Good mottled soap is hard, but not brittle, well mottled, and without any rancid, tallowy, or unpleasant acrid smell. If any of this smell should be present, there has been an undue portion of soda or potash used in the manufacture. A quantity of fuller’s earth is often used to conceal the imperfections and add to the weight of the article, by enabling it to imbibe a large quantity of water. Rancid tallow also is often used in soap and candle-making, which has had a portion of its substance quite destroyed by putrefaction. Of course the articles from which it is made are of a very inferior quality. Those specimens which have a disagreeable odour are made of horns of animals, woollen rags, &c. instead of oil, clay often supplies the place of tallow. There are several methods for proving the quality of soap. The author of “THE MAIDSERVANT’S COMPANION AND DIRECTORY” informs us that there are “some people who can ascertain it by the taste.” But as the same gentleman observes, as it is not likely that many persons will feel a pleasure in making the experiment, a more pleasant method is to slice an ounce or two of the soap very thin into a basin, and having poured boiling water upon the slices, to stir them well till they are quite dissolved; then place the basin and contents before the fire for the space of about twelve hours. When the mixture is quite cold, turn it out of the basin; if no sediment appears at the bottom, it is a sign of the goodness of the soap. Or the adulteration of the soap may be detected, by pouring upon a little of the suspected article, thinly sliced into a bottle, rectified spirit of wine, in the proportion of one part of soap to six parts of spirit: then, when the bottle, being slightly stopped, has remained a short time in a warm place, the adulterated parts of the soap will appear unacted upon by the agent; but if the soap be genuine, it will have become wholly dissolved. To those who are desirous of economizing the consumption of soap, many useful hints may be found in “THE MAIDSERVANT’S COMPANION AND DIRECTORY;” a work which every sensible master and mistress should cause to be carefully and attentively perused by their domestics. CANDLES. Nor are candles exempt from the sophisticator’s art. Tallow candles, to be good, should be made of equal parts of bullock’s and sheep’s fat; which is discoverable by their being of a firm texture, a good white colour, and not an obnoxious smell. When made of hog’s fat, they gutter, emit an ill smell, and a thick black smoke. If alum or pulverized marble has been mingled with the tallow, for the purpose of giving a white appearance and a hard consistence, the wicks burn with a dead light, and the alum spits or emits slight explosions from the wick as it burns. Some useful directions respecting the management and the economizing of the consumption of candles, whether wax, mould, or dips, are to be found in “DOMESTIC COMFORTS AND ECONOMY.” STARCH.