Poor Richard Improved, 1757
Poor Richard improved: Being an Almanack and Ephemeris...for the
Year of our Lord 1757: ... By Richard Saunders,
Philom. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, and D. Hall.
(Yale University Library)
Courteous Reader,
As no temporal Concern is of more Importance to
us than Health, and that depends so much on the Air we every
Moment breathe, the Choice of a good wholesome Situation to fix a
Dwelling in, is a very serious Affair to every Countryman about to
begin the World, and well worth his Consideration, especially as
not only the Comfort of Living, but even the Necessaries
of Life, depend in a great Measure upon it; since a Family
frequently sick can rarely if ever thrive. The following Extracts
therefore from a late Medical Writer, Dr. Pringle, on that Subject,
will, I hope, be acceptable and useful to some of my Readers.
I hear that some have already, to their great
Advantage, put in Practice the Use of Oxen recommended in my last.
’Tis a Pleasure to me to be any way serviceable in communicating
useful Hints to the Publick; and I shall be obliged to others for
affording me the Opportunity of enjoying that Pleasure more
frequently, by sending me from time to time such of their own
Observations, as may be advantageous if published in the Almanack.
I am thy obliged Friend,
Richard Saunders
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How to make a Striking Sundial, by
which not only a Man’s |
Chuse an open Place in your Yard or Garden, on
which the Sun may shine all Day without any Impediment from Trees
or Buildings. On the Ground mark out your Hour Lines, as for a
horizontal Dial, according to Art, taking Room enough for the Guns.
On the Line for One o’Clock, place one Gun; on the Two o’Clock Line
two Guns, and so of the rest. The Guns must all be charged with
Powder, but Ball is unnecessary. Your Gnomon or Style must have
twelve burning Glasses annex’d to it, and be so placed as that the
Sun shining through the Glasses, one after the other, shall cause
the Focus or burning Spot to fall on the Hour Line of One for
Example, at one a Clock, and there kindle a Train of Gunpowder that
shall fire one Gun. At Two a Clock, a Focus shall fall on the Hour
Line of Two, and kindle another Train that shall discharge two Guns
successively; and so of the rest.
Note, There must be 78 Guns in all. Thirty-two
Pounders will be best for this Use; but 18 Pounders may do, and
will cost less, as well as use less Powder, for nine Pounds of
Powder will do for one Charge of each eighteen Pounder, whereas the
Thirty-two Pounders would require for each Gun 16 Pounds.
Note also, That the chief Expence will be the
Powder, for the Cannon once bought, will, with Care, last 100
Years.
Note moreover, That there will be a great
Saving of Powder in cloudy Days.
Kind Reader, Methinks I hear thee say, That
it is indeed a good Thing to know how the Time passes, but
this Kind of Dial, notwithstanding the mentioned Savings,
would be very expensive; and the Cost greater than the
Advantage. Thou art wise, my Friend, to be so considerate
beforehand; some Fools would not have found out so much, till they
had made the Dial and try’d it. Let all such learn that many a
private and many a publick Project, are like this Striking
Dial, great Cost for little Profit. January. I Month.
Conversation Hints.
Good Sense and Learning may Esteem obtain,
Humour and Wit a Laugh, if rightly ta’en;
Fair Virtue Admiration may impart;
But ’tis Good-Nature only wins the
Heart:
It molds the Body to an easy Grace,
And brightens every Feature of the Face;
It smooths th’unpolish’d Tongue with Eloquence,
And adds Persuasion to the finest Sense.
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He that would rise at Court, must begin by Creeping. |
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Many a Man’s own Tongue gives Evidence against his
Under- |
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Nothing dries sooner than a Tear. |
When a Man looks back upon his Day, Week or
Year spent, and finds his Business has been worthy the Dignity of
human Nature, it exhilerates and revives him, enables him to pass
his own Approbation on himself, and, as it were, to anticipate the
Euge, the Well done, good and faithful Servant, he
shall one Day receive from his great Master. But he that gives
himself only the idle Divertisements of a Child, cannot reflect on
Time past without Confusion; and is forced to take Sanctuary in a
total Inconsideration, or run from one Amusement to another, to
avoid Thinking, or answering to himself the Question, What have
I done? Idleness, and its Amusements are in the End more
tiresome than Labour itself.
