purple stream,” “rosy wine,” “quaffing the goblet,” “bright sparkling nectar,” “chasing the rosy hours,” and so on, tended to keep up the delusion, and make it a monstrous fine thing for men to sit up drinking half the night, to have frightful headaches all next day, to make maudlin idiots of themselves as they were going home, and to become brutes amongst their family when they arrived.  And here I may introduce the mention of a practice connected with the convivial habits of which we have been speaking, but which has for some time passed away, at least from private tables—­I mean the absurd system of calling for toasts and sentiments each time the glasses were filled.  During dinner not a drop could be touched, except in conjunction with others, and with each drinking to the health of each.  But toasts came after dinner.  I can just remember the practice in partial operation; and my astonishment as a mere boy, when accidentally dining at table and hearing my mother called upon to “give the company a gentleman,” is one of my earliest reminiscences.  Lord Cockburn must have remembered them well, and I will quote his most amusing account of the effects:—­“After dinner, and before the ladies retired, there generally began what was called ‘Rounds’ of toasts, when each gentleman named an absent lady, and each lady an absent gentleman, separately; or one person was required to give an absent lady, and another person was required to match a gentleman with that lady, and the persons named were toasted, generally, with allusions and jokes about the fitness of the union.  And, worst of all, there were ‘Sentiments.’  These were short epigrammatic sentences, expressive of moral feelings and virtues, and were thought refined and elegant productions.  A faint conception of their nauseousness may be formed from the following examples, every one of which I have heard given a thousand times, and which indeed I only recollect from their being favourites.  The glasses being filled, a person was asked for his or for her sentiment, when this, or something similar, was committed:—­’May the pleasures of the evening bear the reflections of the morning;’ or, ’may the friends of our youth be the companions of our old age;’ or, ‘delicate pleasures to susceptible minds;’ ’may the honest heart never feel distress;’ ’may the hand of charity wipe the tear from the eye of sorrow.’  The conceited, the ready, or the reckless, hackneyed in the art, had a knack of making new sentiments applicable to the passing incidents with great ease.  But it was a dreadful oppression on the timid or the awkward.  They used to shudder, ladies particularly; for nobody was spared when their turn in the round approached.  Many a struggle and blush did it cost; but this seemed only to excite the tyranny of the masters of the craft; and compliance could never be avoided, except by more torture than yielding....  It is difficult for those who have been under a more natural system to comprehend how a sensible man, a respectable matron, a worthy old maid, and especially a girl, could be expected to go into company easily, on such conditions[33].”