For many of us old drinking glasses have a wonderful
fascination. The Loan Court at South Kensington has recently contained a fine collection of English and Irish glass which illustrated its variety and charm. The fragile products of a delicate craft were never more in request, especially the engraved glasses which were so popular under the later Stuarts and the Georges, and which, one fears, perished for the most part in the drinking bouts of the period. It may be well to note that at Messrs. Christie's, in the last days of July, a drinking glass, engraved with floral sprays and inscribed " His Royal Highness Duke Win. in a bumper," fetched the very large sum of 200 guineas. This exceptional piece was, of course, made for a loyal Hanoverian to celebrate Prince William, Duke of Cumberland's victory at Culloden in 1746 over Prince Charles Edward. The vanquished Pretender is a familiar subject on glasses. Two of these, bearing his engraved portrait and the motto " Audentior Ito," were sold in the same collection—that of the late Mr. W. H. Leslie—for 185 guineas. Old glasses stowed away in cupboards may be worth a great deal of money. * *
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