(Vol. v., p. 320.)

I had hoped that the inquiry of R. S. F. would have drawn out some of your Edinburgh correspondents; but, as they are silent upon a subject they might have invested with interest, allow me to say a word upon these Canongate marriages. I need not, I think, tell R. S. F. how loosely our countrymen, at the period alluded to, and long subsequent thereto, looked upon the marriage tie; as almost every one who has had occasion to touch upon our domestic manners and customs has pointed at, what appeared to them, and what really was, an anomaly in the character of a nation somewhat boastful of their better order and greater sense of propriety and decorum.

Besides the incidental notices of travellers, the legal records of Scotland are rife with examples of litigation arising out of these irregular marriages; and upon a review of the whole history of such in the north, it cannot be denied that, among our staid forefathers, "matrimony was more a matter of merriment"^[2] than a solemn and religious engagement.

The Courts in Scotland usually frowned upon cases submitted to them where there was a strong presumption that either party had been victimised by the other; but, unfortunately, the requirements were so simple, and the facility of procuring witnesses so great, that many a poor frolicksome fellow paid dearly for his joke by finding himself suddenly transformed, from a bachelor, to a spick and span Benedict; and that too upon evidences which would not in these days have sent a fortune-telling impostor to the tread-mill: the lords of the justiciary being content that some one had heard him use the endearing term of wife to the pursuer, or had witnessed a mock form at an obscure public-house, or that the parties were by habit and repute man and wife. How truly then may it have been said, that a man in the Northern Capital, so open to imposition, scarcely knew whether he was married or not.

In cases where the ceremony was performed, it did not follow that the priest of Hymen should be of the clerical profession:

In Chambers's Traditions of Edinburgh, there is a slight allusion to these Canongate marriages:

"The White Horse Inn," says he, "in a close in the Canongate, is an exceedingly interesting old house of entertainment. It was also remarkable for the runaway couples from England, who were married in its large room."

The White Hart, in the Grass-market, appears to have been another of these Gretna Green houses.

A curious fellow, well known in Edinburgh at the period referred to, was the high priest of the Canongate hymeneal altar. I need hardly say this was the famous "Claudero, the son of Nimrod the Mighty Hunter," as he grandiloquently styled himself: otherwise James Wilson, a disgraced schoolmaster, and poet-laureate to the Edinburgh canaille. In the large rooms of the above inns, this comical fellow usually presided, and administered relief to gallant swains and love-sick damsels, and a most lucrative trade he is said to have made of it:—

in allusion to their being called half-merk or shilling marriages.

Chambers gives an illustrative anecdote of our subjects' matrimonial practices in that of a soldier and a countryman seeking from Wilson a cast of his office: from the first Claudero took his shilling, but demanded from the last a fee of five, observing—

"I'll hae this sodger ance a week a' the times he's in Edinburgh, and you (the countryman) I winna see again."

The Scottish poetical antiquary is familiar with this eccentric character; but it may not be uninteresting to your general readers to add, that when public excitement in Edinburgh ran high against the Kirk, the lawyers, meal-mongers, or other rogues in grain, Claudero was the vehicle through which the democratic voice found vent in squibs and broadsides fired at the offending party or obnoxious measure from his lair in the Canongate.

In his Miscellanies, Edin. 1766, now before me, Claudero's cotemporary, Geordie Boick, in a poetical welcome to London, thus compliments Wilson, and bewails the condition of the modern Athens under its bereavement of the poet:

For want of Claudero's lash, his eulogist goes on to say:

Claudero was, notwithstanding, a sorry poet, a lax moralist, and a sordid parson; but peace to the manes of the man, or his successor in the latter office, who gave me in that same long room of the White Horse in the Canongate of Edinburgh the best parents son was ever blest with!

J. O.

LADY KATHERINE GREY.

(Vol. vi., p. 578.)

There appears to be some doubt if the alleged marriage ever did take place, for I find, in Baker's Chronicles, p. 334., that in 1563 "divers great persons were questioned and condemned, but had their lives spared," and among them—

"Lady Katherine Grey, daughter to Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, by the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, having formerly been married to the Earl of Pembroke's eldest son, and from him soon after lawfully divorced, was some years after found to be with child by Edward Seymour Earl of Hartford, who, being at that time in France, was presently sent for: and being examined before the Archbishop of Canterbury, and affirming they were lawfully married, but not being able within a limited time to produce witnesses of their marriage, they were both committed to the Tower."

