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163
Cups,
8fc.
Why
not
?
since
through
life’s
little
day
Our
heads
such
sad
effects
produce
?
Redeem’d
from
worms
and
wasting
clay,
This
chance
is
theirs
—
to
he
of
use.
The
wits
and
beauties
of the
Court
of
Charles
the
Second
were
partial
to
a
toast
in their
drinks,
and
pledging
each,
or
toasting
each
other
;
it
was
also
a
point
of
gallantry
for
a
beau
to
drink
as
many
cups
as
there
were
letters
in
the
name
of
the
lady
who
was
toasted,
which
was
similar
to
the
old
Romish
custom
of
drinking
the
health
of
their
Emperor
;
for
instance,
that
of
Germanicus
was
celebrated
with
ten,
and
Caesar
with
six,
and
so
on.
Another
usage
at
the
feasts
of
ancient
Greece
and
Rome,
was
to
drink
the
health
of
absent
friends
;
it
was
a
proof
of
the
esteem
of
the
one
whose
health
was
drunk
by
the
number
of
cups
emptied
in their
honour.
The
Jacobite
mode
of
drinking:
the
Pretender’s
health
was
by
first
placing
a
bowl
of
water on
the
table,
and
then
giving the
usual
toast,
“
The
King
!”
which
meant
“
over the
water.”
Hot
compound
drinks
continued
to
be
in
vogue
till
a
recent
date.
This
taste
is
said
to
have
origi-
nated
with
the
Romans,
with
whom
mixed
pota-
tions
were
quite
a
passion,
their
favourite
resort
being
the
house
of
warm
drinks,
—
places
not
unlike
our
coffee
and
public
houses.
M
2