Part 19

There are four drinks in Madagascar: _Toak_, made from honey and water; _Araffer_, from a tree called _Sater_, resembling a small cocoa-nut; _Toupare_, from boiled cane, a liquid so corrosive as in a short time to penetrate an egg shell; and _Vontaca_, from the juice of the so-called Bengal quince. The last soon produces intoxication, against which another curious drink is mentioned as a remedy by Ovalle, to wit, the sweat of a horse infused in wine.

The aborigines of Australia (Dawson’s _Present State of Australia_, p. 60) are inordinately fond of a beverage known by them under the name of _bull_. The recipe for this, as given by Mr. Dawson, runs thus: Get an old sugar bag, steal it if you cannot get it by any other means, and cut it into small pieces. Prepare a large kettle of boiling water, throw into it as many of these pieces of bag as it will hold, and let it simmer for half a day. An excellent _bull_ will be the result. This _bull_, says Dawson, they are extremely fond of, and will drink it till they are blown out like an ox with clover, and can contain no more.

Poncet speaks of booza as the usual liquor of the Abyssinians, “vastly thick and very ill tasted,” produced from a day’s soaking of a roasted berry.

The negroes of Brazil affect a mixture of black sugar and water without fermentation, called _Garapa_, to which heat is sometimes added by the leaves of the _Acajou_ tree.

Snow melted and impregnated with the flavour of smoke from the fire upon which it is placed is the common drink of the Lapp. Occasionally he gets a decoction of the herb _angelica_ in milk. The maritime Lapp drinks with gusto the oil squeezed from the entrails of fish. Women, it is said, will take a pint and a half of this so-called _tran_ at a meal. But the favourite drink is composed of water and meal flavoured with a quantity of tallow, and, if circumstances will permit, the blood of the reindeer.

_Taidge_ or _Tedge_ or _Tedj_ is a kind of honey wine or hydromel, said by Father Poncet[168] to be a delicious liquor, pure, clarified, and of the colour of Spanish white wine. The process of its manufacture is simple. Wild honey is mixed with water, and set in a jar, with a little sprouted barley, some _biccalo_ or _taddoo_ bark, and a few _geso_ or _guécho_ leaves. A superior kind is made by adding _kuloh_ berries. This is called _barilla_. The taste of _tedj_ has been described as that of small beer and musty lemonade. The women commonly strain it through their shifts.

_Besdon_ is made like _tedj_, with honey, and is highly valued in some parts of Africa. _Ladakh_ beer has the merit of portability. It is made of parched barley, rice, and the root of an aromatic plant, and pressed into a cake. A piece of this is broken off and cast into water. It resembles in taste sour gruel.

_Pombe_ is a liquid brewed of fruit, furnishing a common sort of cider known well in Eastern Africa.

In Tonquin[169] on the annual renewal of allegiance, they drink chicken’s blood mixed with arrack. They make a sort of cider from _miengou_, a fruit like a pomegranate. An extract of wheat, rye, or millet is mixed with _peka_, consisting of rice flour, garlic, aniseed, and liquorice. After fermentation it is distilled and becomes the celebrated _Samchou_.

In Sweden, with the _smör-gås_, or fore taste[170] at a side-table a glass of _fenkål_, sometimes very good, sometimes very bad, is given to him who is about to dine. It is made from fennel—a form perhaps of _fœniculum_—growing wild and abundant, as at Marathon[171] the celebrated deme on the east coast of Attica, the field of the famous battle.

In addition to strange compounds known in various parts of this country, such as Gin and Lime Juice, Whiskey or Rum and Milk, Brandy and Port, a drink said to have originated in Lancashire, Dog’s Nose, Shandy Gaff, etc., etc., may be mentioned Ethyl or Methylated Spirits, a beverage which, like ether in Ireland, has of late years advanced considerably in public estimation. It has the two advantages of being cheap and heady. An Act of 1880 imposed penalties on any retail tradesman selling it for the purpose of drink. A better method perhaps to prevent its being poured down the throats of Her Majesty’s liege subjects would be to take steps to ensure its being mixed before sold with a strong emetic. The palate can be trained, but the stomach is far less docile.

