Careful Words

toast (n.)

toast (v.)

Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen;

Here's to the widow of fifty;

Here's to the flaunting, extravagant quean,

And here's to the housewife that's thrifty!

Let the toast pass;

Drink to the lass;

I 'll warrant she 'll prove an excuse for the glass.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): School for Scandal. Act iii. Sc. 3.