PAINT. Painted doors and windows may be made to look well for a considerable time, if properly cleaned. A cloth should never be used, for it leaves some lint behind; but take off the dust with a painter"s brush, or a pair of bellows. When the painting is soiled or stained, dip a sponge or a bit of flannel in soda water, wash it off quickly, and dry it immediately, or the strength of the soda will eat off the colour.
When wainscot requires scouring, it should be done from the top downwards, and the soda be prevented from running on the uncleaned part as much as possible, or marks will appear after the whole is finished.
One person should dry the board with old linen, as fast as the other has scoured off the dirt, and washed away the soda.
PAINT FOR IRON. For preserving palisadoes and other kinds of iron work exposed to the weather, heat some common litharge in a shovel over the fire. Then scatter over it a small quant.i.ty of sulphur, and grind it in oil. This lead will reduce it to a good lead colour, which will dry very quickly, get remarkably hard, and resist the weather better than any other common paint.
PAINTINGS. Oil paintings frequently become smoked or dirty, and in order to their being properly cleaned, require to be treated with the greatest care. Dissolve a little common salt in some stale urine, dip a woollen cloth in the liquid, and rub the paintings over with it till they are quite clean. Then wash them with a sponge and clean water, dry them gradually, and rub them over with a clean cloth.
PALING PRESERVED. The following cheap and valuable composition will preserve all sorts of wood work exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather. Take some well-burnt lime, and expose it to the air till it falls to powder, without putting any water to it, and mix with it two thirds of wood ashes, and one third of fine sand. Sift the whole through a fine sieve, and work it up with linseed oil to the consistence of common paint, taking care to grind it fine, and mix it well together.
The composition may be improved by the addition of an equal quant.i.ty of coal tar with the linseed oil; and two coats of it laid on any kind of weather boards, will be found superior to any kind of paint used for that purpose.
PALPITATION OF THE HEART. Persons of a full habit may find relief in bleeding; but where it is accompanied with nervous affections, as is generally the case, bleeding must by all means be avoided. Frequent bathing the feet in warm water, a stimulating plaster applied to the left side, and gentle exercise, are the most proper.
PALSY. The luxurious, the sedentary, and those who have suffered great anxiety and distress of mind, are the most subject to this disorder, which generally attacks the left side, and is attended with numbness and drowsiness. The parts affected ought to be frequently rubbed with a flesh brush, or with the hand. Blisters, warm plasters, volatile liniments, and electricity should likewise be employed. The following electuary is also recommended. Mix an ounce of flour of mustard, and an ounce of the conserve of roses, in some syrup of ginger; and take a tea-spoonful of it three or four times a day.
PANADA. To make panada in five minutes, set a little water on the fire with a gla.s.s of white wine, some sugar, and a sc.r.a.pe of nutmeg and lemon peel, grating meanwhile some crumbs of bread. The moment the mixture boils up, keeping it still on the fire, put in the crumbs, and let it boil as fast as it can. When of a proper thickness just to drink, take it off.--Another way. Make the panada as above, but instead of a gla.s.s of wine, put in a tea-spoonful of rum, a little b.u.t.ter and sugar. This makes a very pleasant article for the sick.--Another. Put into the water a bit of lemon peel, and mix in the crumbs: when nearly boiled enough, add some lemon or orange syrup. Observe to boil all the ingredients; for if any be added after, the panada will break, and not turn to jelly.
PANCAKES. Make a light batter of eggs, flour, and milk. Fry it in a small pan, in hot dripping or lard. Salt, nutmeg, or ginger, may be added. Sugar and lemon should be served, to eat with them. When eggs are very scarce, the batter may be made of flour and small beer, with the addition of a little ginger; or clean snow, with flour, and a very little milk, will serve instead of egg. Fine pancakes, fried without b.u.t.ter or lard, are made as follows. Beat six fresh eggs extremely well, strain and mix them with a pint of cream, four ounces of sugar, a gla.s.s of wine, half a nutmeg grated, and as much flour as will make it almost as thick as ordinary pancake batter, but not quite. Heat the fryingpan tolerably hot, wipe it with a clean cloth, and pour in the batter so as to make the pancakes thin.--New England pancakes are made of a pint of cream, mixed with five spoonfuls of fine flour, seven yolks and four whites of eggs, and a very little salt. They are then fried very thin in fresh b.u.t.ter, and sent to table six or eight at once, with sugar and cinnamon strewed between them.--Another way to make cream pancakes. Stir a pint of cream gradually into three spoonfuls of flour, and beat them very smooth. Add to this six eggs, half a pound of melted b.u.t.ter, and a little sugar. These pancakes will fry from their own richness, without either b.u.t.ter or lard. Run the batter over the pan as thin as possible, and when the pancakes are just coloured they are done enough.