After some further particulars of the birth of a second child in the Tower, the discharge of the Lieutenant, Sir Edward Warner, and the fining of the Earl by the Star Chamber, to the extent of 5000l., the narrative proceeds:

"Though in pleading of his case, one John Hales argued they were lawful man and wife by virtue of their own bare consent, without any ecclesiastical ceremony."

Collins, in his Peerage (1735), states:

"The validity of this marriage being afterwards tried at Common Law, the minister who married them being present, and other circumstances agreeing, the jury (whereof John Digby, Esq., was foreman) found it a good marriage."

Sharpe, in his Peerage (1833), under the title "Stamford," says:

"'The manner of her departing' in the Tower, which Mr. Ellis has printed from a MS. so entitled in the Harleian Collection, although less terrible, is scarcely less affecting than that of her heroic sister," &c.

Perhaps your correspondent A. S. A. may be enabled to consult this work, and so ascertain further particulars.

Broctuna.

Bury, Lancashire.

HOWLETT THE ENGRAVER.

(Vol. i., p. 321.)

In your first Volume, an inquiry is made for information respecting the above person. As I find on referring to the subsequent volumes of "N. & Q." that the Query never received any reply, I beg to forward a cutting from the Obituary of the New Monthly Magazine for June, 1828, referring to Howlett; concerning whom, however, I cannot give any further information.

"MR. BARTHOLOMEW HOWLETT.

"Lately in Newington, Surrey, aged sixty, Mr. Bartholomew Howlett, antiquarian, draughtsman, and engraver. This artist was a pupil of Mr. Heath, and for many years devoted his talents to the embellishment of works on topography and antiquities. His principal publication, and which will carry his name down to posterity with respect as an artist, was A Selection of Views in the County of Lincoln; comprising the Principal Towns and Churches, the Remains of Castles and Religious Houses, and Seats of the Nobility and Gentry; with Topographical and Historical Accounts of each View. This handsome work was completed in 4to. in 1805. The drawings are chiefly by T. Girtin, Nattes, Nash, Corbould, &c., and the engravings are highly creditable to the burin of Mr. Howlett. Mr. Howlett was much employed by the late Mr. Wilkinson on his Londina Illustrata; by Mr. Stevenson in his second edition of Bentham's Ely; by Mr. Frost, in his recent Notices of Hull; and in numerous other topographical works. He executed six plans and views for Major Anderson's Account of the Abbey of St. Denis; and occasionally contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine, and engraved several plates for it. In 1817, Mr. Howlett issued proposals for A Topographical Account of Clapham, in the County of Surrey, illustrated by Engravings. These were to have been executed from drawings by himself, of which he made several, and also formed considerable collections; but we believe he only published one number, consisting of three plates and no letter-press. We hope the manuscripts he has left may form a groundwork for a future topographer. They form part of the large collections for Surrey, in the hands of Mr. Tytam. In 1826, whilst the Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine, near the Tower, was pulling down, he made a series of drawings on the spot, which it was his intention to have engraved and published. But the greatest effort of his pencil was in the service of his kind patron and friend, John Caley, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., keeper of the records in the Augmentation Office. For this gentleman Mr. Howlett made finished drawings from upwards of a thousand original seals of the monastic and religious houses of this kingdom."

B. Hudson.

Congleton, Cheshire.

CHAUCER.

(Vol. vi., p. 603.)

In reference to the question raised by J. N. B., what authority there is for asserting that Chaucer pursued the study of the law at the Temple, I send you the following extract from a sketch of his life by one of his latest biographers, Sir Harris Nicolas:

"It has been said that Chaucer was originally intended for the law, and that, from some cause which has not reached us, and on which it would be idle to speculate, the design was abandoned. The acquaintance he possessed with the classics, with divinity, with astronomy, with so much as was then known of chemistry, and indeed with every other branch of the scholastic learning of the age, proves that his education had been particularly attended to; and his attainments render it impossible to believe that he quitted college at the early period at which persons destined for a military life usually began their career. It was not then the custom for men to pursue learning for its own sake; and the most rational manner of accounting for the extent of Chaucer's acquirements, is to suppose that he was educated for a learned profession. The knowledge he displays of divinity would make it more likely that he was intended for the church than for the bar, were it not that the writings of the Fathers were generally read by all classes of students. One writer says that Chaucer was a member of the Inner Temple, and that while there he was fined two shillings for beating a Franciscan friar in Fleet Street^[3]; and another (Leland) observes, that after he had travelled in France, 'collegia leguleiorum frequentavit.' Nothing, however, is positively known of Chaucer until the autumn of 1359, when he himself says he was in the army with which Edward III. invaded France, and that he served for the first time on that occasion."

