generally given to bowls and goblets constructed of wood, and Ducange cites several authorities to the same effect,* but observes himself that with respect to the material there is no settled opinion, and that an ancient gloss has the true notion, which asserts that mazer cups were the same as what the Latins called murrhina, which word by various corruptions became at length converted into mardrinum, masdrinum, mazerinum, &c.

This subject, however, has been relieved from much of its obscurity by some admirable notes contributed by Albert Way, Esq. F.S.A., to the author of a paper on Archbishop Scrope's indulgence cup, read at the meeting of the Archæological Institute at York, in 1847.

"The mazer, the favourite drinking vessel used by every class of society in former times, was called murrus from a supposed resemblance to the famed myrrhine vases of antiquity. The mazer was however formed of wood, especially the knotty-grained maple, and esteemed in proportion to the quality of the veined and mottled material, but especially the value of the bands and rings of precious metals, enamelled, chased, or graven, with which the wood was mounted.”

"No slight diversity of opinion has existed amongst antiquaries in regard to the precise nature of the mazer, and the material of which such bowls or cups were formed. The terms cyphus murrinus and murreus,† cyphus de murra or murro, frequently used in the descriptions of such vessels in ancient inventories, have led some to consider the medieval mazer as analogous in some respect to the celebrated myrrhine cup of the classical ages. Bishop Kennett in his MS. glossarial collections, remarks that a mazer was a drinking cup or bowl, so called from the matter of it, which Mr. Somner thinks was maple, but most other authors think it was of some precious stone or earth, perhaps the same we now call porcellane.' This opinion may have been confirmed by

*Somner says the mazer was made of maple; Dolmer that cups made of maple were in request among the Norwegians; Bruno asserts that the mazer was a wooden scyphus; and by Desiderius Casinensis it is called a wooden cup. Vide Du Cange.

+ Sir Richard de Scrope, lord of Bolton, bequeathed to his son the Archbishop "meliorem ciphum de murreo, scilicet maser."

the fact that some such vessels appear to have been accounted of so high a value as to render the supposition that they were formed of a material of small intrinsic value, such as wood, highly improbable. This high estimation seems, however, to have been due to the bands and ornaments of precious metals (crustæ and circuli), enriched with gems and enamels, employed in the decoration of the mazer; as also to the quality or rarity of the wood, the beauty of the curious streaks and knotty grain wherewith it was marked, or as termed in the old French madré, and the medicinal properties attributed to it. It is possible, that some of the cyphi de murro of medieval times may have been formed of other material or even of fictile ware. The precise nature of the myrrhine cup of the ancients has never been satisfactorily ascertained, and it seems reasonable to conclude that, in the middle ages, vessels of wood highly esteemed at that period were, from some supposed resemblance or analogy to those of a remoter period, designated as murrini.”*

Several mazer bowls similar to those in the possession of the Ironmongers' Company are known to exist:† they seem to be of various dimensions. Archbishop Scrope's indulgence cup, preserved in the treasury of York Minster, and before alluded to, is, I believe, the largest specimen which has yet been discovered, but considerable magnitude is sometimes ascribed to them.‡

A mighty mazer bowle of wine was sett
As if it had to him been sacrifide.

All that Hybla's hives do yield

SPENSER'S F. Q.

Were into one broad mazer filled.-B. JONSON, v. 217.

* Notes by Albert Way, Esq. F.S.A., appended to an account of Archbishop Scrope's mazer bowl by Robert Davies, Esq. F.S.A.

+ There is one in the possession of Mr. Shirley which belonged to Alderman Fletcher, the Oxford Collector; another is preserved in the institution called Bird's Hospital or Edward the Sixth's hospital at Saffron Walden, precisely similar to the specimen belonging to the Ironmongers' Company.-Letters from A. Way, Esq. F.S.A. See also an account of a scyphus formerly belonging to the monastery of Rochester, in the 23rd vol. of the Archæologia, p. 393.

Vide Nares's Glossary.