Uneasy both in Country and in Town,
They search a Place to lay their Burthen down:
One, restless in his Parlour, walks abroad,
And vainly thinks to leave behind his Load;
But strait returns; for he’s as restless there,
And finds there’s no Relief in open Air.
To’s Country Seat another would retire,
And spurs as hard as if it were on Fire,
There soon begins to yawn, and stretch and snore,
And seeks the City which he left before.
Would you both please, and be instructed too,
The Pride of shewing forth yourself subdue.
Hear ev’ry Man upon his fav’rite Theme,
And ever be more knowing than you seem.
The lowest Genius will afford some Light,
Or give a Hint that had escap’d your Sight.
Doubt, till he thinks you on Conviction yield,
And with fit Questions let each Pause be fill’d.
And the most knowing will with Pleasure grant,
You’re rather much reserv’d than ignorant.
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’Tis easier to build two Chimneys, than maintain one in
Fuel. |
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Anger warms the Invention, but overheats the Oven. |
Is there any Duty in Religion more generally
agreed on, or more justly required by God, than a perfect
Submission to his Will in all Things? Can any Disposition of Mind,
either please him more, or become us better, than that of being
satisfied with all he gives, and content with all he takes away?
None, certainly, can be of more Honour to God, nor of more Ease to
ourselves; for if we consider him as our Maker, we dare not contend
with him; if as our Father, we ought not to mistrust him; so that
we may be confident whatever he does is for our Good, and whatever
happens that we interpret otherwise, yet we can get nothing by
Repining, nor save anything by Resisting.
’Tis done, O Lord, the Idol I resign,
Unfit to share a Heart so justly thine;
Nor can the Heav’nly Call unwelcome be,
That still invites my Soul more near to thee:
Ye Shades, ye Phantoms, and ye Dreams adieu!
With Smiles I now your parting Glories view.
I see the Hand; I worship, I adore,
And justify the great disposing Power.
Rules of Law fit to
be observed in purchasing. From an old Book.
First, see the Land which thou intend’st to buy,
Within the Seller’s Title clear doth lie.
And that no Woman to it doth lay Claim,
By Dowry, Jointure, or some other Name,
That it may cumber. Know if bound or free
The Tenure stand, and that from each Feoffee
It be releas’d: That the Seller be so old
That he may lawful sell, thou lawful hold.
Have special Care that it not mortgag’d lie,
Nor be entailed on Posterity.
Then if it stand in Statute bound or no:
Be well advis’d what Quit Rent out must go;
What Custom, Service hath been done of old,
By those who formerly the same did hold.
And if a wedded Woman put to Sale,
Deal not with her, unless she bring her Male.
For she doth under Covert-Baron go,
Altho’ sometimes some also traffick so.
Thy Bargain being made, and all this done,
Have special Care to make thy Charter run
To thee, thine Heirs, Executors, Assigns,
For that beyond thy Life securely binds.
These Things foreknown and done, you may prevent
Those Things rash Buyers many times repent.
And yet, when as you have done all you can,
If you’d be sure, deal with an honest Man.
Very good Rules, these, and sweetly sung. If
they are learnt by heart, and repeated often to keep them in
Memory, they may happen to save the Purchaser more Pence than the
Price of my Almanack. In Imitation of this old Writer, I have
Thoughts of turning Coke’s Institutes, and all our Province
Laws into Metre, hoping thereby to engage some of our young Lawyers
and old Justices to read a little. March. III Month.
The Rays of Wit gild wheresoe’er they strike,
But are not therefore fit for all alike;
They charm the lively, but the Grave offend,
And raise a Foe as often as a Friend;
Like the resistless Beams of blazing Light,
That chear the strong, and pain the weakly Sight.
If a bright Fancy therefore be your Share,
Let Judgment watch it with a Guardian’s Care.
