wine, which, by the dizziness they cause in the
brain, make many unfit for business; but that now they may safely play
the good fellow, in this wakeful civil drink, for the introduction of
which first in London the respect of the whole nation is due to Mr.
Muddiford."

* * * * *

Chocolate, then, is a preparation from the seeds of a small American
tree, called by botanists _Cacao Guatimalensis_, bearing a large red
fruit in the shape of a cucumber, which generally contains twenty or
thirty of the nuts, boiled and prepared according to art.

This highly nutritious, agreeable, and, to many, wholesome drink, became
on its first introduction, a subject of strong agitation, and warm
contest, with many conscientious and scrupulous catholics.

Approaching in its original form, and in its alimentary properties, so
nearly to solid diet, it was doubted by the timid and the devout,
whether enjoying so delicious and invigorating a luxury in Lent, and
other seasons appointed by the church for fasts, was not violating or
eluding a sacred and indispensable ordinance.

That party which was unwilling to resign their chocolate, quoted the
words of St. Thomas, who repeatedly asserts, that it is by solid food
only that a fast can be properly said to be broken; that if it is
unlawful to drink this liquor on fast days, because of the portion of
solid cocoa contained in it; by the same rule, wine and beer, which on
these occasions have never been interdicted, might be forbidden, as the
first contains a large proportion of the saccharine substance of the
grape, and the latter suspends rather than dissolves the whole of the
farina of the grain.

The chocolate drinkers were opposed by a powerful party of rigid
disciplinarians, and austere devotees; a Spanish physician wrote a Latin
treatise, expressly against what appeared to him so impious a practice
on a fast day; his book, entitled "Tribunal Medico-Magicum," exhibits
much zeal and some learning; that he was strongly attached to the luxury
against which he declaims, is a strong presumption in favour of his
sincerity.

The Spaniard's book was answered, by a cardinal of the catholic church
in a candid and agreeable way; it was the opinion of the ecclesiastic,
supported, indeed by reason and experience, that neither chocolate nor
wine taken in moderation could, strictly speaking, be construed into
breaking a fast; yet, he hoped, that such a concession, woul