1662. The following entry occurs in Pepys' Diary under the date of the 28th Nov. 1662:

"By ten o'clock at Ironmongers' Hall to the funeral of Sir Richard Stayner; here were all the officers of the navy and my Lord Sandwich, who did discourse with us about the fishery, telling us of his Majesty's resolution to give 200l. to every man that will set out a busse,* and advising about the effects of this encouragement, which will be a very great matter certainly. Here we had good rings."

1666. It is evident from the Minutes of the Court Books of this year that the Ironmongers' Hall, though not destroyed in the Great Fire of London, was nevertheless exposed to considerable danger; the Clerk, who resided on the premises, having found it necessary to employ persons to keep watch in the vicinity for several nights afterwards, and to send away the writings and other valuables to a place of safety.‡

This fact is rendered still clearer by an engraved plan of the city of London taken shortly after the fire, formerly in the possession of Lord Coleraine and now preserved in the library of the Society of Antiquaries. A portion of this plan on an enlarged scale, representing the extent and direction of the fire from the neighbourhood of Mark Lane towards Gracechurch Street is here given, and distinctly shows that all the buildings adjoining and on the west of Ironmongers' Hall were destroyed. The positions of the public buildings are designated by numbers inclosed in shields or squares, which refer to a list at the foot of the

"A small sea-vessel used by the Hollanders for the herring fishery."— Pepys' Diary, vol. i. p. 182. ed. 1825.

↑ Vide Historical Evidences.

There is a valuable manuscript in the Library of the City of London, containing the original survey of the ground staked out after the Fire of London, by Messrs. Mills and Oliver, with a complete index of the whole, in

five volumes folio.

་

Gracechurch Street.

22

Philpot Lane.

map, those which were burnt down being distinguished by

an asterisk.t

Rood Lane.

51

129

In 1677, the Common Council framed an act for preventing and suppressing fires within the city of London, some of the provisions of which were as follows:

Each of the four quarters of the city were to provide and have in readiness 800 leathern buckets, 50 ladders from 12

† No. 10 Ironmongers' Hall.

12 Clothworkers' Hall.*

16 Pewterers' Hall.

22 Bennetts Gracechurch.*

No. 29 Dionis Backchurch.*

51 Margaret Pattons. 120 Leaden Hall.

129 East India House.

The East India Company were first permanently located in 1648, in a house belonging to Lord Craven, on the site which they now occupy (and adjoining to the dwelling of Sir Christ' Cletheron). This house was rebuilt in 1726, and again re-edified, or materially altered, in 1796.

Marke Lane.

to 42 feet in length, as many hand-squirts of brass as would furnish two to each parish, 24 pickaxe sledges, and 40 shod shovels; each of the twelve principal companies were to provide 30 buckets, one engine, six pickaxe sledges, three ladders, and two hand-squirts, and the minor companies in proportion, according to their abilities; those least able were to keep portable engines "to carry up stairs into rooms or on the tops of houses."

The aldermen and every other principal citizen being of the degree of a subsidy man were also to keep in their houses buckets and hand-squirts.

Notice was immediately to be given to the Lord Mayor on the breaking out of a fire, and the several officers of the city were to attend and receive his directions, amongst whom there was always to be one skilful engineer to superintend the blowing up of houses whenever it was necessary to do so in order to stop the progress of the conflagration.

All persons were to remain at home unless called upon to assist, and every householder upon a cry of fire was to place a sufficient man at his door well armed, with a vessel containing water, and in the night time to hang out a light.

Several specimens of the hand-squirts mentioned in the foregoing act are still extant; there are four in the vestry room of St. Dionis Backchurch, in Fenchurch Street, and another in the Church of St. Catherine Cree, Leadenhall Street. The hand-squirt which is represented in the engraving on the opposite page consists of a brass barrel or tube about 9 inches in circumference and 27 inches in length, including the nozzle, with two strong side handles in the middle of the tube; the length altogether, with the handle, being 334 inches. The barrel will contain about an ordinary bucket-full of water, which is propelled by a wooden piston or rod, precisely in the manner of a common