Drinks of the world / by James Mew and John Ashton.

  • Mew, James.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Drinks of the world / by James Mew and John Ashton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    130/390 (page 122)
    no objection to call a spade, a spade, thus plainly speaks out.1 “It would make a Man smile to behold her Figure in a front Box, where her twinkling Eyes, by her Afternoon’s Drams of Ratifee and cold Tea, sparkle more than her Pendants. . . . Her closet is always as well stor’d with Juleps, Restoratives, and Strong Waters, as an Apothecary’s Shop, or a Distiller’s Laboratory ; and is, herself, so notable a Housewife in the Art of preparing them, that she has a larger Collection of Chemical Receipts than a Dutch Mountebank. . . . As soon as she rises, she must have a Salutary Dram to keep her Stomach from the Cholick; a Whet before she eats, to procure Appetite ; after eating, a plentiful Dose for Concoction ; and to be sure a Bottle of Brandy under her Bed side for fear of fainting in the Night.” There is no necessity to multiply instances of the feminine liking for brandy, for everyone finds numerous examples in his reading, from Juliet’s nurse,2 who, after Tybalt’s death, says, “ Give me some aqua vitce,” to old Lady Clermont, of whom Grantley Berkeley tells the following story 3 :— “ Prominent among my earliest Brighton reminis- cences are those of old Lady Clermont, who was a frequent guest at the Pavilion. Her physician had recommended a moderate use of stimulants, to supply that energy which was deficient in her system, and brandy had been suggested in a prescribed quantity, 1 Adam and Eve strip t of their furbelows, 1710 (?) 2 Act III., s. 3. 3 My Life and Recollections, Vol. I., p. 59.