CHAP. IV SYLVA 123 35. We conclude all with that incomparable secret of the Japon of China-vernishes, which has hitherto been reserved so choicely among the virtuosi ; with which I shall suppose to have abundantly gratified the most curious employers of the finer woods. Take a pint of spirit of wine exquisitely de- phlegm'd, four ounces of gum-lacq, which thus cleanse: Break it first from the sticks and rubbish, and roughly contusing it in a morter, put it to steep in fountain- water, ty'd up in a bag of course linnen, together with a very small morsel of the best Castile-sope, for 12 hours ; then rub out all the tincture from it, to which add a little alum, and reserve it apart : The gum-lacq remaining in the bag, with one ouhce of sandrac (some add as much mastic and white-amber) 124 SYLVA BOOK III dissolve in a large matras (well stopp'd) with the spirit of wine by a two days digestion, frequently agitating it, that it adhere not to the glass : Then strain and press it forth into a lesser vessel : Some after the first infusion upon the ashes, after twenty four hours, augment the heat, and transfer the matras to the sand-bath, till the liquor begins to simper ; and when the upper part of the matras grows a little hot, and that the gum-lacq is melted, which by that time (if the operation be heeded) commonly it is, strain it through a linnen-cloth, and press it 'twixt two sticks into the glass, to be kept for use, which it will eternal- ly be, if well stopp'd. The Application. The wood which you would vernish, should be very clean, smooth, and without the least freckle or flaw ; and in case there be any, stop them with a paste made of gum tragacanth, incorporated with what colour you design : Then cover it with a layer of vernish purely, till it be sufficiently drench'd with it : Then take seven times the quantity of the vernish, as you do of colour, and bruise it in a small earthen- dish glaz'd, with a piece of hard wood, till they are well mingled : Apply this with a very fine and full pencil ; a quarter of an hour after do it over again, even to three times successively ; and if every time it be permitted to dry, before you put on the next, 'twill prove the better : Within two hours after these four layers (or sooner if you please) polish it with presle (which our cabinet-makers call, as I think, Dutch-reeds) wet, or dry ; nor much imports it, tho' in doing this, you should chance to discover any of CHAP. IV SYLVA 125 the wood ; since you are to pass it over four or five times, as above ; and if it be not yet smooth enough, presle it again with the reeds, but now very tenderly: Then rub it sufficiently with tripoly, and a little oyl- olive, or water : Lastly, cover it once or twice again with your vernish, and two days after, polish it as before with tripoly, and a piece of hatters felt. The Colours. To make it of a fair red, take Spanish vermilion, with a quarter part of Venice lack. For black, ivory calcin'd (as chymists speak) 'twixt two well luted crucibles, which being ground in water, with the best and greenest copperas, and so let dry, reserve. For blue, take ultra-marine, and only twice as much vernish as of colour. The rest are to be applied like the red, except it be the green, which is hard to make fair and vivid, and therefore seldom used. Note, the right Japon is done with three or four layers of vernish with the colours ; then two of pure vernish uncolour'd (which is made by the former process, without the sandrac which is only mingled and used for reds) which must be done with a swift and even stroke, that it may not dry before the aventurin be sifted on it ; and then you are to cover it with so many layers of pure vernish, as will render it like polished glass. Last of all furbish it with tripoly, oyl, and the felt, as before directed. Note, By 'venturine is meant the most delicate and slender golden-wyre, such as embroiderers use, reduc'd to a kind of powder, as small as you can file or clip it : This strewed upon the first layer of pure vernish, 126 SYLVA BOOK III when dry, superinduce what colour you please ; and this is prettily imitated with several talkes. This being the first time that so rare a secret has been imparted (and which since the first publication of it, has been so successfully improv'd amongst our cabinet-makers here in London) the reader will believe that I envy him nothing which may be of use to the publick : And tho' many years since we were master of this curiosity, Athanasius Kircher has set down a process in his late China Illustrata pretty faithfully ; yet, besides that it only speaks Latin (such as 'tis) it is nothing so perfect as ours. Howbeit, there we learn, that the most opulent Province of Chekiang is for nothing more celebrated, than the excellent paper which it produces, and the gum call'd cie (extilling from certain trees) with which they compose their famous vernish, so universally valu'd over the world, because it is found above all other inventions of that nature, to preserve and beautifie wood above any thing which has hitherto been detected : And it has accord- ingly so generally obtained with them, that they have whole rooms and ample chambers wainscotted there- with, and divers of their most precious furniture ; as cabinets, tables, stools, beds, dishes, skreens, staves, frames, pots, and other utensils : But long it was e'er we could for all this, approach it in Europe to any purpose, till F. Eustachius Imart, an Augustine-monk, obtained the secret, and oblig'd us with it. And now after all, this vernish is said to be improved by a later receipt sent from the China missionaries to the Great Duke of Tuscany, and communicated by Dr. Sherards and described in the Philosophical Trans- actions, num. 262. to which I refer the curious both for the materials, colours, composition and working. CHAP. IV SYLVA 127 I know not whether it may be any service to speak here of coloured woods, I mean such as are naturally so, because besides the berbery for yellow, holly for white, and plum-tree with quick-lime and urine, for red, we have very few : Our inlayers use fustic, locust, or acacia ; Brasile, prince and rose-wood for yellow and reds, with several others brought from both the Indies ; but when they would imitate the natural turning of leaves in their curious comparti- ments and bordures of flower-works, they effect it by dipping the pieces (first cut into shape, and ready to in-lay) so far into hot sand, as they would have the shadow, and the heat of the sand darkens it so gradually, without detriment or burning the thin chip, as one would conceive it to be natural. Note, that the sand is to be heated in some very thin brasspan, like to the bottom of a scale or bal- lance : This I mention, because the burning with irons, or aqua-fortis, is not comparable to it. I learn also, that soft wood attains little politure without infinite labour, and the expedient is, to plane it often, and every time you do so, to smear it with strong glew, which easily penetrating, hardens it ; and the frequenter you do this, and still plane it, the harder and sleeker it will remain. And now we have spoken of glew, 'tis so common and cheap, that I need not tell you it is made by boiling the sinews, &c. of sheeps-trotters, parings of raw-hides, &c, to a gelly, and straining it : But the finer and more delicate work is best fastned with fish-glew, to be had of the druggist by the name of ichthyocolla ; you may find how the best is made of the skin of sturgeon, in the Philos. Trans, vol. 11. num. 129.