FIG. 14.—THREE RUSHLIGHT HOLDERS.
(In the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.)
FIG. 15.—THREE VARIETIES OF OLD OIL LAMPS.
To range side by side a number of rushlight holders taken from districts widely apart, it becomes evident that there was a striking similarity between the earlier types. The smiths everywhere seem to have fashioned a simple contrivance by which the rushlight or early candle could be held upright, and then, to give the "stick" solidity, the iron shaft was fastened securely into a wooden block, which was very often quite out of proportion to the size and weight of the stand, and apparently unnecessarily large and heavy. In the larger examples the holder is often made to slide upon an upright rod so as to be useful at different heights. The sliding rod was needed, for the light so dim could only be of real service when quite close to the person using it, or to the work it was intended to illumine (see Figs. [4] and [5]).
Although some of the more elaborate and advanced holders were of copper or brass, most of them were of iron, the work of local smiths, few of whom made any attempt to decorate what they evidently regarded as strictly utilitarian articles (see Fig. [14]). Although rushlights antedated candles, some of the holders were made to answer a dual purpose, and on the same stem or slide as the rushlight holder there was a candle socket, an important feature fully exemplified in Figs. [4] and [5].
Candles, Moulds, and Boxes.
The collector of household curios does not trouble about the candles; his object is to secure a few candle moulds, candle boxes, and, of course, candlesticks. It may, however, be convenient here to refer to the moulding of candles which was at one time a domestic duty just as it had been to collect rushes and after they were dried dip them in fat, and to make lights which would burn with more or less steadiness.