174 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
of the bottle. A bin of Cider over forty years old has been 
found perfectly sound for drinking. 
When apples are late in the season, or dry, for making them 
into a good apple-tart the addition of a little Cider to the fruit 
before cooking is a capital thing to do. It is stated in Kitchen 
Physic “ that old Martin Johnson, the Puritan Vicar of Dilwyn, 
Herefordshire (1651-1698), bore impartial testimony as follows : 
‘This parish, wherein Syder is plentifull, hath, and doth afforde, 
many people that have and do enjoy this blessing of long life. 
Neither are the aged here bedridden, or decrepit, as elsewhere, 
but for the most parte lively, and vigorous. Next to God wee 
ascribe it to our flourishing orchards; they do yield us plenty 
of rich and winy liquors, which long experience hath taught do 
conduce very much to the constant health, and long lives of our 
inhabitants, the cottagers.”’ A wholesome Cider drink for 
summer use by persons disposed to gout is Skimmery (St. Mary 
Cup): One bottle of soda-water, one quart of Cider (not sweet), 
one liqueur-glass of Old Tom, or of good gin highly impregnated 
with juniper, lemon-peel, borage, or cucumber, but no sugar, 
and no other ingredient ; add ice enough to cool thoroughly. 
In Wickliffe’s version of the New Testament his rendering of 
Luke i. 15 as to what the angel says to Zacharias, alluding 
to his promised offspring, runs thus: “ He shall not drink wine 
nor Cyder ” (the latter being a variation from “ strong drink’). 
Wickliffe, as representing the Engl'sh feeling of the thirteenth 
and fourteenth centuries, clearly viewed Cider much in the same 
light as the fermented juice of the grape. The Roman poets 
make no reference to Cider as a drink of their time. It is in 
French records we meet with the earliest vestige of the Cider- 
making industry. Our Roger Bacon (1260) talked of Cider and 
Perry as notable beverages in sea-voyages; he explained that 
the Cider of his day did not turn sour in crossing the line, and 
was wonderfully good against sea-sickness. But Tennyson, 
in the Voyage of Maeldwune, has powerfully depicted the madden- 
ing effects which may follow a riotous indulgence in liquors 
fermented from apples, and other saccharine fruits :-— 
** And we came to the Isle of Fruits ; all round from the cliffs, and the capes, 
Purple or amber dangled a hundred fathoms of grapes ; 
And the warm melon lay like a sun on the tawny sand ; 
And the fig ran up from the beach, and rioted over the land. 
And the mountain arose like a jewelled throne thro’ the fragrant air, 
Glowing with all-coloured plums, and with golden masses of pear, 
And the crimson, and scarlet of berries that flamed upon bine and vine ; 
But in every berry and fruit was the poisonous pleasure of wine. 
