126 S Y L V A BOOK in 



when dry, superinduce what colour you please ; and 

 this is prettily imitated with several talkes. 



This being the first time that so rare a secret has 

 been imparted (and which since the first publication 

 of it, has been so successfully improv'd amongst our 

 cabinet-makers here in London) the reader will believe 

 that I envy him nothing which may be of use to the 

 publick : And tho' many years since we were master 

 of this curiosity, Athanasius Kircher has set down a 

 process in his late China Illustrata pretty faithfully ; 

 yet, besides that it only speaks Latin (such as 'tis) it 

 is nothing so perfect as ours. Howbeit, there we 

 learn, that the most opulent Province of Chekiang is 

 for nothing more celebrated, than the excellent paper 

 which it produces, and the gum call'd cie (extilling 

 from certain trees) with which they compose their 

 famous vernish, so universally valu'd over the world, 

 because it is found above all other inventions of that 

 nature, to preserve and beautifie wood above any thing 

 which has hitherto been detected : And it has accord- 

 ingly so generally obtain 'd with them, that they have 

 whole rooms and ample chambers wainscotted there- 

 with, and divers of their most precious furniture ; 

 as cabinets, tables, stools, beds, dishes, skreens, staves, 

 frames, pots, and other utensils : But long it was e'er 

 we could for all this, approach it in Europe to any 

 purpose, till F. Eustachius Imart, an Augustine-monk, 

 obtained the secret, and oblig'd us with it. 



And now after all, this vernish is said to be improv'd 

 by a later receipt sent from the China missionaries 

 to the Great Duke of Tuscany, and communicated by 

 Dr. Sherards and described in the Philosophical trans- 

 actions^ num. 262. to which I refer the curious both 

 for the materials, colours, composition and working. 



