specified above, may now be obtained at the respective prices of _six_
and _twenty-five shillings_. While the joiner's part of the art has
remained pretty stationary, that of the painter has been gradually
improving. By means of the _Pentagraph_, which is much employed, the
largest engravings are reduced to the size most convenient for the
workman, without injuring the prints in the slightest degree; and
hence a snuff-box manufacturer, like a Dunfermline weaver, can work to
order by exhibiting on wood his employer's coat of arms, or in short,
any object he may fancy within the range of the pictorial art. Some of
the painters display considerable talent, and as often as they choose
to put forth their strength, produce box-lids, which are really worthy
of being preserved as pictures. At first, nearly the whole subjects
chosen as ornaments, were taken from Burns's poems; and there can be
no doubt, that the "Cotter's Saturday Night," "Tam O'Shanter," "Willie
brewed a peck o' maut," &c. &c., have penetrated in this form into
every quarter of the habitable globe. Now, however, the artists of
Cumnock take a wider range; the studios of Wilkie, and other artists,
have been laid under contribution; landscapes are as often met with as
figures; and there is scarcely a celebrated scene in the country that
is not pictured forth more or less perfectly on the lid of a Cumnock
snuff-box. A few years ago, the art in question was much affected by
the long-continued depression of the weaving business; so much so,
that many left it for some other employment. And some of those who
emigrated, having made a good deal of money, instead of being cooped
up in a workshop, are now thriving proprietors in Upper Canada. But
after a brief interval the trade rallied; and though prices are low,
it is now more flourishing than ever. In Cumnock the number of hands
has increased considerably, and in Mauchline there is one workshop so
extensive that it may almost be compared to a cotton mill or factory.
In other quarters the trade is extending, such as Helensburgh near