The Great Evil of Health Drinking, Discourse · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Some Things premiſed. In what Notion Healthing is taken. That Healthing is ancient, is no Plea for it. Liberty of drinking more ancient. A Sacrifice and Prayer, or honorary, memorative Sign, by Ambroſe, Auguſtine, Roſinus, &c. Its Riſe. Its Tradition to us.
§. 1. ANd here I muſt premiſe:
1. That it is ſuſpicious, that the Ceremony of Healthing did ſpring from the ſame Original that other Ceremonies of drinking did, and to the ſame End of Intemperance, and fatal Corruption of true Friendſhip, and good Society. And if this were doom'd by common Conſent to Oblivion, it would not be long before another ſhould be brought into its place, as long as Men are prone to that Sin which is the diſgrace of Mankind. But then, if there be any Reverence for our Maker, any Honour to our excellent Nature, Men ſhould ſtop every Door at which Sin enters, by the Devil's Inſtruction, in a diſguiſe, to bind us, and then deſtroy us.
2. Rational Men ſhould not require clearer or ſtronger Arguments againſt Healthing, than the Subject will afford. It is not to be doubted, but if Healthing were as expreſly forbidden, as Murther or Fornication, but it would be a dark and controverted Text to ſome, which is as clear as the Sun to others, and it would be practiſed for all the Prohibition.
3. Tho all the Converſation of Chriſtians ſhould be Chriſtian, according to the Laws of Chriſt, and of entire Charity and Benevolence, and therefore above that which is meerly Civil; yet it is lawful to converſe with Men in the generality of human Nature, upon good occaſions, and for good ends. It is our duty to communicate the good Things which Divine Bounty hath beſtowed upon us; and it is our duty, to expreſs our mutual Eſteem and Affections by Words or Deeds: and ſo it is lawful at our Tables, and other Meetings, to drink one to another, as it is to help or carve, or to invite them to a liberty to partake of what we have. And it may become us to remember our abſent Friends, and that when we meet as Confederates in the ſame Covenant of Grace, in the ſame Religion, Name, Nature, and Cognation, &c.
4. The diſtaſte is not only againſt this Ceremony, but any other, that doth tacitely or expreſly lay any obligation upon any Man to drink for his carnal pleaſure or harm.
5. Mutual, ſober, communicative Drinking, is an expreſſion of a Friendſhip and Confederacy; and therefore it is not unlawful for one to expreſs that Friendſhip and Love by Words or Signs. I may wiſh him any Grace or Mercy from God. But when that which is intended, is the gratification of the Fleſh, and the Health is but a pretence for it, it cannot be excuſed nor defended.
6. There is a great difference between drinking a Health, and remembring of a Friend in drinking, both in the intention of the thing, and common practice; but if the remembrance of the abſent be any kind of engagement to drink unſeaſonably, or exceſſively, it is as bad as Healthing. But there is a great difference between them: The one is profitable, and the other not; the one is a Duty, the other not; for the one we have divine Precedents, for the other none. When we call to mind our abſent Friends, we make them as perſonally preſent as we can; we include them in the ſame Affection with the preſent: We remember their condition and circumſtances of Life, and ſo according to their condition we are affected, ſometimes into Joy and Thankſgivings, ſometimes into Pity and Commiſeration, ſometimes into Sorrow and Sympathy. It was the Sin of them that drank Wine in Bowls, that they forgat the Afflictions of Joſeph. Amos 1. And it was an effectual way to forget him. Remembrance of the Abſent may move us to weep and ſigh, and to forbear our drinking, may afford matter of Diſcourſe, and to lay aſide our Cups: But in Healthing, what is there more than drinking our ſelves, and making others drink, and that to the preſent, as well or more than the abſent.