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It is Ill-Manners to silence a Fool, and Cruelty to let him
go on. |
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Scarlet, Silk and Velvet, have put out the Kitchen
Fire. |
’Tis like a Torrent, apt to overflow,
Unless by constant Government kept low;
And ne’er inefficacious passes by,
But overturns or gladdens all that’s nigh.
Or else, like Trees, when suffer’d wild to shoot,
That put forth much, but all unripen’d Fruit;
It turns to Affectation and Grimace,
As like to Wit as Gravity to Grace.
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He that would catch Fish, must venture his Bait. |
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Men take more pains to mask than mend. |
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One To-day is worth two To-morrows. |
Since Man is but of a very limited Power in his
own Person, and consequently can effect no great Matter merely by
his own personal Strength, but as he acts in Society and
Conjunction with others; and since no Man can engage the active
Assistance of others, without first engaging their Trust; And
moreover, since Men will trust no further than they judge one, for
his Sincerity, fit to be trusted; it follows, that a
discovered Dissembler can atchieve nothing great or considerable.
For not being able to gain Mens Trust, he cannot gain their
Concurrence; and so is left alone to act singly and upon his own
Bottom; and while that is the Sphere of his Activity, all that he
can do must needs be contemptible.
Sincerity has such resistless Charms,
She oft the fiercest of our Foes disarms:
No Art she knows, in native Whiteness dress’d,
Her Thoughts all pure, and therefore all express’d:
She takes from Error its Deformity;
And without her all other Virtues die.
Bright Source of Goodness! to my Aid descend.
Watch o’er my Heart, and all my Words attend.
How hard soe’er it be to bridle Wit,
Yet Mem’ry oft no less requires the Bit:
How many, hurried by its Force away,
For ever in the Land of Gossips stray!
Usurp the Province of the Nurse, to lull,
Without her Privilege for being dull!
Tales upon Tales they raise, ten Stories high,
Without Regard to Use or Symmetry.
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The way to be safe, is never to be secure. |
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Dally not with other Folks Women or Money. |
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Work as if you were to live 100 Years, Pray as if you were
to die |
It is generally agreed to be Folly, to
hazard the Loss of a Friend, rather than lose a Jest.
But few consider how easily a Friend may be thus lost. Depending on
the known Regard their Friends have for them, Jesters take more
Freedom with Friends than they would dare to do with others, little
thinking how much deeper we are wounded by an Affront from one we
love. But the strictest Intimacy can never warrant Freedoms of this
Sort; and it is indeed preposterous to think they should; unless we
can suppose Injuries are less Evils when they are done us by
Friends, than when they come from other Hands.
Excess of Wit may oftentimes beguile:
Jests are not always pardon’d—by a Smile.
Men may disguise their Malice at the Heart,
And seem at Ease—tho’ pain’d with inward Smart.
Mistaken, we—think all such Wounds of course
Reflection cures;—alas! it makes them worse.
Like Scratches they with double Anguish seize,
Rankle in time, and fester by Degrees.
A Story should, to please, at least seem true,
Be apropos, well told, concise, and new;
And whensoe’er it deviates from these Rules,
The Wise will sleep, and leave Applause to Fools.
But others, more intolerable yet,
The Waggeries that they’ve said, or heard, repeat;
Heavy by Mem’ry made, and what’s the worst,
At second-hand as often as at first.
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Pride breakfasted with Plenty, dined with
Poverty, supped with |
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Retirement does not always secure Virtue; Lot was upright
in the |
But sarcastical Jests on a Man’s Person or his
Manners, tho’ hard to bear, are perhaps more easily borne than
those that touch his Religion. Men are generally warm in what
regards their religious Tenets, either from Tenderness of
Conscience, or a high Sense of their own Judgments. People of plain
Parts and honest Dispositions, look on Salvation as too serious a
Thing to be jested with; and Men of speculative Religion, who
profess from the Conviction rather of their Heads than Hearts, are
not a bit less vehement than the real Devotees. He who says a
slight or a severe Thing of their Faith, seems to them to have
thereby undervalued their Understandings, and will consequently
incur their Aversion, which no Man of common Sense would hazard for
a lively Expression; much less a Person of good Breeding, who
should make it his chief Aim to be well with all.
