sumed amonge the poore commons-I mean melons, pompions, gourds, cucumbers, radishes, &c. skerets, parsnips, carrots, cabbages, newewes, turnips, and all kindes of herbes; but also fed upon as daintie dishes at the tables of delicate merchants, gentlemen, and the nobilitie, who make their provision yearlie for new seeds out of strange countries, from whence they have them abundantlie." CELERY. Celery was first introduced to the English tables by Count Tallard, during his captivity in England, after the battle of Malplaquet, in 1709. ARROW-ROOT. This plant, or vegetable, so highly prized in the sick chamber, derives its name from being an effectual antidote against the venom of the poisoned arrow, made use of by the Indians, particularly by the Carribees, the plant or root abounding in the islands thus denominated. VEGETABLE FUNGI. An occurrence in the cellar of the late Sir Joseph Banks, may be acceptable in the mention to the curious, and excite particular sympathy in persons who recreate with the juice of the vine: as a fact, it may tend to elucidate the origin and nature of vegetable fungi, particularly of that species termed Mushroom. The worthy baronet had a cask of wine rather too sweet for immediate use; he therefore directed that it should be placed in a cellar, in order that the saccharine matter it contained, might be more perfectly decomposed by age. At the end of three years, he directed his butler to ascertain the state of the wine, when, on attempting to open the cellar door, he could not effect it, in consequence of some powerful obstacle. The door was cut down, and the cellar found to be completely filled with a firm fungus vegetable production-so firm, that it was necessary to use the axe for its removal This appeared to have grown from, or have been nourished by, the decomposed particles of the wine; the cask was empty, and carried up to the ceiling, where it was supported by the surface of the fungus. SUGAR. Tea and sugar, which are now to be met with in most cottages in the South of England, were great rarities until comparatively of late years. The latter is, indeed, noticed by several authors, even as early as the 14th century, (Anderson 11, 178), but continued to be very dear even in James's reign. It first came from Barbary and Cyprus, where the sugar-cane was introduced by the Moors, and from thence to Spain and the Canaries. From hence, on the discovery of America, it was transplanted to the Brazils; and about the year 1506, established in Hispaniola. Before it was cultivated in Africa or Europe, sugar was brought from the Indies by way of Damascus, or Aleppo, and from thence to England by Venice, Genoa, or Pisa. Anciently honey was the chief ingredient used as a sweetener of our dishes and liquors, particularly in mead and metheglin. Sugar, however, notwithstanding its extravagant price, was very generally substituted in the place of honey, even as early as the reign of Richard II. in great quantities, as is to be seen in several receipts of ancient cookery, and particularly in the kitchen accounts of that monarch. Sack and sugar was a favorite beverage with our ancestors, and is alluded to in several old plays. TEA. Tea was probably very imperfectly, if at all, known in England in the reign of James I., and certainly was very little used. Botero, who wrote about 1590, seems to allude to tea in the following remark:-"The Chinese have also an herb, out of which they press a delicate juice, which serves them instead of wine; it also preserves their health, and frees them from all those evils that the immoderate use of wine doth bring unto us." In a treatise on the East India trade, published in 1620, most of the commodities then imported are enumerated, but tea is not one of them. It was, perhaps, introduced on the establishment of the new India Company in 1637, who then obtained permission to trade to China and Japan, to which the former India Company had not before adventured. No notice of tea, however, is taken in the Book of Rates annexed to the Act passed in 1660, for granting the King certain duties on different articles of importation; but in a subsequent Act, tea, coffee, and chocolate, are subjected to an excise. It is singular, in the Act alluded to, that the duty is imposed on the liquor composed from the articles specified, and not on the simple articles themselves. The act says, "for every gallon of coffee made and sold, to be paid by the maker, 4d.; for every gallon of chocolate, sherbet, and tea, made and sold, to be paid by the maker thereof, 8d. ;" from which it may be inferred, that none of those articles were then made by private families, but were purchased ready mixed from the compounder. The difficulty of collecting the duties in this form, their general unproductiveness, and the expenses they caused, occasioned the act to be repealed in the