134 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1913 



indebted to Venice 

 for many of her 

 workmen, although 

 Sir Robert Russell 

 procured workmen 

 from the same place 

 who were of inferior 

 worth. A space of 

 half a century elapsed 

 before the English 

 manufacture equalled 

 the Venetian or the 

 French. 



In the year 1670, 

 the Duke of Bucking- 

 ham became the 

 patron of the art in 

 England and greatly 

 improved the quality 

 and style of flint 

 glass, by procuring at 

 great personal ex- 



Early English wine-glass, tumbler, and decanters. Atkinson collection 



pense, a number of Venetian artists, whom he persuaded to 

 settle in London. From the commencement of the eighteenth 

 century the English glass manufacturers, aided by the lib- 

 eral bounty that was paid to them on all glass exported by 

 them or sold for exportation, became successful rivals of 

 the Venetian and French factories. The clear bounty granted 

 on each pound of glass exported from England, which the 

 Government paid to the manufacturer, was not derived 

 from any tax by impost or excise previously laid, for all 

 such were returned to the manufacturer, together with the 

 bounty referred to, thereby 

 lessening the actual cost of 

 the manufacture from twen- 

 ty-five to fifty per cent. 

 This enabled the English 

 exporters to drive off all 

 competitors in the foreign 

 market. 



This bounty provision was 

 annulled during the Premier- 

 ship of Sir Robert Peel, to- 

 gether with all the excise 

 duties on the home consump- 

 tion. The first plate glass 

 was manufactured at Lam- 

 beth in 1673, under a royal 

 charter, but no great prog- 

 ress was made at that time 

 and the works were limited. 

 One hundred years later a 

 company was formed, also 

 under a royal charter, for 

 the making of glass, their 

 works being at Ravenshead, 

 in Lancashire. The works 

 have been very successfully 

 continued, and according to 

 a later writer were rivalled 

 by none except those at St. 

 Gobain in France. The 

 manufacture increased to a 

 wonderful extent, the quan- 

 tity used in the construction 

 of the Crystal Palace for the 

 World's Fair being probably 

 many times larger than that 

 manufactured twenty years 

 before in the Kingdom of 



Great Britain for one 

 year. 



There was a queer 

 idea that was for a 

 long time prevalent 

 with the people. This 

 was that glass drink- 

 ing vessels made un- 

 der certain astron- 

 omical influences 

 would certainly fly to 

 pieces if any poison- 

 ous liquid was placed 

 in it. Vessels of this 

 kind sold for enorm- 

 ous prices. A sec- 

 ond belief was, that 

 vessels of a certain 

 form that were made 

 in a peculiar state of 

 atmosphere and after 

 midnight, would al- 



English liquor case. Atkinson collection 



low a pure diamond to pass directly through the bottom of 

 the vessel. Various articles, such as colored goblets, were 

 thought to add to the flavor of wine, and to detract mate- 

 rially from its intoxicating influence. All these popular 

 notions added greatly to the mystery and renown of glass 

 manufacturers. 



There is no substance more beautiful than glass, for it 

 has, when properly treated, the brilliancy of a diamond or 

 the warm coloring of any of the richest gems, resembling 

 them so closely that only an expert can tell the difference 



between the two. Then, too, 

 it has properties which are 

 peculiarly its own. It is 

 transparent in itself, al- 

 though the substances from 

 which it is made are far from 

 being so. Glass, unlike many 

 substances, is not subject to 

 heat or cold, and therefore 

 is adapted to many uses, and 

 its field of usefulness is con- 

 stantly increasing. 



To-day it has reached a 

 state of comparative perfec- 

 tion, although even now it is 

 subject to constant improve- 

 ment, and research is being 

 made to throw light upon its 

 discovery and the progress of 

 the art in the ages past. 

 Many writers claim that its 

 invention dated earlier than 

 the Flood. 



The eighteenth century 

 English glass shows some 

 wonderfully fine examples, 

 among which are old ale 

 glasses and glass spoons with 

 handles showing colored 

 twists. The old drawn glass 

 dates back to the middle of 

 the eighteenth century, and 

 was used by these old folk on 

 Good Friday. On that day 

 the services were so long and 

 of such an exhausting nature 

 that every member of the 

 family was allowed to drink 



