Perhaps one of the wittiest toasts on record is that of
Franklin. After the victories of Washington had made his name
well known throughout Europe, Franklin chanced to dine with the
French and English ambassadors, when these toasts were drunk.
The son of Britain rose and proudly remarked: “England--the sun
whose beams enlighten and fructify the remotest corners of the
earth.”
The Frenchman, glowing with national pride, drunk: “France--the
moon whose mild, steady, cheering rays are the delight of all
nations; consoling them in darkness and making their dreariness
beautiful.”
This furnished Franklin with a fine opening, and his quaint
humor bubbled over in his retort: “George Washington--the
Joshua, who commanded the sun and the moon to stand still and
they obeyed him.”
(3435)
See LIFE, THE SIMPLE.