Spinning Wheels.

Spinning wheels—Materials and work—Little accessories—Cutlery—Quaint woodwork—The needlewoman—Old samplers.

Under the generic term of "workbox" the curios of the household associated with the industrial handiwork of former days may well be reviewed. There is no record of when receptacles for ladies' work were first introduced, although, no doubt, in very early days small oak boxes, carved, and bearing the owner's initials, and other indications of ownership, would be the chosen receptacles for the numerous oddments which are required in the practice and pursuit of every home handicraft, and especially those connected with plying the needle. There was a time, however, when the fabrics used in the making up of clothing were home-made, when the seamstress and the needleworker stitched and embroidered upon cloths spun if not actually woven by the housewife and her handmaidens. In the barrows containing remains of people of the Stone Age, and the peoples of the early Bronze Age, among the few ornaments and personal adornments buried with them werespinning whorls—the curiosities which remain to us of the earliest known form of textile craftsmanship.

In old pictures and woodblock engravings some curious illustrations are met with showing Englishwomen using the distaff. St. Distaff's Day was formerly the 7th of January, for it was then that the women resumed work after the Christmas festivities were over. The distaff and the spindle belonged to an age little understood now, and the occupations of the women of that date are almost forgotten. The spinning wheel was the outcome of the simpler distaff and spindle, and although the spinning wheels we find among the most interesting of household relics look primitive indeed compared with the complex machinery seen in the spinning mills to-day, those dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries must have been considered ingenious contrivances when compared with the older models, just as the latest types of sewing machines show a wonderful advance from the early machines invented in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Very clever indeed were many women in manipulating the spinning wheel, and there seems to have been some competitive contests for notoriety among country women, who found a pleasing though perhaps at times tedious occupation in spinning the wool for the local weaver who wove the home-made cloth. It is recorded that in 1745 a woman at East Dereham spun a single pound of wool into a thread of 84,000 yards. She was far outdistanced, however, a few years later, when a young lady at Norwich out of a pound of combed wool produced a thread computed to measure 168,000 yards.

FIG. 72.—OLD SPINNING WHEEL. (In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin.)FIG. 72.—OLD SPINNING WHEEL.(In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin.)

To secure a fine spinning wheel is the ambition of collectors, and many ladies point with pride to the old relic placed in a position of honour on an oak chest of drawers, or, perhaps, standing on a coffer in the hall. An exceptionally fine wheel is shown in Fig.72; it is one of many secured by Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin. Another illustration is taken from a sketch of a spinning wheel in the Hull Museum (see Fig.73). It appears that early in the nineteenth century Hull encouraged the training of domestic spinners, and at that time supported a spinning school.Aproposof that institution reference may appropriately be made to Hadley's "History of Hull," in which the historian, in reference to Sunday Schools, which had then quite recently been founded, says: "From the Sunday School reports for this year [1788] it seems they did not take. To whatever cause this may be attributed, it by no means warrants the aspersions thrown upon the town on that account, which has with equal ardour and wisdom espoused that useful establishment of Spinning Schools, in preference to a preposterous institution replete with folly, intolerance, fanaticism, and mischief." In explanation it has been remarked that, "Evidently wheels were plentiful in Hull and Sunday Schools a novelty." To-day we can reverse the statement, for schools are plentiful but spinning wheels are rare!

Collectors eagerly secure anything in the way of a genuine antique wheel, although the fastidious have the choice of two distinct types—those worked by hand and those operated by a treadle. Sometimes a spinning wheel made for the foot could be worked independently by the hand, just in the same way as modern sewing machines are made for hand or treadle, and sometimes a combination of both methods. The very general use of the spinning wheel is accounted for by the fact that this useful machine was met with in every cottage in the days when homespun yarns and wools were prepared by hand, and they were also found in the mansion and the palace, where they served to amuse the ladies of the household.

