“made men as unfruitful as the deserts whence that unhappy berry is said to be brought; that the offspring of our mighty ancestors would dwindle into a succession of apes and pygmies, and on a domestic message, a husband would stop by the way to drink a couple of cups of coffee.” This is in the vein of the modern Suffragist and on the same sub-head. In 1673 the men of England were fighting against the Dutch at the engagement off Texel to defend their hearths and homes, coffee or no coffee. Apart from the peculiar lantern shape of the first examples, teapots assumed various forms. They were tall and pear-shaped about 1690. By 1707, is Queen Anne’s day, we find them gourd or melon-shaped till about 1720. In 1725 they were of lesser height. From the opening years of the eighteenth century to 1765, the teapots began to assume round proportions in the body. At a later date they were octagonal. In 1776 they inclined to the Sheraton style, and in 1789 to the Hepplewhite style of design, both these latter with the straight spout. That the handle was early of ebony is shown in the example illustrated (p. 247), with the London hall-marks of 1745, with the gourd-shaped body. There is something about this example which places it in the realm of the posset-pot. Its cover is surmounted by a cone ornament. Its form, strikingly apart from modern tea-table niceties, marks it as a collector’s piece. Its inscription is of historic interest. A Kettle and Stand, with spirit-lamp, is of the next year, 1746 (illustrated p. 251). It is the work of the celebrated Paul de Lamerie, whose genius in working in plate placed him in the leading position among the silver designers of his period. It must be remembered that about this time the potter came into serious competition with the silversmith, especially in regard to teapots and coffee-pots. He actually did produce, in the early examples of Bow and Worcester and Coalbrookdale, teapots in blue and white with the same round body as this tea-kettle. The spout of the potter always presented greater difficulties in technique than did the spout of the silversmith. In early types of porcelain it is in form similar to the two silver examples of teapot and tea-kettle of 1745 and 1746. But the potter could not attain to the flutings and chased ornament of the worker in metal. The silversmith’s spout soldered on the body, has spreading ornament eminently suitable to afford strength at the juncture. [Illustration: GEORGE II TEAPOT. LONDON, 1745. With pear-shaped body standing on graduated foot, with finely shaped ebony handle. Panel bearing inscription: “In token of sincere Friendship and in Honour of Success at the conquest of the Island of Cape Breton, Peter Warren, Esqr., Rear-Admiral of the Blue presents this piece of plate to Sir Willm. Pepperrell, Bart., Louisbourg, Commander to His Majesty’s Forces. 17 June, 1745.” (_By courtesy of Messrs. Crichton Brothers._)]