\section{England}

The supremacy (and enormous profits) of Venetian glass was challenged by attempts to make glass of similar quality in England itself. Initial unsuccessful attempts were made as early as 1530, but the real beginnings of a crystal glass industry in England date from 1567. \footnote{English Glass, Charleston, 53}

In England, Holinshed, in his \Title{Chronicles}, published during the reign of Elizabeth I, says:

\begin{quote}
It is a world to see in these our days, wherein gold and silver aboundeth, that our gentility, as loathing these metals, (because of the plenty,) do now genrally choose rather the Venice Glasses, both for our wine and beer, than any of these metals, or stone, wherein before time we have been accustomed to drink, but such is the nature of man generally, that it most coveth things difficult to be attained.\ldots
% ??? why not \ldotsplus
 The poorest endeavor to have glasses also if they may; but as the Venetian is somewhat too dear for them, they content themselves with such as are made at home\ldots \footnote{Friossart, p.275}
\end{quote}

John Greene of London in 1670's asked that Venetian glasses being imported be made thick and heavy to withstand the hazards of transport by sea (which would make them completely unmusical).\footnote{Savage, Glass \& Glassware, 54}

Essentially, at about 1550 wine glasses were either extraordinarily expensive Venetian imports or locally made glasses\EmDash{}both too thick for music. But by about 1750, musically suitable wineglasses were sufficiently inexpensive and available that sets of musical glasses (with a couple dozen glasses in an instrument) had become common. This transformation of the wine glass in England came about from many factors\ldots
% ??? why not \ldotsplus

\subsection{The Rise of the British Empire}

Elizabeth I (1533\EnDash{}1603) ascended the throne in 1558, and under her reign England was transformed from an impoverished country torn apart by religious strife to one of the most powerful and prosperous countries in the world. Under her reign England defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588\EmDash{}effectively establishing England as a world class sea power. This was good for English commercial shipping, which was good for English trade, and England prospered. A building boom ensued. This was good for English glass makers.

Elizabeth I was succeeded by James I (1566\EnDash{}1625), who ascended the throne in 1603, and continued her economic policies.  Under his reign, the King James Bible was commissioned and published in 1611. Under the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, Shakespeare (1564--1616) wrote and produced his plays. 

The glass making industry continued to prosper. Much of this increase of demand for glass was for windows. All of England, and London in particular, was experiencing a construction boom, and needed glass. And glass windows were increasing in popularity. For example, ``Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall''
%??? pix?
was completed by 1597. Occasionally a glass-house would be set up on the estate of a magnate building a new house which required extensive windows.\footnote{English Glass, Charleston, 72\EnDash{}73}. And in 1666 the Great Fire of London, which raged for 5 days, destroyed approximately ``thirteen thousand dwelling-houses, eight-nine churches, and St. Paul's Cathedral'' \footnote{Churchill, II, 269.} The good news is that the fire put an end to the Great Plague which had been tormenting the city. Reconstruction required more new windows.

And glass was becoming popular in coaches as well.\footnote{English Glass, Charleston, 107}

More importantly, England was beginning to see the rise of the middle class, which wanted its own glassware to emulate the nobility.

\subsection{Fuel}

In 1550 glass-making and iron-making\EmDash{}both major industries in England\EmDash{}relied on wood for fuel. The growing demands for fuel for the growing glassmaking and iron mongering industries, for timber for shipbuilding, and for domestic building and heating was taxing the English forests.  Beginning in 1585, Parliament passed a steady of stream of legislation that gradually prohibited the use of wood-fired furnaces.\footnote{English Glass, Charleston, 73ff} As glassmaking switched to coal, new coal-fired glass furnace designs received new patents, effectively rendering the previous patents obsolete. (England was the first to use coal to fire glass furnaces.\footnote{Howard,21}) 1610 saw the first patent for a coal-fired furnace, only to replaced by a patent for a newer model a year later.\footnote{English Glass, Charleston, 73???} Before coal, glassmaking patents had been in force for decades; now they were being rendered obsolete in a few years. This helped transform glassmaking from a stagnant monopoly to full-fledged competition. Also, once glassmakers were over the difficult transition, they found that coal was better than wood for firing glass furnaces.