Like some grave Matron of a noble Line,
With awful Beauty does Religion shine.
Just Sense should teach us to revere the Dame,
Nor, by imprudent Jests, to spot her Fame.
In common Life you’ll own this Reas’ning right,
That none but Fools in gross Abuse delight:
Then use it here—nor think the Caution vain;
To be polite, Men need not be profane.
But above all Things, Raillery decline,
Nature but few does for that Task design;
’Tis in the ablest Hand a dangerous Tool,
But never fails to wound the meddling Fool:
For all must grant it needs no common Art
To keep Men patient while we make them smart.
Not Wit alone, nor Humour’s self, will do,
Without Good nature, and much Prudence too.
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Idleness is the Dead Sea, that swallows all Virtues:
Be active in |
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Shame and the Dry-belly-ach were Diseases of
the last Age; this |
In studying Law or Physick, or any other Art or
Science, by which you propose to get your Livelihood, though you
find it at first hard, difficult and unpleasing, use Diligence,
Patience and Perseverance; the Irksomness of your Task
will thus diminish daily, and your Labour shall finally be crowned
with Success. You shall go beyond all your Competitors who are
careless, idle or superficial in their Acquisitions, and be at the
Head of your Profession. Ability will command Business,
Business Wealth; and Wealth an easy and honourable
Retirement when Age shall require it.
Near to the wide extended Coasts of Spain,
Some Islands triumph o’er the raging Main;
Where dwelt of old, as tuneful Poets say,
Slingers, who bore from all the Prize away.
While Infants yet, their feeble Nerves they try’d;
Nor needful Food, till won by Art, supply’d.
Fix’d was the Mark, the Youngster oft in vain,
Whirl’d the misguided Stone with fruitless Pain:
’Till, by long Practice, to Perfection brought,
With easy Sleight their former Task they wrought.
Swift from their Arm th’unerring Pebble flew,
And high in Air, the flutt’ring Victim slew.
So in each Art Men rise but by Degrees,
And Months of Labour lead to Years of Ease.
Of all the Qualities that help to raise
In Men the universal Voice of Praise,
Whether in Pleasure or in Use they end,
There’s none that can with Modesty
contend.
Yet ’tis but little that its Form be caught,
Unless its Origin be first in Thought;
Else rebel Nature will reveal the Cheat,
And the whole Work of Art at once defeat.
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Tho’ the Mastiff be gentle, yet bite him not by the
Lip. |
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Great-Alms-giving, lessens no Man’s Living. |
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The royal Crown cures not the Head-ach. |
On the Freedom of the Press.
While free from Force the Press remains,
Virtue and Freedom chear our Plains,
And Learning Largesses bestows,
And keeps unlicens’d open House.
We to the Nation’s publick Mart
Our Works of Wit, and Schemes of Art,
And philosophic Goods, this Way,
Like Water carriage, cheap convey.
This Tree which Knowledge so affords,
Inquisitors with flaming Swords
From Lay-Approach with Zeal defend,
Lest their own Paradise should end.
The Press from her fecundous Womb
Brought forth the Arts of Greece and Rome;
Her Offspring, skill’d in Logic War,
Truth’s Banner wav’d in open Air;
The Monster Superstition fled,
And hid in Shades her Gorgon Head;
And lawless Pow’r, the long kept Field,
By Reason quell’d, was forc’d to yield.
This Nurse of Arts, and Freedom’s Fence,
To chain, is Treason against Sense:
And Liberty, thy thousand Tongues
None silence who design no Wrongs;
For those that use the Gag’s Restraint,
First rob, before they stop Complaint.
Hold forth upon yourself on no Pretence,
Unless invited, or in Self-Defence;
The Praise you take, altho’ it be your Due,
Will be suspected if it come from you.
If to seem modest, you some Faults confess,
The World suspect yet more, and never less:
For each Man, by Experience taught, can tell
How strong a Flatterer does within him dwell.
These Aspects make it clear to me,
That rain and thunder there will be,
As sure as two and one make three.
