Cup (drinking vessel)

“ In the old poem Beowulf evi­dence may be found bear­ing upon this point. One of the trea­sures in the ancient bar­row guarded by the dragon Gren­del is “The solid cup, the costly drinking ves­sel (drync fœt deore) .” Drink­ing ves­sels are fre­quent­ly found in Anglo-Saxon tombs. The cups rep­re­sent­ed in the cut are made of glass, and were found chief­ly in bar­rows in Kent. They are of the “tum­bler” species, i.e., on being filled they must be emptied at a draught, and can­not be set down with any liquor in them. ”

“ The royal cup-bearer brought a golden goblet filled to the brim, and he quaffed it down like mother's milk; so--the cup still in his hands that hung between his knees--sat drinking in that intoxicating beauty of the splendid world. ”

“ It will, no doubt, have been noted ere this that between mulled ale and the majority of hot beer-cups the distinction is rather in name than composition, and the various receipts for mulling ale so closely resemble the Wassail Bowl, Flip, &c., that it is quite unnecessary to quote any of {392} them. A word or two on cup making. Cups are easily made and easily marred. All the ingredients must be of good quality, and the vessels used sweet and clean. ”

“ It was customary at their entertainments to elect, by throwing the dice, a person termed "arbiter bibendi," to act much in the same way as our modern toast-master, his business being to lay down to the company the rules to be observed in drinking, with the power to punish such as did not conform to them. The gods having been propitiated, the master of the feast drank his first cup to the most distinguished guest, and then handed a full cup to him, in which he acknowledged the compliment ”

“ At all times cups are alluring decoctions, don’t you think? And there are many varieties of them. But they all begin in the same way. A cordial glass each of maraschino, benedictine and brandy put into a quart jug, and then if you fill the jug with champagne you have champagne cup, with Rhine wine you have Rhine wine cup, and with cider you have cider cup. If you use claret you add a few drops of lemon juice and double the quantity of maraschino. ”

“ In the 17th century the custom of drinking health was conducted with great ceremony; each person rising up in turn, with a full cup, named some individual to whom he drank; he then drank the whole contents of the cup and turned it upside down upon the table, giving it at the same time a fillip to make it ring, or, as our ancient authority has it, "make it cry 'twango.'" Each person followed in his turn ”

“ It's like eating on the grass, which is as unpleasant as can be; nobody likes eating on the grass but lovers, and they are thinking of something besides eating. As for your cups, they're pretty to look at, I agree, but they're less convenient for drinking than glasses, and the champagne doesn't foam so much in a cup ”

“ If the cup is not too small, he takes it in both hands; and he likes to sit down with it. If the vessel is large and open, he draws in the water from the surface with his lips, without bringing them in contact with the dish. ”

“ If the person was present whose health was drank, he was expected to remain perfectly still during the operation, and at the conclusion to make an inclination of his head,—this being the origin of our custom of taking wine with each other, which, with sorrow be it said, is fast exploding. A very usual toast for a man to give was the health of his mistress; and in France, when this toast was given, the proposer was expected to drink his cup full of wine as many times as there were letters in her name. ”

“ Sundry brown mugs, containing cider or beer, were placed between the heavy andirons, and little groups were formed among the guests, as subjects arose, or the liquor was passed from one to the other. No man was seen to drink by himself, nor in any instance was more than one vessel considered necessary, for the same beverage ”

“ Meanwhile the cook, or "doctor," as his sea-sobriquet is, had been busy making coffee. Unlike any beverage called by that name ashore, even the funny mixture sold at a halfpenny a cup at street corners being quite luxurious in comparison with it, yet it was a godsend—boiling hot, with plenty of sugar in it—to those poor wretches with the quenchless thirst of many day's indulgence in the vilest liquor making their throats like furred old drain-pipes. It calmed the rising storm, besides doing them a vast amount of physical good. ”

“ A few high-brimmed cups have handles, and are not unlike modern tankards. Drinking-cups in general are the handsomest and the most skilfully baked of all the British sepulchral vessels; but in course of time their forms gradually deteriorated, for each generation had inferior models to copy.816 193
Fig. 33. 1⁄2
Food-vessels, which range between three and eight inches in height, are very diversified in form, and, unlike drinking-cups, vary greatly in quality. ”

