Chap. III. SMITHERY AND IRONMONGERY.

719
short bars of the earlier periods, and used clips which were closed cold with rivets of
soft iron.
2255^. Tlie use of metal work in decoration, hoth as fixed in buildings, and in useful
movable articles, is most ancient
;
the use of hrnme is recorded extensively in Greece
and Rome. 1 he metal so used has been mostly lost to us. Except gold, this is the most
enduring metal, and is suscpptible of the finest work which the modeller can bestow upon
it, and the chaser can enlarge on it. Its tenacity, too, enables cast work to have thick
and thin places, such as cast iron, and to some extent cast brass, will not allow without
cracking. The statue of Colleoni at Venice, Ijy Verocehio, is a fine example, together
with its band of bronze ornament round the pedestal. The gates and enclosure of the
tomb of Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey should be studied for the art as well
as for their curious construction. Bronze is a metal which is beautiful if left in its own
golden tone, and in changing from this tone it never becomes ugly. It can be gilt, an I
will take various patinas, the green, brown, and black ; and when used with marble of
contrasting colours, produces eflftcts which cannot be had so well in any other way. J. S.
Gardner, Monumental Use of
Bronze, in Journals of February and March, 1888, which
describes the cire perdue process of casting.
2265i. Wrought iron has special qualities of strength, tenacity, durability, and relative
cheapness. It has lately come more and more into use. Hinges, screens, railings, grilles,
knockers, door handles, dogs, fenders, fittings for lights, fire irons.
Tlhbn. Polished iron is to be seen, but is not generally suitable for use in this
damp climate, but the fine grey polish it takes is very harmonious with rooms richly
furnished.
2255o. Steel was much used in the latter part of the 18th century; it has rather
a 'cold and severe tone, but where it can be kept clean it may bo used with excellent
eflfect.
22oo/>. For external work, black or painted wroi'ght iron must be used. The present
manufacture of iron is not favourable to durability
; the old mode of smelting by charcoal
made a finer, close and ductile iron, and less liable to rust ; and perhaps the atmosphere
in the great cities and towns is not favourable to the duration of wrought iron work.
For fine work the best iron should be used, especially when the work is intricate and needs
many welds. The French work of Louis XIV.'s time is very stately, rich, and well
balanced in design, with firm leading lines and graceful foliage and garlands. In Louis
XV.'s time the curves became bolder and looser, as in all art of that time, as in the eight
screens in the Grand Place at Nancy. In Louis XVI.'s time the work became elegant
and rather stiff. Soon after, fine ironwork died out. The German work is comparatively
clumsy, and the endless scrolls with sprays going out at strange tangents, and passing
through the scrolls in gratuitously difficult ways, the scrolls ending in flowers of the
shape of cocoons, and with antenn.-e springing from them, so as to remind one of great
insects, are not very beautiful, if clever from the ironworker's point of view. In later
times ironwork throughout Europe seems to have been greatly affected by the French
taste of the time. In England, the very noble work of Huntington Shaw, now at the
South Kensington Museum, having been removed from Hampton Court Palace, is different
from any other work, though it has its points of resemblance with French ironwork.
This and the gates and grilles in St. Paul's Cathedral are some of the best ironwork in
England. The construction is good, and the ornament is so applied as to enrich the
construction without hiding it, and to make a good composition of open and solid work,,
well contrasted and varied in the screens almost infinitely. There is a largeness of
style in these screens and in the St. Paul's ^^ork, probably impressed upon it by Sir
C. Wren. The later work at the Adelphi has a very good contrast of free and rigid
lines.
2255}. There is no reason why the men now living should not do work as good as the
old men did. 'I here is still skill, patience, and dexterity in the country, and English
work from the 12th to the 18th century can be well compared with work of other
countries, so we need not be ashamed to compare that of the 19th century. The design
must be suitable to tne material. (H. Longden.)
2255r. The chief articles furnished by the ironmongeb are for tlie joiner's use,
and, except in particular cases, are kept in store by that tradesman for immediate
supply.
2257. They consist in screws made in brass, copper and iron, whose common sizes are
from three-quarters of an inch up to 4 inches in length. They are sold by the dozen.
Self boring tvood screws, the thread being made at a particular angle, are supplied in lengths
of
i,
^.
f,
1. \\, \\, If,
2,
2i
3,
3i,
and 4 inches.
22o7<i'. Nails are now both wrought, cut, and cast, and made of iron, copper, and zinc.
They are called by a variety of names, according to their special uses. The principal are
here enumerated, Back nai's, whose shanks are flat so as to hold fast but not open the