158 / 244
158
Cups,
8fc.
The
ampulla
(or
vessel
for
carrying
the
wine)
was
covered
with
leather,
and
may
justly
claim
to
be
the
original
“
leathern
bottel.”
“
I
wish
that
his
soul
in
heaven
may
dwell
Who
first
invented
the
leathern
bottel.”
These
“
bottels
”
were
very
different
affairs
to
the
tankards
of
leather
known
as
“
Black
Jacks,”
one
or
more
of
which
are
still
preserved
at
the
Hospital
of
the
Holy
Cross,
near
Winchester.
The
origin
of the
term
“bumper”
is
ascribed
to
the
French
phrase
“
bon
pere,”
or
boon
companion.
“If
it
be
true,
good
wine
needs
no
bush.”
The
derivation
of
this
term
is
owing
to
the
ancient
custom
of
the
Romans
hangings
a
branch
of
ivy,
a
plant
sacred
to
Bacchus, over
the
wine-
shop
door,
and
hence
their
proverb,
“
Vendible
wine
needs
no
ivy
hung
up.”
This
custom
has
been
adopted
in
many
wine
countries.
Bosley
,
or
boosy,
is
undoubtedly
an
allusion
to
a
familiar
acquaintance
with
the
friendly
shade
of the
bush,
where,
“
in
his
cup,
the
boosy
poet
sings.”
Pegging
away
is
derived
from
the
peg
tankard
which
held
2
quarts
of
ale,
studded
with
a
row
of
8
pins
at
equal
distances,
so as
to
allow
a
£
pint
between
each
pin
;
hence
the
phrase,
also,
of
a
man
in
his
cups
being
a
peg
higher
or
lower.