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NOTES AND QUERIES.
t'2 S. NO 19., MAY 10. '56.
by ANON before I asked you. I agree with
N. H. L. R. in the goodness of the process which
he describes. I know, however, that at least five
of my letters so sealed were opened within a fort-
night before suspicion was excited, and that was
not from any injury apparent on the view. I
found out how it was done, but abstain from ex-
plaining.
As to the adhesive envelopes, silence is of little use. The trial of the postmaster of Rugeley ex- cited general attention. Dr. Taylor, in reply to a question put by Mr. Huddleston in cross-examin- ation, told how an adhesive envelope might be opened and resealed, without leaving any trace of foul play. An answer given in open court, and reported in the newspapers, is no longer a secret. Let it suffice that the process is short, simple, and requires neither practice nor dexterity.
Last week I received by post a sample from a dealer in envelopes ; it was ostentatiously sealed, so as to invite experiment. I opened it by the Rugeley process, and read an advertisement which stated that when once sealed it could not be opened by steam, heat, or in any other way.
I have made many experiments in the hope of getting a good adhesive composition, but have not succeeded. Till some one does, I would advise all who are not indifferent to the opening of their letters to seal them as directed by N. H. L. R., and especially to use good wax, if they can get it. I believe the "hard " wax prepared for hot climates is the safest, but on this point I do not speak con- fidently. H. B. C.
Actaon surprising Diana (2 nd S. i. 290.) The picture so minutely described by your correspon- dent H. is a reduced copy of the celebrated pic- ture on this subject, pointed by Titian after he was eighty years of age forrPhilip II., King of Spain. It is in the Museum at Madrid, and was engraved on stone by A. Blanco, in a collection published in 1826 by D. Joseph de Madrazo. There is an outline of it in the Musee de Peinture et de Sculpture, published in Paris in 1833.
JOHN THECPP.
Your querist H. has only to find some other pic- ture of the peculiar stamp and quality of his own, with the never omitted monogram of a wriggling serpent, to be at a glance satisfied he has a work of that quaintly elaborate artist Lucas Cranach.
As to Jan Wynants, we need not to be told that he has never been found to deviate from the path of gentle nature into the sinuosities of mythology. I am ever ready to lend aid to querists in art, and will ask in return, of H. or yourself, some sort of response to any inquiry affecting the first root or early germ of native art in relation to a sculptor named Spang, working at the period ol Roubiliac, say 1750-60 ? CHISEL
Revolvers (2 nd S. i. 311.) You may add to
the remarks about revolvers, that pistols on that
principle (saec. xvii.) are found in the Armoury at
Dresden, (not in the collection of fire-arms, but
what is called the Historical Gallery). I. M. K.
In the Turkish Spy, vol. iv. p. 50., is a notice of a pistol seemingly of the same kind as those men- tioned by Pepys :
" As a Mark of the Respect I owe thee, thou wilt re- ceive with this Letter a Pistol of curious Workmanship, which being once charged, will deliver six Bullets one after another."
EDWARD PEACOCK.
Bottesford.
Bashett (1 st S. xii. 428.) Ma. BASCHET'S at- tention is called to the resemblance between the arms which he gives as those of Bashett and the arms of the Bache family, which are, " Or, a lion rampant reguardant pean within a bordure be- zantee." (The crest is ademi-lion reguardant pean, holding in the paw a bezant.) The name Bache is understood to be a contraction of the old form De la Bache, which was an English rendering of the Norman name De la Beche. More unlikely things have happened in the matter of names than the derivation of Bashett from Bache. N M. E.
Approach of Vessels foreseen (2 nd S. i. 315.) I have a note that Captain Scoresby recognised his father's ship, the Fame, while in the Greenland seas in 1822, by its inverted image in the air, although the ship was below the horizon. Indeed he found, if I mistake not, that it was twenty miles below, and full thirty distant from him.
Several cases of this sort are given in the Cabi- net Cyclopaedia, vol. xviii., where BARLEY may possibly find the particular instance he cites.
CHARLES REED.
Paternoster Row.
Duress "Melancholy" (2 nd S. i. 12.) Lj Heller's work on Albert Durer there is a long and very German account of this engraving, of which the following is an abstract :
The wings denote the flighty nature of her thoughts. The book the philosophic studies that have induced the state of mind. The compasses indicate the study of mathematics, and the bound- less (!) extent of her researches. The garland of spleenwort round her head shows she may still hope to penetrate the deepest mysteries. The bunch of keys and bag (which " probably contains also her valuables ") betrays her suspicious cha- racter. Above her left wing is the magic square described by Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, &c. The sum of the figures is thirty-four, in whatever way they are counted. This stands for arithmetic. The bell denotes physic. The hour-glass reminds constantly of death. The winged boy writing,
