In the 18th century the manufacture of vases de verre had become so neglected that the Academy of Sciences in 1759 offered a prize for an essay on the means by which the industry might be revived (Labarte, Histoire des arts industriels).
The famous Baccarat works, for making crystal glass, were founded in 1818 by d’Artigues.
English Glass.—The records of glass-making in England are exceedingly meagre. There is reason to believe that during the Roman occupation the craft was carried on in several parts of the country. Remains of a Roman glass manufactory of considerable extent were discovered near the Manchester Ship Canal at Warrington. Wherever the Romans settled glass vessels and fragments of glass have been found. There is no evidence to prove that the industry survived the withdrawal of the Roman garrison.
It is probable that the glass drinking-vessels, which have been found in pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon tombs, were introduced from Germany. Some are elaborate in design and bear witness to advanced technique of Roman character. In 675 Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wearmouth, was obliged to obtain glass-workers from France, and in 758 Cuthbert, abbot of Jarrow, appealed to the bishop of Mainz to send him artisans to manufacture “windows and vessels of glass, because the English were ignorant and helpless.” Except for the statement in Bede that the French artisans, sent by Benedict Biscop, taught their craft to the English, there is at present no evidence of glass having been made in England between the Roman period and the 13th century. In some deeds relating to the parish of Chiddingfold, in Surrey, of a date not later than 1230, a grant is recorded of twenty acres of land to Lawrence “vitrearius,” and in another deed, of about 1280, the “ovenhusveld” is mentioned as a boundary. This field has been identified, and pieces of crucible and fragments of glass have been dug up. There is another deed, dated 1300, which mentions one William “le verir” of Chiddingfold.
About 1350 considerable quantities of colourless flat glass were supplied by John Alemayn of Chiddingfold for glazing the windows in St George’s chapel, Windsor, and in the chapel of St Stephen, Westminster. The name Alemayn (Aleman) suggests a foreign origin. In 1380 John Glasewryth, a Staffordshire glass-worker, came to work at Shuerewode, Kirdford, and there made brode-glas and vessels for Joan, widow of John Shertere.
There were two kinds of flat glass, known respectively as “brode-glas” and “Normandy” glass. The former was made, as described by Theophilus, from cylinders, which were split, reheated and flattened into square sheets. It was known as Lorraine glass, and subsequently as “German sheet” or sheet-glass. Normandy glass was made from glass circles or disks. When, in after years, the process was perfected, the glass was known as “crown” glass. In 1447 English flat glass is mentioned in the contract for the windows of the Beauchamp chapel at Warwick, but disparagingly, as the contractor binds himself not to use it. In 1486, however, it is referred to in such a way as to suggest that it was superior to “Dutch, Venice or Normandy glass.” The industry does not seem to have prospered, for when in 1567 an inquiry was made as to its condition, it was ascertained that only small rough goods were being made.
In the 16th century the fashion for using glass vessels of ornamental character spread from Italy into France and England. Henry VIII. had a large collection of glass drinking-vessels chiefly of Venetian manufacture. The increasing demand for Venetian drinking-glasses suggested the possibility of making similar glass in England, and various attempts were made to introduce Venetian workmen and Venetian methods of manufacture. In 1550 eight Muranese glass-blowers were working in or near the Tower of London. They had left Murano owing to slackness of trade, but had been recalled, and appealed to the Council of Ten in Venice to be allowed to complete their contract in London. Seven of these glass-workers left London in the following year, but one, Josepho Casselari, remained and joined Thomas Cavato, a Dutchman. In 1574 Jacob Verzellini, a fugitive Venetian, residing in Antwerp, obtained a patent for making drinking-glasses in London “such as are made in Murano.” He established works in Crutched Friars, and to him is probably due the introduction of the use of soda-ash, made from seaweed and seaside plants, in place of the crude potash made from fern and wood ashes. His manufactory was burnt down in 1575, but was rebuilt. He afterwards moved his works to Winchester House, Broad Street. There is a small goblet (Pl. I., fig. 8) in the British Museum which is attributed to Verzellini. It is Venetian in character, of a brownish tint, with two white enamel rings round the body. It is decorated with diamond or steel-point etching, and bears on one side the date 1586, and on the opposite side the words “In God is al mi trust.” Verzellini died in 1606 and was buried at Down in Kent. In 1592 the Broad Street works had been taken over by Jerome Bowes. They afterwards passed into the hands of Sir R. Mansel, and in 1618 James Howell, author of Epistolae Ho-elianae, was acting as steward. The works continued in operation until 1641. During excavations in Broad Street in 1874 many fragments of glass were found; amongst them were part of a wine-glass, a square scent-bottle and a wine-glass stem containing a spiral thread of white enamel.
A greater and more lasting influence on English glass-making came from France and the Low Countries. In 1567 James Carré of Antwerp stated that he had erected two glass-houses at “Fernefol” (Fernfold Wood in Sussex) for Normandy and Lorraine glass for windows, and had brought over workmen. From this period began the records in England of the great glass-making families of Hennezel, de Thietry, du Thisac and du Houx from Lorraine, and of de Bongar and de Cacqueray from Normandy. About this time glass-works were established at Ewhurst and Alford in Surrey, Loxwood, Kirdford, Wisborough and Petworth in Sussex, and Sevenoaks and Penshurst in Kent. Beginning in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, where wood for fuel was plentiful, the foreign glass-workers and their descendants migrated from place to place, always driven by the fuel-hunger of their furnaces. They gradually made their way into Hampshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Northumberland, Scotland and Ireland. They can be traced by cullet heaps and broken-down furnaces, and by their names, often mutilated, recorded in parish registers.
In 1610 a patent was granted to Sir W. Slingsby for burning coal in furnaces, and coal appears to have been used in the Broad Street works. In 1615 all patents for glass-making were revoked and a new patent issued for making glass with coal as fuel, in the names of Mansel, Zouch, Thelwall, Kellaway and Percival. To the last is credited the first introduction of covered crucibles to protect the molten glass from the products of burning coal.
Simultaneously with the issue of this patent the use of wood for melting glass was prohibited, and it was made illegal to import glass from abroad. About 1617 Sir R. Mansel, vice-admiral and treasurer of the navy, acquired the sole rights of making glass in England. These rights he retained for over thirty years.