12. The sword and the knife were probably the first instruments fabricated from iron, and they still continue to be leading subjects of demand, in all parts of the world. The most celebrated swords of antiquity were made at Damascus, in Syria. These weapons never broke in the hardest conflicts, and were capable of cutting through steel armor without sustaining injury.
13. The fork, as applied in eating, is an invention comparatively modern. It appears to have had its origin in Italy, probably in the fourteenth century; but it was not introduced into England, until the reign of James the First, in the first quarter of the seventeenth. Its use was, at first, the subject of much ridicule and opposition.
14. Before the introduction of the fork, a piece of paper, or something in place of it, was commonly wrapped round some convenient projection of the piece to be carved; and, at this place, the operator placed one hand, while he used the knife with the other. The carver cut the mass of meat into slices or suitable portions, and laid them upon the large slices of bread which had been piled up near the platter, or carving dish, and which, after having been thus served, were handed about the table, as we now distribute the plates.
15. The knives used at table were pointed, that the food might be taken upon them, as upon a fork; and knives of the same shape are still common on the continent of Europe. Round-topped knives were not adopted in Paris, until after the banishment of Napoleon Bonaparte to Elba, in 1815, when every thing English became fashionable in that city.
16. In France, before the revolution of 1789, it was customary for every gentleman, when invited to dinner, to send his knife and fork before him by a servant; or, if he had no servant, he carried them himself in his breeches pocket. A few of the ancient regime still continue the old custom. The peasantry of the Tyrol, and of some parts of Germany and Switzerland, generally carry about them a case, containing a knife and fork, and a spoon.
17. The use of the fork, for a long time, was considered so great a luxury, that the members of many of the monastic orders were forbidden to indulge in it. The Turks and Asiatics use no forks, even to this day. The Chinese employ, instead of this instrument, two small sticks, which they hold in the same hand, between different fingers.
18. The manufacture of cutlery is carried on most extensively in England, at Birmingham, Sheffield, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and London. London cutlery has the reputation of being the best, and this circumstance induces the dealers in that city, to affix the London mark to articles made at other places. In the United States, there are many establishments for the fabrication of the coarser kinds of cutlery, such as axes, plane-irons, saws, hoes, scythes, &c., but for the finer descriptions of cutting instruments, we are chiefly dependent on Europe.
