1869 Drinking Cups and their Customs (Mixellany)

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COTS AND THB1B CUSTOMS.

trustworthy and reliable, take the matter in hand your- self | for nothing is so annoying to the host, or so unpalatable to the guests, as a badly compounded cup. In order that the magnitude of this important business may be fully understood and properly estimated, we will transfer some of the excellent aphoristic remarks of the illustrious Billy Dawson (more properly Bully Dawson, spoken of by Charles Lamb in his € Popular Fallacies*), whose illustricity consisted in being the only man who could brew Punch. This is his testi- mony :— u The man who sees, does, or thinks of any- thing while he is making Punch, may as well look for the North-west Passage on Mutton Bill. A man can never make good Punch unless he is satisfied, nay positive, that no man breathing can make better. I can and do make good Punch, because I do nothing else ; and this is my way of doing it. I retire to a solitary corner, with my ingredients ready sorted ; they are as follows; and I mix them in the order they are here written. Sugar, twelve tolerable lumps j hot water, one pint j lemons, two, the juice and, peel j old Jamaica rum, two gills; brandy, one gill j porter or stout, half a gill ; arrack, a slight dash. I allow my- self five minutes to make a bowl on the foregoing pro- portions, carefully stirring the mixture as I furnish the ingredients until it actually foams; and then, Kanga- roos ! how beautiful it is !P J If, however, for conveni- ence, you place the matter in the hands of your do- mestic, I would advise you to caution her on the im- portance of the office | and this could not be better