and we have Lord Macaulay’s well-known pronouncement that the Puritans condemned bear-baiting not so much for the pain which it gave to the bear, as for the pleasure which it gave to the spectators. It is not to be supposed, therefore, that wine cups of the Commonwealth period were much in evidence. To come to the days of Charles II, the Great Fire of London in 1666 did enormous damage. The Clothworkers’ Hall burnt for three days and nights on account of the oil in the cellars. The Pepys Cup happily was saved, as we have seen. This was in September, but so great was the area of the fire in the city that the ground continued to smoke in December. Lady Carteret told Pepys that pieces of burned paper were driven by the wind as far as Cranborne in Windsor Forest. London remained in ruins till 1668. Pepys goes to Whitehall at the outset of the fire to tell the King what he had seen, and he suggested precautions by blowing up houses to stop the spread of the fire. Pepys is solicitous for the safety of the Navy Office, which was between Crutched Friars and Seething Lane, and Sir William Penn brought the workmen from Woolwich and Deptford yards to demolish houses on the “Tower Street and Fenchurch sides.” It is interesting to read that the Diarist sent off his money, plate, and valuables to Sir W. Rider at Bethnal Green, and then he and Sir William Penn dug a hole in their garden in which they put their wine and Parmezan cheese. All this is piquant in regard to the vicissitudes of fortune through which our old plate has passed. [Illustration: JAMES I TALL WINE CUP. Norwich hall-mark. Maker, Peter Peterson. (Marks illustrated p. 395.) (_By courtesy of Messrs. Crichton Brothers._)] The examples of wine cups illustrated on page 129 show two forms. One is taller than the other, and they stand as the great prototypes in solid silver of our modern wine glasses. Indeed, there is nothing to indicate that they are of silver in the illustration, save the dark surface of the bowl. It is pleasant to be able to give a Charles I piece dated 1631. The maker of this is William Shute. This belongs to the earlier period of the reign of Charles I, when the shadows were deepening. It is a delicately balanced cup with slender stem and finely proportioned baluster ornament. The marks are illustrated page 361. The other cup is of the Charles II period, and the marks are shown beneath, the maker’s being P. D. and the date letter being ~h~ for 1665, an eventful year. The Plague of London was now at its height. The first Dutch war commenced, and in June the Dutch were defeated under Van Tromp at Lowestoft.