In the latter half of the last century, beer was usually carried from the cellar to the table in large tankards made of leather, called Blackjacks, some of which are still to be found, as also smaller ones more refined in their workmanship, and having either an entire lining of silver, or a rim of silver to drink from, on which it was customary to inscribe the name of the owner, together with his trade or occupation. "Tygs" were two-handled drinking-cups of the time of Elizabeth, rudely formed of Staffordshire fire-clay called "Tyg." At the end of the last century, glasses were manufactured of a taper form, like a tall champagne-glass, but not less than between two and three feet in height, from which it was considered a great feat to drain the contents, generally consisting of strong ale, without removing the glass from the lips, and without spilling any of the liquor,—a somewhat difficult task towards the conclusion, on account of the distance the liquid had to pass along the glass before reaching its receptacle.
The earliest record we have of wine is in the Book of Genesis, where we are told, "Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard," from which it is evident he knew the use that might be made of the fruit by pressing the juice from it and preserving it: he was, however, deceived in its strength by its sweetness; for, we are told, "he drank of the wine, and was drunken." When the offspring of Noah dispersed into the different countries of the world, they carried the vine with them, and taught the use which might be made of it. Asia was the first country to which the gift was imparted; and thence it quickly spread to Europe and Africa, as we learn from the Iliad of Homer; from which book we also learn that, at the time of the Trojan war, part of the commerce consisted in the freight of wines. In order to arrive at customs and historical evidence less remote, we must take refuge, as historians have done before us, in the inner life of the two great empires of Greece and Rome, among whom we find the ceremonies attached to drinking were by no means sparse; and as the Romans copied most of their social manners from the Greeks, the formalities observed among the two nations in drinking differ but little. In public assemblies the wine-cup was never raised to the lips without previously invoking a blessing from a supposed good deity, from which custom it is probable that the grace-cup of later days took its origin; and at the conclusion of their feast, a cup was quaffed to their good genius, termed "poculum boni Dei," which corresponds in the present day with the "coup d'étrier" of the French, the "dock un dorish" of the Highland Scotch, and the "parting-pot" of our own country. The Romans also frequently drank the healths of their Emperors; and among other toasts they seldom forgot "absent friends," though we have no record of their drinking to "all friends round St. Peter's." It was customary at their entertainments to elect, by throwing the dice, a person termed "arbiter bibendi," to act much in the same way as our modern toast-master, his business being to lay down to the company the rules to be observed in drinking, with the power to punish such as did not conform to them. The gods having been propitiated, the master of the feast drank his first cup to the most distinguished guest, and then handed a full cup to him, in which he acknowledged the compliment; the cup was then passed round by the company, invariably from left to right, and always presented with the right hand: on some occasions each person had his own cup, which a servant replenished as soon as it was emptied, as described in the feast of Homer's heroes. The vessels from which they drank were generally made of wood, decorated with gold and silver, and crowned with garlands, as also were their heads, particular flowers and herbs being selected, which were supposed to keep all noxious vapours from the brain. In some cases their cups were formed entirely of gold, silver, or bronze. A beautiful example of a bronze cup was found in Wiltshire, having the names of five Roman towns as an inscription, and richly decorated with scenes of the chase, from which it has been imagined that it belonged to a club or society of persons, probably hunters, and may have been one of their prizes: they also used cups made from the horns of animals. The wines were commonly drunk out of small glasses called "cyaths," which held just the twelfth of a pint. The chief beverage among the Greeks and Romans was the fermented juice of the grape; but the particular form of it is a matter of some uncertainty. The "vinum Albanum" was probably a kind of Frontignac, and of all wines was most esteemed by the Romans,—though Horace speaks in such glowing terms of Falernian, which was a strong and rough wine, and was not fit for drinking till it had been kept ten years; and even then it was customary to mix honey with it to soften it. Homer speaks of a famous wine of Maronea in Thrace, which would bear mixing with twenty times the quantity of water, although it was a common practice among the natives to drink it in its pure state. Salt water was commonly used by the Romans to dilute their wine, which they considered improved its flavour, having previously boiled it. This custom is said to have originated in the efforts of a slave to prevent detection, who, having robbed his master's wine-cask, filled it up with salt water.
The Romans also mixed with their wine assafœtida, tar, myrrh, aloes, pepper, spikenard, poppies, worm-wood, cassia, milk, chalk, bitter almonds, and cypress; and they also exposed their wines to the action of smoke in a sort of kiln, which thickened and matured it. These mixed wines were taken in a peculiar kind of vessel called a "murrhine cup," which was said to impart a peculiar flavour to them; and though the substance of which these cups were made is not known, it is fair to surmise they were made of some aromatic wood similar to the "bitter cup" of the present day, which is made from the wood of quassia tree.
The customary dilution among the Greeks appears to have consisted of one part of wine to three parts of water,—the word "nympha" being used in many classical passages for water, as for example in a Greek epigram the literal translation of which is, "He delights in mingling with three Nymphs, making himself the fourth;" this alludes to the custom of mixing three parts of water with one of wine. In Greece, the wines of Cyprus, Lesbos, and Chio were much esteemed; those of Lesbos are especially mentioned by Horace as being wholesome and agreeable, as in Ode 17, Book I.:—
"Hîc innocentis pocula Lesbii
Duces sub umbra."
"Beneath the shade you here may dine,
And quaff the harmless Lesbian wine."
The origin of wine-making is also claimed by the Persians, who have a tradition of its accidental discovery by their king Jemsheed. The monarch being fond of grapes had placed a quantity in a large vessel in his cellar for future use. Some time afterwards the vessel was opened, and the grapes were found in a state of fermentation, and, being very acid, were believed by the king to be poisonous, and marked accordingly. A lady of his harem being racked by pain, determined to poison herself, for which purpose she drank some of the grape-juice—in fact, got very drunk. After sleeping a considerable time, she awoke perfectly well, and, being pleased with the result, managed in time to finish all the poison. The monarch discovered what she had done, and thence took the hint for his own advantage.
The Armenians claim the origin of wine because Noah planted his first vineyard near Erivan, upon the spot where Noah and his family resided before the Deluge.