There are many varieties of spinning wheels, among them the old oak spinning wheels used in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the more decorative used until quite late in the eighteenth century, from their ornament and lightness, apparently used more for preparing the material for fancy work rather than for really utilitarian purposes. Some highly decorative spinning wheels inlaid with mother-o'-pearl and ivory have been brought over to this country from Holland and other continental countries, perhaps the most decorative being those made by French workmen in the Chinese style, the wood being lacquered blue and ornamented with gilt.

Mr. John Suddaby, who presented the spinning wheel we have illustrated to the Hull Wilberforce Museum, named after William Wilberforce, paid ahigh tribute to the famous philanthropist, who he declared to be associated with the spinning schools of the town. The old wheels of early date were gradually improved until they were rendered obsolete by the greater inventions of machines which could be worked by steam engines, thus originating the factory system of textile production.

Among the sundry curios associated with the spinning wheel are handsomely carved wood distaffs of boxwood, curiously turned spindles; and now and then a pewter vessel of circular form, puzzling in its identity, turns out to be the rim cup from the distaff of an old spinning wheel.

Old workboxes appear to be very numerous. The older ones were mostly of wood, but the external decoration seems to have been a matter of taste, some preferring inlays. In early days moulded plaster ornament, richly gilded and coloured, was much favoured, and in still earlier times deep relief carvings in the oak of which the boxes were made. In the Stuart and later periods ladies worked the exterior ornament in silks and satins and embroidery. Among the workboxes in the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a painted box in distemper and gilding, the subject chosen for the ornamentation of the lid being the story of David and Bathsheba, round the sides being floral devices. This decorative workbox has drawers and compartments, a sliding front facilitating their use.

In the same collection there are workboxes overlaid with straw work in geometrical patterns relieved by colour. Straw-work decoration was much favoured at the commencement of the nineteenth century, its origin being traceable to the French military prisoners in this country during the Napoleonic wars between the years 1797 and 1814, when many officers and men were detained at Porchester Castle, near Portsmouth, and at Norman Cross, near Peterborough. The grasses, of which the boxes were covered, were collected and dried by the prisoners, who obtained the different shades and tints which render this class of work so effective by steeping them in infusions of tea, according to a note by Dr. Strong, who visited the barracks at Norman Cross.

The workboxes, so rich in gilding and relief, came from Italy, when, as early as the year 1400, caskets were covered with a species of lime which was moulded, the gesso, as it was called, on a gilt ground of white compo, giving it a very rich effect. Leather was used with good effect, too, for the ornamentation of workboxes, red morocco being much favoured in England early in the nineteenth century. Fig.76illustrates three very beautiful little fitted boxes with inlaid ornament and straw work.

The contents of an old workbox are many and varied. Among the odds and ends it is no uncommon thing to find relics of lace-making, by which so many cottagers have been able to maintain themselves for generations.

FIG. 73.—SPINNING WHEEL. (In the Hull Museum.)FIG. 73.—SPINNING WHEEL.(In the Hull Museum.)

FIG. 74.—OLD LACE BOBBINS. (a, b, c, d, e, and f, reading from left to right.)FIG. 74.—OLD LACE BOBBINS.(a,b,c,d,e, andf, reading from left to right.)

There is something very remarkable about the manufacture of pillow lace, in that it is carried on in the villages of Buckinghamshire just as it was two or more centuries ago, and the pillow and the bobbins are almost identical in form and design—indeed, the patterns of the lace have changed little, for the workers cling tenaciously to the old designs, Flemish in their characteristics, just as they do to the old bobbins.

