So much for the earlier styles of decorating. Now for the various types of glasses, according to their purpose. Georgian wine glasses come in many styles—our pictures show just a few of these. But the ale-glasses tended to be “flutes,” either tall or short, and if both sorts seem small by the standards of today’s beer drinkers it should be remembered that eighteenth-century ale was a far more virulent affair than most of those brews we know today. You could, I suppose, classify it as what we would call “stingo.”

Delightfully of their period are the cordial glasses, with their tiny bowls on long stems, also the “surfeit” glasses, to carry spirits and cordials designed to revive the over- gorged diner in those days of generous appetites. These have tiny flute-like stems, so that the precious spirit would not easily evaporate.

Antique Collector MagazineSpecial punch and champagne glasses have attractive shapes, and even cider has its own glass. Rummers were bigger glasses, usually with a round, bucket-shaped bowl; their function was to carry “grog” or hot rum and water. If you come across an odd-looking glass which, having no foot, has to stand on its head, do not at first assume that the foot is lost; it may be a coaching glass, brought to waiting travellers and therefore having no more need of a foot than a stirrup cup.

“Deceptive” glasses are always of interest. These are so designed, with careful cutting and shaping, so that what looks like a generous tot is mostly glass reflecting a quite small amount of liquor. They were used by “toastmasters” —not, however, our present gentlemen with loud voices and red coats who announce speakers at banquets, but the host himself, or what we should call the chairman. Since most of these hosts would have been “in the pink,” by reason of their daytime activities, one wonders if this is the origin of the modern toastmaster’s raiment. Anyway they must have found these glasses very useful when striving manfully to respond to all the toasts which might be offered in the course of the evening. A later use of the same glasses was for landlords called upon by their customers to “have one with me,” and at the same time anxious to see that a little brandy went a long way.

There is also a very slender-stemmed glass, of which, surprisingly, quite a few have survived, specially intended for snapping between the fingers after toasting a lady.

A whole family of glasses have picked up the name “Hogarth” glasses, because of their frequent appearance in engravings by the great artist. They represent the ordinary drinking glasses of the day in tavern or club, and they are usually short, with little or no stem. Apart from the dwarf ales, they include drams, used for very strong liquors, and small gin glasses which are shaped like miniature wines. There is another race with a very thick foot, known as “firing” glasses. Anyone who understands the expression “Kentish Fire” will realise that they were useful for banging on the table in response to a toast or by way of expressing a wish that they should be filled again as quickly as possible.

Very few genuine eighteenth-century glasses—except the quite plain “taverns”—are now likely to be found anywhere but in the better shops. Most of these, if they are of any quality, then quickly pass into the hands of the specialist dealers and the collectors. At the big auctions at Sothebys, for example, when sold in lots, they can make anything from one to fifteen pounds apiece, with much more for rarities.

In fact this can be a good way of starting off your collection, for the Sotheby cataloguers know their business and are not often deceived. One useful little lot I saw recently included a patch glass with a triple knopped baluster stem and a folded foot, a late firing glass engraved with a frieze of poultry, a short cordial glass and eight other various pieces. It made eight pounds—not a great deal of money.

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Around the Dining-room part 2