Mary, Queen of Scots, previous to her execution, drank to all her attendants, desiring them to pledge her.

THE WASSAIL BOWL.

The term Wassail, which in our elder poets is connected with much interesting imagery, and many curious rites, appears to have been first used in this island, during the well-known interview between Vortigern and Rowena. Geoffrey of Monmouth relates, on the authority of Walter Calenius, that this lady, the daughter of Hengist, knelt down on the approach of the King, and presenting him with a cup of wine, exclaimed, "Lord, King, Was heil," that is literally, “Lord King, health be to you." Vortigern being ignorant of the Saxon language, was informed by an interpreter, that the purport of these words was to wish him health, and that he should reply by the expression, "Drinc heil," or "Drink the health;' accordingly on his so doing, Rowena drank, and the King receiving the cup from her hand, kissed and pledged her.

"Health, my Lord King,' the sweet Rowena said ; 'Health,' cried the chieftain to the Saxon maid; Then gaily rose, and 'mid the concourse wide, Kiss'd her pale lips, and placed her by his side. At the soft scene, such gentle thoughts abound, That healths and kisses 'mongst the guests went round."

"

The poet adds, but with a poet's license, for the custom, as we have before shown, is of more remote antiquity—

"From this the social custom took its rise;

We still retain, and still must keep the prize."

It may be indeed true, that since that period, the custom has prevailed in Britain, of using, whilst drinking, the particular words made use of at the interview between Vortigern and Rowena, the person who drinks to another saying, "Was heil," your health, and he who receives the cup answering, " Drinc heil," your health, I thank ye.

It soon afterwards became a custom in villages, on Christmas Eve, New-Year's Eve, and Twelfth Night, for itinerant minstrels to carry to the house of the gentry and others, where they were generally very hospitably received, a bowl of spiced wine; which being presented with the Saxon words just mentioned, was therefore called a Wassail Bowl. A bowl or cup of this description was also to be found in almost every nobleman or gentleman's house, until the middle of the seventeenth century, which was in perpetual requisition during the revels of Christmas.

DRINKING BUMPERS.

Excessive drinking is a less vice of modern than of ancient times. The feats of this sort which are

recorded even of the polite nations of Greece and Rome, far surpass anything which the men of later times have been able to exhibit. Alexander the Great, who fell a victim to this brutal indulgence, brought a number of topers together after the burning of Calanus, and proposed to them a match at drinking for a prize of one talent. The fellow who carried off the prize was one Promachus, who is said to have drank off four congies, or about thirty English bottles of wine! He had his talent, says Plutarch, and his death into the bargain, for he died the third day after, together with forty-one other persons who, in this disgraceful competition, drank themselves into eternity! In the history of Alexander's triumphs, this is one which truth and morality require should not be forgotten. Prodigious as was the achievement of Promachus, it is nothing to what is told of the Emperor Maximinius, who is said to have drank not once, but often, in the course of a day, an amphora of the capitol, which contained eight congies, or above eighty pints! Nay, the son of M. Tullius Cicero is said to have been able to take off at one draught two congies, or about two gallons! After this, the reader will not be surprised to learn that it was the regular practice with the Romans, in their convivial parties, to drink down the evening, and drink up the morning star; and that it was another of their common practices in drinking to their mistresses, not to content

themselves, as in this fag end of time, with single bumpers, but to drink as many cups as there were letters in the names of the fair damsels. Hence Martial,

Nævia sex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur,

Quinque Lycas, Lyde quatuor, Ida tribus.

Six cups to Nævia's health, seven to Justina be;

To Lycas five, to Lyde four, and then to Ida three. The Germans have out-done all the nations of modern times in their efforts to rival the Bacchanalian extravagance of the ancient masters of the world; yet even they must be reckoned mere sippers in comparison. Till a very late period, enormous goblets were among the chief ornaments of the rooms and tables of the German nobility; at their feasts the bottle used to be pushed round continually; and each guest had to empty his goblet, on pain of being condemned as a false friend and brother. A pleasant story in this respect is told of an old German knight in the first half of the seventeenth century. He was sitting at table next to his young wife in a numerous company. The lady, who had probably a more polished education than her husband, whispered to him, when it came to his turn to empty an enormous glass, to pour the wine secretly under the table. "The others will see it," said he. His wife, therefore, just as he was raising the glass to his mouth, snuffed out the candle and repeated her request.

Instead of complying, he said with a kind of solemnity, "He who seeth all things will see it," and emptied his goblet.

FLAP-DRAGONS.

Among the drinking customs of our ancestors, that of using the flap-dragon was frequent; it consists of a small inflammable body, set on fire, and put to float in a glass of liquor: and the courage of the toper was tried in the attempt to swallow it flaming. Raisins in hot brandy were the commonest flap-dragons; and it is probable that it was to those that Shakspeare alludes in "Love's Labour Lost:"

"Thou art easier swallow'd than a flap-dragon."

The Dutch are said to have been famous at this feat, and hence we find frequent mention of their skill in our own plays. In "Rum Alley," it is said,

The most formidable of flap-dragons were candles' ends, which young men of spirit and gallantry would drink off to the healths of their favourites, as a strong testimony of their attachment. In the play of "Henry the Fourth," Falstaff attributes the prince's friendship to Poins, because "he eats conger and fennel, and