A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



in the new chapell in Warwick, with Glasse beyond 

 the Seas, and with no Glasse of England ; and 

 that in the finest wise, with the best, cleanest, and 

 strongest glasse of beyond the Sea that may be had 

 in England, and of the finest colours of blew, 

 yellow, red, purpurl, sanguine, and violet, and of 

 all other colours that shall be most necessary, and 

 best to make rich and embellish the matters, 

 I mages, and stories [histories] that shall be delivered 

 and appointed by the said Executors by patterns 

 in paper, afterwards to be newly traced and pic- 

 tured by another Painter in rich colour at the 

 charges of the said Glasier. All which proportions 

 the said John Prudde must make perfectly to fine, 

 glase, eneylin it, and finely and strongly set it in 

 lead and souder, as well as any Glasse is in Eng- 

 land. Of white Glasse, green Glasse, black Glasse, 

 he shall put in as little as shall be needfull for the 

 shewing and setting forth of the matters, Images, 

 and storyes, and the said Glasier shall take charge 

 of the same Glasse, wrought and to be brought to 

 Warwick, and set up there in the windows of the 

 said Chapell ; the Executors paying to the said 

 Glasier for every foot of Glasse ijs. and so for the 

 whole xcj//. ]s. id. 



For some alterations Prudde received a 

 further payment of ' xiij/;'. vjs. i\d.' These 

 comprised some additions ' for our Lady, and 

 Scripture of the marriage of the Earle . . . 

 the same to be set forth in Glasse in most 

 fine and curious colours.' Some information 

 as to the relative cost of English and foreign 

 glass appears in ' The reporte of John Bote, 

 glassyer,' 8 which gives his charges for work 

 done in 1485 at Cold Harbour, the famous 

 London mansion fronting the Thames. The 

 prices of the various kinds of glass were : 

 Dutch, \\d. a foot ; Venice, <><!. ; Normandy, 

 6f/. ; English, \d. ; it is probable that the 

 English glass was of smaller size. 



Macpherson, 6 quoting from The Present 

 state of England, anno 1683, says, 'The fine 

 flint glass, little inferior to that of Venice, was 

 first made in the Savoy House in the Strand ; ' 

 nothing beyond this statement is known re- 

 specting this supposed manufactory. Other 

 unsuccessful attempts made in Tudor times 

 to set up the manufacture will come more 

 conveniently for notice under London. 



Another of these pioneers was one Cornelius 

 dc Lannoy who came from the Netherlands 

 towards the end of 1564 and set up a work- 

 shop in Somerset House. 7 He was subsidized 

 by the English Government, and undertook 

 to introduce improvements and instruct Eng- 

 lish workmen in the glass-makers' art as 



6 Lansd. MS. no. 59, art. 76 ; quoted by T. 

 Hudson Turner, Dam. Arckit, 78. 



' Ann. of Commerce (1805), ii, 122. 



' Denizations andNaturaRzations (Huguenot Soc.), 

 p. zlvi. 



practised in his own country. A letter from 

 Armagill Waade to Cecil 8 of 7 August 1565 

 states that Lannoy could not find suitable 

 materials in England, and that the potters 

 could not ' make one pot to content him. 

 They know not howe to seasson their stuff to 

 make the same to susteyne the force of his 

 great fyres.' He was forced to send to Ant- 

 werp ' for new provisyons of glasses, his old 

 being spent.' The English workmen made 

 no progress in learning the art, perhaps 

 through the want of the proper materials ; 

 ' all our glasse makers cannot facyon him one 

 glasse tho' he stoode by to teach them.' 

 Lannoy received 150 for 'provisyons,' 30 

 on his arrival in England, and 30 a quarter, 

 the first payment being for the quarter ending 

 25 March 1565. The queen and her council 

 were, like the heads of most other countries, 

 very desirous of promoting the glass manu- 

 facture, but Lannoy's enterprise proved unsuc- 

 cessful. He was also an alchemist, and made 

 persistent attempts to induce the queen to 

 take up his schemes for transmuting base 

 metals into gold. 9 



Among the French Protestant refugees who 

 fled from their country after the massacre of 

 St. Bartholomew in 1572 were some who 

 brought with them the art of glass-making. 

 One of these families of French glass-makers 

 named Bigoe, Bagoe, or Bagg, has been traced 

 by Hallen 10 in various parts of England and 

 Ireland. In 1623 Abraham Bigoe had a 

 glass-house at Ratcliff and another in the isle 

 of Purbeck. He was probably the founder of 

 the firm mentioned by Lysons in his account 

 of the parish of Stepney published in 1795." 

 Among the industries of the hamlet of Rat- 

 cliff he includes ' Bowles's celebrated manu- 

 facture of window glass, established by the 

 great-grandfather of the present proprietor, 

 who is said to have been the first to manufac- 

 ture crown glass in this kingdom.' Lysons 

 adds, ' it has certainly been brought to its 

 present improved state by his family.' 



The number of glass-houses in England in 

 1696 is said to have been eighty-eight, 12 but 

 how many of these were in Middlesex cannot 

 be ascertained. 



An important discovery in glass manufac- 

 ture made by Thomas Tilston, a merchant of 

 London, early in the reign of Charles II, gave 

 London glass a great reputation both here and 



8 S.P. Dom. Eliz. xxxvii, 3. 

 ' Ibid, passim. 



10 A. W. C. Hallen, French ' Gentlemen Glass- 

 makers,' in Engl. and Scot/. 8. 



11 Environs of Land, iii, 473. 



u John Honghton, Coll. for Improvement of Trade 

 and Commerce (1727), " 48. 



