Part 45 (1/2)
4. _Pyment._ In order to cover the harshness and acidity common to the greater part of the wines of this period, and to give them an agreeable flavour, it was not unusual to mix honey and spices with them. Thus compounded they pa.s.sed under the generic name of _piments_,[] probably because they were originally prepared by the _pigmentarii_ or apothecaries; and they were used much in the same manner as the _liqueurs_ of modern times. _Hend._ p. 283.
[Footnote : See the recipe for making Piment in Halliwell's Dictionary, s.v.]
The varieties of Piment most frequently mentioned are the
_Hippocras & Clarry._ The former was made with either white or red wine, in which different aromatic ingredients were infused; and took its name from the particular sort of bag, termed Hippocrates's Sleeve, through which it was strained.... _Clarry_, on the other hand, which (with wine of _Osey_) we have seen noticed in the Act 5 Richard II. (St. 1, c. 4, _vin doulce, ou clarre_), was a claret or mixed wine, mingled with honey, and seasoned in much the same way, as may be inferred from an order of the 36th of Henry III. respecting the delivery of two casks of white wine and one of red, to make _Clarry_ and other liquors for the king's table at York (duo dolia albi vini et garhiofilac.u.m et unum dolium rubri vini ad _claretum_ faciend{um}). _Henderson_, p. 284.
_Hippocras_, vinum Aromatic.u.m. Withals. ”Artificiall stuffe, as _ypocras_ & wormewood wine.” _Harrison, Descr. Brit._, p. 167, col. 2, ed. 1586.
_Raspice._ ”Vin Rape,” says Henderson, p. 286, note _y_, ”a rough sweetish red wine, so called from its being made with unbruised grapes, which, having been freed from the stalks, are afterwards fermented along with them and a portion of other wine.”[*] Ducange has _Raspice._ RASPATICIUM, Ex racemis vinum, cujus praeparationem tradit J. Wecker.
Antidot. special. lib. 2, -- 6, page 518 et 519. Paratur autem illud ex _raspatiis_ et vinaceis, una c.u.m uvis musto immissis. _Raspatia_ itaque sunt, quae Varroni et Columellae _scopi, scopiones_, si bene legitur; unde nostrum _Raste. Ducange_, ed. 1845. _Raspecia_ ...Sed ex relato longiori contextu palam est, _Raspeciam_ nihil aliud esse quam vinum mixtis acinis aliisve modis renovatum, nostris vulgo _Rape_; hujuscemodi enim vinum alterationi minus obnoxium est, ut hic dicitur de _Raspecia_. Vide mox _Raspetum_, Vinum _recentatum_, Gallis _Raspe_. Charta Henrici Ducis Brabantiae pro Communia Bruxellensi ann. 1229: _Qui vinum supra uvas habuerit, quod _Raspetum_ vocatur, in tavernis ipsum vendere non potest._ Vide _Recentatum_. Ducange, ed. 1845.
[Footnote *: Besides this meaning of _rape_ (same as _raspe_), Cotgrave gives first ”A verie small wine comming of water cast uppon the mother of grapes which have been pressed!”]
The highly-praised _Raspatum_ of Baccius, p. 30-2, of which, after quoting what Pliny says of secondary wines, he declares, ”id primum animaduerti volumus a nostra posteritate, quod Lora Latinorum, qua{m} deuterium c.u.m Graecis, et secundarium Vinum dixit Plinius, de?te??a, seu p?t??? Dioscorides, quodque t????? vocauit Galenus, c.u.m Aquatis quibus hodie vtimur in tota Italia, & c.u.m nouo genere, quod a delectabili in gustu asperitate, _Rasputum_ vocat; similem omnes hae Voces habent significantiam fact.i.tii .s. ex aqua Vini. p. 30. Quod uini genus in Italia, ubi alterius uini copia non sit, parari simpliciter consuevit colore splendido rubentis purpurae, sapore austero, ac dulcacido primis mensibus mox tamen exolescente, p. 31-2, &c.” _Raspice_ was also a name for Raspberries. Item, geuene to my lady Kingstone s{er}u{au}nte bringing Strawberes and _Respeces_ to my lad{ys} grace xij d. _Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary_, p. 31; and in his Glossary to this book Sir F. Madden says, 'In a closet for Ladies 12mo. London, 1654, is a receipt ”To preserve _Raspices_,” and they are elsewhere called ”_Raspisberries_.” See ”Delights for Ladies,” 12mo. 1654.'
