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diff --git a/25294-h/25294-h.htm b/25294-h/25294-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..110e9a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/25294-h/25294-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8694 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chats On Household Curios, by Fred W. Burgess. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + h3 { + text-align: left; + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .lowercase{text-transform: lowercase;} + ul.IX { + list-style-type: none; + font-size:inherit; /* i.e. from the div class="index" container */ + } + .IX li { /* list items in an index: compressed vertically */ + margin-top: 0; + } + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i16 {display: block; margin-left: 16em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chats on Household Curios, by Fred W. Burgess + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Chats on Household Curios + +Author: Fred W. Burgess + +Release Date: May 2, 2008 [EBook #25294] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATS ON HOUSEHOLD CURIOS *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></span></p> + + + +<h1 style="text-align: left;">CHATS ON<br /> +HOUSEHOLD<br /> +CURIOS +<img src="images/001.png" width="48" height="20" alt="" title="" /> +</h1> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a></span></p> + +<h2>BOOKS FOR COLLECTORS</h2> + +<p class='center'> +<i>With Frontispieces and many Illustrations<br /> +Large Crown 8vo, cloth.</i></p> +<p> +<b>CHATS ON ENGLISH CHINA.</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Hayden</span>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD FURNITURE.</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Hayden</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD PRINTS.</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Hayden</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON COSTUME.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">G. Woolliscroft Rhead</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD LACE AND NEEDLEWORK.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">E. L. Lowes</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON ORIENTAL CHINA.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">J. F. Blacker</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD MINIATURES.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By J. J. Foster, F.S.A.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON ENGLISH EARTHENWARE.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Hayden</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON AUTOGRAPHS.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">A. M. Broadley</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON PEWTER.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">H. J. L. J. Massé, M.A.</span><br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Fred. J. Melville</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD JEWELLERY AND TRINKETS.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">MacIver Percival</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON COTTAGE AND FARMHOUSE FURNITURE.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Hayden</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD COINS.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Fred. W. Burgess</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD COPPER AND BRASS.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Fred. W. Burgess</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON HOUSEHOLD CURIOS.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Fred. W. Burgess</span>.<br /></span> +</p> +<p class='center'> +<i>In Preparation.</i></p> +<p> +<b>CHATS ON BARGAINS.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Charles E. Jerningham</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON JAPANESE PRINTS.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Davison Ficke</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD CLOCKS AND WATCHES.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Hayden</span>.<br /></span> +<br /> +<b>CHATS ON OLD SILVER.<br /></b> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Hayden</span>.<br /></span> +</p> + +<p class='center'> +LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.<br /> +NEW YORK: F. A. STOKES COMPANY.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 411px;"><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a><a name="FIG_1" id="FIG_1"></a> +<img src="images/fig_1.jpg" width="411" height="600" alt="FIG. 1.—OLD FIREPLACE, SHOWING SUSSEX BACK, ANDIRONS, AND TRIVET. + +Frontispiece." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 1.—OLD FIREPLACE, SHOWING SUSSEX BACK, ANDIRONS, AND TRIVET. +<br /><br /> +Frontispiece.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1 style="color: red;"> +<span class="smcap">Chats on<br /> +Household Curios</span><br /> +</h1> +<p class='center'>BY<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: x-large; color: red;">FRED. W. BURGESS<br /></span> +<br /> +AUTHOR OF "CHATS ON OLD COINS," "CHATS ON OLD<br /> +COPPER AND BRASS," ETC.<br /> +<br /> +WITH 94 ILLUSTRATIONS<br /> +<br /> +LONDON +<br /> +<span style="color: red;">T. FISHER UNWIN<br /></span> +ADELPHI TERRACE<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class='center'><i>First published in 1914</i></p> + +<p class='center'>(<i>All rights reserved</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">{7}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>There is a peculiar charm about the relics found +in an old home—a home from which many generations +of fledglings have flown. As each milestone +in family history is passed some once common +object of use or ornament is dropped by the way. +Such interesting mementoes of past generations +accumulate, and in course of time the older ones +become curios.</p> + +<p>It is to create greater interest in these old-world +odds and ends—some of trifling value to an outsider, +others of great intrinsic worth—that this book +has been written. The love of possession is to +some possessors the chief delight; to others knowledge +of the original purposes and uses of the +objects acquired affords still greater pleasure. My +intention has been rather to assist the latter class +of collectors than to facilitate the mere assemblage +of additional stores of curiosities. It is truly astonishing +how rapidly the common uses of even household +furnishings and culinary utensils are forgotten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">{8}</a></span> +when they are superseded by others of more +modern type.</p> + +<p>The modern art of to-day and the revival of the +much older furniture of the past have driven out +the household gods of intermediate dates, and it +is in that period intervening between the two extremes +that most of the household curios reviewed +in this work are found. Although many of the +finest examples of household curios are now in +museums, private collectors often possess exceptional +specimens, and sometimes own the most +representative groups of those things upon which +they have specialized.</p> + +<p>The examples in this book have been drawn from +various sources. As in "Chats on Old Copper and +Brass" (which may almost be regarded as a companion +work), the illustrations are taken from photographs +of typical museum curios and objects in +private collections, or have been specially sketched +by my daughter, who has had access to many interesting +collections, to the owners of which I am +indebted for the illustrations I am able to make +use of.</p> + +<p>My thanks are due to the Directors of the +British Museum, who have allowed their printers, +the University Press, Oxford, to supply electros +of some exceptional objects now in the Museum; +also to the Director of the Victoria and Albert +Museum, at South Kensington; and the Director<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">{9}</a></span> +of the London Museum, now located at Stafford +House.</p> + +<p>Dr. Hoyle, the Director of the National Museum +of Wales, at Cardiff, has most kindly had specially +prepared for this work quite a number of photographs +of very uncommon household curios. The +Curator of the Hull Museum has loaned blocks, +and photographs have been sent by Messrs. Egan +and Co., Ltd., of Cork; Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge; +and Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin. To +Mr. Evans, of Nailsea Court, Somerset, I am indebted +for the loan of his unrivalled collection +of ancient nutcrackers, some of which have been +sketched for reproduction. I have also made use +of examples in the collections of private friends, +and illustrated some of my own household curios, +many of them family relics.</p> + +<p>The story of domestic curios is made the more +useful by these illustrations, and also by references to +well-known collections. There is much to admire in +the once common objects of the home, now curios, +and it is in the hope that some may be led to +appreciate more the antiques with which they are +familiar that these pages have been penned. If that +is achieved my object will have been accomplished.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"> +FRED. W. BURGESS.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">London</span>, 1914.<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">{11}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE LOVE OF THE ANTIQUE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>No place like home—Curios in the making—The influence of +prevailing styles—A cultivated taste.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE INGLE SIDE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fire-making appliances—Tinder boxes—The fireplace—Andirons and +fire-dogs—Sussex backs—Fireirons and fenders—Trivets and +stools—Bellows.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE LIGHTS OF FORMER DAYS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Rushlights and holders—Candles, moulds, and boxes—Snuffers, trays, +and extinguishers—Oil lamps—Lanterns.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">{12}</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TABLE APPOINTMENTS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cutlery: Knives, forks, and spoons—Salt cellars—Cruet +stands—Punch and toddy—Porringers and cups—Trays and +waiters—The tea table—Cream jugs—Sugar tongs and +nippers—Caddies—Cupids—Nutcrackers—Turned woodware.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE KITCHEN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The kitchen grate—Boilers and kettles—Grills and +gridirons—Cooking utensils—Warming pans.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>HOME ORNAMENTS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mantelpiece ornaments—Vases—Derbyshire Spars—Jade or spleen +stone—Wood carvings—Old gilt.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>GLASS AND ENAMELS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Waterford, Bristol, and Nailsea—Ornaments of glass—Enamels on +metal.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>LEATHER AND HORN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Spanish leather—Cuir boulli work—Tapestry and upholstery—Leather +bottles and drinking vessels—Leather curios—Shoes—Horn work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">{13}</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE TOILET TABLE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The table and its secrets—Combs—Patch boxes—Enamelled +objects—Perfume boxes and holders—Dressing +cases—Scratchbacks—Toilet chatelaines—Locks of hair—Jewel +cabinets.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE OLD WORKBOX</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Spinning wheels—Materials and work—Little +accessories—Cutlery—Quaint woodwork—The needlewoman—Old +samplers.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE LIBRARY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From cover to cover—Old scrap books—Almanacs—The writing table.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE SMOKER'S CABINET</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Old pipes—Pipe racks—Tobacco boxes—Smokers' tongs and +stoppers—Snuff boxes and rasps.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>LOVE TOKENS AND LUCKY EMBLEMS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Amulets—Horse trappings—Emblems of luck—Love spoons—Glass +curios.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">{14}</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MARKING OF TIME</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Clocks—Watches—Watch keys—Watch stands.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_309">309</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Early examples—Whistles and pipes—Violins and harps.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PLAY AND SPORT</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dolls—Toys—Old games—Outdoor amusements—Relics of sport.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>MISCELLANEOUS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dower chests—Medicine chests—Old lacquer—The tool chest—Egyptian +curios—Ancient spectacles—Curious chinaware—Garden curios—The +mounting of curios—Obsolete household names.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_357">357</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">{15}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>FIG.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1. OLD FIREPLACE, SHOWING SUSSEX BACK, ANDIRONS, AND TRIVET</td><td align='left'><i><a href="#Frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>2. ANDIRONS WITH RATCHETS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>3. ORNAMENTED CRESSET DOGS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>4. TELESCOPIC RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>5. RATCHET RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>6. ANCIENT ROMAN FIRE-DOG</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>7. SUSSEX GRATE BACK, DATED 1588</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>8. THREE SINGLE DOGS OR ANDIRONS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>9. PAIR OF DATED SUSSEX ANDIRONS (1625)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>10. PAIR OF SUSSEX ANDIRONS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>11. SUSSEX BACK WITH ROYAL EMBLEMS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>12. SUSSEX BACK WITH ARMS AND ROYAL INITIALS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>13. FINE CARVED WALNUT WOOD BELLOWS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>14. THREE RUSHLIGHT HOLDERS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>15. THREE VARIETIES OF OLD OIL LAMPS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>16. TWO WALNUT WOOD FLOOR-CANDLESTICKS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>17. FINE PAIR OF ANCIENT SNUFFERS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_73">73</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">{16}</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>18. HANDSOMELY DECORATED KNIFE CASE AND CONTENTS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>19. KNIFE, FORK, AND SPOON</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>20. PAIR OF DECORATED SPOONS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>21. TWO WOODEN CUPS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>22. WOODEN FLAGON, WITH COPPER BANDS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>23. A COCOANUT CUP (SILVER-MOUNTED)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>24. A COCOANUT CUP (SILVER-MOUNTED)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>25. COCOANUT FLAGON</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>26. EARLY ENGLISH BRONZE EWER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>27. INSCRIBED SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY WOOD DRINKING CUP</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>28-30. EARLY CARVED WOOD NUTCRACKERS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>31-34. MEDIÆVAL WOOD NUTCRACKERS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>35-39. EARLY STEEL AND BRASS NUTCRACKERS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>40. TWO ANTIQUE WARMING PANS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>41. WELSH KITCHEN FIREPLACE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>42. MECHANICAL ROASTING JACKS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>43-46. GRIDIRONS SHOWING FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN DESIGN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>47 AND 48. TWO WOODEN FOOD BOXES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>49. A COLLECTION OF IRON FAT BOATS AND GREASE PANS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>50. WOODEN COFFEE CRUSHERS AND PESTLES AND MORTAR</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>51. APPLE SCOOPS OF BONE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_139">139</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">{17}</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>52. WOODEN PIGGINS AND PORRIDGE BOWL</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>53. WOODEN PLATTER, BOWL, AND SPOONS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>54. BRASS CHIMNEY ORNAMENT (ONE OF A PAIR)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>55. BLACK AND GOLD DERBYSHIRE MARBLE VASE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>56. TEMPLE GUARDIAN, CARVED FROM THE GNARLED ROOT OF A TREE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>57. CARVED PLAQUE STAND</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>58 AND 59. MINIATURE COPPER AND SILVER KETTLES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>60. MINIATURE IVORY COFFEE BOILER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>61. TWO OLD-GILT JEWELLED ORNAMENTS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>62. THREE FINE OLD IVORIES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>63. BATTERSEA ENAMELS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>64. ANTIQUE DRESSING OR TOILET GLASS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>65. THREE OLD SCRATCHBACKS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>66. SILVER CHATELAINE TOILET INSTRUMENTS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>67. ANOTHER CHATELAINE SET</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>68. FINE ORIENTAL LACQUERED BOX</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>69. SMALL LACQUER CABINET</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>70. A PAGODA-SHAPED CASKET</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>71. DECORATED JEWEL CASE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>72. OLD SPINNING WHEEL</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>73. SPINNING WHEEL</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>74. OLD LACE BOBBINS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>75. OLD PIN POPPETS AND ANCIENT PINS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>76. THREE OLD WORKBOXES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_243">243</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">{18}</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>77. OLD WORKBOX FITTINGS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>78. ANCIENT CLOG ALMANAC</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>79. OLD COIN TESTER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>80. MINIATURE SOUVENIR ALMANAC</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>81. ANCIENT WRITING SET</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>82. THREE CURIOUS PIPE-STOPPERS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>83. BRASS TOBACCO BOX</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>84. COLLECTION OF HARNESS AMULETS AND TEAM BELLS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>85. OLD WELSH LOVE SPOONS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>86. FINE GOTHIC FRENCH CLOCK</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>87. SPECIMENS OF OLD WATCH KEYS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>88. TWO ANTIQUE WATCH CASES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_303">303</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>89. OLD SPINET</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>90. CURIOUS TYPES OF WHISTLES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>91. QUAINT OLD TOY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>92. A POWDER TESTER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>93. A PRIMING FLASK</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>94. OLD POWDER FLASKS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_343">343</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">{19}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">I<br /> +<br /> +THE LOVE<br /> +OF THE<br /> +ANTIQUE</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">{21}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<br /> +THE LOVE OF THE ANTIQUE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>No place like home—Curios in the making—The influence of prevailing +styles—A cultivated taste.</p></div> + + +<p>There is an inborn love of the antique in most +men, although some are fond of asserting that their +interests are bound up in the modern, and that they +have no time to devote to the study of the antiquities +of past ages or the things that were fashionable +in times long past. Yet most people, when their +secret longings are analysed, are found to have +an admiration for the old; if not a superstitious +veneration, at any rate a desire to perpetuate the +memory of their ancestors and to keep in mind the +things with which they were familiar. The wealthy +man of to-day, who may have sprung from the +people, secretly, if not openly, endeavours to surround +himself with household gods which tell of a +longer past and a closer relationship with the well-to-do +than he can legitimately claim. In the pursuit +of such things many a man has found his hobby; +and there are few men who do not find recreation +and delight in a hobby of some kind. Such interests<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">{22}</a></span> +outside their regular occupations broaden their outlook +and widen their knowledge. Some hobbies +tend to lead to specialization, and the specialist is +apt to become warped and narrowed; not so, however, +the collector of household curios.</p> + + +<h3>No Place Like Home.</h3> + +<p>It would be difficult to find greater delight than +that which centres in those things that concern the +home and home life. The love of the old homestead +and the goods and chattels it contains is ingrained +in the breast of every Britisher; and although families +become scattered and some of their members find +homes of their own beyond the seas, they find the +greatest delight in the objects with which they were +familiar in years gone by, and venerate the relics of +former generations—the household gods which have +been handed on from father to son.</p> + +<p>It is not the intrinsic value of the household curio +that is its chief charm; it is rather the knowledge +that its long association with those who have claimed +its ownership from the time when it was "new" has +made it truly a family relic. These thoughts, being +so deeply rooted in the minds of most men and +women, foster the love of household curios and +intensify the interest shown in their possession.</p> + +<p>To all it is not given to own family relics; neither +would they serve to satiate the ambition of the true +collector, although they might form the nucleus of +his collection. He seeks other treasures in the town +and in the country and wherever such things are +offered for sale.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">{23}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>Curios in the Making.</h3> + +<p>The domestic habits of the people of this and +other civilized countries have been the outcome of +a slow process of upbuilding. There has been no +sudden change; in all grades and under every +different social condition, at every period, the improvement +of the furnishings of the home has been +one of gradual and, for the most part, steady +progress.</p> + +<p>There was a time when, beyond the bare furniture, +tapestry hangings, tools of the craftsmen, and +weapons of the warrior, there were few household +goods of a portable nature. In mediæval England +the oak chest was sufficient to contain the valuables +of a large household; and very often beyond a +cabinet or sideboard or corner cupboard there were +few receptacles where anything of value could be +safeguarded. The dower chest, in which the bride +brought to her husband household linen and her +stock of clothing, and in the wooden compartment +in one corner of the chest her jewels and coin of the +realm—if she possessed any—was then a prominent +piece of furniture. The oak chest, rendered formidable +with its massive lock and bolts, opened with a +ponderous key, was the chosen receptacle in after-years +as a treasure chest, and regarded as the safest +place in which to keep valuable documents and other +property. In the Public Record Office may be seen +the old iron box in which the Domesday Book was +kept for many centuries. The old City Companies +have their treasure chests still; and boxes studded +over with iron nails and fitted with large hasps and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">{24}</a></span> +locks are pointed out in many old houses as +passports to family standing.</p> + +<p>The household curios which a collector seeks include +objects of utility and ornament. Many of +them are associated with household work, and quite +a number of one-time kitchen and culinary utensils, +as well as those which were once cherished in the +best parlour or withdrawing-room, are found places +among such curios. During the last few years +domestic architecture has passed through several +stages of advancement. The stiff and formal +Georgian houses, the painful Victorian villas, and +some of the earlier attempts at architectural improvement +have been swept away to make room +for modern replicas of still older styles which have +been revived or incorporated in the <i>nouvre</i> art, which +touches the home in its architecture and internal +decoration, as well as in its furnishings. In modern +dwellings the Elizabethan style has often been followed, +although modern conveniences have been +incorporated. When furnishing such houses with +suitable replicas of the antique the householders of +the last quarter of a century have been unconsciously, +perhaps, fostering the love of household +antiques and providing fitting homes for their +family curios.</p> + + +<h3>The Day of the Curio Hunter.</h3> + +<p>This is admittedly the day of curio hunting, and +those who specialize on household curios have exceptional +opportunities of displaying them to better +advantage than those who cared for such things in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">{25}</a></span> +the past. Perhaps it is because there were so few +opportunities of arranging and displaying household +antiques during the last three-quarters of the nineteenth +century that many objects now treasured +have been preserved so fresh and kept in such +excellent condition. The housewives of the past +generation were undoubtedly conservative in their +retention of old household goods, and it is to their +careful preservation that so many objects of interest, +although perhaps fully a century old, come to the +collector in such perfect condition.</p> + +<p>The patient labour expended by the amateur +artist, the needleworker, and the connoisseur of +home art a generation or two ago has provided the +collector to-day with an exceptionally interesting class +of curio, for there is much to admire in amateur +craftsmanship, and especially in the handiwork of +the needlewoman and the weaver and decorator of +so many beautiful textiles which have been preserved +to us. Sentiment was strong in the early nineteenth +century, and among the love tokens of that day, +chiefly the work of amateurs, some very beautiful +and unique curios were produced. These, too, have +come down to the collector of the twentieth century, +and help him to secure specimens representing every +decade, so that in a large collection, carefully selected, +the slow and yet sure progress made in the fine arts, +and the improvement in the ornamental surroundings +in the home, is made clear. In each one of the +different groups into which household curios may be +divided there are many distinctive objects, all of +which are in themselves interesting, but when viewed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">{26}</a></span> +in association with other things which have been +used at contemporary periods, or associated with the +home life of persons similarly situated, but dwelling +in different localities, are doubly interesting.</p> + + +<h3>The Influence of Prevailing Styles.</h3> + +<p>In determining the origin of curios, and defining +the periods during which they have been made, it is +useful to have at least a little knowledge of the +influence or character of the prevailing styles in the +countries of origin. French art has exercised a great +influence upon the productions of other nations; it +has also been moulded by the curios and other +articles of foreign origin then being sold in France. +Regal and political influence have left their mark +upon almost every period of French art, and have +had much to do with the contemporary art of other +nations, for France was for centuries a guide in most +of the fine arts, and especially in those things which +tended towards decorative effect. The furniture of +France may be said to be an exponent of the +country's history, so great has been the connection +between French art, controlled by passing events, +and its commercial products. It is said that the +State pageants of the Louis XIV period tended to +raise the tone of the work of French artisans and +to encourage artists. That was a period of great +development, for in the year 1670 the famous tapestry +factories sprang into existence; and it must be +admitted that the designing of those wonderful textiles +influenced the manufacturers of furniture and +smaller objects both in France and in other countries.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">{27}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 433px;"><a name="FIG_2-5" id="FIG_2-5"></a> +<img src="images/fig_2-5.jpg" width="433" height="600" alt="FIG. 2.—ANDIRONS WITH RATCHETS. +FIG. 3.—ORNAMENTED CRESSET DOGS. +FIG. 4.—TELESCOPIC RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER. +FIG. 5.—RATCHET RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER." title="" /><br /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 2.—ANDIRONS WITH RATCHETS.<br /> +FIG. 3.—ORNAMENTED CRESSET DOGS.<br /> +FIG. 4.—TELESCOPIC RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER.<br /> +FIG. 5.—RATCHET RUSH AND CANDLE HOLDER.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">{29}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a></span></p> + +<p>Sir Christopher Wren is reputed to have been +carried away by the influence of the Louis XIV +art. It was in that King's reign, too, that Charles +Boule perfected his veneers of tortoiseshell and fine +brass work. Buhl cabinets, fancy boxes, and many +smaller objects found their way into this country, +and are now household curios. When Philip of +Orleans was Regent of France Boule introduced +vermilion and gold-leaf as the groundwork upon +which to throw up the beauty of tortoiseshell, and +his designs became lavishly extravagant. Of these +there are some beautiful examples extant; one, +a facsimile of a bureau made in Paris in 1769, so +elaborate that its cost was reputed to have been +about £20,000, is to be seen in the Wallace Collection +at Hertford House. In the reign of Louis XV +great encouragement was given to the importation +of lacquer work from China, influencing the creation +of similar works in France; and it was owing to +his support that the Vernis Martin enamels or +varnishes were produced. Then came those beautiful +paintings of landscapes with which so many of the +rarer household curios dating from that period were +ornamented.</p> + +<p>The French style came over the Channel. Thus +it was that French influence, as shown in its art in +which its political history was reflected, permeated +into the workshops of England. Then came the +popularity of the designs of the Adam Brothers and +Sheraton. During the Revolution in France art was +at a standstill, but as soon as Napoleon had established +his Empire artistic France began again, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">{30}</a></span> +we see its influence in the Empire ornament of +furniture and curios. Perhaps one of the most +striking instances of change in style was that in +our own country when the Prince of Orange came +over and William and Mary were crowned King +and Queen. Dutch influence on the art of Great +Britain was immediately seen, and in the curios of +that period there is a remarkable difference between +those produced at that time, when Englishmen were +content to allow the art of another nation to dominate +their work, and those of an earlier date. Dutch +marquetry is seen in cabinets and smaller household +antiques in the manufacture of which panels were +applicable. There was a change in design about +the year 1695, just after Mary died, the characteristic +seaweed following the floral, as if the very +flowers had been banished after the Queen's death. +The influence of the King and of his successors +was very noticeable in the style and decoration of +household goods; the history of this country at that +time, just as the history of France had been, was +reflected in the art of its craftsmen.</p> + + +<h3>A Cultivated Taste.</h3> + +<p>The love of the antique is regarded by some as a +cultivated taste. The specialization upon any one +branch of household curios may justly be regarded +as such, but surely not the regard, almost reverence, +for family relics, although they are but the common +things of everyday life! Their collection stimulates +the connoisseur, and encourages him to fresh exertions, +and in that sense the habit of keeping a keen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">{31}</a></span> +look out for anything that may illumine previous +researches or add greater lustre to those things +already secured, is gradually cultivated.</p> + +<p>Household curios are not unassociated with the +folklore of the district where such objects have +been made, or were commonly in use; and the very +names of many things, the uses of which are almost +forgotten, are suggestive of former occupations and +older methods of practising household economy and +the preparation of food. It is common knowledge +that the purest old English is met with in the dialects +of the countryside, and oftentimes once household +words, now lost in modern speech, are found again +when the old names or original purposes of the curios +remaining to us are discovered. The cultivation of +a taste for gathering together household antiques +is much to be desired, and in the pursuit of such +knowledge there is great pleasure—and as the value +of genuine antiques is ever rising, some profit, too.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">{33}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">II<br /> +<br /> +THE<br /> +INGLE<br /> +SIDE</h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">{35}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<br /> +THE INGLE SIDE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Fire-making appliances—Tinder boxes—The fireplace—Andirons and +fire-dogs—Sussex backs—Fireirons and fenders—Trivets and +stools—Bellows.</p></div> + + +<p>In winter the ingle side, or its equivalent in a modern +house, appears to be the chief centre of attraction. +It was ever so; and to-day the lessened necessity for +crowding round the fire and sitting in the ingle nook, +owing to modern methods of distributing the heat, +in no way lessens the attraction which draws an +Englishman to the fire. In the United States of +America stoves of various kinds are deemed good +substitutes, but in this country the open fire is +preferred, and modern scientific research aims at +perfecting and improving existing accepted methods +of heating and warming rooms rather than of +displacing them.</p> + +<p>In the days when the earliest collectable curios of +the ingle side were being made by the village smith, +and the local sculptor and mason were preparing the +chimney corner and the mantelpiece to surround the +fireplace, it was in front of the great open fire in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">{36}</a></span> +kitchen, before which the large joints were roasted, +that the retainers of the baron and the landowner +or lord of the manor assembled on winter nights. It +was around the fire which crackled on the hearth +in the great hall that the more favoured ones forgathered, +and in the lesser homestead the family +drew up their chairs and found seats in the ingle +nook, near the fire, when snow was upon the ground, +and frost and cold draughts made them shiver in the +houseplace.</p> + +<p>The fireplace has its attractions still, and builders +and architects have designed many cosy corners +within reach of the fire. The furnishings of the +hearth have become more decorative as times have +become more luxurious and art has gained the +ascendant; and sometimes their greater ornament +has been at the sacrifice of utility, but the root +principles of construction as seen in the older +grates and fire appointments remain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">{37}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 495px;"><a name="FIG_6" id="FIG_6"></a> +<img src="images/fig_6.jpg" width="495" height="400" alt="FIG. 6.—ANCIENT ROMAN FIRE-DOG. + +(In the National Museum at Naples.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 6.—ANCIENT ROMAN FIRE-DOG. +<br /> +(<i>In the National Museum at Naples.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 478px;"><a name="FIG_7" id="FIG_7"></a> +<img src="images/fig_7.jpg" width="478" height="400" alt="FIG. 7.—SUSSEX GRATE BACK, DATED 1588." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 7.—SUSSEX GRATE BACK, DATED 1588.</span> +</div> + + +<h3>Fire-making Appliances.</h3> + +<p>It seems natural to inquire into the origin of the +need of a fireplace, and to do so we must go back +to prehistoric times and trace the discovery of fire-making +apparatus, for without the means of lighting +a fire it is obvious that the grate would be useless. +With the fire came artificial light, the two great discoveries +being perfected side by side, sometimes the +one gaining ground, at others the one that had fallen +behind shooting ahead as the result of some great +discovery, or the application of scientific principles +not deemed of utility to the one or the other as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">{39}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a></span> +case might be. The fire-making appliances which +were in use for the purpose of lighting fires were +of course used long before any scheme of artificial +lighting—apart from the flames and radiance from +the fire. Professor Flinders Petrie, that great investigator +into the antiquities of the Ancients, tells us that +fire-making by friction has been found to exist in far-off +times. It would appear that the discovery of how +to produce fire has been accomplished independently +by men living under very different conditions and +at all ages. The fire-making of the Ancients has +been rediscovered by primitive people in more recent +days, although it is probable that native races who +until recently have been living apart from the great +world outside have moved slowly in their march of +civilization, and have been using the same methods +as those first tried by their ancestors ages ago. In +the unrivalled collection of appliances got together +by Professor Petrie, there are fire drills from the +Transvaal, bow drills used by the Esquimaux, and +fire ploughs from North Queensland. Lighting fires +must have been a slow and difficult task in the days +when tinder boxes were in request, for when Curfew +rang and the <i>couvre de feu</i> had done its work there +was no fire in which to thrust the torch, and the +entire process had to be gone over again when the +fire had once more to be kindled.</p> + + +<h3>Tinder Boxes.</h3> + +<p>The tinder box, formerly a real necessary, was to +be found in every house, and in many instances, in +the days before lucifer matches, it was a desirable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">{40}</a></span> +pocket companion. Tinder boxes were made of +different materials; some were of wood, others of +iron or brass. They lent themselves to ornamentation: +thus some were engraved and quite artistic; +many of the more recent ones were made of tin, and +on the covers were decorative little scenes. The +contents of the tinder boxes were of course flint +and steel and tinder (something very inflammable, +such as scorched linen), with a damper for extinguishing +the smouldering fire after a light had been +obtained, or in later days by the sulphur-tipped +match applied to it. Among the varieties are what +are termed pistol tinder boxes, instruments which +contained a small charge of gunpowder, which, when +fired, lighted the tinder. Tinder pouches or purses +containing flint and tinder having a piece of steel +riveted on to the edge of the purse or pouch were +a common form. Those brought over from Central +Asia were frequently decorated with dragons and the +swastika symbol, in damascened work.</p> + +<p>Many inventions were put forward by chemists +before the perfecting of the common match, the wax +vesta, and the fusee. One of these was Berry's +apparatus, which he devised in the beginning of +the nineteenth century, calling it a "contrivance +for lighting lamps in the dark." It consisted of an +acid bottle with a string by which a conical stopper +could be raised, and a chlorate match held against +the stopper became ignited.</p> + +<p>Match boxes are collectable, and collectors of fire-making +and lighting contrivances often include a +few old matches. The lucifer match consisted of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">{41}</a></span> +sticks tipped with potassium chlorate and sugar, +held together with gum, igniting when touched with +concentrated sulphuric acid. They were invented in +1805, and by the year 1820 had quite taken the place +of tinder boxes. Various lighting pastes were used, +until the improvements which resulted in the "safety" +matches. The dangerous sulphur and white phosphorus +have given place in modern match-making to +sesqui-sulphate mixtures; and wax vestas and other +"strikers" have superseded the curious objects the +collector meets with.</p> + + +<h3>The Fireplace.</h3> + +<p>In studying the curios of the fireplace, it is scarcely +necessary to go back beyond the grates and fire +appointments which may be seen in the old houses +standing to-day. Even during the last generation +or two there have been many changes, and in rebuilding +and refurnishing the antiquities of the fireplace +have in many instances been swept away. +During more recent days, however, there has been +a greater appreciation of the curio value of mantelpieces +and old grates, and it is no uncommon thing +for hundreds and even thousands of pounds to be +paid for rare specimens.</p> + +<p>In some instances the fireplace may truly be said +to have been the central attraction, for the old grates +and mantelpieces have often realized as much as the +whole of the remainder of the materials secured when +an old house has been pulled down. Some of these +mantelpieces of olden time were magnificent memorials +of the sculptor's and the carver's art. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">{42}</a></span> +included overmantels, the entire breastwork of the +chimney often being covered with stone or marble +or black oak, right up to the ceiling or the +cornice.</p> + +<p>The open hearth was the earlier form of fireplace, +and long before chimneys were built logs of wood +burned on it, and in still earlier times in a basket +or brazier, the smoke finding its way to the roof, the +rafters of which soon became blackened. Chimneys, +however, are of early date, and the household curios +of the fireplace have almost entirely been used under +such conditions of fuel consumption, the up-draught +of the chimney carrying away the smoke and harmful +gases. The firebacks and the andirons, and later +the fire-dogs, of the open fireplaces are collectable +curios of considerable interest, and the hobby may +be indulged in at a moderate cost. The collection +of mantelpieces may be left to the wealthy and to +those who have baronial halls in which to refix them. +Fig. <a href="#FIG_1">1</a> represents an old fireplace in a panelled oak +room with a Tudor ceiling. There is a Sussex back +of rather small size, and a pair of andirons, on which +a log of wood is shown reposing. An old saucepan +has been reared up in the corner, and there is a +trivet on the hearth. There is a very remarkable +group of cresset dogs shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_2-5">2</a>. One pair +of dogs or andirons has ratchets on which supplementary +bars were placed. These show an early +advance from the simple andiron, and point to the +later developments of the fire-grate with the fast +bars which were to come. In the same group two +rush-holders or candlesticks are shown, one with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">{43}</a></span> +ratchet, the other adjusted on a simple rod, the socket +being held in place by a spring (see Figs. <a href="#FIG_2-5">4</a> and <a href="#FIG_2-5">5</a>).</p> + +<p>As time went on and change of fuel came about, +the forests of England being gradually consumed on +the domestic hearth, coal was substituted for the fast-vanishing +wood. Then it was that a change was +needed, and instead of the open fireplace and the +andirons on which the logs of wood had formerly +been laid, iron baskets or grates in which coal could +be placed were made, so that the scattering of fuel +and cinders on the open hearth could be prevented. +Sussex backs gave place in time to the grate in +which a metal back was frequently incorporated, +flanked by the dogs in front. Then came the closed-in +grates and the hob-registers of the eighteenth +century, many being designed after the beautiful +ornamentation produced by the Adam Brothers; +also the decorative metal work enriched with ormolu +and brass, which in due course again gave way to +the plain and oftentimes ugly register grates of the +Victorian Age, which in more modern times have +been displaced by the reproductions of the antique, +and by well-grates and scientifically constructed +stoves and heating radiators by which heat can be +conserved, the draught of the fire and the chimney +regulated, and the coal burned more economically +on slow-combustion and semi-slow-combustion principles. +Science has taught builders and others how +to radiate the heat, and prevent that waste which +formerly went up the chimney, so that the necessity +to sit round the fire is not as great as it once was, +and rooms large and small are more evenly heated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">{44}</a></span> +The fireplace has once more become a thing of +beauty, and all its appointments are rendered harmonious +with the furnishings of the home, whether +they are modern replicas of the homesteads of earlier +periods or constructed according to the newer art of +the present day.</p> + + +<h3>Andirons and Fire-dogs.</h3> + +<p>The brazier on a piece of stone in the centre of the +room served well when charcoal was plentiful, and +although the smoke ascended amidst the rafters the +heat spread and there was plenty of room for many +persons to assemble "around" the fire. With chimneys +built at the side of the house for convenience, +the timber was laid upon the hearth flag. Under +the conditions that appertained when great open +chimneys allowed the rain and snow to fall upon +the fire or on the logs laid ready for the burning, the +difficulties of lighting a fire were experienced. Then +the local smith came to the aid of the "domestic" or +serf, and hammered into shape what were termed +andirons, their use making it easier to light the logs, +giving a current of air under them, causing them to +burn brighter. The andirons were afterwards called +fire-dogs, and in course of time bars rested on hooks +or ratchets, or were laid across the dogs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">{45}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 549px;"><a name="FIG_8" id="FIG_8"></a> +<img src="images/fig_8.jpg" width="549" height="400" alt="FIG. 8.