Interesting Toilet Requisites.
During excavations on the site of the National Safe Deposit Company's premises in Walbrook quite a number of beautifully formed small objects were found. Indeed, such curios (by no means uncommonly met with on sale in curio shops) are very numerous, and include toilet implements, armlets of twisted copper wire, finger rings of bronze, dress fasteners, pins, fibulæ, tweezers, key rings, bodkins, and needles.
The looking-glass is of course a modern invention, but Greek and Roman maidens learned the art of finishing their toilet in the reflective "glass" of the shining pool, and later by the aid of mirrors of highly polished metal made by the craftsmen of Rome; some of which have been preserved. The surface to which this reflective polish was given was of copper alloyed with antimony and lead. Such mirrors were sometimes hung to the girdle, a custom not unknown to Shakespeare, who frequently makes mention of it.