THE WORKSHOP 113 



upon his daughter, in that I have always taken much 

 pleasure in working and seeing things grow under my 

 hand, so I feel that the mecliauical part has come 

 much easier because of the ever-busy workshop of the 

 old home. And though I have never had occasion to 

 make an engine, or fireworks, or scientific apparatus, 

 yet the same teaching applies to the manual part of 

 every handicraft, and of some of the fine arts. And as 

 I have had to do with the fittmg-up and decorating of 

 houses and the arrangement of gardens, so I have 

 thought it a needful part of the business to have some 

 practical understanding of all the means and methods, 

 and I have never missed an opportunity of learning 

 from good workmen, especially when I have passed a 

 winter or some months in any one foreign place. The 

 most consecutive of these slight apprenticeships was 

 to a carver and gilder in Rome. An Italian who has 

 " carver and gilder " over his shop really does carve and 

 gild. The kindly 'padrone put me through a piece of 

 work from beginning to end. First, the carving of the 

 frame, then the successive coats of size and whitening, 

 and the use of certain steel tools that complete the 

 shaping of the forms and give the delicate finish. Then 

 the coats of clear-size and bole of two kinds, and the 

 floating on of the gold-leaf. For the work was water- 

 gilding, a method far more complete and elaborate than 

 oil-gilding, in that it admits of the valuable distinc- 

 tion of the bright and dull surfaces, each having its 

 distinctive preparation. 



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