1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

CORDIALS AND LIQUEURS 189 cordial was popular with the Scots, who now, however, prefer their whisky unadorned. Steep in one bottle of old Scotch whisky one pint of white currants, stripped of their stalks, the thin rind of a lemon, and one teaspoonful of essence of ginger. Let the mixture stand for forty-eight hours, and then strain through a hair sieve. Add one pound of loaf-sugar, which will take at least a day to thoroughly dissolve. Then bottle off and cork well. It will be ready for use in three months, but will keep longer. A cordial which is but seldom asked for nowadays was known in the seventeenth century as King Charles 11?s Surfeit-Water. Take a gallon of the best aqua-vitte, and a quart of brandy, and a quart of anniseed-water, a pint of poppy-water, and a pint of damask - rose - water; put these in a large glass jar, and put to it a pound of fine powdered sugar, a pound and a half of raisins stoned, a quarter of a pound of dates stoned and sliced, one ounce of cinnamon bruised, cloves one ounce, four nutmegs bruised, one stick of licorice scraped and sliced ; let all these stand nine days close covered, stirring three or four times a day ; then add to it three pounds of fresh poppies, or three handfuls of dried poppies, a sprigof angelica, two or three of balm ; so let it stand a week longer, then strain it out and bottle it. And then notify the undertaker, I should think. The Merry Monarch had his faults, but, surfeit or no surfeit, it is hard to believe that a king could bring himself to lap such a