1869 Drinking Cups and their Customs (Mixellany)

CUPS AND THEIR CUSTOMS.

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effected than by using the words of the witty Dr. King ;— 11 0 Peggy* Peggy, when thou. go'st to "brew, Consider well what you f re about to do; Be very wise—very sedately think That what you J re going to mate is—drink; Consider who must drink that dnnk } and then What 'tis to have the praise of honest men 5 Then future ages shall of Peggy tell, The nymph who spiced the "brewages so well." Bespeeting the size of the cup no fixed rule can be laid down, because it must mainly depend upon the number who have to partake of it; and be it remem- bered that, as cups are not intended to be quaffed ad Kbitum, as did Bieias, of whom Cornelius Agrippa

11 To Bicias shee it gave, and sayd, 1 Drink of this cup of myne f He quickly quafte it, and left not Of licoure any sygne/'

let quality prevail over quantity, and try to hit a happy medium between the eup of Nestor, which was so large that a young man could not carry it, and the country half-pint of our own day^ which we have heard of as being so small that a string has to be tied to it to pre- vent it slipping down with the cider. In order to appreciate the delicacy of a well-com- pounded eupj we would venture to suggest this laconic e^ " When you drink—think/*