WINE. 641 



which we might expect fair Gascony wine to be. In 1534, 

 and again in 1545 and 1547, it is bought by the cade, a 

 quantity which must have been small a rundlet for instance 

 as the rates are only 16^., 22 s. io\d., and 22s. 6d. Occa- 

 sionally it is dear by the gallon when other wine is cheap. 

 Thus it is is. zd. the gallon in 1531, when Malmsey, usually 

 is. 4^., is only iod., and again in 1578, when it is 3^. 4^., 

 ordinary wine being is. icd. 



Muscadel, as I have stated above, is one of the names for 

 sweet wine, and is generally dear. It is ordinarily used for 

 consumption at feasts. .But once it is entered as having been 

 purchased for the communion service. This is in 1579, at 

 Cambridge, when the increasing dearness of the necessaries of 

 life had wellnigh banished wine from the college banquets 1 . 



Sack, like Malmsey, is bought by the butt, and at a later 

 period. It is cheaper than Malmsey, this often being not much 

 more, when in bulk, than two-thirds the price of sack. At the 

 early part of the period, a wine called Tyr, or Tyre, is purchased, 

 generally at the price of sweet or Malmsey. It is found, in 

 1424, among the charges of the Norwich corporation, in 1445 

 at Cambridge, when it is at the same price as Bastard ; in 

 1447 at Cambridge, when it is at the ordinary price of sweet 

 wine; in 1474, 1476, and 1481, also at Norwich. This descrip- 

 tion of wine is, therefore, peculiar to the eastern counties, as 

 far as my notes give information. Once, at Durham, French 

 wine is bought by the puncheon, a measure which does not 

 seem distinguishable from the hogshead. 



Spiced wine, sweetened with sugar or honey, perhaps the 

 original of the modern liqueur, was employed occasionally under 

 the name of hippocras. I find it for the first time in the year 

 1488, when a gallon was served up at a feast given to the 

 King's mother, Margaret of Richmond, at Cambridge. This cost 

 3J-. ^d. a gallon. It next occurs on a similar occasion at the 



1 I do not know whether the cellarer of Battle Abbey was satirical in his note under 

 the year 1498 ' that the Abbot was gone to the Roman curia, and therefore but little 

 wine, only two pipes, was bought.' Vol. Ill, p. 680. 



VOL. IV. T t 



