gallon of it put two pounds of loaf sugar, stirring it well till the sugar is dissolved. Then put it on the fire, adding the whites of four eggs well beaten; let it boil half an hour, and skim it clean all the time. Put it into the tub again, and, when milk warm, add a gill of good ale yeast, stirring it every two hours. Work it thus for two days; then put it into a cask, bung it up, and when fine, bottle it off.

Sage Wine.

Boil six gallons of spring water a quarter of an hour, and let it stand till it is milk warm. Then put in twenty-five pounds of Malaga raisins, picked, rubbed clean, and cut small; together with half a bushel of red sage cut small, and a gill of good ale yeast. Mix them all well together, and let them stand covered, in a warm place, six or seven days, stirring them once a day. Then strain the liquor into a clean cask, and when it has worked three or four days, bung it up, and let it stand a week longer. Add to it two quarts of mountain wine, with a gill of finings, and, when fine, bottle it off.

Mead Wine.

There are different kinds of this wine; but those generally made are two, namely, sack mead, and cowslip mead. Sack mead is made thus: To every gallon of water put four pounds of honey, and boil it three quarters of an hour, taking care properly to skim it. To each gallon add half an ounce of hops, then boil it half an hour, and let it stand till the next day. Then put it into a cask; and to thirteen gallons of the liquor add a quart of brandy or sack. Let it be tightly closed till the fermentation is over, and then stop it up very close. If you make as much as fills a large cask, you must not bottle it off till it has stood a year.

To make cowslip mead you must proceed thus: Put thirty pounds of honey into fifteen gallons of water, and boil it till one gallon is wasted; skim it, take it off the fire, and have ready sixteen lemons cut in half. Take a gallon of the liquor, and put it to the lemons. Pour the rest of the liquor into a tub, with seven pecks of cowslips, and let them stand all night: then put in the liquor with the lemons, eight spoonsful of new yeast, and a handful of sweetbrier; stir all well together, and let it work three or four days. Then strain it, pour it into your cask, let it stand six months, and then bottle it off for use.

As this liquor is much drank in some counties, we shall close this article by a more particular receipt for making it, procured from good authority.

To one hundred and twenty gallons of pure water, the softer the better, put fifteen gallons of clarified honey. When the honey is well mixed with the water, fill a copper, which holds about sixty gallons, and boil it till it is reduced about a fourth part. Then draw it off, and boil the remainder of the liquor in the same manner. When this last is about a fourth part wasted, fill up the copper with some of that which was first boiled, and continue boiling it and filling it up, till the copper contains the whole of the liquor, by which time it will of course be half evaporated.

Observe, in boiling, never to take off the scum, but on the contrary, have it well mixed with the liquor whilst boiling by means of a jet. When this is done, draw it off into underbacks, by a cock at the bottom of the copper, in which let it remain till it is only as warm as new milk.

At this time tun it, and suffer it to ferment in the vessel, where it will form a thick head. As soon as it has done working, stop it down very close, in order to keep the air from it as much as possible. Keep it, if possible, in a cellar or vault for the purpose, which is very deep and cool, and the door shut so close, as to keep out, in a manner, all the outward air; so that the liquor may be always in the same temperature, being not at all affected by the change of weather.

Another proportion is to allow eighty pounds of clarified honey to one hundred and twenty gallons of soft water, which manage in the making in all respects like the before-mentioned, and it will prove very pleasant, good, light drinking; and is, by many preferred to the other, which is much richer, and has a fuller flavour; but at the same time it is more inebriating, and apt to make the head ache, if drank in too large quantities.

Upon the whole, the last proportion makes the whole somest liquor for common drink, the other being rather, when properly preserved, a rich cordial, something like fine old Malaga, which, when in perfection, is justly esteemed the best of the Spanish wines.

VINEGARS.

Wine Vinegar.

TAKE any sort of vinous liquor that has gone through the process of fermentation, and put it into a vinegar cask that has been lately used. Then take some of the fruit or stalks of the vegetable from whence the wine was obtained (which hold a large proportion of tartar) and put them wet into a cask without a head; set it to catch the rays of the sun, with a coarse cloth over the top of it, and let it stand six days. Then put them in the liquor, and stir it well about; and if in winter, set it in a warm place; or, if hot weather, in a yard where the sun will reach it, with a slate over the bung; and the whole will begin to ferment anew, conceive heat, grow sour by degrees, and soon after turn into vinegar. When the vinegar is sufficiently sour, and fine, you may rack it off into a clean vinegar cask, bung it up, and put into your cellar for use.

