April 15. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



359 



Photographic Copies of Rembrandt. — The extreme 

 rarity and great pecuniary value of many of Rem- 

 brandt's finest etchings are doubtless well known to 

 many of our readers, as being such as to put these 

 master-pieces of art beyond the reach of ordinary pur- 

 chasers. This series of works, calculated beyond all 

 others of their kind to delight the possessor, will how- 

 ever, thanks to photography, soon be obtainable by 

 all admirers of the great master. Two distinguished 

 French photographers, the brothers MM. Bisson, have 

 succeeded in obtaining, by means of this wonderful 

 art, copies of a fidelity attainable by no other pro- 

 cess : so that the wondrous lights, shades, half-tones, 

 and chiaro-obscuro, for which Rembrandt is so re- 

 markable, are preserved in all their original beauty. 

 The plates will be accompanied by descriptive letter- 

 press, and by a Biography of Rembrandt from the pen 

 of M. Charles Blanc. As the works are so numerous, 

 the first series will consist of forty plates, to be issued 

 in ten livraisons, each containing four plates, price 

 twenty francs ; a very moderate sum, if we remember 

 that among the works thus to be issued, at a cost of 

 five francs each, will be found copies of such gems as 

 the Avocat Tolling and the Piece de Cent Florins. 



Coloured Photographs. — I have lately seen, and very 

 much admired, some specimens of photographic co- 

 loured portraits. They have all the broad effect of the 

 great masters perfectly in detail, and none of the nig- 

 gling effect of many coloured photographs, which are 

 in fact specimens of miniature painting rather than 

 photography — the outline alone being given by the 

 photographic art. The specimens I refer to appear 

 to have been soaked in oil, or some transparent varnish, 

 and then coloured in separate tints, probably from the 

 back ; the shadows being entirely photographic. It is 

 evident they are quickly and easily executed ; but I am 

 desirous of knowing the exact process, and shall be 

 much obliged for information on the subject. 



An Amateur. 



&ej>It*a to $Itn0r <&\xtxit&. 



Dr. Eleazar Duncon (Vol. ix., pp. 56. 184.). — 

 Dr. Eleazar Duncon, and his brother Mr. John 

 Duncon, are mentioned in Barnabas Oley's Pre- 

 face to George Herbert's Country Parson, as 

 having " died before the miracle of our happy 

 Restoration." There was another brother, Mr. 

 Edmund Duncon, rector of Fryarn Barnet, in the 

 county of Middlesex ; sent by Mr. Farrer to visit 

 George Herbert, during his last illness. E. H. A. 



Christian Names (Vol. vii., pp. 406. 488. 626.). — 

 The earliest instance I have yet met with, of an 

 individual with two Christian names, occurs in the 

 compulsory cession of the Abbey of Vale Royal to 

 King Henry VIII. ; the deed conveying which is 

 still extant in the Augmentation Office. It is in 

 Latin, and signed by John Harwood the Abbot, 

 Alexander Sedon the Prior, William Brenck Har- 



rysun, and twelve other monks of the Abbey. 

 Vale Royal Abbey is now the seat of Lord Dela- 

 mere, into whose family it came by purchase in 

 1616, from the descendant of Sir Thomas Holcroft, 

 the original grantee from the crown. T. Hughes. 

 Chester. 



I send you a much earlier instance of two Chris- 

 tian names than any that has hitherto been given 

 in your pages. Henry Prince of Wales, son of 

 King Henry IV., was baptized by the names 

 Henry Frederick. Vide Camden's Remains, 4to., 

 1605. I have not a reference to the page. 



C. DE D. 



Abigail (Vol.iv., pp. 424., &c. ; Vol. viii., p. 653.). 

 — Your recent correspondents on this subject do 

 not appear to have met with the passage in which 

 I mentioned, that since putting the question, I 

 had found that a waiting-maid in Beaumont and 

 Fletcher's comedy of The Scornful Lady was 

 named Abigail ; and that, as the play appeared to 

 have been a favourite one, the application of the 

 name to the class generally was probably owing 

 to it. In the absence of any proof of its having 

 been previously used in this sense, I still continue 

 to think that this conjecture was well founded. 

 Considering the terms on which Dean Swift was 

 with the Mashams, he was the last person in the 

 world to have used such a term, unless it had been 

 so long in familiar use as to be deprived of all 

 appearance of personal allusion to them. 



J. S. Warden. 



"Begging the question' 1 '' (Vol. viii., p. 640.). — 

 This phrase is identical with that of " petitio prin- 

 cipii," a figure of speech well known both to 

 logicians and mathematicians, i. e. assuming a 

 point as proved, and reasoning upon it as such, 

 which has in fact not been proved. 



J. S. Warden. 



Russian Emperors (Vol. ix., p. 222.). — lam 

 informed by a late resident in Russia that the 

 rumour to which Mr. Crosfield refers has no 

 foundation. I am farther informed, however, 

 that after a twenty-five years' reign the monarch 

 has even more absolute and despotic authority 

 than before the lapse of that time. I hope this 

 subject may be well ventilated, as considerable 

 misapprehension exists about it. John Scribe. 



Garble (Vol. ix., p. 243.). — Your correspondent 

 E. S. T. T. was mistaken when he said that the 

 " corrupt " meaning of the word garble is now the 

 only one ever used. In proof of this I would 

 give one instance, familiar to me, in which it still 

 retains its " good " signification. In " working " 

 cochineal, spices, and other similar merchandise 

 at the warehouse in which they are stored upon 

 their arrival in this country, the operation of 



