Page:Walks in the Black Country and its green border-land.pdf/137

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and its Green Border-Land.
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hold, perhaps, a quart. On its external surface are represented all the leading inventions of the century, in all the allegorical metaphors and symbols that were wont to delight the classical imaginations of ancient times. These figures are all raised from the inside and finished with exquisite delicacy. The amount of labour bestowed upon that single article cost £600, and it must rank among the master-pieces of art. It would be natural for nine persons in ten, who are acquainted with electro-plate ware, to conclude that it is merely washed or coated with silver, which coat can no more be removed from it entire than a coat of paint from a deal board. But on visiting this establishment, one sees the most elaborate and artistic article made throughout and entire by this clipping or washing process. The solution of silver or gold is poured into or against a mould, of which every figure, line, and point, however delicate, is reproduced with photographic fulness and fidelity.

The educational system by which this great establishment is supplied with reproductive skill and genius may be inferred from the fact, that fifty or sixty of the young men attend the evening classes in the Midland Institute, and take such lessons in design and in the application of science to the different branches of the manufacture as shall fit them for its highest grades of art. Thus, there are nearly 1,000 persons not only engaged in