House and Garden 
as a material,tail¬ 
ing a better, will 
be obtained by 
the reader of 
Mr. Starkie Gar¬ 
diner’s paper in 
the “Journal of 
the Society ot 
Arts,” and an¬ 
other by Mr. 
Lazenbv Lib- 
J 
erty, to whose 
interest in it the 
quality as well 
as the quantity 
of much modern 
pewter is owing. 
In England there is The Pewterers’ Com¬ 
pany, whose records have lately been pub¬ 
lished, and a 
glance at Mr. 
Masse’s volume 
entitled “ Pew¬ 
ter Plate” will 
show how ex¬ 
haustively it can 
be treated. 
Now to speak 
of the illustra¬ 
tions. Of the 
decoration which 
is external, and 
could suitably be 
applied to such 
trifles as snuff¬ 
boxes, there are 
several examples here. The character of thede- 
sign would be affected of course by what the 
modeler knew of 
the metal. When 
pewter ap¬ 
proaches silver 
in the matter of 
hardness, the 
original model 
may suit one 
metal almost as 
well as the other, 
and the proba¬ 
bility is that 
these designs 
have done 
double duty. 
The illustra¬ 
tion, which 
shows nearly the 
whole of Mr. 
Churcher’s col¬ 
lection at once, 
will give a gen¬ 
eral idea of the 
uses to which 
pewter was put 
before it was de¬ 
serted by fash¬ 
ion. Thechange 
on the whole is 
for the better, 
no doubt, but in 
a more limited 
sphere, and handled with the understanding 
of the material which those who see art in it 
must be sup¬ 
posed to have, 
it has already 
been r e i n t r o - 
duced, and seems 
likely to keep 
its place. 
Excepting the 
snuff-boxes, the 
illustrations are 
mostly of un¬ 
ornamented 
pieces, which 
would be classed 
with common 
utilities; but 
some have his¬ 
torical interest to atone for what they may 
lack of mere beauty, and they display what 
the collector val¬ 
ues. Amongst 
the plates that 
are shown there 
are some of a set 
from Staple 
Inn, London, 
with the mark 
of the Woo 1 - 
staplers on them, 
and pieces of a 
similar set,which 
we know from 
the arms upon 
them to have 
BARREL-SHAPED BEER JUGS 
PLATES FROM STAPLE INN 
SALT AND PEPPER CASTERS, MUSTARD POTS, ETC. 
259 