—THREE SINGLE DOGS OR ANDIRONS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 8.—THREE SINGLE DOGS OR ANDIRONS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><a name="FIG_9-10" id="FIG_9-10"></a> +<img src="images/fig_9-10.jpg" width="600" height="430" alt="FIG. 9.—PAIR OF DATED SUSSEX ANDIRONS (1625). + +FIG. 10.—PAIR OF SUSSEX ANDIRONS. + +(In the collection of Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 9.—PAIR OF DATED SUSSEX ANDIRONS (1625). +<br /> +FIG. 10.—PAIR OF SUSSEX ANDIRONS. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p>There are no records of the earliest inventors of +andirons or dogs. It is quite clear that small fire-dogs +were in use in Rome at an early period; the +one illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_6">6</a>, measuring 6¾ in. in height, +of artistic form, two draped figures being the supports +of the arch, is in the National Museum in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">{47}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a></span> +Naples, where there are many other beautiful examples +of early Roman metal work. In the seventeenth +century some of the more elaborate ornamental cast +brass fire-dogs were enriched with black and white +or blue and white enamel, several varieties of fireside +ornaments being decorated in the same way.</p> + +<p>Enamel thus applied to metal is exceptionally +valuable, as much as two hundred guineas being +paid for an enamelled pair of fire-dogs. It is the +ordinary forms of cast or wrought dogs with which +collectors are mostly familiar, especially those made +in the famous Sussex ironfields, such as those shown +in Figs. <a href="#FIG_8">8</a>, <a href="#FIG_9-10">9</a>, and <a href="#FIG_9-10">10</a>, which are of early date, the +pair illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_9-10">9</a> being dated 1625, the +others probably contemporary. Single examples of +similar designs are shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_8">8</a>. The need of the +metal furnishings of the hearth—as the chimney +places of the smaller manor houses and the dwellings +of the traders were being erected—caused an +impetus to the trade of the ironfounder and smith, +and the founders and smiths of the Sussex villages +came to the aid of the builder. There are dated +examples from the sixteenth century onwards, +recording the periods when these interesting souvenirs +of domestic building and the great Sussex +ironfields—now deserted—were in operation.</p> + + +<h3>Sussex Backs.</h3> + +<p>There is a peculiar attraction about the castings +made in Sussex in the days when the foundries of +that county were in full work, and many villages +were filled with busy pattern-makers, moulders, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">{48}</a></span> +founders carrying on a thriving industry in districts +which have now been given up to the plough; for +the Sussex ironfields have been abandoned, as when +the timber of the district was consumed it was impossible +to work the forges economically, for coal was +far distant and transport costs prohibitive. The old +grate backs for which the Sussex foundries were famous +in the seventeenth century were often modelled on +Dutch designs, and some showed German characteristics. +There are many noted English designs, +too, mostly taking the forms of coats of arms and +the shields and crests of the landlords for whom +the stove-plates were made, some becoming "stock" +patterns and often duplicated. There is quite a fine +collection of these grate backs in several museums, +and some good examples can still be bought from +dealers whose agents secure them from time to time +when property is being rebuilt. In the Victoria and +Albert Museum there is a long oblong plate on which +is cast the arms of Browne of Brenchley, in Kent, +probably made in the second half of the seventeenth +century. There are others with cherubs and curious +supporters of shields of arms. A still earlier piece, +probably cast about the year 1600, is an oblong +Sussex back deeply recessed, on which is the arms +of John Blount, Earl of Devonshire, another bearing +the Royal arms of the Tudor period. In Hampton +Court Palace there are some especially fine grate +backs, mostly bearing the Royal arms. At a little +earlier period the cast grate backs were chiefly plain +with isolated crests or designs scattered over the +surface, often quite irregularly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">{49}</a></span></p> + +<p>The three fine examples of Sussex backs illustrated +are typical of popular styles. Fig. <a href="#FIG_11">11</a> shows the +Royal lion of England, accompanied by the emblems +appearing on the Royal arms in the seventeenth +century; the Tudor rose crowned, the Scottish +thistle, and the French fleur-de-lis indicative of the +throne of France to which English sovereigns then +laid some claim. The date of this fine back is 1649. +Fig. <a href="#FIG_7">7</a> is of an earlier period, being dated 1588, +beneath which are the initials "I.F.C." There are +also roses and fleurs-de-lis, as well as anchors and +other emblems. The back shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_12">12</a> has +for its design the Royal arms surrounded by the +Garter, and the initials "C.R.," a design which was +duplicated very extensively soon after the Restoration. +It will be noticed that the Royal arms formed +the design of the Sussex back shown in position in +Fig. <a href="#FIG_1">1</a>. Some of the German and Dutch designs are +very curious, many of them representing scriptural +subjects, like Moses and the brazen serpent; the +death of Absalom; the temptation of Joseph; and +the often-repeated story of the Garden of Eden.</p> + +<p>In the American museums there are some very +interesting examples of foundry work; some of the +cast backs, evidently modelled on German or Dutch +designs, take the form of stove-plates, including both +front and side plates, mostly bearing dates in the +middle of the eighteenth century. Pennsylvania +was the chief district in which these plates were +made, some being cast by William Siegel, who went +to America from Germany in 1758, and erected what +was known as the Berkshire furnace. A curious early<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">{50}</a></span> +stove-plate in an American collection, dated 1736, has +upon it a scene known as "the dance after the wedding." +It is said to have been used in the front of +what was known as the German wall-warming stove.</p> + +<p>In form the Sussex shape is usually rectangular—that +is, wider than its height. It would appear as if +the back was at first moulded from a wooden plate, +the crest, initials, or design being then impressed by +movable moulds or stamps, generally of wood. These +were irregularly placed, consequently crowns, roses, +crosses, family badges, and all kinds of emblems +were dotted promiscuously over the plate. Some of +the plain plates with cable-twist borders were probably +used as hearthstones and not as backs. The +styles which were gradually developed were chiefly +on the same lines as those which became popular in +France. Their use lingered long in that country +for until recently in many an old family mansion +might have been seen a <i>plaque de cheminée</i>, on which +was the coat of arms and supporters of the original +owner of the château, and sometimes of the kings +of France. The Sussex ironfounders worked chiefly +at Cowden, Hawkhurst, and Lamberhurst, and there +were forges at Cranbrook, Coudhurst, Tonbridge, and +Biddenden. The principal ironmasters of Kent were +the Knights and the Tichbornes, whose descendants +became baronets.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Life is not as idle ore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But iron dug from central gloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And heated hot with burning fears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dipped in baths of hissing tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And battered with the shocks of doom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To shape and use."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i16"><span class="smcap">Tennyson</span>, <i>In Memoriam</i>.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">{51}</a></span></div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_11" id="FIG_11"></a> +<img src="images/fig_11.jpg" width="400" height="362" alt="FIG. 11.—SUSSEX BACK WITH ROYAL EMBLEMS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 11.—SUSSEX BACK WITH ROYAL EMBLEMS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_12" id="FIG_12"></a> +<img src="images/fig_12.jpg" width="400" height="319" alt="FIG. 12.—SUSSEX BACK WITH ARMS AND ROYAL INITIALS. + +(In the collection of Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 12.—SUSSEX BACK WITH ARMS AND ROYAL INITIALS. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">{53}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a></span></p> + + +<h3>Fireirons and Fenders.</h3> + +<p>Fire brasses or fireirons came into vogue with +grates, although the sets now regarded as old fire +brasses, some of which are very elaborate and massive, +made at the beginning of the nineteenth century, +were first used when fenders came into vogue; +instead of being reared up alongside the fire-dogs +in the chimney corner they rested on the fenders. +There is not much to distinguish the variations in +fireirons except the obvious indications of older +workmanship and design, when contrasted with +modern "irons." The shovel pans gave the artist +in metal some opportunity for showing his skill in +design and perforated work. It is probable that the +earliest form of shovel was that known as the "slide," +its use being to shovel up the ashes of a wood fire, an +operation necessary more frequently then than in +modern days when coal has been the principal fuel +consumed. Some of the older specimens are dated, +and bear the owner's initials; thus one authentic +specimen from Shopnoller, in the Quantock Hills, +is engraved, "I T. 1784." Many of the Dutch metal +workers produced very beautiful and decorative +stands on which miniature sets of rich brasses were +hung; some of the old English fireside stands were +arranged as receptacles for tongs, shovel, and brush, +and now and then the baluster stem supported by +a tripod base had a central attachment from which a +toddy kettle could be slung. The brass toddy kettle +formerly stood upon the hob of the grate, singing +merrily, always ready for the cup of tea which +"cheers but not inebriates," or, as was frequently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">{54}</a></span> +the case, for the preparation of hot toddy or +spirit.</p> + +<p>The evolution of the fender forms a pleasing story +in connection with the ingle side. Perhaps the earlier +form likely to interest collectors of household curios +is that made of perforated brass, often some 8 in. +or 10 in. in depth. These fenders standing on +claw feet were afterwards fitted with bottom plates of +iron, on which was a ridge or rest against which +the fire brasses were prevented from slipping. Then +came iron or steel scroll-shaped fenders, tapering +down from a few inches in height at the ends to +centres almost level with the ground. To obviate +the inconvenience of there being no resting-place +for the fireirons loose supports were fitted into +sockets at the ends, and these afterwards were cast +as part of the scroll. Then came the stiff and formal +early Victorian metal work—iron fenders with steel +tops relieved occasionally by ormolu ornament. +These in their turn gave way to fender kerbs of +metal, stone, marble, or tiles, and loose ornamented +fire-dogs which have in more recent times served +as rests for the fire brasses.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">{55}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_13" id="FIG_13"></a> +<img src="images/fig_13.jpg" width="400" height="621" alt="FIG. 13.—FINE CARVED WALNUT WOOD BELLOWS. + +(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 13.—FINE CARVED WALNUT WOOD BELLOWS. +<br /> +(<i>In the Victoria and Albert Museum.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<h3>Trivets and Stools.</h3> + +<p>Combination appliances were early adopted, +although we are apt at times to associate combined +utensils with modern innovations. The old +English trivet of wrought iron made in the eighteenth +century was frequently "improved" by the addition +of a toasting fork, which could be adjusted and set at +certain angles so that the toast could be left in front<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">{57}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a></span> +of the fire for a few moments until it was quite ready +to be taken off and put on a plate standing conveniently +on the trivet until the dish or rack of toast +was complete. (Some scarce trivets are illustrated +in "Chats on Old Copper and Brass.")</p> + +<h3>Bellows.</h3> + +<p>The Germans were noted for the manufacture +of decorative bellows cut and carved in quaint +designs, some of the finest examples being made +in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Others +were made in Holland, some of the Dutch bellows +being inlaid with mother-o'-pearl. There are also +examples of old English carving, the style of the +ornament taking the form of the designs on contemporary +oak furniture. Some of the largest and +handsomest bellows of English make are of late +seventeenth-century workmanship. The example +illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_13">13</a> is a magnificent specimen, now +in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South +Kensington.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">{59}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">III<br /> +<br /> +THE<br /> +LIGHTS OF<br /> +FORMER DAYS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">{61}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<br /> +THE LIGHTS OF FORMER DAYS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Rushlights and holders—Candles, moulds, and boxes—Snuffers, +trays, and extinguishers—Oil lamps—Lanterns.</p></div> + + +<p>Household lighting has been one continuous effort +to render the hours of darkness bright, and to provide +by artificial means a luminosity which would, if not +actually rivalling the sun, enable men to carry on +their usual avocations with the same ease, convenience, +and comfort after daylight had disappeared +as during the earlier portion of the day. Every +stage which has been advanced in artificial lighting +has been welcomed in the home just as much as in +the factory and in the workshop, for there are many +daily duties as well as pleasures and amusements +which are carried out much more satisfactorily when +a good light is available than when there are shadows +and dark corners only dimly lighted.</p> + +<p>To realize what artificial lighting was in the days +now happily long past, it would be necessary to +visit some old-world village, if one could be found, +where there had been no attempt at street lighting, +and in which not even oil had penetrated. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">{62}</a></span> +candles of very early times did not give more than a +dim glimmer, and the darkness of mediæval England +can be imagined from the primitive lighting appliances +which are preserved. Fortunately the entire +story of lighting as science came to the aid of trader +and householder is revealed in the lights of former +days, which as time went on became more varied +and numerous, found in collections of well-authenticated +specimens. The suggested caution implied +is not unnecessary, for the periods overlap, and there +is but little to show when such things as lamps and +lanterns were actually made.</p> + + +<h3>Rushlights and Holders.</h3> + +<p>In tracing the development of lighting from quite +homely beginnings, rushlights, prepared by the +cottager and the farm hand for the winter supply, +seem to come first on the list. Rushlights, however, +were used in this country by many until comparatively +recent times side by side with lights much +more advanced. But centuries earlier than we have +any record of artificial lighting in this country, and +equally as long before any of the earliest British +curios of lighting were used, lighting engineers, if we +may so call them, in Greece, Rome, Egypt, and still +earlier in other Eastern countries, were far advanced. +None of the lighting schemes of the Ancients, however, +produced much more than the dim light of the +swinging lamp in which oil was consumed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">{63}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_14" id="FIG_14"></a> +<img src="images/fig_14.jpg" width="400" height="301" alt="FIG. 14.—THREE RUSHLIGHT HOLDERS. + +(In the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 14.—THREE RUSHLIGHT HOLDERS. +<br /> +(<i>In the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_15" id="FIG_15"></a> +<img src="images/fig_15.jpg" width="400" height="303" alt="FIG. 15.—THREE VARIETIES OF OLD OIL LAMPS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 15.—THREE VARIETIES OF OLD OIL LAMPS.</span> +</div> + +<p>To range side by side a number of rushlight +holders taken from districts widely apart, it becomes +evident that there was a striking similarity between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">{65}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a></span> +the earlier types. The smiths everywhere seem to +have fashioned a simple contrivance by which the +rushlight or early candle could be held upright, and +then, to give the "stick" solidity, the iron shaft was +fastened securely into a wooden block, which was +very often quite out of proportion to the size and +weight of the stand, and apparently unnecessarily +large and heavy. In the larger examples the holder +is often made to slide upon an upright rod so as to +be useful at different heights. The sliding rod was +needed, for the light so dim could only be of real +service when quite close to the person using it, or +to the work it was intended to illumine (see Figs. +<a href="#FIG_2-5">4</a> and <a href="#FIG_2-5">5</a>).</p> + +<p>Although some of the more elaborate and advanced +holders were of copper or brass, most of them were +of iron, the work of local smiths, few of whom made +any attempt to decorate what they evidently regarded +as strictly utilitarian articles (see Fig. <a href="#FIG_14">14</a>). +Although rushlights antedated candles, some of the +holders were made to answer a dual purpose, and on +the same stem or slide as the rushlight holder there +was a candle socket, an important feature fully +exemplified in Figs. <a href="#FIG_2-5">4</a> and <a href="#FIG_2-5">5</a>.</p> + + +<h3>Candles, Moulds, and Boxes.</h3> + +<p>The collector of household curios does not trouble +about the candles; his object is to secure a few +candle moulds, candle boxes, and, of course, candlesticks. +It may, however, be convenient here to refer +to the moulding of candles which was at one time a +domestic duty just as it had been to collect rushes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">{66}</a></span> +and after they were dried dip them in fat, and to make +lights which would burn with more or less steadiness.</p> + +<p>The candles were made from various fats, much of +which was accumulated in the kitchen during the +processes of cooking, supplemented by other ingredients +deemed best for the purpose. The candle +moulds or tubes in which wicks were inserted were +of varying capacities and ranged from two to a +dozen or more. The moulds were dipped in troughs +of fat, having been heated sufficiently to melt the fat. +The process was by no means new, in that it was +used in this country by the Saxons; and at a still +earlier period candles were made by the Romans, +for among the sundry objects picked up among the +uncovered ruins of Herculaneum have been small +pieces of candle ends.</p> + +<p>There was but little advance in the art of candle-making, +for the candle, briefly described as a rod of +solidified tallow or wax surrounding a wick, remained +almost unimproved until the eighteenth century, +when spermaceti was introduced, and in more recent +years paraffin has been substituted.</p> + +<p>Candles were hung up by their wicks in bunches +until required for use, but those needed for immediate +supply were always kept in candle boxes. It +is these boxes of copper, brass, and tin which are +sought after. The decorated japanned tin boxes +are very pleasing, and some of the best, ornamented +after the "Chinese style" or painted with little +scenes, and rich in gold ornament, especially those +made with other japanned wares at Pontypool in +South Wales, are desirable acquisitions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">{67}</a></span></p> + +<p>Of the varieties of candlesticks there is no end. +The two great divisions are the pillar or table +candlesticks, and the chamber candlesticks. The +first named are chiefly seen with a small socket and +flange to catch the running tallow, the last mentioned +have larger dishes which catch the drips from +candles which are being carried about. Among the +varieties are the earliest form of pricket candlestick +on which the candle was "stuck," the bell candlesticks, +and the candlesticks which were fixed on +brackets against the wall. As time went on varied +materials were introduced, and ornament was chiefly +in accord with prevailing styles, which influenced the +maker of candlesticks as all other metal work. Iron, +copper, brass, pewter, silver, and Britannia metal and +wood have been used, and many of the handsomest +chandeliers and brackets are those made of lustres +and cut glass. The large chandeliers hung a century +or two ago at great expense in the centre of large +rooms have frequently been retained, and gas and +electric light have been introduced instead of candles. +In Fig. <a href="#FIG_16">16</a> we illustrate two exceedingly well-preserved +old walnut floor-candlesticks, with brass +sconces. They come from the Sister Isle, where +there are still curios to be met with.</p> + + +<h3>Snuffers, Trays, and Extinguishers.</h3> + +<p>There were difficulties to contend with in the use of +candles, chiefly on account of the irregular burning of +candles when exposed to the slightest draught, and +to the imperfect combustion, which left a charred +piece of wick which it was necessary to remove to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">{68}</a></span> +make the candle burn once more. Then, again, the +extinction of a burning candle involved some skill, +and instruments were devised to effect this without +causing unpleasant odours or smoke to arise. Previous +to the use of lanterns out of doors, and oftentimes +when halls and corridors were imperfectly lighted, +torches thrust into the open fire and thus lighted +were used. Extinguishers of iron were frequently +erected near an outside door, or added to the iron +railings outside the house. These were for the +purpose of extinguishing links—many such are to be +seen still outside old London houses. They were the +prototypes from which originated the ordinary form +of chamber candle extinguisher, frequently fastened +to the "stick" by a chain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">{69}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_16" id="FIG_16"></a> +<img src="images/fig_16.jpg" width="400" height="620" alt="FIG. 16.—TWO WALNUT WOOD FLOOR-CANDLESTICKS. + +(In the collection of W. Egan & Sons, Ltd., of Cork.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 16.—TWO WALNUT WOOD FLOOR-CANDLESTICKS. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of W. Egan & Sons, Ltd., of Cork.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p>The extinguishers used in the early days of candles +are known now as snuffer-extinguishers, to distinguish +them from snuffers (the old name was <i>doubters</i>). In +form they were not unlike scissors; the two circular +metal plates of which they were formed closed in +and compressed the wick, thereby extinguishing the +light. The earlier snuffers had very large boxes, and +some were remarkably handsome, an exceptionally +fine example being shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_17">17</a>. They were +discovered in an old house at Corton, in Dorset, +in 1768, and were described by a writer towards the +close of the eighteenth century thus: "They are of +brass and weigh about 6 ounces. Their construction +consists of two equilateral cavities, by the edges +of which the snuff is cut off and received into the +cavity from which it is not got out without much +trouble." Snuffers of iron, and later of steel, are the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">{71}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a></span> +commoner forms, but they are frequently of brass +and of silver and Sheffield plate.</p> + +<p>The need of some convenient tray or receptacle +for the snuffers, not always over-clean when they had +been used a few times, was met at first by what are +known as snuffer stands made of wrought metal, and +often very ornamental. Then came the oblong tray +of convenient shape, following in its decoration and +ornament prevailing styles in other domestic tin or +metal work. In this connection it should be pointed +out that there are many varieties of taper holders +and stands used for the small wax tapers, then +common on the writing table.</p> + + +<h3>Oil Lamps.</h3> + +<p>Although oil had long been a recognized illuminant +from which a good artificial light could be +obtained, it was not until the eighteenth century +that any marked attempt was made to substitute +oil for candles in this country. For really beautiful +lamps we have to go back to the bronze lamps of +ancient Greece and Rome, and the terra-cotta lamps +of the early Christians, many of which were exceedingly +interesting. Householders in England, and in +America, too, preferred the beautiful silver candlesticks +and those charming and artistic scrolls which +once decorated the walls of the houses of the well-to-do. +There came a time, however, when oil lamps +were reinstated, and although candles still held +sway and were difficult to displace, inventors and +makers of oil lamps began to compete for the +lighting industry. The three old lamps now in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">{72}</a></span> +the Cardiff Museum, shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_15">15</a>, must be +classed among the commoner types of early lamps, +once plentiful in farmhouses and cottages.</p> + +<p>The lamp used on the table in Victorian days was +the moderator lamp, the principle of which was a +spring forcing the oil up through the burner—but +such lamps have no claim upon the curio hunter +either for beauty of form or rarity of material. +These lamps, which burned colza or seed oil, were +superseded in time by paraffin and petroleum lamps. +Now and then some wonderful invention flashed +across the scene, but although various modern improved +burners have come and gone, the lamp, +excepting for purposes of ornament and decorative +effect, has given way to coal gas and, in more +modern times, to electric lighting. There are few +household curios of any value associated with oil +lighting, and as yet gas is too new!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">{73}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"><a name="FIG_17" id="FIG_17"></a> +<img src="images/fig_17.jpg" width="300" height="487" alt="FIG. 17.—FINE PAIR OF ANCIENT SNUFFERS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 17.—FINE PAIR OF ANCIENT SNUFFERS.</span> +</div> + + +<h3>Lanterns.</h3> + +<p>The portable lantern made of iron and tin and +glazed with horn was long an indispensable feature +in every household. Horn lanterns were carried +about everywhere in the days before street lighting +was general, and to some extent they are needed +in country districts to-day. There is a remarkable +similarity between the modern glass lanterns of +circular type and the old watchman's lanterns of a +couple of centuries ago. The same design seems +to have served the purpose through many generations, +and to have been duplicated again and again. +Among the ancient lanterns are some in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">{75}</a></span> +candles have been burned, and others where the +candle socket has been utilized for the insertion +of a socket oil lamp. In more modern times the +horn has given place to glass. The carriage lamps +of former days served their purposes well, and +although some are certainly antique, they are by +no means desirable curios. The light they gave +when driving through a country lane was indeed +a dim flicker compared with the powerful arcs of +the modern motor-car.</p> + +<p>The beacon fire is no longer seen on housetops, +neither is the lantern in the yard and the vestibule +furnished with a candle; but curiously enough, even +in the most modern appointed houses, so great is +the love for the antique in the furnishings of to-day, +that beautifully modelled little replicas of the old +horn lanterns are hung in entrance halls and passages—but +instead of the candle there is the electric +bulb!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">{77}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">IV<br /> +<br /> +TABLE<br /> +APPOINTMENTS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">{79}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<br /> +TABLE APPOINTMENTS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Cutlery: Knives, forks, and spoons—Salt cellars—Cruet stands—Punch +and toddy—Porringers and cups—Trays and waiters—The tea +table—Cream jugs—Sugar tongs and nippers—Caddies—Cupids—Nutcrackers—Turned +woodware.</p></div> + + +<p>It is very difficult to realize in these days of +refinement and of comparative luxury, even in the +homes of the working classes, what the table +appointments must have been in early English +homes. Sometimes glowing accounts are given of +the feasting of olden time; but no doubt many of +the great occasions contrasted in their luxurious +magnificence with the usual mode of living. They +were, however, the days of feeding rather than of +refinement in partaking of the sumptuous feast. The +table appointments on such occasions were crude and +simple, and they were altogether absent from the +tables of the lower classes. It is difficult, indeed, +to realize that the conditions under which people +lived in mediæval England, in the days when the +baron and his followers assembled in the great hall, +and with his chosen companions sat above the salt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">{80}</a></span> +satisfied men of wealth; it was, however, in accord +with the spirit of the age.</p> + +<p>The primitive methods of serving up food and +eating it observed by the majority of people then +would be looked upon with disgust nowadays by +every one. The table appointments were not only +very few, but those which were used, like the knife +and spoon, were often brought into the feasting hall +by those who were to use them. The polished oaken +board was often laden with rough and readily prepared +dishes, the result of some fortunate expedition +or of a prosperous hunt. The knife was the chief +implement used until comparatively recent days, for +forks are quite a modern innovation. The spoon, it +is true, goes back to hoary antiquity, but in England, +even in the Middle Ages, spoons were used chiefly for +ecclesiastical purposes. In Harrison's <i>Elizabethan +England</i> we read that the times had changed, for +instead of "treen platters" there were pewter plates, +and tin or silver spoons instead of wood.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">{81}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="FIG_18" id="FIG_18"></a> +<img src="images/fig_18.jpg" width="500" height="358" alt="FIG. 18.—HANDSOMELY DECORATED KNIFE CASE AND CONTENTS. + +(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 18.—HANDSOMELY DECORATED KNIFE CASE AND CONTENTS. +<br /> +(<i>In the Victoria and Albert Museum.</i>)</span> +</div> + + +<h3>Cutlery: Knives, Forks, and Spoons.</h3> + +<p>The term "cutlery," derived from <i>coutellerie</i>, the +French for cutlery, had been evolved from <i>culter</i>, +the Latin for knife. Primarily it referred to cutting +instruments, and especially to knives, but in a +general way, when speaking of table cutlery, spoons +and forks may appropriately be included. Early +records referring to cutlery indiscriminately use the +terms knives and swords; indeed, the arms granted +to the London Cutlers' Company in the sixteenth +year of the reign of Edward IV are two swords,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">{83}</a></span> +crossed; later a crest, consisting of an elephant +bearing a castle, was added. Homer tells us of +knives carried at the girdle in his day, and describes +them as of triangular form. The Anglo-Saxons and +the Normans carried about with them met-soex or +eating knives, but it was not until the end of the +fifteenth century that knives were used at table, +other than those which were carried at the girdle, +every man using his own cutlery. In England, +Sheffield was early noted for the manufacture of +knives, for Chaucer tells us, "A Scheffeld thwitel +bare he in his hose." Another form of spelling the +word which denoted knife was <i>troytel</i>, and from +these terms is derived "whittle." The jack knife +came in in the days of James I, after whom it +was named, the original term being Jacques-te-leg, +these knives shutting into a groove or handle +without spring or lock.</p> + +<p>The making of a table knife even in early times +necessitated the work of many hands, for taking +part in its production were the smiths who forged +it, the bladers who made the blade out of the metal +already hammered, and the haft-makers. When +the knife was complete it was handed to the sheath-makers, +who fashioned the sheath of leather, and +sometimes encased it in metal. The host did not +provide table cutlery for his guests until the reign +of Elizabeth. In earlier times it was left to the +traveller to provide himself with whatever he deemed +necessary; thus it is recorded that when Henry VI +made a tour in the north he carried with him +knife, fork, and spoon, as it was stated "he scarcely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">{84}</a></span> +expected to find any at the houses of the nobility." +From that custom, no doubt, arose the common +practice of fitting separate sets, and afterwards sets +for more than one person, in cases, the materials +used being for many years the beautifully embossed +<i>cuir boulli</i> leather work. Queen Elizabeth carried +her knife and other appointments at her girdle, +a custom followed by her ladies; although it is +said that at the Court of the virgin queen it was +customary for the gentlemen courtiers to cut up +the meat on the platters of the fair ones with +whom they were dining; the ladies at that time +being content to prove the truth of the adage, +"Fingers were made before forks."</p> + +<p>Collectors soon realize that there were many +forms of knives even amongst those specially +reserved for table use. Both blades and handles +have passed through many stages in the gradual +evolution from the hunting knife to the cutlery on +the modern dinner table. The blades have been +narrow and pointed like daggers, and they have +been scimitar-shaped, and rounded off at the point. +The qualities of the material have changed, too, +Sheffield cutlers and those of other places vying +with one another. The cutlery trade has long +drifted north, although at one time the members +of the London Cutlers' Company were proud of +the quality of their goods, and boasted of their +knives being "London made, haft and blade." +This ancient Guild tried hard to maintain their +pre-eminence, and in the days of Elizabeth +obtained a Charter prohibiting all strangers from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">{85}</a></span> +bringing any knives into England from beyond +the seas.</p> + +<p>The carving knife seems to have had a separate +descent from the large hunting knives used to cut +up barons of beef, roasted oxen, and portions which +were cut off the joint for each individual or for +several persons.</p> + +<p>Forks for table use were a much later invention, +although there were larger meat forks, flesh forks, +and heavier iron kitchen appliances (see Chapter +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V</a>).</p> + +<p>In very early times small forks, of which there +are some in the Guildhall Museum dating from +Roman and Saxon times, were chiefly used for +fruit. The use of forks at table, for meat, is attributed +to the invention of an Italian, and the custom +thus started rapidly spread "in good society" on +the Continent of Europe. Thomas Coryate, a +noted traveller, is said to have introduced them +into Germany, and afterwards into England, where +their use was at first much ridiculed as effeminate, +the "fork-carving" traveller being spoken of in +contempt.</p> + +<p>Forks were in regular use in England early +in the sixteenth century. Dean Stanley, in his +<i>Memorials of Westminster Abbey</i>, quotes from the +Chapter Book of 1554, in which it is stated by +Dean Weston (1553-6) that the College dinners +"became somewhat disorderly, <i>forks</i> and knives +were tossed freely to and fro." The old table +forks were two-pronged, the prongs being long and +set near together; the steel forks of the early<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">{86}</a></span> +nineteenth century were three-pronged, and another +prong was added later, the latter form being adapted +by the makers of silver forks in more recent years.</p> + +<p>In Fig. <a href="#FIG_18">18</a> is shown a very handsome knife case +and its contents, which are to be seen in the +Victoria and Albert Museum. In Fig. <a href="#FIG_19">19</a> another +example of a set of knife, fork, and spoon in the +same collection is illustrated.</p> + +<p>The spoon is, like the knife, of great antiquity. +It is said to have been suggested by shells on the +shore, and by the hollow of the hand which in +the most primitive days was used to drink with. +The most beautiful old spoons are those made of +silver, a magnificent pair being shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_20">20</a>. +Many such spoons are now almost priceless, especially +the much-valued Apostle spoons, often given +in olden time as christening gifts. Silver spoons +more correctly belong to antique silver, which forms +another branch of curio-collecting.</p> + +<p>Of spoons there are many made of other materials +than silver, some being carved in wood (see +Chapter <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII</a>), others of ivory, and some of bone. +Many of the older spoons were made of brass or +latten; but when silver became popular table spoons +of silver were procured whenever it was possible to +afford them, and a collection including in the varieties +the Apostle and the seal top, and its various +developments from the rat-tail to the fiddle, is +obtainable. As regarding spoons Westman has +written: "The spoon is one of the first things +wanted when we come into the world, and it is one +of the last things we part with before we go out."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">{87}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_19" id="FIG_19"></a> +<img src="images/fig_19.jpg" width="400" height="450" alt="FIG. 19.—KNIFE, FORK, AND SPOON. + +(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 19.—KNIFE, FORK, AND SPOON. +<br /> +(<i>In the Victoria and Albert Museum.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">{89}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a></span></p> + +<p>The collector revels in the beautifully engraved +blades of the rarer curios; in the handles so varied +in their materials and ornament; and in the cases +in which knives, forks, and spoons have in many +instances been preserved. From the curios in +museums and from family treasures it is evident +that much of the cutlery has been presented as +donations to the housekeeping outfit of a newly-married +couple, or given as presentation sets or +pieces on some special occasion; just as cutlery is +often chosen for presentation purposes to-day.</p> + +<p>From the sixteenth century onwards such sets +have been made and presented. The recently +arranged cutlery room in the Victoria and Albert +Museum at South Kensington, that great art treasure-house +of the nation, contains an exceptionally +representative collection. In some instances the +examples are only single specimens which may have +been presented separately, or they may have formed +part of a more complete set. There are sets of +carving knives with long blades, forks with double +prongs, and broad-pointed flat-bladed servers, many +of them etched and engraved all over. Even after +carvers were regular features on the table the small +knives and forks were brought by the guests who +were bidden to the feast, for it must be remembered +that it was not until 1670 that Prince Rupert +brought the first complete set of forks to this country.</p> + +<p>In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a +very beautiful little knife, the handle of which is +delicately carved, the group which constitutes the +design representing our first parents standing beneath<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">{90}</a></span> +the Tree of Knowledge, in the midst of which the +wily serpent is cunningly concealed.</p> + +<p>Another pair consisting of a very handsome knife +and fork have handles representing animals and +grotesque figures. These were the work of Dutch +artists in the seventeenth century; but curiously +enough the quaint leather case in which this knife +and fork are enclosed was evidently of earlier date, +for it has upon it "1598." Some of the cases of +leather made by the <i>cuir boulli</i> process are circular, +there being separate holes for each of the knives they +were intended to contain. Some of the knives are +very curious, especially those with wooden or horn +handles of sixteenth and early seventeenth-century +make, which have been found in considerable numbers +in Moorfields and Finsbury, along with sharpening +steels. The ordinary table knives of a little later +date, when they were sold in half-dozens and dozens +along with two-pronged forks, were decorative, their +handles being made of materials varying in quality +and in the excellence of their manufacture. One +of the most beautiful sets of rare historic value now +on view in the Victoria and Albert Museum is part +of a set of fourteen, the ivory handles being carved +to represent the kings and queens of England. +These rare examples of the English cutler's and +ivory carver's art, dated 1607, have blades damascened +with gold. There are knives also with handles of +amber, one very remarkable set in amber over foil +being decorated with the figure of Christ and His +Apostles on one side of the handles, and on the +other side there is the Apostles' Creed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">{91}</a></span></p> + +<p>Among other materials used in the manufacture of +handles for knives and forks, some of the latter +having two prongs and others three, chiefly made in +the eighteenth century, are: Battersea enamel on +copper, Staffordshire agate ware, Meissen porcelain, +Venetian millefiore glass, Bow porcelain, jasper, +Venetian aventurine glass, enamelled earthenware, +and Chantilly porcelain. In many instances these +handles made of such beautiful materials are further +decorated by miniature painted scenes and floral +ornaments. Another favourite material is bone, +some of the older handles being stained, mostly +green, afterwards decorated with applied silver in +floral and geometrical designs. There are a few +maple-wood handles of the eighteenth century, and +others of stag's horn and of shagreen.</p> + +<p>The knife box with its divisions, referred to elsewhere, +is exemplified in many remarkably fine cases +to be seen in our museums and in isolated specimens +in private collections.</p> + +<p>The interest in a collection of household utensils +is greatly enhanced by the halo of romance which +surrounds the uses of some of them. This is seen +and understood by the collector of cutlery perhaps +more than of anything else, for many old customs +have been associated with the giving of cutlery, and +superstitious beliefs have crept in.</p> + +<p>The gift of cutlery at weddings was not always the +prosaic thing it is nowadays, for the cases and even +the knives were often accompanied by some sentimental +rhyme or poetic inscription. Two knives, +apparently the gift of bride and bridegroom to one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">{92}</a></span> +another, now in the British Museum, are engraved +with separate inscriptions. One reads:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"My love is fixt I will not range,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I like my choice I will not change";<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>while on the other is engraved:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Witt, wealth, and beauty all doe well<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But constant love doth fair excell. 1676."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The early uses of knives in association with religious +rites are interesting, as, for instance, the golden +knife with which the old Druids cut the mistletoe +with pomp and much mystic ceremony. The early +Christians made use of the knife and symbolized the +cross when feasting; indeed, the old country habit—which +is now deemed a sign of vulgarity—of crossing +the knife and fork after dining, took its origin in that +act of devotion, for together they form the Greek +cross. Browning refers to the custom when he says:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Knife and fork he never lays<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Crosswise, to my recollection,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As I do in Jesu's praise."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In Russia this custom of the peasantry was deep-rooted; +and there they were careful to take up the +knife and fork and lay them down on the plate +crossed before commencing their often meagre meal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">{93}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_20" id="FIG_20"></a> +<img src="images/fig_20.jpg" width="400" height="540" alt="FIG. 20.—PAIR OF DECORATED SPOONS. + +(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 20.—PAIR OF DECORATED SPOONS. +<br /> +(<i>In the Victoria and Albert Museum.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p>Strange to say that although knives and forks +have been crossed in reverence, to cross knives has +been deemed unlucky, and to present a maiden with +a pair of scissors—two crossed blades—has long been +held by those who believe in such signs as unlucky.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">{95}</a></span> +To give a knife is to "cut luck"—so the legend runs; +hence so many when presenting a pocket knife will +demand a penny (as the smallest coin when silver +pennies were in circulation) in return. The Rev. +Samuel Bishop, M.A., Master of the Merchant +Taylors' School in 1795, wrote the following lines +on the subject of presenting a knife to his wife:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A knife, dear girl, cuts love, they say—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mere modish love perhaps it may:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For any tool of any kind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can separate what was never join'd."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h3>Salt Cellars.