The Wichita daily eagle., 1898-01-01
The History of Drinks.

Any one who gives thought to the his
| tory Of drinking can understand why the
English were pioneers in the art Of orna-
mental tipping. Even before the Roman
| invasion they were potent in pot5ing-
| Their beverages at that time, IL is true,
We're crude and ofttimes harsh, but they
made the most OF their opportunities; and
as the island was overrun by the various
brands of invaders, mead and metheglin
gave way to all-conquerfng wines and pow
| erful aies. In other words. as the popula-
tion blended with succeeding races, drinks
and drinking also became mixed, till IN
! Shakespeare's time the country was IN a
perpetual muddle and fuddle, and an av-
erage Englishman was able ITO drink with
facility your Dane dead drunk'' and put
the bibulous German and the swag-belEed
Hollander under the table "ere the next
pottle could be filed
Cocktails were unknown IN these glori-
Gus days. and there is no authentic record
ef smashes, fizzes. or even high balls; but
there were many other bevera ges with good
mouth-filling names. The swaggerers had
a favorite tipple called .huncap." II was
an extra strong ale, which made its devo-
tees ''huffy," prone to bully and sometimes
fight. Women, who went to the tavern as
boldly, f not quite so openly, as the men,
drank merry go-down," which was COM
pounded of Spanish wines, with liberal ac-
ceSsfons OF sugar, sprinkHng OF nutmeg
and q pinch of ginger. The poorer classes
OF religious men took kindly TO lambs 6
wool" which was made of hot ale, pulp
CT roasted apples, grated rutmeg and gin
ger, with raw sugar for sweetening.
Monks, priests and prelates had a special
class Of wines appropriately Known as the
ologicuIl." They were, OF course, the finest
vintages in the market, for, as one OF the
cnroniclers of the times remarks, the wine
merchant was afraid TO serve this class
of customers with anything but the best.
lest his sould should go straight TO the
devil.
Another sanity drink was BISHOP"
which subsequently met the poetic opproba-
ton Of Dean Swift, who wrote:
Fine oranges,
Wen roasted, with sugar and wine in a
cup,
They'll make a sweet bishop which gentle
folks sup.
The old poets were fond of celebrating
their drink verse. OF sacks. whose glorious
operations were graphically described by
its high priest, Falstaff, an El;Zabethan
poet wrote:
So will il make the melancholie glad.
II mirthe ami sadnesse doth an sacke re-
main.
When 1 am sad 1 will take some sacke
again.
But to return to fancy drinks, the list
of which is by no means exhausted. One
wonderful deCoction was made by boiling
a number of herbs bitter and sweet, and
adding a quantity of the infusion to hot
ale. This mixture, which was sweet or
sour. soporific or exhilerating, according
20 the luck OF the brewer In gathering
mis- herbs, was known as bitter sweet"
Falstaff, It will be remembered, could not
stomach apple-johns, which were some
times roasted and dropped into hot sp:ced
ale. Crabs were preferred for this purpose.
Ale so treated was favorite Indulgence a.
Christmas time. Reference is made TO 1t
in the winter song in Loves Labour
Lost
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl.
1t formed the Ingredient of the famous
wassail bowl, as well as of the gossip's
bowl. of which Puck says:
And sometimes lurk l in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of roasted crab.
And when She drinks against her lips bob,
ana on llcr Wllner q deWIap pour the ale
Other popular drinks were maddog and
dragons dix. Their main constituent
was ale of different degrees of age and
strength, favored with ginger and no;
stuff. Maddog was the stronger of the
two. 1t was popular among gentlemen of
Ancient Pistols stmp. who usually wanted |
TO grip their throats and put |
fire into their eyes. Topers owe a great |
Zeal TO this same Maddog. He 1t was that |
Introduced the custom, popular in other |
andS besides England, of easing the ef- |
'ects of over-indugence by taking "a hair |
1f the dog that bit YOU
The fastid,ous Briton of the olden times !
was also mighty hard to please as to the |
qualities OF wine. We find record of his |
1icety in this regard as far back as the /
welfth century. An old manuscript in the |
British Museum tells US what wine was
most priced: 'It should be clear like the
ears of pen.tent. so that a man may
zee distinctly to the bottom of his glass:
IS color should represent the greenness of
buffalo's horn; when drunk ii should de-
cend impetuously like thunder; sweet |
asted, Ike an almond creeping like
qu:rrel; leaping like a roebuck; strong f.ke
he building of a Cistercian monastery; gilt
ering like a spark of fire. subtle Ike the
ogic of the schools of Paris: delicate as
ne silk, and colder than crystal
4