Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyts New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Toasts
Lift, lift the full gobletaway with all sorrow The circle of friendship what freedom would sever? To-day is our own, and a fig for to-morrow Heres to the Fourth and our country forever. Franklin P. AdamsImpromptu Lines on July Fourth.
Some hae meat, and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat, and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit. BurnsThe Selkirk Grace. As attributed to him.
Some have meat but cannot eat; Some could eat but have no meat; We have meat and can all eat; Blest, therefore, be God for our meat. The Selkirk Grace, in the MSS. of Dr. Plume, of Maldon, Essex, in a handwriting of about 1650.
I am from Massachusetts, The land of the sacred cod, Where the Adamses snub the Abbotts And the Cabots walk with God. Samuel C. BushnellToast at the Harvard Alumni dinner at Waterbury.
I come from good old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where Cabots speak only to Lowells, And the Lowells speak only to God. Samuel C. Bushnell. Another rendering of his Toast. For answer to same see Jones.
Heres to the red of it, Theres not a thread of it, No, not a shred of it, In all the spread of it, From foot to head, But heroes bled for it, Faced steel and lead for it, Precious blood shed for it, Bathing in red. John DalyA Toast to the Flag.
But the standing toast that pleased me most Was, The wind that blows; the ship that goes, And the lass that loves a sailor! DibdinThe Standing Toast. From the Comic Opera, The Round Robin, produced June 21, 1811.
Ho! stand to your glasses steady! Tis all we have left to prize. A cup to the dead already, Hurrah for the next that dies. Bartholomew DowlingRevelry in India. Different version of same given in Dorans Table Traits. Said to have been written during first Burmese War.
Heres to Great Britain, the sun that gives light to all nations of the earth. An Englishmans Toast at a banquet in England. Heres to France, the moon whose magic rays move the tides of the world. A Frenchmans Toast at the same. Heres to our beloved George Washington, the Joshua of America, who commanded the sun and the moon to stand stilland they obeyed. Franklins Toast. At the Close.
LAbbé de Ville proposed a toast, His master, as the rising Sun: Reisbach then gave the Empress Queen, As the bright Moon and much praise won.
The Earl of Stair, whose turn next came, Gave for his toast his own King Will, As Joshua the son of Nun, Who made both Sun and Moon stand still. A metrical version of the Toast of Lord Stair. From the Anecdote Library, 1822. The Empress Maria Theresa was the Empress Queen. Also given as a toast at a banquet during the war between England, France, and Holland. Louis XIV was alluded to as the rising sun, England as the moon, Holland which had broken its dikes and forced the other army to retreat, was compared to Joshua.
Heres to old Adams crystal ale, Clear sparkling and divine, Fair H2O, long may you flow, We drink your health (in wine). Oliver HerfordToast. Adams Crystal Ale.
You to the left and I to the right, For the ways of men must sever And it may be for a day and a night,- And it well may be forever. But whether we meet or whether we part, (For our ways are past our knowing) A pledge from the heart to its fellow heart, On the ways we all are going! Heres luck! For we know not where we are going. Richard HoveyAt the Crossroads.
Heres to the town of New Haven, The home of the truth and the light, Where God speaks to Jones, In the very same tones, That he uses with Hadley and Dwight. Dean JonesReply to Dr. Bushnells Toast.
Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And Ill not look for wine. Ben JonsonThe Forest. To Celia. See also Philostratus, from whom it was taken.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise, Doth ask a drink divine; But might I of Joves nectar sup, I would not change for thine. Ben JonsonThe Forest. To Celia.
A glass is good, and a lass is good, And a pipe to smoke in cold weather; The world is good and the people are good, And were all good fellows together. John OKeefeSprigs of Laurel. II. 1.
Heres a health to all those that we love, Heres a health to all those that love us, Heres a health to all those that love them that love those That love them that love those that love us. Old Toast.
Heres a health to you and yours who have done such things for us and ours. And when we and ours have it in our powers to do for you and yours what you and yours have done for us and ours, Then we and ours will do for you and yours what you and yours have done for us and ours. Old Toast.
Heres to you, as good as you are, And heres to me, as bad as I am; But as good as you are, and as bad as I am, I am as good as you are, as bad as I am. Old Scotch Toast.
Drink to me with your eyes alone . And if you will, take the cup to your lips and fill it with kisses, and give it so to me. PhilostratusLetters. XXIV.
I fill this cup to one made up Of loveliness alone, A woman, of her gentle sex The seeming paragon; To whom the better elements And kindly stars have given A form so fair that, like the air, Tis less of earth than heaven. Edward C. PinkneyA Health. To Georgiana McCausland, Pinkneys wife, according to Wm. Leggett. Also said to be written for Peggy ONeil, a famous beauty.
St. Leon raised his kindling eye, And lifts the sparkling cup on high; I drink to one, he said, Whose image never may depart, Deep graven on this grateful heart, Till memory be dead. * * * St. Leon paused, as if he would Not breathe her name in careless mood Thus lightly to another; Then bent his noble head, as though To give the word the reverence due, And gently said, My mother! ScottThe Knights Toast.
Heres to the maiden of bashful fifteen; Heres to the widow of fifty; Heres to the flaunting, extravagant quean; And heres to the housewife thats thrifty. Chorus: Let the toast pass, Drink to the lass, Ill warrant shell prove an excuse for the glass. R. B. SheridanSchool for Scandal. Act III. Sc. 3. Song.
A health to the nut-brown lass, With the hazel eyes: let it pass. * * * * As much to the lively grey Tis as good i th night as day: * * * * Shes a savour to the glass, An excuse to make it pass. SucklingGoblins. Act III.
First pledge our Queen this solemn night, Then drink to England, every guest; That mans the best Cosmopolite Who loves his native country best. TennysonHands All Round.