it may have done so, but there is little or no proof of the destination of this singular ornament, which by some antiquaries is conjectured to have been a box for spices and sweetmeats.
The form of it was evidently borrowed from the navette, (naveta,) a ship-like vessel in which frankincense was kept on the Altar, and which may be traced to a greater antiquity than the table-ship. The use of the nef in England seems to have been less common than on the continent. The earliest mention of it in this country, of which we are aware, is in the inventory of the jewels of Piers Gaveston, in 1313. "Item a ship of silver with four wheels[1], enamelled on the sides." Among the royal jewels in the 8th of Edward the Third, 1334, was "a ship of silver with four wheels, and a dragon's head, gilt, at either end;" it weighed xij.li, vij.s. iiijd.[2] There are other species of ships named in old wills, as in that of William of Wykeham, 1403, "an alms-dish newly made in the form of a ship[3];" in that of John Holland, duke of Exeter, 1447, "an almes-diss the shipp;" and in that of George earl of Huntingdon, 1534, "a flat ship of silver gilt." These, perhaps, corresponded in intention with the alms-pots[4] (pots à ausmosne) into which, says Le Grand, pieces of meat were thrown from the table to distribute among the poor[5]. It is out of our power to elucidate further the purpose of the table-ship, but we incline to believe it was intended for confections and spices, and not for the salt. The annexed illustration, a servant bearing the ship to table, is taken from an elaborate illumination of the fifteenth century, representing a feast given by Richard the Second[6].
- ↑ So we venture to amend "roefs," the word as printed in the Fœdera for "rotes," or "roets."
- ↑ Cotton MS. Nero C. viii. fo. 319.
- ↑ Test. Vetust., p. 767.
- ↑ "Olla argentea magna costata pro elemosina, cum capite regis ex una parte et capite episcopi ex altera, ponderis xv. li. xlij.s. iv.d." Wardrobe Acc. 8 Edw. III., Cotton MS. Nero C. viii. fo. 319.
- ↑ Vie Privée, iii. 255. The alms-pot still holds its place in the hall of Winchester College: broken meat is placed in it for distribution to the poor, and it is under the management of one of the foundation scholars, who is styled "ollæ præfectus."
- ↑ Royal MS. 14 E. IV. fo. 244 b.
