St. Paul’s day being the first festival of an apostle in the year, it is
an opportunity for alluding to the old, ancient, English custom, with
sponsors, or visitors at christenings, of presenting spoons, called
apostle-spoons, because the figures of the twelve apostles were chased,
or carved on the tops of the handles. Brand cites several authors to
testify of the practice. Persons who could afford it gave the set of
twelve; others a smaller number, and a poor person offered the gift of
one, with the figure of the saint after whom the child was named, or to
whom the child was dedicated, or who was the patron saint of the
good-natured donor.
Ben Jonson, in his Bartholomew Fair, has a character, saying, “And all
this for the hope of a couple of apostle-spoons, and a cup to eat caudle
in.” In the Chaste Maid of Cheapside, by Middleton, “_Gossip_” inquires,
“What has he given her? What is it, Gossip?” Whereto the answer of
another “_Gossip_” is, “A faire high-standing cup, and two great
’postle-spoons--one of them gilt,” Beaumont and Fletcher, likewise, in
the Noble Gentleman, say:
“I’ll be a Gossip. Bewford,
I have an odd apostle-spoon.”
[Illustration: ~A Set of Apostle-Spoons.~]
The rarity and antiquity of apostle-spoons render them of considerable
value as curiosities. A complete set of twelve is represented in the
sketch on the opposite page, from a set of the spoons themselves on the
writer’s table. The apostles on this set of spoons are somewhat worn,
and the stems and bowls have been altered by the silversmith in
conformity with the prevailing fashion of the present day; to the eye of
the antiquary, therefore, they are not so interesting as they were
before they underwent this partial modernization: yet in this state they
are objects of regard. Their size in the print is exactly that of the
spoons themselves, except that the stems are necessarily fore-shortened
in the engraving to get them within the page. The stem of each spoon
measures exactly three inches and a half in length from the foot of the
apostle to the commencement of the bowl; the length of each bowl is two
inches and nine-sixteenths of an inch; and the height of each apostle is
one inch and one-sixteenth: the entire length of each spoon is seven
inches and one-eighth of an inch. They are of silver; the lightest,
which is St. Peter, weighs 1 oz. 5 dwts. 9 gr.; the heaviest is St.
Bartholomew, and weighs 1 oz. 9 dwts. 4 gr.; their collective weight is
16 oz. 14 dwts. 16 gr. The hat, or flat covering, on the head of each
figure, is usual to apostles-spoons, and was probably affixed to save
the features from effacement. In a really fine state they are very rare.
It seems from “the Gossips,” a poem by Shipman, in 1666, that the usage
of giving apostle-spoons at christenings, was at that time on the
decline:
“Formerly, when they us’d to troul,
Gilt bowls of sack, they gave the bowl;
Two _spoons_ at least; an _use ill kept_;
’Tis well if now our own be left.”
An anecdote is related of Shakspeare and Ben Jonson, which bears upon
the usage: Shakspeare was godfather to one of Jonson’s children, and,
after the christening, being in deep study, Jonson cheeringly asked him,
why he was so melancholy? “Ben,” said he, “I have been considering a
great while what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my
godchild, and I have resolved it at last.” “I prithee, what?” said Ben,
“I’ faith, Ben,” answered Shakspeare, “I’ll give him a dozen good
_latten spoons_, and thou shalt translate them.” The word _latten_,
intended as a play upon _latin_, is the name for thin iron tinned, of
which spoons, and similar small articles of household use, are sometimes
made. Without being aware of the origin, it is still a custom with many
persons, to present spoons at christenings, or on visiting the “lady in
the straw;” though they are not now adorned with imagery.
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