The Dinner Service.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 938, 21 February 1890, Page 9

The Dinner Service.

(Detroit Free Press.) In no way is the improvement of the world in luxury and refinement more plainly shown than by a modern dining table aud its appurtenances. It was not until after the introduction of porcelain that tableware became elaborate. We are indebted to China and Japan for the tea-pot and the cups and saucers, though flat plates and soup plates and other forms of table service, were introduced into Europe at the time of the renaissance, and made in China and Japan at the order of European merchants. The trencher is the ancestor of the modern plate, and forks for the table did not appear until the sixteenth century. At present forks are so necessary at table among polished nations, that the idea of eating a meal without them almost excites disgust. So fashionable has the use of the fork become, that its partner, the table knife, is largely tabooed. In old times, food, as is still customary in the East, was prepared exceedingly tender, so that it could be easily pulled to pieces. All articles of food were cut into small morsels. This was necessary, because company did not sit at table, but lay on couches tnrned toward it, and, hence, could not use both hands while eating. For cutting meat, people of rank kept a carver in the house. Bread was never cut at table. Ib was made rather like cakes, easily broken, and hence mention is so often made of the breaking of bread. The Greek word creagra signifies a fork ; not a table fork, however, buf; a long flesh-fork take meat from the boiling pot, with a (shield to prevent the

hand from being scalded. The same word is used by Suidaa to designate a hook at the end of a long polo for lifting buckets from the well.

A little over three hundred years ago forks were unknown. Each man had his own knife, and at dinner seized the joint with his hand and cutoff what he wishe'd, after which be passed the dish to his neighbour, who did the same. Previous to the reign of Henry VIII., all, high and low, used their fingers. The use of forkt at table was at first considered a uperfluous luxury, and their use was forbidden in convents, as was the case m regard to the congregation of St. Maur. Beaumont and Fletcher ridiculed them in their plays, mentioning ‘the fork-carving traveller’ with contempt. In one of Ben Jenson’s plays their introduction is slurred as a project * for tha sparing of napkinß.’ The first royal personage iu England known to have had a fork was Queen Elizabeth ; though several were presented to her,it is doubtful whethershe used them on ordinary occasions. In the early part of the eightteenth century knives and forks were so scarce at country inns that gentlemen, when travelling, oarrisd with them a knife and fork in a ahngreeu case. Steel forks finally came into general use, and were manufactured at Sheffield, at first with but two prongs, and a long time afterward with three. The imroduction of the silver fork into England does nob date farther back than 1814. The Venetians invented the placing of threads of opaque white glass worked through the transparent stems of goblets. So fine was the Venetian glass that a popular belief existed that if poison was poured into one of the goblets it would break into fragment-. Bohemian glass, in which strong colour is a leadiug feature, is in striking contrast with the delicacy of that made in Venice. Although it was invented much later, antique specimens of Bohemian glass commanded extravagant prices. Porcelain is a variety of pottery and is made from kaolin, an infusible clay, and feldspar, a stone, and under a great heat ia rendered translucent. These materials are very abundant in China, while kaolin has been found in France, Saxony, the south of England and our own conntry. Chinese porcelain was introduced into England by the Portuguese, and was first successfully manufactured in 1715 by Herr Bottcher, under the patronage of Augustus 11. of Saxonv. Genuine porcelain oau be tasted in a strong light. Endeavour to see the shadows of your fingers through the ware. If any light comes through it is porcelain. The makers’ marks ought to be another proof, though not always a positive one, for the marks have been largely imitated. Among the lost arts is one that was in China about fifteen centuries ago.—that of painting fish and other animals on porcelain, only visible when the vessel is filled with liquor. All attempts to recover the art have been in vain. Among the ancients, the Etruscans bronght the art of pottery to great perfection. Stoneware alone was made in Europe, and it was not until the fourteenth oentury, when the secrets of the ceramic-art were nearly lost, that Italy fabricated' the beautiful faiences and varnished potteries known by the name majolica ana terra invitriata. In (France, in the sixteenth century, Bernard de Palissy invented the rustique figulines and potteries emaillees so rare and so much in fashion to-day- Fine faiences were made in England at the end of the seventeenth century, and Wedgwood improved their fabrication in the eighteenth. The manufacture of Sevres china was founded by Louis XV., in 1765. The name Sevres brings to the eye all that is dainty and brilliant in porcelain. Sevres is a small city of about 4,000 inhabitants, and is situated between Paris and Versailles, one of the prettiest spots in the environs, and separated from St. Cloud only by the park. In silver service wo were exceeded by the wealthy a century and more ago. Electroplated ware had not been introduced, and old pure silver plate of that period is heavier than the modern. It was excessively hammered, which reduced the thickness but retained the weight. We can get some idea of the extent and value of old gold and silver plate when we remember that the plate stored in Windsor Castle a.lone exceeds twelve millions of dollars in value—a collection covering the reign of four monarchs. Among it is a salver of immense size (five feet in diameter) made of gold snuff boxes presented by various cities and towns to George IV. The lids and inscriptions are curiously preserved on the surface in a kind of mosaic gold, and the silver is valued at $50,000. There is a dinner service of silver-gilt whioh was presented to Victoria’s uncle, William IV,, by the merchants of Liverpool when be was still Duke of Clarence. Apart from the silver service there are enough golden spoons and plate to dine 250 persons. Sevres china, however, is dainty and pretty, and expensive enough for those who are not scions of royalty, which includes you and me, dear reader.