Holy Bottle

( The Oracle of the ), the object of Pantag´ruel’s search. He visited various lands with his friend Panurge (2 syl. ), the last place being the island of Lantern-land, where the “bottle” was kept in an alabaster fount in a magnificent temple. When the party arrived at the sacred spot, the prieste threw something into the fount; whereupon the water began to bubble, and the word “Drink” i ued from the “bottle.” So the whole party set to drinking Falernian wine, and, being inspired with drunkenne , raved with prophetic madne ; and so the romance ends.—Rabelais, Pant a gruel (1545). Like Pant a gruel and his companions in quest of the “Oracle of the Bottle.”—Sterne.