7

Plum pudding was also served in abundance and the whole feast was finally embellished with wine and brandy, for while Christmas, as far as feasting was concerned, had, in those days, its many specialties and singularities, there was nothing to which the king looked with more pleasure than its liquor carte. Of this beverage the king and guests alike partook freely, and as a customary consequence of the feasting of olden times, all were enjoyably intoxicated.

"Lordlings Christmas loves good drinking,
Wines of Gascoigne, France Anjou,
English Ale that drives out thinking,
Prince of liquors old and new:
Every neighbor shares the bowl,
Drinks of the spicy liquor deep,
Drinks his fill without control,

Till he drowns himself in sleep,"

and to attain that end, every exhilarating liquor was pressed into service by our

ancestors.