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                            CAKES AND ALE




                         _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_


                           THE FLOWING BOWL

                  A TREATISE ON DRINKS OF ALL KINDS
                   AND OF ALL PERIODS, INTERSPERSED
                      WITH SUNDRY ANECDOTES AND
                            REMINISCENCES

                                  BY

                            EDWARD SPENCER

                        ('NATHANIEL GUBBINS')

                   Author of "Cakes and Ale," etc.

                  _Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, 2/6 net._

                           SECOND EDITION.

               With cover design by the late PHIL MAY.


              "The Flowing Bowl" overflows with good
              cheer. In the happy style that enlivens its
              companion volume, "Cakes and Ale," the
              author gives a history of drinks and their
              use, interspersed with innumerable recipes
              for drinks new and old, dug out of records
              of ancient days, or set down anew.

                      LONDON: STANLEY PAUL & CO.
                    31, Essex Street, Strand, W.C.




                             CAKES & ALE

                      A DISSERTATION ON BANQUETS

                  INTERSPERSED WITH VARIOUS RECIPES,
                      MORE OR LESS ORIGINAL, AND
                     ANECDOTES, MAINLY VERACIOUS

                                  BY

                            EDWARD SPENCER
                        ('NATHANIEL GUBBINS')

                  AUTHOR OF "THE FLOWING BOWL," ETC.

                           _FOURTH EDITION_

                          STANLEY PAUL & CO.

                    31, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C.




                      _First printed April 1897
                      Reprinted May 1897
                      Cheap Edition February 1900
                      Reprinted 1913_




                        TO THE MODERN LUCULLUS

                             JOHN CORLETT

               GRANDEST OF HOSTS, BEST OF TRENCHER-MEN
                              I DEDICATE
                   (WITHOUT ANY SORT OF PERMISSION)

                              THIS BOOK




                               PREFACE


A long time ago, an estimable lady fell at the feet of an habitual
publisher, and prayed unto him:--

"Give, oh! give me the subject of a book for which the world has a
need, and I will write it for you."

"Are you an author, madam?" asked the publisher, motioning his visitor
to a seat.

"No, sir," was the proud reply, "I am a poet."

"Ah!" said the great man. "I am afraid there is no immediate worldly
need of a poet. If you could only write a good cookery book, now!"

The story goes on to relate how the poetess, not rebuffed in the
least, started on the requisite culinary work, directly she got
home; pawned her jewels to purchase postage stamps, and wrote far
and wide for recipes, which in course of time she obtained, by the
hundredweight. Other recipes she "conveyed" from ancient works of
gastronomy, and in a year or two the _magnum opus_ was given to the
world; the lady's share in the profits giving her "adequate provision
for the remainder of her life." We are not told, but it is presumable,
that the publisher received a little adequate provision too.

History occasionally repeats itself; and the history of the present
work begins in very much the same way. Whether it will finish in an
equally satisfactory manner is problematical. I do not possess much of
the divine _afflatus_ myself; but there has ever lurked within me some
sort of ambition to write a book--something held together by "tree
calf," "half morocco," or "boards"; something that might find its way
into the hearts and homes of an enlightened public; something which
will give some of my young friends ample opportunity for criticism. In
the exercise of my profession I have written leagues of descriptive
"copy"--mostly lies and racing selections,--but up to now there has
been no urgent demand for a book of any sort from this pen. For years
my ambition has remained ungratified. Publishers--as a rule, the most
faint-hearted and least speculative of mankind--have held aloof. And
whatever suggestions I might make were rejected, with determination,
if not with contumely.

At length came the hour, and the man; the introduction to a publisher
with an eye for budding and hitherto misdirected talent.

"Do you care, sir," I inquired at the outset, "to undertake the
dissemination of a bulky work on Political Economy?"

"Frankly, sir, I do