6. _Muscadelle of Grew: b.a.s.t.a.r.d: Greke: Malvesyn._ ”The wines which Greece, Languedoc, and Sapine doe send vs, or rather, which the delicacie and voluptuousnesse of our French throats cause to be fetched from beyond the Sea, such as are Sacks, _Muscadels_ of Frontignan, _Malmesies_, _b.a.s.t.a.r.ds_ (which seeme to me to be so called, because they are oftentimes adulterated and falsified with honey, as we see wine Hydromell to be prepared) and Corsick wines, so much vsed of the Romanes, are very pernicious unto vs, if we vse them as our common drinke. Notwithstanding, we proue them very singular good in cold diseases ... but chiefly and princ.i.p.ally Malmesey.” Stevens and Liebault's _Maison Rustique_, or The Countrey Farme, by R. Surflet, reviewed by Gerv. Markham, 1616. _Muscadell_, vinum apianum. Withals.
Mulsum, _wine and honie sodden together, swiete wine, basterde or Muscadell_. Withals. William Vaughan says, ”Of Muscadell, Malmesie, and browne b.a.s.t.a.r.d. These kindes of wines are onely for maried folkes, because they strengthen the back.” _Naturall and Artificial Directions for Health_, 1602, p. 9.
Andrewe Borde, of Physicke, Doctor, in his Regyment or Dyetary of helth made in Mou{n}tpylior, says, ”Also these hote wynes, as Malmesey, wyne corse, wyne greke, Romanyke, Romney, Secke, Alygaune, Basterde, Tyre, Osaye, Muscadell, Caprycke, Tynt, Roberdany, with other hote wynes, be not good to drynke with meate, but after mete and with Oysters, with Saledes, with fruyte, a draughte or two may be suffered ... Olde men may drynke, as I sayde, hygh wynes at theyr pleasure. Furthermore all swete wynes, and grose wynes, doth make a man fatte.”
7. _Rompney._ Henderson, p. 288, says, ”Another of the above-mentioned wines (in _the Squire of Low Degree_) designated by the name of the grape, was the Romenay, otherwise Romenay, Rumney, Romaine, or Romagnia.
That it could not be the produce of the Ecclesiastical State, as the two last corruptions of the word would seem to imply, may be safely averred; for at no period, since the decline of the empire, has the Roman soil furnished any wines for exportation; and even Bacci, with all his partiality, is obliged to found his eulogy of them on their ancient fame, and to confess that, in his time, they had fallen into disrepute.”
He argues also against the notion that this wine came from Romana in Aragon, and concludes that it was probably a Greek wine, as Bacci (_Nat.
Vin. Hist._ p. 333) tells us that the wine from the Ioinan Islands and adjoining continent was called in Italian _Romania_,--from the Saracen _Rum-ili_. Now this is all very well, but how about the name of _Rompney of Modene_ or Modena, just outside the Western boundary of the Romagna,--not Meudon, in France, ”amongst all the wines which we use at Paris, as concerning the red, the best are those of Coussy, Seure, Vaunes, and _Meudon_.” Maison Rustique, p. 642.--Who will hold to John Russell, and still consider _Romney_ an Italian wine? _Rumney_, vinum resinatum. Withals.