\subsection{Patents}

'Patents' during the reign of Elizabeth I (1533\EnDash{}1603) were really monopolies granted by the Crown. Initially these monopolies were intended to encourage the development of local industries by granting sole profits from local production as well as tariff\EmDash{}if not the outright prohibition\EmDash{}of imports. During the reigns of Elizabeth I through Charles I (1600--1649), these monopolies became a way of financially rewarding loyal subjects without depleting the royal treasury. Better still, these 'patents' required an annual 'rent' to be paid to the Crown, so not only was the loyal subject financially rewarded from the profits of their monopoly, but the Crown derived an income at the same time. Frequently the holder of a patent/monopoly might not even know anything about the technology of the industry over which he held a patent.

For example, in 1612 a satisfactory coal-fired glass furnace had been established. And by 1615 the technique for firing glass-furnaces with coal was sufficiently developed and in production to justify the granting of a monopoly. In 'The Proclamation touching glasses' of that year, the use of wood for glass-furnaces was prohibited altogether, the import of glass from abroad was forbidden, and a royal monopoly for glassmaking in England, at an annual rent of \pounds1000, was granted to a group of nine 'adventurers'. One of them, Sir Robert Mansell (1573\EnDash{}1656) soon bought out the others.\footnote{Polak, 113\EnDash{}4} Mansell was a vice-admiral in the Navy, and unacquainted with the glass industry.\footnote{Price, 81}

But the mood in England was increasingly against monopolies, because when a new monopoly was granted, long-standing businesses in that industry either had to submit to the newcomer monopoly holder or cease to exist. The 'Statute of Monopolies' of 1624 largely eliminated them, conferring monopoly powers to first inventors only. Glassmaking was specifically exempted, but the writing was on the wall.\footnote{English Glass, Charleston, 77} In any event, there were sufficient loopholes in the Act that the problem of monopolies was not really solved at all.\footnote{MacLeod, 15}

The problem continued to worsen:

\begin{quote}
The practice of monopolies and all the evils it brought in its train rose to its greatest height in the reign of Charles I. The King's almost frantic shifts for money and the illegalities and evasions he indulged in to fill his treasury rose to inordinate heights. Wine, soap, salt, and almost every article of domestic consumption fell into the hands of the monopolist and rose in price out of all proportion to the profit gained by the Crown.\footnote{Howard, 21}
\end{quote}

The Mansell monopoly lasted until 1640. In that year Charles I was forced to summon Parliament for the first time in eleven years, and among their first decrees was to condemn and abolish the glass monopoly of Mansell.\footnote{Polak, 114}

In 1649, all remaining patent/monopolies issued by the Crown, including glassmaking patents, were rendered null and void when the King of England, Charles I (1600\EnDash{}1649), was beheaded in the English Civil war and replaced by Oliver Cromwell, the ``Lord Protector''.  

Upon Cromwell's death in 1658 his son Richard briefly succeeded him, but soon abdicated. The monarchy was restored in 1660 when Charles II was crowned King. Charles II was all too mindful of the grief that the patent/monopolies had caused Charles I. Consequently, he rarely granted monopolies \textit{per se}, leaving an essentially modern 'patent'\EmDash{}a temporary 'monopoly' granted to the original creator of a new technology\EmDash{}to evolve over the end of the 17th century into the 18th.\footnote{MacLeod, 24ff}

1694 the Bank of England was established.

