ted into this country very
extensively, and some remarkably delicate bowls, contrasting with
Mason's strong ironstone, are obtainable. These bowls, ladles, and the
charming little egg-shaped boxes which formerly contained a nutmeg and a
tiny grater are household table furnishings of exceptional interest. It
may interest some to learn that punch, which came into vogue in the
seventeenth century, derived its name from a Hindustani word signifying
five, indicative of the five ingredients of which it was
composed--spirit, water, sugar, lemon, and spice.

Porringers and Cups.

Although sterling silver and other materials from which drinking vessels
are usually made have been exhaustively dealt with in other volumes of
the "Chats" series, as table appointments drinking cups must be referred
to here. Caudle cups were in use in the sixteenth century, and
throughout the century that followed they were used along with
porringers, which differed from them only in that the mouths of the
porringers were wider and the sides straight. The caudle cup, sometimes
called a posset cup, is met with both without and with cover, and in
some instances it is accompanied by a stand or tray. Caudle or posset
was a drink consisting of milk curdled with wine, and in the days when
it was drunk few went to bed without a cup of smoking hot posset. Many
of the early cups were beautifully embossed and florally ornamented,
although others were quite plain, with the exception of an engraved
shield, on which was a coat of arms, crest, or monogram. Many of the
porringers which followed the earlier type were octagonal, and in some
instances twelve-sided. In the reign of William and Mary the rage for
Chinese figures and ornaments caused English silversmiths to decorate
porringers with similar designs. The style which prevailed the longest
was that known as "Queen Anne," much copied in modern replicas. Very
pleasing, too, are eighteenth-century miniature porringers.

There is much to please in the work of the silversmith and potter, as
well as the glass blower, in the cups they fashioned; and the artist
admires the chased engraving or the rich colouring, and perchance the
etching and cutting of the cup. Some, however, show preference for the
earlier cups and drinking vessels of commoner materials, and for those
eccentricities of the table found in curious hunting cups, vessels which
had to be emptied at a draught, or to be drunk under the most difficult
c