“ Of other receipts for beer cups there are many—too many, indeed, to be given here; most of them differ from one another more in name than anything else. Brown Betty, an Oxford cup, deriving its name from its inventor, a bedmaker, is similar to the Oxford Wassail Bowl. The famous Brasenose Ale, which is by no means a modern institution and is introduced at Brasenose College on Shrove Tuesday, immediately after dinner, consists merely of ale sweetened with pounded sugar, and served with roasted apples floating on it. ”

“ My doubts are strengthened by my having obtained no specific name for either handled shape: the high jug, 5,g, was called a jar, hápurui; the low jug, 5,e, kwáθki, bowl; and in 1900 I bought a cup for which the name kwáθki aha-suraitši was given.
In the dreamed Mastamhó myth of the origin of culture (AR 11:1, 1948, see 7:76, p. 63) , the culture hero calls some of the principal vessel forms by two sets of names, the first being recondite, twisted, or punning. The list is:
It will be noted that handled jugs and handled cups are lacking from this list, though so are canteens and round platters. ”

“ When a drink is to be served hot, never let the mixture boil, but let the heat be applied as gently as possible: a fierce heat causes the spirit to evaporate, and moreover destroys or materially alters the fine aromatic flavour on which so much of its delicacy depends. When the hot cup is brewed, be careful to retain the heat as much as possible, by a covering to the vessel ”

“ A long deep draught, and draw no breath.
It will ten measures of water hold,
And five of mighty Chian wine.
But it is uncertain what description of cup it is, or whether every cup is not called celebe, because one pours libations into it (ἀπὸ τοῦ χέειν λοιβὴν) ,or from one's pouring libations (λείβειν) . And the verb λείβω is applied habitually to every sort of liquid, from which also the word λέβης is derived. But Silenus and Clitarchus say that celebe is a name given to drinking-cups by the Æolians. ”

“ A material that has one obvious merit, that of being practically unbreakable, is leather, and drinking cups were often made of it. The flagon called a “black jack” is the best-known, and examples are very common, mostly of the 17th and 18th centuries. A quaint fashion was to have a leather cup 17th and 18th century types.made in the form of a lady’s shoe; this, however, was confined to Germany and might be thought in somewhat questionable taste.
In the 17th and 18th centuries a great impetus was given to the production of curious drinking vessels in pottery. ”

“ To spend all your life on some nice shelf; you need cheapness and solidity to be of some use. And as for your ornament, look to your right, on the third shelf; there are more elegant ones there than you!'
The Cup looked to the right, and would have grown green from envy if she could have changed colour. There were standing fine cups on small feet; such delicate, fine cups, like white, pale, and pink rose petals! ... the beautiful bouquets, the prettiest heads, the finest gold lace, with black and green ornamentation, were painted upon them. ”

“ Taking up the vessel from which he had recently drank, he dipped it several times in the running water at his feet until all traces of the ale had disappeared, then, filling it full with sparkling wine from one of the flagons before him, he looked steadily at his companion, gravely inclined his head towards him, and then tossed off his liquor with an air of supreme satisfaction, and replaced his tumbler upon the table. ”

“ Families of consequence had usually a few pieces of silver besides their spoons and the silver salt. Some kind of a drinking-cup was the usual form. Persons of moderate means often owned a silver cup. I have seen in early inventories and lists the [91] names of a large variety of silver vessels: tankards, beer-bowls, beakers, flagons, wine cups, wine bowls, wine cans, tasters, caudle-cups, posset-cups, dram-cups, punch-bowls, tumblers, mugs, dram bottles, two-eared cups, and flasks. Virginians and Marylanders in the seventeenth century had much more silver than New Englanders. ”

“ What is there for them to do here in our poor land, where we have nothing but stones and the sea?”
“They drink gin. The sailor comes every morning for gin.”
“They are simply drunkards who don’t want anybody to disturb their drinking. When the sailor passes along the street he leaves behind him an odour as of an open bottle of rum.”
“But is that their business—drinking gin? I fear them. Where is the ship that brought them here? They came from the sea.”
“I saw the ship,” says Mariet. ”

