64 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



C2>»'i S. N" 82., July 26. '6t. 



those ancient guilds still unclirotilcled, to follow 

 the example set them by these able antiquaries 

 and historiographers. This list has been mostly 

 compiled from tbe well-arranged Catalogues of the 

 London Institution, and may possibly admit of ad- 

 ditions : 



CARPEiiTERs' CoSiPANT. — An Historical Account of the 

 Worshipful Company of Carpenters of tbe City of London, 

 compiled chiefly from Records in their possession. By 

 Edward Basil Jupp. 8vo. 1848. 



Cloth^orkers' Company. The Record of a Visit of 

 the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel and Her Majesty's Minis- 

 ters to the Clothworkers' Company, on the 8th of August, 

 1844. Privately printed. 8vo. 'l844. 



Coopers' Company.-^ Historical Memoranda, Charters, 

 Dctnments, and Extracts, from the Records of the Cor- 

 poration and the Books of the Company, 1396— 1848< 

 By James Francis Firth. Privately printed. 8vo. 1848. 



Drapers' Company. Reports of Deputations who 

 visited the Estates of the Company in the Ccuntv of Lon-" 

 donderry in Ireland, in the years 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, 

 1827, 1832, and 1839 ; in pursuance of Resolutions of the 

 Court of Assistants of the Compan}' of Drapers. Ordered 

 to be printed for the use of the Members. 8vo. 1841. 



A Copy of the Will of Mr. Francis Bancroft, deceased, 

 late Citizen and Draper of London. Printed for the 

 Gompanj'. With an Account of the Salaries, Duties, and 

 Emoluments of the Officers and Servants of his School at 

 Mile- End; together with the Rules and Orders for the 

 general Conduct of that Institution. 8vo. 1840. 



Fishmongers' Company. The Fishmongers' Pageant 

 on Lord Mayor's Day, 1616. Chrysanaleia, the Golden 

 Fishing: devised bj' Anthony Munday, Citizen and 

 Draper, represented "in Twelve Plates by Henry Shaw, 

 F.S.A., from contemporary Drawings in possession of the 

 Worshipful Company of Fishmongers : accompanied with 

 various illustrative documents and an historical Intro- 

 duction by John Gough Nichols, F.S.A. Privately 

 printed for the Company. Folio, 1844. ^ 



Grocers' Company, Some account of the Worship- 

 ful Company of Grocers of the City of London. By John 

 Benjamin Heath. Not published. 8vo. 1829'. The Se- 

 cond Edition, greatly enlarged. 8vo. 1854. 



Ironmongers' Company. — Some Account of the 

 Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. Cbmpiled from 

 their own Records and other authentic sources of informa- 

 tion, by John Nicholl, F.S.A. Privately printed. Royal 

 8vo, 1851. 



A Glance at the Pictures in the Hall of the Worshipful 

 Company of Ironmongers, in Fenchurch Street, London. 

 By Leapidge Smith. Privately printed. 4to, 1847. 



Saltkrs' Company. Some Account of the Worshipful 

 Company of Salters, its Members and Benefactors, from 

 the earliest known period of its history until the opening 

 of the New Hall oh the 23rd of May, 1827. Compiled 

 from various sources hf an dd Salter T Thomas Giilespy"!. 

 8vo. 1827. "^ 



A Narrative containing the Observations and Remarks 

 of a Member of the Salters' Company [Francis Kemble], 

 on a Tour through the Manor of Sal, and other parts of 

 Londonderry in Ireland, in the ifiOfith of August, 1830. 

 8vo. 1830. 



The Narrative of a Tour made by Two Members of the 

 Salters' Company [T. Giilespy and W. Hicks] in the 

 month of July, 1838. 8vo. 1838. 



Short Particulars of the Manor of Sal, being the pro- 



portion of the Worshipful Company of Salters of the 



Irish Plantation of Ulster. 8vo. 1838. 



[To this volume are attached Five Maps and Plans: 

 namely, Ireland, South and North ; a Survey of the 

 Salters' Buildings at Mahary-Felt, and Salters' Town ; 

 the Estates of the Company of Salters situate in the 

 County of Lotidonderry, 1837; and a Plan of the Town 

 of Maghei-afelt, situate on the Estate of the Company,] 

 The Narrative of a Visit of Two Members of the Court 



of the Salters' Company to the Manor of Sal in 1841 [by 



T. Giilespy and W. Hicks]. 8vo. 1841. 



Some Account of the Town of Magherafelt and the 

 Manor of Sal in Ireland, belonging principalh- to the 

 Worshipful Company of Salters. By the Father of that 

 Company [T. Giilespy]. 8vo. 1842. 



J. YEOWEtt. 



CSSEEK fIftE. 



In treating of fire balls this famous projectile 

 should not be forgotten. Gibbon (chap. 52.) has 

 given a long account of the Greek fire, and its 

 efiects at the two sieges of Constantinople, a.d. 668 

 — 675, and a.d. 716—718. He has quoted almost 

 every author on the subject, but has overlooked 

 the fact that Baptista Porta, Magia Naturalis, 

 lib. xii. cap. 2., has stated that it is made by boil- 

 ing willow charcoal, salt, ardent aqua vita3, sul- 

 phur, pitch, frankincense, threads of soft Ethiopian 

 wool, and camphor together. In his fourth 

 chapter, Porta gives directions for making " tubes 

 ejaculating fire a long way." 



" Let a piece of wood three feet long be rounded, and 

 hollowed out with a. lathe, the inner diameter a palm 

 [qy. width of the hand or four fingers], the wood a finger 

 in thickness, let it be guarded [strengthened] within by 

 an iron plate, and without by iron hoops, at the mouth, 

 the middle, and the end [heel], then let the remainder be 

 bound with iron wire lest it should burst and hurt your 

 own friends. You shall fill the hollow with this mixture. 

 Three parts gunpowder [tormentarii pulveris], colophony 

 [see "N. & Q.," 2°d S. iv. 35.], tutty, sulphur [qy. each] 

 half a part ; you must pound tbe sulphur and colophony 

 thoroughly, sprinkle them with oil and work them Well 

 with your hands — ^then stop the mouth with linen cloth, 

 wax and pitch, so that the powder shall not fall out, 

 make a hole in this, put a match to it." 



Tbfs last, however, cannot be the Greek fire, 

 unless we suppose the tise of gunpowder was 

 known in the seventh century. The probability 

 is, liowever, that the Ignis Grsecns, or Feu Gre- 

 geois was a sort of Congreve rocket, for Joinville 

 (^History oj" St. Louis) says, — 



" It came through the air flying like a winged long- 

 tailed dragon, about the thickness of a hogshead, with a 

 noise like thunder, and as «wift as lightning." 



We know that fireworks of various kinds were 

 made by the Chinese long before gunpowder was 

 known in Europe. Is it not probable that the 

 Greek Emperor obtained the secret through some 

 travellers, or by the assistance of the Arabs ? 



Any light the readers of " N, &. Q." could throw 

 on the subject would be very acceptable. A. A. 