reign of William and Mary. Another writer says, Tea, or chaa, as it is called in China, was first brought to this country from Holland by Lord Arlington, in 1666. It is said to have been first brought to Europe by the Portuguese, and not understanding its qualities, or the mode of preparing it, the leaves were boiled, served up as greens, and eat with melted butter, the water in which they were boiled being thrown away! TOBACCO. Tobacco is a native of the East and West Indies, and particularly the island Tobago,* or Tabago, from whence Tabacco, or Tobacco is derived. It was first introduced into England by Sir Walter Raleigh, from Virginia, in the early part of the reign of James 1st, who in his Apothegms, spoke of it as follows: "that tobacco was the lively image and pattern of Hell; for that it had by allusion in it all the parts and vices of the world whereby Hell may be gained: to wit, first, it was a smoak; so are all the vanities of this world. Secondly, it delighteth them who take it; so do all the pleasures of the world delight the men of the world. Thirdly, it maketh men drunk and light in the head; so do all the vanities of the worldmen are drunken therewith. Fourthly, he that taketh tobacco saith he cannot leave it, it doth bewitch him; even so the pleasures of the world make men loath to leave them, they are for the most part so enchanted with them. And further, besides all this, it is like Hell in the very substance of it, for it is a stinking loathsome thing; and so is Hell." And further, his majesty professed, that "were First discovered there in 1496. he to invite the Devil to a dinner, he should have three dishes: first, a Pig; second, a poll of Ling and mustard; and third, a Pipe of Tobacco, for digesture." HOPS AND BEER. They were, according to "Baker's Chronicles," introduced into England in the year of our Lord, 1524. "Turkies, carps, hoppes, picarell, and beere, BARLEY, BEER, BARME. The month of September was called by our Saxon ancestors Gerstmonat, for that barley, says Verstegan, which that moneth commonly yeelded, was antiently called gerst, the name of barley being given unto it by reason of the drinke therewith made, called beere, and from beerlegh it came to be berlegh, and from berleg to barley. So in like manner beereheym, to wit, the overdecking or covering of beere, came to be called berham, and afterwards barme, having since gotten I wot not how many names besides. This excellent and healthsome liquor, beere, antiently called ael, as of the Danes it yet is (beere and ale being in effect all one,) was of the Germans invented, and brought in use." ALE. This term, denominating another truly English beverage, is derived from the Saxon ael. The Saxons called October ael-ronat, or ael-monath, ie the month which was principally dedicated to the brewing of this liquor. Dr. Paris, "On Diet," says, the liquor called ale, was originally made of barley,t malt, and yeast alone We are told by one of the oldest writers on medical subjects, (Andrew Boorde), that those who put in any other ingredient, sophisticated the liquor. It is, he says, the natural drink of an Englishman; but beer, on the other hand, which is made of malt, hops, and water, is the natural drink of a Dutchman, and of late is much used in England, to the great detriment of many Englishmen. There existed, for a long time, a strong prejudice against hops, which were considered as pernicious weeds; but it is now generally admitted, that they constitute the most valuable ingredient in malt liquors. Independent of the flavour and tonic virtues which they communicate, they precipitate, by means of their astringent principle, the vegetable mucilage, and thus remove from the beer the active principle of its fermentation; without hops, therefore, we must either drink our malt liquors new and ropy, or old and sour. There are several varieties of ale, distinguished by their colour; when the malt is slenderly dried, the ale is pule, or brown when the malt is more roasted, or high dried. PORTER AND ENTIRE. Before 1730, the malt liquors in general use in London, were called ale, beer, and a drink called twopenny. It was then customary to call for a pint, or tankard, of half and-half; i. e. half of ale, aud half of beer, or half of ale, and half of twopenny. In course of time, it also became the practice to call for a pint, or tankard of Pike or Jack. + Yeast, &c. + See Barley, three threads, meaning a third of each, ale, beer, and two-penny, and thus the publican had the trouble to go to three casks, and turn three cocks for a pint of liquor. To avoid this inconvenience and waste, a brewer of the name of Harwood, conceived the idea of making a liquor, which should partake of the united flavours of ale, beer, and twopenny; he did so, and succeeded, calling it entire, or entire-butt, meaning that it was drawn entirely