834 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ning of the seventeenth, centuries. An evidence of it may perhaps 

 be found in the silver-list of Gabrielle d'Estre'e in 1599, which in- 

 cluded twenty forks. There was a society of fops connected with 

 the court of King Henri III of France, who were distinguished 

 for their ultra-refined notions concerning manners and dress, and 

 were called Mignons. The king himself, who invented a new kind 

 of starch for his collars, was in sympathy with them. The ways 

 of this circle were ridiculed in a satirical pamphlet called the 

 " Island of the Hermaphrodites," which was published in the 

 earlier years of the seventeenth century. The custom of eating 

 with forks was held up to scorn in this publication ; stress was 

 laid upon the accidents that it was presumed would happen to 

 those who had not become adepts in the use of the instrument ; 

 and it was thought funny that, when it came to washing the hands 

 after eating, they should be found not to have been soiled. 



The custom seems to have extended by way of Italy to Ger- 

 many, France, and England. Coryate, an English traveler, relates 

 in his " Crudities," published in 1611, that he had thought it best 

 to follow the Italian fashion of cutting meat with the aid of the 

 fork, not only while he was in Italy, but also in Germany, and 

 even after he had returned to England. " The Italians and also 

 many foreigners residing in Italy," he says, "use a little fork when 

 they cut meat at their meals. While they cut with the knife, 

 which they hold in one hand, they hold the meat firm in the dish 

 with the fork, which they hold in the other hand ; and any one 

 who should unthoughtedly touch the dish from which they were 

 all eating, with his fingers, would give offense, and be accused of 

 violating good manners." 



The fork did not rapidly come into general use, even in the 

 higher ranks. An English writer, Heylin, mentioned it in 1652 

 as something that had been taken up by the elegants. It is re- 

 marked in a " Nouveau traite* de la civility, qui se pratique en 

 France parmi les honnestes gens " (" New Treatise on Civility as it is 

 practiced in France among Well-bred People ") : " When one takes 

 from the dish, he should wait till his superiors have been served ; he 

 should also select once for all what he is to take, for it is impolite 

 to put the hand into the dish twice, and still more so to move it 

 around seeking for piece after piece." Louis XIII adopted the 

 fork, but his queen, Anne of Austria, who had been brought up 

 at the Spanish court, never could accustom herself to it, and al- 

 ways used her fingers, although she was very proud of her pretty 

 hands. A verse is cited from the " Muse historique " in 1651, 

 which indicates that departures from the old fashion of eating were 

 still exceptional at the French court ; and a pair of verses, of about 

 the same period, contrast the old way with the new. 



One of the most active agents in introducing the fork to polite 



