YALE UNIVERSITY
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
LIBRARY

TRANSACTIONS
i
or TUB
Society of Cite-targ & Scientific Ctyiffotmiere;

BEING ESSAYS OK
i

PRIMITIVE ARTS IN DOMESTIC LIFE.
i>

THE SPOON,
WITH UPWARDS OF ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS,
(PRIMITIVE, EGYPTIAN, ROMAN, MEDIiEVAL, AND MODERN.)

BY HAB'K O. WESTMAN,
Member of the Society, Proprietor of the Globe Tavern, N. Y. and formerly Principal of a
Public School.

VIVE I.A BAOATBX.LB.
NEW-YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET.
1844.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by
Harper & Brothers,
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New* fork.

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94

ADVERTISEMENT.

'The Spoon' is the first of a series of papers de
signed to elucidate the origin, history, and value of
several primitive devices, which, from their apparent
insignificance, have been overlooked by writers on
the useful arts; but which have not been without
their influence on the progress of civilization. As
it was out of the question to treat every subject with
the gravity due to historical research — to do so a
writer must be the personification of melancholy her
self — the idea was adopted of embracing them un
der the 'Transactions' of a Society, whose name
should indicate their miscellaneous character, and
relative value among literary merchandize. Small
as this value may be, there are persons simple
enough to suppose the annals of the shuttle and
needle, of bellows and boilers, &c. possess higher
claims on the attention of the moralist, philosopher,
and historian, than many dignified tomes of ac
knowledged history ; for what are these, when di
vested of extraneous matters, but records of the
club, ' sword and bayonet, the musket, cannon, and
scaffold ? THE PUBLISHERS.

PREFACE

A Turkish shepherd tending his flocks in the vicinity of Adria-
nople, bethought of solacing himself with a few whiffs of tobacco.
Seated on the ground, under the shade of a tree, he drew from a
pouch his apparatus for striking fire, but found the piece of flint
missing. He therefore arose, looked about for a stone, and at
length picked up a pebble, which answered the purpose so well
that he used it daily for a year or more. It came to pass that a
Jewish pedlar one morning approached as the boor was lighting
his pipe. The Israelite took a fancy to the stone, and bought it
for a few aspers — soon after which, it shone the largest and bright
est gem in the turban of Mahomet IV : — Now every reader of this
book will either resemble the disciple of Moses or the Mahomme
dan keeper of sheep. It is true, diamonds are not concealed
within the leaves ; yet he who has wit to detect, aurum e stercore,
gold from dirt — will certainly meet with something more than.
njaterials to light a cigar.
New -York, February, 1844.

INTRODUCTION:

Embracing a Sketch of the Origin and Organization qf th\
Society of Chiffonniers.

Courteous Reader :
In the character of an author I beg leave
to salute thee as my reader ; and, as host of " The Globe,"
as my guest. Having for some time kept an establishment
for the accommodation of travellers — that is, for supplying
at moderate charges such conveniences and refreshments as
are necessary to comfort and strengthen the body or outer
man, I have lately been induced, indeed in a manner com
pelled, by the rage of competition, to add a new branch to
the business ; a department for providing various cates and
delicious dainties to cheer and invigorate the spirit or inner
man — to the end that both the mental and material pa
lates of my patrons may be gratified at my table.
This, it is suspected, will become a general practice. As
libraries are expelling decanters from steamers, sojourners
at hotels will next require landlords to furnish literary as
well as culinary food — books as well as butcher's meat ;
philosophical essays and fashionable novels as well as pas
ties and beef a la mode. A change is passing over the
world, and none feel it more than those in my line. Tem
perance has already turned bar-rooms out of doors ; while,

INTRODUCTION.

from the efforts made by new doctors on diet, it is likely
kitchens will soon have to follow. So far as I am concerned,
the change will not be disagreeable, for I still prefer Horace
to Kitchiner, and Tully to Mrs. Glasse.; I can have no ob-
jection to imitate Pnasdo, who kept a victualing shop, and
entertained those whom he fed ; for like him I may perad-
venture have a Socrates for a boarder. May I hope, gentle
'"" ''- '«» *>•¦•¦. 0.< SVi V-.,. i . v; :¦ •- .-.V-V- ' ft** '*.'*¦ iW* '¦
guest, our acquaintance will be as agreeable to tnysell as to
me — that the fare to be set before thee will be to thy taste,
and that I and my family may often have the prof — I mean
the pleasure of thy company.
Ahem — It never was my wont to make excuses when
my stock of viands was low; yet, sooth to say, the pantry
is at present bare of fresh meats and of garrie. Vegetable
and other watery aliments have been so much cried up in
these parts', that old dealers in sirloins and haunches have
been driven from the trade ; some have taken stands in the
fish-market", other's opened stores for the sale of gardeti
truck, and riot a few have be*gun fo vend " cookies a.nd can-
die*.," which last, strange to say, are found the most pro
fitable. All I can therefore promise thee on the present
occasion is a simple dish, or rather a wholesome bowl of
spoon-meat — un dtejeune a la cuiller. I 'pray thee let riot
thine anger "kindle at this ahnouncetnerit, for, on my vera
city and hopes of public favor, it 'is a pleasant and not an
unsubstantial food — a rather thick, but still an agreeable,
acidulous fluid — one in whichthou wilt find (what English
men erroneously attribute to beer) both meat and drink-
though certainly not washing and friending, which Irishmen,
it is said, formerly ascribed to their whiskey.
1 Its appearance may not be enticing to "queasy" appe
tites, but I have seldom known a customer who, after once
tasting it, did not lick the dish clean. Pray excuse hie : I
am oblivious in bringing into the 'parlor expressions belong-

INTRODUCTION. »
ing to the kkchep. I|ut I scorn to take advantage of any
ope— lo decoy customers by false colors ; i. e. by hanging
out sigribpar^s w|iic|i promise what I cannot supply. Thou
has); seen my signum on the title page, where it honestly in
dicates, as jionest signs shpuld do, the entertainment to be
had within ; and to convince thee pf the liberal principles
on -which J am deterrnined to build up my business, I asj*.
not a doit for the meal of which thou art about to partake —
ajl that is required of thee is to meet the small charge of
the publisher for this "bilj of fare." Having done that—
there is a seat — here comes thy food — now sit thee down,
ap4 in the language of mine ancient brethren of the spigot
and spi£, ," much good may it do thee."
There is ope thing it behooves me to say, since it will, I
tr.ust, assist in making our acquaintance more lasting than
from a teropprary visit it otherwise might be. People of
my profession are natural judges of character. Without
knowing Jiowr, we become practical physiognomists — com-
prehending at a glance a granger's disposition, his station
in society, and often the state of his purse — not that the lat-
ter gxcites my curiosity as ijt does that of unworthy mem
bers of the craft — men whose attentions are graduated bv
their ideas of the repletion or coUapsion of a customer's
pockets, flow there are traits in thy countenance of a cul
tivated .and ingenuous mind— marks stamped by Nature on
her favorite offspring. Hence it is not less my duty than
my desire to make thy short stay with me agreeable.
^t was formerly a custom of respectable hosts to enter
tain an esteemed guest during his first refection with plea
sant stories, traditions, local pews, or other matters; on
which acccunt, chiefly, inns or taverns became known as
V houses of entertainment." Attached as I am to the good
cjtd vyays of our forefathers, J will take this chair and re
late sppae particulars which will not be distasteful to so

6 INTRODUCTION.
amiable a spirit as thine. They will prepare thee for the
company of a number of gentlemen, whom I hope to have
the honor of introducing to thee, members of a society
whose meetings are held once a week in my house. If I
have not misjudged thy character, thou wilt be amused
with their conversation ; and wilt moreover learn the names
of some new dishes, which, with their assistance, I hope
shortly to serve to my customers.
I have here an abridged history of the association, drawn
up by the secretary. It commences thus :
" The society was organized by a few plain individuals
whose time was taken up during the day with the current
occupations of fife. Men of moderate capacities and at
tainments, they united to a little general knowledge a pretty
large amount of ambition, for they determined not to be over
looked in the general herd of the living, and not to sink into
instant oblivion at death. They had no idea of having their
individualities amalgamated with the myriads travelling
with them to the grave — like drops of rain in a shower,
undistinguishable from each other while falling, and never
to be identified afterwards. They therefore cast about for
the means of making some noise in the world, or of so per
forming their parts on its theatre, that if they could not
secure the applause conferred on first rate actors, they
would try to avoid the silence of contempt, that attends the
entrance of poor ones, and the momentary shrug conferred
on the exit of quiet ones.
"Impressed with these views, they concluded to form
themselves into some kind of literary or philosophical so
ciety, this appearing the most promising mode of acquiring
notoriety. They hoped in this way to accomplish jointly
what they could not do individually, viz. get up something
in the shape of a book, which should make them known
while they lived, and remain a memorial of them after their

INTRODUCTION.

decease. It signified little how poor the performance might
be, or how unfit they were to perform it, for they were
aware that the more incapable an author is the more likely
he is sometimes to be remembered ; his unfitness being the
very cause of his notoriety. They instanced the case of W.
Read, an English baronet, who published a work on optics,
and could neither write a line of it nor peruse one ; or even
tell when his book was upside down — -a circumstance by
which alone he is still remembered, and his name renewed
in print.
" Then, as for the number of copies sold — should they be
many or few — some stray ones would be almost sure to
wander through a century, if not a longer period ; and sup
pose the leaves then distributed by grocers, as envelopes of
tea, cheese, or soap ; or pasted as linings in trunks ; they
might perchance call up some recollections of, or enquiries
about, the authors. Nay, if a dozen copies only were
printed, future bibliomaniacs would certainly treasure them
up like Queen Anne's farthings — or like the twenty-six vo
lumes of sermons by William Davy, a Devonshire clergy
man, of the last century, of which the first and only edition
consisted of fourteen copies. A bookworm prizes one of
these as a treasure ; and hence, the members of the pro
posed association hoped some bookworms of the twentieth
century would cluck over a few impressions of their work,
as brooding hens over their callow young.
" The first thing was to agree on a plan, as success
would depend principally upon the wisdom with which it
was drawn up, and the energy and prudence with which it
was carried out. Several meetings were held, and nume
rous measures suggested. Mr. Delf thought it would not
be amiss to run over a host of institutions already esta
blished. Perhaps, (said he,) by modifying or by joining
one of them, our objects might be attained. The idea was

8 INTRODUCTION.
acted on, but none were found to be precisely what was
wanted. Mr. Digwell remarked, that it would not answer
at all to unite with any. We are (he observed) men of or
dinary abilities, of humble pretensions, and never can at
tain distinction among abler persons. Instead of seeking
initiation into Lyceums, Academies, and other bodies of the
learned, among whom we can only be hewers of wood and
drawers of water, lighters of lamps and riddlers of ashes—
'helps,' not members of the family — we ought to establish
ourselves on independent, unoccupied ground. Let us have
a field of our own, however small it may be — one that bor
ders on no other people's property. [' A pretty large field,
that,' observed Dr. Swallow.] I beg pardon ; I meant
one so clearly defined, so well enclosed, that there might be
no danger of us trespassing on our neighbor's grounds, or
they hunting on ours.
"I am not prepared at this moment to say where such 3
field is, but I am persuaded it is to be bad. One to which
other associations have no claim — to which their 'tracks' do
not lead. It would indeed be unworthy of us to attempt a
location where the title might be disputed ; and sure I am
we could not start a mew settlement in the vicinity of our
predecessors without being abused as intruders, if not
served with writs of ejectment.
"Look at the hosts of regular associations for the promo
tion of science in general, and others to extend its separate
departments ; the world is full of them ; they swarm every
where. It is the same with literary societies ¦; these are as
•common as ' '.Common Schools,' and excite about the .same
amount of interest. Academies of thejSree arts,, and institu
tions for agricultural undmechwic arts., abound in every vil
lage. Their name is legion. So it is with religions^ moral,
and tactive benevolent societies. The best, at any rate the
most attractive, sites are all taken up — pot a yard is left be-

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INTRODUCTION. 9
tween those cultivated by national institutes, and such as
are covered by parish associations for the gratuitous distri
bution of soup."
[These sentiments were evidently approved, but as the
evening was far advanced, a proposal was made to adjourn ;
when Mr. Jacob Christener rose and begged leave to say a
few words.]
" The gentleman is right, Mr. Chairman, and I thank him
for so clearly opening the way for a motion I have to make.
He has strengthened my convictions of its propriety, and
given me the confidence I lacked to bring it forward. It
seems to me, sir, the only plan open to us is the one I am
about to propose, and if we don't lay hold of it, others will.
It has hitherto been unthought of, but cannot long remain
concealed. Reject it, and farewell to the happiness an
ticipated from our union while we live, and to the odor that
is to exhale from our names after death. Adopt it, and
this night we become the parents of a society whose auxil
iaries will rise up in every land. In twelve months, we
shall want a travelling agent, a foreign sec — "
[Here the speaker was interrupted with cries of " What
is it ? " " There's no time for a preface to-night ! " " Or
der!" &c]
" Well, gentlemen, to be short, then : I propose that we
organize ourselves into ' The Society of Literary and Scien
tific Chiffonniers.'' [On this announcement, an explosion
burst forth simultaneously from every mouth, except the
speaker's, and some good humored remarks were ex
changed. When the excitement had a little, subsided, he
continued :] I was prepared for this ; I expected as much ;
but hear me out, and then be as merry as you please. If a
better plan be not brought forward — one equally original,
and less open to objections — why, then it will be my turn
to laugh.

] 0 INTRODUCTION.
" Here have we been engaged this evening five mortal
hours, without agreeing on the character of the proposed
association, chiefly from the difficulty of steering clear of
those already established. We admit the latter are too nu
merous lo allow an additional one of the same kind any
chance of success. Why, then, excite a competition we
lack means to carry on ? It would be folly to attempt it ;
besides, we are agreed that no modification of any old in
stitution can meet our wants. Now, the plan I propose is
derived from and indebted to none. It crowds on and in
terferes with none, but gives to all a wide berth. There is
no danger of our ever being amalgamated with any. Our
identity will be preserved, for none will be in a hurry to
adopt our designation or infringe on our labors.
"Let us be candid, at least among ourselves. We are,
then, philosophical mendicants. We have no property of
our own — not a scrap — and we confess inability to ori
ginate any. Whatever we get must come from other peo
ple; hence, as members of established societies, we could
not succeed, or even be respected, for we have nothing to
command respect; and I risk little in saying, if we made
application for admission, nine-tenths of us would be black
balled. As well expect Chambers of Commerce to offer
scavengers seats and votes at their boards ; or extensive
dealers in dry goods to receive the owners of apple stands
into their firms. There are but two ways to realize any
thing — honestly and roguishly; or, as the saying is, 'by
hook or by crook.' Now, as we disavow all ideas of hooks,
(except the small and harmless ones by which chiffbnniers
raise moist matters into their baskets or bags,) we must, to
succeed in any other society, give value for the property we
acquire — but this we cannot do — or receive it as alms —
which we won't do. What, then, is left for us, but to pick
up what others throw away ? From my experience, gen-

INTRODUCTION. 11
tlemen, I assert there is more to be thus got, than you
are aware of. With industry, we can acquire wealth — a
local habitation and a name— wealth that none will dis
pute with us; for it will consist of a mass of minute mat
ters, which, individually considered, the owners will be
ashamed to claim. If we cannot deal in webs and whole
sale packages of fresh goods, we shall become extensive
jobbers in fragments of old goods.
"Pray, who can interfere with our ranging the bye-paths
and alleys, the cellars and garrets of science, in search of
lumber— to pick up, as it were, bits of rags, bones, and
glass, with other small matters, which the wealthy throw
out, and tbe proud step over? None. On the contrary,
we can rake at our leisure the kennels, and stir up heaps
of cinders and street sweepings, without let or hindrance .
and, depend upon it, we shall every now and then meet
with a godsend, (as our prototypes often do, in the shape of
a silver spoon or fork, thrown out in slops by slipshod scul
lions.) Yes, industrious chiffonniers, we shall bring many
rare and lost things to light — things singularly recherche —
curious and useful as those found in historical and antiqua
rian collections. If we are true to ourselves, the 'Chiffon
niers' Repository' will soon equal in interest any otlfer.
" Our labors will be pleasant ; we can carry off what we
fancy, and leave what is disagreeable. They will be pro
fitable. ' Many a chiffonnier has purchased the house in
front of which he once looked out for chiffons, has changed
conditions with its owner, thrown off his professional garb
and stepped into the parlor, lounged as a gentleman on his
own sofa, and listened to the warblings of his daughters at
the piano1. And who knows, Mr. Chairman, but we shall
do so too — shall hold our meetings in stately buildings now
belonging to other societies, compete with the wealthy Nes-
tors of knowledge in their own halls, and perhaps at last

12 INTRODUCTION.
turn them out of their own doors! [Cries of 'Hear!-'
Hear!' interrupted the speaker.]
" Think, gentlemen, how interesting our meetings will be.
When a member brings in his budget and displays his
gatherings, who can sit still? Who can restrain his cu
riosity ? Verily, not one of us ! Then what original, eru
dite, and racy remarks will be made ! Here, a speaker
descanting on the value of spoons, or the history of grid
irons ; there, another relating the adventures of a stocking
foot, which he proves once had a place in Queen Elizabeth's
or Madame Maintenon's wardrobe. This member gives a
lecture on the value of many simple and primitive devices
which the world never thinks of; and that, shows the claims
which the trammel and tinder-box have on the gratitude of
mankind !
"Another word, and I have done: We shall have a ju
bilee once a year ; for I propose that we offer a collection
of chiffons at public sale, every spring or fall. Then will
buyers of miscellanies crowd our marts, and bring us their
wealth in exchange for our wares ! We shall make a kind
of Leipsic Fair of it ! Gentlemen, our prospects are glo
rious ; they brighten as we gaze at them. I feel animated
by anticipations of success. I see that as Chiffonniers we
shall ascend the rugged mount on which stands the temple
of Fame, and get there before others who are now halfway
up. Bless us ! what a welcome the old lady will give us to
her abode ! What a blast she will blow in honor of chiffon-
niering ! — in praise of a new set of men who have cut a
new path to her dwelling ! "
[The speaker sat down amidst much acclamation.]
"The discussion here closed for the evening, and was re
sumed on the following one, when an extended and animated
debate was kept up to a late hour. Various slight modifi
cations of the plan suggested were brought forward. They

INTRODUCTION. 13
will be understood from the style or title by which each
speaker proposed to designate the body. The most stri
king were: 'Odds arid Ends Association,' 'Literary Rag
Society,' ' Scientific Scrap ditto,' ' Miscellany Club,' ' Chif
fonniers' Institute,' 'Society for reviving the claims and
preserving memorials of sundry Primitive Inventions,'
'Emporium of Philosophical Small Wares.' The general
feeling settled on the fourth and fifth. At the first ballot,
the votes stood equally in favor of the Miscellanarians and
the Chiffonniers — but on the second, the street rovers and
rag pickers were triumphant.
"The Chiffonniers admitted 'The Miscellany Club'
would be a more respectable designation ; and the Miscel
lanarians conceded, that 'The Chiffonniers' Institute' was
characteristic and select. By a subsequent and unanimous
vote, the latter was changed to ' The Society of Lkerary and
Scientific Chiffonniers^ as at first proposed.
"A constitution was next agreed on. It declares the ob
jects of the society to be, the picking up of literary, philo
sophical, mechanical,, or other fragments, from unusual or
neglected sources, and to revive the claims of simple, and
what are generally deemed insignificant, devices. It is the
duty of each member to visit odd and out of the way places,
open to him, in search of chiffons. Common subjects of
discussion are excluded at the meetings. A paper on
matches or walking-sticks would be applauded, while one
on the strength or other properties of timber would be a
signal for the author's expulsion. A communication on cos
tume would be received perhaps with indifference, but if
confined to a single article of apparel, or to a fragment of
one, would be hailed with acclamation. A lecture on any
regular manufacture, as glass making, iron founding, earthen
ware, the furniture of a parlor or kitchen, &c. would hardly
be admissible ; but one on a bottle, or part of one, on a cal-

14 INTRODUCTION.
dron, a pipkin, a broken chair, or a cheese grater, would re
joice the hearts of the members. Every chiffonnier to pre
pare a paper or lecture on a chiffon, in his turn.
"At the first meeting under the constitution, tbe express
ive apothegm ' Vive la Bagatelle' was selected as the Socie
ty's motto. The author of the plan adopted was chosen
President, but as Mr. Christener persisted in declining the
chair, to which he was entitled, the late Dr. Nathan Swal
low was elected, though not by a unanimous vote. No other
member possessed such varied qualifications. His expe
rience with men and matters was extensive, for he had dab
bled in almost every thing, but succeeded in few.
" Had been every thing by starts, bat nothing long."
" How he came by his title is a vexed question, as he
was never known to have studied medicine, nor to have
dealt in drugs, except one which no longer holds a place in
the pharmacopia. Alchemy was his favorite study, and he
is said to have made a near approach to projection ; i. e. to
the composition of a powder which, thrown into certain in
gredients, transmutes them to gold. Certain it is, he reali
zed money by a secret of this kind, while others who tried
it were ruined. One person of property lost his all in two
years ; and another was beggared in less time, and con
signed, a hopeless maniac, to a lunatic asylum ; but the
history of modern as well as ancient alchemy is full of such
things. " He talked on all subjects, practical or theoretical, phy
sical or metaphysical ; on the properties of iron and whis
key, colors and calicoes, filial obedience and the philoso
pher's stone ; on the evils of theatres, and the performance
of crack actors. He occasionally performed Falstaff, and
without stuffing, for he was what the French call charge de
cuisine. Columbus himself was not more embued with the
spirit of adventure. Within a fortnight of first hearing the

INTRODUCTION. 16
terms geognosy, hornblende, serpentine, trilobite, and mad
repore, in a conversation between two geologists, he had a
person at work labeling a basket of minerals; and getting
the names of a dozen by heart, boldly proposed to under
take the survey of a state. An extraordinary chiffonnier,
he dashed without hesitancy into every opening where chif
fons were likely to.be had — he was not one of those who
confine themselves to street sweepings, but was ever on the
qui vive for wholesale speculations. Dryden certainly must
have dreamt of him when describing Buckingham, for
He was often in the course of one revolving moon,
Author, actor, artist, cook, chemist, and buffoon :
And in another month as many more.
"Rich in Apician lore, he could enumerate the famous
dishes of old, from those placed on the table of Heliogaba-
lus to Spartan broth and Athenian porridge, and could
name the ingredients of all. In modern cookery, he was
more at home ; nothing escaped his observation, and but
little his palate. His taste was equal to Pollio's; his know
ledge of the mysteries of the kitchen surpassed that of M.
Beaujeu. See him take his seat at a supper party; watch
him draw a laden dish towards him, and you would shud
der from a dread that his eyes were about to drop into his
plate — as if attached like those of the chameleon to the
ends of flexible tubes, so fearfully did they advance and
recede. He was at one time known as ' Spoonie,' and ' Eat
ing Nat,' for he had an appetite equal to Galba's — a sto
mach capacious as that of Vitellius. His spoon, and he had
one for his exclusive use, might apply to him, with a slight
alteration, an epigram by Boileau :
Here lies my owner, and heaven knows,
Not less for mine than his repose.
" An excellent representative of the god of raillery and
ridicule — that is, if Momus was a short and squab fellow

16 INTRODUCTION.
of forty, with a droll leer, a shambling gait, and a touch of
Silenus or Bacchus about him. Exceedingly facetious, the
Doctor told stories equal to Matthews or Hackett, and ri
valed Braham in singing. He was full of first rate though
second hand wit. His physiognomy was prepossessing,
though his friends used to joke him about a devil lurking
in his eye, which, they said, appeared sly as Sancho's, and
mischievous as the solitary one in Ichabod Crane's nag.
" His knowledge was said by his friends to have been
universal. In science, an Arago; in philosophy, a New
ton ; in chemistry, a Farraday or Berzelius ; in general
knowledge, a Crichton. Well versed in Thaumaturgy, he
certainly could beat conjurers at their own weapons. An
adept in Metoposcopy, he saw at once the various points in
human character, and by some mesmeric influence could
always open a communication between himself and those
in whose affairs he wished to take an interest.
" All great men have their enemies, and Doctor Swal
low was not without his. He had to pay the usual penalty
exacted by envious detractors. These insisted that he was
a literary Bombastes, in veracity a Mandeville, in morals a
Mephistopheles, in scheming a Machiavel, and in every thing
except humbugging a humbug. A retailer of other men's
ideas, which (said they) he claimed as his own, and, like
all liars, often forgot himself and claimed them in the pre
sence of those from whom he received them — that his life
was a lie. There is little doubt, that both parties were
wrong. He never was the angel one made him, nor the
devil the other called him ; but, whatever he was, he was
made President of the Society ; and, all things considered,
it was thought a better selection could not have been made ;
for, as an old chiffonnier, he had picked up more chiffons,
and knew how to make more of them, than any other artist
who lived by the hook.

INTRODUCTION. 17
"Popular with most of the members, nearly all consulted
him on subjects they brought forward. Ever ready to give
advice, and seldom more pleased than when asked for it.
Though he never wrote a paper but one, and of the author
ship of that some doubts have been raised, he was a judge
of what would 'take ;' or, what often amounts to the same
thing, he had that reputation.
" When conducted to the chair, he rose with smiles play
ing round his lips and satisfaction sparkling in his eyes,
and thus commenced his opening address : Gentlemen, I....
I know not how to thank you for this honor. I....I....d — n
it, I cannot make a formal speech — I never could — unless I
had it by heart. I tried once before at extempore, but it
was no go; after getting rid of a few sentences, a kind of
mental and physical lock-jaw seized me, and there I stood —
my mouth wide open, and without the power to close it, or
to call to mind what I meant to say. It was said I stood
grinning like a Barbary ape, and in my efforts to articulate
might have stood longer, if Medlar had not pulled me down
by the skirt, while saying loud enough (hang him) for half
the room to hear, 'don't make an ass of yourself, Nat.'
Gentlemen, that man is now here, and I never see him
without thinking of the predicament I was in, and the ugly
epithet he gave me. I cannot go on unless he goes out,
and I am not sure even then. But, gentlemen, if I cannot
thank you as I'd like to, I can treat you to something bet
ter — something to eat. Will not a member move an ad
journment to my house, where we can discuss matters
more at ease, and amuse ourselves at intervals with a cold
cut and a drop of" — [Ere the proposition was finished, the
meeting adjourned amidst cries of 'Bravo!' 'Excellent!'
•A first rate speech, that, Doctor!']
"Reassembled at his dwelling, the party partook of a
substantial supper, during which a curious conversation
3

IS INTRODUCTION.
arose on variety of tastes for food. Mr. Milder, an amiable
and highly intelligent young man, but rather odd in some
of his views, thought it artificial ; others, with the Doctor,
contended that it was natural. Nature, it was said, never
designed men to live on one kind of food ; if she had, she
would not have furnished them with so many. She more
over produces no one in sufficient quantities to supersede
all others, nor has she distributed any one over the whole
earth. That's true, observed the Doctor ; if we were de
signed to have but one dish, as pork, beef, mutton, or tur
key, bread, cabbage, potatoes, or yams, I should like to
know where enough is to come from? The case is different
with drink. Water may be the natural beverage of ani
mals and men, for it is everywhere, and every where
abundant ; but not so with either animal or vegetable food.
It was further observed by the advocates for variety, that we
might as well read only one book as eat of one dish ; for if
material palates are originally moulded after one pattern, so
are literary ones. But no, said they ; Nature has made
both to vary as much as the minds and persons or faces of
men. The Doctor thought if men had but one dish for the
body and another for the mind, it would save a world of
trouble to booksellers and keepers of eating houses ; yet,
even with those people, he was sure things were better as they
are, because, said he, different tastes bring into action di
verse talents, and so give employment to hosts of writers,
and, what is better, to swarms of cooks. It is therefore
right that what suits one stomach should not be the thing to
tickle all others. Here is my friend, Sam Tortiller, ima
gines a connection between the bent of man's genius and
his favorite food ; as if by knowing the general course of a
person's studies one could tell what he craves for bis din
ner, and vice versa. I don't belieye a word of it. A writer
on morals may love pork, and an author of romances abhor

INTRODUCTION. 19
it ; but, to my knowledge, all pork eaters are not righteous
men, nor those who let pigs alone composers of fiction.
Professor Freeling often digests turkey, but it's not every
chemist who can afford to put that into his digester. Then
there is Finelli, a lover of shell fish — but what then ? — if
the lady that poets call the Genius of Song sometimes visits
an oyster cellar, she does not confine her favors to those
who either chew or eschew clams, crabs, and lobsters. Mr.
Milder, let me help you to a slice of this ham; I believe
you have not tasted it."
"Not any for me ; I never eat any, Mr. President."
"Not eat ham ! Why, you are neither a Jew nor a Turk,
I hope, to abominate those glorious animals that supply us
with the richest of all relishes ? "
" No ; but I prefer hams from China, if I must eat any."
"O ! O ! I thought you knew what's good ! Well ! I
can't say this fine fellow ever ran through the streets
of Canton ; but, is the difference of flavor between your
oriental favorites and ours very sensible?"
"Very."
"Ah ! I must get my friend, Captain Drinker, to bring
over a Chinaman grunter, or a few hams; but, will these
not spoil on the voyage?"
"No danger of that. The fact is, sir,. I am not a con
sumer of animal food ; the joints I allude too are vegetable
ones. They are described by La Compte and other tra
vellers." "You are joking, (observed the Doctor, inquiringly;)
Sam, here, says you are a terrible bore that way ! "
"Not at all, (replied Mr. Milder;) I almost hope to see
the day when no other hams will be used. You have heard
of wooden, ones?"
"Yes ! Carved blocks of wood, so neatly sewed up in
hog skins, as to deceive the eyes of the keenest pork butch-

20 INTRODUCTION.
ers ! Yes ; I have read of people boiling them, but I never
heard of any having been eaten."
" True ; but even that is not so unlikely as you seem to
think." "I pray heaven, (said the Doctor,) the practice may ne
ver become general; the chine of a two year old shote is
with me a favorite dish. What reason have you for sup
posing it ever will, Mr. Milder?"
"Why, sir, you of course know that a few years ago, a
German philosopher discovered the nutritious elements of
wheaten bread in wooden meal — that he made wholsome
cakes out of pine boards, and supported his wife and five
children for seven weeks on dumplings kneaded of dough
formed of fine sawdust and water. The paste, it is said,
rose without leaven, and when cooked was really delicious —
especially so, when lubricated with molasses, or sprinkled
with the essence of sugar, extracted by Braconnot from old
rags and scrap paper. Now, an ingenious friend of mine
has been engaged on a somewhat analagous subject for the
last twelve months, and, from an experiment I witnessed
yesterday, I have no hesitation in avowing my confidence
in his assertion that he will shortly produce good palatable
pork out of whitewood, and well seasoned hams from red
cedar." [Much laughter, during which the Doctor observed, in a
suppressed voice, to the gentleman at his right, " Sam, this
fellow is a devil of a quiz ; I cannot believe he is serious,
and yet what a solemn phiz he puts on."]
" Now, sir, (continued Mr. Milder,) where is there a man
of feeling who would not rejoice at the success of my friend,
in attempting to change the world from a shambles for gra
tifying the carnivorous appetites of our species — a slaughter
house constantly flooded with gore and vibrating with
the shrieks of expiring victims? For my part, sir, I never

INTRODUCTION. 21
see a female cutting up raw flesh, her hands smeared with
blood — now killing, plucking, embowelling, and at last, with
perfect nonchalance, transfixing innocent fowls or sucking
pigs on the spit, without shuddering at the disgusting em
ployment — at the horrible effects of indulging unnatural
appetites ! O ! how would the spirit of humanity exult at
the abolition of anifnal diet — or even at the general intro
duction of vegetable hams ! These would be a consummation
in morals and science devoutly to be wished — to be prayed
for; all Nature, sir, would rejoice at their manufacture —
at any rate, sir, you will admit, all pigs would-*-and well
they might, as they would (to use a vulgar expression) then
save their own bacon L Yes ! Their days of mourning.
would then be over.
" And why should they not save it, sir, as well as we pre
serve ours ? Has not a pig organs, dimensions, feelings,
passions, affections ? If struck, does it not cry ? If
wounded, does it not bleed ? If imprisoned and in bonds,
does it not struggle to be free ? If driven to the shambles,
does it not refuse to go ? When slain, does it not suffer the
pangs of death ? In one word, sir, is not life as precious
to pigs as to any of us ? And would they not have cause
to rejoice were they and their offspring no longer murdered
ere living out half their days ? Millions are slain in theii
infancy, and their parents in the vigor of life ! Upwards
of a century ago, not less than 52,500 sucking innocents
were annually immolated in London alone !
Lovely buds — their mother's prjde !
[Here, as at every other pause made by the speaker, ex
cessive laughter broke out afresh ; but, unembarrassed, he
continued :]
" There is scmething else, sir, in connection with this
subject, which every lover of his country should deplore.
Slavery is an unmitigated evil, and we are taught to admire

§2 introduction.
the free States for shaking the incubus off; it is, however*
a melancholy fact, that the citizens of what is called one
of the most enlightened and liberal, are carrying to a hor
rible extent, a system almost equally atrocious. As if re-
greiting their lost dominion over negroes, they seem deter
mined to be revenged a hundred fold upon a race, between
which and ours Blumenbacb, in his remarks on varieties of
complexion, has traced many analogies. Yes ! The capi
tal city of Ohio is rapidly rising into power, on the bodies
of. slaughtered swine ! She is already known as ' The Em
porium of Pork'— a designation which wicked Nineveh or
more wicked Gomorrah would have shrunk from. Her
merchandise is flesh. Her bulletins are occupied with its
sales, and as the market price rises and falls, so does the
value of her real estate. Her merchants are butchers ; her
staple is stearine ; her palaces are built with the price of
blood, and illumined at night with the fat of her slain ! All
her lamps are replenished with lard 1 Like Babylon,
'seated on many waters, and drunken with blood,' so re
clines Cincinnati, on a larger stream than the Euphrates,
clothed in scarlet, and proudly calling herself 'Queen of
the West! ' But let her beware— for, depend upon it, sir,
vengeance will not sleep forever; and when pigs get their
rights, she will meet her deserts!"
[On Mr. Milder concluding his remarks, a shout of laugh
ter arose that shook both floor and table. Some held their
sides, and groaned with pain ; others screeched as they,
ever and anon, glanced at the imperturbable gravity of
Mr. M. and the woful appearance of the President's face.]

But, indulgent guest, I am trespassing too much on thy
patience. I will therefore lay aside, for the present, this
account of the Society, and the rather since the author
presses hard on the late President. They never were

introduction. 23
friendly. The Doctor, like other men, had his faults ; but
he had good qualities as well. Peace to his ashes ! He was
one of my best customers in one respect though not in ano
ther; for he never was in a hurry to wipe out his scores,
and, to speak truth, some he never wiped out. When my
turn came round for a paper, I consulted him for a subject,
and submitted to him what I wrote. Desirous of not dis
gracing my former profession of schoolmaster, I took parti
cular pains ; but the subject was new, and embarrassed me
much. When I left the choice to him, I little imagined he
would take a knife from the table and insist that it should
be my text. However, I made out tolerably well ; though
he was sparing of praise. He was, in fact, not altogether
pleased with my "Adventures of a Carving Knife;" but he
made ample amends on another occasion, as will soon be
perceived. My next attempt was a higher flight— -a composition half
dramatic. There were passages in it of tragic interest : at
least, I thought so. The subject— an ancient pincushion,
brought over in the Mayflower. I had a presentiment that
I should take the Doctor by surprise— snatch him up, as by
a hurricane, into the regions of romance, and extort his
praise ere he had time to descend and recover his self-pos^-
session. And, sure enough, something even more than
this took place.
By appointment, I met him at his own house. He was
in a happy mood, having just risen from dinner. We re
tired to the parlor, and I handed him the MS. Drawing
his arm-chair in front of the fire, and desiring me to take
another, he made a remark about the high price of beef,
and commenced reading the first paragraph ; but he made
such murdering work of the sense, running one sentence
half way into another, and then stopping as if brought up
by a period, that I wriggled in the chair, and felt thy viscera

S4 introduction.
squirming like eels in a bag. I stopped him to explain, but
he ascribed every thing to what he called my illegible hand.
1 proposed to read it myself. To this, he consented ; and,
for the benefit of light, I stepped to the window, some dis
tance behind him ; a circumstance which increased my con
fidence, and left him free to enter into the spirit of the
story, unembarrassed with external interruptions.
I had not got through the first chapter before he gave ut
terance to some short but flattering expressions. They en
couraged me wonderfully, and ere the second was finished
became more frequent; the words "rich!" "capital!"
dropped from him several times. I felt elated, and went
on trippingly to the end — borne along by the kindness of
his manner, and quite lifted up with the confidence of ha
ving fairly gained his approbation. The reading did not
occupy over fifteen minutes; and, when finished, I remained
standing, ready, with pencil in hand, to make such correc
tions and alterations as he might suggest. He seemed to
be balancing the merits of different parts ; for he said, as
if to himself, " that was overdone ;" " the other excellent ;"
"capital!" He resembled the gentleman mentioned by
Horace, Who long imagin'd that he heard the tone
Of deep Tragedians on an empty stage,
And sat applauding, in ecstatic rage.
My feelings quickly overcame my politeness, and I cried
"Come, Doctor, what is the sentence? Life or death?"
(I had heard enough to know what it would be.) As I said
this, I resumed my seat beside him, and thanked him for the
kind attention he had given to the humble performance ; but
I had scarcely finished the last word ere my old friend gave
a memorable proof of the intense interest he had taken in
the story — of the fine sensibilities of his nature, and the
depth of his feelings. Now, Sir Guest, what think you he
did? Perhaps you say: 'I suppose, Mr. Westman, his

Tlaie 2

Jlo

introduction. 25
cheeks were streaming with tears — his passions, excited by
the incidents of the story, had not recovered their natural
tone ! Or, did he spring from his seat and embrace the
magician, who had such power to enchant him ? Either
would have been very natural.'
He did neither, sir ; he was unable to rise.
'Indeed ! Why, what was the matter?'
His mental apd bodily powers were prostrated.
' What do you mean ? '
He was dead ! th —
'Dead! did you say, Mr. Westman?'
On my conscience, yes sir ; that is, he was, as the saying
goes, dead asleep.' As for tears, his cheeks were as free
from them as the back of my hand, and his face calm as
an infant's reposing on its mother's breast.
' You really surprise me ! '
I was astonished myself, sir.
' And how did you act on making this strange discovery ? '
I don't exactly know what I did, sir — nor what I thought
— nor how I felt. I was paralyzed — deprived of the powers
of speech and motion. My respiration was thick, and at
last suspended. I believe I sat gazing on him five minutes
without breathing or moving a muscle, except those by
which the lower jaw is dropped to its farthest extent, and
such as push the eyes out of the head. There was no mis
take about his slumbers ; to satisfy myself that they were
genuine, I remember stretching my face towards his till both
were nearly in contact. His mouth-was wide open, and I
had a full view of the horrible cavern within. What I suf
fered, ere I had power to leave my seat, was dreadful.
Impalement could hardly, I should think, surpass it. When
at last I rose and stepped in front of him, heaven forgive
me, for, though I say it myself, a quieter man does not
breathe, I felt as much inclined to push the end of my cane
4

26 introduction.
down his gullet as ever I had to send any thing pleasant
down my own.
On second thoughts, I took my hat, put the MS. in my
pocket, and walked softly to the door of the room ; when I
heard him mutter something about "Betty  sauce rich;
veal  overdone ; rabbits  excellent." The brute, sir —
pardon the uncivil word — was dreaming about his dinner ;
but that was not all, nor the worst ; for it was now clear he
had fallen asleep almost as soon as he sat down, and the
expressions of approbation which I had foolishly taken to
myself were in reality compliments to Betty's skill in roast
ing and boiling ! When this truth flashed on my mind, I
felt keenly — my wrath rose, and Satan strongly urged me
back to take leave of him by no gentle shake of his person
or tweak of his proboscis — but either my good genius or
his own interfered, and I hastened out of the house, with
out meeting one of the family. I am ashamed to say, I felt
very unwell during the rest of the day, being greatly more
affected than a sensible man should have been; but our
feelings are not in our power.
I mentioned the circumstance to a few members the same
evening, and learned the Doctor had been in gay company.
all the morning, and was certainly half drunk at the time of
my interview with him. I certainly did notice something
strange in him, but my mind was wholly absorbed on the
paper. We were anxious to know how he would face the
matter out ; for no one believed he would for a moment ac
knowledge being asleep. Within a few days, Medlar,
Pickwell, and I, met him in the street ; when, — would you
believe it? — without the slightest indication of embarrass
ment, he began the following colloquy :
'Neighbor Westman, further reflection has convinced me
your last paper will never do. It will gain you neither cre
dit with the members nor custom from their friends.'

introduction. 27
further reflection, did you say, Doctor !
^There's nothing in it, believe me, (said he,) neither life — '
Rather nettled, I abruptly asked what he wanted in it.
' I'll tell you what I don't want— (he replied ;) a tale dull
"and monotonous from beginning to end — one without a grain
of piquancy in it — flat and distasteful as buckwheat cakes
without salt or sauce.'
Now I thought I had done better than could have been
expected ; but stop, did you hear a word of—
' Expected! (he cried out, as if wanting to hear nothing
more ;) I expect, and so will the members, something Hke
the spices and pickles at your ordinaries, and which you
-know full well often help an insipid dish down. The paper
has but one quality that can render it of any service.'
What may that be ?
' It might serve on occasion as a soporific'
I believe I colored at this, and said sharply, Yes, I un
derstand. It composed you to sleep quick enough — or
something else did.
' No ! not asleep ; (said he, unabashed, as with a face of
flint — absolutely staggering me with the audacious false
hood;) I remember feeling a little drowsy.'
Indeed ! Do you recollect anything else ?
' No ! nothing particular — ex — except that my strictures
were perhaps too severe ; but I did not wish to mislead
you by being less pointed.'
Your strictures, eh ! Why, you made none, and for the
best of reasons 1 Look ye, Doctor, you may, for aught I
know, be able to catch authors napping when you're
awake, but not when you're actually snoring. I've seen
further into your head than you imagine.
Mr. Westman, (said he, in a bristling manner,) I hope
you don't mean to — to — t — t — t — '
Yes, I do ! and what's more Doctor, I felt so confound
edly queer that I had some difficulty in refraining from —

2'9 introduction.
'From whatr'
Never mind ; I've got Over it now ; but you don't see
another paper of mine, I promise you, unless you will go
through it before dinner. "Further reflection," as you say,
has convinced me the last is yet defective. I'll revise, and
we'll read it some evening.
'Better put it in the fire, some morning, (he said, resent
fully, as if caught in an unpleasant dilemma, and determined
to get out with a bold face ; then assuming a patronizing
tone, added :) Beheve me, neighbor, you, and others I wot
of, will never succeed in life till you let scribbling alone.'
Then, Doctor, let me tell you tha—
'Peace, (he interrupted,) I pray you, peace ! I know
you, and Medlar, and Fribble, and Delever, well. Your ta
lents are good of their kind, and may be useful in their place.'
In their place ! Where is that ?
' In the kitchen! Confine your energies to your proper vo
cations, and you may do well. Stick to your fires and fuel,
your andirons and hearths, spits and bellows, pots and
pans, knives and forks — to your ladles and spoons — to — '
Enough ! Enough ! Egad, Doctor, you are right this
time ! (I exclaimed.) Yes, we will ! We'll write papers
on all of them ; and I'll begin myself with the spoon.
On hearing this, he gazed intently on my face, and, as
he turned on his heel, whispered in my ear, " Habbakuk,
thou hast been handling thy decanters this morning ! "

I have no more to add, except to appeal, courteous
reader, to thy judgment. Let me, therefore, entreat thee
not to peruse the following pages directly after dinner, lest
Morpheus make his appearance, and thou shouldst sin, like
the President of the Chiffonnier Society, by ascribing the
imp's visit to
HAB'K O. WESTMAN.

&t)e 0p00u;

ANCIENT AND MODERN.

CHAPTER I.
Singular Subjects chosen by Authors — The Spoon, a popular
and fertile one — Sancho Panza, a Spoonmaker — Influence of
this Profession on his Adventures — Ingenuity qf Cervantes —
Pedro Garcia' 's Purse — Selection of the Spoon for a Theme, an
Indication of Taste — One of the first things wanted on coming
into the world, and last parted with ere going out — Its Domestic
and Moral Influence — Ancient Fracas with Hot Broth.
Singular are the subjects on which authors have
written : as Lucian on a fly, Apuleius on the ass,
Virgil on a gnat, and Homer on a pitched battle be
tween some frogs and mice. One writer is sublime
on a flea, another on the north wind, and a third on
nothing. Here, one expatiates on the social pipe ;
and there, goes a royal counterblast against tobacco.
Pope has a poem on a lock of hair, Gray wrote lines
on a cat, Prior on the ladle, and Cowper on the sofa.

30 Singular Subjects written on. [Chap. L
Tasso spun out twelve cantos on a bucket, and
John Heywood, in Henry the Eighth's time, wrote
seventy-seven chapters on cobwebs and spiders.
The merry Dean of St. Patrick's wrote an essay
on a broomstick ; and some reviewer of a late work
on hydraulics thinks the author could readily com
pose a homily on pump handles, or a series of medi
tations on cistern hooks. A fig for such subjects,
and those who discuss them. A person's taste is
seen in what he writes on, as well as in what flows
from his pen ; and small must be the brains that
think on such things. Every one knows Swift's
head was worn out when kind Nature led him to
muse on the stump of a besom — an emblem of him
self. As there was always something of the wizard
about him, he naturally selected the same hobby
that accommodates witches in their evening excur
sions. As for the other gentleman, he must be a
dry soul indeed, since he could hit upon nothing but
water, about which to fill up a book — or some rick
ety machines to get at it.
Commend us to something better than either ;
and on the present occasion to that which daily in
spired the reverend wit, and at which it is very cer
tain every writer on water-works has labored oftener
than at any pump gearing — videlicit, a spoon. Why,
there's life in the sound ! To the hungry and poor
and rich, it conjures up visions of pleasure. Its
very picture moves the salivary glands into action,
and sets the lickerish muscles agog, while thoughts
of the good things with which it often is laden make

[Chap. I. The Spoon, a Novel and Fertile Subject. 31
mendicants draw in their breath and thrust out their
lips, as if about to salute it !
What gentleman cares for a broom, or a cistern
pole, except to kick them out of his way, as a fat
neighbor of ours did yesterday 1 But for a spoon,
ah ! how eagerly he seized it at dinner ! Like the
hand of a friend for whom he had long anxiously
waited, and from whom he could hardly be prevailed
on to part .
As a novel and a popular subject, the spoon is un
rivaled — as a fertile one, its equal never rose in the
brains of Will Shakespeare or John Baptiste Mo-
liere ; and that is strange too, seeing the implement
so often entered their heads. A Spanish writer of
the sixteenth century, however, did not let it escape
him. His wanderings through various countries,
and in indifferent circumstances, made him too keenly
alive to its value to forget or neglect it. He has iro-
mortalized himself by recording the adventures of a
spoonmaker, in an inimitable piece of biography.
'Indeed! (exclaims some reader.) Pray, of whom
do you speak1? Who was this author, and who the
mechanic he snatched from oblivion 1 '
Strange that at this day such a question should be
asked ! But, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was
the writer, and Sanpho Panza the artist.
' Sancho Panza ! The short and fat husband of
Tereza — the Governor of Barrataria — he whose sim
plicity and shrewdness, jokes and proverbs, were so
pleasant ; and whose witty conceits fell from him as
thick as drops in a shower — a maker of spoons ? '

32 Quixote a Shepherd. £Chap. I.
To be sure he was ! And it was from this cir
cumstance he became so expert in handling them,
and which led him to prefer olla-podridas, stews, and
hashes of cow beef and onions, to Milan godwits,
Roman pheasants, geese of Lavajos, and other kick
shaws, which Doctor Pedro Rezio Aquero de Tir-
teafuera and the steward talked about. Not that
Sancho loved good eating more than other people,
but he naturally enough preferred those kinds of
food which were fluid, in the conveyance of which
to his mouth he had become quite familiar from his
previous professions and habits.
Cervantes, to elucidate the association of ideas
and the force of early impressions, wittily concealed
this employment of Sancho's, and left it till the
knight was condemned by him of the ' White Moon '
to refrain for a whole year from using a sword, or
going in quest of adventures. Then the truth un
expectedly appears. Quixote proposed to pass the
time in pastoral pursuits. 'O, Sancho! said he; we
will turn shepherds for the time I must live retired.
I will buy sheep and all necessary materials. We
will range the mountains, the woods, and the mea
dows — singing here and complaining there — drink
ing the liquid crystal of the fountains, of the limpid
brooks, and the mighty rivers. The oaks, with a
plentiful hand, shall give their sweetest fruit — the
trunks of the hardest cork-trees shall afford us seats,
the willows shade, and the roses scent. The spa
cious meadows shall yield us carpets of a thousand
colors — the air, clear and pure, shall supply breath,

{Chap. L Sancho a Spoonmaker. 33
the moon and stars afford light, maugre the dark
ness of night — singing shall furnish pleasure, and
complaining yield delight ! Heaven be my aid !
What a life shall we lead, friend Sancho ! What a
world of bagpipes shall we hear ! What pipes of
Zamora! What tambourets and rebecks 1'
' Before God, quoth Sancho, this kind of life squares
with me exactly ; and no sooner will the Bachelor
Sampson Carrasco, and Master Nicholas the bar
ber, have well seen it, but they will have a mind to
follow, and turn shepherds with us ; and God grant
that the priest have not an inclination to make one
in the fold ; he is of so gay a temper, and ' such a
lover of mirth ! ' After arranging about shepherd
esses, each amateur shepherd to have one, except
the priest, who, according to Sancho's views, ought
not to be associated with a lady ; but if the bache
lor Sampson was inclined that way, why, his soul
was at his own disposal. Then the knight begins
to anticipate the ditties he and his associates would
indite to the charms of their lady loves, when San
cho, mentally recurring to occupations more agreea
ble to his taste, and with which he was more at home,
exclaims in a rapture, 'O! what spoons! What
neat wooden spoons will I make when a shepherd ! '
An exclamation which he never, of course, could
have made had he not been engaged in that busi
ness before. Then, like a sound philosopher, who
only regards science and the arts in proportion as
they are applied to the purposes of life, he instantly
recurs to the use of spoons, and, very naturally to
5

34 Wonders wrought by ihe Spoon. [Chap. I.
the agreeable visions they call up. " What crumbs !
What cream ! What olla-podridas ! What stews
we shall have ! "
Having thus shown that the Knight of La Man-
cha's squire was, in the early part bf his career, a
manufacturer of spoons, the reader will at once con
cede the propriety of this reference* to his labors ;
since he is, beyond controversy, the most famed
character of the kind in print. But that is not all.
There are other things in Cervantes which reviewers
never dreamt of. It were an easy matter to show,
but would be out of place here, that the celebrity of
his great work is due chiefly to spoons ; for exam
ple, had he withheld from Sancho the penchant for
handling them, the history of Quixote might as well
have been without the owner of Dapple ; and every
body knows what an insipid affair it would have
been then. From what but the free use of spoons
were the jolly face and sly look of Sancho derived?
To what else but their neglect was to be attributed
the ghastly appearance of him of the Rueful Coun
tenance ? Silenus and a moving corpse !
Such are the wonders wrought by the Spoon :
but, great as they appear, they are not the greatest.
Had the knight lived in the manner of Sancho, he
had never lost his wits ; and had the latter dieted as
his master, he never would have had any. The
moral of the romance is misunderstood. The author
designed to inculcate this truth — that the proper use
of a spoon can make a sensible man of a fool, and
the neglect of it a fool of a sensible man !

