CHAPTER XI

CIVIC EMBLEMS AND WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

The ancient horn--The badge of office--Weighing instruments--Measures in Exeter Museum--Our standards.

The sounding of brass and the tinkling of cymbals have heralded in many State pageants. Civic pomp and splendour have been enriched by brilliant uniforms, and the sunlight has flashed on many a thrilling event in national history. In the relics of former glories we find emblems of the doings of the past, and amidst ruined buildings or those halls now shorn of much of their former grandeur--their original purpose forgotten, or, perchance, misunderstood--the collector seeks symbols of office and hoards them when found as mere curios.

In this chapter such civic emblems and prosaic weights and measures are grouped. A curious combination some may think. Very appropriate, however, when we note the close connection which once existed between those old corporations and guilds who rejoiced in emblems of office and enjoyed the custody of standards of weights and measures, fulfilling the duties which had been thrust upon them by powers and authorities only too willing to depute to private bodies necessary work for which they had no equipment and no organization.

The Ancient Horn.

Civil authority and even State control could, in days gone by, only be sustained by plenty of pomp and show. The populace were awed by giant insignia and much parade of power to enforce the authority held. In days before there were newspapers to make announcements, and no printing presses to print posters and proclamations, the calling of a public meeting at which declarations could be made or decisions arrived at, was a matter of no small importance. The sounding horn had been used from primitive times to call together the people, and the gatherings of the folk mote were heralded in and assembled by a loud blast on the "moot horn." The moot or meeting of the people of a village or hamlet began in Anglo-Saxon times, when such assemblies were held in the open air. Later came the moot hall, which preceded the guildhall of days when traders and merchants were incorporated into fraternal guilds. The horn was the signal for calling such assemblies commonly in use in old towns, and such relics of the past are now preserved with care--emblems of altered times to those who are familiar with them. In Fig. 55 is shown the moot horn of Winchester, a beautiful example of ancient metal-work. There is a similar horn at Dover, which is sounded still according to custom at the election of the mayor.

The moot horn is not quite lost in modern procedure, for the heralds march in Royal processions and precede the proclamation of regal and civic state as of yore, on those rare occasions calling a halt from everyday occupations by the trumpet's blast.

The Badge of Office.

The mace is with us to-day as the chief emblem of office. Without it no civil gathering of importance in London would be complete, and when robbed of its presence no law can be enacted at Westminster. The "bauble" Cromwell caused to be removed was a symbol of historic and ancient fame, deep-rooted in the minds of even stern Puritans. It had to be banished ere the Parliament was dissolved!

The mace is truly the lineal and direct sign of power and authority, for it was the ancient battle-axe which could deal the deadly blow that was first held up before the sovereign, and in brass or gilt the tawdry symbol took its place and has ever since retained its significance.

In lesser degree the staff or stave of office has remained an ensign of authority. The heads of such staves are often decorative and surmounted by some appropriate emblem or well-known sign of office.

The flagstaff head shown in Fig. 54 is of eighteenth-century date; its very beautiful openwork ornament was probably of gilt. It is an excellent example of English workmanship of that period.

Weighing Instruments.

The Founders' Company exercised an oversight over weighing instruments and weights and had difficulties to contend with, for there were many irregularities and not a few differences in the standards used in various localities. The scales of traders of olden time were far from accurate, and there was abundant need of standard weights and measures such as were kept in some of the old country towns. Winchester and Exeter are two places where care has been taken of the old standards, and in both of these towns ancient standards may be seen. Similar standards formerly kept in other towns have been scattered, and not infrequently old specimens--obviously standards from the inscriptions upon them--are met with in private collections.

Those now in the Winchester Museum extend over a considerable period, ranging in antiquity from the reign of Henry III to Elizabeth. The original bushel which became the standard on which other measures were based is still preserved in Winchester. In the reign of Henry VII, one William Nele was commissioned to make further copies, on which the sum of fifty pounds was expended. The transaction was recorded in the State papers of 1486 as follows: "To William Nele, gunn founder and brasier of London, upon makyng of diverse measures and weights accordinge to the olde Standarde of Englande, to be sent into several shires and cities of Englande, accordinge to the King's commandment, and by the advice of the Counsaal at diverse tymes." The ancient bronze bushel of great historic interest is illustrated in Fig. 56. Among the other standards kept with the "bushel" in the Winchester Museum are those shown in Fig. 57--all measures based on similar standards. Tudor examples are also still in the possession of the local authorities at Norwich, Salisbury, Northampton, Southampton, and Exeter. Fig. 58 is another example of a pint measure, dated 1601, the crowned initials "E.R." upon it, of course, indicating "ELIZABETH REGINA." A later Winchester pint, dated 1704, is shown in Fig. 59.

Measures in Exeter Museum.

