Frequently the ordinary tests for the antiquity of the glass are useless, since the piece is itself genuine old glass of the proper period and
FIG. 19—JACOBITE GLASSES.
(From the Rees Collection, by permission of the Connoisseur.)
only the engraving modern, and this is given a spurious appearance of age by rubbing down with sand and earth, and by allowing the lines of the pattern to become filled with dust and dirt. A test that may be found useful is to hold the piece in a strong light, when some part of the engraved portion may be found untouched by the “treatment,” and bearing in its clearness and sharpness of line convincing evidence of its recent origin.
Of the Jacobite glasses, those dedicated to the Old Pretender are entirely beyond the hopes of the ordinary collector. A few exist in old country houses dotted up and down the country and in various museums. One in the British Museum bears the mottoes “Cognoscunt me mei” and “Premium Virtutis.” Young Pretender glasses are naturally much more numerous, and it is probable that specimens may still be found in out-of-the-way places.
Special finds of Jacobite glasses are occasionally made, a whole set being discovered in some unexpected hiding-place. One such set is the famous Oxburgh Hall find, now to be seen and admired in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Eleven Jacobite glasses in all were discovered, eight of them being “Fiat” glasses. Four of them, of a larger size, bear the Prince of Wales’ feathers on the upper surface of the foot. One is the glass inscribed to Sir Watkin Wynn, previously mentioned, and one is of special significance, in that it bears in addition to a portrait of the Young Pretender an inscription, unique in the history of Jacobite glass:
“Charles ye Great, ye Brave, the Just and Good
Britania’s Prince ye noblest of her Bld.
Thy Glorious Feats ye World may Proᵐ
Britania’s Glory and Britaine Shame.”
As poetry the verse undoubtedly leaves something to be desired, although as a panegyric it is fairly comprehensive. That fact will, however, in nowise detract from its unique interest in the eyes of the collector, whilst the most rabid Jacobite—if such a person still exists—can hardly fail to be satisfied with such a wholesale and whole-hearted testimony to the merits of the leader whose cause he had espoused—the luckless Prince, whose doom it was to be always remembered “Over the water,” “Great, Brave, Just, Good, Britania’s glory,” and the rest! This was a hero indeed, sans peur et sans reproche. Even the legendary Arthur of Round Table fame could hardly claim more.