The Elegance of Dinner Parties and the
Daintiness of the Hands Must Have
Suffered Considerably, However.
Fingers were made before forks and used instead of forks until a
comparatively recent period; indeed it is evident that forks have not
even now superseded them altogether, though there is no doubt about
there being a great improvement in the manner of eating since the days
when the fork was unknown.
The Greeks and Romans, as well as other ancient nations, knew nothing of
any such implement, and meat was commonly prepared in stews. Eating was
hardly a dainty operation under such circumstances, and we should
probably find ourselves overcome with disgust if we were obliged to take
a meal in the company of our ancestors of even three hundred years ago.
Each man had his own knife, and at dinner seized the joint with his
hand and cut off what he wished. The dish was then passed on to the
next, who did the same. The knife then cut up the portions into small
pieces, which were put into the mouth by the fingers of the hand
unoccupied by the knife.
In many parts of Spain, at present, drinking-glasses, spoons, and
forks are rarities; and in taverns in many countries, particularly in
some towns in France, knives are not placed on the table, because it
is expected that each person has one of his own—a custom which the
French seem to have retained from the old Gauls; but, as no person
will any longer eat without forks, landlords are obliged to furnish
these together with plates and spoons.
None of the sovereigns of England had forks till the reign of Henry
VIII. All, high and low, used their fingers. Hence in the royal
household there was a dignitary called the ewery, who, with a set of
subordinates, attended at the meals with basins, water, and towels.
The office of the ewery survived after forks came partially into
fashion.
About the first royal personage who is known to have had a fork was
Queen Elizabeth; but, although several were presented to her, it is
doubtful whether she used them on ordinary occasions.
Forks were employed only by the higher classes in the middle of the
seventeenth century. About the period of the Revolution (1688) few
English noblemen had more than a dozen forks of silver, along with a
few of iron or steel. At length, for general use steel forks became an
article of manufacture at Sheffield. At first they had but two prongs;
and it was only in later times that the three-pronged kind were made.
As late as the early part of the eighteenth century table-forks were
kept on so small a scale by the country inns in Scotland (and perhaps
in some parts of England) that it was customary for gentlemen
traveling to carry with them a portable knife and fork in a shagreen
case. The general introduction of silver forks into Great Britain is
quite recent. It can be dated no further back than the termination of
the French War in 1814.