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14
CUPS
AND
THEIR
CUSTOMS.
that
the
Saxons were
in
the
habit
of
compounding
drinks,
and,
beyond
the
fact
of
their
pledging
each
other
with
the
words
"Drinc-hsel^^
and
"Wsess-hsel/^
accompanying
the
words
with
a
kiss,
and
that
min-
strelsy
formed
a
conspicuous
adjunct
to
their
drinking-
festivities,
we
can
obtain
but
little
knowledge
of
the
customs
they
pursued.
For
further
information
on
this
point,
much
may
be
learnt
from
Mr.
Wright^s
excellent
book
of
^
Domestic
Manners
and
Sentiments
of
the
Middle
Ages,^
where
some
good
illustrations
of
Saxon
drinking-scenes
are
sketched
from
the
Harleian
and
other
manuscripts.
From
the
scarcity
of
materials
descriptive
of
the
social
habits
of
the
Normans,
we
glean
but
little
as to
their
customs
of
drinking
;
in
all
probability
they
differed
,
but
slightly
from
those
of
the
Saxons,
though
at this
time
wine
became
of
more
frequent
use,
the
vessels
from
which
it
was
quaffed
being
bowl-shaped,
and
generally
made
of
glass.
Will
of
Malmsbury,
describing
the
customs
of
Glastonbury
soon
after
the
Conquest,
says,
that
on
particular
occa-
sions
the
monks
had "
mead
in
their
cans,
and
wine
in
their
grace-cup.^^
Excess
in
drinking
appears
to
have
been
looked
upon
with
leniency
;
for,
in
the
stories
of
Reginald
of
Durham,
we
read
of
a
party
drinking
all
night
at
the
house
of
a
priest
;
and,
in
another,
he
mentions
a
youth
passing
the
whole
night
drinking
at
a
tavern
with
his
monastic
teacher,
till
the
one
cannot
prevail
on
the
other
to
go
home.
The
qualities
of
good
wine
in
the
12th
century
are
thus
singularly
set
forth
:
"
It
should
be
clear
like
the
tears
of a
penitent,
so
that