“When we had talked a while, the captain told me he had brought me some little refreshment, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretches that had been so long his masters had not plundered him of. Upon this, he called aloud to the boat, and bade his men bring the things ashore that were for the governor; and, indeed, it was a present as if I had been one that was not to be carried away with them, but as if I had been to dwell upon the island still. First, he had brought me a case of bottles full of excellent cordial waters, six large bottles of Madeira wine (the bottles held two quarts each), two pounds of excellent good tobacco, twelve good pieces of the ship’s beef, and six pieces of pork, with a bag of peas, and about a hundred-weight of biscuit; he also brought me a box of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of lemons, and two bottles of lime-juice, and abundance of other things. But besides these, and what was a thousand times more useful to me, he brought me six new clean shirts, six very good neckcloths, two pair of gloves, one pair of shoes, a hat, and one pair of stockings, with a very good suit of clothes of his own, which had been worn but very little: in a word, he clothed me from head to foot. It was a very kind and agreeable present, as any one may imagine, to one in my circumstances, but never was anything in the world of that kind so unpleasant, awkward, and uneasy as it was to me to wear such clothes at first.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Pare off very thin the yellow rind of a dozen large lemons; throw the parings into a gallon of white brandy, and let them steep till next day, or at least twelve hours. Break up four pounds of loaf-sugar into another vessel, and squeeze upon it the juice of the lemons. Let this too stand all night. Next day mix all together, boil two quarts of milk, and pour it boiling hot into the other ingredients. Cover the vessel, and let it stand eight days, stirring it daily. Then strain it through a flannel bag till the liquid is perfectly clear. Let it stand six weeks in a demijohn or glass jar, and then bottle it. To make it still more clear, you may filter it through a piece of fine muslin pinned down to the bottom of a sieve, or through blotting paper, which must be frequently renewed. It should be white blotting paper. Orange cordial may be made in the same manner.
Sources: The passage is from Daniel Defoe, The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Leslie, Miss Leslie's Complete Cookery of 1851, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — navy cloth, ship stamp.