About this time, one Lord Holles, who probably represented the total abstainers of the age, invented a drink termed Hydromel, made of honey, spring-water, and ginger; and a cup of this taken at night, said he, "will cure thee of all troubles,"—thus acknowledging the stomachic virtues of cups, though some warping of his senses would not let him believe, to a curable extent, in more potent draughts: being in charity with him, we hope his was a saving faith; but we have our doubts of it, he died so young. Another recipe of the same nature was, "The Ale of health and strength," by the Duchess of St. Albans, which appears to have been a decoction of all the aromatic herbs in the garden (whether agreeable or otherwise), boiled up in small beer; and, thinking this account of its composition is sufficient, we will not indulge our readers with the various items or proportions. One of the most amusing descriptions of old English cheer we ever met with is that of Master Stephen Perlin, a French physician, who was in England during the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary. He says, writing for the benefit of his countrymen, "The English, one with the other, are joyous, and are very fond of music; likewise they are great drinkers. Now remember, if you please, that in this country they generally use vessels of silver when they drink wine; and they will say to you usually at table, 'Goude chere;' and also they will say to you more than one hundred times, 'Drind oui,' and you will reply to them in their language, 'Iplaigui.' They drink their beer out of earthenware pots, of which the handles and the covers are of silver," &c. Worthy Master Perlin seems hardly to have got on with his spelling of the English tongue while he was studying our habits; his account, however, of olden customs is reliable and curious. The custom of pledging and drinking healths is generally stated to have originated with the Anglo-Saxons; but, with such decided evidence before us of similar customs among the Greeks and Romans, we must at any rate refer it to an earlier period; and indeed we may rationally surmise that, in some form or other, the custom has existed from time immemorial. In later times the term "toasting" was employed to designate customs of a similar import, though the precise date of the application of this term is uncertain; and although we cannot accept the explanation given in the 24th number of the 'Tatler,' yet, for its quaintness, we will quote it:—
"It is said that while a celebrated beauty was indulging in her bath, one of the crowd of admirers who surrounded her took a glass of the water in which the fair one was dabbling, and drank her health to the company, when a gay fellow offered to jump in, saying, 'Though he liked not the liquor, he would have the toast.'" This tale proves that toasts were put into beverages in those days, or the wag would not have applied the simile to the fair bather; and in the reign of Charles II., Earl Rochester writes,
"Make it so large that, fill'd with sack
Up to the swelling brim,
Vast toasts on the delicious lake,
Like ships at sea, may swim."
And in a panegyric on Oxford ale, written by Warton in 1720, we have the lines—
"My sober evening let the tankard bless,
With toast embrown'd, and fragrant nutmeg fraught,
While the rich draught, with oft-repeated whiffs,