That now in our Englysshe this boke is printed inne."
A rare poem, an early specimen of blank verse, entitled A Tale of Two Swannes, written by William Vallans (who was, I believe, a native of Ware), and printed in 1590, supplies us with the information that the mill belonging to John Tate was situated at Hertford. One of the notes in the poem states that, "in the time of Henry VIII., viz. 1507, there was a paper-mill at Hertford, and belonged to John Tate, whose father was Mayor of London." The author, however, is here mistaken in his chronology, as Henry VIII. did not begin to reign till 1509. The extract from the privy purse expenses of Henry VII., under the date of May 25, 1498, "for rewards geven at the Paper Mylne, 16s 8d," most clearly has reference to this particular mill, as the entry immediately preceding shows that the king went to Hertford two days before, viz. on the 23rd of May.
In answer to HERTFORDIENSIS, who asks for information as to its site, I quote a passage from Herbert's edition of Ames's Typographical Antiquities, under the description of the work of Bartholomeus, printed by Wynkyn de Worde. Herbert says, vol. i. p. 201.:—
"I have been informed that this mill was where Seel, or Seal Mill is now, at the end of Hertford town, towards Stevenage; and that an adjoining meadow is still called Paper-mill Mead. This Seel Mill, so denominated from the adjoining hamlet, was erected in the year 1700; and is noted for being the first that made the finest flour, known by the name of Hertfordshire White. It stands upon the river Bean, in the middle of three acres of meadow land, called Paper-mill Mead, so denominated in the charter of King Charles I. to the town of Hertford for the fishery of a certain part of that river. Hence, perhaps, some have thought it was at Stevenage, but there is no water for a mill at or even near that place."
The French authorities are particularly unhappy on the subject of the introduction of the art of paper-making in England. According to the Dictionnaire de la Conversation, "la première manufacture, établie à Gertford en Angleterre, est de 1588;" while the Encyclopédie des Gens du Monde asserts that "la première patererie de chiffons qu'eu notre pays fut établie en 1312; celle d'Angleterre en 1388."
A. GRAYAN.
THE PENDULUM DEMONSTRATION.
(Vol. iv., pp. 129. 177. 235. 277.)
Since my last communication on this subject (Vol. iv., p. 235.) I have been engaged in examining the theory, and the experiments connected with it, somewhat more closely; and, in the meanwhile, I abstain from replying to the last observations of A. E. B. (Vol. iv., p. 277.)
A. E. B. says it was "uncourteous" in me to call the theory which he put forward his theory. I beg pardon for the offence. I intended by the expression merely to indicate the particular theory which he advocated. I believe its author is M. Chesles. The theory in question is:
"That the variation of the pendulum's plane is due to the excess of velocity with which one extremity of the line of oscillation may be affected more than the other."