FOOTNOTES

[1] These essences and colours are no new thing. Addison spoke of them nearly two hundred years ago in his “Trial of the Wine Brewers” in the _Tatler_. Tom Tintoret and Harry Sippet have left a large family behind them.

[2] See tailpiece, where a servant is coming to the assistance of her mistress.

[3] Jablonski is our authority for supposing it primarily an Egyptian drink. A _zythum_ and a _dizythum_ seem to have existed, corresponding, let us say, to our _Single_ and _Double X_.

This _zythum_ is nearly allied to the _sacera_ of Palestine, the _cesia_ of Spain, the _cervisia_ of Gaul, the _sebaia_ of Dalmatia, and the _curmi_ or _camum_ of Germany. According to Rabbi Joseph, this beer was made ⅓ barley, ⅓ _Crocus Sylvestris_, ⅓ salt. He adds, “He that is bound, it looseth; and he who is loose, it binds; and it is dangerous for pregnant women.”

[4] Information on this subject is given by Sir Edward Barry, _Observations on the Wines of the Ancients_; Henderson, _History of Ancient and Modern Wines_; and Becker’s _Charicles_.

[5] This is probably the murrhina of Plautus (_Pseudol._ ii. 4, 50)

[6] This drink must not be confounded with ὑδρόμελι, honey and water, our mead, or ὑδρόμήλον, our cider.

[7] Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xiv. 19, etc.

[8] Line 964, etc.

[9] Line 4044, etc.

[10] Line 1387, etc.

[11] Line 1432, etc.

[12] Line 135, etc.

[13] _Hist. Account of the Cathedral Church of York_, Lond., 1715, p. 7.

[14] That division of the ancient kingdom of Northumberland, which was bounded by the river Humber southwards, and to the north by the Tyne.

[15] A liquor made of honey, wine, and spice.

[16] Honey, diluted with the juice of mulberries.

[17] In this sense it is apparently used in Gen. ix. 24: “Noah awoke from his _wine_.”

[18] From an Arabic word for antimony, applied to the eyes, the name is said to have been transferred to rectified spirits (C₂H₆O). It is a liquid formed by fermentation of aqueous sugar solutions. _Spirit of Wine_ contains about 90 per cent. of alcohol. 55 parts of alcohol and 45 of water form _proof spirit_. Of alcohol, spirits contain 40-50 per cent.; wines, 7-25; ale and porter, 6-8; small beer, 1-2.

[19] Who would believe this from the specimens tasted in England? Yet we are assured the statement is perfectly true.

[20] Patterson’s _Travels in Caffraria_, p. 92.

[21] One of these inspired Longfellow, who thinks (poetically) the richest wine is that of the West, which grows by the beautiful river, whose sweet perfume fills the apartment, with a benison on the giver:—

“Very good in its way is the Verzenay, Or the Sillery, soft and creamy; But Catawba wine has a taste more divine, More dulcet, delicious, and dreamy.”

A dreamy taste is something startling even in poetical description.

[22] Chili has lately taken Paris medals for its wines; it also produces a light and wholesome beer.

[23] The _rébêche_ is principally sold to people manufacturing cheap Champagnes; by mixing with other wines of very light complexion, they give them body, and make a stuff which can be produced at a very low price.

[24] _De Proprietatibus Rerum._ Argent. 1485, lib. xix. cap. 56.

[25] Blount’s _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_. Sec. “Grand Serjeantry,” No. IV.

[26] _The Wines of the World, Characterized and Classed_, 1875, pp. 16, 17.

[27] This wine is said to profit much by a quiescent state of the air afforded by the town wall.

