308 GOLD AND SILVER 



CHAP. xr. 



at an expense of time and labour which exceeds 

 their value. 



In some of the ancient chronicles, notices are 

 to be found which would give a higher value to 

 the stock of silver ancfgold in the possession of 

 some individuals than appears to be justified by 

 a more rigid examination. In the gold, silver, 

 and jewels, taken from Piers Gaveston, the fa- 

 vourite of Edward II., it is said by Rymer, 

 that some of the silver articles in his collection 

 had cost four times the value of the metal in 

 workmanship. The workmen on the precious 

 metals, except, perhaps, on the inferior parts of 

 the work, were not mere mechanics, but men of 

 a superior order, like artists, such as Cellini in 

 Italy at a later period. Among the operators on 

 gold and silver in England, we find several 

 ecclesiastics noticed, especially one Alan de Wal- 

 singham *, a monk of Ely, who as well as others 

 of his class were celebrated for their superior 

 skill in the goldsmith's art. Whilst the fabrica- 

 tion of any articles is confined to artists, they 

 must necessarily be rare; and when they become 

 subjects of extensive demand and use, the labour 

 will be executed by common mechanics or ma- 

 nufacturers. In that now usual appendage to 

 the dress of almost every decent person, the 



1 Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. cap. 20. 



