July 1. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



15 



able space, but it appears to me that more success is 

 likely to attend the labours of junior photographers, 

 when in possession of the rationale of any particular 

 process, than when blindly following details of mani- 

 pulation and using formulae of which they know not 

 the behaviour and peculiarities. Chas, A. Long, 



153. Fleet Street. 



Mr. Fox Talbot's Patents, — A Special General 

 Meeting of the Photographic Society is to be held on 

 Thursday next to receive a report from the Council 

 respecting the intention of Mr. Fox Talbot, in refer- 

 ence to the renewal of his patents. We imderstand 

 that the Rev. J. B. Reade, from whose letter in the 

 Philosophical Magazine we published an extract in our 

 Number for June 3, p. 524., showing that " the use of 

 gallate of silver as a photogenic agent had been made 

 public in two lectures by Mr. Brayley, at least two 

 years before Mr. Talbot's patent was sealed," is about 

 to publish a second letter on the subject. Any com- 

 munication from a gentleman of the position and scien- 

 tific attainments of Mr. Reade, will be looked for 

 with great interest at the present moment. 



Photographic Paper. — You sometime since held out 

 to photographers the hopes of their being supplied 

 with that great desideratum, a paper on which they 

 could rely. From your continued silence, I begin to 

 fear that you have been disappointed in your expecta- 

 tion. Is this so ? Juv. 



[We certainly have not yet received the specimens of 

 paper to which we referred, but we have no reason to 

 doubt that they will shortly be ready. — Ed. " N.& Q,."] 



Substitute for Pins. — Having been induced by a 

 correspondent of the Photographic Journal to try, as a 

 cheap and useful substitute for pins for the purpose of 

 suspending iodized and other papers to dry, a little 

 article known as Smith's Patent Spring Clothes Pins, 

 and having found them answer the purpose most ad- 

 mirably, I think I am doing good service in calling 

 the attention of my brother photographers to their 

 utility. They may be purchased of the principal oil 

 and colour men at Is. per dozen, or 10s. per gross. X. 



Medal (Vol. ix., p. 399.). — The medal in- 

 quired after by Oldbuck was struck upon the 

 reace of Utrecht. I think there must be some 

 mistake about its having been presented to any 

 one by either of our universities ; but as it is not 

 quite impossible, I should be glad to have some 

 evidence of the fact. Possibly an examination of 

 the records of Oxford or Cambridge might show 

 that a medal was presented to the writer of the 

 best copy of verses upon the Peace of Utrecht. 



E.H. 



Ealph Bosvile (Vol. ix,, p. 467.).— Y. S. M. 

 will find a good pedigree of Bosvile in Hunter's 



South Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 345., from which, and 

 the subsequent pages, he may obtain some inform- 

 ation that may probably assist him in his inquiries. 

 The same valuable work contains various other 

 notices of the family of Bosvile. C. J. 



Humming Ale (Vol. viii., p. 245.). — Hum, in 

 the slang of the fraternity of beggars, means 

 strong liquor. See Beaumont and Fletcher, The 

 Beggars' Bush, Act II. Sc. L 



" Prigg. A very tyrant, I, an arrant tyrant. 

 If e'er 1 come to reign — therefore look to it. 

 Except you provide me hum enough." 



" Hummer, v. To begin to neigh, according to 

 Ray and Grose ; but in our use, it means the gentle 

 and pleasing sound which a horse utters when he 

 hears the corn shaken in the sieve, or when he per- 

 ceives the approach of his companion, or groom." — See 

 Forby's Vocab. of East Anglia. 



If porter is skilfully poured into a tankard, a 

 fine head or crown of froth is formed, which in 

 subsiding gives a sound which may be called a 

 humming sound ; or the epithet humming may 

 signify the pleasing sound which stout liquor 

 makes in the act of being poured out, or it may 

 express the effect it produces upon the drinkers, 

 making them hum under its kindly influence. 

 May not, however, humming be a corruption of 

 foaming f It doubtless expresses the praise or 

 admiration of the lovers of stout liquor. 



It may be illustrated by Burns' poem, " Scotch 

 Drink:" 



" O thou, my Musa ! guld auld Scotch drink : 

 Whether thro' wimpling worms thoa jink. 

 Or, richly brown, ream o'er the brink, 



In glorious faem." 

 Again : 



" O rare ! to see thee fizz an' freath 

 I' th' luggit caup !" 

 Burns' Poems, 8vo., vol. iii. pp. IS. 15. 



Who does not hear, as well as see, "guid auld 

 Scotch drink" in this poem, "ream and fizz and 

 freath?" 



When mine host of the Garter had agreed to 

 take Bardolph as a tapster, to draw and tap, he 

 says to him : " Let me see thee froth and lime," 

 {Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I. Sc. 3.). 



Might not a pot of double h^QV frothed by "the 

 withered serving man," transformed into " the 

 fresh tapster," have been in the ears of mine 

 host's customers stout humming liquor f 



For instances of the use of the word humming, 

 see Dr. Pope's Wish — 



" With a pudding on' Sunday, and stout humming liquor. 

 And remnants of Latin to welcome the vicar." 



Major Dalgetty devoutly wishes the prison 

 water were " Rhenish wine," or " humming Lubeck 

 beer" {Legend of Montrose^. F. W. J. 