Some of these little spools or bobbins have been handed down from mother to daughter as heirlooms, and many of them carry a romantic story, if it were but known. Just as the Welsh lovespoons and the Sunderland glass rolling-pins were given as love tokens, many of these bobbins are the result of patient labour, their decoration having often been the work of days; ivory, bone, wood, and metal being cut and shaped, gilded and stained, in order to provide the favoured one with a bobbin unlike any other and quite distinctive in design. In the making of pillow lace, pins, cleverly placed so as to form the pattern, were inserted into the cushion, and the threads on a dozen or more bobbins deftly twisted in and out and tied round the pins. The glass beads, many of the older ones of odd shapes and colours, hand-made, made the first distinction, and their weight helped to keep the light turned wood bobbins in place. It was the bobbins which were ornamental, and some of the older ones—those made in the eighteenth century—are very decorative, and now much sought after by collectors. Those illustrated in Fig.74have been selected from a large collectionfor their representative types: (A) is the oldest; the ornament is of pewter let into the wood, it has a very small spool; (B) is ivory, the incised parts stained green; (C) is bone, the incised pattern filled in with gold beaten into a thin plate; (D) is also of bone with a band of brass and coloured inlays; (E) walnut wood, turned in the deep grooves are six loose silver rings, some of the heads are of brass gilt; (F) the most modern type, such as may be seen in use in Buckinghamshire to-day, the present revival of the hand-made lace industry being due to the efforts of the North Bucks Lace Association. Of such handwork Cowper wrote:—

"Yon cottager who weaves at her own door,Pillow and bobbins all her little store:Content, though mean, and cheerful, if not gay,Shuffering her threads about the livelong day."

The lace-maker, and the housewife who occupied her leisure moments in lace-making, left behind many collectable curios. The worker of samplers and those advanced in the higher arts of needlecraft had also their little work necessaries. Very clever indeed were the workers of silk-embroidered pictures, and the instruments they used were fine and delicate, different indeed from the coarser needles of the knitter and the meshes of the netter. In later years the workbox became more substantial, and less attention was given to the exterior, for the interior fittings of the workbox became beautiful, and a wealth of art was shown in the carving of the ivory accessories, and the pearl tops of the thread and silk reels and winders and the curious little wax holders. There were cleverly contrived measuring tapes, and beautiful little baskets of ivory and wood, some filled with emery, others serving the purpose of receptacles for pins and needles. From these evolved the needlebooks and the more modern companions.

FIG. 75.—OLD PIN POPPETS AND ANCIENT PINS.FIG. 75.—OLD PIN POPPETS AND ANCIENT PINS.

In Fig.77are shown several beautiful oddments taken out of an old workbox; they are all made of ivory, carved and fretted in such delicate tracery that it is a wonder that they have survived for a century or more without injury. Ivory work holders, in which ladies rolled their needlework when they went out to tea, were often beautifully carved; they, too, are charming additions to ivory workbox fittings.

The cutler has contributed to the curios of the workbox. The knives and scissors, bodkins, and stilettos from an old workbox look strangely out of date when compared with those bought in the shops to-day. The chief thing that is so noticeable to the critical observer is the cutting of the steel and the hand ornamentation of those days. Some of the embroidery scissors were engraved all over with fancy patterns, and there are some remarkably quaint button-hole scissors, on which the owner's name or initials were often engraved.

Some time ago an old lady made a small collection of thimbles. It was not a very expensive hobby, but the variety she secured was truly remarkable. There were thimbles of bone, ivory, steel, brass,enamel, silver, and even gold. Some were chased and engraved, some stamped and punched. There were thimbles of huge size and others with open ends, the same that sailors use.

It is said that the thimble dates back to 1684, when one Nicholas Benschoten, of Amsterdam, sent one as a present to a lady friend with the dedicatory inscription: "To My frouw van Rensclear this little object which I have invented and executed as a protective covering for her industrious fingers." It is said the name in this country was originally "thumb-bell," so called because of the shape being of bell-like form. Of the thimbles of the wealthy it is recorded there are thimbles of onyx, mother-o'-pearl, and of gold, encrusted with rubies and diamonds—the seamstress has, however, to be content with useful if less costly "baubles."

