A Pleasing Sinne

"By discussing diverse social contexts - from the Inns of Court to rural Derbyshire - contributors ask what kinds of etiquettes and rituals governed different drinking communities in the seventeenth century." "The influence of particular kinds of drink - claret, port, beer, ale, cider, perry - and particular kinds of drinkers in generating discourses of politics, nationalism and xenophobia is considered; and the notions of moderation and excess are analysed: while early modern medicinal tracts championed measured drinking of wine and beer as a cure for sickness, drunkenness was consistently and dramatically aligned with physical decay, madness and sedition." "The range of texts discussed is broad: popular broadside ballads and husbandry manuals; dramatic works; verse collections; manuscript miscellanies; scientific and medical tracts; and political treaties."--Jacket.