The following remarks are from the Life of Chaucer, by William Godwin, Lond. 1803, vol. i. p. 357.:

"The authority which of late has been principally relied upon with respect to Chaucer's legal education is that of Mr. Speght, who, in his Life of Chaucer, says, 'Not many yeeres since, Master Buckley did see a record in the same house [the Inner Temple], where Geoffrey Chaucer was fined two shillings for beating a Franciscane fryar in Fleet-streete.' This certainly would be excellent evidence, were it not for the dark and ambiguous manner in which it is produced. I should have been glad that Mr. Speght had himself seen the record, instead of Master Buckley, of whom I suppose no one knows who he is: why did he not? I should have been better satisfied if the authority had not been introduced with so hesitating and questionable a phrase as 'not many yeeres since;' and I also think that it would have been better if Master Buckley had given us the date annexed to the record; as we should then at least have had the satisfaction of knowing whether it did not belong to some period before our author was born, or after he had been committed to the grave. Much stress, therefore, cannot be laid upon the supposition of Chaucer having belonged to the Society of the Inner Temple."

Tyro.

Dublin.

PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.

Pyrogallic Acid (Vol. vi., p. 612.).—In answer to the Query of your correspondent E. S., I beg to give the following method of preparing pyrogallic acid (first published by Dr. Stenhouse), which I have tried and found perfectly successful.

Make a strong aqueous infusion of powdered galls; pour it off from the undissolved residue, and carefully evaporate to dryness by a gentle heat: towards the conclusion of the process the extract is very liable to burn; this is best prevented by continued stirring with a glass or porcelain spatula. Next, procure a flat-bottomed iron pan, about ten inches diameter and five inches deep. Make a hat of cartridge paper pasted together, about seven inches high, to slip over and accurately fit the top of the iron pan. Strew the bottom of the pan with the gall extract to the depth of three-quarters of an inch; over the top stretch and tie a piece of bibulous paper pierced with numerous pin-holes; over this place the hat, and tie it also tightly round the top of the pan.

The whole apparatus is now to be placed in a sand-bath, and heat cautiously applied. It is convenient to place a glass thermometer in the sand-bath as near the iron pan as possible. The heat is to be continued about an hour, and to be kept as near 420° Fah. as possible; on no account is it to exceed 450°. The vapour of the acid condenses in the hat, and the crystals are prevented from falling back into the pan by the bibulous paper diaphragm. When it is supposed that the whole of the acid is sublimed, the strings are to be untied, and the hat and diaphragm cautiously taken off together; the crystals will be found in considerable quantity, and should be removed into a stoppered bottle; they should be very brilliant and perfectly white; if there is any yellow tinge, the heat has been too great.

I believe that close attention to the above details will ensure success to any one who chooses to try the process, but at the same time I must remind your correspondents that scarcely any operation in chemistry is perfectly successful the first time of trial.

J. G. H.

Clapham.

Stereoscopic Pictures with One Camera (Vol. vi., p. 587.).—In reply to the inquiry of Ramus, allow me to say the matter is not difficult. My plan is as follows:—Suppose a piece of still-life to be the subject. Set up the camera at such a distance as will give a picture of the size intended, suppose it sixteen feet from the principal and central object; by means of a measuring tape or a piece of string, measure the exact distance from the principal object to the front of the camera. Take and complete the first picture; if it prove successful, remove the camera about two feet either to the right or left of its first station (i.e. according to the judgment formed as to which will afford the most artistic view of the subject), taking care by help of the tape or string to preserve the same distance between the principal object and the camera, and that the adjustment of focus is not disturbed. In other words, the camera must be moved to another part of the arc of a circle, of which the principal object is the centre, and the measured distance the radius. If the arc through which the camera is moved to its second station be too large, the stereoscopic picture will be unnaturally and unpleasingly distorted. The second picture is now to be taken.

