act i. scene 2.

_Lady Macbeth._ I have drugged their possets.

It appears from this passage as well as from many others in our old dramatic performances, that it was the general custom to take _possets_ just before bed-time. So in the first part of _King Edward IV._, by Heywood: ‘thou shalt be welcome to beef and bacon, and perhaps a bag-pudding; and my daughter Nell shall pop a _posset_ upon thee when thou goest to bed.’ Macbeth has already said:--

Go bid thy mistress, when my _drink_ is ready, She strike upon the bell.

Lady Macbeth has also just observed:--

That which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold.

And in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ Mrs. Quickly promises Jack Rugby a _posset_ at night. This custom is also mentioned by Froissart.

One more quotation I cannot refrain from adding. It is not from Shakespeare, but from one who had studied him, and who, if nothing else, could certainly parody the ‘seven ages of man’ (_As You Like It_,