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8
OXFORD PUNCH, OR CLASSICAL
SHERBET.
When e'en a bowl of punch we make,
Four striking opposites
we
take ;
The strong, the small, the sharp, the sweet,
Together mix'd; most kindly meet;
And when they happily unite,
1'he bowl is pregnant with delight.
The liquor called
Punch
has become so
truly English, it is 'often supposed to be in–
digenous to this country, though its name al
least is oriental. The Per11ian
punj,
or San–
scrit
pancha,
i. e. 6ve; is the etymon of its
title,· and denotE:s the number of ingredients
of which it i11 composed. Addison's
foa:–
/,unter,
who testified so much surprise when
he found, that of the materials of which this
" truly English" beverage was made, only
the water belonged to England, would have
been more astonished had his informant also
told him, that it derived even its name from
the East.