A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume I (of 3) by Thomas Clarkson

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This is the ordinary way of proceeding in Quaker families, when alone,
or in ordinary company. But if a minister happens to be at the table,
the master of the family, conceiving such a man to be more in the habit
of religious impressions than himself, or any ordinary person, looks up
as it were to him, as to a channel, from whence it is possible, that
such religious exercise may come. If the minister, during the solemn,
silent pause, is impressed, he gives utterance as before: if not, he
relieves himself from his grave and thoughtful position, and breaks the
silence of the company by engaging in natural discourse. After this the
company proceed to their meals.

If I were to be asked whether the graces of the Quakers were frequent, I
should reply in the negative. I never heard any delivered, but when a
minister was present. The ordinary grace therefore of private families
consists in a solemn, silent, pause, between the time of sitting down to
the table and the note of carving the victuals, during which an
opportunity is given for the excitement of religious feelings. A person
may dine fifty times at the tables of the Quakers, and see no other
substitution for grace than this temporary silent pause.

Indeed no other grace than this can be consistent with
Quaker-principles. It was coeval with the institution of the society,
and must continue while it lasts. For thanksgiving is an act of
devotion. Now no act, in the opinion of the Quakers, can be devotional
or spiritual, except it originate from above. Men, in religious matters
can do nothing of themselves, or without the divine aid. And they must
therefore wait in silence for this spiritual help, as well in the case
of grace, as in the case of any other kind of devotion, if they mean
their praise or thanksgiving on such occasions to be an act of religion.

There is in the Quaker-grace, and its accompaniments, whenever it is
uttered, an apparent beauty and an apparent solemnity, which are seldom
conspicuous in those of others. How few are there, who repeat the common
artificial graces feelingly, and with minds intent upon the subject!
Grace is usually said as a mere ceremony or custom. The Supreme Being is
just thanked in so many words, while the thoughts are often rambling to
other subjects. The Quaker-grace, on the other hand, whenever it is
uttered; does not come out in any mechanical form of words which men
have used before, but in expressions adapted to the feelings. It comes
forth also warm from the heart. It comes after a solemn, silent, pause,
and it becomes therefore, under all these circumstances, an act of real
solemnity and genuine devotion.

It is astonishing how little even men of acknowledged piety seem to have
their minds fixed upon the ideas contained in the mechanical graces they
repeat. I was one afternoon at a friends house, where there happened to
be a clergyman of the Scottish church. He was a man deservedly esteemed
for his piety. The company was large. Politics had been discussed some
time, when the tea-things were introduced. While the bread and butter
were bringing in, the clergyman, who had taken an active part in the
discussion, put a question to a gentleman, who was sitting in a corner
of the room. The gentleman began to reply, and was proceeding in his
answer, when of a sudden I heard a solemn voice. Being surprised, I
looked round, and found it was the clergyman, who had suddenly started
up, and was saying grace. The solemnity, with which he spoke, occasioned
his voice to differ so much from its ordinary tone, that I did not, till
I had looked about me, discover who the speaker was. I think he might be
engaged from three or four minutes in the delivery of this grace. I
could not help thinking, during the delivery of it, that I never knew
any person say grace like this man. Nor was I ever so much moved with
any grace, or thought I ever saw so dearly the propriety of saying
grace, as on this occasion. But when I found that on the very instant
the grace was over politics were resumed; when I found that, no sooner
had the last word in the grace been pronounced, than the next, which
came from the clergyman himself, began by desiring the gentleman before
mentioned to go on with his reply to his own political question, I was
so struck with the inconsistency of the thing, that the beauty and
solemnity of his grace all vanished. This sudden transition from
politics to grace, and from grace to politics, afforded a proof that
artificial sentences might be so frequently repeated, as to fail to
re-excite their first impressions, or that certain expressions, which
might have constituted devotional acts under devotional feeling, might
relapse into heartless forms.

I should not wish, by the relation of this anecdote, to be understood as
reflecting in the slightest manner on the practice of the Scottish
church. I know well the general sobriety, diligence, piety and religious
example of its ministers. I mentioned it merely to shew, that even where
the religious character of a person was high, his mind, by the frequent
repetition of the same forms of expression on the same occasions, might
frequently lose sight of the meaning and force of the words as they were
uttered, so that he might pronounce them without that spiritual feeling,
which can alone constitute a religious exercise.

CHAP. VII.