</h3> + +<p>The condiments of the table were usually supplied +in separate vessels. The use of salt with meat goes +back to primitive times, although we have few records +of the vessels in which it was served. The Arab chief +offers his guest salt as an act of friendship, and as +such it is partaken of. The classic Ancients consecrated +salt before using it, and the salt cellar was +placed upon the table together with the first fruits +"for the gods," those to whom they were offered +being generally Hercules or Mercury. The Greek +salt cellars were shaped like bowls, and as the salt +became an important feature as a dividing line +between rich and poor, the size of the cellar grew. +To realize the importance of the salt cellar in +mediæval England, we have only to visit the Tower +of London, where the great salt cellars of State are +kept. The large standing salt was the dividing line +upon the table. Salt cellars dating from the fourteenth +century are in existence, and many curiously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">{96}</a></span> +shaped designs intervened before the bell-shaped +salts which were fashionable in the days of Elizabeth +and the trencher salts of Queen Anne and the early +Georges. Salt cellars with feet came into fashion +in the reign of George II; then followed many minor +changes until the beautifully perforated salt cellars +with blue liners bearing hall-marks dating from the +close of the eighteenth century came into vogue. It +is from among the Georgian table appointments that +collectors gather most of their specimens. The +materials of which these salt cellars were made +vary; there are sterling silver, antique pewter, and +Sheffield plate; and there are salt cellars of china +and porcelain which may well be included in a +collection of table curios.</p> + + +<h3>Cruet Stands.</h3> + +<p>The separate bottles or cruets, casters, mustard +pots, and very rarely salts, were gradually gathered +together and placed in a frame which grew big in +late Georgian and early Victorian days. For convenience +the stand was placed in the centre of the +table, and often made to revolve. Such cruets are +met with in silver and other metals, also in papier-maché, +often ornamented with mother-o'-pearl and +painted flowers. The greatest interest, however, is +found in collecting separate bottles, such as those +charming Bristol glass cruets, ornamented with flowers +and lettered with the names of their contents, such as +"<span class="smcap lowercase">VINEGAR</span>," "<span class="smcap lowercase">SALAD OIL</span>," "<span class="smcap lowercase">MUSTARD</span>," "<span class="smcap lowercase">PEPPER</span>."</p> + +<p>There is a greater variety of form in the metal +cruets and casters, which followed the prevailing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">{97}</a></span> +styles silversmiths were then employing. Especially +graceful are the old pepperettes and vase-shaped +casters. The woodturner, too, contributed to the +table appointments of the eighteenth century, and the +carver made some curious and even grotesque figures, +the heads of which took off, and thus formed pepper +casters. One of the most noted grotesque sets +reminds us of the Toby fill-pot jugs in form, a complete +set consisting of two salts, two mustards, and +two pepper pots. Genuine specimens are very +difficult to meet with now, although those Staffordshire +cruets have been reproduced, and are offered +either singly or in sets; but the difference between +the genuine antique and the modern replica ought +not to deceive even an amateur.</p> + +<p>There are varieties of mustard pots, which were in +turn round, oval, square, hexagonal, and cylindrical, +some being like miniature well buckets with perforated +sides and blue metal liners.</p> + + +<h3>Punch and Toddy.</h3> + +<p>A hundred years ago the punch bowl was +inseparable from the convivial feast. It was a +favourite sideboard ornament, and found in frequent +use on the dining table, round which smokers and +card players drew up and filled their glasses with +punch and toddy. Ladles were indispensable, and +were varied in form and in the materials of which +they were composed. Punch ladles were in earlier +days made of cherry-wood, mounted with a silver +rim and fitted with a long handle, often made of +twisted horn. The horn, which was somewhat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">{98}</a></span> +pliable, was secured to the bowl by a silver socket. +Other ladles were made entirely of silver, some +having a current coin of the realm, a guinea +preferably, fixed in the bottom of the bowl—for +luck. Some of the ladles were beautifully decorated +in repousse, others were shaped like sauce boats; +there were ladles without lips, others deep like the +porringers, and yet others were quite round like a +drinking bowl. Some are family heirlooms, others +have been purchased in curio shops, and unfortunately +during the last few years so great has been +the demand for them that many modern copies have +been palmed off as genuine antiques. The hall-mark +on the rim is in many instances a guarantee of age, +although some of the genuine specimens do not +appear to have been hall-marked at all. The fact +that an old coin is found fixed within the bowl is no +criterion of antiquity, and does not always indicate +that the punch ladle itself is contemporary with the +coin, for old coins are common enough and readily +fixed in new ladles.</p> + +<p>Collectors of old china simply revel in punch +bowls. Punch was at the height of its popularity +when most of the domestic porcelain and decorative +china, now rare and valuable, was being made. The +best known potters in Worcester, Derby, Bristol, +Liverpool, and the Potteries made punch bowls, +some ornamented with their characteristic decorations; +others were specially emblematical, such, for +instance, as the bowls covered with masonic signs; +some were nautical in design, and many were +enriched with coats of arms and crests. Several of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">{99}</a></span> +the punch bowls belonging to the old City Companies +are on view in the Guildhall Museum, and +isolated specimens are seen to be in other places.</p> + +<p>Oriental china was at that time being imported +into this country very extensively, and some remarkably +delicate bowls, contrasting with Mason's strong +ironstone, are obtainable. These bowls, ladles, and +the charming little egg-shaped boxes which formerly +contained a nutmeg and a tiny grater are household +table furnishings of exceptional interest. It may +interest some to learn that punch, which came into +vogue in the seventeenth century, derived its name +from a Hindustani word signifying five, indicative +of the five ingredients of which it was composed—spirit, +water, sugar, lemon, and spice.</p> + + +<h3>Porringers and Cups.</h3> + +<p>Although sterling silver and other materials from +which drinking vessels are usually made have been +exhaustively dealt with in other volumes of the +"Chats" series, as table appointments drinking cups +must be referred to here. Caudle cups were in use +in the sixteenth century, and throughout the century +that followed they were used along with porringers, +which differed from them only in that the mouths of +the porringers were wider and the sides straight. +The caudle cup, sometimes called a posset cup, is +met with both without and with cover, and in some +instances it is accompanied by a stand or tray. +Caudle or posset was a drink consisting of milk +curdled with wine, and in the days when it was +drunk few went to bed without a cup of smoking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">{100}</a></span> +hot posset. Many of the early cups were beautifully +embossed and florally ornamented, although others +were quite plain, with the exception of an engraved +shield, on which was a coat of arms, crest, or +monogram. Many of the porringers which followed +the earlier type were octagonal, and in some +instances twelve-sided. In the reign of William and +Mary the rage for Chinese figures and ornaments +caused English silversmiths to decorate porringers +with similar designs. The style which prevailed the +longest was that known as "Queen Anne," much +copied in modern replicas. Very pleasing, too, are +eighteenth-century miniature porringers.</p> + +<p>There is much to please in the work of the silversmith +and potter, as well as the glass blower, in the +cups they fashioned; and the artist admires the +chased engraving or the rich colouring, and perchance +the etching and cutting of the cup. Some, however, +show preference for the earlier cups and drinking +vessels of commoner materials, and for those eccentricities +of the table found in curious hunting cups, +vessels which had to be emptied at a draught, or to +be drunk under the most difficult conditions like the +puzzle cups of Staffordshire make. The peg +tankards of ancient date, a very fine example +originally belonging to the Abbey of Glastonbury, +afterwards in the possession of Lord Arundel of +Wardour, held two quarts, the pegs dividing its +contents into half-pints according to the Winchester +standard. On that remarkable cup the twelve +Apostles were carved round the sides, and on the +lid was the scene at the Crucifixion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">{101}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_21-22" id="FIG_21-22"></a> +<img src="images/fig_21-22.jpg" width="400" height="228" alt="FIG. 21.—TWO WOODEN CUPS. + +FIG. 22.—WOODEN FLAGON, WITH COPPER BANDS. + +(In the National Museum of Wales.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 21.—TWO WOODEN CUPS. +<br /> +FIG. 22.—WOODEN FLAGON, WITH COPPER BANDS. +<br /> +(<i>In the National Museum of Wales.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIGS_23_24_25" id="FIGS_23_24_25"></a> +<img src="images/fig_23-25.jpg" width="400" height="280" alt="FIGS. 23, 24.—COCOANUT CUPS (SILVER-MOUNTED). + +FIG. 25.—COCOANUT FLAGON." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIGS. 23, 24.—COCOANUT CUPS (SILVER-MOUNTED). +<br /> +FIG. 25.—COCOANUT FLAGON.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">{103}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a></span></p> + +<p>It is said that the pegs were first ordered by +Edgar, the Saxon king, to prevent excessive drinking, +the tankard being passed round, every man +being expected to drink down to the next peg. +Heywood, in his <i>Philocathonista</i>, says: "Of drinking +cups, divers and sundry sorts we have, some of elm, +some of box, and some of maple and holly." According +to the quaint spelling of those days there were +then in use in Merrie England: "Mazers, noqqins, +whiskins, piggins, cringes, ale-bowls, wassel bowls, +tankard and kames from a pottle to a pint and from +a pint to a gill." The leather cups and tankards or +black jacks (see Chapter <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII</a>) were mostly used in +country places by "shepheards and harvesters." A +writer in a work published in the early years of the +nineteenth century says: "Besides metal and wood +and pottery we have cups of hornes of beasts, of +cocker nuts, of goords, of eggs of ostriches, and of +the shells of divers fishes."</p> + +<p>A simple cocoanut, mounted in silver and made +into a cup, perhaps a century or more ago, is by no +means to be despised. Some are beautifully polished +and ornamented with incised work. Contemporary +with the earlier specimens are pots made of ostrich +eggs, mounted in silver, regarded of great value in +the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some of the +university colleges possess fine examples, and there +are many in the hands of London silversmiths. +Figs. <a href="#FIGS_23_24_25">23</a> and <a href="#FIGS_23_24_25">24</a> represent two cocoanut cups with +feet of silver, one engraved with the owner's initials, +the foot being decorated with bead ornament. +Fig. <a href="#FIGS_23_24_25">25</a> is a cocoanut mounted as a flagon with handle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">{104}</a></span> +of whalebone and rim and foot of silver. The use of +such cups seems to have been very generally distributed +all over the world, for there are many South +American examples, as well as the English varieties. +The gourd, too, was used for similar purposes; the +Mexicans made such bowls and cups, finishing them +off with silver mounts and sometimes adding silver +feet. There are French flasks made of small gourds, +sometimes scent flasks being made in the same way, +not infrequently decorated with incised inlays of +coloured composition on a black ground. Some of +the English silversmiths engraved hunting scenes on +small flasks made of the rind of a gourd, choosing +hunting scenes and birds and familiar outdoor +objects.</p> + +<p>In Figs. <a href="#FIG_21-22">21</a> and <a href="#FIG_21-22">21</a><span class="smcap lowercase">A</span> are shown two curious old +wood drinking cups, and Fig. <a href="#FIG_21-22">22</a> represents a +wooden jug bound with copper.</p> + +<p>Horn was a favourite material for cups, sometimes +surmounted by elaborate covers and feet of silver. +One of the rarest drinking horns, now in Queen's +College, Oxford, was presented to the College by +the Queen of Edward III in 1340. Of later types +there are beakers and tumbler cups, the latter +rounded at the base so that they were easily upset, +the idea being that they must be emptied at the +first draught. From these cups sprang the quaint +hunting cups in porcelain, modelled in the form of +a hare's head, or like a fox, some of the scarcest +being evidently modelled for the fisherman's use, +to take the form of a fish's head.</p> + +<p>The very remarkable drinking cup shown in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">{105}</a></span> +Fig. <a href="#FIG_27">27</a> is made of walnut; the ridges, carved in deep +relief, stand out boldly, each one being carved, the +letters forming a complete metaphor, to which is +added the name of its original owner, the inscription +reading as follows:—</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 2em;"> +"TAKE . NOT . FROM . ME .<br /> +AL . MY . STOR . AXCP . YE .<br /> +FILL . ME . VEE . SVME . MOR .<br /> +FOR . AV . TO . BORROV .<br /> +AND . NEVER . TO . PAY .<br /> +I . CALL . THAT .<br /> +FOVLL . PLAY .<br /> +IōN WATSON 1695."<br /> +</p> + + +<h3>Trays and Waiters.</h3> + +<p>In olden time not very far from the dining table +stood the cupboard or buffet from which evolved the +sideboard. On it were displayed the cups and +flagons and table appointments not actually in use. +It is true the servants carried the great dishes from +the kitchen, and removed the lesser vessels on trays +and "waiters," and it is such trays, especially those +in silver and Sheffield plate used in the last century, +which are now valuable. The waiter or serving man +or woman has been an essential feature in domestic +service from the earliest times, for the history of +society invariably records those who wait at table:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The waiters stand in ranks; the yeomen cry<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Make room,' as if a duke were passing by."<br /></span> +<span class="i16"><span class="smcap">Swift</span>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is an easy remove from the waiter to the tray or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">{106}</a></span> +vessel on which the waiters carried the things they +served up to those on whom they waited. The +name "salver," commonly applied to a tray or waiter, +seems to have originated from the old custom of +tasting meats before they were served, to salve or +save their employers from harm. Among the more +valuable are the trays or waiters of silver and +Sheffield plate. Trays made of iron and japanned +after the fashion of Japanese metal lacquer wares, +which towards the close of the eighteenth century +were so largely imported into this country, are often +neglected, yet many of them are truly antiquarian +and by no means unlovely.</p> + +<p>One of the chief seats of the industry was at +Pontypool, but the business drifted to Birmingham. +It was when the japan wares, so called from the +attempt of the makers to copy the lacquers of Japan +then much imported, were being successfully made +amidst surroundings then exceedingly romantic in +the little town singularly situated on a steep cliff +overhanging the Avon Llwyd, that dealers found +trays, breadbaskets, snuffer trays, knife trays, caddies, +and urns much in request. In Bishopsgate Street +Without, in London, there is a noted wine house +known as the "Dirty Dick." This curious title was +derived from the owner of a famous hardware store +who kept it, and was dubbed "Dirty Dick" because +of his untidy shop. The wild disorder of the +establishment gave rise to a popular ballad of which +the following are two of the first lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A curious hardware shop in general full<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of wares from Birmingham and Pontypool."<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">{107}</a></span></div></div> + +<p>In addition to japanned wares there are trays of +paper pulp ornamented with mother-o'-pearl and +richly decorated with gold.</p> + + +<h3>The Tea Table.</h3> + +<p>The modern tea table presents a much less formal +array of china and good things than that of a generation +or two back when high tea was an important +function, and the good wife of the household loaded +her table with many substantial dishes. The best +china was taken from the cupboard, and family heirlooms +in silver were arrayed on either side of the +teapot. Needless to say the teapot was an indispensable +adjunct, and some of the teapots belonging +to the old sets are massive and gorgeous, rather than +beautiful, although the earlier teapots made in this +country in the eighteenth century, a time when tea +was expensive and a real luxury, were quite small.</p> + +<p>There are many curiosities, too—such, for instance, +as the Chinese teapots of the Ming period, when the +potters seem to have vied with one another in +producing grotesque forms, and from china clay +fashioned objects which typified their mythological +beliefs. Some of these teapots took the form of +curious sea-horses represented as swimming in +waves of green and amidst seaweed. Some of these +fabulous beasts are spotted over with splashes of +colour, and others have curious twig-like formations +upon their sides, said to denote pieces of coral and +water plants from the ocean. The teapot was at +one time most frequently filled from the pretty little +oval copper or brass kettle on the hob, or from a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">{108}</a></span> +swing kettle on a stand on the table. The table +kettle was generally heated by a spirit lamp which +kept the water boiling ready for use. Of later years +silver table appointments of early eighteenth-century +make have become very scarce, and the curio value +of the larger pieces has steadily risen. It would +seem as if the maximum figure had been reached for +silver of that period, for at the sale of the Fitzhenry +collection a plain kettle and stand, an example of +Ambrose Stevenson's work in 1717, realized £697.</p> + + +<h3>Cream Jugs.</h3> + +<p>The cream jug included in the tea and coffee sets +of silver or metal, and in the tea china of which so +many beautiful sets are still extant, has almost an +independent position in connection with table +appointments, for ever since tea drinking became +general it was regarded as a necessity, and was made +in accord with the then prevailing styles. It is +almost the commonest collectable antique in this +particular group. In silver it was always hall-marked, +and its date can, therefore, be fixed. +Briefly outlining the development of its form, it may +be mentioned that it was quite plain in the reign of +Queen Anne, when tea drinking came into fashion. +When George I came to the throne it was widened +somewhat and made a little shorter. At that time +the silver cream jugs were hammered into shape out +of a flat sheet, there being no seam; after the body +was formed a rim was added and a lip put on. +There was a deeper rim in the reign of George II, +and then feet took the place of rims.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">{109}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_26" id="FIG_26"></a> +<img src="images/fig_26.jpg" width="400" height="503" alt="FIG. 26.—EARLY ENGLISH BRONZE EWER. + +(In the British Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 26.—EARLY ENGLISH BRONZE EWER. +<br /> +(<i>In the British Museum.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">{111}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a></span></p> + +<p>Gradually Chippendale carving and the shaped +legs of the furniture then being used were reflected +even in the cream jug, the lip in those days being +hammered out of the body of the vessel with a +graceful curve. Rims again took the place of feet in +the reign of George III, and the tall legged cream +jug came into vogue. The body was decorated with +repousse work or engraved, and the shape gradually +changed until the familiar helmet-shaped cream jug +resulted. The helmet cream jugs were beautifully +engraved with ribbon and wreath decoration, and +frequently there was a beaded pattern round the rim +and the handle. The same styles prevailed both in +Sheffield plate and in Britannia metal, often misnamed +pewter. The decoration on the china cream +jugs was frequently floral, but in those made in the +leading potteries there was a distinct following of the +public style.</p> + + +<h3>Sugar Tongs and Nippers.</h3> + +<p>With the use of lump sugar late in the eighteenth +century sugar tongs were added to the table appointments, +and their decoration and ornament usually +followed that of teaspoons. They were sometimes +engraved with the crests or initials of the owners, and +occasionally, in the case of wedding presents, with +the initials of both the master and mistress of the +household, one being placed inside the sugar tongs +and the other on the arch outside. In connection +with the cutting of lump sugar steel sugar nippers +were much used in the kitchen before lump sugar +was bought from the grocer ready cut up. These<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">{112}</a></span> +nippers, some of the earlier ones being chased and +engraved, have now passed into the region of +household curios.</p> + + +<h3>Caddies.</h3> + +<p>As the tea table would be incomplete without the +beverage brewed from tea-leaves it follows as a +natural sequence that the housewife has always +required a storebox for her supply, and in some +cases one in which she could keep under lock and +key more than one variety. When tea was first +imported into this country it was sent over from China +in a <i>kati</i>, a small wooden box holding about 1-1/3 lb.; +hence the name passed on to the more elaborate +receptacles on the sideboard containing the household +supply. These boxes were mostly fashioned in +accord with the furniture, many having the well-known +Sheraton shell design on the lid, or on the +front of the box. Some are square-sided, others +tapered, generally finished with beautiful little brass +caddy balls as feet, and often with brass ring handles +and ornaments. The inside of the caddy was +divided into two compartments, usually boxes lined +with lead or lead paper, and frequently a central +compartment for a sugar bowl was added. In +nearly all the better boxes there was provision for +the silver caddy spoon with which to apportion the +accustomed supply.</p> + + +<h3>Chelsea and Bow Cupids.</h3> + +<p>Those curious little boy figures known as Chelsea +and Bow Cupids are for the most part classed with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">{113}</a></span> +ornaments, but they more appropriately belong to +table appointments, for in olden time when the cloth +had been removed these curious little figures were +placed upon the mahogany or oaken board along +with the dessert, as if to guard the fruit and the wine. +The Cupids are garlanded with flowers, baskets of +which they have in their hands—delightful little +figures when genuine antiques. They vary in size +and are said to have been divided in the past as +"small" and "large" boys.</p> + + +<h3>Nutcrackers.</h3> + +<p>Many a famous joke has been cracked over the +"walnuts and wine." It was when the board was +cleared of the viands that the nuts and fruit were +partaken of. The edible nuts mostly favoured before +foreign supplies came into the market were the hazel, +walnut, chestnut, and the famous Kent filberts. +Although doubtless supplemented by any objects +handy, the primitive method of cracking nuts with the +teeth was generally practised by the common people. +What more natural than for the early inventor to see +in the human head the "box" in which to place his +mechanical device and to give power and leverage +by utilizing the legs of the man he had carved in +wood. In the Middle Ages some remarkable carvings +were produced, mostly working on the same lines as +the earliest forms. In the seventeenth century, when +metal crackers came into vogue, pressure was applied +by means of a screw, and the contemporary wood +crackers were designed on that principle. Afterwards +the older type of cracker was revived, both in wood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">{114}</a></span> +and metal; subsequently the simpler form at present +in use was adopted.</p> + +<p>Here and there in museums and among domestic +relics odd pairs of these old crackers are discovered. +The interest in them, however, grows when several +early examples are placed side by side. There are a +few instances of specialized collections, and through +the courtesy of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court, +who possesses a unique collection of all periods, we +are able to illustrate a variety of forms. Fig. <a href="#FIGS_31-34">31</a> +represents a very early pair of nutcrackers, probably +made in the fourteenth century; the one shown in +Fig. <a href="#FIGS_31-34">34</a> has the Elizabethan ruff round the neck of +the carved head; and Figs. <a href="#FIGS_28-30">28</a>, <a href="#FIGS_28-30">29</a>, and <a href="#FIGS_28-30">30</a> represent +the screw period, Fig. <a href="#FIGS_28-30">28</a> being an early example. +One of the finest pieces in the collection is Fig. <a href="#FIGS_28-30">29</a>, +a cracker in the form of a hooded monk; Fig. <a href="#FIGS_28-30">30</a> +being a charming bit of wood-carving in walnut +wood, a somewhat grotesque figure representing +an old fiddler. Fig. <a href="#FIGS_31-34">33</a> is a curious cracker combining +a useful pick almost in the form of the +bill of a bird, Fig. <a href="#FIGS_31-34">32</a> being of similar date. +The next group shows the evolution from the +metal screw to the more ordinary types, Figs. <a href="#FIGS_35-39">36</a> +and <a href="#FIGS_35-39">38</a> being screw nutcrackers; <a href="#FIGS_35-39">35</a>, <a href="#FIGS_35-39">37</a>, and <a href="#FIGS_35-39">39</a> +being quaint examples of early metal nutcrackers +modelled on more modern form. Such curios +are extremely interesting, and whether exhibited +as specimens of carving or of metal +work, or used as table ornaments combining utility +and antiquarian interest, they are well worth +securing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">{115}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_27" id="FIG_27"></a> +<img src="images/fig_27.jpg" width="400" height="211" alt="FIG. 27.—INSCRIBED SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY WOOD DRINKING CUP. + +(In Taunton Castle Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 27.—INSCRIBED SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY WOOD DRINKING CUP. +<br /> +(<i>In Taunton Castle Museum.</i>)</span> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIGS_28-30" id="FIGS_28-30"></a> +<img src="images/fig_28-30.jpg" width="400" height="398" alt="FIGS. 28-30.—EARLY CARVED WOOD NUTCRACKERS. + +(In the collection of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIGS. 28-30.—EARLY CARVED WOOD NUTCRACKERS. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">{117}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a></span></p> + + +<h3>Turned Woodware.</h3> + +<p>Table appointments have afforded amateur wood-turners +and carvers opportunities of showing their +skill. Even before the days of modern lathes with +eccentric chucks and other improvements, turners +were very clever in producing little articles for table +use, and in their making expended a wealth of skill +and time. Among these were pepper boxes and +wooden salt cellars, and carved wooden spoons, +especially salad servers, which are even still made +and delicately carved, the Swiss peasants being +famous for such work. One of the village occupations +during winter evenings in years gone by was to +make wooden objects, although most of their efforts +were directed in other ways than table appointments +(see Chapter <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII</a>, Fig. <a href="#FIG_85">85</a>).</p> + + +<h3>On the Sideboard.</h3> + +<p>Not far removed from the dining table is the sideboard +or buffet, so important a piece of furniture in +the dining hall, for on it were formerly displayed table +appointments and emblems of the feast. The urn-shaped +knife boxes which were so often placed on +either side were chiefly of mahogany, sometimes +inlaid with satinwood and often with those rare +shell-like ornaments which became so popular in +the days of Chippendale and Sheraton. The compartments +in which were placed the table knives +prevented either blades or handles from being +rubbed. Copper and metal urns were frequently +conspicuous on the sideboard, although many of +the small tables so much treasured now as antiques<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">{118}</a></span> +in the drawing-room were originally made for urns +to stand upon.</p> + +<p>There are many beautiful curios of the home made +of wood, among them being such rare gems as wood +screens and the frames of hand screens, some of +which screwed on to the ends of the mantelpieces +with small clamps.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">{119}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIGS_31-34" id="FIGS_31-34"></a> +<img src="images/fig_31-34.jpg" width="400" height="327" alt="FIGS. 31-34.—MEDIÆVAL WOOD NUTCRACKERS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIGS. 31-34.—MEDIÆVAL WOOD NUTCRACKERS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIGS_35-39" id="FIGS_35-39"></a> +<img src="images/fig_35-39.jpg" width="400" height="299" alt="FIGS. 35-39.—EARLY STEEL AND BRASS NUTCRACKERS. + +(In the collection of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIGS. 35-39.—EARLY STEEL AND BRASS NUTCRACKERS. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">{121}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">V<br /> +<br /> +THE<br /> +KITCHEN</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">{124}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_40" id="FIG_40"></a> +<img src="images/fig_40.jpg" width="400" height="299" alt="FIG. 40.—TWO ANTIQUE WARMING PANS. + +(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 40.—TWO ANTIQUE WARMING PANS. +<br /> +(<i>In the Victoria and Albert Museum.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_41" id="FIG_41"></a> +<img src="images/fig_41.jpg" width="400" height="303" alt="FIG. 41.—WELSH KITCHEN FIREPLACE. + +(In the National Museum of Wales.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 41.—WELSH KITCHEN FIREPLACE. +<br /> +(<i>In the National Museum of Wales.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">{125}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<br /> +THE KITCHEN</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The kitchen grate—Boilers and kettles—Grills and gridirons—Cooking +utensils—Warming pans.</p></div> + + +<p>It is in the kitchen and the pantry that domestic +economy centres. The very essence of home life is +found in the preparation of suitable food in which to +satisfy human appetites. Whether the kitchen is +furnished with apparatus sufficient to cook for the +inmates of a large institution, or with the more +modest appliances with which a chop or a steak can +be grilled or a small joint roasted in a gas oven, the +basis of cooking operations is the same, and the cook +requires an outfit of culinary utensils small or large, +according to what she has been accustomed to use or +considers necessary for her immediate wants. In +olden time the kitchen was furnished with fewer +accessories in proportion to the meat consumed than +at the present time, and the large hanging caldron and +the strong and heavy wrought or cast iron saucepan +on the fire, and the roasting spit and jack in front of +it, went a long way towards completing the outfit. +The gradual advance and increase in the furnishings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">{126}</a></span> +of the kitchen have been the outcome of development +and progress in culinary art. Since the introduction +of scientific cooking and the establishment of schools +of cookery, the hired cook and the mistress who dons +the apron and assumes the role of the economic +housewife have learned to appreciate the use of +modern culinary appliances, lighter in weight and +convenient to handle. These differ according to the +purposes for which they are to be used.</p> + +<p>Hygienic conditions now regarded as essential +have displaced many of the older cooking pots which +have been condemned as injurious to health. Greater +knowledge of the chemistry of cooking, and of the +action of acids upon metals, has enabled the scientific +cook to differentiate between the pots and pans +to use according to the various foods prepared. The +beautifully finished light, handy, and convenient +porcelain-enamelled saucepans and stewpans and +aluminium cooking pots used on modern gas stoves +and ranges, would have been just as unsuitable on the +open fires of the older grates as what are now regarded +as the curios of the kitchen would be deemed to be in +modern culinary operations. In almost every house +there are to be found obsolete utensils, some of which +are valued on account of their great age, others +because of their unusual forms, and some because of +the beauty of workmanship and the costly materials +of which they have been made. It is when turning out +the kitchen and storeroom on the occasion of periodical +cleanings that these old-world pots and pans come +to light; at such times the collector may be able to +secure scarce specimens and rescue them from oblivion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">{127}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_42" id="FIG_42"></a> +<img src="images/fig_42.jpg" width="400" height="882" alt="FIG. 42.—MECHANICAL ROASTING JACKS. + +(In the collection of Mr. Charles Wayte.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 42.—MECHANICAL ROASTING JACKS. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of Mr. Charles Wayte.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">{129}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a></span></p> + +<p>It is not always easy to realize what the old kitchen +was like when these vessels were in use, although in +out-of-the-way places kitchens may occasionally be +discovered in which but little change has been made. +This is especially so in some of the Welsh villages, +and in order that visitors may see what such kitchens +are like a Welsh cottage fireplace showing the objects +which might commonly have been found there a +century ago has been reconstructed in the National +Museum of Wales. This we are able to reproduce in +Fig. <a href="#FIG_41">41</a> by the courtesy of the Director. The grate +came from Llansantffraid, and was made by a local +blacksmith; the spit and its bearers came from +Glamorgan; the brass pot came from Barry, and the +dog wheel (referred to on p. <a href="#Page_130">130</a>) from Haverfordwest; +most of the minor accessories came from different +parts of North Wales.</p> + + +<h3>The Kitchen Grate.</h3> + +<p>The kitchen grate has evolved from the open fire; +at first in the centre of the room, then removed for +convenience to the side or end in front of which +joints of meats were roasted on a spit in olden time. +The spit, at first quite primitive, was improved upon +by local smiths, until quite intricate arrangements +provided the desired revolutions, and turned the meat +round and round until it was properly cooked. In +the thirteenth century the "bellows blower" was an +officer in the Royal kitchen, his duty being to see +that the soup on the fire was neither burnt nor +smoked. In course of time the bellows blower in +lesser households became a useful kitchen boy, turn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">{130}</a></span>ing +the spit by hand. It would seem, however, as if +in quite early days efforts were made to economize +labour in the kitchen, and turn the spit by mechanical +contrivances.</p> + +<p>In roasting meat sliding prongs held the joint in +place, a cage or basket being used for roasting +poultry. This contrivance, first turned by hand, was +afterwards accelerated and made more regular by +the mechanical contrivances just referred to. These +appear to have been of three different types. There +was the clock jack, two splendid specimens of +which are illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_42">42</a>, types becoming +exceedingly rare. Those illustrated were recently in +the possession of Mr. Charles Wayte, of Edenbridge, +an enthusiastic discoverer of antiquarian metal work +in out-of-the-way places in Sussex and Kent. Earlier +still there was the smoke jack or rotary fan fixed in +the chimney, operated by an up-draught, pulleys and +cords being attached to the end of the spit. The +third method referred to involved the shifting of +manual labour from man to his domestic beast, for +the faithful hound was pressed into the service of the +cook. The dog worked in a cage, operating a wheel +or drum which in its turn revolved the turnspit. +Such turnspits seem to have had a lingering existence, +and were occasionally heard of in North Wales +late in the nineteenth century.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">{131}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_43_44_45_46" id="FIG_43_44_45_46"></a> +<img src="images/fig_43-46.jpg" width="400" height="623" alt="GRIDIRONS SHOWING FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN DESIGN: FIG. 43, ITALIAN; +FIG. 44, FLEMISH; FIG. 45, DUTCH; FIG. 46, GERMAN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">GRIDIRONS SHOWING FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN DESIGN: FIG. 43, ITALIAN; +FIG. 44, FLEMISH; FIG. 45, DUTCH; FIG. 46, GERMAN.</span> +</div> + +<p>Roasting before the fire lingered on long after the +old-fashioned iron jacks and spits had ceased to be +the common method of cooking meat. The meat +hastener and the Dutch oven conserved and radiated +the heat, the joint turning slowly by the clockwork<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">{133}</a></span> +mechanism of the improved brass bottle jack. As +the size of the fireplace narrowed and kitchens were +built smaller roasting in ovens became popular; the +cooker of to-day with its hot-plates, grills, and steam +chests—whether heated by coal, gas, or electricity—presents +a remarkable contrast to the old open +fire grate.</p> + +<p>It will readily be understood that the necessary +basting of meat roasting before the fire involved the +use of ladles and other utensils before the modern +cooking appliances were invented. Most of the old +vessels were strong and lasting, and the materials +employed in their construction were iron, copper, and +brass. In Fig. <a href="#FIG_49">49</a> we show a selection of fat boats +and hammered iron grease pans (in the centre of the +plate is an old mothering-iron from Sussex) typical +of the vessels used in open fire roasting. To these +may be added basting spoons and skimmers, in +many places called "skummers."</p> + + +<h3>Boilers and Kettles.</h3> + +<p>It is probable that the cooking pot over the fire +has been used side by side with roasting apparatus +from the earliest times, although no doubt vessels +would be required for boiling foods before roasting, +in that discoveries show that the earliest method of +roasting a piece of meat or a small animal was to +encase it in clay and then expose it to the fire. The +clay crust could then be broken and would, of course, +have been destroyed.</p> + +<p>No doubt the crock antedated the bronze pot, +which was at first made of metal plates hammered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">{134}</a></span> +and beaten into shape, and then riveted together. +This method was followed by the craft of the founder, +who cast vessels after the same model first in bronze +and then in iron. The cooking pot was indispensable +when the food of the common people was chiefly +such as necessitated a vessel containing liquid; the +name of this ancient vessel has furnished us with +many apt quotations, and it is still the pot so many +find difficult to keep boiling.</p> + +<p>There have been many contrivances by which to +suspend the pot over the fire. Years ago the usual +method of suspension was from a beam of wood or a +bar of iron placed across the chimney opening—the +name by which the bar was known in the North of +England was a "gallybawk." Simple contrivances +of metal followed, the suspension hooks and chains +leading to improved cranes with rack and loop +handles.</p> + +<p>No doubt many have noticed the apparent indiscriminate +use of the term "kettle"; the tea kettle as +we understand it to-day is a modern invention. The +old kettle was a boiling pot with a bail handle, its +modern survivor being the three-legged kettle of the +gipsies, and the boiling pot or fish kettle of the +modern household. Associated with the early use +of tea kettles slung over a fire is the now scarce +lazy-back or tilter, at one time common in the West +of England and in South Wales.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">{135}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIGS_47_48" id="FIGS_47_48"></a> +<img src="images/fig_47-48.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="FIGS. 47, 48.—TWO WOODEN FOOD BOXES. + +(In the Cardiff Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIGS. 47, 48.—TWO WOODEN FOOD BOXES. +<br /> +(<i>In the Cardiff Museum.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_49" id="FIG_49"></a> +<img src="images/fig_49.jpg" width="400" height="519" alt="FIG. 49.—A COLLECTION OF IRON FAT BOATS AND GREASE PANS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 49.—A COLLECTION OF IRON FAT BOATS AND GREASE PANS.</span> +</div> + +<p>In "Chats on Old Copper and Brass" some very +interesting illustrations of old copper and brass +saucepans, skillets, and pipkins are given. The +skillet has survived for several centuries. Those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">{137}</a></span> +made in the seventeenth century were frequently +inscribed with various religious and sentimental +legends; one in the National Museum of Wales +is inscribed "<span class="smcap lowercase">LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR</span>." Frying pans +have been in common use for a great number of +years and are still daily requisitioned. Bakestones, +on which cakes were formerly baked, are, however, +becoming obsolete. They were called girdle plates +in the North of England, and bakestones in Wales +and elsewhere.</p> + + +<h3>Grills and Gridirons.</h3> + +<p>The gridiron or "griddle" was an appliance used +extensively all over the Continent of Europe from +the sixteenth century onward. In this country it +was formerly made by the village blacksmith, and, +like the iron stool, kitchen fender, and other iron and +brass kitchen utensils and furnishings, was often +made quite decorative. It would appear as if the +smith filled up his spare moments in designing +intricate patterns with which to decorate the grid. +Some of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century +European gridirons were quite elaborate, serving the +double purpose of ornament and use, for when +finished with for cooking purposes they were carefully +cleaned and polished and hung up over the +kitchen mantelpiece. Some of the characteristic +types met with are shown in the accompanying +illustrations. In Fig. <a href="#FIG_43_44_45_46">43</a> is seen the light and lacy +Italian style; in Fig. <a href="#FIG_43_44_45_46">44</a> the openwork design of the +Flemish; a formal Dutch pattern being illustrated +in Fig. <a href="#FIG_43_44_45_46">45</a>; whereas the heavy German floreated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">{138}</a></span> +type is shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_43_44_45_46">46</a>. Contrasting with these +Continental types the English gridiron was strong +and serviceable, and essentially a grid or grill, the +smith putting his best work in the handle rather +than the grid.</p> + + +<h3>Cooking Utensils.</h3> + +<p>Besides pots and pans there are many cooking +utensils which may now be reckoned among the +domestic curios. There are, of course, ewers and +basins, water-carrying and retaining vessels, and +colanders of brass and earthenware, strainers and +graters which have been used from time to time in +the kitchen. Sometimes the metal worker appears +to have gone out of the way to produce curious +forms not always the most convenient for the +purposes for which they were made—such, for +instance, as the aquamaniles, several of which may +be seen in the British Museum (see Fig. <a href="#FIG_26">26</a>).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">{139}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_50" id="FIG_50"></a> +<img src="images/fig_50.jpg" width="400" height="283" alt="FIG. 50.—WOODEN COFFEE CRUSHERS AND PESTLES AND MORTAR." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 50.—WOODEN COFFEE CRUSHERS AND PESTLES AND MORTAR.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_51" id="FIG_51"></a> +<img src="images/fig_51.jpg" width="400" height="310" alt="FIG. 51.—APPLE SCOOPS OF BONE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 51.—APPLE SCOOPS OF BONE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Some of the minor kitchen utensils include flesh +hooks and forks and carving knives. There are +spoons of every kind made in all metals, some +of the earlier examples being of brass and +latten. In this connection also may be mentioned +ladles, fish slicers, and scoops. There are also +many curious little pastrycooks' knives, and +knives used for cutting vegetables and preparing +a repast in olden time, many of them quite decorative, +even the common pastry-wheel frequently +being carved. It was at one time customary to +expend much skill in decorating apple scoops, those +shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_51">51</a> being very choice specimens in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">{141}</a></span> +National Museum of Wales, in Cardiff. The one on +the left hand of the picture is made of bone, and +is inlaid with a small brass name-plate; that on the +right-hand side is of ivory delicately turned, the +scoop being exceedingly thin; and those in the +centre are all home-made out of the metacarpal +bones of the sheep, being slightly ornamented with +cut X-shaped lines and hatchings. In the same +museum there are some remarkably interesting coffee +crushers and mortars and pestles, several of these +being illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_50">50</a>. In Fig. <a href="#FIG_53">53</a> we show a +representative selection reminiscent of the days when +wooden spoons and wooden platters were in common +use. The trencher takes its name from <i>tranche</i>, the +old name of the platter which replaced the piece of +bread on which it was formerly customary to serve +up meat; like the bread, it was at first square. The +minor kitchen accessories formerly in constant use +included many objects of wood, such as the charming +little nutmeg mills of turned rosewood, some of which +are to be seen in the British Museum. There are +also antique pasteboards and rolling-pins for rolling +shortbread, pot stirrers of wood, and other utensils +such as sand glasses.