1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

50

some plain, others ornamental with runes, and some with very curious handles. He says they were mostly of brass, copper, or iron, because in that cold climate the liquor they held had to be warmed over the fire. An old translation of a portion of his Historia de Gentibus SeptentrionalibMs gives the following account '* Of the manner of drinking amongst the Northern People."

*' It will not displease curious Readers to hear how the custom Is of drinking amongst the Northern People. First, they hold it Religion to drink the healths of Kings and Princes, standing, in reverence of them ; and here they will, as it were, sweat in the contention, who shall at one or two, or more draughts, drink off a huge bowl. Wherefore they seem to sit at Table as if they had Crowns on their heads, and to drink in a certain kind of vessel ; which, it may be, may cause men that know it not, to admire it. But