Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/285

Rh quently copies, in a more precious material, of the square wooden trencher of the kitchen: at the same time circular plates are often represented in old drawings of feasts. Dishes were much of the same form as at present; the largest were called "chargers," and seem to have been shaped like shallow bowls.

The salt, that important and stately ornament of the middle-age table, was a conspicuous object before or on the right hand of the master of the house. It appears in various shapes: sometimes as a covered cup on a narrow stem; occasionally in a castellated form; and at the caprice of the owner or maker it frequently took the figure of a dog, a stag, or some other favourite animal. The annexed cut represents a large silver salt of the early part of the seventeenth century, preserved among the plate at Winchester College; although of comparatively recent date, there is every reason to believe it was fashioned after a more ancient type. The three projections on the upper rim seem to have been intended for the support of a cover, perhaps a napkin, as it was considered desirable to keep the cover clear of the salt itself: "loke that youre salte seller lydde touche not the salte," saith the "boke of keruynge." It appears from numerous allusions to the fact, that the state salt was used by the "sovereign" or entertainer only; and it is not unlikely, from the great number of salts mentioned in old inventories, that when possible each guest also had one for his particular use. It is not easy to understand how any one at the upper or cross table could be seated "below the salt," as it was not customary to sit at the lower side of that board,