_Cameras._--At one of the earliest meetings of the Photographic Society, I suggested the use of papier maché as a material for the construction of cameras, as possessing _nearly_ all the requisite qualities; but there is one serious objection to its application to this purpose, its _brittleness_, as a smart blow is apt to snap it like a biscuit. I think, however, upon the whole, that if a peculiar kind of _Honduras_ mahogany, such as is used for coach panels, is adopted, the possessor would never desire a change. It should be as plain as a piece of deal, without the slightest beauty of grain, which is positive detriment to a camera, from the accompanying liability to warping. GEO. SHADBOLT. * * * * * Replies to Minor Queries. _Shakspeare Portrait_ (Vol. viii., p. 438.).--J. S. Smith, in his _Nollekins and his Times_ (vol. i. p. 26.), has a passage referring to the portrait mentioned by your correspondent: "Clarkson, the portrait painter, was originally a coach-panel and sign painter; and he executed that most elaborate one of Shakspeare, which formerly hung across the street at the north-east corner of Little Russell Street, in Drury Lane. The late Mr. Thomas Grignon informed me, that he had often heard his father say, that this sign cost _five hundred pounds!_ In my boyish days it was for many years exposed for sale for a very trifling sum, at a broker's shop in Lower Brook Street, Grosvenor Square. The late Mr. Crace, of Great Queen Street, assured me that it was in his early days a thing that country people would stand and gaze at, and that that corner of the street was hardly passable." Edwards, in his _Anecdotes of Painters_ (p. 117.), assigns the portrait to a different painter, Samuel Wale, R.A. His account, however, being more minute than Smith's, is worth transcribing: "Mr. Wale painted some signs; the principal one was a whole-length of Shakspeare, about five feet high, which was executed for, and displayed before the door of a public-house, the north-west corner of Little Russell Street, in Drury Lane. It was enclosed in a most sumptuous carved gilt frame, and suspended by rich iron work; but this splendid object of attraction did not hang long before it was taken down, in consequence of the act of parliament which passed for paving, and also for removing the signs and other obstructions in the streets of London. Such was the total change of fashion, and the consequent disuse of signs, that the above representation of our great dramatic poet was sold for a trifle to Mason the broker, in Lower Grosvenor Street; where it stood at his door for several years, until it was totally destroyed by the weather and other accidents." EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.