judiciously twisting the drawn stem whilst still plastic, of producing an infinity of pleasing patterns. Thus a number of small “tears” close together produced a spiral like a yarn of silk; or a central tear might be blown, and side ones twisted round in encircling spirals. _Baluster-stemmed Glasses._--The baluster stem is a reproduction of a moulded pillar. It is by no means peculiar to eighteenth-century glasses. Indeed it formed the almost invariable means of support for the glasses of Caroline times. The early baluster stems are, to an eye accustomed to the lighter modern glass, extremely heavy and clumsy in appearance, and with the development of taste and skill, they were speedily supplanted by the slenderer and more graceful drawn and air-twisted stems. But the effect of the baluster moulding was soon pressed into the service of this more dainty ware, the baluster becoming more slender and symmetrical, and sometimes, indeed, being modified into a slight swelling--either gradual or abrupt or a single ring round the stem. The bowls of this period were almost invariably funnel-shaped, and were often engraved--the appropriate figure of the vine leaf appearing for the first time in the [Illustration: 1. AIR-TWISTED STEM GLASS. 2. BUTTON STEM. 3. BALUSTER STEM WITH ROYAL MONOGRAM. (From the Rees Price Collection, by permission of the Connoisseur.) FIG. 8. ] history of English glass. The feet are almost always of the folded variety. Occasionally, in the later specimens, however, the feet are domed. _Opaque-twisted Stems._--The opaque-twisted stem made its appearance about the middle of the century. In this case, rods of opaque white or coloured glass were alternated with rods of clear glass around the circumference of a circular mould, care being taken to preserve proper regularity. They were then heated, and molten clear glass poured into the central hollow, filling up the interstices between the rods, binding the whole when cooled into a solid rod, with a clear centre surrounded by a particoloured circumference. The mass, being softened by heating, was then drawn out into slenderer rods, and twisted into spirals. The ease of the process accounts for the infinite variety of patterns in existence. Flat bars could be used, giving tape-like spiral bands, and the rods could be of various sizes and colours. Many specimens came over from Holland and from the north of France, generally of inferior quality, the inferiority being displayed in the character of the stems and the poorness of the metal.