The English Monarchs, From Elizabeth I through the American Revolution\newline
Elizabeth I (1558\EnDash{}1603) b. 1533\newline
James I (1603\EnDash{}1625)\newline
Charles I (1625\EnDash{}49)\newline
Commonwealth: \newline
Oliver Cromwell (1649\EnDash{}58)\newline
Richard Cromwell (1658\EnDash{}59)\newline
Restoration:\newline
Charles II (1660\EnDash{}85)\newline
James II (1685\EnDash{}88)\newline
William III, Mary II (1689\EnDash{}1702)\newline
Anne (1702\EnDash{}14)\newline
George I (1714\EnDash{}27)\newline
George II (1727\EnDash{}60)\newline
George III (1760\EnDash{}1820)\newline

\subsection{Innovation In General }

With the weakening of monopolies and the general growth of the English economy, the pace of competition and profits increased, and so did the pace of innovation. For example, Sir Kenelm (1603\EnDash{}1665) experimented with making stronger wine bottles, recommending that they be stopped 'close with Cork tied in'. Sir Kenelm was a glass-maker and alchemist as well as a diplomat and naval commander\EmDash{}he defeated French and Venetian fleets in the harbor of Scanderoon (on the southeast coast of Turkey) in 1628, making him a national hero. (Sir Kenelm was also a founder of the Royal Society, which very much concerned itself with glass, as well as other scientific matters. Benjamin Franklin would later be elected to this Society.) Bottle technology continued to develop, and around 1681 the corkscrew was invented, allowing the cork to be driven home flush. This ``English bottle'' was soon an enormous international success, since it allowed the storage and maturing of wine in the bottle. Furthermore, the wine bottle glass they had developed was not only strong, but almost opaque, which protected the wine from the destructive effects of light. Alongside the new English lead-glass (discussed below), ``the dark glass bottle formed the spearhead of the English penetration of continental [European] markets, making England for the first time a net exporter of glass.''\footnote{English Glass, Charleston, 95--96}

\subsection{The Invention of Lead Glass}

The invention of lead-glass (not to be confused with 'leaded glass'\EmDash{}windows made of smaller pieces of glass held together with lead, as in stained glass windows\EmDash{}revolutionized glass making in England and made her one of the glass-making capitols of the world.

In 1664 Charles II chartered the Worshipful Committee of Glass Sellers. At its formation the Company 'made and sold looking glasses or mirrors, but only sold (it did not make) drinking or table glass, bottles, stoneware pots and other stoneware goods which were made for them by Glass makers and Pot makers, principally English, though some were imported, mostly from Venice'. From its inception, the Glass Sellers' Company was entrusted with the 'supervision of the Glass and Pot Makers' trades', and was 'empowered to search for and condemn all defective and deceitful ware'.\footnote{Charleston, 103\EnDash{}104}

Frustrated with the virtual monopoly on the glass industry enjoyed by the Venetians, the Company of Glass Sellers commissioned George Ravenscroft (1618\EnDash{}1681) to experiment with native raw materials. [???] They wished to see England independent of foreign sources both for raw materials and finished glass.

In 1674 Ravenscroft petitioned the King for a patent for the making of a 'sort of crystalline glass resembling rock crystal', and this petition was in a minute by the Attorney General 'that the glass is of a finer sort and made of other ingredients than any other glasshouses in England have used, and that the invention may be of considerable public advantage as the glasses thereby made equalize, if not excel, those imported from Venice and France.' The patent was granted for a term of seven years, but already Ravenscroft had concluded an agreement with the Glass Sellers that they would 'take and buy the said Glasses of Ravenscroft. . .'\footnote{Charleston,111}

Lead glass is generally credited to George Ravenscroft (1618\EnDash{}1681), even though Ravenscroft\EmDash{}like so many patent holders\EmDash{}was himself not particularly knowledgeable about glass making\footnote{Charleston, 111}\EmDash{}perhaps the knowledge came from one of the gaffers (head glassblowers) in his employ named Giacomo da Costa.\footnote{Kurinsky, 388; Buckley, 25}. And the making of various kinds of lead glass is described in \Title{The Art of Glass} (1611) \footnote{Neri \& Merrit, 15ff}, a book that was well known in England. But even though Ravenscroft wasn't personally responsible for the various technical innovations that resulted in his lead glass, he certainly made it a commercial success. 

