1872 Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks (Mixellany)

Ancient Drinking Customs. 161 which was blown when it required replenishing : it was called the " whistle tankard/' " Your health!" or " Health be to you!" the salu- tation of our forefathers on occasion of drinking to each other, it is said, originated in this wise:—On the first interview between Vortigern and Rowena, the daughter of Hengist, she presented a cup of wine to him kneeling, saying, " Hlaford Kyning, waes-hael! " i.e. " Lord King, health be to you !" The king, being unacquainted with the Saxon lan- guage, asked the meaning, and being told, and also to answer by saying, " Drinc-hael \" he did so, and kissed the damsel, and pledged her. The custom long remained in England of pledging each other. The one who drank said, " Was-hael," and the recipient of the cup said, " Drinc-hael." Wassail songs and the wassail bowl were amongst the most noted of the Christmas festivities. The wassail songs were sung generally by strolling minstrels, and hence may be traced our present waits and carol singers. Among the Scandinavian barbarians, the highest point of felicity which they hoped to obtain in their future state was to drink mead and ale in the Hall of Odin, out of the skulls of those they had over- powered, and get intoxicated while listening to the music of a shin-bone made into a pipe. There is M