[28] A wine at Homburg, called _Erlacher_, at about one mark a bottle, is, says Dr. Charnock, frequently superior to the ordinary _Niersteiner_.

[29] “Hock,” says one of those wine circulars, which weary alike the postman and the public, “is the English name for the noble vintages of the Rhine, which afford models of what wine ought to be. Their purity is attested by their durability. They are almost imperishable. They increase appetite, they exhilarate without producing languor, and they purify the blood. The Germans say good Hock keeps off the doctor. Southey says it deserves to be called the Liquor of Life. And so Pindar would have called it, if he had ever tasted it.” Nothing surely can be added to this description of its virtues.

[30] Thus unfortunately translated, “Rhine wine is good, Neckar pleasant, Frankfort bad, Moselle innocent.” But Moselle, we have been told, is very far from “innocent.” _Unnosel_ is without bouquet. _Tranken_ means not bad but drinkable, and _lecker_ is rather lickerish than good. A sample of the same carelessness occurs on the next page, where _ein weinfask von anderhalb ahm ein pipe_ is intended to express _ein Weinfass von anderthalb Ohm, eine Pipe_. It is a pity that an excellent work, to which we, as many writers on wine like ourselves, have been deeply indebted, should be marred by these irregularities.

[31] Colonel Leake described the ordinary country wine as a villainous compound of lime, resin, spirits of wine, and grapes, without body or flavour. Nor were things better in the days of old. Dugald Dalgetty, a German Ensign, writing from Athens in 1687, says, “Would that I could exchange a cask of Athenian wine for a cask of German beer!” The _vin du pays_ is impregnated with resin or turpentine now as formerly, whence, according to Plutarch, the Thyrsus of Bacchus is adorned with a pine cone. Pliny says it favours the preservation of the drink.

[32] The island owes this name to its patron saint Irene, martyred here A.D. 304.

[33] The value attached to this wine is one example among many of the caprice of fashion. The _Muscadine_ of Syracuse or the _Lagrima_ of Malaga is equal to it in richness, and few people would prefer it to other wines, did they dare to contradict the decision of fashion in its favour, and to have a taste of their own.

[34] So called from its green colour. It is said to have been a favourite wine of Frederick the Great. It is held now in slighter esteem.

[35] Called _Est Est_ from the writing under the bust of the valet of the bibulous German bishop Defoucris, who drank himself to death, upon which his valet composed his epitaph.

_‘Est est,’ propter minium ‘est,’._ _Dominus meus mortuus est._

Reverence for antiquity is our sole excuse for the reproduction of these wretched lines. _Monte Pulciano_ has also the credit of having killed a Churchman. Other wines doubtless have had the same honour.

[36] “Let no man,” says the Talmud, “send his neighbour wine with oil upon its surface.”—_Chulin_, fol. 94, col. 1.

[37] Malmsey wine is also a product of Funchal, in Madeira. The first so-called wine was shipped for Francis I. of France. The word is probably a corruption of _Malvasia_ or _Monemvasia_ (μόνη ἐμβασία, or single entrance), a Greek island from which the grape may have been brought by the Florentine Acciajoli in 1515.

[38] Rota wines are mostly coloured, or _Tintos_, whence our English sacramental drink. They are all simmered—at their best in youth, and their worst in age.

[39] Supposed by some to be the old English Sack. The reader interested may consult Hakluyt, Nicols, Hewell’s Dictionary, and Venner’s _Via Recta_.

[40] The etymology is uncertain. Some derive it from the town near Seville, others from the Spanish word for an apple, and others again from that for a camomile flower.

[41] _Valley of Rocks_, indicating the soil on which it is grown.

[42] It is frequently damaged by the carelessness of the _vinatero_, or wine-seller, to such an extent that the proverb _Pregonar vino y vender vinagre_ becomes, like wisdom, justified of her children.

[43] So called from the grape common in most parts of Spain.

[44] The fine old Amoroso, of which a small stock is still remaining.