By way of contrast the outfit of the worker often includes wooden needles and occasionally utensils made of wood, but covered with evidences of love and tender regard for those who were destined to use them. The knitter seems to have been peculiarly fortunate, for knitting sticks and sheaths afforded the amateur carver ample opportunities of showing his skill; and, like the carved lovespoons, of which there is such a famous collection in the Cardiff Museum, the knitting sheaths and sticks seem to indicate that in a similar way the amorous swain gave vent to his feelings in the curious designs, mottoes, and names which he carved upon knitting sticks and kindredobjects used by the lady of his choice. In the Victoria and Albert Museum there are some beautiful boxwood needle sticks; one example is cleverly carved with emblems of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Another beautiful needle stick in the same collection is mounted with silver. On some of the woodwork used for similar purposes there are cleverly designed pictures, and these were not always associated with private use, for the clothworkers in many districts used quite fanciful tools, especially in the villages, where time was of small moment, and the long winter evenings could be occupied with cutting and carving the handles and framework of the tools which in everyday practice served such a useful and often wage-earning purpose. In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a remarkable cloth-measure made of walnut, bearing date 1745, three-sided, one being covered over with letters of the alphabet cut in deep relief, thus serving a useful purpose in the home or as an educational standard. On the second side there are cleverly designed pastoral and hunting scenes, and on the third the arms of the Swiss cantons. Other portions of the measure illustrate the implements and tools used by clothworkers at that period.

Switzerland has long been famous for its wood carving, and many of the curios found in this country have come from the Swiss mountain villages. No doubt some of our readers have come across the old pin poppets which boys and girls carried with them to the village school half a century or more ago. The girls filled them with pins and needles, bodkinand stiletto, and the boys with pencils and pens. In Fig.75two curious old pin boxes are illustrated. Thepinsshown on the same page are, however, of much older date; they are, in fact, merely thorns; these interesting and authentic relics of the "common objects of the home," or perhaps more correctly described, of dress, are to be seen in the National Collection of Wales at Cardiff, the measuring stick shown in the photograph giving their size. The pin poppet, as its name denotes, was, however, intended originally for the requirements of the early needleworker who at the dames' school won renown in those great achievements—the samplers of old. These, however, do not exhaust the wood-carving curios of the workbox, but they may serve to remind collectors of what they may hope to discover in their hunt for household curios.

The curiosities much prized to-day, the work of the needlewoman, or those who plied the needle chiefly for purposes of amusement or to give pleasure to those on whom they bestowed the products of their skill, are met with in many distinct forms. This is not a work on needlework, or we might tell of the various stitches which are indicative of certain periods. It is, however, admissible to mention some of the household curios, the product of such patient labour applied to the skilful manipulation of silks and threads and cottons and wools, of all colours and substances, embroidered or worked on canvas or other fabric.

FIG. 76.—THREE OLD WORKBOXES. (In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin.)FIG. 76.—THREE OLD WORKBOXES.(In the collection of Mr. Phillips, of Hitchin.)

The mistresses of the old English homes were very industrious. They worked crewel bed hangings and cross-stitch and tent-stitch upholstery in the seventeenth century, and in still earlier times richly ornamented linens and other fabrics with flowers and scriptural subjects. Writing in reference to Queen Mary, the wife of William III, Sir Charles Sedley said:—

"When she rode in coach abroadShe was always knotting thread."

And her example was followed by many in humbler circumstances. In later years women have wrought needlework and beadwork pictures, and have even threaded their needles with human hair when no silk could be found fine enough.

Of the permanent ornaments of the home—now valued curios—there are cases formerly used on a lady's toilet table, embroidered with floss silk and frequently dated. Some were made to hold devotional books, others were portable boxes, the covers of which were worked on white satin with coloured silks and beads, oftentimes scriptural scenes being depicted in silk; one very favourite scene in the seventeenth century was the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon.

Many beautifully embroidered trinket boxes record the patience with which they were worked, and were undoubtedly a labour of love. Among the smaller objects, gifts from friend to friend, were pincushions, some of which bear dates in the seventeenth century. These were worked in coloured silks on canvas, the ornament often taking the formof a fruit or flower basket, birds and insects. The favourite material and colour for the back of such pincushions was yellow satin. A rather pleasing variety consisted of bag and pincushion worked to match, the two being united by a cord of plaited silk. Of purses there were many varieties, chiefly made of coarse canvas worked in cross and tent stitches with coloured silks and silver threads, couched or laid over silver thread, and then stitched to the canvas concealing it. There are also miniature pincushions worked in silk like the old samplers and brocade pocket books, some of which were woven in France in the seventeenth century. There are also holdalls and needle cases in embroidery and cross stitch. The favourite colours worked by English ladies in the eighteenth century were pink, orange, and light green. On these were often worked mottoes and rhyme. One will serve as a sample:—

"When Judah's daughters captive ledBehold their mighty kings subdued."

