Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/446

 364 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.ix. NOV. 5,1021. aid to drawing silhouettes before the inven- tion of photography. Peckitt probably owed much of his remarkable skill in the manufacture of coloured verifiable enamels to Dr. Wall of Worcester, the founder, about the year 1751, of what are now known as the Royal Porcelain Works, for Dr. Wall, who was an amateur artist, had worked with Peckitt on windows which they carried out together, the one as designer and the other as executant. Wall painted on porcelain ; a specimen of work of this kind which may safely be attributed to his hand is in the Dyson-Perrins collection. Peckitt at the same time was working along similar lines in the production of glass enamels, and there can be little doubt that these two artists and experimental chemists worked in close conjunction with one another. Peckitt evidently studied chemistry, for amongst his books he mentions ' The New- man Book of Chemistry ' and ' 4 small books of Chemistry.' Other books in- cluded the ' History of London,' 1 1 books of ancient history and " eight universal Hystories," the History of Europe, a book of engraved ornaments, four books on Peerage, Guillim's ' Heraldry ' and seven dictionaries. Besides his investigations into the pro- duction of coloured enamels, Peckitt also experimented with success in the manufac- ture of coloured glasses, then practically a lost art. In his windows at New College is a range of tints both in enamels and glass such as had never previously been produced, showing that his chemical studies were progressively and extensively pursued. He also did glass-cutting and engraving on the wheel, an example of his work in this direction a glass goblet engraved with the name '* William Peckitt " on it was offered for sale in York some few years ago. After his death, Mrs. Peckitt, in advertising examples of her late husband's glass -paint- ings for sale, announced that the collection also included specimens of the " Royal Patent Engraved Glass" (York Chronicle, July 7, 1796). For this Peckitt on Nov. 20, 1780, had taken out Patent No. 1268, de- scribing it as "a new method of composing stained glass, of whatever colour, with un- stained glass, whether crown, flint, or any other sort, and making the same into tables [i.e. sheets], thick vessels and ornaments, and of producing thereby many curious works which he conceives will be of great utility." The invention consisted in coating white glass with a layer of_a different colour, ornamental patterns being produced by cutting through the coloured layer to the white ground beneath. It had nothing to do with transferring engravings and staining them on glass as Dallaway erroneously states. Winston, in his ' Hints on Glass-Paint- ing,' p. 25, remarks that the latest example of ruby glass with which he was acquainted occurred in Peckitt' s Lincoln Cathedral window. This was, however, one of the artist's comparatively early works, and later his reds were produced by silver stain on kelp, ruby glass not being re-invented until 1826 by Bontemps. Examples of Peckitt's coloured glass either made by him, or more probably by others from his recipes, are to be seen in the kaleidoscope pattern glazing which he inserted in windows in the minster and parish churches of York. These tints, which are very streaky and which have been made in small circular or " crown " sheets, include a large range of dif- ferent colours, amongst which are opalescent and streaky ruby. These glasses were prob- ably nothing more than experiments and too streaky for use in anything but pattern glazing. The coloured glass he used in his figure windows Peckitt probably ob- tained from Stourbridge, for Dr. Pococke, in his ' Travels Through England,' tells us that on June 8, 1751 (in which year Peckitt was but twenty years of age), he " came to Stourbridge, famous for its glass- manufactures . . . glass coloured in liquid (melted) of all the capital colours in their several shades, and, if I mistake not, is a secret which they have here."* Peckitt also introduced a new method, or what he evidently considered was a new method, of firing glass by means of coal fuel instead of wood or charcoal, and this he evidently guarded as a secret which he communicated to those willing to pay for it. It is difficult to understand wherein the novelty lies, as pit coals for firing enamels and glass are mentioned in ' The Handmaid to the Arts,' a second edition of which was published in 1764. Peckitt's improvement seems to have consisted in the use of Hagemoorf coals. This secret process Peckitt issued in a somewhat novel Mr. Harry J. Powell, late of the Whitefriars Glass Works, for drawing his attention to this passage, which previously was unknown to him. t Newnes's ' Citizen's Atlas and Gazetteer,' by Bartholomew, does not give any place of name. ..- this !
 * The writer is indebted to the kindness of