-2"<» S. X. Dkc. 8. 'GO.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



447 



observations in the Phil, Trans, for 179G, were made in 

 1794 and 1795, when the paper was sent to the Koyal 

 Society. There was an anticipation of Photography 

 •given ' in the copy of the paper first sent : but Sir C. 

 Blagdeu considered that it referred rather to a subject of 

 Art, and it was left out in the copy subsequently sent, 

 and from which the paper was printed. According to 

 the best of mj"^ recollection, it consisted of a remark on 

 the effect of exposing a plate of ivory, stained Ivith ni- 

 trate of silver, to the rays of the spectrum ; and also on 

 the effect of exposing the plate to the rays passing 

 through a very small hole into a dark room, and which 

 form the image, more or less distinct, of external objects. 

 It is unfortunate that this did not appear in the paper of 

 1796; because there can be little doubt that it would 

 have led to making trials which must have ended in the 

 discovery of the photographic process many years before 

 it was eventuallj' introduced." 



As " N. & Q." were the channel for a long time 

 -of conveying to the public a most valuable body 

 of information regarding the progress of photo- 

 graphic experiment, you will probably think it 

 appropriate to record in your pages the above 

 •quotation from Lord Brougham's work. 



J. Mackay. 



Bachaumont's Memoires Secrets, Londbes, 

 1778: Anecdote Biography. — 



"21 Juillet, 1777. On rapporte que le Docteur Bouvart 

 a3'ant etd appelle depuis peu par le Grand- Aumonier en 

 Enfance, mais yt'etant pas moins susceptible des maux phy- 

 siques, s'est plaint de sa Goutte au Me'dicin, et lui a dit 

 qu'il souffroit comme un Damn^ — ^-Quoi, deji, Mon- 

 seigneur ? ' a repris le malin Esculape." 



This famous " deja," is generally quoted as 

 Talleyrand's consolation to some friend in a like 

 condition. He might have said it, I suppose, so 

 long ago as 1777 ; but so might other Frenchmen 

 before him. (The w^ords I have underlined must 

 surely be confused with some other text : but the 

 story is clear enough.) 



Query. Old Piron lying on his death-bed has, as 

 we say hereabout, weft off the Cure of St. E,och 

 with his usual caustic humour. 



But — 



" Sa niece, nommee Nanette, lui ayant fait des repre- 

 sentations sur la necessite de satisfaire aux ceremonies 

 il'usage — ♦ Tu sais bien,' dit-il, ' que je n'ai jamais aime 

 a mentir: allons — qu'il vienne — mais qu'on me donne 

 mon grand Widcrcome ' — gobelet ^norme dans lequel il 

 buvoit." 



What is the " JVidercome ? " Have the Ger- 

 mans any such name for a great cup that goes its 

 rounds ? Or did the author of Pen and Ink 

 Sketches hear his "young friend," Piron, relate 

 one social evening how he had christened his great 

 goblet from the Great Widdicombe of Astley's, 

 who had sent it him for a present, &c. ? 



Le Texier. — Somewhile ago one of your readers, 

 I think, was asking about this famous reciter. Ba- 

 chaumont first notices him : — 



" 22 Avril, 1774. Un particulier de Lyon venu en 

 ^ette capitale pour y deployer son talent singulier fait 

 grand bruit, et excite la curiosity des amateurs. On dit 



qu'il a Tart de declamer ou de lire une pi^ce de theatre 

 entifere, en variant tellement ses inflexions de voix qu'il 

 fait illusion, et qu'on croit I'entendre jouer par autant 

 d'acteurs differens. C'est a qui aura a souper ce pro- 

 vincial, qui en outre exige un auditoire tres nombreux. 

 II se nomme Texier." 



Farther notice of Texier may be found in 

 Harry Angelo's Memoiis (vol. i. pp. 289. et seq.). 

 From these it appears that, after the Parisians 

 were tired of him, he and his readings were for 

 some while the fashion in London. Then the 

 " Lady Albina Buckinghamshire," and her " pic- 

 nic " amateurs, began their performances with his 

 at his house in Leicester Square — " when the 

 amusements lacking variety, notwithstanding the 

 versatile powers of this incomparable reader, and 

 the recitations from Racine and Moliere by cer- 

 tain ladies and gentlemen amateurs, it was deter- 

 mined to remove the Assembly to the old Tottenham 

 Rooms," &c., whither we need not follow the 

 Lady Albina any farther. Parathina. 



Alliterative Inscriptions. — In the Porcelain 

 Collection in the Japanese Palace at Dresden 

 there is a model of the monument of Augustus 

 the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. 

 On one side of this is an inscription in which the 

 following words, all commencing with the same 

 letter, occur in juxtaposition : — 

 " Pkincipi PAxr.i Patki.e PietasPublicus Posuit." 



Expecting to find this inscription on the monu- 

 ment in the market-place, I did not copy the 

 whole of it, but on examination I found that the 

 monument had no inscription, a fact so notable 

 that the guidebook says it is " ohne Inschrift." 



Indeed, the pedestal appears to be (p^te un- 

 finished, and it is therefore difficult to say whether 

 the inscription on the model was intended for the 

 statue, nor is it easy to determine whether the 

 alliteration was designed or not. I send it to you 

 as a remarkable example, and shall be glad if 

 your correspondents can contribute some similar 

 inscriptions. John Ribton Garstin. 



The Origin of Species. — Mr. Darwin's work 

 on this subject brings to our recollection the 

 theory of Lamarck. But the French philosopher, 

 it would seem, must in turn yield to the claims of 

 the Japanese the credit of propounding an hypo- 

 thesis relating to animated nature, and upon which 

 rests what (to borrow a term from the language 

 of modern theology) may be called the Physical 

 Developement Theory. In the Essay on The Foun- 

 ders of Jesuitism by Sir James Stephen {Essays in 

 Eccl. Biog. p. 148.) is related a controversy 

 which Francis Xavier sustained against Fucaron- 

 dono, a venerable doctor in Japanese theology. 

 Among the articles of the faith of the Bonzes 

 which this sage pi'oposed and defended, is this : 

 " the spontaneous self-formation of all organised 

 beings." This sounds very much as though a 