Loyal mottoes were frequently worked, especially during the days when the Pretenders were carrying on their hopeless campaign. There is a subtle reminder of the desire to make known loyal feelings, intermixed with prudence in concealing them, in the quaint embroidered garter in the British Museum which is inscribed "GOD BLESS P.C."

To smokers were given embroidered tobacco pouches in green, pink, and silver; one charming old beadwork tobacco pouch in Taunton Castle is embroidered "LOVE ME FOR I AM THINE, 1631." Therewere necklaces and bracelets of needlework, and some of coloured glass beads, as well as the long watchguards worn round the neck, chiefly of the nineteenth century.

FIG. 77.—OLD WORKBOX FITTINGS. (In the Author's collection.)FIG. 77.—OLD WORKBOX FITTINGS.(In the Author's collection.)

Old samplers may well be regarded as educational, belonging to the schoolroom as well as to the workbox. They were intended to teach needlework, and served as reminders of alphabets, sums, and mapping. Many worked in silk on yellow linen in the eighteenth century were quite elaborate pieces of needlework. Those of the seventeenth century, chiefly of linen, were much cruder and simpler in design. During the latter half of the eighteenth century samplers were mostly worked on canvas or sampler cloth, a material which was used almost as long as samplers were in fashion. Different stitches were employed; there was the early drawn and cut work, and then the silk embroidery showing the girl's acquirement of the darning stitch.

Some early tapestry maps are numbered among the educational curios in which samplers are so prominent. The Yorkshire Philosophical Society own two unique specimens of sixteenth-century tapestry, formerly in the possession of Horace Walpole. They measure about 16 ft. by 12 ft., the sections including Herefordshire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and a part of Berkshire. These remarkable maps are vividly coloured and show excellent pictorial scenes indicating villages, parks, and country seats. Such maps are rare, butnow and then really interesting examples of needlework mapping are met with.

Collectors keep an eye on preservation, but they are keen on dated specimens, and those with ornate and quaintly picturesque borders. The condition adds to the beauty, but not always to the value, for many of the older and less well-preserved samplers are now becoming scarce. They have been retained by those who have no interest in antiques because they bore the name of some fair ancestress who lived and worked on her sampler more than a century ago, leaving it behind as a memorial of her skill in the use of a needle for future generations to admire. How many ladies of the twentieth century are preparing permanent records of their skill in needlework for those who are to come to hand on to generations unborn? is a question some may like to ponder.

From cover to cover—Old scrap books—Almanacs—The writing table.

The library is usually where the master of the house conducts his business correspondence and, if a student, spends much of his time among his favourite books, or, perchance, engages in literary work. In days gone by, when there were fewer opportunities of visiting public libraries, and when circulating libraries were few and far between, the man of letters accumulated around him standard works and ancient tomes, possibly seldom read. When such a library, perhaps scarcely examined for a century or more, comes to be dispersed, it often happens that curiosities are brought to light.

The furniture of the library is full of interest, for a quaint writing table, bureau, or desk full of oddments is an exceedingly prolific field of research. In the following paragraphs a few of these curiosities are referred to; there are others, however, that the collector will discover, possibly one of the scarcer curios of the library, some of which realize unexpectedly high prices when they are brought under the hammer.