[45] So called from the battle of Birs, in the reign of Louis XI., in which 1,600 Swiss opposed 30,000 French, and only sixteen of the former survived. The fallen succumbed, we are told, less to the power of the foe than to the fatigue of the fighting.

[46] It is supposed by the erudite divine, Adam Clarke, to be probably borrowed from the Hebrew word שֵׁכָר, Greek σίκερα, which, according to St. Jerome (_Epist. ad Nepotianum de vita Clericorum, et in Isai. xxvii. 1_), means any intoxicating liquor, whether of honey, corn, apples, dates, or other fruits.

[47] In a treatise of the Talmud, _Abodah Zarah_, fol. 40, col. 2, cider is called “wine of apples.”

[48] Walker: _Hist. Essay on Gardening_, p. 166. _Anthologia Hibernica_, i. 194.

[49] The extra dry old lauded or pale cremant, or the extra reserve Cuvée, 1884 vintage.

[50] For further information, see Crocker, Marshall, Knight, and especially Stopes.

[51] The French name, _Eau de Vie_, having the same meaning.

[52] “The Vertuose boke of Distyllacyon of the Waters of all maner of Herbes, with the fygures of the styllatoryes, Fyrst made and compyled by the thyrte yeres study and labour of the most con̅ynge and famous master of phisyke, Master Iherom bruynswyke. And now newly Translated out of Duyche into Englysshe,” etc. Lond., 1572.

[53] Lethargy.

[54] Belching.

[55] Pleurisy.

[56] A Spanish Wine.

[57] ? Orrice.

[58] Stir.

[59] Phial.

[60] _Adam and Eve stript of their furbelows_, 1710 (?)

[61] Act III., s. 3.

[62] _My Life and Recollections_, Vol. I., p. 59.

[63] Now called Athol brose.

[64] Of the word gill-house a recent editor of Pope observes that it is doubtful whether it is to be understood as a house where gill, or beer impregnated with ground-ivy, was sold, or whether as an inferior tavern, where beer was sold by the measure known as a gill.

[65] There are two other prints connected with this event, all published at the same time. One is “The Funeral Procession of Madame Geneva, Sept. 29, 1736.” The other is a Memorial, “To the Mortal Memory of Madame Geneva, who died Sept. 29, 1736. Her weeping Servants and loving Friends, consecrate this Tomb.”

[66] Whose premises were burnt down during the Lord George Gordon riots. Dickens immortalized Langdale in _Barnaby Rudge_. The distillery is still in existence at the same place.

[67] A whistling shop was a sly grog-shop. No spirits were allowed in the Fleet prison, but of course they were introduced, and could be got at some places. The method of telling who could be trusted, was for the customers to whistle—hence the term.

[68] _Alcoholic Drinks_, 1884, p. 67.

[69] Scott’s _Ivanhoe_, cap. iii.

[70] _Morat_ is a composition of honey and mulberries, from which latter its name is derived.

[71] According to their first institution the Jesuits were not priests. This was conceded to them afterwards by Paul V. Their primitive principal occupation was the assistance of the sick and the distillation of salutiferous waters, whence they were known as “_padri dell’ acquavite_,” or Fathers of brandies.

[72] A liqueur made with the flower of citron.

[73] _Ad majorem Dei gloriam._

[74] Roret’s “_Manuel du distillateur-liquoriste_.”

[75] _Gui-Patin Lettres_, ii. 425.

[76] One of the most important liqueur manufactories is that of Marie Brizard and Roger of Bordeaux. In 1755 Marie Brizard, in the Quartier S. Pierre, a lady of much devotion and charity, devoted a large portion of her time, in imitation of the monks, to the concoction of medicinal cordials. Of these, her _Anisette_, so called from its chief ingredient, soon attained a wide reputation. Roger married the niece of this lady, and the firm is now known under their joint names. They manufacture many other liqueurs, but are still chiefly famous for the old medicinal cordial.

