Where are all those great punch-bowls now that we read of in history? I wish I could see the punch-bowl used by the Newburyport ministers in their frequent social meetings, the punch-bowl in the picture painted over Parson Lowell’s mantel, the picture with its great bowl, the parsons all smoking, and the cheerful motto, “In Essentials, Unity; in Non-essentials, Liberty; in All Things, Charity.” I should like to see the bowl which played such an important part in the transfer of the four hundred acres of land which formed the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson. Old Peter Jefferson made a very canny trade when he acquired the deed of that large tract in exchange for “Henry Weatherbourne’s biggest punch-bowl full of arrack punch.” Golden should have been that bowl, and vast its size, to justify its purchase-power. I would I could see the great punch-bowls used by the rollicking, hunting, drunken clergy of Virginia in ante-Revolutionary times, at their “Monthly Meetings,” the tale of whose disgraceful revelry has been told us by Mr. Parton in his “Life of Jefferson.” Where is the punch-bowl used at the Wolfes Head Tavern in Newburyport, on September 26, 1765, “at the greate uneasyness and Tumult on acasion of the Stamp Act;” the bowl from which the alarmed citizens of Newburytown drank fifty-seven pounds worth of “double and thribble bowles” of punch, and in company with which they had two pounds worth of supper and coffee. Well might we say, “O monstrous! But one penny worth of bread to this intolerable deal of Sack!” “Greate uneasyness,” no doubt, they felt. One of the oldest punch-bowls—indeed, one of the oldest pieces of china in the country—is the beautiful India or Chinese bowl now owned by Edmund Randolph Robinson, Esq., of New York. It is eighteen inches in diameter, of rich red and gold decoration, and is mounted upon a black wood stand upon which is a silver plate bearing the noble historical names of its past owners, so far back as known. It is supposed to have been brought to America by William Randolph, as his son, Sir John Randolph, is known to have long possessed it. This gentleman was one of the early Governors of Virginia, and Attorney-General in the first part of the eighteenth century. His son Peyton was president of the first Continental Congress in 1774, and Attorney-General of Virginia. From him it passed to Edmund Randolph—also Governor and Attorney-General of Virginia—aide-de-camp to Washington, and first Attorney-General and second Secretary of State of the United States. He was the great-grandfather of the present owner. This beautiful relic has passed through good service as a christening-bowl for many generations of Governors and Attorney-Generals, as well as enduring a vast amount of use on less solemn occasions.