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was applied to it. The stone pots with a bearded mask on the 
neck, known as greybeards, are mostly of Flemish make. A 
vessel of this kind was dug up thirty years ago on the site of 
the old gardens of Westminster Abbey; it was in height 8} 
inches and in circumference 16} inches. The shape was 
_ elegant, but the earthenware coarse, and of a mottled ruddy 
brown cast, and the design rudely executed; under the neck 
of the Jar was a grotesque mask, and a medallion enclosing 
the arms of Amsterdam, the handle was plain and broad. 
Another Jar was found at Lincoln in the reign of James I., 
which is also a greybeard. These vessels were called “ Bellar- 
mines.” The Jar before you is doubtless one of the class of 
greybeards, and is a very fine specimen of the “‘Grés Cérame” 
of Bronentart. The earlier specimens of this ware appear to 
have been introduced into this country from Flanders, about 
the beginning of the 16th century. The earliest document 
relating to the importation of such useful and cheap vessels as 
the Flemish stone does not go back farther than the reign 
of Exizasera, as shewn from MSS. in the British Museum, 
in a petition from one Wii.1am Simpson, addressed to Lord 
Bureu.ey, to be allowed to import *‘ the drinking potts made 
at Cullein into this Realm of England, and sell them to any of 
Her Majesties subjects,” for up to this time Garret Tynes 
had held the monopoly. The date therefore of the greybeard 
now before you may be assumed to be about 1600. 
Consult Josep Marryart, “History of Pottery and Porce- 
lain, Medizeval and Modern,” 2nd ed., 1857. 
Dimensions.—Height eleven inches and one half, circum- 
ference round the belly two feet two inches; it contained the 
estimated one hundred weight of mercury, of the quality of 
that in the sample bottle, sent with the Jar for accurate 
determination, according with my request. 
The question of how this Jar of Mercury found its way to 
Fetlar remains a mystery. There is a story told that a silver 
ship was wrecked, long ago off, the opposite coast of the Island, 
but there is nothing authentic on record relating to the event 
that Lady Niconson could discover. 
as 
