=The Marks of Makers.=--Having extolled the object made, it would be delightful to be able to extol the maker. But the records of the copyist platers of Sheffield are not in such an exact state as to determine this. Even when certain initials and marks identify a particular firm, and one has run it to earth, one is confronted with the proposition as to who did actually make the piece. At what particular part of the chain, leaving out the drawers of the ingot from the charcoal fire and the mechanical rollers, was it fashioned by the man whom we wish to admire. Names of firms we know are hall marks as to quality. In silver formerly the maker did make the piece to which he was proud to stamp his initials, but even then the law conspired to cheat him of the guerdon of posterity's worship. The initials of Christian name and surname that is sensible enough. We all are aware of that abbreviation, and of accredited signs, from =E.R.=, _Elizabeth Regina_, to the butterfly of Whistler. But disguised under the first two letters of his surname the silversmith in 1697, by William III, 8 & 9, _cap._ 8, left little evidence of his personality. William Keith becomes =KE= and Robert Cooper is =CO=, and Seth Lofthouse is =L.O.= In 1739 by George II, 12, _cap._ 26, just before the Sheffield period, the first two initial letters of Christian name and surname became compulsory. So that there is every reason why at Sheffield, the workmen who executed the mouldings and the craftsmen who pierced the design or chased it, should have added their initials. The die sinker might go by the board, but the artisan who with the highest art concealed art with his die work and his wire, he too might place his sign. There are workmen's marks, but nowadays they mean nothing except that they _are_ "workmen's marks." On Worcester porcelain it is the same, certain symbols are believed to be workmen's marks. That is all. The French were wiser. At Sèvres the marks of each painter, decorator, and gilder of the porcelain from 1753 to 1800 is duly recorded. A crescent denoted that Ledoux painted the birds, =LG= tells that Le Guay did the gilding, a pair of compasses show that Mutel painted the landscapes, =LR= stands for La Roche and his medallions and emblems, =F= is Falot for butterflies, and so on. There are over a hundred and twenty known workmen's marks. And in 1750 the French cabinet-makers stamped their names on their works.