694 PEWTER AND THE REVIVAL OF ITS USE. 



spoils taken from the Midianites, and it has been conjectured that it 

 was mined in some district of Central Asia, because it is also claimed 

 to have been known (rhongh Avhere obtained is not clear) at an 

 equalW early date in China, and I believe, also, in Hindustan. 



At a later date, but still before the Phoenicians liad sailed beyond 

 the pillars of Hercules, tin was unquestionably shipped from Tartes- 

 sus in the south of Spain, a locality generally identified as the Tar- 

 shish of the boolc of Ezekiel. Still later, as we all know, the same 

 enterprising navigators traded for tin to Cornwall and Devon, the 

 Cornish peninsula, indeed, being identified by the Greeks solely with 

 that metal, and named by them '" Cassiterides," the land of tin, a title 

 which, in view of the continuance and richness in the supply of this 

 metal, it might justifiabh^ have retained to days within living mem- 

 ory. Bronze being therefore the earliest known alloy, it may, per- 

 haps, be permissible to suppose that the invention of pewter was due 

 to an accidental reversal of the bronze-making process- — that is to 

 say, a small quantity of copper being mixed with a large proportion 

 of tin. Be this as it may, such an alloy was subsequently discovered 

 and found to possess much greater toughness and malleability than 

 the pure white metal, and proved not to be affected by the acid of 

 Avine or vinegar (as is bronze). It was, too, both in appearance 

 and durability, to a certain extent a passable substitute for the rarer 

 metal, silver. It has even been suggested as probable that the " tin " 

 mentioned by Homer in his description of the shield of Achilles, the 

 " tin " statue of I)a?dalus referred to by Aristotle, and other similar 

 artistic works described by ancient writers, was in reality a kind of 

 peAvter, since pure tin is very brittle, especially at certain tempera- 

 tures, and not at all adaptable for working easily with the hammer. 



Plautus mentions peAvter dishes as being used at a banquet, and 

 Galen recommends the keeping of antidotes and other drugs in A^es- 

 sels of glass, silver, or pewter. It would exceed the bounds of this 

 paper, howeA^er, to attempt to follow the not too easily traceable his- 

 tory of pcAvter through the classic to the middle ages; although I 

 wish to call passing attention to some illustrations of peAvter A^essels 

 from the extremely interesting collection of Romano-British pewter 

 noAv in the Bi'itish Museum. It AA-ill suffice to mention that the craft 

 existed in the early days of Greece and Rome, was never absolutely 

 lost, even in the dark ages, and was practiced, more or less, in Saxon 

 and Norman times in England as well as on the Continent. In medi- 

 aeval days the principal patrons Avere, of course, the church, espe- 

 cially the monasteries. But I believe no specimens of this period are 

 now extant. And this recalls the unfortunate fact that the facility 

 with Avhich peAA-ter can be remeltod and cast has been ahvays fatal to 

 the survival of ancient examples, for Avhenever peAvter objects be- 

 came badly AA'orn or bruised it was ahvays customary to send them 