PAP BREAD. To prepare a light nourishing food for young children, pour scalding water on some thin slices of good white bread, and let it stand uncovered till it cools. Then drain off the water, bruise the bread fine, and mix it with as much new milk as will make a pap of a moderate thickness. It will be warm enough for use, without setting it on the fire. It is common to add sugar, but the pap is better without it, as is almost all food intended for children; and the taste will not require it, till habit makes it familiar.
PAPER. All sorts of paper improve by keeping, if laid in a dry place, and preserved from mould and damp. It is bought much cheaper by the ream, than by the quire. The expense of this article is chiefly occasioned by the enormous duty laid upon it, and the necessity of importing foreign rags to supply the consumption. If more care were taken in families generally, to preserve the rags and cuttings of linen from being wasted, there would be less need of foreign imports, and paper might be manufactured a little cheaper.
PAPER HANGINGS. To clean these properly, first blow off the dust with the bellows, and then wipe the paper downwards in the slightest manner with the crumb of a stale white loaf. Do not cross the paper, nor go upwards, but begin at the top, and the dirt of the paper and the crumbs will fall together. Observe not to wipe more than half a yard at a stroke, and after doing all the upper part, go round again, beginning a little above where you left off. If it be not done very lightly, the dirt will adhere to the paper; but if properly attended to, the paper will look fresh and new.
PAPER PASTE. To make a strong paste for paper, take two large spoonfuls of fine flour, and as much pounded rosin as will lie upon a shilling.
Mix them up with as much strong beer as will make the paste of a due consistence, and boil it half an hour. It is best used cold.
PARSLEY. To preserve parsley through the winter, gather some fine fresh sprigs in May, June, or July. Pick and wash them clean, set on a stewpan half full of water, put a little salt in it, boil and sc.u.m it clean.
Then add the parsley, let it boil for two minutes, and take it out and lay it on a sieve before the fire, that it may be dried as quick as possible. Put it by in a tin box, and keep it in a dry place. When wanted, lay it in a basin, and cover it with warm water for a few minutes before you use it.
PARSLEY AND b.u.t.tER. Wash some parsley very clean, and pick it carefully leaf by leaf. Put a tea-spoonful of salt into half a pint of boiling water, boil the parsley in it about ten minutes, drain it on a sieve, mince it quite fine, and then, bruise it to a pulp. Put it into a sauce boat, and mix with it by degrees about half a pint of good melted b.u.t.ter, only do not put so much flour to it, as the parsley will be sure to add to its thickness. Parsley and b.u.t.ter should not be poured over boiled dishes, but be sent up in a boat. The delicacy of this elegant and innocent relish, depends upon the parsley being minced very fine.
With the addition of a slice of lemon cut into dice, a little allspice and vinegar, it is made into Dutch sauce.
PARSLEY PIE. Lay a fowl, or a few bones of the scrag of veal, seasoned, into a dish. Scald a cullenderful of picked parsley in milk; season it, and add it to the fowl or meat, with a tea-cupful of any sort of good broth or gravy. When baked, pour into it a quarter of a pint of cream scalded, with a little bit of b.u.t.ter and flour. Shake it round, and mix it with the gravy in the dish. Lettuces, white mustard leaves, or spinach, well scalded, may be added to the parsley.
PARSLEY SAUCE. When no parsley leaves are to be had, tie up a little parsley seed in a piece of clean muslin, and boil it in water ten minutes. Use this water to melt the b.u.t.ter, and throw into it a little boiled spinach minced, to look like parsley.
PARSNIPS. Carrots and parsnips, when laid up for the winter, should have the tops cut off close, be cleared of the rough earth, and kept in a dry place. Lay a bed of dry sand on the floor, two or three inches thick, put the roots upon it close together, with the top of one to the bottom of the next, and so on. Cover the first layer with sand two inches thick, and then place another layer of roots, and go on thus till the whole store are laid up. Cover the heap with dry straw, laid on tolerably thick. Beet roots, salsify, Hamburgh parsley roots, horseradish, and turnips, should all be laid up in the same manner, as a supply against frosty weather, when they cannot be got out of the ground.
PARSNIPS BOILED. These require to be done very tender, and may be served whole with melted b.u.t.ter, or beaten smooth in a bowl, warmed up with a little cream, b.u.t.ter, flour, and salt. Parsnips are highly nutricious, and make an agreeable sauce to salt fish.
PARSNIPS FRICa.s.sEED. Boil them in milk till they are soft. Then cut them lengthways into bits, two or three inches long, and simmer them in a white sauce, made of two spoonfuls of broth. Add a bit of mace, half a cupful of cream, a little flour and b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt.
PARSNIP WINE. To twelve pounds of sliced parsnips, add four gallons of water, and boil them till they become soft. Squeeze the liquor well out of them, run it through a sieve, and add to every gallon three pounds of lump sugar. Boil the whole three quarters of an hour, and when it is nearly cold, add a little yeast. Let it stand in a tub for ten days, stirring it from the bottom every day, and then put it into a cask for twelve months. As it works over, fill it up every day.
