cellars of State are kept. The large standing salt
was the dividing line upon the table. Salt cellars dating from the
fourteenth century are in existence, and many curiously shaped designs
intervened before the bell-shaped salts which were fashionable in the
days of Elizabeth and the trencher salts of Queen Anne and the early
Georges. Salt cellars with feet came into fashion in the reign of George
II; then followed many minor changes until the beautifully perforated
salt cellars with blue liners bearing hall-marks dating from the close
of the eighteenth century came into vogue. It is from among the Georgian
table appointments that collectors gather most of their specimens. The
materials of which these salt cellars were made vary; there are sterling
silver, antique pewter, and Sheffield plate; and there are salt cellars
of china and porcelain which may well be included in a collection of
table curios.

Cruet Stands.

The separate bottles or cruets, casters, mustard pots, and very rarely
salts, were gradually gathered together and placed in a frame which grew
big in late Georgian and early Victorian days. For convenience the stand
was placed in the centre of the table, and often made to revolve. Such
cruets are met with in silver and other metals, also in papier-mache,
often ornamented with mother-o'-pearl and painted flowers. The greatest
interest, however, is found in collecting separate bottles, such as
those charming Bristol glass cruets, ornamented with flowers and
lettered with the names of their contents, such as "VINEGAR," "SALAD
OIL," "MUSTARD," "PEPPER."

There is a greater variety of form in the metal cruets and casters,
which followed the prevailing styles silversmiths were then employing.
Especially graceful are the old pepperettes and vase-shaped casters. The
woodturner, too, contributed to the table appointments of the eighteenth
century, and the carver made some curious and even grotesque figures,
the heads of which took off, and thus formed pepper casters. One of the
most noted grotesque sets reminds us of the Toby fill-pot jugs in form,
a complete set consisting of two salts, two mustards, and two pepper
pots. Genuine specimens are very difficult to meet with now, although
those Staffordshire cruets have been reproduced, and are offered either
singly or in sets; but the difference between the genuine antique and
the modern replica ought not to deceive even an amateur.

There are varieties of mustar