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Act uprightly, and despise Calumny; Dirt may stick to a
Mud |
Paradoxes.
I. The Christians observe the first Day
of the Week for their Sunday, the Jews the Seventh for their
Sabbath, the Turks the sixth Day of the Week for the Time of
their Worship; but there is a particular Place of the Globe, to
which if a Christian, Jew, and Turk sail in one and the same Ship,
they shall keep the Time for their Worship on different Days, as
above, all the Time they are sailing to that particular Place; but
when they arrive at that Place, and during the Time they remain at
it, they shall all keep their Sabbath on one and the same Day; but
when they depart from that Place, they shall all differ as
before.
II. There is a certain Port, from which if
three Ships depart at one and the same time, and sail on three
particular different Courses, till they return to the Port they
departed from; and if in one of these Ships be Christians, in the
second Jews, and in the third Turks, when they return to the Port
they departed from, they shall differ so with respect to real and
apparent Time, that they all shall keep their Sabbath on one and
the same Day of the Week, and yet each of them separately shall
believe that he keeps his Sabbath on the Day of the Week his
Religion requires. October. X
Month.
No Part of Conduct asks for Skill more nice,
Tho’ none more common, than to give Advice:
Misers themselves, in this will not be saving,
Unless their Knowledge makes it worth the having.
And where’s the Wonder, when we will intrude,
An useless Gift, it meets Ingratitude?
Shun then, unask’d, this arduous Task to try;
But, if consulted, use Sincerity.
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The Borrower is a Slave to the Lender; the
Security to both. |
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Singularity in the right, hath ruined many: Happy those who
are |
Ambition to be greater and richer,
merely that a Man may have it in his Power to do more Service to
his Friends and the Publick, is of a quiet orderly Kind, pleased if
it succeeds, resigned if it fails. But the Ambition that has
itself only in View, is restless, turbulent, regardless of
publick Peace, or general Interest, and the secret Maker of most
Mischiefs, between Nations, Parties, Friends and Neighbours.
Let Satyr blast, with every Mark of Hate,
The vain Aspirer, or dishonest Great.
Whom Love of Wealth, or wild Ambition’s Sway
Push forward, still regardless of the Way;
High and more high who aim with restless Pride
Where neither Reason nor fair Virtue guide;
And Him, the Wretch, who labours on with Pain
For the low Lucre of an useless Gain,
(Wise but to get, and active but to save)
May Scorn deserv’d still follow to the Grave.
But he who fond to raise a splendid Name,
On Life’s ambitious Heights would fix his Fame,
In active Arts, or ventrous Arms would shine,
Yet shuns the Paths which Virtue bids decline;
Who dignifies his Wealth by gen’rous Use,
To raise th’Oppress’d, or Merit to produce,
Reason’s impartial Voice shall ne’er condemn,
The glorious Purpose of so wise an Aim.
Be rarely warm in Censure or in Praise;
Few Men deserve our Passion either ways:
For half the World but floats ’twixt Good and Ill,
As Chance disposes Objects, these the Will;
’tis but a see-saw Game, where Virtue now
Mounts above Vice, and then sinks down as low.
Besides, the Wise still hold it for a Rule,
To trust that Judgment most, that seems most cool.
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Proportion your Charity to the Strength of your Estate, or
God |
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The Tongue offends, and the Ears get the Cuffing. |
Some antient Philosophers have said, that
Happiness depends more on the inward Disposition of Mind than on
outward Circumstances; and that he who cannot be happy in any
State, can be so in no State. To be happy, they tell us we must be
content. Right. But they do not teach how we may become content.
Poor Richard shall give you a short good Rule for that. To be
content, look backward on those who possess less than
yourself, not forward on those who possess more. If this
does not make you content, you don’t deserve to be
happy.
Contentment! Parent of
Delight,
So much a Stranger to our Sight,
Say, Goddess, in what happy Place
Mortals behold thy blooming Face;
Thy gracious Auspices impart,
And for thy Temple chuse my Heart.