PARTRIDGE BOILED. This species of game is in season in the autumn. If the birds be young, the bill is of a dark colour, and the legs inclined to yellow. When fresh and good, the vent will be firm; but when stale, this part will look greenish. Boiled partridges require to be trussed the same as chickens: from twenty to twenty-five minutes will do them sufficiently. Serve them up with either white or brown mushroom sauce, or with rice stewed in gravy, made pretty thick, and seasoned with pepper and salt. Pour the sauce over them, or serve them up with celery sauce. A boiled pheasant is dressed in the same manner, allowing three quarters of an hour for the cooking.
PARTRIDGE PIE. Pick and singe four partridges, cut off the legs at the knee, season with pepper, salt, chopped parsley, thyme, and mushrooms.
Lay a veal steak and a slice of ham at the bottom of the dish, put in the partridge, and half a pint of good broth. Lay puff paste on the edge of the dish, and cover with the same; brush it over with egg, and bake it an hour.
PARTRIDGE SOUP. Skin two old partridges, and cut them into pieces, with three or four slices of ham, a stick of celery, and three large onions sliced. Fry them all in b.u.t.ter till brown, but take care not to burn them. Then put them into a stewpan, with five pints of boiling water, a few peppercorns, a shank or two of mutton, and a little salt. Stew it gently two hours, strain it through a sieve, and put it again into a stewpan, with some stewed celery and fried bread. When it is near boiling, skim it, pour it into a tureen, and send it up hot.
PASTE PUDDINGS. Make a paste of b.u.t.ter and flour, roll it out thin, and spread any kind of jam, or currants over it, with some suet chopped fine. Roll it up together, close the paste at both ends, and boil it in a cloth.
PASTRY. An adept in pastry never leaves any part of it adhering to the board or dish, used in making it. It is best when rolled on marble, or a very large slate. In very hot weather, the b.u.t.ter should be put into cold water to make it as firm as possible; and if made early in the morning, and preserved from the air until it is to be baked, the pastry will be found much better. An expert hand will use much less b.u.t.ter and produce lighter crust than others. Good salt b.u.t.ter well washed, will make a fine flaky crust. When preserved fruits are used in pastry, they should not be baked long; and those that have been done with their full proportion of sugar, require no baking at all. The crust should be baked in a tin shape, and the fruit be added afterwards; or it may be put into a small dish or tart pans, and the covers be baked on a tin cut out into any form.
PATTIES. Slice some chicken, turkey, or veal, with dressed ham, or sirloin of beef. Add some parsley, thyme, and lemon peel, chopped very fine. Pound all together in a mortar, and season with salt and white pepper. Line the pattipans with puff paste, fill them with meat, lay on the paste, close the edges, cut the paste round, brush it over with egg, and bake the patties twenty minutes.
PAVEMENTS. For cleaning stone stairs, and hall pavements, boil together half a pint each of size and stone-blue water, with two table-spoonfuls of whiting, and two cakes of pipe-clay, in about two quarts of water.--Wash the stones over with a flannel slightly wetted in this mixture; and when dry, rub them with a flannel and brush.
PAYMENT OF RENT. Rent due for tenements let from year to year, is commonly paid on the four quarter days; and when the payments are regularly made at the quarter, the tenant cannot be deprived of possession at any other time than at the end of a complete year from the commencement of his tenancy. If therefore he took possession at Midsummer, he must quit at Midsummer, and notice thereof must be sent at or before the preceding Christmas. A similar notice is also required from the tenant to the landlord, when it is intended to leave the premises.--Every quarter"s rent is deemed a separate debt, for which the landlord can bring a separate action, or distress for nonpayment. The landlord himself is the proper person to demand rent: if he employs another person, he must be duly authorised by power of attorney, clearly specifying the person from whom, and the premises for which the rent is due: or the demand will be insufficient, if the tenant should be inclined to evade payment. The following is the form of a receipt for rent:--"Received of R. C. February 13, 1823, the sum of ten pounds twelve shillings for a quarter"s rent, due at Christmas last."
"10 12 0 J. W. M."
PEA FOWL. These require to be fed the same as turkeys. They are generally so shy, that they are seldom to be found for some days after hatching; and it is very wrong to pursue them, as many ignorant people do, under the idea of bringing them home. It only causes the hen to carry the young ones through dangerous places, and by hurrying she is apt to tread upon them. The c.o.c.k bird kills all the young chickens he can get at, by one blow on the centre of the head with his bill, and he does the same by his own brood, before the feathers of the crown come out. Nature therefore directs the hen to hide and keep them out of his way, till the feathers rise.
PEA POWDER. Pound together in a marble mortar half an ounce each of dried mint and sage, a dram of celery seed, and a quarter of a dram of cayenne, and rub them through a fine sieve. This gives a very savoury relish to pea soup, and to water gruel. A dram of allspice, or black pepper, may be pounded with the above, as an addition, or instead of the cayenne.