from one cask or butt; and as it was a very hearty and nourishing liquor, and supposed to be very suitable for porters, and other working people, it obtained the name of porter. GIN. The Genevese, in imitation of the Dutch (Hollands) were the first makers of this spirit, and called it Geneva, from whence originated the English term of Gin. Although it is inferior in flavour to Hollands, it is considered, when unadulterated with noxious mixtures, to be equally as wholesome. FERINTOSH WHISKEY. The word Ferintosh signifies Thane's land, it having been part of the Thanedom of Cawdor (Macbeth's), or Calder. The barony of Ferintosh belonged to the Forbes's of Culloden, and contained about 1800 arable acres. All barley produced on this estate was privileged to be converted into whiskey, duty free; the natural consequence of which was, that more whiskey was distilled in Ferintosh than in all the rest of Scotland. In 1784, Government made a sort of compulsory purchase of this privilege from the Culloden family, after they had enjoyed it a complete century. The sum paid was 21,5001. PORT WINE. This wine derives its name from Oporto, in Portugal, which, like Bordeaux in France, is the principal port in that country from whence the Portugal wines are exported. Howell says, Portugal affords no wines worth transporting." In our day, however, we think different. The custom of drinking Port wine began about 1703, the date of the Methuen treaty, it bebeing deemed impolitic to encourage the vintage of France. Wine was first made in England in 1140. SHERRY. This wine derives its name from the province of Xeriers, in Spain, where it is produced. HOCK. We have heard much of Hock, and a many of us, no doubt, have tasted it it is made at a village called Hocheim, in Germany, from which it derives its name. The following Epitaph may be seen on a tomb-stone there : "This grave holds Gaspar Schink who came to dine Three nights he sat, and thirty bottles drank, The trump will raise him in the proper place." GROG. Old Admiral Vernon first introduced rum and water as a beverage on board a ship; the veteran used to wear a grogram cloak in foul weather, which gained him the appellation of Old Grog: from himself the sailors transferred this name to the liquor, and it may be a question to which of the grogs they were most attached. PUNCH, (Liquor). The liquor called Punch, says the "Asiatic Journal," has become so truly English, that it is often supposed to be indigenous in this country, though its name at least is oriental The Persian punji, or Sanscrit pancha, i. e. five, is the etymon of its title, and denotes the number of ingredients of which it is composed. Addison's foxhunter, who testified so much surprise when he found, that of the materials of which this truly English beverage was made, only the water belonged to England, would have been more astonished, had his informant also told him that it derived its name even from the East. NEGUS. Wine and water first received this name from Francis Negus, Esq. in the reign of George the First. Party spirit ran high at that period between Whigs and Tories, and wine-bibbing was resorted to as an excitement. On one occasion, some leading Whigs and Tories having, par accident, got over their cups together, and Mr. Negus being present, and high words ensuing, he recommended them in future to dilute their wine, as he did, which suggestion fortunately directed their attention from an argument, which probably would have ended seriously, to one on the merits of wine and water, which concluded by their nick-naming it Negus. COFFEE AND COFFEE HOUSES. In the year Coffee Houses were first established at Oxford. 1650, Jacob, a Jew, opened a Coffey-house at the Angel, in the parish of Saint Peter in the East, Oxon; and there it was by some, who delighted in noveltie, drank. In 1654, Cirques Jobson, a Jew and a Jacobite, born near Mount Lebanus, sold coffee in Oxon; and in 1655, Arthur Tillyard, apothecary, sold coffee publicly in his house against All Soul's College. This coffey-house continued till his Majesty's (Charles 2d) return and after, and then became more frequent. It is also recorded in a "New View of London," published in 1708, that one James Fair, a barber, who kept the house (which is now the Rainbow) by the Inner Temple Gate, one of the oldest in England, was in the year 1657, presented by the Inquest of St. Dunstan's in the West, for making and selling a sort of liquor called coffee, to the great nuisance and preju ice of the neighbourhood. And who (alds the author) could then have thought London would ever have had 3000 such nuisances, and that coffee would have been, as now, so much drank by the first quality and physicians. NEWCASTLE SALMON. Previous to the year 1787, all salmon sent to London from Berwick, were boiled and put into kits; but since that time, they have |