38 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2"4 8. No 2., Jax. 12. 56. 
“ First, Mr. Lyte finds the grand obstacle to obtaining 
these fac-similes to be, ‘that the size of old paper be- 
comes yellow by age, whereas the ink becomes lighter.’ 
Now, in photography it is necessary to be very precise 
when speaking of colours; thus, by yellow is understood 
the yellow of the spectrum, of which gamboge may be 
taken as the representative. Surely, Mr. Lyte will 
hardly venture to assert that old documents ever assume 
that colour, or even any tone of it. By the agencies of 
smoke and damp, old documents frequently become brown, 
acquiring various tones of umber or sepia, from which 
the ink differs but very little in colour or tone; but yet 
this difference, slight as it is, is generally sufficient to 
insure a good photographic copy. Experience and tact 
are, it is true, important elements in success, and pro- 
bably all first attempts will be failures. Yet, as is well 
known to most practitioners of the art, wherever any 
difference exists between the colour of the paper and the 
ink, that difference will be repeated in the photographic 
eopy. 
“ Mr. Lyte considers these browns of old documents, 
theoretically, as if they were yellow and black, and 
hastily concludes that, as these latter have the same 
actinic action, ergo the browns, which he regards as yel- 
lows, must produce the same photographic results, which, 
as is well known, is not the case. Mr. Lyte’s want of 
success must, I fear, be ascribed to this perverse theory; 
if not, to his want of perseverance in mastering the diffi- 
culties that attend the practice of this branch of photo- 
graphic art. 
“The portfolios of most amateurs generally contain 
specimens of fac-similes of old documents; proving that 
the difficulty of obtaining them is not so great as Mr. 
Lyte’s letter would lead us to suppose. I enclose one 
copied from a MS. in the Royal Irish Academy, taken in 
the summer of 1852, during the Dublin Exhibition, which 
probably presented as many difficulties as are usually 
met with in documents of this kind; and yet no great 
effort is required to make out every letter remaining in 
the manuscript Photography does not pretend to re- 
store what is effaced or illegible in the original, but there 
are few things it cannot furnish a faithful copy of. I 
have learnt recently that it is contemplated to make a 
catalogue of the MS. in the Bibliotheque Impériale at 
Paris, by taking photographic copies of the title-pages, 
&c.; if the obstacles to taking photographic fac-similes 
were as great as Mr. Lyte represents, such a task would 
scarcely be undertaken. 
“Tt is too much the practice of photographers to pro- 
elaim the abortive results of their individual attempts as 
impossibilities of the art they cultivate; whereas they 
ought to consider that the same experiment which in the 
hands of one person is a failure, is often a brilliant suc- 
eess in those of another. 
“ As no one among your numerous readers has thought 
it worth while to reply to Mr. Lyte’s letter, I have taken 
upon myself to do so; for, as an old practitioner in the 
art, I feel its character of universality in application 
should not be inconsiderately impugned. Photographic 
fac-similes of old documents are, I feel assured, not easily 
ever-valued. Let no photographer be discotiraged from 
attempting to produce them. 
“ Pup H. DELAMOTTE. 
« King’s College, Jan. 4.” 
Replies tu Hinar Quertes. 
Sedgemoor (1* §. xii. 405.) — The information 
respecting Sedgemoor, which a Native or Somer- 
SETSHIRE requires, may be found in a paper on 
“Langport, the Llongborth of Llywarch Hén’s 
Elegy,” &c., by the Rev. W. Arthur Jones (one 
of the secretaries), in the Proceedings of the So- 
mersetshire Archeological and Natural History 
Society for 1853. That the Hstuary of the Par- 
rett once extended over the plain west of the 
Poldon range, is proved by the banks of sea-sand 
containing the recent marine shells which surround 
the red-marl prominences occurring in various 
places in the midst of the alluvial deposit. The 
trunks and branches of trees, the horns of the 
forest-deer, the bones of the ox and the horse 
have been found at considerable depths in the 
clay-pits at Bridgwater, and in one place even 
pottery at the depth of about thirty feet. In the 
Proceedings of the same Society for 1854, there is 
a paper by the same writer, on the “ Application 
of Philology to Archeological Investigation,” in 
which it is shown that the names of Weston-zoy- 
land, Middle-zoy, Ched-zoy (pronounced Ched- 
zee), describe the physical characteristics of the 
locality in the olden time. A. 
Burial without Coffins (1* S. xii. 380.) —J. H. 
M. desires to know of any other instances of this 
practice on record. It was a custom in the family 
of the St. Clairs of Roslin till the latter part of 
the seventeenth century, when Sir James St. Clair 
of Roslin was buried in a coffin, with great pomp, 
in the chapel of Roslin by his wife, Jean Spottis- 
wood (of the family of Spottiswood, of Spottis- 
wood), Lady Roslin, against the sentiments of 
King James VII.; and the great expense she was 
at in burying her husband occasioned the sump- 
tuary acts which were made in the following par- 
liaments. When they opened the vault for the 
interment of Sir James, the body of his prede- 
cessor, Sir William, was seen entire, laying in 
armour, with a red velvet cap on the head, and 
the head reclined on a stone. Nothing was spoiled 
but part of the white furring that went round the 
cap. All his predecessors were buried after the 
same manner, in their armour. L. M. M. R. 
Retributive Justice (1** S. xii. 317.) — About 
thirty years ago, a new city jail was built at 
Norwich. A gallows was made by a man of the 
name of Stratford, to be used when required over 
the gateway. Within a few years this Stratford 
was hung on it for poisoning, and there has never 
been any occasion to use it since. He thus be- 
came his own first and last victim. J.S.M. M, 
Norwich. 
Curious Ceremony at Queen's College, Oxford 
(iS. x. 306.) —Mr. Mewsven will, I think, on 
inquiry, find that the scholars of Queen’s Col- 
lege, Oxford, were never subject to the perform- 
ance of the ceremony he speaks of. I remember, 
many years ago, to have read somewhere, that the 
