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MaY 22, 1885.] latent ntelligente adorn a grotto at the bottom of a private garden. The inhabi- 1 tants of Sandbach, however, wishing to have the crosses restored as far as was possible, carefully collected together all the frag- I meats they were able to discover ; and a Mr. Palmer, of Man- I Chester, ably assisted by the great Cheshire historian, George i Omerod, in the year 1816, set about fixing up the relic in its । present position. The light here was bad, and long exposures were consequently necessary, if the detail upon the columns was to be brought out at all, and as there was no sunshine, 1 cannot say exactly what would be the best time of day to photograph these objects ; but probably from early morning up to noon would be about right on a fine day. I don’t know with what measure of success my com panions met with, but no doubt prints will be here to-night for com parison, which will give you a better idea of the picture than the one I hand round, as it is a trifle under-exposed ; but the crosses, being composed of a dark red stone, and the light being anything but bright just at the moment, made it very difficult to estimate whatever the approxinate exposure should have been. From this point, down a side lane close by, were one or two characteristic street pictures, gabled, timbered houses, jutting out here and there in a most erratic and extraordinary way, “ all over the shop,” as one might appropriately say, and one especially dilapidated old cottage, somewhere about the bottom of this lane seemed to come in for an extra share of attention, and there ought to he some good pictures of it here to-night, judging by the number of cameras I left hard at work after I had had a shot, the result of which is no great achievement, as the light had now begun to mend. It does not make a bad picture, although a figure or two would have been a wonderful improvement. Still farther down the lane, and round by the end of the churchyard, consulted, and away once more through a very pleasantly un dulating park, across the river Dane, which here meandered lazily through the pretty meadows—a genuine English landscape — up a steep hill, and we finally found ourselves at Swettenham Church; unfortunately I have been unable to collect any informa tion respecting it of any interest ; its tower is draped, in ivy to its very summit, not a portion of the stonework being visible. I daresay, however, one of “ us,” whose blushes I will spare by not disclosing his name, will be better posted, as I noticed him in the distance, apparently busily engaged, taking instantaneous snaps at the rector’s cows, and making himself particularly agreeable to the reverend gentleman’s better-half. The church, however, is nicely situated, and one or two plates were well spent upon it; the west side struck me as being especially quaint, with its curious black crest in a niche over the doorway, and its dormer window jutting oddly out of the side of its old tiled roof, grey with the mosses of ages. I was tempted to expose a plate upon it, and although almost dead in the teeth of the light, the result will give you some sort of an idea of what 1 have roughly tried to describe. The President here fired off his last shot at a group ranged about the stile in front of the old tower, our friend above- mentioned being still far too busily engrossed with the rector, his wife, and the cows (no doubt collecting information) to be included in the picture ; and now, having expended nearly the whole of our stock of ammunition we packed up, and turned our horses’ heads homewards. Arrived at Sandbach Old Hall once more, hungry and tired, we happily found our worthy caterer > had not failed us—a delicious aroma (surely the most delightful ■ odour that, had ever saluted our nostrils up to that hour) of ham and tints of natural colours for rendering their representations more real and life-like, and for improvements in mounting them together, and in enclosing them in or between glass, metal, leather, wood, vulcanite, and other frames, or cases, or ornaments, parts of all of which are applicable to other useful purposes.”,— Dated oth February, 1878. With regard to this (now void) patent, the patentee says :— My invention also consists in stretching such photographs or other illustrations on or between perforated metal, or other frames, and mountin ; them on, or in front of, or between them, and fixing them on to similar, or other naturally or artificially- coloured or tinted photographs or other illustrations, materials, or substances, as before described; and also for taking and designed. Leaving Brereton, wo next proceeded to Illage Green, singular as almost irresistibly suggesting the word village without the V ; here is a perfect gem of an old Cheshire wayside inn, bearing date 1615 over its portal. Tearing ourselves reluctantly away, we hurried away to Holmes Chapel, which, although not quite up to expectations, nevertheless supplied a very fair picture of what appeared to be the main street, blocked half across the end by an ancient ivy-mantled church. And now it began to be a fight against time ; we had more work to do, and our President had to catch an early train on to London ; we couldn't frustrate his object, and yet the work must be done somehow. Not a moment was to be lost, watches were and eggs pervaded the air. In almost less time than I can say, the odour had disappeared, together with its cause, and that justice had been done to that memorable repast was fully evinced in the well-developed interiors, which ultimately rose from round about the table of our hospitable and kindly hostess. Tea over, two more groups were taken in front of the Hall, making up a total of eighty-two plates exposed on the day, and with a hearty good bye to our entertainers, we shouldered our traps, and strolled leisurely along to the station, duly reaching Birkenhead once again at a comfortably early hour, none the worse for the first pleasant official introduction to one of the many, as yet unexplored, beauty spots of our charmingly picturesque old county—Cheshire. Applications for Letters Patent. 5895. George Percival Smith, Beech Holm, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, for “Improvements in photographic cameras and camera stands.”—-18th May, 1885. 5909. Ernest de Pass, 68, Fleet Street, London, for “ A process for copper-plate and relief engraving from photographs and tinted drawings.”—{Arthur Simon Joseph Miron, France.)— 13th May, 1885. 59G5. Edwin Underwood and Thomas Albert Underwood, 97, Camden Street, Birmingham, for “ An improved photo graphic camera.”— 15th May, 1885. 5999. Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, 23, Southampton Buildings, Middlesex, for “ Improvements in photographic apparatus.”—{Ferdinand Denis, France.)—15th May, 1885. 6076. Richard Rayner, 1, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., lor “ A new cheap stereoscope.”—18th May, 1885. Patent Void through Non-payment of Duty. 481. Harry Robert Newton, of 43, Seymour Street, Hyde Park, London, “ Preparing materials for, and for imparting to Photographs and other illustrations of all kinds the tones we came suddenly upon the fine and profusely-timbered “ Old Hall,” now an hotel, and this being a morning view, is accordingly secured forthwith, while your humble servant is making com missariat arrangements with the proprietor, who rather dashes his enthusiasm by informing him that the gigantic party of nine would so tax the resources of the town that he was afraid the demand would exceed the supply as regarded the usual necessaries for dinner, but that he would do his best for us ; so there being no choice in the matter, he was left to solve the problem, which he did in a right royal way, 9s I am sue several of you will be able to testify. The sun now gave us a friendly peep, but was too shy to stay out long, and we drove away direct to the fine old Elizabethan minsion at Brereton, built in 1586, the first stone of which is stated to have been laid by “Good Queen Bess.” Here, I am sorry to report, as we wandered about the churchyard, which closely adjoins the Hall, it began to rain rather heavily, and looked more threatening than it had done all the morning ; but it was April, and in a very short time the clouds broke and cleared away, the sun came out once more, this time with a Itttle more deter mination to have a will of his own, and a number of good views of the front and side of the Hall were (or should have been) secured; the light was, I think, almost at its best when we arrived about noon, and would have served very well for the rest of the day. The proprietress very kindly gave the party a special permit to photograph the apartments which, however, though spacious and exceedingly comfortable in appearance, did not warrant our drawing too lavishly upon our limited supply of plates, although I believe one individual had a shot at the drawing-room fireplace, with what success ho will perhaps lot us know. Although but one photograph was taken of the interior of this Hall, it may perhaps be as well to mention that Murray makes special allusion to the ornamentation of the dining-room, with its freize with the arms of the sovereigns of Europe, and several curious inscriptions here and there; the fireplaces, too, were most elaborately