Chap. I.] Pedro Garcias' Purse. 35
The Spoon is really the nucleus of the romance —
the core on which the party colored threads of the
story are wound. Indeed, the whole affair is nothing
else than a mystic account of this useful little imple
ment, and written by Cervantes, most likely to fulfill
a vow made on account of the services it rendered
him on some occasions of extreme distress — occa
sions, from the checkered scenes of his life, believed
to have been of frequent occurrence.
These things, to be sure, do not stand up on the
surface — they are not seen at a glance. Cervantes,
in concealing them from readers whose obtuseness
bf intellect does not suspect them, or who will not
take the trouble to look for them, imitated the con
duct of his witty and ingenious countryman, Pedro
Garcias, whose epitaph strangely announced that his
soul lay under the slab. And there it did lay, with
out exciting the least curiosity from the crowds walk
ing over it, until a poor and shrewd student of Sala
manca, travelling that way, guessed the truth, disin
terred, and joyfully carried home the Licentiate's
soul in his pocket. But to leave such matters : As
every person on earth loves a spoon, there are few
who cannot relish an essay upon it ; and all will ad
mit its selection for a theme, if no proof of genius,
is at least a strong indication of taste.
The Spoon is one of the first things wanted when
we come into the world, and one of the last we part
with before we go out. It is the companion of child
hood, manhood, and age — the, great nurse of man
kind. It administers comfort to ladies when they

36 The Spoon, a Universal Favorite. [Chap. I.
'lay in,' and to every person before being 'laid out.'
Without it, no baby takes pap ; nor boys and girls
porridge or soup ; the man acquires strength by its
aid, and it assists in prolonging the years of the old
and infirm. In the hands of physicians, it drives
sickness away ; and when the angel of death comes
at last, it soothes the last moments of many.
Its influence is felt in every department of life —
in manners, morals, and even in national characteris
tics. Associated almost as much with the soul as
the body, it seems equally to modify both. It is a
healer of wounds, whether in the person or mind.
What tempers has it not subdued — what passions al
layed ! For it is always called in after a broil to pro
mote peace and good will. What evils, too, has it
not extinguished which want has conceived and po
verty planned ! Hunger and haggard despair fly be
fore it, while health and hilarity attend it ! It is,
and justly, a universal favorite — as well with the sa
vage as the sage — with ladies and their maids — with
children and their grandpapas.
What urchin has not felt more elastic when be
holding his mother beating up eggs for plum-cake
with a spoon ; or stood by when with it she scraped
out the bowl in which the pudding was made ! And
where is the youngster with ' a sweet tooth ' that has
not thrust it with delight into ' mush and molasses ! '
or with joy almost extatic made it dive into 'samp,'
through an ocean of melted butter and sugar ! As
for grown people, it daily works the same wonders
in them as it did in the Rev. Mr. Sampson when ap-

Chap. I.] Its Moral Influence. 2fl
plied by the hospitable hand of Mrs. Merriless. In
barbarous a/id semi-barbarous countries, few meals
are prepared without it, but in civilized life it is as
regular an attendant at table as plates.
The moral influence of the spooii is remarkable.
It preaches contentment, and fosters no pride. It
enters the cottage and comforts those who are too
poor to own either cottage or cot. It ascends into
garrets, dives into cellars, and forces its way into pri
sons, where, like a Howard or Frye, it condoles with
the children of sorrow. It is all things to all men,
for it adapts itself to the circumstances of all. To
the humble or poor, it appears in homely apparel ;
to the rich and the proud, it shines forth in ivory and
pearl— in silver and gold.
Some men talk about the 'social glass'— of the
pleasures it imparts, the agreeable reminiscences it
calls up ; but what are they, compared to those as
sociated with the spoon 1 The former is selfish —
men indulge in it by themselves ; but the latter is the
innocent companion of both sexes— of young and
old. The glass too often destroys domestic joys —
loosens domestic ties ; the spoon revives the one
and strengthens the other. It gratifies a natural, the
glass an artificial, appetite. The one imparts hap
piness to the abstemious, the other maddens the
brain of the intemperate. Here sits an industrious
laborer at his evening meal ; he has reached home
shivering with cold and faint with hunger ; he sups
the warm pottage his wife has prepared, and finds
his heart strengthened, and his energies blessed.

98 Ancient Fracas with Rot Broth. [Chap. I.
There carouses an acquaintance at the tavern ; his
eyes now rolling with the maniac's gaze, and now
like an idiot's, fixed on vacancy. Reason has left
her seat, and the character of the man is lost in that
of the beast. Such are the different effects of the
* social glass* and the spoon.
A lover of domestic quiet, family jars cease in its
presence ; for unlike the mischief loving ladle, the
spoon enters into no broils. An instrument of peace,
it lends not itself to those illegitimate and unconjugal
uses to which enraged housewives are said some
times to put its taller associate. No! Instead of
stirring up the caldron of family feuds, the gentle
spoon soothes the boiling elements, and, in the plea-
santest way imaginable, silences the squalling of in
fants, and the grumbling of older folks.
It took no part in an ancient fray between the
scholars of Oxford and some Reverend companions
of the Pope's Legate, on a feast or saint's day ; but
the soup or rather the broth did. The peace loving
spoon withdrew ere the fracas began. " And at that
tym'e was maister Edmunde of Abendon archbish-
oppe of Caunterbury, an holi man, in the twelff hun
dred yere of our Lorde and foure and thritti. And
at that tyme come the legat Oter from Rome, and
called a councelle of Bishoppes at London, and went
from thens to Oxenford, to the Abbey of Osney. And
as certeyn of the clerks come to speke with the legat,
vppon Seynt Gregoryes day, one of the legats men
cast hote broth vppon a scolore, and then come the
clerkes first, and besett Osney, and slew one of the

Chap. II.] The Spoon, an Object of Plunder. 39
legats men, and the legat fled into the steple." [Pe-
ter/ Langtoffh Chronicle, Hearne's Glossary, vol. ii.
682.] This quotation may serve as a little seasoning to
the dish before the reader. If any one questions
its pertinence, and that of others hereafter to be no
ticed, we beg to observe that what relates to the soup
can hardly be foreign to the spoon.

CHAPTER H.
The Spoon always an Object of Plunder— Border Thieves—'
Golden Rule — Index of Human Condition — Old English and
other Salutations— ^Lip Worship — Spoons formerly Preachers
of Temperance — Their Influence on Individual and National
Character — 'Beef and Bouilli — Fat Men fined and Obesity re
vered — Steaks and Stews— Effects of Animal Food on Nations
— War Speech of an English General — Greeks and Trojans — >
Spoons of peculiar Antiquarian Value — Trick of Alexander — ¦
Curious use of Spoons, and Lessons derived from them — Their
Influence in Politics and War — Procure Food as well as Cook
it — Friends in need— Heir-looms.
The virtues of the spoon have in every age led
men to covet it, and, to gratify their covetousness, to
commit burglaries to obtain it. With the wicked,
this is natural ; for a silver spoon is a talisman — he
who possesses one can never want. It is chiefly,
however, such unfortunates as are not born with one
in their mouths who thus attempt to supply what

40 Index of Human Condition. [Chaf. II.
nature forgot. But horn and pewter spoons were
not despised by respectable robbers of yore. In
Maitland's " Complaynt against the Theivis of Lid-
disdail," we find them borne off from poor people's
dwellings, along with bread, fowls, spinning appara
tus, bed-clothes, shirts, &c. The old leviers of
black mail seized on every thing that was not 'too
heavy or too hot' to be carried away.
Thay spuilye puir men of their pakis,
Thay leif them nocht on bed nor bakia ;
Baith hen and cok,
With reil and rok,
The Lairdis Jok,
All with him takis.
Thay leif not spindel, spoone, nor speit,
Bed, bolster, blanket, sark, nor scheit.
Many a knife has committed murder, and forks
have been guilty of felony ; but what bad thing has
the spoon ever done ? Kidnapped in all ages, it
never was known to return evil to its evil entreaters ;
on the contrary, it has blessed its greatest foes.
Like the sun shining on the wicked and the good,
this servant of man has been among all nations, kin
dreds, and tongues, a practical teacher of the Golden
Rule — withholding its services from none, but feed
ing alike the thankless and the thankful. No im
plement has done more for man. Almost all others
have been turned against him, but the spoon — never.
The spoon is an indicator of merit and of human
condition. It is every where deemed an appropriate
crest for the arms of an alderman, because every
where hailed as the symbol of good cheer. A wood
en or a pewter spoon, or one of tinned iron, is an

Chap. II.] Old English and other Salutations. 41
emblem of an author, who seldom gets a better, un
less he borrows it ; a silver one, the symbol of a
printer, who is generally " well to do ; " and a golden
one, of a publisher, who alone in the book trade can
afford to eat turtle. Of all indications of poverty,
a broken pewter spoon is the jnost distressing — a
proof of wretchedness extreme.
The implement is about the only orie belonging
to the kitchen that behaves well in the dining room.
Its associate, the angry knife, sometimes wounds its
master, and the sly fork occasionally pricks him, but
the spoon is ' ever faithful,' and the ' most obedient
of servants.' To these amiable qualities it is pos
sible the very common expressions, " Your humble
servant," "Your most obedient and faithful servant,"
may be allied ; for it is a fact that these French
forms of address were first introduced into English
compliments and composition on an occasion when
the spoon performed a royal part— at the marriage
of Mary, daughter of Henry IV. of France. The
usual British salutations before this were, "God
keep you," " God be with you ; " and with country
people, " How dost do?" accompanied often with a
whack on the shoulder *, and, if a woman, with a
smack on the lips. (See Antiq. Repertory, iii. 43.)
Antiquarians inform us that kissing with a smack
was a Roman practice ; for the benefit of future
Archaeologists, an equally surprising fact may as
well be mentioned of the Dutch, who actually relish
other earthly comforts in a similar way ! Whenever
a glass or spoon leaves anything agreeable within
6

42 Lip Worship — Seat of the Soul. [Chap. II.
their lips, the approving smack, it is said, invariably
follows. This sharp and pleasant little sound is so
inseparably associated with their ideas of the good
things of this life, that it has become incorporated
with their ordinary salutions. Their usual morning
greeting is " Smaakelyk eeten!" So a southern Chi
nese salutes another by saying Ya tan ? . Have you
eaten your rice ? In other words, have you handled
your chopsticks or spoon ?
The spoon is a fine symbol of complaisance. No
one takes hold of it without pleasure, and many lay
it down with regret. Its daily appearance at table
is met with smiles, and every guest intimates his or
her unalloyed joy by carrying it to their lips. In
some countries it is so esteemed that when loaned
it passes directly out of the mouth of the owner into
that of the borrower. (See account of Esquimaux la
dies at dinner, in the late voyages to the north.) Like
the black stone at Mecca, it is polished with the
lips of its admirers. A censorious world might
stigmatize this as " lip worship," but it flows from the
heart ; or, at least, from the neighborhood of the
heart, for, according to Chinese philosophy, the seat
of the soul is in the centre of the stomach. So
thought an old statesman and poet :
From thefnce she sends out those supplies
Which make us either stout or wise;.
The strength of every other member
Is founded on your belly timber j
The qualm9 or raptures of your blood
Rise in proportion to your food ;
And if you would improve your thought,
You must be fed as v\ ell as taught.

Chap. II] The Spoon, a Preacher of Temperance. 43
Though with some an instrument of gluttony, the
spoon was formerly a preacher of temperance ; the
lessons it taught being engraved as mottoes on the
handle ; while for those on whom words made no im
pression, (and few who used it in the middle ages
could read,) images of death and the devil were cut on
the bowl ! Plate V has a figure of one of these curious
inventions for enforcing moderation at meals- — one on
which is emblazoned a dentil's head ! Think for a
moment how could the most confirmed gourmand
sin with such a tool ! Why, the chefd"auvre of gas
tronomic fluids could not be conveyed to any man's
stomach in excess by it, unless the owner of the sto
mach was blind. The most horrible of memento
morii not only staring him in the face, but actually
mixing with his food ! If anything could subdue vo
racious appetites, one might suppose this would.
The spoon opens the mouth of every dumb per
son ; and, what is sometimes as difficult to accom--
plish, it stops the most loquacious one. Its effects
are exceedingly diversified. With most people, eat
ing puts an end to speaking, according to the ve
nerable precept, "Let your meat stop your mouth;"
but some are more talkative at table than any where
else. We remember an old lady remarkably taciturn
except when handling a spoon. It was a key that
unloosed her tongue. Every time she sipped coffee
or tea, a remark dropped from her ; but not a word
ever came out till the spoon had first gone in ; as if
it carried permission to the imprisoned member to
take a moment's exercise.

44 Beef and Bouitti — Fat Men Fined. [Chap. H.
Its influence is very observable on nations. It
modifies their manners and customs, affects their
arts, sciences, and manufactures ; gives tone to indi
vidual character, to modes of thought and action.
Who does not know that the vivacity and other
marked attributes of the French people are derived
from the free use of the spoon ? They are too wise
to follow the example of their saturnine neighbors, in
everlastingly using the knife and the fork. It is a fact
too well known to need repetition here, that the dif
ferences in the temper and habits of the Briton and
Gaul are to be traced to Roasts and Ragouts, to Beef
and Bouilli.
The Celts and Gauls fined a fat man, and increased
or diminished the penalty according to the size of
his paunch — reversing the doctrines of India, where
Rajahs'are respected for their obesity — and of South
ern Africa, where ladies are admired for the width
of their waists, and their beauty determined by the
hundred weight.
Steaks make a German or an Englishman portly
and dull ; stews, a Frenchman light and agile. On
one side of the channel, fries render men heavy as
dray horses ; on the other, fricasees make them frisky
as genets. It is the spoon that causes one people
to be graceful in their persons and polite in their de
meanor, and the want of it another ungainly in their
movements and awkward in their compliments  that
fits this people for natural teachers of dancing, and
makes those persons incapable of appreciating the
rudiments of personal accomplishments. So with

Chap. II.] War Speech of an English General. 45
other national characteristics. All may be traced
more or less direct to the knife and the spoon.
Observe the various operations
Of food, and drink in several nations.
Was ever Tartar fierce and cruel
Upon the strength of water-gruel ?
But who can stand his rage and force
If first he rides, then eats his horse ?
Salad and eggs and lighter fare
Tune the Italian spark's guitar;
And if I read Dan Congreve right,
Pudding and beef make Britons fight. — Prior.
Howell says, 'while Englishmen drank only ale,
they were strong, brawny, able men, and could draw
an arrow an ell long ; but when they fell to wine and
beer, they are found to be much impaired in their
strength and age.'
An old British commander thus addressed his
troops on the eve of battle : " What a shame it
would be to you, Englishmen, who feed upon beef
and drink beer, to let those rascally Spaniards beat
you, who eat nothing but oranges and lemons." The
same intellectual gentleman we presume it was who
supposed a well-known passage in Macbeth had re
ference to the dressing of a beef steak or mutton
chop :
If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly.
Sir William Temple attributed the bravery of his
countrymen to their carnivorous propensities. Ac
cording to this doctrine, and it has many advocates,
rice-eating Asiatics can never withstand European
feeders on beef: those, nations that excel others in
killing cattle for food will generally be the most sue-

46 Spoons of a pecxdiar Antiquarian Value. [Chap. II-
cessful butchers of men — the most valiant eating the
most bullocks. The principle is certainly illustrated
in almost every page of ancient history — and the
most in accounts of those nations the most known —
as the Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans. So in
the present day — oppressed people are such as are
confined to vegetable diet, as the Hindoos, the Irish,
&c. In the Iliad, spits, roasting fires, and boiling
pots are about as common as spears, shields, or clubs :
and enumeration of cattle, sheep, goats, and swine,
as troops of men and horses. The Greek princes were
their own butchers and cooks, and were often half"
broiled while preparing their dinners. But we don't
read of Hector or his friends sweating like
Patroclus, who o'er the blazing fire
Heaps in a brazen vase three chines entire.
No ! the people of Troy were unfortunately more
chastened in their manners, and refined in their ap
petites, and hence compelled to yield to their savage
and flesh eating invaders _
Spoons possess a high antiquarian interest, not
merely as specimens of the arts, and indicative of the
use of hot fluids in former times, but as bearing on
the curious subject of human stature — on the ques
tion of the degeneracy of man's frame. Egyptian
spoons of great antiquity are preserved in museums
of Europe, and are of the same average size as those
now in use; [see figures farther on;~\ proving in the
clearest manner that people's mouths, between three
and four thousand years ago, were of the same width
and capacity as ours. If mummies, therefore, had

Chap. IL] Trick of Alexander^ 47
never been drawn from the catacombs of the Nile,
these little implements would have been sufficient to
show that while the subjects of the Pharaohs sur
passed other people in the magnitude of their works,
their souls dwelt in bodies no larger, than ours.
Ancient caldrons were often of enormous capaci
ties, sometimes equaling a modern brewer's vat.
This was on account of the large households of
princes — their families, like Solomon's, consisting
of hundreds and even thousands of officers and at
tendants ; but there is no record of the spoon having
ever varied in its general dimensions. Had Alexan
der, when he wished to deceive posterity into a be
lief that his army was composed of giants, buried
on each field of battle a few gross of spoons, ca
pacious as good sized ladles, the deception would
have been as likely to succeed as by his inhuming
bridles and mangers for mammoth horses, and armor
suitable for such men as Goliah of Gath, and the
old King of Bashan.
Is it imagined existing ladles of a former world
were possibly used as spoons, and therefore such
reasoning is hot conclusive ? A little reflection will
show the contrary ; or if the reader will turn to
Plate III, he will see it would be a very difficult
matter to empty an ancient ladle, or simpulum, into
the mouth, in consequence of the position of the
handle ; this being perpendicular to the mouth of
the bowl ; whereas in the spoon it is on a line or
nearly so with it.
In how many ways does the spoon contribute to

48 Curious Uses qf Spoons. Chap. IL]
man's enjoyments ! Besides its more appropriate
business, it often assists in quite different matters.
Its devotion is not confined to the mouth, nor to
things for the mouth, but, like an anxious attend
ant, is ever ready to lend its assistance where it
can. Most readers can call to mind numerous occa
sions on which the value of its presence was felt.
Neighbor Windt can never get up the heels of his
shoes till in place of his fingers he applies the shank
of a spoon, and matches were never made in his
house without tipping their ends in brimstone fused
in another. Is a person faint 1 The spoon is called
to revive him. Are you in pain ? quoth the doc
tor, "three drops from this vial, in a tea-spoon full
of syrup, will relieve you." You are restless?
" Take these pills in a table-spoon full of wine, and
you'll soon be asleep." Infants suffer greatly in cut
ting their teeth, but by "champering a spoon," the
gums are sooner cut through ; and thus this devoted
servant of our species kindly hastens the period
when, in a more legitimate way, it can gratify little
innocents. When influenzas rage, what is the first act of at
tending disciples of Galen ? To ask for a spoon,
that with it they may press down the tongue to exa
mine the fauces. In epidemic catarrhs, there is
scarcely a house free from the disease, or a spoon
from this service. Now, is it not remarkable that
in afflictions of the mouth and throat the benign and
sympathetic spoon should not only administer appro
priate medicines, but be actually called in ere the

Chap. IL] And Lessons derived from them. 49
nature of those medicines is determined ! Its pre
sence required by consulting physicians, as if from
its familiarity with the patient, his habits and man
ner ®f life, and its acquaintance with the bronchial
regions — its aid was indispensable !
It serves prince and peasant oh some curious oc
casions. The part it performs in the coronation of
kings will be noticed further on, but we may here
notice how the poor derive from it a valuable lesson.
Start not, gentle reader, at our announcing that
spoons have long taught the children of penury to
lay right in bed ! Yes ; and shown them the only
way, in certain cases, by which either to get in or
keep in — solving a very curious geometrical prob
lem. The custom alluded to is said to be well
known in soldiers' barracks, lodging houses for men
dicants, in cheap boarding schools for boys, and
wherever circumstances require four or more per
sons to sleep on one couch. It is obvious uniformity
of position and movement, in such cases, is indis
pensable to individual repose.
When half a dozen spoons are laid out separate
ly, they take up considerable room, but place them
edgewise, bring up the mouth of one close to the
back of the next, &c. and the whole will form a
compact mass. Just so with half a dozen tenants of
one bed ; if laid promiscuously, they could not find
room ; that is only obtained by placing themselves
"spoon-fashion" — all turned one way and close
fitted to each other. The oldest occupant regulates
the positions and motions of his fellows. Having
7

50 Their Influence. [Chap. II.
the privilege of first laying down, he adjusts himself
to his own liking ; drawing up his knees as far as he
finds agreeable, he becomes a model or pattern to
which those behind him must conform. No one can
then "turn on t'other side," without general consent;
and it is only when the chief gives the signal (by
exclaiming "spoons,"} that the interesting evolution
takes place.
Spoons were formerly used to feed the nose as well
as the mouth — snuff being conveyed in them to the
nostrils instead of between the finger and thumb —
but this will be illustrated by a cut on a future page.
We have somewhere read of the implement per
forming the part of a linguist — interpreting between
navigators and strange people. When other modes
failed to make known the want of food, the sight of
a spoon, accompanied with the usual movements in
using it, instantly opened the understandings of sa
vages, and saved Christian travellers from starvation .
Silver spoons have made their influence felt in the
politics of nations. The enthusiasm of the people
of England in supporting the cause of the parlia
ment against Charles I. may be gathered from the
contribution of the inhabitants of a single town to
the republican cause. In London, enormous masses
of plate were heaped up in Guildhall, the gift of the
citizens. We select a few items from the list of do
nors named in the History and Antiquities of Great
Yarmouth, [Norwich, 1772.]
" Thomas Goose, seven pieces of plate and two spoons.
" Robert Wakeman, 51 oz. of plate, at 5s. 4d. per oz. and nine spoons in
coarse silver, weiging 14 oz. at 4s. 6d. per oz."

Chap. H.] On Politics and War. 51
[We leave it to modern smiths to distinguish be
tween the "coarse" and "best" silver.]
" William Burton. 59 oz. plate, one spoon, best, and four coarse spoons and
a bodkin. " George England, 91 oz. and seven silver spoons.
" Robert Huntington, 158 oz. and one spoon.
" William Bridge, 10 pieces of plate and seven spoons ; and at another time,
72 oz. and seven spoons.
"John Thompson, two cups and a spoon."
The above may serve as a commentary on the fol
lowing lines from a contemporary poet, by whom
the parliament is addressed :
Our plate, our coin, our jewels, and our rings,
Arms, ornaments, and all our precious things,
To you we brought as bountifully in,
As if they had old rusty horse-shoes been.
Butler, the champion of monarchy, as a matter
of course turned this patriotic ardor into ridicule :
Did saints for this bring in their plate,
,And crowd as if they came too late?
For when they thought the cause had peed on't,
Happy was he that could be rid on't.
Did they coin p — p — s, bowls and flagons,
Int' officers of horse and dragoons ?
And into pikes and musqueteers,
Stamp beakers, cups, and porringers?
A thimble, bodkin, and a spoon,
Did start up living men as soon
As in the furnace they were thrown. — Hudibras, Canto ii.
Nor have pewter spoons been behind silver ones
in freedom's cause. Few kitchen utensils have
done more for national independence. Like those
in the house of John Adams, they have been mold
ed into bullets, and sent in haste to stay the sto
machs of mercenary troops attempting to prey upon
their owners. In the war of the revolution, when
the spoons in New- York were used up, a set of men

52 Procure Provisions in the Field and City. [Chap. n.
without the fear of God or the King before their
eyes, pulled down the leaden statue of George in
the Bowling Green, and fused him into balls. Then,
as the royal officers professed to honor the king in
their hearts, the rebels thought it right to send him into
their bosoms. Here we see how spoons, though de
signed to convey victuals to the mouth, can of them
selves effectually silence the cravings of hunger.
In another sense, pewter spoons have entered the
field. Essentially of domestic habits, and brought
up to wait on their owners at table, yet when a
country family's provision has been spent, they have
been known to go in quest of some. Putting on a
new form, (being cast into "buck-shot,") they have
left home, like Esau, "to take venison," and have
generally returned (in the bodies of the game) with
fresh supplies for the larder. Having done this, they
have, in one or two instances, (when serving a back
woodsman,) resumed their previous occupation, (be
ing recast,) and assisted to cook and serve up the
animals they killed. But this is rarely the case, for
rambling in the woods commonly puts an end to
their household occupations.
In cities, silver spoons often leave home to raise
means for purchasing provisions when the purse of
their owner is emptied and his credit quite gone.
Pledged for a loan, they remain in prison without
murmuring till his circumstances revive and he re
deems them from thraldom. Money lenders turn
their backs on the poor man's knife and fork, but
never refuse his silver spoons — their touching ap-

Chap. IL] Heir-looms. 53
peals cannot be resisted. Like those heroic Mora
vian Missionaries, who went irito slavery to benefit
perishing heathen, these well disposed little things
repeatedly save Christian families from famishing by
acting in a similar manner. After a prolonged ab
sence, great is the joy on their arrival — then every
one takes them by the hand and greets their return.*
Thus the spoon contributes to man's joys in pros
perity, and diminishes his sorrows when in pecuniary
trouble. It is a friend that sticketh closer than a
brother. Like a Grecian or Roman nurse, its labors
cease not with the death of its master — it continues
to serve him in his descendants. Made an heir
loom, it bears his initials or his name, and is sent
down to succeeding generations, a cherished memo
rial of the friendship that existed between them.

54 Proverb respecting Long Spoons. [Chap. HI.

CHAPTER IH.
Proverb respecting Long Spoons'— Attempt to define its ori
gin — Female Costume- — Trains, Steeple Caps, Fardingales
and Ruffs--— Extract from an old Sermon—Homily on Dress — ¦
Enormous cost of Ruffs — George Her iot— Oriental long Spoons
'—Satan's Household— Other Proverbs-^- Conjurers — Mounter
banks— Lotteries— Feats of the Spoon on the Stage — -Curious
Practice of Morris-dancers — Superstition of the Goths — Dryden
—Gruel— Possets — Spoons doing duty as ferulas—Sir Tho
mas More— The Spoon or Spoon-meat typical qf Infancy.
The spoon, as is well known to most readers,
gave rise to a once celebrated proverb, indicative of
the advances of sin and the lengths to which the
wicked are led' — "He wants a long spoon who sups
with the devil." The saying is now nearly obsolete,
but it was formerly, like the implement itself, in
every one's mouth. Thus Chaucer, in the Squire's
Tale:
What he answerd it nedeth not reherse ;
Who can say bet than he, who can do werse
Whan he hath al wel said than he hath done.
Therfore behoveth him a ful long spone
That shal ete with a fend.
Shakespeare, in the Tempest, makes Stephano
exclaim, on beholding Caliban, " Mercy ! Mercy !
This is a devil, and no monster ; I'll leave him ; I
have no long spoon." And in the Comedy of Er
rors, the whimsical mistakes occasioned by the re
semblance of the twins to each other, led the par
ties to suppose Satan himself was in the perform-

Chap. III.] Female Costume — Trains. 55
ance. Antipholns of Syracuse is invited by a fe
male to dinner, his servant hints to him the charac
ter of the hostess :
Dromio. — Master, if you go, expect spoorj-meat, or bespeak a long spoon.
Ant.— Why, Dromio ?
Dromio. — Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.
There was in Shakespeare's time a more substan
tial reason why those who supped with ladies as well
as such as partook of Satan's hospitality, should have
long spoons ; and why ladies themselves should
have been, as they actually were, furnished with
them. "Indeed!" exclaims some female reader ;
"pray explain." Certainly, madam ; but before do
ing so, it is expedient to allude to something else.
From the times when primitive British ladies were
clad in skins sewed together with sinews and: pinned
on the person with thorns, to those when Anglo-
Saxon dames wore tunics and mufflers, and Norman
females wrapped themselves in broidered mantles
and copes, and thence to the present days, every
age has been distinguished by innovations in cos
tume, and of a very marked character. Norman
fashions were succeeded in the fourteenth and fif
teenth centuries by the English gown, bibs, aprons,
and corsets. Immense trains were attached to the
skirts of gowns. Horned and also steeple caps for
the head made their appearance, thus lengthening
both extremities of the person to a monstrous ex
tent. A lady, on a visit of ceremony, is said to
have sometimes been in the centre of a drawing-
room, while the tail of her dress was still in the

56 Steeple Caps. [Chap. HI.
street. Chaucer is severe on this and other parts
of female dress. In the Parson's Tale, he rails at
" the superfluitee of the foresaide gounes, trailing in
the dong, and in the myre, on hors, and eke on foot."
In Dunbar's Poems, they are represented as per
forming the part of a besom :
Sic far Un gaill is on Haggis als fatt as quhailis
Fattit lyk fulis with hattis that littel availis ;
And sic fowill tailis to swap the calsay clenc.
[Poems by W. Dunbar, from the MS. of George Ba.nna.tyne. Perth, 1788, p. 52.]
Steeple caps towered about a yard above the
heads which bore them, so that ladies in full dress
could hardly pass through an ordinary door, or stand
in a modern room. Queen Elizabeth, it is well
known, carried her head pretty high, in more senses
than one, but she had sometimes to bend. Visiting
Burleigh, when he was laid up with the gout, she
was much incommoded by her head-dress in enter
ing his dwelling. As the stateman's servant con
ducted her through the door, he cautioned her to
beware of the lintel, saying, "May it please your
Highness to stoop." The haughty dame replied,
she would not incline her body to the Spanish King,
but on this occasion would bend to see his master.
For specimens of steeple caps, see illustrations in
current editions of Froissart, copied from illuminated
MSS. particularly Isabella, wife of Edward I. en
tering Paris; the Dutchess of Montfort entering
Nantes, and Philippa, consort of Edward III.
The sixteenth and part of the seventeenth century
were characterized by long bodices, puffed sleeves,

Chap, in.] Fardingales and Ruffs. 57
the famous fardingale, and celebrated ruff. The
huge cylindrical petticoat was projected by hoops as
much at the hips as at the feet, so that the wearer
seemed as if she stood through an opening in the
centre of a round table, the linen cover of which
reached down to the ground, and upon which she
could arrange a variety of apparatus, such as a lady's
work-bag usually contains — strongly reminding one
of Chinese pedlars of small wares, who carry about
goods on a somewhat similar looking contrivance.
"The great ladies at Genoa (observes Evelyn) go
in horrible overgrown vertigals of whalebone, which
being put about the waist of the lady, and full as
broad on both sides as she can reach with her hands
bear out her coats in such a manner that she ap
pears to be as broad as long." See a portrait of
Anne of Denmark, wife of James I. usually fount'
in works on costume.
The stiff* ruff round the neck sometimes project
ed so far that a plumb-line dropped from its edgt
would nearly coincide with the periphery of the pet
ticoat. At other times, it was pinned up round th(
ears, forming a fluted and inverted truncated cone
or rather, it resembled the outer leaves of a rose
protecting the blushing beauty within. Portraits o<
Queen Elizabeth exhibit both modes of wearing th<
ruff. A smaller kind was worn by men in like man
ner, as may be seen in portraits of Bacon, Dud
ley, Sidney, Cecil, and others of that and the fol
lowing age. See also Dutch portraits, of the six
teenth and seventeenth centuries, and illustrated
8

58 Poking Sticks — Cangue. [Chap. III.
works of those periods^ — the ruff* is represented
enormously thick and proportionally broad. Both
it and the fardingale are noticed by Cervantes.
Few parts of female apparel excited more notice
than ruffs, and on none were bestowed more atten
tion and regard. Cambric was first imported into
England, (from Cambray in Flanders, and hence its
name,) for the purpose of making them, and nu
merous were the devices for forming and stiffening
the plaits. About the year 1574, an invention of
great merit, in the estimation of ladies, was made,
since it rendered the ruff much more commo
dious to the wearer, and increased the facility of
dressing and putting it in shape. This was the fa
mous "poking stick" — a polished steel implement
which, when heated, was used for stiffening and
plaiting the starched frills. The ladies had cause
to rejoice that " setting pins " (slips of whalebone,
&c. formerly concealed in the plaits in the manner
of fans) were thus superseded. These uncomforta
ble adjuncts formed a species of chevaux de frise, en
closing the neck, and not only keeping other people,
but in a manner themselves, at arms length. Ruffs
were not unlike the Chinese cangue, a thick board like
a table, resting on the shoulders of a criminal, his head
being passed through a hole in the centre — a device
often compared to " a frill or collar." It prevents the
wearer from reaching his mouth, so that unless fed
by his friends he would inevitably perish with hunger.
Now, it has doubtless already occurred to our fair
querist that, however elegant and fashionable ruffs

Chap. III.] Extract from an old Sermon. 59
formerly were, they must have been extremely in
commodious at meal times. It is manifest no lady
could with an ordinary spoon convey food to her
lips without crushing of otherwise spoiling the most
cherished part of her attire. The result was, long-
handled implements came into vogue, and were not
disused till "setting-pins " and " poking sticks " were
laid aside, and the dimensions of ruffs diminished.
For ladies' sakes, the following enumeration of
fashionable articles of costume is taken from a sermon
preached in the fourteenth century to worldly-minded
misses : " Thusthe devil farith with men and women :
first, he stirreth them to pappe and pamper their
flesh, desiring delicious meates and drinkes ; and so
they hop on the pillar of the devil's temptation, with
their horns, locks, garlands of gold and rich pearls,
cauls, fillets and wimples, and riddled gowns and
rockets, colors, laces, jackes, paltpckes, with their
long crakowes ; and thus the devil beareth them upon
the pillar to teach them to fly above simple folk, and
saith they shall not hurt themselves — but he lieth
falsely, for unless they are as sorry therefore as ever
they were glad, they shall leap down from the pillar
into the pit of hell ! " Horned caps were too con
spicuous objects to escape the good father's censure.
The wimple was a species of hood that covered the
head, neck, and shoulders. Paltockes — doublets,
and probably pantalettes ; such as worn by Turkish
females. Crakowes, long pointed shoes.
Of the homilies appointed by Queen Elizabeth to
be read in churches, the one on excess of apparel

60 Enormous Cost of Ruffs. ' [Chap. III.
has some warm denunciations against wimples, muf
flers, head-bands, crisping pins, ladies mincing as
they went, and nicely treading with their feet. The
gentlemen catch it also, with their velvets, furred
gowns, corked slippers, trim buskins, and the multi
tudes of changes of dress — one of this color, another
of that, one for morning, another for afternoon, this
in Spanish, that in the Turkish fashion, &c. The
evil had risen to such a height that " neither Al
mighty God by his word, nor godly and necessary
laws, could stop it." " One spendeth his patrimony
in pounces and cuts, another bestoweth more on a
dancing shirt than might suffice to buy apparel for
his whole body. Some hang their revenues about
their necks, ruffling with their ruffs ! " All the world
knows immense wealth, in the shape of jewels, is
often pendant from a lady's neck, but few persons
are aware that gentlemen formerly laid out fortunes
on frills, and had peculiar shirts to dance in.
George Heriot, goldsmith to James I. is figured
with a ruff consisting of plaits piled one over ano
ther, the whole being at least six inches thick, and
projecting in proportion. He never could have
conveniently fed himself with " cock-a-leekie," or
" crowdy," the favorite dishes of King Jamie, with
anything like a modern spoon, without deranging if
not defiling his frill. Yet his and his master's were
of moderate dimensions compared with those of the
gallants of their days.
Long spoons are common with the Turks, Per
sians, and most Asiatics. They are mentioned by

Chap. III.] Satan's Household — Conjurers. 61
old travellers as "reaching a great way." The pro
verb associated with them no doubt arose from the
primitive custom, still prevalent over the greater part
of the earth, of the inmates of a house eating out of
one dish. The tables on this account approaching
a circular form, so as to give every individual an equal
chance at the provision ; like the knights at Arthur's
Round Table. In large households, the tables were
necessarily made in proportion, and as the dish was
placed at the centre, the implements were adapted
to reach it without rising. An idea has always pre
vailed that Satan's household never was a small one ;
spoons therefore much longer than common were
supposed to be required by those invited to a seat
at his table:
Other proverbs are connected with the subject.
Henry IV. quoted one, when rebuked for his cle
mency to his foes — "More flies are caught by a
•spoora-full of honey than with a hogshead of vine
gar." Perhaps the best description of a vain-glo
rious person is one in which he is represented as
taking in praise like porridge, and "licking the
spoon ! "
Silver spoons, almost as much as anything else,
afforded employment to conjurers and wise women
of yore. Frequently stolen, their disconsolate own
ers had recourse to rustic oracles, who, with ' wand,'
'magic mirror,' 'key and book,' 'sieve and sheers,'
or other cabalistic implements, found out the rogues.
Sometimes the more learned professors of occult
sciences were employed — men who consulted the

62 Mountebanks. [Chap. III-
stars on the fate of kingdoms, stray cattle, lost keys,
and goods of every description and value.
They'd search a planet's house to know
Who broke and robbed a house below ;
Examine Venus and the moon,
Who stole a thimble or a spoon. — Hudibras, Canto I.
Another class of men, whose glory has also de
parted, found a source of profit in spoons, viz. :
Mountebanks, who were originally travelling venders
of physic — a species of merchandise associated
with rather unpleasant ideas — one ill adapted to
form the staple of a lucrative trade. But, shrewd
and observing, the itinerant quack knew the weak
points of the species, and that to succeed he had only
to keep his customers in good humor. Like a nurse
coaxing sick children into love with the doctor's pre
scription, he tickled his hearers with the wonders his
nostrums had wrought, and sold pills out of the same
package for every complaint of man or beast. As
people, however, are not always sick, he reminded
them that they were daily in danger of being so *.
and hence the wisdom of buying pills which not only
removed disease but prevented its approach. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, he added to his
stock various light articles, as tapes, rings, ribbons,
bodkins, scissors, spoons, knives, razors, tea-pots,
trays, calicoes, and eventually introduced them in
lotteries — expatiating on their superior qualities with
a fluency which rivaled that of ' Kikero ' — as a coun
try pedagogue of our acquaintance insists on pro
nouncing the name of the Roman orator^

Chap. HI.] Grecian Charlatans — Hasty Pudding. 63
The poets of the last century often complimented
these amusing artists, as Gay in his Sixth Pastoral :
The mountebank now treads the stage and sells
His pills, his balsams, and his ague spells ;
# # * # # it «
Of lotteries, next with tuneful note he told,
Where silver spoons were won, and rings of gold.
The same gentry were very numerous in ancient
Greece and Rome, and quite as clever as their pre
sent representatives. They dealt in trinkets and
small wares, whose virtues were fully equal to mo
dern ones. Eudamus, mentioned by Aristophanes,
peddled finger-rings, for protecting the wearers from
the bite of serpents or other venomous animals !
Like recent artists of the same profession, he pro
bably sold razors so sharp as would shave sleeping
cats without wakening them, and spoons which ren
dered loathsome food pleasant, and poisoned food
innocuous. Modern mountebanks sometimes wound up the
business of a lottery with general satisfaction, by
providing from two to six bowls of hasty pudding,
to partake of which an equal number of their patrons
were invited to step on the stage. The food was
scalding hot, and being retained in wooden bowls
lost little of its heat ere passed to its destination.
He who transmitted the contents of one bowl to his
stomach in the shortest time was the victor, and bore
off the prize ; which was sometimes the spoon he
had used. When every thing was prepared, the
contest began on a signal given by the generous pro
vider of the feast, and instantly accompanied with

64 Jean Potage — Morris Dancers. [Chap. HI.
acclamations of the bystanders. The witty remarks
of Mr. Merryman caused roars of laughter to be
come, like approaching thunder, louder and louder,
until the rain descended, and the faces of the mul
titudes were fairly washed in their own tears. Be
fore the performers half finished the task, their vi
sages acquired the temperature and color of fire, in
spite of streams of perspiration with which they
were flooded.
This employment of the spoon was at one time
so common as to have given rise to the soubriquet
by which the principal performer was, and still is,
distinguished — Jean Potage in France — Jack Pud
ding in England.
Here we see the spoon taking an active part in
the public sports of the people, as well as in further
ing their private pleasures. It entered into an in
nocent contest, which the knife or the sword never
did. It achieved a bloodless conquest, and as an
emblem of victory was often stuck on one side of
the hat, by way of cockade. And let not the disci
ples of Chesterfield sneer at these rustic entertain
ments of ignorant times, for the effects on both
actors and spectators were more beneficial in shaking
off the gross humors of the system than cart loads
of physic or wagon loads of sermons.
The spoon in another respect assisted old charla
tans, and in that part of their performances most in
teresting to themselves and trying to spectators —
viz. in making the collection. The morris dancer,
at the close of every act, put a large spoon or ladle

Chap. III.] Superstition of the Goths. 65
in the mouth of the hobby-horse and made it career
round the ring to solicit donations, when we may
suppose few could resist the moving appeal. [See
Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare.']
The caldron and ladle have been employed in
forbidden matters. Witches made 'hell broth' in
one, and stirred up the ingredients with the other —
making the gruel thick and slab — but the food en
tered no mortal stomach, and hence no mortal spoon
was wanted. This may be inferred from older wri
ters than Shakespeare — from Saxo Grammaticus
and Olaus Magnus. They tell us about the prac
tices of 'women witches of the North, where the
devil truly hath his seat' — of the 'gruel' and 'earth
en pot wherein the juices, herbs, worms and entrails '
were boiled, &c. but not a whisper about the spoon.
Eventually the law of nature taught the Goths to
detest devils and their dams, for it often happened
that famines ensued when men obeyed them : ' birds
and beasts forsook the woods, and fish the waters,
and would not come back again [to be eaten] until
such time as the Divine Majesty was pacified by
prayers and benedictions of the sacred clergy.' So
says the Reverend Archbishop of Upsal.
In satirical writings, allusions to spoon-meats were
formerly common. When a passionate combatant
had no other resource, he too often vented his wrath
in gross personalities. Thus Dryden: 'Go back to
where thy infancy began, eat pap and spoon-meats;'
or when a fling was made at people's diet, as in the
Scornful Lady of Beaumont and Fletcher: 'Faith,

66 Gruel — Possets. [Chap. III.
sir, here are no oats to be got, unless you'l have 'em
in porredge ; the people are so given to spoon-meats?
A similar allusion to oat-meal gruel is made by Du
Bartas :
And in a dish, for want of plate or glass,
Sups oaten drink instead of hippocras.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries oat-meal
gruel constituted the regular breakfast and supper
of children. Dryden has an allusion to it in the
' Wild Gallant' : — ' Boy: These last three weeks I
have almost forgot what my teeth were made for.
Last night good Mrs. Bibber took pity on me, and
crammed me a mess of gruel with the children, and
I popt and popt my spoon three or four times to my
mouth before I could find the way to it.'
If the spoon was the first thing wanted in a
morning, it was often the last thing laid aside at
night ; for when youngsters broke their fast with
porridge, old people wound up the day's labor with
posset, — a hot mixture of milk and mulled wine, and
frequently taken in bed. The custom is repeatedly
mentioned in old writers. Page promised Falstaff
a posset, and Mrs. Quickly cheered Rugby with the
hopes of another. Lady Macbeth drugged the
posset of Duncan's grooms. Thomas Heywood, a
contemporary of Shakespeare notices the custom :
" Thou shalt be welcome to beef and bacon, and
perhaps a bag pudding ; and my daughter Nell shall
pop a posset upon thee when thou goest to bed."
Besides feeding boys and girls, the spoon has
been known to remind them when they do ill, its

Chap. III.] Spoons doing duty as Ferulas. 67
bowl being now and then applied to their pates, to
teach them better manners. Among refined people
or with mild housewives, this of course never occurs ;
but passionate cooks, when teased by young imper-
tinents, seldom stop to reflect on the impropriety of
using the same implement to baste a boy's head and
a roasting pig. In country parts this practice is
probably more frequent than in cities, one thing
there being often necessarily put to many uses.
Like a faithful nurse, the spoon goes out of its way
to benefit young folks by performing duties towards
them that do not belong to it.
In some regions, poor people are not over-nice in
their tastes — it's a merciful dispensation they are
not. When the Highland hostess took her son's
cap off his head, and immediately boiled in it a
pudding for Sam. Johnson's dinner, she made the
most of her resources, did the best her limited stock
of dry goods would permit, and displayed as much
ingenuity in the application of an old thing to a new
purpose, as one half of those do -who secure their
inventions by patents. There is no doubt that such
a lady, when busily engaged in making "stirabout"
for her family, would hasten the movements of a
desidiose boy by applying the implement she was
wielding to his sconce, as well as by threatening to
withhold the contents of the, kettle from his lips.
To be sure, such a practice is not very cleanly ; but
what can a country matron in like circumstances
do ? She cannot leave the porridge to " burn " or
" boil over," in order to seek a suitable rod ; if she

68 Sir T. More — Type of Infancy. [Chap. III.
did, in all probability the individual for whose benefit
it was sought, would be non est inventus when she
returned. During the fierce contests between the advocates
of faith and the champions of works, in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, the spoon wras sometimes
introduced. On one occasion it proved a powerful
weapon in the hands of Sir Thomas More. See
how skillfully he wields it : — " I would wene one
sponeful of good works should no more kill ye soule,
then a potager of good wurts should kill and destroi
ye bodie." Wurts is the old name for unfermented
beer — a sweet infusion of malt — and is an aperient.
This was an argument ad hominum, or rather ad
stomachus. In it the Chancellor administered, and
in a very quiet way, a medicine that could not help
moving their bowels ; and it did move them — for
those whom he thus addressed at length slew him.
But such occasions are not the only ones where the
spoon was associated with religious controversies or
ceremonies, as the sequel of this essay will show.
The spoon, or ' spoon meat,' and ' strong meat,'
have ever been typical of infancy and manhood —
of weak arid vigorous intellects. Paul tells the
Hebrews they could only digest pap or spoon meats
of children, instead of the strong food of men.
" Ye have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Every one that useth milk is a babe, but strong meat
belongeth to them that are of full age." Solomon
has the same idea : it is in fact common as the
spoon.

