17 / 90
CUPS
AND
THEIR
CUSTOMS.
.
O
pie,
and
so
on;
the
pins
were
therefore
so
many
measures
to
the
eompotsLtors^^
making
them
all
drink
alike,
or
the
sam^
quantity
;
and
as
the
space
between
each
pin
was
such
as
to
contain
a
large
draught
of
liquor,
the
company
would
be
very
liable
by
this
method
to
get
drunk,
especially
when,
if
they
drank
short
of
the
pin,
or
beyond
it,
they
were
obliged
to
drink
again.
For
this
reason,
in
Archbishop
AnseWs
Canons,
made
in
the
Council
at
London
in
1102,
priests
are
enjoined
not
to
go
to
drinking-bouts,
nor
to
drink
to
pegs.
This
shows
the
antiquity
of
the
invention,
which,
at
least,
is
as
old
as
the
Conquest,
There
is
a
cup
now
in
the
possession
of
Henry
Howard,
Esq.,
of
Corby
Castle,
which
is
said
to
have
belonged
to
Thomas
a
Becket.
It
is
made
of
ivory
set
in
gold,
with
an
inscription
round
the
edge
of
it,
"Drink
thy
wine
with
joy
;^^
and
on
the
lid
is
engraved
the
words
"
Sobrii
estote,^^
with
the
initials
T.
B.
interlaced
with
a
mitre,
from
which
circumstance
it
is
attributed
to
Thomas
a
Becket
;
but
in
reality
the
cup
is
a
work
of
the
16th
century.
Among
other
drinking-vessels,
we
may
also
mention
a
curious
cup
possessed
by
the
Vintners^
Company,
repre-
senting
a
milk-
maid
carrying
a
pail
on
her
head.
This
pail
is
arranged
to
act
on
a
swivel
;
and
so
ingeniously
is
it
contrived,
that
those
of
the
uninitiated
who
are
invited
to
partake
of
it
invariably
receive
its
contents
upon
their
bosom.
In
the
latter
half
of
the
last
century,
beer
was
usually
carried
from
the
cellar
to
the
table
in
large
tankards
made
of
leather,
calledBlackjacks,
some
of
which
are
still
to
be
found,
as
also
smaller
ones
more
refined
in