But another Mode may be substituted, which has less the appearance of
a hard varnish, and may always be applied so as to restore the
pristine beauty of the furniture by a little manual labour. Heat a
gallon of water, in which dissolve one pound and a half of potash; and
a pound of virgin wax, boiling the whole for half an hour, then suffer
it to cool, when the wax will float on the surface. Put the wax into a
mortar, and triturate it with a marble pestle, adding soft water to it
until it forms a soft paste, which, laid neatly on furniture, or even
on paintings, and carefully rubbed when dry with a woollen rag, gives
a polish of great brilliancy, without the harshness of the drier
varnishes.