Page:An Historical Essay on the Livery Companies of London.djvu/21

 The Clothworkers gave a grand dinner to James I on his inauguration as a Member of that Company, and it is recorded that in the old Hall of the Company the glorious anthem, "God save the King," was first heard; Dr. John Bull having composed it expressly for the ceremony.

The "Loving Cup" is a great feature in the Feasts of the Companies. It is of Silver or Silver Gilt, and is filled with spiced wine immemorially called " Sack." Immediately after the Dinner and the Grace, the Master and Wardens drink to their visitors "A hearty welcome." The cup is then passed round the table, and each guest, after he has drank, applies his napkin to the mouth of the Cup before he passes it to his neighbour. The more formal practice is for the person who pledges with the loving Cup to stand up and bow to his neighbour, who, also standing, removes the Cover with his right hand and holds it while the other drinks; a custom said to have originated in the precaution to keep the right or "dagger hand" employed that the person who drinks may be assured of no treachery like that practised by Elfrida on the unsuspecting King Edward the Martyr at Corfe Castle, who was slain while drinking. This is also given as the reason for a Cover being placed on the Loving Cup.

It was when the "Loving Cup" (as is still the custom) had gone round that the Minstrels and Players commenced their part of the Entertainments. The Minstrels, who were of various kinds, included in their entries harpers who played and sang in the intervals of the others sounding their cornets, shalms, flutes, horns, and pipes. The Players were generally ecclesiastics, who were the first actors of the middle ages, and an original license from the Master of the Revels in 1662 authorizes "George Bailey and eight servants to play for one year a play called 'Noah's Flood.'" The sort of dramas then in fashion often