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DRINKS ANCIENT AND MODERN 31
their wealthier neighbours, regardless of the
feelings, and the cartridges, of the owners of the
trees. To every gallon of liquor was added a
pound of refined sugar, the mixture being boiled
for half an hour or so, then set to cool, with a
little yeast added thereto, to make it ferment.
The result was then put in barrels, together with
a small proportion of powdered mace and
cinnamon. A month afterwards it was bottled
off, and when drunk was said to be " a most
delicate, brisk wine, of a flavour like unto
Rhenish."
"The Vertues of the Liquor or Blood of the
Birch-tree," says the historian, " have not long
been discovered, we being beholding to the
Learned Van Helmont for it; who in his Treatise
of the Disease of the Stone hath very much
applauded its Vertues against the effects of the
Disease, calling the natural Liquor that flows from
the wounded Branches of the Tree, the meer
Balsom of the Disease. Ale brewed therewith,
as well as the Wine that is made of it, wonder
fully operates on the Disease. It is also reputed
to be a powerful Curer of the Ptisick."
All the same you will hardly get the alumni
of Eton and Harrow to love their birch.
" What was
Sack?''
is a question which has often been asked. It was
a common name for a drink in the time of
Shakespeare, and Falstaffhad a terrible reputation
as a sackster.
The exact nature of the wine is
uncertain, but the name is supposed to be derived