A curious story attaches to one set of four of these salt cellars. They are cylindrical in shape, rather like a deep drum, and embossed with sprays of leaves and flowers in high relief. At the top are three brackets curving outwards fashioned as serpents. When the Royal plate was being overhauled for the Coronation of George IV, some bright expert decided that the brackets were not brackets, but legs, and turned the salts over and stood them on these. He was then faced by an aching void which would hold a couple of pounds of salt, for the cylinders are hollow. Naught dismayed, he had shallow gold pans to hold salt made to fit the cylinders, and on these were engraved the Royal arms and the words “George IV.” Thus upside down the salts remained for ninety-two years, the serpents standing on their heads, and the herbaceous ornamentation drooping sadly. During those ninety-two years an animated correspondence appears to have been carried on as to which end upwards the salts should rightly stand, and it was only in the time of the present Keeper of the Jewel House that the serpents, doubtless to their relief, were allowed again to hold up their heads, and the golden flowers and foliage were condemned no longer to droop. The real mission in life of these brackets, as has been re-discovered in this post-bellum age, is to support a napkin which was spread over them so as to protect the salt from dust and dirt. All the rest of the St. George’s Salts have a permanent golden canopy over them very similar to that which covers Queen Elizabeth’s salt cellar. On top of the canopy in each case is a knight in armour, in some cases mounted, in others on foot. The knight is probably meant for St. George, in some cases mounted before killing the dragon, and in others dismounted and at rest, after having accomplished that historic feat. Appertaining to the great salt cellars there remain a residue of twelve gold salt spoons, the missing numbers no doubt having been lost, or annexed by excessively loyal guests. Two very handsome gold tankards are in the Jewel House, which were added to the Royal plate by George IV. Viewed from a discreet distance the effect is very fine, but a closer inspection is not recommended to those who disapprove of realism in art. Queen Victoria, it is reported, disliked these flagons intensely.