The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-29
ORIGIN OF THE FORK.
Great Rarity in Europe as Late as
the sixteenth Century.
From tn New Orleans Picayune.

From tn New orleans Picayune.
Il dine with forks that have but tw'
prongs."-Swlft.
There can be but little doubt that tn
table fork owes fits origin to the pitchfork
| yet IL required 1,500 years, and pernap
| twice that time, to evolve the idea. Fork
| are modern inventions, when compares
with spoons. The Irishman who defined
a fork as "a split spoon had true ldei
of its origin, as the earliest ones had only
two prongs.
| The first medieval mention of forks
| Is at the marriage of a Byzantine NADER
| to the doge of Venice in the eleventh cent
| ury In Venice this young woman ate as
4 she was accustomed to do at home, ext
| ting her meat in a few small bits on heI
| plate, and carrying it to her mouth wltn
| a two-tined fork. The Venetians regarded
| this manner of eating as morbid lux
| ury.
1t seems highly probable that the fork
| originated in the Byzantine court, and
| thence spread westward. 1t was not IN
| troduced into England generally, uhtll
about the latter end of the sixteenth cent
| ury. and its Introduction lies al the door
of one Thomas Coryatt.
Coryatt was a son of a prebendary Of
York cathedral. and was a member of the
household of Prince Henry, the eldest son
of James /. lie published a curious ac-
"Coryatt's Crudities Hastily Gobb.ed Up
in Five Months Travels in France, Italy,
Etc" wherein he speaks of an article
called a "forke."
1t is certain that forks were in use
in the early middle ages, but only TO spit
meat and toast bread. They We're never
seen on the able. In the fourteenth CEN
fury Clemence de- Hongrie had thirty
spoons and one gold fork. The Duke of
Aniou, in 1860 had a fork The inventory
of Charles V of France twenty years la
ter describes two forks with crystal ham
dies. With silverware worth a million,
the monarch possessed all told only twelve
forks. The use of a fork was considered
such a luxury that many monastic orders
forbade their members to indulge in it..
It's use was considered effeminate and
beneath the dignity of a true man."
Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward l, had
among her plate a fork of crystal and
a silver fork with an ivory and ebony
handle. The Duchess of Touraine had
only two forks, though she boasted of ten
dozen spoons.
As late as the sixteenth century, forks
were a great rarity. Queen Elizabeth was
the first English sovereign and the only
woman who used one in her day. Her
mobiles thought il was sheer affectation on
her part, and so great was the prejudice
against their use, even by educated peo-
sermon about forks, saying lit is an
insult to the Almighty not to touch one $
meat with ones fingers" AS late as the
reign of George / so little was known of
forks and their use that few inns provid-
ed them for the use of guests. No one
thought of carrying the food to the mouth
wBth fork until Queen Elizabeth set the
fashion,
In a little book entitled isle DIES Her
maphroditis,' ridiculing the effeminate
handles of the French court of Henry ",
the writer tells how it was forbidden on
the fabulous island to eat meat with the
fingers. Every one was compelled to
get his food into his mouth with a fork
These forks kept the Hands of the diners
so clean that no one wished water and
towels between the courses, The perform
ance was as good as a play"
With the opening of the seventeenth cen
fury came the Introduction of forks into
France, Germany and England by the
Italians. Louis XIII. used fork, though
his wife, Anne of Austria, ate with her fin
gers.
To the genial Duke de Montausier do we
owe, it is probable, the general use OF
forks. His wife was the beautiful Julia d.
Argennes, daughter of the Marquis de
Rambouillet. The marquis house was the
abode of the highest culture of the period
and, true to the Italian traditions of his
family the marquis always used a fork
As soon as the duke learned its use and
saw its advantages he exerted his influence
to encourage the use Of forks among the
French aristocracy, and, as the first court
official of Louis XIV, his lead was follow.
ed.
Forks were first manufactured in Eng.
land in 1893. Their use was ridiculed by
men of the times, who argued that the
English race must be degenerating wher
knife and a spoon were not enough fol
use at the table.
Ben Jonson, speaking of the manners OF
Venice, says by the mouth of Sir PollticE
Would-be:
Then you must learn the use
And handling OF your silver fork at meals
This was written in 1907 and nine years
later he speaks of them in England:
Sledge-Forks? What be they?
Meer-The laudable use of forks
Brought into custom here, as they
are in Italy,
To the sparing Of napkins.
Forks for green ginger appear In al
most every inventory OF Importance The
will of Sir Hugh Willoughby, in 1443. men
tons III forks for creme gynger," and ir
1000 "a pronge for creme ginger" figures.
There is nothing new under the sun say.
the prophet. In 1915 mention is made OF
silver spone W.T. a forke," and in 1854 "a
| spoone W.T. a forke in the end" In the
strong box of Duchess Charlotte of SAVOY
were two spoons and one silver fork ''fol
| the purpose of eating sugar plums''
| The fork for eating olives Massinger rec
ognizes in polite society about 1916:
! have all that's requisite
To the making of a signor,
And my silver fork
To convey an olive neatly to my mouth.
The use of dinner forks was now hecom
ing general, and the fork was added t.
| the knife and spoon which most person.
carried with them for their use. Tn.
same knife, fork and spoon served for fht
entire meal sometimes washed and some,
times only wiped. The large dinner forks
now called table forks" were introduced
| by the Duke de Montausier, and were frs
used in France about 1916.
| The fork bearing the Mosgrave crest
with the mark 1858, was dug up in tn,
! grounds of Eden Hall, England 1t rank,
| as the most ancient English four-prongeC
table fork known, and was probably made
| out of a spoon.
In the olden days all forks were perfectly
straight and two-tined; later on the tine.
We're slightly bent; soon three tines became
| fashionable and about the middle of tho
| last century four-pronged forks. came ir
| use. The handles Of forks followed the
| fashion OF spoons.