THE MILK -BATH 223 



except in the imagination of the populace. Indeed, 

 persons were Uving a few years since who could re- 

 member the objection many had who resided in the 

 neighbourhood of his grace's residence to using milk, 

 for fear of drinking that which had been used for the 

 Duke's ablutions, which, it was supposed, the purveyor 

 bought back ; though perhaps those pure-milk desir- 

 ing persons were unaware of the 'flavouring' used, 

 which, supposing these lactean ablutions to have been 

 true, would have prevented the milk being retailed 

 for household purposes. Many allusions to this exist, 

 but one more will suffice. A wit of those times 

 declared that his grace's real reason for bathing in 

 milk was that he believed the nearest way to Heaven 

 was via the ' Milky Way,' 



Another point in the ' ducal recipe ' worthy of 

 comment is that no wine nor spirits find a place in 

 it before seven in the evening, a wise and discreet 

 observance — assuming, for the sake of argiunQnt, the 

 regimen to be one really lived up to. Though his 

 grace, having been accustomed to take alcoholic 

 liquors, may have needed them at his time of life, 

 it appears that whatever, if any, benefit he derived 

 from them was meant to supply Nature during 

 the day by their absorption the previous evening; 

 therefore wisely, very wisely, he seldom resorted 



