The name of the “little refreshers” consumed at tavern-bars in large cities is legion. I have heard the following compounds called for, at different times: sherry-and-bitters—there being at least half a dozen sorts of bitters—gin-and-ditto, whisky-and-ditto; vermouth (Italian or French), vermouth-and-sloe-gin, gin-and-sherry, gin-and-orange-gin, sloe-gin, gin-and-sloe-gin (commonly called “slow-and-quick”), curaçoa-and-brandy, whisky alone, brandy alone, gin alone. And in the Borough there is a dreadful mixture known by the appropriate name of _Twist_. “This,” says an esteemed correspondent, “is a favourite liqueur of the porters in the hop-warehouses. You go into the ‘Red Cross,’ for instance, and ask for a ‘ ’alf-quartern o’ Twist in a three-out glass,’ and you will find that it consists of equal parts of rum and gin, and is a powerful pick-me-up after a wet night.” I should question the “pick-me-up” part of this story; therefore shall not schedule “Twist” in my list of Restoratives, in the next chapter. _Kirschenwasser._ This is a wholesome and reviving liqueur made from the cherries which grow in the Black Forest. It is not as potent as maraschino, which {196} is also made from cherries, in another place. But the Black Forest cherry-water requires a little treatment to render it palatable. Put a little in a saucer; take a lump of sugar, set fire to it, and replace it in the saucer, so that the rest of the liquid may be set ablaze. When the flame is burnt out and the sugar melted, the liqueur is fit to drink. _Noyeau_ is made from white brandy and apricot-kernels, and is the sweetest, as well as the most pernicious of all liqueurs. I do not know how many glasses it would take to kill an ordinary man, but most people know that noyeau contains hydrocyanic acid of which none but those tired of the world would care to drink too much. _Parfait Amour_ “What’s in a name?” This is simply bad orange-bitters, and there is neither love nor perfection in it. But they say that in dear old England, in the olden time, before oranges could be bought at three-halfpence per dozen, it was customary for a lover, on New Year’s Day, to present his sweetheart with an orange stuck all over with cloves, as an emblem of Perfect Love. The sweetheart of to-day prefers a bangle, or a bicycle. One more liqueur, _Maraschino_. This is a bitter-sweet liqueur made at Zara from the kernel of the Marasca cherry, or gean {197} of Dalmatia. The word implies bitterness, yet the liquid is sweet enough to catch flies. “It is a curious fact,” says a modern writer, “in natural history that the fair sex prefer a sweet liqueur to the finest wine; and they have such a tendency to maraschino that Mr. Hayward has proposed that whereas the toast most honoured among men is Wine and Women, they should adopt as their own return toast—Men and Maraschino.”