1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

88 THE FLOWING BOWL one time known. Not that it is principally manufactured in picturesque Switzerland, where the watches come from; but " Geneva " is a corruption of the old French word genevre the juniper. I used to read, in childhood's days,'that Juniper berries and barley make gin, but those ingredients—or the berries, at all events—would seem to be only regularly used in Holland, nowadays. "Dirty" gin, of which we used to hear so much, was, I believe, as pure as any other geneva, and not less clean. Plymouth gin is said to be the healthiest form of the article, but 'tis an acquired taste, and " Old Tom " is cer tainly more toothsome. In entering as fully into details as I have above I have no wish to discourage the consumption of gin proper, especi ally when blended with ginger-beer (an excellent summer beverage), or doing duty in a cock-tail a sling, a punch, or a John Collins. But I arn not a " gin man " myself. And to my mind a "nip" less calculated to promote appetite than any other is a "gin-and-bitters." "Kosher" rum, i.e. rum treated according to instructions laid down in the Mosaic Law, is in high favour with the Jews j and in some of the taverns which abut on the Israelitish quarters which are about Aldgate there are recognized "rum-rooms." There used to be, and probably is at the present day, a considerable amount of card-playing {spieling) or throwing of dice for wagers, carried on in these apartments ; and I once knew a son ofJudah who was heavily fined