58 



Wentworth lost no time in making an ex- 

 periment of the silvering operation. My uncle 

 furnished him with tin foil and quicksilver ; my 

 aunt supplied paper, and a small rubber of cloth 

 instead of the hare's foot; and we all assisted. 

 There was a little bungling at first, but after a 

 few trials we succeeded in making a scrap of 

 looking-glass, which Wentworth intends to frame 

 for Grace's doll. 



" As glass was comparatively a late invention, 

 uncle, what were the looking-glasses which are 

 mentioned in Scripture?" 



" The word/' said my uncle, IC should have been 

 translated mirrors ; they were formerly made of 

 brass, or of a mixture of brass and silver, which 

 takes a very high polish ; and this inadvertence 

 of the English translators is the more singular, 

 because the context removes every difficulty. 

 In the passage of Exodus*, to which you refer, 

 the laver is described to be made ( of brass of 

 the looking-glasses. 5 Glass could not possibly 

 have been converted into brass ; but if the Word 

 be rendered by mirrors, the sense would be 

 complete ; that is, the laver and the foot of it 

 were made of brazen mirrors. 



te In Turkey, the common domestic mirrors at 

 this day are made of brass ; but I have heard 

 that in Persia they are sometimes made of steel, 

 and slightly convex. The metallic mirror, or 



* Chap, xxxviii, 8. 