[77] الاكسير, _alacsir_, from ξηρόν, dry.

[78] Here is the etymological process for the linguistic student: _Ligusticum_; Lat., _levisticum_; Fr., _luvesche_, _leveshe_, _livèche_; O. Eng., _livish_, _lovage_. The Italian has the form _libistico_, and the Portuguese _levistico_.

[79] A technical term.

[80] So called because said to be prepared from the maidenhair fern, _Adiantum capillus Veneris_; “but,” says Pereira, (_Materia Medica_), “the liqueur sold in the shops under this name is nothing but clarified syrup flavoured with orange-flower water.”

[81] These colours by which _soi-disant_ connoisseurs profess to determine the excellence of the liqueur, are in most cases merely adscititious. Rules are given for their manufacture. Rose, for instance, is the outcome of cochineal or sanders wood steeped for a fortnight in spirits of wine. Blue, of indigo and sulphuric acid. Yellow, of saffron. Pink, of cudbear, a corruption of the name of the chemist, Dr. _Cuthbert_ Gordon, who first employed this lichen; and green, of blue and yellow mixed.

[82] A pharmaceutical term for volatile oil of orange flowers. Said to be derived from an Italian princess, Néroli, who invented it.

[83] From Arabic خلنج _Khulanj_, “a tree from which wooden bowls are made,” Richardson. A dried rhizome brought from China, an aromatic stimulant of the nature of ginger. The drug is mostly produced by _Alpinia officinarum_.

[84] Also called Luft-Wasser.

[85] Only an Italian, we are told, can make this liqueur. The composition is a dark secret, but, we are also told, it originated in Austria, and is a mixture of tea, wine and milk in unknown quantities.

[86] Said, on account of its carminative properties, to be derived from the three words _vesse_, _pet_, and _rot_, which it is not incumbent upon us to translate.

[87] Merely a corruption of _Usquebaugh_.

[88] So called from the inventor. Said to be useful in stomachic affections.

[89] _Sic_, aimable (?)

[90] So called because made with _guignes_, Sp. _guindas_; dark red, very sweet cherries, smaller than the _bigarreaux_. The _Guignolet d’Angers_ is especially famous.

[91] This is composed of fennel, celery, coriander, and angelica.

[92] Sometimes written _Karoy_. _Carum carve_, L., from the Greek κάρον, an umbelliferous plant of which the root by culture becomes edible. The fruit is analogous to that of anise.

[93] Also written more correctly _d’Hendaye_; white, yellow, and green, according to its alcoholic strength.

[94] _Cassis_ would appear to be the name of a _ville_ (_Bouches-du-Rhone_) which has a commerce of wine and fruit.

[95] _Stolberg’s Travels_, i., 146.

[96] Germ. _Wermuth_, absinthe or wormwood, plant of genus _Artemisia_—perhaps originally connected with _warm_, on account of the warmth it produces in the stomach. This bitter, though commonly quoted under liqueurs, should be classed with _Quinine Wine_, _Angostura_, _Khoosh_, etc., _Juglandine_, made in France from the walnut, _Malakoff_ made in Silesia, the _Shaddock_ and _Quassia_ bitters of the West Indies, and the _Schapps_ bitter of Switzerland.

[97] The dictionary explanations of these terms are commonly unsatisfactory. The experience of the bar-tender is more than the learning of the lexicographer. _Cobbler_, indeed, is well explained as compounded of wine, sugar, lemon, and sucked up through a straw; but of _cocktail_ we only learn that it is a compounded drink much used in America. The etymologies given are generally satisfactory. _Julep_ is from گلاب rose water. _Mull_ from _mulled_, erroneously taken as a past participle. According to Wedgwood, _mulled_ is a form of _mould_, and _mulled_ ale is funeral ale, _potatio funerosa_. _Nogg_ is from _noggin_, signifying a pot, and then the strong beer which it contains. _Negus_ is commonly known to have been the invention of Col. Francis Negus in the reign of Anne. _Punch_ is of course from the Hindustani پانچ, signifying 5, from its five original ingredients, to wit, _aqua vitæ_, _rose water_, _sugar_, _arrack_, and _citron juice_. A very unsatisfactory derivation of _Sangaree_ is from the Spanish _sangria_, the incision of a vein. _Shrub_ is clearly the Arabic شرب or syrup. _Smash_, explained curtly as “iced brandy and water.” (_Slang_) is probably from the smashing of the ice; while _sling_ seems evidently to be from the German _schlingen_, to swallow.

