DRINKING USAGES. .1, religious observ ance,. drink-otTerings common among the ancients, both Jews and To mark the spot where he eomintined with COL Jacob set tip a pillar of stone and 'poured a drink-offering thereon' (C:en. XXXV. 11). and women are said to have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods (Jer. vii. 1S). On of solemn prayers and before their eating and drinking, the r:reeks and Roman, poured from the eup to the ground a small quantity of the liquid—either un diluted wine, milk diluted with water, or water flavored with honey. A relic of the elision] was reeentl• noted in the island of same's. The health-drinking custom come: from antiquity. ]loner's Odysseus, when about to leave the Ilia aeians. rises from the conch and places the drinking1)0\N1 in the hands of .1Ieinous•s wife with the words. drink to you: be happy." So, too. with the early Romans, the drinking of healths was a V0111111011 (lisIolo, simply (.1):erved with a homely formula. Plato and Xenophon have described the famous symposia or drinking parties of the t:reeks. which under the nal ne rota m issai in came into vocrue in Rome under the Empire. These followed the feast and were en liven"' by game,. riddles. and the music. of the lyre. Wine and water were mixed for the whole company in a crater (bowl), from which the poca/a (cups) were filled. one of the party for mally elected to the office of arbiter bibendi (mas ter of the revels) decided the strength of the beverage the toasts to be drunk, and other mat ters connected with the festivities; or less for mally each guest suited his taste in the mixing of the wine and water. Frequently the number of letters in the name of the one whose health it was proposed to drink decided the cyathi (nicas uring-cups) of wine (Martial xi. 37). When a person drank wine with another he first tasted of the cup himself and then handed it to his friends, with the words, Propino tibi (i drink to you), or more colloquially Brae ros. and received his cup in return. Among the Celts and Germans a sim ilar custom existed. but without much ceremony. There was a common bowl of wine; the first to drink took a sip. turning to his neighbor with an drink to you," and the howl of the table. There was no trace of the libation to the gods which was customary among the Greeks and Romans.
The Christians took up the pagan custom. and in their feasts expressed good wishes for the bodily health and future welfare of their friends. An abuse crept in which savored of idolatry and profanation—the drinking to the dead and to the saints. This latter custom was anathematized by a council at Nantes and gradually fell out of use: but drinking to the dead is not uncommon even to-day. It has been said that the practice of saying "I'll pledge originated during the tenth century. when the English were fearful of the treachery of the Danes. When one of the company stood up to drink to another, the bowl raised high with both hands and his hack ex posed to a murderer's blow. his companion next him stood up also and raised his drawn sword to defend him while drinking; he was his pledge responsible for his protection. The wassail-bowl became the poeulum earitatis of the monastery. On New Year's Day it was placed before the abbot. and from it the superior drank to all, and the rest in succession to each other. Hence the origin of the 'grace cup' of the universities and the 'loving cup' of the corporation feasts in Lon don, whose formalities recall those connected with the ancient wassail-bowl. After dinner the master and wardens "drink to their visitors in a loving cup, and hid them all heartily welcome" The cup (a silver flagon containing warm spiced wine) then circulates round the table, the person who pledges standing up while his neighbor drinks to him.
Excessive gallantries accompanied the drink ing of healths during Elizabethan times. .Just as the Roman lover wrote his mistress's name with wine on the tables. the English gallant would write it with his blood, or even stab his arm and drink to her health in his blood. Drinking healths on the knees, and often with the knees hared, was of common occurrence. And doing honor to a lady by tossing into the fire some jewel or ornament of dress. with a bidding to their companions to follow, was a custom among lovers even into the nineteenth century. The Puritans would have nn drinking of healths; but with the restoration of Charles H. it was again carried to great excess. Sec TOAST.