VIII / 66
PREFACE.
entitled to Its due
mead
of praise; so, "by way
of Introduction, we have ventured to take a
cursory glance at the customs which have "been
attached to drinking from the earliest periods to
the present time. This, however, we set forth as
no elaborate history, "but only as an arrange-
ment of such scraps as have from time to time
fallen in our way, and have helped us to form
ideas of the social manners of bygone times.
We have selected a sprig of Borage for our
frontispiece, "by reason of the usefulness of that
pleasant herb in the flavouring of cups, Else-
where than In England, plants for flavouring are
accounted of rare virtue. So much are they
esteemed In the East, that an antl-Brahmlnieal
writer* showing the worthlessness of Hindu
superstitions, says,
€€
They command you to cut
down a living and sweet basil-plant, that you
may crown a lifeless stone," Our use of flavour-
ing-herbs is the reverse of this justly condemned
one; for we crop them that hearts may be
warmed and life lengthened.
And here we would remark that, although
our endeavours are directed towards the resusci-
tation of better times than those we live In,
times of heartier customs and of more genial
ways, we raise no lamentation for the departure