The Origin of Drinking Healths

The custom of drinking healths is traced back to the time of "Edward the Martyr." Edward came to the throne of England in 975. Edgar, the Peaceable, had left two sons; Edward, the son of his first wife, and Ethelred, whose mother, Elfrida, was still living. Elfrida was ambitious that her son should be king instead of his half-brother, but the influence of St. Dunstan gave the crown to Edward; from that time she sought an opportunity to kill him. Edward was gentle to all, respectful to his ambitious step-mother, and fondly attached to his half-brother, Ethelred. On the 18th of March, 978, King Edward was hunting in the forest of Dorset near Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire, where Elfrida lived, and, unattended by his servant and unsuspicious of any ill, he rode to the castle to make the queen a visit. Elfrida received him with every demonstration of affection, and since he declined to dismount, she handed him a cup of wine with her own hands. While he was drinking, she caused him to be stabbed in the back. Edward, finding himself wounded, put spurs to his horse and galloped off; but becoming weak he fell, and was dragged in the stirrup till he died. Ethelred succeeded to the throne; but, though the wicked queen had her wish, she never regained her peace of mind. Our English forefathers were great drinkers, and this story of the assassination of King Edward is quoted as authority for the early form of drinking healths, as follows: It was customary with them, in drinking at parties, to pass round a large cup, from which each in turn drank to one of the company; he who thus drank stood up. As he lifted the cup with both hands, his body was exposed without defence to a stab in the back from an enemy; then arose the custom that when one of the company stood to drink, the one who sat next to him should stand as his pledge, and when he took the cup the next man should stand with him to be his pledge, and so on; the "pledge" stood with a raised sword in his hand. This practice, in an altered form, continued long after the condition of society had ceased to require it. In some of our colleges the custom is still preserved in almost its primitive form, "the loving cup" it is sometimes called. There was a late instance of passing "the loving cup" at a dinner given during the Lambeth Conference in England, July 4th, 1888, by the Lord Mayor of London, when 298 guests were seated in the magnificent Mansion Hall, and where in the speeches and the music America was not forgotten. The ceremony is thus described by one present: "The old time 'loving cup' was then sent round; the gentleman who first receives it rising, bowing and presenting it to the lady next, who rises, bows, uncovers it and holds it while he drinks, then replaces the cover, turns, and bowing, presents it to the gentlemen next, who in like manner uncovers and serves for her; and so it goes round the tables."

Various other ceremonies of health-drinking have come down to us from early times. According to the Lichfield custom, the person drinking requires a companion on either side of the person drinking to rise; thus three were always standing. The custom at Queen's College, Oxford, requires the companions or "pledges" to place their thumbs upon the table, thus incapacitating them from making an attempt upon the life of the person who is drinking. Records of the custom in many countries and in many ages might be multiplied ad infinitum. Sir Matthew Hale left an injunction upon his grandchildren not to pledge any health, and adds: "If they will need know the reason of your refusal, it is a fair answer, that your grandfather that brought you up, from whom, under God, you have the estate you enjoy or expect, left this command with you, that you should never begin or pledge a health." The loyalty of the English to Charles II. was shown by such frequent drinkings of his health, as to threaten disturbance of the public peace, and to occasion a royal proclamation. The practice of "touching glasses" in drinking healths is said to have originated when Prince Charles passed over into France, after the failure of the expedition of 1715, and his supporters were beset on every hand with spies. It so happened that in society they were necessitated to drink the King's health, but it was tacitly understood among them that "the King" was not King George, but "the King over the water." To express this symbolically, one glass was passed over another, and later on the foot of one glass was touched to the rim of another.

Drinking healths was a common classical usage, though post-Homeric. But the Greek always drank, himself, before passing the cup to his friend. His tasting the wine first was a pledge that he had not poisoned it; as, if he had, he would be the first to suffer.