1863 Cups and their customs

CUPS AND THEIK CUSTOMS.

27

abused^ and by others unthankfuUy taken; discussed the merits of plants and fruits, or the virtues, harder to be discovered, of stones and metals ; while they mar- velled at that scheme which adapted each body, animate or inanimate, to the station ordained to it, and at the infinite goodness of Him who made man head of all, and gave him power and discernment that he might show, by the moderate use of things healthy and nourishing, the wisdom of Him who ordained them to cheer and to cherish. A great regard for the whole- some had Sir Kenelm Digby, whose carefulness in the concoction of his favourite cup was such that he could not brew it aright if he had not Hyde Park water— -a rule of much value in Sir Kenelm^s day, no doubt j but modern ^^ improvements,^^ unfortunately, interfere with the present use of it. Other apostles of the truest temperance (moderation) there were, and we cherish them as men who have deserved well of their country. Dr. Parr, for example, who could drink his cider-cup on the village green on a Sunday evening, while his farming parishioners played at bowls. Or again, still more legibly written in social history, and to some ex- tent leaving an impress upon our national life, the club-gatherings of the last century, where men of far- seeing and prudent philosophy (Addison, Steele, Gold- smith, Johnson, and others), whose names are inter- woven with the history of their time, meeting together, talked of human joys and human sorrows over claret- cups, — men witty themselves, and the cause of wit in other men, like sweet Sir John, whose devotion to c3