174 OLD WEST SURREY 



somehow into the cottages. Porcelain, generally cracked, 

 but whole in the pieces shown, and a variety of pretty wine- 

 glasses, I have found from time to time. The old liqueur 

 glass is engraved with flowers, the taller ones with barley and 

 vine-leaves. 



Separate pieces and occasionally sets of pewter table 

 ware, though oftener found in houses of a better class, come 

 to lierht from time to time at farm sales, and sometimes 

 single plates at cottages. The oldest and always the best- 

 looking, in the case of plates and dishes, have the edge 

 quite flat and rather wide. 



Pewter mugs are still in use in public-houses. Of those 

 in the picture the three to the left in the row of six are 

 the oldest; No. 3, a mug without a handle, being of un- 

 usually good material. It must contain a larger proportion 

 of silver than usual. 



Many and various are the things that see the light at the 

 sales at humble dwellings. Everything is routed out. Tall cup- 

 boards in farmhouses, that have not been cleared out for 



many years, disgorge the old swallow- 

 ings of their topmost shelves. Even 

 the owners do not know how the 

 things came there. 



Sometimes it is a prize — not to 

 them — but to the collector — such as 

 the old hour- glass, dating from the 

 far-back time when clocks were scarce. 

 Such hour-glasses were used in churches 

 Hour-Glass to remind the preacher — sermons were 



hour-long in those days — that even 

 his discourse must have an end. But no doubt they were 

 also used in kitchens, to time the roasting of a joint or the 

 baking of bread. 



