It is the opinion of the present writer that the coats-of-arms on the Toft dishes were a deliberate attempt to copy those frequently found on the belly of the Rhenish stoneware jugs. From the days of Elizabeth coats-of-arms and heraldic devices were a feature in these jugs used in this country. Among those at the British and the Victoria and Albert Museums, and in the fine collection at the Guildhall, the use of crests is seen to be a striking characteristic (see illustration, [p. 135]). As a conclusive proof that the maker of earthenware had his eye on these stoneware models, we give as an illustration a jug in earthenware (not stoneware) of Bellarmine form made in England, undoubtedly by an English potter. The arms on it are those of the Earl of Dorset, not improbably those of the sixth Earl, Charles Sackville, who lived from 1637 to 1706, and was the author of the well-known song, running—
"To all you ladies now on land
We men at sea indite;
But first would have you understand
How hard it is to write"—
written in 1665, when he attended the Duke of York as a volunteer in the Dutch war, and this song he composed when with the fleet on the eve of battle.
EARTHENWARE JUG.
Copy of Rhenish Bellarmine or Greybeard form.
With the arms of the Earl of Dorset.
(Late seventeenth century.)
(At the British Museum.)