covetonsness, hatred, malice, gluttony, profane swearing and evil speaking, with texts in which the virtues of benevolence, patience, chastity, forgiveness of injuries, and so forth, are inculcated.
The specimen here given may shew the quaint arrangement of these inscriptions.
The following are the texts relating to inebriety, and it may deserve remark that, having been taken from a version of the Scriptures, previous to the subdivision into verses, the chapters only are indicated. In the centre, "Wo be vnto you that ryse vppe early to geue your selues to dronkenes, and set all your myndes so on drynckynge, that ye sytte swearynge therat vntyll yt be nighte. The Harpe, the Lute, the Tabour, the Drumslade, the Trumpet, the Shalme, and plentye of wyne, are at your feastes, but the worde of the lorde, do ye not beholde, neyther consydre ye the workes of hys handes. Esaie the Prophete î the 5. Chap." In the four compartments of the margin, "Take hede that your hart' be not ouerwhelmed wyth feastynge and dronkenship. Luk. 21. Thorowe glotonye many peryshe. Eccl. 35. Thorowe feastynge many haue dyed but he that eateth measurably p'longeth lyfe. Eccl. 37. Be no wyne bybber. Eccl. 31."
The sides thus ornamented were coated with a hard transparent varnish, and have suffered very slightly by use; the reverse, which probably was the side upon which the fruit or comfits were laid, is smooth and clean, without varnish or colour. These curious "fruit-trenchers" were found amongst a variety of old articles at Elmley castle, Worcestershire, about twenty years since; and they were presented to Mrs. Bird, by Mr. E. Woodward, of Pershore.
By the obliging permission of the lady amongst whose collections these singular tablets had thus been deposited, they were included in the assemblage of interesting objects of antiquity and art, exhibited at the Deanery during the meeting of the Institute at Winchester, September, 1845. The kindness of Mrs. Bird in this instance was the cause of bringing to light other sets of "fruit-trenchers." One of these, belonging to Jervoise Clarke Jervoise, Esq., of Idsworth Park, Hants, consisted of ten trenchers, of the more usual form of roundels, ornamented in precisely similar style to those already described; they measure 514 inches in diameter, and are enclosed in a box, which bears upon its cover the royal arms, France