§. 2. That which I am enquiring into, is drinking a Health or Healths, abſtracted from the Formalities of being uncovered, or kneeling, or any other Accident or Effects, but in it ſelf, as near as I can. It is the firſt Occaſion and Spring of much Vanity, Sin, and Evil; it ſendeth out both the ſweet of ſuch Kindneſs as it is, and the bitter of Unkindneſs; it is an implicit Prayer, if not expreſs, and a Curſe. It is to the Happineſs and Unhappineſs, good Succeſs and bad, to a good Voyage, to a good Journey, to a next merry Meeting; and it is to all that is bad and fearful. The ſwaggering Proteſtant drinks it to the deſtruction of the Pope, and he is the never the further off for that; and the fiery Papiſt, he drinks the Confuſion of Hereticks. It is a Dedication, and an Execration, and ſometimes a Memorial.
And I think it is a Sacrifice, or ſome kind of Sacrament, or a Prayer.
§. 3 The moſt conſiderable Pretence or Apology for it, is taken from its Antiquity and Univerſality, and will prove it as lawful, as the Romiſh Church to be true. May not as much be ſaid for the groſſeſt of Vices? Sin was in the World a long time before it; this came not in, but till after the Devil grew genteel and complemental. It was an ancient Cuſtom to drink in honour of great Names, or to the Health of Friends; but to engage and challenge by it, to the infringement of Liberty and Sobriety, was unknown to the moſt ſimple Ages, that retained the ſhape of Humanity, and face of Vertue. This Faſhion was not come up in the days of Homer, as the Learned Dr. Duport obſerves upon that Verſe of Homer:
foreign.
At hand a Cup of Wine there ſtood,
To drink when he himſelf thought good.
Nondum quippè inoleverat barbarus ille mos, provocando ſe mutuò majoribus poculis. That barbarous way of mutual provocation to quaff, was then a Stranger; every Man drunk what he pleaſed, and not at the beck and guſt of other Men. He recites ſeveral Greek Authors for his Opinion, and among other Teſtimonies, a Laconick Apothegm out of Plutarch. The Lacedemonian heard, that ſome at their Feaſting were compelled to drink, Why not, ſaith he, to eat? Et certè, ſaith the Doctor, videtur eſſe par ratio, hoc eſt planè nulla: As good reaſon ſurely for the one as the other, which is none at all. — Gnomol. Homeric. Od 8. p. 185. But after that Corruption grew rank in the Soil of Proſperity, it became proverbial of quaffing and urging, Graeco more bibere, Graeco more potare, interpretantur quidam, grandibus meracis que poculis ſe invitare. Cicero in Verrem, Action. 3. Fit ſermo inter cos, & invitatio, ut Graeco more biberetur, hoſpes hortatur, poſcunt majoribus poculis, celebratur omnium ſermone laetitiâ que convivium. Cael. Rhodigin. Antiq. Lectionum, l. 28. c. 6. And one of their Laws of drinking, became a Proverb, Aut bibat, aut abeat; It was the ſafer way to be gone, than ſtay; for the reaſon which Cicero gives in the 5th of his Tuſculan. Q. Ne ſobrius in Violentiam Vinolentorum incidat: leſt the Wine-drinkers fall upon him with Violence.
This was a more genteel and civil Law than that, If he will not drink, pour it upon his Head; which was done to Empedocles, and which he took at a Feaſt, in ſuch Indignation, that the day following he call'd a Council, and the maker of the Feaſt, and the Sympoſiarch, or the Governour of it, were both condemned. Vid. Adag. Eraſmi, Chiliad. 1. Cent. 2. Prov. 47. Diogen. Laertius in vit. Empedoc. l. 8. But our Germans, ſaith Eraſmus, are more barbarous than the Scythians: Drink, ſay they, or I will break your Head with this Jug, as big as it is. The Scythians, both Men and Women, were wont to pour out Wine upon their Cloaths, accounting it a pleaſant and happy Life. Quid ais? & agnoſcis haec in noſtris Moribus? ſaith Lipſius. Our Bibbers in our Country, will pour Wine into the Boſom of them that refuſe to drink, and when they greedily drink, drop it upon their own. Lipſ. Ep. Miſcellan. Ep. 7. La.
