296 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 152. 



tures without soiling his hand in the slightest 

 degree. 



Holding the glass by the superfluous part, pour 

 the collodion in the centre of it near the top, and 

 let it gradually flow over the surface down to the 

 lower end ; holding the glass almost horizontally, 

 and moving the hand so that none run ofi" to be 

 wasted. "VVTien it has passed over every portion 

 of the glass which is required to be coated, let the 

 excess drain back into the bottle, giving the glass 

 a little lateral motion, so as to avoid any uneven- 

 ness of its surface.* 



The film, when first formed, is perfectly trans- 

 parent, but should be allowed to become a little 

 opaque and dry round the upper edge before it is 

 plunged into the bath of nitrate of silver. This 

 plunging into the bath should be done with one 

 steady motion, so that no lines may be formed in 

 the collodion. 



The focus having previously been obtained on 

 the ground glass, the glass, after remaining about 

 a minute in the bath, should be placed in its frame 

 to receive the proposed image. 



The period of exposure, depending as it does 

 Tipon the quickness of the lens and the state of 

 the atmosphere, can only be judged of after some 

 little experience. 



I have myself sometimes obtained as perfect a 

 picture in one second as I have at others in one 

 minute. It is always well rather to exceed the 

 supposed necessary period of exposure, than to 

 diminish it ; as if the picture should not prove a 

 satisfactory positive, it will in all probability turn 

 out a negative, which may be made available for 

 the printing process. Hugh W. Diamond. 



( To he continued. ) 



PROPOSED CORRECTION OF A PASSAGE IN " LOVE S 

 labour's LOST," ACT V. SC. 2. 



(^Concluded from p. 268.) 



" Nay, my good lord, let me o'errule that now ; 

 That sport best pleases, that dotli least know how : 

 Where zeal strives to content, and the contents 

 Lie in the/ai7 of that which it presents : 

 There form confounded, makes most form in mirth, 

 When great things labouring perish in their birth." 



Taking the whole context together, the meaning 

 will then be : That sport best pleases where, 

 though the actors are unskilful, they are zealous to 

 give pleasure. The contents (i. e. contentments) 



* [The coating of glass with the collodion being 

 really that part of the process which requires the 

 neatest manipulation, although very easy to any one 

 Avho knows how to set about it, I should be very 

 ■willing personally to show any brother archaeologist 

 how it may best be done ; one lesson from a practised 

 hand being worth all the writing in the world upon 

 the subject. — H. W. D.] 



received, lie in the failure of that which it (zeal) 

 presents. The confusion of forms makes mirth in 

 its highest form or degree, when great things are 

 laboriously attempted and prove abortive. 



As Theseus says, on a similar occasion, in Mid- 

 summer Nighfs Dream, Act V. Sc. 1. : 



" Our sport shall be to take what they mistake. 

 For never any thing can be amiss 

 When simpleness and duty tender it." 



Monck Mason ventured to say that " the word 

 content, when signifying ah aflfection of the mind, 

 has no plural." Our poet thought otherwise, for 

 in King Richard II., Act V. Sc. 2., he uses the 

 word, as it is used here, plurally, thus : 



" But heaven hath a hand in these events; 

 To whose high will we bound our calm contents." 



That the words in the old copy '■'•Dies in the 

 zeale " are a misprint for " Lies in the faile" I 

 think what follows, " There form confounded," 

 clearly shows ; the word zeale having been caught 

 by the compositor's eye from the preceding line. 

 The correction of Their to There is made in my 

 old corrected copy of the second folio, and is abso- 

 lutely necessary in any form of the passage ; for 

 to what could Their possibly refer? and who 

 would be content with Malone's ungrammatical 

 substitution of " them which," for " that which ? " 

 Should any objection be taken to the word faile, 

 as used for failure, I have only to answer that 

 such was Shakspeare's conception of it ; for in the 

 Winter^s Tale, Act II. Sc. 3., we have it again in 

 that sense : 



" Marke and performe it, sce'st thou? for the faile 

 Of any point in't shall only be 

 Death," &c. 



S. W. Singer. 



Mickleham, Sept. 3. 1852. 



In reply to Mr. Singer's Query respecting this 

 passage, I have to state as an individual opinion, 

 that in this, as in many other cases of alleged im- 

 perfection, no alteration is required ; and that the 

 text, in its original state, presents a much plainer 

 and more intelligible meaning than with any of its 

 proposed emendations. 



But the evil of these emendations is not in this 

 instance confined to the mere suggestion of doubt ; 

 the text has absolutely been altered in all acces- 

 sible editions, in many cases silently, so that the 

 ordinary reader has no opportunity of judging 

 between Shakspeare and his improvers. 



To explain the passage as it stands in the ori- 

 ginal, it is necessary to premise, — 



1. Contents maybe understood histrionically, as 

 a representation of action, vide " the contents of the 

 story " on the arras, in Cymheline, Act II. Sc. 2. 



2. Contents may be understood with a singular 

 construction, as in " the contents of this is the 

 return of the Duke." Measure for Measure^ 

 Act IV. Sc. 2. 



