THE Royal Plate in the Jewel House may be roughly divided into two main categories, the one being plate for the Royal table and dignity, and the other ecclesiastical plate for use at Coronations or at services in one of His Majesty’s Chapels Royal. The table plate consists mostly of large gold salt cellars, known as Salts of State, whilst the kingly dignity is represented by the great gold maces borne by the sergeants-at-arms, and the silver trumpets which sound a fanfare when the king is crowned. The oldest piece of table plate in the Jewel House is Queen Elizabeth’s gold salt cellar. How this escaped the depredations of the Commonwealth, or how it avoided being melted down with other Royal plate, to meet the necessities of Charles I, history does not relate. Very possibly it was sold in those days, and preserved by the purchaser through the troublous times, and then either given back, or sold back, to the Crown on the Restoration. The salt cellar, which is a very fine specimen of Elizabethan work, stands about a foot in height; at the top is a shallow pan in which the salt was placed, over which is a gold canopy supported on brackets. The object of canopies such as this apparently was to keep the larger and more obtrusive pieces of dirt and dust from the rough rafters overhead, from falling into the salt. Salt was a precious thing in those days, and as carefully to be protected as would _pâté de foie gras_ in these times. On top of the canopy stands a knight in armour holding a long two-handed sword and a shield. He also is manifestly guarding the salt from theft and danger. With the exception of this one piece, none of the gold table plate in the Jewel House dates further back than the reign of Charles II, and this for good and sufficient reasons, as we have seen. To renew the Royal Plate at the Restoration several contributions were made, and the chiefest of these by the loyal county of Devon. The city of Exeter presented His Majesty with a magnificent golden State salt cellar, fashioned like a castle; and the Borough of Plymouth came forward with one of the handsomest pieces of gold plate in existence, a beautiful wine fountain.