The spices known, in the reign of Henry III. were of course those of the East Indies - cinnamon, nutmeg (with its outer network, known as mace), cloves, pepper, and ginger; and to these must be added the most important of all condiments, which has come to be regarded, not as a luxury, but a necessity - that is, sugar, which Strabo tells us was found in the East Indies by Nearchus, Admiral of Alexander the Great, 325 B.C.

Pliny speaks of sugar as an article of merchandise brought from Arabia and India used only as medicine. He describes it as 'honey collected from canes, gum-like at first in appearance, but which becomes whitish and brittle when dry.' There is a passage in Isaiah which runs, 'Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money,' which would seem to prove that the sugar-cane was an article of commerce in Judea also at an early date; the sweet cane is likewise mentioned by Jeremiah, who speaks of it as coming from a far country. Paulus AEgineta, writing in the seventh century, calls sugar the Indian salt, being in form and colour like common salt, but in taste and sweetness like honey, and recommends that a piece should be kept in the mouth to moisten it during fevers.

Eleven camels laden with sugar were captured by the Crusaders in 1110, and shortly after this time the cane was grown as a curiosity in Spain and Southern Italy.

The date of its introduction into England seems uncertain, but in 1546 a manuscript letter to Lord Cobham speaks of 'twenty-five sugar loaves at six shillings a loaf, which is eightpence a pound,' the penny at that time being worth much more than at present; and the diary of a lady of Herefordshire at the time of the Civil War, October 29, 1640, has the following entry - 'For a pound of shugger to send Mrs. Eaton when her son Fitz-Wm. lay on his deathbed, 20d.'

If we compare this with the importation of sugar at the present day, and the price per pound, we shall realise the enormous growth in the consumption of this condiment since its cultivation in the West Indies.

In 1887 the importation of sugar to the United Kingdom reached the enormous total of 1,080,590 tons, and this was rather under the quantity consumed in the two previous years. With these figures before us it seems hard to realise that there was a time when sugar was unknown, its place being supplied by honey, which has now sunk into a subordinate position; but we see also how extremely important must have been the keeping of bees among the ancients, since almost all the sweetness required in cookery was dependent upon the productive industry of these little insects. The Egyptians sent boats laden with bees up the Nile to enable the industrious insects to fill their combs from the flowers near its banks. The Greeks celebrated the honey of Mount Hymettus, and even to the present day this honey is highly prized, and the modern Greeks use it, as probably their ancestors and the ancient Egyptians used it, mixed with flour and oil in the manufacture of pastry.

Honey, says Soyer, was the basis of the seasoning of Apicius, and Pythagoras, who ate only bread and honey, lived to be ninety; and we are told ' whoever wishes to preserve his health should eat, every morning before breakfast, young onions with honey.' Honey, indeed, seems to have entered into every sauce among the Romans, and mixed with mustard was served as a condiment with brawn, but it was also freely used formerly in British cookery. The anonymous author of 'The Art of Cookery' says -

* Our fathers most admired their Sauces sweet, And often ask'd for Sugar with their meat; They butter'd Currants on fat Veal bestowed, And rumps of Beef with virgin Honey strew'd.' *

Olive oil was almost as important as honey in ancient cookery, but it was not the only oil used, for Horace gives the recipes for two sauces of the Romans as follows: -

' Two sorts of sauce are worthy to be known, Simple the first and of sweet oil alone; The other, mix'd with rich and generous wine, And the true pickle of Byzantian brine, Let it, with shredded herbs and saffron boil, And when it cools pour in Venafran oil.'

Brine was water in which bay salt had been dissolved, but we read also of herring and anchovy brine, and of that remarkable compound garum, made of the semi-putrid intestines of fish, put into a vessel with much salt, and exposed to the sun till fermentation began, after which wine was sometimes added, and it was filtered through willow baskets, and kept for use. The best and most expensive garum was made of the liver of the red mullet.

The sauce of Apicius was thus compounded: - 'Mix with honey 1/2 oz. pepper, 3 scruples eschalots, 6 scruples cardamum, 1 scruple spikenard, and 6 scruples mint, add vinegar, and pour in some garum.' And the same chef gives us a stomachic condiment in which garum figures: 'Mix carefully some pine nuts, pepper, benzoin, mint, dried raisins and dates, with fresh unsalted cheese, vinegar, oil, honey, and wine, reduced by boiling to one half; add garum.'

* Nor must it be forgotten that among the ancients honey was frequently used in embalming the dead, and coffins full of honey are still sometimes found.

Vinegar appears to have been used as a beverage in ancient Rome, and to have been commonly served at banquets, probably mixed with water. The extravagance of Cleopatra, in dissolving her splendid pearl earring in vinegar and drinking it, is frequently quoted, but this is not a solitary instance of wasteful lavishness at Roman banquets; the same story is told of Caligula, and of the son of AEsop the actor, of whom Horace writes: -

'An actor's son dissolved a wealthy pearl (The precious earring of his favourite girl) In vinegar, and thus luxurious quaff'd A thousand solid talents at a draught.'

And since our vinegar would certainly not be powerful enough to dissolve pearls, we must suppose that used in Egypt and Rome to have been much more powerful, so that to drink it, even much diluted, must have been anything but agreeable.