628 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 217. 



whether or not it is still in existence I cannot 

 say : 



"At Nineveh, where dwelt Old Toby, 

 Pray stop and drink before you go by." 



C. I. R. 



THE CURFEW. 



<Vol. ii., pp. 103. 175. 189. 311. ; Vol. iv., p. 240. ; 

 Vol. vi., pp. 53. 112. ; Vol. vii., pp. 167. 530.; 

 Vol. viii., p. 603.) 



The curfew is still rung at Kidderminster at 

 eight o'clock. It is the annual custom there, on a 

 certain night, to continue the ringing for one hour, 

 a sum of money having been left for that purpose 

 as a thank-offering to God, for the curfew having 

 been the means of saving a person from destruction. 

 This person had lost his way on his return from 

 Bridgenorth Fair, and when (as he afterwards 

 discovered) on the point of falling from a great 

 height, the sound of the Kidderminster curfew 

 caused him to retrace his steps and regain the 

 road. A five o'clock morning bell is also rung at 

 Kidderminster. This and the curfew bell have 

 been rung for many years past by " Blind Wil- 

 liam," who, notwithstanding his total blindness, 

 finds his way along the streets that lead from his 

 house to the church, and gains the belfry with the 

 greatest ease. So well is he acquainted with the 

 path to church, that he may be seen to turn the 

 corners of the streets in as decided a manner as if 

 his wide-open eyes were endowed with sight ; and, 

 with similar facility, he unlocks the gates and 

 church doors. It is curious to see him on the 

 dark winter evenings, apparently guiding his steps 

 by the light of a lanthorn, which he probably 

 carries in order to prevent careless people, who 

 are blessed with sight, from running against him. 

 Like most (if not all) blind people, he has an ex- 

 traordinary ear for music, and will quickly repro- 

 duce on his violin any tune that may have caught 

 his fancy. At this present festive period, a Kid- 

 derminster Christmas would lack one of its com- 

 ponent parts, were Blind Willie and his fiddle not 

 there to add to the harmony of the kindly season. 

 During the month preceding Christmas, he pro- 

 menades the streets at untimely hours, and draws 

 from his old fiddle all the music which it is capable 

 of giving forth. Indeed, Blind Willie may be 

 considered (in Kidderminster at least) as the har- 

 binger of Christmas, for he warns the inhabitants 

 of its approach, long before the ordinary " waits " 

 have taken their ordinary measures for the same 

 purpose. And when Christmas Day is past and 

 gone, he makes a house-to-house visitation for the 

 Christmas-box which is to be the reward of his 

 "early minstrelsy." 



The curfew is rung at Bewdley in Worcester- 

 shire. 



At Durham the curfew is rung (on the great 

 bell of the cathedral) at nine o'clock. It is 

 therefore of the same use to the students of the 

 University of Durham as " Tom " is to the stu- 

 dents of the University of Oxford, viz. it marks 

 the closing of the college gates. 



CUTHBERT BeDE, B.A. 



PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



Photographic Engraving. — I inclose a copy of a little 

 book for your inspection, which is remarkable only in 

 this, that the illustrations are produced by photography. 

 The general theory of the method is this : a piece of 

 glass is covered with a uniform thin coating of some 

 substance, so as to be opaque or semi-opaque (the sub- 

 stance should be light coloured), and a design is etched 

 on it with a needle. From this negative positive pic- 

 tures are printed photographically. 



As to details, the prints of the mice (p. 46.) and the 

 cat (p. 37.) are from a glass coated with iodized collo- 

 dion rendered sensitive, exposed to faint light for a 

 short time and developed. In this method, the glass 

 should be heated ; and the collodion burnished with 

 the hand, to make it adhere well.* The owl (p. 22. ) 

 and the stork (p. 10.) are from a glass coated with 

 iodized collodion "rendered sensitive" only, and not 

 developed so as to be only semi-opaque. On this high 

 lights were put with opaque white, and darks were 

 etched out. This has the effect of a tinted lithograph, 

 but requires much more care in printing than the 

 former method, in order to hit the right tint ; so much 

 so, that I have usually printed the stork faintly so as 

 not to show the "tint" at all. The frontispiece is 

 from a paper negative, a method much more trouble- 

 some and tedious than either of the others, both in 

 preparation of the negative and in printing. 



I have lately tried gilt glass to etch upon. This 

 would be excellent, were it not most painful to the 

 eyes. And more than two years ago, I prepared a 

 negative by painting whites with water colour on trans- 

 parent glass with moderate success. 



I have recently received from Rome a positive 

 printed from a negative on smoked glass, the subject 

 being a mule's head. Of all the methods I have tried, 

 the best is the first mentioned ; and it seems to me 

 easier than any species of engraving. 



Query, What is the best coating for the glass ; and 

 what will be the cost of printing on a great scale, as 

 compared with woodcut, lithograph, &c. ; in which 

 must be included the cost of the skilled workman 

 which will be saved by this method ? 



Hugh Blackburn. 



[When we add that the work referred to is an 

 edition of The History of Little Downey, that the 

 prints in it are executed by a lady, and printed at 

 home by the photographic process, and that a limited 

 number of copies may be had on application to Messrs. 



* This method was suggested to me by Professor 

 Maconochie, who indeed prepared the glass on which 

 the mice were etched. 



