DOI issue:
No. 58 (December, 1901)
DOI article:Bate, Percy H.: Historic English drinking glasses
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22772#0145
Historic English Drinking Glasses
motto, “ By faith I obtain,” are those
of the Turners’ Company of London;
possibly the glass was a present to a
retiring Master from his admiring fellows;
but, of course, this is only a conjecture.
One more group consists of those
glasses which simply carry the name or
coat of arms of the owner. No. 11
bears the name and arms of Beckford
(not the “Caliph” Beckford of “Vathek”
fame, however); and Nos. 21 and 23,
dating possibly from 1740, with the violin
and the name of “ P. Tate,” tell their
own tale of the jolly fiddler of long
ago (otherwise utterly unknown to
fame, and untraceable), whose name
and tastes are thus immortalised,
though only as long as these frail
17
19
SHIP GLASSES
the occasion of the vessel’s sailing, each perhaps
taking a glass home as a souvenir. No. 19 has
been placed with these privateer glasses because it
bears the familiar ship and castle of the Bristol
arms, though unheraldically depicted.
Another group of inscribed glasses consists of
those which belong to club and social life, and
first and foremost among these come the Masonic
glasses. It is not any breach of Masonic secrecy
to state that such specimens as No. 7 are “firing”
glasses, constructed with specially massive bases so
as to stand being struck on the table after being
emptied to a toast. They frequently occur with
the familiar square and compasses, and less often,
perhaps, with the symbols of the Royal Arch degree.
The example figured, however, has a further and
personal interest, inasmuch as it is known to have
been possessed by one Mr. John Boulderson, a
member of a very old Falmouth family. Some-
times specimens of similar associations occur
engraved with agricultural emblems, and such a
motto as “God speed the plough,” the pious
aspiration of the farmers ordinary in the market
town of a hundred years ago; and I possess a
curious example (possibly a club glass) adorned
with a figure of a cat seated in a chair, and playing
the bagpipes—of all instruments !—from a music-
book spread before it. The association between
this quaint figure and the motto, “Honour and
friendship,” is now not quite obvious; doubtless to
the initiated long ago the meaning was perfectly
plain. The only other example in this class in my
collection is the noble specimen figured as No. 20,
which dates from about a.d. 1760. The arms and glass of the turners’ company
110
motto, “ By faith I obtain,” are those
of the Turners’ Company of London;
possibly the glass was a present to a
retiring Master from his admiring fellows;
but, of course, this is only a conjecture.
One more group consists of those
glasses which simply carry the name or
coat of arms of the owner. No. 11
bears the name and arms of Beckford
(not the “Caliph” Beckford of “Vathek”
fame, however); and Nos. 21 and 23,
dating possibly from 1740, with the violin
and the name of “ P. Tate,” tell their
own tale of the jolly fiddler of long
ago (otherwise utterly unknown to
fame, and untraceable), whose name
and tastes are thus immortalised,
though only as long as these frail
17
19
SHIP GLASSES
the occasion of the vessel’s sailing, each perhaps
taking a glass home as a souvenir. No. 19 has
been placed with these privateer glasses because it
bears the familiar ship and castle of the Bristol
arms, though unheraldically depicted.
Another group of inscribed glasses consists of
those which belong to club and social life, and
first and foremost among these come the Masonic
glasses. It is not any breach of Masonic secrecy
to state that such specimens as No. 7 are “firing”
glasses, constructed with specially massive bases so
as to stand being struck on the table after being
emptied to a toast. They frequently occur with
the familiar square and compasses, and less often,
perhaps, with the symbols of the Royal Arch degree.
The example figured, however, has a further and
personal interest, inasmuch as it is known to have
been possessed by one Mr. John Boulderson, a
member of a very old Falmouth family. Some-
times specimens of similar associations occur
engraved with agricultural emblems, and such a
motto as “God speed the plough,” the pious
aspiration of the farmers ordinary in the market
town of a hundred years ago; and I possess a
curious example (possibly a club glass) adorned
with a figure of a cat seated in a chair, and playing
the bagpipes—of all instruments !—from a music-
book spread before it. The association between
this quaint figure and the motto, “Honour and
friendship,” is now not quite obvious; doubtless to
the initiated long ago the meaning was perfectly
plain. The only other example in this class in my
collection is the noble specimen figured as No. 20,
which dates from about a.d. 1760. The arms and glass of the turners’ company
110