They whom thou deignest to inspire,
Thy Science learn, to bound Desire;
By happy Alchymy of Mind
They turn to Pleasure all they find.
Unmov’d when the rude Tempest blows,
Without an Opiate they repose;
And, cover’d by your Shield, defy
The whizzing Shafts that round them fly;
Nor, meddling with the Gods Affairs,
Concern themselves with distant Cares;
But place their Bliss in mental Rest,
And feast upon the Good possest.
Would you be well receiv’d where’er you go,
Remember each Man vanquish’d is a Foe:
Resist not therefore to your utmost Might,
But let the Weakest think he’s sometimes right;
He, for each Triumph you shall thus decline,
Shall give ten Opportunities to shine;
He sees, since once you own’d him to excel,
That ’tis his Interest you should reason well.
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Sleep without Supping, and you’ll rise without owing for
it. |
When other Sins grow old by Time,
Then Avarice is in its prime,
Yet feed the Poor at Christmas time.
Learning is a valuable Thing in the
Affairs of this Life, but of infinitely more Importance is
Godliness, as it tends not only to make us happy here but
hereafter. At the Day of Judgment, we shall not be asked, what
Proficiency we have made in Languages or Philosophy; but whether we
have liv’d virtuously and piously as Men endued with Reason, guided
by the Dictates of Religion. In that Hour it will more avail us,
that we have thrown a Handful of Flour or Chaff in Charity to a
Nest of contemptible Pismires, than that we could muster all the
Hosts of Heaven, and call every Star by its proper Name. For then
the Constellations themselves shall disappear, the Sun and Moon
shall give no more Light, and all the Frame of Nature shall vanish.
But our good or bad Works shall remain forever, recorded in the
Archives of Eternity.
Unmov’d alone the Virtuous now appear,
And in their Looks a calm Assurance wear.
From East, from West, from North and South they come,
To take from the most righteous Judge their Doom;
Who thus, to them, with a serene Regard;
(The Books of Life before him laid,
And all the secret Records wide display’d)
“According to your Works be your Reward:
Possess immortal Kingdoms as your Due,
Prepar’d from an eternal Date for you.”
A Receipt for making Sweet Corn, and Suckahtash.
Take the Ears of Indian Corn when in the Milk,
and boil them almost enought to eat, then shell it, and spread it
on a Cloth very thin, and dry it in the Sun till it shrinks to half
its Bigness, and becomes very hard, then put it into any dry Cask,
and it will keep the Year round. When you use it, you must put it
into a Pot, and let it warm moderately over a Fire for three or
four Hours, but which Means it swells considerably, then boil it
till you find ’tis fit to eat. In order to make Suckahtash, ’tis
only putting about a third Part of Beans with the Corn when you
boil it.
Of the expected Comet.
The great blazing-star or Comet, which appeared
in 1531, 1607, and 1682, is expected by Astronomers to return and
appear again in this Year, or the next, for its Periods are
somewhat unequal, and so cannot be exactly ascertained like those
of the Planets which are more regular and better known. According
to its last Period, its next Perihelion should be in July 1757; but
the Length of that before would make it October 25, 1758.
As these huge tremendous Bodies travel thro’
our System, they seem fitted to produce great Changes in it. Mr.
Whiston has gone a good Way towards proving that the Comet of 1668,
was, in one, of its Revolutions, the Cause of the Deluge, by coming
so near this Earth as to raise a vast Tide in the Abyss, by which
the Shell was broke, and the whole overflowed; the Comet too was
then in its Approach towards the Sun, and he supposes its
Atmosphere crouded with the watery Vapours it had gathered in those
inconceivably cold Regions, into which it had fled off in its
Aphelion, and so produced the mentioned Rains. The same Comet Sir
Isaac Newton has calculated, when in its Perihelion December the
8th, was heated by its Nearness to the Sun to a Degree 2000 times
more hot than red hot Iron, and would require 50,000 Years to cool
again. This same Comet, Dr. Halley observed Nov. 11, was not above
a Semidiameter of the Earth from the Earth’s Way; so that had the
Earth at that time been in that Part of its Orbit, something very
extraordinary might have happened either by Water or Fire.