Chap. IV.] Heraldic Emblems. 69

CHAPTER IV.
Heraldic Emblems — The Spoon neglected — Families of
Spooners — Dutch Coat of Arms — Crest for Bishops — Warriors
— Punishment qf Death — Discontented People subdued by the
Spoon — Peace made by it lasting — A Teacher of Military
Tactics — Waterloo — Manual Exercise — The Spoon once a
Side- Arm — Ancient Tenures — Curious Deed of Land — Bishop
qf Exeter — Sheep-Walk and Wooden Spoon — Tears collected
by Spoons — Heaven opened by them — Property given to the
Church — Mahommedans use Spoons in Paradise — Wash-Basin
— Rebuke and Malediction.
Looking over some works on Heraldry, we were
surprised at the multitude of culinary utensils
adopted into that ' heavenly science,' as one of its
professors calls it. As we proceeded, the reason
became plain ; for everything eatable, whether fish,
flesh, or vegetable, being portrayed on escutcheons
or crests, nothing was more natural than to intro
duce apparatus for cooking. As a symbol for beef,
veal, mutton, lamb, pork, or venison, a gentleman
selected for his crest, (as his palate preferred one
dish or another) a bull or cow, a calf, a sheep, or
goat, a lamb, boar, or stag. Those who lived more
delicately chose a fowl, hare, or rabbit ; — others,
pheasants, partridges, pigeons, snipe, quails, wild
ducks, geese, herons, and every kind of game.
Such as loved fish, selected perch, pike, flounders,
salmon, trout, and so on, up to sturgeons and dol-

70 Kitchen Paraphernalia. [Chap. IV.
phins. Some had painted on their armorial ensigns,
cockles, muscles, crabs, lobsters, and turtles.
Those who relished vegetable diet, had sheafs of
barley, rye, and wheat, beans, peas, asparagus,
celery, turnips, cabbages. People fond of pies and
desserts, had apples, pears, pomegranates, cherries,
and grapes ; and such as had more pleasure in
handling the tumbler than the knife or spoon,
selected for their crests, barrels [for beer], urns or
vases [for wine], drinking cups, horns, goblets,
mazars, &c.
Of devices taken from kitchen paraphernalia, we
cannot name half ; here are a few : The hearth
and fire, being essential for preparing dinner, often
occur ; so do torches to light the fire, billets of wood
to feed and bellows to blow it. A spit to roast
meat, and sometimes the roast on it. Fire-dogs or
andirons, caldrons, skewers and flesh-hooks.
(Heads, limbs, and joints of animals, ready for the
spit or kettle, are quite common.) Colanders,
watering-pots, cleavers, carving-knives, plates and
dishes, salts, cups and tankards. Stools to sit on,
tables to eat off, hand-bells to call waiters, buckets
of water, basina and ewers, to wash after dinner ;
combs to dress the hair before sitting down, scissors
to trim the beard, and caps to place on the head.
" Well, but where is the spoon ? " To tell the
truth, we have not been able to find it ! A disgrace
to the science of heraldry it is not emblazoned, or
if it be, it has escaped our notice. The ingrates !
Or, were they ashamed of adopting it to conceal

Chap. IV.] Families qf Spooners: 71
their love of spoon meats ? As if the world per*
ceived not their design in concealing a round of beef
under the figure of an ox, a chine of pork under a
boar, a haunch of venison under a fat buck, a loin
of veal under a calf — or as if the reverend gentleman
who adopted "two shin-bones" for his crest, could
by such an affectation of abstinence hide from a
prying world his attachment to marrow and strong
broth. [See Kent's Grammar of Heraldry, Lond.
1724, and also Guillim, where the above " devices,"
and hundreds more, may be found. ~\
There might be some excuse for Messrs. Fish,
Flour, Bull, Bacon, Cook, Sprat, Drake, Taylor,
Miller, Smith, Potts, Sadler, Wheeler, Fisher,
Drinker, Baker, Carter, and others, rejecting from
their coats of arms the object of our research ; but
surely the ancient and honorable families of the
Spooners should have known better. They, at
least, might have had the grace to acknowledge and
adopt the implement from which their patronymic
is derived. What could have been more proper?
But alas ! the earth is as full of pride as ingratitude,
and many besides the Spooners are indifferent about
inquiring into the condition and deeds of their
ancestors. In an ancient and imperfectly depicted coat of
arms, the supporters are a man and a woman : one
flourishes what appears a ladle, and the other holds
something like a spoon ; but Guillim, or some one
else, explains the hieroglyphics in a different manner.
With this exception, the arms of an old Dutch

72 The Spoon a Symbol of Charity. [Chap. IV.
family come nearest the mark. Their crest was a
Spoonbill, the most singular looking of European
birds, and a native of Holland ; but whether it was
selected on account of its name, the form of its
mouth, or the length of its neck, we are not informed.
If the gentleman who chose it was a ravenous feeder
on soups, and a believer in the doctrine that the
pleasures of eating and drinking are proportioned to
the length of the channel through which food reaches
the stomach, his heraldic ingenuity surpassed that
of any gourmand on record ; that is, unless the
musician mentioned by Aulus Gellius adopted it as
an armorial ensign, which is not unlikely, since he
used to wish for a neck as long as a crane, that he
might longer enjoy the victuals he ate.
As an heraldic device, the Spoon is infinitely
more becoming Christian men than spears, daggers,
bows and arrows, catapults, hatchets, clubs, knives,
and other murderous weapons, which knights and
even bishops sport on their plate and the panels of
their carriages. To church dignitaries it seems
peculiarly appropriate — a symbol of benevolence, of
a disposition " to feed the hungry." Charity, how
ever, has always been at a discount, and the spoon,
as its emblem, is neglected by heralds and bishops.
O, that warriors would adopt it ! It would be
consistent with sentiments many of them affect.
Besides, the times are rapidly approaching when
conquest in battle — the subjugation of nations by
brute force— will no longer make a hero; when
people cannot be treated by their rulers like cattle,

Stafe 3

2iZA nfZ.Tiuie,!- JZH^irfta,,. Stjfry.

.¦<***-"

I. ¦ ,

Chap. IV.] Punishment of Death — War. 73
and slain in hordes by professional butchers ; by
men whose acts fools vaunt and ideots gloze over.
It had been well for the world had soldiers never
handled any weapon but the spoon. As kindness
is, and, from the constitution of the human mind,
ever must be more effective than compulsion to
overcome the wayward, victories more glorious and
permanent than any attained by the musket and
cannon would have been the result. Is this doubted ?
Let the plan be tried : it is based on philosophy, on
principles implanted in man's nature ; whereas the
other conflicts with them all.
Public sentiment is fast demanding the abolition
of the punishment of death in civil communities — a
punishment. which does not and cannot protect
society from crimes, because it is itself a violation
of the laws of humanity. Vindictive in its nature,
it deliberately commits that which it condemns. If
one man kill another in a passion, who can inno
cently put him to death in cold blood ? But what,
then, shall those scenes of wholesale slaughter be
deemed where human beings, reeking with gore,
are butchering one another— not that they are at
enmity, but because their employers require it of
them? The murmurings of a discontented people may
be silenced by thrusting bayonets into their bodies —
'twould be a better way to put spoons in their mouths.
Starving people have long enough been conquered
by killing them ; why not stifle their complainings
by feeding them — by killing them with kindness
10

74 Military Tactics taught by the Spoon. [Chap. IV.
instead of with cannon ? The spoon not only subdues
the rebellious but makes them good citizens. While
conveying food to their stomachs, it transmits love
of country, and admiration of its products, to their
hearts. This the bayonet never did and never will.
No peace can be lasting, and no people content,
without the spoon. It is ridiculous to expect patriots
in those deprived of one, or, what is the same thing,
who cannot get sufficient employment for one. How
can such dispose their hearts or their throats to sing
a Te Deum, or with what kind of stomach can they
join in a national anthem ?
Captain Shandy carried on the siege of Dender-
mond in his garden, using pickets for men, and the
dense volumes from Corporal Trim's pipe for the
smoke of his cannon ; but Joel Barlow, or some one
else, has shown how military tactics may be more
agreeably taught with a spoon ; a platter of hot hasty
pudding being the fortress attacked, and the citadel
to be won the lump of sugar or butter ensconced in
the centre.
After reconnoitering the thick circular wall to
determine the point of .attack, the spoon is brought
to play ; when, like a battering-ram applied to new
buildings, it quickly makes an impression, and to
keep the ground clear, bears off the materials broken
down. Repeating the operation, an attempt is at
length made to penetrate the centre in a radial
direction ; but no sooner is a practical opening
formed, than the adjoining masses, as if endowed
with instinct, rush down from both sides and make

Chap. IV] Battle of Watefho. 75
the breach good. A short breathing spell follows,
and then a furious onset is made ; the barriers give
way, and a dashing effort carries the war into the
bowels of the besieged ; but the heat of the smoking
ruins becomes insufferable, confusion ensues, and
a retreat the only alternative. The destructive
engine is now brought to bear on one point, and
now wheeled to another, without any decided effects,
till the fatal plan is adopted of weakening the enemy
uniformly all round ; thus slowly but surely diminish
ing the distance from the besieged. This is pursued
until, by a little manoeuvring, a passage is suddenly
forced to the centre, and, by a coup de main, the
greater part of the treasure borne off at a swoop !
Such are the innocent sweets which victory confers
on the spoon.
If the horrible contest at Waterloo had been
settled by the same weapon, it had been well for
blushing humanity. Had the opposing heroes been
seated on opposite sides of a sufficiently extended
table, and entered into battle in the manner of hasty
pudding heroes on a mountebank's stage, the victors
would have acquired as much true honor as they
have, and indeed a great deal more. Such would
be quite as philosophical, and almost as Christian
like a way of ending national quarrels as that of
stimulating combatants to shoot cold lead into each
other's stomachs. There is also reason to believe
it would be an acceptable one to a majority of troops ;
besides, kings, and even queens, could safely fight
with commendable eclat at the head of their armies,

76 Manual Exercise. [Chap. IV.
and set them a royal example. Some, it is well
known, could have rivaled the best field-marshals,
and given additional evidence of "divine right" to
• their crowns. There would be fine opportunities,
too, for military engineers to display their skill and
secure promotion : e . g. in devising the best means
for diminishing the sensibility of the gullet and
thorax ; or, in the language of old Morton's cook,
in " causewaying the thrapples" of warriors— in
ascertaining the shortest modes of preparing ammu
nition, and the readiest methods of using it.
The ' manual exercise ' might be taught in a more
gentle manner than by the musket — in a way more
agreeable to nine-tenths of living soldiers; and, could
they be consulted, to ten-tenths of deceased ones.
Thus, ' Prepare your spoons ' — ' Charge your spoons'
— ' Discharge and charge again.' How pleasant !
Females could take part in the good work, to en
courage the timid and cheer the mighty. Officers
might address them in the language of Todelet, (in
Davenant's comedy, ' The Man is the Master,')
"Ladies, pray take your spoons." Adopt this plan,
and who would desert ? Verily, there would be few
absentees at roll-call — few would wilfully neglect
the morning and evening parade, or be remiss in
keeping their weapons in trim.
The spoon might with propriety be worn as a
' side-arm.' Enclosed in a sheath and suspended
from the belt, or stuck in the sash, it would be as
becoming an ornament for Christian heroes as a
poignard. It would afford equal room for variety

Chap. IV.] The Spoon a Side-Arm. 77
in the qualities of its material and case : both could
be plain or enriched according to the rank of the
wearer, from a brigadier to a drummer. The fact
is, it has often been efficacious as the sword ..in
securing victory, viz. by demolishing the provisions
of an enemy — the best way of fighting, and the only
things worth fighting for. Does some mustached
martinet bluster, or do young Hotspurs feel their
pride wounded by the proposition ? What will they
say if we tell them, one of the most warlike legions
of ancient or modern times carried the spoon in the
way indicated, and afterwards stuck it in front of the
cap in place of a fedther — that a soup-kettle was
their banner, and the titles of their officers derived
from kitchen utensils and scullion duties ! But we
are anticipating what belongs to another part of the
subject; meanwhile, we would recommend those
who think of selecting war as their profession — as
the theatre of their labors through life, and who
long to rival the glory of successful plunderers of the
species — to study a certain chapter by Agrippa, upon
the value of soldiers' services to mankind.
The spoon is occasionally mentioned in the curk
ous tenures by which land was held in former times.
Many domestic implements, duties, culinary dishes,
&c. are enumerated, as well as some singular cus
toms. Let us notice one or two : In the time of
Edward I, a noble family held their lands on condition
of furnishing " rushes to strew on the king's cham
ber," (in place of the modern carpet) and "two green
geese" for his dinner at Christmas. Under Edward

78 Tenures of Land. [Chap. IV
IV. a manor was held by furnishing, at the feast of
St. Michael the archangel, "a goose fit for the lord's
dinner." Others paid twenty-four pasties of fresh
herring. Some, a mess of pottage — a mess of meat-
The yearly rents of other rich estates were a bottle
or jug, a silver or maple cup — a whittle or little
knife — a pair of spurs — a pair of tongs — a wash
bowl and ewer — a spindle and thread on it — a tub
of butter — a silver tankard, <fee.
The manor of Creswell was held by the service
of carrying a bottle of wine for the king's breakfast.
Fulk Fitz- Warren held lands in Gloucester by carry
ing a hunting-horn whenever the king hunted in the
vicinity. The Hastings family held a manor in Sus
sex for this service : they were to find an oar by
which to row the king over the haven at Hastings.
Henry VIII. granted to Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury,
the site and precincts of a monastery, on condition
of "finding the king a right-hand glove at his coro
nation, and support his right arm that day while he
held the sceptre." To Walter de Marisco, was gi
ven a rich manor in Nottingham, "on condition of
his presenting the king yearly a pair of scarlet hose."
Lord Stafford, in Edward the First's reign, held land
in Warwick, for the service of three shillings and a
pair of red stockings yearly furnished to the king.
One manor was granted by Henry VIII. to whom
the grantees were to pay one pound of cummin seed,
two pair of gloves, and a steel needle. Lands were
held in Essex by paying a silver needle into the Ex
chequer.

Chap. IV.] Deed of Land by William the Conqueror. 79
The rich manor of Hopton was given to the an
cestor of the family of that name by William the
Conqueror, on condition of being supplied with a
bow and arrow, whenever he hunted in the neigh
borhood. The grant, in an ancient black letter MS,
is in verse, and is brief and curious. The mode
by which the king confirmed the gift, by leaving
the impression of his teeth on the seal, instead of
" making his mark" — his sign manual — may be con
sidered characteristic of the grantor and of the times.
" To the heyrs male of the Hopton,'' Sfc.
" To me and to myne, to thee and to thine,
While the water runs, and the sun doth shine,
For lack of heyrs to the king againe,
I William, king, the third year of my reign,
Give to the Norman Hunter
To me that art bothe line and deare,
The Hoppe and Hoptoune,
And al the bounds up aud downe,
Under the earth to Hell,
Above the earth to Heaven :
From me and from myne
To thee and to thine,
As good and as faire
As ever they myne were.
To witness that this i3 sooth,
I bite the white wax with my tooth.
Before Jugg, Marode, and Margery,
And my thirde son Henry,
For one Bow and Arrow,
WJten I come to hunt upon Yarrow." [Blount's Ancient Tenures, Lon. 1679.]
Sometimes a lord acted once a year as hostler,.
" holding the king's stirrup till he mounted ; " others
performed the duties of butler, cup-bearer, carver,
valet, cook, taster, &c.
Sir Hugh Courtenay, in the fourteenth century,,

80 Sheep-Walk and Wooden Spoon. [Chap. IV.
held lands of the Bishop of Exeter. Some contro
versy having arisen respecting the service, it was de
termined, A. D. 1308, that when a bishop first came
to take possession of the see, Courtenay or his heirs
should ride to the east gate of the city to meet him ;
and at the feast in honor of his installation, carry
the "first mess to the table. In consideration of
which service, [besides the lands,] the said Courte
nay and his heirs shall have, for their fee, four sil
ver dishes of those carried to the table with the first
mess — two salt cellars, one cup, wherein the bishop
shall drink at that meal — one wine pot, one spoon,
and two basons, wherein the bishop shall then
wash— all which vessels are to be of silver."
In one old English tenure, by which a right of
sheep-walk was held, the spoon was indispensable.
Every shepherd presented on New Year's Day an
apple-pie, (the crust of which contained a peck of
flour) and a sweet cake to the lord of the manor,
and carried with him "a wooden spoon." The bai
liff of the manor provided furmenty in a large dish,
sunk level with the ground, on an open space near
the manor house. Each shepherd was required to
sit down and eat of the dish — taking a spoonfull in
his turn. If any neglected to bring his spoon, he
was required to lay down on the grass and put his
lips into the dish, or forfeit the right of pasture. [See
an account of this 'Jocular Tenure,' in Hone's
Every Day Book, vol. ii. 24.]
Another alleged application of spoons is too sin
gular to be omitted in this enumeration of their uses.

Chap. IV.] Tears collected by Spoons. 81
Every person has read of the ancients collecting
tears, shed by friends of a deceased person, vand bu
rying them in a bottle with the corpse. The custom
is alluded to by the Psalmist : " Put thou my tears
in thy bottle." (Ps. lvi. 8.) Now, it is very natural
to enquire — In what manner was the fluid collect
ed and conveyed into lachrymatories ? as the little
bronze and glass or earthenware phials were named,.
Many of these are extant ; all have narrow necks,
but some have in addition a concave mouth or lip,
intended (as has been alleged) to embrace the eye,
and consequently to catch the tears as they gushed
forth. Other antiquarians think the precious drops
were gathered first in narrow spoons and transferred
by them into the phials ! Pennant has engraved a
figure of one. It resembles a marrow spoon, {See
Plate VIII.) and from its form was well calculated
for the purpose. Perhaps both modes were in vogue
— if either.
Something odd is forcibly associated with ideas of
the custom. Suppose it were revived — would it not
be a hard matter sometimes to get a moderate spoon-
full of genuine tears ? and would it not at all times
be a curious sight to witness their accumulation?
We know not how the ancients acted ; whether,
when the friends of the deceased were assembled,
a slave handed round to each a lachrymatory on a
salver, that every mourner might bottle his own tears
as he brewed them — or whether an attendant waited
with a spoon, and, on a signal from a weeper, ap
plied the instrument to the cheek and neatly caught
11

82 The Spoon among Votive Offerings. [Chap. IV
the descending pearl. It is very certain no mourner
could use the spoon himself, because he could not
direct it with sufficient celerity and precision to in
tercept the limpid stream — he would lose more than
he could secure. The whole subject, although about
tears, is fraught with matter for enticing speculation.
We must leave it, however, lest entering farther upon
it, we should forget or be unwilling to return.
The spoon has greater claims on the gratitude of
mankind than any yet named. Not satisfied with
comforting its owner through life, and assuaging his
pains at death, it used to assist in opening the gates
of heaven to his spirit ! Churches were formerly
crowded, like pagan temples, with altars, dedicated
to different saints or demigods, and many are so still.
On the walls were suspended every variety of votive
offerings, exhibiting an assortment of goods not
much unlike those in a modern pawnbroker's shop.
A vast amount of plate, jewels, table linen and fur
niture was accumulated by officiating priests. Spoons
often figure in catalogues of this holy merchandise ;
hence they not only fed the bodies of men, but were
believed to contribute to the salvation of their souls.
If there are people now-a-days who doubt the effi
cacy of such donations to the church, on their own
heads be the effects of their infidelity. Houses, land,
mines, manors, fish-ponds, and all kinds of real es
tate, were given to the church with the same view.
Thomas Caupemanura gave "to God and Saint
Mary of Furness an oxgang of land," A. D. 1269.
"Radulph de Bethum gave to the Abbey of Furness,

Chap. IV.] Gifts to the Church — Ancient Wash Basin. 83
for the good of his own soul, and his wife Ingrith's
soul, a saltwork," &c. — Adam de Asmunderlawe
left funds to provide two pounds of wax for the
church, at the feast of the Purification, for ever.
Margaret de Boyvill, with the consent of her chil
dren, confirmed to the monks of Furness a rent of
eight shillings "for the good of the soul of Robert
her husband." — [Antiquities of Furness, 1774.]
Richard Qwykke, surgeon, by will, dated Novem
ber 18, 1501, ordered his body to be buried in the
cathedral, before the image of St. Ursula ; and be
queathed {pro salute anima) " to the altar of St.
James, in the said church, a cloth of diaper ; to the
altar of St. Ursula, a plain towel marked with black
silk ; to the altar of Jesu and of St. Ursula, to make
either of them an altar-cloth, a fyne shete ; to the
gentlemen's table in the hall, to wash daily therein,
a bason of laton [brass] and an ewer with a rose in
the middle. Item, three sylver sponcs, an ownce
of broken sylver and three shillings in money, to
make the spones in the fratrie, an honest dosyn : —
item, to our Lady Jeson, a purse of gold and beryl,
and coral stones to be broidered about it, and five
pence in money : — item, six shillings and eight pence
to buy a marbyl stone to lye upon his grave." — -
[History and Antiquities of Rochester, Lon. 1772.]
The vessel with a rose in the middle was probably
¦ similar to the brass basins still used in Egypt and
other parts of the East. At the bottom is a cavity,
covered by a rose or strainer. At the beginning
and conclusion of a meal, a person washes his hands

84 Koran — Malediction. [Chap. IV.
by holding them over it, while a servant pours water
upon them. The liquid instantly disappears be
neath the strainer, and the attendant presents the
purifying apparatus to the next person, who makes
his ablutions without perceiving any of the fluid
used by his predecessor.
According to the Koran, the spoon is not confined
to the earth, but contributes to the joys of the faithful
in heaven. The disciples of the Prophet are to
imbibe nectar, and take electuaries from it there as
they do here : — but it is time to end the chapter ;
and if the reader's anger will not be excited, we will
close it with a malediction.
Every person who handles a pen is indebted to
the spoon — indebted to it for his daily food ; and
yet, who among them has ever written a line in its
praise ? Shame on ye editors, poets and moralists,
who prate against ingratitude while wiping your
mouths, and superciliously pushing aside the old
servant that feeds you — preaching against that which
you practice in the act of your preaching ! How
long has this industrious and unobtrusive contributor
to your health and your comforts been sailing, like
an argosy, from you empty, and returning laden with
treasure ! Treasure which you have eagerly seized
and enjoyed, without bestowing a thought on the
bearer ! May you, then, have the grace to peruse
these pages with profit, and may your improvement
be made manifest by appreciating other household
slaves to your pleasures, for whom you have never
spoken a good word, nor even thought of the obli-

Chap. V.] Trifling. 85
gations you owe them. If you do not this much,
may you never eat rice or any other pudding again,
except a la Turke — with your fingers ; and when
sore pressed with hunger, pick up single grains with
a Chinaman's chopsticks !

CHAPTER V.
Trifling — Publishers' Rebuke — Habits qf Animals and Men
— Their Organization — Man designed for a Mechanic — Arts —
Origin of Spoons — -Descended from the Ladle and Caldron —
Original pottage — Defects qf Recorded History— Spoons coeval
with Soup — Adam and Animal Food — Artificial Forms —
Natural Utensils — Spoons qf Marine Shells — Who first beheld
the Ocean — Primitive Spoon-Handles — Devices common to all
Times — Chowder Parties — Visit to ihe Sea — The Cockle an
ancient Symbol.
It is now time to attend to the more serious part
of the subject. When schoolboys have consumed
their allotted hour at noontide in sport, their atten
tion is required to less diverting studies in-doors ; and
we, after wearying grave readers with trifling, must
endeavor to gain their forgiveness by closer atten
tion to the lesson before us. We confess proceed
ing to the remainder with reluctance, and a wish
that it was over ; because we regret to part from
those congenial spirits with whom we have hitherto
frolicked. It were unreasonable to hope for their

86 History of Man. [Chap. V,
company to the end of our task, and presumptuous
to press them to stay, lest entering on the following
chapters should be to them like passing into school
after play. We hope, however, like a veritable tru
ant, to meet them again 'as soon as school's out,'
and sooner, if the master's back should be turned.
While closing the last sentence, the bell wires
suddenly lashed the walls of our humble domicil,
making one start like an idler whose back unexpect
edly tastes the pedagogue's cane. A presentiment
came over us that all was not right ; and sure enough,
the postman handed in a note from the publishers,
reminding us that they dealt in sterling works, and
had no intention of vending ephemeral brochures —
and that unless the rest of 'the copy' was divested
of such volatile matter as pervaded the pages al
ready printed, they should not risk any more of their
money in setting up the type, and none of their re
putation in selling the work ! As there is no with
standing these men, the reader will bear in mind,
when the subject becomes remarkably dull, that it is
so in obedience to orders, and whenever a little life
or pleasantry appears, the writer has for a moment
slipped off the shackles so cruelly imposed upon him.
The history of man is more fluctuating than
waves or the wind ; its aspect is never the same for
an hour. That of animals is uniform, because they
pursue the even tenor of their way undiverted by
unnatural or visionary speculations : they live, rear
and educate their young, and die, as they ought to
do ; hence the annals of a tribe serve for the species

/HAP

. V.] Origin of Spoons. 87

wherever located, and for that species forever. Their
ideas of propriety, (they certainly have such, for a
matronly cat slaps her kitten when it does wrong,
as neatly, and frowns on it as demurely as a lady
correcting her boy — so a monkey pinches the
ear of its baby and grins its rebuke as intelligibly
as ever did M. Picard,) their manners, customs,
vocations, and devices, never vary, except where cli
mate and peculiar circumstances require slight mo
difications. Pursuing the same course through life,
one which experience has established as the best, the
present races enjoy the blessings of existence in a
degree equal to their ancestors, nor will their de
scendants partake of them in a greater.
But not so with man. Here, one people riots in
luxury ; yonder, groans another with the pangs of
penury. There, science develops new motive forces
to supercede human labor ; here, men toil like cat
tle, and not even for themselves. This community
is enlightened ; the inhabitants of a thousand others
are ignorant almost as the beasts among which they
dwell. In one place, man is a philosopher; in ano
ther, a savage. Yonder, he exists in primeval fo
rests, clothed with skins, sheltered in huts, and des
titute of the commonest conveniences ; here, he
rolls through streets in chariots, his raiment silks
and brocade — he banquets in palaces, taking his
food from plates of porcelain', with forks of silver
and spoons of gold.
The origin of spoons, like that of every primeval
device may be traced to man's organization.' Thougb

88 Natural Organs to raise Fluids. [Chap. V.
lord of this planet, he is destitute of many physical
endowments conferred on inferior beings ; but, in the
superiority of his reasoning powers, he finds a thou
sand substitutes for every deprivation ; hence, with
a tender, a comparatively feeble, and a naked body,
one unfurnished with defensive or destructive wea
pons, he overcomes the largest animals, subdues the
fiercest, overtakes the fleetest, and brings to his feet
both the feathered and finny tribes. Except him,
all things living have natural apparatus or append
ages to seek and seize their food. Such as live in
liquids, or which frequently imbibe them, are equally
provided for every emergency. The leech tribe, and
myriads of insects, extract blood by natural lancets
and cupping implements. Dogs, and the feline race,
lap or scoop up water with their tongues. The ele
phant draws it through his trunk, as through the
hose of an engine, while other quadrupeds plunge
their mouths into a stream. Some birds pump it up
as by a sucking syringe, and others hoist it mecha
nically in their bills — that is, in spoons attached to
their heads.
There is, then, a marked line of separation be
tween man and other inhabitants of the earth, in
this — he fabricates for himself artificial tools ; they
possess in their bodily organs natural ones. In other
words, he was intended to be, par excellence, a me
chanic — an inventor and maker of machines. Here
we see the arts in their origin and design are of God ;
being based on the deficiencies of our natural or
gans, and on our capacities for devising substitutes.

Chap. V.] Man destitute of them. 89
No truth shines so clear on Nature's page. With
out arts, man could not, as an animal, exist ; the
wolf, lion and bear would hunt him as their certain
prey ; but if none of these prowled in forests, the
simplest of his wants could not be realized without
implements of some form or other ; he could neither
procure water from pits, nor fruit from trees — nothing
beyond the reach of his hands. He could have no
beds to repose on, no clothes to cover nor fire to
warm him. He would be the most loathsome and
helpless of beings. The Arts make him what
he is. Essential to animal life, they also form the
ladder by which alone he rises in the scale of in
telligence. They are the foundation of all his great
ness ; and while thti world endures, those people who
cultivate them the most will be found the most
wealthy, powerful, and intelligent.
Man has no natural appendage for carrying fluids
to his lips. The half-closed hand is at best a leaky
and a poor substitute for a ladle or spoon ; conse
quently never made for either. With hot liquids, it
is wholly inapplicable. If the Creator, therefore,
designed our species to cook food and feed on warm
fluids, he also designed us to invent ready means of
heating and convenient apparatus from which to re
ceive them. Let us see how this duty has, in part,
been performed ; for the history of the spoon, so far
as it goes, is, as well as that of the caldron, the his
tory of man.
There are two views in which the origin of the
implement.may be considered : 1st, as a convenient
12

90 The Spoon a descendant of the Caldron. [Chap. V.
device for taking a mouthful of hot fluids ; 2d, its
like employment for cold ones. Though now often
used with food at natural temperatures, the spoon
proper was not invented till victuals were boiled. It
is a genuine descendant of the caldron : but comes
more directly from the ladle. Another member of
the family may here be mentioned — the basin or
bowl — for the spoon is to the latter what the ladle
is to the kettle or pot. The spoon is known in some
countries as the bowl-spoon, and the ladle as the pot-
spoon — 'cuiller a pot.'
These cognate companions are so proverbially
fond of each other's company that wherever one is, the
others are sure not to be far off. When one is men
tioned, the rest are implied — a fact of material be
nefit to us in pursuing the subject. Thus, when
the servant of Elisha put on the great pot, as di
rected, 'and poured out the pottage for the young
men to eat,' we are as certain he furnished each with a
spoon, as if the fact had been particularly detailed.
The order of precedency, then, according to seniority
or birth-right, stands thus : the kettle, the ladle, the
bowl, and the spoon.
Is it asked — When was the first pottage made ?
We cannot tell. All similar questions bring anti
quarians and historians to a stand, and for the sim
ple reason, the annals of the early ages are lost — or
rather, were never written. If we look back three
thousand years — and what are thirty centuries in this
planet's history ? — we find little else than monstrous
fables, puerile legends, and incredible traditions, in

Chap. V.] Defects of History, 91
which scarcely a ray of truth can be perceived. The
early history of man is a blank ; that of succeeding
ages, a chaos. The mythologic or legendary lore
of antiquity is of the same character as modern bar
barians give of, their ancestors and country, and about
the same reliance may be placed on one as on the
other. All savages are ignorant of their origin as
a people, and on the same snbject enlightened na
tions are little better informed.
Take what is called ancient history, and what is
it but a few isolated scraps relating to minute por
tions of the earth, and, comparatively speaking, ex
tending back but to yesterday ? What men were
doing elsewhere, absolutely nothing is known- — there
is not a whisper about them. Unheard of nations
have agitated the surface of this planet, have been
tossed to and fro by political and civil commotions,
and have sunk into the fathomless depths of the past.
Of them, neither we nor all who come after us can
learn anything. In fact, we are wholly ignorant of
the early adventures of our species. Oblivion has
swept away all memorials of the first races of men,
while the arenas of their exploits are, for aught we
know, covered by the ocean.
If the first chapters of Genesis are to be taken
in their literal sense, and the first pair of Moses for
the original progenitors of mankind, (i. e. not of a
race only, as some writers suppose,) spoons may be
dated from the epoch of Adam. They are certainly
coeval with soup, and soup with the boiling of li
quids. 'Tis true the idea of flesb meats not having

92 Adam — Lessons taught by Nature. [Chap. V.
been used in Adam's time is commonly entertained,
notwithstanding animals were offered in sacrifices,
their skins used as clothes, and the strange fact of
his second son being a breeder of cattle, (strange,
indeed, if vegetable food only was used) ; but we
are fully persuaded the old gentleman, at least dur
ing the latter part of his life, ate venison with a
relish equal to Isaac's, and conveyed pottage to his
mouth with a spoon, in the manner of Esau. Meat
broth was a favorite dish with the patriarchs, and
there is little reason to suppose antediluvian farmers
and keepers of sheep were not as fond of it as
Abraham, Jacob, or Job, or those who in later times
prepared soup for the ' sons of the prophets.'
The same instinct which leads man to seek food
leads him to cook it ; that which induces him to
quench his thirst suggests the means of carrying
fluids to his lips. Every close observer knows that
the primitive contrivances of men were counterparts
of Nature's. In all he received the first hint from
her, while in many she supplied him with the object
he wanted ready formed, or nearly so, to his hands.
This might have been expected d priori ; for, as an
ignorant pupil, placed in her school, it was necessary
that he should have examples to imitate — patterns
to copy. Without these, what could he have done
or known ? He might have felt wants, but could
not tell how t6 remove them. If natural objects
had not, like- types, impressed their images on his
mind, and their adaptation to various purposes be
come obvious to his senses, a knowledge of the

Chap. V.] Origin of Forms. 93
properties of matter, of the principles of fusing,
forging, modeling and carving it, and the influence
of figure in its modifications, would have been slowly
acquired, if acquired at- all. The development of
the intellect depends on external things ; without
these the mind would be a receptacle of dark and
shapeless visions — a chaos. If innate ideas existed,
they would have been useless, for they could have
no relation to physical creation unless derived
from it.
It would be a curious speculation to inquire what
might have been the forms of the current produc
tions of our workshops, if the Creator had molded
every object after one figure. Could the human
mind have produced the exquisite goblets and vases
of Greece and Etruria, if beauty in these and end
less other shapes had not been displayed in the
vegetable kingdom ? Where would have been the
stately column, the wreathed shaft, Corinthian capi
tal, and their appendages ? And but for mineral
and marine productions, could the primitive savage
have developed the implements upon which his ex
istence depended — tools, the parents of those on
which the happiness of civilized society rests ? We
believe he could no more have invented the bow or
sling than the musket — the spoon than the smoke-
jack. In utensils adapted for culinary purposes, nature
is lavish of her gifts. Vessels of capacity, from a
mug to a barrel, she supplies in abundance ; leaving
man simply to determine the uses to which to put

94 The first Spoons. [Chap. V.
them. Pitchers, pipkins, ladles, buckets, plates.
&c. of all sizes, are derived from the vegetable
world — from husks of cocoa-nuts, joints of bamboo,
from the calabash and other varieties of the gourd.
In the East Indies, says Dampier, ' cups, dishes,
ladles, spoons, and in a manner all eating and
drinking vessels, are made from the shell of the
cocoa-nut.' Marine shells are distinguished by na
turalists, from their resemblance to artificial devices.
One genera is named Patella, from their likeness to
a dish ; another is known as the Dippers. Of
species, there is the Haustrum or Bucket, Urceus
the Pitcher, Trocus the Cup, &c. Others are
named after the Razor, Rasp, Lancet, Awl, Bellf,
Bodkin, Needle, &c. [See Wood's Catalogue?
Lon. 1828.]
The first spoons were all natural ones. A large
class of prototypes were shells of the limpit, (a uni
valve) those of the cockle, muscle, clam, and similar
bivalvular inhabitants of salt and fresh waters.
They are so obviously adapted to convey small
quantities of liquids to the mouth, so numerous and
accessible, so neat and cleanly, that people in all
ages have used them for such purposes. [See Plate
JT.] The choicest liquors of the old Picts and Scots
were served in cockle shells ; hence, " rejoicing in
the shell," was a term with them equivalent to mo
dern expressions respecting the glass. Till recently
Highlanders drank whiskey in the same way, holding
the shell with the thumb on the thick part. Of late
years, natural shells have given place to artificial

Chap. V.] The Ocean first seen. 95
ones. [See Scottish Gael, 849.) Pearls were for
merly found in fresh-water muscles of the River
Ban, in Ulster, Ireland. The shells, says an old
gazetteer, " are used by the poor as spoons."
People now sip tea with a spoon to which the
name of the decoction has been given ; but formerly
northern ladies took it from the same kind of vessels
as their lords used for usquebaugh. Scott has an
allusion to the practice in ' St. Ronan's Well ' — the
old nabob ungallantly describes the ladies as sipping
catlap out of cockle shells.
An interesting question, could it be answered, is
here suggested : Under what circumstances were
shells originally used for artificial purposes ? Per
haps not till the ocean had been seen by human
eyes ; but no one has told us where, nor at what
epoch, this took place, nor who the individuals were.
In fact, we are ignorant of the physical condition of
the earth at the time, and of the location of the pro
genitors of our race with regard to the sea. Ages
may have elapsed ere the grand terrestrial reservoir
was made known. Who can imagine the feelings
of those who first approached the coast, and their
amazement when they reached it ! How intent they
gazed upon the rising and receding waves, and
marvelled at the breakers — at the roaring surf, as it
rushed in foam towards them ! But when their
emotions had somewhat subsided, with what rapture
did they bound along the white and glistening shore,
and seize the strangely formed and variously colored
objects ! With what volubility did they descant

96 Primitive Spoon Handles. [Chap. V.
upon them, and the uses to which to apply them !
And how gladly were these primeval travellers hailed
on returning to their homes, laden with knives, saws,
cups, spoons, and other natural utensils ! Immense
treasures must have adorned the virgin borders of
the oceanic basin at the birth of man. Shells of
every shape, and size, and hue, accumulated through
unknown periods, had laid undisturbed until our
species came.
Shells have been incorporated with the arts.
Vessels for a thousand purposes are modeled and
decorated after them. Some are perfect spoons,
including the handles. [See Plate /.] Such are
used where they abound, and of course were much
more in demand in early times. When a muscle,
cockle, or similar shell, was required for scooping
up heated fluids^ an artificial handle was necessary,
to avoid scalding the fingers : now, of what material
were the handles, and in what manner were they
attached to the bowls ? These questions may appear
unanswerable, but we think we can solve them as
certainly as if we had lived among the first spoon-
users : Man, under the same circumstances, always
adopts the same or similar devices. This is a ge
neral — a universal truth. It is the result of a species
of instinct, invariable in its impulses as in the lower
tribes ; and hence, we are sure the original mode
of putting handles to limpit, cockle, and clam shells,
was identical with that now practiced by African
negroes, American Indians, Arabs, Malays, and
mountaineers, viz. by forcing the split-end of a

Chap. V.] Nature's Horn Book — Chowder Parties. 97
short stick over the edge, as represented in the plate.
Shells of the cockle and soft clam thus make capital
spoons, and fastidious indeed must he be who cannot
relish his food from them.
Such contrivances are common to man — made
patent from the beginning, and repeated in every
age and clime. In them the origin of many useful
arts and devices may be traced. They are among
the ' early lessons,' the ' easy problems,' printed by
nature in her horn-book for mechanics ; and simple
as they are, they offer delightful matter for reflection
on the process by which man was led, step by step,
to explore and beneficially employ the wonderful
sources of pleasure and wealth placed at his disposal
— in other words, to accomplish his destiny here.
Civilized parties of pleasure, when thrown upon
their own resources to prepare food on the beach,
or inland, &c. insensibly copy the devices of untu
tored children of the forests — making spoons of
shells, forks and flesh-hooks out of pointed sticks,
knives of flint or sharp-edged shells, and handling
hot coals with tongs formed of a couple of twigs.
By placing ourselves in such situations, we can
study our species in times of which no record re
mains, and perceive how invention began and pro
gressed. A sketch of an Indian " chowder party,"
to illustrate more fully the use of shell spoons, was
prepared, but subsequent arrangements required its
exclusion and our lucubrations with it.
Perhaps no recreation, for people whose lives are
spent in cities, is so beneficial as occasional fishing
13

98 Visit to the Sea— The Cockle. [Chap. V.
trips to the sea. The fresh air, the new feelings
which floating on water gives rise to, the excitement
produced by sly fish nibbling, the palpitation con
sequent on ravenous bites, and the fluttering at heart
when the biter is fairly hooked, &c. salutarily agitate
both body and mind. The appetite created by the
sea breeze and the exercise — the hoisting of the
anchor and sailing to the shore to cook what is
caught — one preparing the pot ; another gathering
fuel ; a third, head cook ; , and a fourth converting
shells into spoons, &c. — is real enjoyment. On
such occasions the blessings of life are felt, uncon-
taminated with drawing-room rules and parlor dis
tinctions To persons dwelling far inland, a visit once in
their lives to the ocean constitutes an epoch in their
existence, and a never- failing theme of grateful re
collection and discourse. If such do not now wear
scallop shells in their hats as emblems of having had
a glimpse of the wonders of the deep, they retain
vivid impressions of the scene in their heads. The
adventure forms a pleasing reminiscence — its history
a little romance and the gem of fire-side tales.
Much learning has been expended on the cockle
as a badge of pilgrims in' the middle ages. Worn
in the hat, it indicated that the wearer had visited
the shores of the Mediterranean and the Holy Land.
But it was an emblem of Astarte, the famous Syrian
goddess. Possibly its symbolical application origin
ated from its primitive use as a spoon, and as such,
carried about the person.

Chap. VI.] Spootisfrom Horns. 99

CHAPTER VI.
Other natural Spoons — Debris of Animals — Horns — Ancient
uses of them — Horn Spoons — The Earth given to Mechanics —
Indian Spoons — Laplanders — Custom at Highland Christenings
— Homers — Proverbs — Ivory — Wood, and its importance to
Man — Wooden Spoons — Invention scarcely a human attribute —
Wooden Spoons from Africa and Oceanica — American Indian
Spoon. Another class of natural spoons was, and still is,
derived from the animal kingdom ; from horns of
goats, sheep, the bison, buffalo, ox, &c. Animals
are the oldest occupants of this planet, and man the
youngest. Their previous existence through count
less ages was necessary to prepare the earth for his
reception ; to impart to it a suitable soil for the
growth of grain and every kind of vegetable food —
to put it into a condition, that when he appeared, he
might become " a tiller of the ground." Having
done this, unknown multitudes retired forever from
the scene : probably the changed condition of the
earth was no longer fitted for their continuance.
Bones, horns, and other organic debris must have
been exceedingly numerous at the birth of our spe
cies. Scattered on mountains, strewed over prairies
and forests, they were met with every where, for ere
man appeared they lay unmolested till dissolved by
the elements. At first, they would be viewed as
mementos of death— curious relics of beings which

100 Primitive Application of Horns. [Chap. VI.
had careered in life, and had laid down and died.
Strange must have been the remarks made on them,
singular the reflections they suggested. But when
time and familiarity with them overcame a natural
repugnance to handle such relics of mortality, the
properties of buffalo and other horns would become
obvious, and eventually implements and utensils be
formed of them. The ancients had altars built
wholly of horns, and Plutarch (in Theseus) mentions
one formed of " left-sided horns."
Horns were the first trumpets : perhaps the first
musical instruments, of which some are still named
after them, as the French-horn, bugle-horn, &c.
Primeval cups were natural horns. The Greeks,'
Romans, Celts, and all the people of antiquity drank
out of such. To ' take a horn' was, and still is, an
expression equivalent to quenching the thirst. Tum
blers and other drinking vessels are yet occasionally
called horns. Bows were anciently made of horn,
and archers wore ferules of the same material on their
thumbs. Ink-horns have been used since writing ¦Q
was practiced, while combs, pins, needles, lanterns,
knife-hafts, and spoons, &c, have been formed of
the substance since such things were invented. As
with other materials, its adaptation for one purpose
quickly suggested its appropriation to another.
Little art was required to cut or carve spoons out
of horn. The substance is soft, and by holding it to
the fire, or immersing it in warm water becomes
more so, and susceptible of being bent into any po
sition or receiving any impression. From its plastic

Chap. VL] The Earth given to Artisans. 101
properties, it was well calculated for man to practice
on in the beginning of his apprenticeship to the arts.
The lessons he learned by it prepared him to under
take less pliant materials, as bone, ivory, wood, me
tals, &c. Every advantage gained from one acted
as a stimulus to proceed to others. In this way the
useful professions began and progressed till they
became what they are at this day.
Horn spoons are small matters, but their material
was the first animal substance employed in the fab
rication of implements, and they themselves were
among the first things made of it. When it is re
membered that man's existence and improvement
through all time was to depend on the development
of his character as a mechanic ; that this was to be
his distinguishing attribute, one in which he ap
proaches the nearest to the Creator — for what are
the useful and ornamental arts but sources of physi
cal and mental refinement, and what the universe
but tangible, beneficent mechanism — it certainly is
not useless to recur to those early lessons which con
tributed to form that character.
If the earth was given into the charge of one class
of men more than others, it was to intelligent arti
sans — a term including farmers — they support all.
Without them no other class could exist, and nature
would resume the phase she wore before our species
came. If our first parents were located, as gen
erally imagined, at a distance from the sea, horn
spoons were probably in use before those made of
shells. Dispersed over the earth wherever animals

102 Indian Horn Svoons. [Chap. VI.
roamed, horns were always at hand, and no doubt
were often used in their natural forms, as exhibited
in Figures 1, 2, 3, Plate I, or with slight alterations.
The Figures marked 4 and 5 are American Indian
spoons, in the Philadelphia Museum. They are
made of buffalo horns, but present nothing remarka
ble. The first is plain and about seven inches long.
The other is much the same in size ; the end of the
handle being the natural termination of the horn,
which was probably that of a cow or calf. The horns
of the buffalo cow are much smaller than those of
the bull. The bowls of both implements are shal
low. Northern Indians have spoons, which hold
several quarts, obtained from the animal named
Gros Come, or " Big Horn." In travelling they
scoop up water with them to quench their own thirst
and that of their dogs, which drag their sledges or
carry their packs. Pliny (xi. 37,) mentions barba
rians of the north drinking out of buffalo horns which
contained several gallons, and were probably used
as with our Indians, for buckets, scoops and spoons.
The natives of Nootka Sound prepare a species of
broth by putting flesh of the dolphin in a square
wooden trough containing water. Heated stones
are then thrown in, by means of cleft sticks, till the
meat be sufficiently stewed. They sup the broth
"with a .large spoon or scoop, made of horn."
[Cook's Voyages.] The Greenlanders boil meat in
wooden dishes of fir wood, and " drink the soup or
eat it with spoons made of horn or wood." In the
regions of Behring's Straits flesh is stewed in cylin-

Chap. VI.] Laplanders — Scotch Highlanders. 103
drical caldrons, formed of the rind of the birch, the
only tree that withstands the rigor of arctic win
ters. The liquid is heated by stones, and the decoc
tion supped with " large horn spoons."
Laplanders carry a little bag hanging over the
breast. Divided into two compartments, it contains
in one tobacco and a pipe, a tinder-box and a
spoon in the other. Some of the rich possess two
or three pewter dishes and a few silver spoons, but
the general household furniture consists of a brass
or copper kettle, often a stone one, wooden bowls of
birch wood, a basket, "and horn spoons." Infants
are fed with milk through a small opening made in
the end of a horn. The flesh of the rein-deer is the
principal food, and generally boiled : it is previously
cut into small pieces, which, when eaten, are dipped
into liquid fat and " washed down by a ladleful of
broth taken occasionally during the repast."
An old account of the Scotch Highlanders states
that when a child was christened, it was put in a
basket along with bread and cheese, and handed
across the fire or suspended on the pot-hook or
trammel ! Immediately afterwards a dish of " crow-
die" (a mixture of oatmeal and hot water) was hand
ed round, and each person present " took three horn
spoonfuls." This was designed to counteract the
power of evil spirits and witches ! The custom of
passing the child over a fire is analogous to one com
mon in China. When a bride first reaches the resi
dence of her husband, she is lifted by matrons over
a brazier of charcoal. Horn spoons were considered

J 04 Homers. — Proverbs. [Chap. VI.
in old times as "the meetest instruments to eat fur-
menty and porage withall." [Nichol's Progresses oj
Elizabeth.] The working of horn is one of the old professions
descended to us through the Romans. Pliny enu
merates a variety of uses to which the material was
put in his time ; one was inlaid work, for which pur
pose it was stained with different colors. It was al
so, he says, much used for lanterns, being " cut into '
thin plates :" (xi. 37.) In the early acts passed by
the English Parliament for the protection of trades
and handicrafts, 'homers' are often mentioned. At
their solicitation the importation of 'horns for lan-
thorns' was expressly forbidden by an act of Rich.
II. A.D. 1480. Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Na
tions, speaks of the exportation of horns being pro
hibited for the benefit of two insignificant trades —
that of the homer and comb-maker.
The antiquity of proverbs goes back to the infancy
of our race. One of the oldest extant, though only
occasionally now met with, may here be mentioned,
as it shows how common horn spoons at one time
were. ' To make a spoon or spoil a horn' was an
ancient mode of expressing a determination to ac
complish an object at whatever risk or however
thwarted. The incident on which it is based must
have been constantly occurring in primitive times,
and to some extent it occurs in all times. In attempt
ing to make a spoon, the horn was often frittered
away by bunglers, until sufficient material was not
left for the smallest object. A farmer selected a log

JYafe 4*

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Chap. VI.] Carving — Ivory. 105
of timber to make a gate, but he sawed, chopped,
and planed, until what barely sufficed for a rail was
left — hence the saying, ' To spoil a tree or make a
rail.' Spaniards have the idea in another form :
they say, in shaping the skirts of a gown, the material
was cut down to a sleeve — cloth for a coat to a cuff.
The Romans took the maxim from a potter, who,
undertaking to make an enormous jar, turned out a
small saucer.
The leisure incident to rural and pastoral life eli
cited the art of carving — one of the earliest of human
arts, and what can be said of few, one that has been
practiced in considerable perfection by most savages.
It necessarily developed the peculiar properties of
solid materials, and in so doing, must have originated
many inventions. It is the most prominent mechan
ical profession mentioned in the Old Testament, and
was carried to a wonderful extent by people of old.
After horn, bone and ivory were used for personal
ornaments and useful implements in the first ages ;
for pins, knives, spoons, and a hundred other matters.
Ivory formed a large item in the commerce of
Tyre. (Ezek. xxvii.) Solomon imported it from In
dia. We read in both sacred and profane authors
of beds, thrones, and even houses built of it. It
seems to have been as much used for spoons as it is
at this day. Some ancient Egyptian ones will be
shortly noticed. The famous Curule chairs were
Wrought from those valued tusks Syene lends,
Which the swart Moor, or swarthier Indian sends
From Nabath's forest, where the unwieldly beast
Drops his huge burden of its weight released.
[.Juvenal, xi. Sat. — Badham.]
14

106 Wood— The Earth a Workshop. [Chap. Vi.
A material difference in the properties of horn and
ivory must quickly have been seen by the patriarchs
of the arts. The former softened by heat, retains
when cold, impressions stamped on it ; but the latter
and bone must be carved in detail. Spoons formed
of marine shells are not used by all people, but those
of bone, ivory, or horn, are everywhere met with.
How beneficial to men have the horns, &c, of
quadrupeds been. More durable than the rest of
their bodies, and possessing peculiar properties, they
would seem to have been ordained as a material for
useful manufactures. We forget half the obliga
tions we owe the lower tribes, when we forget the
numberless uses to which their skins, hair, bones,
&c, are put.
Another substance of primitive spoons was wood.
The earth, as one of Nature's work-shops, is stored
with every kind of stock its occupants can require.
It is the same throughout the Universe ; for all phys
ical beings are artisans, and every orb an atelier in
which they are at work. The proprietor of these
wonderful establishments employs, we may presume,
in each a distinct order of intelligent laborers, and
supplies them with materials adapted to their capa
cities and wants. Compared with the magnitude of
others, this globe is one of the Creator's minor es
tablishments, and we, in whose charge it is placed,
may be among the least intellectual and skillful of
his artificers. When first man took possession, the
development of his energies, and the direction given
them depended upon the natural productions around

Chap. VI.] Wood — Its importance lo Man. 107
him. These necessarily arrested his attention, ex
cited his curiosity, and became identified with his
existence, his habits, thoughts and pursuits.
Of terrene substances, none has exercised a great
er influence over human destiny than wood* None
is more indispensable — hence we find it diffused
over all lands. Its consumption is enormously large,
and as an indication that it was designed to be so,
provision is made, in the reproductive powers of
plants and trees, to secure a supply for all genera
tions. Without wood, man had probably never used
fire, nor known what artificial light and heat meant.
He would have been a troglodyte. The metals had
not been worked : for want of fuel ores had not been
reduced. Wood is the basis of the arts, savage or re
fined. It is the key which first unlocked the agri
cultural and mineral treasures stored away in the
vaults of this terrestrial factory. No substance is
more extensively used, and few, if any, possess so
rich a variety of qualities, or have been applied to
such a multitude of purposes. Essential in the con
struction of the palace as the hut ; the primitive
bridge as well as ship or canoe ; the great agent of
domestic conveniences to rich and poor ; it consti
tutes the elaborate furniture of the one and the home
liest utensil of the other — the spoon.
Unlike those made of vegetable, of horn, or ma
rine shells, every feature of wooden spoons is brought
out by art. Still they can hardly be deemed a hu
man invention, since they are but imitations (in an
other material) of natural types. Indeed, so far as

108 Invention — Man little claim to it. [Chap. VI.
relates to figure man has little claim to originality —
it is not in his power to produce a purely new form
— all that he has done or can do is to copy, modify,
combine and apply those which nature has given.
Every artificial object, no matter how irregular or
uniform its contour, is a proof of this — the stately
column or elaborate capital, an ordinary goblet, a
pipkin, a pyramid, or a spoon.
As regards natural utensils, little mental effort
was required to determine or extend their applica
tion. Their fitness for certain purposes— as shells
for cups, scoops, and spoons; gourds for buckets,
bottles, vases, ladles, caldrons, &c. — was so obvious
that they were adopted at once ; and when artificial
ones were introduced, they only so far deviated in
figure and dimensions as change of circumstances
suggested. All our vessels of capacity retain a re
semblance to their originals — art may disguise the
likeness, but cannot obliterate it. Invention in its
strictest sense is applicable only to God — with man
it merely signifies imitation and combination — all
his works are reducible to these, and he can never
exhaust them.
We have no accounts of wooden spoons in very
remote times. History descends not to such things,
and no important fact is recorded with which they
were associated. But what could history have told
us about them which we do not know ? We are
sure they bore a general resemblance to those now
made, were applied to the same uses, and fabricated,
chiefly, by the same class of men. Specimens of

Chap. VI.] Spoons from Africa and Oceanica. 109
Egyptian and Roman ones are extant, but before re
ferring to them we shall notice a few produced by
modern barbarians, to serve as samples of those
made by uncivilized man in the first ages. In me
chanical devices, in tools, modes of operating, taste
for, and style of ornament, the untutored child of
nature is ever the same.
Figures 6 and 7, Plate I, are African wooden
spoons. The first is from Tome V. page 188, of
Histoire Generate des Voyages, Hague, 1748. It is
represented along with jewelry, furniture, pots,
knives, &c. made by negroes on the western coast
of Africa.
Figures 8 and 9 are from the Fejee Islands.
They are made of a light wood resembling beech,
and are as neatly finished as the ordinary wooden
spoon of civilized countries. The bowls are nearly
circular and 2_- inches over — the handles 6£ and 7
inches long. Both are ornamented, but Fig. 9 the
most. The front and back part of the handle are
stained of a dark brown color — the effect of scorch
ing the surface by drawing a hot stone or other
smooth body over it. Waving, dotted, and other
lines of a light color are then produced by cutting
through the dark surface — a species of ornament af
fording room for great variety of patterns, and skill
in working them out.
Fig. 10. Another spoon from the South Sea Is
lands, and preserved in the Philadelphia Museum.
The bowl is round ; the handle of a peculiar form,
and not inelegant. The ornamental spots, at the

110 Specimen of American Indian Spoons. [Chap. VI.
lower part, are openings cut entirely through — a fea
ture common in Persian spoons. The entire length
is about six inches.
Fig. 11. A very neatly made spoon, deviating
considerably from ours both in the bowl and handle.
The former is oblong, pear-shaped, and 3_- inches in
length ; the latter, attached to the smaller end, is an
inch longer. This spoon is of sandal wood. Both
it and Figs. 8 and 9 are from Dr. Chilton's cabinet*
New-York. Fig. 12. A singular specimen of American In
dian spoons in the Philadelphia Museum. It is of a
dark colored wood, and about eight inches in length.
The handle terminates in a wolf's head, upon which
stands a human figure with a high cap, in a bent
position, and with the arms raised in front of the
breast, somewhat as in the attitude of prayer. It has
been supposed that the natural form of the root or
branch of which the spoon was made, suggested the
figures. This may have been true ; but there is a
beautiful moral in the characters given them, wheth
er intended or not. The animal, whose head is here
carved, is the universal emblem of hunger. To
'keep the wolf from the door,' is to keep famine
from a house. Now, no people on earth are more
familiar with the literal and metaphorical wolf than
the Indians of North America, and none are more
accustomed to invoke the ' Great Spirit' for power to
keep them at bay. What device, then, more ex
pressive, and, of all things in the world, more appro
priate for a spoon, than a man praying for bread on

Chap. VIL] Spoons unknown in Polynesia. Ill
the head of a wolf! The idea is in character with
the symbolic imagery of the aborigines, and we
question if a more comprehensive and beautiful one
can be drawn from the works of classical artists.
The few spoons on Plate I. are, of course, mere
specimens. Savages are known to vary their forms,
proportions, and ornaments, as much almost as edu
cated artists. In some respects they display a tact
and resource which enlightened mechanics would
hardlv think of.

