210 INCREASED USE OF CHAP. XXIV. 



in twenty years. The application of gold to the 

 several' branches of the water-gilder's art felt a 

 similar increase, and the practice of gilding many 

 of the larger articles of silver plate was ex- 

 tended. The gilding in the interior of houses had 

 commenced, and absorbed much gold, though the 

 progress of that particular kind of ornament had 

 not been so great as in more recent periods. Since 

 the fabrication of porcelain in Europe has sur- 

 passed that of China both in beauty and in use, 

 the fashion of profuse gilding has been generally 

 extending among the potteries in England, as 

 well as in those of France, Prussia, Saxony, and 

 other parts of the continent. This absorbs a 

 very increasing quantity of fine gold, which is 

 lost when the pieces they ornament are broken. 



The most rapid increase in the application of 

 gold during the reign of George III., and that 

 which absorbed a greater portion of the metal 

 than all the other modes of consumption, was the 

 manufacture of trinkets and jewellery. Broaches, 

 clasps, lockets, bracelets, breast-pins, necklaces, 

 chains, earrings, and a thousand nameless orna- 

 ments which the London jewellers and goldsmiths 

 had formerly produced, were imitated at Birming- 

 ham, and reduced so much in price as to come 

 within the reach of a much more numerous class 

 than had before indulged in the use of them. 

 It is true the gold was of a lower fineness, 

 much of it consisting of scarcely one half of that 



