Oil Lamps and Lanterns.
Much might be written of oil lamps and lanterns, of which there are many interesting curios. They are varied, too, for they cover a large field reaching from almost prehistoric times to the present day. Many lamps of metal and bronze have survived and are found in our museums side by side with the still earlier examples of terra-cotta and crude pottery. There is a very interesting collection of early lamps in the Guildhall Museum, one of the most attractive examples being a Roman lamp of bronze, a portion of the central oil space being covered. The bronze lamp illustrated in Fig. 50 which may be seen in the London Museum, is claimed by the authorities to be unique in London finds, and is probably the finest example of a Roman lamp discovered in England. The collector finds his most interesting examples in lamps which have been made in this country the outcome of the candle and of the candle lamp which was gradually evolved. Many of these early candle lamps were adaptations of old candlesticks; it would appear that the idea of enclosing a candle in a horn lantern and thereby securing greater steadiness on account of its being protected from the wind and draughts, which had already been adopted, suggested a glass cup or protection to the candle on the table. It is quite likely that the first experiments were made with a broken cup of porcelain with the bottom knocked out, for the earliest examples seem to have taken that form, the cup-like vessels being gradually confined more and more at the top and the bottom. The idea of a candle-clock occurred to seventeenth-century candlestick makers, who marked the edges of the lamp on the framework so that as the candles burned low they marked the hours. The burning would be more or less irregular, but the marks on the candle-clocks would be some guide, and served their purpose in days when the time of day was of less moment than it is now.
Oil, which had early been the chief lighting medium, was once more in the ascendant when in the eighteenth century oil lamps gradually took the place of candles. Fig. 48 represents a handsome pair of old oil lamps, their beautifully shaped vase containers being reminiscent of the urns and vases at that time ornamenting the mahogany sideboard. It is said that many such lamps were made in England and sent over to America before the War of Independence, and that in the homesteads of the old plantations such relics have been treasured. The examples shown in the accompanying illustrations are now in the United States National Museum at Washington.
In the days when the watchman called the time of the night street-lighting was unknown. Lanterns were carried in the hand and the links-boys were in attendance.
FIG. 50.—EARLY BRONZE LAMP.
(The London Museum, Stafford House.)
In Fig 51 is shown a brass lantern (open and closed) which is now the property of the Sunderland Public Libraries and Art Gallery Committee, a very interesting specimen of an eighteenth-century collapsible lantern of brass and horn. It measures 6¼ in. high and is 3-3/8 in. square. Such lanterns were very common in the eighteenth century, and indeed in still more recent times in country places where they were very necessary before country roads were improved and rural thoroughfares lighted.
We must, however, fain pass over street-lighting for the lanterns which have been copied so many times in more recent days. Apropos of lanterns of copper carried by the wary traveller and of the copper lightning conductor on the church steeple, an indispensable feature still, the following lines are quoted:
"In the olden time, along the street,
A glimmering lantern led the feet
When on a midnight stroll;
But now we catch, when night is night,
A piece of lightning from the sky
FIG. 51.—OLD BRASS LANTERN.
(In the Sunderland Museum.)
X
BELLS AND
BELL-METAL
CASTINGS
CHAPTER X
BELLS AND BELL-METAL CASTINGS
The founders' secrets—Great bells of historic fame—The uses of bells—Old mortars.
The metal of which bells are made differs only from that used for other copper wares in its alloy. The ancients, however, made many mysteries about the constituents of the metal by which they were able to produce such beautiful notes and musical sounds. The modern bellfounder uses about 75 parts of copper and 25 parts of tin, varying it sometimes by a mixture of zinc and lead, and in that he differs little from the bellfounder of old, except that the older craftsman made a secret of his alloy and sometimes added a small quantity of other metals. The theory is that a large percentage of copper gives a deep tone, whereas the greater addition of zinc and tin gives a sharper ring.