Should a Comet in its Course strike the Earth,
it might instantly beat it to Pieces, or carry it off out of the
Planetary System. The great Conflagration may also, by Means of a
Comet, be easily brought about; for as some of them are supposed to
be much bigger than this Globe we live on, if one should meet with
us in its Return from the Sun, all the Disputes between the Powers
of Europe would be settled in a Moment; the World, to such a Fire,
being no more than a Wasp’s Nest thrown into an Oven.
But our Comfort is, the same great Power that
made the Universe, governs it by his Providence. And such terrible
Catastrophes will not happen till ’tis best they should. In the
mean time, we must not presume too much on our own Importance.
There are an infinite Number of Worlds under the divine Government,
and if this was annihilated it would scarce be miss’d in the
Universe.
God sees with equal Eye, as Lord
of all,
A Hero perish, or a sparrow fall.
Atoms, or Systems, into Ruin hurl’d,
And now a Bubble burst,—and now a World!
How to preserve Meat in hot Weather, without Salt.
A Clean Cloth dipp’d in Vinegar, and wrapt
close round a Joint of Meat, Dr. Boerhaave says, will keep it good
eight Days.
How to stop Blood if a Man is wounded in the Woods.
Powder made of the rotten Heart of a Black Oak,
apply’d, will do it immediately. Some Indians carry a little Bag of
this Powder when they go to War.
There is also a Kind of Fungus, somewhat like a
Horse’s Foot, that grows on old Oaks which have been lopped; it
should be gathered in August or September, and kept dry. The Way of
preparing it, is, to take off with a Knife the white and hard Part,
till you find a Substance so soft, as to yield under the Finger
like shammy Leather. This is to be divided into Pieces of different
Sizes and Thickness: Beat them with a Hammer, to give them a still
greater Degree of Softness, so that they may be easily torn with
the Finger.
If even a Limb be cut off, one of these Pieces
will stanch the Blood, being only applied and pressed against the
bleeding Arteries.
Some say, that this Fungus, or Agaric, as ’tis
called, is best when it has a greyish Colour on the Outside; tho’
the white is very good.
How to recover the Salt out of old Brine or Pickle, so as to be fit
for Use again, and better than at first.
Fill an Iron Pot (the broader and shallower,
the better) with your Brine or Pickle; mix a sufficient Quantity of
Whites of Eggs with the Brine, to clarify it from its Impurities.
Boil it at first gently, and when the Scum hath all arisen, take it
off carefully. As soon as the Brine is skimmed, abate the Fire, and
only retain a moderate Heat, sufficient to keep the Brine of a
scalding Heat. When the Brine is fully depurated, add about a tenth
Part of sour Whey, which will destroy the corrosive or Eating
Quality of the Salt. Keep the Brine of a scalding Heat all the Time
the Salt is graining or forming into Chrystals. When most of the
Water is evaporated, and the Salt chiefly grained, take it from the
Fire; and straining it with a Cloth from the remaining Water, you
will have a clean and most excellent Salt for Use; which being
fine, is fit for the Table; and will moreover preserve Meat good
and sound, without corroding or consuming the Fat, as common Sea
Salt is apt to do.
A General Rule to find the Contents of
close Casks in Gallons, and Parts of a Gallon, Wine-Measure.
Take the Diagonal Line of the Inside of the
Cask, from the Middle of the Bung, to the Bottom of the Head, by
any straight Stick; which measure in Inches, and Parts of an Inch;
cube that Number (that is, multiply it by itself, and multiply that
Product by the same Number) then divide by 370, and the Quotient
will be Gallons; and if there be any Remainder multiply it by 8,
and continue the Division, and the second Quotient will be
Pints.
Exam. I. Admit the Diag-onal of a Cask
be 21 Inches.
Exam. II. Suppose the Diagonal to be 31½
Inches.
The above Rule is easy to the Memory, and will
be found agreeable to most common Casks that are made here, or come
from the West-Indies; so that any Person having a Rule divided into
Inches, and Parts of an Inch, may by this become an expert
Gauger.