BREAD. 117 
and dedicated to ‘‘ the grandchildren, grand-nephews, and grand- 
nieces of Edward, the thirteenth Earl of Derby,” we read with 
amusement :— 
** There was an old man of the coast, 
Who placidly sat on a post ; 
But when it was cold, he relinquished his hold, 
And called for some hot buttered toast.” 
This was quite a wise thing to do, seeing that the melted butter 
would serve admirably as fuel to quicken his bodily warmth. 
At the ‘Marquis of Granby’s” (of glorious memory) in Pickwick, 
when Sam Weller paid a visit to Mrs. Weller, his mother-in-law, 
“the fire was blazing brightly in the bar parlour, and a plate of 
hot buttered toast was gently simmering before the fire, and 
the red-nosed man was busily converting a large slice of bread 
into the same agreeable edible on a long brass toasting-fork. 
‘Governor in?’ enquired Sam. ‘He may be, or he may not,’ 
replied Mrs. Weller, buttering another round of toast for the 
red-nosed man. ‘ Ask a blessin’, Mr. Stiggins.’ The red-nosed 
man did as he was desired, and instantly commenced on the 
toast with fierce voracity.” Quite an important medical art 
is that of making proper toast for the sick person. Ii the slice 
of bread is thick, and carelessly exposed to a blazing fire, the 
outside is charred, and converted into charcoal before the heat 
can reach the inside. Thus the moisture within is only heated, 
not evaporated, and makes the inside doughy, or clammy ; and 
butter, when spread upon this toast, cannot penetrate through 
into the interior bread, but floats upon the surface in the form 
of oil, and the result is one of the most indigestible of compounds. 
The correct way is to’ have the bread stale, and cut into thin 
uniform slices, and to dry it thoroughly before browning it. 
Toast of this kind, when moistened with water, or with milk, 
is easily, and thoroughly acted upon by the digestive glands. 
But when it is a chip, dry enough to snap, is too dry. A central 
layer of soft bread lends it unity, and preserves enough moisture 
to influence the whole. If the intervening bread between 
the two toasted surfaces is more than a mere hint, then has the 
toaster failed ignominiously. Such an anomaly is “ like dancing 
in thin boots surmounted by heavy gaiters.” We remember it 
was “a lunatic, all gas, and gaiters,” who made love to Mrs. 
Nickleby, the loquacious mother of Nicholas. a, 
When sugar is continuously heated, its water is driven off, 
