EATING AND DRINKING ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

North Otago Times, 27 January 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

EATING AND DRINKING ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

Men and women drank and ate a great deal more a century ago than they Ido now. William Pitt, Fox, Sheridan,' Eldon, Stowell, and many others drank [ their six bottles of claret. It would be difficult to find any contemporary ac- ' quaintance of anything like equal celebrity in 1905 who can hold even three | bottles of port at once. The drinking of the eighteenth century wont far beyond anytliin-r ever recorded; all classes; alike drank; they began to drink hard; somewhoro about 1730, and they kept it up with great spirit for about a hundred years, with re6uits which their, grandchildren, have®illustrated, and' which have made us* sober men.

A profusion of food was placed on the table at once at a mid-day dinner in the City of Loudon, where everyone was getting rich during the heyday of the merchants' prosperity at the beginning of the nineteenth century. A| good deal of usoless and unmeaning ceremony, clogged the repast. The hostess pressed; her guests to food which it was bad manners to refuse, and it was good manners to pay her compliments about them all in detail. One compensation was the complete silence of all children and young persons, Tho moats were full of seasonings and stuffings, and the English still loved sweet things. It had only lately become the fashion to put wine on tho table during meal times, and in many households a mau called for wnat ho wanted, and a cup of drink was brought him, which, when emptied; was replaced in the cupboard ready for] another call. The two-pronged fork was] of little use for green peaa, so a knife was used to shovel them into tha mouth. Bone 6 were openly gnawed and) sucked. Corfaln dishes belonged to certain days,

Veal and a gammon of bacon with a , tansy pudding on Eastor day; rel hen- . ing and salt fish, with leeks, parsnips' and pease in Lent; salt beef at MartinI mas; roast bocf, with butter and beans , at Midsummer; pork and souse, or. . "spats and spurling,' 1 at All Saints'.' ', Hasty pudding was made of flour and water boiled together, to which dabs of . butler and spoonfuls of really brown , West Indian sugar wore added when itwas poured out of the pot, A bean | tansy was.once universally beloved. After bruising your beans you put them in ; a dish with popper, salt, cloves, raaco, tho yolks of six oggs, a quarter of a , pound of butter, and some slices of. bacon, and baked the whole, or you. might mix beans, biscuits, sack and' cream, bake in a dish, and garnish with candied orange peel. A few differences, in national taste may bo hinted at. In 1805 they still served gooseberries with mackerel, and fennel with lobster or salmon. A public benefactor of tho' name of Trotter had already introduced ,'quiuees into apple pies. Men ate let-' tuce to induce sleep, after having partaken of currants in their veal, and j poured honey over their beef. I "Punch" in its various forms is so, I vast a portion of the life of ■ 1805' that i something must bo Baid of it in connec-; j'tion even with the "family dinner" that' has so attracted our attention, Lemons, i Jump sugar, boiling water, sherbet, rum and brandy, combined to make tho com-. jjnon variety. Gin, flavoured with black I currant whisky, produced a subtler jipotion. Two pods of sweet tamarinds added to each bowl mado "Quack" punch, rand "Itumfustian," a word of Babe-' ! laisiau inolody, was the delicious pro-j duco of twelve eggs whiskod, a quart of !6trong beer, a pint of giu, and a bottle' of shorry, with flavourings of nutmeg, sugar, and the rind of lemon. Besides all, this, your hardy toper might take W choice of Christian bub, sweet apple,' gill-ale. Barbadoes rum, cherry beerj'. amber beer, purl. Old Pharaoh,. Knock-! medown, liumticdumtie, stipple, and, rum shrub.

j These might bo called for In any tavr era, but at the "family dinner" the [hostess of 1805 would bo quite capable horsclf of making cherry brandy, currant gin, danif/Dn brandy, and that marvel lous coufection called Gascony wine, which "comforts the vital parts, cures" dropsy, and keeps the old alive," Lest : tin ungrateful world should once more forget it. the ingredients are here againV : ; Bet forth: "Take ginger, galingale',' ; ' cinnamon, nutmeg, grainp of paradise, ; cloves bruised, fennel seed, caraway . seeds, origanum, loz each. Next (tako- ■■ a'long breath, followed by) sage, wild : .' marjoram, pennyroyal, mint, red rosesivthyme, pellitory,' rosemary,; camomile,; .' lavender, one handful each. Beat .Mo . spices small, bruise tho herbs,, put all;rt into a limbeck with wino. for twplyo': houra, then distil."' : ': •.-> '.-,'■