Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/92

80 found in the ruins of Lewes priory, during the excavations made for the railway, in 1845. There can be little doubt that this grotesque vessel was intended to contain liquor, and the handle which passes from the back of the knight to the horse's rump was evidently intended for pouring out the contents; whilst a circular aperture at the lower end of the handle afforded the means of filling the vessel."

It is possible that this remarkable grotesque may have been intended rather to make disport in the festive hall, than as a recipient for exhilarating drinks dispensed to the guests. It may have been fabricated for similar purposes as the curious bronze æolyple, described by Dr. Plot, long known as "Jack of Hilton," in the possession of General Vernon, of Hilton Park, Staffordshire. There is a small perforation at the top of the head of the human figure, possibly accidental; the sides of the horse are coarsely punctured, apparently representing the housings, or bardes, but, possibly, denoting merely the dappled colour of the charger. The arcons of the saddle are represented as of unusual and exaggerated height.

No collection of examples of the fictile manufactures of the medieval period having hitherto been formed, it is not possible to fix the period when the application of a superficial coloured glaze was first employed, for the purpose either of decoration, or of rendering the clay more impervious to liquids. In the museum of antiquities formed by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, several specimens of ancient ware are preserved, found at York, with or near Roman remains, and coated with a fine green glaze of a clear and bright colour. These vessels may, indeed, be of medieval date, and of early Flemish fabrication; the precise circumstances of their discovery would alone serve to form a decided opinion in regard to their age, and the possible existence of manufactures of glazed pottery during the Roman, or Romano-British period. There is no evidence that any fictilia of an ornamental description were fabricated by the Saxons, or introduced by the Normans into our country. A cursory mention of figuli, and of potarii, occurs in Domesday, and a few scattered notices shew that at all times the manufacture of earthen vessels of a homely description was practised in England. On the Pipe Roll, 12 Edward I., in the account of the keeper of Bristol castle, an item occurs for the rent of land, "pro terra fodienda ad vasa fictilia inde facienda;" and in those of the executors of Queen Eleanor, a payment appears, of 8s. 6d. to "Juliane la Potere, pro ccc. picheriis die anniversarii Reginæ ." Higden, the monkish chronicler, who wrote during the times of Richard II., commending the riches and resources of Britain, makes especial mention of the quarries of marble and stone of various colours and quality, and adds, "est etiam ibi argilla alba et rubea ad componendum vasa fictilia, et tegulis tingendis, velut altera samia, multum accomoda ." Amongst the earliest notices of objects of this description, accounted as of any value, may be cited the mention of a "crusekyn de