314 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 178. 



The title of Count Gondomar was conferred 

 upon him by Philip III. in 1617, but the date of 

 his death is still a desideratum. Many anecdotes 

 concerning him are to be seen scattered in Howel's 

 Treatise of Ambassadors. W. M. R. E. 



]>OOB-H£AD INSCEIPTIONS. 



(Yol. vi., p. 543.) 



B. B. Woodward (urged, probably, by R. 

 Rawxinson's question in Vol. vi., p. 412.) sends 

 you the following inscription, 



" Sit mihi nee glis servus, nee hospes hirudo," 



copied from over the entrance to an old hostel in 

 the town of Wymondham, Norfolk. He says he 

 quotes from memory. 



Vol. vii., p. 23., you give an English translation 

 of the inscription : 



" From servant lazy as dormouse, 

 Or leeehing guest, God keep my house ; " 



but suggest that " hirudo " should be " hirundo," 

 and produce some apt classical quotations suppos- 

 ing it may be so, requesting Mr. Woodward to 

 look again at the original inscription. 



In a recent Number (Vol. vii., p. 190.) Me. 

 Woodward appears to have done this, and sends 

 you the inscription correctly (as I beg to vouch, 

 having often read and copied it, and living within 

 four miles of the spot), thus : 



" Nee mihi glis servus, nee hospes hirudo." 



Permit me to add to this corroboration, that I 

 should venture a different translation of the word 

 " hospes " from your correspondent's, and render 

 the notice thus : 



" Good attendance and eheap eharges:" 



taking " hospes " not as guest but host, and the 

 literal words, " My servant is not a dormouse, nor 

 (I) the host a leech." 



Ainsworth gives authority for " hospes " mean- 

 ing host as well as guest, and quotes Ovid's Meta- 

 morphoses in support of it. John P. Boileau. 



Ketteringham Park, Wymondham, Norfolk. 



With due respect to your correspondent A. B. R., 

 the word "hospes" most probably means host, not 

 guest. 



" Sit mihi nee servus glis, nee hospes hirudo." 



In Blomfield's Norfolk (but I cannot now lay 

 my finger on the passage) the line is given as an 

 inscription on the lintel of a door of an ancient 

 hostelry, carved in oak. If so, the line may be 

 rendered — 



" No maid like dormouse on me wait. 

 Nor leech-like host be here my fate." 



But, on the supposition that guest is the proper 

 meaning, "hirudo" might be taken in the sense of a 



greedy guest, although this would not be compli- 

 mentary to the older hospitality. And even in 

 the sense of gossiping, " hirudo " would not be so 

 inappropriate an imitation of the " recitator acer- 

 bus" at the conclusion of the Ars Poetica : 

 " Nee missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo." 



E. L. B. 



Ruthin. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Photographic Gun- Cotton. — The "doctors dif- 

 fer" not a little in their prescriptions for preparing 

 the best gun-cotton for photographic use. How 

 shall the photographer decide between them ? 



Dr. Diamond ("N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 277.) says 

 (I quote briefly), '■'■Pour upon 100 grains of cotton 

 an ounce and a half of nitric acid, previously 

 mixed with one ounce of strong sulphuric acid. 

 Knead it with glass rods during foe minutes" &c. 



Mr. Hunt, quoting (apparently with approba- 

 tion) from Mr. Archer, says (p. 260., 3rd edit.), 

 " Take one ounce by measure of nitric acid, mixed 

 with one ounce by measure of ordinary sulphuric 

 acid, and add to them eighty grains of cotton ; 

 well stir," &c., '■'■for not more than fifteen se- 

 conds," &c. " It will be seen that the cotton is 

 not exposed to the action of the mixed acids iu 

 this last mode longer than is necessary to saturate 

 the cotton ; should the action be continued further, 

 the solubility of the cotton is entirely lost." 



Not only is the order of manipulation different 

 (a point probably not material), but the time be- 

 tween " five minutes" and " fifteen seconds" must 

 exercise a most important influence on the result. 

 Who is right ? Cokely. 



Sealing-wax for Baths. — I notice in your an- 

 swers to correspondents (No. 176., p. 274.), that 

 you inform H. Henderson that glass may be 

 cemented for baths with sealing-wax. May I 

 recommend to H. Henderson the use of gutta 

 percha, instead of glass, for that purpose ? Sheet 

 gutta percha is now very cheap, and the baths 

 are most easily made. I have had one of my own 

 making in constant use since last July, having 

 never emptied it but twice, to filter the nitrate of 

 silver solution. It is not liable to breakage. The 

 joinings are much less liable to leakage. And 

 when it is necessary to heat slightly the silver 

 solution (as it has been during the late cold wea- 

 ther), I have adopted the following simple plan : 

 Heat moderately a stout piece of plate glass; 

 plunge it into the bath ; repeat the operation ac- 

 cording to the size of bath. It is very useful to 

 make a gutta percha cap to cover over the bath 

 when not in use ; it protects it from dust and 

 evaporation, and saves the continual loss of mate- 

 rials arising from pouring the solution backwards 

 and forwards. For home-work I have reduced 



