Page images
PDF
EPUB

to prevent his following her, she plucked them out and sent them to the King on a thorn.

These and many more particulars with regard to Restalrig are to be found in the interesting paper which Mr. Ross contributed to the Scotsman on Christmas day. It is a matter of gratification that this ancient well has now been put into good order, and we are indebted to the Earl of Moray for the care that has been given to the matter.

THE recent exhibition of old pewter, domestic and ecclesiastic, in Provand's Lordship, Cathedral Square, Glasgow, has attracted considerable attention, and the Provand's Lordship club is to be congratu- old Pewter. Exhibition of lated on their very interesting collection, and on the admirable catalogue which has been prepared.

In his speech, when opening the exhibition, Mr. George Neilson, LL.D., complimented the Club on the line it had taken up in pursuing what he called the antiquities of the household, and the specimens of domestic ware exhibited in the cases were of genuine interest as illustrating the home life of the past. The collection of Church pewter from Churches widely apart in doctrine as well as geographically was of even greater importance, and it is of their success in obtaining these for exhibition, that the Committee have most reason to be proud.

We are indebted to Dr. William Gemmell and to Mr. Lewis Clapperton for the accompanying engraving of some of the ecclesiastical vessels shown in the exhibition. The large centre flagon in the back row of the engraving is from Govan parish, and is by a Glasgow maker at the end of the eighteenth century. On either side of it, is a chalice from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Glasgow Green; these chalices, which are most uncommon, are each nine inches high, quadrangular in shape, on a pillared stem rising from a beautifully moulded base. At either end of the back row is a Presbyterian Communion flagon lent by the Kirk-session of the Tron Church, Edinburgh. On each is engraved For the use of the Holy Sacrament of our Lord's Supper in the South-east Parioch of Edinburgh— Anno 1688'; their modelling is remarkable for its simplicity and strength. In the centre of the front row is a very beautiful chalice and cover, both of them engraved with the sacred monogram in a glory. These are from old St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh. On either side of these is an example of chalice of early form from the Episcopal Church of St. Laurence, Laurencekirk. On either side of these again, are two Italian chalices, each belonging to a different private collector. The two large flagons near the ends of the front row are of English make, but belong to the Cathedral of Glasgow; the small chalices at the extreme ends are both Church of England vessels, that on the right dividing into three pieces for easy transport to the bedside of the sick.

The oldest piece of Scottish pewter known is a piece at Slains Castle, Aberdeenshire, made probably in the sixteenth century. In 1496 pewterers and coppersmiths are mentioned for the first time among the crafts of the Incorporation in a charter granted by the Provost, Magistrates and Town Council of Edinburgh to the Hammermen of that city. In 1518

the Town Council of Edinburgh framed regulations as to the stamping of vessels used by innkeepers, and ordered that a 'talpoun' or 'plook should be inserted in the neck of each measure to mark the point up to which the liquor must be filled.

The various Incorporations of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Dundee and other towns tried, very much as the English Pewterer's Company was trying, to protect the interests of their trade by getting Acts passed and by making regulations as to the stamping of pewter with the maker's 'touch' or mark, the quality of metal used and the weight of the articles, and as to the admission of members after apprenticeship and trial. In 1652 William Abernethie of Edinburgh was punished for using bad metal-the only instance of the kind recorded, whether because it was the only instance that ever occurred, or whether because they did not care to chronicle such falls from virtue, it is impossible to say.

The first pewterer in Glasgow designated as such appears in a list of 1648. Part of the fees of entry to the craft of Hammermen was devoted to the up-keep of an altar to Saint Eloi, which was apparently in the Cathedral. An essay piece was always required from a craftsman when he sought admission to the Incorporation, and in 1775 in Glasgow the required essay is described as a 'bulged decanter.'

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the steady decline of the pewterer's craft. The Incorporations lost their power of control. The marking of articles with the maker's touch-mark only, had become a dead letter, and makers used stamps as they pleased, and the importation of foreign pewter went on unchecked. Self-advertising became common. The makers too lost their originality, and their care to suit the form to the purpose, and more and more became content to copy forms designed, and only suited, for gold and silver.

The cheapness of glass, china, and crockery, the invention of block tin (or steel coated with iron), Britannia metal and German silver, and the discovery of nickel drove pewter from the inns and the kitchens of the people, and the pewterers were too lazy or too overweighted to fight against extinction. The last touch-mark at Pewterers' Hall, London, is dated 1824. A Mr. James Moyes had a shop in Edinburgh till about 1875, but since then the trade has become almost extinct, except that a few firms still make public-house measures. The Church vessels, the domestic plates, spoons, candle-sticks, pepper-pots, and teapots of our day are made of other material, and now, thanks to the increasing interest in pewter, an interest which the Provand's Lordship Exhibition has done a great deal to increase, any specimens of old pewter that have escaped the solder-pot have a chance of spending a dignified old age in a museum case or on a collector's shelves.

f

[graphic]
[graphic]
« PreviousContinue »