The first mention of forks in France is in the Inventory, of Charles V., in 1379.  We hear a great deal about the promiscuous use of knives before forks were invented; how in the children’s book of instructions they are enjoined “pick not thy teeth with thy knife,” as if it were a general habit requiring to be checked.  Massinger alludes to a

                                  “silver fork
  To convey an olive neatly to thy mouth,”

but this may apply to pickle forks.  Forks were introduced from Italy into England about 1607.

A curiosity in cutlery is the “musical knife” at the Louvre; the blade is steel, mounted in parcel gilt, and the handle is of ivory.  On the blade is engraved a few bars of music (arranged for the bass only), accompanying the words, “What we are about to take may Trinity in Unity bless.  Amen.”  This is a literal translation.  It indicates that there were probably three other knives in the set so ornamented, one with the soprano, one alto, and one tenor, so that four persons sitting down to table together might chant their “grace” in four-part harmony, having the requisite notes before them!  It was a quaint idea, but quite in keeping with the taste of the sixteenth century.

[Illustration:  Ivory knife handles, with portraits of queen Elizabeth and James I. Englis]

The domestic plate of Louis, Duke of Anjou, in 1360, consisted of over seven hundred pieces, and Charles V. of France had an enormous treasury of such objects for daily use.  Strong rooms and safes were built during the fourteenth century, for the lodging of the household valuables.  About this time the Dukes of Burgundy were famous for their splendid table service.  Indeed, the craze for domestic display in this line became so excessive, that in 1356 King John of France prohibited the further production of such elaborate pieces, “gold or silver plate, vases, or silver jewelry, of more than one mark of gold, or silver, excepting for churches.”  This edict, however, accomplished little, and was constantly evaded.  Many large pieces of silver made in the period of the Renaissance were made simply with a view to standing about as ornaments.  Cellini alludes to certain vases which had been ordered from him, saying that “they are called ewers, and they are placed upon buffets for the purpose of display.”

The salt cellar was always a piece de resistance, and stood in the centre of the table.  It was often in the form of a ship in silver.  A book entitled “Ffor to serve a Lorde,” in 1500, directs the “boteler” or “panter,” to bring forth the principal salt, and to “set the saler in the myddys of the table.”  Persons helped themselves to salt with “a clene kniffe.”  The seats of honour were all about the salt, while those of less degree were at the lower end of the table, and were designated as “below the salt.”