CHAPTER VII.
Spoons unknown in Polynesia — People of Guinea at Dinner
— Spoons qf the Peruvians and Asiecs — Caldron and Spoon
indigenous to Northern Climes — Hot Fluids and Ultra Dietists
— Warm Drinks sold in Pompeii — Chinese Opinion — Natural
Aliment of the Esquimaux — A Fuegian eating Fresh Fish —
Cooking — Original Sin — Sacrifices — Athenian Boiling Feast
— Anglo-Saxons — Unsavory Superstitions — Persians — Guata-
malian Kitchen — Tartar Cookery — Laplanders — Greenlanders
— Cosmetics and Domestic Economy in the Polar Regions.
It should be remarked that, notwithstanding the
preceding specimens of spoons from the South Seas,
there is no question of the implements being in ma
ny parts of Oceanica a modern innovation. In the
Sandwich and other islands of Polynesia they were
unknown till introduced by whalemen or national

112 People of Guinea at Dinner. [Chap. VII.
navigators. The inhabitants did not use them, be
cause they had no use for them. They had no idea
of heating liquids, and no vessels (except a small
wooden bowl) in which to heat them. It was the
same with most if not all the people of Australasia.
Their cookery was confined to roasting and baking.
Rutherford says the New Zealanders never drank
any thing hot or warm. Their only vessel for hold
ing water was the calabash which they never dreamt
of turning to a boiler or skillet.
Some African tribes use the spoon, but many do
not ; yet all are acquainted with the process of ma
king pottage. Villault, speaking of Negroes on the
coast of Guinea, says : 'lis mangent avec beaucoup
de mal proprete. Leurs ongles leur servent de
couteau ; et n'ayant ni fourchettes ni cuillers : ils se
lancent avec les doigts chaque morceau dans le
gozier. On les voit porter tous ensemble la main
au plat, et prendre leurs ragouts a poignees.' [His
toire Generate, Tome V. 197.] To take up solid
and even semifluid food (as boiled rice) with the
fingers, is of great antiquity. The custom prevails
universally in the Eastern world, except China ; but
this is not owing to ignorance of the spoon, either
with Africans or Asiatics. If neither use the imple
ment in eating rice, it invariably assists them to cook
that great pabulum of life.
Perhaps it may be doubted whether the aborigines
of America had the spoon previous to the arrival of
white people : most of them certainly had. Here,
as in other parts of the earth, wherever the caldron

Chap. VIL] Montezuma — Brazilians. 113
was known, spoons were in use. The Peruvians
had them of silver and gold ; so had the Mexicans.
The Astecs, in their feasts, ablutions, and table fur
niture, approached in many respects to Asiatic cus
toms. They kept meats warm with chafing dishes.
The tables of the wealthy were ornamented with
vases of silver and sometimes of gold ; 'their drink
ing cups and spoons were of the same costly mate
rials.' Montezuma took no other beverage than
chocolate flavored with vanilla and other spices, so
prepared as to be reduced to a froth of the consist
ency of honey, which gradually dissolved in the
mouth. This beverage, if so it could be called, was
served in golden goblets, with spoons of the same
metal, or of tortoise-shell, finely wrought.' [Pres-
cott's Mexico.]
But the less refined people of both continents
were found in possession of the caldron and spoon.
The brutalized Brazilians boiled victuals in earthen
vessels, and used knives of flint and spoons of wood
and horn. [See Lafitau's Mceurs des'Sauvages, Tome
I. 572, Plate 19, and Tome II. 114.] The Virginia
Indians had clay pipkins of a very superior quality,
and wooden bowls, &c. of their own manufacture.
[Phil. Trans. Abrid. III. 572, and' IX 474.] The
Mandans, a tribe now nearly extinct, still fabricate
earthen caldrons as their ancestors did. They alone,
of those occupying the Missouri valley, are believed
to make them.
The boiler and spoon would seem to be indige
nous and indispensable tp northern climes. The
15

114 Hot Fluids and Ultra Dietists. [Chap. VH.
former, made sometimes of a skin, at other times of
wood, and the latter of horn, bone, &c. are used at
this day, as they ever have been since man first took
possession of the arctic regions. A few Indians about
Hudson's Bay purchase brass kettles at the facto
ries, but the greater part prepare their food in the
large upright boilers of birch already mentioned.
When animal food is scarce, and it often is so, they
have no resource but to make pottage with a species
of moss that collects on stones. To render it palat
able or nutritive boiling is essential.
The utility of hot fluids is a mooted point, but it
is not our intention to discuss it. If they are not
natural to people in high latitudes, they are to none,
and the caldron and spoon, as vehicles for preparing
and receiving them, must be denounced as injurious
devices. If heated decoctions are violations of na
ture's laws, warm or hot food of every description
must be deemed such, whether taken in sickness or
in health ; but who, except the most ultra of dietists,
will believe this — men that not only reject animal
food but every artificial preparation of aliment — who
insist that we should eat only raw fruit and unground
grain, and drink nothing. Of course, mills then
should be abolished as enervating inventions, pre
venting people from grinding their own grist with
their natural grinders. On the same principle,
clothing, dwellings, and fire might be dispensed
with ; for within the tropics people make litle use of
the first, and not much of the second ; while the
Terra del Fuegians can endure their severe climate

Chap. VIL] Cooking — Chinese. 115
apparently without the other. Abandon the use of
fire in cooking, and there would be little demand for
fuel even within the temperate zones. Probably
three-fourths of the arts connected with the working
of metals are more or less allied to the dining-room,
kitchen, and toilet.
Nearly every device characteristic of civilization
might with equal propriety be abolished ; not triflng
things only, as knives and forks, in place of teeth
and fingers ; plates and dishes, for leaves and slabs
of slate ; napkins, instead of wiping the mouth with
the hand ; but articles of dress, as shoes, that su
persede the thick and more elastic soles which na
ture bestows on those who go barefoot ; straw, bea
ver and other fancy coverings for the head, when
she is ready to furnish gratis matted or felted caps
to all who have no dealings with the hatter.
Beneficial or not, the ancients had shops expressly
fitted up for the sale of hot drinks. Several Ther-
mopolia have been discovered in Pompeii, with the
urns in which the decoctions were made, and fur
nished with metallic heaters and cocks, like our tea
and coffee urns. The Chinese (a pretty good au
thority as far as relates to antiquity of customs con
nected with domestic life) drink all their beverages
warm. Cold liquids, even pure water, they say, en
genders disease. Ice is employed by them to cool
meats and fruits, but not to refrigerate water. [Chi
nese Repos. III. 464.]
Animal .diet and warm fluids may be dispensed
with in some countries, but not everywhere. It is as

116 Natural Aliment of the Esquimaux. [Chap. VII.
absurd to suppose that man can in civilized society
live in the manner of the savage, as that he could
in all climates exist on the same food. Under the
influence of science and the division of labor conse
quent upon an advanced state of the arts, the physi
cal as well as the mental constitution is changed, and
a different aliment required to sustain the one as
well as the other. If the Creator designed the arc
tic regions of our planet to be inhabited, he designed
man to sustain himself there on animal food, since,
generally speaking, no other is within his reach, and
in some parts absolutely no other. Besides food,
the Esquimaux derive material for clothing, dwel
lings, light and fuel from the whale, seal, and a few
land animals. Olaus Magnus, speaking of the wild
people of the north in his time, says, "they dwell in
caves made of the bones and ribs of sea-monsters ;
they live without bread, but only on fish and deer."
Pulse, grain, fruit or roots are not to be had ; but if
they were actually produced by the soil the natives
could not live upon them there.
With these people, then, the use of animal food
cannot be wrong, nor the cooking of it a crime. In
deed, so far as they are concerned the kettle and
spoon may be considered of divine origin ; though
like more valuable gifts in more favored climes, these
implements are too often neglected ; for the brutal- *
ized men and women of the north frequently feed,
like the bear, on raw flesh ; while at the opposite ex
tremity of the continent, the Fuegian, on catching
a fish, is in the habit of taking it by the gills and

Chap. VIL] Cooking — Original Sin. 117
instantly making a repast on the struggling victim —
lowering the tail into his mouth somewhat like a
Neapolitan swallowing strings of macaroni : thus
literally obeying the injunctions of those reformers
who denounce " every species of cookery as pollut
ing the food which the God of our natures has pro
vided for the sustenance of man."
So far as history goes, people without cooking
have ever been savages, and no refined nations ever
eat their food raw. Individual and partial excep
tions may of course be found. Cato, the censor, sel
dom drank anything but water, and often ate dinner
prepared without fire. Epieurus is slandered as a
voluptuary, for his ordinary diet was bread and wa
ter, pulse, milk and cheese. The cynics lived aus
terely, water being their beverage, and the ground
their bed. Diogenes, it is well known, lived more
like a brute than a gentleman : his manners too were
allied to those of a Hottentot. But some modern
ascetics leave the most eccentric of the ancients be
hind, for they reject not merely flesh meats, but
bread, salt, milk, and even water itself! contending
that juices of fruits and herbs yield fluid sufficient
for the human system ; and as animals bake not nor
boil, make neither puddings, porridge nor pies^— they
conclude such things are superfluous to us : nay,
some look on cooking as orignal sin — as the very
crime for which Adam and his consort were driven
out of Eden ! — not satisfied with celestial food, it
is said they began to improve (i. e. to spoil) it by
art, and were therefore expelled, that they might

118 Sacrifices — Boiling Eeast. [Chap. VH.
carry their wicked devices elsewhere. Hence the
nature of their punishment, and why so large a por
tion was inflicted on Eve ; she being the original
transgressor and the greater sinner of the two, just
as all her daughters, in the same respect, have been
since ; for where food is spoiled by cooking, it is wo
man generally who still commits the crime.
Boiled meats have been common from the earliest
periods which history has noticed, and according
to the scriptures, with divine approbation. Sacri
fices were so frequently boiled that capacious cal
drons were permanently erected near temples for the
purpose. As the virtue of the flesh was extracted
by the soup, spoons must have been in as great de
mand at Jewish and heathen festivals as knives, flesh-
forks, or any other implement of the table. [See
Ewbank's Hydraulics, p. 392.]
The Athenians had an annual boiling-feast, dating
back to the times of Theseus and the fabulous Mino
taur. It was instituted, according to Plutarch, to
commemorate the return of the hero and his compan
ions from their perilous adventure at Crete, and arose
from the fact of their having made a species of olla-
podrida the moment they got safe ashore — mixing the
remains of their provisions, " and boiling them in one
pot." Theseus is supposed to have been contempo
rary with Gideon, and to have flourished 1350 B. C.
about 1400 years before his ancient biographer.
The Anglo-Saxon and contemporary people
chiefly boiled their meat. Large houses had "a
boiling place for small meats and a boiling house

Chap. VH.] Unsavory Superstitions. 119
for the great boiler." One resistless argument that
nature designed men to prepare food by fire is de
rived from the fact that some roots, upon which
large portions of mankind live, are positively noxious
if eaten without being cooked — the potato is a suffi
cient example. In some parts of the earth water for
drinking requires to be boiled to render it whole
some. Several ancient people besides the Persians
found this necessary.
Most northern nations have been noticed for a
want of cleanliness, especially in cooking. The fur
ther northward we proceed, the less regard for this
virtue appears. It diminishes with degrees of lon
gitude, and within the arctic may be said to have
vanished. But it is not confined to one people or
one continent. We shall conclude this chapter with
a few examples of unsavory superstitions, of which
some have direct reference to the ladle and spoon.
Let not the reader who is particular in his tastes
turn sick at the manners of his species, for not many
ages have elapsed since his forefathers became freed
from practices as filthy and foolish as any about to
be noticed.
The polite and effeminate Persian grandee, so
scrupulous in his ablutions and personal purity, takes
up his food with his hands, and dreads to change
his table cover. "On the ground before us," ob
serves Mr. Morier, in describing a dinner given to
the British embassy by the governor of Bushire,
"was spread the sofra, a fine chintz cloth, which per
fectly entrenched our legs, and which is used so

120 Irish — Scotch — Guatamalian Kitchen. [Chap. VIL
long unchanged that the accumulated fragments of
former meals collect into a musty paste and emit no
very savory smell ; but the Persians are content, for
they say that changing the sofra brings ill luck."
Irish women were formerly described as very " un
mannerly [unwomanly] in making butter," because
they held it extremely unlucky to wash their milk-
vessels ! But the daughters of St. Patrick were not
alone addicted to this filthy superstition. In some
parts of Scotland the same prejudice to soap and
water exists or did recently exist. It is humorously
referred to in the Cottages of Glenburnie : " 'Don't
you clean the churn before you put in the cream ?'
asked Mrs. Mason. ' Na, na,' returned Mrs. McClar-
ty ; ' that wadna be canny ye ken. Naebody herea
bouts wad clean their kirn for ony consideration. I
never hard o' sic a thing in a' my life !' "
' Dirt bodes luck' is an old Scottish proverb.
In the middle ages in Europe, candle-bearers in
large houses were allowed, among other perquisites,
the broken meat which the king or lords spilt on the
floor from their plates ! No wonder that kings' houses
were then littered with straw like modern stables.
Most travellers complain of South American cook
ery. Among others, Dunn, in<xuatamala, observes,
" The whole of these messes were prepared under a
shed, in a large dirty yard, which served as a kitchen,
and was full of filth of all kinds. The knowledge
of this, with the sight of the servants had no tendency
to quicken our appetites. The spoons, cups, knives,
and forks were of silver."

Chap. VH.] Tartar Cookery. 121
Bell, in passing through Tartary, in the suite of
the ' Russian Embassador to Pekin,' mentions a hos
pitable matron, whose cooking was not quite to his
taste. Entering. a tent, the mistress immediately set
to work to make him and his companions some tea.
After placing a large iron kettle over the fire, she
wiped it out with a horse's tail which hung. in one
corner of the tent. Then some water was put in,
coarse bohea tea, and a little salt. When near boil
ing, she took a large brass ladle and tossed the tea
till the liquid became quite brown. It was next ta
ken off the fire and poured into another vessel. The
kettle was now again wiped out with the same im
plement as before, and a paste, made of meal and
butter, put in and fried ; some cream taken from a
sheep-skin was added. The tea previously made
was poured in, and the whole beat together with the
ladle. After being allowed to cool, it was handed
round in wooden bowls.
Maundeville, who 500 years before, seems to have
passed through Tartary on his way to or from China,
says : "The Tartarienes ban gret conscience, and
holden it for a gret synne to casten a knyf in the
fuyr, and for to drawe flessche out of a pot with a
knyf. . . .Thei eten but littille bred, but zif it be in
the courtes of grete Lordes. And thei han not in
many places nouther pesen ne benes, ne non other
potages, but the brothe of the flessche. For littille
ete thei ony thing but flessche and the brothe. And
whan thei han eten, thei wypen hire hondes upon
hire skirtes; for thei usen non naperye ne towayelles,
16

J 22 Laplanders — Greenlanders. [Chap. Vll.
but zif it be before grete Lordes. . . . And whan thei
han eten, thei putten hire dissches vnwasschen in to
the pot or cawdroun with remenant of the flessche
and of the brothe, til thei wole eten azen." [Tra
vels, cap. xxiii.]
The cookery of the Laplanders is generally per
formed by men, and inthe dirtiest manner possible.
It is said "the dishes and spoons are seldom washed,
or at most, only by squirting water upon them from
the mouth, and rubbing them with tlieir fingers !"
A favorite dish is made by boiling in a deer's paunch
a mixture of minced meat, blood, and fat ; "but the
fat is previously chewed by the men and boys to
prepare it for mixing more intimately with the other
ingredients !" [Ed . Encyc. Arts. Lapland — Hudson
Bay.]
With the Greenlanders, " the color and odor of
the last dish are left to remove those of a former
one." When a stranger is present, the woman of
the house takes a piece of meat from the kettle, licks
off the scum and blood, and presents it to him in her
bands. This is considered a mark of respect — to
decline on his part an insult ! The inhabitants of
the Marquesas are still more polite : at San Chris
tina it is considered an act of civility to offer the
food already chewed, to a friend, that he may have
no other trouble than that of swallowing it ! Verily,
there is no accounting for tastes. The aboriginal
women of Brazil prepared an intoxicating drink by
masticating manioc, and boiling the substance thus
reduced to a pulp. So the ladies of Otaheite made

Chap. VIIL] Cosmetics, fyc. in Polar Regions. 123
a beverage for their lords by chewing yava and spit
ting the juice into a bowl, when it was mixed with
cocoa-nut liquor, and left to ferment.
All the inhabitants of the polar regions resemble
each other in their manners and customs. Their
bodies are coated with a varnish of dirt and grease,
the accumulation of years^the color of the surface
beneath being as effectually concealed as in articles
covered with paint or japan. With regard to the
kitchen, Esquimaux dames would seem to bear off
the palm, since they cleanse every culinary utensil,
the caldron as well as the spoon, with their tongues ;
continuing the operation as long as a particle of
blubber remains. When Captain Parry bought a
lamp of a matron, the economical owner licked it
quite clean, devouring the soot and oil with which it
was covered, as forming no part of the bargain, and
too precious to be given away.

CHAPTER VIII.
Antiquarian Value of Ancient Table Furniture — People of
Egypt— Specimens of their Spoons — Humorists — Other Spoons
of Ivory, Bronze and Wood — Salt and Salt- Cellar — Roast
Goose in Egypt — Golden Spoons of the Tabernacle and Temple
— Simpula of Wood, Bronze and Gilt — Reflections.
Having given samples of primitive spoons formed
of shells, horn, and wood, we might proceed to
the introduction of those made of pewter, brass,

J 24 Ancient Table Utensils. [Chap. VHI.
iron, silver and other metals — of which some were
Undoubtedly made in ages anterior to those of histo
ry ; but all would be sheer conjecture. The fortunes
of the first races of men have not been recorded —
much less the adventures of their spoons. We shall
therefore confine our future observations chiefly to
actual specimens, arranged in chronological order
and beginning with the oldest extant.
It would have been an agreeable task to have
traced a connection in the table utensils of the fa
mous nations of old— in those exported from Tyre,
and such as were produced in the silversmith shops
of Persepolis or Troy ; but no pattern-card of Tyrian
or Sidonian spoon-makers has reached us, nor any
specimens placed on the sideboards of Priam or Ne
buchadnezzar. The blank might indeed be in a
great measure filled by a few from the neighborhood
of Memphis and Thebes — such as old Egyptian art
ists supplied their own and other countries with,
whet the useful and ornamental arts flourished in
the Nilotic valley. Such would have given us an
idea of prevailing tastes in the forms and decora
tions of the implement. We could at a glance have
compared them with our own, and told in a moment
whether Moses and Joshua, Nehemiah or Ezra —
whether Egyptian gentlemen or Jewish maidens
took pottage with implements fashioned like ours.
How interesting would a sight of such spoons have
been ! What would not lovers of antiquity give to be
hold them, or for drawings and descriptions of them !
Does the reader enter into the spirit and feelings of

Chap. VIII.] The Children of Ham. 125
such philosophers ? Does he take pleasure in tra
cing the characters of remote people in vestiges of
their arts — ascertaining their domestic manners in
their culinary utensils, and the state of the useful pro
fessions among them in products of their workshops?
Well, spoons made and used by the old inhabitants
of Egypt are in existence ! The assortment is lim-r.
ited, but it might have been less ; and small as it is,
we are enabled to produce drawings of 'a round
dozen.' What a wonderful people were these children of
Ham ! The greatest benefactors of their race the
world ever saw, they seem to have lived only for
posterity — to perpetuate the useful arts — to hand to
their successors their knowledge ; and lest future
physiologists should dispute about their persons, they
have come down themselves, and submitted their
bodies to our inspection — not in small numbers, but
in millions ! The catacombs have for ages been
quarried like coal mines for fuel, and are yet said to
contain more mummies than Egypt living men. How
surpassing strange is it, then, that we should have
before us spoons used (perhaps) three or four thou
sand years since, with the men and women they
nourished — the identical hands that handled them —
the very mouths they entered ! What people but one
ever did this much for posterity ; and what people
will ever repeat it? Four thousand years hence (or
even one thousand) antiquarians, en referring to our
days and our arts, might as well search the soil for
our souls as our bodies.

126

Specimens qf Egyptian Spoons. [Chap. VIII-

Is the reader anxious to look on spoons made un
der the Ptolemies or Pharaohs ? Let him exercise
a little patience, and, ere he casts his eyes on the
next illustration, think within himself what can they
be like — of what forms are the bowls — do they re-1
semble shells — are all of one shape — how decorated.
if decorated at all ? Then the handles — are they flat
like modern ones, round or square, plain or earved 1
And of what materials are these relics of ancient
days? 1 2 a 4 5
0^L

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SPOONS.

See! there is half a dozen — each of a different
pattern, and of assorted sizes, too ; unless, as is
most likely, the artist who copied them has not
drawn all to the same scale. The originals are in
the British Museum. Do not they, few as they are,
present about as much variety as every species of
modern spoons ? But if they do— if these stragglers,
picked up among tombs or ploughed out of the soil,
exhibit such fertility of design, what rich displays of
the article must the shelves of goldsmiths, hard-

Chap. VIII.] Egyptians fond of Humoi: 127
ware and fancy stores in Memphis, Thebes, and On
have afforded !
[As we have unfortunately little or no specific in
formation respecting the originals of several of our
illustrations, the reader will, we presume, be better
pleased with some reflections than with absolute si
lence. It is awkward to introduce specimens with
out, comment ; hence, where descriptive data are not
within reach, we shall occasionally offer such re
marks, Serious or otherwise, as the figures them
selves may suggest.]
Not two of the bowls in the preceding spoons are
alike ; and as for the handles, they are as different
as they well could be. In Fig. 1. the bowl repre
sents a slightly scolloped shell, supported on the
head of a human figure, which serves as a handle,
and whose feet rest on the capital of a column. The
handle is short compared to the size of the bowl, (a
remark applicable to others,) but it was no doubt
proportioned to the particular purpose for which
such spoons were made. The pattern seems to have
been borrowed from architecture ; but there is some
thing bizarre in making Atlantes bear spoons instead
of entablatures or domes of temples. The Egyp
tians were great humorists, and freely indulged in
burlesque. If we could suppose a joke was intend
ed in the design, the figure might be taken for a
caricature of Atlas or Hercules bearing th& celestial
or terrestrial sphere, as an intimation that the spoon
was all the world to gastronomes, its effects a heavy
burden fat men groaned under, and its pleasures

128 Curious Wooden Spoon. [Chap. VIII.
their highest delight. In this respect the figure is
not an inapt representation of some people's achieve
ments in life.
In Fig. 2. the handle appears as if turned in a
lathe : where it joins the bowl it assumes the form
of the lotus flower, out of whose leaves the bowl like
a ripe fruit is seen to rise. The shape of the bowl
is precisely like that of ours, viz : a longitudinal seg
ment of an egg shell.
Fig. 3. is of wood, and very unlike a modern one
in shape, unless compared to a marrow spoon. The
bowl resembles the cartouche or royal oval, in which
the names of the kings of Egypt are inscribed in
hieroglyphics on the monuments. It obviously could
only have raised fluid matter from shallow dishes or
plates. The ornaments may be arbitrary, but we
should rather suppose they had an allegorical mean
ing. The ibex or gazelle, an animal which supplied
the chief material for broth ; and the fish, with sprigs
of parsley or other herbs, in their mouths, as if ready
for the table, were certainly not inappropriate deco
rations of an implement employed in transmitting
portions of these victims to the human palate.
Fig. 4. — a bronze spoon, and more nearly resem
bling the modern one than any of the preceding.
The shank is made to represent the human hand and
arm — a copy of the first spoon handles, when cockle
and muscle shells only were in use. Perhaps there
is an allusion to that custom in this ancient imple
ment ; but the artist did not forget to introduce a
victim of the caldron or spit : he has made the han-

Chap. VIII.] Egyptian Spoons. 129
die terminate with the head of a goose, a bird in
much repute with the Apician literati of Egypt,, and
as such often figured on spoons.
Fig. 5. Here we have a spoon representing a fish
swimming into a kettle, as if anxious to be macerat
ed and served up at table. The material is wood,
and the bowl circular. One part of the fish is made i
to turn on a pin near the tail, so as to expose a
small cavity or box in the thick part of the body.
This was probably a sportman's or traveller's porta
ble spoon, and the cavity occupied with salt or other
condiment — a feature of some interest, since it
shows us that ingenuity in such matters dates back
to remote periods. In Plate V. is a spoon with a
concealed tooth-pick, an instrument more appropri
ate to a knife or fork. The Egyptian artist adhered
more closely to propriety in introducing a jeceptacle
for seasoning, especially in an utensil employed only
with fluid aliments.
Fig. 6. is the plainest of the whole, but not de
void of ornament : the handle, which is long and
stout, having one extremity carved into a horse's
head, and the other a projecting piece or shoulder
that unites it to the bowl.
Another group, taken from Wilkinson's ' Manners
and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians' will be
found on the following page.
Fig. 1. is of ivory, about four inches long, and'
preserved in the Public Museum at Berlin. It was
discovered at Thebes along with a deep stand or
chest containing a number of small jars or bottles —
17

130

Egyptian Spoons. — Salt-Cellar. [Chap. VIII.

supposed to have been part of the stock of an apoth
ecary, or to have belonged to the toilet of a Theban
beauty. The style of the bandle of this spoon is
unique, and independent of the carved head, displays
much taste.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SPOONS.

The implement itself is not unlike some of our
small spoons — possibly it belonged to an ancient salt
cellar. Salt, it will be remembered, was used at
table in remote antiquity just as it is at this day,
and several superstitions were associated with it.
Omens drawn from spilling it> observes Fosbroke,
are equally antique with its use. The salt-cellar was

Chap. VIII.] Egyptian Beef and Geese.. 131
placed on the table with the first dish containing
offerings to the Gods. Its presence Was supposed
to sanctify the food, and great importance was at
tached to keeping it bright and clean. Fabricius,
the conqueror of Pyrrhus, was distinguished for the
simplicity of his manners : history informs us that a
small salt-cellar, with horn feet, was the only article
of silver in his house.
Fig. 2. — of bronze, eight inches long, and with a
flat handle ; perhaps the common table-spoon of the
people, occupying the place of the modern iron or
pewter one. The form of the bowl is very like that
of wooden and pewter spoons of the last century.
Here we have the head of the goose again, one of
the favorite, though certainly not most healthy viands
of both priests and people. The occupants of the
temples, says Herodotus, were not obliged to live on
their private means, but each individual had sacred
victuals ready dressed assigned him, and in addition
a daily allowance of beef and goose, (ii. 37.) In the
tombs near the pyramids are representations of din
ner parties, at which the goose figures as a promi
nent dish. Other scenes exhibit Egyptian cookery
in detail, where the victim is undergoing the various
operations preparatory to its appearance at table.
The end of the handle of Fig. 2. being curved was
doubtless designed to suspend the spoon over the
edge of a vessel, or over a nail or cord. Several
utensils are seen hanging from lines in an Egyptian
kitchen, portrayed in the tomb of Rameses III. at
Thebes.

132

Egyptian Spoons.

[Chap. VIH.

, Fig. 3. — another bronze table spoon. The han
dlers round and tapered, partly formed in the lathe,
enriched with carving, and having on the whole a
tasteful appearance.
Fig. 4. — also of bronze, found at Thebes by Mr.
Burton : smaller than 2 or 3, it was probably a
child's spoon. It is the plainest of Egyptian spoons
yet found.
Fig. 5. — a small wooden spoon, formed like a
spade — a shape so singular that it has been refused
a place at the dining table. It is, however, a genu
ine spoon. The Romans used such, {See Plate II.)
and similar formed implements are not uncommon
with the Chinese, as will be noticed in a futurepage,
—a people among whom many primitive arts and
implements are preserved in their purity.
(f)

A.B.H.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SPOONS.

In the first two figures above we have another ele
gant variety of the spoon. They represent the back
and front of a wooden one. The handle is round,
straight, and short, and handsomely set off with a
wreath, terminating with leaves at the junction with
the bowl. The latter is long and pointed, and seems

Chap. VIII.] Ancient Egyptian Shell and Spoon.

133

well calculated for a pap spoon for infants — a pur
pose for which it was probably designed. In com
paring this implement with those which have preced
ed it, some readers will be agreeably surprised at
finding so great a diversity of forms in so simple a
thing ; but ere they arrive at the end of these pages
the feeling will probably rise into wonder; and yet
the whole of the illustrations embraced in this essay
arc but part of what might have been introduced.
Fig. 3. resembles one figured on page 126 ; but
it is not like that formed of metal, but of ivory — a
circumstance from which we may infer that the
goose and human hand were staple ornaments of
Egyptian spoons, and frequently adopted with every
material of which the latter were made.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SHELL AND SPOON.

The relationship between spoons and their natural
briginals is exhibited in the above figure. The shell
is an artificial one, of alabaster, and is among the
antiquities preserved in Alnwick Castle. Its di
mensions are those of an ordinary muscle shell or
tablespoon. The minikin spoon figured within it
is supposed to have belonged to a lady's toilet.
Where the handle unites with the bowl it assumes
the forin of the fevorite lotus.

134 Golden Spoons of the Tabernacle. [Chap. VIII.
No better proof could be adduced of the refined
taste of Pharaonic artists than this copying after
nature ; for it is the perfection of skill to follow her
instructions. In the infancy of the arts man runs
from her,, preferring puerile conceits and monstrous
figures; but as the mind ripens and the judgment
matures, he returns to the only true teacher and
guide. We are not aware of any silver or golden spoons
having been disinterred. It is certain the wealthy
classes had such, and as the richest taste and great
est skill were lavished on them, it is to be regretted
that none have been discovered. The first spoons
mentioned in history were golden ones, made by
Egyptian artists, viz: those furnished for the Tab
ernacle. (Exod. xxv. 29.) So were those presented
by the princes of Israel at the dedication of the
sanctuary. (Numb, vii.) Is it said they were fabri
cated by Aholihab and Bezaleel, or workmen em
ployed by them, that is, by Israelites ? True, but in
every sense of the word, except as regards religion,
and even that need hardly be excepted, these men
were Egyptians — natives of the land, both they and
their fathers, for many generations. What did the
people whom Moses led out of Egypt know, except
what they learned there ? And what had they, but
what they got there ? If he himself was learned, it
was with 'the wisdom of Egypt.' Neither had they
nor their ancestors any other country. In Egypt they
were born and brought up, and when they entered
Canaan, it was to them a foreign land.

c

HAP.

VIII.]

Egyptian Simpula.

135

The Jews always neglected the useful arts. The
splendid mechanics who left Egypt with Moses died,
and all their generation, in the wilderness. With
them the arts were buried, and were never resusci
tated on the other side Jordan. When Solomon
built the temple he had workmen from Tyre ; it
was a Phenician founder who made the bronze and
golden bowls, basins, snuffers, spoons, &c. required.
(1. Kings vii. — 2. Kings xxv.) Both spoons and la
dles, or simpula, were extensively used in Pagan
worship. A few of those of ancient Egypt are
figured below.

EGYPTIAN LADLES OH SIMPULA.

Simpula have been found of great variety of forms
and materials. Those of bronze were frequently
gilt, which made them richer in ornament, and pre
vented wine or acids retained in them from being
contaminated with solutions of copper. They were
used chiefly for dipping fluids from amphorae or jars.
The two upper ones in,the cut are of bronze, in the
Berlin Museum. The first has a folding joint in
the middle of the handle ; and the next one has its

136 Reflections. [Chap. VIII.
handle lengthened or shortened (according to the
depth of the vessel) by one part sliding behind the
other. Fig. 3 represents an extremely small wood
en ladle ; the fixed part of the handle being only five
inches in length, and the sliding rod which rises and
falls in a groove extending down the centre, about
the thickness of a darning needle. The last {Fig. 4)
in Mr. Wilkinson's possession, is eighteen inches
long, the bowl three inches deep and nearly the same
in diameter. It is of bronze and has been gilt.
In taking leave of Egyptian spoons figured in this
chapter, one can hardly avoid thinking of the per
sons they belonged to, of the families of their owners,
the mouths they fed, the food they assisted to cook
and serve up, of the scenes of festivity, of sickness
and sorrow, of high life and low life, in which they
took a part ; of the workmen who made them., the
merchants who sold them, and the many strange
conversations held in their presence ! In their forms
we have the turns of thought of old artists ; nay,
casts of the very thoughts themselves ; such as in
spired the cunning artists, companions of Bezaleel
or of Hiram, and like them, skilful to devise curious
works in gold and silver, brass and iron, ivory and
pearl. We fancy we can almost see a Theban
spoonmaker's face brighten up as the image of a new
pattern crossed his mind ; behold him sketch it on
papyrus, and watch every movement of his chisel or
graver as he gradually embodied the thought, and
published it in one of the forms portrayed on these
pages — securing an accession of customers and a

Chap. VIII.] Reflections. 137
corresponding reward in an increase of profits. We
take it for granted that piratical artisans were not
permitted to pounce on every popular invention
which the wit of another brought forth. Had there
been no checks to unprincipled usurpers of other
men's productions, the energies of inventors would
have been paralyzed and the arts could hardly have
attained the perfection they did among some of the
famous people of old.
What a transient, ephemeral being is man ! How
short is his life compared even to that of a spoon !
Notwithstanding his pride and his power, the grasp
of his intellect, the noise he makes in the world,
and the lasting wonders he works, he is himself a
bubble — no sooner inflated than burst ! The mean
est of his labors survive, while he vanishes as vapor.
Probably not less than one hundred generations, in
cluding some of the mightiest spirits of Egypt, have
passed away since the implements delineated above
were made ! Strange that a thing should endure
longer than the head which conceived and the hands
that formed it ; that a pot should live longer than a
potter. Here have we the identical spoons which,
twenty or thirty centuries ago, men, women, and
children handled at dinner! — individuals perhaps
contemporary with those who encamped withy Moses
at Elim, or fought under Joshua at Jericho ; or, it
may be, such as were acquainted with Plato or So
lon, with Helen and Herodotus, when these Grecian
wanderers were in the land of Mizrairn.

18

138 Roman Spoons. [Chap. IX.

CHAPTER IX.
Roman Spoons — Useful Arts in Athens, Sparta and Rome —
Mamurius the Brazier — Downfall of the Romans — Military
and Mechanical Professions — Discovery of Herculaneum — Silver
Spoons — Pompeii Disinterred — Kitchen Utensils and Spoons of
Silver, Brass, Wood and Ivory found — Reflections on Pompeii —
Street of the Silversmiths — Few . Ancient Spoons described in
Print — Antique Plate — Description of Plates II and III —
Latin Name of the Spoon — Shell Spoons and Garum Sauce. —
Mercury Spoon- — Soldiers' Iron Spoons — Specimens from Pira-
nesi — Simpula — Indian Ladles, fyc.
Having noticed a few spoons made under the
Ptolemies or Pharaohs, let us next refer to some fab
ricated inRome or its provincial towns, under the Cae
sars. We have no particular specimens from an
cient Greece to lay before the reader, but the defi
ciency is not material, since a manifest conformity
prevailed in the social economy of the Greeks and
Romans. The ancients generally paid little respect to me
chanical professions ; where one people fostered
them a hundred treated them with contempt. This
was the case even in Greece ; the Lacedemonians
and others despised, the Athenians alone respected
them. Lycurgus forbade his countrymen to become
artisans, but Solon made a law that no son should
be compelled to support a destitute parent, if the lat
ter had neglected to teach him a trade. The Athen-

Chap. IX.] Useful Arts in Greece. 139
ian lawgiver rendered the useful professions honor
able ; the goddess of the arts was adopted as the
protectress of the city, and a distaff and spindle
placed in her hands. Every school boy knows how
much more the world is indebted to Athens than to
Sparta. It is the same now — the most enlightened
people are those who cultivate the arts most, and the
weakest and rudest such as neglect them. There
can be no science where there are no arts, and for
the future there can be no national power but in pro
portion as they are cultivated. The age of the
sword and brute force is passing away ; that of the
arts and intellectual power beginning to dawn.
In the infancy of their career the.Romans promot
ed the useful professions. Numa, their second king,
was incomparably the best they ever had. A phi
losopher, he preferred peace to war, and set himself
to tame the ferocity of the people, by infusing into
them a taste for agriculture and the arts ; to induce
them to rely on the fruits of honest industry rather
than on the plunder of their neighbors. The people,
says Plutarch, were divided into classes or corpora
tion's, according to their trades. Those of each pro
fession had their respective halls, &c. a practice
derived from the East. He mentions goldsmiths,
dyers, tanners, coppersmiths, <fcc. Publicola also
fostered domestic manufactures by exempting arti
ficers from tribute.
That workers in metals were expert in Numa's
time is evident from the story of the buckler report
ed to have fallen from heaven, and the eleven copies

140 Mamurius the Brazier. [Chap. IX.
of it made by Mamurius. But mechanics in those
days were not the ignorant and sordid beings their
enemies have generally represented them. Pliny,
deploring the deteriorated workmanship of his time,
observes, that every man labored only for money;
whereas, in the days, of our forefathers, says he, they
worked for fame. The celebrated brazier just named
asked no other reward for making the sacred shields,
than to have bis name mentioned in the hymns sung
during the feasts of the Ancylia. Plutarch intimates
that an ode was chanted to his memory by the Sa-
lians along with the Pyrrhic dance.
Twenty centuries have elapsed since the Romans
were in the height of their power. As a nation war
was their profession, and pillage their wealth ; they
rose by the sword and by it they fell — a righteous
Providence having meted to them the measure they
meted to others. History is full of recitals of their
conquests, of the victims they slew, and the terror
their armies spread among nations, the triumphs ac
corded to their generals, with kings and spoils of king
doms dragged in their trains ; but not a page is de
voted to those arts and professions which contribute
to the permanent happiness of men. The world
yet resounds with their feats of arms ; but of the
more useful and honest occupations of the people,
all writers are silent. Of the click of the hammer,
speed of the shuttle, creaking of the file, buzzing of
lathes, roaring of bellows, of manufacturing machine
ry driven by men, horses, water or wind, Tacitus and
Livy, Sallust and Suetonius have nothing to say.

Chap. IX.] Military and Mechanical Professions. 141
Ancient annals may be said to give no more idea of
the manners and customs, social habits and general
employments of the people, than descriptions of mo
dern battles do of the nations to whom the contend
ing idiots belong. What Olaus Magnus said of the
Goths was true of all nations, and is still true of too
many : " They supposed all other arts nothing, when
compared with military arts." The world is yet
crowded with Goths.
Although the Romans formed the last link in the
chain of nations, which connects us with the people
of remote times, and as such should be somewhat
familiar to us, yet so long and dark a night of tur
bulence and barbarism set in on their fall, that the
knowledge of their arts and manufactures has in
a great measure been lost. From the number of
their colonies, a few products of their workshops
have occasionally been picked up in various parts of
Europe ; but with all the collections and labors of
antiquarians, comparatively little is known of the ex
tent, and less of the processes, of mechanical ma
nipulations among the classical ancients.
A very trivial circumstance occurred in the begin
ning of the last century (in 1711) which led to a dis
covery unexampled in the annals of our globe — one,
which reflected more light on ancient private life and
on some branches of the useful arts than any thing
else : — An Italian peasant, digging a well near his
cottage, found some fragments of colored marble.
These attracting attention, led to further excava
tion, when a statue of Hercules was disinterred, and

142 Discovery of Herculaneum. [Chap. IX.
shortly afterwards a mutilated one of Cleopatra.
These were found at a considerable depth below the
surface, and in a place which subsequently proved
to be a temple situated in the centre of the ancient
city of Herculaneum. This city was overwhelmed
with ashes and lava, during an eruption of Vesuvius,
A. D. 79, being the same in which the elder Pliny
perished. Herculaneum therefore had been buried
1630 years ! and while every memorial of it was lost,.
and even the site unknown, it was thus suddenly,
by a resurrection, then unparalleled, brought again
to light ; and streets, temples, houses, statues, paint
ings, jewelry, professional implements, kitchen uten
sils, and other articles connected with ancient do
mestic life, were to be seen arranged, as when their
owners were actively moving among them.
There are some interesting letters in the early vo^
lumes of the Philosophical Transactions, from which
it appears that slow progress was made in excava
tion at Herculaneum for several years. One from
Mr. William Hamilton, dated Naples, March 1731,
runs thus ; — "At Resina, about four miles from Na
ples, under the mountain, within half a mile of the
sea-side, there is a well in a poor man's yard ; down
which about about thirty yards there is a hole which
some people have the curiosity to creep into, and
and may afterwards creep a good way under ground ;
and with lights find foundations of houses and streets,
which, by some, it is said, was in the time of the Ro
mans, a city called Aretina, others say Port Hercules,
where the Romans usually embarked for Africa. I

Chap. IX.] Entrance into the City. 143
have seen the well, which is deep, and a good depth
of water at the bottom that I never cared to venture
down." Signor C. Paderni writes from Rome in Novem
ber, 1739, to Allan Ramsay, that the king of Naples
had appointed an artist to take charge of the articles
found. Of these there were thirty or forty paint
ings, a chariot and horses in brass, several statues
and basso-relievos, eight rings, containing engraved
cornelians, a golden bracelet, a large brazen dish,
&c. " They enter the place by a pit, like a well, to
the depth of 88 Neapolitan palms, and then dig their
way under the bituminous matter."
M. Geo. Knapton says, the ancient city of Her
culaneum is now under a town called Portici, a quar
ter of a mile from the sea, at the foot of Vesuvius,
and has no otner road to it but that of the town
well, [the same begun by the peasant in 1711] which
is none of the most agreeable, being in parts very
straight, in others wide, and cut in a most rude man
ner. Towards the bottom, where you go into the
city, it is very broad, which they have made so to
turn the columns which were brought up. . . .The
entrance is 82. feet from the top of the well. ... It
is difficult for the first person let down to get in, but
when once landed at the opening, " he pulled us in
bv the legs as we came down." This writer does
not mention how far above the bottom of the well
the opening into the city was, but the depth of water
was considerable, , for on account .of it, excavations
were not made to the foundations of the buildings.

