A critic might suggest that the portrait which appears on the other side of the glass is hardly worthy of these exalted sentiments, though in point of artistic merit it may fitly challenge comparison with the quality of the verse.
The “Chastleton” glasses form another famous Jacobite set. There are two decanters and eleven wine glasses. The glasses are engraved with the rose and two buds, representing, presumably, James II. and the two Pretenders, and the Cycle Club motto, “Fiat.” In addition there is an oak leaf. Whether this is an allusion to the famous Royal Oak of Boscobel, in which Charles II. took refuge after Worcester, as previously mentioned, or is merely the distinguishing mark of the English Jacobites, just as the thistle was the badge of their Scottish comrades, is obscure.
The decanters are still more interesting, having, in addition to the rose and its two buds, two oak leaves and a compass, the needle of which points to a star apparently rising towards the zenith—probably in hopeful anticipation of the fortunes of the Jacobite cause. Miss Whitmore Jones, the present owner of Chastleton, claims that these were made at Derby.
Glasses thus elaborately inscribed do not exhaust the list of Jacobite glasses. In many cases the rose emblem appears alone, without the incriminating “Fiat” which would inevitably convict the owner of treason. In other cases the emblem was hidden from the casual eye by being engraved underneath the foot. The times were perilous ones, and it behoved careful folk to exercise the greatest caution; hence arose all the system of symbols and catchwords associated with the Jacobite cause. Byrom sums up their attitude in the well-known verse:
“God bless the King, I mean the faith’s defender;
God bless—no harm in blessing—the Pretender;
But who pretender is, or who is king,—
God bless us all,—that’s quite another thing.”
It is possible to meet, here and there, with glasses dedicated to the early Georges, but these are few and, to say the truth, are lacking in the interest that their romantic and tragic history threw over everything associated with the hapless Stuart line.
Williamite glasses are more numerous. They,
FIG. 20.—MEMORIAL TOASTING GLASSES—JACOBITE AND WILLIAMITE.