A HISTORY OF SURREY 



The greatest revolution in the manufacture 

 of glass during the seventeenth century, and 

 one of the most important in the whole his- 

 tory of the art, was the invention of flint glass, 

 or as the French call it crista/. The dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic of this glass is the 

 introduction of large quantities of lead into its 

 composition. The use of lead in glass-making 

 was not imknown to the ancients, but on a 

 review of the examples in which it is known 

 to have been used the French authority M. 

 Peligot decides that to the English is due the 

 honour of being the first inventors of the true 

 flint glass. This product, he says, by the pro- 

 gress made in the quality and selection of the 

 materials used has become the most beautiful 

 glassy substance which we know, and which 

 it may be possible to produce.* 



It will perhaps always remain in doubt at 

 what exact date the discovery of flint glass 

 was made, and to whom it is to be attributed. 

 But in all probability the invention was the 

 direct result of the substitution of coal for 

 charcoal as fuel, and the necessity, in conse- 

 quence of the greater heat, of closing the tops 

 of the pots, an expedient whose adoption we 

 have seen has been accredited to Percivall. 

 ' The material to be fused,' says Mr. Nesbitt 

 in his South Kensington Museum handbook, 

 quoting the arguments of M. Bontemps, ' is 

 thus in some degree protected from the heat, 

 and it becomes desirable to augment the pro- 

 portion of the more fusible element, viz., the 

 alkali : but this could not be done without 

 injury to the colour and quality of the glass, 

 and oxide of lead was therefore added and the 

 quantity of alkali diminished.' * 



That glass made with lead was known 

 about the year 1665 is evident from the state- 

 ment of Merret that it was not manufactured 

 in the English glasshouses on account of its 

 too great fragility. Probably the first success- 

 ful results with it were obtained at Vauxhall, 

 where under the patronage of the Duke of 

 Buckingham a number of Venetian artists 

 were established about the year 1670 for the 

 manufacture of looking glass plates. The 

 chief of these foreign artists was, we learn, a 

 man named Rossetti.^ John Evelyn visited 

 these works on 19 September 1676 and thus 

 records his visit in his diary : ' We also saw 

 the Duke of Buckingham's Glass-worke, where 

 they made huge vases of mettal as deare, 

 ponderous and thick as chrystal, also looking 

 glasses far larger and better than any that 

 come from Venice.' In The Present State of 



' Nesbitt, GAr//, 1 29, 130. 



' Ibid. 130, 131. 



' Nichols, History of Lambeth (1786), 120. 



England^ written in 1683, it is stated that flint 

 glass plates for looking glasses and coach win- 

 dows were made about 1673 at Lambeth by 

 the encouragement of the Duke of Bucking- 

 ham. 



If it was with the aid of these Venetian 

 workmen that the art of flint glass-making 

 was perfected in England, it may be remarked 

 as not a little curious that lead formed no 

 part of the composition of their own native 

 products. Perhaps however the superior skill 

 of these workmen and their greater mastery 

 of the technique of their art may have en- 

 abled them to see the possibilities of its use 

 and to supply what had been wanting to 

 crown the experiments of the English makers 

 with success. 



The Duke of Buckingham's works are said 

 to have been continued with amazing success 

 by the firm of Dawson, Bowles & Co. * 

 The story told by Malcolm that Mr. Dawson 

 discovered the secret of the manufacture of 

 plate glass from the French in the garb of a 

 day-labourer has a family resemblance to some 

 of the stories that are told in the history of 

 other arts, and may or may not be true. 

 Dawson's knowledge of the peculiar fire- 

 resisting properties of Blechingley fire-stone 

 which he used in his works is said to have 

 enabled him to produce plate glass which 

 astonished even the French. In an adver- 

 tisement of the year 1 700, printed in Nichols' 

 History of Lambeth, this manufactory is styled 

 ' the Old Glasshouse known by the name of 

 the Duke of Buckingham's house.' Its site 

 was in Vauxhall Square." It was continued 

 for more than a hundred years, and is spoken 

 of as excelling the Venetians and every other 

 nation in blown plate glass. About 1780 the 

 works came to a stop and were closed, partly 

 from a disagreement between the proprietors 

 and the workmen, partly on account of the 

 success of a rival establishment at Liverpool." 



Lambeth was not the only scene of the 

 glass-making industry in the neighbourhood of 

 London south of the Thames. In Southwark 

 it was carried on at a yet earlier period, con- 

 siderably before the time in fact when the 

 agitation against the use of wood fuel in the 

 manufacture put an end to the Wealden in- 

 dustry. Thus about 1542-3, certain foreign 

 glass-makers, living in the borough of South- 

 wark and the liberty of St. Katherine's, filed 

 a bill in the court of Star Chamber against 

 the wardens of the Glaziers' Company for in- 

 terrupting them in the manufacture 'and 



Ibid. 120. 



T. Allen, History of Lambeth, 307. 



Manning and Bray, Hist. ofSuiiey, 



468. 



302 