§. 4. The Ancient Romans uſed freedom in their drinking, without Arts of alluring. Aulus Gellius reports of Romulus, the firſt King of the Romans, being invited to a Supper, drank but ſparingly, becauſe he had Buſineſs to do the next day; they ſaid to him, Romulus, If all Men ſhould do as you do, Wine would be cheap: He anſwered, Yea, but, it would be dearer, if every Man may drink as much as he pleaſe, for I have drunk as much as I had a mind to. A. Gell. Nect. Attic. l. 11. c. 14. The Perſinas alſo were very abſtemious, ſparing, and laborious in the firſt Ages; but in proceſs of time, being infected with the Median and Lybian Luxury, their Luſts grew corpulent and bulky, and became to be merobibos, & multobibos; and they were wont to compel to drinking at their Feaſts, which made Ahaſuerus to reform that evil Cuſtom, and conſtrain no Man, but indulge every Man to drink as little as he would. Breſſon. de Regio Perſarum Principatu, l. 2. p. 215.
§. 5. So it was of old, but you know how it is now. I have thought it to be ſome kind of Pagan Sacrifice, and to imply a Prayer, which are the Notions I ſhall ſtick to, and produce conſiderable Proof of it. It is alſo an Honorative and Memorative Rite and Ceremony.
§. 6. And ſo it was taken to be by ancient Fathers, who preached and wrote againſt it, as a Sin of their times, and an Obligation to Drunkenneſs: Wherefore ſhould I ſpeak of your earneſt Entreaties, and Obteſtations? Wherefore ſhould I remember your Sacraments? Quid memorem Sacramenta? your Sacraments, Oaths or Myſteries? Bibamus, inquiunt, pro Salute Imper atorum: Let us drink for the Health of the Emperors, and he who refuſeth, reus erit in Devotione, he is faulty in his Devotion, Loyalty, or Love to the Emperor — O pia Devotionis Obſequium! O the ſupple flattering obſervance of pious Devotion! — Let us drink, ſay they, for the Health of our Armies, for the Strength and Valour of our Companions, for the Health of our Sons.— And they do think that theſe their Prayers and Vows do reach, or come up even to God; even as they who bring their Cups to the Sepulchres of the Martyrs, and there drink, in Veſperam, until the Evening, and believe, that otherwiſe they cannot be heard. O Stultitiam Hominum, qui Ebrietatem Sacrificium put ant! &c. O the Folly of Men who think Drunkenneſs to be a Sacrifice! Who think them to be appeaſed with Drunkenneſs, who taught us to bear Sufferings with Faſting. Quot de Intemper antiâ convivii novimus ad Torment a veniſſe? How many intemperate Men have we ever known to be Martyrs? —It is plain that St. Ambroſe took this Healthing to be Vows, Prayers, Sacriſice. Libr. de Helia & Jejunio, c. 17.
§. 7. St. Auguſtin, in his 64 Epiſt. to Biſhop Aurelius, falls ſharply upon Drunkenneſs, and eſpecially at the Sepulchres of the Martyrs; which becauſe the carnal and ignorant Vulgar are wont to believe to be not only the Honours of the Martyrs, but the Comforts of the dead. It ſeems to me that that Turpitude be eaſier diſſuaded from, if it be forbidden out of the Scripture, and if Oblations and Sacrifices for the Dead, which we may truly believe to help little, upon theſe Commemorations be not ſo ſumptuous, &c.
Roſinus confirms the Obſervation of drinking in honour of Perſons, and ſacrificing: Solemne hoc erat, ut Divo alicui libarent; and threw upon the Table or Floor ſome of their Wine, ut que in Dominae aut Amicae Honorem Cyathum ebiberent, eam que palàm nominarent; and then drank in honour of their Lady, Miſtreſs, or Miſs, and named her openly. Antiquitat. Romanorum, l. 5. c. 30.
