t, and consisting of a base with a shaft
rising out of it and six arms, and with seven lamps supported on the
summits of the six arms and central shaft. When Solomon built the
temple, he placed in it ten golden candlesticks, five on the north and
five on the south side of the Holy Place; but after the Babylonish
captivity the golden candlestick was again placed in the temple, as it
had been before in the tabernacle by Moses. On the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus, it was carried with other spoils to Rome.
Representations of the seven-branched candlestick, as it is called,
occur on the arch of Titus at Rome, and on antiquities found in the
Catacombs at Rome. The primitive form of candlestick was a torch made of
slips of bark, vine tendrils or wood dipped in wax or tallow, tied
together and held in the hand by the lower end, such as are frequently
figured on ancient painted vases. The next step was to attach to them a
cup (_discus_) to catch the dripping wax or tallow.

A candlestick may be either "flat" or "tall." The former has a short
stem, rising from a dish, and is usually furnished with an extinguisher
fitting into a socket; the latter has a pillar which may be only a few
inches in height or may rise to several feet, and rarely has an
extinguisher. The flat variety is sometimes called a "bedroom
candlestick." The beginnings of this interesting and often beautiful
appliance are not exactly known, but it dates certainly as far back as
the 14th century and is probably older. It is most usually of metal,
earthenware or china, but originally it was made of some hard wood and
had no socketed pillar, the candle fitting upon a metal spike, in the
fashion still familiar in the case of many church candlesticks. It has
been constantly influenced by mobiliary and architectural fashions, and
has varied, as it still varies, from the severest simplicity of form and
material to the most elaborate artistic treatment and the costliest
materials--gold and silver, crystal, marble and enamel. Previous to the
17th century, iron, latten, bronze and copper were chiefly used, but
thenceforward the most elegant examples were chiefly of silver, though
in more modern periods Sheffield plate, silver plate and china became
exceedingly popular. Sometimes the base and sconce are of one material
and the pillar of another, as when the former are of silver and the
pillar of marble or china. The choice and combination of materials are,
indeed, infin