great numbers of beads which were
sent everywhere throughout the East--sometimes to Africa and even to
India. In 1764 twenty-two great furnaces were kept busy supplying the
beads that were demanded. Frequently, they say, as many as forty-four
thousand barrels were turned out in a single week."

"Why, I should think that everybody in the world would have been
covered with beads!" Jean exclaimed, smiling.

"Ah, I can tell you something stranger than that, senorita. So popular
did Venetian glass of every variety become that a foreign prince
created a great sensation by appearing in Paris with curls of finely
spun black glass."

Jean and Uncle Bob laughed merrily.

"I think myself he was silly," Giusippe declared, echoing their
amusement. "He, however, was not alone in his admiration for the
beautiful and ingenious workmanship of the people of my country, for
even as far back as 1400 Richard the Second of England gave permission
to our Venetian merchants to sell glass aboard their galleys, duty
free; and King Henry the Eighth owned as many as four or five hundred
Venetian drinking goblets, vases, dishes, and plates, some of which,
they say, are still in the British Museum."

"We must see them when we go to London, mustn't we, Uncle Bob?" cried
Jean eagerly.

"We surely must. All this is very interesting, Giusippe. You do well to
remember so much of your country's history," said Mr. Cabot.

"I am proud of it, senor. Besides I have heard it many, many times. My
people were never tired of telling over and over the story of the old
days; the golden days of Venice, my father called them. The Republic
might have retained its fame much longer had not some of our countrymen
been persuaded to go to other lands and sell their secrets for gold. It
was thus that the art of making mirrors was taken into France and
Germany."

"Tell us about it, Giusippe," pleaded Jean.

"Why, as I think I told you, the Venetians began to make mirrors as
early as 1300. Of course, senorita, they were crude affairs--not at all
like the fine ones of to-day, but to people who had nothing better they
were marvels. And indeed they were both clever and beautiful. For you
must remember that ages ago there was no such thing as a looking-glass.
Men and women could only see their reflections in streams, pools, and
fountains. Then the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans began to make mirrors
of burnished metal, using bits of brass or bronze often beautifully
de