Old cupboards are somehow always associated with old china in this country, and in most instances they are worthy of the admiration in which they are held. In colonial times, cupboards formed a decorative feature of the house furnishings, and they were fashioned with as much regard for shape and finish as the rooms in which they were to be placed. In time they came to be considered almost indispensable adjuncts, and with their increase in favor, their development became marked. Perhaps the finest type is that with the shell top, some excellent examples of which are still preserved, notably in the Brown Inn at Hamilton and in the Dummer house at Byfield, Massachusetts. [Illustration: PLATE LIV.--Liverpool Pitcher, showing Salem Ship; Old Chelsea Ware; Canton China Teapot; Wedgwood, with Rose decoration. Very rare.] [Illustration: PLATE LV.--Gold Luster Pitcher; Staffordshire Pitcher with Rose decoration; Peacock Delft Pitcher; Jasper Ware Wedgwood Pitcher. Blue and White.] Of all the old wares used here, salt glaze is most rarely found, most collections including not even a single specimen. This is probably due in a great measure to its fragility; it is not owing to its scarcity of import, as large quantities of this ware were brought here in early times. Examples now found are principally of Staffordshire manufacture, made between 1760 and 1780, though much of the ware that was made about 1720, belonging to the so-called second period, was shipped here. A study of all forms of salt glaze is of interest, but that of English manufacture is of most importance to American collectors, for it is that type that the colonists imported, and with which American collections are most closely associated. The process of salt glaze manufacture was known in England as early as 1660, and a familiar legend as to its origin was that it was accidentally discovered through the boiling over of a kettle of brine, the salt running down the outside of the earthen pot, and, when cold, hardening upon it, forming a glaze. This theory has been discredited by later scientists, and it is not unlikely that it was the invention of some imaginary individual, but however that may be, the ware in itself is of unusual attractiveness, and records show that upon its introduction into Staffordshire, it superseded in favor the dull lead glaze. The first ware finished by this method was coarse and brown, a type that remained in vogue until the early years of the eighteenth century, when a gray ware was produced. Some of this latter found its way to America, but the type most familiar here is that manufactured in the closing years of the eighteenth century,--a ware with a white or nearly white body, thin and graceful in contour, and characterized by a very hard saline glaze.