“ The bottle was an ordinary bottle, of green glass, of narrow mouth, corked and sealed, and within it, miraculously, rode the little ship, with its tall fine spars, its cabin, capstan, shrouds and tiny pulleys, complete in every detail to the belaying-pins, its top sails bellying to some mysterious imprisoned breeze, while the other sails were furled. "Oh, Daddie," she cried, "look at the little ship! Look at the little ship in the bottle! It has sails, it has masts, it has everything! Oh, Daddie, wherever did you get the little ship in the bottle?" ”

“ Others are treated in a freer and more naturalistic manner, the bowl being formed as the flower of the magnolia, and the entire horn, at times more than 2 ft. in length, is utilized in carrying out the design. One of this kind is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Cups of the former type are commonly found imitated in ivory-white porcelain, and are known as “libation cups.” Rhinoceros horn is held by the Chinese to be an antidote against poison, a belief shared by other nations.
There is but little to be said about the vessels used in the drinking of tea and coffee. ”

“ Carefully wrapping up a small cup in a white cloth, he places it amidst the offerings before mentioned, then, with a torch in one hand and a circlet of beads and tinkling hawk bells in the other, he stalks about shaking his charms. After a little time he orders one of the admiring spectators to look in the cup previously wrapped up in white cloth, and sure enough there the soul always is, in the form of a bunch of hair to vulgar eyes, but to the initiated in shape and appearance like a miniature human being. ”

“ In the large canoe I put my chest, charts, quadrant, clothing, nine hundred dollars in specie, and a ten gallon keg of rum, knowing it would stimulate them to perform the voyage with despatch, by giving them a drink on arriving at certain places we could see ahead. The cook had boiled me a piece of salt beef to carry with me, and put up two or three pounds of sea-bread. I took a jug of rum in addition to the ten gallon keg, on board of the canoe in which I embarked, and put a tea-cup in my pocket to serve as a tumbler. ”

“ The turn of the century marks the beginning of the popularity of loving cups as presentation pieces. There are four loving cups in the Admiral Schley collection.
The earliest of these cups bears the following inscription:
Presented to Rear Admiral W. S. Schley by the citizens of Atlanta Georgia, November 4, 1899.
This cup (cat. 39571) , 9 inches in diameter and 141⁄2 100 inches in depth, is shaped like a vase and is decorated with a scroll design. Each of its three handles is attached to the cup with two applied silver oak leaves. ”

“ You take the cool cup thankfully and swallow it down at one long draught; fresh as a May morning, pure as an English hill-side spring, delicate as—well, as cocoa-nut water. None but itself can be its parallel. It is certainly the most delicious, dainty, transparent, crystal drink ever invented. ”

“ A convenience that any victim of the afternoon tea will appreciate is a tray or elongated saucer, oval in shape. At one end is a rest made of gold wire, in which the cup stands. The other is quite-295- large enough to allow of serving sandwiches, biscuit, or even a bit of salad without burdening the guest with a second object to hold. The cup stands firm in its place. Not even the jostling common in a crowded room will displace it or endanger that breakage which so often follows a crush. ”

“ The ancient saying, "The cup is glad of the wine it holds," was but another way of expressing the rule which judges a tree by its fruit and a man by his works; for out of character comes style, and out of a man's nature is his taste distilled. Every soul, like the cup, is glad of what it holds. ”

“ A pint of Scotch ale, a pint of mild beer, half a pint of brandy, a pint of sherry, half a pound of loaf sugar, and plenty of grated nutmeg. This cup may be drank either hot or cold.
Egg Flip.
Add the whites and yolks of three eggs, beaten together with three ounces of lump sugar, to half a pint of strong ale; heat the mixture nearly to the boiling-point; then put in two wine-glasses of gin or rum (the former being preferable) , with some grated nutmeg and ginger; add another pint of hot ale, and pour the mixture frequently from one jug to another before serving. ”