vinegar would hardly have been considered in this light; wormwood might.

In Thomas's Italian Dictionary, 1562, we have "Assentio, Eysell" and
Florio renders that word by vinegar. What is meant, however, is
Absinthites or Wormwood wine, a nauseously bitter medicament then much
in use; and this being evidently {242} the _bitter potion of Eysell_ in
the poet's sonnet, was certainly the nauseous draught proposed to be
taken by Hamlet among the other extravagant feats as tokens of love. The
following extracts will show that in the poet's age this nauseous bitter
potion was in frequent use medicinally.

"ABSINTHIUM, [Greek: apsinthion, aspinthion], Comicis, ab
insigni amarore quo bibeates illud aversantur."-_Junius,
Nomenclator ap. Nicot_.

"ABSINTHITES, _wormwood wine_.--_Hutton's Dict_.

"Hujus modi autem propomatum _hodie_ apud Christianos quoque
_maximus est et frequentissimus usus_, quibus potatores maximi
ceu proemiis quibusdam atque præludiis utuntur, ad dirum illud
suum propinandi certamen. _Ae maxime quidem commune est proponia
absynthites_, quod vim habet stomachum corroborandi et
extenuandi, expellendique excrementa quæ in eo continentur. Hoc
fere propomate potatores hodie maxime ab initio coenæ utuntur
ceu pharmaco cum hesternæ, atque præteritæ, tum futuræ
ebrietatis, atque crapulæ.... _amarissimæ sunt potiones
medicatæ_, quibus tandem stomachi cruditates immoderato cibo
potuque collectas expurgundi cause uti coguntur."--Stuckius,
_Antiquitatæ Corviralium. Tiguri_, 1582, fol. 327.