§. 8. We may learn out of Heathen Authors, that to Health is as much as to ſacrifice and pray. Some, ſaith Alexander ab Alexandro, do ſay, that Graeco more bibere, to drink after the manner of the Greeks, is as often as they name or call their Gods or Friends among their Cups, every one by his Name, ſo often to drink largely and take off their Wine; and when Magiſtrates were choſen, or Honours conferred, they carried about Wine in Goblers, and pointed them out by Name, to whom they ſhould give the Cup; and then firſt they were wont to call their Gods, and afterwards their Friends, and ſo often to drink deep, & bona à Diis precari, and to beg good things of their Gods. It was the Cuſtom of the Thracians, inter Ep…las & Porula primum libare Diis D…pes, & benè precari convivis: they firſt offered Dainties to their Gods, and then pray'd for their Gueſts, and according to their Prayers, to eat their Dainties with Modeſty, hund xliter, no otherwiſe than if it had been at a ſacred Banquet. Let them among us take notice of this, who ſit down, and riſe from their Tables, and never pray for God's Bleſſing, nor return God Thanks: And let them alſo learn from the Thracians, that pray before Meat, to eat and drink according to their Prayer, as at a holy Feaſt.
The Greeks and Romans in their familliac eating together, pieces of the Meat and ſome Wine being thrown into the Fire, they gave Drink-Offerings to their Gods, and the firſt Fruits of their Suppers to their familiar Spirits, or Houſhold-Gods, to whom the Salt and Bread, and Cheeſe fell for their Meſs. The firſt Cup was mineled to Jupiter Olympius, the ſecond to their Hero's, the third to Jupiter the Saviour.— And when pure, or Wine unmixed was given, it was obſerved that they ſhould call to Jovem ſoſpitem, Jupiter that giveth Health, No cemulentes faceret, leſt the Wine ſhould make them drunk; but when it was mixed with Water, Jovom appellare Servatorem, to call to Jupiter the Saviour. Alex. ab Alex. Genialium Dierum, l. 5. c. 19.
The third Cup was by the Ancients accounted ſolemn and myſtical, and it became a Cuſtom to facrifice, foreign, the third to Jupiter Soter. Dr. Duport. Gnomot. Homer. p. 138. Vid. & Coelium Rhodiginum. l. 28. c. 6. de tertio Poculo Jovi Soteri, p. 1068.
Paulus in Perſa, & in Sticho deſcribes the manner of feaſting. Toxilus calls thus;
—Hoe age, accumbe, hunc Diem ſuavem,
Meum natalem agitemus, amaenum.
Mind your Buſineſs, ſit down, let us keep this ſweet and pleaſant Day, this is my Birth-day. Age Puer, Come Boy, do thy Buſineſs, à ſummo ſeptenis Cyathis committe hos Ludos: Begin theſe Sports, or Merriments, with ſeven Cups, beginning with him that ſits uppermoſt: Be nimble, and make haſte. Pegnium, Thou doſt not give me my Cups faſt enough: Prethee give 'em me.
Benè mihi, benè vobis, benè Amicae meae.
All Happineſs to me this is, a Health to you is this;
A happy Life to me, to you, and to my Friend and Miſs.
Coelius Rhodiginus hath collected, That it was the Cuſtom of the Greeks, after Supper to drink Poculum boni Daemonis, the Cup of the good Demon, which Euſtachius upon Homer thought to be Fortune. And what was this Cup, but a Libation or Sacrifice to Fortune? And the Cups bore the Names of their Gods, becauſe they were dedicated to them. The firſt Cup was to Jupiter Olympius, (as you heard before) the next was the Cup of the Hero's of the Earth, the third was of Jupiter the Saviour.
But why was it called the Cup of Jupiter the Saviour? becauſe that manner of drinking was kept within the bounds of Sobriety; he that went beyond that, was noted to be intemperate. The ſame Cup was called foreign, from the Perfection of the number Three, which contains the Beginning, Middle, and End. It is found in Books, ſaith the ſame laborious Collector, that the chief Cup in Feaſts offered Praefatione foreign. This is the Cup of the good Demon, which many thought to be Bacchus, Laetitiae Dator, the Giver of Mirth. The laſt was Praefations Jovis, the Cup of Jupiter Liberator, the Deliverer. We have found in Theſautis Julii Pollucis, the laſt Cup was called foreign, or Mercurie; for riſing from Supper, they were wont to drink or ſacrifice to Mercurius, the Preſident of Sleep, as Athanaeus writes, the laſt was the Cup of Jupiter the perfect. Antiq. Leet. p. 1008.
