THE LOVING-CUP OF ST. IVES 311 reduce the sharpness of the engraving. I think an Act of Parliament should be passed prohibiting all civic plate more than one hundred years old being cleaned with anything but soft leather or old silk handkerchiefs. The cup is of solid silver (gilt), elaborately chased and wrought. I measured it with my tape, and found it was 22 inches from base to top; the diameter of the cup itself 7 inches. From base to the top of the head of the figure on the cover the cup measures 33 inches. The exceedingly elegantly modelled dominating figure has the left hand resting on a shield, and the right is grasping a spear or bow-it is not easy to decide which is meant-and it stands on an oval ball and a three-sided pyramid, supported on three sea-horses. The chief interest in the cup lies in the inscription, which is incised on the inside of, and reads round the base of the cup on the rim or splayed-out fringe upon which the cup stands. This is the famous inscription : "Iff any difcord twixt my friends arise Wth in the Burrough of Beloved St. Ives Fcis Bassett A, 1640." Ever since worthy Francis Bassett bequeathed this lovingcup to the town it has been used at the annual mayoral banquets, and passed to the citizens and guests in succession. Who knows what good inspirations have not flowed from its use? Thousands have drunk from it since 1640, and each one has known of the harmony-desiring motto on the base. Peace upon earth is the highest ideal we can set before us, and this cup, silently for 271 years, but perhaps in the most eloquent manner, because not obtrusively, has been inculcating the blessed maxim. Yes, Francis Bassett in 1640 did a good deed when he presented the cup with its quaint rhyming message to his beloved St. Ives. He could scarcely have left a more enduring memorial. Mr. Pearce, the Mayor, informed me that on November 9th that year he distributed 1800 buns to the children of St. Ives, and that each youngster had a drink from the cup, for by a very old custom each child belonging to the town has a right to a drink of wine from the famous cup on Mayor's Day. The wine used, I was informed, was of a very mild descriptionlocal raspberry. Of late years at the civic banquets I understand a silver ladle has been used to dole out the wine into glasses. It seems a pity the old customs associated with the loving-cup should be discarded. At many of our colleges and at banquets of city companies curious customs are observed when the loving-cup goes round. When one at the table stands up to drink from the cup, a very prevalent custom at most colleges and city companies is for his immediate neighbour to stand up also and face the drinker. When the cup is passed to him, he, in his turn, turns round and the next neighbour stands up facing the drinker, and so on all round the table. This old custom, like most quaint ceremonies of to-day, has a curious origin. In the days of our Anglo-Saxon progenitors it was the habit to drink deeply and to pass round a large cup, from which each in turn drank to the company. When standing up holding the cup with both hands his body would be exposed and therefore he would be unable to ward off a suddenly struck blow. To prevent this treachery taking place during the drinking interval, he required his companion who sat next him to be his pledge, or responsible for protecting his body against any of the party who should be mean enough to take advantage of his defenceless position. At Lichfield this ancient protective custom entails no less than three persons standing up together, one of whom is drinking from the loving-cup. From time immemorial in this city at dinners given by the Mayor, or at any public dinner of the corporation, the first two toasts given are "The King" and "Weale and worship," both of which are drunk out of a massive embossed silver cup holding four quarts, presented to the corporation in 1666 by one Elias Ashmole, a native of the city. The ceremony that takes place is interesting. The Mayor drinks first, and on rising the persons on his right and left also rise. The Mayor, having well drunk, hands the cup to the person on his right LOVING-CUP CUSTOMS 313 side, when the one next to him rises, the one on the left of the Mayor still standing. Then the cup is passed across the table to him, when his left-hand neighbour stands : so that there are always three standing at the same timeone next to the person who drinks, and one opposite to him. Lichfield, it would therefore seem, must in ancient days have been a dangerous place to dine at-no less than two pledges being needed when a man drank from a two-handled cup in public. In many places the cover of the loving-cup is held over the head of the person drinking by his neighbours on his right and left hands. This, no doubt, was likewise protective in origin. The custom prevailed (I do not know if it is so still) at Queen's College, Oxford, for the scholars who wait upon their fellows to place their two thumbs on the table. The same ceremony, a writer says, is used in some parts of Germany whilst the superior drinks the health of the inferior. The inferior, during this, places his two thumbs on the table, and therefore is incapacitated from making any attempt upon the life of the person who is drinking. In order not to drink more than a fair share of the wine in the loving-cup, it was always the custom at Peterhouse, Cambridge, that no breath should be taken after the lips had once touched the rim; on breaking this rule a fine was imposed, usually the providing of another fill of the cup. In the early Victorian era it was the custom to bequeath mourning-rings to friends and relatives, some of which contained hair from the head of the dear departed. In some families a custom used to prevail which seems much more sensible. Instead of the customary mourning-ring, cups of family love bequeathed to the surviving children and grandchildren seem a pleasanter and more unselfish form of memento. Such are easily procured or made, and the custom might with advantage be followed to-day. In 1742 a dear old grandmother left a cup of love to each of her grandchildren, with a Latin inscription which roughly rendered was :— |