</p> + +<p>In Figs. <a href="#FIGS_47_48">47</a> and <a href="#FIGS_47_48">48</a> we illustrate two wooden food +boxes, such as were formerly used to carry food to +men working in the field. They are now deposited +with other curios in the Cardiff Museum, where +also may be seen some little wooden piggins, and +bowls used for porridge; the piggin was an ancient +vessel often mentioned in mediæval days (see +Fig. <a href="#FIG_52">52</a>).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">{142}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>Warming Pans.</h3> + +<p>There are some household appointments which, +like some of the brass skimmers, platters, engraved +foot and hand warmers, chestnut roasters, and the +like, have always served the double purpose of use +and ornament. Among these are warming pans +which in modern days have been brought out of +their hiding-places, repolished, and hung up in conspicuous +places by the fireside. In the Victoria +and Albert Museum, as well as some of the provincial +museums, there are many very fine examples, +those having dates and names upon them being +especially valued. As an instance of an exceptional +specimen in the Victoria and Albert Museum we +may mention one on which there is an engraving of +reindeer, ducally gorged, the inscription upon this +pan reading: "<span class="smcap lowercase">THE EARL OF ESSEX. HIS ARMES.</span> +1630." Another elaborate warming pan is engraved +with figures of a cavalier and a lady, richly embellished +with peacocks and flowers. The pan is of +copper, but the handle is of wrought iron with brass +ornamental mounts. Some pans have wooden +handles, either walnut or oak, some of the more +modern being ebonized (see Fig. <a href="#FIG_40">40</a>).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">{143}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_52" id="FIG_52"></a> +<img src="images/fig_52.jpg" width="400" height="271" alt="FIG. 52.—WOODEN PIGGINS AND PORRIDGE BOWL." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 52.—WOODEN PIGGINS AND PORRIDGE BOWL.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_53" id="FIG_53"></a> +<img src="images/fig_53.jpg" width="400" height="314" alt="FIG. 53.—WOODEN PLATTER, BOWL, AND SPOONS. + +(In the National Museum of Wales.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 53.—WOODEN PLATTER, BOWL, AND SPOONS. +<br /> +(<i>In the National Museum of Wales.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p>This brief review of kitchen utensils by no means +exhausts the varieties of old metal work and other +curios which may still be found in kitchens. +There appears to be no end to the minor varieties in +form and decoration. This is natural when we +remember that years ago kitchen utensils were not +made in quantities after the same pattern as they +are nowadays. They were the product of the local<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">{145}</a></span> +maker, the smith and the village woodworker +being frequently called upon to supply new kitchen +utensils, and it would appear that they did their best +to make their work successful in that the vessels +they fashioned were lasting, and during their use +contributed in no small degree towards the +ornamentation of the home.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">{147}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">VI<br /> +<br /> +HOME<br /> +ORNAMENTS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">{149}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<br /> +HOME ORNAMENTS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Mantelpiece ornaments—Vases—Derbyshire spars—Jade or spleen +stone—Wood carvings—Old gilt.</p></div> + + +<p>We are apt to wonder sometimes what it is that +makes the house homelike, and why there are such +strong attachments to the old home. Surely it is the +familiar aspect of the furnishings, rather than the +bricks and mortar, that makes the old home so dear! +To the original owners there was an individuality +about every piece, although to the collector the same +characteristics of well-known objects tell that in days +gone by the cabinet-maker followed stereotyped lines, +and there were but few who moved out of the +regular ruts and made distinctive designs in home +ornaments and sundry furnishings. It is noteworthy, +however, that however much alike in furniture no two +houses were alike in their ornamental surroundings. +The pictures and portraits on the walls have peculiarities +recognized and understood by those who +have dwelt for many years among them. Familiar +table appointments, however humble, have a homelike +look, and there are odd bits of old china in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">{150}</a></span> +cabinet and silver or pewter on the sideboard which +distinguish one house from another; and it has ever +been so. Chimney ornaments, which may be quite +commonplace, have well-known characteristics which +cannot be duplicated. It is undoubtedly among the +home ornaments that the tenderest thoughts linger, +and it is the trinkets of comparatively little value to +an outsider that members of the family store when +the old home is broken up. There are such ornaments +in every household; and whenever there is a +sale there are those who gladly buy them because of +their associations with those by whom they were +owned and valued. The collector rarely gathers +them on sentimental grounds, securing them as +curious specimens or characteristic styles wanting in +his collection. Some specialize on old china cups +and saucers; others on rare porcelain figures; some +on the beautiful gilt and ormolu knick-knacks which +looked so well on the early Victorian drawing-room +table, and others prefer odds and ends, some of +which are mentioned in the following paragraphs. +It is, perhaps, from the old ornaments of the home +that we learn most about the true home-life lived in +former years. Wood carvers, silversmiths, leather +workers, glass blowers and potters fashioned their +ornamental things after the living models they saw +about them, in the days in which they worked. Thus +in the groups of Staffordshire figures, now much +sought after, we learn something of the story of +life in the Potteries in the closing years of the +nineteenth century. The story is recorded in the +earthenware "landlord and landlady," "lovers arm +in arm," and rustic cottages with which collectors +are familiar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">{151}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_54" id="FIG_54"></a> +<img src="images/fig_54.jpg" width="400" height="587" alt="FIG. 54.—BRASS CHIMNEY ORNAMENT (ONE OF A PAIR)." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 54.—BRASS CHIMNEY ORNAMENT (ONE OF A PAIR).</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">{153}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a></span> +</div> + + +<h3>Mantelpiece Ornaments.</h3> + +<p>There are many quaint brass chimney ornaments +which were popular in many parts of England +fifty to sixty years ago much sought after nowadays. +They were of polished brass, usually in pairs, +and when several were arranged on a mantelpiece +they presented a bright array. The one illustrated +in Fig. <a href="#FIG_54">54</a> is of the type much favoured in country +districts. It represents a shepherd with his crook, +the companion brass being a shepherdess. On the +sea-coast fishermen were much fancied, and in +mining districts the miner with his pick and other +industrial models were extensively sold. These +were varied with birds and animals and miniature +replicas of household furniture. The older ones are +not very common, and therefore have been much +copied, for of these goods there are many modern +replicas.</p> + + +<h3>Vases.</h3> + +<p>Ornamental vases have varied much in form, +until a collection seems to cover every style of art. +Thus Egyptian and Roman influence is seen in +some; others of French origin, dating before the +Empire period, are a combination of French art +with Egyptian ornament, brought out during the +Directoire, when after the Battle of the Pyramids +French artists introduced the sphinx and other +Egyptian ornaments into their art designs. During<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">{154}</a></span> +the Empire period, the style that is said to consist +of a blending of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian prevailed. +Many of the continental countries have +been noted for glass ornaments—especially vases. +The beautiful Venetian glass is rich in colour, and +the vases are varied and graceful in form, especially +those of ewer-like shape. Bohemia has always been +a noted centre of the glass industry. Then in our +own country some beautiful vases have been produced.</p> + +<p>There are other materials which are met with in +curiously shaped vases. At one time the beautiful +Derbyshire spars were much used. There are +biscuit china and Parian vases, and many exquisite +vases of silver and other metals. Much might be +written of the Oriental vases and enamels, especially +of the artistic treasures of Old Japan and China, +from whence so much of our early vases and beautiful +porcelain came. Of the products of Chelsea +and Bow, of Coalbrookdale and Derby, and of +Bristol and Nantgrw, writers and collectors of rare +ceramics have had much to record of the many-shaped +vases with which the homes of the middle +classes were made beautiful in the eighteenth and +early nineteenth centuries. These are preserved with +care, but many of the vases produced by the pioneers +of the potting industry in this country serve their +original purpose still, and glass and china and rare +Wedgwood jasper ware ornament the home of the +twentieth-century reader of the "Chats" series, as +they did the "withdrawing" rooms of their original +owners in the eighteenth century.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">{155}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_55" id="FIG_55"></a> +<img src="images/fig_55.jpg" width="400" height="416" alt="FIG. 55.—BLACK AND GOLD DERBYSHIRE MARBLE VASE. + +(In the Author's collection.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 55.—BLACK AND GOLD DERBYSHIRE MARBLE VASE. +<br /> +(<i>In the Author's collection.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">{157}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a></span></p> + + +<h3>Derbyshire Spars.</h3> + +<p>The Derbyshire spars and inlaid marbles just referred +to were very popular, some exceedingly ornamental +and decorative pieces being produced. Others +were stiff and formal, and can scarcely be regarded +as beautiful. The variety of marbles quarried in +Derbyshire gave the artist ample opportunity of +displaying taste in colour. The most beautiful are +those made of fluor-spar, the celebrated Blue John +Mine providing the most beautiful specimens. The +purple shades present delightful tints, and some of +the old workers in Derbyshire mosaics were exceptionally +fortunate in their schemes of arrangement of the +tiny pieces they inlaid so carefully. The marble +workers in this country have never been able to +produce those beautiful effects for which the Florentine +school of artists was famous, although it has +been claimed by some that the artists of the Peak +produced in their larger works some equally as +effective. Among old household ornaments small +Roman mosaics, so called, are often met with. At +one time the Florentine artists used gems and real +stones, whereas the Romans chiefly employed glass. +Many will be familiar with the Vatican pigeons and +the fountain so frequently copied. It is said that the +Derbyshire workers in mosaic excelled themselves in +the production of a beautifully inlaid vase covered +with flowers, foliage, and birds, prepared for the late +Queen Victoria, in 1842. Half a century ago fancy +shops were filled with the products of the Derbyshire +mines, but most of the best pieces are now among +household curios. The wide-topped vase shown in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">{158}</a></span> +Fig. <a href="#FIG_55">55</a> is made from Derbyshire black and gold +marble, and was produced in Matlock about sixty +years ago. It may be interesting to collectors to +mention that although the Romans are believed to +have worked the Blue John mines, it was not until +1770 that the lovely purple spar was rediscovered in +the Hope Valley, a workman passing through the +Winnats being attracted by the pieces of spar he +saw lying about, eventually bringing them under the +notice of the owner of a Rotherham marble works. +Besides the smaller objects there are the larger +tables, worked in the same materials, some of which +are sometimes met with second-hand for quite +trifling sums.</p> + + +<h3>Jade or Spleen Stone.</h3> + +<p>Among the rarer curios of the home are those +wonderful ornaments cut and carved out of jade, a +beautiful stone which has been so highly prized by +the Chinese. Its special value lies in the exquisite +tints of the different hues. These marvellously varied +stones were formerly quarried from the Kuen-Kask +Valley, where jade or yu-stone runs in different-coloured +veins through the rocks. It is said that +jade in the form of spleen stone first came to Europe +from America. It is found extensively in Mexico, +and also in Burma, but the chief interest centres in +the grotesque and cleverly carved Chinese curios. +The beauty and value of these pieces lies not so +much in their forms as in their marvellous tints and +the clever way in which the Chinese workmen, in +fashioning grotesque forms, have cut away practically<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">{159}</a></span> +all the colour of certain intruding shades, leaving the +figures in some brilliant hue of green, red, or pink, +standing out upon a base of some other shade. The +curiously smoked mutton-fat colour is one of the +rarest, but to the amateur the more transparent and +brilliant tints possess the greatest beauty.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_56" id="FIG_56"></a> +<img src="images/fig_56.jpg" width="400" height="602" alt="FIG. 56.—TEMPLE GUARDIAN, CARVED FROM THE GNARLED ROOT OF A TREE. + +(In the Author's collection.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 56.—TEMPLE GUARDIAN, CARVED FROM THE GNARLED ROOT OF A TREE. +<br /> +(<i>In the Author's collection.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">{161}</a></span>True jade, or nephrite, is a native silicate of calcium +and magnesium, and does not exhibit either crystalline +form or distinct cleavage. In addition to the +"mutton-fat" shade spoken so highly of there are +lovely shades in green, emerald, moss, tea and sea +green, violet and yellow, and white and camphor; but +the rarest of all combinations is violet, mutton-fat, +and emerald green.</p> + + +<h3>Wood Carvings.</h3> + +<p>Many of the more decorative household ornaments +are made of wood. To cut down a tree or to whittle +a stick has been the favourite occupation of men of +all ages, and the possession of a pocket-knife the +ambition of the schoolboy from time immemorial. +Something to cut keeps him out of mischief and calls +forth any ingenuity he may have. Some of the most +wonderful curios have been cut by hand, fashioned +with skill. Some are remarkably realistic in their +forms, faithful copies of living originals, or of objects +of still greater antiquity with which the wood carver +has been familiar. Carvers have sometimes allowed +themselves to run wild in their imaginations as they +have cut and shaped a block of wood, giving it the +most fantastic form, picturing myths and fables in a +wonderfully realistic way. There seems to be no end<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">{162}</a></span> +to the variety of wooden ornament. The carver has +found a place in architectural design, too, many old +houses being enriched with his handiwork. In the +days when walls were panelled with oak, the carver +and the wood worker delighted in cutting deep and +intricate mouldings and in giving that delightful linen +fold to the panels which would otherwise have been +plain. That was the ambition of the household +decorator of Elizabethan days. Tudor beams were +cut and carved and quaint mottoes engraved upon +them. The old oak settles—sometimes portable, at +others fixtures—were carved all over, and the fronts +of oak chests were often made into pictures of wood. +They told the tale of the family tree by the coats of +arms and the shields emblazoned by the cutter of +wood, sometimes being enriched with colour; at +others the picture forms were created by inlaying +and superadding fretwork. There were intricate +carvings of the Sheraton and Chippendale periods, +and there were the wonderful floral sprays, cherubs, +and other ornaments so cunningly wrought by Grinling +Gibbons and his followers. Wooden ornament +in those days took the form of over-doors, and wreaths +running down the lintels; and massive mantelpieces +of oak were carved deeply. There were vases of +wood full of flowers cut from the same material +standing on wooden pedestals. The floral sprays, it +is said, were in some cases so delicately cut that they +shook like natural flowers when any one crossed a +room or a post-chaise rumbled along the street. +Some remarkable picture frames were cut and carved +by amateurs, corresponding well with the handiwork +of the needlewoman they enshrined. The cutting +and carving of banner screens was a work of art, and +many times a labour of love.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">{163}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_57" id="FIG_57"></a> +<img src="images/fig_57.jpg" width="400" height="597" alt="FIG. 57.—CARVED PLAQUE STAND." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 57.—CARVED PLAQUE STAND.</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">{165}</a></span> +</div> + +<p>There are quaint relics of other countries in wood +carving among the curios of the home. Some remarkable +pieces of carved cherry-trees have been brought +over from Japan, the black trunk or root of the tree +being turned into a grinning demon, similar to the +one illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_56">56</a>, which resembles the "temple +guardian." Others have been fashioned like ancient +idols or apes, many being an intermixture of different-coloured +woods, varying from almost red-brown to +black, throwing up the carving in relief. The Oriental +was a clever wood carver, and with his primitive tools +he cut and fashioned a piece of wood according to +his own sweet will, evolving from it intricate works +of art in wood. Perhaps the most remarkable examples +of the wood-worker's skill are those tiny +miniatures of which there is such a splendid collection +in the British Museum, notably the almost microscopic +reliquaries. The Japanese and Chinese have shown +remarkable skill in carvings, and especially in the way +they have set off china plates and bowls intended as +ornamental objects; a truly magnificent example of +such work is shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_57">57</a>.</p> + + +<h3>Old Gilt.</h3> + +<p>The highly decorative work known as old gilt, very +fashionable in the early Victorian drawing-room, has +quite recently been hunted up, and many pieces have +been restored to positions of honour. The gilt, so-called, +was in reality eighteen-carat gold overlaid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">{166}</a></span> +upon soft brass by a process not now practised. +Delightfully decorative trinket stands, card trays, and +little baskets were made in this way; and as they +were afterwards coated over with a transparent +varnish, they have preserved their colour; indeed, +when found black with age, after carefully washing +in soap and water, they frequently come out bright +and untarnished. Then if brushed over with white +of egg or some transparent white varnish they will +keep their colour for many years to come. These +decorative ornaments, often perforated as well as +embossed, were frequently enriched with imitation +jewels. Those shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_61">61</a> are typical of the +style of ornament referred to. Sometimes scent +satchets and jewelled caskets are found fitted with +quaint reels for sewing silk and curious needle +holders. The more elaborate pieces are often ornamented +with floral sprays made of porcelain; some +of the baskets filled with coral and seaweed have +curiously made little birds and butterflies, many of +them being genuine Chelsea. Others are the framework +for holding Bow figures or painted plaques. +This Victorian gilt is at present not over-scarce, and +as it is not as yet much in demand collectors have +an exceptional opportunity of securing interesting +specimens at moderate cost.</p> + + +<h3>Old Ivories.</h3> + +<p>Much might be written about old ivories. Ivory +has been a much-valued material for ornamental +decoration from quite early times. In almost every +home there are curios and pieces of furniture in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">{167}</a></span> +ivory has either been overlaid or inserted as panels. +At one time it was much used for overlays, and in +very thin plates made up into all kinds of decorative +models.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIGS_58_59_60" id="FIGS_58_59_60"></a> +<img src="images/fig_58-60.jpg" width="400" height="173" alt="FIGS. 58, 59.—MINIATURE COPPER AND SILVER KETTLES. + +FIG. 60.—MINIATURE IVORY COFFEE BOILER." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIGS. 58, 59.—MINIATURE COPPER AND SILVER KETTLES. +<br /> +FIG. 60.—MINIATURE IVORY COFFEE BOILER.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_61" id="FIG_61"></a> +<img src="images/fig_61.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="FIG. 61.—TWO OLD-GILT JEWELLED ORNAMENTS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 61.—TWO OLD-GILT JEWELLED ORNAMENTS.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">{169}</a></span>There are carved tusks from Africa and India, and +quaint native curios made of ivory cunningly wrought. +It is from the East that we receive so many beautiful +curios, and especially so from India, China, and Japan. +The three remarkably handsome ivories illustrated +in Fig. <a href="#FIG_62">62</a> will serve to illustrate the beautiful and +oftentimes costly curios found in so many homes.</p> + + +<h3>Miniature Antiques.</h3> + +<p>Some of the most pleasing little antiques are silver +models of children's toys. The original models made +contemporary with the furniture or household gods +they purport to represent were frequently the gifts of +godparents, and many are most elaborate in their +designs, every detail found in the larger originals +being faithfully reproduced. Some of these little +silver toys, with which probably children were seldom +allowed to play, represented common objects outside +the home, such as the dovecote in the garden, the +travelling coach with its prancing steeds, the pack-horse +ascending the slope towards a bridge over a +stream, in some instances objects of husbandry and +agriculture, being given to children familiar with the +country.</p> + +<p>Another favourite type of model curio is found in +the remarkably tiny objects workmen sometimes +prided themselves upon making—such curios, for +instance, as the silver and copper kettles and coffee<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">{170}</a></span> +pot shown in Figs. <a href="#FIGS_58_59_60">58</a>, <a href="#FIGS_58_59_60">59</a>, and <a href="#FIGS_58_59_60">60</a>. The larger specimen +(drawn larger than the original) was made from +a copper farthing, the smaller kettles being hammered +out of threepenny-pieces; the coffee pot is of ivory—a +charming model.</p> + +<p>There are a few sundries which should not be +overlooked when collecting curious things reminiscent +of home-life as it once was. Among these are +the glass pictures once so much prized by well-to-do +folk, now valued only by the collector of such things. +These were really "prints from prints." The method +of their preparation was most inartistic, although it +was effectual. A piece of glass was coated with +varnish, the print was then placed upon the varnish, +and when dry and quite hard the paper was washed +off, leaving a "print" upon the prepared surface, +which was then painted over at the back, the picture +thus being made complete.</p> + +<p>Much store was formerly set by the little plaques +and medallions which, with silhouettes, hung upon the +walls. Among the gems of such ornaments were the +exquisite tablets and cameos made by Josiah Wedgwood, +whose beautiful vases and miniature bottles, as +well as tea-sets in the same wares, were so much +admired.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">{171}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_62" id="FIG_62"></a> +<img src="images/fig_62.jpg" width="400" height="311" alt="FIG. 62.—THREE FINE OLD IVORIES." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 62.—THREE FINE OLD IVORIES.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">{173}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">VII<br /> +<br /> +GLASS<br /> +AND<br /> +ENAMELS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">{175}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<br /> +GLASS AND ENAMELS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Waterford, Bristol, and Nailsea—Ornaments of glass—Enamels on +metal.</p></div> + + +<p>Glass is used in every home. It is seen in its ornamental +forms, and is necessary in almost every +department. In kitchen and pantry there are dishes +and tumblers and wine glasses and decanters ready +for use. Among these there are often found old +glasses—that is, glass vessels which from their rarity +or age have attained a curio value; indeed, many +housewives are unaware that their kitchen cupboard +contains what would be valued as interesting specimens +gladly purchased by collectors of glass. Many +of the old tumblers are beautifully engraved, often +having floral ornament and dainty rustic scenes. +They are now and then commemorative of events +which the glass maker has recorded with his graving +tool, and sometimes they have been prepared to catch +the passing fancy. The styles of table glass have +changed, and their shapes and sizes have altered +according to the popular custom of imbibing certain +liquors.</p> + +<p>When punch ceased to be the customary drink, +and lesser quantities of ale were consumed, punch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">{176}</a></span> +bowls and tankards were less in request. Their +places were taken by wine glasses of more delicate +forms, and charming tallboys and crinkled vessels of +glass took the place of the older mugs and pewter +cups. The glasses used in proffering and drinking +toasts have changed much during the last century, +and the "fiat" glasses of the Jacobite period, and +those curious glasses with portraits of the Old +Pretender and the Young Pretender upon them, are +curios only, for they are no longer needed, neither +is the toast of "The King" drunk "over the water." +Spirit glasses and decanters have altered in form, but +among those which have survived and are still sound +are some rare examples of cutting, made in the days +when the glass cutter worked with primitive tools, +and such methods as the sand blast, chemical etching, +and some of the newer processes were unknown.</p> + + +<h3>Waterford, Bristol, and Nailsea.</h3> + +<p>Among table sundries are glass salts and cruets; +the latter, however, have been modernized and +reduced in size, and the bottles and curiously shaped +oil and vinegar cruets of a hundred or more years +ago look quaint when compared with those of the +present day. Even the flower vases which formerly +adorned the table, and the more decorative dishes +used for fancy sweetmeats and confections, have +changed, leaving in the process many of the older +pieces, relegated to the store-cupboard, where disused +glass so often remains until in due time it is rescued +from oblivion by the collector of household curios. +Among the eighteenth-century cut glass jugs and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">{177}</a></span> +trifle bowls are many beautiful vessels, for the making +of which certain districts from time to time became +famous. The old Waterford glass is especially noteworthy, +and as a speculation, apart from the interest +it possesses for collectors, is worth securing. Bristol +glass to the uninitiated appears to be a misnomer, in +that the beautiful white milk-like surface upon which +so many exquisite floral designs have been painted +looks more like egg-shell porcelain, but when held up +to the light is found to be of glass-like nature, pellucid +although semi-opaque.</p> + +<p>Nailsea glass has many peculiar characteristics +about it, notably the curiously introduced waved and +twisted lines in colours. Many objects which were +essentially curios, their utilitarian purposes having +always been secondary, were made at Nailsea. +There are gigantic models of tobacco pipes, formerly +hung up against the walls as ornaments. As fitting +companions to the pipes were walking-sticks of glass, +some very remarkable designs which might at one +time have been carried by the gallants of that day. +They were often filled with sweetmeats and comfits, +ornamented with bows of ribbon, and presented to +ladies of their choice by devoted swains. A few of +those curious sticks or shepherd's crooks, as they were +called, are to be seen in most representative museum +collections. The so-called rolling-pins of glass, made +at Sunderland as well as at Nailsea and Bristol, were +known as sailors' love tokens, and are referred to +more fully in Chapter <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII</a>. In the Taunton Castle +Museum there are some interesting specimens of old +glass, notably one of the very rare dark bottle-glass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">{178}</a></span> +linen smoothers which came from South Petherton. +Such smoothers were at one time favoured in the +kitchen laundry in the days when servant-maids +excelled in getting up linen, and prided themselves +on the beautiful gloss they were able to impart—in +the days before public laundries with their modern +glossing machines were instituted.</p> + +<p>Some of our readers may have seen the curious +glass tubes, one yard in length, into which ale was +poured in the days when it was considered a desirable +attainment to be able to drink at one draught a +"yard of ale."</p> + +<p>Of the larger vessels such as wine bottles, the chief +collectable feature about them is the old glass-bottle-makers' +stamps, very frequently found on fragments +of bottles, such stamps often turning up among the +oddments of kitchen drawers which have probably +been undisturbed for many years. To collect bottle +stamps is certainly an uncommon hobby, but one +that is not altogether devoid of interest.</p> + + +<h3>Ornaments of Glass.</h3> + +<p>Of household ornaments in glass there appears to +be no end. There are the glass Venetian vases and +ewers, beautiful and graceful in form, richly ornamented +in gold; and there are the old English and +French vases, the colouring of which is not always in +accord with modern taste. Cut glass, in whatever +form it is met with, is appreciated, in that the workmanship +involving so much studious labour is recognized. +Continental glass has at all periods been +imported into this country, and especially so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">{179}</a></span> +Bohemian glass, of which there are decanters of ruby, +claret, blue, and other rich colours; some remarkable +effects have been produced upon red glass by adding +tinted colours and white decoration interspersed with +gold. Glass lustres have acquired an antiquarian +value, and chandeliers and mantelpiece lustre candlesticks +are sought after by the collector, who sometimes +finds interspersed with cut glass lustre pretty +coloured china droppers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_63" id="FIG_63"></a> +<img src="images/fig_63.jpg" width="400" height="646" alt="FIG. 63.—BATTERSEA ENAMELS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 63.—BATTERSEA ENAMELS.</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">{181}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a></span> +</div> + + +<h3>Pictorial Art in Glass.</h3> + +<p>Stained-glass windows are associated with ecclesiastical +edifices. Old English houses, however, not +infrequently contain armorial panels, coats of arms in +leaden frames, and curious little pictures in colours +which can be hung against modern windows where +the light will throw up the rich colouring of the old-time +painters. Little patches of colour, too, were +often introduced in otherwise plain diamond-shaped +lattice panes.</p> + +<p>There are glass pictures, so-called, oftentimes consisting +of coloured prints pasted on one side of the +glass, a softened effect being produced by the glass +through which they were seen; but they must be +distinguished from the more costly paintings <i>on</i> glass +sometimes met with.</p> + +<p>In many an old house the glass shade with its +contents so inartistic, although removed from its +place of honour on the parlour table, found a niche +where it is preserved. Under such shades were preserved +wool-work baskets filled with artificial flowers, +among which were often small porcelain figures,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">{182}</a></span> +butterflies and birds. Sometimes a Parian vase has +been filled with wax flowers, the making of which +was a favourite pastime half a century ago. The +dried plant called "honesty" was frequently covered +with a glass shade. Glass ships were exceedingly +popular in seaport towns, and little miniature replicas +of household furniture in glass are met with; indeed, +there seems to have been no limit to the fancies and +freaks of the glass blower, who has at different periods +provided the present-day collector with curious, if +very breakable, curios.</p> + + +<h3>Enamels on Metal.</h3> + +<p>The art of enamelling on metal has been practised +from very early times. In its earlier forms it was +chiefly an art applied to jewellery and the ornamentation +of ecclesiastical metal work. In time, however, +it was applied as a convenient method of decorating +utilitarian household articles such as fire-dogs and +candlesticks. Those who frequent the more important +museums often associate enamels with the +costly and rare enamels of Limoges, and the choice +bits of Italian enamels seen in the cases of metals +where the most valuable curios are gathered together. +Such vessels as those marvellous effects produced by +the enamellers of Limoges are indeed rarely found +among household curios; it is well, however, to note +that the processes by which those effects were produced +changed as time went on. The earlier translucent +enamel of the Italian artists was laid over an +incised metal ground, the design previously prepared +showing through. In the later Limoges enamels the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">{183}</a></span> +surface with which the copper base was overlaid was +painted, very much in the same way as the miniature +painters on enamels operated in after-years.</p> + +<p>The process of covering metal with enamels made +of a species of glass is very ancient, but the basis +of all enamels is the application of fusible colourless +silicate or glass in pattern or design, mixed with +metallic oxides, the prepared surface being afterwards +fired until the enamel adheres firmly to the copper or +other metal. The processes varied, but the firing or +fusing was the same throughout. The name "enamel" +is traceable to the French word <i>enail</i> and the Italian +<i>smalto</i>, both having the same root as the Anglo-Saxon +word "smelt." The enamels of China and +Japan so extensively imported into this country of +late years are chiefly made by filling cloisons or cells +formed of fine metal wires or plates with coloured +enamels and then firing them. As the collector +advances in his appreciation of the old craftsmen, he +soon recognizes the difference between the antiques +sent over by Oriental merchants and the modern +works made on present-day commercial lines, and +not the work of men whose time was deemed of small +account if they acquired notoriety for the beauty of +their work.</p> + +<p>The household enamels of English make consist +chiefly of those beautiful little boxes, trinkets, and +domestic objects made at Battersea and Bilston in the +eighteenth century. The enamels used for the ground +were tinted rose, blue, and other shades, and ornamented +with painted pictures and mottoes. A very fine +group of Battersea patch boxes is shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_63">63</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">{185}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">VIII<br /> +<br /> +LEATHER<br /> +AND<br /> +HORN</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">{187}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<br /> +LEATHER AND HORN</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Spanish leather—"Cuir boulli" work—Tapestry and upholstery—Leather +bottles and drinking vessels—Leather curios—Shoes—Horn +work.</p></div> + + +<p>That "there is nothing like leather" has been +believed by people of all ages, and in many countries +the general belief has been put into practice, for many +indeed are the uses to which leather has been put. +As a lasting material it has been proved to possess +excellent qualities. The artist, too, has found that +leather is capable of being treated so as to give the +effect of delicate carvings, and to serve well many +purposes of decoration.</p> + +<p>In the East leather was used in patriarchal times, +the skins of animals making excellent water bottles. +In mediæval England leather black jacks, cups, and +flagons withstood the rough usage of those roisterous +times. The collector seeks both useful and ornamental, +and finds much to delight among the old +leathern objects hid away as being now quite useless +or antiquated.</p> + + +<h3>Spanish Leather.</h3> + +<p>As early as the fifteenth century Cordova, in Spain,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">{188}</a></span> +was celebrated for its workers in leather, and for the +fine ornamental leather vessels produced there. Some +of the designs favoured by Spanish craftsmen were +gruesome in the extreme. Indeed, many were +fashioned for the purpose of creating fear in the +use of the vessels so ornamented.</p> + +<p>A few years ago a remarkably fine collection of +old Spanish leather work was exhibited in London. +There were some hideous and grotesque figures, +which it was said had been designed for the mental +torture of the victims of the Inquisition. Some of +the larger specimens were remarkably well executed, +especially so some of the wine bottles which imitated +very realistically the pose of men and women. Some +of the female figures were represented wearing flowing +gowns and costumes of the height of fashion—tall +and noble women. By way of contrast there +were little manikin wine jugs of the most grotesque +forms.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards made leather upholsteries of +remarkable designs; they also ornamented boxes, +trunks, and cases for knives and costly trinkets.</p> + + +<h3>"Cuir boulli" Work.</h3> + +<p>Most of the decorated leather work of that period, +examples of which are not very difficult to secure, was +made by the <i>cuir boulli</i> process. The leather, after +being boiled down to a pulp and salt and alum added, +was then moulded to any desired form, the decoration +being imparted in the process.</p> + +<p>The Victoria and Albert Museum is very rich in +fine examples, and a description of some of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">{189}</a></span> +typical pieces there may serve as a guide to collectors +hopeful of including some objects moulded by +this process among their household relics.</p> + +<p>The work was carried on at Cordova and other +places for a long period, some of the museum examples +dating back to the fifteenth century. There +are cases for holding what were then rare books and +manuscripts, and a remarkable scribe's case with a +red cover has loops on either side to which a cord was +attached. The scribe was an important personage +in commercial and private correspondence in the +days when even rudimentary education was by no +means general.</p> + +<p>In the same collection is a leather box for holding +a knife and fork; on the outer case is a medallion, in +the centre of which is a representation of the two +spies returning from Canaan with a large bunch of +grapes. There are also cases which have once held +wine bottles, some ornamented in colours; indeed, +the stamped, cut, and embossed designs of the <i>cuir +boulli</i> work were frequently enriched by the addition +of red, yellow, and gold.</p> + +<p>There are some specially interesting examples of +Italian work, representing a period covering nearly +the whole of the Renaissance. In this connection +there are pilgrim bottles of yellow glass encased in +wonderful leather covers, cut and embossed. There +are leather snuff boxes with trellis-work ornament +and scroll borders, one very interesting piece being +varnished to imitate tortoiseshell. There are also +some attractive toilet objects, evidently antique presentation +pieces. One is a most elaborately cut and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">{190}</a></span> +incised comb case, on the exterior of which is the +motto or legend: "<span class="smcap lowercase">DE BOEN AMORE</span>." In the same +collection there is a fine leather case for a cup or +tankard. Such cup cases are not uncommon, many +being the receptacles for treasured heirlooms. Perhaps +one of the most noted examples of the use of +embossed and decorative leather work is the ancient +case of stamped leather intricately foliated, a highly +decorative work of art in which is enclosed that remarkable +goblet of legendary fame known as "The +Luck of Eden Hall."</p> + + +<h3>Tapestry and Upholstery.</h3> + +<p>Stamped and embossed leather work is very conspicuous +in domestic upholstery. In very early +times the leather work, hung upon the wall in panels, +took the place of more modern wall-coverings, and it +was truly lasting. Much of the Cordovan leather is +still very fresh in appearance, although several centuries +old. Some of the panels hanging on the walls +at South Kensington look remarkably fresh, and, +richly decorated in colours, many of them are very +effective. A special branch of this work was that +devoted to the decoration of chair backs; stamped +leather work for upholstery has been used in this +country to a large extent, and some of the large oak +chairs are still upholstered in the original ornamental +leather produced by boiling the hides by a special +process, so that the material could be readily moulded. +In more modern times, however, the decoration is +effected by embossing and stamping, supplementing +such ornament by the use of an immense quantity of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">{191}</a></span> +small brass nails, which are arranged in geometrical +patterns or straight lines, oftentimes names and dates +being included in the design.</p> + +<p>In this connection also are screens of painted and +gilt leather, chiefly of eighteenth-century manufacture. +There is a good deal of this leather work to be found +in old houses still, and much of it is capable of improvement +by properly cleaning and touching up here +and there so as to revive the old colours. Here and +there hung up as wall decorations may be seen leather-covered +boxes which were specially made to hold +deeds; in the older examples there is a large circular +piece below the narrow box, arranged so that the seal +could hang in its proper position from the end of the +deed; they were, of course, in common use before +the days of safes and other methods of preserving +parchments and property deeds. One in the +Victoria and Albert Museum is stamped on the +exterior with the description of the deed it +originally contained, the inscription commencing +thus: "<span class="smcap lowercase">THE GRAUNT OF HEN: THE 5 TO THE +ABBOT OF RADING</span>."</p> + + +<h3>Chests and Coffers.</h3> + +<p>Before modern travelling requisites were known +and in the days when journeys were few, the leather-covered +coffer contained the whole travelling outfit of +perhaps some noble lord and his household. There +were also large coffers covered with leather used as +permanent receptacles of clothing, covered with ornamental +embossed leather work, some very decorative. +There were smaller coffers, too; possibly they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">{192}</a></span> +jewel caskets in their day. There are others which +may have been presentation cases, for their decoration +is especially elaborate. In making these continental +craftsmen seem to have excelled. In the Victoria +and Albert Museum there is a curious German casket +of wood covered with leather, strongly bound with +iron, having three immense hasps from which locks +once hung, altogether too massive for the little casket. +One would think such precautions were of not much +avail against theft, for the box itself could be removed +readily! There is another charming little casket, with +a circular or dome-shaped top, decorated and banded, +a veritable prototype of the tin trunks generally in use +a quarter of a century ago. There is also a remarkable +piece, a wood box covered over with leather +embossed by the <i>cuir boulli</i> process. The chief design +takes the form of two armed horsemen, surrounded +by grotesque ornament on the top, on the sides +being hunting scenes, episodes of the chase. This +curious example of the work of seventeenth-century +artists in leather measures 16½ in. in length by +12½ in. in width. Another typical piece, of a highly +decorative allegorical character, is a rectangular coffret +with arched lid, the ornament being in colours and +gilt. On the front is a knight and a lady, on the lid +two paladins mounted on griffins, two savages with +clubs and shields, and two images of the sun, these +typifying the story of the delivery of a captured lady +by a knight.</p> + + +<h3>Leather Bottles and Drinking Vessels.</h3> + +<p>Several interesting specialistic collections of leather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">{193}</a></span> +bottles and drinking vessels have been got together, +showing the varied forms of the almost imperishable +vessels, so suitable as liquor carriers and drinking +cups in olden time. In the Guildhall Museum are +several different types of bottles, black jacks, and +silver-rimmed cups. Until comparatively recent +times many old inns were famous for their leather +drinking cups, but as the coaching days came to an +end such vessels were gradually dispersed. Now that +motor-cars have popularized the road once more, and +old inns are again frequented, the collector seeks in +vain for what were once quite common. In another +noted collection there is a drinking cup or bottle +moulded like a negro's head, and there are what are +called pilgrim bottles, some of which are of ornamental +type. The so-called pots have sometimes +lids and loosely fitting covers; the black jacks, however, +are chiefly open, ill-shaped vessels. Some of +the black jacks were very large, one in the Taunton +Museum measuring 19 in. in height. It was +originally used in the servants' hall at Montacute +House, which is one of the finest old buildings in +Somerset. This famous jack was in olden time filled +with beer every morning and placed on the servants' +breakfast table. Those smaller cups with silver +mounts and shields, on which are often engraved +crests or initials of their former owners, are of the +rarer type, but they are not infrequently found among +the relics of an old family. There is a fine collection +in the Hull Museum, and in other places where they +are found in excellent condition, proving the truth of +the rhyme published in <i>Westminster Drollery</i> in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">{194}</a></span> +seventeenth century in praise of the black jack, which +runs as follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"No tankard, flagon, bottle, or jug<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are half so good, or so well can hold tug;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For when they are broken or full of cracks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then must they fly to the brave black jacks."