How like to theſe Paganiſh Dedications, are the Forms and Inſcriptions, or Dedications of Health? Do they not call the Cups by the Names of the Perſons whoſe Health they drink, viz. This is your Health, ſuch a Health, have you had this Health? and when at a loſs, they ask, Whoſe Health is this? How like is this form of Speech to the old one, Bibamus pro Salute Imperatoris, let us drink for the Health of the Emperor.
§. 9. That Healthing implies Sacrifice and Prayer, may be proved by plainer Evidence yet, in the Sacrifice and Feſtival obſerved in Memory of Anna Perenna, or to vary a little after the Popiſh Dialect, the Feaſt of St. Ann Perenna.
In the Month of March, ſome ſay on the Ides, or 15th day of that Month, was the Feaſt of Anna, Siſter of Dido, as ſome ſay, prefer'd into the place of a Goddeſs. Eodem Menſe & publicè & privatim, ad Annam Perennam Sacrificatum itur, ut annare & perennare commodè lieas, ſaith Macrobius Saturnal. l. 1. c. 12. Quò commodius annare, & perennare liceret. ſaith Alexand. ab Alexandro, l. 3. c. 18. Annare dicimus, Annum agere, to live a Year, quemadmodùm porennare Annos peragere, to live out, or compleat many Years. Annum perſicere, & quaſi perpetuùm agere, to live perpetually; as Peret, in Cornucopia in Martial. Epiſt. fol. 143. Col. 2. Sunt qui Lunant putarint, quae Anna vocaretur, quod Annus ex Menſibus fiaet. Lil. Gyraldus Syntagm. Hiſtor. Deorum Syntagm. 1. p. 57.
On the Ides of March there was a Feaſt to Anna Perens, in quo largioribus Poculis indulgebant, & pro Cyathorum numero Annos mutuò precabantur; in which they gave themſelves to drink larger Cups than ordinary; and according to the number of the Cups, they pray'd for ſo many Years to live for one another. Roſin. Antiquitat. Roman. l. 4. Calendario Romano; which Feaſt is deſcribed by Ovid. Faſtor. Libr. 3.
Sole tamen, Vino que calent, Annoſ que precantur;
Quot ſumunt Cyathos, ad numerum que bibunt.
Invenies illic qui Neſtoris ebibat Annos.
Well warm'd with Sun and Wine, for Years they wiſh,
For every Year they wiſh, they take a Diſh,
(They drink and pray) and to a number drink:
Some to the Years of Neſtor e're they ſhrink.
To conclude this Evidence, that Healthing doth intimate a Sacrifice or Prayer, may appear from that horrid, and worſe than barbarous, that cruel and deviliſh Sin of imprecating Evil to Enemies in their Madneſs of drinking, when they wiſh, till they curſe even to Hell; therefore when they are pleaſed, then it is your Health, the beſt Prayer they can make. This is a Jewiſh Cuſtom at their Weddings, when they drink and pledg, they ſay, Le chaſim tobh, Sit tibi ſaluti; Be it to your Health, or your Health. But if they are diſpleaſed and diſaffected towards any, as they are towards Chriſtians, then foreign a Curſe, which Letters cabaliſtically reſolved, do amount to 165, and in one Word they imprecate 165 Curſes to him. Bnxtorf. Synag. Judaic. c. 28. de Nupt. What are they that curſe and damn in their Cups, Jews or Chriſtians? I wiſh they would, when they are ſober, think of theſe Things.
§. 10. Here's Evidence full enough for the Notion in which I take this Healthing; but whence doth it ariſe? who is the Inventor of it? Here's an Enquiry for a Polydore Virgil, or ſome ſuch Man as he, or Hieronymus Mercurialis. I muſt go no further than my own dim and ſhort Candle will help me. The Heathens might imitate the Jews, and uſe that as a divine, which was a corrupted Sacrifice. So the Learned Gataker conceived, in his Annotations upon Jer. 7.18. The Peace-Offerings and Drink-Offerings of the Jews were by God's Appointment, and were Sacrificia ſalutaria, votiva, & euchariſtica, called by the Seventy, foreign. Dr. Outram de Sacrificiis, c. 11. and others. What the Devil borrows from God pure and uncorrupt, he leaveneth with his Malice, to corrupt God's People, and all that are deceived by him. God's People paid dear for what they borrowed from Heathen Idolaters, or took up in imitation of them.
