1869 Drinking Cups and their Customs (Mixellany)

CUPS AMD THEIR CUSTOMS.

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Lady Molyneux, who is said to have died with a pipe in her mouth. In the 17th century the custom of drinking health was conducted with great ceremony j each person rising up in turn, with a full cup, named some individual to whom he drank; he then drank the whole contents of the cup and turned it upside down upon the table, giving it at the same time a fillip to make it ring, or, as our ancient authority has i% €€ make it cry € twango.' ^ Each person followed in his tarn j and, in order to prove that he had fairly emptied his cup, he was to pour all that remained in it on his thumb-nail j and if there was too much left to remain on the nail, he was compelled to drink his cup full again. If the person was present whose health was drank, he was expected to remain perfectly still during the operation, and at the conclusion to make an incli- nation of Ms head,—this being the origin of our custom of taking wine with each other, which, with sorrow be it said, is fast exploding. A very usual toast for a man to give was the health of his mistress; and in France, when this toast was given, the proposer was expected to drink his cup full of wine as many times as there were letters in. her name. "We now pass on to times which seem, in their cus- toms, to approach more nearly to the present, yet far back enough to be called old times; and we think it may be pardoned if we indulge in some reminiscences of them, tacking on to our short-lived memories the greater recol- lection of history, and thus reversing the wheels of time, which are hurrying us forward faster than we care to go,