_Customs at and after meals--Quakers never drink healths at dinner--nor
toasts after dinner--the drinking of toasts a heathen custom--interrupts
often the innocence--and leads to the intoxication of the company--anecdote
of Judge Hale--Quakers sometimes in embarrassing situations on account of
this omission--Quaker-women seldom retire after dinner, and leave the men
drinking--Quakers a sober people._

The Quakers though they are occasionally found in the custom of saying
grace, do not, as I have stated, either use it as regularly, or in the
same manner as other christians.

Neither do they at their meals, or after their meals, use the same
ceremonies as others. They have exploded the unmeaning and troublesome
custom of drinking healths at their dinners.

This custom the Quakers have rejected upon the principle, that it has no
connection with true civility. They consider it as officious,
troublesome, and even embarrassing, on some occasions. To drink to a
man, when he is lifting his victuals to his mouth, and by calling off
his attention, to make him drop them, or to interrupt two people, who
are eating and talking together, and to break the thread of their
discourse, seems to be an action, as rude in its principle, as
disagreeable in its effects, nor is the custom often less troublesome to
the person drinking the health, than to the person whose health is
drank. If a man finds two people engaged in conversation he must wait
till he catches their eyes, before he can drink himself. A man may also
often be put into a delicate and difficult situation, to know whom to
drink to first, and whom second, and may be troubled, lest, by drinking
improperly to one before another, he may either be reputed awkward, or
may become the occasion of offence. They consider also the custom of
drinking healths at dinner as unnecessary, and as tending to no useful
end. It must be obvious that a man may wish another his health, full as
much without drinking it, as by drinking it with his glass in his hand.
And it must be equally obvious that wishes, expressed in this manner,
can have no medicinal effect.

With respect to the custom of drinking healths at dinner, I may observe
that the innovation, which the Quakers seem to have been the first to
have made upon the practice of it, has been adopted by many, not out of
compliance with their example, but on account of the trouble and
inconveniences attending it; that the custom is not now so general as it
was; that in the higher and more fashionable circles it has nearly been
exploded; and that, among some of the other classes of society, it is
gradually declining.

With respect to the custom of drinking toasts after dinner, the Quakers
have rejected it for various reasons.

They have rejected it first, because, however desirable it may be that
Christians should follow the best customs of the heathens, it would be a
reproach to them to follow the worst. Or, in other words, it would be
improper for men, whose religion required spirituality of thought and
feeling, to imitate the heathens in the manner of their enjoyment of
sensual pleasures. The laws and customs of drinking, the Quakers
observe, are all of heathen origin. The similitude between these and
those of modern tunes is too remarkable to be overlooked; and too
striking not to warrant them in concluding, that christens have taken
their model on this subject from Pagan practice.

In every Grecian family, where company was invited, the master of it was
considered to be the king or president of the feast, in his own house.
He was usually denominated the eye of the company. It was one of his
offices to look about and to see that his guests drank their proper
portions of the wine. It was another to keep peace and harmony among
them. For these purposes his word was law. At entertainments at the
public expence the same office existed, but the person, then appointed
to it, was nominated either by lot, or by the votes of the persons
present.--This custom obtains among the moderns. The master of every
family at the present day presides at his own table for the same
purposes. And at great and public dinners at taverns, a similar officer
is appointed, who is generally chosen by the committee, who first meet
for the proposal of the feast.

One of the first toasts, that were usually drank among the ancient
Greeks, was to the "gods." This entirely corresponds with the modern
idea of church; and if the government had been only coupled with the
gods in these ancient times, it would have precisely answered to the
modern toast of church and state.

It was also usual at the entertainments, given by Grecian families, to
drink the prosperity of those persons, for whom they entertained a
friendship, but who happened to be absent. No toast can better coincide
than this, with that, which is so frequently given, of our absent
friends.

It was also a Grecian practice for each of the guests to name his
particular friend, and sometimes also his particular mistress. The
moderns have also a parallel for this. Every person gives (to use the
common phrase) his gentleman, and his lady, in his turn.

It is well known to have been the usage of the ancient Greeks, at their
entertainments, either to fill or to have had their cups filled for them
to the brim. The moderns do precisely the same thing. Glasses so
filled, have the particular name of bumpers: and however vigilantly an
ancient Greek might have looked after his guests, and made them drink
their glasses filled in this manner, the presidents of modern times are
equally vigilant in enforcing adherence to the same custom.

