The complete servant / Being a practical guide to the peculiar duties and business of all descriptions of servants, from the housekeeper to the servant of all-work, and from the land steward to the foot-boy. With useful receipts and tables

by servant Samuel Adams; Sarah Adams

Blanch the almonds in boiling water, dry them well in a cloth, then pound them in a mortar until they become a paste. Pound in the soap and mix it well with the almond paste. Then add the cream of roses. When these are mixed, add the rose-water and spirits, which stir in with a spatula or knife. Strain the whole through a clean white cloth, then add the oil of lavender to the expressed liquid, drop by drop, and stir the whole well. When the mixture has stood for a day, cover it over with a cloth from the dust, then bottle it for use.

272. FRENCH MILK OF ROSES.

Mix together 4 oz. of oil of almonds,
½ an oz. of English oil of lavender,
2 quarts of spirit of wine, and
10 do. of rose-water.

Next, blanch 3 lbs. of Jordan almonds, and pound them in a mortar, with a quarter of a lb. of Spanish oil-soap, half an oz. of spermaceti, and half an oz. of white wax. Put these ingredients into a large jar, with two ounces of pearl-ash, dissolved in an ounce of warm water. Shake the whole well, and then pour it into small bottles for sale.

273. CREAM OF ROSES.

Take 1 lb. of oil of sweet almonds,
1 oz. of spermaceti,
1 oz. of white wax,
1 pint of rose-water, and
2 drachms of Malta rose, or nerolet essence.

Put the oil, spermaceti, and wax, into a well-glazed pipkin, over a clear fire, and, when melted, pour in the rose-water by degrees, and keep beating, till the compound becomes like pomatum. Now add the essence, and then put the cream into small pots or jars, which must be well covered up with pieces of bladder, and soft skin leather.

274. COLD CREAM POMATUM, FOR THE COMPLEXION.

Take an ounce of oil of sweet almonds, and half a drachm each, of white wax and spermaceti, with a little balm. Melt these ingredients in a glazed pipkin over hot ashes, and pour the solution into a marble mortar; stir it with the pestle until it becomes smooth and cold, then add gradually an ounce of rose or orange-flower water; stir all the mixture till incorporated to resemble cream. This pomatum renders the skin at once supple and smooth. To prevent marks from the small pox, add a little powder of saffron. The gallipot in which it is kept, should have a piece of bladder tied over it.

275. Another Method.