He gave orders that studs, or knobs
of silver or gold (so Malmesbury tells us.) should be fastened to the
sides of their cups, or drinking vessels, that when every one knew his
mark or boundary, he should, out of modesty, not either himself covet,
or force another to desire, more than his stint." This is the only law,
before the first parliament under king James, that has been made against
those swill-bowls,
Swabbers of drunken feasts, and lusty rowers,
In full-brimmed rummers that do ply their oars,
"who, by their carouses (tippling up Nestor's years as if they were
celebrating the goddess _Anna Perenna_,) do, at the same time, drink
others' health, and mischief and spoil their own and the public."
An argument very much after this fashion was held by the learned Sir
Thomas More. Sir Thomas was sent ambassador to the Emperor by king Henry
the Eighth. The morning he was to have his audience, _knowing the virtue
of wine_, he ordered his servant to bring him a good large glass of
Sack; and, having drunk that, called for another. The servant, with
officious ignorance, would have dissuaded him from it, but in vain; the
ambassador drank off a second, and demanded a third, which he likewise
drank off; insisting on a fourth, he was over-persuaded by his servant
to let it alone; so he went to his audience.
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