If the subject be a sitter, it is of the utmost importance to proceed as quickly as possible, as the identical position must be retained movelessly till both pictures are completed. This (in my experience) is scarcely practicable with collodion pictures, unless by the aid of an assistant and two levelled developing-stands in the dark closet; for the time occupied by starting the first picture on its development, and preparing the second glass plate (scarcely less than three or four minutes), will be a heavy tax on the quiescent powers of the sitter. This difficulty is avoided by adopting the Daguerreotype process, as the plates can be prepared beforehand, and need not be developed before both pictures are taken. In this case the only delay between the pictures is in the shifting the position of the camera. This is readily done by providing a table of suitable height (instead of the ordinary tripod), on which an arc of a circle is painted, having for its centre the place of the sitter. If the sitter be at the distance of eleven or twelve feet (my usual distance with a 3¼ inch Voightlander), the camera need not be moved more than ten or twelve inches; and even this distance produces some visible distortion to an accurate observer.

The second levelling stand is required when using the collodion process, because the second picture will be ready for development before the developing and fixing of the first has set its stand at liberty.

Cokely.

Mr. Crookes' Wax-paper Process (Vol. vi., p. 613.).—R. E. wishes to know the exact meaning of the sentence, "With the addition of as much free iodine as will give it a sherry colour." After adding the iodide of potassium to the water, a small quantity of iodine (this can be proctored at any operative chemist's) is to be dissolved in the mixture until it be of the proper colour.

The paper is decidedly more sensitive if exposed wet, but it should not be washed; and I think it is advisable to have a double quantity of nitrate of silver in the exciting bath. I have not yet tried any other salt than iodide of potassium for the first bath; but I hope before the summer to lay before your readers a simpler, and I think superior wax-paper process, upon which I am at present experimenting.

William Crookes.

Hammersmith.

P.S.—I see that in the tables R. E. has given, he has nearly doubled the strength of my iodine bath. It should be twenty-four grains to the ounce, instead of forty-four; and he has entirely left out the iodine.

India Rubber a Substitute for Yellow Glass.—I think that I have made a discovery which may be useful to photographers. It is known that some kinds of yellow glass effectually obstruct the passage of the chemical rays, and that other kinds do not, according to the manner in which the glass is prepared.

I have never heard or read of India rubber being used for this purpose; but I believe it will be found perfectly efficient, and will therefore state how I arrived at this conclusion.

Having occasion to remove a slate from the side of my roof, to make an opening for my camera, I thought of a sheet of India rubber to supply the place of the slate, and thus obtain a flexible waterproof covering to exclude the wet, and to open and shut at pleasure. This succeeded admirably, but I found that I had also obtained a deep rich yellow window, which perfectly lighted a large closet, previously quite dark, and in which for the last ten days I have excited and developed the most sensitive iodized collodion on glass. I therefore simply announce the fact, as it may be of some importance, if verified by others and by further experiment. I have not yet tested it with a lens and the solution of sulphite of quinine, as I wished the sun to shine on the sheet of India rubber at the time, which would decide the question. However, sheet India rubber can be obtained of any size and thickness required: mine is about one-sixteenth of an inch thick, and one foot square; and the advantages over glass would be great in some cases, especially for a dark tent in the open air, as any amount of light might be obtained by stitching a sheet of India rubber into the side, which would fold up without injury. It is possible that gutta percha windows would answer the same purpose.

H. Y. W. N.

Brompton.

Dr. Diamond's Paper Processes.—We have been requested to call attention to, and to correct several errors of the press overlooked by us in Dr. Diamond's article, in the hurry of preparing our enlarged Number (No. 166.). The most important is in the account of the exciting fluid,—the omission, at p. 21. col. 1. l. 47. (after directions to take one drachm of aceto-nitrate of silver), of the words "one drachm of saturated solution of gallic acid." The passage should run thus: "Of this solution take one drachm, and one drachm of saturated solution of gallic acid, and add to it two ounces and a half of distilled water."

In the same page, col. 2. l. 13., "solvent" should be "saturated;" and in the same article, passim, "hyposulphate" should be "hyposulphite," and "solarise" should be "solarize."