214 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°4 S. X. Sept. 15. '60. 



History of his Life would appear less necessary to be in- 

 serted, were it not of use to throw some light on many 

 passages in these Sermons. Besides, where Precept and 

 Example so eminently concur, as they did in this Holy 

 Man, it cannot well fail of stirring up the affections of an 

 attentive Eeader^to the like hoi)' frame of mind, and sense 

 of Piet)'. An Example so congruous to the purest Doc- 

 trines, Doctrines so exemplified in a hoh' Life and Con- 

 versation, as they cannot but confirm and give weight to 

 each other, so we may reasonably hope they will have the 

 more effectual influence on the Judgment and Practice of 

 all that pernse them," 



EiRIONNACH. 



"TOOTH AND EGG" METAL. 

 (2°*' S. viii., ix. passim. ; x. 144.) 



There can be but little doubt that this absurd 

 appellation is a corruption of the word Tutenac 

 or Tutenag, terms signifying a white alloy, ex- 

 tensively used by the Chinese in the manufacture 

 of gongs, opium pipe-bowls, &c., and the compo- 

 sition of which is, or was, held a secret by that 

 extraordinary people. It has been, however, 

 analysed of late years by Dr. Fyfe {Penny Cyc), 

 and its components found to be copper, zinc, 

 nickel, and iron, containing thus a small propor- 

 tion of the latter metal, about one-fiftieth part, in 

 addition to the three former, an union of which 

 forms an alloy resembling, in many respects, 

 the modern Packfong, or German silver. The 

 essential property which it possesses of not readily 

 oxygenising or tarnishing, long a desideratum in 

 white alloys, engaged the attention, some forty 

 years ago, of the late ingenious Sir Edward 

 Thomason, of Birmingham, who communicated 

 the results of his experiments to produce an imi- 

 tation of, or substitute for, the " Tutenac of the 

 Chinese," to Arthur Aikin, the then Secretary of 

 the Society of Arts. See Sir E. Thomason's Me- 

 moi?'s, London, 1845, vol. i, p. 240. 



The white metal introduced by Mr. Tutin, a 

 plater and buckle maker at Birmingham, carrying 

 on business at No. 12, Coleshill Street (Direc- 

 tory of Birmingham, &c., 1781), and used by him 

 in the manufacture of the then important article, 

 soon, alas ! to be superseded by the slovenly rib- 

 bon, was a different thing altogether. I never 

 heard it called Tutinic, but it is not improbable 

 that it originally received this appellation, which 

 suggests at once the name of its inventor, and 

 the oriental alloy which it was intended to rival. 

 However this may be, the celebrity of another 

 white alloy, introduced about the same period at 

 Sheffield, and known then as now as " Britannia 

 metal," probably led to that made by Mr. Tutin 

 being called " Tutania," thus still retaining an 

 indication of its paternity. Poet Freeth, a well- 

 known Birmingham character, at once a bard and 

 a publican, was intimate with Tutin, who, a fre- 

 quenter of his coffee-house and club, is immor- 



talised by him as " the manufacturer of the metal 

 called Tutania, — a friendly cheerful companion, 

 and exceedingly fond of a pipe." This is an ex- 

 planatory note to a song on " Tutania Buckles," 

 from which I extract the following stanzas : — 



" Some for Pinchbeck, some for Plated, 

 Some for Soft- White, some for Hard ; 

 Every one is overrated, 

 With TuTAniA, when compared. 



" All to one good soul must truckle, 

 He that does the rest eclipse. 

 Makes a Song and forms a Buckle,' 

 Whilst a pipe's between his lips. 



" Now farewell to vain disputing. 

 Of the evening make the most ; 

 Friendship, Freedom, Trade, and Tutin, 

 Round the Board shall be the Toast." 

 ( The Political Songster, or a Touch at the Times, S^c. By 

 John Freeth, 12mo. Birra. 1790, p. 70.) 



Hoblyn and Hooper, in their Dictionaries, make 

 Tutenag ■ the oriental term for zinc or spelter ; 

 also for Chinese Copper. Here, I think, they are 

 in error; and believe the white copper of the 

 Chinese to be a different alloy. These terms, 

 however, have been interchanged to such an ex- 

 tent, as to lead to much difficulty in ascertaining 

 their real meaning. The Tutia, Tutty, Tutie, or 

 Tuty, of the old lexicographers and medical 

 writers, was a flower, or oxide of zinc, used with 

 a cerate in diseases of the eye. William Bates. 



Edgbaston. 



MARAT. 



(2°^ S. viii. 52. 93. 158. 256.) 



I am happy to provide W. B. C. of Liverpool 

 with a clue to the farther investigation of the state- 

 ment contained in the Glasgov^ Star of March 4, 

 1793; for by means of the date given below law 

 records and newspapers may be searched with a 

 good chance of success. 



My grandfather, Edward Creswell, writing home 

 from Christ Church, Oxford, thus mentions Ma- 

 rat (for so it is to be inferred after comparison 

 with the extract from the Star), under date of 

 Feb, 12, 1776: — 



•' I shall now tell you a piece of news respect- 

 ing a robbery which was committed here lately. The 

 particulars as I can learn are as follow. About a week ago 

 a native of France, who calls himself M. Le Maitre, and 

 was formerlj' a teacher in the Warrington Academj--, 

 being invited here by a gentleman of this College to 

 teach the French language came over, and met with 

 great encouragement in the University, but happening 

 to get acquainted with Mr. Milnes, a gentleman of Cor- 

 pus Christi College, who is the keeper of the Museum and 

 several other natural curiosities, he prevailed on him by 

 repeated importunities to let him have a view of them ; 

 accordingly they both went together, and after M. Lo 

 Maitre had viewed them a great while, Mr. Milnes, from 

 the suspicions he entertained of his behaviour, under pre- 



