If R. C. Warde, of Kidderminster, has a copy which he would dispose of, he may communicate with T. F., Post-office, Northiam, who would be glad to purchase it.
J. F.
"VOIDING KNIFE," "VOIDER," AND "ALMS-BASKET."
(Vol. vi., pp. 150. 280.; Vol. viii., p. 232.)
In later times (the sixteenth century) the good old custom of placing an alms-dish on the table was discontinued, and with less charitable intentions came the less refined custom of removing the broken victuals after a meal by means of a voiding-knife and voider: the latter was a basket into which were swept by a large wand, usually of wood, or voiding-knife, as it was termed, all the bones and scraps left upon the trenchers or scattered about the table. Thus, in the old plays, Lingua, Act V. Sc. 13.: "Enter Gustus with a voiding-knife;" and in A Woman killed with Kindness, "Enter three or four serving men, one with a voider and wooden knife to take away."
The voider was still sometimes called the alms-basket, and had its charitable uses in great and rich men's houses: one of which was to supply those confined in gaols for debt, and such prisoners as had no means to purchase any food.
In Green's Tu Quoque, a spendthrift is cast into prison; the jailer says to him:
"If you have no money, you had best remove into some cheaper ward; to the twopenny ward, it is likeliest to hold out with your means; or, if you will, you may go into the hole, and there you may feed for nothing."
To which he replies: