the surface of the tallow. To prevent the tallow 
in the dipping-mould from freezing, or becoming 
less liquid than the process requires, it is usual, 
in some manufactories, to place a chafing-dish 
below the dipping-mould, for the purpose of 
keeping the tallow at the proper temperature. 
When the tallow is kept very hot in the adjoin- 
ing boiler, and when the process of dipping pro- 
ceeds with such rapidity as to occasion a con- 
stant renewal of the tallow in the dipping-mould, 
it will be found that a chafing-dish is quite un- 
necessary, except in very cold weather. At each 
supply, however, of new tallow, the workman 
ought to be careful to remove from the sides of 
. the vessel whatever may have hardened in the 
interval. ‘Things being thus arranged, the work- 
man, according to the first plan of dipping, takes 
into his hands three sticks or broaches, on which 
have previously been suspended a certain num- 
ber of wicks corresponding to the size of the can- 
| dles intended to be made; and, keeping them at 
an equal distance from each other by means of 
his second and third fingers, he immerses the 
wicks two or three times in the liquid tallow, 
and then hangs the rods upon a rack to cool. 
|The same operation is repeated several times, 
till the candles acquire the proper thickness. 
With the view of facilitating the process of dip- 
ping, and in order to diminish the fatigue of the 
workmen, various contrivances are in use, on the 
description of which we need not here enter. 
We shall next describe the process of mowlding, 
which, if possible, is even less complicated in its 
details than that of dipping. The moulds are 
made of some metallic substance—usually pewter 
—and consist of two parts. The shaft, or great 
body of the mould, is a hollow cylinder, finely 
polished in the inside, and open at both extrem- 
ities. The top of the mould is a small metallic 
cup, having a moulding within side, and a hole 
to admit the wick. The two parts are soldered 
together; and when united have the shape of a 
moulded candle. A third piece, called the foot, 
is sometimes added: it is a kind of small funnel, 
through which the liquid tallow runs into the 
mould, and being screwed to the opposite ex- 
tremity of the shaft, is removable at pleasure. 
Twelve or sixteen of these moulds, according to 
their size, are fixed in a frame, which bears a great 
resemblance to a wooden stool, the upper surface 
of which forms a kind of trough. The top of 
the moulds points downwards; and the other 
extremity, which is open, is inserted into the 
bottom of the trough or top of the stool, and 
made quite level with its upper surface. In 
order to introduce the wicks into the mould, the 
workman lays the frame upon its side on an 
adjoining table, and holding in his left hand a 
quantity of wicks, previously cut to the proper 
length, introduces into the mould a long wire 
with a hooked point. As soon ag the hook of 
the wire appears through the hole in the top of 
the mould, he attaches to it the looped end of 
CANDLE. 
669 
the wick, and immediately drawing back the 
wire, carries the wick along with it. In this 
manner each mould in succession is furnished 
with a wick. Another workman follows, and 
passes a small wire through the loop of each 
wick. This wire is intended to keep the wick 
stretched, and to prevent it from falling back 
into the mould upon the frame being placed in 
the proper position for filling. The frame is now 
handed to the person that fills the moulds, who 
previously arranges the small wires in such a 
manner that each wick may be exactly in the 
middle of the mould. The moulds are filled by 
running tallow into the trough from a cistern 
furnished with a cock, and which is regularly 
supplied with tallow of the proper temperature 
from an adjoining boiler. When the workman 
observes that the moulds are nearly half-filled, 
he turns the cock, and laying hold of that por- 
tion of the wick which hangs out of the mould, 
pulls it tight, and thus prevents any curling of 
the wick which might injure the candles. He 
then opens the cock, and completes the process 
of filling. The frame is now set aside to cool; 
and when the tallow has acquired a proper con- | 
sistence—which the workman easily discovers 
by a snapping noise emitted by the candles upon 
pressing his thumb against the bottom of the 
moulds—he first withdraws the small wires which 
kept the wicks tense, and then scraping off the 
loose tallow from the top of the frame with a 
small wooden spade, he introduces a bodkin 
into the loop of the wick, and thus draws each 
candle in succession from its mould. The can- 
dles are now laid upon a table for the inspection 
of the exciseman, and afterwards removed to 
the storehouse. Previous to storing them up, 
some candlemakers bleach their candles, by ex- 
posing them to the air and dews for several days. 
This additional labour can be necessary only 
when the dealer is obliged to have early sales ; 
for if the candles are kept for some months—as 
they ought to be, before they are brought to 
market—they become sufficiently whitened by 
age. 
Besides the common dipped and moulded can- 
dles, a kind of candle intended to burn during 
the night without being snuffed, is also made of 
tallow. These candles are usually called rush- 
lights, from the wick being made of split rushes. 
Wax candles—Next to tallow, the substance 
most employed in the manufacture of candles is 
wax. Wax candles are made either by the hand 
or with a ladle. In the former case, the wax being 
kept soft in hot water, is applied bit by bit to 
the wick, which is hung from a hook in the wall ; 
in the latter, the wicks are hung round an iron 
circle, placed immediately over a large copper 
tinned bason full of melted wax, which is poured 
upon their tops, one after another, by means of 
a large ladle. When the candles have, by either 
process, acquired the proper size, they are taken 
from the hooks and rolled upon a table, usually 
