[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. FOOTNOTES: [284] "He that will take the bird, must not skare it."--Herbert's _Outlandish Proverbs_, 1640, No. 41. + _Of hym that vndertoke to teache an asse to rede._ xcix.