“HERE’S A HEALTH.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 13 September 1924, Page 6

“HERE’S A HEALTH.”

HOW TOASTS ORIGINATED IN ENGLAND.

Drinking to a man’s good health he. gan in England as far back as the Danish invasion, when it was, customary with the Danes whilst an Englishman was drinking to take the opportunity of stabbing him. lo guard against this Danish treachery, the English entered into a combination to be mutual pledges of seC^i7i? r another. while drinking. ~ When, therefore, an Englishman of that period drank to his friend his tacit language, was, “Sir, I fear that some malicious Dane will stab me or cut rnj throat whilst I am drinking; I beg the favour of you to watch 1 may drink in safety.” To which hi? friend was supposed to answer, “Sir, ] will pledge you and be your’surety.” He then replied, “I am much obliged You. Sir, your health,- that you may live till I have done drinking, and save me from, his wicked intentions.” “There is some doubt as to how the word “toast” came to be used as implying complimentary drinking, but if is probably derived from the piece ol toast which used to be put into thclovmg cup to add piquancy to the. draught, a, custom still used at our universities.

For the piece of toast was afterwards substituted the name of a lad_v to whose welfare the company were invited to drink, and who thus became the toast or savour of the wine.

lia that age of gallantry, the time of iiing Charles 11, it was the custom when a gcntlemna drank a ladv’s health to throw some part of his dress to the flames, in order to do her still greater honour, and his companions were obligeel to follow him in this woof of venerution by committing to" the Haines a similar article of apparel, whatever ii might be.

Ihe term “toast” has, however, in course of. time developed from a particular into a general sense, and liowa. days there is no limit to the number or variety of different toasts which mnv be given when men drink together. At any foraml gathering the first toast jo jic drunk is, of course, “The King. this loyal toast was not always chunk so loyally 200 years ago, when supporters of the Stuarts would secretly drink to “the King across the water. Macaulay tells us how the Jacobites, in the time of William 111,, had a way of drinking treasonable healths by limping about the room with glasses raised to their lies. Limp ineanmg: L—Louis the Fourteenth. I—James. —Mary of Modena. P—Prince of Wales. Ihe present-day custom of touch in pglasses originated when Prince Charles fled to France in 1745. His supporters tf obliged in society to drink the King’s health, tacitly understood that they drank not to. King George, but to “the King across the water,” and they ex~pressed their real toast symbolically. One glass would be passed over another, and later on the foot of one glass was touched against the rim of another. Another method of secretly drinking' this romantic toast was to hold the wineglass over the finger-bowl containing water, and to this secret sign is said to be due the curious custom in connection with royal visitors, before whom alone finger-bow-Is are placed on the dinner table.