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h3>Leather Curios.</h3> + +<p>Some very fine pieces of leather work have been +modelled as curios and ornaments. Some of the +most notable are models of old warships and fully +rigged galleons made of leather. Leather pictures +were made some years ago; a little later leather +modelling of baskets of flowers, and the making of +picture frames of leather was a popular amusement, +some of the ornamental brackets made of leather +being specially effective. The surrounds of picture +frames made of leather cut to shape, carved and +modelled, had a very similar effect to the beautiful +carved wood work of an earlier period. Some of the +powder flasks of leather which were used a century +or two ago are valued curios, as well as the leather +cases stamped and embossed so decorative and appropriate +to the pistols and knives they were made to +contain. Of the finer objects there are small curios +like leather snuff boxes and trinket cases.</p> + +<p>Of the more utilitarian leather work there is the +wearing apparel of former days, the leather clothing +of Cromwellian times and the leather boots. In the +Victoria and Albert Museum there is a remarkably +interesting case of leather shoes showing the evolution +in style and appearance. There are some very pointed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">{195}</a></span> +shoes worn in the fourteenth century, a slightly different +shape in the fifteenth, both contrasting with +the change in fashion which had come about in the +sixteenth century, when the boots were square and +some of the shoes very rounded. The Wellington +boots of a later period are not yet much valued; +there may come a time, however, when they will be +regarded as museum curios. Leather gloves date +back many centuries, and some of the old specimens +with gauntlets and decorative cuffs are interesting +antiques, as well as leather wallets, purses, and +girdles.</p> + + +<h3>Shoes.</h3> + +<p>Among sundry Eastern curios quaintly shaped and +sometimes beautifully embroidered shoes are met +with, such as those which have been brought over to +this country from China and Eastern lands. Most of +the shoes worn in the East are slipped off easily, and, +like Persian and Turkish slippers, are made of red +leather beautifully embroidered, silk, satin, and velvet +being overlaid and embroidered with silver and +sequins. The old practice of compressing the feet of +young girls in China is dying out, but some of the +curious little shoes which gave such pain to their +wearers are seen as museum curios on account of +their curious decoration. Indian shoes are met with +at times, especially those embroidered with silver +thread, and with green and other coloured silks. A +curious ceremony is associated with the marriage of +a Turkish bride, who wears a pair of clogs carved all +over, sometimes with symbolical significance, on her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">{196}</a></span> +way to her prescribed ceremonial visit to the bath. +At one time it was customary for a Jewish bridegroom +to present his bride with a shoe at the conclusion +of the wedding ceremony, this custom being +not far removed from that of throwing an old shoe +after a newly married couple for luck.</p> + + +<h3>Horn Work.</h3> + +<p>Art in horn work was practised more a century ago +than it is to-day, the material being then a favourite +one for drinking cups and a variety of ornamental +work. Old snuff boxes were frequently made of horn +impressed or stamped with beautiful designs, such as +hunting scenes and mythological figures. Horn can +either be cut, moulded, or turned, its natural elasticity +making it very durable and difficult to break. Its +source of supply is chiefly from the horned cattle, the +buffalo and the bison, the horns of these beasts in +their natural state frequently being mounted on +shields just as in later years the horns of smaller +animals, such as the South African varieties of the +ibex, springbok, and similar horned sheep and cattle, +are brought over to this country and mounted as +ornaments. It is said that the old art of impressing +or stamping horn and tortoiseshell has long been +discarded, and is only retained for stamping buttons. +Fancy hair ornaments were frequently so moulded, +the horn or tortoiseshell being afterwards decorated +with inlaid silver and gold.</p> + +<p>Some of the pressed work is extremely beautiful +and has every appearance of being done by hand, +but much cheaper, of course, as the patterns could be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">{197}</a></span> +multiplied to any extent after the dies had been cut. +Thin plates of horn were formerly used in lanterns, +and a similar piece of horn was used as a protector +over the ancient alphabet and child's spelling tablet +that gave it the name of the horn book. Among +household curios are drinking horns elaborately +etched, and frequently turned in a lathe. They were +popular in the seventeenth and early eighteenth +centuries, and the turned patterns then so common +were copied by the silversmiths, who made silver +tankards and drinking cups on the same models. +The cornucopia or horn of abundance figures +frequently in sculpture, paintings, and works of art. +The horn is one of the early instruments of music +(see Chapter <a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV</a>), and has long been associated +with sports. It has sounded the "Tally Ho" of the +fox hunt, and played an important part in coaching +days. In some old houses veritable horns are found +hung in conspicuous places as relics of the past, +but the coaching horns just referred to are for the +most part of metal.</p> + +<p>The Worshipful Company of Horners is still in +evidence at City feasts. The work of the craft in +olden time, as recorded by the chaplain of the +Company in a little book he has prepared, giving the +history of the Horners, was practised in the days of +King Alfred. At least two hundred and fifty years +before the Norman Conquest many of the patens +and chalices used in churches were made by horners, +and at one time cups, plates, and other vessels made +of that useful material were in daily use in English +homes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">{199}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">IX<br /> +<br /> +THE<br /> +TOILET<br /> +TABLE</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">{202}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_64" id="FIG_64"></a> +<img src="images/fig_64.jpg" width="400" height="533" alt="FIG. 64.—ANTIQUE DRESSING OR TOILET GLASS. + +(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 64.—ANTIQUE DRESSING OR TOILET GLASS. +<br /> +(<i>In the Victoria and Albert Museum.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">{203}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<br /> +THE TOILET TABLE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The table and its secrets—Combs—Patch boxes—Enamelled objects—Perfume +boxes and holders—Dressing cases—Scratchbacks—Toilet +chatelaines—Locks of hair—Jewel cabinets.</p></div> + + +<p>The mysteries of the toilet table are sometimes +revealed in the curious furnishings of the dressing-room. +The numerous accessories which are purchased +from the beauty specialist, and as the result +of speciously worded and attractively illustrated +advertisements, in the present day, indicate that it +is not at all unlikely that the fashions of all ages +have demanded a plentiful supply of toilet requisites +in order that the Society beauty might vie with her +nearest rival. The curio collector is not so much +concerned with the cosmetics, salves, pomades, and +hair washes and dyes, the use of which has called +forth receptacles for them, as with the choice boxes, +cases, and implements of the tonsorial art which +their use involved.</p> + +<p>To search for such things and to secure some +hitherto unknown instrument or receptacle is ever +the ambition of the energetic curio hunter. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">{204}</a></span> +field is large enough, for such curios are found in +the tombs of the prehistoric dead, and among the +household gods of the primitive savage in the few +remaining unexplored inhabited countries to-day. +Such objects may with a fair prospect of success be +looked for among the relics of Assyrian and Egyptian +races, and among the bronze curios of Ancient Greece +and Rome; and excavations reveal relics of Saxon +and mediæval England among the ruins which +have been covered up for centuries.</p> + +<p>Coming down the ages, the mysteries of the toilet +table, as pictured in the not always refined engravings +of the copper-plate artists of a century or so +ago, tell of habits and conditions prevailing among +the ladies of Society then which would hardly be +deemed polite and refined now.</p> + +<p>Ladies who used patches and cosmetics and +dressed their hair in such a mode that it was rarely +let down and brushed, needed many accessories now +obsolete. Moreover, the gradual change which +passed over Society, and the privacy of the modern +toilet as compared with the days when much that +is now deemed curious and antique was in common +use, has brought about a new order of things, and +made other trinkets than patch, powder, and salve +boxes acceptable gifts between lovers; hence we +scarcely realize the sentiment that induced the +donors of toilet requisites to bestow them on the +ladies of their choice, or the recipients to welcome +some of the curios obviously given from sentimental +motives.</p> + +<p>The illustrations in books published many years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">{205}</a></span> +ago incidentally recorded the use of some of the +curios then in the making. The artists certainly +were not over-modest, and far from bashful in the +lucid way in which they pictured or caricatured the +toilet table, and the maiden who in those days was +acquainted with the uses of the little relics of her day +which are now among the household curios appropriately +grouped under the heading of this chapter.</p> + + +<h3>The Table and its Secrets.</h3> + +<p>It is before the looking glass, the central object +on, or forming a part of, the toilet table, that the +chief mysteries of the toilet are performed. It is +obvious, therefore, that the table, to be in accord with +the use its name suggests, should be the grand +receptacle for all the minor preparations and their +boxes or covers, as well as for the brushes and combs +and mirrors and sundries a Society beauty may +require.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to tax the mental faculties +in imagining what may have been the equivalent +to brushes and combs with which the prehistoric +woman of thousands of years ago brushed and +combed her tangled tresses. She was ingenious +enough to break off and trim sharp prickly thorns, +and to use them as pins to fasten her scanty home-made +garments, no doubt; and she would probably +find in Nature's supply what served her when making +her toilet, and viewing herself in clear pool or stream. +Artists have pictured such toilets, and poets have +told of the toilet and the bath of Greek and Roman +maidens of olden time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">{206}</a></span></p> + +<p>It is said that the toilet of a Roman lady occupied +much of her time. After she had risen and taken +her bath she placed herself in the hands of the +<i>cosmotes</i>, slaves who possessed the secrets of preserving +and beautifying the complexion of the skin. +She frequently wore a medicated mask and went +through what would to-day be considered very +painful operations. Her skin was rubbed with +pumice stone, and superfluous hairs were removed +with a pair of tweezers. Grecian slaves were adepts +at colouring eyelashes and eyebrows and treating +the lips with red pomade. The mirror was in +frequent use. Many of the polished metal mirrors +of those days were adorned with precious stones and +had handles of mother-o'-pearl; and silver and gold +were common in the fashioning of the framework. +Hair appointments, including combs, were very +decorative, frequently being made of ivory, and +many beautiful carved specimens are to be seen in +our museums.</p> + +<p>The dressing table as we understand it to-day +was of later days, for many centuries elapsed between +the toilet of the ladies just mentioned and +that of English dames whose odds and ends are +to be found in most houses to-day—for few are +without family relics of the toilet.</p> + +<p>The toilet or dressing table was originally quite +small, and made solely for the purpose named. It +opened very much like a small desk or bureau, and +was seldom more than 18 in. or 20 in. in width. +The desk-like flap served the purpose of a table; +behind it was a number of tiny drawers in which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">{207}</a></span> +secret mysteries of the toilet were hidden. There, +too, were the lady's trinkets and jewellery, safely +housed in the depths of those curious recesses. Such +a table was surmounted by a looking glass of the +type now spoken of in a generic sense as Sheraton. +In line with the more elaborately fitted tables were +independent glasses fitted with a small drawer—a +poor substitute, however, for the toilet table and glass, +combined or used in conjunction, in front of which +the ladies of the eighteenth century performed their +toilets.</p> + +<p>In Fig. <a href="#FIG_64">64</a> is illustrated a very beautiful glass of +the Oriental style of japanned decoration. The slide +supports of the desk-like flap are on the principle +adopted in the construction of contemporary bureaux. +There is also a drawer, full of compartments, which +draws out and discloses their covers and some +of the instruments and articles of the toilet they +contain.</p> + + +<h3>Combs.</h3> + +<p>The combs of olden time were much more +elaborate affairs than they are to-day. It would +appear that the comb which must so frequently +have been viewed by the fair user was considered +the most appropriate toilet requisite on which to +expend care and to lavish costly labour in order +to make it truly a thing of beauty, to be retained +and even jealously guarded.</p> + +<p>The precious metals and ivory were used as well +as hard woods. Alas! like the fate of modern combs, +the teeth—coarse and fine—snapped one by one,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">{208}</a></span> +and oftentimes a rare and beautiful back, between +the two rows of teeth that once were, is nearly all +that is left of the once perfect comb. Many combs +of ivory, however, carved all over with exquisite +miniatures, have been preserved, and the scenes upon +them have been incidents of the chase, classic love +scenes, and sometimes reproductions in picture form +of well-known biblical scenes, not always of the most +delicately chosen subjects.</p> + +<p>Not long ago a very remarkable gold comb of first-century +workmanship was found near the village of +Znamenka, in Southern Russia, where excavations +in a burial mound had brought to light the tomb +of a Scythian king, whose head was adorned with +this beautiful comb. The upper portion represented +a combat between three warriors, one mounted on +a charger. That comb, however, should be classed +among "dress" combs rather than dressing combs.</p> + +<p>The ivory combs for combing the hair vary in +size and in the strength of their teeth. Sometimes +a comb made of boxwood was inlaid with ivory, and +delicately pierced panels were inserted in the centre +of the comb. In some instances a small mirror is +found instead of a carved panel; especially is that +the case with the smaller combs carried in a reticule +or bag.</p> + +<p>Inscriptions were common, such, for instance, as +those which breathed the sentiment on a boxwood +comb in the British Museum, which is inscribed in +French: "Accept with goodwill this little gift"; it +is a pretty piece of early work, dating probably from +the middle of the sixteenth century.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">{209}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px; clear: both;"><a name="FIG_65" id="FIG_65"></a> +<img src="images/fig_65.jpg" width="400" height="205" alt="FIG. 65.—THREE OLD SCRATCHBACKS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 65.—THREE OLD SCRATCHBACKS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px; height: 400px;"><a name="FIG_66" id="FIG_66"></a><a name="FIG_67" id="FIG_67"></a> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/fig_66.jpg" width="200" height="497" alt="FIG. 66.—SILVER CHATELAINE +TOILET INSTRUMENTS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 66.—SILVER CHATELAINE +TOILET INSTRUMENTS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/fig_67.jpg" width="200" height="560" alt="FIG. 67.—ANOTHER CHATELAINE +SET." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 67.—ANOTHER CHATELAINE +SET.</span> +</div></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a></span></p> + + +<h3>Patch Boxes.</h3> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">{211}</a></span>The accessories of the toilet table—useful and +ornamental—are many. It has ever been so, and +in the change going on many odds and ends are +left behind and become relics of former practices. +Perhaps among the most interesting of these curios +are the little boxes of porcelain, enamelled wares, +and wood, which were once used as "patch" boxes, +and as receptacles for the pigments employed when +gumming patches upon the cheeks and forehead +was the height of fashion, and when painting the +face was the rule rather than the exception.</p> + +<p>It may be contended by some that these mysteries +of the toilet are not unknown in the present day, but +as yet the modern accessories of the toilet table +do not come within the ken of the curio hunter. +It was at the Court of Louis XV of France that +the practice of gumming small pieces of black taffeta +on the cheeks originated, the patches soon afterwards +becoming common in this country. From simple +circular discs were evolved stars, crescents, and other +curious forms; then, as in so many other instances, +extremes of fashion brought the practice into +disrepute, for so extravagant became the style that +the "coach and horses" patch and others as absurd +came into favour. The famous Sam Pepys recorded +in his Diary the first time he saw his wife wearing +a black patch; apparently it caught his fancy, for +he wrote: "My wife seemed very pretty to-day, it +being the first time I had given her lief to wear +a black patch." Incidentally it may be noted that +the famous Pepys controlled even his wife's toilet,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">{212}</a></span> +and that she was obedient to him even in the +mysteries of the dressing table!</p> + + +<h3>Enamelled Objects.</h3> + +<p>The receptacles for all these compounds varied; +some were of wood, beautifully carved, often embellished +with brass mountings, the insides being +lined with silk, and small mirrors were inserted in +the lids. The pretty trinket trays, curiously coloured +and decorated, boxes, and little candlesticks for "my +lady's table," made of Battersea and other enamels, +were much in favour a century or more ago.</p> + +<p>Some remarkably charming boxes are met with +stamped with the name of Lille, in France, where +many such objects were made—the English enamels +of that period are rarely if ever marked.</p> + +<p>It would appear that very many of these little +articles were the gifts of friends or purchased as +souvenirs of the comparatively rare visits to +fashionable places of resort. Many of those given +by friends were chosen because of the mottoes and +emblems with which they were decorated; for, like +the combs, they were made use of to convey +messages of love and friendship. We can well +understand the fear that might arise lest patches +became loose and rendered the fair wearer ludicrous; +hence the little mirrors so often found within +the boxes, which it may be mentioned were carried +about in the pocket ready for use when opportunity +served.</p> + +<p>Many of the older specimens are found with +mirrors of steel which, owing to exposure to damp,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">{213}</a></span> +have become very rusty, and, in some instances, have +perished altogether. Others with silvered glass +mirrors show spots, and are much blurred from the +same cause. The colourings of enamels vary; in +some the groundwork is white, in others pink or rose-colour +or blue. Little picture scenes are varied with +the quaint mottoes or sentimental lines so much in +vogue then.</p> + +<p>The illustrations given in Fig. <a href="#FIG_63">63</a> are typical of +the choicer decorations, showing the floral style as +well as the pictorial miniature scenes for which the +artists of that time were famous. Some of the toilet +sundries took the form of scent bottles, others etui +cases and boxes for toilet requisites, including +manicure sets.</p> + + +<h3>Perfume Boxes and Holders.</h3> + +<p>Perfume has always been associated with the +requisites of the lady's toilet. Sweet-smelling spices +are referred to in biblical records, and even to-day +the offering of perfume is a symbol of honour to the +guest in the East; and some very beautiful Oriental +scent sprinklers and spice boxes are now and then +met with among Eastern curios. The long-necked +rose-water sprinkler is the most common form, +supplemented by betel-nut boxes and receptacles +made by Persian artists for the famous attar of +roses. Scents and "sweet odours" became fashionable +in Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries; articles of clothing were scented, and +there was a profusion of scent for the hair and in +making the toilet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">{214}</a></span></p> + +<p>The pomander box, the favourite perfume holder +of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of +England, was in the form of an apple, the +perfumes and spices being made up like a ball. +It is said that the perfume was prepared from +a sixteenth-century recipe, the basis of which was +sweet apples or apple pulp, and scented gums +and essences. From the pomander box smaller +receptacles were evolved, and more elaborately prepared +scents were kept in them. Some of the +preparations consisted of camphor, mint, rosemary, +and lavender in vinegar, a piece of sponge being +saturated with the liquid. Then came the use +of aromatic vinegar, and gradually beautiful little +silver vinaigrettes were introduced. Many of them +were very ornamental in shape, highly decorated +with miniatures and floreated embellishment, the +monogram or name of the owner often being added. +In the outer case was usually a cover of perforated +gold which closed over a piece of sponge, upon which +aromatic vinegar or some similar preparation was +poured. The best vinaigrettes are those bearing the +hall-marks varying from 1800 to about 1840, when +the making of vinaigrettes declined and other +scents took their place.</p> + +<p>The burning of perfumes in bedrooms and the +fumigation of wardrobes and chests by means of a +fumador was a custom much resorted to by Portuguese +ladies in the eighteenth century. Sweet lavender is +still used in the linen cupboard, although its use was +much more general in the days when London street +cries were heard.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">{215}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>Dressing Cases.</h3> + +<p>When people travel and visit their friends their +luggage includes among other things a dressing case, +for there are many toilet requisites which are of a +personal character, and cannot well be substituted +by others. It is true that the need of portable +dressing cases has increased of late years owing +to greater travelling abroad. Dressing cases, +however, are by no means modern, for some very +beautiful examples with silver-topped bottles, hall-marked +in the days of Queen Anne, are among the +collectable curios. There is a still older example in +the Victoria and Albert Museum—a case of tortoiseshell, +filled with a complete toilet set, consisting of +four combs and thirteen toilet instruments, partly of +steel and partly of silver. It is an historic case, +having been presented by Charles II to a Mr. T. +Campland, who is said to have at one time sheltered +him. Many old families have interesting and valuable +examples, and not infrequently isolated cut-glass +bottles with Georgian hall-marked silver tops which +have formed part of the equipment of dressing cases +are met with.</p> + + +<h3>Scratchbacks.</h3> + +<p>Old English scratchbacks are among the rarities +of the curios associated with the toilet table. It is +unnecessary to comment upon the habits and customs +of those periods when scratchbacks were found +necessary, or to refer to the hygienic conditions of +the toilet then conspicuous by their absence. It is +sufficient to allude to these curious little instruments,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">{216}</a></span> +mostly shaped like a hand, often of ivory, and always +fitted with a handle in length from 12 to 15 in. +The hand in some cases is large in proportion, +measuring as much as 2½ in. in length, sometimes +as an open hand, at others with the fingers closed, +often very beautifully modelled. Horn and whalebone +were favourite materials for the handle, although +some were of ebony and other woods. Scratchbacks +appear to have been made both in lefts and rights in +this country; but the scratchbacks of the Far East +were invariably rights. The accompanying illustrations, +Fig. <a href="#FIG_65">65</a>, show the usual types of these now +obsolete toilet requisites, which it may be noted were +sometimes duplicated by miniature scratchbacks +carried about on the person, hung from the girdle.</p> + + +<h3>Toilet Chatelaines.</h3> + +<p>The chatelaines worn by the ladies of olden time +were bulky, and the various objects deemed necessary +to carry about the person rendered them +cumbersome in the extreme. A bunch of keys was +always in evidence, and a glance at a few old keys +indicates how large the keys of even quite small +boxes were in olden time. There were the keys of the +store cupboard, of the linen chest, and of the larder +and the wine cellar. Drawers and cupboards and +boxes, as well as the bureau or desk, were always +locked, and to deliver up the keys was indeed to +surrender one of the privileges of the matron and +housewife which were jealously guarded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">{217}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_68_69_70_71" id="FIG_68_69_70_71"></a> +<img src="images/fig_68-71.jpg" width="400" height="595" alt="FIG. 68.—FINE ORIENTAL LACQUERED BOX." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 68.—FINE ORIENTAL LACQUERED BOX.<br /> +FIG. 69.—SMALL LACQUER CABINET.<br /> +FIG. 70.—A PAGODA-SHAPED CASKET.<br /> +FIG. 71.—DECORATED JEWEL CASE.</span> +</div> + +<p>There were articles of toilet use, too, worn at the +girdle. It is recorded that Queen Elizabeth carried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">{219}</a></span> +her earpick of gold ornamented with pearls and +diamonds. The little set, which was worn at a lady's +chatelaine in the eighteenth century, shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_66">66</a>, +consists of toothpick, earpick, and tongue scraper of +silver, whereas the set illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_67">67</a> includes +tweezers, a nail knife, and other instruments. There +are some charming manicure sets extant, as well as +isolated nail files of ivory and steel, and curious little +instruments for simple surgical operations, such as +strong-nerved ladies were not averse to perform in +the good old days.</p> + + +<h3>Locks of Hair.</h3> + +<p>Although long since separated from toilet operations, +mention of locks of hair so carefully preserved +may not inappropriately be made here. Many of +these are associated with happy memories of childhood, +others of more saddened recollections. It has +been a common practice to preserve locks of hair of +departed friends and relatives. In former days these +locks of hair were often enclosed in lockets, some of +which were very large. The simple lock did not +always satisfy, for there are many artistic plaits and +beautifully formed sprays, imitating feathers and even +flowers, which were in years gone by cunningly interwoven +and artistically arranged on cardboard preserved +by glass, often in golden lockets and frames. +Some persons have made quite important collections, +one of the most noted being that of Menelik II, the +Abyssinian king, who possessed upwards of two thousand +locks, varying from light to dark, and from fine +to coarse, each lock being labelled with the date and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">{220}</a></span> +particulars of its acquisition. It would be well perhaps +not to enter too closely into the source of some +of these specimens, which had peculiar interest to the +dusky king. It is said that some of them were chiefly +admired for their settings, which included mounting +with rare emeralds. The collection of emeralds, of +which he had some of marvellous beauty and lustre, +was another of that monarch's hobbies.</p> + + +<h3>Jewel Cabinets.</h3> + +<p>In association with the toilet table are the numerous +boxes which have been made as receptacles for jewels. +From the days when the dower chest contained a +small compartment for valuable trinkets the furniture +of the lady's boudoir has been incomplete without a +jewel box or some article of furniture where the +knick-knacks of the home could be kept, and more +especially the wearable jewellery. The Chinese and +Japanese have ever been clever in the fashioning of +small cabinets, and many delightful little boxes, +cabinets, and jewellery receptacles have been brought +over to this country.</p> + +<p>Some of the old lacquer ware is exceptionally +interesting, the decorations upon such pieces being +doubly so when the legends they depict are fully +realized and understood. The accompanying illustrations +represent four Japanese jewel cases which are +exceptionally fine curios. Fig. <a href="#FIG_68_69_70_71">70</a> is decorated on the +outside of the doors with a view of Itsukushima; and +there are two peacocks on the top, and the two elders +of Takasago are depicted on the back. The bamboo +and the plum are designs symbolical of longevity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">{221}</a></span> +This truly exceptional piece was sold in the auction +rooms of Glendining & Co., who also disposed of the +remarkable jewel box shaped as a pagoda, illustrated +in Fig. <a href="#FIG_68_69_70_71">71</a>, a very beautiful piece elaborately decorated +with birds and landscapes, and the box illustrated in +Fig. <a href="#FIG_68_69_70_71">68</a> and small cabinet, Fig. <a href="#FIG_68_69_70_71">69</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">{223}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">X<br /> +<br /> +THE<br /> +OLD<br /> +WORKBOX</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">{225}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<br /> +THE OLD WORKBOX</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Spinning wheels—Materials and work—Little accessories—Cutlery—Quaint +woodwork—The needlewoman—Old samplers.</p></div> + + +<p>Under the generic term of "workbox" the curios of +the household associated with the industrial handiwork +of former days may well be reviewed. There +is no record of when receptacles for ladies' work were +first introduced, although, no doubt, in very early days +small oak boxes, carved, and bearing the owner's +initials, and other indications of ownership, would be +the chosen receptacles for the numerous oddments +which are required in the practice and pursuit +of every home handicraft, and especially those connected +with plying the needle. There was a time, +however, when the fabrics used in the making up +of clothing were home-made, when the seamstress +and the needleworker stitched and embroidered upon +cloths spun if not actually woven by the housewife +and her handmaidens. In the barrows containing +remains of people of the Stone Age, and the peoples +of the early Bronze Age, among the few ornaments +and personal adornments buried with them were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">{226}</a></span> +spinning whorls—the curiosities which remain to +us of the earliest known form of textile craftsmanship.</p> + + +<h3>Spinning Wheels.</h3> + +<p>In old pictures and woodblock engravings some +curious illustrations are met with showing Englishwomen +using the distaff. St. Distaff's Day was +formerly the 7th of January, for it was then that the +women resumed work after the Christmas festivities +were over. The distaff and the spindle belonged to +an age little understood now, and the occupations of +the women of that date are almost forgotten. The +spinning wheel was the outcome of the simpler +distaff and spindle, and although the spinning wheels +we find among the most interesting of household relics +look primitive indeed compared with the complex +machinery seen in the spinning mills to-day, those +dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries +must have been considered ingenious contrivances +when compared with the older models, just as the +latest types of sewing machines show a wonderful +advance from the early machines invented in the +beginning of the nineteenth century.</p> + +<p>Very clever indeed were many women in manipulating +the spinning wheel, and there seems to have +been some competitive contests for notoriety among +country women, who found a pleasing though perhaps +at times tedious occupation in spinning the wool for +the local weaver who wove the home-made cloth. +It is recorded that in 1745 a woman at East Dereham +spun a single pound of wool into a thread of 84,000 +yards. She was far outdistanced, however, a few +years later, when a young lady at Norwich out of +a pound of combed wool produced a thread computed +to measure 168,000 yards.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">{227}</a></span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_72" id="FIG_72"></a> +<img src="images/fig_72.jpg" width="400" height="520" alt="FIG. 72.—OLD SPINNING WHEEL. + +(In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 72.—OLD SPINNING WHEEL. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">{229}</a></span>To secure a fine spinning wheel is the ambition of +collectors, and many ladies point with pride to the +old relic placed in a position of honour on an oak +chest of drawers, or, perhaps, standing on a coffer +in the hall. An exceptionally fine wheel is shown +in Fig. <a href="#FIG_72">72</a>; it is one of many secured by Mr. Phillips, +of the Manor House, Hitchin. Another illustration +is taken from a sketch of a spinning wheel in the +Hull Museum (see Fig. <a href="#FIG_73">73</a>). It appears that early +in the nineteenth century Hull encouraged the training +of domestic spinners, and at that time supported +a spinning school. <i>Apropos</i> of that institution reference +may appropriately be made to Hadley's +"History of Hull," in which the historian, in reference +to Sunday Schools, which had then quite +recently been founded, says: "From the Sunday +School reports for this year [1788] it seems they +did not take. To whatever cause this may be attributed, +it by no means warrants the aspersions thrown +upon the town on that account, which has with equal +ardour and wisdom espoused that useful establishment +of Spinning Schools, in preference to a preposterous +institution replete with folly, intolerance, +fanaticism, and mischief." In explanation it has +been remarked that, "Evidently wheels were plentiful +in Hull and Sunday Schools a novelty." To-day +we can reverse the statement, for schools are plentiful +but spinning wheels are rare!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">{230}</a></span></p> + +<p>Collectors eagerly secure anything in the way of a +genuine antique wheel, although the fastidious have +the choice of two distinct types—those worked by +hand and those operated by a treadle. Sometimes a +spinning wheel made for the foot could be worked +independently by the hand, just in the same way +as modern sewing machines are made for hand or +treadle, and sometimes a combination of both +methods. The very general use of the spinning +wheel is accounted for by the fact that this useful +machine was met with in every cottage in the days +when homespun yarns and wools were prepared by +hand, and they were also found in the mansion and +the palace, where they served to amuse the ladies +of the household.</p> + +<p>There are many varieties of spinning wheels, among +them the old oak spinning wheels used in England in +the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the more +decorative used until quite late in the eighteenth +century, from their ornament and lightness, apparently +used more for preparing the material for fancy +work rather than for really utilitarian purposes. +Some highly decorative spinning wheels inlaid with +mother-o'-pearl and ivory have been brought over to +this country from Holland and other continental +countries, perhaps the most decorative being those +made by French workmen in the Chinese style, the +wood being lacquered blue and ornamented with +gilt.</p> + +<p>Mr. John Suddaby, who presented the spinning +wheel we have illustrated to the Hull Wilberforce +Museum, named after William Wilberforce, paid a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">{231}</a></span> +high tribute to the famous philanthropist, who he +declared to be associated with the spinning schools +of the town. The old wheels of early date were +gradually improved until they were rendered obsolete +by the greater inventions of machines which could +be worked by steam engines, thus originating the +factory system of textile production.</p> + +<p>Among the sundry curios associated with the spinning +wheel are handsomely carved wood distaffs of +boxwood, curiously turned spindles; and now and +then a pewter vessel of circular form, puzzling in +its identity, turns out to be the rim cup from the +distaff of an old spinning wheel.</p> + + +<h3>Materials and Work.</h3> + +<p>Old workboxes appear to be very numerous. The +older ones were mostly of wood, but the external +decoration seems to have been a matter of taste, some +preferring inlays. In early days moulded plaster +ornament, richly gilded and coloured, was much +favoured, and in still earlier times deep relief carvings +in the oak of which the boxes were made. In the +Stuart and later periods ladies worked the exterior +ornament in silks and satins and embroidery. Among +the workboxes in the Victoria and Albert Museum +there is a painted box in distemper and gilding, the +subject chosen for the ornamentation of the lid being +the story of David and Bathsheba, round the sides +being floral devices. This decorative workbox has +drawers and compartments, a sliding front facilitating +their use.</p> + +<p>In the same collection there are workboxes over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">{232}</a></span>laid +with straw work in geometrical patterns relieved +by colour. Straw-work decoration was much favoured +at the commencement of the nineteenth century, its +origin being traceable to the French military +prisoners in this country during the Napoleonic wars +between the years 1797 and 1814, when many officers +and men were detained at Porchester Castle, near +Portsmouth, and at Norman Cross, near Peterborough. +The grasses, of which the boxes were +covered, were collected and dried by the prisoners, +who obtained the different shades and tints which +render this class of work so effective by steeping +them in infusions of tea, according to a note by +Dr. Strong, who visited the barracks at Norman +Cross.</p> + +<p>The workboxes, so rich in gilding and relief, came +from Italy, when, as early as the year 1400, caskets +were covered with a species of lime which was +moulded, the gesso, as it was called, on a gilt ground +of white compo, giving it a very rich effect. Leather +was used with good effect, too, for the ornamentation +of workboxes, red morocco being much favoured in +England early in the nineteenth century. Fig. <a href="#FIG_76">76</a> +illustrates three very beautiful little fitted boxes with +inlaid ornament and straw work.</p> + + +<h3>Little Accessories.</h3> + +<p>The contents of an old workbox are many and +varied. Among the odds and ends it is no uncommon +thing to find relics of lace-making, by which +so many cottagers have been able to maintain themselves +for generations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">{233}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_73" id="FIG_73"></a> +<img src="images/fig_73.jpg" width="400" height="553" alt="FIG. 73.—SPINNING WHEEL. + +(In the Hull Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 73.—SPINNING WHEEL. +<br /> +(<i>In the Hull Museum.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_74" id="FIG_74"></a> +<img src="images/fig_74.jpg" width="400" height="303" alt="FIG. 74.—OLD LACE BOBBINS. + +(a, b, c, d, e, and f, reading from left to right.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 74.—OLD LACE BOBBINS. +<br /> +(<i>a</i>, <i>b</i>, <i>c</i>, <i>d</i>, <i>e</i>, and <i>f</i>, reading from left to right.)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">{235}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a></span></p> + +<p>There is something very remarkable about the +manufacture of pillow lace, in that it is carried on in +the villages of Buckinghamshire just as it was two or +more centuries ago, and the pillow and the bobbins +are almost identical in form and design—indeed, the +patterns of the lace have changed little, for the +workers cling tenaciously to the old designs, +Flemish in their characteristics, just as they do to +the old bobbins.</p> + +<p>Some of these little spools or bobbins have been +handed down from mother to daughter as heirlooms, +and many of them carry a romantic story, if it were +but known. Just as the Welsh lovespoons and the +Sunderland glass rolling-pins were given as love +tokens, many of these bobbins are the result of +patient labour, their decoration having often been the +work of days; ivory, bone, wood, and metal being +cut and shaped, gilded and stained, in order to +provide the favoured one with a bobbin unlike any +other and quite distinctive in design. In the making +of pillow lace, pins, cleverly placed so as to form the +pattern, were inserted into the cushion, and the +threads on a dozen or more bobbins deftly twisted in +and out and tied round the pins. The glass beads, +many of the older ones of odd shapes and colours, +hand-made, made the first distinction, and their +weight helped to keep the light turned wood bobbins +in place. It was the bobbins which were ornamental, +and some of the older ones—those made in the +eighteenth century—are very decorative, and now +much sought after by collectors. Those illustrated +in Fig. <a href="#FIG_74">74</a> have been selected from a large collection<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">{236}</a></span> +for their representative types: (A) is the oldest; the +ornament is of pewter let into the wood, it has a +very small spool; (B) is ivory, the incised parts +stained green; (C) is bone, the incised pattern filled +in with gold beaten into a thin plate; (D) is also of +bone with a band of brass and coloured inlays; (E) +walnut wood, turned in the deep grooves are six +loose silver rings, some of the heads are of brass +gilt; (F) the most modern type, such as may be +seen in use in Buckinghamshire to-day, the present +revival of the hand-made lace industry being due +to the efforts of the North Bucks Lace Association. +Of such handwork Cowper wrote:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yon cottager who weaves at her own door,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pillow and bobbins all her little store:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Content, though mean, and cheerful, if not gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shuffering her threads about the livelong day."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The lace-maker, and the housewife who occupied +her leisure moments in lace-making, left behind +many collectable curios. The worker of samplers +and those advanced in the higher arts of needlecraft +had also their little work necessaries. Very clever +indeed were the workers of silk-embroidered pictures, +and the instruments they used were fine and +delicate, different indeed from the coarser needles of +the knitter and the meshes of the netter. In later +years the workbox became more substantial, and less +attention was given to the exterior, for the interior +fittings of the workbox became beautiful, and a +wealth of art was shown in the carving of the ivory +accessories, and the pearl tops of the thread and silk +reels and winders and the curious little wax holders. +There were cleverly contrived measuring tapes, and +beautiful little baskets of ivory and wood, some +filled with emery, others serving the purpose of +receptacles for pins and needles. From these +evolved the needlebooks and the more modern +companions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">{237}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_75" id="FIG_75"></a> +<img src="images/fig_75.jpg" width="400" height="647" alt="FIG. 75.—OLD PIN POPPETS AND ANCIENT PINS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 75.—OLD PIN POPPETS AND ANCIENT PINS.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">{239}</a></span>In Fig. <a href="#FIG_77">77</a> are shown several beautiful oddments +taken out of an old workbox; they are all +made of ivory, carved and fretted in such delicate +tracery that it is a wonder that they have survived +for a century or more without injury. Ivory work +holders, in which ladies rolled their needlework when +they went out to tea, were often beautifully carved; +they, too, are charming additions to ivory workbox +fittings.</p> + + +<h3>Cutlery.</h3> + +<p>The cutler has contributed to the curios of the +workbox. The knives and scissors, bodkins, and +stilettos from an old workbox look strangely out of +date when compared with those bought in the shops +to-day. The chief thing that is so noticeable to the +critical observer is the cutting of the steel and +the hand ornamentation of those days. Some of +the embroidery scissors were engraved all over with +fancy patterns, and there are some remarkably quaint +button-hole scissors, on which the owner's name or +initials were often engraved.</p> + +<p>Some time ago an old lady made a small collection +of thimbles. It was not a very expensive hobby, +but the variety she secured was truly remarkable. +There were thimbles of bone, ivory, steel, brass,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">{240}</a></span> +enamel, silver, and even gold. Some were chased +and engraved, some stamped and punched. There +were thimbles of huge size and others with open +ends, the same that sailors use.</p> + +<p>It is said that the thimble dates back to 1684, +when one Nicholas Benschoten, of Amsterdam, sent +one as a present to a lady friend with the dedicatory +inscription: "To My frouw van Rensclear this little +object which I have invented and executed as a +protective covering for her industrious fingers." It +is said the name in this country was originally +"thumb-bell," so called because of the shape being of +bell-like form. Of the thimbles of the wealthy it is +recorded there are thimbles of onyx, mother-o'-pearl, +and of gold, encrusted with rubies and +diamonds—the seamstress has, however, to be content +with useful if less costly "baubles."</p> + + +<h3>Quaint Woodwork.