1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

"APPLE SASS" I7S drinks too much of either invariably falls on the back of his head, which sounds rather dangerous. Whether the drinking of cider in moderation conduces to long life deponent sayeth not; but no less an authority than Lord Bacon evidently thought so; and in his History of Life and Death he tells of eight men dancing a Morris- dance, whose ages, added together, were 800 years, "tennants of one Mannour" belonging to the Earl of Essex, and habitual cider-drinkers. But the lengthening of the days of the imbiber depends, in all probability, upon the brand of cider. I have tasted some varieties which were capable, apparently, of shortening life, rather than of prolonging it j and in parts of Somersetshire, even at the present day, the locals—case-hardened and poison-proof to a man—swill a horrible decoction, which would probably kill offan alien, at long range, most speedily and effectively. Cider was called "cidre" and "sithere" by fourteenth century writers; and the word is said to be a corruption of the Greek sikera^ used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew shekar usually rendered "strong drink" in the Old Testament. " The name of Ciderf says one of these old writers, " if from Sikera^ is but a general name for an inebriating or an intoxicating drink, and may argue their ignorance in those times of any other name than IVine for that liquor or juice in the Saxon or Norman language, either of those nations being unwilling (it's probable) to use a British name for so pleasing a drink, they not affecting the Britains, made use of few of their