334
NOTES AND QUERIES. ii28.niJrxK,i9i7.
by H. P. Ashby, who was presumably a son of
H. Ashby, as his address is also given as Mitcham,
Surrey.
A short notice of Henry Ashby appears in Redgrave's ' Dictionary of English Artists,' but some of the particulars given are wrong ; no mention, however, of this artist occurs in Bryan's ' Dictionary.'
To the exhibition of "A Century of British Art " (second series), from 1737 to 1837, at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1889, was lent a portrait of Jonathan Spilsbury (the mezzotint engraver) by Henry LAshby (in the Catalogue his name is printed as Harry Ashby, and it gives the date of birth as " 1770 ? " died after 1820). Now Harry Ashby (1744-1818), the writing engraver, was em- ployed by John (?) Spilsbury, of Russell Court, Drury Lane, to whose business he eventually succeeded, and whose widow he married. This John was the brother of Jonathan Spilsbury (vide ' Dictionary of National Biography '). According to the Catalogue this portrait was 'lent by H. P. Ashley ; it seems, however, in all pro- bability a, misprint for H. P. Ashby (the landscape painter). H. P. Ashby's addresses are given in the Royal Academy Catalogues as follows : 1835-6, Mitcham ; 1838, Merton ; and 1840 to 1865, Wandle Bank, Wimbledon : he was very likely still alive in 1889.
Amongst the portraits exhibited by Henry Ashby at the Royal Academy was one in 1810 of a Mr. Lord : of this portrait there is a mezzo- tint in the Print Room, British Museum ; it is by G. Clint, and published by H. Ashby, Nov. 28, 1810, Lower Tooting ; Mr. Lord is described s Master of Tooting School. I shall be obliged if any one can also give me information with regard to this gentleman. E. G. C.
4. William Harp or Harper, Winchester Schola r, Vicar of Writtle. According to Kirby's ' Win- chester Scholars,' p. 96, this person entered Winchester College in 1496, aged 11, and was Fellow of New College, Oxford, from 1505 to 1527, took the degree of LL.B., and was Vicar of Writtle and W^haddon.
W. E. Flaherty in ' The Annals of England ' (1857), vol. ii. p. 211, writes :
" A.D. 1549. The Act of Uniformity passed [2 <fe 3 Edw. VI. c. 1], ordaining that the order of divine worship ' contained in the book drawn up by the commissioners, ' with the aid of the Holy Ghost,' should be the only one to be used after the ensuing Whitsuntide (May 20)." He adds in "a note :
" Some priests were found who ^continued to use the former mode : a presentment of the grand jury of Essex remains on record against William Harper, Vicar of Writtle, for ' elevating the Sacra- ment of our Lord ' and invoking saints contrary to this statute ; the proceedings were removed into the Court of King's Bench, April 24, 1550, but their result is not known."
Any further particulars about this man would be welcome. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.
5. William Blagrave. Where can I find any information 'other than that supplied by Strype (' Annals,' I. i. 432, and ' Parker,' I. 141) ? He was hanged at York for treason, May 10, 1566, and is said to have been formerly a Dominican friar. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.
6. Griffith Jones (1722-86), editor of London
Chronicle. Details of his biography and- of his
onnexion with any other periodicals would be
- ladly received. ANEURIN WILLIAMS.
7. Dr. Ralph Griffiths and Monthly Review* Information on this worthy and his literary activities would be greatly esteemed.
ANEURIN WILLIAMS.
[6, 7. The ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' has a short notice of Triffith Jones, and devotes two columns to Dr. Ralph Griffiths.l
THE INVENTION OF THE
ACHROMATIC LENS.
(11 S. ix. 230, 312.)
AT the first reference MB. CECIL OWEN asked for information about Chester Moor Hall and lis work in connexion with the introduction of the achromatic lens. A reply by MB. A. L. HUMPHBEYS appeared at p. 312 of the same volume. My friend Mr. E. Wyndham Elulme, Librarian at the Patent Office, who has devoted much time to the investigation of the history of the Patent Law, has placed in my hands a copy of a petition from the opticians and mathematical instrument makers of London and Westminster praying for the revocation of John Dollond's patent for achromatic lenses. The original petition is preserved in the Privy Council Papers at the Public Record Office (P.C. 1/7, Bundle 37). It is not dated, but, judging from the endorsement, it was presented in 1764, and is signed by thirty-five persons, several of whom can be identified. The subject is one of some complexity, and the petition is of considerable length, but the question at issue may be briefly summarized. On April 19, 1758, a patent for fourteen years was granted to John Dollond, optician, of St. Martin's Lane, for
" his new invented method of making the object glasses of refracting telescopes, by compounding mediums of different refractive qualities, whereby the errors arising from the different refrangibility of light, as well as those which are produced by the spherical surfaces of the glasses, are perfectly corrected."
The petitioners allege that the method was not new at the time that the patent was granted, that Dollcnd was not the first and true inventor, and that he obtained know- ledge of the invention from Mr. Chester Moor Hall (1704-71). The petitioners further allege that object glasses constructed accord- ing to the method described in Dollond's patent were made and pxiblicly sold ia