</h3> + +<p>By way of contrast the outfit of the worker often +includes wooden needles and occasionally utensils +made of wood, but covered with evidences of love +and tender regard for those who were destined to use +them. The knitter seems to have been peculiarly +fortunate, for knitting sticks and sheaths afforded the +amateur carver ample opportunities of showing his +skill; and, like the carved lovespoons, of which there +is such a famous collection in the Cardiff Museum, +the knitting sheaths and sticks seem to indicate that +in a similar way the amorous swain gave vent to his +feelings in the curious designs, mottoes, and names +which he carved upon knitting sticks and kindred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">{241}</a></span> +objects used by the lady of his choice. In the Victoria +and Albert Museum there are some beautiful +boxwood needle sticks; one example is cleverly +carved with emblems of Faith, Hope, and Charity. +Another beautiful needle stick in the same collection +is mounted with silver. On some of the woodwork +used for similar purposes there are cleverly designed +pictures, and these were not always associated with +private use, for the clothworkers in many districts +used quite fanciful tools, especially in the villages, +where time was of small moment, and the long +winter evenings could be occupied with cutting +and carving the handles and framework of the tools +which in everyday practice served such a useful and +often wage-earning purpose. In the Victoria and +Albert Museum there is a remarkable cloth-measure +made of walnut, bearing date 1745, three-sided, one +being covered over with letters of the alphabet cut +in deep relief, thus serving a useful purpose in the +home or as an educational standard. On the second +side there are cleverly designed pastoral and hunting +scenes, and on the third the arms of the Swiss +cantons. Other portions of the measure illustrate +the implements and tools used by clothworkers at +that period.</p> + +<p>Switzerland has long been famous for its wood +carving, and many of the curios found in this +country have come from the Swiss mountain villages. +No doubt some of our readers have come across the +old pin poppets which boys and girls carried with +them to the village school half a century or more ago. +The girls filled them with pins and needles, bodkin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">{242}</a></span> +and stiletto, and the boys with pencils and pens. In +Fig. <a href="#FIG_75">75</a> two curious old pin boxes are illustrated. +The <i>pins</i> shown on the same page are, however, of +much older date; they are, in fact, merely thorns; +these interesting and authentic relics of the "common +objects of the home," or perhaps more correctly +described, of dress, are to be seen in the National +Collection of Wales at Cardiff, the measuring stick +shown in the photograph giving their size. The pin +poppet, as its name denotes, was, however, intended +originally for the requirements of the early needleworker +who at the dames' school won renown in +those great achievements—the samplers of old. +These, however, do not exhaust the wood-carving +curios of the workbox, but they may serve to remind +collectors of what they may hope to discover in their +hunt for household curios.</p> + + +<h3>The Needlewoman.</h3> + +<p>The curiosities much prized to-day, the work of +the needlewoman, or those who plied the needle +chiefly for purposes of amusement or to give pleasure +to those on whom they bestowed the products of their +skill, are met with in many distinct forms. This is +not a work on needlework, or we might tell of the +various stitches which are indicative of certain periods. +It is, however, admissible to mention some of the +household curios, the product of such patient labour +applied to the skilful manipulation of silks and +threads and cottons and wools, of all colours and substances, +embroidered or worked on canvas or other +fabric.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">{243}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="FIG_76" id="FIG_76"></a> +<img src="images/fig_76.jpg" width="500" height="283" alt="FIG. 76.—THREE OLD WORKBOXES. + +(In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 76.—THREE OLD WORKBOXES. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">{245}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a></span></p> + +<p>The mistresses of the old English homes were very +industrious. They worked crewel bed hangings and +cross-stitch and tent-stitch upholstery in the seventeenth +century, and in still earlier times richly ornamented +linens and other fabrics with flowers and +scriptural subjects. Writing in reference to Queen +Mary, the wife of William III, Sir Charles Sedley +said:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When she rode in coach abroad<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She was always knotting thread."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And her example was followed by many in humbler +circumstances. In later years women have wrought +needlework and beadwork pictures, and have even +threaded their needles with human hair when no silk +could be found fine enough.</p> + +<p>Of the permanent ornaments of the home—now +valued curios—there are cases formerly used on a +lady's toilet table, embroidered with floss silk and frequently +dated. Some were made to hold devotional +books, others were portable boxes, the covers of +which were worked on white satin with coloured +silks and beads, oftentimes scriptural scenes being +depicted in silk; one very favourite scene in the +seventeenth century was the visit of the Queen of +Sheba to Solomon.</p> + +<p>Many beautifully embroidered trinket boxes record +the patience with which they were worked, and were +undoubtedly a labour of love. Among the smaller +objects, gifts from friend to friend, were pincushions, +some of which bear dates in the seventeenth +century. These were worked in coloured +silks on canvas, the ornament often taking the form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">{246}</a></span> +of a fruit or flower basket, birds and insects. The +favourite material and colour for the back of such +pincushions was yellow satin. A rather pleasing +variety consisted of bag and pincushion worked to +match, the two being united by a cord of plaited silk. +Of purses there were many varieties, chiefly made of +coarse canvas worked in cross and tent stitches with +coloured silks and silver threads, couched or laid +over silver thread, and then stitched to the canvas +concealing it. There are also miniature pincushions +worked in silk like the old samplers and brocade +pocket books, some of which were woven in France +in the seventeenth century. There are also holdalls +and needle cases in embroidery and cross stitch. The +favourite colours worked by English ladies in the +eighteenth century were pink, orange, and light +green. On these were often worked mottoes and +rhyme. One will serve as a sample:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When Judah's daughters captive led<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold their mighty kings subdued."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Loyal mottoes were frequently worked, especially +during the days when the Pretenders were carrying +on their hopeless campaign. There is a subtle reminder +of the desire to make known loyal feelings, +intermixed with prudence in concealing them, in the +quaint embroidered garter in the British Museum +which is inscribed "<span class="smcap lowercase">GOD BLESS P.C.</span>"</p> + +<p>To smokers were given embroidered tobacco +pouches in green, pink, and silver; one charming old +beadwork tobacco pouch in Taunton Castle is embroidered +"<span class="smcap lowercase">LOVE ME FOR I AM THINE</span>, 1631." There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">{247}</a></span> +were necklaces and bracelets of needlework, and +some of coloured glass beads, as well as the long +watchguards worn round the neck, chiefly of the +nineteenth century.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="FIG_77" id="FIG_77"></a> +<img src="images/fig_77.jpg" width="500" height="319" alt="FIG. 77.—OLD WORKBOX FITTINGS. + +(In the Author's collection.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 77.—OLD WORKBOX FITTINGS. +<br /> +(<i>In the Author's collection.</i>)</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">{249}</a></span> +</div> + + +<h3>Old Samplers.</h3> + +<p>Old samplers may well be regarded as educational, +belonging to the schoolroom as well as to the workbox. +They were intended to teach needlework, and +served as reminders of alphabets, sums, and mapping. +Many worked in silk on yellow linen in the +eighteenth century were quite elaborate pieces of +needlework. Those of the seventeenth century, +chiefly of linen, were much cruder and simpler in +design. During the latter half of the eighteenth +century samplers were mostly worked on canvas or +sampler cloth, a material which was used almost as +long as samplers were in fashion. Different stitches +were employed; there was the early drawn and cut +work, and then the silk embroidery showing the +girl's acquirement of the darning stitch.</p> + +<p>Some early tapestry maps are numbered among +the educational curios in which samplers are so +prominent. The Yorkshire Philosophical Society +own two unique specimens of sixteenth-century +tapestry, formerly in the possession of Horace +Walpole. They measure about 16 ft. by 12 ft., +the sections including Herefordshire, Shropshire, +Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and a part of Berkshire. +These remarkable maps are vividly coloured and +show excellent pictorial scenes indicating villages, +parks, and country seats. Such maps are rare, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">{250}</a></span> +now and then really interesting examples of needlework +mapping are met with.</p> + +<p>Collectors keep an eye on preservation, but they +are keen on dated specimens, and those with ornate +and quaintly picturesque borders. The condition +adds to the beauty, but not always to the value, for +many of the older and less well-preserved samplers +are now becoming scarce. They have been retained +by those who have no interest in antiques because +they bore the name of some fair ancestress who lived +and worked on her sampler more than a century ago, +leaving it behind as a memorial of her skill in the use +of a needle for future generations to admire. How +many ladies of the twentieth century are preparing +permanent records of their skill in needlework for +those who are to come to hand on to generations +unborn? is a question some may like to ponder.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">{251}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">XI<br /> +<br /> +THE<br /> +LIBRARY</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">{253}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<br /> +THE LIBRARY</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>From cover to cover—Old scrap books—Almanacs—The writing +table.</p></div> + + +<p>The library is usually where the master of the house +conducts his business correspondence and, if a student, +spends much of his time among his favourite +books, or, perchance, engages in literary work. In +days gone by, when there were fewer opportunities of +visiting public libraries, and when circulating libraries +were few and far between, the man of letters accumulated +around him standard works and ancient tomes, +possibly seldom read. When such a library, perhaps +scarcely examined for a century or more, comes to +be dispersed, it often happens that curiosities are +brought to light.</p> + +<p>The furniture of the library is full of interest, for a +quaint writing table, bureau, or desk full of oddments +is an exceedingly prolific field of research. In the +following paragraphs a few of these curiosities are +referred to; there are others, however, that the +collector will discover, possibly one of the scarcer +curios of the library, some of which realize unex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">{254}</a></span>pectedly +high prices when they are brought under +the hammer.</p> + + +<h3>From Cover to Cover.</h3> + +<p>The books which constitute the library are often +curious, and there is much that receives its monetary +value on account of its antiquity and rarity. An old +library will frequently include black-letter printing +and old volumes illustrated with wood blocks, and, +perchance, illuminated initial letters. Some of the +volumes may be printed on vellum, and there may +be some in manuscript. The bindings of presentation +books may be of rich calf and tooled in gold; +some may even have edge paintings and choice hand-painted +illuminations. The subject-matter of the +volumes often gives rise to specialistic collections. +Some will find amusement in tracing the progress of +a great industry through published information, like +those curious old time tables in the early days of +railways, and the pamphlets which are classed by the +collector as "Railroadia," and from them learn the +story of the "iron horse." There are others who +collect books and prints relating to ballooning, the +microscope, and many of the earlier sciences. There +are topographical curiosities and historical marvels. +Some books will be valued because of their illustrations, +for the work of a master hand may be +recognized by the expert searcher after valuables. +The rare mezzotints, stipples, and delicate line +engravings, to say nothing of the more valuable +colour prints, often realize far more than the +books themselves. Ancient art is more valued than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">{255}</a></span> +the literary efforts of past masters of wielding +the pen!</p> + +<p>It is thus that the books are often thrown away +after the pictures or even superadded illustrations or +mere name-plates have been removed. The collector +of bookplates searches for his treasures. Some talk +of the vandalism of the collector of ex-libris, but they +must remember that it is quite easy to remove a +bookplate without injuring the volume, and there are +many worthless books. The name labels or bookplates +found in English libraries range from the early +dated plates of the close of the seventeenth century +to the present day. The different styles of ornament +in vogue in the respective periods of their engraving +were with few exceptions adhered to by the printers +of such plates. Thus the collector classifies his +albums and rejoices in the variations and details of +the engraver's fancy, while he separates them into +such well-defined groups as early armorial, Jacobean, +Chippendale, ribbon and wreath, urn, pictorial, +armorial, and simple shield. To other than the +enthusiastic collector, bookplates may possess merit +in that they have belonged to famous men, and are +souvenirs taken from the volumes which were once +handled by distinguished statesmen, divines, and men +of letters.</p> + + +<h3>Old Scrap Books.</h3> + +<p>The making of scrap books or the filling of portfolios +was not always an amusement for children, +neither did older folk make those quaint scrap +books with such assortments of literary and pictorial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">{256}</a></span> +odds and ends solely for the amusement of their +visitors. Many enthusiastic collectors stored their +treasures in such books, the binding of which was +often very costly and quite gorgeously ornamented. +Some pointed with pride to collections of prints, +others to albums of frontispieces, printers' marks, +and tailpieces, some of which were beautiful little +pictures.</p> + +<p>In modern times collectors rescue from the flames +old tickets, pictorial benefit tickets, theatre passes, +and quaint pictures which tell us of great events +which happened in days gone by at Ranelagh, +Vauxhall, and other places.</p> + +<p>Ranelagh, where the entertainments of which relics +in the shape of beautifully engraved tickets are to be +found, was at Chelsea, and the gardens visited by +Walpole, Johnson, and Goldsmith were famous for +their promenades and for the music and singing +which might be enjoyed, among the evening pleasures +being displays of fireworks and masked dances. In +the summer tea and coffee were sipped under the +trees, and there were water carnivals on the river. +There were also masquerade balls and dances, for +which tickets engraved by Bartolozzi and other +famous artists were issued. It is these tickets which +are preserved and collected now.</p> + +<p>The autograph hunter extends his hobby by +adding old parchments and deeds with seals, for +among the odd bundles of parchments in old libraries +are many documents attested with thumb-marks and +seals—"His mark," of days when many of the +landed proprietors could not write their own names.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">{257}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"><a name="FIG_78" id="FIG_78"></a> +<img src="images/fig_78.jpg" width="300" height="524" alt="FIG. 78.—ANCIENT CLOG ALMANAC." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 78.—ANCIENT CLOG ALMANAC.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">{259}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a></span></p> + +<p>The joys of St. Valentine's Day, remembered by +older people still, are unknown to the present generation, +but collectors perpetuate February 14th as it +was kept in the past by filling albums with such old +valentines as they may be able to secure.</p> + + +<h3>Watch Papers.</h3> + +<p>Another comparatively small collection can be +made up of pictorial watch papers, those rare little +pictorial views which once reposed in the interior of +the cases of old watches. Watches are by no means +common curios of the household, but now and then +an old silver verge or a decorated watch case thought +little of is found to contain one of those pretty pictures +which were chiefly engraved and printed in +the eighteenth century. Many of the designs were +printed on satin; some were devices in needlework; +again others were cut out in the most lace-like +designs. Theatrical celebrities were often pictured; +thus the theatrical amateur would buy his +watch paper representing the celebrated Miss +Gunning, or possibly Mr. Garrick. The pictures +were really gems, too, for great artists such as +Angelica Kaufmann, Cipriani, and Bartolozzi did +not disdain to engrave watch papers.</p> + + +<h3>Old Almanacs.</h3> + +<p>Some of the best finds when libraries have been +overhauled have been the curious old almanacs published +when superstition was rife. The oldest, perhaps, +were the clog almanacs, although some were +common in Staffordshire until about 1820. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">{260}</a></span> +accompanying illustration (see Fig. <a href="#FIG_78">78</a>) was engraved +in an old book referring to that county published +more than a century ago. In Camden's <i>Britannia</i> +some information is given in reference to these early +clog almanacs, in which it is said holidays were distinguished +by hieroglyphics; in some the Massacre +of the Innocents was denoted by a drawn sword; +SS. Simon and Jude's Day by a ship, because they +were fishers; and St. George's Day by a horse. In +the Norway clog almanacs St. Martin's Day is +marked with a goose, the custom of eating a goose +now being transferred to Michaelmas. In the illustration +given in Fig. <a href="#FIG_78">78</a> the first section embraces +January, February, and March; the second, April, +May, and June; the third, July, August, and September; +and the fourth, October, November, and +December. Conspicuously inscribed on the clog will +be noticed the ring for New Year's Day; the star +denoting the Epiphany; the axe for St. Paul; +February 14th is indicated by a lover's knot; a spear +denotes St. George's Day in April; and May Day by +a tree branch. The keys of St. Peter are noticed as +indicating the 29th of June; the scales of St. Michael +are seen at the end of September. St. Catherine's +wheel figures in the middle of November, immediately +under it being the somewhat large cross of +St. Andrew. Other symbols will doubtless be recognized +on this interesting relic.</p> + +<p>The study of the almanac is not now one of the +chief diversions of the fair sex. At one time, +however, when ladies had fewer amusements than +they have now, they spent much time poring over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">{261}</a></span> +almanacs, and placed implicit trust in what they +found recorded there, especially in the forecasts and +prognostications for the future of those born on +certain days and under so-called lucky or unlucky +stars. One of the most popular calendars of olden +time was "The Ladies' Diary or the Woman's +Almanac," containing many delightful and entertaining +particulars for the fair sex. Let us take, +for example, a copy of that popular almanac for +the year of grace 1749. On the cover there is a +picture of the Queen. Alluding to the peace then +prevailing are the lines:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Perch'd o'er this Realm, the ancient seat of Kings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now dove-like peace the sprig of laurel brings;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And British fair ones happy days shall see,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While George shall reign, and Britons still are free."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Another George is on the throne, and his consort +Queen Mary is an ideal woman, and what to many +is of the highest importance, Peace reigns in this +country and Britons are still free!</p> + +<p>Among the contents of that curious almanac are +Latin and French enigmas, mathematical questions +and paradoxes. The concluding paragraph for the +dedication of that day is entitled "Truth's Moral +Euclid"; the proposition given being:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Virtue promotes happiness, private and public.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vice is destructive of happiness, private and public.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Honour is the reward of virtue."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>One of the finest collections of old almanacs is in the +Bodleian Library at Oxford—chiefly seventeenth-century +productions. A still older almanac was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">{262}</a></span> +"Poor Robin" of 1664; another seventeenth-century +almanac being the "Vox Stellarum" of Francis Moore, +a quack doctor. In 1733 Benjamin Franklin published +in Philadelphia his "Poor Richard's Almanac," +noted for its verses, jests, and sayings. The monopoly +once possessed by the Stationers' Company has long +been broken down, and of later almanacs and +calendars there is no end. Among the miniature +books, the collection of which is much favoured now, +are some very tiny almanacs, like the beautiful +specimens of such a calendar given in Fig. <a href="#FIG_80">80</a>, produced +actual size, shown open and closed. This +miniature almanac is printed on satin and is full of +pleasing little pictures. It is the work of a French +artist early in the nineteenth century, the pictures +and their descriptions and the monthly calendars +occupying alternate pages. The binding is of mother-o'-pearl, +bound in ormolu and richly gilt and engraved. +Some similar calendars in tiny leather +bindings, beautifully tooled and ornamented in gold, +are also collectable.</p> + + +<h3>The Writing Table.</h3> + +<p>The writing table usually occupies an honoured +place in the library. It may be a massive table of +oak or a simple writing desk venerated on account +of the great literary works which have been written +upon it. It is no uncommon thing to read of large +sums paid for a writing desk on which the manuscript +of a famous book has been penned, and some of the +writing tables upon which deeds of historical fame +have been signed have gained a reputation and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">{263}</a></span> +money value out of all proportion to their curio or +antiquarian merits. Not long ago the late King +Edward presented to the Commonwealth of Australia +the table on which the great Charter was signed, +together with the inkstand and pen used on that +occasion. Those will be relics for future generations +to value.</p> + +<p>The table appointments are among the collectable +curios of the library, and prominent among these is +the inkstand. Inkstands find their prototypes in the +inkhorns of the scribe; and throughout the generations +which have provided curios for twentieth-century +collectors there have been fresh supplies in +silver, pewter, Sheffield plate, copper, bronze, iron, +wood, china, and brass. Very beautiful indeed are +some of the old inkstands in their separate vase-like +attachments. The ink-well was formerly accompanied +by a sand box or a pounce caster, in modern +days superseded by a second ink-well. The sand +casters for sprinkling pounce or sand upon newly +written pages were a necessity before the days of +blotting paper. Perhaps some day blotters, blotting +pads, and the like, may become collectable curios!</p> + +<p>Collectors of old china are familiar with the rare +boxes, egg-cup-like in form, made by Richard +Chaffers, of Liverpool, the blue and white decoration, +the name of the potter in the narrowed portion of +the box being characteristic of what was for a long +time known as "Dick's Pepperbox." It was, however, +intended for a pounce box, the pounce or +pumice being a fine powder of the cuttle-fish bone, +afterwards giving the name to the pounce paper or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">{264}</a></span> +transparent tracing material. Of the inkstands to be +seen in our museums there are many dating from +almost prehistoric times; their variety may be instanced +by mention of one in the Berlin Museum, +an Egyptian curio said to be 3,400 years old, below +the ink compartments being a case for holding +reed pens.</p> + +<p>In early days before even well-to-do people could +read and write the scribe found a ready occupation. +The materials he used were carried about in a writing +case of metal, and among such curios are writing +cases which were used in the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries. They were often the work of the craftsmen +of Mesopotamia, who were clever artists in +metal, and the work they performed came to Europe +through Syria. The example shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_81">81</a> is +the work of Mahmud, the son of Sonkor, of Baghdad, +and is dated 1281. This beautiful specimen may +be seen in the British Museum.</p> + +<p>The implements the scribe used changed as time +went on, for parchment was used quite early in the +East. Writing was introduced into Spain by the +Moors in the tenth century, although writing paper +was not made in England until the fifteenth century.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">{265}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_79" id="FIG_79"></a> +<img src="images/fig_79.jpg" width="400" height="182" alt="FIG. 79.—OLD COIN TESTER." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 79.—OLD COIN TESTER.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_80" id="FIG_80"></a> +<img src="images/fig_80.jpg" width="400" height="208" alt="FIG. 80.—MINIATURE SOUVENIR ALMANAC." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 80.—MINIATURE SOUVENIR ALMANAC.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="FIG_81" id="FIG_81"></a> +<img src="images/fig_81.jpg" width="500" height="177" alt="FIG. 81.—ANCIENT WRITING SET." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 81.—ANCIENT WRITING SET.</span> +</div> + +<p>The evolution of the pen has been slow, for the +use of quills continues still in some Government +offices, and quills are still supplied to readers in the +British Museum Reading Room. The old-fashioned +quill pens were in days gone by shaped with a small +knife made specially for that purpose. Indeed, it is +to the quill pen that we are indebted for our "pen" +knives, which have long been put to other uses. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">{267}</a></span> +was not every one who was expert in cutting a pen +neatly and making it write well. Consequently an +instrument was made for that purpose, known as the +quill-pen cutter. These cutters are now and then +met with in old desks, where they have lain unused +for many years.</p> + +<p>Quill-pen making was an important industry until +the invention of the steel pen, and the quality of the +quill was a matter of importance to the scribe. In +a trader's circular dated 1820 there is notice of +the Royal Appointment of a Liverpool maker, who +was authorized to exercise and enjoy all the rights, +profits, privileges, and advantages of his appointment +of Pen Cutter and Quill Dresser to His Majesty +King George IV. In the same circular it is stated +that the quill pens supplied were of varying qualities, +secured from the swan, raven, goose, turkey, crow, +and duck.</p> + +<p>Sealing correspondence was a necessity before +gummed envelopes were invented. Then sealing-wax +was in daily use on the writing table, and the +signet ring or seal was requisitioned. The outfit of a +library table would scarcely be complete without wax, +wafer irons, and seals. One of the curios found now +and then in old desks is a little cutting instrument +useful in removing seals or opening letters which +had been sealed. In the days before penny postage +letters were sent carriage forward, and the postage +which had to be paid on the receipt of letters from +a distance was a heavy tax on those who had many +friends and much correspondence.</p> + +<p>The penalty of being the recipient of much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">{268}</a></span> +correspondence may, perhaps, have been lightened +by the wording of the seal; for many old letter seals +conveyed sentimental messages which to the receiver +from that particular sender might have meant much. +The following is a selection of the characteristic +sentiments of the day: "Break the seal, read the +letter, and keep the secret"; "You have a loyal +friend"; and "Life is naught without a friend." We +cannot tell what was the result of sending a letter +bearing such a seal legend as:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Mine is a heart that loveth thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So, ladylove, do thou love me."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Collectors' hobbies now and then are increased by +the introduction of something entirely new, something +never known before, and the world rejoices +over a genuine novelty. The cynic declares that +there is nothing new under the sun, but the introduction +of the penny postage in 1840, at the instigation +of Rowland Hill, laid the foundation to stamp +collecting, which has become the most popular of all +collectors' hobbies. The philatelist is found in every +civilized country, and the collection of postage +stamps, used and unused, grows apace. A bundle +of old letters in entire envelopes, posted forty or +fifty years ago from one of the British Colonies, +discovered when ransacking an old library, will +probably prove the most valuable relic of the past +found in it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">{269}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">XII<br /> +<br /> +THE SMOKER'S<br /> +CABINET</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">{271}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<br /> +THE SMOKER'S CABINET</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Old pipes—Pipe racks—Tobacco boxes—Smokers' tongs and stoppers—Snuff +boxes and rasps.</p></div> + + +<p>The slave of the pipe and the moderate smoker +of years gone by have left behind them relics in +nearly every home. Such curios are found when +pulling down old houses, and clearing out rubbish +heaps; and even when making excavations in the +vicinity of once occupied ground remains left behind +by smokers of olden times are discovered.</p> + +<p>Many are marked as curios on account of their +curious forms; others have been regarded as such +because their uses have become obsolete, and some +because of their great beauty and the costliness of +the materials of which they are made.</p> + +<p>The collectable curios of the smoker's cabinet +consist of clay pipes, varying from the earliest form +known to the later types not far removed from the +modern clays still smoked by workmen; of pipes +of curious forms and quaintly carved bowls; and the +Eastern pipes, which look more like show pieces in +their size and forms than any pipe made for actual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">{272}</a></span> +use. The curios include tobacco jars, spill cups, and +ash trays; and there are also brass and copper +spittoons and pipe racks. An old smoker's desk often +contains odd curios, such as the one-time common +pipe-stoppers, so many of which were made by Birmingham +"toy-makers" in the eighteenth century.</p> + + +<h3>Old Pipes.</h3> + +<p>When tobacco was first introduced into this +country, and smoking was taught to those whose +descendants in countless numbers were destined to +worship at the shrine of my Lady Nicotine on +British soil, the pipe was brought over too; for +tobacco and the tobacco pipe are inseparable, +although the pipe shares its popularity with cigars +and cigarettes.</p> + +<p>There are few records of early experiments in the +modelling and baking of local clays by pipe makers; +it was, however, soon discovered that Broseley clay +was most suitable for the tobacco pipe, and there are +pipes known to have been made at Broseley in the +seventeenth century. The flat heels of the early +pipes were useful in that pipes could then be laid +down on the table. Then in the reign of James II +an advance was made by the spur-like projection of +the bowl, which was found to be convenient for the +purpose of branding with the initials of the maker +or his trade mark, and there are many examples of +old marks, some of which are very curious, a +not uncommon form being a punning rebus on the +maker's name; thus we have a gauntlet, used by a +man named Gauntlet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">{273}</a></span></p> + +<p>The earlier forms of clay pipes gradually gave way +to the long-stemmed "churchwardens," which in +course of time were again superseded by pipes +with short stems. The meerschaum in its day had +many followers, and some of the curiosities of the +smoker's cabinet (the term "cabinet" is used here in +a figurative rather than a realistic sense) are those +elaborately carved specimens of meerschaum, that +remarkably light material that lends itself so well +to the carver's art.</p> + + +<h3>Pipe Racks.</h3> + +<p>There appear to have been two distinct forms of +racks—those used for cleaning or rebaking clay pipes, +and the racks on which they were stored. The pipe +rack was originally a wrought-iron frame upon which +dirty clay pipes were stoved in a brick oven and +restored to their original freshness. The stoving of +pipes was a common practice not only in taverns and +public clubs but in private houses in the days when +long clay pipes were served to the guests, and a +bowl of punch was placed before them—it was thus +that convivial spirits enjoyed themselves in time +gone by.</p> + +<p>Now and then these old pipe racks are met with in +some outhouse or attic, but they are getting very +scarce, for most of them appear to have found their +way into the scrap heap of the old-metal dealer. +Some of the racks intended for the storage of pipes +and not for baking them were exceedingly decorative, +the ornamental sides terminating with acorn +knobs made of cast lead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">{274}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>Tobacco Boxes.</h3> + +<p>It seems natural to suppose that the need of a +suitable receptacle for tobacco would early be felt. +Many of the old tobacco boxes—those for storage +purposes—were made of lead or pewter. Lead was +found to be cool and was also used as an appropriate +lining for boxes made of other materials. Jars soon +came into vogue, and there are quite ancient +specimens, especially the old japanned boxes, ornamented +with figures in gilt.</p> + +<p>There is, of course, a vast difference between the +storage jar and the smaller box carried about by the +smoker much in the same way as the pouch is now +used. Many still prefer metal to other materials, +and it is no uncommon thing to see brass and steel +boxes in use in industrial districts. Few, however, +excepting modern replicas of the antique, are +decorated in the way the old Dutch tobacco boxes +of brass were in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries. It is not very clear why so many of +them were engraved with scriptural subjects, for +there does not appear to be much connection +between biblical history and the pipe! Engravings +of scenes depicting Noah and the Flood are common, +the incongruity of the clothing shown being often +commented upon; one writer upon the subject +referred to the engravings on one of these tobacco +boxes as being ornamented with Jewish characters +wearing knee breeches of English type, talking to +Dutch frauen. Historical portraits are not uncommonly +met with on these quaint boxes, and quite a +number of battle scenes have been engraved. Such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">{275}</a></span> +metal work has been gathered together in several +museums, and in the British Museum there is a +fine collection of various shapes, some oval, others +long and narrow, and some almost square. The +brass tobacco box illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_83">83</a> has a +medallion portrait of Frederick the Great in the +centre, such embossed subjects being very popular +in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, both +in England and in Holland, although Dutch artists +gave preference to scriptural subjects, many fine +examples of which are to be seen in our museums. +Fortunately there are many really curious specimens +obtainable at a moderate cost.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_82" id="FIG_82"></a> +<img src="images/fig_82.jpg" width="400" height="409" alt="FIG. 82.—THREE CURIOUS PIPE-STOPPERS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 82.—THREE CURIOUS PIPE-STOPPERS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="FIG_83" id="FIG_83"></a> +<img src="images/fig_83.jpg" width="500" height="198" alt="FIG. 83.—BRASS TOBACCO BOX. + +(In the British Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 83.—BRASS TOBACCO BOX. +<br /> +(<i>In the British Museum.</i>)</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">{277}</a></span> +</div> + + +<h3>Smokers' Tongs and Stoppers.</h3> + +<p>Curious little ember tongs were formerly used by +smokers for taking up hot embers or ashes with +which to light their pipes. Of these there are several +varieties, most of them of polished steel, cut and +chased. In the eighteenth century similar tongs +were used for holding cigars; some were fitted +with small knives, and a few of the earlier examples +included tinder boxes. Not infrequently one end of +the handle terminated in a tobacco stopper.</p> + +<p>Stoppers, were, however, destined soon to become +an independent and important smokers' accessory. +They were made of different materials, including +brass, steel, bone, and ivory, to some being added a +pick for clearing out the bowl of a pipe. Many +curious handles were modelled, among the varieties +being some representing soldiers in armour of the +time of James I. There is one favourite type repre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">{278}</a></span>senting +Charles I, crowned, and wearing the collar of +the Garter, and another a bust of Oliver Cromwell. +In one example a farm labourer works a flail, in +another a milkmaid goes a-milking with her pail. +There are many varieties of a hand holding a pipe, +of jockeys and prize-fighters, and of St. George +and the Dragon.</p> + +<p>The three stoppers illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_82">82</a> are quite +exceptional specimens, illustrating, however, the kind +of stopper which collectors should keep a keen look +out for. These examples are in the British Museum +along with a few others of seventeenth and eighteenth-century +manufacture, having striking characteristics. +One is described as having a human figure at the +butt, and at the other end a crowned head. The +third example is an historic souvenir, having been +made, as the inscription on the stopper indicates, +from the royal oak which sheltered Charles II, by +Mr. George Plaxton, at one time "parson of the +parish."</p> + +<p>In the Taunton Castle Museum there is an exceptionally +beautiful stopper made of ivory inscribed:—</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap lowercase" style="margin-left: 2em;">"NOW . MAN . WITH . MAN . IS . SO . VNJVST .<br /></span> +<span class="smcap lowercase" style="margin-left: 2em;">THAT . ONE . CAN . SCARCE . TELL . WHO . TO . TRVST</span>."<br /> +</p> + +<p>There are similar stoppers in private collections. +The inscription on one at South Petherton reads:—</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap lowercase" style="margin-left: 2em;">"THE . FAYREST . MAYD . THAT . DID . BAYR . LIFE .<br /></span> +<span class="smcap lowercase" style="margin-left: 2em;">FOR . LOVE . TO . MAN . BECAME . A . WIFE."</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">{279}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>Snuff Boxes and Rasps.</h3> + +<p>Snuff-taking has been a habit associated with +smoking tobacco from quite early days. The +preparation of snuff was formerly achieved at home, +and consequently there sprang up the need of rasps, +which were frequently carried about in the pocket, +many of the cases being very ornamental. They +varied in size, but the rasp cases usually held a plug +or twist of tobacco from which the snuff was made.</p> + +<p>There are several fine old snuff rasps in the Victoria +and Albert Museum, one large rasp measuring 15 in. +in length; its case, which is of walnut and extremely +decorative, is attributed to a Dutch carver +who executed it in the second half of the seventeenth +century. There is also a small iron rasp in a case of +teak wood, which is inlaid with rosewood, ivory, and +tortoiseshell, the rasp measuring about 8 in. in +length. An eighteenth-century French rasp of boxwood +is carved in low relief; on one side a pair of +doves is represented, under the picture being the +legend, "<i>Unis jusqu'a la mort</i>." On the other side +there is a man blowing a horn with the legend, "<i>La +fidelite est perdue</i>," around which is a rope-like frame +supporting two cornucopiæ. Another curious variety +of snuff rasp is made to run on wheels. When snuff-making +became an established trade, and the need +for snuff rasps to be carried was not so great, the +decoration of snuff boxes became more ornate.</p> + +<p>It was in the days of Queen Anne that the height +of the glory of the snuffer was reached; it was, however, +during the reigns of the Georges that so many +beautiful boxes were made. There were boxes carved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">{280}</a></span> +out of a piece of wood, others of bone, papier-maché, +and metal; indeed, all the metals seem to have been +used, for among the curiosities of old snuff boxes are +those made of iron, copper, brass, silver, and gold. +Some of the more costly were enriched with diamonds +and precious stones, and with tiny miniature paintings +and beautiful Wedgwood cameos.</p> + +<p>In the days when snuff-taking was a commoner +practice than it is now, the ornamental snuff box +was the chosen gift to men of fame. Kings, princes, +and the nobility received gold and jewelled snuff +boxes on occasions when in more modern days +they would have been given a scroll of vellum in +a golden casket.</p> + +<p>Many provincial museums contain excellent collections +of smokers' requisites. In the handbook of +Welsh antiquities published in connection with the +National Museum of Wales, in Cardiff, there are +allusions to several interesting specimens, the writer +of the guide quoting some lines penned by a sixteenth-century +poet, who extolled tobacco thus:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Tobacco engages<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Both sexes, all ages—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The poor as well as the wealthy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the Court to the cottage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From childhood to dotage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Both those that are sick and the healthy."<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">{281}</a></span></div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">XIII<br /> +<br /> +LOVE TOKENS<br /> +AND<br /> +LUCKY EMBLEMS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">{283}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<br /> +LOVE TOKENS AND LUCKY EMBLEMS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Amulets—Horse trappings—Emblems of luck—Lovespoons—Glass +curios.</p></div> + + +<p>The collector rarely troubles about attempting to +solve matters of dispute, and cares little to enter into +argumentative discussions in reference to the supposed +purposes of the curios he collects, or the +different uses with which they have been associated. +He does not inquire too deeply into the faiths and +beliefs which may have been held and revered by his +ancestors when he puts in his cabinet some curiosity +which may have been regarded almost with reverential +feelings and handled with superstitious regard by its +original possessor. The more thoughtful man does, +however, pay some tribute to their early associations. +Our museums are filled with such relics, with delightfully +carved reliquaries, triptychs, and marvellously +carved beads which in their religious use as rosaries +have been looked upon as something more than mere +specimens of the carver's art. There are mysteries +in beliefs which have been held dear in the past +which are not understood by succeeding generations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">{284}</a></span></p> + +<p>It is difficult to understand in the present day +the deep-seated faith in amulets and charms, which +were thought to have brought about what would +now be regarded as curious coincidences, or to +place reliance upon the babbling utterances of some +old crone who posed as a witch or a fortune-teller. +Yet among such old-world stories there are germs +of truth although misapplied. The emblems, amulets, +and charms so implicitly believed in a few +centuries ago are objects numbered among collectable +curios, valued even in this prosaic age not +only for their intrinsic worth and antiquarian interest, +but for the so-called magic influences they were +supposed to possess.</p> + +<p>There is something more understandable about +love tokens, for we can tell their purpose, and indeed +to-day, stripped of the charm which was often supposed +to go with them, love tokens are given, received, +and valued just as much as they were in the past.</p> + + +<h3>Amulets.</h3> + +<p>The amulet, which in its realistic form is regarded +as an antiquity to be preserved with care, was usually +regarded either as a charm against disease, accident, +or misfortune, or as something the possession of which +would bring good luck. The efficacy of amulets was +believed in by the most cultured and scientific peoples +in the past, for it was an article of belief in Egypt +and Chaldea. The Jews had regard for their phylacteries, +and the Greeks and Romans had their amulets. +The image of Thor was an amulet peculiar to the old +Norsemen; and in Britain we have had many examples.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">{285}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_84" id="FIG_84"></a> +<img src="images/fig_84.jpg" width="400" height="625" alt="FIG. 84.—COLLECTION OF HARNESS AMULETS AND TEAM BELLS. + +(In the possession of Mr. Charles Wayte, of Edenbridge.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 84.—COLLECTION OF HARNESS AMULETS AND TEAM BELLS. +<br /> +(<i>In the possession of Mr. Charles Wayte, of Edenbridge.