That Text in Iſa. 65.12, 13. is interpreted by ſundry learned Men to countenance what I am upon: But ye are they which forſake the Lord, and forget my holy Mountain; that prepare a Table for that Troop, and that furniſh a Drink-Offering unto that Number. Here is their Sin; their Loſs and Miſery by it is ſet down by the Prophet. The Sin was forſaking the Lord, forgetting God's holy Mountain, not regarding his Worſhip in Jeruſalem, or Mount Sion; and preparing a Table for that Troop, and a Drink-Offering to that Number. In the Original, as you ſee in the Margin, the Troop is Gad, and the Number Meni. The Learned Druſius, giving to Jacobus Montanus his Opinion of Gen. 30.11. tells him, that ſome Interpreters do render Gad a Troop, and others Fortune. Gad, as the Hebrews witneſs, is Good Fortune, quam Graeci foreign vocant, and the Hebrews Muzzal Tobh. Caeterum Fortunae, quam Gad appellabant, veteres menſam inſtruebant. But the Ancients did prepare a Table for Fortune, which they called Gad, Iſa. 56.11. Druſius de quaeſitis per Epiſtolam, Ep. 100. Grotius alſo obſerves, that Gad ſignifies Fortune, among the Hebrews, Chaldeans, and Arabians.
The Seventy tranſlate the Words, And have prepared a Table to Daemon, and fill'd a Mixture to Fortune.
Meni is by Avenarius tranſlated Mercurius, an Idol worſhipped by the Merchants. So Mr. Pool, Engliſh Annotat. The Merchants ſacrificed to Maia and Mercurius, in the Month of May, praying for good Succeſs; and theſe Deities and Idols were the Sun and Moon, under ſeveral Names, as Macrobius informs, Saturnal. l. 1. c. 12. So alſo Alexander ab Alexandro, lib. 3. Roſin. Antiq. Rom. lib. 2. cap. 9. & Lilii Gyraldi Syntagma 9.
The Hoſt of Heaven were in number many, and ſacrificing to them, they ſacrificed to a Number; perhaps, ſaith Sanctius, alluding to the Cuſtom of the Heathen, qui tot cyathos libabant, who ſacrificed ſo many Cups, as there were Letters in his Name for whom they prayed. Hence let our Merchants, Perſons of great Ingenuity, Induſtry, and Acquaintance in the World, remember that they are Chriſtians, and to ſend out their Ships with Faith and Prayer, and wait for their return by Prayer ſtill, by Patience and Submiſſion to the Will of God; and give over drinking Healths for a good Voyage, a good Return and Succeſs, that they may not attribute their good or bad Succeſs to Mercury, or to a good and bad Fortune, but to the Goodneſs of God, and his trying Providences. Did but their Ships run as many Hazards at Sea, as their Souls and Bodies do by Land, by drinking, their Lives would be more careful than they be, and would, if ever, learn to pray by Land. I doubt not but there are as many good Men of them, as of any Profeſſion, that ſpill not their Wine upon the Ground in Libations, as the Heathen did; nor make a Body, ſanctified to the Lord, as loathſom as a Swilling-Tub; but ſend forth their Stocks with the Sacrifice of Prayer, and receive them with another of Thanksgiving. So there are too many that trade in Sin, and I beg their candid acceptance of this Digreſſion, upon occaſion of this particular Notice that is given of the Pagan Merchants Superſtition.
