PLATE no. XXVII
Collection of D. J. Hile, Esq.

No. 145. Leather bottle, sixteenth century, holding half a gallon. These bottles at one time became so famous that a song was written and originally printed in D’Urfey’s “Pills to Purge Melancholy.”

The song of the “Leather Bottle” may be here repeated.

“Now God above, that made all things,
Heaven and earth and all therein,
The ships upon the seas to swim,
To keep out foes, they come not in,
Now every one doth what he can,
All for the use and praise of man,
I wish in Heaven that soul may dwell
Who first devised the Leather Bottle.

“Now what do you say to the canns of wood?
Faith, they are nought; they cannot be good;
When a man for beer he doth therein send,
To have them filled as he doth intend,
The bearer stumbleth by the way,
And on the ground his liquor doth lay;
Then straight the man begins to ban
And swears it was long of the wooden can,
But had it been in a leathern bottle,
Although he stumbled, all had been well,
So safe therein it would remain
Until the man got up again;
And I wish in Heaven, etc.

“Now for the pots with handles three,
Faith, they shall have no praise of mine;
When a man and his wife do fall at strife
(As many, I fear, have done in their life)
They lay their hands upon the pot both
And break the same although they were loth,
Which they will answer another day
For casting the liquor so vainly away;
But had it been in a bottle filled
The one might have tugged, the other have held,
They both might have tugged till their hearts did ake,
And yet no harm the bottle would take,
And I wish in Heaven, etc.

“ Now what of flagons of silver fine?
Faith, they shall have no praise of mine;
When a nobleman he doth them send
To have them filled as he doth intend,
The man with his flagon runs quite away
And never is seen again after that day.
Oh! then his lord begins to ban
And swears he hath lost both flagon and man;
But it ne’er was known that page or groom
But with a leathern bottle again would come,
And I wish in Heaven, etc.

“Now when this bottle is grown old,
And that it will no longer hold,
Out of the side you may cut a clout
To mend your shoe when it’s worn out,
Or hang the other side on a pin,
‘Twill serve to put many old trifles in,
As nails, awls, and candle ends
For young beginners need such things,
And I wish in Heaven his soul may dwell
That first invented the Leathern Bottle.”

No. 146. Military leather bottle, eighteenth century, with metal cap to screw on, and side straps, oval shape, eleven inches high. Figure 4 on bottom.,

No. 148. Leather wallet, embossed with silver thread, and name “Samuel Harvey, 1684.”

No. 149. Leather wallet, embossed with silver thread, from Constantinople. Date 1730.

No. 150-153 Leather pouches and wallets, with ornamental leather work.

No. 154. Leather wallet, containing prayers in Arabic. Seventeenth century.

Nos. 155 and 156. Leather flint and steel pouches, seventeenth century, ornamented and studded in brass work. Used for igniting the tinder in order to obtain a light with a brimstone match. The flint was carried in the pouch, and the steel forms the lower portion of the pouch.

No. 157. Leather wallet. Seventeenth century.

No. 158. Leather pouch, with ornamental leather work, curiously studded with brass studs. Antique Bulgarian.

No. 159A. Fellowship porter’s badge and tally. Fellowship porters were dissolved in 1893 or 1894.

No. 160. Leather pouch with embossed figures, in imitation of the antique. Modern.

Nos.161 and 162. Leather bags, ornamented. Antique, Bulgarian.

No. 147. Flat water-bottle, to be slung over shoulder, eight inches in circumference. Eighteenth century.