the art of laying enamel upon metals, as gold, silver, copper, &c., and of melting it at the fire, or of making divers curious works in it at a lamp. It signifies also to paint in enamel.

The method of painting in ENAMEL. This is performed on plates of gold or silver, and most commonly of copper, enamelled with the white enamel; whereon they paint with colours which are melted in the fire, where they take a brightness and lustre like that of glass. This painting is the most prized of all for its peculiar brightness and vivacity, which is very permanent, the force of its colours not being effaced or filled with time as in other paintings, and continuing always as fresh as when it came out of the workmen's hands. It is usual in miniature; it being the more difficult the larger it is, by reason of certain accidents it is liable to in the operation. Enamelling should only be practised on plates of gold, the other metals being less pure: copper, for instance, teases with the application, and yields fumes; and silver turns the yellow white. Nor must the plate be made flat; for in such case, the enamel cracks; to avoid which, they usually forge them a little round or oval, and not too thick. The plate being well and evenly forged, they usually begin the operation by laying on a couch of white enamel (as we observed above) on both sides, which prevents the metal from swelling and blistering; and this first layer serves for the ground of all the other colours. The plate being thus prepared, they begin at first by drawing out exactly the subject to be painted with red vitriol, mixed with oil of spike, marking all parts of the design very lightly with a small pencil. After this, the colours (which are to be before ground with water in a mortar of agate extremely fine, and mixed with oil of spike somewhat thick) are to be laid on, observing the mixtures and colours that agree to the different parts of the subject; for which it is necessary to understand painting in miniature. But here the workman must be very cautious of the good or bad qualities of the oil of spike he employs to mix his colours with, for it is very subject to adulterations.

Great care must likewise be taken, that the least dust imaginable come not to your colours while you are either painting or grinding them; for the least speck, when it is worked up with it, and when the work comes to be put into the reverberatory to be made red hot, will leave a hole, and so deface the work.

When the colours are all laid, the painting must be gently dried over a slow fire to evaporate the oil, and the colours afterwards melted to incorporate them with the enamel, making the plate red hot in a fire like what the enamellers use. Afterwards that part of the painting must be polished over again which the fire hath anything effaced, strengthening the shades and colours, and committing it again to the fire, observing the same method as before, which is to be repeated till the work be finished.

Method of ENAMELLING by the Lamp. Most enamelled works are wrought at the fire of a lamp, in which, instead of oil, they put melted horse-grease, which they called caballine oil. The lamp, which is of copper, or white iron, consists of two pieces; in one of which is a kind of oval plate, six inches long, and two high, in which they put the oil and the cotton. The other part, called the box, in which the lamp is inclosed, serves only to receive the oil which boils over by the force of the fire. This lamp, or, where several artists work together, two or three more lamps are placed on a table of proper height. Under the table, about the middle of its height, is a double pair of organ-bellows, which one of the workmen moves up and down with his foot to quicken the flame of the lamps, which are by this means excited to an incredible degree of vehemence. Grooves made with a gauge in the upper part of the table, and covered with parchment, convey the wind of the bellows to a pipe of glass before each lamp; and that the enamellers may not be inconvenienced with the heat of the lamp, every pipe is covered at five inches distance with a little tin plate, fixed into the table by a wooden handle. When the works do not require a long blast, Enamelling

It is incredible to what a degree of fineness and delicacy the threads of enamel may be drawn at the lamp. Those which are used in making false tufts of feathers are so fine, that they may be wound on the reel like silk or thread. The fictitious jets of all colours, used in embroideries, are also made of enamel; and that with so much art, that every small piece hath its hole to pass the thread through wherewith it is sewed. These holes are made by blowing them into long pieces; which they afterwards cut with a proper tool.

It is seldom that the Venetian or Dutch enamels are used alone: they commonly melt them in an iron ladle, with an equal part of glass or crystal; and when the two matters are in perfect fusion, they draw it out into threads of different sizes, according to the nature of the work. They take it out of the ladle while liquid, with two pieces of broken tobacco-pipes, which they extend from each other at arm's length. If the thread is required still longer, then another workman holds one end, and continues to draw it out, while the first holds the enamel to the flame. Those threads, when cold, are cut into what lengths the workman thinks fit, but commonly from 10 to 12 inches: and as they are all round, if they are required to be flat, they must be drawn through a pair of pinchers while yet hot. They have also another iron instrument in form of pinchers, to draw out the enamel by the lamp when it is to be worked and disposed in figures. Lastly, they have glass tubes of various sizes, serving to blow the enamel into various figures, and preserve the necessary vacuities therein; as also to spare the stuff, and form the contours. When the enameller is at work, he sits before the lamp with his foot on the step that moves on the bellows; and holding in his left hand the work to be enamelled, or the bras or iron wires the figures are to be formed on, he directs with his right the enamel thread, which he holds to the flame with a management and patience equally surprising. There are few things they cannot make or represent with enamel: and some figures are as well finished, as if done by the most skilful carvers.