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the flowing BOWL
put in cloves, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger,
of each a quarter of an ounce, dates stoned and
sliced four ounces; raisins stoned half a pound.
Let these infuse ten days, then strain it out, and
tincture it with saffron, and bottle it and cork it
well.
It seems just the sort for Jubilee rejoicings
and vestry meetings j but do not give it to the
constable on fixed point duty.
In my pitiable ignorance, I once thought that
Clary was the old English name for Claret. Not
a bit of it.
This is how the artistic used to
make
Clary Wine.
Take twenty-four pounds of Malaga raisins, pick
and chop them very small, put them in a tub, and
to each pound a quart of water; let them steep ten
or eleven days—this sounds like a school treat—
stirring it twice every day j you must keep it covered
close all the while ; then strain it off, and put it
into a vessel, and about half a peck of the tops of
clary (what was clary ?) when 'tis in blossom ; stop
it close for six weeks, and then bottle it off; in two
or three months 'tis fit to drink.
Clary naturally leads to
Apricock WinCj
which we of the nineteenth century miscall
apricot. The derivation of the word is Latin.
Then the Arabs got hold of it, and it became
Al-precoc. Then the thriving Spaniards got hold
of the word, which became Alborcoque •,
and so
to England. But to the wine.