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diff --git a/old/53219-0.txt b/old/53219-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0ef4fb1..0000000 --- a/old/53219-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5203 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Bread From Pre-historic to -Modern Times, by John Ashton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The History of Bread From Pre-historic to Modern Times - -Author: John Ashton - -Release Date: October 5, 2016 [EBook #53219] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF BREAD *** - - - - -Produced by deaurider, Turgut Dincer and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -THE HISTORY OF BREAD - - -[Illustration: EGYPTIANS THRESHING CORN BY HAND.] - -[Illustration: EGYPTIANS WINNOWING AND STORING CORN IN SACKS, AND A -SCRIBE NOTING THE QUANTITIES.] - - - - - The History of Bread - From Pre-historic to Modern Times - - BY - JOHN ASHTON - - [Illustration] - - LONDON - THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY - 4 Bouverie Street and 65 St. Paul’s Churchyard, E.C. - 1904 - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED. - DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W. - - - - -PREFACE - - -It seems extraordinary, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, that, up to -this present time, there has not been written, in the English language, -a History of _Bread_, although it is called ‘the Staff of Life,’ and -really is a large staple of food. - -There have been small _brochures_ on the subject, and large volumes on -the Chemistry of Bread, its making and baking; and long controversies -as to the merits of whole meal, and other kindred questions, but no -History. It is to remedy this that I have written this book, in which I -have endeavoured to trace Bread from Pre-historic to Modern Times. - - JOHN ASHTON. - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE. - - CHAPTER I. PRE-HISTORIC BREAD 13 - - ” II. CORN IN EGYPT AND ASSYRIA 20 - - ” III. BREAD IN PALESTINE 29 - - ” IV. THE BREAD OF THE CLASSIC LANDS 43 - - ” V. BREAD IN EASTERN LANDS 56 - - ” VI. BREAD IN EUROPE AND AMERICA 69 - - ” VII. EARLY ENGLISH BREAD 83 - - ” VIII. HOW GRAIN BECOMES FLOUR 103 - - ” IX. THE MILLER AND HIS TOLLS 114 - - ” X. BREAD-MAKING AND BAKING 123 - - ” XI. OVENS ANCIENT AND MODERN 136 - - ” XII. THE RELIGIOUS USE OF BREAD 142 - - ” XIII. GINGER BREAD AND CHARITY BREAD 150 - - ” XIV. BREAD RIOTS 162 - - ” XV. LEGENDS ABOUT BREAD 170 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - EGYPTIANS THRESHING CORN BY HAND; WINNOWING - AND STORING IT IN SACKS, AND A SCRIBE NOTING - THE QUANTITIES _Frontispiece._ - - _Page_. - - PRE-HISTORIC MILLS AND CORN-CRUSHERS 17 - - EGYPTIAN REAPERS 20 - - EGYPTIANS STACKING CORN 21 - - EGYPTIANS CARRYING GRAIN TO THE THRESHING-FLOOR - AND THRESHING 23 - - EGYPTIAN METHODS OF BREAD-MAKING 25 - - ASSYRIAN BREAD-MAKING 26 - - EGYPTIAN CAKE SELLER AND BREAD 27 - - A PALESTINE HAND-MILL 36 - - DEMETER AND TRIPTOLEMUS 45 - - PITHOI FOUND AT HISSARLIK 47 - - ETRUSCAN WOMEN POUNDING GRAIN 49 - - A BAKE-HOUSE AT POMPEII 51 - - ROMAN METHODS OF BREAD-MAKING 53 - - A BAKER’S SHOP (_from Pompeii_) 54 - - CHINESE METHOD OF HUSKING GRAIN 59 - - EARLY SCANDINAVIAN BAKERIES 70-71 - - A MEDIÆVAL BAKERY 79 - - THE ARMS OF THE WHITE BAKERS 86 - - THE ARMS OF THE BROWN BAKERS 87 - - AN EARLY BAKERY 91 - - A POST MILL 104 - - A WATER-WHEEL MILL 105 - - THE GRINDING SURFACE OF A MILLSTONE 107 - - ‘HOT GINGERBREAD, SMOKING HOT’ 152 - - HOGARTH’S PICTURE OF FORD 154 - - THE BIDDENDEN MAIDS 160 - - -THE - -HISTORY OF BREAD - -FROM PRE-HISTORIC TO MODERN TIMES. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -PRE-HISTORIC BREAD. - - -Man, as is evidenced by his teeth, was created graminivorous, as well -as carnivorous, and the earliest skull yet found possesses teeth -exactly the same as modern man, the carnivorous teeth not being bigger, -whilst in many cases the whole of the teeth have been worn down, as if -by masticating hard substances, such as parched grain. - -In the history of bread, the lake dwellings of Switzerland are most -useful, as from them we can gather the cereals their inhabitants used, -their bread, and the implements with which they crushed the corn. The -men who lived in them are the earliest known civilised inhabitants -of Europe—by which I mean that they cultivated several kinds of -cereals—wove cloth, made mats, baskets, and fishing nets, and, besides, -baked bread. - -The cereals known to us, and made use of, are the result of much -cultivation, improved by selection; and Hallett’s pedigree wheat would -be hardly recognised when put by the side of its humble progenitor of -pre-historic times. We now use wheat, barley, oats, Indian corn or -maize, rye, rice, millet, and Guinea corn, or Indian millet, besides -such odds and ends as the sea lyme grass (_Elymus arenarius_), which, -though uncultivated, affords seed which is used in Iceland as a food, -for want of something better. - -We have been enabled to trace with certainty the cereals used by -pre-historic man, as they have been found lying in the lake mud, or -buried under a bed of peat several feet thick, when they had to be -collected out of a soft, dark-coloured mud, which formed the ancient -lake-bottom, and is now called the relic bed. Dr. Oswald Heer, in his -_Treatise on the Plants of the Lake Dwellings_, says: ‘Stones and -pottery, domestic implements and charcoal ashes, grains of corn and -bones, lie together in a confused mass. And yet they are by no means -spread regularly over the bottom, but are frequently found in patches. -The places where bones are plentiful, where the seeds of raspberries -and blackberries, and the stones of sloes and cherries are found in -heaps, probably indicate where there were holes in the wooden platform, -through which the refuse was thrown into the lake; whilst those places -where burnt fruits, bread, and plaited and woven cloth are found, -indicate the position of store rooms in the very places where they were -burnt, and thus the contents fell into the water. The burnt fruits -and seeds, therefore, unquestionably belong to the age of the lake -dwellings; and a portion of them are in very good preservation, for -the process of burning has not essentially changed their form. Many -of the remains of plants, however, have been preserved in an unburnt -state.’ - -He gives the following list of cereals that have been found, and -it is a somewhat extensive one: ‘(1) Small lake-dwelling barley -(_Hordeum hexastichum sanctum_), (2) Compact six-rowed barley (_Hordeum -hexastichum densum_), (3) Two-rowed barley (_Hordeum distichum_), -(4) Small lake-dwelling wheat (_Triticum vulgare antiquorum_), (5) -Beardless compact wheat (_Triticum vulgare compactum muticum_), (6) -Egyptian wheat (_Triticum turgidum_), (7) Spelt (_Triticum spelta_), -(8) Two-grained wheat (_Triticum dicoccum_), (9) One-grained wheat -(_Triticum monococcum_), (10) Rye (_Secale cereale_), (11) Oat (_Avena -sativa_), (12) Millet (_Panicum miliaceum_), and (13) Italian millet -(_Setaria Italicum_).’ - -Of these Nos. 1 and 4 were the most ancient, most important, and most -generally cultivated, and next to them come Nos. 5, 12, and 13. Nos. 6, -8, and 9 were, probably, like No. 3, only cultivated, as experiments, -in a few places. Nos. 7 and 11 appeared later, not until the Bronze -Age, whilst No. 10 (rye) was entirely unknown amongst the lake -dwellings of Switzerland. - -At the lake settlement at Wangen a remarkable quantity of charred corn -was dug up. Mr. Löhle believes that, altogether, and at various times, -he has collected as much as 100 bushels. Sometimes he found the entire -ears, at other times the grain only. Any of my readers can see for -themselves some of this wheat, and also some raspberry seeds, found -at Wangen. In the same case in the Prehistoric Saloon of the British -Museum may be seen specimens of beans, peas, charred straw, acorns, -hazel nuts, barley in the ear, millet in ear, in seed, and made into -cakes, one showing the pattern of the bottom of a basket, and another -the impress of a rush mat. The cakes or bread of millet are very solid, -and are made of meal coarsely crushed. - -We know how this was crushed, for we have found their corn-crushers and -mealing-stones. Of these the rude corn-crushers are undoubtedly the -earliest. These stones, with their rounded ends, for a time somewhat -puzzled the archæologist as to their use; but that was at once apparent -when they were taken in conjunction with the hollowed stones. They were -corn-crushers, which were used for pounding the parched corn or raw -grain to make a thick gruel or porridge. - -Later on they improved upon them by using mealing-stones, which -ground out the meal by rubbing one stone on another, accompanied with -pressure. The stones are in the British Museum. Such mealing-stones -were used by the Egyptians and Assyrians, as we shall see, and are -employed to this day in Central Africa. ‘The mill consists of a block -of granite, syenite, or even mica schist, 15in. or 18in. square and -five or six thick, with a piece of quartz or other hard rock about -the size of a half-brick, one side of which has a convex surface, -and fits into a concave hollow in the larger, and stationary, stone. -The workwoman, kneeling, grasps this upper millstone with both -hands, and works it backwards and forwards in the hollow of the lower -millstone, in the same way that a baker works his dough, when pressing -it and pushing from him. The weight of the person is brought to bear -on the movable stone, and while it is pressed and pushed forwards and -backwards one hand supplies, every now and then, a little grain, to be -thus at first bruised, and then ground on the lower stone, which is -placed on the slope, so that the meal, when ground, falls on to a skin -or mat spread for the purpose. This is, perhaps, the most primitive -form of mill, and anterior to that in Oriental countries, where two -women grind at one mill, and may have been that used by Sarah of old -when she entertained the angels.’[1] - -[Illustration: PRE-HISTORIC MILLS AND CORN-CRUSHERS.] - -To these mealing-stones succeeded the quern. This was a basin, or -hollowed stone, with another—oviform—for grinding. The quern has -survived to this day. In London, at the west end of Cheapside, by -Paternoster Row, was a church, destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666, -and never rebuilt, called St. Michael le Quern. It was close by Panyer -Alley, so called from the baker’s basket, and a stone is still in the -alley on which is sculptured a naked boy sitting on a panyer. Querns -have been found in the remains of the lake dwellings in Switzerland, -and in the Crannoges, or lake dwellings of Scotland and Ireland. -They are still in use in out-of-the-way places in Norway, in remote -districts in Ireland, and some parts of the western islands of -Scotland. In the latter country, as early as 1284, an effort was made -by the Legislature to supersede the quern by the water-mill, the use of -the former being prohibited, except in case of storm, or where there -was a lack of mills of the new species. Whoever used the quern was to -’gif the threttein measure as multer[2];’ and the transgressor was to -‘time[3] his hand mylnes perpetuallie.’ Querns were not always made of -stone, for one made of oak was found in 1831, whilst removing Blair -Drummond Moss. It is 19 in. in height by 14 in. in diameter, and the -centre is hollowed about a foot, so as to form a mortar. - -To sum up this notice of pre-historic bread, I may mention that at -Robenhausen, Meisskomer discovered 8lbs. weight of bread, and also at -Wangen has been found baked bread or cake made of crushed corn exactly -similar. Of course, it has been burnt, or charred, and thus these -interesting specimens have been preserved to the present day. The form -of these cakes is somewhat round, and about an inch to an inch and a -half thick; one small specimen, nearly perfect, is about four or five -inches in diameter. The dough did not consist of meal, but of grains -of corn more or less crushed. In some specimens the halves of grains -of barley are plainly discernible. The under side of these cakes is -sometimes flat, sometimes concave, and there appears no doubt that the -mass of dough was baked by being laid on hot stones, and covered over -with glowing ashes. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -CORN IN EGYPT AND ASSYRIA. - - -The ancient Egyptians had as cereals three kinds of wheat—_Triticum -sativa_, _zea_ and _spelta_; barley, _Hordeum vulgare_, and doura, -_Holcus sorghum_, specimens of which may be seen in the Egyptian -Gallery at the British Museum. The so-called ‘mummy-wheat’ is a -fallacy, as far as its name goes; it is the _Triticum turgidum -compositum_, cultivated in Egypt, Abyssinia, and elsewhere. - -[Illustration: EGYPTIAN REAPERS.] - -In this fertile land the cultivation of corn was very primitive; -the sower had his seed in a basket, which he held in his left hand, -or suspended it either on his arm or by a strap round his neck, and -he threw the seed broadcast with his right hand. According to the -paintings in the tombs, he immediately followed the plough, the light -earth needing no further treatment, and the harrow, in any form, was -unknown. Wheat was cut in about five months after planting, and barley -in about four. We have here a representation of harvesting, showing the -reaping, with the length of stubble left, and its being tied up into -sheaves, or rather bundles. We next see the bundles being made into -pyramidal stacks. - -[Illustration: EGYPTIANS STACKING CORN.] - -Here it remained until it was required for threshing, and then it was -transported to the threshing floor in wicker baskets, upon asses, or in -rope nets borne by two men. These threshing floors were circular level -plots of land, near the field, or in the vicinity of the granary; and, -the floor being well swept, the ears were laid down and oxen driven -over it in order to tread out the grain, which was swept up by an -attendant. - -And, like their modern brethren, they were merry at their work and sang -songs, several of which may be seen in the sculptured tombs of Upper -Egypt. Champollion gives the following, found in a tomb at Eileithyia: - - ‘Thresh for yourselves (twice repeated), - O oxen, - Thresh for yourselves (twice repeated); - Measures for yourselves, - Measures for your masters.’ - -Sometimes the cattle were bound by their horns to a piece of wood, -which compelled them to move in unison, and tread the corn regularly. -But it was also threshed out by manual labour, with curious implements. -The next operation was to winnow the corn, which was done with wooden -shovels; it was then carried to the granary in sacks, each containing -a certain quantity, which was determined by wooden measures, a scribe -noting down the number as called by the tellers, who superintended its -removal. Herodotus (book II., 14) says that the Egyptians trod out -their corn by means of swine. - -Besides the growing and gathering of wheat, the doura is also -represented in paintings in tombs at Thebes, Eileithyia, Beni-Hassan, -and Saggára. Both it and wheat are represented as growing in the same -field, but the doura is the taller of the two. It was not reaped, but -was pulled up by the roots by men, and sometimes women, who struck off -the earth which adhered with their hands, bound it in sheaves, and -carried it to a place where it was rippled, as flax is done. - -[Illustration: EGYPTIANS THRESHING.] - -[Illustration: EGYPTIANS CARRYING GRAIN TO THE THRESHING FLOOR.] - -In the ordinary life of the Egyptians, the woman mealed the flour—in -as primitive a form as the prehistoric man—and in the British Museum -are two wooden models, which show the first process of converting -the cereal into meal; and then we have two figures of men kneading -dough—from the Museum at Ghizeh (formerly at Boulak). The bread -itself was both leavened and unleavened—as may be seen by the many -examples—round, triangular, and square—in the British Museum, some of -which must have been a foot across, and over an inch thick; the three -examples given on page 27 being 5in. in diameter, and 1/2in. thick; 7 -ditto and 1/2 ditto; whilst the ornamented cake is 3-1/2in. in diameter -and 3/4in. thick. - -But there were professional bakers in Egypt, as we see in some of -the tomb-pictures. In the Biblical story of Joseph we find that ‘the -butler of the King of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the -King of Egypt’; and the Rabbi Solomon says their offences were the -butler not having perceived a fly in Pharaoh’s cup, and the baker -having got a stone into the royal bread, so that Pharaoh thought they -were conspiring against his life. We know they were put in prison with -Joseph, and related their dreams to him. The dream of the Opheh, or -chief baker, was that he ‘had three white baskets on his head, and in -the uppermost basket there was all manner of bake meats for Pharaoh.’ -The Bible story of Joseph goes on to tell us how, in the years of -plenty, he providentially stored up the excess of corn to meet the -years of famine, and how the Israelites sent to Egypt for food, and -subsequently abode in that land. - -[Illustration: EGYPTIAN METHODS OF BREAD-MAKING.] - -Thanks to Assyrian art, and to the enduring qualities of bronze, we are -able to see how that ancient people made their bread (at least in the -camp) during the reign of Shalmaneser II., son of Assur-nasir-abli, -who began to govern Assyria about the year 860 B.C., and died in 825 -B.C. On the bronze bands of the great gates of Balawat are recorded the -warlike doings of Shalmaneser II. in detail. In almost every camp that -is represented are men depicted as preparing bread against the return -of the, of course, victorious soldiery: we see them mealing the corn, -kneading the dough, making it into flat, round cakes, and, finally, -piling these up in large heaps ready for the hungry warriors. - -[Illustration] - -These gates were found in the year 1877 by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, who, -whilst excavating for the Trustees of the British Museum on the site -of ancient Nineveh, began also excavations at a mound called Balawat, -about 15 miles east of Mosul, and nine miles from Nimroud. Having -received, as a present, before his departure for the East, some -fragments of chased bronze, said to have been found in this mound, he -naturally had the greatest wish to follow up the indication of a new -store of antiquities. He experienced some difficulty from the villagers -of Balawat, as the mound had been used by them for some years as a -burial ground, and their scruples having been overcome, the result -was the finding of these beautiful bronzes in fragments. They were -skilfully restored at the British Museum, where they now are, and rank -among the best of Assyrian antiquities. - -[Illustration: EGYPTIAN BREAD.] - -[Illustration: EGYPTIAN CAKE SELLER.] - -The old Assyrians knew the value of irrigation in growing their crops, -and the remains of aqueducts and hydraulic machines which remain -in Babylonia bear witness to an advanced civilisation; these are -constructed of masonry, which slanted up to the height of two feet, -and, disposed at right angles to the river, they conducted the water -from 200 to 2000 yards into the interior. - -The food of the poor seems to have consisted of grain, such as wheat, -or barley, moistened with water, kneaded in a bowl, rolled into cakes -and baked in the hot ashes. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -BREAD IN PALESTINE. - - -Of the bread of the ancient Hebrews we know nothing, except from their -sacred books; but these contain a large store of knowledge. Their -cereals seem to have consisted only of wheat, barley, rye (or it may -be spelt), and millet, but they cultivated leguminous plants, such as -beans and lentils. It is impossible to say accurately when these books -were written, so that in the following notices respecting the bread -of the Hebrews I take the sequence in which I find them placed in the -Bible. It is impossible to do otherwise, as their chronology is such an -open question. - -At first, in all probability, the normal course of pre-historic man was -followed—wheat and barley grew wild, were first eaten raw, and then -parched. Of this latter and primitive method of cooking cereals we have -several notices. It was used as a sacrifice, as we see in Leviticus ii. -16: ‘And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten -corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense -thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord.’ That parched -corn was at that time a food we find in Levit. xxiii. 14: ‘And ye -shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the -self-same day that ye have brought an offering unto your God.’ We next -find it as the food of labouring people in Ruth ii. 14, when Boaz -‘reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.’ - -Mention is again made of it in I. Sam. xvii., when Goliath of Gath -challenged the men of Israel. Jesse’s three sons had followed Saul to -the battle, and the anxious father had sent his youngest son David, -with provisions for them, and a present to their commander, vv. 17, -18: ‘And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an -ephah[4] of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the -camp to thy brethren; and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain -of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their -pledge.’ We see, I. Sam. xxv. 18, how Abigail, Nabal’s wife, in order -to propitiate David, ‘made haste, and took 200 loaves, and two bottles -of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched -corn, and 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of figs, and laid -them on asses.’ The last we hear of parched corn as food is in II. -Sam. xvii. 27, 28, when David arrived at Mahanaim. Shobi, Machir, and -Barzillai ‘brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, -and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and -parched pulse.’ In England this parching is sometimes applied to peas, -and, indeed, there is a saying comparing an extremely lively person ‘to -a parched pea in a frying pan,’ and in America ‘pop corn,’ or parched -maize, is very popular. - -Threshing corn we first read of in Deut. xxv. 4, when we find the -following direction given: ‘Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he -treadeth out the corn,’ a practice which the natives of Aleppo, and -some other Eastern places, still religiously observe. - -How Gideon (Jud. vi. 11) or Oman (I. Chron. xxi. 20) threshed, whether -by oxen or by flail, we cannot tell, but in Isaiah xxviii. 27, 28, we -find five methods of threshing then in vogue. ‘For the fitches [this -is supposed to be the _Nigella sativa_, whose seeds are used as a -condiment, like coriander or caraway] are not threshed with a threshing -instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but -the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. -Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor -break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.’ -In Lowth on _Isaiah_ we find this passage made somewhat clearer: - - ‘The dill is not beaten out with the _corn-drag_; - Nor is the _Wheel of the Wain_ made to turn upon the cummin. - But the dill is beaten out with _the Staff_, - And the cummin with the _Flail_, but - The bread corn with the _Threshing-Wain_; - And not for ever will he continue thus to thresh it, - Nor vex it with the Wheel of its Wain, - Nor to bruise it with the _Hoofs of his Cattle_.’ - -The _Staff_ and _Flail_ were used for that grain that was too tender -to be treated in any other method. The _Drag_ consisted of a sort of -frame of strong planks, made rough at the bottom with hard stones or -iron; it was drawn by horses or oxen over the corn sheaves spread on -the threshing floor, the driver sitting upon it. The _Wain_ was much -like the former, but had wheels with iron teeth, or edges like a saw; -the axle was armed with iron teeth or serrated wheels throughout; it -moved upon three rollers, armed with iron teeth, or wheels, to cut the -straw. In Syria they make use of the drag constructed in the very same -manner—and this not only forces out the grain, but cuts the straw in -pieces for fodder for the cattle; for in Eastern countries there is no -hay. - -Sir R. K. Porter, in his _Travels in Georgia_,[5] speaks of this method -of threshing, which he saw in the early part of the last century. -‘The threshing operation is managed by a machine composed of a large -square frame of wood, which contains two wooden cylinders placed -parallel to each other, and which have a turning motion. They are -stuck full of splinters, with sharp square points, but not all of a -length. These barrels have the appearance of the barrels in an organ, -and their projections, when brought in contact with the corn, break -the stalk and disengage the ear. They are put in motion by a couple of -cows or oxen, yoked to the frame, and guided by a man sitting on the -plank that covers the frame which contains the cylinders. He drives -this agricultural equipage in a circle round any great accumulation -of just-gathered harvest, keeping at a certain distance from the -verge of the heap, close to which a second peasant stands, holding -a long-handled 20-pronged fork, shaped like the spread sticks of a -fan, and with which he throws the unbound sheaves forward to meet the -rotary motion of the machine. He has a shovel also ready, with which he -removes to a considerable distance the corn that has already passed -the wheel. Other men are on the spot with the like implement, which -they fill with the broken material, and throw it aloft in the air, -where the wind blows away the chaff, and the grain falls to the ground. -The latter process is repeated till the corn is completely winnowed -from its refuse, when it is gathered up, carried home, and deposited -for use in large earthen jars. The straw is preserved with care, being -the sole winter food of the horses and mules. But while I looked on -at the patriarchal style of husbandry, and at the strong yet docile -animal, which for so many ages had been the right hand of man in his -business of tilling and reaping the ground, I could not but revere the -beneficent law which pronounced, “Muzzle not the ox when he treadeth -out the corn.”’ - -It was probably one of these that Araunah meant (II. Sam. xxiv. 22) -when he said unto David: ‘Let my lord the king take and offer up what -seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and -threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.’ And -it is certainly mentioned in Isaiah xli. 15: ‘Behold, I will make thee -a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.’ - -The threshing-floor is many times mentioned in the Bible. There were -those of Atad, Nachon, and Araunah (or Ornan), the value of whose -floor, etc., is variously stated in II. Sam. xxiv. 24, where it says -that David bought the flour and oxen for 50 shekels of silver, or about -6_l_ of our money; whilst in I. Chron. xxi. 25, he gave him 600 shekels -of gold in weight, or 1200_l_ of our currency, which seems a large sum -for a small level piece of ground; for the floors, so-called, were out -of doors, so that the wind might carry away the chaff, as we read in -Hosea xiii. 3: ‘They shall be ... as the chaff that is driven with the -whirlwind out of the floor.’ See also Psalm i. 4. - -These floors were used for other purposes than threshings, as we read -in I. Kings xxii. 10: ‘And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king -of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void -place (_or floor_) in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the -prophets prophesied before them,’ a statement which is repeated in II. -Chron. xviii. 9. - -Harvest-time was appointed by Moses as one of the great -festivals—Exodus xxiii. 14, etc.: ‘Three times thou shalt keep a feast -unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: -(thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, -in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out -from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty). And the feast of -harvest, the first-fruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the -field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, -when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.’ And again, in -Exodus xxxiv., this is repeated, with the addition (v. 21): ‘Six days -thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time -and in harvest thou shalt rest.’ This holiday was, and is, called the -feast of tabernacles, and we read in Deut. xvi. 13, etc.: ‘Thou shalt -observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast -gathered in thy corn and thy wine: and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, -thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy -maid-servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the -widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn -feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: -because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in -all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.’ - -In the story of Ruth we get an idyllic picture of a Hebrew harvest -field, with its kindly greetings between master and man, and its -gleaners. Naomi, a native of Bethlehem, returned thither from Moab, -after the death of her husband, Elimelech, accompanied by her -daughter-in-law Ruth, who was also a widow, ‘and they came to Bethlehem -in the beginning of barley harvest.’ - -Special favour was accorded to Ruth. She might glean ‘among the -sheaves’—_i.e._, following the reapers, instead of waiting until the -corn had been carried; but the Jews were enjoined to be liberal in the -matter of gleaning, as we see by Lev. xix. 9: ‘And when ye reap the -harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy -field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest’; and in -Deut. xxiv. 19, ‘When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and -hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it; -it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: -that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.’ - -There were no public mills at which flour could be ground, but, as -now, in the unchangeable East, every family ground their own corn, and -this task, as well as the making and baking of bread, was left to the -women. See Matt. xxiv. 41: ‘Two women shall be grinding at the mill; -the one shall be taken, and the other left.’ Again we find that it -was a woman who was grinding corn on a housetop in Thebez who (Judges -ix. 53) ‘cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all -to brake his skull.’ An Eastern flour mill consists of two stones, -the upper one rotating on the lower. In Shaw’s _Travels_, p. 297, he -says: ‘Most families grind their wheat and barley at home, having two -portable millstones for that purpose. The uppermost is turned round -by a small handle of wood or iron placed in the edge of it. When this -stone is large, or expedition is required, then a second person is -called in to assist. It is usual for the women alone to be concerned in -this employ, setting themselves down over against each other, with the -millstones between them.’ - -[Illustration: A PALESTINE HAND-MILL.] - -And Dr. Clarke, in his _Travels_,[6] says, that at Nazareth: ‘Scarcely -had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception, when, looking -into the courtyard belonging to the house, we beheld _two women_ -grinding at the mill in a manner most forcibly illustrating the saying -of our Saviour. They were preparing flour to make our bread, as it -is always customary in the country when strangers arrive. The two -women, seated upon the ground opposite to each other, held between -them two round, flat stones, such as are seen in Lapland, and such as -in Scotland are called querns. In the centre of the upper stone was -a cavity for pouring in the corn, and by the side of this an upright -wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, one of the -women with her right hand pushed this handle to the woman opposite, who -again sent it to her companion, thus communicating a rotary and very -rapid motion to the upper stone, their left hands being all the while -employed in supplying fresh corn as fast as the bran and flour escaped -from the sides of the machine.’ - -Of such importance among the household treasures of the Hebrews was the -flour mill esteemed that Moses laid it down (Deut. xxiv. 6): ‘No man -shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a -man’s life to pledge.’ - -The first mention of bread in the Bible, with the exception of Adam’s -curse, is in Gen. xiv. 18: ‘And Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought -forth bread and wine’; but it is pre-supposed, in Chap. xii. 10: ‘And -there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to -sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.’ When the three -angels visited him on the plains of Mamre, he offered them hospitality -(Gen. xviii. 5, 6): ‘I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye -your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come -to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. And Abraham -hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three -measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.’ And -to this day in Syria cakes are made upon the hearth, and the breaking -of bread together is a token of amity and protection extended by the -stronger to the weaker. - -Of what shape the Hebrew bread was we do not know, for no -representation of it has come down to us. As a rule it was possibly in -the form of thin flat round cakes—similar to those unleavened biscuits -now used by the Jews during their Passover, and the form and dimensions -of which are probably traditional—but they also had _loaves_ of bread, -as we read in many places. The Shew, or Presence bread, must have been -loaves, because of the quantity of flour in each—between five and six -pints. The directions for making it, etc., are plain enough (Lev. xxiv. -5-9): ‘And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: -two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two -rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt -put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a -memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every Sabbath he -shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the -children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron’s -and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most -holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual -statute.’ - -This shew bread must have been leavened, for a cake containing nearly -three quarts of flour, and unleavened, could hardly be. We have no -certainty as to the shape of these twelve loaves, typical of the tribes -of Israel; for, although the gold table on which it was placed figures -in a _bas relief_ on the Arch of Titus at Rome, there is no bread upon -it. The Rabbis say that the loaves were square, and covered with leaves -of gold; and that they were placed in two piles of six each, one upon -another, on the opposite ends of the table; and that between every two -loaves were laid three semi-tubes, like slit canes, of gold, for the -purpose of keeping the cakes the better from mouldiness and corruption -by admitting the air between them; and it is also said, but upon what -authority I know not, that each end of the table was furnished with -a tall, three-pronged fork of gold, one at each corner, standing -perpendicularly, for the purpose of keeping the loaves in their proper -places. - -The new bread was set on the table with much ceremony every Sabbath, -and it was so ordered that the new bread should be set on one end of -the table before the old was taken away from the other, in order that -the table might not be for a moment without bread. Jewish tradition -states that, to render the bread more peculiar and consecrated from -its origin, the priests themselves performed all the operations of -sowing, reaping and grinding the corn for the shew bread, as well as of -kneading and baking the bread itself. On the table was, probably, some -salt, as we read in Lev. ii. 13: ‘With all thine offerings thou shalt -offer salt.’ - -There seems to be little doubt but that the Israelites knew nothing -about leavened bread until they went into Egypt, and that they obtained -that knowledge from the civilised Egyptians. That they did leaven their -bread we learn from Exodus xii. 34-39: ‘And the people took their dough -before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their -clothes upon their shoulders.... And they baked unleavened cakes of the -dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; -because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had -they prepared for themselves any victual.’ - -Bread was sometimes dipped in oil as a relish, and in this state -it was also used in sacrifice. Lev. viii. 26: ‘And out of the -basket of unleavened bread, that was before the Lord, he took one -unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer,’ etc.; and, -occasionally, as we see in Ruth, it was dipped in vinegar. The Jew -thanked God for all His good gifts, and with his bread, he took it -in his hands, and pronounced the following benediction: ‘Blessed art -Thou, O Lord our God, the King of the world, that produceth bread out -of the earth.’ If there were many at table, one asked a blessing for -the rest. The blessing always preceded the breaking of the bread. The -rules concerning the breaking of bread were—the master of the house -recited and finished the blessing, and after that he broke the bread; -he did not break a small piece, lest he should seem to be sparing; -nor a large piece, lest he should be thought to be famished; it was -a principal command to break a whole loaf. He that broke the bread -put a piece before everyone, and the other took it into his hand. The -master of the family ate first of the bread after blessing. Maimonides, -writing on _Halacoth_, or legal formulæ (_Beracoth_, c. 7), says the -guests were not to eat or taste anything till he who broke had tasted -first, nor was it permitted at festivals for any of the guests to drink -of the cup till the master of the family had done so. - -There are several unleavened bread bakeries in London, and one each in -Birmingham and Leeds, to supply the Jews resident in the neighbourhood -with Passover cakes, or _Matzos_. Of course, there is an enormous -demand for this sort of unleavened bread, and to meet it these bakeries -begin baking two months before the commencement of the Passover. These -_Matzos_ look like ordinary large water biscuits, except that they -are a foot or more in diameter. They are made of flour and water, and -contain no other ingredient. - -After the flour has been kneaded into a very stiff dough, a lump of it, -weighing about 50 lb., is placed on a great block of wood and pressed -into a thick sheet by a heavy beam, which is fastened to the block at -one end by an iron link and staple. This sheet is next placed under an -iron roller, from which it emerges in a long ribbon. It passes under -another roller, and another, and then it is thin enough for baking. It -is now stamped and cut into the unbaked _Matzos_, which are placed upon -a large peel, or wooden tray, having a long handle, and deposited in -an oven. Three minutes later they are taken out, white, but crisp. From -the oven they are conveyed to the packing room, where they are allowed -to cool, after which they are put up in stacks, and thus kept ready for -delivery. Of course, during the whole of Passover week the Jews eat no -other bread. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE BREAD OF THE CLASSIC LANDS. - - -As an introduction to the bread of the Romans and Greeks, let us -begin with the pretty myth of Demeter (or Ceres, as the Romans called -her), and her daughter Persephone. Zeus, or Jupiter, had promised -his daughter Persephone to Pluto, without informing Demeter of his -plan, and whilst the girl was plucking flowers which Zeus had caused -to grow, in order to fix her attention, Pluto seized her, and, the -earth opening, they disappeared, and went to his kingdom of Hades. -Many places have been assigned as the spot where this took place; but -the ancient Eleusis, not far from Salamis or Athens, now the little -village of Lefsina, has, if such a thing were possible, perhaps -the prior claim, for here stood the famous temple of Demeter, now -lately (1882-89) excavated and surveyed, and here were performed the -Eleusinian mysteries in her honour. - -The shrieks of Persephone were heard only by Hecate and Helios; and -her mother, hearing only the echo of her voice, at once darted down -to earth in search of her beloved child. Hopelessly and aimlessly she -wandered about, caring nothing for herself; and for nine whole days and -nights neither ate nor drank, tasted neither nectar nor ambrosia, nor -did she even bathe herself. On the tenth day she met Hecate, who told -her all she knew of her daughter’s disappearance, which was not much, -as she had heard but her piercing cries. But, thinking that Helios, -the all-seeing sun, might have viewed the scene, they hastened to him, -and he told them how it all happened: how Pluto had carried off her -daughter, with the approval and consent of Zeus. - -Heart-broken at this conduct of the father of her child, she would have -no more of the society of the gods, and forswore Olympus, preferring to -live rather among men on earth. And so she dwelt among them, rewarding -those who were kind to her and severely punishing those who did not -treat her well; and in this way, still wandering and mourning for her -lost child, she came to Eleusis, where Celeus was king. - -But her wrath was still as fierce as ever, and, by withholding her -gifts, the fields produced no crops, and there was famine upon earth, -and so sore indeed did it become that Zeus, perceiving it, feared that -the race of man might become extinct for lack of food, and sent Iris -as ambassador to try and persuade Demeter to return to Olympus. But -she was firm, although all the gods were sent to her to induce her to -relent, and nothing would she do to mitigate the evil she had wrought, -save on the condition that her daughter should be restored to her. - -[Illustration: THE LEGEND OF DEMETER AND TRIPTOLEMUS.] - -Hermes was sent to Pluto, and his mission met with partial success. -Persephone had eaten of the pomegranate seed, which sacredly pledged -her to her dread lord; and for three months in the year she must -leave her mother and the fair earth and go to live in Pluto’s dreary -kingdom. Hermes fulfilled his mission by restoring her to her loving -mother, who rejoiced over her with an exceeding joy. Zeus, choosing -this happy moment, sent Rhea to Demeter to conciliate her and prevail -upon her to return to Olympus—a task which she happily effected. The -earth smiled once more and became fertile, and Demeter, with her -daughter, to whom she was lent for nine months in the year, went to -dwell once more in the companionship of the gods; but, before she left -the earth, she rewarded Celeus, the King of Eleusis, who had been kind -to her, by giving his son, Triptolemus, a chariot with winged dragons -and seeds of wheat. His chariot was useful, for by means of it he was -able to ride all over the earth, and instruct men in growing corn. -He established the worship of Demeter at Eleusis, and instituted the -mysteries in honour of the goddess. - -And in this pretty myth of Demeter and Persephone we may trace the -story of the seasons; how for nine months the earth is smiling and -fertile, and for the remaining three is dead. - -Dr. Schliemann claimed to have found the site of ancient Troy when he -uncovered the hill of Hissarlik. It was undoubtedly the remains of a -pre-historic city, and one which had advanced to a considerable amount -of civilisation. And this is shown particularly in one instance, in the -huge earthenware jars, or _pithoi_, that were used for storing corn and -wine. The following illustration gives a graphic description of them -as they appeared _in situ_: ‘One of the compartments of the uppermost -houses below the Temple of Athené, and belonging to the third, the -burnt city, appears to have been used as a magazine for storing corn -or wine, for there are in it nine enormous earthenware jars of various -forms, about 5 ft. high and 4-3/4 ft. across, their mouths being from -29-1/2 in. to 35-1/4 in. broad. Each of them has four handles 3-3/4 -in. broad, and the clay of which they are made is as much as 2-1/4 in. -thick.’[7] - -Dr. Schliemann says [p. 279]: ‘The number of large jars which I brought -to light in the burnt stratum of the third city certainly exceeds -600. By far the larger number of them were empty, the mouth being -covered by a large flag of schist or limestone. This leads me to the -conclusion that the jars were filled with wine or water at the time -of the catastrophe, for there appears to have been hardly any reason -for covering them if they had been empty. Had they been used to contain -anything else but liquids, I should have found traces of the fact, but -only in a very few cases did I _find some carbonised grain_ in the -jars, and only twice a small quantity of a white mass, the nature of -which I could not determine.’ - -[Illustration: PITHOI FOUND AT HISSARLIK.] - -So that we see that this pre-historic nation not only grew corn, but -stored it for future use. - -The means this pre-historic people had of crushing or mealing the grain -was the same as usual: the saddle querns, or two stones with flat -surfaces, between which the grain was crushed and roughly triturated—so -frequently found on the Continent, and the pestle and mortar of the -lake dwellings, as also round stones for fitting into hollows such as -are found in the lakes, the cave dwellings of the Dordogne and in the -dolmens of France. Dr. Schliemann, in describing ‘the Trojan saddle -querns,’ says they ‘are either of trachyte or of basaltic lava, but -by far the larger number are of the former material. They are of oval -form, flat on one side and convex on the other, and resemble an egg -cut longitudinally through the middle. Their length is from 7 in. to -14 in., and even as much as 25 in.; the very long ones are generally -crooked longitudinally, their breadth is from 5 in. to 14 in. The grain -was bruised between the flat sides of two of these querns; but only -a kind of groats can have been produced in this way, not flour. The -bruised grain could not have been used for making bread. In _Homer_ -we find it used for porridge (_Il._ xviii., 558-560), and also for -strewing on the roasted meat (_Od._ xiv., 76-77).’ - -In Homeric times the corn was evidently ground by millstones (which -were, probably, precisely similar to those found by Dr. Schliemann), -as we see in _Il._ vii. 270, xii., 161, and _Od._ vii., 104, xx., -105. Pliny N.H., xxxvi., 30, speaking of millstones says: ‘In no -country are the molar stones superior to those of Italy; stones, be -it remembered, not fragments of rock; there are some provinces, too, -where they are not to be found at all. Some stones of this class are -softer than others, and admit of being smoothed with the whetstone, so -as to present all the appearance, at a distance, of serpentine. There -is no more durable stone than this; for, in general, stone, like wood, -suffers from the action, more or less, of rain, heat, and cold.... -Some persons give this molar stone the name of _pyrites_, from the -circumstance that it has a great affinity to fire.’ - -[Illustration: POUNDING GRAIN.] - -In book xviii., 23, Pliny gives us _the mode of grinding corn_. ‘All -the grains are not easily broken. In Etruria they first parch the -spelt in the ear, and then pound it with a pestle shod with iron at -the end. In this instrument the iron is notched at the bottom, sharp -ridges running out like the edge of a knife, and concentrating in -the form of a star, so that, if care is not taken to hold the pestle -perpendicularly while pounding, the grains will only be splintered and -the iron teeth broken. Throughout the greater part of Italy, however, -they employ a pestle that is only rough at the end, and wheels turned -by water, by means of which the corn is gradually ground. I shall here -set forth the opinions given by Mago as to the best method of pounding -corn. He says that the wheat should be steeped first of all in water, -and then cleaned from the husk, after which it should be dried in the -sun and then pounded with the pestle; the same plan, he says, should be -adopted in the preparation of barley.’ - -This was how corn was prepared in some parts of Italy at the time of -the Christian era, by the same method as that described by Livingstone: -‘The corn is pounded in a large wooden mortar, like the ancient -Egyptian one, with a pestle six feet long and about four inches thick. -The pounding is performed by two or even three women at one mortar. -Each, before delivering a blow with her pestle, gives an upward jerk -of the body, so as to put strength into the stroke, and they keep -exact time, so that two pestles are never in the mortar at the same -moment.... By the operation of pounding, with the aid of a little -water, the hard outside scale or husk of the grain is removed, and the -corn is made fit for the millstone. The meal irritates the stomach -unless cleared from the husk; without considerable energy in the -operation the husk sticks fast to the corn. Solomon thought that still -more vigour than is required to separate the hard husk or bran from -the wheat would fail to separate “a fool from his folly.” “Though thou -shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will -not his foolishness depart from him.”’ - -[Illustration: A BAKEHOUSE AT POMPEII.] - -We have noticed the primitive Homeric millstones and the Etruscan -pestles and mortars, but at the time of the Christian era things -molinary were somewhat more advanced. Doubtless in parts of the -country the hand mill or quern, called _Mola manuaria_, _versatilis_ or -_trusatilis_, was in use, and it was worked by slaves, who were sent to -the _pistorineum_ as a punishment. But the usual corn mill was worked -by animals, and was called _Mola iumentaria_ or _Mola asinaria_. - -Both Greeks and Romans originally ground their flour and baked their -bread at home, and mills and bakeries have been found in several -private houses in Pompeii. One of these bakeries was attached to the -house of Sallust, on the south side, being divided from it only by -a narrow street. Its front is the main street, or Via Consularis, -leading from the gate of Herculaneum to the Forum. Entering by a small -vestibule, the visitor finds himself in a portico of ample dimensions, -considering the character of the house, being about 36 feet by 30 -feet. At the end of the portico is an opening through which the -bake-house is entered, which is at the back of the house, and opens -into a smaller street, which, diverging from the main street at the -fountain by Pansa’s house, runs straight up to the city walls. The -work room of the mill and bakery is about 33 feet long by 26 feet. The -centre is occupied by four stone mills, and when it was uncovered, the -ironwork, though entirely rust eaten, was yet perfect enough to explain -satisfactorily the method of construction. - -Not only were the flour mills, kneading troughs and other utensils -for baking found in Pompeii, but there were also loaves of bread, -of round form, and sub-divided, some of which were stamped with the -baker’s name. That this was the usual form of loaf is also shown by a -painting on the walls of the Temple of Augustus, where we see the bread -partially broken, and by the representation of a baker’s shop, where -all the loaves are similarly shaped. - -[Illustration: ROMAN METHODS OF BREAD-MAKING.] - -[Illustration: A BAKER’S SHOP AT POMPEII.] - -This, at all events, seems to have been the shape in vogue about the -time of the Christian era; but in the _bas reliefs_ on the tomb of -Eurysaces, who was a baker in a large way of business at Rome, they -seem to be globular. These _bas reliefs_ are most interesting, as they -show the whole history of baking. First there is the purchase of the -corn, and payment being made for it; then we see it ground, and sifted -to separate the bran. Next a man is buying some flour. Then we see the -dough being kneaded by horse-power, the bakers making it into loaves, -the baker with his peel baking the loaves, which are afterwards carried -in paniers to be weighed. Then there are the customers, and the bread -being sent out for delivery. - -Pliny tells us that there were no bakers at Rome until the war with -King Perseus of Macedon, more than 580 years after the building of the -city. The ancient Romans used to make their own bread, it being an -occupation which belonged to the women, as we see is the case in many -nations even at the present day. In those times they had no cooks in -the number of their slaves, but used to hire them for the occasion from -the market. The Gauls were the first to employ the bolter that is made -of horse-hair; while the people of Spain made their sieves and meal -dressers of flax, and the Egyptians of papyrus and rushes. - -Many freedmen were engaged as bakers, and under the Republic it was -one of the duties of the œdiles to see that the bread was properly -prepared and correct in weight. Grain was delivered into public -granaries by enrolled _Saccarii_, and it was distributed to the bakers -by a corporation called the _Catabolenses_. A bakers’ guild (_corpus_ -or _collegium pistorum_), which long existed, was organised by Trajan, -and this body, through its connection with the _cura amonæ_, became of -much importance, and enjoyed various privileges. There were guilds of -_pistores_ and _clibanarii_ at Pompeii. A great increase in the number -of bakeries (_pistrinæ_, _officinæ pistoriæ_) afterwards took place at -Rome, owing, probably, to the action of Aurelian in introducing a daily -distribution of bread, instead of the old monthly distribution of grain -that had been usual since the time of Gracchi. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -BREAD IN EASTERN LANDS. - - -Agriculture has always taken a prominent part in Chinese polity, and -is incorporated in their religious observances; and a deep veneration -for it is inscribed on all the institutions in China. Among the several -grades of society the cultivators of mind rank first, then those of -land, third come the manufacturers, and lastly the merchants. Homage -to agriculture is done annually by the Emperor, who makes a show of -performing its operations. - -This ceremony, which originated more than 2000 years ago, had been -discontinued by degenerate princes, but was revived by Yong-tching, -the third of the Mantchoo dynasty. This anniversary takes place on the -24th day of the second moon, coinciding with our month of February. The -monarch prepares himself for it by fasting three days; he then repairs -to the appointed spot with three princes, nine presidents of the high -tribunals, forty old and forty young husbandmen. Having performed a -preliminary sacrifice of the fruits of the earth to Shang-ti, the -supreme deity, he takes in his hand the plough, and makes a furrow of -some length, in which he is followed by the princes and other grandees. -A similar course is observed in sowing the field, and the operations -are completed by the husbandmen. - -An annual festival in honour of Agriculture is also celebrated in the -capital of each province. The governor marches forth, crowned with -flowers, and accompanied by a numerous train, bearing flags adorned -with agricultural emblems and portraits of eminent husbandmen, while -the streets are decorated with lanterns and triumphal arches. - -Although rice is the staple grain in use in China, wheat-growing is -one of the principal industries in the northern and middle parts of -that country. The winter wheat is planted at about the same time that -wheat is planted here. The soil, especially in the northern provinces, -is so well worn that it is unfitted for wheat-growing, and the Chinese -farmers, appreciating this fact, and the fact that all kinds of -fertilisers are excessively dear, make the least money do the most good -by mixing the seed with finely-prepared manure. - -A man with a basket swung upon his shoulders follows the plough, and -plants the mixture in large handsful in the furrows, so that when the -crop grows up it looks like young celery. Immediately after the first -melting of snow, and when the ground has become sufficiently hardened -by frost, these wheat-fields are turned into pastures, under the theory -that, by a timely clipping of the tops of these plants, the crops will -grow up with additional strength in the spring. - -Wheat-threshing is the principal interest in Chinese farming. Owing -to the scarcity of fuel, the wheat is usually pulled up by the root, -bundled in sheaves, and carted to the _mien-chong_, a smooth and -hardened space of ground near the home of the farmer. The top of the -sheaves is then clipped off by a hand machine. The wheat is then left -in the _mien-chong_ to dry, whilst the headless sheaves are piled in -a heap for fuel or thatching. When the wheat is thoroughly dry it is -beaten under a great stone roller pulled by horses, while the places -thus rolled are constantly tossed over with pitchforks. The stalks left -untouched by the roller are threshed with flails by women and boys. The -beaten stalks and straws are then taken out by an ingenious arrangement -of pitchforks, and the chaff is removed by a systematic tossing of the -grain into the air until the wind blows every particle of chaff or -dust out of the wheat. Even the chaff is carefully swept up and stowed -away for fuel or other useful purposes, such as stuffing mattresses -or pillows. After the wheat is allowed to dry for a few hours in the -burning sun, it is stowed away in airy bamboo bins. - -The milling process is a very ancient one. Two large round bluestone -wheels, with grooves neatly cut in the faces on one side, and in the -centre of the lower wheel a solid wooden plug is used. The process -of making flour out of wheat by this machinery is called _mob-mien_. -Usually a horse or mule is employed; the poor, having no animals, grind -the grain themselves. - -Three distinct qualities of flour are thus produced. The _shon-mien_, -or A grade, is the first siftings; the _nee-mien_, or second grade, is -the grindings of the rough leavings from the first siftings, which is -of a darker and redder colour than the first grade; and _mod_ is the -finely-ground last siftings of all grades. When bread is made from -this grade it resembles rough gingerbread. This is usually the food of -the poorest families. The bread of the Chinese is usually fermented, -and then steamed. Only a very small quantity is baked in ovens. But the -staple articles of food in Northern China are wheat, millet, and sweet -potatoes. Wheat and rice are the food of the rich, while the middle -classes of the Empire eat millet and rice. In the southern provinces -the entire bread-stuff is rice. - -[Illustration: CHINESE METHOD OF HUSKING GRAIN.] - -At King-Kiang wheat is served as rice. It is first threshed with flails -made of bamboo, and then pounded by a rough stone hammer, working in a -mortar which rests on a pivot, and is operated like a treadle by the -human foot. This separates the husks, and it is then winnowed, the -grain being afterwards ground in the usual way. - -Rice is undoubtedly the staple food of those parts of China where it -will grow, in spite of its being a precarious crop, the failure of -which means famine. A drought in its early stages withers it, and an -inundation, when nearly ripe, is equally destructive; whilst the birds -and locusts, which are fearfully numerous in China, infest it more than -any other grain. Rice requires not only intense heat, but moisture -so abundant that the field in which it grows must be repeatedly laid -under water. These requisites exist only in the districts south of -the Yang-tse Kiang (the Yellow River) and its several tributaries. -Here a vast extent of land is perfectly fitted for this valuable crop. -Confined by powerful dykes, these rivers do not generally, like the -Nile, overflow and cover the country; but by means of canals their -waters are so widely distributed that almost every farmer, when he -pleases, can inundate his field. This supplies not only moisture, but -a fertilising mud or slime, washed down from the distant mountains. -The cultivator thus dispenses with manure, of which he labours under -a great scarcity, and considers it enough if the grain be steeped in -liquid manure. - -The Chinese always transplant their rice. A small space is enclosed, -and very thickly sown, after which a thin sheet of water is led or -pumped over it; in the course of a few days the shoots appear, and when -they have attained the height of six or seven inches the tops are cut -off, and the roots transplanted to a field prepared for the purpose, -when they are set in rows about six inches from each other. The whole -surface is again supplied with moisture, which continues to cover the -plants till they approach maturity, when the ground is allowed to -become dry. - -The first harvest is reaped in the end of May or beginning of June, -the grain being cut with a small sickle, and carried off the field in -frames suspended from bamboo poles placed across a man’s shoulders. -Barrow (p. 565) thus describes one: ‘The machine usually employed for -clearing rice from the husk, in the large way, is exactly the same as -that now used in Egypt for the same purpose, only that the latter is -put in motion by oxen and the former commonly by water. This machine -consists of a long horizontal axis of wood, with cogs, or projecting -pieces of wood or iron, fixed upon it at certain intervals, and it is -turned by a water-wheel. At right angles to this axis are fixed as many -horizontal levers as there are circular rows of cogs; these levers act -on pivots that are fastened into a low brick wall, but parallel to the -axis and at the distance of about two feet from it. At the further -extremity of each lever, and perpendicular to it, is fixed a hollow -pestle, directly over a large mortar of stone or iron sunk into the -ground; the other extremity extending beyond the wall, being pressed -upon by the cogs of the axis in its rotation, elevates the pestle, -which by its own gravity falls into the mortar. An axis of this kind -sometimes gives motion to 15 or 20 levers.’ - -Meantime the stubble is burnt on the land, over which the ashes are -spread as its only manure; a second crop is immediately sown, and -reaped about the end of October, when the straw is left to putrify -on the ground, which is allowed to rest till the commencement of the -ensuing spring. - -As the cereal food of the Chinese is principally boiled rice, it -stands to reason that bakers are not numerous, bread only appearing at -the tables of high-class mandarins. It is chiefly replaced by fancy -biscuits and numberless kinds of pastry, made not only with wheaten -flour, but also that of rice—these serve as vehicles for the various -jams and fruit _compotes_ for which the Chinese are famous, and which -they know so well how to make; in fact, the bakers are more strictly -confectioners, and they can be seen any day busy in their shops baking -cakes of rice flour and ground almonds of every imaginable shape and -varied in quality by spices. Not only so, but these cakes are sold, -already baked, in the peripatetic cookeries which go about the streets. -Out of wheaten flour they make a kind of vermicelli, which is much -esteemed by the Chinese. - -Failure of the rice crops, and consequent famine in Japan, have been -the means of introducing wheaten flour into this country more rapidly -than anything else could have done. Most remarkable is the universal -favour that bread and similar floury concoctions are beginning to -enjoy in the treaty ports. This article of food has become completely -Japanized, and sells in forms unknown to Europeans. _Tsuke-pau_, -sold by peripatetic vendors, who push their wares along in a tiny -roofed hand-cart, is much liked by the poorer classes. It consists of -slices—thick, generous slices—of bread dipped in soy and brown sugar, -and then fried or toasted. Each slice has a skewer passed through it, -which the buyer returns after demolishing the bread. - -Flour is now used in many other ways besides the manufacture of simple -bread. There is _Kash-pau_, cake bread, which is sold everywhere. As -the name implies, it is a sort of sweet breadstuff made into cakes of -various sizes and artistic figures, according to the skill and fancy -of the baker. To an European palate this _Kash-pau_ is rather dry and -tasteless, but it is very cheap, and for five _sen_ (three-halfpence) -a huge paper bagful can be bought. _Kasuteira_, or sponge cake, is not -so much sought after as it used to be. Yet some bakeries, such as the -_Fugetsu-do_ and _Tsuboya_, excel in producing the lightest and most -delicious sponge cake. - -Millet, in China, is only used as food by the very poor. - -Wheat is not the primary article of food among the natives of India, -and hitherto only enough has been produced for home consumption; but of -late years much has been grown for export, and being of a particularly -hard nature is useful for mixing with the softer kinds. Still, it is -used by itself, and is made into unleavened cakes called _Chupatees_. -These are made by mixing flour and water together, with a little salt, -into a paste or dough, kneading it well; sometimes _ghee_ (clarified -butter) is added. They may also be made with milk instead of water. -They are flattened into thin cakes with the hand, smeared with a small -quantity of _ghee_, and baked on an iron pan, or sheet of iron, over -the fire. - -Historic, too, is the _Chupatee_, for by its means the message was -sent round throughout the length and breadth of British India for the -rising against the English rule—known as the Indian Mutiny. Its true -meaning was not at first understood, as we may read in the Indian -correspondence of the _Times_, dated Bombay, March 3, 1857: ‘From -Cawnpore to Allahabad, and onwards towards the great cities of the -North-West, the _chokedars_, or policemen, have been of late spreading -from village to village—at whose command, or for what object, they -themselves, it is said, are ignorant—little plain cakes of wheaten -flour. The number of cakes, and the mode of their transmission, is -uniform. _Chokedar_ of village A enters village B, and, addressing -its _chokedar_, commits to his charge two cakes, with directions to -have other two similar to them prepared; and, leaving the old in his -own village, to hie with the new to village C, and so on. English -authorities of the districts through which these edibles passed looked -at, handled, and probably tasted them; and finding them, upon the -evidence of all their senses, harmless, reported accordingly to the -Government. And it appears, I think, with tolerable clearness, that the -mysterious mission is not of political but of superstitious origin; -and is directed simply to the warding off of diseases, such as the -choleraic visitation of twelve months ago, in which point of view it -is noteworthy and characteristic, and not unworthy to be remembered -together with last year’s grim and picturesque legend of the horseman, -who rode down to the river at dead of night and was ferried across, -announcing that the pestilence was in his train.’ - -_Apropos_ of Indian flour, Col. Meadows Taylor, in _The Story of My -Life_, tells a story anent the adulteration of flour in India. - -‘During that day my tent was beset by hundreds of pilgrims and -travellers, crying loudly for justice against the flour-sellers, -who not only gave short weight in flour, but adulterated it so -distressingly with sand that the cakes made with it were uneatable, -and had to be thrown away. That evening I told some reliable men of my -escort to go quietly into the bazaars and each buy flour at a separate -shop, being careful to note whose shop it was. - -‘The flour was brought to me. I tested every sample, and found it -full of sand as I passed it under my teeth. I then desired that all -the persons named in my list should be sent to me with their baskets -of flour, their weights and scales. Shortly afterwards they arrived, -evidently suspecting nothing, and were placed in a row seated on the -grass before my tent. - -‘“Now,” said I gravely, “each of you is to weigh out a ser (two pounds) -of your flour,” which was done. “Is it for the pilgrims?” asked one. - -‘“No,” said I quietly, though I had much difficulty to keep my -countenance. “You must eat it yourselves.” - -‘They saw that I was in earnest, and offered to pay any fine that I -imposed. - -‘“Not so,” I returned, “you have made many eat your flour; why should -you object to eat it yourselves?” - -‘They were horribly frightened, and, amid the jeers and screams of -laughter of the bystanders, some of them actually began to eat, -spluttering out the half-moistened flour, which could be heard -crunching between their teeth. At last some of them flung themselves on -their faces, abjectly beseeching pardon. - -‘“Swear!” I cried, “swear by the Holy Mother in yonder temple that you -will not fill the mouths of her worshippers with dirt! You have brought -this on yourselves, and there is not a man in all the country who will -not laugh at the _bunnais_ (flour-sellers) who could not eat their own -flour because it broke their teeth.” - -‘So this episode terminated, and I heard no more complaints of bad -flour.’ - -The Indian flour mill is very primitive, consisting of two great -mill-stones, of which the lower is fast, and the upper is usually -turned by two women, who feed the wheat by handfuls into a hole which -passes through the stone. The meal so obtained is simply mixed with -palm yeast, and baked in very hot ovens, which have been heated for -several days. The small European householder finds it more convenient -to patronise the Mohammedan bakers, of whom, however, the bread has to -be ordered in advance. Sometimes two or three English families combine, -and hire a baker, paying him a monthly salary, and providing him with -the raw material. - -The yeast mentioned above is made from the sap of the date palm. In -April, before the flowers appear, a Hindoo climbs the naked trunk—for -the leaves, as in all palm trees, are borne on the top. The man’s feet -are bound together by a rope, and about his hips are fastened two pots -for the reception of the sap. As he climbs, he calls out, ‘_Darpor, -darpor ata hain_,’ which, being interpreted, means, ‘The palm-tapper -is coming.’ This is for the benefit of the Mohammedan women who might -be sitting unveiled in the courtyards of the houses exposed to the -view of the climber after he has risen above the tops of the walls. A -tapper who once fails to give this warning cry is thenceforth forbidden -to ply his trade. When the tapper has reached the crown of the tree he -cuts two gashes in opposite sides of the trunk with an axe, which he -has carried up in his mouth. Then he fastens the pots under the gashes -and descends. The full pots are taken away and empty ones put in their -place twice daily. The sap has a sweet taste, and contains some alcohol -even when fresh. After standing in the sun in great earthen pots for a -few days it begins to ferment, after which it deposits a thick white -substance. This, taken at the proper time, is used as yeast. - -But rice is, in India, the staff of life, being used to a greater -extent than any grain in Europe. It is, in fact, the food of the -highest and the lowest, the principal harvest of every climate. Its -production, generally speaking, is only limited by the means of -irrigation, which is essential to its growth. The ground is prepared -in March and April; the seed is sown in May and reaped in August. If -circumstances are favourable there are other harvests, one between July -and November, another between January and April. These also sometimes -consist of rice, but more commonly of other grain or pulse. In some -parts millet is used as food. Many are the ways of cooking rice—there -are powder of cucumber seeds and rice, lime juice and rice, orange -juice and rice, jack fruit and rice, rice and milk, and sweet cakes -made of rice flour, with or without green ginger. - -The Bombay baker is a man of a different stamp altogether to the Bengal -baker. He is invariably a Goanese and a native Christian, and adopts -his profession not from choice but by heredity. For generations past -his fathers have been bakers, and have, in accordance with the rules -of the Society of Bakers, to which they must have belonged, studied -some portion at least of the art of manufacturing bread. The Bombay -baker is, moreover, a man of substance. To begin with, he grows his own -wheat, and has it conveyed to his factories, where as many as 200 hands -are employed in converting it into raw material for cooking. He retains -a staff of _chefs_, who also hail from Goa, and who attend exclusively -to the baking. Greater comparative intelligence and a love for his -trade enable him to turn out a far superior article to that of his -ignorant contemporary in Upper India; but even in Bombay the same fault -has to be found with the manufacturer: either the bread is too fine, or -it is too ‘brown’—that is, it contains too much bran. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -BREAD IN EUROPE AND AMERICA. - - -Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, who lived in the first half of -the 16th century, has left behind him, in his _Historia de Gentibus -Septentrionalibus_, a long and lucid account of Scandinavian life -and manners. Respecting harvest, he tells us that in the Northern -countries, in many fields of the Visigoths, on that part that lies -southward, barley is ripe and mown in 36 days from the date of -sowing—that is, from the end of June to the middle of August, and -sometimes sooner; and other corn sown in the beginning of May is reaped -in the middle of August—‘by the mutual help of the countrymen, not with -any great pains, but with alacrity and willing minds, lest cold wind -should blow upon it and blast the corn. And they desire no other reward -for their daily labour than a merry feast at night, where the young -people of both sexes, by reason of their faithful labours in the field, -by the judgment, consent, and permission of their provident parents, -are made choice of for to be married.’ - -He tells us that the farther North you go the less wheat is grown, but -there is more towards the South, the Swedes having plenty of wheat -but more rye. ‘But the Goths, both East and West, who feed on barley -and oats, have an infinite abundance given them by the mercy of God. -Yet there is use made of all these sorts of corn in both places. But -the Swedes provide most of rye, where their women know so well how to -winnow rye, that for colour, taste, and for health it surpasses the -goodness of wheat.’ - -[Illustration: EARLY SCANDINAVIAN BAKERIES.] - -In order to preserve their corn they carefully dried it. ‘On the -hottest days, when the sun shines strong, they spread cloths like -ships’ sails, or else the sails themselves, upon the ground, or on the -tops of mountains where there is no grass, and they lay the corn out to -dry for six, or more, or fewer days, as the sun shines hot; then when -it is cleaned they lay it up in vessels of oak, or else they grind it, -and so lay it up safe, and when it is so dried it will last good for -years. But if it be not ground meal, but corn, it is convenient once a -year to set it in the sun to be again dried, and thus new-dried corn -may be mingled with it prudently. But the meal thrust into the oaken -vessels, or tuns, by strong ramming it in with wooden mallets, and laid -up in a dry place, will last many years, and never be worm-eaten.’ - -[Illustration: EARLY SCANDINAVIAN BAKERIES.] - -He also discourses on the variety of mills for grinding corn in -use. How there was the windmill, that turned by running water, by -horse-power, by hands and feet—backwards and forwards, like the -pre-historic mealing stones, and also the quern; but he mostly extols -the windmills of Holland. - -The grain being ground, it was ready for making into bread, and he -minutely describes the operation—how it was kneaded into a round shape, -then rolled very thin, and finally baked on a sheet of iron, like a -warrior’s shield, supported by a tripod, and heated by a slow fire—in -fact, the griddle, or girdle, cakes of North Britain. But there was -other bread which was baked in an oven; and here the artist seems -to have drawn somewhat upon his imagination for his cockroaches and -blackbeetles. It seems that bread was not sold by weight, and that they -were in the habit, about Christmas time, of making what we should call -dough babies, about the size of a five-year-old child, of which they -made presents, and similar, but smaller, babies of wheat-flour, which -they sold. - -They also made a gingerbread of flour, honey, and spices, which -travellers in the winter made use of; another bread of flour, milk, -butter, eggs, and ginger. Then, also, they baked biscuits for shipboard -and for victualling forts, but he pathetically points out that these -biscuits, if kept for a length of time, especially in a damp place, -developed dangerous energy in the shape of weevils, which were harmless -(_non tamen noxii_). He says of the griddle cakes that they would keep -good for twenty or more years, by which time they would be reasonably -stale. - -Scarcely two centuries have passed since rye flour, by itself, or mixed -with wheat, furnished nearly all the bread consumed by the labouring -classes of England. With the exception of wheat, rye contains a greater -proportion of gluten than any other cereal, to which fact it owes its -capability of being converted into a spongy bread; and if anyone wishes -to try it for themselves, here is a recipe for making _Grislex Surbröd_ -or _Husholdinngsbröd_ (bread for the household), which is the ordinary -bread for the eastern parts of Norway. - -‘Contrary to our expectations we found white bread everywhere, but the -common bread is a heavy bread, the chief ingredient of which is rye. -It is always sour—the goodwife intends it to be so. They also have -“flat bread” (_flad bröd_) made of potatoes and rye. It was this kind -of bread that the two women whom we happened in upon were making. They -were in a little underground room, unlighted except from the door. - -‘The women making the bread were seated on either side of a long, low -table, upon which were huge mounds of dough. The one nearest the door -cut off a piece of this, and moulded it, and rolled it out to a certain -degree of thinness; then the other one took it, and, with the greatest -care, rolled it still more. At her right hand was the fireplace, and -upon the coal was a red piece of iron, forming a huge griddle more than -half a yard across. The bread matched this very nearly in size when -it was ready to be baked, and it was spread out and turned upon the -griddle with great dexterity, and as soon as it was baked it was added -to a great heap on the floor. - -‘The woman said she should continue to bake bread for thirty days. She -had a large family of men who consumed a great deal, and they had to -bake very often in consequence. In many places they do not bake bread -oftener than twice a year, then it is a circumstance like haying or -harvesting. We heard an Englishman say of this bread of the country: -“One might eat an acre of it and then not be satisfied.”’ - -In Denmark, too, rye bread is the rule among the peasantry and small -farmers—wheaten bread being to them a luxury, and used as cake is -with us. In Russia, although its chief export is wheat from the Black -Sea, and oats and rye from the Baltic, the peasant eats but rye bread -dipped in hemp oil, and even then, as but a few years since, famine -visits this granary, and the hapless peasants being reduced to mix -orach and bark with their wretched bread, have at times been unable to -procure even this, and have died in thousands of starvation. Although -Austria-Hungary produces wheat which makes the finest bread-flour in -the world, yet throughout the Austrian Empire the peasantry eat rye -bread, whilst at Vienna the wheaten bread, especially the _Kaiser -semmel_, which is what we should term a dinner roll or manchet, is -simply perfection. - -The excellence of the Viennese bread is said to be owing to the bakers, -the ovens, and the yeast. The men work according to the traditions of -the past, which have been handed down to them. The ovens are heated -by wood fires lit inside them during four hours; the ashes are then -raked out, and the oven is carefully wiped with wisps of damp straw. -On the vapour thus generated, as well as that produced by the baking -of the dough, lies the whole art of the browning and the success of -the _semmel_. An ounce of yeast (three decagrammes) and as much salt -is taken for every gallon of milk used for the dough. The yeast is -a Viennese speciality, known as _St. Marxner Pressheffe_, and its -composition is a secret. It keeps two days in summer and a little -longer in winter. - -Viennese bread is noted for the fantastic shapes into which it is -made, but concerning the crescent shape the following legend is told: -‘Many years ago, when there was war between the Austrians and the -Turks, the city of Vienna was besieged, and so closely invested that -famine seemed inevitable unless the inhabitants yielded and surrendered -to the hated Turks. One day a baker in his cellar noticed a peculiar -noise, and, looking about, discovered that a boy’s drum on the ground -in a corner had some marbles on the parchment, which every little while -danced about and caused the odd sound. Surprised, he listened intently, -and found that the noise was repeated at regular intervals. He put -his ear to the ground and could distinguish a thumping sound, which, -on reflection, he concluded must be produced by the enemy undermining -the city. He went to the authorities with his story, but at first it -was discredited. At last the general in command made an investigation, -and found the baker’s suspicions correct. A counter-mine was made and -exploded, and the Turks repulsed. - -On the restoration of peace, the Emperor of Austria sent for the baker, -and expressing his gratitude to him for having saved the city, asked -what reward he could claim. The modest baker refused riches or rank, -but only asked the privilege of making his bread hereafter in the form -of the crescent, which had so long been their terror, so that it might -be a reminder to those who ate it that the God of the Christian is -greater than the God of the Infidel. So the Imperial order was issued -granting the baker and his descendants the sole right to make their -bread in the shape of the Turkish crescent.’ - -As in Austria, so in Germany. Good wheaten bread can be got in towns -and cities, though not so fine as in Austria, by reason of the -flour, and the peasantry are content to have rye and barley bread. -_Pumpernickel_, to wit, is one of the oldest varieties of bread, and -the first to come into general use. It is made of barley, and must be -baked in an oven especially made for the purpose. This kind of bread -is considered very nutritious, and is of a sweet taste. In many parts -of Germany there are large bakeries where _pumpernickel_ is baked as a -speciality, whence it is sent into the smaller towns, and even exported -to other countries in loaves of 4 lbs., 8 lbs., and 12 lbs. weight. At -Soest, Unna, and Brostadt large quantities are made for exportation, -for the expatriated German carries his love of Fatherland with him, and -at Berlin there is also a bakery for making _pumpernickel_. - -The Gauls reaped their wheat, and then threshed it out by means of oxen -and horses; but they also cut off the ears, and then reaped the straw. -To gather in the panic and millet, they held the stalks by means of a -kind of comb, and then cut off the heads with shears. To prevent its -being stolen, the corn was hidden in underground storehouses, and often -in natural caves, which were afterwards walled up. They used mealing -stones, as before described, in order to crush and roughly grind their -grain, which was made into an unleavened cake, dry and thin, which was -not cut, but was broken when served. They also had a kind of bread -called ‘plate bread,’ which they ate soaked with sauce or meat gravy. -The Gauls made beer from barley, and used it instead of water to mix -their dough with. Thus, unconsciously, they discovered the secret of -leavened bread; and, by-and-by, noticing that the beer if let alone -frothed, and that when used for bread-making in this state the bread -was lighter, they left off using the beer, and only employed the yeast. - -Barley they called _gru_, which, in Latin, became _grudum_. _Gruellum_ -was husked barley, which the Gauls ate in soup and with boiled meat. -This is the origin of the French word _gruau_ (groats), which is -equally applied to husked oats. Rye was used in the northern part of -Gaul; and, from the time of Strabo, millet was in use among the Gauls -as well as panic, but especially in Aquitaine. They also certainly -knew of buck-wheat, which had been cultivated from time immemorial in -Africa, for it has been found in several Celtic remains in the Camp de -Chalons. - -The Romans brought millstones with them, and introduced the -water-wheel, which saved them the exertion of personally grinding their -corn, and with the arrival of the Franks came Christianity, and they -were taught the prayer, ‘Our Father, which art in Heaven ... give us -this day our daily bread.’ - -In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in France, noblemen, the -middle-class, and shopkeepers did not eat much white bread, and their -best was equal to the ‘household bread’ of to-day, whilst whitey-brown, -brown, and bran breads were to be found on their tables. The common -folk fed on bread made of barley, rye, maslin, a mixture of wheat and -rye, brown bread, black bread, and enormous pasties, of which the thick -crust was composed of rye, bran, and flour mixed together. - -Maize was introduced into France from America in 1560. Champier speaks -of it as a plant recently imported, and says: ‘Some poor people, in -default of corn, have made bread of it, especially in the Beaujolais, -but it is less fitted for men than for animals, which fatten quickly -upon it, and especially for pigeons who love it much.’ - -Vermicelli, macaroni, lazagnes (riband vermicelli) and other Italian -pastas were brought into France during the wars of Charles VIII., and -had no other rivals than rice. - -At this time, in making bread, the yeast of beer was partially -abandoned, and other ferments were made use of. The Flemings boiled -wheat, and, after having skimmed off the froth, used it as a leaven, -which gave them a bread much lighter than hitherto, or, according to -Champier and Liébaut, who wrote in 1589, they employed vinegar, wine, -and rennet; and from their writings we find that the farmers were their -own millers and bakers. - -‘It would be useless for the labourer to take so much pains with his -land, if he only derived a profit from a sale of the grain which he -has harvested, if he could not himself make cakes, flammèches (_flaky -pastry_), flans (_cakes made with flour, eggs, milk and butter_), -fritters, and a thousand other dainties, which he can make with a -flour from his own corn; and it would be very unbecoming in him were -he to borrow them from his neighbours, or buy them of the bakers or -pastrycooks. - -[Illustration: A MEDIÆVAL BAKERY. - -(_From an engraving by Jost Amman._)] - -‘The farmer’s duty is to choose his corn, have it ground, and to keep -the flour in the granary, whence he will soon take it in order to make -bread. The handling of the flour and kneading the dough is entirely the -care of the wife, who ought to give all her best energies to it, for of -all food bread is the best; one gets tired of the most delicate meats, -but never of bread.’ - -From this time till the present there is no great story to tell of -bread in France. It has progressed in quality, as in every other -country, until French bread is famous throughout the civilised world. -But this is mainly in the towns; black bread is still in use in some of -the rural parts of France, and one can imagine the relish with which -the peasant tastes once more the bread of his youth after having been -deprived of it for some time. - -In Paris, at one time, the monks controlled the bakery business; they -had the monopoly of the public ovens, where housewives brought the -dough to be baked, just as nowadays they take a shoulder of mutton -and potatoes. But no baking was allowed on Sundays and fête days. -France thus observed Sunday as a whole holiday, and the oven-tax went -towards the support and burial of the poor. Up to 1789 the bakers -were compelled to sell nearly all their bread at stalls in the public -markets, and 900 master bakers monopolised the privilege; for it -was only in 1863 that the trade became free and thrown open to all. -Previous to that, in order to qualify for a master baker, it was -necessary to graduate five years as an apprentice, and four more as a -journeyman; also the sale of fancy bread was obliged to be carried on -in an underhand way, and it was delivered in secret, being subject to a -tax, and the baker not being able to make it of exact weight, without -prejudice, on account of its great extent of crust. - -American flour is celebrated all over the world, and is more -extensively used in England, especially the finest sorts for pastry; -but, of course, the demand for it in the immense continent itself -is something enormous. Take one instance, Philadelphia, which is -celebrated for its good bread. Over one million barrels are sold in -that city annually for home consumption, and two-thirds of this is -made into bread. The 1300 bakers in Philadelphia use 600,000 barrels, -a barrel of good flour making from 270 to 280 five cent. loaves, and -the best flour is the cheapest to use. As a rule, the bakers use choice -brands, and mix four grades to get the proper alloy, so to speak—two -‘Minnesota springs’ and two ‘Indiana winters.’ Some bakers, especially -those who make the best breads, use only one grade of spring wheat and -two of winter. In the olden time yeast was made of malt, potatoes, and -hops, and it is still largely used, but the bakers of fancy breads use -a patent yellow compressed yeast. There are seven large steam bread -bakeries in Philadelphia, giving employment to three or four hundred -hands. One large establishment manufactures the different varieties -of Vienna bread exclusively. It is made of the best flour, and milk -instead of water is used to mix the flour. The baking is done in -air-tight ovens, and the steam generated in baking settles back on the -bread instead of escaping. This makes the outer crust thin and tender, -and gives the bread a particularly rich taste and pleasant aroma. - -With the addition of maize and buckwheat, the Americans use the same -cereals for making bread as we do; but, of course, as is the case with -every nation, there are specialities which do not travel abroad. Graham -bread is our wholemeal bread, and should be made with the unbolted -meal of wheat, and not only that, but the wheat of which it is made -should be good plump grain, otherwise there would be a disproportionate -quantity of bran. - -Then there is Boston brown bread, for which the following is the -formula: One quart Indian corn meal, one quart Graham, one quart rye -flour, one quart white flour, one quart boiling water, one pint yeast, -one small cup of molasses, two teaspoonfuls of salt, half-cup of burnt -sugar colouring. For rye and Indian corn bread it is only necessary to -change the above recipe by leaving out the Graham and white flour and -doubling the proportions of Indian corn meal and rye in their place. - -Of rolls there are very many varieties besides the ordinary French -rolls. Many hotels have their speciality in this class of bread, and, -consequently, we have Parker, Tremont, Revere, Brunswick, Clarendon, -St. James, Windsor, &c., rolls, besides which there are twist and -sandwich rolls. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -EARLY ENGLISH BREAD. - - -When the culture of grain in Britain really commenced we cannot -possibly tell, but we know that the Phœnicians traded with this -island in very early times for tin. All that we really know is from -the fragments of writing left by Pytheas, who may, in one sense, be -said to have been the discoverer of Britain. About 340 B.C. the Greek -colony which the Greeks had planted at Massilia (Marseilles) wished to -extend their trade, and, whether at their expense or his own, Pytheas, -a learned man, a geographer and astronomer, set sail for parts unknown -in the Western Ocean. - -Diodorus Siculus, who lived just before the Christian era, must have -taken his account of the Britons from Pytheas. In Book V., c. 2, he -says: ‘They dwell in mean cottages, covered for the most part with -reeds and sticks. In reaping their corn, they cut the ears from off the -stalk, and house them in repositories under ground; thence they take -and pluck out the grains of as many of the oldest of them as may serve -them for the day, and, after they have bruised the corn, make it into -bread,’ - -It is said, also, that about this time the Britons exported corn -to Gaul and also up the Rhine. On Cæsar’s arrival he found them -an agricultural people, with abundance of wheat and barley; and -during the time of the Roman occupation they made great advances in -agriculture. After their departure a hide of land was 180 acres if -it was cultivated on the Roman three-field system, or 160 if on the -English plan of two-field course. In the former, one portion was sown -with winter wheat, a second with spring wheat, whilst the third lay -fallow. The English way was to divide the hide, and in each half to -sow alternately spring and winter wheat, and the chief crops raised -were rye, oats, barley, wheat, beans and peas. In social rank, the -yeoman, or geneat (tenant farmer), ranked next after the thegn and the -priest, whilst even the baker was an important member of a thegn’s -household—the bread being made in round flat cakes from wholemeal (for -there is no mention of bolting it), ground in a hand-mill or quern. -Such were doubtless the storied cakes which Alfred watched for the -neatherd’s wife. - -The peasants’ bread was principally made of rye, oats, and beans, the -wheat being used by the ‘gentry’ only—ordinary bread being made of -barley; and, connected with the latter, are derived our names of Lord -and Lady, the first from _Llaford_, originator of bread, or bread-ward, -the latter from _Llæfdige_, bread-maid, or bread-maker. So, too, we -owe our wedding cake to the great loaf made by the bride to show her -inauguration into housewifery, which was partaken of by the wedding -guests. - -The peasant baked his bread on iron plates or in rude ovens, and ground -his coarse meal in hand-mills; but in later times water was made the -principal motive power for grinding corn, and about 5000 mills are -mentioned in Domesday Book; but they are not particularised as to what -power they were worked by. - -As a trade, the bakers of London rank from a very early date. They -formed a brotherhood, or guild, in the reign of Henry II., about 1155. -Stow says of them: ‘The Company of White Bakers are of great antiquity, -as appeareth by their Records, and divers other things of antiquity, -extant in their Common Hall. They were a Company of this City in the -first year of Edward II., and had a new Charter granted unto them in -the first year of Henry VII., the which Charter was confirmed unto -them by Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and King -James I. Their Arms were anciently borne; the crest and supporters -were granted to them by Robert Cook, _Clarencieux_, the Letters Patent -bearing date November 8 (32 Eliz.), 1590. The Cloud on the Chief thro’ -which the Hand holding the Scales Cometh, hath a Glory, omitted in the -edition printed 1633; and on each side of the Hand are two Anchors, -here also omitted; as by the Visitation Book, _Anno_ 1634, appears.’ - -Stow describes the Company of the Brown Bakers as ‘A Society of long -standing and continuance, prevailed to have their Incorporating granted -the ninth day of June, in the 19th year of the Reign of our Sovereign -Lord King James I.’ - -The Arms of both White and Brown Bakers are copied from Harl. MSS. -1464, 57e. (73), A.D. 1634—the Arms of these and other Companies -being copied from the Herald’s Visitation of that year, by Rd. Price, -Armes-Painter. - -[Illustration: THE ARMS OF THE WHITE BAKERS.] - -Heraldically described, the Arms of the White Bakers are—Gules, three -Garbs Or, a chief barry wavy of four, argent and azure, an arm issuing -from clouds radiated of the second, the hand holding a pair of scales -depending between the upper Garbs, also of the second. _Crest_: Two -Arms embowed issuing out of clouds, proper, holding in the hands a -chaplet of wheat, or. _Supporters_: Two Stags, proper, attired, or, -each gorged with a chaplet of wheat, of the last. - -[Illustration: ARMS OF THE BROWN BAKERS.] - -The Arms of the Brown Bakers closely resemble those of their white -brethren, but are not so dignified, as lacking supporters and motto: -Vert, a chevron quarterly, or and gules, charged with a pair of -balances, azure, holden by a hand out of a cloud, proper, between three -garbs of beans, rye and wheat, or. On a chief barry of five, wavy, -argent and azure, an Anchor couchant, or. _Crest_: An Arm quarterly of -the second, the hand holding a bean sheaf, proper. - -W. Carew Hazlitt, in his _Livery Companies of the City of London_ -(Lond. 1892) says: ‘In the Elizabeth, as in the Henry VIII. Charter, -the White Bakers had taken the initiative in drawing the makers of -brown bread, whose business was far more limited and unimportant, into -union with them on unequal terms, and the latter body dissented and -renounced; whereupon the Queen was advised by the Lords of the Council -to recall her patent. This proceeding seems, for a time, to have caused -the matter to drop; but in 19 James I., June 6, 1622, the Brown Bakers -succeeded in securing separate incorporation, with a common seal, a -Master, three Wardens, and sixteen Assistants, as well as all other -usual rights and powers. We hear nothing further of the matter till -1629, when the two bodies were still separate, the White Bakers being -assessed for a levy by the City in that year at £25 16_s._, the other -at £4. 6_s._, a proof of the relative weight and resources of the -disputants, which is confirmed by the proportions contributed by each -to the Ulster scheme a few years prior, namely, £480 and £90. In 1654 -the Brown Bakers had apparently relinquished their independent quarters -at Founders’ Hall, Lothbury, as if an union had been arranged; and in -2 James II. the charter was received with the usual restrictions in -regard to the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and conformity to the -Church of England, but otherwise in such a form as to lead to the -belief that it comprehended both sections of the trade.’ - -The Bakers’ Company ranks very high after the twelve great City -Companies, on account of its great antiquity. Its Hall, in Stow’s time, -was in ‘Hart Lane, or Harp Lane, which likewise runneth (_from Tower -Street_) into Thames Street. In this Hart Lane is the Bakers’ Hall, -some time the dwelling-house of John Chichley, Chamberlain of London.’ -And in Harp Lane it still is. According to Whitaker’s Almanack for 1904 -its livery numbers 152 and its total income is only £1900. - -Much early legislation was passed regarding bakers and their calling, -but, in spite of it all, some bakers did not amend their ways, and an -amusing grievance was made by Fabyan as to their punishment. In his -_Chronicles_, under date of 1268, and speaking of the harshness of Sir -Hugh Bigod, justice, he says: ‘In processe of tyme after, the sayde -syr Hughe, wt. other, came to Guylde hall, and kepte his courte and -plees there withoute all ordre of lawe, and contrarye to the lybertyes -of the cytie, and there punysshed the bakers for lacke of syze, by the -tumberell, where before tymes they were punysshed by the pyllery, and -orderynge many thynges at his wyll, more than by any good ordre of -lawe.’ And Holinshed repeats the story. - -Nor were their misdeeds confined to their trade, as we may learn from -the Archives of the City of London. In fact, their evil deeds were so -notorious that the King himself had to take cognizance of them. - -That the bakers wanted looking after is well evidenced by the following -extracts from the City archives: - -26 Edward I., A.D. 1298. ‘Be it remembered that on Wednesday next -after the Feast of St. Lawrence (August 10), in the 26th year of the -reign of King Edward, Juliana, la Pestour of Neutone (_the baker of -Newington_), brought a cart laden with six shillings’ worth of bread -into West Chepe; of which bread, that which was light bread was wanting -in weight, according to the assise of the halfpenny loaf, to the amount -of 25 shillings in weight. [The shilling of silver being three-fifths -of an ounce in weight, this deficiency would be 15 ounces.] And of the -said six shillings’ worth, three shillings’ worth was brown bread; -which brown bread was of the right assise. It was, therefore, adjudged -that the same should be delivered to the aforesaid Juliana, by Henry -le Galeys, Mayor of London, Thomas Romeyn, and other Aldermen. And the -other three shillings’ worth, by award of the said Mayor and Aldermen, -was ordered to be given to the prisoners in Newgate.’ - -[Illustration: AN EARLY BAKERY.] - -3. Edward II., A.D. 1310. ‘On the Monday next before the Feast of St -Hilary (13th January), in the third year of the reign of Edward, the -son of King Edward, the bread of Sarra Foting, Christina Terrice, -Godiyeva Foting, Matilda de Bolingtone, Christina Pricket, Isabella -Sperling, Alice Pegges, Joanna de Cauntebrigge, and Isabella Pouvestre, -bakeresses of Stratford [The bread of London, in these times, was -extensively made in the villages of Bromley (_Bremble_), Middlesex, and -Stratford-le-Bow.] Stow says, ‘And because I have here before spoken of -the bread carts coming from Stratford at the Bow, ye shall understand -that of old time the bakers of bread at Stratford were allowed to bring -daily (except the Sabbath and principal feasts) divers long carts laden -with bread, the same being two ounces in the penny wheat loaf heavier -than the penny wheat loaf baked in the City, the same to be sold in -Cheape, three or four carts standing there, between Gatheron’s Lane -and Fauster’s Lane end, one cart on Cornhill, by the Conduit, and -one other in Grasse Street. And I have read that in the fourth year -of Edward II., Richard Reffeham being Mayor, a baker named John, of -Stratforde, for making bread less than the assise, was, with a fool’s -hood on his head and loaves of bread about his neck, drawn on a hurdle -through the streets of the City. Moreover, in the 44th of Edward III., -John Chichester being Mayor of London, I read in the _Visions of Piers -Plowman_, a book so called, as followeth: - - At Londone I leve, - Liketh wel my waires; - And louren whan thei lakken hem. - It is noght long y passed, - There was a careful commune, - Whan no cart came to towne - With breed fro Stratforde: - Tho gennen beggaris wepe, - And werkmen were agast a lite; - This wole be thought longe. - In the date of oure Drighte, - In a drye Aprill. - A thousand and thre hundred - Twies twenty and ten, - My waires were gesene - Whan Chichestre was Maire.’] - -was taken by Roger le Paumer, Sheriff of London, and weighed before the -Mayor and Aldermen; and it was found that the halfpenny loaf weighed -less than it ought by eight shillings. But, seeing that the bread was -cold, and ought not to have been weighed in such state, by the custom -of the City, it was agreed that it should not be forfeited this time. -But, in order that such an offence as this might not pass unpunished, -it was awarded as to bread so taken that three halfpenny loaves should -always be sold for a penny, but that the bakeresses aforesaid should -this time have such penny.’ - -5. Edward II., A.D. 1311. ‘The bread taken from William de Somersete, -baker, on the Thursday next before the Feast of St. Laurence (10th -August) in the fifth year of the reign of King Edward, was examined and -adjudged upon befor Richer de Refham, Mayor, Thomas Romayn, John de -Wengrave, and other Aldermen; and, because it was found that such bread -was putrid, and altogether rotten, and made of putrid wheat, so that -persons by eating that bread would be poisoned and choked, the Sheriff -was ordered to take him, and have him here on the Friday next after the -Feast of St. Laurence; then to receive judgment for the same.’ - -In the 1 Ed. III. (1327) a curious fraud was brought to light, and -John Brid and seven other bakers, and two bakeresses, were tried -before the Mayor and Aldermen, ‘for that the said John, for falsely -and maliciously obtaining his own private advantage, did skilfully and -artfully cause a certain hole to be made upon a table of his, called -a _molding borde_ pertaining to his bakehouse, after the manner of a -mouse-trap, in which mice are caught, there being a certain wicket -warily provided for closing and opening such hole. - -‘And when his neighbours and others, who were wont to bake their bread -at his oven, came with their dough, or material for making bread, the -said John used to put the said dough or other material upon the said -table, called a _molding borde_, as aforesaid, and over the hole before -mentioned, for the purpose of making loaves therefrom for baking; -and such dough or material being so placed upon the table aforesaid, -the same John had one of his household, ready provided for the same, -sitting in secret beneath such table; which servant of his, so seated -beneath the hole, and carefully opening it, piecemeal, and bit by bit, -craftily withdrew some of the dough aforesaid, frequently collecting -great quantities of such dough, falsely, wickedly, and maliciously, to -the great loss of all his neighbours and persons living near, and of -others who had come to him with such dough to bake, and to the scandal -and disgrace of the whole City, and, in especial, of the Mayor and -Bailiffs for the safe keeping of the assizes of the City assigned. -Which hole, so found in his table, aforesaid, was made of aforethought; -and, in like manner, a great quantity of such dough that had been drawn -through the said hole was found beneath the hole, and was, by William -de Hertynge, serjeant-at-mace, and Thomas de Morle, clerk of Richard de -Rothynge, one of the Sheriffs of the City aforesaid, who had found such -material, or dough, in the suspected place before mentioned, upon oath -brought here into Court.’ - -All the prisoners pleaded _Not Guilty_; but the case was too clear -against them, and ‘It was agreed, and ordained, that all those of the -bakers aforesaid, beneath whose tables with holes dough had been found, -should be put upon the pillory, with a certain quantity of such dough -hung from their necks; and that those bakers in whose houses dough was -not found beneath the tables aforesaid, should be put upon the pillory, -but without dough hung from their necks; and that they should so remain -upon the pillory until Vespers at St. Paul’s in London should be -ended.’ The women were committed to Newgate. - -There was another punishment by which bakers, in common with all who -told lies, or libelled, or scandalised their neighbour, had to stand in -the pillory with a whetstone hung round their neck. - -England suffered much from dearth. Holinshed tells us how, in 1149, -‘The great raine that fell in the summer season did much hurt unto -corne standing on the ground, so that a great dearth followed. -1175.—The same yeare both England and the countries adjoining were sore -vexed with great mortalitie of people, and immediatlie after followed -a sore dearth and famine. 1196.—Here is also to be noted, that in this -seventh yeare of King Richard, chanced a dearth through this realme -of England, and in the coasts about the same. 1199.—Furthermore I -find that in the daies of this King Richard a great dearth reigned in -England, and also in France, for the space of three or foure yeares -during the wars betweene him and King Philip, so that, after his -returne out of Germaine, and from imprisonment, a quarter of wheat was -sold at eighteen shillings eight pence, no small price in those daies, -if you consider the alay of monie then currant. - -‘1222.—Likewise on the day of the exaltation of the Crosse, a generall -thunder happened throughout the realme, and thereupon followed a -continuall season of foule weather and wet, till Candlemas next -after, which caused a dearth of corne, so as wheat was sold at twelve -shillings the quarter. - -‘1245.—Again the King, of purpose, had consumed all the provision of -corne and vittels which remained in the marshes, so that in Cheshire, -and other parts adjoining, there was such dearth that the people scarse -could get sufficient vittels to susteine themselves withall. - -‘1258.—In this yeare was an exceeding great dearth, insomuch that a -quarter of wheat was sold at London for foure and twentie shillings, -whereas within two or three yeares before, a quarter was sold at two -shillings. It had been more dearer, if great store had not come out -of Almaine; for in France and in Normandie it also failed. But there -came fiftie great ships fraught with wheat and barlie, with meale -and bread out of Dutch land, by the procurement of Richard, King of -Almaine, which greatlie releeved the poore; for proclamation was made, -and order taken by the King, that none of the citizens of London should -buy anie of that graine to laie it up in store, whereby it might be -sold at an higher price unto the needie. But, though this provision -did much ease, yet the want was great over all the realme. For it was -certainlie affirmed that in three shires within the realme there was -not found so much graine of that yeare’s growth as came over in those -fiftie ships. The proclamation was set forth to restrein the Londoners -from ingrossing up that graine, and not without cause; for the wealthie -citizens were evill spoken of in that season, bicause in time of -scarcitie they would either staie such ships as, fraught with vittels, -were comming towards the citie, and send them some other way forth, -or else buy the whole, that they might sell it by retaile, at their -pleasure, to the needie. By means of this great dearth and scarcitie, -the common people were constrained to live upon herbs and roots, and -a great number of the poore people died through famine. They died so -thicke that there were great pits made in churchyards to laie the dead -bodies in, one upon another. - -‘1289.—There insued such continuall raine, so distempering the ground, -that corne waxed verie deare, so that whereas wheat was sold before at -three pence a bushell, the market so rose by little and little that it -was sold for two shillings a bushell, and so the dearth increased still -almost for the space of 40 yeares, till the death of Edward the Second, -in so much that sometimes a bushel of wheat, London measure, was sold -at ten shillings. 1294.—This yeare in England was a great dearth and -scarcity of corne, so that a quarter of wheat in manie places was sold -for thirtie shillings; by reason whereof poor people died in manie -places for lack of sustnance. - -‘1316.—The dearth, by reason of the unseasonable weather in the summer -and harvest last past, still increased, for that which with much ado -was inned, after, when it came to the proofe, yeelded nothing to the -value of that which in sheafe it seemed to conteine, so that wheat and -other graine which was at a sore price before, now was inhanced to a -farre higher rate, the scarcitie thereof being so great that a quarter -of wheat was sold for fortie shillings, which was a great price, if we -shall consider the allaie of monie then currant. Also, by reason of the -murren that fell among cattell, beefes and muttons were unreasonablie -priced.... In this season vittles were so scant and deere, and wheat -and other graine brought to so high a price, that the poore people were -constreined through famine to eat the flesh of horses, dogs, and other -vile beasts, which is wonderfull to beleeve, and yet, for default, -there died a great multitude of people in divers places of the land. -Foure pence in bread of the coarser sort would not suffice one man a -daie. Wheat was sold at London for foure marks a quarter and above. -Then after this dearth and scarcitie of vittels issued a great death -and mortalitie of people; so that what by warres of the Scots, and what -by this mortalitie and death, the people of the land were wonderfullie -wasted and consumed. O pitifull depopulation! - -‘1335.—This yeare there fell great abundance of raine, and thereupon -insued morren of beasts; also corne so failed this yeare that a quarter -of wheat was sold at fortie shillings. 1353.—In the summer of this -season and twentieth yeare, was so great a drought that from the latter -end of March fell little raine till the latter end of Julie, by reason -whereof manie inconveniences insued; and one thing is specially to be -noted, that corne the yeare following waxed scant, and the price began -this yeare to be greatlie inhanced. Also beeves and muttons waxed deare -for the want of grasse; and this chanced both in England and France, -so that this was called the deere summer. The Lord William, Duke of -Baviere or Bavaria, and Earl of Zelund brought manie ships in London -fraught with rie for the releefe of the people, who otherwise had, -through their present pinching penurie, if not utterlie perished yet -pittifullie pined. - -‘1370.—By reason of the great wet and raine that fell this yeare in -more abundance than had been accustomed much corne was lost, so that -the price thereof was sore inhanced, in so much that wheat was sold at -three shillings four pence the bushell. 1389.—Herewith followed a great -dearth of corne, so that a bushell of wheat in some places was sold at -thirteen pence, which was thought to be a great price. 1394.—In this -yeare was a great dearth in all parts of England, and this dearth or -scarcitie of corne began under the sickle, and lasted till the feast -of Saint Peter _ad Vincula_—to wit, till the time of new corne. This -scarcitie did greatly oppresse the people, and chieflie the commoners -of the poorer sort. For a man might see infants and children in streets -and houses, through hunger, howling, crieing, and craving bread, whose -mothers had it not (God wot) to breake unto them. But yet there was -such plentie and abundance of manie years before, that it was thought -and spoken of manie housekeepers and husbandmen, that if the seed were -not sowen in the ground, which was hoorded up and stored in barnes, -lofts, and garners, there would be enough to find and susteine all -the people by the space of five years following.... The scarcity of -victuals was of greatest force in Leicestershire, and in the middle -parts of the realme. And although it was a great want, yet was not -the price of corne out of reason. For a quarter of wheat, when it was -at the highest, was sold at Leicester for 16 shillings 8 pence at one -time, and at other times for a market of 14 shillings; at London and -other places of the land a quarter of wheat was sold for 10 shillings, -or for little more or lesse. For there arrived eleven ships laden -with great plentie of victuals at diverse places of the land, for the -reliefe of the people. Besides this, the citizens of London laid out -two thousand marks to buy food out of the common chest of orphans, -and the foure and twentie aldermen, everie of them put in his twentie -pounds apeece for necessarie provision, for feare of famine likelie to -fall upon the cities. And they laid up their store in sundrie of the -fittest and most convenient places they could choose, that the needie -and such as were wrong with want might come and buy at a certaine -price so much as might suffice them and their families; and they which -had not readie monie to paie downe presentlie in hand, their word and -credit was taken for a yeare’s space next following, and their turn -served. Thus was provision made that people should be relieved, and -that none might perish for hunger. - -‘1439.—This yeare (by reason of great tempests, raging winds, and -raine) there arose such scarsitie that wheat was sold at three -shillings foure pence the bushell.... Whereupon Steven Browne, at the -same season maior of London, tendering the state of the Citie in this -want of bread corne, sent into Pruse certeine ships, which returned -laden with plentie of rie; wherewith he did much good to the people -in that hard time, speciallie to them of the Citie, where the want of -corne was not so extreame as in some other places of the land, where -the poore distressed people that were hunger-bitten made them bred of -ferne roots, and used other hard shifts, till God provided remedie -for their penurie by good successe of husbandrie. 1527.—By reason of -the great wet that fell in the sowing time of the corne, and in the -beginning of the last yeare; now, in the beginning of this, corne so -failed, that in the Citie of London, for a while, bread was scant, by -reason that the commissioners appointed to see order taken in shires -about, ordeined that none should be conveied out of one shire into -another. Which order had like to have bred disorder, for that everie -countrie and place was not provided alike, and namelie London, that -maketh her provision out of other places, felt great inconvenience -thereby, till the merchants of the Stillard and others out of the Dutch -countries brought such plentie that it was better cheape in London than -in anie other part of England, for the King also releeved the citizens -in time of their need with a thousand quarters, by waie of lone, of his -owne provision.’ - -By the foregoing we see that the bad dearths came at longer intervals, -probably owing to better husbandry, and the regular importation of -foreign corn before a scarcity could arise. But, on the other side, I -have to chronicle a few (unfortunately only too few) years of exceeding -plenty. The first one recorded was in 1288, and is thus recorded by -Stow: ‘The summer was so exceeding hote this yeere that many men died -through heate, and yet wheate was solde at London for three shillings -foure pence the quarter when it was dearest, and in other partes abroad -the same was sold for twentie pence or sixteen pence the quarter; yea, -for twelve pence the quarter, and in the west and north parts for eight -pence the quarter; barley for six pence, and oats for foure pence the -quarter, and such cheapnesse of beanes and pease as the like had not -been heard. 1317.—This yeere was an early harvest, so that all the -corne was inned before St Giles day (Sep. 1). A bushel of wheat that -was before for X shillings was solde for ten pence; and a bushel of -otes that before was eyght shillings was solde for eyght pence.’ - -Holinshed tells us that in 1493 wheat was sold in London at 6d. the -bushel; and in 1557.—‘This yeare, before harvest wheat was sold for -foure marks the quarter, malt at foure and fortie shillings the -quarter, and pease at six and fortie shillings and eight pence; but, -after harvest, wheat was sold for five shillings the quarter, malt at -six shillings eight pence, rie at three shillings foure pence. So that -the penie wheat loafe that weied in London the last yeere but eleven -ounces Troie weied now six and fiftie ounces Troie. In the countrie -wheat was sold for foure shillings the quarter, malt at foure shillings -eight pence; and, in some places a bushell of rie for a pound of -candles, which were foure pence.’ - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -HOW GRAIN BECOMES FLOUR. - - -In order to make bread, the first operation is to grind the corn, be -it wheat, rye, barley, or oats, and we have already seen the rough -methods used by primitive man and others to effect this; we have noted -the mealing stones, the pestle and mortar, the hand quern, and the -grinding of corn by the Greeks and Romans. They soon gave up man as a -motive power, and substituted mules or horses; these in their time gave -place to water, which is a cheap and, if there be anything like a fall, -a very powerful motor—hence the mills dotted all over the country, by -the side of brook or river, with their water-wheels either over or -undershot Very picturesque are they mostly, and the drowsy murmur of -the wheel and the gentle splashing of the water are very pleasant We -are seeing the last of them; they have done their work and must be -thrown aside, for no one in his senses, who had water-power, would now -erect water-wheels when he could get a turbine. - -As with the water-wheel, so its congener, the windmill, beloved of -artists, is going. A motive power as cheap as water is the wind, but, -unfortunately, it is not so reliable. It is believed that the Chinese -were the first to use the wind as a motive power for mills, and we -have no record as to when they were introduced into Europe; we only -know they were in use in the twelfth century. As a rule, in England, -windmills have four arms, or ‘whips,’ but sometimes they have six. -These arms are generally covered with strong canvas, but occasionally -they are covered with thin boarding; they are set at an angle, which -varies according to the fancy of the miller, but the shaft to which -they are attached (called the ‘wind shaft’) is invariably placed at -an inclination of 10 or 15 degrees, in order that the revolving arms -should clear the bottom portion of the mill. - -[Illustration: A POST MILL.] - -[Illustration: A WATER-WHEEL MILL.] - -The oldest kind of windmill is called a _post_ mill, because the -whole structure is centred on a post, or pivot, and, when the wind -shifts, the mill has to be turned bodily to meet it, by means of a long -lever. The _smock_, or _frock_, windmill is an improvement upon the -post mill; the building itself is stationary and permanent, but the -head or cap, where is the wind shaft, rotates, and this is more easily -managed. - -For hundreds of years people were contented with the four and six arms -to their windmills, and it was only in modern times that Messrs. J. -Warner and Sons, of Cripplegate, London, patented their annular sails, -which, as is plain to the meanest capacity, are vastly superior. The -shutters, or ‘vanes,’ are connected with spiral springs, which keep -them up to the best angle of ‘weather, for light winds. If the strength -of the wind increases, the vanes give to the wind, forcing back the -springs, and thus the area on which the wind acts diminishes. In -addition, there are a striking lever and tackle for setting the vanes -edgeways to the wind, when the mill is stopped, or a storm expected. - -We have seen how from the very first man used stones wherewith to -triturate his corn, and to this day stones are still used for grinding, -although their days are in all probability numbered, and in a very -little time they, with the windmill, will be relegated to limbo. The -_Encyclopædia Britannica_ gives such an excellent description of these -mill-stones, that I quote it in its entirety. - -[Illustration: THE GRINDING SURFACE OF A MILLSTONE.] - -‘They consist of two flat cylindrical masses inclosed within a wooden -or sheet metal case, the lower, or _bed-stone_, being permanently -fixed, while the upper, or _runner_, is accurately pivoted and -balanced over it The average size of millstones is about four feet two -inches in diameter, by twelve inches in thickness, and they are made -of a hard but cellular siliceous stone, called buhr-stone, the best -qualities of which are obtained from La-Ferté-sous-Jouarre, department -of Seine et Marne, France. Millstones are generally built up of -segments, bound together round the circumference by an iron hoop, and -backed with plaster of Paris. The bed-stone is dressed to a perfectly -flat plane surface, and a series of grooves, or shallow depressions, -are cut in it, generally in the manner shown, which represents the -grinding surface of an upper or running stone. The grooves on both are -made to correspond exactly, so that when the one is rotated over the -other the sharp edges of the grooves, meeting each other, operate like -a rough pair of scissors, and thus the effect of the stones on grain -submitted to their action is at once that of cutting, squeezing, and -crushing. The dressing and grooving of millstones is generally done -by hand picking, but sometimes black amorphous diamonds (_carbonado_) -are used, and emery wheel dressers have likewise been suggested. The -upper stone, or runner, is set in motion by a spindle on which it is -mounted, which passes up through the centre of the bed-stone, and there -are screws and other appliances for adjusting and balancing the stone. -Further provision is made within the stone case for passing through air -to prevent too high a heat being developed in the grinding operation, -and sweepers for conveying the flour to the meal spout are also -provided. - -‘The ground meal delivered by the spout is carried forward in a -conveyor, or creeper box, by means of an Archimedean screw, to the -elevators, by which it is lifted to an upper floor to the bolting or -flour-dressing machine. The form in which this apparatus was formerly -employed consisted of a cylinder mounted on an inclined plane, and -covered externally with wire cloth of different degrees of fineness, -the finest being at the upper part of the cylinder, where the meal -is admitted. Within the cylinder, which was stationary, a circular -brush revolved, by which the meal was pressed against the wire cloth, -and, at the same time, carried gradually towards the lower extremity, -sifting out, as it proceeded, the mill products into different grades -of fineness, and finally delivering the coarse bran at the extremity of -the cylinder. For the operation of bolting or dressing, hexagonal or -octagonal cylinders, about three feet in diameter, and from 20 to 25 -feet long, are now commonly employed. These are mounted horizontally -on a spindle for revolving, and externally they are covered with silk -of different degrees of fineness, whence they are called “silks,” or -“silk dressers.” Radiating arms or other devices for carrying the -meal gradually forward as the apparatus revolved, are fixed within -the cylinders; and there is also an arrangement of beaters, which -gives the segments of cloth a sharp tap, and thereby facilitates the -sifting action of the apparatus. Like all other mill machines, the -modifications of the silk dresser are numerous,’ - -We have seen the ordinary operation of grinding flour in the -old-fashioned way; now let us notice the improvements in making wheat -into flour. - -‘We will suppose that the wheat has arrived by lighter at one of the -large mills on the Thames, and that it has been shovelled into sacks -and hoisted into the warehouse. The process by which it is turned into -flour may be divided into three stages: (1) cleaning, (2) breaking, (3) -grinding; but the number and complexity of the operations included in -these stages are astounding. It must be understood that the following -description refers to a first-class London mill—that is, one which has, -certainly no superior, and, probably, no equal, in the world. - -‘In the first stage the wheat is merely prepared for the mill, -and this is done in the cleaning department, which is separate -from the mill proper. From the warehouse the grain is passed to a -sifter or “separator,” which is a kind of sieve. Here the grosser -impurities—straw, sticks, stones, earth, seeds, and what not—are -removed. Thence to an “elevator,” precisely similar in principle to -that previously described, and by the elevator straight to the top of -the building. Here it enters a wire sieve in the form of a revolving -hexagonal “reel,” by which the smaller heavy impurities with which it -is still mixed are separated. Passing through this, it drops into the -next storey, to be subjected to the “aspirator,” an apparatus by means -of which currents of air are blown through the grain as it falls and -carry off the lighter and more volatile rubbish mixed with it. In the -next floor is an ingenious instrument with a special purpose. Among -the wheat is still a quantity of small black seeds, known as “cockle” -seeds, and to get rid of these the “cockle cylinder” is employed. It is -a revolving metal cylinder, the inner surface of which is fitted with -small holes; the grain passes into the interior of the cylinder, and -as the latter goes round and round the cockle seeds stick in the small -holes and are carried up to a certain height, when they fall out and -are caught by an “apron”; while the wheat, which is too large to stick -in the holes, continually falls back into the bottom of the cylinder. -Again our corn drops a storey, and encounters the “decorcitator.” The -object of this apparatus is to knock off the dust and dirt adhering -to the grains, and it is effected by agitating them between two metal -surfaces at a high rate of speed. The amount of dust removed by this -method from apparently clean grain is astonishing. In the next storey -is another decorcitator, and below that a second aspirator, which -brings us once more to the ground. - -‘On reaching the ground floor again, our now clean wheat is first -passed through the “grading” or “sizing” reels, which separate it into -two sizes, and then it enters the mill proper. It should be said here -that the milling industry of the world has been revolutionised within -the past few years by the substitution of steel rollers for the old -millstones. The process of crushing or grinding, however, by steel -rollers is accomplished in a very gradual manner, as will be explained: -First come the “break rolls.” These are solid steel rollers set in -pairs, with corrugated surfaces; this gives them a cutting action. -Wheat is passed through five successive pairs of these rollers. The -first are about 1/16th inch apart, and only break or bruise the grain -slightly. Each successive pair is set closer, and carries the bruising -a step further. But this is only half the business. After each set of -rollers the grain goes through a “purifier,” which is either a sieve of -some kind or an aspirator, or both together, and the object is always -the same—namely, to separate the solid particles of the broken wheat -from the lighter ones. The former are, or rather will eventually be, -flour; the latter constitute “offal.” And the whole art of milling is -merely an extension of this process; first reduction, then separation, -repeated over and over again. As the grain passes through each -successive set of rollers it is broken up finer and ever finer, and the -separating action of the “purifier” accompanies it step by step. The -solid particles grow smaller and smaller, the “offal” correspondingly -finer and finer. This is the process in brief, but there are endless -complications and refinements on the way. For instance, the solid -particles are not only separated but are themselves divided into groups -according to size. Then the offal often undergoes a further purifying -process. Then the purifiers differ—some are complex, others simple; -some of wire, others of silk; some revolve, others oscillate; some are -“aspirated,” others not; and so forth. Meanwhile, at the end of the -five rolls and five purifiers, which make up our breaking department, -we have got three products: (_a_) semolina; (_b_) middlings; (_c_) -offal. The first two are practically varieties of the same—_i.e._, -both solid particles, which will afterwards be flour, but of different -sizes. They are half way between grain and flour—hence the term -“middlings.” - -‘Grinding is only a continuation of the above process, but the rollers -are different; their surfaces are smooth, and they are set closer -together. The purifiers, too, are, for the most part, more elaborate. -A look at one of them will show the extreme ingenuity expended on -these operations. It consists primarily of an oscillating sieve made -of silk, through the meshes of which the particles of flour fall into -a wooden bin. On the floor of the bin is a “worm” which continually -works the flour along to one end; on the under surface of the sieve is -a travelling brush which brushes off the adhering flour and prevents -the meshes from getting clogged. Above the sieve is an apparatus which, -with the aid of currents blown by an aspirator, catches the volatile -offal; and above that again a travelling blanket which arrests the -still more volatile particles. Finally, the blanket, as it reaches the -end, is tapped automatically to knock out what has stuck to it. By the -time a handful of grain has been converted into a handful of fine flour -it has gone through some 50 different machines, including 18 sets of -rollers and 18 purifiers. - -‘The following points may be of interest: A first-class London mill -working 100 sets of rollers can turn out 45 sacks of flour per hour. -Offal, according to its fineness or coarseness, forms bran, pollard, -etc., and is worth from 5_l._ to 6_l._ a ton. The qualities of flour -are whiteness and strength. The former is tested by the eye, the -latter only really by baking capacity. There seems to be a general -consensus of opinion in favour of flour made from Hungarian wheat. The -best English is of sweeter flavour, but lacks “strength.” It has been -reckoned that 300 sacks are made per hour in London mills, all of which -is consumed in London. The flour mill industry owes nothing to American -inventive genius; on the contrary, that country is behind the times. -The steel rollers came originally from Hungary—always a great milling -country.’ - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE MILLER AND HIS TOLLS. - - -In old times corn mills were always important factors in manors, and a -source of considerable profit to the lord of the same. All the tenants -of the manor were bound by custom to have their corn ground at the -manor mill, paying a toll to the lord, for the mill was part of his -demesne. The tenants owed suit to the mill in the same manner as they -owed suit and service at the Manor Court. This, however, did not apply -to the grinding or bruising of malt, and there were probably two good -reasons for it—one, that the tenants could perform the operation on -their own premises; and the second, that if it were done at the mill it -would be likely to spoil the flour next ground. - -Very many instances of these mills may be given, but one will suffice, -more especially as in this case it was carried down to modern times. -There was at Wakefield, Yorkshire, a corn mill which was a franchise -of the Pilkington family, of Chevel Park, by charters from one of the -Edwards. The monopoly of grinding the corn at this mill was a great -sore to the inhabitants, and the cause of much litigation, but the -holders of the rights always came off the victors. They claimed the -right of grinding not only for the town of Wakefield, but for some -miles round, including the villages of Horbury, Ossett, Newmillardam, -and others; so that all the corn used in this district was obliged -to be ground at the ‘Soke Mill,’ or, as it was otherwise called, the -‘King’s Mill,’ and neither meal nor flour could be sold unless it -were ground there. The tenant of the mill demanded a ‘mulcture’ of -one-sixteenth—that is, out of 16 sacks of corn he kept one for himself -for grinding the other 15. - -Some time about 1850 the inhabitants of Wakefield and the adjacent -villages determined to purchase the rights, and this was done by a rate -spread over a series of years, and called the ‘Soke Rate.’ The purchase -money amounted to about £20,000. The same kind of property existed at -Leeds and at Bradford; but from neglect on the part of the owners, and -lapse of time, the inhabitants turned restive and independent, and -‘broke the Soke,’ without compensating the Lords of the Manors. These -mills are still called the King’s Mills. - -Nor was this custom confined to England. In Scotland, in feudal -times, it was common for the tenants of a barony to be bound to have -their corn ground at the barony mill. Centuries ago the erection of a -substantial building, with the millstones, driving machinery, and other -plant necessary for a mill, together with the drying-kilns, mill-dams, -lades, weirs, and watercourses requisite for a corn mill involved the -expenditure of a considerable sum of money, such as only the baron -could find. He, therefore, assured himself of a return for his capital -invested by binding his tenants to use his mill. Of course, he got -a good rent for his mill, which was the manner in which the benefit -arising from the bondage of his tenants found its way into his coffers. - -Sir James A. Picton, in his _City of Liverpool_ selections from the -municipal archives and records, states that in 1558 the Corporation -of the Borough ordered that ‘every miller, on warning, shall bring -his toll-dish to Mr. Mayor, to a lawful size thereof sealed, under -a penalty of 6d.’ That this toll-taking on the part of millers was -occasionally perverted there can be but little doubt, and it was -sometimes very severely commented on, as we may see in this passage -from a tragedy by Wm. Sampson (1636), called _The Vow-Breaker; or, the -Fair Maid of Clifton_. ‘Fellow Bateman, farewell; commend me to my old -windmill at Rudington. Oh! the mooter dish—[Multure or Toll-dish]—the -miller’s thumbe, and the maide behind the hopper!’ - -In the Roxburghe ballads (vol. iii., 681) we have The Miller’s Advice -to his _Three Sons in Taking of Toll_: - - ‘There was a miller who had three sons, - And knowing his life was almost run, - He called them all, and asked their will, - If that to them he left his mill. - - He called first for his eldest son, - Saying, “My life is almost run, - If I to you this mill do make, - What toll do you intend to take?” - - “Father,” said he, “my name is Jack. - Out of a bushel I’ll take a peck, - From every bushel that I grind, - That I may a good living find.” - - “Thou art a fool,” the old man said. - “Thou hast not well learned thy trade. - This mill to thee I ne’er will give, - For by such toll no man can live.” - - He called for his middlemost son, - Saying, “My life is almost run. - If I to thee the mill do make, - What toll do you intend to take?” - - “Father,” says he, “my name is Ralph. - Out of a bushel I’ll take it half, - From every bushel that I grind, - So that I may a good living find.” - - “Thou art a fool,” the old man said; - “Thou hast not learned well thy trade. - This mill to you I ne’er can give, - For by such toll no man can live.” - - He called for his youngest son, - Saying, “My life is almost run. - If I to you this mill do make, - What toll do you intend to take?” - - “Father,” said he, “I am your only boy, - For taking toll is all my joy. - Before I will a good living lack, - I’ll take it all, and forswear the sack.” - - “Thou art my boy,” the old man said, - “For thou has well learned thy trade. - This mill to thee I’ll give,” he cried, - And then he clos’d his eyes, and died.’ - -To show the popular idea of a miller’s integrity, I may mention that -the children in Somersetshire, when they have caught a certain kind -of large white moth, which they call a _Miller_, chant over it this -refrain: - - ‘Millery! millery! Dousty Poll! - How many sacks of corn hast thou stole?’ - -and then they put the poor insect to death on account of its imaginary -misdeeds. - -Even Chaucer must have his gird at the miller: - - ‘The millere was a stout carl for the nones, - Ful byg he was of brawn and eek of bones; - That proved wel, for over al ther he cam - At wrastlygne he wolde have alwey the ram[8]. - He was short sholdred, brood, a thikke knarre[9], - There was no dore that he ne wolde heve of harre[10]. - Or breke it at a reunying with his head - His berd, or any sowe or fox was reed, - And ther to brood, as though it were a spade - Upon the cope right of his nose he hade - A werte, and ther on stood a toft of herys, - Reed as the brustles of a sowes crys; - His nose thirles[11] blake were and wyde; - A swerd and a bokeler bar he by his syde; - His mouth as greet was as a greet forneys, - He was a janglere and a goliardeys[12], - And that was moost of synne and harlotries, - Wel konde he stelen corne and totten thries[13], - And yet he hadde ‘a thombe of gold’ _pardee_ - A whit cote and a blew hood wered he, - A bagge pipe wel konde he blowe and sowne, - And ther with al he broghte us out of towne.’ - -The ‘thombe of gold’ has somewhat puzzled commentators on Chaucer. One -thing is certain: that a miller has been traditionally credited with a -broad thumb, and the little fish the _Bullhead_ is called _The Millers’ -Thumb_, from a fancied resemblance. Every one connected with the navy -knows what the ‘purser’s thumb’ is, from the legend that, when serving -out their tots of rum to the men, his thumb was invariably inside the -measure (doubtless necessitated by the rolling of the old men-of-war), -which resulted in a large profit to himself during a long cruise, and -this seems to illustrate Chaucer’s meaning, especially as it occurs -immediately after the miller’s ill-gotten gains, that by putting his -broad thumb into every measure he made thereby gold during the year. - -But there is another and a kindlier explanation of the term, which -rests on the authority of Constable, the painter, according to Yarrell, -in his _History of British Fishes_, when writing of the Bullhead. ‘The -head of the fish is smooth, broad, and rounded, and is said to resemble -exactly the form of a miller’s thumb, as produced by a peculiar and -constant action of the muscles in the exercise of a particular and -most important part of his occupation. It is well known that all the -science and tact of a miller are directed so to regulate the machinery -of his mill that the meal produced shall be of the most valuable -description that the operation of grinding will permit, when performed -under the most advantageous circumstances. His profit or his loss, -even his fortune or his ruin, depend upon the exact adjustment of all -the various parts of the machinery in operation. The miller’s ear -is constantly directed to the note made by the running-stone in its -circular course over the bed-stone, the exact parallelism of their two -surfaces, indicated by a particular sound, being a matter of the first -consequence; and his hand is as constantly placed under the meal spout -to ascertain, by actual contact, the character and qualities of the -meal produced. The thumb, by a particular movement, spreads the sample -over the fingers; the thumb is the gauge of the value of the produce, -and hence have arisen the saying of _worth a miller’s thumb_, and _an -honest miller hath a golden thumb_, in reference to the amount of -profit that is the reward of his skill.’ - -Any notice of flour would, of course, be valueless without an analysis -of its constituent parts, which, as anyone can understand, will vary in -different wheats; there can be no standard, because of the difference -of the soils on which it grows, a fact which is fully borne out by the -following tables by famous analysts. Jago (_The Chemistry of Wheat, -Flour, and Bread, &c._ Brighton, 1886), quoting Bell, says:— - - —-—-——-——————-—+——————————————-——+—————-——+—-——————+—-——————+—-—————-+—-—————— - │ │ │ │ │ │Caroline - Constituents. │ Wheat │ Long- │ English│ Maize. │ Rye. │ rice - +—-——————+—-——————+ eared │ Oats. │ │ │ without - │Winter. │Spring. │ Barley.│ │ │ │ husk. - —-—-—-———————-—+—-——————+—-——————+—-——————+—-——————+—-—————-+—-—————-+—-———-—— - Fat │ 1·48 │ 1·56 │ 1·03 │ 5·14 │ 3·58 │ 1·43 │ 0·19 - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - Starch │ 63·71 │ 65·86 │ 63·51 │ 49·78 │ 64·66 │ 61·87 │ 77·66 - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - Cellulose │ 3·03 │ 2·93 │ 7·28 │ 13·53 │ 1·86 │ 3·23 │ Tr’ces - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - Sugar │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - (as Cane) │ 2·57 │ 2·24 │ 1·34 │ 2·36 │ 1·94 │ 4·30 │ 0·38 - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - Albumin, &c. ╮ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - insoluble │ │ 10·70 │ 7·19 │ 8·18 │ 10·62 │ 9·67 │ 9·78 │ 7·94 - in Alcohol ╯ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - Other ╮│ │ │ │ │ │ │ - nitrogenous ││ │ │ │ │ │ │ - matter ││ 4·83 │ 4·40 │ 3·28 │ 4·05 │ 4·60 │ 5·09 │ 1·40 - soluble in ││ │ │ │ │ │ │ - Alcohol ╯│ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - Mineral ╮ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - matter ╯ │ 1·60 │ 1·74 │ 2·32 │ 2·66 │ 1·35 │ 1·85 │ 0·28 - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - Moisture │ 12·08 │ 14·08 │ 13·06 │ 11·86 │ 12·34 │ 12·45 │ 12·15 - —-—-—-———————-—+—-——————+—————-——+—-——————+—-——————+—————-—-+————-——-+—-—-———— - Total │ 100·00 │ 100·00 │ 100·00 │ 100·00 │ 100·00 │ 100·00 │ 100·00 - —-—-—-———————-—+—-——————+—-——————+—-——————+—————-——+———————-+—————-—-+—-—-———— - -Professor Graham, in a lecture delivered at the International Health -Exhibition, London, July 3, 1884, quoting Lawes and Gilbert, says:— - - —-—-—-—-————————+—-—————+————-——+————-——+————-——+————-——+—-———— - Constituents. │ Old │Barley.│ Oats. │ Rye. │ Maize.│ Rice. - │ Wheat.│ │ │ │ │ - —-—-———————-—-——+————-——+————-——+—-—————+————-——+—-—————+—-———— - │ │ │ │ │ │ - Water │ 11·1 │ 12·0 │ 14·2 │ 14·3 │ 11·5 │ 10·8 - Starch │ 62·3 │ 52·7 │ 66·1 │ 54·9 │ 54·8 │ 78·8 - Fat │ 1·2 │ 2·6 │ 4·6 │ 2·0 │ 4·7 │ 0·1 - Cellulose │ 8·3 │ 11·5 │ 1·0 │ 6·4 │ 14·9 │ 0·2 - Gum and Sugar │ 3·8 │ 4·2 │ 5·7 │ 11·3 │ 2·9 │ 1·6 - Albuminoids │ 10·9 │ 13·2 │ 16·0 │ 8·8 │ 8·9 │ 7·2 - Ash │ 1·6 │ 2·8 │ 2·2 │ 1·8 │ 1·6 │ 0·9 - Loss, &c. │ 0·8 │ 1·0 │ 0·2 │ 0·5 │ 7·0 │ 0·4 - +————-——+—-—————+—-—————+—-—————+—-—————+—-———— - Total │ 100·0 │ 100·0 │ 100·0 │ 100·0 │ 100·0 │ 100·0 - —-—-—-———————-——+—-—————+————-——+————-——+————-——+————-——+—-———— - -Messrs. Wanklyn and Cooper (_Bread Analysis, &c._, London, 1881) -say that, according to their analysis, this wheaten flour, which is -the flour commonly to be bought in this country, has the following -composition:— - - Water 16·5 - Ash 0·7 - Fat 1·5 - Gluten 12·0 - Vegetable Albumen 1·0 - Modified Starch 3·5 - Starch Granules 64·8 - —-— - 100·0 - -A comparison of these tables by well-known analysts shows us, if we -only take the single article of wheat, how the grain varies. Let me now -say something about the constituents of wheat in as simple a form as -possible. - -The fat is of a yellow colour, and, as far as is known, is not a -particularly valuable component part; but as all fats are foods, of -course, it is of service. - -The starch in wheat is the ordinary starch (of the best kind) -of commerce; and, seeing that it forms the greater part of all -breadstuffs, it naturally is an important element in them. In good, -sound wheat the starch granules are whole; in sprouted wheat, or -that heated by damp, they are rotted, and, consequently, the starch -they contain is changed, more or less, into dextrin and sugar, and, -consequently, a difference is made in the food value of the wheat. - -Dextrin and sugar are small components of good wheat. The dextrin, no -doubt, has a beneficial effect in small quantities, but not in large. -Sugar, such as is found in wheat, affords the necessary amount of -saccharine matter for fermentation. - -Cellulose is more useful to the plant than to the miller, to whom it is -as so much bran. - -There are two kinds of albuminoids, or gluten, present in wheat—one -insoluble, the other soluble in alcohol. The former makes what is -called a ‘strong bread,’ and the latter acts, in bread-making, on the -former, and, under the influence of yeast, it attacks the starch, -converting it into dextrin and maltose. - -The ash of wheat contains principally phosphoric acid and potassium; -magnesium ranks next; then lime, silica, phosphate of iron, soda, -chlorine, and sulphuric and carbonic acids. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -BREAD MAKING AND BAKING. - - -The ordinary method of bread-making in London is as follows: The first -process, when the bread is made with thick yeast, being to prepare -a mixture of potatoes, yeast, and flour, by which the process of -fermentation is to be produced in the dough. - -Mr. George W. Austin, in his pamphlet on _Bread, Baking, and Bakers_,’ -says about the ferment: ‘For each sack of flour (280 lbs.) about 8 -lbs. or 10 lbs. of dry, mealy potatoes are taken, well boiled and -mashed and washed through a strainer to take away the skin; to this -is added 12 or 14 quarts of water, at a temperature varying from 80 -deg. to 90 deg., and a quart of thick brewers’ yeast, or 1 lb. of -compressed yeast—which is equal. Having well dissolved the yeast, and -added 2 lbs. of flour, the mass is allowed to stand some three or four -hours, until the head falls in through the escape of gas.’ The next -process is the preparation of the sponge. The trough and flour being -ready, the ferment is taken, and, with the addition of 28 quarts of -clear water, at a temperature of 80 deg. to 90 deg., is passed into -the trough through a sieve or strainer, and the mass, being kept well -together, is made up into a nice dry sponge. It is allowed to remain -thus and ferment for another five or six hours, when it will have risen -and formed a head, which is allowed to break. As soon as this head is -broken it commences to rise again, and as soon as it has broken the -second time the remainder of the flour is added, and the dough made as -follows: - -Two and a half pounds of salt dissolved in 28 quarts of clear water, -at a temperature of 80 deg., and mixed well into what is termed ‘the -sponge,’ with the remainder of the flour, the whole being broken up and -well and thoroughly mixed and kneaded until the dough is uniform in -material and consistency. It is then left to rise for another hour or -more, when the dough is weighed out in pieces of the requisite size and -speedily manipulated into the required shape. As the loaves are moulded -they are placed on trays, covered with a light cloth (to prevent the -dry and colder air forming a dry crust on the surface), and left to -dry sufficiently before being placed in the oven. Before this is done -the loaves are slightly brushed over with a small quantity of milk and -water to improve the appearance of the outside of the loaf when it -comes from the oven. - -The oven is, for the purpose of baking bread, brought up to a heat -of 400 deg. Fahr., and the bread, although seemingly baked by dry -heat, is in reality boiled in the steam of the water which the bread -contains.