288

JEWELLERS.

CHAP. XXVI.

greater or less degree of gold and silver, someportions of which are again used by even thesavage tribes which are in contact with them.

From this extensive spread of ornamental aswell as of useful articles, it must be obvious thatno calculation, with whatever care or research itmay have been preceded, can be of such a natureas to be more than an approximation to accuracy.The task, however, must be undertaken, and thereader be left to give that credit to the result thatshall be presented to him which in his judgmentit may merit.

As the only fields of minute investigation athand on the subject of the trade of the jewellerswere London and Birmingham , what refers tothat trade in the following pages is chiefly con-fined to those places, though they may, perhapswith justice, be extended to Liverpool, Derby,and the other towns where jewellery is fabricated.

In London the most costly articles of jewelleryare devised and completely finished by the same per-sons ; and, exclusive of the precious stones, which insome of the ornamental products are the chief costs,the greatest expenditure on them is the gold. Thatmetal is rarely used in a pure state, though insome of the more delicate parts, such as the filigreework, it is mixed with but a very small portion ofalloy. This fine gold is commonly supplied to thejewellers by the refiners, and that worked up bythem consists of the fifty-eight thousand ounces