COTTAGE ORNAMENTS 



117 



The frame was sometimes black, sometimes coloured in 

 imitation of some wood. The one from which the photo- 

 graph was taken is roughly grained in imitation of rosewood, 

 but the graining is so effectively done and the colour so well 

 copied that at the first glance one is deceived. The caps 

 and bases are either of stamped brass or of wood gilt, A 

 gilt moulding conies next to the glass. The glass is thin, 

 of a bluish tint, the silvering much spotted and blurred. 

 But the thing has a distinct character and a date, the 

 end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth 

 centuries. 



It was made to stand on the mantel-shelf, the upper 

 part being fixed to the wall by wall- plates. 



The most characteristic of the mantel-shelf ornaments 

 w r ere the various figures of coloured 

 glazed pottery and low-class porcelain. 

 Many of them took the form of jugs. 

 The Toby-j ug was often seen ; the 

 figure an eighteenth-century farmer, 

 with knee-breeches, three-cornered 

 hat, flowered, long-skirted coat, and 

 frilled shirt-bands. The old figure 

 is extremely lifelike. He holds his 

 foaming jug of ale upon his knee, 

 and his face wears a broad grin 

 in pleasurable anticipation of the 

 refreshing draught. His pipe lies 

 on the ground beside him — it shows 

 in the picture by the broken foot — 



and his beer-barrel, much out of proportion, is grasped between 

 his feet. 



It is an actual jug. The handle is at the back, and the 



Toby-Jug 



