when engaged on one and the same subject.

H. C. K.

—– Rectory, Hereford.

"Pætus and Arria" (Vol. viii., p. 219.).—As I have not observed a reply to the Query respecting the author of Pætus and Arria, a tragedy, I beg to state that the work was not written by a gentleman of the University of Cambridge, but by Mr. Nicholson, son of Mr. Nicholson, a well-known and highly respectable bookseller in Cambridge, in the early part of the present century. The young man, who, besides being unfailing in his attention to business, had a literary turn, and was attached to the fine arts, died in the prime of life. After his death, the poor father, with tears in his eyes, presented me with a copy of the tragedy. I am glad to record this testimony to the character of persons well known to me during several years.

Μάρτυς Πιστός.

"That Swinney" (Vol. viii, p. 213.).—I am well pleased with the manner in which T. S. J. has unearthed "that Swinney," if indeed, as is very probable, Sidney Swinney really was the man who interfered with the great unknown. It may not be impertinent to state that Sidney Swinney, who was of Clare Hall, Cambridge, became B.A. in 1744, M.A. in 1749, and D.D. (per saltum) in 1763. It may also be worth noting that a George Swinney, of the same college, became B.A. in 1767, and M.A. in 1770. This George Swinney may have been Sidney Swinney's son, or his near relation; and may have been the man who went to Lord G. Sackville in July, 1769; but I think this not likely. I will only observe farther that, in the "Graduati Cantabrigienses," the names are spelled Swiney; but changes of this kind, by the parties themselves, are by no means uncommon.

The question, whether Swinney had ever before spoken to Lord G. Sackville, remains unanswered, although Junius most probably made a mistake in that matter.

Valentine Weston.

The Six Gates of Troy (Vol. viii., p. 288.).—The passage of Dares relative to the gates of Troy describes the deeds of Priam on succeeding to the throne:

"Priamus ut Ilium venit, minime moram fecit, ampliora mœnia exstruxit, et civitatem munitissimam reddidit.... Regiam quoque ædificavit, et ibi Jovi Statori aram consecravit. Hectorem in Pæoniam misit, Ilio portas fecit, quarum hæc sunt nomina: Antenorea, Dardania, Ilia, Scæa, Thymbræa, Trojana. Deinde, postquam Ilium stabilitum vidit, tempus expectavit."—Chap. 4.

It will be observed that these six names correspond with the six names in Shakspeare, except that Shakspeare, following some ignorant transcriber, substitutes Chetas for Scæan.

The work, consisting of forty-four short chapters, which has come down to us under the title of De Excidio Trojæ Historia, by Dares Phrygius, is a pseudonymous production, which cannot be placed earlier than the fifth or sixth century. See the preface to the edition of Dederick, Bonnæ, 1835; or the article "Dares," by Dr. Schmitz, in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography. Other writers spoke of four gates of Troy. (See Heyne, Exc. XIV. ad Æn. II.)

L.

Milton's Widow (Vol. vii., p. 596.; Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134. 200.).—Having noticed several Queries and Replies in your pages concerning the family of the poet Milton's third wife, I beg to give the following extracts from a pamphlet printed by Pullan of Chester so recently as 1851, entitled Historical Facts connected with Nantwich and its Neighbourhood:

"In that same year (1662), Milton was received at Stoke Hall as the husband of Elizabeth Minshull, the grand-daughter of Geoffrey Minshull."—P. 50. "Not far from the Hall, where Milton was once a welcome visitor, stands the Yew Tree House."

There can be little doubt the author of the pamphlet referred to derived the information on which those statements were made from an authentic source; and if so, it seems pretty clear, the Elizabeth Minshull whom Milton married was grand-daughter of Geoffrey Minshull of Stoke Hall.

T. P. L.

Manchester.

Boom (Vol. vii., p. 620.; Vol. viii., p. 183.).—The Bittern is not an uncommon bird in some parts of Wales, where it is very expressively called Aderyn-y-Bwn (the Boom-bird), or Bwmp-y-Gors (Boom of the Fen): the w is pronounced as double o.

W. R. D. S.

"Nugget" not an American Term (Vol. vii. passim).—It is a mistake in our correspondent to suppose that the word "nugget" was used in California by American "diggers" to denominate a lump of gold. That word was never heard of in this country until after the discoveries in Australia. It is not used now in California, "lump" is the proper term; and when a miner accumulates a quantity, he boasts of his "pile," or rejoices in the possession of a "pocket full of rocks."

.

Philadelphia.

Soke Mill (Vol. viii., p. 272.).—Suit is not now enforced to the King's Mills in the manor of Wrexham, in the county of Denbigh, but the lessee of the manorial rights of the crown receives a payment at the rate of threepence per bushel for all the malt ground in hand-mills within the limits of the manor.