Cider Vinegar.

The cider is first to be drawn off fine into another vessel, that has contained vinegar, and a quantity of the must, that is, new wort, of apples to be added. Set the whole in the rays of the sun, if there be convenience for it; and, at the expiration of a week or nine days, it may be drawn off into another cask. This will make good table vinegar.

Apples that have been pressed, may be substituted in the place of must. The meanest cider will serve for vinegar.

Beer Vinegar.

Take a middle sort of beer, pretty well hopped; into which, when it has worked well and grown fine, put some rape, or husks of grapes (usually brought home for that purpose) or raisins with their stalks, to every ten gallons of beer a pound: mash them together in a tub, and, when settled well, draw off the liquor into another cask, and set it in the sun as hot as you can, with the bung out, and the hole being only covered with a tile, or slate. In the space of a month or six weeks it will become a good vinea 24

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gar; when you may draw it off into another cask, bung it well up, and keep it in your cellar for use.

This vinegar will do for pickling; and if it be refined, and kept from turning musty, may pass in use as well as that made of wine.

Raisin Vinegar.

To every gallon of spring water, add three pounds of Malaga raisins. Put these into an earthen jar, and place them where they may have the hottest sun from May till Michaelmas. Then press all well; tun the liquor in a very strong iron-hooped vessel, to prevent its bursting: it will appear very thick and muddy when newly pressed; but will refine in the vessel, and be as clear as wine. Thus let it remain untouched for three months before it is drawn off, and it will prove excellent vinegar, fit for any table.

DYING.

To prepare raw Silk.

Pur the raw silk into a bag, that it may not entangle; and to every pound add a quarter of a pound of soap; let this boil together two hours, then take it and cleanse it well, and it is ready for all sorts of colours, being first alumed.

Another Way to prepare raw Silk.

Take it, and smear it well, putting to every pound of silk, a quarter of a pound of black or green soap; put it into a linen bag, and let it boil six or seven hours; then take it out of the bag and cool it, that you may handle it the better; after this, rinse it in a river or running water for fifteen minutes. Beat the water out very well, and then rinse it again; then dry it, and it is ready for dying. Observe, that this preparation is absolutely necessary for all raw silks before they can be died.

To alum boiled Silk.

Take a quarter of a pound of alum to every pound of silk, melt it in a skillet; when done, throw it into a vessel or tub of water; into which put the silk to steep twelve hours

or more. Observe carefully the just proportion of silk and alum.

To die red Silk.

put

To prepare your liquor or suds right, take four handfuls of wheat bran to every pound of silk; then put it into six or seven gallons of water, boil them and pour the liquor into a tub, letting it stand twelve or fourteen hours; then clarify it, and take half the water, into which put eight ounces of alum, four ounces of tartar of red wine, beaten to a fine powder, and half an ounce of turmeric, finely pounded, boil them together a quarter of an hour, stirring them well; then take the kettle off the fire, and the silk immediately in, covering the kettle very close, that the steam may not fly away; thus let it stand three hours, and then take the silk and rinse it well in cold water, then beat it very well upon a block, and let it dry. This done, take four ounces of galls, beat them small, and put them into a pail of river or rain water, and boil them sixty minutes, or somewhat more; then take the kettle off the fire, and when it is so cool that your hand can bear it, put in the silk and let it lie an hour, then take it out and let it dry.

A crimson Die for Silk.

When your silk is well boiled, to every pound of silk take of crude alum eight ounces; when that is dissolved, lay the silk in the liquor one night, the next day rinse it well, and afterwards die as follows. Take a kettle of clear water, and to every pound of silk, put in together, of cochineal two ounces and a half, beaten very fine; of beaten galls three ounces; of gum purified, and turmeric, an eighth part of an ounce each: boil the silk in this liquor two hours. After this is done, let it remain twelve hours, then wring and dry it.

To colour or die Wool or woollen Cloth a curious Red.

Take a considerable quantity of alum, and dissolve it in water, wherein bran has been boiled and strained out, putting the cloth, wool, or yarn to steep in it, which being well steeped, put it into other clear water, heating it over a gentle fire: then put in of greening weed, two pounds to four gallons of water, stirring it about, but not suffering it to boil; then add a handful of unslacked lime, and as much wood ashes, stirring about the materials, then add