[98] The verdict of François Guislier du Verger, the master-distiller in the art of chemistry at Paris, in his _Traité des Liqueurs_, in 1728, is altogether unfavourable to what he calls _Le Ponge_. “It is,” he says, “an English liqueur, and a man must be English to drink it; for I think it cannot be to the taste of any other nation in the world. It upsets the stomach, provokes the bile, and violently affects the head. How, indeed, can it be otherwise, seeing that it is composed of white wine, Eau de vie, citrons, a little sugar, and bread crumbs.” And then follows the observation: “If water were put instead of Eau de vie, with an equal quantity of wine, a citron, and four ounces of sugar, a liqueur suitable to every one would be the result, a liqueur which would do as much good as the other does harm.”

[99] Such at least is the signification of _sangaree_ as far as American drinks are concerned. But _Sang-gris_ is said by Bescherelle to be a mixture of tea in wine amongst the sailors of the North. Perhaps the name is taken from the colour. It recalls David Garrick’s “Why, the tea is as red as blood.” In the West Indies it is made of Madeira, water, lime juice, and sugar. Spices are sometimes added. Pinckard’s “West Indies,” i. 469.

[100] _Shrub_ is called _santa_ in Jamaica. It is made in the West Indies with rum, syrup, and orange-peel.

[101] The Slang Dictionary, however, defines _Sling_ as a drink peculiar to Americans, generally composed of gin, soda-water, ice, and slices of lemon. At some houses (understand public) in London _gin slings_ may be obtained. Francatelli has an exquisite note on _Gin Sling_, which he directs to be sucked through a straw. “I fear that very genteel persons will be exceedingly shocked at my words; but when I tell them that the very act of imbibition through a straw prevents the gluttonous absorption of large and baneful quantities of drink, they will, I make no doubt, accept the vulgar precept for the sake of its protection against sudden inebriety.”

[102] Aromatic tincture: Ginger, cinnamon, orange peel, each 1 oz.; valerian, ½ oz.; alcohol, 2 quarts. Macerate for fourteen days and filter through unsized paper.

[103] Those who wish to investigate the antiquity of beer may find ample matter to supply their desire in a work commonly attributed to Archdeacon Rolleston, entitled, “Οινος Κριθινος, _a dissertation concerning the origin and antiquity of barley wine_.” Oxford, 1750.

[104] Much has been written on the comparative merits of wine and beer. Perhaps as good a remark as any on this subject was made by a modern tradesman who, wishing to sell both, explained that, while strongly advocating the introduction of wine, he did not at all intend to depreciate the merits of our national beverage, beer. Where, he continued, plenty of out-door exercise is taken, and little intellectual effort is demanded, good beer is perhaps the most wholesome of all drinks; and therefore he advised the “labouring man,” who could not probably afford to buy wine, to drink beer, while others, who might be supposed able to afford wine, were warned that they could not drink beer with impunity.

[105] The world has little altered since the time of Martial (i. 19).

“_scelus est jugulare Falernum,_ _Et dare Campano toxica sæva mero._”

[106] This is the sweet potato, introduced into Europe before the common potato.

[107] For an interesting account of this, vid., Dr., Charnock’s _Verba Nominalia_.

[108] _Beajus_, which in Malay signifies a wild man.

[109] Roggewein’s _Voyage Round the World_.