104: ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVEKY. 



the reader who has tried to penetrate the secret, after puzzling his brain to no 

 purpose, has given it up in despair. We shall take the liberty to make some 

 revelations on the subject which will clear up the enigma; and in order to do 

 it effectually, we shall introduce our friends to the atelier of Mr. David Daub- 

 ham, who at present holds a large share of the country trade in his hands. 



"Mr. Daubham's place of business is in Leather Lane, where, however, he is 

 under no necessity of making any demonstration, and does not make any. 

 His atelier is a roomy brick -chamber in the backward, lighted from one whole 

 side. Upon entering, we find Mr. Daubham engaged in a warm discussion 

 with a glassdealer upon a question of sixpence in the gross of ' eleven-four- 

 teens.' Pending the settlement of the debate, we look round amid an odor of 

 oil and strong varnish almost too much for our olfactories. A couple of girls 

 and four or five lads are busy in the prosecution of their work. Before we 

 have watched the several processes for five minutes, the whole art and mystery 

 is as patent to us as it can be to Mr. Daubham himself. The glass being first 

 cleaned, an operation in which extra carefulness does not appear to be neces- 

 sary, the surface which is to receive the picture is rubbed completely over 

 with a preparation of turpentine varnish. Upon this, as it dries rapidly 

 an impression from the engraved plate is laid, and rubbed firmly upon the glass 

 with the palm. It is then left to dry till a batch of a hundred or so is done. 

 The paper upon which the impression is taken is the flimsiest material that can 

 be used, and is rubbed off by a momentary application of the sponge, leaving 

 every line and touch of the print adhering to the varnish. But the varnish 

 has not only fastened the ink of the print to the glass, it has also primed the 

 glass for the reception of the colors. In this state, the squares of glass are 

 stuck up on a kind of scaffolding which may he called the easel, with their 

 faces to the light. The easel will hold a score of them at a time. Then each 

 of the lads seizes a pot of color and a brush, and sets to work at their rear. 

 One covers all the faces and hands with flesh color; another daubs on tbe 

 greens ; a third does browns and so on, till all the tints are daubed on and the 

 glass is covered. The whole twenty do not take twenty minutes in the coloring, 

 unless the tints are more numerous than they usually are. It seems unaccounta- 

 ble that any pleasing effect should be produced by such a process ; but in fact, as 

 the engraving supplies all the shading, the effect is not bad, considering all things ; 

 and there is no reason why really excellent pictures should not be produced by 

 a similar process, if it were thought worth while to improve it by cautious 

 experiment though it would be impossible to paint even a decent sky in such 

 a way. Hasty and careless as the work appears, it will be easily conceived 

 that a certain amount of dexterity is necessary in laying on the colors within 

 the prescribed outline ; and it must be done quickly, lest the varnish be dis- 

 turbed, in which case the colors would not adhere. 



"The pictures thus finished have only to be framed in order to be ready for 

 market. Mr. Daubham contracts for his frames with a firm in the neighbor- 

 hood, and finds that lie has as much as he can do himself in putting the pic- 

 tures into them a job he does not choose to trust to his "hands," who would 

 break too many. The frames are of two kinds wood, and shining lackered 

 metal pressed into a sort of flowery pattern by a die. The far greater proper- 