144 Ancient Silver Spoons — Pompeii Discovered. [Chap. IX.
Mr. Crispe, writing from Rome in April, 1740,
after mentioning paintings, houses, statues, busts,
&c. observes : They have found several antique
rings, with cameos and intaglios set in them, a case
of surgical instruments, a triumphal car of bronze,
vessels full of rice, mouse traps, several kitchen uten
sils, a fork, and a silver spoon, made in the handle
like a modern one, and the bowl pointed like an olive
leaf. [See Phil. Trans. Vols. xli. xliv. xlix.]
Excavations were continued for several years, and
vast treasures found, with which several museums
have become enriched, besides those of Italy. As it
would have been an immense undertaking to raise
through the well all the materials displaced, the plan
was adopted of filling tip old excavations with the
rubbish of fresh ones, and thus no series of build
ings or streets are to be seen. The theatre only is
«open, and it is very imperfectly viewed by torch
light, at so great a depth below the surface.
In 1755, another city, overwhelmed at the same
time with Herculaneum, was discovered. This was
Pompeii, the very name of which had been almost
forgotten. As it lay at a greater distance from Ve
suvius than Herculaneum, the stream cf lava never
reached it. It was inhumed by showers of ashes,
pumice and stones, which formed a bed of variable
depth from twelve to twenty feet, and easily removed ;
whereas the former city was entombed in ashes and
lava to the depth of from seventy to a hundred feet.
With the exception of the upper stories of the hou
ses, which were either consumed by red hot stones

Chap. IX.] Variety of Domestic Utensils found. 145
ejected from the volcano, or crushed by the weight
of the matter collected on their roofs, we behold in
Pompeii a flourishing city nearly in the same state
in which it existed eighteen centuries ago ! The
buildings unaltered by newer fashions ; the paint
ings nndimmed by the leaden touch of time ; house
hold furniture left in the confusion of use ; articles
even of intrinsic value abandoned in the hurry of
escape, yet safe from the robber, or scattered about
as they fell from the trembling hand which could
not stop or pause to pick them up.
The work of disinterment has been prosecuted to
the present time, and every year adds to the trea
sures of the Portician Museum. Cooking utensils
and kitchen furniture in great abundance, found in
both cities, are very similar to our own, but generally
of more durable materials and better finish ; sauce
pans being lined with silver instead of a thin coating
of tin ; colanders, strainers, fish-slices, water-pails, of
brass, and elaborately finished. Some sauce-pans
have been foijnd wholly of silver. Fire grates like
ours were not* used, but large braziers placed in the
middle of the kitchen ; and ranges of small furnaces,
*of brick- work raised breast high, in which charcoal
was used ; identical with those often seen in the
kitchens of the wealthy, and which have been almost
universal in Europe to the present century; fixed
and portable ovens, oil-flasks, bottles and glasses of
every variety, glazed plates of earthen-ware packed
in straw, cups and saucers of silver, like those now
used for tea, gridirons, frying-pafls, dripping-part*-.
19

146 Bronze and Silver Spoons — Toys. [Chap. IX.
molds for pastry, caldrons, graters, mortars, knives,
and spoons of bronze, ivory and silver.
Here is a female's toilet, essences, tortoise-shell
combs, bracelets, mirrors, needles, a box of pins, ear
and finger-rings, broaches, &c. as she left them, per
haps to visit the theatre, whence, with hundreds more,
she never returned. (It was an opinion of the an
cients that the inhabitants were surprised by the vol
canic storm while in the theatre.) Few of the anti
quities possess so melancholy an interest as those
relating to children. It is obvious from Pliny's let
ters to Tacitus, and from the nature of the catastro
phe, that numbers of these innocents perished ; trod
down by distracted crowds rushing out of the city,
and seeking to fly from the supernatural darkness
that enveloped it ; killed by showers of falling stones,
from which some few grown people fortunately pro
tected themselves by tying pillows on their heads ;
suffocated by an atmosphere of ashes and cinders,
their shrieks after their parents, as well as their mo
thers' cries after them, were gradually stifled with
noxious vapors and dust. Toys have been found in
some houses — the domicils, we may suppose, of
benevolent couples, who, like Plutarch and his
wife, were delighted in beholding their young off
spring play and 'chatter with babies and dolls.'
These, only relics of their romping little owners,
thrown down in alarm when the terrors of the ca
lamity entered each dwelling, have been picked up
where they were left. The Pompeians moreover had
not only toys to please their children, but pictures

Chap. IX.] Reflections on Pompeii. 147
and stories to frighten them, similar to such as have
reached us through the middle ages. There is a
dark looking personage roughly drawn with black
paint on a wall ; he has horns, cloven feet, and alto
gether resembles modern portraits of the wicked
one. A solitary wanderer in the avenues and alleys of
Pompeii might almost anticipate the feelings of the
" last man." It is awful to walk alone through a
city in which no human being has moved for so ma
ny centuries; through dwellings fitted up with every
convenience for large and small families, for rich and
poor ones ; through streets deeply rutted with car
riage wheels, and on side-walks worn by foot pas
sengers . to read the names of tradespeople on the
doorposts and observe articles on counters ; enter
palaces of patricians and apartments of plebeians,
the studios of sculptors and painters ; and find every
where household goods, utensils and tools, arranged
as if their owners had just stepped out, and might
be expected every moment to return.
In one house we find the chief rooms decorated
with exquisite paintings and statuary ; sleeping
apartments appropriately adorned, and the kitchen
furnished with every requisite ; loaves of bread in
one oven, a pie in another, flour in the kneading-
troughj pickles and, sauces in jars and glass bottles,
oil in flasks, wine in amphorae, and wine-glasses in
abundance ; here a pail half full of water, there a
row of small furnaces with charcoal in them ready
for kindling : a caldron close by, a sauce pan, a frying

148 Street of Silversmiths in Pompeii. £Chap. IX.
pan for eggs, a knife, a silver bowl, several ladles and
a spoon ; — all laying as if the cook, about to pre
pare dinner, had stept into the adjoining garden for
esculent roots or pot herbs. It is almost impossible
to look on, think on or handle such things, without
being startled by the least noise, turning round and
imagining the owner rushing into his dwelling and
demanding the cause of one's intrusion.
In 1826 were found in an arched cellar the skele
tons of two or more persons who had taken refuge
there, carrying with them four gold rings, a pair of
ear-rings, many coins of gold and silver, and four
silver spoons. Subsequently we find enumerated
vases, basins with handles formed of the wings of
gwans, patera?, bells, inkstands, locks, an oval cal
dron, hundreds of common glass bottles, besides de
canters, fluted tumblers and cups of green glass. In
another place were found an oval ball, a pair of gold
en ear-rings, together with a silver ladle or spoon. —
[Gell's Pompeiana, I. pp. 6, 41-2.]
The handsomest avenue yet discovered in Pom
peii is known as the ' street of the silversmiths,' a de
signation given it from quantities of plate found in
the shops. The practice was universal of old for
mechanics of one profession to locate together, and
it is still kept up throughout the east. It would
have been better to have named, the street after ' the
goldsmiths,' for under this designation workmen in
the precious metals have always been included.
They are so in old French and English statutes
and in the Scriptures. ' The goldsmith spreadeth

Chap. IX.] Few Antique Spoons described in Print. 149
it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.' [Isaiah.]
* They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver
in the balance, and hire a goldsmith' [IbidS] — lite
rally exemplified daily in Cairo and other oriental
cities. That this class of artisans were influential
and wealthy in Pompeii may be inferred from a no
tice of a gladiatorial show, got up at their cost, in
honor of ' Caius Cuspius Pansa, the iEdile.'
We believe few silver and other spoons found in
Herculaneum and Pompeii have been described in
print. Gell complains bitterly in his preface and
appendix of the difficulties thrown in the way of
foreign artists, and the unworthy policy of prohibit
ing sketches to be taken of antiquities found. They
have yet to learn at Naples, he observes, that the
only use or glory in the possession of these things
consists in the promulgation of them to the world.
The examination of antique works in metal by prac
tical men can alone determine the modes of their
manufacture. For want of this, the question whether
sheet iron, copper, &c. was laminated by rollers is
not determined, nor whether dies were used in pro
ducing ornamented hollow- ware ; besides other ques
tions of interest.
Allusions in classic authors to table furniture, and
specimens extant, are calculated to impress us with
high ideas of the skill of Roman gold and silver
smiths. Besides models furnished by Etrurian, Gre
cian and oriental workmen, luxury and a general
taste in the patricians for objects of virtu tended
to foster these professions. The younger Pliny

150 Description of Plate II. [Chap. IX.
speaks of the frugal repasts of Spurinna being
served 'in antique plate of pure silver,' which he pre
ferred to a more fashionable and ' complete service of
Corinthian metal' in his possession. (The compo
sition of this alloy is wholly unknown. It was es
teemed vastly more precious than gold.) That
spoons were elaborately wrought, so as to keep pace
with more splendid appendages of the beaufet, there
is no doubt ; but few, if any such, are extant. Per
haps the best of those to which we are about to re
fer were in no respect superior to silver ones in or
dinary use.
Description op Plate II. — Figures 1, 2, 3, are
Roman patera, or rather scoops. They clearly
show how the classical ancients preserved the form
of shells in utensils allied to the ladle and spoon.
But the marine origin of the latter was preserved
by the Romans in its name, for cochleare, a spoon,
is derived from cochlea a shell or cockle.
Fig. 4 — an antique spoon fashioned after a pecu
liar shell, and having a row of minute dots or open
ings as a border — perhaps in imitation of those in the
haliotis and kindred productions of the deep. The
short handle is modeled after the tail of a fish, and
the interior of the bowl ornamented with a figure
of a dolphin swimming in his native fluid — an indi
cation perhaps that the implement was used at table
with fish ; for the ancients were often exceedingly
happy in rendering their ornamental devices appro
priate. This spoon could only have been employed
for removing fluids from shallow dishes or saucers..

Chap. IX.] Garum Sauce — Mercury Spoon. 151
It was probably an olive spoon, or belonged to the
small dish or cup containing anchovy or the famous
garum sauce, both used at Roman tables, and the
latter one for the manufacture of which Pompeii was
celebrated. It was, says Pliny, (B. xxxi. 7, 8) the
most exquisite and dainty of all condiments, "so
costly and so much in request that every two congii
thereof might not be bought under the price of 1000
sesterces," [about five dollars a quart.]
Fig. 5 — another Roman spoon with a handle
little longer than the bowl, but one displaying much
taste. It is unique of its kind, and equals any other
in elegance we have seen. The bowl is perfectly
modern in its outline. Montfaucon is remarka
bly barren on this and Fig. 4 : three words, ' found
at Autun,' comprehend all he says. Hence we
know neither their dimensions nor materials, nor
how they were made. From the general appearance
of Fig. 4, one might suppose it was struck up in a
die from sheet metal.
Fig. 6 — a very elaborate silver spoon — the bowl
pointed like a French one, and the turned handle
not unlike such as formerly prevailed in Europe.
The notch or bend near the bowl is a common fea
ture in Roman spoons — supposed to have been de
signed to rest the implement against the edge of the
dish. The ornaments in the bowl are mythological.
Mercury, seated on a rock, holds in his right hand a
purse, and in his left the caduceus. His winged hat
lays at his feet, and before him stands a cock, a goat,
and a tortoise — animals often represented on tem-

152 Small Silver Spoons. [Chap. IX.
pies and monuments dedicated to him. The whole
of this spoon must have been cast unless the bowl
and the figures on it were chased or stamped. The
handle is short but strong, increasing in substance
as it approaches the bowl. Chinese spoons were
noticed by Van Braam as having very short handles.
From the great beauty of ancient medallions, we
may be sure articles of plate, if ornamented with the
die, were sometimes equally well finished.
Figs. 7 to 12, inclusive, are from the second vo
lume of Montfaucon's antiquities : 7 and 8, spoons
four inches long, and hence about the size of mo
dern mustard spoons ; their handles plain and tapered
to a point ; their section a square. Their material
is not mentioned ; but in the second volume of his
supplement the learned father has figured three sim
ilar spoons which he says were of silver, and used,
as he supposed, for taking incense out of vases.
In Recueil d'Antiquities Egyptiennes, Etrusces, &c.
Paris, 1752, p. 325, a similar spoon is described.
It was of silver, and between six and seven inches
in length. Fig. 9 — a utensil more like a shovel
than a spoon, and from that circumstance conjec
tured by Montfaucon to have been employed in put
ting incense on the altar. He does not seem to have
known that spoons of this shape have been used in
the east from remote times. Modern salt and mus
tard spoons of the same form are quite common.
In Fig. 8 the handle is attached to the smaller
end of the bowl — a very common feature in ancient
spoons.

Chap. IX.] Roman Soldiers' Spoons. 153
Figs. 10, 11, 12 — ordinary household spoons.
The handles are all square or nearly so, and the tip
of No. 11 is molded into a minute spoon, perhaps
designed to extract marrow from bones — a good
idea and one worthy the attention of modern manu
facturers. Of what substance these spoons were
made we are not informed. Fig. 13 — an iron one
from the first volume of the Antiquarian Repertory,
Lon- 1775. It was found with other antiques in
Gloucestershire, Eng. and is perhaps the same kind
as used by Roman soldiers. The long pointed
handles, Grose thinks, were designed to open shell
fish and doubtless for several other purposes. Stuck
in the wall, or side of a tent, they answered for nails
or pins, on which the inmates hung their armor or
arms, and when required at meals performed the part
of our forks in toasting or handling hot morsels.
Fig. 14 — from Stukely's Stonehenge, and sup
posed to have been used for measuring small quan
tities of liquids — perhaps the cyath, which held the
contents of an ounce vial. As a vehicle from which
to take medicine, as well as to determine the quan
tity, the spoon was as much used by the ancients as
by us. For both purposes it is repeatedly mention
ed. To remove pains in the abdomen, Pliny says,
" two spoonfuls of plantain, and of poppie one spoon
ful, mixed with four cyaths of wine," and taken night
and morning, is an effectual remedy. [B. xxvi. 8.
Holland's Trans.]
The figures in this and the following plates be
ing derived from different sources, and the articles
20

154 Description of Plate III. [Chap. IX.
themselves having been discovered at various times
and portrayed on every scale, it is impossible to pre
sent them properly proportioned Generally speak
ing, the form is all for which we must be held re
sponsible. Description of Plate III. — Fig. 1 — a silver ta
ble spoon 'found at Autun.' The bowl is almost a
fac simile of No. 6 in Plate II, both in form and
and decorations. The handle is peculiar, consisting
of two separate bars, suggesting an idea that the
smaller and lower was intended to stiffen the upper
one. Both terminate in a neat button or cap. This
implement we may suppose, was named a 'Mer
cury spoon.' If it did not belong to some temple of
that god, it would seem as if a variety with staple
ornaments and designs were kept on hand by ma
nufacturers, so that every purchaser could select his
spoons (and other utensils) decorated with the es
tablished emblems of his patron saint or deity. If
such was the practice — and there is much in history
to confirm it — it must have been a great source of
profit to gold and silver smiths, and may serve to ac
count for that amazing variety of design and deco
rations which characterized their works. A similar
custom was continued down to mediaeval times, as
will be seen in our notice of 'Apostle spoons.'
Figs. 2 to 7 are from Piranesi's great work, the
'Antiquities of the Kingdom of Naples,' Paris, 1804.
The first three are beautiful specimens. The han
dles of two are elegantly turned, and in quite a mo
dern style of ornament. They present the remark-

Chap. IX.] Roman Simpula. 155
able bend near the bowl, before alluded to ; the me
tal is there made deeper than at any other place,
thus imparting strength where it is required. Plain
and modern in the bowls, they might be almost taken
as products of a living silversmith. It is not im
probable that handles formed like these will again be
in fashion. Fig. 5 more resembles a patera than a
spoon, and one like it is figured by Montfaucon ; but
it is impossible to determine in all cases where the
one ends and the other begins. It is more like a
spoon than some utensils acknowledged to be such.
The general form is pleasing. The handle termi
nates in a ram's head. Figs. 6 and 7— small bronze
spoons for unguents. They are the only ones figured
in the last French edition of the Antiquities of Her
culaneum, in eight volumes octavo.
We have occupied the remainder of the plate
with a collection of ancient ladles, spoons, &c. from
various authorities, principally Piranesi and Mont
faucon. The originals were chiefly bronze. No
thing is said respecting them, so that the forms only
are left to remark on. Those with perpendicular
handles were generally used to draw wine from am
phora"*. Some of the smallest were liquid measures,
&c. One with a cylindrical bowl or cup, marked 18,
is identical with those used by our milk men, and
with Egyptian simpula on page 135. Those num
bered 13, 14, 15, and perhaps 16 and 17, are mere
variations of the spoon. Fig. 8 — a rich ladle, while
9 is nearly a literal copy of a modern cream spoon.
Figs. 10, 11, 12 — other varieties; 19 is remarka-

156 Indian Ladles, Spoons and Paddles. [Chap. IX.
ble for the turn of the handle, and 20 has so clumsy
an appearance as to suggest the idea of its having
been carved out of wood by an ancient Calabrian
peasant. We know the ancients had simpula of
earthen ware, and also of wood as well as of metal.
American Indian ladles of considerable antiquity
are not very rare. An oblong one with a short point
ed handle, and rudely carved out of Wood, and exces
sively deformed, is in the Boston Museum. They
are occasionally met with of stone, and so are spoons.
Of the latter some are neatly formed and well pol
ished, while others have a bowl at each end of the
handle. Canadian Indians frequently make the
bowls of their spoons and ladles out of bark — folding
smooth pieces into the form of the common tin scoop,
and tying to each a short stick as a handle. They
carve spoons of the same shape out of solid wood.
By the way, it is not a little singular that beauti
fully formed spoons have been made for ages by
people who never thought of employing such things
in connection with food. They developed them for
a very different purpose. Specimens are now be
fore us — to be sure, their dimensions render them
more suitable appendages to the breakfast table of
Polyphemus, or for Goliah to take his porridge with
al, than for feeding modern gentlemen or ladies.
Has the reader never observed in public or private
collections of curiosities, elaborately wrought wood
en spoons, the bowls of quite a modern shape, but
varying from 12 to 18 inches in length, from 4 to
6 in width, and of a proportionate depth — the han-

Chap. X.] The Spoon and Political Raree- Showmen. 157
dies also tastefully designed, richly ornamented and
two or three feet long ? Such are the paddles of
many South Sea islanders — the concave side of the
bowl holding the water and more effectually pro
pelling a canoe than the ordinarily formed blade of
an oar. Certes, if these paddles had been now un
known, and a few specimens were dug out of the
soil, among other relics of past ages, archeologists
could hardly avoid receiving them as samples of the
kitchen furniture of the Titans.

CHAPTER X.
Description qf Plate IV — Anointing of Kings and the Pro
cess — Miraculous Utensils — Oil Bottles brought from Heaven —
The Spoon among Regalia — Relics of Becket — Coronation
Spoon described — Ils Antiquity — Spoons of Henry VI — Cade-
nat — Apostle Spoons — Ancient Customs at the Naming qf Chil
dren — Christening Shirts — Scripture Biography taught by
Spoons — Anecdotes of Henry VIII. and Cranmer, of Ben Jonson
and Shakespeare — Plate presented to Guests — Spoons carried
off- — Sacramental Spoon — Sanguisuchello — Snuff Spoons — Chi
nese, Scotch and Malagasy Snuff Takers — Snuff an Ingredient
used in Witchcraft.
It may not be generally known that the spoon
takes part in the most pompous of national pa
geants. We have spoken of exhibitions of mounte
banks, wherein it amused common people: let us
now refer to the part it performs in the hands of po
litical raree-showmen for diverting another class of
spectators.

158 Process of Anointing Monarchs. [Chap. X.
Anointing monarchs at their coronation has al
ways been deemed indispensable. Barely to touch
royal sconces with the holy unguent, as sometimes
now practiced, was formerly insufficient. Baker, in
his Chronicles, says Richard I. the hero of the Cru
sades, "put off all his garments from his middle up
wards but only his shirt, which was open on the
shoulders, that he might be anointed. Then the
Archbishop of Canterbury anointed him in three
places : on the head, on the shoulder, and on the
right arm." The same writer gives the particulars
at the ceremony of crowning Richard II — a child
of eleven years : " After a sermon the king took his
oath, (!) and then the archbishop blessed the king,
which done, he took off his garments and stripped
him into his shift ; then he anointed his hands,
head, breast, shoulders, and the joynts of his arms
with the sacred oil." Henry IV. (of England,) says
Froissart, was " stripped of all his state before the
altar, naked to his shirt, and was then anointed and
consecrated at six places, that is to say, on the head,
the breast, the two shoulders before and behind, on
the back and the hands." [chap, cxvi.] Henry's title
to the crown was a very dubious one — perhaps on
that account a greater quantity of the consecrating
ointment was expended on him and a larger portion
of his body exposed to its influence.
It seems that much the same process was gone
through with in the case of queens ! Mary, of
Smithfield memory, was crowned and anointed by
Gardiner "with all rites and ceremonies of old ac-

Chap. X.] Ceremonies at the Coronation of Charles I. 159
customed." Similar language is used by Baker in
the case of Elizabeth; so also of King Jamie and
his wife : they were " crowned together and anoint
ed at Westminster." The pageant of Charles I.'s
coronation, got up by Laud, was, as may be sup
posed, a great affair. Obsolete customs were intro
duced, as well as old forms of prayer. When the
king had taken an oath " to protect and defend the
bishops and the churches under their government,"
his robes were taken off " and offered at the altar ;
the king stood for a while, stripped to his doublet
and hose of white satin ; then, led by the archbishop
and the Bishop of St. David's, he was placed in the
chair of the coronation, having a close canopy spread
over him ; and while the archbishop anointed his
head, shoulders, arms and hands with a costly oynt-
ment, the quire sung an anthem of these words :
1 Zadock, the priest, anointed King Solomon.' "
So Charles was stripped to his hose and doublet
when the crown was put on his head, as well as
when he lost both his head and his crown. In him
the magic shield which the scriptural passage ' touch
not mine anointed' had for ages thrown around
kings, and which some of these gentry used with ef
fect in silencing the murmurings of their oppressed
people, was shattered to the winds.
The blasphemous application of such passages of
scripture as the foregoing to the vilest tyrants, was
but a small part of that atrocious system of ecclesi
astical delusions which prevailed through the dark
ages. The monarch swore when crowned to 'pro-

160 Clovis and Celestial Ampoule. [Chap. X.
tect bishops,' and they, from Dunstan downwards,
returned the compliment. To preserve their immu
nities and extend their influence, they performed the
part of pagan priests and made the oracles speak
what they and the king pleased. But they did
more : through their instrumentality it was that al
most every utensil employed in coronations had a
miraculous origin — was fabricated in heaven by an
gelic artists or beatified saints, and sent direct for
the use of 'his sacred majesty' by a special embassy,
consisting of one or more celestial messengers ! The
ampoule or small bottle containing the holy oil seems
to have been most distinguished in this respect.
When Clovis of France embraced Christianity,
he was baptized in the Church at Rheims in a con
secrated lavotary, (on Christmas day, A. D. 496.)
Three thousand of his people followed his example,
and with him wore white robes for eight days. Now
so great was the joy in heaven at their conversion
that an angel appeared to a holy hermit, and depos
ited with him for the king's use, " a royal standard
adorned with the oriflamme, a shield sown with the
fleur de lis, and an ampoule of sacred oil." This
celestial bottle is (or was in the last century) pre
served in the cathedral church of Rheims, and is
still used in the coronation of French kings. "On
appelle la Sainte Ampoule, certaine petite bouteille
venue du ciel, ou il y a de 1'huile qui sert a sacrer
les Rois de France, laquelle on garde bien soigneu-
sement dans l'Abbaye de saint Remi de Rheims." —
[Diet, de Trevouz and Mazeray.]

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vtei'tldteufyeir <*?' > <£*z •zent/iZ' .

j;i&i eAJ'Sene.r 72# -Aa.Zfs>?^ ,??ufCT

Chap. X.] Becket — The Spoon among Regalia. 161
When Charles was conducted by the Maid of Or
leans to Rheims and crowned in her presence, the
holy oil and miraculous ampoule performed their
part in the ceremony, as historians have taken care
to inform us.
Hincmarc, Archbishop of Rheims, in the time of
Charles the Bald, declares (in his life of St. Remi)
that the precious vial was sent from heaven by a
white dove. Many French disputations have been
written on the miracle, pro and con ! The English
ampoule (still used) was also of celestial origin, hav
ing been brought down by the Virgin Mary herself,
and presented by her 'to St. Thomas of Canterbury
JEBenket] when he was in France.' It was, observes
Mazeray, of lapis, with a golden eagle on the top
and enriched with pearls and diamonds.
Now the consecrated fluid was not poured directly
from the ampoule on the candidate for royalty, but
into a spoon, whence it was transferred to its des
tination. As we presume our readers may gather
a few facts from these speculations, with which they
were not previously acquainted, it may be that some
now learn for the first time, that besides crowns,
orbs, sceptres, swords, globes, spheres, staffs, cups,
plates, rings, and other royal rattletraps, which con
stitute what is known as ' the regalia and crown jew
els,' the spoon holds a distinguished place ! To those
who admire such things it is shown, with the articles
enumerated above, in the Tower of London at a shil
ling a head, and indeed to those who admire them
not, at the same price. 21

162 English Coronation Spoon. [Chap. X.
Lord Herbert in his history of Henry VIII. men
tions among other 'notable trumperies' by which the
public were deluded, 'the penknife and boots of
Becket, with a piece of his shirt.' Large sums, it
seems, were received from ladies in a certain condi
tion for permission to handle the last article.
The reader will now turn to Plate IV. Figs . 1, 2,
represent the English coronation spoon, [from Shaw's
splendid work, "Dresses and Decorations of the
Middle Ages, from the seventh to the seventeenth
centuries."] If drawn by Shaw to the full size, its
length is 9 inches, that of the bowl 2i, and its width
1^ inches. The whole is of gold, and whether made
by a mortal goldsmith or not, a fine piece of work.
The bowl is thin, with an elegant arabesque pat
tern engraved on its inner surface. At the broad
est part of the handle are four pearls. The enamel
with which it was once enriched is destroyed. There
is a slight elevation or ridge dividing the bowl.
When used a portion of the consecrating fluid being
poured into it, the officiating bishop dips two fingers,
one into each cavity of the bowl, and transfers what
sticks to them to the head and other parts of the
royal neophyte, who thus receives unction as a sign
of investiture of regal power.
Hence the spoon is not the least useful of the nu
merous insignia employed on such occasions, and
we may fairly presume it performs a more laborious
part than any of them when the ceremonies are over
and the actors are seated at dinner. In unison with
this there is one feature in the official implement

ChAp. X.] Resembles a Punch Spoon — Its Antiquity. 163
which we must be excused for noticing. It will
be seen that the upper part of the handle is twisted
and the end terminates with a hemispherical button
precisely like a punch spoon. This beautiful speci
men of ancient art is in truth the oldest spoon of that
kind known. Whether the maker designed a prac
tical joke or not, it is not a bad one, considering the
history of royal carousals, from Belshazzar and Al
exander to George IV — the accomplished companion
of modern Falstaffs, Pistols and Quicklys. Of all
men, kings have been least stinted with punch or
sack ; few persons are known to have indulged more
in it or got it on easier terms.
There is some uncertainty respecting the date of
this royal spoon. Cromwell and the Long Parlia
ment made sad havoc among ' the baubles,' as that
irreverend man named the regalia. It seems most
of them disappeared during the civil wars— probably
melted down and the proceeds applied to the public
service., When Charles II. returned, it is said, his
inauguration was delayed on account of the absence
of these necessary articles belonging to the ceremo
ny ! Shaw thinks some of the old ones were conceal
ed and recovered, and among them the spoon. Its
antiquity he says is undoubted: He supposes it to
have been in use since the twelfth century.
Of coronations, their expense, inutility and puerili
ties, an English writer has well remarked, that they
are only calculated to superinduce in the individual
vanity upon vanity, and are characteristic of imper
fect civilization.

164 Henry VI— Battle of Hexham. [Chap. X.
We have not done with royal spoons : — In 1422,
Henry V. the Hal of Shakespeare, died, and was
succeeded by his son, an infant. As Henry VI. grew
up he exhibited indications of a feeble mind. Harm
less and passive, he was wholly unfit for ; controlling
the destinies of his country and the ambition of its
warlike nobles. ,His reign was one of perpetual do
mestic war. He had, says Sir R. Baker, virtues
enough to make him a saint, but not to make him a
god, as kings are said to be gods. He was fitter
for a priest than a king, and for a sacrifice than a
priest. A mere instrument in the hands of the min
isters and his masculine wife, Margaret of Anjou,
his fate was that of a shuttlecock, tossed to and fro
and treated with contempt by the adherents of both
the white and red roses. Repeatedly taken prisoner
by one party or the other in battle, he at last ended
his melancholy life in the Tower.
After the sanguinary battle of Hexham> in North
umberland, the fate of his family was distressing.
Margaret with their son fled into a wood, where they
were rudely seized and plundered of their jewels by
thieves. While the robbers quarreled about the di
vision of the plunder, the miserable captives crept
unperceived into the thickest of the forest, where
they sank down overcome with darkness, distress
and fatigue. One of the robbers subsequently found
them ; to him Margaret made herself known, and
appealed to his generosity for protection, especially
for the son of the king. He was amazed at the
strange occurrence, swore to protect them, and kept

Chap. X.] Golden Spoon of Henry VI. 165
his word. He concealed them until an opportunity
offered for conducting them to the coast, whence
they sailed tp Flanders.
How Henry escaped is not very well known. By
the vigilance of friends he lay concealed in different
parts of the country for twelve months. Shifting
from place to place, he at length was seized while at
dinner at Wadington Hall, in Lincolnshire, and car
ried to the toWer. Ere being taken away he left
with his host his inkhorn, one of the last articles re
tained about his person. It is of leather, like a knife
sheath, with three cells, one for the ink and two for
pens. It is ornamented with much elegance, and
was worn suspended from the girdle. Before reach
ing Wadington, he was. hid nine days at Bolton Hall ;
and here he left with the proprietor, as a token of
his friendship, his boots, one glove (or a pair) and
his spoon. [See Antiq. Repertory, III. 168.]
Fig. 3, Plate IV. represents this interesting relic
of the fifteenth century. It was we presume of gold,
though the account does not say so, but merely that
its length was 6 J inches. The handle is short, and
in its union to the small end of the bowl resembles;
both Roman and Egyptian spoons. The handle is
a plain cylinder capped at its extremity with a mold
ing and a hexagonal finial. Although void of orna
ment, this spoon exhibits considerable taste in its
contour. Its dimensions, as will have been per
ceived from its length, did not exceed those of a
modern dessert spoon. If made for Henry, it dates
from the time of Jack Cade, Joan of Arc, the great

166 Cadenat — Portable Knife, Spoon and Fork. [Chap. X.
Earl of Warwick, and the introduction of Printing.
The circumstance of a king carrying his spoon
about with him may strike some readers as singular.
but the practice was not uncommon in olden times.
Almost every wealthy individual had a portable case
containing one and a knife, to which in after times
a fork was added. Even guests took their own im
plements when invited to a feast. Kings more than
other people have always been particular in having
feeding apparatus exclusively for their own use : the
custom is an eastern one. Spoons which nourish
royal palates must not enter meaner mouths. Ca
denat was the old French term for the portable case
in which was secured a prince's knife and spoon.
It was afterwards written cadenas. The case was
often of gold or silver gilt, and contained minute re
ceptacles for salt, pepper, and other condiments.
From the following extract it will be seen that kings
and nobles used such pocket conveniences in the be
ginning of the last century, as well as in the previous
ones : —
" Cadenas est aussi une espece d'assiette carree
ou 1'On serre la cuilliere, la fourchette et le couteau.
Un des cotes est retrousse et eleve de deux doigts,
avec un petit courvercle ou l'on met du sei, du sucre
et du poivre. On s'en servoit autrefois chez les
Rois et les Princes. C'est maintenant une espece
de coffret d'or ou de vermeil dore, ou l'on met le
couteau, la cuilliere, la fourchette, &c. qu'on sert a
la table des Rois et des Princes." [Old Diet, de
Trevoux.J

Chap. X.] Gothic Spoons — Apostle Spoons. 167
Figs. 4, 5, and 10, Plate IV. are from 'Acker-
man's Designs for Gold and Silver Smiths,' publish-
without any description. We know not the source
whence they were derived, but as they were associat
ed with 'Apostle Spoons,' known to be ancient, we
suppose they are of the same character. The han-
.dle of Fig. 4 is of twisted wire, folded into two
knots, as in Fig. 6. The bowl, of a fanciful form,
differs from every other we have met with. Fig. 5 —
an elaborate specimen, and well suited to a monas
tery or abbot. The heart at one extremity and the
cross at the other are quite in character with the ec
clesiastical tastes of the middle ages, and would af
ford matter for interesting reflections. Fig. 10, a
salt spoon, partakes of the same religious character.
It presents a motto, the initial and arms of the
owner — acknowledged features of many ancient
"spttttlts." Moral sentences and maxims of pru
dence are painted by the Chinese on most of their
furniture and utensils — on tea pots, chop stick cases,
combs, apparatus for striking fire, cups, lanterns,
vases, &c. and might be advantageously imitated.
Fig. 6 — an ivory spoon of the sixteenth century. It
is French, and preserved along with a knife and two
pronged fork in the collection of the Louvre.
Apostle Spoons. — Fig. 7, Plate IV. represents
a class of implements intimately allied with the social
and religious customs of former times. Nothing
smooths the asperities of life like friendship. When
evinced by kind offices and gifts, it unlocks the hu
man breast and excites within it the holiest affec-

168 Spoons the First Gifts to Children. [Chap. X.
rions. All people learn this truth, and no lesson is
more readily understood by juveniles; the pure and
buoyant joys they feel on receiving novel or rich pre- ,
sents, may be portrayed on the mental tablet but not
on paper. Now it is a fact that for ages the very
first gift which boys and girls received, consisted of
one or more spoons — these being the established
presents of sponsors at christenings ; hence the im
plements may be said to have not only fed the bo
dies of children but to have given them a taste of
the sweetest of mental pleasures — indicating to the
young travellers that enter this rugged world one of
the pleasantest means of passing through it.
The Greeks, Romans, and older people than ei
ther, held family feasts when a child was named.
Relatives and friends attended as witnesses, and
made presents of various articles to the little stran
ger. The pouring on, or immersion in, water, (bap
tism) at the nomination of children, is also of heathen
origin. It was practiced both in the old world and
the new. When a child among the Astecs was to
be named, a priestess sprinkled its lips and bosom
with water, and invoked the goddess Cioacoatl that
original sin might be thus removed and the child born
anew. On these occasions friends and relatives
brought presents of dresses and ornaments suitable
to the circumstances of the parents and wants of the
child. In the earlier ages of Christianity sponsors pro
vided a frock or shirt in which the infant was christ
ened — hence named the 'christening shirt.' Its

Chap. X-] Christening Gifts — Apostle Spoons. 169
value of course depended on the circumstances of
the donor : when he or she was wealthy, it was often
trimmed with silk and gold. The Anglo Saxons
continued this custom for many ages, but it subse- !
quently went out of fashion, and the older one of
giving small articles of plate succeeded.
When spoons were given they were called Apostle
spoons, because the handle of each was carved into
the figure of an apostle with his appropriate symbol,
as Peter with the keys, Andrew with his cross, &c.
Wealthy godfathers generally gave a dozen, each
being named after one of the twelve it was designed
to represent. People, whose circumstances did not
admit of giving so many, or who were penurious,
compounded by sending the four evangelists; while
those who could not do better ingeniously presented
a single spoon, with the effigies of the saint aftet
whom the infant was named, or under whose pro
tection it had been placed by its parents.
This practice was in imitation of the heathen, who
introduced figures of their gods upon almost every
utensil — spoons, as we have seen, as well as the rest.
The idea as adopted in the middle ages was excel
lent. A child no sooner learned to feed himself — to
use his own spoons — than he began to acquire a
knowledge of scriptural and ecclesiastical biography.
Every spoonful of food he received, conveyed, or
might convey a useful lesson to his mind. The cus
tom might be revived with advantage — -at any rate
important truths or facts connected with scientific
individuals or with science and the arts, might thus'
22

170 Anecdote of Ben Jonson and Shakespeare. [Chap. X.
be communicated to, and indelibly impressed upon
the minds of the young.
Allusions to Apostle spoons are common. In the
play of Henry VIII. Act 5, Scene 2, Shakespeare
makes the king say to Cranmer that he must stand
godfather to the young princess, Elizabeth. The
Archbishop expresses his unfitness for so great an
honor, upon which Harry, bantering him, says he is
afraid of the expense of the usual gift to a godchild :
" Come, come, my lord, you'd spare your spoons."
In Scene 4 the directions are, " Enter trumpets,
lord mayor, Cranmer, dukes, &c. two noblemen
bearing great standing bowls for the christening
gifts." In a manuscript of L'Estrange, preserved in the
British Museum, an anecdote is related of Shake
speare himself and Ben Jonson directly in point.
Shakespeare was godfather to one of Ben's children ;
and after the christening, being in a deep study, Jon
son cheerily asked him why he was so melancholy ?
"Ben," said he, "I have been considering what
would be the fittest gift for my godchild, and I have
resolved it at last." " I pri'thee, what ?" said Ben.
"F faith, then, Ben," answered Shakespeare, "I'll
give him a good dozen of latten spoons, and thou
shalt translate them ;" an example of friendly pleas
antry betwen the two wits — the word 'latten' being
a play upon Latin. Latten, sometimes written laton,
was formerly applied to tinned iron, or articles made
of it, but more generally to brass, of which examples
will be found in these pages.

Chap. X.] Apostle Spoon described. 171
Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, and other dra
matic writers, refer to christening or Apostle spoons.
Thus also Congreve '.—"Angelica — Will you lend
me your coach or I'll go on — nay I'll declare how
you prophesied popery was coming, only because
the butler had mislaid some of the Apostle's spoons,
and thought they were lost — away went religion and
spoon meat together. — [Comedy of Love for Love,
Act 2, Scene 1.]
Mr. Hone, in his Every Day Book, [vol. i. 177,]
has given a representation of a dozen in his own
possession, and besides the anecdote of Shakespeare
just recited, quotes the following lines from a poem
published in 1666, in which the custom of giving
spoons is stated to have been on the decline :
" Formerly when they used to troul
Gilt bowls of sack, they gave the bowl,
Tico spoons at least — an use ill kept;
'Tis well if now our own be left."
The spoon figured on Plate IV. is in the writer's
possession. It is larger than those described by
Hone, the bowl being 2£ inches wide and nearly 3
inches long. The handle is 5J inches in length, in
cluding the figure of the apostle which is gilt. The
hat or flat cap is common to this class of spoons,
and was probably designed, as Hone suggests, to
preserve the features from effacement; but this was
not its only use ; when the figure was not sufficient
ly characteristic of the particular one of the twelve
whom it was intended to represent, an additional
symbol of him was impressed on the crown of the
cap; as an eagle, a dove, an ox, &c. emblematical

172 Practice at Ancient Feasts. [Chap. X.
of the evangelists. The weight of this spoon is 2£
ounces. The only mark stamped on it is an X with
what appear the remains of a crown above it, but it
is very illegible. The face of the punch was a cir
cle three eighths of an inch in diameter. The im
pression has been struck twice on the back of the
handle and once inside of the bowl, (the usual place
in old spoons.) The implement was forged, except
the image of the apostle, which was cast and soldered
on the handle. It is not of English manufacture,
since neither three leopards, the ancient government
stamp, nor a rampant lion, the modern one, is im
pressed upon it.
These implements are interesting, as showing the
influence of religion on the arts in mediaeval times —
how ingeniously ecclesiastical matters were interwo
ven with almost every thing — how even a spoon was
made to infuse religious truths into the minds of
children while it conveyed pap to their mouths.
Without being aware of the origin of the custom,
says Hone in his entertaining miscellany, many per
sons in Europe continue to present spoons at christ
enings, though no longer adorned with imagery.
One remark more ere Apostle spoons are dismiss
ed : It was a custom of remote antiquity to get up
convivial feasts at the common expense of the guests,
each individual contributing his proportion either in
money or victuals. There is an allusion to it in the
first book of the Odyssey : —
» * » * * Behold I here
A banquet or a nuptial ? For these
Meet not by contribution to regale. — Cooper.

Chap. X.] Gold and Silver Plate presented to Guests. 173
The custom may be traced down to present times.
There is a direct reference to it in the Spanish pro
verb : Huesped tardio no viene manivacio — 'a late
guest comes not sluggishly nor empty handed ;' the
presents he brings will account for his delay. In
the middle ages donations were invariably sent by
friends to feasts, whether social or religious. An
other pleasing trait of primitive manners was the ex
change of tokens of friendship between a host and
an esteemed guest at parting. Sometimes a piece
of money or other small article was broken in two,
one piece being retained by each individual as a
symbol and pledge of mutual hospitality. From
wealthy houses a stranger of rank was seldom al
lowed to depart without a valuable gift, such as his
condition or the disposition and ability of the donor
might suggest ; as a faulchion, a walking stick, vest,
or tunic, &c. but more generally, a golden or silver
vase or cup. Instances abound in Homer.
It was also a practice for princes to present to each
guest the goblet he drank from at table. Of the
nine thousand individuals who feasted with Alexan
der at Susa, every one received a golden cup. The
Roman emperors and patricians occasionally compli
mented their friends in the same way. Suetonius
informs us that Claudius having suspected a visitor
of stealing a golden cup, caused him to be served
at another time with an earthenware one. Some
times the plate used by visitors at a feast was sent
home to them on the following day — one of the most
acceptable tokens of the host's regard.

174 Apostle Spoons carried off by Guests. [Chap. X.
In later times guests did not wait to be presented
with, but actually helped themselves to articles of
plate ! At entertainments given on the installations
of civil or ecclesiastical dignitaries, scrambles for sil
ver cups, dishes, salt cellars and spoons Occurred
just as they have in recent times at coronations.
The practice became so common that it was at last
claimed by the robbers as a right, and was positively
recognized as such by law! It became interwoven
with the tenures by which lands and privileges were
held ! We have an example at page 80 of a lord of
the manor being entitled to carry off four dishes, two
salt-cellars, a cup, a wine pot, a spoon, and two
wash bowls (all of silver) from a bishop's table ; to
which may be added a much later one : When Dud-
ly North was elected Sheriff of London (in the last
century) and knighted, he gave the usual official
banquet, and selected for the purpose one of the
largest halls in the city. Several public bodies contri
buted to the expense. The Middle Templars pre
sented one hundred guineas. In North's life it is
said, "he had diverse very considerable presents
from friends and relations, besides the compliments
of the several companies, inviting themselves and
wives to dinner — dropping their guineas, and taking
Apostle spoons in the room of them ; which, with
what they ate and drank, and such as came in the
shape of wives, made but an indifferent bargain."
Another application of the spoon will hardly be
anticipated by every reader — its employment in the
administration of the sacrament. The introduction

Chap. X.] Sacramental Spoon. 175
of the implement for this purpose is ascribed by old
ecclesiastical writers to St. Chrysostom ; who, it is
said, designed it to prevent effusion of the chalice.
The Greek Church does not allow of pouring wine
into the cup ; it is therefore transferred in spoons.
The practice is different at Rome, but as the pope
claims to be the head of both Greek and Latin
churches, he combines in his person the peculiar cus
toms of both.
Fig. 11, Plate IV. -represents the golden spoon
used when he celebrates high mass 'in both lan
guages,' and with the ceremonies common to both
churches. It is from the first volume of Motraye's
Travels, where it is figured of full size. The bowl
is 2£ inches wide and 3 long ; the length of handle
and bowl 11_- inches. With this spoon the deacon
and sub-deacon, who are generally cardinal priests,
sup what remains in the chalice after the pope has
communicated. There can be no harm in stating here how the
pope conveys the wine to his own mouth, since he
neither puts the spoon nor the cup to his lips. As
the wine is believed to be transubstantiated into real
blood, it is deemed more seemly to suck than drink
it ; and hence the 'sanguisuchello or blood-sucker,' a
small golden and highly ornamented tube, 13 inches
long, through which his holiness imbibes the conse
crated fluid. [See its figureand description in Ew-
bank's Hydraulics.] At the celebration of high mass
in the cathedral church of Paris, a similar instrument
is used. [Diet, de Trcvoux, Art. Chalumeau.] But

176 Sanguisuchello. Chap. X.]
the honor of using it is deemed so great that permis
sion to do so is scarcely ever obtained. Motraye
tells us the king of Portugal was exceedingly zeal
ous in promoting the splendor of the church, but it
was not till after many solicitations that Clement XI.
consented that the Archbishop of Lisbon should ce
lebrate mass pontifically with papal paraphernalia,
but the spoon and sanguisuchello were expressly ex
cepted ! jF%
This curious instrument! fs not of modern date.
The Queen of Oviedo and"asturia, A. D. 777, pre
sented to one of the churcheSr^araSpain, dedicated to
St. Thyrsus, 'a silver chalice and paten, a wash
hand basin and a pipe ,*' which last, says Butler, in
his lives of the Saints, was 'a silver pipe or quill to
suck up the blood of Christ at the communion, such
as the pope sometimes uses ; it sucks it up as a
nose draws up air.' The use of the instrument was
not formerly confined to priests ; i. e. not until the
council of Constance took away the wine altogether
from the laity and gave it exclusively to the clergy.
Peter Martyr, complaining of the wealth and pride
of the Roman clergy, quotes Beatus Rhenanus re
specting ' certaine silver pypes, by the which pro-
phane men, whom they call the laitie, sucked out of
the challice in the holy supper, as though, forsooth,
out of the challice itself the faithful might not drink.'
The device was probably designed as a check — and
an ingenious one it was— rto rude and ignorant con
verts in the dark ages, to prevent them from taking
too freely of the cup.

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Chap. X.] Snuff taken with Spoons. 177
We have seen the spoon treasured up among the
regalia of kings, and here we find it with crosiers,
tiaras, sacred slippers, pastoral staffs, the sword of
St. Peter, keys of heaven, and other holy matters
belonging to the head of the church.
The next spoon was for a different purpose than
any yet described ; and so far from being a religious
application of the implement, many persons con
sider it a wicked one ; but sinful or not, it is our duty
to notice it. Perhaps the reader's attention in ar
riving thus far in this long chapter begins to flag,
and he mentally exclaims 'would it were ended.'
Well, there is little to add, and if he will but imitate
some drowsy people at church, by taking a sternu
tatory, he will arrive at the close without feeling fa
tigue or ascribing his heaviness to the writer. There
are persons whose physical constitutions are so deli
cate that mere thoughts of taking snuff, (and medi
cines generally,) produce the same effect as inhaling
the powder itself: now, if the imagination of the
reader has a similar influence over his system, he
can have no disposition to oscitate while finishing
the chapter ; on the contrary, the greatest obstacle to
his progress will arise from a disposition to sneeze.
Spoons were formerly much in vogue for taking
snuff! Gentlemen carried the powder in a small
bottle, the neck of which was closed by a cork or
stopper, through which passed the shank of a small
spoon. Sometimes the handle of the spoon formed
the head of the stopper. See Figs. 8 and 9, Plate IV.
for a specimen of these precursors of the snuff-box.
23

178 Chinese Mode of taking Snuff. [Chap. X.
In those days the expression was, 'take a spoonful,'
instead of 'a pinch.' Old people yet living remem
ber this use of the spoon. The stopper in the cut
was screwed into the neck.
The practice was most probably derived from
China, for snuff is there generally carried in vials or
cruets by the wealthy, and drawn out with a spoon.
In Mr. Dunn's celebrated Chinese collection, re
cently in Philadelphia, but now in London, there is
a porcelain snuff bottle of great beauty, with a stop
per of red cornelian, and a spoon of tortoise shell.
[Descriptive Catalogue, Phila. 1839, p. 68.] ' A
mandarin,' says Staunton, 'is seldom without a small
ornamented vial to hold his snuff, of which he occa
sionally pours a quantity equal to a pinch upon the
back of his left hand, between the thumb and index,
and carrying to his nose, he snuffs up several times
a day.' Powdered cinnabar is often employed for the
same purpose, as opium and odorous ingredients are
for smoking. The emperor of China distributed
among other presents to the members of the Dutch
embassy (of 1799) ' little bags for tobacco, and little
glass bottles to hold snuff' One of these would be
taken by an American or European as a smelling
bottle. With tbe spoon, says Dunn, they take out
the pungent dust and place it on the back of the left
hand, near the lower thumb joint, whence it is, snuff
ed up by the olfactories to perform its titillating of
fice. — [Catalogue, p. 11.]
With the bottle, snuff-taking was a more cleanly
practice than' the present one of thrusting the finger

Chap. X.] Scotch and Malagasy Snuff Takers. 179
and thumb into a box, and besmearing the person
and pockets with the contents. Laws had not then
been thought of, by which, as was subsequently en
acted in some parts of Europe, those were to lose
their noses who 'fed them with the prohibited food1.'
Howell mentions in his letters that rustic laborers
and even maid-servants in his time were accustomed
to snuff, taking out their boxes of 'smutchin' and
conveying it to their nostrils by a quill. The Scotch
highlanders take great pride in the ' mull' or spiral
horn, which is supported as a personal ornament
from the neck or belt, and from which they take the
snuff either with a pen, quill, or spoon of tin, brass
or silver, suspended by a small chain from the mull.
Pocket handkerchiefs were never very common
with the Gael, and yet something of the kind seems
indispensable to inveterate snuff takers ; but men in
every clime, when destitute of artificial conveniences,
are soon furnished by nature with appropriate sub
stitutes. It is so with the people of North Britain.
Along with the spoon there dangles at their breast a
hare's foot, with which they brush off superfluous
particles from the regions of the nostrils and lips.
The sensations produced by the use of this natural
duster, it is said, are far more delicate and pleasing
than the application of a bandana.
The people of Madagascar use snuff, but in a man
ner very different from inhabitants of the western
world. These take it at the nose, but the Malagasy
prefers the mouth. Putting a spoonful between the
under lip and the teeth, he sucks it at leisure, affirm-

180 Witchcraft — Old French Spoons. [Chap. XI.
ing that a more lasting and exquisite pleasure is
derived from it there than from momentary sniffs.
Snuff was used by the ancient Mexicans.
Nose powder or snuff is mentioned in an ancient
burlesque poem, on the laying of a ghost, inserted
by Walter Scott, in the appendix to his introduction
to the minstrelsy of the Scottish border. The in
gredients required by the exorcist were as numerous
and select as those used by the witches in Macbeth.
Besides plants and holy water, there were fox-tails,
teeth of an old horse, crabs' claws, a dog's ear, blue
wool, a pig's tooth, the tail of a sow, &c. and "of
neis powder ane grit loik."

