ADDITIONAL NOTE TO BOOK III. 674.
As the curious word voidee has been suppressed in all previous editions, I add some more examples of it, for some of which I am indebted to Dr. Murray. It occurs, e.g., in the extremely interesting account of the death of James I of Scotland.
'Within an owre the Kyng askid the voidee, and drank, the travers yn the chambure edraw [= y-drawe, drawn], and every man depairtid and went to rist': (1400) Jn. Shirley, Dethe of James Stewarde, Kyng of Scotys, p. 13, ed. 1818.
Hence, no doubt, Mr. Rossetti, in his poem of The King's Tragedy, drew the line:—'Then he called for the voidee-cup.'
'A voidy of spices': (1548) Hall's Chron. 14 Hen. VIII.
'A voidee of spices': (1577-87) Holinshed's Chron. vol. iii. p. 849.
In A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Royal Household, London, 1790, there are several examples of it.
'The Archbishoppe to stand on the Kinges right hand, and the King to make him a becke when hee shall take spice and wine. And when the voide is donne, then the King to goe into his chamber; and all other estates to goe into their chambers, or where it shall please them,' &c.: p. 111; in Articles ordained by King Henry VII.
At p. 113, there are minute directions as to the voidè. The chamberlain and others fetch a towel, the cups, and the spice-plates; the king and the bishop take 'spice and wine,' and afterwards the lords and people are served 'largely' with spice and wine also; after which the cups are removed. At p. 36, we read: 'the bourde avoyded [cleared] when wafyrs come with ypocras, or with other swete wynes. The King never taketh a voyd [read voydè] of comfites and other spices, but standing.' At p. 121: 'as for the voide on twelfth day at night, the King and Queene ought to take it in the halle.' At the Coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn, there was a voidè 'of spice-plates and wine'; English Garner, ed. Arber, ii. 50.
The voidee was, in fact, a sort of dessert. The word spices included many things besides what it now implies. In the Ordinances above-mentioned, there is a list of spices, at p. 103. It includes pepper, saffron, ginger, cloves, maces, cinnamon, nutmegs, dates, prunes, quinces, comfits, raisins, currants, figs, and even rice. In the North of England, even at the present day, it includes sweetmeats, gingerbread, cakes, and dried fruits.
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