_Plaster Casts._--RUBY would be thankful for a good receipt for bronzing
plaster casts.
"[Greek: Sikera]."--In the prophecy regarding the birth of John the Baptist
(Luke i. 15.) the angel says:
[Greek: Kai oinon kai sikera ou mê piêi.]
This is in the authorised version (I quote the original 1611 edit.) rightly
rendered:
"And shal drinke neither wine nor strong drinke."
Now, in the _Golden Legend_, fol. cxl. (Wynkyn de Worde's edition, London,
1516) is this account:
"For he shal be grete, and of grete meryte tofore our Lord: he shall
not drinke wyne, ne _syder_, ne thynge wherof he myght be dronken."
I need hardly remind your readers that that [Greek: sikera] was often used
by the LXX translators for an intoxicating liquor, as distinguished from
wine, viz. Levit. x. 9., Numbers vi. 3., &c., and in about nine places; but
I do not remember "syder" as _the_ "thynge wherof he myghte be dronken."
Can any of your philological friends call to mind a similar version? I do
not want to be told the derivation of [Greek: sikera], for that is obvious;
nor do I lack information as to the inebriating qualities of "syder," for,
alas! an intimate acquaintance with Devonshire has often brought before my
notice persons "dronken" with that exhilarating beverage.