CHAPTER XI.
Old Pocket Spoons — Costume — Cutlers and Tailors. Pock
ets — their Origin, History and Influence — Derived from the
Poke. Pocketing Sleeves. Valets. Ladies' Pockets — Reticules-
Capacity and Strange Contents of Old Pockets — Material and
Manufacture. Curious Old Folding Spoon — Conjectures re
specting ils owner. Forks — Of Uncertain Origin and Date —
Ancient Egyptians at Dinner — Boarding Schools — Washing
before and after Meals, and why — Anglo Saxons at Dinner —
Forks denounced by the Clergy — Combined with the Spoon —
Historical Notices of them.
Plate V. Figs. 1 and 2 are French spoons of the
sixteenth century. The style of Fig. 2 (a shell and
wreathed handle) is occasionally adopted in modern

Chap. XL] Folding or Pocket Spoons. 181
specimens. Fig. 1 — of silver gilt, and designed for
the pocket. It consists of three distinct pieces,
which joined together, form a spoon as in the figure,
but when separated each serves a different purpose.
The lower part of the handle forms a fork, the prongs
of which fit into loops soldered on the back of the
bowl ; the upper extremity unscrews, and when ta-*
ken off, presents a toothpick. A little above the
bowl there is a joint by which, on removing a small
ring that covers it, the whole may be folded up so as
to occupy a very small space.
' Folding spoons,' as they were named, were not
rare in the 16th and 17th centuries In the Pro
gresses of Elizabeth we read of a golden one, and
numerous specimens are still extant. They were,
we believe, like clasp or folding knives, one of the
results of a change in costume. Does the reader
smile at this, and ask what they could haVe to do with
dress ? At the first glance we admit the connection
is not obvious ; nevertheless they really were, and
are, as much allied to pockets, as ever were long-
handled ones to ruffs. In other words, if pockets
had never been known, folding spoons like folding
knives had never been made.
When knives had no joint at the junction of the han
dle and blade, they were worn pendant in sheaths
at the side, as cooks, stevedores and sailors still wear
them. Rich men and scholars sometimes attached
them to silver or gilt chains that went round the
neck. Chaucer thus carried his penknife, as seen
in some of his portraits. Ladies now wear watches

182 Costume — Tailors and Cutlets. [Chap. XJ ,
much in the same way, and so do gentlemen reading
glasses. But when the tunic and toga gave place to
the coat, and the modern vest superseded the dou
blet, multitudes of portable implements were ex
pressly designed for and named after the novel re
ceptacles which the new garments brought into
vogue — as pocket-books, pocket-glasses, pocket-
knives, pocket-combs, &c. &c. Then came in also
snuff-boxes in place of the old bottle, with hundreds
of other pocket devices, which a dealer alone can
enumerate — devices that never were thought of be
fore. Where pockets have been made for one thing,
a thousand things have been contrived for pockets.
To the tailor, therefore, manufacturers of small ar
ticles in hardware, tortoise shell, ivory and pearl, are
more indebted than they probably imagine. As for
spoons, it is clear the same artist had a hand in
bringing jointed ones into fashion, just as mantua-
makers once caused the handles of ordinary ones to
be lengthened.
One might almost suspect collusion between
knights of the file and those of the scissors! Did an
cient Sheffield workmen furnish contemporary sha-
pers of apparel with bodkins, needles and thimbles.
with shears and smoothing irons gratis, on condition
of bringing pockets into fashion, and multiplying
their variety? The offer of such a bribe would have
been a proof of far-seeing sagacity, since every spe
cies of pocket, from those of an over-coat to the la
tent watch-fob, has made fortunes for fancy cutlers,
for ages, and will make them for ages to come.

Chap. XL] Pockets — a rich Subject. 183
Pockets. — In noticing pocket-spoons, perhaps we
are expected to say something on pockets. Of all
tasks, such an one would be to our taste ; but it
would be digressing too far to enter on so diverting,
instructive and copious a subject; or even give a
sketch of these curious contrivances, of which it is
supposed the classical ancients, knew nothing. Still
it is scarcely proper to pass them wholly without no
tice, since their connection with spoons is already
apparent, and must as we proceed become more so.
Shades of Demosthenes and Cicero, of Quintilian
and Burke ! what a subject for eloquence and sub
limity is here ! One fraught with materials for the
richest paper ever read before a society of Chiffon
niers — one charged, like, pockets themselves, with
entertaining miscellanies with gems and gim cracks,
treasures and trifles, antiques and uniques ! A dish
flavored with spices, one over which the eyes of lite
rary gourmands would glisten and their pulse throb
quicker as they seated themselves to enjoy it!
We know not how sufficiently to admire the inge
nuity displayed in the origin and disposition on the
person of these flexible little cupboards, for hiding
what we wish to conceal, securing what we are anx
ious to preserve and for having always at hand what
may every moment be wanted. To deduce their
descent from the primitive girdle, oriental sash, phi
losopher's red scrip, pilgrim's wallet, and beggar's
unctuous pouch — to trace them through every shape;
and disguise, and enumerate the diverse uses to
which they have been put, would indeed be a feast

184 The Pocket every thing to Man. [Chap. XL
of good things and of queer things. But, alas ! no
literary cuisinier can now procure the necessary in
gredients. Such has been the inconsistency of his
torians that the annals of pockets have never been
written, while memorials of old pocket-makers have
been suffered to perish. Some valuable matter may
of course yet be collected, and among other sources
from Newgate calendars — from the lives and ex
ploits of scientific analyzers of pockets — a class of
men profoundly versed in their capacities, secret lo
cations, approaches and uses. This branch of bio
graphy, we opine, must be studied ere a standard
and luminous treatise on the subject can be written.
The history of a pocket would be a journal of the
owner's thoughts — a record of his motives ; for in
this adjunct to his dress lies coiled up the spring of
his actions — the secret power that moves him. ' The
pocket' is every thing to man — from it comfort and
Consequehce proceed. He who hunting the dark
recesses of one finds nothing, is nobody ; but to the
pocket of the rich annuitant all do reverence.
Strange that this little sack should be the fount of
men's hopes and despair, the source of their sor
rows and pleasures, the subject of their thoughts by
day and dreams by night — they flourish with it and
sicken as it dries up. When it expands so does
their joy ; when it shrinks their pleasures are fled.
The highest enjoyment is to fill ity-the deepest dis
tress to feel it void.
All the excitement in the world is about pockets !
One party putting their hands in, and the other striv-

Chap. XL] The World kept alive by it. 185
ing to keep them out — some going deeper than the
owners think right, and others appealing to the law
to make them submit. Yonder fat publishers laugh
at the profit they make, and here sits a lean author,
shedding tears over the pittance they give him. The
former are at peace with themselves and the world ;
the latter is at war with his tailor and dreads the
sight of his butcher and baker. A history of pock
ets would make startling disclosures and correct ma
ny errors. Some would be found empty which ru
mor crams full, while in others supposed not to con
tain a maravedi a plum lies concealed.
Abolish pockets and the world will stand still, for
every man lives by putting his hand into his neigh
bor's. It is his business — the only one by which he
gets breads. To facilitate this reciprocal attention
to each other's purses, merchants meet on 'Change,
shops are furnished, stores erected, markets estab
lished and ships put afloat. For this, worshippers
of Mercury adore him, and disciples of St. Nicholas
pray. All the inequalities in human condition arise
from the various modes of performing the operation :
to do it adroitly is the science and apparently the
sole purpose of life. Few minds can comprehend
the multiplicity of devices by which pockets are ex
hausted, replenished and made to run over; nor is
the genius yet born who can unravel them all : — but
a truce to such thoughts and let us glance for a mo
ment at pockets themselves.
Their name, as every body knows, is derived from
the poke — a sack for carrying grain to feed cattle,
24

186 Poke— Wallet— Pouch. [Chap. XL
and sometimes small animals to market — hence the
expression "to buy a pig in a poke." Reduced in
dimensions, it was adopted for holding victuals for
men, and subsequently implements to eat with. It
soon assumed a great variety of shapes, sizes and
names. As a wallet both ends were closed, with an
entrance through a slit in the middle, so that when
slung over the shoulder, one moiety of the contents
was suspended before and another behind — a spe
cies of biped saddle-bags. As a simple purse it was
still more reduced and carried in the hand like a
satchel or hung over the wrist. The next form
was by far the most common, and we may safely
infer the most useful — that of the pouch. This an
cient and most favored of all forerunners of pockets
was located at a different part of the person. Sus
pended from the girdle by strings or over the shoul
ders by a strap, it hung at the hips, either on the
right side or left, (though sometimes in front,) so
that the hand could enter, remain in, or be with
drawn, without inconvenience and with little effort.
It is to the pouch we are indebted for outside coat
pockets and 'poches des culottes.'
As a bag or purse, the material was commonly
linen or silk, and the mouth drawn close with strings ;
but as a pouch it was leather, sometimes prepared
with the fur on, and the entrance left open — a se
rious inconvenience, since the opening became wider
as the contents increased — inviting the notice of in
quisitive people, and leading the patriarchs of pick
pockets into constant temptation ; moreover, in wet

Chap. XL] Invention of Flaps— Clovis. 187
weatherrain dripped in from upper parts of the dress,
as into a gutter from the eaves of a house. These
evils were removed by the invention of covers or
flaps— an ingenious device for turning off water and
shutting out from public gaze the treasures within.
The epoch of flaps is not well ascertained, but
their antiquity is beyond cavil. In old cuts they are
not always distinguishable, because artists were ig
norant of the importance of delineating them dis
tinctly. Clovis, who flourished in the fifth century,
is represented with a purse or pouch at his girdle,
very like a modern lady's work bag. In 1285 we
find a French gentleman with one shaped like the
curved blade of an axe or a leather-cutter's knife.
Another specimen of the same century is plain, six
or seven inches deep and nearly as many broad. A
Parisian of A. D. 1400, sports one of a hemispheri
cal shape, handsomely fluted or crimped ; but these,
belonging to fashionable people, deviated from flap
ped pouches of the commonalty. [See Art du Tail-
leur, par Gausault, published by the Academy in
Arts et Metieres, and numerous examples of the
Anglo-Saxon pouch in Strutt.] Leather pouches
were staple articles of the shoemaker or cordwain-
er's art. In the 'Orbis Pictus' of Commenius, the
professor of those mysteries is at work, making them
with pointed and other fashionable formed flaps and
bodies. They were universally worn by people in
the middle ranks of life, down to the seventeenth
century, and by the poor in the eighteenth. We
believe they are not yet wholly laid aside.

188 Classification of Pockets. [Chap. XL
The next improvement was to secure the flaps.
This was sometimes accomplished by a simple but
ton : careful people had often two, and at one time
three were quite common, just as outside coat pock
ets were fitted fifty years ago. These were indeed
literal pouches fastened near that part of the person
where they formerly hung, and with covers larger
than those of a cartridge-box. Flaps were often
edged with wrought borders and adorned with a row
of gilt buttons. The pouch was sometimes provided
with a minute padlock, like those used with valises,
a precaution for keeping strangers' hands out, which
we do not remember having seen adopted by tailors.
As coats, vests, and culottes rose into favor, wal
lets and pouches died off; but they left ere they
vanished a prolific brood of hybrids behind. These
are now classified under the generic names of the
garments to which they belong ; as cloak, coat,
waistcoat and overcoat pockets, pockets for jackets,
pantaloons, &c. Some are named from their loca
tion ; as outside, inside, right and left handed pock
ets ; and others again after the articles they are in
tended to hold. One is devoted to the handkerchief,
a second to the gloves, a third to ah eye or ogling
glass, a fourth to a tooth pick, pencil case and knife.
Some are for money and memoranda, watches, snuff
boxes, small change, and indescribable sundries.
Professional men have professional pockets ; as sur
geons, mechanics, and sportsmen ; the first for their
instruments, the second for rules and measuring
tapes, the third for ammunition and game. Pockets

Chap. XL] Their number — Pocketing Sleeves. 189
for the last article are as capacious as knapsacks,
and when full often weigh down the owner, like Is-
sachar's ass under a couple. of panniers. Ere pock
ets were invented, sportsmen were content with less
elaborate arrangements. Strutt has engraved the
figure of an Anglo-Saxon gentleman, scouring the
fields without a hat or any covering to his head;
his arms are a quiver and bow, While his game
(which he shot flying) are strung round his belt,
forming a picturesque fringe composed of brant,
snipe and quail.
Instead of the solitary pouch of our forefathers,
pockets have become so very numerous that it is
difficult to tell how many some gentlemen carry;
always a pair, but often from three to five in the coat,
two to four in the vest, as many in the pants, while
in stormy weather an equal number in the great
coat or surtout — and yet these are not enough, since
we often see people stow away in their hats what
they cannot find room for any where else — imitating
prudent skippers who pile freight on deck for want
of room in the hold. A person is now enveloped in
pockets ; they are suspended so thickly about him,
that he would formerly have been taken for an itin
erant 'pochetier,' or a merchant of new-fashioned
'escarcelles.' As fashion is governed by whim, some whimsical
pockets have come into fashion — as the 'pocket
ing sleeves' of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
These did not resemble the modern 'bishop sleeve,'
but were long pendant pokes, which hung from

190 Victuals stole by old Waiters. [Chap. XL
men's arms like orioles' nests, and from ladies' wrists
like carpet bags. Modifications of them are yet
worn by Spanish and Portuguese monks. Head, in
his notes on the Pampas, mentions supping at an
apology for an inn with a travelling priest. After
finishing the meal, the reverend gentleman thrust
his hand " into the large sleeve of his white serge
gown and pulled out some cigars." Old writers
state that these pockets were usually searched be
fore their wearers could be admitted into kings'
houses, and in some cases before retiring ; the con
veniences which they presented for concealing things
surreptitiously acquired, gave rise to some strange
petty larcenies.
Richard Brath wait, in his 'Rules for the govern
ment of the house of an Earle,' charges the usher of
the dining hall to give a sharp look out, lest those
who wait at table pocket the victuals ; ' and I very
well like the order I have seene in some noble houses,
that neither yeoman, groome, nor gentleman's man,
must be suffered to wait in a cloake, but in their
livery coates, [garments fitted close to the body,] for
so were they easier to be seene if they carried forthe
any meat that they ought not to doe.' Hence there
was after all nothing very extraordinary in Hudibras
securing bread, black-puddings and cheese in his
trunk hose, or Sancho stowing away in similar cavi
ties boiled capons and sausage. Those who kept
porters' lodges, [entrances to castles,] Brathwait
observes, " should be men tall and stronge ; they
are to looke diligently that none filch and carry out

Chap. XL] Ladies' Pockets. 191
at the gates meate or any thing else." For the
same reason Roman slaves who served at table were
clothed only in tunics and girt with a towel. Visit
ors used their own napkins which a servant carried
to the feast and took back, and in it generally part
of the victuals — sometimes they were detected car
rying off articles of plate.
So much for men's pockets : those of the ladies
are more interesting affairs ; but having been ad
monished to let them alone, at least to refrain from
all remarks on modern 'poches des dames,' we shall
only take a peep at such as our grandmothers wore.
Indeed it would require a more inquisitive disposition
than ours to detect, and more assurance to describe
the devices by which young ladies avoid carrying the
enormous pouches in fashion a century ago. We
have neither the requisite knowledge nor nerve. To
be sure, we have occasionally seen belles, when pre
paring for shopping, thrust their money between the
glove and palm of the hand, and others use cuffs of
the pelisse for the purpose ; while in cold weather
they carry small parcels in muffs. Billets-doux and
souvenirs are concealed in the bosom — a favorite
place for favorite things — a convenient one too for
papers of thread, and other things of that sort, in
the absence of a work-bag — as Grecian and Roman
ladies well knew.
But there never was half the subtlety employed
in concealing the pockets of females as those of the
ruder sex. The French lady's apron is provided
with two pockets in front, as if inviting inspection.

192 Reticules — Old Housewives' Pockets. [Chap. XI.
Originally devised by 'une marchande' as a substi
tute for the till, it was found so convenient for other
things besides change as to become adopted by
those who had nothing to sell. The famed reticule
is carried in the hand, in every one's sight, and even
laid like the bonnet aside when its owner is not dis
posed to walk out. Its materials and decorations
are surprisingly varied ; sometimes formed of net
work (hence its name) of links of silver or steel, like
flexible armor of old; now made of shells, of seeds
and glass beads, of rich colored velvets and silks,
and enriched with lace. In public promenades,
swinging to and fro from the arms, these beautiful
things reflect rays tinctured with azure, crimson and
gold, reminding one of the plumage of tropical birds
in the sun.
In articles of taste ladies take the lead — reticules
are examples; for in them pockets have got back
to the old pendant pouch. Having run through the
entire circle of fashion, they have reached the point
where they began, and are ready to run it again.
This is an advance which the male sex has not at
tained ; as in other circles, the beaux are here doomed
to follow the belles.
But we are forgetting our promise to let pockets
of living ladies alone, and notice simply such as be
longed to frugal housewives in days gone by. Of
a truth, theirs were pockets ! — receptacles redolent
of other perfumes than camphor or musk, and re
plete with other things than ladies now carry. Char
acteristic of rude times, they were doomed to hard

Chap. XL] Their Strange Contents. 193
service. At first they were made of the most dura
ble of woven fabrics, but so great was the wear and
tear that eventually well tanned leather superseded
every other material. In shape many of them re
sembled an inverted heart, but more were like a vio
lin and in size a violoncello. Into one of these ca
pacious cul de sacs a dozen reticules might have
been put, a muff thrown in, and room be left. Let
those who doubt this, if any such there be, enquire
of an ancient farmer's wife, and they will doubt no
more. Besides doing d*ty as a purse or money drawer,
we have known -toe hold a clasp-knife for paring
apples and rijTping up seams, half a dozen silver
spoons, supposed to be safe no where else ; a bunch
of keys, Wts of ginger, cinnamon, and straggling
cloves, r»etallic tractors, a box of salve, a pincushion,
thimhfe> scissors, a leather case well stocked with
boc&ins, needles, tape and hanks of thread. The
marbles of the owner's favorite boy were thus se
cured each day, till he returned from school. A set
of knitting needles with their sheath found lodgings
there, and often folded in a half formed stocking,
with the ball of yarn to finish it. There were other
matters, but we forbear to specify them. It would
be difficult to do so, because into this omnium gath
erum all things were placed for which no other place
was found— a kind of moving closet, into which, in
sweeping round a house, the odds and ends were
swept — things so various and select as would suf
fice to stock a curiosity shop. 25

194 How old Pockets were worn — Stay Makers. [Chap. XL
It will at once be understood that pockets such as
these were not suspended to any part of the attire :
no gingham gown, nor silk, nor cotton stuff could
long support the load without being rent to tatters.
No! they were strapped round the person independ
ently of the dress — a necessary precaution ! They
were worn at the right side, except the fair owner
was an ambidexter, when they took the left. In
large households a lady preferred two, thus dividing
the load and making one half balance the other; at
the same time preventing the wearer from the risk of
being dragged down on one sio? and becoming de
formed in the spine. It was at one time common to
wear them on the outside of the gown, when they
were generally ornamented with stu-s, rings and
lovers' knots, in various colored leather. Some
times the owner or the donor's name was wrought
in 'chain stitch,' and like samplars with a mute- un
derneath. Justice to a class of scientific artists, now no mose,
requires us to state that these pockets were not the
work of women. The severe labor to which they
were subjected wiien in use, required a correspond
ing amount to be expended on their fabrication : this,
as in the case of shoes, saddlery, and other depart
ments of the leather trade, was deemed too great for
females ; hence housewives were indebted for tlieir
pockets, as well as corsets, to old ' stay makers.'
A marked relationship in the dress of the sexes
is ever observable. If the costume of one sex be
neat, elegant, or bizarre, so is that of the other.

, Chap. XL] Curious old Folding Spoon. 195
They partake of each other's character, and are as-
simulated, though in a way not easily described ; but
look at works of costume from Roman times to our
own, and this curious fact will be apparent, lt is
so to some extent even with pockets. When those
of our grandmothers were all but fathomless, our
grandfathers had theirs made of equal dimensions.
When ladies wore high caps and copious gowns
tucked out behind, gentlemen had their hair worked
up in crests like cockatoos, and clad themselves in
coats whose skirts were not like ours, " swallow-
tailed," but broad and projecting, a la fan-tailed pi
geons. Let us now return to spoons : Fig. 3, Plate V.
is another old pocket or folding one. The original,
lying before us, is of silver. Like the one already
described, its handle forms a fork. Having been
purchased by a silversmith with other worn out plate,
its history is unknown. From the style of the work
manship and other more obvious marks of antiquity,
it would seem to date from a much earlier period
than Fig. 1. The bowl is 2| inches long and If wide,
and of a moderate depth ; the length of bowl and han
dle when united, 6=. inches. Folded, the whole is
comprised in less room than an ordinary snuff box.
The jointed handle is shown separately at Fig. 4.
The lower part, where united to the fork, is plain and
square — a portion of which is removed on one side,
leaving a recess into which the small shank of the
fork is received ; so that when the little sliding and
ornamented tube is slipped over both, a perfect fork

196 Emblems of Death ul Mealtimes. [Chap. XL
is made. Fig. 5 — the back of the bowl, showing
five oblong loops, through which the prongs were
pushed when the owner wished to transfer liquid
food to his lips.
An interesting feature, and one indicative of con
siderable antiquity, is the death's head, and round it
the well known admonition, ' memento mori' en
graved on the bowl — the initials of the melancholy
owner standing on each side like armorial support
ers to this graveyard emblazonry. The letters and
writing are rudely executed, much more so than ap
pears in the cut.
Possibly the implement belonged to some pious
recluse who doomed himself to self-torture, and took
this mode of mortifying his flesh — causing an image
of the grim monster to stare him in the face with
every mouthful he swallowed—- a device by which the
horrors of the charnel house were associated with
the dining table ! Quite a refinement on the practice
of the ancient Egyptians — a people naturally lively
and jocose, and whom the priests, as guardians of
their morality, had considerable difficulty to keep
within bounds. At convivial parties, Herodotus in
forms us (ii. 78) a coffin containing a perfect image
of a dead person was carried round to every guest,
the bearer requesting him to look on, and remem
ber he would soon resemble it— an ingenious con
trivance to keep people sober — but the owner of the
spoon went further ; he actually put into his mouth
a grinning death's head when he tasted his food, and
repeated the operation with every morsel he ate.

Chap. XL] Devices for subduing the Appetite. 197
Custom is all powerful, or such a mode of taking
dinner would stay some people's stomachs ere din
ner began.
Numerous were the inventions in past ages for
conquering rebellious appetites. Most of them had
relation to abstinence ; as with the Yogees and other
sects of India, of which some individuals, though
watched closely, were never seen to eat, and were
therefore esteemed most holy. There is certainly
nothing like fasting for subduing the passions, and it
is, really astonishing how far it has been carried.
Red lettered eremites, in whose constitutions a crav
ing for food predominated, heroically endured the
constant pangs of hunger and thirst, with the view of
fairly starving the wicked ones out. Some limited
themselves to two or three spoonfuls of thin pottage
a day, and with it actually ' mixed dirt' to punish
the palate, or sprinkled in 'grit' to set the teeth on
an edge ! They sorrowed because they could not
exist without eating. From some accounts it would
seem as if each spoonful was accompanied to the
mouth with a groan, while streams of tears often
made it run over ! No wonder that such men check
ed indulgence in themselves and other people by
engraving emblems pf death on table utensils.
Perhaps it will be said, severe disciplinarians used
simple spoons of wood or horn, while the one un
der consideration, being of silver, was not suited to
a sorrowful penitent. True ; hence if it really be
longed to a monastery, it perhaps had a place in the
abbot's buffet, These men, we know, 'lived well,'

198 Table d'Abbe. [Chap. XL
bodily as well as spiritually ; they were no strangers
to creature comforts. ' Table d'Abbe ' was a pro
verbial expression for a splendidly furnished board.
They were served in plate, and with considerable
state too ; so were lady abbesses also ; but we can
not think this spoon was ever owned by a nun — no
female could of choice love to contemplate (in the
ornament on the back) the figure her face was des
tined to make, nor did any one ever wish her beauty
to fade. The lady of the cloister no more than her
sister of the ball room was ever insensible to personal
charms or indifferent about her appearance in the
eyes of mankind.
With the implement, then, we may suppose some
superior of a convent moderately cherished his body,
especially on meagre days ; and as an exterior sign of
interior grace had a symbol of mortification cut on
the outside of the bowl. Perhaps many a lesson on
fasting was given to his attendants with this spoon
in his hand — serious homilies on the evils of good
cheer, and the blessings heaven bestows on the ab-
temious — blessings, we may presume, evinced in the
shining face, the en bon point and comely appear
ance of his reverence. But other thoughts were in
dulged and other scenes enacted when his table was
cleared, and the spoon, with the dishes, found their
way to the kitchen or refectory, where the lay breth
ren dined, out of his sight and out of his hearing !
Verily, all the stories extant about monasteries and
monks would be well nigh eclipsed by a week's ta
ble-talk held in the presence of an old abbot's spoon.

Chap. XL] Supposed ownership of an old Spoon. 199
Possibly some reader exclaims, 'this is all well
enough, if the implement ever had a place in a con
vent — ^it more likely was owned by a layman ; the
initials imply as much, while the female bust on the
handle was not by any means appropriate for a
priest either to handle or look on.' There is some
force in these remarks. Well, let us see to whom
it could have belonged — not to an Englishman cer
tainly, since neither the maker's nor the government
stamp is impressed on it. It is from continental
Europe, and if made to order was designed for a
gentleman acquainted with mythology and versed in
the classics. The handle, representing a nymph and
twisted serpents, indicates this. Now who could he
be ? The initials are A. L. — perhaps Alphonso Le-
desma, the Spanish poet, who died in 1623 ; or An
drea Lanzano, the Italian painter ; but poets and
painters are generally poor, and many, like Cervan
tes and Morland, never owned any plate ; we shall
therefore conclude that Andrew Laguna, the rich
and favorite physician of Charles V. once owned it.
If such was the fact, this spoon was probably often
in the company of the most famous men of the age.
It may have been even handled by Columbus him
self, after returning from his immortal adventure.
Other readers may think the implement was ori
ginally made for the special use of an individual :
very possible, and on second thoughts we may be
sure none but a niggard, afraid of his victuals, or a
miser like Elwes could have made a practice of put
ting such an one into guests' hands.

200 Forks — their Inventor unknown. [Chap. XL
After all it is no great matter who the owner was.
It has obviously existed through two, possibly three
or eVen four centuries, and has seen much service.
Many are the mouths it has opened, the palates it
has tickled, the stomachs it has comforted, the
tongues it has silenced, and peradventure blistered
by hastily leaving scalding pottage in the mouth. ' But
alas! where now are the eyes that once glistened over
it, the wits seated at tables it has graced ? Having
outlived them all, it appears in a land of strangers;
a wanderer in another hemisphere. Could this ven
erable relic give an account of its former proprietors,
tell us who and what they were, how they lived and
where they died, how it came among and why parted
from them — could it describe their persons, tempers,
and conditions, the friends they entertained and the
families they visited — few novels would surpass, per
haps none equal the story in interest.
Forks. — As the handles of some old spoons were
separable from the bowls, so as to be used as forks,
we may as well devote the concluding pages of this
chapter to the latter. The transition from pocket-
spoons to pocket-forks is easy enough, but when
both implements are joined together, their descrip
tions should not be apart.
There is something singular in the history of forks.
Though of modern date, as little is known of their
origin as that of spoons. The author of one is as
much lost to fame as the inventor of the other. It
is certain that people of the ancient world took din
ner without forks. All raised victuals to their mouths

Chap. XL] Victuals handled at Table. 201
as orientals do now ; hot and thin liquids with spoons,
and butcher's meat with the fingers. Even in the ad
vanced state of society and manners under the Pha
raohs, Egyptians held cooked joints ahd roasted fowls
in one hand while shaving off slices with a knife in
the other. In one of the paintings copied by Rossilini
representing a feasting party, a gentleman flourishes
a joint of venison or lamb, two are eating fish which
they retain in their fingers, while a fourth is actually
separating the wing of a goose with the same instru
ments. This may have been an exception to the
general practice, though if so, why it should have
been selected for record on eternal tablets of stone,
it is not easy to divine. These tablets present the
most ancient pictures in existence of feasts. It is
not till some four thousand years later we meet
with table forks. These are not found portrayed in
sculptures, nor paintings or engravings till the 17th
century, yet pictorial delineations of Roman, Asiatic,
Norman, and Anglo-Saxon domestic life abound.
The absence of forks at Jewish tables is suffi
ciently evident from the affecting declaration of the
Savior: ' He that dippeth his hand with me in the
dish, the same shall betray me' — the identical mode
of eating still followed in Palestine. We know from
Roman writers, that to take food from a dish without
unnecessarily immersing the fingers, was a part of
the education of youth of both sexes. Ovid has ver
sified the lesson :
" Your meat genteelly with your lingers raise ;
And, as in eating there's a certain grace,
Beware, with greasy hands, lest you besmear your face."
26

202 Boarding Schools — Washing the Hands. [Chap. XL
The same advice was imparted to boys and girls
of ancient Greece. It is now impressed upon their
offspring by the polite Persian, Turk and Hindoo.
Boarding schools are of extreme antiquity, (ii. Kings,
iv. 38.) and Pharaonic as well as Jewish proprietors
taught young masters and misses to behave not un
seemly at table. Chaucer mentions a school at Bow,
where girls were initiated in the arts of fashiona
ble life ; among other acquirements they were taught
how to avoid putting their hands too deep in the
dish. Somewhat similar advice was given to Euro
pean ladies in the seventeenth century, and Quixote
praises Sancho for his attainments in this branch of
politeness. It was the want of forks which gave rise to the old
practice of washing before and after meals — one for
which the ceremonious Pharisees were so tenacious,
and with which they combined manyo-idiculous su
perstitions. The custom was demanded by decency,
when plates were not in use and each person at din
ner thrust his hand into one common dish. What
could be more offensive to natural propriety than an
individual fishing up from that dish gobbets of flesh
with fingers only washed with the soup ! To the
decent as well as the delicate, the sight must ever
be abhorrent. A Subsequent ablution was as neces
sary to personal comfort as the first was to the com
pany's enjoyment of their food. When pocket hand
kerchiefs were not in vogue, what else could a lady
or gentleman do while their fingers were streaming
with the fluid material of a ragout, or coated with

Chap. XL] Anglo-Saxon Noblei at Dinner.

203

the glutinous remains of a bowl of rich cuscous ?
They must either have wiped them dry on the hair
of their heads, or rubbed off what they could on their
garments. The process of washing the hands, and
the utensils employed, are described at page 83, as
used in Europe in the sixteenth century. Later
still the custom was common. In Commenius' Visi
ble World there is a cut representing a feast. The
guests being brought in, wash their hands by hold
ing them over a basin presented by a servant, who
pours out water from an ewer. The reader who is
desirous of beholding orientals dining on the favorite
ragout may consult the cuts in Lane's Modern Egyp
tians, and illustrated works on Eastern manners. If
he wishes to see how occidentals formerly managed
roasted joints let him cast his eyes on the cut below,
copied from Strutt :

ANGLO-SAXON NOBLES OR PRINCES AT DINNER.
Three Anglo-Saxon nobles or princes at dinner!
Their rank is indicated by being served on the knee.

204 Spits handed round to Guests at Table. [Chap. XI.
The number was one most preferred in classical eras
for convivial parties. These, it was said, ought ne
ver to consist of fewer persons than the Graces nor
more than the Muses. The round table is covered
by an ample cloth upon which are placed bowls or
deep dishes, but no plates. One of the party only
is supplied with a spoon ; he seems in the act of call
ing to his attendant, perhaps for soup. His associ
ates amuse themselves with solider things ; one is
engaged in separating a slice from a joint presented
on the rod on which it was roasted. To facilitate
the operation, he grasps one end of the spit while the
waiter holds fast the other. The gentleman with a
beard appears indetermined whether to follow the
example or first finish the fish in his hand.
Here is ocular proof how indispensable was the
washing of hands after dinner, and this old painting
is in all essential points a mere fac-simile of others
which might be produced, of earlier and later dates.
The reader may find specimens in D'Agincourt's
History of the Arts. Plate 71 shows a royal party
at a table furnished much in the same style as the
foregoing. To assist digestion and gratify two senses
at once, a fiddler stands by, playing a favorite air.
The date is about the 11th century. But so late as
the middle of the 17th century, it was common for
carvers to handle flesh meats at table. In 1641 a
festival was held at Paris by the Savetiers. One gen
tleman grasps the shank of a leg of mutton while cut
ting it up, to supply the plate of a lady beside him.
It is hence obvious that the unbecoming practice of

Chap. XL] Forks denounced by the Clergy. 205
' licking the fingers,' attributed as a crime to ancient
turnspits, was not unknown to their betters — that
kings as well as cobblers were guilty of it daily.
The attendants in the cut wear tunics, and appa
rently are girt with towels. Each holds a trencher,
the essential requisite of an Anglo-Saxon page. He
was never allowed to wait at table without it ; a good
reason for which is furnished by the illustration :
held under the smoking joint, it caught the dripping
gravy and such pieces of meat as a guest when carv
ing might let fall. [The rich subject of spits must
be left for future papers which the Society of Chif
fonniers intend to issue.]
Perhaps some readers imagine the want of forks
was sensibly felt in old times, and that they were ea
gerly adopted as soon as they appeared. No such
thing. We regret to say their introduction was vio
lently opposed, and a storm of abuse poured on the
heads of their users. Even the clergy, who ought
to have known better; preached against them as a
wicked innovation. Among others, the Benedic
tines of St. Maur declared them inconsistent with
the scriptural mode of living, as exemplified by the
patriarchs, prophets, and especially by the great ex
emplar and his apostles — an abominable violation of
primitive manners! But notwithstanding the denun
ciation of table forks by friars and monks, the very
people among whom the pope had his seat were the
first to receive them. They were first domesticated
in Italy in the 16th century, but were certainly known
there before, either as luxuries or curiosities.

206 Forks partially known in Olden Times. [Chap. XL
As early as the 11th and 12th centuries they were
occasionally used by the wealthy. Peter Damiani,
who died A. D. 1073, mentions in one of his letters
a lady of Constantinople, married to a doge of Ve
nice, and who, among other strange fancies, required
rain water to wash in, and used a golden fork to eat
with. But this does not determine the date or place
of their invention. It does not appear that they were
quite novel things then — nay, a silver fork has been
found at Pompeii ; so that they were not absolutely
unknown to some of the fashionables of antiquity.
Forks are mentioned in a charter of Ferdinand I.
of Spain, A. D. 1101. In the wardrobe account of
Edward I. king of England, 'a pair of knives with
sheathes of silver enameled, and a forcke ofchrystal'
are specified. In 1595, Queen Elizabeth dined at
Kew, at the house of Sir John Pickering, who pre
sented her with a rich fan, the handle of which was
set with diamonds ; an artificial nosegay composed
of jewels, "and to grace him the more, she, of her
self, took from him a salt, a spoone, and a forcke of
fair agatte." At the same period they were looked
on as curiosities in France. Brathwait, who wrote
his 'Rules' in the early part of the reign of James I.
is silent on forks, though full on the minutest mat
ters. The groom of the pantry was "to keepe the
saltes, spoones, and knives very faire and cleane."
It was owing to their being made portable that
eventually brought forks into vogue. Travellers,
gentlemen, delicate ladies, young beaux, and all who
disliked to feed out of dishes into which the fingers

Chap. XL] Century of Inventions — Coryatt. 207
of a company were unceremoniously thrust, carried
their eating apparatus in a case or cadenas. The
eighty-second proposition of the Marquis of Worces
ter's famous Century of Inventions is a proof in
point : — " A knife, spoon, or fork, in an usual porta
ble case, may have the like conveyance in their han
dles;" i. e. secret devices might be concealed in
them. Nichols mentions knives with 'conceytes' in
the handles — a toothpick for example, as in a spoon
already described. Great ingenuity was displayed
in things of this kind and not a little pride indulged
in them by the wearers— like the conceited fop in
Gil Bias who carried his gloves and handkerchief in
the hilt of his sword. The oldest forks were gene
rally of silver. Henry IV. of France had one of
steel. Heylin attributes their introduction into Eng
land to young men of fashion, but errs, we think, in
ascribing them to the Chinese : " The use of silver
forks with us, by some of our spruce gallants taken
up of late, came from China to Italy, and from thence
to England." — [Cosmog. p. 865.]
In the cut ofa feast in Commenius, besides trench
ers, cups, glasses, knives, and other table furniture,
there are " Uttle forfts," not much unlike those figur
ed on Plate VI. which date from an earlier period.
In 1611, Coryatt, the eccentric English traveller was
ridiculed by writers and wits for using forks. Their
introduction into Britain has been erroneously as
cribed to him. They were previously known there
as we have seen, but the book of his travels made
the public more familiar writh them :

208 Coryatt' 's Account of Forks. [Chap. XL
" I observed," he says " a custom in all those Ital
ian cities and townes through the which I passed,
that is not used in any other country that I saw in
my travels ; neither do I think that any other nation
of Christendome doth use it, but only Italy. The
Italian and most strangers that are commorant [dwel
ling] in Italy, do alwaies at their meales use a little
forke, when they cut their meate. For while with
their knife, which they hold in one hand, they cut
the meate out of the dish, they fasten their forke,
which they hold in the other hand, upon the same
dish. So that whatsoever he be, that sitting in the
company of any others at meale, should unadvisedly
touch the dish of meate with his fingers, from which
all at the table doe eat, he will give occasion of of
fense unto the company, as having transgressed the
lawes of good manners ; insomuch that for his error
he shall be at least brow-beaten, if not reprehended
in words. This forme of feeding, I understand, is
generally used in all places in Italy, their forkes be
ing for the most part made of yron or Steele, and
some of silver ; but these are used only by gentle
men. The reason of this their curiosity is, because
the Italian cannot by any means have his dish touch
ed with fingers, seeing all men's fingers are not alike
cleane — hereupon I myself thought good to imitate
the Italian fashion, by this forked cutting of meate,
not only while I was in Italy, but also in Germany,
and oftentimes in England since I came home : be
ing once quipped for that frequent using of my forke,
by a certain learned gentleman, a familiar friend of

Chap. XL] Elegant Extract— Squire Pansa. 209
mine, one Master Laurence Whitaker, who in his
merry humour doubted not to call mefurcifer, only
for using a forke at feeding."
In the preceding extract, we have a view of Ital
ian gentlemen 'feeding' in the beginning of the 17th
century. In the following passage we obtain an in
sight into British manners during the middle of it : —
" A gentlewoman being at table, abroad or at home,
must observe to keep her body straighte, and lean
not by any means upon her elbowes — nor by raven
ous gesture discover a voracious appetite. Talke not
when you have meate in your mouth ; and do not
smacke like a pig— nor eat spoonemeat so hot that
the tears stand in your eyes. It is very uncourtly
to drink so large a draught that your breath is al
most gone, and you are forced to blow strongly to
recover yourselfe. Throwing down your liquor as
into a funnel, is an action fitter for a juggler than a
gentlewoman. In carving at your own table, distri
bute the best pieces first, and it will appear very
decent and comely to use a forke ; so touch no piece
of meat without it." This elegant extract is from
' The Accomplished Lady's Rich Closet of Rarities.'
London, 1653.
To conclude : That forks were known in Spain
when Cervantes wrote, is obvious from the address
of Quixote to Don Antonio in praise of Squire Pan
sa : 'In truth, Sancho's temperance and cleanliness
in eating deserve to be engraved on plates of brass,
to remain an eternal memorial for ages to come. I
must confess when he is hungry, he seems to be
27

210 Oriental Manners. [Chap. XII.
somewhat of a glutton, for he eats fast and chews
on both sides of his mouth ; but for cleanliness he
always strictly observes it. When he was a govern
or he learned to eat so nicely that lie took up grapes
and even the grains of pomegranates with the point
of a FORK.'

CHAPTER XII.
Oriental Manners — Semifluids and Fingers — Spoons of Gold
and Silver prohibited — Church Plate — Quibbling Evasion qf
Mahomet's Precept — Modern Oriental Spoons — 'Substitutes for
Tumblers — Arabs at Dinner — Revenge of Hasan — Persian
Spoons — A Vulgar Ambassador — Cakes used as Napkins-^~
Frolic of Tavernier and the King qf Persia-^-Proverbs — -Sher-
bert Spoons — Curious Article in the Persian Creed — Repartee —
{Chinese Spoons — Chopsticks — Sheathed Knives and Spoons —
Worn by Janizaries — 'Standard and Caldron1 — Military Ro
mances — Ancient Beggars — Clack Dish and Spoon — Interesting
Family — Beggars and Lent — St. Giles.
A cursory reader of travels might imagine spoons
unknown in the greater part of the earth, so frequent
ly are unguarded expressions to that effect met with.
We may therefore as well premise that the practice
of conveying semifluid food to the mouth without
them was formerly as universal as handling flesh
meats at table without forks. With the exception
of Europe and European descendants, it is so still.
Boiled rice is the great pabulum of life to a majority

Chap. XII.] Antediluvian Usages. 211
of our species— with millions it is the only food.
Now, whether eaten by the scrupulous Hindoo, deli
cate Persian, or fastidious Turk — people with whom
cleanliness is godliness, whose daily ablutions are re
ligious duties — or by the revolting Hottentot, the
wild Arab, or revengeful Malay, it is conveyed to
the mouth with the hand alone. So general is this
filthy custom among people on opposite parts of the
globe that it can. hardly be looked on in any other light
than as a relic of times when mankind formed one
family — times when no forks were used but fingers,
no other knives than finger nails, and spoons had
not been thought of — when men and women clutch
ed their food as parrots do, and raised it to their lips
like squirrels.
Suppose we add a few examples of the custom —
not drawn from people ignorant of spoons, but such
as follow it from choice. The reflecting reader will
need no stronger proof of the still prevailing influ
ence of antediluvian usages, and of the humiliating
fact, that like other creatures, men are creatures of
habit — that tenacity to the rude practices of our fore
fathers is not always to be overcome by refinements
or reason.
The Hindoos use neither knives nor forks at table,
•'nor spoons except with soup.' Rice is served on
banana leaves cut in the form of, plates, and fresh
ones are had for every meal.
M. Loubere, ambassador to Siam in 1687, and
the author of two volumes on that country^ says : —
* lis n'ont a table, ny nappe> ny serviette, ny cuilliere,

212 Silver Coffin, Ladle, and Golden Spoon. [Chap. XII.
ny fourchette, ny couteau.' [Tome i. 101.] But that
spoons were known there, is clear from the oriental
jewelry and plate presented to the king of France
by his royal brother of Siam, in 1685. Among other
things was ' une cuilliere d'or, au plus bel ouvrage
du Japon.' — [His. Gen. Tome xii.]
One traveller says the natives of Madagascar use
no spoons ; another, that they find substitutes for
them and for dishes and ladles in the leaves of the
raven plant. According to a third, spoons are not
uncommon, while some of costly materials are occa
sionally to be met with. Rice is considered the best
of all dishes ; and beef, mutton, fowls and fish mere
adjuncts. These, when cooked, are cut into small
pieces, and invariably served up on boiled rice, into
which 'horn spoons are stuck,' and for it alone used.
The fore finger and thumb — a pair of natural for
ceps — pick up the meat and deliver it into the mouth.
When Radama, king of the Island, died in 1828,
immense treasure was buried with him. His coffin
was silver. To make it, fourteen thousand dollars
were melted and beaten into plates, which were fast
ened together with silver rivets. Besides dther valu
ables buried with him were a silver ladle and a gold
en spoon, for his use in another world.
The people of Barbary make no use of knives
and forks, 'and very rarely of spoons.' Like other
orientals, they take up their food with the right hand,
and dexterously jerk it into the mouth. Caffres use
neither tables, knives nor plates, but sometimes call
in the aid of forks and spoons. Squatting round a

Chap. XII.] Negroes- — Sumatrans — Bashee Islanders. 213
boiling pot, each spears with a pointed stick a piece
of flesh, and leisurely eats it from the hand. When
a missionary arrived at Lattakoo, some colored la
dies sent his party a present of porridge in the pot
in which it was made, but unaccompanied with im
plements to eat it with ; they never thought of spoons
being used with semifluid food, but naturally sup
posed that white as well as black men's fingers tast
ed every morsel swallowed. The Negroes of the
Gambia, says Moore, are not very proud in their fur
niture, for the greater part have only a mat raised on
a few sticks to sleep on, a jar for water, a calabash for
drinking, two or three mortars to pound rice, and ca
labashes out of which they eat rice with their hands.
The Sumatrans, says Marsden, use at table nei
ther knives nor spoons, nor any substitute for them.
They take up rice and other victuals with the thumb
and fingers, and dexterously throw it into the mouth.
Rice is boiled generally in a joint of bamboo, and by
the time it is cooked the vessel is nearly destroyed.
Their manner of boiling the grain is to let it simmer
over a slow fire, drawing off the water by degrees
'with a flat ladle or spoon.'
The Bashee Islanders take meat from the pot in
which it is cooked with their fingers, as the Moors
do pillau, using no spoons. At Mindanao the com
mon food is sago and rice. When served up, each
person dips his fingers in water, to prevent the glu
tinous food from sticking to them ; then taking a
handful out of the platter, squeezes it into a lump,
and crams it into his mouth. [Dampier.]

214 Hawaians — Turks — Arabs. [Chap. XII.
When Kotzebue was at Owhyhee, Tamaahmaah,
the king, who possessed European table utensils, in
cluding spoons, used a gourd for a basin at dinner,
and fed himself like an Asiatic, dipping his fingers
into the taro dough, and conveying it to his mouth
with the same implements. He observed to the
Russian navigator : ' This is the custom in my coun
try, and I will not depart from it.' The same slo
venly way of eating was observed from the king to
the lowest menial. Mr. Farnham, in his ' Scenes in
the Pacific,' is more particular: "The mode of con
veying poi to their mouths was quite primitive. The
fore and middle fingers served instead of a spoon.
These they inserted to the depth of the knuckles, and
having raised as much as would lie upon them, and
by a very dexterous whirl brought it into a globular
shape, upon the tips, they thrust it into their mouths
and licked the fingers clean for another essay."
When Captain John Smith, the hero and his
torian of Virginia was a slave among the Turks, his
stomach was sorely tried. In his chapter on Turk
ish diet, he says pillau was served out to his captors
in great bowls; they sat 'round it on the ground,
and after they have raked it thorow so oft as they
please with their fbule fists, the remainder was for
the christian slaves.'
Nearly 200 years have elapsed since Van Sleb
visited Egypt. He was once entertained at an ex
traordinary banquet given by a rich Arab ; but ' wine
was wanting, and spoons, knives and forks.' 'The
modern Egyptians,' says Lane, 'seldom use at table

Chap. XII.] Oriental Spoons of Ebony, S/C. 215
either knives or forks ; the thumb and two fingers
of the right hand serve for every thing not fluid.
Spoons are used for soup and thin rice, or other
things not easily conveyed to the mouth without
them.' The same writer, speaking 'on meals and
the manner of eating,' in a note to his translation of
the 'Thousand and One Tales,' remarks: 'The ta
ble is usually placed upon a round cloth spread in
the middle of the floor, or in a corner next two of
the deewans or low seats, which generally extend
along three sides of the room : it is composed of a
large round tray of silver, or tinned copper or brass,
supported by a stool commonly about 15 or 16 inch
es high, made of wood and generally inlaid with
mother of pearl, tortoise shell, &c. The dishes are
of silver, of tinned copper or china ; several are plac
ed upon the tray, and around them are dispersed
some round flat cakes of bread, with spoons of box
wood, ebony, or other material.'
The leading customs through all the East, with
regard to eating, are in fact similar. When people
sit at table their legs are crossed under them. They
perform topical ablutions before and after meals, at
which knives and spoons are seldom seen. When
the master of the family is present, he first puts his
hand in the dish, and the rest in order after him.
There is another particular with which the reader
should be acquainted, in order to understand why
wooden spoons chiefly are used by wealthy orientals.
The poorer classes have spoons of horn, wood, brass,
and iron ; and a few silver and golden ones may oc-

216 Mahomet vs. Gold and Silver Spoons. [Chap. XII.
casionally be found on the tables of princes and rich
men ; but such are not common, and for this reason :
they were prohibited by Mahomet. "Verily, [said
he,] the fire of hell will roar like the bellowings of
a camel in the bellies of those who eat and drink
from vessels of gold and silver." No articles of
plate are allowed in mosques, and formerly they
were excluded from christian churches. " Exupe-
rius, Bishop of Tholose, ministered the holie sup
per with a glasse cup and a wicker basket. The
Triburien Council disputed whether golden or wood-
den vessels should be used. Boniface, the martyr,
said when they were golden priests, they had wood-
den cups, but now being woodden priests, they will
have golden challices." [P. Martyr, on ' Ornaments
of Churches.'] Some rich Mahommedans, however, like other
rich people, contrive, while obeying literally a pre
cept they do not like, to depart widely from its spirit.
Indeed no law, divine or human, can repress the
love of distinction. Hunger breaks through stone
walls, but pride bursts through brass ones. Believ
ers in the Koran are forbid to eat or drink out of
gold or silver utensils. 'True,' quoth a worldly-
minded mufti ; ' that applies only to things put to
the lips, not to trays, dishes, wash-basins, knives,
nor yet to the handles of spoons, for none of these
things come in contact with the mouth.' Awful
would be the fury of the prophet, could he hear his
doctrines thus explained away; and how would his
indignation boil could he read the following extract

Chap. XIL] Egyptian Spoons of Tortoise Shell, &/c. 21 7
from a travelling giaour's remarks on the manners of
his people : 'As for pillau, and other soft and liquid
meats, the Turks have spoons, though not of gold and
silver, which they are forbidden by the law to put
into their mouths. Those at the tables of persons
of distinction are generally of agate, amber, or other
scarce material, with handles of gold or silver gilt,
and set with jewels ; for the parts which enter not
the mouth may be of those metals !' [Motraye.]
In the 'Grande Description,' tome ii. E. M. are
two Egyptian spoons of the kind, being richly orna
mented. They are shown in Figs. 6, 7, Plate V.
'Cuillers en ecaille, ornees d'ambre, de corail et de
nacre. [Fig. 8 is enlarged from a cut in Jacob Cat's
works.] Fig. 9 — another Turkish spoon, elaborately
enriched in both bowl and handle.
The Turks and other orientals seldom drink at
meals, but when they do it is out of spoons ; hence
if they do not employ them always as we do, they
put them in requisition where we do not. The weal
thy have a variety of pleasant drinks, consisting of
diluted peach, cherry, and raspberry syrups. Each
person has by him a wooden spoon, with which he
lades the syrup out of bowls, taking ever and anon
spoonfuls of it, and so suspends his thirst. [Taver-
nier.] A sweet drink, composed of raisins boiled in
sugar and scented with rose water, is drunk by la
dies out of ladles, or spoons of tortoise shell, and
sometimes of cocoa nut. [Lane.]
Near the custom house, says Commodore Porter,
is the most famous eating place in all Constantino-
28

218 Kibobs — Arabs at Dinner. [Chap. XII.
pie. Persons who like what is good go there to re
gale themselves with kibobs, a dish in great favor
with the Turks. It consists of pieces of mutton or
lamb cut into small mouthfuls and seasoned ; then
strung on an iron skewer and exposed to the heat
of an oven of peculiar construction. They are, when
done, served up in their own gravy, or in kaymar,
which is cream. There is also served with them a
soft flat kind of bread or pancake, which, as no knives
or forks are made use of, suits admirably as a means
of conveying the kibobs and kaymar to the mouth,
whence they soon find their way into the stomach.
The bread is called Firna Pidese. With this mess
they give you a large vessel filled with sherbet, or
a drink prepared from dried grapes, and to each per
son is given a large spoon to sip it.
The manners of Arabs at table are repulsive.
' They use neither knives nor forks, nor even spoons,
unless for food wholly liquid.' They have been ob
served to plunge their filthy hands into milk placed
before them, and thus raise the liquid to the lips.
Before sitting down they repeat a short prayer be
ginning thus : — " In the name of the most merciful
God." The instant it is finished all hands are in
the food — and lo, it has vanished! "In the middle
of all was a large wooden bowl, in which were the
camel's bones and a thin broth in which they were
boiled. Knives, forks, and spoons are silly, imper
tinent things in the esteem of Arabs ; however, be
ing known to use such things, we had large wooden
spoons laid before us." [Jour, io Tadmor, 1691.]

