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Cowslip (Little water is admirable)

a little water, is admirable for giddiness from nervous debility, or from previous nervous excitement. It is of old date as given formerly against palsy. Dr. Quincy ordered the same in his English Dispensatory, 1728. There is among the curios at Lilford Hall, Northants, a primitive apothecary's jar of about that time-made of Dutch Delft, in grey glaze, with handle and spout. It bears in front a conspicuous blue painted legend, "Syr. Paralyseo" (Syrup for the Paralysed.) A quaintly drawn blue angel supports the label at each end. Cowslip petals were conserved in sugar, and dried in the sun by our grandmothers to mix with tea. The flowers were then known as Paigles, Kingcups, Crewels, and Petty Mulleins; but dearest of all is the old Saxon name the old Saxon name Cusloppe," still almost unaltered. They emit an odour of Anise, which is due to their containing some volatile oil identical with Mannite; their more acrid principle is saponin. For making Cowslip wine, “take one gallon of water, and three pounds of loaf sugar, and boil together for half an hour; in the meantime have ready the rind and juice of two lemons, also the rind and juice of one Seville orange; pour it boiling over these, having first strained the juice; when lukewarm add one gallon of Cowslip pips picked from the stocks and seeds; then add two tablespoonfuls of brewers' good yeast, and let it ferment for three or four days; afterwards to every gallon of wine add half a pint of French Brandy; put all into a cask, and let it remain for two months; then bottle off for use." As a quieting solace at bedtime when a person is nervously tired, a good wineglassful of this Cowslip wine, mixed with one, or two, wineglassfuls of quite hot water, and with some nutmeg grated in, makes an excellent sedative; taking also, if desired, a genuine Abernethy biscuit. In Northamptonshire the Paigle is known as Bedlam Cowslip. Herbals of the Elizabethan date tell that an ointment made from Cowslip flowers "taketh away the spots and wrinkles of the skin, and doth add beauty exceedingly, as divers ladies and gentlewomen, and she citizens, whether wives, or widows, know well enough." Lord Chesterfield, writing to his son, then at Venice (October, 1749), told him that "mens sana in corpore sano is the first and greatest blessing; and I would add " et pulchro" to complete it: "May you have that and every other." 66 دو CRAB (See LOBSTER.) CRAB APPLE. (See VERJUICE.) FROM green fruits, particularly the wild Crab, and unripe grapes, can be expressed an acid liquor, verjuice, or verjuyce, which is highly astringent, being used as such for both culinary, and medicinal purposes. "Many," says old Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy, "leave roses, and gather thistles; loathe honey, and have verjuice." In Izaak Walton's Angler (1653) the milkwoman promises Piscator "when he next comes a fishing two months hence, a syllabub of new verjuice in a new-made haycock." "This book" (National Observer, 1893), "is as full of delights as a meadow of cowslips. Good, kind old soul was Walton, but could you have trusted him with a baby, for instance, if some one had told him that a bit of baby was a capital bait for barbel?"

Dr. Nowel, Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral for thirty years, tells that Izaak ("laughter") Walton reached the great age of ninety-five, angling and temperance being the chief causes of his length of life. "The first men that our Saviour dear Did choose to wait upon Him here Blest fishers were; and fish the last Food was that He on earth did taste; So let us strive to follow those Whom He to follow Him hath chose!" 66 THE ANGLER'S SONG-Piscator.

To make Crab-apple jelly:

Prepare the apples by removing the stalks, and the unsound parts, and wipe dry; cut into halves, and put them in a preserving pan, with sufficient water to cover the bottom. When the fruit is quite soft, pour off the water, and to every pint allow a pound of preserving sugar; put this into a preserving pan with some slices of lemon-peel, and let boil slowly for half-an-hour or so, removing the scum as it rises. Have ready dissolved in a little water one ounce of gelatine to every quart of liquor, and just before removing it from the fire stir the gelatine in rapidly. Fill mould, or glasses, with the jelly, and place them in a coid position to set." Again: "Procure some finely-coloured Siberian Crab-apples; allow half a pint of cold water to each pound of fruit; put them on to cook until they become pulpy; then strain through a jelly-bag; and when all the juice is extracted, measure it, and allow one pound of the best loaf sugar