158 / 374
158
DRII^KS.
the
board
for
the
refreshment
of
the
Knight
Templar.
It
is
mentioned
in
company
with
the
oldest
wine,
the
best
mead,
the mightiest
ale,
the
richest
morat^"
and
the
most
sparkling
cider.
The
poets
of
the
thirteenth
century
speak
of
this
decoction
with
transport.
They
regarded
it
in
the
light
of
an
exquisite
delicacy.
As
no
gentleman's
library
is
complete
without
the
presence
of
some
par-
ticular
ijw)rk
of
which
a
bookseller
is
anxious
to
dis-
pose,
so
no
feast
at
which
pigment
was
not
present
was
held
to
be
complete
by
the
medieval
gourmet.
Indeed
this
drink
seems
to
have
been
all
too sweet'
and
was,
in
consequence
of
its
inebriating
property,
like
the
honied
Falernian,
partially
prohibited.
The
Council
of
Aix-la-Chapelle
in
817
decreed
that
on
festival
days
only
might
this
voluptuous
cup be
intro-
duced
into
conventual
repasts.
Hydromel
and
hippocras
were
allied
to
this
cate-
gory
of
fermented
and
almost
alcoholic
drinks,
but
they
were
not
liqueurs.
Finally
certain
liqueurs
were
composed
entirely
of
juices
of
fruits
and
held
the
rank
and
title
of
wines.
Such
were
cherry,
gooseberry,
strawberry
wine,
and
others.
Another
liqueur
wine
often
cited
by
the
thirteenth-century
poets
is
Murrey^
a
thin
drink
coloured
or
otherwise
affected
by
mul-
berries.
The
word
liqueur
appears
to
have
had
a
con-
siderable
latitude
of
signification.
We
talk
now
of
^
Scott's
Ivanhoe,
cap.
iii.
2
Morat
is
a
composition
of
honey and
mulberries,
from
which
latter
its
name
is
derived.