Lead glass was originally known as 'flint glass' because it was made with calcined flints instead of sand.\footnote{Buckley,24} These calcined flints were available in England, eliminating the need to import Venetian \textit{cuogoli}.\footnote{Charleston, 114} Lead glass was a far more brilliant, sparkling glass than had ever been made before. Besides the highly refractive appearance of lead crystal (which gives it its rainbow sparkles), lead glass was also much softer than regular glass, making it easier to engrave.

Ravenscroft's lead glass incorporated three innovations: the first being the addition of lead. It had long been known that the addition of lead to glass gave it a high refraction; for this reason the Italians had used it when making imitations of precious stones. What was new in Ravenscroft's use of lead was that he added it in greater quantities than anyone before. The second innovation was making the glass in coal-fired 'wind furnaces' which produced a stronger and more stable heat than wood-fired furnaces could give. The third was the use of the covered pot for the molten glass, which concentrated the heat inside the pot and prevented the dust given off by the coals from contaminating the glass.\footnote{Polak, 117}

Ravenscroft's original formulation for glass was subject to 'crizzling', a defect which produces an internal network of glistening lines and a gradual breakdown of the surface. ``Crizzling is caused by instability in the glass, usually due at this period to the habit of boiling the fluxing alkali repeatedly in aneffort to purify it. This resulted in a reduction of the calcium content. Calcium is a glass stabiliser, and without a stabiliser the alkali is leached out of glass by atmospheric action, leaving the slica network exposed and weakened.''\footnote{Charleston,114} Ravenscroft eventually solved this problem, as we can see from a statement issued by the Glass Sellers in the London Gazette 3 June 1676:

\begin{quote}
Wee under written doe certify and attest that the defect of the flint glasses (which were formerly observed to crissel and decay) hath been redressed severall months agoe and the glasses since made have all proved durable and lasting as any glasses whatsoever. Moreover that the usual tryalls wherewith the essay of glasses are made have bene often reiterated on these new flint glasses with entire success and easy to be done againe by any body, which proofs the former glass would not undergoe, besides ye distinction of sound discernible by any person whatsoever.\footnote{Charleston, 113}
\end{quote}

Here we see that stable and strong glass was still an ongoing area of research (which will have consequences for the development of glass music), and we see that unlike its predecessors, Ravenscroft's glasses were musical by 'ye distinction of a sound discernible by any person whatsoever'.

Lead glass certainly attracted the attention of foreign glassmakers. Some foreigners were already working in English glasshouses, and tried to establish lead glass abroad. The lack of proper fuel (coal) for the furnaces, and of proper clay for the glasspots, must have proved an almost fatal handicap to the foreigner attempting to make English lead glass.\footnote{Buckley, 31}

In 1674 Ravenscroft obtained a patent for his invention: lead glass. It was enormously successful. Ravenscroft died within a few days after expiration of his seven-year patent.

\subsection{The Glass Tax}

In 1745 Parliament passed an Excise on Glass\EmDash{}a tax by weight levied on the materials out of which lead glass was made. (This tax was increased in 1777, and again in 1822.)\footnote{Buckley, 22} The result of this tax was that glassmakers made their glasses thinner and lighter. ``During the first forty-five years of the [18th] century, when there was no tax, and when glasses were sold by weight, there was every inducement to make simple massive glasses. During the period after 1745 there was an equal inducement to reduce the weight of the glass and to raise its value by other means.''\footnote{Buckley, 40} In other words, make them thinner.

So, due to the combination of all these forces\EmDash{}running out of forests and switching to coal, changes in the patent climate, the beginnings of rise of the British Empire and a middle class that wanted glasses for themselves, the invention of lead glass, the Glass Tax\EmDash{}all these combined to reduce the price of glasses[A dozen wine glasses could be bought in 1758 for 2 shillings\EmDash{}very approximately 2 ounces of silver.\footnote{Buckley, Old English Glass, 74}, and to influence their shape into one conducive for music making.  ``The change was, of course, from an almost Venetian glass to one that is typically British. From a tall heavy glass, weighing often enough a solid pound, to a short light glass weighing a few ounces.'' \footnote{Buckley, 37} 

