1869 Drinking Cups and their Customs (Mixellany)

2>B

COTS AN© T H E IB CUSTOMS,

And in a panegyric on Oxford ale, written by Warton

in 1720^ we have tne lines—•

My sober evening let the tankard Hess

;

With,

tomi

embrown'd, and fragrant nutmeg fraught,

While the rich draught, "with oft-repeated whiffs,,

Tobacco mild improves."

Johnson^ in his translation of Horace^ mates use of the

expression in Ode I. Book IV. thus—

There jest and feast; make Mm thine host,

If a fit liver thou dost seek to

toast

j "

and Prior

in the

i€

Camelion/' says,

"But if at first he minds his hits,

And drinks champaign among the "wits,

Five deep he

toasts

the towering lasses,

Repeats jour verses wrote on glasses."

This last line has reference to the custom pursued in

the clubs of the eighteenth century^ of writing verses

on the brims of their cups; they also inscribed on

them the names of the favourite ladies whom they

toasted: and Dr. Arbuthnot ascribes the name of the

celebrated Kit-Cat Club to the toasts drank there,

rather than to the renowned pastry-cook^ Christopher

Kat j for he says,

i£

From no trim beaux its name it "boasts,

Grey statesmen or green wits j

But from its pell-mell pack of toasts.

Of old Cat and young Kits."

Among the latter may be mentioned Lady Mary Mon-

tagu, who was toasted at the age of eight years j

while among the former denomination we must

class