CHAP. XXVI.

GOLD-BEATERS.

m

ounces anti a quarter weekly; several were con-versed with who did not use, weekly, more thanthree or four ounces, and some who worked upstill less, and that chiefly by their own family,with the help of one or two apprentices. It cannotbe very incorrect, considering that the greaternumbers engaged in this branch of trade are of aclass that scarcely earn more than the wages of agood journeyman, if we estimate the average rateof the whole ninety gold-beaters at three ouncesweekly. A corroboration of this estimate hasbeen obtained by calculating the rate of wages,and comparing it with a given quantity of gold.

The leaf gold, when finished, is placed betweenpaper, in leaves of three and three-eighth inchessquare, twenty-five of which form a book. Thesebooks are sold by the thousand, at various prices,according to the thickness of the leaves. It wasfound that eight pennyweights of gold could beconverted into a thousand books of the cheapest,that is the thinnest, kind. The cost of the gold,at eighty-seven shillings per ounce, amounted totwenty-nine shillings; the cost of the labour onit amounted to twenty-three shillings; and thethousand books thus produced were sold at twopounds fifteen shillings, thus leaving an apparentprofit of no more than three shillings to the ma-nufacturer. He derives another and, perhaps,his chief profit from the portions of gold that are