ancient method was by dissolving mercury in nitrous acid, dipping the
copper, and depending on the affinity of the metals, by which a very
slight article was produced. But at Sheffield and Birmingham, all plate
is now produced by rolling ingots of copper and silver together. About
the eighth of an inch in thickness of silver is united by heat to an
inch of copper in ingots about the size of a brick. It is then flattened
by steel rollers worked by an eighty horse power. The greater
malleability of the silver occasions it to spread equally with the
copper into a sheet of any required thickness, according to the nature
of the article for which it is wanted. I saw some pieces of plated
metal, the eighth of an inch thick, rolled by hand into ten times their
surface, the silver spreading equally; and I was told that the plating
would be perfect if the rolling had reduced it to the thinness of silver
paper! This mode of plating secures to modern plate a durability not
possessed by any plate silvered by immersion. Hence plated goods are now
sought all over the world, and, if fairly used, are nearly as durable as
silver itself. Of this material, dinner and dessert services have been
manufactured from 50 to 300 guineas, and breakfast sets from 10 to 200
guineas, as sold on the spot.

"At Sheffield are actually cast and finished, most, if not all, the
parts of grates sold as their own make by the London furnishing
ironmongers. Their names are placed on them, but, in truth, they merely
put the parts together. I saw in Messrs. Picklay's rooms superior
castings for backs of grates, little inferior in delicacy to plaster of
Paris; and for grates connected with one of these patterns, I was told
100 guineas each was lately paid by a northern squire. Grates with
folding doors are made here as well as at Chesterfield. The doors are in
half heights, so as to serve two purposes, and grates so supplied sell
for about two guineas extra. Mr. Picklay has brought the kitchen range