When it was enacted in the reign of Henry VII that certain towns should hold copies of the ancient standards, Exeter was the city chosen wherein were deposited the standards for the Shire of Devon. They are now on view in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, supplemented by other standards legalized by Queen Elizabeth, and by more recent copies of authorized standards. There are five standards, dated 1799, consisting of the Winchester bushel, peck, and half-peck, and standard coal measure of peck and half-peck. A bronze standard of the time of William and Mary is engraved "FOR THE CITTY AND COVNTY OF EXON 1689;" and a standard gallon, embossed with crown and monogram, is engraved "E.R. ELIZABETH REGINA, 1601;". There are also standard wine measures; one engraved on one side "CITY OF EXETER 1797" and on the reverse "HALF PINT. WINE," and another on the reverse, "GILL. WINE." An exceptionally interesting piece is a standard ale gallon of the time of the Commonwealth, engraved "AN ALE GALLON SIZED AND SEALED IN THE TOWER OF LONDON BY ME JOHN REYNOLDS OF THE MYNT. ANO. 1653." Among the standard weights included in this interesting exhibit is a 14 lb. bronze weight of the time of Henry VII, embossed with portcullis and rose, and engraved "HENRIC SEPTIM." It was found some years ago among old metal at a store in Exeter, the manner of its discovery indicating the possibility of further finds of a similar nature in other towns. The little Troy weights are exceptionally well preserved; the weights according to their engraving are 32 oz., 64 oz., 128 oz., and 256 oz. On the largest specimen the legend runs: "ANO. DO. EL. REG. XXX. 1588." and on the upper edge, "CCLVI.", the smaller weights being similarly indicated. These were all used as the standards at Exeter until the year 1824. Another interesting specimen is the standard yard and ell bed used in Exeter for testing the rods used as cloth measures, the groove on the standard on the engraved side being one yard, that on the reverse one ell (=45 inches). The inscription on the standard yard reads: "CIVITAS EXON CHRISTOPHER COKE ESQ. MAYOR. WILLIAM BOLITHO RECEIVER 1693." In the same museum there are also six brass stamping blocks formerly in use at the Exeter Custom House in connection with old Exeter trades.

Mediæval London yields the collector many choice pieces. Beautiful little scale beams of bronze and brass have been found in or near London Wall. Scales of antiquity, too, have sometimes been in the possession of old families for centuries almost without their knowing or appreciating their value. Not long ago some beautiful little scales made of brass, which must have been made more than two hundred years ago, were picked up on an old barrow where the man who bought "odd things" had it for sale and thought it to be one of the almost valueless curios in the remains of sundries he had bought from the caretaker of an empty house. In the Guildhall Museum there are scales and weights of types usual in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. One of these is decorated with a band of stars, another of triangular shape is stamped with a merchant's mark--that also was found on the site of London Wall. Another remarkably interesting curio is an octagonal weight evidently answering the purpose of a baker's weight, and perhaps as an advertisement, too, for it is engraved, "WEIGHT OF A QUARTERN LOAF, SOLD BY JAMES BULL, 124, LEADENHALL STREET."

Our Standards.

In this connection it may be pointed out that a very pleasing collection can inexpensively be made out of old money changers' weights, both English and foreign. They were chiefly used with the pocket scales at one time carried about by traders as a precaution against the numerous clipped and light-weight coins in circulation. Among these little weights are those which were used for testing what are now obsolete gold coins, such as angel, guinea, half-guinea, and seven-shilling piece.

Some of the old Roman bell weights are interesting; they took their shape from more ancient weights in the form of a pagan deity, probably Mercury, who was looked upon as a god of scales and weights. In some collections larger Continental weights are met with; those illustrated in Fig. 60 representing three French weights preserved in the British Museum.

When examining old weights and measures we often wonder at the origin of such curious tables of weight formulated on somewhat perplexing standards, ridiculed as long obsolete by supporters of the metric systems. They would sweep them away; but to do so would snap one more link with the historic past, and perhaps cause us to forget the very simple origin of so many of our so-called complicated systems, the outcome of a slowly developing commerce--very different now to the days when our standards were formulated. The baseline of our weights and measures is to be found in a single grain of corn, such as would seem to be Nature's gift--the staff of life! It was a natural standard for agriculturists, who would be the first to use it, to adopt. Not only was the grain of corn the standard of measurement and weight, but a given number gave the weight value to the penny sterling. The grain retained its prominent position in our calculations long after standards had been fixed, for in the reign of Henry VII it was enacted that the bushel measure should contain eight gallons of wheat, and that the gallon should weigh eight pounds, the pound to be of twelve ounces Troy, each ounce equal to twenty silver pennies, every one of which should be of weight equivalent to thirty-two grains of dry wheat.

It will be remembered that a still earlier standard--that of the Roman Empire--was based on barleycorns, of which there were twenty-four to the ounce, a measurement adopted at Troyes, in France, having been brought from Cairo during the Crusades. Thus in this simple story we see the origin of Troy weight which in after years was used concurrently with the later _avoirdupois_ (goods by weight), the standard adopted for heavy wares.

XII

BRONZES AND THEIR REPLICAS