THE CABINET-MAKER.

The business of a Cabinet-Maker, and that of an Upholsterer, are now so generally united together, that any observations on either
of these branches may, with propriety, be comprehended under one general head.

As Cabinet- making may be considered a siuperior kind of joinery, so much of its principles and practice will be found under the
article Carpenter, as to render it unnecessary to enter fully into the constructive art in the present article; we shall, therefore, confine
ourselves to such particulars as are peculiar to this branch, and endeavour to point out, for the direction of the student, some of the
qualifications necessary for his excelling in it.

Tne Cabinet-maker uses various kinds of wood for the formation or ornamenting of his goods, but his principal wood is Mahogany, a species of cedar, growing in the warmest parts of America. It is found in abundance in the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, and Domingo, as well as the Bahamas : the trees grow to a very large size, and a great height.

The first use to which mahogany was applied in England, was to make a box for holding candles. Dr. Gibbons, an eminent physician at the latter end of the seventeenth century, had a brother, a West-India captain, who brought over some planks of this wood as ballast. As the Doctor was then building a house in King-street, Covent-garden, his brother thought they might be of service to him ; but the carpenters finding the wood too bard for their tools, they were laid aside as useless. Soon, after, Mrs. Gibbons wanting a candlebox, the Doctor called on his Cabinet-maker (Wollaston, of Long-Acre) to make him one of some wood that lay in the garden. The candle- box was made, and approved; and the Doctor then insisted on having a bureau made of the same wood, which was accordingly done ; and the fine colour, polish, &c. were so pleasing, that his friends were invited to come and see it. Amongst whom was the Duchess of Buckingham. Her Grace begged some of the wood of Dr. Gibbons, and Wollaston made her a bureau also ; on which the fame of the mahogany, and Mr. Wollaston, was raised, and things of this kind became general.

All the arts of life have, no doubt been the result of a gradual and progressive improvement in civilization. In nothing is it exhibited
more, than in an Upholsterer's warehouse.

What a difference is there between the necessary articles of furniture to be found in a cottage, and the elegantly-furnished house of
a merchant or a peer. In the former, there is nothing but what is plain, useful, and almost essential to the convenience of life : in the
other, immense sums are sacrificed to magnificence and show. The cottager is contented with a deal table, an oaken chair, and a beechen bedstead, with other articles equally plain and unexpensive. The wealthy possess sumptuous beds, inlaid tables, silk or damask chairs and curtains, sofas, and carpets of great value ; large looking-glasses, and brilliant lustres, together with a variety of carved work and gilding. The furniture of a cottage, or a small farm-house, will cost but a few guineas; that of a single room, in the
wealthy parts of the metropolis, will be valued at from five hundred to a thousand pounds.

The art of the Cabinet-maker differs from most other arts in many particulars. In the first place, the articles made by him,, are not
only very numerous, but there are not, even from the same shop, two articles of the same description, which do not vary in their form and manufacture ; and fashion is continually changing the forms of almost all. Cabinet-makers' articles, so that it must be obvious no rules can be laid down, as to the formation of particular articles of furniture ; and, indeed, were it practicable, it would be necessary that cabinet, like female fashions, should be published monthly; in fact, this is, in some degree, done in a publication by Mr. Ackerman.

The Cabinet-maker furnishes chairs, tables,. chests of drawers, desks, scrutoires, bureaus, sofas, book-cases, and bedsteads, of all sorts of prices. But, in almost all places, the business of the Cabinet-maker is united to that of the upholsterer ; and the furniture collected in one of their warehouses is worth from ten to thirty thousand pounds. . Such warehouses may be seen in St. Paul's Church-Yard, Bond-Street, and other parts of London.

As a first step, we should recommend to the student the practice of drawing from any good models, but more particularly from
artifacts connected with architecture, by which means, he will gradually become more and more familiar with the beautiful combinations, so eminently conspicuous in the remains of ancient .Greece and Rome. An acquaintance with perspective is no less useful than a knowledge of drawing: for it is sometimes necessary, not only to delineate the particular articles of furniture, but to shew the effect it is likely to produce, when placed in the apartment for which it is designed.

As it is the fashion of the present day to resort to a number of contrivances for making one piece of furniture serve many purposes,
a bed by night, and a chest of drawers by day/, it becomes important, on this account as well as on many others, that the Cabinet-maker should be acquainted with the principles of mechanics, which will materially assist him in the formation of his works and
enable him to outstrip those persons who act from no principles, or whose ignorance and illiterateness prevent them from a comprehension of them.

All the remarks on the various tools, woods, &c. not belonging exclusively to tins trade, will be found under the article Carpenter;
but theie is a process or two of which we shall say a few words.

Veneering is a kind of marquetry, or inlaying, by which several thin slices, or leaves of fine wood, of different kinds, are applied, and fastened on a ground of some common wood. The wood intended for veneering, is first sawed out into slices or leaves, about a
line (one twelfth of an inch) thick ; and in order to saw them, the blocks, or planks, are placed upright in a kind of vice or sawing
press; these slices are afterwards cut into slips, and fashioned divers ways, according to the design proposed; after the joints have been carefully adjusted, and the pieces brought down to their proper thickness, with several planes adapted for the purpose, they are glued down on a block of ground of dry wood, with good strong English glue. After the pieces have been thus joined and glued, the work if small, is put into a press ; if large it is laid on a bench covered with a board, and pressed down with poles or pieces of wood, the upper ends of which reach to the ceiling of the room, and the lower ends on the board. When the glue is quite dry, the veneered work is taken out of the press, and finished with proper planes, scrapers, rasps, &c

Marquetry differs from veneering in many particulars, and may be properly called painting in wood, as various imitations of nature
are produced in this way. The art of inlaying is very ancient, and is supposed to have passed firom east to west, among other branches of knowledge brought to the Romans from Asia : but it did not arrive at any tolerable perfection till the fifteenth century amongst the Italians ; it seems, however, to have attained its greatest perfection in the seventeenth century in France. We have seen the representation of a tiger and other animals, made in this way, which might certainly be mistaken for an oil painting.

The Cabinet maker who makes chairs, tables look- ing-glass frames, bookcases, has for his chief tools saws, axes, planes, chisels, files, gimblets, turn-screws, hammers, and other implements, which are used in common by the Carpenter and Cabinet-maker. .

The goodness and value of furniture depend on the fineness of the wood and other materials of which it is made, and on the neatness of the workmanship. A young man brought up to this business, should possess a good share of ingenuity, and some talents for drawing and designing, as we have before hinted, because much depends on fashion, and in pleasing the various tastes of the public.