As for the poetry I promised — well, I have been
quoting it, have I not ? But there is more, and
better. Surely it was a romantic folk that kept in its
store-rooms the "best Blew raisins of the sun," or
"plumpsome raisins of the sun," and made its mead
with dew, and eagerly exchanged with each other
recipes for " Conserve of Red Roses." And now we
come to an essential feature of the whole. It is a
cuisine that does not reek of shops and co-operative
stores, but of the wood, the garden, the field and
meadow. Like Culpeper's pharmacopeia, it is made
for the most part of " Such Things only as grow in
England, they being most fit for English Bodies."
Is it any wonder that the metheglin should be called
the "Liquor of Life," which has these among its in-
gredients : Bugloss, borage, hyssop, organ, sweet-
marjoram, rosemary, French cowslip, coltsfoot,
thyme, burnet, self-heal, sanicle, betony, blew-
button, harts-tongue, meadowsweet, liverwort,
bistort, St. John's wort, yellow saunders, balm,
bugle, agrimony, tormentilla, comfrey, fennel,
clown's allheal, maidenhair, wall-rue, spleen- wort,
sweet oak, Paul's betony, and mouse-ear ?
The housewife of to-day buys unrecognisable
dried herbs in packets or bottles. In those days she
gathered them in their season out of doors. The
companions to The Closet Opened should be the
hasty and entertainingCulpeper,the genial Gerard,
and Coles of the delightful Adam in Eden, all the
old herbals that were on Digby's bookshelves, so
Hv INTRODUCTION^
full of absurdities, so full of pretty wisdom. They
will tell you how to mix in your liquor eglantine for
coolness, borage, rosemary, and sweet-marjoram
for vigour, and by which planet each herb or flower
is governed. Has our sentiment for the flowers of
the field increased now we no longer drink their
essence, or use them in our dishes ^ I doubt it. It
is surely a pardonable grossness that we should de-
sire the sweet fresh things to become part of us —
like children, who do indeed love flowers, and eat
them. In the Appendix I have transcribed a list of
the plants referred to. Most cooks would be unable
to tell one from another ; and even modern her-
balists have let many fall out of use,while only a few
are on the llstsof the English pharmacopeia. To go
simpling once more by field and wood and hedge-
row would be a pleasant duty for country house-
wives to impose upon themselves ; and as to the
herbalists'observations on their virtues, we may say
with old Coles, "Most of them I am confident are
true, and if there be any that are not so, yet they are
pleasant."
There is an air of flippancy about that reflexion
of Coles you will never find in Sir Kenelm. Of the
virtues of each plant and flower he used he was
fully convinced ; and when he tells of their powers,
as in his *'Aqua Mirabilis," the tale is like a solemn
litany, and we are reminded of Clarendon's testi-
mony to " the gravity of his motion." And so, his
Closet once more open, he stands at the door,
his majesty not greatly lessened ; for the book
contains a reminiscence of his rolling eloquence,
INTRODUCTION^ Iv
something of his romance, and not a little of his
poetry.
Anne Macdonell.
Chelsea, 1910.
1^ THE I:
|C L O S E T|
|I of the Eminently Learned «*
I Sir JK^enelme i>igbie K' I
Z OPENED;
% Whereby is Discovered ^
^ Several ways for making of g
1^ Maheglin^ S'ider,Chrry-Wine^ &c.^
•^ <§►
Page 22
Presented as published in 1910. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
As for the poetry I promised — well, I have been quoting it, have I not ? But there is more, and better. Surely it was a romantic folk that kept in its store-rooms the "best Blew raisins of the sun," or "plumpsome raisins of the sun," and made its mead with dew, and eagerly exchanged with each other recipes for " Conserve of Red Roses." And now we come to an essential feature of the whole. It is a cuisine that does not reek of shops and co-operative stores, but of the wood, the garden, the field and meadow. Like Culpeper's pharmacopeia, it is made for the most part of " Such Things only as grow in England, they being most fit for English Bodies." Is it any wonder that the metheglin should be called the "Liquor of Life," which has these among its ingredients : Bugloss, borage, hyssop, organ, sweetmarjoram, rosemary, French cowslip, coltsfoot, thyme, burnet, self-heal, sanicle, betony, blewbutton, harts-tongue, meadowsweet, liverwort, bistort, St. John's wort, yellow saunders, balm, bugle, agrimony, tormentilla, comfrey, fennel, clown's allheal, maidenhair, wall-rue, spleen- wort, sweet oak, Paul's betony, and mouse-ear ?
The housewife of to-day buys unrecognisable dried herbs in packets or bottles. In those days she gathered them in their season out of doors. The companions to The Closet Opened should be the hasty and entertainingCulpeper,the genial Gerard, and Coles of the delightful Adam in Eden, all the old herbals that were on Digby's bookshelves, so
Hv INTRODUCTION
full of absurdities, so full of pretty wisdom. They will tell you how to mix in your liquor eglantine for coolness, borage, rosemary, and sweet-marjoram for vigour, and by which planet each herb or flower is governed. Has our sentiment for the flowers of the field increased now we no longer drink their essence, or use them in our dishes ^ I doubt it. It is surely a pardonable grossness that we should desire the sweet fresh things to become part of us — like children, who do indeed love flowers, and eat them. In the Appendix I have transcribed a list of the plants referred to. Most cooks would be unable to tell one from another ; and even modern herbalists have let many fall out of use,while only a few are on the lists of the English pharmacopeia. To go simpling once more by field and wood and hedgerow would be a pleasant duty for country housewives to impose upon themselves ; and as to the herbalists'observations on their virtues, we may say with old Coles, "Most of them I am confident are true, and if there be any that are not so, yet they are pleasant."
There is an air of flippancy about that reflexion of Coles you will never find in Sir Kenelm. Of the virtues of each plant and flower he used he was fully convinced ; and when he tells of their powers, as in his *'Aqua Mirabilis," the tale is like a solemn litany, and we are reminded of Clarendon's testimony to " the gravity of his motion." And so, his Closet once more open, he stands at the door, his majesty not greatly lessened ; for the book contains a reminiscence of his rolling eloquence,
INTRODUCTION
something of his romance, and not a little of his poetry.
Anne Macdonell. Chelsea, 1910.
1^ THE I:
|C L O S E T|
|I of the Eminently Learned «*
I Sir JK^enelme i>igbie K' I
Z OPENED;
% Whereby is Discovered ^
^ Several ways for making of g
1^ Maheglin^ S'ider,Chrry-Wine^ &c.^
•^ <§►