The books which constitute the library are often curious, and there is much that receives its monetary value on account of its antiquity and rarity. An old library will frequently include black-letter printing and old volumes illustrated with wood blocks, and, perchance, illuminated initial letters. Some of the volumes may be printed on vellum, and there may be some in manuscript. The bindings of presentation books may be of rich calf and tooled in gold; some may even have edge paintings and choice hand-painted illuminations. The subject-matter of the volumes often gives rise to specialistic collections. Some will find amusement in tracing the progress of a great industry through published information, like those curious old time tables in the early days of railways, and the pamphlets which are classed by the collector as "Railroadia," and from them learn the story of the "iron horse." There are others who collect books and prints relating to ballooning, the microscope, and many of the earlier sciences. There are topographical curiosities and historical marvels. Some books will be valued because of their illustrations, for the work of a master hand may be recognized by the expert searcher after valuables. The rare mezzotints, stipples, and delicate line engravings, to say nothing of the more valuable colour prints, often realize far more than the books themselves. Ancient art is more valued thanthe literary efforts of past masters of wielding the pen!

It is thus that the books are often thrown away after the pictures or even superadded illustrations or mere name-plates have been removed. The collector of bookplates searches for his treasures. Some talk of the vandalism of the collector of ex-libris, but they must remember that it is quite easy to remove a bookplate without injuring the volume, and there are many worthless books. The name labels or bookplates found in English libraries range from the early dated plates of the close of the seventeenth century to the present day. The different styles of ornament in vogue in the respective periods of their engraving were with few exceptions adhered to by the printers of such plates. Thus the collector classifies his albums and rejoices in the variations and details of the engraver's fancy, while he separates them into such well-defined groups as early armorial, Jacobean, Chippendale, ribbon and wreath, urn, pictorial, armorial, and simple shield. To other than the enthusiastic collector, bookplates may possess merit in that they have belonged to famous men, and are souvenirs taken from the volumes which were once handled by distinguished statesmen, divines, and men of letters.

The making of scrap books or the filling of portfolios was not always an amusement for children, neither did older folk make those quaint scrap books with such assortments of literary and pictorialodds and ends solely for the amusement of their visitors. Many enthusiastic collectors stored their treasures in such books, the binding of which was often very costly and quite gorgeously ornamented. Some pointed with pride to collections of prints, others to albums of frontispieces, printers' marks, and tailpieces, some of which were beautiful little pictures.

In modern times collectors rescue from the flames old tickets, pictorial benefit tickets, theatre passes, and quaint pictures which tell us of great events which happened in days gone by at Ranelagh, Vauxhall, and other places.

Ranelagh, where the entertainments of which relics in the shape of beautifully engraved tickets are to be found, was at Chelsea, and the gardens visited by Walpole, Johnson, and Goldsmith were famous for their promenades and for the music and singing which might be enjoyed, among the evening pleasures being displays of fireworks and masked dances. In the summer tea and coffee were sipped under the trees, and there were water carnivals on the river. There were also masquerade balls and dances, for which tickets engraved by Bartolozzi and other famous artists were issued. It is these tickets which are preserved and collected now.

The autograph hunter extends his hobby by adding old parchments and deeds with seals, for among the odd bundles of parchments in old libraries are many documents attested with thumb-marks and seals—"His mark," of days when many of the landed proprietors could not write their own names.

FIG. 78.—ANCIENT CLOG ALMANAC.FIG. 78.—ANCIENT CLOG ALMANAC.

The joys of St. Valentine's Day, remembered by older people still, are unknown to the present generation, but collectors perpetuate February 14th as it was kept in the past by filling albums with such old valentines as they may be able to secure.

Another comparatively small collection can be made up of pictorial watch papers, those rare little pictorial views which once reposed in the interior of the cases of old watches. Watches are by no means common curios of the household, but now and then an old silver verge or a decorated watch case thought little of is found to contain one of those pretty pictures which were chiefly engraved and printed in the eighteenth century. Many of the designs were printed on satin; some were devices in needlework; again others were cut out in the most lace-like designs. Theatrical celebrities were often pictured; thus the theatrical amateur would buy his watch paper representing the celebrated Miss Gunning, or possibly Mr. Garrick. The pictures were really gems, too, for great artists such as Angelica Kaufmann, Cipriani, and Bartolozzi did not disdain to engrave watch papers.

