1^4 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 197. 



from comer to corner ; focus the middle one, 

 ■whether it be king, queen, or knight, and take a 

 picture; you will soon see whether the one best in 

 the visual focus is the best on the picture, or 

 whether the piece one or more squares in advance 

 or behind it is clearer than the one you had pre- 

 viously in focus. The chess-board must be set 

 square with the camera, so that each piece is 

 farther off by one square. To vary the experi- 

 ment, you may if you please stick a piece of 

 printed paper on each piece, which a little gum or 

 common bees'-wax will effect for you. 



In taking portraits, if you are not an adept in 

 obtaining a focus, cut a slip of newspaper about 

 four inches long, and one and a half wide, and 

 turn up one end so as it may be held between the 

 lips, taking care that the rest be presented quite 

 flat to the camera ; with the help of a magnifying- 

 glass set a correct focus to this, and afterwards 

 draw in the tube carrying the lenses about one- 

 sixteenth of a turn of the screw of the rackwork. 

 This will give a medium focus to the head : ob- 

 serve, as the length of focus in different lenses 

 varies, the distance the tube is moved must be 

 learned by practice. W. M. F. 



Is it dangerous to use the Ammonio-Nitrate of 

 Silver ? — Some time ago I made a few ounces of 

 a solution of ammonio-nitrate of silver for printing 

 positives; this I have kept in a yellow coloured 

 glass bottle with a ground stopper. 



I have, however, been much alarmed, and re- 

 frained from using it or taking out the stopper, 

 lest danger should arise, in consequence of reading 

 in Mr. Delamotte's Practice of Photography^ p. 95. 

 (vide " Ammonia Solution ") : 



' " If any of the ammonio-nitrate dries round the 

 stopper of the bottle in which it is kept, the least 

 friction will cause it to explode violently ; it is therefore 

 better to keep none prepared." 



' As in pouring this solution out and back into 

 the bottle, of course the solution will dry around 

 the stopper, and, if this account is correct, may 

 momentarily lead to danger and accident, I will 

 feel obliged by being informed by some of your 

 learned correspondents whether any such danger 

 exists. Hugh Henderson. 



Heplte^ to ilMin0r ^nttiti. 



Burke's Marriage (Vol. vii., p. 382.). — Burke 

 married, in 1756, the daughter of Dr. Nugent of 

 Bath. (See Nat. Cycl, s. v. " Burke.") 



P. J. F. GANTIIiLON, B. A. 



The House of Fakihill (Vol. vi., p. 533.). — As 

 I have not observed any notice taken of the very 

 interesting Query of Aberdoniensis, regarding 

 this ancient baronial residence, I may state that 

 there is a Falahill, or Falahall, in the parish of 



Heriot, in the county of Edinburgh. Whether it 

 be the Falahill referred to by Nisbet as having 

 been so profusely illuminated with armorial bear- 

 ings, I cannot tell. Possibly either Messrs. Laing, 

 Wilson, or Cosmo Innes might be able to give 

 some information about this topographical and 

 historical mystery. Stornowat. 



Descendants of Judas Iscariot (Vol.viii., p. 56.). — 

 There is a collection of traditions as to this person 

 in extracts I have among my notes, which perhaps 

 you may think fit to give as a reply to Mr. 

 Creed's Query. It runs as follows : 



" On dit dans I'Anjou et dans le Maine que Judas 

 Iscariot est ne a Sable ; la-dessus on a fait ce vers: 



' Perfidus Judaeus Sabloliensis erat.' 



" Les Bretons disent de meme qu'il est ne au Nor- 

 mandie entre Caen et Kouen, et a ce propos ils recitent 

 ces vers . 



' Judas etoit Normand, 



Tout le monde le dit — 

 Entre Caen et Rouen, 

 Ce malheureux naquit. 

 II vendit son Seigneur pour trente marcs contants. 

 Au diable soient tous les Normands.' 



" On dit de ineme sans raison que Judas avoit de- 

 meure a Corfou, et qu'il y est ne. Pietro della Valle 

 rapporte dans ses Voyages qu'etant a Corfou on lui 

 montra par rarete un homme que ceux du pays assu- 

 roient etre de la race du traitre Judas — quoiqu'il le 

 niat. C'est un bruit qui court depuis long terns en 

 cette contree, sans qu'on en sache la cause ni I'origine. 

 Le peuple de la ville de Ptolemais (autrement de 

 I'Acre) disoit de meme sans raison que dans une tour de 

 cette ville on avoit fabrique les trente deniers pour 

 lesquelles Judas avoit vendu notre Seigneur, et pour 

 cela ils appellolent cette tour la Tour Maudite." 



This is taken from the second volume of Me- 

 Jiagiana, p. 232. J. H. P. Leresche. 



Manchester. 



Milton's Widow (Vol. viii., p. 12.). — The in- 

 formation once promised by your correspondent 

 Cranmore still seems very desirable, because the 

 statements of your correspondent Mr. Hughes 

 are not reconcilable with two letters given in 

 Mr. Hunter's very interesting historical tract on 

 Milton, pages 37-8., to which tract I beg to refer 

 Mr. Hughes, who may not have seen it. These 

 letters clearly show that Richard Minshull, the 

 writer of them, had only two aunts, neither of 

 whom could have been Mrs. Milton, as she must 

 have been if she was the daughter of the writer's 

 grandfather, Randall IVIinshull. Probably this 

 Elizabeth died in infancy, which the Wistaston 

 parish register may show, and which register 

 would perhaps also show (supposing Milton took 

 his wife from Wistaston) the wanting marriage ; 

 or if Mrs. Milton was of the Stoke-Minshull fa- 

 mily, that parish register would most likely dis-. 



