One of the portraits I speak of was of Lady Bateman, and bore on its face evidence of having incurred some damage, for the coat of arms with which (like all the others, and as was Hogarth's fashion) it was ornamented in one corner, were angrily scratched out, as with a knife. Whether this defacement gave rise to Walpole's story, or whether the face had been also blackened with some stuff that was afterwards removed, seems doubtful; the picture itself, according to my recollection, showed no mark but the armorial defacement. I much wonder this style of small whole-lengths has not been more prevalent; they give the general air and manner of the personage so much better than the bust size can do, and they are so much more suited to the size of our ordinary apartments. C. Referring to AN AMATEUR'S inquiry as to where any pictures painted by Hogarth are to be seen, I beg to say that I have in my possession, and should be happy to show him, the portrait of Hogarth's wife (Sir William Thornhill's daughter), painted by himself. LYNDON ROLLS. Banbury. The late Bishop Luscombe showed me, at Paris, in 1835, a picture of "The Oratorio,"--a subject well known from Hogarth's etching. He told me that he bought it at a broker's shop in the Rue St. Denis; that, on examination, he found the frame to be English; and that, as the price was small--thirty francs, if I remember rightly--he bought the piece, without supposing it to be more than a copy. Sir William Knighton, on seeing it in the bishop's collection, told him that Hogarth's original had belonged to the Dukes of Richmond, and had been in their residence at Paris until the first Revolution, since which time it had not been heard of; and Sir William had no doubt that the bishop had been so fortunate as to recover it. Perhaps some of your readers may have something to say on this story. J. C. R. * * * * * PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. _Washing Collodion Process._--In "N. & Q.," No. 153., p. 320., your valued correspondent DR. DIAMOND states "that up to the _final_ period of the operation, no washing of the plate is requisite. It prevents, rather than assists, the necessary chemical action.". Now, in all other instructions I have yet seen, it is directed to wash off the iron, or other developing solution, _prior_ to immersing in the hypo., and after {485} such immersion, again to wash well in water. I shall feel greatly obliged if DR. D. will be kind enough to state whether the first-named washing is requisite, or whether the properties of the hypo., or the beauty of the picture, will be in any way injured by the previous solutions _not_ having been washed off, prior to the fixings. C. W.