Some of the best finds when libraries have been overhauled have been the curious old almanacs published when superstition was rife. The oldest, perhaps, were the clog almanacs, although some were common in Staffordshire until about 1820. Theaccompanying illustration (see Fig.78) was engraved in an old book referring to that county published more than a century ago. In Camden'sBritanniasome information is given in reference to these early clog almanacs, in which it is said holidays were distinguished by hieroglyphics; in some the Massacre of the Innocents was denoted by a drawn sword; SS. Simon and Jude's Day by a ship, because they were fishers; and St. George's Day by a horse. In the Norway clog almanacs St. Martin's Day is marked with a goose, the custom of eating a goose now being transferred to Michaelmas. In the illustration given in Fig.78the first section embraces January, February, and March; the second, April, May, and June; the third, July, August, and September; and the fourth, October, November, and December. Conspicuously inscribed on the clog will be noticed the ring for New Year's Day; the star denoting the Epiphany; the axe for St. Paul; February 14th is indicated by a lover's knot; a spear denotes St. George's Day in April; and May Day by a tree branch. The keys of St. Peter are noticed as indicating the 29th of June; the scales of St. Michael are seen at the end of September. St. Catherine's wheel figures in the middle of November, immediately under it being the somewhat large cross of St. Andrew. Other symbols will doubtless be recognized on this interesting relic.

The study of the almanac is not now one of the chief diversions of the fair sex. At one time, however, when ladies had fewer amusements than they have now, they spent much time poring overalmanacs, and placed implicit trust in what they found recorded there, especially in the forecasts and prognostications for the future of those born on certain days and under so-called lucky or unlucky stars. One of the most popular calendars of olden time was "The Ladies' Diary or the Woman's Almanac," containing many delightful and entertaining particulars for the fair sex. Let us take, for example, a copy of that popular almanac for the year of grace 1749. On the cover there is a picture of the Queen. Alluding to the peace then prevailing are the lines:—

"Perch'd o'er this Realm, the ancient seat of Kings,Now dove-like peace the sprig of laurel brings;And British fair ones happy days shall see,While George shall reign, and Britons still are free."

Another George is on the throne, and his consort Queen Mary is an ideal woman, and what to many is of the highest importance, Peace reigns in this country and Britons are still free!

Among the contents of that curious almanac are Latin and French enigmas, mathematical questions and paradoxes. The concluding paragraph for the dedication of that day is entitled "Truth's Moral Euclid"; the proposition given being:—

"Virtue promotes happiness, private and public.Vice is destructive of happiness, private and public.Honour is the reward of virtue."

One of the finest collections of old almanacs is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford—chiefly seventeenth-century productions. A still older almanac was the"Poor Robin" of 1664; another seventeenth-century almanac being the "Vox Stellarum" of Francis Moore, a quack doctor. In 1733 Benjamin Franklin published in Philadelphia his "Poor Richard's Almanac," noted for its verses, jests, and sayings. The monopoly once possessed by the Stationers' Company has long been broken down, and of later almanacs and calendars there is no end. Among the miniature books, the collection of which is much favoured now, are some very tiny almanacs, like the beautiful specimens of such a calendar given in Fig.80, produced actual size, shown open and closed. This miniature almanac is printed on satin and is full of pleasing little pictures. It is the work of a French artist early in the nineteenth century, the pictures and their descriptions and the monthly calendars occupying alternate pages. The binding is of mother-o'-pearl, bound in ormolu and richly gilt and engraved. Some similar calendars in tiny leather bindings, beautifully tooled and ornamented in gold, are also collectable.

The writing table usually occupies an honoured place in the library. It may be a massive table of oak or a simple writing desk venerated on account of the great literary works which have been written upon it. It is no uncommon thing to read of large sums paid for a writing desk on which the manuscript of a famous book has been penned, and some of the writing tables upon which deeds of historical fame have been signed have gained a reputation and amoney value out of all proportion to their curio or antiquarian merits. Not long ago the late King Edward presented to the Commonwealth of Australia the table on which the great Charter was signed, together with the inkstand and pen used on that occasion. Those will be relics for future generations to value.

