The Banquet 69 



was of fish-aspic. — The gifts were tvvelve*^^ pieces of cloth of 

 gold, and as many of silk.''^ 



10. The tenth meat-course was of meat-galantine. The fish- 

 course was galantine of lampreys. — The gifts were two large 

 bottles of gilded and enameled silver, one filled with the choicest 

 vernaccia,"^ and the other with the choicest malmsey ; besides six 

 bowls'^ of gilded and enameled silver, with goblets to match. 



^^ Frag., Croti. Monf.: ten. 

 ** Alip. : colored silk, except one of white. 



"^If Chaucer learned of the details of this feast, it is not surprising 

 that, when his liberal and luxurious young monk of Paris conies to St. 

 Denis to visit his 'cousin,' the merchant, he should bring with him as a 

 present precisely these two wines (Shipman's Tale 70-71) : 

 With him broghte he a jubbe of Malvesie, 

 And eek another, ful of fyn Vernage. 



Malvoisie, or malmsey, was a Greek wine, brought from Monemvasia, or 

 (Napoli di) Malvasia, on the east coast of the Morea, the wine itself 

 being produced not there, but in Crete, which was one of the chief sources 

 of suppljr (Heyd, Gesch. dcs Levantehandels i. 309; Pashley, Travels in 

 Crete 2. 54-56), and in the Cyclades. Vernaccia, or vernage, on the other 

 hand, was an Ita.lian wine, white, strong, and sweet, originally, and perhaps 

 typically, coming from the Genoese Levant, especially from the Cinque 

 Terre of the sheltered Riviera near Spezia, a territory which includes the 

 towns of Vernazza and Corniglia. The vernaccia of Cornigha is men- 

 tioned by both Boccaccio {Dec. 10. 2) and his contemporary. Franco 

 Sacchetti, who speaks of having it brought from Portovenere, a little 

 further down the coast. This southern part of the Riviera di Levante 

 is thus described by Petrarch {Africa 6. 842-4, 848-853) : 



Sensim turgescere colles 

 Cedriferi, nullique cedens his saltibus ora 

 Incipiunt, rarseque virent per littora palmse. . . . 

 Parte aha sinuosa patent convexa Siestri; 

 Hinc solis vineta oculo lustrata benigno, 

 Et Baccho dilecta nimis, Montemque Rubentem, 

 Et juga prospectant Cornelia palmite late 

 Inclyta mellifluo, quibus baud collesque Falernos 

 Laudatamque licet Rleroen cessisse pudebit. 



(Now gradually rise the cedared hills along the shore, and here and there 

 grows a palm tree. Xear the curved beach of Sestri, vineyards flourish 

 in the sun — Monterosso, and the heights of Corniglia — famous for honey- 

 sweet wine, excelling even those from the Falernian hills and much- 

 praised Meroe.) Monterosso, two miles from Vernazza, and four from 

 Corniglia, produced a wine which we find mentioned as Montrose in the 

 ■Manicre dc Langage of 1396 {Revue Critique of 1870, Paris, 1873), p. 



