2 / 48
the University with a visit, being regal ed
with spiced win e. It a ppears from a work
published some years since, a·nd entitled,
Oxoniana, or Anecdotes
ef
the Unfoersity of
Oxford,
that in the Rolls or Accounts of
some Colleges of ancient foundation, a sum
of money is frequ en tly met with charged
"
pro specielms,"
that is, for spices used in
their entertainments; for in tho se days
as well as the presen t, spiced wine was a
very fashionable beveragr. In the Compu–
tus of Maxtoke Priory, anno 1447, is the
following curious entry; " Item pro vino
cretico cum speciebus et confectis datis
diversis generosis in die Sancti Dionysi i
quando
Le
Jole
domini Montfordes erat hie,
et faceret jocositates suas in camera Orioli."
"
Vinurn
creticmn"
is supposed to be raisin
wine, or wine made of dri ed grape!;; and th e
meaning of tbe whole seems to be thi s : Paid
for raisin wine with comfits and spices, when
S ir S. Montford's fool was here,
and
exhi–
bited hi s merriments in the Oriel chamber.