The table appointments are among the collectable curios of the library, and prominent among these is the inkstand. Inkstands find their prototypes in the inkhorns of the scribe; and throughout the generations which have provided curios for twentieth-century collectors there have been fresh supplies in silver, pewter, Sheffield plate, copper, bronze, iron, wood, china, and brass. Very beautiful indeed are some of the old inkstands in their separate vase-like attachments. The ink-well was formerly accompanied by a sand box or a pounce caster, in modern days superseded by a second ink-well. The sand casters for sprinkling pounce or sand upon newly written pages were a necessity before the days of blotting paper. Perhaps some day blotters, blotting pads, and the like, may become collectable curios!

Collectors of old china are familiar with the rare boxes, egg-cup-like in form, made by Richard Chaffers, of Liverpool, the blue and white decoration, the name of the potter in the narrowed portion of the box being characteristic of what was for a long time known as "Dick's Pepperbox." It was, however, intended for a pounce box, the pounce or pumice being a fine powder of the cuttle-fish bone, afterwards giving the name to the pounce paper ortransparent tracing material. Of the inkstands to be seen in our museums there are many dating from almost prehistoric times; their variety may be instanced by mention of one in the Berlin Museum, an Egyptian curio said to be 3,400 years old, below the ink compartments being a case for holding reed pens.

In early days before even well-to-do people could read and write the scribe found a ready occupation. The materials he used were carried about in a writing case of metal, and among such curios are writing cases which were used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They were often the work of the craftsmen of Mesopotamia, who were clever artists in metal, and the work they performed came to Europe through Syria. The example shown in Fig.81is the work of Mahmud, the son of Sonkor, of Baghdad, and is dated 1281. This beautiful specimen may be seen in the British Museum.

The implements the scribe used changed as time went on, for parchment was used quite early in the East. Writing was introduced into Spain by the Moors in the tenth century, although writing paper was not made in England until the fifteenth century.

FIG. 79.—OLD COIN TESTER.FIG. 79.—OLD COIN TESTER.

FIG. 80.—MINIATURE SOUVENIR ALMANAC.FIG. 80.—MINIATURE SOUVENIR ALMANAC.

FIG. 81.—ANCIENT WRITING SET.FIG. 81.—ANCIENT WRITING SET.

The evolution of the pen has been slow, for the use of quills continues still in some Government offices, and quills are still supplied to readers in the British Museum Reading Room. The old-fashioned quill pens were in days gone by shaped with a small knife made specially for that purpose. Indeed, it is to the quill pen that we are indebted for our "pen" knives, which have long been put to other uses. Itwas not every one who was expert in cutting a pen neatly and making it write well. Consequently an instrument was made for that purpose, known as the quill-pen cutter. These cutters are now and then met with in old desks, where they have lain unused for many years.

Quill-pen making was an important industry until the invention of the steel pen, and the quality of the quill was a matter of importance to the scribe. In a trader's circular dated 1820 there is notice of the Royal Appointment of a Liverpool maker, who was authorized to exercise and enjoy all the rights, profits, privileges, and advantages of his appointment of Pen Cutter and Quill Dresser to His Majesty King George IV. In the same circular it is stated that the quill pens supplied were of varying qualities, secured from the swan, raven, goose, turkey, crow, and duck.

Sealing correspondence was a necessity before gummed envelopes were invented. Then sealing-wax was in daily use on the writing table, and the signet ring or seal was requisitioned. The outfit of a library table would scarcely be complete without wax, wafer irons, and seals. One of the curios found now and then in old desks is a little cutting instrument useful in removing seals or opening letters which had been sealed. In the days before penny postage letters were sent carriage forward, and the postage which had to be paid on the receipt of letters from a distance was a heavy tax on those who had many friends and much correspondence.

The penalty of being the recipient of muchcorrespondence may, perhaps, have been lightened by the wording of the seal; for many old letter seals conveyed sentimental messages which to the receiver from that particular sender might have meant much. The following is a selection of the characteristic sentiments of the day: "Break the seal, read the letter, and keep the secret"; "You have a loyal friend"; and "Life is naught without a friend." We cannot tell what was the result of sending a letter bearing such a seal legend as:—

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