Goblet for unwelcome Guests.

521

Chap. 6.]

been so contrived that the act of applying them to the lips charged thesiphon, and the liquid instead of entering the mouth then passed throughan illegal passage into the cavity formed for its reception below. Bymaking the capacity of the siphon sufficiently large, a person ignorant ofthe device would find it a difficult matter even to taste the contents how-ever thirsty he might be. Tn the dark ages, simple people would naturallyon such occasions give credit to legends respecting mischievous demonsloving beer and taking these opportunities to get it. Dishonest publicanswhose sign-boards announced “ entertainment for man and beast,” aresaid to have occasionally thus despoiled travelers of a portion of their aleor mead, as well as their horses of feed. Oats were put into a perforatedmanger, and a large part forced through the openings into a receptablebelow, by the movements of the hungry animal’s mouth.

Martial the Roman poet refers to tricks of ancient publicans, and whatwill surprise some readers, he complains of having had wine foisted onhim instead of water. Ravenna was originally built like Venice on piles,and was a sea-port, though now several miles inland. Water has alwaysbeen extremely scarce at this city, and probably was more so formerlythan at present. In the poet’s time it seems to have brought a higherprice than inferior kinds of wine. Hence his complaint:

By a Ravenna vintner once betray’d,

So mucli for wine and water mix’d I paid ;

But when I thought the purchas’d liquor mine,

The rascal fobb’d me off with wine. L. iii, Ep. 57. Addison.

No. 244, a magical pitcher, from the eighth problem of the Spiritalia.The siphon is not employed, but the device is allied to the precedingones. A horizontal partition or diaphragm perforated with minute holesdivides the vessel into two parts. The handle is hollow and air-tight,and at the place where its lower end is connected to the pitcher, a tubeproceeds from it and reaches nearly to the bottom. At the upper part ofthe handle a small hole is drilled, where the thumb or finger can readilycover it. It should be disguised by some neighboring Ornament or scroll.If this pitcher be half filled with water and inverted, the liquid would beretained as long as the small hole in the handle was closed—being sus-pended as in the atmospheric sprinkling pot, No. 69 and 70, and in Tutia’ssieve, No. 74. If the lower part be filled with water and the upper withwine, the liquids will not mix as long as the small hole in the handle isclosed ; the wine can then either be drunk or poured out. If the hole beleft some time open, a mixture of both liquors will be discharged. Witha vessel of this kind, says an old vvriter, “ You may welcome unbiddenguests. Having the lower part already filled with water, eall to your ser-vant to fill your pot with wine ; then you may drink unto your guest,drinking up all the wine : when he takes the pitcher thinking to pledgeyou in the same, and finding the contrary, will happily stay away untilhe be invited, fearing that his next presumption might more sharply berewarded.”

Another old way of getting rid of an unwelcome visiter, was by offeringhim wine in a cup resembling No. 245. The sides were double, and anair-tight cavity formed between them. When the vessel was filled, someof the liquid entered the cavity and compressed the air within ; so thatwhen the cup was inclined to the lips and partly emptied, the pressurebeing diminished, the air expanded, and drove part of the contents in theface of the drinker. Porta, in his Natural Magic, (Eng. translation. 1658,)mentions several similar devices, but they are all to be found in one form