at Winchester College, represented here by permission of the Rev. the Warden.
Hanap, 16th cent.
The godet, a sort of mug or cup; the juste (justa), which was rather a conventual than a secular measure, and so named from containing no more than a prescribed allowance of wine[1]; the barrel[2], and the tankard. Another frequently named in inventories, was, the "standing nut," or mounted nut-shell; the shell of the cocoa was imported into Europe, through Egypt, at an early period, and appears to have been held in some estimation. But a substance "d'oultremer," still more highly prized as a material for cups, was the "grype," or griffin's egg, which was in all probability merely the egg of the ostrich or emu[3]. As our forefathers believed the griffin to be of monstrous size, they had no hesitation in treasuring a very long horn as a specimen of its formidable claws. In the British Museum there is a curious example of this ancient credulity. It is a horn of the Egyptian Ibex, (Capra Nubiana,) more than two feet in length; on a silver rim around its base is engraved, in characters not older than the sixteenth century; ✠ Gryphi vngvis divo Cvthberto Dvnelmensi sacer. The different vessels above enumerated were usually of silver, rarely gold, and sometimes of ivory; although it has been said that cups of crystal were not uncommon[4], some research convinces us that crystal beryl, or fine glass, and such substances, were rarer still than gold, and it was not until towards the close of the fifteenth century that glass came into use for drinking-cups. They were generally embossed or enamelled with the armorial bear-
- ↑ Prompt. Parvul. ed. Way, tom. i. p. 268.
- ↑ "Item, quatre barils de Ivoir, garniz de laton, od les coffins." Inv. of Piers Gaveston, A.D. 1313. Fœdera. "Duo barilli argenti deaurati cum zonis argenti minutis, pond, in toto xls." Wardrobe account 8 Edw. III. A.D. 1334. Cotton MS. Nero, C. viii. fo. 319b.
- ↑ Prompt. Parvul. cd. Way, sub voce.
- ↑ Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 254.
