Oct. 20. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



305 



profession, position in life, or accidental quality of 

 the person. I shall feel obliged by any explana- 

 tion of it which yourself or any reader of " N. & 

 Q." may be able to give. W, M. T. 



" Times " Advertisements in Cipher (Vol. xii., 

 pp. 42. 1 12.). — Will your correspondents who 

 think themselves so sharp at deciphering, have 

 the kindness to give me the key to the celebrated 

 " Slmpi " advertisements in The Times, signed 

 " J. de W." ? They have quite " floored " me. I 

 append the shortest of the series : 



«S. Lmpi Fnpi C qgnl F pil F pink, Cmgil F pil Bqkng 

 F hkom F hqon F onql qolg F. npi C qgnl, Chgo F nqkl 

 Fqmk olhi npmh pkqi in mogl, Tattj' F. oim pil lokg a 

 oinl ogmk inqg npi, E mpnl C omgk F ikho qolg npqm 

 mqho olhi D iql F pgnq May 9th Foiqa oinl li of hipo. — 

 J. de W." 



C. Mansfield Inglebt. 



Birmingham. 



Water-colour Artists. — Can any pupil or friend 

 of the late Copley Fielding oblige me by mention- 

 ing the tints used by him in his darkest skies, and 

 his method of producing the texture ? A corner 

 of "N. & Q." would be well filled by such hints 

 respecting the practice of eminent artists ; and, if 

 confined to the deceased, no injury, it is presumed, 

 can arise from the disclosure. For instance, some 

 of the admirers of Prout, and especially those who 

 copy his drawings, may be glad to learn his pecu- 

 liar process. The drawing was first entirely out- 

 lined with a reed pen, the foreground in Vandyke 

 brown, and the distance with a tint composed of 

 British ink and cobalt. When thoroughly dried, 

 the paper was covered with a wash of a warm tint. 

 After the colouring, a very few dark brown touches 

 were added to complete the drawing. C. T. 



Eeformation Court. — In the churchwardens' 

 accounts for the parish of Drayton, in the county 

 of Somerset, for the year 1630, and many follow- 

 ing years, there is a charge for attending the 

 Reformation Court at Taunton, What were the 

 functions of this court, when was it instituted, and 

 when did it cease ? U. 



Hill, a Painter. — I fancied I discovered upon a 

 picture, attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller, being 

 the portrait of a gentleman who died early in the 

 last century, the inscription " Hill, pinx." Is any- 

 thing known of this painter, or have my eyes de- 

 ceived me ? C. W. B. 



" Konx Ompax," " Tapetzon Tinemdxoch." — 



" The Konx Ompax, which hath so puzzled the in- 

 quirers into the Eleusinian mysteries." — Mt/ Novel, 1st 

 edit, vol. i. p. 73. 



What is known about this mysterious symbol ? 



At p. 275. of the same volume, Mr. Caxton em- 

 ploys the phrase : " tapetzon tinemaxoch," which 

 he says is in the Aztec tongue, and signifies an 



No. 312.] 



imputation of indelicacy. What is the translation, 

 if there is one ? C. Mansfield Inglebt, 



Birmingham. 



Arabic Writers on the Arts. — Can any of your 

 correspondents inform me whether any Arabic 

 manuscripts of the fourteenth century, or earlier, 

 exist, relating to the arts, particularly those of 

 glass-making, mosaics, and the imitations of pre- 

 cious stones ; and if so, whether there are any 

 translations in any European language ? 



B. R. B. 



Ehrenherg and his Microscope. —It is to be 

 regretted that our savans have not responded to 

 the appeal made by your excellent journal with a 

 tithe of the interest displayed by our hommes de 

 lettres. There are thousands of floating Notes 

 current among them, which, if registered "and cir- 

 culated, would bear ample fruit. For want of 

 such Notes, how thorny is generally the task of 

 the biographers of men of science, and how bar- 

 ren frequently is the result. 



To conclude with a Query. The able trans- 

 lator of Scleiden's Principles of Scientific Botany^ 

 Dr. Lanhester, states in a note, p. 580. : 



" It should be recollected that Ehrenberg, with a thirty- 

 shilling microscope, produced his great work on the infu- 

 soria : a work with which British microscopy has nothing 

 to compare, although it has spent thousands of pounds 

 annually on its instruments." 



I have Quekett's admirable Treatise on the Mi- 

 croscope by me, — I believe the latest and most 

 complete, — and find no allusion to the above inter- 

 esting circumstance. I have not Ehrenberg's 

 work, but do not recollect seeing such a state- 

 ment : perhaps some of your scientific readers can 

 furnish Dr. Lanhester's authority, and a description 

 of the instrument in question, E. C. 



A corded Cross, and hy whom worn f — In the 

 3olie of St. Allan's, third part, is the following : 



" Among oder crosses oon is founde, the wich is calde 

 a corddid cros, for hit is made of cordys, the wich certain 

 cros I see bot late in the armys of a nobullman : the wich 

 in very deed was summe tyme a crafty man, a roper, as 

 he hyms selfe sayd." 



Who is the " nobullman" here alluded to ? 



C. J. Douglas. 



Addison's lesser " Ode on St. Cecilia a Day" Sfc. 

 — Can any reader of " N. & Q." oblige me with a 

 copy of Addison's lesser " Ode on St. Cecilia's 

 Day" (performed at Oxford, 1699), commencing 

 " Prepare the hallow'd strain, my Muse " ? I can- 

 not find it in any edition of Addison's Works that 

 I have seen. I met with it some years since in, 

 I think, a volume of Poetical Miscellanies, pub- 



