ful flavour of that which we are accustomed to use

in this country.

Even if mustard be mixed with wine containing as much alcohol as common sherry, the volatile oil which gives it its full strength is not developed; for, be it understood, the pungency of mustard is the result of the peculiar fermentation which takes place immediately a sufficient quantity of water is added to it.

Peppers are of two kinds, those which are properly spices, such as black pepper and the white which is derived from it; the others, such as the different kinds of capsicum from which red peppers are produced, are derived from pods dried and ground-that which is by far the most largely used in this country, of course, being the former.

The effects of these are carminative, anti-spasmodic, and stimulant, affording some little relief in cases of deranged functions, especially with regard to the digestion of vegetables, and they also form a pleasant seasoning when used in small quantities in the various culinary operations.

Red peppers are more directly stimulating, and, at the same time, may be considered in some instances as irritants. Where the lining membrane of the bowels is in a state of relaxation, as in summer diarrhoea, the action of this pepper is more directly astringent. This action is only produced

when administered occasionally. If habitually taken, cayenne pepper produces a congested condition of the whole alimentary canal, and, particularly, engorgement of the liver. In all cases of congestive dyspepsia, highly seasoned food should be avoided.

All kinds of pepper seem the most approved of when taken with those articles of food which demand the accompaniment of salt. But other stimulants of considerable activity appear to blend pleasantly with those kinds of food which contain or are combined with sugar. These are the spices known as such, and although their uses are better appreciated in Eastern countries, perhaps, than at home, still we all recognise the important aid, culinary and gustative, which they afford when delicately handled.

Unfortunately, cooks incompetent to the development of the more subtle flavours of their materials disguise the poverty of their resources with a superabundance of the contents of the spice box. All harmony of flavour is thus destroyed, and the digestive advantages which a moderate amount of spice undoubtedly confers are lost in the nausea which they occasion.

WE

CHAPTER VII.

BEER.

E may commence the subject of alcoholic stimulants with that which in this country and in the colder climates has the largest consumption. Not being a wine-producing country, nor one in which spirits are mainly depended upon, beer, or the immediate product of fermented liquors, is that which must be considered the staple product, best suited to the tastes and requirements of the climate. Beer, as we have known it in our own personal experience, is a very different article from that which was in vogue one or two generations ago.

As we shall have to revert to the beers of the present day in the endeavour to point out to what degree they are suitable generally, or more or less so in particular instances, we may touch upon the beers of the past to show the progress that has been made, not only in the public taste, but in the brewing of beers, which have from time to time. followed the demands of greater intelligence on the part of the consumers. So stimulated to the

production of more suitable beverages, that recognition of progressive superiority which is the reward of foresight in commercial enterprise has been obtained.

Until the production of the pale ales, which were first exported to India as being more suitable on account of their lightness and less alcoholicity, strong beers of every kind were more easily brewed and better appreciated than beer of a delicate and lighter description, and until it became fashionable to believe that everything bitter was a valuable tonic, few persons would have cared to indulge in that excess of hop flavour which was necessary to keep season-brewed beers over the summer, in which the extractive matters were so much reduced.

At that time, what were termed vatted ales, porter, or stout, were alone to be relied on, and to enable beer to stand one or two years in the vat, these were first brewed to contain the maximum of extract of malt, so as to leave, after fermentation, a considerable body of saccharine matter, which would sustain a slight secondary fermentation for an almost indefinite period. Acidity meant then something much more nearly approaching vinegar than that which we are accustomed to complain of in the present day. In fact, what was termed hardness would represent an acetous con

dition of beer quite undrinkable according to the present tastes.

The only difference between that kind of beer which was ready for consumption soon after being brewed, and those which were termed stock ales, consisted in the former somewhat resembling what we now call mild ale, and the latter being brewed to so much greater strength as to enable it to keep without becoming absolutely sour. We are not alluding to table or small beer, which washy and unpalatable decoctions were scarcely more than the rinsings of the mash-tub or the results of injudicious home-brews. We are rather concerned to notice those beers which were of highest repute, and acquired the highest prices. These may be briefly divided into two classes-new beers and old beers; the one being sweet, clammy, and almost repulsive from the heavy loading of saccharine and other extractive matter, only slightly fermented out, and therefore prone to carry on fermentation in the stomach, and to produce the wellknown train of symptoms termed heartburn, acidity, flatulence, etc.

The other, almost valued by its age like port wine, was not despised, if in addition to the strongest possible alcoholicity it contained compound ethers and acids sufficient to render it highly intoxicating; so that the beer-drinkers of