The desire of man, for the gratification of his natural wants, being soon satisfied, he yet is wanting—those artificial wants which arise in the mind, and are the source of his comforts, because their gratification yields him high delight. Having built him a house, to shelter himself from the exigencies of the weather, to enlarge the sphere of his pleasures, he is desirous to ornament it; and because he cannot, perhaps, construct his house of silver, gold, or costly stones, he endeavours, at least, to have an imitation; and gilding, lacquering, painting, or staining is substituted. This idea, we will presume, to have given origin to every species of decorative ornament in the construction of houses—and among the rest to paper-hanging, which is carried on to a greater extent in this country, than at any former period.

The ancient Greeks, according to Archbishop Potter, constructed not only their arms, but also their houses, occasionally of brass, whilst the Romans frequently gilt theirs; they often covered them with costly casings or veneers, sometimes with precious stones. Since they went to such great cost to ornament the outside of their habitations, we need not wonder that they spared no expense in endeavouring to ornament them within.—Those people, however, who could not procure these extravagancies in reality, thought they would, at least, have the nearest imitation of them; accordingly they had recourse sometimes to veneers of those substances they had seen substantially employed by the rich and luxurious, as well for outside ornament as interior decoration; those who could not afford this, had recourse to pigments and the graphic art; for this purpose, the ingenuity of man was employed to devise various modes of ornament and decoration. Hence arose the various kinds of painting, the fresco, scagliolo, &c., and lastly, came staining of paper in use.

To enumerate the various kinds of this, might be attended with very little benefit, because the principle of all is nearly the same. However, it has been remarked that three kinds are deserving of notice. The first and plainest is that which has on it figures, drawn and painted with one or more colours, consisting only of painted paper. The second contains a woolly stuff, dyed of various tints, and made to adhere to the paper, in certain forms, by a glutinous matter; and the third is a species of paper covered with metallic dust. There are other papers used for hangings, which contain a representation of many kinds of stones, of which we understand there is a large manufactory in Leipsic.

There is also a species of velvet paper—a paper covered with sham plush, or wool dyed and cut short, and made to adhere to the paper by some kind of cement, said to have been the invention of an Englishman, of the name of Jerome Lanyer, in the reign of Charles I., for which he received a patent. In the specification it is stated, that he had found out an art and mystery for affixing wool, silk, and other materials, upon linen, cotton, leather, and other substances, with oil, size, and cements, so as to make them useful and serviceable for hangings and other purposes; which he called Londrindina; and he said it was his own invention, and formerly used within this realm.

However, it appears that this invention of Lanyer was afterwards disputed by a Frenchman of the name of Tierce, who said it was the production of a countryman of his, named Francois, who, he stated, had made such before 1620, and supported his assertion by producing patterns, and the wooden blocks with which it was printed, with the dates inscribed upon them. The son of Francois, it appeared, followed his father’s business, at Rouen, for more than fifty years, where he died, in 1748. Some of his workmen are said to have left him, and gone to the Netherlands, Germany, and other places, where they sold their art.

It appears that Nemetz ascribes the invention of wax-cloth hangings, with wool chopped and beat fine, to a Frenchman, named Andran, who, he says, in the beginning of the last century, was an excellent painter in arabesque and grotesque figures, and inspector of the palace of the Luxembourg at Paris, in which he had a manufactory for hangings of that kind. It is also stated that a person of the name of Eccard invented the art of printing, on paper-hangings, gold and silver figures, and that he carried on an extensive manufactory for such works.

It certainly does appear that the Germans cannot claim the privilege of invention here, but were behind their neighbours in this art.

One of the most ingenious of the many new improvements is said to consist in the art of manufacturing paper-hangings by affixing to the substance of the proper metallic dust, commonly called Nuremberg dust, by which it acquires the appearance of various costly metals in a state of fracture, varied with glittering particles of differently formed parts; and receiving the light in every direction, produce certainly a novel effect, which is rich and beautiful, while it is obtained at little expense.

The Nuremberg metallic dust is said to have been the invention of an artist of that city, named John Hautsch, born in 1595, died in 1670; his descendants have continued its preparation to the present time. It is produced from filings of metals of several descriptions washed well in a strong lixivious water, then being placed upon a sheet of copper, are put upon a strong fire, and continually stirred till the colour is altered. Those of tin, by this process, acquire every shade of gold colour, with its metallic lustre; those of copper, different shades of flame colour; those of iron or steel, a blue or violet; of tin and bismuth mixed, a white or bluish white colour. The dust tinged in this manner is then put through a flatting-mill, consisting of two rollers of the hardest steel, like those used by gold and silver wire-drawers; for the greater convenience a funnel is placed over them. French covered paper manufactured from this material is called papiers avec paillettes. Its lustre is so durable that it is said to continue unaltered for many years even on the walls of sitting apartments. This metallic dust is an article of commerce, being exported from Germany.

As early as the seventeenth century, the miners of Silesia collected and sold, for various purposes, a material they call glimmer, being bright, shining particles of various metals, which those mines produce in great profusion; even the black, we are told, acquires a gold colour by being exposed to a strong heat. This was manufactured by the holy sisters of Reichenstein, into a variety of ornaments; with it they decorated their images, strewing over them a shining kind of talc. The silver coloured glimmer had not, however, so great a brilliancy or variety as the Nuremberg metallic dust; for which purposes that article has a decided superiority.

For the various purposes to which these ornaments are to be applied, different adhesive substances should be used; in some cases glue would have the effect, to be first drawn over the substance; in others, a strong varnish, in which wax is dissolved; and for others, various kinds of gums.

Those substances being so covered, the dust may be put in a common pepper-castor, and applied by sifting it over the substance to be so covered. Different figures may be drawn with a pencil, and the box of dust shook over them, as far as the extent of the lines covered with glue; the dust will only fasten so far as it meets with what produces adhesion.