CHARLES I BEAKER. 1631. CHARLES II BEAKER. 1671. Marks (illustrated p. 361.) (_By courtesy of Messrs. Elkington & Co._)] The process of evolution is plain. First the tall shape with the spreading foot, followed by the squatter form with less ornament where the foot disappears, and is succeeded in a short time by the plain type. Here we have the precursor of the glass tumbler. What the silversmith made was obviously too expensive for the ordinary person. The glass workers introduced by the Duke of Buckingham from Venice in the reign of Charles II found a fashion ready to their hands. This silver beaker of the days of the Merry Monarch stands as a prototype of the modern glass tumbler. The succession of forms is something to be proud of in the history of a country. The peculiar usage of words, the continuance of old observances, and the development of costume, have each found exponents to specialize on the evolution of types and the succession to present forms. But who has idealized the glass tumbler of the public-house bar? Here in silver is the definite prototype, and no glass maker has invented anything more suitable. For wear and tear he has made the base thicker, or shall we say to disguise the fact that the glass contains less than it purports to hold? The Wine Cup The Stuart wine cups of silver are of exceptional interest. They are of graceful form and exhibit a variety of baluster ornament of pleasing character. The tall wine cup of the time of James I is the work of Peter Peterson, a noted silversmith of Norwich. The Norwich mark of the castle and the maker’s mark of the orb and cross are clearly visible in the illustration of the cup itself, and are further illustrated on page 395. The stem is slender and of baluster form. The upper part of the bowl has small trefoils of engraved ornament depending on the line running around the brim. The lower part of the bowl is embossed with leaves and floral conventional pattern. The foot is similarly embossed. Sometimes these wine cups, or grace cups as they are termed, because it is believed that they were used at the end of a banquet to drink a grace, have octagonal bowls. These are found in the early seventeenth century. Other forms are like the modern open-bowled champagne-glass. Charles I wine cups obviously are not common. The Civil War laid a heavy toll on such portable articles. During the Commonwealth, according to all report, in the words of Butler in his _Hudibras_, the Roundheads had a tendency to Compound for sins they are inclin’d to By damning those they have no mind to,