[281] God thank you.
[282] _i.e._ I had.
[283] The beverage of which these persons are here supposed to partake
was probably what, in Charles the First's time, was called _white wine_;
which, if diluted, as was no doubt very commonly done, would present a
very watery aspect. A very curious account of the wines in vogue during
the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. is given by Taylor the Water-Poet
in his _Praise of Hempseed_. Cartwright, in his _Ordinary_, has the
following passage, describing the various sorts of wine used in his
day:--
"_Hearsay._ Thou hast forgotten Wine, Lieutenant, wine.
_Slicer._ Then to avoid the grosse absurdity Of a dry Battel, 'cause
there must some bloud Be spilt (on th' enemies side, I mean) you may
Have there a Rundlet of brisk Claret, and As much of Aligant, the same
quantitie Of Tent would not be wanting, 'tis a wine Most like to bloud.
Some shall bleed fainter colours, As Sack, and white wine. Some that
have the itch (As there are Taylors still in every Army) Shall run with
Renish, that hath Brimstone in't."
_Aligant_ mentioned in this extract was the wine grown in Alicante, a
province of the ancient Kingdom of Valencia. Sometimes it was spelled
Aligaunt or Aligaunte:--
"_Pseud._ In Ganges Iles I thirty rivers saw Fill'd with sweet nectar.
_Lach._ O dainty lyer!
_Pseud._ Thirty rivers more With Aligaunte."
_Timon_, a Play, p. 39.
In the _Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII._, under date of Feb. 16,
1530, occurs the following item:--"Paied to the S'geant of the Sello'
for iii tonne of white wyne of galiake (Gaillac in Languedoc)." See also
_the Northumberland House-Hold Book_, ed. 1827, p. 414; and Taylor's
_Penniless Pilgrimage_, 1618 (_Works_, 1630, i. 136).
+ _Of the doctour that went with the fouler to catche byrdes._ xcviii.
+ There was a doctour on a tyme, whiche desired a fouler, that went to
catche byrdes with an owle, that he might go with hym. The byrder was
content, and dressed hym with bowes, and set hym by his oule, and bad
hym say nothynge. Whan he saw the byrdes alyght a pace, he sayde: there
be many byrdes alyghted, drawe thy nettes; where with the byrdes flewe
awaye. The byrder was very angry, and blamed him greatly for his
speakyng. Than he promysed to hold his peace. Whan the byrder was in
agayn, and many byrdes were alyghted, mayster doctour said in latyn:
_aves permultae adsunt_; wherwith the byrdes flewe away. The byrder came
out ryghte angrye and sore displeased, and sayde, that by his bablynge
he had twyse loste his pray.[284] Why, thynkest thou, foole (quod the
doctour), that the birdes do vnderstand latin? This doctour thought that
the vnderstandynge, and nat the noyse, hadde feared awaye the byrdes.