Part 12 (1/2)
”May we never condemn that in a brother which we pardon in ourselves.”
”May the evening's diversions bear the morning's reflections.”
”May every society inst.i.tuted for the promotion of virtue--flourish.”
Other toasts are equally good, but the masonic allusions make them more suitable for the perusal of members of the craft than for the public.
Next in order come Baccha.n.a.lian toasts. Some of the sentiments would not meet with favour in well regulated society at the present period, but we doubt not were hailed with delight in the hard drinking days of old. The first toast under this head is:--
”A friend and a bottle of wine to give him.”
Wine and women find a place in not a few of the sentiments:--
”A full purse, a fresh bottle, and a pretty face.”
”Beauty, wit, and wine.”
”Wine, women, and wit.”
The foregoing are brief, and are perhaps the best toasts which link women with wine. The next is not a bad toast:--
”May our love of the gla.s.s never make us forget decency.”
Punning examples are included, such as the two following:--
”May good fellows be found in every port, and all bad ones obliged to sherry out.”
”May we never be out of spirits.”
On the whole, the toasts under this heading are not equal in merit to many of the others in the volume.
We find amatory toasts next in order, and of this cla.s.s quote three examples:--
”The fairest work of nature--women.”
”The village maid, may she remain so till she gets a good husband.”
”Love without deceit, and matrimony without regret.”
Sporting sentiments are by no means numerous; only four pages are devoted to them. The following are specimens:--
”May the thirst of blood never disgrace a British sportsman.”
”May the love of the chase never interrupt our attention to the welfare of the country.”
”The huntsman's pleasures--the field in the morning, the bottle at night.”
Some are in rhyme, and the following is a favourable example:--
”May jovial hunters in the morn Prepare them for the chase; Rise at the sounding of the horn, And health with sport enhance.”