Caudle for the Sick and Lying in
Set three quarts of water on the fire, mix smooth as much oatmeal as will thicken the whole with a pint of cold water; when boiling, pour the latter in, and twenty Jamaica peppers in fine powder; boil to a good middling thickness, then add sugar, half a pint of well fermented table beer, and a glass of gin. Boil all.
This mess twice, and once or twice of broth, will be of incalculable service.
There is not a better occasion for charitable commiseration than when a person is sick. A bit of meat or pudding sent unexpectedly has often been the means of recalling long lost appetite.
Nor are the indigent alone the grateful receivers; for in the highest houses a real good sick-cook is rarely met with; and many who possess all the goods of fortune, have attributed the first return of health to some kitchen physic.