FASHIONS FOR THE DEAD.
The following advertisement appeared in a Glasgow paper about the middle of the last century. "James Hodge, who lives in the first close above the Cross, on the west side of the street, Glasgow, continues to sell burying Crapes ready made; and his wife's niece, who lives with him, dresses dead Corpses at as cheap a rate as was formerly done by her aunt, having been educated by her, and perfected at Edinburgh, from whence she is lately arrived, and has all the newest and best fashions."
COMMON USE OF PLATE IN THE TIME OF HENRY VIII.
A writer in the early part of the sixteenth century tells us that in his time, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the luxury of the table had descended even to citizens, and that there were few whose tables were not daily provided with spoons, cups, and a salt-cellar of silver. Those of a higher sphere affected a greater profusion of plate; but the quantity accumulated by Cardinal Wolsey, though the precious metals are now so copious, still continues to excite our surprise. At Hampton Court, where he feasted the French ambassadors and their splendid retinue in 1528, two cupboards, extending across the banquet chambers, were piled to the top with plate and illuminated; yet, without encroaching on these ostentatious repositories, a profuse service remained for the table. Two hundred and eighty beds were provided for the guests; every chamber had a bason and ewer of silver, beside other utensils.
DIOGENES IN A PITHOS, NOT TUB.
A pithos is a description of earthen vessel or jar, distinguished from the amphora by its large mouth, and comparatively flattened base. Its shape was more that of a gourd, or pot; its size large enough to have rendered it applicable to the purposes of a cistern, or water butt. Such, indeed, appear in some instances to have been its dimensions, that it has long been a matter of dispute amongst the learned whether, if Diogenes dwelt in a tub at all (a point by no means settled), his humble habitation were of wood or earthenware. Brougniart adopts the latter opinion, and has illustrated it by a partial copy from a print in Winckelmann. In the original, the philosopher is shown holding his well-known chat with Alexander the Great, at the gate of the Metroum, or Temple of the Mother of the Gods at Athens; but his tub has there the addition of a dog lying on the outside, above his master's head, evidently on the watch to defend him, if necessary, against any attack from the royal warrior. Winckelmann's engraving, which we here present, is taken from a bas-relief discovered in the Villa Albani; in which the cynic's tub is clearly of earthenware, having a large fracture on one side, which has been repaired with some other material dovetailed across the crack. This, Winckelmann concludes to have been lead (commesso col piombo), simply, however, upon the authority of the following lines in Juvenal:—
"Si Fregeris, altera fiet
Cras domus, aut eadem plumbo commissa manebit."
Sat. xiv 310.
Be all this, however, as it may, the controversy is not without its value in connexion with the ceramic productions of the period. If the "dolia" and "[Greek: pithaknê]." of the ancients had not been of sufficient capacity, however kennel-like, to have served as a dwelling, or shelter, for the philosopher, the tale would hardly have existed. Nor does it seem probable that Juvenal, in allusion to the story, would have used the term testâ (testâ cum vidit in illâ magnum habitatorem), or have dwelt upon their fragility, or have said that they would not burn (dolia nudi non ardent Cynici), if vessels of the sort had not been commonly of earthenware. These vessels, both ancient and modern, have a thickness and strength which enables them to be rolled on a ladder to and from the top of the kiln, where they are baked, without injury.