Mat 20. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



477 



chloride and sulphate of zinc, and of pure silver, which 

 will remain under the form of a blackish powder, 

 which is then to be washed, filtered, and preserved for 

 the purpose of making nitrate of silver. 



2. The chloride of silver which is to be reduced is 

 put into a flask with about twice its volume of a so- 

 lution of caustic potash (of one part of caustic potash 

 to nine of water), in which a small portion of sugar 

 has been dissolved. Let it boil gently. The operation 

 is complete when the blackish powder which results 

 from this process, having been washed in several waters, 

 is entirely soluble in nitric acid, which is easily ascer- 

 tained by experimenting on a small quantity. This 

 powder is to be preserved in the same way as the 

 former for the purpose of converting it into nitrate of 

 silver. 



3. The metallic silver is obtained in the form of a 

 button, by mixing thoroughly 100 parts of dried 

 chloride of silver, 70 parts of chalk or whitening, and 

 4 parts of charcoal. This mixture is to be exposed in 

 a crucible to a fierce red heat for at least half an hour. 

 When completely cold the crucible is broken, and a 

 button of pure silver is the result. The first two pro- 

 cesses are those which I should most strongly recom- 

 mend to your correspondents. N. C. 



Replies ta ffiinav dtaattaf. 



Ashes of "Lignites''' (Vol. ix., p. 422.). — 

 Rusticus is obliged to the Editor for so soon 

 giving a reply to his Query ; but seems convicted 

 of being a bad penman, like many other rustics. 

 For the strange word, respecting which he asked 

 for information, having seen it used in a news- 

 paper, was not lignites but liquites. Rusticus 

 could have guessed that the ashes of lignites were 

 but wood-ashes under a pedantic name ; but a 

 term which looks, to a rustic, as if chemists meant 

 to persuade him to burn his beer for a valuable 

 residuum, is more perplexing. Rusticus. 



_ Old Rowley (Vol. ix., p. 457., &c.). — The late 

 Sir Charles Bunbury, who was long the father of 

 the Jury, and considered as an oracle in all mat- 

 ters relating to it, told me, many years ago, that 

 Charles II. was nicknamed " Old Rowley" after 

 a favourite stallion in the royal stud so called ; 

 and he added, that the same horse's appellation 

 had been ever since preserved in the " Rowley 

 Mile," a portion of the race-course still much 

 used, and well-known to all frequenters of New- 

 market. Braybrooke. 



" Bachelors of every Station " (Vol. ix., p. 301 .) 

 is the beginning of the Berkshire Lady, an old 

 ballad nearly extinct, and republished by me some 

 years ago in the form of a small pamphlet, which 

 sold rapidly. If I can procure one, it shall be 

 forwarded to Mr. Bell. 



The story is a true one, and related to a 

 daughter of Sir William Kendrick's, who suc- 



ceeded him, and was possessor of Calcot Place in 

 the parish of Tylehurst, and to Benjamin Child, 

 Esq., whom she met at a marriage feast in the 

 neighbourhood. A wood near Calcot is where the 

 party met to fight the duel in case Mr. Child re- 

 jected the proposals of marriage made to him by 

 Miss Kendrick. 



I had the account from an old man between 

 eighty and ninety years of age, clerk of the parish ; 

 and my friend Miss Mitford agreed with me in 

 the accuracy of the story : she had it from the late 

 Countess Dowager of Macclesfield, an old lady 

 celebrated for her extensive and accurate know- 

 ledge of legendary lore. 



In opening a vault in St. Mary's, Reading, last 

 year, her coffin was found entire, with this in- 

 scription : 



" Frances Child, wife of Benjamin Child, Esq., of 

 Calcot, and first daughter of Sir Benjamin Kendrick, 

 Bart. Died Feb. 27, 1722, aged 35. The Lady of 

 Berks." 



Another coffin, — 



" Benjamin Child, Esq., died 2nd May, 1767, aged 

 84 years." 



Julia R. Bockett. 

 Southcote Lodge. 



Mousehunt (Vol. viii., pp. 516. 606. ; Vol. ix., 

 pp. 65. 136. 385.). — In Vol. ix., p. 65., the Natural 

 History of Quadrupeds, by James H. Fennell, is 

 quoted ; where, speaking of the Beech Marten 

 {alias Mousehunt), he says : 



" In Selkirkshire it has been observed to descend 

 to the shore at night time to feed upon mollusks, par- 

 ticularly upon the large Basket Mussel (Mytilus mo- 

 diolus)." 



In p. 136. I ventured to state that Mr. Fennell 

 must have been a better naturalist than geogra- 

 pher, as Selkirkshire was well known to be an 

 inland county nowhere approaching the sea by 

 many miles. I added, that I hoped, for Mr. Fen- 

 nell's sake, that Selkirkshire was either a misprint 

 or a misquotation. 



In p. 385. Mr. Archibald Fraser, Woodford, 

 not choosing to exonerate Mr. Fennell by either of 

 my suggestions, prefers, as a staunch, but I think 

 rather an inconsiderate friend and champion, to 

 vindicate the paragraph as it stands, by candidly 

 admitting that if the word beach had been used, it 

 would certainly have referred to the sea ; but that 

 the word shore applies to rivers as well as seas. 

 And he goes back as far as Spenser to find an 

 instance of its use, as applied to the banks of the 

 river Nile. 



I will not agree that this use is nearly obsolete, 

 but give him the full value of his quotation from 

 Spenser. But what does he say to the habitat of 

 the Mytilus modiolus, which the Mousehunt goes 



