“_English Punch_,” says a writer of our own time, “is, as regards the spirit, mostly of two kinds—brandy and rum, mixed in proportions which must be left to taste. The rum generally predominates. The acid is nearly always lemon juice. The spice is nearly always lemon-peel, but sometimes tea-leaf”—now marry come up!—“sometimes nutmeg; and as for the sugar and the water they explain themselves.” The Scotch make toddy in very much the same way as the Irish concoct their punch. But _Glasgow Punch_, according to John Gibson Lockhart, was compounded with the coldest spring-water—a commodity which would seem to be growing somewhat scarce in Caledonia—for the purpose of punch-making, at all events. {105} The sugar being melted with a little cold water, the artist squeezed about a dozen lemons through a wooden strainer, and then poured in water enough almost to fill the bowl. In this state the liquor goes by the name of sherbet, and a few of the connoisseurs in his immediate neighbourhood were requested to give their opinion of it—for in the mixing of the sherbet lies, according to the Glasgow creed at least, one half of the whole battle. This being approved by an audible smack from the lips of the umpires, the rum was added to the beverage, I suppose in something about the proportion of one to seven⸺. Hech sirs! Or, does it mean seven of rum to one of the spring? Last of all the maker cut a few limes, and running each section rapidly round the rim of his bowl, squeezed in enough of this more delicate acid to flavour the whole composition. In this consists the true _tour-de-maître_ of the punch-maker. _Oxford Punch_ or _Classical Sherbet_ is a very ancient beverage, and from the sustaining powers of the calves’-foot jelly (under what heading, amongst punch ingredients, does this come, by the way?) inserted therein might fairly pose as meat and drink. Extract the juice from the rind of three lemons, by rubbing loaf-sugar on them. The peeling of two Seville oranges and two lemons, cut extremely {106} thin. The juice of four Seville oranges and ten lemons. Six glasses of calves’-feet jelly in a liquid state. The above to be put into a jug and stirred well together. Pour two quarts of boiling water on the mixture, cover the jug closely, and place it near the fire for a quarter of an hour. Then strain the liquid through a sieve into a punch bowl or jug, sweeten it with a bottle of capillaire (the recipe for this follows), and add half a pint of white wine, a pint of French brandy, a pint of Jamaica rum, and a bottle of orange shrub; the mixture to be stirred as the spirits are poured in. If not sufficiently sweet, add loaf-sugar, or a little more capillaire. To be served either hot or cold. In making the punch limes are sometimes used instead of lemons, but are not so wholesome; in fact Arbuthnot, in his work on aliments, says: “The West India dry gripes are occasioned by lime-juice in punch.” And nobody wants them.