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CUPS AMD THEIR CUSTOMS.
19
Lady Molyneux, who is said to have died with a pipe
in her mouth. In the 17th century the custom
of drinking health was conducted with great ceremony j
each person rising up in turn, with a full cup, named
some individual to whom he drank; he then drank the
whole contents of the cup and turned it upside down
upon the table, giving it at the same time a fillip to
make it ring, or, as our ancient authority has
i%
€€
make
it cry
€
twango.'
^
Each person followed in his tarn j
and, in order to prove that he had fairly emptied his
cup, he was to pour all that remained in it on his
thumb-nail j and if there was too much left to remain
on the nail, he was compelled to drink his cup full
again. If the person was present whose health was
drank, he was expected to remain perfectly still during
the operation, and at the conclusion to make an incli-
nation of Ms head,—this being the origin of our custom
of taking wine with each other, which, with sorrow be
it said, is fast exploding. A very usual toast for a man
to give was the health of his mistress; and in France,
when this toast was given, the proposer was expected to
drink his cup full of wine as many times as there were
letters in. her name.
"We now pass on to times which seem, in their cus-
toms, to approach more nearly to the present, yet far back
enough to be called old times; and we think it may be
pardoned if we indulge in some reminiscences of them,
tacking on to our short-lived memories the greater recol-
lection of history, and thus reversing the wheels of time,
which are hurrying us forward faster than we care to go,