Pl'lNN'ri'M! \M) I'll I'. I!I',\I\'AL Ol'' ITS USK. 



{\\)h 



((> (he llU'Ilili^- pol (() lie rciiioldcd. All llic iiiiciciil pcwlci' lllciisils 

 jMul vessels wliicli li;i\»' coiuc down (o us, ;ir(\ (lu'i'critrc, (hose only 

 wliicli could ii(>( r(';idil\ rccci \(' diiUKi^'c. 



As \'i()lli'( Ic-I )uc |)(>iii(s (tut, pewter iu ine<liie\al thiys wsis tiie 

 innterial iu unixcrsai use for the Inhles :nid sideltoards ol' tlie middle 

 Mild ii|ipei' classes, silver plad' a ppea ri ii;/ onl\' in tln' royal palaces 

 and in the dwelliuiis of tlie lii^he^t uoMes, and then pi'ohaUly iu \'ery 

 limited (|iiantities at the upper tahle on the dais. The peasant, and 

 the ai'tisan. il will l>e leiueiiiheretl, used dishes and platters of wood, 

 or, as it was <'alled, *' Ireeii," from w hence we are told conies our word 

 " d'enclier." 



rill'. ri'.wri:i;r.ifs' ckai'i' in r,N<a,.\Ni). 



'I'he inaiiii lacl lire (d" pewier, t lieicd'ore, diirinii' loiii;- centuries was 

 a most im|)ortaiit industry, the <|iianlity prodiice(l wa^ enormous, 

 and from the eiehlh century, when the mines of Spain, the only 

 others which appear to have lu'eii of importance, had ceased to he 

 a\ailal)le in coiise<|uence of the Moorish con(|uest, <lowii to the dis- 

 (■()ver\' and workin<i,- of the tin mines at I'erak, our own country 

 possessed a praeti<'al inon(»p<»ly oi' the metal, for the tin deii\c(l from 

 Bohemian mines discovered in the thirteenth century was compara- 

 tively small in <iuantity. I would siie-iivst, thei-id'ore, that the major 

 portion (»f the pewter made in I^'iirope fi'om the days of Roman ei\ili- 

 /.atioii down to the latter part of the last century, was made from 

 Knelish tin; that is to say, down to the time when the iicneral use 

 of pewter was siip|)lanted by the iut rodiiet ion of earthenware and 

 e-I;iss; just as in the same way pewter itself had previously sup 

 [)lante(l the ^-eiieral use of wooden wai'e. Assiimiiiii-, then, the patri 

 (.tie postulate thai (Jreat Britain so lon-i" held a pi-aelical monopoly 

 in the siipjtly of tin to the world's mai-kets to he correct, I purpose^ 

 r(d"erriii<i- in detail to the tin and pewter iiidusti-ies mainly, in this 

 count rv only, and the more particularly as they scorn (o he sullieieiitly 

 (vpical of the like industries elsewhere. 



Mr. W'i'UU tells us that hy far the hirn:cr portion of the tin pro 

 diieed in Kiiehmd was ahsorhtMl hetweeii the IVwterers' ("oinpany of 

 London and iiieiiihers of the same craft throu<^-h()ut the country. 

 !iai)sl savs that Bruges was the principal inai-1 for British tin on the 

 continent, and that it was su])plied thence to the whole of the north 

 and west (d' lMiro|)e. 'I'he tin mines ai'c still calle(| "stannaries" 

 I fi'om stannum, the Latin word for tin), and weiv at a very early 

 period «!:rante(l privileges and placed undei- regulations by the Crown. 

 Accordine- (o Camden, Kine- John, who was l'>ai! of Cornwall before 

 his accession to the ihroiie, <!;ave the earldom, with its i)rivile^^'s, to 

 his second son, Kichai-d, who derived from the stannaries in royalty 

 and tines an ;iiiniial income of 'JOO marks, (Mpial to about .£20,000 of 