It was an ancient practice also with the same people to drink three
glasses when the graces, and nine when the muses were named: and three
and three times three were drank on particular occasions. This barbarous
practice has fortunately not come down to the moderns to its full
extent, but they have retained the remembrance of it, and celebrated it
in part, by following up their toasts, on any extraordinary occasion,
not with three or nine glasses of wine, but with three or nine cheers.

Among the ancients beforementioned, if any of the persons present were
found deficient in drinking their proper portions, they were ordered by
the president either to drink them or to leave the room. This usage has
been a little altered by the moderns. They do not order those persons to
leave the company, who do not comply with the same rules of drinking as
the rest, but they subject them to be fined, as it is termed, that is,
they oblige them to drink double portions for their deficiency, or
punish them in some other manner.

From hence it will be obvious that the laws of drinking are of heathen
origin; that is, the custom of drinking toasts originated, as the
Quakers contend, with men of heathen minds and affections for a sensual
purpose; and it is therefore a custom, they believe; which men of
christian minds and affections should never follow.

The Quakers have rejected the custom again, because they consider it to
be inconsistent with their christian character in other respects. They
consider it as morally injurious; for toasts frequently excite and
promote indelicate ideas, and thus sometimes interrupt the innocence of
conversation.

They consider it as morally injurious again, because the drinking of
toasts has a direct tendency to promote drunkenness.

They, who have been much in company, must have had repeated
opportunities of witnessing, that this idea of the Quakers is founded in
truth, men are undoubtedly stimulated to drink more than they like, and
to become intoxicated in consequence of the use of toasts. If a man has
no objection to drink toasts at all, he must drink that which the master
of the house proposes, and it is usual in this case to fill a bumper.
Respect to his host is considered as demanding this. Thus one full glass
is secured to him at the outset. He must also drink a bumper to the
king, another to church and state, and another to the army and navy. He
would, in many companies, be thought hostile to government, if, in the
habit of drinking toasts, he were to refuse to drink these, or to honour
these in the same manner. Thus three additional glasses are entailed
upon him. He must also drink a bumper to his own toast. He would be
thought to dishonour the person, whose health he had given, if he were
to fail in this. Thus a fifth glass is added to his share. He must fill
a little besides to every other toast, or he is considered as deficient
in respect to the person, who has proposed it. Thus many additional
glasses are forced upon him. By this time the wine begins to act, when
new toasts, of a new nature assail his ear, and he is stimulated to new
potions. There are many toasts of so patriotic, and others of so
generous and convivial a nature that a man is looked upon as
disaffected, or as devoid of sentiment, who refuses them. Add to this,
that there is a sort of shame, which the young and generous in
particular feel in being outdone, and in not keeping pace with the rest,
on such occasions. Thus toast being urged after toast, and shame acting
upon shame, a variety of causes conspires at the same moment to drive
him on, till the liquor at length overcomes him and he falls eventually
a victim to its power.

It will be manifest from this account that the laws of drinking, by
which the necessity of drinking a certain number of toasts is enjoined,
by which bumpers are attached to certain classes of toasts, by which a
stigma is affixed to a non-compliance with the terms, by which in fact a
regular system of etiquette is established, cannot but lead, except a
man is uncommonly resolute or particularly on his guard, to
intoxication. We see indeed instances of men drinking glass after glass,
because stimulated in this manner, even against their own inclination,
nay even against the determination they had made before they went into
company, till they have made themselves quite drunk. But had there been
no laws of drinking, or no toasts, we cannot see any reason why the same
persons should not have returned sober to their respective homes.

It is recorded of the great Sir Matthew Hale, who is deservedly placed
among the great men of our country, that in his early youth he had been
in company, where the party had drunk to such excess, that one of them
fell down apparently dead. Quitting the room, he implored forgiveness of
the Almighty for this excessive intemperance in himself and his
companions, and made a vow, that he would never drink another health
while he lived. This vow he kept to his dying day. It is hardly
necessary for me to remark that he would never have come to such a
resolution, if he had not believed, either that the drinking of toasts
had produced the excesses of that day, or that the custom led so
naturally to intoxication, that it became his duty to suppress it.

The Quakers having rejected the use of toasts upon the principles
assigned, are sometimes placed in a difficult situation, in which there
is an occasion for the trial of their courage, in consequence of mixing
with others, by whom the custom is still followed.

In companies, to which they are invited in regular families, they are
seldom put to any disagreeable dilemma in this respect. The master of
the house, if in the habit of giving toasts, generally knowing the
custom of the Quakers in this instance, passes over any Quaker who may
be present, and calls upon his next neighbour for a toast. Good breeding
and hospitality demand that such indulgence and exception should be
given.