Chap. XII.] Revenge of Hasan. 219
Having no arabesque spoon, plain or jewelled, to
Jay before the reader, we present him with a gem of
another kind — one first brought to light as an Ish-
maelite sat down to dinner. It is an old remark that
hunger induces ill humor — that men are more dis
posed to anger when waiting for a meal, than when
rising from the table. As Hasan, the son and suc
cessor of Ali was one day about to dine, a slave let
a dish of hot pillau drop on him ! An unprecedented
insult to the dread leader of the faithful ! Now, how
did the startled caliph, as his eyes glistened and his
face assumed the color of fire, act — he at whose nod
the heads of a dozen men would have flown for a
less offence from their owners' shoulders ? We have
seen a servant of the pope's slain for spilling hot
broth on a scholar, and an ambassador of his holi
ness flying for his life on that occasion to a steeple;
we know too how a pagan Roman acted when one
of his servants let a porcelain dish fall, at a supper
given to Augustus — viz : ordered the offender to be
sunk in a fish-pond wherein the monster fattened
lampreys on human flesh ! an order which thrilled
Octavius with horror.
The revenge of Hasan exceeded them both ; and
it was based on a verse of the Koran ! In the third
chapter of that book is the following passage : —
" Paradise is prepared for those who give alms in
prosperity and adversity ; who bridle their anger and
forgive men, for God loveth the beneficent." Dread
ing the caliph's resentment, the poor slave dropped
on his knees, and in an agony exclaimed, " Paradise

220 Persian Spoons — A Vulgar Ambassador. [Chap. XII.
is for those who bridle their anger — " "I — I am not
angry," was the unexpected reply. The trembling
supplicant proceeded — "and for those who forgive
men — " " I forgive you," was the life-sparing an
swer — thus emboldened, the youth meekly added,
"for God loveth the beneficent." "Since it is so,"
said Hasan, whose brow the angel of forgiveness had
now smoothed, and lit up his face with virtue's own
smile — " I give you your liberty and four hundred
pieces of silver" !
If there is a more beautiful episode in human an
nals, we have not met with it. Who would compare
Alexander to Hasan — who is not enraptured at the
intelligence and ready wit of the young Arab slave ;
at the inspiration which led him to quote and beau
tifully invert the order of a passage so suited to the
exigencies of the moment — -and who does not envy
Hasan the heavenly feast he enjoyed in the place of
the dish he had lost ?
Persian Spoons. — The Persians, says Tavernier,
eat their broths with wooden spoons. Their rice,
which is made thick, they take up with their fingers,
and wipe their hands upon handkerchiefs. Invited
with the Venetian ambassador to sup with a Persian
grandee, the representative of the doge, he remarks,
' committed an absurdity, for there are no [few] sil
ver or gold spoons in Persia, but only long wooden
ladles that reach a great way. Now, the ambassa
dor, reaching his ladle to a porcelain dish, full of
scalding hot pottage, clapped it presently into his
mouth, but finding it so hot that he could not endure

Chap. XII.] Cakes used as Napkins. 221
it, after several scurvy faces threw it out of his1 mouth
into his hand, in presence of all the company.'
John Bell says an entertainment given to the Rus
sian ambassador at Ispahan consisted of sweetmeats,
ice water in golden basins, rice boiled with butter,
fowls, mutton, lambs, &c. The whole was served in
gold and china dishes. 'But according to the cus
tom of the country, we had neither napkins, spoons,
knives nor forks. The shah himself eat with his
fingers, and every one followed his example. Thin
cakes made of wheat flour were used to wipe our
fingers.' — a practice of the Romans, whose slaves
afterwards ate the cakes. Fryer visited Persia 170
years ago, and observed the wealthy drink wine out
of 'long thin wooden spoons,' but he was in error in
saying ' spoons are not in use, unless to drink sher
bet with.'
Tavernier is one of the most interesting of old
travellers. His details of oriental life are vivid and
fresh as if drawn yesterday. He had, from his pro
fession as a merchant-jeweller and goldsmith, ac
cess to every court. Having spent forty years in his
travels, he was personally known to most Asiatic
princes, and his arrival was often hailed by them with
joy. On his sixth and last visit to Ispahan, he was
warmly greeted by the king, who seems to have been
a real toper. Two days after reaching the city, the
traveller was waited on early in the morning, by a
chief officer of state, accompanied by a Jesuit and
two Dutchmen, (favorites of the monarch,) and re
quested to attend them to the palace. Upon enter-

222 Frolic of Tavernier and the King qf Persia. [Chap. XH.
ing, thfey found his majesty seated upon a low pal
let ; before him were fruits, sweetmeats, two bottles
of Schiras wine and a golden cup. There was also
a small wooden vat or cistern full of wine, and a gold
en spoon or ladle which held nearly a pint. The
bottles and cup were for the king ; the vat and spoon
for his guests.
It would be disagreeable to many readers, were
we to recite the particulars of the succeeding de
bauch — one in which the spoon acted so promi
nent a part, despite of every precept of the Koran.
Suffice to say, ' the entertainment ' was kept up for
seventeen hours ! being diversified with feasting,
music and dancing. At short intervals ' the great
ladle went about smartly,' the king insisting that ' no
man should leave a drop.' Tavernier thus winds up
the account : — " We had droll'd together till eleven
o'clock at night, when the king started another ques
tion — whether any one present could sing ? It hap
pened that there was one Monsieur Daulier there,
who played on the virginals, and pretended to sing
a court air. His voice being high-pitched, the king
did not like it, as the Persians prefer the base. Per
ceiving this, and being in a merry vein, though I
knew not a note, yet having a deep and clear voice,
I sung an old air, beginning thus : —
" ' Fill all the bowls, then— fill 'em high !
Fill all the glasses there— for why
Should every creature drink but I V "
The king was ravished, crying out, ' Baricala !
Baricala!' an exclamation equivalent to 'Oh! the
works of God !_'

Chap. XIL] Proverbs— Sherbet Spoons of Pear Tree. 223
Wine, as well as ' plate,' is prohibited, but rich
Persians make no scruple about either. They ex
cuse themselves when overtaken by liquor, by quot
ing a proverb which certainly was not designed to
encourage drunkenness : — ' Equal sin in a spoonful
as in a potful.' Hence, after tasting a small quan
tity, they have no compunction about swallowing the
largest. But such reasoning is not confined to ori
ental sinners ; we have too many who exclaim, 'In
for a penny, in for a pound ' — ' As well be hanged
for a sheep as a lamb.'
Morier, describing a dinner given to the British
embassy, says, there was placed before each guest
a tray, on which stood three china bowls, filled with
sherbets ; two made of sweet liquors, and one an ex
quisite species of lemonade. There were besides,
fruits ready cut, plates with elegant little arrange
ments of sweetmeats and confectionery, and smaller
cups of sweet sherbet ; the whole of which were
placed most symmetrically, and were quite inviting
even by their appearance. In the vases of sherbet
were spoons made of the pear tree, with very deep
bowls, and worked so delicately that the long han
dles just slightly bent when carried to the mouth.
If the reader has any curiosity to behold a Persian
sherbet spoon, let him turn to Plate V. Figs. 10,
11, represent one, preserved with others of a similar
form and different sizes in the Philadelphia Museum.
It is fifteen inches long, and made of box-wood or
pear tree. The handle is thin and ornamented with
designs formed by openings cut entirely through.

224 Persian Creed — Governor and Grocer. [Chap. XII.
The junction of the handle with the bowl is strength
ened by a pierced semicircular piece, shown in Fig.
10, and exhibiting a very novel feature.
From what has been said, the reader will be no
longer surprised at Mahommedans associating the
spoon with the pleasures of heaven ; yet unless he
had been informed of its employment in drinking
wine upon earth, he could scarcely comprehend that
part of the Persian creed which states that Rusuen,
the porter of paradise, opens to faithful Mahomme
dans the gates of heaven ; and when seated on the
banks of the fountain Kauser, the great camel driver
himself hands round to each the water of life in a
LADLE. As a specimen of Persian repartee, we may here
introduce an anecdote, which, if not associated with
the spoon, is at least connected with one of the in
gredients of soup. An Ispahan dealer in pot-herbs,
remonstrating against the imposition of an exorbi
tant tax, was ordered by the governor to pay it or
leave the city. " I cannot pay it, and whither can I
go," ejaculated the poor man — knowing no place
where he could live, out of the reach of the oppres
sor, or his equally rapacious relatives. "You may
proceed to Schiras or Kashan, if you like those cities
better than this." " Yes ; but your brother is in pow
er in one, and your nephew in the other ; what re
lief can I expect in either ?" " Proceed, then, to
court, and complain to the king," replied the ex
tortioner. " Alas ! your brother, the Hajee, is prime
minister." " Well, then," said the irritated minister,

Chap. XIL] Chinese Spoons — Chopsticks. 225
*' go to the devil, and trouble me no more !" " Ah !
but the holy man your deceased father is with him" !
said the persevering dealer in esculents. The spec
tators laughed, the governor followed their exam
ple, and promised to examine and redress the bold
green- grocer's wrongs.
Chinese Spoons. — In China and neighboring
countries, spoons are often of earthenware. At an
entertainment given to the British embassy in Co
chin China, the table was loaded with every imagi
nable delicacy. The number of dishes piled in three
rows, one above the other, exceeded a hundred. Be
fore each person was placed boiled rice in place of
bread, and two porcupine quills by way of knife and
fork. ' The spoons were of porcelain, and some
what in the form of small shovels.' [Staunton.] ' We
were in want of every accommodation, even of forks
and spoons, for the former are not used in China,
and the latter are made of porcelain, with very short
handles. [Van Braam.]
Chopsticks. — But of Chinese peculiarities, few
things have excited more interest than chopsticks —
two small rods or wires, which at table perform the
same duties as our forks and spoons. Enclosed in
a sheath along with a knife, they are suspended from
the sash of every gentleman. See Fig. 12, Plate V.
for the sheath. The original is before us. It is 7
inches long, and half an inch wide, made of bamboo,
and neatly covered with tortoise shell, in which no
joint can be detected. A minute brass band goes
round the middle and each end. A ring is attached
29

226 ' Nimble Lads' — Chinese at Dinner. [Chap. XII.
to the upper one, and on a strip of metal is a proverb
or moral sentence. An ivory handled knife, (left
out in the cut) with a strong blade, and rough as the
grindstone left it, occupies one half of the sheath.
As both sticks are alike, one only is figured. They
are square rods of ivory, eight inches long, one-fifth
of an inch thick at the smaller ends, and rather thick
er at the other, which are held in the hand. The
thick parts, like the handle of the knife, project out
of the case. Sometimes they are round and have
their ends pointed with silver. When used, they are
held in the right hand, between the forefinger and
thumb. A tooth-pick occasionally finds a place in
the sheath.
The dexterity with which chopsticks are used,
and the celerity with which food disappears before
them, show how appropriate is their name — kwae
tsze, 'nimble lads.' A native readily picks up objects
small as pin heads, while fruitless attempts of for
eigners to convey with them a piece of edible bird's-
nest to the mouth, often afford amusement to Chi
nese hosts. The eating apparatus of the poorer
classes consists of chopsticks and bowls. If they
possess no table or bench, the large pot of rice is
placed on the floor, and they squat round, with their
feet inwards, just the contrary way from the Jews
and Romans. A portion of rice is transferred by a
a ladle to each member's bowl. This he holds in
one hand close to the chin, and with the 'nimble
lads' pushes the food into his mouth till the latter is
crammed ; then wiping the sticks across the edge of

Chap. XII.] Sheathed Knives — Janizaries. 227
the bowl, he takes up with them, as with forceps, a
piece of fish, meat, or whatever else is on the table,
and thrusts it in edgewise as a relish. After a while
the mouth is ready for more, and the nimble lads are
again set to work. [See Chinese Rep. Vol. iii.]
Chopsticks are interesting relics of antediluvian
days ; for their origin is to be traced to the twigs by
which barbarians scrape semifluid food from natural
cups into the mouth ; such as travellers use when
dining on cuscous, while far distant from dwellings
and destitute of artificial spatula7). South Sea island
ers thus gather taro dough out of cocoa shells, and
American Indians scrape samp out of baskets.
A sheathed eating-knife was worn at the belt by
the Celts, Gauls, Germans, Saxons and Anglo-Sax
ons, and by their descendants down to recent times.
It was an essential part of the personal equipment of
gentlemen, laborers and artisans. Even ladies wore
them as they wear scissors now. An old saying
arose from the practice, intimating that appearances
are often deceptive : — " In a sheath of gold may be
a knife of lead." ' Among the Celts,' says Macpher-
son, ' as at this day in France, guests carried their
own knives and forks [?] enclosed in the same sheath
with the dagger.' Highlanders carry the skene dhu
or knife, and a fork, in a horn or other sheath — the
handle of the knife being sometimes hollowed out
for the reception of snuff. Spoons also were worn in
like manner. Every Janizary had one, and there is no
reason to suppose the custom originated with them.
Fig. 13, Plate V. represents a brass sheath hold-

228 ' Standard and Caldron.' [Chap. XII.
ing three knives and a spoon, such as the warlike
infantry of the Turks formerly were furnished with,
and which they wore pendent from, or stuck in, the
girdle. At the time Motraye wrote, the spoon had
been removed, being then worn in a perpendicular
sheath in front of the cap, occupying the place of the
head dress of modern troops, where we may suppose
it sometimes warded off a blow aimed at the head
of its owner, as well as refreshing him when a battle
was over. This prominent disposition of the spoon
by the Janizaries was appropriate enough, since each
regiment had its own soup kettle, which in process
of time acquired a sort of prescriptive sanctity, and
formed as it were the chief standard of the regiment;
while the officers and other military functionaries
derived their titles from their various supposed em
ployments as cooks, waiters, or scullions ! The Span
iards have a proverb which reflects light on this
strange custom : — ' Pendon y caldera' — the stand
ard and caldron. In the Moorish wars, a Castilian
who undertook to raise a regiment, was privileged
by the king to carry a standard as the sign of his au
thority to enlist troops- ; while a caldron figured on
it indicated that he fed them at his own cost.
Let not modern warriors laugh at this ; for if pos
terity judge them from ' Tableux,' ' Military Adven
tures,' and other fashionable novels, descriptive of
the foraging and bivouacing of epauletted gourmands
and legal bucaniers, which constitute so large a por
tion of the light literature of the day, the old Turk
ish legions, God wot, will lose nothing in the com-

Chap. XII.] Literary Warriors — Ancient Beggar. 229
parison ; for knives, forks, plates, spoons, the bottle
and the glass, are infinitely more conspicuous than
such things ever were with the Moslem. But it is a
new thing under the sun for the most horrible of all
crimes — that which includes every othei*, and sur
passes the power of devils to commit, to be treated in
books as a bagatelle, for the amusement of drawing-
room loungers and boarding-school misses. Would
that these literary warriors electrified the reading
world with equally vivid details of the blessings their
own countrymen have derived from their valor— how
every victory has lessened the laborer's toil and in
creased the artisan's comforts, diminished the price
of bread, and poured abundance among a happy
population — how their liberties have increased with
their armies, and taxes been reduced with their con
quests — how — but we are digressing.
Fig. 14, Plate V. — one of the numerous illustra
tions of the ' Romance of the Rose,' a French poeti
cal satire, written by Guillaume de Lois, and trans
lated by Chaucer. As a portrait of a female men
dicant of the middle ages, it is not without interest,
independently of the spoon which ornaments the felt
hat. The distressed condition of the lady's wardrobe
and her famishing looks are described in the poem : —
" She was like thing for hanger dede,
That lad her life onely by brede,
Kneden with eisel stronge and egre,
And thereto she was leane and megre ;
And she was clad ful poorely
All in an olde torne conrtpy,
As she were all with dogges torne
And botn behind and eke beforne.
Clouted was she beggerly."

S30 Alms-Dish and Spoons. [Chap. XII.
The poet is speaking of avarice, which the ancient
illustrator depicts in the aspect and costume of a
beggar. The alms-dish, suspended from the wrist,
was the professional badge of mendicants in the re
motest ages, and has continued to be one to the pre
sent day. It dates back to the fountain-head of
Hindoo mythology. ' Gunga was produced by the
sweat of Vishnu's foot, which Brahma caught in his
alms dish.' The Pandaroons and other beggars of
India eat from it the rice given them. Fryer, de
scribing the Fakirs, says, ' they beg up and down
like our bedlams with an horn and a bowl.'
The spoon is also carried by Asiatic as well as
old European beggars. ' Persian Durweeshes in
Egypt have oblong bowls of cocoa-nut or metal, in
which they receive alms and put their food. They
carry also a wooden spoon.' [Lane.]
It was a daily custom to distribute victuals at the
gates of monasteries and rich houses. Of such, we
often read, ' Pottage was given to every poor person
who begged.' 'All dinners being ended, the Vsher
and Groome of the Hall are to see the broken meate
and drincke safely put into the almes tubbes.'
[Brathwait.] Every recipient was required to pro
vide his own bowl and spoon — a prudent precau
tion, since lepers or other diseased persons were
commonly among the applicants. It does not seem
possible that more appropriate symbols of want could
have been adopted, than those carried by ancient
children of sorrow. What more touching devices
for moving the bowels of the compassionate than an

Chap. XIL] Picturesque and Politic Dress. 231
empty bowl and an unemployed spoon ? There was
even something expressive in the way they were
carried — the spoon as near the mouth as could be,
and the vacant dish in front of the empty stomach.
As the lady figured on Plate V. represents a class
of old artists allied to modern chiffonniers, we trust
no reader will take offence at her presence. Hav
ing described spoons belonging to kings, why should
we not mention those owned by people, who, like
kings, are fed at the public expense ? Every part of
her gabardine seems ready to bid ' good bye ' to its
neighbors, while many have already gone off, as cer
tain rents and gaps too plainly declare. Still, there
is philosophy in the disposal of the dress. Ifher or
gans of motion are wofully exposed, the more noble
parts of her person are carefully guarded from the
weather — perhaps on the principle of keeping ' the
head warm and feet cold ;' an aphorism which
Boerhaave acquired praise for inverting, though
against, the experience of swarms of young urchins,
who scamper about summer and winter with bare
legs and feet ; and contrary to the advice of Locke,
to bore holes in the soles of new shoes, that wind
and water might always have free ingress and egress !
There was policy if not humor in exhibiting the
parts which the figure represents as denuded : in ap
proaching a mansion for alms, the wretched toes en
forced the appeal, and where their owner received
nothing but curses, she quickly showed the churls
'a clean pair of heels.'
Beggars were not allowed to enter a house when

232 Mendicants' Music — Its Origin. [Chap. XIL
they sought alms — a circumstance from which a pro
verbial expression of 'poor Richard' is derived : —
' Hunger looks in at the working-man's door, but
dares not enter.' Various devices were in vogue for
giving notice of their presence ; sometimes a horn
was blown, or other rude instrument played on ; but
the usual music was produced by striking the dish
with the spoon or a cup. From this clattering the
principal utensil became known as the ' clap-dish,'
or 'clack-dish.'
The useful arts arose in Asia ; and poetry, paint
ing, and music were born there. Thence came the
trumpet, harp, drum, cymbals, and what is older than
all, the musical clack-dish. The begging friars of
Fo enforce their demands by beating two pieces of
bamboo, 'or hammering a hollow piece of wood with
a stick.' With similar instruments Chinese men
dicants get up such powerful solos and duets in
front of shop doors, that the inmates, whose organs
of harmony sympathize not with the sounds, relieve
the musicians to get rid of the music. Lepers, when
they attended markets to beg corn, carried a rattle
to warn people from touching them.
There is an Italian female mendicant in one of the
illustrations of Ackerman's 'Forget me Not' for
1843, which shows how little the accoutrements and
costume of this class have changed. With the ex
ception of a crutch, she of Italy might be taken for
the ancient French damsel on Plate V. An equal
lack of covering is equally obvious about the regions
of the toes, and opposite extremities of her feet.

.Plafe 7

Jfo&arv

Chap. XII.] Interesting Family — Beggars and Lent. 233
The mantle and skirts of an inner garment are or
namented with the same picturesque fringe ; a spe
cies of muffler or band holds up the chin, and kept
the miserable mouth shut when there was no occa
sion to open it ; a tapered hat covers the head ; a
spoon, stuck through the band, sets off the hat, and
an alms-dish hangs from the waist.
In a volume of ancient engravings now before us,
one dated A. D. 1470 represents an itinerant char
latan, with his family and stock in trade. He is
playing on bagpipes, and bears two children in a
basket strapped to his back. His wife carries a
young cherub and leads an ass laden with panniers,
out of* which peep a couple of boys who have not
learned to walk. The eldest son, accompanied by
the dog, goes before with an owl on his shoulder.
In the man's hat are stuck a couple of spoons.
In the days of ecclesiastical rule, when monks
were monarchs and lay people could neither eat nor
drink but as the Church pleased, a merciful clause
was at length introduced into the canons respecting
lent, with the view of removing a very serious obsta
cle to the salvation of those who lived upon alms —
a pleasing proof of the anxiety of ghostly fathers to
save (though only at the last extremity) the ghastly.
sheep in their flocks. It was to this effect : — " Beg
gars, when ready to affamish for want, may eat in
lent time what they can get."

30

234 Pewter or Tin. [Chap. XIII.

CHAPTER XIII.
Pewter or Tin — Vulcan a Pewter er — Tin Armor — 'Ezekiel
— Roman Pewter ers and Vitellius — Tin Idols — Singular Im
posture of Durand, a French Carpenter — Louis XI — English
Pewter Ware — St. Peter's Chalice — Mexican Pewterers — Eng
lish Laws respecting Pewter — Cheats, time of Richard II —
Pewter Articles, under Henry VIII — Pewter Money and James
II — European Manufactures, A. D. 1483 — Pewter Spoons de
scribed — Anecdote of one — Charles XII — Singular Property of
Pewter Mugs — Extension of the Principle suggested — Authors
likened to Cabmen — Brass Spoons — Tinned iron ones — Tin
ning — Tin Plate — Andrew Yarranton  Wooden Spoons — •
Forks — Cutty Spoons — Relish qf Food — Spoons at Work-
Dance of Death — End of the World — The Last Spoon.
Of metallic spoons, those made of tin or its alloys
were perhaps the first ; but it is not to be supposed
that proofs of this can be found in the material or
mental relics of a former world. Such things were
too easily defaced and too insignificant to be noticed
or preserved, where others infinitely more durable
and valuable have perished. Before describing
pewter spoons, a few references to the employment
of this factitious metal in early times may gratify
some readers. Its base is tin, a white and bright
metal, lighter than iron and soft almost as lead. Iti
is generally hardened by the addition of a little an
timony, as silver is with copper ; and there was no
more reason to give a new name to the mixture in
one case than in the other. The name of tin is not

Chap. XIIL] Vulcan a Pewterer. 235
only withheld from articles formed of it, but given
to others only washed with it. That fine material
known in commerce as ' tin plate' is sheet iron coat
ed with tin. The French distinguish it from untin-
ned plate by the appropriate term 'fer blanc,' or
white iron. Old English writers made a similar dis
tinction. From the facility of working tin, the low temper
ature at which it fuses, its ductility, brilliancy, and
unquestionable employment in remote ages, we may
safely infer that articles were made of it long before
the refractory ores were reduced. That implements
of iron preceded those of bronze is the uniform de
claration of history ; but bronze was itself an alloy
of copper and tin. The latter is the natural solder
of lead, for which it has probably been used ever
since the heavier metal was wrought. Tin was
among the spoils taken from the Midianites. Arti
cles formed of it were to be melted down and recast ;
hence the antiquity of the pewterer's art.
Whoever Vulcan was, or however remote the
times in which he lived, he was a pewterer as well
as a blacksmith and brass founder. Bucklers,
greaves, and other defensive armor were in his time
made of and adorned with tin. The herd of cattle
and other raised work on the shield of Achilles were
executed in this metal. The corslet of Agamem
non was composed of alternate bars or scales of
gold, steel and tin. The central stud of his shield
was encircled
' With twice ten bosses of resplendent tin.'

236 Tin Armor— Ezekiel. [Chap. XIII.
In the form of wire tin was also used for binding
different parts together ; as the lining of Sarpedon's
shield was stitched with wires of gold. Defensive
armor of so soft a material may excite the smile of
modern soldiers, and induce incredulity in Homer's
statements, or an impression that he is misunder
stood ; but independent of the remarkable fact of
the word used by him to designate tin being the
same by which the metal is still known in the East,
the material is still used for the very same purpose
at this day. The Calmucks, we are told, when
equipped for war often protect their persons ' with
armor made of scales of tin.' Lapland women
make ornaments of it to decorate their own and
their husbands' dresses. They produce beautiful
wire for embroidery, &c, by drawing the metal
through holes drilled in horns or bones of rein-deer ;
a practice probably dating from the age of Homer.
The ' shining canisters,' in which bread was served
to guests, often mentioned by the father of poets,
were very likely the work of the pewterer. Front
lets, anklets, bracelets, and other personal ornaments
of tin, still worn in the East, are of extreme anti
quity. Pausanias mentions an antique tablet of tin
connected with the Messenians.
When Ezekiel wrote, tin was a staple article of
import at Tyre, and we have sufficient evidence that
its consumption anciently must have been as great
as at present. Whether the slabs piled on the docks
and in the stores of Phenician merchants in the pro
phet's days were drawn from India, Spain or Britain,

Chap. XIIL] Roman Pewterers — Vitellius. 237
is uncertain ; but within two, if not one century of
his death, the greatest navigators of old drew part
of their supplies from Cornwall. It is pretty evi
dent that English mines were wrought before iron
was known on the island, for pickaxes of stag's
horns, hard wood, and flint, have been found embed
ded in ore, as well as wooden shovels and buckets ;
the latter without any kind of hoops. A plate of
tin was disinterred in the time of Henry VIII. in
scribed with unknown characters, supposed to have
been Druidical precepts. In 1635, tablets with
strange inscriptions were found, which Stukely as
cribed to Britons of a remote age. Pesidonius says
the ancient Celtse had pewter platters.
The pewterer's art was extensively carried on in
old Rome, and most articles current a century
ago were made there. It would seem from Pliny,
(xxx. 7.) that what he calls an 'instrument of tin'
was the common pewter syringe. From Suetonius
we infer that goblets, dishes, pitchers, cups, urns,
and other utensils of gold and silver, dedicated to
the gods, were imitated in pewter, as such things are
now. Vitellius, he remarks, rifled the temples of
their treasures, substituting articles of pewter and
copper for those of silver and gold. The successor
of Otho imitated in this respect another military eth
nic, who, wanting money, took a golden robe from
the statue of Jupiter, and replaced it with a woollen
one, philosophically observing that the latter would
keep the deity warmer in winter, and press lighter
on his shoulders in summer.

238 Durand, the French Carpenter. [Chap. XI1L
In the dark ages the worship of heathen deities
was transferred unaltered to christian saints. The
Virgin received the same compliments that her half-
pagan adorers previously paid to Diana ; whose
shrines, numerous as they were, never equaled those
of her successor. As the precious metals were not
so abundant after the fall of the Romans, tin offered
a good and cheap substitute for one of them ; and
pewterers in Germany, Britain and' Gaul, drove a
brisker business in making portable idols than ever
did Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen of Asia
Minor. The feudal contests of the old barons were a
scourge to Europe for many ages. Declaring war
against each other at will, arson, rapine and murder,
stalked unchecked through the land. The Church
launched her thunders in vain ; she was unable to
correct an evil which kings could not cure. At
length a cunning carpenter, named Durand, con
ceived a plan (if indeed it was his own) which suc
ceeded in France, and made the inventor's fortune.
He solemnly gave out that God appeared to him in
Auvergne, and commanded him to proclaim an in
stant peace between all contending parties. For
proof of his mission, he exhibited an image of the
Virgin, which he had the impudence to say was left
with him for that purpose by the Almighty. The
astonished nobles accordingly assembled in the City
Du Puy, and after listening to opinions of churchmen,
hearing the asseverations of the bold artisan, and ex
amining his celestial image, agreed to lay aside then?

Chap. XIIL] Pewter Idols— Louis XI. 239
animosities and swear on the holy evangelists to en
tertain love and peace for each other ! As a proof
of sincerity and faith in the revelation, they wore
" an image of our lady in pewter" on their breasts —
copies of the one in Durand's possession, and most
likely cast in the same mould — with capuches of
white linen on their heads, which articles the Car
penter sold them!
That son of Apollyon, Louis XL constantly wore
a madonna of lead or pewter in his hat, which he
would take off and invoke when about to commit
some horrible crime, So as to be sure of pardon be
forehand. It is pleasant, says Mazeray, to notice
his pranks when his own death drew near-^sending
all over Europe for relics of saints, to Rheims for
the holy ampoule and oil, ordering processions and
masses in his behalf, and not forgetting prayers that
God would prevent certain winds, which incommod
ed him, from blowing ! But there are people now-a-
days who send up official requests to the Virgin for
rain or fair weather.
In the Northumberland Household Book are al
lusions to pewter ware : " Item- — to be payd to the
saide Richard Gowge, and Thomas Percy for the
bying of vj dossen rugh pewter vessels for servynge
of my house for oone hole yere, after vj shillings the
dossen." 'The groom of the squillery is to be care
ful after every meal to gather into his office the silver
and pewter vessels, and before they goe to the scow-
ring or washing certainly to number them.' [Brath-
wait.] In the United States the communion ser-

240 St. Peter's Pewter Chalice— Coffins, Sfc. [Chap. XIIL
vice plate is as often the work of the pewterer as of
the silversmith. It was so in the primitive church.
Among the relics preserved in St. Lateran's at Rome,
are a wooden altar and a pewter chalice — both said
to have been used by St. Peter. Coffins were for
merly made of pewter : see accounts of several in
Nugent's travels. Block tin or pewter worms for
distilling are ancient. Alchymists used them and
denounced leaden ones. Van Sleb mentions pew
ter mortars in Egypt. Mexican pewterers, like
other mechanics, exhibited their goods for sale in the
great market. Cortez who mentions this fact in a
letter to Charles V. does not particularize the arti
cles. Anklets, bracelets, and other ornaments of
tin, have been worn by Negroes, Arabs and others,
from time immemorial.
The process of making pewter goods differs from
that of working most metals. Articles are formed
complete, or nearly so, by running the fused mate
rial into clay, brass or other moulds. A spoon, for
example, is cast in a moment, whereas a gold or sil
ver one has to be forged into shape. The impor
tance in which pewter was anciently held in England
appears from the laws made to preserve its purity,
and reputation abroad. As spoons are enumerated
we shall notice some of the enactments. Previous
to the reign of Henry VII. all articles were to be
compared with standard metal and stamped ; but the
law had been disregarded, since he issued a fresh
edict, forbidding under certain penalties any pewter
or brass article to be sold without the maker's name

Chap. XIIL] English Laws respecting Pewter. 241
and the assay officer's mark. In the time of Rich
ard II. the pewterers complained of their business
being injured by pedlars and tinkers going round
the country and recasting worn out articles, but
which they mixed with lead, " so as to be not worth
the fourth part sold for." These pedestrian gentle
men were charged with stealing and encouraging
others to steal old brass and pewter, and selling them
to go out of the country ; thus letting foreigners into
the secrets of the trades. They also robbed the peo
ple whom they dealt with by using false weights and
beams. One of the latter, says the statute, " will
stand even with twelve pounds weight at one end,
against a quarter of a pound at the other end, to the
singular advantage of themselves." (!) This equals
the morality of our old Dutch traders, who, in buy
ing furs by weight from their Indian brethren, are
said to have put their left hand into the scale for one
pound, and their right foot for two.
The act of Richard was renewed by Henry VIII.
with severer penalties, and new sections added.
Spoons, as well as more important articles, were re
quired to be of standard workmanship and assay —
all below them were forfeited. No foreigner was
to be taken as an apprentice, or in any way to learn
the trade, lest going abroad the art should go also.
Section 7, cap. 8, of the first act of Henry VIII.
enumerates the following articles ; if any were found
below the standard, they were to be seized :—" Plat
ters, chargers, dishes, saucers, porringers, trenchers,
basons, flaggons, pottles, pots, saltsels, goblets,
31

242 London Pewterers. [Chap. XIIL
spoons, cruets or candlesticks, or any such wares of
tin or pewter." Twenty-one years afterwards pew
terers again petitioned the king. They said the
trade was ruined by foreign manufactures, which
they prayed might be prohibited. It was therefore
enacted that foreign tin or pewter " platters, dishes,
saucers, pots, basons, ewers, flaggons, goblets, salts,
saltsellers, spoons, or any thing made of tin or pew
ter, might be seized, in whose hands soever it may
be found."
A dinner set of pewter plate comprised three do
zen dishes and plates, one dozen saucers, a tankard
or flagon, salts, mustard pot, pepper box, half a do
zen mugs, and one or two dozen spoons. The
whole was arranged on a kind of sideboard or dres
ser with shelves, called the pewter rack. Women
prided themselves in keeping the whole brilliant as
silver. In some parts of Europe they are yet to be
seen, but are rapidly disappearing.
London pewterers were incorporated in 1474.
The company was designated as ' The master, ward
ens, and commonalty of the art and mystery of pew
terers.' Their motto, "In God is all my trust ;" their
crest, two hands holding a pewter dish. The best
pewter was for plates and dishes, and known as
'plate pewter;' it was composed of tin and from 8
to 17 per cent of antimony, and a little copper. ' Ley
pewter,' often denounced in old statutes, consisted
of tin with a large proportion of lead, one-fifth, and
sometimes one third ! But English did not equal
Roman cheats. Pliny speaks of culinary utensils

Chap. XIIL] James II. a Counterfeiter. 243
made from equal quantities of tin and lead ! Desire
for wealth is a universal passion, and to get it by the
shortest methods a universal temptation. Lead costs
three, and tin sixteen cents per pound. We have
heard a wealthy pewterer boast of supplying planta
tions in the West Indies with worms for distilling,
made from an alloy of 100 lbs of tin to a ton of
lead ! ' Pewter, (he would remark) is tin and lead,
and so were the articles I made.' He sold them by
weight. Making base money out of pewter has always been
in vogue, but not always by men that wore aprons.
It has been practiced by some who wore crowns.
James II. of England, ' cast all the brass guns and
all the brass and copper vessels of [Irish] protestants
that he could seize, into half-crowns, shillings and
sixpences,' and ordered them to pass current at the
value of the same denominations in silver. Contin
uing to want cash, and unable to get copper, he
seized the people's pewter dishes, plates and spoons,
and converted them into silver crowns. Roman
counterfeiters carried on a heavy business. Num
bers of their molds have been dug up in England.
Some are of clay and so arranged that a number of
pewter coins could be cast at one operation. [Phil.
Trans, vols. 44 and 24.] According to Tavernier,
the king of Cheda and Pera coins no other than tin
money. In Sumatra such was and probably is still
in circulation.
In 1483 we have, in a list of foreign goods, the
importation of which into England was prohibited,

244 European Manufactures, A. D. 1483. [Chap. XIIL
a better account of the state of the mechanic arts at
at that time in Europe than is any where else to be
found. In consequence of a moving appeal from
the parties interested it was " ordained that no mer
chant-stranger, after the feast of Easter next com
ing, shall bring into this realm of England, to be
sold, any manner of girdles, nor harneys wrought
for girdles, points, leather laces, purses, pouches,
pins, gloves, knives, hangers, tailors' sheers, sysors,
andyrons, cobbards, tongs, fire-forks, gredyrons,
stocklocks, keys, hinges and garnets, spurrs, painted
glasses, painted papers, [paper hangings ?] painted
forcers, painted images, painted clothes, beaten gold,
or beaten silver wrought in papers for painters,
saddles, saddle trees, horse harness, boots, bits,
stirrups, buckles, chains, latten nails with iron
shanks, turnets, hanging candlesticks, holy water
stopps, chaffing dishes, hanging lavers, curtain rings,
cards for wool, roan cards, sheers, buckles for shoes,
broches or spits, bells, hawks bells, tinn and leaden
spoons, wyre of latten and iron, iron candlesticks,
grates, horns for lanthorns, or any of the said wares."
Figs. 1, 2, Plate VI. represent the oldest fash
ioned pewter spoon we have met with. It is cast
from a brass mold before us, and dates from the
time of Elizabeth, whose head and crown are figured
on the handle. Raised scroll work covers the entire
back and front, except the interior of the bowl, which
was burnished. Such spoons were all but finished
when cast, so that a pedlar or tinker possessing the
mold, could renew the spoons of a family in a trice.

Chap. XIIL] Old and New Pewter Spoons described. 245
The dimensions are those of a tea spoon, but it must
not thence be concluded that such diminutive imple
ments were not in use before tea was introduced.
They were employed for various purposes as now,
for eating eggs, taking up preserves and such like
dainties, for pickles, salt, &c. The vinegar cruet,
we know, had a place in Roman buffets, and occa
sionally on the tables of Anglo-Saxons ; but so late
as the 16th century, that pungent fluid was often
placed on the table in pewter saucers, whence it was
transferred by small spoons.
Pewter spoons of this style were more or less com
mon in the middle ages. In the 17th and 18th cen
tury a less profusion of ornament prevailed, being
confined chiefly to the front part of the handle.
Fifty years ago, a row of beads round the edge, as
in Fig. 3, and a single or double row of engraved
work (as in 2, Plate VII.) were common. An open
space at the top for the initials in the form of an ar
morial shield or other device was also left, in imita
tion of silver spoons of that day. A dozen different
patterns might here be added, but the variations are
too slight to interest general readers. Figs. 4 and
5 — modern pewter or Britannia metal spoons, as
they are called, from the superior hardness and color
of the metal. Being buffed, (that is, polished on the
wheel) they are better finished than ancient spoons
burnished by hand. The handle of Fig. 4 resem
bles old patterns — that of 5 is of more recent date.
With an anecdote and reflection or two we will
dismiss pewter spoons. A pleasing incident is men-

246 Anecdotes of Spoons^Charles XII. [Chap. XIIL
tioned in the journal of Capt. King, the companion
of Cook, and the continuator of that great naviga
tor's last voyage : — " Whilst we were at dinner in
this miserable hut, on the banks of the river Awats-
ka, the guests of a people with whose existence we
had before been scarcely acquainted, and at the ex
tremity of the globe, a solitary half-worn pewter
spoon, whose shape was familiar to us, attracted our
attention, and on examination, we found it stamped
on the back with the word ' London.' I cannot pass
over this circumstance in silence, out of gratitude for.
the many pleasant thoughts, anxious hopes and ten
der remembrances it excited in us." Captain King,
like Captaih Cook, did not live to see England again,
and this poor spoon probably furnished him with the
last vivid recollections of home.
Charles XII. of Sweden banished silver from his
table, and replaced it with pewter ! The circum
stance that led to the determination occurred on this
wise : — Returning from his long captivity among the
Turks, he passed through Lund, where the work
men of a tin mine in the vicinity waited on him to
offer their congratulations and present him specimens
of various articles formed of the metal. Charles
treated them to wine, and made them carry home
the silver goblets out of which they drank it. To en
courage the new manufacture, he forbade the use of
silver in future at his own table, and ordered "all
his cups, dishes, plates, spoons, salt cellars and can
dlesticks to be made of tin" — an act more honorable
to his memory than any battle he won.

Chap. XIIL] Singular Property of Pewter Mugs. 247
It is known to the learned in porterhouse lore that
pewter pots impart a peculiar flavor to ale, beer, and
cider. The phenomenon is due to an electro-gal
vanic influence, excited by Contact of the metallic
alloy with the liquids ; but the same curious savans
are not known to give an equal preference to pewter
spoons, although the same principle must be equally
developed in them while delivering liquids with
which they are charged. The subject is an inter
esting one, and has, we presume, been accidentally
neglected. When cultivated it may lead to incredi
ble results, for it points to sources of human enjoy
ments which the most enthusiastic could hardly hope
for ere the millenium set in.
That the sense of taste depends chiefly on elec
tricity there is little doubt ; though the modes by
which this most subtle of fluids acts, and the means
of diversifying its effects on the palate, are yet
among the arcana of nature. Its fearful activity at
the breakfast and dinner table is shown by a calcu
lation based on ascertained data : — >" The largest
charge of a Leyden battery does not equal in quan
tity the electricity which passes between the tongue
and a silver spoon, during the simple act of eating
an egg. Indeed, if the quantity developed in the
latter case were free to assume the form of that ob
tained by friction, the result would be a lightning
flash of no small power."
If then, a mug composed of tin, antimony and
lead, can impart an etherial flavor to fluids brewed
from apples and malt, why may not spoons (by vary-

248 Electro-Magnetic Spoons, &fc. [Chap. XIIL
ing, multiplying, and properly proportioning the ele
ments of their composition) be made to give the
taste of roast beef to rice pudding, and of fashiona
ble soups to onion broth or water gruel? The idea
is not so visionary as those who never laugh may
suppose. Bread from boards, sugar from starch and
old shirts, the most intense sweet from the union of
two disgusting bitters, (nitrate of silver and hyper-
sulphate of soda) show with what magic effect the
modern chemist plays with our palates, and how he
challenges imagination itself to limit his powers over
the organs of taste.
Will the reader wait one moment, while we catch
another glimpse of a subject, perhaps destined to oc
cupy a large space in future annals of science and
patents, and which, when fully explored, may go a
a great way towards driving hunger and aim-houses
out of the world ? When people constantly dine on
one food they long for a change ; unless seasoned
with St. Bernard's sauce, [hunger] both chicken and
cheese, pudding and pie, will pall on the sense.
Now, by extending the electrical principle to all
kinds of eating apparatus, the time may come when
a family sitting down to the plainest food, shall de
rive from it the flavor of the richest the markets af
ford — turkey this day, venison the next, and on the
following one canvas-back ducks, or any thing else,
indigenous or exotic, the stomach .may crave. A
few dozen of electro-galvanic plates, knives, forks,
spoons, bottles and cups, &c. would only be wanted ;
for if properly made, each would be equivalent to a

Plate S

Aitii <&"J,.7#7ic,fy2i?J7zzZz,J7lSijr:>r:

Chap. XIIL] Authors likened to Cabmen. 249
distinct dish, and should be marked with the name
of the aliment whose taste it imparted. But a more
surprising and economical feature of the system is
this : when a company cloys on one food, by sim
ply interchanging their spoons and plates, ladies and
gentlemen might multiply, as in the permutation of
figures, their gustable dainties nearly ad infinitum .'
Early fruits and asparagus could be had from dried
apples and clover. Poor people would sip tea when
they had none in the house, and enrich it with
cream that never came from a cow. Fresh steaks
could be sliced from jerked beef or salt pork — thus
enabling old sailors to laugh at the scurvy. To
wash down a dinner, any kind of wine might be got
from lemonade or root beer, by imbibing those fluids
from electrical goblets ; the — but serious readers
frown at what they miscall our levity, and others are
perhaps restless as stage passengers, who, anxious
to get to the end of their journey, find fault with the
driver at every little delay ; hence we must fprego
the pleasures of a ramble in this Hesperidian field of
research, until our engagements to those who have
patronized us on the present excursion be fulfilled :
for authors are cabmen, and books are their cabs ;
title pages are advertisements soliciting the public
to take trips with the Jehus whose names they dis
play. Some of these gentlemen furnish accommo
dations so elastic and pleasant that travellers at the
end of a journey leave with regret — the vehicles of
others are so rudely put together that in lumbering
along, those embarked become jolted till they are
32

250 Brass Spoons. [Chap. XIIL
glad to get out and give up their fare. Nor are dri
vers alike. Some urge their nags only over regular
routes, hurrying at a uniform speed over grass, gra
vel or mud, not allowing their patrons a moment to
look out till they come to the finis. But some gen
tle spirits there are who willingly strike into new
paths, to give their customers a sight of every thing
interesting or rare ; sweeping down this avenue,
now wheeling over yon lawn, and anon trotting into
the turnpike again, with perfect good humor. These
are the men we try to imitate, well knowing our ac
commodations are poor and the road we are travel
ing so rugged that, unless determined to please, we
might crack our whip for customers till doomsday
and never succeed.
If the first metallic spoons were pewter or tin, the
second were copper or brass. Copper was the pre
cursor of iron, and bronze of steel. The world has
never been, and perhaps never will be uniformly ad
vanced in metallurgy. The age of iron had not
dawned on these continents four centuries ago.
Brass or bronze spoons are relics of the brazen age.
Several ancient ones have been described, and some
of recent days alluded to under the name of latten
spoons. [Laton, leton, and laiton are French terms
for brass.] Fig. 6, Plate VI. is an old English
brass spoon, with a round handle, resembling those
worn in their caps by janizaries. These implements
were no doubt tinned or silvered by the ancients.
Most of their cooking utensils were. Having de
tected the injurious effects of food cooked in plain

Chap. XIIL] Iron Spoons— Tin Plate. 251
brass pots, they of course knew it was not improved
when taken into the mouth from untinned brass
spoons — verdigris being equally generated by both.
Figs. 7, 8, 9 — Iron spoons ; the most durable of
all, and of immense antiquity. The specimens are
more clumsy in appearance than those now made,
which resemble Fig. 4. Tinned iron spoons cer
tainly formed part of the invoices of ancient hard
ware men. They have had a place in English manu
factures ever since ' Sheffield whittles' were forged.
Some ancient iron spoons had pointed handles, as
shown on the second plate. The art of tinning pots
and pans, as well as plating buckles and other arti
cles of harness and carriage furniture, Pliny ascribes
to the Gauls, and he mentions the workmen of
Bourges as excelling in the art. [xxxiv. 17.]
Iron spoons were at first forged, next cut out of
thick sheets, pressed into shape by dies, and then
tinned. They have also been stamped out of tin
plate — one of the finest of metallurgical productions,
and of whose origin so little is known. A word or
two (our limits will not allow more) on an invention
which has so greatly contributed to domestic com
fort : It can be traced only three or four centuries
back to Germany and Bohemia; how much older it
may be is uncertain. There is nothing improbable.
in supposing it to date from Roman or even earlier
times. A passage in Chaucer has escaped the no
tice of writers on the subject which seems to refer
to tin plate — if so, the article was then common : —
Tho saw I stand on a pillere
That was of tinned iron dere. — [House of Fame.]

