Devonshire Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Devonshire Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England) -- Biography; Devon (England) -- History
_Meat_, _Butter_, and _Cheese_, “By my Saul that will do!
’Twill affect all the _Land_, and bring _Money_ in too;”
Proceed, my good Laird, and may the _H-lt-r_ or _A--e_,
Reward you for saying each _infamous_ T--x.
_Derry down_, &c.
“Mr. Wollocombe was not a little pleased with it, and talked of it
in all conversations; it created amusement at first, but when time
produced an hogshead of it, from raillery it came to seriousness, and
every one from laughter fell to admiration. In the meantime he had
thought of a name for his British wine, and as it appeared to be in the
original tree a fruit not grafted, it retained the name of a Wilding,
and as he thought it superior to all other apples, he gave it the title
of the Royal Wilding.
“This was about sixteen years since (i.e. about 1710). The gentlemen of
our county are now busy almost everywhere in promoting it, and some of
the wiser farmers. But we have not yet enough for sale. I have known
five guineas refused for one of our hogsheads of it, though the common
cyder sells for twenty shillings, and the South Ham for twenty-five to
thirty.
“I must add, that Mr. Wollocombe hath reserved some of them for hoard;
I have tasted the tarts of them, and they come nearer to the quince
than any other tart I ever eat of.
“Wherever it has been tried as yet, the juices are perfectly good
(but better in some soils than others), and when the gentlemen of the
South-Hams will condescend to give it a place in their orchards, they
will undoubtedly exceed us in this liquor, because we must yield to
them in the apple soil. But it is happy for us, that at present they
are so wrapt up in their own sufficiency, that they do not entertain
any thoughts of raising apples from us; and when they shall, it must be
another twenty years before they can do anything to the purpose, though
some of their thinking gentlemen, I am told, begin to get some of them
transported thither, (by night you may suppose, partly for shame and
partly for fear of being mobbed by their neighbours) and will, I am
well assured, much rejoice in the production.
“The colour of the Royal Wilding cyder, without any assistance from
art, is of a bright yellow, rather than a reddish beerish tincture;
its other qualities are a noble body, an excellent bitter, a delicate
(excuse the expression) roughness, and a fine vinous flavour. All the
other qualities you may meet with in some of the best South-Ham cyder,
but the last is peculiar to the White-Sour and the Royal Wilding only,
and you will in vain look for it in any other.”
Mr. Stafford goes on to speak of his second favourite, the White Sour
of the South Hams.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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