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">{287}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a></span></p> + +<p>Although not necessarily objects to be worn, no +doubt charms usually took the form of something +which could be suspended, for the origin of the word +coming to us through the Latin has been traced to +an Arabic word, signifying a pendant. In the early +Christian Church the fish was worn as a symbol or +charm, and in many parts of rural England to-day +amulets are kept, and even charms, as preventives +against disease. Men and women buy so-called +amulets from the jewellers' shops at the present time, +and wear them on their watch chains or bangles, and +round their necks; but the faith reposed in such +charms by the educated classes in this country may +be dismissed as a myth, for few really understand +their true significance, or place any real reliance +upon such fanciful relics of a former age—an age +of superstition, when people blindly clutched at any +mysterious protective power or emblem.</p> + + +<h3>Horse Trappings.</h3> + +<p>Among the commoner emblems of good luck +handed down from the far-off past, are the brass +amulets worn on horse trappings even to-day. A +set of brasses consists of a face brass, taking chief +place of prominence on the horse's forehead; two +ear brasses, which are seen behind the ears; ten +martingale brasses, worn on the breast; and three +brasses suspended from straps on each of the +shoulders. These amulets were primarily worn to +keep off the "evil eye," and thus protect the horse +and its rider or its owner from calamity and harm. +The brasses were varied in design, some of the more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">{288}</a></span> +important being developments of the crescent moon. +Some were made to imitate the sun with its pointed +rays, others the Catherine wheel; the Kentish horse, +too, a relic of Saxon days, has been frequently used, +and there is the lotus flower of Egyptian origin. +There are Moorish and Buddhist symbols, and many +curious developments which have gone far astray +from their original types. The agriculturist is still +superstitious, and does not like to lessen the number +of these somewhat weighty brasses suspended +from his horse trappings. For purposes of utility +they are useless; they remain, however, a connecting +link with the superstitions of the past, and a collection +of such curious objects is of extreme interest. +In Fig. <a href="#FIG_84">84</a> is shown an exceptionally fine collection +got together by Mr. Wayte, of Edenbridge, who +collects many such things.</p> + + +<h3>Emblems of Luck.</h3> + +<p>There seems to be a distinctive difference between +the amulets which were protectors against harm and +those which are emblems of good fortune. Perhaps +hovering between the two may be classed such +curios as those which tradition has held to be a +preservative of luck, like "the Luck of Eden Hall," +that wonderful goblet preserved with such great +care in its charming case of <i>cour boulli</i>. In this +category are the numerous gifts from friend to +friend having no special emblematic value, but which +were frequently handed over with such sayings as: +"I give you this for luck," and "May good luck go +with you." The wish and implied virtue in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">{289}</a></span> +charm has about as much value in it as the wish +playfully and unbelievingly uttered by the twentieth-century +maiden at the wishing well to-day.</p> + +<p>There is still, however, an undeniable lingering +belief in the mysterious value in the possession of an +emblem of luck, one of the best known and commonly +used to-day being the horseshoe, preferably, +according to old tradition, a cast shoe found and +nailed up over the doorway or in some prominent +place. It is generally believed that the horseshoe +carries with it good luck on account of its form, +which resembles the crescent moon, a notorious +symbol in the days of the Crusaders, already +referred to as being an important feature in the +amulets or charms on horse trappings—such is the +curious mixture of scepticism and superstitious faith +met with to-day!</p> + + +<h3>Lovespoons.</h3> + +<p>The collection of Welsh lovespoons in the +National Museum of Wales, several of which are +illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_85">85</a>, is quite unique. Dr. Hoyle, +the Director of the Museum, in his admirable description +of the case in which these pretty little objects +are shown, explains that they are arranged to show +the evolution of the lovespoon from the normal +spoon. Such lovespoons might, a few years ago, +have been seen in many Welsh homes, where they +hung as things of ornament and sentiment, for it is +said they were given in "spooning" days to the girl of +his choice by the lover. The handle is of course the +appropriate field of decoration, the double bowl being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">{290}</a></span> +symbolic of "We two are one." The dated spoons +were mostly made in the middle of the eighteenth +century.</p> + + +<h3>Glass Curios.</h3> + +<p>Some of the most pleasing love tokens are those +made at Nailsea in Somerset, and in Sunderland. +The commoner kinds, chiefly made at the latter place, +were known as sailors' love tokens. They took the +form of rolling-pins, which were evidently intended +for ornament and not for use. A bow of ribbon was +tied round the end of the pin by which the roller +could be hung up. These glass rolling-pins were +covered over with sentimental mottoes, generally +accompanied by a ship, a typical feature of the +decorations commonly used. Some of these little +mementoes given away by sailors were of white +semi-opaque glass, others were brilliantly coloured.</p> + +<p>Nailsea glass works were noted for the Italian +influence shown in the colour effects produced in +them. Among other objects made at those famous +glass works were flasks and bottles for wines and +spirits in greens, browns, and blues, to which were +added in smaller quantities red and yellow. Other +trinkets of an ornamental character were glass +tobacco pipes, bells, and coach horns. There were +also Nailsea walking sticks made of twisted glass, +and many curious cups. Most of these were given +for luck, especially as love tokens when sailors were +about to set out on a voyage, the superstition +attached to the gift being that if the glass pin were +broken it was a sign that the vessel in which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">{291}</a></span> +giver had sailed had been wrecked. Hence it was +that a ribbon was securely attached, and the gift +hung up out of harm's reach.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"><a name="FIG_85" id="FIG_85"></a> +<img src="images/fig_85.jpg" width="300" height="611" alt="FIG. 85.—OLD WELSH LOVE SPOONS. + +(In the National Museum of Wales.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 85.—OLD WELSH LOVE SPOONS. +<br /> +(<i>In the National Museum of Wales.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">{293}</a></span>In association with glass rolling-pins and other +love tokens there are many sundry curios which from +the mottoes upon them were evidently given with a +similar purpose. Even objects of metal and brass +were frequently inscribed with loving reminders of the +donor. The pleasing little trinket and patch boxes +of enamels and glass, referred to in another chapter, +were given from sentimental motives as evidenced +by their inscriptions. Covers of pocket books and +tobacco pouches were covered over with similar +legends, like a delightful beadwork tobacco pouch in +the Taunton Castle Museum, on which is the motto +or sentiment, "<span class="smcap lowercase">LOVE ME FOR I AM THINE</span>, 1631," +wrought by a seventeenth-century needleworker.</p> + +<p>Similar mottoes are found on the little pincushions +formerly carried in the capacious pockets of women +of olden time, sometimes wrought in needlework +and at others in beads.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">{295}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">XIV<br /> +<br /> +THE<br /> +MARKING<br /> +OF<br /> +TIME</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">{297}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<br /> +THE MARKING OF TIME</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Clocks—Watches—Watch keys—Watch stands.</p></div> + + +<p>The early marking of time was simple enough, for +we are told that the Arabs, by driving a spear or +a staff into the sand of the desert, told the time of +day. The shadow of the sun roughly gave those +who were familiar with astronomy the lay of the +land and the time, approximately. When the dial +and the gnomon were understood, dialling became +a popular science, and ere long the sundial on the +church tower, in a public place, or in a private garden, +told the time. Then came the marking of time by +pocket dials—an advance which foreshadowed the +watch which was to come.</p> + +<p>The pocket dial was soon followed by mechanical +clocks, the clock watch, and the more delicate +work of the watchmaker. The watch has become +more accurate in its marking of time by the introduction +of machinery in its manufacture; and it is +cheapened by competition, so that now every one +for a mere trifle can carry in his pocket a watch +by means of which he can tell accurately the hour<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">{298}</a></span> +of day, as Shakespeare has it in "As You Like +It":—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And then he drew a dial from his poke;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And looking on it with lack-lustre eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Says, very wisely, 'It is ten o'clock;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus we may see,' quoth he, 'how the world wags.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Some further references to the sundial will be found +in Chapter <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII</a>, the sundial being one of the +accompaniments of the old-world garden.</p> + + +<h3>Clocks.</h3> + +<p>In "Chats on Old Copper and Brass" some mention +is made of old clocks, and of the watch which +grew in beauty and fineness of workmanship as it +evolved from the watch-clock and the still earlier +lantern and other old clocks, which were gradually +introduced to supersede or supplement the earlier +sundials. Very remarkable indeed are some of these +household curios. The very movement of the +clock, with its pendulum swinging to and fro and +the loud tick which can be heard all over the room, +gives a sort of venerated respect for the "grandfather," +with its massive and often richly carved +or inlaid oaken or mahogany case, making it an +important piece of furniture in the room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">{299}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_86" id="FIG_86"></a> +<img src="images/fig_86.jpg" width="400" height="579" alt="FIG. 86.—FINE GOTHIC FRENCH CLOCK. + +(In the collection of W. Egan & Sons, Ltd., Cork.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 86.—FINE GOTHIC FRENCH CLOCK. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of W. Egan & Sons, Ltd., Cork.</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p>The Cromwellian lantern clock was beautiful in +its way, and it may be regarded as the earliest +type of commonly used domestic clocks, most of +which were made at a later period than is denoted +by the name of Cromwellian. They are, however, +of a good respectable age, and are now really valuable +household antiquities. The lantern clock may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">{301}</a></span> +be regarded as the ancestor of the "grandfather," the +works of which were protected by a wooden case. +The evolution from the earlier type is quite easy +to follow, for the wooden hood to protect the clock +on the bracket shelf was added; then came the +framed head, which was glazed, and eventually the +lower case covering the weights.</p> + +<p>Much has been written about "grandfathers" and +the smaller variety commonly designated "grandmothers." +The dials of the earlier specimens are +of brass and have only the hour hand, an onward +step being marked when the minute finger was +added. The mechanical arrangement by which the +days of the week and the month were indicated was +a happy addition, although some would, doubtless, +regard them as somewhat unnecessary. The collector +of antiques is likely to be imposed upon unless +he is acquainted with the technical construction of +both works and frame or case, for it is not an +uncommon thing to fit in a modern antique case a +set of old works.</p> + +<p>The timepiece is an innovation of comparatively +recent days. From the first it became the central +ornament on the mantelpiece, and many artists were +employed in providing suitable designs and combining +various materials to produce clocks in keeping +with prevailing styles of furniture and decoration. +The French clockmakers became experts as designers +of the smaller and more varied cases of +mantelpiece clocks, many fine examples of the +Empire period ranking as art treasures as well as +curios.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">{302}</a></span></p> + +<p>Fig. <a href="#FIG_86">86</a> represents an exceptionally fine example +of a Gothic French clock, beautifully modelled, and +in excellent condition. Some of the gilt clocks and +side vases to match were bought as mantelpiece +ornaments, rather than for their merit as timekeepers, +although the best makers always put in +reliable works—there were no such works as those +made by machinery and sold so cheaply to-day!</p> + +<p>The timepieces of early Victorian days are scarcely +antiques, and few of them are treasured as such, +although undoubtedly curious.</p> + + +<h3>Watches.</h3> + +<p>The first step towards watches as we understand +them was the manufacture of pocket clocks (many +of which show Dutch influence in design), some of +the cases of which were very beautiful. The watches +which followed in due course were at first without +glasses, and for the better protection of the works +and of the delicate engravings and ornamentation +of the backs and dials loose cases of metal or +shagreen were made. Some of them were highly +ornamental, little studs of gold or silver being +arranged in geometrical and floral patterns on the +exteriors. Two very pretty examples of such cases +are shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_88">88</a>.</p> + +<p>Many of the watch backs were chased and perforated +and beautifully enamelled; the dials were +covered with painted miniatures, and gold watches +were enriched with jewels. From Switzerland and +Nuremberg come many choice examples; but there +were clever watchmakers in England too, among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">{303}</a></span> +them John Stevens, of Colchester, a sixteenth-century +watchmaker noted for his pierced and engraved +brass-gilt cases.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_87" id="FIG_87"></a> +<img src="images/fig_87.jpg" width="400" height="301" alt="FIG. 87—SPECIMENS OF OLD WATCH KEYS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 87—SPECIMENS OF OLD WATCH KEYS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_88" id="FIG_88"></a> +<img src="images/fig_88.jpg" width="400" height="251" alt="FIG. 88.—TWO ANTIQUE WATCH CASES." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 88.—TWO ANTIQUE WATCH CASES.</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">{305}</a></span> +</div> + +<p>Classical figures and designs showing Dutch influence +became popular late in the seventeenth century; +then fashions changed, and the Court of the Emperors +of France exercised an influence over art in this and +other countries, and watch cases and other lesser +objects were made more or less in harmony. At +one time curiously shaped cases were the fashion; +at another octagonal watches, such as were made +in the seventeenth century by Edmund Bull, of +Fleet Street, who is said to have made an elliptic +silver watch engraved all over with minute scriptural +subjects.</p> + +<p>The collection of watches is a hobby indulged in +by but few; there are, however, many single examples +included in household curios, and not +infrequently several handsomely engraved old watch +cases are seen exhibited in the modern glass-topped +curio tables so fashionable in twentieth-century drawing-rooms—now +and then the interest in them being +increased by the musical bells of the repeaters, many +of which were made a century or more ago.</p> + + +<h3>Watch Keys.</h3> + +<p>Keyless watches have been invented within the +memory of most of us; it is obvious, therefore, +that old watches were supplied with old keys, many +of which were curious in form. The collector in +search of a small group of collectable curios finds +the watch key an excellent variety on which to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">{306}</a></span> +specialize. When larger clocks were supplemented +by the pocket watch, the loose key with which to +wind it up naturally took the form of the larger +clock keys. Such keys soon became more ornamental, +for they were either carried in the pocket +or attached to a chatelaine or bunch of keys; many +of the bows were modelled on the pattern of other +keys on the bunch.</p> + +<p>In the accompanying illustration, Fig. <a href="#FIG_87">87</a>, some +little idea may be formed of the early developments. +The three keys in the upper row are of the clock-winder +type, showing the gradual improvement in +their formation. Then came a development of the +metal keys, mostly of brass, the engraving and +modelling of the key itself being improved, the ornamentation +being supplemented by enamelling. The +watch key ultimately became very ornate, for the +more precious metals were gradually introduced, and +rich enamels, rare gems and stones, and Wedgwood +cameos were added.</p> + +<p>Pinchbeck metal was very much used for watch +keys, the fob seals remaining in fashion until knee +breeches went out. Some of the French keys are +extremely decorative, and many cut and polished +steel keys are worth collecting. It is said that +Switzerland is one of the happy hunting-grounds +of the watch-key collector, but there are many +curio shops, both on the Continent and in this +country, where fancy keys can be bought still at +reasonable prices. In some localities special designs +and metal have been made. Thus it is said that +in Holland the silver keys of large size were long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">{307}</a></span> +favoured, and many of these are still on sale. +Another special feature about these curios is that +makers at one time specialized on trade emblems, +and it is quite possible to get together an interesting +collection representing the attributes of musicians, +butchers, bakers, and horticulturists, one signifying +the latter industry being shown in Fig. <a href="#FIG_87">87</a>, that on +the left-hand corner of the lower row being fashioned +in the form of a spade and a rake.</p> + + +<h3>Watch Stands.</h3> + +<p>There are some very quaint old wood watch stands +used chiefly as the temporary home of the watch at +night, although some seem to have been permanently +used by those who possessed a second watch. Some +of the wood carvings were covered with old gilt; +others were relieved in colours. Some were classic +in design; others were like the little French clocks +of the Empire period. Some were shaped like +musical instruments, and others of more elaborate +forms of decoration represent Mercury and Hercules +supporting the watch stand. Some of the most +beautiful are made of French lacquer and ornamented +in the Vernis Martin style. To these may +be added watch stands of marble, and curious inlays, +of papier-maché and japanned wares, and some of +brass and bronze.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">{309}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">XV<br /> +<br /> +MUSICAL<br /> +INSTRUMENTS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">{311}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<br /> +MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Early examples—Whistles and pipes—Violins and harps.</p></div> + + +<p>There are few homes without some old musical +instruments, indicating that at one time or other +one or more members of the family have been +musical. There is a sadness about the discovery +of a long-neglected instrument, telling of the +breaking up of the old home or of an absent one +whose instrument has been cherished in memory +of happy moments when harmonious sounds and +beautiful music were drawn from the now long-neglected +piano, harp, or violin. To its owner a +simple flute or bugle is probably of as much value +as an old piano, although the more important instrument +may be more valuable as a curio and antique. +There are some old instruments which increase in +value, such, for instance, as violins made years ago +by masters of constructional art, for they have +become mellow with age, and, like the bells of +some old parish church, now give out rich and yet +soft notes when handled by a master hand. The +story of the development of the piano from the very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">{312}</a></span> +early prototypes is an enchanting theme to the lover +of music, for there is a far remove from the modern +pianoforte, and still newer player piano to the virginal, +harpsichord, and spinet which may occasionally +be found among the curios of the household.</p> + + +<h3>Early Examples.</h3> + +<p>In the eleventh century, when musical notation +came into being, a monochord was used to teach +singing. The clavichord followed in due course, +and by a rapid process of development regals, +organs, and virginals evolved. The virginal, although +distinct, was associated with the spinet, +which with the later harpsichord may be found in +houses which have been but little disturbed since +the middle of the eighteenth century. It was in +that century that the piano came, but not until it +was well advanced, for in an old playbill of Covent +Garden Theatre, published in 1767, it was announced +that "Miss Brickler will sing a favourite song from +<i>Judith</i>, accompanied by Mr. Dibdin on a new instrument +called the piano forte." Of such instruments +and of earlier types there are many fine examples in +the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington, +in the Royal Scottish Museum, and in the Crosby-Brown +Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of +Art in New York City. In Fig. <a href="#FIG_89">89</a> is seen a beautiful +spinet in excellent condition.</p> + + +<h3>Whistles and Pipes.</h3> + +<p>It is said by the exponents of artistic furnishing +and decoration that no home can be complete with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">{313}</a></span>out +music, for it gives an atmosphere of art which +nothing else can impart; and certainly a collection +of household curios cannot be complete without some +musical instrument, although but a humble example. +It may be a moot point among collectors whether +the insignificant whistle or primitive call can be +regarded as sufficiently musical to rank in this +category. It is certain, however, that it is one of +the commonest of sound producers; if there is a boy +in the home there is almost sure to be a whistle in +the house. Few trouble about the scientific explanation +of the sound produced by this common instrument, +but experts tell us that the sound comes +because condensations occur by the collision of air +against the cutting edge placed in its path. Of +antique whistles there are many types, those shown +in Fig. <a href="#FIG_90">90</a> being the most frequently met with. +The one marked "D" is said to be an attempt +to increase the volume of sound by the extension +of a cutting edge. A double sound is produced +by that marked "F," whereas "A" is of the more +familiar type, the example illustrated being an ivory +whistle used upwards of a hundred years ago.</p> + +<p>From the whistle came the tin pipe capable of +producing tunes in the hands of a skilful player. +The whistle and pipe were in olden times associated +with coaching days and inns. At one time it was +customary for a whistle to be attached to the handles +of spoons used on inn tables. Thirsty travellers blew +the whistle when refreshment was required, and from +that custom we get the common expression, "You +may whistle for it." The horn, too, was a favourite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">{314}</a></span> +instrument, and very necessary in days gone by, +when it served many useful purposes.</p> + +<p>The horn is probably the most ancient of all wind +instruments. It was used at the Jewish feast of the +Atonement, and the Romans used it for signalling +purposes, their infantry carrying circular bronze +horns. There is an interesting popular fable that +horns were first introduced into Western Europe +by the Crusaders; but that is incorrect, in that +bronze horns have been found in prehistoric barrows. +The horn was commonly used for summoning the +folk mote in Saxon times, and in quite early days +horns sounded in English homes on the arrival of +guests. The hunting horn was found in every house +of importance in mediæval times, and in the sixteenth +century it had become semicircular. Great +composers testify to the value of the horn in instrumental +music, Handel and Mozart writing pieces +specially adapted for its use.</p> + +<p>Some very quaint old flutes are found among +household instruments, the origin of the primitive +pipe or flute being lost in the mists of antiquity. +Among household curios old flutes beautifully inlaid +stowed away in antique leather cases are interesting +relics of former days.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">{315}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="FIG_89" id="FIG_89"></a> +<img src="images/fig_89.jpg" width="500" height="351" alt="FIG. 89. OLD SPINET. + +(In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 89. OLD SPINET. +<br /> +(<i>In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin.</i>)</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">{317}</a></span> +</div> + + +<h3>Violins and Harps.</h3> + +<p>To many the chief charm of old instruments is +found in the delicious tones and notes produced by +an old violin, which, if the work of a well-known +maker, commands a fancy price; among the most +valuable being an authentic Stradivarius. Many +old English violins were made in Soho in the +eighteenth century, for that was the centre of the +trade, although in still earlier days violin makers +worked in Piccadilly. In Soho, too, horns, trumpets, +drums, and guitars were made. The guitar, but in +slightly altered form, was the popular home instrument +played upon by Greek and Roman maidens. +Many of the earlier European lutes were in reality +guitars. Some beautifully inlaid specimens are +occasionally met with. Of these there are many +varieties in the Victoria and Albert Museum; among +them there is a guitar lyre, on which is a mask of +Apollo, an exact imitation of the lyre of the Ancients, +which was formerly used by a member of the Prince +Regent's Band at the Royal Aquarium, Brighton.</p> + +<p>There is one other instrument which ranks high +among the musical instruments of olden time found +in British homes. It is the harp, heard to perfection +in the drawing-room and the concert hall—an instrument +upon which such beautiful melodies can be produced. +There are many pretty legends about the +harp heard with such delight and yet superstitious +awe by the Vikings, who, on their return from +Britain, told of the mysterious shores where mermaids +of great beauty were said to rise from the +seas, and, sitting upon the foam-lashed rocks, played +upon their harps music of sweetest sound. American +collectors to-day pay large sums for genuine Irish +harps, which differ somewhat in size and form from +those upon which Welsh maidens played. There +are still a few such ancient instruments to be met +with in Ireland and Wales.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">{318}</a></span></p> + +<p>Of minor instruments there is not much to say—all +are intensely interesting when they carry with +them memories of former owners, for they are +veritable mementoes of home amusements, pleasures, +and delights.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">{319}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">XVI<br /> +<br /> +PLAY<br /> +AND<br /> +SPORT</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">{321}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<br /> +PLAY AND SPORT</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dolls—Toys—Old games—Outdoor amusements—Relics of sport.</p></div> + + +<p>It would appear that there have been amusements +at all periods of the world's history, and that everywhere +work and play have gone hand in hand +together. The occupations of the nursery have been +an intermixture of lessons and play; amusements, +although not always of an elevating or educative +character, have for the most part tended to develop +and form the mind, as well as strengthen the body. +Recreation has played an important part in the +upbringing of child and man, and when absent the +advance has been retarded. The youth of all ages +has found time for games and sports, which have +enlivened the duties of manhood and womanhood by +physical and mental pleasures. Even as age creeps +on, men and women lessen the monotony of daily +toil by indulging in indoor games and outside sports, +suitable to their age and inclinations. As few games +can be played or sport engaged in without accessories, +it is not surprising that many relics of the play and +sport of past generations are to be met with.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">{322}</a></span></p> + +<p>Some of the appliances and apparatus which were +acquired in the pursuit of these pleasures have become +of antiquarian value, for many of them are +curious and represent amusements almost forgotten. +Others tell of the steady survival of the oldest games +and amusements, but show the developments and +alterations which have gone on in the methods of +playing or in the appliances which have been invented +to enhance the interest in those delights. +These changes are seen more especially in sports +and games of skill. As an instance, we may take +one of the great manly sports, that of hunting game, +a custom surviving from days when this England of +ours was a wild and uncultivated forest and swamp, +full of strange birds and many wild animals roamed +therein. The flint-pointed arrow of primitive man +was but the beginning in the evolution of arms. +In the relics of these former plays and sports there +is much to admire, and many objects to collect.</p> + +<p>There is something very pathetic about the household +relics of the playroom and the nursery. Many +little articles of clothing and valueless toys and +trinkets are retained by a fond mother years after +her offspring has grown up. They remind her of +her early married life, and very often of children +who have played in the nursery but who never lived +to grow up. These pathetic relics have been carefully +preserved for at least one generation. Then +their associations have been forgotten, and those +into whose hands they fall probably know nothing +of their origin; to them they are merely curios. A +sympathetic feeling may have induced a new owner +to retain them for a little while longer, although +of no great intrinsic value; but oftener than not +they have been kept as connecting links between +the old and the new, and thus they have been +handed on until their age alone would make them +collectable curios in this day of reverence for all +things old!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">{323}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_90" id="FIG_90"></a> +<img src="images/fig_90.jpg" width="400" height="203" alt="FIG. 90.—CURIOUS TYPES OF WHISTLES." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 90.—CURIOUS TYPES OF WHISTLES.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_91" id="FIG_91"></a> +<img src="images/fig_91.jpg" width="400" height="353" alt="FIG. 91.—QUAINT OLD TOY. + +(In the possession of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 91.—QUAINT OLD TOY. +<br /> +(<i>In the possession of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin.</i>)</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">{325}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324"></a></span> +</div> + +<p>There has been a remarkable sequence in the +toys of children of all generations, and of races +far apart. The same games have been played, and +the same toys used. Now and then a child more +careful than usual preserves his or her toys when +grown to man's or woman's estate; but such collections +are rare. There are some noted collections, +however, which have passed into the range of +museum curios, grouped together as representative +of the period when they were played with—authentic +records of the playthings of that day. In Fig. <a href="#FIG_91">91</a> +there is a remarkable old toy now in the diversified +collection of household curios and antique furniture +of Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin.</p> + + +<h3>Dolls.</h3> + +<p>Probably the commonest toy is the doll, which +children have ever regarded as the ideal plaything. +The maternal instinct is strong in the youngest girl, +and dolls are often looked upon as something more +than mere toys. They are talked to, played with, +and treated as if they were human beings. Their +realism, at first imagined, seems to have grown up +with their long use until a personality surrounds +each one of the dolls in the nursery. Now and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">{326}</a></span> +a quaint doll is treasured as having been the plaything +of more than one generation, especially so the +old wooden Dutch dolls, strong and lasting, which +have in some instances been handed on as playthings, +almost as family heirlooms.</p> + +<p>The most famous collection of dolls played with +by one child, and yet dressed to cover almost every +period of English history—a veritable history of +costume—is that famous collection in the London +Museum, consisting of dolls dressed by and for the +late Queen Victoria, who, doubtless, had unique +opportunities of copying correctly the costumes of +the Court, and of others less high in social status, +during the reigns of the English sovereigns who had +preceded her.</p> + +<p>Few, if any, can hope to possess such a representative +collection; there are many who can find, +however, curiously dressed dolls which are very +helpful in learning something of local costumes and +useful instructors in research after the habits and +occupations of people who may have lived in places +and districts little known to the present generation.</p> + +<p>Some children's toys are much older than they +appear at first sight to be, for many very similar +playthings were found in the playrooms of boys +and girls who lived two thousand years ago. +There are the dolls and quaint little figures played +with by Greek and Roman children. Among the +more familiar objects were little wooden tortoises, +ducks, and pigs. Some were cleverly carved out of +wood, and the arms and legs of dolls moved, much +the same as the Dutch dolls of later days. Those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">{327}</a></span> +children had chariots and horses of metal much the +same as children have leaden soldiers now. They +trundled hoops of bronze, in some of them bells being +placed in the centre, ringing as they ran along. +Some of the toys of these little Roman and Greek +maidens and youths were very elaborate, and must +have belonged to the children of the wealthy, who, +like modern parents, gave presents to them on +"name" days.</p> + +<p>Toys have always served the double purpose of +amusement and education. Years before kindergarten +methods were adopted—although unknown, +probably, to parents—scientific and philosophic toys +were doing good work, and driving home elementary +truths. There were curious cylindrical mirrors, the inevitable +kaleidoscope, and the water imps, an amusing +toy, for the imps, inserted in a bowl or bottle of +water, bobbed about in a curious way when the india-rubber +cap which covered the neck was pressed and +manipulated by the fingers. The modern picture +theatre, with all its attractions to grown-up folks, was +foreshadowed in the very primitive magic lantern, +which threw a cloudy disc and an almost undiscernible +picture, by the aid of an evil-smelling oil +lamp, on an old sheet hung up in the nursery.</p> + + +<h3>Old Games.</h3> + +<p>There are many curios reminding us of indoor +games and winter amusements now obsolete, and +of the change which has gone on in games still +played. When we recall the number of new games +which have been introduced during the last quarter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">{328}</a></span> +of a century, it is surprising how few have survived. +New games come and go, and their accessories are +discarded as but toys of the moment. Most of the +popular games are those which have been handed +down throughout the ages, many of them of great +antiquity, especially scientific games and games of +skill. Among these games, or rather the apparatus +for playing them, are often curios, for they are quite +different to and often more decorative than those used +in playing similar games to-day. We are accustomed +to plain leather or wood chess and draught boards +and the regulation patterns of the men nowadays, +but formerly much time was expended in decorating +and enriching chess boards and men. The boards +often served other purposes too, many being beautifully +inlaid and reversible; thus the older game +boards were fitted with slides for backgammon, +provision being made for chess, merelles, and fox +and geese, the oak of which they were often made +being relieved with rich marqueterie (<i>tarsia</i>) of +ebony, ivory, and silver.</p> + +<p>It is not often that a collection of old chessmen +is found among household curios, although it was +not uncommon to discover among sundry ivory +carvings a few odd pieces which had been secured +on account of their beautiful carving. In India and +China some very remarkable chessmen have been +produced. The origin of the game is lost in antiquity, +although it was played in the East at a +very early period. It is said to have been introduced +into Spain from Arabia, and to have been +played by the Hindus more than a thousand years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">{329}</a></span> +ago. It was certainly known in this country before +the Norman Conquest. Some few years ago a very +remarkable collection of chessmen, such as may be +seen in isolated sets or still more frequently represented +by single pieces in cabinets of old ivories, +was dispersed under the hammer in a London saleroom. +There were Chinese sets in red and white, +wonderful figures standing upon concentric balls; +antique Persian sets in cream-coloured ivory +decorated in colours and gold, kings and queens +on elephants, knights on horses, and bishops on +camels; Burmese sets with royal personages seated +on chairs of state; and some very remarkable +English porcelain, Wedgwood ware, and Minton +pottery sets.</p> + +<p>Several finds of Scandinavian chessmen, made, +probably, in the twelfth century, have been made +in the island of Lewis. From these and other sets +met with in other places much has been learned +about the evolution in the game.</p> + +<p>The queen does not appear to have been introduced +into the game until the eleventh century. +The castle has undergone many changes; its older +name of "rook" was derived from the Persian word +<i>rokh</i>, a hero. No doubt all the pieces were then +carved personalities, well understood from king +to pawn. In the modern forms of Staunton and +London Club patterns the knight alone retains its +semblance in the horse's head—a poor substitute +for the beautifully carved warrior on horseback +seen in some of the older sets.</p> + +<p>Draughts, or dames, is also a game of antiquity;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">{330}</a></span> +and in the British Museum there is a set said to +date back to the Saxon period. Some of the old +boards are interesting relics, and the sets of carved +draughtsmen, now scarce, are beautiful works of art.</p> + +<p>Backgammon is one of the older kindred games, +frequently played on the interior of the chess board +which was for that purpose marked with twelve +points or flèches in alternate colours. In this game +dice were used, and some of the old dice cups are +very prettily decorated.</p> + +<p>Cribbage played with cards and a board is said to +be essentially an English game. Some very remarkable +cribbage boards were made many years ago, +many of metal, others of wood and ivory; one +exceptionally interesting piece, a brass cribbage +board, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is +engraved: "<span class="smcap lowercase">MR. CHRISTR ELLIOTT AT WINBORROW +GREEN, SUSSEX</span> 1768."</p> + +<p>Cards, of which there are so many curious types +among the old examples found in many homes, were +introduced into the West of Europe from the East +about the fourteenth century. At first they were +hand drawn and coloured, then printed from wood +blocks, being subsequently printed from blocks and +plates engraved on the types which were gradually +standardized. Some very interesting collections of old +cards have been made, one of the most complete being +that of Lady Charlotte Schreiber, now in the Department +of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum.</p> + +<p>In the days when card playing was at its height +many fine brass counter trays and curious card trays +were fashioned in brass and copper. Some of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">{331}</a></span> +may very well be collected, and are suitable receptacles +for old metal counters, of which there are +many varieties. Some of these counters were made +by the diesinkers who helped tradesmen to provide +themselves with token change, and they bear a +striking resemblance to the contemporary metallic +currency. Others were chiefly hand engraved, and +often sold in small metal and silver boxes, those +dating from the time of Queen Anne being the most +interesting. The most popular card counters in the +early days of the nineteenth century were brass +copies of the spade-ace gold guinea, which they +closely resembled, and it is feared, when gilt, were +not infrequently palmed off as genuine gold.</p> + + +<h3>Outdoor Amusements.</h3> + +<p>The outdoor games practised when household curios +were being fashioned necessitated fewer accessories +than such games do to-day, and many of them were +crude and obviously the work of amateurs. Yet the +same games were being played and possibly enjoyed +as much, although the sport was rougher!</p> + +<p>When we think of winter amusements in the past +somehow we conjure up pictures of hard frosts and +crisp snow, although rain, damp, and fog were probably +frequent visitors in Old England. Some of the +games can be traced back to very early days—such, +for instance, as skating, many ancient skates having +been found. There is a remarkable contrast between +the beautifully made skates now used on the comparatively +rare occasions when the ice bears and the +roller skates used all the year round, to those curious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">{332}</a></span> +bone skates, so very primitive in their construction, +examples of which are to be found in several local +museums. In the Hull Museum, among the Market +Weighton antiquities, there is a choice collection +from East Yorkshire; one, made from the cannon +bone of a horse, is smooth and well polished, having +seen some active use, evidently belonging to some +skater in the fifteenth or sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>The bone skates were fastened on to the feet much +the same as metal skates, but they had no cutting +edges, and consequently the skater carried a stick +shod with an iron point, and by its aid propelled +himself forward. Fitzstephen, writing in the time of +Edward II, describes the ponds at Moorfields where +the citizens of London skated. The ponds have long +been dried up and built over; it is there, however, +where, during excavations, some very fine examples +of the old bone skates have been found.</p> + + +<h3>Relics of Old Sport.</h3> + +<p>Among the relics of old sport met with are the +curious and often beautifully embroidered hoods of +white leather used in the days of hawking. These +pretty little hoods, which were placed over the head +of the hawk when carried on the wrist to the hunting +field, were often embroidered in panels and furnished +with braces for tying round the hawk's head. In +the British Museum there is a curious silver lock-ring +for a hawk engraved with arms and owner's name, +apparently of seventeenth-century workmanship. +No doubt the real purport of such curios is often +overlooked, for not infrequently hawks' hoods have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">{333}</a></span> +been found amongst old dolls' clothing, having been +given to children in later years as playthings.</p> + + +<h3>Guns, Pistols, and Flasks.</h3> + +<p>Eastern weapons have been brought over to this +country in large numbers, some of them very ancient. +It is said that among some of the Arab tribes it is no +uncommon thing to meet with swords and daggers +of antique form, richly damascened, and sometimes +with jewelled hilts, made a thousand years or more +ago, and a few years ago Crusaders' relics could be +met with in the East. Many of these knives have +silica blades, some of the handles being of jade. +Those of grey jade are often piqué with gold, others, +of ivory, being inlaid with jewels.</p> + +<p>There is not very much to interest in old guns of +English make, for few found in houses date back +beyond the commencement of the nineteenth century. +Among them, however, are flint-locks and here and +there an old wheel-lock. The pistols met with +among household curios are often handsome and +have been preserved in leather cases, carefully +stowed away. Some of them record the days of +duelling, others the dangers of the road, when +highway robbers lurked in every wood, and many +a family coach was waylaid and its occupants +robbed of their jewels and their purses of gold. To +those interested in sporting, and familiar with the +breech-loading guns of the present day, much +interest attaches to the old powder flasks which +were once necessary accompaniments of sportsmen. +There are many beautifully engraved, embossed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">{334}</a></span> +and decorated flasks in museums, some of the early +seventeenth-century specimens being made of boxwood, +others of ivory, frequently ornamented with +hunting scenes. In Fig. <a href="#FIG_92_93">92</a> is shown a curious flint-lock +powder tester, then also regarded as one of the +essential accessories of the sportsman's outfit. The +copper powder flask illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_92_93">93</a> is now in +the Hull Museum. It is specially interesting in that +the plain copper work is engraved in the centre with +its original owner's monogram—"<span class="smcap lowercase">W R</span>" in script. +This flask, made about the year 1750, was evidently +a keepsake, for engraved round the circular disc is +the legend "Keep this for Joseph's sake."</p> + +<p>In the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington +there are some more elaborate specimens, two +of which are illustrated in Fig. <a href="#FIG_94">94</a>. They are magnificent +examples of metal repoussé work—a favourite +decoration in the eighteenth century, copied in more +inexpensive forms in the nineteenth century by makers +of sporting accessories, who stamped them from dies +and reproduced some of the old hunting scenes.</p> + +<p>A review of the outdoor sports and relics of former +days would scarcely be complete without some +mention of swords and rapiers, which were once +commonly worn, along with pistols, alas! too frequently +in use when a hasty word called forth a +challenge to a duel. Many of these old swords are +rusty, but they frequently show marks of former +use. They are needed no longer by civilians in +this country, and take their places in trophies of +arms, forming important features in the decorative +curios of the household.