NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
183
general use and benefit to poor, mean, and indigent people, I will beg your
patience until I acquaint you with the way and manner of making it ; which is
this : —
They take pilled turneps and boyl them in water until they are soft and
tender ; then, pressing strongly out the juice, they mix them, being beaten or
pounded very fine and small, with their weight of wheat meal ; then, adding
Salt, q.s., and warm water, they knead it up as other dough or paste ; which,
having lain a little while to ferment, they order it and bake it as common
bread.
Of this Turnep-btead (for so they call it), I have both seen and tasted and
can assure you that, to the eye, it's not to be distinguisht from common wheaten
or household bread ; neither doth the scent much betray it, especially when
cold ; only, to dainty and nice palates, the turneps are a little (and but a little)
perceived.
Yours,
Samuel Dale.
Whether or not this or similar bread has been made in Essex
in more recent times, I cannot say.—Miller Christy, Chignal
St. James, Chelmsford.
Faversham Deneholes.—I am indebted to Prof. Meldola
for the opportunity of reading a little book, published in 1806 by
Longman and Co., and entitled An Excursion from London to Dover,
by Jane Gardiner, Elsham Hall, Lincolnshire. It is in two
volumes, and is dedicated" to my pupils." Much of the work is
occupied by accounts of the whole lives of eminent persons in
some way associated with the places traversed, and with the
habits, classification, etc., of animals and plants of interest
prominent here and there. In short, the author is more con-
cerned with the moral lessons to be derived by youth from the
sights and associations of the tour, than with a complete list of
the objects of interest visible by the tourist. The account of
Faversham deals mainly with its historical associations, which
occupy fifteen or sixteen pages. But on page 201, vol. I., we
read :—
" Mr. Bennett walked with us to see some ancient pits near
this place, one hundred feet deep, narrow at the top but wide at
the bottom, whether dug by the ancient Britons for extracting
chalk to manure their grounds, or whether dug by the Saxons,
after the manner of the ancient Germans, to lay up their corn in,
to preserve it from the extreme cold weather, or from any
surprise of their enemies, Mr. Bennett said, had not yet been
clearly determined."—T.V.H.