30 musketts, 30 moulds, 30 bandaliers, and 30 rests. * And-irons, or fire-dogs.—Many specimens of these ornamental castings are given in a paper by Mr. M. A. Lower, entitled, "Historical and Archæological Notices of the Iron-works in the County of Sussex," and printed in the 2nd volume of the Sussex Archæological Collections, Lond. 1849. "The series of the Sussex andirons ranges from the end of the fifteenth century to that of the seventeenth or later." The devices are various, and sometimes elegant; some terminate with a human head and human bust: most of the andirons are decorated with one or more shields, which, previous to the Reformation, are charged with the sacred monogram, and after that period with the armorial bearings of the families for whom they were cast, and other devices. Fosbroke mentions a pair of andirons at Machen Place, in the county of Monmouth, that weighed 300 lbs., " which were sometimes employed in roasting an ox whole, with a large table on which it was served."-Vide Encyc. of Antiq. vol. ii. p. 728. 6 great skutchins and fifty small. 2 carpetts of Mr. Eastes and Mr. Brown's guift. 2 greene silke curtaines for the window. 1 wainscott seate for the wardens. 21 joynte stools, 2 shorte formes of deale. 1 bench cloth fringed on both sides. 7 pictures of benefactors. 2 pictures, one of the king and another of the queene. 4 wainscott formes, 4 new hatches. 1 livery cupboard of wainscott. In the Parlor over the Court Roome. 1 long table with a frame and tressell. 1 long settle made faste to the wainscott. 2 old forms covered with new cloth. 12 low stools of blew cloth with buckrome covers. 6 chaires of red Muscovia lether with buckrome covers. 1 new suite of course tapestry hangings, of the guift of Mr. Robert Cambell, ald", deceased, cont. 5 p3. In the little house neere ye Parlor. 1 standard wth 1 yard and 1 ell therein. 1 iron beame wt scales, and 1 pr of scales more. 2 piles of brasse weights compleate. 2 2-q" and 2 seaven-pound waights of leade, and 1 qr of hundred in brass. Wooden mallett, 1 p of iron andirons, and 1 p" of tongs. In the Buttery. 1 bread beame wt 2 pticons and cover. 1 old wainscott table wth a board at the bottome. 4 shelvs by the side of the buttery. In the Counting-house. 1 great chest wt 4 locks and keyes. Boxes containing writings, &c. A box with the supscripcon of Woodstreete, 9*. 16 ps.* i. e. containing sixteen pieces. A box wth theis Writings: A charter from King Henry the 4th. A charter from King Phillipp and Queene Marye. A charter from Queene Elizabeth. A box with 2 charters from King Henry 8th of 12 houses of Sir Willm Denham. A box concerning St. Giles 9'. 4 p. A box wtin where leases in force are. A box wherein is written Allhallows Steyning, Love Lane, Old Jurye, and Silver Streete. 53 evidences concerning the Hall. 13 acquittances and pap for rent. A box with 4 bonds. A box with the pattent of the Compa3 armes. A box written upon Sainte Olave, Bread Street, 9t. 55 p*. A box wt this supscripčon: St. Leonarde, Eastcheape; and it is the will of Mr. Pend, butcher, wt a copy thereof, 9'. 17 ps concerning the Xpofer in Eastcheape. An exemplificaĉon upon a pleading tempore Phil. & Mary. A little money-box for the poore. A booke of parchment wherein the Compas ord's are written. Then follows an enumeration of the Company's plate, with the names of the donors, and in most instances the weight attached, amounting altogether to upwards of seventeen hundred ounces, and consisting of the following articles: 4 basins and ewers parcel-gilt, 1 white basin, 2 livery pots, 2 stopes, 12 gilt cups and covers, 6 gilt salts and covers, 1 white salt, 1 gilt tankard, 5 nests white beer bowls, 6 nests white wine bowls, 2 flat bowls, 1 alepot which came from the lottery, 1 small white trencher salt and cover, 41 gilt spoons, 11 white spoons with lions' heads, 16 spoons parcel-gilt with heads, 8 spoons parcel, gilt with arms, 2 flat gilt bowls, 1 small gilt cup and cover, 1 caudel pot, 1 spout pot, and 1 white beer bowl. The calls made upon the Ironmongers' Company by the government of the country for contributions and loans of money compelled them on several occasions, as we have before noticed, to dispose of almost every article of plate in their possession. The only ancient specimens which have been preserved are represented in the subjoined engraving. One of these is a mounted cocoa-nut fitted as a hanap.* The other has also a wooden bowl, but of broader dimensions, being about six inches in diameter: and is mounted with a silver-gilt rim bearing this inscription: (Tripulkua:sdíszyfraun-o buionctuer lus ithnkenbesbene auchus fruitus which in extenso would read thus : Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus ; et benedictus fructus ventris tui.-In annūciatice et visitatiōe Marie Virg.† Missale ad usum insignis ecclesie Sarum. 1527. fol. xvii. xxxii. The Company possess a pair of these flat saucer-shaped bowls or mazers, but one only is inscribed; in other respects they are similar, and in the centre of each is a small enamelled coat of the Ironmongers' arms inserted into an engraved boss. It has been customary for many years past to display these bowls on the sideboard of the Ironmongers' Company by placing them on a pair of reversed hour-glass salt-cellars of the early part of the 16th century—as represented in the engraving; but the mazer-bowls themselves are without foot or stand of any kind, and exhibit in the opinion of our best antiquaries the most authentic form of that ancient vessel. Bowls of this shape are common in the East, where they are still used as drinking cups.‡ The term mazer, supposed to be derived from the Flemish. maeser, § maple or a knot of the maple wood, has been * Cups of this shape are generally termed Hanaps, but the term seems applicable to almost every kind of vessel. Hanapus, hanappus, hanaphus : vas, patera, crater, ex Saxonico hnæp, hnappa; calix, patera. Glossar. Ælfrici, cap. de Vasis, &c-Hanappi argentei superaurati; Du Cange. See also Lye's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Mounted cocoa nuts like this belonging to the Ironmongers' Company are frequently called "standing nuts." + Vide St. Luke, i. 28, 42. Communication from Albert Way, Esq. F.S.A. § Mazer poculum ligneum, a Belg. maeser, maser tuber ligni aceris ex qua materia præcipue hæc pocula confici solebant.-Skinner. |