3-003-700 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Spur in the Dish", by Mr. Bell Scott, 1861. Engraving from a painting. One of '...a series of eight pictures by Mr. W. Bell Scott illustrative of the history of the English border now on view at the French Gallery...The scene is supposed to be...the peel house of the Charltons, of Kerleyside, on the North Tyne. The head of the house, with a few of his retainers, sturdy and daring fellows, are seated at the board...waiting in expectation of their usual substantial fare, when the lady of the house enters with the great dish - empty, however, except that it contains a spur, a sign that the last sirloin and shoulder have left the larder, and that they must mount and ride for further supplies...the master...carving-knife in hand, looks at his wife with an inquiring gaze...whilst she...appears to hesitate for a moment to place the charger on the board before him...The bare skull of a stag, suspended to the wall, and glaring down upon the company, completes the drollery of the situation...through the passage on the left, an attendant damsel...is advancing with a goodly mess of soup or porridge. The rudeness of the architecture, the floor strewn with rushes, the homely furniture...give an air of great realness to this truly capital performance'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.