Slicer. Then to avoid the grosse absurdity
Of a dry Battel, 'cause there must some bloud
Be spilt (on th' enemies side, I mean) you may
Have there a Rundlet of brisk Claret, and
As much of Aligant, the same quantitie
Of Tent would not be wanting, 'tis a wine
Most like to bloud. Some shall bleed fainter colours,
As Sack, and white wine. Some that have the itch
(As there are Taylors still in every Army)
Shall run with Renish, that hath Brimstone in't."
Aligant mentioned in this extract was the wine grown in Alicante, a province of the ancient Kingdom of Valencia. Sometimes it was spelled Aligaunt or Aligaunte:—
"Pseud. In Ganges Iles I thirty rivers saw
Fill'd with sweet nectar.
Lach. O dainty lyer!
Pseud. Thirty rivers more
With Aligaunte."
Timon, a Play, p. 39.
In the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., under date of Feb. 16, 1530, occurs the following item:—"Paied to the S'geant of the Sello' for iii tonne of white wyne of galiake (Gaillac in Languedoc)." See also the Northumberland House-Hold Book, ed. 1827, p. 414; and Taylor's Penniless Pilgrimage, 1618 (Works, 1630, i. 136).
[284] "He that will take the bird, must not skare it."—Herbert's Outlandish Proverbs, 1640, No. 41.
[285] This word, which frequently occurs in the course of the present work, must be understood to be merely equivalent to the Greek [Greek: tyrannos], a prince whose authority is unlimited by constitutional restraints. There seems to be some ground for the supposition that [Greek: tyrannos] is nothing more than the Doric form of [Greek: koipanos]. It may be mentioned that in middle-Greek the word despota ([Greek: despotês]) bore no harsher meaning than that of a petty prince, acting independently, but acknowledging a suzerain. It is to be found in this sense, I think, in almost all the Byzantine historians.
[286] i.e. when the undertaking is no matter of choice.