Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/253

Rh taverns were running with "mum," which was ale brewed with wheat instead of hops; "buttered ale," which contained no hops, but was warm and flavoured with sugar and cinnamon; "lamb's wool," made of roast apple pulp, &c. Here is an old receipt for one of their favourite drinks called "Cock Ale": "Take 10 gallons of ale and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flea him and stamp him in a stone mortar till his bones are broken. Put the cock into 2 quarts of sack and put to it 3 lbs. of raisins of the sun stoned, some blades of mace and a few cloves; put all these into a canvas bag, put the ale and bag together in the vessel; In a week or nine days' time bottle it up and leave the same to ripen."

Hard drinking was the fashion. Members of Parliament found it hard to keep sober. Pepys rarely passed a day without resorting to some tavern for a morning drink or a pint of wine after dinner. We find him, being slightly more sober than Sir William Penn, undertaking to conduct that gentleman safely through the streets of London. And thus these merry, careless days passed away. The short and troubled reign of James II. brought little change in social affairs,