GLASS.— History.

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these masses melting with the heat, transformed intoglass the sand on which they rested. Consideringthe temperature necessary for the making of glass,this story may be rejected as fabulous. Chance haddoubtless its share in the invention of glass; but thepottery manufacture and the extraction of metalsrequire the employment of high and sustained tem-peratures, sufficient to give rise to fusible silicates,more or less analogous to glass. It is a point, how-ever, on w’hich there can be no doubt, that glasswas known to the Phoenicians , who for a long timeretained the monopoly of it, being favoured by theunion of natron, sand, and fuel, in a country situ-ated on the shores of the sea.

There are several references to glass in the Bible .Ballanty’NE remarks that the Hebrews must havebecome acquainted with glass while in Egypt , andin consequence of their proximity to the Phoenicians ;and it is now generally believed that these twonations had the merit of originating and establishingits manufacture. It is a remarkable circumstancethat glass lenses have been found during the recentresearches in the ruins of Nineveh . The Egyptiansare known to have made enamels of divers hueswhich they applied on pottery, magnificent speci-mens of which are still extant, and are called Egyp-tian porcelain. These are chiefly covered with abeautiful blue or green tinge, and groups of flowersor other designs are traced in black. Glass beadsand other ornaments, skilfully manufactured andbeautifully tinged, have been found with mummiesknown to be upwards of three thousand years old.It is certain that Tyre, Sidon , and Alexandria werelong celebrated for their glass. To these places theart was exclusively confined for some centuries, andglass was used as an article of luxury, being chieflyin the form of urns or drinking cups of the mostelaborate workmanship, and exquisitely embellishedwith raised, chased, or ornamented figures. TheBarberini or Portland vase, composed of a deepazure glass, with figures of a delicate white opaquesubstance raised in relief, is a splendid specimenwhich, was found in the tomb of Alexander Severus .

Sir J. G. Wilkinson adduces distinct proofs thatthe art of glass-working was known in Egypt beforethe exodus of the children of Israel from that land,three thousand five hundred years ago. At BeniIlassan and the Thebes are paintings representing,in a very rude form, glass-blowers at work; and fromthe hieroglyphics accompanying them, it is foundthat they were executed in the reign of a monarchwho occupied the throne at about that period.

In the reign of Tiberius a company of glass manu-facturers established themselves in Home, and theyhad a street assigned them near the Porta Capena .The articles of their manufacture were few in num-ber and of inferior quality; neither did they makerapid improvements in their art, notwithstanding thelarge prices which were then given for glass of foreignmanufacture in the imperial city. In the year 2 20they had increased so much in importance, and theproduct was so considerable, that an impost was laidon it by Alexander Severus .

The precise period at which the making of window-glass was introduced is not known. Homan windowswere filled with a semi-transparent substance calledlapis specularis, a fossil of the class of talcs, whichreadily splits into thin smooth laminae or plates.This substance is found in masses of 10 or 12 inchesin breadth, and 3 in thickness; and when slicedvery much resembles horn, instead of which it is tothis day often employed by lantern-makers. TheRomans were chiefly supplied with this article fromthe island of Cyprus , where it abounds. So good asubstitute for glass it is said to have been, that besidesbeing employed for the admission of light, it wasalso used in the construction of hothouses, for raisingand protecting delicate plants; so that by using itthe Emperor Tiberius had cucumbers at his tablethroughout the whole year.

There is no positive mention of the use of glassfor windows before the time of Lactantius , at theclose of the third century. But the passage in thatwriter which records the fact, also shows that thelapis specularis still retained its place. Recent discov-eries have, however, been made of glazed windows inPompeii (destroyed a.d. 79). Glass windows aredistinctly mentioned by Jerome as being in use inhis time. A century later the windows of thechurch of St. SoriiiA at Constantinople are repre-sented, by Paulus Silentiarius , as being filled withglass. After this period frequent mention is madeof them. Joannes Phillipinus states that glass wasfastened into the windows with plaster.

Bed'e asserts that glass windows were first intro-duced into England in the year 674, by the AbbotBenedict, who brought over artificers skilled in theart of making window-glass, to glaze the churchand monastery of Wearmouth. Other authoritiesattribute the introduction of this luxury to BishopWilfred, junior, who died in 711. It would thusappear that glass windows were first seen in Eng-land either about the seventh or the beginning of theeighth century. The use of window-glass, however,was then, and for many centuries afterwards, con-fined entirely to buildings appropriated to religiouspurposes; in the fourteenth century it was somuch in demand, though still confined to sacrededifices and ornamental purposes, that glazing hadbecome a regular trade. This appears from a con-tract entered into by the authorities of York Cathe-dral in 1338, with a glazier, to glaze the westwindows of that structure; a piece of work whichhe undertook to perform at the rate of sixpence perfoot for white glass, and one shilling per foot forcoloured. Glass windows, however, did not becomecommon in England till the close of the twelfth cen-tury. Until this period they were rarely to be foundin private houses, and were deemed a great luxury,and a token of great magnificence. The windows ofthe houses were, till then, filled with oiled paper orwooden lattices. In cathedrals these, and sheets oflinen, supplied the place of glass till the eighth cen-tury ; in meaner edifices lattices continued in usetill the eighteenth.

The glass of the Venetians was superior to any