278

GOLD-BEATERS.

CHAP. XXVI.

saved as clippings, in reducing the leaves to theproper form and extent. In beating the gold, itis by repeated operations with the hammer broughtto the required thin state; but it is in largeleaves, of an irregular shape, and these, whenreduced to the prescribed form and size, ne-cessarily leave much clippings, all of which arecarefully preserved for future application, andcontribute some addition, perhaps ten per cent.,to the gains of the manufacturer.

The account here given of the gold-beater’soperations applies more especially to the trade ascarried cn at Birmingham , where the chief leafgold is of the thinnest kind, and in which, con-sequently, the wages bear the highest proportionto the value of the gold. In London , thoughsome little leaf gold is made, chiefly for the useof painters, as low as three pounds ten shillingsthe thousand books, the greater part is of a thick-ness which makes it worth from four pounds tofour pounds ten shillings, and from that priceupwards, to as high as nine pounds. It thusappears that the proportion of the wages to thegold varies excessively; in the thinnest leavesamounting to more than two-fifths, and in thethickest, which requires less hammering, to lessthan one-tenth.

This disquisition may appear too minute, andmay, perhaps, be tiresome to the reader, but it