Sentence:  And yonder sate Desborough with a dry <WSD>pottle</WSD> of sack before him, which he had just emptied, and which, though the element in which he trusted, had not restored him sense enough to speak, or courage enough to look over his shoulder. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A former unit of volume, equivalent to half a gallon, used for liquids and corn; a pot or drinking vessel of around this size.