Put into a tankard or covered jug one bottle of stout, one bottle of mild ale, and one wine-glassful of old brandy, with sugar _ad lib._; then add a little powdered ginger, half a nutmeg grated; cover it over, ice for half an hour; before serving, stir in a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, add a few strips of cucumber-rind, and put in, last of all, a block of ice. One more cup, and I have done with this part of my subject. This is a ladylike concoction, as its name would seem to imply. _Tennis Cup._ Put into a bowl four tablespoonfuls of sifted sugar, the rind of one lemon and juice of two, one wine-glassful of brandy, one wine-glassful of ginger syrup, and a small piece of cucumber-rind; add two bottles of soda-water, one sprig of borage, and two sprigs of verbena. Ice well; and serve in small glasses. {101} CHAPTER X PUNCH Derivation of the word questioned — Not an Asiatic drink — “Pale-punts” — No relation to pale punters — Properties of rum — Toddy as a tonic — Irish punch — Glasgie ditto — O’er muckle cauld watter — One to seven — Hech sirs! — Classical sherbet — Virtues of the feet of calves — West India dry gripes — Make your own punch — No deputy allowed — Attraction of capillaire — Gin punch — Eight recipes for milk punch — University heart-cheerers. When e’en a bowl of punch we make, Four striking opposites we take: The strong, the small, the sharp, the sweet, Together mix’d, most kindly meet, And when they happily unite The bowl is pregnant with delight. In _Cakes and Ale_, grave doubts are expressed as to whether the usually-accepted derivation of punch is the correct one. Why Asia should be raked to find a name for a purely European concoction, is beyond my powers of argument; and, as observed in another place, in the concoction of this seductive brew it is by no means necessary to limit oneself to _five_ ingredients. It may be news to the adopters of the _panch_ (five) theory to read that punch was at one time {102} called “pale-punts,” why or wherefore deponent sayeth not; here is the extract from a work published A.D. 1691:— “Pale-punts, here vulgarly known by the name of Punch; a drink compounded of brandy or _aqua vitæ_, juice of lemons, oranges, sugar, or such like; very usual amongst those that frequent the sea, where a bowl of punch is an usual beverage.” But it was “usual” only in the days of sailing-ships and long voyages; and with fast steamers and whole evenings devoted to the beauties of poker, or selling pools, a more usual modern maritime drink is a modicum of whisky diluted with aërated water.