tortoise-shell ware are also found, but
are not plentiful.

A similar vessel, frequently handleless, was what was spelt, in various
colonial documents, posned, possnet, posnett, porsnet, pocneit, posnert,
possenette, postnett, and parsnett. It is derived from the Welsh
_posned_, a porringer or little dish. In 1641 Edward Skinner left a
"Postnett" by will; this was apparently of pewter. In 1653 Governor
Haynes, of Hartford, left an "Iron Posnet" by will. In the inventory of
the estate of Robert Daniel, of Cambridge, in 1655, we learn that "a
Little Porsenett" of his was worth five shillings. In 1693 Governor
Caleb Carr, of Providence, bequeathed to his wife a "silver possnet &
the cover belonging to it." By these records we see that posnets were of
various metals, and sometimes had covers. I have found no advertisements
of them in early American newspapers, even with all their varied array
of utensils and vessels. I fancy the name fell quickly into disuse in
this country. In Steele's time, in the _Tatler_, he speaks of "a silver
Posnet to butter eggs." I have heard the tiny little shallow pewter
porringers, about two or three inches in diameter, with pierced handles,
which are still found in New England, called posnets. They were in
olden times used to heat medicine and to serve pap to infants. I have
also been told that these little porringers were not posnets, but simply
the samples of work made by apprentices in the pewterer's trade to show
their skill and proficiency.

Tin vessels were exceedingly rare in the seventeenth century, either for
table furnishings or for cooking utensils, and far from common in the
succeeding one. John Wynter, of Richmond's Island, Maine, had a
"tinninge basson & a tinninge platter" in 1638. In 1662 Isaac Willey, of
New London, had "Tynen Pans & 1 Tynen Quart Pott;" and Zerubbabel
Endicott, of Salem, had a "great tyn candlestick." By 1729, when
Governor Burnet's effects were sold, we read of kitchen utensils of tin.

I do not think iron was in high favor among the colonists as a material
for household utensils. It was not an iron age. They had iron pans,
candlesticks, dishes, fire-dogs, and pots: the latter vessels were
traded for vast and valuable tracts of land with the simple red men; but
iron was not vastly in use. At an early date iron-foundries were
established throughout New England, with, however, varying success.

Latten ware, which was largely composed of brass, appeared in va