has been given. And here is what Sir Fleetwood Fletcher wrote on the same subject:— From fam’d Barbadoes, on the western main, Fetch sugar, ounces four; fetch sack from Spain A pint; and from the Eastern Indian coast Nutmeg, the glory of our northern toast; O’er flaming coals let them together heat Till the all-conquering sack dissolve the sweet; O’er such another fire put eggs just ten, New-born from tread of cock and rump of hen; Stir them with steady hand and conscience pricking, To see th’ untimely end of ten fine chicken: [Sir Fleetwood! Sir Fleetwood!] From shining shelf take down the brazen skillet, A quart of milk from gentle cow will fill it; When boil’d and cold, put milk and sack to eggs, Unite them firmly like the triple league, [What, again?] And on the fire let them together dwell Till miss sing twice—you must not kiss and tell: Each lad and lass take up a silver spoon, And fall on fiercely like a starv’d dragoon. {174} CHAPTER XVI “APPLE SASS” Ancient British seider — Conducive to longevity — The best made in Normandy — Which develops into champagne — And other popular and salubrious wines — Non-alcoholic cider — A loathsome brew — German manufacturers — Medical properties of apple juice — Away with melancholy — The mill and the press — Pure wine — Norfolk cider — Gaymer’s gout-fuge — Revival of the industry — Old process of cider-making — Improving the flavour — Boiled cider — Hippocras — Juniper cider — An ancient cider-cup. According to some chroniclers the ancient Britons made cider—or “seider” as the poor ignoramuses wrote it—but it must have been nasty stuff according to our civilized ideas; for until the Romans came to visit us the apple was not cultivated in Britain, nor, indeed, any fruit or vegetable. Our blue forefathers were not particular as to what they ate or drank; and I should think the fermented juice of wild or “crab” apples must have corroded the throats of the hardiest.