“If this glass do break or fall,
Farewell the luck of Edenhall!”
but in spite of this warning the Duke, out of sheer devilment, would toss the goblet high in the air, and once, but for a wary butler, it would have fallen to the ground and have been smashed to atoms. It was at Edenhall that the Homeric drinking match took place, which Wharton, its proposer, celebrated in verse in the form of “An Imitation of Chevvy-Chace.”
“God prosper long our noble king,
And likewise Eden-Hall;
A doleful Drinking-Bout I sing,
There lately did befal.
To chace the Spleen with Cup and Can
Duke Philip took his Way;
Babes yet unborn shall never see