George Edwin Roberts - Drinking Cups And Their Customs

This is a reprint of DRINKING CUPS AND THEIR CUSTOMS (second edition) published in 1869 by Henry Porter and George Roberts

Edited and republished in 2018 by Thomas Majhen

Brunnenstraße 42, 10115 Berlin, Germany

t.majhen@outlook.de

Print and distribution: epubli GmbH

www.epubli.de

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„Touch brim! touch foot! the wine is red,

And leaps to the lips of the free;

Our wassail true is quickly said, -

Comrade! I drink to thee!

„Touch foot! touch brim! who cares? who cares?

Brothers in sorrow or glee,

Glory or danger each gallantly shares:

Comrade! I drink to thee!

„Touch brim! touch foot! once again, old friend,

Though the present our last draught be;

We were boys–we are men–we’ll be true to the end:

Brother! I drink to thee!“

_________________________

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.

MDCCCLXIX.

PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,

RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

PREFACE

PREFACETO THE SECOND EDITION

CUPS AND THEIR CUSTOMS

HINTS TO CUP-BREWERS

OLD RECIPES

Metheglin

Lamb’s Wool

The Wassail Bowl

MODERN RECIPES

Punch

Noyau Punch

Gin Punch

Whisky Punch

Milk Punch

Milk Punch, No. 2

Regent’s Punch

Cold Milk Punch (German Recipe)

WINE CUPS

Claret Cup, No. 1

Claret Cup, No. 2

Claret Cup, No. 3

Claret Cup, No. 4

Mulled Claret

Burgundy Cup

Hock Cup, No. 1

Hock Cup, No. 2

Hock Cup, No. 3

Hock Cup, No. 4

Hock Cup, No. 5

Champagne Cup

Moselle Cup, No. 1

Moselle Cup, No. 2

Moselle Cup, No. 3

Moselle Cup, No. 4

Moselle Cup, No. 5

Cutler’s Moselle Cup

Mulled Port

Mulled Sherry

Sherry Cobbler

Cider Cup

Morgan’s Herefordshire Cup

Donaldson’s Cider Cup

The “Field” Cider Cup

White’s Club House Cup

Loving Cup

Djonka (a Russian Beverage)

BEER CUPS

Hot Ale Cup

Copus Cup

Donaldson’s Beer Cup

Freemasons’ Cup

Egg Flip

LIQUEURS

Curaçao

Cherry Brandy

Brandy Bitters

Ginger Brandy

Hunting-flask

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THE principal object of these pages is to furnish a collection of recipes for the brewing of compound drinks, technically called “Cups”, all of which have been selected with the most scrupulous attention to the rules of gastronomy, and their virtues tested and approved by repeated trials. These we are inclined to put into type, from a belief that, if they were more generally adopted, it would be the means of getting rid of a great deal of that stereotyped drinking which at present hold sway at the festive boards of England. In doing this, we have endeavored to simplify the matter as much as possible, adding such hints and remarks as may prove serviceable to the uninitiated, whilst we have discarded a goodly number of modern compounds as unpalatable and unscientific. As, in this age of progress, most things are raised to the position of a science, we see no reason why Bacchanology, if the term please our readers, should not hold a respectable place, and be entitled to its due mead of praise; so, by way of introduction, we have ventured to take a cursory glance at the customs which have been attached to drinking from the earliest periods to the present time. This, however, we set forth as no elaborate history, but only as an arrangement of such scraps as have from time to time fallen in our way, and have helped us to form ideas of the social manners of bygone times.

We have selected a sprig of Borage for our frontispiece, by reason of the usefulness of that pleasant herb in the flavoring of cups. Elsewhere than in England, plants for flavouring are accounted of rare virtue. So much are they esteemed in the East, that an anti-Brahminical writer, showing the worthlessness of Hindu superstitions, says, “They command you to cut down a living and sweet basil-plant, that you may crown a lifeless stone.” Our use of flavoring-herbs is the reverse of this justly condemned one; for we crop them that hearts may be warmed and life lengthened.

And here we would remark, that although our endeavors are directed towards the resuscitation of better times than those we live in, times of heartier customs and of more genial ways, we raise no lamentation for the departure of the golden age, in the spirit of Hoffmann von Fallersleben, who sings:-

“Would our bottles but grow deeper,

Did our wine but once get cheaper,

Then on earth there might unfold

The golden times, the age of gold!

“But not for us; we are commanded

To go with temperance even-handed.

The golden age is for the dead:

We’ve got the paper age instead!

“For, ah! our bottles still decline,

And daily dearer grows our wine,

And flat and void our pockets fall;

Faith! soon there’ll be no times at all!”

This is rather the cry of those who live that they may drink, than of our wiser selves, who drink that we may live. In truth, we are not dead to the charms of other drinks, in moderation. The apple has had a share of our favor, being recommended to our literary notice by an olden poet–

“Praised and caress’d, the tuneful Phillips sung

Of cyder famed, whence first his laurels sprung;”

and we have looked with a friendly eye upon the wool of a porter-pot, and involuntarily apostrophized it in the words of the old stanza,

“Rise then, my Muse, and to the world proclaim

The mighty charms of porter’s potent name,”

without the least jealous feeling being aroused at the employment of a Muse whose labors ought to be secured solely for humanity; but a cup-drink, little and good, will, for its social and moral qualities, ever hold the chief place in our likings.

Lastly, although we know many of our friends to be first-rate judges of pleasant beverages, yet we believe that but few of them are acquainted with their composition or history in times past. Should, therefore, any hints we may have thrown out assist in adding to the conviviality of the festive board, we feel we shall not have scribbled in vain; and we beg especially to dedicate this bagatelle to all those good souls who have been taught by experience that a firm adhesion to the “pigskin”, and a rattling gallopade to the music of the twanging horn and the melody of the merry Pack, is the best incentive to the enjoyment of all good things, especially good appetite, good fellowship, and

GOOD HEALTH.

. . . . . . And, although alone,

We’ll drain one draught in

Memory of many a joyous

Banquet past.

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THE Second Edition of this book contains much additional matter, all of which has been derived from notes collected by one of the original author of the work, whose untimely death is mourned, and whose genial hospitality is remembered, by very many friends. The compiler believes that the additions made will greatly increase the usefulness of the book to all compounders of Cups.

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