252 Andrew Yarranton. [Chap. XIIL
England now supplies a great part of the world
with tin plate ; yet 130 years have not elapsed since
the first sheet was made there, nor is the name of
the man who introduced it known to one in a hun
dred of her citizens. This was Andrew Yarranton,
an individual of a singular genius and great enter
prise. Little of him is known, except what he tells
us in a remarkable book entitled 'England's Im
provement by sea and land, to out-do the Dutch
without fighting, to pay debts without moneys,' &c.
Lon. 1677. He was put apprentice to a linen dra
per, staid some years, then ran away and became a
soldier in the civil wars. In 1652 he 'entered upon
ironworks and plied them several years.' He prac
ticed as a surveyor and civil engineer. ' Being em
ployed by twelve gentlemen of England to bring a
manufacture out of Saxony and Bohemia, made of
iron and tin, there I did see what I here set down,'
&c. When Van Tromp defeated the English fleet,
Yarranton was in Saxony collecting information rela
tive to the manufacturing of ' linen, thread, tape, and
tin plates' which, once introduced into England,
with other improvements derived from Holland,
would enable his countrymen " to beat the Dutch
without fighting them ;" viz. 'by securing the mis
tress called Trade' — the greatest prophet of his age,
About 1720 the manufacture was begun in Eng
land, but the importation of tin-plate continued for
some years after. Dr. Rutty, in the 35th volume
Phil. Trans, quoting the Memoirs of the Academy
of Sciences for 1725, observes : — " The making of

Chap. XIIL] Wooden Spoons — Forks — Kailgullie. 253
tin plates, or latten as it is called, being not com
monly practiced in England though there is so great
a consumption for it ... . whereby we are obliged
to export our tin to Germany, and receive it back
again manufactured."
Figs. 10, 11, 12 — modern wooden spoons, as now
sold in furnishing stores. The one with a turned i
handle is the common French spoon. Fig. 13 — the
old spoon and ladle rack of rustic dwellings and
kitchens. The ' little forks' are from a cut of the lat
ter part of the 16th century, showing the form of
these implements when first brought into fashion.
Ladies at table held them between the finger and
thumb, and knives were not used — meat on the plates
being previously cut into small pieces. The first
direct allusion to table forks we have met with is
given by Diogenes Laertius in the proem to his
' Lives.' The Magi, he says, used reeds at meals,
' with the sharp ends of which they took up their
cheese, and put it to their mouths.' Shetland island
ers used sticks as forks when eating the flesh of
seals. The old horn or wooden spoon was short,
as figured on the wall. The Gaelic word cutag,
scottice cutty, was a short hafted spoon. One of
these was devoted to scraping out the 'kail-pot,'
and then distinguished by the euphonius title of kail
gullie. Such are the things employed,
¦ When rural life o' ev'ry station
Unite in common recreation.
Scottish drovers carried a wallet of oatmeal and
a wooden bowl. When arrived at a brook and hun-

254 Relish of Food — Spoons at work. [Chap. XIII.
gry, they mixed a little meal and water, stirring the
mixture with one end of a cutty spoon ; and, when
duly compounded, eating it out of the other. The
relish of food is from heaven, and does not depend
upon knives and spoons. In this respect, and in ten
thousand others, life is redolent of blessings. Had
not the Creator consulted man's felicity, he might
have made the taking of food and every essential
act of life disagreeable instead of a pleasure. Wood
en spoons no more spoil the appetite of the poor
than golden ones improve that of the rich. Forster,
after living on the luxuries of Asia, returning home
by the Caspian sea, enjoyed the sweetest regale of
his life, when sitting down with the crew of a small
Russian vessel — each helping himself out of one
common dish of fish broth with a wooden platter and
spoon. Servants in lord's houses as well as rural
laborers made their own spoons and plates. None,
says Brathwait, were permitted to use trenchers but
such as they made for themselves,
Simple as the spoon is, no talisman ever equaled
the miracles it works. It transforms infants into
youth and youth into manhood ; infuses strength
into the limbs and marrow through the bones ; ex-
pandingthe person, imparting symmetry to the frame,,
health to the body and intelligence to the soul. A
child cannot arrive at maturity without it. See the
usual process by which it works these wonders at
the foot of Plate VI. There half a dozen are in
active operation, and as nature is always the same,
we see how boys and girls have eaten porridge,,

Chap. XIIL] Description of Figure 14, Plate VI. 255
since porridge was made. With the exception of
costume the scene represented belongs to all times.
The children of Leah, Rachel, and Niobe fed them
selves like the group of Dutch youngsters the reader
beholds. They handled their spoons in the same
way, blew on the food when it was hot, made wry
faces, and shed tears when they swallowed it too
soon. The design is no fancy sketch ; there is no poetry
in the composition — no got-up attitudes. Dame Na
ture herself arranged the figures for the painter to
copy. To be sure, the girls do not rival the graces
nor the boys Belvidere Apollos. No lady at court
would imitate the posture of either of the girls to
the right. The gentleman at the back, with his
spoon in the dish, seems indetermined whether to
raise it while the eye of the reader is on him. His
sister at the extreme left looks as if ashamed to eat
before strangers, and in the act of requesting the be
holder to turn his attention elsewhere— but it is un
necessary to dilate on each figure ; the rest are act
ing in accordance with the injunction of Solomon: —
'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with
thy might.' The good dame points with pride to
her thriving cherubs, and rejoices in seeing them so
agreeably amused with their spoons. To anticipate
their thirst she has placed a pitcher of water beside
them. The most touching design in Holbein's Dance of
Death is 'The Infant.' A poor widow prepares a
meal for her two orphans ; before it is ready Death

256 End of the World— The Last Spoon. [Chap. XIIL
steps in and leads out the youngest. While passing
the threshold, the romping little innocent looks
back towards its mother and its spoon, (the latter
lying on the floor,) and seems to long for something
to eat before going off with the stranger.
In a curious account of Death's doings, published
in the 16th century, the grim monster under various
disguises takes away all sorts of people, and at the
most inconvenient seasons. Misers, merchants, fri
ars, nuns, cardinals, bishops, soldiers, beggars and
belles are interrupted in the midst of agreeable oc
cupations, and while accompanied with things they
most valued. A bon vivant carries a spit laden with
trussed fowls in one hand, and grasps in the other
a jug and a spoon. The monarch of Hades ap
proaches and solicits his acquaintance — this is re
fused — a struggle ensues; and soon, stripped of his
goods, the portly sinner is led an unwilling guest to
the mansions below.
The end of the world has been symbolized by
Death breaking an hour glass ; the moral would be
quite as striking were he represented destroying
the last spoon. The last spoon! Bless us, what
thoughts does that call up — thoughts of its maker,
state of the arts and of the world at the time — of its
owner, his profession and place of abode, his feel
ings when his contemporaries drop off, and finally
leave him the last of living men — the universal heir
of his species. Where, and of what will he prepare
his last meal ; and what will be his reflections when
he swallows the last spoonful !

Chap. XIV.] Plate VII. described. 257

CHAPTER XIV.
Plate VII — Silver Spoons — Chocolate, Coffee and Tea — ¦
Japanese Spoon — Old Dessert Spoons — A mark of meanness to
be without Plate — Northmen — Prizes at Races — Necklaces qf
Spoons — Plated and German Silver Spoons. — The World full
qf Plated Characters — Cheating — Swearers and the Devil —
Laws prohibiting Plating and Transmutation — English Assay
and Stamp — Proverb — Perpetual renewal of Forms — Brazen
Girdles — Shackles — Spoons bewitched — Salad Spoon — Knife,
Fork, and Spoon — Swiss — French — Shanks, of Hams decorated
— Carving — Boarding School Usages — Presents — Whittling —
Mat weaving Legislators.
Plate VII. — The first eight figures are silver
spoons, such as were in fashion 300 years ago.
Figs. 1, 2, are English, and 3 French. The style
of ornament on 2, 3, continued in vogue to the pre
sent century. Armorial shields, as in 3, and other
ensigns were anciently engraved On spoons. The
Greeks and Romans had their initials cut on them,
as we have. In the middle ages quaint devices,
and with churchmen an Agnus Dei, or similar em
blems were adopted. [Hogarth, it will be remem
bered, began his career with engraving arms and
cyphers on spoons and plate.] The shape of Fig.
4 is quite modern — the fiddle head, molding of the
handle, reversed bend of its tip, are now in fashion,
but the figure is copied from an engraving a century
33

258 Chocolate, Coffee and Tea. [Chap. XIV.
old. A plain silver spoon of a like form is por
trayed on Planche 8, of the ' Distillateur and Li-
quoriste,' in Arts et Metieres, of the French Acade
my. Fig. 5 — the ordinary spoon of the present day,
and almost identical with 4. Fig. 6, — a recent pat
tern; the handle more ornamented and the point of
the bowl rounded off. Fig. 7 — modern French,
from the pattern book of a Paris manufacturer.
Fig. 8 — a fancy tea spoon, from a set belonging to
an antiquarian collector, and of English manufac
ture of the last century. [As table, dessert, and tea
spoons differ only in size, each kind is sufficiently
represented by the figures on the plate.]
Speaking of tea spoons — what a revolution in
manners and customs have three beverages wrought
in three centuries — chocolate, coffee, and tea ! The
first, an ordinary drink of Astec princes, (see page
113) was derived from Mexico in 1520. The se
cond was unknown in western Europe till the close
of the 16th century. Its early history is involved in
fable. Employed by Arab monks to drive off
sleep, and enable those insensates to spend their
nights in watchings, it at length was universally
adopted by Mussulmen for its refreshing properties.
It was carried from Turkey to England in 1641, and
the first coffee house opened by a Jew of Oxford, in
1650. A Greek set up another in London in 1652.
Henry Blount, describing the diet of the Turks in
1634, observes, ' They have another drinke, not good
at meat, called cauphe, made of a berry as big as a
small beane, dryed in a furnace and beat to powder,

Chap. XIV] Moral Influence of Tea. 259
of a soote colour, in taste a little bitterish: they
seethe and drinke it hote as may be endured ... it
is thought to be the old blacke broth used so much
by the Lacedemonians.' [Voyage to the Levant,
p. 105.] The consumption of coffee throughout the
world during*) the past year has been estimated at
453 millions of pounds.
But an infusion of leaves of the tea plant has
eclipsed all other potations. Imparting tone to the
stomach, soothing the irritated system, removing
languor and slightly exhilarating, it has become a
favorite beverage of civilized nations. Tea was
first imported from China by the Dutch, and in the
middle of the 17th century sold in England at sixty
shillings per pound — a price equivalent to twenty
dollars now. Notwithstanding the denunciations of
dietists, the moral influence of tea has been mani
festly beneficial. It has introduced elegance at
meals and politeness at table, diminished gross feed
ing and abolished the grosser manners of former
times. What barbarian would rob ladies-of tea —
what substitute could he propose — does he wish the
fair sex to live as in times ere an infusion of the
tea plant was known — to breakfast on beef, pork,
and beer, and sup on pork, beer, and beef? The
meal known as ' tea' is the most intellectual of re
pasts ; no excess attends it ; it rather invigorates the
spirits than pampers the appetite. Coarse feeders
eschew it, for the fluid is but slightly nutritive. No
drunkard loves it, for it is the soberest of potations.
To refined minds it is nectar which drives away

260 Tea Table Equipages — Japanese Spoon. [Chap. XIV.
gloom and makes the soul sparkle with joy — a di
vine cordial, the reverse of beastly malt liquors which
the sensual guzzle. Doubtless Circe kept a porter
house, and Hygeia drank hyson and bohea.
A fig for those philosophers who denounce tea
and modestly ask us to take to cold -$ater — requir
ing us to renounce that which has done so much to
wards polishing our manners, and rendering home
attractive — pseudo-reformers, who start at a tea-pot
and groan at the sight of a saucer. The tea spoon
is justly caressed by old ladies, and more fondled by
young ones than any thing else. It is to these the
bearer of sweets and the medium of taste. With
out coyness they reach out their mouths to meet it
half way and pout with their lips till they give it a
kiss. As they laugh and play with it, the Vermillion
of their lips is deepened in tone, and vivacity darts
from their eyes.
Tea table equipages, and adjuncts in the form of
cabinet, china, silver, iron, japanned and copper and
other wares, give employment to millions and wealth
to thousands. The original tea spoon came from
Asia, where its shape often deviates considerably
from ours. In the appendix to Kempfer's Japan is
figured a portable case about a foot square, contain
ing every requisite for making tea, including a ket
tle, canister, cup, and a singular looking tea spoon.
It may be compared to a curved and tapered mar
row spoon, the small end being the handle. A tea
apparatus is carried by the Japanese 'on their jour
neyings, and wherever they go.'

Chap. XIV.] Black Teeth and Sugar — Domitian. 261
It has already been stated that implements small
as tea spoons were used in Europe long before tea :
besides other duties, they performed those of mo
dern desserts; were used in eating honey, sugar,
and fruits preserved in sugar ; sweetmeats were fa
vorite dainties in former days. Paul Hentzer, who
travelled in England in 1598, gives some interesting
particulars relating to the English court and man
ners. Visiting the palace at Greenwich, he found
the presence chamber hung with tapestry and
strewed with hay or rushes. He noticed the ser
vants carrying dishes into the queen's dining room,
and prostrating themselves before her empty chair.
Of Elizabeth herself he observes, "Next came the
queen, in the sixty-fifth year of her age, as we were
told, very majestick ; her face oblong, fair but wrin
kled ; her eyes small, yet black and pleasant ; a nose
a little hooked, her lips narrow, and her teeth black;
a defect the English seem subject to from their too
great use of sugar." In Nichols' progresses of Eliza
beth mention is made of comfit or preserve boxes,
with " a litill spone of gold." Aaron Hill, in his
' Ottoman Empire,' says the Turks take up sweet
meats 'with little spoons like those we use for tea.'
With the ancients it was an indication of poverty
or meanness not to possess spoons or some articles
of plate. Suetonius observes of Domitian that he
was born in Pomegranate street, and so reduced in
his younger days as not to own a single utensil of
gold or silver. Vespasian drank on solemn occa
sions out of a silver mug which belonged to hia

262 Silver among the Northmen. [Chap. XIV.
grandmother. She was probably poor, for the family
was an obscure one, having no ancestral statues.
The emperor himself once let out horses and mules
for hire, and hence nicknamed the muleteer.
Silver, remarks Olaus Magnus, was anciently in
great plenty with the Northmen. Household uten
sils and even cradles were made of it. Ladies wore
chains, bracelets, and round their heads bands of
silver four fingers broad. The men had girdles and
buttons of the same metal. This display, the reve
rend historian rather uncanonically observes, did
honor to the prince who thus ruled over a gallant
people, and not over "poor indigent fellows that
are but scabs and pilfering knaves." [B. vi. cap. 12.]
Gold and silver smiths, he says, exhibited their
goods at the great annual fairs, held on the ice by
the Goths, time out of mind. They furnished the
prize cups and spoons distributed at the horse and
foot races held yearly on the ice. The footmen
wore skates made of the shank bones of the rein
deer, and ran over a distance of from eight to twelve
miles. The successful competitors were presented
with "silver spoons, brass vessels, swords, new gar
ments, and young horses."
In northern Europe, young females on festival
days adorn themselves with rows of silver spoons
strung together and worn as a necklace or girdle—
a singular proof of imperfect civilization.
To accommodate all tastes and purses, iron, brass
and copper spoons are plated with silver, and silver
ones with a coat of gold, fine as those ancient ladies'

Chap. XIV.] German Silver— Plated Characters. 263
dresses which were compared to woven wind. Plat
ing and gilding are of unknown antiquity. In mo
dern times a new and cheap factitious substance has
been introduced, named argentane or German silver.
It is Composed of copper, zinc and nickel, to which
some add a dose of arsenic or antimony. It consti
tutes a tolerable imitation of real silver. Though
slowly oxidized in air, the alloy rapidly corrodes in
acids, and injurious effects have resulted from its
employment in the kitchen and at the dining table
Recently its color and exterior qualities have been
much improved. German silver and plated wares
enable poor and economical people to imitate their
betters in display, but the cost laid out in ster
ling goods is the true economy. 'A poor squire,'
said a Spanish __E sop, 'should have his cup of silver
and his kettle of copper.' Though they cost more
than others, they last longer, and when worn out
will buy fresh ones.
It is with men as with their jewels ; all is not gold
that glitters. Some put so thick a coat of virtue
on that few detect the base material underneath —
others wear so thin a film that the slightest friction
rubs it through. The world is full of plated wares ;
streets are crowded as well as tradesmen's shelves.
With spoons and with their owners, iron, brass, lead
and copper gilt, ape sterling metal. A like variety
in both prevails — from tinseled things to catch the
vulgar eye, to tasteful forms and ornaments that cap
tivate politer circles. At the best, men are only like
their buttons, i. e. single, double or treble gilt. Ar«

264 Swearers and the Devil. [Chap. XIV.
tists have a rule to distinguish between the true and
false, and it applies to moral as well as to material
merchandize. Plated goods, it is said, exhibit a
darker hue, a stronger glare than native gold and
silver ; hence where there is excessive gloss, be sure
there's brass below. The art of plating human
character preceded that of gilding metals. It soon
reached perfection. Recent ages have added noth
ing, nor will future ages find aught to add.
Tricks of old roguish pewterers were noticed in
the last chapter ; the reader will be grieved to see
in this that the morals of their contemporaries who
wrought in finer metals were no better. That an
cient Scottish poem, 'The Sweirers and the Devill,'
gives a graphic account of the manner and wiles
of tradesmen to sell their goods. The fiend is de
scribed perambulating a town incog, on a market
day, and chuckling at the oaths and imprecations of
dealers with a view to deceive purchasers. One
wished "the devill mot stik him with a knyfe," if
what he said respecting his goods was not true.
The malster renounced God, and hoped the 'devill
of hell might taik him, gif ony bettir malt may be.'
The tailor gave himself ' to the feynd ' if bettir cloaks
were ever made.
Ane merchand, his geir as he did sell,
Renuncit his part of hevin and hell.
The fleshour [butcher] swoir be the sacrament,
And be Chryst's bluid maist innocent,
Nevir fatter flesch saw man with ee.
Ane goldsmith said the gold's sa fyne,
That all the warkmanschip I tyne, [lose]
The feynd ressaif me gif I lie.
¦ • • < Quoth the devill, tliovv art mine.

Chap. XIV.] Frauds in Plated Good — Transmutation. 265
Since the discovery of the electrotype process of
coating one metal with another, spoons of German
silver are made to appear so much like those of
sterling silver as to be sold by cheats for such.
Similar frauds were formerly practiced with plated
goods. An English statute of 1403 is to this effect:
" Whereas many fraudulent artificers; imagining to
deceive common people, do daily make locks, [lock
ets] rings, beads, candlesticks, harneis for girdles,
hilts, chalices and sword pom els, powder [pouncet]
boxes, and covers for cups, of copper and of latin,
and the same over gilt and silver, like to gold and
silver, and the same sell and put in gage to many
men not having full knowledge thereof, for whole
gold and whole silver, to the great deceit, loss, and
hindrance of the common people, and the wasting of
gold and silver ; it is ordained and established that
no artificer, nor other man whatsoever he be, from
henceforth shall gilt nor silver any such, &c. upon
pain to forfeit to the king one hundred shillings, and
to make satisfaction to the party grieved for his dam
ages." Chalices and ornaments for the church were
excepted — they might be gilt or plated with silver,
but at the foot or underside the real material was to
be exposed, "to the intent that a man may see
whereof the thing is made, for to eschew the deceit
aforesaid." By an act of the same year it was made felony to
transmute lead, iron, copper, &c. into gold and sil
ver ! "It is ordained and established that none from
henceforth shall use to multiply gold and silver, nor
34

266 English Assay and Stamp — Proverbs. [Chap. XIV.
use the craft of multiplication ; and if any the same
do, that he incur the pain of felony in this case."
The 5th of Hen. V. allowed gilding but only on ster
ling silver ; no inferior metal was to be covered with
silver except " knight s spurs and all the apparel
that pertaineth to a baron."
A. D. 1300, an act required all articles to be 'of
good and true alloy— of no worse gold than the
touch of Paris,' and silver to equal the current coin ;
no article to leave the workmen ' untill it be essaied
by the wardens of the craft, and marked with the
leopard's head.' Under Edward III. every master
was to stamp his own mark on the articles before
submitting them for assay to the king's officers. In
1423, another act required gold and silver vessels
'to be essaied and touched by the keeper of the
;touch,' then marked, if found good, 'with the leop
ard's head.' No more 'sowder' was to be used than
necessary — an intimation that it was not spared
when every article was sold by weight. In 1294,
Phillippe le Bel published regulations and renewed
others, for the guidance of Paris gold and silver
smiths. The goldsmith's profession furnishes a cutting re
buke to simpletons and impudent boasters : — " A
fool of 24 carats" is one whose folly is without alloy :
"a philosopher of 25 carats" — nature has exceeded
herself in producing him.
Silver spoons are emblematical of that renewal of
forms which organized matter perpetually undergoes.
Vegetables, animals and men are composed of the

Chap. XIV.] Transmigration of Bodies. 267
same ingredients — alternately nourishing and imbib
ing nourishment from each other. Their figures and
condition, not their substance, change. A portion
of the reader's person may have nerved the right arm
of David, swelled the stature of Goliah, blushed in
the cheek of Lucretia, handled the crayons of Zeuxis,
hunted with Meleager, or even been part of the wild
boar he slew ! Start not, gentle reader, for that
which was a calf or pig, an ox or sheep, yesterday,
is veal or pork, beef or mutton to-day,, and to-mor
row becomes assimilated to its human consumer ;
bone of thy bone, and flesh of thy flesh. It is hu
miliating to human glory that the proudest indivi
duals are composed of such vile materials ; — a cour
tier's body may have toiled at Babel, and may again
be a bricklayer's clerk. The skull of a king may
once have been a calabash, his nose a pullet's giz
zard ; his blood may through a goose have trilled,
his heart have panted in a deer; his lips may once
have jabbered on a baboon's face, and ages hence
may do the like again : he yet may serve to grease
a carriage axle, manure a cabbage or a radish bed,
and be served up to clowns in salad. Princes, when
sick, are fed sometimes on asses' milk, or draw their
nourishment from dugs of goats, and thus incorpo
rate these animals with themselves.
If there never was a transmigration of souls, there
has always been one of human bodies and of — silver
spoons! As the elements of our ancestors exist in
us, so do tons of ancient plate in our buffets. 'Hu
man beings are dissolved in the grave, and the pre-

268 Transmigration of Spoons — Kilkenny Cats. [Chap. XIV.
cious metals in the crucible ; but the operation in
both cases is preliminary to the reappearance of the
substances in new forms. The gold coin in the read
er's pocket may have constituted a part of the chain
which Pharaoh put round Joseph's neck, or of the
bodkin which Fulvia thrust through Cicero's tongue.
Spoons used at our tables may once have been she
kels of the sanctuary, or paid by Abraham for his
field at Hebron. They may have entered the lips of
Cleopatra, and been employed by Andromache or
Artaxerxes at dinner. The ingenuity of antedilu
vian artists was perhaps expended on the substance
of that goblet. Noah may have handled it, and Ju
das bore it in his scrip. A monarch's table fork
may once have picked the teeth of rebels, or in a
surgeon's hands punctured boils and sores. As with
the past so with the future : Reader ! ages hence thy
silver plate may form the spoons of an individual,
a portion of whose body may be identical with thine,
and who, like thee, may sit speculating on the me
tamorphoses terrestrial beings undergo.
Before leaving this very curious subject we may
be permitted to suggest, that the often quoted con
test between two individuals of the feline race, at
Kilkenny, which ended by each party eating up the
other, may be less akin to an Irish bull and more
allied to a philosophical truth than is generally sur
mised .
As devices for diminishing a craving for food have
been1 mentioned, some moral prescriptions for mo
derating a longing for rich furniture might here be

\

Chap. XIV.] Devices to make People stop Eating. 269
quoted, but they would be of little avail. Neither
one appetite nor the other can be tamed by medical
or sacerdotal doctors. Few persons now prefer eat
ing sand to filling the stomach with good things ; yet
except to such, table equipages, if emblazoned with
fiends, snakes and toads, would exert no lasting in
fluence. Though table cloths were winding sheets,
knife hafts dead men's bones, and spoons, cups and
butter boats made of human skulls, the generality
of mankind would soon eat and drink as heartily as
if the service were of silver, and no arguments had
been adduced against intemperance.
One device to make people stop when they had
sufficient has not been noticed ; it was the last me
chanical resource, viz : a broad brass or iron band
fitted to and worn around the abdomen; so that
when the wearer could not stop putting food into his
mouth there was not room for it below — the stomach
no longer resembling an elastic sack, capable of ex
tension, but a non-elastic barrel which could not be
surcharged. An abbot in the 11th century, inordi
nately given to creature comforts, had his trunk thus
cased with a brazen band. With these girdles nei
ther penitents nor those who loved short masses and
long dinners could eat
' Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Were bent like drums.'
It often happened that those who indulged an in
ordinate taste for gold and silver plate wore shackles
of another kind — according to the saying, 'men of
smell means who eat from silver, fast and die in

270 Goblins — Spoons bewitched. [Chap. XIV.
iron.' Living beyond their income, they end their
days in jail. A fondness for display, whether in
the house or out of it, has caused no small share of
human misery. Many a female has ruined her hus
band by longing for plate. The Italians say, the
smiles of a woman are the tears of the purse — a rich
sideboard and a fat kitchen make a lean will.
When those capricious goblins yclept 'fairies'
used to assist their rustic friends, by kindling kitchen
fires at early dawn, sweeping floors, milking cows,
and churning butter, they played less pleasant pranks
to those who slighted them. Puck scared dairy
maids, skimmed their milk, and would not let their
cheeses curdle nor the butter ' come,' " if a bowle of
curds and creame" had not been offered him. Often
he slipped boys' stools away as they sat down : —
And then the whole quire hold their hips and lofie.
Sometimes he lurk'd in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab, [apple]
And when she drank, against her lips he bobb'd,
And on her wither'd dew-lap pour'd the ale.
Worse things mischievous genii did to those ob
noxious to their wrath. Spoons at supper time de
nied their aid, and either vanished in the steaming
porridge or refused to leave the bowl or dish — more
appalling still, they have, on entering a hungry boor's
mouth, stuck fast, and defied all human power to
draw them thence, until the offended spirit was ap
peased, and ceased to press the rustic's upper and
under jaw against the implement ! Legends such as
these were often based on facts, and demons more
tangible than 'Pucks' or 'Robin Goodfellows' were

Chap. XIV.] Magic Cups — Salad Spoon and Salad. 271
the authors. Fusible spoons are not of recent date,
nor are metallic bowls with spoons cast to them and
made to resemble earthenware. Moreover, spoons
were as easily made to enter the mouth and remain
a certain time as those " untoothsome pears," cher
ries and plums, mentioned by old writers, "which
being put into a body's mouth, shall presently shoot
forth such and so many bolts on every side, that
without the owner's key cannot be got out again."
The Cathayans had magical cups and we pre
sume spoons too, which filled themselves and then
went of their own accord " ten paces through the
ayre into the hands of the Great Khan, and when
he hath drunke, in like sort they return to their
place" ! [Ewbank's Hydraulics.]
Fig. 9 — a French device, resembling a large pair
of scissors ; one blade being a fork, the other a
spoon — a singular union. The screw or pivot is
made to take out, that each implement may, when
desirable, be separately handled. The whole is of
ivory or buffalo's horn and designed to transfer sa
lads at table. The usual dressings, as vinegar,
salt, oil, mustard, &c. corrode metallic substances.
When used, the spoon or fork is held downwards,
accordingly as a part of the fluid is required to be
raised or not. That Warwickshire wizard who
ranged through all nature and every art to cull flow
ers and collect ingredients for those spells by which
he has bewitched the world, did not pass by salads :
'Twas a good lady; we may pick a thousand salads ere we light on such
another herb.
Indeed, sir, she was the sweet marjoram of the salad, or rather the herb of
grace.— [All's well that ends well.]

272 Pocket Knife and Spoon — Ham Shanks. [Chap. XIV.
Fig. 10 — a pocket knife, fork and spoon united
in one handle. Implements of this kind were for
merly much in fashion ; at present they are occa
sionally carried by travellers and by individuals on
gunning or fishing excursions. Captain Head used
one when traversing the Pampas and Andes. Sup
ping at a wretched post, where table furniture was
scarcely known, a black girl held the light in one
hand and furnished salt with the other — artificial
candlesticks and salt-cellars forming no part of the
establishment. He drew from his pocket ' a clasp
knife and fork,' and picked up with the latter chop
ped pieces of beef from a pewter dish to the no
small delight of the living candelabrum.
Peasants in Switzerland and other parts of the
European continent, commonly carry a device like
Fig. 10, or a sheath containing the separate imple
ments. Before therevolution in France, it was cus
tomary when a gentleman was invited to dinner, to
send a servant with his knife, fork and spoon ; if he
had no attendant, he took them in his breeches
pocket, as a carpenter carries a rule. "A few of the
ancient regime still follow the good old custom, be
cause it is old." Has not the reader noticed at pub
lic dinners, or when making ' New- Year's calls,' the
shank of a ham or leg of mutton tastefully decorated
with gilt or cut paper and ribbons ? This was a cus
tom somewhat general before forks were introduced,
and still is common in Germany and Italy. The
carver grasped that part of the joint in his left hand
while he shaved off slices with a pointed knife in his

Chap. XIV.] Carving — Spoons Chained. 273
right. That he might hold it firmly and perform
his duty more expeditiously and seemly, a piece of
paper was neatly tied round the shank, and on great
occasions set off with ribbons. Each slice as cut
off was raised on the point of the knife and laid on
a thin piece of bread, a pile of which was placed
near the carver, who thus served the guests in rota
tion. Ovid has observed there was grace in using
the fingers at table ; so there is in handling a fork.
In old engravings we see ladies holding it between
the finger and thumb, as if afraid to touch it, or as
people take snuff; others retain it in the hand in the
manner of a pen, and some grasp the handle with a
clenched fist, as a boy clutches an apple or a gentle
men the head of his walking cane.
Portable cases of morocco containing a separate
knife, fork and spoon are for sale in our silver
smiths' shops. It is said gentlemen of the ton would
as soon go a journey without their dressing cases
as some of them would take their seats at a table d'
hote without their own spoons and forks. In public
gardens visitors sometimes take ice cream and other
refreshments with their own apparatus ; but a cer
tain class prefer the proprietor's spoons, which, when
of silver, they have forgotten to return. We have
heard of knives and forks being chained to plates,
and spoons to bowls, in London chop and soup
houses — imitating a practice introduced by Edwyn
in the 7th century, of fastening by the same means
iron cups to wells and springs, for the use of honest
and dishonest travellers. As the ' Transactions' of
35

274 Pedlar of Ithaca — German Custom. [Chap. XIV.
the Society of Literary and Scientific Chiffonniers
will no doubt be consulted in future times, the fol
lowing extract from the circular of a fashionable
female boarding school may interest young ladies
and teachers a century hence : — "Parents to furnish
each pupil with bed and bedding, six towels, nap
kins and a knife ; a silver fork, spoon and mug ;. a
thimble and a pair of scissors ; all to be marked in
full: washing seven dollars a quarter."
A portable knife has always been an acceptable
present to boys. The first one is examined with rap
ture, and its possession sometimes forms an epoch
in the life of its owner, as was the case with young
Achilles. When disguised as a girl, and placed
among the daughters of Lycomedes, the wily pedlar
of Ithaca took an effectual mode to discover him.
The pretended merchant unslinging his pack, dis
played before the family of Lycomedes thread, tapes,
ribbons, scissors and needles, with an assortment of
neat daggers and knives ; the females confined their
purchases to articles appropriate to them, but the
youth, forgetting the part his concealment required,
eagerly pounced on the knives, &c. thus revealing
the secret of his sex, and to the man above all oth
ers interested in finding him out. The Germans
make annual presents to their godsons, till the lads
reach the age of fourteen, when the last gift, invaria
bly a pocket knife, is made. The instrument is con
sidered symbolical of a youth cut loose from leading
strings, and thenceforward accountable for his acts.
Girls, we suppose, are treated with a pair of scissors.

Chap. XV] Whittling— Tea Caddy and Salt Spoons. 275
Not a few modern devices are ancient inventions.
There is one universally ascribed to Yankees, but
which, so far from being of republican origin, is de
scended from royalty. An ancient writer, describ
ing the manners and magnificence of the Persian
king, says, when he rode in a chariot, instead of
occupying his thoughts in reading or conversation,
he spent the time "in whittling with a knife." [Pur-
chas.] Major Harris, in his 'Highlands of Ethiopia,'
mentions Arabian legislators platting date leaves in
to mats while sitting in council — the most useful, in
his opinion, of their acts.

CHAPTER XV.
Plate VIII — Tea Caddy, Salt Spoons, and Salt — Salt-Cel
lar — Monks of La Trappe — Egg Spoon — Paschal Eggs — Poul
try raised by Steam — Mustard Spoons — French Prayer — Celes
tial House Movers — Beef and Mustard — Punch Spoon and La
dle — Wassail Bowl — Burns — 'Arts el Metieres' — Sugar Tongs
— Sifter and Snuff Spoons — Cream, Marrow, v and Physic
Spoons — Human Life — History and Influence qf the Spoon-
Author's Request — His Parting Bow.
Plate VIII — a miscellaneous collection. Figs. 1,
2 — tea caddy spoons, for transferring the dried herb
from small canisters to tea-pots. They are of the last
century ; but being imitations of nature, will be more
or less in fashion while refined taste prevails. Figs.
3, 4, 5 — salt spoons of silver, pearl and ivory, but

276 Salt — Its Properties and Uses. [Chap. XV.
sometimes made of tortoise shell, horn and bone, and
of diverse patterns. As salt has been used at table
from primitive times minute implements for taking it
up are of undoubted antiquity, though particular de
scriptions of them have not reached us.
Of all condiments salt is the chief, both for ani
mals and men. Quadrupeds relish it as well as
bipeds. One of nature's own preparing, it is fur
nished in profuse abundance. Millions of tons are
annually consumed by horses, sheep and oxen in
Europe and the United States. Ancient farmers
gave it to their stock, for which Plutarch (in Nat.
Ques.) assigns the same reasons as modern agricul
turists. What philosophical husbandman is not
gratified as his cattle crowd around him for it ? The
mild eyes of his oxen looking grateful for a relish
and watching his movements in hopes of another.
The timid ewe takes the treat from his hand, and
licks up every stray atom, while the colt, more fa
miliar, smells his pockets and whinnies for more.
Salt not only seasons unsavory meat but preserves
it from putrefaction. In view of these admirable qual
ities, Homer calls it 'divine.' It was a symbol of
incorruptibility and fidelity — a pledge of friendship
and hospitality which nothing but death was allowed
to cancel. No social feast was perfect without it,
and oblations were seldom offered unless it was an
ingredient. ' No sacrifice,' says Pliny, 'was present
ed to the gods without salt.' ' Every oblation of thy
meat offering shalt thou season with salt.' [Levit.]
At the ceremony of circumcision the Turks place,

Chap. XV.] Salt-Cellar — Customs connected with it. 277
or used to place, a few grains in the boy's mouth, say
ing, 'Heaven make thy name savory as salt among
men, and mayest thou live to enjoy the fruits of the
earth.' Can that which is unsavory, exclaims Job,
be eaten without salt ? Even bread, says one of the
ancients, is unpalatable without it. Its enormous con
sumption was a fruitful source of revenue to ancient
as well as modern governments. On one occasion
Demetrius rewarded the fidelity of the Jews to him
by remitting the gabel.
The salt-cellar was held in great veneration of
old, and from superstitious motives, kept remarkably
bright and clean. Placed on the table near the ima
ges of the presiding deities (as already observed) its
presence consecrated the food. In the middle ages
it was generally of silver and elaborately wrought.
A gilt one is extant modelled after the white tower
of London.
To be placed at table above the salt was a mark
of honor — to desire a guest to seat himself below it
an indication of inferior rank, or of disesteem. In
the latter case the mortification was not altogether
imaginary, as the following account of an old Eng
lish hall, the scene of feasting and hospitality, will
show : — " At the upper end was placed the orsille,
or high table, a little elevated above the floor, and
here the master of the mansion presided with an au
thority, if not a state, which almost equalled that of
the potent baron. The table was divided into up
per and lower messes by a huge salt-cellar, and the
rank and consequence of the visitors were marked

278 Monks of La Trappe— Egg Spoon. [Chap. XV.
by the situation of their seats above and below it— a
custom which not only distinguished the relative dig
nity of the guests, but extended to the nature of the
provision — the wine frequently circulating only above
the salt-cellar, and the dishes below it being of a
coarser kind than those near the head of the table."
From the correspondence of the younger Pliny, it ap
pears that a similar practice prevailed among tho
Romans. [See Letter vi. Book 2.]
The fabrication of caryed spoons was an employ
ment of religious recluses ; they brought higher prices
than when made by worldly minded workmen. The
monks of La Trappe were prohibited from using
their tongues — all communications being made by
signs. They were forbidden to read, write, or raise
their eyes above the ground unless to direct their
steps. Their teeth too might as well have been
drawn, for neither fish, flesh nor any thing like solid
food was given them to grind ; — but absorbed as
these men were with celestial matters, and having
no need themselves of eating apparatus, they thought
it no sin to provide them for other people. Such of
the brethren as could not endure the fatigue of the
mattock (observes Motraye) were employed in turn
ing, carving, &c. The traveller was presented
" with an ivory spoon and fork wrought as well as
possible." Fig. 6 — an egg spoon, rather larger than a 'tea,'
and having the handle joined to the small end of
the bowl. Such kind of implements have been in
use since hens laid eggs and women boiled them.

Chap. XV.] Paschal Eggs — Eggs hatched by Steam. 279
The Romans were great consumers of eggs ; hence
the saying 'ab ovo usque ad mala,' from eggs to ap
ples — an elliptical expression for a feast — eggs being
the first, and apples the last dish served up. Eggs
played important parts in monastic feasts and farces.
The tenth of all produce of land, fowls and cattle
kept monks' larders well supplied, and woe to him
who robbed the church of tythes, or ' stole eggs from
a cloister.' " If a peeter penny or an housle egg
were behind, or a patch of tythe unpaid, then beware
of spirits." At Easter, eggs were boiled hard and
stained of various colors with onion peeling or broom
flowers, and sometimes gilded. They were conse
crated according to a ritual of Pope Paul V. and
presented to children and friends, under the name
of pace or paschal eggs. The practice of boys strik
ing eggs against each other, the shattered becoming
the property of the owners of the sound ones, is de
scended from mediaeval times.
The egg was an ancient emblem of the universe,
and has been symbolized in a thousand things. An
envious man thinks his neighbor's fowls lay more
than his. Eggs are now hatched by steam, and
chickens reared without the aid of clucking hens.
Released from anxious care about their young and
from the debilitating work of incubation, matronly
fowls have now nought to do but quietly lay their
eggs and pass their time in pleasure. Cooks with
poultry can be supplied without tearing screaming
pullets from their parent's side — sundering the finest
fibres of affection. Then the ' Eccaleobim,' it is said,

280 Mustard Spoon — French Prayer. [Chap. XV.
will shortly place within the poor's reach luxuries
hitherto denied them. The destitute are not long
to remain ignorant of the taste of chicken broth and
plovers fricasseed, of broiled partridge, quail and
meadow hens ; of roasted geese, and ducks and tur
keys. Fig. 7 a silver and 8 an ebony mustard spoon.
Forms of the ancient implements have not reached
us, but some sayings to which the condiment gave
rise are still in use: — ''Tis mustard after dinner,'
indicating that the time for using a thing has passed,
or that the thing itself is of no consequence ; 'a man
amused with mustard ;' one that makes great things
of trifles. It has ever been deemed essential to beef,
especially salt beef; hence an old French prayer :< —
De trois choses Dieu nous garde,
Du hceuf salS sans moutarde,
D'un valet qui se regarde,
D'une femme qui se farde.
'Dijon mustard' was renowned in the time of
Philip the Fair, during whose reign the reader will
recollect two important transactions took place — the
introduction of the mariner's compass into modern
Europe, and [in 1291] the transportation by angels
of the Virgin Mary's dwelling at Nazareth into Dal-
matia ; whence it was conveyed three years after
wards (by the same celestial house movers) to the
opposite coast of the Adriatic, and located on land
belonging to a widow named Loretta. There it has
remained for the edification of pious pilgrims, and
the maturing of grace in the hearts of its reverend
proprietors.

Chap. XV.] Beef and Mustard — Punch Spoon, Sfc. 281
Grumio. What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?
Kath. A dish that I do love to feed upon.
Grumio. Aye, but the mustard is too hot a little.
Kadi. Why then the beef, and let the mustard rest.
Grumio. Nay, then I will not ; you shall have the mustard,
Or else you get no beef from Grumio.
Kath. Then both, or one, or any thing thou wilt.
Grumio. Why then, the mustard without the beef.
[ Taming of the Shrew. ]
Fig. 9 — a punch spoon, and 13 a punch ladle —
two of the least beneficial applications of a valuable
thing.
Many estates have been spent in the getting,
Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting,
And men Sur punch left off hewing and splitting.
Few things have better exemplified the truth of
another saying of 'Poor Richard' than punch and
punch spoons : — ' What maintains one vice would
bring up two children.' The old ' wassail bowl ' and
its accompanying spoon were not such promoters of
dissipation as their modern despendants,, nor did
they accommodate such pernicious liquids. Families
took wassail at home on festivals, when innocent hi
larity reigned ; but to indulge in punch, men meet
at taverns, where they ply the ladle till they perforin
antics rude and grotesque as those for which that
hero is known whose name is the same as the liquor.
After supper at Christmas " the wassail bowl was
brought in, of which every one partook, by taking
with a spoon a roasted apple out of the ale and eat
ing it, then drinking the healths of the company out
of the bowl, wishing them a merry christmas and a
happy new year." With the Greeks and Romans
wine was carried to the dining room in large vases,.
36

282 Burns — Whiskey Punch — Sugar Tongs. [Chap. XV
and poured into bowls, whence it was drawn by la
dles into cups and tumblers. See figures on the
second plate. O whiskey ! saul o' plays an' pranks !
Accept a bardie's humble thanks !
When wanting thee, what tuneless cranks
Are my poor verses !
Unfortunately for Burns he did not confine him
self to invocations of the spirit, or even to moderate
draughts at her fountain. His punch bowl of Inve-
rary marble and its attending ladle were too often
put in requisition. Under their influence he pro
duced his poem called ' Scotch Drink,' in which he
thus humorously blesses every total abstinence man :
May gravels round his blather wrench,
An' gouts torment him inch by inch,
Wha twists his gruntle wi' a glnnch
O' sour disdain,
Out owre a glass o' whiskey punch
W honest men.
How opinions change ! With the laudable view
of preserving a knowledge of the arts and of inno
cent comforts, and to guard, as far as human power
can, against a second deluge of barbarism, the old
French Academy published descriptions, in great
detail, of the most valuable manufactures and pro
fessions. In 'L'Art du Distillateur Liquoriste' is
figured and described a Paris coffee room with its
appendages, including a "grande jatte de porcelaine
pleine de punch, un cuiller de buis pour puiser cette
liqueur, et la verser dans les verres."
Figs. 10— sugar tongs ; a singular application of
the spoon, which, instead of scooping up fluids or
semi-fluids is here designed to take up solids. When

Chap. XV.] Sugar Sifter — Snuff Spoons. 283
loaf sugar was introduced, (the period ok which
is uncertain, for it was made several ages before
its alleged discovery by Venetians in the 16th cen
tury,) the ordinary spoon could not readily plunge
among the lumps nor be secure of catching one, or
of retaining it when caught ; hence two spoons were
joined in the chase, and as one heads the game
while the other closes up the rear, they seldom lose
their destined prey. Two spoons inseparably linked
in a pair of sugar tongs are like those married cou
ples, w*ho none but mutual pleasures know, and
whose time is spent among the sweets of life.
Fig. 11 — another curious transformation. We
have seen the spoon resemble a pair of shears, then
a pair of tongs — here it is a sifter. Copiously per
forated, the bowl is used to sprinkle refined sugar
over the crust of pies, custards and other delicious
dainties. Strange, how one thing glides into another !
What primeval artist ever thought that spoons would
be converted into riddles — made as useless for lift
ing liquids as the buckets of the Danaides! The
bowl is also sometimes flattened and pierced for a
fish slice, and, when half covered, is made into a
basting ladle ! By the way, we forgot to mention at
page 177, that snuff spoons were also punctured, be
cause they could not properly discharge their con
tents otherwise. When held laden to the nostrils, the
sudden withdrawal of the superincumbent air by the
snifter draws up the spoon itself if the bowl be not
perforated, just as a piece of paper held near the
mouth is sucked in by an inspiration. But when

284 Cream, Marrow, and Physic Spoons. [Chap. XV.
two or three minute holes are made in the bowl, no
sooner does the owner set his nasal pump at work
than the atmospheric air, ascending through the
openings, drives up the powder in a trice, and scat
ters none in lateral directions.
Fig. 12 — a cream spoon, invented on the labor
saving principle. It supersedes the necessity of lift- ,
ing the pitcher with its contents every time a mo
dicum only of the fluid is wanted — exhibiting the
advantages of economizing force, though in a less
degree than the tea or coffee urn. Fifty cups can
be filled from one of these by simply opening a tap
which the little finger can effect ; whereas no lady
could charge half that number from a tea-pot with
out her arms and shoulders complaining of the labor.
Fig. 14 is the well known marrow spoon, of the his
tory of which we are uninformed. It is however an
emblem of many good things. O ! for the salt of wit,
cream of pleasantry, and marrow of rich stories !
The last spoon figured on the plate is not the least
appropriate to finish with. The others are for ta
king food, this for taking physic ; they to comfort
people when in health, this to cure them when sick.
Having furnished so many devices by which the sto
mach is often overloaded, it may be expected that
one at least will be given to assist in recovering its
natural tone. Every person knows that pills were
formerly gilded with the view of preventing their
substance from annoying the sense while passing
the gullet. Roman apothecaries supplied squeam
ish patients with such ; as a box half full with the

Chap. XV.] Ancient and Modern Bon Vivants. 285
gold leaf remaining has been found at Pompeii. The
spoon Fig. 15 is designed for much the like pur
pose, viz : to send fluids down the same passage
with as little delay and annoyance as possible. To
patients in a recumbent position, and to such as are
disposed to resist, it is a capital thing. The handle
is hollow and communicates with the bowl. When
the latter is charged (through the lid which is shown
open) the thumb of the nurse or attendant is placed
over the aperture of the handle and the lid closed.
The contents are then prevented, by the exclusion of
air, from escaping. The spoon is next properly
placed in the patient's mouth, and the thumb re
moved, when the liquid necessarily goes to its ap
pointed place, for air cannot pass to the lungs but
through the handle and bowl. This contrivance is
modern, but covered spoons for administering broths
to sick people, and medicines to children, are old.
Roman bon vivants took a vomit before dinner, as
well as one after, and even now there are persons
who prepare for the principal meal by exciting an
artificial craving with 'dinner pills.' There have
been, and perhaps always will be, men who live only
to digest, and many more with two stomachs to eat
and not one to work.
The different states of human life — infancy, ado
lescence, manhood, senility and second childhood,
are represented by pap, dessert, table, tea and physic
spoons. The spoon is the first artificial thing an
infant studies, the earliest one he handles and knows.
As intelligence dawns it is recognized, and at its

286 The Spoon and Human Life. [Chap. XV.
sight he flutters like a nestling impatient for aliment.
In time he leaves the nurse's arms and tries to feed
himself; ambitious to manage his spoon alone, he
scatters half the food upon his bib, and smears his
hands, his face and throat with porridge. Next a
youth, he handles it with ease and plies it with dex
terity ; a stranger to artificial appetite, he relishes
the food it bears, and grows in strength and beauty.
A strong man now, his breasts the implement has
filled with milk, and made his bones abound with
marrow. But quickly the noon of life is past ; age
and infirmity with rapid strides approach, and take
his relish and his strength away. An octogenary
now, he feeds himself with pain. Next, helpless as
when born, he stares in idiot vacancy and recognizes
nothing — save a spoon. The nurse now feeds him
as at first, and tends this fitful being, till he goes
wailing out of life as he came crying in.
Lest the reader should feel symptoms of a surfeit,
we will now make an end, although many things are
left untouched, especially such as relate to the sta
tistics of spoons, their diversified materials, processes
of manufacture, their cost, numbers annually worn
out, hosts of artists employed in making them,
talents they have exercised and skill displayed ; the
myriads incessantly engaged in using them, the daily
influx into our world of fresh beings that want them,
and a probably increasing demand to the end of
time for them — for though science supersedes many
things, and the progress of the arts renders old ma
chines useless, neither science nor arts, nor fashion

Chap. XV.] The Spoon keeps the World in Motion. 287
to boot, can ever banish spoons from the earth, or
make much alteration in them. While men's mouths
are not placed at the ends of flexible trunks, manu
facturers will find work; and the last spoons will
differ as little from ours as the persons of the pre- v
sent and the latest spoonmakers. Nay, if people in
Venus and Mars eat like us, as they probably do, a
deputation from each at one of our public dinners
would be at no loss in applying these table utensils.
An extended account of the spoon ; of its influence
on food, manners, and imagination ; of its virtues,
the pleasures it imparts and sorrows it soothes,
would be a history of all times and people. Look
ing at the excitement it produces, how seas are
crossed, lands ploughed, rivers dragged, fish ponds
made, cattle slain, birds ensnared, caldrons cast,
mines exhausted and forests burnt for fuel ; moun
tains of clay used up for pottery, kitchens built and
cooks employed, &c. to supply materials and pre
pare them for it — one might suppose the spoon was
the spring that keeps all things in motion — the
source of genius and parent of the useful arts.
We trust the reader, now he has arrived at the
close, will admit that he is more familiar with the
subject than when he began it. Few persons would
refuse a modest author so slight a reward for his
toil, since he could hardly solicit a less one. But
there are envious critics, we fear, who, without pe
rusing our work, will condemn it ; perhaps declaring
there is nothing novel in its spirit or its plan, and
that the best things in it were written years ago ! If

288 * Author's Parting Bow. £Chap. XV.
they do, and if, which heaven forefend, they should
prove it too, we shall, with the feelings of injured in
nocence, fervently pray that those impertinent plagia
rists may perish who said our good things before us,
and that memory may fail all who remember them !

=H0WI AUDS=

Respected Guest : — Perceiving by the inverted posi
tion of thy bowl and spoon that thou hast not despised the
plain food set before thee, but hast relished it so well as to
leave none, I, Hab'k O. Westman, present myself in pro
pria persona, as in duty bound, to make my parting bow,
and acknowledge my sense of thy patronage. It is also my
wont, when an agreeable customer is about to leave me, to
request him, if the entertainments have been to his liking
and the charges no more than they should be, to invite his
friends to take an opportunity of judging of my cookery,
and my conscience in making out bills. Adieu, kind pa
tron ! Heaven send thee pleasant adventures and a speedy-
return to " The Globe," when I hope to have a better dish
awaiting thy reception — one preparing under the auspices
of our society, and the recipe of which was c6mmended by
I>r. Swallow himself—who was, as thou art aware
"Of palate exquisite, of labor free,
A kitchen doctor of the first degree."