8. _b.a.s.t.a.r.d._ Henderson argues against the above-quoted (No. 6) supposition of Charles Etienne's (which is supported by Cotgrave's _Vin mielle_, honied wine, _b.a.s.t.a.r.d_, Metheglin, sweet wine), and adopts Venner's account (_Via Recta ad Vitam Longam_), that ”b.a.s.t.a.r.d is in virtue somewhat like to muskadell, and may also in stead thereof be used; it is in goodness so much inferiour to muskadell, as the same is to malmsey.” It took its name, Henderson thinks, from the grape of which it was made, probably a b.a.s.t.a.r.d species of muscadine. ”One of the varieties of vines now cultivated in the Alto Douro, and also in Madeira, is called _b.a.s.t.a.r.do_, and the must which it yields is of a sweetish quality.” Of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d wine there were two sorts,--white and brown (brown and white b.a.s.t.a.r.d, _Measure for Measure_, Act iii. sc. 2), both of them, according to Markham's report, ”fat and strong; the tawny or brown kind being the sweetest.” In _The Libelle of Englysch Polycye_, A.D. 1436 (Wright's _Political Songs_, v. 2, p. 160), 'wyne b.a.s.t.a.r.de' is put among the commodyetees of Spayne.
9. _Tire_, if not of Syrian growth, was probably a Calabrian or Sicilian wine, manufactured from the species of grape called _tirio_. _Tyre_, vinum Tyrense, ex Tyro insula. Withals.
10. _Ozey._ Though this is placed among the ”commodities of Portugal”
in some verses inserted in the first volume of Hackluyt's Voyages, p. 188--Her land hath wine, _osey_, waxe, and grain,--yet, says Henderson, ”a pa.s.sage in Valois' Description of France, p. 12, seems to prove, beyond dispute, that _oseye_ was an Alsatian wine; _Auxois_ or _Osay_ being, in old times, the name constantly used for Alsace. If this conjecture is well-founded, we may presume that _oseye_ was a luscious-sweet, or straw-wine, similar to that which is still made in that province. That it was a rich, high-flavoured liquor is sufficiently shown by a receipt for imitating it, which may be seen in Markham (_English Housewife_, 1683, p, 115), and we learn from Bacci p. 350) that the wines which Alsace then furnished in great profusion to England as well as different parts of the continent, were of that description.
In the 'Bataille des Vins' we find the 'Vin d'_Aussai_' a.s.sociated with the growths of the Moselle.” _Osey_ is one 'Of the commoditees of Portingalle,' _Libelle_, p. 163.
11. _Torrentyne of Ebrew._ Is this from Tarentum, Tarragon, or Toledo?
Whence in Ebrew land did our forefathers import wine? Mr G. Grove says, ”I should at first say that Torrentyne referred to the wine from some wady (Vulgate, _torrens_) in which peculiarly rich grapes grew, like the wady of Eschcol or of Sorek; but I don't remember any special valley being thus distinguished as '_The_ Torrent' above all others, and the vineyards are usually on hill-sides, not in vallies.”
12. _Greke Malevesyn._ ”The best dessert wines were made from the Malvasia grape; and Candia, where it was chiefly cultivated, for a long time retained the monopoly,” says Henderson. He quotes Martin Leake to explain the name. Monemvasia is a small fortified town in the bay of Epidaurus Limera. ”It was anciently a promontory called Minoa, but is now an island connected with the coast of Laconia by a bridge. The name of _Monemvasia_, derived from the circ.u.mstances of its position (???
?as?a, single entrance), was corrupted by the Italians to _Malvasia_; and the place being celebrated for the fine wines produced in the neighbourhood, _Malvasia_ changed to _Malvoisie_ in French, and _Malmsey_ in English came to be applied to many of the rich wines of the Archipelago, Greece, and other countries.” (_Researches in Greece_, p. 197.) _Maulmsey_, vinum cretic.u.m, vel creteum. Withals.
13. _Caprik_ may have been a wine from the island of Capri, or Cyprus.
14. _Clarey._ See above under _Pyment_, and the elaborate recipe for making it, in Household Ordinances, p. 473, under the heading ”Medicina optima et experta pro Stomacho et pro Capite in Antiquo hominem.”
_Claret Wine_, vinum sanguineum subrubrum, vel rubellum. Withals. ”The seconde wine is pure _Claret_, of a cleare Iacent, or Yelow choler; this wine doth greatly norish and warme the body, and it is an holsome wine with meate.” _Bullein_, fol. xj.
l. 122. _Spice_; l. 171. _Spicery._ Of ”The commoditees and nyoetees of Venicyans and Florentynes,” the author of the Libelle says, p. 171,