, both in
England and in Holland, although Dutch artists gave preference to
scriptural subjects, many fine examples of which are to be seen in our
museums. Fortunately there are many really curious specimens obtainable
at a moderate cost.

[Illustration: FIG. 82.--THREE CURIOUS PIPE-STOPPERS.]

[Illustration: FIG. 83.--BRASS TOBACCO BOX.

(_In the British Museum._)]

Smokers' Tongs and Stoppers.

Curious little ember tongs were formerly used by smokers for taking up
hot embers or ashes with which to light their pipes. Of these there are
several varieties, most of them of polished steel, cut and chased. In
the eighteenth century similar tongs were used for holding cigars; some
were fitted with small knives, and a few of the earlier examples
included tinder boxes. Not infrequently one end of the handle terminated
in a tobacco stopper.

Stoppers, were, however, destined soon to become an independent and
important smokers' accessory. They were made of different materials,
including brass, steel, bone, and ivory, to some being added a pick for
clearing out the bowl of a pipe. Many curious handles were modelled,
among the varieties being some representing soldiers in armour of the
time of James I. There is one favourite type representing Charles I,
crowned, and wearing the collar of the Garter, and another a bust of
Oliver Cromwell. In one example a farm labourer works a flail, in
another a milkmaid goes a-milking with her pail. There are many
varieties of a hand holding a pipe, of jockeys and prize-fighters, and
of St. George and the Dragon.

The three stoppers illustrated in Fig. 82 are quite exceptional
specimens, illustrating, however, the kind of stopper which collectors
should keep a keen look out for. These examples are in the British
Museum along with a few others of seventeenth and eighteenth-century
manufacture, having striking characteristics. One is described as having
a human figure at the butt, and at the other end a crowned head. The
third example is an historic souvenir, having been made, as the
inscription on the stopper indicates, from the royal oak which sheltered
Charles II, by Mr. George Plaxton, at one time "parson of the parish."

In the Taunton Castle Museum there is an exceptionally beautiful stopper
made of ivory inscribed:--

"NOW . MAN . WITH . MAN . IS . SO . VNJVST .
THAT . ONE . CAN . SCARCE . TELL . WHO . TO . TRVST."

There are similar stoppers in private collections. The inscri