FIG 22.
A COMMEMORATIVE CORONATION GLASS OF KING GEORGE IV.
navigation of the Calder River. A golden fleece which also forms part of the decoration symbolises possibly the commercial advantages likely to accrue thereby. Another commemorates the opening of the Aire to Calder Canal, and bears the inscription, “Success to Trade and Navigation.” Others bear political cries, like a cider glass ([Fig. 23]) from the Singer Collection. It is characteristically engraved with sprigs of apple blossom and a barrel, presumably of cider. Around the brim is the legend, “No Excise,” a probable reference to the political agitation which followed the attempt of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Francis Dashwood, in 1763 to impose a duty of no less than 4s. a hogshead on cider.
The next glass is from the same collection. It bears a ship engraved upon the bowl, and has a thickly twisted opal stem and slightly waisted sides, which give a peculiar charm to its shape. On it are inscribed the words, “Success to the Eagle Frigate—John Knill, Commander,” which seems to indicate that it was made to commemorate the launch of that vessel. The fine air-twisted goblet, which is the largest in the illustration, belongs to a period somewhere about 1760. The figure depicted is that of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, then our ally and at the zenith of his military glory. It was through his aid that Pitt was enabled to win our colonies of India and America on the battlefields of Europe, and the exhortation to “Keep it up,” which appears on the glass, was evidently the expression of some British sympathiser’s goodwill. Possibly the piece was made to celebrate one of Frederick’s victories.
The other glass has a small portrait with the inscription, “Long live George, Prince of Wales, 1759.” It is beautifully engraved and altogether one of the finest specimens extant.
Fig. 27 illustrates particularly fine and interesting examples of a tankard, a covered jar, and a grog glass—all excellent of their kind. The tankard on the right of the plate is engraved with vine leaves and bunches of grapes, together with marguerites, and inscribed with the names Joseph and Jane Burrows, and was probably a “marriage” or “betrothal” glass.
The goblet with a square base which stands to the left of the plate ([Fig. 24]) is very quaint. There is a representation of a sailing craft upon