There are situations, however, in which their courage is often tried.
One of the worst in which a a Quaker can be placed, and in which he is
frequently placed, is that of being at a common room in an inn, where a
number of other travellers dine and sup together. In such companies
things are seldom conducted so much to his satisfaction in this respect,
as in those described. In general as the bottle passes, some jocose hint
is conveyed to him about the toast; and though this is perhaps done with
good humour, his feelings are wounded by it. At other times when the
company are of a less liberal complexion, there is a determination, soon
understood among one another, to hunt him down, as if he were fair game.
A toast is pressed upon him, though all know that it is not his custom
to drink it. On refusing, they begin to teaze him. One jokes with him.
Another banters him. Toasts both illiberal and indelicate, are at length
introduced; and he has no alternative but that of bearing the banter, or
quitting the room. I have seen a Quaker in such a company (and at such a
distance from home, that the transaction in all probability never could
have been known, had he, in order to free himself from their attacks,
conformed to their custom) bearing all their raillery with astonishing
firmness, and courageously struggling against the stream. It is
certainly an awkward thing for a solitary Quaker to fall in such
companies, and it requires considerable courage to preserve singularity
in the midst of the prejudices of ignorant and illiberal men.

This custom, however, of drinking toasts after dinner, is, like the
former of drinking healths at dinner, happily declining. It is much to
the credit of those, who move in the higher circles, that they have
generally exploded both. It may be probably owing to this circumstance,
that though we find persons of this description labouring under the
imputation of levity and dissipation, we yet find them respectable for
the sobriety of their lives. Drunkenness indeed forms no part of their
character, nor, generally speaking, is it a vice of the present age as
it has been of former ages; and there seems to be little doubt, that in
proportion as the custom of drinking healths and toasts, but more
particularly the latter, is suppressed, this vice will become less a
trait in the national character.

There are one or two customs of the Quakers, which I shall notice before
I conclude this chapter.

It is one of the fashions of the world, where people meet in company,
for men and women, when the dinner is over, to drink their wine
together, and for the women, having done this for a short time, to
retire. This custom of the females withdrawing after dinner was probably
first insisted upon from an idea, that their presence would be a
restraint upon the circulation of the bottle, as well as upon the
conversation of the men. The Quakers, however, seldom submit to this
practice. Men and women generally sit together and converse as before
dinner. I do not mean by this that women may not retire if they please,
because there is no restraint upon any one in the company of the
Quakers; nor do I mean to say, that women do not occasionally retire,
and leave the men at their wine. There are a few rich families, which,
having mixed more than usual with the world, allow of this separation.
But where one allows it, there are ninety-nine, who give wine to their
company after dinner, who do not. It is not a Quaker-custom, that in a
given time after dinner, the one should be separated from the other sex.

It is a pity that the practice of the Quakers should not have been
adopted by others of our own country in this particular. Many advantages
would result to those, who were to follow the example. For if women were
allowed to remain, chastity of expression and decorum of behaviour would
be more likely to be insured. There presence also would operate as a
check upon drunkenness. Nor can there be a doubt, that women would
enliven and give a variety to conversation; and, as they have had a
different education from men, that an opportunity of mutual improvement
might be afforded by the continuance of the two in the society of one
another.

It is also usual with the world in such companies, that the men, when
the females have retired, should continue drinking till tea-time. This
custom is unknown to the Quakers, even to those few Quakers, who allow
of a separation of the sexes. It is not unusual with them to propose a
walk before tea, if the weather permit. But even in the case where they
remain at the table, their time is spent rather in conversing than in
drinking. They have no toasts, as I have observed, which should induce
them to put the bottle round in a given time, or which should oblige
them to take a certain number of glasses. The bottle, however, is
usually put round, and each helps himself as he pleases. At length one
of the guests, having had sufficient, declines filling his glass.
Another, in a little time, declines also for the same cause. A third,
after having taken what he thinks sufficient, follows the example. The
wine is soon afterwards taken away, and this mostly long before the hour
of drinking tea. Neither drunkenness, nor any situation approaching to
drunkenness, is known in the Quaker companies. Excess in drinking is
strictly forbidden by the laws of the society. It is a subject of one of
their queries. It is of course a subject that is often brought to their
recollection. Whatever may be the faults of the Quakers, they must be
acknowledged to be a SOBER PEOPLE.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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