27 / 90
CUPS
AND
THEIR
CUSTOMS.
15
a
man
may
see
distinctly
to
the
bottom
of
the
glass
its
colour
should
represent
the
greenness
of a
buffaloes
horn
;
when
drunk,
it
should
descend
impetuously
like
thunder;
sweet-tasted
as
an
almond;
creeping
like
a
squirrel
;
leaping
like
a
roebuck
;
strong
like
the
building
of
a
Cistercian
monastery;
glittering
like
a
spark
of
fire;
subtle
like
the
logic
of
the
schools
of
Paris;
delicate
as
fine
silk;
and
colder
than
crystal/^
If
we
pursue
our
theme
through
the
13th,
14th,
and
15th
centuries,
we
find
but
little
to edify
us;
those
times
being
distinguished
more
by
their
excess
and
riot,
than
by
superiority
of
beverages,
or
the
customs
attached
to
them.
It
would
be
neither
profitable
nor
interesting
to
descant
on
scenes
of
brawling
drunken-
ness,
which
ended
not
unfrequently
in
fierce
battles;
or
pause
to
admire
the
congregation
of
female
gossips
at
the
taverns,
where
the
overhanging
sign
was
either
the
branch
of
a
tree,
from
which
we
derive
the
saying
that
^^
good
wine
needs
no
bush,^^
or
the
equally
common
appendage
of
a
besom
hanging
from
the
window,
which
has
supplied
us
with
the
idea
of
"hanging
out
the
broom
.^^
The
chief
wine
drunk
at
this
period
was
Malmsey,
first
imported
into
England
in
the
13th
cen-
tury,
when
its
average
price
was
about
50^.
a
butt;
this
wine,
however,
attained
its
greatest
popularity
in
the
15th
century*
There
is
a story
in
connexion
with
this
wine
which
makes
it
familiar
to
every
schoolboy,
and
that
is
the
part
it
played
in
the
death
of
the
Duke
of
Clarence.
Whether
that
nobleman
did
choose
a
butt
of
Malmsey,
and
thus
carry
out
the
idea
of
drowning