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">{335}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="FIG_92_93" id="FIG_92_93"></a> +<img src="images/fig_92-93.jpg" width="400" height="588" alt="FIG. 92.—A POWDER TESTER. +FIG. 93.—A PRIMING FLASK. +(In the Municipal Museum, Hull.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 92.—A POWDER TESTER. +<br /> +FIG. 93.—A PRIMING FLASK. +<br /> +(<i>In the Municipal Museum, Hull.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">{337}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2 style="text-align: left;">XVII<br /> +<br /> +MISCELLANEOUS</h2><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">{339}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338"></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<br /> +MISCELLANEOUS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dower chests—Medicine chests—Old lacquer—The tool chest—Egyptian +curios—Ancient spectacles—Curious chinaware—Garden +curios—The mounting of curios—Obsolete household +names.</p></div> + + +<p>There are many household curios which cannot be +classified under the headings of the foregoing +chapters. They represent well-known features in +every home, and yet each little group has an +individuality of its own. Some may say that the +main features of house-furnishing have been left out +of consideration, and that they are the most +interesting household curios when age and disuse +have come upon them. Household furniture, however, +has been fully dealt with in the "Chats" series +in the two volumes entitled "Chats on Old English +Furniture," and "Chats on Cottage and Farmhouse +Furniture," to which books those interested in the +curiosities of cabinet-making and village carpentry +are referred. Yet notwithstanding the completeness +of those works there are a few objects which have so +entirely passed into the range of household curios, +and their uses were so entirely apart from present-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">{340}</a></span>day +furniture, that some of them are specially noted +in the following paragraphs, together with a few +other isolated antiques.</p> + + +<h3>Dower Chests.</h3> + +<p>If there is one piece of furniture above another +that is surrounded with a halo of romance, surely it +is the dower chest! We can picture the incoming +of the coffer in all the newness of hand polish, fresh +from the hands of the village carpenter or the +retainer who had wrought the gnarled old oak +grown on the estate for a favourite daughter of his +lord—that chest which was to be packed full of +fragrant linen, between which was laid sweet +lavender, and richly embroidered garments for the +bride, who, with her personal belongings stowed +away therein, was to pass from the parental home to +her newly wedded and unknown life. There are +ancient chests full of historic memories, such as those +in which the wealth of monarchs has been stored, +like that in Knaresborough Castle, which, according +to legend and some reference in old deeds, came over +with William the Conqueror. In the Castle Museum +there is another chest made for Queen Philippa in +1333—a veritable dower chest.</p> + +<p>Some of the older chests have had loops for poles +by which they could be carried about; but such were +more correctly treasure chests. The dower chests +usually remained in the home of the bride, and in time +became her receptacle for bedding and other household +stores, the little tray or corner box for jewels +and trinkets being disused and eventually done away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">{341}</a></span> +with altogether. The evolution of the chest until it +became a cabinet or a chest of drawers is a story for +the lover of old furniture to tell, but the dower chest +in its earlier forms is a curio rich in legend and folklore. +It may interest American readers to record +that many of the oldest specimens in the States were +first used as packing cases of unusual strength, gifts +from the old folks at home, when colonists in +Jacobean days crossed the Atlantic. Curiously +enough, American craftsmen copied them and +maintained the purity of the old English style long +after the makers of English dower chests had +been influenced by Dutch and French design and +inlay.</p> + + +<h3>Medicine Chests.</h3> + +<p>Some of the early English medicine chests, the +foundation of which is of wood, are covered with +tapestry, others with green satin, sometimes ornamented +with floral devices made of puffed satin, +overlaid and outlined with gold thread. Medicine +chests varied in size, but few households were +"furnished" without a fitting receptacle for home-made +recipes for simple ailments, such as were much +resorted to in the past. The chests were usually well +fitted with bottles and phials, and with glass stoppers +or silver or pewter tops. Many of the medicines had +been prescribed by local practitioners, and were +regarded as sovereign remedies to be used on all +occasions; others were family recipes held in high +repute. In such chests there was often a drawer or +compartment containing bleeding cups and lancet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">{342}</a></span>—a +remedy often resorted to when an illness could +not be diagnosed.</p> + + +<h3>Old Lacquer.</h3> + +<p>The beautiful red lacquer work is getting scarce, +although it has had a long run, for it is more than +twelve hundred years since the Japanese learned the +secret of making it from the Coreans, who in their +turn had it from the Chinese. The secret of producing +in China and Japan lacquer which cannot +be imitated in other countries lies in the <i>rhus +vernificifera</i> which flourishes in those localities. It +is the gum of that tree commonly called the lacquer-tree, +which when taken fresh and applied to the +object it is intended to lacquer turns jet-black on +exposure to the sun, drying with great hardness. It +will thus be seen that although French and English +lacquers have been very popular, the imitation lacquer +applied can have neither the effect nor the durability +of the natural gum which sets so hard, and in the +larger and more important objects can be applied +again and again until quite a depth of lacquer is +obtained, sometimes encrusted over with jewels and +other materials embedded in it.</p> + +<p>The best English lacquer was made in this country +between the years 1670 and 1710, and was a very +successful imitation of the Oriental. At that time and +during the following century very many tea caddies, +trays, screens, trinket boxes, and even furniture, were +imported; and it was those which English workmen +copied, gradually increasing the variety of household +goods for which that material was so suitable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">{343}</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="FIG_94" id="FIG_94"></a> +<img src="images/fig_94.jpg" width="500" height="396" alt="FIG. 94.—OLD POWDER FLASKS. + +(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 94.—OLD POWDER FLASKS. +<br /> +(<i>In the Victoria and Albert Museum.</i>)</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">{345}</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344"></a></span></p> + +<p>Old English lacquer differed from the more +modern papier-maché in that instead of the pulp +being composed entirely of paper, glued together +and pressed, it was composed of a basis of wood, +covered over with a black lacquer, on which the +design was painted in colours. It was made under +considerable difficulties, in that it had to compete +with the imported Oriental wares which were made +in China and Japan under more favourable natural +conditions.</p> + +<p>The art of japanning was revived in England late +in the eighteenth century, and some remarkable +pieces appear to have been the work of amateurs +who painted and gilded so-called lacquer work, +tea caddies, and jewelled caskets. It must be +remembered that the art of japanning was looked +upon at one time as an accomplishment, for about +the year 1700 many gentlewomen were taught the +art.</p> + +<p>French artists took up the Oriental style, and +produced some very successful lacquer work, striking +out in an entirely distinct style, which, as Vernis +Martin decoration, became famous. The varnish +or lacquer forming the foundation for those delightful +little pictures was not unlike in effect the Oriental +lacquer which to some extent it was intended to +imitate.</p> + +<p>In the early nineteenth century lacquering as an +art fell into disrepute, and such decorations were +largely associated with the commoner metal wares, +stoved and lacquered by the so-called japanning +process carried out in Birmingham and other places,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">{346}</a></span> +although there is now some admiration shown by +collectors for small trays, bread baskets, candle +boxes, and snuffer trays of metal, japanned and +decorated by hand in colours and much fine gold +pencilling.</p> + + +<h3>The Tool Chest.</h3> + +<p>There have been amateur mechanics in all ages, +and among the household curios are many old tools +suggestive of having been made when the carpenter +had plenty of time on his hands to decorate his tools +with carvings, and frequently to make up his own +kit. Thus old planes and braces were evidently +the work of men who possessed some humour and +skill, too, for some of the carved decoration is +quite grotesque. There is a fine collection of old +tools made and used in the seventeenth and early +eighteenth centuries on view in one of our +museums. There is a carpenter's plough, dated +1750, moulding planes and skew-mouthed fillisters +of beechwood, and a router plane of carved hornbeam. +The modern hand brace becomes more +realistic, and its origin understood at a glance +when we examine the old hand brace of turned +and carved boxwood, dated 1642, in that collection. +The part where the bit is fitted is literally a +hand, carved out of solid wood, and the curious +crank indicates an imaginary twist in the arm, +perhaps suggested by some carpenter who was able +to manipulate his tools in a way not commonly +understood, thus giving to future carpenters a +most useful tool.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">{347}</a></span></p> + + +<h3>Egyptian Curios.</h3> + +<p>Among the collectable curios of old households +are many antiquities from foreign lands. Perhaps +the most interesting, in that they afford us +examples of the prototypes of household antiques +as they were known to a nation possessing an +early civilization, polish, and refinement, are those +which have been discovered recently in Egyptian +tombs. Some representative examples may be +seen in the British Museum. There are toilet +requisites including mirrors, combs, and even wigs +and wig boxes, as well as a glass tube for stibium +or eye paint. There are ivory pillows or head +rests, models of the ghostly boats of the +underworld, and a vast variety of children's toys, +including wooden dolls with strings of mud beads +to represent hair, porcelain elephants, and wooden +cats; and there are children's balls made of blue +glazed porcelain, and of leather stuffed with +chopped straw. There are many games and +amusements, such as stone draught boards, and +draughtsmen in porcelain and wood. There are +bells of bronze and some remarkable musical +instruments like a harp, the body of which is in +the form of a woman; and there are reed flutes +and whistles and cymbals such as were carried by +priestesses. There are curious ivory amulets, +quaintly carved spoons, ivory boxes, and even +theatre tickets. Necklaces and pendants and other +articles of adornment are plentiful, for the Egyptian +maidens possessed much jewellery—bracelets, rings, +and necklaces. One very exceptionally fine relic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">{348}</a></span> +of this far-off age is a toilet box complete with +vases of unguents, eye paint, comb, and bronze +shell on which to mix unguents, and other trinkets. +Many such antiquities find their way into museums +and private collections of household curios, and +are useful and interesting for purposes of comparison, +telling of customs which change not, and +of the many connecting links which exist between +the past and the present.</p> + + +<h3>Ancient Spectacles.</h3> + +<p>It is truly astonishing how many ancient spectacles, +which to collectors of such things would be veritable +treasures, lie neglected and allowed to "knock +about" until broken or otherwise damaged. Those +mostly discovered are the heavy brass and silver-rimmed +spectacles of about one hundred years ago, +some very interesting specimens of which are to be +seen in several of the larger local museums.</p> + +<p>Spectacles are of very respectable age, although +they cannot be traced back to the ancient peoples, +for the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, notwithstanding +that they polished glass and rock crystal +and possessed much scientific lore, were ignorant +of their use as aids to sight.</p> + +<p>It is said that the credit of the discovery of how to +make use of artificial aids to defective sight must be +accorded to Roger Bacon, who in his book <i>Opus +Majus</i>, published in the thirteenth century, mentioned +magnifying glasses as being useful to old people to +make them see better. True spectacles are said to +have been fashioned in 1317 by Salvino degli Armati,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">{349}</a></span> +a Florentine nobleman. At first they were convex; +indeed, no mention of concave glasses for shortsighted +persons was made until towards the middle of the +sixteenth century. From that time onward there +were developments, and among the household curios +are to be found silver, brass, and tortoiseshell rims, +and glasses of more or less utility.</p> + + +<h3>Curious China Ware.</h3> + +<p>Old china and pottery have been fully dealt with +by many specialist writers, but there are some +household curios made of porcelain, china, and +earthenware which cannot be omitted from this +survey of household curios. Foremost among these +are the now scarce Toby jugs, made at so many of +the famous potteries. In a large collection the +variations are at once recognized; yet the same idea +seems to have run through the minds of the artists in +fashioning these jugs, so essentially typical of the age +in which they were made and used. Among the +Sunderland jugs are many variations both in size and +colouring; they were rich in colours, too, and look +exceedingly well on an old cabinet.</p> + +<p>The posset cups of silver were supplemented by +tygs and posset cups and many-handled drinking +cups of early Staffordshire make. The brown and +yellow slip decoration of this ware is a striking +characteristic. All the early seventeenth-century ale +drinking cups like the tygs had handles, and in those +days of conviviality the double or multiplied handle +served a useful purpose, for the vessels were in use +when it was the custom of the ale-house for several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">{350}</a></span> +friends to drink out of one vessel, just as in more +polite society and on public occasions the loving cup +was passed round.</p> + +<p>Some of the so-called portrait busts and statuettes +of the eighteenth century are especially interesting +to collectors. There are figures to suit all; musicians +may delight in that of Handel; others in the busts +of Wesley and Whitfield; explorers in the statue of +Benjamin Franklin made about 1770, and some in +that of John Wilks seated near an old column of a +still earlier date. There is also a cleverly modelled +figure of Geoffrey Chaucer. One of the best known +groups is that of the "Vicar and Moses," made by +Wood, of Burslem.</p> + + +<h3>Garden Curios.</h3> + +<p>It is said that garden craft, like most other forms +of art, came from the East; that the cultivation of +gardens commenced in Egypt, Persia, and Assyria, +travelling westward through Greece and Rome; and +in some of the early English gardens which horticulturists +are so fond of copying to-day there are traces +of Eastern influence still remaining.</p> + +<p>Although the garden is the place where we expect +to find flowers, foliage, and perhaps fruit and +vegetables, it has always been associated with +home life, and some of the charms of domestic +comradeship owe their greatness to the garden and +pleasance.</p> + +<p>It has always been the aim of the professional and +the amateur gardener to furnish the lawn and flower-beds +with appropriate settings, some of which have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">{351}</a></span> +become very quaint in the eyes of twentieth-century +horticulturists.</p> + +<p>The Egyptians had their trellised bowers, and +their tiny pools of clear water. The Greeks, however, +were fortunate in having undulated and even +hilly ground to cultivate, and their gardens were +much more picturesque than the level ground of +Egypt, although the Orientals built terraces, and by +artificial means enhanced the beauty of their gardens. +The adornment of gardens with statuary comes to +us from Greece, and many modern reproductions of +ancient Greek statues are regarded as the curios +of the modern garden. Delightful, indeed, are some +of the statuettes in stone and lead representing +Aphrodite and the Graces. The Roman gardens +were magnificent in their miniature temples, replicas +of which are found in the old Georgian summer-houses, +such as may be seen at Kew, and in many +private grounds, dating from that period. The +Romans were lovers of roses, and had many +charming rose bowers, curiously and cunningly +formed.</p> + +<p>The dawn of gardening on some approved plan, +and then ornamenting the portions not covered with +greenery, began in monastic days. The oldest of +the occupations of civilized man, it was long held in +high repute, and many worthy men have posed as +amateurs. Indeed, there have been Royal gardeners, +among the most familiar being Edward I and Queen +Elizabeth. From Tudor times onward the once +waste land in the immediate vicinity of castles and +palaces was cultivated, and the gardens of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">{352}</a></span> +nobility along the Strand in London were full of +beautiful stonework and statuettes. A writer in +the sixteenth century, describing an English garden +of his day, wrote: "Every garden of account hath its +fish pond, its maze, and its sundials."</p> + +<p>Many fine old fountains or miniature fishponds +remain, and sundials are among the curios associated +with the outdoor life of the home. The garden +houses of the eighteenth century included a bowling +green or court, viewed from the terrace; and towards +the end of that period many leaden figures were +cast, the favourite being replicas of Roman statuary +dedicated to such deities as Bacchus, Venus, Neptune, +and Minerva. These lead statues have been collected +by dealers during the last few years. Some of them +are really very beautifully formed, although in many +instances the wear and tear of a couple of centuries +has covered them over with scratches and indentations. +A few years ago lead statues received little +consideration from their owners, and the children +made them targets for stone-throwing. They are +thought more of now, and at several recent sales lead +statuettes and vases have sold for considerable sums.</p> + +<p>Sometimes ancient lead cisterns are seen outside +old houses; many of these and even rain-water spout +heads, beautifully moulded and cast, are among the +household curios for which there is some call among +collectors.</p> + + +<h3>The Mounting of Curios.</h3> + +<p>A miscellaneous assortment of curios displayed +without any regard to their proper setting has just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">{353}</a></span> +the same effect as a badly framed picture, or a painting +with an inappropriate frame. Sundry curios may +be made to look charming when properly shown in a +glass-topped table or a suitable case, their value as +home ornaments being materially increased. Indeed, +there are many beautiful objects which look nothing +unless properly framed. The Wedgwood cameo +gems so varied and so very minutely tooled require +proper display; according to their colours so should +they be arranged on a velvet or cloth background +with an ample margin to separate them. A group +of miniatures looks nothing unless in suitable setting +or mount. Much of the beauty of old china is lost +because it is simply laid out without a colour scheme. +A cup and saucer look very much better when +shown on a stand, so that the saucer can be seen and +every detail of the cup examined, the richness of the +colouring inside or out, as the case may be, being +thrown up by the ebonized stand on which it is +placed. Carved ivories should certainly be shown +with a dark setting. In a similar way Oriental +plaques and even smaller plates with light backgrounds +are set off to the best advantage when shown +in dark ebony frames. The Orientals know the value +of framework perhaps more than any other people, +and among the curios they have sent over to this +country are appropriately carved frames and stands. +The almost priceless ginger jars when placed upon +carved-wood stands, for which the Chinese are so +famous, are beautiful indeed, the contrast of the black +and blue against the black base being very striking. +Indeed, much of the carved furniture of the Orientals<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">{354}</a></span> +has been specially designed as a framework for +mother-o'-pearl and gem ornaments. The rare jade +carvings in black ebony screens, and the marvellous +carving of the larger screens are but appropriate +settings to the painted and needlework pictures so +rich in colours and gold. In Fig. <a href="#FIG_57">57</a> we illustrate a +very remarkable piece in which the artist has +expended his wonderful skill in providing a suitable +stand or frame for a very beautiful early porcelain +plate. Every detail of the carving is worthy of close +inspection. This beautiful piece was included in a +collection of jade, cloisonné enamels, and carved +furniture gathered together in Java some years ago +by a well-known collector of Chinese and Oriental +curios. Now and then such pieces are to be seen +in the shops of West End dealers. But it would be +difficult indeed to find one so characteristic of the +Chinese carver's art as the one shown.</p> + + +<h3>Obsolete Household Names.</h3> + +<p>Most household goods and both useful and ornamental +home appointments used at the present time +are the outcome of progress and development, and +their names have changed but little. The change +has been in style, material, and manufacture rather +than in newness of purpose. It is true that in modern +household economy some of the present-day household +utensils are the outcome of modern invention, +having no similarity in form to the simpler primitive +contrivances which they have superseded. Thus, for +instance, the vacuum cleaner has little in its appearance +to associate it with the old-fashioned carpet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">{355}</a></span> +brush, neither has the modern knife cleaner much in +common with the old knife board. There are some +articles, however, which have become quite obsolete, +and their names are fast disappearing from inventories +of household goods, and, like the older antiquarian +relics, are likely soon to be forgotten. In +the foregoing chapters mention has been made of the +collectable objects of household use, dating from the +period of bronze to modern times, and no doubt there +are many other articles which have entirely disappeared +on account of their perishable nature, or +from their very character, there being nothing to +suggest their retention. It may be useful for purposes +of reference to note the following articles of +furniture, kitchen utensils, and mechanical contrivances, +which were mentioned in a book published +about one hundred years ago—house furnishings, +about the ancient uses of which we hear nothing at +the present time.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><b>Ample</b>—An ointment box, formerly carried by a medical man.</p> + +<p><b>Apple-grate</b>—A sixteenth-century cradle of iron in which to roast +apples.</p> + +<p><b>Bombard</b>—A large leathern bottle for carrying beer; a term also +applied to ancient ale-barrels.</p> + +<p><b>Canister</b>—The ancient canister was a pannier or basket, the name +being appropriated to its modern use when tea came into the +market.</p> + +<p><b>Chafing-dish</b>—The name appropriated to modern cooking vessels +was originally applied to a dish upon which perfumes were +burnt, and in Roman times was an ensign of honour.</p> + +<p><b>Comfit boxes</b>—Boxes divided into compartments in which were rare +spices, handed round with dessert.</p> + +<p><b>Finger-guard</b>—Horn finger-guards were formerly used by writing +masters to protect their nails when nibbing pens.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">{356}</a></span></p> + +<p><b>Fire-screen</b>—Fire-screens are noted as early as the fourteenth century, +long before they were filled with needlework; they were +made of wicker, described by a sixteenth-century writer as "a +little wicker skrene sett in a frame of walnut tree."</p> + +<p><b>Scrip</b>—Scrips were hung from girdles, and differed, among the chief +varieties being the shepherd's scrip, the pilgrim's scrip, and +the traveller's scrip, a kind of purse or wallet.</p> + +<p><b>Standish</b>—The old name for an ink horn or vessel, afterwards applied +to the stand or dish, or, as we call it now, inkstand, which +contained the box or vessel for ink, and another for blotting +powder.</p> + +<p><b>Trencher</b>—A wooden platter, a term more particularly applied to the +beautiful hand-painted circular boards for sweetmeats or cakes.</p></div> + +<p>In conclusion, in the foregoing pages most of the +best-known household curios—regarded as such by +the collector—have been passed in review. The +list is, however, by no means exhausted, for as +search is made among the relics of former days +many little-known objects come to light, and as +isolated examples find their way into public and +private collections.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">{357}</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Ale tubes, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> +<li>Almanacs, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>-<a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> +<li>American museums, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> +<li>Ample, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> +<li>Andirons, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> +<li>Apple-grate, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> +<li>Apple-scoops, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> +<li>Arms of Cutlers' Company, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> +</ul> + + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Banner screens, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> +<li>Basting spoons, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Battersea enamels, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> +<li>Beakers, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> +<li>Bellows, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> +<li>Bellows blower, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> +<li>Bells, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> +<li>Bilston enamel, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> +<li>Bodkins, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> +<li>Bohemian glass, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> +<li>Boilers, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Bombards, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> +<li>Boule, Charles, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> +<li>Bow cupids, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> +<li>Bristol glass, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> +<li>British glass, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> +<li>British Museum exhibits, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> +<li>Bronze pots, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Buhl work, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> +</ul> + + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Caddies, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> +<li>Candle boxes, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> +<li>Candle moulds, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> +<li>Candles, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li>Candlesticks, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li>Canisters, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> +<li>Carving-knives, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> +<li>Caskets, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> +<li>Caudle cups, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> +<li>Chafing dishes, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> +<li>Chantilly porcelain, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> +<li>Chatelaines, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> +<li>Chelsea cupids, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> +<li>Chessmen, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> +<li>Chestnut roasters, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> +<li>Chests, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> +<li>Chimney ornaments, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> +<li>China, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> +<li>Chinese influence, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +<li>Chinese lacquer, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> +<li>Chippendale influence, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> +<li>Clocks, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> +<li>Clog almanacs, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> +<li>Cloisonné enamel, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> +<li>Coaching horns, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> +<li>Cocoanut cups, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> +<li>Cocoanut flagons, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> +<li>Coffers, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> +<li>Combs, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> +<li>Comfit boxes, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> +<li>Continental gridirons, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> +<li>Cooking vessels, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> +<li>Copper urns, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> +<li>Cordova leather, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> +<li>Couvre de feu, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> +<li>Cream jugs, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> +<li>Cribbage boards, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> +<li>Cruet stands, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> +<li>Cuir boulli work, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> +<li>Cupids, Chelsea and Bow, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> +<li>Cups, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +<li>Curio hunting, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> +<li>Cutlers' Company, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> +<li>Cutlery, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>-<a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Damascened steel, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> +<li>Derbyshire spar, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> +<li>Dolls, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> +<li>Domesday Book, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> +<li>Dower chests, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> +<li>Draughts, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> +<li>Dressing cases, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> +<li>Dutch influence on art, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> +<li>Dutch ovens, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Egyptian curios, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> +<li>Egyptian influence, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> +<li>Enamelled wares, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> +<li>Enamels, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Fenders, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> +<li>Finger guards, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> +<li>Fire-dogs, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> +<li>Fire drills, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> +<li>Fireirons, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> +<li>Fire-making appliances, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> +<li>Fireplace, the, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> +<li>Fireploughs, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> +<li>Fire screens, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> +<li>Flesh hooks, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> +<li>Floor candlesticks, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li>Fluor spar, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +<li>Flutes, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> +<li>Food-boxes, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> +<li>Forks, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> +<li>French art, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> +<li>French influence, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Gallybawk, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> +<li>Games, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>-<a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> +<li>Garden curios, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> +<li>German wall warming stove, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> +<li>Glass and enamels, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>-<a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> +<li>Glass beads, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> +<li>Glass curios, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>-<a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> +<li>Glass ornaments, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> +<li>Glass pictures, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> +<li>Glass rolling pins, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> +<li>Gourd cups, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> +<li>Grandfather clocks, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> +<li>Gridirons, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> +<li>Grills, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> +<li>Guildhall Museum exhibits, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> +<li>Guns, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Hair ornaments, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> +<li>Hampton Court fireplaces, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> +<li>Hawk hoods, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> +<li>Home ornaments, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> +<li>Horn books, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> +<li>Horners, Worshipful Company, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> +<li>Horns, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> +<li>Horn work, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> +<li>Hull Museum exhibits, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Inkstands, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> +<li>Irish curios, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li>Ivories, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Jack knives, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> +<li>Jade, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> +<li>Japanned trays, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> +<li>Jewel caskets, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Kentish ironmasters, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> +<li>Kettles and stands, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Kettles, miniature, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> +<li>Kitchen grates, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Kitchen, the, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> +<li>Knife-boxes, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Lace bobbins, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> +<li>Lantern clocks, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> +<li>Lanterns, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> +<li>Leather and horn, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>-<a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> +<li>Leather bottles, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> +<li>Leather flasks, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> +<li>Leather pictures, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> +<li>Leather ships, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> +<li>Lights of former days, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-<a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> +<li>Lille enamels, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> +<li>Limoges enamels, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>-<a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> +<li>Links extinguishers, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> +<li>Locks of hair, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> +<li>London Cutlers' Company, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> +<li>Love spoons, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> +<li>Love tokens, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> +<li>Lucky cups, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> +<li>Lucky emblems, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Mantelpieces, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> +<li>Marking of time, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>-<a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> +<li>Marqueterie designs, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> +<li>Matches, early types, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> +<li>Medicine chests, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> +<li>Meissen porcelain, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> +<li>Met-soex or eating knives, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> +<li>Miniature curios, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> +<li>Monochord, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> +<li>Mosaics, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +<li>Mother-o'-pearl, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> +<li>Mounting curios, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> +<li>Musical instruments, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>-<a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Nailsea glass, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> +<li>National Museum of Wales, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> +<li>National Museum of Naples, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> +<li>Needles of wood, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> +<li>Needlework, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> +<li>Nutcrackers, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Oak settles, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> +<li>Obsolete names, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> +<li>Oil lamps, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> +<li>Old gilt, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> +<li>Old lacquer, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> +<li>Ormolu, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Pastrycooks' knives, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> +<li>Pastry wheels, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> +<li>Patch boxes, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> +<li>Peg tankards, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> +<li>Pens, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> +<li>Perfume boxes, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> +<li>Pianofortes, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> +<li>Piggins, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> +<li>Pipe racks, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> +<li>Pipes, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> +<li>Pistol tinder boxes, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> +<li>Pistols, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> +<li>Play and sport, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>-<a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> +<li>Playing cards, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> +<li>Pomander boxes, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> +<li>Pontypool wares, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> +<li>Porridge bowls, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> +<li>Porringers, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +<li>Pounce boxes, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> +<li>Priming flasks, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> +<li>Punch bowls, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> +<li>Punch ladles, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> +<li>Puzzle cups, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Queen Anne style, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Roasting cages, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> +<li>Roasting jacks, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> +<li>Rolling pins, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> +<li>Roman influence, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> +<li>Rushlights, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> +<li>Russian customs, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Salt cellars, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> +<li>Sand boxes, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> +<li>Saucepans, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> +<li>Scrap books, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> +<li>Scratchbacks, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> +<li>Sheraton influence, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> +<li>Ships of glass, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> +<li>Shoes, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> +<li>Shovels, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> +<li>Skates, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> +<li>Skimmers, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Smokers' cabinet, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>-<a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> +<li>Smokers' tongs, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> +<li>Snuff boxes, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> +<li>Snuffer extinguishers, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> +<li>Snuffers, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-<a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> +<li>Snuff rasps, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> +<li>Spectacles, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li> +<li>Spice boxes, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> +<li>Spinning wheels, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-<a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> +<li>Spits, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> +<li>Spleen stone, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> +<li>Spoons, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> +<li>Staffordshire figures, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> +<li>Staffordshire wares, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> +<li>Stained glass, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> +<li>Standishes, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> +<li>Straw-work, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> +<li>Style, influence of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> +<li>Sugar nippers, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> +<li>Sugar tongs, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> +<li>Sussex backs, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> +<li>Sussex foundries, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Table appointments, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> +<li>Tapestry, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> +<li>Tapestry factories, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> +<li>Taunton Castle Museum exhibits, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> +<li>Teapots, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> +<li>Teatable, the, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> +<li>Thimbles, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> +<li>Tickets, benefit, ball, etc., <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> +<li>Tinder boxes, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>-<a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> +<li>Tobacco boxes, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> +<li>Tobacco pipes, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> +<li>Tobacco pipes (glass), <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> +<li>Tobacco stoppers, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> +<li>Toddy ladles, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> +<li>Toilet table, the, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> +<li>Tools, ancient, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> +<li>Tower of London exhibits, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> +<li>Trays, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> +<li>Trenchers, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> +<li>Trencher salts, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> +<li>Trivets, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> +<li>Turnspits, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Vases, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> +<li>Venetian glass, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> +<li>Vernis Martin varnishes, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> +<li>Victoria and Albert Museum exhibits, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> +<li>Vinaigrettes, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> +<li>Violins, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> +<li>Virginals, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="IX"> +<li>Walking sticks (glass), <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> +<li>Wallace collection, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> +<li>Wallets, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> +<li>Warming pans, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> +<li>Watches, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> +<li>Watch keys, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> +<li>Watch papers, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> +<li>Watch stands, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> +<li>Waterford glass, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> +<li>Wedgwood cameos, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> +<li>Whistles, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> +<li>Wood carvings, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> +<li>Wooden cups, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> +<li>Woodware, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> +<li>Work boxes, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>-<a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> +<li>Writing cases, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> +<li>Writing tables, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> +</ul> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class='center'>UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Chats on Household Curios, by Fred W. 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