Taffy.

Binometrical Verse (Vol. viii., p. 292.).—This verse appeared in the Athenæum (Sept. 2, 1848, No. 1088, p. 883.), given by one correspondent as having been previously forwarded by another; but it does not appear to have been previously published.

M.

Watch-paper Inscription (Vol. viii., p. 316.).—Twenty-five years ago this inscription was set to music, and was popular in private circles. The melody was moderately good, and the "monitory pulse-like beating" of course was acted, perhaps over-acted, in the accompaniment. I am not sure it was printed, but the fingers of young ladies produced a great many copies. Your correspondent's version is quite accurate, and I think he must have heard it sung, as well as read it. Segnius irritant, &c. is not true of what is read as opposed to what is heard with music.

M.

Dotinchem (Vol. viii., p. 151.).—Dotinchem appears to be the place which is called Deutichem in the map of the Netherlands and Belgian, published by the Useful Knowledge Society in 1843, and Deutekom in the map of the kingdom of the Netherlands, published by the same society in 1830. Moreri spells the name Dotechem, Dotekom, and Dotekum. It is situated on the Yssel, south-east of Doesburg.

B. J.

Reversible Names and Words (Vol. viii., p. 244.).—I cannot call to mind any such propria mascula: but I think I can cast a doubt on your correspondent's crotchet. Surely our civic authorities (not even excepting the Mayor) are veritable males, though sometimes deserving the sobriquet of "old women." Surveyors, builders, carpenters, and bricklayers are the only persons who use the level. On board ship, it is the males who professionally attend at the poop. Our foreign-looking friend rotator, at once suggestive of certain celebrated personages in the lower house, is by termination masculine; and such members, in times of political probation, never fail to show themselves evitative rather than plucky.

But some words are reversible in sense as well as in orthography. If a man draw "on" me, I should be to blame if at least I did not ward "off" the blow. Whom should we repel sooner than the leper? Who will live hereafter, if he be a doer of evil? We should always seek to deliver him who is being reviled. Even Shakspeare was aware of the fact, that it is a God who breeds magots in a dead dog (vide Hamlet). "Cum multis aliis." The art of composing palindromes is one, at least, as instructive as, and closely allied to, that of de-ciphering. If any one calls the compositions in question "trash," I cannot better answer than in palindrome, Trash? even interpret Nineveh's art! for the deciphering of the cuneiform character is both a respectable and a useful exercise of ingenuity. The English language, however, is not susceptible of any great amount of palindromic compositions. The Latin is, of all, the best adapted for that fancy. I append an inscription for a hospital, which is a paraphrase of a verse in the Psalms:

"Acide me malo, sed non desola me, medica."

I doubt whether such compositions should ever be characterised by the term sotadic. Sotadic verses were, I believe, restricted to indecent love-songs.

C. Mansfield Ingleby.

Birmingham.

Detached Church Towers (Vol. vii. passim; Vol. viii., p. 63.).—At Morpeth, in Northumberland, the old parish church stands on an eminence at the distance of a mile from the town. In the market-place is a square clock tower, the bells in which are used for ordinary parochial purposes.

At Kirkoswald, in Cumberland, where the church stands low, the belfry has been erected on an adjoining hill.

E. H. A.

Bishop Ferrar (Vol. viii., p. 103.).—Bishop Ferrar, martyred in Queen Mary's reign, was not of the same family with the Ferrers, Earl of Derby and Nottingham. Was your correspondent led to think so from the fact of the martyr having been originally a bishop of the Isle of Man?

A Lineal Descendant of the Martyr.

Cambridge.

"They shot him by the nine stone rig" (Vol. viii., p. 78.).—This fragmentary ballad is to be found in the Border Minstrelsy. It was contributed by R. Surtees of Mainsforth, co. Durham, and described by him as having been taken down from the recitation of Anne Douglas, an old woman who weeded in his garden. It is however most likely that it is altogether factitious, and Mr. Surtees' own production, Anne Douglas being a pure invention.

The ballad called "The Fray of Haltwhistle," a portion of which, "How the Thirlwalls and the Ridleys a'," &c., is interwoven with the text in the first canto of Marmion, is generally understood to have been composed by Mr. Surtees. He, however, succeeded in palming it upon Scott as a genuine old ballad; and states that he had it from the recitation of an ancient dame, mother of one of the miners of Alston Moor. Scott's taste for old legends and ballads was certainly not too discriminating, or he would never have swallowed "The Fray of Haltwhistle." Perhaps he suspected its authenticity, for he says of it: