AGATE, among Antiquaries, denotes a stone of this kind engraven by art. In this sense, agates make a species of antique gems, in the workmanship whereof we find eminent proofs of the great skill and dexterity of the sculptors. Several agates of exquisite beauty are preserved in the cabinets of the curious; but the facts or histories represented on these antique agates, however well executed, are now become so obscure, and their explications so difficult, that several diverting mistakes and disputes have arisen among those who undertook to give their true meaning.
AGATE is also the name of an instrument used by gold-wire drawers; so called from the agate in the middle of it, which forms its principal part.