[14] - -Salt is added to make the bread more palatable; but it has also another -effect. With inferior flour dextrin is formed inside the loaf to some -extent as well as on the outside, consequently bread made from inferior -flour rises badly and is darker in colour. This inferior flour is made -sometimes from wheat that has been damp, the dampness causing the -soluble albumenoids which the grain contains to act on the insoluble -gluten, decomposing it into soluble bodies, and producing dextrin by -their action on the starch in the grain. The further decomposition -of these albumenoids is checked by the action of the salt during the -fermentation of the bread. - -And now it will be well to say something about the leaven of bread. We -have already seen the modern method of making a ferment with flour, -potatoes, and brewer’s yeast; but there are other substances which -do not cause fermentation, and yet lighten the bread, such as the -different baking powders, and the American _sal eratus_, a mixture of -bi-carbonate of soda and salt. Carbonate of ammonia, which entirely -evaporates in baking, is used in confectionery to raise the paste by -the bubbles it forms in its volatilisation. The unfermented breads, -such as those made by the late Dr. Dauglish’s patent (of which more -anon), are rendered light upon the same principle, the usual method -being to mix soda with the flour, and hydrochloric acid with the water, -in the proportions in which they unite to form chloride of sodium, or -common salt. The effervescence, like that produced in mixing seidlitz -powders, converts the paste into a porous sponge, which, however, -requires to be very quickly placed in the oven. The salt formed by -the mixture replaces that ordinarily added to the dough in making -bread; but this method is seldom used by practical bakers. Whatever, -therefore, be the method by which bread is made light, the object to be -attained is to pervade the dough with numerous cavities, which keep the -particles of flour asunder, instead of forming a compact and unyielding -mass. - -The science which gave an insight into the cause of the ‘rising’ of -bread, and suggested substitutes for the ordinary fermenting materials, -is but of recent date. These ferments operate by generating an infinity -of gas bubbles, which honeycomb the dough. The earliest process was -to employ leaven, which is still largely used in the manufacture of -the black rye bread of the Continent, and consists of dough which -has become more or less sour by over-fermentation. This is kept from -one baking to another, to inoculate a fresh bulk of paste with its -fermenting influence. No sooner does it come into contact with the -fresh dough than it communicates its own properties, as by contagion. -Probably the discovery of leavening has, in many countries, been owing -to accident, through neglected paste having been attacked by the fungus -which is the cause of fermentation. - -Many of my readers probably do not know that yeast is a plant. It -belongs to the class of _fungi_, and, in accordance with the general -habit of its kind, it differs from the green forms of vegetable life -by feeding upon organic substances. The yeast plant represents one -condition of a species of fungus remarkable for the diversity of -forms it exhibits, its wide, nay, universal distribution, and the -magnitude of the effects, sometimes beneficial, sometimes mischievous, -which it is capable of producing. The forms in which it is familiar to -most persons, although its nature may be unsuspected, are yeast, the -gelatinous vinegar plant, the ‘mother’ of vinegar, and many decomposing -vegetable infusions, and the common blue or green mould (_penicillium -glaucum_) which occurs everywhere on sour paste, decaying fruits, and, -in general, on all dead organic matters exposed to combined moisture -and moderate heat. - -Yeast and the vinegar plant are the forms in which it vegetates under -various circumstances when well supplied with food. Mildew is its -fruit, formed on the surfaces exposed to air at certain epochs, like -the flowers and seeds of the higher plants, to enable it to diffuse -itself, which it does most effectually, for the microscopic germs, -invisible singly to the naked eye, are produced in myriads, and are so -diminutive that ordinary motes floating in the atmosphere are large in -comparison. - -Yeast, when examined under the microscope, is found to consist of -globular vesicles about 1/2300th part of an inch in diameter when fully -grown. They are multiplied by little vesicles budding out from the -sides of the parent. These soon acquire an equal size, and repeat the -reproduction, either while attracted to the parent globule or after -separating from it. The multiplication goes on to an indefinite extent -with a fitting supply of food and at a moderately warm temperature -(70 deg.-90 deg. Fahr.). The vesicles are nourished by sucking in a -portion of the organic liquid in which they exist, decomposing this -chemically, and either actually giving off, or causing the separation -of their outer surface, of carbonic acid in the form of gas. To give -a familiar illustration of the action of the carbonic acid which is -evolved from yeast on the dough, I may say that it is analogous to the -froth formed on a tumbler of bottled ale or ginger-beer. The cavities -or bubbles in the dough are produced in an exactly similar manner; but -two circumstances occur in bread to render them permanent—first, the -fact that they are slowly formed; secondly, that they are generated -in a substance which, while it is soft enough to allow the bubbles to -expand, is tough enough to retain them. - -There are several kinds of yeast besides barm, or brewer’s yeast, -which, in spite of its bitter taste, is generally used by bakers -because it is the least expensive. Next in consumption is what is -termed press yeast, in German _press hefe_ or _pfund hefe_, commonly -known in commerce as German yeast, so called because it originally -was a monopoly of that country, but it is now largely manufactured in -Scotland. Of these yeasts Mr. Austin says: - -‘Press yeast is obtained partly by the brewing of beer or distillation -of spirits as a by-product, partly it is made artificially. In the -former case, the beer upper yeast is mixed with ten times its quantity -of water, to which one per cent. of carbonate of ammonia is added, -macerated and well washed for an hour, and then mixed with a compound -of two parts of finely-powdered malt and ten parts starch, so that -we have a firm mass, which is made into cakes half-an-inch thick. -This yeast must be made fresh every two or three days, and must be -kept in a cool place. A better press yeast is made from the yeast of -the distilleries. The pasty residue of the mash tub is passed through -a hair sieve to get rid of the grain husks. The filtrate is allowed -to settle, and the sediment is put into linen cloths and washed with -water, and the water squeezed out again under gentle pressure. The -yeast is thus obtained in the form of cakes.’ - -Very many people prefer to make their own bread instead of buying -it from the baker; not that there is a great saving, but there is a -certain satisfaction in knowing by whom it is made, and as, doubtless, -many of my readers have never attempted to make and bake their own -bread, I venture to give Miss Acton’s ‘very plain directions to a quite -inexperienced learner for making bread.’[15] - -‘If you have never yet attempted to make bread, and wish to try to do -it well, and have nobody to show you the proper manner of setting about -it, you may yet succeed perfectly by attending with great exactness to -the directions which are given here; but, as a large baking is less -easily managed than a small one quite at first, and as the loss would -be greater if the bread were spoiled, I would advise you to begin with -merely a loaf or two. - -‘Take, then, let us say, half a gallon of flour, or a quartern, as it -is called in some places. This will weigh three pounds and a half, and -will make two loaves of nearly two pounds and a quarter each. There -are two ways of making the dough, either of which, in experienced -hands, will generally be attended with success. The most common mode -of proceeding is to mix the yeast carefully with part of the liquid -required for the whole of the bread, and to stir it into the centre -of the flour; then to add by degrees what more of the liquid may be -necessary, and to convert the whole with thorough, steady kneading -into a firm but flexible paste, which, after standing in a suitable -place until it has swollen to nearly double its original size, is again -thoroughly kneaded, and once more left to “rise” or become porous -before it is moulded into loaves and despatched to the oven. - -‘_To Make Dough by Setting a Sponge._—This method of making dough is -usually followed when there is any doubt either of the goodness or of -the sufficient quantity of the yeast which is used for it, because if -it should not become light after standing a certain time, more yeast, -mixed with a little warm liquid, can easily be added to it, and the -chance of having heavy bread be thus avoided. - -‘If you are sure of the goodness of the yeast you use it will not much -matter which of them you follow. The quickest and easiest mode is to -wet it up at once; the safest to guard against failure is to set a -sponge thus: Put the flour into a large earthenware bowl or deep pan, -then with a strong metal or wooden spoon hollow out the middle, but -do not clear it entirely away from the bottom of the pan, as in that -case the sponge (or leaven as it was formerly termed) would stick to -it, which it ought not to do. Next take either a large tablespoonful -of brewer’s yeast, which has been rendered solid by mixing it with -cold water and letting it afterwards stand to settle for a day and a -night, or nearly an ounce of fresh German yeast. Put it into a large -basin and then proceed to mix it, so that it shall be as smooth as -cream, with three-quarters of a pint or even a whole pint of just warm -milk and water or water only, though even a very little milk will much -improve the bread. To have it quite free from lumps you must pour -in the liquid by spoonfuls just at the beginning, and stir and work -it round well to mix it perfectly with the yeast before you add the -remainder, otherwise it would probably cause the bread to be full of -large holes, which ought never to be seen in it. Pour the yeast into -the hole in the middle of the flour, and stir into it as much of that -which lies around it as will make a thick batter, in which, remember, -there must be no lumps. If there should seem to be any you must beat -them out with the spoon. Strew plenty of flour on the top, throw a -thick clean cloth over, and set it where the air is warm; but if there -is a large fire do not place it upon the kitchen fender in front of it, -as servants often do, for it will become too much heated there; but -let it always be raised from the floor, and protected from constant -draughts of air passing over it. Look at it from time to time when it -has been laid for nearly an hour, and when you perceive that the yeast -has risen and broken through the flour, and that bubbles appear in it, -you will know that it is ready to be made up into dough. Then place -the pan on a strong chair or dresser, or table of convenient height; -pour into the sponge a little warm milk and water (about a pint and a -quarter will be required altogether for the quartern of bread), so that -if three-quarters of a pint was mixed with the yeast at first there -will be half a pint to add. Sometimes a little more will be needed; -but be always careful not to make the dough too moist; stir into it as -much flour as you can with the spoon, then wipe it out clean with your -fingers and lay it aside. - -‘Next take plenty of the remaining flour, throw it on the top of the -leaven, and begin with the knuckles of both hands to knead it well. -Quick movement in this will do no good. It is strong, steady kneading -which is required. Keep throwing up the flour which lies under and -round the dough on to the top of it, that it may not stick to your -fingers. You should always try to prevent its doing this, for you will -soon discover that attention to these small particulars will make a -great difference in the quality of your bread and in the time required -to make it. When the flour is nearly all kneaded in begin to draw -the edges of the dough towards the middle, in order to mix the whole -thoroughly, and continue to knead it in every part spreading it out, -and then turning it constantly from the side of the pan to the middle, -and pressing the knuckles of your closed hands well into and over it. -When the whole of the flour is worked in, and the outside of the dough -is free from it and from all lumps and crumbs, and does not stick to -the hands when touched, it will be done, and may be again covered with -the cloth and left to rise a second time. - -‘In three-quarters of an hour look at it, and should it have swollen -very much, and begin to crack, it will be light enough to bake. Turn -it then on to a paste-board, or very clean dresser, and, with a large -sharp knife, divide it into two, when, if it has been carefully and -properly made, you will find it full throughout of small holes like a -fine sponge. When it is thus far ready make it up quickly into loaves, -and despatch it to the oven. If it is to be baked in a flat tin or on -the oven floor, dust a little flour on the board, and make them up -lightly in the form of dumplings, drawing together the parts which are -cut, and turning them downwards. Give them a good shape by working them -round quickly between your hands without raising them from the board, -and pressing them slightly as you do so; then take a knife in the right -hand, and, turning each loaf quickly with the left, just draw the edge -of it round the middle of the dough, but do not cut deeply into it; -make also two or three slight incisions across the tops of the loaves, -as they will rise more easily when this is done. - -‘Should it be put into earthen pans, the dough must be cut with the -_point_ of the knife just below the edge of the dishes after it is -laid into them. To prevent it sticking to them, and being turned out -with difficulty after it is baked, the pans should be rubbed in every -part with a morsel of butter laid on a bit of clean paper. When they -are only floured, the loaves cannot sometimes be loosened from these -without being broken. All bread should be turned upside down or on its -side as soon as it is drawn from the oven; if this be neglected, the -under part of the loaves will become wet and blistered from the steam, -which cannot then escape from them. They should remain until they are -perfectly cold before they are put away and covered down. - -‘The only difference between this and the other way of making dough, -mentioned at the beginning of these directions, is the mixing all the -flour at first with the yeast and liquid into a firm smooth paste, -which must be thoroughly kneaded down when it has become quite light, -and then left to rise a second time before it is prepared for baking. A -pint of warm milk and water, or of water only, may be stirred gradually -to the yeast, which should then be poured into the middle of the flour, -and worked with it into a stiff batter with a spoon, which should then -be withdrawn, and the kneading with the hands commenced. Until a little -experience has been gained, the mass of dough which will be formed -with the pint of liquid, may be lifted from the pan into a dish, while -sufficient warm water is added to wet up the remainder of the flour. -This should afterwards be perfectly mingled with that which contains -the yeast. A better plan is to use at once from a pint and a quarter -to a pint and a half of liquid; but learners are very apt to pour in -heedlessly more than is required, or to be inexact in the measure, -and then more flour has to be used to make the bread of a proper -consistence than is allowed for by the proportion of yeast named in the -receipt. It is a great fault in bread-making to have the dough so moist -that it sticks to the fingers when touched, and cannot be formed into -loaves which will retain their shape without much flour being kneaded -into them when they are made up for the oven. - -‘When it is to be _home baked_ as well as home made, you must endeavour -to calculate correctly the time at which it will be ready, and have the -oven in a fit state for it when it is so. Should it have to be carried -to the baker’s, let a thick cloth or two be thrown over it before it is -sent.’ - -In these very plain directions I do not find that Miss Acton specifies -the quantity of salt to be used. Some, however, is absolutely -necessary, to make good bread—say half an ounce to a quartern of flour. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -OVENS ANCIENT AND MODERN. - - -We have now got the loaf made, and the next thing is to bake it; for -the home-baked loaf, the oven of a kitchener or gas stove will do very -well, and the heat should be about 400 deg. Fahr. A baker’s oven is a -thing _per se_. For hundreds of years they were made on the same old -pattern, but now, except in many of the small underground bakeries, -they are scientifically built, fitted with pyrometers, and with -internal lamps. Mr. Austin writes thus of the oven: - -‘The baker’s oven is generally a brick oven, heated thoroughly with -coal or wood according to construction; if made for coal, the damper -will be on the one side and the furnace on the other, so that the -flames play all round the oven; if constructed for wood, it must be -heated with a good solid heat, with wood burnt in the interior of the -oven, and then well cleaned out with a scuffle. As to the degrees -of heat of the oven the laborious explanations and number of them -may be reduced to three—viz., sharp or “flash,” as named in recipes; -the second degree, moderate or “solid,” as used for large or solid -articles, as wedding cakes, &c.; then slack or cool. - -‘The baker’s old-fashioned method of testing the temperature of his -oven is instructive. He throws flour on the floor. If it blackens -without taking fire the heat is sufficient. It might be supposed that -this is too high a temperature, as the object is to cook the bread, not -to burn it; but we must remember that the flour which has been prepared -for baking is mixed with water, and the evaporation of this water will -materially lower the temperature of the dough itself. Besides this, we -must bear in mind that another object is to be attained. A hard shell -or crust has been formed, which will so encase and support the lump -of dough as to prevent it from subsiding when the further evolution, -carbonic gas, shall cease, which will be the case some time before the -cooking of the mass is completed. It will happen when the temperature -reaches the point at which the yeast cells can no longer germinate, -when the temperature is below the boiling point of water. - -‘In spite of all this outside temperature, that of the inner part of -the loaf is kept down to a little above 212 degrees by the evaporation -of the water contained in the bread; the escape of this vapour and the -expansion of carbonic acid bubbles by heat increasing the porosity of -the loaf. The outside being heated considerably above the temperature -of the inner part, this variation produces the difference between the -crust and the crumb. The action of the high temperature indirectly -converting some of the starch into dextrin will be understood from what -is already stated, and also the partial conversion of this dextrin into -caramel. Thus we have in the crust an excess of dextrin as compared -with the crumb, and the addition of a variable quantity of caramel. In -lightly baked bread, with the crust of uniform pale yellowish colour, -the conversion of the dextrin into caramel has barely commenced, and -the gummy character of the dextrin coating is well displayed. So much -bread, especially the long staves of life common in France, appears as -though they had been varnished, and their crust is partially soluble -in water. This explains the apparent paradox that hard crust or dry -toast is more easily digested than the soft crumb of bread, the cookery -of the crumb not having been carried beyond the mere hydration of the -gluten and the starch and such degree of dextrin formation as was due -to the action of the diastaste of grain during the preliminary period -of “rising.”’ - -A form of oven now much in vogue is borrowed from Vienna. It is built -of stone or brick; the roof is very low, and the floor slopes upwards -towards the far end. The effect of this form of construction is to -drive the steam rising from the loaves down on to the top of them -again, thereby giving them the glazed surface so much admired in -foreign bread. Steam is sometimes driven in with the same object; being -lighter than that rising from the bread, it drives the latter down. The -ovens are heated from below. Loaves remain in for one and a half or two -hours. - -As in everything connected with baking, during the past few years great -improvements have been made in bakers’ ovens. Science has been brought -to bear upon them, and we now have them heated by gas or steam in -addition to coal and coke, besides improved alterations in many ways. - -Nor do modern improvements in baking appliances stop short at ovens. -Most bakers doing a good business use kneading machines, of which -there are many in the market. With one exception—that of the Adair -mixer, which has no arms nor beaters, but simply rotates, and by -this action the flour and water pass through the rods of iron, -which are placed crosswise in the machine, and become perfectly -and proportionately mixed—they are all, more or less, on the same -principle, of revolving arms, blades, or knives by which the -flour and water are properly mixed, and the position of the dough -being perpetually changed, it is effectually kneaded without the -objectionable intervention of manual labour. - -The earliest kneading machine that I can find mentioned is in 1850, -when the illustrious philosopher, Arago, presented and recommended -to the Institute of France the kneading and baking apparatus of M. -Rolland, then a humble baker of the Twelfth Arrondissement. The -kneading machine was described as exceedingly simple, and capable of -being worked, when under a full charge, by a young man from 15 to 20 -years old, the necessity for horse labour or steam power being thus -obviated; and it was claimed that in less than twenty minutes a sack -of flour could be converted into a perfect homogeneous and aërated -dough altogether superior to any dough that could be obtained by manual -kneading. - -Another attempted improvement in the manufacture of bread was aërating -the dough without using any ferment, such as yeast, etc., and this has -been accomplished by means of mixing hydrochloric acid and carbonate -of soda with the dough, or using bicarbonate of ammonia, or forcing -carbonic acid into the water with which the flour is mixed. The -latter is called the Dauglish system, from its inventor, the late John -Dauglish, M.D. (born 1824, died January 14, 1866), and it is now in -full working operation. - -By this system carbonic acid gas is generated as if for making soda -water, and, supposing a sack of flour was to be converted into dough, -the following would be the treatment: A lid at the top of the mixer -is opened, and the flour passed down into it through a spout from the -floor above. The lid of the mixer is then fitted tightly on, and the -air within it exhausted by the pump. The requisite quantity of water, -about 17 gallons, is drawn into the water vessel, and carbonic acid is -forced into it till the pressure amounts to from 15lb. to 25lb. per -square inch. The aërated water is then passed into the mixer, and the -mixing arms are set in motion, by which, in about seven minutes, the -flour and water are incorporated into a perfectly uniform paste. At the -lower end of the mixer a cavity is arranged, gauged to hold sufficient -dough for a 2lb. loaf, and by a turn of a lever that quantity is -dropped into a pan ready for at once depositing in the oven. The whole -of the operations can be performed in less than half an hour. - -The advantages of this system are absolute purity and cleanliness, but -it is simply porous dough, and has not got the flavour of fermented -bread. The plant, too, is very expensive, which renders it impossible -for the ordinary baker to adopt it. - -Certainly, machinery has been applied with very great advantage to the -manufacture of another kind of bread, on which they that go down upon -the sea in ships were wont to depend—namely, ship’s biscuits. Badly -made of bad materials, and ofttimes full of weevils were they, so hard -that they had to be soaked in some liquid before they could be eaten, -or else broken up and boiled with the pea soup. - -Up to the year 1833 the ships of the Royal Navy were supplied with -biscuits made at Gosport by gangs of five men, severally named the -_furner_, the _mate_, the _driver_, the _brakeman_, and the _idleman_. -The _driver_ made the dough in a trough with his naked arms. The -rough dough was then placed on a wooden platform, to be worked by the -_brakeman_, who kneaded it by riding and jumping on it. Then it was -taken to a moulding board, cut into slips, moulded by hand, docked, or -pierced full of holes, and pitched into the oven by the joint action -of the gang. The nine ovens in the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard -required the labour of 45 men to keep them in full operation, and the -product was about 14cwt. of biscuit per hour, at a cost for labour -and utensils of 1_s._ 7_d._ per cwt. This system was superseded by -machinery, and biscuits have been for many years past produced with -almost incredible rapidity, perfect in kneading, moulding, and baking, -and at a cost for labour and utensils of less than a third of the old -outlay. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE RELIGIOUS USE OF BREAD. - - -Of the many breads that are not in common use, that used in the -celebration of the Communion should be placed first. There seems no -room for doubt that, at the Last Supper, our Lord broke unleavened -bread—St Luke xxii. is, apparently, conclusive on this point; and, -to this day, the whole Latin, Armenian, and Maronite Churches use -unleavened bread, and it is also used in many churches of the Anglican -communion. Dr. Lee[16] says: ‘The Ethiopic Christians also use -unleavened bread at their Mass on Maundy Thursday, but leavened bread -on other occasions. The Greek and other Oriental Churches use leavened -bread, which is especially made for the purpose, with scrupulous care -and attention. The Christians of St. Thomas likewise make use of -leavened bread, composed of fine flour, which, by an ancient rule of -theirs, ought to be prepared on the same day upon which it is to be -consecrated. It is circular in shape, stamped with a large cross, the -border being edged with smaller crosses, so that, when it is broken -up, each fragment may contain the holy symbol. In the Roman Catholic -Church the bread is made thin and circular, and bears upon it either -the impressed figure - -of the crucifix, or the letters I.H.S. Pope St. Zephyrinus, who lived -in the third century, terms the Sacramental bread, _Corona sive oblata, -sphericæ, figuræ_, “a crown, or oblation, of a spherical figure,” the -circle being indicative of the Divine presence after consecration. The -Orientals, occasionally, make their altar breads square, on which is -stamped a cross, with an inscription. The square form of the bread is -a mystical indication that, by the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, -salvation is purchased for the four comers of the earth.’ And Dr. Lee -gives illustrations of the altar bread, or wafers, in use in the Latin, -Armenian, Coptic, and Greek Churches. - -It seems certain that, in the Primitive Church, neither unleavened -bread nor wafers were used. Ancient writers say that the bread used -was common bread, such as was made for their own use. It was also a -charge against the Ebionites that they celebrated in unleavened bread -and water only. The bread generally used was called _fermentum_, and -though this is explained by the schoolmen, who claimed primitive custom -for unleavened bread, as the _eulogia_, or _panis benedictus_, which -was blessed for such as did not communicate, Pope Innocent I. plainly -says that it refers to the Sacrament itself. Moreover, no Greek writer -before Michael Cerularius, who lived A.D. 1051, objected to the use of -unleavened bread in the Roman Church, which would seem to show that -it was not extensively used before that time. Even some Roman writers -speak of the custom as erroneous. - -How the change in this matter was made, and the exact time when, -is not easily determined. Cardinal Bona’s conjecture seems probable -enough: that it crept in when the people began to leave off making -their oblations in common bread. This occasioned the clergy to provide -it themselves, and they, under pretence of decency and respect, brought -it from leaven to unleaven, and from a loaf of common bread, that might -be broken, to a nice and delicate wafer, formed in the figure of a -_denarius_, or penny, to represent the pence for which our Saviour was -betrayed; and then, also, the people, instead of offering a loaf of -bread, as formerly, were ordered to offer a penny, which was either to -be given to the poor, or to be expended upon something pertaining to -the sacrifice of the altar. - -The alteration in the Communion bread occasioned great disputes between -the Eastern and Western Churches. - -The first Common Prayer Book of Edward VI. enjoins unleavened bread -to be used throughout the whole kingdom for the celebration of the -Eucharist. It was ordered to be _round_, in imitation of the wafers -used in the Greek and Roman Churches; but it was to be _without all -manner of print_, the wafers usually having the impression either of -a crucifix or the Holy Lamb; and _something more large and thicker_ -than the wafers, which were the size of a penny. This rubric, affording -matter for scruple, was set aside at the review of the Liturgy, in the -fifth year of King Edward; and another inserted in its room, which -still exists, by which it is declared sufficient that _the bread be -such as is usually eaten_. - -It was the custom in Westminster Abbey, and in the Royal chapels, -and the practice of such men as Bishop Andrewes, to use wafers, but -‘for peace sake,’ where wafers were objected to, plain and pure -wheaten bread was allowed. It has been decided by the Privy Council -that it not only may, but must, be common bread; the Injunctions, -according to them, being of no validity against the rubric; while the -Advertisements, having been made under Act of Parliament, and not -contrary to the rubric, are an indication of its meaning—_i.e._, of the -word ‘retained in the Ornaments rubric.’ - -The bread now used is common wheaten bread in most Protestant Churches. -In some Presbyterian Churches a special kind of wafer is prepared for -the purpose. In the Roman Church thin wafers are used. In the Eastern -Churches they are of different sizes and thicknesses. - -They are thus classified by the Rev. F. E. Brightman in _Liturgies -Eastern_: - -1. Byzantine; a round leavened cake 5 × 2 in., stamped with a square -(2 in.); itself divided by a cross into four squares in which are -severally inscribed IC, XC, NI, KA. - -2. The Syrian Jacobite and Syrian Uniat; a round cake, leavened with -the holy leaven, 3 × 3/4, stamped like a wheel with four diameters (the -alternate radii being cut off half way from the circumference by a -concentric circle). - -3. The Marionite; the Latin unleavened wafer. - -4. The Coptic; a round leavened cake, 3-1/2 × 3/4, stamped round the -edge with the legend, Αγιος ο θεος, αγιος ισχυρος, αγιος αθανατος, -and within with a cross consisting of twelve little squares, each of -which and the remaining spandrels are marked with a little cross placed -diagonally. - -5. The Abyssinian; a flat round leavened cake, 4 × 3/4, stamped with -a cross of nine squares with four squares added in the angles of the -cross. - -6. The Nestorian; a round leavened cake, 2 × 1/2, stamped with a -cross-crosslet and four small crosses. - -7. The Armenian; a round unleavened wafer, 3 × 1/8, stamped with an -ornamental border, the crucifix and the sacred name and sometimes with -two diameters at right angles to the back. - -In regard to the Protestant Non-Episcopal Churches, it is stated in -Herzog’s _Religious Encyclopædia_ that the administration follows -one of two types. These are the Lutheran and the Calvinistic. In the -Lutheran, the elements are consecrated with the sign of the cross, a -wafer of unleavened bread is given whole to the communicant, and white -wine, instead of red, is used. The communicants kneel and receive the -elements into their mouths instead of their hands. The Calvinistic -type simplifies the service as much as possible, and assimilates it -to a common meal. ‘In the French Reformed Church the elements are -placed—the bread in two silver dishes, and the wine in two silver -cups—on a table spread with a white linen cloth. From twenty-five to -thirty communicants approach the table at a time. The officiating -minister makes a free prayer, and then, while repeating the words of -institution, presents the elements to his neighbours on the left and -on the right, after which the dish and the cup pass from hand to -hand. With various modifications this type has been adopted by all the -Reformed (Non-Episcopal) Churches.’ - -This is practically the method adopted in most of the British -Non-Episcopal Churches; instead, however, of the communicants coming -forward to the table, they remain in their pews, the bread and wine -being handed round by elders or deacons. In the American Non-Episcopal -Churches the same plan is usually adopted. - -These divergencies of method illustrate the strange fact in the -Christian life, that around the simple and beautiful institution of -the Lord’s Supper there have raged the fiercest controversies in -religious history. So divergent are the views held about it, that the -Roman Catholic Church asserts that in every celebration of the Mass -our Saviour is again actually offered as a sacrifice, and the bread -and wine become the actual body and blood of the Lord, this miracle of -transformation being wrought through the consecrating prayer of the -priest. The Quakers, at the other extreme, do not observe the service -at all, and do not consider it to be a binding ordinance. Here, as so -often in life, the truth lies between the extremes. The bread and the -wine are the symbols of our Lord’s body and blood. We do not feed on -Him by the mere physical eating of the consecrated elements, but we -partake of Him through faith as we remember that His body was broken -for us, and His blood shed for the remission of our sins. His own -loving command as He sat at the table with His disciples was, ‘This -do in remembrance of Me,’ and it is through fellowship with Him in -spirit—in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary—that ‘we -feed on Him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.’ - - -There is a semi-sacred bread eaten by the English race, and by no one -else—the hot-cross bun—millions of which are devoured in England on -Good Friday. Its origin is obscure, as is also that of the word ‘bun.’ -Most dictionaries derive it from the old French _bigne_, or _bugne_—a -swelling; but it certainly occurs in an early _Promptorium Parvulorum_, -as ‘bunne-brede.’ Anent ‘Eating Buns on Good Friday,’ a correspondent -in the _Athenæum_ of April 4, 1857, p. 144, wrote: - -‘In the _Museo Lapidario_ of the Vatican, on the Christian side of -it, and not far off from the door leading into the library, there -is a tablet representing in a rude manner the miracle of the five -barley loaves. Every visitor must have seen it, for it has been there -for years. The loaves are round, like cakes, and have a cross upon -them, such as our cakes bear, which are broken and eaten on Good -Friday morning, symbolical of the sacrifice of the body of our Lord. -Five of these cakes, explanatory of the scene, are ranged beneath -an arch-shaped table, at which recline five people, while another, -with a basket full, is occupied in serving them. The cakes are so -significant of the Bread of Life that one might almost regard the -repast as intended to prefigure the sacrifice that was to follow, and -the institution connected with it. Having, from the earliest period of -memory, cherished a particular regard for hot-cross buns and all their -pleasing associations, it was a source of gratifying reflection to -see my old favourites thus brought into intimate association with the -pious thoughts of the primitive Christians, and to know that at home -we cherished an ancient usage on Good Friday which the more Catholic -nations of Europe no longer observed. But, alas! there is always some -drawback to our full satisfaction in this world, and knowledge is often -a cruel dissipation of favourite convictions; my faith in the Christian -biography of these buns has recently received a very rude shock. - -‘It would appear that they have descended to us, not from any Popish -practice, as some _pious_ souls affirm, but from one which was -actually, and, like the word which we use to signify the great festival -of the Church, _Easter_, to a paganism as ancient as the worship of -_Astarte_, in honour of whom, about the time of the Passover, our pagan -ancestors, the Saxons, baked and offered up a particular kind of cake. -We read in Jeremiah (vii. 17, 18): “Seest thou not what they do in the -cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather -wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, -to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven.” [See also Jeremiah xliv. 18, -19.] Dr. Stukeley, in his _Medallic History of Valerius Carausius_, -remarks that they were “assiduous to knead the Easter cakes for her -service.” The worship of a Queen of Heaven, under some significant name -or other, was an almost universal practice, and exists still in various -parts of the globe. She is usually represented, like the Madonna, -bearing her son in her lap, or like Isis, with the infant Horus. We -may see such images in the Louvre, and in the great Ethnographical -Museum at Copenhagen, where the Queen of Heaven of the Chinese, -_Tien-how_, figures in white porcelain, side by side with _Schling-mu_, -the Holy Mother. Certain metaphysical ideas are apt to flow in a common -channel, and get clothed in the same symbolical dress. Hence we find -a Queen of Heaven, no less in Mexico than in China, in Egypt, Greece, -Italy, and England; and, under the pagan title of a Christian festival, -preserve, along with our buns, the memorial of her ancient reign.’ - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -GINGER BREAD AND CHARITY BREAD. - - -But there is a bread which must not escape notice—a true bread—although -somewhat sweet and spiced. When it was first introduced into England no -one can tell, but it was well known in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, -for Shakespeare, in _Love’s Labour Lost_ (Act V., S. 1), makes Costard -say: ‘An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy -gingerbread.’ And we find it used in a similar way to the educational -biscuits of the present day; for Matthew Prior, in his _Alma_ says: - - ‘To Master John, the English maid - A horn-book gives, of gingerbread; - And, that the child may learn the better, - As he can name, he eats the letter.’ - -It was made with honey, before the introduction of sugar, and must be -of remote antiquity and intimately allied to our friend the _Bous_. -The Rhodians made bread with honey which was so pleasant that it was -eaten as cake after dinner. The German gingerbread and the French _pain -d’épice_ used both to be made with honey. The use of gingerbread is -widely spread, and wherever it is eaten it is popular, even in the -far East Indies, where both natives and Anglo-Indians rejoice in it. -In Holland it is in more request than in any other country in Europe, -and the recipe for its manufacture is guarded as a jealous secret and -descends as an heirloom from father to son. - -[Illustration: Hot Gingerbread, Smoking Hot.] - -In its early days gingerbread was an unleavened cake, and the first -attempt to make it light was to introduce pearl-ash or potash; -afterwards alum was introduced, now it is made of ordinary fermented -dough, or with carbonate of ammonia. When well made, gingerbread will -last good for years; but if not well made, and of good materials, it -will last no time, but will get soft with the first damp weather. Such -was the stuff sold at fairs—both thick gingerbread and nuts—booths -being erected for the sale of nothing else. The background of these -booths was ornamented by gingerbread crowns, kings and queens, cocks, -etc., dazzlingly resplendent with _pseudo_ gold leaf, or, as it was -then called, ‘Dutch metal.’ I do not think that anybody ever ate any of -these works of art, I think they were solely for ornament; and, when -combined with bows and streamers of bright-coloured ribbons, they made -the gingerbread booths the most attractive in the fair. - -In the last century it was a great institution, and Swift, writing to -Stella, says: ‘’Tis a loss you are not here, to partake of three weeks’ -frost, and eat gingerbread in a booth by a fire on the Thames.’ There -was a famous itinerant vendor of this article named Ford, but who was -more generally known as ‘Tiddy Diddy Doll,’ from a song he used to -sing whose words were but those. He flourished in the middle of last -century, and Hogarth painted him in one of the scenes of ‘Industry and -Idleness,’ where the idle apprentice is going to his doom. - -[Illustration: HOGARTH’S PICTURE OF FORD.] - -Hone, in his _Every Day Book_, vol. i., p. 375, etc., gives a very -good account of Ford. He says: ‘This celebrated vendor of gingerbread, -from his eccentricity of character, and extensive dealings in his -way, was always hailed as the king of itinerant tradesmen.[17] In his -person he was tall, well made, and his features handsome. He affected -to dress like a person of rank—white and gold suit of clothes, laced -ruffled shirt, laced hat and feathers, white silk stockings, with the -addition of a fine white apron. Among his harangues to gain customers, -take this as a specimen: ‘Mary, Mary, where are you now, Mary? I -live, when I am at home, at the second house in Little Ball Street, -two steps underground, with a wiscum, riscum, and a why-not. Walk in, -ladies and gentlemen, my shop is on the second floor backwards, with -a brass knocker at the door. Here’s your nice gingerbread, your spice -gingerbread; it will melt in your mouth like a red-hot brick-bat, and -rumble in your inside like Punch and his wheel-barrow.’... For many -years (and perhaps at present) allusion was made to his name, as thus: -‘You are so fine, you look like Tiddy Doll. You are as tawdry as Tiddy -Doll. You are quite Tiddy Doll,’ etc. - -But there is a use for badly-made gingerbread which perhaps some of us -do not know—a gingerbread barometer. It is nothing more than the figure -of a General made of gingerbread, which Clavette buys every year at the -_Place du Trone_. When he gets home he hangs his purchase on a nail. -You know the effect of the atmosphere on gingerbread; the slightest -moisture renders it soft; in dry weather, on the contrary, it grows -hard and tough. Every morning, on going out, Clavette asks his servant, -‘What does the General say?’ The man forthwith applies his thumb to the -figure, and replies, ‘The General feels flabby about the chest; you’d -better take your umbrella!’ On the other hand, when the symptoms are -hard and unyielding, our worthy colleague sallies forth in his new hat. - -A curious use of dough, somewhat sweetened, was made at Christmas, when -it was manufactured into _Yule doughs_, or dows, or _Yule babies_, -small images like dolls with currants for eyes, intended probably to -represent the infant Jesus, which were presented by bakers to the -children of their customers. Another Christmas custom connected with -dough used to obtain in Wiltshire, where a hollow loaf, containing an -apple, and ornamented on the top with the head of a cock or a dragon, -with currant eyes, and made of paste, was baked, and put by a child’s -bedside on Christmas morning to be eaten before breakfast. This was -called a _Cop-a-loaf_, or _Cop-loaf_. - -Much land in England was held by tenure, in which bread plays a part, -as the following instances out of many will show.[18] - -Apelderham, Sussex.—John Aylemer holds by court roll one messuage and -one yard [thirty acres] land.... And he ought to find at three reap -days, in autumn, every day, two men, and was to have for each of the -said men, on every of such reap days, viz., on each of the two first -days, one loaf of wheat and barley mixed, weighing eighteen pounds of -wax, every loaf to be of the price of a penny farthing; and at the -third reap day each man was to have a loaf of the same weight, all of -wheat, of the price of a penny halfpenny. - -Chakedon, Oxon.—Every mower on this manor was to have a loaf of the -price of a halfpenny, besides other things. - -Glastonbury, Somerset.—In the thirty-third year of Edward I., William -Pasturell held twelve ox-gangs of land there from the abbot, by service -of finding a cook in the kitchen of the said abbot and a baker for the -bakehouse. - -Hallaton, Leicester.—A piece of land was bequeathed to the use and -advantage of the rector, who was there to provide ‘two hare pies, a -quantity of ale, and two dozen of penny loaves, to be scrambled for on -Easter Monday annually.’ - -Lenneston or Loston, Devon.—Geoffrey de Alba-Marlia held this hamlet of -the King, rendering therefore to the King, as often as he should hunt -in the Forest of Dartmoor, one loaf of oat bread of the value of half a -farthing, and three barbed arrows, feathered with peacock’s feathers, -and fixed in the aforesaid loaf. - -Liston, Essex.—In the forty-first year of Edward III., Nan, the wife -of William Leston, held the manor of Overhall, in this parish, by the -service of paying for, bringing in, and placing of five wafers before -the King, as he sits at dinner, upon the day of his coronation. - -Twickenham, Middlesex.—There was an ancient custom here of dividing -two great cakes in the church among the young people on Easter Day; -but, it being looked upon as a superstitious relic, it was ordered by -Parliament, in 1645, that the parishioners should forbear that custom, -and instead thereof buy loaves of bread for the poor of the parish -with the money that should have bought the cakes. It is probable that -the cakes were bought at the vicar’s expense; for it appears that the -sum of one pound per annum is still charged upon the vicarage for the -purpose of buying penny loaves for poor children on the Thursday before -Easter. Within the memory of man they were thrown from the church -steeple to be scrambled for. - -Wells, Dorset.—Richard de Wells held this manor ever since the Conquest -by the service of being baker to our Lord the King. - -Witham, Essex.—By an inquisition made in the reign of Henry III., it -appears that one Geoffrey de Lyston held land at Witham by the service -of carrying flour to make wafers on the King’s birthday, whenever his -Majesty was in the Kingdom. - -Of bread, as given away in charity or by dole, the examples in England -are almost numberless; still a few somewhat redeemed from common place, -and extracted from the Report on Charities, may interest the reader.[19] - -Assington, Suffolk.—John Winterflood, by will dated April 2, 1593, -gave to the poor of Assington four bushels of meslin (wheat and rye) -payable out of the manor of Aveley Hall, to be distributed in bread at -Christmas; and four bushels of meslin, out of the rectory or priory -of Assington, to be distributed in bread at Easter; and under this -donation four bushels of wheat are brought to Assington Church and -distributed among the poor at Christmas, and the like quantity of wheat -at Easter. - -St. Bartholomew by the Exchange, London.—Several benefactors have given -bread to the poor of this parish. Richard Crowshaw, goldsmith, by will, -April 26, 1531, directed that 100_l._ should be paid to provide 2_s._ -weekly for ever, to be laid out in good cheese, to be delivered to the -poor parishioners of this parish, according as they received the bread, -which then was and had been long given them. - -[Illustration: THE BIDDENDEN MAIDS.] - -Another bread and cheese charity still obtains in the village of -Biddenden, Kent, about four miles from Tenterden; and it is noticeable -on account of the tradition which assigns its foundation to a _lusus -naturæ_ similar to the Siamese twins of our day. The founders of the -charity, according to tradition, were Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, who -were born in 1100, and lived together, joined at hips and shoulders, -for 34 years. To perpetuate their memory, biscuits, measuring 3-1/2 in. -by 2 in. and about 1/4 in. thick, are made and distributed with the -dole of bread on Easter Sunday. On these biscuits is stamped a rude -representation of the ‘Biddenden Maids.’ There are two moulds, one made -of beech-wood, judging from the twins’ costume of _commode_, or cap, -and laced bodice, dates from the time of William and Mary or Anne; the -other, which is of boxwood, although an attempted copy, is undoubtedly -more modern. The writer has the biscuits, and with them came the -following paper, headed by a rough woodcut: - -‘A short and concise history of Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, who were -both joined together by the hips and shoulders, in the year of our -Lord 1100, at Biddenden, in the County of Kent, commonly called “The -Biddenden Maids.”’ - -The reader will observe by the plate that they lived together in the -above state 34 years, at the expiration of which time one of them was -taken ill, and in a short time died; the surviving one was advised to -be separated from the body of her deceased sister by dissection, but -she absolutely refused the separation by saying these words, ‘As we -came together we will also go together’; and in the space of about six -hours after her sister’s decease she was taken ill and died also. - -By their will they bequeathed to the churchwardens of the parish of -Biddenden and their successor churchwardens, for ever, certain pieces -or parcels of land in the parish of Biddenden, containing 20 acres, -more or less, which are now let at 40 guineas per annum. There are -usually made, in commemoration of these wonderful phenomena of Nature, -about 1000 rolls (_sic_) with their impressions printed on them, and -given away to all strangers on Easter Sunday, after Divine Service -in the afternoon; also about 500 quartern loaves, and cheese in -proportion, to all the poor inhabitants of the said parish. - -Hasted, in his _History of the County of Kent_ (edit. 1790, Vol. III., -p. 66), says, with regard to this benefaction: ‘There is a vulgar -tradition in these parts that the figures on the cakes represent the -donors of this gift, being two women—twins—who were joined together in -their bodies, and lived together so till they were between 20 and 30 -years of age. But this seems without foundation. The truth seems to be -that it was the gift of two maidens of the name of _Preston_, and that -the print of the women on the cakes has only taken place within these -50 years, and was made to represent two poor widows, as the general -objects of a charitable benefaction. _William Horner_, rector of this -parish, in 1656, brought a suit in the Exchequer for the recovery of -these lands, as having been given for an augmentation of his glebe -land; but he was nonsuited.’ - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -BREAD RIOTS. - - -Bread riots are of comparatively modern date. In the olden days people -suffered from scarcity, but they suffered without making senseless -riots. There was no Free Trade in corn, and the people had to depend -upon home-grown cereals; so that in times of drought or failure of -crops they felt the pinch terribly. True, they had a certain amount of -protection against overcharge and combination in the form of the Assize -of Bread, which, while it gave the baker a working profit, gave the -consumer the benefit of a sliding-scale according to the market value -of wheat. - -It is not worth while going very far back to write the history of hard -times and how they were met; a hundred years is quite long enough for -retrospect. Suffice it, then, that the years 1795-96 were years of -great scarcity, and all classes, from the peasant to the King, felt it, -and met it like men. To cope with this dearth, the best way seemed to -them to diminish, as far as possible, the use of wheaten flour, and to -provide substitutes therefor. The King set his subjects a good example. - -‘His Majesty has given orders for the bread used in his household to -be made of meal and rye mixed. No other sort is permitted to be baked, -and the royal family eat bread of the same quality as their servants -do. It is extremely sweet and palatable. - -‘One half flour, and half potatoes, also make a very excellent bread.’ -(_Times_, July 22, 1795.) - -‘The writer of this paragraph has seen the bread that is eaten at -his Majesty’s table. It consists of two sorts only, the one composed -of wheaten flour and rye mixed; the other is half wheaten flour, -half potato flour. If ever example deserved imitation, it is this.’ -(_Times_, July 30, 1795.) - -People were requested to discontinue the use of hair powder, which was -made of starch obtained from wheat, and very many did so; in fact, this -movement extended to the Army, for we read in the _Times_, Feb. 10, -1795: ‘In consequence of the scarcity of wheat, arising partly from -such quantities of it being used for hair powder, several regiments -have, very patriotically, discontinued the use of hair powder, which, -in these instances, was generally nothing but flour.’ - -Potatoes came very much to the fore as a substitute for wheat, and the -Parliamentary Board of Agriculture proposed a premium of one thousand -pounds to the person who would grow the largest breadth of potatoes on -lands never before applied to the culture of that plant. - -The City authorities watched the bakers narrowly as to short weight -and amerced them 5_s._ per ounce short, one man having to pay, with -costs, £106 5_s._ on 420 ounces deficient in weight. Wheat in August, -1795, was 13_s._ 6_d._ per bushel, and the price of the quartern loaf -should then have been 1_s._ 6_d._, as it was 1_s._ 3_d._ in January, -1796, when wheat was 11_s._ 6_d._ per bushel. It fell rapidly after -harvest and in December, 1796, was 7_s._ 4_d._ per bushel. It must be -remembered that money then had twice its present value. - -In 1800 there was another scarcity, and in February of that year a -Bill passed into law which enacted ‘That it shall not be lawful for -any baker, or other person, or persons, residing within the cities of -London and Westminster, and the Bills of Mortality, and within ten -miles of the Royal Exchange, after the 26th day of February, 1800, or -residing in any part of Great Britain after the 4th day of March, 1800, -to sell, or offer to expose for sale, any bread, until the same shall -have been baked 24 hours at the least.’ - -The average price of wheat this year was 14_s._ 1_d._ per bushel, and -in July, just before harvest, it rose to 16_s._ 10_d._ or 134_s._ 8_d._ -per quarter, and other provisions were very dear. The people were less -patient than in 1795-6, and in August and September several riots took -place at Birmingham, Oxford, Nottingham, Coventry, Norwich, Stamford, -Portsmouth, Sheffield, Worcester, and many other places. The markets -were interrupted, and the populace compelled the farmers, etc., to sell -their provisions at a low price. - -At last these riots extended to London, beginning in a very small way. -Late at night on Saturday, September 13, or early on Sunday, the 14th, -two large, written placards were pasted on the Monument, the text of -which was— - - ‘Bread will be sixpence the quartern, if the people will - assemble at the Corn Market on Monday. - - ‘FELLOW COUNTRYMEN, - -‘How long will ye quietly and cowardly suffer yourselves to be imposed -upon and half-starved by a set of mercenary slaves and Government -hirelings? Can you still suffer them to proceed in their extensive -monopolies while your children are crying for bread? No! let them -not exist a day longer. We are the sovereignty; rise then from your -lethargy. Be at the Corn Market on Monday.’ - -By means of these placards, and handbills to the same effect, a mob -of over a thousand was collected in Mark Lane by nine a.m., and their -number was doubled in another hour. They hissed and pelted the corn -factors; but, about eleven a.m., when they began to break windows, the -Lord Mayor appeared upon the spot. In vain he assured them that their -behaviour could in no way affect the market. They only yelled at him, -‘Cheap bread!’ ‘Birmingham and Nottingham for ever!’ ‘Three loaves for -eighteen-pence,’ etc. They even hissed the Lord Mayor and smashed the -windows close by him. This was more than he could bear, and he ordered -the Riot Act to be read. The constables charged the mob, who, of -course, fled, and the Lord Mayor returned to the Mansion House. - -They only went to other parts of the City, and, when night fell, they -began smashing windows, etc. At last, fear of their firing the City -induced the authorities to invoke the assistance of some Volunteers and -Militia, and by their efforts the mob was driven over London Bridge -into Southwark, where they rendered the night lively by breaking -windows, etc. - -For a day or two there was peace; but on the morning and during the -day and night of the 18th of September the mob had it all their own -way, breaking windows and pillaging. A royal proclamation was issued, -calling on the civil authorities to suppress these riots, which was -done at last by means of cavalry and Volunteers, but only after the mob -having two more days’ uncontrolled possession of London. But the people -in the country were not so quickly satisfied; their wages were smaller -than those of their London brethren, and they proportionately felt the -pinch more acutely. In some instances they were put down by force, in -others the price of bread was lowered; but it is impossible at this -time to take up a newspaper and not find some notice of or allusion to -a food riot. - -The importation of foreign corn supplied the deficiency of the English -crops, and bread was moderately cheap; but in 1815, probably with a -view to assuage the agricultural distress then prevalent, a measure was -proposed and passed by which foreign corn was to be prohibited, except -when wheat had reached 80_s._ a quarter—a price considered by the great -body of consumers as exorbitant. A resolution was passed ‘That it is -the opinion of the Committee that any sort of foreign corn, meal, or -flour, which may by law be imported into the United Kingdom shall at -all times be allowed to be brought into the United Kingdom, and to be -warehoused there, without payment of any duty whatever.’ - -The popular feeling was well worked on; and on March 6 groups of people -assembled near the Houses of Parliament, about the usual time of -meeting, hooting or cheering the members, and occasionally stopping a -carriage and making its occupant walk through the crowd, which at last -got so unruly that it was obliged to be dispersed by the military. Yet -the whole night they were parading the streets, breaking windows, and -yelling: ‘No Corn Bill!’ This conduct continued for two nights longer, -until the rioters had almost worn themselves out, when an increase of -military force finally extinguished the rising. But there were riots -all over the country. - -In 1828 an Act of Parliament was passed which fixed the duty on foreign -wheat according to a ‘sliding scale,’ whereby it was diminished from -1_l._ 5_s._ 8_d._ per quarter whenever the average price of all England -was under 62_s._, and was gradually reduced, as wheat rose in price, -until the duty stood at 1_s._ when wheat was 73_s._ and upwards. - -Great agitation prevailed as to free corn; and on September 18, 1838, -the Anti-Corn Law League, for procuring the repeal of the laws charging -duty upon the importation of corn, was founded at Manchester. This -organisation lectured, harangued, distributed pamphlets, and was -perpetually in evidence—and at last succeeded in its object. - -The 5 Vict., c. 14 (April 29, 1842), was a revised sliding scale. When -wheat was under 51_s._ the duty to be 1_l_.; when 73_s._ and over, -1_s._; and this lasted until the Corn Importation Bill (9, 10, Vic., -c. 22) was passed on June 26, 1846, which reduced the duty on wheat to -4_s._ when imported at or above 53_s._, until Feb. 1, 1849, when 1_s._ -duty per quarter only was to be levied on all kinds of imported grain. -This shilling was taken off on June 24, 1869, and there is now no -hindrance of any sort to the importation of foreign corn. - -Although there was fierce political contention over the Anti-Corn Law -agitation physical force was not resorted to, and the next bread riots -we hear of were in 1855. They seem to have begun at Liverpool, where, -on Feb. 19, an unruly mob took possession of the city, clamouring for -bread and looting the bakers’ shops. The police were unable to cope -with the riot; therefore, special constables were sworn in and peace -was restored towards evening. Next day about 60 prisoners were brought -before the magistrates; some were committed for trial, others sentenced -to one, two, or three months’ imprisonment. - -The riot spread to London, and during the night of Feb. 21 and the -whole day of Feb. 22 the East End and South of London were terrorised -by bands of men perambulating the streets and demanding bread and money -from the inhabitants; some shops were looted, but, thanks to the police -and the distribution of a large quantity of bread, serious consequences -were averted. Several arrests were made and punishment duly meted out. - -On September 14, 1855, there were bread riots in Nottingham, where the -mob broke the bakers’ windows and proceeded to such extremities that -special constables were sworn in and peace was restored. - -On three successive Sundays, October 14, 21, and 28, 1855, there were -disorderly meetings on account of the dearness of bread held in Hyde -Park; the windows of many houses were smashed, but the disturbances -hardly amounted to riot; and the same occurred on November 4, 11, and -18, but the police prevented the mob from doing much mischief. Since -then we have never known a _bread riot_, although the unemployed, -Anarchists, etc., have at times been troublesome. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -LEGENDS ABOUT BREAD. - - -As might be expected in an article of such worldwide consumption -as bread, there is a considerable amount of folk-lore and sayings -attendant on it. We can even find it in Shakespeare, for, in _Hamlet_ -(Act iv. s. 5), Ophelia says: ‘They say the owl was a baker’s -daughter.’ This, unless one knew the Gloucestershire legend, would be -unintelligible, but the bit of folk-lore makes it all clear. The story -goes that our Saviour went into a baker’s shop, where they were baking, -and asked for some bread to eat. The mistress of the shop immediately -put a piece of dough into the oven to bake for Him, but was reprimanded -by her daughter, who, insisting that the piece of dough was too large, -reduced it to a very small size. The dough, however, immediately -afterwards began to swell, and presently became a most enormous loaf; -whereupon the baker’s daughter cried out: ‘Heugh! heugh! heugh!’ which -owl-like noise probably induced our Saviour to transform her into that -bird. This tradition is also current in Wales; but, there, the baker’s -daughter altogether refuses to give Jesus a bit of dough, for which -He changed her into the _Cassek gwenwyn, lilith, lamia, strix_, the -night-spectre, _mara_, the screech-owl. - -In the catalogue of the pictures at Kenilworth, belonging to Queen -Elizabeth’s Earl of Leicester at the time of his death (September 4, -1588), are ‘The Picture of King Philip, with a Curtaine,’ and ‘The -Picture of the Baker’s Daughter, with a Curtaine.’ And he had a copy of -the same, or another picture of ‘The Baker’s Daughter,’ at his house at -Wanstead. Whether this was a picture of the foregoing legend or not, no -one can tell; but it has been suggested, from the fact of King Philip -and the baker’s daughter coming in sequence in the catalogue, that it -was the portrait of a female respecting whom there was some scandal -current during Mary’s lifetime; it being said in an old ballad that -Philip loved - - ‘The baker’s daughter, in her russet gown, - Better than Queen Mary, with her crown.’ - -Here is another story of miraculous bread. The _Mirakel Steeg_ (Miracle -Street), at Leyden, derives its name from a miracle which happened -there in 1315, and which is thus related in the _Kronyk van Holland van -den Klerk_: ‘In the aforesaid year of famine, in the town of Leyden, -there occurred a signal miracle to two women who lived next door to -each other; for one having bought a barley loaf she cut it into two -pieces and laid one half by, for that was all her living, because of -the great dearness and famine that prevailed. And as she stood, and was -cutting off the one half for her children, her neighbour, who was in -great want and need through hunger, saw her, and begged her, for God’s -sake, to give her the other half, and she would pay her well. But she -denied again and again, and affirmed mightily and by oath that she had -no other bread, and as her neighbour would not believe her, she said in -an angry mood: “If I have any bread in my house more than this, I pray -God that it may turn to stone.” Then her neighbour left her and went -away. But when the first half of the loaf was eaten up, and she went -for the other half which she had laid by, that bread was become stone, -which stone, just as the bread was, is now at Leyden, at St. Peter’s -Church, and as a sign they are wont, on all high feast days, to lay it -before the Holy Ghost.’ - -A stone loaf, supposed to be this one, is now shown at the hospital in -Middelburg, where, in the vestibule, hangs an old picture representing -the miracle at Leyden. The original stone loaf, it is believed, -disappeared from Leyden about the time of the Reformation. - -Of all extraordinary uses to which a loaf of bread could be put is that -of ‘sin eating,’ by which, at a funeral, a man was found who would for -a small fee eat a loaf of bread, in the eating of which he was supposed -to take the dead man’s sins upon himself. In a letter from John -Bagford, a famous bookseller, dated February 1, 1714-15, relating to -the antiquities of London, which is printed in Leland’s _Collectanea_, -he says: ‘Within the memory of our fathers in Shropshire, in those -villages adjoyning to Wales, when a person dyed there was notice given -to an old sire (for so they called him), who presently repaired to the -place where the deceased lay, and stood before the door of the house, -when some of the family came out and furnished him with a cricket, on -which he sat down, facing the door. Then they gave him a groat, which -he put in his pocket; a crust of bread, which he eat; and a full bowle -of ale, which he drank off at a draught. After this he got up from the -cricket and pronounced, with a composed gesture, _the ease and rest of -the soul departed, for which he would pawn his own soul_. This I had -from the ingenious John Aubrey, Esq., who made a collection of curious -observations, which I have seen, and is now remaining in the hands of -Mr. Churchill, the bookseller. How can a man think otherwise of this -than it proceeded from the ancient heathens?’ - -This MS. of Aubrey’s, of which Bagford speaks, is, most probably, that -now preserved in the British Museum (Lansdowne MSS. 231) entitled -‘Romains of Gentilisme and Judaisme,’ and dated February, 1686-7. In it -he thus writes: - -‘SINNE-EATERS.—In the County of Hereford was an old custom at funeralls -to have poor people, who were to take upon them all the sinnes of the -party deceased. One of them, I remember, lived in a cottage on Rosse -Highway. (He was a long, lean, ugly, lamentable poor raskal.) The -manner was, that when the Corps was brought out of the house, and layd -on the Biere, a Loafe of bread was brought out, and delivered to the -Sinne-eater over the corps, as also a Mazar-bowle of Maple (Gossips’ -bowle) full of beer, which he was to drinke up, and sixpence in money, -in consideration whereof he tooke upon him (_ipso facto_) all the -Sinnes of the Defunct, and freed him (or her) from walking after they -were dead. This custome alludes (methinkes) something to the Scapegoate -in ye old Lawe. Leviticus, cap. xvi. verse 21-22: “And Aaron shall lay -both his hands on the head of the live goate, and confesse over him all -ye iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions -in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall -send him away, by the hand of a fitt man, into the wildernesse.” This -custome (though rarely used in our dayes) yet by some people was -continued even in the strictest time of ye Presbyterian government; as -at Dynder, _nolens volens_ the Parson of ye Parish, the relations of a -woman deceased there had the ceremonie punctually performed according -to her Will; also the like was done at ye City of Hereford, in these -times, when a woman kept, manie yeares before her death, a Mazard bowle -for the sinne-eater; and the like as in other places in this Countie, -as also in Brecon, _e.g._, at Llangors, where Mr. Givin, the minister, -about 1640, could no hinder ye performing of this ancient custome. I -believe this custome was, heretofore, used all over Wales’. - -‘See _Juvenal_, Satyr vi. (519-521) where he speaks of throwing purple -thread into the river to carry away one’s sinnes. - -‘In North Wales the Sinne-eaters are frequently made use of; but there, -instead of a Bowle of Beere, they have a bowle of Milke. - -‘Methinkes, Doles to Poore people with money at Funeralls have some -resemblance to that of ye Sinne-eater. Doles at Funeralls were -continued at gentlemen’s funerals in the West of England till the -Civil-warre. And so in Germany at rich men’s funerals Doles are in use, -and to everyone a quart of strong and good beer.’ - -Anent these doles, Pennant says it was customary, when the corpse was -brought out of the house and laid upon the bier, for the next-of-kin, -be it widow, mother, sister, or daughter (for it must be a female), to -give over the coffin a quantity of white loaves in a great dish, and -sometimes a cheese, with a piece of money stuck in it, to certain poor -persons. After that they presented in the same manner a cup of drink, -and required the person to drink a little of it immediately. - -Sin-eating survived the times of Aubrey and Bagford, for in a book, -_Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales_, by the Rev. Paxton Hood, -Lond., 1881, he says: ‘The superstition of the Sin-eater is said to -linger, even now, in the secluded vale of Cwm-Aman, in Carmarthenshire. -The meaning of this most singular institution of superstition was, -that when a person died, the friends sent for the Sin-Eater of the -district, who, on his arrival, placed a plate of salt and bread on the -breast of the deceased person; he then uttered an incantation over the -bread, after which he proceeded to eat it, thereby eating the sins of -the dead person; this done, he received a fee of two and sixpence, -which, we suppose, was much more than many a preacher received for a -long and painful service. Having received this, he vanished as quickly -as possible, all the friends and relatives of the departed aiding his -exit with blows and kicks, and other indications of their faith in the -service he had rendered. A hundred years since, and through the ages -before that time, we suppose this curious superstition was everywhere -prevalent.’ - -Bread and salt are used in several ways. In Russia, Servia, and -wherever the Greek Church holds sway, they are presented to -honoured guests as a welcome. The custom even obtains in England. A -correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ (5 Series ix. 48), says: ‘Some -years since I called for the first time on Canon Percy, of Carlisle, at -his residence there. When refreshments had been offered and declined, -he said: “You must have some bread and salt,” with some remarks to -imply that it was the way to establish a friendship. These were then -brought in and eaten, without anything to lead one to suppose that this -was an unusual custom in the house.’ - -There was another curious custom in the North of England, as another -correspondent shows in the same volume (p. 138): ‘In the North Riding, -20 or 30 years ago, a roll of new bread, a pinch of table salt, and a -new silver groat, or fourpenny-piece, were offered to every babe on -its first visit to a friend’s house. The gift was certainly made, more -than once, to me, and I recollect seeing it made to other babies. The -groat was reserved for its proper owner, but the nurse, who carried -that owner, appropriated the bread and salt, and was gratified with -a half-crown or so.’ Several other correspondents confirm this, and -somewhat enlarge upon it, including in the gift an egg and a match. One -(5 Ser. x. 216) thus explains the custom: ‘The custom of presenting an -egg, etc., is widely distributed. I can answer for it in Lincolnshire, -Yorkshire, and Durham. In Lincolnshire, at the first visit of a new -baby at a friendly house, it is presented with “an egg, both meat and -drink; salt, which savours everything; bread, the staff of life; a -match, to light it through the world; and a coin, that it may never -want money.” This is the case at Winterton, where it is still done. In -Durham, a piece of christening-cake is hidden under the child’s robe, -and given to the first person of the opposite sex met on coming out -of church. This is wholly distinct from the egg presentation.’ It is -common at Edinburgh, and in other parts of Scotland, to give bread and -cheese, on the Sabbath, to the first person of the opposite sex met -with when the baby is taken to church to be baptised. - -One of the most peculiar uses to which a loaf of bread could be put is -the discovery of the bodies of drowned persons. The earliest instance I -can find is in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for 1767, p. 189. (It is also -in the _Annual Register_ for the same year.) ‘Wednesday, April 8.—An -inquisition was taken, at Newbery, Berks, on the body of a child, near -two years old, who fell into the river Kennet and was drowned. The jury -brought in their verdict, Accidental death. The body was discovered by -a very singular experiment, which was as follows: After diligent search -had been made in the river for the child, to no purpose, a twopenny -leaf, with a quantity of quicksilver put into it, was set floating -from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which -steered its course down the river, upwards of half a mile, before a -great number of spectators, when the body, happening to lay on the -contrary side of the river, the loaf suddenly tacked about, and swam -across the river, and gradually sunk near the child, when both the -child and loaf were immediately brought up with grubbers ready for that -purpose.’ - -This superstition has survived till modern times, as the following -three or four instances will show. On January 24, 1872, a boy named -Harris fell into the stream at Sherborne, Dorsetshire, near Dark Hole -Mill, and was drowned. The body not having been found for some days, -the following expedient was adopted to discover its whereabouts: On -January 30, a four-pound loaf, of the best flour, was procured, and a -small piece cut out of its side, forming a cavity, into which a little -quicksilver was poured. The piece was then replaced and tied firmly in -its original position. The loaf, thus prepared, was then thrown into -the river at the spot where the boy fell in, and was expected to float -down the stream until it came to the place where the body was supposed -to have lodged, when it began to eddy round and round, thus indicating -the sought-for spot; but on this occasion there was no result. - -A writer in _Notes and Queries_, January 3, 1878, p. 8, says: ‘A young -woman has singularly disappeared at Swinton, near Sheffield. The canal -has been unsuccessfully dragged, and the Swinton folk are now going -to test the merits of a local superstition which afirms that a loaf -of bread containing quicksilver, if cast upon the water, will drift -to, keep afloat, and remain stationary over any dead body which may be -lying immersed out of sight.’ - -The _Leeds Mercury_, October 26, 1883, has the following: ‘A Press -Association despatch says: Adelaide Amy Terry, servant to Dr. Williams, -of Brentford, was sent to a neighbour with a message on Sunday -evening, and as she did not return, and was known to be short-sighted, -it was feared she had fallen into the canal, which was dragged, but -without success. On Tuesday an old bargewoman suggested that a loaf of -bread, in which some quicksilver had been placed, should be floated in -the water. This was done, and the loaf became stationary at a certain -spot The dragging was resumed there, and the body was discovered.’ - -The following is from the _Stamford Mercury_, December 18, 1885: -‘At Ketton, on Tuesday, an inquest was held by Mr. Shield, coroner, -touching the death of Harry Baker, aged twenty-three, who was missed -on the night of November 27, after the termination of the polling for -the county election, and was believed to have walked into the ford, -near the stone bridge, during the darkness. The river at that time -was running strongly, and deceased had no companions with him. The -dragging-irons from Stamford were obtained, and a protracted search -was made in the river, but without result. However, in obedience to -the wish of Baker’s mother, a loaf charged with quicksilver (said to -have been scraped from an old looking-glass) was cast upon the waters, -and it came to a standstill in the river at the bottom of Mr. Lewin’s -field. Here the grappling-hooks were put in, and at four o’clock on -Monday afternoon last the corpse was brought to the surface, having -been in the water seventeen days. The river had been dragged several -times before at this spot.’ - -Nor is this superstition confined to England, for in Brittany, when -the body of a drowned man cannot be found, a lighted taper is fixed -in a loaf consecrated to St. Nicholas, which is then abandoned to the -retreating current, and where the loaf stops there they expect to find -the body. In Germany the name of the drowned person is inscribed on the -bread. And a somewhat similar idea seems to obtain among the Canadian -Indians, for Sir Jas. E. Alexander, in his _L’Acadie_ (p. 26), says: -‘The Indians imagine that in the case of a drowned body its place may -be discovered by floating a chip of cedar-wood, which will stop and -turn round over the exact spot. An instance occurred within my own -knowledge in the case of Mr. Lavery, of Kingston Mill, whose boat -overset, and the person was drowned near Cedar Island; nor could the -body be discovered until the experiment was resorted to.’ - -Aubrey (_Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme_) says he had the following -from old Mr. Frederick Vaughan: ‘The Friar’s Mendicant heretofore would -take their opportunity to come to the houses when the good woemen did -bake, and would _read a Ghospel over the batch_, and the good woman -would give them a cake, etc. It should seem by Chaucer’s tale that they -had a fashion to beg in rhyme— - - “Of your white bread I would desire a shiver, - And of your hen, the liver.”’ - -And Aubrey’s friend, Dr. White Kennet, says in the same book: ‘In Kent -and many other parts the women when they have kneaded their dough into -a loaf cut ye form of a cross on the top of it.’ - -I have been favoured by the Rev. T. F. Thiselton-Dyer, whose works on -folk-lore are so deservedly well known, with the following notes on -superstitions about bread: - -‘Throughout the world a special respect has always been paid to -bread as the “staff of life.” Hence, according to a trite and common -saying: “The man who wastes bread will live to want.” It is not -surprising, indeed, that this food of man, which in some form or other -is indispensable, should have from time immemorial been invested with -an almost sacred character, anyone who is recklessly careless of the -household loaf incurring risk of poverty one day himself. - -‘At the outset, it may be noticed that, as a precautionary measure -against mishaps of any kind, many housewives were formerly in the habit -of making the sign of the cross on their loaves of bread before placing -them in the ovens, a practice which is still kept up in some parts of -the country. Various explanations have been assigned for this custom, -the common one being “that it prevents the bread turning out heavy.” In -Shropshire one day remarked an elderly maidservant: “We always make a -cross on the flour before baking, and on the malt before mashing up for -brewing. It’s to keep it from being bewitched.” Some, again, maintain -that the sign of the cross “keeps the bread from getting mouldy,” but -whatever the true reason, it is persistently adhered to in the West of -England. As, however, evil spirits and malicious fairies were generally -supposed to be powerless when confronted with the sign of the cross, -there is every reason to suppose that this is the origin of this -superstition. - -‘In days gone by, too, bread was used as a charm against witches, no -doubt from its being stamped with the sign of the holy cross. Herrick, -for instance, in his _Hesperides_, alludes to this usage in the -following rhyme: - - “Bring the holy crust of bread, - Lay it underneath the head; - ’Tis a certain charm to keep - Hags away while children sleep.” - -‘Bread, too, has long been employed as a physical charm for the -cure of various complaints. Thus, an old book, entitled _A Work for -Householders_, written in the early part of the 16th century, gives -this charm as in use for the toothache. “The Charmer taketh a piece of -white bread, and saith over that bread the Pater Noster, and maketh a -cross upon the bread; then doth he lay that piece of bread upon the -tooth that acheth or unto any sore, turning the cross unto the sore or -disease, and so is the person healed.” Then there was the famous Good -Friday bread, which was in request for its medicinal virtues, being -considered a sovereign remedy for diarrhœa when grated in a small -quantity of water. An anecdote is told of a cottager who lamented that -her poor neighbour must certainly die, because she had already given -her two doses of this bread, but, unfortunately, without any success. -Indeed, in days gone by, so much importance was attached to bread thus -baked, that there were in most parts few country houses in which it was -not to be found. At the present day also one may occasionally find the -custom kept up, especially in the Northern counties, where so many of -the old beliefs survive. - -‘But these are not the only ways in which bread has been the source -of superstition, it having held a prominent place in numerous curious -ceremonies. Thus sailors used it as offerings to propitiate the -elements; and we are told how the seafaring community of Greece, in -the 17th century, were accustomed to take to sea 30 loaves of bread, -consecrated and named St. Nicholas’ loaves. In case of a storm these -were thrown into the sea one by one, until they had succeeded in -calming the waves. - -‘Oblations of this kind were of frequent occurrence in past years. The -Russian sailor, in order to appease the angry spirit that troubled the -waters of the White Sea, would cast into the water a small cake or loaf -made of flour and butter. Again, a Norwegian story states that a sailor -wished, according to custom, to give on Christmas Day a cake to the -spirit that presided over the waters; but, when he came to the shore, -lo! the waters were frozen over. Unwilling to leave his little offering -on the ice, the sailor tried to make a hole; but in spite of all his -efforts it was not large enough for him to put his cake through. -Suddenly, to his surprise, a tiny hand, as white as snow, was stretched -through the hole, and seizing the offering withdrew with it. - -‘To give a further illustration, we are told by a correspondent of -_Mélusine_ (Jan., 1885) that in the Isle de Sein “a little ship made -of bread crusts is suspended over the table, and on Holy Thursday it -is lowered down and burnt, while all uncover and the _Veni Creator_ -is sung. Another bread ship is then suspended over the table. This -ceremony is known as the Ship Feast, and is designed to insure the -safety of the family fishing boat.” Among further beliefs current among -sailors in our own country is the notion that it is unlucky to turn a -loaf upside down after helping oneself from it, the idea being that for -every loaf so turned a ship will be wrecked. It is also said that if -a loaf parts in the hand while being cut it bodes dissensions in the -family—the separation of husband and wife. - -‘Once more, bread is not without its many traditions and legendary -lore. According to a popular tale told of the City of Stavoreen, -Holland, there resided in it a certain rich virgin, who owned many -ships. One day she entertained a wizard, but gave him no bread. In -consequence of this serious omission he predicted her downfall, -remarking that bread was the most useful and necessary thing. Soon -after a shipmaster was bidden to procure the most valuable cargo in the -world. He chose a load of wheat; but on arriving with his cargo, he -was ordered to throw it overboard. It was in vain that he begged to be -allowed to give it to the poor. Accordingly it was thrown into the sea; -but the wheat sprouted, and a bank grew up, the harbour being ruined -for ever. A Welsh legend tells how, many years ago, a man who dwelt -in the parish of Myddvai saw three beautiful nymphs in the water, and -courted them. They, however, called him “Eater of Hard-baked Bread,” -and refused to have anything to do with him. One day, however, he -saw floating on the lake a substance resembling unbaked bread, which -he fished up and ate, and was thereby possessed of one of the lovely -water-nymphs. - -‘Thus, in one form or another, bread can boast of an extensive and -widespread folk-lore, besides having in our own and other countries -been made the subject of numerous proverbs, many of which are -well-known from daily use as incorporating familiar truths. The common -saying, for instance, which says: - -‘Never turn a loaf in the presence of a Menteith,’ originated with Sir -Walter Scott, in his _Tales by a Grandfather_, thus: Sir John Stewart -de Menteith was the person who betrayed Sir William Wallace to King -Edward. His signal was, when he turned a loaf set upon the table, the -guests were to rush on the patriot and seize him. Then there is the -phrase, “to cut large slices out of another man’s loaf,” referring to -those who look after themselves at their neighbour’s expense. A popular -Scotch proverb tells us that ‘Bread’s house skailed never”; in other -words, a full or hospitable house never wants visitors; and, according -to another old proverb, “Bread and milk is bairns’ meat, I wish them -sorry that lo’e it.”’ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries_, by -David Livingstone. Lond. 1865, p. 543. - -[2] Mulcture—fine. - -[3] Lose. - -[4] A measure containing 10 homers, or about 60 pints. - -[5] Vol. II., 89. - -[6] Vol. IV., 167, 168. - -[7] _Ilios._ By Dr. H. Schliemann. London, 1880, pp. 32, 33. - -[8] Prize. - -[9] Knot. - -[10] Hinges. - -[11] Nostrils. - -[12] Jongleur and joker. - -[13] Took toll thrice. - -[14] Some careful investigations have been made by M. Balland on the -temperature which is reached in the interior of a loaf of bread during -baking, and the results are published in the _Comptes Rendus_, Paris. -Delicate thermometers were inserted in the dough before placing it in -the oven, and on the removal of the loaf the temperature recorded was -carefully noted. It seems that, contrary to the opinions expressed -by some investigators—that the heat generated in the crumb of the -bread never exceeds 212° Fahr.—that is to say, the temperature of -boiling water—M. Balland finds that it invariably attains from 212° to -216° Fahr., while that of the outer crust, which cannot form at this -temperature, is very much higher. - -[15] _The English Bread Book for Domestic Use, &c._, by Eliza Acton, -London, 1857. 8vo. - -[16] _A Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms._ By the Rev. -F. G. Lee. London: 1877; p. 17. - -[17] He was a constant attendant in the crowds at Lord Mayor’s Day. - -[18] _Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors_, originally collected by -Thomas Blount. London, 1874, 8vo. - -[19] _A Collection of Old English Customs, etc._ By H. Edwards. London, -1842. - - - THE END. - - - LONDON: - - PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, - - DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W. - - - - -=Popular Natural History of the Lower Animals.= - -=Invertebrates.= - -By HENRY SCHERREN, F.Z.S., - -Author of ‘Through a Pocket Lens,’ etc. - -With 169 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 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