is shown a curious flint-lock powder tester, then also regarded
as one of the essential accessories of the sportsman's outfit. The
copper powder flask illustrated in Fig. 93 is now in the Hull Museum. It
is specially interesting in that the plain copper work is engraved in
the centre with its original owner's monogram--"W R" in script. This
flask, made about the year 1750, was evidently a keepsake, for engraved
round the circular disc is the legend "Keep this for Joseph's sake."

In the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington there are some
more elaborate specimens, two of which are illustrated in Fig. 94. They
are magnificent examples of metal repousse work--a favourite decoration
in the eighteenth century, copied in more inexpensive forms in the
nineteenth century by makers of sporting accessories, who stamped them
from dies and reproduced some of the old hunting scenes.

A review of the outdoor sports and relics of former days would scarcely
be complete without some mention of swords and rapiers, which were once
commonly worn, along with pistols, alas! too frequently in use when a
hasty word called forth a challenge to a duel. Many of these old swords
are rusty, but they frequently show marks of former use. They are needed
no longer by civilians in this country, and take their places in
trophies of arms, forming important features in the decorative curios of
the household.

[Illustration: FIG. 92.--A POWDER TESTER.

FIG. 93.--A PRIMING FLASK.

(_In the Municipal Museum, Hull._)]

XVII

MISCELLANEOUS

CHAPTER XVII

MISCELLANEOUS

Dower chests--Medicine chests--Old lacquer--The tool
chest--Egyptian curios--Ancient spectacles--Curious
chinaware--Garden curios--The mounting of curios--Obsolete
household names.

There are many household curios which cannot be classified under the
headings of the foregoing chapters. They represent well-known features
in every home, and yet each little group has an individuality of its
own. Some may say that the main features of house-furnishing have been
left out of consideration, and that they are the most interesting
household curios when age and disuse have come upon them. Household
furniture, however, has been fully dealt with in the "Chats" series in
the two volumes entitled "Chats on Old English Furniture," and "Chats on
Cottage and Farmhouse Furniture," to which books those interested in the
curiosities of cabinet-making and vi