_Pepper-Mint Water,_ From the same.

Take Pepper-Mint six handfuls, cut it a little, and infuse it two Days in
six Quarts of clean Spirit; then draw it off in a cold Still, marking every
Bottle, as it fills, with a Number, for the first Bottle will be far the
strongest, the second less strong, and the third weaker than the second;
and so as we draw off more, they will be still weaker, till at last it
becomes almost insipid, and somewhat sourish, but take none of that; then
cover the Mouth of your Bottles with Papers prick'd full of Holes, and let
them stand a Day or two; then pour your first Bottle into a large earthen
glaz'd Pan; and to that the second, and then the third, and the fourth, and
so on, till by mixing they all become of a sufficient strength; then put
them in Bottles, with a Knob or two of double-refin'd Loaf-Sugar, and cork
them close. This is an incomparable pleasant Dram, tasting like Ice, or
Snow, in the Mouth, but creates a fine warmth in the Stomach, and yields a
most refreshing Flavour.

This Sort of Mint is hard to be met with; but is lately cultivated in some
Physick Gardens at _Mitcham_. It must be kept well weeded, and the top of
the Bed, where it grows, must, when we cut it, be pricked up, a little,
with a small Fork, or the Earth made fine with a Trowel; because the
Runners, of this sort of Mint, shoot along upon the Surface of the Ground,
and so at the Joints strike Root, which is contrary to other Sorts of Mint,
which shoot their Runners under ground.



_Damson-Wine_ to imitate _Claret._ From the same.