Mr. Editor,--The subject of inscribed dishes of latten, of which so many
varieties have recently been imported, appears to be regarded with
interest by several of your readers. I am indebted to the Rev. William
Drake, of Coventry, for a rubbing from one of these mysterious
inscriptions, upon an "alms-plate" in his possession. In the centre is
represented the Temptation. There are two inscribed circles;
on the inner and broader one appear letters, which have been
read,--RAHEWISHNBY. They are several times repeated. On the exterior
circle is the legend On the exterior circle is the legend--ICH. SART.
GELUK. ALZEIT. This likewise is repeated, so as to fill the entire
circle. I have never before met with these inscriptions in the large
number of dishes of this kind which I have examined. The have been
termed alms-dishes, and are used still in parochial collections in
France, as doubtless they have been in England. They were also used in
ancient times in the ceremony of baptism, and they are called baptismal
basins, by some foreign writers. This use is well illustrated by the
very curious early Flemish painting in the Antwerp Gallery, representing
the seven sacraments. The acolyte, standing near the font, bears such a
dish, and a napkin. The proper use of these latten dishes was, as I
believe, to serve as a laver, carried round at the close of the banquet
in old times, as now at civic festivities. They often bear devices of a
sacred character; but it is probable that they were only occasionally
used for any scared purpose, and are more properly to be regarded as
part of the domestic appliances of former times.