§. 11. The firſt coming in of this Healthing to the Britains, they have cauſe to remember with Sorrow; it was with wiſhing well, but doing ill, (at leaſt I cannot trace it higher.) The Story is to be found in Fabian's Chronicle, and Hollingſhead, but I ſhall take it out of Rich. Verſtegan's Reſtitution of decay'd Intelligence, c. 5. p. 127. As this Lady Rowena was very beautiful, ſo was ſhe of a very comly Deportment, and Hengiſtas having invited King Vor…iger to a Supper at his new-built (Tong) Caſtle, cauſed that after Supper, ſhe came forth of her Chamber into the King's Preſence with a Cup of Gold filled with Wine in her Hand, making in a very ſeemly manner a low Reverence unto the King, ſaid with a pleaſing Grace and Countenance, in our ancient Language. Waes Healt Hlaford Cynang, which being rightly expounded according to our preſent Speech: Be of Health Lord King. — Waes, now pronounced Wax, is as much as to ſay, Grow, Re, or Become; and Waes Heale, by corruption of Pronunciation, after wards became to be Waſſaile. The King not underſtanding what ſhe ſaid, demanded it of his Chamber lain what it was; and when he knew, he asked him how he might anſwer her in her own Language, whereof being inform'd, He ſaid unto her, Drink Heale; that is to ſay, Drink Health. The King was ſo be-witched with this Lady, that he put away his own Chriſtian Queen, and married her, which was fatal to the Britains. King Vortiger might be as unacquainted with the Complement, as he was with the Saxon Language; for the Britains uſed all freedom in their drinking, without any Compulſion or Obligation, as is remembred in that old Diſtick.
Ecce Britannorum mo… eſt laudabilis iſte.
Ʋt bibat Arbitrio, Pocula quiſ que ſuo.
Behold, the Britain's way praiſeworthy is,
That every Man may drink what's Pleaſure is.
What Devourers of Ale the Saxons were, may be ſeen in Johannes Boemus's Book, called, Mores, Leges, & Ritus omnium Gentium, l. 3. c. 13. They would ſet a Pail before them full of Ale, and drink out of it in a Diſh, it is incredible how much they would drink, no Sow, nor Bull could ſwallow down ſo much. He that drank down the reſt, had a Garland of Flowers, or Roſes, given him as a Reward, and carried away the Glory. And from them did proceed, ſaith he, that damnable Cuſtom of drinking the ſtrongeſt Wines through all Germany, with unſpeakable Miſchief.— He is taken for an Enemy that will not pledg the Cups that are held out to him. So he. And to conclude, Mr. Cambden records it,The Hiſtorical Proof. That the Engliſh, who of all the Northern Nations, were leaſt given to drink, and commended for their Sobriety; learnt in the Low-Country Wars to drown themſelves in exceſſive drinking, and by drinking to the Health of others, to waſte their own. Annot. Eliz. Anno 1561. p. 318.
§. 12. Becauſe I would not be ſingular, but back what I have a good while ago laid up, as the Signification of Healthing, I will produce ſome very worthy Divines ſpeaking the ſame thing.
Reverend Mr. Durham, in his Expoſition of the ſeventh Commandment, gives his Judgment thus. If we look narrowly into the thing it ſelf (altho Cuſtom, when it grows inveterate, weakeneth us in the uptaking of things, yet) it will probably be found to have riſen from Heatheniſh Idolaters, who uſed Libamen Jovi, Baccho, &c. And if it be ſuppoſed to help the Health of others, that cannot be expected from God, who hath given no ſuch Promiſe, it muſt therefore be from the Devil; it was called by the Heathen, Phiala Jovis, drinking of Health, being amongſt them, a piece of Drink-offering, or Sacrifice to their Idols, in the behalf of thoſe they mentioned in their drinking, or whoſe Healths they drank; and it is certain there is no Veſtigia of it in Chriſtianity, nor any reaſon for it; and Experience cleareth that many are grown ſuperſtitious in the uſe of it, as if the refuſing ſuch a thing were a Prejudice or Indignity to the Perſons mentioned; and that the Devil hath made uſe of it, as a Rower, to convey in much Drunkenneſs into the World. We think abſolutely ſafeſt to forbear it, and we are ſure there is no hazzard. So he, p. 391.
See alſo the Saying of Reverend Mr. Sam. Ward, above quoted.