Page:Repository of Arts, Series 1, Volume 01, 1809, January-June.djvu/413

Rh after we had closed the scuttles, he resumed his employment, and saw to work without any difficulty. I had only fixed one of your illuminators in each ship. The sailors are particularly pleased, and I heard them declare, they would sails for less wages in a ship that had your lights fixed, than in a ship without them.

I am certain, when their value will become known, that every ship, particularly small ships, will not go without them; they greatly add to the comforts of a common sailor, who, in bad weather, when the hatches are obliged to be closed, is not at a loss to find his clothes, he can be upon deck immediately, and would be the means of saving sails that were in the act of splitting, for want of immediate assistance; and may I not add, that crew, ship, and cargo, might be saved by having immediate help in a sudden squall?

I am ever willing to bear testimony to any improvement that proves useful to a ship, and tends, in any way, to add to the comforts of the seamen; and I feel myself, in justice to your invention, bound to write you this account.

I am, Gentlemen, &. &c.

No. 7, Great St. Thomas Apostle, Aug. 25, 1807.

The Rodney, Captain Curtis, arrived at Baltimore in June, 1808, from Liverpool, after a passage of 78 days, 20 of which the crew were on short allowance; and had it not been for the patent illuminators, which were fixed in various parts of the deck, enabling them to see between decks to mend their sails, during the violent storm they experienced, must inevitably have perished, having no sail to carry them to their destined port; and the safety of the ship and crew were wholly attributed to the patent glass illuminators, which gave them ample light below, and completely resisted the force of the sea. This circumstance excited the curiosity of hundreds of people, who, it may be said, literally flocked on board the Rodney to view the effects and utility of the illuminator. Every ship-owner and master in those parts, is anxious to obtain them.

The patentees have also the approbation of the Hon. Captain Blackwood, R. N. Captain Pickford, R. N. and, in short, every other naval officer who has seen their invention applied; and when its advantages are considered, we cannot doubt that it will prove beneficial to themselves in the same proportion as it adds to the comfort of others. 

FASHIONABLE FURNITURE.

frame of this piece of furniture is of mahogany, the ornaments executed in metal gilt; the cushion, bolsters, and ends, are covered with white satin; the outsides of the ends in blue, to suit the drapery suspended over the couch, having ornaments in gold-coloured velvet placed on them: a gold-coloured silk fringe is fixed on the scrolls. Over the couch is suspended a canopy, composed of ornamented gold moldings, a Vitrurian scroll occupying the frieze. The whole of these are carved in wood, and gilt, after the manner of or moulu, the ground being of blue velvet. A dome, composed of bold quilling, and covered with blue satin, surmounted with a coronet, carved and gilt, terminates the whole.

The furniture is of blue satin, lined with white lute-string, and should be trimmed with a narrow gold edging. A deep valance, after the Grecian taste, of blue velvet, bordered with gold-coloured velvet and ornaments, with a French fringe and tassels, completes this costly article, which should always be placed No. V. Vol. I. Xx